A thick and complex Ghost Qi permeated the air, emanating the terrifying presence of at least a dozen resentful ghosts, some even stronger than ordinary ones. This would be the perception of a normal Ghost Keeper, like the young man who had been traveling with Wu Rong.
Garlic and scallion boston lobster, Steamed king crab, Juicy wagyu beef steak, apple slices with pan-fried foie gras…These were the scents Wu Rong detected.The aromas of countless top-tier delicacies mingled together harmoniously, not only retaining their individual fragrances but also enhancing each other to create an overwhelmingly rich bouquet. The person above the elevator had to be not just a gourmet, but a master of stitching — someone deeply knowledgeable about ghosts, with formidable power. He was capable of connecting different parts of ghosts together, preventing them from consuming each other while encouraging their Ghost Qi to blend and turn them into a more terrifying monster.
It was truly no small feat.
“Excuse the interruption.”
As Wu Rong remained silent and the young man shivered, the person on top of the elevator spoke in a pleasant tone, uninvited. The shrill, sharp sound of metal being sliced echoed from above, and it wasn’t just any blade cutting through steel but long, bluish, blood-stained fingernails. These nails, soaked in corpse poison, were far from human—more akin to those of a zombie or some female ghost.
As the gap in the elevator ceiling grew larger, the thick stench of decay became stronger, and the toxic red fungal nails were more prominently displayed before Wu Rong and the young man.
“Look at this, my new manicure,” a lively and sunny male voice chuckled. “Do you like it?”
“Good, very pretty,” the young man replied first, his voice trembling and strained yet trying hard to sound complimentary, almost on the verge of tears: “Very pretty.”
“Oh Yan Hui, your words are always so sweet,” the man continued, his interest evidently waning, “But I wasn’t asking you. I was asking my good friend here. Could you please not interrupt?”
“Sorry,” Yan Hui obediently shut his mouth, giving Wu Rong a helpless look and silently mouthing: Compliment him.
Qin Qing was abnormal, but his way of thinking was unconventional. As long as you flattered him enough to make him happy, he wouldn’t harm you. Even if your flattery wasn’t perfect, as long as you tried, he wouldn’t trouble you too much.
While Yan Hui was silently advising Wu Rong, suddenly, an eyeball fell through the cut in the elevator ceiling. It was a rotting, bloody mess connected by nerve bundles, encasing a murky, thick fluid. The most horrifying part was that the pupil of the eye could change shape like a cat’s, and at that moment, it dilated fully, its ominous black nearly filling the whole eye as it stared malevolently and mockingly at Wu Rong.
“Wu Rong, what do you think of my new cosmetic lens? I spent a long time looking for this,” the man said. This was the eyeball of a ghost general—a very high ranking one, with only a handful of such powerful spirits present in the entirety of the miniature Tiankeng. Indeed, it was something worth a glance from Wu Rong.
But that was it—just a glance. Despite being able to conjure images of various delicious foods, the sheer grotesqueness of the eyeball would rob Wu Rong of any appetite should he get too close, even if it smelled like crispy roasted suckling pig.
“It’s almost time.”
Wu Hong only said one sentence while the eyeball kept emitting seemingly mentally corrupting mutterings like “Do I look good?” and “Am I pretty?”, getting closer and closer. Suddenly, from the shadows behind him, the more terrifying Ghost Dog King burst forth, howling as it devoured the eyeball before landing heavily. The elevator, already in disrepair, plunged downward with the additional weight, causing them to feel a nauseating sense of weightlessness as it crashed to the bottom.
Unquestionably, the elevator was completely destroyed by the fall, but thanks to the massive body of the Ghost Dog King acting as a shock absorber, Wu Rong, and Yan Hui who was coincidentally present, remained unharmed.
However, another person who tried to catch a free ride on the elevator suffered devastating injuries.
“My colored contact lens, my wig, my nails, my new skin, wu wu wu wu, all broken,” he wailed. Men didn’t easily shed tears; it only happens when they’re in the depths of despair. The utterly hopeless mourning could elicit sympathy and pity from almost anyone. After Wu Rong and Yan Hui left the shattered elevator, a broken, battered humanoid struggled tenaciously to crawl out from the rubble. A ghost general’s eyeball was a colored contact lens, a resentful ghost’s long hair was a shoulder-length wig, an amorous ghost’s manicure, a hanged ghost’s scarf, a blood-stained little girl’s hairpin… This attire could have made a stunning appearance at the Ghost Territory Fashion Week, absolutely unrecognizable as a human.
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
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Of course, he didn’t need to, because Qin Qing’s focus was clear as he walked directly towards Wu Rong, not sparing even a glance at Yan Hui.
The live stream paper man captured Qin Qing’s approach towards Wu Rong very clearly, causing viewers from the two separate live stream rooms to buzz with activity, words flew across the screen, yet the chat displays were starkly different.
In Qin Qing’s live stream room, the comments were:
[Host, hurry, do something R-rated!]
[Host, hurry up, start the fight!]
[Since he damaged your ghostly possessions, let him compensate with his own!]
[Daring to mess with a madman’s things, that guy must have a death wish!]
In Wu Rong’s live stream room, there were explanations about how terrifying Qin Qing was, advising and urging Wu Rong to apologize to avoid a real fight, after all, Qin Qing, a renowned Ghost Keeper who grew by nurturing disabled ghosts to becoming one of the top ten strongest Federal Special Police of the Asian Federation, had a life journey more thrilling and tortuous than any fantastical upgrade system story. But more famous than his strength was his unorthodox, psychotic behavior.
Normal Ghost Keepers cherished their lives, but Qin Qing was a complete madman. He didn’t regard his own life as valuable, relishing in bloodshed and fighting like a mad dog. As they say, a barefooted man is not afraid of a man with shoes, and nobody wants to lightly make an enemy of a madman.
Those who had previously made enemies with Qin Qing ended up as decorative pieces.
Their conflict also caught the attention of the bureau and others monitoring their surroundings, with only a little time left in the stipulated period, and nearly all the Federal Special Police had completed their challenges, except for Wu Rong and his two companions. Seeing the conflict, Major General Lu suddenly stood up, clenching his fists and subconsciously wanting to go out. He took a step before remembering that he couldn’t interrupt the assessment once it had started, leaving him momentarily frozen in place.
“Yo, Haiwen is so worried about that kid, huh? What’s his name again, Wu Rong?”
The skinny old man codenamed Chen Xueshou laughed out loud, opened his wrinkled eyes and glanced at the big screen casually, saying breezily: “That kid Qin Qing knows his limits; he won’t get killed. If he can’t even handle this little friction, how is he going to confront the Lantern Ghost King?”
The old man’s tone carried a hint of disdain and dissatisfaction. It was no wonder, as only a few like Major General Lu and Master Kuchan knew the real reason behind Wu Rong’s good treatment. Most others disapproved of having the prestigious Master Ling Yun protect a young man with no notable reputation. After all, this was Master Ling Yun himself—what made Wu Rong worth his personal protection?
Externally, General Lu and others claimed that Fu Qing was key to solving the calamity of the Lantern Ghost King’s passing, and as his only close friend, Wu Rong should be protected. This explanation made some reluctantly accept, while others grew even more discontent. As Chen Xueshou saw it, why bother sending a coddled child to battle? Better to have him stay out of the way at home.
Is facing the five-star Lantern Ghost King something just anyone could do? Ridiculous!
Little did he know, Major General Lu’s worry wasn’t for Wu Rong, but for Qin Qing! Qin Qing daring to provoke Wu Rong seemed insane to Major General Lu! Though Qin Qing had always acted the part of a madman, he was the strongest Federal Special Police agent invited this time. Major General Lu couldn’t just watch him head to his doom!
Just as Major General Lu resolved to end the assessment early rather than let the two clash, Qin Qing finally approached Wu Rong. Unlike what the audience and the leaders imagined, Qin Qing’s look wasn’t mocking or hostile but filled with melancholy and anticipation…
And perhaps a bit of…
Embarrassment?
“I spent exactly three hours and forty-five minutes getting ready to meet you dressed like this.”
Qin Qing stammered, “How is it, do I look good?”
Everyone: ????
Along the way, Yan Hui numbly listened to Qin Qing chattering nonstop beside Wu Rong, like a flamboyant fashionista meeting a stoic straight man. This terrifying fantasy scenario horrified even Yan Hui’s timid soul. It was not until the thick darkness suddenly swallowed up all the light, leaving only a looming bright spot in the distance that he barely recovered.
“We’re almost at the ghost candle.”
Qin Qing became serious: “How long it takes to reach the Ghost Candle depends entirely on our abilities.”
In horror films, travelers lost in deep mountains often see a distant candlelight during the cold, hungry night. Thinking that there’s a house at the light’s source, they rush with all their strength to reach it, only to die exhausted on the way, their cold, pale faces still wearing hopeful smiles.
Touching the Ghost Candle, a manifestation of the Lantern Ghost King, is the ultimate and most challenging test. They had wasted too much time, and now only fifteen minutes remained until the end of the assessment.
“See you soon.”
Qin Qing bade a heartfelt farewell to Wu Rong before stepping into the darkness. The thick, ink-like darkness instantly engulfed his figure.
“I—I’m going too.”
After Qin Qing disappeared, Yan Hui whispered to Wu Rong, his face expressing relief as if finally escaping two maniacs, he then stepped into the darkness.
Now only Wu Rong was left.
What does a Ghost King smell like?
Wu Rong had encountered many Ghost Kings, but few were as fragrant as the Big Ghost. He didn’t know what the five-star ghost king would taste like. Unfortunately, the Ghost Candle in front of him was just an avatar of the real white wax candle, devoid of any scent.
As he thought this, Wu Rong looked distractedly at the faint halo of the Ghost Candle’s light and was about to step into the darkness like Qin Qing and Yan Hui.
But in the next moment, the tiny candlelight, smaller than a soybean, suddenly began to grow larger—or rather, it moved towards Wu Rong!
As the dense darkness faded, the nearly burnt-out white wax appeared before Wu Rong, and the audience in the livestream went utterly wild, while big shots like Major General Lu stared in disbelief.
[This definitely isn’t the real Ghost Candle.]
In the live broadcast, a sensible viewer commented: [The host has probably entered the test now, let’s see if he can distinguish between what’s real and what’s not.]
Yeah, that made sense.
The big shots watching the stream nodded in agreement when they saw this comment. However, Major General Lu thought it wasn’t that simple. Something flashed through his mind, and he was about to voice his thoughts when Director Zhou’s communicator rang frantically before he could speak.
“Director Zhou, we have a problem!”
The special police officer monitoring the ghost candle was drenched in sweat and was frantic: “The ghost candle has disappeared!”
Hearing this, the faces of Director Zhou and his team changed drastically.
The ghost candle disappeared?!
Is this the avatar of the ghost candle?
It looked quite realistic.
In the miniature Tiankeng, Wu Rong carefully examined the small section of the white wax candle before him. Even he couldn’t find any trace of falsehood.
After marveling at how the police were truly capable of creating such a convincing avatar of the white candle, he cautiously drew out the old Miao saber and used the tip of the saber to touch the slightly dirty linen cloth wrapped around the white wax.
The test was to touch the ghost wax itself, so this outer layer of linen-like material should be removed.
Although the piece of linen wasn’t large, Wu Rong could feel a strong, intense Ghost Qi emanating from it, even stronger than the aura around Su Zheng.
Could this be the real test?
Wu Rong thought warily, and cautiously touched the linen with the tip of his knife.
Who would have thought that as soon as he touched the linen, it rapidly slumped and collapsed towards him, spreading out on the ground.
What was going on?
‘Ouch, I fell down,’ a faint childlike voice suddenly rang in Wu Rong’s ears.
‘Yes, you have to kiss and hug me to pass the test! ’
The author has something to say: The Coffin Old Man: Redefining nepotism!
M1zushi: coffin old man in his baby persona is so cuteeee
Like when he was sitting in the Lotus Congregation’s important thing and swinging his legs like a little kid XDD
Now we wait for Momma Ling Yun beat his ass XDDDDD
Cloud Chip: Lights a candle for Coffin Old Man
Editor: Cloud Chip Cake
Reader: lights a candle for Coffin Oldman +1
I won’t light a candle for Old Coffin Man, considering he’s giving that candle so much stress it’s sweating to death. Poor candle.
And now we’re waiting for Fu Qing again. Great.
Thank you for the chapter.
What’s this? Soliciting a kiss and a hug from Wu Rong? Acting clumsy and cutep?