At the sight of Yang Jian, he immediately stepped forward and saluted him.
“Captain Yang, my name is Liu Feng. I received the assignment yesterday and already came here once.”
Yang Jian did not recognize the man before him. He seemed to be one of the staff members he had asked Liu Xiaoyu to arrange earlier.
Yang Jian said, “The matter here has already been resolved. As for compensation for the child who died, I’ll have someone handle it. Send more people to guard the village for the next while. If anything unusual happens, report it to your superiors immediately.”
“Understood, Captain Yang.”
Liu Feng immediately ducked into the car, picked up the walkie-talkie, and began arranging the follow-up work.
“Yang Yuan! We finally found you! You killed someone and still dared to run!”
Just then, a middle-aged woman with a powerful voice came running over from the village with a group of people.
Pointing at Yang Jian, she shouted, “Yang Jian! Where’s your mother? Call your mother down! Do you know your cousin killed someone?!”
When Zhang Fen heard the commotion, she did not even have time to get properly dressed before hurrying down from upstairs.
Seeing so many people, she immediately realized something serious had happened and quickly said, “Oh my, Sister Li, what’s going on? Why has everyone from the village come?”
Someone in the crowd shouted, “Zhang Fen! Yang Yuan killed someone! What are you going to do about it?”
Seeing this, Wang Shanshan immediately pulled Zhang Fen aside.
“Auntie, don’t worry. Yang Jian will handle it.”
Zhang Fen nodded. She had always known that this son of hers had an extraordinary identity, but she still looked at Yang Jian with worry. With so many people surrounding him, she was afraid something might happen.
Yang Jian was extremely irritated at the moment. The attack in that dream, the secrets on his cousin’s body, the past from his father’s era, and the restless malicious ghost inside him all filled him with agitation.
But in the end, Xiao Yuan had been at fault first in this incident, and the malicious ghost’s attack had also been because of him.
He still kept his patience and said, “Ten million. The money will be transferred into your account immediately. This matter ends here.”
When the middle-aged woman heard Yang Jian make such a generous offer, her eyes immediately lit up. She cried and shouted, “I want it now. My poor child was too pitiful.”
Yang Jian took out his satellite phone and said, “Liu Xiaoyu, did you hear that? Transfer ten million into her account.”
Liu Xiaoyu replied, “But... where would your salary get that much money?”
“You only need to report this matter upward. You don’t need to worry about anything else.”
After saying that, Yang Jian hung up and stood quietly where he was, waiting.
Before long, the middle-aged woman’s phone rang. She picked it up, and the more she looked at it, the more excited she became. Then she turned and ran off in a flash, disappearing from sight.
Seeing that Yang Jian had finished dealing with it, Liu Feng got out of the car, took out an ID, and held it up in his hand.
“All right, disperse. Everyone, stay in the village for the next few days. Don’t go anywhere. There are still some follow-up investigations that will require your cooperation.”
The crowd gradually dispersed. At this time, Lin Bei also walked over.
“Captain Yang, what happened? Why were there so many people here just now?”
“It’s nothing. I got extorted. Was there anything unusual outside the village last night?”
Lin Bei looked at Yang Jian strangely. Extorted? Who would dare extort you?
Still, he replied, “No. I patrolled around the village all night. Everything was normal.”
Yang Jian nodded.
“Let’s go. I need to make a trip to headquarters and ask Elder Qin about something.”
“Mom, I still have things to do, so I’ll head back first. After some time, I’ll bring Wang Shanshan back to see you again.”
Zhang Fen looked at Yang Jian’s departing back, her eyes filled with worry. This child of hers had changed a great deal, but she had not received much education and did not know how to express her concern. She could only silently watch Yang Jian leave.
The four of them walked toward the village entrance and got into the car they had arrived in.
The vehicle sped along the road. The scenery outside the window flashed past quickly. The four of them did not speak the entire way.
Yang Jian looked at Xiao Yuan beside him. This cousin of his had far too many secrets on her body. She was suspected to be connected to the malicious ghost his father had controlled. After he returned from headquarters, he had to have a proper talk with her.
Yang Jian said to Xiao Yuan, “Xiao Yuan, take out all those knives. You can’t just kill people anymore.”
This cousin of his had stabbed a child to death in Meishan Village. Although there had been a reason for it, and Xiao Yuan perhaps could not distinguish dream from reality, the matter had already been resolved now. Yang Jian would absolutely not allow such a thing to happen again.
Although Yang Jian was fond of getting into a little fight at the slightest disagreement, in his conduct he had always been clear about grudges and debts. As long as others did not provoke him, he would not kill an ordinary person for no reason. If they were of value to him, he might even save them.
After hearing Yang Jian’s words, Xiao Yuan tilted her head, as if she did not understand at all. Even so, she still obeyed him and took out all the daggers. Yang Jian gave them a rough glance. There were at least ten.
As Xiao Yuan pulled out the daggers, she said, “I haven’t been killing people randomly. I’ve always been killing ghosts. In dreams, ghosts turn into many people I know. I can only kill every one I see.”
As she spoke, Xiao Yuan even pointed at her left eye, as if telling Yang Jian that she could distinguish dreams from reality through that eye.
Seeing Xiao Yuan’s gesture, Yang Jian froze. He felt his hair stand on end, a chill rushing from the soles of his feet straight to the crown of his head.
He suddenly realized that from the very beginning, he had overlooked a terrifying fact.
If Xiao Yuan can distinguish dreams from reality, then earlier, when Wang Shanshan called me and said Xiao Yuan was killing people...
He slammed on the brake. Due to inertia, the vehicle slid forward several meters along the road.
Everyone was thrown forward and back by the jolt. Lin Bei immediately took out a piece of glass and said,
“Captain Yang! What happened? Has that ghost come again?!”
Yang Jian gripped the steering wheel tightly with both hands, his expression grave. He realized he had missed the most fatal piece of information.
A piece of information enough to kill him.
Xiao Yuan only kills people in dreams, because she can’t tell who has been transformed by a ghost. But Wang Shanshan called me and said Xiao Yuan was killing people...
A second-layer dream? Could it be that the instant I answered the phone, I had already fallen into a dream?
But that doesn’t make sense... I never saw Wang Shanshan in the dream.
And the supernatural does not exist inside dreams. After hanging up, I had unfolded the Ghost Domain...
Wait! Lin Bei’s mirror world!
The mirror can imitate the external manifestations of the supernatural. Perhaps the instant Lin Bei was pulled into the dream, the supernatural powers of the two malicious ghosts had already begun clashing with each other... The dream stole a portion of the mirror’s supernatural power...
Then what happened last night—the restart, the unfolding of the Ghost Domain—perhaps all of it was just an illusion created by this dream.
I am still dreaming...
As if suddenly thinking of something, Yang Jian abruptly raised his head and looked at the rearview mirror.
In the mirror, Wang Shanshan sat stiffly in the back seat. On her deathly pale face, her eyes bulged outward, widened to a perfect roundness. The corners of her mouth split open, revealing a row of sinister teeth, and she was staring straight at Yang Jian. There even seemed to be a strange smile at the corners of her mouth, as though her scheme had succeeded.
Yang Jian was still stepping on the brake, but the vehicle was completely out of control, racing along the road. Ahead was a passenger plane. The car suddenly charged into the cabin, smashed through the tail end of the aircraft, and plummeted straight down from the sky.
The absurd, abrupt shifting of scenes had begun again.
Ahead of the vehicle, at some unknown point, heavy rain had begun to fall. A figure appeared abruptly in the middle of the road. Through the cold rain, one could vaguely see that beside this person stood a huge wolfdog.
The sound of chanting scriptures grew louder and louder. Wails filled the entire world. Looking at the person and dog before him, his eyelids grew heavier and heavier.