Chapter 21: Undercurrents! Lin Feng is Being Targeted!“It can’t be that those newbies are just boasting, right? You guys actually believe the words of some 15-year-old brats?” A ghost controller shook his head, clearly in disbelief.
Or rather, unwilling to believe it.
They were all ghost controllers, and he wasn’t even a psychic, so why was he so powerful?
Some people have that kind of mindset — they can’t stand seeing others succeed.
If it were a psychic, this ghost controller probably wouldn’t have had such a mindset because the power of psychics is widely acknowledged.
In the early days of the ghost revival, only psychics could become ghost controllers. At that time, ghost controllers were far more extreme in their survival tactics than they were now.
They dared to approach any kind of ghost, even going as far as to contain multiple evil spirits simultaneously, using certain methods to make those spirits mutually restrain and balance each other.
There were many outstanding ghost controllers in those days, but few survived.
This was because, at that time, research on ghosts was minimal. After driving an evil spirit, it would grow stronger by fighting other powerful ghosts, eventually backlashing against the ghost controller!
Even the best ghost controllers of that era often didn’t live for many years.
They either died at the hands of more powerful ghosts or succumbed to the backlash of their own evil spirits. In some cases, they even turned into ghosts themselves.
Now, the systematic cultivation of companion ghosts, the safer, mass-production method for nurturing companion ghosts, was all developed over the last hundred years through the blood and lives of ghost controllers!
In that century, countless ghost controllers paid with their lives for this knowledge.
“That’s right, even the offspring of powerful ghost controllers, who might have better companion ghosts from the start, couldn’t possibly reach the Hazard Grade just a few days after awakening their ghosts. This must be fake news.”
“Maybe he has a powerful backer?”
“What backer? After awakening a ghost, the body is exposed to ghost energy for long periods, making it extremely difficult to produce offspring. In the Liucheng Base City, there are only a few powerful ghost controllers with descendants. As far as I know, one of them has a daughter among this batch of newbies. She occupied an entire townhouse by herself. As for that villa… supposedly, it’s occupied by an orphan.”
“Although I doubt it’s true, if it is… then that newbie in the villa is quite something. He’ll likely attract the attention of higher-ups and be given special training.”
“…”
In the small tavern, the ghost controllers shared their opinions and thoughts. Since Lin Feng had not been officially certified, many ghost controllers were skeptical about the rumor’s truth.
After all, the students from Lin Feng’s cohort were all only 15 years old, and to these people in their twenties and thirties, they were just kids. And kids often exaggerate.
Still, despite their disbelief, the fact that Lin Feng could directly move into a villa left these “veterans” quite shocked and envious. After all, most of them were still living in townhouses.
“Hey, check out the Alliance group. Another ghost controller has been killed.” At this point, a ghost controller shouted.
The others immediately took out their communicators. These certified ghost controllers had already joined the Ghost Controller Alliance and some other groups, making them far more informed than the newbies.
Since Lin Feng hadn’t gotten certified, he had only joined a newbie group, so he was unaware of this news.
“This ghost is getting too arrogant! Is it bullying us Liucheng folks?” Sᴇaʀch* Thᴇ NƟvelFɪre.ɴet website on Gøøglᴇ to access chapters of nøvels early and in the highest quality.
“Will the city lord take action?”
“Not likely. The city lord needs to guard Liucheng and rarely leaves the city. But I heard some big shots from the Alliance have arrived. I wonder why they haven’t dealt with this ghost yet.”
“…”
The news of the newly killed ghost controller quickly grabbed the attention of those in the tavern, shifting the topic away from Lin Feng.
None of these ghost controllers noticed three individuals exchanging glances before quietly leaving the tavern.
—
“Are you asking about Lin Feng? He lives in that villa back there. See it?”
Ten minutes later, these three ghost controllers appeared in the area where the newbies lived. Speaking to them was a 15-year-old newbie ghost controller from the same batch as Lin Feng. In the past two days, as ghost controllers returned from the countryside, many had heard that a newbie had moved into the villa district and came to check it out.
Lin Feng’s villa had, in fact, been surrounded by curious onlookers daily.
With Lin Feng’s reputation spreading, there were many young ghost controllers aged 16 to 20 who came by, eager to see his villa, curious about what he looked like, or even hoping to befriend him.
Occasionally, some veteran ghost controllers also came by.
“Is Lin Feng inside?”
“I don’t know. He doesn’t seem to be. The lights weren’t on last night. Not sure where he went. Some say he might have left the city.”
“Is it true that Lin Feng’s ghost is already at the Hazard Grade?”
“Of course! Everyone in the group is talking about it. Brother Lin is incredibly powerful…” The newbie ghost controller, clearly excited, rambled on about Lin Feng’s achievements.
The three ghost controllers listened quietly and, after hearing enough, walked towards Lin Feng’s villa.
The villa district wasn’t accessible to just anyone. It was enclosed by walls, with guards at the entrances, and any visitors had to register.
Although the guards were just ordinary people, the rules in Liucheng Base City were strict: ghost controllers weren’t allowed to harm civilians, and fights between ghost controllers were forbidden.
While ordinary people might seem weak in the face of ghosts, they were the foundation of the base city.
Without the growing population of ordinary people, there wouldn’t be an increasing number of ghost controllers. Therefore, in every base city, despite their low status, ordinary people were rarely intentionally oppressed.
However, nothing was absolute. There were always exceptions.
Lin Feng’s villa was located on the outskirts of the villa district, visible from the outside.
At the moment, a few ghost controllers were standing outside, chatting about the rumors surrounding Lin Feng.
These ghost controllers were just curious. After this, they probably wouldn’t come to gawk again.
After watching for a while, the three ghost controllers left Lin Feng’s villa and headed to a townhouse.
“What do you think, Qiping?” One of the ghost controllers, with a square face, spoke in a deep voice.
“No matter whether Lin Feng’s ghost has reached the Hazard Grade, as long as he isn’t a psychic, his ghost… must be incredibly exceptional,” the ghost controller named Qiping replied.
“Indeed. For an ordinary person to have a ghost that grows so quickly, there’s only one explanation — his ghost has immense potential,” another ghost controller agreed.
The square-faced ghost controller said, “Qiping, He Hai, what do you think? Should we go for it?”
The two ghost controllers exchanged glances.
“Old Guo, according to the newbies, Lin Feng might have left the city. Are we going to pursue him? What if we run into that ghost?” He Hai, one of the ghost controllers, asked.
The square-faced ghost controller replied, “The countryside is vast. We might not encounter it. Besides, this is the perfect time. We can’t act in the city, but we can take him out in the countryside. With so many ghost controllers returning to the city, it’ll be harder to detect our actions out there. Once we finish him, I can use my corpse bag to trap his ghost. While his bond with the ghost is still weak, we can definitely sell it for a good price.”
As he spoke, the square-faced man’s gaze swept over the faces of the other two ghost controllers, his voice tinged with temptation, “A ghost of this quality, and a benevolent one at that, wouldn’t be easy to sell in Liucheng, but in Haicheng, a psychic ghost controller would surely be interested. We might even sell it for hundreds of thousands of contribution points. What do you say? Shall we go for it?”
After a moment’s hesitation, the two ghost controllers made their decision.
“Alright!”