Mystical Revival: Starting by Controlling the Person-Hiding Ghost

In the darkness, Jiang Li instantly lost his sight and hearing, leaving him completely unable to sense the Hunger Ghost's location.

"Caw-"

Suddenly, a hoarse, piercing crow's cry came from his pocket, immediately dispelling the darkness around him.

With his senses restored, Jiang Li had no time to think. He searched everywhere for the Hunger Ghost.

When he turned around, the Hunger Ghost had already appeared above his head, swaying unsteadily at a height well above the neighboring buildings.

Thick darkness continued to pour from its body, spreading rapidly in every direction.

Just then, an unexpected figure appeared at Jiang Li's side, as though out of thin air.

"I never expected this thing to fall into your hands."

"But it seems you don't have much strength left to deal with this Hunger Ghost."

"Zhao Kaiming? You're still not dead?" Jiang Li snorted coldly and immediately extended the finger that could nail a vicious ghost in place. "You really haunt us like a lingering spirit. Looks like I'll have to kill you a second time."

"Don't rush. I'm not here to fight you this time. Besides, the me standing in front of you isn't my real body," Zhao Kaiming said quietly. "The ghost inside me failed, and the supernatural power it left in me is no longer restrained."

"Although I don't particularly want to help you, if this ghost situation gets too big, my family will be caught up in it too, and they won't be able to go on living in peace and happiness. So I'll make an exception and give you a hand."

As he spoke, Zhao Kaiming bent down and placed his hand on the Person-Hiding Ghost's black shadow.

Not only did no Ghost Hand reach out to drag him down, but the entire shadow visibly expanded, growing several times larger.

"That's all the help I can give. The rest is up to you."

With that done, Zhao Kaiming withdrew his hand. His figure blurred, and he gradually faded into nothingness.

The Person-Hiding Ghost's shadow, now several times larger, rushed toward the space beneath the Hunger Ghost and reached it almost in the blink of an eye.

The Hunger Ghost, suspended in midair, stopped moving, seemingly about to look down.

The next moment, a pale, slender dead man's hand reached out and gripped it tightly from a height of dozens of meters above the ground.

Bluish-black corpse spots spread instantly, but the pale hand showed no reaction. It simply pulled the Hunger Ghost downward with stiff movements.

The Hunger Ghost's body stalled in the air for a moment before it was forcibly yanked down along with the Ghost Rope, plummeting straight from the sky.

After a dull thud, the Hunger Ghost's body was buried deep in the earth, with only its head still exposed.

A rust-covered Coffin Nail was embedded in its forehead.

With that, the haze over Dachang City began to recede...

Nine thirty at night.

After receiving the news, Headquarters immediately sent five armored vehicles into the city with rescue teams.

The survivors in the city seemed unable to believe the disaster was truly over and remained silent, hiding in the dark night. But the darkness in Dachang City was being lit up bit by bit.

Even if some bluish-black haze still lingered in certain places, it was all over.

Meanwhile, in the residential complex beside Dachang No. 7 Middle School.

Jiang Li and Yang Jian kept watch beside the Hunger Ghost's body, not daring to let their attention slip for even a moment, afraid that it would revive again while they weren't looking.

"That Coffin Nail can't restrain this vicious ghost forever," Jiang Li said, sitting on the ground. "Sooner or later, the Hunger Ghost will break free of it, and the transformation in its body doesn't seem to have been interrupted. If it goes out of control again then, it won't be as simple as dealing with just one Hunger Ghost."

"That's basically impossible."

Yang Jian frowned. "The price of containing this thing was already high enough. All of Dachang City nearly fell. Those old men at Ghost Tamer Headquarters will treat it even more cautiously than we do. It's unlikely they'll let it out of the gold again."

"Still, I have to thank you for finding Zhao Lei's face. He and I were close. Maybe I owe you a favor."

As Yang Jian spoke, he pointed to Zhang Han and Zhao Lei, who were sleeping unconscious in the corner of the security booth. "To be safe, I also pasted a few sheets of newspaper I'd rewritten onto his face, to make sure he won't attack us under the ghost's influence when he wakes up."

"We should be even. I used quite a few of your supernatural resources during this incident too," Jiang Li said. "I'll keep the Human Skin Paper a secret. Once this is completely over, I plan to go somewhere else to develop."

"It doesn't matter where you go. Maybe we'll have a chance to deal with supernatural incidents together again sometime." Yang Jian smiled. "If we're both still alive by then, that is. Ghost tamers have short lives, after all. No one can be sure they'll always live to see the next day's sun."

Chapter 32: Unlucky Guo Fan (1)

Not long after the haze over Dachang City dispersed, a strange figure entered a hospital where no living people remained.

It silently passed through several floors before finally arriving in front of half a mutilated corpse.

A stiff, cold hand reached out and ripped the face right off the corpse. Then, amid the roar of passing armored vehicles, it quietly vanished into an alley somewhere in Dachang City.

A little over an hour after Yang Jian sent word that the Hunger Ghost had been dealt with, several armored vehicles stopped at the entrance to the residential complex.

More than a dozen Interpol officers, led by Zhao Jianguo, rushed inside.

"I knew you'd pull it off! I brought people to wait outside the city first thing this morning!" Zhao Jianguo said with an excited smile when he saw Yang Jian and Jiang Li.

"Someone's finally here. We can talk about everything else later. Hurry and contain this ghost first. There are also two injured people in the security room. Sorry for the trouble, but please take care of them."

A coffin made of solid gold was wheeled down from one of the vehicles, and the officers immediately put on special gloves and began moving the Hunger Ghost from the ground into the coffin.

"This ghost has a huge belly, and it even has Zhou Zheng's face," one of the officers said. "It's a bit ugly, but it doesn't seem particularly difficult to deal with. There were so many of you to begin with, yet only three survived."

"Who are you, coming here afterward to make snide remarks? Looks like you've never experienced what real fear is." Yang Jian frowned and stood up.

"My qualifications go back almost as far as Zhou Zheng's. You don't even know a senior like me, yet you have the nerve to say I've never experienced fear?" the officer sneered. "Go ask around. Who at Headquarters hasn't heard the name Guo Fan? You really think handling a little incident makes you better than everyone else? Your tail's about to reach the heavens."

"Guo Fan?"

Hearing the name, Jiang Li's mouth twitched, and he stood up.

"See? Even this unaffiliated ghost tamer beside you knows my name. That shows you my standing in the supernatural circle. A newcomer like you had better keep a low profile, or else..." Halfway through his words, Guo Fan suddenly felt something brush against his calf, leaving it chilly.

"Sorry, I misheard you just now. I thought you were saying something about treating us to a big pot of rice," Jiang Li said with a yawn. "The name Guo Fan sounds like someone destined for a short life. You'd better make your will soon."

"You fucking-" Guo Fan flew into a rage. He pulled out a special handgun and pointed it straight at Jiang Li. "Don't fucking refuse a toast only to drink a forfeit! Do you know where the 'criminal' in my title as a criminal police officer comes from? You're just an unaffiliated ghost tamer. Even if I killed you, no one would hold me accountable."

Seeing that Guo Fan seemed serious, the officers beside him spoke up one after another.

"Guo Fan, have you gone mad? They're the ones who deserve credit for this incident. Don't you want your Interpol status anymore?!"

"Guo Fan, put the gun down! Won't you even listen to me, Zhao Jianguo?!"

Listening to the people around him trying to stop him, Guo Fan instead curled his lips into a smile. This was exactly the feeling he wanted: everyone paying attention to him while he did as he pleased.

As for firing? He hadn't even intended to load the gun.

But just as everyone was trying to persuade him, and Guo Fan was pretending to still be angry, holding his gun aloft without putting it down-

Yang Jian turned his head slightly and noticed the black shadow creeping across the ground toward Guo Fan. A smile immediately appeared on his face.

"Ah!"

A piercing scream suddenly rang out, shattering the silence of the night.

By the time everyone reacted, Guo Fan had been planted headfirst in the concrete like a scallion, with only his head sticking out.

"Great Officer Guo, the ground is cold. Don't catch a chill," Jiang Li said with a smile. "Why are you all looking at me? He burrowed into the ground himself. Ask him if you don't believe me."

Zhao Jianguo frowned and ordered the others to dig Guo Fan out. Then he said:

"Guo Fan was in the wrong first, but he's still an officer of my Ghost Tamer Headquarters. Attacking an officer on your own initiative like that could cause serious trouble. Even if I can overlook most of it this time because of your contribution, if there's a next time, I'm afraid what you face won't be a minor scuffle."

"What are you saying?" Jiang Li asked.

"Considering your contribution this time and how cooperative you've been with our operation, I can recommend you to join Ghost Tamer Headquarters and become a person in charge."

"That way, your grudge with Guo Fan would just be a minor scuffle between colleagues. It would amount to nothing," Zhao Jianguo said. "At the same time, you'd enjoy some of Interpol's privileges, which would make your future operations much more convenient. Especially when it comes to the supernatural, more resources and the latest information would be directed toward you, ensuring the safety of you officers as much as possible."

At those words, the officers nearby all froze and looked at Zhao Jianguo with strange expressions.

After all that, he just wanted to recruit someone, yet he'd spouted such a long string of nonsense.

They wondered how Guo Fan would react when he came out of the ground.

Looking down, they saw that Guo Fan had already turned as red as a tomato. He was jabbering curses, but he spoke too fast for anyone to make out what he was saying.

Jiang Li was equally speechless.

However, he had no intention of joining Headquarters as a person in charge for the time being.

The biggest problem was the lack of freedom. Besides, Headquarters at this stage couldn't provide any substantial help.

They had less information than he did now, and the resources they could offer were very limited.

If he really were to join an organization temporarily, the Friend Circle, a wealthy powerhouse in the supernatural circle, seemed to be the most suitable place for him.

Leaving aside the Friend Circle's later conflict with Yang Jian, its ability to provide enormous amounts of money alone could solve many problems, and it didn't restrict personal freedom much.

His supernatural wooden box needed vicious ghosts fed into it, and Headquarters would surely have a hard time providing them. The Friend Circle had money to burn and should be able to provide enough funds and channels for him to purchase a steady supply of vicious ghosts.

After all, even Wang Xiaoming's research funds and Ghost Tamer Headquarters' construction funds were sponsored by the Friend Circle. When it came to financial resources, there was absolutely nothing to criticize.

The one somewhat troublesome point was probably the arrogance of those capitalists.

None of the people in the Friend Circle were easy to deal with. Wherever a ghost tamer appeared who might affect their interests, they would strike without hesitation to suppress or even silence them. But when asked to deal with supernatural incidents, each dragged his feet more than the last, each more afraid of death than the last.

For an unknown greenhorn like him, this was a very troublesome point.

Perhaps Ye Zhen's Supernatural Forum in Dahai City could also serve as a backup option, but that guy was too much of an edgy, neurotic teenager. If Jiang Li really joined the Supernatural Forum, he might even develop the same affliction.

Of course, the most important reason for choosing the Friend Circle was that he had the basic conditions to get started there.

He remembered Wang Shan saying that the old woman he had saved in the supermarket was a relative of Jiang Shangbai of the Friend Circle. Wang Shan himself was also an employee within the Friend Circle, and even the Person-Hiding Ghost Jiang Li had taken control of was the supernatural power controlled by a previous Friend Circle ghost tamer.

With those starting conditions, even if he didn't become vice president as soon as he joined the Friend Circle, he could at least ensure he wouldn't be suppressed by the old hands, right?

Chapter 33: Unlucky Guo Fan (2)

"Fuck, you dared to ambush me."

Having just climbed out of the ground, Guo Fan once again glared through gritted teeth at Jiang Li, who was talking to Zhao Jianguo.

"You really think I don't dare shoot, huh? You dare stand with your back to me and chat? I'll put a couple of bullets in you to teach you a lesson!"

With that, Guo Fan drew his gun with a savage expression, chambered a round, and fired repeatedly at Jiang Li's back.

Bang, bang, bang.

No one moved to stop Guo Fan. The officers nearby had either failed to react or were gloating as they waited for the show.

In any case, every one of them believed there was no way those bullets could miss. The ghost tamer with Yang Jian would probably be crippled if he didn't die.

But strangely, even after Guo Fan lowered his gun, Jiang Li was still standing there completely unharmed, even continuing his conversation with Zhao Jianguo.

Another officer walked over to Guo Fan, slapped him hard on the shoulder, and mocked him teasingly:

"Guo Fan, you useless piece of trash. You can't even hit him from this close, yet you pick a fight with him? You might as well get on your knees and apologize."

"How is that possible? I clearly aimed at his back. There's no way I could have missed."

"Wait, could this be some kind of supernatural ability that kid has?"

At that moment, Guo Fan suddenly remembered that when he had fired, Jiang Li's figure seemed to have grown indistinct for an instant, almost as if he were about to disappear.

"Captain Zhao, look." Jiang Li pointed at Guo Fan, who was holding his gun and puzzling over it, and spoke with an aggrieved expression.

"I didn't do anything, and what happened earlier doesn't prove I was the one who did it. Can the officers of your Ghost Tamer Headquarters attack civilians at will for no reason, even take their lives, just because they're angry in the heat of the moment?"

Hearing this, Zhao Jianguo's expression changed, and the look he gave Guo Fan turned to one of disgust. In the end, he could only reply to Jiang Li somewhat helplessly.

"All right. Actually, it's after working hours now, so the grudge between you should be treated as an ordinary civil dispute. Something along the lines of him hitting you and you hitting him back would be about right. Just don't let anyone die."

"That depends on whether I can hold back."