Suddenly, Wen Wen's mother noticed Wen Wen over here. She looked at him, stunned, as if remembering something, and a tear rolled down her eye.
Then, she slowly walked towards Wen Wen, as if wanting to touch his face.
Wen Wen sighed. He knew he couldn't watch any longer.
An ordinary person might take this opportunity to reconnect with their loved ones, falling right into the ghosts' trap.
But Wen Wen wouldn't, because he knew that in the other hand, hidden behind his mother's back, was a rusty steel spike!
And this wasn't his mother; it was Grandma Zhao Yan from the bun shop, disguised as Wen Wen's mother, intending to stab him to death with that spike!
"No wonder Yan Xiu fell for it. Doesn't everyone have someone they can't bear to harm... But I don't!"
If he continued watching, things would develop in a direction Wen Wen didn't want.
He didn't want to see a monstrous mother, even a fake one.
Wen Wen activated the ability of his chest plate, and all the illusions vanished before his eyes. Only Wen Wen, sitting on a broken table and chair, remained, along with the five surrounding ghosts.
Among them was Grandma Zhao Yan, playing the role of his mother and trying to approach him.
She didn't yet know that Wen Wen had broken free from the illusion.
In the past, those who came to exorcise spirits either weren't tempted by illusions, died within them, or only broke free when faced with a life-or-death crisis.
Someone like Wen Wen, who had entered the illusion but managed to break free before their devised story unfolded, was something they had never encountered.
Wen Wen walked blankly towards the old woman, reaching out his right hand to touch her face.
Then, to the shocked gazes of the surrounding ghosts, he delivered an extremely loud slap. The sound was so great that it echoed through the empty bun shop.
Old woman Zhao Yan lay on the ground, looking at Wen Wen in disbelief. How could he touch the physical form of a ghost?
"Well, it seems your specialty doesn't work on me, and I can harm you. So, if you want to live, come up with some new tricks."
Wen Wen grabbed the old woman by her collar and pulled her up. She frantically tried to pry his hands off with her ghostly powers, but it was useless.
"You guys don't know how to play either. If it were me, I'd place poisoned iron nails on the chairs. Anyone who sat down would be poisoned to death. No need for me to act."
Zhou Xun floated forward a short distance, her face ashen, and said to Wen Wen,
"Let go of my grandmother. Why are you here to capture us? We just want to live peacefully, yet we suffer such great injustice. I hate all of you. Back then..."
Oh, right. Her face was genuinely ashen, not just a descriptive adjective. Standing there, she could make a child cry.
"Hold on a moment, let's save some time for both of us. I know your story. There's no need for lengthy explanations."
"I just want to ask, how did you capture that reporter and photographer, and how did you evade the police for a month?" Wen Wen posed his question.
During the incident at the Jiang family villa, he had harbored some doubts.
This was because he realized that in many cases that led to the creation of special vengeful spirits, the perpetrators lacked the ability to execute the crimes.
Take Jiang Yusheng's car accident case, for instance. Although Jiang Yusheng did carry it out, he simply didn't have the capability to complete the act and couldn't have evaded police and detectives afterward.
In a federation with a specialized detective industry and highly developed forensic technology, it was difficult for an amateur to commit a crime perfectly and escape for the first time.
Based on this doubt, Wen Wen investigated many homicide cases involving ghosts and discovered numerous anomalies.
Setting aside ordinary minor spirits, the homicide cases connected to spirits with certain special characteristics within the Furong River area had perpetrators with nearly flawless execution skills!
Details like fingerprints, footprints, methods of hiding bodies and murder weapons, eyewitness accounts, etc., were all concealed.
It was as if these cases, with different perpetrators, were all orchestrated by the same experienced criminal!
This included Qin Shuang's death!
He met someone online, was invited to a hotel, then discovered by the woman's boyfriend. Ultimately, he, a young boy, was murdered by the couple, dismembered, and hidden in the refrigerator!
It took a whole year until the couple surrendered themselves, and no one could investigate the murderer!
Cases similar to Qin Shuang's were everywhere.
At least half of the remaining more powerful ghosts in Furong River City were involved in similar cases.
If Wen Wen hadn't transitioned from a detective to a demon hunter, he would never have noticed the trickery involved.
Therefore, he wanted to find this family and get answers.
"You know our grievances, so why do you still come to capture us? What did we do wrong? It's all your fault, you hateful living people."
Zhou Xun didn't answer Wen Wen's question but said to him with resentment.
"Her aura is different from the other four ghosts... Perhaps today, I only need to capture her."
Wen Wen pondered for a moment, then said to her, "I am a hunter, and you are ghosts. It's naturally right and reasonable for me to capture you. Why so many questions?"
Zhou Xun's malevolent aura intensified, and she said to Wen Wen in a mournful voice, "You stood by and did nothing, everyone stood by and did nothing. That's why our family ended up like this. You are all murderers!"
"Yes, yes, I'm a murderer. Can you tell me then, who helped you get revenge?" Wen Wen asked, feeling a headache.
"I hate you, people like you..." Zhou Xun continued her ghostly wailing at Wen Wen, and the other ghosts echoed her cries.
Wen Wen sighed softly, letting Zhou Xun rant. He then looked at old woman Zhao Yan in his hand and turned his head to ask, "I've held you for so long. Use whatever tricks you have. I don't mind."
The old woman also let out a wail at Wen Wen, her content similar to Zhou Xun's.
"Then I understand. You probably don't have any other abilities."
Wen Wen drew a dagger and directly stabbed it into the old woman's shoulder. This dagger was a rune dagger!
The dagger pierced Zhao Yan's body without any special sound or light effects, but her ghostly form began to melt away, as if dissolving.
By the time she was about to disappear, she hadn't displayed any unusual abilities, which confirmed to Wen Wen that she was just a plain ghost.
So, Wen Wen directly activated the Disaster Gauntlet. A powerful suction force appeared, shredding Zhao Yan and drawing her into the gauntlet.
"Rune daggers can cause immense damage to ghosts, but it's better not to use them on ghosts. It's too wasteful of their energy."
Seeing old woman Zhao Yan absorbed by the Disaster Gauntlet, the remaining four ghosts shrieked. Their auras intensified significantly.
"You actually killed my grandmother. The five of us have always relied on each other..." Zhou Xun still wanted to scold Wen Wen, but he interrupted her directly.
"I'm here to hunt you, not to have a heart-to-heart. If you have special abilities, use them. If not, die. It's that simple."
An aura more sinister and frenzied than that of the ghosts emanated from Wen Wen. The four wailing ghosts took a unified step back, showing signs of fear.