Harvest Season

The Hemp Rope traced a bizarre arc through the air and wrapped itself around "Wang Ye."

"Wang Ye" stared blankly ahead, allowing the Hemp Rope to bind him without showing the slightest intention of resisting.

As the Hemp Rope coiled around him layer by layer, "Wang Ye" seemed completely unaffected, still gazing at Wang Ye with hollow eyes.

"Not a ghost?"

Wang Ye frowned slightly. The Hemp Rope could restrain and suppress ghosts, but it had no effect on anything else.

Just then—

"Wang Ye," bound by the Hemp Rope, had his stiff face twist slightly before laboriously forcing out a smile at Wang Ye.

Then, his body burst into flames in a bizarre act of spontaneous combustion, and a thick stench of rotting corpses filled Wang Ye's room.

Wang Ye's face was full of vigilance as he instinctively retreated a few steps, yet his gaze remained firmly fixed on the figure that looked exactly like him.

After a long while—

"Wang Ye" turned to ash beneath the flames.

Frowning at the foul corpse stench, Wang Ye opened the window. The smell quickly dispersed from the room. Looking at the pile of ashes, Wang Ye sank into thought.

"Clearly, this ghostly thing intended to ambush me."

"But once I discovered it, it immediately combusted."

"Or rather, the thing controlling it knew it couldn't deal with me and didn't want me to obtain any clues?"

"Is the one behind this human or ghost?"

In the past, Wang Ye would have immediately concluded that the one controlling this ghostly thing was human. After all, ghosts were incapable of thought.

But after his journey to the Wasteland, Wang Ye had gained a deeper understanding of this world.

Perhaps—

In the deepest reaches of the Wasteland, within the Forbidden Zone, those ghosts were no different from humans anymore.

After cleaning up the ashes, Wang Ye's phone rang.

Seeing the number, Wang Ye frowned slightly and answered.

"Minister Zhang, is something wrong?"

Wang Ye said as he wearily rubbed his temples.

His trip to the Wasteland had kept his nerves taut all day. Then he had returned home only to encounter this incident, leaving him in poor mental condition.

"Have you dealt with the ghostly thing in your room?"

Zhang Ziliang's composed voice sounded over the phone.

Wang Ye's expression gradually turned solemn. "How did you know?"

"If I didn't even have that much intelligence capability, what kind of minister would I be? No matter what, I'm still a minister, aren't I?"

There was no boasting in Zhang Ziliang's voice. It was as though he were merely stating a fact.

Old fox!

Wang Ye cursed inwardly. Sure enough, none of those ministers were simple.

He knew something was wrong with Wang Ye's room, yet he had not offered even a word of warning. That was probably another way of testing Wang Ye's strength.

If Wang Ye had failed to handle it, then he would simply have died.

"Then thank you for your concern, Minister Zhang," Wang Ye said coldly.

On the other end, Zhang Ziliang frowned slightly as he listened to Wang Ye's voice.

His voice was full of energy. He was not injured.

It seemed he had not found it particularly difficult to resolve.

After thinking for a moment, Zhang Ziliang fell silent briefly. "All right, let's discuss business."

"Today, a ferocious ghost from the Wasteland broke through the energy barrier outside and entered." Zhang Ziliang's voice was somewhat grave. "At present, there are seven surviving Superhumans in the Logistics Department. I've sent all of them over."

"This incident has already caused a serious impact. If it's resolved, getting a squad slot shouldn't be a problem."

Listening to Zhang Ziliang, a thoughtful look flashed through Wang Ye's eyes. After a long silence, he finally smiled. "So you need me as the final safeguard?"

"Of course. It will be difficult for those seven to resolve this incident."

"So when the critical moment comes, you'll need to make a move."

Zhang Ziliang's voice remained calm, as though he were simply describing something ordinary.

But Wang Ye's expression grew somewhat grave, and his eyes held a trace of wariness. "In that case, why not send me over now?"

The other end of the line fell silent for a long time.

Zhang Ziliang's icy voice drifted over. "After all, only by appearing at the moment when people are most desperate can one seem the brightest and inspire the greatest admiration, isn't that so?"

"Even if several people die because of it?" Wang Ye asked flatly.

"Yes. What I need is Squad A made up of elites, not a retirement home." Zhang Ziliang's voice was as cold as ever.

The hand holding Wang Ye's phone had gone pale. After a long silence, he nodded. "I understand."

With that, Wang Ye hung up.

Looking at the three words Zhang Ziliang in his phone's contacts, he sank into thought.

Was cooperating with that cold-blooded man really the right choice?

No one could offer an answer. Just as no one could have known that Zhang Ziliang, who became as delighted as a child whenever something happened, could be so cold inside.

Feeling the exhaustion in his body, Wang Ye carefully put away the Ghost Face Vine.

His current mental state was not suitable for strengthening his body.

Then Wang Ye carefully took out the three half-burned Paper Money notes. He chose the one with the least burn damage and cautiously stuck it to his hand.

An icy chill instantly spread throughout his body.

His hand gradually went numb, and that alien sensation, so incompatible with the rest of his body, vanished.

His body, which had been deteriorating little by little in a weak state, seemed to ease under the effects of that chill.

"Sure enough, it can delay the decay of bodily functions."

Wang Ye nodded in satisfaction and put the remaining two back into the box.

He placed both items into the hidden compartment in his room.

As for the substitute doll, Wang Ye kept it close to his body.

After all, it was something that could save his life.

After handling everything, Wang Ye let out a breath. Finally unable to endure his mental exhaustion any longer, he fell into a deep sleep.

Gradually—

The sun set.

The night deepened.

Accompanied by an icy aura, the Wooden Door once again appeared bizarrely in the living room.

Wang Ye's eyes opened almost the instant the Wooden Door appeared.

"Finally, the harvest season has arrived."

Wang Ye pushed open the Wooden Door and walked inside.

Unlike usual, the moment he entered the Post Office, a surge of energy instantly flooded into Wang Ye's body.

The intense pain made Wang Ye collapse to the floor at once.

Beads of blood continuously seeped from Wang Ye's body, staining his clothes crimson.

Wang Ye's face turned pale, and he could not help letting out low growls.

Along with the blood, terrifying wounds continuously split open across his skin.