Chapter 154 - 142: 7 Types of Ghosts

After returning, Yin Zhen was still in the form of a Li Hua cat and was pinned to the ground by Bai Qiang.

But Bai Qiang no longer had her previous excitement. In low spirits, she gently held Li Hua in her arms, leaned against the sofa, and zoned out, a sorrowful expression lingering on her face.

A grayish-white female silhouette gradually materialized beside Bai Qiang. She had brought that female ghost back with her.

"Haa..." Bai Qiang sighed heavily, raising a hand to wipe the tears that unknowingly leaked from the corners of her eyes.

From now on, Bai Qiang would have to cry uncontrollably at least once a day. Only after feeding the ghost with her sorrowful emotions would it settle down. Once she started drawing on the ghost’s Strength, she would have to output even more sorrow.

Yin Zhen lay quietly in Bai Qiang’s embrace. She sent a message to her through the team chat channel, telling her to get a good rest first and that they would talk about everything else tomorrow.

Afterward, Yin Zhen began reviewing the system announcements to summarize the gains and losses of this trip.

[Welcome back. The Player’s login this time lasted a total of 30 hours and 20 minutes. The remaining time will be converted into a word count reward.]

[Congratulations, Player. You have obtained 41,400 words.]

Bai Qiang definitely received this reward too. This way, she could shed her cannon fodder Identity and become a Copper Card Player.

They had cleared the 72-hour instance in less than half the time. The process had been thrilling, but the result was perfect.

Essential to this success was their knowledge of Feng Shui, the ability to read memories through Blood Source Resonance, and the Strength of the Inheritance. Bai Qiang’s Special use of her spiritual power had also been crucial, allowing them to extract key clues from the Ghost Nurse and Ghost Doctor.

Without these factors, they undoubtedly would have spent much more time exploring the building and faced far greater dangers before finally finding the mirrored secret room buried deep underground.

Total words consumed: 54,000. Total words gained: 56,400. She had earned a net profit of 2,400 words.

The main expense came from Blood Source Resonance, which cost 20,000 words per use. After the rollback, she used it once to read Zheng Jiahe’s memories and another time for Wei Yang’s.

The other expenditures were insignificant; as long as she did not suffer an overall loss, it was fine.

Now, her total word count stood at 202,502. Since she did not yet know whether the Character Card from the Red Corpse World could still be used in the new world once the official game launched, Yin Zhen temporarily held off on permanently reproducing Blood Source Resonance into her main body. If the Character Card of Chi Hai could be used then, reproducing it would be unnecessary. If it could not be used, there would still be time to reproduce it later.

When dealing with supernatural Kaidan incidents, knowledge, experience, and intelligence were immensely valuable assets. Blood Source Resonance allowed her to obtain them accurately and in large quantities. Even within the Ancient Abyss, she planned to resonate with the memories of a few more "professionals" during the upcoming period.

Looking back at her gains, the exclusive Ghost Device rewarded by the system was ironically the least noteworthy prize this time. What Yin Zhen found most valuable were Wei Yang’s memories and Ying’s transformation.

Wei Yang’s memories provided Yin Zhen with a fundamental understanding of the new world’s background, its Power System, and the Abnormal Investigation Bureau. This would allow her to better assimilate into the new world during the official login and minimize any potential dangers.

The Power System of the new world aligned almost perfectly with her deductions—all ghosts were born from human emotions.

If a person endured extreme agony, fear, resentment, or sorrow just before death, their soul would be saturated with that emotion. Unable to dissipate after death, it would linger near the place of their demise, forming the embryo of a ghost. It would instinctively seek out emotions stemming from the same Source. If it found them, it would continue to "live." If not, it would gradually weaken over a long period until it completely vanished.

A starving ghost would orchestrate supernatural events, treating humans as prey. It would use various methods to provoke their emotions before devouring them.

The Abnormal Investigation Bureau categorized ghosts born from extreme emotions into seven types: Fear spawned Fearful Ghosts, anger birthed Evil Spirits, sorrow created Sorrowful Ghosts, hatred bred Resentful Ghosts, obsession manifested Possessing Ghosts, worry formed Worrying Ghosts, and ecstasy produced Wild Ghosts. Some ghosts did not possess just a single emotion. They could be a mixture of two or more, making them much stronger and harder to deal with.

Ordinary people could not confront ghosts directly. The Abnormal Investigation Bureau fought ghosts with ghosts. They used their own extreme emotions as bait to lure a ghost into their bodies, then fed and suppressed it with those same emotions. By drawing on the Strength of the Bureau’s Twin Fish Lock, they would seal the ghost within themselves, ultimately subjugating it for their own use.

Such individuals were known as Sealers. The principle seemed simple enough, but executing it was exceedingly difficult. Every year, the Abnormal Investigation Bureau selected a batch of people to undergo a collective Sealing Spirit ritual, yet the success rate was often less than twenty percent.

The price to pay after a Sealing Spirit was also monumental.

First, when a ghost resided in a body for too long, the host’s flesh would slowly be corroded by yin energy, degenerating toward a corpse-like state. Few Sealing Spirit Masters lived long; their average lifespan was a mere three years.

Second, Sealers had to constantly generate the corresponding emotion to feed the ghost. Repeatedly overdrawing their emotions would hollow out their minds. Once the emotional supply fell short, the ghost would trigger a backlash against the soul, eventually devouring it whole before leaving.

Third, ghosts were creatures of emotion. The more they were used, the easier it was for the host to fall into extremes. Those who controlled Sorrowful Ghosts would suffer damage to their heart meridians. Those who wielded Resentful Ghosts grew increasingly sinister and paranoid. Those who commanded Wild Ghosts would gradually devolve into genuine madmen.

Yin Zhen could not quite say whether Bai Qiang was lucky or unlucky. Being entangled by that Sorrowful Ghost granted her the Strength to fight other ghosts, but the hidden dangers were immense. Currently, the Abnormal Investigation Bureau had no recorded cases of anyone surviving the extraction process after a Sealing Spirit.

She feared that once the official game began, the Players from the Ancient Abyss who invaded the new world would also gradually become Sealers, continuing their struggle on the brink of life and death.

Compared to them, Yin Zhen had her Inheritance. She did not need to perform a Sealing Spirit to unleash Strength similar to that of a Resentful Ghost. Furthermore, Ying now possessed Zheng Jiahe’s Strength. This kind of Strength was Special and did not fall under the seven major ghost categories. Yin Zhen could not quite figure it out for the time being.

Before the official game commenced, she needed to figure out the exact meaning of the talisman on Ying’s back. She had to know if it possessed tracking and mind-control Effects, lest she be targeted by that man the moment she crossed over next time.

The system had also rewarded a Skill Upgrade Book. Yin Zhen wanted to use it on the Inheritance but found it incapable of being upgraded. She had to drop the idea and save it for now.

Li Hua rested in Bai Qiang’s arms, gazing at the profound Ye Se outside the window. The entities infiltrating the Ancient Abyss from Chi Hai were Blood Clan invaders. So, what were the ones infiltrating the Ancient Abyss from the new world...?

*

At a little past ten o’clock, in the inpatient department of Jing City People’s Hospital.

Most of the patients were already asleep. Only the accompanying family members remained hidden in the darkness, their phone screens emitting a faint, eerie glow. The corridor was dead silent.

CLANG... CLANG... CLANG...

A dull, rhythmic sound suddenly echoed from the corridor. It sounded like a broken utility cart—with every step, the items piled on it rattled along.

"Patients... Ward rounds..."

Feng’s child had just cried themselves to sleep from exhaustion. Afraid they would be woken up, he hurriedly got up, opened the door, and stepped out of the ward.

A few minutes later.

A nurse returned to the nursing station from the restroom. On the floor of the duty room lay a corpse. A syringe was stabbed deeply into the man’s eye socket.

"AH—"

A piercing scream shattered the dead silent night sky of Jing City.

In another hospital over a thousand kilometers away, the floor lights in the corridor flickered with a BZZT BZZT sound as a nurse pushing a small cart quietly appeared.

"Patients... Ward rounds..."