Mysterious Revival: Starting by Controlling the Person-Hiding Ghost, Section 13

As though stirred by some kind of stimulus, four of the Ghost Eyes on Yang Jian's face opened at once. Dazzling red light immediately shone in every direction, as if trying to peer into everything.

Chapter 19: Fang Shiming in the photograph

The other ghost Yang Jian controlled, the Headless Ghost Shadow, also grew restless. It took complete control of Yang Jian's body and struggled incessantly against the Ghost Rope.

Yet Yang Jian's complexion stopped deteriorating. Instead, it grew healthier and rosier, making him look even more like a normal person than before.

There was a reason for all this.

Cracks appeared once more across Zhao Kaiming's swollen body, the split wounds resembling eyes opening one after another.

Immediately afterward, his arms and legs began to twitch and twist involuntarily.

Even the extremely terrifying ghost inside his body had difficulty withstanding so many supernatural attacks at once, and gradually began to fall dormant again.

"All the harmful supernatural effects have been transferred to Zhao Kaiming. Looks like I made the right choice."

"Not only did Yang Jian survive, but the problem of his ghost's revival has also been temporarily resolved. Although the Headless Ghost Shadow didn't crash like it would have if he'd hanged himself in front of the Ghost Mirror, it probably won't matter much."

Jiang Li murmured to himself, his face weary, as though he had laid down a heavy burden.

"Zhang Han, there's one more thing I need to ask of you. Check the right pocket of my school uniform."

"Huh? Is there something else we need?"

Zhang Han jogged over to Jiang Li and pulled a folded photograph from his pocket.

Jiang Li's eyelids twitched violently for a moment before he spoke with difficulty.

"If you run into a danger you can't handle later, open this photograph and tell the person in it that this is sponsorship from the Friend Circle..."

Jiang Li's voice grew fainter and fainter, like the anxious parting instructions of someone on his deathbed.

Before Zhang Han could react, an icy, terrifying presence drew close again.

The Hunger Ghost had begun to move.

Its belly bulging, it walked numbly toward Zhang Han and Yang Jian, who was hanging from the Ghost Rope.

Earlier, because of Zhao Kaiming's powerful desire, the Wishing Ghost had been forced to devote most of its supernatural power to restricting the Hunger Ghost's movements. As a result, Zhao Kaiming had too little supernatural power left in him afterward, allowing Jiang Li to kill him on their first encounter by stacking supernatural effects.

Now that the Wishing Ghost was no longer restraining it, the vicious ghost's instincts began frantically urging it to devour the people before it.

The blue-black haze drew closer, accompanied by the patter, patter of the Hunger Ghost's footsteps, dull and oppressive.

Zhang Han could no longer make out the darkness before him. All he knew was that a ghost was approaching him through it, and that the distance between them had shrunk to a terrifying degree.

A pair of bare, blue-black feet seemed to have appeared right in front of him, covered in large, grotesque patches of lividity.

He swallowed and instinctively turned to ask Jiang Li what they should do next.

But the moment he turned, he saw a gaunt, sunken ghostly face.

Jiang Li's head hung limply, yet his body remained standing without falling. An abnormally protruding face even rose slowly to take the place of his head.

The one taking over this body was...

The Person-Hiding Ghost, which had begun to revive.

"Damn it, the ghost in Jiang Li is reviving. How is that possible?!"

Zhang Han scrambled back several steps and immediately bumped into Yang Jian's legs, which dangled in the air.

He instinctively looked up and found himself face-to-face with Yang Jian's calm, serene expression.

The Hunger Ghost was in front of him, the reviving vicious ghost in Jiang Li was behind him, and Yang Jian, the only one left, was still unconscious.

Zhang Han felt like crying but had no tears, and wanted to howl at the heavens.

Being a person was hard; being a tool was even harder...

Just as Zhang Han stood rooted to the spot in despair.

Jiang Li began to move, stiff and numb, while a cold, hollow smile slowly spread across his face.

He had been seen...

When Zhang Han discovered that Jiang Li had disappeared, his heart sank all the way to the bottom.

He understood that this was Jiang Li's supernatural ability, and also the killing rule of the vicious ghost he controlled.

If he continued to sit and wait for death, it would be a dead end.

"Phew..."

"Sure enough, no one is absolutely reliable except myself."

Zhang Han let out a long breath, and his gaze immediately grew sharp and resolute.

A photograph containing a sealed supernatural power was opened.

In an instant, a sinister wind howled.

The blue-black haze within a few meters was blown away. Even the Hunger Ghost stopped in its tracks and came no closer.

A young man in a suit, his hair slicked with gel, yawned and strolled leisurely out of the photograph. He radiated an air of utter confidence, carrying the pride of someone accustomed to standing above others.

Fang Shiming frowned and glanced at the Hunger Ghost not far away, immediately finding it troublesome.

"I really didn't expect an experimental supernatural item like this to actually have a chance to come in handy."

"But... where is this, and who brought me out?"

"This is Dachang City No. 7 Middle School!" Zhang Han said hurriedly. "This is sponsorship from the Friend Circle. Please help us."

"What?" Fang Shiming raised an eyebrow. "My photograph was actually sold off as a bargaining chip by one of our own? That's pretty funny. But since you're a partner, I can't just stand by and do nothing."

"Thank you so much," Zhang Han replied, relaxing a little.

Fang Shiming raised another gust of Ghost Wind, temporarily holding both the Hunger Ghost in front and Jiang Li behind in place.

"Hmm... this doesn't seem easy."

Fang Shiming stroked his chin, then helplessly spread his hands and spoke with a troubled expression.

"There are two vicious ghosts here, but right now I'm only someone who came out of a photograph. The ability I possess can only temporarily restrain one ghost. I can't do anything about the other."

"My friend, you'll have to choose for yourself which ghost you want dealt with."

Zhang Han looked at the grotesque, terrifying Hunger Ghost before him, then glanced back at the hollow, eerie Jiang Li. For a moment, he gave no answer.

Fang Shiming casually glanced down at his watch, then smiled and urged him on. "Choose quickly. I don't have much time left. If you wait any longer, you won't get a chance to choose."

"..."

Zhang Han gritted his teeth and pointed at the vicious ghost in Jiang Li. "I choose that one!"

"That one? Then I'll do as you say."

Fang Shiming smiled faintly, pulled a folding chair from somewhere on his person, set it on the ground, and sat down.

The instant he sat down, a heavy, icy figure vanished from his back.

At that very moment, Jiang Li's figure also appeared in front of Zhang Han.

One more time, and the curse of certain death would erupt.

Before it could disappear again, the howling Ghost Wind blew straight down from above.

Thud.

A heavy corpse came crashing down amid the piercing, icy Ghost Wind, crushing the vicious ghost in Jiang Li to the ground with a thump. The sound of bones breaking was clearly audible.

After that blow, the vicious ghost in Jiang Li stopped moving altogether, as though it had fallen dormant.

Seeing this, Fang Shiming smiled with even greater pride and satisfaction.

"The Person-Crushing Ghost's supernatural power is already extremely strong. I also used the Ghost Wind to speed it up as it fell, and the final result was even better than I imagined. This process seems to be called... stacking supernatural effects?"

"I wonder how the current me is doing. Carrying a thing like that on his back every day, he'll probably be worked to death sooner or later. I wouldn't want to die too early."

As he muttered a few words no one heard, Fang Shiming's figure gradually faded and soon vanished from the spot.

Only Zhang Han remained, facing the Hunger Ghost alone.

Chapter 20: The reviving Ghost Hand

With the Ghost Wind no longer blowing, the Hunger Ghost began moving again, shuffling toward Zhang Han.

Zhang Han took a few steps back, and a possibility suddenly flashed through his mind.

The Hunger Ghost was walking toward him.

But that didn't necessarily mean it was coming for him.

"Jiang Li told me that as long as Yang Jian is hanging from the rope, he definitely won't die. So he probably won't mind being bitten a few times by the Hunger Ghost..."

"If the Hunger Ghost's first target is Yang Jian, I'll still have a hope of surviving."

Zhang Han hid behind Yang Jian's body and used it as cover as he retreated little by little.

The facts proved his guess right.

The Hunger Ghost seemed to hesitate, then walked straight toward Yang Jian's body.

By now, Yang Jian had almost fully recovered.

The lividity and blue-black discoloration on his face had vanished entirely, replaced by a rosy face full of the vitality of the living.

After the unrest of the Ghost Eyes and the Headless Ghost Shadow was transferred away, both had stabilized in turn.

Gulp.

A dull swallowing sound rang out, and then the Hunger Ghost moved, chewing with relish.

Though Zhang Han couldn't see clearly, he could hear the crack of bones being chewed through.

The terrifying sound frantically assailed Zhang Han's exhausted nerves. He could even dimly see Yang Jian's body swaying in the air as the Hunger Ghost gnawed at it savagely.

In the darkness, that great mouth, like an insect's mouthparts, wriggled ceaselessly, occasionally dropping scraps mixed with blood and flesh.

Zhang Han's pupils trembled violently, and he muttered uneasily to himself:

"Isn't the Ghost Rope working? Is Yang Jian going to be eaten?!"

Suddenly, the pocket of Yang Jian's jacket bulged strangely for a moment and opened on its own.

A thin sheet of human skin paper poked out, constantly looking left and right, as though surveying its surroundings.

In the end, it focused its attention on Jiang Li, who lay not far away, and black writing began to appear on the paper.

"This is an excellent opportunity. If I succeed, I will have a body of my own again."

Neither Zhang Han nor the Hunger Ghost, which was still gnawing away, noticed the brown sheet of human skin paper drift to the ground and creep eerily toward Jiang Li's body.

Just then, however, the severed hand that had been covering Yang Jian's face suddenly reacted.

Once the thumb on the severed hand had finally curled all the way inward, the entire hand immediately came away from Yang Jian's face and fell straight to the ground.

The Hunger Ghost stopped biting and stared down at it for a while, apparently deciding whether to eat the severed hand.

But some supernatural rule was still acting on it, urging it to attack Yang Jian.

After pausing only briefly, it began gnawing on Yang Jian's body again.