Free Web NovelChapter 87: Chapter 5: Anomalous Records of Jin Hai Mansion
Yu Sheng wasn’t the only one in the apartment who could predict the future.
There was also the Future Jar.
Come to think of it, he hadn’t touched the thing in a long time, not since he came down from the fifth floor.
Gao Tian opened his wardrobe and, from behind a large pile of camouflaging clothes, retrieved an object wrapped in black cloth. It was the Future Jar. He lifted it out, bringing it into the light, and pulled off the black covering.
Inside the jar was a skeleton master, a stone wall covered in ant-like script, and a small stream at its feet. Nothing had changed much.
Gao Tian’s pupils shrank to pinpricks.
The only thing that had changed was the skeleton. The first time he’d laid eyes on the skeletal remains, it had been sitting upright before the stone wall, meditating earnestly. That had changed.
At some point, Master Yunshan’s skeleton had stood up completely. It was now standing on the rock at its feet.
No.
Gao Tian wasn’t an idiot; he couldn’t have misremembered something so simple.
’How could it have stood up on its own when no one had touched it? Could it be that this Master Yunshan isn’t dead at all, but merely hibernating in the jar?’
Gao Tian was at a loss. The Future Jar’s original owner was Xu Yuan. Besides him, no one knew how to use it properly.
He had no idea if the skeleton’s change in posture was a good omen or a bad one.
But just as Gao Tian was contemplating his next move, a gray mist once again swirled within the jar. The scenery at the bottom changed as it began to generate a new vision of the future for him.
...
Flames cast a glow on billowing clouds of thick, black smoke. In the distance, red emergency lights flashed incessantly—he couldn’t tell if they belonged to fire trucks or police cars.
The floor beneath his feet was shattered marble, surrounded by the broken walls and ruins of reinforced concrete. It looked like the aftermath of a major earthquake or some other terrible accident; the scene was a disaster. He could faintly hear the sound of people crying.
Paramedics carrying stretchers wove through the black smoke. Amid the comings and goings of the crowd, Gao Tian’s eyes immediately locked onto two particular figures.
One was "Gao Tian," standing amid the ruins. He didn’t seem injured at all, his hands stuffed in his pockets.
Although Gao Tian couldn’t make out his expression, for some reason, the "Gao Tian" in the vision radiated an aura of pure delight—an irrepressible mix of ecstasy and arrogance.
Nearby, a programmer in a plaid shirt was squatting on the ground, wailing uncontrollably until he started to dry-heave. He threw up all over the ground, so exhausted he was practically limp.
The man in the plaid shirt didn’t appear physically harmed, but having just escaped death with his poor mental fortitude, he was suffering a severe stress reaction.
Just then, the "Gao Tian" in the vision spoke to someone unseen in the black smoke. He held out one hand, presenting an urn, and then held out the other, presenting a second one.
’Two urns?’
...
And with that, the vision of the future dissipated.
At the bottom of the jar, Master Yunshan’s skeleton remained standing, a stark contrast to the meditative pose it had held initially.
Gao Tian was able to extract several pieces of information from the vision.
The programmer who had narrowly escaped death and was vomiting was Wang Wenbo. Something had indeed happened at his building. Without Gao Tian’s intervention, Wang Wenbo would have died there that day.
Thanks to his arrival, Wang Wenbo didn’t die, and Gao Tian himself was unharmed.
Furthermore, his future self had acquired a new urn.
’If this is the prophesied future, should I still get involved?’
Gao Tian mulled it over.
’Perhaps Yu Sheng’s prophecy about a fatal ordeal wasn’t referring to this trip.’
’Or maybe something even more terrifying is going to happen, something the vision didn’t show.’
’But if I don’t go... Jiang Yang is already trapped at the subway station. It’s very likely Wang Wenbo will actually die.’
After some thought, he dialed Wang Wenbo’s number.
As expected, he heard the "the user you are calling is busy" message again.
’That’s strange. Who could Wang Wenbo be talking to for this long?’
After much deliberation, Gao Tian decided to go and check things out for himself.
The prophecies from the Future Jar were hard to change. If he didn’t leave the apartment on his own accord, something else would probably happen to force him out anyway.
Besides, he had plenty of life-saving items on hand. If he ran into danger, he could always retreat back to the Living Persons’ Apartment.
Before leaving, Gao Tian took stock of his Supernatural Artifacts.
Offensive:
Terror Blade
Ghost Transformation Spear (purpose unknown)
Wind Attendant Buddha
...
Defensive:
Ghost Card
Black Card (x2)
Mirror Ghost
...
Utility:
Shattered Face Ghost
Memory Ghost
Black Tie
Future Jar
...
He had accumulated so many artifacts that it was becoming difficult to carry them all with him on missions.
’If only I had a Spatial Nanoring like the ones in the cultivation novels I used to read. Then I could just pick up a bunch of priceless treasures and toss them inside for storage.’
Then, a thought struck Gao Tian.
’Don’t I have something similar to a Spatial Ring myself?’
He pulled a small mirror from his jacket pocket. Ever since acquiring the Mirror Ghost’s ability, Gao Tian always carried a mirror so he could enter the Mirror World at a moment’s notice to escape his enemies.
He laid the miscellaneous collection of items on the floor and focused his will.
A blood-red arm slowly extended from the mirror’s surface, grasped the Ghost Transformation Spear, and gradually pulled it inside.
He then repeated the process, pulling the Supernatural Artifacts into the other side of the mirror one by one.
Just to be safe, Gao Tian carried the mirror and walked from the third-floor hallway down to the living room on the first floor.
Then, he issued another command to the Mirror Ghost inside.
’Let’s try taking out the Terror Blade, since it’s the one I use most often.’
The blood-red arm appeared instantly. Within a second, it had retrieved the Terror Blade from the mirror and placed it in Gao Tian’s hand.
The test was a success.
This side effect of the Mirror Ghost meant it could be used as a portable storage space. From now on, no matter how many Supernatural Artifacts he collected, he wouldn’t have to worry about not being able to carry them.
This would give Gao Tian far more flexibility in actual combat.
Of course, he still wore the Black Tie around his neck. Just in case.
...
After a half-hour bus ride, he stood before a magnificent, glittering office building—one of Shanghai’s landmarks, Jin Hai Mansion.
Wang Wenbo was certainly a senior employee at a major corporation, as expected. To be honest, if it weren’t for the Living Persons’ Apartment, Gao Tian would probably never have much contact with someone of Wang Wenbo’s social standing.
But now, in the Era of the Supernatural, Wang Wenbo had become the vulnerable one, forced to seek help from an ordinary high school student like Gao Tian.
’I wonder what kind of supernatural event is happening inside the mansion.’
Gao Tian watched the endless stream of white-collar workers on the ground floor. Everything seemed perfectly normal, with no signs of panic or commotion from a supernatural event. Most of the employees didn’t seem to have any sense of the impending crisis at all.
It seemed the supernatural phenomenon was still small in scale. Only a fraction of the people inside had noticed, and it hadn’t yet affected the building’s overall operations.
But the situation would likely escalate, just as the Future Jar’s prophecy suggested, until the entire mansion collapsed, causing innumerable casualties.
Before entering the mansion, Gao Tian tried calling Wang Wenbo one last time.
As expected, it failed.
’Well, there’s no other choice. I’ll have to find him myself.’
Everyone entering the building had to swipe a card at the security gate. Two uniformed security guards watched hawkishly, ensuring no unauthorized individuals entered the Jin Hai Group’s headquarters.
Gao Tian slowly approached. One of the guards, who was wearing sunglasses, slowly looked up, his attention clearly caught by the suspicious-looking young man.
"I’m looking for Wang Wenbo. Find out what floor his department is on, and open the gate for me."
Gao Tian spoke in a commanding tone, offering no introduction or pleasantries.
The guard gave him a baffled look:
"Who are you? Do you have a referral? An appointment?
"If you don’t have an appointment, get lost. Where did this kid come from, spouting nonsense? If you don’t leave now, we’ll throw you out."
Gao Tian sighed, then dropped the name of the Jin Hai Group’s chairman:
"I’m part of the inspection team sent by your Mr. Zhu.
"Have you two forgotten? Didn’t your supervisor mention it this morning?"
As he spoke, he activated the Memory Ghost’s ability.
The expressions on the guards’ faces, hidden behind their sunglasses, gradually shifted from disdain and suspicion to dawning comprehension. One of them slapped his forehead, seemingly annoyed with himself for having forgotten.
"Oh, right, right! That’s right, there was something about that. Please wait a moment, young man. Have a seat on the sofa over there and have some tea.
"You’re looking for Wang Wenbo, right? We’ll look him up for you right away.
"He’s in the tech department, 11th floor, B-wing. Do you want us to show you the way?"
The security gate swung open, and Gao Tian walked through.
Before heading up into Jin Hai Mansion, he asked one more question:
"Let me ask you, has anything strange happened on the eleventh floor today?"
The two guards exchanged a look:
"Strange things?
"No one’s reported anything to us. Doesn’t seem like it.
"But we only handle the ground floor. You’d have to ask our captain about what’s going on upstairs."
He picked up his walkie-talkie to make a call.
After a brief conversation with someone in the office, the guard lowered his walkie-talkie and walked back over to Gao Tian.
"Alright, young man.
"This morning, something did happen in the B-wing of the eleventh floor. Something pretty strange.
"An extra staircase appeared on that floor."
Gao Tian froze, as if he hadn’t understood.
"An extra staircase?
"What does that mean?
"Is there something wrong with my hearing, or are you not making any sense?"
The guard repeated:
"It’s exactly what it sounds like. A superfluous staircase appeared—"
