Who knew how much despair had accumulated inside the dark water? Just standing beside the deep sea tunnel was oppressive. The ghost hidden underground had to be a Pure Hatred with black flame.
“What do you plan to do next?” Han Fei had destroyed the surface of the aquarium, but with the power of Pure Hatred, the aquarium would soon restore itself. “Should we get some water pumps here? Try to drain the water?”
“It’s useless. The black water is part of the Pure Hatred. It’ll never be drained unless the Pure Hatred is dead.” The leader of Team Three was an expert in ghosts. After the tragedy, he once lived with the ghosts as part of them deep inside the city.
“If we enter the water, it’s too dangerous.”
The Pure Hatred was underground. There were two ways to enter the tunnel. One was to jump in from the cracks on the surface, and two was to use the deep sea tunnels.
“We’ll leave it to the expert.”
The leader of Team Ten was a giant fella. He dragged many devices to the water's surface and took out a pair of shades from his pocket.
“We didn’t need to go to the Pure Hatred to identify it. We can lure it out.” The name of the leader was Xue Ba. He was knowledgeable and studious. He was a researcher but was great on the battlefield too. The heavy boxes were opened. Many strange devices were taken out. Xue Ba built an altar beside the tank. He placed fresh animal sacrifices on it. “Back away!” Xue Ba tossed some meat into the water. He took out a wooden sword and started to draw using ghost blood.
“What is he doing?” Han Fei was confused.
“Based on our years of research, there are many ways to determine the type of Pure Hatred.” Tou Qi explained. “A ghost that can become Pure Hatred is categorized into a few types. They are amalgamations of negative emotions like envy, fear, and so on. Once they light the black flame, they’ll be hard to deal with; other than amalgamation, there are ghosts with extreme resentment. For example, a person could hate a singular thing so much that it became their obsession after death. This kind of Pure Hatred is more common, like the little girl you just consumed.”
“How is that related to what he’s doing?” Han Fei was still confused.
“The third type of Pure Hatred is more unique. They aren’t actual ghosts, but ghost stories told through word of mouth and became realities during the tragedy. As long as people continue to talk about them, they will not perish. The best way to deal with such Pure Hatreds is to seal them inside a cursed object.” Tou Qi explained it patiently. “There are different ways to deal with different Pure Hatreds, so we need to eliminate the third case first.” The meat sunk into the water. The talismans on the altar burned. Many paper dolls were tossed into the water tank, but the Pure Hatred didn’t react.
Xue Ba did everything. “It doesn’t look like it’s the Pure Hatred that’s hard to deal with. This is good.”
The altar was burned away. The team then placed two giant silver boxes beside the tank. They took out various high-tech devices. Some were used to study magnetic fields, and others were used to study sound waves. They placed the devices in the black water. Ten minutes passed, and the devices still hadn’t reached the bottom. When they planned to drag the devices out, there was resistance. In the end, they only got the rope back.
“Don’t worry. We have other testing methods.” Xue Ba signaled for his members to drive the car over. He placed a Medium Lingering Spirit that was trapped inside a dead body above the water. “Be patient. I’ll lure the thing out.” The resentment controlled the body to mimic human fear. For ghosts, this emotion was very delicious. “I refuse to believe that it can resist this.”
The fear from the body radiated. All 13 teams were ready for a fight. About 10 seconds later, the water's surface rippled. At the same time, the fake eyes in Han Fei’s pocket bled and dyed his shirt.
“Gao Cheng’s fake eyes are reacting?” Before Han Fei could check them, the dead body soaked in the water exploded. The Lingering Spirit was torn apart, and the lobby rained blood. After using various methods, the teams still couldn’t determine the Pure Hatred’s type and ability. Everyone turned to look at Team One. The leader of Team One looked at Han Fei. “Can you use your ghosts to lure out the Pure Hatred?”
“I can try.” Han Fei summoned the ghosts again. Medium Lingering Spirits couldn’t enter the water. The Executioner and the headmaster only knew how to kill. However, to help everyone, Han Fei resisted the rising mental corruption and urged the headmaster to enter the water. The Pure Hatred underwater appeared to be slumbering. It was unresponsive to anything. Just as Han Fei’s mental corruption was about to break 40, he pulled the ghosts back.
“It looks like we’ll have to enter it. Teams two to seven will follow the original plan. Team eight, nine, and I will enter the tunnel to activate the devices at designated places. Team 10 to 13 will stay on the surface for support.” Leader One spoke. He was a very caring person. His decision was fair. It was very dangerous to enter the underground. However, those who were named didn’t show any fear.
“Team Nine is ready.” The leader of Team Nine, Run Qiu, was a sailor’s daughter. She grew up on the sea. She was once a sunny person, but after her family died in the tragedy, she became crazy. After receiving treatment, she awakened a dual persona—rage and serenity. She was like the ocean, sometimes churning and sometimes peaceful. Team Nine had a great rescue experience. They had experienced the most extreme situations like landslides, floods, storms, and so on.
“Team Eight is ready.” The leader of Team Eight, Chang Qian, was like a gentleman. He was a famous gambler at Xin Lu’s underground casino. He made a bet with a ghost after the tragedy and lost everything. He lost his money, family, children, lover, a hand, an eye, and his heart. With the gambler persona, he was a pure madman. His dying wish was to meet that ghost again. He wanted to win back his family. Team Eight was a special team too. It was made up of reformed criminals. They wanted to use contribution points to trade for freedom.
“Make sure to stay within the other team’s line of sight when you’re underground.” The leader of Team One removed his jacket to reveal the diving suit underneath. They had considered this before the mission started.
“The command power of the surface will be given to the leader of Team Two, Ning Pan. Prepare to enter the water!” The leader of Team One waded into the black water. He led the three teams along the edge of the deep sea tunnel.
“These people are greatly determined. No wonder the center has the strongest fighting capability.” Han Fei’s eyes brightened when he saw how fearless these people were. Even in the worst future, humanity’s light was still glowing.
“Stay in the middle of the team, and don’t move around.” The leader of Team Eleven, Long Yan, walked over. The deep sea tunnel was so magical in the past, but now it was murky and filled with dead bodies. Bloated human faces floated in the water. About three minutes later, Ning Pan’s voice came from the black band. “Team Eight and Nine have reached their locations and activated the devices. Team One, if you can hear me, please reply!”
There was only silence.
”I repeat. Team One, if you can hear me, please reply!”
The numbers on the black band kept changing. Teams Nine and Eight were sending back feedback. Normally, if there were an accident, they would notice something, but team One had silently disappeared into the water. Teams Eight and Nine decided to go deeper to investigate what had happened to Team One. At that moment, another problem occurred. There was a strange sound. Han Fei turned to look. Something was approaching the surface.
With a slight knock, a pale human face appeared on the water tank. It was a skull with deformed eyes. It looked like two broken glass balls were placed inside its eye sockets.
“Eyes?” Han Fei touched the fake eyes in his pocket. His palms came out sticky with icy blood.
“Attention, team 10 to 13! Guard the tunnel entrance!” Ning Pan said.
The ghost in the water seemed to sense the retreating teams. More lingering spirits appeared in the tunnel. The situation became more dangerous. Before they understood the situation, a member of Team Nine broke the water surface. His face was carved with fear. He shouted, “We’ve gone 15 meters underground. There’s still no sign of Team One. Teams Eight and Nine have placed the devices. Please activate them now!”
No one knew what had happened to Team One. The only thing to do now was to activate the devices to distract the ghosts.
“Only two devices are placed. The effect will be weakened, but it’s our only choice.” The leader of Team Ten took out the remote control and clicked it. The water surface started to shiver. The inside of the devices contained altarpieces. The center used these devices to mimic the presence of Unmentionable.
“Be careful!”
Two sharp lights shot into the water. However, the light couldn’t pierce too far into the murky water. As the weak presence of Unmentionable spread in the water, the silence underwater was shattered. A very scary presence was awakening!
Teams Eight and Nine gradually retreated. With the help of the spotlight, they saw the many dead bodies and water ghosts.
“There’s still no response from Team One. Shall we enter stage two?” The leader of Team Ten looked at Ning Pan. He didn’t dare to make the decision.
“The longer we drag this out, the more dangerous it’ll be! Every team gets ready for rescue!”
“Copy that!”
The altarpieces were turned into ash. The presence of Unmentionable rose. The Pure Hatred underwater didn’t hide anymore. The black water turned red. All the water ghosts swam away. The black flame burned in the water. A pair of eyes stared at the team members.
“Team One is in its eyes!”
There were two giant eyeballs. One of them was made from dead bodies. It had collected endless resentment and radiated tragedy and misfortune. The other was clear and burned with pure flame of hatred.
“Notification for Player 0000! You’ve discovered the Pure Hatred—Gao Xing’s memory!
“Gao Xing’s memory (Tragedy level Pure Hatred): They always say I’m your eyes, but now you want to give my eyes to another kid. I understand it now, so you love him more than you love my eyes, or you’re afraid that my eyes will one day see the truth! Therefore, you want to turn me into a blind person like you!”
Han Fei read this tragedy rating for the first time on the system. He had a bad feeling.
“Normally, with Team One’s ability, they should be able to escape from a Pure Hatred. But now they’re trapped inside this eye. This thing is much stronger than a normal Pure Hatred!”
