Because Wang Liang felt that the supernatural ash capable of sending people to the Spirit World might not be an ability belonging to this old woman-like fierce ghost itself, but rather something possessed by that fire basin.
During the last confrontation in the Spirit World, this old woman ghost could also release large swathes of sparks from within its body, forming dangerous dark-orange ghost flames that could teleport people away once ignited.
Thus, the sparks should belong to the old woman's ability, at most complementing the fire basin and serving as mutual puzzle pieces for one another.
But that fire basin, or rather the Ghost Fire Basin, Wang Liang was basically certain counted as a special supernatural item.
That mass of ash capable of forcibly sending people to the Spirit World should be its product, likewise possessing the ability to send people to the Spirit World, only even more powerful.
Ash thrown in your face, vision shifts, and you're on your way.
This was something Wang Liang didn't plan to tell Headquarters—not even giving them information. He planned to imprison the old woman ghost and then keep the Ghost Fire Basin as a supernatural item unknown to anyone else.
Anyway, even without the Ghost Fire Basin, the old woman ghost's own supernatural intensity was strong enough; saying its terror level was A-rank was no exaggeration whatsoever. He wasn't lying or exaggerating about this.
After imprisoning the old woman ghost and obtaining the Ghost Fire Basin, if he found that the special ash within the basin could be directly used after paying some price, then it could completely count as a special supernatural trump card.
After all, with Wang Liang currently controlling two fairly strong dormant ghost supernaturals, facing that ash which forcibly sent humans or ghosts to the Spirit World, he had unexpectedly had no room to resist whatsoever.
Ash in your face, vision blurs, and you're "on your way."
And once sent to the Spirit World, unless one was lucky enough to happen upon the Ghost Bus.
Or possessed a special supernatural ability to freely traverse between the Spirit World and reality.
Or encountered some location where the Spirit World directly connected with reality.
Otherwise, there would be no way to leave that place filled with fierce ghosts.
If one's supernatural powers weren't strong, if one didn't resolve the problem of fierce ghost revival, in that place, one would either starve to death or be worn down to death by fierce ghosts.
"What?! Terror-level A-rank?!"
On the other end of the phone, in Headquarters' operator room, Su Xinxi was greatly shocked upon hearing Wang Liang's words. She immediately grew nervous and recorded everything Wang Liang said.
The danger revealed between the lines of that information made her, sitting in the operator room, tremble. Terror-level A-rank, ghost flames burning, the Spirit World, remote tearing.
If this information was true, then this matter was without doubt an event reaching terror-level A-rank, absolutely not to be treated as an ordinary harm-level C-rank supernatural event.
Because a fierce ghost of such terrifying degree, though its current harm level might only be C-rank, once it began wandering due to some reason, would inevitably immediately become a true harm-level A-rank event, or even higher.
Headquarters always maintained high vigilance regarding this type of special event.
"That's all. I'm starting the operation now. Estimated containment time is three hours. Don't contact me during this period," Wang Liang said.
"Oh, oh, roger that!"
The call ended. After Su Xinxi quickly finished recording, she immediately called Zhao Jianguo to report and explain this matter.
Although it wasn't harm-level A-rank, confirmed terror-level A-rank events were similarly not numerous domestically, and even fewer had been resolved. It already belonged to an extremely serious event that required reporting to the captain.
On the other side, after Wang Liang hung up the satellite phone, the timing was perfect—it was exactly midnight.
At the very center of the intersection ahead, dark-orange firelight abruptly lit up. That old woman ghost and the Ghost Fire Basin before her emerged from the air, their forms going from blurry to clear.
"Come."
Wang Liang tossed the satellite phone into the gold corpse bag, leaving the bag on the ground without carrying it on him.
He would definitely be teleported away by the old woman ghost in a moment, but supernatural powers couldn't affect gold, so carrying the gold corpse bag as he approached was meaningless. He could only use it to contain the ghost after he dealt with the old woman ghost.
Wang Liang only brought the coffin nail with him, striding forward as his body began emanating a bone-chilling cold. His skin turned deathly pale without a trace of blood color, the veins on his arms darkening as corrosive black blood flowed within them.
Drops of viscous black blood slid off his body, falling to the ground and leaving trails of black bloody footprints behind him, corroding the ground with sizzling sounds.
Without reservation, he channeled supernatural power into himself as Wang Liang walked toward the center of the intersection against the firelight.
The old woman ghost at the center of the intersection, after Wang Liang approached, raised her hand over the fire basin, sending large swathes of sparks into the air.
But ghost blood flowed out from Wang Liang's body surface, forcefully invading into the area enveloped by the sparks.
The sparks contacted Wang Liang's clothes and burst into flames, forming heart-chilling dark-orange ghost fires that scorched his skin and flesh, grinding against the supernatural powers of the ghost blood and Sadako.
Wang Liang strode forward, ghost blood flowing over his body. The ghost fire clinging to his exterior ignited and extinguished, extinguished and ignited again, extensively burning his body and making his exterior look quite miserable.
But he had already quickly entered within three meters of this old woman ghost.
As expected, the old woman ghost stretched out a withered hand covered in corpse spots, scooped into the fire basin before her, and lifted out a handful of ash, throwing it at Wang Liang.
Having experienced it once already, this time Wang Liang was mentally prepared in advance. He tried to explosively unleash the fierce ghost's supernatural power within his body to resist with all his might, wanting to verify the strength of this ash's teleportation ability.
But when the ash was thrown, Wang Liang still didn't have any ability to resist. The vision in his eyes blurred, and his sense of direction around him fell into chaos.
When he recovered again, he had once more arrived in that Spirit World. On the surrounding ground, using corpses as fuel, dozens of bonfires existed.
"Even with full preparation, I still can't resist the ash's teleportation?" Wang Liang stood on this wasteland, deep in thought.
But his tightly furrowed brows soon relaxed, because in a while, such powerful supernatural ash would be his.
Just like last night, ghost blood gushed out beneath Wang Liang's feet, forming a reflection and completing an alternative reboot, restoring his body's condition.
After picking up and stowing away the coffin nail from his previous body, Wang Liang walked a circuit around those piles of bonfires as though patrolling his own territory, wanting to see if the old woman ghost had any new "gains" in the Spirit World during the day.
But unfortunately, his strangeness value hadn't moved at all; no new passing fierce ghosts had been burned and suppressed by the old woman ghost.
Wang Liang returned to his original spot, sitting quietly on the ground, his gaze directed at the position where the old woman had appeared last night—the center of the intersection on Changxing Street in reality.
He was going to wait here for that old woman ghost's reappearance. This would be the final clash. He had even brought the coffin nail; this time he had to imprison it.
After waiting quietly a while longer, Wang Liang's eyes focused and he stood up.
"It's here. This ends now."
Wow, dear readers, I really didn't expect that wrapping up this matter—writing a bit about the Yongsheng Club, a bit about the report, a bit about starting the final confrontation—two chapters would actually pass by, so fucking short. Before I wrote, I thought these two chapters would imprison the old woman.
But it'll be soon! Next chapter she'll be imprisoned! There's still something going on at Headquarters' side that needs to be involved, otherwise it's like playing a single-player game, not interesting. After that's done, we'll go find the Film Ghost!!
Before writing the book, I kept worrying I wouldn't have anything to write, afraid the pace was too fast. Turns out after writing forty chapters, not even a week has passed in the plot. The plot for the second Film Ghost is already planned out, wanting to go for half the day but can't get there, oh my god.