Chapter 24: A Door Swung Open
The young man didn't look at Yang Haoran, and naturally didn't notice the disappointment in Yang Haoran's eyes. After the light was turned on, his gaze fell upon the rotting old woman.
Ever since the young man appeared, the rotting old woman's gaze had been fixed on him. As for Yang Haoran, she didn't even spare him another glance.
She didn't know this young man, but for some reason, he made her feel an inexplicable sense of dread.
This fear came inexplicably, yet it pierced her soul. Ever since she died and vaguely transformed into her current state, she had never felt fear again. She even believed that she had long lost such an emotion. But after this young man appeared before her, she realized she was wrong, profoundly wrong. She could still feel fear; it was just that before this young man, she had simply never encountered anything that could truly terrify her.
“W-who are you? This is my home, and you're not welcome. Get out, or I'm calling the police! ”
Normally, Yang Haoran would undoubtedly have burst out laughing at the rotting old woman's stuttering words. What on earth was she on about? Calling the police? Was she kidding? Did she have no ghostly dignity left?
However, he couldn't laugh now. Taking advantage of the rotting old woman's distraction, he quietly picked up Jiang Zhenzhen, ready to seize an opportunity to escape again. Whether this suddenly appearing young man was a master or a lunatic didn't matter; what mattered was that the rotting old woman's attention was now on him, giving Yang Haoran time to prepare.
Just because Yang Haoran couldn't laugh didn't mean the young man couldn't. He was amused by the rotting old woman's words and chuckled as he said, "Call the police, huh? Go on, let me see you do it. In your current state, even if I gave you a phone, could you call the police? And besides, what if you really could?"
The young man's words filled the rotting old woman with both fear and rage, though the former was far stronger than the latter.
The young man's presence instilled too powerful a dread in her. Although she didn't know the root of this fear, she still decisively chose to flee. She knew her own limits well: she could scare ordinary people, but against a true master, she was nothing. In her eyes, this young man was absolutely a master.
“Trying to run, huh? A mere spirit like you thinks it can escape my grasp? Are you looking down on me, or do you think too highly of yourself? ” the young man scoffed disdainfully.
The young man sneered dismissively. By now, the rotting old woman had already merged into the wall and vanished. The young man showed no haste; he simply extended an arm, and a surge of black mist erupted from his palm. With the appearance of this black mist, the room's temperature plummeted instantly. The apartment was already quite cold due to the rotting old woman's presence, but now, as the black mist emanated from the young man's hand, the chill in the room intensified even further.
Yang Haoran had already picked up Jiang Zhenzhen, planning to use the rotting old woman's distraction with the young man as an opportunity to escape this haunted house. But just as he stood up with Jiang Zhenzhen in his arms, he witnessed a scene that left him dumbfounded.
First, the terrifying rotting old woman retreated without a fight, and then he personally witnessed the black mist spewing from the young man's palm.
The former was one thing; although he couldn't understand why the rotting old woman would flee without a fight, he could ultimately accept it.
But the latter completely overturned his understanding.
Could a normal, ordinary person shoot black mist from their hand?
The answer was clearly no, yet it was genuinely happening before his eyes. In Yang Haoran's opinion, if this scene wasn't a hallucination caused by extreme fright, then this sharp-chinned, monkey-faced young man was truly a master.
With the appearance of the black mist, the indoor temperature plummeted sharply. Yang Haoran shivered, his breath misting in the air. His body's reaction told him that everything he was seeing was not a hallucination, but terrifyingly real.
Under his astonished gaze, the black mist surging from the young man's palm churned and rolled, rapidly coalescing. In the blink of an eye, it transformed into a jet-black chain.
The chain was as thick as an arm, one end directly embedded in the young man's palm, the other vanished into the wall.
A terrified scream echoed, and Yang Haoran clearly heard it; the shriek came from the rotting old woman. His gaze shifted from the young man to the wall where the rotting old woman had fled. He saw that the chain, without damaging the wall itself, had plunged directly into it. The chain was taut and trembling slightly, like a fishing line hooked onto a large fish.
The young man sneered. With a wave of his hand, the chain rattled. The rotting old woman, who had already vanished, was forcibly dragged out of the wall by him.
The rotting old woman was completely ensnared by the chain, wrapped so tightly she resembled a zongzi. She struggled violently, seemingly trying to break free from the chain's restraint, but no matter how she thrashed or howled, the chain showed no sign of loosening, and she remained firmly bound.
She originally had no physical form; previously, Yang Haoran couldn't harm her in the slightest with a kitchen knife. But now, this chain seemed to be her nemesis. Not only did it bind her, but it also appeared to inflict immense damage upon her, which was why she shrieked incessantly.
“You originally had a chance at reincarnation, but unfortunately, to strengthen yourself, you devoured other spirits. Thus, you have now lost the right to be reborn. Old woman, ghosts have their own paths; since you've strayed from yours, you must pay the price for your choice. ”
The young man said with a cold sneer, then produced a bead from somewhere. The bead was fist-sized, transparent, and appeared unremarkable.
“Who exactly are you? ! I have no grudge against you, so why are you targeting me? This house was originally mine! What's wrong with me telling them to get out? Yes, I did devour a spirit, but that old woman downstairs deserved to die! Eating her was letting her off easy! ”
The rotting old woman roared loudly while struggling with all her might, her terrifying and grotesque face filled with malevolence. If not for the eerie chain binding her so tightly, she would likely have flown up to devour people.
The young man didn't respond to the rotting old woman. From his indifferent expression, it seemed he couldn't be bothered. He simply tossed the bead in his hand, and it flew up as if alive, hovering above the rotting old woman's head.
“Soul-Gathering Bead, retrieve! ”
With a low cry from the young man, the transparent bead instantly released a powerful suction force. This suction, however, seemed to affect only the rotting old woman; nothing else in the room was influenced by it.
The rotting old woman felt a danger she had never experienced before. Under the enormous suction force, her body was stretched and distorted, little by little, forcibly being drawn into the bead's interior.
“Master, no! No! Please spare me! Granny, I'm already so old! Don't you know to respect the elderly and cherish the young? ”
The rotting old woman desperately made her final struggles. The young man, however, was not only unmoved by her words but also appeared somewhat impatient.
“Go to hell with your sister! How old do you think you are? Even if it's about respecting the elderly and cherishing the young, *you* should be respecting *me*, you rude little brat! ”
As the young man's words fell, the rotting old woman's body was completely absorbed into the bead.
The bead, which had originally been without the slightest impurity, now contained a single hair-thin black thread inside, due to the rotting old woman being entirely sucked into it.
This wisp of black thread darted around inside the bead, sometimes transforming into a miniature version of the rotting old woman, sometimes reverting to a black thread. It seemed to want to break free from the bead and regain its liberty, but no matter how hard it struggled, it couldn't break through, nor could it even make the bead tremble in the slightest.
Inside the bead, she roared in fury, her form still grotesque, but not a single sound escaped from within the bead.
The young man didn't spare the rotting old woman inside the bead another glance. With a wave of his hand, the bead flew back into his grasp, then vanished as if by magic, its destination unknown.
At the same moment, the black chain that had bound the rotting old woman shattered with a snap, turning into wisps of black smoke that dissipated entirely, as if it had never existed.
Yang Haoran was utterly dumbfounded, so much so that he didn't even notice his pants had fallen to the ground, leaving him in just his briefs. He had previously unbuckled his belt, preparing to spray urine at the rotting old woman, but the young man's appearance had interrupted his plan. No urine was sprayed, and he'd forgotten to re-buckle his belt, so now, standing up, his pants naturally slipped off.
He stared blankly at the young man, his heart brimming with shock. He had initially thought this young man was a lunatic, but unexpectedly, the other party was truly a master. It truly confirmed the saying: 'You can't judge a book by its cover, nor measure the sea with a dipper! '
At that moment, the young man turned his gaze to Yang Haoran, gave a cold smile, shook his head, and muttered to himself, "With that kind of courage, he doesn't even qualify as cannon fodder."
The sound wasn't loud, but Yang Haoran heard it clearly. He wanted to say something, but the other party didn't give him the chance, turning around and walking out of the room.
The young man walked away casually, hands clasped behind his back, just as he had arrived—like a leader inspecting his domain. As for the middle-aged man playing with the chainsaw, unfortunately, he was once again stepped on the fleshy face by the departing young man.
It wasn't until long after the young man had left that Yang Haoran finally snapped out of his shock. Although he had regained his senses, the astonishment in his heart didn't lessen; instead, it grew even more intense.
Perhaps due to his profession, he had always believed in the existence of ghosts and gods in this world, and thus held a deep reverence for them. However, before tonight, he had never truly, genuinely seen a ghost.
Since ghosts and gods existed, it was natural that there would also be masters in this world. He believed this too, yet he had never seen one either.
But tonight, he had seen both. He felt as if a new door had opened to his world—a door that ordinary people rarely saw, and even more rarely could touch.
And he dearly wanted to step through that door and take a look inside.
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