Mysterious Recovery: Starting by Controlling the Person-Hiding Ghost

As he pondered, a vibration suddenly came from his pants pocket.

"Yang Jian."

"Remember, your father died a long time ago, in a car accident. The father outside is a ghost..."

Chapter 28: The Person-Hiding Ghost's transformation

"That's strange. This isn't my phone."

"And it seems to be dead. I don't know who called just now, either."

Yang Jian took the satellite phone out of his pocket and spoke in puzzlement.

"Whoever called, even he was warning us that the one outside isn't human, but a ghost."

Jiang Li said gravely, "I saw it when I was drinking water just now. The thing pretending to be your father doesn't even have a complete face. Beyond its skin and flesh is half of Zhao Lei's face."

"All of us have been affected by the ghosts to some extent, and our memories are a little confused. I'd say Zhao Lei has suffered the worst corrosion and is close to becoming a ghost's helper. We can't just leave him alone."

"You have a point." Zhang Han rummaged through a drawer in the room, pulled out a few socks, and stuffed them forcefully into Zhao Lei's mouth. "No wonder I remember getting married and having a child. Turns out I was never a high school student at all."

Just as the two of them were about to continue talking, Yang Jian suddenly raised a hand to stop them and whispered:

"Shh, my dad's here..."

"It's standing right outside the door."

The moment he finished speaking, the door opened.

Creak-

A man holding a newspaper stood quietly outside the door, silent and still, making it impossible to predict what it would do next.

Suddenly, a heap of something fell off it. It was pitch-black all over, and they couldn't make out what it was.

Yang Jian fell silent for a moment, then spoke hesitantly:

"My dad says these are clothes sent over by one of your parents. He wants you to take them back yourselves."

Jiang Li and Zhang Han looked at each other. Neither could make out what the heap on the floor was.

But Jiang Li could feel the eyes hidden behind the newspaper staring at him.

After only a moment's hesitation, the broad newspaper suddenly shifted, revealing a bloodstained corner. The deep scarlet looked ready to drip onto the floor and spread unchecked at any moment.

Gulp.

Under the Newspaper Ghost's silent gaze, Jiang Li rose from atop Zhao Lei and picked up the heap from the floor.

Even with it in his hands, Jiang Li still couldn't tell what the lump was.

It was sticky, cold, and even gave off a somewhat rotten stench.

He didn't know what it was, but it definitely wasn't clothing.

Just then, Yang Jian gave the man at the door a complicated look. As though he had heard something else, he spoke again:

"Jiang Li... my dad says the weather's cold. It wants you to put the clothes on now, or you'll catch a chill and harm your health."

"..."

Leaving aside whether he would actually catch a chill without the clothes,

Jiang Li only knew that if he didn't put on these "clothes," the one outside the door would definitely do serious harm to his health.

After weighing his options briefly, Jiang Li tried to spread out the strange lump in his hands. To his surprise, he discovered that it really did seem to be gradually taking the shape of a garment.

Was he imagining things?

Jiang Li rubbed the fabric, finding it somewhat unbelievable.

It seemed to be a sweater, a black sweater with only its right sleeve in white, giving it a bizarrely fashionable look.

Under the strange gazes of the others, Jiang Li put on the peculiar "sweater."

The moment he finished putting it on, Jiang Li was struck by an indescribable feeling.

The feeling was a little like... recovering something he had lost.

Before he could dwell on it, a strange noise came from outside the room's window.

When he looked back, the figure that had been standing in the doorway had vanished. There was no telling where it had gone.

Jiang Li went to the window and immediately saw the horrifying scene outside.

"I remember now. I remember everything."

"We came here to resolve the Hunger Ghost Incident. That's the whole reason."

When Yang Jian and Zhang Han saw the scene outside, they too gradually recalled what had happened before, their minds slowly clearing.

Once Jiang Li came to his senses, the first thing he thought of was the sweater he had just put on.

He had already guessed what it was.

Turning his head slightly, Jiang Li saw the Person-Hiding Ghost lying across his shoulders, the half of it that had run off.

It had undergone some more bizarre changes.

When he first controlled it, it had been a hideous ghost face coiled around his neck. Now it had become half a body, with a single scrawny arm wrapped around his neck.

And...

Jiang Li looked at the pale arm hanging down to his waist, somewhat surprised.

It seemed to be the ghost that had revived from the severed pale hand. The Person-Hiding Ghost that had run off seemed to have taken it as a suitable ghost puzzle piece and controlled it.

No wonder the Person-Hiding Ghost had run off without warning while he was unconscious. It had gone looking for a puzzle piece.

"Strange, what's that?" Yang Jian suddenly said, looking out the window. "A Ghost Child is attacking the other Ghost Children, trying to find a chance to usurp the throne?"

Jiang Li followed his gaze out the window and froze.

On the mountain of Ghost Children in the middle of the residential complex, another Ghost Child had appeared, standing upright.

It looked much the same as the other Ghost Children, but its behavior was extraordinarily strange.

Not only did it drag and devour the other Ghost Children hanging from the Ghost Rope without the slightest restraint, it was also abnormally, steadily approaching the Hunger Ghost's true body at the top of the mountain.

It really did seem to be plotting a rebellion and trying to usurp the throne, just as Yang Jian had said.

But that shouldn't have been possible. Neither the Hunger Ghost nor the Ghost Children had any self-awareness. There was no way they could engage in that kind of social behavior.

Unless... that wasn't a real Ghost Child.

"Yang Jian, why have you activated your Ghost Domain? Can your body take it if you abuse your supernatural powers like this?" Zhang Han asked from the side.

Only then did Jiang Li notice that Yang Jian had already activated his Ghost Domain when his memories returned. Three Ghost Eyes had opened and were turning restlessly in every direction.

No wonder he could see clearly through the blue-black gloom outside. Was it because of Yang Jian's Ghost Domain?

No.

Yang Jian had said earlier that his Ghost Domain couldn't reach that mountain.

He could see through the darkness most likely because the Ghost Eyes themselves had a supernatural ability to peer through it, not because the Ghost Domain had dispelled the darkness.

Then the reason I can see...

Jiang Li reached up and touched his eyes, then glanced at the Person-Hiding Ghost on his shoulder. He understood at once.

Seeing through to a ghost's presence seemed to be one of the Person-Hiding Ghost's supernatural abilities. It had shown itself once before, back at Dachang No. 7 Middle School.

This time it seemed much more apparent. Perhaps, with the Person-Hiding Ghost having gained more puzzle pieces, its supernatural power had also grown considerably stronger.

With that thought, Jiang Li looked carefully out the window again.

A faint, overlapping human silhouette clung to the abnormal Ghost Child. It looked somewhat familiar.

Zhao Kaiming's Wishing Ghost?!

Jiang Li's eyelids twitched. Zhao Kaiming had died with almost none of his remains left, yet this thing still lingered like a haunting spirit, appearing here of all places.

Chapter 29: The clash between the Newspaper Ghost and the Wishing Ghost

"There's no mistake. That ghostly thing hasn't given up."

"It still wants to try taking over the Hunger Ghost's unconscious body."

Jiang Li spoke in a low voice, pondering his next move.

"It doesn't seem likely to succeed," Yang Jian said. "The Ghost Child it's taken over is too fragile. The Ghost Children hanging from the Ghost Rope around it are starting to close in, and it'll have a hard time breaking through. Besides, it doesn't seem as terrifying as the Hunger Ghost, so it might not be able to take down the original Hunger Ghost."

"No, you haven't encountered enough yet. You don't understand how terrifying the Wishing Ghost is."

Jiang Li said solemnly, "If he manages to make contact with the Hunger Ghost, it will definitely combine with the Hunger Ghost to produce a ghost we can't stand against."

"It suffered a setback against me last time. I'm afraid the plan to teleport in and kill it instantly with the Coffin Nail or that Ghost Finger won't work again. It's most likely already taken precautions."

"The ghost pretending to be my dad isn't in the apartment. It seems to have gone out," Yang Jian said after leaving the room.

"Come on, we're going down too." Jiang Li gritted his teeth. "With three major ghosts fighting, our only chance of winning is to strike when all three have been badly hurt. That's our only chance."

"What about him?" Zhang Han asked, pointing at Zhao Lei, who was pinned beneath him.

"He might still be saved. Since you're on the verge of a revival, you shouldn't keep coming into contact with ghosts. Just concentrate on watching Zhao Lei."

The three of them then carried Zhao Lei and hurried downstairs.

The situation outside was a terrible mess. An extraordinarily terrifying supernatural clash was already almost underway.

Ghost Children hung densely in the air, their blue-black limbs swaying ceaselessly as they silently closed in on the Ghost Child possessed by the Wishing Ghost.

After being hanged by the Ghost Rope, their killing pattern seemed to have changed to some extent. Every time they made physical contact with the Wishing Ghost, another horrifying corpse spot appeared on its body.

Although the Wishing Ghost kept resetting small parts of itself, it still seemed hard-pressed to fend off so many hanged Ghost Children.

Then the Ghost Child it controlled abruptly stopped moving, as though it had given up struggling entirely, and was swallowed up by countless hanged Ghost Children in an instant.

The original Hunger Ghost stood at the top of the mountain, silently watching the scene halfway down.

It wore the Ghost Shroud, its feet covered in blue-black corpse spots planted firmly on the ground. Even the real Ghost Rope around its neck had begun to loosen, showing signs that it was about to be controlled.

That would take a little more time, however.

The Hunger Ghost gazed down as foul-smelling drool dripped steadily from its hideously grinning mouth. Row upon row of terrifying, interlocking Ghost Teeth ground against one another, chewing something.

Suddenly, the countless Ghost Children below gradually moved apart, revealing the motionless Wishing Ghost in their midst.

There was something terribly wrong with the ones that had moved away. The blue-black corpse spots on their bodies had vanished without a trace, and their skin had turned a sickly gray-white.

The Ghost Children had been assimilated by the supernatural power.

Like a spreading virus, it assimilated more and more Ghost Children as they approached, and they turned their pitch-black, lifeless eyes toward the Hunger Ghost above.

Surrounded by the transformed Ghost Children, the Wishing Ghost continued to close in on the Hunger Ghost, advancing steadily step by step.

Suddenly, it stopped and went no farther.

Countless pieces of red newspaper had come from nowhere and stuck to its feet, leaving it unable to move.

The Wishing Ghost seemed to sense something and turned to look toward the foot of the mountain.

A strange man holding a newspaper stood there without raising his head. The bloodstained newspaper in his hands was shedding pieces that scattered in every direction.