Wen Wen’s mind buzzed with thoughts, yet his face remained unchanged, assuming an expectant demeanor as he watched Lin Zheyuan analyze the items.
"Turtle Demon Yao’s carapace, a nice piece that could be used as a shield, but you probably don’t need one, do you?"
Wen Wen nodded; he didn’t feel he needed to carry a shield into battle.
"This is a Monster’s Energy Core, also known as a Demon Core, found only in a subset of wild beast-type Monsters. It’s very valuable and one of the materials used to make supernatural weapons."
"This... seems to be the branch of a plant-like Monster, not a special kind, so it’s not of much value."
Wen Wen looked regretfully at the branch, but at least, the hair of the Guile Tree Spirit could be kept.
"Then, these two beads... very interesting, how did you get them?"
"Inside that villa, there were dozens of Ghosts. After I eliminated them, some dropped these beads. What are these?"
Wen Wen certainly knew they were created by the Catastrophe Gloves, but he couldn’t reveal that to Lin Zheyuan.
Holding the beads, Lin Zheyuan explained to Wen Wen, "A Ghost is formed from a human’s Soul after death, but there is a subtle difference—the Soul is a complete energy body, whereas a Ghost contains some other materials within its body."
"These other materials are the source of a Ghost’s power. These two beads are impurities found within the body of a Ghost. Usually, they can only be extracted through special means. You just killed those Ghosts and obtained these impurities..."
Lin Zheyuan gave Wen Wen a serious look. This man was full of secrets.
"These items, I’m not planning to take back, but I also don’t want cash. See if you have anything of approximately the same value to give me instead. Gu Panxi and I have done this before; it should be alright, right?"
After pondering for a while, Lin Zheyuan nodded, "These items will be sent to Haibei Province for valuation. I’ll give you the items afterward, but I can’t guarantee exactly what they’ll be."
"Anything else is negotiable, just don’t cheat me. Also, give me a copy of the data on the Ghosts in Furong River City. I want to do a thorough clearing."
Since Wen Wen had grown familiar with Lin Zheyuan, he could easily make such requests now, unlike in the past when obtaining information was quite troublesome.
Actually, Furong River City had a considerable number of Ghosts, haunted places numbering no less than a hundred.
However, Ghosts are not that easy to deal with unless one has targeted methods like Wen Wen; otherwise, it’s not easy to eliminate them.
In Furong River City, among the superpower users, there just happened to be no one of this type.
Though people like Lin Zheyuan could also deal with Ghosts, the effort invested and the returns obtained did not equate, so they usually just sealed areas haunted by Ghosts and registered them. Unless a major incident occurred, they would not deal with them one by one.
Compared to other Monsters, Ghosts might be scary, but they really aren’t very harmful.
Because the vast majority of Ghosts do not have the capability to harm humans, and those that do are usually bound to one place or person and do not move about randomly.
The Hunters Association in the Capital District has a Demon Hunter team specifically for dealing with Ghosts. They come to Furong River City every few years to deal with all the accumulated Ghosts.
Now that Wen Wen possessed the means to hunt Ghosts, he naturally wanted to capture Ghosts to further manifest his left hand’s glove.
Once he had dealt with all the Ghosts in Furong River City, his left hand’s glove might fully materialize, granting him more powers.
"Hmm... I’m glad you want to deal with the Ghosts in Furong River City, and I’d love for you to clear up Furong River City. However..." Lin Zheyuan hesitated.
"But how is that?" Wen Wen frowned and asked, seeing that this should be good news for the Hunter Association, why the hesitation?
Lin Zheyuan sighed and said, "I might as well tell you, you are looking for this information too late. The easy-to-handle ghosts in Furong River City have all been dealt with by Yan Xiu, leaving only the more troublesome ones."
"He took care of them all?"
Wen Wen’s voice changed, feeling like he lost a hundred million: "How long has he been here!"
"Besides the necessary rest and the time he acted with you, Yan Xiu spent all his time performing exorcisms, and the people from Glory Church have a very strong suppression over ghosts."
Wen Wen’s face turned dark and gloomy. He had actually lost business.
"Why is he so active?"
Lin Zheyuan pointed at his own head and said, "The people from Glory Church are somewhat fanatical in certain aspects, and Yan Xiu is a workaholic."
"However, he also has his own small calculations. He is expanding the influence of Creation Church through exorcism. Just the time he has been here, the activity of Creation Church in Furong River City has increased significantly," Lin Zheyuan said with a wry smile.
He had not wanted people from Glory Church in the Hunters Association of Furong River City since their presence generally meant trouble, even though they and the Association stood on the same front.
But due to the accident in the park last time, Lin Zheyuan had no choice but to compromise.
Wen Wen sighed, and now that things had come to this, he couldn’t revive those ghosts just to annihilate them again.
So he said to Lin Zheyuan, "Then give me those tough nuts to crack. I’ll see if there are any I can handle well."
"I can give them to you, but you should be careful. Yan Xiu has reasons for not dealing with these ghosts."
Wen Wen nodded, indicating understanding but did not take Lin Zheyuan’s words seriously.
To him, as long as ghosts weren’t too powerful, they were merely meat on his chopping board, but Yan Xiu had taken all the good meat, leaving him only bones to gnaw on, which still annoyed him.
"By the way, how is Uncle Gong doing?" Wen Wen shifted from the topic and inquired about Gong Baoding’s condition.
"His situation is very bad. The position of the toxin is extremely critical; in just over ten days, our methods will no longer sustain his life."
"The headquarters has better facilities, but moving him even slightly, given his current condition, could worsen it and cause immediate death."
Talking about Gong Baoding, Lin Zheyuan’s expressions grew somber; despite all his efforts, Uncle Gong’s condition had not improved and might never improve again.
Wen Wen nodded and made a decision. He was going to recruit Uncle Gong as a Containment Officer.
And from the experience of recruiting Uncle Gong as a Containment Officer, he would prepare for recruiting future Containment Officers!
After ending his conversation with Lin Zheyuan, Wen Wen left the mental hospital, took the information on the remaining few dozen ghosts, and drove home.
While driving, Wen Wen saw a person wearing a hood waving at him from the roadside. He didn’t care, as there were so many cars on the road; who knew who he was greeting.
But as Wen Wen continued his journey and found the same person at every intersection, he couldn’t ignore it anymore.