Zhang Wenbo's expression flickered uncertainly.
He had closed the door to trap the living man before him among a pile of corpses, then wait for him to discover that his only companion was dead too.
But when the man locked the door himself, Zhang Wenbo vaguely felt he had lost control of the situation.
Why did he lock the door?
Was he planning to screw me in the ass?
The thought made Zhang Wenbo take two involuntary steps back.
The Low-Level Corpse Ghost felt a chill in his backside. Ghost Qi +5.
Jiang Chen looked at the doctor.
The man probably hadn't lied earlier. He really had witnessed the Morgue attendant's death. His only lie was that he hadn't escaped that night-he had become one of these corpses!
"Interesting."
Jiang Chen had been about to attack, but after seeing the system notification, he patted the doctor's shoulder and gave him an approving look.
This was the first ghost he had met that volunteered Ghost Qi like this.
Zhang Wenbo grew even more terrified.
The way he's looking at me... is that intense admiration?
We're both men. What the hell are you getting at?
Ghost Qi +9!
That was already the maximum amount of Ghost Qi a resentment-level ghost could provide.
Jiang Chen turned to survey the Morgue. It was colder here than in the corridor outside. Corpses lay on the beds beneath white sheets, though three beds still had their sheets but no bodies.
"What's with those three beds?" Jiang Chen asked.
Zhang Wenbo looked over and deliberately widened his eyes. "Impossible! After those bodies disappeared, no one dared touch their beds. There should be nine empty beds here!"
He backed up several steps until his back pressed against the wall, then said in a trembling voice, "They... they've come back!"
"Come back?" Jiang Chen muttered, suddenly striding forward. "Good. Since they dared come back, not one of them is getting away this time."
Those ferocious words left even Zhang Wenbo dumbfounded.
Ghost Qi +6. Ghost Qi +4. ...
Several notifications sounded in succession. Apparently, the things lying here had also been stunned by Jiang Chen's words.
Jiang Chen lifted a white sheet. Beneath it lay a middle-aged man with sunken eyes and a deathly pale face. He must have been dead for several days. His eyes were tightly shut, but the corners of his mouth curved upward eerily, forming something that wasn't quite a smile.
Normally, a dead person's muscles lost their strength, making such an expression impossible. The sight was deeply bizarre.
Smack! Smack!
Two hard slaps landed on the middle-aged man's face, and the curve of his lips nearly collapsed.
Ghost Qi +8.
"Buddy, you awake yet?" Jiang Chen called.
The middle-aged man gritted his teeth and opened his eyes. "You're not afraid of me?" he asked ominously.
"What are you talking about? We're all corpses here. What's there to be afraid of?" Jiang Chen pointed at an empty bed nearby. "That's my bed. Today's the seventh day after my death. I just came back to life."
The middle-aged man: "???"
"But you, buddy, are really strange." Jiang Chen stared at him, clicking his tongue in wonder.
"What's strange about me?" The middle-aged man froze.
"How many days have you been dead?"
"Four. Why?"
"That explains it. Normally, a corpse can only rise on the seventh day. It's only been four for you. Something must be wrong with your corpse!" Jiang Chen looked utterly serious.
Under their white sheets, the mouths of the other corpses lying nearby twitched in unison.
We're already fucking corpses. What else could possibly go wrong?
Ghost Qi +4. Ghost Qi...
But outsiders saw things more clearly than those involved. Hearing this, the middle-aged man grew serious too. "Master, what do you mean?"
"The soul's return on the seventh day is a law of nature. Coming back early won't just hurt your descendants' prospects-it could even affect your reincarnation."
The middle-aged man looked thoughtful. He had heard that saying too: the seventh night was when the soul returned.
"Master, how do I fix this?" A trace of anxiety appeared on his face.
"Easy." Jiang Chen rummaged through the bag he had brought and took out a sharp knife as long as his forearm. He had snatched it from the disfigured ghost, and it was a Ghost Artifact.
"When I get to work, don't resist. The blade goes in clean and comes out red. Stay dead for another three days, then let your soul return when it's time. Understand?" Jiang Chen looked solemn.
Feeling the terrifying resentment emanating from the blade, the middle-aged man's eyes widened. This was definitely something a ghost far stronger than him had used.
He could tell that if this knife stabbed him, his soul would be destroyed on the spot!
Don't resist, my fucking ass!
You're trying to con a ghost here!
Ghost Qi +9.
The middle-aged man finally caught on. Seeing the sharp knife thrust toward him, his expression turned vicious, and he prepared to strike.
But Jiang Chen was already close to him. Caught off guard by the sudden attack, a mere resentment-level corpse ghost had no chance to dodge.
Shhk!
The knife pierced straight through the middle-aged man's heart, and Jiang Chen gave it a vicious twist. His methods were utterly brutal.
Ding! Low-Level Corpse Ghost (resentment) killed. Ghost Qi +9!
Jiang Chen's eyes lit up.
His base strength really was enough to kill a resentment-level ghost now!
As for whether the ghost was innocent, he had already checked. By concentrating demonic power in his eyes, he could see wisps of black resentment on the middle-aged man. Only ghosts that had killed people looked like that.
Resentment-level ghosts that lingered because of an obsession but had never harmed anyone only carried pale gray resentment.
Ghost Qi...
Notifications kept coming. Zhang Wenbo and the other corpses lying on the racks all looked terrified. He had killed one of their companions that swiftly and decisively?
Jiang Chen took a look. After several waves of notifications, his Ghost Qi had already risen past nine hundred and fifty.
"Not bad. Resentment-level ghosts give an order of magnitude less Ghost Qi than vicious ghosts, but there are so many more of them!"
Excited, he lifted another shroud beside him.
An old man lay beneath it in a strange posture, on his side with his hands and feet gripping the edge of the bed. He seemed to have been trying to climb off, but after witnessing Jiang Chen's brutality, he had chosen to keep playing dead.
Smack! Smack!
Jiang Chen immediately gave him two resounding slaps.
Low-Level Corpse Ghost: Fuck you! Ghost Qi +8.
"Wake up, sir! Come on, wake up!" Jiang Chen shouted while mercilessly slapping him again and again.
Smack, smack, smack!
After more than a dozen slaps, the old man opened his eyes with an agonized expression. Mainly, he feared that if he didn't, this young man would slap his head clean off.
"What do you want?" the old man asked ominously.
"Nothing much. It's past nine, sir. Time to take your sleeping pills and go to bed," Jiang Chen explained.
The old man: ???
You woke me up to take sleeping pills?
You little bastard, you've cornered the market on being a menace!
"You..." The old man had just started to speak when his eyes suddenly widened. He looked down at his chest, where a sharp knife was buried. The young man before him was looking at him, his smile as warm and gentle as ever.
"Sir, I just remembered I forgot the sleeping pills. This is a physical sleep aid. Don't be afraid. Just close your eyes and drift off peacefully."
With Ghost Qi piercing his body, the old man's remaining consciousness grew increasingly hazy. Listening to the young man's voice whispering in his ear like a devil, he sank into death.
Ding! Low-Level Corpse Ghost (resentment) killed. Ghost Qi +9! Ghost Qi +5. ...
Zhang Wenbo wasn't sure if he was imagining it, but a chorus of sharp gasps seemed to fill the Morgue. He was beginning to understand why the man had locked the door. He really had been afraid this bunch of corpses would escape!
Fuck!
How could a living person be this savage?
He had taken five steps through the Morgue and slapped the corpses eighteen times.
Before you continue