“Minister Cao! Satellite images show the Starving Ghost’s ghost domain is moving! Headquarters has vanished entirely! The Starving Ghost’s ghost domain is carrying the entire headquarters toward the Ghost Painting!”
“Yes, that’s right. The Starving Ghost’s characteristic is devouring, so it’s only natural that it would move toward the Ghost Painting. After all, the Starving Ghost currently possesses a coffin nail.”
Wang Xiaoming’s expression remained unchanged as he tapped away at the keyboard, as though he were simply working a bit of overtime at home.
“What kind of joke is this? The Starving Ghost, the Ghost Messenger, and the Ghost Painting are all out of control at the same time?”
Yang Jian looked at the distant greenish-black ghost domain, the scarlet ghost eye on his forehead turning uneasily.
“According to Wang Xiaoming’s deduction, did the Newspaper Ghost alter Zhao Jianguo’s memories? But that doesn’t matter anymore. Right now, we have to imprison one of the ghosts first.”
Taking out his satellite phone, Yang Jian dialed Wang Xiaoming’s number.
“Wang Xiaoming, I know headquarters has hidden a lot of things. Given the current situation, you no longer have the luxury of holding back. If you don’t bring them out this time, there won’t be another chance.”
“It’s already been sent to your satellite phone.”
Beep, beep, beep. After Wang Xiaoming finished speaking, he hung up directly.
Yang Jian looked at the information on the satellite phone in his hand.
“I didn’t expect headquarters to have something like this.”
A flash of scarlet passed. Yang Jian’s ghost domain shot into the sky, rushing at high speed toward headquarters. However, his target was not the Starving Ghost, but another place.
On the path the Starving Ghost’s ghost domain had to pass through, an old man stood in an open area, leaning on a cane.
The fierce wind whipped the old man’s clothes until they snapped loudly. Ahead of him, the entire sky had already been shrouded by the greenish-black ghost domain, and it was moving toward him at an extremely fast speed.
“I have to stop this ghost here. I absolutely cannot let it converge with the Ghost Painting and the Ghost Messenger.”
The old man’s face was grave. He raised his hand and struck the cane heavily against the ground. A pallid-white ghost domain spread rapidly in all directions like ripples.
The next second, the old man’s ghost domain collided with the greenish-black ghost domain. Unfortunately, the situation did not even last a single second. The greenish-black ghost domain instantly devoured that expanse of pallid white.
“As expected, the older generation is more refined in their use of ghosts’ abilities. Is he using the Starving Ghost’s devouring characteristic to counter-invade it? Then what about the Ghost Painting’s side?”
Fang Shiming turned his head to look in the direction of the Ghost Painting. After a moment of silence, just as he was about to move, a clear, hearty voice came from the sky. Fang Shiming’s expression immediately darkened.
“Well, if it isn’t Old Fang! Haven’t seen you in a few days, and you’ve gotten this weak? Looks like I, Ye, have arrived at just the right time. Old Fang! You just assist me from below! Deal with those lesser ghosts and watch me go resolve that Ghost Painting!”
Only the voice could be heard, with no one in sight. The clouds split apart layer by layer from the middle, and a dazzling ray of light shot rapidly toward the Ghost Painting.
“Ye Zhen... a brainless brute.”
Fang Shiming did not follow Ye Zhen. Instead, he took out a specially made phone and dialed a number.
“Wang Xiaoming, it’s me. I don’t need to explain the current situation. You know something has gone wrong with my body. Right now, I need that thing. Give it to me, and I’ll help you resolve this crisis.”
“No problem. A very fair transaction. The address has already been sent to you. Go get it yourself.”
After Wang Xiaoming finished speaking, he hung up.
A short while later, Fang Shiming received a map on his phone.
“Good... As long as I get that thing, my condition will recover instantly.”
Looking at the information on his phone, Fang Shiming clenched his fist.
“I really don’t want to get involved in this incident... If I had a little more time, I might actually have been able to solve the problem of the fierce ghost’s revival inside me. If Ye Zhen weren’t such a delusional fool, I wouldn’t have ended up like this.”
Time returned to the present.
Inside the Ghost Messenger’s ghost domain.
“The Ghost Messenger and the Ghost Painting have separated. It seems the confrontation between two top-tier supernatural forces ended with neither side able to do anything to the other. If the Starving Ghost hadn’t gone out of control, Wang Xiaoming’s method might really have been able to resolve the Ghost Painting and the Ghost Messenger.”
An ordinary-looking man walked lifelessly beside Yang Jian. The way the man walked was like someone sleepwalking—stiff, mechanical, more like a dead man.
“My ghost eye is completely suppressed by the Ghost Painting. Even if I went there, I wouldn’t be of much use. Going after the Starving Ghost without the coffin nail would just be delivering myself to death. This is the only place I’m relatively familiar with. But Huanggang Village has changed a lot now. It’s completely different from how it was back then.”
Yang Jian walked at the very front, analyzing the situation before him.
“Yang Jian, I can’t maintain this state for long. The ghosts inside my body haven’t reached complete balance yet. I’m only able to move by relying on something from headquarters. No matter what you want to do, you have to be quick.”
Tong Qian walked at the back. Her three faces kept staring curiously at this man. She discovered that as soon as her gaze left him, she would immediately forget his face, so every so often, she would switch to another face to stare at him.
“Madam... could you move those two faces a little farther away? Although they don’t have much effect on me, being stared at by faces like that every moment is still not very pleasant.”
Tong Qian’s face flushed red at his words, and she hurriedly turned her head away. But no matter how she turned, one of the three faces was always facing the man.
“The changes caused by the Starving Ghost have affected both the Ghost Messenger and the Ghost Painting. Although it’s still unclear what the reason is, fortunately, the Ghost Messenger and Ghost Painting haven’t undergone any further unpredictable changes. We don’t have much time. No one knows what will happen next. We need to act as quickly as possible.”
Yang Jian’s expression was not good as he looked at this unfamiliar Huanggang Village. The current situation was even more severe than it had been in Dachang City. Back then, they at least had the coffin nail as a last resort, but now all three S-class fierce ghosts were in the midst of unknown changes. No one dared to say they had any confidence in resolving this incident.
In supernatural incidents, what was feared most was change—especially with a special existence like the Ghost Messenger. Change meant that the killing patterns they had previously grasped had altered. An S-class fierce ghost whose killing patterns were unknown would be an unsolvable existence.
“Let’s go. We’ll head in and take a look.”
Li Leping took out a blood-red, double-sided little drum and led the way into the depths of Huanggang Village.
A helicopter slowly descended beside the former location of headquarters. Now, where headquarters had once stood, there was only a bottomless pit. Many staff members were conducting surveys of the pit.
A man wearing glasses stepped down from the helicopter. His temperament was gentle, his features handsome, and his entire body exuded the air of a scholar.
“Moving mountains and filling seas, shaking mountains and trembling the earth. The Starving Ghost’s growth has simply exceeded imagination. I should have acted sooner. Now that the Starving Ghost is out of control, and the situations with the Ghost Painting and Ghost Messenger are also unclear, I have no chance left.”
Wang Chaling looked at the enormous, pitch-black pit before him. After pondering for a moment, two lifeless, wrinkled old people appeared silently behind him.
“It’s time to act. If I go now, there should still be a sliver of a chance...”
After speaking, Wang Chaling’s figure vanished from where he stood. It did not seem like a ghost domain, but rather another application of supernatural power.