Gao Ming

Inside the laboratory on the fifth basement level.

With Guo Fan's successful resurrection and Yang Jian's imprisonment in the spirit tablet, this experiment can be considered half successful.

The reason it's said to be only half successful is that Guo Fan, who is currently taking Yang Jian's place and suffering the curse, is still alive. Only after Guo Fan dies and Yang Jian's consciousness is returned can this experiment be considered a complete success.

To prevent accidents from happening.

Guo Fan, who is currently controlling Yang Jian's body, is inside the ghost coffin, using its properties to suppress the ghost within his body and prevent it from going out of control.

"Professor Wang, how long do I need to stay here like this?"

Inside the room, Guo Fan, having stayed for almost an hour, grew impatient and couldn't help but ask.

"At least two days. During this time, do not attempt to leave the ghost coffin. Otherwise, I cannot guarantee what might happen. Replacing a living person's consciousness is not as simple as it seems. Unexpected things may occur during this period, so a two-day observation period is the minimum."

Wang Xiaoming spoke calmly, but his words carried a hint of seriousness.

"Okay, no problem. Since Professor Wang wants me to stay here for two days, I'll stay for two days. But can't the music in the room really be turned off?"

Guo Fan nodded, indicating his willingness to cooperate with the observation, but he was still concerned about the music.

Because the music playing on repeat exudes an eerie atmosphere.

He was also Ghost Tamer, and he vaguely sensed that something was wrong with the music.

"Just bear with it. There are some things you don't need to know. You just need to stay where you are now," Wang Xiaoming said dismissively, not going into much detail.

He wouldn't reveal anything about the Music Box Curse, because it was unnecessary, and it wouldn't be a good thing for Guo Fan to find out.

However, at that moment, Wang Xiaoming received a phone call.

It was Dr. Chen calling.

"Professor Wang, the situation outside is getting worse. One of my assistants said they saw a ghost in the hallway of this building. There's a high possibility of paranormal activity happening here. We don't know the specific reason yet. I've already notified the security department. Be careful on your end. If possible, it would be best to have Wei Jing come and handle it." The voice on the phone sounded anxious.

Wang Xiaoming frowned immediately. "Okay, I understand. Don't wander around for now. Find a safe place to stay, and if possible, don't try to leave this building."

"Not evacuating? What does that mean?" Dr. Chen, somewhat surprised.

"It's just a guess, not certain yet. You can have someone try to leave this building safely, and remember to let me know the result." Wang Xiaoming hung up the phone after saying that.

Wei Jing, who was standing to the side, slightly shifted his numb gaze. "Should I go and take care of this?"

"Don't worry about it for now. The current situation is more important. Besides, this is too coincidental. Yang Jian just implemented the plan and this building is already haunted."

Wang Xiaoming calmly said, "It's most likely a backup plan prepared by Yang Jian. He wants to use the power of some ghost to seal off this building, or perhaps the ghost in this building was released by him."

Wei Jing's dark face twitched slightly. "He's gone too far. He's trying to kill everyone in this building."

"But there aren't many good people in this building. It wouldn't necessarily be a bad thing if they all died."

Wang Xiaoming said curtly, "Who among those who researches this field, especially those working on social media, hasn't killed a few people?"

"Now we can just wait patiently and ignore the paranormal events in this building until the plan succeeds. What I'm more worried about than this little problem here is the Ghost Painting Incident. This paranormal event has been going on for several days without any outburst or resolution. If this continues, something bad is bound to happen."

Wei Jing glanced at Guo Fan in the room. "If he hadn't run into trouble back then, the plan would have succeeded."

The ghost painting was very successful and effective in dealing with the Ghost Messenger. Wang Xiaoming even managed to rescue Wei Jing during the operation. Such a perfect operation is rare in the world. Who would have thought that a mistake would occur at the end?

"That's all in the past. There's no need to blame anyone. The most important thing is to address the immediate problems," Wang Xiaoming said.

Wei Jing nodded.

Soon, the laboratory returned to calm.

But the atmosphere seemed to have become somewhat tense, because they were all waiting for a result.

Wait until Guo Fan dies, and then wait until Yang Jian is resurrected.

This matter is extremely important because Yang Jian's life or death will determine the subsequent situation. If Yang Jian dies at this critical juncture, then Headquarters will have lost two captains in just two or three days. If Jiang Shangbai's death can be attributed to Yang Jian, then who can be blamed for Yang Jian's death?

Many people suspect that Headquarters killed Yang Jian, and once this signal is released, it will trigger a series of chain reactions.

Therefore, even if Yang Jian were to die, he would have to wait until after the Ghost Painting Incident was over.

But as time went by...

Guo Fan, who was inside the ghost coffin, gradually realized that something was wrong. Under the influence of the eerie music in his mind, he couldn't help but look around, trying to find the source of the sound.

However, there was no audio equipment in the sealed room, so the sound could not possibly have come from there.

Furthermore, the source of the sound didn't seem to be near his ear.

Guo Fan tried to cover his ears, but the volume of the music didn't change at all.

"The voice didn't come from the room, it came from my mind," he concluded in astonishment.

Although he hadn't thought about it that much at first, Guo Fan wasn't stupid. After calming down and observing carefully, he discovered the problem.

"Why is this happening? What's with this music that's been playing in my head? I've never experienced anything like this before." Guo Fan looked at his body.

He felt healthy, at least for Ghost Tamer, and powerful.

I felt incredibly energetic and had no discomfort whatsoever; I was in exceptionally good condition.

"It's not that there's something wrong with Yang Jian's body."

Guo Fan ruled out that possibility. "Could it be that this phenomenon is caused by a ghost inside Yang Jian's body? That's very possible. Controlling three ghosts must have some side effects. The eerie music lingering in his mind is most likely caused by one of the ghosts inside his body."

His analysis made some sense, but he was thinking in the wrong direction, since he knew nothing about music boxes.

He was not of a position to know about the various strange items stored at Headquarters; only captains were qualified to access them.

"If this music keeps playing in my head, I'll go crazy sooner or later. How did Yang Jian manage to keep going?"

Guo Fan felt irritable, his mind was buzzing, and he wished he could rip his head off to have a moment of peace.

But considering my previous state of mind, this kind of music isn't entirely unacceptable.

Indeed, nothing in this world is perfect.

While they waited in the lab, Dr. Chen and several assistants inside the building grew increasingly anxious.

After all, they had just confirmed that there was a ghost active in the building, and that it could kill people at any time. How could they be at ease? Besides, hiding wasn't safe either; if the ghost found them, it would definitely kill them.

"Dr. Chen, what's going on? What did Professor Wang say?" Assistant Liu, who was the first to discover the ghost child, was slightly pale, as if he had been quite frightened earlier.

Dr. Chen said, "Professor Wang told us to stay in this building, not to run away, and not to try to leave."

"What? They know this building is haunted and they're still letting us stay here? Aren't they just sending us to die? No, absolutely not! We can't sit here and wait to die. We have to find a way out. Waiting for rescue in a paranormal event is the stupidest thing to do. The right thing to do is to get out of the danger zone as quickly as possible before things get worse."

Another assistant spoke very urgently, while insisting on her own idea.

Anyone with a brain can tell which is right: to stay away from this haunted building or to stay here.

"Dr. Chen, I think what Xiao Zhang said makes sense. Besides, I just calculated it. This building is so big. If we rush out of this building at the fastest speed, it will only take us one minute. As long as we're not too unlucky, we won't encounter any ghosts. And even if we are unlucky enough to encounter one, we may not be targeted by the ghost."

Another assistant also felt that a decisive retreat was the better option.

Their thinking is correct, because once a paranormal event worsens or forms Ghost Domain, it's not something you can just leave as you please.

"Do you all think so?" Dr. Chen glanced at the others.

The remaining two remained silent, but both were inclined to leave.

As researchers, they know better than anyone how dangerous it is to stay in one place with a ghost for a long time. Moreover, by analyzing most paranormal cases, they can conclude that the earlier you leave the scene of a paranormal event, the greater your chances of survival, and vice versa.

Big data doesn't lie, so they believe this data.

Dr. Chen said, "In that case, you should proceed. However, you cannot act together; you must act in batches. Only after confirming that the first person can leave safely can the rest follow. Who will go first?"

"I'll go first," the assistant, Xiao Zhang, said through gritted teeth.

He had never seen or encountered a ghost child, and he believed his chances of survival were very high, so he was willing to give it a try.

Moreover, being an early adopter has its advantages; at least they can leave the haunted building first.

"Then go ahead and do it. Send me a text message once you've safely left here," Dr. Chen said.

"Good."

Xiao Zhang, who was sitting on the ground, immediately stood up, pushed open the office door, looked outside to make sure there was nothing wrong, took a deep breath, and rushed out.

Everyone watched him, listened to his rapidly receding footsteps, and waited for news after he left the building.

Little did they know that this practice triggered the ghost child's killing pattern.

Anyone who leaves this building will die.

"Very good, very safe, no accidents have occurred." The assistant surnamed Zhang quickly walked down the stairs and arrived at the first floor.

He was overjoyed to see the open door, and although it was raining under a gray sky outside, he didn't care.

I kept running forward, while also taking in my surroundings.

Everything is safe; the ghost from the building did not appear in the lobby.

However, the moment he stepped out of the building, he heard another set of footsteps behind him. These footsteps were hurried, like a child running quickly across the ground.

But before he could turn around and take another look, a chilling feeling instantly washed over him.

Suddenly, Xiao Zhang seemed to see a dead head staring at him from the shadows.

Oh no.

The thought flashed through his mind, and he felt as if he had been instantly stripped of his life, triggering some kind of inevitable death. He collapsed to the ground with a thud, his face still bearing the joy of leaving the building.

"Just as I thought, this building is sealed off by ghosts. Anyone who tries to leave will be killed, and anyone who tries to enter will also be targeted by the ghosts. I've already tried it before and almost got killed."

Not far from the building, a man in a security guard uniform looked over with a slight frown.

His name is Gao Ming, and he is the security captain of this Ping An Technology Experimental Base.

Of course, this is only one of his identities; he also has another: Ghost Tamer.