Anomaly on the Third Floor

Yang Jian had only just climbed the first flight of stairs and arrived at the second floor of the building when this short flight of stairs had already startled an unknown ghost.

This ghost is most likely a hidden danger left behind by the Ghost Tamer were wiped out here before. Now it is trapped in the ghost painting and has become part of it, indirectly increasing the danger here.

"If this is a ghost left behind by Ghost Tamer after death, then there must be a ghost painting in this building. Whether it's the source is uncertain, but at least we can confirm that the information from Jimmy earlier was correct."

Although Yang Jian knew there was a ghost upstairs, he remained calm and thoughtful.

"However, I have the curse of the music box on me, so the ghosts on these stairs might not be able to kill me, but the two of them might be."

He glanced back at Li Yang and the foreigner named Jimmy.

Once they are targeted by a ghost, they are doomed.

"Now that none of us are making a sound, and the ghost upstairs has stopped moving, it means the footsteps are the key." Yang Jian stepped down from the upper steps.

He went up to the second floor.

The second layer is a cement road surface, so the sound of footsteps is kept very low and almost inaudible.

Really.

Just as he had guessed, there was no sound coming from the wooden stairs above; everything seemed very quiet.

"Come up here, to the second floor. That ghost is still a bit far from us. You'll be safe here for now. Once you're here, you should be safe if you walk carefully," Yang Jian said to them.

If you want to leave this place, it's safer to jump directly from the second floor.

Although he said that, Li Yang's legs were trembling. He looked back and really wanted to give up the mission and leave this terrible place right now.

Jimmy next to him was even more timid; he closed his eyes and didn't dare to look.

Although they were terrified, they remained relatively clear-headed. Gritting their teeth, they forced themselves to continue climbing the stairs.

Crunch, crunch.

The two of them stepped onto the old wooden stairs, and the sound started again. Although they were being very careful, the sound was still unavoidable when one person's weight pressed down on a step.

The sound echoed in the silent building.

Soon, the same eerie footsteps echoed from upstairs.

Creak, creak. The footsteps were coming down the stairs.

Taking advantage of this moment, Yang Jian stared intently upstairs, trying to figure out which floor the ghost was on.

The building wasn't particularly tall, only seven stories, so based on the sound, he could roughly determine that the ghost was on the fourth or fifth floor of the stairs.

This distance is considered safe.

"Is this all?" Li Yang was covered in cold sweat as he reached the second floor and stepped onto the hard cement floor.

The creaking of the wooden floorboards disappeared, and so did the noise from upstairs.

"Alright, come with me to check the situation on this floor. Pay attention to the left, right, and back."

Yang Jian began to act, adding, "Your mission will be complete once you find that ghost, but before that, you might die here if you encounter any danger. I won't specifically protect you, but as long as you stay close to me, I'll be responsible for blocking the ghost's attacks."

"Thank you, thank you."

Li Yang said this, then whispered a few words to Jimmy beside him, telling him that this Mr. Yang in front of him could withstand that terrifying thing.

Jimmy opened his eyes and saw Yang Jian muttering something again, seemingly thanking God once more.

Yang Jian didn't speak; he began searching the floor.

Lacking the vision of the Ghost Eye and the support of the Ghost Domain, his movements are very slow. Bringing these two burdens along was a last resort. He easily overlooks his surroundings when he's alone, and sometimes he doesn't even notice when a ghost suddenly passes by behind him, since the area that one pair of eyes can observe is really limited.

There are quite a few rooms on one floor.

Yang Jian wouldn't overlook any corner; he opened a door to a room, went inside, and began searching.

He kept an eye on what was in front of him and to the sides, while Jimmy was in charge of what was behind him, and Li Yang was responsible for supplementing information on what couldn't be observed immediately from the left and right.

"There's nothing wrong with this room." After looking around, Yang Jian led them out again.

Inside the silent building, everything was extremely quiet; even the ghost on the stairs remained motionless, frozen in place.

Fortunately, Yang Jian discovered it early enough. If he had discovered it later, and continued up the stairs, it would have been too late by the time they encountered the ghost.

"Go and search all the rooms near the front door, don't miss any corner. I don't want to have to search them all over again," Yang Jian said seriously.

He aimed to search the entire building within an hour and locate the ghost in the painting.

Yang Jian acted swiftly and meticulously, quickly gaining a thorough understanding of the situation at this level.

My luck is a bit bad.

He was unable to find the ghost on this floor.

In other words, he needs to go to the third floor to look for it.

"Go upstairs via the outdoor staircase. This way we can avoid the wooden staircase and also bypass the ghost on the stairs." Although Yang Jian didn't find anything on the second floor, he found another way upstairs.

Although Li Yang was covered in cold sweat, his fear had lessened considerably, and his legs had stopped trembling.

Perhaps it was because of Yang Jian's overly calm demeanor, or perhaps it was because he had already become somewhat accustomed to it.

In short, this is good news; at least no one was paralyzed with fear due to excessive anxiety.

Jimmy was the same; despite his fear, he didn't lag behind and always stayed close behind.

Although Yang Jian was confident enough to confront the ghost on the stairs head-on, he didn't want to be targeted by another ghost for no reason. He would avoid it whenever possible and would never do anything foolish.

The outdoor staircase is made of iron.

The paint had peeled off, leaving only dark red rust, but fortunately it was still sturdy enough that walking on it made no sound when I deliberately slowed down.

I listened attentively.

The creaking sound from the wooden staircase inside the building did not occur.

"The ghost is still standing there, not moving." Yang Jian's expression shifted as he confirmed the situation.

Taking the outdoor stairs was a good method; it didn't disturb the ghost.

"Same as always, follow me and keep searching. Watch out behind you." Yang Jian was most worried about what was behind him, because that was a blind spot.

"Don't worry, we'll keep an eye on things. We're afraid of dying too, and we won't risk our lives," Li Yang said in a low voice.

Yang Jian nodded. "It's good that you have this awareness."

He climbed through a window and entered one of the houses.

As soon as Yang Jian entered the room, he couldn't help but frown. He saw a completely decomposed corpse in the living room. The corpse had been dead for quite some time, at least several months. He didn't know if it had committed suicide out of despair or been killed by the ghosts in the building.

In short, this person did not leave the building alive.

Yang Jian's ghostly figure enveloped the past.

The body showed no abnormalities.

"Ignore it, it's just an ordinary corpse, it has nothing to do with ghosts." Yang Jian withdrew his gaze, showing no fear whatsoever.

He searched the house briefly, then left and went to the corridor on the third floor.

However, Yang Jian soon noticed something was wrong.

The corridor on the third floor was littered with corpses; a quick sweep revealed at least a dozen, of varying sizes and degrees of decomposition, a truly gruesome sight.

"Something's not right. There are no bodies on the second or first floor; all the bodies are on the third floor." Yang Jian's gaze sharpened.

The fact that these people died in such a concentrated area can only mean one thing: they were trapped on the third floor, not because they didn't want to leave, but because they had no way to escape.

If it were another ghost that committed the murders, the bodies should be scattered across different floors.

"The only thing that could trap people in one place here is Ghost Domain, and this one is located within the Ghost Painting. Other Ghost Domain would be completely suppressed, so there's only one possibility for why these people were trapped: the Ghost Painting is on this floor."

Yang Jian reacted instantly, but he immediately turned around to look.

At this moment Li Yang behind him exclaimed in horror, "Yang Jian, Jimmy said that the window we climbed in through is gone, and it's turned into a wall."

Before he could finish speaking, Yang Jian had already noticed that the path they had taken back to their location had changed.

The window has disappeared.

The outdoor staircase is no longer visible.

The ghost paintings altered some of the layout of this floor.

The exit is blocked.

"It seems we're very lucky." Yang Jian's gaze darkened.

The target he's looking for is right here.

However, the danger also lies there.