This bizarre scene startled Liu Xiaoyu so badly that she hurriedly stood up and stumbled back several steps.
Even Zhao Jianguo’s face turned grave as he followed suit, retreating a few steps away from the computer desk.
“Captain, th-this is a ghost?! It came here to us?!”
The other operators in the call room also noticed because of Liu Xiaoyu’s reaction. After hearing her words, panic appeared on their faces, and they stood up uneasily.
They were all only ordinary people. If they encountered a ghost, they would have no ability to resist at all.
But before Zhao Jianguo could speak, Liu Xiaoyu’s computer screen flickered again with garbled colors, as if the frame rate had suddenly dropped.
Then the white-clothed female ghost on the computer screen vanished, and the figure in its original spot turned back into Wang Liang, just as before, conversing with the students.
“Turn off the surveillance!” Zhao Jianguo immediately ordered upon seeing this.
Although Liu Xiaoyu was frightened, she still stepped forward and closed the surveillance feed—even shutting down the computer entirely.
“Captain, what’s going on? What should we do?” Liu Xiaoyu asked, still shaken.
A drop of cold sweat slid down Zhao Jianguo’s forehead. This was also the first time he had encountered such an eerie situation inside the call room. He had never imagined that merely watching surveillance footage could cause a problem.
Tap, tap.
The sound of a cane striking the floor came from the entrance of the call room. Zhao Jianguo looked over and found that it was actually an old man leaning on a cane.
“Elder Qin! Just now—”
Seeing the old man appear at the doorway, Zhao Jianguo hurriedly went up to greet him and explain what had just happened.
This old man was the true foundation of headquarters, a powerful ghost controller who had lived from the Republic era all the way to the present.
Elder Qin did not answer immediately. He merely stood at the doorway, gazing from afar at the computer whose screen had already gone black.
Only after a while did he turn and leave. At the same time, his voice drifted over.
“It is nothing. No need to worry.”
After seeing Elder Qin leave as soon as he said that, Zhao Jianguo fell silent for a moment, then said to the others:
“All right, go back to your own work. If Elder Qin says it’s fine, then it’s fine. Liu Xiaoyu, for the time being, don’t pull up any surveillance related to that Wang Liang. No—don’t pull up any images at all!
That guy… the ghost he controls is probably not simple. What happened just now should only have been an unintentional supernatural influence. Try contacting him afterward and see what his attitude is like. Someone who would chase into a ghost domain for the sake of his students shouldn’t be too bad.”
“Ah, I—”
“Forget it. Have Su Xinxi contact that homeroom teacher. You go confirm which of those seven students is a ghost controller and try to bring them into the organization.”
“Oh, okay.”
On the other side, after returning home, Wang Liang could no longer endure his drowsiness. He collapsed onto the bed and fell asleep. This time, no strange emotion suddenly surfaced to jolt him awake.
After sleeping for several hours, before the alarm he had set could ring, Zhou Zheng’s satellite phone on the bedside table began vibrating.
Bzz, bzz, bzz.
The sound of the vibration rubbing against the wooden cabinet woke Wang Liang, who had not slept enough. Somewhat irritated, he sat up and grabbed the phone.
He answered.
“Hello, may I ask if this is… Mr. Wang Liang?”
“It’s me.”
“Sorry to disturb you, Mr. Wang. I am Su Xinxi, an operator from the Asian branch of Interpol headquarters.
According to our observations, you should be a ghost controller, correct? Could you give us a detailed account of the supernatural incident that occurred at Seventh High last night?
You are the homeroom teacher of Senior Year Class Seven at Seventh High, and you personally experienced and successfully evacuated from that supernatural incident. I assume you have some understanding of it.”
Hearing the gentle female voice over the phone, Wang Liang shook his head and fully woke up. After a brief pause, he said:
“I can. It isn’t something that needs to be hidden.”
Of course, anything that did need to be hidden would be impossible to tell you.
Wang Liang briefly gave Su Xinxi a general explanation of what had happened the previous night, as well as the characteristics and abilities of the Knocking Ghost.
However, he omitted his own supernatural abilities and the method by which he had escaped. Su Xinxi’s professional competence was high, and she was smart enough not to interrupt and ask about those parts.
As Wang Liang recounted those details, Su Xinxi on the other end of the line became more and more alarmed the more she listened.
Transmission through audio information, movement through a ghost domain, area coverage, killing by knocking—this ghost was far too dangerous. Its hazard level was at least a mobile Class B, and its terror level was not low either.
After hurriedly recording everything Wang Liang had said, Su Xinxi remembered Captain Zhao’s instructions and continued asking:
“Mr. Wang, may I ask what plans you have next? Would you be interested in joining Interpol? Interpol offers the opportunity to become the person in charge of a city, as well as a series of privileges when handling supernatural incidents.”
Wang Liang sat up. They had finally gotten to the real matter.
“I’ve heard of the existence of this person-in-charge position, but I don’t know much about it. What benefits are there?”
Su Xinxi did not ask where Wang Liang had heard about it. She directly explained:
“It’s like this. In Interpol’s Asian branch, apart from a basic monthly position allowance of one hundred thousand, you also have discretionary control over one hundred kilograms of gold. After becoming the person in charge of a city, Interpol requires you to handle all supernatural incidents in the city under your jurisdiction.
During your term, every time the person in charge participates in a supernatural incident, there will be an additional subsidy of one million. If you successfully imprison a fierce ghost, it will also be recorded as a merit.
On that basis, if you hand over the imprisoned fierce ghost, the higher-ups will also award an additional ten million yuan and increase your gold allocation. In addition, there are other welfare policies, such as housing, care for relatives, medical treatment subsidies, and so on.”
Hearing Su Xinxi’s words, Wang Liang shook his head. At first glance, these terms did indeed sound very good. Some young people hearing them for the first time might get hot-headed and agree on the spot.
But one had to understand: ghost controllers were using their lives to control and manipulate fierce ghosts!
Several million, ten million—it sounded like a lot, but abroad, the purchase price of a single ghost had already been driven up to over a hundred million yuan.
Yet now it was being pressed down to one-tenth, or even less, while still asking others to risk their lives and take responsibility for the supernatural incidents of an entire city. It had to be said that, on this point, headquarters truly did not treat people like human beings.
“I understand the terms. Hand the phone to someone above you. I want to renegotiate with someone who has the authority to speak.”
“Ah, but Mr. Wang—”
“I’ll give you thirty seconds. After thirty seconds, I’ll hang up.”
Su Xinxi sprang to her feet, covered the phone, then waved to Zhao Jianguo, who was communicating with other operators in the distance.
“Captain, we’ve gotten in touch with Wang Liang. He’s now asking to speak with you.”
Seeing this, Zhao Jianguo temporarily put aside the matter in his hands, strode over, took the phone from Su Xinxi, and spoke steadily:
“Hello, I am Zhao Jianguo, Su Xinxi’s captain. We can continue communicating now.”
As he spoke, Zhao Jianguo picked up the notes Su Xinxi had just recorded. On them were an analysis of Wang Liang’s manner of speech and personality, as well as… the Knocking Ghost incident!
Zhao Jianguo’s pupils widened slightly. Before Wang Liang could speak, he quickly finished scanning the contents recorded on the paper, then picked up a pen and wrote an “A” beside it.