Chapter 228: Watch Me Catch Ghosts

Chapter 228: Chapter 228: Watch Me Catch Ghosts

A white silhouette!

Zhang Long had mentioned seeing a white shadow earlier, but Zhang Yun had assumed it was just his imagination acting up from fear. But now, he saw it too!

While the feeling of being watched could be dismissed as paranoia, seeing was believing. His eyes weren’t playing tricks on him. At that moment, the white figure seemed to notice his reaction, or perhaps sensed something, and vanished from the rooftop.

Zhang Yun’s breathing quickened. He tried to picture the architecture of the roof, wondering if the figure had fallen off.

Aside from wealthy villagers like Village Chief Zhang Ronghui and Zhang Youcai, who hired professionals to design their mansions, most houses in Tianxin Village were built in ordinary styles. The most common design was three-and-a-half stories. The first and second floors were residential, while the third floor was used for storage and insulation. The "half-story" on the rooftop wasn’t a complete room; it usually consisted of two or three walls, or took the shape of a pavilion supported by concrete pillars. It provided temporary shelter for drying grain or quilts when it rained. Water towers were placed even higher to ensure good water pressure.

The white shadow had been standing right on top of that half-story structure, allowing it to look down into Zhang Yun’s room, which was why he had spotted it instantly. For the figure to suddenly vanish from that spot, it must have jumped or fallen off the back of the house.

As soon as he made this deduction, Zhang Yun realized the flaw in his logic. If the white shadow was a human who could silently appear on someone’s roof in the dead of night, they had to be incredibly skilled. A fall wouldn’t hurt them, let alone a deliberate jump. He wondered if it was really human. It had to be, right?

Zhang Yun continued to peer outside, his mind racing to analyze the situation. If this entity was coming for him, it could be an assassin hired by the Liu family, or perhaps someone from the Donghuang Sect. It wouldn’t be surprising if they possessed such capabilities. But if that were the case, and they had managed to track him all the way to Tianxin Village, why not just go straight to his house? There was no way they could have predicted he would visit Zhang Long’s house earlier.

They had ridden motorcycles back from town; no one could have followed them to Zhang Long’s place. Zhang Long had been the first to spot the shadow, and when Zhang Yun returned home, it felt as though the presence had followed him. The only recent event involving Zhang Long was the tomb-raiding incident from last night.

Zhang Yun felt a wave of exasperation, wondering if they had actually provoked some unclean, supernatural entity. Even if there was a ghost in that Ancient Tomb last night, it should have targeted him and Jin Lu. It had no reason to follow Zhang Long.

He thought, "Wait! Have all of them been targeted?"

Zhang Yun recalled the events of the previous night. His friends had fled in a panic, but while he was still at Old Tomb Ridge, he had hidden inside the Peach Blossom Spring Space. If some ghost or monster had followed them as they fled last night, it very well might have missed him entirely!

As for the lack of anomalies at the wooden cabin this morning, the entity might have just gone into hiding at daybreak. Now that night had fallen, it was out hunting them again. It must have tracked their scent to Zhang Long’s house, and then followed Zhang Yun here. If that was the case, now that the white shadow had vanished from the roof of Xiuqin’s house, was it heading his way?

Zhang Yun made up his mind—he would wait for it to come! If it was someone playing tricks, he would beat them up; if it was a real ghost, he would catch it! Without turning on the lights, he pulled out his phone, found the contacts for Zhang Long and the others, and created a small group chat.

"You guys got quite a scare last night. You’re not still spooked, are you?" After sending the message, Zhang Yun waited for their replies.

He deliberately avoided mentioning the ghostly shadow so as not to put ideas in their heads. If they had encountered any supernatural phenomena, they would definitely bring it up themselves.

After a short wait, Zhang Long replied with a meme. "Scared of what? We’ve seen it all!" Tonight, he had almost been scammed out of 200,000 yuan; that was far more terrifying than any ghost.

Bao Sheng and Guang responded shortly after. Neither seemed afraid; they had already recovered from the shock. Only Jin Lu hadn’t replied.

Zhang Yun was particularly concerned about Jin Lu, as the two of them were the only ones who had actually gone down into the Ancient Tomb. Although he doubted it was anything supernatural, he needed to make sure.

The others started chatting back and forth, complaining about how Zhang Yun had caught a snake but didn’t invite them over to eat it. More than ten minutes passed before Jin Lu finally texted back.

"I’m done."

"Not scared anymore?"

"Were you really that terrified?"

"Heh heh, I was just watching an adult video for a bit. I’m good now. The post-clarity apathy has hit, so I can sleep in peace."

"..." The group was rendered speechless.

"You’re a real piece of work! Did you see an undecayed female corpse in the Ancient Tomb last night? I can’t believe you could still get it up."

"Zhang Long, you’re disgusting!"

"Pervert!"

"I’m not wasting time chatting with you guys. I’m tired. Going to sleep."

"Are you that weak? Hitting sage mode made you sleepy already? Whatever, I think I’ll go ’critique’ a video myself."

Seeing their conversation devolve into the typical banter of hormonally charged young men proved they hadn’t encountered anything unusual. Even Zhang Long probably thought his eyes had just played tricks on him earlier. Zhang Yun felt perplexed, wondering if his own eyes were playing tricks on him as well.

He stood up, approached the window, and peered out into the dark night to see if he could spot any clues.

BAM!

Suddenly, a white shadow plastered itself right against the window pane, startling Zhang Yun so badly he nearly jumped out of his skin. In reality, the white figure had appeared completely soundlessly, but the sheer suddenness of it caused his brain to automatically fill in a terrifying, booming sound effect.

Instinctively stumbling back a few steps, Zhang Yun stared at the white silhouette clinging to the glass. He was half a second away from hiding inside his Personal Space. However, the mere thought of his Personal Space instantly grounded him. If there was any real danger, he could retreat into it at a moment’s notice to protect himself. With that safety net, why should he care if this thing was human or a ghost?

Zhang Yun lunged forward and forcefully shoved the window panes open! The white shadow clearly hadn’t expected him to take the offensive and instantly floated backward. Zhang Yun threw the windows wide open and squeezed out! It was only a second-story drop; with his current physical abilities, he wouldn’t get hurt even if he jumped straight down.

As soon as he climbed out, he saw that the white shadow—which had just been plastered against his window—had already landed outside the courtyard wall and seemed ready to flee.

He thought, "Not so fast!"

Zhang Yun vaulted outward. However, when his feet hit the courtyard ground, he hesitated. The intruder had managed to silently press against his window and then instantly retreat past the courtyard wall. This kind of speed and stealth bordered on the inhuman. Even the assassin who had attacked him previously needed to physically scale the walls to get in and out. Zhang Yun himself couldn’t pull off such a feat; only a ghost could float that far in the blink of an eye.

He wondered if he even had a chance of winning if he chased after it. But he had already jumped down. Throwing caution to the wind, Zhang Yun quickly opened the courtyard door and sprinted after it.

"WOOF WOOF WOOF!" The dog at Xiuqin’s house suddenly started barking, but instead of aggressively charging at its front gate, it backed away a few meters in obvious terror.

Zhang Yun had no idea if the dog had noticed something, as he was already chasing after the departing white shadow. As they ran further away, Xiuqin’s dog stopped barking, but the white shadow’s passage through the village continued to trigger fierce barks from other dogs.

Determined to expose the entity, Zhang Yun pushed his explosive speed to the absolute limit. Using his intimate knowledge of the village layout, he managed to stay right on the heels of the incredibly fast white figure. The white shadow seemed surprised by his relentless pursuit. It just kept running forward until it had completely left the village.

"Stop right there, or I’ll kill you!"

While inside the village, Zhang Yun had kept quiet to avoid alarming his neighbors, but the moment they hit the outskirts, he growled out a low warning and kicked his speed up another notch.

The white shadow seemed to pause for a fraction of a second before accelerating, fleeing directly toward the mountains!