Ghost Submarine!

Old Qin's previously clouded eyes instantly grew fathomless, and a supernatural presence as heavy as a mountain spread through the office.

"It seems I've been asleep for too long. Even the youngsters think they can extort me as they please now."

Before he finished speaking, every light on the twentieth floor went out.

An indescribable chill and decay instantly filled the room like a tangible mire.

Lin Cheng sat quietly in the executive chair. He did not even lift his eyelids, much less dodge.

The next second.

An unfathomably deep blue light erupted without warning, with Lin Cheng at its center!

There was no deafening noise, only a suffocating silence.

A strong smell of seawater, salty and briny, instantly permeated the air.

The deep blue Ghost Domain resembled an inverted ocean. Not only did it instantly swallow Old Qin's supernatural presence, it also engulfed the entire Paranormal Forum building with brute force, and even began spreading beyond it!

Old Qin's withered body faltered slightly.

He felt a terrifying pressure, as though he were standing naked on the ocean floor ten thousand meters below the surface, with seawater bearing down from every direction, trying to crush his bones.

But that did not stop him.

A stick-thin hand covered in age spots reached straight for Lin Cheng's neck, bearing a terrifying supernatural rule that could instantly erase a top-tier Ghost Handler.

There was no room to dodge.

Yet the instant that hand touched Lin Cheng's body.

There was no sound of flesh tearing, nor any thunderous collision of supernatural forces.

Old Qin's hand passed through Lin Cheng's chest without resistance, as though it had gone through a deep blue hologram!

With the Ghost Submarine at sixty percent supernatural strength, Lin Cheng existed in an intangible state outside reality while inside his Ghost Domain.

Any physical or supernatural attack was ineffective against him.

Old Qin slowly withdrew his hand. The deep-sea pressure around him remained.

He sighed, reined in his supernatural presence, and once again became an ordinary old man nearing the end of his life.

"Just as headquarters' records said. Your ability really is troublesome."

Old Qin shook his head, a trace of complicated emotion in his voice. "I really don't know how you managed to control the Ghost Submarine."

Lin Cheng smiled. Deep blue light flowed around him, casting his face alternately into light and shadow.

"Old Qin, I know you're in a hurry, but don't get ahead of yourself."

Lin Cheng leaned back in his chair and interlaced his fingers.

"It's not as though I said I wouldn't help. Let's just say I was helping you stretch those old bones."

He leaned forward slightly, the smile on his lips fading a little. "If I wanted to, I could destroy headquarters at any time. Old Qin, do you know the ocean? It's a terror vast enough to envelop the entire continent. It covers seventy-one percent of the world."

Seeing that his attack was completely ineffective, and that the other man's Ghost Domain was frighteningly stable, Old Qin stopped wasting his effort.

He sat back down in the chair opposite Lin Cheng, regaining the composure he had shown when they first met.

"Tell me, then. What are your terms?"

Lin Cheng tapped his fingers lightly against the desk, and the deep blue Ghost Domain began slowly contracting.

"Since you came in person, Old Qin, of course I have to show you some respect. As for my terms, I haven't decided yet."

Lin Cheng stared into Old Qin's eyes. "But I want headquarters to owe me a favor. Or rather, I want you to owe me one personally, Old Qin. Is that acceptable?"

Old Qin gave Lin Cheng a long look, a meaningful glint passing through his cloudy eyes.

In this world of supernatural resurgence, a favor from a top-tier Ghost Handler was worth far more than any gold or supernatural object.

"To think this old face of mine still counts for something. I didn't come for nothing."

Old Qin stood and smoothed the creases in his Zhongshan suit. "In that case, I'll head back first. I'll remember the favor I owe you."

Lin Cheng smiled faintly without getting up. "Then I won't see you out."

Old Qin turned around and paused briefly, speaking without looking back.

"Would you like me to resolve the supernatural incident currently taking place in Dachang City on my way?"

Lin Cheng stood, his tone level. "No need to trouble you with that, Old Qin. A favor is valuable. Spending it on something so minor wouldn't be worth it."

Old Qin said nothing more. His figure vanished from the office in an instant.

After confirming that Old Qin had left, Lin Cheng willed the deep blue Ghost Domain to dissipate completely.

Just one hundredth of a second after the Ghost Domain vanished!

Without any warning, Lin Cheng's chest abruptly caved in.

Then his lungs exploded as though they had been stuffed with high explosives!

Scarlet blood mixed with fragments of internal organs sprayed outward, instantly staining the expensive desk and floor-to-ceiling windows in front of him red.

This was the side effect of the Ghost Submarine's intangibility.

Every lethal attack avoided while intangible would be inflicted on him in full as a side effect the instant he released his Ghost Domain!

Old Qin's earlier strike was enough to instantly kill any captain-level figure.

Lin Cheng's body slumped in the chair like a torn burlap sack, all life extinguished.

Drip, drip.

Blood dripped from the edge of the desk.

One second, two seconds... seven seconds.

The instant the seventh second ticked past.

The blood and flesh splattered throughout the office vanished instantly, as though time had reversed.

Lin Cheng sat unharmed in his chair, without even a trace of blood on his clothes.

He looked around in confusion, his brow furrowing slightly.

"What just happened? Did Old Qin leave?"

The second supernatural entity inside him was the Ghost Fish.

Every seven seconds, it automatically reset every aspect of his state.

But the price was that he completely forgot everything that had happened during those seven seconds.

Lin Cheng sat in his chair, his eyes vacant.

One second, two seconds, three seconds.

Only after a full three seconds of blankness did life return to his empty eyes.

The third supernatural entity inside him, the Ghost Brain, began to work.

The Ghost Brain recorded everything he saw and experienced without missing a thing, and could insert any memory into anyone's mind.

As his memories returned, Lin Cheng took a deep breath and wiped nonexistent cold sweat from his forehead.

"That attack actually left me blank for a full three seconds." A trace of gravity flickered in Lin Cheng's eyes.

"But after enduring sixty percent of the ocean pressure, Old Qin probably wasn't feeling too good either. It looks like his ghost is close to reviving too. He certainly left in a hurry."

"That was only a probe, but its supernatural strength really was terrifying. I actually had to use the power of all three supernatural entities at once to withstand it."

Four seconds later, Lin Cheng's movements abruptly stalled again for 0.01 seconds before returning to normal.

To an outside observer, nothing about him had changed.

"Huanggang Village might be a minor nuisance, but getting a favor from Old Qin still makes this worthwhile."

"I just wonder how much more headquarters has kept from me..."

"All four Ghost Handlers died in Huanggang Village. Are there really only four suppression slots?"

"Or did headquarters suffer greater losses than Old Qin admitted, with more than four dead? Otherwise, why would Old Qin resort to force to threaten me?"