Donkey ears?

Mo Ling almost thought he was seeing things.

But after a closer look, Mo Ling was certain. They weren’t just something shaped like them—they were actual donkey ears.

What’s more, the ears were incredibly vivid. Though they were made of mist, the fine hairs on them were clearly visible. Mo Ling could even make out their internal anatomical structure.

The donkey ears would twitch now and then on the ghost’s head, looking just like living flesh.

How could donkey ears be so lifelike?

Although the ghosts’ mimicked forms imitated the shape of a person, the level of detail on these donkey ears was completely different from their otherwise crude mimicry.

It was as if the ghost was pixelated, but the donkey ears were in high definition. They were incredibly conspicuous.

They were clearly made of the same substance, yet they produced two completely different effects.

When the other ghosts saw the donkey-eared ghost appear, they immediately pointed at Shibeng and shouted, "That’s the arsonist! Attack him! Make him pay!"

The donkey-eared ghost was clearly terrified as well, but upon hearing its companions, it still charged toward the Block.

Mo Ling understood now.

The bandana worn by the donkey-eared ghost was the "red cloth" they had mentioned. It had only turned into mist because it had adapted to the ghost’s body.

Just as he was thinking this, the donkey-eared ghost had already rushed in front of the Block, trying to get around it and attack Shibeng.

Mo Ling couldn’t let it succeed, of course. He aimed for its head and teleported the bandana directly into the Block.

The donkey-eared ghost outside the Block instantly lost its head, but it didn’t stop. It continued to charge forward, its body contracting into a slender thread that was difficult to see with the naked eye.

The thread shot straight into Shibeng’s body, scaring him so badly that he scrambled to run in circles around the Block.

After a few laps, he realized he wasn’t hurt and nothing abnormal was happening, so he finally stopped.

The thread floated back and reformed into a ghost, but this time its face was filled with fear, and the donkey ears on its head had vanished.

’Where did the donkey ears go?’ Mo Ling wondered, quickly looking inside the Block.

’Did I teleport the donkey ears in here, too? Can’t it grow them back?’

Inside the Block, Mo Ling didn’t see any donkey ears. Lying on the metal floor was only a conspicuous red cloth.

The donkey ears themselves were nowhere to be found.

After being stripped of the red cloth, the donkey-eared ghost now looked as unremarkable as its companions.

Having lost the red cloth, the ghost could no longer seem to suppress its terror. It huddled with its companions, trembling uncontrollably.

After a short wait, none of the ghosts attacked again. It seemed they no longer dared to provoke the Block.

Mo Ling breathed a sigh of relief. He prepared to give them a thorough interrogation before sending them on their way to the afterlife.

The mental state of this group of ghosts was truly bizarre, and Mo Ling worried that problems might arise if he let them be.

But before he could move forward, the former donkey-eared ghost was already begging the Block for mercy.

"Please forgive my kinsmen! They’re not in their right minds. I can explain everything! I’m begging you, spare our lives! We’ll do anything you ask!"

While the ghost begged for mercy, its companions beside it continued to accuse Shibeng.

"Arsonist! He must be punished!"

The ghosts were trembling from head to toe in fear, but their words remained unforgiving. They paid no mind to the one who was pleading for them.

"I’m sorry! Please, don’t mind them!" 𝚏𝕣𝕖𝚎𝚠𝚎𝚋𝚗𝐨𝐯𝕖𝕝.𝕔𝐨𝕞

The ghost could only continue to plead, while helplessly trying to restrain its bizarre kinsmen. It wanted to stop them but was completely unable to.

The other ghosts continued to do as they pleased, their condemnations unceasing.

Shibeng, however, had become immune to it.

’What in the world is going on? Is this the only sane one?’

The Block slowly floated forward to get a better look at this peculiar ghost. After its donkey ears disappeared, it no longer had that conspicuous, strange aura.

It was perfectly ordinary, identical to its companions. The only difference was the words they were now speaking.

Shibeng cautiously approached. After confirming that this particular ghost wouldn’t attack him, he repeated his earlier action, trying to start a fire inside its body.

This ghost’s reaction was also different. It only showed a flicker of fear when Shibeng first got close.

Once it saw what Shibeng was trying to do, it relaxed.

It seemed to know it couldn’t be ignited.

Instead, it was the surrounding ghosts, the ones who had been endlessly condemning Shibeng, that scattered and fled while still shouting insults.

In the end, only this unique ghost remained, standing helplessly in place.

"You’re not from the Natural Gas Race either," Shibeng stated firmly after checking a few more times.

The ghost stared at Shibeng’s hand inside its body and nodded.

"You can stop trying. I won’t burn."

Unlike its companions, it didn’t stubbornly deny the facts. Instead, it admitted it outright.

"What are you, exactly? Why are you pretending to be the Natural Gas Race?" Li Luo demanded, confused.

Hearing Li Luo’s question, the strange ghost reflexively retorted, "We *are* the Natural Gas Race..."

For a moment, Mo Ling thought it had lost its mind too.

But what the ghost said next was completely different.

"We are the Natural Gas Race—what the Natural Gas Race used to be. It’s just that we aren’t anymore."

Its words plunged them all into silence.

What the Natural Gas Race used to be?

The ghost’s next sentence was even more stunning.

"Do you know what gas is produced when natural gas burns?"

At that moment, Mo Ling suddenly recalled the ice spikes that had been launched during the dense fog attack earlier.

His teleportation had stripped them of their living properties, and after he’d thrown them out of the Block, they had sublimated directly into gas, which was incredibly strange.

Now, the ghost’s words were a sudden revelation.

’Is it carbon dioxide?’

’Were those ice spikes made of dry ice?’

Mo Ling thought his idea was bizarre, but in a way, it fit with what the ghost was saying.

"You’re... carbon dioxide?" Li Luo asked, utterly shocked and incredulous.

The ghost nodded.

’Is it really that absurd?’

"How did you end up like this? Are you sure you’re not fakes?" Li Luo was still skeptical.

"We were burned. After we burned, we became this." As it spoke of this, a timid expression returned to the ghost’s face.

It seemed the experience still terrified it; even a brief mention was enough to stir its fear.

’Could it be related to the great fire on the stone pillar?’

Mo Ling remembered what the other ghost had said about a fire that consumed an entire stone pillar. Could it be that the fire hadn’t killed the Natural Gas Race there, but had instead burned them all into carbon dioxide?

But why had the other ghost made up that story? Mo Ling still couldn’t understand.

’And what about those crazed ghosts? Is that also related to the fire? Did the flames burn them witless?’

Li Luo was also completely baffled. She asked the ghost, "Can you tell us what happened? Why did you all become like this?"

The strange ghost lowered its head, its expression growing more and more terrified. Its fragmented voice trembled.

"It all started with the stone pillar where we were born..."