Mysterious Revival

Yang Jian was sleeping, but his sleep was light; he could even keep hearing the echoing, ethereal, and eerie chiming in his mind, a melody made up of just a few notes that played incessantly, a kind of mental torture that was hard for anyone to endure.

The chimes from the Eight-Tone Music Box were both a death talisman and the key to preserving one's own life.

Once the music started, the first person to open the Eight-Tone Music Box would be cursed with an inability to die, a curse that could last for days on end.

Conversely, as soon as the music stopped, the cursed person was doomed to die without a doubt.

There was no known solution to this curse.

It was too dangerous; hence it was sealed away by headquarters most of the time and rarely used.

But today, Yang Jian was less than forty hours away from the outbreak of the curse.

However, as he slept, in his daze, he seemed to have a dream, led by that melody in his mind, he abruptly arrived at a narrow, sealed room that looked like it had been covered in dust for ages, dim and dark, devoid of light, imperceptible to everything around.

Moreover, there were no walls around, no points of reference whatsoever.

The only thing present was an old piano in the center of the room. Although Yang Jian felt he was standing right next to it, he could not move or approach the piano.

But he saw a pair of dreadful hands resting on the old piano, hands that were shriveled, blackened, meant to decay, yet they were trembling ever so slightly, as if moving, as if playing the piano. And yet, these dreadful hands were incomplete, several of its fingers missing.

The old piano, too, was missing several keys.

Therefore, as the horrible hands moved, they could never press the keys or play any sound.

The missing fingers and the missing keys aligned perfectly as if deliberately made that way by someone to prevent the shadow in the darkness from using the piano.

But this prevention seemed to be gradually failing.

Yang Jian saw that where the original keys were missing, a few new ones had been added, shiny and new, clashing with the rest of the keys.

There were already quite a few of these newly installed keys, a total of five.

But when he tried to approach for a closer look, he found the dreadful hands in front of the piano had disappeared. Simultaneously, a shadow began to emerge in the darkness, drawing ever closer to him, terrifying and bone-chilling, like a malicious ghost lingering by your side.

But the chimes of the Eight-Tone Music Box echoed around Yang Jian.

The chimes prevented the ghost from getting closer, ensuring Yang Jian was safe and unharmed.

The dream was absurd, yet also bizarre.

It felt like a long time had passed, and yet in an instant, everything had changed. Yang Jian was gradually moving away from the sealed room; he had not moved, it seemed as if the room was moving away from him.

Then his consciousness returned.

His body gave a slight shudder,

Yang Jian suddenly opened his eyes, his mind clear, with no trace of sleepiness.

"Did I actually have a dream?" He felt surprised and couldn't help but frown and ponder.

Ever since he became a ghost controller, he rarely dreamed, only at special moments such as when he was eroded by his own ghost, or when his body was severely deteriorated. But the dreams during those times were not dreams, but a leakage of information, as a result of the interaction between humans and ghosts.

Yang Jian remembered Zhang Lei had said he had received memories that were not his, hence he knew about the existence of that graveyard, even though he himself had never been there.

"Is this an information guide from the curse of the Eight-Tone Music Box? A fierce ghost that plays the piano? It's likely the source of the curse... I'm about to be killed by the curse now, so my body has become a kind of medium, through either the response or the reaction of the ghost inside me, reaching that original source."

He pondered deeply, remembering carefully, yet he had no idea where the room from his dream was located.

It definitely wasn't room number 71 at the Caesar Hotel, he was sure of that.

"Yang Jian, are you awake? Get up quickly, I've already received notification. Professor Wang has asked for you to come over," Liu Xiaoyu's voice came from the living room. She was shouting loudly, not knowing which room Yang Jian was staying in, so she just yelled haphazardly.

Yang Jian looked at the clock; it was nine o'clock in the morning, which meant he had somehow slept through the night, though it felt to him like only half an hour had passed. It seemed his body was just too tired, and even though his consciousness could bear it, his body could not after being active for so long.

"I gave Wang Xiaoming two days' notice; it looks like he's on time and didn't make me wait any longer."

His eyes shifted slightly, naturally knowing what Wang Xiaoming's call was about today; after all, it was the time he had been waiting for.

"I can't fully trust Wang Xiaoming, even with the Ghost Cabinet transaction rules in place; I still need to take some precautions."

Yang Jian didn't take measures on himself; instead, his gaze turned to the tightly closed door beside him.

The existence of the Ghost Child, kept a secret from everyone, served well as an emergency measure or a backup plan. It hadn't yet entered the third stage and become a Hungry Ghost by devouring other ghosts, so it was uncertain how effective it would be now.

He decided to nurture the Ghost Child temporarily.

Immediately.

Yang Jian obtained something from underground through the Ghost Domain.

A black, filthy shroud, resembling what dead bodies wear for their burial.

Dressing the Ghost Child in the Ghost Shroud had been a thoughtful decision; unusual as the shroud was, the critical moment to utilize it had come—time for it to serve its purpose.

"Put on the clothes and come out," Yang Jian said as he opened the box containing the Ghost Shroud, then tossed it into the room.

The room held the Ghost Child within.

One could predict what would happen when ghosts interacted with each other.

It didn't take long.

The door opened.

An eerie child, around six years old, now appeared before Yang Jian, dressed in the Ghost Shroud. The original size of the shroud was much too large, but on this Ghost Child, it fit extraordinarily well, as though it had automatically shrunk to fit.

"Indeed, the Ghost Shroud won't conflict with the Ghost Child itself and, if my assumptions are correct, the Ghost Child should be able to perfectly wield this garment."

Yang Jian's gaze flickered.

The Ghost Shroud, when worn by the living, could ward off attacks from other ghosts, but the consequence would be a gradual erosion of the living body, turning it into a corpse, and once worn, the living could not remove it.

Therefore, the true bearer suited for this garment wasn't a person, but a ghost.

Ghosts aren't afraid of the shroud's erosion, so they can wield it perfectly.

In other words, the Ghost Shroud is a universal puzzle piece for any ghost, a one-size-fits-all, which means the Ghost Child can also control it perfectly.

"Take this Dead Man's Head with you and follow me. Do not attack anyone without my command," Yang Jian ordered coldly, tossing over a body bag.

If the Ghost Child could wield the Ghost Shroud, then it should be able to withstand the terrifying assaults of the Dead Man's Head once it was dressed in the garment.

Today, Yang Jian didn't want to hold anything back—he wanted to be fully prepared.

Dealing with Wang Xiaoming wasn't easy.

After doing all this, Yang Jian even carried a decoy doll with him before stepping out of the room.

"What are you doing, why are you up so late?" Liu Xiaoyu was already ready, still dressed in her cute-styled dress, looking pretty and proper.

However, her eyes were somewhat evasive, seemingly searching for traces of the Ghost Child, very afraid of that thing appearing beside her.

"Where is the address, I'll go by myself. You can head back to headquarters later tonight, no need to stay here anymore, this place isn't safe," Yang Jian said.

In another room of his lay ghost paintings, not a place suitable for ordinary people to stay for long, especially when he wasn't there.

Liu Xiaoyu responded, "How can that be? I need to take you there, it's my job."

"No more talk, give me the address," Yang Jian insisted seriously.

"Alright, then I'll send you the location, and you can go on your own," Liu Xiaoyu, seeing Yang Jian's firm attitude, had no choice but to send a location to him.

After receiving it, Yang Jian glanced at it and strode towards the door. The Ghost Child, flickering in and out of sight, secretly followed him all the way, never appearing before the living and thus avoiding Liu Xiaoyu's view.

Today, he was going to resolve the curse of the Eight-Tone Music Box.

Whether he could succeed or what terrible things might happen along the way was something Yang Jian could not predict; he could only do his best.