No change appeared in Jiang Li"s expression as he lied.In reality, the envoys arrived, but he beat them up and forced them to return the souls into the bodies. Naturally, his ghost king aura posed no threat to him, especially since he was by himself. He had to bluff his way by simulating the air he used to have when he was still a deity. Only after that did those guys listen to him.
These all happened before he took a trip to see the village.
He remembered that the excuse he used to convince them was that in the book of the dead, the names of those people were not originally fated to die yet. He had spent precious hundred points to know this much information, and he thought it was a smart expenditure, at least better than draining points in asking the system to s.n.a.t.c.h souls from the envoys.
"Really a detestable a***ole!" Gu Mochou did not care anymore if the other party was that severely autistic guy. She pounded her fists again on the mirror"s surface, madly hoping to transmit the blow to the ghost king.
"Fan Zheng"s people are yet to know about this." Zhan Rong muttered after nodding. Finally, she distanced herself from the gla.s.s window. "If they knew, they would surely not wait for time to pa.s.s to wash their reputation clean. So this is what you wanted to show me?"
Doubt flashed across the girl"s pretty face. It returned to normal after a minute, but when her gaze flickered to her pet ghost, there were many thoughts running wild in her head.
The girl was someone who usually doesn"t think too much about stuff since most of the time, her photographic memory was enough to deal with the problems. However, whenever she used her brain extensively, many things would just be brought to light and scrutinized.
She looked down and called out softly. "Jiang Li."
"Yes."
Zhan Rong"s face was emotionless, her voice like a winter breeze. "Can you tell who you really are?"
From within the ward, as he checked the patients one by one, the ghost king floated back to the hallway upon hearing her question. While phasing through the gla.s.s window, he tilted his head and said, "I guess, I qualify as a judge."
"I see…" She closed her eyes briefly and nodded.
After that, the girl turned around and walked towards the elevator. There were no more things she had to concern herself with here. Or rather, from the beginning, she was not supposed to have even the littlest connection with those people.
Zhan Rong met a few schoolmates in the hospital, people she only knew by faces. They were visiting Gu Mochou. That villainess was hugely popular at school. But when Zhan Rong was on that floor, she merely pa.s.sed by the villainess" private room. Towards the person who kidnapped her, Zhan Rong was already great compa.s.sionate not to sue her or barge in to kill her with a pillow.
A dozen minutes pa.s.sed and she reached the parking lot. The answer given to her earlier did not satisfy her. When all pieces of evidence pointed in him being a certain person, it was really annoying for her that he dodged that question.
So when there were no more eyes to pry on her, she looked at Jiang Li and frankly asked him.
"So after everything you said to me, why you are so concerned about Gu Mochou?"
Jiang Li asked back. "Well, why shouldn"t I?"
Two pairs of eyes cast an intense stare at him. Jiang Li was like a gentleman as he put the seatbelt on the girl at the driver"s seat.
The ghost smiled, seemingly unaware that he was treading dangerously upon Zhan Rong"s thin thread of patience. The woman was already aware that she was used. Even the missions about confronting traffickers and syndicate members were somehow related to Gu Mochou. How couldn"t she be resentful?
Thankfully, Jiang Li could guess her thoughts somewhat.
He finally clarified, or rather, BS his way to explain the truth. He did so by introducing it with a lie.
"Zhan Rong. Do you know that in this world, there are many people with autism gifted with talents beyond the comprehension of the ordinary people?" he began.
"Some can paint like a pro since they were a child, or play the piano comparable to, if not better than, several virtuosos. They successfully distinguished themselves from normal people… Only, since there are parts of them or behavior of them impacted, it was like they exchanged their mental and social skills and abilities for those extreme and unusual talents."
Needless to say, the autistic fool was one such example. His listeners immediately understood what he was hinting. After all, he spoke so much about that person since the talk began.
The ghost pointed at the road when Zhan Rong started the engine. It was to remind her to be mindful of the fork ahead since there were some pedestrians there crossing without prompts from the traffic lights.
"… Hard-headed people." She muttered in mild irritation, inwardly inserting in her afternoon schedule to phone the police station so they would dispatch traffic enforcers to this place.
Jiang Li"s continuation resounded. He didn"t stray from the topic he had opened.
"So what I am saying is there was once a gifted guy. Very gifted actually, because even amongst geniuses and extraordinary people, there are very few like him. However, throughout his life, no others noticed his exceptional talent since he couldn"t express it through normal means."
What was that gift, the two others wondered with curious minds.
"No one knows that while he looks dorky and dull all day long, he can actually sometimes take a glimpse of the future," he finally revealed.
The lie ended here.
Jiang Li stared at his side of the window car where he met Gu Mochou"s eyes that widened from shock at his sudden action.
"So he could see me here?" Her expression became ugly.
He grinned as he continued, "This guy"s name, is Zhao Bolin. The grandmother gave him the villagers" common last name and named him Bolin. The old woman"s mind is simple. When the child came to her life, it was planting season so she thought of rain. Bolin means gentle rain, one of the things needed to grow crops."
"Gentle rain. Gentle. Towards me, which part of this d.a.m.nable ghost is gentle?" Gu Mochou gnashed her teeth in indignation, her balled fists trembling.
As if the ghost king would care about her feelings even if she had confirmed that he could see her?
He said, "If I may say, it"s quite hard to fathom this guy"s thoughts about Mo Chou. Maybe outside of my knowledge, there are more things that happened between them. After all, even in his death, even when the woman sealed her in a temple for decades, this fool wants to be on her side until the end. Or maybe it was because when Gu Mochou locked him up there, she said it was under the pretext of protecting him from the angry mobs?"
"He knew she was formerly a cultivator and had escaped from the underworld. To reciprocate her goodwill, Zhao Bolin wanted to help her and at the same time stop her from going overboard. Perhaps, he foresaw something, and because he was inept and weak, he simply used his soul and future as collaterals to get an external helper. Me."
In reality, Jiang Li came here with the help of the system and he was styling himself as a judge because it was about the villainess. However, when Zhao Bolin offered his ident.i.ty, even though the person did not raise any demand, Jiang Li felt the subtle feelings that still lingered.
"Because my strength was yet back to the peak, I had to resort to some scare tactics on your group. About that, I"m at fault and owe you an apology." A wry smile appeared on the ghost"s face.
"Afterward, I did my best to stop her from doing deeds that would alarm both the underworld and the authorities of this world. I gave her nightmares to make her repent and reflect. These were all stuff Zhao Bolin requested for me to do in his stead. My only regret was not being able to predict that the deaths of three Daoists would catalyze the growth of that ghost you"re calling as Red Lady."
Jiang Li wanted to grimace at the thought of those three poor souls. He was not much burdened about the villagers since he warned the women. But the Maoshan disciples were a different case.
Faint annoyance crept in his heart, yet the ghost knew he really could do nothing about that issue anymore. His advantage was limited to the fragmented memories and points given by the system and his experiences. Jiang Li was old, but he was not all-knowing. Even when he had ascended to G.o.dhood before, he was still not omniscient.
...
Jiang Li wanted to grimace at the thought of those three poor souls. He was not much burdened about the villagers since he warned the women. But the Maoshan disciples were a different case.
Faint annoyance crept in his heart, yet the ghost knew he really could do nothing about that issue anymore. His advantage was limited to the fragmented memories and points given by the system and his experiences. Jiang Li was old, but he was not all-knowing. Even when he had ascended to G.o.dhood before, he was still not omniscient.