Guesswork

"This is such a troublesome thing. I thought being the security captain here would be an easy job, but now it seems I'd be better off as a manager."

Gao Ming scratched his head, feeling that things were getting complicated. That Yang Jian was indeed good at causing trouble. Everything was fine before, but after he entered the laboratory building, the ghost appeared. This was clearly not right.

The ghost was most likely brought by Yang Jian.

"Is he trying to use a ghost's power to seal off this building? Or is he deliberately letting the ghost go out of control here in the hopes that I won't be forced to deal with that thing, otherwise I'll have to take a few days off. Fighting that thing head-on could really kill people."

He had previously seen the ghost child wandering in the building.

It looks harmless, but once you step into this building, you'll understand just how ferocious this ghost really is.

The relentless attacks would kill any Ghost Tamer couldn't withstand them instantly. If you tried to fight back, you'd die even faster, because you'd soon perish from the resurrected vengeful spirit.

The ghost in this building seems to be able to ignore the influence of other ghosts.

"That shroud." Gao Ming thought carefully for a moment and finally determined what the ghost was wearing.

Ghost Shroud?

The one the starving ghost wore before.

After realizing what had happened, Gao Ming determined the connection between the ghost and Yang Jian, so he turned and left, preparing to get away from the building.

Since the supernatural event is connected to Yang Jian, there's no need for him to handle it. Once Yang Jian comes out alive, he'll naturally be in charge. It's better for him to avoid trouble; it would be terrible if he died here in a muddle.

I'm outta here!

Gao Ming decided to retreat for the time being, not wanting to get involved in the confrontation with the ghost child.

As for Dr. Chen and his group in the building, figure it out yourself. If all else fails, go and plead with Yang Jian. Just don't call me.

According to the file, Gao Ming is a lazy and irresponsible Ghost Tamer, but fortunately, he is mentally stable and easy to talk to, so the Headquarters is quite tolerant of him and has tacitly approved of his shirking of responsibility several times.

"The phone call didn't come back, so Xiao Zhang most likely didn't leave this building alive. He was probably killed by a ghost."

Inside his office in the building, Dr. Chen checked the time. A full ten minutes had passed, and he had neither received any text messages or phone calls, nor had he seen the assistant from before leave the building.

The result is already obvious.

The remaining people immediately turned pale and began to tremble uncontrollably.

Assistant Liu, who had been eager to take action, felt a strange sense of relief. Luckily, he wasn't the one who had acted just now; otherwise, it wouldn't have been Xiao Zhang who died.

"Luckily, we didn't act together just now, otherwise we would have been in big trouble. For the rest of the time, just stay here quietly. I will try my best to communicate with Professor Wang and see how he handles it. Don't be too nervous. As long as Professor Wang is alive, we won't be abandoned."

Dr. Chen remained relatively calm, believing that Wang Xiaoming already knew what was going on here.

There must be a reason why he didn't react, but he was kept in the dark about the specific reason.

Time passed little by little.

While Yang Jian was trying to deal with the Eight-Tone Curse, another operation began in the city.

This is an action taken against the ghost painting.

Fortunately, the Ghost Painting Incident has been brought under control to some extent and has not escalated. However, the potential dangers remain significant, as the ghost painting continues to appear from time to time in some corner of the city, and the background puzzle of the ghost painting is gradually being improved.

This is a signal, and also a countdown.

If it weren't for the conflict between Yang Jian and his circle of friends that caused a delay, the action against Guihua would have been taken much sooner.

Now.

Inside a coffee shop in the city that has a sign saying it's temporarily closed.

Several key figures from Headquarters have temporarily chosen this place as their base of operations.

"Jingle!"

As the doorbell rang, Chen Yi rushed in, pushing open the door. He looked around the shop, his gaze finally settling on Li Jun: "We found another painting earlier, it's definitely a ghost painting. According to Professor Wang's deduction and the survivor Li Yang's description, one can enter the Ghost Painting world through the ghost painting that created the Ghost Domain."

"The entrance has been found; we can proceed now."

"Very well, since that's the case, let's act now and bring Li Yang along." Li Jun immediately stood up.

However, at this moment, Liu San, who was drinking coffee, slowly said, "Li Jun, what's the rush? I've been thinking about this, can we imprison Ghost Painting in the world of Ghost Painting? Isn't that a paradox? Of course, supernatural events always challenge people's understanding. Assuming we can successfully imprison it, how do we leave Ghost Painting?"

"Professor Wang has thought about this problem. We can leave by looking at other ghost paintings; we just need to find other exits," Li Jun said after a moment's hesitation.

"How can we guarantee that other ghost paintings will still exist after the original ghost painting is gone? Have we forgotten the Starvation Ghost Incident? Once the original ghost is imprisoned, the supernatural phenomena that arise from it will also disappear," Liu San said calmly.

"This, this..." Li Jun hesitated.

Indeed, I haven't thought about this question yet.

Chen Yi pressed further, "Liu San, what are your thoughts?"

Liu San said, "Personally, I think the reason Ghost Tamer abroad were wiped out is because their thinking was flawed. The previous Ghost Messenger incident gave me a reminder that it is almost impossible to deal with ghosts in the ghost Ghost Domain. Even the ghost Ghost Messenger were drawn into the ghost painting, which proves that its Ghost Domain is even more terrifying. Moreover, Li Yang also said that there is more than one ghost in it."

"Yang Jian knows best, but unfortunately he's not here right now. Of course, even if he were here, he might not tell us any important information, since he's been suspended and the Ghost Painting Incident has nothing to do with him."

Li Jun frowned and asked, "What are you trying to say?"

"I just want to say that there's a high chance this operation will fail."

Liu San lowered his voice and said, "There is no possibility of success. Professor Wang's deductions are correct in many ways, whether it's the background puzzle of the ghost painting, the exit of the ghost painting, or even this arrangement, everything is very reasonable."

As he spoke, he glanced at an old camera placed next to his desk.

Ghost Portrait.

It can take photos of ghosts from a certain distance. If it successfully captures the ghost's entire body, the ghost will be trapped inside the photo. However, there is a possibility of failure. If it fails, the ghost will be fine, but the user who pressed the shutter will be trapped inside the photo. It is a very dangerous supernatural entity.

Li Yang once said that the ghost in the painting has a terrifying footstep sound, and if you get close, you will die.

Therefore, Ghost Portrait is the best means of restriction, even if it involves some risk, it is better than the Ghost Tamer having to risk getting close.

"However, based on my personal experience, we can only imprison Ghost Painting after the Ghost Painting Incident has officially broken out," Liu San said seriously.

"What? Are you crazy? Don't you have any idea how many casualties this would cause if it broke out?"

Su Fan, standing to the side, looked at him in surprise. "Headquarters has issued a strict order this time."

Li Jun was also staring at him.

Liu San chuckled softly, his sallow, gaunt, and sickly face eerily unsightly. "Because I believe that after the Ghost Painting Incident, the ghosts in the paintings will invade reality. In this way, the ghosts will give us the opportunity to imprison them. Otherwise, fighting against ghosts inside the paintings would be exactly the same as fighting against ghosts in the Ghost Messenger Ghost Domain of the ghost messengers before, wouldn't it?"

"Wasn't the last fall pretty bad enough?"

"That makes sense." Su Fan pondered for a moment, feeling that Liu San's deduction seemed to be correct.

Li Jun said in a deep voice, "Professor Wang didn't mention this."

"Was it simply not mentioned, or was it deliberately concealed?"

Liu San took a sip of coffee. "With his intelligence, he couldn't possibly not have thought of this. He's probably planning some kind of experiment or trial, or perhaps he's worried about too many casualties this time, so he thinks it's safer to go inside the Ghost Painting. Even if someone dies, they'll only die inside the Ghost Painting and won't affect the outside."

"As for whether we can get out in the end, that wooden door from before might come in handy."

"Li Jun, you still have the doorknob, right?" he said, then looked at Li Jun again.

Li Jun fell silent.

That thing is indeed still in my possession. I don't know if I deliberately forgot about it before, but I've kept it on me since the last operation and haven't returned it.

"Really."

Liu San shook his head slightly and said, "Professor Wang had already planned this action back then."

"That's good. Professor Wang did nothing wrong. If any teammates die from the resurrection of vengeful ghosts, leaving the ghosts in the ghost painting is a very good decision."

Li Jun stated very firmly that he believed the plan was still correct and entirely right.

"So we're facing the same danger as last time. That door isn't so easy to open."

Liu San sighed and said, "The plan is certainly correct, but all the risks have fallen on us. It seems that Professor Wang has a very high opinion of this Ghost Painting Incident."

"Otherwise, this solution wouldn't have been proposed."

After all, Professor Wang had even considered their funeral arrangements, which meant he believed the operation would result in a significant number of casualties.

Otherwise, Professor Wang wouldn't care about the safety of ordinary people at all.

"You're carrying Ghost Portrait, what are you afraid of? Any ghost can be imprisoned, so our chances of winning are very high," Li Jun said.

"You're wrong. This thing isn't a panacea. Otherwise, why didn't we use it during the Ghost Messenger incident instead of waiting until now? Besides, I think even if this thing captures the ghost in the Ghost Painting, it will only restart the Ghost Painting once."

Liu San said solemnly, "Everyone has seen Wang Quan's report. That intelligence came from Yang Jian, and it's highly credible."

"One success is enough. One time to restart Ghost Painting, and leave the rest to us," Li Jun said.

"Don't waste any more time, let's get started."

After speaking, he glanced at the others, as if giving an order.

"Okay, you're the boss, you call the shots." Liu San shrugged, indicating that he didn't care.

Although he is the captain, his position is merely nominal until the Ghost Painting Incident is resolved. Only upon returning to his assigned area can he exercise the duties of captain. In other words, the captain's authority has not yet been fully realized.

Of course, this only happened once.

This is a compromise between Headquarters and the team leader.