Before the two could approach, a series of roars echoed from the darkness ahead.
Five figures emerged from the darkness, each one bound to a Shadow Ghost. They were the five admins of this factory and the one leading the group was a little boy Shadow Ghost.
Mu You recognized this Shadow Ghost. It was the shadow of the previous skinny admin, created in the image of this little boy.
Under the lead of the little boy, the five Shadow Ghosts aggressively attacked Mu You and Lin Xue.
Mu You flicked his hand and threw a Shadow Fur Ball.
The Shadow Fur Ball quickly flew to the face of the little boy Shadow Ghost. Before the boy could lift his hand, the Fur Ball suddenly grew larger. A giant mouth opened and devoured the boy ghost whole. After a few chews, it swallowed. It then jumped behind another Shadow Ghost, rendering it immobile.
After one Shadow Ghost was devoured and another controlled, the remaining three still charged at Mu You and Lin Xue.
Without a second thought, Mu You took out the Shadow Ghost Box and opened the lid.
When he first entered the underground factory, he noticed that the Shadow Ghost inside the box had become extremely berserk, eagerly banging against the box in an attempt to escape.
Obviously, the Shadow Ghost had a deep connection with this place.
Given how powerful this Shadow Ghost was, Mu You knew he needed to bring it into the fight. With the Shadow Fur Ball, he didn’t have to worry about the Shadow Ghost becoming uncontrollable, so he released it.
As expected, once the Shadow Ghost was released, its furious presence instantly radiated outwards.
The three Shadow Ghosts charging towards them immediately shuddered to a stop and instinctively tried to retreat.
But it was too late. The gargantuan Shadow Ghost had already closed in on them. With one punch for each ghost, it knocked two into the ground and started pummeling them relentlessly. It was a two against one fight that left the two Shadow Ghosts helpless.
The last Shadow Ghost, trying to escape, was intercepted by Mu You and Lin Xue.
Mu You swiftly switched to the Combat Circuit, engaging in hand-to-hand combat with the Shadow Ghost. As for Lin Xue, though she couldn’t currently summon the Grim Reaper’s Shadow, her spells and black magic were more than enough to give the Shadow Ghost a hard time. Working together, the Ghost had no chance of escaping and was quickly slain on the spot.
When they finished slaying that ghost and looked around, they saw that the box Shadow Ghost had already torn the remaining three ghosts to pieces in its rampage.
All five Shadow Ghosts were dead. As for the revived admins, their fate was the same as Granny Tang’s. They were devoured by overwhelming negative emotions, repeatedly dying on the spot until they ran out of lives.
"The shadows devoured by the Shadow God have all returned. These people still don’t have their own shadows. It seems like their shadows weren’t fed to the Shadow God," Mu You said.
If he guessed right, their shadows were probably in the hands of the person behind the scenes. This was his scheme to control the admins and prevent them from rebelling.
After venting its rage, the Box Shadow Ghost wasn’t satisfied. It showed no intention of returning to the box, quickly directed its gaze to the depths of the western zone, and charged into the darkness like a bulldozer.
"It seems to be leading us somewhere."
Mu You and Lin Xue quickly followed suit.
After a series of clashes throughout the winding paths of the western zone, the giant Shadow Ghost clambered into a large hall.
This hexagonal hall had an enormous circular pit in the middle, a few meters deep, filled to the brim with dark-colored beetles.
As if sensing the approach of humans, the bugs became excited and surged around restlessly.
The Shadow Ghost roared again and dove straight into the pit, launching a frenzied attack. Beetles quickly climbed onto the Shadow Ghost, but without any host to latch onto, they had no effect. With every swipe of the Shadow Ghost, a large swarm of bugs was crushed.
Both of them, who had followed closely, bore witness to the scene of the Shadow Ghost going haywire with the bugs.
"It seems... it has quite the grudge against these bugs..." Lin Xue said.
Mu You made a strange face. He initially thought the Shadow Ghost rushed in because it wanted to lead them to the mysterious figure behind the curtain, but it ended up waging war against bugs...
It wasn’t completely incomprehensible. The previous owners of these Shadow Ghosts had been tormented by these bugs, and most likely harbored a deep resentment towards them. These negative feelings must have been transferred to the Shadow Ghosts.
Watching the Shadow Ghost slaughter bugs frantically like a child taking revenge, Mu You remembered something and hurriedly went to the other side of the pit.
In a corner, away from the restless bugs, was a golden silkworm pupa the size of a finger. The bugs around had naturally distanced themselves, leaving a circular clearing around it.
Mu You promptly jumped into the clearing and carefully picked up the pupa.
The pupa hadn’t hatched yet, so they couldn’t establish a connection, but he decided to keep it for now.
Once the pupa was in hand, Mu You became the bugs’ new target for avoidance. They fled as if afraid, deserting his side.
Mu You paid them no mind and lifted his gaze to the high platform in front.
The puppet master had been hiding on that platform, and it seemed that he had been stationary there for a long time. Of course, since the Shadow God broke his control, it was currently abandoned.
Mu You sprung up onto the high platform, where, devoid of light, there was nobody.
Lin Xue also hopped over soon, conjuring a light ball at the tip of her wand to illuminate the surroundings.