The reset did not occur, but Yang Jian’s actions seemed to have triggered some unknown medium, and the scene began to change.
Before Yang Jian’s shocked eyes.
They were countless timelines, countless possibilities—endless, boundless...
Every instant, every choice, seemed like the flutter of a butterfly’s wings, setting off countless butterfly effects and drawing along a chain of unpredictable variables.
Cause and effect intertwined. Fate split apart.
They derived endless branches, creating countless futures filled with countless possibilities.
Yang Jian saw himself. Countless versions of himself. Each one was different, vastly so.
Every one was unfamiliar, yet incomparably familiar.
In one, he had controlled the Knocking Ghost at Seventh High, his entire body covered in horrifying corpse spots.
In another, he attacked the Wishing Ghost beneath a streetlamp and died on the spot in an instant.
In another, he became the administrator of a strange post office.
In another, after being killed by Fang Shiming, the malevolent ghost revived.
In another, inside some gloomy old manor, he chose to borrow a corpse in order to survive.
In another, his identity was swapped by Fang Jing.
In another, he was controlled by Guo Fan.
He even saw a vicious dog with a third eye growing on its forehead, an existence whose aura was close to his, yet completely unfamiliar.
Countless possibilities manifested at this moment.
The images were still appearing, as though there would never be an end to them. His vision was filled in that instant, and his senses were nearly unable to endure it.
But in every timeline, every version of him was tainted by the supernatural, as if it were a curse of fate that could not be broken free from. No matter which possibility Yang Jian was in, he would ultimately become a ghost controller.
Even though there were many scenes in which Yang Jian did not see the existence of malevolent ghosts, in the end, because of some natural disaster or man-made calamity, malevolent ghosts from other timelines would invade.
At this moment, Yang Jian understood why all their previous actions had been rendered ineffective.
Their attacks, their movements, all their attempts had never truly happened.
This mass of black fire, within an infinite number of timelines, had grafted the outcome of “Yang Jian did not launch an attack” into this world, replacing the fact that “Yang Jian had already launched an attack.”
This was an unavoidable fact.
Yang Jian’s gaze shifted slightly. He had clearly opened the eighth layer of his ghost domain, yet there had been no area-wide reset. This situation was very strange. It was the first time he had encountered something that looked as if his supernatural power had failed.
He gently raised his hand, wanting to reach into the image.
Suddenly, an arm reached out from who knew where and seized him.
“Don’t touch recklessly. Without a specific medium, if you casually touch a timeline that isn’t yours, you’ll only become lost in these endless possibilities.”
Yang Jian was startled. He turned his head and looked over, only to find that at some point, a figure so blurred it was almost transparent had appeared beside him.
“How exaggerated. Aside from me, there really is someone else who can see these possibilities.”
The man’s voice was clear and refreshing, carrying a sense of affinity. He sounded like a young man of around twenty or so.
“A Yi was right. The supernatural is always full of uncertainty. You’re that uncertain exception, a type I’ve never seen before.”
It was just barely possible to make out that the young man was wearing a dark green uniform. It looked somewhat like the military uniforms of the Republican era, and his entire figure was neat and upright.
At this moment, in one of the scenes before them, Dahai City was gradually being enveloped by red light.
“Friend, hold on. Until we meet again.”
After saying that, the young man took a small step toward the scene. Immediately afterward, his figure seemed to be erased by something, vanishing bit by bit from head to toe where he stood.
From beginning to end, Yang Jian did not say a single word. His heart was incomparably shocked, because in that brief instant just now, his supernatural power had failed.
It was not suppression. It was not balance. Rather—
It was gone.
The malevolent ghosts seemed as though they had never been controlled at all. His ghost hand had no sensation whatsoever. That feeling was just like in the Ghost Dream, when he had become an ordinary person.
If that feeling had not lasted for only an instant, Yang Jian would have begun to suspect whether he was still in DQ City, still inside that dream from which he could not wake. After all, Yang Jian still had lingering fear toward the Ghost Dream. The bizarre experience of a dream within a dream last time had truly been far too strange.
“A specific medium?..”
Yang Jian quietly pondered the words that person had spoken just now.
“He possesses the consciousness of a living person, his supernatural power is unfathomable, and he is suspected to have an extremely high suppression level. Perhaps... even higher than the Ghost Servant.”
The scarlet ghost eye on his forehead turned uneasily. That person had looked utterly ordinary and harmless, without the slightest danger, but only a captain of Yang Jian’s level could understand how terrifying that person was.
There had not even been a clash of supernatural powers between the two of them. It was merely a single touch, yet the malevolent ghosts within him had vanished without a trace. This manifestation of the supernatural, even stranger than suppression, allowed Yang Jian to judge that the malevolent ghost controlled within that person’s body was at least no weaker than the Ghost Servant.
“A Yi... a person’s name? A supernatural object? An existence similar to the human-skin paper?”
Yang Jian looked at the images before him that were still being generated. Endless, boundless. Each time the version of himself within an image made a choice, another image would be generated.
“He can see these images, and from the looks of it, he can even enter and leave this place. How did he do it? A specific medium... what does that refer to?”
Yang Jian looked toward the image the man had stepped into. It seemed to be Dahai City. At this moment, the red light within the scene was gradually growing thicker. The ghost domain of a certain little kid who loved to fight was about to cover the entire city.
“A type I’ve never seen before... Does that mean he’s seen many versions of me?”
Yang Jian calmly analyzed the words the man had said just now, attempting to extract more information from that brief exchange.
“If I didn’t see wrong, that military uniform was the uniform of a certain Republican-era warlord... The Republican era again... What exactly happened back then?”
It had to be said that Yang Jian’s reaction when facing the supernatural was indeed extraordinarily sharp. Relying on only a few seconds of exchange and observation, he had analyzed so much information.
But right now, there were still more important things he needed to do. He could not continue wasting time here.
Putting away his thoughts, Yang Jian began to observe the expanse of images before him.
“That person said just now that without a specific medium, casually touching a timeline that isn’t mine would cause an abnormality. Then conversely, that means as long as I find my own timeline, I’ll be able to return successfully.”
Since the reset could not take effect, Yang Jian intended to find his own world and invade it directly.
But searching one by one was clearly not very realistic. He was thinking of a safer and more efficient method.
The sky over Dahai City in the image had already been dyed red.
Suddenly, it was as if Yang Jian’s observation had triggered the medium of some unknown existence.
First, a scarlet glow like fresh blood lit up from within the image. Then a sheet of golden light shone madly. Yang Jian nearly lost consciousness, but the Ghost Dream was unusually quiet at this moment, without even the slightest sign of resistance.