On the following days, Zhan Rong could be seen summoning the panel only to glare at it full of resentment. She suffered two weeks for it. The pet was supposed to be her reward and she was doing well with spoiling it by giving it expensive stuff, why was it recalled? It was unfair! "I hope whoever created you die a very painful death." She couldn"t help but say enormously after accepting the fact that she was helpless against it.
Zhan Rong then closed her eyes and sighed before deciding to go out and find beautiful scenic places to uplift her mood.
Since he was not really in the necklace but was just completely hiding his presence outside, Jiang Li saw all of the changes in Zhan Rong"s expression. A playful grin hung on his lips as he shook his head.
"Sorry, but as they said, absence makes one fonder..."
"It"s also not good to delude oneself that there are only beautiful things in this world."
With him awake and the real system back to being muted, naturally, there would be no other one behind the new prompt. It was Jiang Li, and he was in no hurry to raise Zhan Rong"s affection for him so he made up this rule. In his mind, it would be bad to always linger around a person, or else that person would easily get tired of his presence, especially since it was obvious the girl only liked him for his face.
"If a person is always by somebody"s side, it"s easy for the latter to get this idea that the person will forever be with them no matter what happens. They would then be half-hearted in treating that person."
"One would only feel the air is priceless in the truest sense once they get a taste of what it feels like to lose it. They only realize it is precious once they begin to suffocate."
Although he knew his worth in the girl"s eyes were not yet at that point, he planned to raise his value by not being always around her, but to be like anything that needed some effort to obtain and retain. Because people are weird and are more p.r.o.ne to treasure what they get with much difficulty.
Aside from this… they were back to City B. In other words, it would be hard to not meet Zhao Ai and Fan Zheng. Since they would have to leave to not see the two leads again or be dragged into their mess, Jiang Li thought of using this as an excuse. He could also make use of this to make Zhan Rong check some matters on his behalf since there were just things only the living could do.
The past few days that the girl interacted with those two really annoyed him very much.
One person from the group would either bully the female lead and the leads would team up to deal with them. A tug of war. A love triangle. Several I-chase-you-so-you-should-chase-me-too scenarios.
Dramas… and even more dramas within a month…
"Aren"t they tired of this? If the purpose of the encounter with the ghosts is to toughen their hearts and skin so they won"t die from shame whenever they are staging this kind of stuff, just what the h.e.l.l?"
Because it was not yet that time of the plot so apart from Fan Zheng, none from the Maoshan sect made an appearance yet. It meant n.o.body was investigating the ghosts near Zhao village yet. Or maybe, the villainess did?
Jiang Li made two more ghost acquaintances spy on Gu Mochou, but they had yet to report to him any suspicious movements. Perhaps, that girl was busy with the transferring procedure or summer homework. If these were the case, then at least, she was doing something more meaningful than Fan Zheng"s bunch.
He knew these people were not entirely in control of their lives. Still, since they had minds of their own, Jiang Li sometimes couldn"t help but wonder. How could Fan Zheng and the others be this carefree?
Even though a lot of time had pa.s.sed by since then, how did they easily brush off what they had seen in that place? The womenfolk and the kids... Is reporting to the police and waiting for their actions really enough?
When he secretly went out of Zhan Rong"s necklace today, Fan Zheng was confronting the ouija board lady for Zhao Ai"s sake. He had no idea what drama they were cooking but the scene looked unfavorable for the pitiful Guo Hanying whose face as she forced back the tears was more terrible than her crying face.
It took place at the entrance of a shopping mall. Jiang Li was in silent disapproval of this stupid bunch because even though they were in the middle of a confrontation, through their peripheral vision, it should be easy to see a few missing person notices plastered on some walls and utility poles yet they were pretending to not notice. Were their eyes subconsciously skipping those?
"Fan Zheng. You are making me disappointed. This is too much already. Are you really going to disregard your years of friends.h.i.+p with Guo Hanying just like that?" Fan Lan"s voice rang.
Jiang Li laughed, even though he was not really amused. "Their brains must not want to entertain any memories related to that horrible forest, huh? Or is it me being too sensitive?" When he said "me", it was actually the Original since Jiang Li was suspecting he was a trafficked child who unluckily got sold in that village when he was an infant.
The male lead looked at his displeased sister. "Lan-er, there is just no way my conscience will let me side with the wrong party. You heard it too! Guo Hanying spoke with ill-intent and someone is hurt. Of course, she should apologize."
"Apologize?" Guo Hanying asked in disbelief before laughing satirically.
The girl indeed said something to Zhao Ai the moment they crossed paths today. However, it was only to remind the other to be aware of her social standing. It was quite a condescending remark, but while it was spoken in that way, it was a childish remark that was said due to the plot. The thought was in one corner of her mind due to jealousy. And when she realized she should not have said that, it was already too late. Yet how disappointing that Fan Zheng who was at least a friend for four years, made it sound like she did a crime against a n.o.body he knew for less than a month.
She shook her head and said, "I did say it. But what"s wrong with telling her to be aware of her social standing? Couldn"t I remind her that she should be a maid working for her pay? You see, which housemaid always goes out with her employee and receives gifts from him as if it"s the most natural thing in the world? She"s not working and is always leeching off of you! Fan Zheng, you"re doing her harm by showing her that it"s okay not to work because some guy would take care of her in the future."
The male lead looked up and exhaled, "Did I really hear that from you, Ms. Guo?"
Well, by the looks of it, it seemed the ouija lady did really turn the situation worse for her.
A lost look appeared on the girl"s face at Fan Zheng"s words. Standing next to him, the female lead couldn"t help but lower her head more and hide behind him.
A tired sigh reverberated next to Guo Hanying.
"Fan Zheng. Fine. Guo Hanying is wrong here. We apologize. But can you just let it go and think of it as her worrying about your finances? And I get that you"re good to Miss Zhao because he helped us before. However, you seem to be forgetting that the favor is already repaid when we let her come with us outside the forest. We didn"t report her to the police as well."
The one who spoke was Zhan Rong who was still in a low mood due to a certain someone"s disappearance.
The man looked at her quizically with knitted brows. "How is not reporting her a way to even out the favor?"
"Don"t forget, technically she"s an accomplice of those evildoers."
Zhao Ai"s face lost colors when she heard that. Fan Zheng too stilled for an instant before roaring, "Zhan Rong!"
"What? I didn"t speak my mind before. But even if she"s not done anything bad to the kidnapped people, it"s also a fact she chose silence when she can actually go out of the forest. I checked it with the people in the town nearest to that mountain, they sell crops and other produce every four months. As a daughter of the village head, how hard would it be to convince her father to let her tag along? And then secretly head towards the police station?"
Watching Zhan Rong raise her eyebrow, Jiang Li looked away, losing interest after the girl finally settled the situation and voiced out an angle that all of them seemed to be forgetting. However, although his face looked indifferent, the thoughts in his mind said otherwise.
He went back to the necklace and let the four go on with their argument.
"There is only a week or so before the resume of cla.s.ses. And Zhan Rong is not taking the initiative to ask for a mission even though I hinted it"s the only way to see me again. We have to stay away from the leads so this simply can"t go on anymore."
Traumatized or not, Jiang Li didn"t want Zhan Rong to continue acting like she didn"t realize something from her experience in the village. It was not enough knowing somewhere in this country, kids and women were having really difficult times.
When Zhan Rong separated from those people and got home after buying a few books, Jiang Li made an announcement.
[System alert!]
[h.e.l.lo, Host. New mission posted!]
[Task: Investigate the traffickers in the city and intercept three of their operations!]
[Deadline: 7 days (right before the new semester)]
[Reward upon completion: Random Skill, and a program for hacking (all to be taught by your ghost pet]
[Good luck!]
Zhan Rong stiffened in place. She didn"t know how the newly purchased books ended up atop her study table safely. All she remembered was that the day was quite horrible. Then it worsened due to the fearsome ent.i.ty terrorizing her free time that made its presence known again.
A minute later when she calmed down, her brain working furiously to a.n.a.lyze the sudden mission issued to her.
"I should pull myself together. At least, in this mission, I won"t need to deal with bad spirits," she told herself.
Anxious about the unknown punishment that was not mentioned, Zhang Rong threw herself to the task and phoned a few private investigators. Afterward, she grabbed her wallet and shades before going back to the central district where many missing person notices were mostly posted.