Conditions for the Old Man's Appearance

When he saw the words appearing on it, he hesitated for quite a while.

In the end, Yang Jian did not throw away the brown piece of Human-Skin Parchment.

The reason was simple: he did not want to follow in Zhou Zheng's footsteps and die from a ghost's revival.

Although the parchment gave off an evil, eerie feeling, it was an unknown opportunity for Yang Jian. Perhaps it could truly reveal some important information to him, or perhaps it really could show him the future.

"I can tell that keeping this Human-Skin Parchment definitely won't be a good thing. But I don't have any room to choose right now. No matter how bad things get, at worst I'll just die. That's still better than suffering a ghost's revival." Yang Jian's gaze flickered. "Besides, if I'm more careful and stay on guard, perhaps things won't get too bad."

Gritting his teeth, he rolled up the parchment and stuffed it into his pocket.

He had already decided to keep it.

At that moment.

Zhang Wei's phone suddenly rang again in his hand. Fang Jing's name appeared on the caller ID.

Yang Jian came back to his senses, and his gaze shifted slightly when he saw Fang Jing's name.

He had nearly forgotten that Fang Jing was still nearby.

After thinking for a moment, he chose to answer.

"Hello, Yang Jian, I already gave you the thing. You can't hang up on me! Hurry, hurry and tell me how to get out of here. Tell me now!" Fang Jing's voice was panicked. He was clearly terrified.

Because he was all alone now, with none of his classmates beside him.

Although he had shaken off the footsteps behind him, he was still inside the Ghost Domain. As long as he did not leave the Ghost Domain, any safety was only temporary.

Yang Jian's eyes flickered as his mind raced.

He decided to use Fang Jing for an experiment.

Very quickly, he said, "Fang Jing, I won't personally take you out of here, but I'll teach you a method. It's how I survived too."

"What method? Teach me, hurry!" Fang Jing urged.

"Your phone can still access the internet, right? I'll send you a link now. Open the forum and find a post by a user called Lightning King."

After saying that, he sent over the address of the ghost story forum he had looked at earlier.

Fang Jing quickly received the message and said, "I found the post by that Lightning King. It's a popular post."

"Open it, ignore everyone else, and scroll to the end," Yang Jian said.

Sweat beaded on Fang Jing's fingers as he tapped the screen, opened the post, and scrolled to the end as instructed.

The moment he saw it, his whole body trembled.

A photograph.

The photograph showed an old man in a long robe, his body covered in livor mortis, his face numb and ashen.

The old man stood outside a glass window, as though he were passing by.

That was right.

This was the old man who had knocked outside the classroom earlier.

"Do you see the photograph? Save it," Yang Jian said.

"O-okay." Swallowing hard, Fang Jing saved the photograph in fear.

The moment he finished, Yang Jian immediately looked around, watching the situation in every direction.

One minute, two minutes, three minutes passed, but the old man did not appear. He seemed to have already left this place, though no one knew where he had gone.

But Yang Jian knew that the Ghost Domain was still there. The old man had not left.

He was merely outside their field of vision.

After all, the school was huge. It was not strange that they could not see that thing.

"Yang Jian, Yang Jian, say something! I did what you told me to do, but nothing happened!" Fang Jing's voice came through the phone.

"Was my guess wrong? The old man didn't appear outside the classroom because I saw his photograph?" Yang Jian frowned.

Earlier, three hypotheses had surfaced in his mind.

The post made by Lightning King on the forum had originated from a hospital in a city in another province.

That was at least several hundred kilometers away from Dachang City.

What were the odds that the same ghost would appear at a hospital in another province and then at this school?

Yang Jian felt they were very, very low.

Unless there was only one possibility: the old man had been drawn here by something.

A signal, a condition, or perhaps a person.

So his first guess had been that it was related to Zhou Zheng.

The old man had been looking for Zhou Zheng. After all, Zhou Zheng was a ghost rider and had definitely dealt with ghosts before.

But with Zhou Zheng dead, and since Yang Jian himself had only seen the old man for the first time, that hypothesis could be discarded.

The second guess was that it was related to Fang Jing.

But the old man had appeared long ago, and Fang Jing was still alive even now, so that could be ruled out too.

Then there was the third guess. The old man had been drawn here by Yang Jian himself.

If that assumption was correct, then the only connections between Yang Jian and the old man were that he had read this forum story, seen his photograph, and heard the knocking sound recorded by Lightning King.

"If it isn't the photograph, then it's that knocking sound."

Thinking of this, Yang Jian continued, "Fang Jing, do you see the audio file below? Play it. This is your chance to leave this place."

"Okay." Fang Jing opened the audio file.

Knock, knock knock. A dull knocking sound, like someone rapping against a human heart, rang out and quickly spread through the darkness.

Fang Jing raised his phone and shone its light around. "Yang Jian, nothing happened."

However, Yang Jian's pupils suddenly contracted, and a look of horror appeared on his face.

An old man—an old man in a long robe, his face ashen and covered in livor mortis—had appeared at some point on the small path through the school's greenery. His steps were stiff, his movements slow, as he walked toward Fang Jing one step at a time.

Sure enough, he had appeared.

And his appearance made no sense, as though the old man had been standing there all along.

Damn it, my guess was right. That old man came for me because I heard that knocking sound. A chill enveloped Yang Jian's heart.

"Yang Jian? Hello, Yang Jian, say something!"

Fang Jing still did not know that the old man was walking toward him and continued asking.

Yang Jian slowly backed away, avoiding the old man's line of sight as he cautiously left. "Keep listening to the audio file. Don't stop."

"Will this really work?"

Fang Jing replayed the audio file as he asked.

Knock, knock knock.

The eerie knocking sound kept playing from the phone in his hand.

Although it did not seem to have any effect, Fang Jing noticed that the footsteps around him had stopped. It might have looked useless, but it could not be said to have no effect at all.

Yang Jian's method should work. Thinking this, Fang Jing relaxed slightly.

But what he did not know was that behind him, the old man in the black long robe, covered in livor mortis, was steadily drawing closer.

Yang Jian immediately left the trees and moved far away from the old man, returning to the sports field from earlier.

He was at least several hundred meters away now. Fang Jing and the grove were no longer visible.

"Fang Jing, are you still alive?" Yang Jian suddenly asked.

"Nonsense, of course I'm still alive," Fang Jing said.

Yang Jian said, "Sorry. I apologize. I lied to you."

"What did you lie to me about?" Fang Jing froze, completely confused.

"The old man who knocked outside the classroom earlier was drawn there by me. That thing came looking for me."

Yang Jian said, "I didn't know before, but I know now. I think the condition that drew the old man out was related to that audio file. Yes, the knocking sound you just heard."

"What?"

Fang Jing's heart violently clenched, and horror filled his face.

That knocking sound could draw the old man over, and he had played it so many times just now.

Fear flooded through his body again, and he instinctively took several steps back.

Bang!

His body seemed to collide with something. It was cold and stiff.

When he turned around, an old man with an ashen face covered in livor mortis stared at Fang Jing blankly.

His body could not move.

An aged, withered, icy hand slowly rose and gradually covered Fang Jing's face. The force was immense. He felt the bones in his face being crushed.

"Yang... Yang Jian!" Fang Jing's terrified, resentful scream came through the phone.

Yang Jian remained unmoved and said into the phone, "You taught me this. Don't be too naive."

After saying that, he hung up.