Don't Spread Urban Legends in Hanjiang City

Zhang Ze drawing the passageway alone was not enough to counter the paranormal effect brought by Lost Media No. 008. Though this ghost was not Red-Clothed, it could forcefully block attacks on the level of a Red-Clothed Vengeful Ghost.

The key was that Zhang Ze's ghosts were not as simple as one plus one equaling two.

When Zhang Ze summoned Lingling and Lingling invaded West City Police Station from the Door-After World, it was equivalent to two Red-Clothed Vengeful Ghosts launching an attack at once.

It worked.

The Crow's sharp eyes caught something unusual.

A crystal-clear red glass bead seemed to be hidden within a crack in the ceiling. As Lingling's invasion deepened, the bead tried to retreat farther into the ceiling.

But the Crow was faster.

Its beak slipped into the crack and clamped firmly onto the red glass bead.

"Caw!"

"Caw!"

Every Crow exerted its strength.

An inexplicable resistance came from the other end of the bead, as if another hand were gripping it tightly. No matter how hard the Crows pulled, they could not drag it out.

A minute later.

The resistance weakened.

More precisely, as the invasion deepened, West City Police Station was gradually swallowed by another, darker, deeper ink-like black liquid, weakening the Fierce Ghost's power within the station.

"Caw!"

The Crow let out another strange cry.

The red glass bead was forcibly pulled free. Like an angler who had hooked a big fish, the Crow circled Zhang Ze triumphantly and handed him the bead.

Zhang Ze stroked the Crow's head and took the bead.

The bead felt icy cold. Its surface was covered in blood vessels, and most importantly, its center seemed to have a dark patch.

Zhang Ze had never seen glass with such a bizarre texture. Rather than a glass bead, it was more like...

An eyeball.

Zhang Ze looked up at the crack in the ceiling.

Within it, a hollow dead man's face stared venomously at Zhang Ze. One eyeball was missing from its socket, leaving it deeply sunken, yet not a single drop of blood flowed out.

As expected, it was a ghost's eye.

The Ghost Eye was dug out, and the video on the computer screen instantly cut off. All imagery vanished, leaving only a completely black screen.

"Tch, just as I expected."

"While watching the video, there was a single frame of black screen every few seconds. I thought there was a problem with the video encoding, but now it seemed..."

"The so-called Lost Media video was actually your perspective. The black screen appeared because you needed to blink. I had been observing the police station through your eyes."

Zhang Ze stared at the face in the crack, a smile curling across his lips. "I have a hobby."

"I especially like ghost body parts."

"I already have a pair of hands. Thanks to you, I now have an extra eye."

As he spoke, Zhang Ze reached up and grabbed his own Right Eye.

It hurt.

An instinctive, agonizing pain surged through him.

But once the pain reached a certain threshold, Zhang Ze dug out his own eye, and it no longer hurt.

In a sense, an eyeball could be considered an "external organ." The brain subconsciously ignored the attachment. If someone covered their nose and mouth while sneezing, their eyeballs could even pop out of their sockets.

There had even been a general surnamed Xiahou during the Three Kingdoms period who dug out and ate his own eyeball...

Zhang Ze now experienced what it felt like to have an eyeball dug out.

His vision was restricted, and he could barely see anything on his right side. Fortunately, Crow's Vision made up for that flaw, so the overall impact was not significant.

But he was not done yet.

Zhang Ze forcibly shoved the Ghost Eye into his right eye socket!

The ghost in the ceiling crack froze for a moment.

At that instant, it even wondered whether it had picked the wrong target. What kind of plague god had it run into, someone who dug out a ghost's eyeball and installed it on himself?

It was simply inconceivable.

What confused the ghost even more was...

Why were you so skilled at replacing parts?!

The Ghost Face shrank back.

Zhang Ze immediately followed it.

The black liquid condensed into a Crow. It was as petite as a hummingbird, and it followed the Ghost Face into the crack.

Once inside, the space was far roomier than he had imagined. It was not a narrow gap between concrete slabs, but a completely dark special area.

Even though Zhang Ze had long adapted to lightless environments.

Entering so abruptly still made him feel somewhat uncomfortable.

"This place is a little like that black area I passed through when I left the internet café last time."

"What I encountered then... seemed to be a dead man's arm."

"That arm didn't dare confront me head-on and retreated immediately. This face has quite the nerve, though. It dared to fight me directly."

Zhang Ze recalled what he had encountered last time.

The ghosts in every piece of Lost Media seemed to be parts of someone's body. Lost Media No. 021 was a dead man's arm, while Lost Media No. 008 was a dead man's face.

It was as though someone had been dismembered, their corpse divided into dozens of pieces, with each piece becoming a video clip or an audio recording that formed the vast Lost Media system.

If that was really the case...

Who had carried out the dismemberment and created these videos?

With that question in mind, Zhang Ze had the Crow call out while pressing deeper into the darkness.

"Caw!" (Is anyone there?)

"Caw!" (We can talk!)

"Caw caw!" (I can give you somewhere to stay!)

"Caw caw caw!" (I can even help you find your other body parts!)

"Caw caw caw caw!" (You only need to trust me. I'm not some demon; I'm just an ordinary, gentle, kind Haunted House owner.)

Damn it.

There was no response.

Zhang Ze got angry.

He had been so sincere, even specially sending a Crow inside, yet that Ghost Face showed not the slightest appreciation.

He always tried, like Boss Chen, to put himself in the other person's shoes whenever something happened. He even attempted the route of reforming them through kindness, but unfortunately, every ghost he encountered was a Fierce Ghost. They never gave him the chance to reform them.

"Caw caw caw caw!" (An angry, chaotic squawking.)

The entrance became like a boiling pot. The black liquid transformed into dozens of Crows of the same size, which frantically squeezed into the crack.

One.

Two.

Ten...

When dozens of Crows poured inside, the crack in the ceiling finally could not take it anymore. A hoarse, shriveled human voice came from within, as piercing as fingernails scraping across a blackboard:

"Don't... birds..."

Zhang Ze raised an eyebrow. "So you can talk."

"If there weren't any ghosts that could talk, I'd have thought I'd transmigrated into Mystery Revival rather than a Haunted House."

The voice fell silent, seemingly unable to understand Zhang Ze's meaning. A few seconds later, it mechanically repeated itself.

"Don't... birds..."

"Don't... birds..."

"Answer my questions, and I'll get the Crows out. Otherwise, just wait for a million Crows to chase after you every day, nagging you and shitting on your head," Zhang Ze threatened.

The other party seemed to compromise.

It did not repeat its earlier words again, waiting for Zhang Ze to ask his questions.

"Are you the only ghost in the Police Station?"

"Only... me..."

"How did you get here?"

"Someone... wanted me..."