Chapter 74: Departure
The anomaly in the painting was confined to the small room, and no third person knew about it.
Zhang Qian and Jiang Dan had already left the hall and returned to that courtyard-shaped area.
“Seven Rooms, Room 11 is relatively close. How about we start from here?” Zhang Qian suggested.
“Good.” Jiang Dan naturally had no objection; she wasn’t interested in these things anyway.
With a creak, the doorway opened accordingly.
At a glance, this room actually seemed somewhat familiar.
“Two rooms are so similar. I don’t know if it’s an exception or some pattern. Could it be like the hotel, where all rooms are identical?” Zhang Qian was a bit curious.
Although the light was dim and yellowish, it showed no sign of flickering or going out.
This meant that this room was also protected by the post office’s power, and it wouldn’t be attacked unless the light went out.
So there was nothing to worry about.
He stepped into the room, planning to look for clues.
The room was very small, and in less than half a minute, Zhang Qian had already surveyed the overall layout.
Like the previous Room 3, it consisted of a living room, a restroom, and a bedroom.
Not only that, even the furniture looked the same as in the previous room.
After circling around, he found nothing more, so he took Jiang Dan to other rooms.
12, 14, 15…
Before long, they had checked all the rooms.
Without exception, all the rooms seemed carved from the same mold, with identical layouts and furniture.
Moreover, the rooms were all very tidy, but Zhang Qian always felt a sense of strangeness.
It was as if those rooms had never been lived in by anyone…
One or two rooms could be explained, but it was strange that all rooms had no traces.
Zhang Qian specifically checked those hidden corners and surprisingly found no things left by other messengers.
Even if the entire first floor could only accommodate five people, previous messengers should have left some personal items.
“I originally wanted to look for clues like a notebook, but now it seems impossible.” Zhang Qian sighed helplessly.
Behind him, Jiang Dan was somewhat out of breath. “Did you find what you wanted?”
The amount of exercise this morning was more than she usually did in a week, and her stamina was already failing.
“Your physical condition is quite good.” Zhang Qian glanced at Jiang Dan and noticed that sweat was faintly beading on her forehead.
Although she looked very weak, for a ghost controller, it was a good sign, indicating that Jiang Dan was still far from fierce ghost revival.
Because the closer a ghost controller gets to revival, the closer their body becomes to that of a fierce ghost, and they generally won’t experience physical exhaustion.
Jiang Dan only thought Zhang Qian was mocking her and said helplessly, “I’m really tired… I rarely exercise usually.”
Zhang Qian checked his mobile phone; less than twenty minutes had passed.
However, there really were no clues here, so it was better to go out and check the delivery addresses first.
Moreover, Jiang Dan was here to help, so it was better to consider others’ feelings; otherwise, it wouldn’t be so easy to ask for help next time.
“Then let’s call it a day.” Zhang Qian suggested.
Hearing this, Jiang Dan’s eyes lit up, and she then realized Zhang Qian might be accommodating her.
She said a bit embarrassed, “I’m actually fine; no need to worry too much about me. Did you find what you were looking for? Will leaving like this disrupt your original plan?”
Although she really wanted to go home, Jiang Dan instinctively acted tough, not wanting to leave a bad impression on her new friend.
“I’ve seen all the places that needed seeing; staying longer has no meaning. Now it seems the fastest way is to find previous messengers for information. It may not be accurate, but it can provide a direction, at least avoiding blindly relying on luck like a headless fly.”
“And the first floor is all newcomers; truly secret information probably needs to be obtained from higher floors.”
After all, the first floor was filled with ordinary people randomly pulled into the ghost post office; only those who had gone through multiple tasks and survived could be considered true messengers.
Of course, those who clung to others’ legs to win without effort didn’t count.
“I see… So are we leaving now?” Jiang Dan asked.
“Right away, just one small thing.”
Zhang Qian walked to the front of Room 103, entered the room, and casually circled around.
Then he left some marks in a few hidden places: small paper balls and gold bullet casings.
“Previous traces must have been cleared; otherwise, the rooms wouldn’t be so clean. I don’t know if it was the cleaning staff or supernatural power?”
He just needed to check these marks next time he entered the post office. If it was cleaning staff, they wouldn’t easily find these paper balls; if it was supernatural, it couldn’t affect gold.
Moreover, there were items left by others on the table, which could clearly show if the room had been affected.
“Alright, let’s go.”
After confirming nothing was missed, Zhang Qian and Jiang Dan headed to the hall together.
But they didn’t leave directly because Zhang Qian planned to take a painting with him.
And that painting was naturally the reproduction that appeared later; after all, it was the most suspicious, and taking it back for study would work.
“So sturdy…”
Zhang Qian’s hands glowed faintly as the cutting ability from the ghost hand was fully activated.
Yet the true qi that could cut iron like mud was helpless against the mottled picture frame; no matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t pry it off.
It was as if the picture frame and the walls were one integral whole.
Helplessly, Zhang Qian could only abandon the thought and walk out of the post office with some regret.
After he disappeared into the darkness.
A mass of paint suddenly appeared on the post office’s walls.
The strange change didn’t attract the attention of the persons in painting; their senses seemed obscured, unable to detect the changes in the hall.
The paint flowed down the walls from top to bottom, as if controlled by someone, gradually forming a rectangular outline.
The outline gradually became clear, with details continuously added to the image. Moments later, the paint spontaneously painted a lifelike wooden door on the wall.
The spots on the door were clearly visible, and there was even a slightly ajar door crack, as if someone inside wanted to open it.
It wasn’t just as if.
With a creak, the painted doorway was actually pushed open by someone.
Zhang Xiangguang strolled out from the painting leisurely, without any hindrance.
What countless persons in painting dreamed of was achieved so easily, but the faces of the persons in painting in the hall showed no excitement; their eyes remained as numb and ashen as ever.
Their line of sight of the post office hall had been tampered with; now they were just staring blankly at an empty hall.
But Zhang Xiangguang’s focus wasn’t here; he just stood in front of his masterpiece, appreciating it carefully.
“It seems there are some shortcomings.”
