pertwk Chapter 36: Doppelganger
Chapter 36: Doppelganger
Su Qin and his clone studied each other for about an hour before they finally understood their own situation.
The clone possessed all of Su Qin's memories and knowledge, almost like another version of himself, except that his mental state seemed to be slightly worse.
The clone can utilize about 30% of the original body's supernatural abilities, with the intensity of these abilities perfectly balanced with the original supernatural abilities within the body.
This is equivalent to this clone controlling three B-level vengeful spirits, but the flaws are obvious.
Once the supernatural power of the main body is interrupted, or if the main body encounters a problem, the original supernatural power within the clone will lose its suppression and may immediately lose its balance.
The risk of the vengeful ghost resurrecting is far higher than that of Su Qin himself. Once the ghost goes out of control, it could very likely trigger some unknown consequences.
The two vengeful ghosts inside Su Qin's body seem to have become more terrifying, the most obvious feature being that the color of the mediating lines is darker.
At the same time, it can also utilize the supernatural power within the clone, which is about 70-80% of its strength. Perhaps it can use more supernatural power, or even directly seize the source of the supernatural power.
But that would not only risk the clone going out of control, but also disrupt the supernatural balance within his main body.
"It seems I need to think carefully before creating more clones in the future."
No wonder that foreign devil only targeted ordinary people; there was such a high risk involved.
Actually, Su Qin was overthinking it. The foreigner had been on the verge of losing control and hadn't done much research on the supernatural aspects of the monocle, nor did he dare to try anything recklessly.
Moreover, many of the supernatural properties only occurred after Su Qin experienced a conflict between two supernatural forces within his body when he was using the monocle.
"Now I finally have some ability to protect myself. In the current paranormal community, there are probably only a very small number of people who have reached this point!"
According to Su Qin's speculation, there are not many ghost tamers in the paranormal world at present, and very few of the new generation of ghost tamers can control two ghosts.
At least within the Investigation Bureau, only Zhang Xun controlled two ghosts, and the extent of their terror is unknown.
Su Qin can now use the supernatural powers of the three ghosts. Although the blade-shaped glasses are not lethal in actual combat, they are very effective at protecting his life.
He can create multiple ordinary human clones, and if absolutely necessary, he can even learn from that foreign devil and abandon his original body.
"It's time to go out and deal with those two ghosts."
Su Qin is in better condition than before. He can use supernatural abilities at will without any problems. Even if he were to confront that old ghost outside head-on, he might not lose.
He had already analyzed the old ghost's killing patterns and methods to a great extent.
The pattern of the killing might be footsteps, since the ghost only attacks those who run away, and those who stay put are not attacked. Even if that's not the case, it should be fine as long as it attacks from underground.
The troublesome thing is the terrifying bell sound, the widespread supernatural attacks, and the certain death upon hearing it. The triggering pattern is still unclear, and even the source of the vengeful ghost and what kind of being it is are still unknown, making it extremely dangerous.
"Go out first, find the source of the bell, and try to solve it. Calculate the time; the bell outside should ring in about three minutes."
Su Qin took out his phone and checked the time. It was still three minutes before the time when he first calculated the interval between the chimes three days ago. Only three days had passed, so there shouldn't be much change.
Of course, his phone might also be subject to paranormal interference, resulting in inaccurate timekeeping.
After all, this wasn't a satellite-guided phone. After leaving Shipai Village, he reported the situation to Cao Yanhua and entrusted the satellite-guided phone to Liu Furong for safekeeping before entering Jinshan Temple. He didn't want to be disturbed by a sudden phone call.
At this moment, Liu Furong, with a worried expression, sat in a police car outside Jinshan Temple, looking at the incoming call display on his satellite positioning phone, hesitating whether to answer.
Starting three days ago, I've been getting phone calls every four hours, all in an authoritative tone asking about the situation. I even have to answer the phone in the middle of the night.
No wonder Su Qin would entrust him with such an important communication tool.
It's been four days since Su Qin entered Jinshan Temple, and there's been no movement at all. Half an hour after Su Qin entered Jinshan Temple, the military sealed off the entire temple. No one has been seen coming out during this time, and no one knows what's going on inside.
Liu Furong knew nothing about supernatural matters and had little experience, so he couldn't judge the specific situation inside. However, he guessed that Su Qin had most likely been defeated.
After all, there had been no movement for three days, so they didn't dare to go in and check rashly, and could only stay outside.
After hesitating for a moment, Liu Furong still chose to answer the phone; he had no other choice.
The Captain Cao on the phone list seemed to be of a very high rank, like some big shot in Dajing City, someone that a mere criminal police captain like him couldn't afford to offend.
"Hello! This is Liu Furong. I'm patrolling outside Jinshan Temple. What instructions do you have?"
He had repeated this mechanical opening line dozens of times; he could even predict what the other person would say next.
"Has Su Qin not emerged yet? Have any unusual circumstances been detected within the sealed-off area?"
Sure enough, it was the same question as before, even the tone was the same.
"No, Mr. Su did not come out. Just like before, no one came out of Jinshan Temple, and nothing was found."
Liu Furong reported the situation truthfully, although he already suspected that something had happened, but he did not say it out loud.
He is not a professional; he was just temporarily holding onto the satellite-guided phone. He is not qualified to judge such paranormal events.
"Continue monitoring; report any new developments immediately!"
On the other end of the phone, Cao Yanhua hung up the satellite phone and took a deep drag on his cigarette.
His ashtray on his desk was piled high with cigarette butts, even though someone emptied it every day. At this rate, he would definitely get lung cancer within five years.
He was under too much pressure, and only smoking could slightly relieve his anxiety and help him stay calm.
Recently, paranormal events have broken out in various places. The Dragon Kingdom has a vast territory with hundreds of major cities alone, and the twenty or so ghost hunters of the Paranormal Investigation Bureau are simply not enough to handle it.
He even agreed to Zhao Jianguo's suggestion to spend a lot of money to temporarily hire folk exorcists to solve the paranormal events.
"At this rate, we can't hold on any longer; we need to make preparations as soon as possible."
At this rate, the frequency of paranormal events may increase, and they could sweep across the country in six months.
The Interpol program established by the United States is completely unreliable!
Those damned foreign devils have no good intentions.
The supernatural events in Jinshi this time were probably caused by these bastards. They did such a heinous thing in order to suppress China.
They also cost us a promising demon hunter and four excellent candidate investigators. We absolutely cannot agree to their proposal and must not let their evil scheme succeed.
It seems we have no choice but to consider Shen Liang's suggestion first.
Compared to those cunning Americans, the folk exorcists, though somewhat reckless and difficult to control, are at least Chinese.
The only question is how to explain this to Elder Qin.
Compared to other troubles, what bothered him the most was that old man who was a nominal bureau chief.
That was the backbone of the Investigation Bureau. Without Old Qin, the Investigation Bureau would never have been established, and the domestic paranormal community would have been a disorganized mess.
Su Qin was personally placed into the Investigation Bureau by Qin Lao, which made his intentions very clear: he was probably groomed to be his successor.
But now that Su Qin has been defeated in Tianjin, Qin Lao must give him an explanation.
The situation outside is becoming increasingly dire, but it has no effect on Su Qin in the Ghost Realm.
The clone inherited Su Qin's consciousness and memories, as well as many of his bad habits, and he was currently frowning.
"Can't we not go?"
That unknown vengeful spirit was quite terrifying; with my current knowledge of the supernatural, I'm afraid I couldn't withstand it.
"It would be better to act together; the two of us working together would increase our chances of success."
The clone also has its own agenda. Although it is a clone, it still has consciousness and is afraid of death.
The person who knows you best is, of course, another version of yourself, and Su Qin saw through his little scheme at a glance.
"Don't be silly, you still expect to use me, the original body, as cannon fodder?"
If you die, at worst I can just create another part of my consciousness and you'll live again, but if I die, I'm truly dead.
Time's almost up, let's wait two more minutes to be on the safe side before we leave.
The consciousness was clearly split from the same person, but the clone was unwilling to sacrifice itself, which left Su Qin feeling helpless.
Humans are ultimately human and cannot be controlled like machines or dolls. Even if a clone is created by supernatural forces, it still belongs to the realm of humans and is afraid of death just like the original.
Although the clone was very unwilling, he did not refute it. Although he was also afraid of death, he had to face reality because he was also Su Qin.
When the two minutes were up, the clone did not hesitate, quickly opened the wooden door and crawled out.
He used his original body's supernatural abilities to travel underground. He possessed the original body's memories and had a general understanding of the temple's layout.
He arrived at the spot where the original body had initially hidden, and directly above him was the fat monk who was already dead.
This is the place where the original body first heard the bell. He will start from this place to carefully investigate and find the source of the bell.
Kim Sonsa Temple is a relatively famous temple that houses nearly a hundred monks. It has a large area with over a hundred rooms.
Finding a vengeful ghost whose appearance is unknown among them in a short time will not be easy.
"At this rate, when will we ever find a solution? We need to come up with a plan quickly!"
Half an hour will be up soon.
The original body gave the phone to the clone, along with a body bag, so that the clone could keep track of time and deal with emergencies.
"Why don't we listen to the bell first?"
Last time in Shipai Village, they used sound to determine direction; I don't know if that worked.
Half an hour was almost up, and the clone quickly hid in the body bag to avoid being attacked by supernatural forces.
At the same time, he began to concentrate on listening to the bell to see if he could determine the ghost's location by the sound.
Five minutes after the clone hid in the body bag, a dull bell rang out in the temple, two chimes with an interval of about ten seconds between them.
Although the body bag blocked the eerie sound of the bell, it could not completely block it out; the clone could still hear it clearly.
However, he had not studied this area of expertise, so it was unrealistic for him to rely on this method to determine the source of the sound.
Moreover, this is in a ghost realm where space is distorted, making it impossible to determine the exact direction. He could only determine that the sound was coming from the ground, so his actions were meaningless.