In the eerie and sinister Haunted House, a woman's corpse lies on the living room floor—the remains of a woman named "Ning Yun."
Her entire body was tattered, especially her head, but now, Hu Jiu was meticulously repainting her, like Painted Skin, giving her beauty and life anew.
Hu Jiu implanted some of his power into Ning Yun's body. Like He Ming, she was an important pawn. However, Ning Yun's brain was severely damaged, and it was unknown whether her consciousness would be affected after she woke up.
If her consciousness is impaired, then the only option is for her to feign amnesia.
Hu Jiu considered it in his mind and felt that his idea should be fine.
A chilling wind swept through the Silence, haunted Haunted House, and the corpse, already showing signs of decay, slowly opened its eyes.
Buzz--
The Satellite Phone suddenly rang.
"Xiao Mei, what's up?" Hu Jiu answered the phone.
"Headquarters has an exploration mission with many benefits. Are you interested in participating?" Xiao Mei asked.
"An exploration mission? Tell me more about it," Hu Jiu asked rhetorically.
Xiao Mei explained, "Exploration missions involve freely exploring Supernatural places. All the rewards go to the Ghost Tamer who participate in the missions. Headquarters only needs the Ghost Tamer to gather as much information about the Supernatural places as possible during their explorations."
"This exploration mission involves a tomb, codenamed [Ghostly Ancient Tomb]. This tomb is mobile; its location changes periodically, sometimes overlapping with a random tomb. It possesses other tombs like a ghost, taking a portion of the tomb with it when it leaves. Recently, Headquarters has detected signs of the Ghostly Ancient Tomb's presence."
Hearing this, Hu Jiu frowned. The exploration mission sounded good, with all the benefits going to the explorer, but in reality, it meant that the Ghost Tamer were risking their lives to explore and obtain information about unknown Supernatural places.
Xiao Mei continued describing the benefits of the exploration mission: "[The Ghostly Ancient Tomb] is a treasure trove. Ghost Tamer participate in the mission usually gain something. Of course, there are risks involved, but since it involves the Supernatural, it's impossible to be completely risk-free. Some of the high-level Supernatural Items at Headquarters were brought out from the tomb."
"[The Ghostly Ancient Tomb] not only appears within China, but its range encompasses all tombs worldwide. Once its traces are discovered within China, Headquarters will organize a group of Ghost Tamers to explore it. New Ghost Tamers will not receive any invitations; only Ghost Tamer have made sufficient contributions will be given this opportunity by Headquarters."
If you'd like to participate, you can register now.
Hu Jiu thought for a moment and asked, "Do you have detailed information about that ancient tomb? When do we set off?"
Xiao Mei replied, "The date is set for seven days from now. I'll send you the information right away. Are you sure you want to participate?"
Hu Jiu only said, "Let me look at the information first; I need to think about it carefully."
Xiao Mei: "Okay, no problem."
The call ended.
Hu Jiu carefully read the file sent by Xiao Mei. The female corpse on the ground had stood up and was constantly moving her stiff and cold limbs. Her beautiful face was expressionless, which was somewhat like the uncanny valley effect.
Hu Jiu glanced at Ning Yun, then at the location where the [Ghostly Ancient Tomb] had appeared, and raised his eyebrows slightly.
"I almost forgot you're Hou Qingxu's fiancée, what a coincidence..."
Day and night alternate, and time slowly passes.
In Capital, police are working overtime.
"Tell me first, where did you find these videos on your phone?" Officer Zhang said, tapping his fingers on the table as he flipped through the files in his hand.
"A sanitation worker found it in a trash can. She saw that the phone was new and a brand name, so she took it home for her child. The child was very sensible; after seeing the video on the phone, the child immediately called the police," Officer Xiao Zhao replied respectfully. He admired his superior, who, despite his age, was still frequently on the front lines, his eyes bloodshot and his face exhausted.
Officer Zhang rubbed his temples. "What are your thoughts after watching that video?"
This stumped Xiao Zhao, as it was a question that had been nagging at him. How could he know? The disappearance of the eldest daughter of the Ning Family was already bizarre, and now it was beyond the comprehension of ordinary people.
"To be honest... I have some doubts about the footage in the video and need to check if it's been digitally manipulated."
"The technical team has already investigated, and we'll have results soon." Officer Zhang picked up his cup; the water had gone cold, but he still drank half of it in one gulp to quench his dry throat, and continued, "If the footage in the video is real, then what does that mean?"
Xiao Zhao lowered his head and pondered for a few seconds. "Could it be that the criminal is deliberately creating a diversion, intentionally leading the police's attention in the wrong direction?"
"Unnecessary," Officer Zhang said, stroking his stubble. "After investigating this case for so long, we still can't even determine who the suspect is. We previously thought Ning Yun might already be dead. If it were a kidnapping, the kidnappers would have demanded the ransom long ago; they wouldn't have delayed this long."
"At first, we treated this case as an ordinary one, but now it seems that it might not be as we thought," Xiao Zhao said cautiously.
Ning Yun's disappearance, in theory, is not a particularly serious case. However, due to constant pressure from higher-ups, after receiving the report, Officer Zhang mobilized his main team to investigate, but they still couldn't find many useful clues.
It wasn't until they accidentally obtained the phone that a short video appeared on it. The video seemed to show Ning Yun being dragged underground by a dark, shadowy monster, and in her panic, she recorded her ordeal.
The video looked quite realistic at first glance. Officer Zhang was also a bit dumbfounded after taking over the case. The police are good at investigating and interrogating all kinds of criminal cases. Things like demons and ghosts are not under their jurisdiction and need to be transferred to another department.
Given the current domestic situation, there is a severe shortage of Ghost Tamer can handle Supernatural events. To avoid wasting human resources, the procedure for verifying whether a case is Supernatural event is very strict. Moreover, only Ning Yun has gone missing. Even if it is confirmed to be Supernatural event, such a small-scale event may be piling up for a long time before it is dealt with.
Officer Zhang was responsible for the victim, but also had to withstand pressure from those above him, so he had no choice but to grit his teeth and continue the investigation.
"Team Leader Zhang..." At that moment, a voice suddenly came from outside the door.
"What's going on? Why are you shouting like that?" Hearing the voice, Xiao Zhao knew it was a colleague from the Technical Department, a newcomer who had just joined the company. He was full of energy and enthusiasm. Xiao Zhao had heard that he had a loud voice, but he didn't expect him to be this noisy.