Out of Control (III)

Inside the blue-black Ghost Domain.

Somewhere in headquarters.

"That Elder Qin actually managed to stop the Hungry Ghost, but finding it inside this Ghost Domain will be difficult, let alone containing it."

A paper figure with a sallow, gloomy face walked down a long, narrow corridor, holding a burning white Ghost Candle.

"Anyway, Wang Xiaoming only tasked me with finding the Hungry Ghost. Whether it can be contained is up to Elder Qin..."

Suddenly, the lights at the far end of the narrow corridor began flickering nonstop.

With a bang, the bulbs went out one after another, advancing toward Liu San from the distance.

"Here already...?"

Suddenly, the bulbs began going out much faster. Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang! The sound of exploding bulbs erupted like a frenzy of firecrackers. Beneath every bulb that went out stood a figure, racing toward Liu San along with the darkness.

The next second, pitch darkness swallowed Liu San...

Inside the meeting room, Liu San pointed to an area on the map.

"Found it. It's in this area, but you need to hurry. The Hungry Ghost hasn't completely devoured the Coffin Nail yet, but it's close. The Coffin Nail is restraining it less and less. Once it fully adapts to the Coffin Nail, I won't be able to help here. There's no way to confirm whether the Hungry Ghost, now that it has the Coffin Nail, will gain the same abilities after eating my paper figure. I can't take that risk. Goodbye."

Wang Xiaoming watched the paper figure slowly dissipate. After thinking for a moment, he continued analyzing the intelligence on the computer before him.

The scene shifted to somewhere in headquarters.

The viscous blue-black haze seemed on the verge of becoming solid. A powerful stench of rotting corpses filled the air, and bodies lay everywhere. It was cold, bone-piercing, with a sinister chill.

Wang Chaling leaned against a wall for support, his gold-rimmed glasses lying off to one side. His entire left arm was gone, and thick blue-black slime kept oozing from the wound. It looked as though something had forcibly torn it off.

"Cough, cough, cough!"

Blood kept spilling from Wang Chaling's mouth.

"The Hungry Ghost with the Coffin Nail is too terrifying... I shouldn't be here..."

The thickest depths of the blue-black haze suddenly began churning. An icy aura rushed toward Wang Chaling, sweeping him into it in an instant.

Wang Chaling screamed himself hoarse. "Grandpa, Grandma, block this attack for me!"

The two deathly, black-and-white elderly figures behind him suddenly moved. Their chilling silhouettes flickered, appearing in front of and behind Wang Chaling to protect him.

Tap, tap... tap...

A series of leather-shod footsteps sounded beside Wang Chaling, then stopped behind him.

"It's getting closer to me... Has it stopped behind me...?"

Although Wang Chaling could see nothing now, he could roughly judge from the footsteps that the thing was less than ten meters away.

The footsteps sounded again. Five meters... three meters... Wang Chaling could already smell the stench of a corpse left rotting for days, as though he could touch the ghost's body simply by reaching out...

Should I act...? But if I lose Grandpa and Grandma's protection, this ghost might kill me instantly... Or should I have Mom try again...?

Wang Chaling looked at his severed arm, cold sweat pouring down his face. Only the Wang family's first generation could withstand the Hungry Ghost. His severed arm was the best proof.

One meter away, the footsteps suddenly stopped, as though the ghost stood pressed right against Wang Chaling's back.

Should I act...?

He hesitated, weighing his options.

Yet there was no Hungry Ghost behind Wang Chaling at all, only a pair of eerie leather shoes that had stopped there.

The real ghost had been standing in front of Wang Chaling all along, staring fixedly at him.

Just as Wang Chaling prepared to act, in the instant he turned, a nearly rotten hand reeking of decay suddenly reached in from in front of him, going straight for his throat.

The elderly figure guarding his front did not move at all, standing rigidly in place as though it had crashed.

Before Wang Chaling could react, the elderly figure behind him seized the hand first. Before he had time to be surprised, the jaw of a rotten head split open, revealing a mouthful of hideous black teeth, and bit down toward Wang Chaling's head.

Just as the rotten head was about to bite his head, Wang Chaling abruptly pulled out a Ghost Candle and thrust it between those hideous black teeth.

Wang Chaling wanted to light the Ghost Candle, but as an ordinary person who had lost an arm, he was already suffering excessive blood loss, and his consciousness was beginning to blur. This was all he could do.

"I hope this works... I'll win if I hold on until backup arrives..."

But under Wang Chaling's astonished gaze, the Hungry Ghost's other rotten hand slowly stabbed toward the elderly figure restraining it. The instant it pierced the figure, the figure's movements suddenly became abnormally slow. At the same time, the rotten head was rapidly eating the red Ghost Candle.

Despair spread through Wang Chaling's heart. In just one brief instant, both ghosts of the Wang family's first generation had been restrained.

"Heh... So this is the Hungry Ghost after fully mastering the Coffin Nail? I really wasn't suited to walking this path after all." Wang Chaling stared at those hideous black teeth, his eyes filled with despair.

In that desperate situation, just as Wang Chaling made up his mind to do something-

Suddenly, a memory that did not belong to Wang Chaling surfaced in his mind.

In the memory, he seemed to have been here before, but there was no Hungry Ghost in this place. He had stood here just as he did today, but there was another difference: in the memory, one more person was here.

A man named Shen Lin. In the memory, he stood in front of Wang Chaling, in the very spot where the Hungry Ghost had been.

Wang Chaling abruptly opened his eyes.

Something bizarre happened. Wang Chaling saw a somewhat relaxed-looking man in casual clothes standing before him, even greeting him with a smile.

"That was close. I finally made it in time. If the Hungry Ghost and those two elderly figures behind you hadn't reached a momentary balance just now, I really wouldn't have been able to get in here. Let me introduce myself. I'm Shen Lin, one of headquarters' designated captains."

Wang Chaling looked at the man before him in disbelief. "A consciousness-type ability...? You don't exist in reality? An unbelievable ability."

"Everyone has their own experiences. Compared with my ability, those two elderly figures behind you are what's truly terrifying."

Shen Lin waved a hand. He looked at the two deathly, black-and-white elderly figures behind Wang Chaling, his eyes full of wariness.

"But you're afraid to move, always looking ahead and behind. You haven't brought out their true worth at all. If you keep hesitating like this, I'll abandon you without a second thought."

With that, Shen Lin turned toward the depths of the blue-black haze.

"So fast... Here it comes again."

No sooner had Shen Lin spoken than the viscous blue-black haze rushed toward them again, seemingly even more dangerous than before. Feeling that icy aura, both men's hair stood on end.

"Wang Chaling, we only have one chance. I'll block this attack for you. You just need to do what you should. Even if it means dying, I'll die before you."

With a grave expression, Shen Lin stared into the very center of the blue-black haze, where a man with blue-black skin stood rigidly.

"Captain Shen, I owe you a favor. Since you've decided to stake your life on this, I'll hold nothing back either. But the files say the Hungry Ghost is suspected of having the ability to restart. Be careful..."

Wang Chaling's expression hardened, and the figures of the Wang family's second generation were already slowly overlapping with him.

"Don't worry, I came prepared. Besides, what respectable person believes the files? Do you believe the files?"

"I don't either."

The two men exchanged a smile and said no more.