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Chapter 143: Chapter 61: Ghost Cave’s Exit

As a gesture of goodwill, Gao Tian lifted his foot, allowing the conjoined twin’s severed torso to scramble away on its hands toward its other half.

He was being magnanimous, completely unworried that the conjoined twin would seek revenge the moment it recovered. He had already demonstrated his strength. And since he had yet to use his Memory Ghost ability for them, he knew Ghost Cave and the other ghosts wouldn’t make a move against him.

He was gradually getting into the swing of things. Controlling a situation of this magnitude didn’t seem as difficult as he had imagined.

The high school student who had once stumbled into that chat group and been relentlessly pursued by the Shattered-Face Ghost had grown into a different kind of person in this world that had no room for the weak.

Ghost Cave spoke slowly,

"You want to know about the altar? Fine, I’ll tell you.

"This altar was built for me."

To Gao Tian’s surprise, the ever-arrogant and rebellious Ghost Cave was actually yielding to him for the first time.

Even Gao Tian found it somewhat surprising.

"The matter is simple.

"According to the war games we ran before setting out, once Shanghai falls, Ghost Hunters from all over Xia Country, and even other nations, will soon swarm in to provide support.

"It’s simple logic—a matter of mutual survival. Even if some neighboring countries harbor their own selfish designs and normally look for ways to weaken Xia Country’s Ghost Hunters, they are all still human. This is just an internal conflict among mankind.

"If a Ghost Country were to truly rise up on their borders and start mass-producing ghosts, such an outcome would not be in the interest of any of them—not even Xia Country’s hostile neighbors or that certain island nation.

"While our Jialan Society is strong enough to eliminate the Ghost Hunters in Shanghai, we are not yet powerful enough to confront an entire state apparatus.

"The best strategy is to end the battle in an extremely short amount of time, before the rest of the country—and the world—can react.

"But with Old Man Sun in the picture, that’s impossible.

"So, at the outset of the battle, we need to envelop all of Shanghai. We must set up a massive barrier at the city’s borders to keep outside Ghost Hunters from getting in and inside ones from getting out. Only then can we create an overwhelming numerical advantage and conquer the city before national reinforcements arrive.

"The purpose of this altar is to amplify a ghost’s domain, magnifying its properties countless times over.

"But the price is that the ghost who sits upon it will burn through its entire lifespan in a short time, ultimately losing its mind and degenerating into a completely mindless ghost.

"So, Memory Ghost, care to guess who will be sitting on this altar?"

Ghost Cave pointed a long, slender finger at Gao Tian, his tone challenging.

The answer was simple.

It was practically written all over Ghost Cave’s face.

Even though Ghost Cave didn’t have a face.

Gao Tian said,

"It’s you, Ghost Cave."

Ghost Cave’s domain, the "Cave," prevents those outside from entering and those inside from leaving, splitting the interior and exterior into two separate worlds. It perfectly fit the requirements for the barrier.

Back at Jin Hai Mansion, Ghost Cave’s domain had only been large enough to encompass the building.

Expanding the domain to envelop the entirety of Shanghai was impossible for Ghost Cave alone.

That was why they needed the help of the "altar," a Supernatural Artifact, to amplify a domain’s properties countless times over.

The main feature of the "Cave" was its area of effect. Once the ghosts had the altar prepared and Ghost Cave sat upon it, his domain would be amplified tens of millions of times, pulling all of Shanghai within it.

No wonder Xu Yuan had paid such a steep price back at Jin Hai Mansion to buy back Ghost Cave and Ghost Infant from Gao Tian.

It wasn’t entirely out of sentiment for their past. From the very beginning, Xu Yuan had calculated how to best utilize Ghost Cave’s domain.

And no wonder Ghost Cave had been so belligerent tonight, suddenly trying to provoke him again.

’So he’s about to die,’ Gao Tian realized. ’There are some things he has to do now, or he’ll never get the chance.’

This time, his mind would disintegrate, and he would devolve into a vicious ghost. It was a true and final death, with no possibility of being reborn into another form of life.

"Memory Ghost, does that answer satisfy you?"

Gao Tian nodded in response to Ghost Cave’s question.

With everything laid so bare, he had nothing more to ask.

He began to hypnotize Ai Ning.

"Everything you’ve seen here is just a nightmare.

"When you wake up, you’ll find you were unconscious in an abandoned building. The thick stench of rot will pique your curiosity, even though you’ll have a splitting headache..."

...

As the Memory Ghost’s power took effect, Ai Ning’s eyelids grew heavy the moment Gao Tian finished speaking. No longer able to control her own will, she slowly drifted off to sleep.

The hypnosis was a success.

A deep red needle appeared in Ghost Infant’s hand, emitting a faint, bloody glow.

The needle was incredibly fine. Guided by Ghost Infant’s rusted hand, it pushed forward, bit by bit, slowly piercing Ai Ning’s skull.

It slid in until the very end disappeared from view.

It was as if it had completely melted into Ai Ning’s scalp.

Gao Tian didn’t know what the needle was for.

But he knew that if the Ghost Hunters downtown actually brought her to the Shadow Headquarters, what awaited the Spirit Disaster Bureau would likely be a cataclysmic disaster.

After all this was done, a long neck descended from the fifth floor above. The horse-faced man attached to it stopped beside Ghost Cave.

"The altar is ready.

"The first Ghost Hunter support unit for Shanghai has already departed from the south. They’ll be within the city’s borders in half an hour.

"We have to move faster. We need to raise the barrier before they arrive."

Gao Tian tossed Ai Ning’s head back. Ghost Cave caught it steadily with both hands and reattached it to the headless female corpse.

He placed the female Ghost Hunter at the entrance to the stairwell, arranging her to look as if she had fainted. This way, she would smell the nearby rot the moment she awoke. Only after doing all this did Ghost Cave turn and head upstairs, seemingly satisfied.

"Everyone.

"I can no longer fight alongside you all.

"Even though I won’t be able to see the new world that Xu Yuan promised with my own eyes, I believe that after tonight, we will meet again in a world without darkness."

As he watched Ghost Cave’s back disappear at the end of the stairwell, the woman’s face on Ghost Infant’s back, which always kept its eyes shut, suddenly shed a single line of bloody tears from one eye.

They had dealt with countless supernatural incidents and stared death in the face time and again. After dying, they had been granted new life by the Divine Tree.

And now, here, Ghost Infant was about to witness Ghost Cave’s second "death."

His last one.

Seeing this, Gao Tian didn’t know what to think.

’These "ghosts" are so strange.’

’They aren’t even human anymore, yet they’re still obsessed with ending the Era of the Supernatural.’

’Perhaps, just like Old Man Sun, they’ve never once doubted that they are the ones on the side of justice.’

With Ai Ning settled and Ghost Cave departed, the remaining ghosts in Liberation Mansion stepped onto strange Supernatural Artifacts. One by one, they turned into black shooting stars, flying out of the building’s entrance and heading for the depths of Shanghai to provide support.

This mode of transport was clearly another of Xu Yuan’s creations. It gave the Jialan Society far greater mobility than the Spirit Disaster Bureau tonight; no wonder the Bureau’s Ghost Hunters had been consistently overwhelmed.

As Liberation Mansion emptied out, Gao Tian turned, also preparing to leave.

"Memory Ghost, where are you going?"

Ghost Infant, who had stayed behind, asked as she watched Gao Tian’s back.

Gao Tian glanced back at her.

"I’ve completed Xu Yuan’s task. Can’t I leave now?

"What am I going to do, stay here and chat with you? Reminisce about you and Ghost Cave’s past?"

Ghost Infant slowly walked over to the slumbering Ai Ning, gazing at the final masterpiece Ghost Cave had left behind before he ascended the altar.

"You and I have one more task to complete.

"If we don’t finish it, everything we’ve done so far will be for nothing."

Gao Tian had to suppress his impatience and confirm once more,

"You, and me?"

Ghost Infant nodded stiffly with her mannequin’s body.

"Walking from here to the city center on foot is nearly impossible for an ordinary person.

"Shanghai has long since fallen, and it’s teeming with all kinds of ghosts. Then there’s the Rainy Woman, spreading her influence indiscriminately.

"This female Ghost Hunter is too weak. She’ll never make it there alive without an escort.

"That escort mission falls to the two of us."

Gao Tian felt an overwhelming urge to make a sarcastic comment.

"Didn’t you guys let the Rainy Woman loose? How can you not handle her yourselves..."

He swallowed the words before they could leave his mouth.

He knew it was a stupid thing to say.

Most ghosts were mindless killing machines, like newborns, incapable of communication, let alone being commanded.

The likes of Ghost Cave and Ghost Infant had been "resurrected" by the power of the Divine Tree; strictly speaking, they were more like people with special abilities.

For an instinct-driven killer like the Rainy Woman, perhaps only Xu Yuan could slightly influence her movements. Most members of the Jialan Society couldn’t command an S-Level ghost.

’If the Jialan Society could control ghosts, why would they even want to end the Era of the Supernatural? Wouldn’t it be better to just use these ghosts as Ghost Slaves?’

This led to a rather absurd situation—

The ghosts running rampant through Shanghai killed anyone on sight, friend or foe. Even members of the Jialan Society, the very people who had released them, could be attacked while walking down the street.

Gao Tian and Ghost Infant’s next mission was to traverse a Shanghai crawling with a pandemonium of ghosts and deliver Ai Ning alive to the Ghost Hunters in the city center.

’Escorting a living person through a ghost-infested zone... alongside a ghost?’

’What a convoluted scenario.’

Gao Tian didn’t really object. ’Look at Comrade Ghost Cave,’ he thought wryly. ’The man sacrificed himself. What a shining example of dedication. What’s escorting Ai Ning compared to that?’

"Along the way, aside from some lone wandering spirits, our biggest threat will be the Rainy Woman, right?"

After all, almost no one in Shanghai, besides the blind, hadn’t seen that video.

"What exactly is the Rainy Woman’s killing pattern? Why does she have to kill on rainy days, and where do the bodies of her victims end up?

"Even if you can’t control the Rainy Woman, you must know something about her methods.

"Don’t tell me you don’t even know that much, Ghost Infant. Or I’m not escorting a damn thing."

Before Ghost Infant could speak, Ai Ning let out a soft groan and slowly opened her eyes, waking from her stupor.

As she slowly came to, she ignored the other two people present, got up from the floor, and, following the stench of rot, walked directly to the stairwell where Dr. Adam’s body was hidden.

The memory implanted by the Memory Ghost was too powerful. Ai Ning was now just following a strong subconscious impulse, going through the motions. She paid no attention to anything besides Dr. Adam, completely oblivious to her surroundings.

She was just like Gao Tian back when his memories had been altered, when he had wandered dazedly into the Living Human’s Apartment.

Seeing that Ai Ning was already on the move and about to leave Liberation Mansion for the street, Ghost Infant’s tone grew urgent.

"Indeed. You need to memorize the Rainy Woman’s patterns.

"Otherwise, the moment we step outside, not only will we fail the escort mission, but we might even get ourselves killed.

"First of all—

"That woman... she isn’t actually killing people.

"At least, not from her own perspective."