Chapter 49 Dealing with a Demon

This was not a victory. They hadn't even brushed against the hem of victory; they had merely managed to cling to life by a thread.

After checking repeatedly to ensure that the black-robed ghost had departed, Shen Lin got to his feet and led the others back up to the third floor. To avoid triggering its rules, he specifically assigned Xiong Wenwen to keep track of the time.

Xiong Wenwen would remind them one minute before every hour, using that moment as a cue to close their eyes and evade the black-robed ghost.

Once you figure out a malevolent ghost's rules, dealing with it can be that simple. The Knocking Ghost is deaf, so you don't need to fear it at all; the Ghost Mother treats you as an amnesiac, allowing you to bypass her easily. The key lies not in the outcome, but in the process of groping for those rules.

Formulate a bold hypothesis, gather evidence with extreme caution, yet a single misstep means death.

When dealing with malevolent entities, not the slightest margin of error is permitted.

"Come back here, stop staring. Ghosts are different from ordinary people; as long as we don't trigger its rules, we won't have any major problems," Shen Lin beckoned to Zhou Bin.

Although they had cleverly bypassed the Night Watcher Ghost, that did not mean all was well. In a complex supernatural incident, accidents can happen at any moment, and the slightest carelessness could trigger some other unknown rule.

"What now?"

Back on the third floor, Xiong Wenwen stared at the mottled stone steps before him and asked.

He had not forgotten Shen Lin's repeated warnings about this ghost. If his guesses were correct, all the terror they had experienced was orchestrated by this ghost, whose terror rating did not even seem particularly high.

The Ghost Staircase could not be judged by conventional logic.

"We still need to wait. I've had direct contact with the Ghost Staircase once before. This damn thing is deeply sinister; its steps conceal numerous corpses, mostly living people sucked dry by the Ghost Staircase itself. Be careful not to touch its steps—according to the Headquarters' files, that is one of the triggers for its rules."

Having cleared away all external factors, Shen Lin closely examined the mottled stone steps before him. The moldy green moss mixed with a fishy stench made his nose smart. Ever since arriving here, Shen Lin had felt an indescribable strangeness.

The Ghost Staircase here seemed somewhat different from the one at the Dragon Lake Estate.

Back at the Dragon Lake Estate, Shen Lin had engaged in a direct confrontation with this monstrosity. Due to the Ghost Staircase's unique ability to influence other ghosts, the Ghostly Facade had been partially affected.

Yet right now, he felt none of that sensation. Shen Lin had noticed this detail shortly beforehand, and now this eerie feeling was growing stronger and stronger.

He developed a bad premonition.

"This thing went to such great lengths to come to Dongchuan City, causing such a massive commotion and even drawing out a ghost of the Night Watcher's caliber, yet it hasn't made any other moves. Everything appears far too abnormal."

Shen Lin felt somewhat puzzled. The Night Watcher's terror rating was simply too high, and the battered wooden club in its hands was exceptionally sinister. He did not believe the Ghost Staircase could influence a ghost of that level.

If it truly possessed such capability, why wouldn't this thing summon ten or eight ghosts of this caliber to patrol the perimeter? Their team would have had absolutely no way back.

The Ghost Staircase lures living people into triggering its rules, devours those who trigger them, and uses them as a medium to exert partial influence over certain ghosts.

To what level that influence reaches remains unknown; to what extent that influence can be exerted is likewise unknown; and how much consumption is required to achieve that influence is equally unclear.

Just what on earth had it utilized to influence a ghost as terrifying as the Night Watcher?

Logically speaking, the battered wooden club in the Night Watcher's hand could suppress malevolent entities, naturally granting it the upper hand in supernatural confrontations. Under such circumstances, it was virtually impossible for the Ghost Staircase to influence the Night Watcher.

Wait—something suddenly flashed across Shen Lin's mind.

He seemed to have fallen into a cognitive trap. When he learned that the Ghost Staircase could influence ghosts, he always subconsciously assumed that the surrounding ghosts had been influenced by the Ghost Staircase itself.

What if... the Night Watcher was already in Dongchuan City to begin with?

Boom—

It was a roaring sound originating from his mind, and scenes flashed across Shen Lin's consciousness like a movie reel.

According to records at Headquarters, Dongchuan City was one of the cities with the lowest rate of supernatural outbreaks nationwide. With the spiritual resurrection currently underway, there naturally had to be a reason why it remained a city with minimal supernatural outbreaks.

What if...

The extremely low rate of ghost-related outbreaks in this city was actually because of the Night Watcher?

Shen Lin's pupils constricted slightly.

The Night Watcher possessed the ability to suppress ghosts, and the battered wooden club in its hands held an innate restraint over malevolent entities. Just like a traditional night watchman, it patrolled the night to announce the hours, wandering everywhere.

That patrol range likely encompassed the entire Dongchuan City.

The Night Watcher was already in Dongchuan City to begin with; it was not lured here by the Ghost Staircase.

Following this logic, horror spread across Shen Lin's face, and he abruptly turned his gaze toward the Ghost Staircase.

This damned thing had done it on purpose. It came to Dongchuan City, fabricated the illusion of a rampant ghost outbreak, displayed signs of vigorous growth, and cleverly ensured that Headquarters' high regard for the incident reached Shen Lin's ears.

The two sides were locked in a life-or-death struggle. To prevent future troubles, Shen Lin would inevitably take action.

And deep within the supernatural hazards of Dongchuan City, an unimaginably terrifying Night Watcher had long been waiting for Shen Lin's arrival.

This was a trap laid specifically for him.

The intelligence of this ghost far exceeded his imagination!

Terror mirrored in Shen Lin's eyes as a terrible premonition took hold.

If this thing truly possessed such high intelligence, then it must surely know how fragile it was itself.

The greatest danger of the Ghost Staircase lay in its extraordinary intelligence and its ability to influence ghosts; in its true essence, it was quite fragile.

What if Shen Lin resolved its trap? Wouldn't it then become a turtle in a jar?

Shen Lin froze, a sense of foreboding welling up within him.

"Step back, all of you," Shen Lin called out to the others as dark red, glossy ripples surged forward. The ability originating from the Upside-Down Ghost instantly activated.

Back at the Dragon Lake Estate, Shen Lin had once relied on the Upside-Down Ghost's power to distort the Ghost Staircase, rescuing Li Meng and Chen Mo in the process, thereby confirming that the Upside-Down Ghost's abilities could exert some degree of influence over the Ghost Staircase.

This time, he resorted to his old trick. The inner unease made Shen Lin urgently need to confirm something.

"Boom!"

Like a heavy iron hammer striking a wall, the power of the Upside-Down Ghost directly twisted a portion of the steps. Those mottled stone steps shattered visibly, exposing the layers of corpses piled up inside.

The degree of decomposition among the corpses varied; some had rotted down to bare bones, while others still retained recognizable human features. A fishy stench rushed toward them, causing Xiong Wenwen and Zhou Bin to quickly cover their noses and mouths.

No, something wasn't right.

Shen Lin's expression shifted slightly. Back at the Dragon Lake Estate, when he used the Upside-Down Ghost to distort the Ghost Staircase, the staircase had bled a foul-smelling red blood just like a normal person's bones shattering, while erupting with eerie, mournful cries.

At that time, shattering just two steps was enough to make Shen Lin feel a sense of palpitation. Yet now, though he had shattered well over half of them, he felt no abnormal response whatsoever.

"Something's wrong."

Shen Lin's expression grew increasingly grim. The severity of the incident exceeded his imagination.

"What's wrong? Is something amiss? Isn't this great? Breaking it makes containment easier anyway." Xiong Wenwen didn't see anything wrong, assuming Shen Lin had shattered the Ghost Staircase merely to facilitate its containment.

Zhou Bin was older after all. Although he still possessed some childish traits, he could still read something amiss from Shen Lin's expression.

"What happened?"

"We've fallen into a trap," Shen Lin frowned, as the situation developed toward the worst possible outcome.

What was left behind here was merely an empty shell; the real Ghost Staircase had long since vanished without a trace. The entire supernatural hazard in Dongchuan City was a setup targeting him. Because he possessed the ability of the Upside-Down Ghost, which could influence the Ghost Staircase and had glimpsed some of its secrets, this monster had sought to lure Shen Lin to his death.

"Fallen into a trap? Whose trap? Didn't that Night Watcher leave? Was it just a feint?" Xiong Wenwen almost shrieked. He had thought everything was smooth sailing, only for one wave to follow hard upon another.

"Quiet down. Watch your time and remind me at the appropriate moment," Shen Lin barked. He needed quiet to sort everything out.

Xiong Wenwen wanted to snap back, but then he recalled the terrifying sight of the Night Watcher from a moment ago, causing his head to shrink back. What if he completely offended Shen Lin, and Shen Lin pushed him out to feed the ghosts?

Your Uncle Bear refuses to court this kind of disaster.

"Is there anything we can help with?" Zhou Bin asked next.

Shen Lin shook his head.

"The ghost thing here has left behind only a shell. The real Ghost Staircase doesn't know where it went; we've made a wasted trip."

Zhou Bin was startled. He had never heard of such an intelligent ghostly entity and was at a loss for where to begin.

"You mean we need to conduct a area-wide search?"

Involuntarily, Zhou Bin glanced into the impenetrable darkness. Remembering the sheer terror of facing the Night Watcher just moments ago, every fiber of his being rejected the proposal. Heaven only knew what kind of monsters they would encounter if they went out there.

"No need. Since it set up such a grand spectacle, its true body won't be in a place within our line of sight. This thing is very cunning; it must be hiding somewhere we could never imagine."

Shen Lin frowned. There were simply too many fragmented clues; searching like this was equivalent to finding a needle in a haystack.

Could they only wait? Since the Ghost Staircase had targeted him, it wouldn't strike only once. He would simply have to deal with whatever came his way.

Shen Lin's expression turned somewhat ferocious. Ending up with this outcome after walking the line between life and death was hard for him to accept.

The Ghost Staircase possessed far too high a growth potential, and now, coupled with such formidable intelligence, leaving it unchecked would sooner or later become a grave hazard.

"Secure this staircase first, just in case."

Out of caution, Shen Lin began the process of containing this dilapidated flight of steps. Regardless of whether there were any other bizarre elements hidden inside, containing it could never be the wrong move.

"That thing is in the place it considers the safest in the entire world," Shen Lin muttered to himself, his gaze unfocused as he racked his brain trying to figure something out. Waiting passively for death was simply not his style.

"I know this one!" Xiong Wenwen bounced up, eager to assert his presence.

"The most dangerous place is the safest place!"

Having spoken, the brat looked extremely pleased with himself, his face full of pride.

Like a clap of thunder tearing through the sky, Shen Lin's unfocused eyes rapidly refocused and then widened.

"What did you just say?"