Chapter 52: Fierce Ghosts Breaking Out of Their Cages

"Mr. Shen, something has happened. The phone lines to the Central Hospital are not going through."

Inside the helicopter, Chen Zuo reported the situation immediately upon receiving Pei Cong's call.

Shen Lin's face darkened; it seemed they were still a step too late.

Glancing at Xu Fang, who had woken up not long ago, Shen Lin dialed the satellite phone in his hand. Wu Qiu answered with her usual promptness.

"Welcome back, Shen Lin. This is Wu Qiu."

"Let's skip the small talk. Get Zhao Jianguo for me; I have an urgent matter to discuss with him."

Without wasting any words, Wu Qiu hurriedly got up to look for Zhao Jianguo.

She already knew Shen Lin quite well. When he used this tone of voice, it meant the situation might have escalated to a scorching level of danger.

Hearing that it was Shen Lin, Zhao Jianguo immediately dropped what he was doing and rushed over to take the call. The supernatural incident in Dongchuan City was currently one of the top priority cases at headquarters, and everyone was paying unprecedented attention to it.

"This is Zhao Jianguo."

"The situation is somewhat complex, so I'll keep it short. The Dongchuan City incident has come to a temporary close. If you permanently seal off that commercial street, it won't lead to any major consequences—you can come up with the justifications yourselves. Right now, there's a more troublesome matter," Shen Lin said.

This was not a lie. The Night Watchman Ghost had its own range limitations and a relatively low danger level, and it could even suppress other supernatural anomalies, forming a positive cycle.

Building on that, Shen Lin had previously used the Inverted Ghost to take away most of the vengeful spirits within the commercial street, which invisibly reduced the margin for error.

It was fair to say the incident had been resolved.

Hearing this, joy bloomed on Zhao Jianguo's face. Headquarters' sacrifices had not been in vain; as always, you could always trust Shen Lin.

Just like no matter how much he found Yang Jian annoying, he was still willing to trust that punk. Though both men had their own eccentric personalities, they were extremely reliable when it came to getting things done.

"What is this more troublesome matter?" Zhao Jianguo seized on the core issue.

"The Ghost Stairs incident has escalated. I suspect that ghost possesses a high degree of intelligence and wants to usurp a human body to disguise itself as a Controller."

Boom! Like a thunderclap, before one wave had settled, another rose. Zhao Jianguo was almost startled into screaming out loud.

He had seen plenty of ghost thralls, but a ghost controlling a human? That was unheard of and unseen.

"Is this information reliable?" Zhao Jianguo asked anxiously.

"It's very complicated. This is the conclusion I deduced myself, but it's pretty much spot on. I can't provide you with concrete evidence, but I advise you to believe me," Shen Lin said.

Zhao Jianguo fell silent. Just as he trusted Shen Lin's competence, he naturally believed that Shen Lin would not talk nonsense about a matter of this magnitude.

Yet, if Shen Lin's words were true, they were about to face an unprecedented challenge.

"You make the call on this. I represent headquarters in offering you full support for your handling of the situation. Are you calling now because you need backup?" Zhao Jianguo skipped the pleasantries and went straight to the point. If the incident was real, they had to resolve it quickly and nip all hidden dangers in the bud.

When it came to supernatural incidents, it was common practice to kill a thousand by mistake rather than let one go. They knew precious little about the supernatural, and precisely because of that, they had to maintain a basic level of awe toward vengeful spirits.

"Notify the Controllers around Daxia City; I need reinforcements. This ghost is still in its growth stage, and in a sense, it's still quite raw right now. This is the best opportunity to capture it. If we miss this time, there might never be another chance."

This was the original intention behind Shen Lin's call. Aside from leaving a record at headquarters, he needed some reinforcements just in case.

Even a lion uses its full strength to capture a rabbit, and he was no lion, nor was the Ghost Stairs a mere rabbit.

When handling this matter, one could never be too cautious.

"Alright, I'll need some time. Do we need to blockade the Central Hospital first?" Zhao Jianguo asked.

"No need. I will arrange everything. Tell the reinforcing Controllers not to be reckless and to wait for my instructions at any time. I am currently on my way to the Central Hospital," Shen Lin said.

"Understood." Zhao Jianguo replied and hung up the phone, his eyes filled with worry.

Before one wave had settled, another rose. The supernatural incident in Dongchuan City had just been resolved, only for an even thornier trouble to take its place.

"Send word to the Controllers around Daxia City, and do your best to persuade them to provide reinforcement. This matter is of extraordinary importance." After instructing the operator, Zhao Jianguo stood up and headed for Cao Yanhua's office.

Controllers were all prima donnas. Aside from the very few who feared headquarters, most of them only listened to orders and refused summons. The pressure he could exert at his current rank was still too small; he could only lobby. His only recourse now was to seek help from Vice Minister Cao Yanhua.

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Inside the helicopter, Zhou Bin looked at Shen Lin with some nervousness. Having survived the Night Watchman Ghost incident, this formerly fearless delinquent finally knew what fear was. He also began to realize that following Shen Lin meant running into vengeful spirits he never could have imagined.

The delinquent felt a bit cowardly; he wanted to back out.

"Mr. Shen, how about this time, I act as your lookout?"

Zhou Bin's logic was simple. The gap between him and Shen Lin was vast; for a vengeful spirit to make even Shen Lin feel a headache, turning him to dust would be a matter of minutes.

Connecting this to the previous conversations, this ghost also possessed extremely high intelligence. There was no point in fighting it—with his meager skills, he might as well just lie down and wait for death.

Shen Lin glanced at Zhou Bin's position, reading the other's little thoughts at a glance.

"The terror level of the Ghost Stairs itself is very low. Your Drunk Ghost ability should be able to conceal you in front of it. That's also why I brought you along."

The Drunk Ghost's ability produced a certain hallucinogenic reaction targeting vengeful spirits or humans, causing them to ignore the existence of the Controller.

In most cases, this ability was quite useless; against overly fierce vengeful spirits, it simply had no effect.

Conversely, the Ghost Stairs was a perfect match for Zhou Bin. This was a surprise move, and if used well, it could achieve unexpected success.

Seeing Zhou Bin hesitate, about to speak, Shen Lin spoke up again.

"You guys won't need to take action during this incident. You only need to help me locate its position; I will handle the containment personally."

No one knew what the Ghost Stairs had evolved into by now. Shen Lin intended to make a quick decision and cut through the mess with a sharp knife.

Having no plan was the best plan.

As the saying goes, since ancient times, the reckless have conquered the experts.

The more preparations made against the Ghost Stairs, the more mistakes would be made. Shen Lin planned to respond to the ever-changing situation with constancy and catch the opponent off guard.

"Mr. Shen, we have arrived in the vicinity of Daxia City. Where should we land?" Chen Zuo watched the helicopter's trajectory and asked at the appropriate moment.

Shen Lin pondered for a moment before finally speaking.

"The Central Hospital has fallen, which shows that this freaky thing is fearless to a certain extent. Either it thinks I've completely succumbed to the Night Watchman Ghost's side, or it simply isn't afraid of my arrival."

"Land directly near the Central Hospital. We're going to give it a surprise."

Shen Lin sneered. Now that the cards were practically all on the table, there was no need for concealment. His purpose in doing this was to tell that freaky thing that he had arrived.

This open and aboveboard display was similar to the Empty City Strategy from Romance of the Three Kingdoms.

Shen Lin was telling the freaky thing in disguise that since he dared to arrive with such a grand commotion, he wasn't afraid of the opponent running away.

This was intimidation, but it was also an overt strategy. Shen Lin deliberately wanted to create a feeling of being ambushed on all sides.

Since that ghost had almost trapped and killed him once, he didn't mind returning the favor. Courtesy demands reciprocity.

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In the corridors of the Daxia City Central Hospital, the usual bustling atmosphere had been completely swept away; today, it was eerily quiet.

Countless lights flickered unceasingly, just like a short-circuited electric circuit. Under the intermittent illumination of the lights, shadows seemed visible at the end of the corridor.

Pat, pat, pat—

Very crisp footsteps complemented the flickering lights, as if keeping time to a beat.

It was a chubby young man. He showed no discomfort whatsoever in this eerie environment; his pace was extremely stiff, his walk crooked and very slow, like a child who had just learned to walk and kept stumbling along.

A cyan-black luster rippled across the youth's cheeks, growing more uncanny under the flashing lights. His figure drifted near and far in the corridor, like a wandering ghost.

The entire scene was indescribably terrifying.

Jingle bell~~

The ringing of a telephone made the youth halt his steps. His neck turned with a slight stiffness, and with a dull, vacant expression, he stared queerly at an unknown spot, revealing a creepy, hair-raising smile.