Chapter 498: Drink More Cool Water

Indeed, the appearance of evil spirits had already occurred before we entered, and it had persisted for quite some time—at least a year.

Inside the detective agency, Zhu Bajie said to Tang Luo, "Many well-informed people already know that, on the official level, no suitable solution has been found yet."

Three days have passed since the large-scale test on that night.

During these three days, Tang Luo stayed at home idly, conducting destructive experiments on that hide-and-seek ghost hand when he had nothing else to do.

Any attack, including Liuli Flame, is both effective and ineffective against the ghost hand.

Effective means that after the attack, the ghost hand disappears, and that icy cold sensation also vanishes.

Ineffective means that regardless of whether the ghost hand dissipates or not, it reappears after about an hour, and upon reappearing, it launches an intangible, substanceless lethal attack.

Then, one simply waits for the next "one hour."

"What about gold?" Tang Luo asked, his finger twitching slightly as the glaring ghost hand vanished.

"Gold?" Zhu Bajie blinked in surprise.

"I wonder if gold has any restraining effect on ghosts—like sealing them away. I read a novel once where gold could do just that." Tang Luo wasn't joking or speaking nonsense.

Perhaps there really is something that can restrain evil spirits.

"I've never heard of it," Zhu Bajie said. "For now, it's still unsolvable—aside from staying away, there's nothing else we can do."

"The power of merit can offer protection, though it's only protection, nothing more," Tang Luo said.

"The Merit Jade Lotus, once consecrated, can indeed block harm from evil spirits—but again, only block it, nothing more."

"Master, that guy is dead," said Ao Yulie as he entered with the Heavenly Hound, announcing it mid-sentence.

The "guy" he referred to was Jiang Heguang, the person who brought Tang Luo and his group their first evil spirit.

"Dead?" Tang Luo glanced at his right hand, where an evil spirit "resided." "How did he die? Is it related to the hide-and-seek ghost?"

"Probably not," Ao Yulie replied.

Ao Yulie had already left a mark on Jiang Heguang from the very beginning.

Ten minutes ago, while investigating outside, Ao Yulie suddenly lost his sense of Jiang Heguang; five minutes later, he regained it—Jiang Heguang had reappeared at the city's edge.

Ao Yulie immediately went to investigate from a distance, then returned to find Tang Luo.

The Heavenly Hound stood guard, and soon Tang Luo and the two others arrived at the place where Jiang Heguang had reappeared.

In a desolate wilderness, by a pond on the mountainside, Jiang Heguang's corpse lay there.

Besides Jiang Heguang, there were seventeen other men and women, most of them young adults in their twenties.

Their bellies were swollen high, each resembling a ten-month pregnancy; some, who had originally been in good shape, had their bellies so distended they tore their clothes.

"These people should all be Jiang Heguang's colleagues," Ao Yulie said.

After experiencing the hide-and-seek ghost, Jiang Heguang still continued to go to work.

Though the incident was strange, in the end, Jiang Heguang had not actually undergone any real life-or-death crisis.

He didn't know whether ghosts could kill him, but not working meant no money to support himself—he would surely starve to death.

Poverty is fiercer than ghosts.

As long as one doesn't die, one must go to work.

In the end, Jiang Heguang still couldn't escape the evil spirit—he appeared here inexplicably and died alongside a group of his coworkers.

"Looks like a new kind of evil spirit," Tang Luo said, observing that these people were already beyond saving.

"How many people are still at that company?" Zhu Bajie asked.

"Not many left—it's a small company," Ao Yulie replied.

"Let's go check it out together. You handle this place, Master," Zhu Bajie and Ao Yulie said as they left.

Tang Luo casually slashed, and Jiang Heguang's swollen belly split open in two.

No ghost infant or similar entity appeared—only a stream of clear water flowed out, which evaporated on its own in a short time and vanished completely.

Moreover, as the clear water flowed out, Jiang Heguang's entire body, along with his clothes, turned into a puddle of clear water and disappeared.

"Is the problem with this water?" Tang Luo asked, looking toward the nearby pond.

He walked to the pond's edge and looked in—the water in the pond differed from the stagnant water of the wild mountains; it appeared emerald green.

On the contrary, this pond's water was exceptionally pure, truly clear to the bottom.

At a glance, no impurities were visible, and no living organisms existed in the water.

After glancing at the pond a few times, Tang Luo turned around—just moments ago, the corpses on the ground had vanished completely, leaving no trace.

"Did you find anything over there?"

"Police are investigating," Ao Yulie said. "The boss is still here, still talking—Holy crap! The boss is gone!"

"This has to do with water," Tang Luo said. "Here, Jiang Heguang's corpse turned into water and evaporated. Little White Dragon, can you still sense him?"

"I can," Ao Yulie said. "He's in..."

He paused, then exclaimed in astonishment, "Master! The precise location I sensed—he ran into that pond, no, wait—now my sense has disappeared."

"It seems he turned into water and entered the pond," Tang Luo said.

After a while, a corpse suddenly appeared by the pond's edge.

A rather plump middle-aged man.

His prominently swollen belly made it hard to tell at first whether it was due to "ghost water" causing trouble.

Tang Luo approached and lightly touched him—the man likewise turned into a puddle of clear water, appearing to vanish without a trace, but in fact had entered the adjacent pond.

"The mass is somewhat less..." Tang Luo thought to himself.

Others might not notice, but upon close observation, he found that the mass this person turned into was less than that of Jiang Heguang.

"Is it because of time?"

Tang Luo speculated it might be related to time.

The vanished "corpse," affected by external factors, had insufficient time, so it turned into water prematurely—its mass would be less than that of a "natural" water transformation occurring here under normal conditions.

"Master, I've taken all their bottled water. Should I bring it over now?" Ao Yulie asked.

"Bring it over."

If it were a case of touching ghost water through situations like washing hands leading to death, then it would obviously be impossible for only this one small company to suffer disaster.

The greater possibility is that the drinking water inside the bottled water has a problem.

To be on the safe side, Zhu Bajie and Ao Yulie simply brought over all the company's bottled water — the ones on the water dispensers and the several spare barrels as well.

Tang Luo kicked one barrel to pieces with one foot, water splashing onto the ground, wetting the surrounding floor.

This is different from those waters just now; the water just now "evaporated" directly, not wetting the ground at all.

"Normal." Tang Luo said.

The three of them proceeded to smash several more barrels; apart from two barrels, they were all normal water.

Those two barrels — one of them had water flowing out that was a little less than the water originally in the barrel.

And the other barrel was the bottled water originally in use today; it was also less by some amount.

Without a doubt, the missing portion had already silently merged into the pond next to it.

"... Troublesome." Zhu Bajie said, "This 'ghost water' is likely spread via the natural water cycle!"

It's not some unscrupulous merchant passing off pond water here as pure water for sale; if that were the case, it would be impossible for only a portion to be ghost water.

And, does this ghost water really only cause trouble if drunk?

No one dares guarantee that.

If an unscrupulous merchant seeks death, the first to die would probably be themselves.

Ghost water enters the human body through the water cycle, kills them, transforms them into part of itself, merges them in, grows stronger, and continues the cycle.

The pond Tang Luo and the others saw — the water inside was merely a portion; there was definitely still more ghost water hiding in some unknown corner.

"Let's try sealing this place up." Zhu Bajie and Ao Yulie exchanged a glance and said.

Attempting to stop the ghost water in the pond from continuing to participate in the water cycle.

"No need." Tang Luo said, "Sealing it shut probably wouldn't work either. This ghost water's rule is the 'water cycle,' but in reality it cannot truly participate in nature's water cycle; at most it's a form of mimicry."

"Then what do we do?" Ao Yulie said.

Their magical seals would probably have no effect on the ghost water in the pond.

"Drink it." Tang Luo said.

"Wait! Master, calm down a bit!" Zhu Bajie extended an Erkang hand.

"Something will happen, right!" Ao Yulie also widened his eyes.

Drink it?!

"Try it first; if it doesn't work, just vomit it up." Tang Luo's face was relaxed, "It's not like there's any effect."

"..."

"..."

Walking to the pondside again, Tang Luo reached out and scooped, the Great Hand Seal manifesting, scooping up a good amount of ghost water.

The ghost water splashed down, splashing water flowers on the calm pond, looking no different from ordinary water.

At the same time, it also verified Tang Luo's words just now — magical seals cannot seal it.

The Great Hand Seal forms a "Leakless Body," a "perfect seal," yet it still could not stop the ghost water from flowing out.

"Indeed can't seal it." Zhu Bajie said.

Tang Luo dispersed the Great Hand Seal, opened his mouth, and sucked inward.

A "dragon sucking water" scene instantly appeared in the pond; a good amount of ghost water was sucked in by Tang Luo and drunk down.

"Master, how is it?" Ao Yulie and Zhu Bajie asked.

"Hm." Tang Luo said, "No feeling really..."

"Let me try." Zhu Bajie thought for a moment, walked to the pondside, carefully dipped a finger in a little, put it in his mouth and licked, saying, "A bit cold."

Ghost water of this degree — wanting to take him down is still impossible.

Vengeful ghosts are unsolvable, but the methods by which vengeful ghosts kill are not completely unsolvable.

The solution is — as long as you're fierce enough, you won't be killed that easily.

"Can have a bit more." Zhu Bajie gulped down a portion in one go, his body shuddering, "Oh, oh, so cold."

Ao Yulie also came over and drank some, hopped twice forcefully, a chill emanating from his body, slowly dissipating.

"Treat it as training." Tang Luo said to Ao Yulie.

Drinking ghost water, to him, is equivalent to advancing under a heavy load; with such thin heaven-and-earth origin qi, cultivation realm will certainly be hard to raise, but more training still strengthens his own power.

"Got it, Master." Ao Yulie shook his head, "That... if it really doesn't work, Master, remember to save me."

"Already gave you an opening-of-light blessing, no need to worry." Tang Luo said.

Oh, there's one more solution — the Merit Jade Lotus's opening-of-light blessing can isolate harm... but that's temporary; once the blessing is fully consumed, there's no way.

So, being strong oneself is the most important.

Great power returns to oneself, after all.

Without a doubt, it is precisely this path, and walking it incomparably thoroughly, that Tang Luo, looking at the pond, opened his mouth, like a whale swallowing.

The ghost water of the entire pond was drunk dry by him in one gulp.

The Merit Jade Lotus began continuously "absorbing" merit power born in the dark.

Drink more cold water, gain merit!