Mysterious Awakening

Chapter 310: Deafness

Yang Jian and Xu Feng were at each other’s throats just a moment ago, bearing looks that said "I can’t stand the sight of you, and you can’t stand the sight of me," ready to throw down.

But as the mournful cry echoed from the woods near the road, they both stopped their argument as if in agreement, their nerves tensely and subconsciously tightening as they looked in the direction of the sobbing.

They both knew all too well what that crying signified.

The Crying Tomb Ghost was nearby.

And it was very likely that it had already set its sights on them.

It could be deduced from the conversation between Xu Feng and the man with the duckbill cap that although the ghosts that alighted from the bus might leave, there’s also a chance that they didn’t depart entirely but lingered nearby.

The current situation was the latter.

"Don’t start trouble at a time like this—if there’s something to sort out, we’ll do it on the bus later."

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Xu Feng said coldly, no longer paying attention to Yang Jian but instead turning his attention to the crying.

"That’s assuming you can even make it back to the bus alive," Yang Jian said with a faint smile, not taking his threat seriously.

He was very wary of ghosts, but when it came to humans, he felt he had the capital to be arrogant.

Unfortunately, he dealt with ghosts more often than with people, so opportunities to flaunt his arrogance were rare.

"I really don’t know where a rookie like you gets your courage from. You’ve been a ghost controller before, so you should be clear about the classification of fierce ghosts. This thing can kill people just by sobbing, and it has a certain autonomy. If it were outside, it would be classified as an A-level ghost straight away.

The headquarters doesn’t have many records of this kind of ghost, and the number of ghost controllers who can resolve such incidents on their own in the country can be counted on one hand."

Xu Feng was also very experienced, immediately categorizing the Crying Tomb Ghost as A-level.

Apart from the rare S-level paranormal incidents, A-level was the highest rating up to that point.

"As a rookie, it’s impossible for you to deal with this kind of incident. You’re not qualified to talk big."

Yang Jian responded calmly, "You belittle newcomers as if surviving up to now is a great achievement. Sometimes, a ghost controller’s strength isn’t determined by how long they’ve lived. If you were capable, you would have gotten off the bus already—why are you still trapped on the Ghost Car?"

"No more talking. If you’ve got the time to bicker, you’re not paying attention to the situation. The cry is already here—think of a way to protect yourself. If we can get through this attack, we’ll be safe once the bus starts moving again," the man with the duckbill cap said very seriously at that moment.

The last thing he wanted to see was the two of them getting hot-headed and coming to blows.

Otherwise, if an accident happened, they might all end up dead there.

"Woo woo~!"

The crying continued nearby, the voice dry and hoarse, indescribable in words, giving off an inexplicably eerie feeling. When he first heard it, it didn’t affect him much, but as the crying endured, Yang Jian inexplicably felt the urge to cry along, tears already swirling in his eyes.

His serious face began to show an involuntary sadness.

Recognizing this change in himself, although he tried to restrain it, he couldn’t control his own actions.

If this continued, he would soon cry along with the voice like those who had gotten off earlier, and then die amidst the cries.

Without a second thought,

He took a step back, retreating into his Ghost Domain, attempting to use it to block out the crying.

The crying didn’t completely disappear but was instead reduced to the faintest whisper, barely audible unless one listened intently.

"The Ghost Domain is having an effect, although it hasn’t completely blocked the crying, it has eliminated most of the influence..." Yang Jian let out a slight sigh of relief.

The Ghost Domain was very effective for self-preservation; it had saved his life numerous times in paranormal events.

But relying on the Ghost Domain’s isolation wasn’t entirely foolproof.

Less than a minute after isolating himself, Yang Jian noticed the crying within the Ghost Domain was rapidly intensifying again. He wasn’t sure if he was being targeted by the Crying Tomb Ghost or if everyone else was experiencing the same—this eerie crying seemed to grow stronger as time passed.

"Big, big brother, how did you suddenly disappear just now, where is this place, I want to go home, I don’t want to die here, ah, that crying sound has appeared again, what do we do now?"

In the Ghost Domain, Zhang Haw was still not accustomed to the situation before his eyes, completely disfigured by the terrifying crying sound he heard.

Only after experiencing it did he understand the true terror of that crying sound.

The other two girls had nothing to say, huddling together, shivering uncontrollably, and sobbing quietly, looking as if it was a feat that their sanity hadn’t already crumbled.

"Looks like it will be hard for you to leave here alive, so if you have any last words, record them on your phone quickly. At this critical moment, you could die at any time, and I can’t help you much," Yang Jian glanced at them and paid no further attention.

It was already a miracle that these three ordinary people had survived this long.

After giving them a hand, there was nothing more he could do.

Without becoming a spirit manipulator, it was really hard to survive such supernatural incidents, and perhaps dying sooner would be a release for them, better than suffering constant fear and threat.

Ignoring their plight, Yang Jian couldn’t help but touch his face at that moment.

Somehow, a tear had made its way down his cheek.

He cried.

The influence of the Crying Tomb Ghost on him was getting deeper. Even he, who could control the Headless Ghost Shadow and possessed ghost eyes, couldn’t completely eliminate the influence of the Crying Tomb Ghost.

"The second layer of the Ghost Domain."

Yang Jian, however, was not panicked; he simply covered his ghost eye with the palm of his hand, causing both ghost eyes to overlap, and activated the second layer of the Ghost Domain.

The crying sound that gradually grew louder was once again weakened to the slightest whisper, becoming faint as if it had disappeared once more.

Yet the second layer of the Ghost Domain still didn’t completely isolate the sound, as the crying continued to seep through.

And soon, just like the situation in the first layer of the Ghost Domain,

The crying gradually grew louder again.

It was like a lethal talisman of a curse; you could weaken it by various means, but you could never completely get rid of it.

However, by comparing the first and second layers of the Ghost Domain, Yang Jian discovered some characteristics of the crying sound.

"The reason the sound grows stronger is because of the echo... The crying of the Crying Tomb Ghost can’t naturally fade away; it keeps wandering around a certain area, resonating over and over within that region, growing stronger and more terrifying.

At first, ordinary people might withstand it a bit, but eventually, when the crying intensifies to a certain degree, even the top spirit manipulators can’t endure it."

His gaze shifted slightly, discovering a pattern through the comparison of sounds within the two layers of the Ghost Domain.

That is to say, to not be killed by such crying, one would have to flee at top speed the moment it begins. If you run fast enough, you can escape the reach of the crying sound and almost certainly avoid being killed.

If he were outside, Yang Jian would slip away the moment the Crying Tomb Ghost began wailing.

But it seemed that this was no longer the world he was familiar with, and if he left the bus at this time and it drove away, he might be trapped here forever."

Such a choice could only be made as a last resort; it definitely couldn’t be a priority.

"If we can’t escape from the sound, then we must isolate the sound," Yang Jian attempted to cover his own ears.

Using the most basic and common method.

But it was almost without effect; covering his ears could not completely block out the gradually intensifying crying sound, which would keep strengthening over time, starting from a whisper. Plugging his ears was inherently unable to fully isolate sound, unless one was... deaf.

At this thought, Yang Jian immediately tried it out.

He directly controlled the Ghost Shadow to invade his ears, temporarily making himself deaf.

It was fortunate that he had recently read some medical anatomy books, and Yang Jian knew which part to affect to induce deafness without affecting the brain. He dared not mess with his own brain; if he accidentally killed himself in the process, that would be truly tragic.

With both ears blocked, Yang Jian immediately became temporarily deaf.