Chapter 59: Confronting the Specter (4)

"Jump now!" Zhang Yao shouted, and the two of them crashed open the stairwell window on the fourth floor, trying their best to land feet-first. Yet, no sooner had they touched the ground of the fourth floor than the shattered window restored itself to its original, unbroken state.

The faint glimmer of hope that had arisen in them was extinguished in an instant.

Under the influence of the young man's magnetic powers, the livestream broadcast both the illusory and real scenes simultaneously. At that moment, the split-faced ghost was already alarmingly close to Zhang Yao and Zhao Rou.

"What do we do now? We can't get out!" Zhao Rou, smelling the increasingly pungent scent of burning, watched the ghost spirit with its eerie smile creeping closer step by step. Fear overwhelmed her, and tears streamed down her face as she looked at Zhang Yao, her voice trembling.

"This..." Zhang Yao was at a loss.

This was the typical reaction of ordinary people confronted by a ghost spirit. With their senses clouded and trapped in an illusion, they were helpless, like fish in a barrel.

When the ghost spirit had finished toying with them—or, more precisely, when it had drained every ounce of negative emotion from them—it would possess them, consuming their souls until they died. Ghost spirits rated three stars and above could even turn their victims into eternal puppets.

"Let's try again! We'll run down to the next floor and jump out the window!" Zhang Yao proposed another plan. The corridor on the fourth floor was blocked by the ghost spirit, and they couldn't escape through the stairwell. There seemed to be no other way but to try once more.

"Alright," Zhao Rou, her face streaked with tears, clung tightly to Zhang Yao's arm as they rushed downstairs. Reaching the window on the floor below, they smashed the glass and leaped out.

Yet, the next moment, they found themselves back in the fourth-floor stairwell, with the window restored once more. Even the wounds they had sustained from the glass, which should have been bleeding, appeared perfectly healed, as if they had never been injured.

Now, the split-faced ghost spirit was in the stairwell with them, only a hair's breadth away. It scanned them with cold eyes, then suddenly darted forward and entered Zhao Rou's body, whose face was already drained of hope and resignation.

Immediately, her expression twisted into the same grotesque smile worn by the ghost spirit, bizarre and menacing. Her head turned stiffly to gaze at Zhang Yao, whose hand she was still holding.

Seeing this, Zhang Yao quickly shook off Zhao Rou's grasp and staggered towards their original dormitory room. The possessed Zhao Rou followed unhurriedly, with the ghost spirit leisurely controlling her movements.

Zhang Yao stumbled into the dormitory, rolling and crawling, then dashed to the window and leapt out, shattering the glass.

He reasoned that since the room had been real before the ghost appeared, jumping out from here should break the illusion. As for the three-star awakened one assigned to protect them, Zhang Yao had lost faith after Li Lili's death.

"Protect our safety? We haven't even seen the ghost's shadow!" he thought bitterly as he sailed through the air.

Thud!

"Ah—my legs!" His cry of pain echoed from below after the heavy landing. He had successfully escaped the illusion; his assumption was correct. The room was the starting point for the four paintings, the heart of the array. With the young man's protection, jumping from this room indeed freed him from the haunted dormitory.

Though the livestream continued, this was considered an unexpected event. There were no cameras outside the building, so the broadcast encountered unforeseen difficulties.

Meanwhile, the possessed Zhao Rou arrived as well, drifting through the door and heading straight for the window. Before she could reach it, the young man appeared before her.

He had always been nearby, concealing himself with illusions to avoid detection by the ghost spirit. Now that the ghost spirit threatened to leave through the window and pursue Zhang Yao, it risked breaking free from his illusion. If it escaped, it would be troublesome. He had to act.

He tossed a sheet of white paper, and blue magnetic energy glowed from the brush in his right hand. He swiftly sketched on the paper, and in a second, it turned entirely blue, flying toward the split-faced ghost spirit.

Upon contact, a dazzling blue light erupted in the room. A dark silhouette appeared on the blue paper, bulging as the split-faced ghost spirit was trapped within it.

The young man rolled the paper up with magnetic force and grasped it firmly. The ghost spirit was captured, and his task was complete.

The livestream once again echoed with that cool, playful voice:

"This ghost broadcast is about to conclude. Congratulations to the three students for completing this episode. A generous reward will be sent to them shortly, but for now, they need to head to the hospital."

The camera gave each of the three a close-up. Company paramedics carried Zhao Rou downstairs; she and Li Lili appeared merely unconscious.

Zhang Yao, however, was less fortunate—his legs likely broken from the four-story jump, and his recovery uncertain.

Viewers were puzzled. Zhang Yao's injury made sense; surviving a four-story fall was sheer luck. But they had clearly seen Li Lili and Zhao Rou killed by the ghost spirit—how could they still be alive?

The livestream's narration explained with that cool voice, highlighting the power of awakened ones and the stark contrast with ordinary people facing ghost spirits. Many spectators began to reconsider their own choices.

The scene lingered on the departing ambulance carrying the three wounded.

A voice came through the livestream: "This broadcast is now over. We welcome everyone to sign up as ghost-hunting streamers. Besides generous viewer rewards, outstanding hosts who complete their tasks have a chance to win a golden weapon prepared by Direct Strike Ghosts..."

The joint video company, founded by three corporations, was well-funded. What they lacked were high-level awakened ones. Although ghost broadcasts attracted many viewers, any mishap could be catastrophic.

The impact of Direct Strike Ghosts' broadcast was intense. For the first time, ordinary people saw the terror of ghost spirits through video. According to the platform, these were merely the lowest-grade spirits.

Many resolved to attempt magnetic awakening.

After all, dying in a magnetic chamber was preferable to being tormented endlessly by a ghost spirit, drained of negative energy, driven insane, and finally possessed to death.

Wu Zui, for his part, was at a loss. His workload had surged due to the ghost broadcasts, and with magnetic chambers now set up in some smaller cities, the photos he needed to review were multiplying at an explosive rate.

He hadn't taken any assignments in days; simply reviewing photos left him dizzy, his eyes bloodshot. Xiao Keyan stayed in his rented apartment to take care of him during the day.

"Master, take a break! You've been at it for two hours—your eyes are about to go blind!" Xiao Keyan, wearing her bunny headphones and originally watching dramas, glanced at the time and approached Wu Zui with concern.

"About five thousand left—once I finish today's quota," Wu Zui replied, eyes red, without even looking up.

"Ugh, Dad is too much. This isn't how you treat people!" Xiao Keyan sighed, then went to fetch eye drops and ice packs for Wu Zui.

"Headquarters is busy investigating the Purification Society. Besides, the more spirit scouts or awakened ones we have, the easier it will be to handle the growing ghost threat," Wu Zui said as he flipped through the photos.

"But they shouldn't just dump everything on you, Master! And that Direct Strike Ghosts platform is always scaring people, turning a bunch of one- and two-star ghosts into three-star horrors. Wouldn't it be better to complete more missions instead?"

Xiao Keyan was clearly dissatisfied. If it weren't for their meddling, her master wouldn't be so exhausted.

"Enough complaining. I've reviewed photos for more than half the country now; in a day or two, the numbers should drop," Wu Zui finally finished his batch, closing his eyes. Staring at the smoke above people's heads for so long left his eyes aching.

"Let's hope so," Xiao Keyan said, placing two ice packs over Wu Zui's eyes and massaging his temples to relieve the discomfort. When he felt better, she would apply the eye drops.

"Did you recharge the high-explosive magnetic grenades today?" Wu Zui asked, enjoying her care while retrieving a grenade to recharge it.

"Uh... not yet," Xiao Keyan admitted guiltily.

"Remember to recharge them daily, so you can use magnetic power proficiently, got it?" Wu Zui reminded her with his eyes closed.

Once he'd finished recharging his own grenade, he handed it to Xiao Keyan, who needed to practice recharging another grenade to hone her control.

"Alright, Master! Here, open your eyes—eye drops time." Xiao Keyan removed the ice packs and readied the drops.

Left eye, one drop. Right eye, one drop.

"Hiss—" Wu Zui grimaced in pain.

"Does it hurt much, Master?" Xiao Keyan asked anxiously, seeing his furrowed brow.

"It's fine! (Absolutely not!)" Wu Zui replied quickly, sensing her worry.

"Feels like needles stabbing my eyeballs—do you think that hurts?" he thought bitterly.

"Master, tomorrow you should..." Xiao Keyan began, but Wu Zui interrupted her.

"In a couple of days, we should take on a mission. The department promised us compensation—a new car! Supposedly a prototype with lots of new features. You'll get to try it out; I wonder what it’s like?"

He cut her off, his face full of anticipation.

"...," Xiao Keyan responded, speechless.