Chapter 257 - Chapter 257: Chapter 257: The Last Night

Chapter 257: Chapter 257: The Last Night

The Ghost Hunter Yang Jian of Dachang City is going to have a phone conference with people from the Ghost Handlers’ headquarters?

When Zhao Jianguo received this message from Liu Xiaoyu, he immediately realized the gravity of the situation.

Yang Jian was a Ghost Handler he had always paid close attention to.

Furthermore, with the Hungry Ghost incident in Dachang City nearly catching the world’s attention, the name “Ghost Eye Yang Jian” had already spread among the Ghost Handler circles. While discussing these Terror Level events, it was inevitable that they would talk about Yang Jian, and also Zhao Kaiming.

But there was not much good to say.

Things like, “what two unlucky bastards, they are as good as dead.”

But it was undeniable that, under the current circumstances, Yang Jian was without a doubt the most knowledgeable person regarding the Hungry Ghost incident.

“Immediately inform the minister and deputy minister, and have the technicians make sure that this phone conference is set up within ten minutes, and all relevant key personnel must be present,”

Zhao Jianguo did not work at the Ghost Handlers’ headquarters; he had flown to the outskirts of Dachang City several days earlier.

Source: novgo.co

Once he hung up the phone, he immediately began to prepare.

And it wasn’t just the headquarters’ minister and deputy minister that Zhao Jianguo’s phone call alarmed, various leaders above were also startled and expressed their intention to attend the meeting.

After all, Yang Jian had made it very clear that this meeting was about the life or death of Dachang City.

Who would dare to take lightly the safety of an entire city?

If it weren’t for the fact that Yang Jian was a Ghost Handler dealing with supernatural incidents, his satellite-positioned phone would have been blown up long ago.

Within three minutes, the information had reached the ears of the leaders of each vitally important department.

Within five minutes, the list of participants for this phone conference was confirmed.

The list was highly classified; no one saw it, not even Zhao Jianguo, who was in charge of the matter, knew how many people would attend the meeting. He only saw several phones and telephones, continuously being placed on the table at the temporary command center outside Dachang City, and connections were already being made.

God knows which leaders stood behind each of these phones.

The minister of the Asian headquarters hadn’t arrived because he had flown overseas several days earlier to seek aid with a thick face, leaving Deputy Minister Cao Yanhua in charge of the command.

At this moment, Cao Yanhua’s face was covered with cold sweat.

His heart was trembling.

He wasn’t nervous about the content of the meeting, but that he had never expected that just one call from Yang Jian would blow so many significant figures out of the woodwork.

On the surface, there weren’t many people in this temporary command center, but secretly, numerous pairs of eyes had long been watching every move here.

Think about it, the case in Dachang City was so serious, stirring up national unrest and attracting global attention. If it couldn’t be resolved, who knew the extent of the impact it could bring? The higher-ups maintained silence because they did not understand these matters and feared adding to the chaos, but that did not mean they didn’t care.

“Minister, the phone conference has been set up and is ready to begin at any time,” Zhao Jianguo entered and placed his satellite-positioned phone at the center of the table.

As soon as Liu Xiaoyu switched the line over, Yang Jian’s communication would be transferred here.

“How long has it been now?” Cao Yanhua asked.

Zhao Jianguo replied, “Ten minutes, but Yang Jian gave us twenty minutes to prepare, and Liu Xiaoyu promised fifteen minutes, so we still have five minutes to get ready. Because this is related to a significant decision, for security reasons, I did not inform many people with insufficient clearance. Currently, there are only me, Li Jun, and you, minister, a total of three people in the conference room, with other leaders all connected by phone. However, those who have the qualification to participate in this decision-making…”

“Enough, as long as you understand. Some lines are already connected. Don’t say what you shouldn’t, order the guards to be on high alert, and no one is to enter the command room until the meeting is over. Additionally, all phones must be destroyed immediately after the meeting; we cannot allow any information to leak,” Cao Yanhua cautioned.

“Understood,” Zhao Jianguo nodded.

A mere phone conference had escalated to a level perhaps even surpassing an international summit of state leaders.

Because no one knew how much sensitive information could slip out with just a word from Yang Jian.

“Everyone take your seats, the meeting will begin in a minute,” Cao Yanhua steadied himself: “There will be only one copy of this phone conference’s recording, kept here with me.”

After he finished, he took out a recording pen.

Once this was confirmed here, Liu Xiaoyu notified Yang Jian.

“The meeting will start in thirty seconds, are you ready on your end?”

“No problem,” Yang Jian replied.

Soon, in less than thirty seconds, his line was disconnected and then reconnected.

“This is Deputy Minister Cao Yanhua from the Ghost Handlers’ headquarters, currently in charge of the Hungry Ghost incident in Dachang City. Ghost Handler Yang Jian, you requested this phone conference to discuss the existential crisis facing Dachang City. Is that correct?” Cao Yanhua asked calmly as he started the meeting from inside the command room.

Hearing the voice coming from the phone, Wang Xiaoming was stunned for a moment.

He hadn’t received any news of this sort.

“Strictly speaking, that’s correct, but there are some matters I need someone to verify, after all no matter what, I’m a Ghost Handler who has joined the headquarters. I can’t act recklessly based on my own whims; I need someone to consult,” Yang Jian said.

“Consult on what?” Cao Yanhua asked.

Yang Jian replied, “To resolve the incident in Dachang City, we need to fulfill two conditions, but unfortunately, to date, we fulfill neither. You’ve probably received the detailed documents by now, and you should also be clear about these two conditions.”

“Which two conditions? If they can be resolved, we will resolve them for you here. If not, we will also figure out a solution for you, as long as Dachang City remains safe.”

Suddenly, a voice with a strong presence of an older person came through the phone.

“Which old fart is butting in? Sneaking into a meeting without knowing anything? Go study up,” Yang Jian said.

Hearing this, cold sweat broke out on the foreheads of Cao Yanhua and Zhao Jianguo in the command room, and the corner of Li Jun’s mouth involuntarily twitched.

“Kid, be a bit more polite. If it weren’t such a critical moment, I’d take you down for talking to me like that, if it were normal times,” the man on the phone immediately bristled, obviously a person in charge with a volatile temper.

Yang Jian said, “Shoot me? From your voice, you seem old, can you even handle a gun? And which law states that cursing someone is punishable by firing squad? You seem like a person of some status to be in this meeting; don’t you know that murder is illegal? You’ve got quite the nerve.”

“Minister Cao Yanhua, I don’t want to talk to him, kick him off the line.”

“…”

At this moment, Cao Yanhua in the command center was sweating even more profusely. You probably don’t even know who you are arguing with.

“Brave kid, you’ve got the guts to come into my territory, I won’t let you off unless you accept being my grandson,” the old man said.

“Cough, cough, Old Li, restrain yourself a bit. Don’t you see what time it is? Yang Jian, is it? Continue speaking, we’re listening,” another man’s voice interrupted, stopping the pointless quarrel.

The man known as Old Li seemed to swallow his anger and did not continue the argument.

“Where were we before the argument? I forgot,” said Yang Jian.

Wang Xiaoming’s calm voice rose, “The two prerequisites to deal with the Dachang City incident are contact and containment. Direct contact with the Source Ghost implies a very high risk of death, which necessitates certain safety measures. Ghost Candles are a good tool, but unfortunately, the last one was used on an S-Class Ghost Infant during the fourth phase and is now gone.”

“I can solve this condition. As I told Xiaoming last time, I have less than a twenty percent chance of success, and failure means death, but I’ve decided to try it anyway,” Yang Jian said.

“Just for that statement, young friend, I take back my previous words. If you come to my place, I’ll treat you to tea, no, to alcohol, and we won’t call it quits until we’re drunk,” said Old Li.

Yang Jian said, “Minister Cao, why is this old guy still here? Didn’t you say to kick him off the line? He doesn’t understand a thing and is just talking nonsense here.”

“After finishing the drink, I’ll still have to shoot you,” Old Li cursed again.

At this time, Cao Yanhua was too afraid to speak. Kick him off the line? Didn’t you see that when Old Li spoke up, everyone else fell silent?

“Old Li, you really need to temper your impatience. I understand the first condition; I’m leaving it all to you now. If there’s anything you need to instruct, you can tell us, and we will sort it out from the outside,” said another heavy male voice.

Yang Jian said, “Right now, what I need is not consolation. Xiaoming, please continue from where you left off.”

Wang Xiaoming on the side said, “The second condition is containment, which presupposes limiting that Source Ghost. My plan involved that finger, which you’ve all read about in the dossier, but it failed. The limiter is lost, and unless we find another object capable of restricting a fierce ghost…”

“I can solve this second condition too, but here’s the problem: if I survive the first step, the next would be to find a replacement for that finger,” Yang Jian said.

Yang Jian continued, “I know a place in Dachang City that might have such an object.”

“Then why haven’t you taken it?” an unfamiliar voice could not help but ask.

“How can I take it? With a keyboard?”

Yang Jian continued, “That object is restraining another ghost, whose Terror Level cannot be precisely labeled, but it probably isn’t lower than A-Class, possibly even S-Class. To resolve the Dachang City incident, I will need that object since we no longer have any resources at our disposal. What I’m discussing with you today is this dilemma: to solve this problem, we have to personally unleash a ghost of unknown Terror Level.”

“Perhaps the released entity might cause a disaster worse than Dachang City, or perhaps not. But this concerns the lives of millions of people. I cannot make this decision on my own; this decision has to be made by the headquarters of the ghost controllers.”

“Alright, I’m done speaking. Let Liu Xiaoyu give me an answer by tomorrow evening at six,” he said.

After speaking, he immediately hung up the call.

The command center outside Dachang City fell silent.

“How much are you hiding?”

Listening to Yang Jian’s words, Wang Xiaoming frowned at him.

He had not expected this man to have so many secrets, that even in this dire situation, he still had the capability to resolve the Hungry Ghost incident.

“Can I trust you?” Yang Jian didn’t respond to him but turned to ask.

Wang Xiaoming said, “You should trust me.”

Yang Jian said, “Alright then, I will start this plan once you and the others are safe in the shelter tomorrow. Take this phone; I’ll leave another one here to keep the line open with you. I’m unsure how long the video call will last with one phone, but I believe you’ll understand everything once you see it tomorrow.”

“Whether the plan ends in success depends entirely on my less than twenty percent chance of survival. If I die, how many ghosts will awaken, I have no idea, nor can I predict the dangers that will arise from that, but you must be more aware of them than I am.”

“Since you’ve made up your mind, then why bother with this call?” Wang Xiaoming asked.

Yang Jian said, “Even if it’s successful, the cost will be enormous. I will personally release a ghost, and what that ghost will bring, I don’t know, but I suspect it will be terrifying… and I can’t shoulder the consequences alone. I have to find someone to share the burden, especially considering the future. Of course, if I die, then all plans are off, and there’s no need to worry about it anymore.”

“So you’re making headquarters clean up your mess?” Wang Xiaoming asked.

“Is there a problem with that? I’m the man who is risking his life for this city, so what’s wrong with them wiping my ass for once?” Yang Jian said.

Wang Xiaoming said, “You’re thinking too much. If you really succeed, your merits will speak for themselves, and the higher-ups won’t have anything to say. Besides, you could’ve kept this entire thing secret, eliminating the need for this call.”

Yang Jian replied, “If I don’t say anything, how would they know the merits are mine? If I die, I might as well get some sort of heroic reward; the recognition would sound better than dying quietly in some corner, unknown to the world, right?”

“Your utilitarianism is too heavy—you even calculate for this,” Wang Xiaoming raised an eyebrow.

“It’s not that I am overly utilitarian, but this is how society operates. If you don’t fight for certain things, you will lose them,” Yang Jian replied. “Not everyone is as noble as you. I’m just an ordinary person, that’s all.”

“Okay, let’s end today’s conversation here. My plan is already in motion; you don’t need to worry about the rest, just wait for the outcome,” said Yang Jian.

“I hope you succeed,” Wang Xiaoming said, then got up and left, knowing that if Yang Jian was willing to give it one last go, there was nothing more to say.

As for whether headquarters would agree to Yang Jian’s action, he wasn’t worried.

They would definitely agree.

No country can afford the cost of losing a major city. This precedent cannot be set, not now, at least.

Even if the ghost unleashed by Yang Jian turns out to be terrifying, that doesn’t matter.

Who knows about the future? Take care of the present first.

After Wang Xiaoming left, Yang Jian stared at the increasingly dim sky outside and thought, “I wonder if I’ll still be able to open my eyes and see this world after tomorrow.”

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