Lake and wind (I)

"Liu San, get out... get the information out!"

Dark green flames burned with a sinister chill on either side of Liu San, carving a narrow path for him through a world of raging wind.

Li Jun's entire body had been charred black. A rigid, vividly colored face hung eerily and distinctly from half a skull.

"Li Jun... hang in there. You have to survive."

Liu San gave Li Jun a long look, then turned to leave.

Suddenly, a pitch-black gale swept toward Liu San, carrying cold rain and countless severed limbs. In just an instant of contact, Li Jun's ghost domain was torn apart by the wind, cutting off Liu San's retreat.

Liu San turned his head, his expression dark as he looked at several figures nearby.

"The Reform Society... I'll remember you. A bunch of self-important old fossils from a bygone era..."

"Sacrifice some of my memories and abandon this paper figure..."

Faced with the strange, unknown gale before him, Liu San had no choice but to abandon this paper figure, even though its importance was second only to his original body.

Liu San thrust his hand into his chest.

"Not every piece of trash gets stronger just by living longer. Since you're so eager to keep me here, you can have me."

As soon as Liu San finished speaking, his body rapidly unfolded into sheets of yellow paper, which drifted toward the indistinct figures in the gale.

"Retreat. Something's wrong with this man. There's something strange about that yellow paper. It can still maintain its course and come at us in this wind."

"A major general so young. I really don't want to kill you... sigh..."

The figures slowly vanished into the gale, leaving only Li Jun's charred body behind.

In front of a massive screen at headquarters.

Wang Xiaoming stared at the large screen on the wall. In the satellite images, a skull-shaped hurricane was slowly forming.

"Professor Wang, Liu San just sent word back. It's confirmed to be a supernatural incident. This hurricane is suspected to have resulted from a collision between Ghost Lake and some unknown supernatural phenomenon that hasn't been documented yet."

Wang Xiaoming watched the screen, typing something on the keyboard with both hands.

"Have Fang Shiming come over. Send him all the files and data on this incident as well. He's dying. Tell him that if he helps resolve this incident, I'll help him resolve his ghost revival problem."

On the third basement level of the Circle of Friends building.

"My condition has been terrible since that incident. I might not even last a week..."

Fang Shiming frowned at the report before him. His body had now recovered outwardly, but the ghost revival inside him remained unresolved. The Circle of Friends' researchers could offer no effective solution.

"The bus... or that graveyard. I don't have many options left..."

Looking at the report before him, Fang Shiming weighed the advantages and disadvantages of several supernatural locations.

"President Fang, a call from headquarters."

A woman in business attire knocked on the door and opened it, holding a specially made phone.

Fang Shiming froze briefly, then immediately understood. The Circle of Friends had also been keeping a close watch on that hurricane.

"Coming to me at a time like this. Wang Xiaoming really has worked out his sums nicely. That hurricane can even blow apart Li Jun's ghost domain. He's coming to me because I'm closely compatible with that wind."

After the three major S-rank ghosts had gone out of control in Dajing City last time, Fang Shiming's condition was now terrible. Unless he found a solution soon, he would not last much longer even if he continued sleeping as he had before.

"Damned headquarters. Sending a message like this now is clearly asking us to go to our deaths. President Fang, we might as well go all the way. While headquarters is badly weakened, let's storm in and abduct Wang Xiaoming!"

Jiang Shangbai stood outside the door, looking grimly at the information in his hand.

Although he had not directly participated in the incident where the ghosts went out of control, he had been dealing with the ghosts held by headquarters on the outskirts of Dajing City. His condition was not much better.

Seeing Jiang Shangbai lose his composure like this, Fang Shiming did not reproach him. Instead, he spoke calmly.

"Jiang Shangbai, remember, don't get angry. Anger will only rob you of your reason. Don't give in to hatred lightly, either, because hatred will rob you of your judgment."

He stood up and looked down at Dajing City through the floor-to-ceiling windows.

"In a supernatural incident, any unexpected situation can arise. Keeping a clear head is the key to survival."

Fang Shiming's gloved hand held an old pair of scissors covered in hair clippings.

He thought for a moment.

"Jiang Shangbai, you shouldn't be here. Go help headquarters deal with the ghosts in Dajing City that haven't been contained yet. When the lips are gone, the teeth grow cold. If headquarters falls completely, the Circle of Friends will be next."

"Li Yao, tell headquarters I've received their message, but my previous agreement with Wang Xiaoming has already been fulfilled. That's all. I'll be leaving for a while."

Inside headquarters.

"What does the Circle of Friends mean by this? They've refused?"

Cao Yanhua stood in the center of the hall, looking at the satellite images on the screen.

Wang Xiaoming stared expressionlessly at the information on the computer before him. There was no telling what he was thinking.

"Given Fang Shiming's personality, he most likely wouldn't agree. He's different from Yang Jian. He established the company that preceded the Circle of Friends before he even became a ghost rider."

"But the information I sent the Circle of Friends included data on this hurricane. He should already be there by now. To resolve his own ghost revival problem, he'll have to explore deeper levels of the supernatural. He's a smart man. Though this incident is dangerous, it's also an opportunity for him."

"Contact Yang Jian. Liu San helped him in the tattoo parlor. He won't refuse."

The helicopter circled in the air as Fang Shiming looked at the distant gale that blotted out the sky and sun, and the pitch-black clouds.

Even from several kilometers away, Fang Shiming could still sense the changes in the surrounding environment.

"But Wang Xiaoming's information did give me a reminder. This terrifying hurricane is highly compatible with the ghost inside me. If a ghost rider wants to survive, neither avoiding supernatural incidents nor charging blindly ahead is the answer..."

The people inside the helicopter could also smell a faint stench of corpses. That hurricane blotting out the sky and sun seemed to carry countless fragments of corpses.

"Land here. Any farther ahead is beyond what you can come into contact with."

The unrestrained gale howled past. A pale, thick mass that had condensed along the hurricane's edge had completely separated its interior from the outside world.

Fang Shiming stood on the roof of a building, observing the city inside the hurricane.

The biting wind carried cold, damp rain, and a powerful stench of corpses filled the air.

Countless severed limbs whirled wildly through the air. Occasionally, one or two incomplete corpses swept past overhead at high speed, carried by the gale, before slamming into the wall of some tall building with a bang and being scattered by the fierce rain.

"It's not a ghost domain, but it has some of a ghost domain's characteristics. Communications equipment is completely unusable. There are still many ordinary people hiding in this city.

"These people can also enter and leave freely through certain special means, but once inside, their vision and sense of direction are impaired. If they don't get out in time, they'll only die here..."

Fang Shiming silently analyzed the situation before him.

"The killing pattern is still unclear. I've been standing here for at least five minutes, so at least it isn't contact-based. But something covering an area this large should have a source. Something like the Ghost Messenger's Ghost Coffin...?"

He rubbed the rainwater between his fingertips.

"Judging from the information headquarters sent, this hurricane possesses some of Ghost Lake's supernatural power. What a headache... Supernatural incidents are occurring more and more frequently, and their terror levels are rising along with them. The old methods of controlling ghosts are already outdated. I have to seek new opportunities in desperate situations..."