A Photo from Five Years Ago

Wan Delu was much more reserved when he met Yang Jian this time than last time. Last time on the plane, he was already the CEO of a listed company and the president of a group. In terms of status and position, he was considered a superior person, so his tone and confidence were quite strong. Even after coming into contact with people in the supernatural circle, he didn't feel anything special. At most, these people just had some privileges.

But in the past few days, he not only investigated the antique matter, but also focused on the matter of the Ghost Tamer, especially Dachang City and Yang Jian, who were the most important people.

Having spent a lot of money and used a lot of connections, the truth he learned only made Wan Delu feel more and more fearful and uneasy.

It turns out that paranormal events are occurring frequently around the world now, and the Dachang City incident was not a simple chemical leak, but a ghost story. News about this has spread like wildfire on the internet, and it's getting more and more outlandish, to the point that the truth and rumors are mixed together, making it hard for people to believe what's going on.

But it cannot be denied that Yang Jian was involved in that incident.

After learning some of the truth, Wan Delu found it difficult to remain calm. His personal experience and investigation made him increasingly panicked and uneasy.

"Tell me, what's the news about what I asked you to investigate last time?" Yang Jian gestured for Wan Delu to sit down, then went straight to the point.

There weren't many formalities or polite words.

Wan Delu looked somewhat nervous at this moment, then organized his thoughts and said, "I have investigated the matter of the antiques last time. This is the information I have collected so far. Please take a look."

After saying that, he took out a file folder and placed it on the table.

Yang Jian took it and opened it to read.

The archives contain documents and photos. The documents show that they acquired the antiques in an antique street in Zhong'an City, but the antiques actually originated from a town outside Zhong'an City called Ling Town.

Near Ling Town, there is an ancestral home belonging to a family surnamed Luo, which was built Republican Era. Because no one has lived there for a long time, the family plans to rebuild it on the original site.

So, a basement was excavated, and the antiques were discovered there.

The information was correct. Yang Jian even saw a photo of the old house, taken by someone from the past. The resolution wasn't high, and it was even a bit blurry, but it was clear that the old house was built with those blue bricks, and that it only had ventilation openings when it was built, with no windows on either side, just a tightly closed door.

Due to years of disrepair, half of the old house's wall has collapsed, with blue bricks scattered on the ground and overgrown with weeds.

It seems to have been abandoned for even longer than the Republican era old house in Dachang City, because Yang Jian had previously inquired about the old Republican era old house in Dachang City, where an old man used to manage it and live. However, the old man passed away decades ago, and the old house became completely abandoned without an owner.

"If the old house in Dachang City has been abandoned for forty years, then this old house has been abandoned for at least sixty years." Yang Jian stared at the photo, his eyes narrowing slightly.

Based on this judgment, the owner of this old house in Ling Town most likely died during the Republican Era. Judging from the current situation, he probably died in the middle of the resurgence of the vengeful ghost and did not survive to the end.

The owner of the old house in Dachang City clearly lived longer than that.

"Wrong."

Yang Jian stared intently at the photo. In the photo, there was a tourist making a peace sign in front of the old house, but that wasn't the point. The point was that the old wooden door of the house was slightly ajar, only a few centimeters wide. It was pitch black inside, and nothing could be seen. But in the photo, a blurry hand was sticking out from the crack in the door, with a few fingers stiffly resting on the door frame.

Moreover, the position of the hand was very strange; it appeared at the very top of the gate.

It's important to know that these old wooden doors are tall and narrow, with each door being at least three meters high. Even if an ordinary person reached out, they couldn't touch the top of the door.

Moreover, the wooden door was tightly locked, and there was only a crack, indicating that no one lived inside.

So whose hand is this?

Yang Jian's eyes flickered slightly as he looked at his own palm and compared it to the photo, but he couldn't discern anything. The photo's resolution was low, lacking any obvious features, making it impossible to determine if it was a ghost's palm.

"When was this photo taken?" he asked immediately.

Let me see.

Wan Delu took the photo and thought for a moment, "It's from five years ago. I had someone buy it from a family nearby. The woman in the photo is a classmate of the neighbor's daughter. They were on summer vacation and came to this town to play. You know, people in the city have never seen old houses like this before, so they took a photo as a souvenir. But for some reason, the photo ended up at that neighbor's house."

"Alright, that's enough. You've investigated quite a lot, even these trivial matters are crystal clear."

Yang Jian interrupted him, pointing to the blurry hand on the old wooden door. "Look what this is?"

Wan Delu examined it closely. "The photo is blurry, it's just a white dot, wait, it doesn't look like that. This isn't a white dot, it looks like... Oh my god, it's a hand, a hand reaching out from under the door, with four fingers in total. This, this photo captured a ghost."

When he saw it clearly, he turned pale with fright.

Wan Delu knew that a person's hand couldn't possibly be placed that high, and most obviously, it was an abandoned old house with no one inside.

The conclusion is obvious: that old house is haunted.

Thinking about this, when he looked at that photo again, it felt incredibly hot to the touch, and he didn't even dare to touch it.

"The ghost first appeared in this old house five years ago."

Yang Jian stood up, his brows furrowing deeply. "Could it be that a ghost resurrected five years ago? No, that's impossible. If this ghost escaped five years ago, why didn't it cause any harm whatsoever?"

"By the way, were there any deaths when this family demolished their old house?"

"No, the demolition of the old houses went smoothly," Wan Delu shook his head and said, "No one died."

"It doesn't match up at all." Yang Jian turned back to look at the photo again. "The ghost from five years ago hasn't killed a single person so far? And this hand seems to be a ghost hand. Assuming it's the same ghost, then the question is, why did the ghost reappear in the bottle after it ran out? The ghost in the bottle was clearly being imprisoned."

"But who handled the paranormal incident five years ago? There was no Headquarters back then. There might have been Ghost Tamer, but they certainly couldn't handle a paranormal incident of this level."

Headache.

Yang Jian felt that it was too difficult to uncover past clues and secrets on his own, because there were too many inconsistencies.

In his view, these unreasonable aspects were actually caused by a lack of intelligence.

This matter needs to be put on hold for now.

Yang Jian withdrew his gaze, shook his head slightly, and said, "By the way, is there any news about the other soul bottles?"

He felt that if ghosts were being imprisoned, then there must be more than one imprisoned.

"There's another soul bottle; it should be a pair with the previous one," Wan Delu said.

"You didn't acquire it?" Yang Jian.

Wan Delu said somewhat uneasily, "We can't acquire it. I heard that the Soul Bottle is still in the Antique Street, but the Antique Street has been sealed off and is currently closed. I asked a private investigator to find an opportunity to secretly take a few photos. Can you take a look?"

After saying that, he took out a few more photos from his pocket.

The photo is of the origin and was taken with a drone.

The photo shows a quaint, old-fashioned street, but it's completely deserted.

"This isn't a regular lockdown; some shops didn't even close their doors. Clearly, these people left in a hurry; this is an emergency evacuation."

After looking at a few of the photos, Yang Jian casually tossed them onto the table. "Looks like the worst thing has happened. The ghost has been released, and there are supernatural events happening in this antique street."

As expected, it was too late to act, and they were unable to prevent this from happening. The ghost that had been imprisoned was released, and this ghost was probably something from another soul bottle.

The officials in Zhong'an City are probably going to be very busy right now.

Upon hearing about the paranormal events at the antique street, Wan Delu felt a chill run down his spine. He had previously suspected something similar, but he wasn't sure. However, hearing it from Yang Jian's mouth, he made up his mind to stay far away from that place and never go there again in his life.

"What a pity. I thought I would get some unexpected gains, but it turned out to be a waste of time." Yang Jian sighed. Although he didn't really expect to get something for nothing, it wouldn't hurt to give it a try, since Wan Delu was there to run the errands for him anyway.

"By the way, Brother Leg, I specifically asked the original owner of this old house, a man named Luo Yong, to come to J City for this investigation. Would you like to meet him?" Wan Lude suddenly added.

Yang Jian was somewhat surprised. "You invited them to J City?"

"This is also to get to the bottom of this matter, so I dare not be careless," Wan Delu said.

Yang Jian pondered for a moment, "The owner of the old house? Since we're here, let's meet him."

After all, he is a descendant of Ghost Tamer the Republican Era, so perhaps he can leave behind some useful clues. He also wants to unravel the mystery of the resurgence of vengeful ghosts. If this mystery is solved, perhaps a way to resolve paranormal events can be found.

Although Wang Xiaoming speculated that the group that started back then had failed.

But that group of people ensured at least nearly a century of peace, and the ghost mirror and ghost cabinet were all passed down from that era, containing even more important secrets.

"That's great! I've had a car prepared downstairs. How about we have lunch together? I've already arranged a restaurant." Wan Delu quickly stood up and said with a warm smile.

"No problem, let's have a meal together then." Yang Jian nodded.

He also knew why Wan Delu was so enthusiastic. After all, ordinary people would feel very insecure after learning the truth. Getting to know a Ghost Tamer would be more beneficial than harmful, because they could save lives in critical moments.