Chapter 79: Fading and Coloring; Black‑White Ghost Labyrinth

In the blink of an eye, about two months have passed since the Ghost Painting ravaged Dajing City.

During this period, neither Ghostly Servant nor Ghost Painting, nor any news of the Red and White Double Evil, have appeared in the world.

It seems that people in the Ley Line Circle have already forgotten this once‑rumored Supernatural Incident.

In Da Dong City, inside the Wang Family Ancient Residence, a young man with a cold expression looked at the latest information and gave a wry smile.

"That guy Xu Feng actually took people to trouble Ghost Eye Yang Jian, and was even counter‑killed by him."

Liu Bai Mu's face turned extremely grim; Yang Jian now was no longer the obscure Ghost Tamer rookie from a few months ago.

Now Yang Jian is one of Headquarters' Team Twelve captains—Ghost Eye Yang Jian—wielding a hatchet in one hand and a Coffin Nail in the other; even the top Asian Ghost Tamer Ye Zhen was defeated by him.

At such a critical juncture, their Survival Association getting tangled with Yang Jian gave Liu Bai Mu a real headache.

"I've been saying it for a long time: Xu Feng is trouble; once we get on the wanted Yang Jian's trail, we shouldn't have stayed."

Beside Liu Bai Mu, a burly man said in a deep voice.

"Now that things have come to this, saying this is meaningless."

"The time is almost up; they should be about to restart soon. Let's first figure out how to deal with the current trouble."

Liu Bai Mu looked toward the deep courtyard; this is the Wang Family Ancient Residence, which houses an ancient bell that chimes every half hour.

When the bell sounds, everything around, as well as those cursed by the ancient bell, undergoes a Restart.

As the bell rang, a few people soon walked out from inside.

"Liao Fan, Xu Feng, you've gotten yourselves into big trouble this time."

Someone, seeing Xu Feng and Liao Fan appear, laughed and teased.

Although Yang Jian's reputation is huge, in fact the Survival Association members aren't very fearful.

Because in the Wang Family Ancient Residence, they are immortal.

Not that they don't want to die; even if they wanted to, they can't die.

"Did I go looking for trouble with Yang Jian? Looks like the ending won't be good."

Xu Feng stared at the crowd, listened to their words, was stunned for a moment, then finally sorted out everything that might happen.

"You all were wiped out by Yang Jian's group," Liu Bai Mu said as he approached.

"According to the information I received, Yang Jian and his crew should already be marching toward the Wang Family Ancient Residence."

"So you plan to hand us over?" Looking at Liu Bai Mu's demeanor, Xu Feng asked casually.

"In fact, if handing you over would solve it, I wouldn't be this worried," Liu Bai Mu shook his head.

"In short, since the other side is coming to kill, we definitely have to have a showdown with Yang Jian."

"But what I truly worry about isn't this; it's that a batch of unknown Ghost Tamers have suddenly appeared within Da Dong City."

Speaking of that, Liu Bai Mu paused, then took a palm‑sized Golden Box from his chest.

"This is what I obtained after killing a Ghost Tamer yesterday; take a look, everyone."

He opened the Golden Box; inside was an old newspaper.

"February 18, 2018, in Da Dong City, countless Paper Money fell from the sky onto the ancient residence, the city lost its colors, and the Red and White Double Evil descended again."

"What does it mean? Red and White Double Evil?" Xu Feng's expression shifted slightly as he read the article.

"February 18, 2018—that's today, isn't it?"

He knew this newspaper came from a Supernatural Incident that suddenly appeared two months ago, randomly publishing Supernatural Incidents from various places.

Moreover, any Supernatural Incident printed in that paper eventually manifests in reality.

The paper's appearance helped Headquarters avert many troubles, but it also brought many dangers.

It is worth noting that such newspapers usually only appear in the hands of Ghost Tamers, never in ordinary people's.

"Although we don't know why, the Ghost Newspaper Agency has already published it; Da Dong City may change its sky soon."

Liu Bai Mu looked at the sky, unsure if it was an illusion, but he felt a flash of red light streak across the air.

The members of the Survival Association exchanged uneasy glances upon hearing that.

Hearing that the Red and White Double Evil were about to appear, they wanted to leave, but the pendulum's curse prevented them from truly departing.

"So those people must have come to Da Dong City because of the Red and White Double Evil, right?"

"After all, such big news couldn't be unknown to Headquarters," Liao Fan guessed.

"Perhaps," Liu Bai Mu shook his head; the forces in Da Dong City were becoming increasingly complex, and even he felt uneasy.

Meanwhile, in a three‑story Small Western House, Zhang Hao was walking inside while holding the Ghost Bride's hand.

He wasn't sure if it was an illusion, but Zhang Hao felt that after the Ghost Painting Aftermath, the Ghost Bride's mind had improved somewhat.

Although they still couldn't communicate, at least she could understand more of what Zhang Hao said.

Moreover, the Ghost Bride now always liked to sit at the foot of the bed or in front of the dressing table.

She liked to lead Zhang Hao to stand at the courtyard gate, whether for nothing or something, as if taking a photo, or as if something was painting for her.

Now, in a room of this Republic Era annex, the walls were covered with portraits of the Ghost Bride.

Some showed her standing before the dressing table, some sitting by the bed, some standing at the door, and some in the spirit hall.

Based on his observations, Zhang Hao thought this might be due to residual consciousness from the Ghost Painting.

Perhaps the previous Ghost Bride and the driver of the Ghost Painting liked taking photos, painting, dressing up, so after the Ghost Bride mastered the Ghost Painting, she would mimic those actions when idle.

As for the Ghost Bride's mental boost, Zhang Hao attributed it to the lingering memories of the previous Ghost Painting driver.

Of course, these logical changes belong to the Ghost Bride.

On Zhang Hao's side, over these two months, notable changes also occurred.

First, during these two months he successfully retrieved the Ghost Coffin and turned it into a spirit hall.

Although the current Ghost Coffin cannot grow due to lacking Wei Jing, it still retains Infinite Restart and Mindless Suppression abilities.

After two months, by eroding other Fierce Ghosts within a Ghostly Servant's body, Zhang Hao now successfully controls a Ghostly Servant.

Now the spirit hall has already become Zhang Hao's one-man rule.

According to Zhang Hao's speculation, once he retrieves Wei Jing, he may finally turn the spirit hall evolved from the Ghost Coffin into a Spiritual Realm.

After obtaining enough Fierce Ghosts as nourishment and having Huanggang Village imprison enough Fierce Ghosts, he will obtain a Spiritual Realm that can rival a Hong Bai Shuang Sha colored room.

Besides that, Zhang Hao also found the area where the old man's Black and White Portrait is located during these two months.

What they are doing now is heading to find that Black and White Portrait.

Because Qin Lao divided the areas, Zhang Hao spent quite a bit of time to find this Photo.

"Tap tap tap!"

As the two entered the house, footsteps came from the second floor, as if someone was moving there.

But Zhang Hao didn't mind, because he had already experienced these situations last time.

This time the Ghost Bride is present, and he doesn't think the old man can still block the Ghost Painting's Ghost Domain.

No need to worry about unknown danger; Zhang Hao quickly led the Ghost Bride to the second floor of the house.

"Creek!"

Just like last time, when someone approached, it seemed someone in the room had slightly opened the door.

Zhang Hao was unfazed and pushed the door open directly.

Stepping onto the second floor, he immediately saw the Black and White Photo hanging on the wall.

He stepped forward, took down the Black and White Photo, and this time Zhang Hao does not intend to harness it here.

He plans to return to the spirit hall and paste this Black and White Photo onto the Ghost Spirit Tablet.

The spirit hall contains the Ghostly Servant's Mindless Suppression, where completing the Puzzle is more advantageous for Zhang Hao, making his dominance easier to secure.

However, perhaps because Zhang Hao saw the Photo, footsteps soon sounded outside the door.

When Zhang Hao looked toward the doorway, he saw the silhouette of an old man.

At the same time, Zhang Hao's body began to slowly fade in color, turning black and white. "Is this the Killing Rule?"

Recalling the previous situation, Zhang Hao guessed the current circumstance.

Last time, after seeing the old man's silhouette, he was attacked by the old man.

"By the way, besides that, this painting might also play some key role."

Zhang Hao looked at the painting in his hand; last time he performed Mourning on the painting, trying to harness it through the Ghost Spirit Tablet.

But this time he did not perform Mourning, yet the old man still appeared.

"Seeing the old man's background Killing Rule, losing color becomes the killing process, and the Black and White Painting becomes the killing method."

"So, this painting should be a Medium, a conduit to trigger the Killing Rule."

Zhang Hao quickly figured it out: the old man's Killing Rule is somewhat similar to the ghost painting's, both require someone to have first seen the painting.

The difference is that the old man appears after the Photo is seen, then his silhouette is observed.

For the ghost painting, after seeing the painting, its image reappears in the mind upon recollection.

While Zhang Hao was pondering, the color on his body had almost completely faded.

However, unlike last time, he was not turned into a Photo by the old man.

Because a pale hand on Zhang Hao's right side was holding his hand.

As Zhang Hao's color faded, the arm he held together with the Ghost Bride continuously received streams of color flowing into his body.

However, these colors differed from Zhang Hao's original skin tone of Paper Money, giving his skin a slightly painted appearance.

Thus the previously rough, dull skin of Zhang Hao now resembled the Ghost Bride's style a bit more.

"So this old man erases my color, while the Ghost Bride colors me through the ghost painting's spiritual power, right?"

Zhang Hao felt the constantly changing colors in his body and made a judgment inside.

With the Ghost Bride acting, he no longer worries this time.

At least when confronting this ghost, the Ghost Bride has means to restrain it.

Of course, conversely, the old man also suppresses the ghost painting; one adds color, the other removes it, now it remains to see whose spiritual power is superior.

The invisible clash continues, and the prolonged battle seems to cause some disarray in the Ghost Bride's spiritual power.

Sometimes Zhang Hao's white Funeral Clothes are colored red by her, but such mistakes are rare.

Moreover, Zhang Hao can feel that the bride's spiritual power is not suppressed by that old man.

According to Zhang Hao's speculation, the occasional reddening of his Funeral Clothes is caused by the bride's instinct, not a malfunction of her spiritual power.

When the bride colors Zhang Hao, her instinct sometimes unintentionally paints him with the red representing the groom.

This is like Yang Jian, who rides the headless Ghost Shadow, feeling an impulse to snatch someone's head when standing behind them.

In fact, Zhang Hao himself also has a similar impulse; when he sees people crying and kneeling, he instinctively wants to kill them.

Of course, regardless of what color the Ghost Bride turns, the old man will instantly erase the color on Zhang Hao.

The old man's Terror Level is not low; this confrontation has lasted a long time.

In the end, Zhang Hao couldn't hold back first.

He directly transferred Huanggang Village here through the ghost painting's Ghost Domain.

As the outside scene changed, footsteps quickly came from outside.

Four eerie figures dressed in white Funeral Clothes carried a Coffin toward this three-story Small Western Building.

These four ghosts, besides Wei Jing, were seized by the Ghostly Servant, each possessing one Suppression Quota of the Ghostly Servant.

"Bang! Bang! Bang!"

The Coffin was quickly carried into the Small Western Building, and a muffled Footsteps resonated in the stairwell.

Zhang Hao, controlling the four ghosts to carry the Ghost Coffin upstairs, intends to suppress this Black and White Painting directly through the Ghostly Servant.

However, at this moment, the Small Western Building also changed.

The entire Small Western Building looked as if it had been abandoned for countless years; the whole house began to age, and the furniture that had originally been simple in style but still fairly bright in color started to fade at this moment.

The interior was like a picture broadcast on a black‑and‑white TV from the 1980s‑90s.

The Fierce Ghosts that had been carrying the Ghost Coffin upstairs also began to lose their color at this time, like people about to vanish.

(Many readers think the Ghost Coffin is black, but it is actually Hong Bai Shuang Sha, and the author deliberately checked this.) (Both the first chapter "The Disappeared Two" and chapter 438 "The Horror Fully Birthed" in the original text clearly mention vermilion lacquer.) (It also rules out the theory that the Ghost Coffin was originally black and painted Hong Bai Shuang Sha by Wang Xiaoming.) Fortunately, Fierce Ghosts themselves do not die; although these ghosts have faded, they still carry the Ghost Coffin into the second‑floor corridor.

As they entered the second‑floor corridor, the Ghostly Servant's Unsolved Suppression ability began to manifest, and the color that had faded from the four Fierce Ghosts carrying the coffin started to return.

However, at the doorway of a small room on the second floor, near the old man, it seemed as if an invisible Ghost Domain was blocking the Ghostly Servant's approach.

Even though the four ghosts kept advancing with the coffin, they could never reach the old man's side.

The Ghostly Servant's Mindless Suppression is indeed terrifyingly unsolvable, but it has a prerequisite: it must be within the activation range of Mindless Suppression.

Any paranormal phenomenon requires a triggering Medium; when the Ghostly Servant's Ghost Domain is suppressed, the Mindless Suppression ability naturally cannot be triggered.

"Bride, let's go."

Zhang Hao looked at the blocked Ghost Coffin, took the bride's hand, and intended to move forward.

However, at this moment the Ghost of the Bride, who was battling the Black and White Painting, did not follow.

"Huh? Because I'm in the middle of a fight, I can't quite grasp what I'm saying?"

Seeing paper ash continuously falling from the sky, the Ghost Domain of the ghost painting clashing with the old man's Ghost Domain, Zhang Hao snapped back to reality.

The Ghost of the Bride's reasoning is weak to begin with, and when confronting a terrifying Fierce Ghost, her communication ability is further diminished.

"Fine, then I'll do it myself."

Zhang Hao's figure vanished on the spot; a moment later he was already standing atop the Ghost Coffin.

He took out a Ghost Spirit Tablet, pasted the Black and White Photo onto it, and then placed the Ghost Spirit Tablet on the Ghost Coffin.

In an instant, the colors fading in the Small Western House began to slowly return, and the Black and White Ghost Domain that was battling the Ghost of the Bride also dissipated at that moment.

The Ghostly Servant, using the painting attached to the Ghost Spirit Tablet as a Medium, suppressed the old man in the Black and White Painting.

As the Black and White Painting was suppressed, the Small Western House soon vanished as well, turning into a memorial hall.

"Even this Small Western Building was derived from a photo?"

Zhang Hao was a bit surprised; he had thought the Fierce Ghosts were just this Photo and the old man, and didn't expect the Small Western Building to also be part of the photo.

But he quickly realized that the Small Western Building should be similar to the background of the ghost painting.

Just as the building in the background of the ghost painting emerges from the painting, the Small Western Building also emerges from the old man's Photo.

With no opposing Ghost Domain, the Ghost of the Bride slowly walked to Zhang Hao's side and took his hand.

Perhaps due to the ghost painting's influence, Zhang Hao could sense that the Ghost of the Bride now liked holding his hand even more.

At the very beginning, the Ghost of the Bride wasn't like this, constantly holding him; most of the time she only reached for Zhang Hao's hand when there was a reason.

Otherwise Zhang Hao would have to initiate holding the Ghost of the Bride's hand, because once released, the Ghost of the Bride would not grasp his hand without cause.

Of course, it could also be that long‑term hand‑holding made the Ghost of the Bride's body remember the habit.

Zhang Hao recalled that some Fierce Ghosts mimic the actions of the Ghost Tamer from life because the Ghost Tamer performed those actions for a long time, forming muscle memory.

Zhang Hao had been a Ghost Slave of the Ghost of the Bride for over three months—neither short nor long enough—sufficient for the Ghost of the Bride to develop hand‑holding muscle memory.

Of course, Zhang Hao didn't really care about that.

After habitually holding the bride's hand, he began to study the Black and White Photo.

After being suppressed by the Ghostly Servant, Zhang Hao smoothly used the Ghost Spirit Tablet to command the Black and White Photo.

At the same time, Zhang Hao felt a new ability he had never possessed before.

As Zhang Hao's thoughts shifted, everything around lost its color, and a Black and White Ghost Domain was released by him.

This is the Ghost Domain of that Photo, capable of making everything inside the Ghost Domain lose its color.

(End of chapter)