Chapter 40: Xu Yuan's Revenge

Thud! Gao Tian slammed into the dirt. Even though he had braced himself and aimed for the thickest patch of weeds, the impact still left him seeing stars. His entire back went numb. For a moment, he thought he'd fractured his spine and paralyzed his lower half.

Up on the Third Floor windowsill, a long, slender neck stretched out, supporting a woman's face twisted into a grotesque smile. She kept chattering incessantly at Gao Tian below:

"Zhao Qiang."

"Zhao Qiang!"

"Zhao Qiang."

"Zhao Qiang—"

"Zhao Qiang?"

...

The only thing that surprised Gao Tian was that the Red Jar he'd clutched during the fall hadn't shattered from the massive impact. There wasn't a single crack on its surface.

The texture of the Pot, along with its sheer resilience, proved it was no ordinary object. There was definitely more to it; Xu Yuan must have hidden a secret inside.

Limping, he struggled up from the ground and trudged painfully out of the courtyard.

Every step brought agonizing pain.

It had been late at night when he arrived at the White House, accompanied by nine lackeys. Now, as he left, dawn had already broken. The cooing of cuckoos echoed in the distance. Only Gao Tian remained, covered in bruises and cuts, clutching a large Red Jar that looked as if it were bleeding as he struggled away from the eerie White House.

Behind him, the Woman Face on the Third Floor windowsill kept staring at Gao Tian's retreating back, incessantly calling out the name "Zhao Qiang." But Gao Tian couldn't be bothered to pay her any attention.

...

Although he had escaped the White House alive, he hadn't used the Shattered Face Ghost's ability to copy the Woman Face's Killing Rule.

The main reason wasn't that he'd failed to make eye contact five times while frantically fleeing through the house.

The Shattered Face Ghost only had three slots, and the Memory Ghost already occupied one. He needed to choose his remaining two carefully.

Gao Tian wouldn't pick a Killing Rule meant solely for murder. Even if he acquired the Woman Face's ability, he couldn't kill a ghost by calling its name three times—ghosts were immortal and indestructible, after all. The power was essentially useless, wasting a precious slot for nothing.

...

He hailed a taxi on the side of the road and got in.

Gao Tian's mobile phone had already been smashed to powder by the female ghost in the White House. He currently had neither a phone nor cash on him.

There were tens of millions in cash available in Zhao Qiang's memories. However, Gao Tian didn't dare go get it right now; he restored his own face first.

Once Xu Yuan discovered that the Pot hidden in his ancestral home had been stolen, he would definitely return to exact a frenzied revenge. When that time came, anyone associated with "Zhao Qiang" would likely die.

He gave the driver the address to the Apartment. After a lot of persuasion—promising he would go inside to find someone to pay the fare upon arrival—the driver finally stepped on the gas.

During the three-hour drive, Gao Tian sat in the backseat, his entire body aching. Blood trickled down his forehead, staining the upholstery.

The Red Jar in his hands weighed about three or four jin. He didn't know what was inside. Peering through the mouth of the jar, he saw only pitch black; the contents were impossible to make out. To see clearly, he would have to press his eye right up against it.

Gao Tian suppressed his curiosity and chose not to look into the Pot.

He kept Xia Ta's advice firmly in mind: any Supernatural Item had to be brought into the Apartment before being inspected. Many Supernatural Items harbored terrifying powers that would instantly kill whoever touched them. Using the Apartment's power to suppress them was the safest approach.

The taxi waited near the Apartment. After getting out, Gao Tian first headed up to his room on the third floor, set down the Red Jar, and checked his wounds. Then, he knocked on Jiang Yang's door next door. The man answered bleary-eyed; it was only five in the morning, and he hadn't fully woken up yet.

In a rush, Gao Tian borrowed two thousand yuan from him. He went back downstairs, paid the three-hundred-yuan taxi fare, and returned to the Apartment to change his clothes and wash his face. Opening a cabinet, he found the standard medical supplies provided by the Apartment. He applied antiseptic where needed and stuck bandages over his cuts.

He slept groggily for a while to recover some stamina. At eight o'clock, he headed out to a mobile phone store, bought a usable secondhand mobile phone, and got a new SIM card. With his phone situation sorted, this whole chaotic ordeal was finally behind him, ending without any real disaster.

Looking at the Black Card in his hand, and then at the enigmatic Red Jar sitting in his room—

Gao Tian knew that, without even using the Black Card, he had forcefully snatched away the Pot from Xu Yuan's ancestral home right under his nose.

The only price he paid was letting the Ghost Card draw a card and place it on his soul.

This trade was completely worth it.

Just imagining how Xu Yuan would fly into a rage upon discovering the Pot in his ancestral home had been stolen made it entirely worthwhile.

Now, the only thing he was curious about was exactly what was hidden inside the Red Jar.

...

...

[Living Apartment]:

The Pot in my ancestral home has been stolen.

[Ghost Infant]:

How is that possible?

[Ghost Cave]:

Didn't you raise a ghost in that room while also deploying a ghost domain to trap any intruders? Logically speaking, shouldn't it have been foolproof?

[Infinite Floor]:

Honestly, Xu Yuan, I seriously doubt whether you still have the ability to serve as the president of the Galan Society.

A Pot hidden so deeply was still stolen by a bunch of living people. Then there's that lunatic, Burned Ghost, in the Chat Group. He's been complained about multiple times, yet you stubbornly keep him around instead of kicking him out.

Although you founded the Galan Society single-handedly, if you prove too incompetent, the rest of us have the right to leave or elect a new president.

[Burned Ghost]:

Hey, hey, @Infinite Floor, I've been keeping my eyes glued to this group, alright? I haven't looked away once.

It's not very nice to talk bad about someone behind their back like that.

[Living Apartment]:

@Ghost Cave @Ghost Infant

This matter is indeed very bizarre. Even a professional ghost hunter would find it incredibly difficult to escape after being trapped in a ghost domain and attacked by a Fierce Ghost.

How did those ordinary people manage to retreat completely unscathed from a ghost-rearing house without the aid of a Supernatural Item?

I suspect one of them is an expert hiding their true strength.

Fortunately, I went back to my ancestral home an hour ago and investigated the people who broke into the house.

They were just a bunch of street thugs, and all of them were killed by the ghost I raised. Only a single survivor managed to escape. The Pot is definitely in his hands. As long as we find him in reality and kill him, the Pot will return to our hands.

Ghost Infant, you're the best at navigating cyberspace. I have to leave this matter to you.

[Ghost Infant]:

Speechless. Overtime again.

Alright, alright. Give me the survivor's name. I'll kill his entire family as soon as possible and figure out exactly where he hid the Pot.

[Living Apartment]:

Thank you.

The person who stole my Pot is named Zhao Qiang.

[Living Apartment]:

@Infinite Floor

It's not yet time to kick out Burned Ghost. We need to endure it for a bit longer.

If you can't stand it, you're free to leave the Galan Society yourself.

Although your abilities are strong, our upcoming plans haven't reached a point where you are absolutely indispensable.

[Infinite Floor]:

Heh.

I'll stick around for now and observe your capabilities a little longer, President.

Even though your past exploits are praised to high heaven, I haven't seen a shred of your supposed ability. Is this all the judgment someone who survived ten Green Text Missions in the Apartment has to offer?

When my patience with you reaches its absolute limit, it won't be as simple as me just leaving the Chat Group.

I will contact the others and demand a change in leadership.

[Living Apartment]:

Be my guest.

[Ghost Cave]:

The more I think about it, the more I feel like there's definitely something wrong with Burned Ghost.

Why did he suddenly go crazy in the group and mutter the sole solution to the ghost domain to himself?

Maybe that group of thieves trapped in the ghost domain saw the chat logs and used them to figure out how to escape.

[Ghost Infant]:

Are you saying that Burned Ghost is the living person lurking in the Chat Group?

Does that mean I have to crawl through the network cables again?

Sigh, my workload this month is a bit high. Do I get overtime pay?

[Ghost Cave]:

No, Burned Ghost isn't a living person; he's a ghost.

What I mean is that there's another living person hiding in the Chat Group.

They most likely saw the President's previous messages and learned about the Pot in his ancestral home.

After going there to steal the Pot and being pushed to the brink by the Fierce Ghost and the ghost domain the President kept at the house, this person must have read Burned Ghost's messages in our Chat Group, discovered the domain's weakness, and successfully escaped.

[Ghost Infant]:

Sigh, here you go again with your delusions.

Last time you suddenly claimed that a living person had infiltrated our group of dozens of ghosts. Didn't everyone claim a Black Envelope just like you asked? Even if there really was a living person, they would have been killed by the curse in the Black Envelope by now.

Besides, the President already said that the sole survivor who escaped with the Pot is named Zhao Qiang. As long as I track him down and kill every person named Zhao Qiang in Shanghai City and Hengzhou City, this matter will be over.

There simply isn't a so-called living person in our group. Stop being so paranoid, alright?

[Ghost Cave]:

Sigh, I hope so.

[Living Apartment]:

@Ghost Infant

I'll send you the details on this Zhao Qiang in a private message shortly. His entire family, including distant relatives and friends, numbers around a hundred people.

Find them one by one, torture them slowly, and force them to spill every piece of information they know.

Flay their skin, rip out their bones. Make sure they suffer a fate worse than death. Make them understand that they shouldn't carelessly touch things they have no business touching.

Then, regardless of whether they confess the Pot's whereabouts—even if they hand it over—keep torturing them. Otherwise, my hatred won't be sated.

[Ghost Infant]:

Understood.

Wait, that's not right.

How come I still reek of the corporate grind even after becoming a ghost?

...

...

The Galan Society's chat ended there for today.

Gao Tian lurked silently, watching the messages with a mix of joy and sorrow.

The joyful part was that these guys were simply too hilarious.

When Xu Yuan claimed he had already figured out the identity of the sole survivor, Gao Tian had felt a jolt of panic, genuinely thinking he had been exposed.

In the worst-case scenario, he would have had to hide inside the Apartment permanently, only stepping out for missions.

After all, he would have been facing endless pursuit by dozens of ghosts from the Chat Group.

In the end, even Xu Yuan believed the escapee was named "Zhao Qiang." The priority level of the Shattered Face Ghost's ability was truly too high; even Xu Yuan couldn't see through the stolen identity.

Since Zhao Qiang's family was taking the fall for him, none of Zhao Qiang's parents or friends would escape. The Galan Society would immediately launch an unprecedented wave of revenge.

However, considering the Zhao family's underworld background over the years, having Fierce Ghosts uproot their entire household could be considered a public service.

The sorrowful part, however, was that Ghost Cave had a nose like a bloodhound.

While the other ghosts had completely relaxed, he still hadn't let go of his suspicion that there was a living person in the group.

Gao Tian wondered if he would conduct a private investigation and eventually trace things back to him.

There was nothing to be done about that. The only thing Gao Tian could do was make himself as strong as possible, so that when Ghost Cave finally tracked him down, he would have the power to counterattack, or at least fight back.

Having finished dealing with the Chat Group's affairs, Gao Tian sat on his large bed in the Apartment and looked at the Red Jar sitting quietly in the corner.

Now that he had returned to the Apartment, it was time to examine this Pot—the very prize he had risked his life to steal, and the obsession that haunted Xu Yuan's every waking moment.