Gao Shi said in a low voice, “I have a way to provoke the ghost to appear, but it might be a bit dangerous.”
Yin Ling patted his chest. “No problem, Brother Gao, go ahead and provoke it!”
Reassured, Gao Shi nodded and addressed the void, “Jiao Hu—or should I call you Hu Jingzhe?”
As soon as he finished speaking, the silent room suddenly became noisy, with wind rising from nowhere.
The three including Yin Ling vigilantly protected Gao Shi in the middle, while Ying Bujie stayed closely by Gao Shi’s side.
“You changed your name, surname, and appearance to come here to investigate the cause of your brother Hu Yuishui’s death, right?”
The wind grew stronger, resembling a howl or the cry of someone who died unjustly.
“Hu Yuishui accidentally discovered that the factory was using illegal additives, was found out by Zhou Corporation’s people, and was secretly killed. Before dying, Hu Yuishui left you some information that convinced you his death was not an accident.”
“The notice you received stated that Hu Yuishui died due to a factory safety accident, so you joined the safety management department and actively went to the factory to piece together the truth from workers.”
The wind was like knives, making people’s faces ache.
“Eventually, you also discovered the factory’s secret.”
“So you also died.”
The wind reached its peak, something roaring toward Gao Shi.
“Found it!”
Ghost Eye’s eyes fixed, as the bandages on Yin Ling’s arm fell away layer by layer, revealing extremely complex black patterns on his arm.
Where the yin wind passed, tables and chairs toppled, bottles and plates shattered.
“Not good! He’s lost control!”
Yin Ling’s golden pupils grew brighter, like two full moons. The horns on his head began to grow, his hands formed claws, and with one swipe, he tore away a piece of yin energy.
Ghost Eye disappeared into the void, breaking through the illusions formed by the ghost shadow, searching for the ghost’s true form.
Gao Shi stood in the raging wind, his face somewhat pale, sharp pain stimulating his brain.
But his voice remained steady, without a hint of pain. “You collected evidence to condemn Zhou Corporation, didn’t you?”
“You wanted your colleagues to know the truth of that year, so whenever the yin energy was at its peak, you would become the ‘ghost’ mentioned by your colleagues.”
Gao Shi analyzed as if talking to himself.
“Your resentment is heavy, but at first you seemed very weak, not only able to appear when the yin energy was strongest, but your warnings to colleagues could only be made at night.”
“Why? Is there something affecting you?”
“Influence… suppression…”
Gao Shi’s lowered eyes suddenly opened wide.
“Let’s go! His body is in the team leader’s room!”
With Gao Shi’s voice, the ghost shadow’s form expanded to its peak, enveloping the entire building. The thick darkness completely isolated the building from the outside world.
He swallowed Zhou Corporation into his belly, placing it in the ghost domain he had formed.
So, colleagues on night duty looking outside could only see a mass of black fog.
Withstanding the ghost shadow’s attack, the group rushed toward the team leader’s office.
Gao Shi’s body emitted a faint golden light, his face increasingly pale.
He clenched his teeth to avoid making uncontrollable groans.
At this moment, his body suddenly felt lighter.
Ying Bujie took most of Gao Shi’s burden upon himself, then something was stuffed into his mouth.
Sweet, grape flavored.
Ying Bujie had stuffed a grape-flavored candy into his mouth.
Even in such a critical situation, Gao Shi’s mind went blank for a moment.
He never thought there would be a day when Ying Bujie would feed him.
They finally burst into the team leader’s office.
Most of the religious statues on the desk had already split open, and even the intact ones had cracks.
The smiling corners of the Buddha statues split, filled with ghostly energy.
Only the incense in the room grew heavier, almost becoming tangible.
“Brother Gao! Where is his body?!”
Where is it?
[…Team leader was still renovating his office.]
[…Later, when the team leader checked the surveillance footage, he found that during the time I sneaked in, the monitor coincidentally went fuzzy with static.]
[I thought the strangest thing was how that idiot team leader could reach the position of team leader. I heard he’s been promoted now?]
[The room still had incense burning, the smell was too strong…]
[This office looked spacious from the outside, but inside it’s a bit cramped, giving a strange feeling.]
Gao Shi pointed at the wall with the bagua mirror hanging on it.
“He’s in the wall.”
Yin Ling completely unwrapped the bandage on his right arm. “Alright.”
His slender arm began to swell, the black tattoos moving like living creatures.
“BOOM—!!!”
The wall made a tremendous noise, cracking inch by inch under the strain.
A large hole appeared in the middle of the wall.
A foul stench poured out.
Along with the stench came a decomposing corpse.
The ghost shadow—Jiao Hu—lunged toward his own body.
Gao Shi’s pupils contracted. “Taoist Ying!”
Ying Bujie responded immediately, his jade-like hand forming a loose grip in the air, and the entire floor fell silent.
Expressionless, he grabbed the ethereal ghost energy and yin energy as if clutching black silk. Under the incredulous gazes of Yin Ling and Ghost Eye, he gradually closed his grip until it was roughly the size of a fist.
Ying Bujie’s lips moved slightly, as if speaking, but no one could hear what he was saying.
Gao Shi crouched down to examine the corpse. The body was about 1.75 meters tall and completely naked.
The ghost shadow’s first reaction upon seeing the corpse was to lunge toward it.
What was he concerned about?
His former physical body? Or did the corpse still hide some secret?
Gao Shi’s canine tooth gently scraped against the candy, the sweet grape flavor slowly spreading.
All the colleagues who had encountered the ghost were trapped on this floor. Jiao Hu wanted everyone to know about the evil deeds of the Zhou family.
The body was naked.
He had collected evidence to condemn Zhou Corporation.
Gao Shi closed his eyes, applied slight pressure, and the candy made a crisp “crack” sound.
“Found it.”
Gao Shi’s hand reached toward the corpse’s abdomen.
The black shadow in Ying Bujie’s hand, which had been trembling and weakly struggling, suddenly calmed down.
The shadow changed its previous resistance, as if discussing something with Ying Bujie.
Ying Bujie released his hand.
The black shadow floated to its former body and cut open the corpse’s abdomen.
An object covered in blood and filth, its original form indistinguishable, slowly rose up. The outer plastic bags peeled away layer by layer, finally revealing a USB drive inside.
The USB drive floated gently into Gao Shi’s palm.
This was the evidence the shadow had tried desperately to send out.
Evidence for which the two Hu brothers had died one after another.
Evidence to condemn the Zhou family.
The black shadow, as if having fulfilled all its wishes, voluntarily returned to Ying Bujie’s palm.
Ying Bujie seemed to be communicating something with the shadow. After a moment, he turned to look at Gao Shi.
“Do you want to see?”
“What?”
“Jiao Hu’s memories from when he was alive.”
***
Hu Yuishui and Hu Jingzhe were brothers.
Hu Yuishui was five years older than his younger brother. When he was seventeen, their parents passed away, and since then, the brothers had depended on each other to survive.
His younger brother was smart.
He often told people this.
His brother’s grades had never fallen out of the top three in his grade. Hu Yuishui thought, even if he himself wasn’t academically gifted, he should at least support his brother through school and not let him drop out.
So at seventeen, he started working outside, supporting his brother from middle school through high school.
Fortunately, his brother was determined. At eighteen, he was admitted to a prestigious national university.
The day his brother received the acceptance letter, Hu Yuishui was so happy that he bought two cartons of cigarettes and distributed them among his factory friends.
“My brother got into college! A key university!”
His brother said, “Brother, I can study hard in college, earn scholarships, and apply for student loans. You don’t need to work so hard anymore.”
Hu Yuishui was exhausted, appearing much older than his peers.
Hu Yuishui verbally agreed, saying “okay, okay,” but in his heart, he didn’t want his brother to be ridiculed by classmates.
He still remembered when his brother was thirteen, wearing patched school uniform pants, being mocked and teased by the school bullies, crying all the way home.
Yet when he got home, his brother still smiled and said he had returned and had a very happy day.
So he had to work more—even more.
He heard that Zhou Corporation paid well, even though the work was exhausting, so he joined Zhou Corporation.
The work at Zhou was indeed tiring, requiring high-intensity continuous work for twelve hours.
He didn’t want to take time off to rest.
Sometimes, to earn more money, he would cover for colleagues for a while. Everyone called him the Iron Man.
But ultimately, he wasn’t really made of iron.
One day, he was so tired he couldn’t stand it and fell asleep while standing.
Was it two seconds? Or five?
He was pulled into the machine.
His arm was gone.
He was sent to the hospital, and the factory said it was his fault, so they could only compensate 50,000 yuan.
50,000? What a joke!
He wasn’t satisfied but didn’t think about going through court proceedings because he wanted more.
He knew that for such accidents, compensation through legal channels would be less, while private settlements often paid more. He wanted to demand even more.
This private hospital was so profit-driven that even the nurses were sycophantic. Seeing that he was just an ordinary worker, they didn’t pay much attention to him, which made it convenient for him to sneak out.
He wanted to make a scene at the factory.
It was deep in the night at that time.
He had originally just wanted to see the factory environment, how his co-workers viewed the incident, and how to maximize his benefits from the situation. But at the factory’s back door, he saw a large truck.
Two drivers were chatting.
“They’re running low on materials over there.”
“Can’t help it—it’s selling well. We can only take from here for now.”
Instinctively feeling something was wrong, he quietly climbed into the truck’s compartment and followed them.
Perhaps just wanting to get more compensation, or perhaps vaguely sensing something amiss, he followed them, thus brewing a tragedy.
He discovered a completely substandard shadow factory producing meatballs. These meatballs used entirely different ingredients from those in their regular factory yet bore identical packaging, all branded as “Ease of Mind Meatballs.”
One side was the real profit-making production, while the other was just a facade to pass inspections.
These inferior meatballs were made from meat fibers left on large bones—barely classifiable as meat—plus additives and adhesives. The heavy artificial flavoring covered up all deficiencies.
Because of his brother’s expertise, he discovered something even more frightening: the so-called “adhesive” was harmful to the human body with long-term consumption.
He took photos and sent them to his brother.
But he ultimately couldn’t escape.
His corpse was put into a machine, ground up, became factory waste, and was transported to a landfill, disappearing without a trace.
This was the truth Jiao Hu had uncovered.
When Jiao Hu received the terrible news, he believed—based on the blurry photos his brother had sent him—that his brother’s death was no accident.
He changed his name, underwent plastic surgery, and using his relevant university degree, joined Zhou Corporation’s safety management department after graduation. He continuously investigated factories, all to find the one from his brother’s photos.
Eventually, he found it.
He secretly collected evidence until the company’s upper management discovered his unusual behavior.
He swallowed the USB drive. He knew they wanted to get their hands on his evidence and destroy it.
He refused to let them have their way.
Later, as he was dying, the Sales Department team leader smiled sycophantically.
“Don’t worry, I’ll handle him.”
“Good, thank you for your hard work. The previous worker named Hu wasn’t handled properly. The factory was haunted for a long time afterward, eventually shutting down for a month until someone was brought in to deal with it.”
Later, he was walled in, with a bagua mirror at his brow and a peach wood sword at his chest.
His corpse and resentment were sealed in cement, fermenting madly, waiting for the day to break free.
…
“Why is the Zhou Corporation building sealed off?”
“Haven’t you heard? They found a corpse inside!”
“My God, they say it was walled in.”
“Did you hear about the Zhou Corporation’s Ease of Mind Meatballs?”
“Yes, yes, damn those heartless bastards, how could they sell such things!”
“I heard all the Zhou Corporation executives were taken away, one after another like a string of ants. Some tried to run but were caught on the spot.”
“This time, Zhou Corporation is finished.”
The once-bustling Zhou Corporation had now become a ghost building—silent and empty.
The standee at the entrance featuring the popular star Shelley Ye was now worn out, its edges yellowed, carrying an indescribable air of decay.
People gathered below, watching the collapse of a giant corporation.
In the crowd, there was a young woman looking at the departing police cars, crying uncontrollably.
Seven days later, Zhou Corporation was convicted.
Those involved in murder cases received sentences ranging from death penalty to imprisonment of over ten years.
Those involved in the Ease of Mind Meatballs case, from the chairman down to more than twenty staff members, received sentences ranging from death penalty to imprisonment of over ten years, with fines totaling 89,554,566 yuan.
Meanwhile, Gao Shi’s team emerging from the building found themselves completely confused.
“What happened? How did three days just pass??!” Yin Ling stared at the date in disbelief, with an expression that questioned his entire existence.
Xuan Yu had dark circles under his eyes. “You were inside for three days. I… I can’t go on, so tired…”
Having maintained the great formation for three days, Xuan Yu’s head tilted as he fell into deep sleep.
Chang Yang frantically scratched his head and let out a miserable cry, “My game event! It’s over!”
Gao Shi took out his phone and called Gao Gusheng, but it was hung up. Two seconds later, he received a text message.
[Dad!!! You finally came out!!!]
The multiple exclamation marks showed how excited his silly son was. The tone made it seem like Sun Wukong had finally emerged from under the Five Elements Mountain.
[Dad, wait for me, I’m in class now, I’ll be out right away!!!]
Relieved to see his son was fine, Gao Shi replied, [It’s okay, finish your class first, then call me.]
[Okay!!!]
Viewing Jiao Hu’s memories in the building had somehow made three days pass, yet his stomach wasn’t particularly hungry—truly a novel experience.
Ying Bujie followed beside Gao Shi, head lowered.
Only then did Gao Shi remember, “Taoist Ying, are you hungry? Let’s go get something to eat.”
Ying Bujie hesitated, nodding then shaking his head.
He said softly, “I’m sorry.”
“I didn’t know it would take so long.”
Gao Shi smiled, “I chose whether to watch or not. How could I blame you?”
Ying Bujie looked much more relaxed. “I’ve forgotten many things. Some… I’m not proficient enough at yet.”
“It’s alright.” Gao Shi entered the car and opened his wrist device. “Take your time. You’ll remember eventually.”
Ying Bujie’s condition was probably not ordinary amnesia, but that was fine. Ying Bujie had helped him tremendously. Once Kong Miao came out of seclusion, he would ask Kong Miao about methods to help Ying Bujie recover his memories and find his missing spirit awareness and olfactory abilities.
“Taoist Master, what would you like to eat…”
Gao Shi’s hand suddenly froze mid-swipe.
[Star has detected 10,987 entries related to Lele. Would you like to view them now?]
Gao Shi opened the top entry, and what greeted his eyes was:
[Sisters! Found that ugly freak who’s desperately clinging to Brother Qin Shi!]
The image below was unmistakably a photo of Gao Gusheng before his haircut.
##
Kayak e ML itu jiwa dan roh nya menyebar ya. Hingga membuat dia amnesia.