After Shen Liang finished speaking, he hung up the phone.
“Captain Shen, they didn’t agree?”
Liu Xiaoyu was sorting through a huge pile of documents at the side, her forehead covered in sweat from exhaustion.
Shen Liang shook his head.
“That brat—after spending all this time with Yang Jian, he’s becoming more and more like him. He even said he wanted to go to the nearest airport. Utter nonsense!”
But immediately afterward, his tone softened again.
“In the end, headquarters did owe him last time. Arrange a private plane for them. Also notify Dachang City to clear out the crowd near the landing area. If they do suffer a resurgence, we can keep the risk to a minimum.”
Liu Xiaoyu nodded. “Understood. I’ll handle it right away.”
On the private plane back, Huang Ziya and Feng Quan had both woken up, though they looked sickly and listless, as if they might fall unconscious again at any moment.
Zhang Han asked, “Zhao Lei, how exactly did you get into the newspaper? It’s simply unbelievable. A person’s consciousness can actually be preserved until now.”
“Ah, it’s a long story…”
Zhao Lei sighed, seeming unwilling to say too much.
At that moment, Huang Ziya suddenly sprang up and leaned in, her eyes shining. There was none of the restlessness of a fierce ghost’s resurgence about her as she said, full of gossip:
“Come on, tell us. We all really want to hear it.”
Zhao Lei was silent for a few seconds, as if organizing his words.
“At first, I encountered that ghost in Yang Jian’s home. It took on Yang Jian’s appearance and attacked me. When I woke up, there was something wrong with my memories, but I didn’t know where the problem was. I only knew that Yang Jian and I had a grudge, and I wanted to kill him…”
Everyone’s expression changed slightly upon hearing this. A supernatural force that could silently invade a living person’s consciousness—one might not even know they had been attacked.
Huang Ziya said quietly, “Do you know? I heard that what happened at headquarters was because some higher-up had his memories altered and released the Starving Ghost.”
Feng Quan was slumped in his seat, the skin on his body constantly flaking off like clumps of mud. He asked weakly, “Who did you hear that from? Sounds pretty far-fetched.”
“Hmph, from one of my suitors, of course.”
Feng Quan retorted, “You have suitors? With all that artificial work on you, there isn’t a single part of you that’s real. Those suitors of yours are probably just errand boys at headquarters, spreading hearsay.”
Huang Ziya touched her own face and pointed at Feng Quan as she shot back, “What would a mud man like you know? With my looks and figure, isn’t it perfectly natural for me to have a few suitors at headquarters? Besides, if there really is a fierce ghost capable of altering people’s memories, even if it invaded headquarters, no one would know, right? I think we should have Zhao Lei change your memories too, so you remember to bathe every day!”
Feng Quan froze when he heard this, then fell into thought. Huang Ziya’s words flashed through his mind like a hint, but he subconsciously ignored that strange feeling.
‘Memories? Could there be something wrong with my memories too?’
“Enough. Stop bickering.”
Zhang Han interrupted the two of them.
“Can’t you two ever quiet down? You’re both in this state and you still won’t let up with your mouths.”
He said to Zhao Lei, “Sorry, they’re always like this. Go on.”
Zhao Lei said, “Uh, it’s fine. Actually, I’m the kind of person who likes bantering too. Do you know Zhang Wei? He and I are very close…”
When the three of them heard the name Zhang Wei, they all looked at Zhao Lei strangely and said in unison:
“You’re not also as much of an idiot as Zhang Wei, are you?”
Zhao Lei scratched his head somewhat sheepishly and said in a low voice, “Back at school, Zhang Wei, Yang Jian, and I were often called the Three Scoundrels of No. 7 High.”
After hearing Zhao Lei finish, a drop of cold sweat unconsciously slid down Zhang Han’s face.
Judging by the looks of it, Zhao Lei was probably going to join Yang Jian’s team as well.
But Xiong Wenwen acted like he deserved a beating all day long; anyone would want to punch him.
Huang Ziya and Feng Quan bickered all day, neither willing to yield to the other.
The only one who had been somewhat normal and didn’t talk much, Tong Qian, was now dead.
And now another Zhang Wei-level talent had arrived. Aside from himself, were there any normal people in this team at all…
Zhang Han helplessly rubbed his forehead.
“Let’s not talk about that for now. Zhao Lei, according to what you said, your memories should have been altered back then. What happened after that? Why did you lose your body?”
Zhao Lei continued, “The fierce ghost’s modification of my memories was clearly incomplete. I still remembered my experiences with Yang Jian very clearly. I realized that my memories must have been tampered with, so I wrote some clues in a notebook for Yang Jian to find me…”
“I tried to use the newspaper itself to alter it, to make it mistakenly believe that I had already controlled it, but I failed. An ordinary person’s consciousness simply can’t contend with a fierce ghost. By the time I regained consciousness again, my body was already gone, and Yang Jian had already taken the newspaper away. But that also gave me the chance to imperfectly control that half sheet of newspaper.”
Zhang Han nodded thoughtfully. Zhao Lei made it sound simple, but only he himself knew how dangerous it had been. Even the lowest-level fierce ghost meant certain death for an ordinary person who encountered it, let alone a supernatural entity involving consciousness.
But it had to be said that Zhao Lei’s reaction had indeed been quick. He had actually thought to use the newspaper’s own rules to counter it; otherwise, he absolutely would not have survived until Yang Jian took the newspaper away.
The plane had already begun to descend. Feng Quan sat up. From the looks of it, he seemed to have recovered slightly. He asked, “Then how did you find that ghost? And how did you get to DQ City?”
“A ghost that walked out of the Caesar Hotel.”
Deep fear showed in Zhao Lei’s eyes.
“There are many terrifying fierce ghosts inside that hotel. The ghost that brought me out was very special. I call it the Shy Ghost. Its characteristic is that it hides from living people, but once someone sees it, it will keep following that person until its entire face is clearly seen. Then the ghost will begin killing…”
“A passing office worker accidentally saw it. Using the newspaper, I barely managed to keep the Shy Ghost from triggering its killing pattern. Just like that, the Shy Ghost kept bringing me around that person’s vicinity, and in the end, I arrived in DQ City. You all know what happened after that. I encountered Cao Yang and deliberately trapped him there, only because I wanted to use him to awaken my consciousness.”
“You really are something.”
After listening, Huang Ziya’s face revealed a trace of surprise. This Zhao Lei had not only controlled half a sheet of newspaper—although it was an imperfect control, he had at least survived.
And on top of that, he had used a fierce ghost’s killing pattern to leave the Caesar Hotel and come to DQ City.
The Caesar Hotel—a supernatural place that imprisoned countless fierce ghosts. The rooms inside were nearly endless, and there existed within it things that even Yang Jian could not resolve…