Serial Player
Chapter 883 - 541: Bait and Shark (2)

Chapter 883: Chapter 541: Bait and Shark (2)

The middle-aged man staggered out of the workshop, and in Zhao Jiu’s perspective, the Black Fog enveloping him grew denser.

The Chang Ghost was about to appear, and Zhao Jiu was ready to intervene at any moment.

Avoiding the gazes of the other workers, he quietly followed behind the middle-aged man.

By now, Zhao Jiu had somewhat deduced the cause of the Chang Ghost’s manifestation.

According to what the workers had just said, after the employee went missing, he somehow ended up in the cleaning pool for unknown reasons, perhaps due to the similarity of his body shape with the mannequins’, or maybe he was pinned down by the mannequins above. The workers didn’t notice him and continued to press the mannequins into the water. Despite his sudden struggles or attempts to save himself, he didn’t catch the workers’ attention. He was eventually drowned in the cleaning pool and only discovered the next day.

Resentment was inevitable: had just one worker noticed the movements beneath the cleaning pool, he wouldn’t have died—especially not at the hands of his own colleagues.

Thus, his resentment soared to the heavens, turning into a new Ghost Eel. He himself transformed into an evil spirit, intent on killing those workers who directly or indirectly caused his death. This was his revenge.

However, there was one peculiar point... Why did he turn into a Chang Ghost, of all types of evil spirits? A Chang Ghost should help kill others in the same way they were killed, right? He shouldn’t have turned into a Chang Ghost but a vengeful spirit instead.

Zhao Jiu found this strange, but with the Chang Ghost about to emerge, he didn’t have time to think too much. All that could wait until after the rescue. Perhaps he could negotiate with the ghost, if it was rational, just like the ghost who had taken care of his elderly mother before.

Zhao Jiu stealthily followed the middle-aged man to the first-floor lounge. Although the factory was somewhat eerie, it had good amenities. There was a special lounge with a sofa, a television, and even a bookshelf against a wall.

Thanks to his equipment’s Effect, Zhao Jiu stood less than three meters behind the middle-aged man without him noticing a thing.

Upon entering the lounge, the middle-aged man turned his head to survey the surroundings as if he sensed something.

Zhao Jiu wasn’t worried; he took a step with his left foot, executed the art of Shrinking into inches, and silently moved behind the sofa in the lounge.

The middle-aged man, thinking there was nobody around, started fiddling with the bookshelf. He pulled on a certain book, and the shelf opened like a door.

A hidden staircase behind the bookshelf was revealed, and the middle-aged man, flashlight in hand, proceeded to descend.

Zhao Jiu’s interest was piqued; this factory was hiding a secret door? His paper effigies had not detected any hidden passageways here before.

Could the emergence of the Chang Ghost be related to the factory’s secret?

Seeing the middle-aged man walking down the dark stairs, Zhao Jiu hesitated for a moment before following. There had to be some secrets in the factory unknown to others, but the Chang Ghost was indeed harming people. He would deal with the Chang Ghost first, then investigate slowly afterward.

Thereupon, Zhao Jiu took an infrared night vision device from his backpack, put it on his face, and descended the staircase.

The staircase was long, and Zhao Jiu estimated that there were probably two or three underground levels beneath the factory.

Especially when Zhao Jiu reached the bottom of the stairs, lights around him came on, and there was an extremely oppressive atmosphere.

At the same time, Zhao Jiu also smelled a faint scent of blood and formaldehyde.

Meanwhile, the middle-aged man had disappeared without a trace.

Zhao Jiu felt a sense of unease and took off the night-vision goggles.

He observed the surroundings; the secretive basement was spacious, with shadows moving in the depths and several rooms on either side.

Zhao Jiu arrived outside a room and saw a bed inside, along with chains embedded in the wall. The shackles of the chains had hardened black spots on them. There were also several bloody handprints on the wall, left by people who had once been confined here, frantically trying to escape.

With a flicker of spatial fluctuation in her hand, she took out the short flag from her waist and continued forward. In another room, she saw a similar setup and some surgical equipment.

As she cautiously moved on, she saw the naked body of a woman. She sat in the chair inside the room as if she were alive. However, there was a horrifying cut on her neck, as if her head had been chopped off and then sewn back on. Meanwhile, the middle-aged man was standing beside the female corpse, stroking her cheek.

The next second, the middle-aged man turned his head and smiled at Zhao Jiu outside the door.

Zhao Jiu’s face turned somewhat pale, and she felt an urge to vomit. Without any attempt to hide, she ran quickly towards the stairwell. She already knew what had happened.

Why were there women’s clothes in the staff dormitory when there were no female staff? Why did chang ghosts appear anomalously? Why were the employees’ luggage prepared neatly, as if ready to leave at any moment...

But by the time the chang ghost had lured her to Ruhua Village, it was already too late; she had no way out.

Suddenly, the sound of several metal doors slamming shut came from the staircase in the hidden passage.

Several thick metal doors sealed off all the exit routes. At the same time, the entire underground space lit up.

The middle-aged man previously entangled by the chang ghost emerged from the room, his body casting a black ghostly shadow, the very chang ghost. The ghost swayed and then entered the body of the female corpse, which then opened lifeless eyes as if revived.

"Little girl, welcome to our rest room," the middle-aged man said, looking at Zhao Jiu’s panicked face. His gaze swept over her slender legs wrapped in jeans, and he couldn’t help but smirk menacingly, "Have you picked out your room yet?"

In the depths of the basement, several people walked over. One of them said with regret, "It’s a pity she hasn’t used the food from Ruhua Village. Otherwise, we could have captured her earlier."

"The same," another person responded with a laugh. Their eyes maliciously appraised the girl and added, "Too bad, her eyes won’t be spared."

"It doesn’t matter, she will be very happy," the middle-aged man smirked, his complexion no longer pale as it had been when the ghost was upon him.

"I... just wanted to save you," Zhao Jiu said, her face turning pale, realizing she was surrounded. She had intended to rescue others but ended up being driven to a dead end by the very person she wanted to rescue.

"I know, you’re a kind-hearted girl, wanting to save people possessed by evil spirits," the middle-aged man slowly closed in on Zhao Jiu. "But... I just love to watch you kind-hearted girls weeping under me."

The middle-aged man wasn’t attracting players for the first time. He had collaborated with the chang ghost and had lured players here several times before.

And those lured players, some ended up in these rooms, turning into their playthings.

Others were mutilated, their limbs severed, put on a train, and sold off as players.

The middle-aged man enjoyed seeing those girls full of righteousness being pressed under him by the very person they wanted to save.

Their disbelieving stares and the painful wails gave him an indescribable pleasure.

"Truly profane and disgusting," yet, a strange female voice rang out in the underground space.

A girl with long hair, dressed in a black gown, suddenly appeared beside Zhao Jiu. She looked at the equally stunned middle-aged man and said coldly.

"Then I shall pronounce you all sentenced to death!"