Chapter 355: Chapter 355: Jenny

He sighed quietly.

The sound of that sigh immediately caught Lana’s attention.

She looked up from her notebook.

“Mr. Crow… what happened?”

Mr. Crow kept his gaze fixed on the desolate land before speaking.

“This ghost zone… even though we’ve cleansed the energy, the place still isn’t properly clean.”

Lana blinked in confusion.

“What do you mean?”

Mr. Crow turned toward her and spoke slowly.

“This area will still need at least twenty years before humans can make it a habitable place.”

Lana frowned slightly.

Mr. Crow continued.

“The land here has lost its fertility. Building houses, apartments, or any kind of infrastructure will be extremely difficult.”

Lana quietly watched him as he spoke.

“And that’s not the only problem.”

Mr. Crow’s expression grew slightly more serious.

“This place used to be heavily populated by ghosts. Because of that, there’s a high possibility that a ghost portal might open here in the future.”

Lana’s eyes immediately narrowed. “What did you just say?”

Mr. Crow raised an eyebrow. “What?”

Lana looked directly at him.

“A ghost portal… can open in a zone completely cleansed?”

Mr. Crow nodded calmly.

“When an area remains soaked in negative energy for a long period of time, the land itself becomes unstable. Even if we use aether waves to reduce that negative energy to ashes, it doesn’t change the fact that the place once carried overwhelming negativity.”

He gestured toward the ground beneath their feet.

“As long as humans live here for twenty years and gradually fill the land with their own aura, aether waves, and pure energy, the balance can be restored. Until then, this place remains unstable.”

Lana slowly looked down at the soil.

Mr. Crow continued explaining.

“Because the area now contains neither abundant negative energy nor strong positive energy, it exists in a kind of unstable neutral state. And neutral zones… are far more prone to spatial disturbances.”

Lana spoke softly.

“So ghost portals usually open in neutral areas?”

Mr. Crow paused before looking at her with a faint smile. “Yes. That’s correct.”

Lana immediately shook her head. “That’s impossible.”

Mr. Crow raised an eyebrow again. “What do you mean?”

Lana looked up.

“What about ghost portals created through sacrifices?”

Mr. Crow interrupted before she could continue.

“Those are completely different.”

He folded his arms and spoke firmly.

“Portals created through sacrifices rely on artificially generated negative energy. Their structure, behavior, and characteristics are entirely different from naturally formed ghost portals.”

He looked directly at her.

“You shouldn’t confuse the two.”

Lana thought about it for a moment before nodding slowly. “I see.”

After completing their work and leaving the ghost zone behind, the group began their journey back.

However, halfway through the trip, their car suddenly broke down on a deserted road. The engine gave out a harsh rattling noise before falling completely silent.

Lana stepped out of the vehicle and looked at the dark road stretching endlessly ahead.

“Why don’t we just use a teleportation talisman?”

Mr. Crow immediately shook his head. “That’s not a good idea.”

Lana looked at him. “Why?”

“The ghost zone we just left still has unstable energy fluctuations. Those disturbances could interfere with the spatial coordinates of the talisman.”

He spoke in a serious tone.

“If that happens, the teleportation talisman might malfunction.”

Lana sighed quietly.

’Just our luck.’

In the end, they could only follow the group’s decision.

They began searching for a nearby house where they could stay for the night.

After walking for some time, they eventually spotted a fairly well-maintained house standing alone near the roadside.

The faint glow of lights inside suggested that someone was living there.

When Lana and the others approached the house and knocked on the door, the door slowly creaked open.

Standing in front of them was a frail young girl.

Her skin was pale, almost sickly, and her long blue hair fell loosely over her shoulders.

Her eyes carried a quiet exhaustion that seemed far too heavy for someone her age.

The moment Lana saw her, her eyes widened in shock.

Her heart skipped a beat. ’Jenny…?’

It was the first time she had seen someone from her previous life.

Jenny had once been her teammate. One of the few people she had trusted completely.

Lana’s hands trembled slightly.

Without realizing it, she clenched her fists tightly. “Jenny!”

The name slipped out of her mouth in a mixture of worry and relief.

Monica immediately turned toward her. “You know her?”

The girl standing at the door also froze in surprise and stared at Lana.

For a brief moment, Lana remained silent.

Then she forced a small smile onto her face.

“No… I just happen to have a strange talent for guessing people’s names.”

Jenny slowly lowered her gaze again, as if trying to avoid attention.

The group could clearly sense something strange about her behavior.

She looked frightened… almost as if she had been living in constant fear.

Before anyone could speak further, Jenny softly asked,

“What do you want?”

Monica stepped forward and placed a hand on Lana’s shoulder before showing her identity card.

“I’m a police officer. We were responsible for clearing the ghost zone nearby.”

She spoke calmly.

“Our car broke down halfway through the journey, and it’s already night. It would be dangerous for us to continue traveling right now. We were hoping to stay here for the night.”

Jenny hesitated.

Her fingers tightened around the door slightly.

“I… I need to ask for permission first.”

With those words, she quickly closed the door.

Malika rubbed her forehead lightly. “That girl looked terrified.”

She frowned slightly.

“She’s just a young girl, but she looks like she’s scared of everything.”

Lana remained silent.

Her thoughts drifted back to Jenny’s past life.

In fact, she knew a few things about Jenny’s background. Jenny had never come from an affluent family.

And Lana also remembered the story Jenny used to tell them.

Jenny’s mother had been killed when she was young.

Many times Jenny had lamented with regret,

“If only I had been stronger back then… I would have saved my mother.”

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