Overlord: Start from the Goblin Lair.

Chapter 113: Conversation with the Dead

A ghost is the product of an angry, unrestrained spirit of a humanoid being that is blocked from passing away. A ghost has no connection to its original existence and is doomed to exist forever in the world. Some ghosts may be the product of the soul being torn directly from the body of a living person by the power of dark magic or bound spirits.

Unlike ghosts, with whom they are often confused, ghosts cannot be redeemed. Ghosts can return to rest when their unfinished wishes are fulfilled. Ghosts, however, have no such rest or redemption. They must remain on the Material Plane, and their only fate is for their souls to be destroyed and eventually forgotten.

Anyway, it is simply incomprehensible that so many ghosts would emerge from the basement of an "ordinary" businessman.

“Even if he killed all the alchemists and workers who worked for him and buried them here, he still wouldn’t be able to gather this much, right?!”

Ron kept throwing spells to attack the undead. His fingers were almost smoking. However, the ghosts in the workshop were still endless and there was no sign of decreasing. "Is there a whole team of necromancers casting spells together in there?"

"There's no one in there!" Driver jumped up and down while hiding in the range of the spell. He tried to rush in several times but was forced back every time. "There's no living person in there, not even a corpse. Where on earth did all these ghosts come from?!"

"See? That long-necked flask!" Victoria pointed to the dark interior of the workshop. "Can you see it? There is a long-necked flask there that keeps releasing ghosts, and its lid is open!"

"Not everyone has dark vision and night vision!" Ron was busy dealing with the ghosts who were becoming more rampant because the duration of the spirit guard was about to end. "Sylvia, can you go over and turn that thing off?"

"I'm not a real undead creature, they will attack me anyway!" Sylvia sighed, and cast a spell with the last bit of light from the Spirit Guardian. Her figure disappeared in an instant, and when she reappeared, she was already inside the workshop. "I saw the bottle, but where is its lid?"

"Mystical lock! Close the mystical lock first and then slowly search!" Ron threw a small bag of gold powder from the alchemist's backpack, "These things are still too difficult to deal with!"

To them, a single ghost or even a small group of ghosts was nothing to be afraid of, but it was really hard to resist when they kept coming at them.

Especially within the team, Ivy had no idea how to deal with it. Fortunately, they didn't bring Andre along for safety reasons, otherwise it would have been even more troublesome.

The location Ron threw should be quite accurate, because after Sylvia's "Ah" was heard in the dark workshop, the number of ghosts began to decrease rapidly. After a while, Ron and his team cleared the remaining ghosts and lit the light in the workshop.

"Here, the lid is here," Sera found the lid of the flask, "but the paint on it has fallen off. I guess it's useless?"

"After this flask is opened, if there are living creatures around, it will automatically release a total of 66 ghosts. When all ghosts are released or there are no living creatures around, the release will stop, and it will turn into an ordinary flask after all ghosts are released." Ron opened the preface of the weaving method, and the identification spell gave the answer. "This seems to be the legacy of a necromancer. There is a long list of people's names in front of its name - but how did this thing appear here?"

"Could it be that some alchemist brought his side job into the workplace?" Ivy fiddled with the flask that no longer looked abnormal. "Even though Hendrix said that people coming in and out would be searched, it's probably reasonable for an alchemist to carry a bottle with him."

"Jill, this is the name of the alchemist at this workstation," Victoria looked at the nameplate on the workbench where the flask was placed, "Looks like I have to ask this person about the situation."

"He has to be alive," Driver dragged a body out from behind the door. "Guess who I found? Jill!"

"His workstation is at the back. Maybe the culprit was locked in after the others ran out," Sylvia said with a click of the tongue. "Look at his fingernails that are peeling off from scratching the door, and look at his shocked look!"

"He must have been in great fear before he died, and then the ghost sucked his life away," Victoria sighed, "May he rest in peace, but before that, we may have to ask him a few questions." The priest walked to the side of Jill's body, and her eyes lit up with a faint green flame. Under the effect of her gestures and spells, the body of the troublemaker opened his eyes and mouth, and the same faint green light as the priest's eyes lit up inside his body.

“Five questions at most, please.”

"Wow, the dead talk," Ron whistled. This thing is very famous. "How did you die?"

"Stupid...open the bottle...release the ghost..." The corpse's answer was short and vague, and the sound did not seem to come from his throat.

"Why are you opening it here?"

"Merchant...deception...catalyst..."

"It seems that this unfortunate guy was fooled into thinking that there was some kind of catalyst inside," Sylvia folded her arms, "but I can't figure out why you think so? What kind of catalyst would be contained in a long-necked flask?"

"The deadline... the disease is urgent... trying all kinds of treatments..."

Just like what Daniel had learned, Hendricks was trying to develop a new product, and this Gil was probably one of the people in charge. Seeing that the deadline was approaching and there was still no progress, this guy made a stupid move and paid the price with his life.

"Who sold it to you?"

"Black market... businessman... identity unknown..."

"No matter where it is, the black market is a life-saving rope," Ivy snorted, "but it's hard to say whether it is a noose."

"Do you remember any characteristics of that person?"

"Do not……"

The fire in Victoria's eyes suddenly went out, and her body fell to the ground again. No spell could make it rise again.

"It's still better to use a living person," Sera kicked the motionless body with her foot, "In the end, the clues are still broken."

"Not completely, but at least we have a direction," Ron led Driver to Jill's lab table and kept searching, opening every cabinet, drawer and secret compartment. "I'll point out a few key points to you. You have to remember them all, understand?"

Ron quickly found Jill's experimental records and began to check the experiments conducted by the alchemist with the records.

(End of this chapter)