Chapter 181: Finding the Hanged Man

Qin Zhuguang tugged sharply downward on the hem of his shirt.

The moment the Old District rioted, she would teleport them out. She would force an abort even if the mission went unfinished.

It couldn't be helped. Even if they failed to capture the Hanged Man, they absolutely could not stay in the Old District.

Once the "expansion" began, there would be no leaving.

Gao Tian was also preparing to evacuate. Before they left, he stared hard at the beggar howling about the whole city being dead. Who exactly was he?

He remembered.

The cause of the Old District's second expansion was a newspaper reporter sneaking in, risking his life to photograph the ghost town. Instead, he had awakened all the ghosts in the city, forcing the big shots from the Supernatural Disaster Bureau to step in and suppress the outbreak.

No one cared about the reporter left inside after the expansion ended. He was almost certainly dead.

Judging by the broken video camera at the beggar's feet, this was that very same reporter. Gao Tian had never expected the man to actually be alive, trapped in the Old District with no way out.

Over a decade had passed, and the man was still obsessed with his viral web traffic and riches. He really did value money over his own life.

Only, why the hell was he screaming? He had gotten tens of thousands of people killed over a decade ago, and now he was trying to get the two of them killed too?

Throngs of middle-aged women emerged from across the alley, hauling large baskets and small bags of groceries. They had just returned from the market, looking exactly like longtime locals of the Old District.

They heard the beggar's howling word for word.

Especially the part about the entire city being dead.

They were completely screwed. Gao Tian felt that short of teleporting far, far away from the Old District, there was absolutely no way out of this.

The next moment, a woman with dyed blonde hair covered her mouth and laughed. "What's wrong with this out-of-town beggar? Seven or eight years have passed, and his condition hasn't improved at all."

"He repeats the same nonsense day in and day out. Doesn't even change it up."

"Saying we're all ghosts, that he knows the secret behind the old town turning into a ghost town, and that he's going to win some Puli-something Prize. It's hilarious. It sounds like he's talking in his sleep."

The other women chimed in one after another, not taking the reporter's words to heart at all.

"Good grief. Look at the groceries we just bought. How could we be ghosts? Do ghosts need to eat?"

"You've been here for seven or eight years yourself, so how come no one from your hometown has come looking for you? Were you an orphan? Are all your relatives dead? Poor thing."

"If we were ghosts, why would we let you live this long? What a sin. I gave you five yuan just the day before yesterday, and here you are screaming at me this morning. What an ungrateful wretch."

The women noticed the shocked and uncertain looks on the "siblings," Gao Tian and Qin Zhuguang. Assuming they were just out-of-towners who didn't know about the mad beggar, they took pity on them.

One kindly explained, "Don't be scared, kids. This beggar doesn't hit anyone. He just has a few screws loose up here and yells nonsense every day. Just ignore him."

With that, the women hurried off down the street to head home. They still had to go fight over discount eggs that afternoon.

So that was it—

In the eyes of the old neighborhood locals, this beggar was just a raving lunatic. And naturally, no one took a lunatic's words to heart.

It made sense. The reporter had been trapped in the Old District for over a decade, and he had been screaming for just as long.

If a single sentence from him could awaken the memories of the entire city, the Old District would have entered its fourth "expansion" a long time ago.

Once the women disappeared from view, Gao Tian looked at the beggar across the street. He considered walking over to see if he could pry any information out of him.

The reporter had been in the Old District for over a decade. He had to know something, had to have seen things he wasn't supposed to see.

Whatever had caused the entire district to turn out this way, the man claimed to know the secret.

Just as Gao Tian felt tempted and turned his feet toward him, Qin Zhuguang gently poked him in the back with a slender finger.

Gao Tian snapped to attention.

In the distance, the women hadn't actually left. They were looking back over their shoulders as they walked, checking to see if the "siblings" were going to talk to the beggar.

Diagonally across the street, an old man sunbathing in a reclining chair and a few customers browsing behind glass doors were doing the same.

They were all watching Gao Tian out of the corners of their eyes.

If Gao Tian walked right over and struck up a conversation with the beggar, what would the residents of the Old District think?

The beggar was a lunatic, so were these two siblings lunatics as well? Why did all outsiders who came to this town go crazy and think the entire district was dead?

Would that trigger some kind of change in these longtime residents?

It was a risk Gao Tian didn't dare take, even if the chances were one in ten thousand.

He immediately masked his face with a look of disgust. Forcing down his curiosity, he dragged Qin Zhuguang behind him and walked away in the opposite direction.

He ignored the beggar's frantic cries for help and promises to reveal the district's secrets.

Only when they reached the next deserted corner did Gao Tian finally slow his hurried pace.

"I'm taking that beggar with us before we evacuate. There has to be a trigger for the Old District turning out this way. A site of this scale doesn't just form out of nowhere," he said.

Since he couldn't talk to the beggar inside the district, he would just drag him out by force.

Qin Zhuguang kept a tight grip on his shirt. "That's pointless, Gao Tian."

"Do you think the big shot who came to the Old District didn't see this beggar?"

"If he knew any vital intel that could save the Old District, it would have been extracted a long time ago."

"Yet the Old District remains in slumber, being handled through the most time-consuming, inefficient method possible. That proves whatever the beggar knows is completely useless."

She continued, "The Old District has already been swallowed by the Inner World. Even if you erase the Old District, you can't save the people who used to live here."

"Our mission is to get what you came for, not to solve supernatural incidents."

"You already decided to grab a few warning signs before we evacuate. We don't have time to go back for the beggar."

"You can only take one or the other. Don't be greedy."

"If you try to take everything, you'll walk away with nothing. You might even end up trapped here yourself."

Only one or the other?

Gao Tian cooled off a little. He knew Qin Zhuguang was right; he had been taking things for granted.

If he had to choose between the warning signs and the beggar—

He'd choose the signs.

Over a decade ago, that reporter got half the city killed for his own selfish greed.

He deserved to be trapped here. It was a fitting life sentence.

Whatever "secret" the beggar knew about the Old District had become completely meaningless the moment the district was swallowed by the Inner World.

It was too late.

The "No Smiling" warning sign was what mattered most. He had to secure it at all costs.

Just as he made up his mind, the bone compass in his hand slowly ceased its faint trembling.

That meant the Hanged Man was just up ahead. It was close—very close.

Qin Zhuguang trailed after him and said, "Why you're hunting a ghost in the Old District is none of my business. My only job is to keep you alive."

"But once you find it, how long will it take you to capture it?"

"After all, acting out of line or starting a fight under the noses of all these locals..."

"...could trigger unforeseen consequences."

Gao Tian replied, "It'll be quick."

"I have a Supernatural Item that hard-counters that ghost. Once I get my hands on her, it'll be over in a flash."

"Plus, once I contain that ghost, it'll form a combo with another one of my Supernatural Items. After that, it'll be practically impossible for a ghost to kill me."

He would be able to routinely clear the penalty on his Ghost Card. He would become a legendary, unkillable tank.

Hearing that, Qin Zhuguang slowed her steps.

She looked up at Gao Tian.

A trace of world-weariness far beyond her years appeared on the child's face. "There's a saying that gets passed around among ghost hunters."

"'The moment you feel invincible is the moment you're about to die.'"

"There's no such thing as an infallible Supernatural Item, much less an immortal ghost hunter. Anything can happen in the supernatural world."

"Don't be arrogant, Gao Tian. Humans are fragile."

Just then, the loud voices of several men echoed from around the corner of the alley. "Hey, did you hear? Old Yu's boy, Silly Zhu, is getting married."

"Seriously? Wow, never would have guessed."

"I know, right? The bride came back from the big city, seems real educated. I hear she's Christian—the real devout kind."

"Tsk. With a massive cross dangling from her head on her wedding day, I'd say she's pretty devout."

"City folks sure have a lot of weird customs."

"Honestly, it feels like nothing major has happened in this little town of ours in over a decade. If it weren't for this wedding, I'd have thought we were completely cut off from the outside world."

"Alright, alright, enough with the sentimentality. The wedding's starting soon. Come on, boys, let's go grab a few drinks and join the fun."

Hearing the commotion, Gao Tian knew the Hanged Man was right around the corner.

Except, something about the locals' conversation felt deeply wrong.

A wedding?

A bizarre, even chilling suspicion began to form in his mind.

He had wondered how the people of the Old District would react to the Hanged Man, but he had never expected this.

Gao Tian rounded the corner to take a look. But the moment his eyes landed on what was waiting there, he froze dead in his tracks—