I have a ghost diary

Although Chu Jiang had never met the former person in charge, he was able to sketch out their image in his mind through his initial communication with Luo Yifeng, Lin Yun, and Chen Ke'er.

Although he looks fierce, he is a very kind person, loyal, and has a strong sense of justice. He takes the initiative to solve paranormal problems and cares for those around him.

Moreover, Wang Lei was not a complete brute; he had his own ideas and thoughts. For example, after discovering the unusual nature of the Lin Clan Ancestral Hall, Wang Lei did not choose to report it immediately, but like Chu Jiang, he prioritized investigating the situation himself.

Seeing that Chu Jiang didn't answer for a moment and was just staring at him, the stone statue smiled self-deprecatingly, "That's right, you don't even know if I'm a human or a ghost, so naturally you're not in the mood to talk to me about these things."

Its speech became much more fluent.

"You ask, and I'll answer your questions first. I want to establish a basic relationship of trust with you."

After speaking, the stone statue looked at the limbs on Chu Jiang's body that had changed, and said with some hesitation, "You are very special. After you showed this power, even the river god was wary of you. I could feel its restlessness."

Chu Jiang thought for a moment, then simply asked, "Are you a human or a ghost now?"

"It must be a ghost, since I don't even have a body anymore. But my situation is special. My consciousness, or rather my soul, is entangled with the ghost and was taken back to the Snail River by the ghost, where it is now attached to this statue."

"Back?" Chu Jiang keenly noticed this choice of words.

"Yes, I believe you have seen my file. When I was the person in charge of Luohe City, I was riding a water ghost."

"To be honest, it's quite powerful. Even the research institute didn't realize that the water ghost inside me is very special."

"And I myself consider this a trump card."

"When dealing with paranormal events, I rarely use my full strength; partly because it's unnecessary, and partly because I want to keep my abilities to myself."

At this point, the stone statue sighed, "But I never imagined that this ghost would eventually become my death warrant."

“I had imagined dying from being consumed by the demons within me, but definitely not in this inhuman, inhuman way, being tortured until I die completely.”

"Now that I think about it, there's something wrong with me, a native northerner, coming all the way to Luohe City to be in charge."

"Unfortunately, when I officially became the person in charge, I didn't think that much about it. The research institute was desperately short of staff at the time, and they gave me a list to choose from."

"I subconsciously felt that this [Luohe City] was very interesting, and in the end I chose to come to this southern city to work."

"Looking back now, I think I was unconsciously influenced by the water ghost inside me, and it wanted to return to the waters where it originally lived."

"When I first came to Luohe City, things were fine, but after I had been in charge for half a year and used the power of that water ghost many times, it finally couldn't be suppressed anymore and began to revive."

"At the time, I was planning to find a day to go back to headquarters to transplant the second ghost, but everything happened too suddenly."

"Just a few days before I was about to book my plane ticket, my health suddenly deteriorated while I was sitting in the office researching information."

"No, to be precise, it was completely out of control. The water ghost broke free from my control. It not only left my body, but also took my consciousness with it."

"This manifested itself in the fact that Wang Lei suddenly died in his office."

"Moreover, this water ghost did not leave any trace at the scene, nor did it kill anyone; it simply instinctively returned to the Luo River."

"The most bizarre thing is that as soon as the water ghost returned to the Snail River, I immediately felt that it was many times more powerful. As for me, I found myself possessing the statue in the blink of an eye."

When Chu Jiang heard this, he interrupted the other person for the time being, "Wait, I must remind you that before Wang Lei died, several foreign ghost masters came to this mysterious cave."

"They came to investigate the river god belief and also discovered this stone statue. At that time, the stone statue already resembled Wang Lei."

The stone statue nodded with a very slight gesture. "The water ghost, or rather the river god, influenced me gradually and subtly."

"Before I died, it gradually completed the 'imprint' on me, making the stone statue resemble my image."

"And I vaguely remember those foreigners. After all, there are relatively few foreign tourists in Luohe City. I died a few days after meeting them."

"In fact, I still don't understand why the river god did this," the stone statue said, its tone revealing intense confusion.

"Does it want to be a supreme god? Then why drag me into this? Wouldn't it be better to just wipe my consciousness out completely...?"

Chapter 297 The Death of Nangao Village

Chu Jiang neither completely believed nor completely disbelieved what the stone statue Wang Lei said.

He simply asked, "What exactly is your current state? What have you experienced during the nearly six months you've been trapped inside the statue?"

The stone statue responded in a low voice: "In short: Wang Lei is the river god, and the river god is Wang Lei."

"In a way, we've become one..."

Although he wasn't quite sure how this strange situation had arisen, Chu Jiang still asked, "So, is it a human controlling a ghost, or a ghost controlling a human?"

"Neither. We're influencing each other. But the ghost has the upper hand, and I'm at a disadvantage. I estimate that in another six months, I'll be completely devoured, and then the ghost will be a ghost through and through."

"Half a year?" Chu Jiang found it hard to believe. They had already lost the battle, how could they hold out for so long?

"Yes, the most ridiculous thing is that the River God, that ghost, didn't want this outcome."

"If it had gone all out to devour me, I estimate it would have only taken a few seconds. I've only managed to survive until now because it's been trying its best to control its instincts."

"But here's the problem: even if the river god doesn't want it, because the two of us are so closely intertwined, the ghost will passively devour people. As a result, over time, I will still die."

Chu Jiang nodded. To be more precise, the description of the stone statue was that its ghostly nature devoured its human nature.

"Then let me tell you what happened after I was trapped inside the stone statue. When I first discovered this fact, I naturally struggled desperately to get out of here and escape."

"As a result..." The statue's face grew even more gloomy. "No matter how hard I struggled, I couldn't succeed. I even unintentionally killed all the villagers of Nangao Village, and the River God Temple was destroyed by the River God's power."

Chu Jiang's gaze sharpened. Sure enough... Nangao Village was already a dead village. But for some reason, during the day, it remained unchanged and could even communicate normally with tourists from the outside world.

Moreover, this aligns with what the temple keeper said: that night, roars, struggles, and shouts came from the river god temple, and the village's livestock became restless.

These things must have actually happened, but the old man only has memories of the period immediately following the events.

What follows is likely Wang Lei's frantic struggle, during which the power of the River God spreads and erupts from the temple, killing all living things in Nangao Village.

"In short, after I stopped, completely exhausted, I began to calm down and try to find a gentler way to control the power of this demon."

"I tried to sense the ghost's presence to pinpoint my exact location; but as soon as I extended my mental energy outward, I discovered the tragic state of Nangao Village."

"The original river god temple was completely destroyed. It was beyond description as just ruins; it looked as if it had been smashed and repeatedly crushed."

"What's worse is that although only the River God Temple was damaged and the rest of the village was unharmed, not even a single tree or blade of grass was damaged, all the living people in Nangao Village died."

"When I saw this, I was filled with utter despair. Why? Why did my struggle cause so many people to die??"

At this point, the statue's face showed pain.

"While feeling frustrated, I also hoped to do something to make amends. Was there any way to bring them back to life?"

"Although it was a bit far-fetched, I actually did it, trying to bring those dead villagers back to life."

"Incredibly, I actually succeeded, though only halfway."

"The reason I say half is because I cannot truly resurrect them. As for the specific procedures, we must start from the moment I discover that the river god actually retains the consciousness of these dead."

"As long as I put the consciousness of the dead back into their bodies and use supernatural powers to transform them into ghost servants, they will be as if they were still alive."

"What's even more unbelievable is that when I do this, I have an instinctive sense of familiarity, as if the River God has done something similar before..."

"In short, I brought Nangao Village back to life and made the villagers forget the memories they shouldn't have. They are like puppets in my hands, but they are conscious puppets. They continue to live on this land."

"I intend to let them experience birth, aging, illness, and death normally, giving them a chance to live out their remaining years, rather than letting them live like zombies forever."

When Chu Jiang heard this, he was both surprised and felt that the River God's bizarre methods were somewhat similar to the "control over life and death" power that Jing Ruoxue had mentioned.

Of course, the River God's power is no match for Chu Qi's. Chu Qi can truly bring the dead back to life, rather than turning the dead into ghost servants with the consciousness of living people.

"Then I started to hesitate about something: should I try to send some information to the research institute?"

"Although I am trapped inside the stone statue at the bottom of the river and cannot get out, since I am now the river god, I can naturally influence the villagers and make them do things for me without them even knowing what happened."

"But after thinking it over, I ultimately did not do it for two reasons."

"One reason is that I hope to contact the research institute after gaining control of the river god, which would give me more confidence."

"If the research institute cannot forgive me for accidentally killing so many people and turning them into ghost servants in an unconventional way, they may seal me away as a ghost."

"In this way, I will have the power to resist."

"Another point is that even if the research institute doesn't know what happened in Nangao Village, the new head of Luohe City will eventually investigate the village after my death, no matter what."

"After all, I only investigated a few paranormal events during my lifetime. Excluding other reasons, they can only be related to the belief in the river god."

"Since I won't take the initiative to contact them, I'll eventually have to make direct contact with the research institute, so let's just wait for that day to come."

When the stone statue got to this point, it sighed, "In order to prevent the news of the strange events in Nangao Village from spreading, I also had the villagers rebuild the River God Temple, and even made it more beautiful and bright, under the pretext that it was a donation from a wealthy family for renovation."

"Because if the old temple is copied exactly as it is, outsiders will immediately know there is a problem. How can there be such a new old temple? Saying it is a renovation will avoid so much trouble."

"After doing all this, I felt happy, but also uneasy and anxious... because I didn't know if what I did was right or wrong."

"The torment then began, seemingly related to my use of the river god's power. The ghost frantically tried to penetrate my consciousness; I felt like my head was about to split open, and my whole being was being multiplied into countless versions of myself. I was being driven insane!"

Chapter 298 The Ghost Once Called a God

The statue's tone carried a sense of hysterical madness, and at the same time, the entire grotto trembled slightly.

Chu Jiang became more vigilant upon seeing this.

However, the stone statue did not attack Chu Jiang. After catching its breath, it continued in a pained tone, "In the days to come, it will be a conflict between human reason and the instinct of the ghost."

"On the one hand, I maintained the original appearance of Nangao Village, trying my best to make this fake village not reveal any flaws."

"On the other hand, I am fighting against the demon inside me, trying to regain control of it."

"But trouble soon followed. I discovered that I couldn't completely control the villagers." The statue said this with a gloomy expression.

"This should be related to the fact that the instinct of the ghosts has taken over. After the villagers were resurrected, they have become de facto fanatics. They will spontaneously preach to outsiders and spread the belief in the river god."

“I cannot completely suppress their desires unless I mechanically force them to stop living consciously.”

“In fact, if I hadn’t deliberately suppressed them, they would have acted even more erratically. For example, if you talked about the river god’s sacrifice during the day and I didn’t pay any attention to it, the old man might have attacked you on the spot.”

Upon hearing this, Chu Jiang was deeply impressed. Wang Lei's manipulation was ingenious; he had managed to suppress the villagers' abnormal behavior within a relatively normal range.

No wonder that even after so long, no one has realized that something was wrong in Nangao Village.

"Another troublesome thing is that the power of the river god can affect tourists from outside, and even people in the entire Nan Yi Town, and even the area around San Shen Shan."

"This is the result of my deliberate suppression. Otherwise, I'm afraid that all the humans who come into contact with the Luohe River, from its source to its upper, middle and lower reaches, will begin to be interested in the river god to some extent, and eventually develop a real faith in it."

"I couldn't predict what would happen after that, so I could only desperately suppress this instinct."