A Ghost Story Unfolds: The Cannon Fodder Went Mad by Burning Ghost Money

Chapter 34 Who Am I 33”This is…?”

Wang Min picked up the object. It was a badge-like item with Velcro on the back, seemingly designed to be stuck onto clothing.

It looked a bit like the epaulets, armbands, or chest badges worn during military training, only this one was black, and it looked somewhat familiar.

”An epaulet, from a security guard’s uniform.”

”A security guard?” Wang Min looked at the object and pondered for a moment before finally remembering. ”I remember him. He’s a very, very old man. When I was wandering around the residential complex, I saw him sitting in the Security Room drinking tea.”

”But what is suspicious about this security guard? None of the clues we found earlier seem to have anything to do with him, right?”

However, Lin Xiangjun shook her head.

She led Wang Min slowly toward the Garden.

”When the Cleaner led me to find this trash can yesterday, I felt very strange. This trash can had nothing special about it, and throwing trash into it didn’t trigger any reaction. What exactly is the use of this clue?

”I thought about it all last night and kept thinking after I woke up this morning. It wasn’t until I ran into Zhuo Xing in the stairwell just now that I suddenly had an epiphany.

”The residential complex doesn’t allow swearing. The reason given is that it will corrupt the children, but I don’t understand why this rule is a ’death rule.’ In the first instance, Sun Tao just swore once, and he was dismembered and eaten.”

Speaking of this, Lin Xiangjun recalled the scene from the first instance, and her expression turned a bit unpleasant.

The scene was still too bloody.

”At the time, after his arm was ripped off, not a drop of blood flowed from the wound. I didn’t understand it then, and later I thought it was restricted by the rule about not littering in the residential complex.”

At this point, Lin Xiangjun paused and sighed.

”Actually, this clue can be pushed further. People who swear must be punished, but their flesh and blood cannot fall to the ground because they have already been judged as ’trash’ by the game rules. If players who swear are trash, then who is the security guard who cleans them up?”

The identity of the Cleaner who clears trash is already clear, and the Cleaner’s job is only to sweep up trash, not to contain it.

The security guard’s act of eating people can be seen as containing the trash within his own body.

The security guard is a ”trash can.”

Thinking of this, Wang Min also felt a sense of sudden realization.

That’s right, if that old man bumping into the tree can be a ”seesaw,” why can’t the security guard be a ”trash can?”

Looking at the problem again with the answer in mind, one can gain even more clues.

”And the security guard’s uniform is also black!”

The security guard is the black trash can!

However, the next second, Wang Min’s expression turned strange again.

”But the residential complex rules clearly stated that there are no black trash cans in the complex, so this security guard…”

If the security guard is a ”black trash can,” then he shouldn’t belong to the residential complex, right?

”This point remains to be verified.” The clues were still insufficient; Lin Xiangjun couldn’t continue to deduce this, so she could only go to the entrance of the residential complex later to ask the security guard.

In the residential complex, the old man was still happily bumping into the tree. The fabric on his back had developed a faint patch of wear from long-term bumping, like the seat of a frequently used seesaw.

Lin Xiangjun stood still.

Wang Min looked at Lin Xiangjun, then at the old man.

Lin Xiangjun smiled encouragingly: ”Go for it, I believe in you.”

No need, I don’t even believe in myself.

Wang Min was already a college student. She conservatively estimated she hadn’t ridden a seesaw in ten years, let alone sitting on someone’s shoulders…

It was true that she was dead, but just because she had become a ghost didn’t mean she lacked a sense of shame. Otherwise, why would those ghosts put on human skin when they went out? Wasn’t it because they were afraid of creating a bad impression and being subjected to strange looks from others?

Now, making her sit on the shoulders of an old man old enough to be her grandfather to ride a seesaw, this was really…

”Your compensation.” Lin Xiangjun placed five hundred underworld currency in front of Wang Min. ”I know this is a bit embarrassing, but the instance requires it. I can only ask you—my most capable employee—to help me complete this arduous task. This five hundred is the compensation I’m giving you; you can also think of it as overtime pay.”

At this point, Lin Xiangjun paused.

”Of course, if you don’t want this overtime pay…”

”I want it!” Seeing that Lin Xiangjun was about to take back the five hundred, Wang Min immediately panicked.

Are you kidding? Five hundred!

Two months’ salary!

Who wouldn’t want it? Only a dog wouldn’t!

Wang Min snatched the underworld currency, her attitude doing a 180-degree turn. Whatever hesitation, fear, embarrassment, or social death—tell that to her poverty!

Having taken the money, Lin Xiangjun walked with a sense of generosity and righteousness, heading toward the old man with her head held high.

The old man was still happily bumping into the tree. Seeing Wang Min approach, he even greeted her: ”Little girl, here to exercise again today?”

Wang Min shook her head. She took out a one-hundred-yuan underworld currency note—which Lin Xiangjun had given her in advance as the fee for riding the seesaw—and handed it to the old man: ”I’m here to ride the seesaw today.”

The old man stopped smiling and stopped bumping the tree. His eyes stared fixedly at the bright red underworld currency note, almost popping out of their sockets.

One hundred!

One hundred underworld currency!

Even if the players who came every time were smart enough, this instance would have to be activated twenty times for him to earn this much. Not to mention that there were always teams that lacked smart leaders or weren’t united enough, and they would be wiped out before they could even reach his part of the puzzle.

The old man was a character in the instance with an important position but a very low salary. He only earned five yuan for one seesaw ride. If it weren’t for his son and daughter-in-law being able to earn money, his family of five would have all starved to death.

Now seeing a full one hundred underworld currency, he was even more fawning than Wang Min.

He immediately snatched the one hundred and stuffed it into his pocket with lightning speed, then bent down, getting on his hands and knees, and said to Wang Min: ”No problem! No problem! Sit, sit, I guarantee it’ll be steady!”

Although she knew the other party was a supernatural entity, he still maintained the appearance of an old man. When Wang Min silently sat on him, she had a fleeting illusion that she was abusing an elderly person…

Fortunately, this was an instance. She wasn’t human, and neither was the old man. This kind of scene, which would surely be hyped up by the media as a sign of moral decay and degenerating social morals if filmed, wouldn’t be filmed and sensationalized.

While her mind was wandering like this, the old man beneath her confirmed she was sitting steadily and began to crawl slowly.

Wang Min silently covered her face.

She felt that her ghost face was about to be completely lost. She remembered a piece of social news she had seen before about a man who was stark naked with a dog chain around his neck. At the time, she had marveled at how vast the world was and how anything could happen.

Now, it was her turn.

How embarrassing!

Lin Xiangjun, standing to the side, didn’t have it easy either. If she watched, she felt that this scene was not only abusing an elderly person but also seemed to have some BDSM undertones, which was a severe test of her morals. If she didn’t watch, she was afraid of missing clues and ending up losing her life for nothing.

Torture, it was truly torture.