After Jiang Li narrated everything from the start, Zhan Rong only had one opinion about Gu Mochou.A b*tch.
That was it. There was nothing else she could think of as a description.
Zhan Rong didn"t know whether Gu Mochou"s previous life as a ghost eroded her humanity and reasoning and changed her into someone like that. Perhaps it really did. But even if taking revenge on the evildoers amongst the villagers was acceptable, killing off the innocent, such as the newly purchased wives and children, were not.
Zhan Rong was appalled. In a way, her childhood days were also rough. She was mistreated and constantly neglected for the crime of being born to two terrible women. But even if her experiences were nothing compared to being killed and drowned in resentment, there were still no grudges in this world that could excuse the killing of the innocent.
If she hates someone, don"t spread the hate to others.
Zhan Rong said to Jiang Li with a serious face, "I"m telling you. Even if she"s a saint in her past life, that girl still deserves to be sent to a labor camp as a prisoner."
At this moment, they were in the hospital. The place was where Gu Mochou"s body was confined and where the victims of her recent scheme against Fan"s company were also confined. That afternoon, Jiang Li asked Zhan Rong to change her clothes. Afterward, they set off for this place where Jiang Li led her to the floor where the villainess" private room was.
In the pitch-black s.p.a.ce.
The mirror in the villainess" wall slowly emerged again and images formed, startling the soul that was huddling in the corner. The sound that emerged from the mirror recalled her wandering mind and prompted her to float towards that side of the room.
Half-squinting, Gu Mochou stared at the back of the ghost.
"Don"t you think she"s kind of pitiful?" She then heard him say. "She was essentially forced to change. No one was born evil, it"s a fact. I"m sure you know that it is the environment and the surrounding people that shape our views and behaviors. Sometimes we have no control over these factors, especially in our childhood days."
Zhan Rong nodded. "True."
When she answered, she lowered her head so those that could see from the elevator and the various rooms would not take her for an insane woman talking to herself.
The girl was aware now that Mo Chou used to be a decent woman. But her terrible luck had her fall from a cliff and be at the mercy of those devils. What she went through there was definitely terrible to force her to try escaping. But before all of that happened, Mo Chou was a righteous person, a cultivator educated to respect people, to let nature take its course.
However.
"But aren"t those traffickers I ordered to be kidnapped and sent to the prison labor camps also like that?" she reasoned with a calm expression.
"I"m sure when they are kids or babies, they are also naïve and innocent. Like you said, they have no control over their fates and situations."
"I"m also sure that their change was not their fault, it was to adapt to their environment, catalyst by an external force."
"Perhaps they are poor so this bad guy"s father taught him that it is okay to rob the rich and scam the gullible. Maybe this another bad guy"s mother told him it"s okay to stomp on the weak."
"So tell me. Am I to sympathize with all of them? We"re all adults. We"re supposed to be responsible for ourselves. If we do something wrong, we should own it and pay the price ourselves. That"s what a grownup should do."
He laughed and argued. "But there are many grownups who act like kids. Many never think about the consequences of their actions. Age is not always a good metric of how mature a person"s thoughts, actions, and speech are."
Jiang Li said it because he was an example. Even though he was more or less a thousand years old in age, he did not want to act like a typical grandpa.
The system once brought it up to him, that even though he had been to various stages of life several times, he easily managed to shrug off the influence of the previous lives. Almost every time, he could immediately act out the age and role of his soul-client upon takeover. That was almost a miracle.
In actuality, he only had several reasons for not allowing his actual age to dictate how mature he should behave.
First and foremost, wouldn"t he be as boring as h.e.l.l if he did that? How the h.e.l.l would he seduce his wife into falling for him again then?
Second, humans were perceptive animals and capable of judgment. If he wouldn"t adjust accordingly, how would his mission progress?
At least, there was no way he could act like a grandpa even if his soul were old. To h.e.l.l with the system"s suspicious tone about his speed of adaptation.
Back to reality.
"I don"t know about psychology and age since I mostly studied business and finance. Anyway, what we"re talking about is the concept of responsibility, of knowing how to admit one"s mistake and distinguish wrong from right," said Zhan Rong with one hand on her forehead.
Gu Mochou who was watching from her spot raised a brow.
Zhan Rong looked at Jiang Li and pointed at the TV screen on one side of the hallway.
Breaking news about another dead victim of the Fan"s food products was being broadcasted there. The victim was a woman in his mid-sixties, said to be a regular consumer of the biscuit brand. The old woman died after being diagnosed with cancer that was said to be triggered by the excessive consumption of the product. A ridiculous story that, although was not entirely impossible to happen, but was obviously played up by the media.
"Let"s say… The ghosts were really the ones who finished off that Zhao Village, it means Gu Mochou was not as guilty. The villagers disappeared because of those angry spirits. But what about the abductions? And those that died just because she whimsically wanted to attack Fan Zheng?"
Zhan Rong pointed out to herself as she was one of the victims and even received special treatment by being abducted by a very strong spirit. Zhao Ai"s case was unknown to her. Jiang Li only said Fan Zheng"s young girlfriend got seized from their house.
Gu Mochou did not manage to watch the interaction of those two for over two hours so she was surprised to know that he disclosed even her plans about the bug.
She felt uncomfortable, having the delusion that they cracked her skull open and inspected her brain. It was no joking matter to hear her every move known to the enemy.
"Did this mean he"s always watching me?" She could only laugh dryly and say to cheer herself a bit. At this point, the villainess was seriously wondering why the ghost king was h.e.l.l-bent on opposing her.
The two people in the mirror continued exchanging words until they reached a ward located at the end of the corridor.
The white walls were the same, scrub-wearing physicians walked in and out of the place. There were also many patients and visitors around.
But this time, not everyone inside was unfamiliar to her.
Zhan Rong"s extraordinary memory played its part in the next seconds that pa.s.sed. Her eyes widened, and she subconsciously plastered her face on the windows.
Through the large transparent gla.s.s, she could recognize the faces of the unconscious patients lying on the beds.
In shock, her lips parted a little. She could not help but exclaim.
"Aren"t those people the ones reported dead by the newscasters?"
Out of reflex, Zhan Rong looked at Jiang Li. Confusion all over her face.
Gu Mochou did the same, except, her expression warped from the anger that engulfed her. What did the ghost king do again?
After the initial shock from her various a.s.sumptions about his ident.i.ty, Gu Mochou was no longer as emotional. Crystal clear to her was the fact that the torturous nightmares and drug-withdrawal-like syndromes were his handiworks. Causing her to have an accident and pulling her into this s.p.a.ce added to the list.
If he was Zhao Bolin and he somehow knew a way to monitor her movements, why did he have to foil her plans again and again?
"If you want me to stop, why couldn"t you just appear in front of me and persuade me! You, coward!"
Gu Mochou roared in anger, red-eyed. Right now, she extremely hated that she could not jump over there to pummel him down with her fists. The mirror which was receiving her fury was too durable too, so it was not at all damage from her outburst.
It was awful to be a viewer. But it was common sense that whether it be in cinemas or private booths, spectators had no capability to inflict harm on hateful characters that they just wished would drop dead.
"Those people are lucky." Jiang Li"s laughter rang just then.
He laughingly added, "They are lucky that Gu Mochou is serious about damaging the Fan family"s business through manipulating the public. She did not forget to arrange for the reporters to write and broadcast about their deaths as soon as they receive news of it. And because of that, I could arrive at their locations before the consuls take them away."