Dachang No. 7 Middle School in the Darkness / Zhao Kaiming's Early Appearance

"What do you think? It doesn't seem to be doing anything. Did it just eat one of my ghosts for nothing?" Yang Jian asked.

"I don't know either. Let's wait a little longer. The supernatural is full of uncertainty, after all. No one can tell what will happen next," Jiang Li replied, holding the wooden box.

About two and a half minutes later.

The wooden box slowly opened. Inside lay a deathly pale, smooth bar of soap.

"What is that?" Yang Jian asked with a frown.

"It looks like a bar of soap. Maybe we can use it to give the Hunger Ghost a bath. It stinks."

As he spoke, Jiang Li pulled out the note beneath the soap and read it aloud.

[Corpse Oil Soap: Soap made from a vicious ghost's corpse oil, with a vicious ghost residing inside it. When held, the soap will begin to melt, bearing supernatural attacks in the user's place. Once the soap has completely melted, the vicious ghost inside will fully revive and attack the user.]

"This Corpse Oil Soap is somewhat useful, but at best it's only the icing on the cake. Do you have any other ghosts to trade for something?"

Yang Jian thought for a moment, then opened the gold box beside him and took out a length of rope covered in gold foil, peeling it away bit by bit to reveal what lay inside.

Once all the gold foil had been removed, the thing was revealed in full.

It was a length of rough ghost straw rope. It had already begun to twist slightly, showing faint signs of revival.

"That's the last one. Ghosts aren't cabbages by the roadside, there for the taking whenever you want," Yang Jian said, placing the Ghost Rope in the wooden box.

Before long, the wooden box opened again.

This time, however, the result was somewhat puzzling.

Inside the box was still that same strange straw rope. The only difference was that it had originally had a noose at one end; now both ends had nooses.

[Yin-Yang Ghost Rope: A length of straw rope a vicious ghost once used to hang itself. Its two different ends symbolize life and death and are meant to be placed around the necks of two different users. When the rope rises, one lives and one dies.]

"Huh?" Jiang Li turned the note over and over. "Why doesn't it say which end is the death rope and which is the life rope?"

"That box of yours is strange enough. Just like the Human Skin Paper, it churns out things that screw over their own people." Yang Jian rubbed his forehead, at a loss for words. "Sure enough, supernatural items aren't very reliable. In the end, you still have to rely on yourself."

Jiang Li pondered for a moment before replying, "It's fine. Having them is better than having nothing. Besides, I have a new idea about how to use the Corpse Oil Soap and the Ghost Rope. Think it over."

"That seems much the same as the plan the Human Skin Paper gave me, but this really is an opportunity. It's worth taking the risk to try," Yang Jian said after listening, picking up his satellite positioning phone.

"Liu Xiaoyu, it's Yang Jian. Another ghost tamer and I need to speak with the people at Ghost Tamer Headquarters. Make the arrangements, as soon as possible."

In the headquarters communications room, Liu Xiaoyu abruptly raised her head, still looking bleary-eyed.

Hearing Yang Jian contact her of his own accord, she hurriedly picked up the phone and answered:

"This is Liu Xiaoyu. I'll go arrange the call right away. But are you looking for Captain Zhao Jianguo or Deputy Minister Cao Yanhua?"

"Call everyone who has a say, every last one of them. Tell them this conference call concerns whether Dachang City survives what comes next. You have thirty minutes to prepare," Yang Jian said.

"I'll take care of it now. I won't go over the time limit."

Looking at the expressionless face before him, Jiang Li suddenly remembered something and said to Yang Jian, "Although I've already asked for a lot, I still have to ask, for the sake of making sure the next operation goes smoothly. There's one more thing I need. Could you give it to me?"

"What is it?"

"That finger that can pin down a vicious ghost. I need it as a medium for launching my supernatural attacks."

"I've already given you just about everything I own anyway. If you want it, take it," Yang Jian replied, handing the vicious ghost's finger to Jiang Li.

"But I'm curious. How are you going to control that finger?"

"Find a knife, chop off one of my fingers, and attach it. That'll do," Jiang Li replied.

"That's too much trouble. I'll help you."

Yang Jian suddenly stood up, and the pitch-black headless ghost shadow beneath him silently surged toward Jiang Li like flowing water.

Seeing this, Jiang Li immediately understood what Yang Jian had in mind and held out his hand.

"Sorry for the trouble."

The moment the black shadow covered his hand, the index finger on Jiang Li's right hand fell to the ground without warning. The severed end was as smooth and neat as a building block taken apart, and not a drop of blood flowed.

A withered, slender finger was then attached to Jiang Li's wound.

The deathly chill coming from his hand made Jiang Li shudder.

The finger had swollen joints and faint blackish-red stains on its surface. Its pitch-black, terrifying nail was marked with clearly visible cracks.

It had to be said that, with a dead man's finger attached to him, he probably wouldn't even sleep peacefully at night.

As if sensing Jiang Li's strange mood, the withered finger suddenly moved, its sharp nail pointing at the Person-Hiding Ghost's face protruding from his neck.

"This feels disgusting, and I can tell this finger isn't entirely under my control."

"You'll get used to it. We've all been through it," Yang Jian said, pointing to the Ghost Eye on his forehead. "At least you didn't have to eat some ghostly thing. That's real torture."

"Get yourself in shape for what comes next. We'll have a conference call with some people shortly to discuss the plan going forward. Something this big can't be left to the two of us to take responsibility for."

Chapter 12: Dachang No. 7 Middle School in the Darkness

Ghost Tamer Headquarters.

After receiving Liu Xiaoyu's report, Zhao Jianguo immediately got busy, contacting and notifying the influential deputy ministers and ministers.

With the fate of an entire city at stake, who would dare be negligent?

Soon, everything was in place.

What Zhao Jianguo himself hadn't expected, however, was that the conference call would bring out so many important figures he rarely saw.

They all seemed to be paying considerable attention to the incident, even putting aside other matters to attend the meeting.

His hands trembling slightly, Zhao Jianguo entered the temporary conference room.

"Minister Cao, everything is ready. The conference call can begin at any time."

"All right." Cao Yanhua took several deep breaths before speaking again. "Notify Yang Jian. The meeting will begin in one minute."

After Liu Xiaoyu notified them, Yang Jian and Jiang Li exchanged a glance, turned on the satellite positioning phone, and waited for the meeting to begin.

Before long, a call came through.

"I'm Cao Yanhua, deputy minister of Ghost Tamer Headquarters..."

For most of the meeting, only Yang Jian and Cao Yanhua spoke, though unfamiliar voices occasionally sounded, asking questions.

A somewhat elderly voice suddenly spoke, steady in tone and full of vigor.

"So, to resolve this disaster, you must meet two conditions: making contact with the vicious ghost and containing it. Yang Jian, and the other ghost tamer on the line, if you have any plans for this, please explain them in detail to us old fellows. We're all ears."

Cao Yanhua's brow twitched at those words.

Every elderly person on this conference call held a lofty position, and any one of them could command and mobilize him, a deputy minister, with a single word.

But on the other end of the line were two ghost tamers. Most ghost tamers eroded by the supernatural had unpredictable tempers, and some would even kill a person's whole family over a trivial matter.

He could only hope Yang Jian and the other ghost tamer would speak properly and not stir up trouble.

"We do have a plan, but the current problem is that we have too few resources and are severely short-handed," Jiang Li said. "Because Zhao Kaiming, the previous person in charge of Dachang City, betrayed us during the operation, nearly all the original ghost tamers died in the last operation. If not for that, we'd have at least about a fifty percent chance of success going forward."

Zhao Kaiming, the person in charge?

He had betrayed his own people while they were containing a vicious ghost?

Cao Yanhua's brows knitted tightly together. He forcibly suppressed the urge to slam his hand on the table and turned to glare at Zhao Jianguo.

He'd long thought Zhao Kaiming was no good. His psychological evaluations had always been terrible, yet Zhao Jianguo had insisted on agreeing to let him take charge of Dachang City. They were both surnamed Zhao, too-even a ghost wouldn't believe there was nothing going on underneath it all.

If I get chewed out, Zhao Jianguo, you'll be the first person I hold accountable after this meeting!

Sensing that fierce gaze, Zhao Jianguo didn't dare breathe loudly. He could only stand meekly in the corner as punishment.

The meeting, however, continued.

Jiang Li added, "Precisely because of the shortage of manpower and resources in every respect, meeting those two conditions-contact and containment-is several levels harder than before. If we force the next operation against the Hunger Ghost, I'm afraid Officer Yang Jian and I have less than a twenty percent chance of surviving. Even so, we're both willing to try. The safety of an entire city is at stake, after all."

"Just look at that."

On the other end of the line, an elderly man couldn't help praising them. "Even an independent ghost tamer has such a sense of duty, while the person in charge we recruited betrayed everyone at the critical moment. We truly failed to judge his character! Everyone involved in this should be dismissed."

At those words, a few more drops of cold sweat appeared on Cao Yanhua's forehead.

"Let's get back to the matter at hand," a senior leader said. "Young friend, given how serious the situation is, how do you intend to overcome these problems?"

"Simple. Tear down the east wall to patch up the west wall," Jiang Li said.

"If we don't have enough manpower, we'll make up for it with ghost power. Officer Yang Jian and I intend to use some supernatural items that come at a cost when necessary. That should increase our chances of success. The drawback is obvious, too. Using those supernatural items will release a few new vicious ghosts, and we may not be able to keep them under control."

"I see. No wonder you wanted to speak with headquarters before the operation. It seems you were worried no one would be able to take responsibility."

An old senior leader mused, "But I approve your operation. As long as you can deal with the Hunger Ghost and make the haze over Dachang City disappear, go ahead without restraint. If anything happens, the other old fellows and I will shoulder it for you!"

"That's all we need to hear. Let's end the meeting here."

With that, Yang Jian ended the call on his phone.

"I'm going to settle my family and friends. Wait five minutes for me, then we'll set out."

"All right," Jiang Li replied. "Are you settling them in that safe house made of gold?"

"Yes, but not everyone can go in," Yang Jian said from the doorway. "For your sake, I'll arrange housing near the safe house for the friends you brought. It's not as good as the safe house, but at least it'll give them some peace of mind."

"All right, sorry for the trouble."

Before long, an all-black pickup truck drove out of the residential complex and roared through the boundless darkness toward the city center.

Dull thuds came from the front of the truck as it struck things, and through the windows, figures could dimly be seen flying away after being hit.

But both men in the truck knew perfectly well that those were not living people.

The entire route was strewn with wreckage, with scarcely a sign of life.

Many survivors trembled in the darkness. Most of the city's residents had already died silently in their own homes or in some hidden corner.

The faces of the dead mostly still bore the despair and terror they had felt before dying, but no one knew what they had encountered. Only their corpses rotted silently, telling the whole story through the increasingly thick stench of decay.

When the truck finally pulled over by the roadside, Jiang Li happened to glance at Yang Jian and noticed the trace of complicated emotion passing through his eyes.

There was fear, but more than that, remembrance.

Looking up, they saw that the unlit school sign was stained with a pitch-black liquid, but the characters were still clearly visible.

Dachang City No. 7 Middle School.

"So Zhao Kaiming and the Hunger Ghost are inside No. 7 Middle School. That's not too surprising," Yang Jian murmured. "This was an unfortunate place to begin with, and it's also where I met Zhou Zheng. Everything started here, and it should end here too."

"Things inside don't look good." Jiang Li merely glanced toward the school gate, and the scene inside immediately made his scalp tingle.

In the enormous school grounds, nearly every corner was packed with "people."

Strange figures filled the landscaped strip by the gate, the pool in the center of the school, and the roof of the teaching building.

Most of those ghostly things were almost as tall as normal adults. They were undoubtedly third-stage ghost infants, only a small opportunity away from growing into the fourth stage.

Chapter 13: Zhao Kaiming's Early Appearance

"Be careful. The standing ghost children aren't the only things in the school. There are first- and second-stage ghost infants crawling on the ground too." The Ghost Eye on Yang Jian's forehead opened, continuously scanning the school.