Possessing Zhao Qiang

Zhao Qiang spoke the address at extreme speed, repeating it twice. Then, he said sinisterly:

"Brother Gao Tian, breaking into someone's house in the middle of the night is illegal. Although the owner of this house hasn't returned for over twenty years, if patrol cops discover it, you'll still end up spending a few days in the police station.

"I'm taking a big risk doing this for you. So, please try not to let any third party know. Just you coming alone tonight, is that okay?"

Gao Tian:

"I understand."

Seeing that Gao Tian showed no vigilance, Zhao Qiang became even more presumptuous:

"Um, you also shouldn't tell anyone else the address you're going to tonight. It's better to keep this matter confidential, understand?"

Gao Tian nodded:

"Understood."

After hanging up the phone, he naturally knew that Zhao Qiang, relying on his numbers, had murderous intent towards him tonight.

For a ruthless young master like him, he definitely wouldn't be content to be controlled like this. Rather than hand over this leverage to a stranger, it would be more in his style to silence everyone who knew about "that incident back then."

Of course, Zhao Qiang had initially gone to find Xu Yuan's whereabouts for Gao Tian. But as he searched, he discovered that the place where Xu Yuan's old home was located was a remote mountain village, an uninhabited area. This place was perfect for a secret killing. So he had a sudden idea, and decided to have Gao Tian come over himself.

However, Gao Tian didn't care.

How could someone in the underworld outplay someone in the supernatural circle?

It was also his bad luck. It was the era of guns, yet he encountered Gao Tian, who played with ghosts.

He now only hoped that Zhao Qiang would bring more brothers. They might be useful to him then.

After a car ride of more than four hours, they arrived at an uninhabited county on the border of Hengzhou City. The pitch-black sky was already gradually turning white. A red sun was rising in the distance, and a new day had arrived.

Xu Yuan's old home was truly remote. It was originally on the edge of a county, but in recent years, with fewer and fewer children and all the young people in the county going to big cities to work, the county's population began to wither. First, kindergartens, primary schools, and hospitals closed down, and then it spread to various public facilities. The county center was almost lost, rapidly becoming an empty ghost town.

No wonder Xu Yuan, after growing up, preferred to move to the bustling city rather than return to his old house. It was impossible for a single living person to stay here for too long.

After dropping Gao Tian off, the taxi sped away without looking back. All that remained was a muddy path and a row of dilapidated houses nearby. They were all dark, with broken windows left unrepaired, clearly indicating that the villagers had moved out long ago. There wasn't a soul to be found within a ten-mile radius.

Gao Tian reached the location Zhao Qiang had mentioned and looked around, but found no one. He took out his phone and dialed the number again:

"Hello, Brother Qiang, I'm here, where are you?"

Zhao Qiang's voice rang out again:

"Take a look around, let me see, is anyone following you?"

This kid must have arrived long ago, hiding somewhere out of sight, secretly observing Gao Tian. He was quite cautious. It seemed he was truly determined to kill him in this desolate wilderness.

Gao Tian wasn't scared at all. He spread his hands:

"Brother, I'm here to find someone, not to sightsee. Why bring so many people?"

Zhao Qiang chuckled:

"That's good, that puts my mind at ease.

"Look up, we're in the third house on your left. We've been here the whole time."

Gao Tian looked up as prompted. He saw several shadowy figures slowly stand up, all wearing black jackets and sunglasses. The leader was Zhao Qiang himself.

The moment they saw each other, Zhao Qiang leaped down from the hillside and walked towards Gao Tian. Without a word, he pulled out a long object. The dark muzzle of the gun was aimed at his head. At the same time, his subordinates slowly surrounded him from behind, fanning out to prevent Gao Tian from escaping.

"Good brother, don't blame me. I was young and foolish back then, and you knew too much.

"It turns out even I almost forgot, who was it that made you run into me at the intersection that day, and then foolishly threatened me with it. I, Zhao Qiang, hate it most when people hold my little secrets against me.

"You're facing death, do you have any last words? Say them."

At this point, Zhao Qiang decided to drop the pretense and looked at Gao Tian, waiting for him to cry for mercy or struggle in his final moments before he blew his head off.

Unexpectedly, Gao Tian's reaction was calm to the point of being eerie.

People facing death usually reacted in a few ways: fear, wetting themselves from fright; rage, a death throes struggle; shock, being stunned into a stupor... But in this man before him, he saw none of these.

Gao Tian's gaze was placid as he looked at the gun barrel. He then asked a very strange question:

"Did you deliver the twenty thousand yuan I asked you to give to Cao Hua's family?"

No matter how arrogant and cold Zhao Qiang was, he was thrown off by Gao Tian's demeanor in the face of death. He stared at Gao Tian for dozens of seconds, confirming that the man wasn't forcing himself to stay calm. A hint of admiration began to stir in his heart:

"Aren't you worried about your fate at all?

"Don't worry, I, Zhao Qiang, am clear about my debts and credits. I won't embezzle a single cent of yours. Your more than two hundred thousand yuan, combined with mine, a total of over five hundred thousand, was all given to Cao Hua's elderly Mother. I didn't keep it for a minute.

"After Cao Hua's funeral, the next one will likely be yours."

Gao Tian nodded:

"That's good.

"Do you have any last words?"

Zhao Qiang froze, not understanding Gao Tian's words at first, his brain short-circuiting:

"Isn't that my line?"

Gao Tian couldn't be bothered to waste words with him.

That day at the intersection, they had already completed four glances, stealing four fragments from his face.

Today, in front of Xu Yuan's old home, when Zhao Qiang pointed a gun at him, he had also completed the final glance with him. All five fragments of his facial features were stolen, and the Shattered Face Ghost's effect was thus activated.

Gao Tian didn't offer any explanation and immediately used the Shattered Face Ghost's killing rule to forcibly take Zhao Qiang's face. Who knew if this lunatic Zhao Qiang would suddenly open fire in the next second if he delayed? Then he would have to waste a Ghost Card to revive.

Ghost Cards were meant for supernatural incidents, not to be wasted on bystanders like Zhao Qiang.

His facial features instantly transformed into Zhao Qiang's face.

Zhao Qiang, standing opposite, had no idea what had happened. He only felt a chill on his face, then suddenly couldn't see or hear anything, his five senses gone, his entire face ripped off alive out of thin air. What remained standing in the original spot was a monstrous man with no skin, only an empty shell.

Zhao Qiang, having lost his face, collapsed to the ground without a sound. He lost his life without even a scream.

Seeing the Shattered Face Ghost kill for the first time, Gao Tian was secretly alarmed. Back when he clicked on the Black Packet in the Chat Group, if he hadn't walked a tightrope with the Urn, he would have met the same fate.

At the same time, seeing their boss inexplicably die, coupled with the darkness of the scene, his subordinates immediately fell into chaos, not knowing what had happened. From their perspective, Gao Tian had simply stood still, while their boss's face inexplicably bled profusely before he fell to the ground.

These men had no idea where the attack came from, even suspecting a sniper in the distance. The smarter ones immediately pressed their gun muzzles to the back of Gao Tian's head, "Don't move, stay put!" while turning to check on Zhao Qiang's body.

Gao Tian had already obtained Zhao Qiang's face and most of his memories. He no longer needed to be so submissive. He immediately turned around and slapped one of the subordinates:

"TMD, move your damn gun away. Look closely, that's me."

Upon seeing that the gun was pointed at "Zhao Qiang," the subordinates were once again shocked into speechlessness, not understanding what was happening before them.

The one who had fallen was clearly Zhao Qiang. In the blink of an eye, how could a "Zhao Qiang" who looked exactly like Zhao Qiang, with the same tone of voice and speech, be standing in Gao Tian's original position, berating them?

Could it be that it was too dark, and they were so nervous they misremembered their boss's position?

"B-b-big, big, big brother, wh-what exactly is going on?"

"Y-you, how can you be standing here one moment and then... standing, standing, standing, standing there?"

A burly man named San Hu, despite his tattoos and muscles, wasn't very bright. Too many things had happened too quickly, and it was too chaotic for his brain to comprehend.

Gao Tian didn't give them time to think. He activated the Memory Ghost's ability again, his words flowing like a torrent, beginning to implant false memories:

"Are you an Idiot or what?

"Didn't I tell you when we came over to help me bury someone? We were just catching up with our old classmate. Now that we're done, I shot him dead. You dig a hole and bury him, and that's that.

"Is your brain broken? I shot him, and you suddenly turned your gun on me. You're asking me what's going on? I should be asking you what's going on!"

"Is it that this desolate wilderness isn't very clean, and something obscured your vision?"

Gao Tian's explanation was clearly more reasonable than what his subordinates had seen: their boss and the victim had suddenly swapped positions.

After his "reminder," the others also "awoke as if from a dream." Another man, named Shou Hou, immediately put down his pistol and scanned their surroundings vigilantly:

"Boss, this damn place really isn't clean.

"I don't know why, but when you fired just now, I suddenly saw your position swap with that kid's. Then I thought you were standing where he was, and he was the one falling. So in a moment of panic, I drew my gun.

"It's not strange for me to see things wrong alone, but all of us brothers saw it wrong together. Could it be that we were really bewitched by some monster lurking in the wilderness?"

Gao Tian knew clearly that with the cooperation of the Shattered Face Ghost and the Memory Ghost, he had successfully switched faces and identities with Zhao Qiang.