It was already late when Hu Jiu got home. Without taking off his clothes, he threw himself onto the bed.
Something pressed uncomfortably against his chest. He reached over and felt two pieces of candy wrapped in gold foil.
The old man at the Longevity Village guesthouse had given them to him. They probably weren't anything good. Unfortunately, there were too few samples; otherwise, he would definitely have found someone to test them.
He had been working nonstop day after day. Although neither his body nor his mind was tired, Hu Jiu didn't feel like doing anything. He zoned out for a long while, fantasizing about a wonderful future of eternal life and indestructibility, happily indulging himself for quite some time.
Only at midnight did he come to his senses and consider how to handle the supernatural incident the next day.
According to Qian Ying's account, the ghost he had released first caused an outbreak at a high school.
Several students, teachers, and school administrators suddenly developed severe persecution complexes at the same time, sparking a disturbance. The abnormal phenomenon immediately drew the police's attention.
When the officers arrived at the scene, they discovered that the situation was worse than they had imagined.
The patients claimed they were being threatened, as though malicious eyes were staring at them from every direction. Most of the time, they repeated things like, "Someone's spying on me and wants to hurt me."
They could only communicate normally in small, enclosed spaces. But whenever they saw a crack or a small hole, they immediately became hysterical and did everything they could to block them all up.
Those were only the initial symptoms.
Suspecting a supernatural incident, the officers gathered the patients and quarantined them on the spot. But some of them soon broke down, recklessly bursting through the cordon and fleeing to their respective homes.
The officers went to their homes one by one and found that every crack and hole in their rooms had been sealed with tape. Some had even mutilated themselves, gouging out their eyes and puncturing their ears until they were deaf, then curling up under their blankets and trembling.
These intermediate symptoms lasted for a period of time before progressing to the late stage. People exposed to the patients would be affected, seeing them as extremely dangerous monsters and trying to kill them. Once a patient died, those who had taken part in the killing became new patients.
The police confirmed that it was a supernatural incident. The source ghost's killing mechanism did not cause instant death, which was why the officers had a chance to observe and compile useful information.
He got up and sat by the window, watching the sun rise bit by bit. After a simple breakfast, he called Qian Ying.
The two met at the high school where the incident had first occurred. It had already been converted into a temporary quarantine facility.
The stubbly Qian Ying looked especially excited when he saw Hu Jiu.
"How are things now?" Hu Jiu asked directly.
"Not good. This supernatural incident is contagious, and several officers have been affected." Qian Ying had dark circles around his eyes, and regret occasionally flashed across his face.
A few days earlier, when the abnormal phenomenon was first discovered, Hu Jiu had been away on a mission. Xiao Zhang, one of Qian Ying's subordinates, saw that no one had died on the spot and that they had merely developed a mental illness. He thought the situation wasn't serious and mistakenly classified it as D-Rank Supernatural, something ordinary people could contain.
So Xiao Zhang volunteered and led several passionate young officers in an attempt to confine the Fierce Ghost.
The result was obvious: they failed.
Qian Ying had always understood that the willpower humans took pride in was powerless before chemicals. Addicts, for example, knew drugs were harmful but couldn't stop themselves from taking them. The power of the supernatural far exceeded that of chemicals. Xiao Zhang had thought he could rely on strong willpower to resist the persecution complex brought on by the supernatural, but the facts proved he had overestimated himself.
Qian Ying had also underestimated the supernatural and was now bitterly regretful. He could only look at Hu Jiu hopefully. "We've roughly determined the source ghost's location, but we simply can't get close."
Hu Jiu nodded. "I'll find a way to resolve this as soon as possible. You said earlier that two Ghost Tamers were caught up in it. Have you identified them?"
"Not yet." Qian Ying frowned. "They probably avoided the surveillance cameras and secretly slipped into Linjiang City, but they were unlucky enough to run into a late-stage 'patient' on the way. They killed someone, got contaminated, and hid in a hotel. Since they're Ghost Tamers, I didn't dare send anyone to approach them rashly. I only evacuated the area and sealed it off."
Hu Jiu instructed him, "Get two Golden Corpse Bags. I'll deal with those two unfamiliar Ghost Tamers first, in case they lose control and make the situation worse."
"All right." Qian Ying acted promptly, personally driving Hu Jiu to the hotel involved.
Another officer arrived at about the same time, bringing ample golden containers. Hu Jiu took them and, without wasting a second, stepped into the hotel.
Qian Ying left some personnel outside to provide support and turned to leave. He still had to continue searching for anyone who had slipped through the net. Every "patient" affected by the Fierce Ghost had to be found in time!
A faint smell of alcohol hung in the corridor, making him dizzy and dazed as soon as he caught a whiff. But Hu Jiu was only disoriented for an instant before recovering. He strode toward the sealed room and kicked the door open.
At first glance, it looked as though a maggot were wriggling on the bed. Hu Jiu roughly pulled back the blanket. The person beneath it seemed terribly frightened, shrinking back and trembling as a supernatural aura leaked out erratically. His eye sockets had become bloody holes, and blood was streaming from his ear canals.
Hu Jiu had never seen this face before, but he was shocked that this Ghost Tamer had been suppressed so completely that he was unable to resist!
Having indirectly sensed how terrifying that unknown Fierce Ghost was, he was even more curious about how Liu Mingguang had confined it back then.
Hu Jiu snapped the unfamiliar Ghost Tamer's neck and stuffed him into a corpse bag in one smooth motion.
He looked around but saw no sign of the other man. The smell of alcohol, however, was growing stronger. Following it, Hu Jiu made his way into the next room and found his target in the bathtub.
It was a drunk man sleeping soundly, with two flushed patches on his face and a powerful reek of alcohol about him. His expression was badly contorted, as though he were having a nightmare. His eyes and ears were still intact, and he was in much better condition than the previous man.
Hu Jiu didn't recognize the face, but he remembered those two conspicuous patches of "blush" clearly—a member of the Beifeng Commune, codenamed [Drunkard].
Hu Jiu had read his file. What was his name again? It was... Liu Tiancheng?
As Hu Jiu tried to remember, he made his move, intending to kill and contain the man in the same way.
But something unexpected happened. With his eyes still closed, Liu Tiancheng raised a hand and blocked Hu Jiu's move!
Hu Jiu abruptly stepped half a pace back. Seeing that Liu Tiancheng had no other reaction, he moved forward and struck ruthlessly again.
Smack—!
Blocked again.
Smack, smack—!
Blocked yet again.
"Drunken boxing?" Hu Jiu raised an eyebrow. Could it be Drunkard's passive defense mechanism?
The next second, white silk wrapped around his neck and the Ghost Hand touched his head. Liu Tiancheng was forcibly stuffed into the bag, and Hu Jiu kicked him savagely in the head through the corpse bag, stopping only when it was deformed.
It would be best if he was thoroughly dead.
Otherwise... he could wait to starve to death in the bag.