Strongest Ghost-Catching System

The hot, damp air hit Chen Feng in the face again. He knew a new loop had begun.

"Handsome, you don't look well. You'd better find somewhere to shelter before it rains."

You keep chasing me down and killing me. How the hell am I supposed to look well?

Despite the anger boiling inside him, Chen Feng forced a smile and waved. "Next time. Definitely next time."

After sending the Landlady away, Chen Feng calmed himself and reviewed what had happened in the previous loops.

"I died again."

"If I didn't have the Save-Load System, I'd be three lives in debt by now. No wonder so many transmigrators before me met their end here. This place is seriously dangerous."

"Judging by the first and fourth loops, it doesn't matter where I am—inside the Happiness Internet Cafe or in a car miles away. As soon as I fall asleep, the Landlady drags me into the Dream Realm, sucks me dry, and kills me."

"So if I want to see tomorrow's sunrise, I have to strike first and kill the Landlady before I go to sleep."

With his goal set, Chen Feng called up the system.

[User: Chen Feng]

[Save-Load Count: 5]

[System Points: 4]

[Quest: Eliminate the Happiness Internet Cafe (incomplete)]

[Quest: Eliminate the Water Ghost (complete)]

"Completed quests can't be repeated. There goes my plan to farm points from the girl who jumped into the river and the Water Ghost."

Chen Feng looked at the four System Points he had earned last time but did not rush to exchange them all for more Save-Load Counts. He still had a new system to choose. What if it offered something good, but he had no points left to buy it?

Once again, he had to choose one of three boxes.

This time, the new box replacing the Great Villain System was numbered LY-03-ZQZG. It said, "The goal is to become a master of ghosts!"

This... this is it!

When Chen Feng saw that the code for the system's category stood for the supernatural, he was overjoyed. Images of countless classic figures spun through his mind: a Maoshan Taoist wielding the Five Thunder Arts, an exorcist carrying a silver crossbow, an onmyoji commanding shikigami, a Medium who could commune with gods and ghosts...

I finally hit the jackpot!

Without a moment's hesitation, Chen Feng grabbed the supernatural box and absorbed it in an instant:

[Ding! Congratulations on activating the Strongest Ghost-Catching System!]

A passage of text appeared before Chen Feng's eyes.

[One: Defeat a ghost in battle.

Two: Fulfill the ghost's obsession and wish.

Once the user meets both conditions, they may subdue the ghost and make it a subordinate.]

"I have to beat it and grant its wish? Those conditions are harsh."

Harsh as they were, Chen Feng already had a promising candidate: the Water Ghost.

First, Chen Feng knew the Water Ghost was weak against fire. He had also successfully killed it in the previous loop, so meeting the first condition should be no problem.

Second, Chen Feng had seen the Water Ghost storm into the Happiness Internet Cafe during the second loop. In the third, Old Li had told him the story behind it. Chen Feng was certain its wish was to take revenge on the Landlady!

Once he had his target, Chen Feng again stopped Old Li and Zhang Ruobing as they left the Internet Cafe. His message boiled down to six words: "Officers, hungry. Food. Please feed me."

Then they headed to Cihang Bridge.

On the way, Old Li told the story again. "The reason so many people have died at Cihang Bridge is—a Water Ghost."

Chen Feng said, "Oh."

Old Li was taken aback. "You're not surprised? It's a Water Ghost!"

Chen Feng replied coldly, "Tell me something I don't know."

"Superstitious nonsense. I'd rather listen to the news."

Zhang Ruobing turned on the radio. After a stretch of soothing background music, a man's polished announcer voice came on:

"The annual Youth Mental Health Work Briefing will be held at nine o'clock on the morning of the last day of this month, in the Municipal Administrative Center's conference hall... Professors specializing in mental health from our city have been invited to guide minors toward engaging with the online world in a healthy, responsible, and civilized way."

As the dull news continued, the car reached Cihang Bridge.

Then came the same old sequence: the girl jumped into the river, the Water Ghost appeared, and it began climbing the rope.

This time, however, Chen Feng did not let Old Li and Zhang Ruobing cut the rope. Instead, he asked for a light.

"Uncle Li, let me borrow your lighter."

"Sure, but I don't have any cigarettes."

"What's the fun in lighting a cigarette? Watch me light up a Water Ghost. Now that's a rush."

With that, Chen Feng waited for it to come to him and set the Water Ghost ablaze as it climbed the rescue rope.

The flames spread with terrifying speed. In the previous loop, the Water Ghost had been hit by a car and shot more than fifty times before the fire finally destroyed it. This time, merely setting it alight did not kill it outright. It collapsed on the ground, temporarily unable to fight.

Watching the charred figure writhe on the ground, Chen Feng stopped Old Li and Zhang Ruobing from firing their guns. He walked forward alone and said, "I know your story. I know that treacherous woman killed you, and you want revenge."

"And that bitch has her sights on me too. If I don't kill her, I won't survive the night. So I figure the enemy of my enemy is my friend. What do you say we team up?"

After his pitch, a system notification sounded in Chen Feng's ear.

[Ding! Congratulations, host. You have temporarily subdued the Water Ghost!]

[Water Ghost (temporarily subdued)]

[Resentment level: ★★★ (three stars)]

[Trait: Affinity for water. The Water Ghost has immense strength in water and can teleport short distances through connected bodies of water.]

[Trait: Affinity for rain. When it rains, the Water Ghost can leave the water, and its form becomes blurred and difficult to make out.]

[Weakness: Fire. Though born of water, the Water Ghost is covered in corpse oil and ignites on contact with flame.]

Detailed information about the Water Ghost surfaced in Chen Feng's mind.

"So the Water Ghost can teleport short distances through water. No wonder it suddenly appeared in the second-floor bathroom during the second loop when it had just been on the Internet Cafe's first floor. And in the fourth loop, it caught up with us even after we'd driven so far away."

As for resentment level, that was how the system measured a ghost's fighting strength. The more people a ghost had harmed and the stronger its resentment, the higher its star rating and the greater its power.

After dealing with the Water Ghost, Chen Feng told the still-shaken officers, "I've subdued the Water Ghost beneath Cihang Bridge. It won't hurt anyone again."

Old Li could not help asking, "Thank you for saving me, but who exactly are you?"

Chen Feng said, "Who I am doesn't matter. What matters is that I came here specifically for the homeless people's disappearance case."

Surprise flashed in Old Li's eyes. "You know about that case too?"

Chen Feng nodded. He had not wanted to arouse suspicion, but anyone with a functioning brain could tell which was more dangerous: the Landlady with a nine-point bounty or the Water Ghost with a three-point bounty.

To deal with the Landlady, Chen Feng needed more help in a fight. He had to persuade Old Li. "Officers, don't panic when I tell you this. The homeless people's disappearance case wasn't committed by one person!"

Zhang Ruobing asked, "How many people were involved?"

"You misunderstand," Chen Feng said. "I don't mean it was a gang. I mean it wasn't committed by a person at all."

Normally, Zhang Ruobing would have clicked her tongue and decided he was crazy.

But after what she had just seen with the Water Ghost, even she was beginning to waver. "You're saying the disappearances are also connected to something supernatural?"

"Exactly."

Chen Feng told them everything: how the Demoness Landlady lured homeless men with her looks, hired them as Internet Cafe attendants, killed them one by one, and hung their skins in the attic.

"That doesn't make sense." Old Li had received plenty of tips and had long suspected the Happiness Internet Cafe, but after today's search, he said, "We went up to the third floor. There was nothing unusual there besides some wood and sand."

Chen Feng narrowed his eyes. Sand absorbs water, and wood burns easily. Looks like the Landlady knew all along the Water Ghost would come for her. As for why they didn't find the skins... Did she put them away?

Old Li suggested, "Why don't we go back and investigate together?"

"No, no, no!"

Chen Feng waved his hands frantically. The Landlady had killed nearly a hundred transmigrators with systems. If just the three of them went, they would be walking straight to their deaths.

"Uncle Li, you need to bring as many people as you can."

Old Li looked troubled. "If we want to bring in more officers, we need evidence."

Chen Feng urged him, "Uncle Li, if we don't shut down the Happiness Internet Cafe tonight, we may never get another chance. Who knows how many more people she'll kill?"

At those words,

Old Li's gaze grew resolute. "All right. I believe you."

Zhang Ruobing turned sharply toward her mentor. "But sir, what if he's wrong..."

Old Li cut his apprentice off. "Even if he is, we have to go. That's what being police officers means."

And so, an hour later,

Three police cars pulled up outside the Happiness Internet Cafe. Amid blaring sirens and pouring rain, eight officers armed with heavy-duty batons and stun guns got out, rushed inside, and shouted:

"Don't move! Hands on your heads and get down!"

"We have significant evidence linking this Internet Cafe to the recent disappearances. Cooperate with our investigation."

"Anyone not involved, leave the premises immediately."

Standing among the officers, Chen Feng felt a surge of satisfaction. Landlady, I'm fucking here!