Mysterious Revival

All the changes happened in the blink of an eye.

Chen Yi moved fast, snuffing out the candle flame and trying to light a new Ghost Candle in one fluid motion, able to complete the process in less than three seconds. However, even the swiftest action could not fend off the unexpected.

The flame on his lighter had already gone out while he was still gripping the Ghost Candle, which was as pale as the skin of a corpse, in his hand.

Accompanied by a faint stench of decay, an almost paralyzing chill swept over him, continuously assaulting Chen Yi's senses. He deeply understood that the ghost before him was influencing their surroundings, and this cold was not physical because Chen Yi himself was a ghost tamer.

His body temperature was naturally low, so even if he were in a freezer he wouldn't feel uncomfortable.

And yet, Chen Yi felt as though his body was about to freeze.

However, the ground and the environment around him showed no signs of change, with no evidence of icing.

The numb, pale face that Guo Fan turned around wore no expression, the face of a true corpse, its chilling aura proving to others that this was merely a walking cadaver, alien to the other normal people.

But this was not the most terrifying part...

After a moment of horror, Chen Yi quickly recovered. His pupils contracted as he stepped back abruptly and shouted loudly, "Get ready to switch,"

"Roger that," a response came from the dim surroundings.

These were other ghost tamers arranged by headquarters.

The plan to lead the ghost this time was extremely perilous; anticipating problems during the candle exchange, a backup team had been prepared in advance.

"It's over," upon hearing this, Zong Shan's face turned pale as well, his expression one of horror.

Without looking back, he was unaware of the situation behind him, only that it was Chen Yi's turn to replace the Ghost Candle.

He had thought the handover of the second Ghost Candle would proceed smoothly, but the thing he feared most had occurred.

Zong Shan suddenly turned around for a look.

His pupils immediately contracted.

He saw Guo Fan and Chen Yi together with Chen Yi holding the unlit Ghost Candle, preparing to withdraw, but what frightened him even more was that at the far end behind the two, five ghosts, whose movements were uniform and eerily terrifying, were heading straight towards him, ignoring everything else around them.

"Damn it, Chen Yi, are you trying to get me killed?" Zong Shan wanted to curse at that moment.

Because he saw that the Ghost Candle on "Guo Fan" had been extinguished, but the one in his hand was still lit. Now that there was a problem with the candle exchange, he had taken over Guo Fan's role and become the "beacon" for the ghosts.

"I must not die here."

Zong Shan watched as the ghosts approached him, understanding that he could no longer let the Ghost Candle burn. Otherwise, he might be killed in ten seconds.

After all, according to the plan, the Guide should have been Guo Fan.

Only he could have perfectly fended off the ghosts' assault and made it through this path safely.

But this guy had problems from the start, otherwise they wouldn't be in such a mess.

Immediately, Zong Shan looked at the short wick of the white candle in his hand, preparing to blow it out.

"No, you can't blow out the Ghost Candle now. If you do, the ghost will completely lose control," Chen Yi, noticing Zong Shan's predicament, urgently shouted.

"I can't withstand an attack by a ghost of this level. Letting the Ghost Candle burn is like sending me to death," Zong Shan said anxiously; "Moreover, even if I were to endure, it would be meaningless. The situation has already spiraled out of control, you should understand... watch out."

Before he could finish his sentence, his tone suddenly changed, tinged with panic.

Chen Yi, who was rapidly retreating, suddenly stiffened, shuddering through his body.

A lifeless, cold hand abruptly grabbed his arm.

The cold from the corpse penetrated the fabric and reached his skin. In that moment, Chen Yi felt as if his body no longer belonged to him, losing all control and becoming another lifeless corpse, his consciousness and thoughts threatening to vanish.

Guo Fan's ghost had attacked Chen Yi at that moment.

Whatever the ghost's pattern of killing had been, it was irrelevant now.

Because the ghost had started its onslaught.

"Damn it," Chen Yi thought with a mix of shock and anger.

His slightly relaxed skin writhed as if it were old, torn fabric, spotted black and blue as if bruised, or as if marked by decay, but most of all, it was the indelible mottle of decay.

Without hesitation, Chen Yi tapped into the power of his own ghost.

The moment he made contact with the ghost, he had almost been killed. If he had not been a ghost tamer, he would already be dead, without any chance of being alive.

But even now, although he wasn't dead, he was in a lot of pain.

The movements of Chen Yi's skin became more and more pronounced as though another person was attached beneath it. The outlines of hands, feet, and facial features became distinct beneath the skin.

In fact, this skin was not his own.

No, to be precise, most of the skin on Chen Yi's body wasn't his; it belonged to a ghost.

Ghost Skin Chen Yi.

That was his codename.

As the human skin on his body continued to writhe, Chen Yi felt his body slowly regaining sensation, and the cold feeling quickly receded.

Yet, that stiff, corpse-like hand was still firmly gripping his arm.

"Ah!"

Chen Yi's face twisted into a ferocious expression, unable to hold back a painful howl.

Ghost Skin bore a significant cost to fend off Guo Fan's ghostly assault—his skin began to dull, fade to ash, and became mottled with deathly patches at a rate visible to the naked eye. The Ghost Skin further eroded Chen Yi's body, giving him the sensation that his skin was being torn off bit by bit.

This agony, akin to a living person flaying their own skin from inside out, was beyond comprehension.

Yet, the heavy price did not bring safety. Under normal circumstances, the moment the Ghost Skin on Chen Yi's body came into contact with a fierce ghost, it would have caused the ghost to temporarily retreat, ceasing the attack.

But now.

The ghost unleashed by Guo Fan still clung to him, refusing to let go; the Ghost Skin was simply no match for it.
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If this continued, Chen Yi would soon die from the fierce ghost's resurgence.

There was no hope.

However, Guo Fan's ghostly attack was just one of the crises he faced.

As Chen Yi desperately resisted, five other ghosts had already approached him...

Whether it was because he was being attacked or for some other reason, these five ghosts did not attack him upon reaching his side, but instead headed towards Zong Shan.

Nobody could imagine what would happen when these five ghosts targeted Zong Shan, a ghost manipulator.

But it definitely wasn't anything good.

"Crack, crack, crack," noise as of bones snapping filled the air.

The ghost clutching Chen Yi's arm was now drawn to the Ghost Candle, its body turning numbly half around as if its spine was broken, forcibly twisting itself halfway before finally turning that pale, bloodless death's face towards Zong Shan.

The moment Zong Shan was watched by this ghost, he felt a surge of horror.

At this moment, he even thought the ghost released by Guo Fan from the spirit tablet photo was more dangerous than the ghost that emerged from a ghost painting.

"Whoosh!"

Without any hesitation, Zong Shan blew out the remaining Ghost Candle in his hand, daring not delay any longer.

By now,

the previously almost successful ghost-luring plan can be declared a failure—all two Ghost Candles had been extinguished, and even if more were lit later, it was impossible to lead the ghosts forward as smoothly as before.

Just as their plan failed at this location,

in another unknown area within the Ghost Domain,

Li Jun and the others, after a long period of fleeing and repeated confrontations with ghosts, had depleted far too much.

Even though they had not yet reached the verge of the fierce ghosts' resurgence, if they couldn't find a way to escape this place, the entire team would assuredly perish in Huanggang Village of this ghostly realm.

Moreover, with the ghost paintings spreading, there were fewer and fewer places in Huanggang Village where they could take temporary refuge.

"This is the last house, we are back at the village entrance." Su Fan, slightly out of breath, clutched his mobile phone tightly, his face extremely pallid.

After circling the village and narrowly escaping death multiple times, the group had returned to their initial entry point.

In front of them stood an old brick-and-tile house.

The front door of the house was wide open, leading to a dimly lit interior. Through the murky hall, one could make out an old grass rope hanging from the beam, with a corpse dangling from it.

The corpse, its back to the door, swayed slightly in the half-light, exuding an unimaginable aura of eeriness and terror.

Without a doubt, there were ghosts inside this last unexplored house.

Now they faced a difficult choice.

"What time is it now?" asked Li Jun, his body emitting a scorched smell as if he were a charred corpse, his voice becoming extremely hoarse.

"There are three minutes left until the next scheduled door opening time," said Leuk San, who had been keeping track of the time. His sallow face was devoid of any sense of urgency, oddly calm.

"This is our last chance. That house has yet to be corrupted by the ghost painting and there's still a door present. We can't go anywhere else; we must get through this Haunted house, or we will surely die in the ghost painting. Of course, there's also a high chance of being killed by the Ghost Envoy; though it won't kill people on their own, don't forget, it can restart," stated Xu Yiping, a ghost manipulator, in a low voice.

Li Jun's expression grew grim as he surveyed their surroundings.

In the sky floated grey, ash-like substances. He took a moment to closely inspect his surroundings.

The ground was increasingly littered with drawings, the origin of which they were unaware. It seemed as if they had been there before their arrival, just unnoticed before.

Moreover, the depictions within these drawings grew stranger—twisted shadows, cold corpses, terrifying specters... Each painting seemed to represent a ghost.

The sheer number sparked a feeling of despair.

The dark Haunted house, the grey murky road.

A black and a white world made up the entirety of the village.

The people who had struggled to survive so far were like souls lingering at the gates of hell, already prepared to enter its depths.

The only difference was the hell into which they would be buried.

Though the chance of survival existed, it was meager and furthermore, it was the only one.