Sudden Peril

"How did this place become like this? The city looks so old and dilapidated."

"It feels like I've arrived in a strange place, unlike Kobe City. This feeling is unsettling; there's an eerie atmosphere everywhere."

As Yang Jian and his group ventured deeper into the city, they were astonished by the changes before them.

The old houses, the dilapidated atmosphere, the gloomy sky, and the faint stench of corpses lingering in the air.

This place seems like a hell where vengeful ghosts roam.

Especially in this quiet and deserted environment, ordinary people would feel terrified even if they stayed here for just a few minutes. If they stayed for a few days, they would probably have a mental breakdown, because there are real vengeful ghosts wandering in this area, who could take your life at any time.

"It's much more serious than I imagined. Although the Door-Knocking Ghost's Ghost Domain has expanded, its actual influence area isn't that large. Back in school, it only affected half a classroom, but now it's probably close to half a city. Under these circumstances, there are only two possibilities."

"One possibility is that the Door-Knocking Ghost has become even more terrifying, while another is that ghosts roam freely in the city, killing people, and this accumulation has created such a scene."

Yang Jian looked around.

There were signs of the Door-Knocking Ghost intruding everywhere.

Although this ghost is slow at killing, it has Ghost Domain. Ordinary people who enter the Ghost Domain can't get out and can only wait to die.

"What, what is that?" Suddenly, the middle-aged man named Sakai behind them exclaimed, pointing to the second-floor window of a building in front of them.

Everyone else looked over.

Fear immediately spread.

At the second-floor window of that house, a person who looked like he had been dead for a long time stood there motionless, his face ashen. His body seemed to have long since stiffened, like a strange puppet. Most chillingly, a large patch of his face had rotted away, but his eyes were still fixed on this side.

Someone who's been dead for a long time, yet is still watching this side?

"That... it's a ghost, isn't it?" Nagazawa's hair stood on end, and at this moment, the relaxed smile on his face was gone.

"Mr. Yang, please look over there."

Keiko hurriedly took a few steps forward, her face tense and frightened. She tugged at Yang Jian's sleeve and pointed out the dead man standing at the window.

"I saw it."

Yang Jian didn't stop walking; he continued forward, only slowing his pace.

"Don't be nervous, it's not a ghost, just an unlucky guy who was killed by a ghost. His spirit is restless after death and has become Ghost Slave. Although it's somewhat dangerous, it's only dangerous for ordinary people. If he dares to come over, I can easily kill him. Besides, this kind of dead person won't last long."

"When the time comes, they will still die."

Is that so?

Keiko looked at the corpse standing on the second floor, shrank back, and quickly looked away, not daring to look any longer.

But following the direction pointed out by the woman named Mishima, Yang Jian could clearly see that the further he went, the more corpses he found. Some of these people were really dead, while others seemed to have become Ghost Slave, supported by supernatural power within their bodies, and possessing some strange abilities.

Without a doubt.

These people all died at the hands of the Door-Knocking Ghost.

Others also noticed the strangeness of the place; the number of horrific dead bodies was increasing.

Moreover, as they passed by, they even saw the eyes of those people moving, as if they were watching them. Even without any movement, the eerie feeling they exuded was enough to send chills down their spines. They couldn't even imagine what it would be like if these so-called dead people started to move.

A city's ghost?

Just having this thought made me feel utterly hopeless.

Nagazawa and the middle-aged man named Sakai exchanged a glance. They both saw the fear and unease in each other's eyes, as if they already felt that they would soon become part of these corpses.

But for someone like Yang Jian who had seen it all, this was nothing.

"A massive number of Ghost Slave? That's a nightmare for ordinary people. Even Ghost Tamer would be worn down to death here. The ghost in that house before must have been a member of the Spirit Extermination Society who died there, and then the vengeful spirit revived, creating a paranormal event."

Yang Jian thought to himself.

"In this kind of situation, it's suitable for a Ghost Tamer Tong Qian to shine. She doesn't have to worry about the revival of vengeful ghosts, and she can attack all the Ghost Slave indiscriminately without putting any burden on herself."

As the group continued to venture deeper into this terrifying city, filled with trepidation...

"Ding ding ding!"

On the way, a phone suddenly rang. The ringtone came from the woman named Mishima.

Immediately.

Everyone stopped in their tracks.

"Ah!"

As if sensing something, Mishima screamed and hurriedly threw her phone away. It hit the wall next to her and fell to the ground, breaking the flip phone in two, with several electronic wires connecting the screen first.

The screen flickered, displaying an unknown caller ID.

"Ding ding ding!"

The phone wasn't damaged, yet it was ringing. The unknown caller didn't seem to be hanging up and kept dialing.

The others stared at the ringing phone, their hearts pounding.

At times like these, even the signal is severely disrupted. A phone call coming in is definitely unusual, and everyone knows that.

"Mishima, what did you sense?" Nagazawa asked.

"Behind the phone isn't a living person, but a terrifying vengeful ghost. This isn't a normal call, don't answer it." Mishima's face turned pale, and her lips moved.

"Really."

Nagazawa thought to himself, confirming his guess. He then looked at Yang Jian, but he only saw calmness and indifference on Yang Jian's face, without any surprise or strangeness.

"Don't answer any phone calls easily, or you'll be targeted by ghosts," Yang Jian warned them.

This is Ghost Slave dialing a number, spreading the curse of the Door-Knocking Ghost.

Once you answer the phone, you'll hear a knocking sound, and then the vengeful ghost will appear nearby.

Yang Jian also had the audio file of the knocking sound, but he didn't use it because he didn't want to attract the Door-Knocking Ghost. After all, he had no way of predicting what would happen if he were being targeted.

"Let's throw away all the phones. It's too dangerous. If one answers automatically, it could kill someone," suggested the middle-aged man named Sakai.

The others thought it made sense, and they all threw away their phones.

"Mr. Yang," Keiko, holding a cell phone and looking at Yang Jian.

That was given to me by President Mishima; it's a special satellite-guided phone, similar to Yang Jian's old one.

"Don't lose this phone, keep it."

"Okay, okay." Keiko threw away her own phone, keeping only this one.

However, soon after they dropped their phones, the phones on the ground started ringing one after another, each with a different ringtone, echoing through the street. And what was most unbelievable was that all the caller ID numbers were the same as those on the broken phone.

"A call from a vengeful ghost, are we being watched?" Nagazawa laughed again at this moment, "This feeling of being killed at any moment is really exciting. I'm looking forward to what will happen next."

"Mr. Nagazawa, please don't say such things," said Keiko, who was hiding behind Yang Jian, looking like she was about to cry.

Yang Jian frowned at this moment.

It's very close.

Receiving a call like this at this time means the real Door-Knocking Ghost is nearby.

But

Yang Jian looked up.

In the dim space, corpse heads still drifted about, and there seemed to be more corpse heads in this area. Although they were all drifting aimlessly in the sky, their numbers were obvious.

The source of the human head balloons is also in this area.

"It is indeed a supernatural event. It seems like we are dealing with Door-Knocking Ghost, but we also have to guard against the Head Balloon Incident." Yang Jian withdrew his gaze and looked at the ghost child who was still wandering around in front of him.

Ghost children have no fear, no human emotions, only a strange curiosity.

With a small backpack on its back, it runs around happily, shouldering the responsibility of scouting the way.

"How far is the ghost?" After walking for a while longer, Yang Jian felt the unease from the Ghost Eye growing stronger, and he suddenly asked.

Translated by Keiko.

The woman named Mishima said with a look of horror, "It seems... to be right here."

"What?"

The crowd gasped in surprise.

Before they knew it, they had arrived beside the ghost.

"Thump!"

However, at that moment, the man named Sakai suddenly collapsed to the ground without a sound. His head, with a rosy complexion and closed eyes, detached from his neck and flew up into the sky.

"Um?"

Yang Jian's expression changed drastically as he stared in astonishment at the headless corpse that belonged to Sakai.

Just now, the human-headed balloon ghost attacked him?

What a joke! I didn't notice anything at all.

"Ah!" Keiko quickly covered her mouth to prevent herself from screaming in fear.

"Sakai, dead?" Nagazawa, standing to the side, stared wide-eyed at the flying head of Sakai, finding it utterly unbelievable.

He was easily killed without even using his demonic abilities.

"Did he meet the killing pattern of the ghost at some point while he was speaking, and that's why he was killed?" Yang Jian squinted, staring intently at the flying dead head, completely unaware of the killing pattern of this head balloon.

It feels a bit like a random killing.

However, this possibility is unlikely.

If it were random killing, it's impossible that only so many people would die in this situation.