Yang Jian walked over to the side of the sickbed and sat down. He said to Liu Jing, “Auntie, I’m Li Yang’s friend.”
Liu Jing was still somewhat weak, but she had also seen Li Jie’s attitude toward Yang Jian just now. This director, who had barely paid her any mind when she had first come to the hospital, was as obedient as a child in front of Yang Jian.
She forced herself up, about to sit, but Yang Jian pressed her back down and said,
“Auntie, there’s no need to be so formal. Li Yang and I are very good friends. I came here only to ask you about some things concerning him.”
“Child... if you have any questions, just ask. My Li Yang hasn’t come home for half a year. Back then, he only went abroad to travel.”
As Liu Jing spoke, tears welled up in her eyes. The moment Li Yang was mentioned, she could not help feeling heartbroken.
Yang Jian asked, “I’d like you to think back. Before Li Yang went abroad, did he show anything unusual in any way? For example, in how he spoke or behaved.”
Liu Jing thought for quite a while before saying, “No. Li Yang has always been a good child, excellent in both character and studies. At school, he never had any conflicts with his classmates either.”
After speaking with Liu Jing for a while longer, Yang Jian confirmed that before Li Yang had been drawn into the Ghost Painting, he had been nothing more than an ordinary university student.
In other words, Li Yang had indeed become a ghost controller inside the Ghost Painting. But if that was really the case, then who had brought him out of the Ghost Painting?
It couldn’t be that he had controlled a ghost inside the Ghost Painting that was even more terrifying than the Ghost Painting itself.
Yang Jian continued, “Auntie, if you don’t mind, I’d like to go take a look at the place where you live.”
Liu Jing nodded. “Go ahead, child. The keys are in my clothes. No one has lived at home for a long time, so it may be a little dirty and messy.”
Yang Jian stood up and tucked the quilt around Liu Jing.
“Auntie, the weather in DQ City is no longer suitable for you to recuperate here. Tomorrow, I’ll arrange for someone to take you to Dachang City. Rest and recover in peace. I’ll do everything I can to find Li Yang.”
A trace of hope appeared in Liu Jing’s eyes. She understood that this young man before her had to be some important figure; she simply did not know when her Li Yang had come to know such a friend. She immediately said gratefully,
“Thank you, child. You really are a good person. Lord Buddha will bless you.”
Yang Jian went downstairs. Li Jie was instructing some medical staff to move medical equipment. Seeing Yang Jian come down, Li Jie immediately went up to greet him.
“Officer Yang, I’ve already arranged Liu Jing’s transfer to another hospital. These people will accompany Liu Jing to Dachang City. Please rest assured, I will do everything in my power to treat Liu Jing. In less than a month, she’ll be able to get out of bed and walk normally.”
Yang Jian nodded. It seemed this Li Jie was extremely tactful in handling matters. There were some things that, even if Yang Jian did not say them, he understood what ought to be done.
“I still have things to do, so I’ll be leaving first.”
“Yes, yes.” Li Jie immediately bent at the waist and respectfully saw Yang Jian out of the hospital.
Under the night sky, there was a chill in the air. Although the New Year was approaching and the temperature was indeed very low, to Yang Jian, this was an extremely abnormal phenomenon.
The ghost hand opened and caught a falling snowflake. A faint chill spread through his palm.
A strange look flashed through Yang Jian’s eyes. He could almost confirm that these falling snowflakes were some sort of supernatural medium. It was just that they were still in a relatively stable state and had not yet begun attacking ordinary people.
But Yang Jian had no energy to deal with this matter right now. Even the person in charge of DQ City was still in Dajing City assisting Headquarters in imprisoning out-of-control fierce ghosts, and he himself still had a pile of matters waiting to be resolved. He could only send this information back to Headquarters and toss it to Wang Xiaoming to consider.
Arriving at Liu Jing’s residence, he found that it was a six-story old-style residential building. Yang Jian directly unfolded his ghost domain and entered Liu Jing’s apartment.
The furniture inside had already been covered in a thin layer of dust. It looked as though no one had lived here for some time. Looking toward the photo frame on the table, Li Yang in the photograph was wearing a school uniform, laughing loudly as he struck a victory pose.
Within the ghost domain, Yang Jian patrolled the room once and found nothing abnormal. This was just an ordinary residence.
Just as Yang Jian was preparing to leave—
“Knock, knock, knock.” A series of knocks came from the door.
Yang Jian’s gaze instantly turned cold. Carrying his hatchet, he walked toward the entrance.
“May I ask if Yang Jian is here?”
A deep voice came from outside the door. Yang Jian was very familiar with this voice. He seemed to have heard it somewhere before, but for a moment, he could not recall where.
“This voice...”
Yang Jian opened the door. Outside stood a bald man, who was trying hard to give him a smile.
“Yang Jian, it really is you. I just went to the hospital looking for you, and Liu Jing said you came here.”
“Lin Bei?”
Yang Jian recognized the bald man before him at a glance. Back on the bus, the two of them had crossed paths. He had seemed like a decent person. Before getting off, Lin Bei had once asked Yang Jian to transfer a sum of money to his family.
Lin Bei rubbed his bald head and said, “It’s me. Finding you really wasn’t easy. That money has already been received. I came because I wanted to thank you in person.”
“Just for that?” In Yang Jian’s eyes, it was only a sum of money. To him, it was merely a matter of saying a word.
Lin Bei nodded and said, “Of course. In any case, I can be considered half a monk. I place the greatest importance on matters of karma.”
Yang Jian glanced at Lin Bei’s bald head. This Lin Bei had avoided the attack of the mummified bride when the bus had stalled, so his supernatural intensity was not low. It was suspected that he had controlled a ghost related to consciousness.
“Weren’t you on that bus? How did you end up here?”
“That’s a long story.”
The two spoke as they went downstairs.
“After you left, a few more groups of people got on the bus. We experienced several stalls, but it was still more or less dangerous without disaster. Then one day, an old man suddenly arrived and drove all of us off the bus. A few people wanted to resist, but they were all killed by him. That old man was far too terrifying.”
A strange look flashed through Lin Bei’s eyes. It seemed that even now, he still had a psychological shadow because of that old man. He continued,
“However, the fierce ghost inside me had already been suppressed very thoroughly by the bus. I had originally planned to find a time to get off anyway. The old man’s appearance just happened to give me that opportunity. After I got off, I immediately received news about the loss of control in Dajing City, and after that I stayed in Dajing City dealing with some supernatural incidents.”
Hearing this, Yang Jian figured that the old man Lin Bei mentioned should be Elder Qin. Elder Qin had once told him that when he was young, he had driven a bus. Given Elder Qin’s supernatural intensity, driving that strange bus would not be anything difficult.
Yang Jian listened to Lin Bei’s description while silently thinking.
Lin Bei’s information was very important. That Elder Qin had definitely driven that bus in the past. If that was the case, then everything matched up.
Elder Qin had once driven that bus and run my father over, and someone who had to be run over by that bus to be killed was definitely a ghost controller. Moreover, the fierce ghost he controlled had to be extremely dangerous, to the point that the full supernatural power of that bus was needed to suppress it.