Chapter 38: The Replacement of the Puzzle

He just saw Liu San lift the corpse of Han Mo that lay on the ground.

He called it a corpse, but in fact it was only a piece of human skin.

After Liu San lifted Han Mo's human skin, the skin began to burn continuously and soon burned away completely.

After that, Liu San's Paper Person, as if having completed its task, began to go limp and fell to the ground.

At that moment the Paper Person became creased, as if soaked in seawater, and soon could no longer retain a human shape.

"These two guys"

Zhang Hao stared coldly at the ash left after the human skin burned, as well as Liu San's Paper Person.

Although he didn't know what Fierce Ghost Han Mo had been commanding, Liu San's actions made it clear that Han Mo had not died.

Otherwise Liu San wouldn't have been so determined to clean up Han Mo's human skin even at the cost of losing his Paper Person.

If Liu San wanted to leave, he could have simply asked Jiang Shangbai to take him away, since he hadn't been attacked by Zhang Hao.

He didn't continue to think about Han Mo and Liu San.

Since they escaped this time, next time he sees them he'll figure out a way to kill them.

Anyway Dajing City is about to erupt, so there'll be plenty of chances to meet.

Zhang Hao remembered that in the original plot Liu San would enter the Ghost Domain.

"Tap tap tap!"

At that moment, the footsteps around attracted Zhang Hao's attention.

He saw that Yang Xuan had disappeared at some unknown time.

"That thing slipped away?"

Zhang Hao stared at Wang Lin's corpse, still standing where it was, and Liu Dong's corpse, already far away.

The ghost that Yang Xuan commanded could shift positions, and without a Ghost Domain, he still quite wanted it.

He didn't expect that guy to slip away so quickly.

"Forget it, it's just a ghost with low revival, let's go find Feng Quan."

Perhaps the change brought by being a ghost—or a Ghost Slave—made Zhang Hao a bit stubborn after the crossing.

Once he decides on something, he will stare at the other party relentlessly.

Just now, he once thought of snatching Feng Quan's ghost, and even in the current situation he still remembers to take Feng Quan's Fierce Ghost.

And before, after seeing Xu Feng and Yang Jian, he kept looking for ways to kill them.

But Yang Jian's side can't be acted on for now, so it can only be postponed.

After thinking, Zhang Hao ignored the revived Fierce Ghost Liu Dong and Yang Xuan's corpse.

In fact, among the Ghost Tamers killed this time, the only one that piqued his interest was the Alcoholic Ghost on Wang Lin.

For ghosts that don't suit him or don't interest him, Zhang Hao doesn't think about commanding them.

Back at Caesar Grand Hotel, there were many Fierce Ghosts; if Zhang Hao had tried to command every ghost he saw, the ghosts inside his body would have multiplied far beyond this.

Zhang Hao hadn't forgotten that his Fierce Ghost revival was borne by the Ghost Bride.

If he commanded too many Fierce Ghosts while the Ghost Bride's Terror Level didn't increase, the Ghost Bride wouldn't be able to endure it.

That Alcoholic Ghost's ability is special—it can make Fierce Ghosts enter a drunken state.

After Wang Lin drank it himself, he even disregarded the Kneeling Death supernatural that Zhang Hao faced, which made Zhang Hao very interested in this ghost; after pondering, Zhang Hao, to stop Wang Lin's ghost from running amok, went to the place where Jiang Shangbai and the others had left the Golden Box and retrieved it.

Back near the Alcoholic Ghost, Zhang Hao held the Bride with one hand and immediately seized the Alcoholic Ghost with the other.

He kept pressing, shoving Wang Lin's corpse into the Golden Box.

The flesh and the box rubbed continuously, and blood scented with alcohol dripped from the Golden Box, while fragments of Wang Lin's corpse fell away.

After the procedure, Zhang Hao stuffed the two kidneys that kept exuding blood into the Golden Box and sealed it.

Even Zhang Hao hadn't expected that the Alcoholic Ghost Wang Lin commanded was actually a pair of linked ghost kidneys.

He found a rope in a room in the Village, hung the Golden Box around his waist, and Zhang Hao led the Bride deeper into the Village.

When they first entered the Village, the Bride purposefully guided Zhang Hao inward.

Now that the trouble is solved, it's time to look for the Bride's destination.

Maybe this Village holds the Bride's Puzzle.

The destination wasn't far; after turning a corner, Zhang Hao quickly found the place that interested the Bride.

It was a house festooned with lanterns, with red lanterns hanging at the front, and the main door seemed to have been freshly painted red not long ago.

Inside and outside the house, many people knelt on the ground, their faces showing profound grief.

These people were affected by the crying that had been heard earlier.

Zhang Hao soon found the spot that the Bride cared about—a room on the second floor of the house.

Inside the room, a Bride dressed in bridal attire knelt on a red bed, her face bearing the traces of tears, but now she had lost her vitality.

Beside the Bride stood a man in red, kneeling on the floor at the foot of the bed.

Zhang Hao looked around left and right; there was nothing abnormal about the house.

Aside from the Bride and Groom, whose supernatural aura was affected by the crying, there was nothing else with a supernatural presence.

"The Bride's purpose is here?" Zhang Hao asked, a bit puzzled.

There is no Puzzle here, so why did the Ghost Bride come? Could this Bride and Groom have triggered the Ghost Bride's Killing Rule? Looking at the Ghost Bride's vivid blood‑red wedding dress and then at the Bride's red attire on the bed, Zhang Hao was thoughtful.

Although there is no Ghost Bride Puzzle here, the arrangement resembles the red room described in the book.

"Speaking of it, Republic Era Ghost Tamers also liked to hide Fierce Ghosts in various ceremonies, like funerals and weddings; could there be some connection?"

Since entering the room, the Ghost Bride moved to the edge of the red bed, flung the dead Bride off the bed, and sat down herself.

Zhang Hao watched the scene and fell into contemplation.

Not only Ghost Tamers of the Republic Era, many revived Fierce Ghosts also try to complete their missing Puzzle pieces.

If there is no Puzzle formed by Fierce Ghosts, those Fierce Ghosts will use a living person's body, or ordinary objects, as a substitute for the Puzzle.

Many items tainted with Ghost Power come about this way.

In other words, the bride's Puzzle is the Hong Bai Shuang Sha room.

So, when the Hong Bai Shuang Sha room cannot be completed, is the bride instinctively using this ordinary Wedding Room to replace the Hong Bai Shuang Sha room?

Just as a Fierce Ghost missing a body part would use a living person's body part as a substitute.

Thinking of this, Zhang Hao's mind instantly filled with more thoughts.

It was as if inspiration erupted; in an instant, many things that had just been incomprehensible were cleared up as this idea emerged.

(End of chapter)