Chapter 107: Old Man Sun

When Xu Yuan summoned Gao Tian inside the Divine Tree, he never even considered the possibility of rejection.

"You've heard of the ghost hunters from the Supernatural Disaster Bureau, I assume?"

"A bunch of stubborn fools trying to patch up this crumbling world.

"They think they're saving the world. In reality, their actions—and their repeated interference with me—are only accelerating its destruction.

"Of course, I never considered them true opponents. If I really wanted to, I could wipe them all out in a single day."

Gao Tian scoffed inwardly.

'Then why were you in such a rush to urge Ghost Infant and the others to leave when you heard the Supernatural Disaster Bureau was coming?'

Rather than making forced excuses, Xu Yuan offered a frank explanation: "There is only one person in the entire Supernatural Disaster Bureau I truly fear: Old Man Sun. Without him holding the fort, that organization would have long since devolved into a third-rate joke, entirely unworthy of attention.

"He is a terrifying ghost hunter. He handled multiple S-Level anomalies and went by the title 'Ghost Emissary' in his youth. Even now, aged and in semi-retirement, he remains my number one threat.

"I originally planned to launch my operation after he died of old age, but the old bastard refuses to drop dead. I can't afford to wait anymore. In another ten or twenty years, the supernatural will fully revive. Humanity will go extinct before we have a chance to implement our plan."

So that was it.

Xu Yuan's claim that he could slaughter the entire Supernatural Disaster Bureau in a day probably wasn't an empty boast.

The President of Galan Society genuinely possessed that level of power.

He held back solely out of fear of an old ghost hunter named Old Man Sun.

Xu Yuan let out another long sigh.

Old Man Sun of the Supernatural Disaster Bureau, codenamed "Ghost Emissary," had resolved countless supernatural incidents in his time.

From Xu Yuan's perspective, however, he himself was the world's true savior. The actions of Old Man Sun and the Supernatural Disaster Bureau would ultimately lead to humanity's destruction.

"What can I do to help the Galan Society?" Gao Tian asked.

Surely Xu Yuan didn't expect him to fight Old Man Sun?

Xu Yuan couldn't possibly be that unhinged.

Xu Yuan let out a cold, mocking laugh. "Old Man Sun's unit, Abyss Echo, is stationed right here in Shanghai City.

"I know the old bastard well. He looks cynical on the outside, but he is deeply principled. Abyss Echo's mission is to protect the coastal cities of Xia Country. As long as Old Man Sun remains in Shanghai City, he won't tolerate any mishaps under his watch.

"Of course, Shanghai City sees numerous minor supernatural incidents every day. Old Man Sun can't handle them all personally, so he spends most of his time slacking off. But if an S-Level Fierce Ghost were to descend upon the city and threaten it with total destruction, that would undoubtedly force him out of hiding."

Holding nothing back, Xu Yuan laid out a plan to Gao Tian: "A Meme-type urban legend, the Woman in the Rain, is already spreading quietly through Shanghai City.

"The Supernatural Disaster Bureau has already opened a file on the Woman in the Rain. They've assessed it as a B-Level threat—risky, sure, but something they can afford to postpone dealing with.

"Fools. They completely fail to understand the true terror of this Fierce Ghost.

"All we have to do is wait in silence. We wait for an S-Level Fierce Ghost to incubate and hatch.

"Once it spreads widely enough and infects more than half the citizens of Shanghai City with its Meme, a full-blown S-Level incident will erupt. By then, the Woman in the Rain will be completely out of control, wielding a destructive power far beyond anything the Supernatural Disaster Bureau can handle.

"When that time comes, Old Man Sun—who has been observing the situation from the shadows in Shanghai City—will have no choice but to act, and he undoubtedly will.

"He will forcefully suppress this S-Level Fierce Ghost.

"It's hard to say who will emerge victorious. The 'Ghost Emissary' might have been invincible in his youth, but he is eighty years old now. He's human, not a ghost. His physical attributes are degrading under the laws of nature. Even if he ultimately manages to contain the Woman in the Rain, it will be a Pyrrhic victory.

"After a battle of that magnitude, Old Man Sun will pay a devastating price. He'll be drained, running on fumes, and gasping his final breaths."

Xu Yuan had Old Man Sun's personality perfectly calculated.

The next words he spoke truly made Gao Tian's hair stand on end, cementing the feeling that Old Man Sun was utterly doomed. "Once Old Man Sun is fought to the point of absolute exhaustion, the Galan Society will dispatch its full force to descend upon Shanghai City. And joining us will be the Multi-Headed Ghost.

"By the time Old Man Sun and the Woman in the Rain mutually cripple each other, the Multi-Headed Ghost will swallow him whole. Humanity's strongest ghost hunter from a bygone era... now that is some tremendous nourishment. Who knows how many ordinary Inner World ghosts he'll be worth.

"Since Old Man Sun was so powerful in life, his Killing Rule in death will undoubtedly be unimaginably strong."

Xu Yuan's scheme was vicious beyond belief.

No matter how formidable Old Man Sun was, he was still an eighty-year-old man. If he had to fight two S-Level Fierce Ghosts—the Woman in the Rain and the Artist—back-to-back, all while fending off an ambush from Xu Yuan and the Galan Society... no matter his strength, he would likely truly fall that day.

Once this old man—the only person capable of instilling fear in Xu Yuan—died, absolutely no one would be left to step up and stop whatever the Galan Society wanted to do next.

Shanghai City in its entirety would become mere nourishment for Xu Yuan's Divine Tree.

His so-called plan to save the world would also advance much more smoothly.

Gao Tian had never met Old Man Sun in his life, yet he couldn't help but feel a deep anxiety for the old man's fate.

Outwardly, however, he kept his composure. After all, his current identity was an esper altered by the Divine Tree, meaning his loyalties had to lie firmly with the Galan Society.

He looked at Xu Yuan, showing a trace of admiration. "What can my abilities contribute to this event?"

"I need the power of your Memory Ghost," Xu Yuan said, "to alter the Supernatural Disaster Bureau investigators' assessment of the Woman in the Rain. I need them to continually believe that this is a controllable incident.

"The longer the Woman in the Rain spreads in the shadows, the greater her influence will grow, and the more terrifying the eventual outbreak will be. If Old Man Sun notices her the moment she enters Shanghai City, he'll crush the Fierce Ghost with a single strike, and the rest of the plan cannot be implemented.

"I will coordinate the specifics of how to execute this with you in the Chat Group when the time comes.

"Furthermore, while Old Man Sun might be a flawless fighter in every respect, the beloved wife of his youth is dead. The loss of his wife is the greatest pain of his life, leaving a slight vulnerability in his mental resistance. During the final battle, right after Old Man Sun suppresses the Woman in the Rain, his body and willpower will hit rock bottom. If you use your Killing Rule to influence him then—telling him his late wife is waiting for him at home—even a single second of distraction will give the Multi-Headed Ghost the opening it needs for a gluttonous feast."

Everything Xu Yuan had promised today had been cleanly laid out.

The Divine Tree, the Galan Society, the future of humanity, and the Ghost Nation.

The Woman in the Rain was only just beginning to spread, meaning Xu Yuan was in no rush to deploy the Memory Ghost. Shanghai City still had a window of peace left.

Perhaps its final moments of peace.

Gao Tian's actual thoughts, however, were entirely different: 'The moment I walk out this door, I'm finding Old Man Sun and telling him every last one of your secrets.'

What a joke. The espers of the Galan Society identified themselves as ghosts; they didn't view the living as their own kind at all.

For their plan against Old Man Sun, they didn't care in the slightest how many citizens in Shanghai City would die from the spread of the Woman in the Rain. The crucial core of Xu Yuan's plan to kill Old Man Sun was that Old Man Sun cared about human lives, while Xu Yuan completely did not.

That was Xu Yuan's greatest advantage. Not the disparity in strength between the two sides.

Just as Gao Tian was about to walk out of the room, Xu Yuan's voice sounded from behind him, laced with an eerie smile. "Where do you think you're going, Memory Ghost?"

Gao Tian instinctively felt something was wrong: "Since it will still be a while before the plan unfolds, I will head back to reality for now. Let's keep in touch."

Xu Yuan said, "That won't do.

"Now that you know such important matters, what happens if you return to reality, fall into the hands of the Supernatural Disaster Bureau, and leak this secret?"

Gao Tian had learned far too many of the Galan Society's core secrets during today's visit to the Divine Tree. It seemed the President had no intention of letting him walk away.

Gao Tian halted. His hand was in his pocket, already tightly pinching a Black Card. "I have so many life-saving measures at my disposal. How could the Supernatural Disaster Bureau possibly catch me?

"You're underestimating me too much.

He added another sentence: "Or could it be that you've been harboring a grudge against me for imprisoning your subordinate, and from the moment we started negotiating, you had already planned to find some random excuse to imprison me here?

"I never expected the esteemed President of Galan Society to be someone who likes to play word games. That is a bit too disappointing."

In his mind, Gao Tian was already preparing for the absolute worst-case scenario.

If Xu Yuan tried to forcibly detain him in the Inner World, Gao Tian would activate the Black Card instantly. He would risk a complete fallout with Xu Yuan just to escape.

However, this was Xu Yuan's stronghold. There was no way a powerhouse like him lacked the means to forcefully detain someone.

If it came to the worst, he would have to activate his Ghost Luck and gamble his life on it.

Silence fell behind him for a moment. Finally, Xu Yuan's oppressive voice rang out again. "True enough. You make a fair point.

"I can let you return to reality. However, before you leave, you must swear a deadly oath before the Corrupted Evil Buddha, guaranteeing that you will not reveal what you've learned today—either directly or indirectly—to any third party other than you and me.

"An oath sworn before the Evil Buddha must be obeyed, even by a ghost. If you even entertain the thought of breaking it, you will instantly transform into a miniature bronze Buddha and be teleported right back here to the Divine Tree.

"How about it?"

Eerie ghost fire burned deep within Xu Yuan's eyes. Whether it was an illusion or not, his half-fleshed face seemed to twist into a mocking half-smile as he stared at Gao Tian.

He could leave, but only if he swore an oath before a grotesque giant Buddha crisscrossed with flesh and blood.

That Buddha was also a Supernatural Item with extremely bizarre effects. If he swore this oath, Gao Tian would essentially become completely mute on the subject. Despite knowing so many of the Divine Tree's secrets and Xu Yuan's plan, he wouldn't be able to breathe a single word about them once he returned to Shanghai City. If he refused to swear, Xu Yuan naturally wouldn't let him leave. Old Man Sun was his lifelong mortal enemy; Xu Yuan would never allow even the slightest flaw or variable to jeopardize his plan to kill the old man.