A Ghost Story Unfolds: The Cannon Fodder Went Mad by Burning Ghost Money

Singer, oh singer 44Lin Xiangjun had called for four people in total, and in less than ten minutes, the One-Eyed Ghoul had ”invited” them all over.

—Lin Xiangjun had some doubts about the One-Eyed Ghoul’s method of ”inviting” them.

After all, the four residents who had been invited looked like frightened little chicks; their faces were pale with panic as they glanced around. They were overly nervous when questioned, giving irrelevant answers or rattling off a long string of words without hitting a single key point. Some even required Lin Xiangjun to ask the same question three times before providing an answer.

Fortunately, she wasn’t a real employee; otherwise, facing such a workload, she probably wouldn’t have lasted three days before developing stress-induced nodules.

Xia Suhe was third in line.

She was also a bit nervous, but if her level of nervousness was like being called on by a teacher when she hadn’t done her homework, the first two were like walking through the Amazon rainforest unarmed, constantly on guard against crocodiles or venomous insects that might jump out at any moment.

Although the communication was slightly bumpy, compared to the first two—where questioning felt like prying information out of their mouths—her minor hesitation was completely negligible.

”Please, take a seat. No need to be nervous, Miss Xia Suhe. I just want to ask you a few questions; they won’t be hard to answer, so please relax.”

Xia Suhe looked much older than she did in the photo; it made sense, as that photo had been taken at her middle school graduation, and she was in high school now.

Lin Xiangjun adopted a professional, business-like attitude.

”You look quite young. Are you in high school this year?”

”I’m a sophomore at Jade Lake High School.”

”Jade Lake High School? That’s impressive. How are your grades?”

”Average. I’m ranked four or five hundredth in my grade.”

Her voice sounded a bit timid, but her sentences were coherent. After a bit of chatting, her shoulders, which had been tense with muscle strain, clearly relaxed.

From the first two residents, Lin Xiangjun had already learned why ghouls and humans were able to coexist relatively peacefully in the neighborhood.

This was different from the real world. In real-world neighborhoods, aside from the Property Management ghouls who protected the area, other ghouls rarely appeared, let alone lived directly in human residential areas.

In the instance, what allowed humans and ghouls to live in the same neighborhood without the humans being eaten clean was a bracelet issued by Property Management to the owners.

According to Property Management, this bracelet could resist the erosion of ghastly aura and prevent ghouls from attacking humans. As long as they wore the bracelet, they were absolutely safe.

The second person in line had even shown Lin Xiangjun the bracelet on his wrist; it was pure black, looking somewhat like the cheapest mosquito repellent bracelets sold at street stalls.

Lin Xiangjun sniffed her fingertips after touching the bracelet and, unsurprisingly, smelled artificial fragrance.

It looked like a mosquito repellent bracelet and smelled like one too—a low-quality one at that.

Lin Xiangjun felt that the thing was most likely just a mosquito repellent bracelet.

These mosquito repellent bracelets were distributed per person; there were no extras, and if lost, it cost five hundred underworld currency to replace.

Tsk, pure greed.

Xia Suhe’s state was much more relaxed than when she first entered.

After exchanging a few pleasantries and seeing that she wasn’t so tense anymore, Lin Xiangjun finally got to the point.

”It’s like this. The records here say you used to live in Xieyou Alley. What made you think of moving to Senhe Mansion?”

Xia Suhe had clearly thought about this question before—or perhaps she had been coached—as she answered very fluently and officially.

”Because Senhe Mansion is the best neighborhood nearby. Both the environment and the personal safety of the residents are very well guaranteed. Living here has been my dream since I was a child. When I was in my freshman year of high school, my parents got promotions and raises, our family’s financial situation improved a lot, and I finally had the chance to realize my dream.”

This wasn’t the answer Lin Xiangjun wanted to hear.

She held her breath and very quickly changed a piece of toilet paper.

She had four pieces of paper left, which meant twenty minutes.

It wasn’t tight, but it wasn’t plenty either.

”I hope to hear some honest answers—your answers are very important to me.”

Lin Xiangjun tossed a stack of underworld currency onto the table.

The movement seemed casual, and the underworld currency fanned out in a small arc on the table. It looked intimidating, but it was actually exactly one thousand underworld currency.

Lin Xiangjun had carefully considered this number. Any less and it wouldn’t fan out enough for visual impact; any more... and her heart would ache from the loss.

”Don’t worry, it’s just a few harmless questions. I just want to understand your neighborhood a bit better to find a more suitable residence for our superior.”

Xia Suhe looked at the thousand underworld currency, her fingers twitching.

This much money was enough to pay their family’s rent for three months.

Senhe Mansion charged the highest tier of rent—five yuan per square meter.

Xia Suhe’s family of four lived in a small sixty-square-meter apartment. Although the monthly rent was only three hundred yuan, it was so crowded that they had to be careful not to bump into each other when turning around.

Even for a house so small it would be hard to open a Mixue shop in it, the monthly rent was still a significant burden.

It wasn’t as easy for humans to earn money as it was for ghouls.

Xia Suhe swallowed hard.

Lin Xiangjun could sense her wavering.

”Don’t worry, what I’m asking isn’t difficult—do you know Hu Zhengzheng? You seemed to be on good terms with her before.”

Hearing Hu Zhengzheng’s name, Xia Suhe was stunned for a moment. ”I know her... she was my very good friend. Our families lived close by; you could say we grew up together.”

This came as a bit of a surprise to Lin Xiangjun.

They were actually childhood friends?

”Where did Hu Zhengzheng’s family live?”

”Why are you asking this?” A hint of alertness rose in Xia Suhe’s eyes.

After all, Lin Xiangjun was using the pretext of observing Senhe Mansion, yet she kept asking about completely unrelated information. This behavior was very much like a spy’s.

Lin Xiangjun smiled and pushed the fanned-out underworld currency toward her.

She didn’t speak, but Xia Suhe already understood her meaning.

Do you want the underworld currency?

Then just answer my questions and don’t pry.

Looking at the thousand underworld currency, Xia Suhe grit her teeth and finally yielded.

”Zheng Zheng’s family lived in Unit 1, Room 1111 of Building 39 in Xieyou Alley. However, that room has been vacant since Zheng Zheng passed away.”

”Who does 1111 belong to now?”

”It belongs to Grandma Lin. She lives in Unit 2, Room 303 of Building 40, with her son and daughter-in-law. Her grandson is in high school and stays at the dormitory. Her son and daughter-in-law stay in their work dorms during the week and only come back on weekends.”

”How did the ownership of Hu Zhengzheng’s house end up in Grandma Lin’s hands? Are they blood relatives?”

Inheritance is usually inherited by parents, children, or spouses. If none of those exist, the heir is determined by the closeness of blood relations. If there’s really no one to inherit, it gets reclaimed.

But no matter how you calculate it, the inheritance couldn’t possibly fall to an Old Lady in the neighborhood, no matter how good their relationship was—unless there was a will.

And Hu Zhengzheng died in an accident, not by suicide; how could she have left a will?