Chapter 226
Bloodstained Umbrella, Climbing the Stairs! Choices and Plans
Chapter 226 Bloodstained Umbrella, Climbing the Stairs! Choices and Plans (4k)
Danger comes quickly and goes quickly.
In the blink of an eye, several rotting corpses appeared on the wooden floor. Of the two ghosts that attacked the group, one had been controlled by Li Yang, while the other left on instinct.
Although the messengers on the second floor suffered heavy casualties, fortunately, the supernatural attack lasted too short a time, and some of the messengers still managed to escape and survive.
At this moment, no one dared to mock Lu Ming anymore.
Even someone with poor eyesight could see that the crisis was entirely Lu Ming's doing.
Lu Ming's strength is far ahead of the rest of the messengers on the second floor, and even in the entire Ghost Post Office.
Let alone mocking Lu Ming, these people were all regretting their previous poor attitude towards him and were even worried about being punished later.
"Captain Lu... if I'm not mistaken, he should be Lu Ming, the ghost groom who's nominally the captain at headquarters..."
"The ghost groom, Lu Ming? So it was him. No wonder he's so strong..."
"But why haven't I seen the legendary ghost of the bride in her wedding dress?"
"Perhaps he hadn't used his full strength yet, which is why the ghost bride didn't appear."
At this point, the messengers fell silent once again.
Although they had all heard of Lu Ming, they had never met him, so it was normal that they hadn't recognized him before.
Moreover, seeing is believing. No matter how powerful a story is in the paranormal community, most ghost tamers will unconsciously belittle the other party in their hearts before they actually see it.
After all, only one ghost tamer might appear out of tens of thousands of people. They are different from ordinary people and can easily obtain a lot of wealth and social status. Their arrogance is in their bones.
Therefore, it's inevitable to have the thought that "the ghost groom is nothing special."
Only now did they truly acknowledge that Lu Ming had far surpassed their level, or rather, far exceeded their comprehension.
Some messengers were filled with unease, fearing retribution.
Some messengers, however, harbored wicked intentions, wanting to say something to curry favor with Lu Ming.
But Lu Ming completely ignored these people, not even glancing at them, and simply turned to Li Yang and asked, "How are you feeling?"
"It's a strange feeling... There are four ghosts inside me, one of which has crashed. Compared to before, my situation has become more unstable and uncontrollable. But before the vengeful ghost revives, the supernatural powers I can use will definitely be stronger than before."
When it comes to the supernatural, things can't be said so absolutely. Li Yang's control of the new vengeful ghost is both a good thing and a bad thing.
However, becoming stronger also provides Li Yang with a new possibility. If he can find a way to suppress the resurgence of vengeful ghosts, then he will truly stand at the very top of the supernatural world.
Just then.
In the middle of the U-shaped corridor on the second floor of the post office, a thick black fog, resembling a gloomy haze, gradually rose, as if to cover the entire floor.
But the thick black fog churned for a moment before quickly dissipating.
A wooden staircase appeared on the second floor of the post office and extended all the way up into the corridor.
An opening appeared in the wall, connecting the corridor to the wooden staircase.
"The stairs have appeared. Sure enough, once the red envelope is completed, people on all floors can go directly to the next floor."
Lu Ming's expression shifted slightly, but he wasn't surprised.
Although the red envelope was not sent, tearing it up and stopping the subsequent attack had the same effect.
"This is... the staircase leading to the third floor?"
Sun Rui hesitated, looking at the suddenly appearing staircase, unsure whether he should go up.
Should they continue with Lu Ming, or return to the first floor, guard the Ghost Post Office, and prevent new messengers from entering?
Lu Ming seemed to see through his thoughts and said, "Let's go upstairs."
The command was simple, without giving a reason, nor was a reason required.
The remaining messengers followed Lu Ming and his two companions up the stairs.
However, some of them were rather apprehensive.
This group of people managed to get from the first floor to the second floor by sheer luck. They didn't even deliver a single letter on the second floor, so their strength wasn't particularly high, and they didn't see much improvement.
Sending them upstairs to become messengers on the third floor would be like pulling up seedlings to help them grow.
But the chance to be carried by a big shot and go straight to the first floor isn't something you get every time.
If they don't seize this opportunity, they might even die on the second floor.
"Go to the third floor of the post office with this ghost groom, and maybe some opportunities will come your way."
Although following Lu Ming might seem like a terrible danger, risk and opportunity often go hand in hand. A person who can't even be ruthless will never achieve great things.
Creak! Creak! Creak!
The decaying wooden staircase made a grating sound. Lu Ming walked in front and stepped into the deepest part of the black mist. His figure gradually disappeared into it. Under the interference of the supernatural, the people behind him could no longer see him at all.
Li Yang followed closely behind.
His face was deathly pale, and the lividity on his skin had not faded.
He had only managed to control the fourth ghost, and although it was just a vengeful ghost that was basically dead, it still had a significant impact on his body.
In the mysterious world of resurgence, controlling more vengeful spirits is not necessarily better, nor is it as easy as one might imagine.
There is only one Ghost Tamer like Lu Ming, whose mental strength far exceeds that of normal people and who does not need to consider the upper limit. There are no exceptions.
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The staircase leading to the third floor was much longer than it actually felt. Normally, the distance between the second and third floors is only a few meters, but in reality, the wooden staircase was over twenty meters long. This was a sensory illusion caused by a supernatural presence.
As all the messengers on the second floor went up to the third floor of the Ghost Post Office, everything behind them was plunged into darkness and gradually swallowed up.
Each floor of the Ghost Post Office is independent of the others, making it difficult to go up or down.
Not only could the messengers downstairs not go upstairs, but even the messengers on higher floors could not easily come down.
This is a practice to prevent high-ranking messengers from going downstairs to provide extra assistance to new messengers.
It's cruel, but it meets the basic requirements of the Ghost Post Office in selecting messengers.
Soon, the general layout of the third floor of the Ghost Post Office came into view for Lu Ming.
At first glance, it looks almost identical to the second floor, with the same U-shaped courtyard and seven rooms. However, this time, the first digit of the room numbers has changed from 2 to 3.
If you really want to find a difference, then the central courtyard is no longer empty; instead, there's an open space with a few old objects as decorations.
No one showed up.
Lu Ming glanced around and found that they hadn't caused much of a commotion after arriving on the third floor.
Both the first and second floors were very crowded.
But when we got to the third floor, the situation changed.
One reason is that after going through layers of selection, only a few messengers can enter the third floor.
On the other hand, the rules on the third floor of the post office are somewhat different from those on the first two floors.
The messengers on the third floor deliver messages every three months, giving them ample time to live like ordinary people. Even many demon tamers, who haven't become messengers, only live for three or four months at most.
Therefore, the rules on the third floor are very lenient, and the messenger is not required to stay inside the post office.
Furthermore, the rooms on the third floor where the messengers live can accommodate several people.
This, to some extent, removes the restrictions and effectively prevents infighting among messengers, which can be considered a small benefit.
Since the first and second floors are used to filter out most messengers, and by the time you reach the third floor you are basically considered a qualified messenger, the maximum number of people in the room has been removed.
For this reason, the hostility among the messengers on the third floor was much less than before.
"Captain Lu, I just took a quick look around, and these seven rooms are mostly empty. Which room should we choose?"
"Let's go with the 31st."
Lu Ming spoke casually.
Room 31 is located at the end of the corridor, next to only room 32, so the probability of an accident is relatively small.
At six o'clock in the evening, the Ghost Post Office turned off its lights on time.
The dim lights went out completely, and everything around us was plunged into a deathly darkness.
Looking at the surrounding darkness, which was like a thick fog, Lu Ming felt a strong sense of crisis.
It seemed as if a vengeful ghost was watching them from within the thick fog, and unspeakable dangers could appear at any moment.
As it turned out, Lu Ming had overthought things this time.
The night passed, and nothing unusual happened at the post office.
When the lights outside the post office came on again at six o'clock the next morning, the dim yellow light inside the room remained on.
"Captain, is there some special purpose behind these lights?"
Lu Ming nodded. Li Yang had a keen eye and immediately noticed the pattern.
"Anywhere in the post office is lit up is safe, as the light resembles the glow of a ghost candle; however, places where the lights are off may be haunted by evil spirits."
"So, as long as the lights are on, there's no need to worry about safety?"
Lu Ming shook his head: "You can't be so absolute. These lights can only guarantee safety temporarily. In paranormal events, the situation is often unpredictable. Once a terrifying ghost targets you, the lights might go out in the next second."
Li Yang nodded, agreeing with Lu Ming's statement.
Then, with a serious expression, he looked at the corridor that was swallowed by darkness.
"The third floor of the post office... seems quite unusual; I can sense countless rooms at the end of the corridor."
Most of the vengeful spirits inside Li Yang's body are related to "doors," which is why he can sense the presence of all the rooms in the Ghost Post Office.
"These rooms don't actually exist; they were created because the ghost realm influenced matter. It's normal that there are countless rooms..."
"Moreover, the benefits of using the ghost domain to create a safe room are not limited to this. It is also a threat. If anyone touches on some of the taboos in this post office, the room will no longer be safe and will become a terrifying and haunted place."
As Lu Ming and his two companions walked out of the room, the other messengers also came out one after another.
Their first impression of the third floor was that it was very novel.
The new rules, longer delivery intervals, and they appear to be more secure.
What they didn't realize was that the delivery task the messenger on the third floor had to complete was far more difficult than that on the second floor.
In terms of difficulty alone, it can be said to have achieved a qualitative leap.
"A new letter has arrived!"
Suddenly, someone exclaimed in surprise and pointed in a certain direction.
"A new letter?"
Upon hearing this voice, even Lu Ming was drawn to it and looked in the direction the person was pointing.
He had already searched the room, but had not found the so-called envelope.
Therefore, Lu Ming's first reaction was that the letters were not arriving so quickly, and they had entered a brief period of safety.
If you want to continue speedrunning, you'll have to steal the upstairs message from someone else.
The actual letter for going upstairs would certainly not be in the hands of these messengers who had just come up from the second floor; they would have to ask the messenger who was already on the third floor.
Even Lu Ming was startled when he saw the envelope.
Red envelope.
It was another red envelope.
This means that this time, it's another mission where all the messengers on the entire floor must work together to deliver the message.
The good news is that we no longer need to try to snag the letter to go upstairs.
The bad news is that tearing up red envelopes in succession will result in a far stronger attack from the vengeful ghost than tearing up ordinary envelopes in succession.
Lu Ming strode forward and snatched the envelope before anyone else could.
The other messengers who came up from the second floor held their breath and stared at Lu Ming without daring to breathe.
They were terrified, terrified that Lu Ming would tear the envelope to shreds in the next second.
However, due to Lu Ming's strength, no one dared to be the first to stand in his way.
Fortunately, Lu Ming did not tear up the envelope directly, but instead checked the delivery task on it.
"Mingyue Residential Area..."
"It is Meng Xiaodong, one of the Seven Elders of the Republic of China."
Lu Ming's expression shifted slightly as he considered things in his mind.
"We can continue to tear up the letters to maximize efficiency."
"You can also send this envelope to Mingyue Community, and take the opportunity to meet Meng Xiaodong, one of the Seven Elders of the Republic of China."
"Both options have their advantages and disadvantages, but whichever one you choose, you will undoubtedly be taking a lot of risks. If you are not careful, there will be no chance to start over."
The supernatural phenomena of the Seven Elders of the Republic of China era are something even Lu Ming would have to handle with caution.
What's even more terrifying is that this Meng Xiaodong is able to infiltrate from the past to the present.
"No matter which option I choose, I must first get myself into the best possible condition."
"The fusion of the Ghost Cleaver and the Black Umbrella is sufficient in terms of both mechanism and strength. The only issue that needs to be addressed is stability."
Lu Ming could only think of one thing that could bring the Golden Umbrella, this supernatural weapon, to its final state and make it a completely stable vengeful spirit.
The blood pool that formed after Yan Li's death in the suburbs of Dachang City.
(End of this chapter)