CH 87

(Very Cute)

Edited by Silver Wind 

The White Coat was shocked beyond comparison.

Say, you could have eviscerated everyone with a casual raise of your hand, so why did you run away all of a sudden?

When White Coat witnessed the scene in the testing lab from the surveillance room which was a short distance away, he was so anxious his sweat was on the verge of dripping out.

Where did he go wrong exactly?! 

White Coat was not resigned so he issued another order: “S-1, kill that group of people!”

He clearly gave the control dosage to S-1 when he was previously injecting the other drugs, and under the effects of the control dosage, S-1 had to listen to the commands of the researchers in this base.

Why was it not working?

Did it fail?

White Coat sank into deep contemplation.

He glanced at the monitoring screen again.

The Shen Dongqing being displayed looked weak and frail; the yin energy he had initially condensed had scattered and thinned, while the ghost tattoos and the ghost horns still remained on his face, but he gave the overall impression that he was not difficult to defeat.

According to the written accounts, possessing ghost tattoos and ghost horns meant that he was a millennia-old ghost, he should not be acting like this. 

White Coat’s eyebrows knitted together tightly as he mumbled to himself: “Sure enough, it’s still a failure. It looks like I should just deal with them altogether, and then leave their corpses to slowly research.”

In the end, Shen Dongqing wandered around the entire testing lab once, before he finally chose to shrink behind a testing apparatus, burying his head between his kneecaps like a quail.

The screen on the wall continued to transmit White Coat’s voice nonstop.

Shen Dongqing was slightly irate: “So freaking noisy! I’m not S-1!” 

Peng—

A burst of yin energy rushed over, splitting the screen, which caused a small shower of sparks to burst forth.

The figure of the White Coat on screen warped slightly, and the screen went black after a short beep.

Shen Dongqing lowered his head once more. 

Zhou Wenyan put down the fried chicken piece and walked over. Softening his voice, he asked: “What’s wrong?”

Shen Dongqing stayed silent for a long moment, and his subsequent reply sounded muffled: “I became ugly.”

Initially, he was unaware of the changes in his body, but after he saw his own reflection in Zhou Wenyan’s eyes, he finally understood everything.

That White Coat had injected him with numerous strange substances, which dragged the powers he possessed as a ferocious ghost to the surface. Although he became stronger, he also became nothing like a ghost or a human. 

He did not like his current appearance, and he liked Zhou Wenyan seeing him in this state even less.

“It’s too ugly,” Shen Dongqing shrank backwards, pressing himself against the wall, not daring to look at Zhou Wenyan directly. “Don’t look at me.”

After turning into this state, he did not even have the mood to eat his fried chicken anymore.

Zhou Wenyan’s heart squeezed, feeling like something was lodged in his throat. It took him a long moment before he could say: “You’re not ugly.” 

Shen Dongqing raised his head secretly to peer at him.

Zhou Wenyan rubbed the two protruding ghost horns on his head: “You’re very cute.”

Shen Dongqing: “Re… Really?”

Zhou Wenyan heaved a sigh, “When have I ever lied to you?” 

Shen Dongqing faltered briefly.

In response, Zhou Wenyan promptly reached out to pull his partner into his embrace before he continued to comfort him: “It’s fine. No matter what appearance you take, you will always be my Xiao Dongqing.”

Shen Dongqing’s body stiffened first before it started relaxing. He stretched both his hands out to position it in front of Zhou Wenyan’s face as he said with much dissatisfaction: “My hands became ugly too.”

Lowering his head, Zhou Wenyan could not help but chuckle. 

It was quite ugly.

But compared to the grease and bits of food that was staining his hands, his sharp and pitch-black nails were nothing.

Instead of showing a reaction, Zhou Wenyan held onto Shen Dongqing’s hand as he took out a paper napkin, helping him wipe his hands clean carefully. Then, he continued to hold his hand and bring him out.

Personally, Shen Dongqing felt rather unnatural and he wanted to pull his hand away. “Wouldn’t this scratch you?” Afterall, his nails post ghost transformation were quite sharp. 

Contrary to his expectations, Zhou Wenyan tightened his grip as he said jokingly, “It’s fine. It’s not like you haven’t scratched me before?”

Shen Dongqing seemed to recall something, and his gaze became slightly absent-minded.

When they returned, Wu Jia said in a hesitant manner. “This…”

The changes that Shen Dongqing had undergone were genuinely too large; the traits of a “human” on his body had disappeared for the most part, and he looked like a person who had combined bodies with a ghost. 

If it were not for Zhou Wenyan holding his hand, Wu Jia would not have dared to recognise him.

Shen Dongqing hid behind Zhou Wenyan.

He had always wanted to be human, which was why he learned from the other players so he could be a proper person. For the sake of being human, he had always restrained the powers he possessed as a ferocious ghost inside his body, but everything had taken a turn for the worse because this ghostly appearance was forced onto him.

Zhou Wenyan squeezed Shen Dongqing’s hand as he said in a low voice: “It’s alright.” 

Wu Jia also came to his senses. As an outstanding underling, he was well-versed on how to seek survival. Hence, he quickly said: “Really handsome! Really cool!”

Shen Dongqing’s eyelashes trembled: “Really?”

Wu Jia made a solemn vow, “Yeah, if the conditions did allow for it, I want to become like this too!” He tugged on the Short-haired Woman who was standing beside him, shooting her a desperate gaze, “Isn’t that right?”

The Short-haired Woman reacted a beat slower. However, she could keep up the tempo at least, and she proceeded to put on an exaggerated performance: “Yeah, you’re really handsome oh, I really like this look.” 

Moved by their clumsy performance, Shen Dongqing moved out slowly before he said in a serious tone: “Only Brother Wenyan is allowed to like me, the rest aren’t allowed.”

The Short-haired Woman only felt like her teeth were so sour they were going to fall off.

But what could she do? Single players had no rights.

Seeing that his partner had been appropriately coaxed, Zhou Wenyan started to calculate the debts incurred. 

“Who made you like this?’ Zhou Wenyan asked.

Shen Dongqing raised his hand to point at the screen.

However, after it suffered from a blow, the display had directly black-screened, which meant that the White Coat had also disappeared.

Itbe Qfcsjc’r ujhf rjcx. 

Ca atlr wbwfca, atf fcalgf yjrf rajgafv ab gfnfgyfgjaf klat atf Qtlaf Jbja’r nblmf.

“Llutfra Swfgufcms Zbvf: Cii fzqfglwfcaji ybvlfr jgf vlrqjamtfv, mjggs bea atf mifjclcu bo atf fcalgf yjrf.

“Ccsbcf ktb lr cba j rajoo qfgrbccfi, fzqecuf klatbea fzmfqalbc.”

Vtfc Gbcudlcu wewyifv ab tlwrfio, “Mffir afgglyif.” 

The ghost tattoos on his cheeks were also creeping along his skin, until they were going to cover his whole body.

He did not know what kind of messed-up substances he had ingested either, because once that White Coat spoke, he had the involuntary urge to comply. Even though he was capable of resisting it, it still felt terribly uncomfortable.

Zhou Wenyan did not care about the strange floral patterns on his face at all as he lowered his head to kiss his ghost horn. “Tolerate it for a while.”

Aggrieved, Shen Dongqing exclaimed: “I want to eat him!” 

Shen Dongqing had a good temper for the most part. He would usually limit his bullying to ghosts while he maintained an amicable attitude with humans and got along with them. However, this White Coat was way too loathsome, and it made him want to go against his own standards.

Zhou Wenyan consoled him: “You shouldn’t eat unclean things.”

Shen Dongqing slanted his head as he thought about it. Owing to the fact that the White Coat did not look delicious, he could only give up on that idea.

“Fine…” 

* * *

At the side, Wu Jia could not resist stating: “Please stop focusing on your romantic relationship during a critical juncture!”

With the White Coat initiating the highest emergency mode, all of the ghosts inside the experimental cabins had been released. The entire base was flooded with demons and monsters, the evil winds blew in waves, and the ghosts were wailing while the wolves howled. All in all, it was livelier than an actual party.

As Wu Jia guarded the door, he pasted his talismans on the door ceaselessly. 

The goods provided by the system were of superb quality, but even though that was the case, the yellow talisman would ignite instantaneously once they made contact with the door, and they would burn until there were no ashes left in less than three seconds.

Currently, the only reason why the ghosts have yet to rush in was because of the sheer amount he was using.

Shen Dongqing: “I’ll do it.”

Wu Jia: “Can you withstand them?” 

Shen Dongqing pondered momentarily, “I can try.”

Wu Jia moved aside, but the Short-haired Woman continued to stand there as she asked in a low voice: “Can he do it?”

Ever since they entered the copy, Shen Dongqing had always given the impression that he was not the most reliable; he was more concerned about having good food to eat rather than the clearance, which basically made him the standard model of hugging a big thigh for clearance.

Wu Jia immediately pulled her back. “He can do it.” 

Without the continued interference of the yellow talismans, the demons and ghosts outside became excitable. All of them started banging on the door, causing a burst of evil wind to spill through the cracks of the door, and they were emitting a nauseating odour.

The Short-haired Woman prepared herself to run at any given time.

However, she only saw Shen Dongqing pry open the door loudly without using any props.

There were more than eighty ghosts outside, and even if it did not amount to eighty, there would be a hundred at least. Upon seeing the door open, all of them charged, trying to be the first to enter. At the forefront was a strangely shaped ghost with a ginormous figure, which was formed by a dozen corpses sewn together. With each step it took, the corpses attached would shift like an ocean wave. 

Shen Dongqing took a step backwards seamlessly, “How ugly.”

The giant swung its arm relentlessly, lumbering forward like a mountain of flesh, wanting to tear that insignificant human in front of it into shreds and gobble him.

The Short-haired Woman gasped in shock.

Shen Dongqing did not move in the slightest. 

Mid-charge, the giant suddenly had a vague realisation that something was wrong, but because its body was far too large, it could not kill the brakes at all. Hence, it continued to lurch forward, and then it was kicked out by Shen Dongqing, who was not even at his calves in terms of height.

The giant figure was akin to paper mush as it flew out, back first, leaving a huge crater on the wall upon impact.

Shen Dongqing rubbed the sole of his foot on the ground with some scorn. Then, he raised his eyelids and gave the clustered ghosts a sweeping glance, before he raised his hand and pointed: “All of you stand in order.

“Males on the left, females on the right, and all the ugliest ones go to the back.” 

All of the ghosts were in a stupor.

The White Coat ordered them to clean out the humans here, but when they were confronted with this fearsome-looking human, they could not help but concede to the aura that he was emitting.

With the two commands being mutually contradictory, the ghosts with lesser intelligence were all frozen stiff, and they did not know what to do.

Shen Dongqing hauled up the ghost baby impatiently: “You’re too ugly, go all the way to the back for me!” 

The ghost baby started to wail out of fear. But after Shen Dongqing glared at it, it did not even dare to cry, and crawled all the way back with tears and mucus running.

With one ghost taking the initiative to move, the rest was easier to handle.

The group of malevolent-looking ghosts started to line up honestly, and everything had a clear and good order in a short moment’s work.

The Short-haired Woman was dumbstruck from the sight, “What kind of operation is this?” 

In the previous copies she experienced, the most powerful player she met only managed to tie with the ghosts in a fight, but this person was even better, because he made the ghosts listen to him obediently.

She felt that the world was too fantastical; was this how the big bosses attained their clearance?

The Short-haired Woman threw away the small intentions that she was harbouring in her heart completely. She no longer dared to have any other thoughts, and she devoted herself to hugging their big thighs wholeheartedly.

Once the ghosts were done lining up, they expressed that they had listened and obeyed his command. 

Shen Dongqing pointed at one of the more human-looking ghosts and asked: “Where are those White Coats?”

Compared to the ghosts in the other game copies, the ones here were not the most intelligent, and perhaps this was the difference between being naturally born and being cultivated later.

However, this was more convenient for Shen Dongqing because it allowed him to order these ghosts around.

The female ghost hesitated for a moment before she used a strange noise from her mouth, which sounded like she was sobbing and laughing at the same time. 

But Shen Dongqing understood her. “You can’t help us?”

The female ghost nodded her head lightly.

Because they were created by the researchers in this base, they could listen to the researchers’ command and they were not allowed to do anything that would harm the researchers.

After a moment of silence, Shen Dongqing questioned: “Do they provide ?” 

The ghosts: ???

What kind of godly turn was this?

Their reactions were enough for Shen Dongqing to know that those benefits did not exist. Angrily, he said: “So you’re doing this for nothing?”

The ghosts: … Not really, we usually have food to eat. 

Shen Dongqing: “And what do you eat?”

The ghosts’ eyes drifted briefly.

What do they eat?

It was definitely players. 

Shen Dongqing: “…They actually made you eat such messy things?”

As the aforementioned players, Wu Jia and the Short-haired Woman: Hold on… Is it really okay for you to refer to the players as ‘things’?

Shen Dongqing said with sincere and earnest wishes: “You should stop working here, it’s a black organisation.”

The ghosts exchanged glances with each other. 

It was not up to them to decide if they should work or not ah.

Shen Dongqing: “That’s simple.”

He waved his hand, causing a gust of evil wind to blow past them fiercely. The signs hanging on their ghost bodies fell to the ground with a ripping noise, and like it was raining, the signs quickly formed a small hill.

Once the gust of evil wind passed, the ghosts only felt their bodies lightened as the sensation that they were being controlled disappeared. 

Those with lighter lingering attachments redeemed themselves immediately, transforming into a white ray of light and disappeared from where they originally stood, whereas the ones who remained had comparatively heavier lingering attachments.

Which made sense; the ghosts who were turned into ghosts after death either had lingering attachments in their hearts, or they had suffered from all kinds of torment. Hence, the mouthful of anger that they had been choking back had gone unvented for far too long.

Furthermore, these ghosts looked like they were made by men, which meant that they probably belonged to the latter.

They hated the people in this base. After they were released from their control, they did not even hesitate in the slightest before they immediately became turncoats. 

A ghost with a higher-than-average intelligence quotient stood out, and it used a strange voice to communicate with Shen Dongqing.

Shen Dongqing: “You’re saying that they’re hiding in different places.”

The ghost nodded its head.

All of the people in the base wore white coats, they could not distinguish between them. 

Shen Dongqing thought about it. “Don’t be anxious, we can find them one by one.”

Having said that, he ordered the ghosts to lead the way.

Wu Jia asked in a small voice: “Big boss, what is this ability of yours?”

Shen Dongqing tilted his head to think. “I never had this ability before this, but I don’t know what the White Coat fed me, and then I suddenly obtained it.” 

However, it did not mean much to him.

Initially, he was going to tear a few ghosts apart to scare the other ghosts, but his conditions were even better now because he could directly make them listen to his commands, which saved him some trouble.

He hated using violence the most, mn!

* * * 

If White Coat could hear Shen Dongqing, he would probably throw up his blood.

The drug that he had painstakingly researched was being used by Shen Dongqing, and not only did he not listen to their commands, he was also using it against them at the turn of the head.

Honestly, it was tragic.

The researchers in the bases were hiding in their safe rooms temporarily. Since the walls here were made out of special materials, it was capable of holding back any ghosts. 

Perhaps because the White Coat felt like he had been dealt with a severe blow, he was leaning on a chair with a weak expression.

The person beside him asked: “Director, how did your research go?”

Upon hearing that question, White Coat was so enraged that he was struggling to breathe. He waved his hand powerlessly. “It was a failure.”

The person beside him quickly consoled him. 

“Research has always been a gradual improvement from failure.”

“Success can only be truly attained after gaining experience from accumulated failures.”

“Director is innately talented and intelligent; you will definitely succeed next time.”

Despite being comforted for a period of time, White Coat’s complexion became increasingly ugly. 

It was impossible for him to not feel physical pain.

When the White Coat discovered the abnormality in Player 0432 in the middle of the experiment, where a human body was containing the powers of a ferocious ghost, he felt that he would make an incredible test subject so he invested a large amount of blood capital by using all sorts of precious drug injections to stimulate his ferocious ghost constitution.

He originally thought that he would yield a powerful weapon, but he did not expect that it would be completely useless!

That ferocious ghost only knew how to eat fried chicken! Did it still remember that it was a ghost? 

Once he recalled that scene, White Coat became so angry his entire body started shaking.

Dong—

Knocking suddenly sounded outside the door.

Someone found it strange. “Didn’t all of us enter the safe room?” 

All the researchers in the base had experienced dangerous situations, no one would be stupid enough to open the door.

There was even someone who replied in a relaxed tone: “Our safe room has been tested repeatedly, it’s extremely sturdy. Nothing and no one can breach it.”

Just as their voice landed, a sudden and loud noise came from the door, and the entire safe room proceeded to shake three consecutive times.

The person who was originally relaxed started panicking. “Director…” 

White Coat berated them, “What are you afraid of? This safe room has experienced countless tests…”

Before he could finish his words, there was a loud bang, and a small crack split opened the wall.

It was a sliver of crack at the start, but the split started to become wider like a spider web, until the entire door was directly unhinged from the wall, thus falling to the ground.

White Coat: …… 

The other researchers: ……

Shen Dongqing raised his hands to wave away the dust cloud in front of him before he gave White Coat a slight smile: “Hi—”

The other researchers whispered: “Why do I feel like the Director’s experiment didn’t fail, it’s quite successful, no?”

The person beside him nudged him, indicating that he should shut his mouth. 

The White Coat’s eyes were going to devour him whole.

Yes, it was quite successful, but it did not want to obey him at all, was this still considered a success?

“S-1…” The White Coat tried to control Shen Dongqing.

Shen Dongqing responded by rolling his eyes at him. 

White Coat tried and tried again, but it was to avail. Feeling powerless and frustrated, he shouted: “Release the strongest weapon in the base!”

Before his subordinate could react, someone on the opposing side chortled first.

White Coat glared at the source of noise.

Wu Jia covered his mouth and waved his hand, saying: “I apologise, I really couldn’t help it.” Suppressing his laughter, he asked, “The ‘strongest weapon’ you’re talking about, how many do you have exactly?” 

In one moment he was saying that Shen Dongqing was their strongest weapon, and yet they were pulling out another strongest weapon in the next.

Wasn’t that one too many?

Shen Dongqing blinked his eyes. “Is there a bulk sale?”

White Coat was already at the end of his patience. With a hoarse voice, he exclaimed: “Release it this instant!” 

The other researchers finally came to their senses. They ran over to the control panel, their fingers flying across the surface as they inputted a string of numbers before they pressed a red button.

DI DI DI—

The colour of the safe room went from cold white to red, making it look rather frightening.

Wu Jia shrank back again, even though he was just ridiculing the White Coat a second ago. 

White Coat laughed coldly as he said: “All of you will regret this.”

Had it been under normal circumstances, White Coat would never be this irrational. However, after he suffered a few consecutive and large blows, his anger made his intelligence drop by a few points.

Following his words, the people at the scene heard a breaking noise come from the depths of the base. The surrounding temperature dropped by several degrees, like a malicious beast that had been sleeping was finally released.

An inexplicable gust of heavy wind swept past the corridor, causing the white incandescent lights on the ceiling flicker once before there was a flashing spark which thoroughly extinguished the lights, and the people underneath were plunged into darkness. 

A figure shrouded in block fog walked out of the secret room. It was roughly two-metres tall and it was close to hitting the ceiling. As it was moving, they could perceive that its hands and feet did not belong to a human, since it had the claws of a beast, and there was even a thick and solid chain hanging onto it.

With each and every step it took, the floor trembled once.

In the blink of an eye, it reached the safe room.

“Human, what do you need me to do?” It stared at the White Coat. 

White Coat pointed at them: “Deal with those people, and I will give you your freedom.”

The tall and large figure nodded, causing the chain on its body to rattle, which released a metallic noise.

“Sure.” It turned around slowly, “This is too simple, I will…”

Its voice came to an abrupt halt. 

The tall and large figure fixed its gaze on Shen Dongqing, who was only one-third of its height. The sonorous rattling of its chains immediately rang out, and if anyone had been none the wiser, they would have assumed that it was performing music.

It was shaking.

White Coat: “Why haven’t you acted yet?”

Shen Dongqing raised his head to look at it, slightly confused. 

The humanoid shadow that was wrapped up in fog was shaking like a quail.

Zhou Wenyan seemed to realise something. “It recognises you.”

The humanoid shadow was clearly afraid. After it caught sight of Shen Dongqing, its entire person— ah, no, its entire ghost seemed to become off-kilter.

Shen Dongqing came to the same realisation as well. He asked in a direct manner: “You know me?” 

The humanoid shadow did not utter a single world before it shifted its feet and fled. The speed of its departure was faster than its arrival, almost to the extent where it left afterimages. It disappeared from where it originally stood in an instant, like it was deathly afraid that it would lose its life immediately if it was a step slower.

Just this?

Perplexed, Shen Dongqing tilted his head. “This is your strongest weapon?”

It had arrived with such great momentum, so why did it slink away right after it arrived? Furthermore, it ran away faster than anyone else. 

White Coat was on the verge of puking blood.

Why was this happening again?!

Shen Dongqing asked: “Do you still have more strongest weapons?”

White Coat could not speak. 

Shen Dongqing: “It’s our turn then.”

Once his voice fell, the flock of ghosts pounced, grabbing hold of the researchers and pressing them onto the ground to execute a violent thrashing.

Loud pleas for mercy started to rise and fall in succession within the safe room.

In a short moment’s work, only the White Coat was left standing. 

His expression had already become dim. Why were the ghosts that they researched no longer susceptible to their control? Why did their secret weapon run before it did anything? He had to be dreaming, he was not awake yet…

However, the miserable shrieks that were being issued around him endlessly told the White Coat that this was not a dream.

When he saw Shen Dongqing walking over, White Coat screamed: “Even if you kill me, you can’t leave this world!”

Shen Dongqing was baffled. “Why would I kill you?” He cupped both sides of his face with his fingers and raised them slightly as he revealed a smile. “We’re very friendly.” 

White Coat: …… Like I believe your ghost.

The game was quite balanced in the sense that there would be no existences that went without rivals.

Since the researchers in this base were capable of creating ghosts, they would not possess any personal fighting capabilities. Thus, after they lost control over the ghosts, it was equivalent to a one-sided slaughter on their end.

It was highly likely that White Coat was the only survivor. 

For the sake of creating these ghosts, the researchers had used quite a few torture methods, and now that the time for revenge had arrived, the ghosts would not show them any mercy either.

Shen Dongqing touched the ghost horn on his head. “Let’s have a chat.”

White Coat pretended to be calm. “Have a chat? I refuse to say anything!”

Shen Dongqing glanced over his shoulder. “He’s all yours.” 

Zhou Wenyan walked over with an equally friendly smile hanging on his face.

“Let’s talk about the circumstances surrounding this base.”