These five ghosts were making a racket, and in no time they finished the bowl of half-cooked rice in front of them.

"Have you all finished eating, sirs?" I cleared my throat and walked up to ask.

The smaller one burped, wiped his mouth, and said, "Not exactly good, but definitely fulfilling!"

"So, all of you were soldiers in your previous life?" I chatted with them.

"Absolutely!" The tall and thin one spoke less, silent for a long time before uttering his first sentence.

The bearded soldier happily spat out the chicken bones, licked his lips, and told me that the five of them used to be part of the same squad. During a mission, they were surrounded by enemy forces outnumbering them tenfold. Outnumbered and outgunned, after a bloody battle, they failed to break out of the encirclement. In the end, they all heroically died in this place called Ghost Cry Gully.

The bearded soldier's narration was plain, but I could imagine the fierceness of that battle.

I instantly respected these few ghosts. Our present-day peace was obtained through the bloodshed and sacrifice of these heroes.

Ku Lame had told me that we must summon "good ghosts," and these five ghosts were heroes in their past lives, full of righteousness, fitting the criteria of "good ghosts." And there happened to be five of them, not too many nor too few. Perhaps it was fate's arrangement!

Among these five ghosts, the smaller one talked the most, chattering non-stop.

He said, "Kid, do you want to see how we died back then?"

I was taken aback, just about to say "no," when the smaller one startled me.

Softly, the smaller one said, "Enemy shells blinded both of my eyes!"

The bald man said, "Damn it, talking about it makes me mad. What does it matter if your eyes were blinded? I was the one who died the most miserable death. A shell landed right in front of me, who am I supposed to complain to?"

Before his words could settle, I trembled in fear and fell to the ground.

The bearded soldier said, "Alright, change back, both of you. Look at your attitudes, you're scaring this kid!"

The bald man returned to his original appearance, smiling, "Although I died the most miserably, I also killed the most enemies. I took down eleven of them all by myself. Ha ha, impressive, right?"

The horse-faced ghost became unhappy, "What do you mean you killed the most enemies? Do you have no shame? I'm the one who killed the most. I shot five with a gun, blew up four with explosives, and in the final battle, I took down three with hand-to-hand combat. That adds up to twelve, one more than you!"

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As he spoke, the horse-faced ghost suddenly tore open his outer garment.

His skin was torn and shredded, hardly a patch of intact flesh, a sight that was truly appalling.

The horse-faced ghost proudly said, "Hmph, I took dozens of wounds but didn't go down. I only died when I bled out every last drop of blood!"

The horse-faced ghost had an air of arrogance, and I nodded, giving him a thumbs-up in praise, "A true hero!"

The tall and silent one coldly said, "I didn't lose much enemies, only four. I charged into the enemy ranks bound with bomb and died alongside four others! I won't show you my death scene, I'm afraid it'll scare you!"

"What about you? How did you sacrifice yourself?" I asked the bearded soldier.

The bearded soldier had a calm expression, with a neat cut across his neck.

The ghost head held in his hand opened its mouth and said, "I fought until the end, refusing to surrender. They were furious and cut off my head with a single strike!"

After saying these words, the bearded soldier raised his hands and pressed his ghost head back onto his severed neck, then twisted his neck.

I listened with boiling blood. These five ghosts were heroes in their past lives!

Countless heroes have sacrificed their lives and shed their blood, but how many people will remember them?

Without the silent dedication of these nameless heroes, where would today's peace and well-being come from?

I clasped my fists together and respectfully bowed to each of the five ghosts.

The bearded soldier was touched and asked, "Boy, what is your name?"

I replied, "My name is Yang Cheng. I came here today to ask you five brothers to come back with me!"

The bearded soldier nodded and said, "Since we've eaten your food, according to the rules, we will naturally help you. But we need to agree on the conditions first!"

If these five ghosts could voluntarily follow me, that would be excellent. If I forcibly took them away using the soul-summoning gourd, they might hold resentments and not willingly assist me in the future. I respected them, and I wanted to interact with them as friends, not as master and servant. That's why I hadn't taken out the soul-summoning gourd.

When the bearded soldier took the initiative to negotiate conditions, I knew there was hope. I was secretly delighted and patted my chest loudly, "You heroes can rest assured that if you follow me, Yang Cheng, in the future, good food and drink will definitely be guaranteed for you. You were all great heroes in your past lives. Don't you want to accomplish something significant alongside ? Do you prefer to stay in Ghost Cry Gully, floating around with no purpose?"

The five ghosts fell silent, looking at me and then at each other.

After a while, the bearded soldier slapped his thigh suddenly, "That's right! What's the point of floating around in Ghost Cry Gully every day? We are heroes, even as ghosts, we should live like heroes! Kid, I'm going with you!"

The bearded soldier was the leader among these five brothers, and his declaration encouraged the other four ghosts to speak up as well:

"Well said, I'm going with you too!"

"I've had enough of this miserable existence!"

"Yes, it's time to see the outside world!"

"Let's go!"

All five ghosts agreed to leave Ghost Cry Gully with me. I was overjoyed. I didn't expect my first endeavor to go so smoothly, with all five ghosts joining me at once.

If Ku Lame knew about my performance tonight, he would definitely look at me with newfound respect.

The bearded soldier said, "Yang Cheng, heroes value heroes. We were all heroes in our past lives. If you want us to follow you, you must show us your abilities. How about this? Help us accomplish a task. If it's done, the five of us will willingly follow you!"