Black Candle Flame

At this very moment.

Yang Jian stood in front of a dining table.

The white tablecloth was spotless, and in the center of the table sat a vase with a single, vibrant white rose, as if it had just been bought from a florist that morning, standing out starkly against the other withered flowers on the table.

Next to the dining table was a white porcelain plate with a set of cutlery. Inside the plate was a human face.

A hint of fear and despair flickered across the person's face.

Yang Jian glanced at the knife and fork beside him. They were stained with blood, as if the face had been brutally cut off from someone's face with those very knives and forks. No, it wasn't just as if; it was the truth.

He could even see the blood flowing from beneath the man's skin-like face pooling at the bottom of the plate, emitting faint steam.

Everything indicated that something truly terrifying had just happened here.

However, this was a significant blow to Yang Jian.

"No, that's impossible. From the moment I activated the Ghost Domain until it ended, it couldn't have taken more than a second. If there had been a ghost sitting here just now, I could have easily intercepted it before it left. Why did it still manage to escape?"

The chair that had been used next to Yang Jian's dining table.

He couldn't understand how his actions, which had been so swift, could have resulted in such a situation.

"It failed. You should have told me to do it, but you wouldn't listen." Xiong Wenwen saw Yang Jian standing there frowning in thought, and pouted, "If I had known about that ghost beforehand, it would definitely be doomed."

"Even if you foresaw it, it's useless. I was the one who acted. This thing could disappear the moment I made a move. There must be some other reason. It can't be that there was something wrong with my actions."

Yang Jian glanced at him and said, "Just now, he used all his strength, like a lion hunting a rabbit."

"However, not all ghosts are the same. At least so far, I haven't encountered two identical ghosts. To deal with this thing, I need to keep dealing with it until I finally understand its abilities, behavior patterns, and methods of killing. I originally wanted to bypass these factors and just imprison it, but now it seems I was too naive."

"But at least I can be sure of one thing: this ghost definitely has no physical form; it's probably some kind of idealistic existence."

Yang Jian made a bold guess.

If this ghost really is the one that can alter memories with a newspaper, then think about it carefully: did Yang Jian see the ghost's true form from the moment he encountered it?

The answer is no.

He was also attacked by that ghost, but the first time the ghost appeared, it was as Yang Jian's deceased father, and the second time it appeared as Zhao Lei.

In other words, that ghost didn't have an identity of its own at all.

Without an identity, one is essentially non-existent.

To doubt something's existence is simply idealism.

Therefore, Yang Jian vaguely felt that the ghost that could only tamper with memories might not be as simple as he had imagined. If Zhao Lei were alive, he would definitely know more. Unfortunately, he died, but there must have been a reason why he was so eager to deal with that ghost before he died.

He simply couldn't understand Zhao Lei's urgent feelings at the time.

"Since the operation failed, why don't we go out first? Aren't you scared staying here?" Xiong Wenwen leaned closer to Yang Jian involuntarily, her big eyes scanning left and right.

I was afraid that someone might suddenly appear in some dark place.

"We need to proceed step by step. I had two plans in mind before. One was to act unconventionally and use all available means to forcibly imprison the ghost. This would avoid meaningless collisions and losses. After all, you can foresee the future and I have the ability to do so. But this plan has been thwarted. However, I don't intend to give up yet and have decided to try again." Yang Jian turned around, took the body bag, and placed it heavily on a dining table next to him.

He opened the bag and took out a candle.

"Is this a ghost candle?" Xiong Wenwen recognized the object.

As Yang Jian tore off the gold foil wrapping the ghost candle, preparing to light it, Xiong Wenwen jumped in fright. "Damn it, Yang Jian, are you crazy? This is a white ghost candle; it will attract ghosts!"

Red ghost candles, once lit, can prevent people from being killed by ghosts, but white ghost candles have the exact opposite function: they can lure ghosts out.

"No, no, you can't order that! That's courting death, and I'm not going to play that game with you."

Xiong Wenwen's face turned pale, and she grabbed Yang Jian's hand to stop him from lighting the candle.

"You said before that there's more than one ghost here. If you lure out all the ghosts in this hotel, and you can't handle it, wouldn't that kill me? I'm still a child, you can't do that to me."

"Of course I understand, but isn't this the most direct way?" Yang Jian wasn't angry at his obstruction, but said very solemnly, "If we lure the ghost out and then take the initiative, our chances of winning will be much higher. If we play hide-and-seek with a few ghosts in this hotel, we might end up like Tong Qian."

"This hotel is definitely not as simple as it seems. There must be a reason why Zhao Lei chose this place over other options."

"You said this hotel isn't simple, so you need to be even more careful. And don't order anything now, okay? You can't just go all out in a game. If the ghost you're looking for doesn't appear, and something else does, we'll die."

Xiong Wenwen absolutely refused to let Yang Jian light the white ghost candle.

Because he had learned this the hard way before.

They thought they were just luring out a ghost, but instead they unleashed some unexpected horror.

That time, Xiong Wenwen survived because of her ability to foresee the future, while everyone else perished.

Yang Jian's eyes flickered, and he hesitated. Of course, he understood that what Xiong Wenwen said made sense.

The hotel's horror wasn't limited to one place; he also worried that lighting this white ghost candle would be like a signal, drawing out all the ghosts. In that case, it wouldn't be about imprisoning ghosts, but about sending them to their deaths.

There are risks, but if all goes well, this incident can be resolved quickly; after all, high risk, high reward.

"One minute, no, just thirty seconds. I need to confirm whether that ghost is still nearby. If I leave now, I might just be letting it go for nothing."

Yang Jian decided to give it a try anyway.

He found it hard to believe that his actions had truly had no effect whatsoever.

The Ghost Domain still exists, so that ghost might be lingering nearby, or even right next to you.

Moreover, the human face on the plate proves that what we encountered this time is closely related to the ghost that tampered with Zhao Lei.

Ignoring Xiong Wenwen's fear, Yang Jian took out a lighter and resolutely lit the white ghost candle.

Unlike the eerie green flame emitted by red ghost candles, white candles emit a black light.

This black candlelight was even more eerie than the green candlelight. The moment it was lit, the surrounding Ghost Domain was eroded and covered by a layer of darkness. This darkness was like a haze, or an abyss with no end in sight. It seemed to isolate all interference and connect to some incomprehensible and bizarre place.