Jiang Chen even thoughtfully shut the RV door for the human and ghost.
Soon, the entire vehicle began rocking. If you ignored Zheng Shaoming's agonized screams, the scene might have seemed rather suggestive.
Blood dripped steadily through the gaps in the vehicle.
By the end, Zheng Shaoming seemed to have suffered a complete mental breakdown. He screamed incoherently while desperately smashing his head against the door, apparently convinced that even death would be better than this.
"...I didn't do it on purpose back then either. Why are you doing this to me... Aah!!"
Nearly ten minutes later, one final, despairing scream rang out, and the place fell deathly silent.
The students were both terrified and excited.
That bastard Zheng Shaoming had to be dead!
Jiang Chen told them to head back first, then opened the door with Zhao Erhu. Inside was a scene straight out of hell. Zheng Shaoming's body was nowhere to be seen; blood and flesh coated the walls.
Sun Meiling was gone too.
Suddenly, an icy wind howled, and a piercing chill descended from above.
The female ghost had hidden herself well, tucked into a corner above the door, hoping to catch them off guard.
But neither of them was born yesterday.
Both seemed to have anticipated this.
Golden light erupted from Zhao Erhu's body, while Jiang Chen rolled up his sleeves.
"Erhu, shall we?"
"Let's!"
They exchanged a glance. Naturally, they weren't about to let this ghost get away with it. They charged inside, shut the door, and gave her another vicious beating.
Zhao Erhu proclaimed that monks should be compassionate as he swung his enormous, golden-lit fists, mercilessly smashing them into the female ghost's face.
Not to be outdone, Jiang Chen infused his palm with the Great Strength Bull Demon Fist and stepped up to deliver several resounding slaps.
Seriously? We helped you get revenge, and you still wanted to hurt us? We'd be doing you a disservice if we didn't beat you up.
This incident deepened his understanding of ghosts.
Even with a ghost who retained a shred of humanity, you couldn't expect her to stop harming people. Anyone who truly believed otherwise wouldn't last three days during the resurgence of supernatural horrors!
By the time they dragged the barely breathing female ghost back to the Mountain Villa, the professionals had arrived.
A figure leaped straight out of a helicopter.
It was over a hundred meters up, far more outrageous than Jiang Chen's jump from the twelfth floor.
Boom!!!
A terrifying crash rang out as an enormous wave erupted from the Lake. While the water surged outward, the person who had jumped took a few steps forward.
She moved like a phantom. Everyone saw only a fleeting shadow before a woman with long hair hanging over her shoulders stood on the shore, not a single drop of water on her black, form-fitting combat suit.
"Xu Lei, Netherworld Messenger of the Jiangbei City Branch's C-Class squad." The woman quickly fixed her gaze on Jiang Chen and Zhao Erhu, her icy face utterly expressionless.
"Come with me."
She gestured and walked off to the side.
The helicopter was still slowly descending. Once it reached a certain height, a rope ladder dropped down, and soldiers in special operations uniforms climbed down one after another.
They approached the students, first to confiscate and inspect their recording devices, and second to have everyone sign a confidentiality agreement.
The method seemed crude, but it was enough. Even before the resurgence of supernatural horrors, people had often fabricated paranormal stories.
Without solid video evidence, no story would cause much of a stir, no matter how convincing it sounded.
Add a confidentiality agreement, and 99.9 percent of ordinary people wouldn't make trouble.
Meanwhile, Jiang Chen, Zhao Erhu, and Xu Lei reached the guest-room corridor.
Xu Lei reached out to grab the female ghost, Sun Meiling. Strangely, however, she was still over a meter away from her.
Yet as she moved, the hand of her shadow suddenly stretched out and seized the female ghost.
Jiang Chen and Zhao Erhu both retreated two steps, watching the woman with extreme wariness.
They had noticed when she landed that she had avoided injury because her shadow had wrapped around her body.
And when Xu Lei acted just now, they had clearly sensed an icy aura ten times more terrifying than Sun Meiling's emanating from Xu Lei's shadow.
It seemed another person lived inside her shadow!
Both men felt a chill of dread.
Noticing their reactions, Xu Lei gave them a cold glance without saying anything. Holding Sun Meiling with her shadow, she seemed to examine her, then nodded.
"That's right. She does retain a shred of humanity. I'll take this ghost with me. The Netherworld will award you both the corresponding reward points through the Underworld App later."
Without asking for their opinions, she turned and left, taking Sun Meiling with her.
Zhao Erhu and Jiang Chen said nothing either.
She had worn a cold expression the whole time, as though someone owed her money. Still, she had every right to be proud. She looked barely older than the two of them, yet she was already a C-Class expert!
"Heh, no need to envy her. They pay a price for that kind of power." Seeing Jiang Chen staring ahead without blinking, Zhao Erhu offered a few words of consolation.
Jiang Chen smacked his lips. "Nice ass."
Xu Lei's steps faltered almost imperceptibly.
Ghost Qi +500.
Zhao Erhu opened his mouth, looked at Xu Lei, then at Jiang Chen. Cold sweat broke out across his back. He was terrified that this formidable woman would get angry, turn around, and wipe them both out.
Only after Xu Lei was far away did he dare give Jiang Che a thumbs-up. "You've got guts! You even dared to hit on a Netherworld Messenger. You'd better pray you never run into her during a paranormal incident, or you'll be in deep trouble!"
Jiang Chen didn't care. Instead, his eyes lit up. One sentence had earned him five hundred ghost qi!
He had nearly worked himself to death taking down two vicious ghosts for that same amount.
He even considered chasing after this icy, beautiful Netherworld Messenger to chat a little more...
Fortunately, Jiang Chen ultimately abandoned that utterly shameless idea. Her attitude had merely been a little poor; there was no need to annoy her over and over.
Looks like even ghosts sealed inside Netherworld Messengers can give me ghost qi. Once I get back, I can look into how to milk those Netherworld Messengers...
Everything afterward was simple. Xu Lei took Sun Meiling back to the branch by helicopter to report in.
The remaining cleanup personnel waited for the bus with Jiang Chen and the others.
The Netherworld had specially dispatched the bus, and it arrived a few hours later. Everyone boarded and immediately settled down to sleep. The special operations soldiers carrying live ammunition gave them an immense sense of security.
Everyone felt relieved. After a night's sleep, they would be home in the morning, and this string of terrifying events would finally be over.
On the bus, Jiang Chen tallied his gains from the trip.
First was ghost qi: over thirty-two hundred, enough to draw three Two-Star Monster Transformation Cards!
That was his greatest gain.
As for points, the five vicious ghosts he had killed totaled 300. Taking out the Dark Alliance member Zhang Xianhai and the Ghost Infant earned 1,600, but since the two men had killed them together, they each received 800.
The largest award came from the Netherworld: a whopping 3,000 points!
Jiang Chen hadn't intended to keep it all for himself. He had wanted to give Zhao Erhu half, but the other man adamantly refused to accept more than a thousand.
After all, without Zhao Erhu's reminder, the female ghost would have been killed long ago, and they wouldn't have earned so much.
His total earnings in Underworld App points for this trip: 3,100.
Adding his previous savings, Jiang Chen checked his balance and found that he could almost afford some of the cheapest mid-grade magical artifacts!
Ordinarily, an unusual person below D-Rank was doing very well if they owned even one low-grade magical artifact.
Usually, only C-Class experts could afford mid-grade magical artifacts.
B-Class grandmasters could afford high-grade magical artifacts... and so on.
And magical artifacts below King Artifacts essentially had no requirements for use. The stronger the magical artifact you wielded, the greater your combat power!
Before you continue