âYouâre saying Zhang Wei snatched the file that you showed me earlier?â
At noon, while having lunch, Yang Jian received this strange piece of news from Liu Xiaoyu.
âWhy would he snatch the file from you? That stuff isnât worth much and isnât of significant use. Did he suddenly run out of toilet paper while in the bathroom, and you happened to walk by?â
âZhang Wei said heâs going to handle this case. Arenât you going to stop him? Get the file back,â Liu Xiaoyu said, fuming, while burying her head in her food.
Itâs her first day at work, and under such circumstances, anyoneâs mood would be lousy.
Yang Jian said, âNo need, let him go. He doesnât have logistical support, doesnât possess any supernatural power, and relying on just one file, he wonât even be able to find anyone. After circling around aimlessly, heâll naturally return empty-handed.â
âBut heâs disrupting my work,â Liu Xiaoyu said.
Yang Jian corrected her, âYouâre mistaken. Here, all work revolves around me. Making me satisfied, thatâs your job. Everything else doesnât matter.â
âYouâre being ridiculous,â Liu Xiaoyu replied.
âThatâs how I operate. If you think itâs wrong, you can always request headquarters to remove me from my position,â Yang Jian said casually.
Liu Xiaoyu was left speechless and could only continue eating in silence.
Meanwhile.
After studying the file and combining the insights he had just overheard from Yang Jian, Zhang Wei, with some newfound confidence, drove straight toward the Northern City District.
âHey, Brother Ah Fei, bring your people over quickly. Itâs time to get to work. Iâve sent you the location.â
âAh Wei? Sure, no problem. How many people should we bring?â
âBring everyone, one and all! Round them up! And donât worry, Iâll pay your salaries. Hurry up!â
After hanging up the phone, Zhang Wei nodded to himself in satisfaction.
Indeed, you can only rely on yourself.
Thankfully, his skills are strong and heâs independent. Otherwise, how could the safety of Dachang City be guaranteed?
Soon.
At the end of a pedestrian street in the Northern City District, Zhang Wei waited for Brother Ah Fei.
Brother Ah Fei arrived with about a dozen young menâaimless idlers who didnât even qualify as proper thugs. These were the survivors of the Hungry Ghost incident. With no family or relatives, and being at that awkward age where they couldnât return to school or find work, they banded together to waste their days eating, drinking, and playing.
Luckily, Zhang Wei, a naive rich kid, was willing to pay them monthly salaries to keep them afloat.
Of course, Zhang Wei didnât see himself as naive. He believed he was recruiting troops and engaging in serious business.
âJust this few people? Where are the others? Are they still lounging at the internet cafĂ©?â Zhang Wei asked in displeasure.
âThis many is already pretty good. Your call sounded urgent; itâs fortunate we managed to gather this group. Donât push your luck,â Brother Ah Fei complained.
Zhang Wei said, âThis time, itâs a special mission, very important. Donât say I didnât warn you, this could involve a supernatural incident. If anyone wants to back out, nowâs your chance. I, Ah Wei, wonât stop you.â
âI quit,â someone immediately said.
âAlright, then. Your mother is gone,â Zhang Wei replied nonchalantly.
ââŠâ
That person rolled up his sleeves, fuming, âIâm gonna beat you to death.â
Brother Ah Fei quickly stepped in to restrain him, âCalm down, calm down. He is OUR boss. If you beat him silly, whoâs going to pay us our salaries? We need to go online tonight.â
âFine, Iâll let him off this time,â the young man grudgingly backed down.
âAh Wei, stop scaring people. The last supernatural event we dealt with almost killed us all! And now, here we go again? By the way, whereâs Brother Tui? This seems like serious business, how can you not call Brother Tui? I havenât seen him for a long time; I almost miss him,â Brother Ah Fei said, recalling the time he first met Yang Jian.
At the time, he had even tried extorting money from Brother Tui, but the outcome had been miserable beyond words.
âBrother Tui is always busy traveling for work; he doesnât have the time to deal with this. I can handle this small matter myself. Whatâs the problem? You donât trust me?â Zhang Wei replied.
âNot really,â Brother Ah Fei said bluntly.
âNo matter, itâs enough that I trust myself. This mission is straightforward: contact the locals in the Northern City District and see if theyâve noticed anything suspiciousâeither people or places. If anything comes up, notify me immediately. Remember, I didnât get my âDual-wielding Gunslingerâ nickname for nothing,â Zhang Wei said.
âGot it,â Brother Ah Fei agreed readily.
The group of aimless young men really began combing the area for anything out of the ordinary or suspicious.
However, with the detailed file and Yang Jianâs analysis, their search zone was spot-on.
The anomaly truly existed in this area.
In Dachang City, within the Northern City District, there lay an old and somewhat decrepit residential complex.
Few residents remained here. After the Hungry Ghost incident, the area became a disaster zone. Once the event was over, the previously lively neighborhood turned desolate overnight. Those who survived either left the city or moved out of the complex.
As a result, many of the buildings were vacant, with some apartments left in such haste that doors were left unlocked, belongings abandoned, and furniture untouched.
Yet, some people, burdened by survival needs or personal reasons, had no choice but to stay.
Each evening, scattered lights flickered dimly across the complex.
The nineteenth building of the complex.
This building housed only one resident, located in apartment 602 on the sixth floor.
The inside was dark and oppressive; every window was curtained off so well that even daylight barely penetrated. The air was thick and carried a faint smell of decay.
This odor was unmistakably the scent of death.
Yet the stench wasnât overpowering. Leave the room, and outside, it was nearly undetectable.
Moreover, the building was entirely unoccupied.
A dim, yellowed table lamp faintly illuminated the shadowy room.
The eerie detail was the bedâon it lay a grotesquely dissected and fragmented corpse. The skin was pale, the blood completely drained, and the levels of decay varied across the body parts. Some areas had begun oozing corpse fluid, while others were still relatively fresh, retaining a hint of redness.
The legs, feet, torso, eyes, noseâevery component appeared to have been meticulously repositioned, almost as if striving toward perfection.
The wounds on the body painted a chilling picture. This peculiar corpse, lying motionless on the bed, was androgynous, with features so unnervingly perfect they defied description.
If Zang Hua were alive, heâd instantly recognize that every part of this corpse had been harvested from different murder victims seamlessly stitched together.
Each limb was flawless.
Someone with long legs lost theirs; someone with exquisite eyes had their eye sockets gouged out; someone with beautiful hands had their hands severed.
In a twisted sense, this was a âperfectâ body.
The corpse had been lying on the bed for several days, and as time passed, something inexplicably eerie was happening.
The scars from the stitching were disappearing.
No.
Not disappearingâhealing.
It was as if this patchwork corpse was alive, growing.
By the looks of it, before long, the entire body might fully heal. It could even awaken from its slumber.
But if it did awaken, what would this entity be?
A new existence pieced together from the body parts of several living peopleâa being that doesnât belong to this world.
An aberration conjured out of thin air.
Within the sprawling Dachang City, the subtle changes in this room went unnoticed, completely escaping detection. The complex hadnât experienced any major supernatural occurrences or deaths from malicious spirits. Even Yang Jian, driving past the area, missed it.
From the perspective of Ghost Eyes, what lay on the bed appeared to be a âliving personâ asleepânot a grotesquely assembled corpse.
Yet, this tranquility seemed poised for disruption.
With the screech of car brakes, a vehicle arrived at the entrance of the complex.
âIs this the place? I didnât study muchâdonât try to fool me,â Zhang Wei asked as he was led into the area by one of the young men.
âNo doubt about it, this complex has definitely seen death. I heard it from an elderly man living here. He said he smelled decay coming from one of the buildings while clearing out trash in the hallways, and itâs been lingering for a while,â the twenty-something young man replied confidently.
He lived nearby and, in the mostly deserted area, had once overheard some old neighbors chatting and picked up this bit of gossip.
âWhereâs that old man now?â Zhang Wei asked.
âHow would I know? I donât know him personally. The complex isnât big. Ask around, and youâll figure it out.â
At this point, it was unclear whether Zhang Weiâs luck was good or bad.
Among the vast expanse of the Northern City District, he had somehow stumbled upon the very problematic complex.
However, Zhang Wei still didnât know the right floor or apartment. Heâd have to piece together more information and continue investigating.
Meanwhile, Yang Jian wasnât particularly concerned about this matter.
He simply wanted a couple of days off to deal with the Ghost Post Office and figure out how to conclude his deal with the Ghost Cabinet.
Even if there were supernatural incidents in Dachang City, Yang Jian preferred to delegate them to Feng Quan or Tong Qian. He wouldnât handle them personally.
This was strategic resource allocation.
Otherwise, if every big or small issue fell to Yang Jian, heâd eventually be overwhelmed.
âItâs getting late. Time to clock out and go home.â
Around three in the afternoon, feeling bored at the office, Yang Jian decided to call it a day and left work early.
His plan was to show his face at the company for a few days to stabilize the situation before turning his full attention to the Ghost Post Office.
The Ghost Cabinet curse could be deferredâit still allowed time.
But the Ghost Post Office required immediate attention and couldnât be left unfinished.
Source: Webnovel.com, updated by novlove.com
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