Chapter 9: Only 6 People Survived

Wei Yanchi left the group of floating spirits, his movements so light that not even the corner of his clothes brushed against the resentful ghosts.

He returned to Xie De's side and whispered, "The skeletal frames of these workers aren't large. I estimate they are only fifteen or sixteen years old, not yet adults. They probably entered the factory right after compulsory education. This boss is employing child labor."

Employing child labor, docking wages, corruption, nepotism, forced overtime. This boss was truly guilty of the most heinous crimes.

That supervisor just now really wasn't wrong. This place really was like a high school. The workers were all minors, and puppy love was forbidden?

But this boss had already committed so many evil deeds, why forbid puppy love? Could it really be out of consideration for these workers? Or was the boss actually trying to prevent the workers from banding together for comfort?

That reason was too far-fetched.

"At fifteen or sixteen, apart from regular high school, they could also be attending vocational high schools. Especially private vocational schools, which often cooperate with these factories. On the surface, it's letting students come in to learn skills, but in reality, it's exploiting them to do manual labor, and the wages given to them aren't even one-third of a regular worker's."

Hu Wei spoke icily.

Wei Yanchi thought carefully.

"So this factory actually has a partnership with some school. Could forbidding puppy love be the school's rule?"

"However, what we currently know is that in this place, there are six missing workers, and they are all related to the boss. Who knows what connection there is between them, or what exactly is the story behind this?"

The two analyzed the situation at length. Xie De silently listened to their conversation, feeling like an idiot.

So complicated. Turns out you need to use your brain.

Hu Wei continued.

"There's another point. We don't know where the dormitories of those six missing people are, and whether that dried flower has any direct connection to them. Furthermore, I can't figure something out. Since these six people are the boss's relatives and friends, their status in this factory should be relatively high. So why were they the exact six who went missing? Boss, why do this?"

There were too many questions at once. Wei Yanchi lowered his head and remained silent.

"Perhaps it wasn't the boss's doing," Xie De spoke up. Thinking of the fragmented plot given by Gibberish at the beginning, he offered a hint, his voice still magnetic and hoarse.

"People have legs, actively disappearing isn't entirely unexpected either."

Wei Yanchi suddenly looked up at Xie De, "Actively disappearing?"

Their thinking had fallen into a blind spot, assuming the boss was the chief culprit, without considering that the workers might have resisted.

Hu Wei was momentarily bewildered.

"So missing doesn't mean dead? Are those six people still alive?"

Don't ask him that.

Xie De felt the chill brought by the surrounding floating spirits and the bloody smell of the person who just died, his heartbeat uncontrollably speeding up again.

The two people in front of him were still staring straight at him.

Uh, why are they looking at him? They aren't really expecting him to give an answer, are they?

Xie De made a wild guess, blurting out a ridiculous answer that even he didn't believe.

"Maybe only six people are alive."

Because the factory was full of ghosts, and people only become ghosts after they die, right? With so many floating spirits, the number of dead people was probably enough to fill an entire factory. Of course, there was a 50% chance this was just the setting of the scenario, but this was already the most plausible among Xie De's implausible guesses.

As soon as his voice fell.

The eyes of the two big shots widened slightly as they looked around, deep in thought.

The ghosts around them were all earth-bound spirits, repeating what they did in life. You didn't even need to look closely to see that there was someone at every single workstation.

If this wasn't just the background setting of the instance, or rather, if the scenario’s setting was built upon this group of floating spirits, then there might really only be six living people in this entire factory!

Gibberish was shocked.

"Host, I didn't expect you to have such a huge imagination, you actually guessed it right."

Xie De: ............

Wei Yanchi, however, showed no surprise in his eyes. After all, from his very first glance at Mr. 39, he knew Mr. 39 was by no means an ordinary person. So it was completely normal for him to be a bit formidable, right?

"Perhaps this is the truth. I'll go find clues to prove it. See you later." Wei Yanchi whispered.

In the blink of an eye, Wei Yanchi vanished into the darkness like a phantom, just as elusive as when he first appeared.

Gibberish was full of ambition.

"Since we have the protagonist carrying us, we can also carry out our revenge plan! Let's go, Host, bring the big shot Hu Wei, and start the counterattack plan."

Xie De grumbled internally.

It's clearly her carrying us.

............

The climate here was humid, and moss grew everywhere. Moving a vase revealed woodlice scurrying about in the damp dirt beneath.

In the factory canteen, rotting food emitted waves of stench.

A headless ghost wandered around, laughing shrilly.

"Have you seen my head?"

Li Luohan's palms were covered in cold sweat. He hid under the dining table, not daring to make a sound.

Waiting until the headless ghost wandered away, he breathed a sigh of relief. Crawling out from under the table, he touched the treasure in his pocket, a greedy smile squeezing out of his eyes.

Bang, bang.

A sound came from the doorway. Li Luohan looked up and saw Hu Wei standing there expressionlessly, her gaze like she was looking at a dead person.

Li Luohan was startled, but looking closer, he found it was only Hu Wei alone. He sneered.

"What, have you been abandoned by them?"

Hu Wei treated his words like wind passing her ear. What she returned was naturally also a sneer, tinged with contempt.

Seeing this made Li Luohan's heart flare with anger, but behind him, the figure of the headless ghost began to appear again.

Li Luohan's heart tightened, and he quickly ran towards the door.

Hu Wei didn't stop him, she just stood on the left side of the corridor watching silently. Seeing Li Luohan panic and run to the right, she calmly locked the canteen door, shutting the headless ghost inside but also blocking Li Luohan's escape route back.

At first, Li Luohan just thought Hu Wei was acting bafflingly, until he saw a red spark in the shadows. The mysterious and dangerous man leaned against the wall, casually swinging a long stick in his hand.

It was him!

He guessed their plan in a second: they were here for revenge!

Li Luohan stopped in his tracks, warily looking the man up and down. Feeling uneasy but putting up a brave front, he scoffed.

"You don't think a long stick is enough to kill me? Just a newbie, you don't even have any items! How dare you block your grandpa's way, get lost."

In the corridor behind him, Hu Wei also walked over. The headless ghost's screams scratched against the canteen windows, echoing all the way over and piercing their eardrums.

It made both Li Luohan and Xie De shudder internally.

Li Luohan gritted his teeth and reached to take out the item rewarded from his previous scenario, a revolver. It only had five bullets. Using one meant one less forever. But looking at the current situation, it seemed he had no choice but to use it.

However, before he could pull out the gun.

Gibberish’s dramatic and icy voice sounded.

"I sentence you to death."

In just an instant, a voltage exceeding 36 volts passed directly through Li Luohan's heart.

Without even a scream, completely defenseless, Li Luohan died suddenly. With a smack, he fell stiffly to the ground.

The surrounding lights were dim and yellow, and the place where Xie De stood was too much of a blind spot, so no one could clearly see how he had killed the man.

Hu Wei was distracted for just a moment, and then she saw Li Luohan dead with his eyes wide open, while Xie De absentmindedly flicked the ash from the cigarette in his hand.