The players will die in two hours? Ghost Mother began to struggle violently.
Ghost Mother began to struggle violently.
The bones in Feng Yi’s arm cracked, and the puppet slipped out of his control.
“Not good!”
Feeling the restraint loosen, Ghost Mother immediately opened her mouth, and an evil ghost drifted out from within her.
The ghostly aura surrounding her faded slightly, but she wore a look of absolute certainty: “In that case, wouldn’t it be easier if I just don’t make a move myself?”
At a glance, that ghost turned out to be Dr. Yang, whose soul she had consumed earlier. Obviously devoid of his own mind, he began attacking Mu Li the moment his feet touched the ground.
“So that was her plan.”
Pei Kanyan massaged his burned hand; it could still move. Since the lie about ghost possession had already been exposed, Ghost Mother would not let them go.
Feng Yi was already incapacitated, and Shu Lan had no combat capability. Given Mu Li’s personality, he would surely die to protect them, but Pei Kanyan was determined not to let him die.
Just as he was about to move, he was stopped by Mu Li.
“You are not allowed to make a move!”
Leaving behind just those words, the teenager suddenly stepped forward, grabbed Dr. Yang by the neck, and snapped it with a single twist.
The evil ghost instantly dissolved into black wisps of mist that drifted away into the air.
The teenager rotated his wrist as the mist followed his arm and coiled around his body:
“I just didn’t want to get my hands dirty, that’s all.”
“This is impossible!” Shocked by the scene, Ghost Mother’s face was flooded with terror.
Her guess had been wrong!
This teenager was a ghost himself, and a far more powerful vengeful spirit than she was. Retreat crossed her mind.
Ghost Mother split off a few more ghosts and ordered, “Hold him back!”
Pei Kanyan frowned deeply.
What was going on?
Mu Li was actually able to harm ghosts?
The ghost possession story had clearly been fabricated by him!
He felt as though something was gradually slipping out of his control.
Feng Yi stared blankly at the scene unfolding before him.
Chilling ghostly aura swirled around the teenager, and his crimson eyes were bewitching to the extreme. Without another word, he devoured one evil ghost and charged at another.
His identity was now crystal clear.
Feng Yi gave a bitter laugh.
Ghost Mother now looked extremely shriveled. Taking advantage of the moment Mu Li was dealing with the ghosts, she bolted toward the door.
“You are not allowed to leave!”
Shu Lan blocked Ghost Mother’s path, clutching the divine statue tightly in her arms: “You said you lost your life on the operating table. Weren’t you the pregnant woman stabbed at the station?”
Ghost Mother’s expression was bizarre. She desperately wanted to kill this woman, but her ghostly aura was now so weak it was almost transparent. She roared, “Step aside!”
Shu Lan’s legs trembled, but she refused to budge, stubbornly demanding an answer.
Seeing this, Ghost Mother extended her fingernails and moved to attack.
Realizing Shu Lan was in danger, Mu Li immediately stepped forward and plunged his pen-knife into Ghost Mother’s neck.
Struck by this blow, Ghost Mother’s ghostly aura almost completely dissipated.
She turned her head and saw that the room was already empty. The separated ghosts had been devoured by the teenager in such a short time?
If this continued, she would not survive. A thought crossed her mind, and she reached out, pressing her claws against her own belly:
“If you dare take another step forward, I will kill him!”
“How can you possibly hurt your own child?” Shu Lan asked, her eyes burning with fiery anxiety.
“Do you not understand yet? That is not her child at all.”
Shu Lan paused, her face full of shock: “Could it be that the child in Ghost Mother’s belly belongs to that pregnant woman?”
She was actually the one who had stolen the child!
“Hah, you people have been mistaken all along. How ridiculous,” Ghost Mother mocked. “I advise you to let me go, or this child loses its life!”
At this, Shu Lan flared up, baring her teeth as she lunged to bite Ghost Mother.
Mu Li grabbed the back of her collar.
Noticing that Feng Yi had no stamina left, Mu Li knew that if they could not control Ghost Mother and pushed for a complete annihilation, the child would be in danger.
“Fine, go ahead and leave.”
With the locator on her anyway, she could not run far. Besides, she would definitely go look for the mortician, which would save them the trouble.
Ghost Mother could not understand why they let her go so easily, but she had no time to ponder it and sprinted out the door.
Her ghostly shadow vanished around the street corner.
Feng Yi’s arm bones were still aching faintly, and a wave of helplessness washed over him.
What on earth could be done to drive the ghost out of Mu Li’s body?
Carving words into his arm, Sister Wei had used such an extreme method to warn him that things must have reached a critical juncture.
Feng Yi had intentionally or unintentionally ignored the matter, but now he had no choice but to face it.
Sister Wei had said yesterday that Mu Li only had one day left.
Seeing the ghost run away, a look of distress crept onto Shu Lan’s face: “So where is the real deceased person?”
As she spoke, she reached out toward Mu Li.
Mu Li hesitated for a moment before finally handing the medical examination form over to her.
Taking one look at the form, Shu Lan cried out, “What? Three months?”
Wait, she suddenly remembered that when the victim died, the child in her womb was also three months old.
She turned to Mu Li and asked, “So the form you took was not mine, it was the victim’s!”
Mu Li realized something was amiss. He could have anticipated that Shu Lan might not accept reality, perhaps panicking or breaking down.
Yet the reporter before him only looked surprised, nothing more.
Retrieving the medical examination form, Mu Li saw that the name on it was no longer legible. Had it accidentally smudged during the fight?
He remained silent for a moment: “Right, this is the victim’s medical examination form.”
“Then what are we supposed to do now?” Shu Lan scratched her head.
Mu Li took out the locator: “Ghost Mother has gone to the train station. I only have two hours left. Time is running out, let’s go.”
“What do you mean you only have two hours left?” Seeming provoked by something, Feng Yi lunged forward, grabbed Mu Li by the collar, and demanded angrily, “Two hours from now, what are you going to do to Mu Li?!”
Looking at the suddenly furious Feng Yi, Mu Li was completely bewildered: “I will just lose the ability to harm ghosts, that is all.”
Unable to harm ghosts?
Under what circumstances would a ghost be unable to harm ghosts?
Trembling with rage, Feng Yi yelled, “Two hours from now, you are going to kill Mu Li?!”
And then replace him to become a real human!
“Why would you think that?” Finding himself completely unable to keep up with his teammate’s train of thought, Mu Li turned to Pei Kanyan instead: “Help me out here.”
However, Pei Kanyan did not respond, instead asking Feng Yi, “Why are you so certain?”
“You are a member of the Wuwan Organization; you cannot possibly not know about Bingwei from our company. So much time has already passed, calculating it now, there really are only two hours left.” Feng Yi’s eye rims turned red, and his voice choked slightly.
The lifespan Bingwei saw could not be changed. Was he simply going to watch the teenager die?
At this, even Pei Kanyan lost his usual composure. He yanked the teenager away from Feng Yi, grabbed both of his arms, and stared directly into his eyes:
“Why did you not tell me?”
Mu Li remembered now; there did seem to be something like that. That Bingwei woman had said he only had one day left, but how could a player possibly die?
“Uh, that is completely unreliable, I will be fine.”
“Bingwei can see other people’s lifespans, and the time she sees cannot be altered at all. What makes you say you will be fine?” With a dark expression, Pei Kanyan slowly leaned in closer to the teenager.
Closer and closer.
Mu Li felt as though he were being locked onto by a ferocious beast, one that might tear him apart and swallow him whole at any moment. Feeling guilty, he backed up all the way into the room.
Pei Kanyan slammed the door shut and locked it.
Watching the two of them with utter incomprehension, Shu Lan pressed her ear against the door: “What is wrong with them?”
Believing that the ghost had concealed its murderous intentions and would disrupt the bespectacled young man’s plan, Feng Yi sneered viciously:
“It would be best if they killed each other.”
Inside the room, Pei Kanyan pinned Mu Li against the door. Using one hand to restrain the teenager’s chin, he forced Mu Li to look at him:
“Do you have any idea that there really is an evil ghost inside your body? How many more things have you been hiding from me?”
Looking at the man’s gloomy expression, Mu Li felt a prickle of fear and shook his head frantically: “There is no ghost.”
That was just a skill special effect, not a real ghost!
“No ghost?” Looking at the teenager’s ghostly-entwined appearance, Pei Kanyan gritted his teeth, “Did you make an agreement with that ghost?”
Borrowing power from a ghost for two hours, at the cost of being permanently replaced.
Just so he would not have to make a move?
Could a person really give everything for someone else?
At the cost of their life!
Mu Li felt utterly exhausted. How did one after another of them end up like this?
“This is just an ability I just acquired.”
Did this kind of thought process actually spread?
“Just how much longer are you going to lie to me?!”
Looking at the enraged man before him, Mu Li was at a complete loss.
He did not know what else to say.
Was he supposed to explain to an NPC that this was a reward players obtained from completing a task?
Suddenly, Pei Kanyan’s expression turned calm, representing the quiet before a storm, carrying an inexplicably oppressive weight like gathering dark clouds:
“It is fine. I will not let you die.”
He snatched the locator, opened the door, and walked out of the room.
“Oh.” Shu Lan had been eavesdropping against the door, and when it suddenly opened, she lost her support and tumbled straight to the floor.
“Hey, what are you doing?” Dazed, Mu Li chased out of the room, shouting advice as he ran.
“Please do not make a move. I will be completely fine, and it is only when you use your powers that things go wrong.”
Pei Kanyan stopped and shot a sideways glance at the teenager.
Meanwhile, Feng Yi’s gaze toward Mu Li grew resolute.
Even if lifespans could not be changed, he had to give it a fight.
He would never stand by and watch Mu Li die like this!
Caught under the intense stares of both men, Mu Li shivered from head to toe.
Donning his sunglasses, he ran over to stand beside Shu Lan.
Shu Lan had already picked herself up off the floor and was packing the divine statue into her bag.
“What are you doing?” Mu Li poked the reporter, trying to ignore the gazes of the two men behind him.
“I am taking the divine statue with me.” Shu Lan zipped up her bag and hoisted it onto her back.
“Who knows what will happen when we go look for Ghost Mother this time? The divine child helped us just now, and he will definitely save us next time too.”
Hearing this, Mu Li made a promise: “Don’t worry, I will protect you!”
Before he could finish, he was yanked away by Pei Kanyan.
He could not even protect himself, yet he still wanted to protect others.
What an idiot.
Taking a large detour, the group returned to Zhunan Station.
Only to find that the place had completely changed.
A massive black monster was entrenched on the platform, holding a three-story-tall blade in its hand as it slumbered.
If it were to be awakened, there was no telling what might happen.
Wasn’t that the very same monster that had slashed the train conductor earlier?
“Why did it grow so big?”
Mu Li’s jaw dropped wide enough to fit an egg.
Yet retreating was out of the question. Exchanging wary glances, the group tightened their vigilance and prepared for battle.
Upon entering, a bone-chilling cold washed over them.
Lifting their gaze, they saw that the entire platform was packed with passengers, but their eyes were vacant, their complexions ashen, completely devoid of life.
Recognizing them from the documents he had read, Feng Yi said, “These are all passengers who mistakenly boarded the ghost train.”
Yet now, every single one of them was dead.
“Where are their souls? Why are there only bodies?” Mu Li activated his skill.
A gloomy and terrifying voice echoed through the space:
“The guests have arrived. Please let them in.”
The passengers shifted aside, clearing a path.
Sitting on the platform was the mortician. Retaining his stiff expression, he watched the ghost-entwined teenager with keen interest, as if looking at some rare treasure.
Mu Li felt a creep-crawly sensation prickle up his scalp.
Lying beside the mortician’s feet was the long-unseen train conductor. Since Feng Yi’s stamina had run out, the control over him had also been lifted. Yet he remained slashed open and completely immobile.
Ghost Mother was wandering among the passengers, grabbing one person after another to consume their souls before moving on to her next target. She had returned to her original appearance, but with one difference: her ghostly aura was now far denser.
The mortician spoke up: “I heard from the train conductor that you disrupted the train’s operation?”
“Did you create the ghost train? Are you the one making the passengers die one by one at the hands of ghosts?” Mu Li did not make a move right away.
With so many monsters gathered here, and every passenger killed by the ghost train present, taking down this single mortician among all those manipulated corpses required caution.
The players needed to wait for an opportunity.
The mortician let out a raspy, eerie chuckle: “Of course not. I do not have power of that scale. I merely found them a good train conductor. That child is about to be born, and he is hungry, very, very hungry.”
With that, he looked toward Ghost Mother with an air of eager anticipation.
Ghost Mother continued consuming the passengers’ souls. With every ghost she devoured, the resentment lingering around the child grew a fraction thicker.
The black mist faintly intertwined with the muffled, agonizing cries of an infant.
“Could it be you are actually using evil ghosts to feed that child?”
The mortician flashed the teenager an eerie smile:
“Aren’t you doing the same? A child raised on evil ghosts.”