Chapter 190: Tamer of the Weird

"I...... fuck......"

Xiao Ma's lips trembled; after holding back for a long time, he only spat out these two words.

He felt his worldview shatter.

The monster that ripped Liu Ting and Zhang Wei to shreds, the horrifying thing that forced them to flee for their lives, now...... now stands as meek as a dog before Jiang Yuan?

And it even crawled out of Jiang Yuan's shadow?

Li Na's pupils contracted to pinpricks; she clenched her fists so hard her nails dug into her palms, the sharp pain confirming she wasn't dreaming.

Her brain raced, trying to fit the bizarre scene before her into some known logical framework.

It failed.

This completely exceeded the limits of her cognition.

Chen Shao and Ahu turned ashen, leaning against the wall, barely able to stand.

Jiang Yuan ignored their reactions.

He himself was still caught in a huge shock and chaos.

He could feel that he had indeed established a strange connection with the 'Female Patient' made of shadow before him.

He could clearly sense its presence, and even command it.

Go back.

A thought stirred in Jiang Yuan's mind.

The 'Female Patient' instantly turned into a wisp of black mist, making no sound, smoothly flowing back onto the ground and re-merging with the ordinary shadow beneath Jiang Yuan's feet.

The corridor fell silent again.

If it weren't for the two wet bloodstains on the floor and the glaring dent in the wall, what just happened would truly seem like a bizarre hallucination.

But immediately after, a powerful sense of suffocation clenched Jiang Yuan's heart!

"Ugh......"

He let out a muffled groan, bent over, and began to cough violently.

An indescribable cold and heaviness surged from the soles of his feet, up his spine, straight to his Heavenly Spirit Cover!

He felt something foreign crashing around inside his body!

A cold, death-filled entity, continually devouring his vitality!

Jiang Yuan abruptly lowered his head, looking at his own shadow.

Under the light, his shadow was stretched, twisted and enormous.

That was hardly a normal shadow!

It twitched and writhed irregularly, its edges like living ink, constantly reaching out only to be forcibly pulled back by some force.

Askew and distorted, utterly bizarre.

A cold fact exploded in Jiang Yuan's mind.

——This power does not come without a price.

Let's call the thing residing in his shadow a 'Shadow Ghost' for now.

It, it is eroding him.

And each time he uses its power, he speeds up this process!

He doesn't know how much longer he can live.

Perhaps tomorrow he will be completely consumed by this shadow, turned into a controlled puppet, or...... into another entirely new monster he himself cannot even imagine.

This discovery sank Jiang Yuan's heart to the bottom of the valley.

"Jiang Yuan! You...... you all right?"

Chen Shao was the first to react; seeing Jiang Yuan in pain, he mustered his courage and ran over.

Xiao Ma, Li Na, and Ahu hesitated a moment, then gritted their teeth and followed.

They were afraid.

But they knew better: this half-human, half-ghost youth before them was their only hope of survival.

"I'm fine."

Jiang Yuan straightened up, waved a hand, his forehead slick with cold sweat.

His discomfort faded slowly, but the sensation of something foreign clinging to him persisted like a bone-deep parasite, firmly lodged in his body.

"Just, just now......" Xiao Ma pointed at Jiang Yuan's shadow, tongue-tied, "That thing...... is it...... did you make it?"

Jiang Yuan looked at their faces, a mix of fear and hope, and fell silent for a moment.

He knew some things couldn't be hidden.

Continued concealment would only cause this newly formed, fragile team to collapse from suspicion and fear.

"There are ghosts in this world."

Jiang Yuan's words were soft, yet they exploded like thunder in the four of their ears.

"Their formal name is, 'Weird'."

"They obey none of the physical laws we know, possess all kinds of unimaginable abilities, and feed on human fear, despair, even life itself."

Jiang Yuan pointed at himself, "And I am an Official Investigator specially tasked with dealing with these things."

"Investigator?"

Those words were as alien to Chen Shao and the others as a tale from another world.

But coming from Jiang Yuan's mouth, combined with everything that happened in this hospital and that surreal scene just now, it somehow felt...... quite natural.

As it turns out, the world hasn't gone mad.

They have simply been living in a tiny, overprotected world.

And now, the other side of the world—the blood‑soaked, brutal reality—has been torn open by Jiang Yuan himself and laid before them.

"So… you… you're also Weird?" Li Na asked the most crucial question, her voice trembling.

"I'm not."

Jiang Yuan shook his head, glanced at his own Shadow, his expression complex.

"I'm just… it seems I've been parasitized and contaminated by Weird."

"You could think of me as… a human who can still, for now, control it."

The four of them instantly understood Jiang Yuan's meaning.

Their gaze toward Jiang Yuan changed.

Fear remained, but now there was a hint of sympathy, a hint of respect, and a stronger… dependence.

So he wasn't a monster after all.

He was a … hero walking the path toward becoming a monster in order to protect ordinary people like them.

"Then… what do we do now? Brother Jiang Yuan, you're our backbone; whatever you say we'll do!" Xiao Ma's attitude made a complete 180‑degree turn, almost bowing down.

Chen Shao adjusted his glasses, and a spark of light reignited in his eyes behind the lenses.

"We need your professional judgment."

Professional judgment?

Jiang Yuan gave a wry smile.

His greatest professional judgment now is that he himself is about to collapse.

The Shadow Ghost's erosion is more severe than he imagined; hunger and thirst are also wildly draining his body.

He rubbed his swollen temples, about to speak.

"Wah—"

A voice, without any warning, came from deep within the Corridor.

It was certainly not a normal infant's wail.

The sound was viscous and slick, filled with indescribable pain and malice, as if countless tiny needles were stabbing everyone's nerves.

Jiang Yuan's body froze instantly!

He jerked his head up, looking toward the source of the voice, every hair on his body standing on end!

That voice!

He'll never forget it in his lifetime!

It's Patient No. 1!

It's that monster with a swollen belly and a baby's arm protruding from its mouth, Jack Smith!

It forced itself into a corner, tore its own clothes, and completed its transformation!

It is also the ultimate goal of their expedition!

"What's that sound?"

"Seems… like a child is crying?"

Xiao Ma and Ahu still wore bewildered expressions.

But Chen Shao and Li Na, from Jiang Yuan's suddenly tensed, cheetah‑like posture, sensed mortal danger!

"Wah—Wah—"

The wailing grew nearer.

Accompanying it was a sticky 'puff‑puff' footstep, as if barefoot on a pool of blood.

A wave of bloodiness and rot, ten times richer than before, swept the entire Corridor like a tide.

It's coming!

Jiang Yuan's heart hammered.

He instinctively tried to summon the Shadow Ghost's power again.

But the corroded cold and heaviness surged back like a tide, giving his brain a dizzy spell.

He can't wield it lightly again, at least not for a short time!

This is his trump card, second only to Human Skin Paper!

"Everyone! Hide! Quickly!"