Chapter 73 - 70: Yang Xiao’s Game

Chapter 73: Chapter 70: Yang Xiao’s Game

Jiang Chaosheng glanced up at Yang Xiao.

’A game?’

’What is Yang Xiao up to?’

Jiang Chaosheng had one particular virtue.

He believed in trusting his subordinates.

As long as you were genuinely working for the Taboo Association, he wouldn’t interfere, no matter how bizarre the process seemed. He would simply cooperate.

Who knows how many wage slaves nowadays longed for a boss like that.

Jiang Chaosheng took out a bowl from within his robes.

Suddenly, the sound of a tide roared in everyone’s ears!

They looked around in bewilderment.

Not far from the gates of Black Rose Manor was the sea.

The sound of waves couldn’t possibly travel this far.

So, where was this roaring tide coming from?

The tidal sound grew more violent, and they felt as if they were standing in the middle of a wide, great river.

Suddenly, everyone smelled the scent of river water and earth.

It was the smell of earthy river water after a great storm, the kind that follows a burst levee.

"Urgh..."

Li Xiaole’s mouth suddenly fell open.

A GURGLING sound came from her throat.

Her eyes were wide with terror, her face flushed red.

She couldn’t breathe at all, just as if she were drowning.

She knew this was Mr. Dusk’s method—the way he would save her.

’If my degenerative disease continues to worsen,’ she thought, ’I would have eventually suffocated to death anyway.’

Just like this.

Because her respiratory system would sooner or later have slipped from her control.

Li Xiaole struggled to turn her head and saw her sister, who was also clutching her mouth and nose, her face a mask of terror.

She knew her sister was experiencing the same thing.

Li Xiaole’s eyes darted around.

Everyone was starting to show signs of drowning.

A sudden panic seized Li Xiaole’s heart.

’Could it be... that he wasn’t saving us at all?’

’Did Happy Ghost just trick us all here to perform some kind of terrible ritual?’

’Like a live sacrifice to an Evil God or something?’

’After all, that Happy Ghost didn’t look like a good person in any way!’

Gradually, her consciousness began to fade.

Lying on the ground, she turned her head to look at her sister beside her.

She had already passed out.

Many people present had passed out.

"Sis... sis..."

Li Xiaole strained to say the two words, reaching a hand toward her sister.

She suddenly realized—her hand could move!

It moved freely!

Before the surprise could even register, she vaguely saw a flower.

A bright red Other Shore flower, standing elegantly before her eyes.

She blinked.

She discovered that the entire hall was covered by a turbid, chilling, yellow river.

The yellow water was translucent, almost illusory.

Then, she knew nothing more.

「 ... 」

Li Xiaole was shaken awake.

She groggily opened her eyes to see her sister’s anxious face.

Li Xiaole smiled dazedly.

"Sis, am I still dreaming?"

Her sister was clearly stunned for a moment, then tears welled up in her eyes.

"Xiaole, you’re better! You’re better!"

Li Xiaole’s mind jolted!

She foolishly held out her hands, watching the fair-skinned pair wave in front of her before gently clenching them into fists.

’I’m better?’

’I’m all better?’

Li Xiaole leaped straight up from the floor.

Power. A powerful force she had never felt before!

She suddenly had a strange feeling, as if a new organ had grown inside her head.

With a mere thought from Li Xiaole, her eyes suddenly turned as black as ink!

From her perspective, she could see many things that were normally invisible.

Like thermal imaging or radar, she could see all the living things within the entire manor!

The insects hidden in the Black Rose gardens, the snakes slithering in dark corners, the ants in their burrows...

It wasn’t just her eyes; her other sensory organs were also enhanced beyond human limits!

Just like... the zombies in traditional Xia Kingdom horror movies, with radar installed in their brains!

An instinctive message surfaced in their minds.

Corpse Ghost!

All of them were now Corpse Ghosts, crawled out from the Yellow Springs!

Cast onto the Other Shore, transcending life and death!

"Hehehe, ladies and gentlemen, I trust you’ve all experienced the gift from Mr. Dusk!"

On the stage, Happy Ghost’s voice rang out.

Everyone, including Li Xiaole, turned their gaze toward him.

Their eyes widened in terror!

Before becoming Corpse Ghosts, they only knew that Happy Ghost was a terrifying phantom.

After becoming Corpse Ghosts, the Happy Ghost in their eyes was even more terrifying!

’What kind of monster is this!’

The human souls of all different kinds wailed within his shadow, their overwhelming resentment creating a suffocating pressure that everyone could feel!

They all thought the same thing at that moment.

If Happy Ghost was this terrifying, then what must Mr. Dusk be like?

Some people looked for Mr. Dusk, but they couldn’t find him.

Mr. Dusk had apparently left while they were unconscious.

Yang Xiao shouted excitedly:

"Next, let’s begin the real game!

Hee hee hee, if you succeed in the game, you’ll get to keep this eternal gift forever!

But if you fail... hehehe, your gift will be taken back~

Cheers! Applause!"

Everyone immediately grew serious.

They listened intently to Happy Ghost’s next words.

They clapped nonstop, and some let out ghastly cheers.

Yang Xiao had them all completely tamed.

"Quiet!"

Yang Xiao waved a hand, a sinister smile tugging at his lips, revealing stark white teeth.

"Every one of you has someone you hate, don’t you?"

A Ghost Hand extended from behind Yang Xiao and began to point at people in the crowd.

The Ghost Hand, with its pinky elegantly extended, pointed at an old man.

"You were about to die from your illness, and your son wouldn’t even give you a sip of water.

Hehehe, and you were brutally beaten before being hospitalized?

Your son really deserves to die!"

The old man’s weathered face stiffened, and hatred gradually filled his eyes.

The Ghost Hand, with its pinky elegantly extended, pointed again, this time at the sisters, Li Xiao’an and Li Xiaole.

"Tsk tsk tsk, you poor things.

You were already in such a miserable state, and that perverted landlord still wanted to kick you out of your rented apartment?

I hate perverts who have no respect for contracts!"

The Ghost Hand was like King Yama calling the roll of the dead; every person it pointed to was a death sentence for another.

Yang Xiao withdrew the Ghost Hand and said in a low voice:

"Next is the most important part of the game.

We must work together to kill all those shameless people.

The mission requires you to use the power of a Corpse Ghost, but you cannot leave a single trace.

You cannot be discovered by anyone else, and especially not by the Sheriff.

Those people must leave this world without a sound."

After hearing Yang Xiao’s words, some were eager to try, some had ice-cold eyes, and others clenched their fists.

All of them were pitiful souls.

Before tonight, they were all about to leave this world.

But they had suffered many injustices.

There was the low-level employee who worked himself into a serious illness pulling all-nighters for his company, only to have his multiple requests for sick leave denied.

But his unscrupulous boss threw obstacles in his way, trying to make him quit on his own so he wouldn’t cause trouble for the company.

There was the recent graduate who was scammed out of a large sum of money by a shady agent while looking for a job.

When he became seriously ill and begged the agent to return the money, the agent claimed it had already been given to a "superior" and was being used to process his employment.

And so, the young man lay on his sickbed, waiting hopelessly for death.

There was the man whose wife had an affair as soon as he fell ill.

Not only did she want to abandon him and file for divorce, she also wanted to take his life-saving money!

Before tonight, they were all filled with resentment, plagued by serious illness, and brimming with an aura of death. The only thing separating them from Fierce Ghosts was a lack of Extraordinary Power.

Now it was different. They possessed the power of Corpse Ghosts; they were true vengeful spirits walking the Human World, but with their sanity intact.

They wanted revenge!

Yang Xiao watched them with satisfaction.

The reason for this game was entirely due to the nature of the Cleaner Fish within the Taboo Association.

What is the mission of the Cleaner Fish in the Taboo Association?

To clean up the trash blocking the Taboo Association’s path to glory.

They have to deal with ordinary people, they have to deal with the Sheriff, and they have to deal with the Anomaly Administration Bureau.

Every one of them must have sufficient Skills.

For example, making someone disappear without a trace, or perfectly disposing of a body.

Yang Xiao’s figure flashed. He vanished from the stage and reappeared behind an old man, lightly pinching his chin.

"You are not acting alone. This is a group game.

Next, you must cooperate to kill everyone’s targets."

Yang Xiao suddenly pointed at a young man.

A black shadow materialized into a human form behind the young man, hugging him from behind like a coquettish girl. Yang Xiao’s voice came out of the shadow’s mouth:

"I will be watching you and scoring your performance."

Immediately after, more and more black shadows appeared on the hall’s ceiling, on the tables, and under the sofas.

Yang Xiao’s low voice came from all directions.

"Score high, and you join us, become a Cleaner Fish.

Score low... hehehe, and I’ll eat the useless losers."

Everyone instinctively flinched.