Attached
As Yu Xing finished speaking, the sickly young man showed a hint of wariness. His gaze fell heavily on the muscular man's hand, because the most striking figure in the painting was the "assassin" holding a knife and wearing a raincoat.
As expected, the muscular man's hand was slightly behind his back, but because of the action he had just made behind the sick young man, the knife was already exposed. If Yu Xing hadn't pulled him back, the knife would probably have stabbed him in the heart from behind.
The muscular man remained expressionless, showing no sign of speaking under Yu Xing's questioning, yet his body seemed to stiffen.
The sickly young man turned to face the muscular man, adopted a defensive stance, and coldly asked, "Number Thirty-Seven, can you still hear me?"
The muscular man blinked, but remained silent. Even after being discovered, he didn't intend to continue attacking. Instead, he looked around. Zhao Yijiu bluntly pointed out, "He's trying to run away."
Upon hearing Zhao Yijiu's words, the muscular man immediately bent down and darted to the side. The sickly young man reached out to stop him, but he was clearly not a fighter. Yu Xing took a step forward and used his strength to block the muscular man.
When his hand touched the muscular man's arm, he realized that the muscular man's strength had reached the level of a demon, something a normal person who had been stripped of their abilities and sacrifices should possess. Even Zhao Yijiu, who had trained her body since childhood, was not as strong as this muscular man without any other enhancements.
It's almost certain that this muscular man was indeed possessed by a ghost.
How interesting! In the last painting, they possessed the bodies of the people in the painting; this time, it's ghosts possessing them. Is this retribution?
"We can't let him leave. If he leaves now, Number 37 might really die." The sickly young man clearly had a lot of experience dealing with emergencies; he quickly made the best choice. "He's possessed by a ghost. The sooner we get him out of the haunted house, the less damage we'll suffer. If it stays too long, this body will mutate into a monster because of the ghost's presence!"
"The raincoat assassin is hiding in the crowd, not the type to attack head-on, so he wants to reintegrate into the crowd?" Yu Xing understood the mentality of ghosts too well, and gestured for Zhao Yijiu to block the path behind the muscular man, while he and the sickly young man stood in front.
The muscular man was still struggling, but Zhao Yijiu pinned him to the ground. Although he lacked strength, Zhao Yijiu's fighting skills were enough to make up for it.
The two-meter-tall spectators around the area watched the scene with excitement, like a group of onlookers. Even the staff member leading the group, who was closest to the scene, did not come over to maintain order. Presumably, for this art museum, murder and fighting were nothing new.
Because Yu Xing had helped the sickly young man almost without thinking, the young man's wariness towards him had lessened slightly. The young man turned to him and said, "Number Thirty-Seven seems to only have his body controlled; his mind is normal. I think we can find the source of the control so we can separate him from the ghost."
Yu Xing raised an eyebrow. Was it because the muscular man had winked in response to what the sickly young man had just said?
If you've been kidnapped, blink twice?
"So his name is Number 37? What a strange name, it sounds like some kind of experimental subject... How do we find the source? Why are we making trouble for ourselves?" Yu Xing asked, with an air of "it's none of your business" in his voice.
The young man choked for a moment. He had just told Yu Xing that they were the ones who discovered the fake first, and his words implied that he was determined to get the painting. Now, he was Yu Xing and the others for help, which made no sense.
Before he could come up with a solution, Yu Xing spoke up again, "Speaking of which, there's something I'm curious about. You were the one who bled, so even if the ghost woke up, its first target should have been you. Why was it your companion who was possessed instead?"
"This..." The sickly young man looked at his companion struggling under Zhao Yijiu's grasp, and after a moment's thought, he came up with a new answer. "I understand now. The ghost wanted to kill me, so it possessed my companion to kill me. Because the ghost in the painting is an assassin; it doesn't commit suicide, it only kills."
After he finished speaking, he seemed filled with doubt. "Does he only return to normal if he kills me? But I have no substitute for the dead, nor any offerings to create a false impression..."
"She's quite clever, "Yu Xing thought.
Just then, the muscular man being pinned down let out a strange growl from his throat, and his skin began to crack faintly, as if his body could not withstand the intensity of the foreign soul attached to him, showing signs of imminent collapse.
Yu Xing's pupils contracted. When the power of the curse first entered his body, he had experienced a similar process in a glass container in the laboratory. The difference was that the power of the curse was continuous, silently transforming his entire body like a gentle rain. Although the ghost possessing the muscular man was also very strong, strong enough to damage his body during the resurrection process, this power was fixed and had a direct impact.
In this situation, the muscular man would likely die within a minute or two due to the necrosis of all his cells, leading to a complete physical collapse.
The sickly young man also witnessed this scene, and he widened his eyes in disbelief. "How could this be? I thought he was just borrowing Number 37's body at most. How could he be so careless as to not even put up a fight?"
"Or... you're busy? My companion and I went to look for paintings elsewhere. You should have had corresponding countermeasures in place for activating this painting, right?" Yu Xing said this deliberately, trying to get Zhao Yijiu to release the muscular man.
"Wait! To be honest, I didn't expect him to be possessed so easily. He didn't even put up a fight. He's usually very strong." The sickly young man frowned. His complexion was already bad, and the fright made him look even more vulnerable and in need of protection.
Perhaps it was his identity on Dead Silent Island, but even Yu Xing felt a faint urge to protect him. Unfortunately Yu Xing was far too adept at feigning weakness and immediately saw through the strange aura surrounding the young man. He smiled and said, "So, you need our help?"
"If possible, I will repay you later." The sickly young man coughed twice. "On the condition that you promise not to choose killing to complete the mission, I can exchange information with you, provided that you don't use this information to harm the testers."
If it weren't for Ning Feng's team, this would be a very tempting offer, but unfortunately, that "if" doesn't apply.
"No need. I value the present more than future benefits." Yu Xing looked at the stubborn, sickly young man with a half-smile. He could sense that this young man was experienced, knew how to advance and retreat, and most importantly, was not a bad person or a saint. When his companions were in danger, he would try to save them, but he would also point out their mistakes.
Even suggestions made during a crisis have their bottom lines.
This is a personality trait that Yu Xing admires.
He believed that young people would understand his hints.
"You want this painting?" the sickly young man asked. "No, that won't do. This is the painting we've been after. If we just give it to you, what's the point of everything we've done?"
Seeing the young man's stubborn expression, as if his tail had been stepped on, Yu Xing smiled, "I don't want this painting, I just want a chance to compete fairly with you without you holding a grudge."
The implication is that he will not give up the painting, but will instead help the young man while attempting to seize ownership of it, on the condition that the young man does not hold a grudge against him if he takes the painting.
This is practically a condition worthy of charity.
A hint of doubt flickered in the sickly young man's eyes. "You're saying this because you already have a way to save my companion? Is this really all you want?"
Yu Xing wanted to continue giving him some hints, but just then, he glanced at the muscular man and Zhao Yijiu next to him.
While suppressing the muscular man, Zhao Yijiu kept his eyes on them talking. The bulging veins on the back of his large hands showed that it was not easy for him to suppress the muscular man. However, when Yu Xing was "negotiating" with the sickly young man, he remained silent and did not even cry out.
Yu Xing immediately lost interest in wasting time. He tossed the sickly-looking young man a retort, "Do you think I'm a kind person? I offered this condition not only because I like you, but also because I believe I can not only help your companion, but I'm also very confident in my ability to handle this painting. Whether you agree or not is up to you. If you don't agree, I'll have my companion give up; he's exhausted too."
"..." Zhao Yijiu pressed the muscular man even harder, and skillfully deflected the knife in the man's hand to an angle where it wouldn't hurt him.
Yu Xing finished speaking, the sickly young man, who had seemed somewhat hesitant just moments before, immediately replied, "I agree."
It was obvious that he had already made up his mind, but he was just pretending to be hesitant, hoping for a more secure answer.
She's quite the clever one.
"Okay, you said it." Yu Xing smiled, narrowed her eyes, and walked towards the muscular man.
He crouched down, facing the gleaming blade, and grabbed the muscular man's exposed hand.
"It's no use, I can't get that knife off. I've tried." Zhao Yijiu reminded him in a low voice, his voice sounding like he was gritting his teeth because he was holding his breath while he was exerting all his strength.
As an "assassin" possessed by a ghost, the first reaction of these experienced people was whether taking the knife from him would break the ghost's possession. Therefore, Zhao Yijiu had already tried it immediately.
But the knife seemed to be permanently attached to the muscular man's hand; he couldn't even budge it.
"Sigh~ You don't understand, doesn't this further prove the connection between this knife and the ghost possession?" Yu Xing's tone was convoluted, his pale hand contrasting sharply with the muscular man's darker complexion, but after he grabbed the muscular man's hand and squeezed it tightly...
The muscular man's expression contorted into a ferocious grimace for a moment.
A black mist, the power of the curse, seeped silently from Yu Xing's fingertips into the muscular man's hand, causing the ghost within the muscular man to reveal its ghostly aura, no longer hidden inside the muscular man's body undetected.
Yu Xing stretched out both hands and pried the muscular man's fingers off the knife handle one by one. The muscular man's expression became more and more ferocious, but he was powerless to change the situation.
With a clang, the knife fell to the ground, turning into a wisp of bloody vapor that filled the air before finally dissipating.
Zhao Yijiu felt a void beneath him. The muscular man who had been struggling desperately suddenly calmed down, and his strength was no longer comparable to before. He knew then that the ghost inside was truly gone.
Under Zhao Yijiu's somewhat confused gaze and the sickly young man's shocked look, Yu Xing erased the traces of cursed power from the muscular man's hand, concealing his accomplishment. "This is called, 'One force overcomes ten techniques'."
"I'm just a nobody, I don't have any other abilities, I'm just strong." Yu Xing smiled and met the muscular man's somewhat bewildered gaze. He was worried that Zhao Yijiu had been hurt by the man's weight, after all, Zhao Yijiu was quite muscular and not light. It wouldn't have been a problem otherwise, but now the muscular man still had cracks on his body that looked like they were about to break. "Brother Jiu, get up quickly, he's alright."
Zhao Yijiu released the restraints with a complicated expression and stood up. The sickly young man immediately stepped forward to help his companion up.
Upon closer inspection of the cracks on his companion's body, he became somewhat worried. "The damage caused by the overflow of supernatural power... I wonder how long it will take for this to disappear."
"... I'm fine, just a little sore." The muscular man recovered, grimaced, and gasped.
"Has this happened before?" Yu Xing took the opportunity to gather information.
"Of course, such damage is common when encountering possessing spirits. Usually, it recovers within a day or two after the spirit is expelled. Are you asking because divination practitioners don't often encounter this type of spirit?" The sickly young man was quick-witted. "Fine, consider this a tip: this kind of damage isn't irreversible; it will gradually disappear over time. If the collapse is too severe, you'll either die on the spot or it will take several years to slowly recover."
"I see." Yu Xing was hearing this explanation for the first time. His own injuries had been illogical for many years because his body had been modified to adapt to the power of the curse, and no additional cracks would appear as he grew weaker.
Zhao Yijiu never mentioned that he had ever experienced this situation while coexisting with a vengeful ghost in one body. In fact, he never did. If he had, Zhao Mou would have brought it up with him.
Perhaps it's because they are both special that...
"Fortunately," Zhao Yijiu suddenly said.
Yu Xing turned her head and saw that Zhao Yijiu had a knife in her right hand.
It was the knife that had vanished into thin air after being snatched from the muscular man.
"Brother Jiu, how are you feeling?" He wasn't flustered at all; instead, he asked with a smile, as if he were in a very good mood.
He never said that the painting's attack would end after the ghost was driven out of the body; the ghost hadn't disappeared yet. Under these circumstances, it would naturally seek to possess another person.
But his idea was that there were only four people here, and once the ghosts had possessed each of them once, they would stop and the attack would end.
Of the four, the muscular man had already been possessed once. If the sickly young man were possessed, he and Zhao Yijiu could still use the same method to take the knife away.
If this were to happen between him and Zhao Yijiu, then the ghost would likely have to put in a lot more effort... or might not even succeed at all, since he possesses the power of curses, and Zhao Yijiu also has a terrifying vengeful ghost inside her.
"I don't like this feeling," Zhao Yijiu said coldly, a flash of red in his eyes. He gripped the knife in his hand and took a stiff step toward the sickly young man.