Chapter 63: Fierce Ghost Prohibition

The black-and-white television, which had clearly been turned off, had somehow turned itself back on.

"Today's... news broadcast... is not yet over...

"Please do not... turn off the television... at will..."

Through the blurry picture quality, heavy pixelation distorted the faces of the male and female anchors. Their eyes and mouths had become bottomless black cavities oozing a sand-like mixture. Haltingly, they continued to mumble their news script.

Standing at the door, Zhao Zhenjia controlled the Wind Attendant Buddha inside the room, hesitating over whether to simply smash the television to pieces with a single punch.

He preferred a straightforward approach—just smash it and be done with it.

Xia Ta had a completely different personality. She analyzed the situation calmly: "Whether the mummified corpses on the sofa are ghosts remains to be seen. But the anchors on the television can converse with reality, so they are definitely ghosts.

"The only question now is that turning off the television was most likely an action that triggered their Killing Rule. So why haven't they attacked?

"Or is the true master of Room 413 somewhere else?"

Zhao Zhenjia asked, "Should I just attack this television and see what happens once it's broken?"

Beside the television, the Wind Attendant Buddha clenched its fists, ready to strike at any moment and smash the annoying piece of junk to pieces.

Xia Ta said, "Don't touch the television yet. Control the Wind Attendant Buddha to look around the other rooms.

"Gao Tian said he often hears the sound of marbles and a little girl from upstairs. Right above him is the bedroom of this apartment, so maybe we can find that little girl inside.

"Our mission is to find the cause of the supernatural descent. Compared to that, everything else can wait."

Gao Tian remembered the little girl often saying that her mother hit her and that her parents rarely came home.

Weren't they home this whole time? It was just that they had become mummified corpses.

The Wind Attendant Buddha immediately turned around and pushed open the ajar bedroom door, its burly figure fading into the darkness.

A long moment passed without any activity from the bedroom. Standing in the corridor, Gao Tian couldn't see what was happening inside. He wondered if Zhao Zhenjia's puppet had been ambushed by the little girl and had already dissipated.

After a long while, the Wind Attendant Buddha finally emerged, clutching a handful of colorful children's marbles.

Zhao Zhenjia described what he had seen in the dark: "I searched around the room and found these marbles scattered all over the floor. You weren't hearing things downstairs, Gao Tian.

"But I checked the bedsheets, under the bed, and the wardrobe, and found no trace of any little girl."

Afterward, the Wind Attendant Buddha searched the rest of Room 413, checking every nook and cranny, yet still failed to find the little girl Gao Tian had mentioned.

It was strange. If a person was really hiding here, there were only so many places someone that size could hide. How could she not be found?

Could the little girl have run out of the room on her own before their team arrived?

Its search fruitless, the Wind Attendant Buddha returned to the television.

"Try attacking it,"

Xia Ta ordered.

The Wind Attendant Buddha didn't hesitate, smashing a heavy fist into the screen.

The old television was already on its last legs. Under the blow, internal parts rattled, and the screen instantly reverted to a black-and-white static display.

The two anchors on the screen stared silently forward with their black eye sockets, letting out a sound like dry heaving. "Please do not... urk... attack... the television...

"The next... urk... news is... television... damage..."

Expressionless, the Wind Attendant Buddha smashed a second punch into the screen.

The glass surface began to fracture, hairline cracks spreading outward like a spiderweb.

A third punch, a fourth punch, a fifth punch. Like a raging storm, blow after blow rained down on the old television's screen.

The poor antique's glass pane soon reached its breaking point and completely shattered with a crash. At the same time, the casing let out a fizzing electromagnetic crackle as the internal wiring thoroughly burned out.

It was completely wrecked now.

The two anchors on the screen let out a beast-like wail and vanished together.

Strangely, despite the Wind Attendant Buddha causing such wanton destruction in Room 413, it still hadn't drawn out any Fierce Ghosts.

Could this place really just be an empty shell, the scene of a past murder with no ghosts living here at all?

Just then, the wind-composed Zhao Zhenjia puppet suddenly collapsed. Countless air currents scattered from its massive body, and in an instant, the giant dissolved into a swirl of air on the floor.

The Wind Attendant Buddha's duration had run out.

The investigation was temporarily halted.

Zhao Zhenjia was faintly anxious.

"Give me a moment. In about five minutes, I'll whip up another puppet."

Xia Ta said, "No, we can't wait those five minutes.

"Every extra minute spent in the fourth-floor corridor is another minute of danger. Besides, your puppet couldn't find any clues."

Zhao Zhenjia retorted, "Then do you have a better idea?"

Her tone flat, Xia Ta delivered the most radical proposal: "Two possibilities.

"One, the ghost in this room has already left and was just stalling us intentionally. We've been battling wits with thin air this whole time.

"The second possibility is that the ghost's Killing Rule here can only be triggered by a living person. A puppet like the Wind Attendant Buddha can't set it off."

She quickly and decisively provided her solution to the second scenario: "The rest of you stay at the door and wait to provide support. Jiang Yang and I will go in and use our physical bodies to bait out the master of the room.

"All you have to do is watch closely and see how it kills."

Jiang Yang had no objections. He had cooperated with Xia Ta many times before.

He rolled his shoulders to warm up, ready to enter the room.

Zhao Zhenjia immediately argued, "No, it's too risky.

"If you go straight in, what happens if you die in there?"

Xia Ta replied, "I have a special Supernatural Item. If I'm attacked, I'll activate it immediately.

"This Supernatural Item is a warning sign, codenamed 'Fierce Ghost Prohibition'. As long as I hold up the sign, all Fierce Ghosts within a five-meter radius of me must obey four rules for eight seconds.

"One: You must not kill humans.

"Two: You must not harm humans.

"Three: You must not have any physical contact with humans.

"Four: You must not exercise mind control over humans.

"Eight seconds is enough for Jiang Yang and me to safely retreat from the room and lure out the ghost on the fourth floor."

Gao Tian was slightly dumbfounded.

Did Xia Ta write these four rules herself?

From beginning to end, this Supernatural Item only stated what the ghost couldn't do; it never once said what the living couldn't do.

This meant that for those eight seconds, Xia Ta's Supernatural Item would give them free rein. They could freely attack, imprison, restrict, and contain a Fierce Ghost, while the ghost wouldn't have the slightest power to fight back. It could only kneel there and take the beating.

The most absurd part was that the warning sign's area of effect was quite broad; those standing next to Xia Ta would receive the exact same protection.

She truly lived up to being the backbone of this batch of residents. No wonder Xia Ta had the confidence to casually walk into a haunted room.

Zhao Zhenjia still felt it was somewhat inappropriate.

"Although you..."

The words reached his lips, but he held his tongue.

When dealing with supernatural events, how could one not take risks?

If he really wasn't willing to take a single risk, he might as well have stayed downstairs. Why bother following everyone to explore this danger-filled hellhole?

Lan Zhu laughed and patted Xia Ta.

"Sister Ta, for such a dangerous thing, why didn't you invite me?

"Since your 'Fierce Ghost Prohibition' has such a wide range anyway, one more won't hurt. A peerless expert like me can protect you if you encounter any danger in Room 413.

"Jiang Yang is just a sickly little boy with arms as thin as bamboo poles. If he really runs into a situation, won't he piss his pants on the spot?"

Unexpectedly, that maniac Lan Zhu had suddenly developed an interest in Room 413, pestering Xia Ta for a chance to go inside and take a look.

Zhao Zhenjia frowned, clearly about to tell Lan Zhu to shut up. This woman's thought process wasn't quite normal; who knew what she would touch once inside.

To his surprise, Xia Ta simply said mildly, "You want to come in? Sure, no problem.

"But you must stay by my side, within five meters. Otherwise, if anything happens, the 'Fierce Ghost Prohibition' won't be able to save you.

"Similarly, staying by my side isn't one hundred percent safe. Nothing is ever one hundred percent safe in a supernatural event. If something happens, you asked for it."

It worked out fine. Her original goal was to bait the filthy thing out of the room anyway, so bringing along a troublemaker like Lan Zhu wouldn't hurt.

Letting her poke and prod around might even yield unexpected gains.

Lan Zhu laughed carelessly.

"Hahaha, don't worry, of course I'll listen to you completely."

Since Xia Ta had already agreed, Zhao Zhenjia couldn't very well object.

The burly man stood guard with Gao Tian at the door of Room 413, ready to back up those entering.

Lifting her heavy lolita skirt, Xia Ta was the first to step into the dust-laden room.

A faint stench of rotting corpses drifted into her nose, though it wasn't strong. The two mummified corpses seemed to have been dead for a long time.

After Xia Ta stepped inside, the room didn't change; it remained the same as before.

Jiang Yang and Lan Zhu walked in as well.

Xia Ta went first to the mummified corpses on the sofa. Reaching out, she lifted the woman's chin and forced her mouth open, checking if anything was hidden inside her mouth.

Finding no clues, she checked the liquor bottle in the man's hand, pulled his collar open, and examined the state of decay on his body.

Even after being handled like this, the two corpses remained utterly motionless.

It seemed they really were dead, resting in peace.