Thriller Zone: From the Mental Hospital to the Ghostly World

The chaotic night finally came to an end, and considering the existence of the abandoned mining area, the group quickly evacuated from underground.

Just in case, before leaving, Four-Eyes used a cloth to separate Pan Yin's pieces of flesh and scattered them in areas far apart.

This time, Pan Yin would never again use coal ash to create a ghost body.

It was still dark outside, and the wind was biting cold. The group groped their way back to the accounting office in the dark and through the snow.

On the way, Four-Eyes hesitated for a moment, opening his mouth several times as if he wanted to ask about the little monkey and the giant skeleton.

However, he was interrupted by Lao Yang's look.

Old Yang wasn't too surprised by any of this.

Chen Ji noticed this. Back in the abandoned mining area, Lao Yang's reaction to the fireflies was very calm... He didn't know what Xu Sandao had said to Lao Yang.

Back in the inner room, the two children were still sleeping peacefully in the corner of the bed.

Chen Ji sat alone outside, holding a doll in his hand, lost in thought.

Not long after...

At the first crow of the rooster, Chen Ji's vision blurred, and Xu Sandao returned to normal.

"We got two more pieces of scrap."

Chen Ji said, without asking about the dolls: "Of the piece that belongs to Xiao Fei, there should be another piece that belongs to Liu Er."

He told Xu Sandao about what had happened before, including Xiao Fei turning his head to the west.

In conclusion:

"The Helmet Ghost and we have the same goal."

They collect all the waste materials.

Shared goals can lead to conflict.

As a ghost, the helmeted ghost has an absolute advantage, but it also seems to be subject to many restrictions.

“Pan Yin’s scrap material was lent to it by the Helmet Ghost,” Chen Ji thought to himself. “The Helmet Ghost couldn’t come over on its own.”

Since only one piece of scrap was thrown out in the last projection, Pan Yin's scrap could only be Liu Er's.

There is other evidence for this:

“Pan Yin’s abilities are clearly much weaker than Xiao Fei’s and Liu Yunfeng’s,” Chen Ji said. “This proves that the piece of scrap material doesn’t belong to it.”

Moreover, Pan Yin didn't have any strange methods of killing.

"Secondly," Chen Ji pursed his lips, "when I came out of the mine, I seemed to see Liu Er's ghost."

The reason I say "seems" is because that scene happened so quickly.

It was Liu Er in his complete form, standing behind the cave dwelling where they used to live, peeking out.

He gave Chen Ji a faint smile and then disappeared.

There was no malice in that smile.

“He probably won’t show up again,” Xu Sandao said after thinking for a moment. “But I have another guess.”

"First of all, scrap ghosts are much stronger than ordinary ghosts."

"So how did the Helmet Ghost manage to unleash such terrifying power after giving the scrap to Pan Yin and without even being present?"

"Even Xiaofei can't escape its ghost wall?"

Chen Ji was startled, then thought of the invasion of his dream.

This is clearly worlds apart from the strength of Liu Yunfeng's mistress, Pan Yin, and other ghosts.

Could it be...

"The forgeable ghost has indeed only appeared twice..."

Chen Ji hesitated and said that he knew what Xu Sandao was thinking. Helmet Ghost might still have a piece of scrap material!

That is, the fourth piece.

Or perhaps... in terms of time, the first piece.

Xu Sandao put his hands in his pockets, turned around, and looked very serious.

"The 'Projection of the Forging Demon' only appeared twice."

Chen Ji's breath hitched.

He suddenly remembered that Xu Sandao had suspected something was amiss when Zeng Guichuan ran away.

Perhaps he already had this suspicion back then...

“The Helmet Ghost is different from other ghosts,” Xu Sandao said. “Other ghosts, after their wishes are fulfilled, give us their scraps and then disappear.”

The Helmet Ghost not only appeared earlier than all other ghosts, but it also went to great lengths to search for scrap materials and tempted humans to "mine" for it.

"I need to go back and look through the files." Xu Sandao patted Chen Ji on the shoulder: "Perhaps there were already unusual things happening in Tuotuo Mountain a long time ago."

The two returned to the house and took out the documents they had taken from Zeng's office from the snakeskin bag.

Mining records from December to February

Most of the notes were formulaic, but there were two small slips of paper with messy handwriting, clearly written by someone else...

[Tang Dynasty]

"Tang Scorpion." Chen Ji and Xu Sandao exchanged a glance. This man was probably Zeng's most trusted subordinate.

[Zeng Ge:]

There was a problem with the task you assigned me last time.

The miner wasn't completely dead at first; the bloodstains stretched from Zone 7 all the way to Zone 4, but I've cleaned it up completely.

When I went to collect the body, his body temperature was only slightly cool, so he probably hadn't been dead for long.

After handing you the parchment that had mysteriously appeared beside his body, I went back again, but his body had vanished!

(Red pen annotation: Human skin? Map?)

The second page is very brief:

[Brother Zeng]

The new workers will arrive today, just in time to fill the void left by the deaths that occurred after the reflection appeared.

There's one thing I'm not quite sure about...

I think I saw that dead man from last time. Is he still alive?

(Red pen annotation: Block off the post office and the main gate to prevent him from having another chance to report to higher authorities. The same mistake must not be made twice.)

“…”

Chen Ji frowned deeply. The two small notes had been tucked into other documents and had not been noticed by Chen Ji and his companion.

That's why it was overlooked and not taken away.

These few lines contain a wealth of information.

"From District 7 to District 4..."

Xu Sandao looked at Chen Ji, a strange light flashing in his eyes: "Only abandoned mining areas have numbers, right?"

Chen Ji nodded: "Yes."

This was also the passage through which they had been trapped in a maze of ghosts and witnessed Lili.

The miners mentioned here are undoubtedly the helmeted ghosts.

"Let me think about it." Chen Ji pondered, "The Helmet Ghost was indeed killed before the first forging projection appeared, because of a report."

Chen Ji had previously discovered that the management of the Tuotuoshan coal mine was extremely irregular, with countless roof collapses and flooding accidents occurring; at the same time, the mining area was too wide and too deep, almost hollowing out half of the underground of Tuotuoshan.

Furthermore, they severely withheld pensions.

"Tang Scorpion's actions were not clean, causing the original form of the Helmet Ghost to drag its dying body across several districts before finally collapsing in District 4."

Chen Ji continued, "And at the end of District 4 is a dead end; the three missing people were mining coal nearby."

"That 'human skin paper' was found next to the helmeted ghost's corpse in District 4."

"map......"

Chen Ji's voice gradually lowered; he had already made some guesses about the map.

It may be related to the large tombs in southern Yunnan.

However, the most important clues in the note are two others...

"The dead miner has returned and blended into the crowd!" Chen Ji said gravely. "This matches my previous prediction; the Helmet Ghost must still be among us, disguised as a human!"

Moreover, the body had disappeared.

Who is it?

Chen Ji's brain was working frantically, and many figures flashed through his mind in an instant.

"Go ask Lao Yang during the day who's still in the mine."

Xu Sandao said.

Old Yang is the only one who is definitely not the Helmet Ghost, because he and the Helmet Ghost have appeared together before.