Coordinates

"Mr. Yang, it seems we've got good luck. This is a very famous hot spring inn, and I'm sure it won't disappoint you. The only pity is that the owner seems to have disappeared, so it looks like no one will be there to serve us."

The group arrived at the hotel to rest and recuperate.

Nagazawa smiled and introduced the inn, seemingly very familiar with the place.

Yang Jian glanced at her at this moment and said, "That Mishima was acting strangely before; she seems to have some mental problems."

"He's probably gone mad."

Nagazawa said, "Miss Mishima sensed too many vengeful spirits at once, pushing her mental and physical limits. Although she is now safe and sound, these injuries don't seem to heal so easily. She's such an unlucky and pitiful woman; she was right at the last step, but she still couldn't hold on."

He also glanced behind him.

Keiko kept comforting Mishima, but the woman named Mishima was holding her head in her hands, looking terrified, her pupils unfocused, and muttering to herself. It was unclear what she was saying, but she seemed to be in a very bad state and wouldn't be able to regain her senses anytime soon. In other words, she wouldn't be able to participate in the next operation.

"Ordinary people are still too fragile." Yang Jian shook his head slightly and didn't say anything more.

He didn't criticize, he just sighed.

In fact, Mishima was safe throughout the entire ordeal. Even when he made contact with the old man at the end, he wasn't attacked. In the end, his mental state couldn't hold up, and he couldn't blame anyone else but himself for being too fragile.

"Once you've settled her into the hotel, you don't need to worry about her anymore."

Yang Jian said, "Keiko, call President Mishima have Nagazawa tell him the situation. Tell him that my operation has not been successful for the time being and that we need to plan the next step, which will take some time."

"Don't worry, Mr. Yang, I will communicate well with President Mishima," Nagazawa said.

Yang Jian nodded, said nothing more, and led the ghost child, carrying their luggage bags, into the inn.

He wasn't in the mood to deal with these trivial matters. As for whether President Mishima would be disappointed after hearing the news of the operation's failure, Yang Jian didn't care. He had his own methods and style for doing things.

A person arrived at a secluded hot spring area.

Yang Jian smelled the stench of rotting flesh on his body and decided to wash up first.

The ghost child cannot enter the hot spring because it carries corpse water. If it enters, the hot spring will become a dead spring and probably will never be usable again. Therefore, the ghost child is kept watch nearby to prevent any possible supernatural events.

The warm spring water could not dispel the chill emanating from Yang Jian's body.

His face was still pale, revealing an unhealthy complexion, and at first glance he looked like a young, pale-faced man.

Although most of Yang Jian's body was submerged in water, he was holding a golden box in his hand. This box was the one he had obtained from the Door-Knocking Ghost, and it was suspected to contain the secret of the supernatural resurgence. However, the box was not as heavy as he had imagined, but it still had some weight. He shook it, but there was no echo, so he didn't know what was inside.

In addition, the box is not made of pure gold; it is just an ordinary wooden box with a layer of gold paint. Although the gold paint is very thin, it is sealed very tightly, leaving no gaps.

This means that the box has never been taken out since the day it was put into the Door-Knocking Ghost's pocket.

The secret has been kept intact.

Unable to contain his curiosity any longer, Yang Jian decided to open it and take a look, after all, he had come all this way for this very thing.

Without any hesitation.

Yang Jian used his ghostly hand to open the box coated with gold paint. Although it was a bit bold and impulsive, he was very vigilant. As soon as something seemed amiss, he immediately activated his Ghost Domain to isolate himself from all supernatural dangers.

However, it turned out that I had been overthinking it.

After the wooden box was opened, everything was calm, and nothing strange happened.

"What is this? Where is the secret I'm looking for?" Yang Jian frowned immediately. He took out an old wooden plank from it. The plank was very old and a bit rotten. The material was similar to the ghost coffins he had come into contact with.

Although it looked somewhat eerie, he didn't sense anything unusual about the wooden plank.

It feels like it was just randomly broken off from somewhere.

"There are inscriptions on the wooden board."

Yang Jian flipped the wooden board over and found that someone had used their fingernails to carve the numbers 114, 22, 30, 30.

The numbers are just these, unrelated, and the carving is crooked and distorted, with seemingly deliberate gaps in between.

"Are you trying to play riddles on me?" Yang Jian thought for a moment, then his expression darkened.

What he disliked most was this kind of decryption. Why not just release the information honestly? Why go through all this trouble? He wasn't a decryption expert, and decrypting a hundred-year-old secret was practically impossible without any clues. Even if Wang Xiaoming were given the information, he probably wouldn't be able to figure it out.

To guess the correct information, you need something to refer to and compare it with.

"The information from the Door-Knocking Ghost must be very important. There must be a reason why he deliberately left this broken wooden board and the numbers on it. It might be to prevent the information he left behind from being too easily obtained by others, so he was extra careful. Or perhaps he was in a hurry when he left the information and didn't have time to make too many preparations, so he could only try his luck."

Yang Jian pondered for a while, but ultimately couldn't come up with a solution.

He was very disappointed, even a little annoyed.

Just like the previous owner of the Ghost Cabinet, who clearly used the Ghost Cabinet and knew all its information and patterns but said nothing, insisting on leaving some warning message—a complete mystery.

"However, thinking about the ghost cabinet and the ghost mirror, I have a clue. The things left behind by those people from the Republican Era before they disappeared will test the abilities and mentality of the users who follow. Their mentality when they left these things was very conflicted. They didn't want these things to be exposed to the world, but they also didn't want them to be completely buried."

"So they'll deliberately give you hints, letting you know half and figure out the other half, as a kind of invisible test. If that old man thought the same way before he died, then this number is a test for me."

Yang Jian's eyes flickered.

Put yourself in the old man's shoes. Suppose you knew the big secret, how could you test others while also preserving the secret?

"Who?"

Suddenly, at that moment, Yang Jian sensed movement approaching. He immediately withdrew from his thoughts and shouted.

"Yes, it's me, Keiko. I'm here to help Mr. Yang scrub his back." Keiko walked over, holding a bath towel in front of her, her face flushed, and she walked over cautiously.

Yang Jian said, "No need. Your job is translation. There's nothing for you to do right now. You can go and rest. Even if there are any operations later, it won't concern you. Nagazawa is more suitable to be a translator than you."

"Please don't say that, Mr. Yang. I'm working very hard, so please let me continue to take care of you, because that's all the value Keiko," Keiko said earnestly and persistently.

"Did President Mishima give you a death order?"

Yang Jian asked, "I can have Mishima cancel the order. You're just an ordinary person; you don't need to get involved in this. After all, nothing is more important than survival."

He didn't dislike Keiko as a person, so he gave her a way out.

Keiko shook her head and said, "No, this is Keiko's own choice, and it has nothing to do with President Mishima's orders, because I also want to repay Mr. Yang for his kindness to me."

Yang Jian frowned; he couldn't quite understand Keiko's thinking.

Or perhaps, this woman's thinking is a bit strange; after all, it's a foreign way of thinking, so it's normal to find it a little hard to adapt.

It's actually quite normal that Yang Jian doesn't understand.

Within the Supernatural Society, hierarchy and personal honor are highly valued. Keiko was sent by Mishima to take care of Yang Jian and act as a translator. If she is returned like this, Keiko will find it difficult to hold her head high within the Supernatural Society and will be reviled for the rest of her life.

"Whatever you want, I have something to do right now. Just enjoy your soak in the hot spring by yourself and don't bother me," Yang Jian said.

Keiko responded and tiptoed into the hot spring.

Yang Jian glanced at her, his expression calm. In his current state, it was impossible for him to be interested in this woman. However, Keiko's figure was indeed very good. President Mishima had really gone all out this time, sparing no effort to please him.

Keiko felt Yang Jian's gaze, blushed slightly, and smiled, seemingly unconcerned.

Yang Jian withdrew his gaze and continued to ponder the secret of the row of numbers in front of him.

However, given the current conditions, after much thought, we still can't crack this clue. We can only try to write down the numbers and then go back to think about countermeasures. We'll ask all our teammates in Dachang City to think about it and brainstorm together.

"Mr. Yang, is something wrong? Perhaps Keiko can help." At this moment, Keiko pushed aside the water and leaned closer, her face slightly flushed.

"This has nothing to do with you."

Yang Jian coldly refused. "Also, you'd better stay away from me; it's for your safety."

Keiko nodded, but she still glanced at the wooden board that Yang Jian was about to put away. She seemed to see the row of numbers, but not all of them, and then said, "Is it those numbers that are troubling Mr. Yang?"

"You're meddling too much. Forget what just happened. I don't want anyone else to know what happened. If you tell anyone, I'll kill you." Yang Jian warned.

"Please don't worry, Mr. Yang. Keiko will definitely keep this a secret. Please trust Keiko's integrity."

Yang Jian didn't say anything, but simply put the box away and into his luggage.

However, Keiko seemed to be pondering those numbers as well, and then said somewhat uncertainly, "Mr. Yang, the number that troubled you earlier should have been an address. Keiko didn't see it all and doesn't know the exact location of that address."

"Address?"

Yang Jian's expression shifted slightly. "Why do you have this assumption? What's the connection between numbers and addresses?"

"It's latitude and longitude. Those numbers should be coordinates that can accurately determine a location," Keiko said. She had some knowledge in this area, so the numbers seemed familiar.

"Coordinate?"

Yang Jian felt a chill run down his spine. Although he wasn't certain, he felt that Keiko's guess was very likely correct.

This is a coordinate address.

Recording addresses directly can lead to discrepancies, such as the street or building. While buildings and roads can change, coordinates never will. Therefore, coordinate positioning is highly accurate. Furthermore, this positioning method has been around for a long time. The old man died six months ago, so it's perfectly reasonable for him to have learned this coordinate positioning method.

"Carrying the secret on your person is too obvious. Leaving a coordinate address and then hiding the secret somewhere is much safer. That must be it."

Yang Jian immediately perked up and said, "I need a phone that can input coordinates for location tracking."

"The phone is outside with my clothes, I'll go get it for Mr. Yang."

Keiko said, walking straight out of the hot spring, covering her body with a bath towel, clearly not minding Yang Jian's gaze.

"What a bold woman," Yang Jian commented.

Soon, Keiko brought out her phone. She knelt down next to Yang Jian and handed him the phone, saying, "Nagazawa just reported this matter to President Mishima. I almost forgot to inform you, Mr. Yang."

Yang Jian didn't say anything, but simply took the phone and turned on the location function.

He entered the numbers on the wooden board according to his previous memory.

The next moment.

The phone screen flickered, and a location appeared before my eyes.

Yang Jian didn't know the exact location, but the nearby cities were marked; it was near Dahan City.

"It really is a location tracking." Yang Jian's eyes narrowed as he stared at his phone, seemingly trying to memorize the address.

If he wasn't mistaken, that must have been the place where the old man lived before he died, or it must have been a very important place, otherwise it wouldn't have been deliberately recorded.

"Near Dahan City? It's not far from Dachang City, and I also found some clues about Dahan City before I came to Kobe City. There have never been any paranormal events there, not even now that paranormal events are frequent. This isn't survivor bias; there's a reason for it."

"The old man died there, and the address he left also points there. It seems that Dahan City is hiding some great secret."

Yang Jian thought to himself.

This is not random speculation, but based on a series of pieces of evidence.

"Your role is more significant than I imagined; you recognized it as a coordinate at a glance." Pulling himself out of his thoughts, Yang Jian rarely praised Keiko.

If she hadn't pointed it out, it would have taken several days, or even more than ten days, to guess that number.

Keiko immediately smiled, her eyes crinkling. "That's wonderful! I'm so happy to be able to help Mr. Yang."

"Then let me scrub your back, Mr. Yang."

"No need," Yang Jian refused curtly.

"Why? I will be very gentle and will not let you down, Mr. Yang." Keiko asked doubtfully.

Yang Jian said, "There's no reason. As I said before, your task for today is finished. Whether you rest or take a bath, it's up to you. I'm done showering, and I need to think about the next steps. This matter isn't over yet; this short rest is just to get myself in the right state."