"You're saying Zhang Wei snatched the file that you showed earlier?"
At noon, while having lunch, Yang Jian received this strange piece of news from Liu Xiaoyu.
"Why would he snatch the file from you? That stuff isn't worth much and isn't of significant use. Did he suddenly run out of toilet paper while in the bathroom, and you happened to walk by?"
"Zhang Wei said he's going to handle this case. Aren't you going to stop him? Get the file back," Liu Xiaoyu said, fuming, while burying her head in her food.
It's her first day at work, and under such circumstances, anyone's mood would be lousy.
Yang Jian said, "No need, let him go. He doesn't have logistical support, doesn't possess any supernatural power, and relying on just one file, he won't even be able to find anyone. After circling around aimlessly, he'll naturally return empty-handed."
"But he's disrupting my work," Liu Xiaoyu said.
Yang Jian corrected her, "You're mistaken. Here, all work revolves around . Making satisfied, that's your job. Everything else doesn't matter."
"You're being ridiculous," Liu Xiaoyu replied.
"That's how I operate. If you think it's wrong, you can always request headquarters to remove from my position," Yang Jian said casually.
Liu Xiaoyu was left speechless and could only continue eating in silence.
anwhile.
After studying the file and combining the insights he had just overheard from Yang Jian, Zhang Wei, with so newfound confidence, drove straight toward the Northern City District.
"Hey, Brother Ah Fei, bring your people over quickly. It's ti to get to work. I've sent you the location."
"Ah Wei? Sure, no problem. How many people should we bring?"
"Bring everyone, one and all! Round them up! And don't worry, I'll pay your salaries. Hurry up!"
After hanging up the phone, Zhang Wei nodded to himself in satisfaction.
Indeed, you can only rely on yourself.
Thankfully, his skills are strong and he's independent. Otherwise, how could the safety of Dachang City be guaranteed?
Soon.
At the end of a pedestrian street in the Northern City District, Zhang Wei waited for Brother Ah Fei.
Brother Ah Fei arrived with about a dozen young n—aimless idlers who didn't even qualify as proper thugs. These were the survivors of the Hungry Ghost incident. With no family or relatives, and being at that awkward age where they couldn't return to school or find work, they banded together to waste their days eating, drinking, and playing.
Luckily, Zhang Wei, a naive rich kid, was willing to pay them monthly salaries to keep them afloat.
Of course, Zhang Wei didn't see himself as naive. He believed he was recruiting troops and engaging in serious business.
"Just this few people? Where are the others? Are they still lounging at the internet caf?" Zhang Wei asked in displeasure.
"This many is already pretty good. Your call sounded urgent; it's fortunate we managed to gather this group. Don't push your luck," Brother Ah Fei complained.
Zhang Wei said, "This ti, it's a special mission, very important. Don't say I didn't warn you, this could involve a supernatural incident. If anyone wants to back out, now's your chance. I, Ah Wei, won't stop you."
"I quit," soone imdiately said.
"Alright, then. Your mother is gone," Zhang Wei replied nonchalantly.
"..."
That person rolled up his sleeves, fuming, "I'm gonna beat you to death."
Brother Ah Fei quickly stepped in to restrain him, "Calm down, calm down. He is OUR boss. If you beat him silly, who's going to pay us our salaries? We need to go online tonight."
"Fine, I'll let him off this ti," the young man grudgingly backed down.
"Ah Wei, stop scaring people. The last supernatural event we dealt with almost killed us all! And now, here we go again? By the way, where's Brother Tui? This seems like serious business, how can you not call Brother Tui? I haven't seen him for a long ti; I almost miss him," Brother Ah Fei said, recalling the ti he first t Yang Jian.
At the ti, he had even tried extorting money from Brother Tui, but the outco had been miserable beyond words.
"Brother Tui is always busy traveling for work; he doesn't have the ti to deal with this. I can handle this small matter myself. What's the problem? You don't trust ?" Zhang Wei replied.
"Not really," Brother Ah Fei said bluntly.
"No matter, it's enough that I trust myself. This mission is straightforward: contact the locals in the Northern City District and see if they've noticed anything suspicious—either people or places. If anything cos up, notify imdiately. Rember, I didn't get my 'Dual-wielding Gunslinger' nickna for nothing," Zhang Wei said.
"Got it," Brother Ah Fei agreed readily.
The group of aimless young n really began combing the area for anything out of the ordinary or suspicious.
However, with the detailed file and Yang Jian's analysis, their search zone was spot-on.
The anomaly truly existed in this area.
In Dachang City, within the Northern City District, there lay an old and sowhat decrepit residential complex.
Few residents remained here. After the Hungry Ghost incident, the area beca a disaster zone. Once the event was over, the previously lively neighborhood turned desolate overnight. Those who survived either left the city or moved out of the complex.
As a result, many of the buildings were vacant, with so apartnts left in such haste that doors were left unlocked, belongings abandoned, and furniture untouched.
Yet, so people, burdened by survival needs or personal reasons, had no choice but to stay.
Each evening, scattered lights flickered dimly across the complex.
The nineteenth building of the complex.
This building housed only one resident, located in apartnt 602 on the sixth floor.
The inside was dark and oppressive; every window was curtained off so well that even daylight barely penetrated. The air was thick and carried a faint sll of decay.
This odor was unmistakably the scent of death.
Yet the stench wasn't overpowering. Leave the room, and outside, it was nearly undetectable.
Moreover, the building was entirely unoccupied.
A dim, yellowed table lamp faintly illuminated the shadowy room.
The eerie detail was the bed—on it lay a grotesquely dissected and fragnted corpse. The skin was pale, the blood completely drained, and the levels of decay varied across the body parts. So areas had begun oozing corpse fluid, while others were still relatively fresh, retaining a hint of redness.
The legs, feet, torso, eyes, nose—every component appeared to have been ticulously repositioned, almost as if striving toward perfection.
The wounds on the body painted a chilling picture. This peculiar corpse, lying motionless on the bed, was androgynous, with features so unnervingly perfect they defied description.
If Zang Hua were alive, he'd instantly recognize that every part of this corpse had been harvested from different murder victims seamlessly stitched together.
Each limb was flawless.
Soone with long legs lost theirs; soone with exquisite eyes had their eye sockets gouged out; soone with beautiful hands had their hands severed.
In a twisted sense, this was a "perfect" body.
The corpse had been lying on the bed for several days, and as ti passed, sothing inexplicably eerie was happening.
The scars from the stitching were disappearing.
No.
Not disappearing—healing.
It was as if this patchwork corpse was alive, growing.
By the looks of it, before long, the entire body might fully heal. It could even awaken from its slumber.
But if it did awaken, what would this entity be?
A new existence pieced together from the body parts of several living people—a being that doesn't belong to this world.
An aberration conjured out of thin air.
Within the sprawling Dachang City, the subtle changes in this room went unnoticed, completely escaping detection. The complex hadn't experienced any major supernatural occurrences or deaths from malicious spirits. Even Yang Jian, driving past the area, missed it.
From the perspective of Ghost Eyes, what lay on the bed appeared to be a "living person" asleep—not a grotesquely assembled corpse.
Yet, this tranquility seed poised for disruption.
With the screech of car brakes, a vehicle arrived at the entrance of the complex.
"Is this the place? I didn't study much—don't try to fool ," Zhang Wei asked as he was led into the area by one of the young n.
"No doubt about it, this complex has definitely seen death. I heard it from an elderly man living here. He said he slled decay coming from one of the buildings while clearing out trash in the hallways, and it's been lingering for a while," the twenty-sothing young man replied confidently.
He lived nearby and, in the mostly deserted area, had once overheard so old neighbors chatting and picked up this bit of gossip.
"Where's that old man now?" Zhang Wei asked.
"How would I know? I don't know him personally. The complex isn't big. Ask around, and you'll figure it out."
At this point, it was unclear whether Zhang Wei's luck was good or bad.
Among the vast expanse of the Northern City District, he had sohow stumbled upon the very problematic complex.
However, Zhang Wei still didn't know the right floor or apartnt. He'd have to piece together more information and continue investigating.
anwhile, Yang Jian wasn't particularly concerned about this matter.
He simply wanted a couple of days off to deal with the Ghost Post Office and figure out how to conclude his deal with the Ghost Cabinet.
Even if there were supernatural incidents in Dachang City, Yang Jian preferred to delegate them to Feng Quan or Tong Qian. He wouldn't handle them personally.
This was strategic resource allocation.
Otherwise, if every big or small issue fell to Yang Jian, he'd eventually be overwheld.
"It's getting late. Ti to clock out and go ho."
Around three in the afternoon, feeling bored at the office, Yang Jian decided to call it a day and left work early.
His plan was to show his face at the company for a few days to stabilize the situation before turning his full attention to the Ghost Post Office.
The Ghost Cabinet curse could be deferred—it still allowed ti.
But the Ghost Post Office required imdiate attention and couldn't be left unfinished.
Reviews
All reviews (0)