Because Once Someone Believed

"You're not Jay Chou or Eason Chan, nor are you Liu Yifei or Ju Jingwei. Who the hell talks about a ghost like you every day?" Zhang Ze clearly didn't believe it.

Besides, this was West City Police Station.

Only Master Guan had been left behind to keep watch.

How could Master Guan possibly have taken the initiative to think about ghosts and spirits?

Wait.

Zhang Ze suddenly paused. In the video, Master Guan had indeed seen the words displayed on the wall's honor roll. They said Kuai Liang, Li Sanbao, Captain Yan, and the others were all dead.

It was only natural for him to be frightened.

If, from that moment onward, Master Guan had believed that ghosts existed in this world...

"What's your name?" Zhang Ze changed the subject, intending to figure out the ghost's identity.

"I... don't know..."

It didn't even know its own name?

It spoke in broken fragments, too.

Zhang Ze looked troubled.

Could this be another Lingling?

Damn it, even Xu Yin, aside from constantly crying out in pain, could at least understand what Chen Ge said. Why were all the ones he encountered mentally impaired? His luck was truly awful.

"Why are you causing trouble for me?"

"Someone... misses me..."

Zhang Ze fell silent.

Fine. It seemed this ghost had been born with something wrong with its brain. Maybe it had been like this while alive, with terrible language skills. There was nothing he could do about it.

Since he couldn't get an answer out of it.

Zhang Ze pondered for a moment.

"Since you can't say it."

"Then give me your eye. I'll help you see what exactly happened."

Zhang Ze's right eye had become a Ghost Eye, and he was still missing a left eye.

This Ghost Face happened to have a left eye.

How could there be such a coincidence in the world?

The other party seemed to choke up, perhaps because its brain had yet to process it. You already gouged out one of my eyeballs, and now you want the other one too?

You're human!!

"I... can't..."

"Then I'll stuff a million Crows in there. You'd better pray I don't catch you. I'll have them peck your eyes out with their beaks," Zhang Ze said. "Don't think I can't find you just because you're hiding in the cracks. If I want to, the entire West City Police Station is my territory."

Ghost Face: ...

A few seconds later.

An eyeball fell from a crack in the ceiling.

Zhang Ze reacted swiftly and caught it. It was indeed Ghost Face's Left Eye.

He inspected it.

There was nothing wrong with the card.

Zhang Ze dug out his Left Eye and installed the Ghost Eye.

At this point, both of Zhang Ze's eyes had been replaced with Fierce Ghost eyes. If Chen Ge's Yin Eyes were merely yin-yang eyes possessed by a living person, Zhang Ze's Ghost Eyes were purely a part of a ghost.

After replacing both eyes, Zhang Ze squeezed them shut, only reopening them after a long while.

His eyes were bloodshot, an eerie crimson red. From time to time, they twitched strangely as they peered around their surroundings.

Through these eyes.

Zhang Ze saw Master Guan at the doorway.

But Master Guan's eyes were vacant now. He stood stupidly at the door, like an unconscious wooden stake throughout the whole ordeal. Zhang Ze waved a hand before him, but Master Guan showed no response.

"No... birds..."

Ghost Face made a weak sound.

Zhang Ze sneered. "You're hiding in the cracks. The Crows have gotten lost and can't find the exit. Crawl out, and I'll let them fly away."

As his words fell.

Zhang Ze saw a deathly gray face squeeze out of the gap. It belonged to a middle-aged man, its surface covered in dense wrinkles, bearing an expression of venomous resentment and hatred.

Since both of the ghost's eyes had been gouged out, only empty eye sockets remained.

"Closer."

"Come closer."

"Open your mouth, and I'll let the Crows fly out."

Under Zhang Ze's patient, coaxing temptation, Ghost Face pressed itself close to the floor. Zhang Ze saw it more clearly now. This ghost had no body, not even a complete head—only a shriveled sheet of facial skin.

Considering the dead man's arm he had encountered in Lost Media No. 021 before.

Zhang Ze reasonably suspected that Lost Media No. 008 happened to be a face, which was why it had some ability to speak. But because it had no brain, it couldn't form coherent sentences or remember anything.

As for which video contained the ghost's head, that would be like looking for a needle in a haystack.

"Birds..."

Ghost Face rasped out the word.

Zhang Ze shoved his hand directly into Ghost Face's mouth.

Ghost Face realized the danger and tried to break free, but it was already too late.

Zhang Ze's hands were like sponges, crazily absorbing Ghost Face's skin. In mere seconds, Ghost Face completely withered, turning into a thin sheet of skin that was absorbed into Zhang Ze's hand.

Ghost Hands could consume ghosts to grow stronger.

Like all Red-Clothed Vengeful Ghosts, Zhang Ze had previously eaten a female ghost at the Peace Hotel, and now he had eaten another one.

After consuming Ghost Face, the soreness and pain in Zhang Ze's eyes gradually weakened. The restless twitching of his eyeballs also became less frequent, eventually settling into calm.

With Ghost Face eliminated.

Zhang Ze turned his gaze toward Master Guan.

Master Guan still had not regained his senses.

Zhang Ze sighed. If he could question Master Guan personally, perhaps he could learn what had happened inside the Police Station and even uncover the true nature of Lost Media.

"Rest in peace."

"I miscalculated. Lost Media all have paranormal effects. I shouldn't have left you alone to repair the videotape and let you die so horribly."

Zhang Ze covered Master Guan's eyes. Master Guan slowly backed away several steps, obediently clearing the exit and signaling that Zhang Ze could leave the Police Station.

Zhang Ze was in no hurry to leave.

The mission required him to remain until daylight, and it was only a little past two in the morning.

The long night had only just begun.

"Since the dead can't talk, the real surveillance footage can't possibly be fake, right?"

Zhang Ze left the Technical Department and entered the Network Monitoring Department of West City Police Station instead. Since Lost Media No. 008 had been confirmed not to be actual surveillance footage, but merely images seen through Ghost Eyes.

Then perhaps the genuine surveillance recordings could reveal what Zhang Ze wanted to know.

The desks in the Network Monitoring Department were filled with all kinds of monitors. Most were connected to the Police Station's internal cameras, while some were linked to the cafeteria, parking lot, and dormitory cameras.

Zhang Ze pulled up the surveillance footage. This time, it finally felt right.

The displayed footage had a timestamp in its upper-right corner. Although the image quality was mediocre, it did not randomly black out for a moment every so often like blinking. It was clearly authentic surveillance footage.

He set the time to 24:00.

Zhang Ze first looked at the Technical Department's camera feed.

Through the footage, Zhang Ze saw Master Guan sitting at the desk, diligently repairing the videotape. Everything was exactly the same as Lost Media No. 008, except...

"Hm?"

"There's no police uniform on the chair."

Zhang Ze sensed something strange. Master Guan himself was wearing an old-style police uniform, but Zhang Ze had clearly seen that uniform tossed onto the chair earlier.

Yet the surveillance footage showed that Master Guan had been wearing his uniform the entire time and had never taken it off.

There was a discrepancy between the surveillance footage and what Zhang Ze had seen.

It couldn't be an illusion. After changing to Ghost Eyes, Zhang Ze had gradually adapted to the Fierce Ghost's eyes. He could even personally see and touch the Master Guan hidden within the video. A mere surveillance recording could not possibly deceive him.

Since it wasn't deception, it meant that when Ghost Face appeared, some kind of change had occurred within the Police Station, creating a Surface World and an Otherworld.