Chapter 20: Dual Ghosts Plot Together

Inside the golden‑and‑jade‑splendid hotel lobby.

Zhang Hao, who broke into the Caesar Grand Hotel, was walking inside with the Ghost Bride.

When he reached the hotel reception, Zhang Hao saw a female receptionist standing there with a smiling face.

Having recalled the mysterious revival, Zhang Hao knew clearly that this female receptionist was disguised by the Newspaper Ghost.

After a moment of thought, Zhang Hao made the Ghost Bride stop.

Zhang Hao led the Ghost Bride to stand before the female receptionist, looking at her.

"How about making a deal?" Zhang Hao stared at the female receptionist.

He knew that, given the Newspaper Ghost's strangeness, the other party could understand his words, unlike the Ghost Bride, who could not grasp complex speech.

The female receptionist kept her smiling face, looking ahead, her expression unchanged.

She seemed not to respond to Zhang Hao's proposal.

"I know you can understand my words, and what we want does not conflict."

"You want the Smiling Face upstairs and to kill Yang Jian; I want the Face‑wrapping Cloth that belongs to Yang Jian."

The Face‑wrapping Cloth is the Ghost Crying Face, but to prevent the Newspaper Ghost from hearing that it is a Ghost Face and suspecting other schemes, Zhang Hao did not mention the Ghost Crying Face.

Hearing Zhang Hao speak again, the female receptionist reacted this time.

Her horror‑filled smiling visage turned toward Zhang Hao, her vacant eyes seemingly fixed on him.

"Make a deal: you act openly, I act from the shadows."

"I will wait upstairs; you just bring them up, and I will kill them."

"Afterwards, I only need that Face‑wrapping Cloth."

Zhang Hao paid no mind to the receptionist's expression, and said coldly.

There was no response; the Newspaper Ghost seemed to be pondering, and also seemed to be contacting something else.

While Zhang Hao waited, after a short while, footsteps came from the staircase leading to the second floor.

Zhang Hao turned his head and saw a man with a stiff, oddly smiling face descending.

"Do you want to make a deal?"

The smiling man looked at Zhang Hao and said in a cold tone.

At the same time, he also examined the Ghost Bride beside Zhang Hao.

"Fine, you intend to kill Yang Jian, and I need a ghost that Yang Jian holds; our goals do not conflict."

Zhang Hao looked at him; the man appeared very young, about the same age as Yang Jian.

This should be Yang Jian's classmate controlled by the Newspaper Ghost, what was his name? But Zhang Hao had forgotten.

"Our purposes indeed do not conflict; in that case, let's cooperate."

"By the way, you can call me Zhao Lei."

Zhao Lei could sense that the Newspaper Ghost seemed very wary of the man before him and the bride.

"Just call me Zhang Hao."

Zhang Hao stated his name, and the two parties reached a verbal cooperation agreement.

"Alright, follow me."

"I'll take you upstairs to a place; then we'll bring Yang Jian upstairs, and you and I will launch the attack together."

Zhao Lei stared at Zhang Hao and said.

Zhao Lei could guess Zhang Hao's purpose: simply not wanting to expose his own existence.

But he didn't mind that.

In fact, he was not confident that, with the current means, he could retain Yang Jian with absolute certainty.

Having a powerful ally was not a bad thing for him.

Under Zhao Lei's guidance, Zhang Hao and the Ghost Bride arrived at a room on the third floor of the Caesar Grand Hotel—Room 30.

"You can rest inside for now; when Yang Jian and the others come in, we'll bring them over," Zhao Lei said, then left toward another nearby room.

Zhang Hao, seeing this, went to the window to look at the outside.

The pitch‑black Ghost Domain still shrouded the Caesar Grand Hotel, which had appeared after Zhang Hao and the Ghost Bride entered.

At that moment, a strange knocking sound echoed at the Caesar Grand Hotel.

According to Zhang Hao's memory, that should be the Knocking Ghost's curse.

"The verbal agreement is reached, but facing a ghost, such a deal is clearly unreliable."

"I still need to keep observing the surroundings, to avoid being used as a weapon."

Zhang Hao did not trust the Newspaper Ghost, just as Zhao Lei had thought.

Zhang Hao now does not wish to reveal his existence, or rather, he does not want to expose his own intelligence.

By making a deal with the Newspaper Ghost, whatever happens thereafter can be logically blamed on the Newspaper Ghost, avoiding a crisis of his own exposure.

After all, the Newspaper Ghost is intelligent, so my slightly odd behavior after contact with it should be understandable, right?

Meanwhile, Zhao Lei went to Room 31, took out a notebook and began writing.

"Smiling Face, male corpse, Blood Handprint Zhang Hao, bride."

"They are terrifying but untrustworthy; it would be best to find a way to make them disappear or be restrained, to prevent them from turning on us in the end."

"It is very wary of them and cannot act rashly."

On Zhao Lei's notebook, there were conspicuously written records.

Each record represented a ghost present in the Caesar Grand Hotel, a threat that could be used against Yang Jian.

Just as Zhang Hao and the bride, Zhao Lei maintains a living person's consciousness while serving the Newspaper Ghost.

However, compared with the bride's simple mental awareness, they can only communicate simply after they locate the Ghost Seeking Kin.

Zhao Lei can communicate with the Newspaper Ghost by exchanging notes.

The Newspaper Ghost's supernatural nature is tied to text, and it can steal living people's memories, so reading words poses no problem for it.

Otherwise, how would the Newspaper Ghost alter others' memories? While everyone waits, the black Ghost Domain slowly dissipates, revealing a dull gray sky outside.

Yang Jian and his party of six, after waiting a few minutes for the Ghost Domain to vanish, walked toward the Caesar Grand Hotel.

Zhang Hao, standing by the window, watched it all; he certainly wouldn't stay here forever waiting.

Both sides distrust each other, and their cooperation is merely for various purposes, to prevent unexpected complications in their own plans.

"Dry Corpse Bride, Yang Jian and his group should reach the third floor soon; let's go out and handle something."

There, a misty area lay.

It appeared after the Caesar Grand Hotel was shrouded by the Knocking Ghost's Ghost Domain.

Hearing Zhang Hao's words, the Ghost Bride slowly rose and took his hand.

He pushed open the door, glanced at the third floor, and Zhang Hao led the Dry Corpse Bride toward the stairs.

Shortly after they left, the door of Room 31 was slowly pushed open, revealing a strange face.

Looking at the half‑ajar Door of Room 30, the face formed a bizarre smile.

At the same time, in the lobby.

"Zhao Lei, where are you?"

The eerie voice echoed, traveling from the lobby to the second and third floors.

These voices seemed to have no source, yet were everywhere.

Zhang Hao and the Dry Corpse Bride had just reached the third‑floor stairwell when they heard the eerie voice.

It seemed to sense a "person" nearby; the voice kept sounding around Zhang Hao and the Ghost Bride, but apparently judged that they were not the target and tried to travel farther to continue searching.

At that moment, the voice abruptly stopped.

Because a burst of eerie laughter erupted in the corridor, cutting off the voice's propagation.

(End of chapter)