Gao Tian had been there for barely half a day, yet he had already managed to regain some feeling in his arm, allowing him to make the simplest of movements.

The healing effects of the Living Human Apartment were truly immediate.

After struggling to get out of bed, the first thing he did was open his phone to check the reward he had received for the mission.

There was a text message. It was from the Living Human Apartment, informing him that the Supernatural Artifact he had acquired was the [Blood Shroud].

Blood Shroud Effects—

This was a seemingly ordinary burial shroud, but it could suppress all kinds of supernatural forces.

Once worn, it would nullify about fifty percent of the attacks a fierce ghost dealt to the wearer.

Curses and cognitive contamination would also be reduced by about ten percent.

At the same time, as long as the wearer did not suffer fatal damage to their internal organs or brain, they would recover from any other injuries—be it broken bones, massive bleeding, or severed limbs—at 4,800 times the normal human rate under the Blood Shroud’s protection.

As long as you didn’t die, you would be as good as new within minutes.

...

Its drawbacks, however, were equally dangerous.

After wearing the Blood Shroud for an extended period, it would begin to fuse further with the wearer’s flesh. The resistance to supernatural forces would increase over time, rising from the initial fifty percent to sixty, seventy, and then eighty percent.

Once the Blood Shroud reached 100% absolute resistance, it meant the shroud had completely and utterly fused with and devoured the wearer.

It would no longer be a human wearing the Blood Shroud, but the Blood Shroud wearing a human.

By then, the wearer would have long since transformed into a new, fierce ghost.

...

...

After reviewing the new Supernatural Artifact, Gao Tian felt a jolt. A thought suddenly occurred to him... ’An... academic question.’

’Although, in the Supernatural World, using the word "academic" to describe a question sounds hard to take seriously.’ But Gao Tian couldn’t think of a better word to describe it—

The Ghost Transformation Spear could turn its victims into ghosts. Dying while wearing the Blood Shroud would also turn one into a fierce ghost.

He also had a resurrection-type item in his possession: the Ghost Card.

What would happen if all these items were activated at once?

’If I use the Ghost Transformation Spear to kill myself, will the Ghost Card still activate properly?’

’Would I become a ghost, or would I be revived as a human?’

Gao Tian lay in bed, mulling it over for a long time.

He gradually realized that he would never figure it out by just sitting in his room and theorizing in a vacuum.

After all, he didn’t have the means to test it. It’s not like he could just run out into the street and grab a couple of passersby for an experiment.

In this world, there was likely only one person—no, one ghost—who had been an expert in this area before his death.

Xu Yuan, completer of ten green-text missions, leader of the Jialan Society, had spent half his life researching the Ghost Transformation Spear. Had he ever considered this question?

Gao Tian stared at the bright screen of his phone, hesitating.

’Should I just ask Xu Yuan about this "academic" problem?’

Asking a ghost a question about ghosts. Nothing could be more appropriate.

A few times before, Gao Tian had risked initiating conversations with Xu Yuan in the group chat.

Even from behind a screen, he had a faint feeling that, given Xu Yuan’s personality, the ghost might actually be willing to answer his question.

Gao Tian weighed his options for a moment before opening the group chat and sending a friend request to Xu Yuan.

The group chat was full of all sorts of ghosts; the more you said, the more likely you were to say something wrong.

The wait for Xu Yuan to accept the friend request was only a few minutes, but to Gao Tian, lying in bed, it felt as if time had thickened, passing far more slowly than usual.

A moment later, a solid black profile picture began to animate. It was Xu Yuan. He had accepted the request.

Now that they were friends, Xu Yuan said nothing. Gao Tian typed out a message on his phone, outlining his question. He carefully chose his words, trying his best to sound like a student respectfully seeking guidance from a teacher.

About two minutes later, a new message popped up on his screen. Seeing the black profile picture, Gao Tian’s breath caught in his throat.

[Living Human Apartment]:

The fact that you’re asking this question shows you’ve given it serious thought. That is very good.

Unfortunately, however.

Do you think something this important is something my teacher and I never considered when we were alive?

...

When he wasn’t killing people, Xu Yuan was actually quite willing to answer questions.

He was like a patient teacher.

Day after day in the group chat, having to talk with a bunch of moronic youths like Ghost Cave and the Burnt-to-Death Ghost, he must have been incredibly lonely. When he occasionally encountered a normal student seeking his knowledge, Xu Yuan would still answer in earnest.

[Memory Ghost]:

Did you and your teacher experiment with this before?

[Living Human Apartment]:

We conducted many experiments.

The first time I had this idea, I was just as excited as you. I thought I had cracked the secret of the Ghost Transformation Spear.

But after I told my teacher, all I received was his calm, world-weary sigh.

[Living Human Apartment]:

A person turning into a ghost is an absolutely irreversible process.

It’s a simple matter for a hen to go into a microwave and become a roasted chicken. But let me ask you, after that roasted chicken comes out, you eat it, excrete it into a toilet, it flows through the sewer pipes into the ocean, and then it’s eaten by all the big and small fish passing by.

Now, I scoop up a handful of seawater and tell you it contains cells from that hen. If I ask you to turn this handful of seawater back into the original hen, what would you say?

[Memory Ghost]:

It’s one hundred percent impossible.

[Living Human Apartment]:

It is a simple matter for a human to become a ghost.

It is an impossible matter for a ghost to become a human.

You ask what would happen if you were killed by the Ghost Transformation Spear while holding a resurrection-type item.

I’ll tell you this: as long as your resurrection item hasn’t been used, it isn’t considered a true death. You will be resurrected, and you will not become a ghost.

But once all your means of resurrection are exhausted, the Ghost Transformation Spear will turn you directly into a ghost.

To put it simply—

If you have a means of resurrection, revival takes precedence upon death.

Only when your means of resurrection are exhausted do you become a ghost.

Being able to be human and ghost, switching back and forth whenever you please? There’s no such thing. If that were possible, this world wouldn’t be experiencing a supernatural resurgence, sliding ever deeper into an abyss of despair.

[Memory Ghost]:

I see.

I’ve learned a great deal. Thank you very much.

[Living Human Apartment]:

Don’t mention it.

I’ve been a ghost for a long time and have forgotten much about being human...

But this question plagued me through my childhood, my youth, and my middle age.

Even after becoming a ghost, I could never forget it—my teacher’s dying question, the ultimate secret of the Ghost Transformation Spear.

I gave you this spear in the hopes that a new talent like yourself might be able to provide a fresh perspective.

...

And just like that, the conversation with Xu Yuan was over.

If you didn’t know he was a ghost, you’d find Xu Yuan’s personality surprisingly pleasant. He had the magnanimity and patience of an old scholar.

Gao Tian put his phone down. ’Looks like it’s impossible to exploit a loophole in the Ghost Transformation Spear that easily,’ he thought.

Just then, he heard the sound of several pairs of footsteps outside his door. 𝐟𝚛𝕖𝚎𝕨𝗲𝐛𝚗𝐨𝐯𝐞𝕝.𝐜𝗼𝗺

Zhao Zhenjia’s booming voice was impossible to ignore, even through the closed door:

"That kid was so badly hurt, he’s probably still asleep in bed.

"Don’t tell him about his room yet. We’ve already used the black card, so we can’t take him with us when we go explore upstairs."