Mysterious Revival

As described on the human-skin parchment, the Eight-Tone Music Box curse on Yang Jian would erupt precisely at midnight tonight.

The current time was eleven fifty.

Ten more minutes until the final deadline, but in the fifth sublevel of this laboratory, incomprehensible anomalies had already begun to surface several hours before.

The Ghost Coffin vibrated incessantly, seemingly indicating the resurrection of a malevolent spirit within, a spectral entity struggling in the coffin, attempting to break free.

Without the Ghost Envoy, the Ghost Coffin was merely relying on a faint remnant of Supernatural Power, which seemed incapable of fully suppressing whatever was inside. As the coffin shuddered and jarred, it became increasingly fractured, and by now, it was severely damaged with over a dozen gaps.

Yet through these gaps, one couldn't discern the interior of the Ghost Coffin; they were plugged by blackened hands, freakish and terrifying to behold.

And on the spirit tablet next to the Ghost Coffin, the portrait belonging to Yang Jian still oozed fresh blood ceaselessly.

The blackened and dirty spirit tablet was now thoroughly drenched in red, as if soaked in blood, its thick, coagulated fluid clinging atop, akin to a layer of red paint, unnaturally vivid.

Blood continued to seep out, obscuring the dark portrait and trickling down onto the floor, pooling into a strange, spreading puddle.

The puddle gradually expanded and darkened as if the portrait were floating on it, bobbing up and down, seemingly on the verge of sinking at any moment.

Watching this phenomenon, Wang Xiaoming furrowed his brows, a grave look in his eyes.

Even he could not comprehend what was happening now because there was no basis for it, no precedent; everything had occurred abruptly, far beyond the expectations laid out in the experimental proposal.

"Eight minutes left," he glanced at the time, then at the Eight-Tone Music Box placed on the other side.

The Eight-Tone Music Box had not changed up to this point, still appearing open. This meant that the curse had not yet dissipated.

No matter what happened, as long as the curse did not vanish, Wang Xiaoming would take no action. He would not interfere with any of the strange phenomena but instead chose to observe from a cold distance.

The curse was of utmost importance. Without eliminating it, whether Yang Jian or Guo Fan survived would be meaningless.

"The coffin's vibrations are intensifying," Wei Jing's numb, empty eyes fixated on the room.

Under some force's influence, the Ghost Coffin had begun to hop from the ground, striking fiercely against the adjacent glass pane.

Fortunately, the glass was sturdy and did not shatter; otherwise, heaven knows what might happen once the Ghost Coffin came out.

The room grew visibly plagued by supernatural invasion, the light dimmed, and the lamps outside could not penetrate; darkness was gradually swallowing the space.

In the final five minutes, the room was completely enveloped in darkness.

This came from the spread of the supernatural forces within the Ghost Coffin, like the Ghost Domain of the Ghost Envoy, pitch-black, where one could not see their own hand before them.

"The restraints of the Ghost Coffin are completely ineffective..." Wang Xiaoming felt a chill in his heart.

This outcome was within his expectations; perhaps the residual Supernatural Power in the Ghost Coffin was insufficient to suppress the ghost in Yang Jian's body. But it didn't matter, as this room could temporarily replace the Ghost Coffin, confining the uncontrollable ghost.

Moreover, this level had been sealed off. Even if the Supernatural Power leaked, it would hardly affect the outside.

Not to mention, Wei Jing was watching over it.

If the defenses laid out on these levels were breached, then Wang Xiaoming would have nothing to say.

"Three minutes left," Wang Xiaoming checked the time once more.

But at this moment, the room's glass window again displayed numerous blackened hands, writhing on the pane as though seeking crevices to seep through.

"Bang! Bang!"

Once again, loud noises emanated from the room, not from the vibrations of the Ghost Coffin but an actual person violently striking at the door and walls.

The only thing inside with the power to bang on the door was one particular object.

That was Yang Jian's corpse.

The corpse had lost control.

Perhaps now, Guo Fan no longer dominated Yang Jian's body, but an unknown ghost did.

"Two minutes left," Wang Xiaoming's expression grew more grave. He had a premonition that under no circumstances could they allow Yang Jian's corpse to escape from there.

Otherwise, the consequences could be unimaginable.

However, such relentless battering was not without effect.

Soon, a slender crack appeared in the sealed room, with scarlet blood oozing out and streaming along the floor.

The blood spread rapidly, soon covering a large area.

"Back off," Wang Xiaoming said, watching the seeping blood, signaling Wei Jing not to approach.

At this moment, any action could potentially lead to unimaginably horrific outcomes.

In the last few minutes, other sounds emerged from the darkness-shrouded room, no longer the thudding against the door and walls, but screams, sounds of struggle, which seemed partially like Guo Fan's yet strangely unfamiliar, making it indistinguishable and utterly eerie.

"The time is almost up." Wang Xiaoming glanced at his watch, only a dozen seconds remaining.

The curse of the Eight-Tone Music Box was about to end.

Suddenly, as the hands of the clock met the 12 o'clock mark, the appointed time of midnight arrived.

The noise in the room came to an abrupt halt.

There was no longer the sound of a coffin shaking, nor the noise of something hitting doors and windows, and the screams had also faded into nothingness... Everything had returned to silence.

Click!

On the other side, the Eight-Tone Music Box that had been open suddenly closed.

This phenomenon indicated that the released curse had vanished, and it also awaited the next person to open the Eight-Tone Music Box, while the last person to bear the curse must have been killed, as there had been no special cases of survival to this day.

Yang Jian wasn't the first to use the Eight-Tone Music Box, so Wang Xiaoming was very clear about its workings.

"There's no mistake, the timing is accurate, the curse indeed ends at midnight," Wang Xiaoming said.

"The darkness in the room is dissipating," Wei Jing, who had been observing, reminded them.

Sure enough.

The darkness that previously filled the room like a Ghost Envoy from the Ghost Domain was now rapidly fading, a speed both swift and unfathomable. This appeared to be a good thing, at the very least it allowed for a clear view of the inside of the room, so as not to be utterly clueless.

As the darkness dissipated, everything inside was revealed once again.

The Ghost Coffin was gone, leaving only scattered wooden fragments on the ground. This supernatural object had been damaged beyond repair after losing the Ghost Envoy, and now it had finally reached its limit and been utterly destroyed. Unless the Ghost Envoy could be captured again and confined within the coffin, it was impossible for the Ghost Coffin to reappear in this world.

And in the middle of the room, atop the broken wooden pieces.

Yang Jian's body lay there intact, motionless, stiff and straight.

His complexion was slightly pale, revealing an unhealthy color, eyes closed, tranquil and serene, as if he had just recently died, and was very calm. This calm meant that the corpse had not undergone any supernatural phenomena.

It's important to know that Yang Jian was now housing three ghosts, and any abnormality could potentially lead to a terrifying supernatural event.

"The experiment has ended, Guo Fan didn't survive; he was killed by the curse of the Eight-Tone Music Box," Wei Jing stated.

Wang Xiaoming fell into deep thought.

According to his plan, there was actually another outcome: the possibility that Guo Fan could withstand the curse's onslaught with the power of the Ghost Coffin. However, when he had first learned about the curse of the Eight-Tone Music Box, he did not possess the Ghost Coffin; the idea came to him later.

Therefore, theoretically, Guo Fan's death was not a certainty; there was still a possibility that he might survive.

If Guo Fan had survived this time, perhaps he would have made other arrangements for Yang Jian.

Now... the Ghost Coffin had shattered, Yang Jian's body remained still, and Guo Fan was presumed dead.

The only choice left was to awaken Yang Jian.

Looking at the body lying in the room, Wang Xiaoming was somewhat concerned. The various bizarre changes that had occurred earlier sent out a dangerous signal.

The corpse had undergone inexplicable, eerie changes, and rash contact could be extremely dangerous.

"Professor Wang, did you hear what I said? Should we put the spiritual plaque back on Yang Jian's body and let his consciousness return?" Wei Jing asked.

Wang Xiaoming's expression was uncertain: "Wait a moment, I want to observe the situation. Yang Jian's body is too peaceful, the ghosts inside him are also silent, this is a bit illogical. Normally, after Guo Fan is killed by the curse, the moment Yang Jian's body loses the consciousness of a living person, the probability of the ghosts' revival is very high."

"Maybe the suppression of the Ghost Coffin is still in effect, and the ghosts within Yang Jian's body are being suppressed by the coffin, now in a temporary state of 'crash'," Wei Jing proposed his guess.

"It's possible, but not very likely."

Wang Xiaoming approached the room, and through the glass window, he could clearly see inside. Yang Jian's body was still motionless on the ground, and that eerie spiritual plaque was still soaked in a pool of blood, a bright crimson. Although it was equally quiet, it emitted an unusual aura in every aspect.

It seemed that with the curse of the Eight-Tone Music Box dissipated, the room had established some sort of incomprehensible balance.

This balance appeared stable at first glance, but he knew it was very fragile.

The three ghosts inside Yang Jian weren't so readily managed.

In other words, if all three ghosts within his body had fallen silent, what could be the cause?

"The problem lies with the spiritual plaque..."

After a short reflection, Wang Xiaoming's gaze sharply turned towards the blood-stained, aged spiritual plaque.

The photo on the plaque had become indistinct, so covered in blood that Yang Jian's features were totally obscured.

The anomaly emerged from the spiritual plaque; he had studied the Ghost Coffin many times, it was impossible for any abnormality to exist. The only uncertain factor was the spiritual plaque.

"If Guo Fan really was killed by the curse of the Eight-Tone Music Box, then the ghosts in Yang Jian would revive, but the situation is different from what was expected," he mumbled to himself, head lowered.

"Unless Guo Fan is still alive, still in control of Yang Jian's body and the ghosts within."

"But the curse of the Eight-Tone Music Box has indeed ended..."

"Another possibility is that Guo Fan lied, the curse persists on Yang Jian, and the one who died when the curse ended was Yang Jian. But this likelihood is slim, Guo Fan didn't know about the curse on Yang Jian, he had no information on this, and even if he had, he wouldn't have needed to pretend to be cursed."

"That leaves only one possibility, Guo Fan did indeed suffer the curse, and he is indeed still alive. But under the curse of the Eight-Tone Music Box, a living person can't survive. The only one who can block the curse and not die must be another ghost..."

Ghosts cannot be killed, and a ghost will remain unaffected by the curse of the Eight-Tone Music Box, because no curse is strong enough to annihilate a ghost.

"Therefore, Guo Fan is a ghost."

Once Wang Xiaoming realized this, his eyes narrowed slightly, and he recalled the information revealed by the piece of human skin paper.

So, this solution to dispelling the curse of the Eight-Tone Music Box was a trap set by a ghost for the living.