Chapter 271: Ghost House
“Ghost Painting?”
When he inadvertently discovered the oil painting on the villa wall while in the Ghost Domain, Jiang Shan’s eyes suddenly contracted sharply; he suddenly thought of a problem he had never paid attention to before.
That was, exactly what Liu San had drawn in—was it the source of the Ghost Painting, or a subordinate painting of the Ghost Painting?
Because Jiang Shan knew that Old Qin was aware of the Ghost Painting’s existence, he assumed that this action to detain the Starving Ghost used the source of the Ghost Painting, after all, Headquarters had always kept records of this ghost’s whereabouts.
Moreover, the person taking action this time was Old Qin; Headquarters had no reason not to take the opportunity of Old Qin’s move to handle these two S-grade Fierce Ghosts.
But the oil painting he saw now stirred a trace of unease in Jiang Shan’s heart:
“If Old Qin believes he has always been using the source Ghost of the Ghost Painting to detain the Starving Ghost, but in reality, he has only been using a subordinate painting to detain the Starving Ghost, just like detaining the Ghost Messenger in the original work..”
“But this isn’t the most important thing; even if the Starving Ghost was successfully detained, the Ghost Painting is now starting to appear within Dajing City, which means this is absolutely deliberate by someone, with the main purpose being a feint.”
“Someone wants to use the Starving Ghost to restrict Old Qin’s actions, use a subordinate painting of the Ghost Painting to deceive everyone, and having the Ghost Painting invade Dajing City is very likely the true goal of that group—quite a sleight of hand.”
The more he thought, the colder Jiang Shan’s gaze became; various coincidences allowed him to discover the weirdness behind all this:
“Zhao Jianguo, whose memory was altered by supernatural influence; or Wang Xiao Ming, Wang Chaling? Or perhaps an idea thought up by Zhang Xiangguang in league with them?”
“One mess after another, a bunch of underground rats making me nauseous; I can’t go to Old Qin anymore, the Starving Ghost and that group of Ghost Wielders’ matters can only be solved by him alone; the top priority now is for me to first go see what’s going on with that Ghost Painting.”
Jiang Shan’s initial plan was very simple; after all, there were only two problems right in front of him.
One was to re-detain the hundreds of Fierce Ghosts that had been released within Dajing City; the other was to assist Old Qin in properly handling the Starving Ghost.
And the solutions to these two events weren’t as difficult as imagined; perhaps this process would cost millions of lives, but they could ultimately be solved without causing even greater disaster.
But now,
If all his earlier guesses were correct, then it meant that those involved in this Dajing City turmoil weren’t just Zhao Jianguo and the people at Headquarters affected by supernatural influence.
There was also Wang Chaling revealed in the Human Skin Paper’s precognition, as well as certain “rats” hiding in the dark who had never shown their faces.
As for why he guessed that this Dajing City chaos also involved the existence of “rats”?
After all, the ordinary people at Headquarters and the current Wang Chaling absolutely could not have swapped the source Ghost of the Ghost Painting for a subordinate painting.
Because they not only lacked that supernatural power, but also any understanding of the Ghost Painting’s supernatural; for ordinary Ghost Wielders to drive the Ghost Painting is fundamentally impossible.
Jiang Shan didn’t hesitate any longer; once the Ghost Painting completely enveloped all of Dajing City, the dual collapse of the capital and Headquarters would have an unimaginable impact on the domestic situation.
“Dajing City might not be salvageable.”
Jiang Shan, exhaling a puff of smoke, looked at the brilliantly lit Dajing City before him and couldn’t help muttering to himself.
The next second,
The “silvery silk” in the sky extended a branch, that “silver thread” spreading madly toward a certain spot in Dajing City at a terrifying speed.
At the same time,
Outside a mansion in the suburbs of Dajing City, Headquarters Ghost Wielder Chen Yi was here.
This was a classical European-style mansion, with interior decorations of utmost luxury; gorgeous crystal chandeliers made the entire hall brightly lit.
But Chen Yi wasn’t here to enjoy himself; he didn’t dare let his guard down at all, because he knew this was a Ghost House where no one could stay for more than twelve hours.
Chen Yi, with a deathly pale face and his whole body emitting a thick rotten stench, didn’t go deep into the house; he just stood solemnly at the entrance.
Gazing at the sky outside, which was normally already lit up but now increasingly dim, his intuition told him that Dajing City had definitely encountered some kind of anomaly.
“Something’s wrong, something’s wrong! I’ve already encountered three Fierce Ghosts along the way—what the hell is going on?!”
Chen Yi, whose Ghost Skin was on the verge of resurrection, looked grimly toward the not-too-distant area that appeared full of water, a wet and soggy street.
That was the Ghost Domain of the most terrifying ghost among the three ghosts he had encountered just a few minutes ago.
And now,
That ghost was still relentlessly pursuing and killing him.
“Damn it, has everyone at Headquarters died out? Not only can’t I get through on the phone, now there’s no signal at all—what a bunch of useless trash!”
Chen Yi, with nowhere left to go, had no choice but to arrive in front of a villa blockaded by Headquarters.
Rather than calling it a villa,
Its true identity was actually a ghost, a C-grade Fierce Ghost, codename—Ghost House.
Whether it was ghosts within Ghost Wielders’ bodies or ghosts thrown in experimentally, the Ghost House could completely suppress Fierce Ghosts in the rooms for twelve hours, putting them into silent state.
But if this time was exceeded, then whether people or ghosts, all would inexplicably disappear from the Ghost House.
Precisely because the Ghost House’s terror level was extremely low, and it had high research value, plus the container needed to detain it was far too large.
So Headquarters merely blockaded the area around it without detaining it.
And this stroke of misfortune had instead become Chen Yi’s last hope now.
Looking at that Ghost Domain still expanding wildly at a visible speed, Chen Yi’s expression grew even more grave.
One must know,
This was the suburbs.
Chen Yi clenched his fists, not knowing where to place them; he had originally been patrolling Dajing City’s daily security while serving as backup personnel preparing to participate in the subsequent Starving Ghost detention action.
But he hadn’t expected to encounter this situation during the patrol.
“No signal on the satellite phone is very abnormal; it’s probably not just a communications issue— so many ghosts appearing out of nowhere in the suburbs means something must have happened to Headquarters and Dajing City.”
Chen Yi didn’t dare think further; he was considering what to do next.
If that ghost stopped attacking him, then staying here forever would lose all meaning.
Buzz~ buzz~ buzz, the satellite phone plugged in Chen Yi’s pocket rang.
He immediately answered it.
“Chen”
A man’s voice hadn’t finished speaking when a piercing static crackle suddenly sounded.
“Oh no!”
At the other end of the phone, Chen Yi, who suddenly sensed something, whipped his head toward the distance.
However, the instant he saw it, he froze in place, staring blankly at a woman who appeared on the path between the trees outside the Ghost House courtyard.
That woman had a blurry face, indistinct and hazy, as if she didn’t exist in this world at all; the world around her was all gray and white.
Not only that.
In the sky,
Paper ash was continuously falling
