Chapter 172: The Cursed House

"I don't want to either, I was forced, if I don't do this, I don't want to hurt anyone, but I can't help it."

"I can't control myself!"

Walking to the open space downstairs, Tang Luo heard Shida Shunta wailing and shouting.

"What's going on?" Tang Luo asked.

"He says he doesn't count as the house's master at all, just a pitiful puppet controlled by it." Chu Chongtian said, his face full of disgust, nearly getting killed by this guy.

"A villain matches a vicious ghost, in cahoots." Li Suibian said.

Shida Shunta is controlled by the haunted house?

No, Li Suibian didn't think so, he felt the greater possibility was that the haunted house was similar to some kind of artifact that could make people evil, corrupt them into a demonic artifact.

And Shida Shunta was half a user of the demonic artifact, and he himself was quite enjoying it.

During the fight just now, the strength and speed Shida Shunta displayed were those of an ordinary person, but Li Suibian could faintly sense a cold, yin aura on him, identical to the haunted house.

"No! I really can't control it, it's that house, that house influenced me!" Shida Shunta continued wailing.

Tang Luo asked about the "supernatural videotape" that Kawakami Eko knew about but wasn't very clear on.

Shida Shunta froze for a moment: "What videotape?"

"Still pretending?" Ignoring his broken ribs, Chu Chongtian went up and kicked him, "At noon at my place, the one you showed us, the one I smashed and burned later."

"That was just a prank, to scare you a bit." Shida Shunta curled up, saying painfully.

"Scare me, aren't you afraid I'd get scared and not go to the haunted house?" Chu Chongtian said.

A smile flashed across Shida Shunta's face: "Haunted house, we went together a few days ago, didn't we?"

"Fuck!" Chu Chongtian cursed.

The original host went, then deliberately scared them a bit more, isn't that playing with prey?

But Kawakami Eko confirmed the videotape ghost really exists, just what is the situation with this small city?

All kinds of fierce ghosts running rampant, yet they can still maintain peaceful lives?

That's not right, completely abnormal.

"Should be that kind of purely mission-oriented mission world, right?" Chu Chongtian thought secretly.

Mentioned before, in Shenmo Xingzou's speculation, mission worlds have two types, one is that kind of world appearing purely for missions, similar to a game's dungeon/instance.

The other type is more like a real world.

This mission world, with fierce ghosts everywhere, made Chu Chongtian feel it should belong to the "dungeon-type" mission world.

Completely unreasonable, illogical, just a pure "dangerous land", letting them struggle to survive for thirty days.

"Regarding the ghosts and supernatural events in this city, how much do you know, I need confirmed information, locations." Tang Luo asked.

There can be many number twos/traitors.

"If I tell you, can you let me go?" Shida Shunta asked.

"Amitabha." Tang Luo said, "You speak, this poor monk won't attack you again, monastics don't speak falsehoods."

Solemn and dignified, Shida Shunta believed it on the spot.

Most importantly, even if he didn't believe he had no choice, believing and telling gives a sliver of survival chance at least.

However, what Shida Shunta knew was about the same as Kawakami Eko, and didn't bring Tang Luo's group much more useful information.

Combining all situations, now Tang Luo's four-person squad confirmed they would still face the following dangers:

One, Kuchisake-onna of unknown quantity.

Two, a corridor mimic ghost with Tang Luo's appearance and partial power, needs a vessel to act, has a certain probability of utilizing the Kuchisake-onna corpses left by Tang Luo.

Precisely speaking, these two "ghosts" are targeting Tang Luo alone.

Dangers already resolved: the perverted butler and his group, the dream evil ghost, Toilet Hanako, Kawakami Eko and the haunted house.

The latter two although not dead yet, are as good as captured, the traitor's traitor.

Uncertain, whether one will come knocking: the supernatural videotape ghost, Shida Shunta's words can't guarantee one hundred percent truth.

The general situation is like this.

After Shida Shunta told everything he knew, it was time to thoroughly resolve him and that haunted house, also good to verify if Li Suibian's guess was right.

"Bring him up." Tang Luo said.

As a monastic, Master Xuanzang naturally keeps his word, if he doesn't attack him he won't attack again.

Can have someone else do it for him.

Li Suibian grabbed Shida Shunta, completely ignoring his struggles, and walked into this abandoned teaching building.

A few minutes later, several people stood before the haunted house, beside them the dead Shida Shunta, the one who acted was Chu Chongtian, his face showing a few parts disappointment.

No fate fragments appeared as he thought, indeed not the life of a lucky god/gacha whale.

But killing Shida Shunta, however you put it, was revenge for himself, vented a mouthful of bad breath, at this moment Chu Chongtian's thoughts were clear, even his chest didn't hurt much anymore.

He didn't let Tang Luo help consecrate/heal his injuries, deliberately keeping the wounds, to prevent himself from being charmed by Kawakami Eko, showing the side of a Shenmo Xingzou who is ruthless to himself.

"Let me try."

Tang Luo walked before the haunted house, reached out and pressed his hand on the door.

After a while, he withdrew his hand and smiled: "Old Li, your guess was right, it really is a piece of equipment now." He stepped back two steps to make room for the others.

Chu Chongtian stepped forward, curiously touching it, the moment he made contact his body shook, after a while he recovered, withdrawing his hand and stepping back with some lingering fear, looking like he couldn't afford to provoke it.

An An also curiously touched it, this was her first time contacting equipment.

First mission, encountering this many "good things", also rare, proper lucky god/gacha whale treatment.

A moment later, An An withdrew her hand, her complexion also somewhat ugly.

"Looks like this equipment is a bit special." Li Suibian, familiar with the process, went up, and afterward his expression also became heavy.

Moving his hand away from the door, Li Suibian smiled freely: "Originally thought to see if I could offer enough price to buy this equipment, now... looks like only the Master can use it."

The equipment information that just appeared in my mind was as follows:

Cursed House

In this house, many people died tragically, and their unwilling resentment seeped into every corner.

Without permission, anyone who enters the house will be attacked by vengeful spirits, and those who remain will become one of them.

Additional skills:

One, Evil Spirit Entanglement.

The owner of the house will constantly be eroded by yin energy, and evil thoughts will proliferate.

Two, Containment.

This is an inescapable dwelling where people can be kept forever.

Three, Pleasure Abode.

The house is extraordinarily sturdy, allowing one to live happily here without outside disturbance—as long as you are not killed by the vengeful spirits inside, or become one of them.

Four, Size Transformation.

It can shift between ten centimeters and normal size, with a cooldown of 12 hours.

————When you gaze into the abyss, the abyss gazes also into you.

I must say, this is a remarkably powerful piece of equipment, with as many as four additional skills—it is the equipment with the most skills that Tang Luo has ever seen, without exception.

Of these, three are passive skills that do not require active activation; they can be considered properties of the equipment.

The fourth, "Size Transformation," is an active skill that allows size change every 12 hours, very convenient, and can also be used as an "attack skill."

The first passive skill is precisely the reason Li Suibian mentioned that only Tang Luo can use it.

When they came into contact with the Cursed House, their sensation was exactly the same as when they entered the courtyard at noon.

Yin-cold and evil-chilling, it will not cause significant effects in the short term.

But over the long term, the situation is different.

Moreover, in intense combat, even a slight stiffness in movement could lead directly to defeat.

The first skill directly turns the Cursed House into a double-edged sword.

Only those who can withstand the first "Evil Spirit Entanglement"—a skill in name but actually a negative BUFF—can use this equipment.

Evil Spirit Entanglement is not something that disappears just because you do not touch the house.

As long as you are the owner, the influence will not vanish.

In the Gods and Demons game, ordinary equipment generally has no clear concept of an owner—anyone can use it.

Even if it is snatched away during combat, the taker can still use it, with no notion of "acknowledging a master."

Likewise, after taking someone else's equipment, you cannot immediately put it away; it requires some time.

But this Cursed House is not necessarily like that—it has a clear owner, and as long as the owner has not died or voluntarily relinquished the equipment, it cannot be used by others.

To others, this is merely a pure dangerous haunted house.

The way to become the owner is also very simple: just put the equipment away once, and it will cling to you.

Even if you explicitly and actively discard it, refusing it, the influence of Evil Spirit Entanglement will not disappear until someone is willing to take it up and accept this burden—only then is it truly shed.

In short, this powerful equipment is only fit for the strong to possess.

As a strong one, Tang Luo successfully put the Cursed House away.

As for Evil Spirit Entanglement, that bit of yin-cold and evil-chilling aura has negligible effect on him.

Keeping it at hand, after a while, Tang Luo took the Cursed House out again and re-inlaid it into the teaching building.

However, he had set it upright.

Opening the door, Tang Luo said: "Come in for a tour, Xiao Chu—drag the corpse in as well."

Inviting people to view the new residence is a basic operation.

Chu Zhongtian dragged Shi Jiuntai's corpse into the house, and on the ground, black shadows appeared—like liquid, like gas—several hands stretched out, grabbed Shi Jiuntai's corpse, and sank into the shadows, vanishing.

At the moment of disappearance, Chu Zhongtian vaguely saw an illusory face—it was Shi Jiuntai's unwilling roar, having been contained within the house.

Speaking of which, why did this guy suddenly pop up? Maybe he still had a trump card—too bad he met Master Xuanzang.

"Well done, well done." Chu Zhongtian murmured softly.

The interior of the house is the same as when everyone first entered it at noon.

Furniture is neatly arranged, clean; Chu Zhongtian tested it—unreasonably, water and electricity work, the stove can be lit, and electrical appliances can be used freely.

It truly achieves "move in with just your luggage."

This is likely the effect of the third skill—Pleasure Abode.

However, the TV only shows snowflakes and cannot play programs; opening the phone reveals no signal either.

"From now on, when entering mission worlds, we won't have to worry about camping anymore."

Chu Zhongtian heard Master Xuanzang say this.

Well, in Tang Luo's view, the greatest use of this powerful equipment is "no need to camp."