"Buzz, buzz, buzz!"
The vibration of an incoming call sounded again and again in the silent room, but no one answered.
An unknown amount of time later, a man in uniform appeared at the doorway carrying a safe. When he saw the broken door and the mess inside, his expression changed drastically. He hurriedly pulled out his phone and reported the situation...
Liu Mingguang became a missing person.
Elsewhere, Hu Jiu returned home with plenty to show for his efforts. Unable to sleep late that night, he briefly took stock of the resources he currently had—
[Mirage Ghost]: copied other fierce ghosts' abilities and created illusions. By covering his entire body with an illusion, he could blend into his surroundings, achieving pseudo-invisibility or disguise;
[Ghost Book]: words written in it became reality;
[Ghost Hand]: its killing rule was "touch." It could use the arms of corpses to produce more ghost hands, and its terror level would gradually rise as the number of people it killed increased;
[Bloodstained White Silk]: could produce large quantities of white silk out of thin air and launch group attacks;
[Looking-Up Ghost]: its killing rule was "looking up";
[Flashlight]: forcibly immobilized fierce ghosts. Its side effects remained to be determined;
Besides those, there were the two ghosts he had newly seized: the one on Liu Mingguang could give off a fragrance that attracted nearby ghosts, though its detailed abilities still needed testing; the other was the ghost Liu Mingguang had intended to release against Hu Jiu, and its abilities were completely unknown.
There was no immediate need to learn the details of those two ghosts. First, he had to figure out the flashlight.
Before that, he opened the Ghost Book and took a look. He had written the sentence [This book will protect its holder, Hu Jiu, from harm to his body and consciousness] twice. The first sentence had vanished completely, and the second had also faded somewhat.
The Ghost Book's protection is continuous, but at this rate of consumption, I won't last long at all. Hu Jiu frowned. He had frequently used the Mirage Ghost's power recently and had copied the supernatural powers of three fierce ghosts. The Mirage Ghost's terror level must have increased, and naturally, the cost of the Ghost Book's protection against its erosion would increase along with it.
He picked up his pen and added another protective rule. The pen tip met heavy resistance, and only after writing for quite a while did he manage to carve the sentence onto the page.
Hu Jiu put down the pen, his expression grave. He had thought he could use the Ghost Book at least twice more, but now it seemed that after this time, he wouldn't be able to use it again.
He had to find a solution as soon as possible!
The Ghost Book was the foundation of his survival. Once it completely failed, he feared it wouldn't be long before the Mirage Ghost turned on him and he died suddenly!
But what on earth should he do? He had no clue about the matter, not even a direction to work toward.
Hu Jiu shut the book in frustration and sighed deeply. Suddenly, he noticed something unusual: the big eyeball on the Ghost Book's cover wasn't darting around as it usually did, but staring fixedly in a certain direction.
Following its gaze, Hu Jiu saw the Eerie Flashlight, which had yet to be placed in the Golden Container.
He experimentally changed their positions, but the eyeball kept staring at the flashlight all the same, as though it desired it greatly.
Hu Jiu froze for a moment, then stuffed the flashlight straight into a sealed Golden Box. The eyeball instantly resumed its random movements, only occasionally lingering on Hu Jiu for a moment longer.
In an instant, a light went on in his head. A flash of inspiration struck him, and as quickly as he could, he took the Ghost Hand, the Bloodstained White Silk, and the Looking-Up Ghost out of the body bags one after another and placed them beside the Ghost Book.
Sure enough, the Ghost Book's gaze also fell on them, but its desire wasn't as intense as when it looked at the flashlight. It seemed less interested in those three ghosts.
A bold idea gradually took shape—
Using the Ghost Book should have come at a certain price. However, Hu Jiu had exploited a loophole to avoid paying it, so the Ghost Book could only consume its own supernatural power to interfere with reality.
People needed to eat when they were hungry. When the Ghost Book had consumed too much, it likewise needed to replenish its supernatural power promptly. Some things it liked, and others it didn't like as much, but if it was starving, it could force itself to eat them to stave off hunger.
At that thought, Hu Jiu couldn't wait to feed the Ghost Book. Just as the flashlight was about to touch it, he suddenly froze in place. He quickly pulled the flashlight back, his expression turning extremely ugly.
That wasn't right!
"The Ghost Book needs to replenish its supernatural power" was only a guess. How could he be so impulsive?
Besides, even if he were going to feed the Ghost Book, he wouldn't sacrifice something as useful as the flashlight!
The Ghost Book influenced me! That was the first thing that occurred to Hu Jiu.
But he had clearly written down the rule to "protect the holder's consciousness." Why had he still been influenced?
Could it be...
He could exploit loopholes to use the Ghost Book, and in turn, the Ghost Book could also look for loopholes in the rules restricting it and exploit them?
[This book will protect its holder, Hu Jiu, from harm to his body and consciousness]. When it didn't have enough energy, it couldn't maintain the protection, so it had no choice but to guide and suggest that its holder feed it promptly?
Did that logic make sense? Hu Jiu's mind was a mess. If that really was the case, it would be a serious matter!
Could the Ghost Book be intelligent?
Suddenly, a strange feeling flashed through his heart and vanished too quickly for him to grasp.
It was as though he had overlooked something. The feeling was like getting up to do something, only to forget what he had intended to do, then scratching his head and being unable to remember no matter how hard he tried.
In novels, movies, and TV shows he had watched before, some protagonists encountered much the same situation: they realized they had overlooked something, or noticed that something was wrong, and then either decided it wasn't important and carelessly set it aside, or were distracted by something else and forgot it entirely. And then, on some future day, they would certainly take a major tumble because of it!
Hu Jiu was determined not to make such a basic mistake!
When he noticed something abnormal, he had to get to the bottom of it immediately. That was especially true when his own safety was involved: he had to nip trouble in the bud, finding and treating it early!
He recalled everything about the Ghost Book bit by bit and thought over every detail again and again. This oversight and forgetfulness might not be normal, but the result of supernatural interference. Even his insistence on getting to the bottom of the Ghost Book at this very moment, his almost obsessive stubbornness, was abnormal too...
He hurriedly shook his head, putting a stop to his jumbled thoughts. He had just inexplicably begun to doubt himself, and that was not a good sign.
Perhaps human will couldn't contend with the supernatural, and he couldn't remember it on his own.
Time quietly passed. In the silent room, a beam of dim purple light flashed.
The Ghost Book was opened, and an unfamiliar line of writing came into view—
[When you know of my existence, I will also know of yours]
The title page!
Who had written that line?
What special effect would writing on the title page have?
Could he write on the cover?
A string of questions he should have carefully considered long ago had only now belatedly arrived!
Hu Jiu hesitated, then picked up his pen...