A force of resistance came through his hand. This ghost hand, woven with thread as its medium, was actually unable to snap Ai Li’s neck.
“Hm?!” A trace of surprise appeared in his eyes. He saw that Ai Li’s face had, at some point, become twisted and distorted.
That face was utterly horrifying, like a corpse that had been thrown into a wok of boiling oil and fried before being fished out again. His entire face was covered in charred scabs and pus-filled blisters.
Foul-smelling yellow fluid dripped down his cheeks onto the ground, and a nauseating stench of decay and greasy smoke immediately spread through the air.
The Tailor sensed that something was wrong. He wanted to let go, but Ai Li’s attack was faster.
The gravel road beneath their feet seemed to come alive. Countless gray-black stones rolled in from all directions, pressing down layer upon layer. In the blink of an eye, both of them were buried, leaving only their two heads exposed.
“I can’t move?!”
The Tailor tried to break free, but the evil ghost inside him showed no reaction at all. He had been suppressed.
“Pfft.” Ai Li spat out a mouthful of black blood. The charred blood scabs on his body kept falling away, revealing pale chunks of flesh beneath. Without the scabs suppressing them, those chunks of flesh actually began to tremble as if they were alive.
Ai Li was in an extremely terrible state right now. Trapping this core member of the King’s Organization here was already the limit of what he could do.
The evil ghost inside him was faintly stirring. He knew very well that he was not far from ghost revival.
But he intended to drag the man before him down with him. Since he could not kill him himself, then he would leave it to the ghost that went out of control after revival.
“Let go! If this continues, you’ll die too.”
There was obvious panic in the Tailor’s voice. This was the first time he had ever encountered such a situation. Right now, he could not sense the evil ghost inside him at all.
Ai Li glanced at him, that look as if he were looking at an idiot.
“Ignorant outsider. We have guarded the border for generations, from soldiers to ghost controllers. My life has long since ceased to matter to me. Don’t even think about leaving this place alive today.”
The night sky gradually grew clear. The fine threads in the sky had completely vanished, and the ground had returned to its original state. On this winding road, only two piles of stone remained, standing quietly on the pavement.
This member of the King’s Organization, codenamed Tailor, could also tell that Ai Li was about to undergo ghost revival. Now it was a contest of patience. His own condition was not as extreme as Ai Li’s. He had to wait—wait for the brief opening at the instant Ai Li revived, and then escape from here.
Time passed second by second. Blood flowed from Ai Li’s ears, nose, and eyes. His vision had already grown blurry, but the stones sealing the two of them remained taut and tight, showing no sign of loosening at all.
At that moment, a series of heavy footsteps sounded from one end of the road.
Ai Li looked toward the source of the sound.
It was a sallow-faced man. The wrinkles on his face were like ravines, making him look as though he were a paper man.
Ai Li spat out two mouthfuls of blood and said, “Hey, friend, if you’d come any later, you could’ve burned paper offerings for me.”
“This was already the fastest I could get here. This place is too far.”
After saying that, Liu San raised his hand and placed it on the Tailor’s head.
Sheets of yellow paper like human skin immediately peeled off his body, rapidly covering and wrapping around the Tailor along his arm.
Already under suppression to begin with, and now with Liu San’s supernatural power intervening as well, the Tailor had no room to resist at all. He could only watch helplessly as his body was covered by the yellow paper.
In just a moment, Liu San had completely disappeared. This member of the King’s Organization had also been wrapped into a lump by the yellow paper, standing in the middle of the stone pile.
“It’s over.”
Ai Li struggled out from the pile of stones, picked up the phone Liu San had dropped on the ground, and dialed a number.
“One is dead. The other three should be arriving soon.”
After saying that, he hung up. At this moment, his entire body was covered in blood and his face was deathly pale. Gritting his teeth, he hoisted up the corpse wrapped in yellow paper and quickly disappeared into the night along the road.
Headquarters.
Wang Xiaoming put down the phone in his hand and immediately turned around to send two messages on the computer.
He Yin’er stood at the side and said, “Four people. One killed, and the other three are about to arrive. Will there be enough time?”
Wang Xiaoming did not even turn his head as he said, “The King’s Organization reacted even faster than I expected, but their actions are still within the plan. We only need to wait here.”
He Yin’er asked again, “Are you sure those two will come? If even one of them refuses you, you and I will both die here today.”
“No, you’re wrong.” Wang Xiaoming shook his head.
“You are not a ghost controller in the true sense, so you have no idea what kind of pain those who are caught up in the supernatural endure. Every moment, they bear the risk of death.”
“Facing evil ghosts, they have no choice. They can only be passively pushed by supernatural incidents toward the unknown—”
Halfway through his words, Wang Xiaoming suddenly stopped. A faint, almost imperceptible stench of corpses abruptly appeared in the air. He turned to look toward the door, as if he had sensed something.
“They’re here...”
As soon as Wang Xiaoming’s voice fell, two terrifying figures abruptly appeared in the hall. These two gave He Yin’er no time to react at all, raising their hands and lunging toward Wang Xiaoming.
Before successfully summoning a spirit, He Yin’er’s usefulness was not even comparable to that of an ordinary ghost controller. At this moment, she could only watch helplessly as those two members of the King’s Organization charged at Wang Xiaoming.
Just then, a piercing sound of wind came from afar. The sound arrived extremely fast. One second it was still by their ears, and the next, they felt a violent gale rushing straight at their faces.
The entire hall was enveloped by this fierce wind. The two members of the King’s Organization were actually forced half a step back by it.
A trace of surprise flashed across their faces as they looked at this exceedingly strange gale. It was clearly unimaginably fast, yet it gave people the illusion that it was unusually slow.
Within the gale, a figure in a suit and leather shoes appeared and disappeared faintly. In his hand, he was holding a pair of scissors. Vaguely, one could also see a corpse lying across his shoulder, glaring viciously at the two of them.
The gale gradually scattered. Fang Shiming stood in the center of the hall, glanced back at Wang Xiaoming, and said calmly:
“You have nine minutes.”
At this moment, the two members of the King’s Organization wore grave expressions. Looking at Fang Shiming, they did not dare make any move.
Fang Shiming was merely standing there. He had clearly done nothing, yet he exerted tremendous pressure on the two of them.
His edge was fully revealed, his arrogance overwhelming.
After a moment of silence, one of them said, “We can’t drag this out. We have to deal with this as quickly as possible.”
As soon as he finished speaking, the environment of headquarters suddenly changed.
Everyone now found themselves inside a dilapidated apartment building. Looking up, they could see dim yellow lights still lit in some of the rooms, and could even vaguely make out human silhouettes swaying in front of the windows.
Wang Xiaoming’s face remained calm as he said:
“Prison Warden, suspected to be able to bind evil ghosts. Landlord, every room here has the ability to imprison evil ghosts. Both are suppression-type. Are they trying to capture me alive...”
He Yin’er took out an old water cup from behind her. The cup looked quite aged, like the ceramic cups people used to drink water from during the Republic era.
Lighting the spirit-summoning incense in her hand, He Yin’er looked at Fang Shiming and said softly, “Five minutes. Be careful of your surroundings. There’s still one more who hasn’t appeared.”
Fang Shiming nodded. He and He Yin’er had, in the hurricane, more or less saved each other’s lives, so they were still fairly polite to one another.
He raised his head and looked down at the two members of the King’s Organization opposite him. Fang Shiming showed no surprise at the changes in the surrounding environment. There was not the slightest fluctuation of emotion in his eyes, and no trace of feeling could be seen.
A faint, almost imperceptible corpse stench spread through this empty apartment hall. Silence extended outward. The air seemed to congeal, so oppressive it made it hard to breathe.
Finally, the person codenamed Landlord could no longer hold back.
“Move. He’s stalling for time. That woman isn’t right.”
As soon as the words fell—
Bang! Bang, bang, bang!
Above everyone’s heads, countless room doors suddenly opened, as if some terrifying medium had been triggered. From left to right, they opened one after another like a string of firecrackers going off.
Along with the opening of the doors, the apartment walls fell to the ground piece by piece like human skin, oozing black blood.
The corpse stench in the air grew even stronger.
Immediately after, the heavy sound of countless iron chains dragging across the floor came from the rooms overhead. Ghosts were invading this place through the rooms of this apartment building.