Terror is resurging, but only I am.

Chapter 22 Old man, you finally handed over the Burning Technique?!
"But don't you also want to settle down in Wangcheng?"

As Dr. Wang's words echoed in his mind, Yan Ming instantly realized that this was different from the "more" ghost brain he had spoken with before.

The timbre of the voices is consistent, but the emotions conveyed are completely different.

what happened?

"Wang Ming? Is that you?" Yan Ming called out the doctor's real name directly, but received no response.

After waiting for a while, the Doctor Ghost still did not respond. After a “spinning” sound, which symbolized a long response time, appeared, the following words appeared in Yan Ming’s mind.

[Hi! I'm Dr. Ghost. I can help you with research, answer questions, and summarize information. Please entrust your tasks to me.]

Send a message to the Doctor Ghost.

Yan Ming: "..."

Is this official, standard AI homepage for real?

Why does it feel like the wheelchair king is deliberately pretending to be AI?
But then I thought, the wheelchair king isn't the type to joke around like that.

Was I possessed by a ghost's brain-damaged spirit just now?
Did Wang Ming really die outside?
I've only been in the Ghost Realm for less than a day.

Yan Ming thought of Dr. Wang in the office building and felt sorry for the short life of the wheelchair-bound Dr. Wang.

Normal people are so vulnerable when the supernatural resurrects, so it's not surprising that a paralyzed man like the Wheelchair King died so quickly.

Did a haunted house sneak into the office building after I left?
Or did that spying ghost shift its target, spot and kill Dr. Wang?
Yan Ming sighed and continued reading Dr. Zhang's diary.

-

There really are other players in this city, and they are much stronger than me.

It seems my choice was correct, because if the sky were to fall, no one taller than me could possibly hold it up for me.

They'll just lie down faster than I can, then laugh and watch those who don't have time to lie down die.

They're worse than me.

Yes, even worse than me.

Since we've already been in this city for so long, let's stop overthinking and not try to contact those other players. We might not be on the same path.

I should focus on finding a better way to disguise myself; this city has always rejected people like me.

The ability to act like a ghost and possess ghostly abilities without phobia is not a blessing, but a curse.

Wangcheng is becoming increasingly dangerous.

-

The first surgery was a success. It turns out that you can fool Him as long as you use a fresh human brain, haha.

The method those people told me worked, and now I could finally pretend to be a ghost without any restrictions.

In a city plagued by phobias, I can pretend to be a ghost—isn't that just like playing a hacked game?

That damn nurse, that damn head nurse, they're like NPCs, and they still dare to give me attitude.

I can do whatever I want!
-

Yan Ming handed another diary to the male corpse, which Ghost Eyes then read, while Yan Ming himself fell into deep thought.

Is there more than one player lost in the city of illusion in this bizarre game?
The brain-damaged patient who was taken away by the ambulance was definitely one of them, and his status was far above that of Dr. Zhang.

The method to help players stay in Wangcheng longer was also discovered by these hardcore players; it seems that Doctor Zhang is just a small fry.

If he weren't a doctor who could control a hospital to help other players perform brain surgeries, those hardcore gamers probably wouldn't even bother with him.

But something else bothered him even more.

seem……

The more frequently you use the ability to pretend to be a ghost, the more likely you are to be ostracized by the Wangcheng region.
Is this considered regional discrimination?

Yan Ming thought about how many times he had used his ability that night. He was either using his Ghost Eye or asking the Doctor ghost questions. He hadn't stopped at all.

However, this exclusion seems to be measured in years, so he has not yet been brought to justice by Wang Cheng.

At least until dawn today.

No wonder that doctor invented a method to create and use ghosts by using mental patients, and no wonder that guy tried his best to avoid pretending to be a ghost from beginning to end.

It seems to be subject to many restrictions.

Although the latter half of the diary describes how Dr. Zhang temporarily overcame his problem and was able to freely pretend to be a ghost and do whatever he wanted, it was a diary from more than ten years ago.

As time goes by, the limitations of this method will soon become apparent, something Yan Ming could easily have predicted.

The consequence of frequently pretending to be a ghost is that, like that female patient, her skull is filled with countless brain cells, as numerous as a peeled orange.

Yan Ming roughly figured out Dr. Zhang's initial mental journey and background story, and then began to look for fragments about Dr. Zhang's ability to pretend to be a ghost.

Since he believed he had solved the problem of "regional discrimination," then there must have been a period when he was frantically pretending to be a ghost to gain benefits.

Sure enough, Ghost Eye quickly found the relevant paragraph.

-

A single ghost is definitely not good enough. I had already decided to equip a special ghost that could use more ghost abilities.

The Ghost Tailor.

I've seen this thing before; it belongs to the category of wish-granting ghosts, the sixth type of ghost.

It may not be the most despairing ghost, but it is definitely the most bizarre and illogical thing.

It can freely stitch together other ghosts, creating eerie creatures that are not allowed to exist.

I am working towards this.

-

It was a success, but only a small part of it; only my right hand succeeded.

It turned into the hands of the Ghost Tailor.

Of all the hands in the body, only the stable hand used for surgery can gain that thing's approval?

Even if it's not actually in this city, just thinking about it makes its influence naturally emerge.

-

The diary entries made no further mention of Dr. Zhang or the so-called wish-granting ghost—the ghost tailor.

Yan Ming had recently heard about the concept of Wish Ghosts from Doctor Ghost, a special type of ghost independent of the five categories of ghosts.

They are suspected of possessing high intelligence, and their abilities are increasingly bizarre.

For example, the current suturing technique.

He wasn't sure how well the ghosts could be integrated by stitching them together; he only knew that many ghosts had conflicting abilities, and if he could ignore the risks and stitch them together directly...

I hope Dr. Zhang doesn't have that ability.

By this point, Yan Ming's mood had become somewhat heavy, because he realized that Dr. Zhang could not possibly have been killed so easily by a pool of blood.

More likely...

This guy is going to sew something up.

We must quickly come up with a solution to his problem.

Yan Ming made up his mind in secret.

Did you find anything useful?

The old woman, who was rummaging through other things in the office, turned around and looked at Yan Ming, who was standing there in a daze, and asked.

Yan Ming nodded: "The ghost that Dr. Zhang is pretending to be must have some kind of suturing ability. He probably found something to stitch up that pool of blood. We need to find a way out quickly."

The old woman entered the hospital hoping to find a way to evacuate, and now Yan Ming also felt that if all else failed, they would have no choice but to run away.

If it's possible...

He probably doesn't plan to settle down in Wangcheng anymore.

Wang Ming's words echoed in Yan Ming's mind.

Before entering the Ghost Realm, he had prepared to settle here. Compared to the completely apocalyptic ruins outside, the City of Illusions was clearly more habitable. However, after this night, his thoughts had changed.

The number of players in this eerie game is definitely not small, and among them there must be even stronger top players.

If he can survive for half a year in a real-world paranormal resurgence, there must be many more survivors in this vast world.

By gathering more survivors, it might be possible to build a very special kind of shelter.

For example, a special ghost realm that can be freely entered and exited can be modified to serve as a special mobile base.

Carried by wandering ghosts, they travel to other cities in the real world to search for survivors and expand their homes.

It's called The Wandering Earth...

A homeless home isn't bad either.

A rough outline of a plan began to form in Yan Ming's mind, because he had already seen the fate of being trapped in Wangcheng from Dr. Zhang's experience, which was not the life he wanted.

"I think I've discovered a big secret."

At this moment, the cat-faced old woman suddenly said that she found an identity tag in the white coat hanging on the standing coat rack, which showed that the verification area was "basement 1 laboratory".

"This hospital has an underground laboratory?" This was unexpected for Yan Ming.

The old woman thought for a moment, then, as if she had remembered something, said, "Do you remember when that slender ghost girl first appeared? She looked like she was coming to turn off the lights, walking from the far end of the second floor..."

"Yes, it happens to be from the second floor." Yan Ming was reminded by the old woman and immediately remembered this suspicious point.

The old lady initially thought the stick insects came from the mental illness ward, but the east and west buildings are quite far apart, and the stick insects clearly started "checking out" the lights from the second floor.

That is to say...

Is this underground laboratory located right under the east building?
Just two floors below the old lady's ward?
"Try asking her." Yan Ming pointed to the tuft of hair wrapped around the ghost-eyed corpse's hand.

The old woman understood and went up to try to coerce her.

The ghost grandma used to control Liu Liu's head, but now that a real grandma has come, the effect is about the same.

After receiving an affirmative answer, Yan Ming finished packing up the diaries and prepared to leave.

He wasn't sure which diaries contained the key information, and taking them all would be too cumbersome, so he could only randomly pick a few to carry with him.

The rest of the office was searched, but nothing was found. He tried to access Dr. Zhang's own computer, but the password wasn't the one on the surveillance computer.

It's probably a personal password.

You can't get an answer from a PhD, because there are no prerequisites for this question, and it doesn't fall into the category of "a little more".

Having found the clue, the man and the two ghosts quickly left Dr. Zhang's office and returned to the east building by the same route.

On the way, Yan Ming passed by the pool of blood in the open space again, and noticed that the area of ​​the pool of blood had increased.

Originally, it was only one meter in diameter, but now it has reached two meters in diameter, a difference of several times in area, resulting in a noticeably different visual experience.

However, he still did not see Dr. Zhang, nor did he find any footprints around the pool of blood.

This guy probably hasn't come out yet.

"found it."

The old woman had already entered the first floor of the east building. She twisted the lock on the iron gate of the emergency exit, mainly breaking the chain that held the iron cable.

Upon opening the door, a downward staircase was revealed, shrouded in darkness, with only the green fluorescent sign for "Emergency Exit" visible, making it appear exceptionally deep and mysterious.

"Go down and have a look."

Yan Ming did not hesitate. They searched almost the entire hospital but found no so-called "evacuation point".

Currently, the basement level is the most likely suspect.

The old woman nodded and followed the ghost-eyed corpse towards the basement.

After passing through the stairs, a heavy iron door appeared in front of the two of them. However, the liuliu head on the Ghost Eye corpse showed a strong rejection reaction, resisting entering the laboratory, as if there was some great fear inside.

However, she had no choice but to straighten her slender cervical vertebrae and sway her head from side to side, like a cobra in the hands of an Indian snake trainer.

However, in terms of function, it is more like a dowsing rod in the hands of tomb raiders, swinging it back and forth to guide Yan Ming's way.

After passing through a blood-soaked corridor, Yan Ming came to a fork in the road.

The left side appears to be a high-risk ward similar to a prison, while the right side is completely dark.

After hesitating for a moment, the dragon-seeking ruler head still chose the right side.

Yan Ming thought for a moment and then continued forward along the right side.

Aside from the darkness, they encountered nothing unusual along the way and quickly reached their destination.

This is a dead end.

At the end was an extremely thick metal door, resembling a vault door, with several marbles embedded in the middle.

The evacuation point has been closed.

A line of blood-red text appeared in the Ghost Eye's field of vision; only it could see the hint from the eerie game.

Sure enough, there was an evacuation point right below the hospital.

Yan Ming stepped forward. There were three marbles on the door, each containing three small balls, all of which had the character "物" (thing) on ​​them.

"Wow, all of them are the same suit," Yan Ming muttered to himself, then slumped down on the spot.

He asked directly, "Can the closed evacuation points be reopened?"

Doctor Ghost: "No, we cannot evacuate from here again."

"Can the marbles on these still be used after they're removed?"

Doctor Ghost: "No, the three fixed marbles have been used and cannot be used again."

Yan Ming frowned slightly; these things were not the results he wanted.

Are there any other evacuation points in Wangcheng?

Doctor Ghost: "There are extraction points, but none that are currently usable. You need to gather more marbles to activate the extraction points, or..."

"Or what?" Yan Ming realized that this was likely the content of "a little more" and immediately pressed for more information.

This time, Doctor Ghost remained silent for a long time, as if he was thinking about how to explain this to Yan Ming.

Have you ever heard of topology?

The voice in my head asked.

"Topology? The kind that involves stringing ropes?" Yan Ming had heard of it before; it was probably related to things like changes in three-dimensional shapes, and it was very profound.

That's not something a human could learn.

In reality, the only relevant application might be a special method for untying knots, but Yan Ming wasn't sure if that was actually topology.

"Topology is used to study the properties of figures or spaces that remain unchanged when they are continuously deformed. To give a simple example, from a topological perspective, a cup with a round handle and a donut with a round hole are actually the same."

Yan Ming understood the example, but only the example: "And then?"

“According to the corresponding principles of ghost domain topology, you, the Ghost Domain City, and the Big-bellied Ghost can be considered as a whole; you are what I call the cup,” Doctor Ghost continued to explain.

Yan Ming blinked, feeling that the doctor's analogy was very impolite.

"Theoretically speaking, your relative positions and the Belly Demon's can be changed at will, because your one-to-one relationship remains unchanged, and your essence will not change. If we could 'reverse' the evacuation point..."

"The big-bellied ghost will enter the city of illusion, and you will appear in reality."

"The so-called ghost realm can actually be the human realm."

"The abilities of so-called ghosts can actually be human abilities as well."

"This is a path to becoming a ghost."

Yan Ming: "???"

Are you serious?

Old man, you've finally handed over the Burning Technique?

　Please everyone read this aloud, it's going to be a trial run tomorrow QAQ
　　It's another thrilling and exciting "Niche Books Venture into the World" segment, give it some support, brothers! QWQ
　　I will write the book well.
　　
　
(End of this chapter)