Mysterious Revival

Chapter 383: Chapter 382: The Appearance of Guo Fan

The handover of the incident in Z City was completed.

The next day, Yang Jian left the city and returned to Dachang City, after all, it was his responsibility to deal with some matters there.

“Team Shen, Yang Jian has confirmed his return to Dachang City, seems like he won’t stir up any more trouble,” said a ghost hunter colleague in a low voice.

“But was it a bit too wasteful to appease him by giving away that cloth doll? That thing isn’t even available at headquarters, and it was only brought along this time just in case,” another ghost hunter remarked quietly.

At this moment, Shen Liang stood on the rooftop of a high-rise building, his gaze fixed on the sealed-off Caesar Hotel in the distance, his brow slightly furrowed. “After all, he’s Zhao Jianguo’s top ghost hunter, we have to give him some respect. Falling out with him would do no good for anyone. Moreover, Feng Quan and Tong Qian seem to trust him quite a bit, with everything revolving around him, that’s no small influence,” he said.

“Besides, Yang Jian will be my responsibility from now on. We’ll have dealings with him again; consider it leaving a good impression. Since he’s returned to Dachang City, there’s no need to say more. Now we need to figure out how to get Guo Fan out. After all, Guo Fan is one of our own; we can’t let him go down here,” Shen Liang continued.

He glanced at the location on his mobile phone.

A special signal was still flashing from a certain room on the fourth floor of the Caesar Hotel nearby.

“With his abilities, he shouldn’t be dead. He sent out a distress signal earlier, but Yang Jian ignored it, refusing rescue,” said the ghost hunter beside him.

Shen Liang said, “Refusing to rescue was the right call. In light of Tong Qian, Guo Fan, and Feng Quan being consecutively taken down inside the hotel, even a fool would know the extreme danger inside. Anyone going in for a rescue should weigh their own capabilities; otherwise, it would be a death mission. Yang Jian’s survival through several supernatural events until now is certainly due to having the most basic judgment skills.”

“That’s true,” the colleague nodded, then added in a low voice, “However, according to Tong Qian’s report, there’s an unknown ghost inside the hotel. After rescuing Feng Quan and Tong Qian, Yang Jian chose to seal off the hotel. Look at those doors and windows, all collapsed, and the main entrance is sealed shut. It’s due to using the Ghost Domain to damage the building’s structure.”

“It shows that Yang Jian didn’t have a handle on that thing, so he chose to seal off the entire building, thereby restricting the ghost’s movement. Should we consider this when rescuing Guo Fan?”

Shen Liang waved his hand and said, “I don’t plan to deal with the unknown ghost inside. I won’t disrupt the arrangements Yang Jian made before he left, but breaching just a part of the hotel to rescue our man should mean we won’t be so unlucky as to encounter that thing.”

While he was speaking, a staff member came to report, “The explosives are ready, we can begin the rescue operation at any time.”

“Excellent, in one minute we start the controlled detonation, blow open that wall there. Once the explosion succeeds, immediately have the fire brigade set up ladders…”

Shen Liang immediately arranged the rescue operation, then paused and turned to say, “Zong Shan, you run this one. Just bring the person out, and if you encounter danger, retreat immediately.”

The ghost hunter named Zong Shan nodded, then quickly turned and descended the building.

One minute passed quickly.

Following the countdown of ten, nine, eight, seven… the command for detonation was given.

“Boom!”

A loud blast sounded as a wall on the ground floor of the Caesar Hotel was directly blown open, smoke billowing all around.

When the smoke cleared enough, a ladder truck was positioned directly at the blasted opening on the fourth floor.

The young man named Zong Shan, without any protection, climbed the ladder through the dust and ascended to the fourth floor of the hotel.

It must be said, Shen Liang’s methods were indeed very savvy; knowing there was a problem with the hotel, he had no intention of sending anyone in deep. Instead, he opted for this ordinary approach of conducting the rescue from outside the hotel, thus avoiding as much as possible any contact with the supernatural within.

Indeed, due to Shen Liang’s approach, the ghost hunter named Zong Shan was very lucky to have survived.

Because he didn’t leave his footprint within the range of the ghost’s activity. Otherwise, if a ghost inside stepped on his footprint, he wouldn’t even know how he died.

The demolition experts were highly skilled.

The blasting damaged the hotel wall but didn’t cause too much harm inside.

When Zong Shan climbed to a suite inside the hotel, he immediately took out his satellite positioning mobile phone.

The signal was correct; it was this room.

Zong Shan looked at the door with wary eyes.

Behind the door was the haunted hotel. He dared not venture deeper, and for safety, he went over to lock the door from the outside, ensuring that if there were any problems, the bolted door would give him time to react.

Then, following the signal source, he headed to a bedroom inside to investigate the situation.

Handled matters with great caution and steadiness.

The dim bedroom had an inexplicable chill to it, as though an old house, long uninhabited, had been reopened today.

Zong Shan didn’t speak up or rush inside; he simply took the flashlight and shone it around to assess the situation in the bedroom.

He saw the source of the signal.

A mobile phone stood on the nightstand, its online status maintained.

Next to the phone, strikingly out of place, was a wooden spirit tablet, resembling the kind used for someone who has passed away, but it was mottled and exceptionally aged.

Embedded within the spirit tablet was a black-and-white photograph.

The photograph was of a deceased man.

This man was… Guo Fan.

Additionally, in front of this portrait knelt a man, motionless, his body rigid as if he had been dead for several days, devoid of any signs of life.

“Guo Fan, what’s the situation here?”

Seeing this eerie scene, Zong Shan did not tense up but instead let out a slight sigh of relief.

At that moment, a voice suddenly rang out in the dim room: “I thought you wouldn’t come. Do you even need to ask? I fell for it and had to resort to the old methods to avoid the ghost’s attack.”

“Can we leave now?” asked Zong Shan.

The voice of Guo Fan continued to resonate in the room, and upon closer inspection, it was discovered that the voice was actually coming from the somber black-and-white photograph on the spirit tablet, while his body remained rigidly prostrate, unmoving on the floor.

“It’s hard to say, the situation here is a bit complicated. I’ve felt myself targeted by a malevolent ghost at least four times while I’ve been trapped here. The most recent time was a day ago, and if I weren’t already dead, I would likely have been killed by the ghost on any of those occasions… What about Feng Quan? He should have been attacked too, right? Did he not die?”

“He survived, he’s fine. The report said he was saved by Yang Jian from this place,” Zong Shan replied.

“Yang Jian saved him? That’s impossible,” said Guo Fan with a hint of astonishment in his tone: “Yang Jian wouldn’t possibly save Feng Quan; they had friction when they were in Dachang City.”

“Who knows what he was thinking; let’s focus on solving the problem at hand. You can’t stay here like this indefinitely; sooner or later, you will die. You must leave now.”

Zong Shan’s expression shifted slightly as he looked toward Guo Fan’s immobile body.

If he continued to stay in this state, he wouldn’t last much longer.

Guo Fan hesitated, unsure whether leaving this state would expose him again to the ghost’s attacks.

The ghosts in this hotel were terrifying, and most ghost tamers struggled to withstand them.

But to remain deadlocked was to embrace certain death.

Finally, Guo Fan made up his mind.

Then, his rigid body oddly stood up, stepping forward a few paces, and picked up the spirit tablet in front of him.

The black-and-white photograph of him on the spirit tablet gradually became blurry until it turned blank, leaving only a gradually sharpening outline of a figure that shouldn’t belong to him, one that came with the tablet.

“Wait.”

Suddenly, Zong Shan’s expression hardened, and he hastily retreated several steps, pressing himself against the wall beside him as he listened for noises outside the door.

The sound of footsteps arose from the hallway, immensely heavy.

“Footsteps are approaching this way.”

“There can’t possibly be living people in the hotel at this time,” Guo Fan said expressionlessly as he walked out, the spirit tablet he had been holding nowhere to be seen.