After tidying up the things in the car, Wang Liang did not hurry to drive away. Instead, he opened the door and got out, walking once more to the neighboring Changxing Road.
When he arrived at the intersection on Changxing Road where the incident had occurred, he took a look. Sure enough, the old woman ghost was already gone.
This fierce ghost did indeed appear at twelve midnight and disappear at two-thirty, exactly as the records stated.
After disappearing, the old woman ghost would go to the supernatural place corresponding to Changxing Road’s location, remaining there until twelve midnight the next day, then repeating the cycle of appearing and disappearing according to its pattern.
He had more or less figured out its pattern. Tomorrow night would be the time to contain this terrifying old woman ghost.
Only then did Wang Liang return to the car and drive back to his residence in Shuangqi Gardens.
Rewinding time a little, to when Wang Liang had set out that evening to make his first contact with the Changxing Road incident.
One of the men Feng Bo had arranged to keep watch saw Wang Liang leave and immediately sent the news back to Yongsheng Club.
After receiving the news, Feng Bo went to the top floor of the club at once and told Wu Chao.
“Ah Chao, that Wang Liang has moved out again. Judging by the direction, he’s probably going to handle the Changxing Road paper-burning incident.”
Wu Chao, who was sitting on the sofa with one leg crossed over the other, did not take his eyes off the phone in his hand. The screen showed a game called King of Pesticides, which he was extremely addicted to.
“Old Feng, wait a moment.”
Wu Chao cleared his throat, tapped open the game’s voice chat function, and calmly called out:
“Support, please turn on your microphone and communicate.”
After a few seconds, an irritable elementary schooler’s voice came from the phone.
“Hello?!”
“Hello your mother! I fucking ****, do you even know how to play? If you don’t, I’ll ****, you fucking **** (three minutes of mutual cursing omitted).”
[Defeat.]
The game base exploded, and the two words “Defeat” popped up, bringing this “family-protection battle” to an end.
Wu Chao picked up the drink on the table and took a sip, soothing his dry throat before finally looking at Feng Bo.
“Okay, Old Feng, what is it?”
“I...” Feng Bo was somewhat speechless, but he still repeated what he had said when he entered.
“So that’s how it is. He ran off to handle another supernatural incident.” Wu Chao leaned back against the sofa, his gaze dull with boredom. “I really don’t understand these people. Sun Su was like this, and this Wang guy is the same. They won’t even take money. What money isn’t money? The money I give and the money those rich businessmen give—isn’t it all fucking money?”
“I thought that after Sun Su kicked the bucket, the next one would be a little better. Didn’t expect an even crazier madman than Sun Su. He’s only been in office one day and he’s already run off to handle two supernatural incidents. Tch. Doesn’t care whether he lives or dies.”
As Wu Chao said this, he smiled and shook his head, disdain hidden in his eyes.
“Old Feng, what do you think? Take him out tonight?”
Feng Bo pushed up the gold-rimmed glasses on the bridge of his nose and said steadily:
“Since he’s the same sort as Sun Su and can’t tolerate our black-market businesses, then naturally it’s best to take him out. But not recently. We have to wait a while. After all, the Ghost Controller Headquarters will definitely be able to find out about my visit today.
“He just took office, and then died on the same day after I paid him a visit. That would be too obvious.
“However, it would be best to halt some of the club’s operations for now. Before he dies, we can’t get into conflict with him.”
“Fine.” Wu Chao sank into the soft sofa. “Old Feng, you handle this matter. It doesn’t matter if that guy lives a little longer. It doesn’t matter if we earn a bit less money either.”
Feng Bo nodded and walked out.
In truth, Feng Bo’s own real opinion on this matter was that they should simply ignore him. Why did they have to fight the official person in charge to the death?
The club had already earned plenty of money—enough that in Da’an City, they could spend however they wanted, enjoying all manner of luxuries.
The lives of ghost controllers were short to begin with. Feng Bo himself, without using the supernatural, did not dare say he could live past a year. Wu Chao was stronger than him, but he too would face the problem of his fierce ghost reviving.
So why continue making money through the club’s illegal businesses, taking the risk of eliminating one person in charge from Headquarters after another?
As Feng Bo rode the elevator downstairs, these thoughts began turning in his mind again. He had thought about such things many times since Sun Su’s death.
He did not understand, and Wu Chao also avoided talking about it.
But he would still act according to Wu Chao’s wishes and help Wu Chao resolve these troubles.
For the simple reason that this seemingly glamorous life of his had been given to him by Wu Chao.
The next day,
At the usual time in the evening, Wang Liang once again drove to Changxing Road. The number of times he could restart had also recovered.
This time, he did not park the car on the neighboring street. Instead, he drove straight through the police cordon on Changxing Road and only stopped near that strange intersection.
Wang Liang got out of the car and leaned against his old spot, quietly waiting for midnight to arrive.
This time, he had brought the Coffin Nail, the gold body bag, and the satellite phone. Tonight, he would thoroughly resolve this supernatural incident.
At eleven fifty-nine at night, Wang Liang could already feel the surrounding temperature dropping noticeably. That old woman ghost was about to invade reality at the center of the intersection.
Taking advantage of the last little bit of time, Wang Liang took out the satellite phone and dialed.
“Wang Liang, is something the matter?” Su Xinxi answered immediately from the other end.
“Establish a supernatural file. Changxing Road paper-burning incident.
“Codename: Ghost Burns People
“Hazard Level: C
“Terror Level: A
“Killing pattern: It scatters a large number of sparks, forming a special ghostfire that can burn people or other fierce ghosts.
“After completely igniting a person or fierce ghost, it will send the person or ghost to a supernatural place cut off from reality, where the burning continues. It can also tear at whatever is being burned by the ghostfire from a distance, turning it into nourishment and producing more sparks.”
Wang Liang felt that this fierce ghost’s terror level was definitely A-rank.
If he wanted to rely on his own supernatural power to deal with this ghost, then without using the Coffin Nail, Wang Liang truly could not do it right now.
Sadako’s supernatural power was severely incomplete. The supernatural volume of each individual derived Sadako entity was still too weak. Its ability to preserve its life was strong, but it lacked powerful attack methods that could resonate and stack together. It was hard-countered by this Republican-era old woman’s group-damage ghostfire.
Moreover, that move of sending people “on their way” was also very troublesome.
When encountering such a troublesome matter, Wang Liang certainly could not wear brocade at night and quietly report this incident as merely a Hazard Level C supernatural case.
What would be the point?
If one pretended to be a pig for too long, others would only take one for a real pig. Since he had chosen to join Headquarters, although it was necessary to hide some methods as trump cards for later,
it was also very necessary to demonstrate his own strength and value through the supernatural incidents he handled, winning enough respect and status to avoid having certain flies come looking for trouble.
However, Wang Liang did not completely reveal this fierce ghost’s killing pattern. He did not mention that after breaking through to within three meters of the fierce ghost, one would be forcibly sent to the supernatural place by the ashes in the ghost’s fire basin.
He also did not mention the fire basin. In his words, he simply glossed over it.
When the original work recorded files, it actually only mentioned hazard level.
But Laofo had brought up the concept of terror level, and there were even quite a few places in the original text where “terror level” appeared as such-and-such, rather than “hazard level.”
However, Laofo was somewhat inconsistent on this point. In many places in the original text, what was called “terror level” was actually referring to hazard level.
As Laofo kept writing later on, he mixed the two up. Sometimes “terror level” referred to the level of harm, and the term was used incorrectly; other times it really did refer to the degree of terror.
In any case, for this book of mine, if it doesn’t work, just treat it as my own secondary setting. I’ll clearly divide out a terror level, otherwise after going through so much trouble only to report it as a C would feel pretty stifling.