Chapter 154: When the Ghost Officer Awakens

Looking at the Substitute Doll workbench before him, Zhang Hao didn't linger.

To him, the Substitute Doll's function was of little use; the living need the Substitute Doll to help bear attacks and share pressure, but he didn't need it.

His gaze passed over the Substitute Doll on the table, and Zhang Hao's eyes kept scanning the room.

Soon, he spotted a drawing board in the corner of the room.

On the board was a painting; the portrait seemed to be Qin Lao, bearing some resemblance to Qin Lao but appearing much younger.

At the same time, Zhang Hao looked toward the floor, where another painting lay, its portrait somewhat resembling Yang Jian.

"One is a younger Qin Lao, the other must be a portrait of Yang Jian's father, Yang Xiaotian."

Zhang Hao stared at the portrait, which exuded a supernatural aura, proving it was not an ordinary portrait like Zhang Dong's just now.

"It looks a lot like the oil paintings in the Ghost Post Office."

Zhang Hao had no qualms and simply picked up the photo from the floor.

He carefully surveyed the room and, aside from these paintings, found no other pigments or similar items.

In Zhang Hao's view, the room revealed no figures.

"It seems this kind of oil painting can produce more than one portrait of the same person."

"But then again, the lady's side can also duplicate several Seven Elders at once."

"The reason people think an oil painting can only render one person is simply that the first ghost pigment's duplicate was killed and never reappeared."

Zhang Hao, somewhat disappointed, tossed the portrait onto the floor and shifted his gaze elsewhere.

At that moment, on the drawing board, the dim, oppressive sketch's figure's eyes oddly flicked toward Zhang Hao.

But when Zhang Hao turned back, it reverted to its previous appearance.

Suddenly, Zhang Hao seemed to sense something and snapped his head backward.

He heard the sound of a melody.

It was music from an old record player, bearing a Republic Era style—faintly soothing and melodious, carrying the aura of time's sediment.

In a place like this, the drifting music felt extraordinarily eerie and chilling.

Zhang Hao turned his head toward the source of the sound and, at some point, a strange record player had appeared in the room.

"A certain special Supernatural Artifact?"

He walked to the record player and picked the thing up.

Once seized by Zhang Hao, the record player emitted a hissing sound, as if it stalled, and the noise quickly faded.

The ghost inside the record player was instantly suppressed.

Zhang Hao held the record player for a while, then stored it within the Ghost Domain—useless for now, but perhaps useful later.

After removing the record player, nothing else in the room remained worth noting.

But then again, after all, it was the place where she died; Meng Xiaodong chose to die in this neighborhood that contacts the Reality World.

If it were some truly terrifying, unsolvable Fierce Ghost, she certainly wouldn't leave it here to disturb her corpse's slumber.

However, just as Zhang Hao was about to head to Meng Xiaodong's room, footsteps suddenly echoed through the house.

From the direction, it seemed to be footsteps.

Zhang Hao heard the sound and hurried out of the room to the doorway.

At an unknown moment.

An elderly woman with a gaunt face, hollow eyes and milky whites had silently stood at the doorway.

"Was it caused by the record player just now? Or something else?"

Zhang Hao's expression grew wary as black and white hues centered on him began to spread through the room.

Although the house contained some Supernatural Artifact capable of suppressing the Ghost Domain's expansion, it seemed to have little effect on Zhang Hao.

The Black and White Ghost Domain spread, easily breaking through the room's unknown supernatural barrier.

The Black and White Ghost Domain continued to spread, covering the suddenly appearing old woman.

The old woman's clothing, under Zhang Hao's incursion, began to lose its color.

But while Zhang Hao used the Ghost Domain to invade the old woman, she simultaneously invaded him in return.

Deep in Zhang Hao's memory, he could see an expressionless, oddly aged old woman walking toward him.

She was trying to replace Zhang Hao, but clearly neither she nor Zhang Hao could fully supplant the other.

Both were Fierce Ghosts, unable to be destroyed.

Moreover, both were adept at supernatural methods that invade the past or from the past invade the present.

Their supernatural clash seemed to trigger changes around them.

The already dim, yellowish light in the room grew even darker, and a cold, damp aura spread throughout.

The room's illumination itself seemed a highly special supernatural phenomenon, its influence on other objects intensifying as Zhang Hao and the old woman's supernatural powers clashed.

The light in the room began to flicker, and it could no longer sustain itself.

But because Zhang Hao and the old woman's attacks targeted each other, the light occasionally still found a chance to gasp.

"Swish!"

A White Curtain dropped, coiling around the old woman's body, binding her like a rice dumpling.

Meng Xiaodong ultimately still dissected part of her own supernatural essence.

Although this portion that could invade past and future remained unaffected, the other supernatural elements within Meng Xiaodong's body had long vanished.

Facing a Ghost Tamer and Fierce Ghost who had not reached the Seven Elders Level, the revived Meng Xiaodong was still at a loss.

Yet against an opponent who had attained this level, she had no other means of attack.

Because the old woman was not a Wraith, Zhang Hao's Black and White Ghost Domain had no restraining effect on her.

Both employed similar tactics, invading each other, leaving neither able to overcome the other.

But the problem is, Zhang Hao has other paranormal means besides the Black and White Ghost Domain.

However, this old woman has no more paranormal means beyond invasion and replacement.

Facing the entanglement of the White Curtain, the old woman can only rely on her own Terror Level to hard resist.

Confronted with the White Curtain bearing the Coffin Nail's paranormal effect, the old woman's body begins to become somewhat illusory, but she is not completely suppressed.

"How peculiar, she actually withstood the Coffin Nail's attack."

Zhang Hao looked at the old woman's corpse with slight surprise.

The Ghostly Servant's Infinite Restart doesn't count; although the Coffin Nail seemed to hit, it was actually evaded by the Ghostly Servant.

The earlier time Zhang Hao was hit by a Coffin Nail also doesn't count, because he has two Coffin Nails inside his body as resistance.

This is his first time encountering a scenario where the Coffin Nail's paranormal effect fails after hitting.

The old woman is trapped by a White Curtain carrying three Coffin Nails; although her movement is somewhat hindered, she still has enough strength to counterattack Zhang Hao.

Facing the old woman's attack, Zhang Hao does not act hastily, but observes her condition.

As Zhang Hao watches, he quickly discovers the old woman's current state.

"So that's it, using self‑stacking to resist the Coffin Nail?"

At this moment the old woman is in a special state, even though only one Meng Xiaodong stands before her.

But in fact, when you attack the old woman, the attack hits countless copies of her.

Even the White Curtain bearing three Coffin Nails, when it attacks Meng Xiaodong, the assault is likewise shared by countless Meng Xiaodongs.

It is for this reason that the otherwise unstoppable Coffin Nail loses its effect when confronting Meng Xiaodong.

"If that's the case, I should be able to do it too."

It must be said, fighting enemies with similar methods truly helps Zhang Hao a great deal.

Being invaded by Meng Xiaodong's Wraith allowed Zhang Hao, without stealing any paranormal power, to develop a technique that invades the past and from the past invades the present.

This time, after Meng Xiaodong's revival, the old woman's existence state gave Zhang Hao new insight.

Since they all exist in countless past selves, Zhang Hao's form also begins to become somewhat illusory.

Illusory silhouettes overlap with Zhang Hao one by one; as they keep stacking, a more sinister, eerie aura emanates from him.

In the current situation, any paranormal attack on Zhang Hao is shared by countless Zhang Haos existing in past times. "Perhaps, when this method reaches its limit, it can hard resist Erase."

Zhang Hao feels a sudden insight; now he can only overlap with his past self to share paranormal effects.

But if in the future he can overlap with the Wraiths of the Black and White World and all his past and future selves.

All entities sharing each attack's paranormal effect would cause a qualitative leap in his defensive power.

"By the way, besides that, perhaps the White Curtain's attack method could also evolve."

Zhang Hao coldly stares at the old woman, who has taught him another way to use paranormal power.

Since that's the case, let's use her to test whether this method can come to the fore.

The Black and White Ghost Domain spreads; amid the layers, countless illusory figures seem to appear on Zhang Hao.

Then, the White Curtain bound around Zhang Hao's waist shoots out violently, binding the old woman.

Not only this White Curtain; besides the first one shot out, additional White Curtains fire from behind Zhang Hao.

The Ghost White Curtain, aside from the one wrapped around Zhang Hao's waist, the others are derived entities.

It can carry a strong suppression power only because Zhang Hao applied the Coffin Nail's compressing effect onto it.

Yet at this moment, these White Curtains shot from Zhang Hao's side seem each to be.

Moreover, what's even stranger is that each emitted White Curtain carries an incomprehensible Terror aura.

This is the suppression from the Coffin Nail, the entanglement of the corpse‑wrapping cloth.

These White Curtains, each originates from a Zhang Hao of a different era, numerous and still increasing.

Yet each of these White Curtains is genuine, not derived; on each White Curtain, the Coffin Nail and Ghostly Servant's Mindless Suppression can be carried.

As the White Curtains extend, the old woman, who could previously hard resist the Ghost White Curtain without hindering her movement, is forced to cease acting.

Her movements begin to slow; the infinitely derived her cannot hard resist the infinitely derived Zhang Hao.

"Perhaps we can try this method," Zhang Hao murmurs.

Now Zhang Hao's own Suppression Quota is about seventy to eighty, even just to ensure he can continue using paranormal power.

By using a portion of unused Fierce Ghosts as Suppression Quota to suppress other Fierce Ghosts, there are also roughly forty slots Zhang Hao can freely allocate.

In the past, Zhang Hao couldn't understand why his Ghostly Servant couldn't suppress the Seven Elders level.

But now he realizes it's essentially due to infinite stacking.

Previously, Zhang Hao, who couldn't infinitely stack Ghostly Servant Suppression Quota, no matter how many Fierce Ghosts he consumed, his Suppression Quota remained fixed at a certain number.

For example, Meng Xiaodong alone can offset Zhang Hao's forty to fifty Suppression Quota, plus the Infinite Invasion paranormal effect.

Each Meng Xiaodong can offset dozens of Zhang Hao's slots; after stacking, the Mindless Suppression paranormal effect naturally fails against her.

Take Luo Qian, this old man, although he lacks Infinite Invasion that continuously derives abilities equivalent to his own body.

Yet his Grave Soil can achieve an absolute present Burial, and the Grave Soil seems able to infinitely derive, so the tomb's Grave Soil does not disappear when Luo Qian departs.

Moreover, the Grave Soil contains countless Fierce Ghosts, which Zhang Hao cannot suppress merely by increasing the number of Fierce Ghosts.

Furthermore, the other members among the Seven Elders, whether Zhang Dong, Zhang Youhong, or others, also possess similar methods.

After all, the lowest tier of the Seven Elders Level can achieve the concept of "Infinity".

As long as one truly attains Infinity and can endure infinite stacking, whatever is stacked becomes extremely terrifying.

This is why the Ghostly Servant's limited Suppression Quota appears so feeble when confronting these Seven Elders.

The limited Suppression Quota cannot suppress the infinite number of Fierce Ghosts; the only commendable Infinite Restart, the Ghost Nether Series' intensity, cannot withstand the Seven Elders.

"However now, it's time for the Ghostly Servant to exert its true role."

In order to ensure his own Infinite Invasion, the Fierce Ghosts on Zhang Hao belonging to the Black and White Ghost Domain series and the Memory series are not used as Suppression Quota.

At this moment, the free Suppression Quota on Zhang Hao for suppressing Fierce Ghosts was close to forty.

However, when his past self was allowed to invade his present self without limit, the Suppression Quota on Zhang Hao kept increasing.

Forty, eighty, one hundred six, three hundred twenty Suppression Quotas are continuously rising exponentially, raising the maximum number of supernatural entities that can be suppressed.

Zhang Hao himself kept improving, while the supernatural entities on the old woman's side kept diminishing.

This is an extremely terrifying way of growth.

At this moment, Zhang Hao felt that perhaps he should retract the words he had said before.

The growth potential of the Ghostly Servant is far more terrifying than that of the starving ghost.

Supernatural entities with Mindless Suppression, as long as the Ghostly Servant can obtain the ability of Infinite Derivation or Infinite Invasion, it can definitely become the strongest ghost.

Of course, this refers to the methods of Infinite Invasion or Infinite Derivation employed by Zhang Hao and Meng Xiaodong.

Each derived individual is equivalent to the state of the original body, not the kind of supernatural entity that is a derived clone.

A clone is merely a supernatural entity possessing part of the original; such a clone, lacking a Restart method, may be eliminated and cannot stack the Ghostly Servant's Suppression Quota.

After all, each Suppression Quota on a Ghostly Servant represents a genuine Fierce Ghost.

As Zhang Hao kept stacking, when he raised his own Suppression Quantity to over eight thousand, the old woman finally could not endure.

Although the stacking speeds of the two were similar, each time Zhang Hao stacked, he could suppress a portion of the Fierce Ghosts inside the old woman's body.

And each time the old woman lost a portion of Fierce Ghosts, the speed at which she could stack supernatural entities would decrease a bit.

Each time Zhang Hao stacked, the amount he could add next time would double from the previous base.

One's stacking speed was almost fixed, while the other's continued to rise.

Under this mutual increase and decrease, the final outcome was self‑evident.

"Finally solved, you're a good teacher."

"Therefore, I will cherish your ghost properly."

Zhang Hao looked at the old woman, completely immobilized and bound by countless White Curtains, and said coldly.

Zhang Hao stepped forward, but at that moment he was surprised to find that the old woman's corpse that had been in the room was still there.

"Hmm? So this is just a derived individual?"

Zhang Hao was a bit surprised; he hadn't expected a derived individual could fight him for so long.

But soon, he recovered his composure.

Not to mention the revived Meng Xiaodong, even his current self is also a derived individual from the past, perhaps because the present Zhang Hao belongs to an entity from a previous era.

Thus the old woman began attacking Zhang Hao while her original body on the bed hadn't moved.

"Because he and the old woman before him exist on the same timeline; the old woman on the bed is actually on the same timeline as Zhang Hao's original self."

"But there's no need to get tangled up."

"In our case of Infinite Invasion, after she failed in the duel, all versions of herself across every timeline have already been suppressed."

Zhang Hao ignored the old woman's corpse, bound like a rice‑dumpling before him, and turned toward the bedroom where the original old woman resided.

He intended to take the ghost out of the old woman's corpse.

He pushed open the door, and as soon as Zhang Hao entered, he smelled a scent of incense.

It was the smell of sandalwood incense, though it was already faint.

"It's just an ordinary incense scent; because incense is burned in the room year‑round, this bedroom retains that smell."

Zhang Hao gave it a brief impression and then lost interest.

He looked up at the ceiling, where a red cloth strip hung.

The red cloth strip draped over an old red‑lacquered wooden bed below, looking like a red veil, though the cloth was not transparent.

Zhang Hao looked at the wooden slats; the bed was not of modern style but a three‑sided frame bed with a canopy.

The bed was simply placed there, its dark tones giving an eerie, inexplicably oppressive feeling.

On the old bed lay the corpse of an old woman, her expression peaceful, looking as if she had died a natural death.

Although the cause was unknown, the corpse had not decayed, yet now a foul stench emanated from it.

"Meng Xiaodong!"

Zhang Hao stared at the old woman, murmuring a name.

(End of chapter)