We were supposed to be doing horror movie guides, but what the heck is this "mysterious resurre

Chapter 168 Taiping Ancient Town! News from the King's Organization (5.4k)

Zhongzhou City.

A suburb far from the city center.

This is a quiet town with a rich historical atmosphere, unlike some later-renovated tourist attractions that have ruined the original charm.

The town features blue bricks and gray tiles, stone-paved roads, and colorful lights hanging from the houses, giving it a quaint and antique feel.

This is a popular tourist destination in Zhongzhou City, and even outside of holidays, it attracts many visitors.

There used to be a stone archway in the town. Due to the wind and sun, the archway has weathered and worn out. It is black and old, with many defects. Only the four characters "Taiping Ancient Town" can be vaguely seen on it.

People with poor eyesight might mistake "Taiping Ancient Town" for "Shikou Town" at first glance.

According to conventional thinking, the probability of paranormal events occurring in places that appear to be more lively and bustling with people is relatively small.

However, using this kind of thinking to judge whether paranormal events will occur is inaccurate.

Take, for example, Dachang No. 7 Middle School, where the knocking ghost incident occurred before. Before the incident, it was just a normal high school, and no one would have thought that an A-level paranormal event would occur there.

The same is true of Taiping Ancient Town, which hides many secrets. Exploring along the streams deep in the supernatural can even lead to the source of the S-level ghost lake incident.

Wang Sheng is a ghost tamer at headquarters. After hearing about several mysterious deaths and disappearances, he came here to investigate.

As soon as he stepped onto the street of the ancient town, he saw a little girl with pigtails skipping and hopping towards him.

What's particularly eye-catching is the mask she's holding.

The mask looks like a common toy found at tourist attractions, probably bought from a nearby stall. However, unlike the masks of Pleasant Goat and Big Big Wolf or Ultraman, the mask the little girl is holding is very peculiar, even bizarre.

The mask seemed to have a human face printed on it. The face appeared to be laughing, but the degree of distortion of the facial features was unbelievable and exaggerated.

Wearing such a mask would probably scare other children to tears.

Wang Sheng, relying on his intuition as a ghost tamer, vaguely sensed that something was amiss.

So he stepped forward and blocked the little girl's path, trying to put on a friendly smile, and asked, "Little beauty, where did you buy this mask?"

Wang Sheng was not handsome, and because he controlled a vengeful ghost, his face was abnormally pale. His smile appeared not only unfriendly to others, but also stiff and terrifying.

The little girl with pigtails immediately showed a terrified expression, holding the mask and looking somewhat helpless.

The middle-aged man, exuding a chilling aura, revealed a terrifying smile upon seeing her and even used the strange term "little beauty"...
Tears welled up in the little girl's eyes. She was terrified, but she still mustered her courage and pointed in a certain direction, saying, "I... I bought it on that street..."

"Which street? Could you be more specific?"

"It's that one... After crossing the bridge, turn right and you'll see it."

As the two were talking, Wang Sheng suddenly felt that the light in front of him had dimmed a bit.

Suddenly, a figure enveloped him and the little girl.

Someone stood behind Wang Sheng.

"Ok?"

He turned around and saw a man rubbing his hands together, looking furious. The man was burly and strong, with tattoos on his exposed arms.

He looks like the kind of gangster boss who's involved in organized crime.

"Are you tired of living? What are you going to do to my girl?"

The man rubbed his fists together, his fists, as big as sandbags, seemed ready to land on Wang Sheng's face at any moment.

Taiping Ancient Town is a tourist area, and a five or six-year-old girl would certainly not come alone. Her parents were not far away, and seeing Wang Sheng's scheming look, they immediately came over.

Compared to his imposing physique, Wang Sheng appeared thin and pitiful.

As a ghost tamer, killing this man was just a matter of a thought for Wang Sheng.

But he is clearly not the kind of person who would casually lay a hand on ordinary people.

Moreover, Wang Sheng knew that he was in the wrong first, so he had no choice but to leave dejectedly amidst the disdainful gazes of others.

He doesn't care what others think of him, at least he's found out where he is.

······
Soon, Wang Sheng walked in the direction the little girl pointed.

Halfway down the street, a stone bridge appeared.

The stone bridge looks very old, at least a hundred years old. It must have been built here when the ancient town was first established. The only modern thing is the railings on both sides of the bridge, which are made of stainless steel, probably to prevent children from accidentally falling off the bridge.

Walking on the stone bridge, you can hear the gurgling sound of water flowing below.

A chilling aura wafted from the stream, sending a bone-chilling cold through one's body.

After crossing the stone bridge, I looked to the right and sure enough, I saw a street.

Wang Sheng had a very bad feeling about this street, even stronger than when he saw the mask earlier. He could even feel the evil spirit within him stirring slightly.

On the other side are many old residential buildings. Although there are not as many people as at the tourist attractions in front, there are still some pedestrians passing by, and some people set up stalls to do business.

But the street to the right of the stone bridge was completely deserted when viewed from the outside; the eerie silence exuded a strange and unsettling atmosphere.

"Should we go in and take a look? Or should we just take a picture to document it and report to headquarters first?"

Wang Sheng was somewhat conflicted.

He always felt that he was close to some truth.

However, approaching rashly could lead to danger.

"Never mind, let's go in and take a look. We're already here."

"If this matter can be resolved smoothly, I'll use the salary from headquarters to buy my parents a big house in the city, so they can finally have some peace of mind for a while..."

As Wang Sheng thought this, he walked into the street to the right of the stone bridge.

The moment I stepped into the street, something strange happened. All sorts of men and women appeared on this old street with a sense of history, wearing all kinds of clothes, some from modern times and some from the 1970s and 80s.

These people appeared out of thin air, without any warning, on the ancient street.

Wang Sheng's heart sank, and he knew something was wrong.

According to his judgment, this place is very likely a haunted place.

He felt a vague sense of regret.

Eager to make a name for himself and wanting to resolve this paranormal incident as soon as possible so he could buy his parents a house for their retirement, he ended up doing something that wasn't exactly wise.

However, it was too late to regret it now. Wang Sheng encouraged himself in his heart: "Even if it is a supernatural place, it may not be too dangerous. Moreover, even that little girl was able to leave this place and take a mask. As a ghost tamer, there is no reason why I cannot get out."

With this in mind, Wang Sheng felt a little more at ease and began to observe his surroundings.

On both sides of the old street are rows of neat shops with no fancy signs and simple decorations. In addition to these formally operated shops, there are also some roadside stalls.

"No particular danger has been found yet, but it's quite normal for an ordinary person to get lost inside... I'll record the situation here, then have headquarters create a file, seal off Taiping Ancient Town, and this paranormal event will be resolved."

Just then, a roadside stall caught Wang Sheng's attention.

This is a stall selling masks.

The stall displayed all kinds of masks, most of which were Peking Opera masks. The smiling mask that the little girl was holding earlier was bought from here.

Wang Sheng didn't know much about Peking Opera masks, but he could tell that these masks were not made with great care and were rather haphazardly made; they were just crudely made toys.

There was no stall owner behind the stall; it seemed they had left early for some reason.

"Taking a mask with you means you can take something from this haunted place, and the price offered by headquarters might be even higher..."

These masks appear to be supernatural artifacts and are highly unusual.

Normally, Wang Sheng would never have even considered taking one.

But that little girl is a good example; she took the mask and nothing happened to her.

So after a moment's hesitation, Wang Sheng also chose a mask that looked like it was in a rage.

After picking up the mask, Wang Sheng turned to leave.

But behind the empty stall, a hoarse, aged voice could be heard.

"Young man... masks are three yuan each, three yuan each, not expensive, buy one..."

"If you want to take this, just give me three yuan... I'll buy one."

It was a very ordinary hawking, but the old voice deliberately prolonged the last syllable of each sentence, making it sound quite frightening.

Especially in Wang Sheng's eyes, there was clearly nothing behind the stall, so where did the sound come from?

He mustered his courage and said, "Three yuan? That's not expensive. Let's agree on this first: once I give you the money, you have to let me leave." Although the mask in his hand wasn't of very good quality, in most tourist areas, even ordinary items are sold for a high price.

Looking at it this way, Sanyuan's price is already very reasonable.

Wang Sheng reached into his pocket and pulled out only a hundred-yuan bill.

He sighed inwardly, never expecting that even ghosts needed money. He threw the hundred-yuan bill on the table, turned around, and left.

"Keep the change, the rest is your tip."

The entity, which appeared to be a vengeful ghost, would only repeat the same sentence monotonously, "Three yuan each... Three yuan each... It's not expensive, buy one." But after Wang Sheng threw over a hundred-yuan bill, the voice on the other end stopped abruptly.

Snapped! ! !
It sounded like the sound of someone slamming their hand on a table.

For some reason, the sound of slamming the table seemed to convey a strong sense of anger.

Wang Sheng hadn't paid any attention at first, but then he felt a strange chill creep up his back.

He's been targeted by a ghost.

Wang Sheng's life force dissipated at an alarming rate. Before he could even see the ghost, the vengeful spirit attacked and killed him without any doubt.

His lips moved as if he wanted to say something, but he could no longer utter a word.

Boom!
A cold corpse lay on the ground.

···········
"You mean, several ordinary people went missing in Taiping Ancient Town, Zhongzhou City, and then the Ghost Tamer Wang Sheng was sent to investigate. After he returned with some information, Wang Sheng also disappeared completely?"

"That's about it."

On the other end of the phone, Cao Yanhua sounded very tired.

If it's just a regular missing persons case, then it's not difficult to handle.

But now that one of the headquarters' demon tamers has been killed in the incident, this cannot be explained by a simple missing persons case.

This is a paranormal event.

Furthermore, based on the intelligence Wang Sheng relayed back to headquarters, it can be inferred that there is even a strange and supernatural place in Taiping Ancient Town, Zhongzhou City.

"It's not surprising that Wang Sheng died in Taiping Ancient Town. The mask vendors wanted ghost money, and he gave them real currency, which was no different from giving them counterfeit money. Unfortunately, he didn't have the power to do so, so he was naturally killed."

Lu Ming thought for a moment and then said, "Wang Sheng sacrificed himself while handling a paranormal event. You should take care of his family. I don't need to teach you these things."

"President Lu, Wang Sheng's family has been taken care of. At least we can guarantee that they will be well-fed and clothed for the rest of their lives."

"Well, as for Taiping Ancient Town in Zhongzhou City that you mentioned, as far as I know, there is indeed a haunted place here... Moreover, it is related to the S-level haunted event Ghost Lake, and it is not something that ordinary ghost tamers can handle."

Cao Yanhua, on the other end of the phone, was startled upon hearing this.

The Ghost Lake incident is documented in the headquarters' top-secret files.

There are only a few records, and all that is known is that this place is extremely dangerous, and for ordinary ghost tamers, going there basically means never returning.

However, headquarters did not have any information about the source of the Ghost Lake's supernatural phenomena.

Unexpectedly, it is related to Taiping Ancient Town.

Cao Yanhua was surprised by the information Lu Ming had learned, but he did not doubt it at all; on the contrary, he believed it completely.

Just as he was about to speak, Lu Ming added, "I will be going to Taiping Ancient Town during this period to investigate some things. The supernatural phenomena there should be relatively stable. If there is no trend of spreading, I do not recommend that you take any rash actions, as they may not only be ineffective but also cause harm."

Hearing Lu Ming say this, Cao Yanhua was even more surprised.

You should know that no one at headquarters can order Lu Ming to do anything.

After much deliberation, Cao Yanhua called Lu Ming simply to ask for his opinion.

I never expected him to suggest going to Taiping Ancient Town...

Cao Yanhua thought of the ghost painting incident that headquarters had recently found extremely troublesome, which was also resolved by Lu Ming, and couldn't help but sigh inwardly.

"Many people in the paranormal community say that Lu Ming, the ghost groom, is a troublemaker. Not only does he not join any organization, but he even held a meeting at headquarters and invaded the headquarters when the captains from all sides gathered."

"What they don't know is that Lu Ming is fundamentally different from those troublemakers. Those people simply enjoy going against headquarters, but Lu Ming has his own opinions..."

In fact, Lu Ming's decision to visit Taiping Ancient Town after some time was not to help headquarters deal with paranormal events.

He was simply interested in that place.

Red, supernatural items are almost always related to ghost brides.

Therefore, Lu Ming guessed that having a ghost opera troupe perform at the wedding on the wedding day would further enhance the terror after perfectly controlling the ghost bride.

The ghost stage in Taiping Ancient Town is most likely one of the pieces of the puzzle for ghost opera troupes.

"I will not go to the waters of Ghost Lake for the time being. Taiping Ancient Town is not dangerous to me. It would be better if I could gain something from the trip, but if I don't gain anything, it's not a big deal."

Besides the ghost stage, there are many shops selling supernatural items in the ancient town, such as coffin shops, paper craft shops, and mask stalls, all of which interest Lu Ming.

Especially that coffin shop, which has different kinds of coffins.

Although Lu Ming felt that the coffin he needed for his funeral was more likely to be a ghost coffin, he figured that buying a few coffins might come in handy sometime.

If I really can't use it myself, I can just give it to ghost tamers like Zhang Han. The red coffin can suppress the resurgence of the vengeful ghosts within the ghost tamer.

Anyway, as long as you have ghost money, you can buy any supernatural item you want.

"Minister Cao, before I go to Taiping Ancient Town, please send me some substitute dolls and ghost candles, as well as the ghost money collected by headquarters. Send me as much as you can."

"Ghost money?"

Cao Yanhua was momentarily stunned.

"You mean those paper money that's been tainted by ghosts?"

"Yes, it's useless to you anyway, so you might as well give it to me."

If Lu Ming remembered correctly, the headquarters had a total of more than fifty ghost coins. These ghost coins were obtained by chance by the heads of various places when they were dealing with paranormal events.

However, they didn't know the proper way to use this ghost money, so they handed it over to headquarters.

Fifty-odd yuan is already quite a sum.

But Lu Ming did not intend to use this ill-gotten money to buy coffins from the coffin shop.

Lu Ming has always been a ghost tamer who respects the elderly. He keeps in mind the teachings of one of the Seven Elders of the Republic of China, the old man who runs a traditional Chinese medicine shop.

"You don't necessarily need money to buy things on Ghost Street."

If someone asks, how can I buy things without money?
The answer is simple: just grab it.

Anyway, the price set by the coffin shop owner was inflated. In Lu Ming's previous world, he would have been considered a heartless merchant. Lu Ming felt no guilt at all for robbing him.

As for the remaining shops...

The entire bill was paid by the coffin shop owner.

"Alright, Minister Cao, you said there were two strange things happening at headquarters recently. Now that you've covered the first one, what's the second strange thing?"

Cao Yanhua paused for a moment, as if organizing his thoughts: "Another matter is even more serious. After you reminded me, President Lu, that there might be moles within China or even headquarters, I organized several purges and indeed uncovered several suspicious individuals."

"Some time ago, one of my subordinates reported discovering another suspicious Ghost Master, but every single one of the people in charge of the investigation has mysteriously disappeared... without a trace. If I'm not mistaken, the mole still remaining at headquarters has their backer have entered China, and this so-called backer is an extremely powerful Ghost Master..."

"Oh?"

Lu Ming raised an eyebrow, clearly somewhat surprised.

At this point, Cao Yanhua was basically certain that it was the King's organization that was causing trouble.

The person who was able to kill several Ghost Masters at headquarters silently was most likely a king.

"The real battle hasn't even started yet, and they're already so eager to infiltrate?"

"However... it's not hard to understand."

"The king's real purpose was most likely not to assassinate the Ghost Master at headquarters; his purpose was probably just to gather intelligence."

"It was only under my influence that the headquarters pushed for changes at the top level, and many suspicious people were brought down, which forced the king to take action to eliminate the Ghost Master who was close to the truth."

“That’s perfect. Those people in the King’s organization will all die sooner or later. If we take one down today, we’ll have one less to deal with in the future.”

Lu Ming remained silent for a while before asking Cao Yanhua, "Do you have any specific information about that ghost tamer?"

"There is very little information, practically none. The only certainty is that the ghost tamer's supernatural abilities are related to the piano... perhaps we could call him a pianist."

　Asking for monthly ticket
　　
　
(End of this chapter)