My Community Transmigrated Again

Cao Biansheng hesitated for a moment, then said in a low voice, ”Chairman, how about I take some men down for a look?”

Qin Ziwen glanced at Cao Biansheng. ”Don’t go running off. How many lives do you think you have, acting so recklessly?”

Cao Biansheng pursed his lips. ”I’ve been watching for a bit. It feels like the curse has a limited range. As long as we don’t get too close, it should be fine.”

”We have too little intel. It could be a trap. Let’s play it safe. If you actually die, I don’t have the power to resurrect you.” Qin Ziwen felt these underground city ruins looked rather sinister.

There were two possibilities for the missing bodies.

One was that something here could decompose the bodies, even breaking down the bones within until not a trace was left.

The second was that a living creature was hiding here, one that could move within the curse’s range and carry the bodies away.

”Wait, Chairman, look over there,” Lei Wenbo said, pointing.

Everyone looked in the direction he was pointing.

There, in front of the corpses, a blurry gray shadow had appeared at some unknown moment.

The instant the gray shadow appeared, goosebumps broke out on Qin Ziwen’s arms.

The figure hadn’t even looked up, yet he felt a profound sense of unease.

The gray shadow was staring at him.

”Look at the bodies!” someone cried out in alarm.

The corpses on the ground had floated into the air and were now drifting slowly toward the depths of the ruins.

Before long, they vanished behind the layers of rubble.

The gray shadow also vanished from its spot as if it had never been there.

Cao Biansheng looked eager. ”So that thing must be a Ghost.”

Qin Ziwu muttered, ”It’s possible. We have Skeleton Soldiers, so it wouldn’t be strange for a Ghost to show up, too.”

Qin Ziwen fell into thought. ’Based on that feeling from before, the Ghost might have some degree of consciousness.’

’So this must be the curse of the Gray Race. If we can’t deal with that Ghost, we won’t be able to get inside.’

It was a shame the Ghost had vanished too quickly for him to use Insight.

’I just don’t know how to deal with it.’

”Do you know how to deal with Ghosts?” Qin Ziwen asked Pangding.

Pangding shook its head blankly.

Its knowledge in this area was severely lacking.

Qin Ziwen turned to the Ant Queen. ”In your inherited memories, is there any way to deal with Ghosts or other spirits?”

Seeing the same blank look on the Ant Queen’s face, Qin Ziwen sighed to himself. ’Never mind. If she knew, the Insect Man ancestors who explored this place wouldn’t have all gone missing.’

’It seems they were likely killed by the Ghost in the ruins.’

”Let’s head back for now,” Qin Ziwen proposed.

Back at Home, Qin Ziwen gathered Mogu, Lorne, and a few others.

’It’s probably useless to ask the native races of this underground world. If they had a solution, they would have entered the ruins long ago.’

’I’ll have to ask the non-native intelligent races instead.’

Lorne spoke up. ”Leader, based on your description, it could be an earth-bound spirit. They are typically confined to a specific, fixed area.”

”Although their movement is restricted, earth-bound spirits are usually quite powerful within their territory.”

”Furthermore, they possess self-awareness. If we’re dealing with an earth-bound spirit, it’s going to be troublesome. They have a high resistance to physical attacks.”

”You either need to use elemental-type Extraordinary Abilities or a Soul System Ability of your own.”

Qin Ziwen’s expression shifted.

’I don’t have any Soul System Abilities, but I do have access to some elemental ones.’

’Like Little White Dragon, or Beaked Eagle.’

’But can they really handle an earth-bound spirit that’s been around for who knows how many years?’

Qin Ziwen had his doubts.

’If the spirit doesn’t show itself and just stays hidden...’

’I doubt Little White Dragon and Beaked Eagle’s abilities alone would be enough to force it out.’

Standing by as a spectator, Qin Ziwu had a flash of inspiration. ”Big Bro, don’t you have a Ghost-type building in your Home? The Ghost Ship Dock is full of Ghosts. We can just go ask them what their weaknesses are!”

Qin Ziwen shot him a look. ’Go ask a ghost its own weakness... You’re a real piece of work.’

”I think that could work.”

The group went to the Ghost Ship Dock.

Ever since they’d crossed into the underground world, work at the Ghost Ship Dock had slowed. They no longer needed to produce a large quantity of Ghost Ships. Instead, their focus had shifted to quality, and they were currently constructing a massive super Ghost Ship.

However, due to other priorities, progress on this super Ghost Ship was slow. It would take at least a few more months to complete.

They were still in the process of joining the keel using mortise and tenon joints.

The dock’s foreman, Tao Fu, was surprised by Qin Ziwen’s arrival but still scrambled down from the scaffolding to greet him. ”My Lord.”

”Yes. Don’t worry, I just came to have a look around,” Qin Ziwen said casually.

Seeing that his lord hadn’t come to reprimand him, Tao Fu felt a little relieved. On his way down, he’d quickly run through everything he’d done recently, wondering if he’d made a mistake somewhere.

Qin Ziwen asked, ”Have the Ghost Boatmen at the dock been working too hard lately?”

Tao Fu answered truthfully, ”Everyone’s workload has been light since we arrived in this new area. Our only issue is a shortage of timber, which has slowed the joining of the ship’s keel.”

”I’m not here to rush your progress. Slow work makes for a fine product, so take your time. I’m actually here to ask the Ghost Boatmen about something.” Qin Ziwen then told Tao Fu what had happened while they were exploring the underground city ruins.

Only then did Tao Fu understand the reason for his lord’s visit.

He immediately said, ”I’ll go gather them all at once.”

Soon, a dense crowd of Ghost Boatmen stood before Qin Ziwen.

The Ghost Boatmen were translucent, light-blue humanoid figures, a distinct difference in color from the gray shadow he had seen earlier.

But looking at their silhouettes, Qin Ziwen thought they still looked somewhat similar.

Qin Ziwen explained the situation with the earth-bound spirit, then addressed the assembled Ghost Boatmen. ”I’ve gathered you all to pool your knowledge. Do any of you have a solution?”

The Ghost Boatmen were silent. After a moment, a Ghost Boatman with a long beard spoke up from the back of the crowd. ”Sir, if we could build an ’ancient Ghost Ship,’ we might be able to use its power to deal with an earth-bound spirit.”

”An ancient Ghost Ship?” It was the first time Qin Ziwen had heard the term.

After listening to the Ghost Boatman’s explanation, he understood that there were different tiers of Ghost Ships.

The Lost Home, for instance, was just an ordinary Ghost Ship.

It possessed only simple, ghost-like Extraordinary characteristics. This type of Ghost Ship was the easiest to create, and the Ghost Ship Dock could mass-produce them, provided there were enough shipwrecks.

A tier higher than ordinary Ghost Ships were the ancient Ghost Ships.

The distinction wasn’t merely a matter of age.

There were generally two ways for an ordinary Ghost Ship to evolve into an ancient one.

The first method relied on Marvels. With enough Soul System Marvels, or ones of high enough quality, the Ghost Ship Dock could process and forge them into an ancient Ghost Ship.

The second method was through ”legend.” When an ordinary Ghost Ship became the subject of a widespread legend on the high seas, it had a chance of ascending to become an ancient Ghost Ship.

’But neither of these methods is suitable for me right now.’

’I don’t have the first, and the second requires an accumulation of time. The Gated Community has only been here for a few months. I don’t have time to just wait around.’

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