Mysterious Revival: Starting by Taming the Person-Hiding Ghost

"But at the rate things are going, I'm afraid you don't have long to live," Jiang Li said quietly.

"I had a full physical this year, and everything was just fine. No matter how badly I abuse my health, I'll still live longer than the vast majority of ghost tamers. There's data to back that up."

"All right, you do have a point. Besides, I didn't come here to pry into your personal life." As Jiang Li spoke, he placed a phone in front of Wang Shan.

"To make a long story short, I'm somewhat interested in joining your Friend Circle. Only somewhat, of course, so now it's your turn to put that silver tongue to work. I hope you've already thought about what to say."

"Naturally. There was only one reason you would come looking for me of your own accord. I had everything I needed to say worked out the moment I opened the door."

Wang Shan laughed and slapped the bottle in his hand onto the table.

In the next moment, he shed his earlier casual, uninhibited manner and sat up straight, his expression serious. Even his gaze turned sharp in an instant.

He took a deep breath and spoke in a low voice:

"As a ghost tamer, there are basically two things you want when joining an organization: money and the supernatural. The country's three major supernatural organizations-the Friend Circle, the Supernatural Forum, and the Ghost Tamer Headquarters-undoubtedly offer both, though each places a different emphasis on them."

"Assuming you've already had contact with people inside all three organizations and still intend to try joining the Friend Circle, I can make a preliminary guess that you're more interested in money and don't want to be subject to too many restrictions. Is that right?"

"Basically. Go on," Jiang Li said.

"Since I'm right, I'll go into the Friend Circle's advantages in terms of money and freedom." Wang Shan pulled up some information on his phone as he spoke.

"You might not know this, but the Friend Circle was the main investor in the Ghost Tamer Headquarters during its initial construction. It had a hand in their rise. And the Friend Circle's boss was already a local tycoon before he became a ghost tamer. The wealth he's accumulated by now could even be called enough to rival a nation. I dare say no other organization is more lavish than the Friend Circle when it comes to paying people."

"What about freedom? I don't want the kind of freedom where I'm expected to shoulder every burden without complaint and come running whenever I'm called. That's being a beast of burden exploited by capitalists," Jiang Li asked.

"Of course it wouldn't be like that. Especially with a ghost tamer like you, the Friend Circle would show the utmost sincerity. Under normal circumstances, you could even refuse any assignment sent your way. Your pay would be docked, but at least your life would be safe, unlike the people in charge at Headquarters, who are worked to death at their posts," Wang Shan replied.

"So it's basically come and go as I please? That really is a lot of freedom," Jiang Li mused. "But everything has its pros and cons. I've heard the advantages. What about the drawbacks?"

At that, a flicker of hesitation visibly crossed Wang Shan's face, but it quickly returned to normal.

"Whether some things count as drawbacks actually depends on the person, just like the advantages." Wang Shan lowered his voice as he spoke.

"After all, ghosts aren't the only terrifying things in this world. When ghost tamers who've lost their humanity to the erosion of fierce ghosts turn ruthless, they're far more terrifying than the fierce ghosts themselves. There are people like that in the Friend Circle. They're ill-tempered and unpredictable, and if they say they're going to kill someone, they'll actually do it, even if the other person hasn't deeply wronged them."

"There was once a member who wasn't very happy with his job and planned to secretly switch over to the Ghost Tamer Headquarters. When it came to light, the boss, Fang Shiming, killed him personally. Even his head was split into several pieces."

As Wang Shan spoke, he gestured at his own head. "I heard Boss Fang wasn't even in the country at the time, yet he was able to use a fierce ghost's curse to forcibly kill someone from thousands of miles away. Most people who have offended him die without anyone knowing how or why."

"Heh, that really is a terrifying ability."

Jiang Li replied, "I have a general idea of the situation now. Get in touch with someone inside the Friend Circle for me over the next few days. I'll pay them a personal visit when the time comes."

"Sure."

After their conversation, Jiang Li didn't linger. He left the small villa where Wang Shan lived.

Jiang Li then followed another house number to the small villa where the other two lived.

Yao Xiaoting and that old woman, the two survivors he had crossed paths with in a supermarket back then.

The lights were still on inside the villa, casting the silhouettes of the old woman and the young woman onto the curtains. They seemed to be chatting.

It looked like they were both safe and sound.

After getting a general idea of how the three were doing, Jiang Li took out his key and silently returned alone to the house Yang Jian had prepared for him.

"The fierce ghost's influence on me is growing more and more obvious."

Chapter 36: Uninvited Guests Outside Guanjiang Residential Complex

"The fierce ghost's influence on me is growing more and more obvious."

Jiang Li spoke to himself, facing the darkness before him.

He was lying on the sofa in the villa's living room, not the least bit sleepy.

Although it was still nighttime, the outside was brightly lit, and everyone was immersed in the joy of the disaster's end.

Yet Jiang Li's heart remained unmoved. He even felt somewhat numb.

Even though he was lying on his side, the hand hanging around his neck hadn't loosened in the slightest. It gripped him so tightly that he could barely breathe.

He couldn't say why, but after seeing Wang Shan, Jiang Li had felt a wave of exhaustion.

Not physical exhaustion, of course.

Perhaps the Person-Hiding Ghost's erosion was beginning to have an obvious effect. Jiang Li no longer wanted to see anyone; he only wanted to stay curled up in a dark corner.

It wasn't because he was afraid of seeing people, but because the urge to kill anyone he saw was growing stronger and stronger.

Looking at the fierce ghost's finger on his hand, Jiang Li couldn't help shaking his head.

"Dealing with fierce ghosts is bound to end in despair. I wonder what will become of someone like me in the end."

"Perhaps I'll be killed by a fierce ghost, or by someone else, or disappear in some supernatural incident and never be heard from again."

"But... did Yang Jian in this world really become a god in the end?"

The question suddenly occurred to Jiang Li.

"After becoming a god, Yang Jian exists at every point in time. If my arrival were going to disrupt or obstruct Yang Jian's path later on, I'm afraid I would have been erased the moment I transmigrated here. But that's not what happened."

"So the remaining possibilities are that I become a god too, or that my existence is insignificant and can't determine the bigger picture?"

After thinking it over for a long time, Jiang Li felt even more mentally exhausted, so he gave up thinking, closed his eyes, and went to sleep.

Meanwhile.

Three uninvited guests entered Guanjiang Residential Complex from outside.

"Luo Suyi, is it really all right for us to walk straight onto their turf without even giving them a heads-up?"

A man in his early thirties spoke in a low voice.

"It's precisely because we didn't give them a heads-up that we need to walk in openly and confidently. That way they won't suspect us. Huang Fei, sometimes you're still too uptight."

Luo Suyi spoke with his hands in his pockets. "Besides, Yang Jian and Jiang Li are ghost tamers, and so are the three of us. By rights, they should be the ones showing us some respect. We're already being polite by not making them come out to welcome us in advance."

"I can't argue with you anyway. Whatever you say is right, okay?"

Huang Fei rolled his eyes at him and said no more.

"The complex is so big. How are we going to find those two?"

Lin Luomei, standing beside them, spoke through the loudspeaker in her hand without opening her mouth.

"Isn't that easy? Just use your fierce ghost's supernatural power to call out a couple of times around the complex, and that's that. They're impressive people who dealt with an S-class fierce ghost incident, after all. Surely one shout from you won't kill them."

Lin Luomei nodded, indicating her agreement. Then she raised the loudspeaker and called out:

"Yang Jian, Jiang Li, come out-"

The voice that rang out was mechanical and cold, nothing like the voice of a living person. Like invisible phantoms, the sounds searched everywhere in the complex.

The voice passed through many places-the security office, the ornamental pond, and the complex's park-but found no sign of either man.

Only after entering a room did the voice finally find one of its targets. It drifted slowly toward Jiang Li, who was asleep on the sofa.

"Jiang Li, come out-"

"Come out-"

The cold voice echoed incessantly in his ears, and Jiang Li's body actually began to move beyond his control as he slept. He gradually stood up, as if sleepwalking.

Suddenly, a pair of tightly shut eyes opened, their surfaces covered by a white film.

Jiang Li's body then rose ramrod straight. He stiffly pushed open the door and headed in a certain direction through the complex.

The voice from the fierce ghost had intended to continue searching for its next target, but a hand shot out of the ground, seized it, and dragged it underground. It did not appear again.

At the same time, in a room in another villa.

Yang Jian, who was also asleep, suddenly shuddered all over and woke with a start.

Zhang Liqin, dressed in nothing but a bathrobe, was startled by him. She quickly wrapped her arms tightly around his neck and whispered, "What's wrong? Did you have another nightmare?"

Yang Jian glanced in a certain direction in the complex, then said, "No, but it seems I don't need to trouble myself with what's happening outside. Let's go back to sleep... while I can still spend a few more days at home."

"Mm."

Zhang Liqin answered in a soft, coy voice, nestling her head affectionately against Yang Jian.

But after lying down again, Yang Jian was no longer sleepy at all and felt somewhat vexed.

Where had three wild ghost tamers who didn't know the immensity of heaven and earth come from, sneaking into his complex in the middle of the night to cause trouble? Had he attracted their attention by being too much in the limelight lately?

He would have someone look into it tomorrow. For tonight, he would sleep. Jiang Li seemed to have gone out to deal with the three of them anyway.

Having another reliable ghost tamer at his side as a helper was a pretty good thing. Perhaps he could consider forming a ghost tamer squad of his own in the future.

With that thought, Yang Jian put an arm around the shoulders of the person beside him again and closed his eyes.

In a pavilion in the complex, Lin Luomei suddenly clenched her hands and spoke through the loudspeaker.

"Be careful. One of the targets is already on the way. My Ghost Voice dissipated before it could find the second target. You need to be careful of whoever's coming..."

"It dissipated before it even found the second one? Seems your Ghost Voice has gotten worse." Luo Suyi sat with his legs crossed and smiled, looking unconcerned. "Which one is coming now, Yang Jian or Jiang Li?"

"It's..."

The voice abruptly cut off, as though something had forcibly choked it off.

"Huang Fei, what the hell are you doing?" Luo Suyi said irritably, turning his head to look for Huang Fei in the pavilion. "Stopping halfway through a sentence to act mysterious... Where is he?"

He looked all around, but Huang Fei was nowhere to be seen. He had vanished into thin air without making the slightest sound.

"Damn it, something's happened." Luo Suyi gritted his teeth and sprang to his feet. "That Jiang Li is probably already nearby. Only a stray dog without a faction would start biting before getting a clear picture of the situation."

Just as Luo Suyi was still analyzing the situation, Lin Luomei's eyes suddenly widened. She pointed in terror at a spot behind him, and a mechanical voice came from the loudspeaker.

"Luo Suyi, there's something behind you. Look behind you, quickly."

"What?!"

Luo Suyi instantly felt a chill run down his back, so cold that he shuddered.

His instincts screamed that something was behind him, but his body had gone rigid, unable to perform even the simple act of turning around.

Gulp.

When Luo Suyi finally mustered the courage to whirl around, there was nothing behind him. Nothing there at all.

Chapter 37: The Ghost on Luo Suyi

"What... was that thing behind me just now? Why did it disappear as soon as I turned around?"

Luo Suyi trembled all over as he spoke, forcing himself to sound calm.

Although he hadn't seen anything behind him, he trusted that Lin Luomei, his teammate, wouldn't lie.

Besides, that chill just now had been real. All the signs showed that there really had been something behind him.

Yet in response to Luo Suyi's question, Lin Luomei continued to stare wide-eyed, pointing behind him and stammering, unable to form a complete sentence.

"...That thing is behind me again, isn't it?"

Luo Suyi could see the shock and terror in her eyes, but he couldn't begin to guess what she had seen.

The fear of the unknown was suffocating.

He couldn't imagine what kind of thing could frighten a veteran ghost tamer like Lin Luomei so badly. Even a real fierce ghost shouldn't have scared her so much that she couldn't use her Ghost Voice.