Chapter 224: We Are the sc*m Game!
An Que and the gang stood in the open space in front of the abandoned factory, where over a hundred people could fit comfortably. Everyone was holding black boxes filled with tools, most designed specifically for hunting evil ghosts.
Of course, they had tools for dealing with living folks too, and they worked pretty well—because those tools were called pistols.
An Que was a big shot, so getting a few pistols wasn’t a big deal. He had some during the surprise attack on Zhao Mingyue and Bai Yu at the police station basement; it just turned out that Bai Yu sent them flying with her bl**d threads before they could do much good.
Not all Gatekeepers had guns, just a tiny fraction did, and they generally wouldn’t use them lightly.
In this world, they couldn’t go around shooting randomly; it might end poorly for them, leading to attention from the official organizations or even military intervention.
At this moment, An Que raised his hand, signaling everyone to stop.
Something felt off.
“Desire, are you sure there’s an Evil God here?”
“Definitely, I’m very sure.” The voice of Desire rang in his mind, full of impatience. “That little guy is just ahead waiting for me. You better move quickly; don’t waste my time.”
“Okay, but it’s not time yet.”
An Que didn’t budge. He suddenly stopped and waved his hand, prompting the surrounding Gatekeepers to stand apart, forming a nearly impenetrable defense.
When facing the nearby dark grove, everyone noticed shadows flitting through the trees—definitely a substantial number.
“Since you’re here, why not step out?” An Que squinted, feeling a powerful presence rise beside him; it was a rather strong evil spirit.
As the vice president and a Gatekeeper, An Que’s strength was unquestionable, boasting at least two evil spirits within him.
He had the most ghosts around, and the string of Buddha beads he held had one ghost in each bead, with the deepest colored ones representing the Red Clothes. A closer look revealed at least seven pure black beads among them.
“Oh dear, Chairman An actually cares about us little characters.” A masked figure in black emerged from the trees, their leader wearing a vicious mask that gleamed faintly in the moonlight.
The masked figure stepped forward, followed by dozens of black-clad companions.
There were only thirty people from the Ghost Domain; they relied on their numbers, with nearly everyone having a Red-clothed ghost. In terms of individual strength, they were far superior to the Gatekeepers.
“Number Two, since you know I’m leading today, why do you still dare to stand before me?” An Que’s expression didn’t change. His demeanor was naturally non-threatening, sporting a bald head and a white coat, but the way he said that line gave off a surprisingly fierce vibe.
“Have you forgotten what happened back then?”
Number Two, hidden behind a mask, grinned. “You still dare to bring up the past? Do you want me to expose your dirty little secrets to your subordinates, let them know how their vice president sold out his teammates and his master?”
“I’ll never forget the day you killed my daughter. You might not understand that feeling, being a man without children, but that’s fine. Killing you will still be my revenge.” Number Two raised his hand, and his thirty black-masked figures advanced at once, each accompanied by a Red-clothed ghost. The ones at the front were particularly bizarre.
Towering over three meters, their bodies looked like they’d been stretched, leading to an extremely uncoordinated appearance—stick-thin limbs and a flattened body.
The Red-clothed ghosts had only a few splotches of red bl**d on them; the rest was entirely replaced by black, radiating an aura of ominous power. The wisps of black smoke were not from Desire, but rather a twisted manifestation of pain.
A Gatekeeper noticed that his own evil ghost, seeing those seven tall, gaunt Red-clothed spirits, suddenly felt a fierce wave of cowardice.
To put it nicely, it was called ‘battle fright’; to say it bluntly, they were terrified.
If it weren’t for the bindings placed on them, these timid ghosts would have run away a long time ago.
What kind of Red-clothed spirit could make a ghost tremble in fear from a hundred meters away without even engaging in combat?
Moreover, two ominous black clouds floated ominously above the Ghost Domain’s heads.
Being seasoned Gatekeepers, they knew those clouds represented the true forms of the evil spirits.
Despite their number disadvantage, they had significantly invested in this encounter by bringing thirty people. An Que’s expression didn’t change as he said, “You’re spreading falsehoods; your daughter’s d*ath is a result of your own choices. If you hadn’t made those mistakes, aligning yourself with evil, your daughter would still be alive today.”
“Such lofty excuses.” Number Two’s bloodshot eyes stared hard at An Que. “My affairs have nothing to do with my daughter; she never meddled in our business. It was you who kidnapped her from school to threaten me. Let me ask you, is that tactic something you learned during your years of piety?”
“Are you a man or not?”
“If there’s a problem, let’s face it head-on. If you beat me, do whatever you want with me.”
“But you must never threaten me with the life of a ten-year-old girl.”
“Don’t you find that ridiculous? Over here, controlling evil spirits to possess my daughter’s body, and over there, shouting about justice and righteousness, what kind of Buddhist virtues are those? Isn’t it disgusting?”
“Didn’t you just say that I stand with evil?”
“Bah!” Number Two shoved his mask up, spat on the ground, and pushed it back down.
“Are we the evil ones?”
“We’re trying to change this sick world!”
“And what about you? Are you Gatekeepers clean?”
“Using evil spirits to possess someone’s new bride on their wedding day, oppressing families of competitors, turning people’s daughters into spirits right in front of them, and using ghosts to coerce others using your high-interest loans under the guise of Gatekeepers, forcing them to jump off buildings.”
“And colluding with officials abusing ancestral ghost-controlling techniques to act as your shield. Want to annex someone’s project? Just perform rituals on their ancestors’ graves to threaten the villagers.”
“Let me think… just the other night, some of you gathered for a little fun, controlling a class of twenty-five girls at a dance academy to throw a party in the studio? I believe the oldest among them was just seventeen!”
“Afterwards, when they called the police, what did they find? Every officer was one of you.”
“You guys sure cleaned up well, blocking the cameras and tidying the scene. You even used little spirits to hypnotize them so they couldn’t provide evidence.”
“There are far too many things to list; I could spend an entire night talking about what you have done.”
“Got any dignity?”
“You took the ghost-controlling techniques passed down from your ancestors and used them for these disgusting acts?”
“Ridiculous!”
Number Two’s voice boomed; there was no silence from the Gatekeepers because they couldn’t keep up with his furious tirade, which was loud enough to establish absolute dominance in volume.
What’s more, most of what he said was true; once some Gatekeepers were triggered, they started to rebut without logic, realizing that even their own words didn’t hold water.
Not all Gatekeepers were like that; some who had nothing to do with such acts chose silence.
They knew deep down that what Number Two said was accurate; some of their peers were indeed doing such things.
There was no way they could say that doing these things was right.
But they couldn’t distance themselves from it; being here meant they were all Gatekeepers together.
“What face do you have to accuse me of standing with evil?”
“You will only bring suffering to the world, while we aim to end that suffering!”
An Que didn’t respond to him any longer, whispering, “Leave three groups to hold them off. Just hold them—remaining one group, lure the Evil God out of the factory!”
“Yes!”
The orders were passed swiftly, and the Gatekeepers moved quickly; in groups of twenty-five, three groups charged forward, either releasing evil spirits or drawing weapons as they went straight for the Ghost Domain.
An Que didn’t rush into the factory just yet; it wasn’t the right time.
First, he needed to draw Qian Mu out, then find a way to exhaust her. Once she was worn down enough, he would let Desire take her on.
Then, it would all depend on how Desire performed; if she was too strong, he would have to step in after she severely injured Qian Mu. If Desire couldn’t compete, he would intervene to make the odds more even, and at the last moment, he would take down Desire.
No matter what, his goal was simple: k*ll Desire and seriously wound Qian Mu.
That way, he could maximize his benefits.
He had a way to erase Qian Mu’s will, but doing that would severely injure her, making it a challenge to get her out later. He’d have to contend with the Ghost Domain, and number one hadn’t shown himself yet, not to mention that old coot, Chairman Chen.
Those two would definitely try to pounce at the last moment, no doubt waiting to reap benefits from the sidelines.
So timing was critical; he needed to control Qian Mu long enough to absorb as much of Desire’s power as possible to recover. That way, he hoped to break the deadlock.
Getting Qian Mu out wouldn’t be an issue afterward; with her, both the Ghost Domain and the Gatekeepers would be a piece of cake.
Since those two old codgers wanted to play the third wheel, let them fall flat on their faces!
At that moment, Desire was unaware of An Que’s plans and was impatiently urging him to find trouble with Qian Mu in the factory.
To this, An Que internally responded, “No, no rush. Let my people expend her strength first; when the Evil God is weakened enough, you can strike and devour her. After all, my people’s lives aren’t worth much. Their d*ath is better than getting you hurt, right? I really don’t want to see you hurt.”
One sentence sent Desire floating with joy, and she immediately answered, “Okay, okay, I knew you understood me best.”
“Of course.”
The Gatekeeper group had arrived at the factory’s doorway. Four people formed a line, two to the left and two to the right, pulling the factory doors open with a heavy tug. As the doors swung wide, four Red-clothed spirits rushed in first, while the others followed closely, working in perfect harmony.
However, the first step proved problematic.
Instead of scattering as expected, the four Red-clothed spirits inexplicably froze in place. Only after they all charged inside did they realize two of them had been pierced through by huge, thick bl**d threads, and the other two had daggers nailed into their heads.
They looked up, and what they saw next would haunt them for life.
A dragon-girl leisurely reclined with her leg crossed, resting her elbow on the armrest and her hand cradling her chin. Surrounding her, six girls with eerie smiles stood on either side—some with their arms crossed arrogantly, some tossing daggers in hand, and others leisurely cleaning their weapons.
One girl even cradled a terrified head, contemplating with a surgical kn*fe in hand where to strike next.
Upon seeing the Gatekeepers, all twelve girls simultaneously halted their actions, their smiles only widening, as if they had spotted lambs blissfully jumping into the wolf’s den.
Remarkably, these dozen girls were all bright and youthful, yet standing in the dim moonlight, their cruel expressions, along with the bone-chilling aura emanating from them, gave the Gatekeepers a striking impression; it felt like they had stepped halfway into an abyss.
These girls were demons from that very abyss.
To put it bluntly, faced with the thirty masked figures and thirty Red-clothed spirits from the Ghost Domain outside, they never experienced such a sense of despair. Compared to this, even the Ghost Domain folks seemed much more “friendly.”
“Oh my, tonight is quite the lively one, isn’t it?”
Qian Mian casually tossed the head aside and took a few steps forward. “I seem to see some familiar faces. What’s this? Your boss failed? Wasn’t he supposed to recruit me?”
“You’re the Gatekeepers, right? There’s also an organization outside called… Ghost Domain?”
“How fortunate! Three forces gathered here.”
“You, who exactly are you?” The leader of the Gatekeeper group trembled slightly at the finger he pointed.
“We?” Qian Mian tilted her head, feigning contemplation.
“We’re also an organization, though we aren’t terribly united. It’s called… the sc*m Game.”
As soon as Qian Mian’s words landed, her smile turned wicked, and with a shnikt, the head of the Gatekeeper leader was already airborne while his body comically tumbled forward.
The Gatekeepers, like startled birds, scattered in an instant, only to discover the leader’s neck had been ensnared by a thin thread without them realizing.
Without even a proper face-off, more than twenty lives had already begun to feel the suffocating grip of fear.
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