The Painting That Revealed Reality

The ghost, accompanied by footsteps, did not leave but remained lingering on the fourth floor. The ghost could go to the third floor at any moment, but so far there was no one on the stairs, so the ghost did not take any action and chose to remain silent.

Yang Jian's Ghost Eye were suppressed, so he couldn't see the ghost, but he knew it was an extremely terrifying and vengeful spirit.

Because he had just been killed by this ghost.

The music box's curse of immortality preserved his consciousness, allowing him to come back to life.

"Judging from what we just saw, this ghost is probably attracted by footsteps, or perhaps the sound of people going up and down stairs. The pattern must be related to footsteps; once someone makes footsteps, the ghost will keep getting closer, and when the person and the ghost get very close, the living person will surely die."

Yang Jian's eyes flickered as he analyzed the situation that had just occurred.

Although his analysis might not be correct, he should have grasped the general pattern of the ghost's killings, just not in enough detail.

After all, they risked their lives to try it once, so they gained something useful.

"Mr. Yang, what happened just now? Are you alright?" Li Yang asked anxiously from the bottom of the stairs.

"There's been a slight mishap. That ghost has already reached the fourth floor. It's very dangerous. You all stay there and don't try to leave via the stairs. Otherwise, the ghost will follow you to the third floor, or even leave the building altogether. Then no one can protect you," Yang Jian said calmly.

"I see."

Li Yang shuddered, looking at the dimly lit staircase, sensing an inexplicable danger.

Luckily, they discovered it early when they went upstairs and knew there was a ghost lurking on the stairs, otherwise Jimmy and I would definitely be dead here.

Yang Jian no longer dared to act recklessly.

He couldn't be sure if he would be attacked by that ghost again, nor could he be certain whether the music box's curse would save him next time.

After all, this ghost was fully capable of killing him instantly.

"Could the ghost on the stairs also be a remnant left behind by a foreign Ghost Tamer team? If so, that's really good news. It's hard to imagine how terrifying the guy who controlled such a ghost would be," Yang Jian couldn't help but think.

The previous ghost Blocking Door has been confirmed to be a supernatural event formed after the death of Ghost Tamer from abroad, but that person's ghost was not particularly terrifying and was still within his ability to handle. However, Yang Jian felt that he was not yet able to deal with this ghost on the stairs. If it were outside, he could only deal with it from a distance using his Ghost Eye.

If you get too close, you will surely die.

The powerful figure who controlled such a ghost was defeated in the Ghost Painting Incident; just thinking about it makes me happy.

Because after that person died, the ghost was also trapped here and could not leave.

Although it increased the danger inside the ghost painting, at least the outside was safe, and there was no need to come into contact with those eerie and terrifying footsteps.

"Keep searching."

Yang Jian's exploration was not over yet. He had searched the entire third floor but had not found the ghost painting. Now that he had reached the fourth floor, the operation had to continue.

However, a terrifying ghost was now lurking in the fourth-floor corridor, so Yang Jian was being extra careful.

He moved forward cautiously without making a sound, and began searching alone.

Fortunately, the music box's curse was still in effect; otherwise, Yang Jian would never have come to this cursed place. The danger here was no less than any supernatural event he had ever encountered before.

The ghostly shadow beneath Yang Jian's feet was exploring. He wasn't simply relying on his eyes to find the ghost painting, but rather using the ghostly shadow to cover everything and find the hidden frame.

Time passed little by little.

Because he needed to avoid being attacked by the ghost in the stairwell, his search wasn't very efficient.

At first, Yang Jian didn't discover anything.

However, Yang Jian quickly found some clues. Some parts of this floor had been deliberately damaged, and there were golden bullet casings left on the ground, as if someone had fought against something here at some point.

"Sure enough, the Ghost Tamer died on the third floor had also been to the fourth floor before. They experienced danger here, then ran to the third floor, only to be trapped by the ghost painting and unable to leave. They could only fight desperately, but in the end, they were all killed by the ghosts in the painting. I just don't understand why a top-notch team of Ghost Tamer would die in the ghost painting?"

Yang Jian felt he was getting closer and closer to that thing, but his unease was growing stronger.

The ghost drawing is somewhere on this floor.

He might find it soon, but he was more worried about what terrible things might happen after he actually came into contact with the source of the ghost painting.

Can the curse of the music box truly ward off the source of the ghostly drawing?

However, Yang Jian did not forget his mission. He did not need to make direct contact with the ghost painting. He only needed to find it, take a look at it, and then leave immediately to complete the ghost cabinet mission.

Soon,

Yang Jian arrived at a room on the fourth floor.

But the moment he pushed open the door, he immediately heard something fall to the ground behind it, as if he had bumped into something in the room because of opening the door.

Yang Jian looked down and his expression immediately changed.

It was a painting.

There was nothing in the painting except pitch black. At first glance, it looked like a piece of black paper framed on a canvas, without any patterns or objects.

Unlike ordinary black paper, the black in this painting varies in intensity, and the shadows change with the movement of light, sometimes resembling a hand, sometimes the outline of a face hidden in the darkness. But more often, the two black dots in the painting resemble a pair of black pupils, peering in from the shadows.

It's a very eerie painting, but it's not a ghost painting.

But Yang Jian's instincts told him that there was likely a ghost hidden in the painting, or that a ghost was hiding inside the frame, waiting for its chance to leave.

However, before Yang Jian could pay much attention...

To his even greater astonishment, the walls and even the ceiling of the room were covered with all sorts of paintings. These paintings varied in size and content, but they all shared one thing in common: the backgrounds of these paintings were all dark and oppressive.

It's very uncomfortable to watch.

"This is a room displaying all sorts of bizarre paintings; the ghost paintings are very likely in this room." Yang Jian's body trembled, feeling as if he had entered an extraordinary place.

For the first time, the thought of backing out crossed his mind; he wanted to close the door and leave immediately.

But the music in his mind warned him that he was under a terrible curse, and leaving now would mean missing a chance to live.

However, entering this room would definitely lead to extremely terrible dangers.

Perhaps once you go in, it will be very difficult to come out alive.

I weighed the pros and cons.

Yang Jian ultimately did not choose to back down, but he also did not choose to forcibly search the room displaying various paintings. Instead, he searched tentatively, and if he encountered anything unusual, he would immediately retreat without hesitation.

He picked up the black painting that had fallen by the door.

He didn't carry it with him; instead, he turned it over and covered it on the ground, out of sight, out of mind.

Yang Jian then entered the room.

His eyes darted around, searching and wary.

He saw a painting hanging on the wall. The background of the painting was dark, but he could vaguely make out that it was inside a building. However, what caught his attention the most was not the background of the painting, but the old staircase depicted in the painting. One end of the staircase disappeared into the darkness, and the other end extended to the bottom of the painting.

There seemed to be a person standing at the top of the stairs, but the person was only a blurry outline, like a shadow, and could not be seen clearly at all.

Yang Jian's expression hardened at the mention of the staircase.

The staircase in the painting is exactly the same as the wooden staircase I just stepped on. No, this painting was based on that staircase.

Most importantly, the unseen ghost on the stairs is also vaguely visible in this painting.

Judging from the background in the painting, Yang Jian can determine that the ghost is currently located on the third step down from the fourth floor, which is almost the same location where he was attacked.

Yang Jian soon discovered another painting.

It was a dimly lit living room. In one corner sat a television with a black screen. In front of the television was a single, empty sofa. The ghost that had been sitting on the sofa seemed to have vanished.

"It's the room Li Yang and I just went into. There used to be a ghost in that room, but the ghost is currently on Li Yang, so it's not depicted in the painting."

Yang Jian seemed to understand a little.

Each painting here corresponds to a specific place in this area, whether it's a room or a staircase. The only difference is that the paintings here depict the real situation outside, including the hidden and unseen ghosts.

After thinking about this, he couldn't help but take a few more steps forward, trying to see more of the painting clearly.

A short while later.

A peculiar painting appeared before his eyes.

The painting depicts a gray, overcast sky, beneath which a village nestled in the Tian Ye appears and disappears in the distance.

The village was drawn with black dye, blurry and indistinct, with only a rough outline, but Yang Jian could see it very clearly. The outlines of many houses in the village were pieced together, vaguely forming the shape of a coffin in the distance.

Moreover, in the most prominent place of the painting, there was a sign with three characters written on it, but the characters were blurry and only the name of a certain village could be roughly identified.

This must be the name of a village.

"Those are Ghost Messenger." Yang Jian's expression hardened.

He was very familiar with this village, and even more familiar with that coffin-shaped Ghost Domain —it was the Ghost Messenger had disappeared from the ghost painting.

This S-class vengeful ghost was also trapped inside the ghost painting.

Besides the Ghost Messenger, Yang Jian also saw a painting. The background of the painting was an old bungalow in the countryside. An old man was standing at the gate of the bungalow. The old man's figure was blurry, but his clothes were neat. Although his facial features were not clearly outlined, it was still clear that the old man was smiling and seemed to be looking in this direction.

The painting, combined with its background and the eerie smile of the old man, instantly gave Yang the feeling of facing a funeral portrait.

This painting feels even more eerie than the ghost on the stairs from before.

Yang Jian dared not stare at it for too long. He knew that there were more ghosts in this painting than he had imagined. Perhaps a long time ago, this painting had already trapped many ghosts, and they were not all left behind by the Ghost Tamer team from abroad after their deaths.

"Next time you encounter a place described in the painting, be sure to avoid it. These places are haunted, and you must never go near them."

Having vaguely memorized a few dangerous spots, Yang Jian took a few more steps forward.

Although the room was filled with paintings, the paintings took up a lot of space. After entering, he had only seen a few. The paintings in front were not clear at all due to the distance and angle. He could only see the frame hanging on the wall, and the content could not be seen. So, if he wanted to see more, he had to go deeper into the room.

Fortunately, nothing unusual happened in the surrounding area.

Although there were ghosts in each picture, they did not appear in front of Yang Jian.

Soon.

Yang Jian stopped in his tracks, his gaze fixed on a painting that occupied a relatively large area.

The painting is very long, hanging from the roof all the way down to the floor.

The background of the painting is high-rise buildings, but the actual subject is a single building.

A building shrouded in a dim world.

This building has seven floors. It's exactly the same as the building where Yang Jian is.

"This painting corresponds to the situation of this building." Yang Jian immediately stared at the painting, quickly scanning it from top to bottom.

But soon, his eyes narrowed.

Because there was a ghost standing at the entrance of this building.

This ghost looked familiar. It was dressed in red, and although its features were blurry, it should be a woman. Its hands were white, giving it an indescribable eeriness.

After searching for so long, I never expected to find the ghost standing right downstairs.

My sleep schedule is a complete mess. I'm so sorry about the update.

However, I'll update three times today to make up for it.