Mysterious Revival

Chapter 632: Chapter 629 The Inevitable Footsteps of Death

I’ve become a driving spirit?

Li Yang, still incredulous and a little dazed from shock, looked at Yang Jian, visibly struggling to comprehend the meaning of “driving spirit”.

“Don’t look at me like that, you will soon find out what has happened to you,” Yang Jian said.

Yang Jian did not spend much time explaining, as the rotting corpse at the doorway gave him a rough idea of the situation.

The Door-blocking Ghost was not the corpse itself; it was more like a malevolent spirit that possessed a person, similar to a curse, without a physical form. Just now, by suppressing the ghost, Yang Jian had caused the corpse that had been sustained by supernatural power to collapse completely, rendering it unable to move.

So the ghost chose another person to possess.

Li Yang, who was the closest, became the new target for the ghostly possession.

Of course, this was just a guess, another possibility being that the last person to leave the room would continue the curse, taking the ghost’s place to exist.

Anyway.

Becoming a driving spirit is always an accident amid various supernatural events. Even Yang Jian couldn’t explain this phenomenon; he only knew that some ghosts could be controlled by the living, while others would lead to immediate death upon contact. As for the boundary between the two, even Wang Xiaoming would likely struggle to deduce it.

“I think I’m beginning to understand you… I’ve merged with the ghost that was in the room just now. Have I become it?” Li Yang was quick to grasp the situation, after all, he had lived here for several months.

Yang Jian was slightly surprised, “You’re right in your understanding, but you haven’t become it; instead, the ghost has taken control of you.”

“But I don’t feel controlled,” Li Yang said.

Yang Jian replied, “That’s because this has just started, like how a person doesn’t immediately die upon getting cancer; it needs time to develop. The same applies to a driving spirit. As time goes by, you’ll feel the presence of the ghost in your body more and more. It will keep eroding you, and while you’ll have to constantly fight against it, eventually, you’ll end up like this.”

With that, he pointed at the decomposed, collapsed corpse in front of them.

“How can this be…” Li Yang was terrified.

He then realized that the corpse in front of him might just be the fate of the previous person possessed by the ghost, and that it wouldn’t be long before he ended up the same way.

“How can I avoid this outcome?”

Immediately, Li Yang asked the question again, out of sheer urgency.

Yang Jian had already shifted his gaze away, looking elsewhere, and said casually, “You can’t avoid it. When you’re close to your breaking point, perhaps you can consider controlling a second ghost. Use another ghost to fight against the one inside you, which could prolong the time before the ghost kills you.”

“Control two ghosts? Wouldn’t that just kill me faster?” Li Yang felt a chill at the idea.

Being possessed by one ghost was already terrifying and unsettling; adding another to the mix, would he even remain alive?

Yang Jian confirmed, “Indeed, it’ll kill you faster, and a regular person wouldn’t even have the opportunity to control two ghosts.”

Yang Jian added, “But you don’t need to worry about it; at least while you’re still alive, you can possess some of the ghost’s abilities to some extent. You’ll have some ability to protect yourself in future supernatural events.”

“I’ll give your ghost a code name. How about calling it Door-blocking Ghost? Or Ghost Door Blocker is fine too. Choose one yourself,” Yang Jian suggested.

“…” Li Yang fell silent.

Then he remembered what Yang Jian had said about himself when he introduced himself earlier: his code name was Ghost Eye.

Li Yang took a serious look into Yang Jian’s eyes.

He found Yang Jian’s eyes to be completely normal, just like an ordinary person’s. The only difference was the eyes were colder, seemingly devoid of emotion, which was quite intimidating.

“You’re observing me? Or looking for the ghost inside me?” Yang Jian glanced over, “We have wasted enough time. Let’s continue searching. This place isn’t big; the Ghost Drawing must be here somewhere.”

Li Yang immediately diverted his gaze and exchanged a few words with Jimmy, telling him that the search must continue, as they hadn’t found what Yang Jian was looking for in that room.

Upon hearing this, Jimmy almost rolled his eyes and passed out.

But at this point, they no longer had a choice in the matter.

Helpless, the two had no option but to continue following Yang Jian in the search through the third floor.

“An unexpected driving spirit has joined us. With my Ghost Eye being restricted, he may be of some help at certain times,” Yang Jian silently noted.

Although some time had been wasted, gaining a potential ally was good news.

Otherwise, if he were alone and faced real danger, it might be difficult to cope.

“Including the guy in the room earlier, at least six driving spirits have died on this small floor alone. Besides the Door-blocking Ghost in the room and the ghost on these wooden stairs, there might still be other ghosts around, not necessarily all gone,” Yang Jian analyzed the situation, not in the best of moods.

The situation here was more complicated than he had thought.

The only consolation was that so far, they had not encountered any truly terrifying ghosts.

Shortly after.

The three of them started searching the floor, with Yang Jian leading them into the room next door.

The room was locked tight, with nothing inside. Yang Jian searched very carefully, even scanning the place like Ghost Shadow carpet searching, but found nothing.

No anomalies in the third room.

No anomalies in the fourth room…

Apart from that room where the ghost had blocked the door, it seemed that there were no more ghosts lingering in the other rooms.

Yang Jian was nearly certain that the third floor was now safe.

“The Ghost Drawing isn’t on the third floor?” Yang Jian once again stood in the middle of the corridor on the third floor, pondering and inadvertently glancing upward.

Maybe it was on the fourth floor.

The third and fourth floors were very close; it was quite possible that the Ghost Drawing was hidden on the fourth floor.

“Are we going to keep searching?” After hesitating for quite a while, Li Yang couldn’t help but ask.

He was not Yang Jian; in such a mentally taxing atmosphere, normal people could hardly endure. Jimmy, at his side, was already less lively, and continuing the search could lead to psychological issues.

“This is the objective of my mission. I won’t leave until it’s completed,” Yang Jian stated and then turned to Li Yang, “We’ve come this far, are you still thinking of backing down? Don’t be foolish; even if you return to the place you were hiding before, can you guarantee you’ll leave alive?”

“Surviving a few more days is all, but to leave you must directly confront the ghosts,” said Yang Jian. “Even the exit I know of is not necessarily safe; there’s immense danger involved.”

“I understand,” said Li Yang, even though he didn’t grasp everything. He was clear in his heart that Yang Jian’s words were right.

If you want to survive, you have to look for clues on the ghosts and find the exit.

Blindly running away is meaningless.

He had been running around in this world of ghost drawing for several months, his circumstances growing more tragic and the number of survivors dwindling… He didn’t know when he himself might die here.

“Let’s go to the fourth floor.”

Yang Jian’s gaze shifted slightly as he made this dangerous decision.

If the ghost drawing wasn’t on the third floor, then the probability that it was on the fourth was very high.

They were getting close to the source, and he was not going to back down or give up now.

“There’s a ghost standing on the wooden stairs. From the footsteps we heard just now, it’s highly likely the ghost is on the stairs to the fourth floor,” said Yang Jian. “If I go up the stairs, I’ll definitely run into the ghost on the stairs. It’s unavoidable. But the ghost drawing has changed the other areas; all the paths are blocked, leaving only these stairs unchanged.”

Yang Jian looked at the old wooden staircase.

The stairs were unaffected by the ghost drawing because they were occupied by a ghost. Otherwise, they would have already vanished, like the room from before. Wherever there’s a ghost, the influence of the ghost drawing seemed to be reduced somewhat.

“You guys stay here and keep an eye on the situation on this third floor for me. I’ll go up to the fourth floor to check. If there’s no problem with the stairs, then you can come up after me.”

Yang Jian did not ask Li Yang and the one named Jimmy to follow.

Taking them now would be like sending them to their deaths. Besides, Li Yang had just become a ghost controller. Yang Jian didn’t want him to be killed by a fierce ghost’s resurgence right away. That would just mean he’d have to deal with another ghost inhabiting a body later on.

Neither of them objected.

Yang Jian chose to scout ahead alone.

The steps leading to the fourth floor weren’t numerous; it was a staircase where you could see the end.

The stairs were steep and narrow, and unavoidable creaking noises came from the wooden steps upon each step.

Though the sound wasn’t loud, in this silent, oppressive, and dim environment, it was especially clear.

“Creak!”

Yang Jian had taken only one step when an immediate response came from above—a heavy footstep that seemed to be descending from the upper floor.

“The sound has appeared again,” said Li Yang, looking up and unable to hide his nervousness.

But Yang Jian didn’t hesitate a bit as he took his next step. The curse of the Eight-Tone Music Box echoed in his mind, and he wasn’t as fearful of the ghost coming down the stairs, so he quickly resumed his climb.

Step by step, though slow, he was resolute.

Soon he had crossed half the steps, and now he could raise his head to see the situation on the fourth floor.

The layout was the same as on the third floor. The only difference was the absence of numerous bodies on the ground, everything appeared very normal.

However, the footstep sound on the stairs was now extremely close. He was sure it was just above his head, separated only by the wooden steps, probably not more than five meters apart.

“The ghost is on the stairs from the fourth to the fifth floor, now descending. Its position is almost level with mine, having crossed half the steps. If I keep moving forward, I’m going to meet the ghost in the hallway on the fourth floor.”

Yang Jian estimated, and he was now quite sure of the ghost’s exact whereabouts.

“Since it can’t be circumvented and is inevitable, I’ll just have to confront this ghost head on.”

With his thoughts clear, he moved even faster.

With no hesitation, he quickly strode past the stairs to the fourth floor, then stared intently at the stairway leading to the fifth floor.

The ghost was about to appear.

The next moment.

Yang Jian distinctly heard a heavy footstep right beside him, already coming down from the fifth floor, theoretically now on the fourth floor.

But he saw nothing.

No ghost, no abnormalities.

Then, all of a sudden.

Yang Jian felt a wave of dizziness wash over him, his consciousness fading as if to disappear, his body unable to stand and collapsing right at the stairway entrance, as if he had suddenly died.

He had been attacked by the ghost.

After he fell, Yang Jian, in a daze, felt an indescribable chill lingering around him, as if someone was walking back and forth, emitting those heavy footsteps.

But after hovering for a while, that footstep sound gradually faded, as if moving away, or perhaps because Yang Jian was already “dead,” he was no longer a target for attack.

As the footsteps faded away.

Yang Jian quickly felt his consciousness rapidly returning. The familiar ring of the Eight-Tone Music Box pulled his fading consciousness back.

“Did I almost die again?”

When his consciousness cleared, Yang Jian felt a wave of relief wash over him.

This was the third time the curse of the Eight-Tone Music Box had saved him—the first time was from the Ghost Scissors’ attack, the second was the piano sound assault, and now the third… The time he was cut by the strange Firewood Knife didn’t count, as that was an active test and different from the other instances.

All three attacks were strange one-shot killers. Without the Eight-Tone Music Box’s curse, Yang Jian would have been killed without any chance of survival.

“Is the ghost haunting these stairs really so terrible? Once targeted, even I could be killed,” Yang Jian struggled to his feet.

He was used to this kind of thing by now.

Of course, if he didn’t have the curse of the Eight-Tone Music Box, he would never have taken such a risk, knowingly approaching the stairs where he knew a ghost lurked.

Now, he was on the fourth floor, and he no longer heard those eerie footsteps.

Maybe the ghost left, or maybe it was still lurking around but because Yang Jian was no longer a target, he did not continue to be attacked.