The Buddhist Kingdom in Dreams (III)

The girl before him was cute, looking about sixteen or seventeen, and her skin was not particularly fair. Strangely, however, she was wearing a raincoat on a perfectly sunny day.

"What's wrong, Cousin? Why are you looking at me like that? Is there a ghost behind me?"

As she spoke, the girl glanced behind her.

Wang Shanshan asked, "Who is she...?"

"My cousin." Yang Jian continued staring at the girl. He had not seen this younger cousin of his in over a year.

The girl jogged over and greeted Wang Shanshan enthusiastically.

"Hello, big sister! My name's Liang Yuan, but you can call me Xiao Yuan. I'm Yang Jian's little cousin. You must be my cousin's girlfriend!"

Wang Shanshan smiled in response. "Hello, my name is Wang Shanshan. I suppose I barely count as Yang Jian's girlfriend."

Xiao Yuan squeezed between them, took Yang Jian and Wang Shanshan by the hand, and headed into Meishan Village.

"Cousin, big sister's almost dead. Why are you still bringing her home?"

Xiao Yuan's startling words made Yang Jian's pupils contract. This cousin he had not seen in a year was behaving far too abnormally.

Yang Jian now even suspected that she might have encountered some supernatural incident.

Yang Jian asked tentatively, "Why do you say that? Wang Shanshan's condition is very stable right now."

"Just a feeling. Oh, right, I suddenly remembered there seems to be something I need to give you."

Xiao Yuan abruptly changed the subject, her words completely disconnected.

Yang Jian looked at Xiao Yuan and followed her lead. "What is it? You can give it to me now."

Xiao Yuan shook her head, as though rummaging through her mind for something. "Oh, I can't remember what it was."

Then she suddenly let go of their hands, ran ahead, and turned back to tell them:

"I just remembered I have something urgent to do. Bye, Cousin! Bye, Cousin's girlfriend!"

With that, she darted into an alley and disappeared.

Looking at the alley Xiao Yuan had run into, Wang Shanshan said, "Yang Jian, why does your cousin give me such a strange feeling? Does she have some sort of illness? Should we take her back to Dachang City to get checked at a hospital?"

He shook his head.

"Something's wrong..." Yang Jian did not continue.

But the fact that Xiao Yuan could see Wang Shanshan's condition was enough to show that she had ties to the supernatural.

Yang Jian took out his satellite phone. "Liu Xiaoyu, did you hear that?"

As long as a headquarters city head's satellite phone was switched on, their operator could monitor their situation around the clock.

Liu Xiaoyu's voice soon came through the phone. "It's already been filed and sent to the investigation team. It'll probably take some time."

"Mm. Contact me as soon as there's any news."

"By the way, have you gotten any results on that man from the hurricane incident I asked you to investigate?"

Ever since returning from the hurricane, Yang Jian had been investigating the origins of the man who had saved him. But because the corpse had been disfigured beyond recognition, there had still been no news.

And he had asked the Ghost Cabinet to tell him that person's origins only because he wanted to know exactly what kind of supernatural power could allow a ghost handler to intrude into the present from the future.

"Facial recognition still needs a little more time, but it won't be long. We should have results within the next few days."

"Mm. Hanging up."

With that, Yang Jian ended the call and led Wang Shanshan toward his family's old house.

Soon, a two-story concrete house appeared before them. Yang Jian's father had built it while he was alive, and it was already getting on in years.

"Mom, I'm back."

Yang Jian pushed open the door and led Wang Shanshan inside.

There was no one in the house, but the rooms were clean. Zhang Fen kept the place very tidy.

Seeing that Zhang Fen was not inside, Yang Jian went straight upstairs and headed directly for the room containing his father's memorial portrait. His purpose in returning to his hometown this time was to investigate his father, who had been dead for many years.

A picture frame sat on a wooden table. The man in the black-and-white photograph bore a seventy or eighty percent resemblance to Yang Jian, though something about him seemed strangely out of harmony.

Wang Shanshan walked quietly up and bowed three times before the portrait.

Yang Jian remained where he was, examining the surroundings of the portrait in an attempt to find anything unusual. After his earlier conversation with Elder Qin, Yang Jian had suspected that his father had also been a ghost handler.

His father seemed to have ties to the Newspaper Ghost, and the incident in Dajing City had begun spiraling out of control when the Newspaper Ghost altered Zhao Jianguo's memories...

Unfortunately, there was nothing unusual here. At the same time, Yang Jian felt reassured, as this meant his father had no connection to the supernatural.

But Yang Jian had always been cautious when dealing with the supernatural. An existence on Elder Qin's level would not have said something so unrelated to him for no reason. Since he had told him, there had to be a reason behind it. Perhaps he needed to search for clues in the places his father had frequented while alive.

Just then, Yang Jian's phone vibrated.

"So soon? Since when did Liu Xiaoyu become so efficient?"

Yang Jian took out his satellite phone, thinking the investigation into his cousin had produced results.

Liu Xiaoyu heard every word. Slightly displeased, she said, "What do you mean, since when did I become so efficient? Wasn't I efficient before?"

"Cut the chatter."

"It's not your cousin. The investigation into that man from the hurricane incident has produced results. His name was Li Yang, twenty-two years old, from DQ City. He was caught up in the Ghost Painting incident while traveling abroad and had been missing ever since. He was still an ordinary person at the time."

"Li Yang... the Ghost Painting?"

An unusual look flashed across Yang Jian's face.

By normal logic, an ordinary person who entered the Ghost Painting was certain to die. But that man named Li Yang had been a ghost handler, which meant he had encountered a ghost inside the Ghost Painting and successfully controlled it.

But Yang Jian did not believe for a second that Li Yang could have easily walked out of the Ghost Painting. Even if the strength of the supernatural power Li Yang displayed in the hurricane had indeed been staggering, power at that level was not enough to escape the Ghost Painting easily.

There were far too many mysteries here. To Yang Jian, this matter was even more important than the matter of his father. A ghost handler who could cross from the future into the present represented a great many things...

Yang Jian said gravely, "Go on."

"Li Yang came from a single-parent family. His mother is currently in DQ City. But because of Li Yang's disappearance, his mother, being too advanced in age to take the shock, fell seriously ill. She's now receiving treatment at DQ City Hospital. Headquarters has already sent the best doctors in DQ City over."

"There's nothing else, just some accounts of his school days."

Yang Jian fell silent for a short while, then decided to head to DQ City immediately. That was how Yang Jian had always been: he repaid grudges with vengeance and kindness with gratitude.

Whether it was learning about Li Yang or helping his mother, both were now Yang Jian's highest priorities.

"Send me Li Yang's photo, and book me a plane ticket to DQ City. I'm heading over right now."

"I've already sent it to your phone."