Mysterious Awakening-Chapter 516 - 513

Yang Jian didn’t know that in just half a day’s time, several senior members of his circle at Ping’an Tower had already had a meeting about him and had made corresponding decisions.

He had just finished dinner with Wan Delu and was preparing to inquire with a man named Luo Yong about his family’s ancient house.

Luo Yong was a bona fide villager who used to work in agriculture at his hometown. After working hard elsewhere to save some money, he planned to return home to build a new house. Seeing the ancestral home in disrepair, he decided to demolish the old house and rebuild it. Little did he know that as soon as he started the work, he would unearth a mysterious basement and find quite a few antiques.

The news spread and naturally caught the attention of some antique dealers, and because of this, he made a tidy sum of money.

But what Luo Yong had no idea about was that the basement, sealed for so many years, would bring about one horrifying supernatural event after another—so even now, Luo Yong was kept in the dark, oblivious to everything.

Even his trip to Dachang City was due to Wan Delu’s coaxing and deception, offering fifty thousand yuan in labor fees just to bring him over.

Yang Jian wasn’t concerned about these matters; what he cared about was whether the clue he was following would lead to a dead end.

Luo Yong, who was sitting in a private room next door, had long finished his meal. The food was good, and he had never eaten such upscale dishes before. But the better the meal, the more uneasy he became.

He felt that there was no such thing as free lunch, and that President Yang must have had some ulterior motive.

Thus, Luo Yong was constantly thinking about leaving as soon as possible to go back to his hometown.

However, the two security guards in the private room sat there watching him, preventing Luo Yong from suddenly slipping away.

It was around two in the afternoon when the secure door to the room was suddenly pushed open.

The first to walk in was a young man who looked slightly naïve, with a well-proportioned and muscular build, and eyes so sharp they didn’t seem right, like a hawk in the forest or a dangerous lone wolf. From those fierce eyes emanated an icy, bone-chilling numbness, devoid of any emotion.

It was hard to imagine what kind of person would possess such a heart-wrenching gaze.

Just being glanced at once, Luo Yong felt a chill throughout his body, a nameless cold surging in his heart, and for some reason, he grew tense subconsciously.

"President Yang, boss," the bodyguard immediately stood up.

Wan Delu followed behind and nodded, "You two go out first, we have something to discuss."

"Okay, boss," the bodyguards quickly stepped out of the room and closed the door.

Without any delay, Yang Jian walked straight up to Luo Yong, grabbed a chair, sat down, and asked, "Are you Luo Yong?"

"I—I am Luo Yong, who are you? I don’t know you," Luo Yong said, his voice revealing his nervousness.

"I’m Yang Jian, the person in charge of Dachang City. I’m responsible for investigating a particular case. I summoned you to Dachang City mainly to ask you about some details. I hope you’ll cooperate with my investigation, it’s better for you and for me," Yang Jian said, taking out his identification and also placing his service gun on the table alongside it.

No particular reason, just intimidation.

The identity and the service gun already meant a lot, maybe useless against a ghost handler, but for ordinary people, such status is quite effective.

Indeed.

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The already nervous Luo Yong jumped when he saw Yang Jian place the special badge-stamped credential and service gun on the table. His complexion changed immediately; his previously rosy, healthy color drained to white, and he began to tremble, subconsciously wondering if he had committed some major crime.

"You answer when I ask," Yang Jian didn’t give him much time to think and immediately asked, "Are you the owner of the old residence in this photo?"

He took out a photo of an ancient house from the file.

"Yes, it’s me, no, big brother... officer, the owner isn’t me, the owner is my grandfather, I inherited it," Luo Yong said nervously, his speech beginning to falter.

Yang Jian said, "You dug up this item from the basement of your family’s old house, do you recognize it?"

Then he took out a photo of a soul vase.

"Right, that’s correct, it’s an antique we dug up from my family’s place," Luo Yong said with cold sweat on his forehead.

"Don’t be nervous, it’s just a regular investigation," Yang Jian said, "Do you remember how many bottles like this one you dug up?"

"Three, no, that’s not right, it was five, yes, there were five bottles, and also some plates, cups, and the like," Luo Yong replied hastily.

"Five?" Yang Jian’s expression darkened.

The investigation on Wan Delu wasn’t thorough enough; they had only found one soul vase, and the ghost inside had already been released. Even counting the one in his own possession, that made only two. This meant Luo Yong had kept three of them hidden away when he found them.

"Did you sell all five bottles?" What he cared about was whether the jars imprisoning malevolent spirits were still around.

Luo Yong was still sweating profusely, seeing that the officer’s face had turned grim; he felt that something wrong had happened with these items, and he stuttered, "Sold, they were sold, one for ten thousand, one for thirty thousand, and for the remaining three, someone offered one hundred thousand each, I sold them all."

Hearing this, Yang Jian’s gaze sharpened, "Someone bought all three at once? Do you have his contact number?"

"No, I don’t."

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Luo Yong replied, "He came to my place to buy them and paid in cash on the spot, I don’t have his contact information, he said the less people know about this, the better, as it’s not something to be revealed."

"..." Yang Jian fell silent.

He thought the situation was quite mysterious; who would bring hundreds of thousands of cash to buy these things?

This wasn’t an antique with thousands of years of history, just an item from a hundred years ago; being able to sell it for tens of thousands was already impressive.

"It’s very likely that the buyer was after what’s inside the bottles, otherwise they wouldn’t have used cash. If it were a bank transfer, there would definitely be a transaction record, making it easy to trace. The buyer was prepared for this... This wasn’t done by the headquarters people, it must be some groups or individuals in the civil sector."

Yang Jian speculated that this was the work of a ghost controller.

But if that were the case, it might actually be good news. At least ghost controllers would handle these possessed jars very cautiously. If they had fallen into the hands of ordinary people, it would’ve turned out like Antique Street, where supernatural incidents had already started to occur.

"Let’s put aside the antique matter for now; how much do you understand about your grandfather?" Since the soul vase lead had gone cold, Yang Jian went back to the main subject.

Given Luo Yong’s resemblance to the old man that was the Door Knocking Ghost, and his ties to the soul vases and the old residence, it was very likely that he was a descendant of a ghost controller from a hundred years ago.

"My grandfather?" Luo Yong was visibly stunned, "Officer, I don’t know much."

"You don’t know much, haven’t you ever seen your grandfather?" Yang Jian inquired.

He felt that Luo Yong, being in his fifties, should have met his grandfather as a child, and they shouldn’t have completely lost touch.

As for Luo Yong’s father, Yang Jian had also inquired with Wan Delu. Luo Yong’s father had died at the age of seventy-three, otherwise, he would have been an even better candidate for the investigation.

Nervous, Luo Yong answered, "I saw him a few times when I was young. My dad separated from my grandfather quite early, and we lived in the village, while my grandfather lived in the old house outside the village. My impression of my grandfather is very vague; the most profound memory I have is of being sick as a child. We were too poor to afford medical treatment until one night when my grandfather suddenly appeared with some money, and my dad was able to take me for treatment."

"What happened after that?" Yang Jian pressed.

"After that, I never saw my grandpa again," Luo Yong said.

Yang Jian acutely noticed a loophole, "Your grandpa must have been very old at that time, didn’t he die and have a funeral?"

In the countryside, the death of an elderly person is a major event, it would be impossible not to hold a funeral.

"I’m not sure, it seemed like after that time my grandpa just disappeared completely. I never saw him again, and my dad never mentioned him," Luo Yong explained.

"Mysteriously disappeared, huh?" Yang Jian murmured to himself, growing more certain in his heart.

Luo Yong’s grandpa was a ghost manipulator who belonged to the same era as Old Qin at headquarters and had lived a very long time.

So long that he seemed to have overcome the problem of ghosts reviving for an extended period.

However, Yang Jian wasn’t surprised. A century ago, every top ghost manipulator who made it to the end was an aberration. But why did Luo Yong’s grandpa choose to disappear mysteriously in the end?

Was it because he was about to die and chose a grave site?

"I have a photograph here, take a look and see if you recognize the person in it," Yang Jian said as he took out his phone and opened the photo.

It contained a photograph of the Door Knocking Ghost.

The photo was taken through a glass window, and on the dimly lit corridor outside, an elderly man wearing a black, antique long gown with a face full of wrinkles and mottled with age spots was standing rigidly. His head was slightly turned towards the camera, revealing a pair of gray, hollow, numb eyes.

"This is my grandpa..." Luo Yong got a fright when he saw the photo.

Because it was a modern photo, and if his grandpa were still alive, he would be over a hundred years old.

"You haven’t seen your grandpa before; what makes you think this man is your grandpa?" Yang Jian stared at him.

Luo Yong, a bit agitated, pointed at the photo, "The day I was sick as a child, my grandpa was wearing this very outfit when he came to give money to my dad. I remember it vividly, I can’t be mistaken..."

"Brother Tui, it’s obvious they’re directly related just by looking at this resemblance, even a layman like me can tell," Wan Delu chimed in after a glance, unable to help saying a word.

"Very well, since you’re certain, that makes things easier," Yang Jian quickly put away the photo.

He wasn’t surprised by this result.

Because the moment he first saw Luo Yong, he was certain of the identity of the Door Knocking Ghost in his heart.

The ghost known as Ghost Door Knocker was a ghost manipulator from a century ago, and as for why it suddenly emerged half a year ago, Yang Jian believed that it was around that time that Luo Yong’s grandpa had died. After his death, his body was discovered and sent to the hospital, where the ghost revived, resulting in an A-grade supernatural incident.

But the question was, such a top ghost manipulator who had lived to modern times and had overcome the resurrection of his ghost, was said to have died from a fall, according to the accounts of Thunderclap King, the forum’s narrator doctor.

And it was a fall from the fifth floor, no less.

That was simply absurd.

But on the other hand, what could have killed Luo Yong’s grandpa?

The cause of Luo Yong’s grandpa’s death might hide an even more terrifying existence.

Seeing Yang Jian deep in thought and silent, Luo Yong was restless but didn’t dare to speak out, only waiting obediently.

When Yang Jian came back to his senses, he looked deeply at Luo Yong, "Before your grandpa mysteriously disappeared, did he leave anything behind, or give you something special?"

"No, nothing," Luo Yong said, his tone somewhat tense, but he replied very decisively.

Yang Jian heard the answer and shook his head, a self-mocking smile on his face.

Indeed, Luo Yong’s grandpa had separated from his relatives early in his life and cut off contact, probably to keep his family away from ghostly troubles. Even if there were any clues, they certainly would not be left with relatives; that would be inviting disaster.

But if it were him, where would he leave clues?

After much thought,

Yang Jian could only think of two places.

One was the place where Luo Yong’s grandpa died, where the body was first discovered--there might have been a chance to leave something useful if there was still breath in him.

And there was another...

Yang Jian reopened his phone, still on the Door Knocking Ghost’s photo. This was the first photo he had saved; it was very clear. He zoomed in on one area.

It was the black, antique long gown the old man was wearing, which had a pocket at the waist.

"Clothing from that period wouldn’t normally have a pocket in that spot..." Yang Jian’s eyes flickered, "This is the only anomaly, and the pocket is slightly bulging, indicating something inside."

Clue.

This was the real clue to understanding the origin of the ghost, to understanding everything.

His instincts told him that inside the pocket of the Door Knocking Ghost lay the answers he was looking for, because the smartest thing for someone who might die at any moment was to carry important information with them.

Considering the problem of ghost resurrection, Luo Yong’s grandpa must have been confident that this answer would fall only into the hands of those qualified to have it.

Because you must first solve the mystery of the Door Knocking Ghost to get that answer.

To achieve this would count as a top ghost manipulator, naturally entitled to understand everything. As for ordinary people, even regular ghost manipulators, knowing all this would be pointless; they couldn’t change anything.

"I survived the Door Knocking Ghost incident, but am I back where I started after all this time?"

Yang Jian didn’t know whether to feel dismay or excitement, but more than those emotions, he was uneasy.

Because the Ghost Door Knocker supernatural event wasn’t so easy to deal with.

Moreover, whatever had caused the death of a top ghost manipulator from a century ago was obviously very frightening.

After a long contemplation,

The atmosphere in the private room grew heavy.

Luo Yong didn’t dare bring up leaving, and Wan Delu, though yawning with fatigue, did not leave, only waiting for the interrogation to end.

Neither of them showed the slightest impatience.

Whether it’s an ordinary laborer or a company’s president, they had to wait obediently because Yang Jian had the right to make them wait.