INHA Chapter 108

“What is this place?”

Elder Chen, with his extensive knowledge and experience, speculated, “The sky here has no sun, even though it’s daytime. This might be a barrier world set up by some entity, similar to the small secret realms we understand.”

The director added, “That’s very likely. Let the detection machine keep moving forward.”

The staff analyzed and recorded the footage while Xu Dongyou, feeling he couldn’t be of much help, remained silent.

Initially, the Anomaly Handling Bureau had considered building a laboratory in this location, but they hesitated due to potential dangers. Instead, they set up interception checkpoints on the outer perimeter to prevent ordinary people or accomplices of the strange individual from entering.

Interestingly, when the body of the mysterious individual was sent for examination, a black bead was discovered inside. Rather than hastily removing it, they extracted a portion of the bead’s substance for testing and found that it appeared to belong to the same category as the resentful spirits.

Everyone speculated on what this bead could be. It was clear that it was related to the resentful spirits, but why was it hidden within a human body?

A researcher then proposed a bold theory: Why do most resentful spirits appear in human form? Even when the cursed object is something trivial, like chewing gum or a painting, the entity that kills is always human-shaped. Yet resentful spirits differ greatly from ghosts.

For years, people have been wondering about the origin of resentful spirits. Some even speculated that they might be a special type of ghost formed from deceased humans.

Take Xu Wan, for example. She had been transformed into an evil ghost due to resentment after being murdered. She turned into a special type of resentful spirit because she was entangled with a cursed object.

The handling bureau even invited Xu Wan to the scene, hoping she might sense something useful, even though she had never entered the teleportation array.

Xu Wan walked around the teleportation array a few times and expressed that it gave her a feeling of familiarity, and she felt an urge to enter.

The bureau speculated that the other side of the teleportation array might be closely related to the origin of the resentful spirits.

As a result, the mysterious individual’s corpse could no longer be kept at the bureau. If it were connected to the resentful spirits, it would undoubtedly be suppressed by Zhulong’s aura within the sealing array. They decided to return the body, implant a tracking chip inside it, and send it through the teleportation array using another detection machine.

They wanted to observe any changes that occurred to the corpse in the world beyond the teleportation array and whether there was any other life present in that world.

Two detection machines were dispatched in different directions for exploration. The footage from both was nearly identical, suggesting that this barrier world was uniformly the same.

After about an hour, something new appeared on the screen.

Everyone immediately focused, their faces filled with growing uncertainty.

“What is this?”

On the screen, a towering tree stood amidst the dark, muddy ground, which occasionally bubbled ominously. But what captured everyone’s attention was that the tree was covered with black, human-like figures.

At first glance, the tree seemed lush with branches and leaves, but upon closer inspection, it became clear that it was composed of countless people, each varying in size and shape. Their faces were obscured by gray mist, and grotesque branches extended from their heads, making them appear as if they were the fruit of the tree, hanging quietly and motionless.

The scene sent a chill down everyone’s spine, and many felt goosebumps rising.

No one could speak; they simply stared at the screen. Even the researcher controlling the detection machine forgot to operate it.

Suddenly, one of the figures moved. The gray mist gradually dissipated, revealing a pale, emotionless face. The figure swayed in the still air before detaching from the tree and falling to the ground. It stood there, dressed in black, expressionless and motionless.

Everyone instinctively held their breath as they watched the figure slowly move forward. When it passed the still-detecting machine, their tension heightened even more.

Fortunately, resentful spirits only react to humans who trigger their killing conditions, so it ignored the detection machine entirely and continued walking forward.

No one knew where it was heading.

The researcher controlling the machine let out a sigh of relief and quickly asked, “Director, should I keep monitoring the tree or follow this figure that is likely a resentful spirit?”

They weren’t entirely certain if this figure was a resentful spirit, but given what Xu Dongyou had said, resentful spirits were often shrouded in a gray mist, even though others couldn’t see it.

But now, they were witnessing a very real gray mist around this figure. They asked Xu Dongyou whether this mist resembled the one he saw around resentful spirits.

Xu Dongyou nodded with certainty, his tone resolute, “It must be a res. The mist is exactly the same, and my intuition tells me so.”

Of course, they couldn’t conclude it was a resentful spirit based solely on Xu Dongyou’s intuition, so they had to wait for further confirmation.

Fortunately, the other detection machine was able to return and follow the figure. So, they decided to leave the original machine to keep an eye on the bizarre tree.

The figure kept walking forward, and the machine followed from a safe distance without getting too close.

After about half an hour, they noticed that the resentful spirit seemed to be heading toward— the teleportation array.

Everyone immediately prepared themselves, watching closely as the resentful spirit approached the area around the teleportation array. It stopped briefly in front of the mysterious individual’s corpse placed by the bureau, but then ignored the body and continued forward, stepping right into the teleportation array.

Within three seconds, the resentful spirit emerged from the teleportation array on their side and gradually vanished from sight.

Everyone was stunned.

Except for Xu Dongyou, who had his heightened senses activated. He could clearly see the resentful spirit, still shrouded in that familiar gray mist, with strange black lines on its forehead that seemed to connect to some unknown place.

Xu Dongyou quickly informed everyone of his discovery. The director made a swift decision, instructing Xu Dongyou, Tian Ze, and several other handlers to follow the resentful spirit and see where it was headed.

As usual, Tian Ze drove while Xu Dongyou gave directions. Despite it being broad daylight, the resentful spirit moved incredibly fast, and it was heading toward a densely populated area.

After about half an hour, the resentful spirit stopped at an intersection and completely vanished.

This location, as it turned out, was the exact spot where the line connected to the resentful spirit. Xu Dongyou relayed what he saw to Tian Ze, who found the resentful spirit’s disappearance at this location extremely strange.

They all got out of the car, and each person asked around to see if anything unusual had happened nearby. Meanwhile, Yan Jingnan searched online. He had also seen the face of the resentful spirit. Soon, he found some useful information.

Tian Ze glanced at the screen and immediately gasped, “If this is true, the entire Bureau is going to lose it.”

Xu Dongyou looked at the screen as well, his expression just as shocked as Tian Ze’s.

About half a month ago, there had been an accident at this location. A young man in his thirties had been killed by a falling flowerpot while walking home.

Coincidentally, this man’s face matched that of the resentful spirit they had just seen.

The reason for the resentful spirit’s disappearance was now clear—it had returned to the place where it had died.

This meant that there was likely some kind of “killing rule” at play here. If anyone triggered the conditions of this resentful spirit’s killing mechanism at this location, they would be targeted.

Most importantly, it seemed they had now uncovered a possible explanation for the origin of the resentful spirits.

However, one more thing needed to be investigated—whether this resentful spirit’s body had been properly cremated. They first contacted the police to temporarily block off the area. To further prevent anyone from accidentally triggering the killing mechanism, they dug a pit over a meter deep in the area, ensuring people would avoid it.

This reduced the likelihood of anyone triggering the resentful spirit’s killing conditions.

Next, they went to the funeral home to investigate the resentful spirit’s cremation. According to the staff’s records, the body had indeed been cremated on the same day, and the bones had been placed in a grave.

To thoroughly investigate, the Bureau contacted the family of the deceased resentful spirit, explaining the need to exhume the bones for examination. They requested the family’s cooperation and offered compensation.

The family naturally agreed, given the serious nature of the matter involving the resentful spirit.

When they opened the grave and checked the urn, it indeed contained the ashes, showing no apparent issues. The staff resealed the urn and returned it to the grave. However, the investigation team was left puzzled as they returned to the array to report their findings to the director.

The director exchanged a glance with Elder Chen. Both were extremely astute individuals, and they quickly formed a rough hypothesis based on the clues in front of them.

There was still one more thing to confirm.

They continued to monitor the screen. After a long time, the mysterious corpse lying near the portal remained motionless.

They decided to observe for a few more days.

A week passed quickly, during which many researchers and handlers temporarily stayed at the site to monitor the situation.

In that week, three resentful spirits matured and fell from the tree, walking out of the portal. Before the resentful spirit could disappear, they were captured and sealed in a containment box.

To be extra cautious, they even embedded sealing stones into the box for additional security.

Over the course of the week, the mysterious corpse began to rot, but it still showed no movement. Many started speculating. Since the tree didn’t seem to actively absorb corpses from within the barrier, the mysterious person was most likely responsible for transporting bodies or some other object to the tree while they were alive.

After much deliberation, they dragged the corpse back and removed the black orb from its body. They instructed the detection device to take the orb to the vicinity of the tree. Before the device could get within fifty meters, the orb suddenly flew up by itself and attached to one of the branches, transforming into a shadowy human figure that hung there, motionless.

All the agents gasped in shock.

Now it was clear what the black orb truly was—this is how resentful spirits were created!

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