The Clash of Supernatural Forces
It was the corpse of a middle-aged man, already showing signs of swelling and turning a bluish black all over. He had been wearing a black suit when he died. Both hands rested on his chest, with a black-cased phone pinned beneath them.
The phone screen was cracked, but the fingerprint sensor still glowed faintly. It seemed to have some battery left.
The phone's alarm was undoubtedly an excellent lure for the vicious ghosts. As long as he set it to go off at the right time, he could lure them away and make it to the supermarket's second floor.
Suppressing his discomfort, Jiang Li edged the freezer lid open.
A nauseating stench of decay hit him in the face.
As he pried the corpse's fingers apart, a business card slipped out along with the phone.
The moment Jiang Li saw the gold business card, he instinctively assumed the man in the freezer was a city manager.
But after picking up the card and examining it, he realized that might not be the case.
[Friend Circle: He Lin]
[Contact number: 185XXXXXXXX]
Someone from the Friend Circle?
Although both the Friend Circle and the Ghost Tamer Headquarters were supernatural organizations, the difference between them was obvious. One was a civilian organization whose members acted entirely according to their own whims, while the other was an official organization that had to observe discipline when handling matters.
But regardless of which organization the dead man belonged to, his death here undoubtedly revealed some terrible news.
A ghost tamer had died, and the vicious ghost within him had revived.
If he ran into that unknown vicious ghost, his strategy of protecting himself by avoiding contact and staying out of sight would be completely useless.
He had to move faster.
Jiang Li used the corpse's fingerprint to unlock the phone, set an alarm for two minutes later, and put it back in the freezer. Then he made his way around to the other side of the escalator.
Two minutes later.
Countless figures beside the escalator moved at once, surging stiffly toward the freezers in the fresh food section.
With the phone's ringing to cover him, Jiang Li hugged the box and rushed toward the escalator.
But when he finally reached the bottom of the escalator, he froze.
The escalator was piled high with all kinds of heavy clutter. There was no way to climb it.
And by now, those eerie figures had broken into the freezer. The phone's ringing stopped abruptly.
Jiang Li didn't look back, but he could feel countless eyes turning toward him. It sent a chill through him, as though he had fallen into an ice cellar.
Damn it, there's nowhere to run.
Gritting his teeth, Jiang Li pulled the severed hand out of the box.
If there was no other way, he would use the severed hand to force his way through. He had been an athlete before transmigrating, after all, so his chances of breaking through weren't bad.
Suddenly, something long and thin dropped beside Jiang Li.
It was a hemp rope.
"If you want to live, hurry up and climb!"
Jiang Li hesitated no longer. Hugging the box, he grasped the hemp rope with one hand and climbed rapidly.
But his movements made quite a commotion, and the terrifying figures around him converged in a frenzy, as though they meant to engulf him.
Jiang Li climbed with all his might, but suddenly felt something cold and slimy against his leg.
In the darkness below, a small bluish-black hand gripped his calf. A heavy force immediately tugged from below, trying to drag Jiang Li down.
"It's one thing for a big ghost to come looking for trouble, but even a little ghost like you wants attention?"
Jiang Li snorted, wrapped the arm holding the box around the rope, and used his other hand to swing the pale severed hand hard at his calf.
Smack.
A soft sound rang out, and the cold sensation on his calf vanished.
With the resistance gone, Jiang Li once again climbed with all his strength.
The figures below stopped where they were, gazing silently upward.
When he was almost at the top, Jiang Li happened to glance down.
One look was enough to make him suck in a cold breath, a chill spreading through his body.
What was that?
Beside the shelves in the snack section where he had been earlier stood a tall, hunched, indistinct figure.
Even the shelves, nearly two meters high, were considerably shorter than it.
What truly chilled Jiang Li to the bone was its face.
It had a gaunt, deeply sunken face and two white-filmed eyes without a trace of pupils. In the darkness, they looked strikingly out of place and horrifying.
What was more, it seemed to be hiding behind the shelves, poking its head out and smiling at him.
Jiang Li was shaken to his core. The hand gripping the hemp rope began to tremble involuntarily.
He had imagined what a vicious ghost might look like many times, doing his utmost to overestimate how terrifying one would be.
Yet when he finally saw one with his own eyes, he was still profoundly shaken. His brain seemed to shut down completely, leaving him unable to think.
"What are you spacing out for? Get up here!"
A hoarse voice pulled Jiang Li back to his senses. He immediately came to and quickly climbed onto the second floor.
Besides the middle-aged man holding the hemp rope, a young woman and an old lady were watching Jiang Li anxiously.
The middle-aged man, whose hair covered half of one eye, pulled up the hemp rope and looked at Jiang Li with a mixture of surprise and appreciation.
"You're one tough bastard. You actually survived that."
"Good thing you didn't run into the ghost inside He Lin. Otherwise, even an immortal would've had a hard time saving you."
"He Lin? You knew the corpse in the freezer downstairs?" Jiang Li asked, slightly out of breath, as he took out the business card.
"More than knew him. He and I were partners... though he's dead now."
The middle-aged man pulled a cigarette from his pocket, held it under his nose, and took a deep sniff before continuing:
"You had the nerve to search a dead man's body. You've got a strong mind. I, Wang Shan, think highly of you, so I'm willing to tell you a bit more."
"The vicious ghosts wandering downstairs right now aren't just those zombie-like ones. There's also the 'Person-Hiding Ghost' that was inside my partner. You may have already gotten a basic grasp of how to avoid the other ghosts downstairs, but the Person-Hiding Ghost is completely impossible to deal with. If an ordinary person runs into it, they can't even hope for the best."
"As a vicious ghost, it has its own special killing pattern: anyone it sees has a chance of being targeted. After that, it'll appear near its target at irregular intervals and deliberately show itself so the target spots it, then disappear."
"Once it's been spotted and disappeared three times, a certain fatal curse will take effect immediately. It's almost impossible to deal with."
Wang Shan smiled and patted Jiang Li on the shoulder. "But don't worry too much. Its eyesight isn't very good, and no one's seen it yet."
"..."
Jiang Li gave Wang Shan a complicated look and replied:
"Is it quite a bit taller than the shelves on the first floor, tall and thin, with a white film over its eyes?"
Chapter 3: The Clash of Supernatural Forces
Wang Shan froze, and the cigarette between his fingers fell to the floor.
"How many times have you seen it?"
"Just once so far, but the next time should be soon. Is there any way to avoid or stop it?"
"I'm afraid not. Once the Person-Hiding Ghost starts showing itself, it will never stop." Wang Shan shook his head helplessly. "Unless you die, or it's confined in gold before it appears three times."
Jiang Li let out a long breath, then rose with the box in his arms. "I understand. I'll leave now. I won't stay here and hold you up."
"Are the ghosts going to kill someone again? What a tragedy..."
Seeing that Jiang Li was leaving to avoid dragging the others down with him, the old lady's lips trembled incessantly, and she shut her eyes, unable to bear it.
"Have something to drink before you go."
The young woman lowered her head and fell silent for a moment, then took a can of cola from her arms and handed it to Jiang Li.
Jiang Li didn't stand on ceremony. He pulled the tab, took a drink, and said, "Thank you. Canned cola really does taste a little better than bottled."
After saying goodbye to the others, Jiang Li carried the box to a secluded corner on the second floor and sat down.
He crushed the empty can after finishing it, casually set it beside him, and waited quietly.
If Wang Shan's information was accurate, he still had a slim chance of survival.
Time passed, second by second.
Strange sounds came from downstairs every now and then, making the atmosphere of despair and oppression even heavier.
As though he had sensed something, Jiang Li, who had been resting with his eyes closed, suddenly opened them. Sure enough, the tall, thin figure had appeared again.
Its entire body clung to the spot where Jiang Li had climbed up, and it stared silently at him.
He blinked, and it was gone again.
That was the second time.
He didn't know when it would appear again.
The second place he had seen it was closer than the first, and Jiang Li had a strong premonition.
The next time it showed itself, it would appear right beside him, either in front of him or behind him.
Jiang Li closed his eyes again and sat cross-legged on the floor, silently counting down.
Ten... nine... eight...
Each footstep downstairs and every breath he took was magnified endlessly during the agonizing wait.
Every count was like a death knell tolling for his life.
Jiang Li frowned deeply, gripped the severed hand tightly, and continued counting down.
Four... three...
Clang.
It's here!
Without even opening his eyes, Jiang Li swung the severed hand sharply toward the spot where he had placed the can.
He immediately felt a powerful tug through the hand.
Only then did Jiang Li open his eyes and look in the direction the severed hand was gripping.
The Person-Hiding Ghost's withered, sunken face was inches away, almost pressed against his own, still wearing its hollow, eerie smile.
Fortunately, the severed hand's suppression had worked.
With the severed hand gripping its waist, the Person-Hiding Ghost stood frozen, making no movement.
Its two eyes, covered in white film, stared fixedly at Jiang Li, making his scalp tingle.
"Can we only stay at a stalemate like this for now?"
The web between Jiang Li's thumb and forefinger ached terribly from holding the severed hand, but he didn't dare relax in the slightest, gripping it with all his strength.