Chapter 5: The Flooded Forum
Zhang Qian came out of the hospital feeling a bit lost. Where should he go now?
Going home didn’t seem quite right. After all, in his parents’ eyes, he should be staying in the mental hospital. “Should I tell Mom that the mental hospital is haunted?”
Zhang Qian, feeling this plan wasn’t very reliable, took out his mobile phone, studied it for a moment, and dialed the only number listed.
“Hello, Comrade Zhang Qian, this is Operator Yao Jin. How can I help you?” A gentle voice came from the other end of the phone.
“I want to know what to do about my identity issue.” Zhang Qian tugged at his patient uniform, always feeling that passersby were looking at him strangely.
After all, his clothes were still printed with “Flower Market Third Mental Hospital” in big letters, and with him carrying a big box in one hand and holding a mobile phone in the other, it was hard to convince anyone he was normal.
“Please wait a moment.” Yao Jin temporarily muted the microphone and pressed the call button. “Director Zhao, I have some issues here that need your approval.”
In the operator room, a middle-aged man in uniform walked up to her. “What’s wrong?”
Yao Jin concisely stated Zhang Qian’s problem. Zhao Jianguo took out his mobile phone, checked the records, and said, “Tell him not to worry. Headquarters has already updated his file.”
The Ghost Controller Headquarters now holds great power. Other departments basically fully cooperate on supernatural events.
“Okay.” Yao Jin unmuted the microphone. “Comrade Zhang Qian, your mental illness record has been cleared. Do you need us to inform your parents that it was a misdiagnosis?”
“No need, I’ll tell them myself.”
“Alright, is there anything else I can help you with?”
“No, goodbye.”
“Goodbye.” Yao Jin let out a long breath only after Zhang Qian hung up. Dealing with these ghost controllers was indeed very stressful, since she didn’t even know if they still counted as human.
The operator sitting next to her had just finished handling a call, stretched lazily, and sighed, “These ghost controllers have way too many issues. All kinds of people.”
“Xiaoyu, don’t say that.” Yao Jin didn’t agree with her view. “Since they can cooperate with headquarters, it means they’re not criminals. They’re just influenced in their minds by fierce ghosts. If possible, who wouldn’t want to be an ordinary person?”
“Got it~ Yao Jin beauty.” Liu Xiaoyu checked the time. “Shift change soon. Wanna go eat hotpot later?”
“We’ll talk after work. I’ve got another call coming in.”
Meanwhile, Zhang Qian had already changed into a new outfit in a clothing store, took off the patient uniform, and turned back into an 18-year-old handsome guy.
Although the shop assistant’s eyes were a bit strange at first, she was very enthusiastic when Zhang Qian paid.
After confirming nothing was missed, he took a taxi home, arriving just in time for mealtime, so he could have lunch at home.
“Bang bang bang—”
“Bang bang bang—”
“Mom, I’m back!” Zhang Qian knocked for a while and shouted loudly, “Come open the door quick!”
“Oh, it’s you, Zhang Qian. Stop knocking.” The neighbor from next door poked his head out. “Your parents moved away a long time ago. Didn’t they tell you?”
“Uh…” Zhang Qian felt a bit awkward. “I just got back from a trip. I really didn’t know.”
Zhang Qian took the spare key from under the carpet, twisted the door lock, and went inside.
He opened the bedroom curtains, took off his jacket, but saw a yellow envelope slip out of the jacket pocket and drop to the floor with a thud.
“What the heck?” Zhang Qian picked up the envelope and examined it closely. The icy touch felt like grabbing a handful of ice cubes.
“When did this appear…” Zhang Qian remembered checking when he bought the clothes; there was nothing in the pocket then.
And this touch didn’t feel like a normal item at all. It was more like yin energy?
“Supernatural event?” After hesitating for a moment, Zhang Qian decisively opened the golden box and stuffed the letter inside. “Playing tricks, huh? I’ll imprison you for three days first.”
Then he rummaged through the cabinet and finally found an English-Chinese dictionary. Opening the dictionary, a smartphone was hidden in a hollow in the pages. After plugging in the charger, the phone still worked normally.
“It can still turn on.” This was the backup phone Zhang Qian bought in high school. After he was banned from the internet, he mainly used this phone to look up cultivation knowledge. Although the info online wasn’t very accurate, it still gave him quite a few ideas.
He connected to WiFi, topped up a few hundred yuan on the SIM card, first reported to his family that he was safe, and spent some effort explaining that he really wasn’t sick—it was just a misdiagnosis by the doctor.
Then he opened the computer, entered the URL given by Li Jun, went through several redirects, and entered a forum with a black background. He found an interesting post.
《Officially Recognized Most Terrifying Fierce Ghosts Ranking, Come Argue If You Disagree》
1. Ghost Call
2. White Night
3. Rainy Night Butcher
…..
Zhang Qian skimmed through it roughly. The post owner had ranked over a hundred ghosts. Although no specific abilities were listed, if it wasn’t made up, it showed quite a bit of knowledge.
The comments below were already lively.
“Day-old post, +3.”
“What garbage ranking? My big foot basin’s ghost temple is the strongest!”
“Lol, little marble country hasn’t seen the world. Next time I’ll bring the ghost grave over to broaden your horizons.”
“Count me in. I’ll directly send a Yellow Springs Road guide to give foot basin chicken some warmth.”
“OP, I’m an official ghost controller from Greater Korea. We now suspect you stole our information. Hope you’ll organize it and send a complete copy to me.”
“Can’t tell if the guy above is trolling.”
“Anyone wanna sell fierce ghosts? We offer higher prices than official, offline transactions, safe and guaranteed.”
“Boss knows business. I brought one ghost when I went, boss took two when he left.”
“Bzzz—” Just as Zhang Qian was reading enthusiastically, his mobile phone suddenly received a text message.
“Hello Zhang Qian, this is our official information database. You can query fierce ghost related info inside, or upload fierce ghost info to exchange for rewards.” —Sender: Operator Director Zhao Jianguo
“Sure enough, every country still keeps secrets.” Now Zhang Qian knew why this forum was full of nonsense posts—everyone had their own turf and only came to the forum to brag when bored.
After entering the domain and account given by Zhao Jianguo, Zhang Qian logged into the information database and searched for info that interested him.
You can’t post casually here; all information needs review before publishing. It seemed much more formal.
One piece of information had its title bolded and enlarged, firmly occupying the center of the homepage.
《Newcomer Must-Know!!!》
1. Ghosts cannot be killed, only imprisoned.
2. Only ghosts can fight ghosts. Other weapons, even nuclear ones, are ineffective.
3. Discern the ghosts’ patterns. Ghosts have their own killing patterns. As long as you can discern their patterns, you can survive or even imprison fierce ghosts at the smallest price.
