I have a ghost diary

"By the way, do you have any combat capabilities? I don't need you to go to the battlefield, just to protect yourself. If you can also protect the ordinary people in the company, that would be even better."

Zhou Wenshan burst out laughing. "You're really not being polite, asking me to do two jobs right off the bat."

"I can protect myself, and I don't mind protecting my colleagues as well, but I want double pay."

"No problem," Chu Jiang replied readily, as if a pillow had come to his door.

"That's settled then. I expect to arrive in Luohe City tonight."

After hanging up the phone, Chu Jiang felt relatively relaxed, which allowed him to focus on his own affairs for the time being.

Next, Chu Jiang planned to visit the Lin Clan Ancestral Hall and, while he was there, have most of the monitoring personnel at the research institute disbanded, leaving only one or two people to remain on-site.

Anyway, the old man is still holding on, and he has even gone so far as to completely conceal the supernatural aspects of the ancestral hall.

In this way, even if other ghost masters sneak into this place, they will not be able to detect anything unusual.

......

When Chu Jiang returned to the entrance of Tianfeng Building after visiting the ancestral hall, a writhing pit suddenly appeared on the ground, even pushing open the tiles, as if something eerie was about to emerge from underground...

Chu Jiang frowned slightly. He could sense that there was a person below the pit, and he had seen this kind of supernatural power before.

Soon, a disheveled man covered in wounds crawled out of the pit. He was wearing a black top hat, a white shirt, and had dark circles under his eyes. His overall expression was somewhat sinister.

The man was seriously injured, with bloody wounds all over his body, as if he had been cut by a sharp blade. The blood not only stained his body but also the soil in the pit.

Seeing Chu Jiang staring at him coldly, the man gritted his teeth and knelt down in front of him. "Captain Chu, please save me. I'm being hunted down by people from Chengyi Company."

At the same time, he took off his top hat and placed it in front of Chu Jiang, saying, "This is my spoils of war. I remember Captain Chu was somewhat interested in it. I hope you will accept it."

Yes, the two had met before, at the Xu family's villa.

Initially, Chengyi Company sent an ordinary person and two ghost masters to "treat" Xu Yanting.

However, they were tactless and provoked Chu Jiang, who eventually swindled them out of a sum of money and kicked them out.

The sinister man in front of him had left a deep impression on Chu Jiang back then.

He was the most rebellious one, and also the one who provoked Chu Jiang the most.

However, after learning that Chu Jiang was the person in charge of Luohe City, he was the most timid one and the one who admitted his mistake the most readily, unlike the other man in the tall hat who was so pretentious.

Chu Jiang realized that this guy wasn't as reckless as he seemed; he was just doing what he was supposed to do based on his own role.

Such a person must have learned a great deal from society to be able to be so resolute.

As for how the other party was able to escape here, it's probably related to the fact that Research Institute No. 21 lifted the control order on Luohe City these past few days. But this guy is probably the first Ghost Master to dare to enter this place since the order was lifted.

PS: I'm experiencing writer's block, so I'll be posting two chapters a day. This will mostly be the pattern from now on. Posting three chapters in a row means three updates, and posting two chapters in a row means two updates.

Chapter 222 The Road of Defection

"Restore the ground to its original state." Chu Jiang looked down at the other party.

The man was stunned for a moment. In his mind, he had imagined countless ways Chu Jiang would respond. He even guessed that he might be mercilessly eliminated by the other party, but he never expected the other party to answer like this.

Once Chu Jiang bypassed him and headed towards the building, the man hurriedly used his supernatural powers to smooth out the hole and then tried his best to piece the broken tiles back together.

When the man managed to piece things together and turned around to chase after Chu Jiang, he found himself suddenly in a desolate city ruin.

Chu Jiang sat on a chair not far away, still scrutinizing him from above.

"I'm giving you a chance to explain. If your answer doesn't satisfy me, then I don't need to explain what will happen to you, do I?"

The sinister man nodded repeatedly. Although he was badly injured, he was not yet on the verge of death. In fact, he felt relieved after entering Chu Jiang's ghost realm.

In this way, unless someone from Chengyi Company forcibly breaks into Chujiang's ghost realm, he will be safe for the time being.

As he tore off some of his clothes to bandage several serious wounds, he explained to Chu Jiang, "My name is Duan Ming'en. My colleagues gave me a nickname: 'Short-lived En'."

"It means that I'm a person who fights like a mad dog, and I don't look like I'll live long."

“But many times I have no choice. If I don’t act tough, they will think I’m weak and easy to bully, and they will take advantage of me even more.”

Chu Jiang remained silent, only looking at the other person with indifferent eyes.

"I was just an ordinary person working in the catering industry, but I became a ghost master because of an accident."

"When I discovered that I possessed power far beyond that of ordinary people, my joy was beyond words. I thought of myself as the chosen one, the protagonist in a movie, and even as unique, destined to rise above all others in the future."

"Although the demon inside me has caused me a lot of pain, I am still generally in an optimistic mood."

"But not long after that, I accidentally came into contact with the paranormal world and found out that I was just a low-level ghost master, not some unique superpowered person."

"Although I was deeply disappointed, I still decided to rely on this strength to change my destiny, and so I joined Chengyi Company..."

When Duan Ming'en said this, his already unpleasant expression became even more gloomy.

"This is the worst decision I've ever made in my life!"

"I originally thought that joining a large ghost master organization would be a good path to advancement. And the person who introduced me to this company also made it sound amazing."

“But when I first went to the branch office, I was given a hard time by their 'ghost master.' The first lesson they taught me was what ‘rules’ meant.” Duan Ming’en clenched his fist.

"Of course there are people who refuse to follow their rules. I saw a novice ghost master being tortured to death by them, and even the ghost inside him was extracted and sealed into a jar."

"In order to survive, I had no choice but to endure it and accept the tasks they assigned me."

"The most ruthless thing about Chengyi Company is not that it exploits new Ghost Masters like us; it is that while it is exploiting us, it also gives us a path to advancement."

"If you survive after completing a certain number of tasks, you will be promoted in the company."

"There are many benefits to leveling up. Not only can you get more supernatural resources, but you can also refuse some overly difficult tasks. You can also get rewards for recruiting new ghost masters into the company."

"Most importantly, I can also assign my tasks to people at a lower level than me."

"In other words, as long as we can rise through the ranks, we are essentially transformed from the exploited into the exploiters."

"However, the attrition rate, or rather the mortality rate, is extremely high in this process. After all, the more a Ghost Master uses his power, the faster he dies."

"In short, Chengyi Company is a purgatory and a melting pot. Those who eventually rise to middle management or even senior management are all ruthless individuals."

"It was only after joining this company that I truly understood myself. From then on, in order to survive and to get revenge on these bastards, I did my best, and I've been promoted twice since then."

"If nothing unexpected happens, I will probably continue to stay at Chengyi Company."

"After all, leaving a company comes at a price. I've seen many people try to do it, but in the end, most of them end up dead."

"But man proposes, God disposes. Just yesterday, I inadvertently offended a senior executive in the company."

"It was actually a very small matter. I even suspected that someone had framed me. At the time, the executive just smiled and said it was nothing."

"But this morning, a ghost master whose life I once saved secretly sent me a message. That high-ranking official got angrier and angrier after he got back and is now preparing to take action against me."

"I had no choice but to grit my teeth and make a decision: to come to Luohe City and seek refuge with Captain Chu."

"But if I come directly here, Captain Chu probably won't even give me a second glance, and might even kill me on the way."

"So I took a risk, killed my direct superior, and stole the precious sealed artifact that the company had temporarily entrusted to him."

“That guy wasn’t a good person. I’m sure you remember what he did at the villa. Also, I remember you were quite interested in the hat he was wearing back then.”

"Moreover, this can be considered a pledge of loyalty. First, I defected; second, I killed my superior; and third, I plundered the company's important assets. So no matter what, Chengyi Company will not let me go."

After listening, Chu Jiang simply clapped his hands and said, "It's a good story, but I have a few questions."

"First of all, didn't you people who got caught up in Chengyi Company ever think of asking Research Institute No. 21 for help from the very beginning? It's an official institution, after all."

Duan Ming'en chuckled self-deprecatingly, "First of all, Cheng Yi Company never gave us a chance to ask for help in the first place."

"As time went by, we became the beneficiaries and naturally stopped asking outsiders for help."

"Secondly, the research institute itself tacitly approved the existence of Chengyi Company, and even tacitly approved their [competitive mechanism]."

"Who are we? We are folk ghost masters, a destabilizing force. In a sense, the research institute would love for more ghost masters to die than to join them."

"Everything is for the sake of overall stability. The Ghost Hunters are far more notorious than the Sincerity Company, and the reason they have survived until now is partly due to this."

"The existence of Chengyi Company is much better than the Ghost Hunter Association. At least Chengyi Company follows the rules, and they also solve paranormal cases, they're just doing it for money."

"This objectively alleviates some of the pressure on the research institute, which is one of the reasons why many folk ghost master organizations exist."

Chapter 223 The Earth-Drilling Ghost

Chu Jiang nodded slightly. "Secondly, why did you choose to come and rely on me after leaving Chengyi Company?"

"You think that research institutes or other organizations won't accept you, right?"

"If that's the case, why do you think I would accept you?"

Duan Ming'en had almost finished bandaging himself up; at least the bleeding from the major wounds had stopped.

"There are many reasons. In fact, when I was at Chengyi Company, I had already thought about my way out."

"Either prove your worth to Research Institute No. 21 and find a way to rejoin the institute as quickly as possible after leaving."

"I'll either contact other ghost master organizations and find out if someone is willing to take me in before I leave Chengyi Company."

"But this time, it came too suddenly and caught me off guard."

"Chengyi Company's branch in this province is located in Luozhou City."

"I had already established a good relationship with Fang Tianci, the former head of Luozhou City, and I hoped to join the research institute through his channels."

"But what I never expected was that Fang Tianci seems to have run into trouble recently. Luozhou City has a new person in charge, and I don't know the new guy at all."

“If I go to the new person in charge for help, and Chengyi Company comes knocking on my door, I’m not sure he will protect me.”

"After all, Captain Chu, you know that the person in charge actually has a lot of power. Moreover, the interests of the person in charge are not always aligned with the interests of the research institute headquarters."

"As for the other Ghost Master organization I want to join, their territory is in Yuetian City, and I can't escape there in a short time, so I can only come here to you."

"Besides, aren't you also a member of Research Institute No. 21? Actually, rather than joining the institute directly, I would prefer to work for you personally. I believe that even if the institute ceases to exist in the future, you will still exist."

Chu Jiang waved his hand, "Stop flattering me. You still haven't said how confident you are that I will accept you."

Duan Ming'en coughed. "Actually, I'm not very confident. I'd say it's fifty-fifty. After all, I don't have many choices. I'm going to die either way, so I might as well take a gamble."

"Besides bringing you a gift that you might be interested in, I also have some new information for you: the company already knows that you killed Zheng Chengren."