I walked through a corridor that curved towards the left and I approached the turn carefully to take a peek behind the corner before walking in a straight line again. I found yet another ventilation system in a small chamber covered in thick vines. If only the ventilation system was operational, my lungs wouldn't be tortured with breathing in that stuffy air that smells like a dead raccoon. Wait; there really is a dead raccoon here with me. It's skinned save for the tail, heavily covered in blood and hanging from a broken pip by a rope going through its muzzle.
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Just who does all those things? The process of skinning an animal takes time and effort and I can't imagine a ghost doing all that. They even went so far as to procure a rope to hang it with, which brings back my initial theory that those guys must find someone to possess and make them do the shit work before eventually killing them off leaving behind the corpses I found at the beginning of the cauldron. I shuddered at that being the fate I might end up with if those guys managed to get their hands on me. I imagined my possessed self cutting a slit around an animal's legs and pulling the skin off of the body before chopping off the limps and head then hang them around like sickly decorations. Those things can't possess me from a distance, can they? I shook my head in annoyance at my lack of knowledge on what I'm up against. In my defense, I'm a machine slayer, not a ghost hunter. I signed up for this because I was looking for a plausible explanation behind all the mind fuckery that has been happening for the past couple days. But ghosts? How the hell am I supposed to handle those??
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Ok, the core shouldn't be too far now. I scaled up the vents and grunted as I had to make a higher jump past a missing vent shuttle. I adjusted myself then, from my hanging position, sharply turned my head towards the metallic sound I heard behind me. I focused my eyes on the skinned mutilated raccoon. Did that chain just move? I'm pretty sure the animal's body was facing forward, now rotated towards me.
Yup, definitely a jinn in the room with me.
Those guys know I'm in their stronghold and those moving objects and carcasses are enough proof. But I had to keep ignoring them if I want a chance at doing things smoothly. So I carried on with climbing the little remaining distance left until I was at the top. I looked behind me again expecting to see a shadow standing in the corner but there was nothing peculiar besides what is already obvious.
