Mysterious Revival: Starting by Controlling the Person-Hiding Ghost

Seeing Jiang Li's expressionless face, the smile quickly faded from his.

"All right. Actually, this wooden fish has another use. It was passed down through generations of abbots. I heard that an evil entity's ear was once sealed inside it, and after being struck for so long, it gradually developed a spirit of its own. I believe this wooden fish has the wondrous ability to ward off evil and avert disaster, so I brought it along."

Master Huijue leaned his head close to Jiang Li and lowered his voice.

"I hear going down into the cave this time will be extremely dangerous. Young master, you'd be better off not joining them and withdrawing while you still can."

Jiang Li merely smiled and gave no answer.

Daoist Priest Simu, who was lying nearby, gave a cold snort and spoke without a shred of mercy.

"You old bald donkey, who are you trying to fool? The yin energy on this kid is so thick, he's obviously got something on him. I can see it clearly without my glasses. You're just afraid there'll be one more person to split the money with, you phony bald donkey. Pah!"

Master Huijue raised an eyebrow, seemingly displeased with Daoist Priest Simu, but he neither confirmed nor denied what the man had said.

By then, Liu Qingqing had gotten back to her feet, her expression once again indifferent and cold.

The vicious ghost that had stepped on her face had also returned to He Tianxiong's shoulder.

"You're still alive after that? Looks like I underestimated you messengers." He Tianxiong returned to the center of the banquet hall with the plan in hand. The moment he saw Liu Qingqing, his wrinkled eyes narrowed to slits.

"Since you've already suffered for it, woman, I won't strike again. But if you insist on provoking me, then I, He Tianxiong, will settle this with you here and now. We'll see who laughs last."

Liu Qingqing shot He Tianxiong a wary glare and forcibly swallowed the curse that had risen to her lips.

She understood now. The man before her was not only an old eggplant, but also a lunatic who would stop at nothing once he went mad.

There was no point fighting a lunatic like that to the death. She would just have to swallow her loss today.

After holding it in for some time, Liu Qingqing sat back down, leaving him with a single cold remark. "We'll settle this afterward."

Seeing that the storm had temporarily subsided, Sun Xin walked up to He Tianxiong, his face dark, and spoke in a low voice.

"Look what you've done. We haven't even started, and you're already fighting our own people. If there's a next time, I'm afraid the friendship we've maintained for years will have to come to an early end."

"As long as your people behave themselves, naturally there won't be a next time."

He Tianxiong smiled without a hint of warmth as he placed several simple, hand-drawn maps on the table.

"These show the approximate route through the cave we're heading to. It's called Nut Cave. It's four hundred and thirteen meters long, and its deepest point is a full forty-four meters below the surface. Moving around inside will be quite difficult, so you'd better prepare yourselves. If you get stuck in there, you'll have no one to blame but your bad luck."

"It's going to rain tonight, which would make things inconvenient in the cave, so we'll set the operation for tomorrow. Does anyone have any objections? If not, wait until tomorrow's operation begins."

Jiang Li studied the map in his hand, his face growing grave.

In a place like that, if they ran into a ghost, there would probably be nowhere to run. They could only stay where they were and wait for death. Even if the ghost didn't kill them, they might get stuck inside and suffocate to death.

When no one spoke, He Tianxiong continued.

"If you want to take a look around the cave beforehand, you can go now. But it would give me a headache if you accidentally died in there, so know your limits. Those who don't intend to go can stay here for now. Just be outside the cave on time at nine tomorrow night. We won't wait for anyone who's late."

Only after the various groups had taken their maps and left the banquet hall did Jiang Li slowly rise and head for the clubhouse exit.

They were going into that terrifying cave tomorrow night. Since he had the chance now, how could he not gather some information beforehand?

"Are you going to take a look at the cave beforehand? That's not a good choice," said He Tianxiong, who was still standing where he had been. "For some reason, a lot of crows have gathered outside the cave tonight. They won't leave, no matter how we try to drive them away. That's no good omen."

Chapter 53: The Gatekeeper's Past

"I can make my own judgment. If I miss some important information, our subsequent actions will be severely hampered."

With that, Jiang Li strode out of the banquet hall, leaving He Tianxiong alone and silent before the dining table.

Before long, he was back beside the gatehouse he had passed on his way in.

The gatekeeper had still been playing on his phone, but when he saw Jiang Li, he reluctantly put away the still-lit device and spoke with a look of helplessness.

"Sir, what are you doing at the gatehouse so late at night? There's nothing worth looking at here. You'd be better off lying in bed scrolling on your phone."

"I had nothing to do, and I happened to have a few questions, so I thought I'd come see if you knew anything." As Jiang Li spoke, he took a few red banknotes from his pocket.

"Oh, I couldn't. I really couldn't."

Even as he spoke, the gatekeeper slyly accepted the money and stuffed it into his pocket.

"So, what would you like to ask? My name's Zhang Mao. I'm a local, and I know at least a little about most things that happen around here. Ask me anything."

"There seems to be a cave called Nut Cave a few kilometers from here. I'd like to know something about it. Anything will do," Jiang Li said.

"Well..."

Zhang Mao scratched his head and looked around to make sure no one else was nearby. Then he lowered his voice.

"Someone died in there. Died in a very strange way. It's not something I can talk about carelessly."

"I know someone died, but what was strange about it?" Jiang Li asked.

Zhang Mao fell silent and kept blinking at Jiang Li.

"You little shit." Jiang Li rolled his eyes and pulled two more banknotes from his pocket. "That's all you're getting. If it's not enough, forget it."

After taking the two banknotes, Zhang Mao broke into a broad smile and pulled Jiang Li into a corner of the gatehouse.

"Apparently, two men from out of town came here a few years ago. For some reason, one of them died a horrible death in that cave. His entire body was wedged upside down in a crevice."

"Normally there wouldn't have been much to say about that, but someone started a rumor that he'd deliberately died in there. They said he'd been haunted by an evil ghost while he was alive and couldn't get rid of it no matter what he did. So the man traveling with him had him die in the cave that way, hoping to put an end to the evil ghost's influence."

"That ghost story sounds pretty ordinary, doesn't it?" Zhang Mao said gravely, lowering his voice. "I thought so too, but later I was bored out of my mind working as a gatekeeper here, so one evening I secretly slipped over to the cave."

"And then?" Jiang Li asked.

"I stayed near the cave for a long time, but I didn't notice anything special about it. So I thought I'd go inside and see if there was any truth to that rumor. If I could find the remains left in there, I could come back and brag to the others."

"So I ducked down and crawled into the karst cave. By my estimate, the entrance was only about one and a half meters high."

"I walked dozens of meters inside, hunched over, and nothing changed. The whole cave was frighteningly quiet, with only my own footsteps and the occasional sound of dripping water."

"I thought those were just my footsteps, but soon I noticed something was wrong. Along the way, my back started hurting, so I squatted down to rest for a while. But the footsteps echoing nearby didn't disappear completely. I tried getting up and taking a couple more steps, and that was when I realized what was really wrong."

"There were two kinds of footsteps echoing in the cave. If you listened closely, it was easy to tell the difference. There's no need to say anything about my own footsteps. The important thing was the other kind."

"They sounded like they were coming from deeper in the cave. The footsteps were incredibly heavy, as if every step was landing hard on the ground, but they also gave me the impression of someone walking barefoot in the cave."

"But that was just too bizarre. How could there be anyone else in the cave besides me, let alone someone walking barefoot?"

Jiang Li thought for a moment, then ventured a reply.

"It's not entirely impossible. After all, you managed to sneak in and explore, so it would be normal enough for someone else to be in there too. Maybe they accidentally lost their shoes in the cave."

"Besides, you must have been extremely excited and nervous at the time. Anything you thought was unusual would have magnified the fear in your heart without limit, when in the end you were only fooling yourself."

Hearing that, Zhang Mao shook his head firmly and continued.

"If that were all it was, the experience wouldn't have left such a deep impression on me."

"I really don't know whether to call it good luck or bad, but I found what I was looking for in that cave."

"A corpse?" Jiang Li asked.

"That's right, a corpse!"

Zhang Mao spoke excitedly. "And there was more than one. One was lying on the left, another was sprawled on the right, and I was even standing on one. It was just like a mass grave. I was so nervous that I even tripped over one of the corpses."

"You can never imagine how cold and slimy it felt. I even landed right on a male corpse's face. I nearly rolled my eyes back and fainted from fright on the spot."

"What happened next? How did you get out?" Jiang Li asked, puzzled.

Jiang Li had already more or less guessed what the young man before him had experienced, but he couldn't understand how he had survived.

From his description, he must have accidentally encountered ghosts in the cave. But why hadn't they attacked him? And judging by that description, there didn't seem to be just a few ghosts inside, but a great many.

Could it be?

Jiang Li pondered for a moment, then suddenly realized.

There was probably more than one dormant vicious ghost. That was why He Tianxiong was willing to risk his life to personally lead people into the cave.

If there were only one dormant vicious ghost, it would barely be worth the risk. But if there were two, three, or even four or more...

Then even Fang Shiming, the boss of Friend Circle, would probably drop everything and come down into the cave to look for ghosts himself if he heard the news.

But opportunity came hand in hand with danger. Not all the vicious ghosts were likely to be in a revived state; some were surely still wandering and roaming inside the cave.

The barefoot footsteps Zhang Mao had mentioned were probably a revived ghost on the move. Its killing pattern hadn't been triggered, so it hadn't attacked Zhang Mao at the time.

That thought raised another question in Jiang Li's mind.

According to Zhang Mao's account, why had the people He Tianxiong sent in during the day found nothing, while none of those sent in at night had survived?

Did that mean some of the vicious ghosts' patterns in the cave were related to the time of day?

While Jiang Li was deep in thought, Zhang Mao stood up and took a sip of the cold tea on the table, then squatted back down and continued.

"I was terrified at the time and wanted to get out and call the police immediately, but when I was getting ready to go back, something else horrifying happened."

Chapter 54: The Strange Crows

"It was nearly dark by then. I was so nervous that I almost couldn't remember which way the entrance was, but luckily I remembered that the corpse I'd nearly kissed had its head pointing toward the exit."

Zhang Mao spoke with a peculiar expression.

"Just as I was hunched over, making my way back, I suddenly noticed a dark figure in front of me. From its outline, it looked like a person, but I was in a state of extreme panic by then. Even though he really did look a lot like a living person, I would never have dared approach it unless I was absolutely certain."

"Luckily, that caution saved my life. When the figure seemed about to approach, I hurriedly switched off my flashlight and lay on the ground, pretending to be a corpse. Only after it passed me and returned to the depths of the cave did I turn the flashlight back on and escape."

"I don't know if it was my imagination, but just as I reached the entrance and was about to leave, a sudden chill swept through my entire body. I couldn't withstand it this time. The moment I crawled out of the cave, I passed out on the ground."

"When I woke again, it was already midnight. The first thing I did was look back at that strange cave. It was pitch-black inside, but I could clearly feel something watching me from the darkness. After that, I never went near it again."

After listening, Jiang Li nodded and stood up.

"Make no mistake, it's a miracle you're still alive. As things stand, I'm afraid that cave is even more terrifying than expected. Perhaps I should reconsider tomorrow's operation."

"Ah, it was just a stroke of luck amid all that misfortune."

Zhang Mao looked dejected as he offered Jiang Li a cigarette, then leaned against the corner of the wall and lit one for himself.

"After I got out, I tried calling the police, but when they went in, they didn't find any of the corpses I'd talked about. I nearly got thrown in jail for making a false report. Afterward, hardly anyone believed me either. Most of them started laughing before I'd even finished. You're the only one who listened all the way through without laughing at me... Wait, where did he go?"

Zhang Mao turned his head, only to find that he was the only one left in the gatehouse. He didn't even know when Jiang Li had left.

To set the mood for his story, Zhang Mao had deliberately switched off the light in the gatehouse.

Having just recalled that terrifying evening, and now alone in the dark, he couldn't help feeling a certain long-forgotten fear again.

Just then, a soft female voice came from outside the door, sounding utterly devoid of emotion.

"Is anyone here?"

Immediately afterward, a deathly pale hand gripped the doorframe not far away, as if its owner couldn't wait to come inside.

The next moment, the light came on.

Liu Qingqing and the other two entered the gatehouse, only to find Zhang Mao unconscious and foaming at the mouth.

"What happened to him?" Liu Qingqing asked, a little puzzled, as she sat down on a nearby bench and swept up her long hair.

"Looks like you scared him unconscious. Let me handle it next time we need to deal with someone," Guo You replied after bending down and giving Zhang Mao a cursory examination.

"What does that have to do with me? He's obviously got a guilty conscience and can't bear the light," Liu Qingqing said with a frown.

"That new helper He Tianxiong found seems to have already set off to look for the cave. We'd better hurry and follow him so we don't miss anything important," Sun Xin said, frowning. "He only just left. His scent is still lingering here."

Sun Xin's guess was right. Jiang Li had indeed left less than a few minutes ago.