Chapter 260: Casual Chat
The black thin thread floated swayingly in mid-air, seemingly penetrating the tall bookshelf like some invisible thing, pointing straight to a certain place.
Yue Linhai casually clipped the pen back into the book and strode in the direction the thin thread pointed.
“What is this thing?” Zhang Qian hurriedly followed, while curiously examining the line formed by the ink.
This thing did look somewhat miraculous, thin like smoke, and as the pen’s position changed, the pointed direction also changed accordingly.
It could be confirmed as some kind of supernatural power, but Zhang Qian had never seen such an obedient fierce ghost before; even supernatural items mostly had killing as their main function, and items specifically for finding things were rare.
Following the direction the thin thread pointed, Yue Linhai turned another corner before explaining, “This pen is actually a fierce ghost. Its attack pattern is roughly to write down a person’s name, then clearly think of the target you need to kill, and it can launch an attack.”
“Curse killing?” Zhang Qian said in surprise.
This method was similar to some immortal family techniques recorded, and it sounded much stronger than ordinary ghost controllers.
Yue Linhai didn’t turn his head, casually saying, “You can call it that if you want; this thing doesn’t have a specific name anyway, up to you.”
Zhang Qian frowned, puzzled, “But if it’s curse killing, what does that have to do with its function of finding things? We’re going to find the book representing the deck now; it can’t possibly kill a book, right?”
“Supernatural power doesn’t have to act on living things. Think about it: besides killing, can’t you use supernatural power to destroy lifeless objects?” Yue Linhai asked in return.
It seemed that was indeed the case. Ghost Hand aside, even a fierce ghost like Ghost Mask that required direct eye contact to attack could still destroy the equipment filming it.
In the end, anything that triggered the pattern could become an attack target.
Fierce ghosts generally only passively attacked things that triggered the target, which led Zhang Qian to have the impression that they wouldn’t attack dead objects.
Unlike ghost controllers, who could proactively meet attack conditions for dead objects if they wanted, such as limb contact or certain specific actions.
Zhang Qian turned his gaze to the thin thread, feeling a faint cold aura emanating from it, “So this thread is actually the manifestation of the supernatural power in the pen? Then will it destroy the book we’re looking for?”
Although dead objects had no life, prolonged contact with the supernatural would still cause corrosion.
Ordinary things might rot the moment they touched supernatural aura, while man-made supernatural items could last a bit longer. The only thing probably unaffected by the supernatural was gold.
Thinking this way, gold really was somewhat unique; even fierce ghosts could be influenced by the supernatural, but only this “unremarkable” substance could block the spread of the supernatural.
Could it be that using gold as currency in the past had this reason too?
Yue Linhai, walking ahead, turned another corner at this time and casually answered Zhang Qian’s doubt, “It is indeed supernatural power, but this power is very weak, and that book is also special, so no need to worry about that.”
“After all, when the captain designed this library, he must have considered this problem, and it was surely tested before he felt safe using it.”
In fact, the supernatural strength of that pen wasn’t high to begin with, and under the ghost ship’s suppression, even resurgence was a challenge; it would probably take effort just to kill an ordinary person.
And those books representing different areas were actually part of the ghost ship, far beyond what this bit of power could destroy.
“I see…”
Seeing there was still some distance to go, Zhang Qian casually chatted with Yue Linhai, “How did people in your era know that gold has a miraculous effect on the supernatural? Was it discovered by someone through research?”
“Hard to say.”
Yue Linhai searched his memory and found his father had no conclusion on this, so he could only deduce based on those memories,
“Actually, by the time my father became a ghost controller, there were already rumors in the circle about gold’s unique effects. Later, when he grew stronger and wanted to find the discoverer, he couldn’t.”
“That period was too ancient; hard to say if it was experience passed down from predecessors or some lucky person discovering the pattern by accident. But it’s certain that humanity’s use of gold has a much longer history than you imagine, with clear records in many ancient texts.”
The phrase “gold and jade splendor” might not be exaggeration, but the most plain description.
Perhaps ancient rulers really lived in palaces built of gold; after all, modern rich people could build themselves a safe house, let alone those autocrats of the past.
“Is that so…” Zhang Qian smiled thoughtfully, “Someone told me back then that gold’s function was discovered by someone in this generation; I thought our generation finally had achievements surpassing the predecessors.”
But thinking carefully, maybe Wang Xiaoming really discovered the pattern himself.
The ghost controllers who survived the previous era seemed like autistics, not keen on communicating with the outside world, and Wang Xiaoming had a researching personality; after capturing a fierce ghost, he would definitely find ways to suppress it.
Maybe in some warehouse at headquarters, there were still piles of materials he used for testing?
Yue Linhai glanced lightly at Zhang Qian, slightly curling his lips, “You’ve met the previous generation too; their achievements weren’t just in strength—building supernatural lands, crafting supernatural items, exploring various supernatural information…”
As he spoke, he couldn’t help sighing, “Even just witnessing those events and people as a bystander, I could still feel the glory of that era. Hard to imagine such an era would come to an end…”
From his perspective, it was hard to understand why many who had ways to survive chose death willingly, and why many destined to die chose to sacrifice.
Humans are so strange.
“Indeed hard to imagine…” Zhang Qian also felt some emotion for a moment.
“The ghost controllers of the Republic of China Era seemed to forcibly suppress the world’s supernatural, with no fierce ghost rumors for over a hundred years. But human power has limits; they’re probably aging now, without extra energy to suppress these fierce ghosts…”
Not to mention others, even someone as strong as Old Luo was approaching the end of his life.
