Ultimate Evolution I Became the Master of the World
Chapter 82 Stormcrest Village

"Michael, who was that guy pointing a gun at me just now?" Jane asked, her voice shaky.

Michael, as usual, was sprawled out on the bed. Jane, looking a bit less freaked out but still panicked, huddled next to him in her robe.

"He's a new Interpol officer assigned to Astoria, specializing in paranormal stuff. It's got nothing to do with you," Michael said.

Jane shot back, "How can it have nothing to do with me? He almost shot me!"

She was getting more emotional by the second.

"He wouldn't dare shoot. That was all for show, to mess with me. From the moment he walked in, he knew someone was in the bathroom. Pointing the gun at your head wasn't to threaten you; it was to threaten me. Brayden's a tough nut, a real piece of work, and he's definitely gonna be a problem for me," Michael explained.

Jane, still scared, asked, "It's so dangerous here. Should we think about moving?"

"Where to? The whole of Astoria is under Brayden's watch. Unless you wanna move to another city, you can go, but I'm staying put," Michael said seriously. "I'll figure out a way to get rid of Brayden and take his spot, but first..." he trailed off. To join Interpol, he needed to replace a way to delay the vengeful ghost's revival. Otherwise, joining Interpol now would be a death wish.

He vividly remembered how Nikolai met his end.

"Will you be okay?" Jane asked.

"Not sure," Michael replied. "It's late. I'm going to sleep. You should stay away from me."

"Oh," Jane replied, obediently.

The next day around noon, Michael got a package; his online order had arrived.

As he loaded bullets into his gun, he frowned at the parchment spread out on the table.

There were several sentences on it. "I gotta head to Stormcrest Village tomorrow. Brayden showing up has me on edge. It seems risky."

"But the hope of survival forces me to take the risk and complete the deal with Susan. However, another thought has crossed my mind. Should I trust people, or should I trust this human skin that guided me out of school?"

"After hesitating for a bit, I decided to use the headless ghost sealed in the golden box and the human skin for the deal. If the deal goes through, I will replace a way to survive." "That way is to control a second ghost and delay the vengeful ghost's revival."

Michael sneered at the words appearing on the parchment, "I'll only consider you as a last resort. Right now, I won't believe a single punctuation mark on you."

He wanted to see if the parchment had any warnings or alerts, but it stubbornly continued to serve as a notebook, much to his disappointment.

After loading the bullets, Michael folded the parchment and put it away. As he slipped it into his pocket, a line of text appeared. "The deal failed again." Michael tested the gun in his hand. It held thirty bullets, ten per magazine, costing him three million dollars. Each shot was a hundred grand.

'The gun's more for show than anything else,' he thought.

Three days flew by.

Early in the morning, Michael drove the car he won from Mr. Rossi, cruising down a deserted road. The GPS on his phone guided him to Stormcrest Village.

He had done some online digging; Stormcrest Village was a small, historic place that had tried to become a tourist spot but failed due to transportation and economic issues.

As for the paranormal stuff in Stormcrest Village, Michael couldn't replace any info. There might be files, but they were out of his reach.

Not that he thought the files would be much help. The paranormal events hadn't been resolved, so there wasn't much useful info anyway.

"When we get there, I'll stop at the village entrance. You can drive back yourself. Unless I call you to pick me up, don't call me. I don't want to be interrupted by a phone call while dealing with a paranormal event and end up dead," Michael said coldly to Jane while driving.

"Don't worry, I won't," Jane replied.

"Good," Michael said.

They drove in silence for a while. As the car turned from the main road onto a small path and drove for another ten minutes, a somewhat secluded village appeared at the foot of a distant mountain.

Michael checked the GPS on his phone. Yep, it was Stormcrest Village up ahead.

At the village entrance, Michael hit the brakes and stopped. He didn't turn off the engine, just tossed the car keys to Jane beside him.

"If I don't come back within a month, I'm definitely dead. You can keep the car for yourself. After I grab some things from the trunk, you should leave. Once you leave, don't come back out of curiosity to check what happens here. I can't predict what will happen, but staying far away from this place won't be wrong," Michael emphasized.

After saying that, he got out of the car.

There wasn't much in the trunk, just a specially made body bag weighing dozens of pounds, some emergency food, and a few changes of clothes.

He was here for the paranormal case, not for a vacation.

Suddenly, the roar of sports cars came from behind Michael. Five luxury cars sped up the small road from a distance.

This kind of scene was rare on such a remote road.

A sports car stopped, and the window rolled down. James, whose head had been split open before, looked at Michael with a mix of indifference and hostility. He sneered, "Michael, I thought you wouldn't dare come alone. I didn't expect you to actually show up by yourself to handle this paranormal case."

"I don't want to talk to you," Michael said, glancing at the car and recognizing a few Ghost Handlers from the Enigma Elite Club.

They must have been tracking his car; otherwise, they wouldn't have caught up so quickly.

"What did you say? I haven't settled the score with you for last time. Do you think this matter will just end like that?" James felt an urge to get out of the car to fight him.

Michael said, "You're almost dead; what else can't you let go of? And you're an adult now; think before you act. Don't be so impulsive. I just shot you a few times. At most, I'll pay for your medical bills."

James's face turned particularly ugly, and just as he was about to get angry, Tom opened the car door and said, "James, are you going ahead or not? Why are you stopping in the middle of the road? We can talk about this later."

"Michael, don't be so arrogant. After we solve this paranormal case, our club members will complete the deal on your behalf. The way to survive will never be told to you," James sneered, "Honestly, I should thank you. Without you, we wouldn't have known about such important information."

"Maybe Alex from your club already knew and just didn't tell you. As an outsider, if I could replace out, wouldn't the club president have some information?" Michael said.

"See you in the village," James said, his eyes flickering with unknown thoughts.

The cars started up, and the five vehicles turned onto the village road one after another, quickly disappearing from sight.

'Five cars? That means five Ghost Handlers. They must be pretty wealthy, all driving luxury cars. It seems they've been enjoying their time as Ghost Handlers. But to me, they're just a bunch of people heading to their deaths. The more of them there are, the better it will be. I'm just afraid there won't be enough people to handle this paranormal case,' Michael thought with a cold, eerie look in his eyes.

After grabbing his things, Michael said to Jane, "Leave here."

Jane, sitting in the driver's seat, looked at Michael with a heavy expression and asked, "You won't really get into trouble, will you?"

"No one can guarantee their safety when dealing with Vengeful Ghosts, and I'm not an exception," Michael said, slinging his bag over his shoulder and preparing to leave.

"You should be fine. I believe in you," Jane said.

"You believe in me? I don't even have confidence in myself," Michael waved his hand, "I'm off."

Michael didn't linger. He walked down the small road towards Stormcrest Village with his bag. Not long after he left, Jane drove away without staying long.

After all, this place was haunted.

'Is this place really haunted? It looks pretty normal,' Michael thought as he walked along the road, frowning.

There were farms and vegetable gardens along the way, and they seemed to be well-maintained.

There were even flocks of chickens wandering around, and the houses didn't look dilapidated or desolate.

All signs pointed to this being a very normal village.

In the village, five luxury cars were parked by the roadside.

All of them got out of the cars, standing together and curiously observing the village.

"Does this place look like a haunted village? It doesn't seem like it at all," Tom said, puzzled. "There's no scary atmosphere at all. It feels more like a tourist spot."

"If Susan's information is right, then something's definitely off. Not all ghosts go around killing people. Some are more docile, and their impact isn't very significant. Usually, these types of ghosts are classified at a low level and aren't a priority to deal with," James said.

Someone nearby added, "The level of danger doesn't equal the level of fear. If the information says there's a paranormal event here, then there must be ghosts in this village."

"Susan has no reason to trick us into coming here. If you're scared, you can still leave now," another one said.

"We agreed before that we'd work together to solve this paranormal case and then negotiate with Susan. I don't have much time left and don't want to keep waiting to die," someone else said.

The group discussed among themselves.

Having made up their minds to come, they didn't plan to back down.