Mysterious Awakening

The nights in City Z seemed somewhat deserted.

Perhaps it was because the ghost stories had gradually started to spread throughout the city.

Yang Jian temporarily chose to retreat and rest with Xiong Wenwen in a tent set up on the outskirts of the city, considering safety, so it was necessary to stay away from the Caesar Hotel.

But a city could not possibly evacuate within a short period, so except for some blocked areas, most places still maintained their normal routine, with people eating when they needed to eat and working when it was time to work.

However, as the events brewed, this calm would soon be shattered.

The Ghost Hunters Headquarters had surely realized this, otherwise, they wouldn’t have dispatched top-tier specialists like Feng Quan, Guo Fan, and Yang Jian so quickly to support Tong Qian. They had even sought external assistance to ensure the swift resolution of the events and stabilize the situation in City Z.

Yet, above the nocturnal city, those pale Dead Man’s Heads still floated in the sky.

Though they were invisible at night, that did not mean these things didn’t exist.

This happened in a residential district of City Z.

Most residents had already shut their doors and windows and drawn their curtains before it had gotten completely dark, turning on all the lights in the living room.

The rumors of haunting were no longer just urban legends; they had become things happening around them. The residents of City Z weren’t foolish—information channels were well-developed now; various social media circles were abuzz, and pictures of the Dead Man’s Head balloons had spread far and wide.

They simply didn’t understand the true danger behind the events, otherwise, the people of City Z would have fled the city long ago.

Of course, there were still some skeptics who refused to believe in a supernatural occurrence.

Not everyone could easily reconstruct their worldview.

After all, the situation was still within a controllable range, with no large-scale casualties. Or perhaps, the events had not yet occurred close to them.

Dai Yong, who lived in this district, was among the skeptics.

In his early thirties with a moderate level of success in his career, he couldn’t be considered a successful person at his age, but he was nevertheless a middle-class individual.

Yet today, Dai Yong was not in good spirits because the rumors of the Dead Man’s Head balloons in City Z had affected his work, causing his income to drop significantly.

"What Dead Man’s Head balloons, only those old men and women could be fooled by such things. What era are we living in to believe this? If there really were ghosts, I’d like to see one. I’ve grown up without ever seeing such a thing," grumbled Dai Yong as he opened the door.

Upon entering, he saw his five-year-old son sitting on the sofa watching cartoons.

"Lele, where’s Mom? Why are you the only one home?" Dai Yong looked around the house but couldn’t find his wife.

While watching cartoons, Lele replied, "Mom went downstairs to play mahjong. Daddy, I’m hungry."

"That irresponsible woman, she’s okay leaving the child at home alone. It’s so late and she hasn’t even made dinner," said Dai Yong, a bit annoyed.

Angry as he was, he couldn’t just ignore his hungry child, so he had to go to the kitchen to cook a couple of dishes for dinner.

"Ding Dong~!"

Just as Dai Yong was cooking, a text message arrived: Dai Yong, are you still home? Don’t wait, get out of City Z now, it’s haunted there.

"I’m cooking for the kid; what’s all this fuss about? And when did you start joining in on this kind of panic?" Dai Yong replied to his friend’s message.

"It’s true. I know someone who works in the department, and today, three helicopters flew into Z City. Do you know who they brought? It’s personnel from the most secretive ghost-catching department, and four of them arrived at once. Something big must be going down in Z City. I’ve already slipped away, and now I’m sending you this message from a rest stop on the highway."

"Damn, you really ran away? Quit your job? Planning to starve?" Dai Yong replied again.

"Work won’t matter if I’m dead. Don’t disbelieve me; I have evidence. My friend risked imprisonment to secretly take this photo." A photo followed this message.

It was of a young man with a child about ten years old just getting out of a car, with the highly-secured Caesar Hotel in the background.

"See that? The place they’re going to is the Caesar Hotel where you had your wedding. Your house isn’t too far from there, right? I’m certain that hotel is definitely haunted. Did you see all those police tapes? There are armed special personnel patrolling around."

"You take one photo and claim people are ghost hunters - why not include a Taoist priest to make it look more convincing? Besides, do the people in the photo even add up to thirty years old?" Dai Yong chuckled and replied with a voice message.

His friend, now anxious, said: "Don’t disbelieve. This guy’s been transferred from Dachang City. I don’t have the specifics, but there have been ghost rumors in Dachang City lately too. The fact that he has been transferred here says a lot. Run for it. Not many know about this yet; I’ve only told a few relatives and friends."

Though Yang Jian’s actions and work are highly confidential, there’s no such thing as a wall that doesn’t leak as long as people are involved.

After all, those involved in related work have families. Knowing that supernatural events are happening, they risk punishment to get the word out in any way possible. Word spreads from one person to ten, from ten to a hundred—secretly, quite a few are aware of the ghostly disturbances at the Caesar Hotel.

This isn’t the Hungry Ghost incident; the whole city hasn’t been locked down. So, those in the know are naturally fleeing quickly.

"Okay, enough, I’m going to eat. We’ll chat next time." Dai Yong brushed it off and set down the phone.

He’d heard such rumours enough. If he was going to believe them, he already would have—no matter if a friend came to tell him in person, he wouldn’t change his stance unless he saw it with his own eyes.

But some things aren’t meant to be seen, for seeing means that horror and death are about to befall you, and by then, it’s all over.

"Lele, dinner’s ready." Dai Yong came out of the kitchen with freshly cooked dishes.

His son, who had been watching cartoons on the living room sofa, was now nowhere to be found.

Dai Yong looked around and found Lele standing on the balcony, on tiptoes on a stool, with over half of his body leaning out of the window, which scared him into running over and grabbing him at once.

"Haven’t I warned you many times? Don’t climb on the window. If you’re not careful, you could fall and die," he scolded angrily.

Lele pointed outside and said, "But Mommy’s out there, I want to open the window to let Mommy in."

"What?"

Dai Yong was startled and glanced outside; nothing but darkness as far as he could see.

This was the eighteenth floor, a high-rise residence; it was impossible for someone to be outside.

"Lele, you must be mistaken; Mommy’s not outside, she’s downstairs playing mahjong. I’ll call her to come back for dinner," Dai Yong said, then stood up to close the window.

But as he was closing the window, he suddenly paused.

Outside, about one or two meters away, appeared to be something floating, like a dark balloon, too unclear to discern.

However, as that dark object floated and twisted in mid-air, when it turned to face forward, illuminated by the light from inside the house, a pale woman’s face came into view—it was identical to Dai Yong’s wife’s face.

No, that was his wife, still wearing those familiar earrings on her ears.

"Ah~!"

Dai Yong, a man in his thirties, was now so frightened that his face turned pale, his legs gave way, and he collapsed to the ground, his eyes filled with terror.

For there was nothing below the head, it floated like a balloon.

Was the rumor of the floating head balloon incident in Z City actually true?

However, before Dai Yong’s mind could process this, a gust of wind blew in from outside, and the floating head outside the window slowly flew in with the breeze, passing the window frame, entering the room, and seemingly intentionally drifting towards him.

Dai Yong, in his fear, wanted to grab his son and flee, to leave this place, to leave this city.

But when he turned to his son, he found that the boy was just standing there, not knowing better.

His neck had no head, also like a balloon, it had left the neck and risen up.

Despair, and terror caused Dai Yong to let out a devastated scream.

However, what happened to his family was not an isolated case; the horror in Z City continued to brew, and this was just one of many.

Inside the Kaiser Hotel, suspected to be the source of the incidents.

Fourth floor.

Feng Quan was smoking and resting, leaning against the wall with a frown, his hands trembling slightly, whether due to nervousness or fear. Continue your saga on

"Haven’t found a way out yet?" He took a deep drag of his cigarette and said the words.

With a dark expression, Guo Fan walked back, "No, we’ve been lost for four hours since we came in, constantly walking in circles in this hallway. It feels like it will never end. We might have entered a special kind of Ghost Domain, and it’s very difficult to leave by simply walking."

"Too bad Yang Jian took Xiong Wenwen to the second floor to investigate. If we worked together, we definitely wouldn’t be trapped. His code name is ’Ghost Eye’ Yang Jian; he’s a player when it comes to Ghost Domains," Feng Quan said with a headache, "If we can’t find a way out by dawn, we should ask for Yang Jian’s help."

He wasn’t afraid of the Ghost Domain; he was afraid of being trapped without escape.

"If I had the Ghost Candle, I wouldn’t need to rely on some unfathomable kid," Guo Fan said.

Feng Quan shook his head, "Yang Jian isn’t that simple. He’s experienced the most top-notch supernatural events, he’s a very unusual person. How should I put it, because he started young, he’s very malleable. After all, he was lucky at the beginning, mastering the use of the Ghost Eye, which can harness the Ghost Domain, like Li Jun, he has huge potential.

If this incident in Z City is resolved by him, the selection for team leader is almost a sure thing for him."

"Since when did you start speaking for him?" Guo Fan interjected.

"I only differ with him in ideology. I really don’t like his personality; he’s too selfish. A typical self-centered mentality, afraid of death and interested only in profit, concerned only with his own patch of land and indifferent to everything else. Although such people have a high survival rate, I despise them, but I have to admire his abilities," Feng Quan shared his opinion of Yang Jian.

"If his abilities were mine, once I became the team leader, I would change the world and then end this supernatural era, restoring peace to the entire world. That’s what a man ought to do."

Feng Quan revealed his dreams and ambitions.

Guo Fan looked at him and remained silent, for he felt that Feng Quan’s words were too beautiful, so beautiful that they seemed somewhat hypocritical. On the other hand, Yang Jian seemed to him to live a more realistic life, living only for himself, just like himself.

Because that was how he was too.

Resolve supernatural incidents, earn commendations, get promoted, live a little longer—only then could one enjoy the delights that come with money and power.

"Creak... bang~!"

But just then, the sudden sound of a door opening and then closing arose.

Although the sound wasn’t loud, it clearly echoed in the hallway, causing an involuntary shiver, as every muscle tensed reflexively.

Feng Quan leaped up from the ground, his face changing color, "Did it appear?"

Earlier they had received news that the hotel was no longer inhabited by anyone; staff or guests had all been evacuated several days ago, so it was impossible for anyone to be on the fourth floor.

"It’s quiet again." Guo Fan listened but found that the surroundings had become silent once more.

"Let’s go and see."

Feng Quan cautiously followed the sound that had indicated a door opening, until he came to a corridor they had previously not encountered.

Ahead was a carpeted floor with a deep-red hue on both sides, lined with hotel rooms, each labeled with a room number: 1, 2, 3... and so on.

"The place up ahead shouldn’t be part of this hotel," Guo Fan paused, not continuing forward.

"Why?"

Guo Fan analyzed, "The room number plates in this hotel are not hung like this. I checked before; here, the room numbers are of the type 002, 004, and so forth. There are no rooms that start with number 1."

"A supernatural site?" Feng Quan furrowed his brow.

He was not surprised; supernatural places were just like that, seemingly integrated with the surrounding environment, but certain areas would be oddly out of place, eerie and mysterious, unexplainable.

"Creak~!"

Yet at that moment, the sound of a door opening echoed again down the hallway, and the door of a room in the far distance slowly opened, but paused halfway.

The door was left ajar, letting a sliver of light spill out.

Through the half-open door, they could faintly see the room number: 31.

The two of them immediately fell silent, their gaze fixed on the door that had opened, trying to determine what, if anything, would emerge from inside.

However, nothing did.

The door remained ajar, but no one came out, yet through the partially open door, one could see as if someone was moving inside, the light shifting constantly.

"Should we go up?" Feng Quan readied himself for action because he knew that if they made contact, it was highly likely they’d encounter a ghost.

Guo Fan’s expression changed, "I can’t face the humiliation of being trapped here and asking Yang Jian for help tomorrow. Let’s take action. With the two of us working together, we can handle it; with our abilities, we don’t need to clarify the rules. If we encounter a ghost, we can immediately detain it.

After all, this ghost is rated only B-level in terms of danger, and it was only defined as A-level due to the substantial impact."

"Alright, let’s act together," Feng Quan nodded in agreement right away.

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