Wang Ye

Yang Jian carried the ghost painting, which was covered with a white cloth, downstairs.

He was actually taking a certain risk by holding this thing in his hand, after all, it was a real supernatural object, and in some ways it was not much different from a real ghost painting. In the Starvation Ghost Incident in Dachang City, it was a fourth-stage ghost.

However, the curse of the music box still lingered, and with the experience from last time, Yang Jian was both skilled and daring.

Even with gloved hands gripping the old, carved wooden frame, one could still feel its roughness and coldness.

The Ghost Eye fell silent, and Yang Jian's Ghost Domain was completely suppressed.

There is no possibility that it can still be used.

He could only carry the painting on foot to He Tianxiong's villa number eight on the outskirts of the city.

That villa was very special; it was built by He Tianxiong at great expense. The walls and floors were covered with gold leaf, and there was also a separate small safe room inside. If it was used to store this painting for a short period of time, there was no need to worry about the ghost painting having any impact on the outside world.

Soon.

Yang Jian left the residential area, but stopped at the intersection, a hint of hesitation on his face.

I appeared here directly using the Ghost Domain when I arrived, but now it's a bit inconvenient to leave.

He needs a car.

Walking would be too time-consuming, and taking a taxi probably wouldn't be enough to fit such a large painting.

In the past, Yang Jian would have had a car come to pick him up from Headquarters with just one phone call. But now he has fallen out with Headquarters, which is almost equivalent to resigning. Of course, if he called Headquarters now, they would definitely agree to his request. However, he doesn't want others to know too much about his operation, nor does he want to lose face over this matter.

"There's nothing money can't solve. If there is, it's because you don't have enough money." Yang Jian spotted a small truck parked across the street.

The truck driver was smoking in the cab while workers were unloading cargo in the back.

Yang Jian prepared to walk over and pay the driver to make the trip.

However, just as he took action, a man in a suit, sweating profusely, hurriedly ran towards him from a building across the street.

As he ran, he called out, "Yang Jian, Mr. Yang, please wait a moment."

The man in the suit ran across the road recklessly, seemingly disregarding his own life. If a passing car hadn't swerved and braked in time, he would probably be dead by now.

"A stranger? He knows me, and he's coming for me." Yang Jian's expression shifted, but he just stood there looking at the stranger.

"It's not a good thing. They're willing to risk their lives to see me; they're probably asking me for a favor."

He immediately made this deduction in his mind.

Yang Jian was self-aware; he wasn't a big star or a famous businessman. Who would see him rushing over recklessly?

"Mr. Yang, it's wonderful to finally meet you. Hello, hello."

The man in the suit was very excited and enthusiastic. He was extremely respectful to Yang Jian, even to the point of being somewhat humble.

"I don't know you, and I'm very busy and in a bad mood right now. If you're here to see me, you'd better stay away from me." Yang Jian stared at him, his attitude cold and even extremely hostile.

However, the man in the suit was not angry at all, and still said respectfully, "Mr. Yang, please don't misunderstand. I didn't come to disturb you, but to help you. I saw you waiting by the roadside, so you probably need a vehicle to transport some dangerous items."

"This is a trivial matter; if Mr. Yang doesn't mind, please leave it to me."

Yang Jian did not refuse, but his attitude remained rude. "If you want to flatter me, then hurry up and bring the car over here."

It wasn't even a help to him; he just didn't want to waste his time.

"Okay, Mr. Yang, please wait a moment." The man in the suit was still not angry, but rather very excited, and immediately picked up the phone and started dialing.

Soon, a small luxury RV drove out of an underground parking garage across the street, crossed the road, and stopped directly in front of Yang Jian, regardless of whether it was a traffic violation or not.

"You've been watching me for a while now?" Yang Jian glanced at him.

"Mr. Yang, please get in the car," the man in the suit said with a fawning smile.

Yang Jian didn't refuse and got into the car with the ghost painting. "In exchange, tell me why you came to see me during this time on the road. No matter what the outcome, you only have this much time."

After saying that, he gave an address.

"Mr. Yang is very straightforward, and it is truly an honor to deal with someone like him."

Inside the car, a man in his early thirties, also dressed in a suit, was waiting. He was friendly and respectful, with a smile on his face.

"My name is Wang Ye, and I am temporarily in charge of receiving Mr. Yang. I hope Mr. Yang will not mind the simplicity of the car."

Besides this man Wang Ye, there were two beautiful women accompanying him in the RV. One was mature and sexy, and the other was youthful and cute. The two women greeted Yang Jian politely, and it seemed that they were specially trained public relations girls, or socialites.

After Yang Jian sat down, he placed the ghost painting next to him, and the two beauties naturally moved closer to him.

"Do you think people like us are still interested in women? Stop with these tricks. Just get straight to the point. Of course, if you want to waste time, that's fine too. I'll get off the bus when we get there, and you'll be the ones who lose out."

He glanced at the two women but paid them no mind, instead looking at the man in front of him with a hint of warning.

The man Wang Ye smiled and said, "Mr. Yang, please don't misunderstand. They're just responsible for making this trip less boring. After all, someone like you, Mr. Yang, needs to be treated with great care."

Yang Jian calmly showed him his phone and said, "Follow this navigation route."

"Of course, that's no problem. Since Mr. Yang trusts us, we'd be more than happy to be his driver. This is the shortest route, and it's the same route we've used before," Wang Ye nodded.

"I haven't finished speaking yet. If you take the wrong turn, I'll kill you." Yang Jian stared at him coldly.

Wang Ye's smile froze slightly. He had indeed considered having the car take a detour, but after hearing this, he immediately abandoned that idea.

The conversation was shortened.

Wang Ye's expression shifted, and he immediately said, "It's normal for Mr. Yang to be wary of us, after all, we are strangers meeting for the first time. Actually, I am also a team leader at Headquarters, just not from the Asian side. The reason I suddenly contacted Mr. Yang today is because of his recent experiences. I heard that Mr. Yang has had a major conflict with his circle of friends recently."

"The Headquarters the Ghost Tamer in other regions?" Yang Jian's expression shifted.

He knew that many countries in the world had established this department. The one in J City was actually the Asian Headquarters, and there were also the US Headquarters and the European Headquarters. But apart from some communication and information sharing, they were all in charge of their own affairs.

"Your WeChat Moments is gone; your information is outdated," Yang Jian said coldly. "So your goal is to get me to switch jobs?"

Wang Ye quickly shook his head and said, "No, no, no, it's not about changing jobs, it's about wanting to establish some cooperative relationships with Mr. Yang."

They all mean roughly the same thing.

Yang Jian, "However, your sense of smell is quite sharp; you've probably been watching me for more than just a day."

"A talent like Mr. Yang is indeed someone we should value highly, and it's not easy to meet him, so I apologize for being abrupt today," Wang Ye said.

Yang Jian said, "I have no interest in cooperating with you either. Go find someone else. This conversation ends here."

He interrupted the conversation, not wanting to discuss cooperation with Wang Ye.

Even without the music box curse, he wouldn't bother dealing with these forces anymore. One Headquarters here is already giving him a headache; the others would probably be even worse. If he survives this, building his own force would be his top priority.

Joining another faction will only ever make you a laborer.

"I understand that Mr. Yang is not interested in cooperation, but there are some things he might be interested in knowing."

Wang Ye pointed to the painting as he spoke, "I have some intelligence on the Ghost Painting Incident, from Europe. It's top-secret information that has never been publicly shared."

"A file with ghost drawings?" Yang Jian's expression shifted.

He had suspected before that the Ghost Painting Incident originally occurred in Europe, resulting in many deaths, but the Ghost Painting Incident was temporarily resolved after the loss of a top-notch team of Ghost Tamer.

Although the ghost painting wasn't completely imprisoned, its influence was temporarily eliminated.

To be able to do this, one must have mastered some secrets of the ghost paintings. The files shared at Headquarters are just ordinary things; you can take a look at them, but they have no reference value whatsoever.

"What are the conditions?" Yang Jian asked calmly.

Wang Ye said, "How about a Level A paranormal event? Of course, we can raise the stakes; gold, assets, or even beautiful women—we can give them to you."

Yang Jian shook his head and smiled; "You're too arrogant. A file is worth a paranormal event? Do you think I'm young and easy to fool, or do you think I'm out of my mind? Headquarters has been working on resolving the Ghost Painting Incident these past few days, and there's a high probability they'll be able to resolve it smoothly. Once that's resolved, the file you have will be worthless."

"And you might even be thinking of selling to two parties, one to me and the other to Cao Yanhua, profiting from both. As for the gold, assets, and beautiful women, do you really think they're that valuable? A level A paranormal event could potentially destroy a city. How much is a city worth? Not to mention the long-term impact such a paranormal event would have on a country."

"I thought you were a smart person, that you could at least say something useful, but I didn't expect you to be just a fool."

He found it amusing at that moment.

Do all these forces think they're incredibly clever, or do they genuinely treat Ghost Tamer as idiots, believing they can make Ghost Tamer obey with a few small favors?

However, Yang Jian was more inclined to believe that this was a problem of outdated mindset.

Those in power still use the same old methods to deal with the Ghost Tamer, unaware that those methods are outdated.

Wang Ye looked somewhat embarrassed and continued, "Mr. Yang is right, but we can try to negotiate."

"No need. You're out of your mind. I don't want to do business with someone who's mentally unstable. Intelligence and such are unimportant to me. Go find someone who's interested in making a deal," Yang Jian said bluntly.

With the curse of the music box and the eerie woodcutter's knife, he was, in a sense, capable of withstanding S-class paranormal events.

Intelligence is indeed not that important.

Wang Ye wanted to say something, but Yang Jian cut him off as soon as he opened his mouth.

"You can shut up now. Say one more word and I'll kill you right now." Yang Jian's gaze darkened, and the ghostly figure behind him stood up eerily, as if it were a living person.

The interior of the car was dimly lit and had a cold atmosphere.

Wang Ye trembled, a look of fear appearing on his face, and immediately dared not speak again.

He had no doubt that he would mysteriously die inside the train carriage the moment he opened his mouth.

The Yang Jian before them was more dangerous than they had imagined.

Next.

The carriage was very quiet, and the atmosphere was even somewhat oppressive.

Under Yang Jian's threat, Wang Ye didn't dare to speak. Even the two beautiful women who had come closer to him were tense, their smiles forced, and the fear in their eyes was undisguised.

After all, there was a ghost standing right in front of them.

A headless black shadow.

The vehicle traveled at a steady speed on the road, following the route provided by Yang Jian's navigation, and soon stopped in front of a villa community in the suburbs.

"You guys know what's good for you."

Yang Jian opened the car door and got out with Gui Hua. At the same time, the humanoid black shadow that had stood up gradually shrank back to his feet, becoming a dense black shadow.

"Mr. Yang, as an apology, I'll give you this file free of charge. I hope it can clear up this misunderstanding." Wang Ye gritted his teeth, ran downstairs with a file in hand, and nervously handed it over.

"You wouldn't give it to me before, but now you're giving it away for free?"

Yang Jian put down the grotesque drawing in his hand, took the file, and without even glancing at it, sneered and took out a lighter to burn it.

"Can you trust something for free? Be careful on your way home."

After saying that, he picked up the ghost painting and left without looking back.

Wang Ye saw the ashes on the ground, and only dared to raise his head after Yang Jian had walked away. He couldn't help but wipe the cold sweat from his forehead.

Not daring to linger there, he hurriedly returned to his car.

"Team leader, the minister has not agreed to the donation of the files," a young man in a suit said from the passenger seat.

Wang Ye sat down, closed his eyes, and calmed himself down. "Yang Jian has the potential to become a jade, but their Headquarters doesn't value him. The file I just gave him was just a copy, and it contained some errors, but he didn't accept it, not even looking at it. This kind of caution is worthy of a man who has solved S-class paranormal cases."

"I underestimated him, and this time I paid the price for my recklessness. I just hope this won't affect Headquarters."

"Team leader, you mean..." But before he could finish his question...

Suddenly, two cold, bluish-green, eerie hands appeared on Wang Ye's neck. These hands, like a vicious curse, clung to his body and could not be removed.

The next moment, he twisted his neck and fell directly into the carriage, his eyes open, but he was lifeless.