“Yang Jian, what’s wrong? Did everyone’s noise disturb you?”
Wang Shanshan walked out from inside the house and stood beside Yang Jian, asking softly.
Yang Jian shook his head. In truth, deep down, he liked this feeling—everyone sitting together like before, chatting casually. But the shadow of the fierce ghosts hung over him like the Sword of Damocles, leaving him unable to calm down and enjoy any of it.
Yang Jian tried to speak in a gentle tone. “No. It’s just some work matters. You should come out and walk around more, like today. It’s rare for everyone to gather together. Go back in.”
At the dinner table, everyone was in high spirits. Zhang Wei and Xiong Wenwen were arguing fiercely, each “showing concern” for the other’s family.
Zhang Liqin and Wang Shanshan chatted about some amusing things that had happened at the company recently, while Jiang Yan kept pestering Yang Jian to go out and stroll around the lantern fair.
A firework lit up the night sky, and everyone at the table looked toward the blooming burst of light, joy reflected in each of their eyes.
The radiance shone in all their pupils, and time seemed to stop forever in that moment.
Only, no one knew whether the next reunion like this would still have all these people present. This world was gradually dying. Fierce ghosts roamed unchecked, and anyone tainted by the supernatural faced the risk of death at every moment.
Time always passed quickly. After dinner, Wang Shanshan was called away by her parents to celebrate the New Year reunion. Zhang Liqin cleared the table and washed the dishes in the kitchen. Zhang Wei plunged into his luxurious private room and started gaming.
Beside Yang Jian, Jiang Yan hooked her arm around his and said, “Yang Jian, come out for a walk with me. You finally get to rest for a while, so you should relax a little too. I know a market that’s really lively.”
Yang Jian nodded. This time, he did not refuse Jiang Yan as he usually would. Ever since the loss-of-control incident in Dajing City, it seemed he had never stopped moving. Now that he suddenly had some free time, he actually felt a little at a loss.
Seeing Yang Jian agree, Jiang Yan jumped up happily like a child.
“Yay!”
“Wait!” Xiong Wenwen suddenly darted between the two of them, hands on his hips as he said, “I’m going too!”
Jiang Yan immediately pushed Xiong Wenwen aside. She did not want this ill-tempered brat disturbing her time alone with Yang Jian.
“Little brat, stay obediently at home. Have your Brother Zhang Wei take you to play games.”
Xiong Wenwen shook off Jiang Yan’s hand and pointed at Yang Jian and Jiang Yan. “I’m going! I have to supervise you two! To stop Yang Jian from messing around behind my mom’s back!”
“Messing around?!” Jiang Yan’s mouth fell open, and then she instantly shouted like a cat with its fur standing on end, “What do you mean, messing around? I’m Yang Jian’s girlfriend, okay!”
While the two of them were arguing, Yang Jian pushed open the door and walked out. He looked up at the bright night sky. There was not a cloud in sight, and the curved crescent moon hung clearly in the air.
“Stop arguing. We’ll go together.”
Seeing that Yang Jian had already left, the two immediately trotted after him, walking at his left and right.
At the bustling market, red lanterns hung high, couplets covered the stalls, and the crowd flowed in a noisy stream.
Jiang Yan held Yang Jian’s arm and stopped in front of a stall, undisguised excitement in her eyes.
“Yang Jian! Look, this little snake plushie is so cute!” Jiang Yan picked up a small red snake plushie, her face full of smiles.
“Please, auntie, stop making a fuss over every little thing.” Xiong Wenwen had somehow grabbed two toy machine guns. Imitating the stance from some shooting game, he wielded one in each hand and struck all kinds of poses toward the crowd.
“Obviously these guns are way cuter!”
Jiang Yan turned back and glared at him irritably. “Little brat, have you ever seen an auntie as pretty as me? Call me big sister, got it?”
Xiong Wenwen raised his brows, lifted the toy gun to “aim” at Jiang Yan, and looked her up and down. “You’re way worse than my mom.”
Yang Jian stood stiffly to the side and spoke in a cold, gloomy voice. “Indeed.”
When Jiang Yan heard this, she immediately became unhappy. Hands on her hips, she glared at Yang Jian. “Yang Jian! How can you take his side? You don’t really like married women, do you?”
“They’re all the same.”
“What’s all the same?” Jiang Yan was somewhat baffled.
“Just piles of flesh,” Yang Jian said calmly.
His cold eyes watched the lively crowd. His stiff limbs made others feel uncomfortable. Yang Jian, who seemed like a corpse, appeared utterly out of place amid this bustling market.
Jiang Yan stared at Yang Jian in a daze. It was as if only now did she belatedly realize just how completely Yang Jian had changed. She had known Yang Jian for so long, but the number of times she had met him could be counted on one hand.
She did not know when it had started, but each time they met, the aura of the living on Yang Jian had diminished by another fraction. Before she knew it, the Yang Jian in her memory—the one who wore a security guard uniform and would scare her—had already drifted farther and farther away.
Her gaze dimmed briefly with sadness, but she quickly recovered and smiled at Yang Jian. “No matter what you become, you’ll always be the hero in my heart. Come on, let’s go look around up ahead!”
Xiong Wenwen’s voice came from behind them. “Hey! Yang Jian! Pay for me! I didn’t bring any money!”
But what the three of them did not know was that, at the other end of this market, terror was unfolding.
Panicked crowds fled in every direction. More than a dozen corpses lay starkly on the ground, and a faint stench of decay permeated the air, cold and damp.
Among the crowd stood a pale-faced young man, directing the surrounding chaos.
“Everyone, stop moving around! Try not to make any sound!”
Cao Yang held a handgun in his hand. The gun was meant to intimidate the chaotic crowd, but it did not seem to have much effect. Only a very small number of people obeyed his instructions.
Just as Cao Yang anxiously tried to stabilize the situation, a dead-black figure suddenly appeared in the midst of the chaotic crowd. It stood mechanically behind a woman. With the appearance of this ghost, the stench of corpses in the air became increasingly strong.
It stiffly raised an arm, its withered fingers reaching toward the woman’s shoulder.
With only an instant of contact, the woman’s body suddenly froze. Her eyes lost focus, and a strange blankness appeared on her face.
In the next second, her skin was rapidly covered by dead-black corpse spots, spreading from her face to her limbs.
With a thud, the woman fell straight to the ground, lifeless.
Seeing this, Cao Yang immediately took out his satellite phone and said, “There are too many ordinary people… Connect me to the satellite phone of the nearest handler. I need support.”
“Understood! Connected to Ghost Eye Yang Jian’s satellite phone!”
Cao Yang immediately said, “Yang Jian, this is Cao Yang. There’s an emergency here…”
“I’ve already seen it. Get to the point.”
Yang Jian held a satellite phone in his hand. He was standing in front of Xiong Wenwen and Jiang Yan, observing the chaotic scene in the distance.
Cao Yang instantly realized that Yang Jian was nearby and said,
“It’s suspected to be sound. Every time that ghost appears, it’s always among the people making noise. The ordinary people who didn’t make any sound haven’t been killed.”
“Sound, is it?” Yang Jian led the two of them forward.
As Yang Jian moved, he happened to see a young man wearing a handler’s clothes, holding a handgun and directing the crowd.
Cao Yang also noticed Yang Jian at the same time. He turned around stiffly. From the look of him, he was about to be completely eroded by a fierce ghost as well. A hoarse voice came from his throat.
“Captain Yang, my ghost domain is rather special. It can’t accommodate this many ordinary people. Use your ghost domain to isolate them, otherwise more and more people will die if this continues.”
Yang Jian did not respond. He stood silently in place without taking any action. Instead, he carefully observed the terrified crowd scattering in all directions.
That dead-black figure flickered in and out of sight, but Yang Jian keenly discovered that every time the ghost appeared, it was always in the place where the sound was loudest.
With every raising of the fierce ghost’s hand, an ordinary person would die instantly.
Cao Yang looked at Yang Jian. He understood the reason behind Yang Jian’s actions. Cao Yang was not some saintly do-gooder like Tong Qian. He knew what using the power of a fierce ghost meant. Every time one used a ghost’s power, one stepped closer to death.
On the contrary, what Yang Jian was doing now was the correct approach. Although it was very cruel and cold, the dense crowd provided the two of them with enough time to observe.
In a supernatural incident, intelligence was the key. As long as they could decipher the fierce ghost’s killing pattern, they could effectively formulate a response and contain it.
If they acted rashly, they might unknowingly trigger the ghost’s killing pattern and put themselves in danger.
Thinking of this, Cao Yang no longer spoke. He began observing the chaotic crowd together with Yang Jian.