Mysterious Revival

Chapter 635: Chapter 632: Encounter on the Stairs

Thump, thump, thump

A series of hasty footsteps echoed through the dim and oppressive stairwell, signaling that several people were rushing down from the upper floors, their urgency palpable. And trailing behind this clatter of footsteps was another sound, as if something were in pursuit.

Strictly speaking, it only takes two flights of stairs to go from the third floor all the way down, a very short distance indeed. A typical person could complete it in about thirty seconds, including the walk through the hallway.

Yet, this short distance had three people lingering on the verge of death.

Yang Jian was a bit more exceptional; he wasn’t as fragile as ordinary people. But he hadn’t forgotten that danger wasn’t only lurking behind him.

It was within his expectations that the ghost from the stairs would give chase—quick action could avoid the next attack from the stairwell ghost. However, the ghost from the painting on the first floor was unavoidable, as there was only this one way out. It was impossible to leave through the windows of the building.

At this moment, Yang Jian had already reached the second floor and quickly passed through the hallway, arriving at the top of the staircase leading down to the first floor.

But then, his eyes narrowed slightly.

Because his most dreaded scenario had come to pass.

There in front of him appeared another ghost, dressed in red, its facial features blurred and indistinct, only recognizable as a woman through other vague characteristics. The most eye-catching aspect was the pair of hands in front of the ghost’s body—pale, realistic, yet cold and eerily strange.

This discordant appearance was all the more horrifying.

The ghost from the painting?

Although Yang Jian had been prepared, he couldn’t help but pause upon this direct encounter—an instinctive act of caution.

However, his vigilant hesitation wasn’t shared by the ghost.

The ghost from the painting had already reached the stairs, ascending in silence, its feet as hazy as the figures in an oil painting, but the old-fashioned embroidered shoes it wore could be discerned, looking very similar to someone in a particular photo.

Perhaps what the Ghost Cabinet was truly seeking was this ghost.

Yang Jian had now seen it, which meant he might have completed the task of the Ghost Cabinet, but that wasn’t his current concern.

The narrow staircase was now blocked by the ghost, leaving no way to bypass it. To descend the stairs, he would have to pass by the ghost, with no idea whether an attack would come. Yang Jian only knew that when Wang Quan had passed by the ghost earlier, he wasn’t attacked right away, although the ghost had still followed after a few steps.

Therefore, contacting the ghost from the painting carried an extremely high level of risk.

“Mister Yang, why have you stopped? Hurry up; those footsteps are very close now,” urged Li Yang, his face ghastly from excessive fear, while Jimmy trembled all over.

The two had drawn closer to Yang Jian and, upon seeing the situation ahead, had hastily halted their steps.

Another ghost was unexpectedly right in front of them, and it was coming up the stairs?

The activity they had observed earlier was real—there truly was another ghost downstairs.

Li Yang nearly collapsed on the spot, and Jimmy, overwhelmed, began to cry and mutter words like “mom,” as if he was prepared to die right there, thinking of his loved ones.

“Charge through; stopping is just waiting for death,” said Yang Jian, making a decisive yet risky decision in a situation with ghosts both ahead and behind.

The footsteps were drawing nearer, leaving no room for choice, with the exit just a few meters away, in plain sight. Hesitating or recoiling in fear of the ghost blocking the path meant an even more gruesome death.

By charging through, the chance of survival was still substantial.

Of course, Yang Jian could make such a risky move only because the curse of the Eight-Tone Music Box was still in effect. If it had been before, he certainly wouldn’t have made up his mind so quickly.

Immediately,

with the Ghost Shadow cloaked over him, Yang Jian charged straight down the stairs towards the ghost in front of him.

The ghost from the painting continued to climb the stairs without stopping.

As Yang Jian burst down from above, man and ghost met halfway up the stairs.

Yang Jian didn’t really use his body to resist the ghost in front of him; instead, at this moment, he extended his Ghost Hand, trying to forcibly push away the ghost before him. The Ghost Hand possessed the authority to suppress a quota of ghosts, and its energy had been effective against the derived products of the Ghost Shadows, but that was only effective against the derivatives, not the ghost in front of him. He didn’t know if it would work against this ghost.

The answer was quick to come.

“Can’t push it away?”

Yang Jian’s face changed drastically as his hand had already made contact with the ghost’s body. The power of the Ghost Shadow combined with the repression of the Ghost Hand was unexpectedly unable to push the ghost before him away. It felt like he was touching a cold stone; no matter how hard he tried, the ghost before him remained unmoved. Instead, it continued to advance slowly in the same manner as before.

“This ghost is different from the ones encountered before; its Terror Level is extremely high. It’s very likely the real Source Ghost.”

Perhaps because Yang Jian hadn’t yet conformed to the attacking pattern of the ghost, his bold contact didn’t result in an attack from the ghost before him.

The ghost’s blurred features didn’t even glance at him, nor did they pause, treating Yang Jian as if he were air and continuing on its way upstairs.

Without the time to consider all of this, and without thinking about why the ghost hadn’t attacked him, Yang Jian immediately changed his strategy the moment he realized he couldn’t push the ghost away. He flipped over beside the ghost’s body and forcibly descended the last step, completely leaving the eerie wooden staircase to avoid being caught by the ghost making the footsteps.

Li Yang was shocked to see Yang Jian handle the ghost’s body and bypass it directly. He wanted to follow suit, but when the real ghost approached, he chickened out and couldn’t help but step back.

After all, he didn’t have the same mental fortitude as Yang Jian, an old hand at guiding ghosts. He lacked the courage to risk everything in a critical moment.

His retreat, however, caused him to bump into Jimmy standing behind him.

The two of them, like scared animals, shivered and trembled, not daring to move forward, yet also afraid to retreat.

Because the footsteps had already approached from behind.

With both ghosts drawing closer, the end seemed predictable.

The narrow staircase left no room for them to dodge; the outcome was foreseeable: they would either be killed by the ghost from the painting or die from the terrifying footsteps behind them.

“These two guys have indeed stopped. I’d told them before, no matter what you encounter, what you see, don’t stop.”

Yang Jian turned his head and saw this, his gaze turned grim.

He could completely leave now and ignore these two, but then he remembered that Li Yang had become a ghost guide and might be useful later on, and Jimmy had helped locate the Ghost Painting. It would seem too excessive to abandon them now,

especially since they weren’t complete strangers.

“Let’s try and see. Don’t blame me if this doesn’t work,” thought Yang Jian, as the Headless Ghost Shadow at his feet rapidly covered the wooden staircase’s railing and spread over it.

At this point, a third ghost joined the milieu on the staircase.

The Headless Ghost Shadow wasn’t aiming to contend with either ghost but to scoop the people up.

Soon, the Headless Ghost Shadow enveloped Li Yang and Jimmy and directly lifted them both up.

Jimmy, powerless to resist like a puppet, allowed the Ghost Shadow to manipulate him, but Li Yang managed to struggle, as he appeared about to break free from the Ghost Shadow’s control.

This was due to the ghost inside his body, subconsciously combating the invading Ghost Shadow.

After all, Li Yang still couldn’t get used to or even use the abilities of the ghost in his body.

“Will this work?”

Yang Jian quickly brought back the two men lifted by the Ghost Shadow, but the footsteps on the staircase had already reached a fatally close range, and the ghost from the Ghost Painting also drew near.

The two ghosts were now about to collide on the narrow staircase.

Anything could happen at that moment.

Perhaps Jimmy and Li Yang would be killed instantly by the footsteps coming from behind, or they might get targeted by the ghost from the Ghost Painting and become its prey.

Or potentially, an unexpected situation could arise from the two ghosts encountering each other, such as mutual suppression or conflict of rules, which might allow the two men to fortuitously survive.

Hope was right before them, as was death.