Su Bai drove to a tech park where all kinds of companies were located. Huo Kun showed him where to park and then they went into a building. It seemed that Huo Kun was pretty confident.

According to Su Bai’s observation, Huo Kun must have enhanced his metaphysical skills. But, unlike Fatty’s Taoism, Huo Kun was gloomy and must have been practicing sorcery involving ghosts or something, like those Onmyojies[1] in Japan. Such “heresy” was deposed in traditional culture, therefore it was not as well-known as Taoism or Buddhism.

Huo Kun took out a compass and followed its indication. They went up the escapeway, got to the second floor, then took a turn and kept going.

It was late in the night, no one was in the building, everywhere was dark except that the green light by the exit was still on. It felt deserted. If it was a hospital or a school, it would be ever scarier.

Su Bai took out a cigarette and put it in his mouth, but hesitated when he took out the lighter. He just kept the cigarette between his lips but didn’t light it up.

Their footsteps sounded clear in the corridor and echoed in the area. Su Bai thought about muffling his footsteps, but gave it up when he saw Huo Kun walk casually in his leather shoes.

Finally, Huo Kun stopped in front of the washroom. His eyes were glittering with blue light ass if they were burning with ghost fire. He looked inside the washroom and signaled Su Bai that the one they were looking for was right here.

Su Bai stepped aside. He was here as a backup help, and he was not going to win more contribution since it was Huo Kun’s assignment in the first place. Besides, he was not an expert of ghosts, so he’d better stay out of the way.

Besides the urinals there was a man in black hoodie. He was curling up with his arms around his knees and trembling heavily as if he was terrified by something.

It seemed that he had known what he was going to face.

Huo Kun went in while Su Bai stopped by the door. Was that poor guy the murderer?

Well, that wasn’t very surprising.

He who attacked an one-year-old child and a waitress would definitely not be a hero, but… what was that smell? A faint fragrance?

Huo Kun stood before that man. The man slowly raised up his head. His face was covered in tears but his look was gloomy and hysteric. Suddenly he squealed harshly!

Huo Kun’s compass shone brightly, flew up and hit the man heavily. His scream was cut off. He fell down with his bones cracking. Soon he was lying there with his eyes rolling up and blood foam running out of his mouth. Apparently he was dying.

But Su Bai noticed that the fragrance was getting stronger and stronger, like a cake baked in an oven. That was unusual.

Just when he was hesitating whether he should talk to Huo Kun, he suddenly felt something sweet in his throat. He began to cough, and then when he moved his hand from his mouth, there was blood in his palm.

Huo Kun turned around, full of suspicion. But soon he was coughing too and it was getting worse. He crouched down. There was an obvious painful look on his face.

The air… It was poisoned!

Su Bai suddenly stepped back and leaned against the sink. His throat and chest were still burning but at least he could still hold up. Huo Kun must be too close to the source that he was much worse than Su Bai.

The man struggled up and took out a toy gun with his hands shaking terribly.

That was weird.

Huo Kun was a very capable audience fulfilling this reality task for extra favorability, and the target wasn’t tough. But now, the easy job was going out of control.

Huo Kun’s eyes were widely open with rage, but blood was running down from the corners of his eyes. Apparently the poison had gone deeply into his blood and viscus.

“Cough…” The man coughed out pieces of flesh. That was his broken viscus. Huo Kun had apparently destroyed his upper body. But it seemed that he was the winner after all.

Because…

… That ghost kid was still out there, but Huo Kun was already down.

“Virus Xir25. I cultivated it. There’s more than traditional virus in it, but also human’s living spirit. That’s what assures its terrible liveness in a moment so it can silently spread out and kill everyone in the area.

“This is my masterpiece. I am a genius to mix science with ghosts!

“You stupid nigger!

“I don’t know why you want me dead, but you can ever kill a genius like me!”

The man’s gun pointed at Huo Kun and he pulled the trigger.

“Bang! Bang! Bang!”

Three bullets went though HUo Kun’s head in a line, leaving three holes in his face.

And Huo Kun’s scents disappeared instantly.

Su Bai’s breath accelerated. Suddenly he understood why the Dreadful Radio sent for Huo Kun instead of him to finish this reality task, even though he was already on the site. This murderer was not just a ghost-keeper, but more like a Frankenstein! No wonder the Dreadful Radio chose Huo Kun!

But obviously… Huo Kun was killed because he was too arrogant and underestimated his enemy.

Su Bai felt absurd. Audiences, as far as Su Bai knew, could only be killed by another audience. But now an ordinary person had successfully murdered Huo Kun who had completed so many tasks all by himself!

That was something Su Bai could never imagine.

From somewhere in the distance there came a little boy capering. He was wearing a red dress over a girl’s swimming suit and carrying a schoolbag. His figure was flickering because he was not human but a ghost.

The little boy came into the toilet and wormed into the man’s body.

Immediately the man was wrapped in a mass of black air. And from his nostril and ears there was black air running out. His face turned purplish blue.

Then…

He stood up.

His bones were cracking, but he managed to stand up like a dying flame burst into raging fire when added in gasoline.

The man licked the blood on his lips, turned around and looked at Su Bai who was leaning against the sink. Step by step, he approached.

Su Bai’s hands dropped and he slipped onto the clod tile floor. His hands were so weak that he even couldn’t pull out his shotgun.

The man lifted his pistol and aimed at Su Bai:

“You’re with the government, aren’t you? A secret department in the government? Humph, of course, there’s always a secret department in the government.” The man talked, expecting no answer, “You should stop struggling. Actually I’m really surprised. Xir25 is strong enough to kill an elephant, but you both survived…

“Well, he’s dead now.

“And you… will be the next.”

The pistol was pointing to Su Bai’s head, but the man’s eyes glazed when he saw that a large pool of blood was appearing under Su Bai, and it was expanding quickly.

Su Bai’s scent faded away, but then it suddenly boiled up when it hit the bottom. This time, it was filthy and evil and filled with curses.

His zombie mode was finally switched over!

Su Bai was smiling but deep down he was scared.

He was so closed to follow Huo Kun into death!

Luckily, when he realized that Huo Kun was poisoned too, he dropped both wrists on the glass edge of the sink to cut his arteries. He was so weak that he had to use his own weight to cut his wrists, thank god it worked.

With his blood running out, he felt much easier, because the poison inside his blood was drained as well.

Without blood, zombie mode couldn’t last long, and Su Bai would still die. But he wouldn’t worry about that, because their was a ghost-attached human right in front of him, and a dead body that was still warm.

It had been such a long time since the last time he drank fresh blood that he actually missed the taste…

FOOTNOTES:

[1] Onmyojies: Onmyoji is a Japanese title that literally means a master of Yin and Yang. Usually an Onmyoji is a sorcerer who knows astrology and divination and has the power to control ghosts.