1102 Me and My Employees
The endless black fog was like a sea of despair; the broken building in the memory became a lonely island in the ghost fetus’ heart. He stood before the twisting buildings, under the black and red sky, inside Chen Ge’s shadow, and following quietly behind him. That was how things were many years ago. He saw how Chen Ge had everything, everything that he wished to possess for himself. He wanted to be a butterfly, but ultimately, he was just a shadow. The desire was slowly twisted. He did not stay there and wait, slowly waving his hands and trying his best to chase after the butterfly that was fluttering in his heart instead.
He had no idea why he would do something like that. He did not even know what would happen the day he caught up to the butterfly, but he knew to keep on running after it. Finally, at this moment, ten years later, inside the door, he had caught that butterfly.
The lowered head slowly rose, and the boy looked up at Chen Ge. Their eyes met in the nightmare, and it felt like they had crossed the limitation of time. Chen Ge saw himself from ten years ago, and the ghost fetus saw a demon that he could no longer recognize. In this world filled with despair and pain, only one’s heart would be the receptacle for light. But if one’s heart was devoid of light, everything that one saw would be ghosts and Specters.
“Did you leave at this age?” Chen Ge had seen part of the ghost fetus’ memories in Fang Yu’s world, but the boy before him was completely different from the ghost fetus in Fang Yu’s world. In the worlds behind the doors of the other candidates, the ghost fetus appeared in the form of a baby, but the boy before him had the same face as the childhood Chen Ge. The facial features were rather undefined, but one could tell that this was Chen Ge.
“You…” Chen Ge had many things that he wanted to say, questions he wanted to ask. He had imagined this encounter with the ghost fetus many times in his mind and rehearsed many different statements, but when he was really standing before the child, the things that he had prepared were stuck in his throat.
A monster that had ruined multiple families; a monster without humanity; a soul twisted and cruel like the demon; a child who was abandoned, tricked, harmed, and made insane.
Chen Ge did not know how to judge the ghost fetus. He would not pity him, he would not help him, but he merely did not wish to lie to the ghost fetus anymore. Even if one of them would die the next second, he would not deal with the ghost fetus like he would other enemies, using many things to deceit and trick him. The ghost fetus gave Chen Ge a strange feeling, like he was looking at mirror, but the reflection inside the mirror was trying to come up with ways to kill him.
“Do not stand on my shadow anymore. That is no longer a spot reserved for you.”
No matter what Chen Ge said, the ghost fetus showed no sign of speaking. He kept staring at Chen Ge’s face, the picture of a ghastly demon reflecting in his pupils. His body leaned slowly forward, giving the impression of one’s shadow standing up and trying to crawl into Chen Ge’s body. Just as the ghost fetus was about to touch Chen Ge, a wall of blood vessels blocked his way. A heavy stench of blood radiated out from Chen Ge’s body.
Drip drop, drip drop…
The blood dripped. The ghost fetus moved his gaze away from Chen Ge’s face and turned to look at the red high heels in his hands. He slowly raised his arm, and the ghost fetus’ fingertip touched the layer of blood vessels. His expression did not change. It was like a child reaching out to touch a spiderweb out of curiosity. The blood vessels were snapped one after another, but at that moment, a giant explosion sounded from one of the buildings!
Jin Hwa Apartments Block B started to bend. A large shadow was pressing against the side of it. Who knew what kind of monster it was? After the explosion, the ghost fetus had obviously slowed down. The few buildings appeared to be the foundation of this world and they influenced the ghost fetus’ condition greatly.
“You voluntarily left me, and I have not tried to harm you. It was the cursed hospital that put you in this state. I have seen your memories. You should hate them the most. They are right there now. Are you sure you still want to waste time with me?”
Chen Ge could see that the ghost fetus needed his body, so the child did not go for the jugular. As one of the nine children, the ghost fetus could not kill Chen Ge that easily. This, he had discerned from the way he treated the other candidates.
As long as the child had some power taken away by the ghost fetus, even though they would be seriously injured in terms of soul and mind, their lives had never been threatened. It appeared like the ghost fetus needed to fulfil certain criteria to obtain a candidate’s power. Only that would explain why the ghost fetus did not kill Chen Ge directly after he entered his body but chose to slowly take over his body from the shadow.
“You do not have a chance now.”
After that last explosion, the surface of the other buildings started to crack as well. The chains that bound this world had loosened. The ground shook, and the buildings teetered, but the ghost fetus only had his eyes on Chen Ge. His hand was reaching through the layers of blood vessels. No one knew why he was doing this. He appeared to not only want to take control of Chen Ge’s body but also appeared to grab the version of himself that he had been wishing for.
As the ghost fetus’ hand slowly approached, the smell of blood around Chen Ge intensified. Just as the ghost fetus’ hand was about to touch Chen Ge’s eyes, a slender hand wrapped in bandages appeared to grab the ghost fetus’ wrist. A bright shade of red appeared in the thick black fog!
The red high heels had broken through the world’s limitation!
Her appearance had shifted slightly from before. Part of the bandages had slid off her body, and the exposed skin was branded with dark black tattoo-like patterns. The patterns were mysterious, eerie, and scary. Just being in close distance of them would make one feel suffocated.
The ghost fetus paused but just for a moment. His sharp nails soon continued to reach toward Chen Ge. The sound of a book flipping entered both Chen Ge and the ghost fetus’ ears. Before they could react, a blood wave rushed out from Chen Ge’s backpack and knocked back the black fog around them. A blood mist had settled.
Pairs of arms reached out from the mist, and they grabbed at the ghost fetus from different angles. The sharp nails stopped before Chen Ge’s eyes, but they were unable to move one inch further.
“I know you are using the greater part of your power to deal with the hospital and the monsters in the black fog. You believe that I am the weakest, or perhaps you think I was just lucky to have survived so far.”
Chen Ge took another step backward. The ghost fetus’ body was held in place by the gauntlet of hands and was thus unable to follow Chen Ge anymore.