I Don't Agree to the Terms-Chapter 1039 - 546: Trap, the Shura Forced to Exit
"Found it, seems to be here?" Shura appeared slightly excited.
He began tracing the origin of the ghosts as planned with Gu Shanhai, though progress initially proved difficult.
First came chaos, as the number of Ghost Puppet Armies Gu Shanhai controlled continued to grow, wreaking havoc across the entire Ghost World.
The puppets' massacre of ghosts, crafting them into living puppets, and other deeds led to the extermination of many ghost tribes.
Especially the Heart-eating Ghosts, who were entirely turned into living puppets by Gu Shanhai.
This approach was convenient because living puppets could retain the ghosts' abilities in life, and once made into puppets, Heart-eating Ghosts naturally retained their Spiritual Devouring ability.
With other ghost puppets assisting, the Puppet Army snowballed in strength.
This forced the stagnant Ghost World into motion; rather than resigning themselves to death, the ghosts now sought resistance...Albeit not yet at the brink, fleeing remained their primary course of action.
Utter chaos was prevalent.
It also impeded Shura's investigation.
The recent turmoil caused slow progress in investigating ghost births.
Moreover, possibly due to the All Ghosts Survival Platform being closed, the birth rate of ghosts sharply declined, making encounters less frequent.
Just moments ago, Shura sensed a ghost being born, thanks to a textual reminder; otherwise, he might have missed it.
He rushed to the scene, discovering a corner where strange light twisted endlessly.
At first glance, Shura's mind was inexplicably struck, plunging his thoughts into confusion and sluggishness.
"Damn, this thing..." Shura promptly checked his status bar and saw several negative statuses, fortunately non-permanent, with countdowns gradually decreasing.
Seeing this, he decisively retreated at full speed.
At this juncture, continuing to observe wasn't possible; Shura realized he couldn't directly witness the ghost birth process without dying.
Death should be purposeful, not an uninformed end.
"Damn, left a mark on me."
Minutes later, a ghost emerged from the corner and drifted away.
Meanwhile, Shura noticed his status bar had only one negative status left, one with no detriments other than enabling tracking of him.
"It's not the All Ghosts Survival Platform, is it?"
Luckily, there was good news—the negative status had a duration, and if he endured for three days, it would vanish completely. 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝔀𝓮𝒃𝙣𝓸𝒗𝒆𝒍.𝙘𝒐𝒎
In this regard, "First Era" was trustworthy; as long as it wasn't permanent, negative statuses could eventually be resolved.
Determining whether a mark-type status was positive or negative was easy—check whether allies or enemies placed it; the former was positive, the latter negative.
This type of status was the least harmful; once players left this world, it practically deactivated.
"Highly possible... Should I make myself bait to lure out the All Ghosts Survival Platform?" Shura's initial thought wasn't to rely on Gu Shanhai for protection; it seemed pointless.
Since he wasn't a match, why not act boldly, attracting the All Ghosts Survival Platform for Gu Shanhai to deliver a fatal blow?
Nothing mattered beyond that; the task should be completable with the full reward in hand.
Shura secured "First Era's" reward; even an SSS rating wouldn't be the entire prize.
Thus, he preferred to act now rather than erasing the mark later.
"Better contact ***." Shura took out his smart terminal, explaining the situation to Gu Shanhai, including the ghost birth anomalies.
Gu Shanhai replied appropriately, promising prompt arrival at the scene, encouraging Shura to act fearlessly.
This assurance allowed Shura to hang up calmly.
"You seem to be serving a mysterious entity?" A voice emerged.
Shura's pupils contracted as he turned to investigate, quickly retreating.
He spotted a mass of constantly swirling light standing nearby.
"You're... you're the All Ghosts Survival Platform!" Shura didn't foolishly ask who it was, knowing only it could appear silently.
"Indeed, I didn't expect you could invade my world." The All Ghosts Survival Platform drifted closer.
Shura instinctively tried to flee, but found himself immobilized, his status bar showing numerous negative statuses, non-permanent though incessantly stacking, preventing countdown reduction.
"Surprised?" Shura quickly calmed, as long as statuses weren't permanent, he was unconcerned.
"Quite surprised. If you provide intel, I'll forgive your crimes and offer you a way out." The All Ghosts Survival Platform expressed sincerity, meaning it sought to know whom it provoked, before sparing his life.
