Lizhou City.
The sky was clear and bright, and a gentle breeze blew pleasantly.
Hu Jiu hurried through the bustling crowd, a trace of solemnity flashing across his face.
In his memory, an S-grade paranormal phenomenon was going to break out here tomorrow, and by then the entire city would be reduced to a ghost domain...
Ghosts existed in this world.
Only, unlike the ghosts in folklore, the ghosts here had no wisdom, no humanity, and could not be eliminated, much less gods and Buddhas to suppress Fierce Ghosts.
Ghosts only had killing rules.
Their essence was perhaps the embodiment of certain killing rules. Because they had a slight resemblance to ghosts in traditional stories, they were tentatively called "ghosts."
Humanity's proud high-tech weapons, even nuclear bombs, could not harm Fierce Ghosts in the slightest!
The only thing that could fight a ghost was a ghost!
When ordinary people encountered a ghost, the only way they had a chance to survive was to insight its killing rules and avoid triggering them.
Among them, a fairly low probability would give birth to a fraction of lucky ones who encountered a ghost and did not die, but instead became possessed by the ghost—the so-called "Ghost Tamers."
Ghost Tamers used their bodies as cages to imprison Fierce Ghosts, and could use a portion of the ghosts' power, but they had to pay an extremely heavy price. Each use would cause their body and mind to be eroded by the ghost until death. And the ghost would subsequently break out of the cage, resurrect once more, and wreak havoc among mankind.
In his previous life, Hu Jiu had been a Ghost Tamer and had joined the National Paranormal Phenomena Control Headquarters.
He had harnessed the Ghost Finger, which possessed a very low terrifying degree and a heavily fragmented puzzle. Its resurrection rate was slow, so his lifespan was longer than that of ordinary Ghost Tamers.
Alas, the headquarters was understaffed, and its attitude toward Ghost Tamers in the early days was... indescribable.
However, Hu Jiu ultimately did not die from being excessively exploited by the headquarters and his Fierce Ghost's resurrection; he died of a strange paranormal event.
At that time, the headquarters had already cultivated several powerful and loyal ghost controllers, paranormal events had been effectively contained, and the situation was looking exceptionally good. Yet during a meeting of ghost controllers convened by the headquarters, a paranormal conflict inexplicably erupted, resulting in the deaths of many ghost controllers.
Fortunately, Hu Jiu had been reborn back to the past.
At this moment, he had neither the capital nor the ability to investigate why he had been reborn, nor did he have the time and energy to ponder the cause of death in his past life. As he, this small butterfly, flapped his wings, future changes would inevitably grow larger and larger, so the most important thing right now was to cash in on his rebirth advantage!
In his previous life, a ghost codenamed [Shen] had broken out in Lizhou City, turning the entire city into an illusory scene like a mirage. Like a holographic projection, Ghost Tamers could see the city, but could not make any effective interference with it. For a long time, the headquarters had been helpless against this ghost.
Later on, however, the Mirage Ghost was still harnessed by someone, and the process of harnessing it was simple to an unbelievable degree!
This involved a crucial paranormal item—the Ghost Book!
The essence of Supernatural Items was also ghosts, only bearing the ghost's true body or curse in the form of an item.
Whatever was written in the Ghost Book would become reality. Of course, a price had to be paid.
Coincidentally, the Ghost Book was also in Lizhou City. What was even more coincidental was that the Shen ghost and the Ghost Book had produced some unknown paranormal conflict, and the two had fallen into a fragile equilibrium. Therefore, the Shen ghost only enshrouded this single city and did not move or spread outward.
Most coincidentally of all, a teenager named Chu Shan had accidentally broken into the sealed Lizhou, accidentally discovered the tangled Ghost Book and Mirage Ghost, and then... he had risen to the skies in a single bound, harnessed the Mirage Ghost, reaped the Ghost Book, and leaped from an ordinary person into a top-tier Ghost Tamer.
Logically speaking, Chu Shan's history of making his fortune ought to have been classified information. In reality, however, many ghost controllers in the paranormal circle of his past life knew of this fantastical experience that could be called that of a novel protagonist.
As for how the intelligence was leaked, Hu Jiu was not clear either. Perhaps Chu Shan was young and inexperienced, knowing nothing whatsoever about the paranormal circle when he first became a ghost controller, and had confessed everything to the police uncles himself~
Hu Jiu's goal now was to seize Chu Shan's opportunity.
Although becoming a ghost controller would be accompanied by all sorts of crises, Hu Jiu still decided to embark on this path once more. With paranormal events occurring frequently in the future and their terror levels growing ever higher, a ghost controller could at least struggle a bit, whereas ordinary people could only leave their fates to the heavens.
Besides... the privileges of a Ghost Tamer were simply too sweet!
The revival of paranormal phenomena symbolized that the era where mighty power belonged to oneself had arrived. This was the best time for a reshuffle, and even a beggar on the roadside could become a person above others through ghost control!
High-sounding matters like "saving the world" or "serving the country and the people" were things Hu Jiu had never thought of; everything he did was for himself.
The success rate of ordinary people harnessing Fierce Ghosts was too low, but the Mirage Ghost and the Ghost Book in Lizhou City were like treasures placed at the bottom of a cliff, waiting for a falling novel protagonist to pick up. Missing such good fortune, Hu Jiu would regret it for the rest of his life.
According to the information he had read in his previous life, the mirage had first broken out near the square in the city center. Hu Jiu had been wandering here for a while and had successfully found the Ghost Book.
The material of the Ghost Book was unknown. It was pitch-black all over, with a size identical to a high school textbook. An eyeball was painted on the cover, surrounded by some fierce-looking patterns like protruding blood vessels, inexplicably exuding a weird and gloomy air.
The icy chill upon touching it slightly dispelled the excitement Hu Jiu had felt since his rebirth. He had picked up this book on a public bench by the street, and obtaining the Ghost Book far too easily and coincidentally actually gave him a sense of extreme unreality.
Could I have such good luck?
The eyeball on the cover stared straight at him, the power of the paranormal seemingly naturally able to make people feel fear and unease. Cautiously opening the book, a line of small print on the flyleaf immediately came into view—
[When you know of my existence, I also know of your existence.]
In an instant, a chill surged up his spine, and he harbored a vague guess in his heart about the Ghost Book's rule.
Dazed for a moment, Hu Jiu steadied his mind and suppressed his messy thoughts. This path was a choice after careful consideration by himself. Whether stepping into a conspiracy trap or encountering risks, he ought to bear all the consequences himself. Regretting or making a fuss over nothing would only make him look like a clown.
At this very moment, the curse of the Ghost Book had already entangled him, and the chilling Supernatural power was influencing his cognition. He suddenly developed an urge to immediately pick up a pen and write in the Ghost Book...
Hu Jiu was clear that if he used the Ghost Book unscrupulously, he would probably soon be reduced to a puppet of the Ghost Book. Even if he did not use it once, as long as he held it, he would be gradually eroded.
He needed to harness another ghost to fight the Ghost Book in order to achieve equilibrium. Subconsciously, he wanted to move his pen and write in the Ghost Book: "I will encounter the Mirage Ghost and successfully harness it."
Just as the tip of the pen was a hair's breadth away from landing completely, Hu Jiu suddenly realized a serious problem—[Shen] was a codename humans gave to that Fierce Ghost. The Ghost Book... did it know who the Mirage Ghost was?