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As if he was scalded, Ye Jia suddenly retracted his hand.
Ji Xuan raised his head to look at him, his eyes blinking innocently.The place where the other party had touched with his lips was once again burning hot.“You……” Ye Jia coughed to clear his throat and asked, “You know where it came from?”“Of course.” Ji Xuan sat down on the edge of Ye Jia’s bed, “I was with you at the time.”Ye Jia straightened his back slightly and looked seriously at the other party, “Tell me about it….”“Hug.….” Ji Xuan thought for a moment, “For a whole night….”Ye Jia, “…….”He took in a deep breath and agreed reluctantly, “Fine……”Ji Xuan, “Can’t count the extra time from last night.”Ye Jia, “……”This guy is getting more and more crafty.He forced through his teeth, “Fine…..”Ji Xuan narrowed his eyes, looking very sly, “And a goodnight kiss….”“………” Ye Jia, “Don’t push your luck.”Ji Xuan sighed, “Okay then…….”He stretched out his hand, “It’s a deal?”Ye Jia narrowed his eyes and stared at him for a few seconds before slowly reaching out to hold the other party’s pale hand, “Deal…..”Half an hour later.Ye Jia used his identity as Ace to call out the other three.As soon as they gathered, he threw a large stack of documents over.Blast used his fingers to flip through the papers and he frowned in disgust as soon as he saw that they were densely filled with words, “What is this for?”The other two were equally at a loss.Ye Jia said succinctly, “I have a clue……”The three of them grew more spirited.---- Ji Xuan didn’t directly tell Ye Jia what happened in the past, nor did he directly tell him who the fierce ghost was, he just gave him a clue.It was a very crucial clue.And that one clue was enough.“Call the family of the deceased and ask them if they got what they have always wanted just before his death.” Ye Jia ordered.Chen Qingye pushed up his glasses, “For example?”“Anything……” Ye Jia listed, “Wealth, power, beauty, anything material or spiritual, they could all be possible.”Wei Yuechu’s eyes widened slightly, “You mean…….?!”Ye Jia took in a deep breath, “Yes….”Blast was still confused, “What kind of riddle game are you guys playing?”Wei Yuechu hit the back of his head with the documents, “Are you really stupid?”Blast covered the back of his head and protested loudly, “You hit me again!”Chen Qingye showed a thoughtful look, “I see. That would make sense.”Blast, “?”He was so anxious, he was jumping up and down, “What is it?! Hurry and tell me!”Wei Yuechu covered her forehead and sighed helplessly, “Dream Maker. Have you heard of him?”Blast, “I seem to have some impression of it?”Chen Qingye spoke unhurriedly, “You entered the game late so not knowing about him is understandable.”He continued, “This is an S-Level lord. Compared to killing, he prefers to make deals with players ---- As long as you can pay the price, your wishes can be fulfilled.”Blast blinked a few times and asked, “Any wish?”Chen Qingye confirmed, “Any wish.”
Blast, “Then if I wish for three more wishes?”Chen Qingye, “……”He expressionlessly copied Wei Yuechu and rolled up the papers in his hand and used it to hit Blast’s head.“Ouch!” Blast covered the back of his head and shouted, “Why are you also hitting me?!”“You deserve it…..” Wei Yuechu gloated at his misfortune, “You think he’s a genie? And even asking for three wishes….Didn’t you hear what Chen Qingye said about paying the price?”Blast was confused, “He’s not a genie? Then what is he?”Wei Yuechu pondered for a few seconds, “He’s more like a demon in Western mythology. Players mortgage their souls in exchange for having their desires satisfied.”“But….I’m also not too familiar with the details….” She sighed, “No one who has dealt with him was able to survive to tell us what happened.”Ye Jia lowered his eyes, looking as if he was looking at the documents in his hand.His eyes however involuntarily fell onto the scar on his wrist --- The colour was very faint, and it was basically impossible for you to distinguish it from his skin if you didn’t look carefully enough.He subconsciously touched it with his finger.Ye Jia knew of the existence of Dream Maker, but he also didn’t have any memories associated with him.It was like a piece missing from his mind. If he didn’t go out of his way to look for it, it would have been left forgotten.Blast touched the back of his head, “Then what happened later? Where did he go?”At least for him, he hadn’t heard about this Dream Maker while he was in the game.Chen Qingye shook his head, “No one knows……..”“He just suddenly…disappeared…….and he disappeared for a very long time.” He turned to look at Ye Jia, looking a little puzzled, “Why do you think this incident is associated with Dream Maker?”“Just a guess….” Ye Jia replied calmly, “I may be wrong. Let’s check on this.”They first called the family of the deceased office worker.His wife seemed to be still immersed in grief and her voice was still hoarse and nasal when she answered, but as soon as she heard Ye Jia’s question, she suddenly fell silent.Ye Jia patiently asked, “Ma’am, are you still there?”“Ah, y----yes…..” His wife sounded a little rattled, but she still replied.She asked, “W-why are you asking this?”Ye Jia, “Just doing some necessary investigations.”The person on the other end fell silent again.A long time later, the wife slowly spoke up, “Actually…..About half a month ago, I was going to divorce him.”Ye Jia narrowed his eyes, “Can I ask the reason?”The wife said, “Of course….”She sobbed and continued, “In fact, there was no third party involved. It was just that the feelings between us were gone. You know that feeling? Holding his hand was like my right hand touching my left hand and life just went on like that. I could no longer remember how I fell in love with him in the first place and everything was the same, there was no longer any point in continuing like this so….I just wanted some time apart from him for a while.”“But….He wasn’t willing. His reaction was very intense.” The wife said weakly, “So I went back to my parent’s place and hide there for a while.”Ye Jia, “And then?”The wife took a deep breath and seemed to no longer be able to hold back her tears. Her voice choked up again, “But during that time, I slowly calmed down and somehow remembered everything about how we fell in love. I felt like I had fallen in love with him again, so I went back to him. I still remember that he had said that this was his greatest wish when he hugged me….but…but not long later, he…”The woman on the other end burst into tears.The call ended.The three of them exchanged a look.----Looks like they’re close to the mark.For the next few hours, the four of them didn’t stop using their phones. After ending one call, they would call another. It took them more than ten hours to finally go through all the families of the deceased listed on those stacks of documents.There were fifteen suspicious cases in total.They went to the police station and pulled up location records from a month before their deaths and then had the Bureau staff cross-reference them on their system----Soon, the results were out.Chen Qingye pushed a note over.The fifteen people were scattered across different districts of F City and the locations were very scattered but half a month before their deaths, they all went to the same place.Ye Jia picked up the note and his eyes landed on the contents.This was a place located near the edge of the city, off a beaten track --- It should be here.
Half an hour later.A taxi slowly drove away, leaving the four of them standing in the middle of nowhere.Before them was a very modern-looking high-rise buildingThe four of them raised their heads and slowly looked up.This building was so tall, it almost disappeared into the clouds. It should have at least thirty floors. As the glass walls outside reflected the sun, it looked rather resplendent and blinding.Blast scratched his head, “This….this is the place?”It didn’t seem quite right.Ye Jia placed the note back into his pocket and went towards the building, “Let’s go and take a look.”The glass door automatically opened before them, and two attractive staff greeted them. They bowed at them with a smile on their faces and said in a sing-song voice, “Welcome to DM Company.”The floor was as smooth as a mirror and the marble walls in the distance were decorated with a glittering line of English letters:Dream Maker.[Dream Maker] (KKnotes: This was in Chinese)The four of them fell silent: “……..”Blast slowly turned to look at Ye Jia. He lowered his voice and stammered, “U-Um…..What’s going on?”Ye Jia: “……”If I knew what’s going on, would I still be standing here stupidly like you?While the four of them were still in a stunned state, one of the reception staff approached them and asked with a smile, “May I ask what kind of business you need to handle here, sir?”Ye Jia quickly recovered and asked calmly, “Are you able to handle any kind of business?”The reception lady introduced with a smile, “Dream Maker is F City’s largest angel investment institution. Do you have a project you would like us to invest in?”“Yes…” Ye Jia said without a change to his expression, “Can I ask if I could meet the person in charge?”The reception lady smiled, “Please come with me…….”After saying that, she turned around and gracefully walked on.Wei Yuechu lowered her voice, “Hey! What are you trying to do?”Ye Jia also whispered back, “Take it on step by step.”Chen Qingye spread open his palm and several green insects the size of a grain of rice landed on the top of his fingers before crawling into his sleeve.He took a few steps forward so that he stood side by side with Ye Jia and whispered, “The employees in the hall are all normal humans."Ye Jia frowned slightly and nodded, “Thanks….”Now everything was becoming more and more elusive.Soon, they were shown to a gorgeous and beautifully furnished waiting room that had a golden European-style chandelier hanging overhead, thick red carpet on the ground and soft armchairs. Various snacks were also placed on the table for them to enjoy.Blast couldn’t help but reach towards one of the plates.Wei Yuechu slapped his hand away and silently glared at him.Blast covered the back of his hand that was hit and muttered, “I wasn’t going to eat it. Can’t I just take a look?”At this moment, the reception lady before them turned around and asked with a smile, “May I ask if you are interested in the business plan or the personal plan?”Ye Jia turned and glanced at the other three behind him, “Business….”The other party’s attitude was professional, “Please provide your business registration and tax registration details as well as copies of the relevant documents.”Ye Jia, “……”Without a change to his expression, “Personal then…..”The lady’s professionalism was very outstanding. The smile on her face didn’t change, “Then, may I ask who your other companions are….?”The other three exchanged a look with each other.Wei Yuechu said, “I’m also interested in the personal plan.”Chen Qingye pushed up his glasses, “I’m just here to accompany them. I’ll wait for them outside.”Blast shrugged and said indifferently, “Me too….”----- As players, they knew very well not to place all the eggs into the same basket.Since Wei Yuechu and Ace will be venturing into the company, two of them should remain outside in case anything unexpected happens. Along the way, they could also explore this strange place from the outside.
Another reception lady came over and smiled at Wei Yuechu, “This way please….”Looks like they don’t plan on letting them stay together.Wei Yuechu nodded at Ye Jia and the two of them went into two separate elevators.Ye Jia entered the elevator.The reception lady pressed one of the buttons.The moment he entered the elevator, he seemed to have suddenly noticed something and he immediately looked up ---- At the location where the camera was supposed to be, a strange red light flickered. It was as if there was an eye flashing past behind the glass.But when Ye Jia looked over, that camera had returned to normal.The reception lady pressed the earpiece in her ear that was the size of a fingernail and then turned and said to Ye Jia with a sweet smile, “Hello, I didn’t know you were an old customer of our DM company.”Ye Jia was slightly shocked, but he still responded calmly, “What about it?”The other party just smiled, “The service is different.”After saying this, she reached into her pocket and took out a card. After she scanned that card, she selected the button at the very top.The button lit up.The elevator slowly went up.The narrow and confined space was very quiet and because it was high quality, there was very little noise, so only their breathing could be heard. Ye Jia’s eyes fell onto the slowly rising numbers and he watched it slowly change.Soon, the elevator arrived at one of the floors.It was the floor the reception lady selected at the very beginning.Ye Jia raised his eyes and looked into the distance. There was a large mahogany door at the end of the corridor. Outside that door sat a man who looked uneasy, and he seemed to be waiting for something.At this moment, the mahogany door opened.Before Ye Jia could see clearly, the elevator doors before him slowly closed. The reception lady smiled and said, “You’re a VIP. It’s not this floor.”The numbers continued to rise.Time passed exceptionally slowly. After a long time, there was a ding and the elevator doors opened.The reception lady smiled and stretched out her hand, “Please……”Ye Jia stepped out of the elevator and the metal door slowly closed behind him.He looked around.The top floor looked completely different from the earlier floor --- Large, clear floor-to-ceiling windows, luxurious decorations and thick carpets that could absorb all sounds. At the end of the corridor was also a large, wooden door, but it was clearly much higher quality than the one downstairs.The hand hanging by Ye Jia’s side curled slightly and a faint glimmer of light shone.Although he should really try and minimise the chances of confronting a fierce ghost, but if he encountered a situation where his life was at stake, he should also not shy away from using his weapon.---- After all, the situation with Vision last time was different.She was sent by Mother to die.Vision was different from the other fierce ghosts. She was originally human, but she had a part of Mother in her, turning her into a fierce ghost.And so, Mother hoped that Ye Jia could kill her and absorb her power so that he could become one of her people.Whereas the situation with Dream Maker was different. He was just a fierce ghost.Ye Jia slowly walked down the corridor.He stopped in front of the door and slowly reached out, but before his fingers could touch the door panel, the door before him silently opened inward.Inside the door was a large ring-shaped room and it was surrounded by large floor-to-ceiling windows. It was like a glass ball hanging in the sky, looking extremely luxurious.The man stood before the window with his back facing him.Ye Jia narrowed his eyes and a blade appeared between his fingers.“Rare guest, a really rare guest….” The man said this as he turned around.He was of medium build, and he wore a well-fitted suit. There was a gentle smile on his pale and refined face, “Ace! I thought I would never see you again.”Ye Jia didn’t answer.He looked fixedly at the man before him, deeply in thought.Dream Maker pulled out a chair and sat down. His smile was particularly welcoming, “Sit…..”The chair opposite him was pulled out by some invisible force.Dream Maker stretched out a hand and made a gesture of invitation.
Ye Jia let out a short laugh. He unhurriedly moved closer and, as if he was meeting a long-lost friend, he sat down on the chair without a change to his expression, “Thanks….”His attitude was so calm, Dream Maker raised his eyebrow in surprise, “I didn’t expect you to still be the same as before despite seeing you after so long. You haven’t changed at all.”“Oh?” Ye Jia remained calm, “Then…..Do you think you have changed a lot?”Dream Maker burst out laughing. It was as if he had heard a very funny joke. Even tears formed from how hard he was laughing.Ye Jia quietly waited for him to finish laughing.A long time later, Dream Maker finally stopped. The smile on his face was still there, “Of course I have changed a lot…”After saying this, he grabbed his hair and pulled at it.A scarlet slit opened at his neck which grew rapidly with his actions. Soon, a smooth cross-section was revealed. It looked as if it had been cut by an extremely sharp weapon.He lowered his head so that Ye Jia could see the bright red muscles and white bones in the cross-section of his neck.Immediately afterwards, Dream Maker loosened his grip, allowing the head that was only attached by a thin piece of skin to go back into position and he then moved his neck and shoulders a little to reset everything.He smiled, “Although I have almost mostly recovered, growing it back is still impossible….After all, not every ghost is Mother’s direct descendant and can recover completely after being pierced through the chest.”Dream Maker’s words held deep meaning.Ye Jia narrowed his eyes in surprise.Did Dream Maker mean that…….He was the one who had cut his head off?The healed scar on his wrist felt a little hot.Dream Maker waved his hand unconcernedly, “Oh right, you probably don’t remember anything….Look at my memory, I almost forgot this.”“Then…” Ye Jia raised a brow, “Maybe you could help me remember?”Dream Maker narrowed his eyes, “Why? You want to get back your lost memories?”A shrewd smile appeared on his face, “What will you give in exchange for that?”Ye Jia lightly laughed. He shrugged casually, “Just for the memories of how we met? Thank you but no thanks. Why should I remember those unimportant things?”Dream Maker’s expression darkened in an instant.But he quickly recovered, “Since you are not going to do business with me, why did you come here?”Ye Jia crossed his legs and smiled kindly, “Of course I’m here to destroy this place.”“That’s troubling….” Dream Maker frowned with fake concern, “In that case, I can only call the police.”Ye Jia, “……….”He saw Dream Maker lightly raise a finger and a cabinet door nearby opened, revealing the photo frames inside, “This is a legal business with an official licence. I also have site ownership and the lease agreement….I am a good, law-abiding citizen and a taxpayer with a clean background.”Ye Jia: “……”He sneered coldly, “Will a good, law-abiding citizen sign agreements that involve taking away the souls of ordinary people?”Dream Maker shrugged, “My deals have always been done willingly. In fact, I have never gone out of my way to find anyone. Everyone came to me on their own initiative.”He continued lightly, “And I’m just doing what a normal businessman would do ---- I seized the business opportunity.”The man turned around and slowly went over to the floor-to-ceiling window and looked down. His voice carried suppressed excitement, “In the game, I never thought that there would be such wonderful place like this. Souls blackened by desire, eagerly looking for a way to sell themselves. No matter what the price is, they would rush to offer up their soul.”His voice hissed with greed, “There were too many competitors in the game. They were all hungrily fighting and competing to get a bite to eat, but here is different…..There market is so big. As long as I want to, I can monopolise-----”“Do you know what this is called?”Dream Maker turned to look at Ye Jia. The smile on his face was slightly twisted from excitement, looking particularly horrible, “This is called a monopoly capital.”Ye Jia: “….”Fuck….Dream Maker approached Ye Jia. The smile on his face disappeared and he once again became reserved, “Look, I’m different from those brainless and savage ghosts. I love peace. Only with peace will my market be more prosperous.”He stretched out his hand and stroked Ye Jia’s wrist with his finger.Ye Jia’s gaze moved down.On his wrist, the scar that crossed horizontally and vertically had actually started to bulge out. With a faint red tinge to it, it stood out on his fair skin.Dream Maker’s eyes stared fixatedly at the scar on Ye Jia’s wrist and a greedy expression surfaced onto his face, “And….the soul that once slipped out of my hands may one day reappear in front of me. If you agree, I can offer a large sum….”As he said this, he stuck out his scarlet tongue that was almost half a foot long and slowly licked the finger that had touched the other person’s skin.But at this moment, it was as if he was scalded by something hot. Dream Maker’s eyes suddenly opened wide and his long tongue flew about in the air, spraying saliva everywhere.“T-this….” He immediately glared at Ye Jia, “You…What did you bring in with you?!”At this moment, a man’s low voice sounded behind Ye Jia, “Me…..”