Chapter 11

And the way ghost infants grow, my guess is that they eat people! Next, everyone please look at this photo.

A new photo appeared on the white screen behind Wang Xiaoming.

The photo shows a rental house; inside there are large amounts of bloodstains and signs of struggle, and the white walls are covered with many scratch marks, indicating that the deceased experienced something terrifying before death.

This was discovered by a public security officer in a certain rental house; no corpse was found in the room, and after checking the surveillance it was seen that the ghost infant had left, after which no one entered again. This is also why I believe the ghost infant's growth method is eating people.

So, does that mean we just need to find this ghost thing and then lock it up to end it?

Zhang Han was somewhat optimistic; he thought that even if the ghost infant were strong, they had twelve Ghost Masters on their side, three of whom were controlling two ghosts each—surely dealing with a mere ghost infant would be easy?

I'd also like that, but the situation isn't as simple as you think!

Wang Xiaoming glanced at the optimistic Zhang Han and continued.

According to the hospital reports from Dachangshi, the ghost infant already has many ghost slaves.

The photo on the white screen changed, and a picture taken in a hospital appeared before everyone, making them all suck in a breath of cold air.

The photo shows an emergency room scene, crowded with patients in pain; what's frightening is that the patients' bellies are slightly bulging, and a baby's face appears on their skin.

This is only what we know; how many people died at home without reaching the hospital, becoming vessels for ghost infants, we don't have exact numbers, but in Dachangshi with a population of several million, I think the number of ghost infants shouldn't be small. Yet it's strange that so far there has been no large-scale ghost infant attack.

Chen Shoushan looked at the photo of the pregnant women, both male and female, and his heart jumped; if this weren't the world of mysterious resurrection, he'd wonder if this starving ghost believes in the mother goddess! This kind of operation that makes people pregnant is really familiar!

Professor Wang, have you investigated clearly how these people became pregnant with ghost infants?

Chen Shoushan asked.

Although Yang Jian and the others in the original work never became pregnant with ghost infants, that's probably because they themselves are Ghost Masters!

And even though I am a Sequence Six Extraordinary Person, from the perspective of mysticism I am still merely a mortal, so I could very well become pregnant with a ghost infant just like an ordinary person.

Although Yang Jian could help take it out, Chen Shoushan, relying on his years of experience, feels it's best to avoid contact with ghosts as much as possible to prevent possible contamination.

For now it's unclear, and the patients in the hospital don't know either, but I believe there must be some pattern to be found; otherwise the entire population of Dachangshi could become vessels for ghost infants, rather than just the few hundred we see now.

How can we fight hundreds of ghost infants? We should think about retreating.

Just moments ago the optimistic Zhang Han's face fell instantly; even controlling two ghosts wouldn't stand a chance against hundreds!

The faces of the other Ghost Masters around also looked grim; most of them, like Zhang Han, are folk Ghost Masters, and they still aren't clear on the difference between ghost servants and true ghosts.

After all, no professional has ever come to explain these to them; to ordinary people, ghost slaves and ghosts are hardly different, and both can easily take a life.

They are ghost slaves, not ghosts; there is still a difference. Ghost slaves do have some danger, but their spiritual power is relatively weak—or rather, it is inherited from the source ghost—so they lack the immortality of true ghosts. As long as they aren't surrounded, the threat to Ghost Masters isn't high; as long as we deal with the source ghost infant before the ghost slaves' numbers grow, we'll be fine!

Wang Xiaoming gave a rigorous explanation to everyone, and at the same time wanted to give them a bit of hope; if it were a completely hopeless situation, the Ghost Masters present wouldn't be sitting here so honestly holding a meeting.

Sure enough, after hearing Wang Xiaoming's words, everyone present breathed a sigh of relief, and Ye Feng's expression relaxed a bit—even if he were wearing a ghost shroud, he couldn't withstand so many ghosts!

The ghost infant's development is this fast—credit goes to the person in charge of Dachangshi!

Yang Jian turned his gaze toward Zhao Kai Ming opposite him and said with a hint of sarcasm.

Zhao Kai Ming's expression shifted slightly, but he forced himself to say: 'Recently I don't know who's been causing a fuss in Dachangshi, which drew my attention; otherwise…'

Everyone present picked up on Zhao Kai Ming's implication: if it weren't for Yang Jian stirring trouble, the ghost infant wouldn't have developed to this point.

Tracing back whose fault it is no longer matters; these are considerations of headquarters, not mine. What's important now is resolving this Dachangshi incident. If the ghost infant's development continues unchecked, it will reach new heights, and the danger won't be limited to Dachangshi alone!

Wang Xiaoming stopped Yang Jian and the others from blaming each other, then continued.

To better understand the ghost infant's killing pattern, I now need a ghost infant—the more mature, the better.

Isn't the hospital full of patients?

A Ghost Master asked.

Back when Zhou Zheng was still around, we had already studied this: ghost infants have no physical form before they break out of their bodies, which is why even if we cut them open we can't extract the ghost infant. But in Dachangshi there definitely are ghost servants that have already broken out, so I hope you twelve will split into four teams and check Dachangshi's abnormalities from the four directions. Finding the source ghost infant would be best, but now we are inside his ghost realm, so hope is slim; still, capturing an ordinary ghost infant to bring back would be hopeful.

Wang Xiaoming outlined the core task of this meeting: capture ghost servants and seek the traces of the starving ghost.

Right, to distinguish the source ghost infant from ordinary ghost slaves, I'll call the source ghost infant the starving ghost! This incident will be called the Starving Ghost Incident.

Next I'll divide you into four groups: Wang Xiaoqiang, Ye Feng, and Chen Shoushan go south; He Chuan, Zhao Kai Ming, and Li Li go west; Yang Jian, Sun Yi, and Liu Guang go east; Zhang Han, Wang Bi, and Qi Tian go north.

Chen Shoushan looked at Wang Xiaoming with some surprise; he remembered that in the original work Wang Xiaoming hadn't personally divided the teams, but after glancing at the several teams he somewhat understood.

On the surface it's fair; those who control two ghosts are each placed in different teams, except Zhao Kai Ming's team lacks one—after all, he is the current person in charge of Dachangshi, so he wouldn't say anything.

This arrangement separates Yang Jian and Zhao Kai Ming's contact with Wang Xiaoqiang, fearing Yang Jian might secretly find a chance to kill Wang Xiaoqiang, and also fearing Wang Xiaoqiang might be swayed by Zhao Kai Ming and then oppose Yang Jian.

So Wang Xiaoqiang personally stepped in to divide the teams, at least guaranteeing fairness on the surface, leaving others with nothing to say.

Wang Xiaoming is indeed broad-minded and righteous, but after all he is a person, and people have selfish motives; as long as it does not affect the overall situation within a certain limit, he still wants to secure some chances of survival for Wang Xiaoqiang.

"You aren't leaving anyone by your side? What will you do if you die?"

At this moment Wang Xiaoqiang was no longer dazed; instead, he stared sternly and asked.

"I don't need you to worry; if we don't find those starving ghosts soon, even if all of you stay by my side, you cannot escape the fate of death."

As the chief professor of the headquarters, Wang Xiaoming naturally has some life-preserving supernatural items at his side; blocking a few supernatural attacks is no problem.

"Who's worried about you? Don't get ideas!"

Wang Xiaoqiang muttered a few words, but still agreed; the others had no objections, and although Zhang Han somewhat wanted to team up with Yang Jian, since nobody objected, he couldn't really say anything.

(End of chapter)