Welcome to the Bizarre Games

Chapter 288 Ghosts
Half an incense stick later, the room was still dark.

—The young man knocking on the door was none other than Zhou You.

The matter is actually quite simple—after the dragon's death, he followed the smell all the way to the victim's home.

As for why he had to meddle in this mess, firstly, he was really bored and wanted to join in the fun; secondly, he suddenly had a whimsical idea that this kidnapping was related to the Houtu Sect, and he wanted to see if he could find some clues from it.

After some questioning, he discovered that the two men knew almost nothing. Xu Jin was somewhat better; at least he could communicate normally and recounted what happened at the time of the incident. As for his wife, she had long since gone half-mad from the grief of losing her daughter. Although she seemed relatively normal, everything she said was nonsensical and incoherent.

However, Zhou You was not displeased. He suddenly remembered the mother-in-law whose daughter had also been raped and murdered—the experiences of the two families were so similar.

However, one perpetrator was just an ordinary mountain bandit, a nobody who could be easily slaughtered by anyone, while the other was a behemoth deeply rooted in the entire Songzhou, backed by a powerful prince who held sway over the court.

"It's just that the scale of this revenge is on a completely different level."

Seeing Zhou You muttering to himself, Xu Jin rushed forward and said ingratiatingly.

"Immortal, what are your orders?"

"No, it's nothing, just talking to myself, don't worry about it."

Zhou You shook his head and replied.

Since neither of them could provide many clues, they could only wait for the female ghost to appear. Rural families like this couldn't afford candles, so they borrowed an oil lamp from their neighbors for lighting.

The aged grease gave off a pungent smell, and smoke billowed as it burned. Xu Jin was afraid that the smell would scare away this rare lifeline, and he hurriedly tried to cover the flames with his hand, but was immediately stopped by Zhou You.

"Old man, it's alright, you don't need to be so formal. I can handle this smell."

However, at that moment, another person suddenly stood up.

Xu Jin was taken aback and hurriedly tried to stop his wife.

"It's fine on ordinary days, but don't go crazy like this now. The Taoist priest is still here."

Before he could finish speaking, Zhou You stopped him.

Xu Jin's face was full of confusion, but in Zhou You's sight, the woman was suddenly enveloped by a gloomy aura, as if something was manipulating her, and she walked involuntarily into the inner room.

The yin energy was very faint, even quite strange.

If a normal dead person wants to become a ghost, they either have a body full of resentment that keeps their mind from dissipating and prevents them from returning to the underworld, or they have a special talent that allows them to become a spirit after death—just like the little girl ghost in his family.

But this yin energy does not belong to either of these two categories.

It has neither resentment nor intelligence; if I had to describe it, it's like the unconscious instinct that occurs when a human nerve twitches.

Moreover, there are things in it that Zhou You is very familiar with.

—That was a glimmer of life.

Stopping Xu Jin from following, Zhou You followed his wife into the inner room. The temperature around them instantly dropped several degrees, but they still didn't see the faceless female ghost. "Xuan'er, Mother's here, don't be afraid, where are you?"

Before him, the woman was still calling out her child's name, groping in the darkness as if trying to grasp something from it.

But at that moment, right at Zhou You's feet, a wisp of black hair suddenly appeared.

The person continued walking straight ahead, seemingly oblivious to what was happening, until the black hair grew thicker and thicker, soon covering the ground as if to engulf everything.

However, at that moment, a voice rang out.

"Om".

All the black hair instantly rolled back, and a few breaths later, a disheveled female ghost emerged from the ground and fled outside with her head down.

However, how could Zhou You possibly grant her wish?

Zhou You drew the sword from the void, but just before it was about to be unsheathed, he hesitated for a moment, which was rare for him. In the end, he did not draw the blade, but instead used the sheath to contain a little bit of evil energy and slapped it straight at the enemy.

The scabbard that cuts off evil was made of ebony, which has a certain ability to restrain evil spirits and demons. The female ghost was hit head-on and was sent flying several meters away. She tried to struggle, but her body was immediately pressed down and the evil energy transformed into a lock, which firmly restrained her limbs.

Only then did he turn the female ghost's face around.

Just like what others said before, it was indeed faceless. Its entire face had no facial features such as a nose, mouth, or eyes; it was just a blank expanse of pale skin.

Zhou You was taken aback.

He wasn't stunned by the female ghost's appearance—to be honest, she was much better looking than the egg-shaped head of the Yellow Heavenly True Saint Emperor—but rather by the reason for her appearance.

This was sculpted by hand.

Touching that face with his fingers, he could feel the trembling in the soul, the power of the chant naturally seeping into it, and Zhou You's brows furrowed deeper and deeper.

"The three souls and seven spirits are gone: Tai Guang, Shuang Ling, Fu Shi, Que Yin, Tun Zei, and Fei Du. The few remaining ones have been twisted and chopped beyond recognition. What the hell is this? Killing someone is one thing, but to be so vicious?"

By the end of his sentence, Zhou You was already gritting his teeth.

This is not his fault. Normally, once a person dies, they need to be reincarnated—even if the underworld is distorted into that state, the cycle of life and death can still be achieved—but to be reincarnated normally, there is a prerequisite: the soul must be intact.

If one soul is missing, the person will inevitably be mentally challenged upon reincarnation; if two are missing, the person will be practically an idiot after reincarnation; if three are missing...
Zhou You has never heard of anyone successfully reincarnating while missing three souls. If such a person did, it would be an absolute miracle in the history of the past thousand years.

And this.
Six normal souls were lost, and the remaining ones were all deformed in a very wicked way—at this state, forget about reincarnation; it would be a miracle if they didn't survive and their souls were scattered.

"Damn it, if you're going to commit a morbid murder, fine, but why go to such extremes? Are you trying to destroy the evidence and avoid revealing your identity?"

Zhou You withdrew his spell with a grim expression, about to tell the couple about the situation—but then he sensed something was amiss.

No, this female ghost is covered in suspicious carving marks. Judging from her appearance, it's less about destroying evidence and more like the fleshy monsters we saw in the Taoist temple before.

In more modern terms, that means
Like a flawed experiment?
(End of this chapter)