Mysterious Resurrection: What If

Chapter 12 Lake and Wind (Part Two)
A young man carrying a machete and a sallow-faced man stood in an apartment room, observing the world outside the window filled with howling winds.

"After the three major S-level vengeful ghost incidents in Dajing City, I thought you would die from the resurgence of the vengeful ghosts."

Liu San's sallow face was expressionless as he stared blankly at Yang Jian.

Yang Jian looked at the hideous tattoo on the ghost's hand and remained silent for a moment.

"I'm a person of my word. If I promised Wang Xiaoming I'd help him solve a paranormal incident, I'd definitely come."

'...Liu San really doesn't remember. If it weren't for him, I would have definitely been in trouble at the tattoo parlor incident, given my condition at the time.'

"Finding Li Jun or my lost paper figure will reveal what happened here..."

Liu San seemed very interested in the hideous tattoo on Yang Jian's ghost hand, and kept staring at it.

Yang Jian's ghost eyes watched the howling, raging wind outside the window, spinning uneasily. Such a wide range of supernatural influences was something no ordinary vengeful ghost could achieve.

"Such a large-scale paranormal event might have a source. Headquarters intelligence suggests that this hurricane deliberately approached and attacked Ghost Lake..."

After a moment's thought, Yang Jian continued.

"Even a being like a starving ghost wouldn't attack another vengeful ghost with a specific purpose. Wang Xiaoming's judgment is correct; there are signs that someone is manipulating things behind the scenes."

Liu San nodded.

"If it's really as you say, then perhaps we need to find Fang Shiming."

Liu San's sallow face and a pair of eyes made of yellow paper stared at the tattoo on Yang Jiangui's hand, as if he had a very familiar feeling about it, but he couldn't remember where he had seen it before.
'...Of those three specially made paper figures, only one remains. One disappeared here; was the other lost because of him...?'

"It's time to act."

Yang Jian picked up his wood-chopping knife and turned to leave.

"We're getting closer to the source of the hurricane. We'll leave the search for Fang Shiming to your paper doll. With his abilities, he might have an easier time here than we do."

Liu San didn't say much. Finding people was his forte. He turned around and followed Yang Jian away.

A woman wakes up in a dark, damp alley. Looking at the unfamiliar surroundings, her face is full of wariness. Outside the alley, the wind howls and buzzes, as if countless corpses are groaning.

"Hmm? This is..." The woman looked out of the alley following the sound.

The sky was filled with corpses, which were violently swirling in the gale. Upon closer inspection, large areas of cold, damp lake water were also mixed in with the wind, and the lake and wind together formed a giant tornado in this area.

Looking up from the woman's perspective, the head of the tornado, composed of countless mangled corpses, was completely invisible.

"Ghost Lake has been invaded... Is it because of this wind...?"

"It can even disperse the Ghost Lake! Although it's only about four layers deep, the four layers of the Ghost Lake and this wind seem to have formed a jigsaw puzzle together."

"Or perhaps it's a kind of alternative supernatural confrontation."

He Yin'er stood in the alley, analyzing the situation as she looked at the countless corpses in the air.

She reacted quickly; less than ten minutes had passed from waking up to seeing the hurricane. She immediately began to adapt to the environment and ponder the cause of the hurricane.

"The lake water inside my body was blown away by the wind, which allowed me to wake up. It's a very special ghost realm; it's actually open. Only the very center area possesses the complete characteristics of a ghost realm, while the areas outside are natural disasters caused by the impact."

"It's a pity I haven't fully mastered the art of summoning spirits yet, otherwise I could handle this situation right now..."

"Find a way out, try to contact headquarters. I'm in a very bad state. With my supernatural abilities, being here is tantamount to suicide."

After a moment's thought, He Yin'er moved away from the area of ​​the tornado formed by corpses. Unable to summon the spirits, she had no choice but to retreat temporarily and seek support.

A fierce wind swept across the world, and the cold rain seemed to stretch into a continuous line, covering the entire city. There was not a single intact building around; ruins and rubble were everywhere.

"Fang Shiming, the big boss of the WeChat Moments, it's really not easy to find you here."

A sallow-faced paper figure stood blankly opposite Fang Shiming.

Fang Shiming was slightly taken aback, then realized what he meant. "The paper doll Liu San, one of the headquarters' designated captains, was the first captain to run away when the three S-level vengeful ghosts in Dajing City went out of control."

Liu San's expression changed slightly as he stared at Fang Shiming and said.

"It's not that I'm unwilling to get involved in handling that incident, but the uncertainty surrounding my paper doll and the starving ghost is too high; I can't take the risk..."

Fang Shiming waved his hand.

"Further words are pointless. What do you want from me?"

Liu San raised his hand and pointed to a low-lying area.

"Yang Jian and I are moving towards the eye of the storm in that direction. This incident is not so simple. There are signs that it is being manipulated behind the scenes. Let's work together to find clues and solve this incident and the mastermind behind it."

Is it suspected of being manipulated?

Fang Shiming squinted as he watched Liu San deep in thought.

"...Based on information from headquarters, it can be determined that this hurricane is indeed heading straight for Ghost Lake. His words stand up to scrutiny."

Fang Shiming then continued.

"I agree to cooperate. After what happened in Dajing City, I still trust Yang Jian quite a bit. Lead the way."

The cold lake water splashed onto the ground, and the fierce wind seemed to never stop, shrouding the entire street in a misty haze.

Fang Shiming followed Liu San slowly forward, gripping the scissors tightly in his hand. If Liu San showed any abnormality, he would instantly destroy the paper figure.

Before meeting Yang Jian, he was wary of Liu San, the designated team leader.

Liu San walked ahead, feeling the oppressive murderous aura behind him.

"Fang Shiming is about to be resurrected as a vengeful ghost, but he remains calm and composed in the face of this situation."

"Huh? That is?"

Liu San suddenly caught a glimpse of a pale figure standing on the sidewalk, but when he turned his gaze away, he found nothing.

"It's stopped..."

Fang Shiming also stopped and looked at the pedestrian crossing from Liu San's perspective. The howling wind was still raging, and the pedestrian crossing was empty, with only trees on both sides that had been snapped in half.

"We're really unlucky; it seems like we've run into a ghost."

Liu San turned around and said to Fang Shiming.

Fang Shiming shook his head. "No, it's you who encountered a ghost, not me."

Fang Shiming immediately realized what was happening and quickly moved away from the street.

"There's no need to linger here. You can stay here, you paper figure." With that, Fang Shiming's figure disappeared into the raging wind.

Liu San watched Fang Shiming's disappearing figure and thought to himself.

"He's incredibly meticulous in his work, but right now, his approach is definitely the most correct one..."

Just as Liu San was about to take action, a pale corpse suddenly appeared in front of him.

The cold, stench-filled head was pressed tightly against Liu San's face, its dark eye sockets staring intently at Liu San.

Liu San's expression changed drastically.

"How can it be!"

The pale corpse suddenly spread its arms and embraced Liu San. The paper figure instantly lost its life and turned into pieces of yellow paper that were blown away in the gale.

On the dilapidated street, a pale figure could be vaguely seen standing there, motionless and completely unaffected by the raging wind, like a statue. The next instant, as if someone had triggered an unknown killing pattern, the body vanished without a trace.
(End of this chapter)