Mysterious Resurgence: Starting with the Strange Bus

Chapter 34 People Without a Past
"The Ghost Drawing Incident?"

Upon hearing the staff's report, Cao Yanhua looked surprised and stood up immediately, taking the photos handed to him by the staff.

The photo was taken by satellite, and the background shows the city of Oasis.

At this moment, most of the city was covered by a gray, ghostly domain, and even a large part of the suburbs was shrouded in that domain.

"This is indeed the Ghost Realm of the Ghost Painting. Isn't it always wandering abroad? How could it suddenly erupt in Dahai City?"

As the deputy minister of the Ghost Master Headquarters, Cao Yanhua had naturally seen the Ghost Painting Archives and had a very clear record of the characteristics of the Ghost Paintings.

With just one glance, Cao Yanhua was basically certain that the gray, ghostly domain that shrouded Dahai City was the Ghost Painting.

"So, the recent talk on the paranormal forum about 'Ye Zhen being away on a business trip' wasn't just a perfunctory excuse, but actually true?"

Upon seeing the photos in his hand, Cao Yanhua immediately recalled the report from another staff member.

"Alright, I understand. Keep a close eye on the situation in Dahai City, and report any unusual changes in Guihua immediately."

After thinking for a moment, Cao Yanhua spoke to the staff member in front of him.

Currently, the headquarters is focusing its main efforts on the sudden S-level paranormal event in Dachang City, and there is simply no energy or manpower available to be spared to support Dahai City.

Furthermore.

Dahai City is the territory of the paranormal forum. With Ye Zhen's strength, which is known as the "Number One Ghost Master in Asia", even if he can't solve the Ghost Painting incident, Cao Yanhua thinks he won't be killed so quickly. He can still stall for a while.

Take ten thousand steps back.

Ye Zhen's strength is considered top-tier even at headquarters. If even he can't withstand the pressure and falls in the Ghost Painting incident, then headquarters won't be able to find many Ghost Masters who can take his place.

"To be on the safe side, I should still go and talk to Elder Qin later. If things really get out of control, we'll have no choice but to ask him for help," Cao Yanhua sighed to himself.

No country can withstand two S-level paranormal events occurring simultaneously, especially the kind where the ghost realm seals off the city. Their mobility and harmfulness are too great, and they must be dealt with before the situation gets completely out of control.

Currently, the only person at headquarters with this capability is Elder Qin.

only……

Qin Lao's position at headquarters is very special. Even though Cao Yanhua is the deputy minister, he has no authority to give orders and can only communicate through discussion.

"Let's continue talking about Li Hui."

After the staff member who reported on the ghost painting incident in Dahai City left, Cao Yanhua spoke to the staff member who had been standing to the side in the office from the beginning.

Finding Elder Qin won't make a difference in a few minutes. Besides, the 'Li Hui' mentioned by the staff is in Dahai City. He even punched Ye Zhen away before, so he's very strong. If we can recruit him into headquarters now, it will undoubtedly increase our strength a lot. Maybe in the end we won't have to bother Elder Qin.

With two top-tier ghost controllers working together, plus the assistance of other members of the paranormal forum, there's a high probability they can handle the ghost painting incident.

Of course, Cao Yanhua didn't expect to be able to completely imprison the ghost painting. As long as he could prevent it from causing supernatural events within China and wandering abroad again, then he would consider it a success.

“Minister, we can’t find any history with that Li Hui. It’s like he just appeared out of thin air. The earliest record we can trace back to is the fight between him and Ye Zhen in Dahai City.”

“I checked the surveillance footage of that street. Li Hui got off a bus, along with another vengeful ghost. Shortly after Ye Zhen defeated the vengeful ghost, he started fighting with Li Hui.”

"The strangest thing is that the bus suddenly and mysteriously disappeared the moment Li Hui and the ghost got off the bus."

"Then I checked the surveillance footage along the route and found that the bus came from the suburbs of Dahai City and that the bus's original route was the suburbs. It appeared out of nowhere, and there was only surveillance footage from the suburbs."

"..."

The staff member quickly reported, recounting all the information they had previously gathered.

"A person with no trace of their past life, a bus that appears out of nowhere and then disappears just as suddenly, and there are other vengeful ghosts on the bus..."

Cao Yanhua, standing to the side, fell into deep thought after listening to the staff's report.

After a long pause, Cao Yanhua finally spoke, "Since Li Hui registered his identity with the help of the paranormal forum, is there any record of him buying a mobile phone or other communication devices?"

“There is a record. His ID card does have a joint phone card under his name. I checked it and it is in an activated but unused state with no communication records.”

"Give me the number."

"Okay, 199..."

The staff read the number aloud.

Cao Yanhua picked up the landline phone on the table, started entering a number, and prepared to dial it.

Normally, making phone calls is the job of the switchboard department, but considering that Li Hui is different from ordinary ghost controllers and is no 'weaker' than Ye Zhen, Cao Yanhua felt that it would be more sincere for the deputy minister to personally invite him.

Moreover, inviting such top-tier ghost tamers usually involves offering some benefits. For example, the one in Da Dong City, the headquarters offered a pre-selected captain's position in order to invite him.

Once the Captain's Plan is officially implemented, each captain's power and status will be above his, the vice minister's. Even he can only cooperate with the captains in carrying out their work and has no right to give orders to them.

the most important is.

The only 'price' Wang Chaling needed to pay was to join the headquarters.

Of course, the one from Da Dong City is an exception. The other designated captains, in addition to their own outstanding abilities, also have made significant contributions.

Therefore, to avoid Zhao Jianguo being unable to make a decision after making the call and having to consult him afterwards, Cao Yanhua felt it would be better to take the matter directly and make the call himself.

"Beep, beep, beep..."

soon.

The call went through.

The beeping sound indicated that the phone had started ringing.

"Hello, the number you dialed is currently busy. Please try again later..."

However, just as Cao Yanhua had prepared his speech, the phone went dead, indicating that the other party had not chosen to answer and had hung up directly.

"Could it be that Li Hui is also caught up in the ghost painting incident and is unable to answer the phone?"

Seeing this, Cao Yanhua hesitated for a moment, then put down the phone instead of dialing again, intending to check the situation in Dahai City and have the staff investigate before making a decision.

Cao Yanhua then got up, told the staff to go and do their work, and left the office, heading in another direction from the Ghost Tamer headquarters.

Think about it for a long time.

Cao Yanhua still felt a little uneasy and planned to greet Old Qin first and ask for his opinion.

After all, there are specialties in the art industry.

Only those with supernatural abilities truly understand the affairs of the paranormal world.

.........

at the same time.

Dahai City.

Deep within the ghost painting.

This is a gray, gloomy world.

Everything in reality seemed to be assimilated after coming into contact with this gray, illusory world, becoming dull and lifeless, and becoming part of the ghost realm.

In this ghostly realm, ash-like objects kept falling, like the residue left after burning textbooks, or the ashes left after burning paintings.

At this moment, Ye Zhen was in this ghostly realm, lying on the ground of an abandoned street, his body stiff and cold, without any characteristics of a living person, just like a corpse.

Beside him was a long sword that had been broken into several pieces.

Not far from Ye Zhen's corpse, three other figures lay on the ground, their bodies covered in cracks, dense and numerous, with some parts dented inwards, as if they had been subjected to a heavy hammer blow.

As time went by, the cracks on the figure gradually disappeared, and the body returned to its original state, but very slowly. Even as the cracks slowly disappeared, thick, black blood continued to flow out.

They were all vengeful ghosts who had been wandering this street, each with their own rules of conduct. But in the end, Ye Zhen found them all and they were attacked by the death curse on Ye Zhen's body, causing their supernatural powers to fall into silence.

Then the source of the ghost drawing appeared, passing by this place.

Ye Zhen immediately swung his sword forward, but the final result was obvious. The originally exquisite longsword broke into several pieces, and Ye Zhen was also attacked and killed, lying dead on the street.

But Ye Zhen was controlling a scapegoat.

The so-called 'death' was merely a state of being for him.

next moment.

The supernatural appearance of the scapegoat caused Ye Zhen's corpse to be enveloped in a chilling aura, dissipating the original deathly energy, and Ye Zhen 'came back to life'.

"The female ghost has left?"

Ye Zhen opened his eyes and looked around. The environment hadn't changed, but the figure who had killed him earlier was gone.

It was a woman dressed in a bright red dress, as vivid as blood, which stood out conspicuously in this gray, ghostly world.

However, Ye Zhen was unable to see the woman's face clearly at the time. Her features remained blurry, as if seen through a thick fog. The only thing he could make out was the woman's hands, which were white and cold.

What impressed Ye Zhen the most was that the woman's palm was pierced by a golden candlestick, but no blood flowed from the wound, which seemed very strange.

On the other side of the golden candlestick was a white candle emitting a faint green glow, exuding a strong eerie atmosphere...

"No wonder she's been able to run rampant overseas for so long without being imprisoned. That female ghost does have some strength, but it's not enough. After this battle, I, Ye, have found the path forward. Next time we meet, I will definitely kill you!"

Having experienced this defeat, Ye Zhen's confidence in imprisoning the ghost painting has only grown stronger. He has found a way forward and is confident that as long as he has some time, the so-called ghost painting incident can be easily resolved.

However, what Ye Zhen didn't know was...

The murder pattern of the ghost painting is related to memories. Once someone has seen the ghost painting, the image of the woman in the painting will inevitably appear in their mind.

Ye Zhen had just thoroughly reviewed the entire process of his battle with Guihua.

obviously.

The vengeful ghost's killing pattern has been triggered!
The ghost painting that had supposedly left reappeared, and there was even more paper ash floating around. A series of crisp footsteps sounded, and a red figure began to approach.

Three minutes later.

The ghost painting left again.

Only Ye Zhen's cold, stiff corpse remained on the spot.

.........

Happy Dragon Boat Festival everyone! Personally, I had a pretty tough time, spending the holiday in the hospital, typing by voice while on an IV drip. I had to correct typos and punctuation errors with my other hand, which was incredibly slow and inefficient.

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(End of this chapter)