Here is the English translation of the text:
"Captain, what do you think is at the end of these stairs? The continuous supernatural phenona earlier seem to be guiding us inside."
On the third floor of the ancient mansion, Huang Ziya fiddled with her thick black hair, her eyes fixed on the narrow, dim staircase ahead.
A certain curiosity drove her, giving her a compulsion to explore further.
"That wheelchair-bound Ghost Shepherd, Zhang Qiaoyang, along with Wan Tong, codenad Ghost Crasher, and Liu Baimu all went in there. I sense there's great danger inside. I don't want to risk my life just to kill those two. Let's stop here. We'll pay Wang Chaling a visit and then leave Dadong City."
"After all, Dachang City is our territory, and staying away for too long isn't good."
Yang Jian carried Liu Baimu's headless corpse and started moving away.
He needed this headless corpse to make a statent to the paranormal circle—that Liu Baimu, cursed by the Pendulum Clock, had been dealt with by him.
The group nodded, showing no objections to his decision.
Imdiately, they began to retreat from the ancient mansion.
However, upon reaching the first floor, Huang Ziya said again, "Captain, sothing strange—Li Yang's signal shows that he's here, but we haven't seen him anywhere."
"Send him ssages continuously and tell him to leave the mansion. He's likely lost inside; ever since the clock rang, ti in the mansion has been disrupted. Any supernatural power might affect the restart of the clock. The signal might be correct, but he isn't in this ti fra," Yang Jian said.
"I'll send a ssage right away," Huang Ziya began typing and preparing to send a text to Li Yang.
But just then, the interior of the mansion reverberated with a dull crashing noise. It sounded as if walls were collapsing, causing the entire mansion to tremble.
Dust and debris began sifting down from above the group's heads.
"An earthquake?" Xiong Wenwen imdiately crouched, holding his head.
Feng Quan and Tong Qian, anwhile, frowned slightly and looked up at the ceiling.
Soon after, they lowered their heads again.
"The sound isn't coming from above—it's coming from below. But it's not an earthquake; it sounds like soone tearing down walls underground."
Yang Jian imdiately said, "Leave this place. Don't linger any longer. I have a bad feeling—sothing seems to be about to happen."
The group mbers' expressions turned grim as they quickened their pace to escape the mansion, aiming to avoid being caught in any bizarre events.
At that mont.
Yang Jian glanced at the pocket watch in his hand.
He noticed that although the clock hadn't sounded yet, the ti on the pocket watch displayed an inexplicable anomaly. The minute hand sotis moved forward rapidly, other tis frantically reversed, as if uncontrollable, failing to function normally.
Yet no matter how wildly the minute hand wavered, it always stayed within a range of thirty minutes before or after, unable to exceed this boundary.
This boundary happened to coincide with the mansion's reboot tifra.
"In the mories of Liao Fan that I inherited, there's no record of such anomalies."
Yang Jian furrowed his brow, saying, "The clock hasn't sounded at this ti. Could Zhang Qiaoyang and the others have gotten hold of the pendulum clock, controlling the mansion's ti?"
"No. That's highly unlikely. The clock doesn't exist in the present; it's impossible for them to find it with just their numbers."
"Then, only two possibilities remain: the pendulum clock has lost control, or another person has manipulated the pendulum clock."
He pieced together the information to make a deduction.
And Yang Jian's analysis was extrely close to the truth.
The entity affecting the pendulum clock wasn't Zhang Qiaoyang or Liu Baimu—it was an extraordinary stranger they had unintentionally released.
The anomalies in the mansion were caused by that person.
Soon.
Yang Jian led his team out of the mansion, remaining indifferent to the commotion inside the ancient mansion.
But upon stepping out, the group saw a lifeless, gray-skinned man standing stiffly at the gate of the mansion's courtyard. His vacant eyes gazed at them, unmoving.
"It's the ghost from before. It's appeared again, and now it's trying to prevent us from leaving," Feng Quan said.
The ghost's intent was abundantly clear and easy to interpret.
"The more it tries to stop us, the more determined we should be to leave. The supernatural forces here don't want us to escape, the mansion has changed further, and even the tiline is in chaos. We can't stay here anymore—even if we haven't found Li Yang, we must leave first."
"If the ghost refuses to let us go, then I'll detain it right here."
Yang Jian's eyes narrowed, his dark pupils glowing faintly red.
Since they were no longer inside the mansion, his Ghost Domain was free from interference and could function normally.
However, the Coffin Nail he was holding was driven into Liu Baimu's corpse and couldn't be used for now. But that didn't matter—he had his entire team backing him.
Without hesitation or delay, Yang Jian strode towards the unknown ghost standing in front of the iron gate of the courtyard.
Yang Jian was confident—even if he triggered the ghost's killing pattern and beca its target, he could survive its attacks. After all, he was no longer rely a Ghost Shepherd but an anomalous entity himself.
But things didn't unfold as expected.
When Yang Jian approached, the ghost standing at the gate suddenly began moving—it walked away, seemingly stepping aside to clear the path.
"It moved aside? Was it a coincidence or deliberate?"
The others were astonished at the sight of the ghost stepping away.
Since when did ghosts voluntarily avoid humans?
Yang Jian frowned. Since the ghost had retreated, he didn't want to waste ti investigating it. He vaguely felt that this ghost had an unusual connection to the mansion, appearing frequently within it.
However, Liao Fan's mories didn't contain any relevant information.
This added to the mystery.
Around 8 PM, Yang Jian and his team left the mansion and arrived on the streets of Dadong City.
Despite the late hour, the streets still buzzed with life. Passersby were present, streetlights illuminated the area, and the honking of cars could be heard.
This indicated they had left the paranormal zone, and the surroundings had returned to normal.
"Finally out. Exhausted! Daddy Xiong's feet are killing him. It's past 8 PM already—ti to sleep. My mom says late sleepers don't grow tall!" Xiong Wenwen cheered, relieved to be away from the mansion he feared.
"The noises inside the mansion are still ongoing—it doesn't look good," Feng Quan murmured.
The loud sounds from the mansion were audible even outside, as though the building was being demolished, attracting the attention of passersby.
"Let's find Wang Chaling first. He seems to be hiding sothing from ," Yang Jian said, lifting his gaze.
His eyes fixed on a distant high-rise as if he could see through layers of walls to its top floor.
Just as he prepared to use his Ghost Domain to transport the group.
Sothing from within the mansion was flung out, landing on two passing won.
"Ouch!" One woman cried out in pain, knocked to the ground.
"Who threw sothing at us?" The other woman angrily complained.
But when the object rolled onto the street, illuminated by a nearby streetlight, their anger turned to terror and silence.
It was a pale, lifeless human head...
"Ah!"
Their screams echoed, drawing the attention of nearby pedestrians. Many stopped in bewildernt, looking toward the commotion.
All they saw were two won fleeing in panic, faces white with fear.
"Hmm?"
Yang Jian turned coldly, his Ghost Eyes peering at the head flung from the mansion.
The head belonged to... Liu Baimu.
He was dead.
His head, thrown out of the mansion, was pierced by the cracked, elongated weapon Yang Jian wielded.
At the sa ti, the eerie commotion inside the mansion ceased.
On the third floor of the mansion.
At the edge of a broken window, an eerie shadow lingered, seemingly watching sothing outside.
"Dong! Dong! Dong!"
Simultaneously, the familiar sound of the pendulum clock echoed again inside the mansion, though this ti, it rang irregularly and out of schedule.
"Retrieve the head." Yang Jian commanded the Ghost Child.
A small child-like entity, resembling a bloodless infant, ran barefoot, grabbed Liu Baimu's severed head from the street, and quickly returned.
Yang Jian inspected it.
Liu Baimu's head was incomplete. A handprint dented his face, deforming the skull.
In other words, Liu Baimu's head had been crushed.
No human could exert enough force to crush a skull—that left only ghosts or Ghost Shepherds capable of such a feat.
Yang Jian leaned toward the latter.
Ghosts wouldn't intentionally throw a head out.
"Judging by the condition of Liu Baimu's head, he likely didn't die imdiately after I struck him—he must have died later. So, there is indeed soone else in the mansion,"
Yang Jian turned his gaze toward the shadow lingering behind the window on the third floor.
He couldn't see clearly; the supernatural forces inside the mansion interfered with his Ghost Eyes, blocking his vision.
Otherwise, he would have thoroughly investigated everything within the mansion without hesitation.
"What is that?" Feng Quan noticed the shadow as well.
"A ghost?" Tong Qian speculated.
"No. A person. True ghosts wouldn't simply stare at like that," Yang Jian replied. "But I can sense that's an extrely dangerous presence."
On the third floor of the mansion, the shadowy man standing by the shattered window peered at Yang Jian on the street outside.
The supernatural forces within the mansion seed unable to affect him.
"So, that's Yang Jian? An impressive young man—quite resourceful. Combining the Firewood Knife and Coffin Nail into a single supernatural weapon... By intertwining their rules, ordinary people wouldn't grasp how to use it even if they owned it. Indeed, managing to acquire these two items shows his rit,"
The mysterious man chuckled aningfully, "What a sha, though. Of all people to resemble, this kid just had to look like the one I despise most."
"No rush—the countdown has already begun. I'll soon pay him a visit to inquire about so things."
Behind him, the ticking of a clock echoed crisply. The rhythm of ti was quickened, unnaturally fast.
In the shadows behind him, Zhang Qiaoyang and Wan Tong were trembling, barely breathing.
Just monts ago, Liu Baimu's head had been crushed and thrown out.
According to this man, Liu Baimu, lacking the ability to control ghosts with only his head, was useless—even his resurrection served no purpose.
Thus, Liu Baimu was exterminated.
"I need two errand boys. Do your jobs properly, and I'll let you both live—and live well." The dangerous middle-aged man turned around, smiling faintly.
He wasn't particularly frightening in appearance, but his re presence sent chills down their spines.
This man undoubtedly belonged to the previous era—a fearso figure who had sohow been captured and imprisoned in the Wang Family mansion's dungeon for many years.
"You better not act recklessly. Things have changed from what you once knew. Headquarters and captains are still active now—if you make a ss, there will be consequences. You should consider your family, your descendants," Zhang Qiaoyang said, forcing himself to speak.
"What I aim to do is beyond your understanding. Morality doesn't matter—only the end result does. Still, I'm curious to catch up with so old friends, provided they're alive."
"Also, I'm called Chen Qiaoyang. I don't have a codena, just an old nickna people used to call —if I recall correctly, it's 'Ghost Shepherd.'"
"Ghost Shepherd, Chen Qiaoyang."
"You can refer to as Ghost Shepherd or Chen Qiaoyang—I don't mind either. Just don't forget."
The dangerous man introduced himself, with a hint of nostalgia and sentint in his tone.
This was the na and alias of soone lost to ti—forgotten, erased from mory.
As naless as soone consud by supernatural forces, like Yang Jian's own father.
"Ghost Shepherd, Chen Qiaoyang?"
Zhang Qiaoyang and Wan Tong silently repeated the na, committing it to mory. They planned to consult their peers in the paranormal circle for its history.
In today's digital age, a na could uncover a person's entire background—a codena could unveil old paranormal files.
While they spoke.
Yang Jian had already turned away and led his team off the street, vanishing from sight.
The man nad Chen Qiaoyang also turned back, re-entering the mansion.
Inside the ancient mansion.
Several eerie figures road and lingered.
They seed to be targeting him specifically.
"The Wang Family's second generation husband and wife—born together, died together—how amusing. It's too bad your third-generation descendants are so timid. If one of your first-generation ghosts were here, I'd have no options left."
Chen Qiaoyang sneered coldly, his silhouette fading into the darkness.
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