In the long, narrow passageway, all the lightbulbs had gone out. Only a few scattered emergency exit signs remained, giving off a faint green glow.
By that green light, one could see a large expanse of shredded paper clothes strewn across the floor. In the windless passageway, a breeze had somehow begun to stir, blowing the scraps of paper clothing in every direction...
Gradually, those fragments began to lose their color. Then they started transforming into a gray, hazy condensation... Under the effect of the breeze, it slowly spread across the walls.
“Damn it. Did something go wrong on the Ghost Painting’s side? My paper men have been invaded by the Ghost Painting.” Liu San’s wax-yellow face was gloomy as he glared viciously at Wang Xiaoming.
“Professor Wang, there’s something wrong with your people. The only person in the Ghost Painting who came into contact with my paper men was that woman called A Hong. You’d better hope she died in there. Otherwise, when she comes out, she’ll be the first one I kill. Don’t think I can’t do it... If I put my life on the line, I can drag any captain at headquarters down with me.”
Wang Xiaoming did not get angry. Instead, he picked up a stack of documents and said, “This is the information Yang Jian sent back. The possibility that A Hong’s memories were tampered with is very small. Her face does not truly exist—it was painted on. The rule for altering memories requires the entire face to be removed. Clearly, she does not meet that condition. In that case...”
Wang Xiaoming paused, then continued, “Zhao Jianguo had already had his memories altered when he handed the makeup box over to her. It is very likely that there is something from the Starving Ghost inside that makeup box. That is why, after the Starving Ghost went out of control, it immediately moved toward the Ghost Painting. It wants to piece together the puzzle pieces that belong to it. This also indirectly caused the Ghost Messenger and the Ghost Painting to separate.”
Pushing up his glasses, Wang Xiaoming frowned, a rare expression for him.
“The situation is beginning to deteriorate. If the Ghost Painting can counter-invade Liu San’s paper men... his paper men’s corpses are here as well.”
Immediately, Wang Xiaoming picked up the phone.
“Contact Elder Qin. Move at once to contain the Starving Ghost. Stop holding that place. Compared with the current situation, the ghosts inside are no longer the top priority. If the Ghost Painting and the Starving Ghost come into contact, no one knows what will happen. Perhaps even the Ghost Messenger...”
At the same time, inside the Ghost Painting.
A faint bluish-black aura was spreading through the sky.
“Li Jun, the situation is very bad. Liu San has disappeared. This bluish-black haze spreading here is suspected to be something from the Starving Ghost.”
A Hong held the makeup box and looked at the distant high-rise buildings. Wisps of faint bluish-black were slowly rising.
Li Jun’s brows were tightly furrowed. A cigarette hung from his mouth, and in his hand he held a decayed doorknob.
“The agreed time has already arrived, but headquarters still hasn’t opened the door. Did something go wrong?”
But Li Jun could not figure out why either. He turned to Su Fan and said,
“Su Fan, keep looking for an exit. Although I don’t know why the Starving Ghost’s ghost domain has appeared here, this place is currently under restriction. We still have a chance.”
Su Fan was holding his phone, frantically controlling the little figure inside as he searched for something. But it seemed useless. Every once in a while, four large words would pop up on the screen:
“You have died!”
“Hmm?” Suddenly, Su Fan’s expression changed. A faint glow appeared on the phone screen. Then light burst from the phone, as if a beam of sunlight had shone down from above onto the little figure he was controlling.
At that very moment, a crack opened in the gray, hazy sky of the Ghost Painting’s ghost domain. Sunlight from outside spilled in, shining directly on Li Jun and the others, as though bringing hope and light to this despairing, oppressive world within the painting.
“As expected of the Ghost Painting. It can actually keep me outside. Old Fang! Even if you don’t make a move, I can still break through this trifling ghost domain.”
Two figures descended along that beam of light, slowly drifting down. One of them stood in midair, overlooking everything in the world of the Ghost Painting.
Fang Shiming, who had already landed on the ground, looked up at Ye Zhen in midair with a dark expression.
“Stupid brute. If I hadn’t made an agreement with Wang Xiaoming beforehand, I would never have wanted to act together with this chuunibyou no matter what.”
At this moment, Ye Zhen had somehow gotten himself a new outfit. He wore a bamboo hat, deliberately obscuring part of his face, and a white cloak hung behind him. On the cloak were clearly printed two large characters: “Justice.”
“So this is the Ghost Painting? It is indeed extraordinary. Worthy of my intervention. I am already the strongest; it is rare to find an opponent in this world. Sigh, how lonely...”
Ye Zhen looked down at Li Jun on the ground with the air of one invincible.
“Li Jun! I asked you people to catch a ghost, and it’s either wind or rain. What, do you think you’re going to the moon?!”
The corner of Li Jun’s mouth twitched. Even someone like Li Jun found Ye Zhen’s personality a little unbearable.
“The boss of the Spirituality Forum and the boss of the Friends Circle. Is this the support sent by headquarters?”
Li Jun immediately shouted up at Ye Zhen in midair.
“Ye Zhen! Now isn’t the time to talk about this. Get us out of the Ghost Painting first. Su Fan and A Hong are in very bad condition!”
“Huh? I still have to get you people out? Wang Xiaoming never told me that!”
Ye Zhen’s old face flushed, and he subconsciously turned aside.
He and Fang Shiming had joined hands and used the Ghost Scissors to barely break into the Ghost Painting’s ghost domain for a brief moment. Just now, he had been too busy showing off, and the ghost domain had already closed on its own. Trying to get out again from inside was basically impossible.
Fang Shiming held his forehead, unable to bear watching anymore. He had long said that more than half of Ye Zhen’s supernatural power was used on showing off. But whether this group was saved or not made no difference to him. He had only come here to fulfill an agreement with Wang Xiaoming.
“Why are you all looking at me like that? I, Ye, have traveled far and wide; everyone knows my strength. I am the strongest of this era! A mere Ghost Painting is not worth fearing. Once I deal with this Ghost Painting, I will naturally take you all out.”
“The Starving Ghost has actually gone out of control. The reason headquarters has delayed opening the door is because they’re afraid the Ghost Painting’s ghost domain will invade over there.”
Li Jun and the others walked down a remote path. Everyone was vigilantly watching the gray, hazy world around them. Only Ye Zhen was holding a sword and searching everywhere, looking as though he feared neither heaven nor earth.
At that moment.
“Ye Zhen! Watch your back!”
The ghost fire on Li Jun’s body burned wildly, surging straight toward Ye Zhen’s back.
“Hmm?” Ye Zhen was startled.
At some unknown point, a phantom had appeared behind Ye Zhen. It wore red clothes, and its facial features were blurry and impossible to make out.
Only through other details could one vaguely recognize that this ghost seemed to have the form of a woman. The most eye-catching thing was the pair of hands in front of the ghost: pale and lifelike, yet cold and strange.
Ye Zhen turned and threw a punch at the ghost before him. His posture was standard, as if he had practiced boxing.
But Ye Zhen’s touch seemed to trigger some killing rule. A gray, hazy condensation rapidly corroded his body along his arm. His skin quickly turned deathly gray, but then swiftly recovered. After several repetitions, the terrifying supernatural power gradually dissipated.
Ye Zhen’s face was filled with shock and uncertainty. That punch had once forced a certain fierce ghost into a brief state of shutdown, but this time it had no effect at all. It was as though he had struck a cold steel plate.
Before Ye Zhen could react, that pale, icy palm slowly reached toward his face.
The next second, Ye Zhen was sent flying backward. No, more accurately, the surrounding scene rushed toward Ye Zhen.
In Ye Zhen’s eyes, everything was retreating at extreme speed. His death-substitute ghost seemed to be following the entire world as it separated from his body, while he himself was slowly turning into an oil painting.
A look of horror instantly appeared on Ye Zhen’s face. He frantically used the death-substitute ghost’s ability, trying to transfer this terrifying supernatural attack and avoid the damage.
But Ye Zhen was shocked to discover that his death-substitute ghost seemed to be suppressed by some unknown supernatural force. Although the suppression was extremely faint, at such a critical moment, even a momentary mistake would allow the Ghost Painting to kill him.
“Rip...”
A cut appeared before Ye Zhen. Then green ghost fire suddenly blazed up.
When Ye Zhen came back to his senses, he discovered that he was still standing in the same place. On the ground remained a scorched oil painting, with a crimson cut across it as though made by a sharp weapon. What was painted on the canvas was exactly the place where he currently stood.
Fang Shiming stood off to the side holding the scissors. The ghost fire on Li Jun’s charred body was slowly extinguishing.
“I almost died just now?”
Since mastering the death-substitute ghost, this was the first time Ye Zhen had encountered such a situation. If Fang Shiming had not acted in time just now, he feared he really would have fallen here today.
Ye Zhen narrowed his eyes slightly and looked at Fang Shiming. He had not expected the one to act would be him.
“Don’t look at me like that. Inside the Ghost Painting’s ghost domain, anything can happen. I was only saving myself.”
Fang Shiming looked at Ye Zhen and shook the Ghost Scissors in his hand. Then he added, “Anyone with a brain would not choose to fight alone right now.”
“I agree with Fang Shiming. In this situation, we shouldn’t split up. Ye Zhen, tell us why you were attacked just now.”
Half of Li Jun’s face had already been burned black. His entire left eyeball was exposed, making him look even more like a ghost.
“I don’t know, but the ghost inside me was suppressed just now. Although it was very weak, the Ghost Painting shouldn’t have the ability to suppress other ghosts, right?”
Ye Zhen rotated his wrist and looked at the frame on the ground, his eyes filled with gravity.
A Hong looked at the makeup box in her hand, which was wrapped in gold. After her earlier exchange with Fang Shiming, she no longer dared to use this supernatural item.
“Suppression? Does it possess part of the Ghost Messenger’s supernatural power? We once entered the Ghost Messenger’s ghost domain before. Because the Starving Ghost went out of control, the Ghost Messenger and the Ghost Painting separated. But from the looks of it now, in the clash between the two supernatural forces, the Ghost Painting had the slight upper hand? It may even have seized part of the Ghost Messenger’s power.”
Without the makeup box, A Hong’s own supernatural power was negligible in the world of the Ghost Painting. She could only follow the group while analyzing the situation before her.
“Correct. Right answer.”
Fang Shiming snapped his fingers, his gaze flicking toward Ye Zhen.
“It seems there are still smart people in our team. The chances of containing this painting have increased by another point.”
It was clear that his battle with Ye Zhen back then had left him with a deep prejudice against him. In Fang Shiming’s eyes, that had been a completely avoidable and utterly meaningless fight. It was only because Ye Zhen, this chuunibyou, insisted on deciding who was number one under heaven that Fang Shiming had ended up in his current state.
Ye Zhen’s face flushed red, and veins bulged one after another on his forehead as he argued, “How can being ambushed count as a loss? Being ambushed can’t count as a loss!”
Everyone had already walked far away. From behind them, Ye Zhen’s voice could still be faintly heard muttering things they could not understand.
Something about “not even calling out the name of the move,” and something about “invincible.”
“Hey, everyone! Wait for me! Weren’t we supposed to be working as a team?!”