Chapter 69 - Mastermo Heard A Lot Of Nonsense Today

"You can even pee?"

"This rascal- Do you want to see me peeing in your mouth?!"

Zhihao wanted to hold his aching head. 

These ghosts seemed to hold great resentment towards the subject of their conversation, but they didn't seem to particularly like each other as well.

Sadly for these small ghosts who thought there was no demon hearing them, there were actually two demons eavesdropping on their conversation. 

Zhihao didn't seem to like their vulgar conversation, but he wanted to listen more. 

Alvi looked at him with an accusing expression and Zhihao defended himself, "I'm looking out for clues!"

It was a lie. He was clearly very interested to listen to the conversation between the two ghosts. Alvi had seen through him, but she didn't say anything any further. 

Why call out people who do not want to be called out?

The ghosts continued their spicy conversation that was bound to get them fighting against each other. 

"You think you can pee in my mouth? Hahahaha... My mouth was ripped apart years ago!"

"At least that was the only thing ripped apart. I would be shocked if we go back in one piece after today's festival"

"I say, we should ditch it and run away."

The ghost smacked the other's head, "Do you want to die?!"

"I'm already dead!"

"..." The ghost was silent for a second, but he had a come back to that, "Do you want to die again?!"

"This- Who the hell are you to threaten me?!"

"You f**ker!! Do you want to see what I'm capable of?!"

"Capable of what? You can't even pee!"

Zhihao sighed as he lost interest in listening anymore. He wasn't the only one who lost interest in listening to their conversation, Kazan had also grown tired of hearing it so he shouted and made sure that the ghosts were aware of his presence.

This demon really liked to show off!

"Keep moving forward! One more word and I'll show what it really means to crave for a second death!"

The ghosts who had been loud and not caring about their surrounding were stunned to a stand still. They looked at demon Kazan with an open mouth. They were already scared to death by the appearance of this demon. They gulped and didn't dare say anything, not even daring to make a single noise as they walked. 

"Alvi, I really don't understand this." Zhihao commented as he stared at the leaving figure of Kazan who was standing amongst the ghosts who were too scared to even stand a few feet close to him.

[What don't you understand?]

[I'm here to help you]

[Just ask]

Zhihao felt it really funny coming from her mouth. When has she ever been ready to tell him what he wanted?

"What is this talk about?"

[That's a really vague question]

[Mind specifying it?]

Zhihao sighed, "Who is the person they are talking about?"

[Some stuff must not be talked about]

[You will know when you come to know]

"..."

She just proved how right he was about her. 

Really useless!

Zhihao was still determined to get answers, "Why are they afraid of demons?"

[Now that, I can answer] Alvi beamed

[They are ghosts, the lowest of the low.]

"Huh? There is a hierarchy in here?"

[Of course there is.]

[The worst is ranked the highest and the least bad creature is ranked as the lowest.]

[Do you want to know how high Taki is ranked?]

"..." Zhihao didn't know if he wanted to know the answer to that, but his silence was taken as a yes and so Alvi continued to tell him. 

[Taki is surprisingly ranked pretty high.]

[Unlike Kazan, Taki is a pure-blood demon]

"Pure-blood?" Zhihao felt like the bot had finally turned helpful. Maybe Alvi had finally taken pity on him. 

[Taki was born a demon because of his pure-blooded demon parents. It is very rare to have pure-blooded demons. They are considered the royalty of this world.]

[The only people how really get to enjoy this high rank.]

"What about Kazen, what type of demon is he?"

[It's Kazan!] Alvi warned. 

[Kazan worked hard to earn his title of a demon, but he is still considered a very low-ranked demon.]

"What do you mean work hard?"

[Do you really want to know the answer to that?]

"..." Every time Alvi asked that, the answer would always manage to leave Zhihao with a bitter taste in his mouth. 

[Kazan fell in love with Taki.]

"Huh?"

[That was his biggest mistake in life.]

"He became a demon because he fell in love with Taki?"

[Indirectly so.]

[He died in a car accident. He was on his way to heaven but at that time, he saw Taki who was roaming around the human world.]

[The angel that was supposed to take him reminded him that Taki was a demon and advised the young soul not to be tempted away by the devil's looks.]

[Kazan fell in love at first sight and in front of the plain angel, the handsome demon looked a lot more tempting.]

"So he purposefully refused the entry to heaven?"

[Not only that]

[He tried to kill the angel that had come to pick him up. He wasn't successful but trying to kill an angel still got him banned from entering heaven]

[He also gained the attention of Taki who had never seen a new formed ghost trying to kill an angel]

[He followed Taki all the way to the netherworld]

"And?"

[And he started his life as a ghost here.]

[He wanted to propose to Taki, but he was a mere ghost at that point. The lowest of the low hitting on the high royalty? How could it lead anywhere?]

[He was shown his place and from then on, he started working hard to gain the title of a demon.]

"You haven't answered my question. What hard work?"

[Have some patience, will you?]

Zhihao shut up. 

[The process to becoming a demon is really simple.]

[You can either kill a demon and gain his title or eat a few humans and become a demon, but both of these options are hard to accomplish.]

[Kazan used the third option to rise up in ranks.]

[He ate a hundred ghosts.]

[This option is the hardest yet the easiest way for a low-ranked ghost to become a demon.]

"..."

[Most ghosts would never want to go through the trouble. Ghosts don't taste that good and with every ghost you devour, you become more crazy. The resentment of the ghosts that you devour start getting stored inside you and becomes your power but it is a double-edged sword that can strike you back at any moment.]

[Kazan is one of the only ghosts to go through with this and end up successful. Some have tried but they couldn't eat more than ten ghosts before the resentment ate them.]

[The risk of failure is high and compared to that, it is just not worth it since even if you succeed and become a demon, you'll be the lowest ranked one.]

"..."

[Why aren't you saying anything?]

"I'm wondering..."

[Wondering about what?]

"Wondering how much of a gossip lover you are, why didn't I notice it before?"

[...]

Alvi was never going to tell him anything ever again!

Zhihao got a lot of questions answered but he was still unsatisfied. 

He could finally understand why Kazan had warned him and said something along the lines of dragging Taki down with him to the dirt. Just what was this demon planning?

"Alvi, is there a way Kazan can take away Taki's title?"

[Hmph~]

[Not taking to you anymore!]

"..."

He might as well try finding out for himself. 

Zhihao followed the group of ghosts that were on their way to the ghost festival. These ghosts had fire lanterns in their hand that they used to light the way. They were clumsy so it was normal that every once in a while a lamp will stumble and fall from their hands, burning the other ghosts. Zhihao didn't know ghosts could burn but today he was made aware that there were a lot of things that could happen and he was unaware of them all. However, this was still a game and was not to be taken seriously. 

It was a bit funny to see them stumble all over and yell at each other every once in a while. They were a bit more calm and silent because of Kazan whom they didn't want to offend. Even if Kazan was a low ranked demon, he was still a demon and that meant he could very well devour them if he wanted. 

Zhihao silently followed them without being found out and they walked for quite a bit of time. The sound coming from the ghost festival could still be heard clearly but it seemed that they were still far away from it. 

Zhihao asked Alvi again about the location of the ghost festival and by then, Alvi had forgotten all about her anger at him. It was impossible for a bot to forget something but Zhihao felt it was lucky for him that she had. 

Instead of avoiding the question this time, Alvi actually gave him an answer. 

[It is in the center of the world]

The answer wasn't exactly precise but it was still something and Zhihao didn't complain about it. 

They were headed for the center and the gateway or tunnel that they had come from was in some desolated corner. 

The more they walked, the more crowded the place became. It would have certainly been a bit pleasant if the crowd was human but as it stood, when Zhihao looked around, all he could see were ghosts. 

If the ghosts were pleasant to look at, it wouldn't have been so bad but all the ghosts had the appearance of how they last died. 

Some died through car accidents and some died through a knife on their chests while some died such a gruesome death that they didn't even have their body pieces intact. 

It was horrible but not so bad to look at or at least that was what Zhihao felt. After seeing the victims of sirens in the last level he played with the Gamemaster, Zhihao felt like nothing could faze him anymore. No matter how unsightly a corpse looked, it would still be better than a woman with a hole in her stomach and her intestines hanging out. 

Everyone was headed the same direction. They were all welcomed to the ghost festival and while some seemed to be happy as they went, some others had an apparent scowl on their face. 

Zhihao had collected a lot of information about a lot of things but the most important question he had in mind still remained unanswered. 

He had no idea what the ghost festival was about and his guesses scared him. After playing T.I.A.D. enough, Mastermo's mind had gotten accustomed to expecting the worst outcomes and this time was no exception. He could only wish his guesses weren't right. 

The group of ghosts that Kazan had mended in with grew bigger and the new ghosts who joined this group were still unaware of the demon among them. They didn't know Kazan was there and they didn't know why the ghosts in this group were silent so they decided to do their usual and make noise. 

Ghosts had this habit of talking too loudly amongst themselves, and becoming a cat without a tongue in front of the higher up demons. 

They were ranting about almost everything as if they didn't care who heard them. Zhihao gained a lot of information from their nonstop blabbering, but the information was really not something he wanted to hear. 

What was he supposed to do with all this nonsensical personal information???

He really felt like banging his head against the tree in front and directly knocking himself out.