Chapter 304: Test
Chapter 304: Test
Wan Jie was surrounded, but he didn’t panic. His eyes scanned everyone. His gaze stopped temporarily on Zuo Jun and Fu Huo.
“The anomalies are happening all over the city. The tragedy is coming. The things you’re good at might be useful against me, but are they useful against the ghosts?” Wan Jie turned his gaze back to Jing Tuoshen. “I have no intention of fighting you for anything. The power that you pursue is dirt to me. I merely do not wish for my teammates to die for no reason.” He turned back to Bai Xiao, “You think our security department is inhumane and treats the normal investigators as cannon fodder. However, we are also knives in other people’s hands. Does the blade need emotions? No. As long as they are sharp.” Wan Jie picked up the black box and walked out. “If you change your mind, you can come find me anytime.” Wan Jie had a pair of eyes that could see through the fog. This was the reason why he was not favoured by certain higher-ups. Bai Xiao, who stood inside the room, did not put his knife away. He looked at Jing Tuoshen with alertness. None of these people were good people.
“Your blade should be used to challenge ghosts and not your colleagues.” Jing Tuoshen was satisfied with Bai Xiao’s performance. “Chief Chen has told me everything. You can rival the ghost who heavily injured the security team four. You are a good seed. Once you’re with me, no one will steal your knife. Everything you gain in the anomalies will be yours.”
“What do you mean?” Bai Xiao felt like Jing Tuoshen was recruiting him.
“You’ve been targeted by the security department. The only party who can shield you now is us.” Zuo Jun put on the new chief uniform. “The east city is rebuilding a new force. If you join now, you’ll be one of the core members.” Zuo Jun had met Bai Xiao at Han De Private School. He had a deep impression of Bai Xiao.
“Aren’t you a member of Class Thirteen?”
“I’m different from those horror game players. My goal is to capture and send them all to the research department.” Cruelty flashed in Zuo Jun’s eyes. He abandoned Situ An and committed to serving Jing Tuoshen. He had done very horrible things to his classmates to prove his loyalty. Yuan Hui, beside him, looked mentally unstable. It was very highly that they had personally murdered their classmates.
“You can even murder your classmates. How can I trust people like you?” Bai Xiao didn’t want to interact too much with them.
“Murders are simple. What they did are worse than murders.” Jing Tuoshen revealed a rare smile. His smile didn’t make people feel happy but afraid.
“Bai Xiao, you don’t need to worry about Li San Investigation Centre.” Chen Yuntian suddenly spoke, “You should go with Jing Tuoshen for now and listen to your orders.” Chen Yuntian did this to protect Bai Xiao. He knew how powerful the security department was.“Don’t waste time. Bring your knife and come with me.”
Jing Tuoshen picked up Bai Xiao and headed to the city of north port. They turned around many times before the field of vision widened. On a spot where the sea should be, there was a new humanmade city.
Everything had a simplistic style. There were three layers of walls. Several patrol teams worked twenty-four hours. The temperature inside the city was five degrees higher than outside.
“Put on the black helmet underneath your seat.” Jing Tuoshen didn’t munch his words. Bai Xiao could only follow orders. However, he didn’t let go of the knife. Once he put on the helmet, his senses were deprived. Someone led them away once the car doors opened. The temperature kept dropping. About half an hour later, Bai Xiao noticed the helmet had opened on its own. He took a deep breath and felt ice forming in his lungs.
Jing Tuoshen and Zuo Jun were gone. There were only nine uniformed investigators around him. They were weaponless and had codes on their uniforms.
“Did he come in from the backdoor? Why is he allowed to keep his weapon?” Spitting out blood from his mouth, the most ghastly-looking investigator studied the other nine as he pretended to examine his wounds.
Bai Xiao felt that something was wrong. He had been inside the anomalies many times. The room he was in made him feel like he was in the shadow world.
The door at the corner opened. The stairs behind it led down to an old and battered mountain house.
“The test begins.” Jing Tuoshen’s voice came from the black band. The other investigators instantly rushed towards the old home. Only Bai Xiao and the other two investigators didn’t act rashly.
“What is this test?” Bai Xiao didn’t know anything. An injured investigator close to Bai Xiao heard his confusion and slowly approached.
“This is the basement of the research centre. We are in the middle of the third-stage ghost tattoo test. According to legends, there is a piece of divine meat inside the old house.” The investigator grumbled, “Whoever can pass this test can not only move into the north city but also have their past crimes absolved.”
“Crimes?”
“Stop acting. Who here hasn’t killed a few people? We can’t be blamed. It’s the anomaly that has corrupted us.” The investigator wiped away the blood from his mouth. “I wonder what divine meat tastes like.”
Bai Xiao didn’t explain further. He stared at the old home. “The security members from Han Hai gain the power to fight ghosts from passing these tests?”
“There are four stages to the ghost tattoo tests. You can join the security department once you pass the second stage. However, for great sinners like us, we have to pass this third test.” The investigator yanked down the number nine on his back. He didn’t enter the mountain home but targeted the other investigator.
“Divine meat? Ghost tattoo?” Bai Xiao had heard of the research department before, but this was his first time being involved in its testing. This was completely different from what he thought. “In the past, a normal investigator like me wouldn’t have the right to enter the headquarters. It looks like the situation at Han Hai is very bad.”
Bai Xiao entered the old home with his blade. He had no idea his every move was carefully monitored.
Outside the testing area, Jing Tuoshen and a few researchers with white bands watched the screen carefully. They had collected all the information on Bai Xiao.
“There’s no problem with Bai Xiao’s personal information. However, part of his history into the anomalies has been wiped away.”
“Try to recover it. It’s fine if you can’t.” Jing Tuoshen waved his hands. On the screen, about a hundred people participated in the tests. The headquarters didn’t have time to allow the investigators to slowly get used to the power of the ghost tattoo so they utilised the most direct and bloody filtration method.
“Hopefully, the survival rate is higher than 7 percent this time.”