After an Infinite Flow Player Retires

An empty coffin…..?Ye Jia stood dazed in the middle of the cemetery.It was like his feet were rooted into the soft and damp soil under him as his eyes stared unblinkingly at the dusty tombstone before him. Every single character etched on it was familiar but when put together, it became something he couldn’t recognise.His mind was chaotic.“Oh right!” The small black hand seemed to have suddenly remembered something. It said, “Although the coffin is empty, there seems to be something drawn onto the base of the coffin….”It was as if Ye Jia was startled awake from a dream.He immediately looked over at the small black hand with scary eyes. His voice had at some point in time turned so hoarse, one could hardly hear his original voice:“….What?”The small black hand was frightened. It instinctively shrank back and stammered:“J-just one……”The rest of its words remained stuck in its throat.It saw the young man suddenly pull out his large scythe, the sharp blade reflecting a cold and dazzling light under the sun. His voice was low and hoarse, as if he was restraining strong emotions that were about to explode, much like magma deeply buried under a thick layer of ice:“Get out of the way.”The small black hand’s entire body stiffened. It then scrambled away as fast as it could and trembled in a corner far, far away.The next second, the blade fell, cutting into the soft soil below. The earth was cold and wet. As the soil was separated, an aged coffin was revealed.The young man’s cold and pale hands gripped tightly around the scythes handle, his fingers turning white from the force. His hands however didn’t shake.Just like that stormy night when he plunged the knife into his father’s chest.The small black hand looked at Ye Jia who was standing with his back facing it.The young man’s back was straight and tense as he stood rooted in front of the grave.It subconsciously floated closer.But immediately afterwards, an invisible force pulled the small black hand back.The small black hand was stunned for a moment. It turned and looked back.There stood a scarlet eyed man with cold features, his body giving off oppressive air. The small black hand shrank away, but the other party didn’t say anything and just shook his head at the small black hand before raising his head again. His gaze returned back to the young man standing not far away as unreadable emotions surged in the depths of his eyes.Ye Jia slowly bent down before the coffin.The coffin wasn’t buried very deeply into the ground so it was almost within reach if he stretched out his hand.Ye Jia reached out, his hand lingering briefly in the air for a moment, before moving forward and slowly coming into contact with the coffin.Immediately afterwards, there was a soft crack and the surface of it broke open with a smooth cut before shattering into several pieces and falling off, revealing the empty interior.Sure enough, it was just as the small black hand had said.It was an empty coffin.There was…...nothing inside.Ye Jia’s gaze stopped at the base of the coffin.Dark brown marks were partially concealed under the broken wood fragments but he was still able to tell that it was likely drawn with blood.Ye Jia raised his hand and proceeded to brush away the debris, revealing its complete appearance.…..It was the Bureau’s old logo.But, compared to the pattern on the metal box containing the eyeballs, it seemed to have a few extra strokes that filled in some of the blanks, making it more complete.Ye Jia touched one of the marks on the coffin.The dried blood had already penetrated into the decaying coffin. By just touching it, Ye Jia could tell that the drawing was very old, almost as old as the coffin.Could the coffin have been empty even at the time of the burial?Then…...where was his mother’s body?Ye Jia’s hands began to tremble. He took a deep breath and slowly clenched it into a fist.------In any case, the Bureau is definitely involved.Cold flames burned silently in the depths of the young man’s lowered eyes. There were no special emotions on his face, but the air around him was heavy.Ye Jia stood back up.At this moment, the small black hand’s voice sounded from behind him, “Hey!”Slightly surprised, he turned to look back.The small black hand floated towards him and landed in the coffin. It lingered for a moment, as if it was seriously thinking about something, and then slowly sank down.A minute later.A shrill cry sounded from underground.Ye Jia was surprised. He subconsciously took a step forward.But before he could do anything, the small black hand appeared again from underground, looking like it was escaping from something and clung desperately onto the edge of the coffin, “D-d-down there….t-there’s…..”Ye Jia’s gaze darkenedHe pulled the small black hand up from the ground, threw it onto his shoulder and then once again pulled out his scythe.Ye Jia’s eyes stopped for a moment on the tombstone before him and a faint look of anguish flickered briefly in the depths of his eyes.He retracted his gaze and slowly raised his hand, preparing to completely destroy the coffin before him.But the next second, something cold touched his wrist.Ye Jia was stunned. He turned and looked beside him.Ji Xuan had come over at some unknown point in time and was standing next to him, his defined hand wrapped around the young man’s thin wrist. With some force, he pulled the young man behind him and said calmly:“I’ll do it.”The next second, a scarlet sea of blood surged from the ground, lifting up the coffin. An invisible force then proceeded to push the soil underneath it away, revealing a pit tens of metres deep.Ji Xuan’s originally bloodless face turned pale but he didn’t reveal any changes to his expression.Ye Jia watched him unblinkingly.----The secret hidden underneath the coffin was most definitely related to Mother. The other party doing this was tantamount to him directly going against Mother and their blood ties.This was also why he didn’t directly seek Ji Xuan’s help before this.Why…..was Ji Xuan doing this now?Ji Xuan didn’t say anything. He just calmly stepped back and moved aside.Ye Jia retracted his gaze.Now, even without the small black hand telling him, Ye Jia could sense the terrible changes below.Ji Xuan just now had only moved aside the earth above it.Even despite being tens of metres deep, this kind of air couldn’t completely be concealed. For it to be able to be missed by Ye Jia and even the small black hand, other protective measures must have also been put in place.Ye Jia took a step forward and looked down at the bottom of the dark pit.His pupils suddenly constricted.Icy wind blew through his hair, sweeping past his sweaty forehead and the back of his neck. Trembling originating from his bones travelled out.In the dark abyss, dark and slimy waves of fluid swelled.Malice that was so strong that it had no impurities slowly surged up, immediately withering the weeds on the ground, turning them black after sucking out its life. Black fog began to form around the surrounding tombstones.In the surging waves, blurred human faces appeared one after another, each looking like they were in more agony than the other. They struggled in the dark waters, stretching out their skinny arms towards the sky above them. The suffocating air felt almost tangible.“What….what is this?”Ye Jia slowly widened his eyes as he asked this.The small black hand was still clinging tightly onto his collar. It stammered, “D-do you still remember when I told you before that malice can contaminate the soul and even fierce ghosts?”Ye Jia was stunned. He turned to look at the small black hand, “So you’re saying….?”The small black hand hid behind Ye Jia and continued fearfully:“They’re…...they’re all contaminated.”At this moment, the earth beside them started to move.The sound of nails scratching at the coffin boards were extremely hair-raising. Rotten arms broke through the soft soil below and soon following that was the decaying and maggot filled body. Hair that looked like dried grass hung loosely from the head as the empty eye sockets looked towards the only living person present in the cemetery. One after another, dead bodies emerged from the ground. They all stretched out their bony arms in an attempt to grab Ye Jia.“Ahhh……”“Ahhhhh……..”The decayed vocal cords made it difficult for them to produce proper sounds.Ye Jia narrowed his eyes slightly. A cold light appeared in his hand.He had, after all, already seen all sorts of things in the game before. Something like this was nothing to him.“…...Save me…..” The rotting corpse moaned.“It hurts……”“It hurts…..Mummy…..” A child’s corpse let out a hoarse cry, “It’s so dark……”“Someone help me…….”Ye Jia was stunned.They weren’t monsters.Rather, they were souls of the living bound to the corpses.While he was still in a stunned state, one of the rotting corpses grabbed onto his pant leg. Following a sizzling sound, black mist appeared at the place that was touched. Ye Jia finally reacted and immediately cut off the part that was touched. Before the piece of clothing even touched the ground, it had completely corroded.-----This amount of malice was strong enough to even contaminate a fierce ghost.Ye Jia’s eyes darkened.The small black hand grabbed tightly onto Ye Jia’s collar as it stammered, “W-what do we do?”Ye Jia gritted his teeth and didn’t answer.The scythe was ‘ya (tooth)’ but what was facing him were souls of the living.He turned to look at Ji Xuan, “Can they be sealed again?”Ji Xuan nodded slightly.His pale fingers twitched slightly and an invisible force wrapped around the black mist in the air and proceeded to slowly push it down to the pit in the ground. The corpses were like puppets that had lost their restraints. They laid on the ground, no longer moving.Ji Xuan’s body swayed a little.He quickly stabilised himself and was already back to normal when Ye Jia looked over:“For now, I have just returned them to their original state. I am unable to seal them permanently.”The meaning of that was that this place was like a ticking time bomb that would at some point in time explode. As for when it would explode, that was completely outside of Ji Xuan’s control.Ye Jia lowered his eyes and looked at the destroyed cemetery before him.The sun was still shining bright above him but he couldn’t feel any warmth from it.Ye Jia seemed to have suddenly thought of something. With slight surprise, he looked over in the direction of the city.------That’s it..“Riiiipp----!”The old carpet on the ground was suddenly torn apart, sending a cloud of dust scattering in the dimly lit room.Two scare spirits, one large and one small, sat on the roof beam, looking like two jellies stuck together.“What’s happening?”“I don’t know either!”“Is he looking for something?”“I’m not sure….”The two scare spirits floated towards the young man who was wreaking havoc in the room and asked, “Is there anything we can help you with?”Ye Jia turned to look at them.Ah, so handsome.After all this time, he seemed to have become even more handsome.The two scare spirits showed an intoxicated expression and then exclaimed with great enthusiasm, “We have been here for a very long time! Just tell us what you want to find!”Ye Jia took out a piece of paper and drew on it a simple picture:“Have you seen something like this anywhere in this house?”The two scare spirits carefully recalled.“Ah!” The big scare spirit suddenly remembered something. It jumped up, “I think…..I think there was!”“Where?”The big scare spirit pointed up.Ye Jia was slightly surprised. He slowly raised his head.It was dark and dusty but after looking carefully, you could still make out the faint marks above his head that formed a familiar pattern ------It was the same as the one he saw at the base of his mother’s coffin.…..Sure enough.Ye Jia raised his head and stared at that strange pattern, his gaze slightly dark.The Ghost King is Mother’s proxy.So, in a way, his actions were a direct representation of Mother’s will.Ye Jia dug out his phone and called Liu Zhaocheng:“Head Chief, do you know when the Yin Pits first appeared?”“Uh…..” Liu Zhaocheng’s voice travelled over from the other end. A long time later, he said, “When I first joined the Bureau, a lot of the processes and research were still not complete, so what we knew was limited. In theory, the Yin Pits should have been around for as long as the city itself....…”Ye Jia interrupted him, “But, if that was really the case, wouldn’t the Yin Pits have already gathered over a thousand years of yin energy before the formation of the Bureau?”Liu Zhaocheng had difficulty answering, “Uh….Maybe….with the development of mankind….”Ye Jia’s eyes darkened. He asked, “When did the concept of a Yin Pit first come up?”“About thirty years ago, I guess.”“After the Bureau was reorganised?”Liu Zhaocheng was momentarily stunned, “…….Yes.”Ye Jia hung up and proceeded to send messages to the others..Outside a tall building.The milk tea store around the corner was still open but business was as usual very slow.Noises from the news broadcast playing on the TV in the electrical store travelled out through the glass.“…...Paranormal events have been occurring more frequently. The country is urgently formulating measures to ensure the citizen’s safety…..”Ye Jia retracted his gaze.The last time he came here, it was in the middle of summer.And now, it was almost autumn. Although there were still some traces of summer left in the air, the temperature was getting cooler, the slight chill penetrating through his clothes.The old building stood quietly before him with gloomy air leaking out from the dark corridors.Very soon, a shout sounded in the distance.“Hey, Brother Ye!”Ye Jia looked over at the source of the sound.He saw Chen Qingye, Wei Yuechu and Blast come over. Wei Yuechu waved at him and ran over, “Hey, why did you call us over so urgently?”Ye Jia pursed his lips and looked at Chen Qingye, “Did you bring what I asked you to bring?”Chen Qingye nodded.He opened his backpack and took out three detectors.“Huh?” Blast raised a brow, “What’s this for?”Ye Jia said, “These are the most sensitive detectors we have recovered. It is more sensitive than detecting it using our senses.”Wei Yuechu knitted her brows, “What are we looking for?”“Malice.” Ye Jia said.The others were stunned, “Malice?”“It’s similar to yin energy but darker and more dangerous. It can even contaminate and corrupt a fierce ghost.” Seeing everyone’s slightly shocked expressions, Ye Jia continued, “This building is too big so it’s better if we split up.”Wei Yuechu weighed the device in her hand and looked up at Ye Jia, “What about you?”Ye Jia took out the small black hand from his pocket and waved it, “I’ll use this.”Everyone, “…..”Wait a minute, didn’t you say that it was a prop that could only be used once?The small black hand waved at the three people before it, “Hi!”Everyone: “……….”What the hell is that?Ye Jia clearly didn’t have any intention to explain. He placed the small black hand on his shoulder and turned to look back at the other three:“Let’s go. If you find anything, contact me.”He then turned to look at Ji Xuan who was standing beside him and briefly paused for a moment:“You can just wait outside.”Ji Xuan’s lips curled up slightly and a smile flickered across the depths of his dark red eyes. He softly replied:“Okay.”Inside the building.The metal doors were tightly shut and the grey walls were covered with graffiti. There were no signs of life in this entire building. Only the steady sound of footsteps echoed through the empty corridors.The autumn sun shone through the hazy glass, barely illuminating the gloomy surroundings.After that murder case, the residents of this building had moved out one after another and, after the ghost rampage that happened later, this building had basically been left abandoned.Ye Jia walked on, his tall and straight figure particularly prominent in the gloomy corridor.The small black hand held tightly onto his shoulder as it looked around for clues.They went deeper and deeper.The small black hand asked, “Hey….speaking of which, why did you suddenly decide to come back here?”“Despite all the skinning cases, why this place in particular?” It scratched its palm as it asked doubtfully, “Besides, didn’t the people from your Bureau already inspect this place already?”Ye Jia answered as he continued looking at the darkness ahead.“Why would a young girl enter this building alone?”His eyes silently scanned around the corridor before him and he also took in the locked doors along it as he continued, “It was recorded that she didn’t have any friends or relatives in this building and she lived on the other side of the city yet she boarded a ghost bus to get to the other end of the city and was found dead in this building. Why do you think she did that?”The small black hand was stunned, “So you’re saying…….?”“Yes.” Ye Jia nodded, his amber eyes narrowing as he looked at the gloomy scene before him:“Rather than who died, where they died is more important.”-----The location of this building was the key point.They moved on and continued to scan every inch of this place for any strange fluctuations.At this moment, Ye Jia’s phone rang.He answered it and static sounds travelled over from the other end. Wei Yuechu’s voice could be heard intermittently, “…...Basement…..hurry……”She seemed to have discovered something.Ye Jia was stunned.He stuffed his phone back into his pocket and rushed towards the basement as fast as possible.The lighting in the basement was poor and they were even buzzing and flickering occasionally.There was a stuffy and rancid smell in the air.Wei Yuechu stood at the end of the corridor, her beautiful features slightly sullen as she held a roaring chainsaw in her hands. The wall in front of her had already been smashed open.Inside the wall, countless dried up corpses were visible, all stacked on top of each other. They all took on an almost mummified appearance, as if all the water in their bodies had been drained out. Ashen and discoloured skin wrapped tightly around the bones and every one of their faces showed an agonising expression. There was a large totem behind these corpses, deeply embedded into the wall as if it had become a part of it.The other two arrived one after another.Blast gasped in surprise, “What is this?!”Although Chen Qingye appeared calm, the rapidly rising and falling chest also revealed his not-so-calm state.Ye Jia turned to look at Chen Qingye, “Have you brought the map?”Chen Qingye nodded and took out a map of M City from his backpack.Ye Jia spread it open on the ground and stretched out his hand, “Pen.”Chen Qingye gave Ye Jia a pen he had brought with him.Ye Jia first found the location of the building on the map and made a mark. He then looked up at Chen Qingye, “Where were the other victims of the skinning case found?”Chen Qingye crouched down beside the map and pointed at several places:“Here, and also here…..”After marking them all, Ye Jia turned towards Wei Yuechu, “Where was the woman whose heart was dug out?”Wei Yuechu pointed it out.After Ye Jia marked all the spots, he once again circled four places.The three Yin Pits that the Bureau was already aware of.And the one bought by Ji Xuan.Finally, with a slight pause, he smoothed out a folded corner of the city map and slowly drew a circle around the cemetery located in the outskirts of the city.Ye Jia connected all the points in chronological order.The other three watched him do all this in confusion. Wei Yuechu had her brows knitted and head tilted as she took in the pattern that had shown up on the map: “What is this?” she asked.At this moment, the small black hand appeared on Ye Jia’s shoulder. After carefully observing the pattern, it suddenly spoke up:“It’s a door.”Everyone was stunned. They all looked towards the small black hand.The small black hand was startled. It instinctively shrank back but was soon caught by Ye Jia.Ye Jia frowned, “Door?”The small black hand waved its fingers, “Yeah. I told you about it before. Us fierce ghosts came out of the game through a door.”-----One day, a door suddenly opened.------The door was just there. Anyone could leave through it if they see it.It added, “But the door we passed through was only two or three metres high.”The small black hand looked at the map and continued:“I have never seen such a big door.”