There was not a ripple of emotion in Lin Cheng's eyes.
"Those people at headquarters really know how to scheme."
He knew headquarters' way of doing things all too well.
Those at the top always put interests and balance first.
The Huanggang Village incident-in other words, the so-called Ghost Messenger.
All four elite Ghost Handlers dispatched by headquarters had perished there without so much as making a splash.
Old Qin had casually called it a loss for headquarters and told him to retrieve the Ghost Coffin.
But Lin Cheng saw right through it.
"If only four people had died, headquarters would never have sent Elder Qin all the way to Dachang City to put me in my place."
A cold smile curled Lin Cheng's lips as he looked out through the floor-to-ceiling window at the city shrouded in gloom.
"Headquarters is definitely hiding something from me. As for what..."
Lin Cheng narrowed his eyes slightly. The answer was obvious: the number of ghosts it could suppress!
The Ghost Messenger's unsolvable suppression rule surely did more than merely suppress four ghosts.
Headquarters' losses were far more devastating than Elder Qin had admitted.
And now, the Paranormal Forum's influence in Dachang City and Dahai City was at its peak. It had become a behemoth that headquarters could no longer fully control.
Those people at headquarters were afraid. They could no longer keep it in check.
So they wanted to use Huanggang Village as a blade, borrowing the Ghost Messenger's terrifying suppression power to severely weaken the Paranormal Forum.
"They're already planning to have me act personally, yet they still think they can wear down the Paranormal Forum?"
Lin Cheng scoffed softly, his voice dripping with undisguised mockery.
"What a pipe dream."
In a clash of absolute Paranormal Power, schemes were the most useless thing of all.
Setting headquarters' schemes aside for the moment, Lin Cheng raised a hand. With a slight shift of his intent, ripples spread through the empty air before him.
The Sky Screen's split-screen view appeared again, showing the Rich Benevolence Mall engulfed in darkness.
At the same time, he tapped his specially made earpiece twice, reactivating the communications channel.
The instant the connection went through, Liu Xiaoyu's anxious cry came through the earpiece, her voice almost cracking.
"Boss Lin! You're finally back online! Why did you suddenly disconnect?"
"I had a little personal business to handle," Lin Cheng said evenly. "How are things on Yang Jian's end?"
"Bad! Really bad!"
Liu Xiaoyu spoke rapidly over the channel, accompanied by the frantic clatter of keys.
"I just used your top-level clearance to access headquarters' classified database."
"What Yang Jian encountered in the Rich Benevolence Mall is a ghost with a human mind!"
"To be precise, it's a Ghost Controller!"
"During a Ghost Handler's ghost resurgence, the ghost took complete control and devoured the living person's consciousness."
"Now it not only possesses a ghost's killing rules, but also retains a human's cunning and ability to disguise itself!"
Lin Cheng showed little surprise at Liu Xiaoyu's report.
His gaze settled on the Sky Screen's split-screen view.
The footage was replaying now, paused at the moment the Headless Paranormal Shadow pressed Chao Tianxiang's head onto its own neck.
The Ten-Thousand-Year Wisdom Soul Bone gave off a faint white glow before the dense Paranormal Power instantly assimilated it into pitch-black charcoal.
"I never expected a Soul Bone from the Douluo Continent to react to a ghost like this."
Lin Cheng offered his assessment with keen interest.
"A Soul Bone is itself a crystallization of a Soul Beast's energy after death, carrying resentment and lingering instincts."
"Under the onslaught of Paranormal Power, it actually transformed directly into a substance resembling a ghost's Puzzle Piece."
"If Soul Bones from the Douluo Continent really can be controlled as Puzzle Pieces, things will get interesting."
"That would give Ghost Handlers an entirely new way to mass-produce Puzzle Pieces."
Still, Lin Cheng had no intention of intervening in the Rich Benevolence Mall incident just yet.
Watching Yang Jian's jaw tighten slightly with tension on the screen, a trace of cold expectation flashed in his eyes.
"I made the road too smooth for Yang Jian earlier."
"Now Yang Jian can get some proper practice."
Lin Cheng cut off communications with Liu Xiaoyu, leaned back, and quietly enjoyed the game.
Meanwhile, on the third floor of the Rich Benevolence Mall.
The air here seemed frozen. The thick stench of corpses mingled with the smell of cheap perfume in the mall, turning the stomach.
The entire third floor was devoted to women's clothing.
Under the dim, flickering emergency lights, rows of plastic mannequins stood silently behind glass display windows.
Their stiff limbs and pupil-less eyes, illuminated by the faint green light, looked as though they might come alive at any moment.
Hunching his back, Bu Le cautiously crept up the escalator to the third floor.
His tiny, beady eyes darted furtively about, greedily searching for any opportunity he might find.
"E Kao and Tianya said the ghost was on the third floor. As long as I trap it with a ranged attack, I can control it!"
Bu Le licked his shriveled lips, keeping both hands behind his back, ready to summon the Sky Net Cover at any moment.
He rounded a corner and looked between two racks laden with clothes.
Suddenly, his feet stopped dead.
A familiar figure stood in an open space less than ten meters ahead.
Dressed in a grayish-brown robe, she stood motionless with her back to him.
"Snake Granny Chao Tianxiang?!"
Bu Le sucked in a breath, his mind instantly clearing.
That was Snake Granny of the Peerless Dragon Snake! A Soul Emperor above level sixty!
She was a formidable figure even in the Soul Master World. Crushing a Soul Ancestor like him would be easier than crushing an ant.
Bu Le's heart sank, and he began cursing inwardly.
Those bastards E Kao and Tianya have screwed me over! They only said there was an opportunity. Why didn't they mention Snake Granny was here too?
With Snake Granny here, how could there be anything left for me? I probably won't even get the scraps!
Bu Le began thinking about backing out.
A street thug like him knew better than anyone how to seek good fortune and avoid danger.
Not daring to act out of line in the slightest, he hurriedly withdrew the Soul Power fluctuations from his Martial Soul and plastered his usual fawning smile onto his face.
He bent at the waist, cupped his hands, and respectfully offered a junior's salute from ten meters away.
"I am Bu Le, your junior. I didn't know you were seeking treasure here, Senior Snake Granny. Please forgive my intrusion."
"I'll withdraw at once and won't disturb your enjoyment."
Having said that, Bu Le lowered his head and prepared to back away slowly.
Yet the figure ahead, her back still turned to him, showed no intention of answering.
Deathly silence!
The mall was so quiet that Bu Le could hear only his own increasingly heavy breathing.
Suddenly, the figure moved.
She did not turn around. Instead, she slowly twisted her neck with an unnaturally stiff motion.
Chao Tianxiang's face looked as pale as paper in the dim light.
But those hollow, lifeless eyes fixed themselves squarely on Bu Le.
Tap, tap. Dull footsteps sounded.
Snake Granny turned around and walked toward Bu Le, little by little.
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