Chapter 275: Porcelain Capital’s Third Porcelain Factory 14

Chapter 275: Porcelain Capital's Third Porcelain Factory 14

Qin Fei sat amidst a sea of blood, holding a delicate and small porcelain bottle in his palm.

The ghost infant had found it in the corner of the room and immediately handed it to Qin Fei.

The blood on the floor surged instantly, forming tiny whirlpools that writhed and surged toward Qin Fei.

The water ghost, submerged in the blood, struggled against these whirlpools but quickly showed signs of being overwhelmed.

Before the whirlpools could reach Qin Fei, the young man curled up in the chair lazily raised his hand.

He held the neck of the porcelain bottle, waving it in the air, seemingly talking to himself or threatening:

"Ah, this thing seems hard to deal with. How about I just smash this bottle?"

His fingers loosened slightly.

"No! Don't!!"

A strange voice emerged from the chaotic room, and the originator of all the chaos finally appeared.

The blood on the floor coalesced into a faceless, featureless ghost, its face directly facing Qin Fei, apparently staring intently at Qin Fei's right hand.

"Let's talk things out, no need for violence, hehe," the blood ghost said, with every inch of its face trembling slightly.

One couldn't help but worry whether it would melt back into a shapeless liquid in the next second.

As Qin Fei had guessed, the weakness of the monster in this urban legend was its life-bound porcelain bottle.

Once the bottle was found, even the most difficult ghosts could be easily controlled.

Qin Fei looked at the blood ghost and spoke with a smile, "Talk."

"How did you target Li Zhen, and how did you get to this factory?"

...

The interrogation of the blood ghost wasn't entirely smooth but was not without gains either.

The blood ghost only gained true consciousness after killing Li Zhen, and its memories before that were very vague.

It vaguely remembered that it seemed to have arrived at the factory a few days before October 12.

"Before coming to the porcelain factory, we were sealed inside an item," the blood ghost revealed everything it knew.

Someone had sent an item containing a hundred ghosts to the porcelain factory.

Later, for some reason, the hundred ghosts transferred to a batch of new sample memorial bottles produced by the factory.

The water ghost lay beside Qin Fei, listening to the blood ghost and secretly complaining, "It's like he's saying nothing at all."

The blood ghost choked, looking at Qin Fei with fear and anger, then glaring at the water ghost.

Qin Fei ignored the two ghosts' silent exchange. He rested his chin on his hand, silently pondering what the blood ghost had said.

Indeed, the blood ghost hadn't provided much useful information, but it didn't matter because the missing parts were soon filled in by others.

Before nightfall, Qin Fei met up with the remaining players who had gone out from Black Feather on the empty ground behind the playground.

This afternoon, Xie Jingtian, Lu Cheng, and Mi Yang each obtained a bottle. Now that the four players had gathered, the ghosts they had caught were huddled nearby.

Including the ones Qin Fei had found earlier, the area was now filled with ghostly energy.

NPCs passing by couldn't see the ghosts, but they couldn't help shivering when they passed, feeling that the temperature here was several degrees lower than elsewhere.

Xie Jingtian had the most significant harvest among the four.

He went to the art office in the afternoon.

After entering the art office, Xie Jingtian was quickly enveloped by illusions, where he was forced to relive the terrifying events experienced by the deceased NPCs.

Although the process was extremely dangerous, it allowed him to gather crucial information.

"The artists at the porcelain factory worked several consecutive nights before October 12 to create new patterns for the factory's commemorative bottles."

Xie Jingtian's words drew immediate attention from everyone.

A player took out a porcelain bottle from their personal space, one they had brought down from Train No. 444.

"Look at this bottle."

Xie Jingtian handed the porcelain bottle over.

"The batch of porcelain bottles we brought down from the train looks similar to the haunted ones at first glance, but upon closer inspection, the patterns drawn on them are completely different series."

The commemorative bottles sold on Train No. 444 depicted Porcelain Capital's iconic buildings.

The bottles produced after October 12, however, depicted various ghosts.

"In early October, the factory received an ancient painting from an unknown person, accompanied by a brief letter stating that the painting was a family heirloom with high artistic value, and they were voluntarily donating it to the city's third factory."

The content of this painting was precisely the 'Night Parade of One Hundred Demons.'

"After the painting was sent to the art studio, it took half a month of work, and on October 12, the first batch of new commemorative bottles came out."

On the same day, the samples of the commemorative bottles were distributed to all the workshops.

Then, the production of the commemorative items began, and the porcelain factory became the lair of various ghosts and monsters.

This is the entire process of the strange occurrences at the porcelain factory.

Facing Xie Jingtian, the three players had varied expressions.

After a while, Mi Yang frowned and said, "If that's the case, the key issue now should be that ancient painting?"

Xie Jingtian nodded: "I think so too."

Logically speaking, since the painting was sent to the art studio as a reference for prototypes, it should still be there.

But Xie Jingtian turned the office upside down and found nothing.

He did find a few sheets of paper with ghost patterns drawn on them, but those were just copies made by the artists based on the ancient painting.

As for the original painting, Xie Jingtian didn't even find a trace of it.

Lu Cheng drew in a cold breath: "This is troublesome."

That painting must be the focus of the legend, and with the clue broken here, they were once again at a loss.

"Should we ask someone?" Xie Jingtian hesitated, "Actually, after the environment ended, I asked the NPCs at the art studio."

But they refused to tell him anything.

Saying they "refused" might not be entirely accurate; those people didn't even want to mention it. When Xie Jingtian pressed further, they tried to drive him away. When he attempted to use force, the NPCs started crying and clinging to his legs, saying they really didn't know and begging him not to force them anymore, as they truly didn't want to die.

The dramatic scene caused the number of viewers in Xie Jingtian's live stream to surge during those few minutes.

Xie Jingtian was also speechless, but it seemed that getting any information from the NPCs was impossible.

"To be honest, I don't think they're faking it," Xie Jingtian said.

They genuinely didn't know where the painting was.

Qin Fei lowered his eyes, pondered for a moment, and then suggested, "We can try finding it ourselves first."

If it were just the NPCs at the art studio refusing to disclose information, Qin Fei might have thought of other ways to pry information out of them.

However, every ghost and monster they encountered since the legend began couldn't explain anything related to the painting.

Qin Fei suspected this was an additional designed challenge within the legend.

Information was sealed off, and they could only rely on themselves to find the painting.

"There's no need to rush; we still have plenty of time."

Qin Fei tapped his knuckles lightly, turning the black crystal ring slowly: "The ghost of the porcelain vase from the October 12 prototype day has been captured, which means the clues are cut off for other players."

Without Li Zhen's notes and the illusion at the art studio, the players from other guilds would likely never discover the truth.

Due to the lack of information within the legend, even if they tried other methods, it would be difficult to learn the full story.

Xie Jingtian rubbed his nose: "Makes sense, but... how do we find it?"

The factory is so large; finding a painting without any leads would be like a dreamer's fantasy.

Qin Fei smiled: "It's not entirely without leads. Didn't you say the painting was sent to the factory?"

Qin Fei's idea was simple: to find the painting, they should follow the same method they used to find the porcelain vase ghost.

Go to the places where it appeared before.

So far, the painting has been confirmed to appear in two places: the art studio has been ruled out, leaving the place where the painting was initially delivered to the factory.

"In a large factory with thousands of workers, there must be a separate room for receiving packages and letters."

The reception room might be at the gate or somewhere else.

Just ask any worker.

"The reception room?" Lu Cheng was taken aback. Mentioning the reception room reminded him of something.

"On my way here, I ran into Baiqiu and The Third," Lu Cheng paused, "from the Butterfly Guild, Zhou Yong's lackeys."

They passed each other quickly.

But who was Lu Cheng? Seeing enemies always made his blood boil, so he secretly extended a vine to eavesdrop on their conversation.

"At the time, I was too far away to hear clearly, but now that I think about it, they seemed to be talking about the reception room." Lu Cheng blinked, excitedly, "Could it be that they also discovered something about the reception room?"

If the reception room indeed had issues, it would mean Xiao Qin's guess was correct, and the clues related to the ancient painting were hidden there.

Mi Yang couldn't contain his excitement: "Let's go check it out now."

...

At the main entrance of the porcelain factory, thick black mist enveloped the street outside, making it impossible to see anything.

Behind the fence next to the gate, two figures, one tall and one short, were huddled together, whispering.

Baiqiu swallowed hard, staring at the empty road ahead for a moment before turning to The Third: "Will this really work?"

The Third's eyes glowed red: "I don't know if it will work, but I definitely don't want to go back to that place again."

Damn Zhou Yong, always stepping on them to curry favor with Master Butterfly.

The Third gritted his teeth.

Zhou Yong learned from others that there was something wrong with the NPC at the guardhouse. Instead of going to scout it himself, he forced Baiqiu and The Third to go.

That place was indeed haunted.

But it was far too dangerous.

Baiqiu and The Third entered the guardhouse and almost didn't make it out alive.

Yet, they couldn't return empty-handed.

So, The Third came up with a plan.

The mantis stalks the cicada, unaware of the oriole behind.