CHAPTER 416: CHAPTER 175: THE FAKE GHOST, WHEN THE MOUNTAIN COMES TO ME (5K)_2

"Trying to lure me over there?"

"No, no, no, the big boss just devoured more than a dozen Nether Souls. He must’ve gone to sleep and recover. He won’t waste a single bit of power, so that’s why he sent me out to explore."

"He’s not afraid you’ll run away?"

"I can’t run. There’s a curse on me from the big boss. As soon as I get outside a certain range, he’ll sense it."

"So you really want me to go over there?"

"No, no, not at all. With the manor lord’s strength, you could definitely kill the big boss. Then I’d finally be free."

Just as they were talking, another Long Talisman fell from the sky. The Fourth Great-uncle Master sent another message.

Wen Yan strode forward, glanced at the message, then reached out and touched the Long Talisman, letting it turn to ash and scatter away.

He turned around to look at the pointy-mouthed Ghost hanging upside down here, sizing him up with some surprise.

"Didn’t expect it, did you? Turns out you’re someone who entered the Netherworld, died there, and became a Ghost.

I thought you were just a Ghost that popped up in the Netherworld."

Thinking of this, Wen Yan looked up at the top of his own head, hiding that line of text he saw there.

"Oh, so that’s why you started trying to lure me over with some kind of treasure. You must have seen something."

Come on, aren’t you good at bullshitting people?

Keep talking. First off, tell me: why did the dozen or so people with you all die within a few minutes?

You actually survived by turning into a Ghost, and then you were even able to walk out of there freely."

The pointy-mouthed Ghost’s expression flickered. Just as he was about to lie, Wen Yan lit the Incense Candle Crossbow and aimed it right at his head.

"Think carefully before you speak. If I hear so much as a word that sounds fake, I’ll send you straight to hell."

The flames singed his hair. After his face twisted a few times, the pointy-mouthed Ghost nodded.

"Yes, I was one of the first to enter the Netherworld. The entrance was inside that mountain, that’s where I met the big boss."

The big boss said he’d spare my life, even give me treasure, let me join his crew."

He taught me the art of transformation, made me lure people over for him to devour."

The more I helped him devour, the more things he’d teach me."

I got pretty lucky. The spot I landed in, one after another I met more than a dozen people."

I tricked them all into going, and got them devoured by the big boss."

Wen Yan heard this and suddenly asked a question.

"Only players can see the quest hints above NPCs’ heads, right?"

"Yes." The pointy-mouthed Ghost replied honestly.

"So, you saw the hint above my head, and tried to use it to bullshit me over there, huh..."

"Yes."

Wen Yan sighed, pulled the trigger, and an incense stick shot out. As it passed through the candle flame, it ignited completely, turning into a blazing, red-glowing incense stick, and stabbed straight into the pointy-mouthed Ghost’s forehead.

The searing power spread out, setting the pointy-mouthed Ghost ablaze from the inside, and he howled in the flames.

"I told you, you only get one chance. Why wouldn’t you treasure it?"

The pointy-mouthed Ghost howled in agony. Wen Yan stepped to the side, sat on a chair, and just watched quietly.

He was starting to come around to the Scorching Sun Department’s methods of dealing with ghosts—damn, they’re all liars, the odds of something going wrong are way too high. There’s no way to handle them the way you do Demons.

He’d already asked the Grave Walker. The Grave Walker was also classified as an NPC, but the Grave Walker couldn’t see the two lines of text above his head, nor could he see his own.

So, from Wen Yan’s perspective, the Grave Walker always had two lines over his head at all times.

Normally, NPCs shouldn’t be able to see those quest hints, or even know anything about them.

Wen Yan knew he probably glitched things out, because technically, he wasn’t supposed to be here; he just happened to get caught in the range when the Netherworld event began and got dragged in by accident.

So, by that logic, he was a special kind of NPC.

Usually called a hidden NPC.

In standard game settings, you need to fulfill certain conditions to actually trigger dialogue with these characters; otherwise, under normal circumstances, that type of NPC just says "good morning" and nothing else. No real conversation, no quests.

The pointy-mouthed Ghost answered everything so smoothly, it was like that was how it was always supposed to be.

Of course, that wasn’t the point.

The real question was: all those people died together—so why did this pointy-mouthed guy turn into a Ghost?

According to the precise intel from the Scorching Sun Department, at that exact time, none of them were even close to running out of Stamina. In other words, there’s no way they’d run out of Yang Energy and, unable to return to their bodies, end up as Ghosts.

If you enter the Netherworld in soul state and die—you really die. There’s no "become a ghost" after dying.

All of them died of sudden cardiac arrest—including this pointy-mouthed Ghost right here.

Once Wen Yan learned this, he immediately realized: this guy must have died here, too.

And dying here, in soul form, means direct erasure, not transformation into a Ghost. So how could he still become a Ghost?

This pointy-mouthed Ghost was fake. He definitely wasn’t the player who died here.

Wen Yan figured all this out in a split second. He wanted to squeeze a bit more info out, but unfortunately, this bastard was still full of lies. Wen Yan could only give him one last shot.

Watching the pointy-mouthed Ghost get completely consumed, wailing in the flames, Wen Yan just kept on watching in silence.

Suddenly, the pointy-mouthed Ghost stopped screaming. He twisted his neck, forcing his head to face Wen Yan even from his upside-down position.

"Su Yue, aren’t you fucking ruthless? Going for the kill just like that? Lost patience with the questions already?"