The Changing Portrait

Dawn finally broke.

Yang Jian didn't sleep all night, just sat there in the mourning hall.

Although I wasn't exactly sleepy, being in a state of high tension for so long, staring at the coffin in front of me, would honestly be unbearable even for someone made of iron.

Fortunately, he is not yet a complete person.

Therefore, Yang Jian did not choose to rest.

In addition, you have to endure it even if you are very tired at times like this.

"The coffin remained silent all night, and I wasn't attacked by any vengeful ghosts while I was here all night. So it seems my previous guess was correct." Yang Jian's eyes were bloodshot and red. Even without activating his Ghost Eye, they were practically turning into Ghost Eye eyes now.

Having risked his life last night, he was certain that the ghost and the coffin had a direct connection.

Moreover, it wasn't just one ghost; both ghosts in the village were related to coffins.

However, there was still one question that hadn't been resolved.

Why did that ghost codenamed "Plague Ghost" deliberately lure all the Ghost Tamer out and gather them together last night?

What is the purpose of this?

"There's still too little information to analyze anything useful, but now that we've confirmed the real ghost is in the coffin, we can try to imprison it." He glanced at the body bag beside him.

Something bought for 20 million shouldn't disappoint me, right?

The reason for not taking action earlier was that it was uncertain whether there was a real ghost in the coffin.

What if you put the wrong one in, and the ghost is still outside? Wouldn't that be digging your own grave?

Thinking of this, Yang Jian stood up and stretched his muscles to regain feeling in his sore and numb body.

He prepared to try and begin imprisoning the ghost inside the coffin.

Although I felt somewhat guilty and lacked confidence.

But for now, we have no choice but to bite the bullet and go for it.

They walked to the coffin in the mourning hall again, preparing to forcibly open it using the Ghost Domain technique.

But at that moment, five or six villagers dressed in mourning clothes suddenly appeared outside the gate.

The villagers were stunned when they saw Yang Jian.

Who are you? Why are you here?

An old man said, "Get out! Get out! This isn't a place for city people like you to play around. You dare to cause trouble in a mourning hall? I'll break your legs!"

"."

Yang Jian was stunned for a moment when he saw the elderly men and women who had rushed over.

You have a ghost in this coffin, and you still dare to come and burn paper money and keep vigil?

Is this true love?

"Um, sirs, aunties, please let me explain," Yang Jian hurriedly began, trying to avoid being kicked out.

"What kind of explanation is this? Get out!"

The old man had a bad temper and dragged Yang Jian outside.

Yang Jian immediately said, "Sir, please calm down. I can't hide it anymore now. Actually, the deceased was my brother. I called him 'brother,' and I was his younger brother. A few days ago, after I learned of his passing, I was overwhelmed with mixed feelings of joy and sorrow. So I drove to your village overnight to pay my respects."

"I missed my brother terribly last night, so I sat here keeping vigil. I hope you ladies and gentlemen understand."

"The dead man was an only child," said an elderly woman who was watching the commotion.

"."

Can't you just stop arguing at a time like this? It's not easy for me to lie on the spot.

Yang Jian coughed twice and said, "I forgot to mention that although we are brothers, we are half-brothers. Although we are not related by blood, we are true brothers in name only. Our feelings are as deep as the sea and our loyalty is greater than the sky. The sun and moon can bear witness to this. So I hope that you ladies and gentlemen will allow me to sit here and accompany my brother on his way."

"But you entered the village during the day yesterday, not drove back at night. You must be a liar," an old man said.

Damn, you old man have a really good memory. It's a shame you don't use it to play mahjong.

Yang Jian forced a smile and said, "Really? I remember coming at night. I must have been overwhelmed with worry and lost track of day and night, but that doesn't diminish my longing for my late brother."

"Are you really my nephew's brother?"

The old man who was holding Yang Jian looked him over suspiciously.

"That's absolutely true. I haven't read many books, and I didn't have any tutoring in elementary school, so I don't know much. That's why I can't lie and I can only tell the truth," Yang Jian nodded.

The old man scolded, "Why are you only arriving now? Did you bring the white bag?"

"Yes, I brought it."

Yang Jian immediately pulled out a thousand yuan.

"It's rare that you've put your heart into keeping vigil for my nephew. Thank you for your hard work last night. If you're not afraid, I'll trouble you tonight as well," the old man said, grasping Yang Jian's hand with some emotion.

When he withdrew his hand, the thousand yuan in his hand was gone.

Yang Jian's lips twitched.

Why didn't they just say they'd give a white envelope? Instead, I'm stuck here making up all sorts of relatives.

"It's alright, it's alright. This is my nephew's brother who lives away from home. He rushed back to burn paper money for his family. Please don't misunderstand anymore," the old man said to the other villagers.

Yang Jian originally wanted to ask the old man what his deceased nephew's name was, but after thinking about it, he decided not to ask.

There's a ghost lying in this coffin, what's the point of asking?

However, this disturbance makes daytime operations impractical; with so many people around, who knows what might happen?

Furthermore, why don't the ghosts in this village attack the elderly? Even if they prioritize attacking the Ghost Tamer, they should start indiscriminately killing people when the Ghost Tamer are not around.

Could it be a local ghost? They're sentimental.

In addition, something seemed off about the villagers.

Living in a village haunted by vengeful spirits is strange in itself.

But that's not the question we need to think about right now. At least in Yang Jian's view, these people are living, breathing human beings with body temperature and heartbeats.

Since there's no real threat, why should I care if these villagers are acting strangely?

I went out temporarily.

Yang Jian sat outside for a while, watching the villagers going in and out of the mourning hall, burning paper money, replacing burnt candles, and crying over the coffin. Something felt off.

Did they even know about the ghost inside the coffin?

While he was resting, his GPS-enabled cell phone rang.

Liu Xiaoyu called.

"Hello, Yang Jian? Is it a convenient time for you to take a call?"

"If you have something to say, just say it. I'm not busy right now," Yang Jian.

"I checked the photo in the portrait you sent me yesterday," Liu Xiaoyu's voice came through the phone.

Yang Jian, "What's going on?"

"The situation is terrible. The picture you sent me doesn't exist in Dachang City, no, not even in the whole country. In other words, this person doesn't exist at all," Liu Xiaoyu said.

Yang Jian's eyes narrowed upon seeing this. "There's no such person? How is that possible? You didn't make a mistake, did you?"

The person in the coffin might be a ghost, but the portrait wouldn't necessarily depict a ghost.

"No, this is the result of comparing the photos with a national database using a supercomputer. The highest similarity to your photo in the database is less than 60%, and I've also checked the other photos with high similarity, and they're fine. In addition, your photo has been verified by specialized staff. The probability of it being a composite is very high," Liu Xiaoyu said.

"What do you mean?" Yang Jian pressed.

"It's an image created by combining several photos of people, do you understand?" Liu Xiaoyu said.

Sitting outside in front of Yang Jian's portrait in the coffin, a chill ran through him.

Only now, after hearing this, did he realize it.

This portrait is slightly different from yesterday's.

I opened the photo album on another phone and compared it with the portrait of the deceased.

Sure enough, something changed.

The change is too general to pinpoint exactly what's wrong, but a careful comparison confirms that yesterday's photo and today's portrait are only very similar; they are definitely not the same person.

Is the portrait changing?

Although he didn't know why this was happening, Yang Jian sensed that this change was definitely not a good one.

"Hey, Yang Jian, can you still hear me?"

When Liu Xiaoyu heard no response, she continued, "I've found the files on the Huanggang Village incident that you asked me to investigate. I'll send them to your phone now. You should have a spare phone, Ghost Tamer phone doesn't have image receiving capabilities."

"Okay, sure," Yang Jian said immediately, giving her his own phone number.

Soon, he received an email on his phone.

He eagerly opened the file about Huanggang Village, and almost at first glance, his eyes narrowed and he nearly jumped up from the ground.

"How... how could this be? How is this possible?"

The information in the file instilled in him a strange sense of fear.

And at this moment.

Three sports cars drove into the village again.

It was Zhang Yiming, Zhang Han, Ye Jun, who had left last night but hadn't actually left.

Fourth update complete.

There's also the bonus chapter for the Alliance Leader. If I can't finish it today, I'll keep working on it tomorrow. I hope everyone can understand.