Ita Era

Chapter 106 Evil Spirit
Ding Shi had a general understanding of the current enemies: believers, players, pig demons, pistols, and bows and arrows. He was able to detect the archer's ambush because after the train entered the station, he knew that two enemies were carrying bows and arrows and would be on guard against being ambushed by them. The reason he was ambushed by the pig demon was because he didn't have the concept of a pig demon in his mind.

Workshop No. 3 had no lights and relied entirely on natural light for illumination, making the interior very dark. Even after being washed, there was still a strong smell of blood.

Ding Shi stepped into Workshop No. 3 through the side door and heard a gurgling sound, seemingly the sound of someone's intestines wriggling due to hunger, possibly the grunts of a pig demon. The sound was coming from deep inside the workshop, near the cold storage.

Ding Shi gripped his gun with both hands and darted out, looking down the corridor. A dark figure flashed past at the end of the corridor, about 20 meters away. Several large plastic buckets, used to hold pig offal, were placed in the corridor. Ding Shi touched one with his toe, and the empty bucket made a loud noise. Ding Shi aimed at the spot where the dark figure had disappeared, to see if the other party would come to investigate.

After waiting for a while, there was no movement. Ding Shi crossed the passageway, which was a tunnel for pigs to walk through. They could not turn around and could only move forward until they reached the slaughtering platform.

There was another passageway on the other side of the tunnel. Ding Shi switched to his Wildcat crossbow to enhance his night vision. Through the night vision scope, Ding Shi saw a dark figure. The figure's outline resembled that of a young boy, with particularly prominent scarlet eyes. It seemed convinced that Ding Shi couldn't see it and stared back at him. From those eyes, Ding Shi seemed to detect excitement and mockery.

Ding Shi decisively pulled the trigger, the crossbow bolt piercing the shadowy figure and embedding itself in the wall. The shadowy figure disintegrated into pieces and scattered in all directions. At the same time, a pig's squeal came from the direction of Workshop 4.

What is this? Ding Shi doesn't like exploring puzzles, but he has no choice but to start solving them.

Excluding chance, the shadowy figure and the pig demon seem to be connected, and the shadowy figure can be harmed by physical means. The Ita mystery is usually relatively simple; based on the known information, Ding Shi deduces that the shadowy figure might be a part of the evil spirit's soul.

The ritual failed to summon the true evil spirit; instead, a portion of its soul parasitized a pig, creating a pig demon. The believers then began a second ritual, intending for the pig demon to completely absorb the evil spirit's soul, thus generating the true evil spirit.

Another possibility is that the believers also wanted to kill the pig demon, which contained a portion of the evil spirit's soul. Killing the pig demon would cause that soul to merge with the evil spirit. So why didn't they do it on the train?
Solving cases is such a hassle.

Let's start again. We know there's a dark figure, a pig demon, and the believers have captured eight people for sacrifice.

Damn it, might as well kill them all.

One unit of pig demon, one unit of shadow, and one unit of believer.

Believers? We haven't found any believers yet. They're hiding with iron cages and offerings, probably setting up an altar and preparing sacrifices.

The pig demon is likely in workshop 4, and the shadowy figure is hiding in workshop 3. Iron Shirt Girl and Willow River conducted a brief search of workshop 2 and are currently concealed between workshops 2 and 3, awaiting Yu Yuan's latest orders. Based on this deduction, the believers are either with the pig demon in workshop 4 or setting up an altar in workshop 5.

As for number 3? With so many followers, it's impossible for them to remain silent. The most likely scenario is that the traitor used number 3 as a hunting ground for players.

Deal with the traitors first.

After figuring out the situation, Ding Shi took the Wildcat Crossbow and headed towards the entrance of the cold storage.

The traitor Liu Guang peeked through the crack in the freezer door and saw Ding Shi approaching. Because of the difference in lighting, Ding Shi didn't notice Liu Guang. After clearly seeing the crossbow in Ding Shi's hand, Liu Guang's eyes darted around, and he quietly closed the door.

When Ding arrived at the cold storage gate, it was a double door, each door being two meters high and one and a half meters wide. He gripped the doorknob with his left hand and pulled it outwards, and a visible blast of cold air drifted out from the crack in the door.

Hmm? There's electricity? That doesn't make sense; everything's been cleared out. It's probably a trap set by the monkeys to freeze everyone else to death.

Ding Shi calculated the time. If Liu Guangzhen had been tricked into the freezer, the monkey would have definitely turned the temperature to the lowest setting, and everyone inside would probably be frozen solid by now. If he entered the freezer now and got locked inside, he would also become a frozen sculpture.

Thinking of this, Ding Shi tore off his left sleeve, tied a knot, and slipped it onto the two doorknobs. In this way, no matter if it was a monster, a pig demon, a believer, or a traitor inside, they would not be able to open the door.

After putting on the protective suit, Ding Shi felt that his actions were somewhat perfunctory, so he barely opened the door a crack and called out, "Is anyone inside?"

Liu Guang: Yes, come in then.

Ding Shi: "Is anyone there? If no one answers, I won't go in."

Liu Guang: Coward.

After calling out twice and receiving no response, Ding Shi confirmed that none of his men were inside the cold storage and left. After waiting for a long time without any movement, Liu Guang pushed open the door, only to find it wouldn't open. Anxious, he pounded on the door and shouted, "Is anyone inside? Is anyone outside?"

No one responded, because Ding Shi had already gone to Workshop 5.

Workshop No. 5 differs from the other workshops in that, in addition to the necessary equipment, it has an additional function: cleaning pig offal for feed production. Therefore, Workshop No. 5 is also the largest in area.

About 100 meters from Workshop 5, Ding Shi spotted the archer hiding in the workshop roof. She was a very pretty young woman, archer with her bow drawn, leaning against the railing, observing her surroundings. Unfortunately, Ding Shi was approaching from the side, from behind her right head, and thus spotted her first.

Ding Shi hid in two bungalows about 30 meters away from Building 5. These two bungalows were changing rooms, with many butcher aprons and waders hanging on the walls and dozens of pairs of water boots neatly laid out on the floor.

The side door of Workshop 5 opened, and a believer came out. He quickly approached Workshop 4, then took out a dagger and cut his forearm, letting the blood drip down. He retreated step by step towards Workshop 5.

A moment later, the pig demon emerged from the main entrance of Workshop 4, following the trail of blood. Upon seeing the pig demon, the believer took off running, but the pig demon gave chase. The distance between them quickly closed, and just as the believer was about to return to Workshop 5, the pig demon pounced on him and knocked him to the ground.

The pig demon grabbed the believer by the chest, flung him to the left, and sent him flying towards the bungalow, where he slammed against the wall like a stamp. The pig demon rushed over, picked up the believer, and slammed him to the ground repeatedly. After seven or eight blows, the believer died. The pig demon then used one hand to lift the believer and the other to slit the believer's carotid artery with its sharp claws.

After draining the blood, the pig demon tore off one of the believer's arms with his bare hands and sat on the ground to feast on it.

Ding Shi, standing 5 meters away from the pig demon, wondered if it was just his imagination, but he noticed that as the pig demon ate, its body became even stronger. Taller and stronger.

Judging from the believer's behavior, he wanted to lure the pig demon to Workshop 5 with blood, which shows that the believer and the pig demon could not communicate.

Since he had nothing better to do, Ding Shi threw a "water and soil incompatibility" at him, but he immediately regretted it.

The pig demon was afflicted with a diarrhea and vomiting buff. It was completely oblivious to its surroundings and wasn't wearing any clothes, so it ate, vomited, and sprayed excrement all at once. It acted like a perfectly normal pig, much to Dante's disgust. Within minutes, the pig demon was covered in its own excrement.

Ding Shi decisively took out the Wildcat Crossbow, ready to eliminate it.

The pig demon was on the left side of the first bungalow, while Ding Shi was in the second bungalow. To kill the pig demon, Ding Shi had to leave the room. The pig demon's movements had already attracted the attention of the archer in Workshop 5. Not only her, but two believers had also appeared on the workshop ceiling, seemingly assessing the pig demon's condition and devising a strategy.

Because of the archer girl and her companions' control, Ding Shi could only stay in the No. 2 bungalow.

About 20 minutes later, the pig demon finished eating the believer's last thigh, stood up contentedly, and let out a loud squeal. Ding Shi confirmed that he wasn't mistaken; the pig demon had indeed grown even stronger and taller. Having eaten and drunk his fill, the pig demon walked to a tree, lay down, and began to doze off.

As expected of a pig, it can eat anything and sleep anytime.

The archer and the other two kept an eye on the pig demon for a while longer, and Ding Shi took the opportunity to sneak into workshop number 5.

Ding Shi didn't dare to enter Workshop No. 5. He walked around the workshop for half a circle, found an exhaust fan, broke off the fan blade, and looked inside.

Eight humans were suspended in the air with their hands bound. There were two pentagram arrays, each about three square meters in size, on the ground. They were not drawn, but carved out, with two pentagrams carved into the concrete floor.

Two men in black robes were working on a pentagram with chisels, while another man in black robes was repairing it, applying a glue-like substance to each edge. At the center of both pentagrams was an inverted cross, covered with inscriptions.

I hate puzzles!

Ding Shi picked up the Wildcat Crossbow, ready to kill the believers, when suddenly a gust of demonic wind blew by, and a small stone rolled off the ceiling, landing on a wine bottle about two meters away from Ding Shi.

The crisp sound of breaking was particularly jarring in the quiet factory area. Ding Shi cursed the Grim Reaper to the eighteenth generation in his heart, and took off running, hiding behind an ornamental tree. An arrow shot into the tree afterward.

Ding Shi aimed his crossbow at the workshop ceiling. The girl on the ceiling was still drawing an arrow. When she saw Ding Shi fire the crossbow, she quickly leaned back. The crossbow bolt passed through her left ear and pulled out a tuft of hair.

Ding continued to run away, but ten people had already surrounded the main and side doors of Workshop No. 5, two of whom were carrying pistols.

Ding Shi ran a hundred meters beyond the range of the bow and arrow, then suddenly stopped, drew his pistol, turned around, aimed, and pulled the trigger. A scapegoat happened to run in front of Pistol A and took the bullet for him. Pistol A immediately returned fire with his pistol, holding it with one hand, bending over, and leaning forward, looking both sleazy and amateurish.

At a distance of 70 meters, Ding Shi scoffed at Pistol A's shooting posture. After five shots, Ding Shi's second bullet knocked down Pistol A. At this moment, a believer in his thirties picked up Pistol A's pistol, skillfully gripped it with both hands, and fired while moving towards the cover on the left.

Upon seeing this, Ding Shi immediately turned and descended the steps, disappearing from the sight of the believers.

Ding Shi used a revolver, while his opponent used a regular handgun, which was superior in firepower, accuracy, and magazine capacity.

Because of the disturbance at Ding Shi, the believers added four sentries to the roof.

Ten minutes later, Ding Shi quietly sneaked back, found a secluded spot, picked up the Wildcat Crossbow, and aimed at the pig demon who was still sleeping on the ground.

The crossbow bolt flew, skimming over the bushes, kicking up two leaves, and struck the boar demon squarely in the heart, half of the bolt embedded within. The boar demon sprang up, looking around and roaring incessantly, before spotting the sentry on the roof.

The pig demon picked up an 8-kilogram stone from the ground and threw it at the ceiling. The stone hit the edge of the ceiling, smashing through the cement bricks and revealing the steel bars inside.

The pig demon ran towards Workshop 5. The believers inside hurriedly closed the door, but the pig demon slammed it against the door with a loud bang and recklessly pounded on it with its fists.

A believer ran out of the side door and, about 50 meters from Workshop 5, slashed his arm. The enraged pig demon, smelling the blood, turned and saw the believer, immediately running towards him. The believer neither fled nor resisted, but instead knelt and chanted incantations.

Then he was eaten by the pig demon, who, having eaten and drunk his fill, went to sleep and stopped attacking Workshop 5.

While the boar demon was eating, half of the crossbow bolt that was outside its body broke off. Most amazingly, as the boar demon ate, the remaining half of the crossbow bolt, which was embedded deep in its chest, was swallowed by newly formed muscle. It's unclear whether the bolt was digested or remained stuck in the muscle.

At Ding Shi, they moved to a new sniping spot and this time aimed at the pig demon's head. The crossbow bolt hit the pig demon again, as expected. Surprisingly, only the arrowhead pierced the pig demon's head; the pig demon's hard skull blocked the bolt.

This skull's hardness exceeds the basic standards for carbon-based life forms, confirming my suspicion that the boar demon's entire body was covered in Force. Because of this Force enhancement, the boar demon's resistance to blows and its striking power are extremely formidable.

Unlike when the arrow was shot into the boar demon's chest, the boar demon, after being awakened, pulled out the crossbow bolt and did not shout or scream in anger. Instead, it looked around in fear and then ran away.

The buff is still active, and it sprays gas as it runs; you'd think it had a power thruster installed.

The pig demon's movements also attracted the attention of the believers. Ding Shi retreated to the vicinity of Factory No. 4, and then he saw those scarlet eyes.

Outside Workshop 4, there was a long canopy with long tables and benches, presumably where the workers ate. A pair of eyes were watching Ding Shi intently from under the long table. Ding Shi raised his crossbow, and the eyes immediately darted forward along the long table. Ding Shi vaulted over several obstacles to reach the long table and found that the eyes were gone, at least not inside the canopy.

Iron Shirt Woman and Liu He arrived at this moment. After the three talked, Ding Shi explained the situation through the walkie-talkie.

A few minutes later, Yu Yuan told everyone to return to the command room.

As an apprentice of the Grim Reaper, Shabi has the right to purchase information and answers using points. According to Ding Shi's description, Shabi spent 200 points to purchase answers to four questions.

Answer to the first question: According to Ding Shi's description, he saw two pentagram arrays called Blood Sacrifice Arrays. The arrays were activated by filling the grooves with human blood.

The answer to the second question: The purpose of the blood sacrifice array is not to summon evil spirits, but to strip A of their soul and infuse it into B's body.

The answer to the third question: The scarlet eyes are part of the evil spirit's soul, and it is cunning. The other part of the soul controls the pig demon, and it is violent.

The answer to the fourth question: After the normal sacrifice, the evil spirit should have manifested its complete form. However, the believer who was offered the sacrifice regretted it at the last moment and replaced himself with a large, fat pig. Part of the evil spirit's soul merged with the unclean pig's blood and could not descend, remaining trapped inside the pig's body. Therefore, the believers had to use a blood sacrifice array to extract the part of the evil spirit's soul possessed by the pig demon, which was then absorbed by an evil spirit possessing the other part of its soul, in order to give birth to the complete evil spirit.

Ding Shi: "Buy two more."

Silly Bite refused: "I'm out of points."

Ding Shi picked up the wildcat crossbow: "Buy two more." This wasn't a request, but a threat.

Everyone urged, "Buy two more!" This is a step, this is a ladder.

Sha Bi glared at Ding Shi for a second and asked, "What do you want to buy?"

Ding Shi asked, "First question: Why does attacking the evil spirit's soul cause the pig demon to howl in pain? Second question: How do I destroy the evil spirit?"

(End of this chapter)