The chattering crowd quickly dispersed as the police sternly cleared everyone away. When Hu Jiu arrived, he happened to spot someone who looked a little familiar—Qian Ying.
Qian Ying saw Hu Jiu too. Delight flashed across his face, and he hurried over. "Mr. Hu, you're finally here."
Qian Ying would not normally have been present on an occasion like this, but circumstances had taken an unexpected turn. Most of his superiors and leaders were dead, and he had been temporarily reassigned.
The tragedy that had unfolded in Linjiang City today was still vivid in Qian Ying's mind. He was extremely wary of people like ghost tamers, but he let none of it show. Life was a stage—who wasn't an actor?
After exchanging a few polite words, Hu Jiu instructed him, "Leave the supernatural incident to me. You just need to stand guard outside. Whatever you do, don't go in recklessly. Take care and don't add to the pointless casualties."
"All right!" Qian Ying agreed without hesitation. He hadn't expected Hu Jiu to be so considerate. Who would willingly risk his life for no reason? His impression of ghost tamers improved a little. Perhaps not every ghost tamer was so cruel and heartless.
But Hu Jiu was only paying lip service. He stepped inside the cordon, immediately used the Mirage Ghost to conceal himself, then found a secluded corner and sat down to scroll through his phone.
If he did his utmost, he really could contain this ghost. After all, he still had the Ghost Book as a trump card. But it wasn't worth it. It really wasn't.
Humanity divided itself into countless groups of all sizes according to region, race, skin color, bloodline, customs, and so on, then ranked people according to how close or distant they were. Most conflicts and disputes arose from this. Hu Jiu was thoroughly sick of it, so he kept only one fundamental distinction—himself, and everything other than himself.
He couldn't be bothered to waste his thoughts on unimportant people or matters.
Liu Mingguang had quite a few good things on hand and could probably hold out a while longer, so Hu Jiu waited outside. No matter how the situation changed, he had a way out. As far as anyone knew, he was just a rookie ghost tamer, so no one could fault him for failing to resolve such a high-level supernatural incident.
An unknown amount of time passed. Suddenly, some unknown change occurred in the ghost domain before him, and it slowly dissipated like a receding tide.
Hu Jiu stood up in confusion. What happened? Did that ghost leave?
He cautiously entered the area that had been shrouded by the ghost domain. The surroundings hadn't changed at all. The ghost domain really had dissipated, and everything inside it was now exposed.
Mutilated corpses lay scattered across the ground, their flesh a mangled mess as if corroded by acid. The ground was pitted and uneven, with some hollows filled with foul-smelling blood. It was like a painting of an asura purgatory.
The darkness ghost domain had expanded and caught quite a few ordinary people in its wake. Ignoring the rotting corpses, Hu Jiu hurried toward Liu Mingguang's mansion.
As soon as he approached, Hu Jiu found that Liu Mingguang's home looked as though it had been left unoccupied and untended for more than a decade. Signs of neglect were everywhere, and the furniture had rotted beyond recognition. It wasn't just this one place; everything within the ghost domain had decayed to a greater or lesser degree.
"He's gone." Hu Jiu looked around. He didn't see Liu Mingguang, nor did he smell his distinctive, eerie fragrance. Could that bastard still be alive?
He's really damn hard to kill~
Hu Jiu continued looking around. Every now and then, he saw a few panicked survivors running about without regard for where they were going. Fortunately, the darkness had receded, and some people quickly realized they had survived the ordeal and ran out, thrilled and excited.
The police outside soon saw what was happening and rushed in at once to deal with the aftermath.
Hu Jiu also came out, sleazily putting on an act of utter exhaustion. Qian Ying approached him and said with heartfelt gratitude, "Mr. Hu, thank you so much for stepping in to help!"
From Qian Ying's perspective, the ghost domain had disappeared only after Hu Jiu entered it, so it had to be thanks to him.
Hu Jiu didn't deny Qian Ying's praise. First, he had secretly caused a disaster, then stepped forward as a hero to save people from suffering, becoming their savior. It was such a hackneyed formula, used by the protagonists of many novels and movies. Their shamelessness was so great that even a scumbag like Hu Jiu felt a rare trace of shame.
But he was ashamed and enjoying it~
He dialed the satellite phone, letting just the right amount of regret and anger enter his voice. "That ghost was too powerful. Even after giving it my all, I could only drive it back temporarily. I couldn't contain it in one go. If another ghost tamer had been there to help me, we definitely could have confined it. By the way, after all that time, why didn't the reinforcements from headquarters arrive in time? Do you know how serious the consequences could be if that ghost is left to roam free?"
It was the familiar tactic of seizing the initiative and turning the accusation around. Upon hearing this, Lin Guangning also felt that headquarters was in the wrong. His confidence weakened at once, and he offered a polite explanation.
Headquarters had indeed paid a price to enlist a powerful ghost tamer, but Hu Jiu wasn't the only one who knew how to stall for time. That ghost tamer was still on the way, and now there was no need for him to come.
Hu Jiu accepted the explanation and pontificated a little from the moral high ground. Lin Guangning listened patiently, then, once Hu Jiu had spoken to his heart's content, politely steered the conversation back on track. "Please describe the ghost in detail and give it a code name based on its abilities."
"The ghost responsible for this incident is tentatively rated B. It looks like the mummified corpse of an elderly woman. It can move silently and carries a corrosive liquid. Any person or object that comes into contact with the liquid will decay. The ghost domain is pitch-black, with extremely low visibility. It's suspected of having a compound killing pattern, but its specific abilities are unknown. I haven't thought of a code name yet." This time, Hu Jiu didn't exaggerate or falsify anything. The ghost hadn't been confined by him, and if someone else encountered it later, his lies would be easily exposed.
"Another B-grade ghost!" Lin Guangning was shocked and blurted out, "Then how did you deal with it?"
In theory, an operator shouldn't ask such a question. Many ghost tamers had secrets and trump cards they were unwilling to reveal, and prying into them would only create needless friction between headquarters and the ghost tamers.
Lin Guangning regretted the question as soon as it left his mouth and immediately added, "If it concerns your privacy, you can refuse to answer."
"It's not really private. I just risked my life, that's all. The ghost inside me nearly revived, but this little sacrifice was nothing compared to resolving a supernatural incident that threatened the people. Unfortunately, I'm in terrible shape right now and won't be able to act again for a while..." Hu Jiu gave a vague answer to make himself look good. He didn't know how the ghost had disappeared either. Liu Mingguang had probably done something.
Even if Liu Mingguang wasn't dead, he was probably gravely injured. Where exactly was he now?