Mysterious Resurgence: Starting with the Strange Bus

Chapter 191 A chance to get the headquarters for free?
"Was that person named Zhang Lei?"

"Such a ghost tamer is indeed suitable to be your subordinate. With a little training, he can stand on his own and help you handle many trivial matters. I think the problem of his ghost's resurgence will not be a problem for you at all."

Yang Xiaoxian sighed a few times, then changed the subject and said, "It's now basically confirmed that the disappearances in Dahang City were most likely the work of a ghost tamer."

They had already determined that the disappearances of those people were indeed related to the supernatural. Supernatural remnants were found at one of the missing persons' sites. At that time, Li Hui and others suspected that it might have been done by a ghost tamer, but they could not be completely sure because they could not completely rule out the possibility of a supernatural event.

However, when Li Hui's ghost domain enveloped the entire city, no other supernatural phenomena were found. Even in that black and white supernatural space, no traces related to the disappearance of those people were found. Therefore, Yang Xiao became even more certain that the disappearance of those people was related to a certain ghost tamer.

"There are only a few ghost tamers in Dahang City. If it's really related to one of them, I believe we can find him out soon."

Sitting in his office chair, Li Hui said, "Zhang Lei's overall abilities are not weak. If he investigates this matter, there shouldn't be any major problems. When we get a few ghosts to cooperate with Zhang Lei, the truth behind those bizarre disappearances should be uncovered soon."

In fact.

The truth behind the mysterious disappearances of those people in Dahang City is not important. The main thing is that Li Hui wants to use those folk ghost tamers to train Zhang Lei's abilities.

In addition, Li Hui did indeed want to eliminate the folk ghost-controlling practitioners in Dahang City.

After all, there's an old saying, "How can one allow others to sleep soundly beside one's bed?" Regardless of the strength of those folk ghost-controlling individuals, Li Hui would nip them in the bud if they even had the slightest possibility of causing trouble.

However, it would be too beneath him to deal with those folk ghost tamers himself, so Zhang Lei happened to arrive at that moment, so Li Hui passed the task on to Zhang Lei without thinking.

"Alright, let's wait for Zhang Lei's investigation results before discussing this matter. If there's nothing else, go and check with the other deceased souls to see if any of them have hometowns in cities surrounding Hangzhou."

As he was saying this, a huge portrait suddenly appeared out of thin air in the office.

The painting depicted the figures of other deceased souls. Upon seeing this, Yang Xiao didn't say anything more, but instead stepped into the painting.

Then, a hazy cloud of ashes drifted away, and the enormous portrait disappeared once more, along with the ghostly domain that enveloped the area, which Li Hui had also collected.

"Dingling bell~"

Almost the instant the ghostly aura dissipated, Li Hui's satellite positioning phone, which was on his desk, suddenly rang.

The incoming call screen displayed the private phone number of his personal operator, Li Wanyu.

Seeing this, Li Hui frowned slightly, unsure why the other party was calling at this time. Logically speaking, there shouldn't be any major paranormal events in China at this time.

Despite his doubts, Li Hui pressed the answer button and said after the call connected, "This is Li Hui. What's the matter that you're calling at this hour?"

Without any pleasantries, Li Hui went straight to the point, asking Li Wanyu why she had called him.

However, to Li Hui's surprise, the voice that came from the other end of the phone was not Li Wanyu's sweet voice, but a middle-aged man's voice.

"Li Hui, this is Zhao Jianguo. It's like this: the supernatural phenomena of the Ghost Painting have recently erupted in Dahan City. You had contact with the Ghost Painting when you were in Dahai City, and even successfully controlled its supernatural power. Therefore, I would like to ask you about methods for dealing with the Ghost Painting incident."

A ghost drawing?

Dahan City?
Upon hearing this, Li Hui's first thought was that Zhang Xianguang's "Peach Blossom Spring Project" had begun to be implemented, and that he had introduced the ghost painting from abroad to Dahan City.

Think of this.

Li Hui asked, "Where in Dahan City did the ghost painting first appear? Was it in Shuangqiao Town?"

"The first place where the paranormal phenomena appeared seems to be in the urban area of ​​Dahan City."

Zhao Jianguo's voice continued on the other end of the phone: "According to the report from Sun Rui, the person in charge of Dahan City, the ghost painting's supernatural phenomenon covered most of the city as soon as it appeared."

"The ghost realm continued to expand, and now the entire city and some surrounding towns are covered by the ghost painting's supernatural presence. Judging from the geographical location photos taken by satellite, Shuangqiao Town, which you mentioned, is also within the ghost painting's ghost realm!"

"I see... I understand."

If Li Hui had previously only suspected that this matter was related to Zhang Xianguang, he was now 100% certain that this was the start of the Peach Blossom Spring Project spearheaded by Zhang Xianguang.

Although he knew the answer, Li Hui didn't say it directly. Instead, he asked, "What is headquarters' attitude towards this matter?"

"The deputy minister has now ordered efforts to minimize the casualties caused by the ghost painting incident."

Zhao Jianguo on the other end of the phone said, "According to Deputy Minister Cao Yanhua's idea, we should organize another operation by the team leaders. Headquarters should send more than half of the team leaders to try to detain Guihua. Even if we can't detain him, we should lure Guihua away again."

As for where the ghost painting was taken, Zhao Jianguo didn't say, but it's not really relevant here; it's clearly meant to be taken abroad again.

Zhao Jianguo then added, "If it comes to a critical moment, headquarters will send Elder Qin directly. The Ghost Painting incident is too far-reaching, and its harm is even greater than the Starving Ghost incident in Dachang City. Therefore, headquarters will absolutely not let it go unchecked."

This was to express the headquarters' determination and attitude to Li Hui, and also to directly expose the headquarters' true intentions.

Upon hearing this, Li Hui's expression remained unchanged, and he calmly said, "Ghost Painting simply cannot be imprisoned, even if Elder Qin were to intervene. If Ghost Painting could truly be imprisoned, it would have been dealt with long ago. It's impossible for it to have been active around the world for so long without being imprisoned!"

Li Hui then revealed some information about the patterns of the ghost paintings that led to the murders.

"Ghost Painting's killing pattern is related to memories. As long as you recall Ghost Painting's appearance in your mind, it is equivalent to triggering her killing pattern. She can even directly invade reality through memories."

"This is a murder pattern that is almost unavoidable, because as long as someone has seen the ghost painting, they will have her memory in their mind, which already satisfies her murder pattern. This does not even take into account the other supernatural phenomena in the ghost painting's ghost realm."

"..."

As Li Hui continued speaking, Zhao Jianguo's expression on the other end of the phone grew increasingly grim. He then called over a staff member to bring paper and pen, and wrote down everything Li Hui said, word for word.

Finally, after Li Hui finished speaking, Zhao Jianguo asked Li Hui for his opinion again, implying that he hoped Li Hui could participate in the headquarters' operation, but Li Hui refused.

"The supernatural power you wield is also the Ghost Painting, and you are very familiar with the various rules and abilities of Ghost Painting incidents. If you lead this team, the success rate will undoubtedly be much higher."

At this moment, Zhao Jianguo made his final effort.

"The deputy minister had spoken to me before this, saying that as long as you are willing to participate in this operation to deal with the ghost painting, you can name your terms. Afterwards, whether you successfully detain the ghost painting or lure it away, it will be considered that you have completed the mission."

"Furthermore, you will be in full command of this operation, and all paranormal items required during the operation will be provided by headquarters, including but not limited to ghost candles and surrogate dolls."

to be frank.

These conditions are already very generous.

Compared to the original novel where Yang Jian was only given a few ghost candles to get rid of on his business trip, the conditions offered to Li Hui by headquarters at this time were undeniably generous.

The generous offer even tempted Li Hui.

I thought about it.

Li Hui finally agreed.

Because this operation could be described as essentially letting him take over headquarters for free.

Whether it's like in the original story, where the ghost painting and other supernatural beings benefited He Yuelian, or whether Zhang Xianguang ultimately succeeded in replacing He Yuelian and controlling the ghost painting and other supernatural beings, the final result is that the ghost painting was successfully controlled.

In other words.

Even if Li Hui and his team did nothing but watch the show, the supernatural phenomenon of the Ghost Painting in Dahan City could still be successfully resolved.

the most important is.

Upon learning that Zhang Xianguang had indeed implemented the plan ahead of schedule, Li Hui also wanted to know whether Zhang Xianguang could ultimately control He Yuelian.

Yes.

He did not intend to stop Zhang Xianguang, because in a sense, Zhang Xianguang could not be considered a 'villain'. In the original work, he was initially on the opposite side of Yang Jian and the others, simply because of their different positions.

But Li Hui is not Yang Jian; he is not afraid that Zhang Xianguang will eventually go too far and be unable to extricate himself.

With his mind racing, Li Hui asked into the phone, "Which team leaders participated in this operation?"

Zhao Jianguo's voice quickly came from the other end of the phone: "Besides you, there's Wang Chaling from Dadong City, as well as Li Jun, Jiang Shangbai, Liu San, Shen Lin, and others."

"Wang Chaling actually agreed to participate in this mission to deal with the ghost painting?"

Upon hearing this, Li Hui's expression turned somewhat surprised. He hadn't expected Wang Chaling to agree to participate in this mission; it was as if the sun had risen in the west.

Li Hui then inquired about some details, such as the specific timing of the operation. He eventually learned from Zhao Jianguo that all five other team leaders, except himself, had already set off and were on their way to Dahan City. They planned to meet outside Dahan City and then enter the city together.

“In that case, I’ll set off too. We’ll meet up with the other five in Dahan City first,” Li Hui said to his satellite-guided phone.

After saying that, he hung up the call immediately.

Then Li Hui dialed Zhang Lei's number and told him that he was going to Dahan City on a business trip. After Zhang Lei settled in, he would start investigating the folk ghost tamers in Dahang City.

After finally receiving a clear reply from Zhang Lei, Li Hui set off.

A hazy, ghostly realm emerged and spread towards the distant horizon. Then, the light of the ghostly realm flashed, and Li Hui's figure vanished from the spot, leaving only a few wisps of paper ash as a sign that he had been there.

.........

Dahang City is not far from Dahan City, only about 700 or 800 kilometers away.

With the strength of Li Hui's ghost domain and the range it could cover, he arrived at a place not far from Dahan City in the blink of an eye. Further ahead was the jurisdiction of Dahan City.

At this moment, the entire city of Dahan was shrouded in a gray, ghostly realm, which was the source of the S paranormal events—a vengeful ghost.

A ghostly realm depicted in ghost paintings!
Similar to Li Hui's Ghost Domain, Ghost Painting's Ghost Domain is also filled with paper ash. At a glance, it is all gray and hazy. Paper ash falls from the sky like a rain of paper ash. Even the ground is covered with a thick layer of ash, making the whole place look extremely eerie.

However, at this moment, not far from the ghostly realm that shrouded Dahan City, a group of three people were talking quietly.

"Headquarters just called and said that Li Hui has agreed to participate in this operation, and that headquarters requires us to cooperate with Li Hui's operation and act in accordance with his requirements throughout the entire process!"

Wearing a special forces uniform and with a serious expression, Li Jun spoke, relaying the orders he had received to the two people beside him.

Standing next to him was a young man dressed in casual clothes, none other than Jiang Shangbai, the newly appointed leader of the circle of friends and one of the captains of the Ghost Riders Headquarters.

The other person was a young man with a friendly smile, wearing gold-rimmed glasses, and exuding a strong scholarly air; he was Wang Chaling from Da Dong City.

The three of them were the first team leaders to arrive in Dahan City. However, because not all the team members had arrived, they did not take the lead but stood in this open space waiting for the other team leaders to arrive.

"Li Hui?"

Upon hearing this, Jiang Shangbai's expression shifted slightly. After a moment of contemplation, he said, "The supernatural being controlled by Li Hui is the Ghost Painting, and its power is extremely strong. Even Fang Shiming was no match for it before. I have no objection to him commanding this operation."

Li Jun then turned his attention to Wang Chaling.

Seeing this, Wang Chaling's smile remained unchanged, and he appeared refined and easy to talk to. He said, "I didn't mean to..."

However, before Wang Chaling could finish speaking, a sudden change occurred.

Suddenly, two eerie old men, their figures slightly blurred and their overall appearance black and white, appeared beside Wang Chaling.

The moment the old man appeared, the surrounding temperature dropped several degrees, and an extremely cold aura emanated from him and spread outwards.

The two eerie old men flanked Wang Chaling, protecting him from the middle, while gazing at the distant horizon.

"Grandpa and grandma, what are you doing?"

At first, Wang Chaling was a little confused. The ghostly aura of the painting hadn't spread towards him, so why were his grandparents reacting this way? But after listening for a moment, he immediately realized what was going on and looked into the distance with a tense expression.

(End of this chapter)