Chapter 9

You see, Yu Xing is a person whose behavior is too unpredictable. Zhao Yijiu became alert and took a step back:

"What conditions?"

Seeing Zhao Yijiu's small movements, Yu Xing found it a bit amusing. He didn't care how dirty the broken machine was, bent one leg, and propped the other on the ground, pointing at the knife in the other's hand: "This, can I borrow it to take a look after we're done?"

The handle of the knife faintly pulsed, which was quite unsettling at first glance.

"This..." Zhao Yijiu looked down at it twice, hesitating.

"Relax, just a quick look, a very quick look," Yu Xing clasped his hands together, grinning, "I promise to return it exactly as I got it. I'm just curious... is this a sacrificial item?"

"!" Zhao Yijiu was first startled, then calmed down.

Yes, he had long guessed that Yu Xing was in the know. Knowing about the game test, it was natural that he might also know about the existence of sacrificial items.

"Alright." He agreed, paused, and added, "This is borrowed from someone else, I can't harness its power."

"Normal, you're not a formal player, you can't use it." Yu Xing nodded with his chin, "Do you want to bandage the wound?"

The shoulder pierced by Tang Li was a mess of blood and flesh, just looking at it hurt.

Zhao Yijiu shook his head. The current environment wasn't good, he had no clean bandages, and using his clothes might cause a bacterial infection.

Although it could stop the bleeding, ... he only wore a long-sleeved shirt and didn't want to be half-naked.

Just... just endure it, he had a feeling it would end soon.

Anyway, he wasn't afraid of pain, he was quite used to it.

"Um... you're pretty tough on yourself." Yu Xing sighed, then swung his leg and patted the spot beside him, "Then I'll tell you what happened at this pharmaceutical factory six months ago. Sit!"

"Not sitting? Okay."

...

Six months ago, the boss of Qingyuan Pharmaceutical Factory hanged himself in his office, causing a small stir.

This incident was quickly suppressed and reported as a suicide.

A mundane case, it didn't ignite the public's interest, like a pebble thrown into the sea, not a ripple.

In reality, during the police's covert investigation, this pharmaceutical factory not only sold fake drugs but was also involved in larger gray industries. It had a mysterious raw material supplier, who, upon investigation, was the source of raw materials for many illegal factories.

The boss of Qingyuan Pharmaceutical Factory had long been on the police's radar. The net had been cast for days to lure out the supplier.

But before they could close the net, an accident happened.

Cheng Rui, a high-achieving graduate from Ruibo University's journalism department, entered a web media company after graduation. To dig up a big story and boost his performance, he uncovered Qingyuan Pharmaceutical Factory.

Initially, it was nothing unusual; the factory's secrets would eventually be exposed. But no one expected that after taking photos as evidence, Cheng Rui wouldn't report it but use the photos to blackmail the factory boss.

The factory boss was young, with a weak psychological resilience. Unlike seasoned veterans, he couldn't maneuver, evade, or manage public relations. After being threatened by Cheng Rui, he and his girlfriend, who was also a factory manager, paid a heavy price to get Cheng Rui to keep the secret.

But people are greedy.

Cheng Rui wanted more money and to achieve success in his job. With such a big story in his hands, he found it hard to stay quiet.

So, almost inevitably, he approached the boss again, making threats.

His camera was his eyes, his weapon.

The camera not only held evidence of the factory but also photos of the boss's girlfriend sacrificing her dignity to Cheng Rui the first time.

The boss's girlfriend couldn't bear it, cut her wrists in the bathtub at home, and left a blood-soaked, hate-filled note before dying: "You should gouge out your eyes!"

With the first, came the second.

The girlfriend's death left the boss devastated. Eventually, on a certain day, when Cheng Rui came to the factory to threaten him again, he hanged himself in his office.

A normal person, driven by profit, becomes bold during a crime. But when the profit is gone, the heart, already trembling and riddled with fear, becomes fragile.

When the police realized something was wrong, the leads on Qingyuan Pharmaceutical Factory were already cut off.

To continue tracking the raw material supplier, they had to investigate the reporter who caused the trouble.

But at this moment, another bad news came—Cheng Rui had a car accident on the highway, flipped into a ditch, and died on the spot.

Was this an accident?

Any experienced detective would know it was impossible. The conclusion was that the raw material supplier tampered with Cheng Rui's car to cut off the lead.

In short, the boss, the boss's girlfriend, and Cheng Rui all died because of "evidence."

This is the origin of this simulation test.

...

Hearing Yu Xing clearly recount the secrets from six months ago, Zhao Yijiu was enlightened but even more puzzled about Yu Xing's identity.

This was all internal information, right? Yu Xing looked young... who was he?

And... if Tang Li was the boss, then Tang Yuan... was actually Tang Li's girlfriend, not his sister?

Since he was curious, and this was a good opportunity, he asked directly: "These two people have the same surname by coincidence?"

"Of course not, just like Cheng Rui is called Fang Rui in the test, Tang Li and Tang Yuan are also fake names. I didn't pay much attention to this case before, so I don't remember the boss and his girlfriend's real names, but it doesn't matter." Yu Xing shrugged, with a subtle smile, "Calling each other brother in a couple... should be a kind of kink, right?"

Zhao Yijiu's face was cold: How would I know if it's a kink or not? I'm a lifelong solo, unlike you who looks like a seasoned veteran!

If Yu Xing could hear, he might cry out in injustice—who isn't a lifelong solo!

Fortunately, he couldn't hear.

After venting in his mind, Zhao Yijiu calmed down and thought: "So, the method you mentioned to end the test early is... taking photos? Fang... Cheng Rui is already gone?"

Yu Xing: "Yes, indeed, cheese~"

In the events six months ago, to some extent, all the tragedies extended from Fang Rui—no, Cheng Rui's camera.

And they now had a camera in their hands.

Assistant Hao specifically instructed that the video recording couldn't be interrupted for more than five minutes, which was both a reminder and a mental trap—since people would first think the camera was out of power when the recording stopped.

In fact, the camera could stop recording even when it had power, like when Yu Xing checked the recorded videos, as long as it didn't exceed five minutes.

Another common use of the camera—taking photos.

The boss and his girlfriend undoubtedly feared being photographed, which led to their tragic end.

Cheng Rui, too, because of taking photos, faced the consequences and was silenced.

Similarly, they all had hidden criminal facts, so in the test, they disguised themselves as job applicants, waiting for the living to expose them.

So this test wasn't difficult at all. As long as they took photos of the ghosts before they disguised themselves as humans, the ghosts would disappear completely.

Knowing the method to pass, Zhao Yijiu truly relaxed. He hadn't expected his qualification test to become so much easier because of a stranger.

So he asked another question he was interested in: "Is the raw material supplier caught now?"

"Caught, the case was closed recently, otherwise, I wouldn't be able to tell you." Yu Xing hopped off the machine, walked to Zhao Yijiu's side, "Let's go, ask questions on the way. We need to get new batteries, or I'm afraid you'll bleed out. I'm so weak, I can't carry you."

Batteries were life—literally and figuratively.

The logic was reversed: since the ghosts would inevitably appear when taking batteries to scare the living, ... when the living wanted to find the ghosts, they could also use the batteries.

The ghosts would hide well, but once the batteries were taken, they would have to appear in front of the living.

And the ghosts, summoned by touching the batteries, would appear in their ghostly form, allowing a direct photo to send them to the afterlife.

Yu Xing thought this was great, saving him a lot of time.

The two had good mobility. Now, they were almost unimpeded. When Yu Xing wasn't being dramatic, the darkness wasn't a threat to them.

On the way, Yu Xing glanced at the gruesome wound on Zhao Yijiu's shoulder and asked curiously, "Don't you get dizzy from the blood loss?"

He only got a cold response:

"No, I'm not as weak as you."

"..." Yu Xing: I'm so sad, I have a reason!

They chatted a bit as they walked through the familiar narrow corridor, opened the familiar rusty iron door, and arrived at the familiar Office 02.

Two batteries lay quietly in the cabinet.

"Take a photo as soon as we get there, I'm taking them~" Yu Xing held the camera in his left hand, reached for the batteries with his right, and signaled Zhao Yijiu, whose arm was injured, to be ready.

"..." Zhao Yijiu, who was always the one dragging others down, felt the taste of being taken care of, his forehead twitching, wanting to say he wasn't that weak, even lifting heavy objects with his injured shoulder wouldn't make him frown.

But he didn't say it.

Actually, being taken care of felt pretty good.

He raised the camera, stopped the recording, switched to photo mode, and waited for the ghosts to appear.

Yu Xing held the batteries in his hand and looked around.

A cold, eerie aura spread, clearly, the ghosts were already there.

Just hiding and not showing up.

"Let me see~ where are you?" Yu Xing's voice was drawn out, like a deranged killer in a horror movie playing hide and seek, of course, he was now very righteous—

"Here!" He slowly walked to the desk, bent down suddenly, and showed a friendly smile to the female ghost hiding under the desk, while decisively pressing the shutter button—a wrinkled, ugly, and terrified ghost face was captured.

The female ghost screamed, turned into a pool of blood, quickly solidified and dried, leaving only a small black mark.

Without turning his head, Yu Xing, having achieved his goal, threw the camera on the ground like trash: "One more, behind the sofa."

Zhao Yijiu, hearing this, didn't have time to think why Yu Xing knew the exact location of the ghosts, and immediately moved over.

Sure enough, the long-tongued ghost was unwillingly hiding behind the sofa, planning to rush out the door, but was captured by Zhao Yijiu.