The City in the Painting

"That file is most likely problematic, or it may only contain half of the important information, and it's just bait to lure me in. If I read that information, I'll be misled by false information, which will only affect my judgment."

"It's better not to watch at all. That guy Wang Ye came with ulterior motives, not genuine sincerity. I don't have time to haggle with them. Since he doesn't meet my requirements, I'll just kill him. Next time, they'll know the importance of sincerity."

Yang Jian returned to Villa No. 8. He didn't take what had just happened to heart. Wang Ye's death was just something he did on a whim, and he felt no emotion whatsoever.

Although he doesn't indiscriminately attack ordinary people, it's merely a matter of inner restraint. Yang Jian doesn't want to become inhuman and a callous executioner, but that doesn't mean ordinary people can manipulate him with impunity.

In other words, when an ordinary person stands in front of Yang Jian with preconceived notions, they should be prepared to die.

Moreover, the information about the ghost painting wasn't that important to Yang Jian.

Under the curse of the music box, one can even dare to act recklessly in front of a ghost painting.

Moreover, his purpose this time was not to imprison the ghost painting at all, but simply to find the true source ghost within it.

"Then let me take a good look at this painting and see what the problem is."

Yang Jian brought the ghost painting into a small room that resembled a safe house.

Close the door.

This place can probably isolate the Ghost Domain, provided that the nearby walls are not severely damaged.

Yang Jian placed the ghost painting in front of the wall and then directly removed the white cloth covering it.

The old oil painting, resembling a Western artwork, was once again presented before me.

"There was no reaction, and nothing unusual happened."

Yang Jian stood before the enormous oil painting and pondered for a moment.

"Am I not yet conforming to the rules of murder? Or has this ghostly painting not yet come to life?"

Yang Jian recalled the scene when the ghost painting killed someone. It was a scene he witnessed when he and Li Yao visited a neighborhood. A person was kneeling in front of the ghost painting, with their head submerged in the frame. It seemed that under certain circumstances, people could enter the painting.

As for what would happen after entering the ghost painting, he had no idea.

But to find the source, you have to go inside the painting.

Because the ghost paintings are supposedly interconnected, one can find the painting that is actually possessed by a vengeful ghost by looking at one of them.

Yang Jian thought for a moment, then reached out and touched the ghost painting.

He didn't reach inside; he merely touched the oil painting. The supernatural events he had imagined didn't occur. If the Ghost Eye hadn't already gone silent, he would have even suspected that it was a fake without any strange or special features.

"It probably doesn't meet the requirements."

Yang Jian's expression shifted slightly; he thought of the Ghost Mirror in Dachang City.

When an ordinary person looks in a mirror for the first time, there will be no reflection of them. But as time goes by, a ghost will gradually walk towards you from the depths of the mirror, and its appearance will gradually become like yours. Once it moves in sync with the person outside the mirror, the ghost mirror will trap the person inside, while the ghost inside the mirror will appear.

Therefore, the conditions for a ghost mirror are the timing of looking in the mirror and the consistency of the actions.

The same applies to the Ghost Painting, except that the conditions for entering the Ghost Painting seem to be a bit special. It's actually quite difficult for Yang Jian to actively trigger these conditions and enter the Ghost Painting.

"It's not about looking at it, nor touching it. But why are ordinary people so easily attacked by ghost paintings? And the appearance of ghost paintings is completely random." Yang Jian frowned.

It is extremely difficult to analyze the murder pattern of the ghost painting out of thin air without any clues.

Yang Jian felt that if he still couldn't grasp the murderous pattern of the ghost painting, the only remaining method was to find another ghost painting.

A ghost painting that has already acquired Ghost Domain.

Because in a sense, Ghost Domain is a derivative of Ghost Painting.

"The ghost painting I encountered at Miao Xiaoshan's school last time had already formed Ghost Domain. The area was small, only covering two floors, but it was a good target for me. It wasn't dangerous, and I could enter the ghost painting quickly."

I didn't have that thought at the time; Guihua was imprisoned.

Once they're imprisoned, getting them released is virtually impossible.

"Do you need to find another ghost painting?" Yang Jian withdrew his gaze, wanting to wander around the city again.

Given his efficiency, finding the second and third ghost paintings would be easy.

However, this efficiency is limited to him only. For other Ghost Tamer to use the Ghost Domain on such a large scale would be suicidal, as they all face the problem of vengeful ghosts resurrecting. Ghost abilities are only used when facing ghosts.

After thinking it over, Yang Jian decided not to waste any more time here.

However, just as he was about to open the door and leave...

Suddenly, the lights in the room went out, and an inexplicable sense of unease arose behind me.

"Um?"

Yang Jian's expression shifted, and he immediately stopped, staring coldly at the oil painting standing next to the wall.

But the oil painting on the wall had disappeared, leaving only a frame, which hung there like a door frame, through which he could even see another scene.

It was a dark and oppressive city, with grayish-white things floating in the sky, like paper ash or a kind of haze.

"It appeared?"

Yang Jian felt very surprised at this moment.

Just now, the ghost painting was perfectly fine, without any reaction. He even wanted to kick it a few times, but just as he was about to leave, the ghost painting underwent this incredible and bizarre change.

"No, something's missing? The woman in the painting."

Yang Jian immediately looked around, but the ghost in the painting had vanished; it hadn't appeared in front of him or in the room.

Is it still inside?

He stared at the picture frame. If the ghost's location hadn't changed, then the ghost should be in the world depicted in the painting, in the neighborhood where Su Qing lived, which he had visited before.

"I moved the ghost painting in reality, but the background in the painting hasn't changed yet, so the ghost doesn't know the way and can't leave through this exit. However, if this exit remains as time goes by, the ghost will definitely invade the real world again."

"Therefore, to keep the ghost drawing in a relatively safe state, it needs to be moved constantly."

Suddenly.

Yang Jian recalled the first time he saw the ghost painting back in Dachang City.

At that time, the ghost painting had already formed a Ghost Domain, but the ghosts were attracted by the ghost candle and kept wandering around.

Now he seemed to understand why the ghost painting had to keep moving; only in this way would the ghost be least threatening. But once it stopped, the ghost painting would explode.

"Want to go in and take a look?"

Yang Jian stood in front of the picture frame. He could see a huge urban landscape inside, exactly like the city he lived in, except that some parts were flawed, seemingly shrouded in darkness and not connected to other areas.

But it's almost over.

The invasion of the city by the ghost paintings is now more than halfway complete.

In other words, in just a few more days, the background of the ghost painting will change again. At that time, it will no longer be a street or a neighborhood, but the background of an entire metropolis.

Yang Jian didn't know what would happen then, but it would definitely be a nightmare.

Now, his hesitation to enter the Ghost Painting world is not out of fear of death, but because he worries that while entering is easy, getting out will be difficult. If he gets too deeply involved and wastes two or three days, he will die from the curse of the music box.

But after a brief moment of thought, Yang Jian decided to go in and give it a try.

After confirming that the room was temporarily safe, he bent down, stepped over the picture frame, and directly entered the world of the ghost painting.

When Yang Jian went inside, he found himself in complete darkness, with only a blurry cityscape in the distance. The picture frame behind him was still there, but there was nothing on either side, not even a path.

He couldn't comprehend this imagination, and it felt as if he were completely isolated.

"The location of the exit must not be forgotten."

Yang Jian dropped a bullet as a marker. This bullet was made of gold and would not be affected; once it was placed there, it could not be moved, no matter what happened around it.

He tried to walk towards the distant, shrouded city in darkness, the heart of the ghost painting.

Many of the ghost drawings have their backgrounds displayed.

Yang Jian had only taken a few steps forward when a path mysteriously appeared beneath his feet. This path connected to a distant city avenue, seemingly leading him into that desolate city.

The road that appeared was twisted and irregular, as if it had been drawn with a random stroke.

His eyes flickered, but without fear, he stepped onto the path and walked forward.

"That city is dangerous because there's more than one ghost in the world of the ghost painting. There were Ghost Tamer who died in this painting, so their ghosts might also be trapped inside."

As Yang Jian walked forward, he discovered that although the world of the Ghost Painting looked vast, cities that were originally far away would quickly appear in front of you as you walked. This was illogical, as if the sense of distance had been altered.

He knew this was the power of the Ghost Domain.

The distances within the Ghost Domain cannot be compared to those in reality.

A place that seems far away may be just a few steps away, while a place that seems close may be impossible to reach no matter how hard you try.

"If I stay here for too long, will Ghost Eye be compressed into a malfunctioning state?" Yang Jian touched the back of his hand.

The Ghost Eye could no longer sense it; it was as if the ghost had disappeared from his body.

However, the ghostly figure and the ghostly hand still exist and remain unaffected.

Soon.

He walked along the path and came to the city's main street.

I looked around.

The surrounding scenery was exactly the same as in the city, even down to many details—the shops, cars, and some goods in the supermarket were virtually indistinguishable from reality.

"The Ghost Domain of the ghost painting can already affect reality, no, it's even more special." Yang Jian tried kicking a car parked on the side of the road.

Aside from the absence of an alarm, the feedback felt just like the real thing; even the spot where he kicked felt realistically dented.

"Um?"

Walking on the deserted, desolate street, he suddenly stopped and looked into a shop on the side of the road.

He wasn't sure if it was just his imagination, but he had a feeling of being watched.