Chapter 90: Familiar Dry Corpse

"What is going on? Could this be the Ghost Bride's body?"

Zhang Hao and the Ghost Bride arrived, and, looking at the female corpse that had crawled out of the bell tower, they couldn't help being curious.

Half of the female corpse's body had already crawled out of the blood-colored cabinet, but its lower half seemed to be stuck by something and couldn't emerge.

The putrid, deep red blood soaked the Ground and the female corpse's body, looking both gory and eerie.

"It must be caught by the Ghost Cabinet's rules,"

Zhang Hao looked inside the cabinet; apart from the female corpse's legs, he saw nothing else.

Yet this female corpse strangely could not crawl out, so he could only attribute it to the Ghost Cabinet's rules.

After reaching the top of the bell tower, the Ghost Bride stopped controlling Zhang Hao's body; he immediately took two steps forward to the edge of the Ghost Cabinet.

He wasn't worried that the female corpse posed any threat to him; with the Ghost Bride beside him and the Ghost Frame, he could easily Restart.

Moreover, Zhang Hao didn't feel any instinctive threat from the female corpse that would make him want to flee.

Approaching the Ghost Cabinet, Zhang Hao quickly saw a blood-soaked paper in its drawer.

The paper seemed to have writing, but because it was soaked in blood and the ink was also blood-colored, Zhang Hao couldn't make it out.

While Zhang Hao was examining the Ghost Cabinet and the female corpse, the Ghost Bride moved.

Under Zhang Hao's gaze, the Ghost Bride gracefully stepped forward.

The crawling female corpse seemed to notice the Ghost Bride's approach; its struggling motion halted, and one hand reached toward the Ghost Bride.

That hand was swollen and pale, stained with blood, looking as if a person murdered and thrown into a river yet still alive was pleading for help to the Ghost Bride.

Regarding the female corpse's outstretched hand, the Bride seemed not to hear it and walked straight past her toward the Ghost Cabinet.

Even though, as the Ghost Bride approached, a hand had already grasped the Ghost Bride's ankle, it still gave her no pause.

She reached out, grabbed the Ghost Cabinet, and actually lifted the blood-red wooden panel on it.

With the Bride's action, the entire Ghost Cabinet was brutally stripped of that wooden outer shell by her.

The Ghost Cabinet was broken, and the female corpse inside seemed to be freed from its constraints; blood continuously dripped from its hand, clinging to the Ghost Bride's body, dyeing the Wedding Dress an even brighter red.

Having broken the Ghost Cabinet, the Ghost Bride's attention finally seemed to shift to this female corpse.

At this moment, the Bride proactively reached out and grasped the female corpse's hand.

In an instant, the swollen body of the female corpse became withered; the blood on it seemed to be sucked out, and shortly thereafter it turned into a Dry Corpse.

Watching this scene, Zhang Hao's mind recalled the moment he first saw the Dried Corpse Bride.

Back then, the Dried Corpse Bride, if one stripped off her Wedding Dress and Veil, would have a body not much different from this female corpse, with withered, dull‑yellow skin and a foul stench.

Thinking of that, Zhang Hao looked at the Ghost Bride's transformation.

The Ghost Bride seemed to have absorbed the blood and flesh inside the female corpse; the bluish‑black nails on her hands turned blood‑red at that moment.

The Wedding Dress and Veil draped on the Bride, as well as her embroidered shoes, all became more vivid at that moment.

After completing all this, the Bride didn't stop; she walked straight onto the wreckage of the previously destroyed Ghost Cabinet.

The Ghost Cabinet, having lost its wooden body, didn't truly vanish but turned into a somewhat illusory cabinet.

The Ghost Bride extended a hand over the Ghost Cabinet's phantom, and drops of deep red blood fell onto the phantom from her blood‑red nails.

Strangely, although the Ghost Cabinet was illusory, even Zhang Hao's hand couldn't touch it.

Yet when the bright red blood fell onto it, it seemed the Ghost Cabinet caught it.

As if the blood could touch something that doesn't exist in reality.

The falling blood streamed along the Ghost Cabinet's phantom, and soon a blood‑red Ghost Cabinet reappeared.

Although this Ghost Cabinet was still illusory, it was far more solid than before.

"No, that's not right."

"This thing is still a phantom."

Zhang Hao stared at the Ghost Cabinet and quickly noticed its oddity.

This Ghost Cabinet probably doesn't exist in reality; others might not see it at all.

However, the Ghost Bride, by letting the blood drip onto the Ghost Cabinet, grafted its curse onto herself.

And Zhang Hao and the Ghost Bride now, as they say, can be considered a ghost, just a single ghost existing in two bodies.

Thus, after the Bride accepted the Ghost Cabinet's curse, Zhang Hao could also see its phantom.

When the Ghost Bride finished everything, she also stopped, seemingly caught in some conflict.

Zhang Hao was quite familiar with this situation; it was caused by the conflict of completing the Puzzle.

Whenever Zhang Hao completed the Puzzle, his consciousness would clash, battling the Fierce Ghost within the Puzzle for dominance.

Now the Bride was battling the female corpse inside the Ghost Cabinet for dominance.

However, clearly the female corpse in the Ghost Cabinet wasn't a match for the Ghost Bride; the Ghost Bride merely paused in place for a dozen minutes before quickly resuming movement.

As the Ghost Bride fully seized the female corpse, Zhang Hao also gained some understanding of the corpse's and Ghost Cabinet's abilities.

The Ghost Cabinet is simply a curse; even if one masters it, using its power still requires a price.

And the female corpse inside is confined by the Ghost Cabinet.

It was probably after the Republic Era people, following the death of the first Ghost Bride's master, that they dismembered her body and trapped it inside.

However, this caused the corpse to instead wield the curse on the Ghost Cabinet.

The corpse's ability is simple: Medium and curse; she can curse others through blood.

Because the corpse mastered the Ghost Cabinet, the Ghost Cabinet underwent a change.

Anyone who trades with the Ghost Cabinet will be cursed by the corpse inside; if they linger too long without trading or fail to complete a trade, the corpse will kill the cursed.

"Let's go, we're heading to Caesar Grand Hotel."

Zhang Hao looked at the bloodstain on the Ground and, knowing there was nothing left to scheme in Guan Jiang Xiao Qu, said immediately.

This time, the Bride who mastered the Ghost Cabinet seemed to have her logical thinking elevated again.

This time, upon hearing the name of Caesar Grand Hotel, they did not display the same incomprehension as they had when they were at Shang Tong Building before.

Even after Zhang Hao spoke, Gui Xin Niang unexpectedly stepped forward, took Zhang Hao's hand, and then voluntarily released the Ghost Domain.

As the hazy ash fell on the Zhong Ta Lou, Zhang Hao and Gui Xin Niang entered the world of the Ghost Painting, standing before a portrait of a Ghost Bride standing at the courtyard doorway.

In the next instant, the portrait suddenly enlarged, and the gate in the painting seemed truly real, swallowing Zhang Hao and Gui Xin Niang.

When Zhang Hao looked around again, they had already arrived at the Ghost Newspaper Agency.

"Indeed, wisdom has been enhanced."

Zhang Hao stared at Gui Xin Niang for a long time; after completing the female corpse and mastering the Ghost Cabinet, it seemed to bring a greater change than completing the Ghost Painting.

Of course, this change does not refer to power; the combat strength of the Ghost Cabinet cannot be compared to that of the Ghost Painting.

What Zhang Hao refers to is a change in the thinking pattern.

If the initial Gui Xin Niang was a flawed, bug‑riddled program.

Then after obtaining the Ghost Painting, Gui Xin Niang's behavior became like a program with almost no bugs.

And after completing the Ghost Cabinet, Gui Xin Niang's behavior can no longer be considered a program.

They are like an extremely simplified AI, for example the household robot in a phone.

Of course, if we use a more vivid analogy, we can think of Gui Xin Niang now as having an animal‑like intelligence.

They know how to seek benefit and avoid harm, know the places they've been; simply put, they now possess basic memory concepts and no longer act solely on behavioral logic.

The arrival of Zhang Hao and Gui Xin Niang drew the attention of the Ghost Newspaper Agency.

The previously controlled living person who had tried to sell newspapers to Zhang Hao now stepped forward.

"Guest, please lead your lady along the outer passage and keep going forward."

The person walked to the entrance of the Ghost Newspaper Agency and pointed to a pitch‑black corridor, saying.

Zhang Hao remembered that corridor as a road with no end, the one the Ghost Newspaper Agency used to send Zhang Hao and Gui Xin Niang away from Caesar Grand Hotel.

Zhang Hao kept walking forward, and then suddenly emerged from Kui Mu Lin Village.

"Let's go, bride."

Hearing the arrangement, Zhang Hao had no intention of staying at the Ghost Newspaper Agency.

Although he currently lacks the qualification to clash with the Ghost Newspaper Agency, he believes it won't be long before that changes.

Now Gui Xin Niang has obtained the Ghost Cabinet, and once they acquire the Red Room, they will, like this Ghost Newspaper Agency, possess a genuine Spiritual Realm as their own capital.

Leaving the Ghost Newspaper Agency, Zhang Hao led Gui Xin Niang along the black corridor forward. "Bride? Can you speak now?"

Zhang Hao kept walking and suddenly asked the bride beside him.

However, the bride at that moment did not answer them, but instead reached out and held them, clearly unable to speak.

It should be said that their level of intelligence has not yet reached the point where they can converse.

After all, many self‑identified human Abnormals have a lower Terror Level than the bride; their Puzzles are not as complete as the bride's, yet they can speak.

Meanwhile, on the other side.

On a highway, an old bus was moving forward.

It was an old forest; above the Old Forest, pitch‑black, ink‑like rain drummed down, irritating the passengers inside the bus.

"The Spiritual Bus has already passed the third stop; we must find a chance to get off now."

Hearing this.

All the Ghost Couriers, including Yang Jian, turned solemn, their nerves involuntarily tightening.

Because they were about to leave this Spiritual Bus.

Although the bus was eerie, it was at least safe.

They had already seen the outside conditions: the rainy platform, the tranquil county town, or the abandoned village—all extremely dangerous.

Once they leave here, it is essentially stepping onto a road of no return.

Waiting for the next bus to arrive, they are unsure whether fate will allow it.

"Why is this delivery mission so difficult this time?" Qin Kai took a deep breath, glancing at fellow fourth‑floor Ghost Couriers Wang Feng, Da Qiang, and Lao Ying.

The few exchanged glances at that moment, each seeing panic and unease in the other's eyes.

Under these circumstances, none felt confident they could deliver the letter alive and return to the post office.

Probably, they all thought they would die here.

"Rather than getting off and dying for nothing, it's better to stay on this bus and live as long as possible."

Suddenly, Da Qiang's expression turned slightly feral as he clenched his teeth and spoke.

His words shattered the silence inside the carriage.

For a moment, many turned their heads to look at him.

Lao Ying's eyes flickered: "Perhaps this is a decent choice; at least we can live a bit longer."

"But when the post office's curse arrives, we will still die; even if this bus can resist the curse, the bus itself is very dangerous."

After speaking, he glanced—intentionally or not—at the others who were not Ghost Couriers.

All these people possessed Ghost Power; each was formidable, and at the post office they would be at least fourth‑floor Ghost Couriers in rank. They would all be broken here, and their own fates would certainly not be any better.

Either side, death awaits.

"Risk a gamble to succeed in the delivery and have a chance to reach the fifth floor; staying means certain death. Living a few more days versus a few fewer makes little difference—I won't do such a foolish thing."

Liu Qingqing, dressed in a Red Cheongsam, spoke coldly.

She will participate in this delivery mission no matter what.

"I support the delivery; we've already reached the fourth floor, just a little more. Backing out now would be foolish."

Wang Feng had been silent for a long time on the way, and now spoke.

"The fourth‑floor Ghost Couriers were all frightened by this journey's experiences."

Yang Jian's newly recruited teammate named Yan Yan saw this and thought to himself.

He didn't look down on these people, but felt that their thinking was justified.

After all, even top Ghost Tamers are unwilling to board this bus; those who get on are people close to the revival of Fierce Ghosts, and even if they don't board, they would die outside.

All have no way out.

Any other method would make it impossible to get here.

"The rain outside has stopped."

The bus continued forward; the rainy area finally ended, and outside returned to its previous state.

The droplets on the window vanished quickly, leaving no trace.

Having left the Spiritual Realm of the third stop, they were on the way to the fourth stop, and Yang Jian thought this road's danger level far exceeded that of the previous three stops.

"That strange old lady hasn't gotten off yet; after the next two stops, the number of Ghosts will decrease then increase, and the final result remains unchanged, still an astonishing 13. That's not good news," Yang Jian felt uneasy at that moment.

That old lady boarded the bus from a seemingly peaceful village with fields full of rice.

However, that old lady was the owner of Dachuan City Room 301, a being that almost caused Yang Jian's death.

This is a huge hidden danger.

Combined with the previous post office delivery mission, which was for this old lady, it made him think of something very bad.

"Yang's team, will you get off at the fourth stop?" Suddenly, a City Responsible Person named Fan Xing asked.

Yang Jian's expression shifted slightly, and he glanced: "What do you want to say?"

"Nothing much, just curious— the next stop might not be a safe place to stop," Fan Xing said.

"My affairs are better left uncurious; what, did you receive an order from Headquarters to inquire about my intentions?"

Yang Jian said, "If so, report to Cao Minister, tell him I'm assisting Headquarters with a Supernatural Incident, and if I survive, remember to give me overtime pay."

"Alright, definitely," Fan Xing smiled, a bit embarrassed.

He truly wasn't curious; he had received a message from Headquarters.

The signal on the Spiritual Bus was intermittent, but still reachable, albeit unstable.

However, at that moment.

Suddenly.

The normally cruising bus made a sudden hard brake, causing everyone inside, even the Ghosts on the seats, to jolt.

In the distance.

As Zhang Hao and the Ghost Bride kept moving through the pitch‑black corridor, he suddenly felt a whimsical impulse.

In that dark corridor, Zhang Hao suddenly summoned a Ghost Coffin and Fierce Ghosts that carry coffins, then knelt on the Ghost Coffin and proceeded.

Meanwhile, when Zhang Hao summoned the Ghost Coffin, the Bride also voluntarily summoned a Paper Flower Sedan and sat upon the Flower Sedan Chair.

Four Fierce Ghosts dressed in Funeral Clothes, their fabric dyed Hong Bai Shuang Sha, carried the Flower Sedan and followed behind Zhang Hao.

Behind the Ghost Coffin and the Flower Sedan, many more Fierce Ghosts followed.

These were Ghost Tamers that Zhang Hao and the Ghost Bride had killed in Da Dong City; the Fierce Ghosts on them were controlled by the Summon Ghost Technique, usually confined within ghost paintings.

Once Zhang Hao and the Ghost Bride sit on the Ghost Coffin and the Flower Sedan, they will be summoned out.

Strangely, normally Zhang Hao cannot receive the Terror Level boost from the Ghost Coffin; at most he can remote‑control it as a Supernatural Artifact.

But once Zhang Hao sits on the Ghost Coffin, performing Mourning as if conducting a funeral, part of the Ghost Coffin's Terror Level transfers to him.

Zhang Hao guessed.

Perhaps folklore persists because similar Fierce Ghosts truly existed before.

Fierce Ghosts appeared before the folklore; people spread this custom based on the Killing Rule of the Fierce Ghosts.

Rather than folklore preceding the Fierce Ghosts, the folklore gave rise to Fierce Ghosts with similar rules.

When Zhang Hao and the Ghost Bride both sat on the Ghost Coffin, the dark corridor unknowingly turned into a Highway.

Zhang Hao and the Ghost Bride no longer moved one after another; instead they appeared on the left and right side paths of the Highway, walking forward.

Grayish ash drifted at this moment, burning as it had previously scattered on the ground.

A bizarre, terrifying Crying echoed along the Highway.

In the distance of the Highway stood an Old Forest; deep within the Old Forest was an Old Mansion hanging a Hong Bai Shuang Sha Lantern, and upon closer look, there were individual burial mounds throughout the Old Forest.

A funeral procession walked on the opposite side of the Highway toward the Old Forest, seemingly heading to conduct a burial there.

Meanwhile, within the Old Forest, a Hong Bai Shuang Sha-colored team carried a Flower Sedan toward the Highway, looking as if a successful wedding‑procession team was walking from the Old Mansion with the Hong Bai Shuang Sha Lantern toward here.

The wedding procession and the funeral procession saw each other on opposite sides of the Highway; the bride in the sedan and the Mourning figure on the coffin stared at each other.

From afar it seemed they were debating whether Hong Bai Shuang Sha caused the White Affair, or the White Affair caused the Red Affair; and at this seemingly contentious moment, a bus sped onto the Highway from one side.

(End of Chapter)