Terrifying Corpse Spots
"Really, they made it out alive?"
On the silent highway, with no vehicles passing by, Nagazawa looked at the scene before him and couldn't help but mutter to himself. Everything before him was still the familiar scenery, but the swarming Ghost Slave were gone, as were the terrifying dead heads floating in the sky, and the corpse-spotted old man who evoked the most despair was no longer there.
Everything eerie vanished, and Nagazawa knew he had definitely left Kobe City —no, he should say he had left that terrifying place.
This is still Kobe City, just without any vengeful spirits lurking here.
But at that moment, the woman named Mishima was still crouching in a corner, sobbing and muttering to herself, seemingly having broken down emotionally and not yet recovered.
Keiko was a little better off. She closed her eyes, trembling, not looking at or caring about anything, placing all her hopes on Yang Jian. She knew very well that as long as Yang Jian looked after her, she wouldn't die; if he didn't, no matter how much she struggled to survive, it would be useless.
Three people survived, but the middle-aged man named Sakai died in the Ghost Domain of the Door-Knocking Ghost.
The ghost child continued to circle around, seemingly unaffected by what had just happened.
"The lividity is spreading. It's a terrible curse. Anyone who comes into contact with it will be corrupted by the power of the vengeful spirit and become a rotting corpse. I haven't even officially come into contact with the Door-Knocking Ghost yet; I've only gotten close. Although my hand was grabbed, even through the golden gloves, my body is still deteriorating."
Yang Jian's expression changed drastically.
He ignored what he had just acquired and immediately checked his physical condition. He discovered that the lividity on his arm was spreading, growing all the way up to his shoulder, and the color of the lividity was deepening, without fading as it spread.
If no solution is found, his body will become a corpse again.
Like the Door-Knocking Ghost, it was covered in lividity, decaying, and stinking.
"The lividity on the other hand has disappeared."
Then he discovered the other hand; the arm that belonged to the ghost hand either didn't have lividity, or it did have it but then disappeared.
It was the supernatural power of the Ghost Messenger that saved Yang Jian, but the part that was saved was really small, only one arm.
Clearly, the puzzle of the Ghost Messenger was incomplete, which led to this consequence. If Wei Jing had come here, he would not have been able to be corrupted by this curse at all, because he himself was a ghost.
"This curse is more terrifying than I imagined; even the nearby flowers, plants, and trees have withered." Yang Jian glanced at it; the cold, decaying aura emanating from him was already affecting the surrounding environment.
Some of the roadside plants have rotted.
This was only indirect contact. If the old man actually touched him, Yang Jian didn't know if he could withstand it in his current state. However, he vaguely felt that his current physical condition wouldn't be able to handle it, since he had the body of an ordinary person, not a complete alien.
Because he had previously been protected by the Ghost Porcelain, but before escaping, his Ghost Domain had already seen clearly that the Ghost Porcelain was shattered.
This means that the protection of the ghost porcelain has reached its limit and cannot completely stop the invasion of the Door-Knocking Ghost.
Yang Jian dared not waste any more time, and he quickly brought the ghost back into his body.
The cold, dark shadow invaded his body and merged with it. Because the headless ghost was in a malfunctioning state, Yang Jian was not worried that his body would be dismembered due to the ghost's loss of control.
"I rarely let ghostly figures merge with my body, because doing so only makes my body deteriorate unconsciously. After all, the power of vengeful spirits is not so easy to control, but it should be fine to use it to resist this corpse spot curse."
Yang Jian thought to himself.
His skin gradually darkened, as if it had been exposed to the sun for a long time, losing its previous pale and unhealthy complexion.
The intrusion of the ghostly figure made Yang Jian's body feel as if it had become the body of a vengeful ghost, a very strange feeling.
After his senses were affected, his emotions also changed. At this moment Yang Jian seemed to have completely become a conscious ghost, indifferent, without a trace of human emotion, and with a potential impulse to dismember living people's bodies, just like a child who wants to own a beautiful toy.
This is the instinct of a vengeful ghost.
Once he dies, this ghostly instinct awakens and takes control of his body, causing it to act according to that instinct.
Murder became commonplace, and this is what is known as the resurgence of vengeful spirits.
So the biggest problem for becoming an outcast isn't that your body becomes a ghost, but how to overcome the instinct to be controlled by ghosts. Even if the ghost dies, the instinct remains. The more ghosts you control, the stronger the instinct becomes. Incomplete pieces of the puzzle are okay, like hands and feet, but the moment you become a ghost, you yourself will also become a ghost.
"The lividity is fading; the curse has been overcome."
Yang Jian breathed a sigh of relief. He saw the lividity on his chest fading and then gradually disappearing.
The rotten smell emanating from his body began to disappear.
However, this dissipation process is rather slow.
It took Yang Jian a full ten minutes, using the power of the headless ghost, to remove most of the lividity from his body.
This result made Yang Jian's face darken.
It takes ten minutes to remove the curse even before the body is fully afflicted by lividity. If the curse is complete, can the ghost truly withstand it? Or will I have to change bodies to escape the curse?
Yang Jian was thinking about how to deal with the situation.
This worst-case scenario must be considered; there can be no room for wishful thinking. This is a quality that every top-tier Ghost Tamer should possess.
But after thinking about it for a while, he temporarily put the question aside.
Because now is not the time to be idle.
"Originally, I could have used the Ghost Domain to take away that rotting head, but the rotting head also suppressed my Ghost Eye, preventing the Ghost Domain from covering it. Now, the head has lost a crucial piece of the puzzle, and it seems that the head balloon is now complete."
"At the same time, the terror level of the Door-Knocking Ghost has been confirmed. Although it doesn't reach the level of S-class vengeful ghost, it's far beyond a typical A-class paranormal event. Moreover, the addition of the Head Balloon Incident makes it even more troublesome."
"Fortunately, I got what I wanted and also uncovered some crucial intelligence. The first wave of confrontation had its gains and losses."
"To sum it up, this was a good deal."
Yang Jian thought to himself that he had been too greedy before, wanting to use the ghost candle to attract the ghost and finish it off in one go. He was simply not taking this grandfather, whose body was covered with corpse spots, seriously.
It's still a bit overconfident.
After all, without the curse of the music box, he dared not unleash the full power of the vengeful spirit.
The stagnation of the six-layered Ghost Domain, the bizarre dismemberment ability of the kitchen knife, and the fact that they dare not, nor want to, play their two trump cards.
Yang Jian Spirit Extermination Society n't that noble; he's just going with the flow. He wants to make some money while taking the secrets from the Door-Knocking Ghost, and he also wants to make the most of the half-day before the ghost fair's transaction, so as not to waste it.
Having grown accustomed to a life of poverty, this calculating approach to life has become a part of Yang Jian's character.
In ordinary life, Yang Jian would definitely be a stingy nobody, but after becoming Ghost Tamer, this personality is very suitable.
"Mr. Yang, now that we've withdrawn, what's next?" Nagazawa asked as he walked over, having calmed himself down.
Although the matter was not resolved, Nagazawa greatly admired the man before him.
To dare to fight against so many vengeful spirits single-handedly and escape unscathed, without even harming the ordinary Keiko, what does this signify?
This shows that Yang Jian still has a lot of energy left and did not go all out. The operation just now may have been a test in his calculations to gather intelligence.
"Let's rest nearby for a bit. I need to seriously think about a solution. This ghost isn't so easy to deal with. You saw what happened just now; it's much more complicated than you imagined," Yang Jian said directly.
"Wait, you can speak Chinese?"
Suddenly, he realized that Nagazawa was speaking Chinese.
Nagazawa laughed and said, "I can speak at least four languages, but I really wouldn't dare to boast about this linguistic talent in front of Mr. Yang."
"You're just worried," Yang Jian said calmly. "Hiding the fact that you can speak Chinese might allow you to get some important information from me, which would improve your survival skills. It's a smart move. It's normal to have survived this long with such a cautious attitude."
"I'm so sorry, Mr. Yang, you must have found this amusing." Nagazawa quickly bowed and apologized.
"No need to apologize. I didn't mean to blame you. After all, this operation was inherently dangerous," Yang Jian said.
"Mr. Yang is more magnanimous than I imagined." Nagazawa laughed again, "It's wonderful that you survived this time. I know a nice hotel nearby where you can rest for a while, but..."
He looked around as he spoke.
The unease in my heart did not subside.
Yang Jian said, "There's no danger around here. Lead the way. If any danger arises, I'll handle it."
"Okay," Nagazawa nodded.
"Are you still able to move?" Yang Jian walked over and patted Keiko on the shoulder.
Keiko was startled. Only then did she open her eyes. When she saw the peaceful scenery around her, a look of surprise appeared on her face. "Thank goodness, it's finally over."
"Mr. Yang, I can move on my own, please don't leave Keiko behind."
"Call that woman named Mishima, and get ready to leave," Yang Jian said.
Soon, the group arrived at a nearby hotel.
The short break was to rethink the plan and allow these people to recover. After all, they had just experienced such a terrifying scene, and they were no longer fit to continue the operation, including Yang Jian.