Seeking Answers from the Past

Five days have passed since the haze in Dachang City dissipated.

Dachang City needs renovation, and Yang Jian also needs renovation.

He needed to familiarize himself with his condition as soon as possible. After his resurrection, his body had undergone some unexpected changes, and he could feel that he was completely different from before.

Yang Jian couldn't quite tell what the difference was.

If I had to describe it, it would be a kind of rebirth, as if it had broken free from all the constraints of the past.

Secondly, various bodily functions have become somewhat strange.

Yang Jian examined him and found that half of his body was normal, while the other half was no longer alive but dead—cold, somewhat stiff, and covered in lividity.

"Perhaps I can still think like a human being, and haven't completely become a stranger, because my body hasn't completely died. Sometimes I wonder, what controls a person's thoughts—the mind or the body?"

"If it's the mind, then if the body dies, will that person still have emotions and desires? Without emotions and desires, that person is no longer a complete person."

After sitting quietly and thinking for a while, Yang Jian decided to give up on this somewhat philosophical question.

This is not something I should be concerned about right now.

What he cared about was how his body had changed after his resurrection, how he had completely merged with the ghost, and how he could perfectly control it.

The initial exploration was very brief, and it was just a rough application.

However, over these five days, Yang Jian gradually gained a clear understanding.

First and foremost is physical strength.

Yang Jian's not particularly muscular body possessed astonishing strength after merging with the ghostly shadow. He had tried it in the gym; he could lift a 500-kilogram barbell with one hand without feeling any discomfort. The changes brought about by this supernatural power were indeed incredible.

If he were to unleash his full power, he could reach the ton level using only his strength.

He's quite strong.

But that's useless. Being strong can only bully ordinary people at best, but it's useless against evil spirits. If strength were useful, then missiles would be useful too.

It can only be considered a minor, derivative ability.

Then there's his ability to withstand blows. Yang Jian is practically immune to physical attacks now. He once tried jumping from the fifth floor, but for safety's sake, he used his Ghost Domain to temporarily protect his vital parts.

He fell to the ground but was completely unharmed; he just dusted himself off and got up.

Of course, this cannot be done with the head facing down; without the ghostly image on his head, it cannot provide protection, which is a weakness.

The specially made golden bullet can be fired into Yang Jian's body.

But it only went in; Yang Jian felt no pain. In fact, the bullet would be automatically expelled by the ghostly shadow inside his body in the next moment, leaving only a wound.

Wounds do not heal on their own; they require the body to heal slowly.

In addition to this, Yang Jian has another strange ability: he can control any part of his body, even his internal organs and bones.

There will be no pain or discomfort, because the body is already considered a ghost.

It possesses many characteristics of a demon.

After some restorative exercises, Yang Jian left the gym and, as usual, went to the fifth floor to check on the condition of each room.

He had three rooms locked.

In one room was a dressing mirror from the Republican Era, covered by a black cloth. Yang Jian uncovered it several times and looked at it, but it remained unchanged as always.

A small crack appeared at the top of the mirror, a result of the previous battle between the ghost and the mirror. At the bottom of the mirror was a cold, charred arm, left by the mirror's vengeful spirit, the consequence of Yang Jian's resurrection and his battle with one of the spirits in the mirror.

The second room contained a small box with a pile of bones wrapped in gold foil inside—the skeleton that had been inside Wang Xiaoqiang's body.

Yang Jian has been left here untouched since he was imprisoned, and of course, he has not been returned to Wang Xiaoming.

He originally kept this thing with the intention of creating a Ghost Tamer. If this ghost skeleton were to be implanted into someone's body, that person would become a second Wang Xiaoqiang, impossible to kill.

However, he lacked the necessary means at the time, so he temporarily forgot about it.

However, now he can use the combined power of the Ghost Infant and the Ghost Domain to directly change people's bones, including himself.

"It seems that replacing my body with this ghost skeleton won't be very useful. Although my Ghost Shadow can control this skeleton, it doesn't seem to have any other use besides immortality. And I already possess the characteristic of immortality, so I'll keep it for future use," Yang Jian thought to himself.

The third room contained the ghost rope.

It's already in a state of complete recovery. Once the restrictions on gold are lifted, it can spread indefinitely, enough to lift even ghosts, let alone people.

Yang Jian can now perfectly suppress this thing, and since he was going out today, he decided to bring it with him.

The old straw rope was wrapped with a layer of gold leaf, making it look like a golden rope, and it no longer had that eerie feeling.

When tied around the waist like a whip, it serves as a special weapon against vengeful ghosts. It can be used for self-defense, but it needs to be controlled properly because, strictly speaking, it is a weapon of mass destruction. As long as Yang Jian unties the ghost rope and throws it forward, almost all enemies except him will hang themselves.

Controlling a resurrected ghost as a weapon—only Yang Jian would do something like that.

The fourth room contained nothing strange, only some equipment Yang Jian had purchased online: body bags, a gold box, and specially made weapons such as a gold baton, gold-woven gloves, a gold lighter, a flashlight, binoculars, and gold smoke grenades. In addition, there was a batch of specially made weapons that had been seized earlier, including three sniper rifles.

He spent over 100 million yuan to buy these things back then.

Actually, the items themselves aren't valuable; they're just ordinary utensils. It's the gold that's valuable. If it has the word "specially made" on it, you don't need to ask—it's definitely gold, or a gold alloy.

Four doors were locked, and there was a fifth room that didn't exist.

Inside the wall.

Yang Jian can use Ghost Domain to retrieve it.

It was a box containing human skin paper.

According to Zhang Wei, the box containing the human skin paper seemed to have been opened while they were in the safe house.

Upon inspection, Yang Jian indeed found that the box had been opened, but it didn't look like it had been opened by someone, because the opening was too perfect.

"This thing is very strange. If it weren't for its immense value, I would have thrown it into the deep sea long ago." Yang Jian stared at the wall.

After his encounter with Zhao Kaiming, he began to realize that this thing possessed immense terror, though it had not yet manifested itself.

Once it fully manifests, it will likely be more than just a starving ghost.

He won't use this thing again unless he's in dire straits.

"Five days have passed peacefully. It's time to go to Hongfa Temple," Yang Jian thought to himself before leaving the somewhat eerie fifth floor.

Another reason he hasn't left the house these past few days is to observe whether the ghostly thing restrained by the coffin nails has made any move.

Things were somewhat unexpected, but everything was calm.

This is both good news and bad news. The good news is that things are okay for now, but the bad news is that this potential threat still exists.

"I'm going out for a bit. If anything happens here, let me know immediately and I'll be right back." Yang Jian was a little worried because too many Ghost Tamer had come to Dachang City recently.

Jiang Yan confidently assured everyone that there would be no problem.

In the residential area.

Zhang Xiangui's construction site has resumed work. After the paranormal events ended, he immediately hired a construction team from out of town at a high price to finish the remaining safe house.

After all, there's no guarantee that we won't encounter paranormal events again in the future. If something seems off after the safe house is set up, we'll stay there for a few days.

As long as the facilities are complete, it will definitely be comparable to a five-star hotel, unlike this time when someone was spraying feces all over the room and everyone else had to hold their noses and endure it.

"Yang Jian, are you going out?" Zhang Xiangui asked hurriedly as he saw Yang Jian come out.

"Hmm, I need to go out for a walk. Is the construction going smoothly?" Yang Jian asked after glancing around.

Zhang Xiangui said, "This time there's no need to rush the construction. It will be beautifully built within a month. However, I've been getting a lot of requests for help lately. You're also a shareholder of the company, so could you give me some advice? After all, you know more than I do."

"What's wrong?" Yang Jian asked.

Zhang Xiangui said, "These are all people you can't afford to offend who want to buy houses in this community. They're spending hundreds of millions at a time, buying entire blocks at the original price. Do you think you should sell or not? With Dachang City in this state, many people are selling their houses and moving away. I think Dachang City's economy is going to decline soon. Plus, with so many people dying this time, the future looks bleak."

Yang Jian thought for a moment and said, "In the future, it won't just be Dachang City; other cities will be in the same situation. Supernatural events can't be suppressed for long. This is just the beginning. It's just that our unlucky Starvation Ghost Incident happened locally, but next time it could happen in other cities. It's a global disaster; there's no use going anywhere."

"All I can say is that people who move out of Dachang City will regret it for the rest of their lives. After the Starvation Ghost Incident, the population decreased and the vengeful ghost disappeared. For a long time to come, no more local paranormal events will occur. It's like a forest fire that burned everything away, leaving only the beginning of a new life."

Zhang Xiangui was a smart man; having spent half his life in real estate, he immediately understood Yang Jian's meaning.

"Of course, that's only one aspect. The other, and most important, point is that I live here."

Yang Jian's eyes flickered. "I have the ability to protect this place. They're buying houses not because of the property's value, but because of my value. News of my resolution of the Starvation Ghost Incident may not spread outside, but internally, it's probably common knowledge."

"In that case, I'll hold onto the shares," Zhang Xiangui said. "But there are some people I can't afford to offend if I don't sell."

"Sell, of course sell! Otherwise, wouldn't it be a waste to have so many houses sitting here empty? It's just that the price is too low. Let's increase it a hundredfold first. They're so rich and generous, so let's rip off the rich first. And if there are any problems, let's push them onto me."

"Brother Leg, can you handle this?"

Yang Jian, "I can withstand the loss of millions of lives, what do you say, Uncle Zhang?"

Zhang Xiangui smiled, somewhat excited. He had a premonition that this contained a huge business opportunity, and perhaps in the future, this Guangjiang Residential Area would become a gathering place for the world's top billionaires.

As long as Yang Jian remains standing, this will be one of the safest commercial communities in the world.

Soon, Yang Jian drove away.

He rushed to Hongfa Temple.

Of course, he could arrive in a second using the Ghost Domain, but abusing the power of vengeful spirits is still very unwise. Although Yang Jian has now extended the time for the vengeful spirits to revive, and their condition is better than the previous two times, it is not yet time to squander it at will.

Road control measures have been implemented in Dachang City. Apart from government rescue vehicles and government personnel, no private vehicles are allowed on the roads to ensure smooth traffic flow.

Furthermore, special personnel can be seen patrolling everywhere to ensure the city's security.

Yang Jian was stopped and questioned by special agents. He showed his Headquarters credentials and was able to proceed without hindrance.

"Ghost Eye Yang Jian?"

Upon seeing his identification, the squad leader was filled with a sense of awe.

This made Yang Jian feel quite embarrassed.

There seem to be quite a lot of people here.

When he arrived at Hongfa Temple.

They were all surviving residents.

Yang Jian inquired and quickly got a general understanding of the situation.

"How long will we have to wait in line like this? Although abusing our abilities is wrong, this is the only way to find an answer and the truth."

No need to wait in long lines.

He directly invoked the Ghost Domain to cover Hongfa Temple.

Without affecting anyone, Yang Jian mysteriously disappeared into a corner, only to reappear in a residence in the backyard.

The bald abbot, dressed in plain clothes and wearing glasses, was watching television.

"Master, you're still in the mood to watch TV?" The door was locked, but Yang Jian appeared in his room.

The bald man looked up in surprise, but when he saw Yang Jian, he didn't seem surprised at all. He just smiled, put down his glasses, and said, "I've been waiting for you these past few days because I have some bad news for you."

"What?"

The thing behind that door is gone.

The bald man said, "Less than a minute after you took the coffin nail, there was nothing behind the door, only a bare wall."

Yang Jian's eyes flickered slightly. "I already had this suspicion. After all, Dachang City has been very quiet lately. If the ghosts inside were to escape, something would definitely happen."

"I'm afraid I have nothing else to say. As for the secret chamber, I only heard about it from my master. He said there was a vengeful ghost in that chamber and that we, his descendants, must guard it carefully and never let it out to do evil."

The bald man said, "When I was young and naive, I went in out of curiosity and saw what was inside. A White Bone Tree, a three-meter-tall black shadow, and an eye emitting an eerie red light."

At this point, he looked at the Ghost Eye on Yang Jian's forehead.

"I was so scared that I ran away. Since then, I have followed my master's instructions closely, checking the door lock once a year and replacing and repairing it regularly, preparing to pass this secret on to the next generation."

The bald man said, "But a few months ago, that door opened, and that eye disappeared."

"I took it."

Yang Jian, "There is indeed a vengeful ghost trapped inside, but that's not what I'm asking about. I'm asking about its origins. I wonder if Master knows?"

"How would I know? Even my master doesn't know. Perhaps my master's master does."

The bald-headed master shook his head helplessly; "However, after some investigation, I also obtained some information. In fact, this basement is not very old. There are some records in the temple about the construction of this basement, probably during the Republican Era."

"And my master's master happened to be alive at that time, so perhaps he knew the origin of this thing."

Another Republic of China era?

Yang Jian frowned.

The basement is a building from the Republican Era, and the old house in the Guangjiang Residential Area that hasn't been demolished is also a building from the Republican Era.

Did the battle between Ghost Tamer and vengeful spirits already begin at that time?

Or perhaps a ghost resurrected more than a hundred years ago, but it was overlooked because information was limited and the world was unstable at that time?

"It seems that searching for the past won't give me the answers I'm looking for," Yang Jian, somewhat disappointed.

Wanting to learn more, I discovered that everything had been disrupted.

Time has erased all important information, and those who truly understand the secret probably no longer exist in this world.

Unable to inherit the experience of their predecessors, all future Ghost Tamer are destined to face extremely difficult situations when confronting vengeful spirits.

I'm experiencing some writer's block before moving on to the next part of the story.