Gu Mochou ended up fleeing by jumping from the balcony of her unit. Her movements were even awkward when she stepped back continuously, yet her speed when she ran was astounding as if she was afraid of staying there for any longer. Her unusual reaction gave it away. It was apparent that seeing Jiang Li"s face was the cause. But since Zhan Rong briefly did not recognize him, it was definitely not because of the face of Zhao Bolin. If it were, Zhan Rong would not be shocked and Gu Mochou would not have fled, but lunged forward, trying to separate them. The villainess was obviously a narrow-minded person, so she would definitely find it unacceptable for the white moonlight[1] in her heart to be together with somebody else.
"Why did she suddenly become scared of you?"
After watching dumbfoundedly how the panicking villainess leaps from the heights, Zhan Rong moved her head upwards.
Gone was the shock from finding herself being embraced by an unfamiliar ghost. Nevertheless, her brain was still sluggish from the sudden turns of events. She failed to realize that Jiang Li seemed to have purposely let the villainess get away.
Now that she could observe him without her judgment being clouded by fear, the first thing she noticed was that his attire changed, different from the ones she burned for him.
A long strangely designed cap was on his head hiding his hair and a black robe made of a mysterious material wrapped around his body. The face…. It was not at all inferior to the previous one! And she even had a feeling that it suited him more and was more harmonious with the rest of his body, as if it was the actual face all along. Her hand even subconsciously reached for his cheek. Unfortunately, she did not manage to touch anything, a fact that caused a slight pout to surface.
"... I can"t touch, but at least I can see." The girl could only say to console herself.
The strange part of her brain seemed to have taken over. She forgot that the escapee and the one trying to barge into the place were her kidnappers, people with malicious intentions toward her. Maybe Zhan Rong just relaxed her nerves because Gu Mochou was no more around and because she had a strong hunch that Jiang Li was a ghost king? At the same level as the Red Lady?
"Thankfully, he"s mine. Once we"re out of here, I can easily request for him to keep this looks. I would have to make sure he"d remove that ugly cap."
Jiang Li saw her eyes settled long on his head and judging from her expression, she was thinking the cap was so out of fas.h.i.+on, and thus he removed it before she even pointed a finger at it.
"There is only one reason she escaped." He cleared his throat and explained, "That woman is not a regular human. She"s not only been a spirit hunter for a single lifetime, she"s somebody who has already gone to the underworld and only returned through the help of a h.e.l.l consul."
Zhan Rong"s eyes widened a bit. After pondering for a moment, she replied, "You scared her off. Does that mean your current attire is that of a consul?"
He laughed. "No. It"s that of a higher-tier judge."
It made sense then. The girl nodded in understanding before asking again, "What about your face? Why did you have to change into a new one?"
She scanned him from head to toe, doubt written all over her face. "Are proper judges from down there with no capability to determine one"s ident.i.ty through aura so a simple change in looks can fool them?"
"… That made it sound like officials from the underworld are blind and inept," he thought.
Jiang Li"s expression stiffened for a while. Her words put him in a dilemma.
How should he explain it? Would it be an excellent decision, to tell the truth?
In all honesty, Jiang Li just didn"t want a drama nor a terrible misunderstanding, so even though he got tempted for a few seconds to surprise the villainess with his Original"s appearance; he refrained himself. He knew that there would be more problems if Gu Mochou s.h.i.+fted her focus from punis.h.i.+ng her enemies to chasing him.
Jiang Li shook his head. He stared briefly at the direction of the banging noises outside, which seemed to tell that the rampaging ghost outside was crazily colliding against the barrier. His gestures gave Zhan Rong the misconception that he was worried about that.
"Li." She pouted. The ghost smiled weakly at her.
"I"ll explain later. For now, aside from that ghost king, Gu Mochou also sent an SOS signal to the people of Maoshan, so we have to leave quickly."
"... Okay," she said after a long sigh.
It was not like Zhan Rong forgot about the danger they were in and thus she did not continue throwing questions at him.
He patted her on the head, which he usually does when satisfied by her progress in learning. The girl instinctively tried to catch his hand, only to frown deeply when she caught air.
Jiang Li brought the girl out of there, exiting the same way as Gu Mochou. It was like a work of fate. The ones who brought Zhan Rong in and out were both ghosts and, both put a blindfold on her. However, the Red Lady did it to ensure that Zhan Rong would not know the roads and turns taken to get to Gu Mochou"s place, this was the female ghost king a.s.suming the villainess had other hiding places. Jiang Li"s reason for blindfolding was to not scare her with the jump they were about to take.
On what floor were they?
Fifth floor. Over fifteen meters high.
Truth be told, that height was nothing for a ghost. Even if Jiang Li was not a ghost, because he knew qinggong, he was very confident that he wouldn"t fail in getting a perfect landing. If, and only if, some accidents happened, and he failed, it would still be okay. He was rich in points.
As for Gu Mochou, she was a senior cultivator. Even if she did not know any qinggong technique, which he doubted, her physical strength was enough to ensure she would not die from a direct fall. The cultivation would be ashamed of her if a senior like her would not survive that.
In short, a fifteen-meter fall would not terrify them.
However, that was only for people like them. It was never a sane thing to a.s.sume that everyone could do what they easily could. The fifth floor of any building was a height that was still very intimidating for a normal person.
In Jiang Li and Zhan Rong"s current situation though, where they had several people to avoid, it was the only way. They had to leave as quickly as possible.
"This will be over in a few seconds." He whispered before the leap.
Zhan Rong did not say any word of protest and silently held her breath as she felt her body losing control of its equilibrium.
The experience was not pleasant. Her heart was beating fast momentarily making her feel like it would explode any moment. She always had to mind the wind blowing harshly against her face and ears and the lack of solid ground beneath her feet.
What if an unforeseen accident happened midway and they couldn"t reach the ground safely? What if the Red Lady suddenly attacked them from above?
When one was in a dangerous situation, it was normal to have countless worries in mind.
But Zhan Rong immediately regained her rationality and trusted in her pet ghost. With or without the system, she believed he would not let harm come her way. Zhan Rong silently pressed her lips tightly so no shameful scream would come from her.
Thankfully, she betted right. Not even ten seconds pa.s.sed, and they were in front of the condominium entrance. She was safe and unharmed, only feeling dizzy. As her eyes were still blindfolded, all she knew was that their movement changed from vertical to horizontal, but it was enough to hint for her they were at least no longer free-falling.
"We"re now out of danger, aren"t we?" she asked, panting madly for air, calming her palpitating heart.
Zhan Rong heard a soft hum.
A few more minutes pa.s.sed. Jiang Li shrugged off the few pursuers who sensed his presence before leaving Zhan Rong in one property owned by her family. The latter wanted to ask him a few questions but stop herself seeing the smile on his face which differed vastly from normal.
Zhan Rong hesitated before saying to him, "Go. Don"t worry about me. I won"t go out, but I will busy myself with checking Miss Gu"s background and investigate this Zhao Bolin person whom she wanted to pry from me. That strong female ghost too…"
The ghost only replied, "Go to bed. It"s past midnight."
"My brain"s too active for that."
The girl shook her head, calmly explaining. "I was probably too stimulated by the series of events. I got kidnapped this afternoon by a scary female ghost, tied up, then involved in an odd confrontation a few minutes ago. I think I need to exhaust myself with something before I can fall asleep."
She saw him lower his head, and she was not sure if it was out of anger or embarra.s.sment or him just being lost in his thoughts.
It was not Zhan Rong"s intention to guilt-trip him. Therefore, she waved a hand and hurriedly added, "It"s normal for any person. We can"t predict the future. I"m sure you don"t know a crazy college student would command a filthy thing to do crime against me."
"Ghosts possess abilities. Foresight can be one of them."
"But I"m sure you don"t have it. You"re a jack of all trades, and a rare floating mannequin model, that"s all I know."
Her eyes told Jiang Li she would be fine, so he nodded.
However, when he set off for the villainess, an unreadable expression was on his face and several warnings were ringing in his head to stop him from entertaining the murderous thoughts that keep popping up.
...
It was truly an eventful night.
A minute after Jiang Li left, Zhan Rong was still looking into the cl.u.s.ter of shadows where he disappeared, cast by the lampposts and other buildings. Her icy fingers reached for the windowpane.
Not that she forgot to remind him about it, but that she was reluctant to ask. However, her memory was sharp as ever and could easily retrieve images even from decades ago. When Jiang Li disappeared from sight, the memories flooded her like a tide.
There was no way she would forget where and when she first saw the Red lady. It was six months ago, beneath a sky that was as black as a diamond, surrounded by forest, shadows, and ghosts.
Zhan Rong briefly closed her eyes. Shortly after, she opened them again, her left brow raised.
"She"s from Zhao Village, isn"t she?" The girl"s tone was low when the last two words came out of her mouth as she crossed her arms above her chest.
There was n.o.body around to answer her. There were no servants in the house since the housekeeper didn"t live within. Ghosts didn"t dare to approach because of the spell Jiang Li cast on her necklace. She was alone.
Perhaps because she was in an absolute solitude that she dared to ponder about that one thing that had been puzzling her since she saw that Red Lady. That ghost"s eyes were scary, but when one ignored that, the Red Lady only looked pitiful with her neck chopped, lower body bathed in blood which Zhan Rong reckoned to be a result of a miscarriage.
She still couldn"t forget what she went through at that place. The escape from the army of hideous-looking female spirits. The weird villagers. The equally weird challenges that apparently aimed to open their eyes about the oddity of the village.
In fact, now that the images surfaced in her mind, she harbored some suspicions.
Why was a resident ghost of Zhao village located hundreds of miles away suddenly a subordinate of Gu Mochou?
Was the Red Lady and the female ghosts under her command, victims of trafficking who refused to rest until their killers got their due karma?
Is her pet ghost originally a pet ghost?
Zhan Rong did not have her phone with her when the ghost abducted her, but the house had a telephone. In no time, she was downstairs, flipping the switch open to illuminate the place. Upon reaching the telephone, she dialed Fan Zheng"s number, only to remember later that he must have been unavailable because he was one of those who received Gu Mochou"s distress signal.
She calmly canceled the attempt and pressed another string of numbers. The call connected to Fan Lan.
"Zhan Rong?" The girl on the line did not sound sleepy, which was not news to her since Fan Lan was the type to stay up late. "h.e.l.lo?"
Zhan Rong"s eyelashes cast shadows on her cheeks when she lowered her eyesight. After hesitating for almost half a minute she opened her mouth and asked,
"That evil spirit from that abandoned shrine freed by our group in that Ouija session. Can you tell me everything you remember about it?"
[1] innocent first love or a person one deemed to be their inspiration to carry forward in their younger days or when they were in a tough situation