Chapter 144: Unexpected Backup Plan
Just as Zhang Qian in the blood pool was about to take his final step, the always calm room suddenly underwent a change.
On the wall directly above the wooden bed, an old picture frame suddenly tilted, with only a rope stubbornly hanging on the nail, swaying left and right as if it would fall at any moment.
Perhaps because the time was too long, the glass embedded in the picture frame had long disappeared, and a piece of dark brown blueprint was thus exposed in the air, swaying along with the actions of the picture frame.
Without other interference, it was estimated that it would take quite some time for the picture frame to be completely destroyed.
However, at this moment, an invisible breeze suddenly blew through.
The old blueprint was lifted at one corner by this wind, silently detaching from inside the picture frame.
This blueprint did not fall directly onto the bed, but instead floated unsteadily, as if dancing randomly in the air.
Although the blueprint’s movement trajectory had no pattern, its distance from Zhang Qian was constantly closing, seemingly intentionally or unintentionally approaching this corpse.
Not only that, the blueprint’s drifting speed was much faster than it appeared. Clearly, the time it detached was later than the time the reflection lifted its foot, yet it hovered above Zhang Qian before the reflection’s foot landed.
The blueprint quietly floated down, covering the corpse’s pale face.
Yet the room showed no change, as if this was really just an old blueprint with no other supernatural aspects.
The figure’s action did not stop because of this, and the already lifted foot stepped forward.
“Patter.”
The next moment, a footstep sounded.
Small splashes of blood flew up, strangely, the source of the sound was still within the blood pool.
Moreover, this footstep not only did not move away from Zhang Qian’s corpse, but was even closer than the previous footstep, as if the figure had retreated a step.
Following the circles of ripples downward, that figure resembling Zhang Qian had indeed retreated, looking toward the water surface as if it had noticed something.
At some point, a piece of dark brown paper also appeared in the blood pool, covering the ferocious fierce ghost mask, stuck firmly to its face like it was coated with glue.
Clearly, it only needed to lift a hand to tear off the blueprint, yet the figure did not do so, instead stepping forward regardless.
However, the existence of the blueprint seemed to affect the figure’s perception. Despite the figure continuously attempting to advance, it only circled in place, unable to leave the blood pool’s range.
But this alone was not enough. Although the blueprint could temporarily hold back the fierce ghost, the fierce ghost was also progressing with the passage of time.
The most obvious was that the image in the blood pool had become blurry, like strange mist drifting from nowhere, about to devour the figure along with the blueprint.
Numerous tiny ripples suddenly appeared on the water surface, reflections of incomplete ghost hands quietly emerged. Although they were only weak subordinate bodies, they were still part of the supernatural power.
This fierce ghost seemed not only to want to resemble it divinely, but was also gradually stealing the supernatural power within Zhang Qian’s body. Once it seized most of the fierce ghost’s abilities, getting rid of the blueprint would be a casual matter.
Fortunately, there was still a turn in events.
These supernatural powers only appeared but did not directly attack the blueprint or the figure, as if two entities were vying for control over them, making them unable to execute two different commands at once.
In the end, the ghost hands were the first to act.
Some palms leaped up like jumping spiders, heading straight for the blueprint on Zhang Qian’s face.
Other palms did not stop their actions, instead constantly wandering in the blood pool, as if searching for something.
Pale palms landed on the figure’s face, squeezing above the mask and constantly tearing.
Although their strength was not too great, they couldn’t be resisted due to their sheer numbers, and moreover, most of the blueprint’s own supernatural power had dissipated, so both sides actually reached a brief stalemate.
The blueprint, made of unknown material, had deformed somewhat under the pulling, yet still clung tightly to the figure’s face, refusing to yield even a bit.
Unless there were other variables, even when Zhang Qian’s corpse rotted, these two fierce ghosts probably wouldn’t decide a winner.
However, the fierce ghost would not retreat because of this, only mechanically persisting.
More and more ghost hands climbed up along the figure’s trouser legs, wrapping its entire head along with the blueprint like wrapping zongzi.
The blueprint seemed somewhat annoyed by this, shaking lightly, causing a large pile of palms to fall into the water surface, turning into ripples and disappearing.
But the number of ghost hands was endless; even temporarily clearing them was just a drop in the bucket.
The next moment, more than a dozen ghost hands leaped up simultaneously to fill the previous gaps.
But just as they were about to touch the blueprint, the blueprint suddenly shook, lightly lifting one corner, exposing the forehead of the fierce ghost mask.
One ghost hand landed precisely on it, gently slapping the center of the ghost mask with one palm.
Such an attack wouldn’t even affect the weakest fierce ghost, let alone this existence resembling Zhang Qian, comparable to four fused fierce ghosts.
But this attack surprisingly worked.
As the ghost hand fell, the figure suddenly stopped moving, hands hanging low, standingDumb in place.
That old blueprint had left the figure’s face, replaced by a rectangular piece of paper, very neatly shaped, looking just like an envelope.
Perhaps even Zhang Qian himself sometimes couldn’t remember that he had once used an envelope as an ingredient when devouring a ghost hand.
But this supernatural power with the lowest presence played the most important role today.
However, the surface of the envelope should have been smooth, but now it was crookedly written with a black notebook in several large characters. The handwriting was very ugly, only roughly readable—”To Zhang Qian”.
The reflection that had just been rampaging suddenly stalled, like a crashed computer or a zombie affixed with a yellow talisman, no longer making any movements.
After a long time, the figure seemed summoned, stiffly retreating backward, stepping through huge splashes, step by step returning to the position of the corpse.
As the figure’s distance from Zhang Qian grew closer, the features belonging to Zhang Qian on its body also slowly dissipated.
First
Until the end, the entire figure was left with only a blurry shadow, no longer showing any unusual features.
“Pa……”
The last splash of water bloomed in front of Zhang Qian. The figure’s form suddenly halted, then scattered along with this sound of footsteps, transforming into a stream of black and white qi that drifted back into Zhang Qian’s body.
The surrounding blood suddenly began to disappear, as if it was absorbed by the carpet. In just the blink of an eye, not a trace of its existence could be found.
But Zhang Qian’s skin gradually gained color, and after a long time, his heart thudded heavily but powerfully once.
