Chapter 495: Evil Ghost, Not a Ghost

The master wants to act recklessly; as a disciple, I naturally cannot but support him.

Ao Yulie and Zhu Bajie would not do something like saying, "No, too dangerous! Absolutely not!"

Following the master forward is the proper course.

Zhu Bajie stepped back two paces, Ao Yulie reached out and grabbed Tang Luo's arm, saying, "Got you—now it's your turn to be the ghost."

"Oh~Sure enough, I heard it." Tang Luo felt no fear at all, but rather a bit of excitement.

When Ao Yulie spoke those words, he heard the three words "hide and seek," along with some eerie, faintly audible laughter.

It sounded like a child's laughter.

Upon reflection, games of hide and seek are genuinely rare among adult pastimes.

"... Feeling, seems much lighter now." Ao Yulie said, as if a gaze that had constantly fixed upon him had finally shifted away.

"Come."

Without delay, Tang Luo lunged forward, grabbing at Ao Yulie, his right hand touching the latter's shoulder.

Then Tang Luo's motion halted; he remained still.

"How is it?" Ao Yulie and Zhu Bajie spoke simultaneously.

"Look." Tang Luo raised his right hand, palm facing the two, shaking it twice, "See? See?"

Ao Yulie and Zhu Bajie exchanged glances, both seeing doubt in the other's eyes; after confirming each other's gaze, they said in unison: "No."

"Can't you see it? Can't you feel it either?" Tang Luo said.

Ao Yulie extended his hand, grabbed Tang Luo's palm, and felt nothing unusual: "Master, is it this hand?"

"Yes." Tang Luo nodded.

In his vision, his own wrist strangely sprouted a hand, as if it had grown from within his body; yet Tang Luo actually felt nothing.

It seemed as if it had always been there on the wrist, very harmonious.

That hand was icy cold and pallid, like a block of ice.

Opposite Tang Luo's palm, the ten fingers were tightly interlocked, in the manner of lovers holding hands.

Combined with Ao Yulie, who had nearly been instantly slain, it easily evokes thoughts of "dying together" or "love suicide" and such scenes.

Yet hide and seek, and that laughter again—childlike.

Pondering further, according to the normal progression of uncovering the truth behind supernatural ghost stories...

Tang Luo and company will conduct an investigation, ultimately discovering that this ghost is actually a child, whose family suffered a tragedy, parents either both committed suicide or were murdered, and before dying, to prevent the child from seeing, they lied, saying they were playing hide and seek.

Let him hide.

After the parents died, the child also died accidentally, remembering only playing hide and seek.

Thus came the present situation.

Seeking people to play hide and seek, if no replacement scapegoat is found or rules are violated, all must die!

So, how can such a supernatural event be ended?

Naturally, by venturing into the tiger's den, finding the place where the family originally died, dispelling the evil ghost's obsession, and ending it all.

Origin naturally requires extinction—normal progression.

But this time, there's a high probability we cannot follow such a routine.

Could a ghost capable of instantly slaying Ao Yulie be an ordinary sort of ghost?

Moreover, one that can cling to Tang Luo's body—calling it a "ghost king" would be an insult to it.

"Master, do you feel nothing?" Ao Yulie stared at the invisible hand and asked.

"Ice-cold and cool, like holding ice, summer brings its own air conditioning—too bad we long ago became immune to cold and heat." Tang Luo said.

"......" Ao Yulie fell silent for a moment, thinking, Master, I asked you about this?

"As for 'attack'." Tang Luo laughed, "Truly formless and substanceless, appearing to spread from this hand, but actually not so."

"Master, you were also attacked?" Zhu Bajie asked.

"Yes, and only in an instant; before coming, I hadn't noticed it, and after it vanished, I couldn't catch it." Tang Luo said.

"... Then Master, what about you now?" Ao Yulie wanted to speak but hesitated.

"No effect." Tang Luo said, "I cannot grasp the source, but this attack wanting to harm me is still ten thousand years too early."

Ao Yulie crouched in the corner, drawing circles.

Nearly instant-killing him, utterly unable to resist this "attack"—for the master, it's still ten thousand years too early.

"Doggy, come smell." Tang Luo opened his hand toward the Heavenly Hound.

The Heavenly Hound on the sofa came over, nose touching, even licking twice, making a puzzled sound: "Woof?"

Likewise invisible, unfelt, untouchable, and undetectable by smell.

"Will this hand just stay like this?" Zhu Bajie asked.

Tang Luo clenched his right fist; that hand moved with his motion, fading like smoke and clouds, but this does not mean it disappeared.

On the contrary, Tang Luo also felt a sense of being watched, of being stared at.

Constantly lingering, impossible to dispel.

In other words, that evil ghost still gazes at Tang Luo, only temporarily not "manifesting."

"Interesting." Tang Luo chuckled.

"Master, let's go investigate this ghost's origin." Zhu Bajie and Ao Yulie said.

"Alright, go ahead, bring the dog." Tang Luo said.

The two and the Heavenly Hound left the detective agency; the important matter of renaming it "Enlightened Agency" was temporarily shelved.

This mission must be taken seriously.

Even a ghost the master cannot kill is no ordinary ghost.

One night passed in a flash.

At eight in the morning, the detective agency's door opened, and Ao Yulie and Zhu Bajie walked in carrying breakfast.

The Heavenly Howling Dog followed behind.

The bedroom door opened, and Tang Luo walked out.

The three placed the breakfast on the coffee table and happily began eating—xiaolongbao, fried buns, crab roe buns, soup buns, all kinds of buns, the taste was quite good.

"Master, we bought all the famous buns in the city, the taste is quite good." Zhu Bajie said.

It's very easy to make people misunderstand that they spent the whole night just buying buns.

"Any clues?" Tang Luo asked.

"No." Ao Yulie shook his head; they had investigated all night but found nothing about the "origin of the ghost."

This undoubtedly cast another shadow over this mission.

What kind of people are Ao Yulie and Zhu Bajie?

Don't be fooled by Ao Yulie nearly getting instantly killed upon entering the mission world—his strength, according to the classification in God and Demon Traversal, is fifth rank.

The same level as Chi Jing Daoist.

Not to mention Zhu Bajie, plus a Heavenly Howling Dog.

The three operated at full power, their efficiency surpassing that of state machinery, yet they gained nothing in one night.

Either this ghost is hiding very deeply, or... there simply is no such thing as the "origin of the ghost" at all!

"I have an idea." Tang Luo paused his hand reaching for a bun, "Get lost."

The newly grown ghost hand instantly vanished like smoke.

Tang Luo didn't care either, picked up a bun and shoved it into his mouth: "Let's finish eating and then verify it together."

After finishing breakfast, Ao Yulie used magic to clean up, and Tang Luo had him produce the Book of Life and Death.

"After you left last night, this ghost attacked me several more times, basically once every hour, with only slight variations up or down." Tang Luo said, "And each time, this hand appears, quite regularly."

"Just now it attacked again, and an hour later it will appear again—I plan to try using a copy of the Book of Life and Death."

Tang Luo opened the copy of the Book of Life and Death, and a large number of chains stretched out from the void above their heads.

At first glance, it looked as if they were growing from the ceiling, slightly trembling in midair, emitting a clear ringing sound.

A chilling aura spread out.

It gave off a feeling of being somewhat like a ghostly den.

The few of them chatted while waiting, and an hour passed quickly.

Tang Luo's wrist again "grew" a cold ghost hand, and he activated the copy of the Book of Life and Death while holding it.

The numerous chains above instantly began to dance, instantly filling the entire office, piercing through all the furniture and even the walls.

And one chain pierced through that cold ghost hand.

However...

After a while, the fruitless soul-hooking chains all vanished, leaving no trace.

The chains hook ghosts, not special needs, and will not affect any ordinary objects.

And the ghost hand was completely "ignored" by the soul-hooking chains.

Either it belongs to "ordinary objects," or, aside from Tang Luo, to others (or things), the ghost hand simply does not exist.

The rules of hide-and-seek only apply to participants.

If a passerby walks by and you grab him saying, "You're it as the ghost.", you'll definitely be seen as a silly goose.

"Is it still useless then?" Zhu Bajie asked.

"Yeah, the soul-hooking chains are ineffective." Tang Luo said, "We can basically confirm that this ghost is indeed not the kind of 'ghost' we know."

Evil ghost is not a ghost!

"How do we solve this then?" Ao Yulie scratched his head, slightly annoyed.

"Don't rush, even if we do nothing, the 'ghost' will actively come looking for us." Tang Luo said.

"That's right." Zhu Bajie said, "Just this one hide-and-seek ghost, it's hardly anything like hell on earth—there must be similar things elsewhere."

Moreover, Tang Luo and the others encountered this hide-and-seek ghost as soon as they arrived.

That means this thing is definitely not rare.

"I feel the so-called evil ghost is more like a product of certain rules or regularities." Zhu Bajie said, "Whether a condition is met or not, one gets targeted by the ghost, killed, and the person dies."

"Then isn't that unsolvable?" Ao Yulie said.

"No, as long as one is strong enough, one won't die." Zhu Bajie gestured toward the calmly composed Tang Luo.

If a person is killed, they die—what if a Buddha is killed?

The hide-and-seek ghost killing Ao Yulie isn't really an instant kill.

That is to say, even if it's an unsolvable rule-based evil ghost, its killing power probably has limits.

This point can be further verified through other ghosts.

"Let's check the news more—since it's hell on earth, even if it just started, there should be some clues." Tang Luo said.

Ao Yulie and Zhu Bajie nodded, and began investigating again.

In the evening.

Tang Luo and the three appeared in a city far away, thousands of li distant.

Here, a few months ago, a major event occurred: around an ordinary residential area, walls as high as ten meters were built, completely sealing it off.

Externally, it was claimed to be due to a radioactive substance leak.

The specific situation, the various messages online are obviously not trustworthy.

On-site investigation is needed.

Not only was there no one outside the residential area, but there were also few people near the high wall.

Joking, radioactive material! Those who had the ability to move had already moved.

Those left around were the ones without ability.

Under the influence of this matter, the city's economic development was also affected, plummeting, desolate everywhere.

"You wait outside, I'm going in."

Outside the high wall, Tang Luo said to the two disciples, leapt up, jumped over the high wall, and landed inside.

Inside the high wall, near the wall, stood row upon row of six-story buildings, in the darkness like giant beasts, waiting for those who would come.

And near the inside, one would find that most buildings had already disappeared.

Replacing them were one piece after another of ground ruins.

Piled up there, they looked like low mounds.