Ghost Rental Company

Ghost Rental Company is a suspense and supernatural web novel by the northeastern writer Kan Kong (real name Jia Zhenzhong). It was first serialized on Zongheng Chinese Network and is now complete at roughly 3.4 million characters. The protagonist, Yong Bowen, claims to be the two hundred and thirty-sixth successor of the Northern School of Heavenly Masters. He inherits the family business and opens a ghost-catching company, yet for a long time the shop is deserted and business is cold. By chance he finally encounters a real ghost, only to be shut down for "operating outside the rules" by professionals in the world of ritual masters; in the absurd predicament that "these days you can't catch ghosts without joining an association," he is forced into a deeply tangled world of sorcery. Thereafter his company's services expand from exorcising and raising ghosts all the way to renting them out: scaring people or playing pranks on their behalf, delivery services, web visual effects, and work as film extras—cheap prices, a full range of choices, and attentive service. The novel opens with episodic supernatural commissions: renting a "Sadako" to scare off a wealthy man's romantic rival, renting a "Headless Ghost" for a film crew's commercial, renting a "Judge of the Underworld" to ward off evil for a temple—clients bizarre and commissions varied. As the plot advances, Yong Bowen is repeatedly drawn into crises such as living-corpse attacks and sinister yin-gathering formations, and is dragged step by step into the factional struggles of the Spring City Ritual Masters Association, the northern ritual world, and even transnational sorcery forces. The story's scope expands from city streets to large-scale supernatural conflicts such as Tokyo's Night Parade of a Hundred Demons and the development of Hell, and forces from the demon realm and Hell beyond humans and ghosts appear in turn. The author tells ghost stories in a witty, lighthearted style, and behind the absurd comedy lies an observation of human nature and obsession. A traditional Chinese print edition was published by Taiwan's Putian Publishing House under the series title Ghost-Making Expert, in eight volumes, the first of which is Ghost Rental Company Limited.