Chapter 88 - 88 Eighty-eight

Words : 1480 Updated : Sep 12th, 2025

88: Eighty-eight. Cheap labor 88: Eighty-eight. Cheap labor “` Five ghosts of various shapes, chilling and penetrating, obediently stood in a row, looking fearful. “My name is Zhao Dabao, male, twenty-seven, unmarried, born in the Second People’s Hospital of Lingling City...” the young man in the leather jacket spoke shakily. The leather jacket on the young man’s chest now had a burnt edge from a bullet hole, but the ghost was hardly harmed, only his soul had gone from solid to somewhat transparent. “Cause of death.” The young man in the leather jacket lowered his head, “I was riding a motorcycle and didn’t follow traffic rules, got hit and died...” “Why are you here?” The young man in the leather jacket looked up, quickly glanced at the Haunted House manager on the far right, and said slowly, “The boss brought me here, said he could shelter me to work here...” “Anything else you want to add?” The young man in the leather jacket was startled, and shook his head blankly, “That... that should be everything.” Lu Li shifted his gaze to the second ghost, a woman in a white dress, “And you?” The woman in the white dress stepped forward timidly, “My name is Song Cuifang, twenty-six, unmarried, forgot where I was born, everyone calls me Potato... I was... thrown into a well by my boyfriend and drowned...” Beep beep beep— Lu Li pressed his phone, intending to call the police. “No, no, don’t call the police, listen to her finish first!” the manager hastily urged, wanting to leave the line but not daring to. Lu Li paused at the final step of making the call, his questioning gaze turned towards the woman in the white dress. She hurriedly added, “Then my boyfriend jumped in after me, and we drowned together... it’s just that I turned into a ghost and he didn’t.” “Was it agreed upon?” “Yup.” Lu Li put away his phone with slight silence, realizing this was not an affair he could meddle in. Seeing Lu Li’s seemingly regretful expression, Yang Chunxue commented in her heart, how much do you love calling the police... “Why are you here?” “The boss pulled me... I mean, he brought me over too, said he’d provide room and board, although I don’t need to eat.” Next was the contorted ghost shadow. The contorted ghost shadow spoke succinctly, “22 years old, died from falling off a rooftop edge while playing Truth or Dare.” “Clearly,” Lu Li paused briefly at his twisted form, then turned away. The fourth was a headless ghost. He held his own head like a motorcycle rider with a helmet or like an astronaut with their helmet, cradling it in his arms. Just seeing the state of the ghost, this manner of death might have warranted a police call. Possibly because his head wasn’t on his body, he was very slow to react, with a high latency. After each question, there had to be a wait of several seconds for his thoughts. Several seconds later, the headless ghost answered slowly, “I forgot my birth year, from Lingling, died during the late Ming or early Qing dynasty...” “How old were you?” Seconds later, a reminiscent tone sounded, “If I were still alive, I’d be over four hundred years old now.” “How did you die?” “Decapitated by the authorities.” Lu Li suddenly frowned, “Do I have to ask one question at a time for you to answer?” The headless ghost shadow shuddered, and replied a bit faster, “The reason for my death was pretending to be a ghost to scare the concubine of the county magistrate, got caught as a thief and was decapitated...” “` Yang Chunxue couldn’t hold back the aura of a strong-willed person and blurted out with a scoff, “Is this why you died, yet you still tirelessly scare people?” “Um... yeah, more or less,” the Headless Ghost Shadow’s eyes swiveled upward, but as soon as he caught Lu Li’s calm gaze on him, he trembled, quickly adding, “I was brought here by the boss too, he said I could play on the computer however I wanted, so I just...” The best method to overwhelm a person from ancient times is to get them on the internet. To a certain extent, the boss’s way of wooing them was spot on. So Lu Li turned to look at the last ghost. The boss’s shirt buttons were nearly bursting, sweat mixed with oil coated his face, and with a forced smile that looked more like crying, he shouted, “My name is Zhao Dahai, I... I’m actually not a ghost, I’m a human... Ghost Envoy, please spare my life!” ...? Seven pairs of eyes, belonging to five ghosts and two people, all turned to look simultaneously. Lu Li remained silent, just quietly observing the boss. In his perception, the boss’s body similarly contained a yin energy, slightly stronger than the other four ghosts. “It’s because I have a bead, this bead allows me to turn into a ghost!” Zhao Dahai took a dull Jade Bead from his chest, holding it in his palm and arguing loudly, “I can run around during the day not because I’m powerful, but because I’m actually alive!” Lu Li equipped the Specter Manual, a wisp of yin energy picked up the Jade Bead and brought it in front of him to take a look. In his perception, the bead continuously emitted yin energy, while the yin energy around Zhao Dahai was dissipating like water without a source. Handing the bead over to Yang Chunxue, who was blinking non-stop at it, Lu Li asked, “Can you explain in detail why you’re doing this.” “It’s a long story...” Zhao Dahai lowered his head with some distress, not daring to meet the eyes of the ghost employees. “After I got the Jade Bead, I had the aura of a ghost and could see ghosts... At that time, my Haunted House was on the brink of closure due to poor management, and I was desperate. So I went out running around every night, pretending to be a ghost and chatting up other spirits. If we got along, I asked if they needed work, then I brought them to the Haunted House for training and started their jobs...” In order to take his business to the next level, he sought out real ghosts to join his Haunted House and scare customers—in a sense, he was as ruthless as Lu Li and Yang Chunxue. Or you could say he valued his business and money more than his own life. After clarifying the situation, Lu Li returned to the main topic, “Dust to dust, earth to earth, you have stayed in the world of the living for a very long time, on average a hundred years each.” Several gazes turned towards the Headless Ghost, who significantly raised the average. “So, I’m here to transcend you,” Lu Li surveyed the group. “Does anyone not want to go down?” The crowd of ghosts, saddened by the first half of the statement, became shocked by the second half. The woman in the white dress spoke with a subdued voice, “We can make a choice...?” Lu Li nodded, “I’m more open-minded. If you haven’t done evil deeds, and there’s a good chance you won’t commit any in the future, I can let you stay in the human world.” The four ghosts looked at each other, making their individual choices. The Leather Jacket youth and the Headless Ghost chose reincarnation. Not all ghosts wanted to continue living as specters. The Leather Jacket youth stepped out of the line, then suddenly turned to the plump Zhao Dahai, gave a deep bow, and sincerely said, “Although we can’t earn a wage, Boss, you were good to us in other ways, fulfilling any request we had. I don’t blame you for deceiving us, in my next life, I still want to be your employee.” “I don’t blame you either.” “We don’t blame you.” A touching moment between humans and ghosts was unfolding. Zhao Dahai’s eyes were red, he nodded vigorously, pursing his lips to keep from crying. After a brief period of companionship and goodbyes, the Headless Ghost and the Leather Jacket youth walked up to Lu Li. The former knelt down, and after a brief hesitation, the latter followed suit. After all, kneeling before the legendary Ghost Envoy was not a humiliation. The Headless Ghost held up his own head, eyes resolute, and exclaimed, “Do it, Ghost Envoy.” “Alright.” Lu Li raised the cleaver, becoming a blur as he swiftly thrust it into the Headless Ghost’s brow.

Chapter 88 - 88 Eighty-eight

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