I Really Did See a Ghost

Soon, Sheng An came in with Hao Jingye.

Zhang Jialiang looked behind Sheng An and Hao Jingye. Apart from the bureau chief and two police officers, there was no one else.

Where was everyone?

Where was the senior official?

The bureau chief spoke up. "This is the person you wanted to see. Tell Team Leader Sheng whatever you have to say."

Zhang Jialiang was startled.

What?

Someone this young?!

Seeing his doubt, Sheng An said calmly, "Don't worry. This is the Public Security Bureau. No one is trying to trick you."

Zhang Jialiang thought it over and agreed.

This was the Capital Public Security Bureau, and the bureau chief had brought her in himself. At the very least, she had more authority than the chief.

-even if she was ridiculously young.

Besides, when he refused to say anything, getting to meet someone with more authority than the bureau chief was already the best he could hope for.

There was no way he could actually meet the highest-ranking leader.

Seeing him relax, the bureau chief left and closed the door.

Inside the spacious conference room, only Sheng An, Hao Jingye, and Zhang Jialiang remained.

There was, of course, also an unobtrusive surveillance camera.

Zhang Jialiang looked a little nervous and still held his phone in a tight grip.

Sheng An sat opposite him and asked gently, "Can you tell us now? Mr. Zhang Jialiang, what is this important matter you wanted to report?"

Zhang Jialiang hesitated briefly.

Then he leaned forward and asked cautiously, "Ma'am... how open-minded are you?"

Sheng An instantly understood what he was thinking.

He was afraid she would not believe him.

Without saying anything, Sheng An signaled Hao Jingye with her eyes.

He immediately took out the credentials he had brought. The cover read-Special Affairs Office.

Those words startled Zhang Jialiang.

"The Special Affairs Office. You can probably imagine what we handle?"

Hao Jingye put his credentials away, his expression calm. "Whatever you've discovered, you can tell us. You might find it unbelievable, but to us, it really isn't anything extraordinary."

Space Espers, metal-type ability users, lightning-type ability users...

They really had seen plenty of strange things.

Whatever had shocked Zhang Jialiang was nothing unusual to them.

Zhang Jialiang said, "I saw a ghost."

His very first words were a bombshell.

Hao Jingye: "???"

-Sorry. Forget I said anything.

-He still hadn't seen enough of the world.

Seeing a ghost...

He really had never encountered that.

Hao Jingye's expression turned strange for a moment. He frowned. "Are you sure?"

Zhang Jialiang nodded emphatically. "Yes. I really did see a ghost!"

Sheng An and Hao Jingye fell silent. Neither spoke.

Zhang Jialiang grew anxious. He leaned farther forward and spoke urgently. "Please believe me. It was precisely because it was so strange and shocking that I wanted to meet a senior official and report it."

Seeing a ghost was simply too bizarre.

If he told an ordinary police officer, they would definitely ignore him.

Of course, a senior official might ignore him too.

But he had proof!

It was just that the implications were too great. Unless he was speaking to someone with considerable authority, he did not dare reveal his evidence lightly.

Hao Jingye turned toward Sheng An and blinked, bewildered. "Could there be ghosts as well as Aberrants?"

In the past, he would never have believed something like this.

But the apocalypse was approaching. It seemed nothing was impossible anymore...

Sheng An gave him a sidelong look, speechless. "Clearly, someone mistook a special ability for something else. You used to have a pretty sharp mind. Have Jiang Yu and Li Xin rubbed off on you?"

Hao Jingye rubbed his nose awkwardly.

Fine. For that brief instant, he really had not thought it through. His instinctive reaction had been-There are ghosts too, on top of Superpower People and people who've been reborn?

He cleared his throat and grew serious, placing his fingers on the keyboard to record Zhang Jialiang's account.

Thinking they did not believe him, Zhang Jialiang insisted again, "I'm telling the truth!"

Still clutching his phone, he rested it on the table and shifted uneasily.

Seeing him grow so anxious that his expression changed, Sheng An said calmly, "What you're telling us does sound questionable, doesn't it?"

After a pause, she continued slowly, "However, our Special Affairs Office has handled many similar incidents, and we have discovered some supernatural beings. You can tell us how you came to 'see a ghost.'"

The first statement made him anxious, but the second reassured him.

Between that push and pull, and the revelation that they had handled similar incidents, Zhang Jialiang no longer dared hesitate. He told them everything.

He took a deep breath to steady himself, organized his thoughts, and only then began:

"The day before yesterday, I took my girlfriend..."

Sheng An and Hao Jingye already knew the earlier part of the story.

What mattered was what had happened afterward at the guesthouse.

"The guesthouse is up in the mountains. Its selling point is being close to nature, so it's made up of little cabins scattered across the mountainside. Looking down from the wooden walkway, you can see dense mountain forest. There's also a small patch of woods at the foot of the mountain, with hardly anyone around."

"I hadn't had time to look around at first, but... ahem, my girlfriend went to take a shower. I was bored waiting for her, and then I remembered my new phone was pretty good. I figured I could take a few pictures."

"I was taking pictures from the walkway with my phone. When I zoomed in to photograph the scenery in the distance-I saw a ghost."

At this point, he sounded terrified yet excited, his emotions a complicated mix.

Neither Sheng An nor Hao Jingye interrupted him.

Zhang Jialiang swallowed and continued, "My new phone has a really good camera, so I saw it with my own eyes. Someone came out of that little patch of woods. No, it was a ghost."

"What did he look like?" Sheng An asked.

Zhang Jialiang said, "I couldn't make him out."

Sheng An raised an eyebrow. "Then how can you be sure he was a ghost?"

Zhang Jialiang said, "Because I saw it myself. He had just come out of the woods, and the next moment, he vanished without a trace!"

Hao Jingye frowned. "Without a trace? Could he have fallen somewhere? Or hidden somewhere you couldn't see?"

"No!" Zhang Jialiang shook his head fiercely. "Just disappearing wouldn't have been that frightening. What was frightening was that another instant later, he appeared several hundred meters away!"

Several hundred meters in an instant-what could that be but a ghost?

"Are you sure?"

"Yes!" Zhang Jialiang nodded furiously.

Sheng An held out her hand and said calmly, "Let me see the pictures or video you took."

"Huh?"

Zhang Jialiang was surprised. "How did you know?"

"You're certain you have evidence, and you haven't doubted for a moment whether you might have seen things wrong. You've also been clutching your phone this entire time... isn't it obvious?" Sheng An said matter-of-factly.

Zhang Jialiang: "?"

Was it that obvious?

After a brief moment of bewilderment, Zhang Jialiang quickly unlocked his phone and handed it over.

Sheng An looked through it, frowned slightly, then passed it to Hao Jingye.

Hao Jingye connected the phone to his computer and enlarged the images.

Letting out a long breath, Zhang Jialiang continued, "If I didn't have the pictures, I'd definitely be wondering whether I'd seen things wrong too. But the pictures are undeniable proof. Damn it, I really did see a ghost."

Once he was certain that the "ghost" had vanished from where he stood, his eyes had widened, and he had immediately started taking pictures.

He had taken several photos in quick succession.

They spanned only two seconds, and every one contained a blurry figure.

Hao Jingye processed the photos.

Sheng An looked at Zhang Jialiang and asked gently, "Is there anything else? Did that man come out of the woods? Which direction did he go?"

Zhang Jialiang instinctively shook his head.

Then, as though something had occurred to him, he added, "I only happened to catch him on camera. I don't know him. But judging by his build, he was a fat man. He came out of the woods wearing a hat. It was getting dark, so I couldn't make out which direction he went."

Sheng An nodded in acknowledgment and asked a few more questions.

Zhang Jialiang answered each one.

Just then, Hao Jingye spoke beside her, his expression serious. "Sister Sheng, the photos are ready, along with a 3D map of where they were taken. Have a look."

He moved the computer in front of Sheng An.

The processed photos made everything clear at a glance. After looking through them, Sheng An slowly nodded-

"The expert we've been waiting for may have finally appeared."