Mysterious Revival

"Driver, turn left up ahead," Yang Jian instructed, tracking the signal on his satellite phone and directing the taxi driver to chase after it.

Considering the speed of the signal, there was no need to rush to Ghost Domain; following by car was easily manageable.

The driver quickly reached a main road following Yang Jian's directions.

The signal stopped here, and it was very close to Yang Jian.

Out of caution, Yang Jian surveyed his surroundings, searching for anything out of the ordinary.

Everything appeared normal, with continuous traffic on the road and plenty of pedestrians nearby. No special incidents were unfolding–this was Xiaochun City, after all, sparsely populated, where supernatural events wouldn't occur as frequently as in Big C City. Under most circumstances, the city tended toward stability and normalcy.

Even though a Hungry Ghost incident in Big C City had drawn global attention and caused a stir among ghost-controllers, it wasn't enough to provoke a storm in the grand scheme of things.

That's why, despite the turmoil hundreds of miles away in Big C City, residents here carried on with life and work as if nothing was amiss.

After getting out of the cab and ensuring his surroundings were normal, Yang Jian kept his head down and continued to follow the signal on his phone.

His phone's coordinates were precise; with the satellite positioning and inter-device tracking among international ghost-controllers, the margin of error for the signal was unlikely to exceed two meters.

Even a child could locate the source within such a small range.

"It's up ahead." Yang Jian walked for several dozen meters, crossing a street to the signal's source.

It was a bus stop, with about seven or eight people gradually boarding a bus.

As Yang Jian watched the passengers board, and then checked the signal source, he realized it wasn't moving; meaning the missing ghost-controller's phone wasn't on any of these passengers. He looked around and even searched the trash bins at the station, but he couldn't find the satellite-tracked phone.

"If it's not at the station, then there's only one possibility–the phone is on the bus."

Yang Jian was almost certain of the signal's true location.

Without delay, he decided to queue for the bus.

One by one, the people in front of him dropped coins and boarded. When it was Yang Jian's turn, however, he felt a push from behind that nearly made him stumble and fall.

"Who the hell is trying to push me?" Yang Jian turned to look.

But he found no one behind him; he was the last one in line to board, so it was impossible for someone to have pushed him from behind.

With that, he frowned.

His experience told him something was odd, yet the circumstances suggested everything was normal, as if the stumble was merely a result of losing balance, not caused by an actual push.

"Is something wrong with my body?" Yang Jian glanced down.

Since his resurrection from Ghost Mirror, his body could no longer be considered human, and after Ghost Shadow's crash, he couldn't guarantee that nothing unusual would occur.

After considering for a moment, he didn't suspect anything serious and decided to focus on the task at hand first.

After boarding the bus, Yang Jian surveyed the interior.

There weren't many passengers, just a dozen or so sitting, with the back seats more crowded and the front quite empty, leaving plenty of vacant seats.

"The signal is indeed here."

Yang Jian checked the satellite-tracked phone again and found that his signal had overlapped with that of the missing ghost-controller. He could, therefore, ascertain that the satellite phone was on this bus, although he couldn't yet determine which passenger had it unless he searched each one.

"Searching and questioning are too troublesome; better to wait for the signal to move again," Yang Jian thought. "As soon as the person carrying the phone exits the bus, I can lock in on them immediately."

After some thought, he decided against using forceful measures.

Lest he lose his temper, draw his gun, and start shooting–causing a scene that would be a hassle to clean up–he opted for a more gentle approach,

He chose a seat near the back door where he could observe easily; this way, he could see anyone getting off and track them without difficulty.

Soon, the bus doors closed and it pulled away.

"Who's the ghost-controller in Xiaochun City? Let me check." Seeing that no one was getting off soon, Yang Jian began to investigate the local person in charge.

Accessing another ghost-controller's information was easy, provided one was determined enough to compile a comprehensive dossier of national and international ghost-controllers.

However, such files were classified.

Ordinary files contained only basic personal information and lacked specific details. Abilities were described merely by a codename without elaborate disclosure.

But Yang Jian had access to the highest-level files.

Even though his official position hadn't changed, he had been internally upgraded.

"The person in charge of Xiaochun City is... Xu Feng, Interestingly, there's no codename, no ghost-controller introduction; he's intentionally concealed his information," Yang Jian browsed the file on his phone.

He noticed that the file for the local ghost-controller, Xu Feng, was marked as intentionally hidden.

But the psychological assessment was listed as stable.

"This guy is also very cautious, trusting no one. He hides all his information even from headquarters, unwilling to let anyone know his background," Yang Jian mused internally.

Such thoughts were normal.

Anyone who suddenly gained inconceivable abilities would, as long as they were somewhat mature, not recklessly show off, but instead keep them discreetly hidden.

Especially since in this world, those who controlled ghosts were not unique.

Being inconspicuous was, therefore, particularly important.

"These ghost controllers who hide all information and have no merit, if their psychological assessment weren't good, might even be dismissed. No wonder Liu Xiaoyu hasn't insisted that I investigate this guy's disappearance. If it were a ghost controller of Wang Xiaoming's level, they'd probably organize a large-scale rescue operation,"

Yang Jian found nothing improper about this.

Because this was reality, this was society.

You're only worth others' efforts if you have value. If you prove to be useless, no one would waste resources on you.

"The reason Liu Xiaoyu asked me to investigate was not for the safety of this Xu Feng. After all, the records showed he had been missing for ten days. The point was to see if any supernatural events had occurred here, to establish a file promptly."

At that moment, the bus stopped.

Five young people got on, two men and three women, looking like they were headed out for some fun.

But no one got off.

The signal source was still on board, so Yang Jian decided to wait a few more stops.

The five newcomers took seats towards the back, settling down two rows to the left of Yang Jian, chatting with each other, in high spirits.

Watching their carefree manner, Yang Jian felt a touch of envy.

The bus continued on its way.

Then, a young guy with a backpack sitting nearby suddenly said in a secretive tone to his companions, "Hey, have you guys heard about the recent fog incident?"

"Of course we know, it's all over the internet. The news said it was chemical pollution from the outskirts, lucky it didn't drift over here, or we locals would be out of luck," another guy replied.

The girls chimed in, "Yeah, it's chemical pollution. What's there to talk about?"

"Chemical pollution my ass, you believe that bullshit? Let me tell you, the real reason for Big C City's fog incident is ghosts," said the backpacker, lowering his voice. "I have a friend in Big C; it was about ten days ago, when the fog hadn't cleared. My friend was sending frantic texts for help—I got them too—he said there were ghosts all over Big C City."

"Bullshit."

One of the girls immediately laughed and retorted, "Ghosts causing that much trouble? It's as if you think we're in Resident Evil."

"It's because it was so severe that the state implemented direct controls, I heard the whole area was locked down, and they even enforced martial law thirty kilometers out," the backpacker said.

"Fine, let's say there were ghosts, why did they stop then? If you tell me the ghosts got blasted away by cannons, I'll believe you," scoffed a companion.

"Er, I'm not sure about that, but my friend wouldn't lie to me," the young man with the backpack insisted.

"Speaking of ghost stories, I heard from my mom about a strange incident that happened in our hometown," a usually quiet girl suddenly spoke up.

The others asked, "What happened?"

"My hometown's in the countryside, and about a month ago, there were a string of deaths, mostly older people. At first, it wasn't taken seriously but on the day the whole village held funerals, all the corpses placed in the coffins vanished by night," the girl said, her complexion pale as if she believed the event.

"Is that so? Hasn't anyone suspected body snatching?" A girl asked almost jokingly.

The narrator shook her head, "No, it's not that. The bodies were still there; the next day, the villagers called the police and organized a large search. You know what? All the bodies ended up standing in the fields, just like scarecrows, sunk into the mud up to this deep."

She gestured to show the depth, indicating the mud reached above the legs.

"What's even more baffling is that upon examining the footprints near the fields, they discovered they all belonged to the deceased. My mom saw it herself, and she was so scared she no longer dared to stay in our hometown, claiming it was haunted."

The others looked at each other, some stunned.

"Talking about ghost stories, I've got one too..." another boy eagerly began.

Yang Jian listened from the side, certain in his mind that what the girl had recounted was true, as the details were clear and not the kind of story that couldn't withstand scrutiny.

Obviously, it was a supernatural event that had occurred in the countryside.

From the number of deaths, it seemed to be a minor event, at most a C-level incident.

Riding the bus, before he knew it, the sky outside had darkened.

The bus had stopped two or three times en route, yet no one had disembarked, and the intervals between stops became longer as they continued. Eventually, it seemed a long time had passed since the last stop. Looking out into the dimming world outside,

Yang Jian realized the vehicle had left the urban area and entered the suburbs.

He checked the bus information and found it had completely deviated from its original route.

Yet, the satellite positioning signal of the missing ghost controller was still on board.

"Don't tell me I'm that unlucky..." Yang Jian's heart immediately sank.