"But the good times didn’t last. It seemed a misunderstanding arose between the Upper Class People and Lower Class People in this city."
"The Lower Class People at the Kuangcheng Coal Mine Base, provoked by schemers, kidnapped Xiao En. They didn’t know what they had been led to believe."
"You might not know who Xiao En is, by the way. This is Kuangcheng City, a famous coal mining city. Xiao En is the factory director of the Kuangcheng Coal Mine Base. The mine base is northeast of the hospital. You can go there and take a look if you’re interested."
Jin Hu’s eyes sparkled.
Gu Mian slid his hand into his pocket. "No, I’ve been there already."
Jin Hu hesitated. "Did you come from the Kuangcheng Coal Mine Base? You must have seen the mine there."
Gu Mian nodded. "I saw it."
"Did... did you go inside?"
Jin Hu was taken aback. "You went in?" He clearly didn’t quite believe it.
Immediately, Gu Mian pulled out convincing evidence. "I met a child inside. He was worried about losing his face, so he asked for my help..."
Jin Hu watched as Gu Mian pulled something out of his pocket. "I found it for him. This is it. You should recognize it."
As Gu Mian spoke, he unfolded the wrinkled face he held in his hand. Jin Hu’s expression immediately filled with terror.
He swallowed hard a few times before stuttering, "How... how did you..."
But before he could finish his sentence, he seemed to realize something and cut himself off. "This is Xiao En, the factory director I told you about."
"Oh," Gu Mian nodded, crumpling the face and stuffing it back into his pocket. "You can go on."
Jin Hu paused for a moment, as if gathering his thoughts. After a few seconds, he continued, "The Lower Class People kidnapped Xiao En and were incited to attack our hospital. At the time, the higher-ups dispatched the Order Guard to protect our hospital, but that wasn’t enough. We specifically installed an intelligent lock on the hospital’s main gate..."
That lock was now broken.
"A fierce conflict erupted between the miners and us, and some people died. Factory Director Xiao En also died in that uprising. The uprising finally ended, and I thought that was the end. But it turned out that was just the beginning."
"After the uprising, all sorts of strange things started happening in this city. We knew it might be the restless spirits of the deceased wreaking havoc. A large number of residents evacuated from Kuangcheng City. I should have been among them."
"But I wanted to investigate why the miners suddenly rebelled, so I stayed back for a while..."
"You know, I am also a lower-class person. My dream is to save this unequal, ignorant world."
"I can understand the hardships they live through. I deeply understand the nature of my fellow citizens. They are simple and hardworking, and manage to find moments of sweetness in life even during hard times. They are not the type to instigate an uprising easily."
"Then, I made a discovery, but the city’s Mutation happened too quickly. In just a few days, monsters were rampant, and they couldn’t be killed."
"The higher-ups decided to completely seal off this city. I don’t know how they did it, but it’s as if they’ve erected a barrier around the city. No life forms can leave, including monsters and living people."
"There are still living residents in this city. We’re all trapped inside. You can imagine what happened."
A look of desolation appeared on Jin Hu’s face as he said this.
"So you all died?" Gu Mian inquired, getting straight to the point, completely unconcerned with how the person before him might feel.
"Yes," Jin Hu nodded. "My soul remains in Kuangcheng City, constantly investigating the truth behind the workers’ uprising that year. It was proof that my efforts were indeed useful."
As he spoke, he looked towards the end of the corridor.
"I found a clue about the person who incited the workers to riot that year, inside the warehouse at the end of the corridor. There might be clues about him in there, or he might be hiding there directly."
"Perhaps the instigator isn’t a person at all, but an evil spirit or something of that sort. But I can’t confirm this, because I can’t get near that place... This is what I need you to do for me."
"Can you help me check out the inside of the warehouse?"
The moon outside the window was hazy. Gu Mian glanced at it. Jin Hu’s story seems a bit different from what I’ve discovered, he thought.
But without questioning it, he promptly agreed, "Okay."
Jin Hu seemed relieved at his answer.
But his relief was short-lived. Gu Mian was now gripping his arm, forcefully dragging him toward the door.
He was a bit flustered, "What are you doing!"
"I find you quite unreliable," Gu Mian explained. "If we’re going to do something, it’s better we do it together. That way, if you trick me, I’ll at least have the comfort of taking someone down with me before I die."
"Wait! Wait!" Jin Hu shouted.
The ghosts in horror movies and novels always seemed to possess supernatural powers.
They could mysteriously appear anywhere—under the bed, inside the quilt, in a hole in the restroom. They seemed omnipotent.
But this ghost being dragged off by Gu Mian seemed to have no such powers.
His strength was even less than that of an ordinary person. Gu Mian was dragging him to the end of the corridor by brute force.
Jin Hu struggled, staring at the looming warehouse door. "You will absolutely regret this!" Discover more novels at novèlfire.net
Gu Mian glanced at him. "It seems like you’re the one who’s currently regretting."
Without hesitation, Gu Mian kicked the warehouse door in front of him.
It turned out that almost all the doors in this hospital were in disrepair. The warehouse door looked sturdy, but it was surprisingly fragile.
After a few kicks from Gu Mian, the door was forced open with a BANG.
As soon as the door opened, Gu Mian’s vision went black. He thought he had gone blind again.
Undoubtedly, the hospital’s circuitry had failed. The entire corridor went dark, but another light reached his eyes.
He looked up and saw that the light was coming from inside the warehouse.
There was no instigator of the miners here, nor any trace of one—just a pure white, human-sized sculpture.
The sculpture was emitting a white light.
The warehouse walls were covered with bodies.
It would be more accurate to say they were nailed there, but since Gu Mian couldn’t see any nails, he assumed they were somehow adhered to the walls.
Blood gushed from each corpse, flowing down to the ground. The entire warehouse floor was dyed red.
"These are all sacrifices," Jin Hu’s voice came from beside him. "And so are you. To put it another way, the entire restricted area is a sacrifice."
Gu Mian noticed that Jin Hu, beside him, had changed.
He turned his head to look, only to see a skinless figure, reminiscent of a muscular anatomy model in a lab.
The place where his mouth used to be opened and closed as it spoke, "You always thought I was a liar, but I didn’t lie about one thing. This city has indeed been sealed by a mysterious force, and that force comes from here—from the object in front of you."
"But this thing can’t create a barrier out of thin air. It needs sacrifices. That’s why lower-class people were continually introduced into the restricted area under the guise of variety shows. We need sacrifices to keep this thing alive..."
Gu Mian stared at the bloody figure next to him.
There’s that saying, ’the villain always dies from talking too much,’ Gu Mian thought. And it looks like I’m about to witness it.
"I know you think I talk too much. I’ve been living with these monsters for years, and they don’t understand a word I say. Life here is incredibly dull. I’ve endured it for so many years, waiting until today. Truthfully, I could have held on a little longer..."
Upon hearing this, Gu Mian had a premonition. This instance is about to end, he thought.