Mysterious Revival

Chapter 571: Chapter 568 Attitude

Cao Yanhua perceived the scene very acutely, realizing that there seemed to be some sort of conflict between Jang Shangbai and Yang Jian, beyond the mere mocking one does when they simply find someone disagreeable.

Jang Shangbai’s face was very unpleasant.

He had spent the previous night driving around the city for this Yang Jian, not only that, but also on tenterhooks for fear that Yang Jian would suddenly appear before him and attack.

To his surprise, this guy had the nerve to go sleep in the Ping’an Hotel instead.

However, by the time he learned of this news, it was already morning.

“Yang Jian, do you know what you were doing last night?” Jang Shangbai paused his steps and stared at him coldly.

“Of course, working overtime and sleeping. Why? Did you have something to look for me for last night?” Yang Jian replied with a calm expression.

Jang Shangbai sneered, “Is there any point in lying to deceive people at this time? Don’t think I don’t know about your actions last night. While our circle of friends was busy dealing with the Ghost Painting incident, you dared to attack us viciously. Several of the Ghost Controllers have been killed by you. If you don’t give me an explanation today, I see no need to proceed with this meeting, nor will you think about returning to Dachang City.”

What?

Cao Yanhua immediately froze, his gaze filled with surprise and doubt as he looked at Yang Jian.

This guy started a conflict with people from the circle of friends?

However, Wang Xiaoming seemed not to have heard, still keeping his head slightly bowed and his eyes closed.

On the other hand, the unremarkable Liu Xiaoyu had her eyes wide open, looking incredulous.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated on ƝονǤօ.сᴑ

Yang Jian looked at him, “Without any evidence, how can you falsely accuse someone out of thin air?”

“Without evidence?”

Jang Shangbai, with a bit of anger, threw a document on the conference table, “I guessed you might deny it, so here’s the evidence.”

Cao Yanhua immediately frowned and browsed through it. Indeed, it depicted several friends from the circle gruesomely dead, a Ghost Controller named Zhang Jian missing, another named He Tianxiong out of contact, and besides, surveillance cameras had captured photos of Yang Jian at several crucial locations.

Although there was no concrete proof, these things were already quite telling.

Yang Jian didn’t so much as glance at the so-called evidence. He said, “That’s just the evidence in your hands. Do you think I would believe it? What if you just mocked up a photo to frame me? Look at this evidence—missing? What a joke, putting the blame on me for going missing, perhaps they couldn’t stand it and died from the revival of a vengeful ghost.”

“Sudden death of a Ghost Controller is quite normal; what’s there to make such a fuss about?”

Jang Shangbai’s face darkened as he tried to suppress his rage, “Zhang Jian disappeared in a bar; you also went to a bar that night, and the surveillance caught your picture. Are you going to deny that?”

“I, as a single young man for many years, going to a bar to relax when bored seems quite reasonable, doesn’t it? How can you be sure that the bar where this Zhang Jian disappeared is the bar I went to?” Yang Jian replied nonchalantly.

Bang!

Jang Shangbai could no longer restrain his anger upon hearing such sophistry, and he slammed the table violently. The sturdy wooden table immediately cracked.

“Your denial is useless. You know in your heart what you have done. Whether you admit it or not isn’t important. What’s important is that since you chose to act, you must be prepared to face the consequences of your actions.”

Yang Jian’s eyes narrowed, “Oh? You want to take action based on an unfounded piece of evidence? You want to do it here? I don’t mind, but you better be prepared to be taken down by me. If there’s anyone who wants to help, they can come at me too, it’s almost time for the meeting, but we should have enough time.”

“After all, for me, it’s just a matter of a few dozen seconds.”

As he finished speaking, the lights in the entire conference room flickered, as if interfered with by something, and a chilly aura filled the air.

“Yang Jian.”

Cao Yanhua was both shocked and furious, hastily reprimanding, “Let’s all calm down first and tell me what exactly is going on here.”

Yet Jang Shangbai was not intimidated, he said, “Isn’t everything clear? Yang Jian is making a move against us, first Zhang Jian, then He Tianxiong, and who knows, maybe I will be next. Not to mention that he personally took out Gao Zhiqiang back at the headquarters. One by one, our circle of friends has lost three ghost masters at his hands. Minister Cao, if you don’t take care of this matter, then we may have to resort to the simplest solution.”

At this moment, Cao Yanhua was also convinced that indeed, Yang Jian was targeting the people in their circle.

This was indeed in line with his character and style.

“Yang Jian, you’re going too far,” Cao Yanhua sternly rebuked.

However, hearing this, Jang Shangbai furrowed his brows.

That was it, just a scolding? Nothing more?

He had a vague feeling that although Cao Yanhua appeared furious, in reality, he did not have much of a reaction to Yang Jian’s actions.

“Too far? Deputy Minister, shouldn’t that be said to Jang Shangbai instead? Conveniently, I have a recording here which you might want to listen to,” Yang Jian didn’t say much more and just pulled out his phone, tapped play, and let a recording play out.

“Yang Jian is still around, right? Once the Ghost Painting incident actually occurs, then we can proceed to kill Yang Jian without having to worry, and just pin the blame on the Ghost Painting incident. That way, we won’t have to keep wasting our energy on watching him, and we can also finalize things before the captain’s plan is implemented…”

It was President Fei’s voice.

The recording continued:

“To take care of this troublemaker on the way is not bad,” another person seemed to agree with the plan.

“Perhaps we could even use this opportunity to pressure Minister Cao into using the Coffin Nail,” spoke the voice of Jang Shangbai.

“…”

As the recording ended, the originally noisy conference room suddenly fell silent.

Jang Shangbai was completely stunned.

That recording was… from the last secret meeting they had.

How could a recording of such a confidential meeting be leaked?

Wait a minute.

Jang Shangbai immediately thought of Li Yao, the only female assistant who could have had access to the upper echelons.

If Li Yao had already turned traitor, it would not be impossible for her to find an opportunity to install a listening device at some point.

“So, you see, they were the ones who made the first move. I was merely exercising preemptive self-defense. You people from the circle sure have some nerve, though, casually talking about killing me. After all, I am, at the end of the day, in charge of a city. It would seem quite inappropriate for me to be taken out by you guys out of the blue, wouldn’t it?” Yang Jian said with a calm expression.

Hearing these recordings, Cao Yanhua was now thoroughly enraged.

In his view, the death of a few people in the circle was trivial, merely potential risks. It was no big deal if Yang Jian truly took out a few of them, they should at most focus on the bigger picture with a few words of criticism and reprimand.

After all, the value of these people could not compare to a Ghost-Eye Yang Jian.

But the circle’s plan to take out Yang Jian was unacceptable.

If Yang Jian had truly been taken out, it would have been an absolute earthquake for the headquarters.

“`

Just think, if ghost controllers who resolved S-class paranormal events in our country were foolishly killed by certain people, what would everyone else think?

By then, the prestige of headquarters would be undermined, numerous conspiracy theories would abound, morale would collapse, and it would be harder to lead the team… A situation that is already deteriorating might even face the possibility of complete collapse.

Of course, adverse situations are definitely advantageous for the Friend Circle, and perhaps at that time the headquarters might even rely on the Friend Circle to stabilize the situation. If so, who will call the shots here in the long run?

By that point, the Friend Circle’s plan to eliminate Yang Jian would have been completely successful.

In an instant, Cao Yanhua thought of many things, even breaking out in a cold sweat involuntarily, wishing he could immediately capture the person who planned this for the Friend Circle, because they were incredibly dangerous, possessing far-reaching vision and strategic-level planning, not at all in the same category as these ghost controllers.

“Jang Shangbai, you had better give me an explanation, or today I will sanction all industries owned by your Friend Circle and terminate all cooperation with you.”

Jang Shangbai panicked. He had come to attack with an army of accusations, hoping to use headquarters to deal with Yang Jian, or at least bring him some trouble if he couldn’t succeed. He didn’t expect Yang Jian to be so well-prepared, even obtaining this most incriminating recording evidence. Now, the situation was completely reversed.

If things go wrong, the Friend Circle might really be finished this time.

“It’s fake, this recording is fake, saying that a few random recordings spliced together are evidence, you think I’d believe that?” Jang Shangbai said, his head held high.

This recording must never be acknowledged.

But why does his statement sound so familiar?

Yang Jian nodded, “A recording indeed doesn’t count as much evidence. If you think it’s fake, then let’s just say it’s fake. But as you said before, evidence or who is right or wrong doesn’t really matter to people like us. What matters is who survives in the end.”

“If I am killed by you, then I am wrong, and you are right. Conversely, if I survive and you are killed by me, then you are the ones who are wrong.”

“What do you think, Jang Shangbai?”

Jang Shangbai’s complexion was awful, but he did not speak.

Yang Jian smiled faintly, his smile tinged with a hint of coldness: “So, back to the earlier question, shall we try our hands here? Either you kill me, or I kill you?”

The lights in the conference room flickered, and everything around seemed to gradually change color, layers of a blood-like, viscous red light constantly encroached on everything around.

Without anyone noticing, a strange, pupil-less eye appeared on Yang Jian’s forehead. It turned slightly as if a fierce ghost was spying on everyone here. Besides, a hand with a bluish tinge’s palm extended out from an inconspicuous corner of the conference table, and as time passed, these types of palms seemed to grow more numerous, some even crawling onto the table.

The ground had turned pitch black, as if enveloped in a giant shadow, with an icy cold sensation continuously invading the body.

All signs indicated that ghosts seemed to be invading this conference room.

And they were about to make a formal appearance.

Behind him, Liu Xiaoyu’s breathing became rapid. Her body tensed up, and although she knew Yang Jian wouldn’t harm her, facing such terrifying ghosts in person was not something many normal people could calmly handle.

In stark contrast was Wang Xiaoming.

From beginning to end, his head was slightly bowed as if he was sleeping, utterly indifferent to the situation here.

The most unstable person was Cao Yanhua; he was both shocked and afraid, unsure of how to handle the current scene.

The conflict between the two men was not as simple as previously thought.

From the recent events, it appeared that Jang Shangbai of the Friend Circle had long planned to kill Yang Jian, but Yang Jian, knowing the news, acted first.

Theoretically, it didn’t seem wrong for Yang Jian to take the initiative, but in reality, acting in the conference room would definitely have a very negative impact, which is utterly unacceptable.

Should he stop Yang Jian?

Stopping him was easy, but what would Yang Jian think after being stopped?

Means are not important, but attitude is very important.

“Wait a moment, let’s all calm down. Let’s put this on hold for now and discuss it after today’s meeting. Don’t cause trouble at this time,” Cao Yanhua said, attempting to stabilize the situation for the time being.

Jang Shangbai did not take his words to heart but watched Yang Jian with extreme wariness.

If this guy decided to act, it wouldn’t be something Cao Yanhua could dissuade with a few words, nor would Jang Shangbai stake his life on it. So if Yang Jian made a move, he would hit back without hesitation.

Both are controllers of three ghosts; there’s no reason he would be beaten so badly.

As the atmosphere became increasingly tense and the surroundings grew even more ominous, it seemed that in the blink of an eye, the two men would start fighting within the conference room.

However, at this moment, the conference room door opened once again.

A number of people attending the meeting walked in.

“Did I come to the wrong place? The atmosphere feels a bit off,” said one of the newcomers.

In the crowd, Leuk San with his waxen face paused at the door, gazing briefly with his numb, lifeless eyes, instinctively stopping at the entrance.

Because one step further and he would enter Yang Jian’s Ghost Domain.

“Are they fighting? Then maybe I should wait a bit longer to go in,” said an ordinary-looking man, whose face seemed vaguely familiar but whom no one could quite remember.

“Brother Tui is here so early? Huh, what’s going on, are they going to fight?” asked Feng Quan, who appeared surprised. His skin was slightly dark and covered with fissures, emitting a damp, rotting scent like a corpse buried in mud, making those around him feel uncomfortable.

“Ahem.”

A light cough sounded. An old man in ’80s-style clothing, his face lined with wrinkles, appeared at the back, leaning on a cane.

Upon seeing Old Qin appear, Yang Jian slowly diverted his gaze away from Jang Shangbai.

The lights in the surroundings flickered before returning to normality.

“Even if you don’t take action, Yang Jian, today’s incident won’t just end so easily,” Jang Shangbai began to speak.

“I know,” Yang Jian said. “There has to be an outcome sooner or later.”

Jang Shangbai fell silent and took a seat casually, picking up the documents he had thrown on the table earlier.

He knew he had lost today.

Because the stance of headquarters was clear to see.

The Friend Circle was largely done for.

“`