It's too cold here! Let's start a fire to warm up!

"Wang Zhen! You're going to act alone again? This is a Ju-On scenario with a twenty-person difficulty rating!"

"Stop acting so high and mighty! This isn't like the Xenomorph; Ju-On... is unsolvable! Besides, with twenty newcomers, the difficulty is scaled up—it's bound to be even more terrifying!" Seeing that Wang Zhen was actually planning to go solo, Zheng Zha immediately flared up.

"Zheng Zha, since Ju-On is so terrifying, do you think there's any use in having more people? In this kind of supernatural horror movie, is there really much difference between having a large group and a small one?"

"I have my own plans. You can take them with you and see for yourself whether Kayako comes for you or for me!" Wang Zhen dropped this line and walked away.

Seeing Wang Zhen leave, Zheng Zha and the others had no choice but to move as well; after all, the air had grown increasingly frigid since the mission began, making it impossible to stay put.

"Trying to place a curse on me? Kayako, you've got some nerve!" After walking a short distance, he stopped in a secluded corner and sneered under his breath.

"Dead River"... Activate!

A blood-red transmutation circle instantly appeared beneath Wang Zhen's feet. It was his unique "Dead River" ability—a Flame Transmutation Circle powered by a "Philosopher's Stone"!

Before the tiny, long-haired, white-clad female ghost hiding inside him could react, she was pulled directly into the transmutation circle. Then, as a blood-red radiance swirled, she was refined into a single drop of blood-red, mercury-like solution—a defective "Philosopher's Stone."

Wang Zhen stowed the drop of "Philosopher's Stone" away. Watching as everyone finally cleared out of the initial starter house, he whispered, "Courtesy demands reciprocity!"

He raised a finger and snapped it casually. Suddenly, the nearby ghost house, which had been eroded by Kayako's malice for years, erupted into roaring flames. Strangely, though the fire was a fierce, orange-red blaze, the house itself didn't suffer a single bit of damage!

It was as if the raging inferno were merely a beautifully colored phantom.

"Not even a scratch from flames around 1200 degrees? Has decades of ghostly erosion truly turned this place into her domain? Then let's try something hotter!"

Wang Zhen raised his hand and snapped his fingers again; the orange-red flames instantly shifted to a pale gold!

"BOOM..."

Flames at 1500 degrees, hot enough to melt steel, burned violently against everything in the ghost house!

Only then did Wang Zhen realize why the Flame Transmutation Circle he'd set up inside the house earlier hadn't even singed a hair on the ghost.

The house was truly, in every sense of the word, a ghost house.

A thin layer of black mist firmly protected the structure, which was why the previous orange flames couldn't touch a single brick or tile.

However, what made Wang Zhen narrow his eyes was that even now, the pale gold flames capable of melting metal still couldn't touch the house; they were being held back firmly by that layer of black mist!

"If I fail on my first move, wouldn't that be embarrassing? My cool factor would be completely gone!" Wang Zhen finally understood just how terrifying a B-rank side-plot Kayako really was!

Wang Zhen sneered and clapped his hands together lightly!

"BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM..."

Wang Zhen directly detonated the five Flame Transmutation Circles he had planted earlier!

At the same time, he pushed his power to the limit, cranking the flame temperature straight to 3000 degrees!

With five consecutive surges, the pale gold flames that had been locked in a stalemate with the black mist instantly turned into an intense, scorching orange!

Kayako was indeed powerful, but she couldn't withstand the explosive, searing heat of 3000-degree flames.

The black mist ultimately failed to block the violent, overbearing orange fire. After holding out for barely a dozen seconds, it vanished under the relentless burning.

Immediately following this, the now-unprotected ghost house was ignited in an instant, and at a speed visible to the naked eye, it was reduced to a pile of rubble!

Yet, just as the house was completely destroyed and turned into smoking debris, a twenty-meter-tall white-clad female ghost with black hair covering her face—invisible to ordinary people—suddenly appeared above the ruins!

She let out a silent, ghostly shriek!

At the same time, Wang Zhen clearly sensed a cold, chilling ripple wash over his body in an instant...

"So, she's angry? Looking for revenge?" Wang Zhen pondered for a moment and immediately knew what the ghost Kayako was planning.

This cold ripple was the same type of energy as the curse he had just erased. Once it made contact, it would allow Kayako to track down anyone who carried her curse!

And who would carry her curse?

Naturally, those who had appeared in the ghost house earlier!

"Little White, it's time for you to work!" Wang Zhen whispered to the crow on his shoulder.

He stroked its feathers a few times, and the crow spread its wings and soared high into the sky.

As Little White circled above, Wang Zhen easily located Zheng Zha, Zhang Jie, and the newcomers.

"Is Zheng Zha really going to take the heat for these newcomers?" Wang Zhen found it quite fascinating.

Because Zheng Zha was a mutated vampire; although his mastery of his bloodline wasn't great, he was the Main God's favorite son. He had unlocked the Gene Lock twice, which had improved his bloodline fusion and allowed for deep development.

In this state, Zheng Zha would certainly be able to detect the curse on himself and that cold, tracking energy ripple!

Wang Zhen wasn't sure what Zheng Zha intended to do, but he knew that since Kayako had locked onto their positions, retaliation was inevitable.

He let Little White follow the newcomers, Zheng Zha, and Zhang Jie from the sky, while he pulled a khaki trench coat from his storage space to cover the two modified Remington 1875s holstered at his waist, then followed them from a distance!

Wang Zhen noticed that aside from manifesting her giant ghostly form and using the shriek to track the curse, Kayako hadn't left the area.

"Restricted by rules? Can't leave? Can only kill through the curse or similar forms?"

"Meaning she must follow a ritual to kill?"

"If she's a ghost that relies on rituals, no wonder she's called 'unsolvable'! She restricts herself with rituals, but every disadvantage has an advantage; likewise, Kayako is infinitely empowered within those rituals!" Wang Zhen mused to himself while trailing the newcomers from afar.

After all, he had just burned the ghost house where she had dwelled for years into a pile of bricks and rubble, leaving nothing but a blank slate.

The grudge against Kayako had grown deep indeed!

Coupled with the fact that the mission itself was hostile and Kayako held high value, Wang Zhen naturally wanted her to die a comfortable and peaceful death!

Of course, that was his previous line of thinking.

Now, Wang Zhen wanted nothing more than to toss Kayako into the Philosopher's Stone Transmutation Circle!

Since a mere curse could be transmuted into a drop of a defective Philosopher's Stone, what quality of Philosopher's Stone could be refined from Kayako, the original evil spirit herself?

The only thorny issue for Wang Zhen was that he had just fused with Alucard's Blood and awakened the Dead River ability; consequently, the range of his Philosopher's Stone Transmutation Circle was limited to a mere ten meters.

Trying to transmute a twenty-meter-tall Kayako... it was truly a long and arduous road ahead!

However, a man has to be ruthless with himself; there were still ways, but they would require careful planning!