Jing Tuoshen was also one of the blood city candidates.
“If I send all twelve of them into my torture room, then I’ll naturally become the owner of Han Hai.”
The night breeze chased away the scent of the meat and wiped away all traces. Everything returned to normal. It was hard to see that the door had been replaced by the torture room.
Gao Ming took it safe. He didn’t have the torture room expand beyond the range of the anomaly. Once Jing Tuoshen stepped into Everlasting Life Apartments, he would most likely be swallowed by the torture room.
“He should be here soon.” Gao Ming had a lot of unanswered questions. Why would the headquarters have his death portrait? Was he in an investigation centre superior uniform in that picture? What was the Dream Ghost the headquarters were hiding? What was their connection to fate?
The headquarters were too mysterious. They must know the truth regarding Han Hai. Once he pulled Jing Tuoshen into the torture room, Gao Ming would have ample time to interrogate him.
The anomaly was fully shrouded in darkness. Gao Ming suddenly saw the streetlights nearby light up. As the security members neared the apartments, the headquarters should have known about the incident.
Gao Ming stood there and stared at the city silently. Two hours later, the time flow returned to normal. The sun rose from the horizon. A black car slowly drove out of the corner. All the security members were armed. They didn’t let their guard down because the sun was up.
His eyes landed on Gao Ming. This was Jing Tuoshen’s first time seeing Gao Ming in real life. Gao Ming looked more normal than he thought. However, it was this common man who destroyed all of his plans and became a thorn in the headquarters’ side.
Jing Tuoshen reached into the car and took out a black urn. He dropped it on the ground. The lid cracked, and a viscous pool of shadow flowed about. It screamed under the new sun. When it tried to escape, Jing Tuoshen stepped on it. The shadow struggled into the shape of a big dog.
“You sure are courageous enough to infiltrate the 10th floor of the headquarters. Even I rarely visit that place.” Jing Tuoshen’s hatred burned, but his tone was even. “This is not the only one caught. This weakest dog is my present to you.”
The leather boot moved. The sticky shadow didn’t approach Gao Ming or enter Everlasting Life Apartments. Its body kept changing to reveal the curses on its skin.
“No wonder dogs are humans’ best companions. It’d rather die than bring the curses to you.” Jing Tuoshen was purposely trying to provoke Gao Ming.
Gao Ming’s expression was unreadable. He merely extended his hand to expand the anomaly. He ignored the risk and took the big dog inside it. The big dog, who couldn’t condense his shadow, shook his head. The curses on his body seeped into the shadow. The headquarters would use this opportunity to explore this anomaly.
“You are quite a loyal man. I will bring the other ghosts and humans who infiltrated the headquarters over here before dusk.” Jing Tuoshen said, “In exchange, the headquarters requires you to hand over the living Wan Jie and the leader of Team One back to me. Other than that, we also need the vessel of the God of the Past and the God of the Future.”
“You sure have a lot of demands. Aren’t you afraid that this anomaly will go out of control and sink the entire old city into chaos?” Gao Ming was capable of doing that on his own.
“The headquarters have ways to deal with Dream Ghosts. However, the price is heavy. I hope you won’t be the first human to force the headquarters to show their hands.” Jing Tuoshen stressed the word human. The headquarters wanted to maintain a surface-level relationship with Gao Ming to avoid a war between the investigators and the horror game players.
“Since you have the methods to deal with Dream Ghosts, why care about Wan Jie? This security member who came back from Xin Lu shouldn’t be that important. He’s not even a candidate of the 13 bloodred city owners.” Gao Ming’s voice dwindled until Jing Tuoshen barely noticed it.
Jing Tuoshen’s pupils narrowed when he heard that. Even though he had not seen the bloodred city death portrait before, he grasped some information from Situ An. Gao Ming removed his shirt and observed Jing Tuoshen’s reactions. The divine patterns intersected to weave a blood city on his skin. There were thirteen figures in the city.
“I not only know you’re a candidate, but there’s also another candidate hiding inside the headquarters.” Gao Ming had seen the faces of all 13 candidates. However, the last sentence he said was merely a prediction. He had no evidence to support it. Regardless, this statement caused huge waves in Jing Tuoshen’s heart. If there were another candidate hidden by the headquarters, then he was basically set up as a failsafe. The secret candidate was the headquarters’ real hope.
“I wish to do a trade with you. Don’t worry. Only the two of us can hear this.” Gao Ming didn’t say anything and waited for Jing Tuoshen to come to him.
The feminine man’s eyes blinked. Jing Tuoshen didn’t sense any threat. He had many things that could warn him of imminent danger, but none triggered any warning. However, the voice in his heart told him to stay away from Gao Ming.
Jing Tuoshen stopped after taking a few steps. He didn’t mean to listen to Gao Ming’s trade condition, but he wanted to take a closer look at the tattoo on Gao Ming. After he realised he couldn’t see the tattoo no matter what, Jing Tuoshen stopped. He was just a step away from the anomaly. He smelled the light scent of meat in the air. Jing Tuoshen frowned. A wind picked up from nowhere and carried his long hair. Several strands of his hair fell into the shadow.
Jing Tuoshen didn’t sense any strands of his hair break. However, they disappeared from Jing Tuoshen’s sight, just like they were mysteriously swallowed by an invisible entity. The thing was not done eating!
“The headquarters will send them here before the sun goes down. We’ll finish the rest of the trade. The headquarters will forget all of your offences before this.” Jing Tuoshen turned and left. He didn’t see the smile that appeared on Gao Ming’s previously blank face.