Chapter 10: Night Wanderer |
Wu Zhong saw the Taoist pull out a gun and couldn't help but comment, "So marksmanship counts as magic too, huh?"
The Taoist curled his lips into a smile. "You've fought that ghost yourself—fists and kicks can get the job done. One shot from me, and even a ghost can't withstand it."
Wu Zhong thought that made sense. Although he had defeated the ghostly old man using his door-welding ability, the prerequisite was that he could actually break through. If he couldn't create a door opening, he couldn't trigger his ability.
That ghostly old man was genuinely weak—just a mass of water vapor. Fighting in his true form was less threatening than when he possessed others to chase Wu Zhong... at least that had some danger to it.
However, since ghosts existed in this world, it wasn't too surprising that there were departments dedicated to catching them.
These people were truly bizarre. Wu Zhong felt extremely nervous because he wasn't exactly normal either.
"What exactly do you want? Just say it directly?"
The lead administrative man smiled. "No need to be nervous. I'm Lu Guangqi."
"You can call me Captain Lu... Well, we just want to know why those ghosts and deities are hunting you."
"I've never encountered such strange things in my entire life. I'm completely baffled too."
He was genuinely confused. Putting aside his superpower, he sincerely wished for a peaceful, normal world—preferably with only himself being the exception. So why was he encountering ghosts now?
"Actually, this isn't the first time you've encountered something like this." Administrative man Lu Guangqi suddenly turned on a projector and displayed several surveillance screenshots.
Wu Zhong was shocked—they clearly showed him trapped in the elevator.
This made his heart skip a beat. That was the moment he first discovered his superpower. Clearly, they had investigated him and connected today's morning elevator incident with the current events, considering both together.
"Your incident of being trapped in the elevator this morning wasn't simple either. That should have been your first attempted assassination."
"The ghosts and deities were still very weak at that time, probably trying to use the elevator to crush you to death, but they failed even at that."
Lu Guangqi spoke confidently, leaving Wu Zhong stunned.
"Huh? What?" Wu Zhong blinked.
He felt strange inside. He hadn't expected the other party to consider the morning elevator incident as ghost-related too.
To be honest, Wu Zhong himself had thought that at the time, believing he had encountered evil spirits or was being haunted by minor ghosts.
The surveillance hadn't captured him secretly pressing the open button. The crowd had been crowded, and his hand had reached through several people to barely manage it.
Lu Guangqi continued, "Don't be surprised. You probably thought it was just an ordinary elevator accident."
"But we thoroughly inspected it—the elevator itself had no malfunctions whatsoever."
"If it were just an isolated incident, that would be one thing. But you experienced the car accident this afternoon—that was the ghosts' second attempt on your life."
Lu Guangqi switched the projection. This time, it showed the scene on the roadside where the truck had hit him.
Wu Zhong stared wide-eyed. "This was also ghost-related?"
Lu Guangqi nodded. "Yes. Even with heavy rain, the driver shouldn't have driven straight into you like that."
"This driver hadn't been fatigued recently. His family said he never drank alcohol."
"We conducted an autopsy—no alcohol in his blood. Instead, we found peculiar hydrocephalus in his brain. He had been controlled by ghosts."
Wu Zhong gasped sharply.
He knew the elevator incident was related to his superpower awakening—the other party had misunderstood that.
But he truly hadn't known that the afternoon accident that nearly killed him was also a ghost possession attempt on his life.
If a passerby hadn't pulled him aside at that moment, he would have been crushed to death!
"Why? Why do ghosts want to kill me?"
Wu Zhong grew anxious. The ghost chase tonight was actually the second attempt, which meant there would definitely be third and fourth attempts.
Just as the other party had said when they entered: he would be haunted by ghosts, with frequent accidents!
He might escape today, but not tomorrow. Who could withstand ghosts constantly trying to kill him, both openly and covertly?
Normal life would become impossible. Wherever he went, he'd have to guard against people suddenly being possessed by ghosts, filled with murderous intent to stab him.
Or drivers being controlled to cause car accidents, plane crashes, and similar incidents.
Lu Guangqi tapped the table with his fingertip. "We want to figure out why these ghosts want to kill you too."
"To be honest, we discovered these ghosts earlier than you. Aside from some conflicts, you're the first person they've actively come out to hunt!"
Wu Zhong was dumbfounded. He was the ghosts' first target?
"What the hell!"
"And what did you say? A group? There's more than one ghost?"
"Where did these ghosts come from?"
Lu Guangqi explained, "Well, it's a group. I can't tell you too much about their origins. I can only say they should all be existences from mythological legends..."
As he spoke, he picked up the earlier portrait of the ghostly old man.
"For example, the one chasing you tonight is called 'Ye Zhong'—a Night Wandering Deity."
Wu Zhong's eyes widened. "Night Wandering Deity?"
The young Taoist beside him interjected, "Legend says they were born in the southern wilderness. They link arms together, and when daytime comes, they vanish. Because they only appear at night, they're called Night Wandering Deities."
"In appearance, they have small cheeks and red shoulders—exactly the creepy, sinister little ghost image you saw tonight."
"The Classic of Mountains and Seas records: 'There are deities, sixteen in number, linking arms with each other, serving the Heavenly Emperor by patrolling the night.'"
"There are sixteen in total. The leader among them has a name—'Ye Zhong'—which is who you encountered. He's the boss of the Night Wandering Deities, the strongest one."
Wu Zhong was stunned. So when that ghostly old man called himself a 'little god,' that's what he meant.
He really was a deity—a Night Wandering Deity!
"Boss? And the strongest one? He felt so weak to me—not even as powerful as ghosts in movies."
The Taoist stroked his firearm, repacking it carefully. "Yes, indeed quite weak."
However, Lu Guangqi said solemnly, "Although they're still weak now, do you know? They only emerged this morning."
"Initially, even wind could blow them apart, sunlight could burn them to death. They failed when trying to create an elevator accident to kill you."
"But by afternoon, they could already possess people, creating a car accident that killed the driver."
"Now tonight, they possessed over a dozen people to chase you, resulting in four patient deaths."
"They've been continuously absorbing matter to grow stronger, and this is only the first day!"
"By this logic, what about the second day? The third day? Next month? The month after? What about one or two years from now?"
"Before we find a complete solution, this is temporarily classified as a Delta-level anomalous disaster—something capable of causing human extinction."
Hearing this, Wu Zhong shuddered.
Yes, although that minor ghost Ye Zhong was weak tonight, he had almost killed him.
And they were still growing stronger. Comparing the afternoon car accident to tonight's group chase, the latter showed clear improvement.
If not for his superpower, he would have died tonight!
Even earlier, if not for luck and that passerby pulling him aside, he would have been crushed to pulp this afternoon!
With this continuous strengthening, wouldn't they eventually ravage the world?
Lu Guangqi said, "Right now, only Ye Zhong can wander this far to kill you. But by tomorrow, other minor ghosts might be able to do it too."
"Soon enough, all Day and Night Wandering Deities will be able to mobilize..."
"I don't know their growth limit, but these are after all deities 'serving the Heavenly Emperor by patrolling the night.' Legends say they can link together, blotting out the sky and sun."
"And this... is just one of the insignificant, foot-soldier-level minor ghosts among the deities that emerged this morning."
Wu Zhong felt chills. Ghosts and deities truly existed in the world, and they specifically wanted to kill him.
"Can we just let them grow stronger like this? Isn't there any way to stop them?"
"You must have specialized methods to eliminate ghosts, right? That... do you have superpowers?"
He couldn't help asking these questions. After today's experiences, he realized he probably wasn't the only one with special powers in this world.
Lu Guangqi didn't answer directly, only saying, "For now, we can suppress them from coming out to harm people, but we can't stop them from growing stronger."
Wu Zhong frowned. "Suppress? But they still came out to harm people!"
"Couldn't you suppress the Night Wandering Deity?"
Lu Guangqi said, "The Night Wandering Deity is a special case. His ability is extremely unique—as long as it's night, they can roam freely, impossible to block."
"The Day Wandering Deity is the same. The one who killed that driver this afternoon was the Day Wandering Deity 'You Guang.'"
"Therefore, you'd better stay with us. We can protect your safety and arrange accommodation for you at our base."
Wu Zhong scanned the group. Clearly, they were some kind of official special department, though he wasn't certain.
"So, what department are you exactly?"
The others remained silent, waiting for Lu Guangqi to speak. "You just need to know we're a fire department."
Wu Zhong frowned. "Fire department? You're firefighters?"
Aside from this administrative man and the Taoist, the others were indeed wearing firefighter uniforms.
Lu Guangqi smiled. "What we call firefighting means preventing, controlling, and eliminating various disasters."
"The firefighters you're familiar with deal with natural disasters."
"Whereas we deal with unnatural disasters and anomalies."
Wu Zhong asked further, "What's your name? I've never heard of this department. If you're an official unit, you should show identification, right?"
Lu Guangqi remained calm and composed. "Don't ask so many questions. Although we're a legitimate department, for safety reasons, we can operate confidentially without public disclosure."
"As for identification, I have credentials from seven major law enforcement agencies here: Public Security, National Security, Urban Management, Market Supervision, Ecological Environment, Cultural Market, and Emergency Management. I can show them all to you."
He opened his briefcase, rummaged briefly, and pulled out a stack of credentials, including numerous police varieties.
Wu Zhong was speechless. They had everything—holding so many official positions?
The other party wouldn't even tell him the mysterious department's name but could produce credentials from all public departments, showing how powerful this organization was.
"Then... what exactly do I need to cooperate with you on?"
Lu Guangqi said, "You need to cooperate with all our actions at designated locations and times, maintaining complete confidentiality throughout."
Wu Zhong couldn't help asking, "Can I refuse?"
"In appearance, they have small cheeks and red shoulders—exactly the sleazy, evil imp image you saw tonight."
Wu Zhong tilted his head. "For now?"
Lu Guangqi stared at him. "Correct. Because if we determine that you have a strong correlation with the influence and harm of certain 'anomalies,' we can take compulsory measures."
Wu Zhong understood. Right now, he was actually a victim.
A group of ghosts had suddenly emerged wanting to kill him—he was just terribly unlucky.
It was possible these ghosts had randomly chosen someone to hunt, and after killing him, they'd move on to the next target.
But if the ghosts' origins and reasons for causing trouble had a strong correlation with him, then they wouldn't be so polite anymore.
As for what constituted 'strong correlation'—that was hard to say.
Did having superpowers count as strong correlation? That ghost might have recognized him... did that count as strong correlation?
Thinking this, his original intention to confess was temporarily suppressed again.
To be honest, Wu Zhong still hadn't figured out why that Ye Zhong had used honorifics when addressing him. Was it just habit, or had he mistaken him for someone else?
For a moment, Wu Zhong's mind was in turmoil. He didn't know what exactly 'cooperating with all their actions' entailed either.
They weren't telling him anything... which made him very uneasy.
But it seemed he had no room for refusal, nor any reason to do so.
After all, he was being hunted by ghosts and deities. These people were willing to protect him—should he go out seeking death instead?
He had originally thought that with one million obtained, he could quit his job, continuously care for and accompany his grandfather, living a leisurely life.
But tonight's events made him realize he needed to stay away from his grandfather. He couldn't continue staying by his grandfather's side to care for him, or he would only bring harm to him.
"Sigh... I understand. I'll do whatever you say."
The other party had anticipated his choice. Immediately, they took out some documents and pushed them toward Wu Zhong.
Wu Zhong looked—it was a confidentiality agreement plus an agreement accepting strict protection.
This approach indeed wasn't something wild groups would do—otherwise, they wouldn't go through such trouble.
He examined it. The documents were full of technical terms, with simple statements twisted around using complex vocabulary.
Wu Zhong's education level wasn't very high. After reading for a while, he developed a splitting headache, having forgotten half of what he'd already read...
"Forget it, forget it. I don't have a choice anyway." He couldn't be bothered pretending to read carefully.
He directly picked up the pen and signed on the spot.