A Solo Operation
Although Yang Jian avoided danger and returned to Dachang City to rest, this did not mean that Guihua's crisis was over.
On the contrary, as expected, things began to deteriorate after he left.
At this very moment.
Within a desolate, deserted city, the sky is a hazy gray, as if a layer of ashes is constantly falling, and the air is filled with a gloomy atmosphere. Such an eerie city could not be found anywhere else in the world, because it does not belong to reality, but to a world in a painting.
The operation failed.
The first operation to imprison Ghost Painting was a complete and utter failure. Although they were not wiped out, they suffered extremely heavy losses.
A survivor sat by the empty roadside, his posture upright, but covered in blood and his face charred black, resembling a burnt corpse. It was hard to imagine that such a person could still breathe and survive.
Li Jun is indeed still alive, but he is living a very difficult and painful life.
"It failed."
His voice was hoarse, as if his throat had been burned, and even a whisper sent chills down one's spine.
Led by Li Yang, Li Jun successfully located the building suspected of containing the ghost paintings, walked up the eerie wooden steps, and even entered the room containing countless paintings without any trouble.
They found the place Yang Jian had visited before.
But the result was cruel.
That room was not as simple as they had imagined. They experienced the most terrifying supernatural event. The ghost attack was despair-inducing. Let alone imprisoning the ghost painting, just surviving was a matter of luck. The result of this operation was that Chen Yi died, Liu San died, and as for Xiong Wenwen...
Li Jun was holding a photograph in his hand as he spoke.
The photo is in black and white, and it shows a child of about ten years old with a terrified and desperate expression.
Xiong Wenwen did not die, but she was trapped inside the photograph, and her chances of survival were very slim.
The Ghost Portrait was used in this mission in one instance: failure, success, and loss of control.
The odds were alright; I wasn't particularly unlucky, considering it only went out of control once out of three times. And the time it went out of control was when Xiong Wenwen was using it. His precognitive abilities were very accurate; he found the vengeful ghost in the painting. It's just that luck wasn't on his side when he used it. After pressing the shutter, it wasn't the ghost that disappeared, but him.
The only time it was successful wasn't when it was used on a ghost painting, but on other ghosts. That was to protect myself; I had no other choice but to take a gamble.
But the one time it succeeded wasn't the key.
"Captain, the roads have all changed. I can't find the exit we used to leave here." Li Yang walked over, his face pale. He was in terrible condition, with lividity on his skin and a stench of death emanating from him.
This is a sign that the vengeful spirit has overused its abilities.
Keep in mind that he only became Ghost Tamer a few days ago.
If he hadn't been a key player this time, he would definitely have failed here.
But terrifying experiences also lead to the fastest growth. Li Yang survived the operation and became more composed.
"Can you contact the outside world?" Li Jun's voice was hoarse, like that of a vengeful ghost.
"The signal is blocked, we still can't get in touch." Li Yang fell silent, feeling a sense of despair.
Only after experiencing all of this did he understand how difficult it was for people like him to survive.
Li Jun's ghost fire can still burn in this Ghost Domain, allowing him to use the Ghost Domain, but at a great cost. It was precisely because of this that he and Li Yang survived.
"Take this." Suddenly, he pulled something out of his pocket.
A wooden doorknob, painted with mottled red paint, looked like an old, ancient object, exuding an eerie aura.
"At the right time, use the doorknob to open the door. If you're lucky, you can leave. Remember, you only have one chance. The deadline is noon. If successful, send the intelligence back to Headquarters, and Professor Wang will arrange a second operation."
Li Jun handed the Ghost Door Handle to Li Yang.
This is a fallback plan after failure.
"Captain, what about you?" Li Yang asked, somewhat surprised, after taking the document.
"There's still a chance. I have to fight. Even if the vengeful ghosts resurrect, I have to restrain Ghost Painting. I saw before that my ghost fire can suppress Ghost Painting's Ghost Domain." Li Jun's fingers lightly traced the ground.
Green flames flickered inside his charred, foul-smelling fingers.
The road surface vanished instantly, turning into black ash. A gust of wind blew it away, leaving only a broken opening.
However, this gap is slowly returning to its original state over time.
Despite his restraint in the fight against the ghost painting, Li Jun was still too weak to gain the upper hand.
"It's already like this, there's no chance anymore, let's retreat together." Li Yang's eyes widened, unable to believe that Li Jun was still going to take action after they had almost been wiped out.
Li Jun slightly raised his head to look at him, his eyes also blackened, it was unclear whether he could still see clearly in this state. He continued, "This is my decision, you just need to obey orders. Now stay away from me. Whether I succeed or fail, you don't need to care. You just need to do your job."
"Take Xiong Wenwen's photo with you. Although he's trapped inside the photo, he's not necessarily dead. There might still be a chance to save him. As for the Ghost Portrait, I still need it. It's my only asset in fighting that ghost."
Li Yang now understood Li Jun's intention.
He was going to fight to the death.
With Ghost Portrait and the ability to use the Ghost Domain here, he certainly has the capital to fight, but it's just a gamble.
Because Li Jun will soon be unable to hold on; even if he is not killed by the ghost, he will die from the resurgence of the vengeful spirit.
"I understand." Li Yang stopped trying to persuade him.
Li Jun struggled to his feet. He was covered in blood, his body charred black, and his own blood kept flowing from the cracks in the charred areas. However, he could no longer care about his physical condition. He limped forward, holding the Ghost Portrait.
As the surroundings were illuminated by a layer of green will-o'-the-wisps, he quickly disappeared.
Holding the wooden doorknob and Xiong Wenwen's black-and-white portrait, Li Yang gritted his teeth and began to quickly move away from that most dangerous place.
Having survived here for several months, he was experienced and knew that as long as he wasn't targeted by the ghosts, his chances of survival were high, not to mention he had an exit to leave the area.
However, he didn't place all his hopes on the doorknob; instead, he was looking for an exit.
He had left with Yang Jian once before and knew the location of the exit.
Only at the very last moment would Li Yang follow instructions to use the doorknob and leave through that incomprehensible, eerie wooden door.
Dachang City.
Like many others, Yang Jian was unaware of the specifics of the operation. He hadn't participated in it, so he didn't care much and simply enjoyed a relaxing night.
He got up very early the next morning.
"The company isn't open yet, why don't you rest a little longer?" Zhang Liqin said lazily, startled awake.
"Let's go for a walk." Yang Jian remained as indifferent as ever, and left the room after saying that.
There's nothing dangerous stored on the fifth floor, just some weapons and tools, so he doesn't need to be distracted.
Yang Jian left his residence and strolled around the neighborhood to stretch his legs and check on the situation. He had been away on a business trip for some time, so it was necessary to familiarize himself with the place again. After all, the neighborhood had changed a lot during his absence, with many more residents and strangers.
However, when he turned around to go back, he saw several security guards gathered at the entrance of the residential area.
He saw the security guards taking pictures of the ground with their phones, as if something had happened.
The security work in Guangjiang Residential Area is quite good. After all, it concerns the lives and property of many people, so it cannot be taken lightly.
"What happened?" Yang Jian walked over and asked casually.
"Nothing's wrong, everything's normal," a security guard immediately replied.
Yang Jian said, "If everything were normal, there wouldn't be so many people gathered here."
As he spoke, he walked over.
"This homeowner, there's really no problem, everything is normal, we'll handle anything that comes up," the security guard said earnestly as he stopped Yang Jian.
Yang Jian, "You can handle normal situations well, but not necessarily abnormal ones."
He glanced at it briefly.
Large bloodstains had appeared on the ground at the entrance of the residential complex sometime during the day. The bloodstains seemed to have started inside the complex and extended all the way to the outside, but the trail ended there.
"Yang Jian, you're here too?" Suddenly, a person stepped out from the crowd and gestured to the security guards not to stop him.
Yang Jian Boss Yang?
The security guard, who hadn't recognized him before, was somewhat surprised when he heard his name.
They all knew that there were two owners in this community, one of whom Yang Jian, and lived in the villa on the right side of the entrance.
"Hello Boss Yang," the other security guards greeted him.
Yang Jian nodded in greeting, then asked, "Zhang Han, what happened here? Was the neighborhood burgled?"
"I don't know, I've only been here a short time myself. The situation is a bit strange, why don't you come and take a look?" Zhang Han said.
Yang Jian walked over and saw a large pool of blood on the ground.
"The bloodstains haven't completely dried yet. They must have been left around three or four o'clock last night," Zhang Han squatted down and smelled them.
"It smells like a corpse." Yang Jian frowned, recognizing a familiar odor.
"So the blood on the ground smells bad?"
The blood of a living person cannot smell bad; smelly blood indicates that the person is dead.
"No. The blood doesn't smell bad, it's this stuff that smells bad." Zhang Han pointed to a footprint left on the bloodstain. The footprint belonged to a child, just a bare foot.
"A child's footprints, not wearing shoes, running around in this cold weather at three or four in the morning, don't you think that's strange?"
"Not strange at all." Yang Jian's expression shifted slightly.
These are clearly the toes of a ghost child. This ghost child is very active at night. Judging from this, it must have attacked someone. The blood on the ground must have been left by the victim.
Has anyone been injured in the neighborhood?
Zhang Han said, "I haven't heard any news of injuries. Everything is normal, but I'm having someone retrieve the surveillance video. I hope we can get some results."
"Since no one was injured inside the residential area, the injured person must have been from outside the residential area." Yang Jian's eyes flickered slightly.
Someone has secretly sneaked into this neighborhood again.
He remembered Wang Shanshan saying that once, after the ghost child returned from an outing, it had several living human fingers in its mouth and bitten someone. He guessed it was Ghost Tamer. And last night, someone was attacked again, leaving a pool of blood. This was probably another bite from the ghost child.
The two could be the same group of people, or even the same person.
"To dare to come here after being attacked once is indeed very illogical," Yang Jian pondered.
He squatted down and examined the bloodstains.
"However, this injured person probably won't live much longer."
Ordinary people would be fine if bitten by the previous ghost child, but being bitten by the current ghost child is terrible, as the current ghost child has corpse fluid on its body.
That was something left behind after the death of a Ghost Tamer named Ye Jun.
Ordinary people would rot and die within three days if they were contaminated by corpse fluid, but Ghost Tamer could resist it, though at a price. However, Yang Jian judged that the intruder in the community this time was not Ghost Tamer, otherwise they would not have been so silent; they would have made some noise.
But another strange problem is that the ghost child gave orders yesterday to only attack unfamiliar Ghost Tamer.
Normally, ghost children wouldn't attack; otherwise, Yang Jian wouldn't have allowed this thing to roam the neighborhood.
"Incomprehensible."
Yang Jian shook his head slightly, then said, "Zhang Han, let me know if there's any news from the surveillance footage. I want to see who sneaked into the community. This isn't the first time we've encountered this situation; we had a similar one last time. I don't think things are that simple."
"Okay, I'll keep a close eye on things. However, there are still no results regarding the matter you asked me to investigate last time. But I'm certain that the people who broke into the community last time were definitely not from Dachang City. They should have already fled. If this case is related to the last one, I can find out." Zhang Han nodded.
His entire family now lives in Guangjiang Residential Area, and he and Yang Jian are practically in the same boat. They're both just trying to survive, so they value safety here a lot.
"I'll take care of things at the company for a while, so you can take a break and focus on investigating this matter," Yang Jian said.
"That's good, now I can relax a bit," Zhang Han said with a smile.
Compared to keeping an eye on the entire Dachang City, this is obviously easier.
"I hope it doesn't lead to anything serious," Yang Jian thought to himself, looking at the pool of blood on the ground.
He's starting to worry.
Before, I was fearless, having nothing to lose. After settling my mother in peace, I dared to fight anyone. But now, after experiencing so much, I am no longer alone. The entire community behind me needs to survive.
Yang Jian knew that he absolutely could not afford to make any mistakes.
This is one of the reasons why he fled the Ghost Painting Incident.