A Plan Half Successfully Carried Out

The next day.

The Headquarters meeting has begun.

This meeting was held not long after the last meeting of the Ghost Messenger. Logically speaking, meetings of this level should not be held so frequently, but considering the recent events, it is clear that this is a last resort.

The Ghost Messenger incident was indeed resolved, which relieved all the Ghost Tamer.

Otherwise, if this ghost that deals with Ghost Tamer is allowed to roam freely outside, countless people will die. Moreover, the most crucial point is that this Ghost Messenger cannot be imprisoned and possesses the ability to restart within the Ghost Domain.

Who can withstand this?

The Headquarters' first collective operation nearly resulted in total annihilation. Although they survived, they paid a considerable price, suffering severe damage.

Then came the second operation.

Since he couldn't win by sheer numbers, Wang Xiaoming planned to lure the ghost painting into suppressing the Ghost Messenger.

This plan was a last resort, because Headquarters could not afford to wipe out a top-notch team of Ghost Tamer tamers to deal with the Ghost Messenger, so they had no choice but to resort to this desperate measure.

The plan was only half successful.

The reason it's said to be only half successful is that Li Jun and his team failed to find and imprison the Ghost Messenger in a short time, meaning the operation was essentially a failure. However, fortunately, the losses were minimal. Thanks to their meticulous planning, they not only survived but also managed to bring out Wei Jing, who had been dead for a long time.

An anomaly who died once and came back to life.

However, the final plan to lure the ghost failed.

The problem lay with Guo Fan; his oversight led to the failure of the plan to lure away the ghost painting, resulting in the disappearance of two of the five ghosts that emerged from it.

A few days later, Ghost Painting Incident appeared in the city.

The only success was that the Ghost Messenger disappeared.

But for Wang Xiaoming, this disappearance was not a success, but a complete failure.

Because not imprisoning the ghost means there's a possibility it could reappear.

After learning all the reports on the operation, Wang Xiaoming remained silent. He hadn't slept a wink all night. He wasn't Ghost Tamer, and sleep was very important to him. So when he attended meetings, he always had dark circles under his eyes, bloodshot eyes, and looked rather haggard and dejected.

"This plan's failure isn't your fault. You've done a great job. Wei Jing's survival is extremely important to us." Cao Yanhua couldn't help but go over to comfort Wang Xiaoming was sitting silently at the conference table.

Although Wang Xiaoming looked dejected, his mind remained clear. "You don't need to comfort me. I know my plan is correct. Li Jun, Su Fan, Liu San, A Hong, and Xu Yiping's operation to imprison the Ghost Messenger, Guo Fan, Zhong Shan, and Chen Yi's operation to lure the ghosts—each mission was decided by me. Li Jun leads the team, Su Fan anticipates the danger, Liu San searches, Guo Fan guides the way, and Chen Yi provides backup. This is the best configuration I can assemble."

"The Ghost Gate's retreat plan and the backup plan to replace the ghost candles when summoning ghosts also played a role in reducing mistakes."

"But I overlooked one point, which is their own lack of ability. Even the best plan needs people to execute it."

Wang Xiaoming slightly raised his head, his bloodshot eyes looking at Cao Yanhua: "Some people are simply not suited to handle paranormal events, especially those that don't allow for mistakes. Plans are rigid, but people are flexible. In critical moments, you have to make some adjustments. I only planned a general direction."

"Li Jun is too rigid. He wasted too much time in that village and in the end, he still couldn't find the Ghost Messenger. He even missed the exact time for opening the door for the first time."

He couldn't be there in person, so there were many things he couldn't handle, which meant the Ghost Tamer had to deal with the emergencies himself.

Li Jun's courage and willpower are undeniable, but this is both his strength and his weakness.

Wang Xiaoming can plan many things. If everyone follows his plan, the plan will definitely succeed in the end. However, people are prone to making mistakes. If one link goes wrong, the whole plan may fail.

Cao Yanhua's expression became slightly unnatural upon hearing this.

He wasn't angry, but rather that Wang Xiaoming shouldn't have said it so bluntly; if others overheard, they might have objections.

After all, some of them had just risked their lives.

"I seem to be a little early; the others haven't arrived yet?" Just then, the conference room door opened.

Liu Xiaoyu led Yang Jian in.

"Deputy Minister, Yang Jian has arrived," Liu Xiaoyu reported.

Wang Xiaoming glanced at Yang Jian, his eyes flickering slightly, and he couldn't help but recall the time he dealt with the Starvation Ghost Incident in Dachang City.

When he had Yang Jian imprison the starving ghost, he suggested that a man Zhang Han distract the ghost so that he could act as a backup and ensure everything went smoothly.

However, Yang Jian refused.

If it were Li Jun, he definitely wouldn't refuse.

However, it turned out that his plan was wrong, and Yang Jian was right.

Wang Xiaoming's mistake wasn't due to carelessness, but rather because he wasn't present and couldn't ascertain the situation. He could only choose the safest and most conservative approach to minimize errors.

Afterwards, the Hungry Ghost restarted and came up with a long-range sniping plan.

Yang Jian quickly understood and successfully implemented it.

After that, the Starvation Ghost Incident ended.

"The difference between people?" Wang Xiaoming lowered his gaze slightly.

Yang Jian felt Wang Xiaoming's gaze and looked slightly surprised.

Why has this guy changed his style of painting after not seeing him for a few days, and is he so decadent all of a sudden?

And that look in your eyes just now... you weren't implying anything about me, were you?

Yang Jian was very wary of Wang Xiaoming; who knew if this family would suddenly seek revenge for his brother and kill him?

In truth, I also wish he would disappear from this world.

However, Professor Wang's status and position were too important, and if he were to make a move against him, he would probably be hunted down by the Headquarters, so he had to put aside this immature idea for the time being.

"Bang!"

Still, Cao Yanhua slammed his fist on the table and roared, "Yang Jian, how dare you come so early? I heard you beat someone up again last night? That slap almost killed someone. Did you have to be so ruthless?"

"He complained?" Yang Jian narrowed his eyes, unmoved by Cao Yanhua's anger.

"No, it was mentioned in Wang Quan's report," Cao Yanhua said. "Although he did do some things poorly, you can't just hit people arbitrarily."

He should be thanking me for being alive.

Yang Jian said, "You know, gathering everyone who has had contact with the ghost painting together could potentially kill everyone, and even drag me back into the Ghost Painting Incident. Shouldn't this kind of person be beaten? If Professor Wang were here, what would he do?"

After speaking, he looked at Wang Xiaoming.

He knew that Wang Xiaoming was an even more ruthless person than him, someone who would sacrifice everything for the greater good.

"Kill," Wang Xiaoming said casually, head down, without any hesitation.

Cao Yanhua's face darkened.

He was just trying to suppress Yang Jian's arrogance and teach him a lesson so he would behave himself in the future. Why were you getting involved?

Are all intelligent people low in emotional intelligence?

"See, I'm still very sensible. Also, how will the overtime pay be calculated this time?" Yang Jian said seriously.

Cao Yanhua said, "We'll talk about the travel expenses later. We have more important things to discuss today. Please sit down and rest until the others arrive."

Yang Jian was quite a headache for him.

On the one hand, Yang Jian is very difficult to manage, and on the other hand, his methods are very extreme. If used well, he can rescue people from the Ghost Messenger Ghost Domain of the ghost messengers, just like last time. If used poorly, he can cause a lot of trouble, such as when he almost got into a fight with someone in the meeting room last time.

However, Cao Yanhua believed that these shortcomings were tolerable.

After all, Yang Jian is indeed capable, and in some ways, he is relatively easy to communicate with.

"I can tell from your expression that you're trying to renege on your debt," Yang Jian said bluntly after sitting down.

"Don't worry, I won't renege on my debt. We'll talk about it after this is all over," Cao Yanhua said with a dark face.

If Yang Jian isn't paid overtime, he'll probably cancel the next incident.

Yang Jian then said, "Liu Xiaoyu, you should write this down. If I forget one day, please remind me, or if you have time to see the Deputy Minister, urge him on it."

Liu Xiaoyu, standing to the side, looked at Cao Yanhua and then at Yang Jian, unsure whether she should agree or not.

"Listen to him, and write it down," Cao Yanhua said through gritted teeth.

Liu Xiaoyu felt extremely embarrassed and had no choice but to write it down in her notebook.

Yang Jian's expression shifted. "I wasn't really expecting overtime pay this time. Since you agreed so readily, you must have something to ask me later. I might as well tell you before the meeting starts, so I don't make you lose face if I refuse."

"Yang Jian, you talk too much."

At this moment, Jiang Shangbai and several other Ghost Tamer pushed open the conference room door and walked in. He had a gloomy face the whole time, and seemed very unhappy.

"Those who don't speak are dead," Yang Jian retorted without any politeness.

Seeing Jiang Shangbai's expression, he knew that this guy already knew about what happened last night, otherwise he wouldn't have come so early.