Chapter 50: Hiding in Plain Sight

Xiong Wenwen was somewhat intimidated by the sudden shout, looking timid and submissive all over.

"The... the most dangerous place is the safest place."

Feeling the dangerous aura emanating from Shen Lin's entire body, he added a grievance-laden remark.

"What's wrong? Why are you looking at me! Isn't that how it's always played out in TV shows?!"

Like a storm sweeping through his mind, Shen Lin pulled out his cell phone at once. Damn it, no signal; that ghostly thing had anticipated this.

There was a night-watchman ghost outside. To avoid accidents, they had to minimize contact with that entity.

Could they only wait until six o'clock tomorrow morning? He hoped nothing unexpected would happen.

Shen Lin's eyes narrowed slightly, radiating an intensely dangerous aura.

Xiong Wenwen's whimsical remark completely allowed him to catch that dove of inspiration. Among countless fragmented images, one popped into his mind.

It was beside the hospital bed, when he was sorting out Li Meng's physical condition, that strange staircase tattoo on Li Meng's body.

Initially, he had thought it was a ghost-servant imprint or some kind of mark. Now it seemed that was far from the truth.

In fact, a closer thought would reveal the clue: the thirty-some corpses before him displayed varying degrees of decomposition, but all were normal bodily decay. Never had there been a transformation like Li Meng's—blue-black skin, long black nails, resembling a malevolent ghost.

This in itself was too abnormal.

When Shen Lin used the Inverted Ghost's ability to reverse Li Meng's physical condition, he had also encountered some resistance. He had originally thought this was a normal phenomenon, but now it appeared to be an instinctive resistance originating from the Ghost Staircase.

Shen Lin had been tricked. That ghost had once been infinitely close to him.

It was right on Li Meng's body!

The moment he rescued Li Meng, that ghostly thing had possessed Li Meng's body, pulling off a deception to cross the sea.

Wait, that wasn't quite right. If this was the case, what was the purpose of this ghostly thing?

Shen Lin thought again of the current corpses, all of which showed symptoms of natural death.

Then how to explain Li Meng's own presentation of missing consciousness and intact body?

Wait, wait a little longer.

Li Meng might not be missing consciousness; it was possible he was being suppressed—he was suppressed by the Ghost Staircase!

Like a thread weaving through everything, in an instant Shen Lin connected it all.

That ghostly thing's ambition to pull off a deception was even greater than he had imagined. If humans controlling ghosts was controlling ghosts, what about ghosts controlling humans?

Controlling humans! After acquiring intelligence, in order to conceal itself deeply within society, that thing wanted to obtain a human body to hide itself, evading attacks from Shen Lin, other ghost controllers, or even the Headquarters.

It had calculated everything!

Shen Lin even thought of a more terrifying consequence, if everything were estimated by the worst-case scenario.

Because of the Ghost Staircase's scheme, Shen Lin was successfully ambushed and killed by the night-watchman ghost, becoming trapped there, and from then on no one would know of Li Meng's abnormality.

Shen Lin had previously reported to Headquarters that the Ghost Staircase might possess intelligence, but he had only recently learned that this ghost possessed intelligence comparable to, or even surpassing, that of a normal human. If he were trapped here, Headquarters would remain oblivious to all of this.

Shen Lin's entrapment meant no one was destined to stop any of this. After the Ghost Staircase gained ample time to successfully obliterate or control Li Meng's consciousness, it would disguise itself as a normal person or ghost controller to join Headquarters.

This was a heterodox entity disguised as a human. If operated well, it would deal an unimaginable blow to Headquarters.

Terrifying, horrifying, unimaginable.

Shen Lin subconsciously glanced at the date on his watch.

It had been two days and one night since he left Dachang City. Although his conditioning had temporarily returned Li Meng to normal, judging by normal circumstances, Li Meng was running out of time, and that ghostly thing was about to succeed.

This hypothesis was far too terrifying, so terrifying that Shen Lin felt he and the others must rush back to Dachang City immediately. If that ghost truly succeeded, capturing it from then on would become virtually impossible.

It could control Li Meng, and naturally it could control others. Every visible person on the street could potentially be its host. It would hide in the dark as the most ferocious venomous snake, delivering the fatal final strike at the most critical moment—the final straw that breaks the camel's back.

"We can't wait any longer. I大概 (roughly) know where that ghost is, and we must set off immediately," Shen Lin said.

Their original plan was to wait past 6:00 AM, after thoroughly evading the night-watchman ghost's rules, before leaving. But circumstances change faster than plans; the most pressing matter now was the Ghost Staircase. No one knew to what extent this ghostly thing had developed, and staying even a second longer meant an extra layer of danger.

"Ah? Are you sure we aren't waiting? That night-watchman ghost is too fierce, I suggest we wait," Xiong Wenwen said, feeling a bit cowardly. Having witnessed the terror of the night-watchman ghost, it was inevitable for someone to feel scared; at this stage, no one wanted to confront this malevolent ghost.

"If something happens, I suspect the Ghost Staircase wants to achieve a state similar to a ghost controller by controlling humans," Shen Lin stated.

"Hold on, this is a bit convoluted, let me process it," Zhou斌 (Zhou Bin) was stunned, and after a long while, terror surfaced in his eyes.

"You mean this ghost wants to become a ghost controller? No, a human controller? Is that even possible?"

This was simply preposterous. Zhou Bin considered himself somewhat knowledgeable, but such a shocking thought still startled him greatly. If the subject of this narrative hadn't been Shen Lin, he definitely would have said this person had lost their mind.

"Nothing is impossible. Since the outbreak of supernatural phenomena, we know far too little about ghosts. Ghosts themselves are bizarre and varied, so having a situation like this isn't strange either," Shen Lin frowned.

Just how great a chemical reaction cooperation between humans and ghosts could produce could be seen from Ye Zhen.

The absolute trump card of this chuunibyou youth, hailed as Asia's number one ghost controller, was the core of his ghost-controlling system: the Scapegoat.

This ghost could transfer all the damage Ye Zhen suffered, including supernatural复苏 (recurrence), to someone else to bear. This was the concept of the scapegoat.

The Scapegoat was definitely a bug-tier existence, but looking at it from another angle:

If the Scapegoat had not been controlled by a ghost controller, it would have been quite an unremarkable entity among ghosts.

A scapegoat? Since ghosts themselves are undying, a scapegoat serves no purpose.

Only when the Scapegoat combined with a human would it erupt into a violent chemical reaction.

And that was under the premise of humans being in control.

Then what about ghosts? What about the premise of ghosts being in control?

Shen Lin thought of a prominent figure in the middle and later stages of the original novel, Chen Qiaoyang, known as the Shepherd of Ghosts. This instantly connected in Shen Lin's mind with the Ghost Staircase's own ability to influence ghosts.

If the true scheme of the Ghost Staircase was to possess humans, accumulate strength, and become a ghost shepherd by influencing other ghosts, just thinking about it made one's hair stand on end.

"Damn it!" Xiong Wenwen couldn't help cursing inwardly. Daddy Xiong swore from the bottom of his heart that from now on he would never get involved in anything related to Shen Lin. In just a single day, he had encountered more bizarre events than in the previous several months; Daddy Xiong felt his worldview was about to be overturned.

"Then how do we leave?" Zhou Bin didn't voice any opposition, cautiously glancing at the profound darkness. The terror of the night-watchman ghost still left him with lingering palpitations.

Shen Lin glanced at the situation on the spot, especially at Xu Fang.

Because of the night-watchman ghost's repeated attacks, Xu Fang's psyche had suffered irreversible trauma and he was currently unconscious, showing no signs of waking up anytime soon. Aside from that, the five folding boxes they brought were filled with fragments of the Ghost Staircase's shell.

Although he knew in his heart this might not do much, caution never hurt.

"Zhou Bin carries one box and Xu Fang, Xiong Wenwen carries three, and I carry one," Shen Lin announced.

For this operation, the large foldable gold boxes sent by Headquarters were huge, each reaching higher than most of Xiong Wenwen's height.

This was no difficult task for ghost controllers. Controlling ghosts inherently made their physical functions far surpass those of ordinary humans, and physical labor was the least of their problems.

"Damn it, why do I have to take three! You're abusing child labor!" Xiong Wenwen protested.

"Then you handle the malevolent ghosts that might appear along the way, and I'll carry the boxes." Shen Lin appeared very agreeable, even standing up as if to fetch the boxes.

Daddy Xiong was dumbfounded, then trotted over eagerly.

"How could that be? I was just complaining about the exploitation of child labor in today's society and the ignorance of feudal society. I'll carry them, I'll carry them, I'm strong."

This wasn't being cowardly; this was a strategic retreat, Daddy Xiong told himself.

To be safe, before setting off, Shen Lin checked all the staircases in this building to avoid missing anything.

Since the Ghost Staircase could devise such an ambush scheme, one could never be too cautious.

For the return trip, Shen Lin chose the closest Dongchuan Avenue. At the very edge was that bizarre ghost projector; that thing was too strange and shouldn't be provoked lightly.

The remaining roads hadn't been explored either way, and choosing any of them was arbitrary, so he might as well pick the nearest one.

The smoothness of this journey exceeded everyone's imagination. When they neared the edge of the commercial street, the morning sun in the east was just barely peeking out.

At the break of dawn, they made their disheveled return against the morning sun.