Dachang City, Guanjiang Residential Complex.
“Yang Jian, where did you go? Why are you soaked all over?” Jiang Yan, dressed in a pink bathrobe, came over to greet Yang Jian.
“Nowhere. Took a bath in the lake and enjoyed the breeze while I was at it.”
“Oh, how refined and leisurely. Then take a look at me—do you want me to blow some breeze for you too?”
Jiang Yan linked her arm through Yang Jian’s and deliberately squeezed her cleavage. Lately, she had secretly watched a great deal of “learning material” on Zhang Wei’s computer, and even the way she spoke had become rather Zhang Wei-like.
“Sure,” Yang Jian replied.
“Uh?”
Jiang Yan froze. Usually, Yang Jian ignored her advances, so his straightforward answer left her unable to react for a moment.
But Yang Jian continued.
“The water on my clothes was spat out by a ghost. Perfect—you can blow-dry it for me.”
“Ahhh!”
Jiang Yan immediately sprang backward like a cat, patting at the water stains that had gotten on her as she said,
“I still have something to do! I have to go to Dahai City to discuss business!”
With that, Jiang Yan dashed upstairs in a flash to change clothes. She was going to burn this bathrobe, lest one day a ghost pop out of it and kill her.
Yang Jian paid her no attention and turned to walk into the interior of a clock tower.
At the top of the clock tower was a hidden compartment, inside which stood a cabinet with a distinctive Republican-era style.
The bright red paint on the cabinet’s surface looked as if it had been soaked in blood. Though it was clearly the height of summer, the environment here was exceptionally cold and gloomy, as though one were inside a hospital morgue.
Last time, the Ghost Cabinet had demanded that Yang Jian find the woman in a photograph within a year, but Yang Jian had not been sure whether the Ghost Cabinet wanted the mummified bride or the source of the Ghost Painting, so he had delayed until now.
But after the out-of-control incident in Dajing City, Yang Jian could now be certain that what the Ghost Cabinet wanted was the source of the Ghost Painting.
Taking out paper and pen, he wrote a sentence: “I’ve already found it. Now it’s my turn to make a demand. Tell me where the man who saved me inside the hurricane came from.”
He gently placed the note inside the Ghost Cabinet. Yang Jian immediately withdrew his hand and stood motionless in place, his ghost eyes silently fixed on the cabinet.
After this transaction, Yang Jian planned to use the human-skin paper to find a way to reduce the number of transactions he made with the Ghost Cabinet—or conversely, use the Ghost Cabinet to find a way to keep the human-skin paper in check.
In short, between the human-skin paper and the Ghost Cabinet, Yang Jian had to reduce the danger level of one of them to the minimum. Otherwise, who knew when these two damned ghostly things might trick him to death.
Just as Yang Jian was thinking, the Ghost Cabinet before him seemed a little off. The note looked as if it had been swallowed, but the cabinet remained silent for far too long, without the slightest movement.
“It’s taking too long.”
The hatchet was already in his hand. As long as the Ghost Cabinet in front of him showed any abnormality, he would not hesitate to use the Ghost Lake and the hatchet to dismember it.
Time passed second by second. The sun was slowly setting, and night was about to fall.
Yang Jian did not leave. He was afraid the Ghost Cabinet would renege on its debt.
Yang Jian stared at the scarlet-painted surface just like that, all the way until a rooster’s crow sounded and the sun once again rose from the horizon.
He raised the hatchet and pointed it at the Ghost Cabinet.
“No one has ever dared to stiff me on a debt…”
When it came to the supernatural, Yang Jian had sufficient patience. But from the looks of it now, this Ghost Cabinet seemed determined to renege on him.
Lake water dripped down from the ceiling. Yang Jian intended to chop this Ghost Cabinet apart right now.
Suddenly.
The Ghost Cabinet, which had been quiet for the entire night, abruptly trembled. One of its cabinet doors protruded slightly.
Yang Jian immediately pulled open the door. Inside was a note, with two sentences written on it.
The first sentence was what he had written: I’ve already found it. Now it’s my turn to make a demand. Tell me where the man who saved me inside the hurricane came from.
The handwriting of the second sentence was twisted and distorted, without the slightest trace of penmanship: I don’t know where that person came from. Choose another demand.
“Are you kidding me?!”
He had painstakingly resolved the out-of-control incident in Dajing City, and in the end all he got in exchange was an “I don’t know”?
A strange look flashed through Yang Jian’s eyes. The origins of a ghost controller should not, logically speaking, be something difficult to determine, yet the Ghost Cabinet had given such an answer.
Unless merely telling him that man’s origins was enough for the Ghost Cabinet to judge it as information that was impossible to provide—and extremely dangerous.
Returning to the villa, Yang Jian did not continue entangling himself with the Ghost Cabinet. Since the Ghost Cabinet wanted him to choose another demand, he needed to think it through carefully before conducting the next transaction, only then would it be safe enough.
“Yang Jian! Your delivery!”
Just as Yang Jian was deep in thought, Jiang Yan’s voice came from downstairs.
“I put it on the table for you! I’m going to Dahai City! Zhang Wei is coming with me!”
Yang Jian walked downstairs. The spacious living room was already devoid of Jiang Yan’s figure.
He picked up a tightly wrapped package from the coffee table and opened it. Inside was a thick book.
Research and Exploration of Vicious Ghosts
This was a book headquarters had sent to every person in charge. It recorded many insights and understandings regarding the supernatural.
Yang Jian casually found a sofa to lie down on and opened the cover.
Dahai City.
“Su Fan! You brat, you’re cheating, aren’t you! Did you use that ghost?! It’s been three days and three nights—I refuse to believe I can’t win even a single round!”
Ye Zhen jumped onto the sofa and shouted loudly at Su Fan.
“No… I’m just especially good at games. That’s why I got entangled by a ghost while playing a game once.”
“Again! I, Ye, am invincible in this life. There is absolutely no way I’ll lose to you again. I’m going to get serious now.”
“This is the thirty-second time you’ve said that.”
Three minutes later, Ye Zhen lay dispiritedly on the sofa, his eyes hollow and lifeless as he stared at the ceiling, as though he had suffered an enormous blow.
“How is that possible… How could a human possibly pull off that kind of move…”
A’Wu looked at Ye Zhen with a face full of dark lines. Ever since the incident of the three major S-class vicious ghosts going out of control in Dajing City ended, Ye Zhen had dragged Su Fan to Dahai City and played games every day. The entire headquarters had already descended into chaos, and he’d heard that some place had even been submerged by a strange storm, but Ye Zhen paid no heed to the world outside and devoted himself solely to playing PS4.
Ye Zhen lay lifelessly on the sofa and waved his hand.
“That’s enough. When it comes to games, I, Ye Zhen, am willing to call you the strongest.”
After hearing this, Su Fan threw down the controller and fell asleep on the spot. Ye Zhen had dragged him into playing games for three days and three nights. Ye Zhen did not need sleep, but he did.
A’Wu stood to the side and said,
“Boss Ye, you should go out for a walk. Headquarters has nearly fallen, and the Circle of Friends has been assisting headquarters in dealing with the vicious ghosts in Dajing City that have yet to be contained. We should do something too.”
Although the Supernatural Forum was headed by Ye Zhen, he was entirely a hands-off boss and had never liked managing affairs. The vast majority of matters were still handled by A’Wu. Most of the time, Ye Zhen was more like a symbol—as long as he was there, Dahai City would not fall into disorder.
Ye Zhen lay lazily on the sofa.
“As long as I, Ye, am still in Dahai City, which ghost would dare act recklessly?”
Just as A’Wu was about to continue persuading him, Ye Zhen suddenly sprang up from the sofa.
“But you’re right. I can’t keep being decadent like this.”
A’Wu was stunned, thinking that he had finally seen the light. Ye Zhen continued,
“This time, as I descend the mountain to roam the world, I shall surely be blessed with great fortune and encounter one lucky opportunity after another.”
“Yes.” A’Wu no longer had the strength to retort.
“A’Wu, prepare my clothes! Right, keep it low-key. This time, I don’t want too many people discovering my identity…”
“Yes.”
Half an hour later, at a bustling plaza somewhere in Dahai City.
A young man dressed in casual clothes, with a longsword hanging at his waist, stood in the very center of the plaza. Holding a carton of milk in his hand, he was observing the passersby around him.
“As expected, the aura I give off has already made the vicious ghosts of Dahai City too afraid to show themselves.”
Suddenly, a burst of commotion came from nearby. Ye Zhen vaguely heard words like “Dachang City” and “top dog.”