Mysterious Awakening

"Hey, everyone has left, what are you still doing standing here? The meeting is about to start."

Just as Yang Jian was lost in thought.

Suddenly, a woman’s voice came from behind him, a voice so familiar that even without turning around, Yang Jian could recognize that Liu Xiaoyu had appeared.

He snapped back to reality and turned to look at her, saying, "You’ve recovered quite fast. How does it feel to be attacked by a ghost manipulator for the first time?"

Liu Xiaoyu, who had clearly just come out of the room, had been staying indoors. Though she was there, she remembered everything that happened clearly. It was just that at that time, she was under the influence of a malevolent ghost, so she could not resist, but that didn’t mean she was without any awareness.

"It feels terrible."

Her beautiful brows knitted together. "I felt like a marionette, completely at the mercy of Gao Zhiqiang. And what’s most terrifying is that I knew what I was doing, and I was complicit throughout the whole process. That’s horrible, considering that just a moment before I was desperately resisting, and the next moment, I was like a completely different person."

"I’m still me, but it was as if my personality had been twisted and changed. Now I have this unbelievable feeling, and I can’t understand why I acted that way at that time."

"It’s good that you can talk about it like this," Yang Jian nodded and said.

Yang Jian, however, said earnestly, "Having such an experience is indeed a good thing for you. At least you understand how desperate and helpless ordinary people are in the face of ghosts. Luckily, the one who made a move today was Gao Zhiqiang. If he had been a ghost, you would already be dead by now, with no chance of surviving."

"But you have only experienced this once, and moreover, someone came to your rescue. Many people who deal with supernatural incidents are not as lucky as you are. Most of them are alone, facing various terrifying and complex supernatural incidents. You’ve been with me for so long; you know what I’ve been through. Now you probably understand some of my feelings."

Liu Xiaoyu paused for a moment, then lowered her head in thought.

What Yang Jian said did make sense. People who have never experienced supernatural incidents can never understand that kind of despair, as if hell itself were upon them.

As a former operator at the headquarters, Liu Xiaoyu realized that she had indeed been too presumptuous.

If it were her, after one such incident, she would never want to go through it a second time because you can’t be sure that you would be lucky enough to survive a second one.

At that moment, Liu Xiaoyu also understood why Yang Jian had previously tried to avoid supernatural incidents.

Escaping danger and despair is something everyone understands. No one should be blamed for it. After all, those taking risks are not you, and you can easily talk about being righteous and just.

"You... are right." After much contemplation, Liu Xiaoyu quietly uttered these words without knowing what else to say.

Yang Jian said, "There’s no right or wrong, only differences in perspective. When you become the victim, you naturally think I’m right."

"But I still want to thank you," Liu Xiaoyu said, looking up at him with a complex expression.

"Thank me for what?"

Yang Jian said, "I didn’t save you. Gao Zhiqiang wasn’t planning to kill you; he just wanted to play with you. I killed him because he affected me. That’s all." 𝐑𝘢𐌽Ồ𝐛ĘⱾ

"It’s about time for the meeting. Today’s meeting should be very important, and after that, I have a lot of things to deal with. Don’t randomly assign me any missions."

"You’re falsely accusing me; I never randomly assigned you any tasks. The previous missions were all assigned by those higher up," Liu Xiaoyu said, puffing up her cheeks, a slightly aggrieved expression on her face.

Yang Jian said, "Same difference. Anyway, if there is a mission, push it off to someone else. I want to spend a few years in Dachang City in peace, not keen on dying so soon. And my death wouldn’t be good for you either. The next ghost manipulator may not be as easy to talk to as I am."

"I got it. I’ll try my best to push off any tasks for you," Liu Xiaoyu said.

"That’s right. Which way to the meeting room? Lead the way," Yang Jian said.

Liu Xiaoyu said, "It’s over there, follow me."

This headquarters meeting was extremely important, not just because of the Ghost Envoy incident, but also because the Captain Plan was getting underway, and several potential captains had already arrived in J City. Now that most of the top ghost manipulators were gathered, every move they made could affect the trends in various regions of Asia.

The location of the meeting was in an air-raid shelter within the headquarters.

This was a base established within the hollowed out depths of a mountain, and the entire base contained nothing: just a massive round table and several dozen chairs.

There were no security personnel inside, no communication devices, and not even any staff members; everything was simplified to the bare essentials.

"This is it. I can only bring you here. The content of this meeting is classified, and I don’t have the authority to sit in," Liu Xiaoyu said.

"Okay, I know." Yang Jian walked forward alone.

At this time, the meeting was about to begin, and quite a few people were already seated at the conference table.

Some of them he recognized, such as Jang Shangbai, Feng Quan, Cao Yang, Li Jun, Chen Yi, Guo Fan... and others he did not know but had seen before, during the scuffle with Gao Zhiqiang, belonging to ghost manipulators from other rest areas.

However, it was clear that not everyone regarded this meeting with equal seriousness.

Someone was leaning on the table, yawning and playing with a paper frog.

Someone else had put their feet up on the table and was sleeping in their chair.

And yet another person was resting their head on their hand, looking around curiously.

"Has the ’Ghost Eye’ Yang Jian arrived?"

The arrival of Yang Jian drew the gaze of many; the scene of him personally taking down Gao Zhiqiang had been witnessed by all. Coupled with the resolution of an S-level paranormal event and surviving the Ghost Envoy incident, his reputation was significant, making him somewhat of a celebrity in their circle and easy to notice.

There were nameplates in front of each chair on the table, with each person’s name written on them.

The seating, it appeared, had already been arranged; it was not disorderly.

Yang Jian’s seat was next to Feng Quan. This arrangement seemed to be a consideration by headquarters of their previous partnership, having survived the Huanggang Village incident and the Z City incident together.

"Brother Tui, as fierce as ever," Feng Quan managed to squeeze a faint smile onto his pallid, lifeless face, which resembled dead skin.

Sitting beside him, Yang Jian could smell the scent of rotting earth and felt a constant invasion of damp, cold air.

It was quite unpleasant.

If Yang Jian hadn’t been certain that Feng Quan was alive, he might have doubted whether the person sitting next to him was a human or a ghost.@@novelbin@@

Feng Quan was the first person in charge of Dachang City and had become a ghost manipulator even before Zhou Zheng, who had died in the school. The degree of erosion by the fierce ghost in him was extremely deep; underneath that layer of skin, there was likely no flesh or bones left, all filled with grave soil.

This level of erosion was irreversible, even with the ghosts at Yang Jian’s disposal from Gao Zhiqiang.

"Fierceness my ass. I almost got screwed coming to Dachang City this time. The thing on the plane was alright, just a minor C-level incident, but the ordeal at the training base was a nightmare," Yang Jian complained, shaking his head.

Feng Quan replied, "You can’t say that. I was also assigned tasks recently; it’s not just you who’s busy. But some things really can’t be done without you. Plus, just now, I heard that you took out Gao Zhiqiang in the rest area?"

"He overplayed his hand and killed himself; I can’t be completely blamed for it. Who told him he couldn’t hold out before I even went all out? I just ended up cleaning up his mess. But this has brought a lot of trouble; I’m expecting to be disciplined at the meeting later," Yang Jian said.

"It’s only right that you be disciplined. You have to maintain appearances for the sake of it, otherwise headquarters loses face, right? But that’s all it would be, a walk-through. With your significant merits, it’ll just be a matter of a few drinks as punishment. If it gets too noisy later, just treat it like a fart. Listen and then go back, and it’ll be as if nothing happened," Feng Quan said with a laugh.

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"You make a good point," Yang Jian said. "Is this all the people? Aren’t there more?"

He then ceased their private chatter and glanced over the individuals sitting around the table.

The enormous round table was occupied by just over twenty ghost manipulators. Including himself, the number did not even reach thirty.

"The list has more than these. The headquarters cannot possibly summon all the top ghost manipulators from across the country to J City. There are other branches that are as important as headquarters and require people in charge. Of course, the number of qualified people won’t be high, so we can say that we are currently Asia’s top ghost manipulators," said a stranger sitting next to him.

Yang Jian looked at this person, who seemed very ordinary, like a normal human, at least with no severe bodily degeneration. However, what was terrifying was that after this person left his field of vision, Yang Jian could no longer recall what he looked like.

He knew there was such a person, yet he couldn’t recall his appearance.

"Li Leping." Yang Jian glanced at the name tag on his desk, which bore his name.

There was something eerie about this man.

He could only think this in his heart.

A person whose face couldn’t be remembered, even able to influence a spirit medium, was terrifying.

Yang Jian didn’t feel as if he had been invaded by the supernatural, nor did he sense any problems with his thinking, yet this Zhang Liping’s name was the only thing in his mind, without a face to accompany it.

He wanted to check Zhang Liping’s file again.

But after thinking about it, he decided against it.

For a spirit medium at this level, files and what they represented didn’t mean much anymore. The supernatural phenomena they each encountered, the secrets they hid, none of these would be recorded. Even if he saw them, it wouldn’t be of much use.

Just like his own files, Ghost Eye Yang Jian.

Yet, there was no information about anything else.

"It’s normal that you don’t recognize me, but I would like to get to know you. The name ’Ghost Eye Yang Jian’ is one I’ve heard quite often." Li Leping said, "I was also present during the incident with Gao Zhiqiang just now. If you don’t mind, may I be so bold as to ask, the way you control spirits doesn’t seem to be the method of the headquarters, does it?"

Yang Jian’s gaze flickered slightly.

Li Leping continued, "Sorry, I have a pursuit in this matter and was curious to ask. If it’s inconvenient to share, let’s just drop it."

"It happened by coincidence and luck; I indeed don’t use the method of the headquarters," Yang Jian replied.

There was nothing secretive about this; a scrutinous person could easily investigate and figure it out.

He hadn’t been to J city even once, yet he had already controlled three ghosts. Even a fool could guess that he surely possessed some special method for controlling fierce spirits.

He described it as coincidence and luck to dispel any unrealistic thoughts others might have, to avoid them harboring any designs on him.

After all, only Wang Xiaoming had speculated the existence of the human skin talisman; no one else was aware that such a special supernatural object existed in the world.

"Coincidence and luck? Hehe, indeed, surviving is all about coincidence and luck; I feel the same way." Li Leping smiled and didn’t continue with this sensitive topic.

"Yang Jian, I have something to say to you before the meeting starts."

Just then, someone not far away knocked on the desk, and the wooden desk emitted a crisp metallic sound.

The one tapping on the desk was Jang Shangbai, who was frowning as he looked over.

"What do you want to say?" Yang Jian’s gaze met his.

"Did you take down Gao Zhiqiang today?" Jang Shangbai asked.

Yang Jian smiled, "You aren’t surnamed Gao, so why concern yourself with it so much?"

Jang Shangbai’s face darkened as he said, "Gao Zhiqiang is part of the circle of friends; it’s difficult for you to just take him out over a matter concerning a woman and not have to explain to the circle. If you don’t know what the three words ’circle of friends’ mean, I suggest you ask Feng Quan beside you about it."

"Circle of friends?"

Yang Jian’s smile faded and his gaze sharpened; this was the second time he had heard the term "circle of friends."

The first time was in Ping’an Hotel when Li Yao mentioned it.

Now he was hearing it from Jang Shangbai’s mouth.

"Do I have to ask for permission from some dog-shit ’Friends Circle’ before I take him down? Explain myself? Ha, Do I need to explain myself to some power that just popped out of nowhere?"

Yang Jian also banged his fist on the table and responded assertively, "Do you really think I am a three-year-old child? Using this trick to scare me, if anyone from the Friends Circle dares to cause trouble, I’ll take them down right now. I’ll turn the Friends Circle into a circle of the dead. I’ve fought off S-level ghosts, so if you don’t believe me, you can try me."

"You can control the Hungry Ghost because of that Coffin Nail, right? Without that thing, you could have been trapped and died in Dachang City." Someone dissatisfied with Yang Jian’s attitude suddenly retorted.

Yang Jian sneered, "Who told you there’s only one Coffin Nail?"

That person’s eyes flickered and he immediately shut his mouth.

The information revealed by this statement was significant; if Yang Jian possessed a second Coffin Nail, everyone present had to weigh their own capabilities once more.

"Jiang Shangbai, you’re saying this at a time like this. Are you one of the Friends Circle?" Yang Jian ignored the troublemaker and stared at Jiang Shangbai.

Jiang Shangbai’s face fluctuated, his gaze particularly somber. He was indeed a member of the Friends Circle, but after witnessing Yang Jian forcefully invade the Ghost Envoy’s Ghost Domain, and now his strong demeanor along with the terrible implication of his recent statement...

He found himself in a dilemma.

Admitting his affiliation with the Friends Circle here might provoke Yang Jian to leap over and kill him on the spot, mightn’t it?

Although the likelihood was small.

But don’t forget, Gao Zhiqiang had only died not long ago.

Yang Jian had already set a precedent at headquarters by taking down a ghost controller. He didn’t want to be the second example.

If it were before, Jiang Shangbai might have felt somewhat confident, even somewhat superior, after all, he controlled three ghosts.

But Yang Jian had also controlled three ghosts.

He held no advantage against him, only disadvantages.

"No need to invite trouble over this matter," Despite his ominous silence, Jiang Shangbai kept his mouth shut, not engaging with Yang Jian’s comment.

Seeing no response, Yang Jian withdrew his gaze.

But he had almost confirmed that Jiang Shangbai was indeed from the Friends Circle. The man was just not the impulsive type, wary of a face-off right then and there, and thus he held back his anger.

"If Jiang Shangbai really dares to stand up for Gao Zhiqiang, I’ll take him down today," Yang Jian muttered, his eyes slightly narrowed, emanating a dangerous aura.

Some people, when hurt, naturally wouldn’t dare to pop their heads up again, because then they’d have to consider the risk of getting taken down if they did.

Weakness only invites greater trouble.

Yang Jian has always believed in this.

Of course, he wouldn’t go looking for trouble either, because making enemies everywhere would only lead to a faster death.

Time slowly ticked by.

Most of the participants had arrived for the meeting.

But the meeting had not started.

Deputy Minister Cao Yanhua, Professor Wang Xiaoming, and that person suspected to be from the Republic of China Period—none of these key figures had shown up, seemingly delayed by something.

However, most people around the conference table were very quiet, each doing their own thing, showing no sign of impatience. Those who wanted to sleep slept, those who wanted to play with their phones played, some folded paper frogs, and there were even female ghost controllers touching up their makeup.

This lackadaisical, undisciplined sight made one wonder just what these people did for a living.

Who would have thought that this group of people, seemingly nonchalant, could determine the life and death of countless others, and even impact the global situation.