Out of Control (VI)

Dajing City.

The entire sky was a murky, deathly gray, and countless gray clumps drifted slowly down from above.

The Ghost Painting's ghost domain was gradually engulfing the entire city. Dajing City was now in utter chaos. From the air, thick smoke could be seen rising from many places, fires blazed everywhere, and people's screams rose one after another. Vehicles rampaged along the roads and lay scattered every which way across the streets. Gunshots even rang out in some places.

"All the ghosts held at headquarters have broken loose. Ghosts are now running rampant throughout Dajing City. Anything an ordinary person does could trigger some ghost's killing rule..."

Chen Yi frowned deeply at the apocalyptic scene before him. This was already the third group of ordinary people he had rescued.

Feeling the ghost inside him stirring, he grew anxious and restless. If headquarters hadn't kept records on all these ghosts, he would have died here long ago.

Just as Chen Yi stared at the distant sky in thought, an eerie bus slowly drove past him.

"Hm? Is this... a supernatural creation...?"

Headquarters.

"Professor Wang, some information just came back from inside the Ghost Painting, but the connection lasted less than twenty seconds before cutting out."

Liu Xiaoyu hurried inside, holding a document.

Wang Xiaoming frowned at the intelligence before him, a rare sight.

"We can infer a sixty percent... no, an eighty percent probability that the Ghost Painting has already acquired a small portion of the Hungry Ghost's abilities. It's possible that even the Ghost Messenger now possesses some of the mediums of both..."

"Elder Qin is driving that bus here. The captains can't hold out much longer. In supernatural incidents, changes often happen in an instant, and an instant is enough to kill everyone. We need to find a way to get this information out..."

Suddenly, a wash of gray silently enveloped the entire conference room.

"Wait, this gray..."

Wang Xiaoming looked at the abruptly changed surroundings.

"This is the Ghost Painting's ghost domain... Communications should be back. Send the information out immediately!"

An unknown space.

Stifling and oppressive. A thick layer of deathly black coated the entire sky. Countless straw ropes hung in the air out of nowhere, and murky gray light shone through them onto Yang Jian and his two companions. A gloomy village stood ahead of the three.

"The Ghost Rope... Huanggang Village. We're very close now. Go in."

Inside Huanggang Village, a faint stench of decay permeated the air, as though a corpse nearby was lurking in the darkness, watching the three of them.

The three came to a stop inside a hall. A pitch-black coffin stood in its center, with a memorial portrait set before it. In the portrait was a woman dressed in red whose features could not be made out. Her pale, eerie hands were particularly striking.

"The Ghost Painting?"

Just then, footsteps abruptly sounded outside the hall, as though someone had walked over from the deserted village. The footsteps were dull and steady, exceptionally clear in the deathly silence.

"Just like back then in Huanggang Village." Yang Jian stared gravely toward the entrance.

The footsteps drew closer and closer. A moment later, a figure emerged from the darkness.

A man who looked exactly like Wei Jing walked with stiff, wooden steps. No, this was the Ghost Messenger in Wei Jing's form.

Yang Jian pondered.

Should I act... or wait for this ghost to enter the coffin, like before in Huanggang Village...?

Before Yang Jian could act, a murky gray suddenly spread out of the memorial portrait before the coffin, instantly enveloping the Ghost Messenger. Its body slowly faded within the gray, then vanished. The gray abruptly contracted and sank back into the portrait.

Before the three could react, another series of dull footsteps sounded outside the hall, and a figure appeared at its entrance once more.

Tong Qian's three faces watched the Ghost Messenger reappear.

"Yang Jian, should we act? The Ghost Painting and the Ghost Messenger don't seem able to do anything to each other."

"No... This is the Ghost Messenger restarting. Abort the operation. The clash between the Ghost Painting and the Ghost Messenger has formed some kind of balance. Any supernatural power intervening now will cause unknown changes. We can't take that risk. Find an exit. The situation here is already beyond what the three of us can resolve."

Yang Jian rapidly analyzed the situation before him. Beside him, Li Leping's eyes had already drifted slightly shut, as though he might fall asleep at any moment.

Just as the three were about to retreat from the hall, a murky gray mixed with a bluish-black aura suddenly surged toward them.

Inside a passage somewhere.

The Hungry Ghost's rotten, blackened hands had pierced the chests of two deathly old people. Under the suppression of the Coffin Nail inside the Hungry Ghost, the old people's movements were extraordinarily slow, like a film playing in slow motion.

Suddenly, the rotten head's jaw split open, exposing a hideous mouthful of pitch-black teeth, and it savagely bit down on one old person's head. A small chunk was bitten straight out of the cold, sinister head.

Shen Lin's pupils contracted.

"It's almost completely adapted to the Coffin Nail... We have to imprison it immediately."

But before Shen Lin could make his next move, the Hungry Ghost abruptly tilted its head and bit toward him through the air.

To his horror, Shen Lin discovered that more than half of his shoulder had instantly vanished. His entire body flickered in and out, as though on the verge of disappearing.

"We can't suppress it anymore. It doesn't even need contact for consciousness-type supernatural power...? Wang Chaling! If you don't hurry, all our efforts will be wasted!"

Holding a burial shroud, Wang Chaling slowly approached the Hungry Ghost. Every step was agonizingly difficult. If the second generation of the Wang family hadn't been blocking it ahead of him, that bluish-black ghost domain would already have swallowed him.

With Shen Lin and the first generation of the Wang family, they had barely managed to restrict the Hungry Ghost's movements. But as it fully adapted to the Coffin Nail, the situation was changing drastically...

Wang Chaling was frantic. Watching Shen Lin's figure on the verge of dissipating, he seemed to make some kind of decision.

The figures of the Wang family's second generation slowly sank into his body. Wang Chaling's face began turning deathly pale, and corpse spots rapidly covered his body as it began to rot. He looked like a corpse that had been dead for a long time.

The next second, Wang Chaling appeared before the Hungry Ghost and raised the burial shroud to pull it over its head.

"Time to end this."

Just as the burial shroud was about to touch the Hungry Ghost's rotten head, an abrupt change occurred where the two men stood.

Their surroundings seemed to have been covered in a layer of gray by something. The two felt the ghosts inside their bodies suppressed for an instant, and the next second, they fell into a murky gray world of oil paintings along with the Hungry Ghost.

In the instant the two were dazed, the Hungry Ghost's bluish-black ghost domain spread violently outward, but it grew slower and slower, as though under some kind of suppression.

Within the gray world, the Hungry Ghost seemed to have formed some kind of temporary balance with the Ghost Painting. Its bluish-black ghost domain remained within ten meters of it, unable to extend farther.

The murky gray clumps in the sky also stopped eerily in midair. It was as though someone had pressed pause on the entire world.

Wang Chaling wasn't someone who liked to gamble, because he had always firmly believed that if he didn't gamble, he wouldn't lose. But moments ago, with his life hanging by a thread before the Hungry Ghost, he had been forced to choose to temporarily control the ghosts of the Wang family's second generation.

"A step too late. Did we fail?" Wang Chaling surveyed the abruptly changed surroundings.

Wang Chaling's entire body had already begun to rot. The flesh inside was slowly turning black and white, giving off waves of corpse stench.

"I never thought I'd end up taking this path after all." Wang Chaling smiled self-mockingly.

Suddenly, the satellite phone in Wang Chaling's pocket gave a long beep. There was only one message on it: "The Ghost Painting is suspected of possessing some of the Hungry Ghost's and the Ghost Messenger's abilities. Everyone, be careful."

"A message from headquarters. Looks like we aren't the only two drawn into this eerie world inside the painting."

"You're in very bad shape. The supernatural clash between the Ghost Painting and the Hungry Ghost has now formed a temporary balance. Get away from here and seek support." Shen Lin watched the motionless Hungry Ghost gravely.

He didn't dare use any supernatural power now. At this moment, even the slightest supernatural intervention would change the situation in an instant.

"You're right. I can still tell the difference between throwing my life away and having courage. Let's go." Wang Chaling turned stiffly and left with Shen Lin.

Darkness. Oppression. Yang Jian couldn't see anything. The Ghost Eye seemed to be suppressed, tightly shut.

Yang Jian felt his body slowly sinking, continuously melting.

"Hopefully this thing works..." Feeling the paper banner in his Ghost Hand, Yang Jian swung it hard at the darkness before him. A streak of gray burst through the darkness, and his field of vision instantly opened up.

With a jolt, Yang Jian discovered that he, Li Leping, and Tong Qian were plummeting from the sky toward the ground.

Without time to think, Yang Jian tried to spread his ghost domain, but the Ghost Eye on his forehead remained completely still and unresponsive.

"Li Leping! If you don't wake up, we're going to fall to our deaths!"

Seeing that Li Leping had already fallen asleep, Yang Jian raised the Ghost Hand and slapped him in midair. The blow blasted apart the black haze inside Li Leping's head. All three of Tong Qian's faces stared, dumbstruck. She suspected that if that slap had landed on her face, it would have slapped her Ghost Face straight into ghost resurgence.

They fell, wind howling past their ears, the ground drawing closer and closer...

Suddenly, a cloud of thick gray-black smoke enveloped Yang Jian and Tong Qian.

On the ground, the three stood up.

Yang Jian gazed at the murky gray sky mingled with bluish-black haze, his expression complicated. Tong Qian held the satellite phone and read its message aloud, while Li Leping rubbed his right cheek as though pondering something.

"Was I attacked...? As expected of the Ghost Messenger. It forced me to forget that attack..."

Watching Li Leping rub his face, Tong Qian wanted to say something, but before the words could leave her lips, Yang Jian glared them back down.

"Hm? Is something going on?" Li Leping looked at Yang Jian and Tong Qian with a corpse-like face.

"No," Yang Jian said immediately.

"Let's go. According to headquarters' message, there should be other people in charge inside the Ghost Painting. Find them and resolve this incident." Yang Jian turned and left without looking back.

"Oh, was I attacked by the Ghost Messenger back in Huanggang Village?"

"No."

"Oh..."