Chapter 98: The Next One to Be Imprisoned Is You

Looking at the twenty jokers in his hand, Gao Tian’s expression turned thoughtful. "So that's how it is.

"You people from the Galan Society have truly exhausted your tricks. To think you'd resort to such underhanded methods. Twisting reality to a certain degree—is that your final trump card?

"If you think you can pull twenty cards from these twenty-one without hitting that single number card, then give it a try."

Ghost Infant placed its five wooden fingers over the twenty-one cards in Gao Tian's hand and began to pick.

Logically, when picking twenty out of twenty-one cards, drawing a joker was virtually guaranteed. The probability of drawing the normal number card was less than five percent.

Furthermore, even if its luck was so abysmal that it missed a joker on that draw, at the very least, once that single number card was drawn, Gao Tian's remaining twenty cards would all be jokers.

Then, as long as it survived the next round and forced Gao Tian to draw, the kid would definitely die by Ghost Infant's second turn.

Yet for some reason, when Ghost Infant's hand hovered over Gao Tian's twenty-one cards, an inexplicable surge of fear washed over it.

Fear?

How long had it been since it experienced such an emotion?

Wasn't that just a lowly, meaningless brain chemical reserved for the living?

Ghost Infant had always believed that since it was already dead, and a person couldn't die twice, there was nothing left in this world worthy of its fear.

Twenty jokers among twenty-one cards. It only needed to draw one to win. So why couldn't it bring itself to make a move?

Gao Tian said, "Let me tell you your only chance of winning.

"It's to turn all twenty-one of these cards into jokers.

"But you can't do that, can you?

"As long as you leave me with a single number card. Just one.

"Then the moment you draw a card, you've already lost."

Time was running out for the endlessly hesitating Ghost Infant.

The gray powder billowing from the Urn began to swirl around it, urging it to hurry up and choose.

Ghost Infant couldn't understand why, when probability was clearly on its side, it was the one feeling afraid. It felt like it was the one being forced into a corner.

Was this logical?

Ghost Infant knew Gao Tian's luck was currently excellent, but it truly refused to believe his luck could be that good—that it would fail a twenty-in-twenty-one draw, while the opponent would nail a one-in-twenty-one draw on the very first try, denying it even a second round.

Left with no other choice, it randomly tapped a card, making its draw.

The moment the card flipped over, Ghost Infant felt as though it was plummeting into an endless abyss.

Unfortunately—

It knew it had already lost.

It was the normal number card. Sure enough.

Was this a person of extreme Fortune? His luck was so incredible that it defied all rules.

In fact, when Gao Tian's turn arrived, before he even started to draw, Ghost Infant fell into such despair that it closed its eyes, waiting for fate's judgment.

Having witnessed Gao Tian's absolute confidence and his thoroughly unreasonable luck firsthand, Ghost Infant already understood its impending fate.

"Ghost Cave, I leave the rest to you."

Memories of the past flashed before its eyes like a spinning lantern.

To think it had been such a failure as a ghost hunter when alive, and now, even as a ghost, it was just as much of a failure.

It was Gao Tian's turn. Without a moment of hesitation, he made his choice. "Third card from the left."

This was the power of Fortune. Deep in the unseen, there was an intense feeling that the card he wanted was right in that spot. No deduction, no clues, purely relying on intuition.

The card Gao Tian chose slowly flipped over:

A joker.

Gao Tian had hit the one-in-twenty-one probability.

The Urn vibrated violently as countless ashes surged out in a frenzy, instantly swallowing Ghost Infant's body.

In the distance, although Ghost Cave didn't know exactly what had happened, instinct told it something was terribly wrong. Its hollow skull opened to the maximum like a tearing mouth, as if trying to let out a silent roar. "Stop! You bastard!"

Snapping back to reality, Gao Tian stood on a massive boulder, holding the closed, spotless Urn in his hands. With the massive dark clouds of Ghost Luck hanging above his head, he looked majestic, akin to a god of war.

The Galan Society's Ghost Infant was successfully imprisoned!

After containing Ghost Infant, Gao Tian immediately began to acquire its Killing Rule.

Of course, Ghost Infant possessed countless Supernatural Items of its own. Having undergone the Galan Society's special modifications, it had more than one ghost and one Killing Rule stitched into its body—such as the resentful woman's face on its back.

However, because he had only just imprisoned it, Gao Tian currently grasped only one of its Killing Rules.

—

This Killing Rule was extremely simple and served as Ghost Infant's signature ability.

Whoever it pointed at would breed a ghost infant inside their body within a short span of a few dozen seconds. All of their vitality, flesh, and blood would be entirely drained and digested, becoming nutrients to strengthen the ghost infant.

Regardless of gender, anyone could become the target of this rule.

Once the ghost infant grew to a certain degree, it would burst directly out of the host's body. It would then become a new, independent ghost that completely obeyed its master's commands.

During this process, if the host was a living person, they would undoubtedly die when the ghost infant burst out.

If it was a Fierce Ghost, the impregnated ghost would fall into a period of dormancy, during which time its own Killing Rule could even be stolen by the infant.

Fortunately, just as a ghost infant was about to burst out of a stomach earlier, Gao Tian had activated the Terror Blade in time and sacrificed that victim. Otherwise, dealing with several extra ghost infants right now would have been much more troublesome.

Having grasped Ghost Infant's Killing Rule, Gao Tian carried the Terror Blade and slowly turned around to face the direction Ghost Cave was falling.

Only the one man and one ghost remained in the entire building. This was the final showdown.

Ghost Cave quietly clung to a massive boulder, still maintaining its downward trajectory. It lacked Gao Tian's overwhelming Fortune, which allowed the latter to treat the shattered, falling stone slabs like flat ground. If Ghost Cave dared to act so presumptuously, gravity would smash it to a pulp.

Strangely enough, upon seeing its companion sucked away by Gao Tian's Urn, the usually volatile Ghost Cave remained surprisingly calm. It showed no intention of flying into a rage or acting rashly.

One man, one ghost, observing each other from a distance. Neither spoke.

It was like the calm before the storm.

A moment later, the first to speak was Ghost Cave. "I must apologize to you, Memory Ghost.

"I underestimated your abilities. I shouldn't have flown straight here to find you without conducting any prior investigation.

"Perhaps since becoming a ghost, this organ inside my skull has completely rotted and shriveled away. My intelligence has clearly dropped compared to when I was alive."

It tapped its empty skull as if expressing helplessness. "If I were still human, I wouldn't have been so arrogant as to strike directly. No matter how weak the enemy, I would have carefully observed and planned before acting.

"I should have noticed something long ago. The you before entering the Mirror and the you after walking out of the Mirror are like two different people—you've become a completely different entity. Though your abilities and your Killing Rule haven't changed much, Ghost Infant and I found that we were suddenly no match for you.

"Before Ghost Infant was imprisoned, it screamed at me desperately. It probably discovered some rule of yours and tried to pass that intelligence on to me. What a pity it was still contained. I am simply too foolish to figure out right now exactly what key triggered this qualitative change in you."

Lifting the Terror Blade in his hand, Gao Tian interrupted it. "Nagging and blabbering, spouting nonsense all this time. Are you done?

"If you're done, let's settle this as quickly as possible.

"The next one to be imprisoned is you."

Gao Tian hadn't yet thought of how to deal with Ghost Cave.

The second Urn was originally prepared to contain Ghost Cave. He just hadn't expected Ghost Infant to activate the Substitution Doll, saving Ghost Cave at the cost of being imprisoned itself.

But it didn't matter. The result wouldn't change.

Gao Tian thought up a preliminary plan: temporarily release Shattered Face Ghost, freeing up a box to imprison Ghost Cave inside.

After all, when he first encountered Shattered Face Ghost, he was just an ordinary person. Ghosts were entities he was completely incapable of handling.

Now, even if he temporarily let out Shattered Face Ghost, Gao Tian had the ability to deal with it.

While Gao Tian was thinking, Ghost Cave continued speaking to itself:

"No, no, no. You completely misunderstand me, Memory Ghost.

"Although you are very strong right now, in this game of chess, the one who loses in the end will still be you.

"Ghost Infant's final roar before being imprisoned made me realize something—this abnormal state you're currently in naturally isn't eternal. It's a temporary condition you've entered."

Like an old monk, Ghost Cave slowly sat down cross-legged among the continuously falling rubble and continued explaining. "If you could maintain this state indefinitely, you wouldn't have needed to be killed by us twice in the beginning. This proves that you need some kind of catalyst to enter this state, and once that catalyst ends, the state will disappear with it.

"Therefore, the method to eliminate you becomes very simple.

"All I need to do is isolate myself and stall for time as much as possible. I'll wait until your current state naturally fades and you revert to an ordinary person. Then, killing you will be as easy as crushing an ant.

"I'm not wrong, am I, Memory Ghost?"

As it spoke, a crystal-glass-like container slowly grew around Ghost Cave. Like a cocoon, it completely encased it, thoroughly isolating it from the outside world.

Before retreating into that mysterious cocoon, Ghost Cave left its final words. "Right now, the effect of the Supernatural Item I've activated is very simple. Once inside the cocoon, no attacks from the outside world can affect the inside. Similarly, no attacks from inside the cocoon can affect the outside world.

"The cocoon's duration is ten hours. Until that time runs out, even I can't dispel it.

"Currently, you are trapped inside the ghost domain and unable to breach my cocoon. When ten hours have passed, I will evaluate whether that state of yours has ended. At that time, I can emerge from the cocoon and casually kill you once you've reverted to an ordinary person."