Although the Ghost Book acted like a mindless parrot, that might have been a disguise.
Of the signals it sent, "hungry" came up most often. After considerable thought, Hu Jiu decided to feed it a ghost.
That might cause an abnormal change in the Ghost Book, but of the two evils, Hu Jiu chose the lesser. He was more afraid that it would grow so hungry that its supernatural power failed, leaving it unable to shelter him.
The unlucky ghost he chose was the Looking-Up Ghost. It had only one ability, with no special effects, and that ability had already been mimicked and copied. It was a resource sitting idle.
The way the Ghost Book "ate" a ghost was simple and brutal. The eye on its cover came into direct contact with the ghost's true form, and the blood-vessel-like protrusions around the eye grew and spread like tentacles. They pierced the ghost, dissolved and devoured it completely, then returned to their original state.
The Looking-Up Ghost was powerless to resist throughout.
Afterward, the Ghost Book stopped stirring and showed no reaction when he met its eye. At the same time, Hu Jiu no longer felt an urgent need to deal with the danger it posed.
He had been influenced after all.
Even using the Ghost Book to shelter his consciousness, Hu Jiu could not guarantee there were no loopholes, or that he would be safe forever. The supernatural... was full of unknown uncertainties to begin with.
As for the two unfamiliar pieces of information the Ghost Book had revealed, he had some guesses but no way to confirm them, so he could only set the matter aside for now.
If he could browse headquarters' database, he might be able to find some relevant clues.
Over the next few days, Hu Jiu began testing the Eerie Flashlight. The test subjects he chose were all loners with few social connections, people whose disappearance would go unnoticed in the short term and whose deaths no one would care about... unlucky saps.
He continued to gather and refine information about the flashlight. For some reason, the Mirage Ghost could copy neither its ability nor the Ghost Book. Could supernatural items not be copied? Or were they so terrifying that the Mirage Ghost needed an incredibly long time to copy them?
What restrictions were at work here?
The Mirage Ghost's secrets had yet to be uncovered.
A ghost's abilities had to be developed by its Ghost Tamer. Some Ghost Tamers, whether forced by circumstances or lacking intelligence, never learned more than a crude application of their ghosts' instincts from the moment they took control of them. Unless such people got lucky, they would never reach a very high level.
For example, Hu Jiu in his previous life had only known how to poke holes in people's skulls with the Ghost Finger.
He had not even figured out the ghost inside his own body, much less taken control of a second ghost or attempted other advanced techniques.
Hu Jiu refused to admit he lacked intelligence. The Ghost Finger had to be too incomplete!
The satellite phone rang again late at night, two days later.
Over those two days, Hu Jiu had tried to slow the pace of his life and ease his strained nerves.
It was Lin Guangning's voice on the other end again. She calmly informed him that Liu Mingguang had gone missing.
Hu Jiu laughed. "In that case, the person in charge of Linjiang City..."
Lin Guangning said, "Since you only recently became a Ghost Tamer, you lack experience and haven't made many substantial contributions. After discussing it, headquarters has decided not to appoint you as the person in charge of Linjiang City, but we can give you a place as a candidate."
"Not enough contributions, huh~" Hu Jiu drawled. How hard could it be to rack up contributions? He had collected quite a few fierce ghosts. He could release them to cause trouble, then step in and deal with them himself. Wouldn't that earn him the credit?
Lin Guangning continued, "There's a team assignment tomorrow to handle a supernatural incident of unknown threat level. If you take part and resolve it successfully, you can officially become the person in charge."
"I refuse!" Hu Jiu did not hesitate for even a second.
Why take a risk when there was a safer, more reliable option?
Lin Guangning fell silent.
A moment later, a different voice came over the phone. "This is Fu Youhua. Headquarters will dispatch several Ghost Tamers to carry out the assignment as a team tomorrow. Don't be so quick to refuse. The incident occurred on the border between Linjiang City and neighboring Yuzhou City, which already falls within your area of responsibility. The Ghost Tamers of both cities ought to respond. Liu Mingguang was originally going to participate as well, but unfortunately, he's missing. If you want to be promoted to the person in charge, this is a responsibility you must bear."
"Oh?" Hu Jiu raised a long eyebrow. "Is there any extra pay for taking part? If I remember correctly, apart from some gold items, I haven't received a single thing from headquarters so far!"
Fu Youhua rolled his eyes. "To date, you've only fully resolved one supernatural incident!"
From Hu Jiu's perspective, he had been run off his feet lately, but in headquarters' eyes, only the [Ghost Ear] counted toward his performance.
Ghost Hand Zhou Zhi's attack on him had been a fight between Ghost Tamers, apparently over a personal grudge. Beifeng Commune had wanted to recover the Bloodstained White Silk, so there was no reason for headquarters to credit him for it. The fierce ghost with the Dark Ghost Domain had only been driven away, and judging from some clues, the results of that operation seemed to have been greatly inflated...
If Fu Youhua had known that the [Ghost Ear] report was entirely fabricated, he would probably have been so angry he spat blood on the spot.
Even so, Hu Jiu did not feel guilty in the least.
But Fu Youhua refused to budge. Unless Hu Jiu handed over the fierce ghosts he had contained, headquarters would only provide him with funding and gold. He could forget about supernatural items!
"In short, you must take part in tomorrow's operation. Only by successfully completing headquarters' assignment will you qualify to become the person in charge and manage a city."
"Isn't there a written test too? What was it called again? The one that tests your mental state. You're making such a big promise now, but you won't hold me up over something like that afterward, will you?"
"The person in charge has to manage all the supernatural incidents in a city. If a Ghost Tamer is mentally unstable or has ulterior motives and is given authority, who knows what they might do?" Fu Youhua's tone was deadly serious.
"All right, I understand. It's all to protect the people and maintain social order. It's only right to be cautious." Hu Jiu's tone was perfectly normal, and there was nothing wrong with what he said, but Fu Youhua frowned instinctively.
Beep.
The call ended.
Hu Jiu tossed the phone aside and pondered tomorrow's assignment.
A supernatural incident that required several Ghost Tamers to handle was bound to be difficult, yet headquarters insisted on putting a newcomer like him on the team. Had they grown suspicious and wanted to use the assignment to probe him, or even kill him outright?
A person with a vicious heart could hardly help having somewhat dark thoughts. Several conspiracy theories flashed through Hu Jiu's mind.
Should he not go?
He had already looked down on such a cheap excuse as feigning illness back in college.
I could just release a ghost to harm people, then sacrifice myself to handle the emergency and miss the team assignment...
Hu Jiu glanced up at the window. The night was dark, and it was already past midnight.
The ghost would start killing people → someone would discover it → the police would be called → a Ghost Tamer would be notified to handle it. There might not be enough time.
Besides, it would be too much of a coincidence.
As he thought about it, he picked up the Golden Corpse Bag...