Eighteen years of life in the Forgotten Land had left Gao Neng utterly poor, but it had also given him a standard for judging bad people.
Would a good person run to a factory in the middle of the night to dress up as a ghost and scare people?
No!
That settled it.
As for other things, like why the person was pretending to be a ghost, or why they were doing it here... he didn't give any of it a second thought.
All he knew was that he'd been startled.
Not because the ghost was too terrifying, but because it had appeared too suddenly.
In fact, the moment the ghost appeared, his newly acquired Eye of Deprivation had activated. He saw with a single glance that the other party was an ugly, weaselly-faced man.
In that case, Gao Neng couldn't be blamed for being ruthless.
'Ugly and still trying to cause trouble?!'
Gao Neng brought his hammer down, and the "ghost" was smashed directly to the ground. Its white robes tore open, revealing a pair of short, hairy legs.
"Ding! Congratulations, Host, for knocking out a 'ghost.' However, there is no reward. Are you happy?"
'Happy my ass!' Gao Neng ignored the system and began to search the ghost's body. 'Since it told me to beat people up for money, this ghost must have some, right?'
As he searched, his eyes lit up.
There really was money!
A huge sum, at that.
Gao Neng did a quick count. There was at least close to 500 Alliance Coins.
"I've hit a small jackpot." Gao Neng had never had so much pocket money before. He had no idea that today was the "ghosts'" payday.
But none of that mattered. What was important was that he could really get money this way.
Using his top-student logic, Gao Neng calculated: one ghost was 500, so ten ghosts would be 5,000, and twenty ghosts would be 10,000?
'Does that mean the mission is complete?'
'No, no, the mission target isn't 10,000 Alliance Coins, it's 100,000 Alliance Coins.'
'Which means...'
'I have to beat up 200 ghosts?!'
"Are there even that many ghosts here?" Gao Neng was a little surprised. 'An abandoned toy factory is hiding 200 ghosts? No way. That's ridiculous, right?'
Just as he was thinking this, he saw another one.
And this time, it was a female ghost in a long red dress and red high heels, with glaring red eyes and blood-soaked red hair.
The female ghost was floating leisurely out of the factory building, its feet not even touching the ground.
Combined with the surrounding environment...
...it was truly terrifying. (Don't laugh, I'm serious! ≡(▔﹏▔)≡)
"Aieee... Aieee..." The female ghost let out a shrill, ghostly wail as it floated toward Gao Neng, a bloody scent wafting from it.
In the end, Gao Neng couldn't hold it in.
He laughed!
'It's another dude in drag!'
Without another word, Gao Neng lifted his hammer and charged. After all, one ghost was 500 Alliance Coins! That was money!
"Aieee... Huh? Eeh??" The female ghost was in mid-wail when it saw Gao Neng charging at him, an iron hammer raised in his hand.
It took him a moment to process what was happening.
"???"
'What's going on?!'
The female ghost was startled. It was about to try and scare him again when its gaze fell upon the white-robed ghost lying on the ground.
'He's down?'
'Did he get hammered?'
'Is this guy a trash collector? No... this guy must be a psycho!' The female ghost turned to run, but it was too late.
THUD!
With a dull thud...
...the female ghost collapsed.
"Another one down? At this rate, 200 ghosts in one night isn't just a dream!" Gao Neng bent down, lifted the female ghost's skirt, and patted the body down. Sure enough, he found nearly another 500 Alliance Coins.
Having knocked down two ghosts in a row, Gao Neng's confidence soared.
'Sure enough, after breaking through the first human limit, my strength is on a whole new level. One hit, one takedown. They can't even run away. It's an absolute steamroll.'
One thousand Alliance Coins secured.
Remaining ghosts: 198.
'So, should I bury these two ghosts first, or keep looking for more?'
Gao Neng remembered the mission reminder being very clear: hammer, wrench, shovel—not one could be missing. The hammer's purpose was pretty clear now.
The wrench also seemed decent enough.
But it seemed the shovel hadn't been used yet.
'It must be for burying the ghosts, right?'
Gao Neng thought about it. 'The system wouldn't lie to me, but digging holes to bury them now would be a waste of time.'
'I should hammer a few more ghosts first, then bury them all together.'
Just as he was thinking about finding more ghosts...
...the ghosts came looking for him.
Two of them, in fact.
However, these two ghosts were a little different from the previous two. They wore ghost costumes, but they were holding gleaming weapons.
"What kind of psycho is this, daring to cause trouble here?!" one ghost said, baring his menacing fangs as he looked at the red and white figures on the ground.
"Dammit, he dared to attack our brothers!" The other ghost was dressed as a zombie and was holding a rusty chainsaw that let out a terrifying, grinding noise.
Gao Neng didn't hold back.
He went right in, hammer swinging.
"Ouch, hey, buddy, you're strong..."
"Aaaah... Murder!"
"Where the hell did this psycho come from? Don't tell me he's from the North Suburban Mental Hospital? Agh... let me go! Buddy, we can talk this out!"
THUD!
THUD!
After a bout of close-quarters combat, the two ghosts were hammered to the ground.
Gao Neng tilted his head up at a forty-five-degree angle and gazed at the sky. 'It's lonely at the top.'
'So thrilling!'
He found nearly 1,000 Alliance Coins on these two ghosts. The sense of accomplishment made him a little cocky.
"A total of four ghosts, a harvest of nearly 2,000 Alliance Coins. Keep it up, Gao Neng, you can do it!" Gao Neng gave himself a pep talk and resumed his search.
He circled the factory entrance a few more times.
Not a ghost in sight.
He started to head into the factory.
'If there were four ghosts outside, there must be even more inside the factory, right?'
The factory was pitch-black. There were no lights, only a few assembly line-like machine consoles and some tattered dolls tossed in a corner.
Gao Neng went in with his hammer and searched the area.
Nothing.
He searched again.
Still nothing.
"No way. Are there only four ghosts in total?" Gao Neng realized something was wrong. 'What happened to the 200 ghosts I was promised? How come I've only found 4?'
Gao Neng wasn't ready to give up. 'The system can't be lying to me. There must be more ghosts in this factory. If not, I'll just check another building.'
Just as he was thinking this, a hand landed on his shoulder.
"Hehehe..." A cold laughter abruptly echoed in the darkness, bringing an involuntary, scalp-tingling thrill.
Gao Neng was already used to it and didn't panic at all. He swung his hammer in a backhand motion, but this time, he unexpectedly missed.
'No problem!'
'Time for the wrench!'
'Missed again?'
Gao Neng missed twice in a row. His opponent seemed extremely agile, nimbly dodging his consecutive hammer and wrench attacks.
"Hehehe..." The cold laughter continued.
In the pitch-black factory, Gao Neng couldn't see the person's face. Through the dim moonlight, he could vaguely make out a figure in a mental hospital patient's uniform standing behind him, constantly letting out that strange laugh.
"Eat hammer!" Gao Neng charged again.
The figure jumped back again.
Then, it resumed laughing.
"Hehehe..." And this time, after laughing, the figure actually started dancing. It danced and laughed, its hands making a powerful clapping rhythm.
"You clap one, I clap one, you clap two, I clap two..."
(It's Monday! A new week! Time to climb the rankings! Whether or not I can make it onto the charts this week is all up to you, my dear family! Recommendation votes, rewards, bookmarks, I want them all! The most important things are recommendation votes, recommendation votes, recommendation votes!)