Chapter 296

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Chapter 296: The River God, Wang Lei

When Chu Jiang saw the statue of Wang Lei, Wang Lei also saw Chu Jiang.

In that moment, Chu Jiang noticed that the stone face of the statue actually changed. It revealed a complex expression, a mix of pain, sorrow, and relief.

Although the statue appeared quite human-like, Chu Jiang didn’t let his guard down. He even silently prepared himself to transform into Chu’s Jiang halfway, ready for the statue to suddenly start killing.

Behind this cave, there is another cave. But the walls here don’t have any paintings anymore, only a lonely statue on the altar at the end.

"Are you someone from the research institute?" the statue spoke with a deep and hoarse voice.

"Yes, I am currently in charge of Luohe City. I came here to investigate the death of the former leader, Wang Lei, and the local river god beliefs."

Since the other party showed signs of being able to communicate, Chu Jiang didn’t mind trying to communicate first.

"How is it outside now? Is it very bad…"

"Even though I am trapped in this statue, my influence can only reach Nangao Village. But wherever Luohe’s water flows, no matter how far, I have a vague sense of it."

"The situation of supernatural revival has become more severe, especially for a period of time when I completely lost my connection to Luohe City, as if the entire city had been wiped off the map."

"When I regained my awareness of Luohe City, there were fewer people, so it seems that many have died…"

Chu Jiang was somewhat surprised that after the statue confirmed that he was a member of Research Institute No. 21, the first thing it asked was about the outside world, the progress of supernatural revival, what happened to Luohe City, and how many people died.

Honestly, this fits well with Chu Jiang’s "imagination" of Wang Lei.

Although Chu Jiang had never met the former leader, through early communication with Luo Yifeng, Lin Yun, and Chen Keai, he could already envision what they looked like in his mind.

Despite looking fierce, this person is actually very kind, loyal, and righteous. They actively solve supernatural incidents and take care of the people around them.

Moreover, Wang Lei is not just a brute; he has his own ideas. For example, when he discovered something special about the Lin Ancestral Hall, he didn’t immediately report it. Instead, like Chu Jiang, he prioritized investigating the situation himself.

Seeing that Chu Jiang didn’t answer right away and was just staring at him, the stone statue chuckled self-deprecatingly, "Well, it’s true. You don’t even know whether I’m a human or a ghost right now, so naturally, you’re not in the mood to talk to me about this."

It spoke much more fluently now.

"You can ask me your questions. I’ll answer them first. I want to establish a preliminary trust with you."

After saying this, the stone statue’s gaze shifted towards the changing gestures on Chu Jiang’s body. It hesitated slightly before saying, "You are very special. When you reveal this kind of power, even the river god feels wary of you. I can sense its restlessness."

After thinking for a moment, Chu Jiang simply asked, "Are you currently a human or a ghost?"

"Is it a ghost? After all, I don’t even have a body. But my situation is very special. My conscious, or should I say my soul, is entwined with the ghost and brought back to Luohe. It resides in this statue."

"Return?" Chu Jiang noticed this word keenly.

"Yes, I believe you’ve also read my file. When I was in charge of Luohe City, I controlled a water ghost."

"To be honest, it was quite powerful. Even the research institute didn’t realize how unique the water ghost inside me was."

"And I, myself, also consider it as an ace in the hole."

"Usually, when dealing with supernatural events, I rarely exert my full strength. On one hand, it’s unnecessary, and on the other hand, I have the intention of keeping a low profile."

The stone statue sighed when reaching this point. "But I never expected that this ghost would end up becoming a death omen for me."

"I imagined that I would be invaded by the ghost inside me and die, but never like this—neither human nor ghost, subjected to inhumane torment until complete death."

"Now that I think about it, me, a native northerner, coming all the way here to be in charge of Luohe City seems problematic."

"Unfortunately, when I officially became the leader, I didn’t think much about it. The research institute was lacking a lot of people at that time, and they gave me a list to choose from."

"I instinctively thought this ‘Luohe City’ was very interesting, so I ultimately chose to come to this southern city to work."

"Now thinking back, I should have been unconsciously influenced by the water ghost inside me. It wanted to return to its original water area."

"At first, when I first arrived in Luohe City, everything was fine. But as I became the leader after half a year and used the power of that water ghost multiple times, it gradually became harder to control and started to recover."

"At that time, I originally wanted to find a day to go back to headquarters and transplant the second ghost, but everything happened too suddenly."

"Just a few days before I planned to book my plane ticket, I was sitting in the office looking up information when my health suddenly worsened."

"No, to be precise, it completely lost control. That water ghost completely broke free from my restraint. It not only left my body, but also took away my consciousness."

"This was manifested by Wang Lei suddenly dying in the office."

"And this water ghost didn’t leave any traces at the scene. It didn’t kill anyone, it just instinctively returned to Luohe."

"In the end, something very strange happened. As soon as the water ghost returned to Luohe, I immediately felt that it became much stronger. As for me, in a blink of an eye, I realized I had been possessed by this statue."

When Chu Jiang heard this, he temporarily interrupted the other person and said, "Wait a moment, I must remind you that before Wang Lei’s death, several foreign Ghost Masters came to this mysterious cave."

"They came to investigate the belief in the River God and also discovered this statue. At that time, the statue already looked like Wang Lei."

The statue nodded slightly with a very small movement and said, "The erosion from the water ghost, or rather the River God, was subtle and gradual."

"Before I died, it gradually completed its ‘imprint’ on me, making this statue resemble me."

"And I have some recollection of those foreigners. After all, there are relatively few foreign tourists in Luohe City, and I died shortly after seeing them."

"Actually, until now, I still haven’t figured out why the River God did this." There was strong confusion in the statue’s tone of voice.

"Was it trying to become a superior deity? Then why involve me? Wouldn’t it be better to just wipe out my consciousness definitively…"