I have a ghost diary

Chapter 109 Do you really understand ghosts?

When Chu Jiang entered the ward, the first person he looked at was naturally Xu Xiaoxiao's cousin.

In Chu Jiang's eyes, he was just a young man with hair combed like a bird's nest. He was passable in appearance, but his eyes were lifeless and he had dark circles under his eyes, making him look just like one of those unemployed hooligans on the street.

Compared to him, the younger men who were showing concern and care by his bedside seemed more like scions of well-to-do families.

Chu Jiang came in, glanced around, and said directly, "All irrelevant personnel, please leave. Xu Xiaoxiao can stay."

Hearing Chu Jiang's commanding tone, the group of underlings immediately became displeased. One of the young men, who was holding a bowl of porridge, coughed and said, "Young man, don't be so arrogant."

Unexpectedly, Xu Shengtian slapped him on the back of the head, "You're the one who doesn't know your place! This is a Taoist master from Longhu Mountain invited by my cousin, you all get out."

The young man was a little embarrassed. "Then I'll put the porridge here. Boss, you can drink it when it gets cold."

After his underlings slunk out in a line, Chu Jiang looked at Xu Xiaoxiao and asked, "When did I become a Celestial Master?"

Xu Xiaoxiao was also a little embarrassed. She coughed and said, "When I introduce you to my cousin, I should at least mention your identity, right? Are you some kind of mysterious person? A superpowered individual?"

"Call me the person in charge. From now on, this city is under my jurisdiction." Chu Jiang put his hands in his pockets and walked straight to the bedside.

These words made Xu Shengtian look at Chu Jiang more closely. "I say, Master, you are indeed a bit arrogant. No wonder my underlings don't respect you."

"Whether you have the ability or not, you'll find out later. Now, tell me about what happened to you."

As Chu Jiang spoke, he reached out his right hand and touched the back of Xu Shengtian's hand, then Xu Shengtian frowned slightly.

This guy... shows signs of being corrupted by supernatural forces.

When Xu Shengtian saw Chu Jiang touch him and then withdraw his hand, although he was a little puzzled, he trusted his cousin and told her everything that had happened the night before.

Seeing this, Xu Xiaoxiao also moved closer to Chu Jiang to listen. She had come early in the morning, but because she was scared, she didn't dare to listen to her cousin's detailed explanation. Now that Chu Jiang was there, she felt safer.

......

Xu Shengtian talked all the way until the man and the ghost started playing chess, then stopped to take a sip of water.

Chu Jiang became increasingly astonished as he listened, saying, "I have a few questions I'd like to ask."

"Are you sure that the ghost only stopped killing people after you said 'I can learn'?"

"Also, you only learned about Go after that ghost attacked you with its index finger."

Xu Shengtian was speechless. "I'm sure. Luckily, this ghost is relatively easy to talk to, and luckily I'm extremely smart and have strong adaptability, otherwise I would have been a corpse long ago."

Chu Jiang circled Xu Shengtian a few times, then suddenly pulled Xu Xiaoxiao's hand and stepped back.

Xu Xiaoxiao was a little confused. "What's wrong?"

“I suspect your cousin might not be human anymore, but a ghost.” Chu Jiang’s expression was serious, clearly not joking.

Xu Shengtian was stunned for a moment, then he looked up at the sky helplessly, his face full of grief, "I'm a human being, little sister, can you find someone more reliable to come over?"

Xu Xiaoxiao was also very nervous at this moment. She tugged at Chu Jiang's sleeve and said, "It shouldn't be like that. I'm quite close to my cousin. He's always like this."

"Besides, if he were a ghost, why would he ask me to send someone over?"

“You don’t know much about ghosts, so I can point out some suspicious points.” Chu Jiang remained vigilant.

"First of all, I have never seen a ghost that can communicate normally with humans. But according to Xiao Tian, ​​the ghost clearly understood him, and after Xiao Tian expressed his willingness to learn, it actually stopped killing people."

"Secondly, this is the first time I've ever heard of ghosts imparting knowledge to humans."

"You know, the instinct of ghosts is to kill, without exception. I can hardly imagine that there are ghosts that actively benefit people."

Chu Jiang's words were deliberately spoken to Xu Shengtian to see his reaction.

Xu Shengtian's reaction was quite normal. He was stunned at first, then shook his head repeatedly, "No, no, I almost died. How can you say that ghost was as harmless as you say?"

"Also, that ghost taught me to play chess. That's not called actively benefiting others, but actively benefiting oneself."

"What good is it for me to learn Go? I don't make a living from it. On the contrary, if I can't play Go, that ghost will have to find someone else to play with it."

"But here's the problem: in our Luohe City, out of ten thousand people, can we find even one person who knows how to play Go?"

"So this was a last resort for it. I guess it hadn't played chess in a long time and was having a chess addiction. Then, seeing that I was cooperating, it gave me a way out."

Chu Jiang thought for a moment, "Then there's still one problem that hasn't been solved: can ghosts really communicate with humans?"

Xu Shengtian's lips twitched. "We didn't communicate at all. I was doing the whole stand-up comedy routine. Of course, it can understand it."

"I don't know if it can understand everything I say, but at least it understands the parts related to Go. As soon as it heard that I don't know how to play Go, its expression changed immediately, and I almost peed my pants in that instant."

"And even if you're a professional, do you really understand ghosts?"

Xu Shengtian's question stumped Chu Jiang. Did he really understand ghosts?

Honestly, Chu Jiang had to admit that he was a relatively new ghost master.

Although Chu Jiang gained access to a lot of knowledge that folk ghost masters couldn't obtain through the No. 21 Research Institute channel, he dared not say that he truly understood what ghosts were.

Perhaps the Ghost Chess Game, even among the Ghosts, is a very special existence. Such an existence cannot be viewed using ordinary rules.

"Then continue, focus on how you survived. I'm not afraid to tell you, everyone who has encountered this ghost so far has died."

As he spoke, Chu Jiang moved closer and showed Xu Shengtian the cases on his phone one by one.

The images of the deceased and the descriptions of each case horrified Xu Shengtian. He then realized that at least three other people in Luohe City had died recently, suffering the same fate as him.

Scratching his head, Xu Shengtian was also quite distressed. "How should I put it? Even if I instantly learned how to play Go and understood all the rules, but..."

"But becoming a Go master isn't just about knowing how to play."

"So to be honest, my first practical experience was terrible."

Hearing this, Xu Xiaoxiao became nervous. "You lost to that Go prodigy so quickly? And it originally wanted to kill you, but couldn't find anyone to play against, so it dragged you to play Go with it all night?"

Chu Jiang guessed the same thing, but Xu Shengtian shook his head repeatedly, "It plays even worse than me. We two noobs played against each other, and we spent the whole night playing one game..."

Chapter 110 The Pattern of Murder

Xu Shengtian's answer completely stunned Xu Xiaoxiao, and Chu Jiang was also taken aback. Could this really work?

He couldn't help but ask, "So the final result is: you played chess all night without finishing a single game; and then at dawn, the ghost just left?"

"No, no, no," Xu Shengtian shook his head again, "In the end, I lost."

"Because I hadn't slept all night and was extremely tired, I couldn't hold on any longer and made several huge mistakes when placing the pieces."

"Taking advantage of this opportunity, that ghost captured several of my pieces, ultimately securing the victory."

"After defeating me, the ghost gathered up the chess pieces and the chessboard, turned around and left, disappearing in just a few steps."

Xu Shengtian sighed as he recounted the experience, "As soon as it left, I fell asleep, but then I had a nightmare. I was woken up by a fright at dawn and had to contact my family immediately."

“My family isn’t in Luohe City right now, so I can only ask my younger sister to come and see me.”

Did the ghost leave after it won against the human?

Chu Jiang fell into deep thought. Assuming everything Xu Shengtian said was true, then at least the following patterns could be summarized:

1. You cannot run away when you see the Go Demon. If you do, you may trigger the killing rule directly.

The deceased, who was dragged into the darkness in the alley, was likely the one who escaped, which is why he was dragged back and killed.

Because Xu Shengtian's leg was broken and he couldn't escape, he just happened to avoid this pattern of murder.

2. You must play Go against a Go prodigy; if you don't know how to play, you'll be defeated just the same way.

However, there is a loophole, or rather, a point that can be exploited, in this pattern. If you insist that you can learn it yourself, then the Go prodigy might let you learn the rules.

The reason I say "maybe" is because Chu Jiang doesn't dare to be sure whether the Go Demon would teach the next victim if they asked to learn Go.

3. Once the human and the ghost start playing chess, it's unlikely that either can win...

This is also Chu Jiang's conjecture. The number of people who died under the Ghost Chess Game is not just one or two. There are victims not only in Luohe City, but also in other places, such as Luozhou City.

Among so many victims, perhaps not all of them were bad at chess, but rather those who were good at chess died because they were defeated by the ghosts.

Because this ghost's chess skills are so bad, it's very difficult for you not to beat it, and if you do win, you'll die.

If that's the case, then this Go prodigy has terrible sportsmanship. Not only is he bad at the game and loves to play, but he also can't stand losing!

Thinking of this, Chu Jiang looked at Xu Shengtian again, "So, how do you think you survived?"

Xu Shengtian yawned. "I lost, and it won."

"The ghost is naturally happy to win, and if it's happy, it will let me go. Isn't that normal?"

"If I had won, that ghost might have gotten angry and killed me. Thinking about it now, I'm still a little scared. Luckily, I lost."

Xu Shengtian's words once again overturned Chu Jiang's imagination. Are there really ghosts that are so human?

"Are you sure the ghost was happy when it won?"

Xu Shengtian hesitated for a moment, "From beginning to end, I didn't sense any emotion from the ghost, except for the murderous aura it exuded when it wanted to kill. This 'happiness' and 'anger' are just my speculations."

Chu Jiang nodded. It was probably because this Go prodigy had maintained such terrible Go skills in life that he inherited the same habits after death. This was not impossible.

Xu Xiaoxiao, who was standing nearby, also curiously leaned over and asked, "So if we encounter this ghost in the future, we can just admit defeat and save our lives, right?"

Xu Shengtian shook his head upon hearing this, "I'm afraid that won't work. It wants to find someone to play chess with. If you just concede, what's the point of it playing?"

"And it's uncertain whether deliberately losing can save your life. Anyway, I played seriously the whole time. I think since it can teach how to play chess, it can definitely tell whether its opponent is just going through the motions."

"If it can tell that I'm letting it pass on purpose, then I'll be in big danger."

Chu Jiang nodded. "In other words, mistakes are allowed, but not every move from start to finish is wrong. That requires quite a bit of acting skills."

Xu Shengtian smiled awkwardly, "I wasn't acting, I played very seriously. If I hadn't made any mistakes at the end, it's really hard to say who would have won this game."

Xu Xiaoxiao laughed when she heard this, "Brother Xiaotian, you're quite a talent too."

Chu Jiang nodded in deep agreement. Even knowing the killing patterns of the Ghost Chess Game, he wasn't confident he could replicate Xu Shengtian's experience. If he really encountered the Ghost Chess Game, he would probably still have to fight in the end.

"Very good, you have provided very valuable information. Now, if you firmly believe you are human, I will conduct an examination on you. Do not resist."

Xu Shengtian was a little nervous. "How will the examination be conducted?"

“Physical contact, you can just lie down. I can also check if there are any aftereffects from being poked by the ghost.” As he spoke, Chu Jiang slowly stepped forward and, under Xu Shengtian’s tense gaze, covered his forehead with his right hand.

After a long pause, Chu Jiang withdrew his hand. "It should still be a person."