Chapter 569 - Chapter 569: Chapter 566 Realization

Chapter 569: Chapter 566 Realization

“Ding-a-ling!”

A phone rang.

In an upscale apartment complex within the city.

Jang Shangbai had only just returned to his residence after a busy day and thought he could finally relax. He had been nonstop today dealing with the Ghost Painting incident, involving himself, the three city heads, some headquarters staff, and all the ghost handlers in training.

Fortunately, the vast majority of the complications were suppressed and, so far, everything had been resolved without extreme danger.

Although there were some casualties, they were within an acceptable range.

…

After all, which supernatural event doesn’t result in deaths?

“Hello.”

Jang Shangbai picked up the phone, and his brow immediately furrowed in displeasure upon seeing the caller: “What’s wrong with you? It’s late. Whatever it is, we can talk about it tomorrow. I need to rest.”

“Director Jang, there’s been an incident,” the voice on the other end of the line said. “Just a few hours ago, President Fei suddenly jumped off a building and committed suicide, and his bodyguard, Zhang Jian, has also lost contact.”

“What?” Jang Shangbai’s expression changed abruptly. “How could this suddenly happen? Have you figured out the specific reason?”

President Fei committing suicide by jumping off a building?

He was the first to disbelieve it, and with Zhang Jian also missing, it was clear that something was seriously wrong.

“We’re still unclear on the details, we’re investigating it,” came the reply from the other end of the line.

“Please, find out as soon as possible,” Jang Shangbai said gravely.

“Understood.”

After hanging up, Jang Shangbai glanced out the window, an unsettling feeling of anxiety quickly rising within him.

At this critical juncture, with Zhang Jian missing and President Fei’s suicide, it’s definitely not a good sign. Maybe it’s a long-planned move by some power to target his circle of friends.

But on second thought, it seemed unlikely.

Which power would be crazy enough to target his friends’ circle here?

“Ye Zhen, the administrator of that supernatural forum in Dahai City, seems to have members here too,” Jang Shangbai thought immediately of the chuunibyou.

That guy was unreasonable when mad.

“Or is it several foreign companies taking advantage of the Ghost Painting incident?” Jang Shangbai recalled several large companies with foreign backgrounds.

Although those companies looked legitimate to outsiders, they were merely a cover, with evidence of ghost handler activities behind the scenes, just keeping a low profile to avoid attracting attention.

After some thought.

Jang Shangbai picked up his phone to call He Tianxiong, planning to have him handle the situation, as he himself needed to attend to other matters at headquarters.

“Sorry, the number you have dialed…”

Moments later, Jang Shangbai’s face darkened.

He Tianxiong’s phone was switched off.

He tried He Tianxiong’s private number as well, but it was the same outcome—it was also switched off and unreachable.

That’s when Jang Shangbai realized the problem was likely more serious.

He tried the company phone.

The company phone went through, and there were still staff on duty at Ping’an Tower.

But they said President He had left work early.

“It can’t be such a coincidence that President Fei commits suicide, Zhang Jian goes missing, and He Tianxiong is out of reach. That guy has two ghosts under his control, one of which is a rare kind, and he also has life-saving dolls in his possession… If something really happened to him, then the situation is probably worse than I thought,” Jang Shangbai said as he slowly put down his phone, his face exceptionally grim.

If He Tianxiong was indeed dead, Jang Shangbai wouldn’t find it strange, although he truly was extraordinary. But after all, he was also at risk of confronting revived malicious ghosts.

What he found astonishing was that if He Tianxiong encountered danger, he didn’t even leave behind a message asking for help.

If He Tianxiong was killed, it must have been done instantaneously.

If that was the case, then it was truly terrifying.

“I need to go check on this.”

With no mood to sleep, Jang Shangbai immediately left, deciding to clarify the situation before the headquarters meeting started the next day.

And staying at home was no longer safe—he could become the next target.

Fast.

He drove out of the complex, meanwhile making several phone calls. Apart from Li Yao’s, which he couldn’t get through, he could reach all other assistants and managers.

Jang Shangbai immediately instructed them to rush to various incident sites to investigate.

About half an hour later.

Jang Shangbai reached the location of President Fei’s fall. By then, only a pool of blood remained on the ground; the body was gone. He surmised that someone had reported the incident and then authorities had come to take care of it.

After surveying the area briefly, he couldn’t find any other suspicious signs.

So, he hurried to He Tianxiong’s suburban villa to see if He Tianxiong had actually died at home.

“There are signs he packed up and left. He’s more likely to be alive,” Jang Shangbai concluded.

Jang Shangbai arrived at this resplendent villa and saw heaps of gold bars in the living room, as well as some property deeds, contracts, and the like.

“And he left all his assets before he took off? What does this mean? Is he trying to buy his life with money? But these items weren’t taken, which shows that the person who acted today wasn’t after money… So they didn’t take the money, but they didn’t manage to kill He Tianxiong either? Now it looks like He Tianxiong has been scared off and has gone into hiding.”

“He Tianxiong should know what our circle is capable of. Is he going into hiding because he thinks we can’t compete with the enemy?”

He picked up a hefty gold bar, squeezed it, and a few fingerprints appeared on it – it was undoubtedly real.

At this moment, he received another call. It was from a manager who said there was a new lead at Zhang Jian’s bar.

Jang Shangbai immediately dropped the gold bar and drove to the bar opposite Ping’an Tower.

When he arrived, a manager was already waiting for him.

“Director Jang, this is the surveillance footage from the bar today. Through facial recognition, we discovered a stranger at the bar today, and upon comparing it to our database, we found that this stranger is… Ghost Eye, Yang Jian,” said the manager, with a trickle of cold sweat on his forehead.

“What?”

Jang Shangbai immediately took the tablet from the manager, played back the footage, and indeed spotted a familiar face on the screen.

It was indeed Yang Jian.

This guy was young, with the look of a pretty boy, not very noticeable on the outside, but within our circles, he was quite memorable because spirit manipulators of his age were exceedingly rare.

“Was he the one behind today’s event?”

Jang Shangbai’s eyes flickered. He remembered running into Yang Jian earlier that evening, an incidental meeting when they were dealing with the Ghost Painting.

At the time, Li Yao seemed to be with Yang Jian as well.

Wait, Li Yao?

It seemed that only now Jang Shangbai realized what was happening, his face darkened, and his gaze became especially ominous.

A traitor emerged within our circle.

It must have been Li Yao who told Yang Jian about the circle’s plan to deal with him. Now Yang Jian was going to strike first.

“So it wasn’t an accident that I bumped into Yang Jian earlier? He was waiting for me there, intending to take action against me,” Jang Shangbai said coldly. “If Chen Yi and Zhang Lei hadn’t been there, I’m guessing he would have made his move.”

“This guy is ruthless enough…”

Reflecting on the previous encounter, he even felt a sense of fear now that he understood what could have happened.

Yang Jian had come prepared. If he had attempted a sneak attack, Jang Shangbai would not have had any time to react and would have been taken down instantly.

“Give me this information. Don’t talk about today’s incident to anyone else,” Jang Shangbai said as he grabbed the tablet and left in haste.

If Yang Jian was still in action, then he might be attacked by him at any moment.

That’s why he couldn’t stay here long.

What Jang Shangbai didn’t realize was that Yang Jian never intended to kill him in the first place.

Headquarters would likely turn a blind eye when it comes to dealing with the circle, but they couldn’t ignore the targeting of Jang Shangbai.

So Jang Shangbai was mistaken. Also, Yang Jian had already ceased his activities.

The window for action had passed, and his Ghost Eye had reached its limit in a short span; he couldn’t make a spirit manipulator vanish instantly.

Unable to do this meant that after taking down a spirit manipulator, Yang Jian would have to deal with the resuscitated ghost, which was too risky of a move.

So for today, he could only back off.

But this was just the beginning.

“Not using the power of the Ghost Eye for a while allows its own balance to slowly settle down, right?”

The suite in Ping’an Hotel was engulfed in darkness, with no lights on, as Yang Jian sat on the couch, his figure shrouded in the shadows.

He touched the back of his hand.

The throbbing of the revival was being calmed.

The ability to suppress the three ghosts was taking effect.

His body felt as if it was self-healing.

“But if I surpass my limits at some point, the ability to suppress the three ghosts could fail,” Yang Jian assessed his condition, gaining a clearer understanding of his limits.

The Ghost Eye could use the fifth layer of the Ghost Domain twice in a short period, and exceeding that would render it unstable to maintain.

The Headless Ghost Shadow was in a state of ‘crash,’ safe from the risk of ghosts reviving, as it could be used without fear, but maintaining it required using a suppression slot which could be released when necessary to free up a slot.

The Ghost Hand was now the quietest of the spirits.

Possibly because it was being suppressed by one slot and then controlled by the Headless Ghost Shadow, it wasn’t out of control nor at risk of revival, and it was even more useful than his own hand.

“Perhaps this is the potential of the Headless Ghost Shadow. I control the Ghost Shadow, and then through it, I control the Ghost Hand. As long as my Headless Ghost Shadow doesn’t lose control, everything is negotiable,” Yang Jian thought to himself.

He now realized that the key ghost within his body was not the Ghost Eye, but the Headless Ghost Shadow.

With the Headless Ghost Shadow, he discovered the unlimited possibilities of survival, and this seemingly unformidable but crucial ghost had been ‘crashed’ by Yang Jian early on, eliminating any risk of revival. The only concern was to ensure the Headless Ghost Shadow didn’t recover from its crashed state.

The method to prevent the Headless Ghost Shadow from waking up was simple; Yang Jian’s body had to remain healthy.

If it began to rot, release foul odors, and form corpse spots like before, then the instinct of the Ghost Shadow would emerge, replacing his body on its own.

“Tomorrow will likely be troubled,” Yang Jian murmured, staring out at the gleaming city lights outside the window.

If you find any errors ( Ads popup, ads redirect, broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.