The Photo in the Cabinet

I originally intended to handle a case and resolve a potential problem in Dachang City, but I never expected to have such an unexpected gain.

After returning home, Yang Jian looked at the three golden boxes in front of him and began to think.

"The ghosts that this company can collect can't be very high-level. If they were too high-level, they wouldn't be able to catch them with their abilities. Of course, it's also possible that they bought them at a high price on the black market. In that case, it's not a bad deal to use them to trade with the ghost cabinet. Even if something goes wrong, I can deal with it in time."

Even if the ghost in that box were released Yang Jian believed he could still suppress it to some extent.

I thought about it for a moment.

He took one of the boxes, put the remaining two in the room on the fifth floor, and then went to the clock tower where he hid the haunted wardrobe.

Because the Ghost Cabinet has many uncertainties, Yang Jian dared not keep it too close to him, but he also dared not let it out of his sight, lest he lose it by accident, or if something unexpected happened that he would not be able to stop immediately. Therefore, the location where he chose to hide the Ghost Cabinet was carefully considered.

Climb to the very top of the clock tower.

Yang Jian saw the old-fashioned wooden cabinet again.

The bright red paint on the wooden cabinet looked like fresh blood that hadn't yet congealed, ready to drip at any moment. Even an ordinary person would find it eerie, sinister, and extraordinary at first glance.

As if knowing Yang Jian was there to make a deal, the top cabinet door creaked open just five seconds after he stood still.

Even at dusk, when the outside light was still relatively bright, the inside of the ghost cabinet remained pitch black, like an abyss.

I can't imagine what would happen if I went inside.

Yang Jian had previously approached to observe it out of curiosity, only to find a pair of eyes that were lifeless and devoid of any vitality, sending chills down his spine.

"I traded a ghost for Zhao Lei's position, and now the Ghost Cabinet is going to make demands of me. If I can't meet them, the Ghost Cabinet is afraid it will cause trouble again."

His current concern isn't the transaction itself, but rather the problems that will arise afterward.

Based on the previous attempt with that bowl of fried rice, it's quite clear that the value of the request made by Ghost Chef is roughly the same as the value of what you're asking for.

In other words, the next request made by the Ghost Cabinet will be equivalent to the value of a ghost.

It's not difficult, but it's not easy either.

"If I can't find Zhao Lei, I'll be in big trouble later. The ghost that altered Zhao Lei's memories is growing in some corner I don't know about. Once it thinks it can kill me, it will definitely come looking for me again. At that time, I will be facing a major crisis. I can only strike first and deal with that ghost first."

Yang Jian had already thought it through before he came.

Making a deal with the Ghost Cabinet is unwise, but letting Zhao Lei roam outside is an even greater potential source of terror.

The ghost had attacked him and seemed to have gained access to his memories, as well as altered them; this ability sent chills down his spine.

If he were attacked by that ghost again and his memories were altered again, Yang Jian felt that he might become that ghost's slave forever.

A being similar to Ghost Slave.

He met the exact same fate as Zhao Lei.

Yang Jian absolutely would not allow this to happen.

Taking a deep breath to calm himself, Yang Jian forcefully pried open the golden box.

The gold was not thick; he could force it open with his strength.

Upon opening it, a stench of rotting corpses assaulted the senses.

Yang Jian saw a half-destroyed corpse, but he could no longer recognize what it looked like. However, the corpse was bound with many golden steel wires, like a rice dumpling, wrapped around it countless times. In addition, there were several bullet holes on the corpse.

"Golden threads? Bullet holes? So this is a Ghost Tamer?"

His face immediately darkened.

Without a doubt, this half-destroyed corpse was not a ghost, but a living Ghost Tamer. It just so happened that this person was targeted by the mercenaries of the Paul Company and was assassinated. The corpse, along with the ghost that had not yet come to life inside, was locked in the box.

"These beasts are absolutely insane. Do they think the world is too peaceful and needs more terror?"

Although this matter had nothing to do with Yang Jian, he was also Ghost Tamer, and his face immediately darkened upon seeing this scene.

Such unbridled hunting of Ghost Tamer and the seizure of unawakened demons is simply anti-humanity.

Or is it that some capitalists and ambitious individuals behind Paul are willing to use any means necessary to collect ghosts and achieve some other goal?

"In the future, if we see a company like Paul's, we shouldn't bother investigating it; we should just eliminate it on the spot. These kinds of people are a cancer on the world. They're useless at solving paranormal events, but Ghost Tamer. They're typical bullies within their own ranks." Yang Jian thought of the scene where he was assassinated.

Although it was Wang Xiaoqiang's plan, it was a mistake for such a company to be in this industry.

But just as he was filled with rage, the rotting corpse inside the box suddenly twitched restlessly.

The gold thread wrapped around it stopped the corpse from moving violently, but Yang Jian, who was holding the box, could still sense it.

The Ghost Tamer may be dead, but the demons will not die.

Although it is an unresurrected ghost, that does not mean that a ghost is harmless because it has not been resurrected.

It's just that the degree of harm is relatively smaller.

"You can't be buried in this state. Burying you will only cause problems sooner or later." Yang Jian didn't dare to carry the thing in his hand for the rest of the time.

Instead of using his hands, he used his ghostly form to grab the half-destroyed corpse and stuff it directly into the ghost cabinet.

The moment the corpse touched the darkness inside the ghost cabinet, it was immediately grabbed by something.

"Bang!"

The mangled, rotting corpse was instantly pulled into the cupboard and disappeared into the darkness, as if it had fallen into some abyss. As the corpse vanished, the open wooden door slammed shut.

The condition for a ghost has been met.

Less than ten seconds had passed.

"Clang!"

It sounded like metal falling into the cupboard, and something seemed to have appeared inside the previously empty cupboard door.

Soon, the lower cabinet door creaked open by itself.

Yang Jian saw a metal sign.

The sign had a number written on it: 13

"This is the address of a certain door." Yang Jian glanced at it and could roughly figure out the situation.

"But with just this kind of information, it's impossible to find Zhao Lei. This Ghost Cabinet won't renege on its promise, will it?"

He then took out the bronze plaque, only to see a line of words scrawled on the back of the door number: Caesar Hotel, Z City.

"I knew it! I've already given you a ghost, you should at least give me a satisfactory answer." Yang Jian immediately recognized the exact location upon seeing the address at the end.

Room 13, Caesar Hotel, Z City.

This should be Zhao Lei's current location.

"So, if the transaction restarts, what demands will Ghost Chef make of me?" He frowned, somewhat worried.

A piece of paper lay inconspicuously in the cupboard, with a line of crooked black writing on it.

"Found within a year."

There were only six words on the piece of paper, but on the other side was a color photograph, as if it had just been printed out of a printer.

The photo shows a person, or more precisely, a woman. Her appearance is indescribable; she is both stunningly beautiful and eerily strange, because her open eyes are empty, without pupils. Even so, she smiles gently at the camera, but upon closer inspection, the smile appears stiff and lifeless, like a puppet. Her hands, placed in front of her, are pale and stiff, already showing signs of rigor mortis.

Without a doubt, this woman is dead, or perhaps even a ghost.

Furthermore, the woman's clothing and the background of the photo made Yang Jian's face darken. The woman was wearing a red cheongsam and sitting on a wooden bench, while the background was an old wooden door with two red lanterns hanging from it. The surroundings were dim, as if a layer of black fog was encroaching.

"Could this photo be of that mummified bride?" Yang Jian's heart sank.

It's very familiar.

Yes, it's exactly the same place where the bus stopped to wait for the mummified bride to board.

It was also an old house, and it too had red lanterns hanging on it.

Although he couldn't see clearly from inside the ghost car that day, he could still make out the outline of the wooden house and the two red lanterns at the entrance.

Something so easily recognizable is impossible to mistake.

However, although the woman in the photo is dressed similarly to the mummy bride, she is a recently deceased corpse, while the mummy bride has already become a mummified corpse.

The difference is significant.

However, this doesn't rule out the possibility that due to the passage of time, the woman in the photo has become a dried corpse.

"No, that's not right. The mummified bride's head is covered with a red cloth, so we can't see her face clearly. The mummified body under that veil might not be this woman." Yang Jian's eyes flickered slightly. Although he wasn't sure, he was certain that the background in the photo was the old house at the bus stop.

"The Ghost Closet's requirement to find it within a year is extremely strange. It's just about finding it, not bringing it over or even meeting it. And surely the Ghost Closet can find the mummified bride? It could even find Zhao Lei."

"Unless, the woman the Ghost Cabinet is looking for doesn't exist in this world, or she's in a special place, like a ghost coffin, the grave where the wailing ghost cries, or some other supernatural entity."

Yang Jian instantly connected many ideas.

It seems even the Ghost Cabinet has things it can't do.

But then he began to have doubts: what exactly did this ghost cabinet want with this woman?

What kind of horror might be involved behind this?

Looking at the photo in my hand, a sense of unease in my heart was subtly amplified.

"The more you deal with these ghostly things, the more frightening it becomes. You feel like prey, being lured step by step into some terrifying trap. The human skin paper was like that, and so is this ghost cabinet." Yang Jian felt no joy after the successful transaction.

There was only a strange chill.

Dealing with ghosts is a terrifying thing.