"Hehehe, this one's almost done too. Next, let's trim away your extra branches and leaves."
The gardener looked over the work before him with satisfaction. It was a woman's corpse with its ears and fingers cut off, dressed in an Elegant Mountain Manor employee uniform.
Then he turned his head, his gaze roaming over Zhao Qian as he studied her, seemingly considering how to turn her into a proper potted plant.
Zhao Qian had already cried herself into exhaustion. Watching him trim the corpse no longer seemed quite so terrifying. After all, once fear reached its peak, all that remained was numbness.
Yet now, a violent shudder ran through her, and her body began trembling even harder. Wherever the gardener's gaze landed on her body, she felt as though he had snipped her there. The horror inside her swelled again.
"N-no... don't... please don't!"
The gardener approached with a pair of shears as long as an adult's forearm. The cold metal slid down Zhao Qian's arm to her fingers.
The shears slowly closed, their sharp edges cutting into her fair, tender skin. Zhao Qian's mouth opened wide, short, rapid gasps escaping her lips. Sweat and tears mingled on her deathly pale face. She was almost fainting with fear.
Snip!
The gardener only clipped off the tip of a fingernail, but Zhao Qian screamed as though she had gone mad. "Aah-"
"Aaaaaah!!!"
"Ah..."
Her voice went from shrill to hoarse, as though she had screamed her throat raw.
"Heh heh, hahaha, hahahahaha!" At the sight, the gardener burst into crazed laughter. He stroked Zhao Qian's long black hair with one hand, then leaned in to take a deep, covetous sniff.
"Don't be afraid. I'll take it one step at a time. First your nails, then your fingers."
Jiang Chen reached the spot across the lake where Zhang Lu and her companion had said Zhao Qian had disappeared.
It was an empty clearing. There really was nothing there.
"A ghost wall?"
He gathered his demonic power, and wisps of black mist appeared before his eyes. Rows of bizarre potted plants materialized in his field of vision. A wooden stake stood in the middle of each pot, with a corpse tied to it, legs pressed together and arms spread wide in a grotesque pose.
Without any light, they really did look a little like ornamental trees at first glance.
In front of the cluster of "potted plants," a middle-aged gardener held a large pair of shears, trimming the fingernails of a girl on the verge of a mental breakdown. Hoarse screams escaped her throat.
"Zhao Qian..." Jiang Chen's expression darkened. He rose onto his toes and crept closer.
He had only taken a few steps when the gardener seemed to notice something and suddenly turned his head. Yet all he saw were his own potted creations. There was nothing suspicious.
"Hehe, I'm imagining things." The gardener turned back and continued his work.
What he failed to see was a young man behind one of the "potted plants," his arms and legs spread wide, perfectly concealed.
I can use these potted plants, Jiang Chen murmured inwardly.
An ordinary person would never have entertained such a crazy idea. After all, those so-called "potted plants" were horrifying corpses!
He picked up one of the "potted plants" and slowly moved closer.
Jiang Chen had only taken five or six steps when the gardener turned his head again in confusion. Yet once more, all he saw were his own potted plants.
"What's going on? I keep feeling like there's something behind me."
The gardener felt puzzled. Ghost qi +15.
He looked around a few times but found nothing, so he turned back and resumed trimming Zhao Qian's nails. By now, he had reached her seventh fingernail.
Jiang Chen lifted the corpse and kept moving forward. To save her, he needed to approach this ghost without making a sound.
As he moved, he silently chanted.
Demon transformation-Te Chu Shi!
Ding! Randomly selected divine ability: Great Strength Bull Demon Fist.
Snip... snip...
The gardener finally finished trimming all ten fingernails. He gave Zhao Qian a faint smile, took hold of one of her fingers, and slowly positioned the shears around it.
The touch of the icy blade sent a prickling chill across Zhao Qian's scalp. She desperately tried to pull her hand back, but she was tied up and could not break free.
"Don't... please, don't..."
Just then, the gardener felt a sudden surge of dread. He immediately turned his head, but all he saw were his own potted plants.
"What the hell? Why am I suddenly feeling scared? Has something really set its sights on me?"
The Gardening Ghost felt nervous. Ghost qi +25.
This time, he inspected them carefully and even counted them. The number was right. Every potted plant was one he had painstakingly crafted, and nothing else had slipped in among them.
Nothing's wrong. Maybe I'm being paranoid. Thinking this, the gardener had just turned back when he suddenly noticed a detail. A chilling dread surged through him, making every hair on his body stand on end.
"If I remember right, I put all the potted plants far away. How did that one get here?!"
The gardener had been focused on the number and appearance of the potted plants. Only as he turned away did he realize that, at some point, one of them had moved to within a meter of his back.
The Gardening Ghost felt his hair stand on end. Ghost qi +50.
The gardener hurriedly spun around. This time, his eyes widened even further. A potted plant with its limbs spread wide was practically pressed against his back. More importantly, he had never seen this one before.
This wasn't his potted plant!
"What the hell are you?!" The gardener jolted with fright.
Jiang Chen grinned. Without wasting words, he roared, "Great Strength Bull Demon Fist!"
He slammed a fist forward.
The gardener only had time to raise his shears to block.
The fist struck the shears.
Boom-
The terrifying force hit like a heavy truck. The gardener's body twisted grotesquely, doubling over like a shrimp. But it didn't end there. Jiang Chen drove his fist downward, smashing the gardener's entire body into the concrete.
With a thunderous crash, the gardener's chest was pulverized into bloody mush.
Ding! Gardening Ghost (vicious ghost) killed. Ghost qi +99.
He hadn't gained much ghost qi from this encounter, but Jiang Chen had mainly come to save someone, so he didn't feel particularly disappointed.
He checked Zhao Qian. She had suffered no serious physical injuries. Her nails had merely been clipped, and the blades had left a few bloody scratches on her hand, with faint traces of ghost qi lingering over them.
He reached out and sent demonic power into her body, easily dispelling the ghost qi.
But her expression remained vacant. She had clearly been badly frightened. When Jiang Chen took her hand, her body trembled several times in terror, as though she was utterly afraid.
"Zhao Qian, are you okay? Do you still recognize me?" Jiang Chen waved a hand in front of her eyes, worried that the girl had been frightened out of her mind.
She stared blankly for four or five minutes before finally coming back to her senses and bursting into tears with a wail.
"Jiang Chen! You saved me! It's dead, right? It's dead, isn't it? It was a demon! Thank you, Jiang Chen... sob..."
Jiang Chen nodded. If she could cry, she was probably all right. He picked up the shears and cut her bonds. Zhao Qian immediately collapsed, but he caught her.
"Don't be afraid. Let's head over there first. Our classmates are all waiting."
Before you continue