Emotional Breakdown

"Hello, Yang Jian, are you there? This is Liu Xiaoyu. Reply if you hear me."

"Yang Jian, did you lose your GPS phone? There's not a single sound from your end, at least say something!"

Are you angry with the Deputy Minister?

In her private office, Liu Xiaoyu leaned over her desk, repeatedly calling into the microphone, hoping to successfully connect with Yang Jian.

She was quite certain that there was no problem with the communication this time; they had maintained communication from the beginning until now, it was just that there was no sound coming from the other end.

"This is the first time this has happened. Is something wrong with Yang Jian?" Liu Xiaoyu called out for a long time but no one answered. She began to instinctively sense that something was wrong.

Her work experience told her that this was definitely not something caused by simply not answering the phone.

But with no response on the other end of the phone, continuing to call like this wasn't a solution. Liu Xiaoyu checked the location and found that Yang Jian's phone hadn't moved at all since then. Besides, the location was also strange, as it wasn't remote; it was on a street near the Ping An Hotel.

"Yang Jian, if you don't reply soon, I'm going to send someone to find you," Liu Xiaoyu asked tentatively.

Still no one responded.

Although it's unlikely, Liu Xiaoyu now genuinely suspects that Yang Jian might have just tossed his satellite-guided phone aside somewhere and gone off to do something else.

No way.

That's the only way to speculate.

"Let's see what's going on first. If Yang Jian really lost his phone, we need to get it back immediately." Liu Xiaoyu hesitated for a moment, but finally decided to forcefully turn on the phone's camera to see the surrounding situation.

After a series of operations.

Soon, Liu Xiaoyu forcibly turned on the camera on Yang Jian's satellite-guided phone to see what was happening around them.

But as soon as Liu Xiaoyu turned on her phone's camera, she realized something was wrong.

The image on the screen was a deep red, unlike the dim colors of night.

However, what was captured in the video seemed normal; it was just a roadside on a street. Judging from the angle of the phone, the GPS-enabled phone appeared to be lying on the ground, casually toppled over.

"Could Yang Jian have really just tossed it aside on the roadside?"

Liu Xiaoyu immediately scratched her head. "What is Yang Jian thinking? He lost his phone too. Is he planning to quit? Oh my god, please don't quit suddenly! What will I do if you quit? Being your operator is hard enough. I don't want to be someone else's operator."

"But even if you really want to resign, you should at least tell me beforehand. Don't you trust me at all?"

She thought with a hint of resentment.

Despite her complaints, she still had to follow the rules.

If the phone is lost, Liu Xiaoyu must retrieve it as quickly as possible after locating it, because the phone contains a large amount of intelligence data that cannot be easily leaked.

Liu Xiaoyu subtly rotated the camera to pinpoint the exact location of the surroundings.

But as soon as the perspective shifted, her expression suddenly changed, and a nameless panic and unease gradually welled up from the bottom of her heart.

Liu Xiaoyu saw a person gradually appear in her field of vision.

The person lay motionless on the cold ground, surrounded by blood that stained the ground red. Although the person's full appearance was not visible, their build and clothing strongly resembled Yang Jian.

"No, no way."

Liu Xiaoyu's eyes widened, her whole body trembling slightly. She was extremely nervous and continued to move the camera's angle, trying to confirm the truth.

As the viewpoint moves upwards again...

The corpse lying on the ground gradually revealed its full form. She saw a red ghost candle lying next to the corpse, and she saw the familiar clothes. She could confirm that they were the clothes Yang Jian had worn during the meeting earlier that day.

The perspective shifts again.

The next moment.

A headless corpse appeared before Liu Xiaoyu's eyes, and beside the headless corpse lay Yang Jian's head.

"Ah!"

Liu Xiaoyu jumped up from her seat, her face turning pale instantly. She instinctively backed away, seemingly trying to escape the cruel scene on the screen. However, she reached the wall behind her, with nowhere left to go. The image of Yang Jian's head and body separating was already deeply etched into her mind.

She covered her mouth and sobbed, tears streaming uncontrollably from her eyes, deeply shaken.

"Waaah!"

Liu Xiaoyu was bent over, crying and screaming, completely out of control.

She herself didn't know why she was like this.

All she knew was that Yang Jian was dead, and she was in so much pain that she was on the verge of a breakdown.

This is not hard to explain. In the nearly six months that she became Yang Jian's contact person, her life and work revolved entirely around Yang Jian. She had long phone conversations, and all she could hear was Yang Jian's voice. In some special circumstances, they even maintained 24-hour communication.

She even knew exactly what Yang Jian did with a woman for the first time.

This kind of life over a long period of time made Liu Xiaoyu feel that she existed for Yang Jian, and a very special feeling had already formed between the two of them.

This is not love, but a spiritual pillar, something indispensable to life.

So when Liu Xiaoyu was almost bullied by Gao Zhiqiang at Headquarters last time, Yang Jian would kill that guy without hesitation. Liu Xiaoyu also knew about Yang Jian's nerdy tastes. Every time they met, he would always wear pigtails and Lolita fashion.

But today, everything has collapsed.

Liu Xiaoyu witnessed Yang Jian's horrific state firsthand: the corpse lying in a pool of blood, the head severed from its neck, the skull split in two.

The impact was enormous.

Crying and screaming.

Liu Xiaoyu vented her emotions in her private communications room for a while until she regained some composure. Then, still crying, she rushed out of the communications room and ran towards Deputy Minister Cao Yanhua's office.

"Ping An Hotel, an entire street nearby has disappeared? Is it the Ghost Painting Incident?" At that moment, Cao Yanhua received a crucial phone call.

The voice on the other end of the phone was Li Jun: "I don't know. I'm here right now. What I can say for sure is that this is Ghost Domain. The entire street has probably been pulled into the Ghost Domain. However, it doesn't seem to be the Ghost Painting Incident, because the ghost painting's Ghost Domain wouldn't be able to make the entire street disappear. The situation here has completely affected reality."

"Okay, I understand. Temporarily seal off the surrounding area, assess the level of danger, and report any developments immediately. I'll send reinforcements as soon as there's any danger." Cao Yanhua's face darkened.

Is this yet another paranormal event?

An entire street just vanished into thin air? That's no small matter.

"Bang!"

However, at that moment, his office door was suddenly kicked open, and the loud noise startled him slightly.

He put down the phone and saw Liu Xiaoyu standing at the door.

At this moment, Liu Xiaoyu was panting and crying, and her emotions seemed very abnormal.

"Liu Xiaoyu, is there anything you need to report?" a staff member next to her asked, somewhat surprised.

Liu Xiaoyu looked at Cao Yanhua with red eyes, her lips moved, and she uttered a message that was very difficult for her to say, "Yang... Yang Jian is dead."

Um?

Cao Yanhua was stunned for a moment, seemingly not having reacted yet. Then, seeing Liu Xiaoyu's expression, he pondered her words and began to realize the seriousness of the problem.

"What did you say?"

He suddenly stood up from his chair, his expression changing drastically in an instant.

"Yang Jian is dead," Liu Xiaoyu said again, then collapsed to the ground and wept bitterly.

Cao Yanhua glanced at the phone next to him. Li Jun had previously reported that a street had disappeared and been swept into the Ghost Domain. If the Ghost Domain was not caused by the Ghost Painting Incident, then it was very likely caused by Yang Jian, because Yang Jian's code name was Ghost Eye, and he was a Ghost Tamer with Ghost Domain.

I glanced at the time next to me again.

The time is 6:15.

This was shortly after the last reply on WeChat Moments. And then I thought back to that phone call with Yang Jian that suddenly ended.

Cao Yanhua immediately understood everything.

"Everyone, follow me!" He roared, his face instantly contorting into a ferocious expression.

Without saying a word, he rushed out of the office and headed towards Liu Xiaoyu's communications room.

On the way, Cao Yanhua's hands were trembling, filled with fear but also a strange anger.

Okay, today's attempt to make up for lost time failed.