139: Chapter 139 The Blood-Dripping Sewing Machine

"Clang!"

A crisp sound of snapping metal echoed out.

The copper lock wrapped with red threads, along with the thick iron chain, was sliced clean in two by the Pure Yang Qi on the copper coin sword, slamming heavily into the muddy water.

Lin Ye kicked open the iron door.

"Screeech—"

The harsh friction resonated through the night sky, like a fierce beast that had been asleep for thirty years slowly opening its bloody maw filled with fangs.

The three of them walked into the factory grounds.

Waist-high weeds and scattered red bricks covered the ground everywhere.

Directly ahead was a three-story main factory building. Its outer walls were scorched black, and every windowpane was shattered, revealing dark, gaping holes that looked like unblinking eyes staring down at them.

As they approached the main building, the stench of burnt flesh grew increasingly intense.

Lin Ye paused and listened intently.

"Da-da-da-da..."

A faint, rhythmic sound of clacking machinery echoed from the second floor of the main factory building.

It was the sound of old-fashioned treadle sewing machines running at full speed!

Hearing this sound, Ms. Jiang's legs turned to jelly, and she collapsed directly onto the ground.

She clapped her hands tightly over her mouth, terrified of making a sound.

Last night, when this sound rang out, Little Chen had stepped on that clump of dead person's hair.

"There's more than one machine."

"At least a hundred things are moving around on the second floor."

Leng Yue raised her head slightly, a flash of murderous intent glinting in her dark-gold eyes.

"Just a bunch of pitiful ghosts who were exploited by capitalists in life, and forced to operate sewing machines in the underworld after death."

Lin Ye sneered, grabbing a handful of aged glutinous rice mixed with cinnabar from his backpack.

"Let's go up and meet them. Let's see if this underworld factory from thirty years ago pays overtime."

Lin Ye led the way into the first-floor lobby of the main building.

The first floor must have been a warehouse. It was currently empty, with only a few load-bearing pillars standing lonely in the dark.

Black scorched marks left by the ancient fire could still be seen on the walls.

The staircase was at the end of the corridor.

The concrete steps were heavily weathered, covered in a thick layer of dust.

Yet among that dust was a distinct set of footprints.

The footprints only showed the balls of the feet with no heels, as if someone had been walking on tiptoes the whole way.

Lin Ye traced the footprints upward; they extended all the way to the corner of the second floor.

"Stay close to me."

Holding the copper coin sword, Lin Ye stepped onto the first stair.

Leng Yue walked at the rear, covering Ms. Jiang.

Her aura was completely suppressed, making her look like an ordinary, stunningly beautiful woman.

But in Ms. Jiang's eyes, the silent, silver-haired woman behind her exuded an oppressive presence far more terrifying than this haunted factory.

"Da-da-da-da-da..."

As they continued up the stairs, the sound of the sewing machines grew louder and denser.

Weaving together, the noise felt like countless insects gnawing at human eardrums.

Reaching the corner of the second floor, Lin Ye leaned out half his body and looked inside the workshop.

The vast second-floor workshop was filled with a haze of gray fog.

At the edge of the flashlight's dim glow, Lin Ye saw a scene that made his scalp go numb.

Arrayed neatly across the entire workshop were over a hundred old-fashioned sewing machines, scorched black and covered in rust.

And in front of every single sewing machine sat a "person."

These "people" wore the blue worker uniforms from thirty years ago.

Except their clothes and skin were fused completely together.

Half the head of some had been burnt away, exposing charred bone underneath; the arms of others were reduced to a layer of carbonized skin hanging off skeletons.

They had no expressions and uttered no wails of pain.

They merely worked the foot pedals beneath them in a rigid, mechanical rhythm.

Pair after pair of charred hands pushed something back and forth on the needle beds.

Lin Ye looked closer.

What was being sewn under the needles of those machines were ghastly white human skins!

"Blergh..."

Taking in the sight before her, Ms. Jiang could no longer hold it back, clutching her stomach and dry-heaving.

The moment Ms. Jiang made a sound, all hundred-plus sewing machines in the workshop ground to a halt at the exact same instant.

"Screeech—"

It was an unnervingly synchronized screech of brakes.

The workshop, whirring frantically a second ago, plunged into a dead silence in an instant.

Right after, over a hundred charred heads turned in unison, staring fixedly at the three people hiding by the door.

In their pupil-less, pure white eyes was a dull, numb malice.

"New arrivals... why aren't you wearing uniforms..."

"If you don't work... the director will get angry... the director will lock the door..."

"Locked the door... so hot... the fire is so big... help..."

Waves of chilling murmurs gathered from all directions, washing over Lin Ye and the others' eardrums like invisible tides.

"Master Lin... Little Chen... where is Little Chen's shadow?"

Terrified, Ms. Jiang squeezed her eyes shut and grabbed tightly onto Lin Ye's hem.

Lin Ye ignored the female ghosts staring at him, quickly sweeping his gaze across the workshop.

Soon, in the deepest corner of the workshop, he spotted a distinct sewing machine.

No female ghost sat before that machine.

But on its foot pedal, a dark shadow was stitched firmly down with a coarse red cotton thread.

The shadow was frantically twisting and struggling on the pedal, trying to snap the red thread.

But with every struggle, the thread tightened a bit, causing black powder to peel off from the shadow's edges.

That was Little Chen's living soul projection.

Just as Lin Ye prepared to draw his sword and charge in...

The air in front of him distorted, and that familiar pale-blue translucent screen popped up once again.

[Ding! Extremely dense collective resentment and a special curse area detected. Current target: Fire-Refined Textile Female Ghost Group (Grievance Ghost-level cluster).]

[The ""My Lord, Please Behave Yourself" System" has been triggered. Facing this group of underworld workers who were exploited in life and imprisoned in death, Host, please choose from the following three options:]

[Option A: Clean up the workplace. Pull out your phone, connect to your portable high-power Bluetooth speaker, and put "The Internationale" and "Worker's Soul" on single-track loop. Use a passionate speech to awaken their class consciousness and lead them to overthrow the underworld sweatshop.]

[Reward: One [Labor Dispute Exemption Medallion] (possesses absolute deterrence against any ghost who was a worker in life).

Consequence: The Host may be elected by the fanatical female ghosts as the new underworld factory director, forcibly kept in the factory to operate a sewing machine.]

[Option B: Extreme exploitation, capitalist face. Since they fear the "director," be even harsher than the director.

Immediately take off your jacket, expose your Pure Yang Dao Body, point at their noses and berate them for failing to meet their KPIs. Use the absolute aura of a capitalist to forcibly suppress their resentment and coerce them into cutting the red thread themselves.]

[Reward: One [Black-Hearted Boss's Gilded Pipe]. Consequence: Extremely likely to trigger a full-scale riot among the ghost cluster, viewing the Host as their number one enemy and subjecting the Host to endless physical beatings.]

[Option C: Hardcore salvation, purge with thunder and fire. There's nothing Pure Yang Thunder Magic can't solve; if there is, add Supreme Karma Fire.

Ignore all fancy tricks, tread the star steps to slaughter your way through the workshop, forcibly cut the soul-replacing red thread, and draw out the ultimate mastermind hidden in the shadows.]

[Reward: One [Yin-Yang Tracking Crane] (can automatically track extreme yin qi within a ten-li radius), 2000 Husband Points.]