Mysterious Revival

International Ghost Master’s appointment ceremony.

Yang Jian was driving, heading towards the designated location in Dachang City.

From what he had learned from Liu Xiaoyu, the assessment for the position of the person in charge in Dachang City was quite strict. Besides being a Ghost Master, mental state evaluation and personality assessment were both extremely important.

After all, while dealing with a city’s supernatural incidents, one also possesses immense power, and any problems in the appointment could bring unimaginable disasters to a city.

However, Yang Jian belonged to the special affairs office.

Even with Zhao Kaiming as a Ghost Master in Dachang City, he had become the second Ghost Master.

The reason for the higher-ups’ agreement was actually due to Yang Jian’s several merits.

Whether it was the Ghost Door Knocker incident, the Ghost Shadow incident, or the Huanggang Village incident, all fully demonstrated his personal ability, and the rescue of Ghost Masters Feng Quan, as well as the earlier Tong Qian, had also garnered high praise for Yang Jian’s way of handling matters.

A Ghost Master who could rescue other Ghost Masters and solve various troublesome supernatural incidents was naturally someone the higher-ups would not ignore.

If it weren’t for Yang Jian’s reluctance to become the head of Dachang City too soon, due to the excessive use of the power of fierce ghosts, his appointment would not have been delayed until now.

"We’ve arrived, this is the place."

Yang Jian’s car stopped in front of a municipal government building.

The place of appointment was right here.

As soon as he got out of the car, someone was already waiting there.

"Are you Yang Jian, Mister Yang?" A middle-aged man in a suit, who looked like a civil servant, walked over smiling.

"That’s me." Yang Jian said.

"The higher-ups have explained everything; please follow me this way, Mister Yang," said the civil servant.

Yang Jian nodded.

The man did not enter the government building but instead turned and walked towards a small, independent reception room nearby.

"Isn’t the appointment at the municipal government building?" he asked.

"I’m not very clear on that, I am just responsible for bringing Mister Yang to the reception room. Everything else is out of my hands," replied the civil servant.

Yang Jian didn’t ask further.

Soon, he arrived at the reception room, where guards stood both inside and outside, with live ammunition, creating a somewhat tense atmosphere.

This reception room was lax on the outside but strict on the inside.

Without permission, it was simply impossible for ordinary people to enter.

After entering an office, Yang Jian saw a somewhat dispirited man who looked to be in his thirties, yawning and leaning on the desk, earnestly playing with a frog made of paper, pressing on the frog’s backside, making it hop around.

"Knock knock~!"

The civil servant said, "Mister Sun Yi, I’ve brought Yang Jian."

"The person is here? Very well, you can leave now."

Sun Yi quickly lifted his head to glance, then swiftly stowed away the paper frog on the desk.

"Oh, and if there’s nothing important, don’t disturb me. Without my permission, no one is allowed near this office, including the leaders of Dachang City."

"Understood, Mister Sun Yi."

Yang Jian observed the man, an instinct telling him that this Sun Yi was also a Ghost Master.

However, the danger level was low, and the Ghost Eye did not react strongly.

He was even less notable than the previous Ye Feng.

"Sit," Sun Yi straightened up and pointed around, "Don’t be nervous. The review this time is fairly relaxed, but there are still some formalities to follow. Do you mind if I ask you a few questions? Also, as a reminder, this conversation will be recorded."

"It doesn’t matter. Ask whatever you want, just don’t take up too much of my time," Yang Jian said.

Sun Yi asked, "Name?"

"Yang Jian."

"Gender?"

"Male."

"Place of origin?"

"..." Yang Jian said, "You should be able to look up that information."

"Just routine, no need to be nervous," Sun Yi said. "Why do you choose to become the person in charge of Dachang City?"

"For world peace."

"How long have you been a Ghost Master?"

"Just over a month."

"You look very young, do you have a girlfriend? Have you thought about settling down?"

Yang Jian said, "Is this question important?"

"Very important. Whether you have a girlfriend and whether you’re willing to settle down relates to the mental state of a Ghost Master, so please answer honestly," Sun Yi said.

"Haven’t considered it yet," Yang Jian said.

"So, you have thought about it." Sun Yi continued, "Of the following pictures, which type of woman do you prefer?"

He then took out a stack of pictures and laid them out on the table one by one.

There were ten pictures altogether, and the women in the pictures didn’t seem real, they were likely computer-generated.

Moreover, each picture showed women with different clothing, appearances, body shapes, and demeanors.

To put it bluntly, there were types like mature and dignified, gracious, student-like, cute and so on.

"Children make choices, a man naturally wants them all," Yang Jian said.

Sun Yi looked at Yang Jian with some surprise but eventually felt a bit annoyed.

Damn, there was such an answer, and why hadn’t he thought of it himself, making him agonize for over two hours back then.

"Next are some ability test questions, mainly to assess your emergency response abilities. Tell me: when five people are running towards you and one of them is a ghost, with only two bullets in your gun and assuming bullets can kill ghosts, how would you deal with the situation at hand?"

Then he took out another picture.

The backdrop of the photo was a dim and dark city, depicting a desolate post-apocalyptic scene.

At that moment, a person is standing in the middle of the road, pointing a gun at five survivors running towards this side from across the road.

One survivor is an office worker in a suit, one is a woman returning from grocery shopping, one is a child with a backpack coming home from school, one is a stunningly gorgeous woman, and one is an old lady with a wrinkled face.

"This is an open-ended question with no fixed answer," Sun Yi said.

"Turn and run, all five of them are ghosts," Yang Jian looked at the photo and said indifferently.

Sun Yi expressed surprise, "Explain your reasoning?"

"Is there a need to explain? It’s not hard to see for anyone who isn’t an idiot. The first one, dressed in a suit with a briefcase, looks like he’s going to work, but the city in the background should have already been overrun. It’s impossible for anyone to be going to work, to be buying groceries, for a kid to be going to school, and that woman, is way too excessive.

She’s pretty but suspiciously clean, not even her makeup is smeared."

"That old lady shouldn’t be a suspect, right?" Sun Yi said.

"The old lady in the painting is running at the front, is that the speed an elderly person should have?" Yang Jian said, "If you keep asking questions like this, I’ll have to doubt your professional level."

"Or perhaps, the person who set the question isn’t very smart."

Sun Yi said, "Don’t be hasty, that was only the first question. Here comes the second one."

"Conditions remaining the same, assume that among these five people, only one is human. What method would you use to save this person?"

Yang Jian said, "I wouldn’t save them. Five people, four are ghosts, one is human, and I’m a Ghost Door Knocker, my life is more precious than that of an ordinary person. Why would I sacrifice myself to save an ordinary person? Moreover, if that person is still alive among four ghosts, it indicates some kind of balance hasn’t been disrupted.

If I take the initiative to attack, I’ll likely die even faster."

"Uh..." Sun Yi was momentarily stunned.

You’re not answering the question in a conventional way.

"Okay then, the third question, which is an extension of the previous one. Assume that among these five people, only one is a ghost, the other four are humans. You have two bullets. What method would you use to shoot dead the ghost hiding among these five people?"

Yang Jian furrowed his brows: "This question is a bit more difficult than the previous two low-IQ ones, and it’s reached the level of an average person’s intellect, but it’s still very simple. Warn them to lie down on the ground and not move; whoever rushes forward, I’ll shoot dead."

"That could result in harming innocent people," Sun Yi said.

"But it’s also possible to shoot the ghost, isn’t it? One bullet gives me a one in five chance of shooting the ghost. If one person lies down after my warning, my odds increase to one in four. If three people lie down, then my two bullets can guarantee a hundred percent chance of shooting a ghost dead. Besides, any normal person would stop after the warning."

"If the gun fires and one person dies, anyone who continues charging forward is definitely a ghost."

Sun Yi said, "Why not choose to fire a warning shot in the air?"

Yang Jian laughed, "That’s the stupidest thing to do. I’d be wasting a bullet. What if the warning doesn’t work? Then my chances of shooting the ghost drop to one in five, which is far lower than the chance of shooting one person dead and using the gunshot as a warning to those who survive. If I fail, four survivors and a Ghost Door Knocker will die.

And my method also includes the possibility of shooting the ghost with the first bullet."

"You’re gambling with the lives of the public; it’s a very selfish act," Sun Yi said.

Yang Jian said, "No, this is the fairest act. Don’t forget, the Ghost Door Knocker is also present. If he can’t shoot the ghost, he will die too. The reason the Ghost Door Knocker is chosen to fire is that he’s already certain that among the six people present, he himself is not the ghost. With the statuses of the other five people unkown, he must make a choice.

Even though this choice might result in the sacrifice of one or two people, it’s better than a total annihilation."

"If you fire a blank, you are left with only one bullet, betting the lives of five people on a single bullet is the biggest irresponsibility. A person who cannot be responsible for themselves cannot possibly be responsible for others."

"Everyone wanting to save lives will inevitably end up saving no one. I haven’t read many books but I know the principle ’one cannot achieve great good without tolerating minor evil.’ Sometimes, necessary sacrifices are worthwhile."

Sun Yi was suddenly at a loss for words, as he admitted that such an answer was quite reasonable.

However, the perfect answer previously was to fire a warning shot. Whoever didn’t heed the warning was definitely the ghost, then you shoot to kill.

It was in line with the style of a Ghost Door Knocker and followed proper procedures, a textbook answer.

But Yang Jian was right, what if the warning was ineffective?

How to choose who among the five people to shoot dead the one ghost with a single bullet.

"Alright, your answer has been recorded. Here’s the fourth question, also an extension of the previous one. Conditions being the same, you only have one bullet, and among the five people in front of you, one is hiding as a ghost. At this moment, if you have to fire, which one of these five people would you choose?

Or has your intuition told you, which one of the five might be the real ghost?" Sun Yi asked again.

Yang Jian raised his eyebrows, "This is an unsolvable mode, isn’t it?"

"Pretty much," Sun Yi nodded.

The fourth question was like the Ghost Door Knocker encountering an unsolvable supernatural event: a choice must be made, but a failed choice leads to death.

Because the Ghost Door Knocker is left with only one bullet.

Is it the office worker in a suit and leather shoes?

Or the lady returning from buying groceries?

Perhaps the elaborately dressed beauty?

Even the kid with a schoolbag on their back.

And the wrinkled-faced, old-looking grandmother.

You have only one shot.

And you must take that shot.

A one-in-five chance of killing the ghost, with no other options available.

"If I really have to kill one, I’d choose the kid with the backpack," Yang Jian said.

"Why?" Sun Yi asked.

"The office worker could just be someone who wandered into this city by mistake while on a business trip, and the woman shopping for groceries might be a survivor in the city; her vegetables may not have been bought but taken from some deserted supermarket. The glamorous woman dressed up nicely—I don’t think a ghost would go to such lengths.

The old lady might just be homesick and unwilling to leave her hometown."

"The only one I can’t rationalize is the kid with a backpack. I can’t think of any reason for such a young child to be wandering around the city without parental supervision, unless his entire family, including the child, is already dead."

"Why can’t the kid be a survivor who sneaked out to play?" Sun Yi asked.

"Even if he sneaked out to play, he wouldn’t be carrying a backpack, right? When a city falls, the first to be evacuated are usually women and children, aren’t they?" n/ô/vel/b//jn dot c//om

"If you have any more questions, ask them now," Yang Jian said.

"The next question isn’t about this; for example, after you become an international ghost handler, what methods do you plan to use to deal with a city’s supernatural incidents?" Sun Yi said.

What followed was essentially the future work plan.

Yang Jian just gave a casual response. An answer that was conventional and seemingly alright was enough.

The questioning lasted for a full two hours.

All kinds of tricky questions were asked, even clear and direct ones about privacy and personal preferences, like whether you enjoy watching movies, what kind of movies you like, whether you play video games, and if you have ever harbored thoughts of killing someone?

Please, watching movies and playing games are what normal people do every day.

As for murderous thoughts, Yang Jian had them daily; today, he was still considering how to kill Wang Xiaoqiang and Ye Feng.

"Congratulations, today you have officially become the person in charge of Dachang City. I hope you will continue to work hard in your future duties." After the last question, Sun Yi stood up and shook hands with Yang Jian enthusiastically.

"Is that it?" Yang Jian asked.

"Yes," Sun Yi replied.

"Then what was the point of all those previous questions?" Yang Jian asked.

After thinking for a moment, Sun Yi said, "Strictly speaking, there is no point. After all, you were the predetermined person in charge. It’s just standard procedure. However, not only was this assessment recorded, but it was also filmed, and this information will become part of your personal file for life."

"..." Yang Jian.

Indeed, he was just wasting time.

"Additionally, here is your new satellite-located phone and your identification."

Having said that, Sun Yi took out a briefcase containing a phone, identification, and a uniform.

"We need to retrieve Zhou Zheng’s satellite-located phone. I hope you don’t mind," Sun Yi said.

"Of course not," Yang Jian replied.

"Next, you will need to get acquainted with the key personnel of various departments in Dachang City to facilitate future cooperation in your work. By the way, the previous ghost handler, Zhao Kaiming, is also here," Sun Yi said.

Zhao Kaiming?

At the mention of this name, Yang Jian’s expression immediately darkened.

On his death list, Zhao Kaiming was ranked first—not Ye Feng, nor Wang Xiaoqiang, but Zhao Kaiming.

In truth, he was the real murderer lurking behind the scenes.