《Quick Transmigration: Saving The Crazy Villainess》


 Chapter 1: Intermission (1)

    Chapter 1: Intermission (1)


    A pair of lifeless orbs from a kneeling gentleman gave off a bit of light in the middle of the darkness. Time ticked by indiscriminately. It was hard to tell how much time already passed. However, he remained kneeling there seemingly not caring or minding the time he was losing from acting like a dead man there.


    Oh, wait. He was actually a dead man. A spirit, per se.


    Yet it seemed like he was not even aware of this fact. And that instead of getting thrown to the purgatory, he got pulled into a void-like space. A very questionable being called the system was the culprit.


    An impatient voice suddenly rang beside the lifeless-eyed young man''s ears to wake him up from the trance.


    "You know that you just died, correct?"


    The kneeling figure, which seemed to be a statue depicting the truest definition of hopelessness, didn''t respond. It was ever silent, not even moving the slightest.


    "Don''t wanna answer? Aiya, this poor bloke. But I can''t me you. You just experienced so much. Even I, a being made up of numbers and data, couldn''t help but pity you. I even wonder if you''re so dead asleep when the Mighty Creator rained down some luck and fortune on the multiverse. You''re so unlucky."


    "Eh? Still no reply? Sad. Maybe all the breakups, treacheries and zombie-biting paralyzed you and even made you brain-dead. Really, really, sad. But hey! You actually don''t have to worry anymore! Your luck and time to shine finally came! Listen up, poor bloke! It''s because the Mighty Creator finally noticed you and got you bound to me!"


    The thing babbling probably knew that its newly found host wouldn''t reply so it went on with its exnation.


    This time, it considerately made an intangible hologram-like screen appear before the young man''s lifeless eyes. Then with its still child-like voice, it began to exin.


    "Host is now bound to me, so let me introduce myself. I will be yourpanion for your many years and missions toe. My name is 025, and my official system name is ''Crazy Viiness Saving System''! Just from the name itself, you can immediately infer that you will be saving every desperately in love crazy viiness out there in the whole multiverse! Host, isn''t it amazing!? Aren''t you excited?"


    A sound of someone taking a very deep breath faintly echoed in the space. Followed by that was a soft, hate-filled voice replying to the system.


    "... I, the unluckiest man in my world, who even failed to save myself, has to save someone else?"


    The system energetically responded, "Yup! That''s your goal as my host! Through my help and guidance, you will tunnel through worlds and take over the body of some guys there to save the viinesses who died tragically insane and ve to love. As someone who experienced getting driven insane, you should be able to rte to their experiences. You will be able to, since, in a sense, you will be near them, possessing memories of their past lives, thus learning why and how they went mad."


    ".... I will be able to rte to them? On how they went mad?"


    As he uttered these words, the man had to close his eyes at the sudden pain that tackled him inside out. The word ''mad'' seemed to have triggered something within. Memories started to rush forth, they engulfed him, as if they wanted to forever remind him of things he had just gone through.


    Now, he remembered. The system was correct.


    He died.


    Emotionally.


    After his father died due to an orchestrated ident set up by his uncle, his mothermitted suicide as she couldn''t ept the fact that his father was already dead. He became orphaned and buried in debts. His uncle sabotaged thepany left by his father from within.


    Thest blow was when the woman who has been his girlfriend for three years suddenly broke up with him, and not just on any day, but on the day his family business was dered bankrupt.


    Mentally.


    When he learned that a few minutes after their breakup, his b*tch of an ex-girlfriend immediately epted the marriage proposal from his bastard cousin, Jiang Yun, son of that same son-of-a-b*tch uncle that destroyed his family andpany.


    Now everything he and his family once possessed got thoroughly stolen by his uncle and his family. He, Jiang Li, felt like killing himself already as he was a failure of a human who let all these happened.


    Ah, heavens, as he remembered how things ended up this way, Jiang Li couldn''t help but die inside.


    It was all painful.


    Very.


    When the zombie apocalypse suddenly descended to the world, when he died physically after stupidly getting bitten by a zombified baby that fell from the fifteenth floor of a condo building, honestly, he didn''t even feel the pain of his flesh being torn from him.


    He didn''t even flinch at the pain of the virus slowly eating away at his sanity and humanity.


    He couldn''t care less if he became one of the first few people who died at the start of the apocalypse.


    Why would the dead even care if the world has ended?


    Now, here he was in a dark space he couldn''t even name. A weird voice calling itself system was saying he got bound to it. He didn''t understand how that happened and was not the least bit interested to know. But his task was to save somebody else preyed by fate and love?


    Lights seemed to return to his eyes and gradually he raised his head. Not long after, bouts of crazedughter reverberated within that space. It became louder as minutes passed.


    Louder. Crazier.


    The child-like voice of the system let out a fearful sound as if it got terrified by the hostughing without a stop.


    "H-host? Are you still sane?" It asked in a small, fidgeting voice.


    The man replied as heughed, "Of course! I am sane! I am so sane that I know how crazy the world is. No, the universe is crazy. Some stupid thing here is making me save somebody else. Why? Just why? Who the heck do you think you are!? What made you think you can act like fate and toy with me again!? BASTARD!!!!"


    "C-calm down! It''s your duty now! You are chosen. Because you''re also almost crazy, the Mighty Creator knew you''re the best person for the task."


    "Because I can understand them?"


    "Yup! And also, also..."


    The child-like voice seemed desperate to think of some reasons to justify why this person was made into a host.


    "Y-you already tasted despair, so for sure you can save them. And, and, actually, you don''t have to feel so bad! I am a system and in my shop, there are many amazing things you can buy. Immortality, richness, intelligence..."


    And the panicky thing listed out many delicious and nice-sounding offers that it could think of. The system was just that scared by the man who suddenly startedughing and shouting madly.


    The young man went silent as he sunk into deep contemtion.


    The voice still kept on enumerating much stuff he only heard from legends and stupid fiction stories. As time passed that they were like that, the system''s unease kept on growing and it was already thinking why it had to be the one assigned to this line of tasks. It thought that it was hard. Its host was clearly not that insane yet, but it was already so difficult.


    Finally, the young man seemed to have thought it all out, and asked, "Is there a way for me to go back and turn back time, to when I am still younger?"


    A light bulb seemed to have lit up in the system''s main brain. This could be its chance to convince it to ept its existence, and so it hurriedly replied,


    "Yes! Definitely! Once you finished enough tasks and umted enough points, you may go back to your original world and steamroll every b*tch and betrayer from your past life! You can go back in time, as long as you have enough points!"


    To the young man''s ears, that revtion sounded like the greatest melody he had ever heard in this conversation.


    A wide and sinister smile appeared on his lips. Joy seeped out of his slightly red eyes and in his mind, he was already imagining how he would make those people''s lives a hell greater than he had experienced.


    Then in a bright and reenergized voice, he dered to his system.


    "Bring it on! I''m up to the tasks!"


    .....

 Chapter 2: First Transfer

    Chapter 2: First Transfer


    When Jiang Li dered his eptance of the system''s identity and acknowledged that he was now a Host, a person chosen by a Mighty Whoever to save crazy people, the system immediately initiated the transfer and tossed him into a whirlwind of time and space.


    His mind turned ck, all his senses turned off as all he could perceive was darkness.


    Fortunately, throughout the process, he felt no pain. When he came back to his senses, all he felt was a bit of dizziness, nothing more.


    "Host, we''re now in the first world."


    Jiang Li heard the child-like voice and subconsciously opened his eyes. Or, actually, he never closed them, the correct term should be ''he regained his sense of sight''.


    Now his retinas were being assaulted by various colors and shapes. It hurt a bit. His head was also aching and he wondered whether this was thete aftereffect of the transfer.


    Only when the pain finally subsided did he remember that he had been confined for so long in an endlessly dark space. It was no wonder his eyes got hurt by the sudden waves of colors and lights.


    Jiang Li blinked. He could now see clearly again, and in front of him was a noisy and seemingly annoying figure crying.


    Okay, that was just his subjective opinion which was actually not very reliable.


    Anyway, he looked away almost immediately. The system didn''t warn him that when he woke up, a wailing woman dressed in fancy makeup and wigs would greet his poor eyes.


    With closed eyes, he asked in his mind, "System?"


    "I''m here, Host."


    The young man was silent for a while.


    The system didn''t know what was running on his mind, but it got somewhat frightened as the man unintentionally let out suppressed noises in his mind. It was as though he was trying to stopughing out of anger. And to be honest, the system didn''t get how he made it possible!


    Luckily, before the system turned crazy from fear, Jiang Li spoke up, the tone nd but forceful. "Exin now what you have to exin, or else...."


    025 was silent as well for a while, wondering why heughed eerily at the end of his statement. It waste to realize that its host was making threats. But thankfully, it still managed to do so and did begin to educate its host in panic.


    "Ah, host! You''re now in the first world, it''s a modern one, simr to your original world, except it''s before the apocalypse. You have taken over as a campus heartthrob of this world''s story, and your job is to avoid letting the viiness end up the way she originally did. You have to resolve all the resentments of the original viiness'' soul, ensuring that this world doesn''t die out of the crazy viiness'' self-destruction."


    "I suppose what you mean is don''t let her be a viiness."


    "Ahm, actually, it''s alright as long as you don''t let her be crazy and die crazily like that. Viinesses, in a sense, are actually like female leads. Oh, I almost forgot, the world revolves around a few important people. The leads, the secondary leads and the viins. But like I said, viinesses are actually like female leads, to be precise, they''re failures of female leads. But their importance and the allocated world energy to them are the same. What you actually have to do is prevent them from contaminating the world''s energy allocated with the resentment they harbored after they went crazy. If ever that happens, the aftermath could damage or in a worst-case scenario, destroy a world!"


    "...Do you know it all didn''t make sense to me? Just like how I don''t get why that woman is crying in front of me?"


    "Actually, host, you''llter learn the reason once you inherit the original''s memories. And I suggest, you take the memories first, and let me do a thorough exnationter when you''re alone by yourself."


    Jiang Li wished he could at least give a re to the system. He thought it was so inconsiderate. Howe it didn''t realize that it should do so the moment he arrived?


    Was it hard for an AI to realize that throwing someone without knowledge of the situation he would wake up into was like throwing a cannon fodder towards a random direction with no rhyme or reason?


    "025, May I request something? Before I transmigrate or before I open my eyes the next time I transmigrate, I want every information rted to the original imnted in my mind."


    The system eximed with its imaginary mouth wide open. It just learned that it did quite mess up and immediately promised, "I''ll make sure to do that next time. Sorry, host. For now, please rx and ept the memories."


    Jiang Li followed its direction. He remained standing, half-leaning on the wall, his eyes close. Then his long-awaited information finally flooded in.


    Just like what 025 mentioned, the world was like a parallel modern Earth, with the same advancement in technology, but different history and people.


    The story took ce in Jasper City.


    The female lead was a rich second generation named Bai Qing, 21 years old, naturally beautiful, hardworking, and charming. As rumored, she was unlike most second-generationdies who only knew what shopping and spending money were.


    No. She was not a good for nothing, but instead a smart and capable person already helping her father uphold their fashion and clothing line.


    The male lead was, of course, the richest man in the city, 27 years old CEO and Chairman of the Longfeng Group of Companies, Cheng Yijun. No more words were needed to describe how mighty and powerful this man was given that he became that wealthy and well-aplished at such a young age.


    The two met in a cliche party and the woman was unmistakably drugged by some spoiled brat who had designs to soil her.


    But sorry for that dorky young man, his hard work went to the male lead.


    Jiang Li''s memories didn''t say why the male lead suddenly rolled in the sheets with Bai Qing, but Jiang Li only assumed Cheng Yijun was a maniac for the sake of his brain''s convenience. The guy seemed unlikeable after all.


    Who cares if he''s powerful and aplished? After he forgot every promise he made with the other girl who helped him when he was in dire straits, when he even bedded another woman just because he wanted to appear helpful to a drugged girl, Jiang Li immediately crossed his name out of his dictionary.


    It was now synonymous with the words ''bastard'', ''scum'', ''stupid'', and ''brain-dead''. That was how a male lead suddenly turned out in his mind.

 Chapter 3: The Consequences of Loving Too Much

    Chapter 3: The Consequences of Loving Too Much


    And the viiness?


    Jiang Li''s lips curled into a beautiful but sarcastic smile as he browsed the memories. This world was quite abnormal since it did not follow the norms when creating its viiness.


    Normally, the viiness would be another rich and influentialdy, probably only a tiny bit lesser than the male lead. This was all to make the female-lead-bullying easier. But somehow, in this case, the viiness named Xie Na was not a rich heiress as one would expect from her.


    Xie Na, the viiness of this world, was a peasant! Amoner! A poor woman from a backwater town who had been trying her luck in the city!


    The first time she met the male lead was when she was 20 years old, three years before the sexy encounter between the two mains. It was at one of the many factories owned by the Cheng family where she works as a rank-and-file worker.


    The only reason the male lead took notice of her was due to an unusual incident where he stupidly tripped on the floor and fell into a squarish hole filled with many dangerous contraptions and machines. He would have been ttened into a meat paste if not for Xie Na immediatelying to his rescue, which she did by immediately switching off the massive devices underneath.


    The male lead was grateful, of course, and took her out to a meal as his thanks. Since then, he began to notice her extraordinary beauty and felt pity upon her. He said ady like her should not work in a dangerous environment like that and made her his personal attendant.


    From then on, the girl gradually fell for the rich and handsome guy who was actually not stupid or clumsy as she originally thought. As she discovered how responsible, witty and smart he was as a corporate person, her feelings also began to evolve from simple admiration to romantic love.


    Jiang Li, as he reached this part, furrowed his brows.


    The development was really puzzling and now he was wondering if this was what the system meant when it said that viinesses were in fact, failed female leads. Jiang Li thought that this was his first time seeing a Cindere-like antagonist like Xie Na.


    This progression was obviously for a heroine!


    So back to the plot.


    Cheng Yijun also showed signs of being partial to her on many asions. After all, the original Xie Na was a very capable woman, only her origins and paper-written qualifications held her back.


    Nevertheless, when Cheng Yijun made her his personal assistant, he realized that he had uncovered a gem. His appreciation of her grew, and he did his best to treat her with the utmost care he could give, afraid of losing a super asset like her. This attitude he gave her left an impression on her, and everyone else''s, mind that he also loved the woman.


    For three years, this idea was fortified because he didn''t rify anything. The other party was thinking that he was just not a vocal person, and assumed he was reciprocating her love by the deeds he showed her. After all, he let her be a sessful and rich woman.


    Through his help, she was able to solve some issues in her family in her hometown. He also brought her to many candle-lit dinners, bought her red roses every day, treated her so well... and before the grand encounter, he actually bedded her, albeit he was not fully conscious due to drunkenness.


    The girl was very happy. She was expecting that when he learned how they already cooked the rice with love, he would immediately take responsibility and propose to marry her thus making her a real Cindere.


    But when the next morning came, he cruelly denied what they just did and was in refusal about the love she was iming they had in between them.


    He left her crying there. But as a girl already ved to love, she thought he was merely confused. Once his mind cleared, he would go back to her and ask for her forgiveness. She even nned to make him suffer a bit before forgiving him. Then she pictured in her mind that she would only pardon him if he proposed marriage to her.


    Jiang Li clicked his tongue in annoyance as he read through this. He could already predict how the girl turned crazy. Surely, love did it all to her.


    Obviously, she fell for a guy not destined for her, made to wait for him like a fool. Then when the guy finally met his true destiny, she was left to wallow in grief, but as a stubborn lover, her heart didn''t allow her to give up.


    But when she got pregnant with his child... and he still refused her, even causing her to miscarry,... that was when her mind and heart truly broke. Thus, her broken-shell embarked the path of no return, with madness and crazy resolve to drag the world to hell with her.


    Jiang Li was already too angry and incensed to continue. He stopped. He had to, or else, his already ckening heart would grow much worse than it was now. He counted his breathing in and out. It took him many seconds to calm down. Once he was back in a tranquil mood, he called out to his mind.


    "System, in which part of the plot am I?"


    The reason he asked was that the memories didn''t include his current situation. Well, he knew that part of the reason was his current identity.


    His name was the same. Jiang Li.


    However, despite being a campus heartthrob, he was not really part of the storyline. In short, he was a cannon-fodder. Or maybe, worse than that, an extra.


    "Host, Xie Na is still 19 years old. She''s still in college. And you are one of his seniors from the same department. You are one of the campus idols, and there are many people confessing to you every day. This violet wigged girl is one of them. However, you rejected her harshly. Er, you''re actually also known for being harsh to females..."


    Oh. That exins why this girl was crying before him.


    ''I sympathize with this weird girl, but I can also rte to the original.''


    He suddenly felt awkward but knowing things already happened, he could only stand by the original''s decision.


    However, despite turning cold and slightly prone to anger, he was still someone who respected feelings. A girl crying like this to him was leaving a bad taste in his mouth, and this was making him me the system for pulling him into this situation.


    With a sigh, he said, "Once again, I can''t ept your feelings. Sorry, but I already have someone I''m fascinated with. May you find your true love someday."


    Though he lied, he didn''t act bothered by it and quietly retreated from the rooftop.

 Chapter 4: The Originals Memories, Wrong Plot?

    Chapter 4: The Original''s Memories, Wrong Plot?


    It was around lunch break when the girl with violet wigs confessed to him. Time quickly passed since then. Now, he was in a big room painted with white and green.


    It was already his third three hour ss of the day.


    Of course, he was not listening to the lectures at all. For a man whose soul had long graduated from college, the lessons were not worth listening to.


    He had alreadypleted his studies years ago in his original world so there was just no need to spend energy on these things. Anyway, why would someone who already experienced apocalypse care about lectures?


    Instead of wasting time pretending to study, he remained sitting at the back, taking the chance to familiarize himself with the world and his setting.


    He also spent the whole subject period reviewing what role his past self yed in the original story. And so far, he was liking everything he ''watched'' in his memories.


    ''So, I''m totally not an extra...'' The corner of his lips curled up in amusement.


    ''I am the only son of a rich couple and the heir to a fairlyrge business. If no ident happens, my life is destined to an enviable and stable road.''


    ''But of course, if I n to go against arge corporation like the Chengs, my family will be like arge boat trying to collide with a giant cruise ship. Fortunately, the past ''me'' didn''t do that and only minded his own business.'' He folded his arms.


    ''However, this means my only contact with the viiness is at college. This girl Xie Na, the known poisonous flower of the Business Management Department, is the best friend of that violet wigged girl who I just rejected this morning.''


    ''In the original timeline, I rejected that girl harshly which makes that Xie Na charged at me with her fist. Of course, she didn''t really manage to do anything to me because my fangirls apprehended her immediately.''


    ''The problem is because she has a violent and crazy tendency since young, yet very protective of her friends, she didn''t give up taking revenge on me.''


    ''Funny that in the process, she somehow managed to anger this school''s wealthiest beauty...''


    He chuckled soundlessly as he reviewed every petty trick this viiness did to harass him to death. His dark eyes then shed with mockery and amusement as he ''watched'' how all these tricks fell to this other crazy and wealthy admirer of his.


    Yes! None of Xie Na''s schemes against him made him fall for it because every time she tried to do something, the victim always ended up to be his die-hard admirer. This one was also a campus beauty and the heiress of a family as wealthy and influential as the Chengs!


    ''No wonder at the young age of 20, she was already at the factory! It seems, this other girl forced our viiness out of the university.''


    After shaking his head, he slung his bag across his right shoulder and marched toward the backdoor. Exactly after the bell rang, Jiang Li had already exited the room.


    It was only his first day in this world as a task-taker, so he decided to not pressure himself so much.


    Anyway, it was not like the viiness would run away. Also, there is still a year before the viiness and the male protagonist''s encounter. With so much time in hand, he wanted to thoroughly consider what to do in order to save the viiness.


    It was so hard to decide!


    His mind and instinct were constantly urging him to just kill the male protagonist so that the viiness would not go crazy in love! But the problems were... When, how, and where to do that? Should he use that Cheng dude as practice material for his actual revenge?


    Somehow, the thought made his mind and body alive, and he just couldn''t wait to n and carry it out!


    The system: ...Waaah! It''s only the first day, and he''s already thinking of murder! What to do with this mentally unstable host?!!!!


    He inwardly sneered, ''Whatever, I''ll just take a nice sleep after going home. Then tomorrow I''ll ditch the ss to start harassing anyone I have to! In short, I don''t n to do anything today. ''


    Unfortunately, despite this thought in his mind, it seemed fate wanted him to work his ass off immediately. Jiang Li had no n in mind for today, but this was not necessarily the case for others!


    The moment he took the left turn which leads to the lobby, he saw someone standing at the entrance. It was a girl with bright eyes, trimmed brows, small but high nose, and perfectly shaped lips.


    When looked at carefully, her features are very defined. She ''would'' be very beautiful, normally.


    However, when Jiang Li looked at her, he felt like his eyes had been polluted again. And it was already the second time today! The first was when he woke up.


    So what''s the problem with this one? Was she in another weird colored wig or pompous looking getup? Not really! She was simply in overly gothic and dark themed clothes and makeup!


    What does this mean?


    Oh. See her ck-colored lips! Her exaggerated smokey eyes! And those three rings which stood out conspicuously on her nose? Well, that was not the worst. Look at her mind-boggling uneven twin-tails hairdo!


    He badly wanted to ask, ''Hey, girl. Do your parents know about this? What''s wrong with the plot? I thought she''s supposed to be a poor Cindere? Or is she like this only at the campus but when she got kicked out, she shed her stupid aesthetics and became a normal rank-and-file factory worker?''


    Jiang Li stared at the girl for a fairly long time. The girl was also staring at him. Angrily.

 Chapter 5: Xie Na

    Chapter 5: Xie Na


    The surrounding is full of people who were also stranded here with him. Everyone couldn''t exit because thess, Xie Na, blocked everyone from leaving. Also, no one dared to get close due to the spine-chilling cold she was currently emitting around her.


    And this cold auraing from her intensified by tenfolds when she saw the person she wanted to beat up today!


    "Bastard Jiang Li!!!!!!!!!"


    As he faced a beautiful raging girl screaming at the top of her lungs, Jiang Li only stared at her calmly as if the one called bastard was not him.


    He even hummed a reply, "Yes?" which mysteriously angered the girl further.


    Unfortunately for her, her anger didn''t have any effect on the guy who was still busy wondering why she invested her little money to gloomy dresses and all-ck makeup.


    After inspecting the woman in front of him for a couple of moments, with eyes which say as if something didn''t live up to his expectation, he amusedly told himself,


    ''To be able to catch that Cheng scum''s eyes and uplift hispany to a new height... I thought she''s a smart girl... Maybe, I received a false set of memories?''


    ...


    In some TV dramas that he had identally watched before, this kind of scene always esctes into the girl throwing something to the guy.


    It could either be her shoes or anything heavy and sharp. If not then some scathing remarks, or even her fist. He didn''t dare im things as absolute because he had considered what if the scriptwriter had something in mind which would bring forth a plot twist.


    Anyway, usually after the throwing sh confrontation act, the man put in the hot seat would develop hatred or bad impression towards the woman which would mysteriously turn into deep interest.


    Jiang Li once again didn''t dare say anything final because even if this ridiculous setup has a high likelihood to happen, it is normally reserved for the male lead.


    The question though, is he the male lead? No, right? If not, then what should be the best course of action here?


    The best friend of the girl a heartthrob rejected blocked the path of everyone in the department just to confront the bastard heartthrob which just happened to be him.


    ''Hehe, what an awesome scene,'' he thought as his lips curled up, his mind conjuring thousands of mockeries to whoever made up this plot.


    "Bastard Jiang Li! How dare you!!! You made my best friend cry!" Xie Na marched towards him with footsteps mysteriously as heavy as an elephant''s.


    The young man did not act fazed because, despite her slightly weird appearance and weird way of charging, he was still just facing a normal girl. Of course, he held contempt against her getup and makeup. He was even thinking that it was no wonder she''s friend with that violet wigged weird girl.


    Birds of the same feather flocks together. Weird girls befriended the same kind of people, same with how corrupt politicians befriended their kind. And this was why the country was not improving.


    Cough, okay, this guy was just too nuts to have thought of thatparison.


    But anyway, he was not in any way, form, or manner, intimidated by the gothic-loving woman. That would never happen because despite dying early to a zombie bite, he was still someone who had already experienced an apocalypse. At least, none who had already seen or probably even unconsciously eaten many people alive would be fazed by a mere gothic-dressed girl.


    Back to the girl.


    Given that she''s here to settle some grievances for her friend, what else would be on her face, if not anger?


    Xie Na really disliked the indifferent look on the handsome face of the campus heartthrob.


    Now she didn''t even bother wondering whether this heartless-looking guy knew he just broke somebody''s heart into innumerable pieces.


    His handsome face just told her that he doesn''t care!


    So infuriating!


    However, while she was feeling like this though, Jiang Li almostughed because her entourage consisted of girls in which half were bashfully looking at him, a third squealing and the rest puzzled why they had to line up and block people from leaving the building.


    The only one truly furious at him was Xie Na who unreasonably shouted, "Everyone. We shall not let that bastard pass! We''ll take revenge for Cao Hua!"


    Jiang Li gave the girl a reproaching look. Ignoring the angry stares threw back at him, he turned around and started walking away.


    He could not understand why all the bystanders nearby chose to stay there and torture their eyes with Xie Na''s current look. It was just really stupid. Even if they couldn''t think of taking the other exit, why was there no one who thought of calling the professors or admin staffs?


    Had they been too shocked by the girl''s actions? Or were they just eager to see a drama because their school lives had been too stressful, so they need a goodughing sh gossip material?


    "Jiang Li! Face me, you damn coward!"


    He disdainfully thought as he continued walking,


    ''If bravery means having one''s eyes burnt by your appearance, then I prefer to be a coward. At least, I''d save myself from the trauma and nightmares.''


    Behind him, since he had his back turned against them, he didn''t know that the angry woman was disregarding everyone''s pieces of advice and swiftly marching towards him.


    Maybe he could guess it based on what he could hear from his spot, however, he chose to disregard it too. If worsees to worst, a woman was still a woman, so she should be easily subdued.


    Jiang Li was someone who knew a thing or two about self-defense because he was born to a prestigious family. So if the woman really charged at him with her fist, he doesn''t believe that he would be easily knocked out.


    Not long after, since none dared to cross path with the crazy woman, she eventually drew nearer and nearer to Jiang Li until she was only two meters away from him.


    "Jiang Li!!!"


    That roar came from behind the nonchnt male student just when he had just turned to the left corridor. He rolled his eyes and turned around.That was exactly when Xie Na jumped from her spot with her small fist raised in the air.


    "So predictable," he said as he watched the balled fiste down to him. Her distorted face came to view, making him question this world again.


    It was really just out of reason and it was just hard not to ask who the heck made this woman be like this. She was supposed to be a Cindere...or at least, that was how she should initially be ording to the memories.


    Fine, she ultimately became a viiness, but the thought that this kind of woman contributed greatly to a corporation greater than his family''s, it was honestly too far-fetched, especially as he looked at how instead of confirming things with her friend, she chose to confront him.


    ''What a stupid woman.''


    ''I must review the memories again once I get home to see what happened in her university days. Toplete this damn mission I must see what catalyzed her personality overhaul...''


    Behind the incensed girl, he heard many gasps and screams. If he was not only in that scene right now, he would have assumed that it was them who was about to be beaten up.


    Jiang Li casually sidestepped to the right, which made it certain that he would be out of range of her sloppy attack. He then extended his hand and was about to grab the annoying hand of that girl to yank it on her back when someone suddenly also came running into that corridor.


    The person came from the direction where Xie Na was from, probably missing the warnings from the other people there due to a reason that Jiang Li was not aware of.


    Anyway, actions just happened faster than words.


    He didn''t know if he was just blessed or the viiness was just destined not to have things happened her way, but the punch intended for him suddenly ended upnding on somebody else''s head...


    ...

 Chapter 6: Zhu Li

    Chapter 6: Zhu Li


    Because of Xie Na, several people ended up making an unnned trip to the clinic. Jiang Li was one of them, and he did because he was not heartless yet to not even drop a person who shielded him from danger in front of a doctor.


    Coincidence or not, it was the girl who, in his memories, was always the one falling to Xie Na''s petty tricks when she was still in college. Her name was Zhu Li, and she was the girl whoter on became his admirer. Or maybe she already was, though if this was the case, it meant the one she liked was the Original and not the current him.


    ''I actually have something called plot armor...'' He thought as he watched the doctor treat the swollen part on the pretty rich girl''s forehead. He remembered how this person always took even the least dangerous pranks for the ''him'' of the past.


    ''Unfortunately, this cheat sh golden finger of mine is the one that caused my saving target to be close to that scum male lead.''


    He referred to how when the rich woman got fed up by the viiness'' antics, to regain her peace, she just forced the other out of the university.


    For a moment a frown appeared on his face. His expression became darker when he threw a look at the three people talking at the side.


    One of them was naturally that very crazy viiness. The guidance counselor, Professor Gu of the Finance Department was the other. And thest one was that violet-wigged girl who was also Xie Na''s best friend.


    If his memories didn''t fail him, he recalled that she was called Cao Hua.


    As he looked at the girl scolding the all-ck-wearing woman for what she did, he thought, ''What a beautiful name wasted on a girl who most probably corrupted the viiness with her stupid aesthetics.''


    "I, I''m sorry for what Xie Na did. Please forgive her. She was only worried and indignant for me. This is only a misunderstanding," said the girl as she bowed lightly to him. It was after the guidance counselor chastised Xie Na for the harm she did, sentencing her for a week ofmunity service.


    He remained leaning on the door, notmenting about the apology Cao Hua made. He did give Xie Na a dirty look though, irritated that instead of her doing the apology, it was her friend who did it.


    As he learned more of this girl''s fault and inadequacies, he was just really losing interest in the mission. At least, he no longer wanted to bother with this woman again and would just probably outright kill the male lead or female lead in order to proceed to the next world.


    Anyway, to save someone, it doesn''t mean he has to be in contact with the target, right? Who would want to associate with someone like this anyway? Maybe he would want to once she transforms into the person that became the prized corporate businesswoman of the Cheng Corporation.


    Not long after, his train of thoughts was broken due to a voice that rang from the left side where Zhu Li was currently seated. The quality of voice was pleasant to the ears, as pleasant as the chirping of birds perching on a trees'' hidden branches. It was neither loud nor low. However, it was cold enough to ry the anger boiling within the person.


    "Miss Violet, care to exin why you are the one apologizing instead of her?! And why only to him when I''m the one who got innocently injured?" asked by the real victim who was still being treated by the doctor without any expression on her beautiful face.


    When he followed her eyes, he saw that she was giving Xie Na, the one responsible for the bump on her forehead, a freezing re which seemingly wanted to make an ice bloke out of her...


    ''Is she going to apologize?'' He wondered.


    ...


    ...


    FallenBlue here! If you''re not reading at , please go here and read for /book/12925525506052005/Quick-Transmigration%3A-Saving-The-Crazy-Viiness


    FYI, this is the original site to read this story.


    Thanks in advance.

 Chapter 7: My Tongue Is Still A Tongue

    Chapter 7: My Tongue Is Still A Tongue


    If Xie Na had already tried to acknowledge her wrongdoings and stupidity, Zhu Li might have forgiven her by now.


    Or not.


    He couldn''t say for sure because there was a chance that instead of reconciliation and peaceful talk, what they had was a contest of who pulled more hair from the other. It could also be that the two were no longer in the clinic but in the nearest hospital from there.


    How would he know?


    He was actually not the least bit interested to see how the conversation between the two would go hence before they could even begin their debate or heart-to-heart talk, he had already exited from the scene.


    ''Save myself from a boring, uninteresting catfight,'' he thought twenty minutester as he got off from his car.


    "Wee back, young master?"


    When he arrived at his family''s mansion, it was already past five pm.


    The moment he appeared at the doorway, he got immediately greeted by one of the maids. He wordlessly nodded to her before heading towards the living room where the original Jiang Li''s mother would surely be wasting the afternoon, watching dramas.


    And his recently acquired knowledge did not fail him because there was ''his'' mother, turning her head away from the show when he arrived.


    "You''re early today, ah!"


    He replied, "Not really. I was involved in quite an ident, Mom. I''m back, by the way!"


    The kind-looking slightly short and chubby madam of the Jiangs stood up from the sofa and approached him with a hug. His face became awkward, but he could feel his body and soul reacting to this warm wee.


    The original was blessed with a good family. As said before, his life was set to a very smooth-sailing due to the protection of his loving parents. He didn''t experience many setbacks because they were always backing him, no matter what he happened.


    Whether it was the system''s arrangement or not, this world''s Jiang Li was really simr to him. Born to a rich family. Blessed with loving parents. Destined for a good future...


    Except this world''s Jiang Li was smarter. And luckier. He didn''t give others any chance to cheat him.


    Truth be told, the Jiang n of this world was also prettyplicated because the same with histe family, this one also had some scheming bastard members in it. But aside from the original being a tad smarter than him, Father Jiang was also very capable and was more trusting and protective of his own family than his greedy, two-faced rtives.


    In the past life, it was because of Father Jiang that the original''s cunning uncle did not seed in the power struggle, ending up as a mediocre businessman whose livelihood and standard of living went down so many levels.


    Thinking of these, he sighed, envy and self-hate budding in his originally warming heart.


    Jiang Li would have been proud, if only this was his real family. Now, he didn''t know what to feel about his current situation...


    The heart which he thought had already turned stone-cold felt very stuffy and conflicted. He had to take deep breaths in secret to calm the raging emotions and memories. Finally, the suffocating hug ended and ''his'' mother let go of him. The smile on the other''s face was too bright thus he looked away.


    The kind madam thought her son was just being shy hence sheughed heartily, only stopping when she remembered what he said earlier.


    "By the way, Ah Li, you said you got involved in an ident? Did you get hurt? What happened?"


    Shaking his head he answered, "No. Nothing. Just someone I had to bring to the clinic."


    "I see. If that person is a close friend or acquaintance of yours, convey my get-well wishes to him."


    ''It''s a troublesome ''her'','' he almost interjected.


    "Dad is not here yet?" He asked to change the topic of the conversation.


    As if the madam remembered another important thing, she eximed with a widened pair of eyes,


    "Oh, my son. Now that you mentioned this, your father''s secretary called me a while ago, telling us to prepare and dress up. We will be meeting him at your uncle''s house where we will have our dinner. I think your Second Uncle wants a small family reunion because her daughter, Jiang Xinyi finally came back home."


    "Hmm?" He didn''t know why, but his brows automatically furrowed at the mention of that supposed cousin''s name.


    From deep within his ''memories'', a particr scene seemingly wanted to surface and present itself to him. However, because he was still adapting to this body and identity, this piece couldn''te out.


    He frowned. He was oddly getting this feeling that this information would be useful or good for him.


    ''Just what is that piece of information?''


    ''Jiang Xinyi... Jiang Xinyi... I''m sure because she didn''t really appear in the main plot so she''s an extra or cannon fodder too. So why is her name familiar to me? I don''t think it''s because she''s ''my'' cousin. My family eventually cut ties with the second household due to Second Uncle''s deeds.''


    He sunk into deep silence and contemtion.


    ''Maybe mentioned by one of the leads?''


    ''For what though?''


    ''This system whatever does a terrible job for not fully synchronizing the set of memories with mine earlier...'' he annoyingly thought when his reminiscing did not show him anything useful.


    "You''re not close to that cousin of yours. But she''s quite pitiful. She just went through a lot so try to get along with herter, okay?" Mother Jiang suddenly told him, knocking him out of his thoughts.


    His ears seemed to perk up at the clues she gave him. Curious, he asked, "What happened to her?"


    The short-statureddy shook her head,


    "Your Second Aunt said she just broke up with her boyfriend. She''s deeply in love with this man and is even willing to run away from your Second Uncle''s family in order to be with him. Sadly, this happened. Now, they''re no longer together because the love the man has for her is not as deep. To be honest, I don''t think their affection with each other is even true love because if it''s true, no amount or degree of misunderstandings and disagreements could tear them apart."


    Jiang Li showed a bored expression, not liking that the issue he thought was important was actually just a stupid love affair. To humor his mother, he half-heartedly replied, "Oh, then who''s the damn bastard?"


    The madam chastised him, "Ah Li! Your tongue!"


    ''Is still a tongue,'' he almost said.


    Sighing, his mother continued. "In the future, be careful with your words in front of me or anyone. A gentleman doesn''t curse directly like that."


    <em>Jiang Li: Ah, okay, I see. So I should learn how to curse or insult people using beautiful words. Nice...</em>


    He shrugged then asked again, "So, who is this wastrel that should be sent to hell as early as possible in order to free the earth from one more person breathing tons of evil energy and smelly, nature-destroying oxygen on it?"


    Jiang Li didn''t know if it was because he revised his first question and turned it into a damn tongue-twister that the madam finally stopped straying from the topic.


    Whichever it was, she finally answered, "Oh, if I''m not mistaken, it''s that heir from the Cheng family..."


    ...

 Chapter 8: Dinner With The Second Household

    Chapter 8: Dinner With The Second Household


    There were still four years before the main plot. The male lead was only 23 years old therefore it was perfectly justifiable for Cheng Yijun to have some other ex-girlfriends before Bai Qing.


    It wouldn''t even be surprising to find that this hateful winner in life had a hundred one-night stands and flings before. Probably, whichever deity wrote his life script had thought that the more past rtionships there were, the more it would be awesome once the time to get straightened out by the heroinees.


    Imagine it. A Casanova that all men would want to either rece or kill became a good, honest man because of the female lead. He no longer touched other women after getting together with her and instead devoted himself to her.


    Who would doubt his love and sincerity to Bai Qing then? It was a very fantastic setup, wasn''t it?


    "How''s your studies, Xiao Li?"


    In the middle of the dinner between the mainline and side branch of the Jiang family, his Second Uncle paused his merry talk with Jiang Li''s father and asked the only person who had yet to talk throughout this meal, him.


    Jiang Li forced out a polite smile even though he was quite displeased that his train of thoughts was interrupted. "Thanks, Uncle for asking. I''m fine. My studies too. I''m sure I''ll graduate this year."


    His reply sounded sarcastic so an awkward atmosphere descended upon everyone at the table.


    Amidst this, without ascertaining whether the killjoy purposely said this to make his uncle look like he swallowed a mouthful of flies, Jiang Li went back to chewing his food. He acted as though he was not the culprit behind this silence.


    Across him though, his Second Uncle''s lips began twitching, asking himself, ''What did this bastard mean? Is he ying with words with me, or insinuating that my question is to probe him of something? I''ve yet to truly get to that part! This disrespectful boy!''


    The Uncle''s n was to double-check if Jiang Li would be interning in Father Jiang''spany so that he could n his next steps ordingly.


    Unfortunately, Jiang Li''s answer killed off his mood to continue asking... Instead, the Uncle''s mind tried to recall whether his nephew had been like this to him before.


    "Xinyi, tomorrow, me and your Mom will go to the mall. Do you have ns by then? I''d really love to have you tag along with us."


    Jiang Li''s eyes subconsciously turned to his mother and then to the girl asked.


    After inspecting thetter, he determined that his cousin was a dainty and beautifuldy, with long wavy and flowing brown hair, sexy lips, small button nose, and eyes reminiscent of a cat''s. He actually found the shape of her eyes interesting.


    Unfortunately, its glimmer hinted sorrows and heartache. He was familiar with it due to having experienced the same, except his, was not a normal heartache caused by normal separation.


    Jiang Xinyi shook her head and replied with a soft, slight smile, "I don''t have any n set tomorrow. If you''re okay with me, then I will dlye along, First Aunt. Thanks for inviting me."


    Jiang Li''s mother gave her a warm smile. Grabbing her niece''s hand, she said, "No need to thank me for something so trivial like this. We''re a family. Who else would I invite with me if not you and your Mom."


    The stern but concerned words of Jiang Xinyi''s mother echoed, "Right, my daughter. We''re d that you''re back, and we would rather you spend your time with us than stay cooped up in your room alone doing god-knows-what."


    He saw Jiang Xinyi''s lips curl up in a forced smile, that didn''t quite reach her eyes, in response.


    Suddenly, his Second Uncle chimed in, his remarks making Jiang Li''s eyes narrowed.


    "If youdies will go shopping, I''m sure each of you will buy a few bags or so. I don''t want any of you to get tired. How about you bring Xiao Li with you?"


    ''To make me their great chauffeur?'' he sarcastically thought before replying, "If they''re going to shop at night, why not? I''m sure to be free by then."


    "Hmm?"


    Facing his uncle with an innocent smile, he said, "Uncle, have you already forgotten? I won''t be free tomorrow until the afternoon."


    Jiang Li''s father coughed and interjected, "Second brother, actually even if it''s Saturday tomorrow, this stupid bloke of mine have sses. It''s their university policy. If thedies are alright with it, I''ll just speak with one of my housekeepers to apany them."


    The Second Auntughed. "My husband just probably remember thatst time, Xiao Li was with us. Brother-inw, I thank you in advance for your help."


    "Small matters."


    The harmony in the dinner hall returned.


    Until it was broken by one of the Second Household''s housekeepers who walked in and excused himself before going to his uncle''s side.


    After this housekeeper whispered a few words to him, the Second Uncle nodded and spoke to his father.


    "Brother, I hope you won''t mind, a friend of mine suddenly visited. I have to leave the few of here for a minute or two."


    Jiang Li watched as his father shook his head andughed, "I don''t mind. You''re the owner of the house. We won''t mind even if you invite your friend first here, so he can join us for this meal."


    Perfunctory words were exchanged between the two until it was decided to follow his father''s suggestion.


    A minuteter, a bespectacled young man dressed in regal suit politely came over and joined them at the table.


    He studied the man who appeared to be only older by five or six years than him, a memory surfacing from within.


    ''I see. So this is when this lovely uncle of mine began to scheme against our family.''


    With narrowed eyes, Jiang Li gave his uncle a thoughtful look and then excused himself from the dining room for the washroom.


    After receiving a nod from his father, he rose from his seat and walked towards the open door. When he passed by the neer, his eyes which happened to fall at the bespectacled man''s left earring immediately became sharp and cold...


    ...


    ...


    FallenBlue here! If you''re not reading at , please go here and read for /book/12925525506052005/Quick-Transmigration%3A-Saving-The-Crazy-Viiness


    FYI, this is the original site to read this story.


    Thanks in advance.

 Chapter 9: Definitely Money Problems

    Chapter 9: Definitely Money Problems


    What was the first thing a mob should do if he discovers some sort of scheme going behind him and his whole family?


    In the whole dinner, Jiang Li acted the same, as though he didn''t discover someone recording the conversation over the table. When he left, he didn''t also immediately tell anybody about his suspicion about the bespectacled man.


    All he did before he went back from the washroom was ckmail his system for a weing pack, demanding a bug and a tracker be put inside his Second Uncle and the suspicious man''s phone. After that, he leisurely strode back and rejoined the people eating there, from time to time, pissing his Second Uncle off.


    The man was just too likable to taunt considering the fact that his act of hiding his annoyance towards Jiang Li was just so funny and faked. Jiang Li couldn''t help but wonder if this man also has a plot armor because the people around them easily believed in his excuses.


    One time, he asked, "Second Uncle, you are currently thepany''s Finance Manager, right? I seem to hear you approving Mr. Lu''s proposal to allocate some budget to the project of a moneyundering organization."


    "...Xiao Li, where did you hear that? What moneyundering what?" The look of confusion in his uncle''s face was just too brilliant. However, the young man noticed the sharp glint from the other''s eyes. Jiang Li was guessing he grazed something but it was not necessarily really moneyundering.


    ''Ooh. Definitely money problems. As always. Let me guess. An underling transferring money to a fake project, its budget ending up as a bribe to whoever, if not to feed for their own pockets. Geez, so many people did that too to my real father''spany.''


    Jiang Li swallowed a piece of steak then half-heartedly replied,


    "Just kidding. Heard it from a janitor. Of course, it''s a lie. What credibility will a janitor have when ites to thepany''s finances. Look at your face, uncle. It''s so funny!"


    "This kid!"


    Time passed and finally, the dinner ended.


    Jiang Li''s father, Jiang Liuxian, gave his brother an apologetic smile as he knew his son had been weird and yful today, then after that, his family bade their farewell and left for their own home.


    The next day.


    Like what Father Jiang told his Second Uncle. He really had some Saturday sses and thus before the sun reached 45 degrees high up in the sky, he was already at the university.


    The moment he stepped foot into the entrance, he immediately heard the hearsays and gossips about the famous rich beauty of their campus Zhu Li shing against the gothic gangstress Xie Na.


    He heard his name mentioned as someone those two girls were fighting over with. In short, in people''s mind, yesterday''s misfortunate events were a consequence of a catfight over a flower boy, him.


    ''Oh? Great. I''m witnessing personally the potential of humanity''s ever so sacrilegious weapon - imagination. What damnably impressive creativity!'' He sneered on his way to the locker room.


    ''Just because there are two girls and one guy involved, a minor fight became a huge gossip in people''s ears. Just who the heck made it seem like a love triangle story? So cheap and tasteless. Why don''t they make it into an adultery story if they''re so capable?''


    Jiang Li spent the rest of the days inside the university.


    But instead of listening to the lectures, he brought hisptop to the business department''s faculty room and bothered a low-key teacher there whose table was the most secluded to teach him a very important skill which could give him the potential to make or a break people''s lives.


    "Hey,d. Are you sure you want to dabble in this? Why do you even want to learn this? Are you perhaps nning to hack into the girls''puters or phones here to get some nice x-rated materials from there? That''s bad! And immoral! Boy, I have been teaching you for four years but I didn''t know you are this corrupted!"


    Jiang Li snorted, still typing and practicing with hisptop. He threw a dirty look at the unkempt man before him.


    His name was Hao Gang, and he was one of the lecturers for ICT course, short for Information and Computer Technology. Given his pervert looking smile, who would have thought that this stupid looking lecturer was actually a top-notch hacker?


    Girls hated him, so it was a wonder how Xie Na, from the previous life, discovered and made use of him.


    When he approached him earlier, he didn''t make known to this professor about this and only bluntly requested to learn to hack. The man agreed outright, looking as though he didn''t mind sharing his crime skills to his students. For that while, Jiang Li didn''t know whether to be relieved or dumbfounded.


    While copying the program the bastard told him to copy, Jiang Li replied to the man''s using remarks, "Sir, sometimes I simply want to question your IQ."


    "Oh? Is it because I''m so smart that I guessed your roguish ambitions? It''s natural, for your information. IQ is needed for hacking. But for real, do you really want to learn this just to get *cough* that kind of material?"


    And then the foolish-looking man began to chastise him before rmending him some sites which no children should ever try to explore.


    Jiang Li looked at him disdainfully. "You know I major in Business Administration. What more reason do I need to learn useful skills? And why would I waste time hacking to get those kinds of pictures?"


    Hidden meaning: Girls will voluntary throw themselves to me. Why bother? I''ll learn to hack to throw others'' businesses into chaos? Duh, obvious.


    Of course, while he was thinking of these, actually he had no intention to entertain the first thought and was even very scornful of all women.


    Given what he went through in his past life, it was just too hard to trust women. In fact, he was already irritated that he would have to save stupid viinous women.


    Hao Gang made a sour expression. Sneering, the man only threw Jiang Li some materials and then let him do self-study. The man was really toockadaisical and carefree for a criminal found in hiding within a famous university.


    Jiang Li''s face turned dark. If only the system was more useful and could give information and do works for him, he wouldn''t have to approach this peculiar and dirty-minded professor.


    ...


    ...


    ...


    FallenBlue here! If you''re not reading at , please go here and read for /book/12925525506052005/Quick-Transmigration%3A-Saving-The-Crazy-Viiness


    FYI, this is the original site to read this story.


    Thanks in advance.

 Chapter 10: Second Uncles Perverted Taste In Music

    Chapter 10: Second Uncle''s Perverted Taste In Music


    It seemed the future viiness had not truly learned her lesson at that time...


    Today''s afternoon was already at itste moments. Before Jiang Li could step out of the gate, that gothically dressed woman appeared before him again. He instinctively wondered if it was to pollute his innocent and pure eyes. Her violet-wigged girl was beside her, also seemingly ambushing him.


    Before doing anything, Jiang Li promptly studied the expressions of the two girls and checked if they have malicious intentions towards him. His cautiousness had a reason for it since yesterday''s events were still fresh in his memories.


    With the exception of Cao Hua''s presence and the venue, everything was almost the same as what happened at the Business Administration Building.


    ''... Hmmm.''


    Jiang Li looked at the two expressionlessly. Nothing changed about Xie Na, her eyes shooting fire at him. Cao Hua was quite the ''reasonable'' girl though, only giving him an apologetic look.


    "Jiang Li!" The viiness'' furious voice rang out, piquing the interest of those around them.


    There were quite a lot of students and professors nearby and all of them turned their heads to the direction of the voice.


    "I''m sorry!" These were two words that unexpectedly came out of the lips of the woman.


    Oddly though, instead of getting surprised or something along with that, Jiang Li''s face turned dark.


    ''... Impression - 100 again. An apology with no sincerity.''


    Another hundred was deducted from the negative numbers in his head when the viiness, before he could even say anything in response, hurriedly turned around, dragging her equally weird-looking friend away.


    With no change of expression from his face, he watched as the two sauntered away in great haste.


    Remembering what kind of face was shown to him when she said her insincere sorry, he told himself, it seemed that before this mission ended, his opinion of this world''s viiness would dive down to the negative hundred thousand.


    ...


    "... Thanks for your hard work in advance. I will count on you for this, Philip...."


    With a bored look on and a pair of headphones plugged in his ears, Jiang Li stared at theptop screen shing with a soft light.


    Its current background was ck, with an image of a cute-looking musical note in the center. At the left bottom corner, a countdown timer was ticking, its digits changing every passing second.


    "It''s no biggies, Sir Client. Once I''m done studying Mr. Jiang''s voice from the recorded conversation, I''ll read the script you handed me and then send you the file."


    "Wonderful. I believe in your skill. I hope to get that before tomorrowes. I would like to make it my luby starting tomorrow until the important D-day."


    At the same time as his second uncle''sughter began to sound out from his hearing device, Jiang Li yawned.


    Since he locked his room and nobody apart from him was around, he didn''t bother stifling it or covering it up with his hand.


    He then scoffed,ughinglymenting,


    "Such a perverted taste. What is he? The type who can only sleep while listening to a man''s nonsense? Or is this ugly second uncle of mine just so happy with gaining a fake ace up his sleeve?"


    Jiang Li made a disgusted face. As expected, that bespectacled man yesterday was an omen of disaster, an expert in voice phishing.


    He made this guess since the earring in that suspicious dude was something he saw once before, from his own world. It was a small recording device.


    Jiang Wen, his Second Uncle, looked to be fervently preparing for whatever dethroning ns he had cooked up against Jiang Liuxian, his father and the real head of the Jiang household.


    Jiang Li really hated this schemer. He greatly disliked those who used underhanded means just to steal away properties, wealth, or anything that was not theirs.


    Why couldn''t people just be content with what they have?


    Being ambitious was actually not a bad trait. But it bes a felony once a particr ambition was reached through improper ways. Worst if it was something that wantonly trampled on others'' hard work and lives.


    The incensed man resumed the recording.


    A boring talk came after, with Jiang Wen telling that Philip how much would be wired over to his ount and what other instructions should be additionally spoken by ''Jiang Liuxian''.


    ''Second Uncle mentioned a script. It only means that they n to consolidate the fake evidence with a voice recording of something nasty using Dad''s voice. Wow. Quite thorough.'' In his mind, he conjured up a jaded chibi him, making it p three times.


    A minute more passed, and just when Jiang Li''s face was about to slip down the palm supporting his chin, an interesting gossip entered his hearing.


    By this time, the one conversing with Jiang Wen was no longer that voice faker, but his own wife. Jiang Li did not cut off the audio since he had a feeling that the Second Madam was not in the dark regarding her husband''s ns.


    Sadly, their talk did not mention anything new, just the husband sharing his ''exploits'' with his wife. That was until they shifted into another topic, his female cousin who finally went back home.


    "Dear, my heart is still very ufortable whenever I remember what that beast did to her. I really hope our Xin-er gets passed what she''s currently going through. My heart is also badly wishing for retribution to fall upon that Cheng Yijun!"


    Amidst the fake sobbing noises, her husband replied,


    "My wife, my heart is aching too. This is why once we take hold of elder brother''spany, I''ll start our retaliation against that bastard! Believe in me. Justice will be bestowed to our beloved daughter!"


    ''... Oh. We finally have one thing inmon then? Our desire to kill the male lead?''


    Soft chuckle drifted all over the blue-themed room. However, the next thing that sounded out of hisptop''s built-in speaker made him widen his eyes a bit.


    Second Madam Jiang pleadingly said, "Dear, if possible, once that day arrives, I want that jerk to realize the extent of damages she did to our daughter!"


    "I''ll make sure to do that. To put both our minds at ease."


    Viciousness echoed together with the woman''s voice. "Cut off that useless tool of his! Since that Cheng Yijun ruined our daughter when he forced her to abort the child, make him pay this debt in full by ensuring he won''t ever produce an heir for the Chengs!"


    "T-that... that''s a good idea..."


    The husband''s voice suddenly seemed so small, as though he had just had the scare of his life. Jiang Wen must have been momentarily surprised by his wife''s nefarious thoughts.


    And Jiang Li would have loved tough out loud at his uncle''s reaction if only his brain was not busy processing the information he just heard.


    ...


    ...


    ...


    FallenBlue here! If you''re not reading at , please go here and read for /book/12925525506052005/Quick-Transmigration%3A-Saving-The-Crazy-Viiness


    FYI, this is the original site to read this story.


    Thanks in advance.

 Chapter 11: What A Great Honor!

    Chapter 11: What A Great Honor!


    Before he instructed the system not to speak with him until he finishes the current mission, the system once had informed him that it had sent him to one of the easiest worlds in the multiverse. It was in order to let him get a hang of how to do missions.


    The system said it wanted him to avoid having negative points as a reward. After all, he was still a beginner.


    "Hehe... What a very easy world..."


    Recalling the system''s not so trustworthy words, he wanted tough out so loudly. In fact, he even wanted to record how sarcastic and crazy thatughter would be.


    The family given to him actually had such bad blood with the Chengs. Alright, not his immediate family, but his cousin''s.


    He didn''t know what to feel about it so he justughed and then pped.


    Think about it. That female cousin of his, Jiang Xinyi, who just went back to the second household''s home had actually cohabited with the male lead. The male lead even got her pregnant but then broke up with her, probably also due to this. Cheng Yijun did not even spare the child and had her abort it.


    Jiang Li assumed it was some sort of fate at work. The male lead subconsciously rejecting a fruit of passionate and blush-inducing bor'' not created with the female lead.


    Two words shortened into one... DAFUQ! What was with this convenient coincidence?


    And the Original''s memories dismissed it even though it was a must-memory to transfer to him?


    Jiang Liughed out once again. Weirdly, despite it being built upon somebody''s misfortune, he was so happy.


    He was so insanely happy to receive a valid reason to start attacking the Chengs! He was not close to the Second Household and would even be okay with them gone for real. But he was so thankful for this information that he just obtained.


    A crazy grin shed in his face.


    "I''m pretty sorry for my cousin. It''s certainly not her fault. It''s not easy to love, be dumped, and even have her innocent baby killed. Her heart must still be grieving, right? But no worries, Jiang Xinyi, my dearest Uncle, and Auntie. I''ll take revenge for her, in the name of blood rtionship!"


    Now, he was nning how he would harass the male lead, deciding whether to kill him slowly and painfully or allow him to live a painful life.


    Which one was better? Damn, he could no longer wait. He felt so moved, his blood boiling for some actions.


    He felt so excited at having the ground to be enemies with the son of fate! What a great honor!


    "Haha, I want to start right away! I''ll see my bastard prof now!"


    And so, he donned a ck jacket and snuck out of the house to go to Hao Gang''sir, eager tounch his first attack, which given time, would surely be beyond what could be counted using both his fingers and toes.


    In the future, once Cheng Yijun questioned him why he did that to him, Jiang Li would make sure to give the Second Household some of the credits.


    He looked forward to when the male lead would retaliate to them and hoped that the first or sole person to bear the full-forced revenge would be Jiang Wen, that pompous and calctive uncle of his.


    ...


    One and a half days passed since the Cheng Corporation''s main building was attacked, not physical, but virtual. Twenty percent of its database was stolen then wrecked, causing some real damages to its operation, the trust of its affiliates and partners shaken.


    Not many could stay calm faced with the fact that their business transaction was revealed to hostile or dubious forces. This was the reason why the COO of the corporation who was still in his mid-twenties received quite a harsh scolding and interrogation from all the executives and important shareholders.


    For some reason, 15% of those data were from his ownputer!


    Without high intelligence, it was very easy to see who was being targeted by the wicked hackers! The question is, for what reason? Who did just this young Chief Operating Officer offend?


    Yet the main culprit who caused the beloved male lead of the world to pace back and forth in his office while biting his fingernails was currently preaching righteousness and pervertedness to Jiang Li in the deserted speechb room of the Business Administration Building.


    Yep, it was actually Hao Gang who helped Jiang Li to invade the Cheng''swork. Jiang Li would have loved to carry out the deed personally, but he was still nothing but a newbie when ites to cybercrimes.


    "You damn brat! How dare you tricked me, your respected professor, into hacking through the Chengs!!! You said there would be a nice ''material'' to find on hisputer! You''re so bad! Damn you, immoral brat! I scoured all his files and only saw boring anime porn there! Its style is even that of the 1990s! I''ve been wanting to pummel you down with my two fists for deceiving me since that Saturday night! AARRRRRGGGH!"


    Jiang watched in amazement as the righteous pervert pulled his hair out of frustration while pointing a forefinger at him. The redness in Hao Gang''s eyes was so amusing, he couldn''t help but wonder how many small veins would get ruptured within the next minute.


    Then he remembered what the man said, asking, "You said, he''s actually into that kind of material?"


    Hao Gang grabbed the chest part of his dress shirt and acted as if he was running out of air. "You''re doubting me? F*ck you! Who raised you to be so disrespectful to those older than you?"


    A corner of Jiang Li''s lips rose in mockery. In reference to how his simple yes or no inquiry was answered with two questions and one sentence, he spat out sarcastically, "I''m now really suspecting if your IQ is in the negatives, my dear respected Sir."


    ...


    FallenBlue here! If you''re not reading at , please go here and read for /book/12925525506052005/Quick-Transmigration%3A-Saving-The-Crazy-Viiness


    FYI, this is the original site to read this story.


    Thanks in advance.

 Chapter 12: Means to an End

    Chapter 12: Means to an End


    It had been quite a puzzle for him since the day he uncovered from his memories how Hao Gang, an S-ss dangerous human being had helped the weird makeup-loving Viiness Xie Na in uplifting the Cheng Corporation of the original story in the business world.


    Quite a difference happened this timeline most likely due to his intervention, and thus Hao Gang instead had done the opposite of what happened in the past life.


    So he was left to wonder.


    Was it only because he was the first person to approach Hao Gang and tantly told him that he knew the older man was a very fierce hacker? The fellow seemed to be so whimsical andckadaisical so it could really be the reason.


    Yet. How did Xie Na discover who the perverted professor really was?


    What a stupendous mystery. Jiang Li shook his head. He really wanted toment to the heavens why the memories he received from the system was so wed and fragmented.


    ''Am I experiencing this because life is really like sh*t and is frickin'' stupider and more damnable than death?''


    ''Damn, I really want to kill!''


    The system hiding in the depths of his brain: Cry! Cry! Cry! Not me! Not my fault! Why does it seem like he will be ming me? He mes me every single time! Waaaaahhhhhh!!! Hopefully, not today! Coz his aura is so murderous and scary! Waaahhh!!!!


    Of course, its wail couldn''t be heard by its host due to Jiang Li muting it and allowing it to only talk once called over by him.


    The system was still quite useless at this stage and could only bring him to another world, transfer faulty memories to him, and tell his stats and rewards.


    Nothing more, nothing less.


    He expected it to have some awesome hidden function like predicting where the leads or anybody were and what they were doing.


    Unfortunately, it only knew how to ramble nonsensical stuff in his head, lecturing its excuses which were about characterization and h h time paradox awesomeness.


    In other words, in the current world, all it would be able to help him with anymore was to tell him the change in his stats and the rewards to be received at the end of the mission.


    Given this chain of information, what more reason does he have to tolerate such a weird being talking day in and out inside his brain?


    He was already insane for Pete''s sake. It would be enough that he was talking to himself sometimes.


    Why would he need any other? Especially if it would be a foreign and suspicious foreign entity which just suddenly popped out of nowhere to bring him into the void?


    Ah. Craziness could really stray people away from what they should really be pondering about.


    Right.


    That Hao Gang... again, why did he let himself be used by Xie Na for the betterment and enrichment of the already very rich Cheng Corporation?


    This unkempt and not so professor-like man should not be that idiotic for real, right?


    ''Really nothing in ''his'' memories... Damn, I''m pissed off! Might as well look for the person himself and ask. And at the same time, ask for another sabotaging of the male lead. Two birds hit using one stone. All because I''m pissed off!''


    And so after the lunch break of that same Monday, he immediately left for the Faculty room, intending to pester Hao Gang into telling him if he had prior contact or rtion with that annoying woman.


    Somehow on his way to the ce, he met the she-devil and ended up narrowing his eyes with his lips pulled downwards as he stared at her.


    Damnable. The ck lipstick was really just too much for his brain to take.


    The woman seemed to havee out of the Faculty room... His forehead creased in.


    When he passed by the woman and saw that the room filled with rows of tables and racks was empty of any other soul aside from him and the ICT professor, he knew already that he was the one Xie Na approached today.


    "A shady dealing?" He murmured.


    As he thought of the possibility, he realized one thing which his memories also left out.


    If Xie Na had a good connection with this terrific hacker, what happened then to Zhu Li?


    If the gothic woman had truly been kicked out of the university, did she try to retaliate against the rich flower woman?


    Or was she already preupied with Bai Qing''s matter to remember?


    Just wow.


    Theplicated mess andck of answers made the young manughed again.


    Looking at Hao Gang who then inquired why he looked for him again, he tossed the n about asking the pervert regarding the Viiness and merely asked help to scatter to various channels all nned transactions, projects and business biddings Cheng Yijun was supposed to take part in this month to the Cheng Corp''spetitors.


    He did this because he realized, he got so much time in hands anyway, why rush.


    If there was something to be rushed, it should be Cheng Yijun''s downfall.


    Anyway, before he forgot, his mission was actually to save the stupid Viiness, and him tackling down a n to kill the male was just the means to that end.


    ....


    FallenBlue here! If you''re not reading at , please go here and read for /book/12925525506052005/Quick-Transmigration%3A-Saving-The-Crazy-Viiness


    FYI, this is the original site to read this story.


    Thanks in advance.

 Chapter 13: Shall We Dance?

    Chapter 13: Shall We Dance?


    Dayster...


    Zhu Li watched as Jiang Li walked into the wide luxurious hall filled with people dressed in gem-studded and sparkling dresses, gowns, and suits.


    Music of unparalleled charm and ss reverberated throughout the ce, capturing the ears and calming every wandering mind.


    So many scents and perfumes lingered in the air, mixing with each other and creating a web of sometimes pleasant but most of the time heavy fragrances haunting every present guest in the area.


    She saw the man she had always been chasing for in her previous life sporting an annoyed expression, yet as the most handsome person on the campus, and probably in the whole city, he nevertheless appeared less good-looking.


    The faint creases in between his regal eyebrows did not diminish his charm and appeal one bit.


    To be honest, even that frowning expression lights up an unknown fire within her heart.


    The woman couldn''t help but hate herself for feeling this way despite what she and her family went through in herst life.


    She soundlessly breathed in and out.


    From afar, severaldies around their age could be seen gawking and staring at him intently as though he was naked in their predator-like eyes.


    It was just soughable, considering the fact that the person himself knows none of their silly sinful thoughts.


    ''Jiang Li...''


    She batted her eyshes once, holding her champagne flute nearer to her lips.


    She raised her chin a bit before taking a sip of the wine.


    Its taste was quite sweet, with lots of juicy acidities to keep it lively and fresh.


    However, Zhu Li found itcking in bitterness or any other stronger taste. She wondered why she was craving for something like that.


    ''... In the past life, he married the fiancee arranged for him by his parents. A divorce came around for him a few years after, but by then, I remember that my family''pany had long been crushed by the Chengs, precisely two years after I graduated...''


    The woman mingled with the womenfolk on the right side of the venue, her heart so mncholic despite the smile on her lips and eyes.


    "Oh, my dear Li''er,e here."


    Her mother, the madam of the Zhus, called her out.


    When she saw who was the one standing across her mother, she politely walked over even though deep inside, she badly wanted to rip the person apart and toss his body parts to the sharks in the ocean.


    "It''s my pleasure to be your acquaintance, Miss Zhu. I am Cheng Yijun of the Longfeng Group of Companies."


    ''Cheng Corporation, in other words,'' she inwardly sneered.


    The woman received the madam''s signal and smiled to hide the frost in her eyes, "The pleasure is mine, Mr. Cheng. You are very popr in the whole country."


    "You are so polite, Miss Zhu. I wonder if I can invite you to dance?"


    Happiness flickered in her morous mother''s face, and words of envies and tteries flew into her ears.


    Zhu Li was a known beauty in the upper society and thus it was no wonder that the yboy of the Chengs extended a dance invitation to her.


    How many women had fallen for this simple trick of him, she wondered.


    "Then, shall we dance?"


    A slight smile graced Zhu Li''s lips, yet when she was extending her own to the man, she abruptly and teasingly stopped.


    cing her other hand on her forehead, she said,


    "Wait. I-I''m sorry, I suddenly felt dizzy. I don''t think I will be able to match Mr. Cheng if we go to the dance floor now."


    Hesitation and regret appeared on the man''s face.


    One nce at that expression, and she knew the person must have already imagined something beyond this ce together with her.


    As he had always been doing with the countless women he bedded then tossed away before.


    "It''s a pity. But mdy''s health is more important. I suggest Miss Zhu take a break at one of the guest rooms for now. Would you like me to escort you?"


    ''Scum. And an idiot! Amateurish acting can actually fool him. How did he be Jasper City''s Business King? And why the heck will I let him escort me anywhere?''


    It was amazing how the curling of her lips did not seem forced when she replied,


    "I''m afraid to bother Mr. Cheng. Please don''t worry about me. I n to take a rest at one of the side sofas here."


    The loathful ''golden'' bachelor of the country who, despite the recent crises his corporation had just been to for these past two weeks, could still remember to flirt with women left, right, and center, finally left her alone. He must have only feeling a bit of pity for prey that slipped out of his but moved on too fast to search for another woman willing to apany him.


    The woman shook her head and left the group of women there.


    Instead of looking for a sofa at the sides to sit at as she said to the bastard son of fate, Zhu Li went out of the side entrance leading to the borate garden of the venue.


    Anyway, the politician who had a birthday today already made his entrance an hour ago, so it should be okay even if she wandered around and waited for her family to notify her of their departure.


    Unexpectedly, after she went out of the brightly lit hall and got into the dimly but dreamily lit corridor, she found somebody she did not expect to be there.


    The figure of that person was leaning against the pir as he bathed under the soft glow of the multi-colored lights.


    His ever so familiar and charismatic voice entered her ears,


    "Yup... Just call me once you''re done with whatever you have to do there... No, don''t wanna... Why mix with them?... Goodbye and thanks in advance."


    And then Zhu Li saw him ending the call and pocketing the phone even though gibberish protest-like sounds were still echoing in the background.


    ''... I don''t remember this happening in myst life.''


    The woman repeatedly blinked at the man who appeared in this ce at this time despite it being contrary to what she recalled.


    "Hmm?"


    Most likely rmed by her presence, the man turned his head towards her direction, seeing her just a meter away from where the dazzling light wasing.


    It appeared like a mesmerizing halo behind her that even Jiang Li, the slightly crazy guy, couldn''t deny that Zhu Li was quite a beauty above every girl at this party.


    "We met before, right?"


    Zhu Li forced down the lump in her throat and spoke up.


    The second lifetime started quite a few days ago, yet the effect of this man to her remained the same, to her woes.


    He merely nodded.


    She felt helpless at the happiness she felt when he didn''t take his eyes off of her. If there was only a well nearby where she could jump off, she would have already headed and jumped in there.


    In the end, it was she who averted her gaze, settling her eyes on the rows of red roses by the side blooming regardless of time.


    "It seems I disturbed your rest. I shall excuse myself then. Good eve."


    Before she could turn around, he spoke up.


    "No need to leave. I don''t own the ce. Stay if you want."


    She watched as the man threw her a nonchnt look.


    She was weighing whether to stay or not when he made an expression as if he remembered something.


    "Now that I remember it, how did you solve things with that other woman?"


    Deciding that she could try to do as he said and enjoyed this rare moment of peace which could also probably be theirst, the girl in the elegant red long dress took a seat on the stone bench there.


    She answered, "I made her apologize. And then that''s it."


    Zhu Li had precisely gone back to this timeline around that time. With full knowledge of how the future would turn out to be, she initially wanted to strangle the ''her'' who easily settled the matter that way.


    But then, she thought, it was actually for the better.


    In a sense, Xie Na''s oue had not been any better than her.


    Or maybe, hers had been worse since while Zhu Li never had a definite crossing of paths before with Jiang Li, Xie Na was used to the fullest, and then discarded together with her unborn child.


    At least in this lifetime, her stupid scuffles with Xie Na had not yet started.


    Though in one corner of her heart, there was a bigger part that couldn''t ept everything she experienced back then.


    She looked back at Jiang Li, her gaze veryplicated.


    He was the root cause, yet he was innocent. It sounded like awesome nonsense, yet it was the truth.


    ''... Maybe I should start avoiding this guy while taking revenge against the other,'' she thought a few secondster.


    The two of them were quite near to each other and could have gotten closer, in a figurative manner, by speaking to each other.


    However, they chose to maintain that calming silence and safe distance between them.


    Their reasons differed.


    The girl only wanted to be able to say in the future that she spent some time with the person she loved before giving him up.


    The young man simply thought he had nothing to talk with her.


    Later, in the nexting days, once they recalled this party, their escape from the hall, and the chance meeting at the garden, it would be such a puzzle to them how their wasting away of the romantic music, ce, and atmosphere became quite the memorable experience for the both of them.

 Chapter 14: Butterfly Effects?

    Chapter 14: Butterfly Effects?


    Months swiftly passed by.


    Jiang Li had finally limated himself to his body and identity.


    Since he was quite the brainy one, even before the transmigration, he was already in thest year of his studies despite being younger by two years among his ssmates.


    Now he had graduated, and with flying colors even as their batch''s summa cumude.


    Surprisingly, the one who came up as the magna cumude of his batch was that woman, Zhu Li.


    He furrowed his brow for some time when he first heard of this information. This did not happen in his memories.


    The woman should be busy creating a ruckus with Xie Na. Did his actions cause quite a few butterfly effects in this timeline?


    In this timeline, Xie Na did not bother him after that maybe slightly sincere apology of hers. Zhu Li also did not have any more encounters with him and the viiness.


    This led to Xie Na not getting thrown out of the university. Due to this, she also did not end up working in the factory owned by Cheng Yijun.


    He did not know much of the details, but he heard that she turned into a good leaf and even broke ties with Cao Hua who as he suspected, had purposely influenced that viiness to be into Gothic fashion.


    It became a rumor before he graduated from university.


    Cao Hua, the violet-wigged woman actually purposely told Xie Na that her confession was rejected and left out all other details, knowing Xie Na would charge at him without fail in order to take revenge against him.


    Cao Hua''s goal was to make Xie Na antagonized a rich heir, him, at the same time lost more female friends and be at the opposing side of his ''Fanclub''.


    Wow. Such maliciousness. He wondered, how this fake friend of the viiness would react once she learned of Xie Na''s misfortunes from the past life.


    It seemed this Miss Violet had quite the grudge against her ''best friend'' for being prettier than her. He wouldn''t be surprised to find out that Cao Hua had hosted a party for a month.


    It did not take long for a transformation to happen to that woman. He didn''t know if this was fate working on everyone''s life, but Xie Na shed her stupid aesthetics and finally became a true smart goddess.


    To his amusement, that girl had indeed a brain for business since, after a year, she graduated as her batch''s second top student.


    She was even said to beparable to Zhu Li, and received a few invitations from severalpanies.


    Xie Na almost became amon goal for these businesspanies since unlike Jiang Li and Zhu Li, she was not from a prestigious family but graduated from a prestigious university famous for its globallypetent graduates.


    "Longfeng Group of Companies extended an invitation to this junior of mine too?"


    Now as Jiang Corporation''s Chief Operation Officer, Jiang in his business suit turned the pages of the folder in his hand and scanned them with his precise eyes. Sometimes, his pen would move to sign the papers before him.


    The female secretary who reported him of this added. "Our CEO also extended a job affair to Miss Xie Na."


    "Oh. I see."


    Jiang Li was more amused about the Chengs'' action and wondered whether this was also a work of fate.


    The viiness did not be Cheng Yijun''s personal secretary through the factory event. So this was how it wanted to correct it?


    ''How about the Chengs losing almost 50% of their assets andpanies?''


    The faint smile on his face made the secretary bowed her reddening face in haste.


    He remembered how within the year and a half that passed, another force seemed to have emerged, joining him and Hao Gang in their attacks against the Longfeng Group of Companies and the Cheng family.


    He badly wanted to know who the other party was. And Hao Gang knew, yet refused to tell him who.


    The trouble-seeking man, who was still a professor at his former alma mater whimsically joined him in his cause and was still with him even after more than a year.


    When Hao Gang lectured him about porn instead of answering his questions about the Chengs'' other enemies, he probably hoped his disciple, Jiang Li, to uncover it by himself, making him take it up as a challenge to his skills.


    He dismissed it though. Not bother at the slightest but instead happy that some other forces wanted to f*ck over the male lead.


    As long they were working together for amon goal, it would be okay to mind their own businesses.


    Actually, he was also okay taking it as a challenge as to who could bankrupt the Chengs before the other!


    There were only two and a half years before the grand encounter.


    By then, would Cheng Yijun be the golden bachelor of the country who the female lead formerly liked and turned fascinated with after their one-night stand?


    Jiang Liughed. Maybe they would still hook up. After all, the world seemed to be hell-bent on making things happen like the past timeline.


    But whether Cheng Yijun would be crowned as their generation''s golden bachelor?


    As if Jiang Li would let that when he was also after that title!


    "Contact that Xie Na and tell her, Jiang Li, her senior who graduated from the same university, did not ept her apology back then. Arrange a meeting after saying that."


    "By your will, Sir. May I know what day do you prefer to proceed with this meeting?"


    "Tomorrow is good."


    The woman lightly bowed before leaving the spacious and neat office.


    ''Business weapon or not, let''s first ensure that this hot potato won''t go to the male lead''s side,'' he wickedly thought.


    He stood up and did some stretching. His eyes did not leave the addicting peaceful blue of the sky above.


    ...


    ...


    FallenBlue here! If you''re not reading at , please go here and read for /book/12925525506052005/Quick-Transmigration%3A-Saving-The-Crazy-Viiness


    FYI, this is the original site to read this story.


    Thanks in advance.

 Chapter 15: A Changed Xie Na?

    Chapter 15: A Changed Xie Na?


    When tomorrow evening came...


    ...


    The chandeliers, flower decors, borately sculpted smooth wooden tables. The life-like mini-waterfall and the bluish koi fish pond and rockeries beneath it. The nice food and drinks. The enchanting and soul calming soft mix of lights and fragrances.


    It was such a ce of great ambiance. The designer made a great effort to integrate both luxury andfort in here.


    Unfortunately, precisely because of this that Jiang Li made a mental note to demote that whoever secretary arranged this restaurant as the meeting ce.


    He shook his head when he saw the venue of the supposedly serious discussion, the wine, and candles at the center made him want to burn down this whole ce.


    ''... If I''m not mistaken thatzy secretary phoned the owner and only said to prepare a table or room suitable for a woman and man to hold a discussion, and the manager simply mistook it for a romantic date.''


    Whilementing how canceling the meeting would be impossible by now, he took out his phone and wrote on his notepad to not only consider demoting, but firing that negligent assistant.


    Maybe it would be a good idea to not contact this restaurant anymore in the future too.


    He might be sounding unfair and bad, but for a host only seeking to finish a mission, entangling with the viiness didn''t sound nice for him.


    Also, that secretary knew he was still going to talk business with somebody. So what was with this?


    He, unfortunately, didn''t understand.


    Bored, he took a seat at the prepared table and nced at his wristwatch.


    ''A minute to go. Will she be like other women who love making their dates wait before making a pointlessly dramatic grand entrance?''


    To his amazement, just when he finished asking that question to himself, the woman whose appearance became pr distance away from her previous look appeared and sat down opposite him.


    "I''m notte."


    Jiang Li stared at her clean face almost bare from makeup apart from the mascara and lipgloss. This was Xie Na? She did change, huh?


    Although he didn''t stand up, he was still gentleman enough to extend a hand and reintroduce himself, "Jiang Li of Jiang Corporation."


    Xie Na, the gothic woman of the yesteryears, looked at the smooth palmid before her.


    She then stared at the face of this senior of hers.


    Really as handsome as she first saw him. As expected, there was a reason why that faker woman Cao Hua liked this guy before.


    His face was simply the reason why he was recognized as the Adonis of Jasper City.


    ''But he''s known too for being a very excellent businessman in the country. Hmm.''


    She fell into deep thoughts, carefully recalling every information she gathered about this person. It became a habit for her.


    A year of betrayal and trials from her friends and studies were enough to change her. Actually, she did not really change, but wake up.


    Now the Xie Na of today could at least sport a polite smile while epting his handshake after pondering over the best way to proceed with this meeting.


    ''Simply be cautious with words and rewrite the surely bad impression I initially left to him.''


    "I''m Xie Na. Good evening, senior Jiang. You''re now a very famous alumni of our university."


    The man in front of her did not show any change in his expression. He was also the first to release his hand from the handshake.


    When he did, she felt relieved. The man before her was seriously giving her some pressure.


    She wondered how she dared to think of sabotaging this person before when they were still in college.


    What guts did she have back then?


    ''An ego boosted maliciously by your ''best friend'', what else?'' she bitterly thought.


    Jiang Li perfunctorily asked what she wanted to order and then after settling the matter with the food and drinks, he directly uttered what he wanted to say.


    "Which offer do you n to ept?"


    ''Huh?''


    Xie Na gave her a weird look, not expecting for him to ask this right off the bat. She cleared her throat and replied,


    "Mr. Jiang. I didn''t know this is how you approach business."


    Jiang Li acted as though he did not do anything out of the norm.


    "Time is money. So I have to be direct."


    "Alright. I understand. But I have to be direct too. I am still deciding which ce to go."


    Jiang Li nonchntly looked away, replying,


    "You seem to have sobered up from college. I believe you also remember what you did to me back then. I didn''t ept that apology."


    Xie Na gulped, that scene yed in her mind.


    It was where a girl with damnably heavy makeup and ck lipstick ambushed the campus heartthrob then said her sorry in a manner akin to rapping a line in a song, before walking away immediately.


    Jiang Li threw her a sideways nce, his fingers started to rhythmically tap on the smooth wooden surface.


    His face changed from indifference to showing a faint smile, the sharp glint of mockery was so cleverly hidden that Xie Na only thought of it as a sign of danger.


    He said, "I actually remembered incorrectly."


    The man paused because the food had just arrived.


    They first let the waitery down everything.


    Then Xie Na did her best to appear as rxed as she could, like she would be swayed by anything, before asking,


    "... What?"


    He indifferently looked at her.


    "You didn''t really give me a chance to say anything, did you? In other words, I was not even able to say my rejection of it. So now you owe me two..."


    The second she finished digesting his meaning, Xie Na promptly smelled hardshipsing her way...


    ...


    ...


    FallenBlue here! If you''re not reading at , please go here and read for /book/12925525506052005/Quick-Transmigration%3A-Saving-The-Crazy-Viiness


    FYI, this is the original site to read this story.


    Thanks in advance.

 Chapter 16: Second Uncle’s Move

    Chapter 16: Second Uncle��s Move


    A sophisticated long oval table was surrounded by men and women in various styles and colors of business attires.


    A huge projected image was in front, and on its left was a middle-aged man busily rapping lines akin to what presidential candidates usually said in an election campaign...


    Jiang Li was one of the poor fellows that had to endure the long and dramatic speech.


    Why was this world so boring? Why was he thrown to the point where the main story was still four years away?


    He sighed.


    Jiang Li made up his mind to no longer wait for the plotline to start or else, he''d really go crazy.


    It was just so unbearable thinking how far his return to his real-world would be, especially now that he was still at the starting line after being in this world for so long.


    ''Gotta speed up things then. But first, this.''


    The twenty-two-year-old young man looked around to see the shocked faces of the executives gathered around him.


    The reason for their great bewilderment was the facts and numerical figures thrown in front of them by his Second Uncle detailing how Jiang Liuxian, the current chairman and CEO of Jiang Corps had embezzled and misappropriated so much money from the corporation.


    Right. Jiang Wen, his cute uncle, finally made his moves, after making him wait for so long.


    And this was the first bombid down.


    ''Wow, everyone''s making a stupid reaction. I wish I have someone to bet with. I would like to put my chips on them raging on for the supposed money that should have gone to their pocket but escaped to someone else''s.''


    He shook his head.


    The business world was all about money and interest. What should he expect?


    Or maybe it was not really all about money. But sess too.


    And some people could only feel this sense of sess and satisfaction by usurping what others strove hard to achieve and get.


    ''Should I cry for this Jiang Wen? It must be hard being the second cer all the time. No wonder he fostered this kind of ambition.''


    There were times when one could not just help but me their fate and birth.


    The Jiang Family was a traditional one.


    The legal firstborn from the time of his birth was already ordained by the heavens to shoulder the whole n and serve as its head.


    Jiang Wen must have thought that it was very unfair.


    From the very beginning, the second-born, him, was not given a chance.


    Who could he me for this? And who could me him for having ambitious and malicious intents?


    Jiang Li understood his Second Uncle''s sentiments. And because he was quite crazy, he sympathized with him but also felt scorn towards him.


    If he doesn''t fight, how would he win? It was quite easy toprehend.


    Yet what made Jiang Li disdained this uncle of his was hisck of awareness of his opponent''s true abilities. There was also the matter with his approach.


    ''What a pity. He''s not a creative one. If you have an ace up your sleeve, why broadcast it this tantly to everyone without making sure first that your ns are foolproof? Is it just me or some numbers there really just don''t add up?''


    Feeling tired and disinterested, he propped his chin up with his left hand.


    In one corner of his vision, he also saw his new secretary looking so bored despite maintaining a professional poker face.


    It was Xie Na, and she started working for him a little more than a week ago.


    It waste when Jiang Li finally realized her connection with Hao Gang.


    They were actually half-siblings, and one of the reasons why she got kicked out of their university so easily in the past timeline was the pervert''s intention to straighten out his sister''s skewed views and aesthetics through the hardships of the outside world.


    When he recollected about this for a while, he couldn''t help but nod at the brother''s thoughtfulness.


    The pervert told him, they too discovered their blood rtionte.


    Yet it seemed Hao Gang already treasured his newly gained sister a lot.


    It was hard not to question what that bonafide super hacker did when he discovered everything Xie Na went through in the hands of the male lead.


    Heh. Maybe he even became the real viin? Thest boss?


    If Hao Gang became thest boss, given his very terrific hacking skills, maybe the leads did not truly have a happy ending?


    Or did they triumph over thest boss through sheer luck from their protagonist''s halos?


    How sad that he had no way to know since the initial set of memories given to him showed nothing about that.


    "Now that you finish speaking, Second Brother, I think it''s my turn to step into the stage..." The voice pulled him back to reality.


    His gaze went to his father who calmly stood up from the chairman''s seat.


    It seemed even without his intervention, everything would go just fine since his father was never a business moron.


    A thought suddenly shed in his mind, his eyes dimming a little again.


    ''If considered from a certain angle, the system is quite correct, huh? Once an identity is established, the world became easier to tack. It gave me a nice starting point. And since I''ve already gotten into my current identity, things are now simple, and boring.''


    He wondered how it would be in the next worlds.


    If his hypothesis was correct, the system had set it up in increasing difficulty, so it would not be surprising to suddenly find himself back to the Apocalypse in the future. And then after that, he''d be thrown to a world where monsters and gods run rampant.


    For now, though, those things were a faraway matter.


    He had the current viiness, Xie Na, to worry over and save from her imminent fate.


    While his father had started his counterattack in front, he mused.


    ''It''s two years earlier, but perhaps, it''s already time to check on the real female protagonist of this world?''

 Chapter 17: Bai Qing

    Chapter 17: Bai Qing


    More or less five miles away from the Jiang Corporation''s building...


    In an all-female dormitory...


    A beautiful and dainty figure reminiscent of a pure white lotus bowed to another girl of a simr age.


    While she had a pale and apologetic face that could easily evoke pity and tug on the heartstrings of every onlooker, the one standing opposite her had a furious look on as though any minute soon, she would start pointing a forefinger to the other.


    They were at the lobby where not only some other girls nearby could see them.


    Since the dorm was just across the men''s dorm, hot-blooded male youths could also watch and hear them from the distance.


    "I-I''m really sorry. I didn''t know that you like Senior Feng. I, I will make sure to keep a distance starting from today!"


    The white lotus girl said it quite loudly, her words let the people around to immediately guess what was happening.


    Out of embarrassment for the kinds of stares the other party received from everyone around them, she blushed and angrily eximed,


    "Bai Qing!!! How dare you!!!"


    The woman wanted to tell how so inconsiderate and shameless Bai Qing was to do this to her in front of so many people.


    Unfortunately, that would have to wait until she had gathered enough calmness andposure.


    But yes.


    The one who just loudly spoke just now was the currently neen-year-old campus belle of J University, Bai Qing. This world''s female lead.


    And right now, she was apologizing to her dormmate Xia Xinyue for a reason which was actually not her fault.


    The senior art student the other liked had just simply confessed to her...


    At least, that was what everyone watching the show inferred from Bai Qing''s words...


    People knew Bai Qing as an intelligent and lovely youngdy born to a talented female designer and a self-made rich owner of a fashion and clothing line.


    Many saw her as a sweet and smart girl.


    Whenever she did something like winning a city-wide academic contest or helping an olddy crossed a busy street, words about it would immediately reach everyone''s ears and be the talk of the university.


    Her fanboys who were overly eager to spread her good and amazing deeds were the culprits of course.


    She was showered by praises and admiration from everybody.


    Men''s adoration also never failed to make way to her, at least, so far.


    Her appearance was really the kind which could topple nations, no matter if it was from the ancient world or the current one.


    No wonder right now, even though no one had heard of what truly happened between her and Xia Xinyue, it was already cemented in everybody''s mind that she was wronged.


    She was pure and innocent.


    Look at her beautiful... or rather, pitiful appearance.


    What more exnation or reason was needed?


    "That girl must have done something to make Bai Qing apologize even though somebody liking her is not her fault. Tch! Tch!"


    "Shameless! Very shameless! Not ssy at all! This Xia Xinyue is so viinous to do that to her! Poor Bai Qing!"


    "I really pity her. It''s because there are people drowning in jealousy and couldn''t ept their own adequacies that the world is bing more and more unbearable to live in!"


    "I know right!"


    "Ahem, what did she do?"


    A confused nerdy with short hair asked one of the spectators and received replies simr to the ones above.


    When that nerdy looked over, the one that appeared pitiful in her eyes was the girl who looked more teary-eyed than furious.


    Unfortunately, the favorable opinions of the majority tilted to the other side.


    Bai Qing briefly nced around and in her heart, a feeling of helplessness sprouted.


    She felt so helpless that she was so lovable and charming.


    A few hourster, the poor girl whose crush was rat out would surely be known as a baddy. It was simply the powerful halo of being the favored daughter of destiny.


    "I can''t believe it!" Xia Xinyue began shaking her head. "You''re known as a good and admirable girl. But what''s so admirable with a woman distorting facts and loudly shouting other''s affairs in public."


    Bai Qing''s face paled more, and she stammered out, "T-this... I-I just don''t have another choice..."


    ''Come again? What didn''t have a choice?''


    Those who heard these words had their imagination worked in full throttle, naturally in a direction only the female lead would like.


    "Miss Xia!!! Are you bullying her?"


    The one called turned to the left only to see someone she would have preferred never to hear or see thismotion. "Senior Feng..."


    Her voice weakly trailed off when she processed how this guy was siding with Bai Qing right off the bat. Frost covered her heart and her mind immediately became nk.


    Why was she the one receiving hostility? All she did was asked normally if Bai Qing was now dating this guy.


    "Senior Feng, it''s not like that," Bai Qing tried to smooth over the situation. "Miss Xia did not bully me."


    And the soft but awkwardughter that Bai Qing let out etched the opposite in the man''s eyes.


    The other woman did not really bully.


    The part where she said she didn''t have a choice was because they rarely meet in the dorm, so she took this chance to apologize.


    An apology for being much more likable and beautiful to the boys'' eyes...


    With worrying expression, the male student told her,


    "Qing''er you don''t need to be so kind. Just say directly, did she bully you?"


    It was annoying that after hearing this, the campus'' number one beauty tried to deny it again only to be further cemented as the truth.


    Xia Xinyue simply decided that she''s done with everything.


    The man was a scumbag who didn''t even know the basics of asking the side of the two parties involved. She must be blind to like him before.


    Thankfully, she had now awakened to the reality of life...

 Chapter 18: Goals And Priorities

    Chapter 18: Goals And Priorities


    From the distance, two other pairs of eyes watched the happenstances at the dorm''s entrance.


    The two people were at the painted stone table set under a tall and lush tree.


    Nearby, there were several stalls where people could buy food and souvenir items.


    One of the men looked so handsome and with a presence radiating both power and charm despite being only in a simple white dress shirt and pants.


    Many girls passing by never failed to gawk at him for at least five seconds, not few made his lips twitched due to the dreamy shrieks they let out as they pointed their cameras at him and took a selfie with him as the background.


    No matter how indifferent he outwardly seemed, he actually felt quite ufortable within. Who knows what angle they took to y with his image there?


    What if tomorrow, he became trending in the social media for being somebody else''s husband without him knowing?


    What a scary possibility.


    The other guy looked to be in his early thirties, with a high face value too. He was single, filthy rich, courtesy of his real job, and with a huge house and a whole garage of cars. Sadly, he worked at this university hence the students knew him and his perverted quirks.


    This one had just arrived with two cups in hands.


    "Boring."


    The other man held out a cup of coffee that Jiang Li reluctantly epted.


    Right. It was Jiang Li. Naturally, the open pervert working in this university who he met up with was Hao Gang.


    It was already the next day after the farce with his uncle.


    Jiang Wen''s first attempt which had taken so much time and nning just to topple Jiang Li''s father off his pedestal ended up in failure. The culprit was naturally Jiang Li who, despite being so disinterested in the actual scene, had actually tossed out a record of tax evasions and faked documents from the finance department all legally stamped and signed by his Second Uncle beforehand.


    He didn''t n to know how the war between the two middle-aged Jiangs would end. Anyways, he had faith in his father. And more faith in Jiang Wen''s foolishness.


    This was why after the meeting, he took his mind off the n andpany matters. The first thing he checked by himself was how Bai Qing was doing. And whether this younger woman already had an interaction with the male lead, Cheng Yijun.


    It might be two years earlier, but it wouldn''t hurt to double-check.


    Jiang Li didn''t go to the office today in the pretext of looking for Hao Gang. Or actually, it was not just a pretext. He did want to see the professor for a request.


    The pervert hacker ran off almost everywhere and thus he chose to wait at this spot where he had chanced upon the uninteresting scene of the female lead staging mischief against someone he also knew. He witnessed everything from the beginning!


    "Hey. I didn''t make you wait so long this time. And I even made it up to you with this expensive cup of coffee. Don''t show me that expression anymore!"


    Jiang Li''s attention subconsciously went to the to-go cup in his hands when he heard the other''s excuse for beingte.


    Hao Gang really never failed to amaze him. This person assumed waiting for this guy to arrive bored him? Nice. He finally knew.


    But where was the expensive coffee? Didn''t he just shoot some coins into the vending machine there in front? For a machine brewed coffee, it didn''t seem impressive for a high earner like him.


    "You''re such a puzzle, Sir. Why is it that your IQ is only with you if you''re in front of aputer..." He shook his head and helplessly looked back to what he was watching.


    "Jiang Li, your visits here be more and more infrequent as time goes by. So what brings you here this time?" Hao Gang asked.


    The young man gulped a mouthful of the bitter coffee. Afterward, he said, "To visit you, why else?"


    Hao Gang sat down across him.


    Before the professor replied, his eyes went to the direction of the girl''s dorm for a while. He teasinglyughed.


    "Hehe, I caught you watching that spectacle, so I thought you''re here for your fiancee!"


    "Ex-fiancee."


    Jiang Li nonchntly rified.


    "I had that whatever engagement canceled six months ago. That girl also didn''t know that the engagement existed."


    Hao Gangughed. "Even though this Miss Xia doesn''t look as goddess-like as my sister or that girl she''s confronting now, she''s still a beauty and from a respected family of schrs too. Why did you call it off?"


    Jiang Li took another gulp.


    "This is the problem with society. Why would I let myself be tied to someone I''m not even acquainted with?"


    "Business interest."


    Jiang Liughed.


    It was a rare thing for him to talk about foolish things like this.


    But he felt quite close to this mentor and friend of his thus he answered,


    "I''m a bastard. But not to the point that I''llpromise the happiness of someone innocent like that littledy. From the very start, I know my goals and priorities."


    ''... It''spleting missions and going back to repay the betrayers from his past life.''


    With an amused, almost self-mocking grin on, he added,


    "Marriage didn''te to mind yet. Or maybe, will never do."


    Hao Gangughed at him and pped him at the back.


    This professor was the only one with the guts to do this to the young COO of a bigpany.


    "Stop the pessimism, my student! The end of that corporation which preyed on your precious cousin is near. Once that giant conglomerate is ruined, you''ll have all the time in the world to n for your own happiness. We only live once, you know? Don''t tell me you n to spend your next 50 plus years wrestling with papers? Damn. That''s so uncool!"


    Jiang Li''s lips twitched. He almost said,


    ''Wrong, respected Sir. I don''t care about Jiang Xinyi and I''ll exit this world as soon as possible to go to the next one.''


    "By the way, even though the two of you will no longer be in a rtionship in the future, that girl seemed to be in trouble. Would you like me to call that student over and say it''s for something academic?"


    Jiang Li''s eyes were directed at a figure that appeared on the opposite side who seemed to be heading towards the dormitory too.


    This was the reason why his answer camete. Still, his reply was said in an insulting manner.


    "Respected Sir, by any chance, have you ever considered what would happen if you, a pervert, do that?"


    Hao Gang suggested that earlier out of goodwill hence he almost choked on his coffee when he heard his former student''s reply. He red at Jiang Li.


    "... For someone who definitely seeks me out for a favor, your remarks are pretty scathing... I feel hurt!"


    "You''re not. And we don''t need to act since I''m sure somebody else is already on it. If I''m not mistaken my batch''s magna cumude is heading towards that woman."


    Jiang Li''s eyes went to the morous socialite in a red long-sleeve button-up shirt and white gauze skirt who was currently making her way to the girl named Xia Xinyue.


    A question popped up in his mind.


    ''When did my former fiancee have any intersection or rtion with Zhu Li, the only princess of the Zhu Corporation?''

 Chapter 19: A Real Socialite, Against The Fake And Distasteful

    Chapter 19: A Real Socialite, Against The Fake And Distasteful


    Jiang Li was not aware. But the morous woman had be acquainted with his ex-fiancee due to her curiosity towards the woman he married in the past life.


    It was sparked by the news that Jiang Li had suddenly canceled their engagement.


    It was a piece of news that only circted within the upper ranks since the two families involved didn''t want it to spread to themon popce. Xia Xinyue also didn''t know.


    When Zhu Li talked one time with the woman born from a family of schrs in a high politician''s birth party, they clicked with each other and immediately became friends.


    Months had gone by since then.


    "Xia Xinyue, you''ve taken quite a while so I just came to pick you up. What happened though? I thought you would just be getting your phone''s power bank?"


    The pearl white skin and beautiful smile captivated the people around.


    Zhu Li exuded the grace and poise of a real socialite hence eyes couldn''t help but get drawn to her. It was just hard to not turn their heads to her direction due to her radiant beauty.


    Jiang Li who was watching from the distanceughed because he saw Bai Qing also stopping to stare at the woman in red, yet when she recovered and realized that people''s adoration shifted away from her, her face crumpled from hostility.


    He could hear them too, of course, thanks to the hacker who kind-heartedly taught him how to fiddle with people''s devices and his earphones.


    ''Look at this girl.'' He narrowed his eyes, amused. ''Too much of an attention seeker.''


    "Good day. I''m Bai Qing. We just have a bit of talk. My apologies for holding back Miss Xia."


    The man next to the white lotus girl protectively interjected,


    "Wait. Why are you saying sorry? You''re not at fault. It''s Miss Xia who kept denying her wrongdoings."


    Thetter''s current distressed expression was purposely made to take back everyone''s gaze to her.


    And the foolish admirer just did a great job following up. As expected of the female lead''s halo.


    Zhu Li maintained her polite smile in front of Bai Qing''s apologetic gaze.


    Zhu Li saw a bit of what happened earlier so she had a hunch of what kind of person the harmless and pure-looking girl before her.


    As someone already mingling with the real world, how could Bai Qing''s little mischievousness escape her notice?


    "Xia Xinyue?" She chose to face her friend, reminding the younger girl of her question.


    Quietness reigned upon the ce. Zhu Li looked like a queen having an audience with her subjects. People didn''t dare to chime in since they were not the ones asked.


    Xia Xinyue gave the Zhu Corporation''s Princess a grateful nce.


    This was what she badly needed, an opportunity to exin herself. And this was given to her by the woman.


    "I''m sorry, Miss Zhu. There might be some misunderstanding here between me and Miss Bai. Last time, I simply asked if she''s now together with a senior of mine. And she mistook it as if I will be asking her to break rtions with him. Which I never did. She had just now apologized, saying since I liked someone I actually don''t...."


    Xia Xinyue threw the man an indifferent nce.


    She didn''t lie because she no longer does.


    Who would continue to idolize a douchebag that doesn''t listen to reason?


    So she continued,


    "She said since I liked someone I actually really don''t, she''ll stay away from him. I became a bit incensed at her for saying this in public where so many people could see us. I was simply afraid of misunderstanding, for my own reputation."


    The girl showed a bitter smile, which returned rationales to some people bewitched by the female lead''s aura.


    But that Senior Feng gave Xia Xinyue a disbelieving nce. Must be the ego of a man who she emphasized she didn''t like.


    "I think what I fear has somehowe true. People seem to be thinking I bullied her."


    Everyone was waiting for the response of the woman with endless charisma and powerful presence, therefore, no onemented, even though many of them started sporting awkward faces and apparently wanted to speak up.


    Zhu Li nodded and said.


    "Miss Bai has seemingly implied earlier that the talk is now over. Does it mean you''re already done telling her about this?"


    Bai Qing''s face burned in shame.


    Actually, those around them who jumped into conclusion against Xia Xinyue also felt embarrassed since, like the beautiful campus belle, they also didn''t hear out the other girl before judging her.


    Now, they knew the part of the one they thought was viinous. The stares they directed to Bai Qing turned quite weird.


    The world''s female lead noticed that hence she tried to justify,


    "I repeatedly told everyone that she didn''t bully me... I, I didn''t know things will escte this way..."


    Her face appeared pitiful and innocent.


    Her facade irritated Zhu Li''s eyes so much.


    This was why when she noticed people subconsciously nodding and falling for Bai Qing''s performance, she frankly and smilingly said,


    "I think it''s because Miss Bai didn''t rify from the start. Or maybe you just didn''t let my friend here exin her side. You also seemed to have put her in an ufortable situation under the public''s scrutiny. But thankfully, everything is clear now. If it''s alright, let bygones be bygones. Let this just be a lesson to each of us."


    Zhu Li walked forward in her pink killer high heels and pulled Xia Xinyue''s hand to lead her away.


    When she passed by Bai Qing, she whispered in a voice so emotionless andpletely opposite of what she let the others heard just a minute ago, apanied by a momentarily but freezing re,


    "So fake and distasteful..."


    "Simply an eyesore."


    Bai Qing froze and stayed to where she was for some time, even when her Senior Feng called out her name thrice.


    At the fourth call, the campus belle finally regained her senses.


    Then when she recalled what just happened, utter humiliation and hate washed over her.


    She was the rich, beautiful, and well-loved Bai Qing.


    The other was just in a more elegant dress.


    How dare that woman looked down on her?


    ''That woman! I can''t let this slide! I must show her I''m the real queen of this university!''


    Apparently, the girl thought Zhu Li was just another student on the campus.


    As someone from the second generation and a sophomore girl, the female lead had little knowledge yet of the current business world.


    If she knew who Zhu Li was, she would have chased after the woman to apologize and fawn over her instead of chasing her for the sake of arguing about her innocence.


    Unfortunately, right now, Bai Qing didn''t know. And thus no wonder she did thetter.


    The great bystander sh eavesdropper Jiang Li had a goodugh as he watched this female lead''s series of actions.


    Hao Gang who sat across him gave him a suspicious nce.


    The other man was not aware that Jiang Li wasughing at Bai Qing''s foolishness and naivety while wondering if right from the start, he had been really given the wrong script for this scenario.


    A few secondster, the man put away his earphones, eyes twinkling in excitement and craziness.


    ''It''s been a good trip. I saw so many boring things. But there''s also some that are funny. Damn. This female lead seems easy to finish off. I hope she annoys me so I can justifiably begin to remove her from this world!''


    And then the system hidden mutely inside his brain just suddenly shuddered at the hair-raisingughter he let out.


    ...

 Chapter 20: First Unofficial Encounter

    Chapter 20: First Unofficial Encounter


    The first but unofficial encounter between Jiang Li and Bai Qing happened also on the same day, at the same ce.


    It was when the girl chased after Zhu Li and Xia Xinyue only to pause halfway when she caught sight of a charismatic, aloof, but handsome man whosemanding aura differentiates him from the rest of the men she had encountered before.


    The spotlessly clean-shaven face and soul-stealing brown upturned eyes made the female lead gaze at him like she had fallen in love at first sight. She couldn''t help but blink her eyes at the good-looking senior whose masculine elegance didn''t lessen even though he was only sipping a regr To-Go coffee.


    If only the female lead was aware that the person she just gawked at had gloriously nned her downfall and death a while ago.


    Unfortunately, she had no way of knowing, hence she continued looking at him for a few more seconds like aplete fool.


    Unwillingness shed across her eyes when she saw the senior and a professor leaving their seats and walking away.


    But she felt a jolt in her heart when the guy frowned and turned his head to her direction as if her staring had irked something in him or alerted his senses. Their eyes met for a brief second. But that little span of time was enough for her to engrave his figure in the back of her mind.


    "Who is he?" she subconsciously asked, still gazing at the back of the man in a white button-up shirt.


    A friend came to her side and saw where her eyes were glued. This neer didn''t see the spectacle at the dormitory earlier.


    Concerned, the girl hugging a few books asked, "Bai Qing. You keep staring in their direction. Do you know Senior Jiang?"


    "Senior Jiang?"


    This friend of the campus belle had more knowledge of the business world than Bai Qing, so she exined,


    "Yup. Jiang Li is his name. He''s an alumnus of our university, the summa cumude of his batch. If I remember correctly, Senior Jiang Li graduated two years ago. He''s now a prominent figure in the corporate world, the Chief Operating Officer of his family''spany which deals with electronics and semiconductors."


    Bai Qing widened her eyes at her friend, shocked. The man looked so young. Yet was already a high executive?


    After digesting what she heard, her eyes shone brightly.


    The man who just caught her fancy was actually so good. No other men seemed to be on par with him.


    Bai Qing knew she was being ridiculous foring up with this conclusion without truly knowing him. But she trusts in her intuition which had done quite a number of good things for her father''s business.


    The man was definitely the one destined for her! She was sure of it!


    Not long after, the woman''s thoughts shifted to how she would get close to this appealing and rich guy.


    ...


    From afar, Bai Qing didn''t know that the two people she was supposed to chase looked back to her and saw her eyes shining like she just saw a diamond.


    When they followed the female lead''s gaze, one of them raised a brow while the other stared nkly at the man''s back.


    The one whose left brow rose up was Xia Xinyue. As a member of a learned family, she recognized who that guy in a white button-up shirt and ck pants was.


    While Xia Xinyue was puzzled why a personage of his caliber visited a ce like this, what was more ridiculous in her eyes was that their two-faced campus belle seemed to have taken a liking of someone out of her reach.


    ''Look at this white lotus...''


    Meanwhile, Zhu Li''s beautiful eyes didn''t leave the man''s back until he disappeared into the Faculty''s direction.


    She thought this man must have some business with Professor Hao. Before she graduated, his closeness with the infamous professor spread all over the campus, so she was not surprised that he came to this university.


    But actually, the morous woman did not give much thoughts about his appearance here.


    As Xia Xinyue clicked andughed at Bai Qing''s epic face, Zhu Li smiled and looked up to the skies.


    She felt thankful.


    It seemed she had now moved on.


    ...


    ...


    A/N:


    From tomorrow onwards (it could only be from tomorrow since I''ve yet to finish the edits haha), updates will be daily, with 600-1k word count.


    Thanks for reading and understanding.


    May you all have a nice day.

 Chapter 21: Man Of Her Dreams

    Chapter 21: Man Of Her Dreams


    A week after the encounter, Bai Qing became very ecstatic when her father told her to dress up.


    The reason for this was that they had been invited to attend Jiang Liuxian''s birthday celebration, the current chairman and CEO of thepany belonging to the Jiangs.


    ording to her father, they had been included in the guest list for being a regr provider of good dresses and fashion wear to the madam of this birthday celebrant.


    Well, Bai Qing didn''t really care for the real reason. As long as she could have another chance to meet Jiang Li, the current man of her dreams, nothing else matters..


    The girl had no knowledge of how it was actually Jiang Li who really brought up the Bai''s Clothing and Fashion Line to his mother which prompted the madam to invite them.


    Needless to say, an invitation was also sent to the Chengs.


    The impatient task-taker could no longer wait for the plot to naturally start hence he tried to speed up the meeting between the male and female lead.


    It would be in a birthday party too. Just that the person celebrating it would be different.


    There should be no problem with that, no? After all, this world or fate loved to toy with happenstances. Right now, what he just did was to dly give it a helping hand.


    Jiang Li'' chuckles became more frequent as his father''s birthday approached closer. And when the day arrived, his mood turned so good that his parents start to wonder if he was that d that his old man had turned a year older.


    Naturally, the man didn''t have their guess in mind. He was thinking of the two pivots of the current world, the leads.


    He didn''t believe that at those two''s first encounter, the damnable drugs plus bed scene would not take ce.


    Once that happens, he would take it as a signal of the beginning of the story.


    And he would no longer be passive in his attacks nor only employ harassing tactics against the enemies.


    The mission was only to prevent Xie Na from being crazy, right?


    It seemed easy but it was because he didn''t n to stay long in this world that he had to get rid of every factor which would make her insane.


    The best way he initially thought of was to simply sent Xie Na abroad or anywhere far from the leads, but the past two years had let him discover that there was something mysterious at work which always strives to correct the story plot.


    It seemed that he, the outsider was the only variable which could break it off.


    This was why, he decided to just speed up everything. Andplete his mission as soon as possible.


    His real goal was to finish everything in a year and leave for the next world. Even if he had to be ruthless and destroy everyone who would interfere in his task.


    ...


    ...


    FallenBlue here! If you''re not reading at , please go here and read for /book/12925525506052005/Quick-Transmigration%3A-Saving-The-Crazy-Viiness


    FYI, this is the original site to read this story.


    Thanks in advance.

 Chapter 22: Commencement Of The Plot

    Chapter 22: Commencement Of The Plot


    All this time, Jiang Li was wondering why Cheng Yijun was the favored son of heavens.


    Well, his previous meetings with this man were all short, and he also couldn''t be bothered to get close to him since his impression of him was very bad. So this was maybe why for quite a long time he couldn''t give a proper answer to this question.


    When 7 pm came and the celebration started, Cheng Yijun came forward to greet his father.


    Of course, since they were all businessmen, the talk did not merely end with perfunctory greetings.


    Jiang Li participated a bit in the discussion and that was how he discovered that in all fairness, if the subject of a discussion was not women- rted, the guy could be quite witty.


    ''Well, it will be utter stupidity if this guy bes a prominent businessman without anything inside his head... Maybe I just got lucky that Hao Gang, that super hacker is on my side.''


    He gently shook the half-filled wine ss as he listened to what Cheng Yijun had started to propose when the man pulled them to the quieter side of the Jiang Mansion''s wide hall.


    "I heard that you, Sirs, have been recently researching smart phone production for quite some time now, which makes sense since yourpany specialized in producing semiconductors and some cellphoneponents."


    "I admire your informationwork, Mr. Cheng. I didn''t know our recent projects have already reached your ears."


    "Oh. My apologies. I hope I didn''t sound nosy or insensitive just now."


    "Haha. Not really, it''s never a secret."


    "I''m relieved to hear that I didn''t identally rub you the wrong way."


    Cheng Yijun''sughter was very natural and easy to the ears.


    As of expected of a male lead...


    "So how about we partner up in this? One of my teams is researching AI integration on our phones, and we''re close to really having a nice result which couldpete with...."


    Jiang Li looked at his father and saw that the man seemed pleased. But of course, there was no way a simple bullshitting would lead him on.


    Jiang Liuxian must have been amazed by how eloquent and convincing-sounding the heir of Cheng Corporation was. The two had other opportunities to discuss before but Jiang Li''s father always felt approval at how good this man does business.


    So far, Cheng Yijun''s greatest blunder in the business world was the incident two years ago where almost ten percent of the LongFeng Group of Companies froze due to some files corrupted and lost from his own department andputer.


    But when considered from another angle, his only fault which was not securing the data in his hands could actually be med on their IT experts which didn''t do their best to protect thepany from malicious hackers.


    Tricky, huh...


    When the man parted with the father and son duo, Jiang Li gave him a meaningful look.


    Cheng Yijun waspetent and capable. Just from the conversation, he had managed to uncover this. Plus he''s got the world''s backing, therefore most of the time, luck was on his side.


    He concluded,


    ''It seemed Hao Gang is really thest boss. And his halo is the only thing which helps me antagonize this guy.''


    Jiang Li secretlyughed, not really concerned about realizing how he was still a minor character despite the feats he had aplished these past years.


    Anyway, being a main character was never his goal.


    At the same time that this thought shed in his mind, that was also when he finally saw themencement of the plot.


    Jiang Li was correct that no matter what deviations and uncontroble factors came along the way, fate would make sure to amend them.


    Just now, Bai Qing arrived with her father and immediately began to look for Jiang Li, so she could formally introduce herself and be acquainted with him.


    As natural as a flower nectar attracting bees, her appearance enchanted a few men who started to notice her since dramatic entrance with her father.


    The dramatic part came from when a maid almost ran into her and spilled a few sses of water on her clothes.


    Thankfully, one of her second male lead was present and pulled her away. This was probably how the naturalw wanted people to notice her.


    After thanking the man, she went back to looking for her target. Her face became flushed when she caught sight of him near the staircase.


    Yet when the girl walked to the man''s direction, the world began to interfere with her n and made her see who her real beloved should be...


    Bai Qing who wore a beautiful white dress which enhanced her pure aura and beauty collided with Cheng Yijun.


    And the bystander Jiang Li felt disgusted at how time seemed to have stopped for the two of them as Cheng Yijun supportd the white lotus girl''s waist while they stared at each''s other eyes for almost a minute...

 Chapter 23: Poisoned?

    Chapter 23: Poisoned?


    Two shameless people''s eyes couldn''t take their gaze away from each other.


    They both had this unexpected feeling that they belonged to each other''s arms. Just why? Why were they having this sudden attraction to each other when they had just met?


    Such a puzzling work of fate...


    Meanwhile, Jiang Li almostughed so hard at the cheesy and insides-churning sight.


    He looked away because his eyes seemed to be burnt. It was so irritating.


    ''Good for them. One momentter, I''m sure they''ll be tumbling in bed, doing something even the gods won''t want to know.''


    Heughed coldly as he saw the culprit who drugged Bai Qing in the past timeline. This rich second generation''s expression seemingly didn''t like how the target he selected was in somebody else''s arms. Any given second, this man would surely begin his quest to enjoy a night with a gem found in this birthday celebration.


    Now Jiang Li only had to wait for the y to start.


    ''It would surely be entertaining,'' he thought in amusement.


    A secondter, his expression turned more sardonic when Jiang Xinyi, his older female cousin who was dressed in a red and ck figure-hugging dress, entered his eyes and noticed the concealed pain and unwillingness that crossed her eyes.


    She was looking at Cheng Yijun.


    Two years seemed to not have helped her much, huh? What a helpless woman.


    Jiang Xinyi averted her eyes in the end and surprisingly went to Jiang Li''s direction. Two champagne flutes were in her porcin white hands.


    "Good eve, cousin," she simply greeted before offering him one of the drinks.


    Inwardly, he wondered, ''Poisoned?''


    Jiang Li''s face remained expressionless as he epted it. Anyway, he didn''t have to down it as soon he gets it, right? He didn''t really n to ingest anything in this party, even if it was from his own parents, much less a rtive whom he only met thrice or twice in the past.


    His family was not on good terms right now with the second household.


    While Jiang Wen had managed to bullshit his way into making the rest of the shareholders think that he only did what he didst time for the sake of their business, Jiang Li knew so much better just what kind of person he was.


    Jiang Xinyi seemed innocent about the whole matter. But how could he be so sure? This woman was obviously quite dangerous if she could change faces in a matter of seconds.


    He was referring to how just a couple of moments ago, she was sporting a nostalgic and hurt expression, but now she looked emotionless.


    With a slight grin, he returned the greeting, "Cousin, good eve as well. This goodnight is as lovely as you."


    By the beautiful woman''s request, they looked for a corner where they would be fewer eyes to worry about.


    Without erasing his polite smile, he waited for the woman to say her piece of mind.


    He didn''t have to wait long.


    Jiang Xinyi looked down to the red liquid in hand and lightly shook it. The beautiful ripple on its surface brought a smile to her face.


    "I heard that you''re now a man who wants people to always be direct, so I won''t dilly-dally any longer."


    He retained his current expression while the woman swept him up a soft side nce with her cat-like eyes. She said, "My father wants me to poison you through that champagne flute."


    "Oh?"


    Mild surprise got into his face when she suddenly cutely giggled and teasingly looked at him. Afterward, she poured the contents of her wine ss all over the ornamental nt next to her.


    His eyes narrowed as he watched this scene.


    Just what did this gesture mean?


    His eyes went to his hand.


    The redness of the liquid inside his champagne flute looked so beautiful yet treacherous, deadlier than a rose that has a few thorns on it.


    However, her action seemingly told him. Hers was the real poisoned drink.


    So does it mean she exchanged the two sses before going to him?


    ...


    ...


    FallenBlue here! If you''re not reading at , please go here and read for /book/12925525506052005/Quick-Transmigration%3A-Saving-The-Crazy-Viiness


    FYI, this is the original site to read this story.


    Thanks in advance.

 Chapter 24: Insane Conversation

    Chapter 24: Insane Conversation


    If hers was the real poisoned drink, does it mean she exchanged the two sses before going to him?


    "Conscience?" Heughingly asked.


    Jiang Xinyi did not remove her sideways nce from his face.


    When the ss container waspletely emptied out, she answered, "No. Not conscience. It''s only doing what''s right. I don''t want to die. But I also don''t want to kill."


    She showed a bitter smile, her eyes glimmering the kind of glow which could make even the most heartless of men sympathize.


    "Thank our blood connection, Jiang Li. Or else I wouldn''t care even if my parents killed you just so uncle would be distracted and grief-stricken for a week or two."


    ''Wow. That sounds cold-blooded. I wonder how my death will benefit Jiang Wen''s n. Diversion?'' Heughingly thought.


    Then a secondter, the smile on his lips vanished as he said,


    "I thank you then. But since you have started this sensitive talk, my lovely cousin, I''ll be honest with you. I don''t care what your father tries to do. But just don''t cross me. And targeting what my family owns is crossing me."


    "This is not about who''s crossing who. All I want to say is that you would have died if I handed you what you originally should receive."


    With augh, he replied, "Please don''t think I''m a simple bastard by saying this. I admire you for sticking to your ideals to the point of defying your parents. However, if you want to really impress me, why do you have to purposely inform me that I was supposed to be poisoned? And why do you think you''d easily be able to poison me?"


    His first question was referring to how Jiang Xinyi could have just disposed of the two wines somewhere and pretend that nothing happened.


    That would appear more glorious.


    He would have been more impressed since it meant that she nned to carry the burdens by herself.


    As for his second question, the woman answered in a matter of fact tone,


    "Maybe because I know there''s a little chance to poison you that I did this. But what if I seeded? How can be so sure that I won''t be able to aplish it?"''


    Jiang Li crossed his arms and leaned on the wall as heughed.


    "I''m loving our current insane conversation. Where else will you see two blood-rted people from different camps talking lightly about poison and schemes?"


    Thedy in red shook her head and added,


    "You''re diverting the topic. But thankfully, my memory''s quite sharp. About your first question, why should not I inform you? I am a woman who has suffered enough from keeping my silence before. So why would I work and do something for free or without informing them that I did something for them? That''s stupidity."


    Trantion: In a sense, I saved you. Why would I y the masochistic martyr hero''s role and not tell you that I deflected danger for you?


    ''Quite the point.''


    He couldn''t help but admit.


    This woman must have applied what she learned from her past rtionship with Cheng Yijun to this talk.


    He chuckled and noted this in his mind and then parted with the girl after telling her,


    "Fine. You make sense, and I owe you one."


    ''As if.''


    The relief and faint smile that graced her face told him she was expecting him to say those words.


    It made him feel like something troublesome and heavy just fell on his shoulders.


    He wondered,


    ''If this woman is being like this, Jiang Wen must be nning something horrible or unforgivable again. Just what the heck is it? Or am I simply reading too much into this? Which one?''


    Jiang Li looked in the distance where his father and mother could be seenughingly entertaining their guests.


    He subconsciously thought, ''I hope in the next life, I would be an orphan or someone with no one else to worry apart from the viiness.''


    Yet while he was saying this, his eyes were actually showing warmness.


    Two years was not long.


    But it was enough to thaw a frozen heart, even for a bit. Especially if the people surrounding that heart showered it with genuine and unadulterated love and care.


    To show its owner, him, that even though he was just a passerby in this world, a life with love, even if it was just familial love, was still a life that''s been lived.


    ...


    ...


    FallenBlue here! If you''re not reading at , please go here and read for /book/12925525506052005/Quick-Transmigration%3A-Saving-The-Crazy-Viiness


    FYI, this is the original site to read this story.


    Thanks in advance.

 Chapter 25: “Am I Drugged?”

    Chapter 25: ��Am I Drugged?��


    Jiang Li stared at the ss in his hand which still contained the red aromatic liquid.


    A lopsided grin appeared on his lips.


    ''I told myself not to consume anything in this party. And I n to follow this.''


    After pouring the content to the same plot of nt, he left the ss and the ce. His steps leading him to where his parents and their acquaintances were.


    ...


    Bai Qing parted with Cheng Yijun after introducing themselves to each other.


    She went to look for Jiang Li, still not forgetting her original intention. But along her search, since she was still socializing and meeting people, she got drugged by the rich second generation for naively taking a spiked drink from a passing waiter. Actually not only her, but also Jiang Xinyi.


    As for how thetter woman got victimized, it was because that scumbag did not only target one, but three. Meaning, when he ckmailed or perhaps, bribed that waiter, three sses were spiked. Jiang Xinyi became too rxed and let her guard down which led her into taking one of those.


    Now, out of three, two became the pervert man''s choices.


    And he, of course, picked Bai Qing who was not only younger but also looked purer. Such a white lotus, it''d be easier to make her submit to his whims, right?


    The rich second gen was already fantasizing of the crazy night he would spend with this woman as he supported her to an empty break room.


    Naturally, at this point, the plot was already going forward.


    From the nearby restroom, Cheng Yijun emerged and saw a familiar white dressed figure slung across other man''s shoulder.


    Somehow, Cheng Yijun ''saved'' the damsel in distress.


    And then when he discovered that this beautiful and younger girl who had caught his attention earlier was drugged, he unselfishly and heroically made himself her medicine.


    In reality, the male lead was no better than the second rich gen. He also dly took advantage of a drugged woman.


    But maybe the difference was, in the Original timeline, he learned that Bai Qing was unlike the other second gen girls who only know how to spend their parents'' hard earned money. Therefore, he took responsibility for her and entertained the possibility of romance between them.


    That wouldn''t surely happen if it was the good for nothing pervert who had bedded her.


    This time though, how long would his interestst once he learned that she was just a normal student? With no other merit apart from her youthful body and beautiful face?


    Well, the plot seemed almighty.


    It would surely find ways to correct everything and connect the fates of the two favorites of the world.


    Even now, it did its job when inside one of the rooms in the Jiang''s mansion, it led the two leads to connect with each other. Unfortunately, just in a way that would leave that ce tomorrow smelling of something unspeakable.


    ...


    Meanwhile, Jiang Xinyi appeared to be hallucinating and losing grasp of herself.


    This was why she went out of the hall through the backdoor.


    The woman hoped for the fresh air outside to help clear her fuzzy mind. However, when time passed and it proved futile, rm bells began to ring inside her head.


    She only remembered taking two sses today, one which she poured into a vase, the other the only one she downed. In short, it should be impossible for her to be this tipsy and dizzy.


    ''Am I drugged?''


    When she came to this realization, she immediately knew she had to go to the hospital and have herself be treated there.


    Yet how could she do that by herself? It would be so far-fetched to drive her car there given her present condition, right?


    ''I must get help. Mom or Dad...''


    Due to her hazy vision and mind, it had taken her almost two minutes just to dial a number.


    Feeling her condition worsening every passing second, panic consumed her, prompting her to hurriedly shout when the call went through,


    "Mom... Please pick me up at the gardens.... Help m----"


    The background was loud, hence the Second Madam of the Jiangs couldn''t hear her properly.


    Halfway the woman''s speech, her mother impatiently said in a chastising tone,


    "Xinyi? I can''t hear you well! Where the hell are you? I have some prospective business partners to introduce to you! Go back here now!"


    "Mom," she weakly pleaded as her body cascaded down the floor, leaning on the wall.


    Her heart was struck by horror when a man with a contorted face and swollen lips emerged from the shadows, seeminglying from the hallway connecting the beautiful garden of the mansion to the restrooms.


    "Please... gardens... help me..."


    Unfortunately, her pleas went to deaf ears.


    The madam, with her stern voice continued to preach the ways of the world to her daughter. She thought that Jiang Xinyi had disgraced her once again, unaware that the woman on the other line was weakly fighting against the pervert second gen who came to her side and began to treat her disrespectfully and roughly due to being incensed and humiliated by Cheng Yijun.


    ...


    ...


    FallenBlue here! If you''re not reading at , please go here and read for /book/12925525506052005/Quick-Transmigration%3A-Saving-The-Crazy-Viiness


    FYI, this is the original site to read this story.


    Thanks in advance.

 Chapter 26: “Rescue My Cousin”

    Chapter 26: ��Rescue My Cousin��


    ''Hmm?''


    After listening to Hao Gang update about Cheng Yijun doing someone in one of the rooms, the pervert hacker told him that something was also happening at the gardens.


    ''That second-gen garbage is trying to force himself on my cousin?''


    He loosened his grip of the device by his ears. His brows furrowed for a few seconds and his parents took notice of it.


    "Son, is there something wrong?"


    Upon hearing this, Jiang Li gave his mother a nce and then shed a smile at her. "Please excuse me for a minute."


    The worried madam nodded.


    He took it as a cue to go to a corner and dial a number.


    "Hello?"


    A sweet and crisp voice echoed from his phone.


    After making sure that no one could hear him, he said,


    "Go to the gardens, rescue my cousin there. Then say...''


    Afterward, he phoned Hao Gang who was monitoring everything in their mansion from his base.


    He didn''t wait too long for it to go through.


    "How''s it going?"


    It seemed the person on the other line was busy doing something.


    In Jiang Li''s estimation, the pervert must be busy recording or watching a business that had nothing to do with him.


    Hao Gang''s reply waste and when it dide, the voice sounded like it was too happy. Yeah, what else could make the other man be like that?


    ''Damn, disgusting pervert.''


    "Ah, hello. Sorry, I was busy working just now. No worries, everything''s going ording to n. Once this is over, I''ll collect my five million from you, okay? By---"


    It was Jiang Li who hung up the call before the other person could say his goodbye.


    ''Nice. Though this guy is sometimes hard tomunicate with, at least he is dependable.''


    The confirmation was enough. A smirk appeared on his lips.


    However, it did not take long to vanish as he thought of the other news he received apart from the leads being together.


    ...


    When the person Jiang Li asked toe to Jiang Xinyi''s rescue arrived at the scene, blood immediately went up to her head, and she trotted forward in her high heels.


    In front, a woman''s desperate but weak pleas and a man''s low grunts softly echoed, irritating her ears.


    At half a yard distance from the good-for-nothing, one of the woman''s legs rose in the air and when the pervert was not expecting it, she swung it hard against his head!


    "Ugggh!" A loud thud followed after.


    "You want to assault a woman, huh? You piece of trash?!"


    Jiang Xinyi whose upper part of the dress was almost peeled off of her stared dumbfoundedly at the man who flew away from on top of her.


    Things had been so sudden.


    A while ago, she was still despairing.


    Her own mother did not hear out and even scolded her.


    She had no time to phone her father or just anyone else because the red-eyed bastard had already jumped at her.


    She hated herself for being so weak and for letting her guard down. Would she have a different oue if she just didn''t take even a sip of anything from her own uncle''s party? That time she wondered if she was being punished by the heavens in her parents'' stead.


    But then out of a sudden, when she was falling into despair and darkness, and cursing herself for her stupidity, the one who tried to rape her was kicked so hard by someone.


    When she realized this, of course, she was very relieved and began crying. She stared at the man with hatred pooling in her eyes that have a shape resembling those of a cat.


    It was just that when she recovered some wits and remembered that she had to thank whoever saved her, when she turned her head to the person, she was so stunned to find out who the one that practically made the man soared in the air.


    It was another beautifuldy... As thin, and fragile-looking as her...


    ...


    ...


    FallenBlue here! If you''re not reading at , please go here and read for /book/12925525506052005/Quick-Transmigration%3A-Saving-The-Crazy-Viiness


    FYI, this is the original site to read this story.


    Thanks in advance.

 Chapter 27: Pig-like Scream

    Chapter 27: Pig-like Scream


    "F*ck! Who are yo---"


    When the damnable guy came to his senses due to the endless pain, his face went rent from humiliation.


    Realizing he fell into an unsightly posture, with his butt sticking out in the air, he tried to get up while cursing out.


    But before he couldpletely separate his face with the garden''s soil, pain greatly assaulted him, again.


    "AAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"


    "Damn, so loud!"


    Behind him, a fair and smooth leg had peeked out of the slit of the ck dress.


    The sight looked so beautiful due to beingplemented by a strappy ck high heel that had some glittering gems embedded in some of the front straps.


    For some unexined reason, or maybe due to the dull lighting, the skin on her exposed limb looked to be as luminous as those little gems. One would just find it hard not to gawk at it.


    Unfortunately, that same leg was what made the guy let out a pig-like scream.


    It was stomping on something. Something soft, bouncy and fleshy.


    Unfortunately, the dimness of the ce wouldn''t allow anyone to see if that part was bleeding or not. They also didn''t hear any breaking or cracking sound. What a pity.


    "Are you okay, Miss Jiang?"


    The question directed at Jiang Xinyi was probably asked out of concern, but the woman''s voice sounded very indifferent and mechanical.


    Jiang Xinyi still had some tears framing hershes but the eyes that now recovered a bit of luster shone with wariness and confusion.


    "Who are you?"


    Jiang Li''s cousin stared at the other, wanting to also ask, howe she was so strong to easily apprehend a full-grown man?


    But faced with a gentle smile, the drugged woman did not voice them out. It was rude to offend or say something that could be mistaken for an insult to one''s savior.


    Also, there was another thing... The neer in a long sexy ck velvet dress looked so deceivingly dangerous... and scary.


    "Hello, I''m Xie Na. And you''re now safe."


    And with warm hands extended out... Not towards Jiang Xinyi, but to the man squirming under her pointed heels, the viiness of the world introduced herself to her current boss'' cousin.


    It was such a nice coincidence that from the previous timeline, both of them were women deeply involved with the male lead, Cheng Yijun. Both were women toyed and used by the same man, and then discarded together with their unborn children.


    It was their first encounter in both lifetimes.


    But while the extra did not escape her fate, the other was fortunate to be helped by the extra''s cousin to escape her fate to some extent.


    Jiang Xinyi held her head and ced the back of her left hand on her aching forehead.


    She just saw Xie Na, whose shoe was still stomping on whatever was between the screaming man''s leg, bending over to pull him up by the hair... Before violently banging his ugly and contorted face on the hard cement ground.


    ''... I must be seeing things...''


    ''Right... This must be a hallucination or a work of my awesome imagination.''


    ''In short, this is definitely the drug''s fault,'' she thought and thenughed at herself.


    Afterward, at the same that the man''s agitated and pain cries reverberated again in the inky darkness, Jiang Xinyi lost consciousness.


    After seeing this, with a mouth that went from gaping to twitching, the other woman, Xie Na frowned at Jiang Xinyi and told to herself,


    "Did I scare her so much? But I just thought there would no problem shedding my gentle and professional facade for once since the guy is a scumbag. Also, all I did is save her."


    She grumbled and hatefully stomped again at the screaming man''s groin area.


    A couple of secondster, as if she remembered something quite important, she eximed,


    "Damn, I forgot to tell her my employer''s words."


    ...


    ...


    FallenBlue here! If you''re not reading at , please go here and read for /book/12925525506052005/Quick-Transmigration%3A-Saving-The-Crazy-Viiness


    FYI, this is the original site to read this story.


    Thanks in advance.

 Chapter 28: Knack For Violence

    Chapter 28: Knack For Violence


    ...


    Jiang Li was not worried. It was just difficult to do, whether for his cousin, or that woman who had yet to resemble a viiness.


    He had yet to forget that before bing the person she was now, Xie Na used to have a very eye-popping and mind-numbing fashion sense, plus a knack for violence that was inherent and was only suppressed.


    A weakling good-for-nothing son of a rich entrepreneur versus a former full-fledged gangstress...


    It should not be hard to guess the result, no?


    Jiang Liughed when he received the toast from an acquaintance.


    Of course, his source of joy was from thinking of the answer to the question that shed in his mind.


    Not even ten minutes passed, and he got a message from his new personal assistant that everything had gone well, with the rich second-gen made a eunuch, and Jiang Xinyi sent to the hospital.


    The woman was even so sensible to say,


    "No worries. I did my job properly. Even though this is my first time doing something like this, I can guarantee that Ipleted it perfectly. I have already called my brother and requested for any rted footage or captures from the ce to be removed."


    She most probably wanted him to know, even if her deed just now turned out to be a crime punishable byw, there was no evidence for the guy''s side to bring out. This was why she said that things were aplished perfectly.


    Jiang Li nodded in approval and thought, ''If she continues being like this for a few more years, then I would have no guilt leaving this world.''


    Once the timees, he would have to go to the next world.


    It would make his heart and mind extra at ease if thepany his father had always been working hard for would continue to prosper through Xie Na''s help.


    Anyway, she did seem a capable woman now that her Gothic persona was gone.


    Or even if she was not, she could enter this line of business and help in the shadows.


    Time flew by. The night was no longer young even though inside the mansion it was ever lively, with dazzling lights, softughters, and lovely music.


    This should be when the passionate pair would be close to peaking for the second time, right?


    The truth was, since he was so boredtely, he and the master hacker found some things that were so entertaining andughable to read.


    And no.


    What they each discovered was different from one another.


    Hao Gang''s was about Cheng Yijun and Bai Qing.


    While Jiang Li''s was simply novels.


    Romance novels actually.


    And he found one of the most recurring scenes in all of those novels so funny. But seemed awesome if really was done in reality.


    ''Rivals. Drug. Culprit bringing spectators to the rated scene.''


    Amused by the keywords, he watched as the volume of the music in the hall temporarily lowered, almost fading from the background.


    The guests dressed in all sorts of fashionable and elegant clothes, wherever they were at the ce, stopped turned her heads to Jiang Li''s direction. Or actually, the one they directed their gazes at was the person celebrating his birthday today, Jiang Li''s father.


    When the young man swept his eyes around, he found his beloved Second Uncle and his wife as two of the few exceptions.


    Jiang Li didn''t know if they were simply not interested with whatever greetings Jiang Liuxian would say to the crowd.


    Instead of looking their way, those two chose to whisper to themselves. Who knows what the subject of their talk now? Were they aware of what they daughter almost went through?


    He was not really interested to know, so he removed his gaze from them.


    From afar, he also caught sight of Zhu Li who looked so great in her fiery red attire.


    However, he didn''t stare at her or anybody for longer than a second. This was why he didn''t notice the woman watching him.


    Jiang Li wasmenting within.


    ".... So many people... Damn. What a waste of resources. All of them could have been on-the-spot eyewitnesses."


    The First Madam saw him whispering to himself and asked if something was wrong, but he only responded with a smile and a shake of his head.


    On the wide stage-like middle part of the flight of stairs, his father was already there, starting his speech.


    Since Jiang Li temporarily looked down, nobody saw the regretful yet also crazy glint that shed across his eyes.


    ''Even though I already have other simple surprises ready for tomorrow, it''s still a pity that I won''t be able to make those two the center of attention tonight,'' he thought as he recalled the keywords from earlier.


    ''If only this is not my Dad''s birthday party...''


    ...


    ...


    FallenBlue here! If you''re not reading at , please go here and read for /book/12925525506052005/Quick-Transmigration%3A-Saving-The-Crazy-Viiness


    FYI, this is the original site to read this story.


    Thanks in advance.

 Chapter 29: Who Is This Man?

    Chapter 29: Who Is This Man?


    ''Yeah. If really only this is not my Dad''s birthday party...'' Jiang Li felt it was very regrettable.


    It took him a few seconds to realize that it doesn''t actually matter now... since even if he staged that popr scene while those two were being intimate, the effect would not be so huge.


    ''I forgot. If it''s a man, who cares who he bedded today or yesterday? Gossips and a bit of stain in reputation wouldn''t cause any real andsting damage. And even if society is not as kind if the subject is a woman, that Bai girl should be an exception due to being the female lead.''


    He shrugged and then waited for tomorrowes. The night was for his father''s merriment, and for the leads too. He was not that heartless to take away the limelight from them for tonight.


    ...


    The next day dawned.


    Bai Qing woke up feeling so groggy, light-headed, and dizzy.


    When her consciousness returned to her head, an ufortable pain assailed her from below.


    The irritating difort came from between her thighs.


    ''...I-I,''


    When she realized that she was naked and there was human heating in contact with the skin on her arm and back, her breathing slowed down until she was holding it for so many seconds.


    Bai Qing closed her eyes, still drowning in extreme shock.


    However, memories surfaced from her mind, the scenes they yed were so blush-inducing and heart-stopping.


    The touches. The embarrassing sounds. The rhythm they made atop the bed until a couple of hours ago...


    ''C-calm down...'' She told to her madly beating heart.


    Yet it had no effect. The fragments of memories kept ying.


    Her heartbeat also kept being crazy. Especially when she remembered every detail of the man''s responses and joy when he took her.


    Her heart was filled with overwhelming embarrassment... and shyness. Her cheeks became suffused in red. She looked so enchanting and breathtaking.


    ''I-is the man him?''


    With expectations shining faintly from her eyes, she braved tossing to the side to see who she had given herselfst night to. Of course, she closed her eyes first, nning to slowly open them for a surprise.


    The girl kept her heart at bay, since she was aware that having too many expectations would only result in too much disappointment if what she wanted to happen didn''t ur.


    However, it seemed that despite keeping this fact in mind, her expectation she harbored was still very high.


    And she was not aware of it.


    The reason for this must be her confidence in her n and the person she asked to help her in her quest.


    That guy had done his part of the deal, right?


    Everything went as nned, right?


    However, a secondter, as her lids slowly went up to uncover the sight before her...


    ''E-Eh? W-who is this man? W-who the heck is he!??!! W-why is the o-one next to me n-not J-Jiang Li?''


    The shy but confident smile on her lips disappeared, vanishing like smoke fanned by the wind.


    Her eyes began to swim in panic and confusion. Her heart as well, apart from plunging from the illusory heavens in her imagination into the abyss or reality, and with a speed greater than a descending elevator.


    "N-No... This couldn''t be happening... This is wrong. I-I..."


    Too many thoughts ran in the woman''s mind to the point that she couldn''t think straight anymore. She trembled. She stuttered.


    Her beautiful face that radiated pureness and loveliness became so pale as if all other color had been drained from it.


    Bai Qing held her head for a while and then after shaking her head for innumerable times, she recalled that she was still on the mattress with an unknown guy.


    "I-I must leave!"


    Bai Qing was a schemer and a two-faced person, yet even someone like her couldn''t stand the blow that even though almost everything proceeded to how she envisioned it yesterday, the man who had spent the night with her was not her target.


    At this point, she was not aware that her aplice, that another rich second-gen guy had almost had her for himself.


    If she learned that right from the start, nothing had gone the way she wanted, she would surely break down more, or even descend to madness.


    Panic-stricken and almost on the brink of crying herself to death, the girl fetched her stained white dress and put it on.


    She also picked up her bag while looking around for any other items belonging to her. No evidence of her stay must be left behind!


    Regrettably, life sure was not always so wonderful, even for someone with the halo of a female lead.


    All this time, she was praying for whoever the person in the bed was to not wake up. Or if possible, to not EVER wake up.


    Unfortunately, her fears came true. Yet it was actually her fault. She didn''t realize that it was her noisiness and sobs that awakened Cheng Yijun.


    "Hmm? It''s still so early. You want to leave?"


    Since she was crouching down and had her back turned to the man naked under the nket, she didn''t see him getting up, drowsily staring at her.


    Startled at first by the voice, then furious, the disheveled white-dressed woman who still looked lovely did not answer.


    After picking the underwear she didn''t have time to put on, she shoved it inside her clutch bag then dashed out of the room, leaving the recently awakened man to repeatedly blink in confusion.


    When he came to his senses and understood what happened, his face crumpled, and then he mumbled words that no kids should ever hear,


    "Damn! What''s going on? The white rabbit earlier... Did she justmitted ''eat and run'' after almost sucking me dryst night?"


    The man whose lust got satiated had still time to think about random and stupid stuff like this.


    It was because he was not informed that once he returns to his home, he would no longer have time to spout nonsense anymore as he would be besieged and thrown into a troublesome nightmare...


    ...


    ...


    FallenBlue here! If you''re not reading at , please go here and read for /book/12925525506052005/Quick-Transmigration%3A-Saving-The-Crazy-Viiness


    FYI, this is the original site to read this story.


    Thanks in advance.

 Chapter 30: Set Up?

    Chapter 30: Set Up?


    Cheng Yijun returned this morning to the mansion and was immediately pped in the face by his father using a rolled-up newspaper.


    "Dad?"


    Puzzled and feeling a bit angry, the man called out to his father who was raging like a bull.


    The middle-aged man in his corporate suit had a four-tenths resemnce with Cheng Yijun, except the shoulders were a lot bulkier, the stomach region was a bit more bloated, and the face had a few wrinkles.


    The chairman of LongFeng Group of Companies pressed a hand against his chest as he stared with shaking lips and crimson eyes at his own son. The older Cheng looked like he had many words that he wanted to say, but his blood pressure and heart were distracting him with the pain.


    Cheng Yijun''s own rage calmed down after receiving those reproaching and anger-filled res. Admirably, the man immediately regained reason, and enough wit to know that something was not right.


    He asked, "What''s the matter?"


    The madam who was crying crestfallen on the sofa looked at him with sadness that couldn''t stop spilling from her eyes.


    "Son, you haven''t heard or seen the news yet?" His mother asked sorrowfully.


    Since the man had regained some levelheadedness, he picked up the newspaper lying on the marble floor. When he spread it, his brow immediately rose upon seeing his naked self. The huge ck and white picture had his face featured clear but the girl was pixted.


    When he looked closely, his eyes darkened. Wasn''t this the white-dressed woman, earlier?


    ''That b*tch? She and that third-rate bastard used these lowly tactics to make me the city''sughingstock?''


    He cursed and immediately exined to his parents, "Damn, I''m set up!"


    Chairman Cheng furiously roared, "What set up!!!? Where are you looking, huh?!!! Read down that damn article with the picture!" Thest part was said with heavy stress, word by word.


    The young man, though having a bad feeling about it, did as told, and every second that his eyes were scanning the next article, the more his breathing becamebored.


    After flipping a few more pages of the news, he saw that he, his family, and the Cheng Corporation had been mentioned not only in two, but seven stories! And none of these talked nice about them!


    He froze for some time, before angrily bellowing out,


    "What''s with all these ridiculous articles!"


    "We need to get ourwyers fast! We have to sue them all for nder!"


    "I''ll phone the prosecutors too! They won''t dare barge in once we talk to their higher-ups! We will defend our stance that all those documents are false!" He referred to the records detailing tax evasions, paperpanies, and other usations which he didn''t know how had been unearthed.


    "As for the stocks... Let''s hold a press conference with only our people as on-the-site witnesses!" Thest sentence was said due to them owning their own news and broadcastingpany.


    Cheng Yijun, as the lucky son of the world, immediately had his call connect with the prosecutor''s office. However, he had yet to talk with the chief officer there when, from the doorway, one of the guards rushed inside to report how their gate was flooded with people, with some reporter mixed with them.


    Of course, those people were angry citizens who thought that they were victimized. Some were families of the employees, the others their consumers most probably tricked by the products they released.


    After hearing this, Cheng Yijun''s face hardened, his eyes couldn''t help but fall on one of the headlines on the newspaper, ''The Cheng Mall''s Hideous Secret: 305 construction workers buried alive under the cement ground of its foundation! The Chengs paid money to close the case!''


    And there was another, ''Proven True! Cheng Corporation''s SG soft drinks, once mixed with the human remains of a factory worker!''


    When the secretary of his father came forward with his phone in hands withrge beads of sweat rolling down his face and neck.


    The main secretary''s age was also around Cheng Yijun''s father and had been working for him for decades, hence the man only lightly bowed to the chairman before reporting.


    "Chairman, our stocks fell by almost 50 percent today, most likely due to the rumors and news. Our financial experts tried to salvage the situation. But before they could inject funds and stabilize the stock prices, the whole stock exchange tform and servers froze..."


    The Chairman started trembling in anger again. Meanwhile, both Cheng Yijun and his mother had a disbelieving face. They felt like the world had suddenly turned on them for no reason and without any warning.


    After lowering his head and breaking eye contact with the red-faced, red-eyed Chairman, the secretary continued, "... It''s suspected to be the work of the same hacker..."


    In a split-second, Cheng Yijun once again received intense res from his own father. The chairman looked like he would be strangling his son to death any time soon.


    The man gulped and asked himself, ''Everything suddenly changed overnight. What the hell is going on?''


    ...


    ...


    FallenBlue here! If you''re not reading at , please go here and read for /book/12925525506052005/Quick-Transmigration%3A-Saving-The-Crazy-Viiness


    FYI, this is the original site to read this story.


    Thanks in advance!

 Chapter 31: Reject All Requests

    Chapter 31: Reject All Requests


    That same morning, Jiang Li woke up and washed up. After putting on a business suit, dress pants and matching tie, he went downstairs only to find his father''s eyes glued to the news report yed on the TV.


    The older Jiang was also in his office attire, preparing to head out early to work - to battle with executives, clients, and paper works.


    "Ah Li,e here."


    The young man humored his father as they talked about the scandals shown in the report. Who was the protagonist there, some may ask? Who else, apart from the beloved son of fate?


    For the whole time that he was conversing with his father, Jiang Li tried his best not to suddenly break into a crazy grin. But what better news could there be apart from seeing that finally after more than two years, his mission had some concrete progress?


    However, there was one thing he was puzzled about.


    Within the car, as he drove inside it alone, he asked Hao Gang through the phone, "Hey, professor, sending those pics or spreading that vid is not part of the n. Why did you do that?"


    No matter how crazy he was, Jiang Li had not sunken that deep yet to do disgusting stuff like having the media revealed nude photos or highly scandalous videos.


    At least, not without verifying that both parties were pieces of sh*t.


    So far, only Cheng Yijun was confirmed as a non-recyble human.


    Remember? He had no qualms using women and ying with them, tossing them aside once he got tired of them or if they conceived a baby.


    For Jiang Li, since that man never hesitated in making those he had impregnated take abortion, there would be no problem killing him socially.


    As for Bai Qing... Hmm.


    Had she done something terrible which the professor had discovered, and thus pushed him to not hesitate to do this?


    "Haha, my student. Don''t me me. I just joined you on this trip for fun. And all I did is give those media people a choice. It''s them who really put the matter in their hands."


    Jiang Li scoffed, turning the steering wheel and parking it in the parking lot of thepany building. "You mean to say, you only send them the knife, it''s them who chose to kill, right? Oh. Witty."


    "Hey, all the people would recognize is that guy. I properly mosaiced the girl''s face. So I''m not that much of a scumbag."


    Why did it sound like ame excuse to his ears?


    ''At this point, I don''t have any more doubts that this guy is thest boss type who works from the backstage while everyone else clowns around in front of the audience.''


    Jiang Li chuckled and said,


    "Anyway, good work. Thanks for the help."


    The other manughed,


    "Good work too. I''m proud of you. You can now sabotage financial firms and take the stocks exchange tform as your yground!"


    This older hacker was no less crazy than Jiang Li.


    The man didn''t know how great of a feat it was to hack into that kind of incorporation.


    This must be the difference between normal people and insane people. The world views and moralpass were just so pr opposite and most of the times, ipatible.


    Who would dare say that something which could dictate manypanies'' economic survival was now somebody''s yground?


    At the least, no normal individual would.


    Jiang hung up the call.


    A few minutester, after being greeted by so many employees, he arrived at the second to the top floor and saw Xie Na at her table which was in the small room before his office.


    "Sir, good that you''re here. I supposed you''ve heard already of the most recent news. How are we going to deal with the recent proposals sent to us by the LongFeng Group?"


    He smirked at this straightforward secretary of his, appreciating that she was so enthusiastic in her work that she didn''t even let her boss take his seat before bringing up a work-rted issue.


    Xie Na went to his side as they walked towards his office, a stack of documents was in her hands.


    "I''ve investigated a bit and learned that the news articles are credible and backed by many pieces of evidence. Of course, whether all of those proofs are authentic or not, it''s hard to say. But I suggest we stay away a bit from them from now on, until the issues subside."


    He sat on his chair while the woman put down the documents on the tall and elegant table.


    With a smile, he said,


    "Let''s follow your suggestion. Reject all requests for partnership or joint operations with the LongFeng Group. Cut off all rtions with the Chengs. We are one proper and upright business entity. We can''t be involved with shady and dishonest people!"


    ...


    ...


    FallenBlue here! If you''re not reading at , please go here and read for /book/12925525506052005/Quick-Transmigration%3A-Saving-The-Crazy-Viiness


    FYI, this is the original site to read this story.


    Thanks in advance.

 Chapter 32: Suicide

    Chapter 32: Suicide


    In all stories and worlds, the protagonists were always more unkible and unbeatable than even the toughest cockroach alive.


    For example, even if the male lead was shot to the heart at a point-nk distance, that fired bullet would unmistakably and conveniently miss any major arteries or anything that would lead to his death.


    The male lead would at most only fall into aa, but even if that turned out to be the case, his luck would guarantee enough consciousness in him so that he would be able to express his love and dramatic words to the female lead or anyone else around there.


    That was how powerful their plot armor was. Inparison, Jiang Li''s plot armor which shielded him against Xie Na''s punch before was nothing but a level 1 weapon contending against a protagonist''s level 10 item.


    Precisely because of this that Jiang Li never nned to kill Cheng Yijun nor Bai Qing using a real knife.


    He knew that even if he goes real crazy and tries to stage a seemingly foolproof ident for them, those two would surely find ways to survive.


    Heck, they actually would not even have toe up with a survival n themselves. Their luck and the world would do all the work for them while they deepen their rtionship.


    Aware of this, or more like, informed by the system before it was force-muted, Jiang Li chose to just try the roundabout and funnier method.


    Anyway, it was not like he fabricated any charges against that male lead. All he did was used the truth.


    And he was annoyed because he knew, that lucky Cheng bastard would not fall down with just these.


    "Is this the fault of my low identity?"


    One time inside his office, he murmured while resting his eyes and flexing his wrists that got a bit rigid from too much typing. He referred to how the attacks would surely not be able to kill the Cheng Corporation.


    In front of him, theputer was on, and every second a new desktop notification would be shing, reminding him of iing emails from all sorts of people from their line of business.


    He ignored all of it and went back to what he was working on earlier. It was a series of codes. Which he would only test-run once he drops by one of his bases located south of the city.


    A wide grin emerged on his lips. If one attack was not enough, just rain down more!


    The COO of the Jiang Corporation looked like he was having so much fun hence Xie Na who saw him like this from the transparent side of the ess-controlled door did not immediately enter.


    She waited outside until that annoying and crazy look was gone.


    Apart from her, no one knew how hard it was to work for someone who seemed like he, alongside her brother, was always plotting the destruction of the world.


    ...


    That morning, if Cheng Yijun''s side became too busy trying to cover up the matters and defend themselves, Bai Qing''s was incredibly peaceful.


    It was so peaceful that the girl who just lost her purity to someone she was not targeting fell into self-doubt, self-pity, and paranoia.


    Her anger made her seek out the damn second-generation guy who was actually her acquaintance.


    That fury was quelled for a short time after she heard that the man was sent to the hospital due to the injuries to the thing between his legs.


    However, a few minutester, it shot up again when she remembered the shame she went through and the failure of her ns.


    Bai Qing was a selfish person so it never urred to her that her aplice''s future was doomed due to her scheme. He would no longer have any descendants, and since he was caught sexually assaulting someone, he would probably go to jail too. Even if thew allows him to bail himself out, the record would forever remain, a stain that the society would definitely frown upon.


    Maybe this was karma, or simply a divine punishment for trying to sully a female lead.


    But Bai Qing didn''t know and perhaps, has no n to know.


    When the woman reached home, she only cried for a few minutes, and then changed to another dress.


    Not long after, she arrived at school. To those who asked her why her gait was slightly off, she would only sh her signature smile and people would immediatelye up with their own conclusion.


    It didn''t take long for the whole campus to know that their lovely belle was injured on the legs.


    Maybe it was due to this that apart from Bai Qing''s suitors and admirers from both sexes, her best friend who knew of her real personality came over to check on her.


    The repeater, violet-wigged woman came to her side and whispered, "Hey, I''ve read the news this early morning and saw a white-dressed woman on the headlines. I recognized the dress as the one we bought togetherst time we went shopping. Is that you?"


    Bai Qing already saw that one, hence she only raised her brow, pretending she was not the scandalous girl there.


    "You''re referring to the one linked with the Cheng''s heir, right? Are you kidding me? Why would I be that person?"


    The other woman gave her a doubting nce.


    Bai Qing kept her pretense. The matter was obviously not something glorious. Why would she admit it?


    Thankfully, her acting worked, and Cao Hua, Xie Na''s former best friend, did not continue asking about it anymore.


    The violet-wigged woman looked around and after making sure that nobody was nearby, she whispered again to Bai Qing in a hushed voice, "Since you said it''s not you, let''s not talk about it then. I''m more concerned about the other thing."


    "What is it?" Annoyed, Bai Qing met Cao Hua''s eyes.


    "... I just heard this disturbing news from another person. But the girlfriend of that suitor of yours, Zhao Zhen, from the Music department, seemed to havemitted suicidest midnight..."


    ...


    ...


    FallenBlue here! If you''re not reading at , please go here and read for /book/12925525506052005/Quick-Transmigration%3A-Saving-The-Crazy-Viiness


    FYI, this is the original site to read this story.


    Thanks in advance.

 Chapter 33: Cold Goddess

    Chapter 33: Cold Goddess


    "Zhao Zhen?" Bai Qing was shocked.


    Or at least, she pretended that she was since it would be her first time hearing it and it was not really some sort of good news.


    "Why would she do that?"


    The other woman looked around again, fearing others would identally eavesdrop. But they were in an unpopted corridor and no one was walking since it was time for ss. Bai Qing was excused from the professor directly by Cao Hua with the pretext that she had another task from another professor to be passed to the campus belle.


    "... Didn''t you give hints to that suitor of yours that he has no right to pursue you because he is taken? That''s how it all started. The guy broke up with the girl despite her suicide threats. Who knows that Zhao Zhen will really do it?"


    If the one speaking with Bai Qing was another person, she would surely fake concern and act like she couldn''t take the blow of a possible death being linked to her.


    However, since it was just Cao Hua, she fearlessly showed a nonchnt face.


    The first time that this kind of stuff happened to her, she did be much shaken that she vomited all day long.


    The guilt was very strong since she couldn''t help but think if she hadn''t hinted that to the boy pursuing her, the tragedy wouldn''t happen.


    However, the same repeated happenstances wore down the guilt and eventually turned into disdain for those women who kept doing the same thing just because their boyfriends left them.


    Why would they do that?


    For a single man''s affection, they could threaten, or even take their own lives?


    Why don''t they love themselves first and enjoy their youth by beautifying and surrounding themselves with men who would deify and bow down at their feet?


    She grew to believe that it was not her fault. All she did was to be very likable and beautiful that men couldn''t stop fawning and loving her.


    What was the life of death of women or even men liking those suitors of hers had to do with her?


    Conceit and arrogance wear down the guilt and self-remorse until it turned her into the two-faced cold-hearted woman that she currently was.


    Bai Qing listened to the girl''s rambling for a while.


    When the woman asked her what she would do about the suitor who broke up with that Zhao Zhen, she only shrugged her shoulders and said,


    "I won''t ever see that guy again. That simple. Why would I let his soiled reputation as a heartless bastard sully mine?"


    "People knew he''s enamored with you. Everyone has a brain, they will connect that woman''s death to you and him."


    "I''ll simply release a statement on the social media that I only see him as a friend but now that I see how he treated his girlfriend, I''ll be cutting ties with him."


    Her words sounded so heartless to Cao Hua. But the violet-wigged repeated student only smiled and teasinglymented,


    "Oh? Cutting ties and at the same time, throwing rocks at your poor admirer?"


    The female lead parted with the woman from the Business Department after another shrug.


    Instead of worrying over that stupid man who pushed someone tomit suicide, the problem with that second-gen and her failure of ns were more upsetting and thought-provoking.


    Bai Qing visited the hospital where that guy was deposited in order to give him her piece of mind.


    Before she got inside the elevator, she ran into a beautiful woman whose posture and air reminded her of the person who shamed her at the dormitories. This person was quite the contrast with her.


    While Bai Qing was the sweet goddess type, this one seemed a cold goddess.


    The proof was how unlike Zhu Li who at least faked decorum with Bai Qing, the woman simply passed by her.


    The white lotus girl knew they didn''t know each other so there should be no problem with that, but she somehow felt oppressed and extreme disliked towards the woman welled up from within.


    Before that their eyes briefly met, while she remained staring for quite a few seconds, the other indifferently looked to her phone.


    When she got into the elevator which started to close, a kind-looking woman in her twenties who was also in her office attire noticed her and asked,


    "Are you acquainted with Miss Xie?"


    Bai Qing shed a smile while looking puzzled. The other woman thought that the girl became beyond beautiful due to that gesture.


    "Miss Xie?"


    "Oh? I thought you knew her. She''s an instant celebrity in the business world because aside from recently beingpeted for by so manypanies, she''s the current personal secretary of Mr. Jiang Li, COO of the Jiang Corporation which is bing a giant businesstely."


    A few secondster, when the corporate woman discovered that the others inside the lift were looking at her, she realized that she had just acted improperly, seeming like amon street woman who liked gossiping.


    ''Damn, me and my stupid tongue. Why did I voluntary tell this information to a girl I just met?''


    When the corporate woman saw Bai Qing''s grateful smile, she lost herself again and began telling about the currently known personalities of her field.


    Back to the first floor where Xie Na, the supposed viiness of the world, had stopped by for a few minutes to make a phone call.


    Even though people looked at her with interest, she didn''t pay them any attention and said softly to the person on the other line,


    "... Yeah, I just confirmed it from that man''s mouth.... It''s actually a scheme against our slightly mentally unstable boss. Tch. I didn''t know that senior of mine is now so popr that women want to throw themselves at him... It''s a girl called Bai Qing... And I think I just saw her..."


    ...


    ...


    FallenBlue here! If you''re not reading at , please go here and read for /book/12925525506052005/Quick-Transmigration%3A-Saving-The-Crazy-Viiness


    FYI, this is the original site to read this story.


    Thanks in advance.

 Chapter 34: His Handiwork

    Chapter 34: His Handiwork


    Xie Na was speaking with her half-brother, Hao Gang. This was why she was so brazen to say that her boss was someone with a few loose screws in the head.


    But if she was near Jiang Li or any other acquaintance, she wouldn''t dare badmouth her boss.


    Who knows what that person would do to her once he learned of this?


    When she hung up the call, she secretly told herself,


    ''Good that I''m only speaking with my brother. If somebody else heard me and passed the info to my boss, for sure, I won''t be fired. But being forced to work 20 hours a day is not impossible.''


    The thought made the woman shivered. She was already working for more than 15 hours a day! More would be indirectly killing her!


    Without making it obvious, she looked around and then sighed in relief when no one near her seemed to be an acquaintance.


    While inside a cab on her way back to the office, she yed with her phone for a while, checking how the current talk of the nation was faring.


    A sneer escaped from her when she looked at the picture of the manpeting for the title of ''Golden Bachelor'' with her boss.


    The looks and aura were at the same level. Maybe theirpetency in business too. Their major difference was their ways of dealing with women.


    While Jiang Li seemed to be a gay uninterested with women posing as a cold, air-conditioner type of boss, Cheng Yijun was an extreme Casanova.


    Xie Na wrinkled her nose, her heart felt ufortable like it wanted to do something bad towards the source of it.


    ''I don''t know why but even though I don''t really know this Cheng heir, I suddenly can''t shake off the urge to pay this man a visit and crack his two balls and cut off his life root. I wonder why?''


    The violent idea lingered in her heart until halfway the drive and only got thrown in the back of her mind when she saw something so interesting on every page and site she visited.


    ''This must be his handiwork.'' A corner of her lips went up, disdainful of the ''ads'' depicting a product of the Cheng Corporation. It had been the fifth time today that the same kind of ads froze her phone.


    "People these days depend on their mobile phones andputers too much. Tch. Tch."


    She wondered how many citizens in the country would be so angry once they experienced this kind of situation, even for an hour. Most likely all that has ess to the inte? A billion then?


    When she came up with an estimate, her heart shuddered in fear.


    In her mind, it had been solidified that Jiang Li, the one who ckmailed her to work for him, was not a beautiful human, but a demon that crawled up from the depths of hell to scatter evil and craziness in the business world.


    Look, one of the giants was already pushed to nosedive.


    ''... I know of people cutting off ad promotions from the source directly. But this is my first time hearing of someone sabotaging an enemy by making the inte and phonesg whenever the enemy''s ads are up. The promotional materials stay on the screen way longer than usual, but I doubt people will like or appreciate it.''


    This was simply one of the best ways to anger a whole country!


    "Once I go back home, I''ll light some candles for the Chengs." She subconsciously murmured with the back of her left hand against her forehead, looking as if she wiped off a sweat there.


    A secondter, she realized that the driver was looking at her weirdly...


    ...


    ...


    FallenBlue here! If you''re not reading at , please go here and read for /book/12925525506052005/Quick-Transmigration%3A-Saving-The-Crazy-Viiness


    FYI, this is the original site to read this story.


    Thanks in advance.

 Chapter 35: Anger Of The Masses

    Chapter 35: Anger Of The Masses


    ...


    The virus that only attacked whenever ads featuring the LongFeng Group''s products were up added on top of the numerous problems that Cheng Yijun had to solve.


    This particr incident grew to an insane proportion since it was not immediately tended to. The man had prioritized the cases and allegations being thrown at his family hence his response to the matter only came a few hours after it gued the whole country. By then, it was already toote.


    Not everyone used ad blockers. In fact, the number of people who didn''t know adblockers exist and those who knew but couldn''t be bothered to search for good ad blockers totaled more than a three hundred thousand, almost a third of the nation''s poption.


    The ads that the bored hacker had good-naturedly helped stay on everyone''s screens a dozen times longer than usual did not serve to promote the product, but to annoy people.


    Not many would be rational enough to realize that this was an attack against the LongFeng Group.


    People would only remember that for some time they couldn''t use their phones to make important calls, texts, searches, etc. due to a greedypany floundering their ads as if there was no tomorrow.


    Not even an hourter and the social media, news, and forums were filled with people rioting against the Cheng Corporation. The anger of the masses was in full show.


    ''KeepMEBoss: Trash! Trash! Trash! Boycott this corporation''s products! Pei! Pei! Who f*cking wants your ads!''


    ''Creeper101: Boycott! BOYCOTT! X 1 billion times!!!!! *angry*''


    ''EvenIfTheWORLDends: Heartless money-grubbing bastards! What? You all think the attention that d*ckless Cheng Yijun has garnered is not enough? I''m telling you, I''m already charging towards them with my sharpened knife!''


    ''CallMe-09876544873: I''ll also have them talk with my knife and chainsaw! Damn, because of them I couldn''t call back my girlfriend and now she broke up with me! *cry* *cry* *cry* I''ll seek justice for my broken heart! Have a taste of my wrath!!!!!!''


    ''Mr. Fu: My crocodiles also want to have a nice chat with them *evil grins*, just to join the fun. Btw, I''m a zookeeper and am in-charge of the keys to the cages of our new batch of untamed wild beasts. We can negotiate the price if someone wants me to lend them to increase firepower and ... Hehe.''


    ''RiajuuExploder: Upstairs!!!!!!!!! Bring zebra!!!!!!!! I''m an artist and I think my hands are itching to paint a handsome man like the Cheng heir engaged in bestiality! A zebra seems nice!!! Art is an explosion filling my head! Damn! Frustrations can actually inspire me this much!''


    ''Passerbyers: Upstairs, your taste is weird. Why a zebra? A horse is better. They''re more energetic. Just saying.''


    ''Goodman: I''M ANGRRRRRYYYYYYYYY!!!!!!! F*CK! I''M GOING INSANE! I LOSE SEVERAL MILLIONS IN STOCKS DUE TO THEM AND NOW BECAUSE OF THOSE SH*TTY ADS I WAS LATE IN SELLING THE OTHER FALLING STOCKS! MOTHERF*CKER CHENGS! WASH YOUR STINKY NECKS! I''M COMING FOR YOUR HEAAAAADDDDDS!''


    The funnyments and bashing made Jiang Liugh and smile for a whole hour, creeping up Xie Na who came to report about his cousin that had been drugged identally.


    The man''s good mood vanished, reced by a frown that also scared the heck out of the woman.


    But she steeled her nerves and said,


    "It was that Bai girl''s n because there''s a man she wants to hook up with. This Bai Qing is the only daughter of Aimer Fashion and has a good reputation. She''s linked to some serious cases of suicides though, so I think her character and profile are questionable. By the way, on that party, that greedy guy wants to take advantage of her n and do that... In the end, Miss Jiang is identally made a victim. Do we pursue the matter now, or after the Chengs'' issues?"


    Jiang Li gave her a scornful look, "Why should we postpone until those people''s scandals die down?"


    Xie Na interpreted it as him answering ''Send thewyers ASAP.''


    After that, she asked otherpany-rted questions.


    However, deep inside, she was grumbling,


    ''I just inquired because you''re obviously so hell-bent on bankrupting them to the point that your work efficiency fell by 50 percent. The suffering me can''t even receive an exnation on why you''re too focused on screwing them up! What life is this?''


    ...


    The viiness who was more like a corporate ve in this lifetime had unknowingly given Jiang Li a hint on why Hao Gang somehow disliked the woman and disregarded putting on a gentleman pretense by leaking out the videos.


    Hao Gang was merely helping Jiang Li for fun, and to rake in some money.


    But the man was not yet that degenerate to make someone innocent aughingstock unable to raise her head in the public, especially if she was revealed to be the scandalous partner of that Cheng Yijun.


    Xie Na only learned of this from the second-gen''s mouth which she threatened to speak up through some unknown means. But Hao Gang must have discovered the same piece of information beforehand through his superb hacking.


    "The female lead has been showered with love since birth. But some are extreme love from boys that already have lovers. Those lovers thatmitted suicide should have little to no intersection with Bai Qing. But the fact that this female lead kept making those taken boys misunderstood and hoped for her affection despite knowing that their girlfriends are being hurt made her at fault as well, especially since there''s already a precedent, but she didn''t change her ways."


    Bai Qing indirectly killed when she subtly instigated those suitors to ignore or push their girlfriends past the breaking point.


    If she really was after the attention, why couldn''t she be contented with those single gents? Was being a vague third party in so many pairings that fun for her?


    "This female lead sounds like someone with a huge pit in her brain."


    That night he had to travel to another city for a business meeting and had chosen to pass the night in a popr and luxurious hotel.


    There was no news whatsoever about the female lead.


    Jiang Li sympathized with those women who were driven tomit suicide by those foolish men enamored by Bai Qing''s pure beauty and aura, so after offering them a brief sincere prayer, he unearthed their records and faces and stayed up the whole night to package a surprise gift...


    ...


    ...


    FallenBlue here! If you''re not reading at , please go here and read for /book/12925525506052005/Quick-Transmigration%3A-Saving-The-Crazy-Viiness


    FYI, this is the original site to read this story.


    Thanks in advance.

 Chapter 36: Surprise Gifts

    Chapter 36: Surprise Gifts


    Maybe because the world is round that true equality doesn''t exist. Like the wheel of a car or bicycle. The dirt that is stuck on it would have its ups and downs since even if its owner made it stop, there woulde a day when it would begin spinning again.


    While there were people that had safely andfortably passed the night, there were also individuals like Jiang Li and Bai Qing who didn''t. The difference was that the former made that choice, while thetter was forced.


    While Jiang Li was busy creating the surprise gift for Cheng Yijun, Bai Qing had already received hers, around midnight. The timing was so perfect considering the fact that it was a very unholy time of the day. Darkness loomed above everything and creatures that no normal people would want to see were beginning to be active.


    "Bai... Qing..."


    A voice echoed from this very darkness. It was so near the sleeping female lead''s ears that she couldn''t help scrunching up her face for a while.


    A few seconds passed. The phone lying next to her pillow vibrated and lit up. It disturbed the girl who instinctively reached out to it.


    ''Who''s that?'' Her fingers slid across the screen as she epted the call.


    "Bai... Qing..."


    ''Hmm?'' Spooked out by the struggling, husky unfamiliar female voice and the eerie sounds from the background, her eyes flew open.


    The voice which seemingly came from the underworld rang again, calling out her name. Her finger started trembling as she distanced her ears from the phone.


    Bai Qing''s room was only illuminated by the lighting from thempshade. It''s only giving off a dim yellowish glow. This was why when the girl''s eyes went down to her phone''s screen and she saw that what she epted was not a voice call, but a video one, it seemed like the deathly pale haggard face of a woman there had crawled up from the shadows and entered her phone.


    On that moment, the girl stopped breathing, her eyes that were almost popping out of their sockets seemed to have yed with her.


    The ghostly woman smiled. The woman wearing the face of one of her suitors'' dead girlfriend smiled!


    "Remember me?"


    Before the woman on the screen could finish her speech, Bai Qing had already screamed at the top of her lungs and threw the phone away. The female lead even ran out of her bed, barefooted, and yelling even after she reached downstairs.


    If only the girl didn''t do that, she would have heard the voice still ying and realized that something was wrong. s, fear struck her so much, she didn''t hear the ''female mobile phone ghost'' say,


    "Hello, Bai Qing. Do you remember me? Do you remember my face? How about my scumbag boyfriend? I''m currently in the other world, waiting for both of you to enter hell. Ooops, but actually, I''m not who you think I am. Well, whatever. You won''t know this is just a prank anyway, since for sure, when you saw my face, you''ve already fled away. Hahaha!"


    After that, the video call ended by itself, the call logs and every trace of it automatically got deleted.


    From the hotel where the culprit behind this was, Jiang Li kept praising the powerful video/photo editing tool that Hao Gang had developed as he used it to create another folder of files for the male lead, this time with photos and cries of babies.


    Jiang Li intended for the Cheng bastard to remember those innocent fetuses that he ordered to be aborted and killed. As he tried to ignore the goosebumps, heughed. Because if even he was spooked out beyond belief by the cries andughter of the babies, what more of a guilty man like the male lead?


    ''I''m sure that Cheng scum is not so mentally stable today due to the rumors and news! If I finish this before 3 am, it is going to be a jackpot!''


    The man thought,ughing so wildly and crazily while his fingers flew all over the keyboard.


    As for Bai Qing, when she ran down the stairs and got to the living room, she thought she was already safe since the ce was brightly shone upon by the fluorescentmps.


    However, it didn''t take that long for her to realize that she was still in a nightmarish world. Relief came too fast, and it also fluttered away just as fast.


    The lights of the ce flickered for a few seconds beforepletely dying. Bai Qing once again held her breath. Her face turned very pale, as if colors were forcibly drained from it. Her body began to tremble as fear madly consumed her.


    A few meters ahead, the huge tscreen TV suddenly lit up. And the familiar faces of women in white funeral gown-like attire began to show, repeatedly shing like a slide show. However, every time the same face appeared, there would be some noticeable difference from the previous. It was like the faces were moving.


    They were all looking at her! Watching her! Smiling eerily at her!


    As the female lead madly trembled and cried, the slideshow stopped at a woman with dried white lips and no eyes, only empty eye sockets. Bai Qing knew who she was. Zhao Zhen. The girl whomitted suicide two days ago.


    When the ghostly woman moved, like she was about toe out of the screen, Bai Qing shook her head for a while. Then fainted. Yet before she totally lost consciousness, she seemed to have heard the whitedy say, "... Why did... you kill me?"


    Jiang Li didn''t know, but the faces and those words would forever hunt the woman in her sleep.


    As for Bai Qing, while she lied on the floor in an unsightly posture, she was not aware that a maid in her early thirties came out of the nearby kitchen to flip the lights open and switch off the TV.


    The maid happily browsed her phone.


    The app that she opened was one where micro-tasks could be issued by clients and epted by people like her. Every task would reward points which could then be collected and exchanged for money.


    The woman loved the app since the missions were easy, like taking a picture of a dog, or solving puzzles, or answering quizzes about different brands of items. Basically all sorts of tasks that require little to no effort.


    "Waaahhh! I don''t know who she or he is. But this task-giver sure is so generous. For turning on the TV in the dark at midnight, he rewarded me with ten thousand points! A, I really love this app. Just this mission alone allowed me to earn almost a fourth of my monthly pay!"


    The woman jumped and squealed in joy for a full minute before discovering Bai Qing who, without her knowledge, had been scared out of her wits by the tasks that the maid innocently epted from Jiang Li.


    ...


    ...


    FallenBlue here! If you''re not reading at , please go here and read for /book/12925525506052005/Quick-Transmigration%3A-Saving-The-Crazy-Viiness


    FYI, this is the original site to read this story.


    Thanks in advance.

 Chapter 37: Backing Out

    Chapter 37: Backing Out


    Jiang Li looked through the reports recently submitted to him by his assistant.


    Somehow, when he was not paying attention to the matter, his father sorted out his second uncle and made thetter retired from his position.


    Xie Na asked if he wanted a full ount of how this happened, but Jiang Li declined.


    In any case, it was not his mission to worry over the family matters of this world''s Jiang Li. The help he had provided was already enough. In fact, he had given more than enough since it was he who made sure the second-gen would be convicted.


    When he had his people worked on this mess, where were his uncle and his wife?


    Jiang Li recalled Jiang Xinyi''s words that night. In reality, he had no obligation to grace her that favor.


    That time she was like a killer personally telling her victim that he had a change of heart hence she didn''t continue with the murder. As the supposed victim, should he be ttered and feel thankful?


    Obviously, no. It was their blood rtion and his pity towards the girl that made him give her his words.


    It was nice that he didn''t have to use the favor to plead for Jiang Wen from his father.


    ''Damn! I''m so tired.''


    The man massaged his aching forehead then closed his eyes. After taking joy from seeing that his hard workst night paid off, fatigue washed all over him, making him want to forget everything he had to do. He wanted to sleep.


    Xie Na saw his condition and reluctantly asked, "Would you like me to postpone our return trip so you can rest for a few more hours?"


    The two had just gone back to their hotel after the business meeting today. The woman hugging several folders stood to the left of Jiang Li who was leaning against his chair''s backrest with his eyes shut.


    The man opened her tired eyes and stared at the woman, his mission target.


    When was this damn task ending? Was she not safe from insanity yet?


    Xie Na restrained the twitching of her lips when she saw the man''s face darkening. She asked herself if she looked unpleasant today. But it seemed not the case since her style had changed into that of a presentable officedy. Or was it her concerned question? Why was this guy giving her annoyed nces?


    She didn''t know that Jiang Li was thinking,


    ''Maybe to make sure this woman won''t fall for the male lead, I have topletely drive that guy insane... But how many days do I have to fake nightmares for that Cheng Yijun? Damn, in the next world, I''ll go straight to driving the male lead crazy. It should be the surest way for the viiness to not be in love with him!''


    If others knew his crazy thoughts they would probably call the mental institution fast and report to them about a wandering patient.


    ...


    The locations were different, but both Bai Qing and Cheng Yijun woke up with unfocused gazes and unstable mentality.


    The male lead had it worse since he was a man, yet he ended up pissing inside his pants when he experienced what the female lead experienced, except what he saw were unborn fetuses giggling and crying throughout the night. Nheless, the mocking stares he received from almost everyone in the hospital made him so ufortable.


    He recalled that it all started with a simple radio story he heard from a station he randomly chose as he drove his car home past midnight. All of a sudden, his phone turned crazy. Then every radio station were filled with weird cries of women and babies.


    At first, he didn''t know that those were ghosts haunting him for the abortion he ordered his past women to undergo.


    Yet when the realization dawned to him, the mournful and spooky cries instantly crawled into his heart, awakening the fear hiding inside there. It persisted for a couple of hours, not letting him have his sleep.


    Anxiety consumed him fast since all the problems and pressure he was forced to deal with for the whole day drained him and weakened his mind a lot.


    Probably the only good thing the fear brought to him was when his heart and mind could no longer take it anymore; he was knocked out for several hours.


    Yet when he woke up, instead of concerned faces, he was greeted by a p and a harsh scolding from the angry madam of the Chengs.


    Through his mother''s sobs and gibberish talks, he learned that the chairman of LongFeng Group, his father, fell into aa due to a fatal heart attack.


    When he asked for the reason, the crying madam enumerated a few, mainly, the majority of the shareholders suddenly pulled out all their investments, almost half of the employees either retired or just suddenly gone AWOL, and some of the few who remained had most likely stolen some important files or data about their business operations.


    Andst but not the least, his fiance, the princess of the Zhu Corporation, publicly announced that she was backing out of the marriage agreement!


    The Zhu Corporation was a behemoth not at all inferior to the former LongFeng Group.


    It was only because their sole heiress, Zhu Li, was engaged to Cheng Yijun that while they felt a sense of urgency due to the crises, the worries in their hearts hadn''t reached a fever pitch yet. If worsees to worst, they have the Zhus to back them up.


    But now, with the most recent announcement from the Zhu''s princess, while none of the major problems had been settled yet, the Chengs'' future seemed to be bleak.


    Suddenly they found that they could no longer count on the Zhu family''s support!


    "That... that''s a foul y! We should demand an exnation orpensation from them!"


    The moment the still muddle-headed male lead said those words, the Cheng''s madam immediately gave him a murderous re. The man promptly shut up, cold sweat streaming down his spine.


    Without caring for the two nurses standing behind her, the madam asked in a tone that could freeze people to death,


    "Do you know the reason why your father restrained himself from doing that?"


    Cheng Yijun couldn''t reply. His face lost color as he remembered the reason why he couldn''t sleepst night.


    The angry middle-aged woman whose makeup had long been ruined hysterically started to pull his hair out while screaming at him.


    "It was because of you, you demon!!! How did I give birth to an unlucky thing like you?! Tell me, Cheng Yijun!"


    "W-wait, mom! Let''s talk this out!"


    Madam Cheng ignored him and furiously asked, "How the hell are we going demand anything from the Zhu family? Tell me, how can we? When your, your scandalous videos and the records of your past women undergoing that, that sort of evil thing are alreadyid bare to the whole world?! Which sane woman will dare to marry a heartless demon like you?!"


    Hell seemed to have descended upon that sickroom. Helpless pleading from a man reverberated inside and outside of the ce, alerting the doctors and curious visitors from the other wards.


    When people saw what was going on within the private room, not fewughed loudly at the mother and son pair.


    One yful teenager bravely recorded the scene and not long after, it became a viral video that made Jiang Li''s day.


    ...


    ...


    FallenBlue here! If you''re not reading at , please go here and read for /book/12925525506052005/Quick-Transmigration%3A-Saving-The-Crazy-Viiness


    FYI, this is the original site to read this story.


    Thanks in advance.

 Chapter 38: A Heartless Criminal

    Chapter 38: A Heartless Criminal


    Saving the viiness simply meant to make the chances of her going crazy in love zero.


    In this world, Jiang Li aplished it by making sure that Xie Na, the viiness that was no longer a viiness, would not fall for Cheng Yijun. After all, in Jiang Li''s eyes, Xie Na only lost her brain and fell into depravity and madness due to love.


    If so, if the target of her past life''s obsession was in no way lovable or admirable anymore, there should be no chance of this happening, right?


    Anyway, who would go crazy in love for a madman who toyed with dozens of women in an extreme way and could not even guard hispany well?


    The man was also not clean.


    A few years ago, when the construction of a new mall had an ident where a whole second floor fell to the first floor, several workers and employees got buried, killed, or injured.


    However, the bastard who was the overall in-charge feared more of being used as ipetent in handlingpany affairs. This was why instead of recovering the dead bodies and helping the injured workers, he forced the construction team to thicken the first floor''s foundation and pour cement all over it, not sparing everyone who could have been saved from there.


    Just that alone made the male lead a heartless criminal, a beast in a sheep''s clothing more horrible than a zombified Jiang Li. A zombie might be a monster, but it no longer knew the bad things it was doing. But Cheng Yijun back then was perfectly aware of his crimes? So where did his morals go? Eaten by the devils?


    After all his deeds were brought to light, it wouldn''t make sense if any sane girl still falls for him.


    ''There are no more candles, flowers, and sweet nothings to fool this woman. They didn''t even manage to have a proper first meeting.''


    It was the tenth day of Cheng Yijun ''hearing and seeing ghosts'', this time of those construction workers that he had indirectly killed. The male lead was too mentally unstable to realize that the ghosts were only limited to electronic devices.


    This worked the best for Jiang Li. Everything had already been programmed and scheduled for the target. The rest of his time was used to help his father clean up the mess left by Jiang Wen or to ponder over who was the one that helped him attacked the Chengs.


    "The person who orchestrated all of this is quite fierce, using or manipting the hearts of those employees and shareholders so they''ll jump ship and abandon the enemy."


    Xie Na nodded, also in awe of the other party''s efficiency. The woman also wanted to know what the Cheng heir had done to them to make them do this. Surely theirs should be more reasonable and logical than her boss, no?


    "I want to meet the other party."


    Jiang Li could feel that his time was almost up. But before he left this world, he wanted to see the person who made his life and mission so much easier.


    Xie Na asked, "Would you like me to try asking my brother? Maybe I can make him say who they are."


    The man sneered. "Professor Hao won''t cooperate for sure. Nevermind. I think I know who she is."


    Jiang Li''s eyes fell on the newspaper handed to him by his secretary earlier.


    There was a picture of a morous woman there. Under it was this socialite''s deration about the Cheng family. For the past few days, he stopped trying to uncover the other''s identity through hacking and focused on contemting who would be the greatest beneficiary aside from him once the male lead falls down.


    Surprisingly, he managed to narrow it down to a single person, a woman particrly. If his guess was correct, the individual was not really rted to Hao Gang but probably have some dealings with him. Initially, he thought that there was another sabotaging the enemy through the cyber world. But no, all along, he waspeting with Hao Gang!


    But of course, while this piece of information was interesting, he was more interested in the woman who made the professor work for her as he did.


    Heughed and told Xie Na. "I have free time this evening. Please arrange a meeting for me."


    Xie Na dutifully began typing on her tablet, probably editing a temte for a request. "With whom, Sir?"


    Jiang Li also began looking through the documents piling up atop his table,ughingly replying, "The princess of the Zhu family. The one whose engagement with the Cheng heir has been recently called off."


    The female secretary looked at him meaningfully as if she was making assumptions on why he said it was Zhu Li, butter on, she shrugged off the thoughts and turned around to leave. Since the man was no longer listing demands to her, it should mean she was now free to go back to her table.


    Yet before she could formally step out of the huge office, her boss'' voice rang from behind her again.


    The man said, "By the way, before you leave. I just want to ask. Since you are a woman, given everything you discover about the Cheng''s heir, is there still a chance for you to like or love that guy?"


    Xie Na turned around puzzlingly, her beautiful face showing confusion.


    What was with his brainless question?


    She furrowed her brows, and tried to fathom the man''s intention but couldn''t make any definite guess. In the end, she sincerely answered, "Only a crazy or mentally inept woman would like a guy like him. And I don''t think I am one of them."


    In her mind, she thought onlydies with no self-respect would want to associate with a heartless beast. If a woman loves herself, she would choose to be with an honest man, not a womanizer.


    "May I go out now?"


    The guy shrugged.


    After the secretary left, he finally heard something ringing in his head, a melodious sound akin to a wind chime yed by the wind.


    Jiang Li''s lips curled into a satirical smile.


    ''Damn. Finally.''


    ...


    ...


    FallenBlue here! If you''re not reading at , please go here and read for /book/12925525506052005/Quick-Transmigration%3A-Saving-The-Crazy-Viiness


    FYI, this is the original site to read this story.


    Thanks in advance.

 Chapter 39: Finally Met Each Other

    Chapter 39: Finally Met Each Other


    As he said to Xie Na, he really wanted to meet the other person who bankrupted the LongFeng Group, and this was the reason why he chose not to immediately leave this world when the options popped up in front of him.


    That evening, at the ce where he and Xie Na reunited after two years, Jiang Li watched as a woman unmatched in both grace and appearance walked towards the table he had reserved. Her eyes were also on him, ignoring the flowers and other decors she should have focused on atop the sophisticated table.


    It was Zhu Li who looked so mature yet dazzling in her simple red dress.


    Of course, Jiang Li actually never cared about the woman''s looks. He was more impressed by her punctuality. The time they agreed on was 7 pm. Yet here she was, ten minutes early.


    Jiang Li stood up from his seat and pulled out a chair for her. Zhu Li stared nkly at him for a while before smiling and expressing her gratitude.


    After they were done with the pleasantries and the orders, the woman who sat across him once again smiled politely at him and said, "I am very ttered to meet you, Mr. Jiang. I think this is our first time speaking with each other up close."


    "I''m a businessman so my brain''s quite sharp. We talked to each other two years ago, in a party, before we graduated," he replied while measuring the other out.


    In his mind, when he started thinking about it, the girl was actually weird because, in this lifetime, none of her actions coincided with the past one. All the alterations seemed to have started with her. Did everything change because he was not the ''Jiang Li'' she was supposed to like?


    ''Most likely.''


    "That really happened." Zhu Li''s gaze flickered to the petals of the flowers in the vase. She jokingly, asked, "By the way, Mr. Jiang. I''m sure you know that I am someone who just recently called off my engagement, right? You''re the Golden Bachelor of our country. What if you get into a dating scandal with me due to this dinner?"


    The manughed. "Who cares?"


    Zhu Li got mildly surprised, not expecting him to be this carefree. As for the man, he merely thought, why would he care when this was already hisst day in this world?


    Jiang Li quickly followed up, "Speaking of engagement, you reminded me of my objective for this meeting." He paused and showed a boyish grin, "I didn''t know that you also have a deep grudge with that family. You''ve hidden yourself deeply."


    "How about you, Mr. Jiang?" The smile on her cherry lips did not vanish.


    The man naturally did not answer. How would he answer it anyway? He didn''t really have a grudge against Cheng Yijun. That man just happened to be a blockage to his path, and he was not a good man, hence Jiang Li conveniently toyed with him and used him toplete his mission.


    The food finally arrived. The two smiled to each other as they ate, and in this fashion, they finished eating.


    No more words were exchanged between them, probably apart from the woman somehow makingments about his cufflinks. That''s it. It was very formal. The man acted normal even when he escorted the woman out.


    ''The Original Jiang Li''s family is more or less settled. The cousin is alright. The second household too is sorted out and pushed out of thepany.''


    ''Business is going okay. The professor is probably going to help out the Original once he takes over again.''


    ''What else is there to worry about? Hmm. Why the f*ck do I have to think of other stuff?''


    With the viiness of the world saved from craziness, as judged by the system, he decided that it was now time.


    Jiang Li closed his eyes briefly.


    ''System...''


    While the familiar wind chime-like sounds echoed repeatedly in his brain, the woman walking next to him gave him aplicated look.


    Months ago, when she stole a glimpse of him at the university, she lied when she said that she got over him. Not once did she p herself for this realization, scolding herself for ''falling again'' for the man, and this time, worse than before.


    ''... We''re both free and not restricted by past rtionships or engagement. Should I perhaps... try?''


    While the woman was agonizing over something Jiang would definitely think as sensitive and ridiculous, the man had finished selecting his choice.


    Because of this, he didn''t know about the slightly mind-boggling act that Zhu Li did.


    In the same never-ending darkness where he first encountered the mysterious being called the system, Jiang Li opened his eyes and saw the huge holographic screen in front the size of a wall.


    A frown automatically showed on his face.


    "Hmm? I thought I''ve chosen the option to go to the next world."


    "Wee back and congrattions on finishing your trial mission sessfully! Completion rate: 100 %. Points obtained, 50." It''s the childish voice of the being calling itself 025 that spoke.


    After he analyzed what it said, the creases in his forehead deepened. He asked, "So it''s merely a trial? I was never informed. And howe it''s only fifty points? Why am I having this feeling that you''re indirectly saying that I did so terribly?"


    ...


    ...


    FallenBlue here! If you''re not reading at , please go here and read for /book/12925525506052005/Quick-Transmigration%3A-Saving-The-Crazy-Viiness


    FYI, this is the original site to read this story.


    Thanks in advance.

 Chapter 40: Intermission (2)

    Chapter 40: Intermission (2)


    Jiang Li''s face was dark as he looked through his interface.


    "It''s really just fifty points? What is the maximum that one could get forpleting a trial mission?"


    The childish being answered hesitantly, in a voice only a bit more audible than a mosquito''s, ''... A hundred."


    ck lines appeared on his forehead. The redness in his eyes made the system thanked the mighty creator for not creating a tangible body for it. Terrified by his stares, the child-like voice stuttered out,


    "H-host, s-sorry. I forgot to say. Actually, there are several ways to ensure the safety of the targets. And one of them is, is to make them fall in love with you and then guard them for a lifetime as their spouse. B-but of course, there''s no problem with your approach on thest mission! Definitely! I even think that you did brilliantly...."


    "Hmmm?" The crimson glow from his eyes seemed to have intensified even though there was a slight smile on the man''s lips as he tilted his head to his right side.


    After thanking the Creator for not giving him a corporeal body, the system braved to continue.


    "I-It''s just that you not only forcibly made the plot start way earlier to the point that there is practically no affection between the two leads, you forgot to ensure that there will be no more interaction between her and the male lead. The target''s original soul judged that you did not fully counterattack for her. The real person who made her drop out of the university was still on the loose..."


    Jiang Li lowered his head as if he was reflecting about something. The image of a violet-wigged weirdo crossed his mind.


    He chose not toment about that Cao Hua.


    How would he know that he still actually had to do something about that one even though she had no longer influenced Xie Na after they broke ties with each other?


    About ensuring that there would be no more interaction between her and the male lead...


    He went silent for some time before admitting,


    "... You''re right. The prospect of leaving that world made me so excited. I forgot to have those two locked up in a mental asylum where they can be as lovey-dovey as they want. F*ck, the term is making me vomit. But you make sense that there no matter how small it is, the possibility of that woman falling for a semi-retarded male lead still exists. Fine. Next time. I know now what to do."


    ''Specifically know what again?''


    The system became speechless at him, not knowing whether he was being sarcastic or not. It wanted to rify that he should focus on the first suggestion it had hinted, but Jiang Li had already spoken before it could raise the matter.


    "How about that trial whatever? You also didn''t mention anything about it to me. Are you indirectly saying that the first mission is actually just a practice material?" The man frowned again.


    "Actually, yes. In that world, I only told you your mission target. There are no restrictions or rules. You''re free toplete the goal however you want. However, the next worlds will be different. The bodies you will possess will no longer be as convenient as thest one. In order to use or take over an identity, you must fulfill that person''s wish within the set time frame."


    Jiang Li took his time to digest the information.


    Basically, it was telling him that Xie Na''s world was really very easy since the soul of the Jiang Li of that world did not demand anything from him and allowed him to do as he wished.


    There was also no time limit. While he disliked being thrown to when the plot had yet to start, it worked way too much for his advantage since even if Zhu Li kicked Xie Na out of the university, he could just interfere and make sure she doesn''t end up as a factory worker at the Cheng''s owned factory.


    ''... It seems I''ve never been really smart. To think I never consider these obvious points.''


    The man felt regretful about the additional points he would have gained. His ultimate goal seemed to have be farther than it should be.


    After getting angry at himself for a few seconds, he tried to collect his cool.


    Jiang Li then shrugged and said,


    "Whatever. What''s done is done. There''s always a next time to do better. Thanks for the information. I appreciate all your help. Send me now to the next mission world. And remember to only contact me once the mission is over."


    He heard a buzzing sounding from nowhere in particr. That must be the system agreeing to his request.


    His field of vision was then consumed by an unending stream of darkness.


    But unlike the darkness within that special ce in the void, the one currently engulfing him made his brain really nk. His senses also seemed to be turned off.


    All he could think and perceive was darkness. The feeling was not really nice.


    Jiang Li felt like that time, he couldn''t even remember that his name was Jiang Li...


    ...


    ...


    FallenBlue here! If you''re not reading at , please go here and read for /book/12925525506052005/Quick-Transmigration%3A-Saving-The-Crazy-Viiness


    FYI, this is the original site to read this story.


    Thanks in advance.

 Chapter 41: Not A Chapter

    Chapter 41: Not A Chapter


    Sorry, there won''t be an update today as I am in no condition to write. Some IRL matters and headaches.


    Don''t worry, I''ll be back tomorrow, and with a new plot too. Sorry about this again. May you all have a nice day.


    Sincerely,


    FallenBlue


    ....


    EDIT: Alright, It''s a slightly embarrassing reason, but actually I''m having heartache and headache over my brokenptop. It''s not powering on anymore no matter what I do. I''ve brought it to a friend who volunteered to help me. But the sad fact is all my drafts for both The Sinners'' Queen and Saving Viiness are saved there. I have re-type everything. It''s really frustrating. If I know this would happen, I would have uploaded everything right from the start. Waaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhh!!!!!!! T.T (Fallen''s IQ is in the negatives. T.T)


    So what will happen is, for now, I would have to type on my phone and upload through the app. And this is something I seriously dreaded cozst time I uploaded through the app, half of the chapter just mysteriously disappeared. I know this has happened to many other authors too and I''m not sure if it''s already fixed. But in case, I have already downloaded an app which allows a user to back up all typed words and docs.


    Er, that''s all I want to say. Thanks for the patience. May you all have a nice day.

 Chapter 42: Feng Ru (1)

    Chapter 42: Feng Ru (1)


    Jiang Li woke up feeling a bit weak and groggy. Drunk? Seems like it. The smell and nasty aftereffects it brought to the innocent transmigrator him were hateful. His body had no strength in it and his headache was the type that could make people wish for death.


    ''What world is this?''


    No childish voice rang in his brain to answer his question.


    When his eyes finally regained focus, he scanned the ce where he woke up.


    It was a cramped and messy bedroom. Books were all messily piled atop one another on the table. Some papers were sticking out in between the books and pages.


    Since he felt a bit dizzy too due to the transfer he chose to lie down more and tried to check the updates in his memories.


    ''I hope I get the authentic set of memories this time...''


    As the man endured the head-splitting headache, the plot spun in his mind.


    The story this time took ce in Aurora City. He was sent to the same type of world. Modern. Parallel Earth. Except it was in the year 2008.


    The male lead was Gu Feng, a seemingly very honest police officer. This guy was devoted to his work and advocated peace and justice more than anything else. He was the type liked by the citizens and his colleagues but hated by the corrupt higher-ups and the people of the underworld.


    The female lead was Tang Lan, a pretty college student who was actually a popr crime web novelist. She was sweet and intelligent. Her family was, of course,plicated since to be a female lead she couldn''t have a simple and boring background.


    The two met because of a suicide that happened in the female lead''s dormitory. And no, the case was not simple.


    First of all, thatdy who jumped off was Tang Lan''s roommate.


    Second, actually, the person was only one of the many victims. There were many others forced tomit suicide. And it was said ''forced'' since a card with only a single letter ''R'' in it was always present at the scene, either on the dead body or at the dorm room of the person. This one piece of evidence led the leads into believing that the poor women whomitted suicide did not do so out of their own volition.


    Well, this was a detective novel that pushed the two leads to each other as they solved this mystery. It began with the man suspecting the female lead. Butter on, it turned into love as they unravel together who the culprit was.


    So who was the immoral criminal?


    Jiang Li frowned so hard at the answer his mind had shown him.


    ''... Damn. The previous plot is nothingpared to the current one... The male lead is not a scumbag. And that''s not the biggest problem. How am I supposed to deal with a viiness like that?''


    Well putting the weird viiness aside, he checked his memories about the Original. This time he was He Chen, a senior college student blessed with both looks and brain. His family was from a vige and was more average than the female lead.


    Role? Thankfully not an extra. But it was not something that made him more relieved than being a passerby in a story.


    ''Damn, why am I the stupid ex of the female lead? The previous He Chen kept pestering that woman toe back to him even though a year already passed since the breakup...''


    The man ignored the headache and stood up. His phone rang multiple times.


    A friend of his, also the ss president, messaged him not to bete. He only nced at it once and focused his eyes on the date disyed at the top. After that, he took a brief shower and put on a shirt and pants from the second-hand cab.


    "Hey, are you okay?"


    Four pairs of eyes looked at Jiang Li, each of them showing genuine care and worry. For a while, the man didn''t know how to answer. The moment he arrived at the university, especially at an open stage near the entrance, a group of people could be seen setting up instruments and banners.


    All of them were his best friends, always supporting his fits of craziness and antics to win back Tang Lan.


    While he appreciated these people andmended them for being more than brothers to He Chen, Jiang Li felt conflicted.


    Apart from not being used to being surrounded by this kind of people, he finally ''remembered'' what was nned for today.


    Such a joke said over a table full of alcoholic drinks was actually taken seriously by these guys... It made him so speechless


    "You forgot to bring your guitar? Brother He, if I didn''t bring mine, we would be doomed!"


    "Hey, Xie Dn, check the drums!"


    "No prob, Big Bro, I''m on it!"


    "Brother He,e here, mic test!"


    Jiang Li''s intestines seemed to hurt more than his head. It worsened when he took a glimpse of the people beginning to congregate in front of the stage, and the words sprayed on the huge white banner.


    ''I''m someone whomanded people from thest mission world. But even if my face has thickened so much and my brain''s not always alright, this is still too much. May I back out?''


    A thin sheet of sweat shimmered on his forehead and his face became very pale. His soul shook so hard. It seemed the remnant soul of the Original owner had protested. Or maybe it was this body''s natural rejection towards thoughts contradictory to the owner''s wishes.


    "Brother He,e up, quick! We don''t have much time! This month''s g-raising ceremony will start within ten minutes!"


    Jiang Li almost wanted to kill when anky guy pushed him towards the stairs and up the stage. There was an internal fight happening within his mind and body. And the feeling was not at all pleasant. The worst part? In the end, it was him, the new inhabitant, who surrendered to the remnant instinct and held the microphone and guitar, dreadfully.


    "Brother, we spotted Tang Lan entering the gate!"


    "Come again? Wait? What''s the song? And the chords?"


    "The youngest said, ''What Makes You My Sunshine..."


    "... F*ck, who invented that song? Sounds so wacky! Boys, let''s just do ''Thunder!''


    "Uhhh. Are you sure about that. If I remember correctly, we haven''t rehearsed that yet..."


    "Come on! Let''s just do our best to pull this off! For Brother He!"


    While the oldest of the bunchmanded the rest to get ready, one of them started to pluck the strings of his guitar, creating a series of sounds that piqued the interest of the gathered crowd, making them cheer in frenzy.


    Jiang Li wanted to back out since this was something against his wishes and principles. Unfortunately, pain and difort began to course through his soul when the idea popped up in his mind. The world and the Original wouldn''t let him do so!


    ''F*ck. I can''t be as crazy anymore and go OOC!'' As the other instruments started to apany the bass and the guitar, he cursed under his breath.


    Jiang Li felt like dying and escaping from this world.


    ...


    ...


    FallenBlue here! If you''re not reading at , please go here and read for /book/12925525506052005/Quick-Transmigration%3A-Saving-The-Crazy-Viiness


    FYI, this is the original site to read this story.


    Thanks in advance.<ol><li>Out of character</li></ol>

 Chapter 43: Feng Ru (2)

    Chapter 43: Feng Ru (2)


    Maybe it was because the system held a grudge against him, or it was just necessary to let him have a grasp on what it really felt like to be on a mission, he got thrown to when the plot had already advanced halfway.


    Both Tang Lan and Gu Feng had already contacted each other and had gone through a few ''dates'' - inside the police car, at the police station, and the crime scenes. The male lead was no longer suspecting the female lead of being the culprit. Meanwhile, thetter was starting to be aware of the man as a member of the opposite sex.


    As for him, the ex? Noment.


    Okay. Jiang Li actually hated He Chen''s character. In the previous timeline, the young man did his best and seemingly exhausted his life and heart to win back Tang Lan. It was simply hard to imagine what love made this simple young man do.


    He sang courtship songs for her in public and sent love letters daily. If his budget from part-timing would allow it, he would also send stuffed animals or snacks. Even when the female lead had be lovers with Gu Feng, whenever they had a fight and she was feeling down, the stupid ex would take the initiative to find her andfort her.


    He Chen belonged to another type of crazy. He was so stupidly and crazily in love!


    Damn. All the things he did made Jiang Li want to puke out!


    But see what he got in the end? Why was it a rule that the cannon-fodder or support characters always have to die in this kind of story?


    ''Sorry, but I''m not the type to follow the Original''s type of craziness.'' The man who had seen enough betrayals and even lived through the apocalypse days of his original world gritted his teeth and swore.


    He Chen was a good vocalist, and his skills and knowledge were conveniently passed to Jiang Li, hence, when he began singing, at least the lyrics came out of his mouth nicely, following the correct tune. The people below cheered. The university''s boy band rarely performed, so they were thrilled to find He Chen and the rest ying a song at the stage.


    Of course, not few of them recognized He Chen and inferred that he was being stupid again. Tang Lan also did.


    The woman had just passed through the open gate. She had a long straight brownish hair, upturned ck eyes, high nose, and thin cherry lips. She was wearing a blue long sleeve blouse, ck skinny jeans, and ck three-inch high heels. There was no expression on her face even when she got pushed and pulled in front by some of her friends.


    "Tang Lan, this ex of yours is really very sincere to you. Why don''t you just ept his love again?"


    "Right. Even I felt that he''s so good. Not only is his face value high. His grades and vocals are great too. If I have a suitor like him, I''ll die of happiness."


    "I know this song. It''s by Boys Like Girls. Great lyrics and I love it. He Chen is better looking than the original band''s vocalist though. Haha."


    "Tang Lan... Maybe you should try to go up?"


    The female lead had a strong character. Even so, she felt incredibly awkward hearing the various kind of encouragement and cheering. The other students who heard thedies by her side whistled and joined the fun, pushing her in front to take a step into the stage.


    ''So embarrassing.''


    Tang Lan gave He Chen a veryplicated stare. To say that she was not moved by this man''s dedication to her was false.


    However, she was an intelligent woman and knew that there were just things that could not be forced. Right now, she was already falling for Gu Feng, that cold handsome police officer hiding a soft and honest heart under his icy exterior. She was honest too and knew her heart, and so towards this old me that refused to move on, she felt half-ttered and half-annoyed.


    The female lead balled her hands into a fist. Putting on a non-caring look she gazed at He Chen''s face. The man was undeniably his charming as he sang from the heart.


    "I tried to read between the lines,


    I tried to look in your eyes,


    I want a simple exnation for what I''m feeling inside..."


    When she saw the man looking downwards, Tang Lan fell into deep thoughts. Even if she disliked this kind of music since she was more into ssical music, she still couldn''t help but be drawn to his voice and music. However, liking his music or talent was different from liking him...


    A year ago, when she said ''yes'' to him, it was only due to her immaturity and desire to experience falling in love. When it failed, she chose to break up with him and not prolonged their awkward rtionship.


    ''Who would have thought, this guy would be this stubborn? When would he choose to move on?'' sheined in her heart with extreme irritation.


    ...


    ...


    FallenBlue here! If you''re not reading at , please go here and read for /book/12925525506052005/Quick-Transmigration%3A-Saving-The-Crazy-Viiness


    FYI, this is the original site to read this story.


    Thanks in advance.

 Chapter 44: Feng Ru (3)

    Chapter 44: Feng Ru (3)


    "I got to find a way out... Maybe there''s a way out..." he sang.


    When it got to the instrumental part before the chorus, he suddenly stopped ying the guitar. His action threw the band into disorder and elicited surprised gasps and protests from the members and the audience.


    ''Hmm, what happened?'' Tang Lan exchanged nces with her friends.


    Up there stood a man as steadfast as a mountain despite the insults and questions tossed at him.


    His eyes were closed and brows furrowed, appearing like he was in his own world. He looked like he was amidst making a very important decision. No one else knew, but the crazy guy inside the distressed exterior was fighting against the will of the Original, not the least bit resigned to being made into an unshakable love fool in front of everybody.


    ''Stupid. You know in your heart that all your previous efforts garnered no response and did not move her heart at all. Damn. You don''t even know what wrong you''ve done to make her suddenly broke up with you. Stop. I''ll take over andplete your wish.''


    Jiang Li shivered. His soul seemed to hear an unwilling young man crying his heart out of grief. Why was his love not heard out? Why did she break up with him? Why was she leaving him alone?


    ''F*ck. He Chen, you''re insane... But I love it. HAHAHAHA, THIS IS A COMPETITION!''


    Facing the resistance head-on, Jiang Li made use of the Original''s musical talent. Instead of continuing the previous song, he signaled the rest to stop and let him do the rest.


    He forced a smile on his face even though the Original seemingly wanted him to cry and beg. But damn, Jiang Li rebelled and sang an a Cape. The remnant''s will wanted him to sing a love song. Damn him, he wouldply, but not with a courtship one!


    "Goodbye... to the love we used to have..."


    "Goodbye to the promises that will no longer see the light of the day."


    "If you''re now in love with somebody else."


    "Don''t worry about me. I''ll eventually get used to it."


    "Just yesterday, we are together. Now, I''ve be a memory of yours."


    "From now on, I would have to pray that you are happy every day."


    While everyone marveled at this tune that they had never heard before and at the very soul-stirring emotions the singer had put into it, the man himself was almost going crazy from suppressing the disgust, cringe, and the damnable remnant''s will.


    Down below, Tang Lan, at a lost, digested the meaning of his song, and momentarily felt weird in her heart.


    ''He''s finally giving up?'' She took deep breaths multiple times.


    Tang Lan retreated from the odd stares from the crowd and subdued the inner voice telling her that if she wouldn''t face him now, she would regret it for a lifetime.


    She heartlessly left, not caring if He Chen''s face showed deep mncholy, whether from singing the sad song or from seeing her leaving. Anyway, the message had been received by her. There was nothing else to see here.


    Or so she thought.


    If she only stayed for a few more seconds, she would see Jiang Li''s gaze turning sarcastic.


    ''He Chen wishes for this woman not to ever forget him? Bullsh*t! If heartfelt courtship won''t work, easy! Be the person opposite of what he used to be. More desirable and brilliant! Unreachable and wanted by many girls!''


    ''MAKE HER REGRET! MAKE HER SEE THAT YOU LOVE YOURSELF NOW, MORE THAN HER!''


    After telling himself these, he ended the song. He took a few seconds to calm down. Behind him, his friends called his name a couple of times. Jiang Li nced over his shoulder and took in their concern faces. The boys left their posts and group-hugged him. It was amazing how they stood by his side despite being shamed and made to look like fools earlier before so many people.


    He Chen, you''re stupid for not cherishing these people more, he thought as he parted with them.


    He looked at the crowd. Ignoring the different kinds of gazes he received, Jiang Li took one step forward and held the mic.


    Suddenly, a different aura came from him. It was the aura of someone who had awed the business world and made it to the cover of so many magazines.


    "Thank you, everyone, for listening to our music. Today''s songs are sung, not for a single individual, but for everyone."


    People who knew the inside out of He Chen''s story did not believe him and evenughed at him. But the man disregarded them and with a very wide smile put on, he continued,


    "From today onwards, I and my wonderful friends will be forming a band and post our works and covers on Youtube! If today''s performance made you even the littlest bit amazed, please consider visiting our pageter. Haha, drop by and perhaps leave a message or hit the like button there, or both. That''s all. Thank you!"


    ....


    ....


    A/N:


    FallenBlue here! If you''re not reading at , please go here and read for /book/12925525506052005/Quick-Transmigration%3A-Saving-The-Crazy-Viiness


    FYI, this is the original site to read this story.


    Thanks in advance.


    ....

 Chapter 45: Feng Ru (4)

    Chapter 45: Feng Ru (4)


    Jiang Li had just possessed the body and undoubtedly courted death when he vehemently went against the Original''s lingering obsession.


    Without even managing to enter the backstage, he copsed. The people behind him, mostly his friends, panicked and ran to his side. By then, the young vocalist had long kissed the ground with his eyes shut. His face was almost devoid of any other color apart from white. Despite his peaceful breathing, based on the beads of sweat on his face, it could be easily seen that he was not in a good condition. Thankfully not many people saw it since they were at least obscured by the cream painted wall.


    "Brother He is burning up!"


    "Bring him to the clinic!"


    "Big Bro, help me support this rascal. Jeez! So the reason he was pale-faced was because of this. Yet he still came instead of telling us honestly about his condition?"


    "Bastard!" One of them bellowed angrily, red-eyed. "This damned rascal rushed here to perform. It''s always like this! Yet what did he gain?"


    The one acting as the big brother, Cheng Du, gave the other three a re. He was another graduating senior from the Music Department and was the oldest of them all. He was the most clear-headed among them, hence, he sternly shouted, "Shut up, boys! Clinic!"


    The rest did zipper their mouths as they rushed towards the building. They did not forget to cover their unconscious brother from prying eyes.


    Deep inside them though, they felt indignant. All of these graduating boys treated each other like blood rted brothers from different parents. This was why the anger they felt towards Tang Lan could not be described by words anymore.


    In their hearts, they believed that woman''s heart was made of stone. She surely did or show something to He Chen halfway the performance. Otherwise, why would their brother be that very brokenhearted and choose to do that?


    None of them could understand why a girl would stay unmoved after being shown such great love for so long. They were men and knew how much pride had to beid down to be able to do what He Chen had been doing for more than a year.


    While they also didn''t really condone He Chen continuously making a fool out of himself courting a woman like that, when persuasion didn''t prove effective, they selflessly decided to always be there for their brother. They even started to help He Chen in his antics.


    Atst, it seemed this would be thest day that they would do this.


    Still...


    ''... Even if I''m d that Brother He finally awakened, Tang Lan is still unforgivable!'' All of them thought in their hearts.


    They watched as the nurse helped the unconscious Jiang Li with the IV drip. While the nurse in her early thirties was admiring these guys appearanc... cough, friendship, the four boys looked at each other. All of them either had a worrying look put on, or simply very angry.


    ...


    Hourster.


    Jiang Li woke up after recovering from the pain and difort brought to him by his stupidity earlier. Instead of repenting, due to the repressed anger in his heart, he wanted to scold He Chen in his mind. However, he could only grit his teeth after realizing that he couldn''t actually do it.


    While he disliked He Chen''s character, the admiration, pity and headache won over it. Seriously, he was a great and dedicated guy, a rare male specimen actually. Why was the happiness of side characters like him had to be sacrificed just so the female lead would appear very desirable?


    There were so manyints in his mind. But he chose to shut up and focused on massaging his forehead to lessen the anger and hatred for the world building up inside him.


    "Brother He, I''m d you''ve finally woken up." It was the drummer earlier, Xie Dn, a bright-eyed bespectacled young man.


    Jiang Li gave him a nod and then inquired about the time. The one who answered him was another big boy whose hair was dyed dark blonde.


    "It''s 5 pm, you bastard!" The rebellious-looking guy seemingly wanted to punch him but Jiang Li managed to dodge easily. "You''re asleep for more than five hours! Five hours! Your fever is so high we thought you''ll be dying soon!"


    "Hey, rascal Su, go away!" The big brother figure had a loud and thunderous voice and so the dark blonde guy sported a displeased face but still left Jiang Li who was sitting on the bed.


    "We''ve gotten you a sick leave from all the profs so we''re free to leave anytime soon."


    "We?"


    Cheng Du ignored the raised brow of He Chen and said, "We have to fulfill a promise so we created an ount on YouTube. I ambushed a ssmate to get a footage of your song earlier. That''s our first video uploaded there. See Little Nian? He''s replying toments and doing promotions."


    "Yeah. Hello."


    The youngest of them, Nian Xiwen, a baby-facednky guy wearing huge headphones, waved at him then went back to madly typing on his tablet.


    Jiang Li went silent. The other guys thought that he was just reminded of everything that happened earlier and was feeling sad about it. Little did they know he was made speechless by how efficient they were.


    ''I only said that to divert a bit of people''s attention from me to the group and to that annoying female lead. These people sure take my words more seriously than they should!''


    He tossed the matter about this group obviously ditching their sses aside and left the clinic with them. As they headed towards the college building''s exit, he realized that going viral online could be a good direction to take.


    Anyway, the Original was not a business-oriented person and was also only in college. Going too OOC would cause Jiang Li to pass out. The thought made him want to meet the system and hack it, literally, with a huge knife. Throwing a bomb at it would also be good.


    But yeah, with that as a problem, he could only utilize He Chen''s original talent which was all music-rted.


    "He Chen. Look."


    Jiang Li''s train of thoughts got interrupted by the headphone-wearing guy. The group had just crossed the exit and were greeted by the sight of many people rushing out of the nearby buildings. A crowd congregated just outside the Music Department.


    "What''s happening?" Cheng Du asked.


    The dark blonde volunteered to check what it was. Jiang Li narrowed his gaze in front because from afar, he noticed a police car parking hastily.


    He was not the only who noticed it.


    Jiang Li looked around and saw that fear was evident on the faces of most of the people around. Because there were also some pointing their cameras upwards, he remembered that the plot had long started. Aplicated expression flickered in his eyes.


    ''So this is will be my first encounter with the viiness?''


    He also looked up. The distance might have blurred most of the details and made it almost impossible to know the face of the person above.


    But he could perfectly see that there was a female figure on the rooftop. Her eyes were closed and the safety railings were behind her, her hands were grabbing on the metal bars by her side. The wind blew her hair away, but because a few strands stuck on her face, they realized that she was crying.


    Jiang Li froze.


    She looked like she was nning to jump off anytime soon!

 Chapter 46: Feng Ru (5)

    Chapter 46: Feng Ru (5)


    Three peopleing from the police car''s direction cut through the crowd and pushed themselves to the front line. Two were male police officers, thest one a female college student. Needless to say, two of them were the male and female leads of this world, Gu Feng and Tang Lan.


    Xie Dn, the bespectacled friend of Jiang Li saw thetter and immediately gave her a piercing re. The woman saw it and immediately showed a dark face. However, she didn''t say anything, even when his other friends did the same. After all, she knew their reason. It was enough that in her heart she was clearly innocent.


    "She is nning tomit suicide, my good heavens!"


    Not few gasped and swallowed their saliva after hearing this exmation from someone. As most of the eyes were looking up to the silently crying female student above, not many caught sight of a young man dressed in a white shirt and ck pants running back inside.


    "He Chen!" The dark blonde guy shouted in an urgent voice, but the man did not look back.


    Since the voice was drowned in others'' shouts, prayers, and murmurs, apart from the bandmates of that person, only Tang Lan turned her head to the entrance. Her brows were furrowed, but since she did not see the figure of her ex, she went back to exchanging nces with the male lead. The police officer looked very anxious as he talked with his fellow officers through the walkie-talkie.


    Tang Lan looked up. Hiding her nervousness, she said, "I know her. She''s from the ountancy Department. Her name is Na Yu, a sophomore student. She''s a strong girl, and has many good friends and a nice family. Like the previous cases, it''s weird that she suddenly wanted to do something like this."


    "It''s already the fifth one this year... We must rescue her! No harm muste to her!" Gu Feng seemed very concerned about the person above. The female lead understood that it was because the man disliked seeing someone dying. To stop the current cases of suicides, they must solve the issue once and for all.


    "I think we must have the ce cleared and put some safety measures around in case she jumps off."


    Gu Feng sweated buckets. He and hispanion ordered everyone to vacate the area so that no one would get hurt if ever the unthinkable happened. At the same time, the police officer phoned the other officersing over to bring anding airbag with them. When Tang Lan helped out, he threw an appreciative look before darting into the building and climbing the stairs to reach the rooftop as soon as possible.


    However, before the male lead could, another person had long arrived there.


    The door to the rooftop was flung open. Jiang Li appeared from the entrance, looking so pale, drenched in sweat and out of breath.


    The woman who was only one stepped away from falling to her death slowly turned her head to his direction. The young man who saw her expression immediately noticed what was wrong with her.


    ''Damn those spooky eyes...''


    Jiang Li stood still for a second. It had been a long time since he saw lifeless eyes like hers. No, actually they were not really lifeless. It was a pair of eyes that longed for life, more than anyone else. But unlike the zombies of the apocalypse world which desired to devour the living, hers only purely desired toe back to life.


    Why would a living person who seemingly wanted to take her own life wish for something she already has?


    The man cautiously took a few steps forward and met those weird eyes of the female student.


    "Don''t do that." He said in a very serious andmanding tone. Of course, he received no reply. So he added, "Talk to me instead. Let''s have a serious discussion about our existence in this world... I''m like you."


    The female student''s hair danced along with the passing breeze. The man managed to see her face clearly for a brief second and was reminded of the reason why he momentarily froze earlier.


    This woman was beautiful. In fact, she was way more beautiful than the female lead. For a second he wondered if this was the reason why she died. However, that thought got thrown somewhere far away. After all, the real reason he fell into a daze was that she really looked like someone he met not long ago.


    Her eyes that looked so deep, yet ssy stared unblinkingly at him. It was weird considering the fact that the wind in a high altitude could be painful to the eyes. Even Jiang Li had to move his arm to shield his eyes, yet the woman remained staring at him wide-eyed. Her pale lips parted, letting out a sweet charming voice... that seemingly came from the underground.


    "How... are you... simr... to me?"


    She even tilted her head almost ny degrees perpendicr to her neck. It must have been good for the onlookers below that most of her hair blocked their sight. If Jiang Li had not been used to seeing living dead with bodies twisted beyond abnormal, he would have been spooked out already. The setting sun and the deep red in the skies were not really helping in this situation at all.


    Jiang Li simply replied, "I don''t know who you are. But I''m sure that you''re also not the original inhabitant of that body."


    "..." The woman whose neck was twisted to her left finally blinked at him, asking. "You... are?"


    He sneered, "An undying ghost like you, what else? But unlike you who wanted to kill all the beautiful and socially sessful girls who you probably envied or pitied, I nned to live to the fullest (obtain points to the fullest) and take revenge against those who mistreated me by being sessful and unattainable."


    The man had just partly lied without batting an eysh once. Though he just spouted a bunch of nonsense which was totally not in line with his character, Jiang Li did not remove the stoic look from his face and did not even sugarcoat his words to appear sympathetic to the malicious spirit before him.


    Right. He was not truly speaking with the girl named Na Yu. But the vengeful ghost possessing this girl. Thanks to He Chen''s memories, he didn''t have to guess who she really was and what she went through to end up like this.


    ''Feng Ru, huh?''


    The world was disturbingly quiet as he waited for her response. A few moments passed that only the sounds of winds could be heard between them. The crowd below must probably be moring there. But the two people in the rooftop did not care.


    A young man continued walking towards the woman. Her hands were tightly grabbing on the metal bars on the dangerous side of the safety railings. If her feet identally slipped from the small dent, she would surely end up a mess of flesh and blood on the ground below. For some reason, the man taking huge strides towards her did not appear hurried or anxious. He was extremely calm when he extended a hand in front.


    "Take my hand. Stop ying around."


    The beautiful eyes of the girl bulged out of their sockets. She only looked at the hand stretched before her.


    Not long after, she suddenly grinned from ear to ear, literally.


    "Why... are you... stopping me... from killing her?" The eerie voice echoing eerily from all directions sounded so resentful and wicked. She simply desired destruction, to share her pain and hate to the world. Her lips that practically made a red line splitting the chin from the rest of her face revealed the extent of her insanity.


    "WHY? WHY? WHY? AHAHAHAHAHA!"


    To her question andughter, Jiang Li''s lips only twitched. "You''re simply making me speechless. Which ghost wants to die over and over again? I seemed to know no one other than you."


    "..."


    And with this simple mocking reply, he sessfully managed to make the viiness stumped for words...

 Chapter 47: Feng Ru (6)

    Chapter 47: Feng Ru (6)


    The first time he heard the system inside his brain, it exined that a viiness was someone crazily in love and died bringing something unbelievably damaging to the world or the whole of humanity.


    When he reflected on thest mission, Xie Na actually passed away in a mental hospital. She was driven crazy while harboring unimaginably deep resentments toward the world.


    In reality, there were so many people who, due to pain and grief, wished for the world''s destruction every day. But the viiness was the only one who could bring real harm to it through her curses and resentments. The system said it was because a viiness was someone who should have been a female lead but waster on rejected or reced.


    It was a weird exnation but this was the general gist of everything he knew about the viiness. To why he had to save them, perhaps it had something to do with a greater cause. But who knows what exactly that is?


    All he knew right now was that he was very confused about how a ghost could be a viiness. Wasn''t he supposed to prevent a woman dying crazily? The current world was not making sense to him.


    Was Feng Ru already a ghost before she was almost made into a female lead? Then what the f*ck was the supposed story before it turned into a supernatural detective''s tale? Minghun? A forbidden love between a man and a specter?


    Jiang Li shook his head. The spirit seemed to have been provoked. The woman''s face distorted beyond recognition, wanting to tear him into pieces.


    He narrowed his eyes. "I know why you want to do this. But are you sure this is the correct way to help them?"


    Feng Ru''s hair-raisingughter echoed from under his feet. Her voice was so loud. Yet not even one from the crowd below heard it. Only Jiang Li.


    While weeping red tears, she asked, "What do... you know?"


    To this, he replied, "You died trying to help someone who attempted tomit suicide. Butter on, you be someone helping those people suffering from severe depression to do the deed."


    ''A twisted busybody, so to say.'' Jiang Li wanted to punch the woman when he first learned of why she was the viiness.


    After a moment of silence, the female ghost quietly replied. "Her name is Na Yu, from a rich but broken family. Her parents are divorced. She initially has no problem with that. After all, she has money, beauty, friends, and a loving boyfriend."


    The man merely listened. He didn''t interrupt even though he could hear footsteps gradually nearing the rooftop. The scene happened in the memories, hence he knew it was the male lead.


    "The girl is content in life. After all, the hollowness within her brought by theck of attention from her parents is filled by her other loved ones. She felt like as long things continued this way, she would be okay."


    "However, nothing''s permanent in this world. Stress got into her when a female professor jealous of her beauty began being unreasonable and putting pressure on her. Projects failed, homework punishment, being tossed to a bad working ce famous for exploiting workers for her internship. The list goes on. Thankfully, her friends and lover are there for her, and so she persisted."


    "However, one day, one of her male colleagues in thatpany tried to take her by force. She only managed to escape by luck. Yet before the day is over, she learned of her boyfriend''s betrayal..."


    The ghost stopped crying blood. Jiang Li took that chance to lift his extended hand to her again. "Suicide is not the right way, Miss. Revenge is. It depends on the situation. But there are many ways to drive them crazier than when she was in her depressed state. Sometimes her being happy or sessful is a poison more lethal than death for them. How about I show it to you?"


    "Show it... to me?" The being went back to her weird way of speaking.


    Jiang Li wanted to make this busybody ghost agreed to leave things to him so that she wouldn''t interfere in his other mission. Anyway, it was not clear how he was going to save a ghost from insanity. It seemed crazy already. The only merit was that it could still be talked to and reasoned with. All he could think of was to teach her what proper madness was.


    Feng Ru was a spirit whose unfinished business was probably rted to seeing her friend jumped off a building due to depression. Later on, she became a malicious being that solved her victim''s lingering obsession and wishes through unspeakable means.


    For this Na Yu, her boyfriend was that younger brother of the male lead. The viiness went to punish that guy yet her trails ended up being followed by the male lead. On how Gu Feng pulled that off, who knows? What was clear was that for the next suicide victims, with the help of the female lead they got closer and closer to the truth, rming the ghost who then went all the way to kill them.


    Uhh, the story of this world was really damnable. It seemed simple, yet also absurd.


    "Take my hand. But don''t leave that girl''s body yet. Soon, another busybody wille here. At least, let that girl return to a normal life."


    Time flowed like the running water of a fall, descending fast, and would never be able toe back. People watching from the ground gasped when a hand appeared by the railings and pulled up the woman. After a short while, sighs of relief echoed before the endless chattering resume.


    The male lead finally arrived. Per Jiang Li''s request, the viiness did not wipe off the blood streaming down her face and even intentionally showed up to Gu Feng in a very heart-stopping manner.


    Even though Jiang Li came to the frightened man''s rescue and pacified him to not shoot the woman, in his heart he was actually very satisfied pulling a prank against the favored son of fate. Heaven knows what Jiang Li would have done to the other if he wasn''t confirmed to be a good guy.


    Before the unconscious girl Na Yu was brought to the university authorities, he sneakily told Feng Ru, "Do what you want but don''t kill anyone, insteade to me. I''ll teach you what you do?"


    Using the girl''s face, the ghost gave a nk look. "... What?"


    "Your methods are too crude. You need to learn how to be a proper ghost. Don''t worry, I''ll train you and within three months, your resentment will surely vanish and you''ll learn how to enjoy your ghost life and duties." The man left, not caring how insane he looked after saying those words.


    The body possessed was taken away and the ck-haired ghost with very pale and almost smoke-like features was left blinking in confusion.


    What training to be a proper ghost? She frightened people, helped girls be freed from their misery, and took revenge for them. How was her method of aiding those poor women crude?


    Feng Ru then realized that everything went wrong the moment she took that hand instead of jumping off.


    ...


    Minghun -herworld marriage, literally: ''spirit marriage'', is a marriage in which one or both parties are deceased.


    ...


    ...


    FallenBlue here! If you''re not reading at , please go here and read for /book/12925525506052005/Quick-Transmigration%3A-Saving-The-Crazy-Viiness


    FYI, this is the original site to read this story.


    Thanks in advance.

 Chapter 48: Feng Ru (7)

    Chapter 48: Feng Ru (7)


    The viiness, at first, was very puzzled why she epted that helping hand, thwarting her ns to aid Na Yu escape from all the pain, heartaches and sorrows.


    When she couldn''t find the answer even after pondering over it for an hour, she felt cheated and then went angry. Because of this, the vengeful ghost entered a random dorm room and relieved her stress by scaring a few innocent girls there to death.


    ...


    The morning of the next day....


    "Do you know Na Yu?"


    "Ah, yeah. The one who almost killed herself yesterday?"


    "Uh-huh. From the ountancy Course. Damn. The police said there is a criminal on the loose who threatened that poor girl to jump off!!


    "I knew it! My goddess is not the suicidal type. I knew her coz I''m one of her followers on IG. She''s very lively and cheerful. There is no way someone like her will try to take her own life!"


    "Poor girl. But it seems there''s something unnerving going on in the university. I wonder if we''re all safe..."


    Jiang Li was with Xie Du, the bespectacled drummer of the band. They sat at the leftmost table in the cafeteria waiting for their pals to finish ordering food for them. Both men looked bored. The difference was that Jiang Li was bored looking around and eavesdropping while the other was bored ying online games.


    "Ugh, my stomach is growling louder than the tiger boss in this mobile game!"


    Brother four eyes was faster than a lightning when he put away his phone, get his food from the tray Cheng Du was carrying, and grabbed his spoon.


    "Brother He, you don''t have sses this afternoon, right?"


    Jiang Li nodded, digging into his own meal.


    "All of us are free so let''s just record a cover at my ce. What song should we select?" Cheng Du asked.


    Jiang Li raised an eyebrow. "I thought Little Nian has a ss under Prof. Xu?"


    The baby-faced guy cheekily replied, "I''m skipping it. History sses are borrrriiiiiingggggg!"


    The transmigrator looked at him, a vein in his forehead throbbing. For everyone here who had already made up their mind to enter the music industry, it was no exaggeration to say that all non-music rted subjects are torturous and uninteresting.


    ''Fine. The best I can do is to leave these guys a ce at the top of this industry.''


    A corner of his lips suddenly tugged up as he vowed this to himself.


    Jiang Li could only stay in this world due to the Original''s condition when he lent the body to him, hence his im sounded so insane and unattainable. Add to this the fact that unlike the previous case, in this world he was merely a guy from a vige! Not from a fairly influential family!


    How was he supposed to aplish this within three months while alsopleting two troublesome missions?


    ''I''ll build a sizable fanbase with them by covering some songs, then create our own originals, and hack our way into topping the charts. It''s stupid to directly tamper with the list, so maybe just make our songs stay in the front page of all music stores and video sharing sites? Hmmm... Doable!''


    It would be cheating, but so what? He''d really chop the system into pieces if the Original goes against his ns and makes trouble for him again.


    "The university''s music room is good. It has nice soundproofing, is closer, and will cost us nothing too. Let''s record there and upload the vid after."


    To Jiang Li''s reply, the oldest nodded, "I''ll speak with the coordinator then. In any case, we''re Aurora University''s official band."


    Two hourster, everything said had been done. The group left the ce in a light-hearted mood, joking around, andughing.


    Jiang Li was quite annoyed though, he was the center of attention. The boys were probably worried that he''d be depressed and copy yesterday''s suicidal student. The bad impression he had against the female lead rose to unimaginable heights due to this.


    Speaking of the devil, just when they were heading towards the gate nning to hang out at their big brother''s ce, they chanced upon three people engaged in a conversation next to a car parked in a deserted spot. They were Tang Lan, Gu Feng, and Na Yu.


    The police officer was not wearing his uniform, but in a casual blue dress shirt and pants, looking so stoic yet handsome. The man was mostly talking to the prettier female student. Na Yu was visibly pale. However, her eyes gave off a clear and bright glimmer so unlike someone who had just attempted to kill herself. Based on how the male lead and this lucky extra appeared to be in a QA session, Jiang Li guessed that Gu Feng was curious about the ghost possession.


    "That ungrateful b*tch!"


    Nobody from the band apart from Jiang Li recognized Gu Feng as a police officer. They only saw Tang Lan being close to a man who seemed to be the owner of the blue car. They thought that she was with that guy.


    If she was already in love with someone else, why didn''t she say anything to reject He Chen? All this time, this Tang Lan kept being ambiguous which sparked the wrong signals in their brother''s head!


    The boys stared daggers at the leads'' direction and shook their heads as if they were looking at a vain and evil woman and an aircon type second gen. Jiang Li didn''t bother correcting them, enjoying their amusing reactions. To make the matter worse, he looked away and sported an uncaring face. He Chen''s friends took it as if he was hurt but wanted to keep his pride.


    "I won''t ept this! I''ll have a serious talk with that damn woman!"


    "... Let''s just leave."


    "Yeah, stop it, Rascal Su. Don''t make a scene!"


    Unfortunately, none of Jiang Li and Cheng Du''s words entered the ears of the rebellious guy who had swiftly marched towards Tang Lan. The angry expression on his face was scary, as if he was ready to beat up someone...

 Chapter 49: Feng Ru (8)

    Chapter 49: Feng Ru (8)


    "Su Xuefeng!"


    Cheng Du''s raised voice echoed loudly together with the rushed footsteps of four more people trailing behind him. Panic, concern, and anger were in their faces. In front of them, Gu Feng stood tall, staring down at the big boy who tried to punch him.


    The one called Rascal Su by his friends was lying on the ground, groaning.


    "He Chen!"


    When Tang Lan saw Jiang Li rushing to the dark blonde guy''s side, she shouted his name. When she recovered from the shock of seeing Gu Feng assaulted by a familiar man who then got thrown squarely on the cemented floor, her face crumpled in disgust and anger.


    "He Chen! Is this your new way of bothering me? Didn''t you already dere you''re done pestering me!?"


    Jiang Li only gave the narcissistic female lead a cold re. To someone like her whose pit in the brain was bigger than the greatest ck hole in the universe, he couldn''t be bothered to give a damn. Who asked questions like this, huh? All this time, he was a victim, alright?


    "Why did you do that to him?" Nian Xiwen angrily bellowed at the male lead, looking as if he was barely restraining himself from throwing his fist at Gu Feng too.


    Jiang Li expressionlessly exined, "Don''t ask. That police officer will only answer it is self-defense."


    He helped the bespectacled young man support the groaning guy.


    Tang Lan whose delicate face was initially dumbfounded from being ignored turned ferocious. "He Chen! How did you know that he is a police officer!? Have you no shame? You investigated me and those around me?"


    "If I were to say... Aren''t the narcissistic and egoistic you more shameless than me, Miss? Whoever you are, don''t assume the world revolves around you."


    Dumbfounded, the female lead''s eyes almost popped out as she stammered, "W-what?"


    "I said, who the hell do you think you are to question my sense of shame?"


    Tang Lan flinched after receiving her ex'' frosty re. A secondter, her cheeks burned from embarrassment. She looked at Gu Feng and saw him sporting an awkward expression. When she further checked the surroundings, due to what the male lead did, many people directed their eyes their way.


    Jiang Li saw Xie Dn exchanged nces with the most cunning member of their group.


    The big brother, Cheng Du purposely raised his voice and said to the dark blonde guy, "Hey, Rascal Su, how do you feel? Are you okay? Why the heck did you run like that? If you''re gonna beat someone, at least wait for us to back you up! Now you see what happens if your target is a police officer who is not on duty!"


    "Yeah! Tch. Tch. This is what you get from interrupting a great police bro from hitting on two beautiful girls."


    Tang Lan blushed and furiously stared at the two, "You guys!!!"


    Even though, Jiang Li knew that their group was in the wrong due to the rascal trying to hit someone without confirming who the other party was, he was never a sane person who would choose strangers over his friends even if the former were innocent.


    In any case, Rascal Su already got more than he deserved. For the excess pain inflicted to him, Jiang Li and the others were more than happy to shame the other party a bit to make up for it.


    The idea, of course, was quite illogical, but who cares? Jiang Li, this semi-crazy guy, advocated insanity more than anyone else and believed that his purpose of existence was to go against the world''s leads! Especially now that the female lead was seriously annoying!


    "Mr. Officer, we meet again. But I''m sorry we can''t catch up since we have to bring this friend of ours to the clinic. I''m d to have helped you yesterday."


    With this frank yet courteous remark from him, Jiang Li reminded Gu Feng that he didn''t say or give him any regards for what he did yesterday. At the same time he gently reminded the narcissistic female lead that she was never the reason why he got acquainted with the male lead.


    Two people were left at the ce embarrassed. But Jiang Li''s mood didn''t get uplifted due to the rebellious-looking guy''s state.


    ''If only it''s not this stupid boy who threw the first punch, I would have led the bunch into pummeling that Gu Feng onto the ground! Damn!''


    Of course, the man''s goal was only to personally experience what it feels like to nt a fist in a heaven''s darling''s face before a crowd. That''s all.


    Unfortunately, it seemed the opportunity wouldn''t present itself to him today.


    "Brother He..." The frowning Su Xuefeng whose head had probably cleared up already called out in a wronged manner. "I failed in beating up that guy."


    Looking at the trembling fist of the muscle-headed bassist, Jiang Li wanted to shoulder throw him too. The heck. He hadn''t repented yet? At least think of what caused his ns to go wrong!


    "Let me say this, Rascal Su. You should not have charged there without confirming whether you cannd a punch at the enemy or not." Brother Four Eyes preached in a discontented voice.


    "Wrong, Xie Dn. Confirm first if those two are dating and for how long. So that it will be okay to beat Tang Lan up too." Cheng Du said in a solemn manner.


    Rascal Su dejectedly lowered his head like a bullied puppy. "You''re right, big bro. I should have pped Tang Lan instead. Or at least, say my piece to her. Damn."


    ''Look at these people...''


    Jiang Liughed along with everyone. It was satisfying to watch. But he must say, "Stop it boys. Let''s have nothing to do with them anymore and distract ourselves with getting our band famous."


    "Why are you like a saint, Brother He?" While staring and clicking his tongue at Jiang Li, the baby-faced Nian questioned.


    The system muted inside Jiang Li''s brain almost cried. ''Deceived! This headphone-wearing human is very naive!!! If he''s a saint, then nobody is a sinner!!!''


    Jiang Liughed again, also amused by Nian Xiwen''s statement.


    "Mr. He!"


    Hisughter only died down when he heard a woman''s voice shouting from behind. He looked past his shoulder. It was actually that girl Feng Ru possessed yesterday at the rooftop, Na Yu.


    After giving the red car from the distance a brief nce, he understood that this woman chose to leave the leads to themselves and catch up with them. For what reason though? Jiang Li squinted his eyes. ''Somebody told her what happened in the rooftop? Or she guessed through what I said earlier?''


    The pale-faced long-haired girl walked towards him and asked, "May I have a word with you?"


    ...


    ...


    FallenBlue here! If you''re not reading at , please go here and read for free! /book/12925525506052005/Quick-Transmigration%3A-Saving-The-Crazy-Viiness


    FYI, this is the original site to read this story.


    Thanks in advance.

 Chapter 50: Feng Ru (9)

    Chapter 50: Feng Ru (9)


    The moment Jiang Li nodded, he saw the rest of his friends giving him a perplexed gaze that immediately turned into a meaningful grin. A secondter, the big brother Cheng Du took over his spot there and shoved him away from Su Xuefeng. The man supported the beaten up guy and led the rest to the clinic.


    "Mr. He. As thanks for saving me yesterday, please allow me to treat you to a meal."


    The girl''s pale face showed how sincere she was in her request. However, it had to be said that if not for seeing the male leading over, most likely to continue asking questions to Na Yu, Jiang Li would have not agreed.


    "The decors and ambiance are nice." He drylymented when they took a seat and saw that the woman was looking at him, waiting for his opinion of the ce. Some time already passed since Na Yu led him to a ssy Western restaurant located near the biggest mall in Aurora City.


    "It''s owned by my grandparents."


    Na Yu was a pretty girl with glossy long ck hair, carefully drawn eyebrows, nude makeup, and cherry pink lips. She intently looked at him, waiting to see his reaction.


    The girl was initially a bit smug. The man sitting across her, despite his unusual show offort in a high-end ce like this, doesn''t seem to be from a wealthy family due to his non-branded clothing. She was expecting him to show a surprised face before fawning over her. However, her mood plummeted down when he heard his very simple reply.


    "Oh. Okay."


    That''s it.


    ''... This guy is quite popr not only due to his good looks and vocals but for being a die-hard suitor of that Tang Lan. But if he is always like this, it makes sense that she rejected him.''


    It didn''t take long for Na Yu to scold herself.


    In reality, she knew the man was a famous romantic that all girls felt pity for and wanted to have for themselves. She was clear in her heart that he must be in his ''bitterness'' stage due to the heartbreak. Although she was mostly outside of the university for her internship, the campus news never failed to reach her since one of her ''real'' hobbies was to browse the local forums.


    After ordering for both of them, she pursed her lips and said, "Thank you very much for what you did yesterday."


    Jiang Li''s finger was regrly tapping on his cheap wristwatch out of boredom. When he heard her voice, he raised his head along with one of his brows.


    "I only did what I should," he curtly responded.


    She shook her head, "Don''t be modest. If not for you, I would be a corpse by now. To be honest, I still can''t believe that I tried to jump off the rooftop of a seven-story building."


    The guy almostughed out loud.


    Feng Ru, the viiness, was an oddball among ghosts, but she wouldn''t possess someone who had not yet resolved herself to die. Does it mean this Na Yu simply sobered up and realized that her future was too precious to throw away? If so, good then. Even an extra deserved a chance for a meaningful life.


    Jiang Li remembered something from both the current set of memories and his own. With a serious tone, but without meeting her eyes, "You are indebted to me, in a sense, right?"


    The girl nodded, but she obviously hesitated at first, feeling like something bad would happen if she did. Only her moral upbringing and shame barred her from denying his im.


    The guy then shrugged, "Nice that you know. Actually, in your heart, you are clear that you are never threatened to go there, right? If so, there must be a reason. How about you quit your intern job tomorrow and be our exclusive manager? I assure you that will be a better environment than your current work ce and will distract you from your depression in a positive way."


    "..."


    Na Yu felt like pping herself to confirm she was not in a nightmare, faced with a multi-faceted demon.


    A few momentster, she asked herself, ''Did I hear him correctly? Better environment... Depression... Eh? What kind of topic-changing is this? Wait? How did he know?''


    The pretty girl almost jumped from her seat and fled due to fright.


    System: Ah... ckmail mode.


    Half an hourter, when Jiang Li went back to the dormitory, a dark smile never left his lips. He would never admit it was because he had a goodugh at Na Yu''s dumbfounded and nched face throughout the whole dinner.


    Not long after, he finished brushing his teeth and said hello to Feng Ru who suddenly appeared standing behind him in the reflection. Since he could guess that the viiness was either angry at what he said yesterday or warning him to not do anything untoward to Na Yu, he ignored her scary expression and waved her goodbye before going to sleep.


    In his mind though, he thought, ''No matter if she''s angry or sending warnings, what a joke! She''s the one who almost pushed that poor girl tomit suicide! Tch! Really unreasonable!''


    When the viiness did her tricks to the lights and the temperature, he simply thanked her and closed his eyes, not caring if she became more furious and left to vent her misgivings on the innocent students of his dorm.


    ...


    ...


    FallenBlue here! If you''re not reading at , please go here and read for free! /book/12925525506052005/Quick-Transmigration%3A-Saving-The-Crazy-Viiness


    FYI, this is the original site to read this story.


    Thanks in advance.

 Chapter 51: Feng Ru (10)

    Chapter 51: Feng Ru (10)


    Maybe because he was no longer in a mere trial world, the rate in which he assimted with He Chen''s memories became a lot faster. He did not only dream of ''his'' life experiences, but he also saw the viiness'' life story which he had already watched briefly before.


    Perhaps due to Feng Ru''s appearance earlier, his memories of her had been triggered again and were now ying in his mind. The rity and vividness made him frown in his sleep.


    Feng Ru and He Chen did not have many intersections.


    Feng Ru died a year before He Chen and the rest entered the same university. However, the university administration hid the news of her tragic demise from the new students, resulting in no one from the current female lead''s batch knowing anything about her.


    Coincidence or not, she was from the same town where Tang Lan came from. Unlike the female lead''splicated and toxic family circumstances, Feng Ru was neither from a broken family nor a family where one of the parents had cheated on the other and eloped with the adultery partner.


    Feng Ru had a loving family, only her mom died before she entered junior high. However, despite this, after the half-a-year-long heartbreak and mncholy and through his father and friends'' efforts, she reverted back to being a normal and cute long-haired fairplexioned littledy. Her world brightened again, and as the simple-minded and optimistic person that she was, she endeavored to share life''s beauty to everyone as much as she could.


    Feng Ru was an excellent girl - smart, charming, pretty, friendly. She was the type who would definitely grow into someone capable of melting frozen hearts and toppling tall walls of everyone around her. Even those powerful and handsome CEO with the so-called ''dead inside disease'' would not be immune to her unending charm and uplifting aura.


    In other words, Feng Ru waspletely a female lead material, the sunflower and angel type whose smile could light up the world of even those living a monochromatic life.


    ''She could have been a blessing to many people... If only she didn''t die.''


    The next part of her tale was quite the shocker, in a speechless way.


    The viiness had a close female friend, someone suffering from severe depression. This other girl was from a broken family and was with her mother who used to be living behind the bars; case, aplice on a murder directed to her husband.


    Society was quite a weird one. Just like how a CEO parent''s glory was passed down to the offspring, a criminal parent''s crimes too, in people''s eyes, were certainly inherited by the son or daughter.


    Due to this odd mentality of the people around her, the depressed girl lived a tough life. Since she was a girl and her mother was from the same subspecies of humanity, she was viewed as someone with a high tendency tomit evil deeds. Like mother, like daughter, they said.


    Bullying, discrimination, and istion came after as some of the consequences. What people could do to someone they hated or feel superior to could sometimes not be described with words.


    Many other reasons pushed that depressed woman past her breaking point. It came to the point that not even Feng Ru''s angelic warmth and consoling words could do magic to her. Hence, one rainy night, when the world was cold and the streets deserted, the unthinkable that no one apart from the suffering girl had ever considered regrettably happened.


    When tomorrow came, two people were found dead, lying on their semi-dried pool of blood. Feng Ru was one of them.


    Footage from the rooftop was recovered and thus it was revealed that it was only the depressed girl who wanted to end her pain through death.


    Feng Ru just wanted to save her. But when the heartrending exchanged of words reached its crescendo, it, unfortunately, got to the point where the suicidal friend didn''t want nor appreciate the viiness'' helping hand anymore. Feng Ru stumbled forward and got dragged off the dorm''s rooftop when the other girl jumped down.


    As a friend who simply wished to lend a helping hand, her ending had been quite miserable to look at. When those acquainted with her learned of this, they med the suicidal ssmate again, like they always do.


    ''Ugh! It''s her fault!''


    ''Why did she have to drag Feng Ru in this? If she wants to die, she should have just done it alone!''


    ''Yeah! So freakin'' distasteful! This is why I don''t like her! See, she''s really like her murderer mother!''


    ''She killed Feng Ru! That angelic Feng Ru!''


    Feng Ru''s kind-hearted soul cried.


    These words meant well for the viiness, but because of these that Feng Ru realized, it was the environment around them that resulted in her friend''s death.


    If only the world was not so judgmental and harsh to those already enduring pain, things would not have ended up this way.


    The power of one could not win against the many too. If only she was not the only one advising and trying to help...


    After all this kind of thoughts rushed into the despairing viiness, her mind became twisted. Since she could no longer me the dead, she channeled her anger to the ones around them.


    In her mind, it was etched that each who killed themselves did not do so because they wanted to, but because the pain brought to them by the society could no longer be contained.


    It was probably because of this that Feng Ru turned into what she was today, a ghostly viiness. She understood the pain of someone under extreme stress and depression hence she wanted to help them tide over it, not caring if her methods were inhumane and out of the physical world''s logic.


    Anyway, the world was very cruel. As the sole sobered inhabitant of it, why should she refrain from punishing the evil humans who pushed every hurt and innocent soul tomit suicide?


    With this belief in mind, the viiness spent the next five years in this world being a busybody consoling suicidal fellows in the university, offering them release and avenging their wounded hearts and souls.


    ...


    ...


    FallenBlue here! If you''re not reading at , please go here and read for free! /book/12925525506052005/Quick-Transmigration%3A-Saving-The-Crazy-Viiness


    FYI, this is the original site to read this story.


    Thanks in advance.

 Chapter 52: Feng Ru (11)

    Chapter 52: Feng Ru (11)


    "Brother He, the two videos we uploaded are going viral!"


    The guy who somehow still felt very sleepy was greeted by a burst of boisterousughter and loud voice when he arrived at the music department''s cafeteria. This was the band members first stop this morning. Apparently, none of them had eaten breakfast yet.


    "Little Nian, it''s only 7 am in the morning. Don''t shout." Cheng Du chastised as he sent a whack on the baby-faced guy''s head.


    With only his eyes half-opened, Jiang Li massaged his forehead. He sat next to the quiet bespectacled guy who was actually not gaming today but checking YouTube.


    "Hmm?" Through his slightly blurry vision, Jiang Li saw that under the video ying on Xie Dn''s tablet, the phrase ''#3 on trending''. His seatmate was not interested in watching the video, only readingments. Intrigued, Jiang Li also joined him in reading.


    ''Ouch! I loved the voice! And the members are all eye candies!''


    ''Yep, upstairs, all them are handsome, but my bias is that cute headphone-wearing guy! Kyaaah!''


    ''Everyone here is weird, aren''t we all here for the song? By the way, good job boys! The harmony is nice, though the pianist has to improve more. He''s good too, but the sound of his instrument is not standing out as much as the bass. And Mr. Vocalist, you sure hit the notes perfectly. I think your cover is the best cover of this song, so far.''


    ''Upstairs! In behalf of my future boyfriend, I''m humbly epting the praises. *insert rows of stupidly grinning green emojis*''


    ''I guess I''m the only one appreciating the intellectual-looking drummer *shrugs*...''


    ''I got here through a friend''s rmendation. Thumbs up! But the vocalist is the most handsome of all!''


    Jiang Li''s lips unknowingly curled up, not due to being praised, but because he didn''t expect the video uploaded for fun to garner this much attention. And this was without his magic.


    He had nned to only do his tricks to the fifth or sixth video so that people wouldn''t suddenly suspect why an unknown group rose to fame that easily on the inte. Now, it seemed he actually underestimated his own band and voice. He began looking at He Chen''s friends in a different light.


    ''My work will be a lot easier this time. More time to mess with the leads then,'' he inwardly said with augh.


    "Brothers, am I wrong to think that it''s safe for me to drop out of university if all our future videos will be this weed?"


    Su Xuefeng no longer looked in pain. In fact, he acted as if nothing had happened yesterday.


    The first thing this rebellious-looking guy did after learning the sess of their first two videos was to ask if he could now stop attending sses once and for all. Those who heard him couldn''t tell for sure if he was merely being stupid or trying to live up to his looks and reputation.


    The stares he received from everyone was full of mockery and reproach. It was only then that the dark blonde remembered that graduation was only three months away.


    "Okay, fine. Pretend that I didn''t say a thing." He subconsciously touched his nose in embarrassment.


    Ignoring Rascal Su, Xie Dn turned to Jiang Li and brought the screen closer to him. "Hey, He Chen, see this? With this many subscriptions, we can already enable mization for our channel!"


    "I thought we need around 1,000 subscribes to be eligible for that? There''s also that required watch hours which I totally don''t understand. But hey, our channel has only been up for less than two days!"


    Nian Xiwen was the techy person among them. That would be without factoring Jiang Li in since these guys didn''t know that their great vocalist suddenly turned into someone with great hacking skills.


    Nian Xiwen answered the oldest, "Big bro, it''s okay. The required watch hour is the number of viewers times the number of minutes our videos have. The two we put up already have more than five hundred thousand each. If this continued, maybe before this week ends we can fulfill the requirements."


    "I don''t really get it, but if you say so, then fine." Su Xuefeng shrugged.


    "I''m not talking to you!"


    Jiang Li''s left hand continued massaging his forehead while the other hand reached out to his pocket. After fishing out the outdated touchscreen phone there, he unlocked it and checked the inbox.


    "Guys, after the first period morning ss, drop by the music room. Since we''ve all agreed to go professional, I''ll introduce someone to work with us."


    Four pair of eyes went to him. Little Nian inquired, "Is it a sponsor? A studio? Or a recordbel?"


    "We''re too green for that. Stop dreaming," Cheng Du sneered.


    The nearest, Xie Dn, opened his mouth, "Speaking of introducing someone, why do I have this feeling that it has something to do with the cute girl from yesterday? You haven''t exined to us yet why she called you out. Is it a date? If so... Damn! You moved on faster than a typhoon!"


    Reminded of something unpleasant, the rebel guy irritatedly asked, "Is it the girl that almostmitted suicide? The one hit on by that bastard?"


    "Rascal Su, the girl is threatened by a criminal. The policeman is probably fishing out information from her, not really hitting on her. But yeah, since that policeman seems close to that Tang Lan, then he''s definitely a bastard."


    Xie Dn had a good head above his shoulder. He was a bit muddle-headed yesterday out of anger, but after analyzing the situation and recalling thetest threads in the forum, he managed to realize the truth right away.


    Of course, as a solid brother of both Su Xuefeng and He Chen, he didn''t hesitate once to call Gu Feng a bastard. After all, no matter if they were right or wrong, as long as a bosom friend got the short end of a stick, he would take it as if his friend was being bullied.


    Instead of exining anything to them, Jiang Li said to the baby-faced bassist, "Little Nian,ter, share our channel''s password to her, she will be our manager from now on."


    "Brother He?" The one called frowned, puzzled. "I just browsed the forum. While I don''t care about the suicide issue, I''m concerned about why she will be our manager. Isn''t she an ountancy student. What does she know about managing a YouTube channel or a band, especially a newly founded one?"


    ''Tch. How to exin this?'' Jiang Li almostughed as he cooked up some nonsense in his mind.


    "Oh! Remember when I ran into the building that day? Actually, that''s how I got acquainted with both the policeman and her. Since I saved her, she asked how she could be of help to us. It''s her who volunteered to be our manager. She''s very thankful and is really persistent. It''s hard for me to refuse her. Later guys, you all help me probe what she can do to make our path to fame smoother."


    He spouted these lies with a warm andfortable smile on his face. Those listening could not help but believe him.


    To be honest, Jiang Li only recruited that girl Na Yu out of sudden impulse. Also, to make the viiness promise ''cooperation'' with him, he told her he would try to aid the suicidal girl recover from her depression and avenger her.


    The method he came up with was very half-hearted, but so what?


    Anyway, it was a fact that tobat depression, apart from bringing the person away from the source of sadness and stress, giving her something to busy herself with would help divert her attention from the emotional pain.


    ''Maybe because I got thrown into a campus scenario, I had be a righteous person like what the baby-faced said?'' he jokingly thought.


    Jiang Li was initially convincing himself that it was definitely not because someone with a secret to keep like her was easier to control. However, after a second, he simply gave up.


    ...


    ...


    FallenBlue here! If you''re not reading at , please go here and read for /book/12925525506052005/Quick-Transmigration%3A-Saving-The-Crazy-Viiness


    FYI, this is the original site to read this story.


    Thanks in advance.

 Chapter 53: Feng Ru (12)

    Chapter 53: Feng Ru (12)


    ''Don''t ever contact me. We''re done.''


    Na Yu gathered all her strength and courage just to send that single line of text to that ex of her. After doing this, she deleted all his contacts, pictures, and blocked him on her social media ounts.


    As a brokenhearted girl, it was not actually that easy for her to do this. All this while, since the wounds and emotions were still fresh, there was a part of her wishing for that man to go back to her and beg for her to give him another chance. But she knew it was sheer stupidity to hope for this. She was in love with him. But she had to move on, and treasure her newly gained life.


    ''If only that''s easier said than done...''


    As she repeatedly tapped the ''block this person'' option on her screen, she reminisced what that meddlesome but handsome guy ''ckmailed'' her to do as their new manager.


    "Alright. I''m d you know what you should answer to my proposal. Since you''re going to be our colleague. Your first tasks are..."


    What followed was a long list of stuff that she would not have been able to remember were it not for her good memory. Even so, the sourness that crossed her face was very intense due to the number of works to be done. It all seemed more like the homework and projects that cruel and bitchy professor would give her ss in her fits of unreasonableness.


    Types of rock bands. Popr bands and singers today and their styles. Band members info, especially habits and strengths. Managerial lessons. Promotion works. How ads work... Etc.


    So many... and time-consuming!


    ''Ugh... Why am I so afraid for people to know that I actually voluntarily went up there to end my life? If not for that, I won''t be this troubled!''


    She took a deep breath. Her brows were furrowed as her eyes scanned the information she needed to learn on how to be a good manager and agent. Her lips curled into a half-mocking, half-admiring smile. For some reason, that person whom she just met was so confident that this uing band of theirs would be a rising star. Just why? She wondered.


    When she remembered him saying "So here''s the case. Since we''re all going professional, thest task I will be requiring you is to delete everything that will interfere with your work. I think those that will remind you of why you tried to jump off a seven-story building must be removed from your life. You don''t need me to enumerate all of those, do you?"


    His gaze that told her there would be dire consequences for notplying made her quite dumbfounded. As if there was magic at work, that time she just found herself nodding repeatedly, the rosiness of her cheeks and the luster of her eyes nowhere on sight.


    ''I was probably out of mind. One of the effects of the shock and the tiredness I''m feeling since that day...''


    "Na Yu! Waaaaah! My dear Na Yu! Is this for real?!!!" Without greeting her, a short-haired female friend of her rushed to her seat at the library and shoved a phone to her eyes. The stares they received made her a bit on the edge.


    These past few days, great difort would consume her whenever there were many people looking at her. The tinge of pity in their eyes was piercing her skin.


    With an awkward smile, the girl read the text disyed on the screen. She forced augh, "What''s wrong with this post? Is there any typo error?"


    "Na Yu!"


    "Quiet! This is a sacred ce for learning!" It was the stern-looking bespectacleddy librarian who shouted at her friend.


    "Tone down your voice so we don''t interrupt others, Nangong Xue." She kindly advised while gesturing the seat opposite hers.


    The cute short-haired girl pulled the chair and sat down there. Of course, not without rolling her eyes and grumbling aint against the librarian.


    "Alright. I''m now calm. So what I would like to know from our department''s beauty is whether those hunkies from the Music and Performing Arts Dept are really nning to have you as their manager. Is this for real? As in, you''ll be with them most of the time, hanging out with them and being surrounded by their wonderful handsomeness?"


    Thank the heavens, she was not drinking anything...


    "They are popr on the campus... Huh." Na Yu muttered to herself, not intimidated by the wolfish glow from the other''s girl''s ck orbs.


    "Of course, they are. Though in actuality, most from that course, especially the performing arts students are good-looking. The boys and girls there are dream girls and boys of the other departments, do you know that?" The girl paused for a couple of seconds tough. "However, it''s different for this group, even if they don''t want to, because of that He Chen, they won''t have a choice but be campus celebrities! Hahaha!"


    Na Yu felt helpless seeing the sharp re from the librarian.


    "Let''s get out of here. Since you''re more like the announcer of a sports event or a radio DJ, it would be hard not to pull aggro on Miss Cheng." The name mentioned referred to the only eyesses-wearing middle-ageddy in the ce.


    While walking down the stairs leading to the ground floor of the ountancy Course Building, the pretty long-haired girl said, "By the way, before I forgot, I don''t know if you mean that in a good way or not."


    Nangong Xue giggled, "Of course in a good way!" Only this woman knows what good way she was referring to. "Anyway, what''s important is that I''m your best friend and you''re going to be close to them. Do you have anything nned with them? Our next ss is still two hours away. I can go with you and be their moral support!"


    While everyone else was in the dark about the extent of her emotional struggles, only Nangong Xue remained by her side and continued caring, acting like nothing was wrong and that she was still normal, not severely depressed.


    For Na Yu, that was quite a lot of a help. This was the reason why she didn''t have the heart to reject this indirect request. However, the problem was nothing was nned today. Heck, apart from He Chen, she didn''t know anyone from that boy group!


    Just when she was thinking of how to reply to the question, Na Yu''s phone rang. Habitually, she reached out to the front pocket of her sling bag and picked up her phone there. It didn''t take long for her face to freeze and then a sigh to escape from her lips. "Xue, I think we can drop by their music room today."


    "Really!?" The sparkles in the woman''s eyes were so blinding.


    "Yeah. Sorry, I won''t be talking while on the way there. I''ll be binge-reading wikis and manuals."


    There was helplessness mixed in her tone. To be honest, she didn''t really want to do anything, or more like, she didn''t have the drive. Jiang Li''s proposal was merely adding to her stress.


    She frustratedly told herself, ''That guy''s degree of brokenheartedness is surely not as severe as mine. Otherwise, how wouldn''t he understand what I''m going through right now? Or is this He Chen''s way of coping up with his own heartaches? Bringing someone suffering greater pain than him next to him so he can immediately get better?''


    ''So insidious!''


    Her phone in hand, she began looking through her phone with a tired face on.


    ...


    ...


    FallenBlue here! If you''re not reading at , please go here and read for /book/12925525506052005/Quick-Transmigration%3A-Saving-The-Crazy-Viiness


    FYI, this is the original site to read this story.


    Thanks in advance.


    ...


    ANNOUNCEMENT:


    Thanks for reading this chap! I hope everyone''s having a nice day ahead.


    Btw, I couldn''t update for days since I''ve been down with flu and while my other novel has a stockpile, there''s none for QT. I didn''t expect to suddenly fall ill. Haha. Sorry. *peace*


    Gift function is open, I just saw it an hour ago when I woke up. But no worries, QT won''t be going premium anytime soon, er, not in a month or two. Haha. :D


    From the bottom of my heart, thank you so much for all the support given to Saving The Crazy Viiness. FallenBlue loves you all. <3

 Chapter 54: Feng Ru (13)

    Chapter 54: Feng Ru (13)


    If there were things that students, no, everybody loved to have but couldn''t, and thus hated others having it, just what could the choices be? Tons of money? Branded items? Beauty? Authority? Just what makes a select few superior to other people?


    Faced with the infamous beauty of the ountancy Department, the band members suddenly found themselves in a situation where they wanted to cry and ask the heavens for justice.


    They realized the answers could actually vary from person to person. But it would definitely be something they eithercked and badly wanted, or found cool and marvelous. For example, a brain as abnormal as that fellow surnamed Wolfgang.


    Cheng Du and the others gave Jiang Li aplicated gazed. No, Xie Dn was actually ring at him and giving him hate-filled nces through his eyes that now looked menacing due to the cold glimmer of his lenses.


    All of Jiang Li''s bandmates had something inmon though. They wanted to ask how the guy knew Na Yu and if he was long aware of her great IQ.


    It had been a few minutes since Jiang Li introduced the girl to them. As for the short-haired female student who came with her, since he didn''t know her, it was Na Yu who did the introduction while apologizing for suddenly bringing a friend with her. In actuality, the band members did not really make a fuss out of a minor matter.


    Beauties have mysterious power to lessen the supposed amount of hate next to nothing if they were the one doing it.


    For example, if somebody collided with another, if it was someone with average looks, he or she would receive words of me or be scolded for having eyes but not using them. But if the person was a beauty, the other party would subconsciously feel more drawn to her appearance and would then forget the anger in his or her heart.


    This was also the case this time. Since the manager-to-be had such radiant beauty, the band members were more than willing to let a small transgression passed.


    After that short episode, since Jiang Li told them to, the boys tried to test Na Yu regarding her knowledge of them and the industry they were about to enter. As a result, apart from the persistent drummer who probably felt like he was being challenged, everyone else just admitted defeat and took a step back. Time passed and they watched Xie Dn carry the rest of the battle with a weird expression on their faces.Everyone apart from Jiang Li felt numb.


    "Brother Four Eyes made her recite a whole Wikipedia page and she didn''t even bat an eye when she did it..." The blonde boy wasughing like a child who found something so curious and amazing. He sounded carefree, yet there was a bead of sweat running down his left temple.


    Nian Xiwen sported an ufortable expression on his baby face. He grumbled to himself in a barely audible voice.


    "Damn, she''s pretty and has an eidetic memory. With such high spec and enviable appearance and brain, it''s no wonder those saying shemitted suicide out of depression are popping up left and right. People, of course, would want to throw rocks at things that shine. It''s hard not to be malicious and envious of her."


    Hisint made the culprit who brought her here chuckled. In reality, not even Jiang Li expected her to have a photographic memory. But it made sense that he didn''t know. The girl died shortly after she made an appearance, her name only mentioned in hushed whispers as one of the college students who took their own lives.


    After answering another question, Na Yu discreetly threw him a resentful re. Although it greatly amused Jiang Li, he knew it was now time to end the ''battle''. Hence, he cleared his throat and then said, "Brother Xie, I think it''s enough, though she really has no concrete experience now, given her superb grasp of knowledge revolving the entertainment world, in no time, she''d be a great asset to us."


    Despite his unwillingness, the eyesses-wearing guy had no choice but admit that questioning her more about theoretical stuff would be meaningless. "Fine, since you said so."


    The girl pursed her lips and gave Jiang Li another evil re. Nangong Xue, the tag-along girl, giggled silently by the side.


    Annoyed by that giggle, Na Yumented, "I''ve now done my part. How about you guys gift me a performance since I''ll be a new addition to this group?I also have to make an actual observation of the whole band."


    Cheng Du nodded, "No problem. We''re about to record another cover anyways."


    As the oldest member went to get his own guitar, he also signaled the four others to prepare.


    Na Yu made a mental note in her memories to search for everything rted to bandpositions. So far, she observed that including the vocalist, there were two guitarists, one bassist, one pianist, and one drummer in the group. Was this too little? Or just enough? What''s the ideal bandposition?


    Thankfully, the drummer did not ask her much about this since she didn''t research much about it. Actually, she saw once that Xie Dn did n to test her about it but Jiang Li seemed to have thrown him an eye signal.


    Knowing this, she couldn''t help but take another look at the man, her gaze not really that friendly. She wouldn''t be in that situation were it not for him. She badly wanted to ask him, ''You texted me it will just be a quick question and answer session. What''s so quick with a thirty minutes long QA, huh? For a moment, I thought I was in an intertional quiz contest!''


    After setting up the camera and recording a few greetings, the music finally started. The two girls watched while nodding their heads from time to time. Even the bbermouth Nangong Xue did not talk much while the recording was ongoing except that time when she told Na Yu the title of the song.


    "It''s Photograph by Nickelback."


    Na Yu nodded, and then when the performance ended, she tapped on her phone to search for the original song.


    "How was it?" It was the gangster-like boy. There was a smug grin on his face. Or actually, it was his normal smile which just appeared smug due to his arrogant face and wild hair.


    The short-haired girl ced her right forefinger on her lips. The headphone-wearing guy tilted his head and made a ''huh?'' sound. Nangong Xue left Na Yu who was concentrating on the original song and approached the two men with a ttering smile on her face.


    "Please be patient with her, she''s listening to the original artist to make aparison."


    "I see." Nangong Xiwen nodded his head.


    The band members waited patiently for three minutes before they heard the woman raised her head wearing aplicated while saying,


    "You guys are actually cheaters..." She uttered it in a way that could make people nervous around her.


    "Uh... What?" Not hiding his surprise, Rascal Su blurted out.


    ...


    ...


    FallenBlue here! If you''re not reading at , please go here and read for /book/12925525506052005/Quick-Transmigration%3A-Saving-The-Crazy-Viiness


    FYI, this is the original site to read this story.


    Thanks in advance.

 Chapter 55: Feng Ru (14)

    Chapter 55: Feng Ru (14)


    Silence reigned for quite a while as most of the people inside the music room pinned their eyes on Na Yu. They were waiting for her to exin herself. The rebel guy was frowning while the rest seemed to be formting guesses in their heads.


    As if feeling the pressure from Jiang Li''s gaze, the girl took off her earphones and faced everybody. She flinched for a second due to their expectant eyes, only regaining her senses a few beatster when she realized they were not giving her pitying nces.


    She cleared her throat and said, "My ears are not the ears of professional but that of somebody from themon masses. So please excuse me for that."


    Since Cheng Du, the authoritative big brother, nodded, she continued.


    "So here''s the case. Even I, somebody with normal ears, can tell it''s a foul y, cough, quit a move to cover this song due to the original. Ifpared to our vocalist, the difference between their vocals is so distinct..."


    "Is it good or bad?" asked Jiang Li.


    "Who knows. The original''s fandom maye to roast you for covering a song sung by someone with a very thunderous and husky voice. On the other hand, those who liked smooth and clearer voice would like this. I have observed that a few notes became distinct in your version. Must be due to the few tweakings on the supposed melody of some lines," she said.


    "For the original singer''s voice, the correct term is not husky, but scratchy, throaty, or raspy." Jiang Li rified.


    ''Sir, let''s talk about numbers and calctions, shall we?'' This was the kind of stare the man received from the girl after saying that. Na Yu just felt a bit offended because the tone of voice used by the most good-looking among the boys was basically telling her she doesn''t know much.


    She irritatedly muttered to herself, ''This is your forte, music boys. How about me? Let''s not mention ountancy courses and just focus on pure Math. How about we have a Differential Equations or Number Theory sessions now? I promise I will show you all mercy!''


    The girl''s fits of irritability faded away after swearing to herself to browse all materials tonight.


    "Alright. I''ll have a copy of this and take care of the promotion for this cover. By the way, don''t tell me you people only n to get exposure through this?"


    Jiang Li left the troublesome matters to Cheng Du and the others. Those people started to argue what directions they should take. Even Na Yu''s friend joined in the discussion, probably feeling like she''s also their manager since her friend was.


    He brought his seat to a corner and then took out his phone. The device vibrated just a second ago. Text messages wouldn''t render it like that. It must be a missed call from somebody.


    ''Drop by here. Your stuff is ready...'' The guy''s eyebrow rose after reading the message sent by an unknown number.


    When he checked the time, it was after the missed call. The numbers were the same too. He wondered if this was something urgent and tried to remember anything rted to it. However, to his puzzlement, nothing''s popping up.


    It did not take long for another text toe in. When he tapped on it, his face turned solemn. Since the other was persistent, it could be that he was really rted to the person. He closed his eyes for a moment andbed through his memories. His free hand automatically went to his forehead to massage it when it started to ache. It seemed his brain was revolting for being forced.


    A few secondster, he gave up and reread the message.


    ''I heard you have now stopped doing part-time jobs. Good. Don''t forget to drop by. Grandpa said the box of herbs is taking too much space here.''


    When he didn''t understand a thing, he closed the messaging app and pocketed the phone. Later, he nned to go to the inte cafe to investigate what this meant. It was really hateful not having aplete grasp of everything. Since his set of memories was not helping out, he would do things his way.


    ...


    Three months was quite a short period of time. However, it was set to be the busiest time for all of them.


    Jiang Li checked the timetable send to him by Na Yu an hour after the meeting and saw that through some unknown means, the girl managed to get them several performances slot in some known music bars. They were also a few simple gigs and a performance number on each university department''s night out.


    The song recorded earlier was also already uploaded, posted first in the university''s pages. It seemed Jiang Li didn''t have to do any magic for it to be on top since the girl''s fans already pushed it on the first ce. It was quite terrific. If he was not mistaken, his friends had some admirers too but they haven''t made a move yet. Nheless, it was already like this.


    The guyughed to himself as he walked into the university gate. He had already confirmed who the sender was and made an appointment to get what He Chen ordered from them. It was nothing serious. But well, being careful of details wouldn''t hurt.


    Anyway, when he went back for thest ss today, he received all sorts of notifications regarding the cover and the band. Among them, the one which stood out the most was still the timetable. On it, one of the most notable was how rascal Su named their band ''Pesticide'' and eagerly shared the news to the whole world through his FB ount.


    The fake blonde smugly posted, ''Our band''s name is ''Pesticide''!!! Support us, okay!? Our motto is to purge pests and insects through our music!!! So once again support us, okay!!! Be a pest hater!!! I''m telling you, it will be fun!!!''


    Poor Na Yu. She would have toe up with something usible as an exnation to both the name and Su Xuefeng''s cryptic yet offensive post. However, Jiang Li didn''t think much of it since it''s her job. Ooops, it should not be forgotten that it was more of a distraction to her heartaches.


    The other notification that piqued his interest was the one posted in the new group chat. Without him knowing, Na Yu already registered them for a contest. Now, their schedules were so full that he could already see the rebellious pianist ditching his sses for the next few days.


    "This girl and I have the same ns, huh? But she''s so efficient. And I like it." The young man reacted to Na Yu''sment with a thumbs up.


    As he walked to his next ssroom, his eyes identally went to the girl''s profile pic and for a minute, he remembered the sole woman he truly appreciated from the previous world. A couple of momentster, a corner of his lips went up.


    The thought was just random, a spur of the moment. But he subconsciously murmured, ''The suicidal girl looks like her. But unlike her, that Zhu Li is capable. If she''s still having thoughts about that guy, how lucky of her then. He''s no longer engaged to anybody. Surprisingly I did one more good thing before leaving that world...''


    ...


    ...


    FallenBlue here! If you''re not reading at , please go here and read for /book/12925525506052005/Quick-Transmigration%3A-Saving-The-Crazy-Viiness


    FYI, this is the original site to read this story.


    Thanks in advance.

 Chapter 56: Feng Ru (15)

    Chapter 56: Feng Ru (15)


    ''Shocking news!!! The famous mystery-thriller writer Tang Lan won a national-level writing award! Here is an exclusive interview with the prided beauty of Aurora University, the famed author Tang Lan said her sesses are...''


    Jiang Li sneered after seeing the next top story under the university band''s ''controversial'' name. It actually only came third since the first story was still their cover of Nickelback''s Photograph. Na Yu alone was popr enough to let it stay there for a few days, not counting the fact that He Chen and the rest were just as ''infamous''. Outside the campus, they were also gaining fans every passing minute. This by itself was also good enough to top the list in the forum.


    In any case, the annoying thing about this other post was the female lead''s wide grin as she held a gold trophy giving off a blinding luster. The background looked to be from the venue of the awarding ceremony. In Jiang Li''s eyes, Tang Lan''s sweet and triumphant smile was an eyesore.


    Remembering how b*tchy she was when they were trying to take Rascal Su away from there, he became so annoyed. He was so annoyed that after doing some ''magic'' to his phone to make sure its IP address and anything linkable to him wouldn''t be traced, he hacked the website and had the post sunk to the bottom of the list.


    He snorted, ''Hmmph. Even if youmission a water army to boost its like andment count, I''ll make sure this post remains at the bottom!''


    After this, he checked the forum again and only once he confirmed that her face and name no longer appeared even after scrolling down fifty times did he let a satisfied expression show on his handsome face.


    What he did was quite petty. But who cares? It made him happy. He was someone whose only happiness was to screw the leads up. Anyways, nobody knew it was him who did it. No one would believe a perfect A music student knows how to hack, especially if he''s known more for holding a guitar and serenading a stubborn beauty for a year like a fool.


    "Music students, remember, you''ll all be graduating soon. As yourst project, just create a song, perform it, record that performance, and submit it to us. If you want a smooth pass, you can also try submitting your work to this radio show. Those who squeeze into the top 10 automatically pass. Who knows. Maybe, you''ll actually get into the list this month. It means you can just rx for two months and wait for graduation!"


    Hearing the half-bald professor''s words, many studentsughed but cursed under their breaths.


    "As if it''s easy to be chosen there! Even veteran songwriters cry tears of joy if their works are chosen! It''s simply impossible!" The guy who dyed his hair dark blonde vocally protested.


    The program referred to was a songwriting contest held by the biggest radio station in the country. Winners of this contest would have a chance to work with established artists in the industry since the program was also a partner of a big recordbel. In short, just like the young man said, if it could even make veterans cry, then it means it would be very difficult for newbies to be selected there.


    "Su Xuefeng, don''t be so pessimistic. You''re now about to graduate, haha, hopefully, and enter the real world. Personal experience, you guys will surely find that the university has sheltered you so much and that more than expected, the outside world is scarier and harsher towards new blood like you guys. Toughen your heart now, always be positive and optimistic, but always expect the worst too, and prepare for it! Only if you do your best will you have no regrets in life!"


    ''Makes sense.'' While rascal Su was angrily charging at the bald man for that ''hopefully'' in his statement, Jiang Li wasughing.


    ''But at the same time, thetter part is just a pipe dream. As if the worst will always give a warning when striking someone down... Stupid.''


    It was the unexpected that happened most of the time. No matter if it was for people who always make ns or those advocating ''Come what may,'' there was just no definite way to predict what would happen next.


    Jiang Li had just gone to the ce where the medicine He Chen requested was made. On his way to the dormitory where he stayed, he identally ran into five people, three girls and two men. It was in front of the ssy restaurant where Na Yu brought him yesterday. The four seemed to be together and among them, two were arguing with... or rather, ''bullying'', the girl standing opposite them.


    He narrowed his eyes. The night had descended upon the world. There was also quite a distance between him and them so he had to squint his eyes just to make sure he saw who they were correctly. He then stuffed the stic bag in his hand inside his backpack, forcing it to fit there as he zippered it close.


    "Manager, what''s the problem here?" He asked when he got near them.


    Apart from the two arguing with Na Yu, there were Tang Lan and Gu Feng standing behind them who also recognized him.


    "He Chen, what are you doing here?" Na Yu smoothed down the unpleasant creases on her forehead.


    "Is this road yours?" Even though he was annoyed by the suspicious stares Tang Lan was giving him, his expression remained stoic. "I saw you being bullied by someone. So I came over to check on you. Hello, Mr. Officer. Do you remember me?"


    Gu Feng nodded. By his side, Tang Lan seemed offended when she heard the word ''bullying'' from him hence she took the initiative to rify.


    "He Chen. Don''t jump into conclusion without knowing anything! I just won a contest so I want to celebrate. While some are distracting me with their unwanted gimmicks, there also people who greatly helped me and inspired me to write my book. I sincerely want to treat them to a meal. But thisdy is making things difficult for us because she said the restaurant is closed even though we can see that it''s still open!"


    ...


    ...


    FallenBlue here! If you''re not reading at , please go here and read for /book/12925525506052005/Quick-Transmigration%3A-Saving-The-Crazy-Viiness


    FYI, this is the original site to read this story.


    Thanks in advance.


    <em></em>

 Chapter 57: Feng Ru (16)

    Chapter 57: Feng Ru (16)


    Jiang Li swept his eyes to the restaurant. Since the walls were made out of ss, he could see that what Tang Lan said was true.


    People could still be seen eating at some tables. He checked the nearest empty table and then discerned what the problem was. He suddenly couldn''t helpughing albeit his action appeared rude to the other four.


    The young man who resembled Gu Feng frowned and barked at him, "Who the hell do you think you? Why are youughing? Do you think it''s funny that somebody is stopping people to eat?"


    "Oh? How are you sure Iughed because of you?" Jiang Li raised a brow. ''This is the male lead''s dorky brother who died inside their neighborhood''s water tank? What an attitude.''


    The short-haired girl with pink earrings snuggled into the young man''s arms and gave him a re. Then her eyes that contained envy and gloating went to Na Yu. The former was most likely due to the girl''s beauty and elegance, the gloating and disdain part... "Hey, Gu Cheng, honey. I just remembered, but isn''t she your ex-girlfriend?"


    "Yeah," the young man who seemed at the same age as Jiang Li and Na Yu confirmed.


    "OMG. Is this why you''re unreasonably picking a fight with us? Miss, if you have problem with us, don''t escte it this way! All of us have the right to savor a meal whenever and wherever we want!"


    There was a mocking smile on the girl''s glossy lips. Her exaggeratedly decorated pink-earrings lightly shook in the air when she hugged Gu Cheng''s arm again.


    "My family owns this restaurant. And I never stoop low to ''pick a fight'' with somebody I don''t know. Miss, while you and your boyfriend are shouting ''unreasonably'' at me, did I ever raise my voice at you? Did I? No, right?" answered the pretty ountancy student in an annoyed tone.


    The hurt expression on Na Yu''s face only surfaced there for a second. Still, Jiang Li saw it. It was quite amazing that she managed to regain control of her emotion fast. He quite admired her quick response to the other girl as well.


    "Your family owns this ce? Why didn''t I know?" eximed Gu Cheng. Na Yu didn''t bother answering him.


    In a bored tone, Jiang Li interjected, "I suggest you guys just look for another ce. It''s not that Miss Na is being unreasonable. If you just observed closely, you''ll see the empty tables have signage on them. The whole restaurant is probably reserved by somebody for an event. There''s no time to entertain more customers since they have to decorate it shortly."


    "Huh? Are you taking us for a fool?" The male lead''s younger brother looked so offended, his face crumpled as if someone owed him money.


    "He Chen. Of course, we saw it. But those who came in before us are still allowed entry. Why are we an exception?" Behind the two, Tang Lan came forward. Her voice was a lot more pleasant and calmer than Gu Cheng. However, when she said their side, her tone was not at all polite.


    Jiang Li frowned. He was about to have Na Yu do the exnation part when Gu Cheng''s new girlfriend softly tugged her boyfriend''s arm then hissed to the prettiest girl there.


    "Honey, I think this ex of yours is simply being so bitter! When her fake suicide did not get the intended result from you, she ns to pester us this way next! Hey, Na Yu! Why can''t you just ept that even if you are beautiful, if you are boring, no guy will like you! Why are you so desperate, huh? So spiteful! You shameless b*tch!"


    Na Yu felt like she was struck by lightning from having her suicide attempt exposed to the man she loved. She froze there, sporting a nched expression. She didn''t even manage to retort when the girl his ex had cheated her on called her names. The pain that attacked her was so much, she couldn''t even breathe. It was only through sheer effort that the tears welling up in her eyes didn''t stream down her face.


    Jiang Li had his heart grew cold as he felt a chilly breeze passed by him. It was already nighttime, yet the temperature seemed to have be several degrees lower.


    ''F*ck, she''s here!''


    "Damn, stupid woman!" With a forceful tug, he pulled the shocked girl to his chest, catching her off-guard and making her let out a loud yell. He ignored that, busying up with ways to mitigate the situation.


    Facing the male lead, he coldly remarked, "Officer, You heard what they said. I think there''s something wrong with yourpanions'' mouths. It''s not like you don''t know what really happened so can you please educate your brotherter about it? Please also teach him how to behave as a human being and not parade around with a cheap good who thinks that stealing someone else''s boyfriend through her body is something to be proud of?"


    While saying this, he was making sure to take covert steps away from the four. If ever the unthinkable happened, who cares about the hateful bunch? He and the band''s manager have to be safe.


    "C-cheap good?!" The short-haired girl''s eyes were so wide her fakeshes almost fell off. "How dare you call me that when it''s the first time we met!?" She parted with her boyfriend and if not for being held back by Tang Lan and Gu Cheng, she would have already jumped at Jiang Li brandishing her fiery red long nails.


    "Miss, in reality, I''m just guessing. But your reactions practically confirmed it."


    He thenughed at Tang Lan sardonically. Fresh in his memories was how she tried to demean him earlier by saying everything He Chen did FOR HER with all his heart was just unwanted pestering. Such an ungrateful woman. Why was she the female lead? Later, he''d have Feng Ru haunt her in her sleep. Let''s see if she could still posture before him tomorrow.


    "Please thank the woman next to you for thister. She''s my mystery-thriller writer ex who taught me to be very observant. Your looks and attitude are so bad. You''re like a shrew from the market, and your face is not even half as good as Na Yu even with your full makeup. How else would you win a man if not through that? True love? While he didn''t even break up legally with his ex? Tch. Tch."


    After recovering from the sudden hug, Na Yu''s gaze went from Jiang Li to Gu Cheng, and then to the sexily-dressed short-haired girl. The way she looked at thetter became different, stranger...


    This time, it was the ''shrew'' whose face lost color. A secondter, she stuttered out, "S-Shut up! Y-You''re speaking nonsense!"


    "Oh, sorry then. Should I swear now to the heavens and wait for lightning to strike me down for telling such a beautiful lie?" Jiang Li sarcastically replied, throwingthe red-faced Gu Cheng a scornful nce.


    "Just wanna say, but there are really so many fickle people in this world. For a momentary joy, they can betray and hurt those who really loved them. Such awesome stupidity. No wonder a great philosopher before said while it''s not sure if the universe is really infinite, humanity''s foolishness has long been proven endless."


    Gu Cheng''s anger was now reaching the boiling point. It was easy to see. He couldn''t help but wonder what the guy would do once he loses his reason.


    ''Boy, if she doesn''t go on a rampage, you better thank meter that just in exchange for a bit of honor and pride, you managed to keep your life.'' Jiang Li contemptuously thought.


    Before approaching the four, since he predicted a drama to happen, he had long checked the locations of the nearest CCTVs and pressed the audio recorder of his phone.''me yourselves for crossing paths with me when I haven''t even started tossing trouble your way!''


    After confirming that no matter what happened, he and Na Yu were now at a safe distance, he joyfullyughed in his mind.


    ''If Feng Ru still makes a move after this, then me yourselves too for bringing this idiot couple with you here. Haha.''


    <em>System: ... Ah, Mighty and Merciful Creator. Who can take my ce and be the one to drown in this madman''s loud and crazyughter? Damn, he''s starting again! *cries*</em>


    ...


    ...


    FallenBlue here! If you''re not reading at , please go here and read for /book/12925525506052005/Quick-Transmigration%3A-Saving-The-Crazy-Viiness


    FYI, this is the original site to read this story.


    Thanks in advance.

 Chapter 58: Feng Ru (17)

    Chapter 58: Feng Ru (17)


    Since the beginning of the argument between the two sides, one person had yet to speak a single line, seemingly treating words more precious than diamonds. He let hispanion do most of the talking and only nodded when Jiang Li approached them.


    This time though, the guy could no longer maintain his silence since he was seeing by himself how a small talk about a minor matter turned into a fierce debate invading and airing multiple people''s private lives. It simply couldn''t be allowed to continue anymore!


    "Gu Cheng, hold your temper. Let''s just leave," Gu Feng said in a stern and cold voice. He spoke to the writer standing by his side. "Miss Tang, I think since this ce is no good, we could just search for another restaurant. We don''t need to create public disturbance just to make a point."


    In reality, the police officer felt that a thank-you meal should not be this troublesome. He was feeling apologetic to Tang Lan since he had eyes and knew it was his brother that escted things this way. At the same time, he felt sorry for Na Yu for the insults she received from the couple.


    ''This happened when we are yet to apprehend the criminal who forced her to almost lose her life. It''s really embarrassing,'' thought the male lead internally.


    It was a bit annoying seeing the man''s expression being like that since it proved that Gu Feng was really an upright and honest fellow.


    Jiang Li was sometimes not right in the head. But he wouldn''t be so shameless as to strike down a good man. But this was precisely what made the things annoying for him.


    Because the other man was a real honest policeman, it would be quite against his conscience to do things that would push the other into being a resident of a mental hospital. And yes. This semi-crazy guy still had a conscience even though he appeared like he didn''t have one. He was not yet thick-faced enough to p the innocent in the face for fun.


    ''This male lead is boring. Thankfully, his brother is an idiot greater than me or anyone in this world...''


    Jiang Li never imed to be a genius and knew he was not actually very intelligent given the fact that he got scammed big time by his rtives behind his back. From the previous world, he learned how to hack. But learning stuff only intellectuals could do doesn''t mean he was gifted in the brain department. Maybe he just got the aptitude to learn that thing.


    But outside of that, apart from being semi-crazy, what other strengths does he have?


    He knew he could only bank on experience. He could earn points through his travels, but the system didn''t seem to mention anything about stats. It simply meant the system was a half-baked product based on game systems. It couldn''t give options to increase his intelligence or strength. All his weapons and stats would depend on the identity or body given to him every time he transmigrated.


    Anyway, the real topic was about how the male lead''s brother was most likely not brighter than him - which he was feeling extra thankful for. He almostughed when the man ignored his older brother and turned to scold Na Yu.


    "Hey. Who is this busybody? Did youmission him to do this and set this up to embarrass me in front of my girlfriend and brother? Na Yu, I never knew you would be this desperate! I think it''s really like what Ming Ruo said! But I''m telling you, we can no longer be together again!"


    ''Huh? I remember that I scolded him for being a cheater. How did he arrive at that conclusion? Shifting me to escape embarrassment?''


    Jiang Li was visualizing a red meter bar in his head corresponding to his guess of Feng Ru''s measurement of anger. His basis was actually on how cold the atmosphere around them had be. So far, the fine hairs on his exposed nape and lower arms were starting to stand up.


    Obviously, Feng Ru, the busybody ghost, hated what the cheater said. It wouldn''t be surprising if, for a depressed patient she didn''t know, she was already nning to stay at the male lead''s house and spook the brother out for seven days straight.


    "Mister Gu." He shook his head andughed. "She''s my band''s manager. I don''t have to be missioned'' to step up if I saw her in a situation like this. And I merely said what I observed. Why are you being angry?"


    A roar came to him as a reply. "Shut up! I''m not talking to you, bastard!"


    ''Boy, why don''t you just admit you don''t want me to talk out of fear I''ll emphasize again your funny reason for cheating?''


    The girl next to Jiang Li sported a very angry expression. However, she didn''t speak to the guy but instead looked around for a staff who could help them out. She felt like a very huge idiot for volunteering to help in the restaurant today and for telling the guard she could handle those four.


    Jiang Li barely managed to hear her whisper to herself. "Mr. Guard is not near. He must have been summoned by Mr. Manager, briefed about the uing event." It could only be the sole exnation why the guard usually at the door was not around.


    Since Jiang Li was no longer leading her to back off, she pulled up her phone from her pouch and called the manager.


    The guy standing to his left gave her a nod of approval. To be honest, he had been asking himself from the beginning why she was the one talking to these people. Where were the guards or the staffs? What does she want to prove to voluntarily confront this bunch?


    He concluded, ''Her great IQ must have dropped to the negatives after seeing her ex. Tch.''


    There was a famous saying that love can kill brains. He had experienced it firsthand before hence he knew he was actually not qualified to say anything about it.


    "Hey, what are you doing?" It was the same irritating ex.


    Tang Lan, the quick-witted woman among them, widened her eyes, realizing what Na Yu was up to. Her face then changed into that of a fierce one. "Miss, stop. We will just leave." She looked apologetically at Gu Feng. "Although it''s us who got the short end of the stick and for no good reason at all, fine, we''llpromise. Let''s just not return here ever."


    The female lead rolled her eyes at them. Then she gently grabbed the policeman''s arm and turned around while half-dragging him. Gu Feng didn''t forget to call his brother and his brother''s girlfriend.


    However, would things really end so easily like that? Maybe. But why would he let them go just like that?


    "Hey, Sir. If you really n to leave, can you please apologize first? I can let go of the fact that you called me a bastard. But this girl here is used wrongly by you. Remember? Just because this restaurant is already reserved and you''re not allowed entry you used her of ''hiring'' me to embarrass you by telling guesses that you cannot deny. I don''t think what you said to her is nice."

 Chapter 59: Feng Ru (18)

    Chapter 59: Feng Ru (18)


    "This girl here is used wrongly by you. Remember? Just because this restaurant is already reserved and you''re not allowed entry, you used her of ''hiring'' me to embarrass you by telling guesses that you cannot deny. I don''t think what you said to her is nice."


    He made sure to show them his widest smile.


    ''Ah, what a childish banter this has be. It''s unbelievable. But scenes like this always happened in some novels that damned ex of mine loved to tell me before...''


    "Are you forgetting that we are supposed to be customers who she turned away?" hissed at him by Gu Cheng''s girlfriend, Ming Ruo. Her fanciful and colorful earrings, as always, were so painful to his eyes.


    "I repeatedly apologized," replied Na Yu in both tone and gaze that held chips of ice.


    "That''s what she said. It means she has done her part. What about you guys?" The stare he gave Gu Cheng was asking if he should also ask his brother, the male lead, to teach him basic courtesy and manners.


    Apologies were done to acknowledge one''s wrongdoings. But the prideful cheater guy obviously didn''t want to do it. Jiang Li was guessing it was due to shame and pride. Or maybe a man''s sense of face and honor.


    Gu Cheng had long been used to things always going his way. No matter what he did, even if it was wrong, he could always use his brother''s name to get away with it. Rarely was he put to an awkward situation like this. Angered and like a cornered beast who had lost his reason, he clenched his right first and raised it.


    He wanted to punch the bastard''s smug face! "You''ve long been getting into my nerves, f*cker!I''m done speaking with you! Just go die!"


    Not even Gu Feng managed to foresee his brother''s next action.


    Jiang Li scoffed, not the slightest moving away from his position as the immature guy rushed towards him. There would only be two oues. Either he broke his nose and had a good ckmail material. Or he witnessed an amusing surprise.


    He didn''t have to wait for long to know the answer.


    While Na Yu was yelling from fright since the fist was only a yard from him, Gu Cheng suddenly yelled too, but not a battle cry one. Who knows what that one was for? The young man''s attack halted abruptly, more or less a dozen centimeters away from Jiang Li''s eyes. He looked shocked, realizing that something was wrong with his arm.


    "Why can''t I move?"


    When the brainless younger brother of the male lead tried to have his balled hand move forward, nothing happened. He was paralyzed from head to toe, coldness caressing his exposed skin! The feeling was so creepy like thousands of small bugs were crawling all over him while he was underwater. It was as unnerving as when he had sleep paralysis and was trapped in an unending darkness!


    ''What''s happening to me?'' Gu Cheng couldn''t fight back against the fear that crept up in his heart.


    "He Chen!" Na Yu was still being panicky. Seeing that her ex was nning to hit him, she immediately pulled him out of the way even though she also noticed the abnormalities of the attacking man.


    "Gu Cheng. How dare you keep saying I''ve be so desperate when it''s you who are so horrible! I didn''t know you became so degenerate! I don''t need your goddamn apology! Eat your sorry! Bastard!" Her face overflowed with fury as she shouted.


    Indignant for her boyfriend, Ming Ruo nned to p Na Yu but his hand got caught by Jiang Li. Even though he was up close with a handsome man''s face, since her love for Gu Cheng was true, she recovered from the daze and protested. "Let me go!!!"


    "Oh? Okay."


    "Ouch!"


    Jiang Li only let Ming Ruo go when she was jumping up and down and almost doing acrobatics just to pull her hand away. As a result, she ended up falling to the cobblestone pavement,nding on her butt. The woman felt so wronged that she was taking huge gulp of air, her chest heaving up and down.


    Suddenly, a hysterical shout echoed out from her left side. "LOOK UP! SOMETHING IS FALLING!"

 Chapter 60: Feng Ru (18)

    Chapter 60: Feng Ru (18)


    Suddenly, a hysterical shout echoed out. "LOOK UP! SOMETHING IS FALLING!"


    Tang Lan went to Ming Ruo''s side to pull her away. Gu Feng tried doing the same to his still frozen brother, but before he could arrive on his side, the sharp, almost unseen object already fell onto Gu Cheng. The police officer didn''t reach the other on time. Sounds of sses breaking and shards making contact with the ground reverberated.


    The next seconds that followed seemed to be something straight out of a slow-mo movie. No one was making any noise. Everyone was holding their breaths. Thissted for quite a while until it was broken by a sharp, shrill, ear-splitting scream.


    "AAHHHHHHHH!"


    It was feminine. And more like a scream of shock than pain. The voice was from Na Yu. The girl suddenly went behind Jiang Li after that shriek. Curiously, she was covering her eyes, like she saw something very frightening, or disgusting.


    Some passersby and bystanders initially flocked over assuming there would be a brawl. When another round of screams came from them, the male music student could no longer stop rolling his eyes.


    He clicked his tongue and grunted. ''Tch, I thought she''d at least have the damn arm cut into two... What a letdown.''


    There was no blood spilled or limbs twisted beyond humanprehension anywhere. Jiang Li felt that it quite was boring. The guy must be remembering some of the horrendous sights he witnessed from his Original world andparing it to the one in front.


    However, while this was what he had in mind, many others around them were screaming, mostly the girls. Most of the boys, on the other hand, were sporting an amused expression.


    One from thetter group was actuallyughing because it was his first time to do a livestream yet his page was already overflowing with thumbs up andments. He felt that even though the fight did not happen, what his phone''s camera captured was actually way more interesting than that. He was starting to think that he was a genius for recording everything and not simply passing by. Look, even the other witnesses'' reactions were so entertaining to the viewers!


    "Aaaahhhhh! So shameless! Hubby! There''s a damn street exhibitionist!" shouted a rich madam who covered her eyes only to peek through the gaps between her fingers.


    "Good Lord, I see a windowpane falling from the skies. While it thankfully did not harm anybody, it''s a puzzle how it fell upright and then cut somebody''s pants. I-I''m so speechless. I, I don''t know how to properly describe what my two eyes saw!"


    "Auntie, it''s probably divine intervention! How else would that sharp-edged ss only cut the lower garments so it will fall down and reveal an ugly something? Waaaaaahhhhhhhhh!!! My eyes have been tainted! The memories will forever stay in my mind! I can''t be married anymore!"A teenage girl threw a bottle of water at Gu Cheng.


    "Damn sher! Damn pervert! I hope he gets struck by lightning!"


    "Yeah, the shamelessness showed by this young man is one of the main reasons why our society''s morality is degrading."


    "Uhhh, where did that sharp thinge from by the way?"


    "Lols, the restaurant is only upying the first two floors of this building. It must be something that fell off the hinge of one of the apartment windows'' upstairs."


    "I see. But wow. How mysterious that it precisely tore that guy''s pants and briefs. It''s like a work of a bored and yful evil god!"


    So many simrments flooded Gu Cheng''s ears. The issue with Na Yu was long gone in his head.


    And he was very ashamed. He felt so pathetic. But what made him more pathetic and helpless was that no matter how hard his brother pulled him away there, he still couldn''t move!


    Swearing in mind all the profanities he knew, he wanted to ask the heavens, how long does he need to endure this embarrassing situation? Why can''t the ground just crack open and swallow him down?

 Chapter 61: Feng Ru (19)

    Chapter 61: Feng Ru (19)


    ''F*ck! F*ck! F*ck! What the hell happened to me? It has be so cold too!''


    He was like a statue there with his fist extended out, his posture simr to when Superman was flying. Except while Superman was in the air, he was frozen on the ground! And while Superman merely wore his underwear out but was still fully clothed, he, on the other hand, had his underwear and pants down!


    His ''junior'' was in everyone''s full view, being yed by the cold wind! The hateful part was he badly wanted to run away from there and cover his crotch, but his damn body wouldn''t move! Just who could understand his pain?


    Finally, the guard and some male staffs from the restaurant came. Still in her hysterical mode and with eyes not daring to look there, Na Yu ordered them to drag Gu Cheng away. "Chase him away! Just have him brought out of here! So scandalous! My heavens, we can''t let this unspeakable thing affect our business!"


    "Sir, can you pleasee with us? Let''s stop being a disturbance here." The white-uniformed man asked the male lead''s brother.


    "Hey, Sir. Just an observation, but I think he''s paralyzed..." said Jiang Li.


    Gu Cheng was angered seeing the robust guard obviously suppressing hisughter. He saw his older brother feeling more ashamed than him, taking his jacket off to help cover that exposed part.


    From when the embarrassed young man argued with the guard and staffs and how he was carried off since he was paralyzed and couldn''t move, everything was recorded by the CCTVs and the curious bystanders.


    The process was quiteical and Tang Lan and the rest wanted to escape silently, but Jiang Li reminded the guards who to leave the annoying person with after dumping him somewhere.


    What a joke. When they started ''bullying'' Na Yu, they were so happily banding together. Of course, they had to stick together till the end! Be captured by the videos too as the stupid sher''spanions!


    "Thanks for the help. Were it not for you, I''d probably be in trouble" Na Yu said to him when the streets finally became less crowded. She absentmindedly added, "... I used to be at his spot. If you didn''t drag me from there, it will be me put on a hot seat..."


    "Oh. No biggies."


    The girl looked at him and smiled. Although she was still somewhat hurt by the insults thrown at her, she was now feeling a lot better. She had to feel a lot better. After all, she had fun watching her ex received hundred times the humiliation.


    "It''s alreadyte. I''ll go back to the dormitory now."


    She nodded. "Okay. I''ll stay for a while then have my driver fetch me. Please take care on your way home. And thank you again."


    He waved a hand at her and left. As he walked down the road leading to his dorm, he caught sight of a white figure in front, standing next to amppost with flickering lights. It was the most deserted and darkest part of the street. In his memory, it was rumored to be where a whitedy showed up every moonless midnight.


    ''I''m sure, if this part of the world is really haunted, the whitedy is not her. Did she momentarily exchange spots with the rumored whitedy to see me?''


    Jiang Li grinned and asked, "Hello. Since you''re here, I''ll be brief. Just curious. But a few minutes ago, did you read my mind?"


    Feng Ru had a face that was so deathly white and eyes devoid of luster. Part of her body was not revealed by the lights so she looked like a cloud of smoke that would drift away at any given time.


    Jiang Li was quite amazed that this female ghost could leave the university. Normally, ghosts couldn''t stay away from their site of death or from the item they possessed. He pondered whether this was a perk of being a ghostly viiness.


    When he recalled the plot, it seemed the viiness really could appear everywhere, freaking people out and even taking lives outside the university. For a ghost who died from a not-so-dark-and-miserable reason, wasn''t she too overpowered?


    To his question, the female lead showed him a gloomy look then rolled her eyes at him. After that, she vanished. Jiang Li doesn''t believe that she couldn''t speak without possessing someone. It meant Feng Ru simply refused tomunicate with him. However, he doesn''t mind. That was enough proof that she could indeed read his thoughts.


    Jiang Li merrilyughed as he continued walking.


    He mused, "A snub ghost, huh? It hurts to be ignored by one. But at least, she saved my face from that punch. She also did what I wished in my mind instead of stupidly killing scumbags without making them suffer enough. She''s learning. Haha."


    Before the day ends, Jiang Li saw the fruits of his and Feng Ru''sbor. The funny video which circted in the whole city made his day and allowed him to have a night of sleep better than ever...


    ...


    ...

 Chapter 62: Feng Ru (20)

    Chapter 62: Feng Ru (20)


    The next day came and the weather was gloomy. Given such a heavy downpour, people would have been listless and felt like sleeping all day long. Yet for some reason, the university was still as alive as ever, with students engaged in a joyful andughter-filled conversation.


    4 pm. Music Department.


    Barging in the music room was a bespectacled young man wearing a brown leather jacket and ck pants. The guy was very tall and eye-catching, plus his footsteps were quite loud, so those inside immediately turned their heads at him.


    "Hi." Greeted him by a baby-faced cute guy.


    He nodded. "It''s such a crazy day. Everyone''s discussing that damned sher''s video."


    There were only three people in the ce: the bassist dressed like a regr hipster, Na Yu who was in apple green dress and ck high heels, and her friend Nangong Xue wearing a hanging blouse paired with a blue skirt and sneakers. The two girls were getting along well with the youngest of the gang since the big boy was quite the humorous one and knew quite a lot of things due to being a great inte lurker.


    Hearing their drummer''s amused tone, Nian Xiwen shrugged. As he sat cross-legged on the floor with his tablet in hands, heughingly turned to one of the two females in the room.


    "Hey, Miss Na, you became viral this time. Haha. One of those nice people recorded you valiantlymanding some guys in a white uniform. It''s quite amazing and amusing when you had them took that funny man away." After finishing hisughing spree, the boyish guy added, "And oh, speaking of that funny man, he''s from the other famous university in the city. An engineering student. His handsome brother looking out for him in the video was that police officer involved with Brother He''s ex."


    "Stop gossiping, boy. Where are the others?"


    "Brother Xie, it''s you who started the topic!"


    Na Yu interjected, looking through the inbox on her phone, "Cheng Du is still in ss. Su Xuefeng lost in a phone game against Little Nian and had to go out to buy some snacks and drinks. As for He Chen," Mentioning thest name, her face turned weird. One of her eyebrows went up. When she continued, a hint of worry was in her tone, "I can''t contact him. He''s not answering his phone when I called him."


    The guy in a brown jacket nodded. "Don''t worry about that one. He''lle. If he doesn''t, just have Big Bro contact him. Brother He won''t dare note if it''s Big Bro calling."


    He took one of the monobloc chairs for himself while nodding to the other girl.


    Nian Xiwen asked, "Why are we here by the way? I forgot to ask this earlier. Hehe. Practice?"


    "That''s one thing. After all, I''ve already done my research and noticed the few problems with you guys," answered the girl in the green dress. "Later I''ll borate. But before that, I''ll discuss the schedule."


    "Why is this girl here again?" It was Xie Dn, referring to Na Yu''s friend.


    Nangong Xue said with a bashful smile. "I''m a fan. Also, I''m Na Yu''s friend, there should be no problem tagging along, no?"


    "Oh, which of us do you like the best?" When the boyish guy asked this, his eyes were practically glowing from anticipation. Written on his face was ''Is it me? It''s me, right? After all, I''m the coolest bassist!''


    However, to his dismay, the girl shyly replied, "I like the band as a whole, but specifically, it''s the other guitarist besides He Chen..."


    While Little Nian pouted in disappointment, the other male in the room amusedly blurted out, "Ah, the big brother then. Sorry, girl. Our Cheng Du is already taken. You can have a crush on him, but just make sure to not let his girlfriend finds out." Theughter he let out was quite disturbing, if not meaningful.


    The female ountancy student nced at him briefly before noting in her mind to stay away from this creepy four-eyed guy. She had yet to forget that it was he who roasted her best friend yesterday only to get beaten down in return. Still, the slightly unfavorable impression remained. Despite the warning he gave, in her mind, it was already etched that the cool big brother was the best among them even if all of them had above average appearance.


    ''The headphone-wearing boy is very childish. That one with a dyed hair is boorish and has a fiery temper. This guy wearing stylish green-framed eyesses looks like an intellectual, but deep inside he is no better than the bassist. The handsome vocalist is not an option too. Too much of a love fool for his own good.''


    If Na Yu could only guess what was in the short-haired girl''s mind, she would start doubting whether she was really a fan. In her dictionary, fans were people who could say with a straight face that their idol''s fart smelled like flowers.


    Time flies. In not more than five minutes, two people came in. When Cheng Du announced that He Chen wouldn''t be able toe due to an emergency, Na Yu asked the details once before starting her discussion.


    After the talk, everyone stayed for a while, their topics revolving around the incident yesterday. The band members and even her friend had an endless curiosity towards the specifics, hence she had no choice but answer their questions from time to time.


    A few minutester, she looked around and found those around her talking about the matter to themselves merrily. They all looked to be in a good mood poking fun at the guy who was actually her ex. Na Yu could only shake her head at this sight.


    After some time, she began looking through her notes. Remembering that she didn''t see the figure of that person today, she pursed and grumbled inwardly, ''... The one who had me enter this mess is not around when it matters... Just wow, huh?'' A secondter, she muttered, "I forgot to warn him that ex of mine is quite a vengeful person and has a connection to the police. Will that guy be okay?"


    ...


    ...


    FallenBlue here! If you''re not reading at , please go here and read for /book/12925525506052005/Quick-Transmigration%3A-Saving-The-Crazy-Viiness


    FYI, this is the original site to read this story.


    Thanks in advance.

 Chapter 63: Feng Ru (21)

    Chapter 63: Feng Ru (21)


    The emergency that caused Jiang Li to not be able toe to the meeting Na Yu held proved to be quite a headache. It was his department''s advisor that called for him. When he came into the music department''s head professor''s office, the middle-aged guy dressed in a white buttoned up shirt and grey pants patted him on the shoulder and gave him a meaningful and pitying nce. He must admit that irked some of his nerves a bit, especially since he didn''t know the reason for it.


    "Professor Xu?" He questioned.


    The older man did not even offer him a seat and just started exining, "Somebody phoned me a few minutes before I called you. It seems your mother couldn''t get through you directly, maybe it is because you changed your number or they don''t have it memorized, so when they said you''re studying here, a nurse looked through our information and reached out to me."


    Jiang Li scoured his memories and found no information about this. But if it''s about his number, then actually there was one.


    He recently had to change his number and phone because within the first day of his arrival here, after thoroughly reviewing ''his'' memories, the anger he felt upon seeing He Chen''s craziness about Tang Lan overwhelmed the happiness brought by his contact with the viiness. As a result, he threw away the phone which held all ''his'' attachment to the female lead.


    Using the money he saved up from part time jobs, he purchased a new one and bought a new sim card too. The only problem was that he hadn''t called home yet to inform He Chen''s family of his new number.


    However right now, this was actually not that important. Since He Chen''s parents were mentioned in the same breath with a nurse, he had an inkling it could only be a bad thing. The slightly obese man hadn''t said anything yet, but his heart was already skipping a few beats. It was definitely that persistent remnant soul''s influence.


    ''He Chen''s parents are rarely mentioned or showed in the memories after the Original entered college. But what''s sure is that they are both in good health, managing their farm and poultry at the vige together. He Chen''s brother is in junior high and is also supposed to be in good health too... What''s the matter then?''


    He didn''t like the feeling at all. With a worried face on, he urged, "Sir please just go directly to the point."


    Seeing his reaction, Professor Xu nodded, not minding Jiang Li''s slightly disrespectful tone. "Since it''s an unknown person demanding your presence, I had her reveal what''s the purpose of the call. To my surprise it''s about your father. The nurse only passed the message from your mother. She wants you toe to the hospital as soon as possible. Your father is diagnosed with cancer. The nurse left out most of the details probably because only the rtives are allowed to know the specifics. But based on her tone, I can only guess that the situation is not optimistic."


    If he was in his normal self, Jiang Li would have already criticized the nurse for disclosing such a ssified information to a non-rtive. But because the shock was quite great plus the original''s feelings were flooding him, all he thought of was to leave now and go to the hospital to confirm the situation.


    "Sir, thank you for informing me this. What''s the name of that ce?" His voice had obvious hint of urgency in it.


    While the man pulled up a pen to write an address and number there which was seemingly being copied from his own phone, he continued saying, "He Chen, I know you''re not a local here so I''m writing down the address and contact info. It''s the city''s general hospital. However, since it''s a public hospital I don''t think they are equipped with the best treatment programs and facilities. In any case, just go there now. I included my number here. Call me if you need help."


    Jiang Li actually only needed the name of the ce and had the taxi driver ferry him there, but he couldn''t reject the professor''s kindness hence he just epted the piece of paper and thanked the middle-aged man before leaving the office.


    Inside the taxi, after telling the driver to fly the cab to the hospital, he texted Cheng Du that he wouldn''t be able to attend the meeting. He then did his trick to check his father''s information and when he saw the two lines He Song: Stage IV Osteosaa, with a scarilyposed expression he began to contemte which wealthy conglomerate or bank to hack. After that he searched for the best oncology center using his phone, bypassing the ads and deceptive articles beforending on some decent forums...


    ''This private treatment center then... Even though it''s not a mission, since I''m just borrowing this identity, I better secure his family and not allow any chance for my rewards to lessen.''


    He closed his eyes after.


    In actuality, while he was saying this to himself, deep within, he was just simply not inhumane enough to let an immediate family member die when he could have done something to help.

 Chapter 64: Feng Ru (22)

    Chapter 64: Feng Ru (22)


    ''There is no memory regarding the father''s condition... Forgotten or simply he''s not aware?''


    He tried to distract his mind when he felt something akin to huge boulder pressing on his heart the nearer he got to the hospital. The feeling started since he confirmed the cab was halfway through the whole drive. Somehow, Jiang Li knew it was not because the remnant soul dreaded seeing his father lying in a white bed inside a white room. The body itself subconsciously rejected being near a medical facility or institution... It was He Chen himself who hated hospitals.


    ''Those guys should be going home by now.'' Another random thought that popped up in his mind.


    It was past 4:30 pm. The streets were bustling more than ever. This time of the day was when students and workers started to join the crowds walking down both sides of the roads, or crowding around shops and stalls there. This was also the perfect time for Aurora students from different courses to meet up, either to hangout or hold club activities.


    For ''Pesticide'' though, the call time was 4 pm sharp. Whatever talk the band members had, it should be finish by now. He had full confidence that all they held was a short discussion about the sched and that they wouldn''t record anything without him. If they didn''t immediately go home, their other destination would be the karaoke bar or Cheng Du''s apartment, both ce only good for drinking and singing.


    "We''re here." His random thoughts had yet to wonder how the leads were doing and if they were having a good time from the male lead''s brother''s blunder. It was such a shame. The old driver''s voice already called his wandering soul back to his body.


    "We''re already here huh?" Jiang Li thought, no wonder the irritating feeling was at its strongest.


    He wordlessly touched his pants'' back pocket, intending to fish out his wallet from there. However, the old driver''s hoarse voice suddenly resounded, "Wait, young man. Regarding the pay, how about we do it through WeChat or online bank transfer?"


    Though he found it odd, he didn''t think too much about it and silently pulled up his phone. Thankfully, even though his ount had not been topped up for weeks, it still had enough change for the fare. After wiring the money to the old driver, he climbed out of the car. To his surprise, before he could totally walk off, the car window next to the driver''s seat went down.


    Popping his head out slightly, the old man looked around for a while before saying, "Hey young man. I hope you heed this advice. I''m totally being serious here. Later when youe back home, burn your clothes immediately and throw the ashes far away from your house. That''s all. Goodbye!"


    After uttering those words, the cab hurriedly drove off, leaving Jiang Li dumbfounded for some time beforeughing out loud from too much amusement.


    ''Haha, I bet he''ll be the one burning the mat or recing the backseat. Or he won''t change them but sprinkle salt all over the cab''s interior. Poor uncle.'' He clicked his tongue then marched into the white painted building in front.


    Just this once, he only wished to call it a day after seeing the parents and arranging the transfer, yet because the viiness was confirmed to be following him, fate yed its hands, like usual, and had him encounter somebody rted to the world''s beloved pairing.


    Right from the bat, Jiang Li showed a sour face seeing the male lead''s brother appearing in the lobby from the opposite elevator.


    The moment the other caught sight of him, the furious guy went charging towards him like someone going to war. But of course, since he had a greater matter to think of, he gnored him and pressed the close button. His action was taken negatively by the red-faced young man.


    Annoyance just crossed Jiang Li''s face when he heard the stupid sher shouting loudly before the door closed to his damn face, "You coward f*cker, don''t think you''ll be able to escape from me!!! I''ll follow you to hell. I won''t let this day ends without beating the heck out of you!!!"


    Through the little gaps of the closing door, he threw Gu Cheng a look much colder than what he had given Tang Lan.


    "... What happened yesterday is still not enough for him...?"


    "Good. I always wee opportunities to show how much of an unreasonable bastard I am."


    A corner of his lips went up as he ryed through his thoughts, ''I know you''re with me viiness.'' The taxi driver was surely spooked out by something earlier so he was confident of this im. For a few seconds he tried to feel up her presence.


    When he saw a ghostly figure standing behind him through the mirror-like door of the lift, he nodded and instructed, ''Let''s have the second part of the show. If he follows us using the staircase, make him end up in an endless climb. Anyway, he seems full of energy so he will be okay climbing thousands of steps and taking a few dozen turns. In each turn, have his girlfriend''s spookiest look and smile in a painting. No killing as you do your scare tactic, but feel free to hurt a limb or two.''


    The silence did not remain for long. His otherpanions felt the change in the temperature but did not pay much attention to it. None of them were aware of the extra presence in the room.


    Meanwhile, for the first time since Feng Ru revealed herself to him in her ghost state, she replied to him. No suspense, her voice seemingly came from the deepest part of earth, having a strange echo in his ears, each syble dragged in a slow-mo.


    Her question was very simple though ''... If... elevator, what... then?''


    To what she asked, he firstugh for a full minute before giving her suggestions...

 Chapter 65: Feng Ru (23)

    Chapter 65: Feng Ru (23)


    "Ah Chen..." Insert some heartbreaking wails from a middle-ageddy wearing a set of clothes washed for who knows how many times. "Y-Your father!"


    It had been a minute since he burst out of the elevator. Earlier he didn''t ask the information clerk downstairs since he knew what the room number was. But when he arrived at the floor he had to ask a nurses realizing the hospital was quite huge.


    Jiang Li awkwardly hugged the heartbroken mother who kept mumbling iprehensible stuff while crying. He stared at his immature-looking thirteen year old younger brother, He Tian and saw that the little guy also had unfocused eyes and tear-stained cheeks.


    "Bro, I''m d you''re finally here. D-Dad, h-he is..." The boy couldn''t continue, choking on his words.


    It seemed for the both of them, hearing the bad news about Father He being in such grave condition greatly frightened the two. However, as the mother figure, thedy hugging him right now had to act tough in front of her youngest son.


    The husband was lying unconscious in amon room. There were many things to worry about, documents and money definitely at the top of the list. As the adult one, she whose responsibilities mainly lies in running the household had to take all the burdens to herself. Maybe all the negative feelings and thoughts, plus the fatigue umted so much in her heart and mind. Therefore when He Chen came to her sight, she just took that chance to let her insecurities, misgivings, and fear flow through her tears.


    "I was called by a nurse saying father is ill. What happened?"


    Since Mother He was a sobbing mess, he asked the question to He Tian who also ryed the situation to him. At the end of the boy''s barelyprehensible exnation, Jiang Li, pretended it was his first time hearing the news as he put on a shocked face.


    He kept his silence for almost ten minutes and allowed his mother to cry her heart out. After that, he left her to He Tian and went to look for the doctor. The one assigned to his father honestly told him the hospital didn''t have a specialist to look after his father. He was advised to seek the right treatment center.


    Actually, the whole conversation with the doctor was not very pleasant. He easily picked up the others'' eagerness to talk about transferral and bills, the hidden meaning couldn''t be any more obvious. While Jiang Li did n to have his father transferred to another hospital, it still didn''t sit well with him that they were being like this to their patients.


    ''It seems for them, miracles don''t exist for an almostte-stage bone cancer, it will certainly lead to death. They would of course not want to take responsibility for it.''


    Jiang Li would be lying if he said the thought of having this general hospital close down did not cross his mind. However, thinking of the effort he would have to expend, and his current progress with his own missions, he wisely tossed the n aside.


    After talking with the staffs about the transfer procedure, Jiang Li went back to where her mother was. Then he checked how Father He was doing. The old guy was sleeping when they went in.


    He looked around for a couple of seconds then frowned. The huge room was housing more than ten patients. It would be no wonder if not all of the bedridden people were being paid the right attention and care they need.


    ''I must move this man to that oncology center before this day ends,'' he quietly decided.


    And he did as nned. Anyway, he had the means to aplish everything. The only regretful thing was that he had to ask a favor to Cheng Du, the richest of the gang, to help cover for him since the money was from illegal source.


    An initial payment was needed before Aurora City''s best oncology center epted their transfer request. It was quite a hassle pretending to ask somebody to lend him the money for that. Unfortunately, he had no choice but do so since his family members and those who knew him would doubt how a mere college student obtained the fund.


    ...


    ...


    FallenBlue here! If you''re not reading at , please go here and read for /book/12925525506052005/Quick-Transmigration%3A-Saving-The-Crazy-Viiness


    FYI, this is the original site to read this story.


    Thanks in advance.

 Chapter 66: Feng Ru (24)

    Chapter 66: Feng Ru (24)


    A few hours since Jiang Li arrived at the hospital.


    It was not a good day for him. Memories kept ying. Not He Chen''s, but the one belonging to him.


    It all began when he he had a talk with He Chen''s father. No one could uplift his mood as he remembered his own Dad. That person who, liked the Father Jiang from the previous world, had been very strict and cold at him on the surface, yet warm and loving underneath. He wondered if it would be really possible to see him alongside his other loved ones again. Are they doing okay in heaven?


    He sighed.


    ''Here I am, dead. And still stupid and heartbroken...''


    The hospital''s rooftop was specially dark today. No stars nor moon. From the railings, he looked down the dazzling lights below and realized the streets of this city was simr to the one in his childhood memories. Yet he knew he was not in his real world. That ce had long been ruled by zombies.


    ''I hate that I''m remembering it all...''


    In this rare moment of nostalgia that he discovered, all this time, something in him, beside his brain, was broken. He couldn''t understand himself right now. He suddenly wanted release. And it was overpowering his desire toe back in time and take revenge.


    "The system is always giving me a good and loving family... Is it intentional?" Heughed merrily yet self-mockery was hidden in it.


    Silence remained for quite a while. In that ce which only had one light bulb situated near the door, a man stood there alone overlooking the city. His back looking specially lonely.


    Feng Ru appeared behind him and saw this. The young female ghost felt a bit confused, then recalled him saying he was also a spirit. Understanding then shed in her mind. She thought, ghosts were really the loneliest beings in the world.


    "How''s the game?" Jiang Li asked the moment he felt her presence.


    The viiness thought for a moment before deciding to materialize and step forward. It was an ability that beings like her could do if they wanted to be seen by regr people and appear like they had a real body, not an incorporeal one.


    She grabbed the handrail, or at least pretended that she could grab it, then stayed a meter away from him. Even if she was just a ghost, there was no way she would stay so close to a man.


    After a few seconds of hesitation, a strange but sweet voice came out of her mouth. "... Punishment is still ongoing. It''s been four hours, but in his perception it''s still around 5 pm. All the ''residents'' of this hospital is keeping him and cramming him inside the elevator. He was unable toe out because whenever he tried to go out, one of our friends would immediately close the elevator."


    Jiang Li chuckled. "I''m sure he is here due to what happened to him yesterday. It must be very funny. While he thought everyone inside are people, annoyed that it''s so crowded that he couldn''t move, those who wanted to take the elevator from the outside could see no one besides him. I bet you had them take turns so it will not be that obvious at first how the same type of ''people'' are always apanying him."


    Quite creepy once considered from the victim''s point, since no matter how much of an idiot Gu Cheng was, he would still be able to realize that something was wrong. How soulless and spooked out would he be when he discovers he''s been with hundreds or thousands of ghosts for almost a day? The reaction should be pretty amusing, no?


    The viiness looked at him and nodded. He chuckled again, "I''ll look forward to when the patients and visitors run out of patience and report him for hoarding that elevator to himself."


    Three secondster, the grin disappeared, reced by a bored expression. "Okay. Let''s stop the talk about that shameless guy. What makes you decide to appear like that?"


    He was referring to her current look. Feng Ru appeared like her alive eighteen years old self, beautiful and charming, just factor out the aura of death and gloominess around her. It was due to being in this state that she could speak without dragging every word for so long.


    "What''s your real name?" she asked.


    "Oh?" The ghost was curious about him? The man knitted his brow, thenughed. "Since you''re a helper, fine. Outwardly it''s He Chen. Soul-wise, Jiang Li."


    "... Jiang Li, then." She tilted her head to the left as she observed him. "... I don''t understand you. You seem to be a good man asionally helping those in need. They are not your parents but you''re okay helping them. That woman is not your acquaintance but you''re okay saving her. Why?"


    After saying that, she blinked her strange-looking eyes at him. The way she looked was the kind which could send shivers to a normal person.


    The man replied, "If not for the sake of the mission, why would I act as if I care about people I don''t know?"


    "..."


    Feng Ru: ... Alien talk?


    He indifferently added, "Don''t ask about the former. What I want to say is if not for a few benefits or some selfish purpose, no one will really do good to others. Even those friendsughing and sharing food with each other are subconsciously doing so to deepen their bond, that way it will be easier to ask favors in the future. There is always a hidden purpose. The give-and-take principle is always at work. Sometimes people are beautifying the phrase by saying it is for ''good karma''."


    Feng Ru was silent for a couple of seconds, then repeatedly murmured thest word he said.


    "... I died because my friend pulled me when she was falling down from the heights. She''s suffered so much. But when the man he likes broke up with her, she chose to free herself from the pain through that way. I''m guilty back then. The guy she likes confessed to me, and I epted it. Of course, loving someone and being loved in return is not really my fault. That friend of mine also understood it and didn''t me me. But the guilt won''t fade away. Because I was part of the catalyst that made her choose suicide."


    Jiang Li asked, "I thought you simply think the world is at fault for driving all the depressed people tomit the unthinkable. So it''s actually a self-punishment? It''s a wonder how you can still remain in the world with that kind of obsession."


    He hadn''t forgotten yet that the system said viinesses are dangerous because they went crazy in love and then harbored great resentment that assimted with the world after their death. There was no way Feng Ru was in love with Gu Feng. The two didn''t have any prior connection.


    ''Who said a person could only be crazily in love with another person?'' The thought suddenly popped up in his mind.

 Chapter 67: Feng Ru (25)

    Chapter 67: Feng Ru (25)


    "The first time that we met, you told me revenge is the correct way to deal with depression..."


    He looked at her. Confirmed. Given her interest in the matter, this viiness was most likely in love with the task she imposed on herself. Herckluster eyes showed him she badly wanted an answer.


    How he wished that he could reply he was simply bullsh*tting back then!


    "Girl, to be honest, the best cure for depression is not really known. But I''m sure it''s not suicide. It could be to take medication, be happy or not allow those who made you suffer to be happy. There are so many ways. But I want to believe it''s revenge, or generalize it as revenge since no matter what, the goal is to show the world that you can stand up after that blow, retaliate, and not allow it to boss you around."


    "... I still don''t understand..."


    Jiang Li shrugged. "The guy earlier was the one who broke Na Yu''s heart. It''s okay continuing your way. Help her out. Just not through the old stupid method you always employed. Yesterday, she would have been left crying there if you did not embarrass that dork. Compare to immediately killing a scumbag versus making him insane from not knowing why he is always seeing and doing things out of imagination, which is better? Which will help her better?"


    "..."


    He threw her a nce and saw her deep in her thoughts. It seemed this time the ghost was finally getting what he meant.


    If Gu Cheng died due to that windowpane, Na Yu would certainly be affected, either because she still loved him or because she used to be where that object fell. Now that wouldn''t happen since all she would remember was Gu Cheng''s embarrassment.


    Jiang Li yawned then nced at his wristwatch. The night was no longer young. In a few minutes, he would have to leave and apany his family to the oncology center.


    He was thinking about the band and the university when Feng Ru spoke again. Her voice started off pleasant and ended that way as opposed to her words.


    "Jiang Li... Thank you for enlightening me. To show my sincerity. Let me tell you. If you are only a girl, you would have been a target of mine. In my eyes, your shell reeks of depression and desperation. That He Chen you''re speaking of has a sad secret, based on the past that I can see. Since you have the same ability there should be no way you don''t know about it."


    Technically, he was a ghost but unlike this viiness, the memories were from the system. And also, what was with this kind of thank-you gift? He rolled his eyes. But internally, he''s thankful that he was no longer remembering something unpleasant.


    When Jiang Li was checking the time again, she tried to confirm, "So for He Chen your way of revenge is to help him be famous? Is it to show the one who broke him that while she remained on the ground, he''s up the stage doing what he likes and is loved by many?"


    He answered, "Yeah." In his mind, he was thinking, ''What a weird set up this is. I''m being interrogated by a ghost.''


    "Something is wrong then."


    "Oh?" Jiang absentmindedly responded.


    "If your goal is that and looking how it''s easy for you to make illegal money, why are you helping his father be admitted to a hospital, but here you are, not helping He Chen be cured?"


    He was still hung up on the illegal money part so he didn''t fully get what she meant by thest part.


    "Believe me, I''m now helping him." He simply said.


    Feng Ru shook her head. "You''re weird. In my eyes too, the ghost inhabiting the shell is just as depressed and lonely. Since you are given the chance to ''live'' again, why don''t you clear a bit of your obsession at the same time that you are helping He Chen?"


    "Not possible."


    "Why?"


    For once, he was feeling annoyed. How he would answer that? He was not even in his own world.


    Intimidated by the darkness and anger his eyes showed her, Feng Ru shut up. After a minute, however, since she was a persistent ghost, though she did stop asking why he couldn''t clear off his own obsession, she still tried to advise.


    "I''m saying this since we''re the same kind, albeit you are luckier. How about you remain in that body as long as you can and live his life to the fullest."


    "I''m not getting your logic. Aren''t I doing that already?" He emotionlessly remarked.


    Confusion was on her pale face. "What I mean is to extend your time. You threw away the medicine you purchased from that grandpa. You''ll die again in three months. And your death will be different from when I was possessing somebody. It''s the real second death."


    Jiang Li scowled. "What of it?"


    His goal was toplete the missions and go back to his world as soon as possible, why would he stay once his business here waspleted?


    For him, since it was the Original who wanted him to stay for three months, so be it. That fit his interest the best. Three months were more than enough time to do everything that would make Tang Lan unable to forget He Chen. As for the main mission...


    He looked at the immature-looking face of the woman. She was the Viiness that he had to ''save'' from being crazy in love. And he thinks things were going okay since all he had to do was prevent her from being too in love with the suicide thing.


    In any case, she was an intelligent spirit. Now that she was reminded of other ways to help every severely depressed person in this city, he only needs to look out for her for some time to ensure she was not returning to the old ways. His ns were simple, and perhaps naive, in opposed to howplex things in this world appeared to everyone.


    "Every ghost lingering around yearns to go back to life. Each of us desires to be free from our unfinished business." She softly said.


    "Obviously?"


    "So I don''t understand why you don''t want to entertain my idea."


    "Mine is simply not in this world."


    ''His unfinished business is no longer in the material world? A person?''


    The ghost was probably stumped for words, which he felt very grateful for. Unfortunately, it didn''tst for long. Her gaze suddenly became lukewarm as if telling him that he was so hopeless and pitiful. It was simply so strange and hair-raising. It was giving him a bad feeling.


    "Why are you looking at me like that?"


    "... The realization just crossed my mind. Maybe it''s destiny that you end up in that love fool''s body. You two are actually the same. But if it''s not toote for you. If it''s already a person from the afterlife, then why don''t you just move on and try to open up your heart again? After all, she''s no longer in the world, not even as a lingering spirit. Maybe, you just didn''t know, but your obsession is actually to love again..."


    "What the f*ck!"The moment he heard the viinness'' advice, he subconsciously blurted out, disbelief written all over his face.


    He couldn''t help but think that she was indeed crazy.


    Where the heck did this spirit''s mind wander to? How did shee up with that ridiculous idea?


    He shook his head and clicked his tongue. "I''m already insane, so to stop myself from wishing to destroy this world right at this moment, I''ll also stop talking to you."


    Feng Ru watched him leave his spot and walk towards the staircase. A frown appeared on her deathly white face.


    She vanished then reappeared on the doorway, but the man ignored her and continued walking. When she resentfully said to his ears, "I''m just being nice for once. What did I say wrong?", he didn''tment on it.


    But when she murmured the word ''weirdo'' again and again, Jiang Li felt so offended that he immediately wanted to find a taoist to purify her.

 Chapter 68: Feng Ru (26)

    Chapter 68: Feng Ru (26)


    After the talk with the busybody ghost, Jiang Li led Little Brother He to where his father was transferred. They had to take a cab to go there since only one person was allowed to be in the same transport as the patient. His mother took that spot.


    He didn''t stay for long. A bit relieved that most of the issues had been taken care of, Mother He showed him a weak smile and told him to go back to the university. Jiang Li nodded, leaving only after telling the two to not overwork themselves and that Father He would surely recover.


    "Damn, this tiring day is not yet over." When he got back to the dorms, it was already past 12 pm.


    One of the blunders hemitted was to not eat anything before leaving the hospital. This could be med on him being too distracted by all the talks he had with so many people, a tricky ghost included.


    Forgetfulness was really a sly enemy that strikes people from time to time. All his roommates were asleep and there was also no food there. Left with no choice, he went out in his green checkered jacket, bringing only his phone and wallet with him.


    ''I''m being escorted by a pretty-faced whitedy.'' Looking at the other shadow next to his, a sarcasticugh almost escaped out of his lips. He walked for fifteen minutes before finding a food stall still doing business at this ungodly hour.


    "Hello, handsomed. What would you like to order?" asked the smiling scrawny boss. Tiredness was evident from the old man''s face, but his smile did not appear any less sincere and warm.


    He nodded to the boss then ordered, "Just a bowl of noodles."


    "What drinks would you like? Tea, soft drinks, or coffee?" While scooping a serving from the huge pot, the old man didn''t forget to ask.


    Looking at the small whiteboard next to the counter, he wryly smiled, ''This boss sure is interesting. Who offered drinks for free?''


    "in water." Jiang Li took a seat at the leftmost table since it was the nearest vacant.


    Jiang Li looked around for some time. The business was not bad. Under the illumination of the streetlight directly above the stall, he could see that three out of the five tables surrounding the counter were full of people busily eating their noodles.


    Not even more than thirty seconds passed and the food arrived. He thanked the kind boss who personally served it. When he noticed a pair of chopsticks was even delivered together with the noodles, he couldn''t help throwing the smiling old man another nce.


    "... Great."He murmured while holding the chopsticks. "There are really all sorts of crazies in this world. What an eye-opener." Only he knew how he interpreted the boss'' kindness as craziness. Those nearby furrowed their brows at him.


    "Boss Chen is simply kind. You are the absurd one."


    He turned to his head and saw the one who spoke was a skinny woman wearing a T-shirt and a pair of jeans. It''s midnight but she was wearing something so odd on her head. Eyes on that red cap, he said, "... I''m quite sure you''re weirder than me. "


    The woman was seated on a stool facing the counter and indeed had a cap which she pulled down to hide her face. A bit dumbfounded, she said, "... If it''s about my cap, then I am most aware of it. But shouldn''t you be asking first who I am and why I''m butting into your business."


    Jiang Li only replied, "No need, the only exnation is that there are really all sorts of crazy people in this world."


    After that, he ignored the woman and focused on what was on his table. He hadn''t eaten anything for supper. Compare to food, what was entertaining somebody who wanted to y mysterious? Five words, none of his goddamn business!


    The man didn''t bat an eye nor raise his head even after he felt that somebody carrying her bowl of noodles onto his table. Seeing him like this, the cap-wearing woman also didn''t speak and quietly savor her order. However, in her mind, when she saw him stand up and ask for seconds, she was wondering if this was a hidden side of the rising star vocalist.


    ''He didn''t attend the first meeting I called up. If not for my sudden whim to try Boss Chen''s craftmanship, I won''t run into him tonight. Just what has starved him so much?''

 Chapter 69: Feng Ru (27)

    Chapter 69: Feng Ru (27)


    Jiang finally finished eating. He lifted his head just in time to see her incredulous expression. In reality, most men had a bigger appetite and eating capacity than women. It was almost a universal truth. So there must be another reason why she was dumbfounded at him. For example, his speed of eating.


    Not that it mattered much. With his stomach satisfied, he stood up and paid for the meal.


    After that, though he badly wanted to go back to the dorms and sleep, he walked back to the table first.


    His expression was unreadable when he asked, "Hey. Miss Manager. What gets into the head of someone as prim and proper as you to be out thiste at night?"


    The woman raised her head and showed him a smile. In front of her, the white bowl was also already empty, her hands unhurriedly putting down her chopsticks on its right side.


    "I''m a regr here. Boss Chen used to be our family''s gardener. A father figure to me. So I''m usually here to show support."


    He stared dubiously at him, eyes seemingly saying, ''Showing support at midnight? I didn''t know people can have this kind of hobby.''


    Na Yu pointed to the sole car parked nearby. "My female driver is inside, waiting for me toe back. If someone dares to do anything to me, she''ll storm out and - " yfully, the girl made a cutthroat gesture.


    Jiang Li narrowed his eyes at her.In his mind, this person was smart, but was a weak-willed pushover. Why was she weird today?


    A secondter, he threw the thought to the back of his mind. Putting aside that gesture which he felt should note from her, since she had a bodyguard nearby, then there should be nothing to worry about. Feng Ru was also hung up on her. He felt dumb for forgetting the fact that people who would try to harm her would surely be killed by the viiness before they could get near her.


    Feeling tired and a bit drowsy, he said, "Oh. Good then. Thought you are stupidly wandering around at midnight alone. I''m d it''s not the case. Bye then."


    "Wait!" Ignoring the others dining there, Na Yu called loudly as she saw him wave at her and walk away.


    Jiang Li was looking at his phone and checking for the time when he saw someone running past him. In a blink, Na Yu was blocking his path. Seeing this, he just gave her a brief nce then casually changed direction and continued walking.


    Unfortunately, after two steps, he found her blocking him again.


    He frowned but didn''t say anything, only quietly deciding, ''... diagonally run to the right side then.''


    "You shall not pass!" She yelled at him. A secondter, the girl was once again in front, arms extended sideward.


    He looked at her and sneered, then went the other way.


    They were at the middle of the street but since it was midnight, there were less vehicles to worry about. Actually behind him was an intersection. The noodle stall and the other peddlers were situated at the lot next to it. Most of the vehicles were going the otherne. In other words, they were safe to y at the middle since they were the only ones in thatne.


    "Hey, why do you keep running away from me?"


    Jiang Li''s face was emotionless. "Miss, the correct phrase is going home, not running away. And just to remind you, this road is not yours."


    "Then I''m dering this whole street is mine!" Sheughed then ran to his intended direction, stopping there with her spread arms serving as a blockade.


    ''... I thought she''s quite normal when we are at the stall. Who the heck is this childish creature?''


    Realizing that many eyes were already directed at them and that she would not stop obstructing him, his face turned darker than the night, eyes almost bloodshot. Feng Ru from the sides felt ufortable seeing him easily lower the temperature around him.


    "... What do you think are you doing?"


    "Let us talk!" Since her head was a bit hazy, the cold re she was getting from the good-looking guy in front did not achieve any effect on her. In fact, she didn''t see them looking so cold and even thought that those ck orbs looked so hypnotic.


    Jiang Li questioned the spectating spirit floating next to her, ''Please tell me. Is she drunk? Has a split-personality disorder? Or high in something?''


    Feng Ru looked ufortable, but nodded. He scowled. How would he know which of the mentioned three she was confirming?


    "Miss Na. It''s reallyte and while I have some morning sses, I''m sure you also have something course-rted course to do. Let''s just continue this discussion tomorrow."


    The woman did not look away from his eyes when she shook her head. Jiang Li watched her with a grimace, waiting for what she would say next. However, to his surprise, she just stood there for almost a minute.


    What does she really want?The viiness knew a thing or two but was not saying anything since she was assuming he had abilities like hers. Such a damnable misunderstanding.


    Because she kept shaking her head like a child, though a vein was already threatening to burst out of his forehead, he patiently asked,"Fine. What is it then, Miss Na?"


    The slightly red-faced woman frowned and pouted, "As I said, let''s have a talk! Nobody''s answering my phone so since I bumped into you, maybe this is a work of fate."


    He was looking up wishing for a trantor when she suddenly added, "Apany me to drink.."


    "... What?"Jiang Li wanted to pretend he didn''t hear anything, but the pretty girl with flowing ck hair yed by the wind had a serious and expectant look on her eyes.


    "Drink..." Her face was flushed when she angrily repeated.


    "Did you forget that I''m a guy and you''re a girl? There should be a limit to being naive and defenseless." He was suppressing the stuffiness in his chest as he asked that. He couldn''t believe a woman could be this crazy when under the influence of alcohol. They could actually transform!


    The girl lowered her head like a sad puppy. "I really just want someone to speak my troubles with. I feel like if I kept everything bottled up, then sooner orter..."


    "... Miss, let''s not mention that we''re barely acquainted, if you haven''t realized yet, it''s past midnight. You should go home and sleep."


    ''Who can sleep gued with pain, worries, nightmares, bad thoughts, and all sorts of negative things in her head and heart...?'' she thought, remembering the most recent trouble forcing her on the edge.


    Jiang Li didn''t know this. He only knew he was so tired and had received no answer. A bit annoyed, he turned around, nning to just ask her irresponsible driver to send her back.


    When Na Yu saw where he was going, she recovered from her dazed state andsubconsciously started to go after him. Unfortunately, by that time, he had already arrived next to the car, checking whoever was inside...


    After some time, she saw Jiang Li frowning and massaging his forehead. While suspiciously ncing at her, he asked, "... Who the heck are you?"


    She was silent for a while, seemingly not understanding his question. Momentster, she suddenly broke into a non-stop giggling. In a high-pitched voice and drunkard-like tone, she answered,


    "Oh. Hi, sorry for thete greetings. I am... the ever so lonely and brokenhearted Na Yu! President of the Depressed People Club! The suicidal girl who went viral for almost jumping off a building! Hello, He Chen, our handsome vocalist who is also my Vice President and sole club member!" She began babbling iprehensible stuff like he was only a vice president since he hadn''t attempted the unthinkable yet.


    Alright. So this one was still Na Yu, not her unknown twin or doppelganger. The damn girl was really disoriented and probably also delusional. Headache was starting to get into him.


    "...Why did you lie to me that you''re with your bodyguard?"


    "Uhhh, I didn''t!" She denied with matching gestures. Actually, she even looked offended. "I am no liar! I didn''t lie. Don''t ever use me of being anything like that. I''m with my bodyguard. In my imagination I have a female bodyguard who looks exactly like me! Beautiful, pale-skinned and has a slim figure."


    Na Yu''s showing him so many side that he could not stop himself anymore from looking at her like she was an alien. With her red cap on her head, she was indeed cute as she giggled. However, something was just very off about her.


    "... Just go home."


    "Don''t interrupt me! Let me continue where I left off. So I''m saying she''s just as pretty and has a nice height and body. I bet she''s also smart and has a superb memory. But she''s quiet and fierce and can easily scare a grown man, even a policeman! Hey, I''m telling the truth! She''s inside me and will only surface whenever I''m in danger or if I want to die!"


    "..."


    Two beings were rendered momentarily speechless by what she said.

 Chapter 70: Feng Ru (28)

    Chapter 70: Feng Ru (28)


    It took Jiang Li some time to recover from his speechlessness. Then with eyes simr to a dead fish, he muttered, "This is why I''m always going insane every day. Crazy people are everywhere. They are always influencing me..."


    With Na Yu like this and the gloomy-faced Feng Ru signalling him to do something, oh when would he be able to go back to hisfortable bed?


    He didn''t know.


    Moments passed in silence. Both Na Yu and Jiang Li watched as a car go to their direction, parking next to them.


    A head popped out of the front car window, revealing a handsome and charismatic face with an air of aloofness and mystery. It was Gu Yu, the world''s beloved male lead.


    Jiang Li greeted him sarcastically, "Hello, officer. Late night patrol?"


    The boring man nodded without any change in his expression. "What''s going on here?" He was looking at Na Yu, and Jiang Li saw something in the way he did that.


    "Nothing, officer." The drunk girl mysteriously managed to appear as sober as someone who didn''t touch alcohol, the seriousness in her face and brightness of her eyes made the policeman''s face rxed visibly. There was some distance between them so he didn''t notice the intoxicating smell.


    Small talk took ce. Since they were all acquainted, the male lead asked a few questions about why they were outside at this hour. Both people answered him partially.


    Few momentster, Na Yu opened her mouth, "Sir Gu, just a curiosity here."


    "Go ahead. Ask." Gu Feng nodded again.


    "It just kind of pop up in my mind. Do you guys also wear your uniforms when in an operation? I just sometimes think it''s quite inefficient since there will be cases when the culprits could run away because your uniforms are very conspicuous."


    The male lead was stumped fo a while. Of course it had long been a tradition not to wear uniforms when in a case sensitive operation. But there was no way he could tell this to just anybody. Not when a colleague was currently in the passenger seat.


    Looking at the girl''s expectant expression, his face showed ufortableness. "Miss, I can''t reveal inside information, sorry."


    Na Yu pouted, disappointed. "I see."


    Jiang Liughed and asked, "Sir, is your brother already recuperating at home?"


    Gu Feng was too honest so he shook his head. "No. But why are you asking?"


    "Just because, I saw him hours ago at the general hospital. I am just curious how he''s doing."


    Jiang Liwas suspecting this older brother was looking for that poor guy so he kindly pointed out to him that Gu Cheng was still at that ce surrounded by many ''people''. Since his mood was bad, he hoped those ghosts would also show their care to this policeman.


    ''It is nighttime and those ''people'' should be active everywhere. The great thing about them is that they don''t know to discriminate. Who from there will care if he is a male lead?''


    "The general hospital, huh." Gu Feng only nodded then said, "Thanks. We''re leaving. You two, I hope you go home now too. Especially Miss Na. It''s dangerous at night. Some people could be beasts."


    Jiang Li irritatedly watched the police car drove away. He was annoyed by the explicit meaning. He was not the one who transformed, alright? It''s the girl next to him!


    ''Now what to do?''


    Minutes had gone by since Jiang Li got into her car and started driving for her. Na Yu was seated in the passenger seat, her red hat nowhere on sight.


    "Just so you know, I have been working hard for your band." She began saying with closed eyes. "To seriously distract the devil in my head always telling me to kill myself, I am keeping myself busy, busy, and so so so busy.."


    Jiang Li listened quietly, focusing on the darkness in front. She started telling him her ns. She was currently living alone. But when she was younger, herte grandparents introduced her to some people in all range of businesses. The connections proved effective in getting some help. In fact, she was already in touch with a music producer.


    "Aren''t I amazing?"


    ''Amazing bbermouth when drunk?


    "Yeah, You are."


    Hearing his reply, her barely open eyes turned into crescents. She looked so beautiful and charming as she happily continued telling her exploits. In such a short period of time, she aplished quite a lot, enough for Jiang Li to think his whimsical move allowed him toplete his mission faster.


    "Hey, why did you bring me to this ce?" Aftering out of the car, Na Yu swept her hazy eyes around, squinting for almost a dozen times to confirm that they were at a road near the top of a mountain.


    Aurora City was located near the sea. The road was famous for being ident prone because once a vehicle strayed off even a bit to the left side, it spelled getting thrown off a very tall cliff. Those travelling through this route always keep their speed to the minimum, also preferring not to travel at night or on rainy days.


    "You don''t want to go home. And I can''t bring you to a hotel or the dorm. Here is convenient, if you annoy me, I can have you try how many minutes it will take to fall to the sea below."


    His words were very said in a cold tone. But of course he knew, it would be stupid to kill someone he saved before. Humans were weird creatures. In their fits of anger, it was always very easy for them to say stuff they don''t truly mean.


    The girl repeatedly whispered ''heartless'' to herself while watching him throw small stones to the tires of every passing vehicle.


    The car was parked at the rightmostne. It was ck so in that dark part of the road, it stood there inconspicuously. Jiang Li vented the irritability in his heart by picking up small stones that he began throwing as far as he could. He also threw some to asionally passing vehicles.


    "Hey, is that fun?" she asked curiously.


    He scowled. "Small pebbles thrown at a short distance can''t make a hole in the tires no matter how fast I throw them. Those passing cars won''t have a t tire so the owners won''te out charging angrily to us. What''s the fun there?"


    "Oh. Right," she blurted out. "Sounds only half the fun."


    If Na Yu was just thinking straight she would surelyment that he was surprisingly childish, crazy if his asional tossing of chewed bumble gums into open car window were taken into consideration.


    Once bored and seeing the pebble-throwing could no longer give him any amusement, he had Na Yu shouting towards the cliff and the dark sea''s direction. She only hesitated for a second, then broke into aughing mess as she marched towards the safety railings.


    She took a few deep breaths.


    A few secondster, he heard her angrily shouting to the world, her small fists sometimes pummeling the railings.


    ''Damn you, Gu Cheng!!!''


    ''You ugly liar!!!''


    ''I hope you grow many pimples, ckheads, whiteheads, and dark spots!!!''


    ''You''re ugly, ugly, ugly, ugly, ugly!!!''


    ''I hate you, you monster!!!''


    ''It hurts!!!''


    ''AHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!''


    She was screaming at the top of her lungs.


    ''... Let''s pray she stays like that for a couple of hours.''


    He took a nap for a while seated on the ground and leaning his body against the car door. The drowsiness could no longer be fought against. The loud screams and yells did not stop him from closing his eyes and drifting to sleep. Yet when he woke up an hour and a halfter, he raised a brow seeing her still crazily shouting the same lines over and over again.


    ''... No ''F*ck you, bastard Gu Cheng!'', ''I hope you die a eunuch, you a*shole,'' or anything like that?''


    Feng Ru ufortably shook her head, seemingly not liking the profanities. A van had just passed through her.


    Jiang Li sneered and clicked his tongue. This was the problem with someone raised to be sody-like. "She doesn''t even know any curse words. Is damn considered one? Tch. Tch. Her throat is amazing for persisting. A pity she doesn''t have a colorful vocabry."


    Feeling a bit refreshed, Jiang would have dly taught her some of the wonderful profanities he knew if not for a certain red-eyed female poltergeist sending him warning through her cold res. Annoyed, he snorted and decided to just let the woman be.


    ''Yeah. Why should I care more than this. It''s only been four days, but I better focused on the band and...''

 Chapter 71: Feng Ru (29)

    Chapter 71: Feng Ru (29)


    "Feng Ru, help her get into the car."


    When the girl fainted on the road from exhaustion or from drunkenness, Jiang Li didn''t make things difficult for himself and had the ghost possessed Na Yu''s body. Feng Ru almost turned berserk. For her, it was not funny being made to run errands. But Jiang Li stared at her quietly with eyes bloodshot fromck of sleep, therefore, she indignantly relented.


    The ghost controlled Na Yu''s body to hop into the car with awkward and stiff movements. He too climbed into the driver''s seat. After that, he didn''t drive off but instead pull up his phone to y some games and tire his eyes out. He convinced himself that it was because there was nowhere to go, and it would be troublesome to check into a hotel only to get embroiled in a misunderstanding once the other party woke up.


    ''Shouldn''t you drive her home?''


    He indifferently replied to Feng Ru, ''I don''t know her address, ''officially''. Troublesome too. Let her just sleep here. A lesson that she should not go drink wine again.''


    Five or so hourster, Na Yu woke up groggily. Jiang Li had taken another short sleep earlier, and woke up thirty minutes before her. While dumbfoundedly watching him y mobile games, she remembered everything she didst night. Looking at her red face and the smoke seeminglying out of her ears, Jiang Li sarcastically sneered. Although inwardly, he was feeling greatly amused.


    "Let''s pretend all of this never happened." After dropping that line to her, he exited the car which had stopped a street away from the dormitory.


    The woman blushing from embarrassment poked her head out of the car window, a hand covering her forehead. In a tiny voice, she said, "... Thanks and sorry."


    Jiang Li did not respond and very soon, he disappeared into the distance. By then, the sun was already starting to dye the sky red and the chirping of the birds was waking up the drowsy world.


    For some time, Na Yu was banging her head onto the dashboard, letting out some whimpering sounds and words of me. However, when she noticed a note stuck in between the two front seats and read what was written on it, she fell eerily silent.


    ''Did I tell him anythingst night?'' The girl squinted her eyes, subconsciously flipping the note.


    A couple of momentster, she once again went back to staring at his dorm''s direction with shock written all over her face.


    ...


    One and a half monthter...


    Half of the allotted time had passed. The plot somehow stagnated, most probably due to Feng Ru who hadn''t killed anybody since then. Good for her since there was also no way for the leads to connect the dots correctly. Now the ghost spent most of her time lurking around him and Na Yu.


    And the two leads'' rtionship with each other? Maybe they had be close already. Or maybe the blockhead Gu Feng had yet to realize Tang Lan''s affection for him. Jiang Li actually didn''t know. He was too busy to care.


    Through a dozen hit covers, the band sessfully got the attention of a rtively big recordbel and spent the past few weeks recording and practicing their originals. Using the fandom Pesticide''s cover had brought to life, Na Yu persuaded the higher-ups to stage a mini-concert for their debut tracks.


    Now here they were, at the backstage fixing their looks and attires. A corner of his lips rose up, twitching a bit.


    "Wow, He Chen!!! You have such great skin and facial features. Gosh, this great veteran makeup artist is telling you, you don''t actually need makeup!" bbered a slightly obese woman in her forties to Jiang Li in front of a mirror.


    "...If I don''t need that, why did you ambush me and almost chain me to this chair?"


    His question was ignored. The obese madam eximed while touching his face all over, "Don''t think too much about that. Look here! You made the correct decision to enter the industry! It''s a great sin to not share the world of your great looks! Even though I''ve been in the showbiz world for two decades and is used to seeing good-looking people, I am still in awe of your appearance. You should have debuted sooner!"


    Jiang Li stared at the brush in the woman''s hand. While he agreed his face could feed him, the behind the scene preparations were actually not something he could like.


    "... It''s not my fault that my band just chose to go official one and a half month ago. And I am a music student. Supposedly, I should be venturing this industry only after I graduate. What are you nning to apply to me by the way?" The man looked at his friends through the mirror and saw them ufortably receiving care from the other makeup artists too.


    To his question, Miss Liu, the one tending to him replied, "Don''t worry much, pretty boy. I know you guys are not as patient as girls. So I''m only applying a bit of foundation. Later, I''ll also apply a bit of blush, loose powder, some highlight, and a little eyeshadow! Aye, wait! Maybe some silver glitters on your neck, jaw, and right cheeks will add some twist. Magical twist!"


    She even pped as though she just came up with a very awesome idea. Her eyes shining like stars, a final product shing in her imagination. "Alright. It''s decided then. It will only take ten minutes and you will be good to go on stage!"


    "Uhhh, Miss Liu, I''m not a girl. Why do I have to have that much stuff in my face?"


    "Hush, don''t distract me. I have to focus on applying the moisturizer and cream."


    Jiang Li''s mad protest entered a deaf ear. Not long after, he was in the practice room, beingughed at by the other guys.


    "Haha, Brother He. My makeup artist said their chief, the one who handled you is quite weird. I didn''t know it''s to this extent!" Little Nianughingly poked at his cheek which had a few glitters sparkling conspicuously there like stars in a clear night sky.


    "He Chen." Even the usually stoic Cheng Duughed. "You really deserve to be our center. Oof!"


    Jiang Li gave them the evil re and everyone shut up, apart from Rascal Su.


    The guy with a fewyers of eyeliner replied to Cheng Du with a serious face, "Big Bro, our pretty boy is so good-looking. What should we do? Once the time to go on stagees, he''ll officially be feasted on by thousands of eyes! Maybe we have to ready ourselves now from girls wanting to kidnap him home, or guys wanting to murder him. It''s hard to know what extreme people could do!"


    When Na Yu came in with Nangong Xue and the Team Leader handling them, Su Xuefeng took that chance to free himself from Jiang Li''s suffocating headlock.


    "TL, Miss Na, how''s the situation there?" asked the nervous Xie Dn, pushing his eyesses up.


    The handsome middle-aged guy said, "See for yourself. Let''s go there now. The seats are full. They''re all waiting for you to make a fool of yourselves." Everyone there knew the tall man had a unique sense of humor so half of themughed and yed along.


    Led by the team leader, the members walked out of the room. Before walking down the corridor connected to the stage, the manager waited for everyone toe out, then said to thest person, "You look so amazing..."


    "Oh. Really?"


    Jiang Li looked at the nodding girl, not the least bit ttered. Perhaps he would have felt moved, if only she was not biting her lower lip and forcibly stopping herself fromughing.


    When she said, "You look... so amazingly pretty, even matrons and grannies will fall in love with you," his face darkened to the extreme. Only the muted system knows how much he wanted to speed up the plot again and have Feng Ru haunt this beautiful trouble who somehow had befortable making fun of him.

 Chapter 72: Feng Ru (30)

    Chapter 72: Feng Ru (30)


    West Aurora, in an apartment unit near the other university in the city.


    Two girls dressed in sleeveless shirts and short shorts could be seen huddling on the sofa, one of them squealing like a dying pig. The slightly fatter between the two held the tablet with one hand while her free hand kept pping her roommate.


    ''I''ll endure the damn fat hand for the sake of my husband,'' thought the aggrieved long-haired freckled girl, biting her lower lip but not moving her eyes away from the screen.


    "Aaaaahhh!!! It finally started!!!! Rou Rou!!!"


    The freckled face girl suppressed her excitement and fakedck of interest as she answered, "It''s just a few good-looking idols. You said the band you''ll introduce to me is just a newly debuted one. What are you being so excited for?"


    Jiang Rou was living in this apartment together with two more people. One of her housemates was the slightly fatty girl next to her.


    Recently both of them became fans of a band which hailed from the other university. However, while her friend openly broadcasted her fanaticism of those impossibly handsome guys, she, on the other hand, kept a low profile and even acted as if she could not understand why everyone around her was enamored with those pretty boys. Heck, she even told people she didn''t know the members!


    That''s how faithful she was in keeping her ''low-profile'' fan image!


    She even remarked with a contorted expression, "I don''t really understand why they are popr. True, they have an above-average face value. Still, I don''t understand."


    "Gosh, Rou Rou. Just keep watching and you''ll know why. Waaaahhhhhh, they''re so dreamy..."


    Jiang Rou faked scratching her hair in frustration. "What''s so dreamy with the name Pesticide? It sounds stupid! I''m suspecting the person who came up with that is from a family that runs a pest-control business."


    Tao Ping, the one holding the tablet, angrily pped Jiang Rou''s arm. "Hey, you mean girl! Don''t speak ill of their band name! It''s chosen by the cool blonde pianist, Su Xuefeng. But what''s important is that my dearest He Chen is its lead vocalist! Scorning anything about Pesticide equals scorning my dearest, I simply can''t allow you to continue!"


    "Tch. Whatever!"


    Jiang Rou clicked her tongue even though deep inside, the little her in her heart was jumping and screaming, ''Aaahhhh, my hubby''s the one who chose that cool name. He''s really super awesome! I''m so so so in love with him!''. Simply just like a real fan.


    She was an impossible person. What she felt was sometimespletely different from what she showed outwardly.


    As if a carnage urred inside the house, Tao Ping''s screams and the sounds of her hitting Jiang Rou''s back, arm, or shoulder echoed together with thetter''s coughing. Thetter once again faked being aggrieved, "Just because of that Pesticide you''ll murder your best friend?"


    It was so tiring controlling her cheeks muscle and lips so that her face wouldn''t show a crazy grin at the sight of a certain blonde rascal. Thank God her effort paid off. Though actually even if she let her teeth show, the collegedy next to her was too preupied to care. Too preupied with the blinding visuals disyed on her screen and the amazing music drowning her senses!


    "Knock! Knock! Knock!"


    ''Ah, ignore the damn door. My eyes can''t bear to part from my hubby''s glittering face,'' they both thought.


    However, the knocking noises rang several times, annoying the girls and disturbing their hearing. When the knob got twisted and the creaking of the door resounded, their eyes automatically turned to that direction. They watched as a beautiful face belonging to their other roommate''s cousin appeared from there.


    "Hello. Cousin said she will go homete and ask me to deliver this here." The woman who entered was Tang Lan. She marched into the living room and while receiving unfriendly gazes from her cousin''s normally caring friends, she dropped the bag of dried fishes on the table.


    "Did Ie at a bad time?" Tang Lan cautiously asked.


    Jiang Rou hurriedly buried her semi-murderous gaze somewhere and cleared her throat, "Not really. Anyway, thanks for dropping by."


    Meanwhile, Tao Ping narrowed her eyes. A secondter, remembering something crucial, thetter''s eyes brightened. "Xiao Lan, you''re from Aurora University, right? Are you a ssmate of He Chen, the vocalist of the band Pesticide?"


    Immediately, difort showed on Tang Lan''s face. Why was that ex of her suddenly mentioned by somebody from another university? "If it''s the He Chen that I know, Sis Ping, sorry, no. We''re from different departments."


    Tang Lan was very busy juggling between her studies, writing, internship and love life. It was already amazing she knew her ex''s band''s weird name and that they were skyrocketing in fame. But regarding them being signed artists and reaching the point of releasing their own songs, the information did not reach her yet.


    "A pity then." The fatter of the two pouted. "Hey, since you two are still from the same university, can you help me get He Chen''s signature? Pretty please! I''m a die-hard fan of him!"


    Tang Lan was taken aback by the stubby paw that suddenly grabbed hers. "This..."


    "You''ll help me, right?"


    ''Why would I?'' The female lead felt irritated inside, yet had no choice but say, "O-okay. I''ll try."


    Tao Ping''s eyes almost disappeared as sheughed, "Thanks, girl! I forgive you now for disrupting me from watching He Chen''s singing!"


    ''My cousin''s housemates are weird.''


    Tang Lan felt that the other''s smile was too blinding so she looked down. She also did that to hide her spasming cheeks and stiff smile. As a result, her eyesnded in the screen frozen at her ex''s handsome face.


    Aside from the surprise, something foreign flickered in her heart seeing He Chen''s serious expression in front of the camera. Her eyes got glued to it and her mind subconsciously recorded every detail of the beautiful image, especially his eyes gleaming like the silver glitters scattered sparsely on the half of his face and neck.


    ''So handsome...''


    ''Has he always been like this? Has my previous dislike of him made me unable to see anything good from him so I''m only discovering how charismatic and handsome he could be thiste?''


    ''No no no. Tang Lan, you''re a popr web novelist! Get a grip of yourself! A person''s eyes should only hold one individual. Gu Feng is the most good-looking and the best for you!''


    A secondter, the woman sessfully recovered from her stupor. Then again, it was hard to tell if it was a better result since she got downhearted remembering how ambiguous her rtionship with that cold handsome policeman was.


    ...


    Pesticide''s fandom grew to a staggering number, more or less a million if roughly estimated.


    For a band who had yet to debut, it was almost an impossible feat, unless backed by major recordingbel. However, for He Chen and the rest, all they had before signing an exclusive contract was their faces and their covers'' aplishments. The rest of the publicity was done by Na Yu, with some asional help from her friend and Aurora University''s admin.


    In short, minus Jiang Li''s secret maniption to maintain the average view counts of their videos, their sudden skyrocketing to fame was actually very shocking!


    "It''s hard not to feel emotional..." Several minutes after the performance, Cheng Du told the other four. He was wiping the beads of sweat on his face.


    While cleaning his eyesses'' lenses using a handkerchief, Xie Dn replied, "Yeah. It''s unbelievable. I never imagined that in just less than two months we can release an album of our own. I thought we would have to invest at least a few more months in this before gaining enough poprity."


    "I wonder if what you said can be summarized as ''we don''t have to worry about graduating anymore''..."


    Nian Xiwen tapped theughing guy on the shoulder.


    "Oh please, Rascal Su. That fat prof will dly hand over your diploma after this day. Given the number of fans who attended our stage performance, I doubt we won''t be eligible for that radio award."


    Na Yu, the manager who had be familiar to both her job and her talents, walked into the break room inside thepany building''s second floor. She was holding a notebook. After taking her seat she gave each present member a nce. He Chen was not around which made her expression soured. It didn''t take long for her to recover her calm though. After teasing the boys a bit and keeping them in suspense, she broke into a beautiful smile and announced that their title track entered the top ten of all major rankings in the country.


    "Where''s He Chen?" The rest of the gang were busy jumping,ughing, and hugging each other, so she approached Nangong Xue. The girl was also around since the rehearsals until they went back to thepany.


    "He went out through the other door a couple of minutes ago. He said he needs to take a phone call."


    "Oh. Thanks for informing me."


    "Haha. Small matter. By the way, are we allowed to go home already? Or is there going to be a celebration?"


    Na Yu shook her head. "It''s quitete and there''s a meeting with the team leader tomorrow so I requested an early leave."


    Nangong Xue giggled. "Wow, a meeting. The higher-ups must be considering this as a sess already. But I have a hunch their songs will not just settle for top ten."


    "Come what may. We''ve done our part so leave the rest to the capable people from the marketing and PR side."


    Once done saying that, she left her friend and headed to the backdoor. Since the man had a striking presence, even in the darkness she didn''t have any difficulty locating him.


    There he was at the lowest step of the stairs. He held his phone against his right ear and spoke in a low tone. The gentleness in his voice was so foreign yet captivating for her. A pity the conversation was already at its end since she could hear him saying his goodbye to whoever was on the other line.


    ''The one who called must be his family,'' she concluded, her silent steps stopping a step above where he was sitting.


    He Chen hung up the call then stared at his phone''s LCD. The young man hadn''t noticed her presence behind him yet. From her angle, Na Yu saw an FB message came in which he promptly clicked. It was not her intention, but since she could see everything, she identally read the text.


    ''This message asking for a meetup came from someone named Tang Lan. I remember it was the girl he tried to win back for a whole year. Don''t tell me just because that girl texted him, he''d really go and meet her?''


    A few secondster, he fiddled with his phone and then pocketed it. As she watched him stand up and walk away, her forehead creased. She hated the inexplicable feeling that rose from within her so as if possessed by a ghost, she took a deep breath and quietly followed after him...

 Chapter 73: Feng Ru (31)

    Chapter 73: Feng Ru (31)


    Being bothered for an autograph was so annoying so Tang Lan chose to free herself from this promise through the simplest means that she could think of.


    ''... We''ve been together for quite a while and after that, He Chen still courted me fervently for a year. How can it be so easy to erase all his feelings for me in just one and a half month? I simply don''t believe it.''


    Thinking of this and remembering that cold guy who kept brushing off her signals advances, she identally blurted out to her cousin''s housemates that he was her boyfriend, iming her past rtionship with He Chen as their present. Although thrilled by her revtion, Tao Ping, the slightly fat girl, who had a brief episode of sadness, immediately came to her senses and then refused to acknowledge it without a proof.


    Of course, there was a proof. A solid one at that. Unfortunately, their sole picture Tang Lan had not deleted from her phone''s gallery was not enough to shut the fanatic up.


    Headache got into Tang Lan as she remembered the woman pointing a finger and shouting at her, ''I don''t believe it!!! That picture must be photoshopped! You yourself said earlier, the two of you are not from the same department. How could you be his girlfriend?! No! I don''t believe it!!!''


    ''... What''s impossible about it? We''re from the same university.''


    ''So what? Even if you are indeed more beautiful and talented than me, without bringing him to us, I won''t believe that you are his girlfriend!!!''


    As a perceptive girl, how could the cunning glint on that fatty''s eyes escaped her notice? Then again, even if she did notice it, so what? In the end, she did fall for that simple provocation and sent that message. She told him to meet up with her. Once he arrived, she''d make him sign and hand over the autograph himself.


    Anyway, she simply doesn''t believe He Chen wouldn''te. He was her symbol of vanity, the most persistent suitor and ex she ever had. Remembering all his efforts in the past two years, with the time they spent as a couple included, she could feel her heart and ego floating up the skies.


    No matter how women phrasedand feign nonchnce, their suitors and the effort they put into winning their hearts would always be their invisible trophy. A symbol of superiority towards the other women.


    Tang Lan, the frustrated female lead had her ego wounded badly by Gu Feng''s little sister treatment sister of hers so she wanted to uplift her mood a bit through He Chen. The woman didn''t have any romantic thoughts toward him but it didn''t stop her from thinking it would be okay to use him at times like this. The staggering number of gifts, songs, love letters, and meal invitations she received from the past made her forget He Chen was a human too, with pride and ego.


    In her mind, he was only rebelling. That he was still head over heels for her.


    ''I''m sure he wille. I bet he''s even anxious toe. After all, I also informed Aunt He...''


    She took a deep breath and looked at the huge wall clock on her right side. It was now past 9 pm. She looked around stealthily for a while, marveling a bit at the luxurious interior of the Western restaurant where Jiang Rou, the other housemate, brought the three of them. She - Tang Lan, Tao Ping, and her cousin Tang Ya.


    "Sis Rou, I didn''t know you''re frequenting such a nice ce," her cousin eximed to the freckled woman.


    "Ya Ya, I''m not really frequently here. But that chubby friend of ours demanded we go to a high-ss ce to meet her idol." Acting like she didn''t care much, Jiang Rou indifferently replied.


    Tang Lan observed her for some time. ''Her voice and face suggest she''s really bored and seemingly forced toe. But her eyes gleamed of... hope?''


    What could make someone harbored hope. What could it be other than expectations? Tang Lan didn''t know that it was just Jiang Rou dreaming of He Chen, Tang Lan''s ''boyfriend'', bringing his whole band to meet with them. If that were to happen...


    ''Gosh, I may meet him!!! My hubby, Su Xuefeng!!! Waahhhh! It''s really a good idea to dress up and open my newly bought expensive make-up kit!''


    Tang Lan was not aware the one she just observed was thinking of this. Her thoughts wandered again to Gu Feng.


    ''... Little sister, huh?'' That''s what Gu Feng told her this afternoon when she went to the station. That''s also where she ran into her cousin who asked her the most troublesome favor ever.


    Why was he pretending he didn''t see how much she likes him?


    Tang Lan was from a not so well-off family and had seen so much drama between her parents that she became starved of love. This was the reason why when she fell in love with someone, she immediately wanted them to be together, for that love to be reciprocated.


    When this did not happen, though she didn''t n to give up, she also couldn''t do anything against her wounded pride. All women wanted to feel wanted. When she was reminded of that person who selflessly made her feel this, her impulsiveness and momentary anger for Gu Feng caused her to say that she was dating He Chen.


    Tao Ping''s impatient voice rang to drag her out of her thoughts. "Hey, Miss Famous Author Who Is Also Secretly Dating A Hot Celebrity, when is heing?"


    The female lead hid her nervousness and gave the woman seated opposite her a small smile, "In a few minutes. Don''t be impatient, Sister Ping, he''ll surelye."


    "Really?" It became very obvious how much Tao Ping idolized her ex. That high-pitched toneced with undisguised happiness made Tang Lan feel ufortable.


    ''Look at this. She easily believed me and even started checking herself out in herpact mirror.''


    "Little Lan, when did you and him started dating? Is he the one you''ve been with two years ago?"


    "Yeah," she curtly replied.


    Tang Ya knitted her brows a bit, "I thought you and him broke up a year after. I remember you telling me he couldn''t make your heart flinch or cause you to have butterflies in your stomach. So you broke up with him."


    The female lead felt annoyance. She hated being stared at with suspicion. "I''m not made of stone. He Chen courted me for another year so I epted him again."


    Hearing the pride echoing from her voice as she narrated everything He Chen did for her, the threedies believed her. Their hearts drowned in envy. Why couldn''t they find someone like him who would deify them and sweep them off their feet to make them feel what a fulfilling love life was? Why was Tang Lan so lucky to have He Chen?


    Tang Lan took in their jealousy-filled nces. Her ego had be so bloated upon being mistaken for a celebrity''s lover. She forgot it was her who repeatedly broke He Chen''s heart and that she was supposed to be in love with Gu Feng, the male lead...

 Chapter 74: Feng Ru (32)

    Chapter 74: Feng Ru (32)


    None of them knew, while the year of courtship after the breakup was real, the two getting back together was only in Tang Lan''s imagination, a ploy to show off. And if chance would be given, to make the one she truly loved drowning in jealousy.


    Tao Ping pouted. "You''re so lucky You''re not only sessful in your hidden career, you also have a colorful love life."


    Laughingly, Tang Lan said, "Don''t worry, Sis Ping. I believe in fate and that everyone has a fated person meant for him or her. I''m sure yours will arrive at the most ideal moment and ce. Given our current age now, it''s just a matter of time. Believe me. The wait will be worth it once ''he'' arrives in your life."


    ''Sure. Easy for you to say, b*tch! Why don''t you hand over my husband He Chen to me?'' The fat woman resentfully thought to herself.


    "What a sweet mouth you have there. I bet this is how your writing won you so many readers and awards." Jiang Rou put down her phone and giggled.


    The female lead''s cousin suddenly tilted her head, looking at the entrance''s direction. "I think I saw a person who looks like He Chen entering."


    Tang Lan''s heart jumped, head automatically swinging to the right. He Chen was indeed there, walking towards them.


    For a moment, Tang Lan forgot about her heart hurting from being broken into pieces by Gu Feng''s indifference earlier. In her eyes, there was only the singer''s calm and unreadable face glittering a bit with silver as light fell upon his wless skin. His walking posture was so unlike what she could recall in mind.


    When did he be so elegant in both movements and look? Why does he seemed like an old rich''s heir instead of some poor vigers'' son?


    ''Is he really He Chen?''


    "He Chen!!! It''s Pesticide''s He Chen!" The fat girl''s fists pounding the table in extreme excitement woke her up from her stupor.


    ''I must have him coordinate with me.'' She stood up and strode forward to intercept him, her eyes gleaming with rm and determination. Behind her, the girls were shrieking, ''Aaahh, He Chen''s really with Little Lan. Whyyyyyyyyyyy?! I can''t take it anymore! I wanna die!'' The nervous Tang Lan ignored those loud and dramatic voices.


    "You''re here..." Her voice trailed off weakly after receiving a re from him. Actually, she didn''t know if it was only her imagination, but she felt like there was also another person ring daggers at her from an unknown corner.


    Jiang Li looked behind Tang Lan and noticed three people watching them. His eyes briefly scanned the ce to search his favorite toys before his lips curled into a captivating smile. A captivating smile with subtle hint of sarcasm and danger.


    "Just to make mee here, you told my mom to request this to me and make her believe we have gotten back together?"


    ''Wanting to use me so desperately, eh?''


    Jiang Li made up his mind to teach this damnable female lead a lesson real good tonight. While it was easy for him to just deny Mother He''s request given that he was not truly his mother, it didn''t sit well with him that Tang Lan bothered his family just for this freakin'' reason. Just who does she think she was?


    Tang Lan ignored his re and his question. She approached him so she could whisper, "He Chen, just do me a favor and I''ll let you be my boyfriend again."


    She said this in a hurry, but since there was a smile on her face, those who saw them so close like this squealed from either excitement or jealousy. Two beautiful people being in such an intimate distance. Of course, they did not only elicit gazes from Tang Lan''s table.


    He Chen was a celebrity.


    Many from the onlookers recognized him but hesitated to approach since the man was seemingly having a private conversation with a woman. They made themselves content of watching his literally shining face from the distance. Not few thought, it was for the best since if even his presence there could make girls faint, what more if he allowed them to get close and have his autograph?


    Amidst everyone''s curious and envious nces, Tang Lan maintained her smile even though deep inside she disliked not seeing any other reaction from him. She hated being made nervous like this before a crowd.


    Wasn''t he supposed to jump in joy right now for being given another chance?


    He didn''t reply. Instead he only smiled politely at herpanions, rendering each of them furiously blushing.


    He then looked at the female lead, doing his best to hide his distaste and disdain. "You want me to join youdies for ate dinner, right?"


    Tang Lan braved linking arms with He Chen under the scrutinizing eyes of her friends. "Yes. Just for tonight. Don''t say anything inappropriate, or else, the deal is off!"


    ''Where did she get this borderless arrogance?'' Jiang Li threw her a freezing nce. Laughing with suppressed craziness, he replied, "... I hope you''ll enjoy tonight''s dinner with ''us''... Remember it''s you who ask for it."


    The woman suddenly had a bad premonition when her ex smiled with undisguised sarcasm and rage in it. Five breathtaking people emerged from the entrance - four boys and one girl. Minus thest one, all the boys looked at her with murderous intent and made her hold her breath for a while, her pupils dting.


    ''Oh no! It''s his damnable circle of friends!"


    "HEY, TANG LAN!!!" Rascal Su''s thunderous voice rang throughout the whole floor, echoing a deadly tune to the female lead''s ears.


    "Aaahh!!! It''s Pesticide! That hot band that just officially debuted a few hours ago!"


    "It''s my baby-faced hubby!!!"


    "I saw the handsome face and heard the melodious voice of their pianist... Alright, I can''t ever marry and rest in peace now..."


    "I knew it!!! That damnably hot guy with is my husband! He Chen!!!"


    She could no longer pay attention to the fanatics'' shriekings and screams, too dumbfounded by the five people that were now behind He Chen.


    Tang Lan clenched her fists and robotically turned her head to her ex'' devilishly handsome face. "You!!! Why are they here?!"


    "I think it''s my manager who got worried about me. So she brought my gang along. Anyway, we coincidentally need to celebrate and them being here is just a coincidence. There is no problem with that, right?"


    ''This is no problempare to what you''ll experienceter... Even a pig has a bottom line, witch!''


    Cheng Du was the oldest and most perceptive of them all, so when he saw the table which had a girl resembling his brother''s ex, he immediately realized what''s happening and brought the others there.


    Rascal Su arrogantly strode over and loudly hit the table with his palm , "Tang Lan, how dare you only invite Brother He? What are we, his bros, in your eyes, huh? Are you mistaking us for bunnies that you can bully or not give a damn for if you like? As punishment, we''ll be sharing this table with you!"


    The dazed Jiang Rou blinked repeatedly at Su Xuefeng. "N-No problem. P-please join us for dinner. I-It''s on me."


    "Yes, yes. It''s definitely no problem!" Tang Ya seconded.


    When the female lead swept her eyes around, she cursed under her breath. Thete supper had yet to start, yet she already felt so humiliated so much that she wanted to kill herself and He Chen.


    Why did he have to bring these crazy bunch? Cheng Du and the rest knew their real inside story. But the difference between them and He Chen was that He Chen could be led around the nose while these people wouldn''t give a damn about giving her face! All of them were obviously angry at her and would be more than willing to kill her social life before so many people!


    "He Chen, made them go away!!!" She hysterically ordered with gritted teeth, acting like a real toxic girlfriend throwing tantrums.


    ''Send them away? Impossible!''


    The man ignored like her like how she conveniently ignored his question about her involvement of Mother He earlier....

 Chapter 75: Feng Ru (33)

    Chapter 75: Feng Ru (33)


    Jiang Li took a seat and then looked at Tang Lan.


    At that moment, she finally noticed that his gaze contained despise, the kind that human would always give to a lowly bug. Emotionless. Cold. Unfeeling. Full of disgust. That greatly bothered her and made her livid. Yet at the same, it put her at a loss.


    ''Why is he being like this? ... No way... I, I must be hallucinating... There is no way that He Chen will look at me like that... No way! No way! No freakin'' way!'' She secretly shook her head, trying to convince herself.


    After this, Tang Lan once again became angry. She was used to seeing him looked at her as if she was his whole world. When she realized that it was no longer the case, it was hard for her to ept it. Not this time when Gu Feng had just lowered her self-esteem by half. Her cousin and friends were also nearby. She wouldn''t want to bear shame while also feeling downhearted!


    ''He must be acting! This annoying guy! Why is he always giving me trouble?!'' For a mystery-thriller writer whose forte was logic and facts, the female lead had a severe case of narcissism and weird way of thinking that impedes her from applying her strong point in real life. It was simply a mystery.


    The other boys at the table had no expression on their faces, busy guessing the exact situation. Having a hunch was not enough. They could see that their brother was not in the best mood and it was surely not simply for being made toe here. What did the b*tch do then?


    ''Brother He is obviously mad.''


    Na Yu had something else in mind. Before, she thought the aplishment of their university''s beautiful mystery-thriller was quite admirable for their level and age. But now that she encountered the woman in person, despite knowing the other''s exploits, it was simply hard not to feel dislike towards her. What did He Chen see and like about her anyway? Though she knew she was in no position to judge since she was also previously head over heels for a stupid closet sher, she couldn''t stop the thoughts from popping up.


    ''I''m prettier than her. Her writing skill is okay. But it''s not as rare as my photographic memory. She''s not that great in my eyes.''


    ''Then again, while she has made a fool out of herselfst time... Is it more embarrassing than having suicide records? In other words, I have done something way more foolish...''


    ''Wait... Why am Iparing myself to her? Something''s wrong with me.'' Na Yu stared nkly at the table''s elegant patterns.


    "Sit down, Tang Lan. Don''t mind my bandmates. After all, I don''t mind dining with your friends. You can''t possibly be thinking of starving Pesticide''s members, right? I''m afraid you''ll get into the newspapers faster that way, bing more popr than me," said Jiang Li who was sitting in front of the female lead, his arms crossed over his chest.


    Catching the hesitation on her face, Xie Dn sneered and pushed his eyesses up. "Bro, seems like your ex doesn''t want to."


    Tao Ping, the second most jealous of Tang Lan in the ce for being her idol''s ''girlfriend'', eximed loudly and questioningly, "Ex?!"


    Tang Lan couldn''t stand the doubt-filled nces. She awkwardly chuckled while hurriedly exining, "It''s probably just him joking. He doesn''t know I and He Chen had already made up."


    ''Catch my signals, He Chen!''


    Jiang Liughed at her half-pleading, half-warning gaze. Instead of answering, he chose to evade the questioning nces. He called the waiter and ordered food. The manner he did it was so smooth the manager who became aware of his real background through some asional talks with the band began to doubt if he was really a farmer''s son.


    Those not from well-off backgrounds would usually appear intimidated at this kind of ce. If he could act like this, was he just pretending he couldn''t see the four digits prices next to the dishes or he was actually frequently dining at expensive restaurants like this?


    Tang Lan''s friends did not think much of it and just assumed he was from a prestigious family.


    Weren''t most impossibly good-looking artists like that?


    They were from a rich-old-fashioned n who disliked drama and showbiz so they had to run away and do stuff without any support from their supposed backer. The story would then be dramatic and awe-inspiring once it was revealed how they only counted on their own effort, talent, and looks to persevere through the hardships and achieve stardom.


    ''He Chen''s looks, skin, and mannerisms are so marvelous. Why am I not his Cindere?'' Tao Ping once again burned in jealousy.


    As for the supposed Cindere of the ''runaway prince'', she was busy sighing in relief to notice her cousin''s roommate''s reaction. She was thus unaware the naive and easily-led-around-the-nose He Chen had almost nned to first fatten her up, and make her think that she was really floating towards the sky for being a celebrity''s girlfriend. Fly higher. And higher. And higher. Feel the air and the clouds. Soar more. So she''ll turn into unrecognizable mess once she falls from the skies!


    At first, the table was filled with conversation. It started when Jiang Rou suddenly talked to Su Xuefeng, then Tang Ya and Tao Ping did the rest to the other members. The band members were confident with themselves and was quite used to interacting with fans and admirers so they did their part and asionally answered the questions thrown at them.


    However, they were not that enthusiastic. They would never forget that they were people Tang Lan brought over.


    "Food''s here, let''s eat." It was Tang Lan who spoke, trying to ease the awkward atmosphere. She had not said anything ever since. Yet her attempt immediately elicited discontent from all the boys apart from the ever-smiling He Chen.


    "My dear Lord, things are still bearable earlier..." Little Nianined. "What the heck! The air suddenly became so suffocating!"


    "Yeah. I feel like suddenly throwing up when I hear a certain shameless someone speaking. Why didn''t that shameless one continue shutting her mouth up. Damn!" Rascal Su immediately said next.


    Cheng Du and Xie Dn didn''t forget to add their snide remarks and sneers.


    ''What''s happening here?'' The cousin was very puzzled. As for the other two, they were smarter to figure that He Chen''s friends didn''t like Tang Lan. In fact, it was not the normal type of dislike. It was as if the girl did something very unforgivable enough for them to forget that she was a member of the opposite sex who should be treated with at least the minimum amount of respect.


    ''This is why I know them being here means trouble!'' Tang Lan''s face turned dark and she signaled He Chen to do something about his gang or at least say something to divert their attention.


    ''You wish!'' She received a silent treatment from her ''boyfriend''.


    When Jiang Li joined the conversation, he treated Tang Lan as air,ughing with everyone but her. Seeing that she was approaching her limit, he excused himself first for the restroom. At the hallway, a corner of his lips rose after seeing her leave her seat too, saying she needs to retouch her makeup.


    ''A liar left those who know her lies with those who don''t?''


    Given his faith in his gang, Jiang Li didn''t have to guess what would happen.


    As for him, he realized, he was not patient enough to wait for her damnable ego to be so bloated. Waiting for her to rise to the skies then fall to the ground was not easy.. Especially when he knew it was very doable to just push her downright from earth to hell and have her not rise fromthere ever again...

 Chapter 76: Feng Ru (34)

    Chapter 76: Feng Ru (34)


    ''A liar left those who know her lies with those who don''t?''


    Jiang Li didn''t have to guess what would happen next.


    He had full confidence in his friends. They would surely expose Tang Lan. Cheng Du or Xie Dn might even ask the girls to pretend they still didn''t know. Then once the female lead goes back after realizing her blunder, she''d sigh in relief and only scold herself a little for being absent-minded. After that, she''d secretly thank the heavens that his ''boyfriend''s friends'' had sharp tongue but dull minds.


    ''If I''m only patient, I''d let her run out dering I''m her boyfriend and allow her to pull off the jealousy y with Gu Feng, the male lead. I''ll then wait for some time before having an insider from the university reveal her lies or sue her for libel and spreading false rumors about a celebrity. Her friends will either betray her or look at her differently. Her social life would then be impacted negatively. But that''s it. Not destroyed. Her female lead halo will surely let her bounce back after.''


    ''I''d definitely hate to that oue. Also, I''m not that patient.''


    Jiang Li raised his head. He was leaning against the wall opposite the female restroom.


    Tang Lan almost jumped in shock when she saw him there.


    "He Chen!" She eximed. A secondter, she angrily snarled. "Why are you here acting like a damn creep?!"


    ''Coz I want to, why not?'' He said to himself with mild irritation.


    "Is it fun lying to my innocent mom and having her pass your message to me when I ignored yours?" His arms crossed, he immediately asked the question that made him seethe in rage for quite a while now.


    The Original was actually the main culprit for not informing Mother He that he had long broken up with this woman. He was impacted since the memory about it had just popped up on his mind. But still, the main problem was how this female lead wanted to use his status and fame to boost her ego wounded by the male lead''s rejection.


    On how he knew thest part? It was because, after theirst rehearsal, he identally ''checked'' the two leads'' conversation on FB and read Tang Lan persistently asking Gu Feng why he kept saying he only sees her as a friend and a little sister.


    The woman''s face showed discontent. "Those fangirls wanted to meet you. I was dared by them. I just have no choice since you''re ignoring my messages. Such a small favor, what''s the big deal about it?"


    She felt wronged. In her mind, she was the victim of the circumstances.


    "Dared? No choice?"


    What a vague and misleading answer. If he was the real He Chen, the guy would surely mistake it for her friends pressuring her to invite him over. But...


    "How did they know you are rted to me?" He asked.


    Without evading his gaze, she answered, "My cousin told them. She thought we are still together and identally brought up the matter when they saw her dormmates watching your band''s video. There is aplicated reason behind it but the gist is, I have to help her make a good impression on her dormmates. That Jiang Rou, the skinny one, is the daughter of my cousin''s employer."


    Thest part was true, but everything else was not. She would never admit it was her who had a slip of a tongue and imed she was a popr band''s vocalist''s girlfriend.


    Tang Lan gave a vague answer knowing He Chen would take the initiative to fill in the rest of the nks for her. Unfortunately, while she was correct, she didn''t know the one in front of her only had that foolish'' man''s appearance, but with a different soul inside.


    Jiang Liughed. This time, he had confirmed this female lead was used to lying. Actually, she had long been used to making excuses since, in his memories, the woman always had many reasons to refuse ''his'' requests for a date, or even simple ones like holding hands.


    Tang Lan always wanted to receive, but not give back. The problem with the Original was that he tolerated this woman and gave his everything without receiving anything in return.


    "In the end, I never get a good exnation why you have to lie to my mom and have me involve in this."


    She wrinkled her small nose. "Just stop asking questions and being fussy, He Chen. It should be asking you, why didn''t you say anything earlier when your friends are humiliating me? Do you know how embarrassed I felt when you didn''t stand up for me?"


    "Why would I speak up for you?"His tone was so low and his eyes unreadable.


    "... I already said I''ll be your girlfriend again." Tang Lan didn''t understand what''s so hard toprehend about it. Wasn''t this what he wanted for so long? The woman forgot this matter was concluded half a month ago and that he was now trying to move on from her.


    ''Look at this...'' The response he received made him cover his face and cackle.


    Time was running out. Those at the table would surely begin to wonder why they were still not back. Because of this, Jiang Li decided it would be sheer stupidity to let her torture him more with her outrageous nonsense.


    He gave the female lead a cold nce and then suddenly dashed towards her.


    "H-hey, what are you do---?!" The surprised woman widened her eyes at the closed fist that suddenly descended to her. A secondter, waves of pain registered in her brain. It was unbelievable. But He Chen actually dared to punch her in the stomach!


    "Uggggghhhh!" She whimpered in pain, her body dropping weakly on the ground, apanied by a loud thud.


    "To be honest, I''ve been itching to do this ever since you caused me to get scolded me for neglecting a woman pretending to be my lover."


    With her face contorted, she cursed, "He Chen! Y-you''re crazy!"


    The man he called crazy expressionlessly kicked her stomach area again. The strength he put on that leg made her fly back into the restroom. He followed her inside and checked if there was no one inside. That was his only worry since the outside of the ce was safe from prying eyes.


    "Y-you!" The girl had a frightened face put on after recovering from the blow. She saw him lock the whole ce. "B-beast! What are you nning to do!?" Her trembling eyes were so wide and she was badly stuttering.


    Think about it. A man assaulted the woman he previously liked and locked the two of them inside an empty restroom. What other conclusions would the woman have apart from ''that''?


    ''Weapon, I must find a weapon.'' Enduring the pain, her eyes busily swam around. She bit her lips when she found the expressionless man approaching her, feeling helpless since there was nothing to grab at the corner where she was.


    "H-HELP! HELP!" Tang Lan who was shivering as she clutched on her abdomen almost stered herself on the wall.


    "No one will help you, sorry." Like a bad guy that he was, Jiang Liughingly replied.


    "STAY AWAY FROM ME! STAY AWAY! YOU BEAST, DON''T COME NEAR ME! AAAAHHHHH!"


    She was really scared by his sudden acts of violence and the unnerving expression on his handsome face. He looked like a devil! He wanted to sully her! He wanted to take revenge against her and make her life a living hell! As a female lead, whose name would she shout apart from the male lead''s?


    "GU FENGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG!!!"


    Jiang Li indifferently strode towards her who kept backing away from him.


    "Oh? That police officer? Sorry, he''s in a night patrol again today. Unfortunately, his area of jurisdiction is five miles from him. Even if you have the best vocal cords in the world, your voice won''t still reach him. Unless the two of you are connected telepathically."


    Deafened by the loud drumming sounds inside her chest, Tang Lan did not hear him and thus didn''t realize how weird it was for him to know about the male lead''s schedule and location. She resumed shouting, "HELP!!! RAPE!!! RAPE!!! AAAAHHHHHH!"


    The man who had long decided to shed his gentleman facade got annoyed. Was she still conscious because she was the favored daughter of heaven? Her mouth was so damnably loud! Thinking of this, he raised his palm in the air to deliver a chop on her nape.


    When she lost consciousness, he scoffed, "Finally some peace.I felt stupid for not just doing this right off the bat. I would have saved my brain from overworking trying to understand how the brain of an egoistic woman works."


    Tang Lan fell on the ground in an unsightly posture. There were tears dangling on her long eyshes and her pale face devoid of blood looked so pitiful. However, she actually doesn''t deserve pity.


    For Jiang Li, it was okay using violence against her for she was not human. Apart from her lying to his mom and her many instances of acting b*tchy earlier, this damnable female lead hides something nastier behind her normal, author genius exterior.


    Were her offensive words or harsh treatment of He Chen enough of a reason? No!


    If he was topare her to anybody from the previous world, then it would be that ''golden bachelor scum'' Cheng Yijun.


    In actuality, he didn''t mind letting this person run around freely for a while despite knowing all her disgusting secrets. Just who would have thought she''ll suddenly provoke him?


    Does she know? He hated women who think they were entitled to treat some men as their spare tires. He hated being reminded of that b*tch that did the same to him in his original world.


    ''I forgot to tell her, even the previous world''s leads who basically have no contact with me are almost driven mad and destroyed by me. Now, what should I do with a pest-like woman like her?''


    "Feng Ru, I just remembered. That policeman Gu Feng used to be interested in Na Yu due to that case of a ghost possession. This vile woman wants to be his subject of interest too. Let''s help her, okay?"


    "..."


    Jiang Li showed a very wide smile, seeing the body lying sprawled on the tiled floor slowly rising.


    Now it was revealed why he used violence against the female lead. Of course, he despised her, so much that if it not for knowing the world would not let him, he would have just killed her. Sadly if he attempted this, he would only end up wasting energy. Because of this, he just beat her up until she fainted.


    This was his goal from the start, to make it easier for the viiness to possess Tang Lan''s body!

 Chapter 77: Feng Ru (35)

    Chapter 77: Feng Ru (35)


    If Jiang Li''s hunch was correct and the worlds he had to travel to were actually products of human imagination - books, movies, illustrated stories... then he could just say that the author or creator of this world was downright sick in the head.


    Tang Lan was a good author and her forte was writing mysteries. However, unlike the other authors in the same genre who produced works through working closely with the police and detectives, or studying Sherlock Holmes and Conan, her method of drawing inspiration was quite extreme and unconventional.


    She was known as a genius not because her protagonists excelled through being admirably smart and astute to details! But because she gave more focused on her final bosses. The attention she paid to those viins was greater than anything in her novel. To how she did that... The answer was simple. She yed their part in real life. In short, the female lead was a real-life psycho!


    Just what kind of world would let someone like that be a female protagonist?!


    "One of her earliest works, Romantic ughter, is based on a mastermind killer who manipted three close friends into cutting each other''s throat. The winner of this sick game is then made to wallow in depression after knowing that even if she won, her family was still poisoned to death... Her name, if I remember correctly, is Yang Sisi." Jiang Li read a part of the files hepiled and kept in his phone.


    Feng Ru only possessed the female lead after being told of that. Jiang Li exined more, emphasizing that was already one of Tang Lan''s most lenient works... But anyway, the important part was that in Feng Ru''s rage, she voluntarily asked Jiang Li for ideas and didn''t protest when asked to possess someone not a suicidal somebody.


    A few minutester... Tang Ya, the female lead''s cousin gaped at Tang Lan who suddenly appeared so weirdly before them. Her gait was so unnatural and imbnced. And when music yed from somewhere, the girl suddenly stretched her arms, waist, and legs into several directions and made a pose. Which was that of a ballerina''s!


    ''What the hell happened to my cousin?''


    A beautiful collegedy suddenly performed stunt-like moves at the center of the restaurant, changing poses every three seconds... It was just hard not to pique people''s interest. Yet just when everyone thought it would simply stop at being aughable show, thisdy suddenly started screaming and running around like a madwoman! Not only that. She started beating people up randomly!


    "Hahahahahahahahahhahaha!" Theughter Tang Lan let out seemed toe from the underworld, simply hair-raising, especially when apanied by sounds of bones breaking and people moaning in pain.


    "W-wait! Go away from me, you freak!!! Help!!!"


    "Son of a b*cth! Not my hair!!!"


    "AAAHHHHH! Hubby! She pped me! That b*tch, pped me! Kill her for meeeee!"


    Everyone from her table stood up from their seat. But while Tang Ya and her friends remained sporting a shocked look on their faces, Pesticide''s members beganughing and recording. They looked like bastards for doing so, but thankfully everybody''s attention was on Tang Lan.


    "Hehe, this is real karma, my bros!" Su Xuefeng whistled when Tang Lan kicked a baldie dressed up like apany''s executive.


    "Haha. Thought so too! I hate her guts before, but now I like it!" Little Nian eximed after downing a ss of water.


    In front, a bodyguard standing by a VIP lunged forward at her to apprehend her. The burly man was obviously a professional. Yet through some unknown set of movements, Tang Lan managed to evade him, mming the face of the nearby screaming madam on the tabletop.


    Xie Dn''s fingers holding the DSLR flinched. "... Ouch."


    "I don''t know what happened to her. But I like seeing the bitch beating up those she should not. Hehe. I wonder how she''d react once she realized what she did. For your information... That one is the city mayor. And the girl whose hair she just pulled is allegedly a famous CEO''s pet. She also just kicked a popr socialite''s face... That sobbing old man searching for his fake teeth on the floor is not just anybody too. He''s the president of National Chef Association..." Cheng Du dly exined to his pals.


    "Big Brother, I have already seen the woman she mmed on the table before. It''s on TV. If I remember correctly, she''s a fairly influential cab member."


    The three girls had their faces paling more and more as names and lofty titles kept rolling in.


    One line popped up in their minds at the same time. "Tang Lan''s done for! She has self-destructed!"


    The ghost''s aplice lurking in the dark sneered. Everything was still not enough.Remembering what Tang Lan shouted before fainting, his face smiling face became distorted, eyes hinting disgust.


    "Rape? Bah! No one will ever harbor ''dirty thoughts'' towards a liar who is also a piece of garbage."


    When he joined his friends again, he only nced once at the rampaging woman and then to the people fleeing from the restaurant. After that, he pulled up his phone again and tapped an app there. It was the reading-writing online tform that he had hacked.


    When his right forefinger descended on the screen which had Tang Lan''s smiling photo on the upper right corner, his face showed no emotion, as if what he was about to do was just something inconsequential...

 Chapter 78: Feng Ru (36)

    Chapter 78: Feng Ru (36)


    All sorts of sh*ttiness happened after Feng Ru rampaged around using Tang Lan''s body. However, once done observing a bit of themotion, Jiang Li slipped out of the venue. He was not with the other boys. They were too engrossed by the amusing sight to notice him leaving.


    "Mom, I''ll be there." As he walked down the road after taking the left turn, he called Mother He. His body was very tired yet he couldn''t just shake off the urge to see how his family was doing.


    "I''m nearby, Mom. There''s a row of food stalls in front of the park opposite the oncology center, right? Would you like me to get you anything? Squid balls or spicy noodles, perhaps?... Haha, no problem... Don''t worry much about me. Anyway, I''ll be there in a bit so you''ll see how well I''m doing... Okay... See you there."


    Time was 10:12 pm when he reached the ce with a stic bag in hand. Jiang Li wiped the sweat on his forehead. The night was cold and the walk was not very far since the restaurant was just actually two hundred meters away. But because his body, or rather, the remnant part of the Original disliked hospitals so much, he ended up being tired mentally. Fighting against that annoying impulse to run the opposite way all this time was quite the ordeal.


    "You''re here, son." The smiling face of Mother He greeted him as he entered the private room. She was the only one upying the three vacant stools there, so he asked, "Is that brat, He Song, in the mini-chapel, or simply not around?"


    "Not here. His final exam is approaching. I reckon it will be easier to concentrate in his own room so I had him go back to our house. In any case, it will be better than here. What the eyes can''t see, the heart doesn''t grieve. There won''t be much distraction."


    He nodded, busying his hands withying the food he bought on the small round table. "Come, eat. Late-night snacks."


    Mother He nced at the cup of fried noodles and the chopsticks he passed her and smiled. "Thank you, son. The timing is just right, I''m feeling quite hungry. Did they give you an extra pair of chopsticks? It would be great if we could share in this."


    "No extra. But I''m already full so there''s no need to worry about me. Before going here, I and my buddies ate outside to celebrate."


    "I see. That''s good then. How''re your studies by the way..."


    The woman was obviously weary for having to apany and nurse his bedridden father all day, but Jiang Li never saw herining. For an hour, all they talked about was his and his brother''s studies. She was thrilled knowing he had be a part of an official band, but still reminded him not to neglect school.


    For her, what mattered most was her sons'' future. Most likely, this was the reason why she never brought up Father He''s exact condition. She was thankful that his sons were only here either when the older man was seemingly in high spirits, or sleeping.In her mind, ignorance was bliss. She had no idea it was she who didn''t know her eldest son could easily grasp any information with just a tap of his finger.


    ''I only managed to rify everything about me and Tang Lan at thest minute.''


    Jiang Li sighed as he marched out of the ce. This mother was a very kind soul, ever resilient yet gentle even though each day worries about her other half was guing her mind. This was one of the reasons why he hated such a good person being lied to for a very stupid reason. Though actually, even if he takes this reason out, there would still be nothing to regret about what he did to Tang Lan.


    ''Tomorrow, the female will know what happens once I''m pissed off. When tomorrowes, Tang Lan will awaken to a world which now knew everything she did in order to churn out all the published stories she contracted with her publisher. How is she going to face everyone after that? How high is the chance that she would suck it up and confess? Would she even dare to admit anything?''


    Answer? Probably no. After all, she was a female lead, used to being worshipped and having everything working in their favor. Why would she do something which would nail her reputation and social life inside a coffin? Wouldn''t she also get despised by Gu Feng then?


    ''It''s always easy to bury the past, but to wear it takes a lot of courage. This old saying is crazy, but it could not get any truer.''


    "Hmm?"


    Jiang Li''s train of thoughts was suddenly interrupted when he reached the center''s entrance. And no, it''s not because he saw his favorite ghost Feng Ru there.


    The viiness was stillwreaking havoc in the restaurant. She discovered that she had actually let off one of the main culprits why that Yang Sisi, somebody she had ''helped'' before, fell into depression. Her anger couldn''t be expressed into words this time. Until she ensured Tang Lan would be hated andter on hunted down by those aristocratic people, she wouldn''t be going back anytime soon.


    There were a few people going in and out of the door. Jiang Li was also about to walk out of the ce when a skinny pale and almost translucent arm stretched out to stop him. His steps paused, eyes turning to the left seeing a familiar dainty figure standing there with his jacket in her hand....

 Chapter 79: Feng Ru (37)

    Chapter 79: Feng Ru (37)


    He looked at the familiar jacket she wanted to hand over him. After a couple of seconds, he raised his head to the girl who had an appearance that could qualify as a national treasure.


    "You left it at the restaurant. No need to thank me, I''m just doing my job as your manager."


    "..."


    The wind blew past them. The ce was not really quiet since there were people nearby talking and a huge TV on the lobby ying a ssic wuxia drama series. However, silence momentarily took over between them since Jiang Li didn''t immediately reply.


    <em>''... She should have just waited for tomorrow toe before handing it to me. There is no need to do it thiste at night... Her excuse... just won''t fool anyone...''</em>


    He sighed as he epted the blue jacket. Aplicated glint flickered in his eyes looking at the barely visible nervousness in Na Yu''s beautiful face.


    This woman suddenly became veryfortable in his presence and was sneaking a peek at him from time to time. Now, she actually chased after him here. In fact, if his guess was correct, she even waited an hour for him standing there and hugging that jacket while being exposed to the coldness of the night.


    He wondered, when did it start? And what did she see in him? Previously she liked a good-for-nothing and now a two-faced guy who ckmailed her into entering an industry she had no prior knowledge of. If only he had no previous experience with love and didn''t know that it could drive someone blind, he would have questioned her if there was something wrong in her eyes.


    "Let''s get out of here and talk." Jiang Li decided to lead her to a more proper ce for a discussion, tossing the jacket back to her so she wouldn''t freeze to death while walking outside.


    Seven minutester...


    "I didn''t think you''d dare to bring me to your apartment," eximed the girl with wide eyes when he drove her car to the lodging provided by thepany.


    Jiang Li wanted to roll his eyes. He walked towards the refrigerator and got themselves cans of juice. "This is the nearest ce I could think of that is safe from annoying cameras. Also, once the talk is over, the tired me won''t have to go anywhere else."


    Na Yu asked, "You don''t n to send me back?"


    He casually replied. "If I be a beast tonight, maybe you won''t need to be sent back."


    No change urred in the girl''s face knowing he didn''t mean any of what he just said.


    The guy didn''t seem to realize, but he was quite the gentleman. Earlier, she confirmed from his bandmates that he really didn''t get together again with Tang Lan, but since he knew a reputation and face were at stake, he did not point his ex'' lie out in public.


    <em>''He''s so considerate and respectful to women, there''s no way he''d really transform into a beast.''</em>


    After shaking the random thoughts off her head, she epted the drink which he had already open for her. Holding it in herp and not minding the cold transmitted to her skin, she opened her mouth, yet a few secondster, she realized she didn''t know what to say.


    <em>''What now?''</em>


    <em>''Should I ask if he''s okay?''</em>


    <em>''Or ask how he feels about Tang Lan?''</em>


    <em>''Why is it so hard for me to speak now?'' </em>The gaze she was giving him revealed that she was having mixed emotions about something.


    In actuality, there was one more issue bugging her mind. While she did stand there and waited for him for an hour, there was a time when the ufortable feeling in her heart from seeing him go inside a cancer treatment center bothered her so much. It prompted her to approach the help desk, to know if He Chen was visiting a patient or the doctor.


    God knows how fervently she prayed for it not be thetter... Yet after knowing the truth, she found out it was actually as equally hard to feel relieved.


    That time, Na Yu saw him in her imagination, looking like the sky had fallen down when he learned of his father''s circumstances.She had to chug on the can of juice to calm down and ease the growing difort in her heart.


    Meanwhile, he plopped down on the other one-seater sofa in the living room.


    Seeing her acting so fidgety, heughingly said. "If we don''t start the discussion, I''m afraid my lids will be too heavy to cooperate with my brainter."


    <em>''He Chen, do you know that the difficult part for me right now is thinking of what to say?'' </em>she grimaced.


    After musing about it for five seconds, she finally opened up her mouth. To confess. "... Actually, I... am very sorry. Sorry for chasing you and for poking my nose into your business..."


    "Oh?"Amusement danced in his eyes as he asked, "Are you guilty because you sessfully managed to bribe the nurses and staff into telling you why I was there?"


    She shook her head, eyes not daring to meet his. "There''s no bribing whatsoever that happened. I told them I''m your girlfriend and that I have to secretly tail you to know why you''re suddenly so busy. The nurse became very sympathetic, probably assuming you''re intentionally keeping it to yourself as to not worry me. She told me, your father has Stage 4 Bone Cancer."


    Jiang Li only stared at her for some time and didn''t get angry or anything, yet for some reason, his silence made her heart drop a little. Was he like this when fuming inside? Or was the matter just not worthy of getting worked up for?


    "I''m really sorry..." In any case, knowing her fault, she apologized again and lowered her head. Later on, her chest felt so stuffy from receiving the silent treatment. "Do they know about it? Cheng Du and the rest?"


    "They don''t have the habit of stalking me."


    Na Yu almost choked.


    ''Damn! I think he''s now perfectly aware that I like him. Great, Na Yu. Who asked you to stalk him?''


    Looking away, she wryly smiled then asked, "Why didn''t you inform them then? They will surely be there to show support to you."


    "I simply don''t want anybody else to know. One way or another, the news will surely leak. Once that happens, it will be very annoying. Those pitying eyes will just be adding to the emotional burden of my other family members, plus there''s also the fact that not everyone will truly sympathize. Since I''m now a public figure, some will definitely think it''s just me trying to gain more poprity."


    "Somehow, I can''t find any words to refute that..."


    "Because it''s the truth." He ced the empty can down the tabletop. "Anyway, let''s not talk about it anymore."


    She nodded, mentally noting to make sure not a word about this will ever escape from her lips. A secondter, she realized he was looking at her intently and this reminded her of the other key issue between them.


    What else should a girl like her feel in a situation like this? Her face flushed.


    Na Yu was angry at her IQ that suddenly gone offline just when it was badly needed.


    "Just so you know, I don''t want to be used of assuming things, so I want to hear it directly from you... Do you...?" The topic she dreaded was opened when Jiang Li opened his mouth. He only paused when she suddenly stood up from her seat.


    "It''s alreadyte. I''m leaving." With hot cheeks and dodgy eyes, she dered, her hand snatching the green checkered leather pouch on the other one-seater sofa.


    Alright, this was actually not what happened.


    While the red face part was real, instead of fleeing, the woman firmly stayed in her seat, meeting his serene gaze bravely. For a while, Jiang Li admired her, but at the same time, he didn''t know whether to continue asking when the answer was already presented before him.


    <em>''...Just don''t ask about it then.''</em>A voice inside his head suggested.


    "He Chen, let''s try dating each other."


    When the melodious yet shaky voice confirming his guess finally entered his ears, he pushed down the astonishment and studied her expression and eyes. The sincerity and longing she showed were too much, too heavy. They obscured the nervousness and all other mixed emotions ying in her heart and head. It was just hard for him not to fall into a daze.


    Before he knew it, the words were already leaving his mouth, "Na Yu, do you know that if I agree, you''ll certainly regret it in the near future?"


    "I won''t ever regret." The confidence radiating from her as she answered this rendered him quietly staring at her. She then added with conviction, "I also won''t let you give an opportunity to regret."


    To how much of it he believed, it was difficult to tell. Nobody knows what the future holds. This was why Jiang Li onlyughed and said, "Let''s see then. "


    That time, Na Yu didn''t think much of this reply and was only happy having a chance to make him fall for her. Soft light from the fluorescentmps above shone upon his features that still had some silver glitters on. The yful twinkling of those little shiny particles as he meaningfully beamed at her created a breathtaking sight.


    Its effect in her heart made her feel lucky she was the only seeing it right now. Yet at the same time, shemented to herself,<em> ''This is bad... I think I''m done for again... I, I really like this guy...''</em>


    <em></em>...


    <em>...</em>


    <strong><em>Announcement (Author''s Note):</em></strong>


    FallenBlue: I regretted not writing violence and tragedy this chapter...


    Jiang Li: Tch. Your first draft is full of nonsense and violence. Why did you rewrite it?


    FallenBlue: *strikeout*To torture me and the readers with half-baked romance, why else?! *strikeout* Cough, just kidding. Actually, my dearest Jiang Li, we can''t always be thinking of torture and other bad stuff. Borrowing Lord Third''s words, it''s bad, it''s immoral. I must convert you! Hahahahahahaha.


    Jiang Li: Yeah. You and yourme nonsense. *rolls eyes* Here''s one cent, find someone else to talk to.


    FallenBlue: Aiya, what a meanie... *coughs*


    Okay, to all my beloved readers. Hello!!! XD


    Just a heads-up, on Oct 1st (Tuesday next week), QT will go premium which means chapters will be locked from that day onwards. I hope you all be ready and start stocking up on SS now. As for me, I''ll be praying WN won''t be so random and give more SS on daily ims. Haha *peace*


    Btw, thanks for all the reads, votes,ments, reviews, chapter ratings, and gifts! XD


    I apologize if I can''t reply as much these days. Real-life sched is just a bit messy and hectic. But no worries, next week, I''ll be back to my regr sched, will be more active here too and start uploading more chapters. As for the mass release, the promise always stands. If we make it this week, I''ll make time to write more chaps for you guys thising weekend (even if I lose sleep) haha.


    Thanks for reading this. FallenBlue loves you all. Have a nice day!<ol><li>A notable character from Er Gen''s masterpiece I Shall Seal The Heavens XD</li></ol>

 Chapter 80: Feng Ru (38)

    Chapter 80: Feng Ru (38)


    Na Yu was driven home by that aloof guy a few minutes before 11 pm. She couldn''t remember how the heck she got inside the house and into her room. But it was clear in her memories that there was an inerasable smile on her face all night long which taught her quite the unforgettable lesson.


    <em>''Never in my wildest dream did I see myself almost ending up with facial-paralysis for smiling too much. Fatal. Being too excited is fatal... Haha...''</em>


    <em>...</em>


    It was on the next morning, around 6 am, two people in the city had to wake up massaging their aching cheeks - Tang Lan and Na Yu. However, while thetter did so for a weird reason and with eyes glowing from delight, the former did the same simply due to the searing pain. It was apanied by a loud smacking sound that also almost deafened her.


    "Gasps!" Tang Lan finally woke up. She was bound to a chair inside a dimly lit room and the exposed part of her body had several wounds, cuts, and bruises on them.


    Apparent from her face swollen red, the p which jostled her awake was actually not the first she received. Both her cheeks still had handprints belonging to various people. It would simply make one wonder when she got these and just how strong the ps were in order to leave those marks.


    ''Damn, I''m hurting everywhere! What the hell happened to me? Why am I rope-bound in this chair?''


    When she came to her senses and saw that there was only one person in the room, her barely opened eyes blinked a couple of times before bulging out of their sockets.


    "S-sis Ying?" Great disbelief was in her tone.''It''s her who pped me earlier? Why? Just to wake me up?''


    Song Wuying, the pretty and tall female police officer in charge of guarding Tang Lan, was her acquaintance. Though she was also her rival in love and one of those giving her the most headaches among Gu Feng''s truckloads of admirers.


    However, between the two of them, only she was aware that they were rival. It was because while Song Wuying tantly showed her fascination for the man, Tang Lan hid hers, making moves only whenever there were no prying eyes around. Through this way, she managed to maintain her friendship with the other woman, fishing out information from time and time which she also took advantage in order to get close to Gu Feng.


    What had gone wrong this time?


    "W-why am I here? And what happened to me? I, I was supposed to be with my boyfriend. His name is He Chen, and we''re dining with my friends and his bandmates."


    Tang Lan disregarded the sneer on the female officer''s face and described what she could remember. She told her the name of the restaurant and the approximate time she was there. If not for Song Wuying getting impatient, the female lead would have started describing the food they ordered, what kind of band Pesticide was, and her history with the main vocalist.


    "Here! See for yourself what you did!" The phone was shoved in the female lead''s miserable-looking face.


    Tang Lan was forcefully made to watch the video ying there. The policewoman kindly reminded her of the stupidity she did in that famous restaurant, even summarizing, "... Actually, everything I said boiled down to a single line. You simply courted death."


    The favored darling of heaven started shaking her head when she regained her senses.


    "No! No! There must be some sort of mistake here! T-that''s not me! I don''t have any recollection doing any of those outrageous things!!! That''s not me!!!"


    "Tch. Whatever."


    ''The person several higher-ups and influential people had petitioned to be jailed for at least twenty years had now awakened. It''s time to call the others here. After all, the criminal is being eyed by VIPs. Her interrogation session should at least be witnessed by the chief.''


    Song Wuying ignored her screams of denial and phoned her superior.


    To be honest, Song Wuying originally had nothing against Tang Lan, but she hated criminals, so since Tang Lan was already proven as one... plus she did something quite unforgivable to her just yesterday, she had no choice but be rough with her treatment.


    Meanwhile, Tang Lan kept shouting, "Sis Ying! Sis Ying! Untie me, please! L-let me exin! I''m sure that person is not me! Believe me! I''m a writer and it''s normal for us to do all sorts of research and to be a bit knowledgeable in various fields. I have recognized several important personalities among the victims! There''s no way I''ll do something as crazy as assaulting them!"


    In front of her, Song Wuying turned and flipped her hair, then replied, "Oh? Sorry, you already did."


    "N-no, l-listen to me. I''m telling the truth. Even if you give me the guts of a leopard, I won''t dare do that!T-there''s also that lunatic''s strength. It''s so unnatural! There''s no way my thin arms and slender body frame will let me throw a sumo wrestler-like fatty outside the restaurant! I''m sure I''m being framed!"


    She received an eye roll from the policewoman, lifting her exposed arm wrapped in white.


    "Stop bluffing, Tang Lan. I''m one of those who personally subdued you and escorted you here. See the bandage on my upper arm? You repeatedly stabbed that part with a damn fork! The strength you exhibited that time is indeed very strange and does not conform with your character and physique. So it''s suspected that you are under the influence of an illegal substance! Once my colleagues arrive, we''ll begin the interrogation and then proceed to the drug test!"


    ''What?!''


    ''I only slept for more or less eight hours.Howe the world changed so much?''


    ''Wait, she''s saying I managed to hurt a trained police officer like her? I, a mere civilian, did? Who is she kidding?''


    Her eyes were wide and while looking like she was having trouble breathing, she protested,"Miss Officer Song Wuying, stop this farce already! Please, even if somebody did inflict injuries on you, it can''t be me! I''m a weak woman. I am innocent and most of all, not a drug addict!!!"

 Chapter 81: Feng Ru (39)

    Chapter 81: Feng Ru (39)


    To this im, the woman in a blue uniform replied while going to the door, "Uhh, sorry. The pieces of evidence against you are solid. Your crazy acts yesterday are witnessed by more than fifty people."


    "N-no, that''s..."


    "But don''t worry, Tang Lan. No matter what, you''ll at least be allowed to get yourself awyer. Depending on his skill, your sentence will be lightened, but what I''m sure of is that you''ll stay behind the bars for a few years. After all, regardless of your drug test result, those bigshots you offended will make sure you''ll at least get sentenced for attempted murders."


    Such scary words said with both gloating and disdain, how could Tang Lan ept them? She made a ruckus and cried for justice. "I, I already said it''s not me! I was knocked out when I went to the restroom and when I woke up, I''m already here! How could an unconscious girl do all of that! Can''t you guys put more effort in your investigations?!"


    "She''s awake?" That familiar baritone voice came from the doorway.


    "Yeah. Come in, Officer Gu, Chief Zhou. Let''s just get this done already."


    "G-Gu Feng..." Tang Lan momentarily fell silent seeing him walking inside the room.


    A couple of momentster, she began wriggling in her seat again, begging him to release her there. Unfortunately, the male lead was a rigid person who would never disobey or procedure, not even for his own rtives.


    Criminals and suspects were not allowed to be untied before and during the interrogation. Maybe love would be able to force him to go against that. But sadly right now, he held no romantic affection for Tang Lan. In his eyes, she was only a good friend and a little sister. A very disappointing one at that.


    "I heard she''s an aplished author and is quite a rich one. Let her contact somebody to get her awyer then. After that, take her to her prison cell." The pudgy senior officer who came in with the male lead dered after asking Tang Lan a few questions.


    Hearing that, Song Wuying scoffed on the side. "Quite the aplished author, huh? I checked and there''s actually a huge problem with her ount. Her books are still there, but the contents are changed and tampered with by somebody, probably a jealous rtive or close friend." The policewoman clicked her tongue and shook her head.


    "Oh. I suggest then when the visitores, asked her or him to lend his or her phone to this girl so she can check what happened. Of course, there will be some papers to be signed to allow devices like that to be brought inside. But in my opinion, it''s very important for her to check why there are several giarism reports suddenly filed against her," said Chief Zhou.


    "W-what are you saying?" The dejected Tang Lan raised her head and eximed in rm. "What giarism? I never copy from other authors! Everything''s my original!"


    She took pride in her writing which she produced through shedding blood and sweat. Her writing style and process were also very distinct to her. How could there be any chance of it being simr to any other works?


    "Feel free to believe whatever. I''m just saying this out of kindness. Anyway, I also heard your contractor is terminating the contracts for your books. Xiao Ying, why don''t you just show her the news? A single article should not take too long to be read, no?"


    Though annoyed, Song Wuying did as her immediate superior said.


    Not long after, Tang Lan''s gaze turned unfocused, having difficulty processing everything she had read. Coldness enveloped her whole body. It was like she suddenly got thrown into and trapped in a freezingke. She felt so alone and helpless. What exactly was going on? Why was the world suddenly so against her?


    She couldn''t believe and ept everything since she had a feeling none of these should be happening to her!


    "G-Gu Feng..." Her voice weakly trailed off as she looked up to the tall man personally escorting her out of the interrogation room.


    "..." The man shook his head.


    More than half an hourter, all procedures werepleted. That''s what Song Wuying and the others said. In the end, she was to be jailed. And she was too muddle-headed to protest if this was the sentence she should get because her mind still couldn''t extricate itself from the talk she had with her cousin.


    It was confirmed that her novels turned into someone else, four directly copied word by word from other popr authors, three swapped out with amateur works. Her fans were still defending her online, but their support proved futile since all the contracts for her books got forcefully terminated.


    "Why... Why are these suddenly happening to me?" Even she didn''t know how many times this question escaped out of her mouth.


    "Tang Lan, your fans who followed your books closely are more than a million and are still defending you on the inte. It''s quite a sensation online. Aside from this, your name alone, actually, is good enough to arouse media attention. But for some reason, none of those people dared to write about your case. They are afraid." Before leaving, her cousin said this to her.


    She cried. feeling heartbroken and scared. Right now, she was forced to march. She knew where this narrow hallway would lead her so, of course, if possible, she wouldn''t take even a single step forward. But Song Wuying who appeared irritated at her kept on pushing her.


    "Gu Feng... Can''t you plead for me?" She looked at him using her pitiful and watery eyes.


    Her beauty was still there despite her swollen lips and face. Her current looks, plus her pitiable voice, would easily tug on anybody''s heart. She was like a small cute animal whimpering its grievances for being bullied. Despite this though, the male lead only gave her a brief nce, looking away almost immediately after.


    There was something weighing on his mind which caused his attitude towards the female lead to be colder than usual.


    ''If the photos sent to me by that anonymous person are real, it means I actually never know the real her. That I, a proud agent of justice, has been treating a criminal like my sister for almost six months...''Gu Feng let a scowl showed on his face.


    Tang Lan didn''t know any of his thoughts, only that he ignored her. Seeing theck offorting words or actions from the person she loved, she felt like her heart was free-falling into a bottomless chasm. Her mind turned nk, and when she came back to her senses, Song Wuying had already pushed her inside a cell.


    ''T-this...''


    "Oooh, a neer. Wee! Wee!" A plump woman with many tattoos all over her face smiled at her. The others also gave her a look, ranging from sinister to malicious.


    Scared by the appearances and look of the people inside, she grabbed the bars and started crying and shouting madly at Gu Feng,


    "Hey, let me out! I beg you! Y-you''re all detaining the wrong person! Gu Feng, Song Wuying, I know you''re all doing this due to the pressure from the top! But I swear,It''s not me who beat those people up! Someone impersonated me! Please! I, I beg you, Gu Feng. Believe me!!!"


    She kept shouting the same lines over and over again, but the two people who brought her there was getting further and further away.


    "I, I should be the one filing cases for the bruises and wounds in my body! Why, why am I being treated like this?!" Seeing the back of those two acquaintances of her disappearing from her sight, her eyes couldn''t help turning red.


    She could no longer yell again since those scary tattooed women inside began to beat her up for being so noisy. Almost half an hour passed before they left her alone, crying, badly wounded, and looking so unbearably miserable.


    Reminded of the pain she went through from the kicks and punches she received, extreme anger wormed into her heart. She was trembling in both anger, fear, and desire for vengeance as she crawled away from theughing she-devils.


    "Gu Feng ignored my pleas... That Song b*tchughed mockingly at me... My writing career is dying... And I''ve turned into a punching bag by these ugly and smelly female prisoners..."


    "I-It''s all that man''s fault... It''s all, H-He Chen''s fault! He must have nned all of this to retaliate against me for rejecting him over and over again! Damn him!! Why can''t he just die? I hate him! I hate him so much! I''ll make him pay for this! I want him to die!!! I''ll make sure he dies!!!"


    Madness and malice slowly crept into herckluster eyes. A secondter, even as she cried and curled into a ball there, her mind was thinking of ns in order to escape from the prison and take revenge against He Chen...

 Chapter 82: Feng Ru (40)

    Chapter 82: Feng Ru (40)


    Yesterday before midnight, Feng Ru came back to Jiang Li badly injured.


    "...", <em>''I didn''t know the plot is so protective of the female lead. It even gave her wonderful cheats against supernatural beings even though the world is just a normal modern one. Holy f*ck! I''m so pissed off!''</em>


    Due to seeing the viiness looking so pitiful and almost transparent, Jiang Li felt like he could already see himself failing the mission and so his mood sunk way too low. Not even news of Tang Lan''s imprisonment could uplift it. As a result, even though he was only supposed to do magic on Tang Lan''s published web novels, his finger identally slipped and pictures showing her direct involvement with several unsolved homicide cases and bizarre crimes in the city were anonymously sent to the male lead.


    Unlike in the original story, the two leads didn''t have much progress in their rtionship due to Feng Ru''sck of involvement. Of course, the almighty fate tried to bring them close. However, without the viiness'' inexplicable clues and idental matchmaking moves, the supposed near-death experiences naturally didn''t happen. This meant there were also no repeated cases of ''misattribution of arousal'' which should have allowed Tang Lan to cultivate feelings with Gu Feng.


    In short, the two leads were nowhere close to being together yet. In fact, since he sent those stuff to the ever-so-righteous police officer, it was very possible that those two''s ship had already broken into two and sunk to the bottom of the ocean!


    Jiang Li checked the sent files onest time and nodded in satisfaction.<em>''After this, let''s see if that Gu Feng will still like that sick woman.''</em>


    The muted system, "..."


    <em>''... Sighs. That sick woman he''s speaking of is currently a ckening female lead, someone whose resentment will surely destroy this world once she dies as crazy as she is right now.''</em>


    The system somewhere in one corner of his brain was crying since it knew once they were back to the void-like space, it would be med and scolded for not telling him this piece of information.


    Jiang Li didn''t know about this yet. The guy had gone to the meeting called by his band''s team leader. After the mini-celebration, he and his bandmates ran around the city for fan meetups and events. Everything was for publicity and to earn more fans that would then buy or download their songs.


    "You guys are still a sensation online." With a refreshing smile on her lips, Na Yu helped Nangong Xue distribute energy drinks to the tired members. They were at a break room in a local TV station, resting here after a performance.


    "I saw it too, Miss Na." Little Nian''s eyes were very bright, almost shining like the sun as he epted the can of beverage with one hand and pulled out his phone from his bag using the other.


    "Comments are positive. Everything''s going nice, apart from Brother He receiving more shoutouts of love than me. But putting that aside, it''s all just so wonderful. The one thing I''m mostly happy about is our album sales! The figures'' going up by hundreds every ten minutes!"


    "Treat that as the reward for your hard work," said Xie Dn.


    "Don''t exclude yourself, bro. We all worked hard for this. We''re all awesome! Haha!" replied Little Nian.


    While everyone else was exchanging jokes and small talks with each other, the strangely silent Su Xuefeng whose face spoke so much distress suddenly approached Na Yu with a box in hand.


    "Manager, I''ve got a huge problem here. A fan handed this to me and given how nice I am to them, I have no choice other than epting. Now though, what should I do with this?"


    Cheng Du briefly looked at the item and thenmented, "... I pity you, my brother. Such a small thing is actually troubling you. Heh, it must be tough being a single dog."


    Jiang Li who was busy scrolling through his phone got curious why the Big Bro''s voice was filled with so much disdain and sarcasm. When he raised his head, it was just in time to see the girl''s face reddening in embarrassment.


    <em>''Hmm?''</em> Only when he saw the box'' packaging did he understand what was going in. His expression darkened, "RASCAL SU!"


    "Yes?" The blonde confused by the angry shout turned around. A secondter, he regretted doing so.


    "F*ck! Ouch, my eyes! Brother He! What''s the problem with you?! Ahhhh! My eyes are burning!!!" Su Xuefeng covered his eyes and tried to rub off whatever had gotten in. His hair that had been dyed blonde was now dripping of red liquid. When the other guys checked where the pianist got that, they saw a box of pizza next on the table next to their vocalist.


    <em>''Oh, I see. Makes sense now. Hot sauce.''</em>


    Now they knew why the bastard ran off shouting <em>''Water.''</em> Their pianist was very pitiful, ah!


    But what surprised them was the fact that their Brother He cruelly threw a whole uncapped bottle at Rascal Su. Why did he do that again?


    Jiang Li met their questioning gazes with a re. "He deserves it."


    Brother Xie squinted at the item which Jiang Li picked up."Uhhh, well, it''s hard to refute that."


    He inwardly thought, right, who told that stupid guy to ask a girl about that. It was Su Xuefeng who courted trouble. When thought about carefully, he should actually be d that all he got was some hot sauce in his hair and eyes.


    As Jiang Li tossed the box to the trash bin he authoritatively said to Na Yu, "You didn''t see anything.Forget about it, okay? Erase it from your memory."


    The blushing girl nkly stared at him so Jiang Li repeated what he said. Only after this did she recover from her gazed state and blurted out, "I know that''s what I should do. But how am I, someone with a photographic memory, going to do that? Even now, I can vividly see in my imagination what the box looks like. I, I can''t believe fans are that caring..."


    "To think they will even gift condoms to their idols..."


    Thest part was said in a voice so small only Jiang Li who stood next to her heard it. The guy''s mouth twitched.


    <em>''... Actually, even I never imagine the industry is this dirty, even fans are so open about this kind of stuff.''</em>


    As for his bandmates, all of them exchanged knowing looks seeing the interaction between Na Yu and He Chen. Not much actually happened, just their brother throwing a fit anding to the rescue of the embarrassed manager. Their conversation was not much too. But all of them could see that something was different.


    <em>''Howe we never know this two are actually cute together and could be an item?''</em>


    <em>''Wait, maybe they already sneaked behind our backs and secretly became an item?!''</em>


    Thinking of this possibility, the boys and the spectating short girl gasped. They almost started interrogating the two were it not for remembering that artists were not allowed to have dating scandals, or even if allowed, they must keep it a tightly guarded secret.


    ...<ol><li>''bridge effect'', mistaking fear or any other emotions for romantic arousal/feeling</li></ol>

 Chapter 83: Feng Ru (41)

    Chapter 83: Feng Ru (41)


    Days passed so hectically for all of them. He Chen and the others were busy ramping up their poprity and sales. Graduation was also approaching so there were some university matters that needed their attention.


    However, no matter how busy he was, Jiang Li made sure to visit his parents at least once a week. He also never forgot to check on Tang Lan, Feng Ru, and Gu Feng''s status daily. So far, it was safe to pour most of his time and energy on work and university since those three were not doing anything problematic for him.


    ...


    "Are you eating on time? Your stinky brother is telling me weird things, like you are now getting big as a celebrity. But why do I feel like you''re growing thinner these days? Did you join an entertainmentpany or an army camp?"


    One time, after work Jiang Li visited the oncology center. Father He bombarded him with these questions. The half-worried, half-angry expression on He Song''s face caused him to smile wryly and almost reply, ''Dad, I''m not sure if joining an army camp can make someone thinner, but I''m sure I should be the one worrying for you. You''ve gotten so thin you''re practically just half of your previous self. What the hell happened?''


    It was the other man who had changed drastically... from a burly tone-bodied farmer to a bald, frail and deathly pale-skinned middle-aged man. It was quite shocking especially since the changes happened only in less than two months.


    When Jiang Li first saw this father, the only problem had been the dark sunken circles around his eyes. But now... To be honest, it was an unbearable and heart-wrenching sight to look at. One time, Feng Ru even told him that the aura of death surrounding the man was so heavy, so much that it was a wonder how he could still hold on and reject King Yama''s calling.


    ''In the past life, He Song probably did not make it.'' He pursed his lips in sympathy. ''It''s understandable why the severely broken-hearted He Chen sealed off all his memories of him and started hating hospitals...''


    "Hey, stinky boy, I asked you a question. What''s wrong with thepany or band you joined? Why am I suspecting that they are starving you or overworking you to death?!"


    Jiang Li shook his head andughed, "Dad, don''t worry about me. No one dares to starve me. The people from mypany are taking good care of me. After all, I''m quite sessful now, a cash cow, per se. My band Pesticide has just sold half a million copies of our first album and as we talk, my team leader is proposing to our CEO to let us have a nationwide tour. I''m sure if that is approved, your son will earn big, more than winning the lottery."


    He Song looked at him quietly from the confines of his sickbed. A couple of secondster, he turned to Mother He who was at the side sorting and arranging the fruits He Chen brought.


    "Hey, my dear,e here. I think our son is being so boastful now and is need of a spanking. What half a million albums and a nationwide tour? Are we living in a fantasy? Also, which sane person would listen to a song sung by such a weird band? Hey, are you the one who named it?" Thest question was asked to the younger man.


    "Dad, it''s not me." He answered with an awkwardugh, wondering if he should be d that even though He Song''s body had be frailer, his mouth was at least as loud as ever. "I swear, my brain''s working perfectly too fine to think of such a sickening band name."


    "Not you?" Jiang Li felt a bad premonition when he made out disappointment and anger from He Song''s voice. "You''re such a disappointment then! How dare you say the term pesticide is sickening? Brat! I thought you''re finally at least showing appreciation to your Dad''s craft! But no, you''re still as stinky as ever! Come, have a taste of my beating!"


    "Old He, don''t overexert yourself!"


    Mother He rushed to stop the man whose hands reached out to give his son''s head a taste of his fist. Jiang Li took a stepped back to avoid the kick the old man threw at him. He then looked up and sighed.


    ''Am I the only one finding everything here suddenly turning so hard to follow?''


    ''So weird and hard tomunicate with... No wonder whenpared to him, I feel like I am actually never insane...''


    ''Well, thankfully despite being like this, he is still a good man.''


    He remembered, this Dad, He Song, was a simple and honest fellow who worked himself so much in order to feed his family and send both his sons to school. Quite the admirable one actually, primarily because instead of feeling inferior for being a mere farmer, the person was very proud of it and often said that his eldest son was a disappointment for not following after his footsteps.


    ''... No matter what his quirks and oddities are, I hope he makes it this time... I want to believe a miracle can happen.'' Thinking of this, he bid them goodbye, using his rehearsals with the band as the excuse.


    "Escaping from me again? Have you no shame, you brat?! I''m such a weak man and you don''t dare ept my punch! Bah!"


    Behind him, He Song seemed as spirited as ever based on his impassioned yells. It was because of this that Jiang Li didn''t dare to go back and stay.


    ...


    ''She''s here again...''


    Jiang Li''s face showed hopelessness after seeing a beautiful trouble emerging from the corridor ahead. This girl wearing a peach knee-length dress was a rare sight in a ce like this so she easily drew people''s attention to her, especially since there was a happy grin on her lips, making her exceptionally captivating.


    In a voice akin to a refreshing spring breeze, Na Yu called out, "Brother He."


    He turned his head at her who started walking side by side with him towards the exit of the center. His voice wasced with awe as heughed and said, "I''m wearing a cap and a face-mask but you can still recognize me. Miss, you''re making me sigh in defeat..."<ol><li>King of the Underworld in Chinese Mythology</li></ol>

 Chapter 84: Feng Ru (42)

    Chapter 84: Feng Ru (42)


    "Brother He."


    He turned his head at her who started walking side by side with him towards the exit of the center. His voice wasced with awe as heughed and said, "Miss, you''re making me sigh in defeat... I''m wearing a cap and a face-mask but you can still recognize me. "


    "Hehe, it''s not difficult." When she beamed at him proudly, many of those around them stared at Jiang Li with envy. Such a beautifuldy was smiling, why couldn''t they be the one to receive it?


    "I''m alwayswith you so I can recognize you just even if you''re just showing your back," said the girl whose eyes seemed to be incapable of holding any other but him.


    "Sounds like a stalker."


    "I used to be. And I didn''t regret it. Because now, I am your girlfriend." She stuck her tongue out yfully, eliciting a chuckle from him. Her eyes couldn''t help but radiate more delight when he didn''t contradict her words. ''God knows how happy I am that you''re not denying our rtionship.''


    Jiang Li nced at the woman dressed in a grey jacket and faded blue jeans. It had been two weeks since she started bing attached to him, but as the clever girl that she was, or perhaps from observing him for quite a long time, she knew how not to get on his nerves and would not cross any line she should not.


    Don''t ask him why she followed him here though. He didn''t know. And since it was not a big deal, he didn''t n to know.


    ''Curiosity can kill. Who knows, her reason might shock me to death.''


    It waste afternoon, around 5 pm. The two of them ended up strolling the nearby park which had a nice view of Aurora''s bay. After that, they entered a ssy Western restaurant that he knew Na Yu''s family also owned. The girl never told him about this but the dots were just too obvious and easy to connect. me this ce for having the same ambiance and style of decorations as that one near the university.


    "He Chen, I''ve been curious about it for a long while now. Howe you sometimes seem more refined than me when eating or doing anything? Are you secretly some bigshots'' heir?"


    As Na Yu chewed on her food, she asked the man sitting across her. She observed that the way he dined really resembled those from the higher society.


    Na Yu was from a rich family but she was not truly one belonging to that circle. For this reason, even though, her face was very exquisite, herck of the necessary temperament and air of nobleness easily differentiated her from those people. Yet the person in front of her showed signs that he was one of them. It was pretty confusing.


    Jiang Li rolled his eyes at her. "Son of a bigshot? No, I''m not. Haven''t you gotten close to the nurses and staffs there? I suspect they already showed you my Dad''s profile."


    The girl''s smile stiffened, but she disliked lying, hence she nodded.


    Jiang Liughingly continued, "There you have it, the most solid proof. If not for Cheng Du, I don''t know where else I can get the money to admit my Dad there before Pesticide became popr."


    She blinked her eyes. "I don''t know why I felt like thest thing you said is not true."


    "Hmm? Why did you say so?"


    "Gut feeling. I don''t think without Pesticide being popr, you won''t be able to solve the admission issue."


    ''... Uhh. Well, in reality, I never depended on my ie as a song artist to pay our bills. It''s easier to do robbery. I''ve never been thankful as now that this is still a modern world.''


    Outwardly though, he coughed and said, "Girl, don''t overestimate me. If I really have no other options, I''d probably rob a bank or sell my body. I''m a principled person so I would probably lean more towards thetter."


    For once, Na Yu was so speechless, she didn''t know if her face should blush or lose color. She asked, "Is it because you feel like self-sacrifice is better than hurting other people? That''s why you don''t prefer robbing a bank?"


    "Nah, you think too much. Thetter is easier, and less life-risky."


    While Na Yu gaped from speechlessness, Jiang Li sarcastically added in his head ''Since my face is on the good-looking side, being an escort will take less effort and give more return to me. But at the same time, once it gets to the x-rated part, I''ll easily bag the scumbag award of the year.''


    "Uhm, He Chen... I''m so d our band bes famous so let''s not talk about that anymore."


    Jiang Li''s lips curled into a grin. "Oh, but what if I don''t want to. I''m fine describing my whole ns to you in full details, especially that one which has a greater probability of being chosen by me."


    "... I beg you, let''s just eat."


    He responded to her with a slight smile.


    Na Yu felt some regret in her heart because so many unspeakable scenes starring him suddenly yed in her imagination without warning. The pictures were so blush-inducing yet funny; it immediately shattered the rich-son-impression of him in her mind with sharp breaking sounds.


    Two minutes passed in silence before they were disturbed by someone. And this someone was not a nobody, but the greatest personage in this world, the male lead.


    ''The heck, why is this guy here and how did he know it''s us in this private booth?'' Jiang Li threw a brooding gaze towards the staff behind Gu Feng and contemted whether these people sold their boss'' granddaughter''s whereabouts after being made to cooperate by a police officer.


    "Miss Na, Mister He, it''s nice meeting you two again."


    When the upright officer walked towards their table, Jiang Li''s eyes darkened. Was it just him, or there was something wrong with how the other man greeted and looked at Na Yu first before him?

 Chapter 85: Feng Ru (43)

    Chapter 85: Feng Ru (43)


    The girl nodded at Gu Feng while herpanion greeted the trespasser with silence. The ce became awkward for some time. The situation only improved when the male lead, who finally couldn''t take the silence anymore, started to narrate to them the problem which led him to the couple''s table.


    It was actually about Tang Lan.


    Through some unknown means, the female lead had managed to escape from the prison, her current location unknown. But this usually careful mystery-thriller author suddenly went off-script and deliberately left a message as a clue. A single name actually. And since it was written on the wall using blood, it gave the police a heavy impression that she was out for vengeance, which also means, she would have a high likelihood of appearing somewhere near this target.


    At that table, only one person had a connection with the female lead.


    "So are you saying, I need the police''s protection now since she''s out of the prison and could attack me at any given time? Or is it that I should now start living in fear of her retaliation?" The said target, Jiang Li,ughed after hearing Gu Feng''s exnation.


    Distress showed on the policeman''s face, weirded out by the other man''s way of speaking. "I''m afraid the first you said is correct. Your safety is concerning, especially since there was something weird about that woman. She..." Gu Feng paused and frowned, seemingly not knowing how to phrase the next important point.


    "She what?" Na Yu anxiously asked.


    Jiang Li saw the other man giving the two of them aplicated look before reluctantly saying, "... She has shown some signs of insanity. And paranoia."


    "Huh?" The younger man widened his eyes a bit. "What did you policemen do for her to end up like that?''


    "What do you mean?" Gu Feng looked slightly offended, "We dealt with her through the standard protocols. We, the policemen made sure all our prisoners are given basic necessities and will stay fit in the prison. Our sense of justice will not allow us to do anythingcking nor beyond that. After all, no matter what crimes they havemitted, they still have human rights and are capable of changing and repenting. We know we at least have to treat them with the minimum amount of respect."


    The vocalist sneered, unconvinced by the male lead''s lecture. ''Damn sophistry! What you do, the others might necessarily not do. Corruption is omnipresent. How can you be so sure that all the other policemen are as righteous as you? Who knows, the warden might have been bribed by those Tang Lan offended and made things difficult for her inside the prison?''


    It was not because of his consideration of Gu Feng''s dedication and respect to his profession that he didn''t say this out loud, but hisziness to argue about politics and corruption.


    He simply asked, "Is it herpanions inside then?"


    Gu Feng didn''t nod nor shake his head. His expression was stiff. The answer could not get any more obvious.


    "I have asked her other female inmates. They said Tang Lan has be very quiet. But at times, she would mumble iprehensible words inaudible to them like a madwoman. The only thing they did catch was her mentioning your name with extreme hatred."


    "Oh?" Jiang Li stayed expressionless. The girl seated across him appeared more anxious than him.


    "Wait. Mr. Officer, I don''t get why will she harbor vengeful thoughts toward him."


    Gu Feng shook his head and looked at the vocalist. "I, too, want to hear the reason from Mr. He."


    System: ... Because while there''s no way she''ll remember being possessed by Miss Feng Ru under hismand, she will easily recall being left to be verbally humiliated by his friends before getting kicked, punched, and knocked out by him. I swear, my host should be brought back to kindergarten and start learning about manners and correct his three views!


    Oblivious to the system''sint, Jiang Li answered Gu Feng with a sincere expression, "Officer, I truly don''t know. To be honest, I should be the one getting angry since she wanted me to act as his boyfriend in front of her friends even though we have long broken up."


    "I see." The male lead nodded. "Let''s not talk about it anymore then. What I would like to consult Mr. He about is whether you''ll allow us to monitor and guard you since someone out there may be a threat to your life."


    "No." Without a second thought, he answered.


    "Mr. He?" Disbelief was on the police officer''s face. Gu Feng began looking at the man as if he was an alien. Why would he reject a professional''s help when his life was truly in danger?


    Jiang Li reasoned that once he forwarded this issue to thepany''s higher-ups, they would surely send capable bodyguards to him. That way the police would not have to allocate him people and could concentrate on locating Tang Lan.


    "Are you sure about it? You should not treat your safety so lightly."


    "I appreciate the thoughts but my mind won''t change. What can a weak woman do to me anyway?"


    Gu Feng threw him a meaningful look. Jiang Li knew the guy was contemting whether to tell him about that weak woman being a lunatic. But what he didn''t know was that all the pieces of evidence in his hands about Tang Lan''s evil deeds came from Jiang Li.


    More than anyone in the world, Jiang Li knew just how dangerous she really was. But even if he was not a hacker who finds locating people and robbing money from banks as easy as pie, he was still quite well-versed in self-defense due to his two past lives'' training and education. Apart from this, Feng Ru was always lingering around Na Yu, who was in turn always stalking him. Given these, even if Tang Lan was a psycho, there was nothing to fear!


    ''No matter how grave it sounds like, I''m more concerned about why someone, as educated as him, didn''t wait for me to finish eating with my girlfriend before bothering me. Does he know how rude that is?''


    It had been a while since he realized the male lead had a strange way of looking at Na Yu. Jiang Li disliked it so much. It doesn''t matter if his affection for the girl was not yet to the point he could confidently say he loved her. After all the betrayals and sh*ts he experienced before, someone coveting what was his was one of the things he vowed to never tolerate again!


    The male lead was not the scummy type?


    Jiang Li faked a smile.


    "Officer Gu, I''m actually facing some troubles here which needs the police''s assistance. It has to be just us two men. How about we go near the restroom then you hear out this other concern of mine?"


    Na Yu furrowed her carefully drawn brows at him, not remembering anything that fits his vague descriptions.


    The male lead only nodded without hesitating for even a second. Not long after though, regret showed in his handsome but bruised and swollen face.


    Jiang Li was pissed off so when he couldn''t deliver the usual cyber-shaming attack, he dragged Gu Feng off somewhere using a nonsensical excuse and started beating him up there. The other man tried to defend and fight back. But even with his male lead''s halo in full-throttle, because something unseen was moving some random and inconspicuous objects around, he found himself often stumbling on the ground and receiving the annoyed man''s punches in his face and body. It was Feng Ru who decided to help in the shadows when she recognized Gu Feng as that annoying yboy''s older brother.


    "Damn, what did I do to you?!"


    Before the beaten up guy lost consciousness, he angrily shouted this to Jiang Li. But the hateful madman merely replied with another punch. "Heh, reason? You scared me so much with your news so here I am practicing my self-defense skills on you. Thanks, Officer. Once Tang Lan appears, I''ll make sure to use this against her. After all, this is my limited kickboxing skills that I be proficient with through your self-sacrifice, respected officer."


    Once done dropping that line off, he went back to Na Yu. As for the male lead lying unconscious on the ground, he was picked up by the escaped prisoner Tang Lan who somehow appeared there a minuteter.


    Fate seemingly yed its cards again. The female lead was freed and Gu Feng had run into the viiness. It caused the plot to finally show signs of progress, like a clock that restarted after getting frozen at one particr point in time.

 Chapter 86: Feng Ru (44)

    Chapter 86: Feng Ru (44)


    Three days after he beat up the male lead, he witnessed just how powerful the plot really was. From a hacked footage, he learned that the beaten up Gu Feng actually ended up being saved by Tang Lan. Now he was being nursed to health by Tang Lan, a scene which happened in the plot two months after Na Yu''s supposed death.


    Jiang Li sighed.


    ''In the memories I received, Tang Lan and Gu Feng went through a lot as they chased after the criminal codenamed ''R'' who kept pushing people tomit suicide.''


    ''As for the culprit, Feng Ru is a powerful ghost who can move things around, possess people, and even inflict physical injuries to them if she is very angry. But because the leads have some sort of talismans with them called fate and plot, they didn''t die from her attacks, but instead survive and grow fonder of each other as they go through hardships numerous times.


    ''Hands-up. F*cked up plot!''


    ''Now I know that it''s not a coincidence Tang Lan escaped the prison around that day. It''s actually for this!''


    The original set up was that Feng Ru injured the male lead when he tried to save his brother. But now, even though it was Jiang Li who did most of the beating, since the viiness was still somehow involved, it managed to autocorrect everything and gave opportunities for the two leads to encounter each other.


    Why was this world so desperate to have its leads end up together? He doesn''t know. All he''s aware of was that it was so amazingly damnable. If this world''s creator was really an author from a faraway dimension, he would like to meet her and beat her up!


    Tang Lan brought the passed out male lead into a rented apartment in the suburbs. For some time, Jiang Li mentally debated whether to send her location to the police. The male lead was too good for the mental writer and deserved a proper human being for a romantic partner. This was why if possible, he really wanted to tear them apart. However, in thest minute, when he checked on the two personally from a distance and saw how disheveled and crazy-looking Tang Lan was, he had no choice but decide against it.


    ''Damn, I somehow need to do something about this female lead.''


    Jiang Li finally realized that while there might be no danger to his life since he could protect himself, it was hard to say what would happen to the world and everyone else once Tang Lan suddenly dies with such an unstable state of mind.


    System: ... Right. Those granted favor by fate, no matter at what point in their lives, could potentially harm the world if they die insane and with great resentment in their hearts. Hallelujah, host! You finally remembered! Took you so long, damn!


    ...


    When nighttime came, Jiang Li was annoyed to hear from the team leader handling their band that they had to dine with some unfamiliar faces after a performance at a government hosted party.


    However, what irritated him the most and had his mood sunk so low was that a few hourster, he suddenly found himself waking up in an unfamiliar room.


    "Tch. Someone drugged me without me knowing?"


    Secondster, it struck him that when he left the table to take care of his nature business, he passed out at a corridor leading to the breakroom due to extreme headache and muscle pain. Usually, he would experience thatte at night before going to sleep so it was kind of annoying that it suddenly rpsed while he was outside.


    "Who brought me here?"


    He had looked around earlier and saw the ce was like a presidential suite filled with high-end decorations. It was rming of course, since apart from knowing there was no way thepany would book him this kind of room, he discovered that he couldn''t summon any strength from his limbs. Jiang Li suspected he did pass out on his own but then someone malicious brought him here and then drugged him.


    The sounds of water from the shower room made his pupils dte. A slight opening was purposely left to allow sounds to escape from there, making unwanted guesses flood his hazy mind.


    Ask for help? His phone was nowhere in sight. Escape? The door and windows were obviously locked.


    ''Damn! What the heck?!''


    ''Wasn''t a scene like this supposed to happen only to female leads?'' A guess crossed his mind, and if possible he wanted to dismiss it as nonsense. However, if a young good-looking man suddenlynded in this kind of situation, what else could the reason be apart from he was kidnapped and a middle-ageddy or man wanted to do something gross to him?


    "..."


    ''Fine, this is what I get for striving so hard to be wanted by many. Now I''m doomed to be raped.''


    He unmuted the system for a minute and though he confirmed it was still useless, it at least managed to ry to him that it was Tang Lan who plotted all of this against him. The woman wanted to retaliate. She hoped to see him humiliated. Then through livestreaming the disgusting act about to happen, she wanted him to lose his career!


    ''Wow, so efficient. I''m caught off-guard.''


    ''But want me to ruin me?


    After digesting all the information, augh came out of his mouth. It sounded quite pleasant to the ears, courtesy of his voice that had already captured the hearts of many. Yet his eyes darkened and shed with killing intent when they gazed into a spycam he saw near the window.


    At the same time that a snowy fat leg appeared from the shower room, a shadow-like figure also formed next to the luxurious bed.


    ''It''s decided then, once Ie out of here, I won''t be so merciful anymore and just kill that b*tch!''

 Chapter 87: Feng Ru (45)

    Chapter 87: Feng Ru (45)


    It had been thirty minutes since the group started searching for their missing vocalist. The crease on Na Yu''s forehead had also stayed there for that long. She was incredibly anxious since the whole gang almost scoured the whole venue, turning even the stones under the ornamental nts there, yet they didn''t evenfind He Chen''s shadow.


    "Where are you, He Chen?" The girl bit her lower lip when one of the boys found the man''s phone soaking in a pail of water inside the toilet room.


    "He went missing around 7 pm. We checked the CCTVs but we and the guards discovered the ones installed near where Rascal Su found that thing are destroyed." Distress was in Xie Dn''s eyes as he watched Nian Xiwen and the blonde joined forces in drying the ck device.


    "Will he be fine? At this point, it''s basically confirmed something bad happened to him or else, why will he disappear with his phone swimming in the restroom''s toilet?"


    The boys were getting dizzy and more nervous due to Na Yu who kept walking back and forth the ce. However, none of them had the heart to reprimand her since it was easy to see that she was very worried and on the verge of crying.


    Cheng Du tried to reassure her. "Let''s not be view things too negatively. The police said they will be here in a few minutes. They are experienced in this kind of situation so I''m sure,ter, through their help, we will be able to find Brother He."


    Na Yu nodded but her mind was actually in that ce. It had long flown to what happened three days ago when Gu Feng, the policeman they were acquainted with, warned them about Tang Lan who had escaped from the prison.


    Not long after, the police did arrive, but the man was still not located. This prompted her to contact her grandparent''s people for help, yet even they were useless and only said the kidnapper or trafficker might be someone used to this kind of operation.


    "..."


    ''What good will it bring me to know if the b*tch or bastard who caused my boyfriend to disappear is a professional or not?''


    Five hourster, just when she was nearly going crazy from worry, her phone vibrated, the ringtone that yed signified that there was a new message received.


    After checking her inbox, she didn''t hesitate once to board a taxi.


    "Sir, suburbs, please! Here''s the exact address!"


    While the taxi driver bewildered by the aggressiveness in her voice was repeatedly nodding, Na Yu told herself, ''Calm down... Calm down... Must calm down...''


    ...


    "Hahahahahaha!"


    It had been several hours since eerie, maliciousughter started filling a dimly lit room located five miles away from the five-star hotel where the band Pesticide''s performancest performance of the day was held.


    Midnight had long passed. It was already wee hours in the morning, therefore, the sweet yet hair-raisingughter was like that of a witch who had just finished performing a forbidden art, simply scary and screaming of madness.


    The woman inside the room practically glued her eyes to the screen of herptop. More than half was a long wall of text, the remaining space upied by a tab showing a live video. Since the lighting from the LCD couldn''t reach far, her thin pale hands seemed like they were reaching out from the depths of darkness. Her fingers that were tirelessly flying on top of the keyboard were forming a strange series of sounds that continuously apanied her merryughter.


    "Hehe, I feel so motivated, and inspired! If this keeps up, there should be no problem writing twenty thousand words tonight!"


    The woman was Tang Lan, the sole girl in the past hundred years to get jailed for pping and beating up so many rich and powerful people in the city.


    Currently, her looks and hairdo resembled a medieval witch. The only saving grace was that despite looking like that, she was still on the prettier side due to her charming facial features that her messy ubed hair couldn''t obscure.


    "He Chen woke up." She paused typing her newest story, extreme excitement and gloatingced her melodious voice.


    With a few taps, the screen showing her hateful handsome ex'' dazed appearance erged, allowing her to see a short, fat figure emerging from the door to the upper right side with full rity.


    "My timing is so impable. Mrs. Fu just finished showering."


    Tang Lan stood up from her seat and leaned forward to grab the mini-speakers behind herptop. She didn''t see the man lying powerlessly on the bed suddenly turning his head to face the camera with eyes changing from murderous to ssy.


    "Thankfully, Gu Feng is now asleep so I can watch this amazing show without worry."


    "Hahaha, let this broadcast be shown to everyone in the country then!" With a tap of her finger, she started the livestream.


    "This is it! I want to know how many of his adorable fans willmit suicide after seeing their beloved idol sleeping with a rich, old hag! Let them see He Chen groaning in delight underneath someone who is not only fat, and ugly, but also three decades older than him! Hahahahaha!"


    "HAHAHAHAHA!"


    Her madughter resumed, its pitch and frequency kept getting higher and higher the more the x-rated scenes before her eyes near the most disgusting part.


    On the upper right side of the screen, the chatbox was getting blurrier and blurrier to her sight, yet Tang Lan was too happy to notice it. The thought of someone she deeply hated getting his life and reputation destroyed made her too happy and distracted to notice that every five minutes, a certain part of her right upper arm would suddenly feel itchy, as if stung by a mosquito, or pricked by a needle...


    ...


    ...<ol><li>*cries* it''s my dream</li></ol>

 Chapter 88: Feng Ru (46)

    Chapter 88: Feng Ru (46)


    The dark room and theptop before Tang Lan were real. It was also true that she had started a live stream using a fake ount.


    However, her seeing He Chen getting defiled by an old hag and this scene being broadcasted to the world were just a product of her imagination. Proof was how the live stream was only showing a pure ck screen. There was no rising male star singer there nor a known middle aged female CEO. Whatever she saw in her screen never happened since He Chen, or rather, Jiang Li never stayed that long in that ursed room and immediately left after he had Feng Ru possessed his body.


    ''Damn, I''m so angry!'' Jiang Li was trembling in rage when he regained his senses alongside the pain and the drug''s aftereffects.


    ''I promise this will be thest time I will suffer from a f*ckin'' date rape drug. I also promise to teach that old hag a proper lesson after I''m done with the b*tch!''


    Even though Feng Ru beat up the fat woman for him and manipted his body to escape from there, the anger in his heart didn''t diminish one bit. This was the reason why while the police, his bandmates and his manager were busy searching for him in the hotel''s vicinity, Jiang Limuted to appear to where Tang Lan was hiding.


    The house was locked from inside, but with the viiness by his side, there was no door nor gate that would be able to obstruct him.


    Three minutester... They finally located their target.


    Feng Ru who had somehow be non-existing to the guy''s eyes after seeing his ex: Weird. Where did he get the drugs and syringes? Is this his real ghost powers?


    Since the viiness didn''t get what was going on, she only watched as the red-eyed Jiang Li smiled eerily and sneakily injected Tang Lan with hallucinogens one shot after another. The moment the first shot kicked in, everything else went smoothly.


    Only, the sight turned quite weird since while the ce was dark, the two humans there keptughing crazily like there was no tomorrow. It was also odd how the one with zed eyesughing at her pure ck screen appeared to be too cut off from the world to notice the other human being standing behind her.


    One more thing, every time Tang Lan reaches out to her cup to moisten her throat that went thirsty fromughing too much, she would down the drink that Jiang Li poured for her then went back toughing, forgetting the fact that there should be no one else in the room.


    At one point in time, blood started to spill out of her mouth. But she acted like she could not feel it at all.


    Of course, from somebody else''s point of view, she obviously could. After all, her other hand went to her stomach which means somehow she could feel the burst of pain there, yet her brain that became trapped in a very vivid hallucinations couldn''t properly coordinate with her body. Or maybe she was just too happy to mind the pain.


    ''Someone... ising.'' Feng Ru suddenly said.


    "Oh?" After directly pouring out the liquor from the bottle and recing it with another strong smelling liquid Jiang Li had gotten from somewhere in the house, heboriously walked out of the dark room, holding onto anything on the way to not end up stumbling. Beforepletely disappearing into the dark corridor, he took onest nce at the hallucinating woman who reached out to the bottle to chug on it.


    The man sneered.


    The liquid Tang Lan drunk was only bleach. But ording to professionals, even a little sip of it could kill a person. Within fifteen to thirty minutes of ingesting it, the stomach and gastrointestinal tract would start bleeding from the bleach that was sitting there. The process, normally, would be painful to go through.


    But what if there something stimting the brain and distorting its perception so much the pain couldn''t get through it? Well, that was actually not the important thing.


    ''The only requirement is for her not to die crazily while harboring great resentment, right?'' he mused.


    Unlike Na Yu who had an eidetic memory, he knew his brain was quite an average one. However, the good thing was once he remembered something important, he would then be very analytical of it. When he recalled the requirement and heard Tang Lan''s mental health'' status, he began contemting.


    What if Tang Lan dies happilyughing like this? Still insane, but with no great resentment?


    He suspected the world will not really face destruction!


    Jiang Li subconsciously looked up once outside the female lead''s rented house. It was amusing how the darkness of the night suddenly be more tolerable and pleasant to the eyes.


    ''The male lead is surely somewhere near, most likely tied on a chair and is in need of rescue. But even if I want to alert his colleagues, I would only be able to do that once I borrow a phone.''


    He thought about it for a moment then shook his head.


    ''Uhh, Gu Feng can suffer for some time then. I''ve already done him a great favor.'' He meant dealing with the psycho girl.


    Jiang Li this time had no problem leaving the leads to fate''s hand since he wanted to see how it would save someone doomed to end up with an eroded stomach, or match that female serial killer someone with an upright policeman. Despite this though, his craving for home and rest was many times more than this. This was why when he senses he could no longer hold on, he borrowed a phone from the kind shopkeeper of a nearby 24/7 convenience store and texted Na Yu to fetch him...

 Chapter 89: Feng Ru (47)

    Chapter 89: Feng Ru (47)


    The police had actually been looking for Gu Feng for some time now. Most of them didn''t know the female lead actually saved the male lead and took care of him for thest three days so when they received an anonymous message telling the man''s current location and how he was with Tang Lan, a team was immediately dispatched. Their aim, to ''rescue'' him.


    His police department might be thinking the case was urgent and in need of special attention since the one who kidnapped Gu Feng was someone no longer right in the head.


    In Jiang Li''s eyes though, this special attention was a bogus, the kind arranged by this world''s fate so that people woulde to that rented apartment as soon as possible to rescue the female lead.


    Jiang Li fell silent when he saw the police car that passed by the convenience store where he was staying.


    <em>''As expected, she''s like a cat with nine lives. One could just bow down to the awesomeness of the female lead''s halo.''</em>


    After a few minutes of tapping his finger on the table, he started to feel very drowsy. The excruciating pain and the drug''s nasty effects Feng Ru forcibly suppressed earlier were starting toe back to him doubled. Now, every minute that passed, it was getting harder and harder to stay sober.


    <em>''Ah... I wish I can just be a zombie again...''</em>


    <em>''Zombies don''t feel pain. They also don''t have to feel and be burdened by any emotion. All they have in mind is to devour the living and turn the world into a paradise for the dead.''</em>


    All sorts of thoughts started to haunt him. Memories of Tang Lan and He Chen long before he took over also popped up in his mind like an unending slideshow. He really disliked the majority of the pictures.


    Feng Ru was nowhere in sight so no one was there to distract him. He could only lean on the bench''s backrest and close his eyes. The shop was like a graveyard in terms of quietness.


    Bored, he finally decided to speak with the system, "Hey, system. I''m more or less doomed to fail He Chen''s request since I doubt there will be a miracle where she''ll regret nottching onto me instead of hating me whenever she sees me on YouTube or TV. Am I still not allowed to go back to the void or go to the next world and have another body? I think Feng Ru''s case, which is the main point of this time''s transmigration game, is not that bad anymore."


    ''...''


    System: Don''t talk to me, I don''t exist. I''m muted.


    As if Jiang Li knew what it was thinking, he revoked his initialmand. "Just wanna say. But He Chen is so freaking damnable. While I''m okay enduring physical pain, his remnant soul and thoughts are really making me want to go to that Daoist who purified Feng Ru and request to exorcise him. Or maybe me."


    The system which didn''t have much time to get overwhelmed from being unmuted hurriedly shouted, <em>''Host, NO! I beg you! Don''t do that! Please think of your real objective!''</em>


    "Fine, how about my first question?" All this while, that was actually what he wanted to know.


    The system awkwardly answered,<em>''Er, my apologies, but you have to stay here and fulfill the Original''s wish. You also haven''tpleted the main mission. Host, Feng Ru might look okay to you now, but there is always a chance she will go back to her usual self once you leave this world. I forgot to tell you but if you fail, you''ll be thrown to a punishment world. If possible, host, we must not fail.''</em>


    Jiang Li frowned. What does it want him to do? Be a suicide hotline operator and counsel every suicidal person in this world? He shook his head and asked,"What''s a punishment world?"


    <em>''Host, I can''t disclose the specifics.''</em> The system paused for a while. Just in case Jiang Li was thinking of something scary, it added, <em>"But I can guarantee that it''s not advisable to go there. The environment will surely be very difficult. You will also get a body several times worse than He Chen''s!''</em>


    Silence reigned for some time, but it was not because Jiang Li sunk into deep contemtion.


    "He Chen!" A beautiful woman clutching her chest as she panted for breath appeared and pushed open the door to the coldly airconditioned shop. Her face was pale and the rims of her eyes were red. The girl was trembling not from the sudden chill that kissed her fair skin, but from the emotions that flooded her heart when she finally found him.


    Jiang Li wryly smiled at her. "Hello, Na Yu." He wanted to wave a hand at her but his body failed to cooperate. Truth was, he didn''t even have the strength to stand up.


    Before he knew it, his manager was already in front of him, embracing him so tightly. She was doing quite a few things at the same time, crying, mumbling iprehensible things, wetting the shoulder part of his shirt... and begging him to not suddenly disappear like that again.


    Something in him was stirred when she repeatedly said thest one.


    <em>''It seems she really got worried.''</em>


    <em>''But to say that to me...''</em>


    He shook his head andughed. "Stop crying now. I''m okay."<em></em>


    The girl parted from him and then inspected him. "You don''t look fine. What happened to you?"


    "I''ll exinter. For now, help me up, and bring me anywhere but a hospital."


    His manager argued with him about going to a hospital, but when he was no longer responding and was slowly freefalling to the floor, she helplessly caught him andbored her way into bringing him to a family residence owned by her family nearest from there.


    ''Oh well, if he doesn''t want to be brought to a hospital, I''ll just bring a doctor here,'' she thought.


    <em></em>

 Chapter 90: Feng Ru (48)

    Chapter 90: Feng Ru (48)


    Tang Lan was confined to the hospital after surgery. She managed to survive, but since she fell into aa, it was hard to say if it was a good thing. The doctors said she was mostly done by the high dosage of drugs ingested and would have a lower chance of waking up if she stayed like that for three days.


    Meanwhile, Gu Feng also received treatment but he was also discharged after a day. The man asked about Tang Lan once, then after saying his well-wishes, he reported to work.


    So far, despite being together for three days, no romantic feelings blossomed on the male lead''s heart. Instead of feeling ttered from receiving Tang Lan''s care, he just wanted to sigh in relief that she didn''t do anything outrageous to him. After all, when he saw those pictures, he had a gut feeling that she really did those things; plotting people''s death,mitting crimes and driving people crazy for the sake of producing detective stories that would hit the shelves...


    Humans instinctively want to be away from bombs. Gu Feng had a tough heart. But since he was still just a human, he was no exception to this rule.


    Three days already passed. Pesticide''s activities temporarily stopped, announcing they need a few days of rest. In any case, there was really nothing they could do with their vocalist not with them, probably traumatized by the kidnapping. While the bedridden guy had no problem video chatting with them and reassuring them with a smile that he was fine, in their eyes he was merely pretending. The worried boys did not force him to meet up with them and only told him to rest.


    In reality, Jiang Li would have no problem bouncing back to work already if not for Na Yu forcing him to stay in her house.


    "Come, eat with me and then drink your medicine. Hehe, just another day of medication and all the drugs in your body system will be cleared. Be good and don''t give me random excuses again."


    While he was bored watching movies in the bed, the woman barged into the room with a tray in hands. He gave her a defeated look.


    ''I escaped from that rapist, but I somehow still ended up being kept. Should I be d at least the one keeping me is beautiful, gentle, and rich?''


    The womanid the dishes on the table next to the bed. Jiang Li looked at her after noticing most of the dishes were rich in vitamins and minerals.


    He sighed. ''It''s faint, but I can smell herbs.''


    On the first day of staying here, he was unconscious. Since Na Yu''s brain was normal, she definitely had a doctore to treat him. Thanks to the Original who had not taken good care of himself before his takeover, it was easy to notice the abnormalities even without an actual examination. The Na family was quite resourceful too, so if Na Yu wanted, she could dig out his colorful records.


    As of now, Jiang Li could already see the girl already know. But what''s amazing was that instead of suddenly finding excuses to break rtionships with him, she started using covert tactics to force him into medications.


    "... Maybe I should make her regret after all." He murmured to himself when she left.


    Before he knew it, he had once again unmuted the system and spent some of the points earned from the trial world.


    ...


    When Jiang Li returned, the band also went back to their daily hectic schedule. Rumors about him getting kidnapped flew around. But their agency was not new to the business so they soon took care of it.


    "Probably if there''s something that changed when Brother He returned, it is our manager." Xie Dn stared with envy when Na Yu brought her packed lunch to He Chen after a rehearsal.


    "Four eyes, you should be happy he''s having a proper rtionship. Not the one-sided self-abusive one with that annoying woman." Cheng Du said, putting his guitar down the coffee table.


    "... It''s not really proper though. It has to be hidden from the public or else Miss Na will be assassinated. But welp, I''m happy for him."


    The subject of their discussion did not hear what they said. The pretty manager had arrived by his side and pulled him to a corner to eat without care for the jealous eyes of his bandmates. She evenughed when her friend sh assistant told the boys to eat with their fans if they want.


    "He Chen, your friends are jealous of you." Amusement could be seen in her bright eyes.


    Jiang Li sneered after chewing a handful of seedless grapes. "They''re pretending, missy. Only Dn is not since he''s still chasing your friend." In one corner of his eyes, he saw Nangong Xue turning into stone.


    He continued, "... Cheng Du is taken. Little Nian is also seeing someone from the other university. And as for that Rascal Su, he is currently single. But the keyword is currently. Don''t think he''s an idiot who can''t find one to date due to being too dense. More than anyone else here, he''s the one who had so many flings and week-long rtionships. Naive girls are drawn to his bad-boy image. Tch."


    "I heard that, bastard!" Su Xuefeng proudly raised his electric keyboard in the air. "And I can say with confidence that you''re envious of my record!"


    "Idiot," The annoyed drummer scoffed.


    Na Yu had an amused expression on her face while Jiang Li looked bored.


    "Ignore them. Let''s eat."


    "Oh. Okay." Na Yu smile and picked up her chopsticks.


    That seemed to be the cue for everyone else in the room to leave them. And they did the correct thing since when Na Yu happily started to feed him and Jiang Li awkwardly tried to do the same, the ce descended into awkwardness. It was both cute and painful to watch. Of course, outsiders must flee to save themselves from blindness...

 Chapter 91: Feng Ru (49)

    Chapter 91: Feng Ru (49)


    Whente afternoon came, Jiang Li discreetly visited his family before going to the city''s business district. Only Feng Ru was with him, floating behind him, sometimes picking a fight with the daylight ghost that she sees along the way. Don''t ask him how and why though. All he would answer was that she was too bored or had too much free time in hand.


    ''A couple of weeks left for me...'' He sighed, feeling empty as his masked figure cut through the bustling streets full of people and stalls.


    He walked for five more minutes before stopping in front of a slightly rundown shop which had two thank you banners written in beautiful calligraphy on each side.


    ''Song n''s Medicine Hall.''


    After two and a half months, he finally showed his face at the traditional medicine shop where the Original got his medication before. Unexpectedly, he bumped into the male lead there. And to his surprise, it was because the other man had started dating the granddaughter of the Chinese medicine master there.


    "Oh? So you are still alive? I thought you already died." A hunchback old man who had an aloof air around him greeted him from the counter.


    "Grandpa, watch your mouth!" A tall mature-looking woman came out of the side door and scolded the old man.


    It was Song Wuying, a policewoman from the same station as the male lead. In the plot, she was a minor love rival, but this time, it seems she had sessfully gotten the male lead''s affection now that the female lead was out of the equation. Fun fact, when Jiang Li first came into this world, the anonymous text message he received about herbs and stuff was actually from her.


    She faced him. "Don''t mind Granpa, he''s just having a bad day due to his back. By the way, hello, He Chen. It''s been a while. I''ve always been hearing about you and your band."


    "Yeah, it''s been a while." Jiang Li nodded at her before throwing a look at the silent and cold-faced Gu Feng who snubbed him, probably for the beatingst time. "Good day, Officer, Sis Ying, and Grandpa Song."


    "We''re not close, brat! Don''t call me, grandpa." The old man snorted but meaningfully looked at his granddaughter. When Song Wuying dragged her new boyfriend outside and left the two alone, Jiang Li showed a small smile. ''Hot-tempered yet considerate, I like this old man.''


    "So why are you here? No one''s around anymore so cut the nonsense and talk."


    Jiang Li could onlyugh since the traditional doctor was so straightforward.


    "I''m not here to bother you, Grandpa Song. I''m only here to thank you for all the care you have given me all these years. And to say sorry for suddenly not going back for two months."


    He was quietly looked at by the old man for some time before he heard him say, "Brat, you know I don''t like mushy talks like this. So are you nning to live or die?"


    ''What a question.'' Jiang Li''s lips twitched. "Live."


    "I see. I''ve been bugging you since forever to go for an antiretroviral therapy together with my treatment, so what changed your mind? You no more feeling embarrassed to go to the hospital for your illness? Or is it because you now have money? I don''t believe it''s money though. I offered you financial assistance before."


    "I''m a known love fool so it should be easy to guess." The small smile returned to Jiang Li''s face. Grandpa Song eximed in his heart that the bastard was indeed handsome. But a pity, such a good-looking person still had a high chance of dying since his decision came toote.


    Jiang Li''s eyes roamed around the ce until they stopped at a huge shelf to the left.


    "There is a girl who fell for me. Smart, beautiful, and talented. Unfortunately, since she fell for me, her IQ dipped into the negatives, sticking to me despite my cold attitude, and even frequented your shop even after knowing the truth."


    "..."


    ''Just for that? Brat, how about my previous efforts for the past two years?''


    Even though the old man seemed annoyed at his answer, Jiang Liughingly continued, "I''m a simple man so since someone is willing to stay by side despite knowing that, all I can do is to show that I try and fight. My family''s three-tenths of the reason, you, two-tenths, her the remaining half..." He showed a distressed expression for a while, then corrected himself, "Sorry, actually, it''s you and my family fifteen percent, and her eighty-five..."


    ".... Do you know that I badly want to beat you up now?"


    The young manughingly fled seeing Grandpa Song fuming in anger.


    The old man almost threw down one of the medicine jars nearest to him. It was just so unfair. For so long, he had tried to advise that damn boy to admit himself into a proper medical facility but he said his life was not a priority. Chasing for the girl of his dreams was.


    Just when he heard from his granddaughter the kid was finally having a life and a career, he went back only to say he''s getting treatment for the sake of a girl?


    ''I brought this upon myself. I cared too much for my patients. Now my blood pressure is knocking on the ceiling!''


    "Hey, you. Come out!"


    He furiously turned his head to the left and huffed.


    "Why are you still hiding behind my cab when he actually knows you''re going here? And that stupid police officer, he looks at you twice! If he dares break my granddaughter''s heart let''s see if I don''t feed him my dark concoction. But damn! You, young people, are pissing me off! Come out now. AND SCRAM!" Irritation caused the old man''s words to be all over the ce.


    When no answered came apart from irritating sobbing sounds, Grandpa Song angrily yelled, "Fine, you don''t evere out from there!" then went back inside to continue working on his medicine.


    As for the person hiding behind the cab, it was none other Na Yu who Jiang Li had mentioned as his major reason for finally deciding to go extend his lifespan. The space behind the wooden shelf was narrow and the weird smell of mold and herbs constantly floated around. An unusual coldness was also there due to Feng Ru''s presence. But with her chest being this stuffy, she noticed none of these at all.


    ''He Chen, do you know... I only started lingering around you for standing up for me at that time.''


    ''But then you helped me deal with the scums who took photos of me almost getting tainted by a former intern colleague... and I developed an interest in you.''


    ''That is just an interest though, which initially made me think of how you did it. Later, it turned into how and when you be a hacker, until it bes purely thinking of you.''


    ''I be a stalker until I fell for you.'' She sniffed and blew her nose.


    ''Now, I can''t stop crying because I fell for you again...''

 Chapter 92: Feng Ru (50)

    Chapter 92: Feng Ru (50)


    Time passed quickly in a blink of an eye.


    Jiang Li stayed in that world for twenty years, which he made possible by sacrificing twenty points. For someone like him who only had fifty points but wanted to gather a hundred thousand to go back to his real world, that was already an awesome deed.


    To be honest, there were many instances he regretted that decision. After all, he had to go through an annoying surgery and therapy and pretend he was okay when in front of other people. Whenever he saw Na Yu, he would wonder if she was worth postponing going to another world. And each time, he would sigh in defeat, remembering what she answered him after he bluntly told her that his illness was one of the most frowned upon in the world.


    ''No need to test me, He Chen,'' she said with an angelic smile on her pretty face. ''When the doctor came over that time, he told me his suspicions. And I panicked so much that I dug out your records. Then when I saw yourtest blood test results, and confirmed you have... AIDS, all I want to do is cry...''


    ''I know I must leave you. Especially since you won''t have long to live due to missing the best time to get treatment. Even if you survive, once your condition is leaked, it''s easy to guess that there won''t be a good future ahead of us. The difficulty will double because you''re a celebrity. People''s imaginations are wild. They will definitely assume you got it from the unspoken rules. Whenever I think of this, I felt like the world is unfair to the two of us. It''s hard not to cry and wonder if all the hardships and fears would be worth it.''


    ''But don''t worry, since I realize leaving you is not what I want. I want to stay with you. After knowing you''re suffering so much but is not telling anyone, not even your family, I just feel like staying and loving you.''


    Na Yu thenughed and caught him off-guard with a kiss, saying she''s okay sharing the same difficulty as him. No matter his condition and what he was like, she''s fine giving her all to him.


    ''If someone is like that to you and you are not yet that heartless, how could you not fight and do your best to stay in the world?'' Jiang Li would always ask this to himself each time he saw her and her eyes that spoke so much love for him.


    Anyway, Na Yu was lucky, the bastard she fell for had a way to prolong his life and was moved by her dedication and persistence. The only unfortunate thing was when he had the system extend his life there, he yed safe and didn''t go all out. Jiang Li knew he did so many stupid things in his life, but this case was probably what he would regret the most.


    "Host, I''m sorry but the time is up. You can no longer remain here since you''re not allowed to mess up with He Chen''s life expectancy for a second time."


    He went silent for almost five minutes, looking at Na Yu who was sleeping by his bed side.


    "It''s time to leave, huh."


    So much had happened within that twenty years. Pesticide never formally disbanded but on its tenth year, the members went their separate ways to start another career, business, or family.


    He Family had it hard on the fifth year of Pesticide''s debut. Father He managed to extend his life but he still died of bone cancer five yearster. Also on that same year, they discovered their eldest son also had that kind of disease.


    It had to be said that both Mother He and Little Brother He almost killed Tang Lan since she was actually the reason why he got that disease. And no, he didn''t do that disgusting act with that psycho.


    It was just when they were still kids, He Chen once went to a park in the city where he encountered the young female lead. Tang Lan, who was already insane at such a young age, had somehow gotten a syringe full of blood from her family''s clinic and injected them to a few kids there. He Chen went back and continued living in the vige for years so he only discovered about his HIVte. When the truth was out, he was already head over heels for the psycho.


    This was the main reason why Jiang Li pitied He Chen. He loved and gave so much he already lost himself, yet got nothing in return.


    Anyway, there was no use thinking of the Original''s misfortune. Tang Lan was already enjoying her retribution in the mental hospital, bed-ridden and was regrly trapped in her happy delusions.


    As for Jiang Li, even though he had not enjoyed Na Yu''s care enough, he knew he should no longer prolong her sufferings.


    Twenty years was plenty enough. He had apanied her, and married her for everything she did for him. If he would be asked though if he loved her, it would be hard to answer, but whether he would go against the Original''s time limit again if the opportunity was given, then definitely he would say yes. The decades he spent with her allowed him to see so much beauty in life. The affection she showed him was so overwhelming... If he would be given another chance to be with her longer, he would dly do so, to pamper her and love her more than he had this lifetime since he felt like he had not reciprocated enough.


    It was a moonless night when he got up from the hospital bed. This time, he got up not with He Chen''s body, but with his own, as a spirit. A young-looking whitedy suddenly appeared in the corner of the private room and watched him undergo this process.


    A few secondster, he met Feng Ru''s curious gaze andughed.


    "You appear just in time."


    The ghost hesitantly asked, "You leaving... already for... the other world?"


    He was sure she meant the world where souls go which was not his real destination, but he still nodded and said, "I can no longer be in this world. As for you, I don''t know what''s still keeping you here. But if you will continue helping clinically depressed people, there is actually another way to do so apart from revenge."


    The viiness went silent. Feng Ru had been observing the two since forever so it would be impossible for her not to get his meaning.


    Jiang Li was one of the most unique and brokenhearted people she met while drifting from ce to ce as a ghost. However, even he was melted by Na Yu''s love. She knew it was what he wanted to tell her.


    It might seem out of character for a damnable and ungentlemanly bloke like him, but in the end, he remained in the world, not only to make up for his wife''s love and efforts, but to show Feng Ru that depressed people would also be able to ovee the demons in their heart and mind if someone was by their side to care and love them.


    "Though I doubt those fragile people will also have their own Na Yu, I think they will be fine as long as you helped them stand up, take their revenge, and find people to support them."


    "Did you... finally fall for her?"


    "Maybe." Only Feng Ru knows how much she wanted to beat up the man for his annoying answer.


    Jiang Liughed as he patted the sleeping woman''s head. Age had started to catch up with her, but in his eyes, she would remain the most beautiful and the best woman in the world.


    For a long while, he looked at her while thinking to himself, ''When she took my hand back then, when she wanted to jump off that building through Feng Ru''s help, did she ever see herself choosing life only to live loving a dying patient?''


    "Host, go to another mission world or the void?"


    Before he said yes to the system''s first option, he asked the viiness who was actually no more a viiness to look after Na Yu. He waited Feng Ru to agree, his eyes showing the viiness his pure desire to have someone guard his woman in his stead.


    Jiang Li didn''t know his request became the viiness new object of obsession. He only know that when she gloomily nodded, relief flooded his heart and a smile appeared on his face.


    When he opened his eyes again, he was officially in another world.

 Chapter 93: Gu Feng (Side Story)

    Chapter 93: Gu Feng (Side Story)


    Aurora City Police Station.


    It was a normal rainy afternoon when Gu Feng''s colleague knocked five times on his office door and came in without waiting for his reply. The matter seemed urgent based on the hurried footsteps so the forty-six-years-old chief raised his head that was buried in documents and looked at the approaching man.


    "Hello, sir. I apologize for disturbing you."


    The man seated at therge table nodded.


    "Officer Duan, is there anything you need?"


    Gu Feng''s gaze went to the box in the young policeman''s hands and saw the logo of a local courier service provider on it. There was still no expression on his face, but his mind was busy wondering who the sender was and if it was for him.


    Thetter put down the box wrapped in stic on the free spot atop the table. While fiddling his cap, he said, "Chief, the package is from the convalescence center. It''s for you. But the sender''s name is not familiar to me."


    ''... You''re not the receiver. Why would you be familiar with the name?''


    Gu Feng had always been a man of few words, so despite his mind having so much to retort to the other, he kept his silence, hands reaching out to the box and the note.


    Officer Duan wordlessly went out, perceptive enough to know he should not bother his superior anymore.


    Gu Feng waited for the sound of footsteps to cease and nced down at the note. A few creases instantly appeared on his forehead when he saw the name. Dr. Amanda Lim.


    "It''s really from the mental hospital," he mumbled.


    There were many cases of criminals faking their medical records just to escape their jail time. Most politicians love to have doctors forge medical certificates for them saying they were gravely ill and would have to be confined in the hospital for years. Others faked insanity and braved the mental hospital, unaware that once they enter, if they were not insane, then it would just be a matter of time before they be so.


    Twenty years ago, he was one of the people who escorted Tang Lan to the mental institution. He met doctor Li thrice since there was a time when the police were skeptical about that woman''s mental state.


    Even though Tang Lan showed enough indicators that she was really a lunatic, his superior still wanted to check on her in the convalescence center, so they sent him there a few times. That was how he got acquainted with the doctor who started harassing him monthly about that woman''s mental progress.


    The man was not puzzled why Amanda Li suddenly changed from phoning him to sending him a parcel..


    There was no change in his expression as he unwrapped it and picked up the first thing he saw inside, the only letter not sealed inside an envelope.


    ''Dear Mr. Gu...'' Gu Feng skimmed over the perfunctory words and focused on the important content. As he read it, his eyes remained cid, like a dead whirlpool of water that hadn''t been touched for years.


    ''Her remains are now back to her family.'' He stopped his eyes at this part for a while, not really surprised since he was already informed yesterday. It was just that memories, both good and bad began to pour into his brain, causing him to feel a bit nostalgic.


    After taking a deep breath, he continued reading.


    ''Her remains are now back to her family. However, before she passed away, her condition stabilized a little. Maybe she felt that death is near, or maybe it was as you lot suspected, she''s not crazy or had recovered long ago but continued acting crazy. In any case, before her death, she wrote a few letters addressed to some people I don''t know. This is myst request to you. Please pass the letters to them.''


    After putting that one away, he then checked the other envelopes. The one addressed to him immediately went to the trash bin near his desk. The rest he put back inside the box.


    When office hours ended, Gu Feng didn''t know why he chose to deliver two of those by himself while he had the rest sent via courier service. He just found himself picking the two envelopes and setting out of the office.


    After getting off the police car he borrowed, he looked at the huge townhouse before him.


    It had not been long since hest came here. His wife liked visiting the ce since he was friends with its owners - Na Yu and He Chen. Thetter was the man he used to hate and envy, whom he had almost sued for using violence against him before.


    He remembered that He Chen only escaped from his anger due to Song Wuying telling him of his condition. Though the bad impression never faded away, Gu Feng understood that He Chen mostly likely saw the slight difference in the kind of look he was giving Na Yu and only beat him up out of fear that his lover would be stolen.


    That happened twenty years ago. Many things had taken ce since then. Gu Feng married Song Wuying while He Chen tied the knots with Na Yu. Their wives became best friends so the two men had no choice but to meet each other from time to time. But of course, they never became friends themselves, since He Chen disliked him while he was too busy with work and family.


    Two years ago, He Chen passed away due to the manyplications caused by his illness. Gu Feng apanied his wife and attended the funeral where he saw Na Yu heartbroken from seeing her husband lying inside a coffin.


    ''His passing makes me think we''ve all gotten old already.''


    Gu Feng shrugged off the memories and knocked on the door.


    "Mr. Gu." Surprise briefly flickered in Na Yu''s eyes when she opened the door and saw him. He watched her expression change from surprise into suspicion, then serenity. He noted that even though more than twenty years had passed, she was still the beautiful woman he used to love.


    "Good day, Mrs. He." A small smile formed on his lips.


    After nodding once, she looked into his eyes and said, "It''s probably the first time you visited without bringing Sis Ying. How may I help you?"


    Gu Feng knew it would not be good to stay long in front of a widow''s door lest the people nearby thought bad of her. Therefore, he immediately passed what Tang Lan wanted to be passed onto her and herte husband, He Chen.


    "It''s Tang Lan''s?" she eximed after looking at the back of the envelopes.


    "Yeah. She just passed away and her doctor requested me to deliver those."


    Na Yu creased her forehead and immediately tore the seals to read the letters.


    Gu Feng didn''t n to pry so he said to her, "I have to leave now. I only dropped by for that. May you have a nice---"


    A tearing sound cut his words off, which was followed by the sound of papers being crumpled.


    While his eyes followed the balled pieces of paper thrown into the garbage can, Na Yu was frowning, obviously put in a bad mood by what she read. He saw it a second after and remembered the woman had an eidetic memory so even a nce would allow her to remember the whole text.


    Gu Feng pursed his lips and repeated what he was saying earlier. Afterward, he started walking away. Na Yu''s voice rang behind, telling him to say hello to his wife, Song Wuying, for her.


    The man looked back one more time to see her closing the door. After that, he resumed walking towards the police car.


    To be honest, his curiosity got the better of him and prompted him to check what Tang Lan had written for those two.


    In his opinion, the woman was still insane. Because while she taunted Na Yu by emphasizing she was the first love and detailing what that man did for her to love him, she was pleading for forgiveness and being dramatic on the one written for He Chen.


    ''Tang Lan said she loves me and had her doctor regrly pester me to visit her. But when she died, she wrote to He Chen if God would allow it, she would go back in time and live happily with him.''


    ''When she penned that, did she know that He Chen was already dead? Probably not. Her goal must be to cause disharmony in their marriage life, unaware that he''s no longer in this world.''


    ''Even in her deathbed, that woman wants to create trouble.''


    He felt a pang of regret in his heart. ''Maybe I should have just ignored her will...''


    Gu Feng drove back to the office and recovered the letter addressed to him. After confirming that all the words Tang Lan wanted to tell him werepletely contradictory to those on the other letters, Gu Fengughed. The woman he used to take for a younger sister was really a ridiculous person. And he too, was ridiculous, for considering her after he gave up on Na Yu.


    There were many things he would probably regret in his life. After all, like every other people, he was human, prone to making bad decisions at tough times. But as he looked back to everything he experienced so far and took in his family''s warmth when he got home, he felt so d that when he was still in his mid-twenties, he didn''t fall in love with Tang Lan...

 Chapter 94: Jiang Ying Yue (1)

    Chapter 94: Jiang Ying Yue (1)


    "I beg you, Your Highness... P-please do not break off our engagement... please..."


    Pitiful sobs apanied by words stuttered out using a pleading voice greeted Jiang Li''s ears. The ce was quiet hence the familiar feminine voice was heard clearly by him. It made him instinctively open his eyes and at the same time, ce his hand on the upper part of his face, a habit acquired from the previous world.


    To his surprise though, no pain nor headache attacked him, proving that he was really no longer in He Chen''s body, but somebody else.


    "Prince Rui..." The voice this time seemed to be from an older female, still pleasant but without the sweet youthfulness only present to young girls.


    Jiang Li observed himself first and noticed that he was in a getup only seen on historical films and dramas. Everyone was dressed the same as him. The ce too looked simr to an ancient Chinese pce hall.


    ''A drama being filmed?''


    This was his initial guess, but when he looked around, there was no sign of cameras or anything like that. Everywhere he looked, his sight would be greeted by a kind of ancientness that was pleasant to the eyes yet showed signs of deep history and meaning.


    Even the people around radiated this aura. The feeling these details gave him was genuine. It only meant one thing, he was transported to an ancient setting.


    ''This seems to be a banquet.''


    Sitting on the throne atop a raised tform in front was a man in his fifties dressed like an emperor. Jiang Li found himselfseated at a table just one step below. There were many tables arranged below them. It was most likely, the nearest they were to the emperor, the higher their ranks and official posts were. Since he was almost next to the emperor, his own identity must be quite amazing, maybe more than the Jiang Li of the trial world.


    "So weak and cowardly."


    Just then, a male voiceing from the table opposite his rang in the grand chamber.


    Jiang Li''s eyes went that way and saw a tall man dressed simr to him. The person looked young, but regal and imposing. There was an unconcealed disdain in his eyes as he stared down at the beautiful and fragile-looking girl kneeling below.


    Jiang Li couldn''t see the girl''s face since she bowing and knocking her forehead to the floor.


    ''What kind of set-up is this?''


    He smiled wryly after hearing the arrogant-looking man add, "Miss Jiang, I advise you to just stop embarrassing yourself."


    "Why..." Even though there were many people looking and sneering at her miserable state, the crying girl seemed to be not seeing them at all. She looked at Prince Rui. Tears running down her immacte face, she asked while shaking her head. "... why... can''t you give me a chance?"


    The man only gave her a contemptuous nce then replied, "Ask that to yourself. You are so cowardly and useless. How could you be my Wang Fei?" Once done saying that he red at her and then excused himself to the emperor, exiting while being followed by many eyes.


    Jiang Li''s forehead creased, not liking what he witnessed especially since the one that guy just talked down to had a very familiar face. Irritation wormed into his heart because that girl looked like ''her'', and so to have a clear idea of what''s going on, he epted the memories.


    Meanwhile, the beautiful and pitiful girl kneeling in the middle copsed sideways. Hopelessness shed across her eyes from seeing the person she had prepared herself for all these years leaving.


    The man she wanted to love with all her heart and mind was leaving after requesting to annul his engagement with her.


    For a while, her head was hung low, and her tears couldn''t stop flowing. However, when her now ex-fiance, Rui Wang was almost at the exit of the grand hall, she slowly raised her delicate face. She also slowly stood up.


    "If you don''t want to marry me, then what''s the point of living then?"


    Her sad cries did not arouse any pity from the departing man.


    Severely heartbroken, her gaze went to the elegantly carved pir nearest to her. Since after this event, her reputation would be destroyed and her life would be very difficult, why shouldn''t she just end it right here and right now? The girl''s thinking went that way, the determination that crossed her eyes did not escape Jiang Li and the emperor''s notice.


    ''She wants tomit suicide by throwing herself against a pir?'' Jiang Li''s left brow rose up.He also subconsciously stood up from his seat.


    Before the emperor could issue an order to stop the girl, she had already started running with her head bowed down like a charging bull. Everyone watching her was rmed, yet none of them managed to react, not even her mother who was by her side.


    ''If she collided like that to the column, she''ll surely die.'' This thought yed in everyone''s mind. Many of the ministers and their servants seated near the pir felt fear invade their hearts. They were at a banquet hosted by the son of heaven. If blood spilled at such a ce and they were near but didn''t prevent it, what would the emperor think?


    Understanding this, those near tried to block the girl. And as these people ''tried'' to prevent the unthinkable, the emperor''s urgent andmanding voice finally echoed throughout the hall.


    "Stop her!"


    This shout was followed by many scared exims from the others, mostly thedies. Screams were mixing with each other and filling the entire ce. However, after a couple of moments, when the suicidal girl was only a yard away from the pir, those screams of fright died or were reced by gasps of surprise.


    """It''s Prince Chen!"""


    "Your Highness!"


    The girl was too preupied with sorrow to notice that though. Without lifting her head, she rammed herself into the pir. A pir that turned into Jiang Li...<ol><li>Princess Consort of a King/Prince (Wang/Wang Ye)</li></ol>

 Chapter 95: Jiang Ying Yue (2)

    Chapter 95: Jiang Ying Yue (2)


    A minuteter...


    "Miss Jiang, when are you going to stop tackling me?"


    He red at the girl for a long time since this was already the fifth time that she tried to throw herself against him. The problem with her was that she never stopped crying and never lifted her head up. She kept mistaking his chest for a pir and repeatedly stood up from the floor to try her suicide method.


    ck lines appeared on Jiang Li''s forehead.


    How the hell did she manage to not realize that she had never bumped into her intended target? Actually, in the first ce, why was a freakin'' pir her target? Who the f*ck gave her the idea? The ancients were really so different. He felt like he would need some time to make it past the culture shock!


    The ce had already be quiet because most of the people around were rendered speechless by the girl''s actions. There were also those who couldn''t get over the fact that Chen Wang, one of Zhao Dynasty''s first rank princes suddenly showed off his extraordinary lightness skill just to save her.


    But look at what the Jiang n''s first legitimate miss was doing.


    "Stop! Sister, please stop! Listen to me, y-you''re---"


    "Heavens!"The madam who stood next to the girl earlier covered her eyes with her fan and trembled from fright.


    "BAM!" A loud thudding sound once again echoed. The youngdy who appeared to be sisters with the other girl gulped after seeing the prince''s expression turning dark.


    ''My Dear Sister, if you want tomit suicide, go ahead! But why don''t you first raise your head, apologize to the prince, and look for another column to smash your head against?!''she thought, fearing that their whole family would be implicated and punished too.


    "Jiang Ying Yue! Stop!" shouted a tall, lean middle-aged man dressed like a minister.


    When the girl heard that voice, she finally came to her senses and then froze. The most recent collision made her very dizzy but she recognized the voice. It was her father, the grand marshal of Great Zhao''s army, one of the people she most feared in the world. Burning in shame and hating why she was still alive, her knees softened and lost strength.


    "Careful." Distress almost showed on Jiang Li''s face when he caught the falling woman.


    ''She''s so cold and looks so fragile.''


    ''But the most important thing is why does she look like Na Yu?''


    The transfer had just happened. Five minutes ago he was still burning his wife''s beautiful face into his memories, afraid of forgetting a single detail. Yet now a much younger version of her appeared before him in the new world.


    ''Damn, what the hell''s going on? Even the first encounter, the suicide part, is pretty much the same...!''


    No coincidence happens thrice. Na Yu looking like Zhu Li could still be said a coincidence if it stopped there. But it was now obvious that something was wrong when he saw this new girl whose features were a hundred percent simr to the younger Na Yu. Jiang Li made a mental note to inquire about this from the system once he gets to a safer ce.


    "Your Highness!" That slightly shaky voice pulled his attention away from the girl''s face.


    The marshal dressed in his court clothes sweated heavily as he walked towards them and put his hands forwards together under his sleeves. He bowed after his greetings. "Everything''s my fault. I haven''t educated my daughter enough. But I''m begging Your Highness to show pity and forgive her!"


    Jiang Li saw the stern and rigid Grand Marshal threw a cold look at the girl.


    Even though annoyed by her soulless appearance and the father''s treatment of her, he managed to reply, "It''s fine. But it seems thisdy suffered a shock so I suggest you now bring her away."


    He received many words of thanks from the family of the girl and praises from the emperor and the bystanders. Of course, not all of them did the same. Some of the gazes he received were meaningful and gauging. Probably many were wondering why the usually stoic and aloof Chen Wang moved to stop the Jiang Family''s first miss from smashing her head.


    The noisy moring sh gossiping continued until the whole family of the military head disappeared from the grand chamber. Before the girlpletely vanished from his sight, he noticed her giving Rui Wang a half-pleading, half-grieving look.


    Jiang Li felt very thankful that the emperor immediately ended the banquet. He didn''t really feel like staying especially after witnessing thatst one. He also barely saw a part of the plot and had almost zero knowledge of the situation here. Why would he want to stay?


    Followed by his own entourage and ler by a eunuch, he got into an elegant and borately designed carriage parked at the left side of the front garden. Afterward, he had the carriage driver sent him back to his own residence.


    Taking advantage of the fact that the ride would take more or less an hour, he immediately unmuted the system, blocking it when it hurriedly offered to continue giving him the plot and his current Original''s memories.


    "I want to know why I saw someone looking like her in all the worlds you sent me to."


    ''...''


    The system acted weirdly when he said that. It first maintained its silence then said, ''Er, hehe... Host, we justpleted a mission. Why don''t we first check how many points you earn?''


    Jiang Li clicked his tongue and asked the same question again, but to his extreme annoyance, the damn thing in his head kept its silence for good. Its action was just so suspicious. Or maybe deep within him, he just wanted to believe it was suspicious. If it was not a coincidence, then he would have a reason to believe Jiang Ying Yue could be that girl...

 Chapter 96: Jiang Ying Yue (3)

    Chapter 96: Jiang Ying Yue (3)


    The plot that was supposed to be received some time ago automatically yed in his mind when he closed his eyes and leaned his back on the cushion.


    It was currently the seventy-fifth year of the Zhao Empire. The current emperor was fifty-six years old and had fathered five princes and two princesses. Apart from the seven-year-old fifth prince, all the other sons of the emperor alreadypleted theiring-of-age ceremony.


    Since the emperor was now old yet there was still no crown prince, the ministers began choosing sides and had the four princes begin their battle for the throne.


    Rui Wang, the arrogant prince from earlier, was the third prince born from the most beloved consort. As said, love the owner, love the dog. So since his mother was the emperor''s most favored, he too became the most favored out of all the princes.


    It was suspected that the emperor already forged a decree to have Rui Wang be the crown prince. Only a ''huge'' enough merit was needed to seal the deal so that it wouldn''t look forced or unjustifiable on the surface. However, this merit never came to Rui Wang. Hispetitors never let him have it. If he did something big, one of the jealous princes would do something bigger to prevent the emperor from dering him as the crown prince.


    ''The other princes are very capable in their own right which led to the emperor not naming an inheritor. Of course, it''s only a matter of time until the male lead wins. But until then, it''s still a fact that Rui Wang is the emperor''s favorite. He knows it too, otherwise, he wouldn''t be so courageous to leave the banquet before anyone else.''


    It had to be said that this man was not the male lead... A fact that Jiang Li found very weed. If ever he had to deal with this Rui Wang, he wouldn''t have to worry much about the world''s interferences.


    The favored son of this world was the most unloved concubine-born son of the emperor. His name was Chen Heng, titled Hai Wang. Like in many dramas, the male lead''s mother was the emperor''s true love. However, because the mother died during childbirth, the emperor deeply hated the son.


    Without receiving the proper amount of love and support from his father, the male lead matured into a cold, two-faced, utilitarian, and scheming young man. He became someone treating feelings and affection as mere instincts that make humans weak.


    For him, while love and emotions were not necessarily to be cut off, they were still to be controlled and manipted for one''s gains.


    The male lead''s soulmate who tamed his cynical heart was Zhang Wu, a transmigrator from the modern world. She used to be a yful officedy who loved spending her free time on phone games and TV dramas. After dying from a hit-and-run, this girl woke up in the body of the prime minister''s sickly first legitimate miss, Sheng Lingxin.


    Before the real miss'' death, her father treated her coldly. She also had no maternal backing, therefore, she was regrly bullied. But of course, when the female lead took over, this situation immediately changed.


    The way she dealt with the malicious household members and disobedient servants was very efficient. For someone like her who came from the modern world and whose field of specialization was customer service, it was doubtful how she managed to do that. It was like she had a step by step guide. Her attitude about things was too rxed, as if it was okay being half-hearted since she already knew what the oues would be.


    Just what did the female lead rely on if she had no system or ghost for a golden finger? Her beauty? Or intelligence? But how could she adapt so easily?


    The answer was simple.


    She was like Jiang Li, with memories of future events, except hers were gotten from ying a girl-targeted game. With that as her cheat, all future events became an opportunity for her to exploit. She even managed to establish a business empire which greatly helped the male lead in his fight for the crown.


    "Host, the girl who tried to kill herself ten minutes ago is Jiang Ying Yue, the supposed protagonist of this game world."


    "... I know."


    "Also, the female lead has already transmigrated and, at this point, captured the attention of both Rui Wang and Hai Wang. The former frequently encountered her in his outside trips."


    Jiang Li nodded.


    Basically, the frequent encounters triggered theparison between the two girls which made the other prince think that Jiang Ying Yue was weak, cowardly, and unworthy of being his main wife.


    For Rui Wang, only the female lead, Sheng Lingxin, was good - witty, charming, capable, bubbly... In short, someone who grew up learning stupid things like Chess, Calligraphy, Poetry, and Embroidery would never do.. even if that person only pursued excellence in those arts so she could stand next to him unabashedly.


    Jiang Li pressed his lips together and continued viewing the memories.


    Jiang Ying Yue was this world''s viiness. Like what happened earlier, when her engagement got annulled, she tried to smash her head against a pir. Yet, since she didn''t know the correct technique when doing that, she survived... and became everyone''s subject of ridicule.


    Apparently, if a girl had her engagement called off, it would be very difficult for her to find a new fiance.


    No matter the era, marriage was one of the best ways to forge ties and secure influence between big families. So now that nobody wanted to marry Jiang Ying Yue, what''s the use of keeping her then?


    Not long after, a rumor about her promiscuity being the reason for the annulment spread in the city. Of course, this was false, and the Jiang n knew it. However, instead of defending her and hunting down whoever spread those malicious rumors, they use that excuse to chase her out of the grand marshal''s residence.


    Their reason for doing that? What else apart from that she was now nothing more than worthless baggage? She could not be used for the family''s interest anymore.


    It was a sad reality, but useless things had no ce in every big aristocratic family.<ol><li>Otome games in Japanese XD</li></ol>

 Chapter 97: Jiang Ying Yue (4)

    Chapter 97: Jiang Ying Yue (4)


    After getting driven out of the marshal''s estate, Jiang Ying Yue was then almost sold to mountain bandits by a group of traffickers. A troop of soldiers happened to pass by and saved the kidnapped girls.


    Sadly, the viiness was not one of those sent back to the city. The soldiers did not see her because when the carriage flipped over, she got flung off to a low cliff. When she woke up, she was already in a recluse witch''s home.


    With a heart full of vengeance, she begged the old witch to pass her craft to her and thetter only agreed when she promised to be her guinea pig for all her uing experiments.


    Surprisingly, Jiang Ying Yue had the aptitude for witchcraft and even managed to surpass the old witch in just a year.


    After her mentor''s death, she went back to the city and brought countless disasters there. The repeated cases rmed the emperor who went as far as to promise the throne to whoever could stop the gue and the other blood-curdling incidents.


    As expected, the two leads teamed up, solved the puzzles one by one, grew feelings for each other, and then beheaded the viiness who almost destroyed the whole empire with her evil magic.


    Before the finale, a framing contest arose among the princes which ended up with Rui Wang getting the most attacks and dirt. The emperor had no choice but punish his most favorite son and dere his most hated son as the crown prince.


    Afterward, the two leads got married and when Hai Wang ascended to the throne, the female lead was officially crowned the empress.


    "..."


    ''Quite a normal plot this time.'' He thought to himself.


    A secondter though, a frown appeared on his face.


    ''How do I save that girl by the way? Kill the witch and exterminate all the traffickers in the empire? So she could lead a normal life outside the Jiang''s gate?''


    "... Host, you must do well this time. You... only earn half of the maximum from thest world again."


    His lips curled into a sardonic smile, ''And what the hell does half of the maximum mean, huh?''


    Before the system could reply, a voice from the outside pulled Jiang Li back to reality.


    "Your Highness, we have arrived."


    "Hmm? Already?" Jiang Li swept the carriage''s curtain to the side and saw that they were now before the gate which should be leading to his new home. The carriage entered through the tall main gate and dropped him off in front of his own courtyard.


    "Your Highness, should we first pay respects to the madam?" asked his closest attendant, Mao Hong to him. The madam he was referring to was the Original''s mother.


    His steps didn''t stop at all as he walked down the cobblestoned pathways towards the building in front. Jiang Li shook his head and said, "Send a servant to inform her I''m not feeling well and will retire early to sleep."


    "I shall do that now, Your Highness," answered the guard sh assistant even though there was a doubt in his heart why the prince suddenly said that. It was weird because Chen Wang never failed to pay the old madam a visit whenever he was in the estate.


    ''Is the prince put into a bad mood by the incident in the banquet?''


    With this question in mind, Mao Hong first studied the prince''s expression then bowed his head and excused himself. While leaving the guard shook his head, ''Seems like the Jiang''s first miss is the reason. I pity that youngdy. If even our prince is pissed off, she really won''t have a ce in the capital anymore.''


    It was probably fortunate that Jiang Li didn''t know his thoughts, or else he would have sent the guy to run more errands for him. Mao Hong was thinking too much. However, even if he exhausts all his brain cells, there would be no way for him to guess the Chen Wang he was with was no longer the one he knew.


    Anyway, after parting with Mao Hong, he strode towards his room.


    "Wee back, Your Highness."


    Three servants bowed when they saw him passed by them. Jiang Li threw them a nce then said, "No one is to disturb me tonight. No matter whoes, just tell them, I''m asleep."


    "Yes. We understand." The three respectfully chorused. As they curtsied, none of them dared to raise their heads.


    He nodded and then walked in.


    There were only minimal decorations in the spacious room. A four-poster bed could be seen next to the wall opposite the door. Tworge chests of clothes were on the left while an elegant table set was near the window to the right.


    Jiang Li didn''t hesitate to change his current garments into a set that would allow more ease of movements. After that, he sneaked out through the window and got out of the estate.


    When Jiang Li came to his destination, there was only about half an hour before the sunpletely disappears to the horizon.The world was bathing in a warm reddish glow that was very pleasant to the eye.


    However, there was nothing pleasant with what he witnessed the moment he arrived at Jiang Ying Yue''s residence.


    He narrowed his eyes at the morous woman in green waving her fan around in anger.


    "The Jiang Family''s face is almost thrown to the mud because of her. She must atone for her grave mistake. She will not be allowed to eat for three days. No one''s permitted to sneak in food for her, is that clear?"


    While the servants around lowered their heads to express their understanding, the girl kneeling in the middle of the hall only kept her head bowed and didn''t show any reaction. The beautiful woman standing condescendingly before her harrumphed and turned away after ordering the servants to also not allow Jiang Ying Yue to step outside her courtyard for a month.


    Jiang Li who was hiding on top of the nearby tree frowned.


    ''Why is the viiness so meek?''


    Some time already passed yet while the maids already left and went to who-knows-where, the girl just remained kneeling there. She was not crying anymore, but her swollen forehead, puffy red eyes, and pale face made her look even more pitiful than when she sobbed her heart out earlier.


    ''Really annoying...''The man''s eyes darkened.He hated remembering that Na Yu was initially like this too, miserable and so madly in love with someone else to the point she tried to jump off a building when he cheated on her.


    ''It''s so simr to her case again...''

 Chapter 98: Jiang Ying Yue (5)

    Chapter 98: Jiang Ying Yue (5)


    "Host, you''re not allowed to go OOC. Your current identity is that of a first-rank prince whose Chen Wang title was passed down by his grandfather, a legendary figure who helped the first emperor in founding the Zhao Dynasty. Your name is Lu Ling and aside from being a first-rank prince, you''re also a general whose rank is only lower than the current grand marshal... You..."


    "If you''re going to tell me I''m supposed to stay aloof, cold, and a man of few words, don''t worry, I can do that once I''m at the prince''s residence." Jiang Li''s tone held hints of annoyance as hemanded it to not speak again unless asked.


    While his eyes never left the girl, his mind was busying up with ns to determine whether she was rted to Na Yu and Zhu Li in any way. Who knows? Maybe he''ll discover a big secret, like how Jiang Ying Yue was actually Na Yu who somehow followed him here. This might sound like him being delusional, but even if the chance of it being true was slim, he still wanted to test this conjecture.


    The problem is, how would he do that?


    ''Tang Lan, that psycho, used to tell He Chen that in situations like this, most authors will write their characters as someone with a birthmark or item on them that is identical to or owned by their previous incarnations...''


    A wry smile formed on his lips when a certain memory flickered in his mind.


    To be honest, when he was still in the previous world, after spending points to extend his life, except for the first year where he had to ''get'' treatment, the system helped him make his first fifteen years there normal. All the symptoms and pains he had to suffer only rpsed in thest five years. The system exined it was to make his death there appear reasonable.


    But his point was that for a decade, he at least experienced being an HIV patient with an undetectable viral load. Undetectable equals healthy on the surface, which also means being able to perform what a husband should with his wife without worrying about the virus being passed to her.


    ''... Should I feel angry now that her prided blemishless skin is giving me trouble...?''


    He let all sorts of thoughts flood his mind and only settled on a n when he caught sight of the girl finally parting her knees from the floor.


    The night had fully descended. Jiang Ying Yue noticed it too so she turned around and dragged her feet towards her room. The girl was already envisioning a long night ahead spent on crying and feeling heartbroken and fear for her future.


    Jiang Li also left his post. But before returning to his estate, he first roamed around the Jiang''s residence and scoured every building there apart from the marshal''s. It was a good thing the Original had a high level of kung fu so he could easily jump over walls and run along the roofs. The feeling of being able to do parkour-like moves was awesome. He had fun with this skill for a while before stopping when he discovered a suspicious individual speaking with an equally suspicious middle-aged female servant.


    ''Now I know why authors love writing about sisters from high noble ns scheming against each other for their princes and dream husbands every day. Coz it happens in real life.'' He clicked his tongue, watching the viiness'' sister pass banknotes to the servant.


    If he remembered correctly, this person was the one who shouted at Jiang Ying Yue when she tackled him for the fifth time. When he briefly nced at her in the grand chamber, he already knew something was wrong with her due to the hint of resentment in her eyes. So was this girl also in love with that prince, jealous of Jiang Ying Yue''s status or beauty, or just in evil?


    "Remember, your son''s fate is currently in my hands, so you better make sure no one will know about this!"


    The threatened olddy bowed her head and replied in a shaky voice, "This lowly one will do as she is told."


    The marshal''s second legitimate miss who was only a year younger than Jiang Ying Yue quizzed her again of what she should say to the people outside, nodding in satisfaction after hearing the words she wanted to hear. Only then did she let the servant go, watching her disappear into the dark pathway leading to the eastern side gate.


    Jiang Li''s face was expressionless as he took in the slight smirk on the girl''s lips. A few secondster, he silently went after the older female.


    ''... Poor viiness. Despite being thrown out, she med herself for being weak and not charming in Rui Wang''s eyes. Why didn''t she suspect that one of her family members were behind the rumors?''


    When Jiang Ying Yue learned witchcraft, she only used it to retaliate against the Imperial Family. She did countless horrible things and even involved hundreds of thousands of innocent people for her vengeance, but she neverid a hand on the family that abandoned her. Weird. Was she just being filial? Or stupid? Or maybe things between her and the Jiangs were just really not as simple as it seemed?


    At times when hecked the necessary information like this, Jiang Li missed the modern world.


    ...


    No rumors about Jiang Ying Yue''s promiscuity spread the next day due to Jiang Li''s interference. The man brought the olddy away and had some of his people rescue his youngest son. In case the malicious girl did not only send one person out, he ordered the rest of his men to patrol the whole city, silence those they should... and tell some romantic stories at taverns and other popted areas.


    It was already almost noon when Jiang Ying Yue heard of those stories linking her name to the illustrious Chen Wang.


    And when she did, she only had one reaction to it.


    "Hah... So this is what happens when onecks sleep..."

 Chapter 99: Jiang Ying Yue (6)

    Chapter 99: Jiang Ying Yue (6)


    After thetest banquet hosted in the pce by the Emperor, three stories circted and became household topics in the capital.


    First, Rui Wang was gay so he annulled his engagement with the Jiang''s first miss. When the prince managed to clear his name, three days had already passed and quite a number ofdies were already sent crying,menting why another handsome man fell to the dark side.


    Second, the Jiang''s first miss and Chen Wang were in love with each other. This was the reason why after the Emperor approved the dissolution of the betrothal, the former immediately cried in delight and jumped into Chen Wang''s arms.


    Most from the upper ranks who heard of this tale snorted and thought, ''What a joke! She threw herself against a pir, and the prince just happened to save her! Whoever spread this beautified tale is obviously just doing so to clear her bad reputation. Hah, let''s see if Chen Wang doesn''t smack her down!''


    While these people brainstormed to guess what would happen to the one who courageously created this rumor, the courageous one they were talking about was busy investigating the people involved in the third news.


    A day after the banquet, Hai Wang requested an audience with the emperor and asked for a decree to give the first miss of the Sheng family to him. On the same day, he proposed and sent a hundred chests full of valuables to the prime minister''s estate as betrothal gifts.


    Jiang Li didn''t know if this was because it was a formal event starring the male lead, but even though Hai Wang was not as popr as him and Rui Wang, the high-profile proposal became the greatest talk of the week.


    ...


    It was in the afternoon of the second day that Lady Lu, his mother, visited his residence to confirm the validity of the stories. Apparently, even though the middle-ageddy was anxious for the 24-years-old oddball who was sought after but had neither wife nor concubine, she didn''t consent to the idea of weing Jiang Ying Yue into the house.


    "Ah Ling, I''m sorry, but if you''re thinking of making the first miss of the grand marshal''s household as your Chen Wang Fei, I have to say, that youngdy is unsuitable for you."


    Jiang Li sipped on his tea without breaking eye contact with the preaching woman.


    "The grand marshal seems to dislike her. But even if he doesn''t, since the marshal is supporting one of the princespeting for the throne, marrying her would mean getting embroiled in the war of princes. Ah Ling, more than enough history books already ounted how perilous a battle for the throne always is. This is why our wise ancestors passed down a family rule that at times like this, we must stand on the neutral side and not get involved. You should not forget this!"


    ''Uhhh, how about sure for thest one?''


    The elegant and soft-spokendy threw him a worried gaze.


    "Please forgive your mother for being like this. But, believe me, I''m saying all of these with your future and reputation in mind. Rui Wang has just annulled his engagement with that youngdy and all the other aristocratic families know. A prince like him would not just do things on a whim. There must be something wrong with her. My son, how about you just pick someone from the royal family or the other first-rank families?"


    He ced his tea cup down the low table. "I will think about it."


    The madam was not discouraged by hisckluster response. "My son, to be honest, I''ve brought the portraits of the fairest unmarrieddies in the empire with me. Let''s take a look at them together. Maybe one of them will capture your heart!"


    Jiang Li did not reply and only rolled his eyes at her. The madam instantly froze, asking herself numerous times if she had seen wrong. She felt that her eyes were ying with her because the son she was most proud of was very filial and courteous. There was no way he would do something childish and ungentlemanly, right?


    It was when she was busy gulping down her tea to calm herself down that Mao Hong entered the audience room and walked to Jiang Li''s side. The man did not forget to salute at them before speaking in a low voice. "Your Highness, two of our people had juste back and said that something went wrong in that ce."


    Jiang Li looked at him with a frown on his face, before raising his hand to stop Mao Hong from speaking. He realized the man was referring to the grand marshal''s residence.


    ''... For some reason, I feel that the plot is going against me again.''


    "Mother, please forgive your son''s impudence, but it seems there is an urgent military issue that I need to talk about with my deputy." He stood up while Mao Hong bowed to the madam.


    Lady Lu was confused. "Didn''t His Majesty give you a month of vacation?"


    Jiang Li lied with a straight face. "Indeed, but something came up in the new training camp. I can''t leave it alone since I''m registered as one of the head instructors."


    Lady Lu had doubts in her heart, but after remembering his son doesn''t know how to lie, she had no choice but nod and go back to her own building.


    When the woman left, Jiang Li asked what happened.


    Mao Hong reported that the Jiang family cut ties with Jiang Ying Yue. She was used of causing the miscarriage of one of the marshal''s pregnant concubine. And since conclusive pieces of evidence were presented, she was taken for a malicious woman and was immediately driven out of the house.


    "I need to see her situation for myself."


    With no expression on his face, he rode his horse into the bustling streets with his attendant leading the way.


    "Your Highness, ording to Xun He, Miss Jiang insisted on not leaving the Jiang estate''s gate and is still pleading for mercy and justice. Once we arrive, she should still be there." The Xun He he was referring to was Chen Wang''s other loyal attendant.


    Jiang Li nodded. However, he had a feeling this would not be the case once he gets there. In the original plot, she also did that, and when the marshal got annoyed by her wails, he ordered one of the manservants to drag her away. She almost ended up sold to a brothel, yet even though she managed to escape, traffickers caught her not long after.


    Heined in his mind, ''...I feel like the marshal needs to be educated about family management and scheming. If he''s right in the head, he would have first confirmed if I really took a liking to his daughter before driving her out of his home. Why did he not do that? Why is he making my life difficult?''


    Deep inside, he knew it was the plot machinating this situation. But reason rarely gets into an angry person''s head. This bes especially true when the person was unreasonable to begin with.


    ''That damn old man, if I don''t teach him a lesson after this, I''m not Jiang Li!''


    He followed Mao Hong into taking another turn to the left. At this point, they were only around a kilometer away from where Jiang Ying Yue should be. However, to his annoyance, the next street turned out to be packed with a watertight crowd. It was simply impossible to go through.


    The other thing that annoyed him was when they were about to take a detour, a voice rang behind, stopping them from advancing.<ol><li>Ling is MC''s given name</li></ol>

 Chapter 100: Jiang Ying Yue (7)

    Chapter 100: Jiang Ying Yue (7)


    "Your Highness, I implore you to not leave yet!"


    It was a gentle and melodious voice, which normally should have been drowned out by the countless people speaking simultaneously. But he could still hear it clearly.


    "Your Highness, forgive my impudence. But please help us settle a dispute by being our witness!"


    Jiang Li turned his head to see a beautiful girl dressed in light blue squeezing through the crowd and going towards his direction. Because of her, people finally noticed his presence and started greeting him. The ones he assumed were on the side opposing hers also bowed.


    He nodded at them, however, deep inside he was cursing why he had to encounter someone troublesome just when he urgently needs to leave?


    It was the female lead, and there was an enchanting on her lips even though the drops of sweat on her forehead showed that she was currently feeling troubled. Behind her, her maids were battling their way to not be separated from their young miss.


    Mao Hong, who was beside him, said, "Chen Wang, it''s my fault. I just remember that Miss Sheng and the owner of the capital''s biggest clothing business had a bet on which side could produce the best dress. They agreed to hold the contest at this ce. It seems the two parties had the onlookers to vote. And now they''re having a dispute about the result."


    Jiang Li grunted, "So this is why this ce suddenly has so many people at this hour?"


    A key memory shed in his mind, surfacingte again.


    Actually, at this point, the female lead was still deciding who to take as her male lead. Lu Ling, his current identity was one of the capturable targets. This was how he first encountered her. She probably staged this event so that no deviation would happen in the game plot. After all, in the original plot, the woman''s first choice for her husband was him, Chen Wang. She fell for Hai Wang muchter, when the viiness started attacking the empire with her witchcraft.


    ''Here I am, led here by the damn fate,'' The man felt anger rising in his heart because this situation always happened whenever he was in a new world.


    Jiang Li nced at the woman and her entourage. Sheng Lingxin''s way of looking at him was quite odd. With longing... and desire. It seemed she really was the kind of woman who liked the general or martial artist prince type more than the scheming prince type. However, in his eyes, she was crazy since she was already engaged yet still daydreaming of a man not her betrothed. What the heck was with her?


    Unnerved by her stare, he frowned then turned to Mao Hong, "You stay here."


    "Eh?" The man identally pulled back on his horse''s rein and dumbfoundedly blurted out. "Why do I stay here?"


    Jiang Li replied with slight annoyance in his tone. "To deal with this issue, why else? Treat this as a small punishment for leading me to a clogged road when you know I''m in a hurry."


    The matter about the bet entered Mao Hong''s ears three days ago when he casually strolled the city with his brothers after returning from the frontiers. While it was his fault for treating it as a minor thing, plus staying here to act as a witness in behalf of the prince was not a big deal, why does he feel like Chen Wang had still changed and became a petty person?


    "Your Highness?"


    To the deputy general''s surprise, his boss really left just like that, jumping off his horse all of the sudden and flying towards the roof. Not long after, hepletely disappeared from everyone''s sight. Mao Hong looked stunned for a while, not knowing what to do.


    Sheng Lingxin, the female lead, was also just as dumbfounded.


    ''Wait... Did my future husband... leave just like that? Even if he is busy or has an urgent matter to attend to, this is our first event. He should still help me since that''s what he did in the cut scene...''


    In the game, he was the male consort she had poured so many resources and money into. Since she came to this world three months ago, she had always been looking forward to his return from the battlefield, enduring the pestering of Hai Wang and Rui Wang while also transforming herself into a girl the handsome and dreamy general would take interest in. But when she finally met him, this is how he treated her?


    ''How I do request for him to help me disentangle myself with that annoying Hai Wang?''


    Questions flooded her short-circuited brain, deafening her and causing her not to hear the shouts from the surroundings and the ones she challenged.


    The one who fled from the supposed intimacy-raising-event between him and the female lead snorted as he ran towards his destination. What a joke. If he stayed there, it meant the viiness would really fall to the plot''s machinations. There was no way he would trade the time he could use to save Jiang Ying Yue with bonding with a person he neither knew nor had no significance to his mission.


    As for how Mao Hong would resolve whatever their issue was, he could not be bothered to care.


    Jiang Li arrived in front of the Jiang n''s huge gate a few minutes before the sun sets. His heart dropped seeing the ce had no trace of that woman''s figure, only some idlemoners and passersby gossiping loudly about themotion earlier.


    While clenching his knuckles, he resumed jumping from building to building. A few people noticed his red-d figure running along the roofs but since all they could do was point fingers at him, he ignored them.


    He went to the dark and usually deserted alley where Jiang Ying Yue was supposed to be kidnapped, but she was not there. His next stop was the red light district, yet she was also not there. There was also no sign of her in the slums, not even her shadows. She was also nowhere near the city gate.


    ''... I''ll seriously work on my information sources and channels after this.'' With gritted teeth, he vowed. He looked for her at all the ces she should be ording to the memories but it seemed she was already not in the city.


    He wondered how the heck did the woman, who was supposed to be dragged away from the gate on nightfall, disappear before the sunpletely set. Which god manipted the plot and had it speed up so he could not intervene on time?


    He took a deep breath... Then realized not in all cases would doing this be effective in calming someone down.


    Jiang was mad, so he almost emptied the gate of soldiers who were supposed to man or defend the eastern part of the city. Now, there were many people helping him locate the girl in the mountain.


    Yet even with that, since he had yet to see his mission target, he still could not calm down. After a couple of minutes spent on searching yet not finding her, he murmured to himself, "Fine. I''ll go with the flow, let the fate win. As long as she''s safe and not harmed, I won''t care anymore if she ends up being an old hag''s disciple."


    He looked at the overturned carriage in front cidly, his mind no longer specting how the hell the plot pushed forward an event that should have only happened twelve hourster.


    Jiang Li jumped down the small cliff on the left hidden by lush greeneries.


    ''In any case, who said I have to make a viiness turned into a good leaf to save her?''


    While enjoying the freefall and the asional sharp thistles and twigs cutting his skin, he coldly added in his heart, ''Anyway, since I''m already here, then I shall just dly take this chance to check if she''s my Na Yu, and at the same time, learn witchcraft with her! The world better not stop me again, or else, I''ll just intentionally fail my mission and have it be destroyed! Let''s see who''s crazier then!''

 Chapter 101: Jiang Ying Yue (8)

    Chapter 101: Jiang Ying Yue (8)


    His high aplishment in martial arts enabled him tond safely at the bottom of the cliff. Jiang Li only got some superficial wounds. So although he wouldn''t really bat an eye even if one of his arms got broken, he had no problem appreciating that he was fine and that his search for the viiness wouldn''t be hampered by any injury.


    While catching his breath and dusting his clothes off, he swept his gaze around, finding he was currently in a ce full of grasses and other kinds of vegetation.


    His eyes went up to where he came from and observed that it was no more than six meters high. The slope was actually quite gentle and with only few rocks along with it. He reckoned this was the plot''s way of ensuring the fall wouldn''t im Jiang Ying Yue''s life. After all, she would have a very important role in the future - to create troubles which would push the leads into cultivating feelings for each other.


    ''She''s not here again.'' That irritating phrase was probably said by him more than five times today already.


    With an ever-present frown on his face, he began to track the woman. This time, the job became a lot easier due to the Original''s experience and the traces on the nts and grounds. He was simply very thankful that Lu Ling, the one who provided him this body, was bonafide soldier and had been several times in the wild before.


    A little more than five minutester, he finally arrived in front of a cave-dwelling. The tall trees, small stream a dozen meters to its west, and the small hill next to it corresponded to what he saw in the memory.


    It was the witch''s hideout. But he didn''t immediately enter because at almost the same he got there, another person appeared in his field of vision, talking to an olddy there at the entrance.


    It was somebody no one would expect to see at this almost god-forsaken ce.


    This person''s appearance forced Jiang Li to admit admiration to the plot.


    The unknown talk between those two peoplested for almost an hour. For that long too, Jiang Li remained crouching there, watching those two discuss something with serious expressions on their faces. When boredom got into him, he started wondering just how ipetent the soldiers were to not find this ce even after so long. He was dissatisfied but since he knew he could not do anything about it, he directed his thoughts to why that person appeared here.


    Only when the young man finally left did Jiang Li emerged from the bushes where he was hiding. He then hurriedly walked towards the cave''s entrance.


    She was about to go back inside the cave. But after hearing the sudden sounds of footstepsing behind her, the olddy oddly dressed like a normal city grandma turned around while saying with a hint of a smile on her lips. "Heng, child, I hear you going back. Did you forget to say something to me?"


    She must have probably thought the footsteps were from the male lead who just left. When she turned her head, the dumbfounded look she put on was quite great, especially after realizing it was an unfamiliar, tall, and dignified man in his mid-twenties who appeared behind her, not the refined prince that she was expecting.


    Her expression instantly changed. "Who are you?!"


    The old witch brandished her wooden staff at him, hostility spilling from those eyes which were still holding warmth and affection a couple of seconds ago.


    Jiang Li ignored the ageddy and flickered beside the woman lying on top of a stone bed unconscious. The sight of blood and uncleaned wound on her forehead stunned him, making him hold his breath for a full thirty seconds.


    In this moment of rare nostalgia and being at a loss that he was resenting the fact that this woman looked exactly like ''her''. It simply raised his mission difficulty by a few notches. He couldn''t help feeling confused and torn, fully aware he only hated that Jiang Ying Yue was hurt due to seeing Na Yu in her.


    Just when his mind was being gued by countless maybes and what ifs, the aged woman''s angry shout rang in the dim cave, knocking him out of his dazed state.


    "I asked you, who are you?!"


    He withdrew his gaze from the viiness and nced at the old woman. The rare tenderness and confusion in his eyes vanished, reced by endless frost that also manifested in his voice. After sizing the witch up and remembering how she reacted before seeing him, he narrowed his eyes.


    "I clearly heard you affectionately calling Hai Wang by his first name... as if he''s your grandson. And the way you dress is quite updated to the trend. It means you''ve just recently been to the city. I am more well-known than the two-faced man from earlier. Howe you don''t recognize me?"


    After saying this, heughed. Recluse? Heh, he was finding the memories more and more ridiculous and unreliable.


    The olddy''s pupil dted after she examined the young man before her.


    Young, with royal bearing, wearing redbat attire and has a military man''s aloof disposition.


    "You''re Your Highness Lu Ling, the current Chen Wang?''


    The olddy had been taken aback by his indifferent nod, brain short-circuiting from thinking why someone like him was here. Were his soldiers also with him?


    It didn''t take long for several rodent creatures to appear from the shadows confirming her guess. Damn. This kid did bring an army!


    "I''ll now carry her back."


    "Huh?" The granny subconsciously replied, "The youngdy is injured and in need of immediate treatment!"


    "Oh? She''s only wounded on the forehead. My residence has many doctors greater than you. They''ll be able to treat her."


    The olddy wanted to protest when the man suddenly scooped up the youngdy from the stone bed there.


    But her words got stuck in her throat when he looked at her indifferently, like she was already dead in his eyes, and added, "Come with us. I know you have an amusing art. I want you toe back to the city with us and teach me and this girl of that. Don''t y tricks because I know you''re pretty close to that Chen Heng. If you don''te with us, I will have no choice but call my whole army to tten this mountain down or set the Hai Wang estate on fire. What do you say?"


    "...", <em>''Even if you''re a first-rank prince, I''m sure you can''t summon your army inside the capital lest it rms and angers His Majesty.''</em>


    The old witch interchangeably looked at Chen Wang and the littledy in his arms who almost became her guinea pig. There was regret in her heart as she followed him outside. When they got to where a small number of soldiers congregated near a huge carriage on the upper ground, this feeling of regret became stronger.


    The old hag thought, had she known Chen Wang only brought so little people, she would have just fought him in the cave. What was with his eyes that caused her to feel frightened and think that he would truly be insane and do what he said?

 Chapter 102: Jiang Ying Yue (9)

    Chapter 102: Jiang Ying Yue (9)


    The next day came yet Jiang Ying Yue couldn''t wake up due to being trapped in a never-ending nightmare.


    The fire was devouring her world. She was dying. She could see herself struggling to breathe while her body was being engulfed by the fire. Why couldn''t she leave? Why was she trapped in that room? No, it was not even a room, but a cage... Why was she being watched, pointed at and being cursed to die by hundreds of thousands of people?


    Jiang Ying Yue felt very scared and confused, and her heart was aching so much. She was suffocating, feeling as if the world was intentionally depriving her of air.


    She couldn''t understand why nobody was helping her and freeing her from her sufferings. What did she do to deserve this?


    The same questions kept ying in her mind.


    The images shing in her mind changed after she saw that haggard, old-looking ''her'' breathing herst and beheaded before a cheering crowd.


    She could no longer hear the deafening joyfulughter, atst.


    The pictures that reced the fiery yet spine-chilling scene were those ''she'' experienced from childhood. Apart from the banquet part that went a bit different, everything coincided with her own


    ''My beloved daughter, no matter what happens in the future, always remember my teachings to you and you''ll be fine.''


    Her gentle and beautiful mother''s equally gentle and beautiful voice rang beside her ears, sounding more pleasant than the wind chimes hung up in the ancestral hall''s door.


    ''Do you remember?''


    A young version of her appeared in her field of vision, snuggling close to thete first madam of the Jiangs. In her mother''s arm, she appeared so small, age perhaps only seven years old. Cute. Bubbly. A confident kid loved by the world due to being the Jiang n''s first legitimate miss.


    That naive, lovable kid cheerfully answered the mature woman, ''Mother, I do. The three obediences are, obey your father before marriage, obey the husband when married, and obey the son once widowed. Four virtues are to be proper in speech, behavior, demeanor, and employment.''


    The proud and confident voice of her child caused a small smile to form on the woman''s lips. Her hand automatically went to rub her daughter''s head, prompting the child to grin proudly and widely to her mother.


    The golden rays of sun pouring into the elegant traditional-styled room through the open window made the scene looked so blinding yet warm. Jiang Ying Yue felt like crying and reaching a right hand out to it.


    The kid back then thought that what she recited was only homework she had to do well so her mother would allow her to eat delicious snacks.


    Most children were like that. In their childhood, they don''t understand more than half of what they were asked to be memorized. They only knew if they recite those well, they would receive some rewards.


    She used to be like that too, a child always looking forward to the candies and cakes her mother would give her if she did well in her studies. Sometimes, her motivation to finish her homework was so she could have time to y with her toys. Or perhaps fool around with her siblings and maids.


    The world was so simple back then. Until she matured and realized that her mother, who passed away when she was eleven years old, only drilled all of those into her mind for her future, because she was betrothed to Rui Wang, and that her mother already foresaw her passing.


    When her mom died, her life in the Jiang estate changed drastically. And no amount of crying managed to turn it back.


    To be honest, in thest six years, it was very hard for her to adapt. From being a loved princess to a neglected daughter. The blow to her was quite harsh, especially since she discovered people were only cozying up to her due to her mother''s influence and authority. Now everything of those was held by the beloved and highest-ranked concubine of the marshal.


    Her father doesn''t love her. Her maternal rtives couldn''t interfere much. She was seen as weak and meek for adhering too strictly to the first madam''s teaching.


    She hardly got something back for doing her best to obey her father since most of the Marshal''s good thoughts were for the second madam and her children.


    At first, she only became quiet due to grief. Until the entire reason became herck of self-confidence from the repeated bullying andck of response from her father and other rtives she cried justice to.


    She suspected her situation would have be worse if not for thete Emperor''s edict promising her to the most favored prince of the current Emperor.


    The hardships Jiang Ying Yue faced was actually not much different from the original Sheng Lingxin. But their difference lies in thetter''s luck to be favored by the world and be the winner in life the moment she met her fated lover.


    Jiang Ying Yue was not as lucky. Since eleven, the girl''s only motivation to improve and persevere was the engagement she had with Rui Wang. The naive her had endured being slighted and bullied in her household. Since she couldn''t practice and learn some skills due to the second madam''s maniption, she had to sneak behind everyone''s back or lose sleep just so she could self-study in private.


    ''I must improve. Must be worthy of the prince who saved me from being thrown out or treated worse than a ve in the n.'' These were the words she used to chant in her mind for who-knows-since when.


    To marry the prince she rarely saw but feel indebted to became her drive to wake up every day and live.


    Her reason for survival was so mundane andughable, wasn''t it?


    But this was what gave her hopes and sustained her for years.


    Now as Jiang Ying Yue thought of this, all she wanted to do wasugh and cry. She remembered what happened a couple of days ago. All her efforts and hopes. Crushed and broken just like that.


    The annulment of the engagement had not only shattered her simple dream of escaping from the marshal''s estate and marrying into the prince''s household. It also destroyed thest thing keeping everyone frompletely trampling on her.


    What else could she use now to protect herself from malicious intentions and deadly schemes?


    Before the annulment, people were at least still mindful of her status as the future Rui Wang Fei.


    Now, she had nothing but a tarnished reputation as a malicious and unwanted woman. Driven out of her n, even kidnapped and probably already sold to a rough man... The first miss of the Jiangs actually ended up in such aughable state.


    <em>''Mom is probably crying for me in the heavens, isn''t she?''''</em>


    <em>''Why didn''t I just die at the banquet?''</em>


    <em>''Do I have to go on living and end up like the miserable me in my dream?''</em>


    Her closed eyes flew open with tears streaming down the side of her face. The mist in her eyes blurred her sight so she closed them again.


    This time, she saw her again, the burnt her who died no more than a madwoman. If that woman was truly the future her, then her sufferings must have continued. The mad cries andughter still lingered in her ears giving her a feeling that the future her experienced a hell greater than the Jiang residence.


    Why did she have to go through all of that? All her life she followed her mom''s teaching and patiently waited for good karma to smile at her. So the rule of karma was false?


    Resentment and indignation burst forth from her heart. She hated her weak self. Every cell of her body was craving justice, revenge. An extreme desire to change that future using her own hands flooded her heart.


    <em>''If I have fallen to bad hands already, I must escape!''</em>


    <em>''ns and everything can be worked out as long as I regain my freedom!''</em>


    Jiang Ying Yue opened her misty eyes again, then got up and alertly looked around like a leery cat. Her heart dropped when she confirmed she was in a huge unfamiliar room.


    Had she been sold to somebody already?


    She was trembling in both anger and fear as she continued looking around. Her sight first went to the sealed windows on the left, then to the closed door in front until they went to the right which had the only opened window in the room.


    For that brief moment, her eyes sparkled and hope was ignited in her ckening heart and mind...

 Chapter 103: Jiang Ying Yue (10)

    Chapter 103: Jiang Ying Yue (10)


    The hope that got ignited in her heart immediately vanished the moment she noticed that there was a shadow that moved near to the window.


    ''Someone''s here!''


    Jiang Ying Yue held her breath, gaze momentarily zeroing in on that shadow. Recognizing that the shape and figure belonged to a man, she unconsciously looked around the room. Her lips trembling and chest heaving from fear.


    In just a couple of seconds, all sorts of thoughts ran through her head before a look of determination shed across her eyes. With a decision set in mind, the girl hurriedly jumped from the bed and ran barefooted towards the low table on her left!


    The fellow leaning against the wall next to the window did not move, only watching her with great interest. Even after guessing her intention, his expression did not change.


    When she grabbedthe blue and white ceramic vase from the wooden table, all it made him do was tilt his head to the side and admire the resoluteness he saw from the girl when she swung it down.


    "BREAK!"


    A second after that, noises made by the shattered ceramic vase echoed throughout the ce. The girl swiftly bent down and picked up one of the biggest shards. Then without caring for her messy long hair and wrinkled dress, she turned around, her fingers trembling when she ced the sharp edge of the shard against her wrist and let a little amount of blood flow from the cut.


    She ignored her pounding heart, the acute pain, the metallic smell, and the flowing red that contrasted beautifully against her white skin.


    Assuming that the man was one of the traffickers or the mountain bandits, she took a deep breath and said."Don''te near me. Or else... I''ll kill myself!"


    Her purposive emphasis on each word ryed her determination to the man standing before her.


    In her mind, she was also drafting lines and simting all possible routes to take depending on the other party''s reaction.


    ''There should be no other people rushing in since I made sure to modte my voice properly, not loud and just enough to be heard by this nobleman.''


    ''Still, I need to hurriedly go out of here.''


    ''I... I am already on the point where I can do anything just to get out of here alive... Even if I have to use theyouts of the Jiang residence or information about that family as a bargaining tool.''


    The girl fiercely raised her head. Her shaky fingers stabilized a little, still, her face showed seriousness about taking her own life for anything that would shock or agitate her.


    Jiang Li praised that expression in his mind. However, when he caught sight of her bleeding wrist, the admiration instantly vanished, reced by a cold sneer. One of the things he disliked the most was being misled or threatened. He would only show a bit of tolerance for that girl. However, as of now, Jiang Ying Yue was only confirmed to have the same face.


    So he replied without any change in his face, "Miss, you sure know how to bluff. In that angle, no matter how many times you sh your wrist, you won''t die. Also, even if your feeble strength miraculously enables you to cut the correct artery, you''ll still need at least ten minutes to bleed to death, maybe more. If I may say, you''ll probably only manage to shorten that duration into a few minutes if you sh your neck instead. It''s not advisable though. I think the reason most girls, especially those in the pce, chose tomit suicide by poison is so they won''t look ugly once they die."


    The man nced at her thin arm and delicate hand, then put on a look that said ''Hello, naive girl. I''m telling the truth..''


    The confidence Jiang Ying Yue built up with great difficulty started to crumble down because of that stare and the sarcasm in his voice.


    <em>''In all the tragic ys I have watched from tea parties before, the girl died immediately after she shed her wrists. Is he deceiving me?''</em>


    She blinked and then looked at him doubtfully. "How did you know about that?"


    "Researched about it." Jiang Li nonchntly responded. With his arms crossed above his chest and back leaning against the wall, he looked like somebody who came out of a ssic painting. Casual and handsome... He waspletely the pr opposite of what she initially pictured in her head as her buyer.


    Despite this though, her face nched."... A crazy murderer?"


    "..."


    Her thoughtless remark only elicited silence from him. The research he was talking about was the casual one that anybody from the cyber era could do. To be honest, he was not even sure if he remembered correctly. However, he did not exin. There was no way to do so. Moreover, in a sense, she was correct. He was a military officer. Which bonafide soldier of this time period had yet to kill anyone?


    "You..." She gasped.


    He frowned. Then realized that the smell of blood was starting to irritate his nerves. "Miss Jiang, put that down already, alright? If me guarding you put you on edge, just say so. I can easily leave and only go back for a talk once you calm down."


    Even though a bit shaken after knowing that the person before her had little regard for people''s lives, she still didn''t put away the shard. She didn''t dare.


    The stubbornness in her bones also surfaced. Since cutting her wrist wouldn''t do, she brought the sharp edge near her right cheek. She intended to disfigure herself so she could at least save herself from being a ything. If it was her beauty that pushed this guy to buy her, then she''d make herself ugly!


    However, to her extreme shock, when her makeshift weapon was only five centimeters away from her face, the man just suddenly appeared in front of her and snatched away the sharp tool in her hand.


    She froze in fear, not understanding how someone at least six meters from her position crossed that distance in just two or three seconds.


    His face was now so close to hers. This caused Jiang Ying Yue to close her eyes, feeling very helpless. He was towering over her. With just a stretch of his hand, it would be very easy to p her, or punch her!


    ''I''m done for. I heard most men who buy ves have weird habits and are violent. Should I apologize and act submissive for now, then bide my time to escape?'' While thinking of this, she subconsciously backed away.


    The person standing in front of her threw the bloody thing outside the window, eyes not leaving her frightened face. He wore an annoyed expression. But when he patted her head, his action was quite gentle, or at least it was, in his dictionary.


    "Don''t do that again."


    Jiang Ying Yue opened her eyes, both her hands moving to catch the big hand on her head.


    It was an instinctive reaction.


    And when she realized and regretted what she did, it was alreadyte.


    The man already had a scarily nk look on his face.

 Chapter 104: Jiang Ying Yue (11)

    Chapter 104: Jiang Ying Yue (11)


    When Jiang Li started staring nkly at the girl, it was not out of anger or anything.


    He was merely trying to make the system speak whether the person in front of him was also simr to him. It kept dodging his question. His suspicion grew stronger after remembering it was not the first time that it reacts weirdly to a question rted to her.


    Since it was not talking no matter the kind of persuasion and coercion he used, he turned to Jiang Ying Yue, squinting his eyes at the half-confused, half-frightened her who flung his right hand away in a hurry.


    He remembered the way she caught his hand. He was not the overly romantic type who frequently hugs or kisses someone he likes. His former manager was. That woman had some temper too so whenever she got annoyed by him, he would have to coax her with songs. If it doesn''t work, then by patting her head. He doesn''t know why she liked him doing that. But since the request was not hard, he was not reluctant to give in to her. Each time though, she would catch his hand or hand the way the girl before him just did, like she was catching a big mosquito above her head.


    Was that just a coincidence? How about the part where she was always in trouble or in need of someone''s meddling to not die in a random manner?


    ''Every time I transmigrate, my face bes different. But this girl always appears where I am, and with the same face too.''


    ''Three possible angles... First, it''s a coincidence. Second, she''s chasing after me. Third, she was originally the one sent to a particr world and my system is just intentionally sending me after her. Which of these three?''


    The least probable among the three was the first. After all, in his experience, too many coincidences equaled fate being a bastard.


    ''Either of the remaining two could mean she''s also a world-hopper.''


    He frowned. This was merely his conjecture. Maybe there was more into it.


    A pity the system was not telling him if other world-hoppers exist and if in case they do, what their missions were. To be honest, one of the major reasons why he disliked the system was that it was obviously hiding so many things from him. It onceined that he was too mean, going as far as to mute it just because its functions were limited to sending him to a world, rying the memories and requests to him, and allowing him one-time ess to the shop per world.


    That was just an excuse. In reality, he doesn''t trust it. It suddenly bound itself to him, offered him hope in life and revenge. Yet never disclosed its real origins and the true reason why he had to travel from world to world to prevent so-called viinesses from dying crazily with heavy resentment.


    All this time, he was having a feeling it was not really to prevent the destruction of these worlds. The idea was ridiculous. Sometimes he felt tempted to try if worlds really die from receiving too much hate from its failed heroines.


    He shrugged off the crazy thoughts and looked at Jiang Ying Yue.


    ''I really want to know if she''s her and if she''s like me.''


    ''Whatever, I''ll just slowly probe her. I have a few decades ahead of me anyway, and Lu Ling''s request is very simple. To preserve the Lu Household and not allow it to disappear in history.''


    The request was made because, in the original timeline, the Lu n became extinct, with the military general allegedly the reason. He had to prevent that. Anyway, he wasn''t heartless enough to let the n of the person who lent him his body fade in history.


    Jiang Li returned his attention to Jiang Ying Yue. He smiled softly at her, his sudden action pretty much freaked the heck out of the disheveled girl.


    The girl gulped and almost had the impulse to pick up another ceramic vase to smash against him.


    ''... He''s crazy. One moment, he doesn''t care if I point a de at my wrist. Now, he''s smiling softly at me. I don''t want to be near him, no matter how good-looking he is! I''ll make sure to scheme my way into escaping!''


    Jiang Li returned to patting the girl''s head and Jiang Ying Yue once again unconsciously caught it, both her hands grasping his. The warmth it brought stunned her and made her feel like it''s familiar. But then she remembered this was a killer''s hand. So she hurriedly let go, her face bing ash-white.


    Her wrist came to view again due to that action. He stared intently at it for a couple of moments. It was not heavily bleeding, the trace of red on it was quite negligible. Still, a wound was a wound. He called out one of the doctors in the residence and had Jiang Ying Yue treated.


    After telling his people to bring her food, he left for the barracks.


    "Greetings. Your Highness Chen Wang."


    On his way to the training field, he was ambushed by a tall young man with a slim build but mild disposition. This person''s most prominent trait was the big mole on top of his nose. It was Eunuch Lin, the Emperor''s trusted aide.


    Jiang Li nodded. Knowing a person like him wouldn''t appear anywhere without a huge reason, he thought for a moment and directly asked, "Is His Majesty requesting This Prince''s presence?"


    The head eunuch was relieved that he didn''t have to spend so much effort convincing the stubborn but talented general to go with him.


    It was around 9 am when they arrived at the pce. The morning court had just been dismissed. He ran into Sheng Lingxin near the front pce''s flower garden where the girl attempted to be formally acquainted with him. Naturally, he rejected her subtle advances and reminded her, in front of Hai Wang that she should not get close to another man lest it harms her and Hai Wang''s reputation.


    When Jiang Li and Eunuch Lin parted ways with the leads, Sheng Lingxin had a dumbfounded look on, while Hai Wang was sporting an expressionless face, seemingly in deep thoughts.


    Eunuch Lin led him to the room behind the Governance Hall''s main courtroom. The old dude son of heaven was not yet inside. However, there was another old dude there.


    Tall. Tiger-like body and aura. Grand Marshal, Jiang Ke. This person had a stern and unfriendly atmosphere around him when he looked at Jiang Li. Gone was the respectable middle-aged man who pleaded mercy from him for his eldest daughter three days ago at the Emperor''s banquet.


    Since there was nobody else around, Jiang Ke perfunctorily greeted Jiang Li and then gloomily asked, "Your Highness, do you have any idea why the two of us are summoned by His Majesty?"


    Jiang Li amusedly nced at him. ''As if there could be another reason, aside from me emptying a fort to look for your daughter.''


    "Your Excellency, the Grand Marshal. Would you believe me if I say I don''t?"


    The man quietly watched him take a seat inside the room. But if one would look closely, the hostility in the older man''s eyes deepened. "Allow me to enlighten you then. The whole city knows what His Highness did at the southern gate."


    Jiang Li scoffed in his mind. How couldn''t everyone not know? Jiang Ke was desperate to destroy his daughter''s reputation. The information came from Mao Hong who came across many suspicious individuals atst night''s patrol.


    Meanwhile, the marshal narrowed his eyes and added, "This one never expected that a distinguished person like Your Highness will take interest in this subject''s unworthy daughter."


    The eunuch and servants hurriedlyid down the snacks and drinks on the table below the raised tform after feeling the atmosphere in the room bing tenser. All of them just wanted to leave and not care if the two had their sword fight there.


    Jiang threw the older man a puzzled look. ''His attitude towards her is making me think that the viiness is not his real daughter. If she is not, then it makes sense that he dislikes her.''


    Another nce rendered him remembering the marshal was the other major reason for his misery yesterday. Does this damn military head think he''s the only one who could be mad? This old bastard was the chief culprit why he felt helpless for dancing to the plot''s rhythm.


    Resentful, heughed and tauntingly replied, "Like how swords don''t have eyes on the battlefield, so are hearts when choosing who to love. This prince simply fell for her. And told myself there is no one else worthy of being this prince''s princess consort than her."


    ''I like what you dislike. And I want you to die of anger. Come fight me fair and square if you''re angry!''


    Just as expected, Jiang Ke really hated Jiang Ying Yue.


    The general seemingly did not notice that he pulverized the table in front of him due to what Jiang Li said.

 Chapter 105: Jiang Ying Yue (12)

    Chapter 105: Jiang Ying Yue (12)


    When the general pulverized the elegant wooden table in front of him, Jiang Liughed, finding the man''s action suspicious and funny.<em> </em>


    <em>''Howe the old guy just couldn''t wait to reveal how much he wanted his unloved daughter to not rise in ranks?''</em>


    It was suspicious because he raised the viiness for sixteen or seventeen years and only just recently started showing extreme desire to see her dead or living in misery.


    <em>''I don''t believe this Marshal reached his current standing today through pure brawl. He must be quite smart.''</em>


    <em>''If Rui Wang wants to dissolve the engagement, he must first get permission from the Marshal. After all, if someone like him protested, the Emperor will happily drag the matter out. This person must have not only consented but also extorted him. After that, he chased his daughter out. Then showed anger when I rescued her. Now, he appeared incensed because I said I want to make her a member of my household''</em>


    The list would just leave one wondering why the marshal was very heartless to Jiang Ying Yue.


    The most probable reason was that she was not only not this man''s daughter, but a daughter of a mortal enemy.


    <em>''After this audience, I''ll check on Xun He and Mao Hong if they alreadypleted my order.'' </em>Jiang Li felt a great urgency in his heart.


    He badly wanted to establish a good informationwork that belonged to him. His ambition was not much. He only wanted the people working as his spies to bepetent enough to not let even a single gossip from the capital escape their ears.


    <em>''I need more information about her parents. I also need to always have a grasp of the leads'' actions and whereabouts.''</em>


    After musing about this, he went back to sizing up the marshal and openly admired how easily he wrecked the table. "Grand Marshal, I didn''t know you''re this powerful. And courageous."


    He had long caught sight of the dark-faced Emperor standing in the entrance. The man dressed in a majestic purple robe had his right hand raised to the eunuch at the side, stopping him from announcing his presence yet.


    Jiang Ke did not reply and only continued ring at the young general.


    Jiang Li lowered his head and pretended he noticed neither the sharp stares nor the person in the doorway. After clearing his throat, he told the expressionless fellow, "This Prince just couldn''t help but say this. But what the Grand Marshal did to the table in the Emperor''s audience hall, I''m afraid it is something This Prince would never attempt to do in this lifetime. I would have wanted to offer you a toast for that, but..."


    His eyes went to the wreckage in front, then to the marshal.


    He was impressed that there was still no change in Jiang Ke''s face. If his sarcastic remarks couldn''t make him change his expression, then how about the Emperor? Didn''t he see the purple-wearing old middle-aged man to their left?


    ''... His bravery is shocking.''


    A secondter, the eunuch finally announced the arrival of the son of heaven and Jiang Li was once again mindblown when he saw that the person was no longer having ck lines on his face.


    "Greetings, Your Majesty." The two military officers stood up and lightly bowed.


    "Grand Marshal. Chen Wang. Zhenis d you two managed to make it here. Take a seat."


    Both Jiang Li and Jiang Ke said their thanks to the Emperor in a respectful manner. Just like expected, the reason Jiang Li was summoned was because of his excessive actionst night.


    It seemed the old guy was quitepetent because he could still chat amicably with them even while the maids and eunuchs were busily clearing the broken table, spilled drinks, and food. The Emperor was also aware of what to prioritize. He knew that the unauthorized moving of soldiers was a greater issue than the marshal''s act of boorishness in the audience room.


    "Chen Wang, what do you have to say for your actionsst night?"


    Jiang Li lowered his head and mildly said. "This Prince is guilty. Your Majesty can decide on the punishment. This Prince is more than willing to atone for his crime."


    By this time, the table and everything on it had already been reced and no more outsiders were in the ce. The emperor seated on the throne atop the elevated tform looked at him for a fairly long time then sighed. "Chen Wang, Zhen hopes you learned your lesson this time. You have truly disappointed Zhen this time. Thus, Zhen have no choice but to punish you. Eunuch Lin,e and bring a scribe here to help Us record a decree."


    "Your humble servantplies."


    Jiang Li quietly listened as his vacation was shortened into a week. He didn''t protest. After all, the punishment was too light. It almost made him think the old dude was fond of him.


    "Chen Wang, you don''t have any problem with that, do you?"


    "No, Your subject doesn''t. Your Majesty is wise," As he said this, the young man wanted to roll his eyes but restrained himself since that would mean going OOC.


    Thest time he did this to Lady Lu, the annoying remnant of the Original rendered him vomiting for three hours straight after he returned to the residence with the witch and Jiang Ying Yue.


    He reckoned it was alright to go out of character in front of minor people, but if it was in front of those familiar with his character and temperament like his mother or the Emperor, it would spell getting in trouble with the Original.


    "It''s settled then. One week from now on, you''ll go back to your post."


    He was okay with that so he simply nodded. Done with the first matter, the Emperor turned to the silent Marshal sitting a meter away from Chen Wang and then addressed the matter about the poor table that he reduced into rubbles.


    Jiang Ke was also punished lightly, only a reduced sry for the next six months.


    Jiang Li nced once at the marshal. His lips were curled into a grin when he said, "Your Majesty, there is something Your subject wants to ask help for."


    The Emperor nodded, "Let Zhen hear it then. As long as it is within Zhen''s capabilities, Zhen will help."


    Despite having a bad feeling in his heart, the Grand Marshal did not forget to tter the emperor."Your Majesty, you are the son of heaven. Even the wind and thunder will heed yourmand. There is nothing Your Majesty cannot do. "


    While the Emperorughed, looking pleased with those praises, Jiang Liughed due to the exaggerated words.


    A few momentster, he bowed his head and straightforwardly said, "This Prince would like to request Your Majesty to bestow a marriage to him."


    Pretending he didn''t know who the only possible prospect was, the Emperor smiled. "It''s easy. But may Zhen know first who the lucky youngdy is?"


    Jiang Ke''s expression turned really awful. He saw that Chen Wang did not lift his head, but his eyes briefly turned to him and wereughing at him.


    "This Prince is hoping Your Majesty won''tugh." To the Emperor, this young general only appeared still lowering his head out of embarrassment.


    Jiang Li watched as the Marshal balled his hands into fists. For some reason, he really liked annoying Jiang Ying Yue''s father. Thus, he slowly enunciated, "It''s the <em>former</em> Grand Marshal''s first young miss."


    ...


    A couple of momentster, the Emperor had to cut Jiang Ke''s sry in half for a whole year for destroying another table. The angered the Grand Marshal was also scolded heavily by the Emperor, and the culprit who caused this only snickered from the side.


    <em>''Not enough.''</em> He was smiling at Jiang Ke but frost zed his deep-set eyes.


    <em>''Next time, I''ll make sure to show this guy why my former bandmates called me a petty bastard.''</em><ol><li>Emperors'' way of addressing themselves</li></ol>

 Chapter 106: Jiang Ying Yue (13)

    Chapter 106: Jiang Ying Yue (13)


    When Jiang Li vowed to do something, he always preferred to see it done as soon as possible.


    The first thing he settled was his source of information. For this reason, he had Mao Hong and Xun He dug talents who could train any kind of animal into messengers, or were good at espionage and/or trading of information. The scope of their search was wide. Even those from the slums were not put out of the equation.


    A dayter, the assistant showed him the first batch of recruits and he was somewhat satisfied with the result. Now, even if he wanted to ask stupid or mundane questions like where a particr consort''s pet was, an answer woulde to him in less than fifteen minutes. This could be already considered not bad since they were not in an era with a developedmunication system. But of course, since Jiang Li was greedy and had tasted the convenience of the modern world, he still wanted efficiency greater than this. Until he was truly content, the search wouldn''t stop.


    The next matter he took care of was the witch. He knew the old woman only followed him obediently into the city not because she feared he would do something to the male lead. But that he would use her existence to threaten the male lead''s already unstable position in the imperial family.


    The witch didn''t say the reason why she cared so much for that guy. He was also not really interested to know. But since he was aware of what she cared for, when Jiang Li went to the old woman''s courtyard, only after ensuring that he wouldn''t harm Hai Wang did hey out his request. It was the truth anyway.


    He didn''t actually n to do anything to the male lead for he hadn''t gone against him yet. The guy was very level-headed and wouldn''t easily offend a reputable prince for reasons he deemed not worth it. Yesterday''s case was proof. When Jiang Li slightly embarrassed the female lead for not observing proper distance with a guy not his betrothed, Hai Wang didn''t get angry at him and just stayed silent.


    It was not that he was rational or reasonable, but just used to weighing his options around. Even if he liked the woman, if liking her would give him trouble and headaches beyond his tolerance, then he would just leave her or let her solve the trouble by herself. There was also the fact that what Sheng Lingxin did, inviting another man to a meal in front of her fianc whose same invitation she just denied, was quite insulting.


    Had it been another guy, even if Sheng Lingxin already wronged them, they would still definitely defend the girl. Not many could resist a female lead''s halo and beauty. So in this regard, for not siding with her, Chen Heng was quite admirable. His calcting nature was scary for others, but likable for Jiang Li.


    "As long as the male lead remained like that, I have no problem staying out of that guy''s business." He told the old woman.


    But of course, he added in his heart that in case Hai Wang suddenly chooses to target him, he would of course, not let him go. Even if he already promised not to harm the man directly, so what? There were many ways to harm someone indirectly. In fact, this seemed to be his specialty.


    For that while, the man conveniently forgot that the old witch strictly forbade him from harming Hai Wang in any way.


    The meeting with the witch happened yesterday noon after he got back from the pce.


    The one he had with the new messengers were held this morning.


    When he got home in the afternoon, he met with his mother and listened to three hours'' worth of litany.


    Before nightfall, he visited the Ministry of Justice and secretly contacted somebody from there to conduct a re-investigation for him.


    He did this because yesterday morning, the Emperor pointed out that currently, there was no way to issue the decree if the other party was deemed unworthy of the masses.


    Jiang Ying Yue, as of now, was in that category. Given her bad reputation, it was already foreseeable that everyone would protest if they learned that the emperor bestowed such a woman to a first-rank prince like him. In everyone''s mind, she was not worthy because she was a vicious girl who caused her father''s concubine''s miscarriage.


    To be honest, he found things so annoying, but he knew the decree was the only thing that would allow Jiang Ying Yue to be his legal princess consort. This was why he decided to help clear out her name. For that reason, he ended up owing somebody from the Ministry of Justice a favor.


    It was already past 8 pm when things had been settled. He got back at around 9 pm. This was just his fourth day yet it seemed he already did so much for this world''s viiness.


    "Did I spend this much effort on Feng Ru and Xie Na before? If I remember correctly in my first week in both worlds, I didn''t do much..." This was the thought lingering in his mind as he marched out of his courtyard and jumped over the wall separating his residence to where Jiang Ying Yue currently stays.


    For him, the day was still far from over. He nned to visit the girl...

 Chapter 107: Jiang Ying Yue (14)

    Chapter 107: Jiang Ying Yue (14)


    "Did I spend this much effort on Feng Ru and Xie Na before?"


    This was the thought lingering in his mind as he exited his study and marched out of his courtyard. He couldn''t help doing theparison. He just felt like he had been constantly moving around ever since he arrived in this world. In fact, even though it was already past nine, because he couldn''t take his mind off the conversation he had with that minister, he felt like he couldn''t retire to bed yet. This was why he decided to visit Jiang Ying Yue and asked her a few questions.


    ''... I still can''t take my rest tonight. I need to know what happened on and before that day and why she''s used of witchcraft even though she''s yet to learn it.''


    The building where she currently stayed had a gate of its own. It was already closed, so he could only trespass by jumping over the wall.


    The reason for this was that Jiang Ying Yue was not actually settled in the Chen Wang estate. It was not because Jiang Li cared for Lady Lu''s opinion, but because he heard it would be bad for a girl''s reputation to be at a house not owned by her or her family before marriage.


    The customs were just hard to disregard.There was also a problem with her current reputation. Because of this, he just decided not to give himself any more headaches and bought the house next to the Chen Wang estate.


    "... Why are you here?"


    It was after his feetnded on the ground that the question came out of Jiang Li''s lips. His left eyebrow went up The voice which he just let out was quite sharp, scaring the heck out of Jiang Ying Yue who was currently positioning adder against the wall and testing out its first step. She was in a maid''s attire but her hair was arranged in a bun, like that of a new eunuch in the pce.


    Jiang Li looked at the quiet house five meters away and then at the direction of the gate which should have a few guards stationed on it.


    If this girl who obviously wanted to escape manually carry thatdder, howe those guards or the maids in the house did not notice her? Or even hear her footsteps?


    ''... Lu Ling has such high post, could easily get good soldiers as his underlings and obtain skilled personnel. I can''t believe he let ipetent and irresponsible guards and maids stay in his own residence.''


    The man strode at her and after sighing, he grabbed her by the scruff of her neck and dragged her back to the house. Maybe because she knew her protests would simply prove futile, the girl didn''t make things difficult for him and allow herself to be dragged inside. However, of course, in her heart, she was crying.


    ''Why is heaven so unfair to me? Just when I thought I can safely escape because the people around are quitex and negligent, this devil suddenly popped out of nowhere to cage me inside the house again. Why? Why did he choose to appear at this exact moment?''


    The girl wanted to curse the heavens, but she doesn''t know any profanities.


    Her hatred against the world grew since she couldn''t even vent her frustrations and misgivings that way.


    "Let''s now have a good talk, Miss Jiang." After entering, he looked around for a chair. He found one near the hall''s window and had her sit there.


    The spot was quite a good one since moonlight was spilling over it. Now that Jiang Ying Yue took over there, the soft light touching her skin made her appear so beautiful. Whenpared again to the current female lead, even if this girl was just in a maid attire, she would still appear more radiant and eye-catching than Sheng Lingxin.


    Jiang Li looked away to search for a chair for himself. The nearest one was in the adjacent hall. He carried that one to where she was and then sat in front of her.


    He looked at her who looked like a kid about to cry.


    "First of all, I want to rify something." When he moved his chair closer to her, she flinched and backed away. The sound her haphazard movement caused was loud and painful to the ears.


    Jiang Li looked offended but chose to ignore that action and continued,"I know that you are a nobledy kidnapped and brought to a mountain. Now, you have to know that I am a soldier who happened to save you together with an olddy living in that part of the mountain."


    Hearing him say those things, the woman looked stunned. "You are not a nobleman who bought me from a mountain bandit or a group of traffickers?"


    The man almost facepalmed. ''As expected this is what she thought of me.''


    While furrowing his brows and shaking his head, he answered, "Miss, you''re making me speechless. I already said that I am a soldier. As for whether I am a noble or not, how about I just tell you three facts so you can take a guess?"


    She nodded and he started, "First, you are currently in a house next to the Chen Wang estate. Second, I saved you. Third, because I saved you, the Emperor shortened my month-long vacation into a week." With a serious look on, he then asked, "So who do you think am I?"


    The clues he gave would not really be easily pieced out by others. After all, he could be a guard or a random member of the army who happened to be a part of the Lu Household. If the clues were not analyzed closely or even if a detail was missed out, it would be easy toe up with the above assumptions.


    But if it was ''her'', he had faith she wouldn''t make a mistake.


    His expectation was not betrayed.


    "Chen... Wang." She uttered with a pale look on her face.


    Jiang Ying Yue made this guess due to hearing that this man''s one month vacation was shortened into one week by the Emperor. She thought, if he could meet with the son of heaven, then he could not be a random soldier.


    She looked at the man dressed in redbat attire seated in front of her. He was actually quite familiar. At least the built, if he was standing. Wasn''t he the person who, ording to her younger sister, she had repeatedly tackled when she wanted tomit the unthinkable?


    That time, she did not see his face clearly due to her clouded vision.


    So he was actually that prince whose name always resounded from youngdies whenever they talked about men they wanted to marry. He''s the one whose name got linked to hers in some rumors three days ago. He also saved her and even brought her to a safe ce.


    ''Why would someone like him do all of those for a worthless girl like me?''


    Her eyes zed in confusion and doubts. Her heart, too, was drowning in those emotions.

 Chapter 108: Jiang Ying Yue (15)

    Chapter 108: Jiang Ying Yue (15)


    Jiang Li watched her tremble and stutter inaudible words to herself for a while. Then when he got bored due to her still not speaking after some time, he got up and picked up a writing set from the study. When he went back, there was already something written on the piece of paper. He showed it to Jiang Ying Yue.


    "You have five seconds to memorize all the symbols."


    The muddle in her eyes became more intense. He could see that she was very puzzled. But that was it. He saw no panic. She still looked unruffled as if what he asked her to do was not anything difficult. Her eyes swept over the Arabic numerals and their equivalent in the current crude counting system.


    ''Good that she''s obedient and cooperating,'' he thought with a corner of his lips tugged up.


    When the time was up, he put away that piece of paper. After dragging a low table in front of her, he handed her a brush and another piece of paper, this time, a nk one. The ink, ink b, and water were also prepared.


    "I''ll tell you two numbers and all I want you to do is add them and write down the answer using the symbols I showed you. Are we clear?"


    She was silent for a while, weirded out by both his instructions and his way of speaking. Then she blinked and asked, "Your Highness, pardon this one''s rudeness. But may I know the reason for doing this?"


    Because she didn''t recognize any of the symbols shown to her, she was feeling ufortable and wary. She couldn''t understand the reasoning behind the man''s action. What if he was already training her to be some sort of spy and she just didn''t know?


    Jiang Li naturally saw her confusion. However, since he could not say that he testing to see if she was Na Yu, he looked away and said, "This Prince is bored. And upset because This Prince''s vacation which he has been looking forward to for so long is revoked. You entertain me to make up for this."


    The girl shut her mouth after. But in her mind, she already had a guess that he was not telling the truth.


    Jiang Li did not exin more and started giving her math problems to work on. The numbers to add started from single digits. After three sessfully answered problems, while outwardly he remained expressionless, he was actually debating whether to increase the digits. The tranquil look on her face made him proceed with this n... from two, it became three, until, he made the girl add numbers that have six digits.


    His objective was basicallypleted the moment she started answering three digits addition questions in Arabic numerals. However, he got carried away. Or probably annoyed. It was because she could answer every question within five seconds, in which she only took a long time due to her slow writing!


    ''... Let''s have her do the other three operations. The higher the number, the better.'' This seed of childishness momentarily bloomed in his heart. Engrossed in thinking of what problems to throw on here didn''t notice he already becamefortable with her.


    An hourter, he sighed and leaned his back on the chair, feeling defeated.


    Should he be in any more denial and only recognize this girl after she memorizes the English alphabet andposes a poem using those letters?


    He looked at her who was busilyparing her current brush strokes of the number 5 to the one she wrote when she first started writing.


    "It''s a weird set of characters. But it''s easier to memorize and write. And not many too. Ifmoners learn this... it could potentially cause quite an impact on themerce world." Jiang Ying Yue eximed at Jiang Li.


    The way she stared at him was full of admiration as if she was looking at a huge genius. It made him feel awkward. So even though he knew he should stop now and get to business, he ended up jotting down the English alphabet and have herpose a poem. She didn''t ask again why she had to do something like this again, but he exined anyway, using the same reason as earlier.


    "I heard you''re good at this. Let''s see if people''s praises are not undeserved." He said as he handed her a new sheet of paper.


    "Your Highness, may I know what topic should I write for?"


    He thoughtlessly said, "Peace."


    Jiang Ying Yue nodded, her eyes showing him that she was having fun being challenged into stuff like this.


    The man crossed his arms and sat down again. It was probably nearing 11 pm. Yet both of them were still awake. Looking at how serene and peaceful the atmosphere between them was, probably not many would be able to guess the youngdy dressed like a maid in front of the man had just attempted to escape from him.


    Since he never stopped watching her, for quite a few times, he caught her stealing nces at him, her look filled with admiration.He noticed that every time she did that, it would be after she nodded at the letters and numbers on the pieces of paper.


    A question shed in his mind, ''Is she perhaps thinking it''s me who invented the writing and reading system?''


    A minuteter, he had basically confirmed it was the case, so heughed, but didn''t exin.


    ...<ol><li>Be with me, and that I don''t get hunted down for thiste update. Haha</li></ol>

 Chapter 109: Jiang Ying Yue (16)

    Chapter 109: Jiang Ying Yue (16)


    It was almost midnight when he remembered he was meant to ask Jiang Yue for details about what happened before and during the disowning incident.


    The girl was obviously just trying her hardest to stay awake, wanting to finish what she was doing. He didn''t stop her. He knew she always wanted to do her best no matter what challenge was thrown at her. He respected that.


    Quietly, he turned around and walked out of the room. When he stepped into the doorway, he saw three maids respectfully lowering their heads at him, looking unbearably nervous.


    These three were nowhere in sight when he first came in. Even when he was looking around for writing materials and creating noises in the study, he didn''t see even their shadows.


    "Greetings, Your Highness." They chorused, but not at the same time, and with their voices shaking.


    He didn''t speak to them at all. He had seen enough.


    ''Before my takeover, the Original has been away for quite a long time. Now the people manning hisir are changed into unqualified and ipetent people.''


    Jiang had decided.


    Tomorrow, everyone in the residence were to be inspected. Naturally, he would not let this courtyard go unchecked. In fact, he nned to swap everyone around Jiang Ying Yue with more capable people.


    Tomorrow, he would also make sure to speak seriously with the viiness and inform her of his intention.


    With this mind, he silently walked out of the house and let the cold wind and darkness enveloped him. This time though, even though the world outside seemed so cold, he doesn''t mind. Or actually, ever since the betrayals and death, he never did. The difference this time though, he could feel that he would have a warm home to look forward to in the future.


    ...


    Jiang Ying Yue woke up in her bed the next morning feeling refreshed. She found this unusual because she remembered staying upte until midnight, finishing a task thrown at her by that prince.


    ''What time is it?'' she asked herself, rubbing her drowsy eyes. When she turned to the window''s direction, light could be seen passing through the window pane. Its warm hue still looked orangish so she reckoned it was still early.


    "Young Miss." The moment she walked out of the room provided to her, she almost freaked out due to the energetic and synchronized voices of the maids that greeted her. Looking closely, she realized none of the girls before her was familiar. What happened? She was very confident with her memory so she could say with conviction that everyone was new.


    "Where did the others go?" Jiang Ying Yue was looking at the seemingly highest ranked among the new maids.


    "Answering the Young Miss. They are transferred to the other courtyards in the main house."


    The one asked, Xiao Lu, didn''t continue that they were transferred to either the halls belonging to the concubines of thete Chen Wang, or the hardbor departments.


    The maids from the ce were swapped out due to carelessness andziness, ording to the senior workers of the main house. It was a good thing though, Now they were the envy of all the servants belonging to Lu n. Everyone knew the master of this courtyard would be the future princess consort, who wouldn''t want to serve her and in turn, receive more favor and good fortune in the near future?


    All the seven maids were having this thought in their heads. Happiness was in their hearts ever since Chen Wang''s right-hand man chose them to go to this ce. Now the smiles they were showing at Jiang Ying Yu were genuine. This calmed the girl down a bit.


    At hermand, the maids started introducing themselves to her. Their new master easily memorized their names and faces.


    After this, when one of the maids asked if she wanted help to change her clothes, she nodded, though quite rigid since she was not used to being surrounded by so many people. In the Jiang household, she only had one maid, and this maid already died for a reason she still couldn''t fathom.


    Now she suddenly gained these many people. There was only one person who would send them to her.


    Why was he treating her this well? Suspicions were in her mind.


    Even thoughst night, they seemed to have gotten a fun time together and she gained some admiration for him in her heart, she still hadn''t forgotten that they had almost no interaction with each other. It was very questionable why he brought her back and even suddenly treated her nicely.


    "Young Miss, we already went to check the food from the kitchen. Shall we prepare the table now?" The current leader among her maids, Xiao Lu, knocked her out of her dazed state.


    She then nodded. As they guided her towards the dining hall, another maid spoke respectfully, "By the way, young miss, we have been asked by His Highness to inform you to dress up after breakfast. His Highness would like you to greet the new master of the Peach Blossom Pavilion."


    Jiang Ying Yue''s forehead creased. Then puzzlement appeared on her face. She asked, "Who is the person that His Highness wants me to greet?"


    The maids looked at each other. None of them knew. Xiao Lu said, "Please forgive this servant for being ipetent. His Highness only told us Young Miss will know once you get there."


    The girl exhaled and then gave her thanks to them. When she reached the dining hall, while one pulled a chair for her, the others worked onying the food on the table. They were so efficient and sensible, unlike the three who attended to her for the past two days.


    As these thoughts crossed her mind, the image of that valiant-looking man in red popped up.


    She deemed him very terrifying because with only one visit he already guessed that everyone in the house needed to be reced.


    <em>''How wary should I be of that person?''</em> she wondered.


    The food in front waspletely on another level whenpared to the ones she used to have in the Jiang estate. In no time, she had eaten her fill.


    Since there were many dishes that were untouched or barely touched, she generously said to the other girls, "Xiao Lu, you and your sisters, sit down and join me in finishing the food."


    They all looked hesitant, but after her repeated persuasion, the young head maid shyly said, "If Young Miss doesn''t despise us being at the same table, we lowly servants will impose on your generosity."


    "Help yourself," replied the flustered viiness. ''They''re too kind. But I''m nothing more than a freeloader.''


    """Thank you, Young Miss.""" The rest bowed before taking their seats and picking up their chopsticks.


    Jiang Ying Yue softly smiled as she received their words of thanks.


    Looking at their Young Miss'' radiant expression, Xiao Lu and the rest thought, ''The Future Madam is really very beautiful. Not even the rays of the morning sunrise canpare to the warmth her smile can bring. She is also very kind and caring. No wonder the prince is so in love with her.''

 Chapter 110: Jiang Ying Yue (17)

    Chapter 110: Jiang Ying Yue (17)


    That morning, after breakfast, while Xiao Lu and the other maids led Jiang Ying Yue to the neighboring house now owned by the witch, Jiang Li was in his own residence''s study, checking the backgrounds of the people in the Chen Wang estate.


    To be honest, what he found out was quite surprising. Even he didn''t expect he would have to fire more than thirty people. His mother''s most trusted stewardess was one of them. That, and the matter about Jiang Ying Yue seemingly added together and caused their rtionship to be a bit estranged. In the meal they had this noon, the woman did not speak with him at all.


    By the afternoon, he received an invitation from the pce for a recreational event the most favored consort had requested from the Emperor. Since he was invited, he rode his horse to the ce to check the event where the female lead would impress the people using her invention. Of course, he was not really going there solely for that. It was because he heard the Marshal''s side was also invited and that thedies from there would attend.


    The event hosted by the imperial family this time was a boat race. It was held in theke a mile south of the pce. When he arrived there with his attendants, Mao Hong and Xun He - thetter, a bulky guy with a braided hair, almost everyone invited was already there. The Emperor was not yet around though since no matter the asions, he and the other imperial members never failed to show upst.


    "Look ahead, Your Highness," Mao Hong who had just jumped down his horse pointed his hand in front. "That golden one is a feast for the eyes."


    Jiang Li''s eyes followed the direction his subordinate''s finger was pointing to. "You''re right. It''s quite a sight." He was referring to the row of boats at the part of the shore that the water could reach. Mao Hong''s eyes were on one of those.


    He jumped off his horse too and left it to Xun He who wordlessly brought it to the stables. A eunuch from the pce came forward to greet them. This eunuch signaled to another one standing near the entrance and that person hurriedly announced Jiang Li''s arrival in a loud voice.


    "Your Highness. That boat looks different from the others. Like the rest, it is shaped and modeled after a long water dragon. But it seems to be made out of pure gold. Wait, is it really gold? I don''t think it is its main material. Can gold even float in water?" Mao Hong looked clueless, turning to his boss who he believed should know the answer.


    Jiang Li thought for a moment then replied, "It can."


    "Oh. Amazing then!" eximed his subordinate whose eyes widened as he admired the vessel from the distance.


    "How so? Even if a boat made out of pure gold can float, what of it?"Jiang Li looked at him weirdly thenughingly shook his head. "Don''t be fooled by its cool appearance. Looks can be deceiving. Those that seem good on the surface might be a trap. Like the one in front, if it''s truly made of pure gold, then it''s only okay viewing it from the shore and admiring its shiny exterior. If you want to board it though. I won''t rmend it."


    "If it won''t sink, it should be safe. why wouldn''t Your Highness want to ride it?" Confusion was on Mao Hong''s face again.


    They had been walking for some time now and were already near the pavilions created for those who wanted to watch the race from the shore. When everyone noticed their arrival, they came forward to greet him. The gentlemen bowed, while thedies curtsied. Then when they raised their heads and walked away a little, they pretended to be busying themselves with something even though in reality they were eavesdropping.


    All of them saw the cool-looking sight. The naive majority thought it looked amazing and should be able to perform better than the other dull-looking boats. But then suddenly, somebody dered it was something people shouldn''t dare to ride.


    ''Why would Chen Wang say that? Is His Highness intimidated by how it''s pure gold?''


    Jiang Li shook his head upon seeing everyone''s curiosity. In one corner of his eye, he caught sight of the creator of that boat. This person looked interested in what he would say too.


    Standing in the forefront, and followed by the waiting crowd, he directed his gaze at the row of boats and exined, "This Prince only read it from a text I have identally stumbled upon. The book exined that while gold can float, that''s it. Gold is a very soft metal and it''s proven by how it can easily be molded into essories or currency. Boats are usually built using tough materials though. Or else, we would constantly worry whether it can withstand the pressure of water from both sides, especially if it''s going against the waves or current. We won''t want to stand on a precious metal only to drown due to it in the end, right?"


    Afterward, heughed. While the rest thanked him for the knowledge that he shared, he raised a corner of his lips. He was not yet finished. "Alright. The big deal about that nice thing we can see from here is that it only looked to be gold. But it''s actually not. Sooner orter, even if This Prince didn''t say a thing, one of the learned schrs nearby would share what This Prince just shared. And then when everybody thought the boat is just a sham, with a good appearance but zero functionality, that''s most likely when it will amaze us of its ingenious performance."


    "In reality, the boat is just like the others, either made of metal or wood. It probably has a surprise store for its opponents. But This Prince is more inclined to wonder who invented the stuff coated on its surface."


    A discussion arose around him for some time, half of the people nearby praising the creator of the boat, taking it already for the winning creation, while half praised Chen Wang. Somedies were having dreamy look on their faces, finding the prince so admirable for not only having nice martial skills but also a vast knowledge.


    System: ... My host looks pleased for sabotaging the female lead''s operation.


    He didn''t hear the system so he didn''t react.Jiang Li continued smiling and basking on people''s attention.


    However, it was actually correct.


    In the original plot, Sheng Lingxin had one of her guards disguise as a schr. This man told everyone the first part of the information Jiang Li just shared then incited the rest of the onlookers to bet on the other boats. This was how the female lead triple the money she betted on the ship she designed. This event was a cut scene from the game and in one of the fragments of memories, Sheng Lingxin perfectly copied it.


    Well, putting the scheme aside, her real goal was actually to promote her paint products and blueprints. To show off her talent and create an impression on people. Jiang Li doesn''t care much about this since all this event would do was help the heroine increase her worth in both the Emperor and her fianc''s mind. Him messing up with her money-making scheme was just a sudden whim.


    He swept his eyes around to search for his targets today.


    "Chen Wang." The tall, muscle-bodied Xun He sudden said in a low, baritone voice. "To the left, this subordinate saw the Grand Marshal''s family arriving..."


    Jiang Li''s eyes automatically went to that side. Disregarding the female lead who was standing next to Hai Wang but was secretly stealing nces at him, he saw the Jiang Family. They were only five meters away from his current position...

 Chapter 111: Jiang Ying Yue (18)

    Chapter 111: Jiang Ying Yue (18)


    Since the Emperor was quite thex one, he didn''t forbid the officials from bringing others with them. Their concubines and children were allowed to attend but of course, they would have to observe proper decorum and not be a nuisance to others.


    He could see that the Marshal brought quite a lot of people with him, three concubines, and five children.Two of the people in that group were familiar to him. One was thedy he once saw in the Jiang residence, scolding the viiness. The other seemed to be her daughter, the girl who wanted to spread the bad rumors.


    He gave the otherdies a fleeting nce.


    "Which of them was the concubine who had a miscarriage?" He asked to confirm his suspicion after he distanced himself from the crowd.


    Mao Hong who followed him responded, "It''s not really one of the concubines, Young Highness. It''s the Second Madam. People justbeled her as such since she started as the side concubine before rising in ranks after the first madam died."


    The man momentarily halted his speech to check if there were unwanted ears nearby. He then whispered, "Your Highness, ording to rumors, this Second Madam visited the first legitimate daughter, the Young Miss, before nightfall of the day when her engagement with Rui Wang got cancelled. Three dayster, she had a miscarriage. The poison found in her system is one which only acts up three days upon inhaling or ingesting it."


    Jiang Li''s expression did not change. But he nodded. "They must be thinking it came from the first miss, Jiang Ying Yue."


    "Right. It''s because the malicious poison only acted up in the evening of the third day, allegedly at the same time she left the Young Miss courtyard then. Exactly three days. A characteristic of this poison."


    The man did not reply anymore. In his mind, he briefly questioned how gullible people in this era were to easily conclude the girl was the culprit with just that as the evidence. But then, he realized it actually doesn''t matter how light or heavy the proofs were. Even if the one using the viiness only said that a random mosquito from Jiang Ying Yue''s courtyard bit that concubine and caused the miscarriage, the Marshal would still dly use that as an excuse to force her out of his estate.


    "His Majesty the Emperor has arrived!" This announcement was followed by a shout out of the other big names, all from the imperial family.


    Jiang Li ended the talk with Mao Hong the first time he heard the eunuch''s thunderous voice.


    To wee and pay their respects to the Emperor and his entourage, they went back to the crowded pavilion.


    ...


    The Emperor was not like the chatty school principals or politicians who loved spouting so many words whenever they were speaking for an event. The purple-wearing man only said a few encouragements to the contestants and then sat down on the elegant throne ced on the second floor''s best viewing spot.


    Even though the upper floor was only reserved for the imperial family, Jiang Li could actually go up there if he wanted since he was officially a prince. However, he chose to stay downstairs. And he did not sit down like what the majority of the people did. Leaning his back against the red column, he crossed his arm above his chest then watched as each group of contestantspetes with each other.


    "Your Highness, it seems your guess is pretty spot on. The golden boat is winning."


    When Mao Hong said this to him, Jiang Li only hummed in agreement. With the plot going in the female lead''s favor, would he fear guessing wrongly?


    Around him discussion about how pleased the Emperor looked upstairs floated by his ears. Lucky female lead. It was basically confirmed that the girl would either be rewarded, or contracted for cooperation. After all, the Emperor already inquired and learned that Hai Wang owned the boat, gifted to him by Sheng Lingxin. By this time, the two leads should be upstairs. And they must have already taken the opportunity to leave an impression on the Emperor and the others.


    The contestants madly rowed their boats parallel to the shore,peting with one another in reaching the set finish line. Before the golden boat won, the excitement and discussions all around them reached an all-time high. It was so lively and noisy, making Jiang Li felt regret why he could not bring Jiang Ying Yue with him to witness the scene.


    <em>''Speaking of that girl. By now, she should have met the old witch already. Will she take the chance to learn something like that? Or will she stay a naive and moralpassed girl?''</em>


    The man directed his gaze to the horizon,mitting in his memory that deep blue line where the water and clouds meet.


    What a beautiful sight. The calming blue made a term popped up in his mind. Peace.


    Would the viiness have that in this lifetime?


    For now, he could offer a momentary peace, and also give her a ce to stay. But this all doesn''t mean she was safe. He had a feeling this world would be quite different and harder to clear than the previous ones.


    He murmured to himself,<em> ''In the previous world, the mission was easy, the wish was the one which gave me a headache. This time, it seems the wish will be easy, the mission my headache...''</em>


    If considered seriously though, the difficulty of thetter one was higher. He had a higher chance of failing the mission. Would he want to fail though?


    <em>''I can''t fail. I have to settle my real problem as soon as possible... So I can free myself from those memories. And then truly move on.''</em>


    Jiang Li left the ce together with the two subordinates. He had no ns to watch the imperial family''s drama and framing battle which would soon take ce. The viiness'' matter was what he should work on.


    ...

 Chapter 112: Jiang Ying Yue (19)

    Chapter 112: Jiang Ying Yue (19)


    The banquet that was hosted for the victors onlysted for no more than two hours. After that, the Emperor dismissed the guests. The Grand Marshal was asked to stay for a discussion about one of the borders so he had the rest of his household members depart for home without him.


    After getting the carriage holding the young misses of the Jiangs, the second legitimate daughter Jiang Rou Li immediately headed back to her own courtyard. Her mother, the Second Madam was with her, patiently listening to her ounts of the most notable thing that happened to her in the dragon boat race event.


    Her eyes were as bright as sparkling jewels as she eximed, "Mother, I really can''t believe it. His Highness Rui Wang chatted with me for almost an hour. I''m so happy. I can''t stop reying our conversation in my mind."


    The Second Madam, Lady Wang, had a slightly pale face since she still hadn''t recoveredpletely from her recent miscarriage. However, with her lips curled into a beautiful smile, she appeared more energetic and vibrant.


    Holding her sixteen years old daughter''s hands, the woman said, "Rou''er, mother has faith in you. Now that that woman has been kicked out of the residence, you have be the Marshal family''s first legitimate miss. Rui Wang should no longer have any problem taking you in as his princess consort. However, everything will still depend on your effort. You must win his heart and willingly have him marry you."


    Jiang Rou Li nodded with a huge grin on her pretty, immature face. "Don''t worry, mother. I know what to do. In the first ce, Rui Wang doesn''t care about Jiang Ying Yue. I am the one close to His Highness. He also wanted to be his wife. Even earlier, apart from that Sheng Lingxin, I am the only girl His Highness had spoken to. Mother, believe me, one of these days, I will be His Highness new fiance"


    The confidence in the girl''s face was so brilliant. Despite the prince not promising anything to this youngdy, she seemed to be very certain that Rui Wang would choose her as his principal wife.


    Looking at her beautiful and talented daughter, the second madam felt proudness rising in her heart. Thisdy who had maintained her youth despite her age made an expression as if she believed her daughter and think that she was capable of making what she said a reality.


    However, when she remembered the names mentioned, a frown appeared on her face. She fell into deep contemtion.


    The two of them were inside the outer all, sitting opposite each other at a low mahogany table. There was a beautiful cloud and immortal patterned white ceramic vase in front of them. Several snacks giving off an appetizing smell were alsoid down on the table by the maids before they took their seats earlier.


    Lady Wang squeezed her daughter''s hand that was on her grasp. "Rou''er, you mentioning those two names made me recall something." The madam sported a look of seriousness in her face. "We will not have any issue with the prime minister''s first young miss since she''s already betrothed to Hai Wang. She appears to be a woman who values her reputation and is also very capable. She''s somebody you should befriend and be close to once you two be Wang Feis. However, there seems to be a problem with Jiang Ying Yue''s side."


    Jiang Rou Li pouted, "Mother, I think I know what you want to say. But isn''t she nothing more than a disowned daughter now? She has no status, no engagement, no backing... Even if she''s still alive, she''s nothingpared to me."


    Lady Wang shook her head then spoke patiently, in a lecturing tone, "Rou''er, don''t lower your guard until you see the enemy dead or living a life worse than death. I''ve long been hearing rumors that Chen Wang saved her and is doing his best to clear her name. It''s only a rumor yet since nobody has seen Jiang Ying Yue, but I''m afraid there is still some truth into it."


    No hint of surprise appeared on the girl''s face. Although Jiang Rou Li seemed like a normal girl stupidly in love, in reality she knew how to use her brain well. She had her own spies and was the one controlling the household more than her mother. The rumors her mother mentioned already reached her ears days ago.


    "Alright, mother. I''ll make sure to remember. To be honest, I know that His Highness Chen Wang has sheltered that woman. His Highness Rui Wang also hinted this to me earlier."


    Worry crossed her mother''s eyes, but she shook her head and said, "Please, set your heart at ease, mother. Even if Chen Wang had the whole Ministry of Justice involved, no one will be able to trace it to us. Even our own people and allies in this house are in the dark."


    "I''m just worried because everyone knows I visited Jiang Ying Yue by myself on that day. Now that His Highness Chen Wang is having suspicions about me, people will surely begin to specte. Mother''s heart is just feeling insecure. I have done so much to obtain my current position. After reaching it, I naturally don''t want my reputation to be damaged."


    Jiang Rou Li looked into her mother''s eyes and felt a bit of heartache for what the olderdy went through. However, deep inside her heart, she was also feeling disdain. The miscarriage had to be done for the child should not exist. Jiang Ying Yue just happened to be convenient to drag along in the mess so they took that opportunity to erase her from their paths.


    Everything seemed to have gone smooth. But who would have thought the heavens would not totally abandon Jiang Ying Yue and allowed her to survive? Why couldn''t that eyesore just die so she could be the first miss officially? How annoying!


    "His Highness Chen Wang is unfathomable." After a while, the girl murmured absentmindedly. "His Highness would be away from the capital from time to time. There''s not much known about him apart from being a goodmander and a gifted martial artist. Many of my female acquaintances are enamored with him because of his good looks, aplishments in the battlefield and mysteriousness. It''s human instinct to get drawn to or fear the unknown."


    "Right now, we didn''t know his intention for saving Jiang Ying Yue. But Rou''er, I''m afraid of the hearsays saying Chen Wang wants to elevate that woman into his Wang Fei."


    The girl shook her head. "Mother, there''s no use thinking about it. What''s to be done is to act normal even if the officials from the ministry of justicee. There should be no one who holds evidence against us or even if there is, nobody in this estate should be courageous enough to go against us. We''ll be fine."


    After the youngerdy shed a beautiful smile at her, the Second Madam did not argue anymore. In her heart, Lady Wang was happy to have a sensible and smart daughter.


    ...

 Chapter 113: Jiang Ying Yue (20)

    Chapter 113: Jiang Ying Yue (20)


    The mother and daughter didn''t know that an hour before they got back to the Jiang household, something happened on the way to one of the other pnquins. The one belonging to the least favored concubine and son among the Marshal''s entourage today suddenly had one more person inside it. And from the looks of it, he was long there before the other processions even started or probably even before the mother and son pair arrived.


    "Y-Your Highness Chen Wang."


    Sweat was forming on the concubine''s forehead. Her name was Jin Yahui, a minor concubine of the second rank. She came from a humble merchant family and only managed to enter the estate after being fancied by the marshal when he caught sight of her in a local festival.


    Given her less splendorous background, it was already quite amazing that she hade this far and even managed to attend an event hosted by the Emperor. Part of a reason was the current Imperial family''sck of high requirements for the number and type of people an official could bring. Still, it was quite outstanding that out of all the concubines, she was one of those allowed toe.


    But no matter how high her aplishments as a concubine was, she was still nothing more than dirt before a high personage like Chen Wang.


    As she looked at the man who was sitting inside, because of his status in her mind, the ce appeared just so not fitting for someone of his caliber. But in the first ce, why was he in her shabby pnquin?


    "Come in. The wind is blowing hard in this season so it''s not good for kids his age to stay outside for a long period of time." As if he was the owner of the ce, Jiang Li invited the two in.


    The child holding his mother''s hand stared at the stranger in red. His gaze held extreme curiosity since it was his first time seeing this person. Earlier, his eyes too focused on the golden boat and the rowing contestants which caused him to miss out Jiang Li in the crowd.


    "Mother, a male fairy has appeared in our carriage," said the child to his mother in a cute crisp voice. To the kid''s eyes, Jiang Li truly looked beautiful. He once heard from the nannies that beautiful people were fairy so he called the beautiful male stranger a male fairy.


    Hearing this though, Jin Yahui''s face nched. What floated in her was that one time when she roamed themercial streets with her brother and learned from a wealthy-looking matron that those beautiful men working as escorts in the red-light district were called male fairies.


    ''Dear heavens, what did just my child call His Highness?''


    She widened her eyes at her son in horror. A secondter, he pushed him forward and spoke in a stern and terrified voice, "Lei''er, apologize now!"


    "Mother?" The child had a bewildered expression on his face, not understanding the woman''s actions.


    Jin Yahui didn''t see that since she was looking apologetically at Jiang Li. "This small one is guilty. I didn''t teach my son well. Please forgive us, Your Highness." She then turned to the child with a half-fierce, half-pleading expression. "Hurry, now. Bow and apologize to His Highness!"


    The child was only four to five years old. He was easily scared. So even though he felt wronged and aggrieved, he did as his mother told.


    Jiang Li didn''t say a thing since his brain quite short-circuited for being called something he never ever expected to be addressed at him. ''Which damn one taught a child to call a man fairy?'' For a man from the modern world, it was just very weird, and slightly hair-raising.


    "T-this small one apologizes to His Highness."


    Only after the child''s shaky voice drifted to his ears did Jiang Li regain his senses. He looked at the mother and son pair. They were both shaking, one from fear, the other from being on the verge of crying. He then shook his head and said, "I''d rather you two apologize for making a scene outside instead of hopping in like what I instructed."


    With terrified faces, the two did bow and apologize. Jiang Li was already feeling irritated. So he just ordered the two to get in. It seemed his frosty expression did the trick since the two obedientlyplied.


    Knowing they would be talking about something confidential, the mother covered both her son''s eyes and ears.


    As for Jiang Li, he only spoke after hearing from Mao Hong outside that nobody heard and saw them creating the scene earlier. The status of Jin Yahui and her son among those who came from the Marshal seemed to be the lowest since they were thest to depart.


    "Madam, this ride should be not long, so how about we stop wasting time?"


    Jin Yahui cautiously nodded. The man did not mind the wariness in her the other party''s eyes, he continued,"First of all, I want to say that you don''t need to worry about me doing anything to you or your son. I chose to speak with you today because I know what position you have in that household and that I deem you good enough to cooperate with me."


    "Cooperate?"


    Jin Yahui doesn''t know what the enigmatic man before her wanted to do, but she had a hunch the next words he would say would haunt her for the rest of her life. With fear and trepidation in her heart, she asked, "Y-your Highness, this one is merely a small concubine and her abilities are limited. What can this one help Your Highness with?"


    "This Prince won''t ask for much." Jiang Li was smiling. Nevertheless, the woman couldn''t see any hint of warmth from it. Her palms that were on her son''s ears and eyes subconsciously trembled and even became a bit sweaty from nervousness.


    Her voice also shook as she asked, "May I know what it is then, Your Highness?"


    The man''s fingers tapped on the small round mahogany table, his actions giving his bearing ackadaisical feeling. "As a member of that household, you should be very much aware of what happened there just recently."


    Jin Yahui looked away."I, this small one, doesn''t know."


    Heughed. "Fine then, I''ll just bet that you know how to choose the correct side. You should be very capable to be able to survive in that estate given your background. " Jiang Li started.


    "Since I''m a bit in awe of what I''ve heard about you, This prince will generously tell you. In the next few months, a storm will strike the capital. It''s not only because of the imminent war of princes. But because the son of heaven will be provoked."


    He paused for a while to check the other''s expression, chuckling as he beheld her holding her breathe. His gaze turned to the clueless child before continuing, "His Majesty''s anger will definitely descend upon every corner of this empire. By then, innocent or not, the whole Jiang Household will also surely be no more..."


    ...


    On their way back to the manor, Mao Hong curiously asked Jiang Li, out of all people they could contact in the Marshal''s estate, why does it have to be that low-ranked concubine.


    He didn''t reply, since it was not his style to exin, unless absolutely needed or if doing so would directly damage those he was targeting.


    However, he did muse in his mind,


    ''The fact that she and her five-year-old son are still alive until today means she is quite smart and capable. After all, that Second Madam has no son yet which means the boy could be the Jiang n''s heir. How could that woman allow it? With them perfectly fine, it means the concubine is capable enough to protect herself and her son, and at the same time, continued being in the eyes of that damnable Marshal.''


    When Jiang Li talked to the woman earlier, he didn''t really give any definite instructions to her. He merely challenged her to show her worth so he would bepelled to save her and her son once a disaster strikes the Jiang family.


    Jin Yahui was definitely aware of what he wanted given that he never hid to anyone that Jiang Ying Yue was currently under his wings.


    It would take time, but he was looking forward to what that woman would show him.


    He was hoping it would be a surprise.

 Chapter 114: Jiang Ying Yue (21)

    Chapter 114: Jiang Ying Yue (21)


    Late afternoon of the same day. In the courtyard next to the Chen Wang Residence.


    When she got back to her room, Jiang Ying Yue''s face was pale and her eyescked focus. She also looked like her knees don''t have much strength in them and would fail her anytime soon.


    With one of her hand pressing on her chest to pacify her racing heart, she slumped down on the chair near the window. Her maid, Xiao Lu, handed her a cup of tea. "Young Miss, please drink this. It can help you calm down."


    She gratefully epted it and said, "Thank you." She also said the same to the other maids working to give her better venttion.


    Xiao Lu and her sisters looked at her with eyes full of sympathy. Seeing how disoriented and shocked she was, they wondered what that olddy from that pavilion did to render her like this. The girls didn''t have a clue since they were barred from apanying Jiang Ying Yue inside.


    One of the youngest girls couldn''t help but ask, "Young Miss, did the owner of Peach Blossom Pavilion bully you?"


    Jiang Ying Yue shook her head but didn''t exin.


    Her maids looked at each with worrycing their eyes. Xiao Lu said in a concerned tone, "Young Miss, please don''t hesitate to tell us if something is worrying you. If that olddy has made you suffer, do tell us too. We will immediately report to His Highness. For sure His Highness will get you justice."


    Jiang Ying Yue''s lips parted a bit. Her head maid''s statement shocked her a bit. Why would that man care if she was bullied or not?


    She knitted her brows in helplessness. It seemed there was something wrong with her maids -assuming too much that Chen Wang would care for her. The girl didn''t know that in her maids'' mind, her fault was not relying more on the prince. Xiao Lu and the others came up with this guess since not once did she mention Chen Wang.


    After reassuring the maids that she was fine, she finished the tea, rested a bit, then took a bath.


    She sent the girls away and climbed onto her bed, face nted on the soft pillow. She was not really that tired, only shocked by what she witnessed.


    For the whole morning until four in the afternoon, she stayed by that weird and temperamental grannie''s side, being made to watch her ying with all sorts of materials and little creatures.


    Every time, she recalled being surrounded by those insects, spiders, bugs, and worms all day long, she felt her heart trembling. Before, when she was still a kid, she thought herself as a brave girl, that those kinds of creatures wouldn''t be able to faze her. Now, her eyes were opened up.


    No matter how courageous someone was, it would be hard not to feel nauseous once surrounded by thousands of squirming worms and insects. She realized this saying was very true. After all, even after the old woman repeatedly told her the creatures wouldn''t be able to escape from the jars, since she could see them, and even had to see them for a whole day, she couldn''t help the fear, insecurity, and disgust.


    ''Do I really have to do this?'' She didn''t know how many times she asked herself this.


    Only when she closed her eyes and saw the memories belonging to her burnt future did she summon the courage to face the sight and not cry.


    ''I must get stronger. Get justice for me. And take my revenge!''


    ...


    More or less five minutes passed and she had somehow cleared her head of the negatives thoughts and terrible memories. Now all she wanted to do was to sleep and have more energy for the next morning. Yet all of a suddenXiao Lu entered the bedroom and told her a grave news.


    "Young Miss! His Highness Chen Wang has arrived and will join you for dinner!"


    Those words made her rise from the bed and stare dumbfounded at her maid. Behind Xiao Lu were her other servants who rushed in and then pulled her away from the bed.


    "Young Miss. Please forgive our impudence. We must dress you up as fast as we can. Please cooperate with us!"


    Jiang Ying Yue watched as the girls surrounded her and reached their hands on her current clothes. They dolled her up in ten minutes then led her to where that mystifying man was waiting. Her brain was still sluggish, stuck on wondering why he would be here.


    "You''re looking better than I thought you''ll be." The man who appeared before her had aughing expression on his face. Sadly, while his expression wasforting, his remark was not. It would be impossible for him not to know what kind of person the olddy was. It should also be impossible that he didn''t know what she would be seeing at that ce. So was heplimenting her for not ending up in a sobbing mess?


    She suppressed the anger in her heart and bowed. Curtsying, she said, "Greetings, Your Highness. It''s this one''s pleasure to see looking great and healthy."


    Jiang Li gave the girl a good look before signaling to the maids to leave. Anyway, the table was set and there was nothing else for them to do.


    "Let''s eat. Then after this, we can go to discuss a few matters about you." Once done saying this, he picked up his chopsticks and began eating.


    Jiang Ying Yue looked quite ufortable at first, but when he ate in silence and didn''t say anything to her afterwards, she also began eating, appreciating the food, and the peace they had in between them.


    At one point in time, Jiang Ying Yue peeked at him from beneath her thick eyshes, her thoughts swirling.


    ''... I feel like this situation is weird. I saw this in ys. A man eating with a woman in the residence he provided her. Shouldn''t this only happen between a married couple?''


    When the thought crossed her mind, she froze. The realization was just shocking. Swallowing unconsciously, she did the second most epic thing ever and choked on the piece of meat that was still in her mouth.

 Chapter 115: Jiang Ying Yue (22)

    Chapter 115: Jiang Ying Yue (22)


    "Cough! Cough!" With misty eyes and trembling fingers, one of Jiang Ying Yue''s hand started to beat her chest while the other reached out for a jug of water. Jiang Li saw her state and frowned at her. If you choke on something, would drinking water be the correct thing to do?


    An answer dawned on him.<em>''Since she can still make a sound, she should not bepletely choking, but with a semi-blocked airway.''</em>


    His hand moved to pass the container on her. He reckoned that her body was protesting that it could not get enough air. Water should be able to help to lubricate the esophagus, enhancing a natural swallowing process that would then help remove the obstruction. Thankfully, it was not apletely blocked airway or else, instead of giving her water, he would be performing an abdominal thrust.


    "Drink slowly." He reminded the girl madly chugging on the jug as if her life depended on it.


    When Jiang Ying Yue''s lips parted with the water container, she began gasping for breath. The corners of her eyes still had traces of tears.


    The man shook his head andmented inside, <em>''This is what she gets for not chewing her food properly. Tch. Really the same. If my guess is correct, it seems she choked on food while staring at me.''</em>


    Seeing the kind of stare Jiang Li was giving her, the girl''s cheeks turned red and all she wanted to do was disappear from there. Thankfully, after that episode, the man didn''t say anything. When they finished eating, he only called the servants to clear the table and bring them tea, then he ordered them to disperse again.


    "Now that we''re full, let''s have a long talk about your and my circumstances." He said, propping his face up with a hand, elbow against the smooth surface of the table.


    Jiang Ying Yue didn''t dare meet his eyes. While nursing the cup of tea in her hand, she said, "This one is thankful for everything Your Highness has given and done for me. It would be this one''s honor to answer your questions and requests as long as it is proper and within my capabilities."


    Jiang Li pretended he didn''t hear the emphasis on thetter part, instead mindingher dizzying speech.


    "To be honest, I hate this formal kind of taking the most, Miss Jiang. So let me just get straight to the point. After meeting the witch, what do you n to do from now on?"


    Silence reigned between them for a full minute. The ce turned so quiet if a pin dropped on the ground, the sound would reverberate to their ears.


    It was still Jiang Li who broke that silence after getting bored of waiting for her reply. "The Emperor has indirectly punished me to go back to the border three weeks earlier than expected. It''s already the fourth day. In three days, I would have to depart with my army and head South where my post is."


    Jiang Ying Yue looked guiltily at him. "I remember you saying that to mest night. I know it''s my fault. I''m sorry."


    He smiled. "You don''t need to be sorry. What I did, I did out of my own volition."


    His answer made her raise her head and stared intently at him. Jiang Li calmly met her gaze.


    "... Your Highness, forgive me for asking. But why would you go to such great lengths for a nobody like me?" She asked softly, head lowering again. Her eyshes moved downwards, creating faint shadows on her white cheeks.


    Since yesterday, this was the question guing her mind. He was really a puzzle for her. If it was truly just as her maids said that he had taken a fancy for her, why?


    Jiang Ying Yue felt bitter because she couldn''t see any good merits in her. The broken engagement, the disowning incident, and the kidnapping had scarred her so much and made her skeptical of many things, including her own charm as a woman. The first one made her an unwanted fiance, the second an unwanted daughter.


    She reckoned if everyone in the city already knew the third, that she was kidnapped by traffickers and almost sold to bandits, then people would begin to wonder whether she was already a soiled woman. The mere thought of that numbed her heart. No matter the era, no woman, at least none from the nobility, who respected themselves and expected to marry into decent families, would want that kind of reputation to be attached to their names.


    <em>''I''m not worthy of being fancied by a high person like him.''</em> She secretly told herself, mood downcast.


    <em>''You are the viiness, my mission. And you are her.</em>'' She didn''t know this was what Jiang Li had in mind when he heard her question. However, since there was no way he could say these to her, he chose not to directly answer it, but ask, "Miss Jiang, is it a must for us to always have sophisticated reasons behind our actions and decisions?"


    Jiang Ying Yue slightly frowned, thinking.


    A corner of his mouth curved up. "Miss, sometimes, we just do things instinctively and with neither rhyme nor reason. For example, we start something and then suddenly feel like not finishing them, or keep items we know we will never use, or worry about things that we cannot control. We just do those things without thinking too much about them. It''s instinctive. I bet it''s because, our brain and body know that if everything we do needs to be nned or have a reason behind it, then life would just be very stressful."


    <em>''I don''t need a reason to save you, shelter you, and secure you from danger and storms.''</em>


    Jiang Ying Yue instinctively looked downwards. She found herself despicable. Because after she read between the lines, the real meaning she got not only warmed her heart, but also made her wish that she could love him and have him for herself someday.

 Chapter 116: Jiang Ying Yue (23)

    Chapter 116: Jiang Ying Yue (23)


    Jiang Ying Yue fully cooperated when he asked her how she ended up framed. She actually had a guess in mind who the culprit was. As expected. The viiness was naive, but not stupid. In reality, that term should have nothing to do with somebody with a sound brain and a photographic memory.


    Since she never felt like she belonged in that household ever since her mother''s death, it was easy for her to judge everyone who used to be around her without being biased. She only faltered a bit when her father was mentioned. But it didn''t take her much time to recover. How long had she been living in the Jiang estate? How many times had she tasted bitterness and heartache from the Marshal''s cold treatment?


    Jiang Li''s lips got drawn into thin lines when she shared that everyone, even the servants, was against her.


    Perhaps only Jin Yahui and his son were the exceptions sincewhenpared to the other concubines and their children, those two were from a rather humble background. It could also be because Jin Yahui was only thinking of defending her son and herself. No matter the reason, the woman should be d. In the future, because she came out clean from Jiang Li''s investigation, she and her son would be spared from the disaster that woulde to the Jiangs.


    Jiang Ying Yue, this time, had chosen to release every pent up feelings and frustration she had in her heart and mind. Because of this, the atmosphere in the dining hall turned a bit strange. There was a girl crying and pouring her heart out in front of a man who was only watching and listening. The awkward man even folded his arm.


    The servants outside were barely keeping themselves from checking on the two of them. Why was the young miss crying? Was it from being too moved by His Highness'' actions these days? Not a few were finding the situation strange.


    When silence took over and the mood between them turned so low, Jiang Li left his seat and went to her side. All he did was pat her. And this time, she didn''t stop him since she was too engrossed with crying.


    "Do you hate me for introducing you to that witch?" Out of a sudden, he asked, to divert her attention.


    Still crying, she shook her head and replied with a cracking voice, "This one has no right to hate nor dislike the one who saved me. All I have in my heart right now for Your Highness is boundless gratitude. If not for your kindness, I would have long died, or started living a life worse than death."


    He jokinglyughed. "Repay me then, by being a lot stronger than that witch, the Jiang Family, and even the Imperial Family."


    How could a mere seventeen-year-old girl aplish all of that? Hence, when she nodded, it was without thinking about his words much. A minuteter, she raised her head and stared into the man''s eyes. She hurriedly wiped away the tears in her eyes and then stood up. Her two hands tightly grabbed on her longplicatedlyyered skirt.


    Bowing deeply to him, she said, "I am very thankful for everything Your Highness has done for me. For this reason, I will do as Your Highness said. But if it is alright, will you please hear out a request of mine?"


    "Pray tell."


    "Your Highness, I would like to make up for causing you countless troubles these past few days."


    "Oh?" He was anticipating what she would say next.


    Jiang Ying Yue squeezed the fabric she was grabbing. After she took a deep breath, she spoke up again. "I beg Your Highness to allow me to go to that ce with you and be your attendant. I would like to go with Your Highness to the border!"


    The voice that escaped from her throat was not shaking. She willed her voice not to crack, to convey her sincerity and determination.


    The man looked at her for some time, then haphazardly replied, "Okay."


    His answer seemingly did not reach her ears since she continued endorsing herself, "Your Highness, don''t worry. I know how to do household chores and how to read. I could be both your maid and assistant. I will be useful to you and will make sure not to be a nuisance."


    "Okay."


    "I, I can also do hardbor."


    "Ah, sure?"


    "So, please bring " The girl finally stopped and realized the man had actually said okay to her twice. She raised her head, allowing him to see her batting her thick eyshes numerous times. "You''ll bring me?"


    "Yeah." He nodded. Jiang Li didn''t need to think about it actually. If that was what she wants, why not? Anyway, she really supposed to be out of the city for a year, being an experimental subject of an old hag. And speaking of that person... The man thought for a moment then added,"But let me warn you, since you''reing, I''ll also have to drag that witch with me."


    "I''m not bothered that she will apany me. But Your Highness, do you really agree? You won''t question me why I want toe with you?"


    Heughed then answered, "Yes, and no."


    Concerned on what was going through his mind, she rified, "I''m not escaping from the bad rumors and hearsays about me. I, I want to..." Jiang Ying Yue paused, realizing she was not ready yet to trust anybody her ns, not even the person before her. She ended up closing her mouth and looking away.


    Jiang Li did not pry. If the girl wanted to say something to him, he would listen. Likewise, if she doesn''t want to share anything, he wouldn''t force her to talk. She was lucky, feigning ignorance andck of interest was one of his specialties.


    After talking about their arrangements for the Southern border with her, he left the residence. When he got back home, he pieced out all the information he gathered from Jiang Ying Yue and the spies, and then threw a few instructions to his two most trusted subordinates.

 Chapter 117: Jiang Ying Yue (24)

    Chapter 117: Jiang Ying Yue (24)


    For Jin Yahui, it was hard to trust information thates from higher ranked people. Apart from knowing those aristocrats loved to scheme all day long and take releasing rumors or faked news to the masses as a hobby, there was also the fact that she was used to dealing withmoners. She could judge the uracy of intelligence more if it were toe from them.


    This was probably the reason she was on edge all night after she and her son got back to their humble abode in the Jiang Estate. A warning came from one of the most distinguished persons in the dynasty. And of course, she was having difficulty trusting it.


    Chen Wang was somebody who rarely stays in the capital. Out of twelve months, he would only be around for two, or probably less. He preferred being in a warzone of swords and bows than that of words and schemes. Normally, for people like him who was not only young for his position, but also seemed allergic to court intrigues, intel should be something he would not be good at.


    So were his words credible, or not? Why did he say that the Emperor would soon target the Jiang n?


    Jin Yahui''s method of discerning the truth was quite simple yet unconventional. She spent most of the night and the early morning of the next day sending her few people gathering information about Chen Wang''s recent actions. As expected, there was not much known about him. Because of this, it took her a fairly long time to think about it.


    In the end, she chose to bet on the fact that he was not an imperial prince, and was not in any of the princes'' camp. There was also the fact that this person could track someone kidnapped and brought to somewhere faraway within two hours...


    The woman did not know the subject of her contemtion was quite a cheater due to his memories. All she knew was that she wanted to fish out the reason why the Emperor would purge her husband''s n.


    ''If Chen Wang''s words are true, then I must n mine and my son''s escape!'' The woman etched the words in her mind.


    For this reason, she sent her people to investigate the whole estate, in a covert manner. Thankfully, she was not like Jiang Li who had limited knowledge of the Jiang household. Her work was a lot more efficient since she was living in the same space and knew how and where to direct her manpower.


    She also had a way to themoner''s world and could ask for assistance from her father.


    "Investigate everyone, but put more people on checking who the Second Miss and Second Madam and their people meet this whole week and what they did.."


    "What shops they frequented for the past two months..."


    "Was the madam''s mood swings in the first week of learning she was pregnant normal?"


    "The Second Miss is acting like her usual self, and only talking about Rui Wang the whole day. But she''s somebody raised by Lady Wang to scheme all day. There must be something more to it!"


    "Oh? There''s a sudden transfer of people to the family''s vacation mansion in the neighboring province? And one of the guards suddenly disappeared?"


    One of her loyal maids who followed her here from her family home whispered, "Lady, actually one of the people in contact with us had a talk with this guard''s rtive who thought he''s already dead. This person also said he once heard the guard bragging about a handkerchief rewarded to him by Lady Wang."


    Jin Yahui wrinkled her brows. She might only be in her mid-twenties, but what stories and schemes had she not seen and dodged? She was suspecting the Second Madam had an affair and the child was created not with the Marshal but with someone else. It was no wonder Lady Wang wanted to get rid of the child and the adultery partner.


    The unfortunate part was that there was no definite proof yet, and finding one would be what would take some time. After all, even if Lady Wang was not that bright, her daughter was. If ever Second Young Miss left anything or anyone that could be used against them, it could only be because it was very hard to find and would take a long time to notice. Would that man be able to wait then? ording to her sources, Chen Wang would be leaving the capital in three days...


    "Mother, mother. Older brother Jiren gave me a colorful ball. He said this is from the far West. Would you please y with me?"


    Jin Yahui once again furrowed her brows, looking at her child who suddenly barged into her courtyard together with her nanny, a forced smile formed on her lips. She feared that Chen Wang''s words had some truth in them, which would mean a bad future for her innocent kid.


    She opened her arms and the boy obediently jumped hugged her. In a motherly tone, she said, "Since my handsome Lei''er wants to y with me, who am I to say no to my little angel? However, mother is not familiar with the game, may you first demonstrate to me how to y with it?"


    "Yes!"


    Looking at her innocentlyughing child, she steeled her resolve and promised herself to find evidence.


    What if there was really nothing on the day before the prince general''s departure? A second after, she thought to herself that it was such a stupid question.


    For her and her child''s survival, why would that matter? Any given time, she could just harden her heart and create one!


    ...


    On Jiang Li''sst day of stay in the capital, a piece of good news finally came from the Ministry. He didn''t know what the mole he contacted inside the Jiang residence did, but it was now revealed that Jiang Yung Yue actually had no involvement in the Second Madam''s miscarriage. The issue was resolved so easily. When people think about it, things actually make sense now. How would a girl wallowing in suicidal thoughts and depression from having her engagement dissolved find time to mind somebody else''s business?


    The Marshal family''s messy backyard affair got aired to the whole world. It was said that the one who really poisoned the Second Madam was another concubine. The alleged reason was not only jealousy but insecurity, thinking if the newborn turns out to be male, her son would have a lesser chance to be appointed as heir.


    ''In the end, that mother and daughter pair found a scapegoat.'' He looked through the report sent by one of the messengers and noticed one amusing fact. ''And the poor concubine selected is antagonistic to Jin Yahui.''


    ''So this is how she wants to help me clear Jiang Ying Yue''s name? Since the other two mysteriously didn''t leave a clue, plus, she knew she couldn''t topple them, she created a piece of evidence framing someone else?''


    Heughed, nodding in both surprise and awe. "Quite witty. Knowing her bounds and acting cautious yet efficient."


    He realized Jin Yahui must have believed him and wanted to get his help in the future. But she was no fool. Since she realized he only desired for the Jiang first miss'' reputation to be restored, she thought of a way that would fulfill his condition and, at the same time, allow her to co-exist with Lady Wang''s faction.


    "Why is this person not a man so I can officially recruit him?" Amused, he thoughtlessly blurted out.


    "Chen Wang. We can''t forget that woman is still officially one of the Marshal''s lesser wives."


    He nced at Mao Hong with one of his brows up. "The way you phrased it is quite strange. Mao Hong, I only appreciate her intelligence. But that''s it. If one is feeling an urgency in her hearts, exerting one''s capabilities would be easier. This person must have onlye up with that nice n from being cornered. After this, her usefulness will be limited."


    The assistant lowered his head and sheepishly scratched his neck. "Your Highness is always right. It''s your subordinate''s mind that derailed. In any case, it''s reassuring that even though, the Marshal''s family did not revoke the disownment, at least, Miss Jiang has been proven innocent."


    "En."


    Mao Hong frowned and puzzlingly asked, "Still, howe our suspects are different from the one the Ministry of Justice found? Did our spies investigate wrongly?"


    "We have the correct data. But even the heavens can be blind sometimes, let alone mere humans."


    "That''s so unfair!"


    While the man standing in front of his desk showed an indignant expression, Jiang Li shrugged, but inwardly he was musing,<em>''Maybe this happened so that once Jiang Ying Yue bes strong, she could get justice for herself using her own hands?''</em>


    <em>''This means she has to grow as soon as possible though. She only has a year...</em>


    He thought to himself, once they return, that should be when the world''s leads would start to get entangled with court politics and war for the throne. The empire would enter its turbulent time. And the viiness would bepelled to take advantage of that to create disasters and matchmake Hai Wang and Sheng Lingxin.


    By then, innocence and neutrality would be nothing but defective amulets. Even his own Lu Household would not be totally safe. But the Jiangs? At least, he was sure the Emperor and the viiness would deal with them.

 Chapter 118: Jiang Ying Yue (25)

    Chapter 118: Jiang Ying Yue (25)


    When the two had their talk about the news from the Ministry, both of them were in the study. Jiang Li was quite busy since he had to ready everything for departure tomorrow.


    Jiang Li had already arranged some people to run the Chen Wang estate while he was away. He didn''t n to leave it in his mother''s hands. While the woman was warm-hearted and truly always thinking of his future, she was not suitable to run a residence, especially not arge one like theirs.


    In the Original''s memories, the one truly in-charge of household affairs was his grandmother. Unfortunately, she already passed away five years ago. The registry and wealth of the whole Lu n were then transferred to his mother.


    However, while Lady Lu was notpletely ipetent, she had a bad hobby of giving positions to those she was close to, and this was without checking if they were capable or not. He didn''t want the previous incident to happen again. Since his mother selecting useless people for important roles was the root cause, why would he let her be the sole authority of the estate?


    The other things he settled were the stores and businesses belonging to the Lu n. This was his real forte so even though it took him a whole day and a half, when the general manager in charge of coordinating with all the other store and property managers witnessed his speed of checking and tallying the records, his mouth fell open. Then when he heard that Jiang Li even prepared new innovative business strategies to quadruple their profit in three months'' time, his eyes went so wide, he beganparing Chen Wang to the renowned business genius of the empire, the first miss of the Sheng n.


    "Your Highness, are you going to visit His Majesty before officially leaving for the south?" asked Xun He when he went out of his room.


    Jiang Li flexed his neck to the side, his hands massaged his aching upper back. "Did I receive an invitation from the pce?"


    "No."


    "Oh. Then I won''t be going. Anyway, His Majesty is aware I will be leaving tomorrow."


    Looking at his boss who now had dark circles under his eyes, Mao Hong thought for a moment then said, "Your Highness, I can see that you''ve grown tired for working nonstop these past days. Why don''t you go out for some time for rxation? I heard that Miss Sheng is holding antern event where people could lightnterns holding candles inside them and release them to float in the river. Your Highness should see it. I think the sight this evening by the riverbank would be very spectacr!"


    "Antern event, huh?" Jiang Li''s face was sour initially, remembering that it would be where the heroine would try to raise favorability with him. However, since it was true the scene should be quite breathtaking, it would be a pity to not watch it. This was why after thinking about it more thoroughly, he decided to say yes to Mao Hong''s suggestion.


    ...


    "Wear it to hide your face once you be ufortable showing your appearance around." After tossing a veil to Jiang Ying Yue, he motioned her to get inside his pnquin.


    "Where are we going, Your Highness?" asked the girl who fumbled with the item and almost didn''t manage to catch it. Urged by her maids, she followed Chen Wang inside a sophisticatedly designed litter, suppressing the nervousness she was feeling for being in the same space with the man again.


    Jiang Li simply answered, "Riverbank."


    The girl repeatedly corrected her sitting posture on her seat. From the moment she stepped into the spacious pnquin, she did her best not to look at his direction, especially his face. Her hands too were busy fixing the veil in ce.


    "Your Highness. May I know what we are going to do there?" After a while, she asked with her head lowered hand and hands ced down on herp. She looked so meek and delicate. The girl, though, had barely rested after getting back from the witch''s home. She was not tired, like usual, but her face was a bit ash-white, blood not coursing properly in her face yet.


    On the other hand, Jiang Li was quite exhausted, so after telling her, ''You''ll know in a bit'', elbows against his thighs, he supported his chin with one hand and closed his eyes. This would be his first rest after working for more than thirty-six hours.


    Jiang Ying Yue at first didn''t know that he was already taking a nap, her fault since she was stubbornly keeping her eyes away from his direction for almost half an hour. Only when she realized he was too quiet and barely moving did she sneak a peek at him.


    Not long after and her eyes widened. Chen Wang just went to sleep like that?


    ''... How dare this prince sleep just like this in the presence of someone he doesn''t really know? Or is he just confident I won''t poison him or attack him?'' Sheined in her heart. However, deep inside her she rxed and was no longer feeling nervous. In fact, without her realizing, she started to watch the man sleep and would giggle every time his face slips from his palm.


    More or less an hour since the ride, Jiang Li woke up. They finally arrived. And the moment they stepped down the pnquin, they immediately saw a very moving scene.


    A starry night sky, ribbons, and papernterns floating up or swaying in the air, some emitting soft orange-yellow candlelight flickering on the tranquil water surface... The many people scattered in the riverbank and the arched bridge. Theughter and smiles on their faces became the finishing touch of this moving picture.


    "Wow..." Jiang Ying Yue couldn''t help but exim as she watched the red box-shaped papernterns floating down the flowing water, the breath-taking glow they give off was reflected by her eyes not hidden by the thin gauze veil.


    Next to her, Jiang Li had also briefly shown a moved expression. Despite this though, his hands never stopped fixing his attire and the bamboo-weaved hat on his head. He pulled down his hat so his face wouldn''t show much.


    The two of them walked the rows of stalls at both sides of the bridge for a while and checked the items being sold there. Most werenterns, of course, some souvenirs or hair decorations, the other food stalls selling piping hot snacks.


    "How much for a dozen?" Jiang Li bent down and asked a child aged eleven or twelve sellingnterns. The boy shyly said the price and Jiang Li readily had Mao Hong pay him.


    "You light them all up for me." He suddenly said to the girl.


    Jiang Ying Yue was surprised for a while, but then after she nced back to the people having fun by the riverside, excitement emerged from her eyes. She also wanted to be by the riverside. She couldn''t wait to join them!


    Nodding repeatedly, the girl cheerfully answered, "Leave it to me, Your Highness."


    His eyes followed her figure as she walked towards the river. A kindmonerdy helped her light hernterns while she released them one by one. Joy was in her face as she looked at those she belonging to her race with the other ones released by those next to her. Sheughed like a child. In her heart, a foolish desire quietly have blossomed. A desire for that beautiful night to never end.


    "Want more?" After she set free thestntern, the prince''s amused voice rang behind her. Jiang Ying Yue turned her head his way and happily nodded.


    The man chuckled before ordering his faithful guard to buy morenterns, and some snacks while at it. Afterward, he returned his attention to the girl.


    While he stood next to her, Jiang Ying Yue remained sitting next to the water hugging her knees, watching how far the spark she caused would go. There was a fascination in her face. A part of her was wishing for her to be like that fire. She wanted to be as dazzling and memorable as it was. Even if it meant a shorter lifespan, she desired tohave a wonderful purpose in existing and live a beautiful life.

 Chapter 119: Jiang Ying Yue (26)

    Chapter 119: Jiang Ying Yue (26)


    "Greetings, Your Highness." Suddenly, a gentle and mellow voice came from behind. It was from a girl. Jiang Ying Yue turned around and through her see-through veil, saw a woman of unmatchable beauty and gracefulness elegantly walking towards the man standing next to her.


    ''Isn''t she the prime minister''s daughter?''


    ''Why is someone like her in a bustling crowd like this, unprotected?''


    After that sh of recognition, she carefully studied the woman''s face and saw that her way of looking at Chen Wang was different. Even though Sheng Lingxin was trying her best to hide it, Jiang Ying Yue recognized that it was like herself towards Rui Wang before a week ago.


    Curiously, she stared at Jiang Li to gauge his expression and noticed that the man didn''t seem pleased by the prime minister''s daughter''s presence.


    Jiang Li nodded at the woman. After that... There''s no more after that.


    He ordered Jiang Ying Yue to stand up and follow him. Thetter did not protest. However, there was reluctance in her eyes when she gave the floating glow ast look, part of the reason was that she knew after this, once they changed spots, it would be hard for her to locate her ownnterns amidst the thousands in the river.


    "Wait, Your Highness." The beautiful female lead walked fast to tail the two of them, acting like she didn''t see the dainty veiled woman walking closely behind the man.


    No change urred in his expression. But deep inside him, he was swearing to heavens, if the woman remains after them, he''d brought her to a secluded area and give her soon-to-be kidnappers a better spot for their operation.


    Right. This Sheng Lingxin, together with her maid, should only be following him for safety, because in the original timeline, in thisntern festival event, the female lead was ordered to be kidnapped by someone who liked Hai Wang. However, because she was next to Chen Wang the whole time, she remained safe and had even managed to stage a love drama with the male lead who confronted her for being together with Chen Wang.


    ''I''m in no mood to deal with this female lead today,'' he thought, his strides turning longer after grabbing Jiang Ying Yue''s hand and pulling her into the sea of people.


    "Your Highness, please wait. This one would only want to know how Your Highness guessed my nst time at the dragon boat race. Your Highness. Your Highness!" Sheng Lingxin was madly shouting in the ce but this time her voice got drowned by the crowd. She panicked when she found out she could no longer see that man''s back.


    Why did he ignore her again? He was the one she liked and she was doing her best to y by the game''s cut scenes so she could get together with him. But why was everything not working in her favor? Instead of getting peaceful days waiting for his appearance, a damn schemer tied her to him and made her his fiancee.


    Sheng Lingxin wondered if that was the reason why Chen Wang was being aloof to her.


    ''Should I break our engagement?'' The thought crossed her mind. Despair, shame, and anger clouding her reason after confirming that her dream lover was nowhere in sight anymore.


    She stood there in the middle of the crowd with a lost expression on her pretty face before her lips started trembling from mixed emotions. Her maid caught up with her and begged not to do that again. The maid meant chasing after any other man, reminding her that Chen Wang was really aloof, cold, and observant of rules.


    "So it''s really because I''m already engaged..." she murmured when she confirmed the man was nowhere in sight.


    The maid next to her gave her aplicated stare. Hesitation flickered in her eyes before she said, "Miss, this servant thinks you should stop having thoughts about His Highness. It''s been rumored he is badly enamored with the first miss of the Grand Marshal''s household. For her, His Highness even forced the Ministry of Justice to open the case again since he believed she was not capable of doing what she had been used."


    Hearing her maid''s warning, Sheng Lingxin finally remembered that there was someone by His Highness Chen Wang''s side, a veiled woman giving off a dainty and fairy-like vibe. Was that Jiang Ying Yue? The protagonist of the game?


    Her face crumpled. Lately, she had been hearing a lot of stuff about that woman but one thing she never believed was that Jiang Ying Yue and Chen Wang were together. How could that happen? The first time those two saw each other was at that disastrous banquet which happened not more than a week ago.


    "Chen Wang must be just pitying Miss Jiang. There should be no way people could fall in love at first sight, right?" she asked her attendant, her expression hoping for an affirmation.


    Looking ufortable with the crowd around them, the maid leaned to Sheng Lingxin''s ears so she would not have to speak loudly and worry being heard by other people. "Miss, I think Chen Wang has indeed fallen for Miss Jiang. After all, it is rumored that he not only immediately came to her rescue when bad people tried to kidnap her, he also bought the house next to his residence and gave it to her. The servants and guards are also bestowed by him. He''s so romantic and seems to be so in love with her. So manydies in the capital are in awe."


    Coldness enveloped her heart after what her personal attendant said. She sharply red at her. The maid who was feeling a bit dreamy about Chen Wang''s love story froze and shut up. As for Sheng Lingxin, she started walking around again, and then got annoyed when she bumped into her fiance.


    Without a choice, she roamed the lively and boisterous ce together with Hai Wang. There was a barely concealed frown on her face. Her heart felt heavy from the failed encounter with the general. Hai Wang following her also made her feel frustrated.


    Three minutester, she caught sight of Jiang Ying Yue and Chen Wang joining the crowd by the opposite bank. She suddenly stopped walking, almost turning into a statue in the middle of the bridge.


    ''Why... Just why is he looking so gently at her? Is it because she''s the protagonist?''She started gnashing her teeth in indignation. ''But I have already stolen most of her cheats and lucky encounters. Moreover, I already have be more distinguished than her. I''m celebrated as a business genius in the whole empire. Why is he still looking at her? Why?''


    ''I don''t believe this...!'' The female lead was too preupied with her thoughts and the pain her chest to notice that Hai Wang was quietly looking at her with frost in his eyes.


    Sheng Lingxin was grabbing her skirt too tightly and the gaze she was giving the marshal''s abandoned daughter had turned into a malicious re.


    Without doing much, Jiang Li had caused the female lead to cken. He had no clue because he was by the viiness'' side passing the newly boughtnterns on to her while scolding Mao Hong for being slow. The girl next to her had a wide smile on her lips, already looking more than contented to have more stuff to light up and send down the brightly-lit river.

 Chapter 120: Jiang Ying Yue (27)

    Chapter 120: Jiang Ying Yue (27)


    When the next morning came, the news about Hai Wang deflecting the kidnappers for Sheng Lingxin touched so many people and became the number one talk in the city. It eclipsed even the departure of the famed general Chen Wang.


    Nheless, when Jiang Li and his people officially set out for the southern border, not few sent them off. Actually, both sides of the streets where they passed were full of people giving them well-wishes and praying for their safe return next time. Quite a lot were singledies weeping for the only prince who was actively involved in the army, repelling invasions from the other countries, and ensuring peace for one of their borders.


    "His Highness is really loved..." Jiang Ying Yue murmured as she looked out from her pnquin''s window and into the distant city walls. She could see that there were a lot of people, mostlymoners, waving their handkerchiefs or raising their arms and shouting Chen Wang''s name or title.


    "Of course, This Prince is." A man''s voice drifted to her ears from the opposite seat.


    Jiang Ying Yue''s eyes went to him. This person was high up his horse just a couple of minutes ago, but then suddenly, he appeared in her pnquin, saying he had to sleep so he needed to be inside.


    Jiang Ying Yue did not protest. After all, her head maid was with her so the man shouldn''t attempt anything funny. She was also only someone receiving his good graces. But she must admit she almost blurted out, there was another pnquin in their procession. However, she realized it would be weirder if she made him to the old witch''s, not to mention, that another pnquin was quite shabby.


    A matter crossed her mind, so she spoke up. "Your Highness, could you tell me the real situation in the border?"


    Thest time, they met, the man hadn''t said anything about their destination. She heard some nasty things about it, like it was a hard ce to live at and there were many bandits or unscrupulous people. But in her opinion, hearing from somebody who had been there would be much credible. Unfortunately, the other meeting they had was mostly her pouring her heart out and letting her grievances air in the world. Now that she thought about it, it was making her feel embarrassed.


    Jiang Li seemed to have predicted beforehand that she would ask something like this so he pulled out a few pieces of paper and passed them on to her. "You can read this. It''s quite detailed and from my own officer''s experience."


    The girl gave him an odd stare since she could see that the quality of the paper was very good, and the ink was not faded. ''Written just recently?''


    Jiang Li ignored her and went back to sleep. After all, rest was what hecked the most in the past week. Jiang Ying Yue and Xiao Lu were sensible people so they didn''t make any noise anymore to not disturb the man who just drifted off to dreand while remaining seated.


    After reading the ounts, she sunk into a long silence, eyes drawn to the beautiful sky that could be seen from the window.


    For the first time in her seventeen years of existence, she would be leaving the capital. She would be away from the Jiang Household. The funniest thing was that she was now with somebody she barely knew for a week. Yet her heart was calm. She was at ease in his presence because she could feel he wouldn''t harm her. Apart from this, he had already done so much for her, more than her father whom she had known for as long as she could remember.


    Thinking of her father''s unfeeling eyes when she got thrown out of the Jiangs, she suddenly remembered what she overheard from some of the Lu family servants in her residence.


    ''I will grow stronger and more powerful! So that I can make them pay for all of the things I, and my mother suffered!'' she vowed in her heart, a cold glint shed across her eyes when she gazed at the direction of the Jiang Household and the Imperial Pce.


    ...


    It was before the night descended that somebody from the pce caught up with their group. By this time, all of them were already in the next city, getting a ce to rest.


    Within a room on the highest floor of Nanshu City''s biggest hotel, the messenger respectfully handed to Jiang Li a letter stamped with the emperor''s seal. Only the two of them were in the ce, his two subordinates were downstairs busy talking with the captains and the logistic officers.


    Jiang Li epted the scroll. Before unfolding it and allowing the masked man to retreat, he asked with a creased forehead, "Did His Majesty give you any other instructions for me? Why did he suddenly send something like this?"


    "My apologies, Your Highness. This servant doesn''t know."


    Before the other bowed and excused himself, he first shook his head and looked at him awkwardly. This made the general open the scroll curiously. To his surprise, it was about his requested decree before. The Emperor did not forget about it. It was just that it came a dayter, when the whole army headed by him already left the capital.


    ''Chen Wang, Zhen has judged the Marshal''s former first miss is still not worthy of you.'' These were the words the Emperor wrote to him.


    When Mao Hong came in to report, Jiang Li was burning the letter. Looking at his attendant''s puzzled expression, heughed and said,"The current Emperor did not grant me the decree. It seems in his whole regime, he wouldn''t consent for it."


    Mao Hong took his sweet time guessing his boss'' meaning. Then when he fully understood it, he replied stiffly in a low voice. "Your Highness, if it''s about getting permission to marry Miss Jiang, it''s understandable that His Majesty will not allow it. The son of heaven will not risk the possibility of his two highest military officers banding together under one imperial prince rallying their armies against him."


    Jiang Li indifferently nodded. "I know."


    No matter what era or world, Emperors never trusted their generals enough. They had no problem loving them in times of war, but in peaceful years, they would hate them. Even in novels, families of generals were always in the purge list of every Emperor, especially if that they held so much military strength and had the ability and manpower to stage a coup.


    The piece of paper had already turned into ashes, carriedby the windoutside the window. The me earlier which was nowpletely extinguished reminded him of the Lu family''s ending, particrly of Lu Ling, who shone the brightest in the battlefield yet disappeared from history and records a year or soter.


    That man''s spirit agreed to lend his body to the system. And only in exchange for preserving his family line.


    Why the heck was there people like him who remained loyal to their ruler even if that ruler basically sent their ns to death? Jiang Li was the one feeling indignant therefore he decided to not go against the plot much this time and only focus on securing Jiang Ying Yue.


    Without ncing at the other man, he asked. "How''s the stuff that I had you deliver to Hai Wang?"


    "We did not disappoint Your Highness," answered Mao Hong who showed him the messages he exchanged with their people.


    "Good."While nodding in praise, he returned the scrolls to the other man.


    Mao Hong then voiced out the question guing his mind since yesterday. He did not understand Chen Wang''s intention, thus, he prudently asked if the Lu Household would truly throw their lots to the unfavored second prince, and if so, then why. Jiang Li did not answer him directly, but reassure him that they would be betting on the correct person. It was the truth anyway.


    While he disliked the current Emperor and would want to annoy him by ensuring his most hated son seed as the next ruler, there was also the fact that even if Hai Wang doesn''t want to, the plot would force him to ascend the throne and make the female lead his Empress.


    Since he knew this, plus the person was quite likable and extremely smart, why would he be against it?


    ''The next major part of the plot will only take ce a yearter, once the viiness returns...''


    ''By then, Sheng Lingxin should be truly together with Hai Wang. And Jiang Ying Yue should have learned what she should and learned how to navigate in the messy war of princes.''


    Freed of his worries about the leads and the plot for the meantime, he enjoyed tea time that night with Jiang Ying Yue, casually chatting with her about the ce they would stay for a whole year...

 Chapter 121: Jiang Ying Yue (28)

    Chapter 121: Jiang Ying Yue (28)


    Eleven and a half monthster...


    It was a bright morning of early spring. The weather couldn''t be anymore nicer with its clear blue sky and fine cool breeze. The sun was only less than forty-five degrees to the east and so the rays hitting the bare skin of those in the streets or the fields were not that painful yet.


    On such a nice day that many people, no matter the age or status in the city, would be in the mood to gossip or talk about random things. Therge city never ran out of stories and rumors which add colors to many bored or stressed out people''s lives.


    These days, few of the topics that seemed to always escape out of people''s lips were those about the princes and other notable aristocratic people in the empire.


    Hai Wang''s rtionship with the first miss of the Sheng was going strong... Rui Wang had chosen to take Jiang Rou Li as his Wang Fei... The First Prince Duan Wang had built a branch academy in one of the eastern provinces.... Chen Wang was finally returning from the Southern battlefield after a huge victory against the Wu army of the neighboring country...


    Had it been like usual, a lot more would be discussing the exploits of the second prince Hai Wang. After all, this low-key prince, for the past year, had be much active and brought the empire quite a few wonderful inventions and surprises.


    However, since Chen Wang was going back after a huge exploit, the household talk temporarily became him.


    "Hey, have you heard of thetest news! Chen Wang is returning to the capital!"


    "Haha. Old guy, you''rete to the news. We, of course, knew. Who hasn''t heard about the general bringing huge merit to the crown when he cut down the enemy''s whole army at the Fu Chang Valley?"


    "I see. But do you all know how he did it? There''s a hearsay those stupid guys from the Wu Kingdom has tried some sort of tactic against our army, but our brilliant general fended it off."


    "Oh, well. The battle two weeks ago. My nephew, a brave middling merchant, had juste back from one of the nearest city to the Southern border. He said the seventy thousand Wu army had somehow managed to trap fifty-five thousand of our men there and they were lost in the fog and couldn''t get out. Only Chen Wang and a few thousands of his elite men managed to escape, but many others are still there trapped."


    This talk flew about in one of the decent restaurants on the outskirts of the city. At one of the tables near the exit, there sat four middle-aged men who seemed to be artisans or farmers and a young man in his twenties who seemed to be the son of one of those four.


    This young man turned to the one who spoke about his nephew''s tale, and asked, "Uncle Bo, it sounds horrible to me. Chen Wang left his army in the fog? Then doesn''t it mean they are left by theirmander at their enemy army''s mercy?"


    Looking at his friend''s son, the one called Uncle Boughed boisterously, "Kid, you''re quite impatient. Let me continue my story then. Actually, the reason Chen Wang was confident those remaining tens of thousands would not be harmed even if he left them for a while is that he knew the ce and had thought of a brilliant n to defeat the foe. He and his men a thousand captured thousands upon thousands of monkeys in the jungle and clothed them partly with our army''sbat attire. Then he had them charged into the enemy camp! And while this is happening, his people destroyed whatever formation is locking the ce into a sea of fog and freed the remaining fifty thousand!"


    The others eximed and gasped while the eyes of the young man twinkled in amazement. "I see. He''s a greatmander indeed! The surprise attack from the <em>''fake''</em> soldiers should have at least helped to dwindle down the opposing army''s number. Then with the freed soldiers joining Chen Wang, the battle should not be hard. After all, our soldiers are famous for being able to match up against three times the number of those from the other countries!"


    This merry discussion was happening not only in that one part of the city. Everywhere one would see gossipers congregating, this event was surely one of the most talked-about.


    In the same restaurant though, the subject of the tale was actually long eavesdropping to the group of men. There was a veiled girl in greyish ck clothing sitting across him at the same table. Her eyes blinked once when the one called Uncle Bo narrated about the monkey strategy. When she returned her gaze back to the hat-wearing man seated before her, admiration was in her eyes, and she didn''t even hide it from him.


    "Your Hi---" Meeting his stern look, she paused then sheepishly smiled. "I mean, Respected Sir, you''re the hottest talk in the city right now. If my guess is correct, even those from the upper ranks, especially the beautiful unmarrieddies, should be happily sharing your tales with each other. Are you feeling proud and aplished in your heart?"


    The one who just spoke had a soft voice which made herughter sound so pleasant to the ears. More or less a year ago, this girl left the capital from the heartbreaks and betrayals she experienced, going with the man in front of her to a perilous ce to toughen herself and her heart. Now, she was back to her birthce with the same man. Many changes urred to her, and one of the positives should be her getting familiar andfortable in his presence. She even dared to tease him now.


    He raised his head and threw her a nce. With a corner of his mouth slightly tugged upwards, he asked, "Such a small aplishment, what''s there to be proud of?"


    She giggled and replied, "Oh. My apologies for forgetting that Respected Sir has been excellent since young and a target of admiration from both old and young. You are used to this kind of thing and will not be fazed even if the Emperor rained gifts at your door."


    "There is something you can forget?" The manughed, his eyes that were dancing in amusement locked onto her eyes that still appeared clear as day to him despite the veil that was trying to blur his vision.


    She had been watching him eat for a while, marveling at his every action that appeared good-looking no matter what he does. Hearing his question, she once again smiled. Rows of white teeth in between rose-colored lips graced his sight and made him sigh that the woman in front of him was very beautiful.


    Sadly, he saw something odd in her eyes. Gone was the yfulness and excitement on them when she teased him about themon topic of those around them. It was reced by a glint that could send shivers to any weak-hearted person''s spine. At that time, the news about Rui Wang''s marriage to the ''eldest'' daughter of the Jiangs floated into their ears.


    "Right, Respected Sir.... There is truly nothing I can forget... Especially now that I am back." Lowering her head to hide the darkness pooling in her eyes, the girl chortled and answered meaningfully.<ol><li>Princess Consort</li></ol>

 Chapter 122: Jiang Ying Yue (29)

    Chapter 122: Jiang Ying Yue (29)


    The past year had been very eventful for everyone, especially for the sons of the Emperor. The princes were busy pooling resources together and poaching talents and ministers for themselves. While at it, they also didn''t forget to check on their contenders'' factions. All sorts of framing happened. There was never a day that no faction was pulling some strings to enrich themselves or make things difficult for the others. It seemed thosepeting for the throne was at the point that they would do just everything to prop themselves upon the throne.


    Amidst this situation, apart from always favored Rui Wang, the one who somehow managed to shine the brightest was Hai Wang. It was because besides being betrothed to the renownedmerce genius First Miss Sheng, he himself also had brought forward innovative ideas to contribute to the empire.An example was the amendments to the current tax system and provincial governance policies.Even though the Emperor disliked him, the old man couldn''t help but approve his ideas.


    In reality, most of the proposals Hai Wang put forward were inspired by the intelligence and reports given to him by one of those guys supposed to be leading the neutral faction, Chen Wang.


    The first time the male lead received the items from that person, he was quite skeptical and doubtful. It was hard not to remember how sticky his fiancee''s stares at the general were. However, he was rational and knew he had to check if the stuff was worth anything before using or discarding them. When he saw the contents of the scrolls and the reports, his eyes widened in surprise since everything recorded on them was very ssified and useful.


    Hai Wang did not have to think twice beforeing into a decision. He must have the general in his faction! With this in mind, he frequently sent covert support to Chen Wang''s people within the capital and looked out for the Chen Wang Estate.


    There was an issue with his fiancee seemingly being infatuated with the other man, but after remembering Chen Wang was head over heels for the disowned daughter of the Marshal, he chose to drop the matter. Actually, he had already weighed in his mind who to choose if ever Sheng Lingxin did something detrimental and bad for his reputation in the future.


    He was quite fond of the girl, that was why he asked for her hand in marriage. However, in terms of importance, she was just a woman and was still lesser in valuepared to Chen Wang. Once the timees and he had to choose, the throne was more important than someone who had yet to reciprocate his love.


    "Your Highness, our people have spotted Chen Wang''s army near the Eastern Gate. It''s estimated they will enter the city within an hour," reported to him by his right-hand man, Fu Jiu, a son of a Marquis who was also his supporter.


    Chen Heng nodded. "Did Lu Ling agree to meet This Prince today?" He asked for a letter to be sent to that person since he wanted to have a private talk with him. While he knew Lu Ling already expressed his stance and wanted to throw support at him, he was still someone who wanted to make things sure and also, if possible, to gauge why he was chosen out of all the princes.


    Hai Wang was puzzled because he was confident that before that confidential information was given to him, he showed no sign of wanting the throne. How did Chen Wang realize his hidden ambition? Or was the man just taking him for an easily led fool who would surely try to stand out once those materials, for ckmailing of ministers and showing off in front of the Emperor, were in hands?


    "The general said he will be waiting for you at a restaurant on the outskirts before noon tomorrow."


    The prince went silent, then hemented. "For someone of his status, it is such a shabby-sounding arrangement, but I see."


    After thinking about it for a few moments, Chen Heng decided to not speak about it anymore. He thought the meeting set up was okay since the ce sounded somewhere princes like them would not visit. The fewer people to know about their rendezvous, the better.


    "Your Highness, it seems for today, His Majesty will meet with him that''s why he dyed the meeting with you on the following day." Fu Jiu exined.


    The prince simply nodded. The two of them were in his ptial residence, walking down the pathway leading to the building holding his archives.


    The man next to him had his hands behind him. Something seemed to have crossed his mind so he asked Chen Heng, "By the way, forgive this one''s curiosity. It''s just that a year already passed since you proposed to the prime minister''s daughter. When are you going to marry her? Didn''t the Emperor announce that only a married prince is eligible to be his heir?"


    The male lead was looking down at the patterns on the path when he answered, "No hurry, Fu Jiu. I n to respect her and wait for her. While it''s true my side could just force the wedding, I still want her and her family to take the initiative and pick our auspicious date."


    "Your Highness, it seems you are really very fond of Miss Sheng. You haven''t even epted a concubine while waiting for her to be officially your Wang Fei. This humble official is very amazed. Such dedication towards a woman is very admirable."


    Hai Wangughed and shook his head. However, there was no ripple in his eyes which made it quite hard to associate him to the type of person his trusted man described.


    In a calm tone, he replied, "This Prince is no more than somebody trying to practice faithfulness and impress my imperial father while at it. If there''s a man who we should admire, it is Lu Ling."


    "Chen Wang?"

 Chapter 123: Jiang Ying Yue (30)

    Chapter 123: Jiang Ying Yue (30)


    "Yeah. Chen Wang, Lu Ling. It''s unimaginable for his kind to go to such great lengths for a woman who has no title and backing and is still disowned by her family. Sometimes I want to know what he sees in her. A woman my dear third imperial brother treated that way, is loved so much by someone like him." Chen Heng shook his head again, lost in thoughts.


    "I believe it''s Miss Jiang''s good fortune. She might have saved a dynasty in her previous life to be able to catch the fancy of our aloof and mysterious general."


    To his right-hand man''s amusing answer, Chen Hengughed. "Maybe? Especially now that Lu Ling had such high aplishments. There''s a high chance my father the Emperor would give him a long vacation. They might take that opportunity to tie the knots. When the timees, This Prince is sure it will be quite an interesting event."


    Chen Wang was a celebrated hero of the empire. How many unmarrieddies of the capital would not be jealous of that woman to death?


    Fu Jiu chuckled then followed up. "Your Highness, if your words turn into reality, about Chen Wang staying longer this time, then it''s also a good thing for us. Nobody knows he''s our supporter. The longer he tarries in the capital, the longer we can count on him for some matters that only he can help us."


    The male lead nodded in agreement. After their brief talk, they entered the pavilion and then went into an in-depth discussion about the current circumstances.


    One thing which caused the prince to sport an expressionless face was the mention of the Emperor''s favoritism of Rui Wang. However,pared to his brothers, thanks to being the only prince unfavored since birth, he was actually a lot less affected. On the next minute, he was already joking around again with Fu Jiu about the eldest imperial prince''s hidden force in the east.


    An hourter, they parted with each other.


    Hai Wang visited Sheng Lingxin in the prime minister''s estate. The beautiful girl was like usual, witty and had a good smile. These days, he could feel that she was bing more open to him. However, he knew she did not love him yet.


    To be honest, he was sometimes annoyed with waiting for her. He was just reluctant to give her up due to her talent and background. There was also the fact that the prime minister was another neutral party that he would want to be on his side since the power in court that he held was just sorge.


    After the short walk with her, he went back to the pce since the Empress Dowager wanted to meet him. He encountered Rui Wang and his new princess consort along the way. He gave the woman a good look, thinking of the intelligence he received from one of his own people.


    One year ago, Jiang Ying Yue, the first miss of the Jiangs was framed. However, even though her name was already cleared, she was not restored as the first miss of the Jiangs. The reason was that the person before him was already dered Rui Wang''s new fiancee and was mentioned on the decree as someone titled the first miss.


    ''This person is that woman''s sister. But ording to reports, since she''s a very mysterious and scheming person, there''s a high chance it is her who actually caused Chen Wang''s beloved to be kicked out of the Marshal''s estate. If my hunch is correct, Rui Wang easily got another capable person again.''


    His face showed the standard courtesy even though the thoughts swirling in his head were different. "It''s nice to see you, younger imperial brother and sister-inw."


    "Greetings, Your Highness," politely curtsied by the woman. "It''s this Wang Fei''s pleasure to see you today."


    Rui Wang was as arrogant as ever. His mouth mechanically returned the greetings yet his face had nonchnce written on it even though he was facing an older brother of his.


    Used to the third prince''s attitude, Hai Wang did not say anything. He only nodded at them then bid farewell. The two newlyweds took the turn leading to the pce of the most favored consort while he took the opposite way to pay his respects to the Empress Dowager, the current emperor''s mother.


    The sky above was already red when he walked out of the Empress Dowager''s abode. However, instead ofgoing back to his own ptial residence, he sneaked into a deserted garden near the cold pce.


    When he got there, a man in red showed up leaning against a tree seated on the ground. The tree was the shortest and the most inconspicuous among those in that garden. The person seemed too careful about his tracks since out of all ces possible, he chose to hide in a concealed location within a ce surrounded by empty residences.


    ''As expected of this person.''


    With a cid look on his face, Hai Wang marched toward him with his hands behind him. As he watched out for the huge rocks on the uneven ground of this untended garden, he spoke, "In our current writing system, if interpreted backward, the words you wanted to be passed to me by your messenger means to meet up with you today at this ce."


    He watched as the cold man turned his head to him. Cold. Capable of freezing many, even those prideful offsprings of old aristocratic ns or those soldiers and martial artists baptized by many battles.


    Oddly, even when those eyes gazed at him, the male lead did not feel any oppression or difort. He even managed to sh a small smile and said in a joking manner, "I would have been terribly ashamed tomorrow if I missed the real message. Thankfully, my right-hand man passed it word for word, allowing me to discern the true meeting ce and time."


    The cold-faced man stood up. Ignoring the ming tone of the other, he said. "Greetings, Hai Wang."


    Chen Heng nodded andughed, "Yeah, greetings. And congrattions on your victory and safe return... Chen Wang."

 Chapter 124: Jiang Ying Yue (31)

    Chapter 124: Jiang Ying Yue (31)


    While the two princes were having a serious discussion at the abandoned garden near the cold pce, Jiang Ying Yue went back with her maid Xiao Lu to the residence and was greeted by her other maids.


    After returning the courtesy and catching up with the girls, she looked around. The whole house was maintained. In fact, it appeared even more beautiful and sophisticated due to the newly added decorations.


    She checked her bedroom and felt weird. The ce she only stayed for a week seemed too familiar, as if it was her real home and had been where she had been living all her life. The feeling blooming in her heart was strange, yet not. It was simply hard to describe.


    "Young Miss, we, sisters, made sure to clean and maintain the room. However if there''s anything you like us to change or modify, please don''t hesitate to tell us," respectfully said the female servant who seemed to have taken charge in Xiao Lu''s absence.


    Jiang Ying Yue smiled. "Everyone has done a great job. I have nothing toin about."


    The maid bowed and thanked her for her kind words. They were too courteous and nice. The girl shook her head, feeling mixed emotions about it.


    She knew, a week ofpanionship would surely not garner this treatment from these people. Xiao Lu was different because she had been with her for a year. However, for the other maids, she knew they were so warm towards her due to him.


    Chen Wang. A man who said his hobby was to do things without rhyme or reason. The man who never said any words of affection to her even once, yet kept giving her life morefortable and fulfilling than the one she had at the Grand Marshal''s estate.


    Jiang Ying Yue pursed her lips. The image of that man shed in her mind while she was musing about his recent actions.


    ''His Highness should be at the cold pce with Hai Wang...''


    For some time, the thought caused a strange, prickly feeling in her heart. This only vanished when she remembered that when Chen Wang talked with Mao Hong, he did not ask her to leave, but allowed her to hear what they were talking about that. It was obviously the man telling her indirectly where he would be if he was not with her.


    "Young Miss. Would you be retiring early for tonight? Would you like us to have the kitchen prepare the meal early?" asked Xiao Lu who was probably worried that Jiang Ying Yue was tired out by the journey.


    Jiang Ying Yue had just finished taking a bath. She was now wearing a grey set of clothing that seemed what onlymoners would wear. The rest of the girls who helped her change gave her a puzzled look.


    With a flower-like smile, she answered Xiao Lu, "No, I will probably walk around a little until dusk. Along the way, I can satiate myself with snacks from the shops. Good timing. I haven''t been here for quite a long while and I want to have a taste of the capital''s delicious treats."


    The maids surrounding her and admiring her beauty that went unconcealed by theckluster clothes noticed that in the whole year that they were not with her, she seemed to have be livelier, with speech containing more confidence than when she first came to the residence. However, appreciating was one matter, the content of what she said was another.


    With a worried expression donned, Xiao Yue, one of her outspoken maids reminded Jiang Ying Yue,"Young Miss, His Highness mighte. It''s also almostte afternoon. This servant thinks it''s not advisable to go out now."


    "His Highness won''t dine with me today. He is summoned to the pce and would have to apany His majesty and the other important ministers." Jiang Ying Yue answered as she checked herself out in the bronze mirror. A fake mustache was attached below her nose and her long hair that was tied into a bun concealed under a bamboo-woven hat.


    "Only Xiao Lu wille with me. The rest will stay here and look out for the house." With finality in her voice, she dered. Afterward, she dragged her principal maid outside the residence.


    They did not even board a carriage and just directly plunged into the bustling street. Xiao Lu had to hold her hand with one of hers while dragging her skirt using the other. Otherwise, she would lose her young miss in the crowd.


    "S-slow down, Miss. W-where, are we going?" While huffing for breath, the weary and confused maid asked.


    Jiang Ying Yue looked back once, a smile gracing her lips. "It won''t be far. I promise. By the way, I just need some boost of confidence that my memory is correct. It''s currently the fifteenth of the month, right?"


    "Yes, Young Miss."


    The curve formed by her lips turned wider, making the viiness appear more beautiful regardless of her attire and disguise.


    After walking for five or so minutes, they temporarily stopped in front of a store selling hair decorations. Xiao Lu found her miss looking inside. When her eyes went to that direction, she saw the most favored prince of the Empire apanying his wife in choosing some new essories. An exquisite jade hairpin was in that woman''s hand as she turned around to Rui Wang.


    ''The Young Miss is only looking cidly at them. It should not be a bad sign, right?''


    As it turned out, Xiao Lu''s worry was unfounded since Jiang Ying Yue did not show any more strange reaction. The disguised girl pulled her maid away from there, looking as cheerful as they first left the house.


    Not long after, Jiang Ying Yue could be seen checking out the product of a rtively known incense store. She and her maid were initially the only people inside the ce when two minutester, somebody joined them.


    Dressed in quality clothing, and with a smug look on his face, the scrawny middle-aged with sunken face entered the store and immediately went to the counter to demand all their high-grade incense.


    Jiang Ying Yue kept her head bowed and pretended she was busy inspecting a shelf of incense burner to the side. On the other hand, the old shopkeeper was grinning from ear to ear when he took out boxes after boxes of high-grade incense. He was very pleased in his heart since the middle-aged guy was a wealthy regr customer.


    Jiang Ying Yue, who still looked like a poormoner young man appeared at the counter a meter away to the seemingly wealthy customer. With curiosity written on her face, she looked at each box and even reached out to touch one of the most fragrant sticks. Unfortunately, her hand was pped away by the shopkeeper. Intimidated by the re she received, she moved away, grumbling.


    "Sir, please check our products and if you are satisfied with them, I''ll personally pack them all for you," said the old man with a gratifying look put on. Gone was the impatience he showed Jiang Ying Yue.


    The otherughed. "No need for courtesy, Old Wang. You know our Madam likes your store''s product."

 Chapter 125: Jiang Ying Yue (32)

    Chapter 125: Jiang Ying Yue (32)


    When the middle-aged man came out of the shop, Jiang Ying Yue and her maid were already outside. The former was pretending she was checking out the various goodsid out on a cart by a peddler. However, her lips were actually curled into a grin. She secretly watched as that person board a carriage which then went the way to the Grand Marshal Estate.


    "Young Miss, do you know that person from earlier? That arrogant-looking uncle?" The maid asked a few seconds after. Jiang Ying Yue put down the colorful rattan ball and then stood up.


    Laughingly, she looked at Xiao Lu and replied, "En. He is surnamed Song, one of the housekeepers and closest confidants of the Marshal."


    The young maid gasped, shocked by what she said. After throwing a look at the back of the middle-aged man, she asked, "He didn''t recognize you, did he?"


    Worry was in her tone. The maid was aware of how the whole Jiang Household treated Jiang Ying Yue. She reckoned even the sight of them could trigger bad memories. So she was anxious for her sake and hoping they wouldn''t bother her ever again.


    "No." Jiang Ying Yue shook her head then pointed, not at her hat and mustache, but her clothes. Her voice was calm when she exined. "I''m certain he won''t recognize me. Housekeeper Song has quite a temper. The temper of someone whose eyes only turn mellow to those above him in status or wealth."


    Xiao Lu thought for a moment then nodded understandingly. But the realization caused indignance to creep up in her heart. Her miss was telling her that man didn''t even look at her due to her current attire.


    This made her realize those people of the Marshal''s Residence were really no good, all bad and rotten! Why? Even a normal housekeeper could actually be this arrogant, and she didn''t get where this arrogance wasing. Was being an important person''s close confidant that amazing? In the end, wasn''t he still amoner? He should not look down on others too much just because of their looks or getup!


    ''There are mean people too in Chen Wang''s Residence, but those people are mean in a strict way, not arrogant! Now I know why the Miss found Chen Wang''s people so kind and easy to get along with even though most of us are only being careful and attentive to her for being the prince''s apple of the eye.''


    Xiao Lu pouted and looked at her miss. She had been with Jiang Ying Yue for some time so she knew the woman was really very nice and caring. She was someone who repays both good and evil with good. How could those people be so evil to such an angel?


    ''Not good. I need to do divert her attention from that ugly uncle of the Jiang Household.''


    Flustered, Xiao Lu said, "Young Miss, how about we do not think of that inconsequential person anymore? I mean... This is the first day that we are back to the capital, let''s just continue looking around. We can feast our eyes on beautiful things and our stomach with fine delicacies and snacks."


    To the other girl''s suggestion, Jiang Ying Yue readily nodded, both corners of lips slightly tugged up, and eyes twinkling in amusement. She replied, "Well, that''s my n all along, Xiao Lu. Let''s do just that. Shall we check the next street? I remember that''s where the food stalls are located."


    "Okay!" The maid also nodded then took the initiative to pull her disguised miss to their next destination.


    ...


    When Housekeeper Song got back to the Jiang Estate, he immediately had a few of the maids to help him sort out the goods he had purchased today. He first made sure that the resources and items were divided ording to the receivers'' importance. For example, he had the highest quality of each item given to the maid going to the Second Madam. And the least to a childless concubine who just lost the Marshal''s favor. Only after that did he have the other servants go tothe various courtyards in the residence.


    At the second most luxurious ce in the whole estate, the Second Madam Lady Wang was inside her room,zily lying on a cushioned daybed, busy reading the letter her daughter just sent to her. It would only take anybody one look to see that she was in a joyful mood. And the reason for it was that the letter was from the child she was most proud of, the new Wang Fei of the prince who had the highest chance of inheriting the throne.


    "Madam, Housekeeper Song had just sent this week''s supplies to us," reported one of her maids who just came in.


    Lady Wang smiled at her. As she carefully put away the letter, she said, "I see. My beloved daughter wrote and gave some of the His Highness Rui Wang''s gifts to her to me and I would like to reciprocate her thoughtfulness. Did Housekeeper Song get me the incense from the Heavenly Scent Pavilion?"


    "Yes, mdy. Housekeeper Song remembered mdy praising that pavilion''s incense so he made sure to buy some."


    The Second Madam''s smile widened, "Good then. Reward him for meter. For now, immediately pack a few of it along with some nice ythings. Thene back to me for the letter before sending everything to Rui Wang''s estate."


    "This servant obeys."


    The maid bowed to show that she understood and remembered all the instructions. Shortly, she formally excused herself, leaving Lady Wang by herself there, walking towards the study to get some writing materials and write back to Jiang Rou Li...

 Chapter 126: Jiang Ying Yue (33)

    Chapter 126: Jiang Ying Yue (33)


    Jiang Ying Yue encountered the female lead when she was in the middle of tasting some candied hawthorns in front of a streetside stall. And it was actually the other party who recognized her.


    "Miss Jiang?" called out Sheng Lingxin from behind. When Jiang Ying Yue turned around, she saw the woman who still looked as beautiful as a fairy, but with more hint of maturity in her face and eyes. The other girl was dressed in a maid attire and with a hat on her head. There was another girl with her, who appeared to be her real female attendant.


    Jiang Ying Yue looked away immediately and pretended she did not see the other. Upon seeing her miss'' reaction, Xiao Lu who was on the side also looked down and acted like she did not see anything.


    There were many question marks in her head though. Did Miss Sheng do something bad to her miss before? Or was she just afraid to be recognized by anybody from the upper ranks? Thetter seemed to be more likely, she thought. What she was unaware of was that Jiang Ying Yue had several reasons to feel awkward and estranged from the first legitimate miss of the prime minister''s estate.


    Before the annulment of her engagement with Rui Wang, she heard many rumors on how much that prince appreciated Sheng Lingxin. One of the hearsays even made her wallow in depression for a week, the one about the man directly telling everyone in a tea party how he badly wanted that woman as his princess consort. With that fresh in her mind, how could she not have some misgivings about Sheng Lingxin?


    One more thing...


    ''I''m sure, at thatntern festival... she was looking so warmly at Chen Wang, her eyes full of longing and yearning...''


    That time, she was brokenhearted and didn''t have strong feelings for the general hence she didn''t put much attention to it. However, she never forgot that scene. And now that she retrieved it from the depths of her brain, she couldn''t help feeling guarded against the other girl.


    "Grandpa, how much for everything I''ve eaten?" she asked the old man who owned the stall. She purposely lowered her tone so her voice would appear masculine.


    "Just four coins."


    She nodded at Xiao Lu who fished out the money from her purse. Feeling impatient, Jiang Ying Yue grabbed the coins and immediately handed over to the old man. Afterward, one of her hand grabbed her maid''s arm and pulled her away from there. They were half-running, half-walking as they navigate the sea of people. However, to her horror, Sheng Lingxin was just a meter or two away from them, dragging her own servant with her!


    ''Why is this girl suddenly so persistent?''


    "Young miss, if we want to lose her, we can go inside that shop. It has another exit which we can take advantage of to escape from them." Xiao Lu said in a low voice at her.


    Jiang Ying Yue nodded and headed to the direction told to her by her maid. The annoying girl was still hot in her pursuit. And it was starting to irritate her.


    ''If she doesn''t stop chasing me, I''ll throw a bug at her and curse her to have diarrhea for three days straight!" She maliciously thought. While there was no personal grudge yet between them, she had no problem making the other suffer if she annoys her and destroys her mood any further.


    "Yikes!" They were already inside the huge clothing store. However, both parties had to stop when they discovered that the exit which should be leading to another rowdy and busy street was closed. Jiang Ying Yue''s mind went nk. A secondter, amidst her frantic gasping for air, she regained her senses and started frowning badly.


    Behind her, in between the two racks of fabrics, the equally annoyed female lead was also wiping her sweat and catching her breath. With a hand ced on her chest, sheboriously told the girl in front of her, "Miss Jiang... I implore you to give me a few minutes... of your time and speak with me... I promise... our talk will not take long..."


    Jiang Ying Yue looked back at her then grimaced. ''What does this woman want from me?''


    However, even though this question shed in her mind, since there was nothing else she could do, she nodded and allowed Sheng Lingxin to take her and her maid to a private booth upstair. Along the way, Jiang Ying Yue''s eyes darkened. She realized that she got trapped because all along, the shop belonged to Sheng Lingxin.


    Upon taking a seat in one of the VIP rooms on the second floor, the disguised viiness looked into Sheng Lingxin''s eyes and straightforwardly asked, "May I ask what is the reason why Miss Sheng chased after this lowlymoner?"


    The female lead took back her gaze that was the te of pastriesid down by one of the store''s attendants. In the presence of others who were busy setting up the table, there was no way she would immediately say her piece. Therefore, when she heard what Jiang Ying Yue addressed herself with, she jokingly replied, "Miss Jiang is jesting. Who in the whole empire will dare believe that you are amoner?"


    The bitterness and unwillingness that crossed the girl''s eyes did not escape Jiang Ying Yue''s notice. She asked herself, was she guessing correctly that this Miss Sheng had a secret crush on Chen Wang? Was that the true reason why until now she was still only engaged to Hai Wang?


    With a smile on her face which appeared cold and actually not a smile, she asked again, "Forgive me for being blunt, but what does Miss Sheng want to tell me?"


    To her question, the female lead looked at her with aplicated expression before opening her mouth, "Are you already together with Chen Wang?"


    What she asked did not make Xiao Lu bat an eye, but it did shock most of the maids who heard them, a few taking a good look at the young man seated across their boss. It then dawned to them that the ''young man'' seemed too thin and feminine, the skin too delicate and white, and face too handsome despite the odd mustache. With this information at hand, it would be easy to discern the young man was an aristocratic girl sneaking out.


    ''Is she the famous former first Miss of the Jiangs, Jiang Ying Yue? The rumored beauty that toppled he who toppled the other nations'' armies?''


    This question yed in everyone''s mind, puzzlement and shock written all over everyone''s face. Noticing this, Sheng Lingxin''s eyes darkened. She immediately ordered the rest to vacate the room, leaving her with Jiang Ying Yue and her maid.


    Jiang Ying Yue pursed her lips at first, then told Xiao Lu to wait for her outside. The girl was very reluctant at first and only agreed when she received a serious nce from her miss. However, before going out, she first threatened Sheng Lingxin with her eyes not to do anything funny, making clear that no harm muste to her miss, or else, she would report it to Chen Wang.


    Sheng Lingxin was honestly offended. But since that girl did not do anything beyond that, she restrained her anger. Looking at the viiness, she urged, "Miss Jiang?"


    Since it became just the two of them, Jiang Ying Yue removed the thing she attached below her nose then raised her head to Sheng Lingxin.


    She did not ask why the other was inquiring her rtionship with him. She just smiled.


    "To answer Miss Sheng. For your peace of mind so you can move on from him."She paused and lowered her head, eyes going to the other''s hands which suddenly balled into fists on top of her skirt. With both edges of her mouth curving up to form a captivating smile, she said, "I''m sorry."


    Sheng Lingxin fell into a daze since she could guess the words the one in front of her would say. Her gut feeling did not betray her.


    Jiang Ying Yue''s clear and bright eyes turned to her. "I''m sorry, Miss Sheng. Because even if we''re not together, I won''t give him to anyone. Much less now that he''s mine."

 Chapter 127: Jiang Ying Yue (34)

    Chapter 127: Jiang Ying Yue (34)


    The other girl said it in a very rxed and natural manner. Yet conviction was there. She was extremely serious about it. Apart from that, when Jiang Ying Yue looked at the other provocatively, there was an indistinguishable aura on her which would remind anyone of a tigress. Fierce. Dangerous. Territorial.


    ''Chen Wang is mine.''


    ''Even if he''s not yet mine, I won''t give him to anyone!''


    ''I''ll make him fall for me. I''ll make him only look at me! I''m confident I can do it!''


    Jiang Ying Yue''s voice rang in her mind with these words.Sheng Lingxin was that stunned upon hearing Jiang Ying Yue''s deration. Because no useless courtesies and flowery speeches were included in her remark, it sounded so blunt, leaving no room for any other interpretation apart from what was intended to be conveyed.


    ''Is this really that meek and delicate woman who tried to take her life in that grand chamber?''


    The prime minister''s daughter watched the abandoned first miss of the Jiangs sipped on her tea so elegantly. Her action and smile exuded grace that not even rags would be able to conceal. She was the game''s protagonist. And she had chosen the general, Lu Ling as her future husband.


    Sheng Lingxin''s head was filled with countless thoughts, heart drowning in resentment. Deep inside her, she was ming the woman. If not for her, Chen Wang would have stayed longer in the capitalst year. And he wouldn''t be away for so long. Thinking of the whole year Chen Wang spent with Jiang Ying Yue at the border, she felt so envious, yet helpless. Why couldn''t he just be Jiang Ying Yue? Why was she Sheng Lingxin?


    "Don''t look at me like that Miss Sheng." Suddenly Jiang Ying Yue said, unnerved by the re she was getting.


    Still in her fit of jealousy, the female lead unconsciously blurted out, "I don''t like you."


    The marshal''s daughterughed. "I know. If I am in the same situation as you, jealous of a woman you thought not worthy of the man you liked, I''ll also say I don''t like her."


    "Since you know you are not worthy of Chen Wang, why are you..." Midway, Sheng Lingxin stopped. Even though she could hear her own heart break into pieces, she realized she had to stop saying whatever was in her mind. Because she had no right tomand the other to stay away from the general or stop loving him.


    Knowing this, Sheng Lingxin could only say one more time, "I really don''t like you..."


    Jiang Ying Yue looked away from the unsightly face of the famed daughter of the prime minister. That face that would burst into crying anytime soon was so painful to the eyes. She chose to look into the darkening skies outside.


    "I heard what you wanted to say to me. At the same time, I think you already confirmed what you wanted."After a long moment of silence, Jiang Ying Yue said. May I excuse myself now?"


    She simply couldn''t stand the ufortable feeling anymore, being in the presence of someone crying over her man. Because of this, she favored leaving as soon as possible.


    When no reply came to her, she conveniently took it as the other''s yes. She stood and then walked towards the door. Upon crossing it, she gave Sheng Lingxin onest look and then met up with Xiao Lu outside. This day became very memorable to her. She not only met her sister and former fiance, but also the prime minister''s daughter who, when she was leaving, had given her a menacing look.


    ''I''ll pray this Miss Sheng knows her limit and understand she''s already someone betrothed to another man.''


    As she held Xiao Lu''s arm and walked down the street leading to Chen Wang Estate, she thought of the tea and snacksid out by Sheng Lingxin''s maid. ''I really hope she knows what''s best for her. Otherwise, I can''t guarantee that my gu won''t act up and kill her if she does something beyond what I can tolerate.''


    ...


    The two girls didn''t know that fifteen minutester, whatever they had talked about had already reached Jiang Li''s ears. Hai Wang was also informed since when the messenger popped up beside the general, he allowed the imperial prince to hear about it.


    As expected, thetter''s face turned dark. It was remarkably concealed, but given Jiang Li''s rich experiences from his three lifetimes, he still managed to see the rage and disappointment swimming in the male lead''s eyes.


    Jiang Liughingly said, "Hai Wang better put a rein on that woman, or choose another fiancee."


    The other man did not reply. Jiang Li wondered if it was because he was already thinking of his suggestion or still taming the rage within.


    A minuteter, Hai Wang spoke, "I thank Chen Wang for your advise. However, I think we better not involve an inconsequential topic like that in our talk. More than this affair, I''m more inclined to praise you for managing to train a capable person like that one earlier."


    Jiang Li looked at the male lead and admired that this guy, despite being confronted with something sensitive as this, still managed to keep a straight face and focused more on something that really mattered.


    He also kept a straight face and replied, "Hai Wang is teasing me. My messengers are only so-so. I''m sure you have many people more capable than him. That one just seemed astounding for his speed of rying the information, but actually, he''s only fast because my future Wang Fei is involved."


    ''What future Wang Fei?''


    This time, the second prince could no longer help but sneer. "Lu Ling, you seemed to be forgetting your identity and hers."


    "The reason I''m supporting Your Highness is that I know the current Emperor will not approve of it." Jiang Li indifferently said, leaning against the tree.


    Chen Heng seemed offended, but asked in a joking manner, "So any imperial prince will do?"

 Chapter 128: Jiang Ying Yue (35)

    Chapter 128: Jiang Ying Yue (35)


    What a stupid question... How could any prince do?


    Jiang Li shook his head. "No. In the current list of imperial princes, you are the one who has the highest chance of winning. Not Rui Wang, nor the Duan Wang. And I don''t think I need to exin why."


    Hai Wang would actually love to ask why. But the general''s face was telling him he would be disappointed at his IQ if he does. Without a choice, he could only nod and act like he was pleased with knowing at least the guy thought highly of him. However, deep in his heart, something was itching to probe how much of his cards were alreadyid bare to the man before him. He was feeling ufortable at the fact that just when he thought his mask had hidden everything from everyone else, somebody actually had seen through him.


    How much does Lu Ling know? How did he know?


    Hai Wang''s lips got drawn into a thin line and helplessly said, "Chen Wang. You have really hidden too deeply. When people have already cemented in their minds that you have be somebody recluse and have not much dealing with the people from the capital, here you areying bare to me that your informationwork is as robust, if not better, than mine."


    "I don''t dare ept the ttery, Your Highness." Jiang Li replied indifferently.


    To be honest, Jiang Li was already finding their talk boring and annoying. The other party was not opening up to him. While he had no problem about it, he just found it stupid that even though they had been talking for thirty minutes, the other had yet to tell him his ns or whatever would happen in the next few days.


    Still no trust in him? Fine. He was not hoping for anything anyways.


    Jiang Li looked up to the darkening skies and then into the other prince''s eyes then said, "Hai Wang, I won''t tarry anymore since it''s already nighttime. So let me be blunt with you. I don''t care about politics and court intrigues. I''ll let you do whatever you please, while I do the same. I only have one piece of advice, stay away from Rui Wang and the Jiangs."


    The male lead met his gaze and saw that there was no malice in the person''s eyes. Only indifference. Usually, if one told somebody to stay away from another party, it was to avoid confrontation with them because they were troubles. However, Chen Wang made him reconsider the usual meaning of those words.


    He thought for a moment then asked, "Are you making a move against them?"


    Jiang Li kept his expressionless face, not intending to copy the usual people of this era who always make a riddle out of their intended meanings. He straightforwardly replied. "I am targeting everyone rted to the Grand Marshal. But no, it''s not me who will make a move. All I can say is that the person who will do will act soon."


    This meaningful remark from him puzzled the heck out of the imperial prince, who then started to wonder if someone was working together with him against the Grand Marshal. Even though the prince knew, no matter who it was, as long as it was against somebody from the enemy camp, it meant something good for him. Yet not knowing something that the opposite know made his heart itch.


    Before leaving, Jiang Li added something more to the prince''s misgivings. He told him. "A heads-up before I go back. There will probably be famine in the east. I reckoned the first prince already predicted it that''s why he built something there."


    Hai Wang''s eyes widened when he realized what Jiang Li meant. "An academy belonging to him, which is actually not only raising future ministers but people who will help him in controlling the famine...?"


    Jiang Li nodded and the imperial prince''s face darkened. Once the First Prince bes sessful in his endeavor, he will be much ahead in thepetition. After all, the famine will happen in one of the most populous ces in the empire.


    Thinking of this and seeing how rmed the male lead looked, Jiang Li snorted and added,


    "A ce that brings so much wealth to the imperial n every year... I''m estimating not even the Emperor can still put off making him the crown prince if the first imperial prince seeds. After all, once that timees, he would be a hero just as celebrated as me and the Marshal."


    ...


    On the way back, Jiang Li''s mind was on what the messenger told him about Jiang Ying Yue''s conversation with the female lead.


    He was wondering, had Sheng Lingxin gone insane already?


    Even though he had stayed away from her and the capital, it seemed that woman''s unfounded and puzzling infatuation for ''Lu Ling'' has not faded one bit. Why does she like him? No, was she even sure the one she liked was him?


    ''The memories only show the game is a regr 2D one which gamers y on their mobile phone. It''s probably simr to the game ''Call Me Emperor'' or ''Be The King'' Na Yu became addicted to a year or two before Pesticide went into an indefinite hiatus. In short, the ''Lu Ling'' there, is just a character made out of number and data. Why is she so in love with him?''


    He couldn''t understand it.


    And since he couldn''t understand, he chose not to take that woman''s obsession seriously. Another thing, Jiang Ying Yue had already met with her.


    The thought made him grin involuntarily. When he passed by the girl''s house which stood inconspicuously next to his grand residence, he pulled back his horse''s rein and stopped for a minute. As he looked at the closed gate of the ce, he wondered if she had already gone back from her stroll. This was her first day in the house again. Was she done sorting out all her items? Had she eaten her dinner yet?


    An hour ago, when she said that to the prime minister''s daughter, did she know that somebody from his side was always tailing her and protecting her?


    She must be aware. And she must be giggling now, imagining how he would react once his messenger passed to him her deration.


    Yeah, how would a man react if somebody he quite liked said he was hers and would never be given to anyone else?


    ''If she''s serious about it, then something must have already been cast on the heroine...''


    When he urged his horse to move forward, he knew that he was feeling amused in his heart. As his mind repeatedly yed the messenger''s report, he didn''t notice that he was already grinning from ear to ear.<ol><li>Credits to its owners, and lol, I''m doing free promotion. Game exists</li><li>Credits to its owners, and lol, I''m doing free promotion. Game exists</li></ol>

 Chapter 129: Jiang Ying Yue (36)

    Chapter 129: Jiang Ying Yue (36)


    When a package from the Grand Marshal''s residence came to Rui Wang Fei''spound, Jiang Rou Li did not show much enthusiasm for it. She kept a calm face even after her servant announced a list of expensive items that nomoner would be able to afford in their lives.


    She had the letter sent to her room, nning to read it only before she goes to sleep. As for the listed items, apart from the incense bought from her favorite shop, nothing else made her expression change. However, even that scented product didn''t hold much appeal to her, especially now that her husband was sharing some tribute items to her.


    After thinking about it for a while, she told one of her attendants, "Most of the items will be useless to me. Go bring some of the products from the Heavenly Scent Pavilion to Imperial Concubine Shu."


    A maid bowed and cautiously questioned, "Wang Fei, won''t Her Highness the Imperial Concubine think that it''s shabby since it''s not from a famous temple?"


    Jiang Rou Li directed her pair of beautiful obsidian eyes at her. "What does the Imperial familyck in the first ce? It''s the thought that counts. Also, who said that Heavenly Scent Pavilion, a shop frequented by the Grand Marshal''s people, is shabby?"


    Seeing the temperamental princess consort''s raised brow, the girl became frightened and started apologizing profusely. Jiang Rou Li icily squinted at her, then motioned for another maid to do as she said. As for the audacious servant, since she annoyed her, she had her transferred to theundry department. She should stay for the rest of her life. That was, if no miracle urred.


    ...


    Since Rui Wang''s Ptial Residence was not that far from the imperial pce, the goods she ordered to be delivered arrived within the next hour.


    Imperial Concubine Shu disdainfully nced at the items sent, but the Emperor who visited her pce that night became curious since the gifts were from someone from his favorite son''s ptial residence. Seeing that the Emperor showed interest to what Rui Wang Fei gifted, the imperial concubine humored him and exined about the three most precious items in the package.


    After praising his beloved consort''s wisdom, the Emperor smilingmented, "If it''s an incense shop liked by the whole Marshal''s household, then it couldn''t be that bad. Zhen is more curious about its name, though. What gave the owner of that pavilion the capital to name it Heavenly?"


    Theughter Concubine Shu let out was very pleasant to the ears, like the sounds of little ringing bells yfully yed by the autumn wind. "Since Your Majesty has shown curiosity, we can try it out and then judge whether the name deserves that word. This concubine will light it up for you."


    Barefooted, the beautiful alluring woman whose looks appeared younger by ten yearsthan her real age climbed down the wide luxurious bed and floated down the red-purple wooly carpet. A pce maid came forward and respectfully handed a rectangr box to her.


    The moment she opened the case, a faint but pleasant fragrance immediately drifted in the air. The woman''s eyes lightened up a bit since she could tell at a nce it was a high-quality product.


    "Seems good enough."


    With anticipation in her heart, she lit up and ced it on her lotus-shaped incense burner. Not long after, a mellow scent submerged the ce, calming the nerves and bringing peace to one''s mind.


    The Emperor seemed pleased with its fragrance so he uttered some words of praise for it. It was goodplement to the beautiful blue moonlight spilling over the room from the open window.


    A minuteter, the Emperor, together with his concubine, fell asleep in the bed, under the warm and thick covers.


    Ten hourster, the two woke up. Groggily. And lethargically.


    How strange that none of their current appearances suggested that they had a good night of sleep. Red eyes, sunken face, and deathly paleplexion... It was apparent that the ten hours of supposed red did not make them refresh at all. Because they were haunted by neverending nightmares!


    ''That damn incense!?''


    Both the Emperor and Imperial Consort Shu had fires raging in their bellies as they thought of the misleading fragrance that caused them to be like this.


    If it was only a nightmare, then they would not be this miserable. Through sheer willpower, there should be no problem waking up. However, the problem was not only the nightmares, they were in a state of sleep paralysis!


    Who could imagine the fear of escaping from horrific dreams only to be half-awake and realize you were in inescapable darkness? And for hours, there was no way to move your body because it was paralyzed? In such a condition, who could enjoy their sleep?


    "Concubine Shu, the daughter-inw you selected certainly gave Zhen a wonderful surprise. The damn gift has given me one of my most memorable nights. Zhen never imagined to experience this in your embrace. Good. Good."


    The Emperor''s tone held chips of ice in it. The usual gentleness reserved for his most favorite concubine nowhere to be seen, reced by a harsh coldness that could rival the fierce snowstorm... As the Emperor, when had he tasted this kind of treatment from his wives?


    Rui Wang''s mother was feeling angry too, and at the same, she felt so aggrieved. She was also a victim, yet here she was, with no choice but to receive the Emperor''s anger! When had she suffered like this? Grudge bloomed within her heart, remembering who caused her to fall into this situation. She would definitely make sure to invite that whore into her pce to give her what she was looking for. How dare she set this up like this?


    The more scolding she heard from the Emperor, the more she wanted to tear her son''s wife into pieces and feed her remains to the dogs.


    When the angry Emperor finally left her ce, Imperial Concubine Shu weakly slumped down on her bed. All her maids hurriedly surrounded her, wearing worried expression since she was not only looking so listless and soulless, her eyes were red and puffy, both from crying and theck of sleep. Herplexion was also dark, and her lips were badly trembling.


    Momentster, the woman''s eyelids flipped open to reveal two beautiful obs flickering with a vicious glint.ns on how to teach Jiang Rou Li a lesson swirled in her head.


    "Jiang Rou Li, you lowly bitch!!!"


    "You, a mere Wang Fei dared to y with me? Do you think I won''t touch you for being my beloved son''s wife?!"


    Madughter escaped out of the consort''s lips. She grabbed her maid''s arm tightly as she picked herself up from the bed. Her nails were actually already digging into her maid''s flesh, but the poor girl could only bite her lower lip. She didn''t dare make a sound, since her master was still lost in her own world, looking so scary as hell as sheughed and vowed,


    "Since you don''t want to cherish your life, this concubine will make sure to help death harvest it!"

 Chapter 130: Jiang Ying Yue (37)

    Chapter 130: Jiang Ying Yue (37)


    The next day, the afternoon, Jiang Ying Yue was helping Jiang Li grind ink at her ce''s study. The look of seriousness on her face was as serene as the one Jiang Li had as his brush glided clean and decisive strokes on the paper in front of him. Both of their attendants were also in the room, pretending they didn''t exist to not ruin the extraordinary peace reigning between them.


    Jiang Ying Yue took a nce at the strange words he had written.


    ''Hai Wang is a stiff two-faced scoundrel.''


    ''The Emperor is reported looking ugly this morning because he didn''t manage to get a wink of sleep.''


    ''Imperial Concubine Shu''s looks and conditions are as bad as the old dude.''


    ''A shop called Heavenly Scent Pavilion is recently closed down.''


    ''Rui Wang Fei is put into a month-long house arrest.''


    ''Rui Wang Fei only escaped death after saying she was maliciously framed and set up by her own mother.''


    ''Lady Wang of the Grand Marshal''s estate shifted the me to that poor housekeeper surnamed Song.''


    ''Hai Wang''s weird fiance was said to be down with the flu, and was making very frequent trips to the toilet.''


    At first, Jiang Ying Yue''s face turned white. She was really speechless. Who would have thought this kind of improper speech woulde from an illustrious figure like Chen Wang? But then, after some time, she got used to hisnguage. Now, heaven knows how much Jiang Ying Yue tried hard not tough at the ridiculous things Jiang Li had penned down. He used that strange writing system that he had introduced to her a year ago so in the room only she could understand it.


    How many in this world knew that under his cial exterior, there was a yful and unscrupulous side hiding? He called another prince a term she would never dare use. He also described the son of heaven using a word not supposed to be mentioned in the same breath as the Emperor. And the way he called the housekeeper... Why was hisnguage so not befitting of a prince like him? But the problem with her was... Why did she find him so adorable?


    Jiang Li suddenly threw her a casual look that made her flinch. When she checked his expression, he didn''t seem to be finding everything he noted down strange. This was their unique way ofmunicating. And that must be why he was so courageous. Because in this world, there were only two people who knew this script, the two of them.


    With the same nonchnt expression on his handsome face, the man''s brush danced on the surface of the paper, leaving smooth ck traces forming another string of words which was actually thest thing he wanted to tell her through this manner.


    ''Apart from the first, about Hai Wang being a two-faced, utilitarian bastard, I mean, fox, I firmly believe everything else has been the results of a certain someone''s casual stroll. A witch, perhaps.''


    That seemed to have be a catalyst that broke the girl''s serious facade. Red-faced, she looked down, a hand automatically blocking her mouth from letting out a sound.


    It was all toote though. A giggle already escaped out of her lips and made the man turn to her with a sly questioning look.


    "Is there something funny, Miss Jiang?" Wearing that same cid look, he asked.


    With that as thest blow, how could she stop herself from bursting intoughter? There was no way to do it anymore.


    She started giggling there, making funny but cute expressions that rendered the two bystanders nkly looking at her. They turned to their prince and then wondered what had gotten to this young miss. Since the prince was sporting an expressionless face, there should be no reason to suddenly giggle?


    All of a sudden, Jiang Ying Yue turned weird in their eyes.


    The merrilyughing girl took two minutes to realize this. And when she did, she covertly sent ming looks at Jiang Li.


    ''I''m just sharing ssified information with you. Why are you suddenly ring at me?'' Jiang Li gave her a wry smile. He then chose to put away the writing materials and stood up. After telling Mao Hong to tidy up the ce, he instructed Xiao Lu to go somewhere else, which thetter became puzzled at. The maid was not given time to digest his instructions since Jiang Li already went out, with the viiness dutifully following behind him.


    "Which one do you prefer to visit first? The Rui Wang Residence? Or The Grand Marshal''s?" He asked without turning his head back to the girl.


    The girl was stunned for a couple of moments before batting her eyes at him for another minute.


    Pursing her lips she said, in a voice so tiny it was akin to a wisp of smoke that would vanish in an instant, "The Grand Marshal''s estate then... My old home. I wish to see how the people from there are doing now..."


    He looked at her quietly for a long while. Afterward, he led her to the backyards where the garden decorated by a few rows of violet peonies, a lotus pond, and some rockeries. After making sure nobody was around, he wrapped his arm around her waist. And without waiting for her to recover from the shock, he turned to the nearest roof and jumped up with her in tow.


    "W-wait! Bring me down! I, I beg you, Your Highness!"


    Jiang Ying Yue was in a dazed state from being in too much direct contact with him. When she regained her senses, he was already running and jumping from buildings to buildings or trees.


    "Chen Wang!"


    Jiang Li suddenly jumped down from a six meters height, their speed of descent and sudden closing in on the ground freaked Jiang Ying Yue out of her wits. Even though she knew the general was someone who could probably circle the whole empire running around like this, it was still hard for her to ept having to make the tour or visit with him this way.


    Her head became more jumbled after the man took another jump.


    Why was this happening to her? Why couldn''t they just take the normal route, board a carriage and have an idle chat there?


    Seeing the girl''s entertaining expression, Jiang Li couldn''t contain his grin. He finally understood why some male characters in novels or TV dramaswho knew qinggong loved to fly about like this with a woman in their arms. It was a stamina burner. But the funny face of the other party was worth it.


    "Just focusing on holding onto my chest or neck. Look around you." Hisughing voice was like magic that prompted her to do as he told.


    Clear blue skies. A flock of birds seemingly migrating, bustling crowds which appeared zoomed out in her vision, a panoramic view of the seemingly endless sea beyond a forest to their west. The rows of houses and beautiful gardens...


    Her chest felt too stuffy from too many emotions.


    "... Amazing..." She unconsciously blurted out.


    How d she was for summoning her courage to open her eyes and capture the breathtaking pictures in her memories.


    ''Thank you, Lu Ling.'' Before theynded on the ground, she looked at his side-profile with gem-like eyes full of warmth and full of gratitude. She unconsciously tightened her arms circling his neck, causing him to nce down at her for a moment.


    They stayed like this for a little more than five minutes, parting only when they arrived at their target location. It was an abandoned courtyard in the Grand Marshal''s estate. The most secluded house separated from the rest of thepounds by a mini-forest of yellow groove bamboos.


    "I''m back..." Jiang Ying Yue quietly said, her feet slowly walking towards the entrance of the house.


    Behind her, Jiang Li was not speaking. And there was no expression on his face as he studied her now-rundown former home. Its shabbiness was really provoking something inside him, a desire to hack the Marshal''s house down into bits and pieces.<ol><li>''lightness skill'', something Chinese kungfu fighters and martial artists used to fly on roofs or run/move around in a speed impossible to normal people</li></ol>

 Chapter 131: Jiang Ying Yue (38)

    Chapter 131: Jiang Ying Yue (38)


    With the Marshal in the capital, sitting in his abode, how could Jiang Li and Jiang Ying Yue''s arrival escape his perception?


    When the old guy detected the unusual change in the air within his family grounds, he was with another minister, discussing which of their children should marry who. The Marshal had to exert effort controlling his facial muscles to prevent himself from being an embarrassment in front of the minister.


    After properly excusing himself from his conversation partner, he summoned his guards then marched towards the direction where he detected the familiar aura. Anger was rising in his heart after he discovered where it wasing from.


    ''How dare he!''


    The Marshal was somebody who rose from the ranks ofmoners so there was no way that he had no good head above his shoulders if he could stay in his post for so long. This was not a Xuanhuan or the pugilistic world. Not everything could be solved by violence. There was also the saying that no dragon would beget a dog for a son. Though, cough, a b*tch was possible. Anyways, given Jiang Rou Li''s intelligence, since her mother was quite the airhead type of woman, her IQ could only be inherited from Jiang Ke. In other words, the Marshal was an astute and bright person.


    Chen Wang was already back. And the aura was in the direction of ''her'' former house. The clues were easy to piece out.


    ''Even if he is a prince, how dare he barged into somebody else''s base without asking permission from the owner!''


    After cussing underneath his breath, his face turned darker.


    ''But how the hell did he know where that damnedss'' house is? That girl told him? For what purpose?''


    "Good afternoon, Grand Marshal." When Jiang Ke arrived at the ce, he found that the person he was expecting to see there had just finished decimating a whole building...


    Right. Jiang Li destroyed the ce.


    Pirs copsed and everything was reduced into rubbles. Even before Jiang Li arrived there, it was already quite hard to believe this was part of the Grand Marshal''s estate, but now that the house was in this unrecognizable state, it was more unbearable to look at.


    "LU LING!!!" The moment Jiang Ke recovered from the shock, he immediately roared in anger. It was his property that had destroyed. And by somebody, he didn''t invite home. How could he stay calm? If there was only a table or anything nearby, he would have either broken it or tossed it towards Chen Wang.


    To be honest, he even wanted to kill the young man! Especially after the other nonchntly greeted, "Hello and a pleasant afternoon to you, Grand Marshal."


    The middle-aged military man''s eyes were slowly turning red. ''Pleasant afternoon, your foot!''


    Jiang Li was standing in front of the destroyed house with his hands behind him. He looked at Jiang Ke and the guards behind him with a tranquil expression on his face. Jiang Ying Yue was nowhere to be seen. She was most likely visiting the ''matriarch'' of this ce.


    "What is the meaning of this, Chen Wang?" With great difficulty, Jiang Ke managed to smooth down his scary expression. Nevertheless, the trace of hostility in his eyes and tone didn''t disappear. Looking at the ruins standing on his left, he asked between gritted teeth. "You trespassed in my home just to wreck one of my buildings?"


    "Grand Marshal, This Prince admits to the trespassing part, but This Prince did not destroy anything here. I am a mere human, how could my bare hands tear down a whole building like this one?" The young general asked innocently.


    Jiang Li was annoyed at Jiang Ke''s face so he wanted to irritate the other. Sincethe other party had no evidence about thetter, he denied it. Anyway, it was true nobody saw him doing the crime. So why confess?


    On why he tore down the house, he just found its dpidated state too irritating in the eyes. Jiang Ying Yue also already checked inside and retrieved what she wanted to retrieve so the ce no longer needed to exist. Anyway, the girl confirmed she wouldn''t be going back here anymore. There was also the fact that he had long nned to tear down the whole Grand Marshal Residence in the future. Now, why would it matter if he started with this one?


    In front of him, the older man coldly harrumphed at him and said in a lecturing tone, "Chen Wang... Not taking responsibility for what you did is not something a real man will do. The house won''t just copse on its own. So speak, why did you tear it down?"


    "Wait, Grand Marshal." Jiang Li sneered. "Are you insinuating that This Prince is lying? You kept making it sound like it''s my fault. Shouldn''t you be asking me if somebody else did it? I could be a mere witness, you know?"


    Jiang Ke''s face became darker. Seeing this, one of his people stepped forward and saluted the prince. "Your Highness, please forgive our insolence. It''s just that we are too shocked by the sight. May we please know why your esteemed self appeared at our ce and why the house copsed"


    The prince looked at the bearded guard approvingly, "Finally somebody courteous and could speak human."


    He paused and then pretended to be clearing his throat when in fact he was thinking of an excuse. "Well," he started. "Actually, this Prince merely saw a bolt of lightning striking down this ce so I rushed in to check it out."


    ''What?'' The question yed in everyone else''s mind after they looked at the piles of rubbish and confirmed that there were no traces of burn or anything alike. Actually, nobody even saw that sh of lightning. The sky was so clear above. Where would it evene from? Thus, doubt formed in everyone''s mind. Yet none of the puzzled guards dared to voice it out since the other party was of higher status than them and was also famous for being cold, aloof, and a no-nonsense type. No-nonsense type should mean no lying too, right?


    A secondter, they got their answer.


    "Chen Wang. I never know you now know how to distort facts." Jiang Ke coldly snorted, apparently not buying the general''s obviously made-up story.


    ''Well, from the beginning, everybody knows how to. What''s surprising about me doing it.'' The generalughingly thought inwardly, but outwardly retorted, "You''re at it again, Grand Marshal, using without proof. Why would you even think I''m lying? Who knows, maybe the lightning I''m speaking of is sent down by someone from the heavens."


    The Marshal kept his silence wisely since he knew if he was provoked into asking, the answer would definitely be something which would cause his blood pressure to shoot up.


    However, it didn''t mean he had no retainer with quite a slow understanding. One of the guards identally blurted out. "And who could that be?"


    His question elicited a wide smile from Jiang Li who then answered him, "Who knows? Maybe God just wanted to be yful for once? Or perhaps, somebody from this estate who already passed away. How about Lady Yu, the deceased First Madam of the Jiangs?"


    The words he uttered were like a spark that caused the robust-bodied Marshal to p his sleeves and cape. It seemed the other military head got provoked so much that his gaze no longer hid his desire to kill the prince.


    Jiang Li was not scared though. No, in this world, what could even make him afraid?


    He chuckled, "Don''t look at me like that. If you found my words offensive, well, it''s definitely not on purpose. Her name just popped up in my mind. After all, her daughter just got kicked out unjustly from the residence she passed down to her."

 Chapter 132: Jiang Ying Yue (39)

    Chapter 132: Jiang Ying Yue (39)


    There were many reasons behind Jiang Li''s deliberate act of annoying the Grand Marshal. But one of the major ones, apart from wanting to settle some grudges with Jiang Ke from a year ago, was that Jiang Ying Yue wished to roam around the residence by herself without being obstructed by her irresponsible and cold-blooded father.


    Since the woman rarely requested anything from him, he readily nodded. And actually, when he destroyed her former house, it was in her presence. He had watched numerous emotions shed across her face before it settled to relief. Before she left, she thanked him, and he knew it was for destroying a ce that she would never want to return to, regardless of the good and the bad memories she had there.


    "It''s this ce..." The viiness stood in front of her father''s ownpound, a ce she didn''t step a foot once ever since she turned 11. Surprisingly, not many things changed in its appearance, apart from looking a bit older, and with more history in it.


    After hesitating for a few moments, she stepped into the ce and slowly made way into the hall that she and her mother used to frequent. Now, the strange and unfamiliar details started to appear in her eyes.


    The portrait of her mother was gone, reced by that of the Second Madam. There were also many items removed. For example, the pipa gifted by her mother to the man was no longer disyed on the wall to the left. And the rainbowmp that she loved and made him promise never to remove in this room was also gone.


    She pursed her lips and batted her eyes. She didn''t stay long there and moved towards her real destination, her father''s study room.


    ''Thankfully, most of the servants are normal people who can be easily mind controlled,'' she pondered, looking away from the maids that she just ran into. Thetter acted like she didn''t see Jiang Ying Yue. With a jar in her embrace, the maid passed by her. The others who also caught sight of the viiness acted the same after being stared at into their eyes.


    As for the guards guarding the door to the study, all she did was pped her sleeves and released a few bugs. The unseen little creatures sent the two men slumping down the floor, slowly closing their eyes and yawning.


    When a feminine figure passed by them, it was already toote, they had already fallen into a deep slumber. Not even the sound of the door being pushed open right next to them managed to awaken them.


    "It''s as expected..." The girl stared quietly at the documents in hand which she found a minute ago on the huge table there. In particr, her gazended on the handwriting there. She had been studying and tracing the brush strokes using her fingers for some time already.


    A full five minutes passed before she looked away from the pieces of paper. Her eyes wandered around, engraving every detail. The scrolls neatly stacked on a shelf, the paintings of horses and battlefields, the calligraphies, even the dark, and moldy corners...


    There was no expression on her face when she left the ce and walked down the path leading to her stop. Lady Wang''s house. The woman who allegedly had a miscarriage due to a jealous concubine.


    "Young Miss..." When she was on her way to that ce, she crossed paths with a mother and son pair. The mother, another slightly favored concubine of her father had a pale face. It was if she had seen a ghost, or anything as terrifying. On the contrary, her son only showed curiosity towards the sister that he had not seen for quite a long while.


    "You are back." Jin Yahui''s voice was slightly shaking.


    Chen Wang informed Jiang Ying Yue of his dealing with the woman so she did not make things difficult for her.


    "Concubine Jin, it''s been a while." The viiness smiled, and Jin Yahui became even more afraid. She knew Jiang Ying Yue had been brought back by the prince a couple of days ago. But she never heard of her visiting. None of her people gave her a heads up about Jiang Ying Yue''s appearance too. So how did shee here?


    Jiang Ying Yue ignored the look of befuddlement in the woman''s face. She lowered her body on the same level as the kid then stroked his head. After some time again, she stood up and turned to Jin Yahui. "I should be going now."


    The concubine summoned her courage and asked after looking around a bit to check if there were unnecessary ears around. "Young Miss, did, did ''he'' tell to pass any instruction to this one?"


    It was strange that an olderdy from an official''s estate was humbling herself before amoner, but none of the two parties involved said a thing about the status quo.


    Jiang Ying Yue threw the other a calm stare. Remembering it was because of her that at least, her name was cleared of false charges, she spoke, "Concubine Jin. No instruction was passed to me. He didn''t say anything and he didn''t need to do so. You know for yourself that the capital is already chaotic enough. Sooner orter, whatever he warned would turn into reality. By then, I hope you had already made the correct decision."


    After leaving those words, she passed by them, leaving Jin Yahui staring at her back with a troubled andplicated expression.


    Finally, once done taking a few more turns, tossing sleep gu or hypnotizing those who mistakenly ran into her, she arrived at her destination. It was most likely the most beautiful and maintained courtyard in the whole estate, apound opposite the one she used to have.


    Red lips. Fox-like appearance. Fairy disposition. Lyingzily on her daybed was a mature woman of beauty as devastating as the former Madam or the famous Imperial Concubine Shu. The woman appeared quite stressed by the most recent event that rendered her daughter in a house arrest. However, she still looked as enchanting as ever, especially right now when her figure was in full disy due to her current posture.


    Jiang Ying Yue walked down the cobblestone pathways, for a momentncing at the beautiful rows of peonies, roses, and chrysanthemums at the sides. Shortly after, her cid pair of eyes went back to thezying Madam.


    A cold smile blossomed from her perfectly shaped cherry lips. She was just right in front of her. That woman who had repeatedly pushed her to hell for the past six years was just right in front of her, waiting like amb to be ughtered.


    ''They say ghosts can''t appear while the sun is still up?''


    The curves on the viiness'' lips and eyes became disturbing.


    With a wave of a hand, the tenderness of a girl in her eighteenth year disappeared, reced by an aura of someone who had lived more than two decades.


    The body height suddenly increased, the same with the figure which suddenly became fuller and maturer. Her face suddenly changed.


    It was that of her beautiful mother who passed away, not due to her failing health, but due to a poison created through the mixture of what was known as jealousy and ambition.

 Chapter 133: Jiang Ying Yue (40)

    Chapter 133: Jiang Ying Yue (40)


    On Jiang Li''s side, a full-blown fight had taken ce after Jiang Li mentioned a name that was actually a taboo in the household.


    Lady Yu. A sickly woman from the prominent schrly Yu family. Before she fell for a boorish man who only how to brawl and ride horses, she was one of the most sought afterdies by countless aristocratic men, famous for being peerless in appearance and possessing a gentle water-like temperament. When her sedan was carried into the Grand Marshal''s household, there many many men who cried rivers of tears for her,menting why the heavens were so blind to wed her to that unworthymoner-born man, Jiang Ke.


    Perhaps, since the man she married knew he didn''t deserve her, he did everything to rise in ranks and give her the kind of life that she deserved. Unfortunately, the woman was truly sickly.


    She had died at the prime of her life seven years ago, much to thementations of many people in the capital. Yet oddly, the husband who used to cherish her at the palm of his hand did not grieve much. In fact, even though her bones were yet to cool underground, the man she married already chose the current Second Madam to be his new principal wife. Several concubines also entered the household. Lady Yu had only been dead for three months then.


    Now the heartless man who did that was suddenly being so antsy at the mention of that dead woman''s name. Why?


    Jiang Li watched the guards Jiang Ke brought surround him from all sides. A momentter, he returned his eyesin front, to the bear-like middle-aged Marshal ring daggers at him. One of his hands blocked the fisting for his chest. When another soldier tried to hack him with his sword, he dodged to the side then grabbed that soldier''s face and smacked it on the ground.


    "Your Excellency got angry because This Prince dragged Lady Yu''s name in my guess?" he asked with a mocking smile on, eyes pinned at the magnificent-looking sword the Marshal unsheathed. Weapons had been lunging at him since minutes ago, so he was not finding an additional one rming. Somebody who already died had no fear of death.


    With this as his reason, he courted more by remarking to the Marshal in an insulting manner. "For somebody who didn''t even honor his first wife''s death properly, or care for the daughter she left to you, your acting is not really that convincing, Grand Marshal Jiang Ke... No, who the heck are you actually?"


    While Jiang Ke began to transform into a raging bear, there was no change in the faces of the guards. That detail caused something to dawn on Jiang Li''s mind.


    ''Even the guards know the one who''s been with them andmanding the estate for several years is no longer their real Marshal...'' He frowned, not expecting this result and for his divide and conquer strategy to not have any effect. His mood plummeted down, resulting in him identally using a bit more strength when he kicked one of the attackers over the piles of rubbish.


    To his left, the greatest enemy around shed towards him, leaving a blur before his eyes. With the troublesome opponent making a move, Jiang Li had no choice but to turn serious.


    Time quickly passed. After ten or so minutes, Jiang Li became exhausted and annoyed. The guards were hard to kill because even though he was way above in martial prowess, the Marshal was too, add to this the fact that Jiang Ke was good at leading and fighting. Since Jiang Li couldn''t kill anybody there due to Jiang Ke, he resorted to fleeing. Anyway, his mission was already aplished. The viiness only requested for him to stall the Marshall half of the time that he did.


    ...


    "Search the premise! He must be still around!" angrily roared the Marshal to his people for the nth time.


    "Master, I don''t think he''s still nearby. He fled to the northeast which is the nearest to the street."


    Jiang Ke coldly looked at his subordinate that spoke. However, he did not berate him, but contemted why that man would appear here. Almost a quarter of an hour already passed since Chen Wang suddenly fled from the melee.


    Chest still heaving, he swept his eyes around the ce in hopes the intruder was only hiding somewhere. The first time he got here, the ruined house was all that he cared for, its unsightly state causing him to fly in rage. But, now that he thought about it, why was the house ruined again?


    Chen Wang was known for being a tactical genius. What if that prince purposely did that to cloud his head in anger? For what reason? To divert his attention away? Then from what?


    "Look around the ce for any unusual traces." Jiang Ke then barked out, his own eyes wandering around for clues.


    A minuteter, when his men were still busy wrestling with the wreckages, the Marshal finally discovered something. He was suspecting the fight was also provoked intentionally because Chen Wang wanted to borrow their hands to destroy all the pieces of evidence ratting out that somebody else hade with him. With a grave look on, the owner of the residence mobilized his people to check anyone and everywhere in the estate for another person who could have trespassed alongside Chen Wang.


    Unfortunately, they realized it toote. They did not manage to locate anybody.


    All they discovered was that everybody in the Second Madam''spound was found unconscious. And there was a woman dressed in an elegant dress found lying motionless in the main hall at the foot of the daybed.


    One of the Marshal''s loyal guards tapped a maidservant''s face to inquire from her what happened, yet all they heard from her mouth was nonsensical stuff...


    "The First Madam. The First Madam is back! A-and she knocked us all out through some unknown means! I-It''s absolutely terrifying! I, I''m saying the truth! S-she is back and is taking revenge against Lady Wang for maltreating and framing her daughter! AAAAAHHHHH!"


    Jiang Ke got incensed by the maid''s shout so he ordered the guard to knock her out again. A secondter though, another shout reverberated in the ce, this time, while it was also full of fright, it came from a man. They checked the source of the shout and found a guard falling down andnding on his butt, one finger frantically pointing at something. All eyes promptly followed that finger to the unconscious woman next to the daybed.


    The sight gave everyone a fright. Considering how each and everyone was ex-soldiers or people trained to fight and kill, there should have been very few thingsin the worldthat could scare them. Yet one of those that could get into this list happened to be just right in front of them.


    To what it was?


    Oh. Just a bloody face... If it could even be called a face. An entire skin seemingly torn off from it. And countless small red fleas, insects, and other unrecognizable little creatures squirming, digging, and crawling onto the raw wounds and flesh...

 Chapter 134: Jiang Ying Yue (41)

    Chapter 134: Jiang Ying Yue (41)


    The whole Grand Marshal Residence was thrown into chaos by the incident with the Second Madam. The Marshal was very furious. He immediately had his men awakened the maids in thepound. The sad thing was when they tried to pry anything from the servants'' mouth, they didn''t hear any useful information. All of them were saying they saw the First Madam. It was the dead Lady Yu who had risen from the dead and exacted revenge for her daughter!


    "There was no way the dead coulde back to life." Jiang Ke responded with cold angercing his voice.


    In front, the Second madam was already up and sobbing.


    She nkly stared at her hands which she just used to scratch her painfully itching face. It was full of blood... and unsightly little beings. It made her whole body and heart tremble so hard. Her breathing seemed to be stopping any time soon. After onest gasp, the woman once again fell unconscious.


    Standing by the wide entrance, the Marshal closed his eyes, having no courage too to look at his principal wife''s hideous appearance. Not even he, who had been baptized by countless numbers of wars couldn''t stand how Lady Wang turned out to be.


    "What do we do about the Madam...?" One anxious retainer asked the Marshal when he started walking away.


    "Find her a doctor or two to treat her wounds. If ever she wakes up before the medical experts arrive, don''t let her touch or scratch her face again."


    After leaving those words behind, he crossed the gate of thepound, leaving many attendants and guards in total disorder. The dark look on his face did not leave for even a second ever since Jang Li trespassed in his estate. Utterly provoked, he rode his horse, nning to visit the Chen Wang Residence.


    ...


    Jiang Li met up with Jiang Ying Yue outside of the Jiangs'' estate, at a medicine shop in the Commercial District. It was more or less two kilometers away from that ce. The shop had just been bought by the woman, the title deed under one of her closest maidservants'' name.


    "I''m d you''re safe, Your Highness." Back to her real appearance, Jiang Ying Yue''s smile appeared very dazzling even to Jiang Li''s eyes which was already used to seeing gorgeous beauties from the previous worlds. With a curtsy, she weed him from behind the counter. The original shopkeeper, an old woman, had long dropped on the ground, kneeling and not daring to lift her head up.


    "The Marshal is probably very furious right now. I''m guessing, he will pay my residence a visit to demand exnation from me or see if the othermotion is your move." He spoke after nodding to her greetings.


    Jiang Ying Yue looked down at her shoes, "He could guess it''s my doing even though I used my mother''s appearance just now?"


    "Yeah. That man''s smart so he''ll surely be able to figure it out."


    Seeing her anxious look,he started patting her head. "Don''t worry much though. He wouldn''t be able to do anything to you."


    She didn''t move away, allowing him to do as he pleased with her hair that had been rolled up into a bun. After thinking for a moment, she asked with a worried expression on her face, "The Grand Marshal won''t be able to do anything to you as well, right?"


    "Hmm." He nodded. After withdrawing his hand, he tossed a cloak at her. Then he led her outside the shop.


    On their way back, the two rented a carriage and enjoyed the bustling scenery along the road. Midway, the girl said to him, "Your Highness, do you think I should pretend to be ill once we go back?"


    Seated across her, heughed. "No need. He has no proof. And there''s no way he could put me or anyone under me in a trial without the Emperor''s permission."


    "...I''m afraid there''s a chance the Emperor would collude with him and help him forge evidence or an edict."


    "Oh." There was an answer in Jiang Li''s mind, but he didn''t voice it out to Jiang Ying Yue. In reality, before arriving at their meeting ce, he had already gotten in touch with one of his messengers.


    However, in case the old man really chooses the Marshal over a titled Prince from a lineage that helped his dynasty be established... Simple. The coronation of the next Emperor would be put forward earlier than it should be.


    Jiang Ying Yue could not guess what was on his mind since he only said, "Don''t think much about it." He then kept his silence and only looked at her meaningfully.


    She didn''t ask anymore.


    A few minutester, after she cleared her head of unnecessary worries, she looked outside and saw that the sky had turned bright red. Breathtaking, but equally ominous. Her gaze lowered to the streets. And only then did she notice that they were not taking the path leading back to the Chen Wang Residence.


    "Your Highness?" Bewildered, Jiang Ying Yue widened her eyes at Jiang Li. "This is not the way back to our houses."


    "Yeah." He sat there crossing his long legs, arms folded. His posture made him appear arrogant, especially since he was leaning his head on the back cushion, resulting in his chin being raised.


    "Well, why go back there when the Grand Marshal is camping inside?" He added in a matter-of-fact tone.


    While Jiang Li had no problem exchanging blows with the man, especially in his own turf, he didn''t believe the Marshal would charge there without knowing that. Who knows, maybe that old and sly bear already told some stories to his mother to mislead her, nning to make use of her against him.


    They wouldn''t go back. Not for now. This was why he repeatedly told the viiness not to worry.


    Not long after, the carriage stopped and dropped them in front of arge residence - the one they had just intruded less than an hour ago. They were now on the same street that they used when they first came here.


    For quite a long while, Jiang Ying Yue stared nkly at the tall walls before she realized she was not daydreaming.


    Her gaze went to the man smirking evilly next to her. His expression made her realize something. Hence she asked, "Have you already anticipated this?"


    "Hmm?" Jiang Li pretended he didn''t get what she said, "What do you mean?" he innocently asked.


    "... The Grand Marshal is too mad so he left his home to storm yours. The ce is left in the hands of people befuddled by the Second Madam''s... hmm... condition? The guards also couldn''t be counted on much since they, too, are flustered by the most recent events. The Grand Marshal Residence is a mess. And here you are... taking advantage of it."


    Jiang Li gave her an amused look thenughed. "Miss, you''re quite clever, This Prince is in awe. Unfortunately, even if I want to reward you with candy, I don''t have some with me right now."


    His reply stunned her deeply. A few minutester, she became more dumbfounded when he sneaked them into the residence again... He made her watch from one side as he burned down the Grand Marshal''s ownpound...

 Chapter 135: Jiang Ying Yue (42)

    Chapter 135: Jiang Ying Yue (42)


    Because Jiang Ying Yue was watching and had requested to spare the innocents, no lives were lost at the fire that Jiang Li started.


    Well, the n was not to kill anybody anyways, but since the girl spoke up, he earned more reason to stick to it. The man knocked out everyone and then tossed them out to the gardens. Only after ensuring nobody would be trapped inside did he begin to burn the huge and majestic-looking house down.


    After half an hour, the whole house was reduced into nothing but cinders. Upon hearing this, Jiang Ke once again became very angry. He immediately hurried home, dying to smack down the damn young man who seemed hell-bent on harassing him to death. However, to his extreme annoyance, when he arrived there, the culprit was no longer around, already five miles away, coaxing his crying mother in his own estate.


    Looking at his own home which now became heaps of ashes, the Marshal''s whole body trembled in rage.


    Who could understand the pain in his chest? Or exin the rming and unhealthy rise in his blood pressure?


    He went to the Chen Wang Residence to condemn him officially before his mother and to demandpensation for the wrecked house. Now he regretted it so much because he actually gave the damn man the opportunity to burn down thergest one which was not only his own dwelling ce, but which also housed many important documents. Even his tiger tally was left inside!


    ''A titled Prince could be this despicable for a mere woman?''


    ''He''s a genius?''


    ''NO! he''s f*cking demonic! And that damn bastard hit me hard this time. How am I going to exin to His Majesty about the burned tiger tally?''


    He knew that Chen Wang had a bad impression of him due to the meeting they had with the Emperor a year ago. But even if they had grudges between them, why couldn''t they just settle it like true men, dueling in a proper ce?


    Thinking of this, Jiang Ke fumed in anger. Everything that had happened today seemed to have bottled his anger up so when it reached the cap, he ended up beating a few of the estate''s guards and dismissing so many servants to relieve it.


    ...


    To the Grand Marshal''s relief, when tomorrowes, the news about his main wife''s skinless face and his house getting burned did not be the city''s greatest gossips. Something else became the talk of the capital, a matter that even shook the court.


    Hai Wang had proposed to migrate the people from the East because he predicted a famine would strike down thatnd soon!


    It had to be said that everything the leads do would easily be the people''s center of attraction. This case was not an exception, especially now that it concerned many livelihoods and lives. Themoners'' thinking processes were not thatplicated. Since a member of the imperial family announced it, it must be from a credible source.


    Of course, while people''s thoughts were simple, it didn''t mean they didn''t know how to hold doubts, not everyone believed it right away, starting to inquire about information from the merchants who just came from that region. To everyone''s surprise, Hai Wang''s words seemed to hold some truth in them. So it immediately turned into words of mouth, eventually reaching the ears of that one in the pce.


    At the court meeting that morning, since not all the ministers were informed of the issue, they began talking and guessing why the Emperor''s mood turned downcast.


    Not many knew it was because his least favorite son actually managed to get a hold of intel that even he had yet to get. Intending to condemn his hated son for gathering secret forces behind his father''s back, the Emperor voiced out his suspicion to Chen Heng. But this only resulted in him bing more depressed after finding out that a few of his neutral ministers were on Hai Wang''s side, jumping in to say that they had heard of the clues too and only managed to piece out the truth due to Hai Wang.


    "My beloved ministers, are you all saying to Zhen there have been signs of drought in the eastern region but it''s only became more apparent these days?"


    Grumpily, the old guy swept his eyes around, looking at his retainers that were lining up on both sides one by one. He paused his gaze to the Marshal who kept giving evil res to Chen Wang. He saw that the other military officer in the ce was tauntingly smiling at the Marshal.


    Chen Wang now learned to be so childish? That stiff and rigid young man? Wait, the more important problem was why the other retainers, apart from those two, were just lowering his head and not making even the slightest sounds?


    The Emperor took a breathe slowly.


    Still, in a bad mood, he red at the only person in the ce who looked rxed and unfettered. "Chen Wang, Zhen can see that only you seem to be not acting he doesn''t hear Zhen. Why don''t you answer Zhen''s question?"


    Everyone else pretended they didn''t hear the anger and sarcasm in the Emperor''s tone. Eyes got drawn to the young general standing opposite the Marshal, next to prime minister Sheng.


    They gave him a look of pity. Was the Emperor getting senile? Why was he asking something about the east to somebody stationed half of his life in the south?


    Hai Wang saw the way everyone was looking at Chen Wang. He looked down to hide the amused glint in his eyes. ''Hehe, Chen Wang is a boorish and ignorant in these ministers'' minds. Yeah. Ignorance is bliss. Yet it is also fatal. How would everyone react once they hear him speak?''


    Unfortunately, the male lead''s expected reply did note.


    "Sure, Your Majesty." A few momentster, with the same carefree look, Jiang Liughed and said. "This Prince answers,... forgive me for being stupid, but, well, I don''t have any knowledge of what''s going on."

 Chapter 136: Jiang Ying Yue (43)

    Chapter 136: Jiang Ying Yue (43)


    Not only the Emperor was left with their lips twitching by the Prince-General''s reply, but all the ministers present were also. However, it was to everyone''s expectations. What could be expected from somebody whose brain only worked well on the battlefield? How the hell would he know something not even ministers proud of their informationwork were aware?


    The Emperor realized his fault too so he fell silent. He had to admit that the look of innocence and nonchnce on the young man''s face was annoying the heck out of him, but what could he do if the other party was really meless? Even if he truly wanted to throw something at Chen Wang''s face, how could he do so without thinking of his own face and status?


    Veins were popping on the Emperor''s forehead as his hands tightly grabbed on the armrest. He turned to his other ministers and roared, "How about you lot?! Each and every one of you have stayed in the capital all year round. Stop pretending to be mute! Speak! Don''t reason to Zhen you all don''t know as well!"


    ''Uhh... How is staying in the capital rted to grasping what is happening somewhere else?'' This was the thought that crossed everyone''s mind.


    Jiang Li secretly snickered, wondering why the hell the Emperor was putting more importance to whoever knew about the imminent drought in the east. Really... A year ago this old guy was still very level-headed and knew what to prioritize. What happened to him?


    ''It is obvious we, or actually, they should be brainstorming how to deal with that issue. But since the old dude couldn''t think properly these days, is he still badly affected by Jiang Ying Yue''s prank? The young general secretly shook his head, a corner of his lips curled up. ''This is the only exnation I could think of.''


    After a minute-long silence, one of the wisest and most capable people in the gathering, the Prime Minister, finally spoke and advised the Emperor to focus more on how to deal with the issue. With that said, a proper court session finallymenced.


    Time then flew by and the case was closed with Hai Wang and Rui Wang being chosen to assist Duan Wang, the First Prince who was already in the affected region. The Prime Minister pushed forward for his beloved granddaughter to be the head of logistics. Those around kept their silence but they knew the old fox wanted his granddaughter to be responsible for the supplies and rations so she could reap some merits alongside Hai Wang.


    As for the army or band of soldiers who would escort them along the way, Hai Wang looked at Jiang Li while Rui Wang at the Marshal, but neither of them met their stares. Jiang Li wanted to enjoy his vacation while the Marshal was preupied with so many thoughts - anger at Chen Wang and worry for his principal wife and the tiger tally the main ones. Because of this, another lucky officer managed to get the spot. They were to set out within three days.


    "Before I dismissed the court today, since Zhen remembers that Zhen has yet to reward Chen Wang for his astounding victory against the Wus...Zhen would like to take this opportunity so Zhen would be able to sleep at night guilt-free."


    The Emperor''s face finally looked to be in a good mood after he remembered their nation''s triumph at the Fu Cheng Valley. With a slight smile, he asked the Prince-General, "Chen Wang, feel free to say what''s on your mind. What do you want Zhen to reward you?"


    Jiang Li took a step forward then bowed to the Emperor. There was a smile on his lips too, and when the old guy saw that, he immediately felt like the prince would say something very challenging. He wouldn''t ask again for thatss'' hand, right?


    A few momentster, the Emperor discovered that he was merely thinking too much about it.


    Jiang Li smiled again, eyes twinkling in anticipation. The Marshal was ring openly at him from the side, yet he snubbed him.


    After saluting, he opened his mouth. "Your Majesty, This Prince is in awe of your big heart." He paused, gaze meeting the Emperor for a brief moment before lowering it at the floor, "This Prince will impose on your generosity then.... and request for the status and everything that should belong to the former First Miss of the Jiangs to be returned."


    What he said made most of those in the audience hall stared at him with amazement. The others were shaking their heads at him, butughter danced in their eyes and expression. The Marshal though, like usual, was ring. The Emperor was relieved that he didn''t have to promise a marriage decree to the man, yet his heart still feltplicated.


    This prided retainer of his fought wars and won a huge victory for his empire, just so he could reinstate his lover as the daughter of the Marshal? He shook his head again and rubbed his forehead. Why was this young man so foolish?


    "Your Majesty," Jiang Li continued, exining. "A year ago, it has already been proven that she is innocent. The reason she is disowned is not valid anymore. Yesterday, This Prince tried to talk about it to the Marshal. However, the Marshal didn''t want to hear out my request. So I could only turn to Your Majesty."


    The Marshal''s eyes bulged out after he heard the Prince''s words. ''He burned my home and now he ndered me His Majesty? How shameless could this damn bastard be?''


    "Grand Marshal, is what he said true?''


    Jiang Ke suppressed the fire in his heart and head. He then hurriedly knelt on one knee and shouted, "Your Majesty, This Marshal is being ndered." The middle-aged man hated that he couldn''t talk about what happened to his Residence because he knew he would be ridiculed due to the Second Madam.


    Hands balled into a fist, he said, "This official didn''t manage to talk to His Highness Chen Wang yesterday and only met the previous Chen Wang Fei Lady Lu."


    ''Dragging that airhead mother of mine into our problem again?'' Jiang Li''s eyes darkened. However, that immediately vanished as he retorted, "If this Prince didn''t see you yesterday, how would I know that the angry soul of Lady Yu sent down a bolt of lightning to destroy your current home?"


    "Hmmm?"


    The other ministers, and even the old Emperor, frowned after they heard what the younger man replied. Chen Wang was that against the Marshal? Didn''t he know that mentioning the name of someone who had already died was just very disrespectful?


    Jiang Ke furiously said, "Chen Wang, you have truly gone overboard this time! I''ve yet to seekpensation and exnation for what you did yesterday to my home yet now you''re adding one more sin to the list? You''re good! Good!"


    "Well, thanks." Jiang Liughed, unabashed by the sarcasm and fury of the other. "So now that you mentioned I did something to your home, howe you''re still denying that you have spoken with me yesterday?"


    The Ministers: ... Help, we''re lost.


    System: Er, I''m lost too.


    Angrily, the Emperor barked, "Grand Marshal. Chen Wang. Stop it."


    Due to that icy shout and from realizing they were at the wrong ce for their argument, the two temporarily shut up.


    After chorusing an apology to the Emperor with Jiang Ke, Jiang Li shrugged and asked, "So Your Majesty, about my reward..."


    "..."


    ''This shamelessness... I shouldn''t have offered to reward this damn fool.'' Thought the Emperor while nursing a headache. He ignored the anxious Marshal who kept calling out ''Your Majesty!'', and waved a hand.


    When the royal scribe started helping the mentally exhausted son of heaven penned the decree, Jiang Li gave the raging bear near him a taunting smile, one which was seemingly saying, ''Hehe. So what if I am despicable? Didn''t I get what I wanted in the end?''


    Just now, he had acted so childishly and unreasonable, but he couldn''t care less, and didn''t bother to hide how joyful he was at this minor victory. Only one thing mattered - that the viiness could finally be reinstated as an aristocraticdy.


    He also sessfully angered his enemy. And perhaps, shorten his lifespan for a few hours.

 Chapter 137: Jiang Ying Yue (44)

    Chapter 137: Jiang Ying Yue (44)


    If only Jiang Li knew about the tiger tally in Jiang Ke''s hand getting burned, he would not have let the court be dismissed that easily. He would have used that as another weapon against the Marshal, and a tool to also anger the Emperor.


    Sadly, he didn''t know. So the Marshal, who naturally wouldn''t disclose that secret, was spared from getting scolded by the son of heaven. He was even able to have some time to exchange ''pointers'' with Jiang Li a couple of streets away from the pce. Of course, neither of them ended up injured. While the Marshal was annoyed that he was at the same level as someone younger by two decades than him, Jiang Li was annoyed that he couldn''tnd a blow on the Marshal even though he had already done his best to anger and distract him during the fight.


    ...


    A few hourster...


    A eunuch stood in front of the small gate of the humble house next to the huge and tall Chen Wang Residence and double-checked the que on the top. The smooth calligraphy only said, ''Moon Reflection''. However, that made the eunuch sure he was in the right ce. The que had the owner''s name in it. The given name Ying Yue meant reflection of the moon while her surname Jiang meant river. One could simply imagine how poetic the name was.


    ''The Prince-General probably fell in love with the name since even I find it very beautiful.'' thought the eunuch as he led the other pce servants into the courtyard.


    Contrary to the small and in-looking gate, the garden and the house looked quite imposing and not like whatmoners would have. It might not be huge, but the materials used to build it were topnotch. For example, the pirs were made of wood usually used in constructing a pce for the imperial concubines.


    The garden was also very well-maintained. Amidst the sea of colorful flowers and ornamental nts was a woman with unmatched grace and poise painting a butterfly in her canvass. She was all alone there, her back was facing them so she didn''t see theming. However, she did hear the iing footsteps.


    Without turning around, she asked, her voice as soothing as herst name, clear river. "Xiao Lu, is that you? Please wait a moment. I''m almost done with my sketches. If you''re going to drag me back inside to eat, just spare me this once."


    The Eunuch cleared his voice. His entourage was already a few steps away from thedy and was exchanging looks with each other. It seemed she mistook their many footsteps for a single person? Should they be amazed at her concentration on her work?


    From the door of the house''s main hall, a girl who seemed at the same age as the young miss emerged, and she was shocked upon seeing so many people appearing behind her young miss. Her shock doubled when she realized they were from the pce. And it tripled when somebody from the gate came in again.


    "Y-Your Highness." Xiao Lu greeted quite loudly, hoping her Miss would turn around immediately to realize the situation.


    The one who just arrived was indeed Jiang Li, Mao Hong and Xun He following behind him. The man''s lips were curled into a grin as he looked at the girl painting, and the people from the pce standing a bunch of creeps behind her.


    "Your Highness hase?" Jiang Ying Yue did turn her head when she heard Xiao''s voice, almost immediately, voice filled with both surprise and happiness. A secondter, she gasped and stood up, then lowered her head.


    She curtsied and greeted, "Thismoner woman humbly greets Eunuch Lin. May you have a day as great as the rising sun from the east. "


    At the presence of somebody who even dared to casually answer the Emperor and yet get away from it, the fat eunuch didn''t dare put on airs, especially in front of someone that person treasured in the palm of his hands. He frantically waved his hands and said, "No, no, Lady Jiang doesn''t need to bow to this insignificant one. Please don''t. Lady Jiang, this servant doesn''t dare and is not worthy to ept your courtesy."


    After seeing the girl raised her head, the eunuch sighed in relief then turned around and bowed at Chen Wang. "Greetings, Your Highness. This one is happy to see you in great health."


    Jiang Li nodded. He nced at the boxes being carried by the servants. Seeing where his eyes were directed at, the head eunuch didn''t tarry anymore. After clearing his throat, the eunuch announced the decree.


    "Miss Jiang. His Majesty found you clear of any guilt and is to be restored as the First Miss of the Jiang family. As a sign of an apology from the Ministry of Justice''s error before, His Majesty decided topensate you with a thousand taels of gold, a hundred bolts of the snowy silk fabric, a manor in the east-west district and a third-rank title, Lady of Ping''An. Lady, please ept the decree."


    Shocked at first, but still immediately recovered her senses, Jiang Ying Yue bowed and received the scroll being handed to her. There was no joy in her eyes. Deep in her heart, she knew, this woulde to her sooner orter since her prince would surely not rest until she regains what she lost.


    "Long live the Emperor. Thisdy has epted His Majesty''s grace." Eyshes angled forty-five degrees downward, she curtsied before she continued speaking in a calm voice. "Eunuch Lin, please pass my words of thanks to the son of heaven."


    The fat guy nodded then after ensuring the boxes of gifts were deposited properly inside the hall, he excused himself from the people there and led the pce servants back to the pce.


    When only Chen Wang''s people and Jiang Ying Yue were left at the ce, the girl raised her head to his direction, a smile slowly forming on her face. The moment she took a step forward, everyone else retreated to a distance, clearly intending to give them a space of their own. Their action, of course, made Jiang Ying Yue''s cheek reddened, but as the strong and resolute girl that she had be, she braved both the embarrassment and the man''sughing eyes.


    She continued moving forward, her slow steps reminding Jiang Li of when he watched Na Yu float down the aisle of a huge and famous church on their wedding day. For a moment, his eyes showed deep nostalgia and Jiang Ying Yue became lost in the warmth and emotions she saw in them.


    "Your Highness," she called in a clear and soft voice. She was now standing in front of him, with the decree in hands. She raised it to him with a small, gentle smile on her beautiful face.


    On one side, Xiao Lu was biting on her handkerchief to prevent herself from squealing. ''It''s a y! It''s a romantic y! The picture before me is so beautiful. The garden and them. Ahhh! My pure heart couldn''t take it! But wait, what is my young miss going to do? Is she finally too moved she couldn''t wait for His Highness to propose?''


    The two men a few meters away from her were pondering over the same question, their gazes at their boss so weird. Even now, they were still having a hard time believing a death god like him could fall for someone like this.


    Jiang Li acted like he didn''t see everyone''s expressions and movements when he swept his gaze around. Looking back to Jiang Ying Yue and the rolled-up piece of paper he opened his mouth, "So... Are you going to ask if it was my doing?"


    She shook her head. There was no need to ask the obvious. She raised her chin and looked into the man''s eyes. Then she said,


    "Your Highness. Will you please ept this decree containing my name and deed?"


    He tilted his head to the side. "This is the Emperor''s decree, you know?''


    He was reminding her that not properly storing this thing in her person would be a capital offense.


    "I know." She smilingly replied. "But even if it''s a crime, I''d like to gift all of me and all I have to His Highness."

 Chapter 138: Jiang Ying Yue (45)

    Chapter 138: Jiang Ying Yue (45)


    ''How is it a crime to gift all of me and everything I have to His Highness?'' The question kept ying in his mind, like a broken audio recording set in an endless loop.


    The girl''s words were not fanciful, contrasting to the poems she had written for him using the modern alphabet. Despite this though, he understood the deepest meaning of what she wanted to say.


    It''s not about the decree restoring her nobility status and giving her some riches which could be said decent for a nobledy no longer under the umbre of her family. The wealth was of no concern to him...


    Even if he was mostly on the battlefield, the memories he inherited from Lu Ling showed that he grew up almost having an endless supply of gold to spend. He was also one of those very few people only below one person and above a million. And thus, why would money even matter now?


    For sure, what she wanted to convey to him was that she was finally able to match up to him. At least she was no longer amoner who was not even fit to carry his shoes. With this said, Jiang Ying Yue''s act of giving him the decree that was sealing her as a true nobledy, a titled one at that, was she promising herself to him... Maybe not only herself, but her future, or even her lifetime.


    ''If only my Original this time did not make a request like that, to keep the Lu n''s bloodline and royal status up, I would just leave the family and give the leader position to one of my uncles or their sons. After that, I could simply be an ordinary guy, a merchant, or even a bandit, and she doesn''t need to worry about getting to a level eptable in the public''s eyes. She doesn''t have to always worry when she could officially stand beside me.''


    ''It''s like this in this world. In the previous world too, it''s her who keeps adjusting, both as a band vocalist''s manager, an HIV patient''s wife.''


    Nostalgia flickered in his eyes again. Jiang Ying Yue who had never moved her gaze away from him for even a second noticed that and became puzzled. His expression was unreadable. What was on his mind? What was he thinking?


    With no answering to her, she fell into a daze. Only after a few seconds did she realize, even if she couldn''t understand it, she could still admire.


    Thinking of this, her eyes looking at him turned as mellow, more than anyone else in the world right now, she was very d to have a photographic memory. Who would have thought this pretty face man was a general? Generals were usually those with wheaten skin and stiff body posture and facial expression. While this person before her was always wearing either a serious or a calcting look on his face, he still looked good. He could have qualified as an eye-candy-seeking princess'', cough... gigolo.


    The girl''s soul went back to her body when she saw movementing from his side.


    Jiang Li''s right hand moved up. Not to receive what she was handing over. But to lightly flicked her forehead. Watching her whimpered in pain, he sighed.


    "Lady Ping''An. Listen closely, alright?" Jiang Liughingly stared down at the rolled-up paper she was trying to give him.


    "What you''re offering to This Prince is so little. A third-rank title, a manor not near the imperial pce, a thousand gold? Too little. Really too little. Grow your property more. Grow it until it can at least match up to the wealth of one of my n''s cities. Then after that, you can go back to me with that decree. I''ll surely ept it then. But for now...." He looked at her, clicked his tongue and shook his head.


    A bit aggrieved, she raised her gaze at him, nose crinkled. A couple of momentster, she looked down at her feet again. With her eyes drooping and rosy lips pouting, she muttered, "Which girl or, even, a princess in the whole Zhou Dynasty ever had a dowry matching up to a whole city?"


    "Probably, you''ll be the first?" The answer he gave was apanied by a teasing smile. He didn''t refute that he was asking for her to grow her dowry.


    This act warmed the girl''s heart, so even though Jiang Li had just thrown a tough challenge, she returned the smile. Right. What was a city worth of dowrypared to him saving her time and time again, giving her a home, and sheltering her and caring for her for so long? In the end, that dowry was hers and would be something she would use for herself and her future home. How selfless could this man be? Since a year ago, he had been silently giving her everything without asking for a return.


    ''I''m now realizing, I really don''t deserve him. It''s like what Miss Sheng told me. Yet even if I don''t, I''ll be the selfish one this time andtch onto him. I... really don''t want to let him go.''


    The realization made her pursed her lips as she sunk into deep contemtion. In front of her, Jiang Li signaled for the servant girl to get the precious thing in Jiang Ying Yue''s hands. Afterward, he said, "Last time, I made you pick from two options and you chose your father''s estate. Would you like to check the other one now?"


    His voice sessfully pulled her out of her reverie. Once done blinking at him twice and digesting his words, the viiness replied, "Your Highness, if we go there now, won''t we be met with tighter security, or even, an ambush?"


    "What made you think so?"


    Wearing a doubtful look on her face, she answered, "Jiang Rou Li would have surely heard of what happened to the Second Madam and the only reason she hadn''t take revenge against us is her house arrest. Even so, since she knows there''s a chance we will go after her, she would surely arrange an airtight security around her, ensuring no moths or flies will be able to get in to do her harm."


    "Oh?" The man went silent for a while.


    Jiang Ying Yue didn''t want to interrupt his line of thought so she also remained quiet, directing her gaze to the blooming flowers surrounding them. Most of the flowers nted around were peonies and orchids. The garden was small, but since the hired gardener was quitepetent, and the maids diligent in taking care of it, it turned into a ce eyes could feast on and admire.


    However, while she indeed appreciated the breathtaking scenery around, her thoughts were more inclined to whether she could use the flowers, poison them, and send them to the Rui Wang Residence.


    ''Maybe I should try raising the matter to His Highness?'' She pondered, unworried that if the words escape out of her mouth, she would be taken for a vicious and malicious woman whose mind strayed from what normal female her age should think upon seeing something beautiful.


    Not long after, she crossed out the idea in her mind. ''Too overused. Not advisable to do. There is no way Jiang Rou Li would fall for something as stupid as that.''


    Jiang Li finally spoke after thinking things through.


    "If sneaking in will be proven difficult this time, how about we just enter legally through their main door?" His tone was suggesting it was actually the most obvious answer to what she asked.


    For some time, she didn''t know what to reply to this simple solution that His Highness brought forward.


    Heughed. "This Prince will have Mao Hong send a letter to inform them that the two of us will visit Rui Wang Fei in good faith. Do you know what we should say to themter if they questioned our sudden visit?" he asked, eyes darting at her with a yful glint on it.


    The viiness knew the other was testing her brain again so she sported a serious look on her face, staring heavenward as she contemted. A secondter, she returned her eyes at him then she opened her mouth.


    "Your Highness, if we will go along that n, we can just say that I, as her sister, am very worried about her health and wanted to check on her. However, I couldn''t go to her ptial residence on my first two days of being the capital due to the difference in our statuses. But now that I am back to being a proper titled aristocraticdy, I immediately thought of paying her a visit so I could personally give her words of encouragement along with a few medicinal gifts."


    "Medicinal gifts?"


    Words of encouragement were fine. But why was there a need to mention medicinal gifts? Shouldn''t she be bringing some nice ythings that girls loved to exchange among themselves when they get together? For example, some bangles or hairpins...


    Jiang Li was puzzled. But a minuteter, when one of the wonderful news from yesterday crossed his mind, he stered a smile on his face, whichter turned into a peal of joyfulughter. Jiang Ying Yue who was in front of him gave him a quizzical look, but he only patted her head and then started a weird hand-catching game with her.


    Amidst this, the chuckling Jiang Li thought,


    ''Damn, I almost forgot. Jiang Rou Li is reported to be having diarrhea for days now!''


    ...

 Chapter 139: Jiang Ying Yue (46)

    Chapter 139: Jiang Ying Yue (46)


    What happened if the ns meticulously cooked up failed and died while it was still on its cradle?


    ....


    Jiang Li''s face darkened after hearing that Rui Wang rejected their nned visit, passing to him through his messenger that the whole Rui Wang Estate was busy due to the uing excursion to receive him. That guy also said that his WangFei was very ill and heartbroken at what happened to her mother so she doesn''t want to entertain any guest.


    However... Howe Rui Wang''s estate was busy when the people from the pce were yet to finalize a n and route? And why was that damn prince sitting at home instead of participating in the nning part of their expedition?


    Jiang Li looked downwards, hands behind him. This was a habit he acquired from the original owner of his current body. He said to Mao Hong, "Did he say a date when we could visit his estate?"


    "Your Highness... Please forgive this ipetent subordinate. But the people of that ce are just too arrogant and immediately led me outside after Rui Wang told me his message. I didn''t manage to ask any more questions to Rui Wang."


    Mao Hong bowed, looking half-annoyed and half-aggrieved at the treatment that he received. Their conduct towards him was a reflection of how they viewed his master, so he really wanted to hack those servants down when they closed the gate to his face.


    "I see." Jiang Li muttered. His expression gradually turning back to its usual indifference. As if amazed, he remarked, "As expected from somebody who grew up pampered by the most powerful person in this dynasty."


    "Your Highness. Even if he is the most favored prince, he is still just a prince. The Emperor''s favor wouldn''t truly guarantee that he will be crowned the heir. Actually, among the imperial princes, Rui Wang is the leastpetent since even with all the resources falling onto hisp, he has yet to win against his brothers. So what gives him the confidence that he could act like that to the leader of the neutral faction?"


    "Well, he''s not putting a standoffish general in his eyes since he knows I will be mostlystationed at the southern border. Look. When the engagement between him and the first daughter of the Jiangs failed, he still epted the second daughter. He wanted the support of someone higher than me and is more frequently staying in the capital." Jiang Li exined.


    Mao Hong clenched his fist, fury apparent from his expression. "Your Highness! He''d definitely regret snubbing you. Didn''t he know it''s you who made the rest of the neutral faction members jump into Hai Wang''s defense? Hah, with you supporting Hai Wang, let''s see if he could still get the throne!"


    The prince-generalughed. He was truly entertained by the emotion showing on his attendant''s face. The words he also said were just as amusing.


    However, even though Mao Hong had just uttered something bad against somebody from the imperial family, Jiang Li did not scold him or remind him that he should be careful of his words because the walls might have ears. Anyway, what the subordinate said was true. And there was no way there could be spies who could escape his notice.


    His attendant apanied him as he walked back into his own residence. They had juste out of the girl''s smallpound. Lunchtime was almost over when they arrived at the man''s own dwelling ce within his residence. However, instead of heading straight into the kitchen, he went to his study and picked up his brush. He had his assistant grind the ink while he busied himself with writing.


    "Your Highness, a message to His Majesty?" The other man was puzzled after he epted the letter and heard who it was addressed to.


    Didn''t his boss already tell the ministers in the court meeting earlier that he would not be going? He heard he reasoned that since he just went back from the battlefield and would want to enjoy a longer stay in the capital? What was with the sudden change of mind?


    "Personally hand it His Majesty." Jiang Li couldn''t ignore his favorite attendant''s confusion so he added. "Tell him that the recently reinstated first Miss of the Jiangs has decent knowledge in medicine and wants to go with the expedition to help those who will get injured or sick along the way. This Prince will be escorting her and ensuring her safety. I''d be bringing one of my battalions. Add to your exnationter that I was also persuaded by Miss Jiang to go as she wants to ensure no casualty will ur in case we have to take some dangerous and remote routes."


    Mao Hong stared at him nkly for some time before tilting his head to the side and suspiciously asking, "Your Highness, may I know what''s with the sudden change of decision?"


    A couple of momentster, something crossed his mind so he embarrassedly scratched his head and looked down, then peeked at his boss.


    "Cough, is it because Your Highness got incensed for my sake so to get back at Rui Wang, you will join the expedition and show Hai Wang, his majorpetitor apart from the Duan Wang, some support?"


    ''... This weird guy...''


    While thetter part was true, the reason Jiang Li would do that was definitely not. Wasn''t he himself was slighted? There was also that man almost making Jiang Ying Yue lose her life a year ago.


    So Jiang Li gave the other man a serious look then said, "Mao Hong, go look for a good doctor after you deliver that to His Majesty. You need to receive some treatment. I think the air from Rui Wang''s caused several pits to appear in your brain."


    "...."


    ''Ah... So this is the price for thinking too much...''


    The young deputy suspected of having mental problems scratched his head again, bowed, then silently left.

 Chapter 140: Jiang Ying Yue (47)

    Chapter 140: Jiang Ying Yue (47)


    Rui Wang Estate, in the main hall of the mainpound...


    "Why is Chen Wang suddenly changing his mind?" When the report reaches the Marshal''s ears, he immediately asked his source about the young general''s sudden decision to join the convoy going to the east region.


    Seated in front of him, Rui Wang creased his brow and also perked his ears to listen to what the messenger would say.


    The masked man kneeling before the two said, "Grand Marshal, Your Highness Rui Wang, ording to the hearsays, it''s the newly appointed Lady of Ping''An who wanted to go with the expedition. It''s been said thedy is confident of her medical skills and wants to contribute to the empire, therefore, she volunteered herself. Chen Wang only agreed to go after being persuaded by her toe with them and help General Tao to ensure there will be no mishaps to the members of the excursion."


    The Emperor''s most favorite son snorted at the side, bringing down the cup of tea in his hand to the elegant patterned wooden table. The narrow slits of his eyes made the handsome but arrogant-looking prince more conceited when he looked at Jiang Ke andmented, "Look here, my father-inw the Grand Marshal. The opponent who set fire in your courtyard yesterday is such a foolish man. Wherever the woman he fancies goes, he goes. Such a simple-minded opponent managed to reduce one of your manors into heaps of ashes?"


    The Marshal waved a hand at his subordinate. Only after the man bowed and excused himself from them did he reply to Rui Wang with utter seriousness in his face.


    "Your Highness. This one has no choice but to be blunt with you. I visited Your Highness to warn you about Chen Wang. Please don''t slight him nor underestimate him just because he had stayed longer outside of the capital than anybody else. You were also at the court earlier and saw what he could do."


    Rui Wang''s eyes were watching the ripples on the tea. When he heard the older man''s words, a corner of his lips rose, hisughing eyes hiding some disdain, "Grand Marshal, are you referring to how he yed with words in front of Father Emperor against you?"


    The Marshal''s heart grew cold upon realizing that the man before him was really too stupid and too arrogant. Nheless, since he was already in Rui Wang''s camp, he suppressed the urge to break the nearest furniture, and patiently exined,


    "Your Highness. Please be reminded that Lu Ling is the head of the neutral side. However, when the Emperor earlier is heavily questioning the second prince about how he managed to get a hold of something even the Emperor had not heard of yet, the people from the neutral faction all went forward to say a few good words in Hai Wang''s favor."


    It was impressive that even though Jiang Ke was in the middle of a ring contest with Jiang Li earlier, he still managed to observe that. In reality, this information gave him quite a shock. He was rmed. Nevertheless, he still managed to give the people around the idea that he didn''t see the signs. Now, he was reminding his patron since for him, the old fogies of the neutral faction siding with somebody was a big issue.


    Unfortunately...


    Rui wang only replied, "Oh? Those few ministers?"


    The prince raised his head and looked at his worrywart father-inw with an expression asking, ''What of it?''


    Apparently, the most favored son of the Emperor did not put much thoughts into it. He was not that bothered. As someone already secretly penned by his father the Emperor as heir, why would he?


    This was showing on Rui Wang''s face. And Jiang Ke saw this. He believed Rui Wang should at least do something. But since the other was clearly nning not to, he felt like the most idiotic thing he did in his entire life, apart from falling for Chen Wang''s trap yesterday, was siding this damnable prince who would most likely die due to his arrogance before he could ascend the throne.


    ...


    On the other side of the city, in the house next to Chen Wang Residence, Jiang Ying Yue was talking to her maids, discussing with them what their arrangements in the uing expedition would be.


    Beforehand, she had been informed about the matter. It was Jiang Li himself who jumped over the wall separating their houses to tell her of this. Since she knew she would be posturing as a medic, she had her servants go to the different clinics to purchase all that she would be needing to y the part.


    "Thankfully, I have just arrived in the capital. Given this reason, those who would hear about me ordering my people to buy some necessities should not suspect me," she muttered to herself as she watched the servants hauled boxes after boxes of herbs and medicine in the courtyard.


    When she sent Xiao Lu next door to deliver a message to Chen Wang, she was also thanking her lucky stars that she was taught some basic medical knowledge by that old witch.


    Jiang Ying Yue thought of that person, was she doing okay at the borders by herself?


    "Young Miss, we have everything sorted out," reported Xiao Lu at her. She remained staring out the west window, watching the setting sun.


    "Xiao Lu." Jiang Ying Yue called out to the maid standing respectfully behind her. Her voice was as clear and soothing as the wind, hence the hint of sadness in it couldn''t be hidden. "Like His Highness, you''re aware of what I really am, what I went through, and what I will be doing in that ce. So please tell me your honest opinion. Do you think that what I am currently nning to do is wrong?"


    Her sudden question made the other girl''s eyes widened. After making sure there were no extra ears around, Xiao Lu hesitantly opened her mouth to ask, "Young Miss... I heard that Rui Wang is one of those in charge, is it about him?"


    Jiang Ying Yue kept her silence. The servant didn''t dare say her opinion too. She was not Mao Hong who could openly utter bad things about the royalties.


    Time passed but the viiness did not speak anymore, seemingly lost in her thoughts. She reminisced everything she experienced since the day her mother died and her father somehow became somebody else. All that yed in her mind were unpleasant images... rare were the good ones.


    Even if she was now under Jiang Li''s wings and basking in his warmth and care, the dark memories wouldn''t go away, same with her heart that kept shouting for something. Revenge.


    This trip to the region that would be struck by famine and drought would be her greatest opportunity. She was in awe how Lu Ling realized her thirst for justice and truth more than anyone else, but since he gave this chance to her, she wouldn''t let it pass!


    She smiled as she engraved the red skies and floating clouds in her mind.


    Right now, nobody looking at her expression should be able to tell that deep inside her, she was vowing to push those two, Rui Wang and his wang fei, down the abyss. To let them taste what true despair was, the kind of despair at least three times greater than what she went through before.

 Chapter 141: Jiang Ying Yue (48)

    Chapter 141: Jiang Ying Yue (48)


    Two days immediately passed. On the early morning of the third day, a huge group consisting of more or less five thousand people left the capital, marching towards the east.


    Jiang Li was with this group.


    Like what he wrote on the letter Mao Hong sent to the Emperor, he brought a battalion of around a thousand soldiers with him. Since there was another armying with them, he volunteered to just take the left nk. It was coincidentally the nearest to Jiang Ying Yue''s carriage.


    The rest of the formation was taken up by the people of another general surnamed Tao. This general was actually somebody from Rui Wang''s faction, an old guy mostly stationed at the east. This guy happened to back to the capital due to a reason Jiang Li didn''t know and didn''t care to know. But when both Jiang Li and Jiang Ke declined the appointment, it was he who got the opportunity due to his familiarity with the ce and terrains.


    Somehow, when this person greeted him, Jiang Li saw that this general seemed to not hold him in high regards. He was guessing it was due to being in the same camp as the imperial prince who had the highest chance of winning the crown.


    This old man''s case was like how the eunuchs of the Emperor''s main pce think that they were superior to the eunuchs of the other pces, even though at the end of the day, they were still all eunuchs.


    But well, it was not like he was doing the same to the other party, so he didn''t care much about it. As long as the other person doesn''t do anything to irritate him, for example, make his people do the hardbor, like the setting up of the camps or carrying sacks of stuff while those from their side ck off, Jiang Li wouldn''t find trouble with him and make him the second Jiang Ke.


    The day passed without a hitch. At least, there had been no conflict among the members of the caravan. Old Tao did not provoke him. This person was at least sensible and knew that even if he was in the same side as Rui Wang, it didn''t mean a thing before somebody who was at the neutral side, not to mention if it was in an actual battle, he would definitely lose against someone at the same caliber as the Grand Marshal.


    The unfortunate thing was when nightfall came, they didn''t reach a town, and the one nearest to their current location was still a few dozen miles away. Without a choice, they looked for a ce to set up camp and then settled on a wide grasnd near a narrow river.


    It was not a bad location, just that thefort it could give to the members of the caravan was notparable to local inns. But well, beggars couldn''t be choosy.


    "Your Highness Chen Wang, His Highness Hai Wang is inviting you to dine with him in his encampment. Would you pleasee with this one?"


    The moment Jiang Li jumped down from his horse, a guard from Hai Wang''s side saluted at him. The person was in his thirties, taller than Mao Hong, and with a few stubbles on his chin. There was no expression on his face when he extended the invitation to Jiang Li.


    The general nced at him and replied in a tone that barely hid his annoyance, "Tell His Highness, This Prince is guilty in his heart. But Lady Ping''An is waiting for me and I have alreadymitted to a meeting with her. If a gentleman breaks his promise, how could he still be called a gentleman? He should be able to understand my dilemma. Please ask forgiveness to His Highness in This Prince''s behalf. "


    Those staying at Hai Wang''s side were intelligent people. The guard was just as astute so he realized the real meaning behind his refusal. Since he already received an answer, he excused himself from the young general and left to ry the message.


    "Your Highness, he refused the invitation. He said he promised to apany Lady Ping''An." Kneeling on one knee, the bearded guy said to Hai Wang.


    "He refused to see me? So Lu Ling simply doesn''t want his rtionship with me to be known to the public?" A hundred meters away from Jiang Li and Jiang Ying Yue''s encampment, the second prince furrowed his brow upon hearing the reply from his messenger.


    "My apologies, Your Highness, that seems to be the case, or else he wouldn''t bring upmitting to a promised dinner with somebody else."


    While it was true the man was donning the armor and weapon of a mere guard, he was actually one of Hai Wang''s advisors. Hence he boldly spoke his opinion and didn''t go about it like what some ministers usually do.


    He didn''t believe somebody who could easily triumph against enemies would have water in his brain for love. This was why he added, "My liege, if a man truly wants to do something or okay to do something, he wouldn''t create any excuse to hinder from aplishing it. It''s obvious the general is ying safe and is not intending to support you publicly. All I could see is his reluctance to let go of his position as the leader of the neutral parties. It seems Chen Wang..."


    "Zhong Ling."


    The guard lowered his head and didn''t continue speaking when Hai Wang, raised one of his hands to stop him. Inside his fancy tent, the prince remained seated in his stool, admiring the content in the small piece of paper that other man passed earlier to him through a messenger bird.


    After looking through everything written there, he handed it to the silent guard who immediately nced down to skim its content. A few momentster, the older man widened his eyes and stared gaping at Hai Wang.


    "This..."


    The second prince nodded. "It''s exactly what you''re thinking it is."


    The man was aware of Chen Wang''s secretmunication method with the person before him so he asked, "It came from him?"


    When he received a smile and a nod from Hai Wang, his eyes widened further that they seemed to be popping out of their sockets any time soon. He shouted in an agitated voice, "H-How did he know about this!!! This, this is a sacred art that could change the skies and dictate the heavens! Only great priests from ancient times know how to do this!!! B-but those mystical people already vanished from the secr world. So how?!! "


    Chen Heng shook his head at the man who was still stuttering and mumbling stuff due to shock. In a calm but serious tone, he said, "It doesn''t matter how he got the method, Zhong Ling. It''s good that he is with us." A secondter, he started to chuckle. "So let''s just drop the issue about him rejecting my invitation and prepare to shake the whole Zhou Dynasty with this."


    ...


    Back to Chen Wang''s encampment...


    After personallyying the food on the table, Jiang Ying Yue took the seat opposite Jiang Li. She raised her chopsticks above her favorite dish, before looking at him and smilingly asking, "So Your Highness, have you given the Rain Calling method already to Hai Wang?"

 Chapter 142: Jiang Ying Yue (49) <2-in-1>

    Chapter 142: Jiang Ying Yue (49) <2-in-1>


    Days passed and therge group of people finally stepped foot into the eastern region after half-circling a mountain range cutting off that ce from the rest of the empire.


    Along the way, Jiang Li saw many soldiers and the people from the logistic side throwing Hai Wang''s camp puzzled looks due to seeing no abnormal signs in the ce. He heard some servants and guards from Rui Wang''s factions even approached the male lead''s side only to question him about the matter.


    The few pieces of evidence had been shared with everyone and those in the know knew that the signs should only appear at the opposite side. However, the ministers from Rui Wang''s factions purposely did not correct their people so they would go and harass the male lead. A petty but amusing way, if Jiang Li''s opinion would be asked.


    "Miss Sheng is the one who berated those who keep pestering and questioning His Highness Hai Wang. It''s also her who somehow found out that even though the trees and nts around here seemed lush and vibrant, many of the wells in the viges where we passed by have already dried up."


    Xun He was the one who spoke. He was standing behind Jiang Li who was leaning forward on the balcony of the room assigned to him.


    This time, the caravan managed to reach a town before the night descended. They naturally chose thergest and most reputable inn in the area. Jiang Li upied a room on the highest floor. The adjacent and nearby rooms were taken by the other princes and higher-ranked people, the viiness included, while those from the lower floors were given to the lower-ranked officials and soldiers. The ce was only so big, so the other soldiers had to go somewhere else.


    In front of them was quite the picturesque sight. The sky had already turned dark, but downward, there were manynterns lit in front of the various houses and shops, and the soft orange-ish glow they give off was a pleasant contrast to the darkness.


    While looking at the bustling scene below, Jiang Limented, "So Miss Sheng had her people collect intel from the vigers?"


    The bear-like guy with braided hair nodded, adding, "ording to the locals initially did not think much of it and simply resorted to fetching water from the downstream. However, the water level of the river is getting lower and lower every few days. Mostmoners thought something angered the local River Deity so they tried to offer some sacrifices to him. Unfortunately, the situation did not improve. Then when they saw ourrge grouping, that''s when they realized that something was amiss. After all, the court is rmed."


    Jiang Li nodded. He asked if there was movement from Hai Wang and Rui Wang''s sides, and the assistant only said that Hai Wang had secretly sent people around to spread rumors. Rui Wang, on the other hand, was busy trying to have the female lead break her engagement with his older brother and be his side concubine.


    "And the first prince?"


    "Your Highness... Mao Hong informed me that one of our spies near the academy managed to sneak in and discovered that Duan Wang has gotten in touch with a Qin Tian priest, somebody from the reclusive temple that could read and influence the heavens somewhat. It seems the first prince wanted to cement his position by showing to the masses that he could call down rain andmand winds, something only a true son of heaven could do."


    Jiang Li''s mouth turned into an O, a bit surprised, but then he remembered that it happened in the plot so he slowly lost interest in it.


    In the plot, Duan Wang wanted to try the same rain calling trick, but the astrologer whom he painstakingly unearthed from the eastern regions misread the date. So Duan Wang''s rain calling failed.


    The anxious and incensed people had the next prince try again the following day, and miraculously, a heavy downpour urred. It was simply the halo of the main character which kicked in and the heavens showering Hai Wang some benefits. With the rain moistening the crackednds and giving hope to people, everyone bowed down at Hai Wang''s feet and spread to the whole region that he was the crown prince.


    Jiang Li remembered the message he sent days ago to the male lead.


    Tomorrow they would arrive at the central city of the eastern region.


    A day after that, the ceremony headed by the first prince would take ce.


    Hai Wang who didn''t know of his eldest brother''s n was spreading rumors of his own rain-calling the next day after the first prince''s. Behind the male lead''s back, people were probably now calling him a fraud or whatever names.


    The male lead''s reputation would be cleared dayster, and in a great fanfare as well. But well, it all doesn''t matter for now.


    Thinking of the viiness who vanished from her room tonight, tailed by one of his shadow guards, he looked heavenward and thought that while the starry skies were beautiful, the night was no longer young. After instructing his subordinate to rouse him if something unusual happens, he went back to the inner room to rest.


    If he would be able to sleep even though that girl was out there, doing who-knows-what, well, why not?


    Even without the person he sent to protect her, he knew she was strong enough to secure her safety. In fact, it was those who would bump into and anger her who should be praying for some miracles to happen.


    ...


    It was actually a full moon night.


    In a less popted street in the town a few turns away from the center, as lights were dancing from themps andnterns of the nearby, shadows were moving in the darkness, all belonging to a cloaked woman.


    Her footsteps were not hurried as she walked down that road. Under the hood of her brownish furry cloak, bright pearl-like eyes peeked out, from time to time checking the few stalls and shops from both sides of the street still operating at this time of the night.


    A couple of moments she ran into four people who tried to kidnap her and take advantage of her. They had wide demonic smirks on their faces when they surrounded. But it did not take even a minute for these men who were stillughing rambunctiously a while ago to end up groaning on the floor. A few seconds back, the woman threw some sort of powder at them, and then they just suddenly ended up paralyzed, dropping with their hands on their jaws and throat. It was amidst this that they got forced fed with some sort of many-legged insects.


    The scene immediately changed from four gangsters intimidating a weak-looking woman, into that weak-looking woman the only one standing. Her eyes that held no emotion looked down on the group of men.


    "Want the antidote?" her voice akin to a softly ringing bell drifted to the men''s ears, and her words seemed like what healers and priests would say, at least the mentioning of the antidote. If only the poison and the sickening living being that they had drunk and eaten was not shoved into their mouths by her.


    As they let out unintelligible words and noises from their throats, they eagerly nodded, even whilst fear danced in their eyes. Or actually it was because of their fear, for their lives, and of this venomous woman that they kept nodding like there was no tomorrow.


    The woman giggled for some time and then said, "Good then. Take advantage the night to spread some rumors for me. By tomorrow if my intended results happen, I''ll see you here at the same time and ce and give you all the antidote. If your works made my mood happier, then I''ll have no problem removing my little friends from your bodies. What say you four?"


    Once again the men suppressed the painful moans from their lips and nodded. When the woman pped her sleeve and signaled them to leave, they immediately bolted away.


    A few turnster, when they confirmed she was not following them, they began beating their stomachs and forcing themselves to vomit so whatever had entered their mouths earlier would alsoe out. Unfortunately, they couldn''t get the nauseating bugs out, not even after they tried digging into their throats.


    "Even if you lot tried to puncture a hole in your throats to make theme out, you wouldn''t be able to. So I suggest you just all behave and do a great job aplishing what I asked you to do. Anyway, it''s very easy. And I didn''t take away your voices so it will be more convenient for all of you."


    When they remembered these words uttered in an easy-going manner earlier before she let them go, the four local thugs felt helpless in their hearts. Without a choice, they scattered and spent the whole night running around the city to spread the news the venomous woman tasked them to.


    As for the witch, she went back to her casual stroll, only stopping when she saw a rundown shop which was to her liking. Obscure. Old. But the person manning the counter also looked old and honest, and thus, credible.


    She spoke with the old woman inside and after learning this shopkeeper knew traditional medicine, she consigned a bottle of her own concoction, the subject of the rumor she asked to be spread.


    "Miss, before you leave. I can smell that this is real and sessful brew. That''s why I''m okay epting it. But what does it do and what illness is this for?" inquired the old woman who kept inspecting the bright red gel-like liquid in the clear bottle.


    Under the illumination of hermp, both she and the woman before her saw that there were a few things glittering inside, like stars in a rare luminous sky. It was both beautiful and mysterious. If not for the smell of herbs in it, which somehow created a pleasant smell, she would have suspected this not was really medicine, but a kind of decoration.


    Seeing the old woman''s reaction, the other woman managed to guess that this person was naively thinking that all that smelled of herbs usually used for treating diseases were all good stuff. A grin appeared on her face. "Granny. All I can tell you is that it is made by my master."


    Even though the hood''s shadow obscured her facial features, the curvature on her lips allowed the shopkeeper to realize she was facing a very beautiful person. The old woman became lost in it that she didn''t notice something odd in that smile.


    "And it''s a medicine which can extend lifespans." The hooded woman added.


    "Can extend lifespan?" The other''s face immediately darkened. "Lass, are you kidding me? Do you think just because I''m old, you can y with words with me?"


    The woman maintained that smile and straightforwardly said, "Look at the bottom of the bottle. You''ll realize why it is so."


    Even though doubtful, the old woman did as told, bringing her wrinkled face and the bottle nearer to her source of light. Not even five seconds passed and she gasped at the thing in her hands, her eyes widening at the round symbol. "H-Heavens! I-it''s from the Soul Temple?"


    The ce she mentioned was coincidentally the one where the astrologer by Duan Wang''s side came from. It was a mysterious and sacred ce for themon folks, housing several great daoists and doctors. It was for this reason that the old woman was shocked, especially when the hooded woman nodded.


    Only a minuteter did the old shopkeeper regain her senses. And when she did, greed shed momentarily in her eyes, yet it immediately vanished upon remembering that the woman before her could be from that ce.


    Knowing she was just a small personage, she calmed herself down and then said, "Leave it to me, then. However, I''m just a normal citizen and could not help have the best client. Are you really sure you should leave this to me? There are many bigger stores in this city."


    "You don''t need to worry about the buyers. Tomorrow people interested in that item would appear. I am in urgent need of money, arge amount of that. So please help me. I can give you a five percent cut from the amount that it will get."


    "What if they just resort to killing me or robbing me?"


    ''Oh? Quite wary and intelligent...'' The woman once again smiled. "There will be people robbing a middleman or partner of somebody from this one''s temple?"


    After hearing that question, the shopkeeper did not ask anymore and respectfully sent her outside the shop.


    When tomorrow came, just as said by the mysterious woman, people of high statuses suddenly stormed her shop, many enticed by the rumors spread by the four thugs. But in the end, the dubious item was bought by a minister under the third prince.

 Chapter 143: Jiang Ying Yue (50)

    Chapter 143: Jiang Ying Yue (50)


    "He bought what I concocted," Jiang Ying Yue happily reported to Jiang Li on the following day when they finally reached their destinations. A few minutes ago, they had just been escorted by a servant of the first prince to their temporary courtyards.


    Jiang Li was supposed to apany the three imperial brothers since he too, at least in title, was a prince, but he declined the invitation. While it was true he was no longer in the neutral camp, in the eyes of the world, he was. So even though it was supposed to be an official meeting, he managed to reject it using the excuse that it could be taken as him getting into anybody''s faction.


    Jiang Li and the viiness were together because as usual, Jiang Li jumped over roofs and walls to see the girl. Of course, they were not doing anything unusual, just talking. Since she was an unmarried maiden with a reputation to maintain, the girl had her maid stay to deter him from doing anything wolfish.


    The two were in the main hall. The man was busy scrutinizing the few pieces of paperid on the table before him, admiring the drawings and the poetic verses. Only when he heard what she said did he raise his head, a corner of his mouth lifted.


    He met her gleaming eyes and asked in curiosity, "May I know what will happen to those who will take that?"


    She shook her head, "No."


    "Why?" He ced down the painting he had picked up a while ago. "Is it a surprise?"


    "Yes!" Her answer was apanied byughter. "I''m sure Your Highness will be amused once you learn what it can do."


    ''... Who taught her to be like this?''


    Jiang Li arched his brow at her for some time, but when she did not give in, he shrugged andughed too. "Well, I''ll just hope it deserves the suspense and wait."


    To his response, the girl only replied with a confident smile. "I''m sure it will. It''s not something that will usually cross people''s minds." She went back to her merryughing and him who became puzzled as heck went back to shaking his head helplessly.


    This time, he really had no clue what she had done. At least not with that potion.


    ''I know she''s taking advantage of the war of princes. After all, no matter who manages to sessfully call down the rain, it spells bad news to Rui Wang. Even though that guy seems unconcerned about thepetition due to being favored, in the end, not even he will be able to ignore the rain calling matter. He won''t be able to do anything once the people publicly recognized Hai Wang or Duan Wang as the next blessed son of heaven. Well, not unless he does something or offered something as miraculous.''


    Jiang Li looked at the girl. He thought if it was an item from a sacrednd such as Soul Temple and could truly extend one''s life or clear of all ailments in the body, then the Emperor would probably be too moved. He would truly pass down the throne at him while he enjoyed life and roamed thend carefreely with his favorite concubine.


    However, the viiness said the concoction was something storing some surprise in it. There was no way she would be kind to somebody who not only broke her heart and shamed her in public but also helped Jiang Rou Li arranged those damn traffickers. She was almost sold her to some mountain bandits!


    Just what did she do with that item? And how did she get that bottle with that mysterious temple''s genuine logo?


    When no answer came to mind, Jiang Li stared outside the window, eyes darkened as he annoyingly thought, ''It seems her guards are too rxed these days. Even just thest question, none of them reported about it. I think I must put them into another drill with me.''


    If the guard knew of what their boss was thinking, they would surely cry for justice. It was not truly their fault, and they had no way to know that the viiness found the bottle in the old witch''s home.


    ...


    Time flew fast. In a blink of an eye, the next day already arrived.


    Duan Wang''s surprise turned into a joke, just as expected. It was because when he tried to do the ceremony, even though the drumming at the ce had been the loudest Jiang Li had ever heard, and there were many people to witness it done at the highest mountain peak in the region, the first prince''s praying for the rain was not heard by the heaven. He was not its true darling so why would it?


    As a result, no rain fell down from the thick clouds gathering above them. In short, his ceremony failed.


    It was quite heartbreaking to see themon people who were holding so much hope sporting tearful reactions upon seeing this result. The ones crying and begging the loudest were those from the easternmost part of the region, where drought had started to haunt thend. Seeing this, mes started to get thrown at the imperial family, but the reason for all of this, Duan Wang, was busy scolding the Qin Tian official, the said astrologer from the Soul Temple, who assisted him.


    It was in the middle of people''s riot that somebody from the crowd timely said that he remembered hearing rumors that tomorrow, Hai Wang would be attempting the ceremony.


    Rui Wang''s side was initially rejoicing at the first prince''s blunder, but when they heard the people were discussing whether the second prince should to try the ceremony tomorrow, they began an argument with Hai Wang''s supporters. The covert exchange of words between the two parties in a form of pleasantries was quite entertaining to watch for those on the neutral side.


    But because the words of mouth had already been set up days ago, Hai Wang still won the popr opinion.


    "It''s not fair. For something as important as this, we should first be consulting His Majesty!"


    One local minister supporting the third prince angrily huffed to the side as he and hispanions watched the citizens tearfully say words of encouragement to the second prince., or beg him to help them ask the heavens for blessings and mercy. This person only said that because if they were to do that, then there would be definitely no contest between Hai Wang and Rui Wang. The Emperor would definitely select thetter, his most favorite son.


    General Tao snorted, "Old Guo, there''s no need to fuss. Even if the second prince is chosen by the people, it doesn''t mean he will be heard by the heavens. Most likely he, too, would be like the first prince."


    Rui Wang saw that a few supporters of the first prince had turned to them with cold expressions on their faces, but he didn''t stop the conversations of those from his camp. After grinning at the red-faced Duan Wang, he went back to talking to Sheng Lingxin even though this female lead, and fiancee of the guy currently smiling andforting the masses, was busy stealing nces at the quiet prince-general by the viiness'' side.

 Chapter 144: Jiang Ying Yue (51)

    Chapter 144: Jiang Ying Yue (51)


    With the plot as the male lead''s armor, the rain calling for the next day naturally became a huge sess. However, even though it took ce on the same mountain, there was something a little different with his ceremony. Aside from there were fewer people since not few became heartbroken due to Duan Wang''s failure, the sacrifices to be offered were more than yesterday. Bigger too, and not the usual animals...


    Alright. Actually, yesterday, due to the letter of advice he received from the general, Hai Wang gathered his people, rallied the government buildings and sacked all those corrupt and trashy officials who either exploited the masses or stole some money from the government''s treasury. Most people that had been found guilty were Rui Wang''s supporters. There were also a few from the other princes'' side, some even under the male lead.


    Hai Wang disregarded all protests and used the mantle of authority granted to him by the masses to drag those people to the sacrificial altar the next day. Before the ceremony started, Hai Wang had all of them executed before the public. They were the ones who became the sacrificial offerings. After all, whose blood could appease the anger of the gods more than these corrupt officials?


    The rain calling was done per Jiang Li''s instruction; find a tall ce where clouds heavily gather, set up the sky drums around a raised tform, then slowly shout the rain prayer ny-nine times at the top of the lungs, with both hands extended upward in the whole duration of the prayer.


    Cough, thest part was just Jiang Li trolling of the male lead. There was no shout with raised hands, and actually... the prayer only had to be recited nine times, not ny-nine.


    However, because the male lead didn''t know that awkward instruction was not part of the original prayer ceremony, he blindly followed everything to a tee, causing the general to turn away from the whole thing, for some time, to finishughing.


    Anyway, at least the prayer ceremony turned sessful.


    A heavy downpour started a minute before the male lead finished his recital of the verses, much to the joy of themoners and low-born people depending on thend and its natural resources to survive.


    Seeing this though, the two other princes'' turned dark, especially the first prince who not only failed, but was unlike Rui Wang who had their imperial father''s endless doting and could get away from failures like this.


    Beside Jiang Li, the girl who became puzzled at everyone''s reactions tilted her head to his direction and asked, "Your Highness, there is something I don''t understand. This is only one raining. Why are the denizens this happy, like all of them just suddenly earn or gain overnight riches? Will this be enough to revive a region that is starting to turn into a desert and a wastnd?"


    The two of them were at the spot nearest to the altar. Behind them were rows upon rows of soldiers in standby, all to assist if ever a riot urred. But two of the soldiers were holding an umbre for the two of them.


    Jiang Li looked at her and answered in a matter-of-fact tone, "No. It''s not enough."


    Jiang Ying Yue nodded. "Hmm. Thought so too. So it''s kind of weird for me that they''re celebrating so soon when there is yet to be a good result."


    The manughed, "You''re right. However, the rain is enough to give hope to these people''s hearts which have been wallowing in despair and hopelessness due to the fast-warming climate of this region. There''s also that execution of those sinners who had stolen the tax money and exploited many hardborers. The rain is so thend will be revived. The purge of corrupt officials is so the hearts of themon people would be recaptured."


    He saw that the girl seemed to be thinking about it, digesting his meaning. So he added, "For everyone here, since both hope and justice are given to them by an imperial n member, they are starting to believe again in the royal power and having hopes that they could go back to their normal lives , through their help, I mean."


    Jiang Ying Yue pursed her lips.


    It was quite a surprise that even though these people only got showered by a few droplets of rain for some time, their faith in the royal family was immediately rekindled.


    Meanwhile, Jiang Li shrugged his shoulders and secretly mused, ''People of this era... are really so superstitious and easy to mislead. In the end, it''s because of the current education system. I bet no one will believe me even if I exin how this raines, that it''s not sent down by the heavens, but manipted toe down by men. The heck, I don''t even understand why they believe an emperor is the son of a dragon, that he has a dragon body, even though they could perfectly see that he is a freakin'' human.''


    The man secretly shook his head at this.


    Even if he had knowledge beforehand about their lifestyles and beliefs, the ancient''s brains were still really something he found quite hard to understand. Was this may be just the difference between the mindset of someone who had grown up in a modern world and somebody in ancient times?


    In one corner of his eyes, he saw Sheng Lingxin watching Chen Heng with aplicated expression on her face. She, too, was probably wondering why the heck people were bowing down at scenes like this.


    In modern times, even if a dude really does something quite miraculous, for example swallowing a sword yet still have an intact throat upon pulling it out, nobody from there would kneel down to worship that guy. Instead, people would pull up their phones, video-record it, and share it on social media to gain more followers.


    But here... He was sure if that same person did the same at this ce, he would definitely be mistaken for some god who descended on earth, or a heavenly messenger from some sacred temple who would bring themon people some prophecies or salvations. People would bow down at his feet and treat him like a prayer statue. He would be worshipped and subjected to an imperial treatment.


    Jiang Li thought, in this world, most likely only the female lead would be able to rte to him. That was if the viiness, this incarnation of Na Yu next to him, had really no way of regaining her memories from other worlds.


    "Did you suffer trauma from all the blood you see today?" After some time, when his eyes settled on the huge puddle of red, a mix of rainwater and blood, on and around the sacrificial tform, he asked the viiness.


    "Thank you for worrying about me. No, Your Highness. I am fine." Though quite startled and confused, Jiang Ying Yue answered. She was not very much affected since from the beginning, she didn''t look at the bloody scene.


    Actually, she couldn''t even if she wanted to. Because when the execution was still ongoing the man next to her moved forward and blocked her from seeing it. She tilted her head in puzzlement since the man seemed to have forgotten about this already even though it only happened less than an hour ago.


    Jiang Ying Yue saw him looking at the red puddle and began wondering what made him so lost in thoughts. On the other hand, Jiang Li just instinctively asked the question since he remembered that because of him, because in hister years in the previous world, he kept vomiting blood, Na Yu became a bit hemophobic.


    "The rain should be continuing for a few more hours." She blurted out after looking down at her wet shoes and then checking the thick dark clouds above.


    "Yeah." Jiang Li turned around and started leaving the crowded grounds. Jiang Ying Yue''s feet automatically moved to follow after him.


    When she caught up with him, he nced at her once and then said, "There will still be quite some time before we leave, probably a month or two, until one of the crops that the princes would introduce andmission to the masses for nting sprout or yield some produce. Until then, we will have to be here to help. Especially you, since you are a healer. Be careful though, I heard one of the towns nearest to a dead river contracted cholera, and it is one of the mission ces."


    Jiang Ying Yue nodded. She knew what her role would be in this ce.


    ...


    The group that arrived in the eastern region became quite busy after the ceremony since the three princes had everyone to contribute. Jiang Ying Yue was also contributing.


    Many people were amazed that ady like her knew so much about herbs and medicine. When some asked where she learned her knowledge, she only smiled and said that it was a teacher arranged by Chen Wang. And it was the truth since the old witch agreed to pass down all her knowledge in medicine, gu, and witchery to her due to Jiang Li.


    As for Jiang Li, he too, was not truly idle, even if that was what the majority of those around were thinking. The reason was even though officially, he only went with them to escort Jiang Ying Yue, in reality, he was roaming around frequently, especially in the mountains, helping Hai Wang to hunt animals for meat, or find crops that could produce yields quite fast. There were two that he discovered, namely the radish and turnips.


    In between explorations and escort missions, he was secretly meeting or exchanging messages with the prince and his messengers. Or if not, he was with the viiness, enjoying some tea with her or watching her paint and write poems.


    A whole month passed just like that. Quite a busy but fulfilling one at that, and still a vacation, in Jiang Li''s opinion, since they didn''t have to deal with barbarians. There was also no need to worry about armies from the neighboring countries sneaking attacks and waging wars against them.


    He didn''t give much thoughts about the details, but it didn''t take that long for the situation at this ce to stabilize.


    Due to this, when the court summoned half of them back, he didn''t hesitate to volunteer his whole army. He, along with the viiness, the leads, and Rui Wang, went back to the capital. Duan Wang was left to deal with the rest which was decided as his self-atonement for the failed rain calling


    The group hurrying back to the capital did not encounter any problems along the way. They arrived within a week of traveling and upon setting foot into the capital, were immediately summoned by the Emperor.

 Chapter 145: Jiang Ying Yue (52)

    Chapter 145: Jiang Ying Yue (52)


    It was midday when His Majesty the Emperor dismissed the court and allowed those that just got back from the east to go back to their homes.


    However, Sheng Lingxin only managed to reach the Prime Minister''s estatete in the afternoon. When she did, her face was pale. And she looked so out of it with her gaze never leaving the ground. Those that weed her back, apart from her grandfather, the prime minister got confused why instead of having a jubnt expression on her immacte face, she looked like her soul had just flown out of her body.


    "First Miss." Her maid called out when the female lead almost stumbled down at the doorsteps of her grandfather''s main hall. The servant worriedly held her arm and stabilized her gait.


    Sheng Lingxin who somehow regained her senses, weakly smiled. Seeing this, the prime minister''s face darkened. He dismissed everyone from there so he could talk privately with his granddaughter.


    "Lingxin..."


    When there were no more people around, the old man sat down on the host''s seat. Sheng Lingxin slowly and listlessly knelt and kowtowed to the prime minister to pay her obeisance. "This granddaughter greets grandfather. This granddaughter is d that grandfather is in great health."


    In front of her, the prime minister snorted.


    This girl was his son''s offspring whom he was most proud of. He always wanted to dote on her and shower her with praises and love so she would get more attached to the Prime Minister''s estate. If it had been the usual times, he would have happily told her to raise her head and sit on one of the chairs. Then he would share some news with her and ask for her opinions.


    But he didn''t do it this time. Displeasure was written all over his face, knowing a part of the reason why the girl was suddenly not being herself.


    While staring down at the kneeling girl, the old man said in a cold voice. "If you are currently having inappropriate thoughts about your situation, I suggest you just dismiss them now and clear your muddled mind."


    Sheng Lingxin had no reaction as if she didn''t hear him say anything. The old man''s face darkened more as he continued to preach. "You can only be with Hai Wang. The Emperor thought the two of you have been getting to know each other for so long so he wrote down the decree. His Majesty had judged the time given to you already was enough. You have no choice but marry him next week."


    Hearing those words were like sharp daggers stabbed into her chest. Sheng Lingxin''s body felt the pain, the fear, and the cold.


    She took a breath slowly, then raised her head, revealing eyes that were starting to get misty.


    "Grandfather. I don''t want to marry him." Her voice was so soft, almost inaudible to one''s ears. Thankfully, the aged man, despite being in his sixty''s still had very sharp hearing so he heard what she whispered.


    The prime minister looked at her for a long time. His aged face was so contorted and the hand on his chest was trembling. It was obvious at a nce that he was barely containing the anger in his heart.


    It was quite amazing though that after a minute, he managed to smooth down his expression, and asked in a t tone, "Why?"


    The girl shook her head and indignantly answered, "This granddaughter... just thinks it''s unfair. It''s unfair that just because the Emperor doesn''t want to reward Hai Wang with anything nice tomorrow, he penned down that marriage decree without asking for my opinion. There should be a limit to how biased and unreasonable His Majesty should be!"


    "His Majesty is this dynasty''s heaven. Why would he ask the opinion of a mere girl like you?" The old man stopped speaking for a while. He watched the female lead bite her lips in frustration. Then he sternly remarked, "Little girl, you should stop thinking too highly of yourself just because His Highness Hai Wang has treated you well this past year. If I were you I''ll just ept my fate and be a good Wang Fei."


    "I... don''t want to."


    "Will you stop being stupid?" Annoyance was in the old man''s tone when he pounded his fist on the table before him. "Sheng Lingxin. You don''t know how manydies in this empire envy you. Yet here you are, being so irrational and difficult! You don''t even have a good reason!"


    Upon hearing this, the girl felt her chest tightened, her hands under her sleeves balled into fists, with her nails digging into her palm. She hated the words she just heard. They were more like insults, like salts sprinkled and rubbed on an already bleeding wound.


    Who was envied by manydies again? Did he say her? For being an unfavored prince''s favored?


    She found it soughable and ridiculous.


    Apart from this, in this world, wasn''t the game''s female lead the one envied by everyone for being fancied by Chen Wang? And about having no good reason... If she shared about her love and longing for that man, would they be able to understand? Obviously, no. How about her misgiving about the first Miss of the Jiangs? No, as well, right? All this time, she was thinking it was unfair why she was not given any chance to speak with him and deepen their bond.


    ''Nobody understands...'' The female lead angrily thought.


    "I don''t want to marry Hai Wang," she said with finality in her tone as fury boiled inside her.


    The Prime Minister once again started staring at her for a long time, his expression unreadable. A few minutester, he broke the silence and said in a nonchnt tone,


    "Well, if you really don''t want to, go ahead. Nobody will force you then. But I guess, there''s no more I can do but watch you and our whole n die from that prince''s anger."


    Sheng Lingxin wrinkled her nose, "Grandfather, you are just being too pessimistic. If I break our engagement, I''m sure Hai Wang won''t be that heartless..."


    The old man before her felt irritated but he was long done wondering why her brain was not working properly at this time.


    "Sheng Lingxin." He just barked in a voice that held chips of ice, no more intending to use mild words on her.


    Sheng Lingxin could see that the creases on the old man''s forehead multiplied by at least two. He looked extremely austere, yet mocking when he clicked his tongue and fired several remarks at her in session.


    " I really don''t know what gives you the idea that the second prince won''t be heartless to us even though you are heartlessly nning to abandon the engagement he tried so hard to salvage for a year. But let''s say you be sessful in your attempt, whates after that then? What will happen after that? Are you perhaps taking yourself for Miss Jiang? With somebody who would help clear your reputation as an unwanteddy once your engagement is annulled?"


    "... I don''t mind." She simply answered, aware of what the old man wanted to say.


    "You don''t. So where are you getting your courage?"


    Every aristocratic family wanted to get close to the imperial family. So no one would want a woman who antagonized them.


    Jiang Ying Yue''s case was different because the person who rescued her was another prince, somebody who no longer needs to curry favor with the imperial n. However, Sheng Lingxin had long been promised to Hai Wang and this time, it was her who wanted to escape out of it. Even if she had admirers, none of them would be courageous enough to go against the n ruling this dynasty. The wedding was near, if she broke it now, she would either be a heartlessdy in the eyes of the people, or an imbecile.


    ''But if I can''t have the man of my dreams, why would engagement and marital status matter?'' Sheng Lingxinined in her heart.


    The girl was actually thinking that the n pushed her, she would just run away and then start a new business somewhere. Her massivework and worth gave her the confidence she would be able to do well. She simply forgot that if the imperial family ced a ban on her name, then she would not be able to aplish anything. Apart from this, she was not aware that once she got separated from the male lead, then her days would be difficult.


    Even now, the girl had no clue that it was Hai Wang''s influence ensuring she would have an easy time in everything she does.


    However, it didn''t mean that the Prime Minister didn''t know.


    ''The second prince is so good to her. So why can''t this damnss just ept her fate and be a doted Hai Wang Fei?''


    The patriarch of the Sheng family cursed out. While nursing his headache, he started to lecture,


    "Sheng Lingxin, you are intelligent. Let''s not talk about what would happen to your reputation since that is quite the smaller issue. What I want to remind you really is that you had been with that man for more than a year. Don''t tell me you haven''t discovered yet that it is him who has the highest chance of winning and not His Highness Rui Wang? Especially now that the whole empire heard of his sessful rain praying ceremony?"


    ''What of it?'' She almost blurted out, not liking why the throne was a big deal for their family when they were already so wealthy and powerful.


    This was probably one of the greatest problems with women from the modern society, especially those at her age. They were too much of a hopeless romantic. Had the prime minister talked with somebody else, they would have realized already that the marriage was for the survival of a n. However, not Sheng Lingxin. All she had been wondering was why she couldn''t go after the person she liked.


    The talk between the grandfather granddaughter pair ended with Sheng Lingxin being silent during the talk. The old man saw her looking so obedient and not refuting him anymore so he assumed that her brain was finally working again.


    Little did he know. Throughout their discussion, Sheng Lingxin had arrived in a decision.


    ''Later, I''ll sneak out and bring some amorous powder with me. I''ll see him!''


    ''To heck with reputation... Cook the rice if it''s the only way. Even as a concubine, I''ll make sure to enter his manor. I''m certain once I''m there I will be able to make him fall for me too. I swear to make him mine!"

 Chapter 146: Jiang Ying Yue (53)

    Chapter 146: Jiang Ying Yue (53)


    The female lead, driven by her ''obsession'' to Lu Ling, did enact her ns. That night, she managed to get past the guard manning the eastern gate of the Chen Wang Residence by mixing herself with the group of servants who just came back from buying supplies.


    Pretending to be a newly hired maid, she asked for directions from one of the old servants she encountered. It didn''t take long for her to know where Chen Wang''s main residence was. Along the way, she jeered at the security of the ce because she easily managed to slip past even the soldiers at the entrance of thepound.


    ''This ce...'' She finally reached her destination.


    It was already nighttime and only the candles in themps scattered in the hallways were giving illumination to the house. Sheng Lingxin gasped.


    Too familiar. The ce was just so familiar that she just wanted to cry in nostalgia and happiness. The furniture, the cement ofnterns, the colors of the railings, the rockeries and pond right below the veranda... Everything was the same as the dwelling ce she assigned to Lu Ling in the game.


    How should she think about it? It was hard not to be moved. In the game, it was up to the yer how they would manage their harems, even how they would assign each male concubine''s pce. So given that Chen Wang''s home was the same as the one she bought in the game for him, how could she not make a connection in her mind?


    Her mood became very bright. She was almost skipping and twirling every turn as she navigated the ce in search of his room. The exactness of the ce''syout gave her the confidence that fate was with her and that there could be a future for her and the general.


    ''I''ll quite be despicable in this move. But I have no choice. I can bear the hate and dislike because it''s still better than having no impression at all.''


    Sheng Lingxin''s thoughts were simple. Once something happened between them, he would have no choice but asked for her hand in marriage. She believed the emperor would grant the request since it would be against Hai Wang. And once it was passed down, since she would be the first wife, she would be Chen Wang Fei, not Hai Wang Fei. As for the beloved game protagonist? Jiang Ying Yue should me herself for being born the Marshal''s daughter and that the current emperor doesn''t want his two highest military officers to be connected through marriage.


    As this thought crossed her mind, Sheng Lingxinughed merrily. The girl''s brain had probably been full of water that she hadn''t considered the harm her actions would cause to both her and his reputations.


    She was not actually usually like this. Even though most of the times, she was following the game''s cutscenes, she was still quite smart, able toe up with brilliant decisions by herself thanks to being born to a ce where scientific knowledge had long dominated.


    However, the obsession she had in her heart was clouding her mind. Now all she wanted to do was see the man of her dreams, and escape from her n through his help.


    "He''s not here." When she took thest turn leading to the corridor where Chen Wang''s room should be located, she heard that voiceing from the opposite wall''s direction.


    Due to shock and the familiarity of that voice, Sheng Lingxin froze in her tracks. For some time, she didn''t dare to look at her left side.


    "Why are you pretending to be a maid?"


    The female lead instinctively lowered her head so her pale, almost bloodless, face wouldn''t be visible to that person. Her mind was working furiously, mostly asking, howe he was here? This was the Chen Wang Residence, why was he at the general''s house? From thinking too much, she forgot to answer his question.


    The subject of her confused thoughts watched the girl fidget and look round, probably for a ce to escape or hide. The disappointment was showing in his eyes, even though his face remained expressionless. His lips were pressed into a thin red line. ''This Prince''s horizon had broadened significantly...''


    Chen Heng was not invited to the ce actually. He followed this woman upon hearing from his spies that she ordered her servants to buy her some shady items from the marketce. At first, he assumed she was hatching some schemes against someone in the capital. Yet when one of the people he assigned to watch her movements reported she was heading towards Lu Ling''s home, he dropped everything he was preparing for tomorrow''s reward ceremony and hurried here.


    Now the two of them were in one of the unlikeliest ces they could appear together. The person before him was the only woman who had piqued his interest due to her brilliant mind and captivating smiles. Yet this same woman didn''t want to marry him, and would even choose to do something as stupid as this to escape from him.


    The woman frantically replied, "Y-Your Highness, I, this servant didn''t know you visited my master. I, this lowly servant will go out now. May you have a good evening."


    Sheng Lingxin lowered her head more and then turned around, nning to take a dash to the back gardens. However before she could run away, the second prince''s voice echoed in the dark hallway, forcing her to halt her step and freeze in ce again.


    "Tomorrow morning, before the Emperor announced what rewards he would give me, Chen Wang, and Rui Wang, This Prince will request to break off the engagement between us."


    Those words instinctively made her turn around and look at him. She was stunned and couldn''t believe what she heard. A forced smile was on the man''s face, yet all she cared was to confirm his statement. "Your Highness will ask His Majesty to free us both from the marriage agreement?"


    Hai Wang nodded. The girl didn''t see the unusual glint in his eyes. She was relieved, and this showed on her face. ''Just as expected, my grandfather is merely thinking too much.''


    She no longer pretended to be a maid and shed a wide smile at the man. It was the same beautiful smile, yet Hai Wang only felt that it was too disgusting. Why the hell did he only realize this woman an irredeemable fool? For her own interests, she could be both a genius and an imbecile, doing whatever it takes to achieve her goal, without regard to those who would be hurt.


    "This one thanks Your Highness'' generosity. As long as this one lives, Your kindness will be remembered."


    A mocking smile formed on his lips as he beheld Sheng Lingxin''s happy grin. However, he didn''t say what was on his mind. He only bid farewell with her and wished her long life happiness. But beforepletely parting with her, he said,"The person you''re looking for is most likely at the small house next to this grand residence. Good evening, and This Prince wishes you all the best."

 Chapter 147: Jiang Ying Yue (54) <2-in-1>

    Chapter 147: Jiang Ying Yue (54) <2-in-1>


    Sheng Lingxin did sneak into Jiang Ying Yue''s house. But all she found was him spending the eveningughing and chatting with Jiang Ying Yue at the entrance of the main hall, near the flower gardens. They never talked about the sensitive rumors in the capital. They never mentioned the war of princes or any of the gossip about the other high-ranking officials and ns.


    All they chatted about was their lives in the border and how they spent their days on edge against the enemies from the other regions. But it all made the eavesdropping female lead feel like her eyes were getting burned, her heart being crushed and torn into pieces.


    In front of her were someone she wanted to marry and the girl she envied. Sometimes, she wanted for another miracle to happen to her, for fate to help her transmigrate into Jiang Ying Yue''s body. But do miracles happen twice? Would the heavens be that merciful?


    ''Sheng Lingxin, Zhang Wu, no need to rush, really, no need to rush... There are still many more days toe. The engagement will no longer hold you back so it''s okay to do your n on another day.'' After hypnotizing herself with these words, she looked gloomily at the two and then left. Her heart was heavy from jealousy. And it was what Hai Wang intended for her to experience.


    The girl didn''t know that when she dragged her feet away from there, both Jiang Li and Jiang Ying Yue stared at her direction. The man had an amused face, but Jiang Ying Yue''s was the opposite.


    The viiness'' eyes, as she kept looking at the obscure corner Sheng Lingxin inhabited earlier, were like a pool of darkness or a glowing ck pearl, serene, beautiful, yet ominous. Who knows what thoughts surged in her mind back then?


    Jiang Li''s focus was on the piece of paper flown to him by one of the messenger''s bird, particrly about Hai Wang''s deration, so he didn''t notice that Jiang Ying Yue''s left forefinger gestured lightly in the air, forming strange patterns and symbols.


    A couple of momentster, the girl smiled and said, "Your Highness, it''s alreadyte, you should go back and rest earlier since the Emperor would be calling a court session tomorrow when the sun dawns."


    Jiang Li nodded. It was already past 9 pm so he really should return and rest. But before leaving, he remembered something so he asked, "Girl, I just heard of this rumor an hour ago, but Rui Wang''s people suddenly became like the Wang Fei a month ago upon reaching their manor. They are down with that unspeakable disease and quite a few doctors have already gone there to check."


    "Hmm?" The smile she gave was very pure and beautiful. Yet he knew it was a confirmation that it was her who did something.


    Heughed, but a secondter, he stopped and looked at her seriously. "It''s not cholera, right?"


    As if hurt, the viiness pouted her lips, "No. I''m not that evil. It''s just diarrhea. Neither so serious nor deadly. It''s the same with what Jiang Rou Li contracted before our departure to the east. It will be gone... after three to five days."


    ''When second sister''s and that man''s home turned unbearably stinky... Or when all their toilets are filled up.''


    She didn''t dare say thetter since not only was she aware that it was quite disgusting, it was also not something ady should say to a prince.


    Jiang Li voiced out his true concern. "But Rui Wang should not be suffering from that, no? If so, how would he present the gift he bought from you to the Emperor tomorrow?"


    "Hehe, don''t worry, Your Highness. I made sure he won''t be downed by that. It''s enough that he is suffocating from..."


    ''Some wonderful odors.''


    She intentionally left her sentences hanging since the next words were not befitting of her image. Also, she grew up believing a woman should be appropriate in speech so she stopped, shyly lowering her head to hide her flushed cheeks.


    The man contentedly smiled then left. Jiang Ying Yue sent him off with her eyes when he flipped over the tall walls separating their courtyards. However, the warmth in her gaze also vanished when his figure disappeared from her sight.


    ...


    Before the sun was even up, the hearsays about Sheng Lingxin suddenly falling into a deepa spread in the whole capital. Because of this, even though Hai Wang truly wished to end his connection to the woman, he couldn''t do so. There was no way to do so without her testifying that they don''t suit each other or that she already liked somebody else.


    In the eyes of everyone in the world, he was an affectionate prince. He should care for his sick fiancee. He couldn''t afford any bad impression at this critical moment.


    Due to this, before he went to the imperial court, he first visited the woman''s house and saw with his own eyes that she was not actually only asleep. Countless red round spots had sprouted all over her skin, with only her face spared. Before he left for the court meeting, one imperial doctor informed him that her condition seemed to be a hex ced on her by a gu master.


    When he pondered who she had offended to end up being cursed, all that crossed his mind was that lover of Chen Wang, who reportedly caused the Second Madam of the Jiangs to suffer from a skinless face.


    While on his horse riding back to the pce, he suddenly remembered how insane they were for burning the Marshal''s home. That and Sheng Lingxin''s current situation made him etch in his mind not to cross those two terrifying lovers, Chen Wang and Lady Ping''An.


    ...


    "The courtmences!"


    In a loud, draggy voice, the Head Eunuch announced this the moment the old Emperor sat down on his throne.


    Below him were his ministers and military officials lined up on both sides of the long velvety red carpetid from the steps of the throne to the entrance. All of them had respectful expressions put on. They bowed as they chorused, "Salutations, Your Majesty!"


    The son of heaven contentedly raised his hand, "Zhen promises to not take much of everyone''s time. So let''s cut straight to the point. Head Eunuch Lin."


    The fat man dressed in a standard high eunuch garb stepped forward and saluted to the Emperor, then to everyone present. After that, he brought out a long scroll. In a voice as clear and loud as a cow''s mooing, he read the names of people there and the rewards to be allocated to them.


    Jiang Ying Yue''s name was mentioned, but since she was a woman, she was not invited to the reading. As for the first legitimate Miss of the Prime Minister Residence, she too was not invited, but even if she was, in her current condition it would just be a pipe dream.


    Well, back to the viiness... In reality, the emperor initially had no ns to mention Jiang Ying Yue if not for remembering Chen Wang. He had a hunch that man would pester him to reward her if he didn''t, so to save himself from headache, he penned it down in advance. Later, her rewards would be delivered to her home, together with the decree. She would be receiving quite a lot, almost the same when she was sealed Lady Ping''An a month ago.


    As for Jiang Li, since he merely went there to escort the group of doctors, his reward, though many times greater than Jiang Ying Yue''s, was a lot lesser than the other princes. It was probably only because the Emperor''s conscience acted up that he wrote the same amount as General Tao. After all, the request Jiang Li made in exchange for the merits umted from thetest victories was not proportionate.


    A third rank title for ady and some money and property were just too little. If Jiang Li had only seriously thought about it, it would not be impossible actually to request a whole city or two.


    Given this reason, even though the Emperor was d this general was so foolish, it also made him feel like this would make him not sincere enough in the eyes of the masses. This was the reason why he ignored the disapproving nces from some ministers and stuck to the mentioned reward.


    The old dude didn''t know that his subject never cared for stuff like money. And that in this subject''s mind, he was already established as a foolish emperor doting on an inept son while ignoring the true son of fate.


    "For Rui Wang..." The eunuch paused first to look at the third prince. There was an awkward expression on his face because the person was the favorite son, yet in this expedition, he was called first before the other princes.


    The list was called from bottom to top. Those with greater contributions were thetter. Since, among the princes, Rui Wang''s name appeared first, it only meant that even the Emperor had no choice but to admit that Duan Wang and Hai Wang''s contribution were more than his.


    It was at this moment that the favored third prince stepped forward, cupped his fists under his sleeves and respectfully said to the emperor. "Your Majesty. Forgive this prince''s boldness, but please hear out this prince''s request before reading this prince''s contribution."


    The Emperor had always been indulgent of this son of his so he readily nodded. "Go ahead. Speak."


    Hai Wang''s face darkened when he saw this, aware of that item bought from the eastern region. Sure enough, even though this guy was not aspetent as him or Duan Wang, he still had some cards up his sleeves. And the worst thing was that even a casual move from this person could brighten up the Emperor''s mood for days.


    "Your Majesty," Rui Wang started, signaling a maid from his own estate to carry an ornate box in front. "This is a small gift from this prince. Hoping Your Majesty won''t scorn its humbleness."


    Those who went with the princes to the east showed various reactions. People from Hai Wang and Duan Wang''s faction appeared anxious, some even as if they swallowed a fly. Rui Wang''s donning a delightful expression of course. The neutral ministers were not showing anything but boundless curiosity. Even Jiang Li was, but for a reason totally different from the others.


    The old dude flicked his dragon embroidered sleeve and received the wooden box handed to him. "What is this?" he asked when he saw the content was a small ss vial containing medicine. "Such a curious thing."


    Rui Wang''s famous proud smile surfaced. He said, "Imperial Father, this son won''t keep you in suspense any further. It''s something from the Soul Temple. And ording to the middleman contacted by the honored member of that ce, it''s a longevity potion."


    The Emperor fiddled with the vial and looked at the silvery red content with a calm expression. However, his eyes didn''t manage to hide his excitement. He only asked a few more questions to his son to confirm some details. Afterward, he didn''t tarry anymore.


    It was too precious. It could easily incite some greedy hearts! It must be consumed right away!


    With this in mind, the old guy removed the cork of the vial. He was being watched enviously by all the old ministers in the grand hall. His son Rui Wang was giving him a confident and expectant look. Urged by all the stares, he drank all its content in one go.


    ''I wonder what will happen...'' All those in the ce thought of this. Jiang Li was probably the most eager one to find out since the girl said this would be her surprise to him.


    A couple of secondster, the result finally showed.<ol><li>Female Lead''s name before she transmigrated, in case you folks forgot haha.</li></ol>

 Chapter 148: Jiang Ying Yue (55) <2-in-1>

    Chapter 148: Jiang Ying Yue (55) <2-in-1>


    WARNING: SERIOUSLY, I''M BEGGING YOU FOLKS NOT TO READ THIS WHILE DRINKING OR EATING!!! OR BETTER YET, SKIP THE FIRST PART OF THIS CHAPTER!!! (Important things must be emphasized, believe me, I''m doing this for a reason, hahaha)


    ....


    Everyone waited with bated breaths for the Emperor to open his eyes and say something, like the descriptions of the taste, or the feeling he got after consuming the substance. Rui Wang said it could increase a person''s lifespan by twenty years. Such a miraculous medicine should be producing some sort of effect when consumed, right? After all, it was that marvelous, and was also from that famously reclusive but sacred temple.


    "Buuuurrrrpppp!" That was the first reaction that they witnessed from the emperor. The man awkwardly opened his eyes because that loud, ear-splitting, draggy sound came out, not from his mouth, but from his butt. Confusion, embarrassment, and all sorts ofplicated expressions crossed his face. Actually, not only him, but all those in the grand chamber.


    Most ministers had a stunned or ufortable look on. Rui Wang''s also became weird. And it was also starting to get pale. ''It should not be the effect of the potion, right?'' he worriedly thought.


    The third prince was pining for this medicine from the Soul Temple to not let Hai Wang be ahead of thepetition. He wanted it to have the effect stated by the old woman. It had to be a divine medicine! After all the exnation he did with great fanfare and confidence, he wouldn''t be able to afford the embarrassment if it turned out to be a sham. This was he desperately prayed that it was truly as it was rumored to be!


    Meanwhile, Jiang Li''s lips twitched. ''Jiang Ying Yue created something so simple? Every bragging has been said and done, yet her prided work can only make one fart? Even though the farting is indeed very loud and quite surprising, but...''


    He didn''t know what to think. His expectation had been too much since she looked so full of herself when she boasted about it.


    The man shook his head and decided to give her the benefit of the doubt.


    ''Let''s wait. Anyway, it won''t hurt to check if something more will happen. I don''t believe it will end just like that. If it does, I''ll have sent her back to the witch at the border to learn everything from scratch!''


    In front of the prince-general, those from the third prince''s faction, Rui Wang included, were also whispering the first two words among themselves. "Let''s wait. Something from that ce should not be simple. Let''s not be anxious and be so pessimistic when the actual result has yet to happen. Believe in the symbol on that bottle and the beautiful look of the contents. It should not be simple."


    It didn''t take long for the answer to arrive. A very unexpected one at that. Really not simple... Yet, also very unexinable.


    "BRRRRRUUUIIIIIIIIIIIIIIITTTTTTT!!!!"


    Together with that loud, continuous sound which seemed both watery and gaseous, was a burst of extremely foul fragrance that enveloped the whole ce. Everyone could just not help their reactions to it. They instinctively covered their noses because the odor was just too much, it could even kill!


    Each of the people there was mostly pampered since birth and had kept themselves and their surroundings in constant fragrance. Actually, even if they were not, the smell was just too terrible. One of the foul-mouthed and straightforward ministers couldn''t help butment, "What the hell! Where is that abominable scenting from? Which scoundrel dares to take a dump in the court?! You lot! This is a proper court meeting! If you can''t endure or are having bowel movements, you should have asked for sick leave. Why embarrass yourself and make your fellow ministers suffer? So shameless! Damn, it''s just so stinky! It''s a biological weapon!"


    Jiang Li had been staring at the Emperor since forever so he didn''t miss the awkward, embarrassed, and raging expression the old man had. He blinked and turned his head to the daring minister''s direction, and then lit up some imaginary candle in his head for him.


    ''I pray for your soul. I hope your body doesn''t get chopped into many pieces and fed to the dogs. I also hope you get a proper burial ce.''


    Apparently, Jiang Li was already believing this person would end up dead sooner orter, paying for the price of his honest rebuke. Well, this was just a case of ignorance is not always bliss. Like how the damnable odor wafting all over the grand chamber could kill, so was idiocy and ignorance.


    Another middle-aged minister with a hand pinching his nose replied to the first guy, "Old Guo, I think the smell ising from..."


    He didn''t dare say the words, but his eyes went to the front. Many catch his movement so even though he immediately lowered his head and looked away, the majority already swung their heads to the throne''s direction. The few slow ones wondered if the culprit was from those lining up on the forefront. But those astute and experienced in the world immediately managed to guess what took ce.


    ''Ahhh...'' When a realization dawned upon them, they started clearing their throats and lowered their heads too, lower than ever before, feeling their heartbeats stopping.


    ''Damn... It''s the Emperor who sh*tted in the dragon throne!''


    "RUIIIIII WAAAAAAANNNGGGGGG!!!!!"


    The embarrassed old man who literally did some miracle before his trusted subjects roared in anger and did not conceal the matter anymore since he saw that everybody already guessed it. The ones which he found so painful to take were the scrutinizing gazes from the Marshal and the Prince-General. Despite also covering their noses, they were boldly sneaking peeks at him.


    To be honest, he wanted to leave already. The feeling on his butt was just so inexplicable.


    Sticky, watery, foul-smelling. It would leak and trickle down his legs if he stood up.


    Damn. How the f*ck did he end up in this state? Even though he loved his dragon throne, this was not how he wanted to bond with it!


    This was why he ended up shouting Rui Wang''s name again. This time, the anger was greater than before. There was no tenderness and affection in his eyes. Only endless fury.


    The young man before him was his flesh and blood, but he wanted to eat and drink his blood to appease his wrath. This was the first time that he wanted to kill this favorite son of his! More than his hated second son!


    In his anger, he ignored the embarrassment and furiously waved a hand at Head Eunuch Lin. In tone capable of freezing even a boundless ocean, he looked at the pale face third prince and dered. "Zhen''s son, Rui Wang, has been very negligent in his affairs and disrespected the customs. He is not to step outside of his house for three years, his sry forfeited for three years, and would have to write scriptures to cultivate his spirit and mind every day without fail within three years!"


    Jiang Li looked sideway to see Hai Wang seemingly in a very good mood even though his own father had just made a fool out of himself. The male lead was good at hiding it since outwardly, he looked pained, like he didn''t want everything that had happened. Actually even Jiang Li was assuming the man was happy based on his personality.


    On the other hand, Rui Wang''s face was losing color, he stood there upright, but he was badly shaking, looking so like he had suffered a huge blow. For some time, he was mumbling stuff. ''There''s no way... No way... it should be something genuine. I had many appraisers inspect it before presenting it here... Why? Why did it turn out like this?''


    When Head Eunuch Lin shouted, "Your Highness, Rui Wang, please ept the decree!" The man was still out of it so two of the guards on standby had to step forward and force the prince into kneeling.


    A little further on Rui Wang''s left, there was Jiang Li who kept sneering because even though the third prince did something punishable by death, all he received was a house arrest. Just wow. Even though the old dude was very angry, howe he still couldn''t bring himself to totally hate this bastard?


    ''Now I''m no longer doubting whether Hai Wang is the true son of fate. He is so loved by the heavens that they couldn''t bear for him not to have drama in his life; unloved by his father... somebody else so ipetent keeps on one-upping him solely through his father''s affection, and a female lead that is so hard to tame. Fate keeps ensuring that he''d literally be rising from the ashes. It created so many obstacles and hurdles for the male lead which he had to sweep away in a fashion akin to a tornado so, at the end of his story, he would appear very awesome.''


    The prince-general clicked his tongue then watched, with covered mouth and nose of course, as the Emperor postponed the reward ceremony for Hai Wang due to his current condition.


    While the old man exited in a manner greater and more memorable than his entrance, Jiang Li made sure to check on the male lead. And surprisingly, the person was just sporting an indifferent expression.


    This person suffered quite the blows in session this time. And he couldn''t help but feel a very tiny bit of pity.


    But he also admired him for staying strong and looking so nonchnt. Remembering the female lead who kept giving this fine male specimen problems and headache, he thought Hai Wang doesn''t deserve it. He should really move on and find a new lover, a normal and understanding one. Otherwise, he''d die from too much heartache or heart attack. That would be a very sad ending for a male lead, no?


    ...


    There were so many dramas that happened in the next days that came. But none were as interesting as the stories about the imperial family.


    Rui Wang was sentenced to a three-year-long house arrest.


    Imperial Concubine Shu begged the Emperor, in the name of love and their memories, to retract the order, but because of the memory of him losing face in front of all the important people of the Zhou Dynasty, the Emperor hardened his heart and did not budge even when the famous beauty resorted to pillow traps.


    Hai Wang''s promotion to Crown Prince was announced, but the date was not yet finalized.


    Sheng Lingxin would remain the fiancee of the future emperor because she was still in aatose state. But Jiang Li surmised that once she woke up and could speak again, the male lead would force her to go to the court with him and announce their annulment.


    He came to this conclusion due to the fact that Chen Heng was a calctive guy and knew how to keep his promises. Since he promised the woman to break off their engagement, he would definitely do so. In any case, he wouldn''t want to appear so desperate for a woman even though she wanted no romantic rtionship between them.


    As for Rui Wang, that arrogant and self-entitled prince...


    Hehe, the man was currently enjoying the life of an idle prince in his manor, surrounded by people who couldn''t do their jobs or function as normal due to making frequent trips to the bathroom. Now, the Rui Wang Residence became a very... How to describe it? It was simply a residence avoided by other high-ranking people for a reason so funny and ridiculous, yet real. Nowadays, only the Marshal visited them since he was still that person''s father-inw.


    But speaking of that Marshal...


    In the dimly lit study, Jiang Li rolled his eyes upon reading from thetest reports on how that man was finally moving his forces.


    There were other surprising facts alongside that piece of news. For example, how that old bastard truly lived up to being a bastard. The meaning here was double. Jiang Ke was truly a bastard, and that he was somebody with a heart cker than a dog''s.


    While clicking his tongue, he looked at Hai Wang sitting across him then at the scroll in hand, afterward, he said, "Tch. Tch. I can''t believe that this old guy is this traitorous. What a white-eyed wolf! He changed camp so fast. He''s both terribly smart and stupid that I get annoyed from even seeing his name!"


    The prince sneered at the general, each time he was so amazed at how different this person was when not in his aloof, cold mode. He didn''t even bother with the pretenses and kept dropping formalities. Instead of addressing himself as ''This Prince'', he kept using the simple ''I'', his unsophisticated manner of speaking only whatmoners and merchants would use.


    While wondering if this was gotten from staying at the borders for too long, Hai Wang cleared his throat and replied, "Lu Ling. This prince believes the Marshal is probably in that camp all along, and only pretended to be with my third brother. He will probably make a move this week. After all, the Emperor said he would conduct the ceremony in a week. If This Prince is crowned before their hatched ns urred, then everything they worked on will go down the drain."


    "That''s for sure." Jiang Li nodded, reverting the message into a scroll before passing it to the second prince. "Take your time analyzing that. But I''ll be leaving now. I have to be back before dinner."


    ''To apany your witch again,'' the other prince mockingly thought. But he kept this to himself in fear of Chen Wang suddenly drawing his sword and starting a fight with him.


    Thest time he blurted out the same thing, the man suddenly attacked him and kept exchanging blows with him even though he already admitted defeat. Lady Ping''An was truly Chen Wang''s reverse scale. Mention anything bad about her and this icy guy would flip out and attack. Or maybe Chen Wang only does this to him since he was aware that Hai Wang secretly knew some martial arts.


    Knowing this, the male lead said, somewhat annoyed, "Okay. This prince will see you tomorrow."


    After Jiang Li secretly left the Hai Wang Residence, he headed to the herbal shop owned by Jiang Ying Yue. He saw her there curiously checking the jars of medicine.


    When she noticed him, she immediately went forward and curtsied, her long sleeves pped in the air as she elegantly bent her legs and ced her hands on her left waist.


    Jiang Li grinned at her and asked, "Shall we go and see your sister for real now?"


    The girl only smiled after raising her head, slightly showing her set of perfect white teeth.


    However, when he extended his hand to her..., without breaking eye contact with him, she didn''t hesitate once to ept it.

 Chapter 149: Jiang Ying Yue (56)

    Chapter 149: Jiang Ying Yue (56)


    Jiang Rou Li had been left behind a couple of weeks after their marriage plus she got punished with house arrest by the most favored Imperial Consort. However, her life did not be that miserable nor was she gossiped about for being unlucky and unfavored.


    No matter what happened, she was still a Wang Fei and in control of the whole Chen Wang Residence. In her first week of marriage, she couldn''t step out. But do married women or women of boudoirs needed to step out of their houses?


    They could pass the day embroidering or painting. If bored, then they could take a walk in the gardens. The whole estate was quiterge so it would take a week of snail speed walking to truly explore the ce. And just to add, slow walking was every noble girl''s hobby. They had no choice but take it like that since the usual styles of clothing in the dynasty were ones that limited the movements of the legs. The walk became more elegant that way. But the speed was not anything to p at.


    Anyway, back to the real issue. Jiang Rou Li''s house arrest was not a big matter, at least for her.


    She was the only consort in the Rui Wang Residence so no one dared to slight her.


    The angry Imperial Consort Shu had ignored her for some time, but through tteries and wondrous poems that the consort even brought to the Emperor to regain her pet status, Jiang Rou Li went back to being a favored daughter-inw. Or at least in the public''s eyes.


    Jiang Rou Li was smart and knew that the imperial concubine was actually truly hell-bent on killing her for the shame and nightmare and was only pretending to like her. She knew that every day, her drinks and food were poisoned, even some items like incense and medicine.


    The girl initially hated that her stupid mother brought this all upon her. But then she went over this hate and focused herself on being the beautiful and dignified Rui Wang Fei while deflecting deathly attacks from the most favored consort.


    She realized, actually, she didn''t have problems continuing her days like this. In any case, the Imperial Consort was like her mother, quite stupid and an airhead, so her moves were only so-so, sometimes even boring for her.


    Among the womenfolk of this era, Jiang Rou Li was also quite unique since if it was another girl experiencing the same, she would have broken down already, thinking life had been very unfair to her. Not Jiang Rou Li. Not until her husband returned and the reunion she was expecting turned into nightmares one day after another.


    First was the diarrhea disease seemingly infecting everyone in the manor. The second was her sister''s return alongside Chen Wang. The greatest blow was when she heard that her husband lost the Emperor''s love due to presenting an item which, cough, allegedly made the Emperor theughingstock of the whole dynasty.


    An Emperor who openly farted and sh*tted on the dragon throne amidst an official court gathering?


    She was afraid the current Emperor would be the only one recorded in history! But the bad thing was... Her husband caused all of it!


    "Wang Fei..." Her head maid immediately helped her up when Jiang Rou Li''s body swayed and nearly fell on the ground.


    The woman huffed for air then slowly turned to the servant. "So this is the reason why His Highness hade back a while ago in a very bad mood?"


    "Answering to Wang Fei''s question, yes..."


    Jiang Rou Li kept her quiet for a minute before ordering her to escort her to her room. She then dismissed her. Peace and quiet were what she needed. Three years of being idle were not tough at. Actually, with Hai Wang to be dered as crown prince, it basically meant that Rui Wang had fallen into a deep pit, one which he dug by himself, and caused him to lose the chance to win the throne.


    The woman pursed her lips. She fell into deep contemtion. Not long after, a decision came to her mind and she wrote for her father, the Marshal.


    After a few exchanges of letter with the Marshal, she confirmed that her father was actually never in Rui Wang''s side, this conclusion made her bones chill, since her father heartlessly allowed her to marry into this estate even though all along, the side he chose was nning a mutiny which had a higher chance of turning sessful than Rui Wang being selected.


    ''It seems I had been blinded by love that I failed to see through father''s plot. I''m so ashamed.'' The woman bit her lips. Frustration encroaching in both her heart and mind. This did notst long though. She made her brain work furiously and then decided that before she was Rui Wang Fei, she was ultimately somebody from the Jiang Household.


    In a sense, Jiang Rou Li was like Hai Wang, she could be affectionate and worshipful of somebody high up there, but once that person fell, she could cheapen herself for a way out.


    This could be reflected in how she treated her own mother. When Lady Wang was still beautiful and doted on by the Marshal, she didn''t have a fallout with her even though she got disgusted by the woman''s adulterous affairs with a cheap guard.


    But now that Lady Wang''s face turned so hideous she was more like an evil spirit than a person, even if she was her mother, she ignored her and allowed her to be thrown out of the Marshal''s estate, not intervening since the Marshal wisely handled it. She still had a ''mother'' after all. Who knows where his father got that new woman, but as long as her reputation would not be affected and she would stay a legitimate miss, then everything''s fine.


    ''Honorable father, this Wang Fei doesn''t need you to save me here. I can survive and even help through my own ways. Just put some good words for me to the future Emperor and tell him I never consummated with Rui Wang.''


    On the next day, after sending those words to the Grand Marshal, she burned everything that would rat out her frequentmunications with her father. She then went to Rui Wang''s main house and spent some time talking and cultivating feelings with him. Rui Wang, this arrogant prince whose ego had quite fallen on the mud, deeply appreciated his wife''s kindness and promised he would go back anew and as high once the house arrest was lifted, but Jiang Rou Li only sneered in her heart and left once doneforting the man through her sweet talks and gentle gestures.


    While walking back to her own courtyard, escorted by many maids fanning and shielding her from the ring afternoon sun, she mused, she had been so foolishly in love with stealing whatever Jiang Ying Yue had. She realized. She was never in love with this person. But she hated that she had been apart from this man for more than a month and did not immediately see how stupid he was.


    "There''s no use to regret now." She softly said to herself.


    Those servants originally from Rui Wang Residence heaved a sigh of relief, thinking their Wang Fei said this since she made up her mind not to leave His Highness'' side. Little did know, she was saying this to herself because she was deeply regretting why she let her obsession obscured her eyesight.


    The moment she got back, she suddenly remembered the incident a month and the letter of the Marshal telling her that it was Chen Wang and Jiang Ying Yue who wreaked havoc on the estate. She had to make herself appear more useful to her father. How about she orchestrates to link the Lu Household to Hai Wang and then frames the Lu n of stealing something from the Emperor.


    A dragon robe perhaps?


    She remembered seeing one on Rui Wang''s study earlier, gifted to him by the Emperor as a ything. If stealing that from the Imperial family was not taken for a crime worthy of the nine-n-extermination, she would condemn the heavens for being biased against her.


    With a n hatched in mind, she immediately penned down another message and then had one of her servants stole the imperial robe in the study. A beautiful and charming smile graced her face when she heard from one of her loyal people in the estate that the messenger had already delivered everything to the Grand Marshal Residence.


    Knowing once this endeavor became sessful, she would be a major contributor and should be able to get into that person''s harem, her facial expression rxed and the charming curve on her lips did not vanish. She simply began to look forward to theing good days.

 Chapter 150: Jiang Ying Yue (57) <2-in-1>

    Chapter 150: Jiang Ying Yue (57) <2-in-1>


    Somehow, Rui Wang Fei fell asleep, but when she woke up, not only did she realize she was still in the stinky Rui Wang Residence, but that there was something odd on her...


    The room was still dark, it seemed daybreak had yet toe. There was a faint fragrance lingering in the air due to the incense, and the cries of cicadas and other night insects were entering her ears without pause.


    But she was very rmed when her senses returned to her and felt that something was moving in her face. Her hands trembled and shakily went to her cheeks.


    There was nothing suspicious there, all she sensed was the smooth surface and the tender skin. She touched her forehead, nose, chin, and then her jaws, but everything felt normal.


    However, instead of getting relieved, fear consumed her heart more. She really could feel that something was moving in her face. Actually, not only something. But many. The feeling of many tiny insects and bugs crawling on it was making her feel goosebumps all over her face. In her panic, she immediately lit up three candles and checked herself out in the mirror.


    "H-how can this be!!!!!!" Eyes bulging, and body shivering not from the cold, but despair, a shriek came out of her lips. It was so thunderous and sharp that the maids waiting outside dashed in only to see that nothing was amiss.


    "Weird," thought the head maid who came inside together with two more female servants.


    "Wang Fei looks soundly asleep on her bed. Did we hear wrongly?" asked by one of the lesser maids in puzzlement. She was still drowsy so her hand was stifling a yawn.


    "Sisters, our master doesn''t seem to be the one who screamed. It''s probably from the nearby rooms. Perhaps it''s one of our sisters who got lost while going to the bathroom."


    The rest nodded in agreement then went out. Apparently none of them could see that the room had brightened and that their Wang Fei was still screaming in fright. This scream of horror even turned another pitch higher upon seeing that her maids came in but didn''t notice her.


    What was happening? Why her face does looks like a frog''s? It''s so unsightly and gross! Even she couldn''t stand it, her heart feeling like it was being whipped and crushed repeatedly as she recalled what she should look like. How the hell did she be like this? And why, why, why!!!?


    "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!!!! NO! T-THIS IS NOT ME!!!"


    She fell on the ground sobbing and shaking her head, hands covering the disgusting face. A momentter, she took a peek again in the mirror, hoping her prided appearance would return to how it used to be, gorgeous and breathtaking, only second to Jiang Ying Yue''s nation-toppling beauty.


    "Heh, that''s the kind of reaction I''ve been looking forward to." Like a ghost, the voice came from behind her, apanied by a sweet peal ofughter reminding people of bells or wind chimes, yful, but very pleasant to the ears.


    However, for Jiang Rou Li, it sounded nothing but ominous, and ghastly, as if it was not from a woman with the sweetest voice ever, but from an evil spirit.


    She gasped as she moved her gaze from her reflection to the reflection of somebody on the left side in the mirror. Those twinkling eyes and cherry red lips curled into a happy smile would usually make Jiang Rou Li mad in anger and jealousy, yet tonight, she couldn''t feel anything in her heart but fear.


    She wanted to p herself repeatedly. Why did she forget about her mother''s weird skinless-face case? And how did this woman appear here? No, when?


    "Jiang Ying Yue..." Breath held, she unconsciously muttered, sure that this woman was the one who maliciously turned Lady Wang into something less than human. "It''s actually you... You..."


    "Liked what you see?" While swaying her feet as she sat on the chair next to the table dresser, Jiang Ying Yue asked, looking so innocent as ever.


    Jiang Rou Li calmed herself down while distancing herself from the other woman. She scolded herself, she should have expected it already. The hateful girl earned some backing from one of the greatest military leaders of the Zhou Dynasty and was no longer being oppressed in their manor. Why didn''t this woman just die a year ago, with her bones feasted upon by the wild dogs of the mountains?


    "What do you want in exchange for canceling this curse?" Cutting straight to the point, the astute Rui Wang Fei, whose intelligence was only a bit lower than Jiang Ying Yue, immediately tossed aside the unhelpful thoughts and asked.


    The viiness stopped her childish actions and stared into Jiang Rou Li''s face, first openly admiring her handiwork to anger this ''sister'' of hers before opening her mouth. "How about you guess?"


    Looking at theughing woman, the woman suppressed her anger and indignant heart, knowing she was at the other''s mercy, especially now that it seemed the ce was under this witch''s spell. She cursed inwardly and then began to enumerate many offers and even intels. She came to the point that her father''s true camp and the uing strike on the Chen Wang Household were the only stuff she had not divulged yet.


    But to her indignation and fury, Jiang Ying Yue put on a thoughtful look for a couple of seconds, and then slowly shook her head, with that same annoying smile stered on her face. She answered, "Alright! I have heard of your guesses." Softughter came from her before she continued, "And the extras which I didn''t ask. Hahaha. I''m satisfied with what I saw and heard, so I''ll be merciful at once and no longer add some fancy things to your body."


    "What?" Jiang Rou Li was still shivering and covering her face in fear. "Y-you must be kidding, right?"


    The viiness yfully flicked her right-hand fingers, causing one of the lit candles to suddenly lose its me. The sight made the Wang Fei felt like her heart was caged in ice. And it grew worse when Jiang Ying Yue started to gesture in the air using both forefingers, body swaying a bit, all giving the impression that she was conducting an orchestra or a music y. However, there was no music, just the rows of candles lighting up and dying every time she moved a finger.


    To Jiang Rou Li''s eyes, it was both beautiful and ominous. Especially, when the viiness stopped, killed all the lights. She looked at her with utter seriousness and said, "Jiang Rou Li, more than anyone else in the world, you should be aware of how much I''ve suffered in the estate. How could I be kidding now? Was it fun seeing me getting oppressed again and again, stealing things that should belong to me? I think you''re enjoying your current status so much so don''t worry, I''ll make sure you''re doted on by your beloved prince, no matter what kind of monster you be. He''ll dote on you that he''ll view you as his everything. The two of you will be together in joy and pain. The tale will be something even future generations from thousands of years from now will sigh upon reminiscing."


    "NOOO!!!!"


    Extreme agitation caused the woman to throw those that her hands found on the table. Jiang Ying Yue was still a normal woman, with an unremarkable endurance and flexibility, despite her mastery of gu and witchery one of the vases still almost hit her face. If not for the person who suddenly dropped in front of her and cut that porcin vase into two.


    Jiang Rou Li saw that the man that entered had an appearance not one whit lesser than Rui Wang. The moonlight pouring generously from the open window made it appear like there was a halo of light enveloping him from behind, and this caused both girls to fall into a daze. A secondter though, she was knocked out of her stupor, remembering how she currently looked like.


    Aggrieved, she turned away and lowered her head. With her eyes peeking out of her hands and looking to the immortal-like man in red, she cried, "Your Highness, Chen Wang... Lady Ping''An had turned me like this! I won''t be begging for justice since I know you''re deeply infatuated with her. But can''t you see that she has be so poisonous and even learned the evil arts? Please think thrice and consider whether you should have this kind of malicious woman around you!"


    The prince-general merely looked at the girl who spoke for a couple of moments and then said to Jiang Ying Yue. "I''ve already visited that pig ex-fiance of yours. You done here?"


    The question threw Rui Wang Fei''s heart in an icy pond. Hopelessness. Both she and this man before her had be hopeless. Chen Wang was truly someone whose brain already turned into water, even willing to pamper somebody who could easily kill with witchcraft in the future.


    For a second, a sprout of jealousy budded in her heart. Which woman doesn''t want a pampering man like this? Rui Wang might turn into one, if Jiang Ying Yue''s warninges true, but women want their husband to be loving and mighty at the same time.


    The viiness lowered her head and answered, "Done too. My second sister, has already confessed so I n to spare her life. She confessed about my true father dying in my eleventh year in this world. My paternal grandfather had gotten his wife''s identical twin sister pregnant at the same time as his wife, hence the man who had now assumed my father''s post as the Marshal looks like my father because their father is the same while their mothers had identical looks."


    Jiang Li already knew this but stillmented, "Now we know why... The current Marshal is not your real father. He''s a fake and a usurper, amon characteristic of many ambitious bastard sons."


    Nodding, Jiang Ying Yue pursed her lips and added, "Yes. And that man is very unbelievable. Even though Second Madam is still my father''s wife in name, he had an adulterous affair with her and even gotten her pregnant. I feel so sad for my parents. My father is betrayed by a jealous brother and his side concubine, maybe even by this girl. And my mother who knows about this, died not only from grief, but from a slow-reacting poison..."


    The man patted the girl''s head. "Stop thinking about the past. You better focus on getting justice for them instead of getting depressed."


    Jiang Ying Yue obediently nodded at the man then threw a re at the hideous girl. She walked towards her and forcefully pried her mouth open, not caring about her opposition and protests. After another snapping sound from her fingers, the viiness walked away, dragging the man outside by the hand.


    As Jiang Rou Li watched these two people talk to each other and leave her room in total darkness and coldness, her heart despaired, learning she lost the ability to talk and to move her fingers.


    After more or less ten minutes, when all the shock and dark thoughts devoured her from the inside out, sheughed andughed. Her chest felt so stifled because there was no voice leaking out of her mouth. Tears were streaming down her face and regrets gripped her heart.


    But then she realized none of it all mattered now. She had fallen onto aughable state. Her life waspletely ruined and without a future. The dignified second miss of the Jiangs ended up like this?


    It was so funny. Nothing was more ridiculous than a capable and one-in-a-million woman like her being reduced to this state. So she went back toughing, heart finding sce from anticipating the Lu n''s downfall.

 Chapter 151: Jiang Ying Yue (58)

    Chapter 151: Jiang Ying Yue (58)


    The days in the capital kept getting weirder and weirder. At least the imperial family was.


    Many people were thinking that it should be time to pass the throne because the current emperor seemed to be old and even a bit senile. Putting aside the funny dumping eventst reward ceremony, there was also the fact that he couldn''t even properly control a man in his house arrest.


    The reason for this was that Rui Wang kept on sneaking out of his house even though he was supposed to stay there for three years without ever stepping out. The other ridiculous thing was that it seemed this arrogant guy had suffered a very serious blow that all he did all day was parade his beautiful veiled wife in public.


    One time though, one foolish maid identally pulled Rui Wang Fei''s veil away and revealed a monstrous appearance that could bring both adults and kids into tears. The frog face could just burn one''s eyes. The woman also couldn''t speak, and couldn''t move her hands, simply a cripple. But the most damnable thing was how Rui Wang loved this frog woman so much, as if she was a one-in-a-millennium beauty.


    ''Finish! The prince has turnedpletely crazy!'' This was everyone thought when they heard of the story.


    Now they knew what happens if one flew so high but failed to ascend the heavens. The fall was just too painful. Worse, even brain-damaging...


    "The Marshal''s heart is so cold. Although it''s his own daughter that got besmirched by the masses, he kept his silence and did not even visit Rui Wang Residence once. Once he gave up on something, he wouldpletely cut himself off from it."


    Jiang Ying Yue''s eyes shed with a mocking glint as she said this. She really hated that selfish man who viewed even his immediate family nothing more than grass in a field, inconsequential, and could be cut off anytime he wished. In this lifetime, one of her greatest regrets was recognizing that cruel person as her father for five years.


    Mood dampened, she lowered the curtains of her sedan. Xiao Lu who was by her side saw that her miss was no longer interested in the scenery and noisiness outside so she peeked out of the carriage through the small window and instructed the driver to get going.


    Half an hourter, when her sedan entered the street where her home was located, she found so many people and uniformed guards and officials standing outside the Chen Wang Residence. For a while the noisy and messy sight caused a frown to appear on her face.


    "Xiao Lu, find out for me what happened to His Highness'' home."


    The maid nodded and then walked out.


    A minuteter, she returned with panic written all over her face. "Y-Young Miss! This is bad! They are all searching His Highness'' estate because His Highness is reported for stealing something from the royalty!"


    "What?" Jiang Ying Yue immediately became anxious and hurriedly asked after grabbing her maid''s hand, "Who reported and what is stolen?"


    "It''s the Marshal! And he said the prince is harboring malicious ambitions against the imperial n and stole the dragon robe!" Exined the frightened maid. Jiang Ying Yue hurriedly stepped down from the carriage and walked towards the crowd.


    Behind her, Xiao Lu grabbed her hand and helped clear the path. In between gritted teeth, she whispered, "Young Miss, this servant doesn''t believe the prince would do something as outrageous as that. It''s known that the prince is from the neutral faction and has grown attached to the Southern region, why would he covet the throne? His Highness must be being framed!"


    Jiang Ying Yue nodded, "Xiao Lu, those with sound minds know. But don''t speak lest people hear you. Where is His Highness by the way? Is he alright?"


    ...


    The man whose whereabouts the viiness just inquired was currently sitting bored outside his courtyard, watching as the Marshal lose his cool.


    Meanwhile, the Marshal had veins popping from his red-faced because Chen Wang''s whole house had already been searched twice yet there was still no desired result. Forget about seeing a dragon embroidered robe, they couldn''t even find one with a serpent or caterpir stitched on it! Did his daughter deceive him? When did Jiang Rou Li be so useless?


    "Marshal, This Prince has been magnanimous already to let you search three times. Once this is over, may This Prince trouble you to spare your men the trouble of finding what is not here? They all looked so tired. This Prince is the one whose heart is breeding on their behalf and is ming himself for inheriting such arge estate. Tch. Tch. Had it been a smaller one, your men would have finished a dozen inspections already."


    Jiang Li taunted the other man, happy that the enemy was having short breaths andck of air due to anger. He was this bored. Because he had been asked to sit for more than two hours already, basking under the sun, sometimes yawning due to thefortable and gentle breeze.


    Surrounding him were his own people looking as rxed and bored as their master. Jiang Li bet if these people had some ying dice or cards, they would be already on their tenth game.


    The Marshal ignored him and only talked to his subordinates,manding them once again to leave no stone unturned.


    Around this time, Mao He came to his side, reporting, "Your Highness, Lady Ping''An''s carriage is outside and is asking for Your Highness'' situation."


    The viiness'' title seemed to have pricked some of the old dude''s nerves. Jiang Li watched the raging man calmed down a bit, looking at the storied loft in front but seemingly attentive to their side.


    The prince-general snickered. "Go to her and tell her everything''s fine. It''s just her ''father'' making a fool out of himself."


    Mao Hong was stumped for words since he never expected his master to courageously say that in the presence of the Marshal.


    ''...Gotta leave before the storm.''


    True to Mao Hong''s prediction, the Grand Marshal''s temper red up and engaged in a fierce word battle against Chen Wang. However, due to being agitated by theck of results from the search operation, he was easily provoked and thus ended up embarrassing himself before his subordinates. The old man just wanted a duel between the two of them, but the decree is to only inspect and not do anything anymore without a warrant or valid reason.


    ''Why is the dragon robe not where it should be?'' The cold-faced bear asked himself, not aware that even though Jiang Rou Li was capable, she had no spies inside the prince-general''s estate. Her master guards too were no match against the people from this military household.


    Chen Wang Residence had always been famous for being one of the most tightly guarded ces in the whole capital. Without the master of the house willfully allowing people entrance, there would be no way for people to sneak in, and even if they sessfully managed to, Xun He and Mao Hong would immediately find out.


    The two assistants were after all, not just errand boys, Jiang Li treasured them for having perceptions that could extend for kilometers. They were sensitive to the changes in the wind and other elements in the world.


    In thest life, they were with Lu Ling at the border so when the framing happened, with Lu Ling''s brilliance at the battlefield the reason for the targeting, since those two were not around, Rui Wang Fei sessfully managed to frame them of treason. However, with them back to the capital this time, how could their petty schemes seed?


    Time passed and the man left in dismay, frustrated.


    Jiang Limanded his guards to disperse the people congregating before his estate. His people were verypetent and loyal so they took upon themselves to exin to every bystander there. The Marshal was using the Chen Wang Residence but couldn''t produce any proof.


    Chen Wang was simply meless because he was the epitome of loyalty in the whole Zhao Dynasty.


    ...


    "His Highness is the most loyal official in all of Zhao Empire?" Jiang Ying Yue looked heavenward and then giggled. Themotion had already somewhat died down since the Marshal''s people were not around anymore.


    Xiao Lu sighed in relief when the soldiers from the main house came out to speak with the masses. The maid replied to her, "Young Miss. It''s true our main house is very faithful to the empire. After all, it''s a rule passed down by the first Chen Wang to the rest of the members of the n. It''s not surprising that they came out with nothing because the n is truly clean and only wants to retain what they have now while wholeheartedly devoting themselves to the dynasty."


    "Xiao Lu. I didn''t say a thing. But here you are already defending His Highness. This poor miss'' heart is wounded and dying of jealousy." Jiang Ying Yue teased.


    But when she heard that the people around her were no longer inventing charges and rumors against Chen Wang in their heads, she couldn''t deny the relief and happiness she felt.


    Proudness was in her heart. She was proud that even though His Highness was sometimes truly a puzzle hard to piece out, he still had many redeeming qualities, being extremely loyal and sensible on top of the list.


    With her mind at ease, she only nced once at the tall and imposing gate of the Chen Wang Residence and then grabbed onto Xiao Lu''s arm to go back to her own home.


    ...

 Chapter 152: Jiang Ying Yue (59)

    Chapter 152: Jiang Ying Yue (59)


    It seemed that the war of princes was already reaching a crescendo, the dragon robe stealing only a minor part of the scheme. When it failed, thest camp in this war acted like it was not a big loss and just proceeded with their true ns.


    The fourth prince Lin Wang had finally made a move!


    On the day before Hai Wang would be dered the heir to the throne, the youngest prince participating in the battle for the crown secretly led an army into the capital while one of his ministers reported to the emperor that the barbarians to the South were starting to attack again.


    The old dude whose brain probably got affected by cr*pping event immediately called for Jiang Li into the court. The order to send him to the border had already been drafted and the general only needed to get it so he could set off.


    However, along the hallway leading to the audience hall, a few inspected Jiang Li and made him leave his weapons behind. He was also not allowed to have anyone apany him inside. But he was okay with it. Despite the unfriendly faces of those guards, he obediently unarmed himself, left his weapons to Xun He and gave his men some instructions. After that, while being escorted by an unfamiliar pce guard, he walked towards the ce where the Emperor would be waiting for him.


    The situation became clear to him once he entered the grand chamber. He was immediately got surrounded by many soldiers, all belonging to the Grand Marshal.


    The Emperor was in front, seemingly dying since he was pinned on his throne with a sword sticking into his chest. The hilt of the sword was held by the fourth prince. By the foot of the throne was a scroll stamped with the Emperor''s crest. Yet who knows what''s written on it.


    Jiang Li''s eyes looked around more to see that Hai Wang was kneeling on the floor, eyes bloodshot, neck bleeding a bit due to the des pointed at his throat.


    ''Wow, this bunch of no-goods is so courageous to reduce the male lead to this state.'' At times like the thoughts swirling in his head was just ipatible with the scene.


    The weird prince-general actually managed toment on someone else when his own life was being threatened by the swords pointed at his own throat.


    "Z-Zhen''s official! S-save.... Zhen...." The Emperor extended his bleeding hand towards Jiang Li, but then despaired when his eyes momentarily regained rity and saw that even the prince-general was surrounded and unarmed.


    "Chen Wang!!!" The Marshal''s cold and thunderous voice echoed throughout the chaotic hall.


    The majority of the soldiers who all belonged to the enemy camp looked at the prince-general. Jiang Li stared back at the faker and sneered, waiting for the farce he would start. He was sure the other man had been waiting all this time to exact his revenge against him.


    He didn''t wait long and the Marshal to stepped forward one step at a time, each footstep full of momentum, echoing so loudly in the hall.


    "Lu Ling of the Chen Wang Residence, you traitor!!! You instigated Hai Wang to stage a rebellion and even personally killed the Emperor!!! You and the whole nine generations of your n deserve to die to atone for this crime!!!"


    "..."


    Jiang Li only had one opinion about the man''s deration, and no, it was not about the bullsh*t content, but the voice itself.


    ''His voice is so loud the whole capital probably can hear it. He should be a eunuch and be the announcer at events. I''m sure that post will suit him. Nobody in the court session will dare sleep in fear of their names being mentioned by his throaty voice.''


    He clicked his tongue and shook his head. The Marshal saw it and coldly stated, "If you plead guilty now, your n might be spared and while you will still die, the future Emperor might allow you to have an intact body and be buried in the ancestral graves."


    "No thanks. I won''t die. No need to worry about my burial since I''m pretty sure you''ll pass away before me," Jiang Li replied smilingly.


    "Chen Wang," the bear-man coldly snorted. "You seemed to be not getting your situation."


    "Uhhh. Maybe. But I''m sure you and your prince are also not getting yours." He meaningfully said, his eyes bypassing the soldiers and their swords and falling onto the fourth prince''s figure.


    "Your Highness Lin Wang. I don''t want to talk to this stubborn bear. He only spouts bullsh*ts and stupid things. So I want to speak to you."


    The man who was only a year younger than him walked down the dragon steps, carrying a noble but ruthless and calcting aura second only to the second prince.


    Speaking of the male lead, Jiang Li hated that this person obviously could settle everything using his own power but here he was pretending he was weak and could be trussed like a chicken.


    He suspected this person was just waiting for the Emperor to die before revealing his true powers. As expected, there was really no love between royal family members, each and every one of them only thinking of surpassing and suppressing each other.


    Shaking off this thought, he said to the prince, "Let''s cut to the chase. I don''t give a damn who wins the throne, but if I were you don''t startle me into killing myself now or else I can''t guarantee that Zhao Empire will still have its own military force."


    He saw the prince''s brow rose.


    The Marshal snorted. "You seem to be forgetting I exist, Chen Wang. Even if all your soldiers followed you to the Yellow Springs, I assure you I and my army will be enough to hold up the Zhao Dynasty."


    "Oh." The young general nonchntly replied.


    Annoyed by the number of weapons being waved at him, he flew up,nding outside the encirclement near Hai Wang. After kicking the two soldiers forcing the male lead to kneel down, he turned to the Marshal who then followed him and furiously shed a sword towards his direction.


    He eye-signaled Hai Wang to give him one of the swords that had flown out of the guards'' hands, but the male lead ignored him and started wiping the blood off his neck. His mouth just turned up sarcastically, when Hai Wang picked up a sword and shouted, "Imperial father, this son ising to save you!"


    ''Yeah, save someone who only has one breath left. Two-faced scoundrel!'' Jiang Li irritatedly thought, dodging the Marshal by shifting his body to the left.


    They only exchanged blows for a while before Jiang Li fled to the opposite side of the hall. The Marshal had yet to catch up to him so he used that opportunity to catch his breath and then talk to the silent fourth prince again.


    "Prince, have you heard of what happened to Rui Wang''s people?" He smiled meaningfully. When he saw Lin Wang looking intrigued, his grin bing wider.


    "Are you saying you or someone rted you caused my third brother''s downfall?" Atst, Jiang Li heard the fourth prince talk. The man emitted a dangerous aura befitting of the boss viin.


    However, what threat could make Jiang Li fear? He was one of the select few who could disregard their deaths. If he failed, at most, he would only end up in a punishment world. So without care to the menacing re, he said,


    "Your Highness could judge about it. But I would just like to say that I will not die since if I want to, escaping is very easy, and not even Jiang Ke will be able to catch me. So, Your Highness, the only reason I''m not fleeing yet is that there is something I would like to know. I''d like to know what you would do once you learn that if I die, due to a certain someone who hates the Marshal to the bones, all this dynasty''s soldiers will follow me to the yellow springs!"

 Chapter 153: Jiang Ying Yue (60) <2-in-1>

    Chapter 153: Jiang Ying Yue (60) <2-in-1>


    Jiang Li''s statement meant that somebody out there, a hexer or a witch with unparalleled wickedness and evil magic, did something to the millions of soldiers belonging to the Marshal.


    They would die once Jiang Li dies. And once it happens, how would Zhao Empire survive?


    The soldiers stationed at the South had long viewed Chen Wang as their king. Forget about submitting to a new general the new Emperor would appoint, it would already be a miracle if they did not revolt once they learned that the new Emperor cut off their general''s head, no matter if it was for a true rebellion or a frame-up.


    A country with no military might would end up gobbled up and trampled down by the surrounding nations because they had nobody to defend them.


    "Chen Wang... You''re making this official speechless. To fall this low to the point you''d even ally yourself with somebody from the evil side, you''re an embarrassment to your ancestors! You deserve to die!!!" The one who spoke was the Minister of War, an old balding man around the same age as the Marshal, another prominent military official from the fourth prince''s side.


    The calm fourth prince sharply red at the man who promptly shut up.


    Then for a while, he looked down at the dead bodies of the royal guards by his feet. With his eyes on the few puddles of blood there, he pondered about Jiang Li''s words, then raised his sight to the man flinging the blood on a sword that he just picked up.


    "Chen Wang. Your with contact with a gu master. That... I know."


    ''Wow, this guy is informed.'' Jiang Li chuckled. ''Fake Jiang Ke must have been forced to report about his wife''s case to him.''


    With narrowed eyes, Lin Wang added, "But even if you have a master of gu by your side, why would This Prince believe what you said? Rui Wang''s people just contracted bowel syndromes, not deadly at all. And you dare mentioned the Mythological Yellow Springs? What a joke. This Prince could obviously see that you''re just bluffing."


    Jiang Liughed and shrugged his shoulders, "Fine, Your Highness. Anyway... it''s up to you whether to believe it or not."


    There was no way he would rat himself out through his own mouth. Nheless, he couldn''t stop himself from appreciating this true viin in his mind.


    This other man was quite worthy of being thest boss.


    He was vicious and had no qualms killing his own father for the throne. He bided his time and let all his older imperial brothers fought so hard amongst themselves for years, creating a low-key image second only to Hai Wang''s. Then when the time was ripe, he sprang into action, framing the to-be-crowned prince of rebellion and the enemy of his greatest general the killing of the monarch.


    He was also very resourceful, or else, how would he rope in that bastard Marshal. Quite brainy as well since he immediately realized that Jiang Li was merely talking nonsense.


    Right. Jiang Li was truly bluffing. Jiang Ying Yue might have the ability to do what he said because, in the original timeline, that was only how she retaliated against the Marshal. But in this life, it was he who changed her and made her focus her revenge on Rui Wang and the Jiangs, not those innocent ones.


    ''This Lin Wang could also be an Emperor if not for Hai Wang having the male lead''s halo. But of course, he would have a harder time governing the state since he had no support from the masses and there are not many ministers and cab members who would submit to him due to this uprising and mass purging. Such a guy who could easily frame even the meless people, how could he earn people''s hearts? But well, in this kind of time period, who said the Emperor always had to get the approval from everyone right away when it could also be slowly worked on?''


    Jiang Li shook his head helplessly and thought, but why the heck was he bothering with something as troublesome as this? He nced at Hai Wang and found the man cutting down those who stood up on his way to his imperial father.


    However, Hai Wang deliberately slowed down his pace when he ran towards the Emperor so before he could even get into a five-meter distance from the throne, the scumbag already breathed hisst.


    "What a sad life this Emperor had on hisst days in the world." He subconsciouslymented when he recalled everything the old dude experienced this week.


    "Chen Wang, eat this!" On his left, the Marshal had already caught up with him. With bulging red eyes, the older man tried to hack him down but Jiang Li''s current body had higher reflex so he managed to avoid it.


    When the Marshal turned around, he found the general near the throne. After snorting coldly, the bear shoved away all the vases atop the nearest table and tossed it towards the enemy. Unfortunately, thetter evaded again, causing the table tond on the lifeless body of the Emperor which had already slipped off the dragon throne.


    ''Poor old dude'', Jiang Li smiled wryly before running to Hai Wang''s side. He pulled the guy away together with the Royal Scribe whom he spotted hiding and shivering behind the tall and borate ornate chair.


    While his eyes were roaming around, he carried the obese man over his shoulder like a sack of rice. Then he told Hai Wang, "Your Highness, let''s get out of here for now."


    The man nodded, putting a thoughtful expression at the cowering scribe who was still tightly grabbing on his scroll, and brush. The entrance to the grand hall had long been sealed by the Marshal''s people. Meanwhile, the prince was watching the secret exit behind the throne.


    Without thinking twice, Jiang Li hacked down the nearest window.


    Wanting to kill him and frame him? Hehe.


    Before jumping out of it, he gave the Marshal a sharp look and a satirical smile. The vow he madest year was not for show. But unlike the viiness who had some inexplicable love for humiliating her opponents through appearances and reputations, he was more straightforward. Since the fourth prince and the Marshal wanted the throne, even if temporary, he''d simply not let them have it!


    A minute after Chen Wang, Hai Wang, and the royal scribe escaped from the window, millions of rats and insects just suddenly poured into the pce hall, freaking everyone there, the fourth prince included. Everyone could not upy the ce even if they wanted to.


    Gnashing their teeth and feeling regrets in their hearts, they temporarily vacated the ce for Lin Wang Residence. There they would n how to drive the pests away so they could retrieve the dragon seal and the Emperor''s crown.


    If there was one thing which gave their side some trouble though, it was the Marshal that had been bitten by one of the biggest rodents and suddenly ended up having a fever.


    Of course, the fever was nothing huge, normally. However, for some reason, the bear-man mysteriously fell unconscious and seemed to be in a paralyzed state.


    Several royal doctors were invited into Lin Wang''s main hall, but they all shook their heads and only prescribed something which could be used to alleviate the nasty symptoms that began to sprout one by one. Before leaving, thest doctor discreetly said to the fourth prince that the sudden illness was actually not something mortal medicine would be able to cure.


    ''I never know that guy not only hides a very easygoing but infuriating disposition, he''s even learned evil magic. I must truly kill him the next time that we meet!''


    The main viin''s eyes turned into a slit after he realized that in the capital, Lady Ping''An was not the only gu master.


    ...


    The fourth prince''s men already surrounded the Chen Wang Residence and Hai Wang Residence before the confrontation inside the grand chamber even started. Even Jiang Ying Yue''s Moon Reflection Pavilion was also surrounded by at least four dozen soldiers of the Marshal''s army.


    However, because of this move that the viiness realized something bad had happened to Jiang Li.


    Madam Lu was panicking and sobbing in her own house, frightened beyond belief by the thousands of unfamiliar men reported to be camping outside the gate. The other n members didn''t panic as much since they were all involved in the military one way or another. They only silently waited for their family head to return. Yet less than half of an hourter, everyone was forced out of the residence, apprehended by the Marshal''s people under the fourth prince''s order.


    Thankfully, before Lin Wang''s soldiers could drag the Lu Household to the prison, Jiang Ying Yue came out and hypnotized the person in charge to change directions to Chen Wang''s army''s hidden camp. Xiao Lu was sent in advance to coordinate with Chen Wang''s soldiers and met Mao Hong along the way.


    Not long after, the Lu n were rescued. The soldiers from the Marshal''s side were almost wiped out. It was because, apart from Chen Wang''s trained men, a few of the household members were very adept in kungfu and military strategies. They only didn''t make a move earlier since they were totally outnumbered. But now that their n Head''s people were around, of course, they wouldn''t standby anymore.


    The tide was thus turned. And even though there were highly-skilled people too under the Marshal, most of them were at the pce, while those apanying the tens and thousands of those surrounding Lu n were either controlled or put to a sudden sleep by the viiness.


    "The Residence is surely seized by now." Madam Lu wrung her handkerchief and cried to another madam belonging to a branch family. The n was now being escorted outside of the capital. The womenfolk were gathered at the center of the march.


    Jiang Ying Yue was with them, but since the First Madam of the Lus was treating her as air, the other had no choice but follow. Well, not like she was bothered by it. She was looking at the direction of the imperial pce. Since her heart was heavy with worry for Chen Wang, she couldn''t pay much attention to the people around her.


    Xiao also anxiously looked at her. "Young Miss, this servant is afraid that the whole capital has be very chaotic... His Highness'' right-hand man told me earlier that His Majesty is probably dead by now and that His Highness is almost killed together with Hai Wang."


    "His Highness will surely be alright. Let''s believe in him. Not even the hundreds of thousands of enemies in the perilous battlefield at the South managed to im his life. He... will surely be fine." She repeated thest phrase as if to hypnotize herself.


    Atop the horse being led by one of the guards, the viiness painfully closed her eyes and then said to the servant who was seated behind her, "Those armed men are from my father''s estate. I''m sure of it. But which of the princes orchestrated this plot? Duan Wang or Lin Wang? Did Mao Hong tell you anything?"


    Rui Wang was not mentioned since that guy was already disqualified from the war of princes and was idling in his home with his frog-faced mute Wang Fei.


    "It''s His Highness Lin Wang..." whispered the servant girl to her.


    Jiang Ying Yue who then opened her eyes went silent for some time, watching the reddish horizon. She found it hard to ignore the stuffiness in her chest, that was why after instructing Xiao Lu to go down, she temporarily hypnotized the guard in front to let go of the rein. She then ignored the rmed voices behind her, and rode the horse back to the capital''s center.

 Chapter 154: Jiang Ying Yue (61)

    Chapter 154: Jiang Ying Yue (61)


    "Your Highness, you are really daring and unpredictable." Jiang Li irritatedlymented the moment they reached the hidden encampment near the pce. "This Prince can''t believe you let yourself be caught in such a stupid situation."


    Hai Wang merely smiled and did not exin. Instead of speaking about something the general might have already guessed, he expressed his interest with the flood of mice and roaches in the grand hall, to which Jiang Li only replied with a sneer.


    "If I didn''t appear there, what will Your Highness do?"


    "This Prince didn''t intend to struggle. They wouldn''t kill me since they would have to execute me in public, with various charges ced on my head. That''s why This Prince was not truly worried." Even though he received a cold look from Chen Wang, the man only smiled and even dropped the formalities when he continued, "Anyway, you and the other ministers would definitelye to save me. And if none came to my rescue, then alright. I''d be forced to show my real skills. I don''t want that to happen though. Which snakes wanted to be beaten out of the bushes?"


    Jiang Li felt a bit of pity in his heart. He should have left this guy alone and waited to see if a male lead could die under the pretext that it was he who courted death by himself.


    "Your Highness truly could be foolish at times."


    At the general''s indifferent remark, Hai Wang snorted. ''Look who''s talking.''


    The male lead was not truly helpless earlier, he could also easily escape since his aplishments in martial arts were no worse than the Marshal and a bit higher than Lin Wang.


    However, he wanted to see the Emperor die. His hatred for all the mistreatment he suffered since childhood wouldn''t let him rest until he witnessed it. Thest act was something he did to make the Emperor have more regrets in life.


    How would the old man feel once he arrived in the Yellow Spring and realized it was his most hated son who tried everything he could to save him? The Emperor should be feeling deep remorse by now, right? Better if he was feeling like he should not have made countless excuses to postpone passing the throne to him. Who told him to be too biased and unloving?


    And about Lin Wang...


    The hint of a smile on his lips immediately vanished, reced by a frown. Knowing he had to do something, the second prince turned to the man who had just tossed down the fatty on the floor of the first barrack.


    "This Prince thanks Chen Wang for the help earlier. This Prince will rally my people now and put the order in the capital back in ce."


    Jiang Li shrugged then walked towards his soldiers, dragging the poor scribe by the scruff of his neck. The male lead also turned around and disappeared into the dark alley nearby. Both of them already knew what they should do. They tacitly agreed with amon goal, to end the rebellion by tonight as to not escte the matter.


    ...


    Lin Wang managed to regain the pce before nightfall. Unfortunately, the Emperor''s crest, seal, and crown were no longer there.


    This all made the man''s heart raged in anger. Even if he dered tomorrow that he had been decreed as the next heir, who would believe him without at least a document stamped by the royal seal? The royal scribe too had been abducted therefore nobody credible and with enough say about the matter would be able to testify.


    "Your Highness. The enemies are Chen Wang and Hai Wang, both tough and crafty. However, both of them were known for being romanticists. This official suggests we..."


    Lin Wang and his ministers were at the grand chamber. Seated upon the throne, the prince who was still in a bad mood fiercely looked at the middle-aged guy who spoke then rebuked, "Are you deaf, Minister of Defense? Lady Ping''An is the one behind Rui Wang and his wang fei''s downfall. How could you capture someone who employs ck magic and give illnesses with just a snap of a finger? Don''t think too that Hai Wang is serious about that prime minister''s daughter. She''s simply a pawn for him to gain the prime minister''s support. Chen Wang''s only weakness is his n, yet you fools allowed them to get away!"


    Since there was no porcin or anything he could throw at the man, Lin Wang could only pound his fist on the armrest with extreme fury.


    "Your Highness, it''s possible to use popr support to condemn Lady Ping''An. She''s a gu master. The masses hate people like her due to their evil magic and history of spreading gue inrge regions. We can have the people band together against her tomorrow."


    Lin Wang thought about it for a moment then nodded. "That''s doable. After all, even a martial god could die under the attacks of a million no-name martial artists. She''s still a woman. Starting tomorrow, spread rumors about her witchcraft and what she did to Rui Wang Residence and then through the masses'' help, capture her and purge her in the fire. We will let the public see her being fried and roasted, screaming as she burns into ashes every passing minute!"


    "Your Highness is wise." Everyone below shivered and knelt.


    It was after this that one of the wittiest suggested they first pushed forward a coronation tomorrow. The replicas for the sacred items needed for the ceremony could be rushed tonight, then after the simple ceremony, which was just an acknowledgment of who the throne would be passed to, not the actual coronation, they could officially mourn for the passing of the previous Emperor.


    Lin Wang could take that as an opportunity to show filial piety so that even if Hai Wang''s faction spread rumors about him being the Emperor''s true killer, the masses would remember the mourning ritual and doubt the news.


    Immediately, the fourth prince''s mood got lifted and he began to throw strings of orders one after another. He was about to give instructions on how to defend against Hai Wang''s counterattack when one of their soldiers in charge of manning the gate reported that the prince-general was outside.


    "What did you say?" Lin Wang coldly looked at the kneeling guard.


    The man lowered his head more, frightened by the prince''s re. "Your Highness, through some sort of means, Chen Wang managed to bring his whole army inside the capital and with torches in hand, they were all camping outside the imperial pce, blocking everyone from entering and leaving!"


    "This..." The officials kowtowing at the floor all sucked in a cold breath after they heard their current situation.


    "Wait. How did he bring his soldiers in!? Aren''t the city gates manned by the Marshal''s people?!" hysterically questioned one of them to nobody in particr.


    "It could only be a tunnel." The oldest retainer sighed after answering.


    Lin Wang''s face turned grim as he nodded, and added, "Since the founding of the Empire, it has been forbidden for an army to set foot in the capital. The city walls are equipped with all sorts of things to defend against any intruder. There are many soldiers stationed there too. Chen Wang won''t want his force to dwindle by even a fourth so the only way should be to dig a tunnel leading into one of the vacant lots in the capital."


    "That rebel!" angrily eximed by the Minister of Defense, seemingly forgetting his camp too were rebels, and a lot worse than Chen Wang''s side.


    Lin Wang was busy thinking of a measure against the enemy so his forehead creased in annoyance due to that shout. However, he didn''t rebuke the older man. There was a more important matter to handle. He knew the prince-general would be tougher to deal with this time since he was with his army while their main force, the Marshal was not with them, his life and death unknown.


    "How many soldiers do we have on our side?" The prince hurriedly stood up and walked towards the exit, the ministers all rose to follow him.


    The one currently in-charge of their forces, the bald general with a bear-like body, stepped forward, "Answering Your Highness, we only have more or less one hundred thousand of ours in the pce, but Chen Wang brought at least five times of our soldiers. We are greatly outnumbered, it''s not rmended that we confront the prince-general now. This subordinate suggests we wait for our reinforcements from the Northern and Western regions, and only strike down once their armies attack their nks and rear."


    "Chen Wang won''t let that happen." The prince replied in annoyance. "He''s a damn gu master! If he wants to, he could even will millions of rats to swarm us inside again. And This Prince doesn''t even know where he summons all of those creatures! We have to make sure he doesn''t have the opportunity to do that. Otherwise, everyone here will die in some rats'' bellies!"


    The man took a breath slowly. His mind seemed to have cleared a bit due to that. As a result, he managed to think of a way, which he immediately ryed to the bald general.


    Thetter showed reluctance but under his master''s fierce gaze, he could only grit his teeth and close his eyes. Yet in the end, he still ignored the pain in his chest and the trembling of his body andplied with the orders given.

 Chapter 155: Jiang Ying Yue (62)

    Chapter 155: Jiang Ying Yue (62)


    The reason for the bald general''s reaction earlier became clear half an hourter. A few rows of soldiers stood atop the tall walls of the imperial pce and began hate-staring at the soldiers belonging to Chen Wang.


    All their eyes were bloodshot and they seemed to have great hatred against the armored people below, but that was just very perplexing since personally, these soldiers had nothing against the enemy''s army. They were only forced to fight due to their loyalty to their superiors. But that was it.


    It was weird especially since even if the world turned upside down a few more times, in the end, the two camps were still from the same Empire and were defending the samend. The hate would only be justifiable if the two were from opposing countries where wars frequently erupt. But that was clearly not the case.


    Mao Hongughingly whispered to Jiang Li, "Your Highness, this subordinate doesn''t know what''s wrong with this bunch, but under the dancing light of the torches in such a moonless night, they appear like red-eyed demons. They look funny."


    Jiang Li''s eyes were checking the daggers in the hands of the soldiers above. Those people remained hate-staring at them, a few even huffing madly to show how much resentment they harbored against the Southern army.


    A secondter, all of them simultaneously raised their hands... Yet when the Southerner soldiers were preparing for a battle, expecting the red-eyed soldiers to retrieve a bow and shoot arrows at them, they only saw them clutching on their daggers... Not long after, they all slowly started to slit their own throats!


    "Heavens! What the f*ck!" Mao Hong and the other officers almost fell off their horse.


    Did they see correctly?


    More than a thousand soldiers. All of them cutting their own necks while madlyughing and at the same ring at each enemy with hate-filled bloodshot eyes? Those from below rubbed their eyes and checked again. But they really did not see wrongly!


    Who could stand such a sight? It was just too hair-raising, making it hard for the prince-general''s soldiers not to fall into panic and disorder.


    "L-lunatic!!! They''re a bunch of lunatics!!!"


    "G-general! They are demons from hell! They are all damned demons! How else could they keepughing while taking their own lives!? A-and that kind of look.... N-no, I don''t want to fight them!"


    "I, I am not a coward and had been with His Highness since five years ago. But I, I also think we should not fight them!"


    "Me too! I agree!"


    "L-Let''s retreat!"


    "Please, General!!!"


    Jiang Li raised his hand and turned around to show his calm face to his soldiers. That seemed to have some effect since at least the number of protests from his frightened soldiers dwindled down.


    He then looked back to the slowly opening gate which would definitely reveal the real army of Lin Wang. His eyes shone with a glint so icy and chilling. Whichmander would let his soldiers do that? Unless... It was the higher-ups'' orders, to begin with?


    If his guess was true, Lin Wang truly deserved to be called a viin. And he was the type of viin he would want to kill using his own hands.


    ''I need to do something about my soldiers first. Damn.'' His mind worked furiously, aware that if the enemy''s ploy seeds, then his five hundred thousand soldiers would be run away. He couldn''t let that happen!


    "My soldiers!!!"


    With his voice powered by his internal energy, he roared in the middle of the night.


    "Get yourself together! Don''t let fear consume you! The enemy is just definitely confusing us with a stupid scheme. What demons from hell? Stop spouting nonsense!!! They''re just poor soldiers forced tomit suicide by the only devil in the pce, that traitorous prince who kidnapped his own father and forcefully upied the pce. It''s the Southern Army''s duty to rescue the Emperor from Lin Wang!"


    "Long Live The Zhao Empire! Rescue the Emperor!"


    Hearing their general shouting the true cause of their army, they subconsciously followed him and also raised their weapons, "Long Live The Zhao Empire! Rescue His Majesty!"


    Jiang Li repeated the chant a few more times and his army followed. Now gone were arge part of their fear from the scene witnessed earlier. In fact, their eyes started to redden upon learning that their fellow Zhao soldiers, brothers from different camps, were forced to die such a humiliating death. Weren''t soldiers supposed to die on the battlefield? Howe those people were made to do something brainless as that?


    Now they knew the Marshal''s men were only showing those red eyes because they felt humiliated and were on the verge of tears yet could only cut their throats since it was an order. While Chen Wang''s soldiers were happy to serve a master like Chen Wang who cared greatly for them, they couldn''t feel angry for the fallen soldiers of the Marshals.


    "Avenge the Empire''s fallen soldiers! Long Live The Zhao Empire! Rescue His Majesty!"


    Their anger reced the fear in their hearts, fueling the desire to battle and rescue their Emperor who might also be receiving unjust treatment from Lin Wang.


    The intended result on the fourth prince''s side showed as expected, under the brainwashing of theirmanders, their men saddened by theirrades'' death also had their eyes turning red, really giving off a demonic hue under the illumination of the torches.


    Yet to the woes of themanders under the fourth prince, the other''s army not to be intimidated, but even looked to be in the same state as theirs.


    Since Chen Wang''s army did not be disoriented as expected, when the two sides collided, Lin Wang''s army suffered a crushing defeat. Without the chaos and confusion creating opportunities for the fourth prince''s soldiers to mow down the opposing army, the battle did not evenst for more than thirty minutes. Blood flowed like water in a river and bodies got strewn all over the ce. After securing those who surrendered, the Southerner soldiers rushed into the pce grounds yet Jiang Li only brought in a few thousand to barge into the grand chamber.

 Chapter 156: Jiang Ying Yue (63)

    Chapter 156: Jiang Ying Yue (63)


    The moment they arrived at the throne room, they saw that Hai Wang and the rest of the ministers not on Lin Wang''s side were there.


    "So we''re alreadyte? Hmm?"Jiang Li squinted his eyes to make sure he was not seeing many details wrong.


    The first thing he noticed was that Lin Wang and his people were already kneeling on the floor, swords on their necks. This was simply the opposite of what happened this afternoon.


    Second, the Emperor was in the middle, his lifeless body properly arranged in a lying position at the center of the hall, hands resting on each side. Jiang Li was sure he was not the one who helped retrieved this old dude''s corpse. All he remembered was being merciful earlier and ordering the rodents to throw this old man outside with an intact body. But who knows how the mindless creatures handled his corpse? He suspected the mice dragged the poor old guy to somewhere disgusting since he smelled like the dirty water from the canals.


    Third, there were two women at the ce. Jiang Li frowned because one of them was someone he didn''t expect. ''I thought this woman is alreadyatose? Is it her female lead halo kicking in again?''


    Sheng Lingxin, at some point today, had awakened and even dragged her weak self towards the pce to assist her future ex-fiancee. Apart from her pale face, no part of her body was exposed, not even her fingertips. It seemed the rashes and inexplicable red spots were still all over her body.


    This woman just awakened three hours ago and when she did, the first thing she did was look for Hai Wang and warned him of the rebellion. She said she saw it all in her dreams, that Lin Wang would revolt, kill the Emperor, and then frame him. The utilitarian male lead patiently heard her out and then decided to make use of her prophetic knowledge.


    Next to her was the viiness whose eyes immediately turned red when she saw Jiang Li barging into the room. She cried, "Your Highness!" Hands lifting her long skirt a bit, Jiang Ying Yue ran towards him and to his surprise, jumped in his arms.


    "Why are you here?" Despite the astonishment and disbelief, the man caught her so she would not fall down or trip.


    That was when Hai Wang gave him a cid look then asked. "How''s the situation outside?"


    "What do you think, Your Highness?" Jiang Li red at him, not liking that the man involved the viiness in his scheme. If only looks could kill, Hai Wang might have long dropped dead.


    The male lead wryly exined, "Don''t misunderstand, Chen Wang. It''s Lady Ping''An who suddenly appeared at Lin Wang pce and knocked out everybody there. She''s also the one who volunteered to help us enter the imperial pce." ''And bluffed Lin Wang his whole Residence is held hostage .''


    Jiang Ying Yue tugged at his sleeves.


    Now that he remembered it, this girl also defied his orders so he also gave her a fierce look. She kept her head bowed and did not speak, aware of her mistake.


    Lin Wang looked murderously at Jiang Ying Yue. Jiang Li shielded her from the viin''s freezing re and then snorted. "Your Highness, Lin Wang, nice to see you''re doing bad. But This Prince wants to let you know the strategy you employed earlier is quite astounding. Had my soldiers and I be a bit more cowardly and superstitious, we would have been reduced piles of bones. You are really a goodmander. Genius. Admirable." Thest part was said sarcastically.


    "Lin Wang." The second prince looked away from the couple and spoke to his fourth brother. Before saying the next words, he first swept his eyes around and secretly nodded in satisfaction after seeing the ministers focusing their gazes on them. "Formitting patricide and to our Imperial father at that..."


    Jiang Li watched as everyone in Lin Wang''s camp were detained.


    All the guilty ministers would be executed tomorrow alongside Lin Wang. Because it was the Emperor killed, even their wives and offsprings would have to be punished with death or demotion tomoners.


    "His Majesty, the Emperor perished due to his bad luck, raising sons who have no affection for him. But at least, many people would be buried and killed to apany him in the afterlife. He will not be alone there." Jiang Ying Yue murmured.


    Jiang Li nced onest time at the scene and then led his people outside the imperial pce. With Hai Wang making the move, there would be no way a mishap would ur. It had to be mentioned, no matter how annoying her existence was, the female lead was also around, so the male lead''s luck and halo would surely double.


    Before galloping away, he stared at the seemingly endless sea of soldiers before him. Everyone belonged to his camp. It was him who these people viewed as their sole master.


    He told Mao Hong, "Ry to our forcester. We will all go back to the borders after watching tomorrow''s execution of the Marshal. The Lu n and Southern Army would then permanently stay at the South."


    After watching the deputy general nod, he turned to Jiang Ying Yue.


    "Are you willing to follow back to the South again?" His tone as t as ever, as if what he asked was just a casual question and had no meaning which would tie her for a lifetime to him.


    Without hesitating, she nodded. But the manner she tilted her head, curled her lips, and stared at him was quite weird. When he finally noticed her eyes were telling him he asked something obvious and stupid, he couldn''t help but burst intoughter.


    One thing made him further realize that he, very slightly, worried for nothing. It was her meaningful quoting, "Sometimes home isn''t four walls, it''s two eyes and a heartbeat... " <ol><li>Taken from ''Grey''s Anatomy'', I haven''t watched the series and actually found this quote in thement of the song ''Quite Miss Home'', but I fell in love with the quote, so I used it here. No copyright infringement intended.</li></ol>

 Chapter 157: Jiang Ying Yue (64) <3-in-1>

    Chapter 157: Jiang Ying Yue (64) <3-in-1>


    Hai Wang ascended the throne with the court''s full support. He did not take Sheng Lingxin as his Empress. In fact, he did not marry anybody in his first two years which probably became the only major dissatisfaction of the retainers toward him.


    Most likely due to the dreams she had when she was in aa, Sheng Lingxin seemed to have a sudden change of heart. However, in this lifetime, it seemed she was destined to always chase but never catch up. The difference was that this time, it was her fault that the person who used to like her so much was now no longer looking at her the way he did before.


    Fate managed to straighten her out into realizing she was destined for Hai Wang, but sadly it was already toote. Not even fate would be able to make a prideful male lead ept someone who made him feel like he a joke for so long.


    With this said, the female lead would forever remember the memories from her dreams and the pain in her chest... And at the same time, forever remember disliking Hai Wang for a year and liking him for a lifetime.


    On whether they would still end up with each other if she put effort for a few years, who knows?


    After Hai Wang became Emperor, which only became possible because someone had to assume responsibilities as soon as possible, the first thing he did was postpone both his official crowning ceremony and paying of respects to the heavens. He prioritized arranging a grand funeral for the previous Emperor. And then he executed the main characters of the rebellion, including the Marshal and the fourth prince, then awarded those he should, and promoted those he should.


    People who heard of his deeds began to praise him from dusk to dawn and vice versa. The male lead became very popr to the masses, each household mourned for the passing of the previous, but celebrated the takeover of the crown prince. After all, he was someone who could easily summon rain and bless thend, simply ordained by the heavens. He was even filial and wise. What was there to be dissatisfied about?


    The Zhao Empire was definitely destined for greatness under his rule, which made the people excited.


    As for whether these all still had anything to do with Chen Wang and his people? Well...


    ...


    Fifteen dayster...


    ...


    Jade Forest City was what locals usually called as the central city of the Southern region. Fifty miles on its east sideid a huge rain forest and a fifteen meters wide river had to be crossed to get there. There were huge and tall mountain race terraces on its north. Thetter helped ensure that the city would never run out of crops to harvest.


    In all of the Zhao Empire, Jade Forest City was not one of the richest economically, but it was definitely one of the ces with the best natural scenic wonders. Add to this the fact that it was a ce safeguarded by the prince-general''s army. It could be said to be a haven for many, a ce of both security and carefreeness.


    In such a city, a huge event just happened.


    Rednterns and dozen banners with the word Eternal Happiness written on them were hanging up everywhere. Thergest estate in the city had those filling it inside out, making it exceptionally alive and full of positive energy.


    It was dusk, the night sky was already peeking from the east since the sun was now descending on the opposite side. Yet the area around the estate showed no signs of getting silent. It was the opposite. Laughter and joyful music were still ying and the drums were as loud as ever. Countless people were congregating outside as if there was a festivity.


    "There are so many stalls... It''s like there''s really a festival." Xiao Lu whispered to herself as she looked around and feasted her eyes on the heartwarming and magnificent sight. She held her round fan in front and let its cloud embroidery covered her giggling mouth. Her eyes were twinkling in happiness though. Just like everyone else around.


    "There are more people than stalls. In fact, it seems all citizens have guarded outside the new Chen Wang Residence. His Highness is really loved here, ten times more than in the capital." Mao Hong eximed then passed a stick of apple candy to her. "This one''s delicious. Eat it while it''s still hot."


    "Oh. Thank you, deputy general." With a smile on her delicate face, Xiao Lu epted the stick being offered to her.


    The man shyly scratched the back of his head due to that cute expression. He felt awkward since he was not the type to buy somebody candies and sweets, but he decided to do something to get close to this betrothed of his, the girl match made to him by Lady Ping''An, now Chen Wang Fei.


    It had been ten days since the matchmaking happened and it was when they were still on their way to the borders. Who knew he would end up quite liking the girl?


    Now here they were, strolling the streets after watching the wedding rites.


    Xiao Lu and the rest were sent away by the shy bride so here she was with Mao Hong, on their first date.


    "His Highness should be still busy epting wines from the male visitors..." He murmured while taking a bite of his own food.


    The girl gave him a sideways nce andughed at his reddening face. She only thought the guy was quite shy and foolish. This must be because he had been surrounded by soldiers since childhood and had less contact with girls. This made the deputy a bit easy to tease though.


    She continued strolling the street with the man walking by her side,menting at his remark, "Could be. But we''re just servant and should not gossip about our master''s affairs." She then jokingly added, "But if you do it secretly, maybe it''s okay to imagine it in your head. We will understand."


    ''Understand what? Wait, What''s to imagine? His Highness getting drunk and being teased by the other guests?''


    The man''s mouth turned into an O, which rendered the yful girlughing. Seeing his speechlessness, she added, "Alright. I''m just joking. Deputy is so handsome and cute, please smile more."


    Jiang Li''s right-hand man fell a bit speechless, thinking,


    ''Who knows this girl''s actually like this... She''s cute but very frivolous. It''s hard to guess her real personality because all day long, she looks meek and respectful to Lady Ping''An. Does she know her words are easy to misunderstand? What if she''s talking to somebody who thinks in advance? Like me. Cough.''


    Mao Hong repeatedly cleared his throat then focused on finishing his snacks. His boss said if he wanted a lifelongmitment with someone, he must first make the effort to know her. So here he was, trying his best to get along with Xiao Lu. So even though he wasining in his head, he still went on with the tour and enjoy the one day vacation granted to them by their masters. He had to endure Xiao Lu''s yfulness and teasing though. But well...


    ...


    Within the manor filled with banners,nterns, and merrilyughing people...


    Unlike what Mao Hong was expecting, Jiang Li was not with the guys and toasting wines with them. He fled from the boisterous hall, not intending to y the fool for others in this precious day.


    ''Besides being boring and annoyingly noisy, they obviously have bad intentions. Why would I let those people get me dead drunk.'' He scoffed at the thought, hoping those people there who tried to swarm him with wine cups end up the ones dying from drunkenness instead.


    Even if the newly ascended Emperor was one of them, he left them at the banquet hall and searched for his bride. He left all the work to his n members and mother. Anyway, if he doesn''t want to say, nobody there, not even the male lead would be able to detain him.


    "Your Highness?" Jiang Ying Yue, dressed in all red, looked shocked when he appeared at the doorway of the bridal chamber. She was probably wondering why he was already here when the night had yet toe. Usually, grooms would onlye to the bridal chamber when it was passed 9 pm, sometimes even midnight, drunk and barely conscious.


    The girl was sitting on the bed''s edge, but on a stool in front of the table dresser, in her hands was a guqin which appeared quite old. If he remembered correctly, it was something she retrieved from the Marshal''s family.


    She was no longer wearing her veil or the heavy decorations on her head. She must probably be nning to only wear them again before his estimated time of arrival.


    With nothing to obscure her face, he could see that makeup was applied on her. And heughed out loud because even though she still as stunning as ever, the makeup was just too exaggerated, as if the person who applied it on her wished she would look uglier on her wedding day instead.


    Jiang Ying Yue smilingly exined, seemingly not offended by hisughter. "Madam Lu is the one who did my makeup today. She said she''ll reluctantly ept me if I let her so I happily epted the offer. Does His Highness dislike my face now? I know it''s not exquisite. But please believe in your heart that Madam Lu wants to wish Your Highness happiness."


    He shook his head until hisughter died. "My mother is childish and sometimes narrow-minded, I''ll talk to her tomorrow. But for now, which one do you want to do first? Wash your face or eat?"


    He included thetter because he knew the troublesome custom in this era and thought it would not be nice to let Jiang Ying Yue starved.


    "Your Highness sneaked in food?" she asked in curiosity. To this, Jiang Li''s left eyebrow rose. "Those people made sure I''m far from the table of food. So none. Let''s just go outside, before leaving, Mao Hong told me there are many stalls right outside the manor."


    She thought for a moment then nodded. She had him wait outside while she fixed herself and after a few minutes, she came out with a simple dress on, and a lightweight veil over her face. For some reason today, she didn''t want to leave the guqin behind so she brought it with her.


    "Let''s go."


    She didn''t ask how they would leave the tightly guarded manor since she knew the man would use the usual way, showing off his aplishments in qingong.


    Not even a minute passed, and they were already at the back alleys. With a turn, they entered the sea of people bathing under the soft glow of thenterns andmps and drowning in the happyughter and smiles.


    "It''s weird, right? On asions like this, even though the one getting married is not them, they can easily share happiness." Jiang Liughingly said at the blushing girl.


    She couldn''t answer because he pulled her away, not to dive into the bustling streets, but to the direction opposite it.


    Jiang Ying Yue nkly stared at her hand that was being held tightly by the man. After a while, she blinked and asked, "Your Highness, I thought you''re going to treat me for food. The stalls are there."


    "Later."


    The girl found him unbelievable that what this illustrious prince meant withter was buying him some buns on the stall they passed by and then continued bringing her to somewhere she doesn''t know.


    ''Maybe our finances are tight?'' She mused, remembering she had an agreement before with His Highness to earn a city-worth of dowry. She hadn''t fulfilled it yet.


    Feeling ashamed, she then started to think of ways to help the estate make more money. Unaware that if Jiang Li discovered what she was thinking, he would definitelyugh at her and remind her that the Emperor had just awarded them with more than ten thousand taels of goal.


    "We are here," he said after ten minutes of walking.


    It was ake. And there were many lit upnterns floating on its still water surface. Quite the sight to feast on, especially since it was reflecting the countless stars above together with the moon. Plus, there were thousands of fireflies flying slowly on top of it, a few gathering around the stand-alone pavilion.


    Jiang Ying Yue looked around the ce and then gasped. She recalled that one year ago too, they saw something simr. However, even though there were no other people around, it was still more beautiful. The fact that there were only two of them here made it more special... It was not their secret ce since it would surely be open for the public on the next day, yet at this moment, she knew the man arranged it exclusively for her.


    ''I probably saved a country before to gain His Highness'' affections,'' she unconsciously said to herself. The girl found it hard to calm her racing heart and had to jokingly say to ease the mood, "Your Highness, it is such a lovely surprise, a pity, you did not put a blindfold on me before showing this."


    Jiang Li''s eyes turned round, but he would never admit that the idea skipped his mind. He looked away from her and replied, "If the intended result shows, then it''s all good."


    She smiled, not moving her gaze away from him. One of this guy''s amazing traits was his ability to hide his emotion. But because he was like this that it was okay to make countless guesses about his current mood.


    Was he embarrassed? Or really nonchnt about it? He was a puzzle. But even though he was, at least there was one fact which she was confident about, he was now her partner in life, her husband.


    If she didn''t clutch tightly on the string instrument, she would probably copse by now, or cry, from too many emotions. All the sufferings and belittlement she went through for the past years, maybe there was a reason for those. Maybe it was true that when things seemed to be falling apart, they were actually falling into ce.


    "I brought you to somewhere nice. Won''t you at least return the favor with a poem or song?" he asked with a smile when he noticed her state.


    Jiang Ying Yue unconsciously ran her fingers through the strings, creating sounds that disturbed the serenity of the ce. As if something suddenly surfaced from the back of her mind, she stilled and then looked at Jiang Li. "Your Highness, I just remembered, a few nights ago, I had a very vivid dream where I saw myself holding a strangely white piece of paper. It has several symbols on it, written in very thin fine lines not made through brushes."


    The man automatically turned his head to her, his face showed intrigue. She looked down at her guqin and started plucking some strings there. At first, she was frowning because she was not getting some notes right.


    He was looking at her action with interest.


    She put on a thoughtful expression. "The symbols ovep with the rows of horizontal lines and below, there were many characters simr to the ones you taught me. However, the words don''t make sense to me. But I think the words the girl sang correspond to those written there."


    Jiang Li''s lips curled into a grin. "Do you remember what she wore? And what she sang?"


    She nodded. "My memories work fine even though it''s a weird dream. I can''t describe her attire." She never stopped testing her instrument, and when she seemingly found the correct note, she began ying a melody not from this era''s style.


    "In another life..." She began, in her face, she looked like somebody who didn''t know what she was saying, like those Korean fanatics from his country who kept singing Kpop songs without ever knowing what the lyrics meant.


    However, Jiang Li understood what the words meant. If only she looked away from the strings once and nced at him, she would see shock crossing his face briefly.


    "I would be your girl.


    We keep all our promises


    Be us against the worlds."


    The reflection of the moon was seemingly right beside them as they stood next to the waters. As the girl continued ying and singing, he was there standing next to her, almost reaching out a hand to hug her.


    "In another life


    I would make you stay..."


    The man then froze, in his mind, he saw the woman before him in her usual housewife attire, a pair of jeans and an oversized T-shirt, her hair tied in a bun. Na Yu was not a singer, but he taught her a bit how topose and sing. She easily learned thanks to her enviable brain. He remembered that she did not even take a day to master how to read notes.


    So this was how she applied the knowledge acquired from him? Because he passed away first so she wrote a song promising she would go after him in the next life?


    "So I don''t have to say you were the one that got away."


    As if to answer the question he had yet to ask, she sang.


    In this lifetime, Jiang Ying Yue had good singing skills for being trained since young, so the melody produced was like a masterpiece, extremely moving.


    ''It''s like she''s protesting that I left her early. But doesn''t she know I saved her in this life?''


    Jiang Li was inwardlyining, but he felt warm. It was not thenterns giving off some heat to them who were standing in the open pavilion which was unsheltered from the natural coldness of the wind and the night.


    The words were too beautiful but it did not make him want to cry. Instead, pettiness blossomed in his heart. And so as if to take revenge against her who almost made him lose hisposure, her made her repeat the song again. After reasoning he didn''t get the song but feel like he heard the words somewhere, he made her repeat it again for five more times.


    "Done. Your Highness..."


    "Another. It is for research purposes."


    She red at him, "Why do I feel like you''re simply addicted to listening to unknownnguage?"


    Heughed and without regards to her pouting face, he ordered her to sing for the seventh time. If only he could, he would tell her that he couldn''t get enough listening to her promise.


    But anyway, because of this song that definitely came from Jiang Ying Yue''s past incarnation, he was finally sure of one thing. It doesn''t matter if his ever-so-annoying system confirmed it or not.


    He finally found someone who could possibly go through all the worlds with him.


    ...


    <END>


    NO MORE EXTENSION :P

 Chapter 158: Sheng Lingxins After Story

    Chapter 158: Sheng Lingxin''s After Story


    It had been ten years since Zhang Wu woke up in the body of the prime minister estate''s first legitimate miss, Sheng Lingxin, a character who was only mentioned once in her favorite mobile game ''To Be The Empress''. She remembered dying after being run over by a huge delivery truck, then after the pain, here she was, seeminglypensated with another life by the heavens for dying early.


    ''I''m a sickly and bullied granddaughter of a high minister? Like what usually happens to those who reincarnated or transmigrated to somebody else''s body in another world?''


    When the realization rushed into her brain, she naturally despaired. Nobody wanted to wake up every day seeing how bleak their future was. Everyone wanted to be a winner in life. So when she learned of her circumstances, actually even waking up with a high fever due to almost drowning in a pond, she started to lose hope in life. Then after a moment, she fainted.


    Yet when she woke up again, it seemed she had be another person (again).


    Confidence went back to her when memories of her current body coincided with many details from her favorite game. This was the seventy-fifth year of the Zhao Empire. The Emperor had four sons ready for a battle for the throne. That was when she knew this was a world based on that game.


    And if it was, then there was a high chance she could meet her number one 2-D husband, Prince-General Lu Ling, titled Chen Wang.


    With that in mind, she got herself together and then followed the cutscenes in establishing herself in the household. She was very thankful that the game''s main character''s circumstances were very simr to hers. The game''s protagonist''s opportunities to gain precious connections and stuff fell into her hands she actively went after them. In three months'' time, she managed to be one of the bestdies in the empire and gained the interest of both Hai Wang and Rui Wang.


    Of course, her heart was already set to the man who would soon be returning to the capital. It was true she had no choice but ept the engagement with Hai Wang, but even then she never lost hope. If she could just capture Lu Ling''s heart then he would surely help her once she asked to annul her marriage agreement.


    Probably, everything seemed to have gone wrong the first time she met the game''s female protagonist in the Emperor''s banquet. Rui Wang''s annulment of the engagement took away everyone''s attention, including Lu Ling''s. Well, even she was surprised. But that seemed to be fatal because when she recovered from her stupor, Lu Ling already appeared to stop the girl who wanted tomit suicide.


    Maybe that was when Jiang Ying Yue unknowingly entered Lu Ling''s route, even without the first meeting which should only happen dayster, in a betting arena.


    "His Highness Chen Wang? Well, he is spotted near the river, on the left side of the bridge." said one of the guards she dispatched around the ce to help in case an emergency happened.


    After giving her thanks to the person, she looked for the man. Yet when she found him, he was gently watching a veiled girl next to him set freenterns on the river. She called his name several times and then finally managed to greet him with a smile when he turned around, but all she elicited from him was a nod. He then walked away, as if fleeing from trouble.


    Why? She repeatedly asked herself, which part of her was the trouble?


    "Young Miss, please, this servant is begging you. Please don''t do that again. Young Miss is already promised to His Highness, the second prince. Also, the one you''re chasing earlier, Chen Wang, already has a sweetheart."


    Sheng Lingxin only shook her head, finding it unbelievable.


    ''Lies... How could someone fall that quickly for another? Then why is intimacy level so slow to level up in the game? yers have to make at least twenty encounters and gifts to marry a male consort.''


    "That girl earlier is Jiang Ying Yue?"


    "Yes, Young Miss."


    That time, her face was very grim. Even when Hai Wang, her fiance appeared, all that was in her mind were the general''s rtionship with the heroine and if she should break off the engagement so she could officially get close to him.


    Hai Wang had always been a crafty and perceptive person, even in the game, so maybe that was when he noticed the signs. Yet the stupid her only cared for that one white moonlight which she would never grasp with her hand. More or less ten years passed since then. That time, she loved a memory, and now the one who loved her before also treat her like a mere memory of the past.


    "I dreamt of being together with him. I was very happy and content as his sole consort and beloved Empress, and we had a fulfilling life envied by everyone in the empire. But why is the reality so different from expected?"


    Sheng Lingxin stood by the door; she was wearing a very fashionable dress made out of materials only avable to Imperial consorts. The splendid main hall behind her still had candles flickering at the slight touch of the wind.


    After hugging herself which was already dded in a thick fur jacket, she painfully closed her eyes, no longer willing to see the night that had long nketed the sky.


    "Imperial Concubine, the wind is getting colder. This servant and the others have already warmed up the room for you. Please go inside and rest." The maid who had followed her from the prime minister''s estate respectfully bowed.


    She nodded and extended her hand at her. With the maid''s support, Sheng Lingxin managed to walk back to her room where she nted her face in her pillow and started to cry.


    "Your Highness. Please don''t cry anymore. Everything will be okay one day."


    Sheng Lingxin only replied with silence, her shoulders trembling.


    Helpless, yet at the same time angry for her mistress'' sake, the maid said, "Imperial Concubine, this servant doesn''t get it anymore. This is too much, even though the other concubines are not making things hard for us, the Emperor''s attitude is another matter. Why is he still so cold despite everything you have done? Is His Majesty still testing Your Highness?"


    ''Testing what?'' Sheng Lingxin bitterly thought. She neither answered nor scolded her servant for her attitude.


    The woman just didn''t have the energy anymore, all spent on thinking why despite trying her best to make amends, nothing seemed to be working. Even after she helped the man ascend and poured all her resources into his projects and ventures, she still couldn''t win his heart. Why?


    Was everything just toote? Why the hell did she only fall for him after she had done that stupid thing for a guy who would not even look at her? Why did she hurt him so much?


    ''God, please help me travel back in time, I promise to treasure him and never break his heart again. I won''t let myself be blinded again.''


    She had wished for this countless times, but years already passed and she had yet to gain a single response from the heavens.


    "Your Highness..." said the maid in a tone full of concern. "Please take a rest already. Tomorrow. You''ll see His Majesty. So please cheer up. You need to have your beauty rest and wake up refresh so you''ll look more beautiful than the other consorts. Maybe tomorrow, there will be good news."


    Sheng Lingxin had no choice but nod. And prayed that sleep would visit her.


    Tomorrow came and all the members of the imperial family gathered for a state banquet. All the ministers were invited and were already seated at the tables assigned to them. Even Chen Wang and his wang fei who were always at the south came and their seats were only a step below the imperial n''s.


    Sheng Lingxin did not even nce at them, all her focus was on the Emperor who was in his ninth year of reign. He was still as regal and handsome, growing more imposing each passing day. Unfortunately, unlike that year when all his focus and love were on her, he was not even ncing at her now, or probably he did when he once swept his gaze over the people participating in the banquet. But how was that different from not receiving a nce at him?


    Saddened by the realization, she excused herself earlier than expected and said she was very unwell. The Emperor perfunctorily had a physician tend to her. That further made her smile bitter. Sometimes it was already hard to cling on hope when every day, he was being like this.


    "I really envy her..." When another day dawned, she murmured after seeing Chen Wang Fei escorted by the prince-general in strolling the imperial gardens. She was sitting in a nearby standalone pavilion by herself, apanied only by her head maid.


    Thest time she heard about that woman was eight years ago, when she gave birth to an heir for Chen Wang and cleared her family''s name. It became a big sensation in the capital because it was aired to the world that the Marshal who rebelled against the previous Emperor before was not the real Marshal, but a bastard-born who just happened to look exactly like him.


    That exined some odd fact about him though. After all, before Chen Wang Fei''s eleventh birthday, that man was known as the most romantic wife ve in the Empire. His change in attitude had just been very drastic and people only couldn''t pinpoint what was odd due to his face. A lot of controversies revolved around this faker, but at the end of the day, it helped clear the Marshal''s name, which in turn helped the game protagonist take off the title ''daughter of a rebel'' of her head.


    "She''s really enviable..." Sheng Lingxin said onest time and then looked away from them.


    Probably the good thing which she got from that encounter was that her desire to have the Emperor''s affection again got rekindled. She had been loving and putting efforts for nine years. How could it be easy to give up? She already felt tired of fighting. But what would happen to her once she gives up? The thought of her getting further away from the man caused to her shiver. And so she went to the old days when she would wait upon the man every day in her pce and covertly send support to him through the Prime Minister or her conglomerate outside.


    A yearter, either through the help of her actually still existing female halo, or just the heaven finally pitying her, she regained Chen Heng''s attention and was then crowned the Empress. A few years after that though, she would learn that actually, the Hai Wang of yesteryear never stopped loving the foolish her. It was just he also never stopped being a vengeful, cough, bastard and always put reason before anything else. In short, he held grudges.


    It was said that ten years was neverte for a gentleman''s revenge. But the semi-twisted male lead seemed to have taken those ten years as the duration for the revenge.


    ''You make a fool out of me for a year, I had you wait for me for ten years.''


    When Sheng Lingxin found out the truth, she, of course, turned depressed for a whole month.


    But anyway, no matter the crazy misunderstandings between those two and even though they had a depressing start, due to the plot, or maybe Jiang Li''sck of meddling, they still ended up together.


    If they ended up in a happily ever after? Maybe. But definitely no better than the renowned royal couple of the Southern region.


    ...

 Chapter 159: Ye Xinya (1) <2-in-1>

    Chapter 159: Ye Xinya (1) <2-in-1>


    On Jiang Li''s seventy-eighth year in that world, the dynasty changed hands once again. The one who reced Chen Heng''s heir was quite tyrannical, rising through a rebellion. This person efficiently weeded out the court of useless people, people who would bring harm to his rule, or those who would threaten his power.


    However, even he didn''t dare piss off the old man in the Southern region. Everyone knew that the person was somebody not even Lin Wang''s crazy tactics managed to faze. Even if he had the whole Southern region under him, the new Emperor did not make a sound and focused on stabilizing and establishing himself in the court


    He did invite the former Chen Wang to witness his crowning ceremony though. He was merely paying respects but Jiang Li thought it would not be a bad thing to check the festivities, so he brought Jiang Ying Yue and visited Chen Heng. Thetter was grieving for his wife, and Jiang Li quite sympathized with him. But more than that, he found the situation amusing.


    Before, Sheng Lingxin was made to wait for ten years to regain Chen Heng''s affection. Now, Sheng Lingxin made the former Hai Wang wait for years before meeting her in the afterlife. Who knows how long the male lead would have to wait for that? Maybe ten years too?


    After the visit, he just sent his congrattions to the new Emperor before going back to the South.


    He managed tost until four yearster where he passed away. It was a natural death this time.


    This type of death made him feelplicated because he never expected to experience it. Actually, he never even nned to stay that long in every world.


    As he left for the next mission, he couldn''t help but feel like he had been unfair to the girl from the previous world. This was why if he was to be given the chance, apart from returning to his original world, he would go back to Feng Ru''s and try to give Na Yu, that beautiful stalker, the life and lover she deserved.


    ''So many things nned... But I need to take it one step at a time. Gotta focus on the next world first.''


    ...


    It was in the middle of summer. The sun seemed so high up, yet so near to the earth. The heat was simply unbearable to those outside.


    Jiang Li was not actually basking under the scorching rays. He was just sitting inside a ssroom, watching the spectacle outside through the open window with cold, emotionless eyes.


    "S-so ruthless! H-hey, those students are badly injured. Why is nobody stopping that instructor?"


    The one who asked was a short-haired girl with a petite figure. She was one of the new students, a new arrival to this hellish ce. When the scene outside urred, the shock caused her to stand up.


    Jiang Li was back in the modern world. A few minutes ago, when he opened his eyes, he was in the middle of a graveyard-quiet room where students seemed to be too afraid to make a sound. The bulky teacher in his fifties wearing a sports suit and cap seemed very bored and half-hearted about his lessons.


    It was Math ss and the guy standing on the podium had already made several errors in his calctions. It simply looked like he didn''t know what he was doing. However, none of the people listening to himmented about it. Maybe Jiang Li would have, if not for his usual head-splitting headache due to the rush of memories. But yeah, even though the aged man in front seemed even he would fall asleep any minute soon, nobody was finding faults with him.


    Why was that? The new students were puzzled by the quietness, but since they were not familiar with the situation, they followed the others and kept their silence. As for the others, they were simply scared. At times, their eyes would dart to the stun gun at the man''s waist, then to the baseball bat leaning against the table''s leg.


    It was amidst that silence that another situation urred outside. A new batch of new arrivals consisting of five teenage kids showed up from the gate which could be spectated from their location. One of the kids rushed to return to the gate where his parents were waiting, but one of the guards immediately closed it.


    The teenage boy started crying and repeatedly pounded his fists on the surface of the seemingly tall wall. Since the ce was not that far and the kid had an awesome vocal capacity, those from the ssroom could hear him scream his wish to speak with his mother for onest time. But nobody let him out, not even for a minute.


    When the drunk-looking teacher caught up with him, the incessant beating started. The baton mercilessly struck all over the boy''s body. Two other boys from the new batch tried to help, but since they were just kids, they couldn''t do much. They even received the teacher''s ire and began to get beaten up too. Coupled with the shrieking girls, the scene outside simply became painful to the eyes. Yet nobody was charging towards them to control the situation. Not even the guards.


    "T-teacher! Please look outside! There''s an issue there! That boy is dying!" pointed that same courageous girl outside while shouting at the bulky teacher.


    Jiang Li swept his gaze around and saw that those who had been here for long were either looking down or looking away. The newbies were staring at the bored middle-aged man''s face, unaware of the danger.


    ''This is not the only room where students and teachers can see what''s going on outside. But quite some time already passed, yet no adult is rushing out to help those minors. What the hell...'' His gaze darkened after he recalled what kind of ce this was.


    Isted from the world. Located deep into a forest somewhere. No way ofmunicating outside but through the principal''s old telephone. Such a school actually exists. And it had around two thousand students enrolled. Everyone had to stay in the dorms outside ss hours and was not allowed to step out of the school premises unless they have graduated.


    This was a modern world, but there was no trace of technology apart from an old telephone no student would be able to ess at will. Was it truly March 2019?


    Well, the story this time was a bit out of the ordinary.


    The advent of technology and gadgets brought countless advantages to society and made life easier, yet there was a part or aspect of it still not epted by everyone. There were parents who think that phones,ptops, pc, the inte... basically all sorts of handheld technology that could be essed for entertainment were tools of devils.


    The reason for this was simple. The number of children all over the world getting addicted to these was growing every passing day. Many had begun to get used to forgetting to talk with their parents. The most rming factor was how the majority addicted to ying games or browsing social media started to lose time for studying and sleeping and had failing grades.


    Well, this was a fact (and a bitter pill to swallow coz even author is guilty haha). But through proper guidance and regting the usage of the inte, it should still be something that could be remedied.


    The problem was that not all parents had the time to care for this. All-day long they were busy in their works and other issues but were not willing to ept that uponing home they would see their kid not heeding them or their orders due to being engrossed in games or SNS.


    Somebody noticed this problem and built a learning institution to take advantage of it. The school built specialized in ''rehabilitating'' inte addicts, and helping students learn obedience to their parents and be focused on their studies again.


    Many parents were impressed by the slogan. When they heard that the ce would be at a very secluded location where devil devices would be out of reach and saw the curriculum packed with lessons helpful in bing a productive person in the future, they immediately praised the school management and then enrolled their kids there.


    However, while the mission and vision of this learning facility seemed impressive and ground-breaking, the reality was just the opposite. Students were suffering from abuse and battering every day. And they had no one to turn to because they couldn''tmunicate with the police or anybody from the outside.


    If the school was truly rehabilitating them, it was the deadly type of rehabilitation centered on violence. They were strict about privacy so they simply kill or subject to torture those caught attempting to flee from the suffocating school.


    No wonder every year, at least ten students ended up dead. And yet when the administrators report to the parents, all they would say was that they suffered from extreme withdrawal syndromes and couldn''t stand the treatment process.


    Withdrawal syndrome for being an inte addict, upon it was not even known if the person was that engrossed with the inte? It was a ''what the f*ck'' type of excuse, but people actually believed them, partly because there was ''constion money'' involved.


    It was hard not to question if the parents who sent their kids on such a terrible school truly care for them. Maybe some were aware and were intentionally admitting the children there so once they graduated, they return anew, meek, and afraid of technology, simply a shell of themselves. Or worse, dead.


    As for why the school adapted such insane treatment of the young teenagers... Yeah, a puzzle. There might be a conspiracy somewhere. Or the staff and instructors working here were simply demons hiding from society yet still wanted to terrorize the world while earning easy money.


    After going through the memories and understanding where the heck he got sent to, Jiang Li found it hard not to curse out. He suddenly felt like he was actually the sanest person on earth.,


    ''The f*ck with this inte addiction rehabilitation school? Isn''t this ce simply hell? Instead of focusing on helping students know how to use technology correctly, here are the instructors, not teaching properly but beating the heck out of everyone for every single thing.''


    The new female student suddenly received an evil re from the teacher. Shocked by that response, she stepped back and lost bnce, her leg grazed the leg of the desk behind her. Unfortunately, the person sitting at her back was somebody who had been there for long and had been used to acting like he didn''t see anything. Out of fear that he would be implicated, he pretended that he didn''t see the female student fall.


    Thankfully, somebody with a conscience, another guy from the new batch that just transferred yesterday, who was sitting not far away from her, reached out and caught her by the waist. "Careful."


    The slightly pale-faced girl immediately regained her bnce and then thanked the male student for his help. Not long after, they heard the teacher spoke.


    "No one is allowed to gossip. No one is also allowed to interrupt me when I''m teaching. Those are bad manners! For viting thetter, you little girly, and that courageous boy who helped her will not be allowed to have lunch for the whole week!"


    "W-what?" Both of them gasped. They unconsciously blurted that out because they couldn''t believe what they just heard.


    "Any question?" asked the teacher in a freezing voice.


    The two almost argued with the unreasonable teacher when they saw him lifting his baton up. That gesture made them gulp. The silence around them and theck of people defending them made them feel cold all over their bodies. The girl began to shiver because she was just being concerned yet this was what she got.


    Apparently, her batch yesterday did not get the same treatment as those outside, and this was the reason for her naivety. But those who had been in the school for quite a long time knew how things worked in this ce.Here, resistance was not allowed. To escape punishment, stay silent and be obedient.

 Chapter 160: Ye Xinya (2)

    Chapter 160: Ye Xinya (2)


    To escape punishment and live longer, then don''t mention gadgets, don''t involve oneself in trouble, stay silent and be obedient. No matter what happens, stick to these rules. Even if that meant watching somebody die before you.


    This might sound extreme, but in a ce where cruel and heartless instructors were gods, they had no choice but to ept that death, harassment, and violence as norms. The majority were practically abandoned. To survive, the only options were to either be the greater devil, or submit.


    However, it was hard for children to do the first since whenpared to the adults, they would be like eggs trying to tackle a huge rock. Their strength was feeble. Even if one managed to think of using numbers as their advantage, the others were too meek or tamed to try an uprising.


    Fear andck of drive for change were contagious, like a virus. This made everyone only think of adapting and dancing to the instructors'' tune to receive less beating and harshness.


    Now, the outside spectacle was still ongoing and it showed no sign of stopping, yet nobody was speaking up and suggesting helping apart from the ignorant girl. In front of them, the red-eyed drunkard was also already looking badly at the crying females and was raising his baton at them.


    The demonic teachers at the ce would not care if one was a minor. They also would not show preferential treatment based on gender. And they sometimes punished by groups.


    ''Is Instructor Xiang nning to break every bone in those five new students today?'' thought everyone with wide eyes and bated breaths.


    Jiang Li watched as the sole girl not cowering under the scary man''s gaze let go of the other girl she wasforting. Before the blunt weapon struck her, she first looked around and after confirming nobody would help her, she readied her stance and with one swift motion, kicked the charging man in the stomach.


    Somebody from the ssroom gasped. "That student... is so brave..."


    The noises immediately died down after that. Everyone around blinked repeatedly to check if they were seeing things or not.


    As for the instructor, he got too used to the students admitted to the school never fighting back to him so the sudden attack caught him off-guard. When he realized he would be struck, it was alreadyte. Pain immediately followed. So was a brief cry of pain.


    It was after the teacher groaned and curled on the ground that the female student remembered her blunder. She took a deep breath. A secondter, she raised her left foot again and kicked down. The target this time was the part between the legs. The leather shoe hit the zipper part which immediately sent the old guy screaming loudly, like a dying pig or a crying cow.


    "DAMN YOU GIRL!!! I''LL KILL YOU!!!" Despite sweating so much and rolling sideways as he clutched the part giving him killer pain, he still managed to curse and threaten the person.


    The girl seemed to have ignored the shouts, busy helping the crying boys bandage their wounds. She also helped fix some dislocated bones. Jiang Li couldn''t help but click his tongue since the female student was suddenly now like an angel, aplete opposite to the tigress from earlier who fought back against somebody twice her height and body built.


    Jiang Li saw the new arrivals talk to themselves with worried or shocked expressions on their faces. Unlike the teacher with a face that had bulging veins yet was devoid of color, they were speaking with each other in a normal voice so he couldn''t hear them. Not that he was interested in hearing their discussions though.


    He was more concerned with how he had yet to receive the memories fully. Since there would be no more interesting things to watch, he reckoned the next thing he should focus on was the mission.


    Unfortunately, he was notfortable ying the moving pictures in his head amidst a bunch of people.


    He frowned, pondering. Not long after, he erased the unnatural look on his face, then raised his hand and said to the person in charge, "Teacher Yao, sorry to interrupt. But I think Head Instructor Xiang is in so much pain and in urgent need of some help. We''re the nearest to his location. Teacher, shouldn''t you go to aid him? If you were the first one toe to his rescue, he would definitely remember the favor."


    The middle-aged man gave him an evil re, which of course, did not truly intimidate him. Thankfully the person did not notice the odd details since he sunk into contemtion and then realized the kid had a point.


    After giving his colleague who was writhing outside another look, he said to everyone in the room, "ss dismissed then. Remember to not wander around or be an annoyance, andply with the rules. Or else, having no food ticket for a week will be lenient in front of this!"


    When the stun gun was raised, everyone showed a fearful look on their faces. Most of the students remembered the owner of one of the vacant chairs at the back and then shivered. They did not even dare to breathe loudly. The sight made the math teacher satisfied. He then left.


    As soon as the scary man vanished from the ce, everyone sighed in relief and then lowered their heads to stuff their things inside their bags.


    The girl from earlier though scanned everyone in the ce with watery eyes and then said, "Why did nobody speak up earlier?"


    Her voice was not that loud but because it was scarily quiet, her voice made way to everyone''s ears. Not few turned their heads at her, but still, nobody answered.


    They left one by one, intending to hide in their dorms and not to entangle themselves with any trouble. Even the boy earlier who helped her passed by her and walked out of the room. He was already being nice when he didn''tin about him losing his lunch meal tickets for the week.


    In this school, everything was provided for the student, meals, bedspace, toiletries... Yet this also meant that the people in charge had their lifelines in hand. Teachers frequently punished offenders by cutting off their supplies. Most of the time, they used starvation tactics.


    Sometimes there were staff who embarrassed students of no ess to toilet products. Imagine it. For three to five days they had to think of ways to get stuff to wipe their bum with. The other students wouldn''t share theirs since that would be going against the dormitory leaders'' rules, and nobody would want to go against those. The other bad news was that water and soap were regted, at times not even provided. So what would they do?


    Anyway, back to the present.


    The girl couldn''t believe that nobody would even exin their side to her. She was very hurt and felt that on her first day in this unfamiliar school, she was already being discriminated against. It was when she thought only she was left in the room that a voiceing to her right rang, sounding nice to the ears but carried a hint of frost.


    "Girl, stop the drama. It''s not that nobody wanted to speak up. But nobody can. Everyone here doesn''t even have time to care for themselves. "


    She lifted her head and followed the direction of the voice. She found it was the boy who suggested the teacher to help the other instructor and allowed everyone else to be dismissed early.


    She felt indignant at his words and thus spat out, "Hah. How stupid. Why is it that nobody can? If everyone speaks up, I''m sure the teacher would get our point. He''d have no choice but to ept our point! It''s illegal to beat up minors!"


    Jiang Li stood up since he already finished watching the female lead deal with their math teacher. Things were ording to the plot. The female lead would be detained due to assaulting school personnel. Once she was brought to the dark hall, a punishment room away from even the littlest spark of light, she would encounter the male lead who was jailed next room.


    Only a few rows of bars would separate them but since it was too dark, they wouldn''t see each other. That wouldn''t stop them from talking their boredom away though. Through the mysterious male student, the female lead would learn the situation in the school and she, with his help, would embark on her mission to free everyone from the hellish rehabilitation school.


    Until then, everyone would have to suffer a bit longer. The kids here would have to endure more, either to grow up and be stronger, or break and turn into mere shells with a hollow inside.


    Thinking of this, he looked at the girl and shook his head, "How I hope everywhere in the world, the reality is just like you said. Those on the right side wins. Everybody bes happy. But..."


    He thenughed. But his eyes were like a deep ck whirlpoolcking in emotion when he said. "You''re a newbie. So it''s normal that you don''t know. But the people here are different. Abandoned. Thrown away. And then maltreated by the instructors. After such a treatment, keeping self-esteem and braveness would naturally be a hard challenge. The Majority simply cave in and no longer fight because it''s tiring. Now merely thinking of survival."


    The confused girl shook her head too, finding his words so extreme and not easy to ept. "I thought this is still a normal school... just a bit hidden from the world so that students don''t have ess to gadgets. Howe you''re now telling me something is wrong with the people too?"


    ''Because it was a ce not essible to those from the outside world that brutality and injustice reigned.''


    But he was no longer in the mood to exin anything to someone busy denying reality even after witnessing it.


    He slung his bag across his shoulders and then marched towards the door. The naive girl hurriedly fetched her bag and then went after him. He annoyedly said,


    "Miss. Don''t follow me. I''ve now done my part so do whatever you think is right if that''s what your conscience dictates you, but don''t expect to always get rewarded for your good deeds. This part of the world is simply not a wonderful ce. Use your eyes frequently. Goodbye."


    After leaving this remark, he ignored her who was asking his name and rification for his words and headed for his own dorm room. The only reason he wasted his breath was that she stood up for somebody she didn''t know which showcased both her naivety and good heart. That interested him a bit. He was curious how this random newbie girl would react to reality.


    His curiosity died easily though. It was not the time for something like this.


    He badly wanted to know theplete story. Due to this, when he arrived there, he immediately flopped down his bed and closed his eyes to ept the memories. Only with these would he know where to search for the viiness and that girl, and whether to aid the leads or destroy this ce by himself.

 Chapter 161: Ye Xinya (3)

    Chapter 161: Ye Xinya (3)


    The main protagonist, as said earlier, was that courageous girl from earlier, Ren Lian. She was an e-Sports yer. At the same time, she was her school''s sole ck belter. Unfortunately, a year ago, her parents passed away due to a road ident.


    She had no choice but to live with her uncle''s family. But that uncle''s wife was not willing to raise her and used the fact that she was an e-Sports yer to use her of being an inte addict.


    Ren Lian''s attempt to help in their finances using the money earned from ying inpetitions was simply disregarded. By listing reasons like the sharp rise in the inte and electricity bill, and forging test papers showing Ren Lian''s dropping grades, the aunt sessfully managed to convince the female lead''s uncle to admit her into the disciplinary school. The woman knew what that ce really was, so by doing this, she was hoping the girl would just die and note back as an eyesore or a burden again.


    Ren Lian was not really heartbroken by this act. She was a e what may'' type of person, her personalityrgely influenced by herte father who always said a person should be flexible and know how to adapt. Rigidness and dwelling too much on things that happened in the past would only make someone stagnant and unproductive.


    Her father was awkward when giving advice but she always made sure tomit the useful ones to her mind. This time, one of those helped her in immediately standing back to her feet again.


    But of course, this doesn''t mean she didn''t harbor grudge against her scheming aunt. There were just things that could not be forgiven nor forgotten.


    If that woman doesn''t like her, why didn''t she just drive her out of the house or send her to an orphanage? Even she couldn''t stomach the kind of institution she got thrown to. So once she got out of this ce, she vowed to immediately seek her uncle''s family for exnation andpensation.


    Thankfully the heavens were on her side and allowed her to meet some people, especially the male lead, who helped her break away from there. Through their help, she not only managed to straighten the uncle''s family, but also made it into a good school, got together with the male lead, and married into his family to enjoy a doted life.


    As for the male lead, well, his background was a lot more colorful than the girl. His name was Han Su and he was already apetent hacker despite being sixteen years old. His family owned arge enterprise, and he had a twin who performed a bit worse than the other.


    Maybe due to the male lead''s stoic character that the parents came to favor his younger twin more. Even so, this twin was always feeling insecure at his older brother''s existence. The male lead was always top at school, could always get things done or answer things much earlier than him. He was also more popr and cooler in people''s eyes.


    When the insecurities due to the male lead''s intelligence and excellence reached the boiling point, the younger of the twins just decided he had enough.


    He framed Han Su of hacking and sabotaging his parent''spany in hopes that this could get him kicked out of the family. In that way, he would be the best. And no longer had to sleep at night feeling like he would forever be in his brother''s shadow.


    Who knows where the twin got the evidence but the parents believed him. They got angry. They quite disliked their cold and uncute son anyway so after chastising him for wantonly essing the inte and modern devices to cause theirpany''s recent losses, they immediately sent him to the rehabilitation school, even paying three years of schooling fees in advance.


    The male was innocent of the charge. How could he ept the undeserved usations and punishments? He only needed a few minutes to realize it was the jealous twin he never bothered with who set him up. Feeling anger bubbling inside him, he vowed to return and made the backstabber pay for his actions. He swore it would be very easy to do due to his aplishments at such a young age.


    On his first day, he tried to escape but unfortunately, he was caught and then punished to stay in the pitch-ck room for a week. It was already his third day there, surviving through spoiled bread and a bottle of water. He had never suffered this much before but he kept his calm and only silently added the suffering to the list of what he had to pay back.


    Instead of wallowing in depression, he spent the first few days thinking things through, wondering why their parents were so biased against him and how that annoying twin of his managed to frame him.


    On the third day, he already came up with the answers. Bored, he spent the rest of the time teasing the female neighbor who just suddenly joined him in confinement. Despite the rocky beginning, they started to get along and then had a good talk about the situation in the ce.


    A few days after they left the punishment room, they began to sneak behind the patrols and monitors'' eyes to see each other. Amidst their unnned dates, their foolproof n to escape was hatched. They sessfully escape and even managed to bring some people with them. As the leads avenge themselves, these few people helped seek justice from the high government for the other students and unveil the identity and crimes of the mastermind behind this school.


    What came next? Well, what else but the usual evil people ended up dead and the leads and their subordinates lived happily ever after.


    He went through the memories twice, disappointed that throughout the scour, he didn''t manage to find anybody who had a simr face with Jiang Ying Yue. He reckoned though that she was here. Guts told him she would never be far from the leads and danger.


    When he passed by the shabby bulletin boards, he had confirmed a few important details about this school. There were around a hundred teachers and staff. Most of them were men in their forties and hadrge built. Not many knew but these people were actually from an underground gang which used to do many illegal things, like trafficking, ckmailing and prostitution.


    His face darkened. He was afraid that girls sent to this ce had experienced greater hell than this ce already was.


    ''She always has no memories of the past and could not retain her previous knowledge or abilities. It''s dangerous to leave her alone. Her face and quiet character will turn her into a target here. I must find her and the viiness as soon as possible... Use system points if needed.''


    After determining his next course of action, he unmuted the system and asked, ''How many points do I have so far, and how many are needed for that goal?''


    System: Er, host, a trial world gives a maximum of 100, but official worlds give 1000. 50 less 20 equals 30, plus 500, and another 1000 from the previous world. The total is 1530. It depends on which items rted to your goal you''ll buy. The cheapest will only cost you 30,000 points. It is enough to bring you back to your world, but then, it will be on the date you die. The other one is for 50,000 which can turn back the time to at least a few months before your death."


    He closed his eyes. A decision already in his mind. Why would he go for the cheapest when it would definitely be a loss? What was the point then? If it was on the day he died, he wouldn''t be able to save his parents and everything they worked hard for in their lives. He wouldn''t be able to atone for his mistakes. He doesn''t want that.


    After he made up his mind, he then inquired, ''Will it cost the same if I go back to a previous mission world?''


    The system knew what world he was referring too, so it answered, ''Sorry, host. No. It will cost double... It''s already a stabilized world and no longer has to worry about a ticking time-bomb, cough, the viiness. Its full consciousness will definitely guard against foreign invaders, making our entry more difficult than the first. Arge amount of divine power, I mean, points would be needed.''


    ''... Divine power?''


    Status: Host, cough, don''t mind me. It''s just a fancy way of calling points. I''ve been muted for so long that I developed a hobby to browse some literary and fictional works from every world, hehe.


    It once gave a BS-sounding reason, but Jiang Li did notment on it. Silently, he left the dorm, ignoring his roommates he bumped into at the doorway.


    It was afternoon, and teachers and guards were patrolling all over the premises. However, due to themotion earlier, there were lesser patrols.


    It seemed the majority of the staff and teaching personnel were holding a meeting on how to tighten their already tight security. Otherwise, they were making additional rules to torment the students.


    This worked on Jiang Li''s favor though, since he was no longer the qinggong master prince-general, but a simple weak-bodied male student. Using his limited knowledge in espionage, he took several turns and arrived in front of the principal''s office before five pm.

 Chapter 162: Ye Xinya (4)

    Chapter 162: Ye Xinya (4)


    Jiang Li had to lower his head down since when he entered the office he saw that the upper part of the wall on the right was made of transparent sses. Beyond it was a line of 20 odd students who all looked listless and malnourished. Their eyes wereckluster,cking in spirit, and had dark circles beneath them.


    Everyone was lining up for the telephone after being called up from their ssrooms earlier by their teachers. They heard their parents phoned the school, requesting to speak with them. However, none of them looked excited.


    With more than ten big and scary guys eyeing them, it would be impossible to tell anything. And even if they managed to, the other party would not believe them. It was already tested by many. Every first-timer did that. They learned their lessons the hard way... betrayed and not taken seriously, and then beaten up or forced into the ck room.


    Now they knew, sometimes, it was just more heartbreaking to talk with somebody who doesn''t listen yet always assume they know the exact situation.


    ''Behave alright?! Don''t you dare touch those ursed devices again! Also always listen to your teachers. The teachers are always right and know the best for you.''


    What always made the students cry was that their guardians never forgot to tell these to them through the phone?And every time, their hearts would be dying to ask, ''Why can''t we know what''s best for ourselves?''


    The fat principal was in the room, seated at a wide desk opposite the transparent wall and busy reading something on hisputer. The person had a round face, wrinkled forehead, and thick lips. He was lifting the frame of his thick eyesses when he saw an intrudering into the ce. The man''s eyes first wentrge from surprise, then fury.


    "Who giv---"


    "Shut up unless asked," Jiang Li''s back was getting drenched in sweat. But at least he could finally march boldly into the ce without worrying for eyes from the adjacent room.


    ''Damn this body. Can''t even stand a mere illusion spell.'' Heined in his heart after the hypnotism went sessfully. What he meant earlier was the illusion that made it appear to those from the opposite side that the principal was still burying his head on work and from time to time watching the students speak on the receiver.


    In his anger, while the fatty was overwhelmed and frightened by his sudden loss of voice, Jiang Li dashed towards him, jumped over the desk and punched him in the face. Yet even those simple maneuvers caused him to be out of breath and feel all spent.


    "I need to train from scratch, damn." After kicking the fatty ball curling up by his feet, he sat down theputer to get some things done. Destroying the school and the real mastermind could be left to the leads, but freeing the students could be done by him now. It would take a lot of effort, but all would be small things as long as he could get out of here as soon as possible.


    ''First... I need to make sure the students who would get out of here would be able to escape from police suspicions or have an easier time transferring schools.''


    The majority of the students here, no matter how spineless and meek, were just neglected, unconfident, or orphaned kids that couldn''t even defend themselves or talk back. They don''t truly deserve to have an inte addict title attach on their profiles, or have bruises and wounds just for identally doing something which remotely irks an instructor.


    As he typed furiously on the keyboard, he worked his brain just as much.


    He had nothing on him that could knock out all the personnel here at once, but doing it by himself would be stupidity. His physique was not the best too, at most he could confront five instructors. ck arts were so hard to cast due to his body''sck of affinity with it. Hypnotism was his best shot. But who to hypnotize?


    At one corner of his eyes, he saw the principal groggily standing up and then ring at him with wide red eyes. That got into his nerves since it destroyed his concentration, so he stretched his leg and kicked the muted fatty man on the stomach again. The principal was clumsy so his head knocked on the wall, causing him to suddenly roll his eyes and lose consciousness.


    ''Tch.'' Jiang Li clicked his tongue when he finished his work and realized he had to wake up the fatty if he wanted to gather everyone somewhere.


    ...


    There were many reasons why he couldn''t postpone the escape. For example, the abuse, unwarranted corporal punishments, and the forcing of students tobor six out of the seven days. Only Monday was a study day, the rest would be spent in a workshop where everyone would be required to create all sorts of decors which the school would sell to the outside world. However, none of the proceeds would benefit the students. They were exploited, made to eat hard bread and untasty soup every day, yet their hard work only feeds the teachers'' pockets.


    But that was not yet the worst. Outside of that, there would still be other sh*tty things going around. The main one was the unspoken rules which made him worry about Jiang Ying Yue''s incarnation. That was one of the most disgusting evil happening here, the victims were not only pretty girls, but even pretty boys.


    He couldn''t find someone who looked like her in the database, but it didn''t make him rx. No matter where she was, the best thing to do was bring all the teenagers away from this ce and have every evildoer there be sent to a greater hell. To be honest, he would not be in a hurry to find her if not for the kind of institute they were in.


    "All students to proceed in the multi-purpose hall!"


    Ten minutes after he left the principal''s office, the announcement started being broadcasted all over the buildings.


    He briefly slowed down his walking pace and nced at the speaker above, appearing lost in thoughts. Not long after, he went back to running to the ck house direction.


    "Follow me." After opening the door, he coldly said to those staying inside.

 Chapter 163: Ye Xinya (5)

    Chapter 163: Ye Xinya (5)


    The interior of the ce was pitch ck, so he only saw how the people inside looked when they stepped out. All of them looked haggard and dirty like a beggar, except Ren Lian who just joined them. He was guessing everyone else had already gotten at least a kilogram lighter in weight because they had barely anything to eat.


    ''Tch.''


    "There''s no time for chatting. Follow me."


    Their time in the school must have taught these people not to easily trust in others so they warily scrutinized him and then exchanged nces with each other. However, there was something in the weak but cold-looking boy''s voice whichpelled the usually rebellious students to subconsciously follow. The leads who initially hesitated also went out with the other four.


    "Where are you taking us? How did you have the key?" asked one of the tallest boys when they were half a distance away from the hall. He had been observing his surroundings and noticed that there were very few people around. While it was true few people dared loiter after ss, it was still just odd since the corridors were empty and not even the patrolling teachers'' shadows could be seen.


    That time, the male lead was listening to the announcement which was still being repeated. After a while, his dark gaze went to the back of the cold male student ahead who kept ignoring the others'' questions.


    In a doubting tone, Han Su, the male lead, voiced out, "We''re all punished to be confined and only the teacher who brought us there said only the old man has the keys. Howe you managed to get us out? Is this that disgusting DOM''s arrangement?"


    ''Wow, bravely saying bad words even though he''s got unfamiliar and untrustworthy kids near him.''


    He stayed quiet though.


    "So you''re the principal''s pet?" Han Su narrowed his eyes.


    Jiang Li''s crumpled as he turned to them. He did not answer the question but re. He recalled that these people were rebels and decided to terrify them a bit. As expected, the kids turned meek from a grandpa general''s fierce gaze. Good.


    "We''re almost at the gathering ce. Once we''re there. Lead the students from fleeing."


    The bewildered six looked at him nkly, not understanding what he was saying."What?"


    A minuteter, it turned into shock. The female lead looked at the half-puzzled, half-slouching students lining up in front. Then to the teachers standing like military officers in front of each row. ''Lead what?''


    After handing each of them a bag, Jiang Li gave them a sharp re which prompted them again to freeze. They then joined their own sections or just line up anywhere, except for the male lead who he dragged with him near the stage and gave him a few instructions which baffled the heck of thetter.


    Jiang Li did not exin much though.


    ''It''s time...''


    A few minutester, when chaos ensued due to the smokescreen that suddenly appeared and all adults suddenly fell asleep, his voice rang and hypnotized the students to forget everything that happens here and listen to those he randomly designated as leaders.


    As they followed behind therge group of students who were robotically marching outside the gate, the male lead asked, "Howe those damn teachers fell unconscious from cornstarch and flour? Wait, who are you and how did you do all of that?"


    No answer came to him because Jiang Li was busy chanting something in his mind.


    ''No time for you. I''m dying.'' He thought.


    His headache was already killing him, as usual. Only this time he still overworked his brain and drained himself to make hisst spell work. He reckoned after this, he wouldn''t be able to use ck arts in this world again. But who cares? It was not like he would ever let himselfnd in this kind of situation again.


    The guy did not hypnotize the students to do the deed because, after this, he couldn''t guarantee the hypnosis'' effects would stay. He doesn''t want to risk them remembering anything so he decided to do everything. Anyway, he would not be burdened since his hands were long bloodied. And it was not really him personally doing the dirty work.


    "Hey... what''s wrong with you?" The dark-faced male lead looked at the group getting further away and the odd student who seemed to have magically orchestrated the escape.


    "..."


    Thetter suddenly copsed on the ground face nted. Han Su did not know about the grand calling the other did, but he remembered the weird instruction the person said earlier.


    After a few seconds, the male lead gritted his teeth then he moved toward the passed out guy. The ce ahead had already gone dark even though the sun was still setting somewhere in the world.


    Since he was not in the best condition due to the three-day confinementboed with only bread and a bottle of water a day, Han Su chose the best and most energy-conserving method to bring the other guy with him.


    Forcibly drag the fainted student into the sole path cutting through the forest.


    ...


    When Jiang Li woke up he realized he was still in the dark forest.


    It was still night time and they appeared to be in the mouth of a behemoth. It was just that dark. The smell of the wild was familiar to him since there were many times he had led his soldiers before in a forest in the middle of the night. Still, the surrounding rustling of leaves and cries of night creatures were unsettling. And he was surrounded by quite a lot of people.


    Most of them were looking at him with strange gazes. He checked himself and saw that he was still intact, only having bruises everywhere. The wounds made patterns on his skin. It made him look for the male lead with a frown on his face. ''That damn boy dragged me on the ground?''<ol><li>dirty old man</li></ol>

 Chapter 164: Ye Xinya (6)

    Chapter 164: Ye Xinya (6)


    "You''re awake" When he traced where the female voice came from, he found it was the girl he talked to this afternoon.


    ''I remember her. She''s the one who requested the ipetent math teacher to rush out and help the female lead''s side.''


    A wry smile formed on his lips after he remembered him telling her that she should open her eyes more and see the situation in the school for herself. It wasughable. He just essentially destroyed the school though, so what was left there to see? The future news which would detail the atrocities that took ce there? Or the news about its mysterious founder?


    Oh well. At least his advice could still be applied elsewhere.The world was not a wonderful ce. Those who do good deeds are not always rewarded. So everyone should be observant of those they were interacting with.


    "ssmate?" He asked after greeting the girl with a nod. Through the fire the kids lit up using their own hands and methods, he saw that the girl was the same with everyone else. They were studying him, however, every time his gaze went to each of them, they would immediately keep their head low. With a knitted brow, he asked, "What happened? What''s the current situation?"


    "I have talked with the others and realized what you said to me this afternoon might be true. And... we all know that it''s you who led us out of that ce," directly said the girl before him in a soft voice.


    He sat up straight and leaned his back against the tree that seemed to have a diameter greater than half a meter. The simple chain of actions was doneboriously due to the annoying weakness he was feeling from his body. His throat was dry and he felt like his soul would leave his body any moment soon. It must be the effect or bacsh of ck magic.


    "How did you do it?"


    Footsteps reverberated. The noises could be heard clearly since it was quite quiet and only the crackling sounds from the burning tree branches were creating noises.


    When Jiang Li nced up he saw it was one of the escapees from the ck rooms. Actually, all six people were now surrounding him.


    He raised an eyebrow at them and nonchntly replied. "Isn''t it obvious? I stole bags of flour from the kitchen. Passed them all to you and had you guys toss it around to confuse the teachers."


    The male lead looked at him like he was an idiot, no, a rare creature.


    Jiang Li noticed that of course and got slightly amused in his heart. So a corner of his lips hooked up as he snorted and added. "To be honest, I didn''t expect whatever happened since I was only nning to incite everyone to take up some makeshift weapon anywhere and beat up the instructors before escaping. Who knows there is something inside added in the flour. But I didn''t put them there. It''s what knockout those teaching personnel. "


    Gasps resounded from the rest of hispanions and Jiang Li was sure it was not due to his idiotic-sounding story. The tall butnky guy who asked him widened his eyes and once again inquired in a quivering voice. "T-the flour is mixed with something sleep-inducing? D-Does it mean they, they''re sometimes using our food whenever they want to put everyone to sleep?"


    Jiang Li remained silent, not intending to answer. After all, how would he reply when all he previously said was a lie? For a lie to be reinforced more lies would be needed. But the more lies were said, the easier it would be to leave loopholes and dig one''s graves.One lie was better. At least the sin would be lesser. If they misunderstood and add details into it by themselves, it would no longer be his fault.


    A bespectacled boy from their a hundred or so group suddenly stood up from where he was sitting. Like the majority, this person had some bruises on his exposed arms and a left ck eye. He spoke in a loud, agitated voice, toneced with panic and disbelief. "T-they... they are truly monsters!!! So this is how some people next doors or in my dorm room would suddenly go missing every night and only reappear atte wee hours!!! Damn. I, I"


    Another guy hugged his head and then cried in fear. "O-one of my roommates said I went missing too one time. But I-I can''t recall anything about it!!! Arggggghhhh!"


    Everyone''s face turned grave. Some even started shivering and crying. Jiang Li''s face darkened a bit, and then he realized his mass hypnosis did not work. Why could they still remember what happened to them at the disciplinary institute? Was it because he passed out? Or the world was just not letting them forget?


    "Where are the others?" His eyes once again roamed around yet he saw that there were really less than a hundred and fifty in the area.


    The female lead, Ren Lian, a beautiful girl with long ck hair answered, "We split up."


    Jiang Li sneered. "Totally unnecessary."


    Ren Lian looked at him with a hesitant face before exining. "We all had to separate into groups because we can''t tell for sure whether the teachers will immediately get up and then give chase."


    Heh... but the six were together even though he hypnotized them to lead everyone out straight of the forest using the main road?''


    Fine. The plot was awesome. And he was a damn failure of a hypnotist.


    "They didn''t chase right?"


    ''Even though my hypnosis failed, the ck arts shouldn''t. Or else why would I pass out? They couldn''t wake up or get up, even if they are alive.''


    Ren Lian nodded.He thought for a moment and then lowered his head. "Forget it then. You people didn''t know so you only did what''s rational.''


    The girl from earlier approached him then handed a chocte bar. "It''s already past 9, I believe. Eat something. It''s from the snacks I sneaked in."


    "Thanks." Jiang Li weakly said then epted. He was indeed starving. Forget a chocte bar, even if he was given raw meat of some animal, he would dly put it in his mouth. His military days were not at all walk in the park and had taught him to adapt to any sort of situation and make do of what he had. Anyway, choctes have good vor at least. So he wordlessly began eating, not caring if he was being watched by people.


    "What''s your name and how did you gather the teachers and the administrators there?" It was the male lead who asked.


    This question had been bothering Han Su ever since the guy led them to the multi-purpose hall. What took ce earlier seemed very simple, he got them out of the ck house and then randomly assigned to scatter stuff then shouted them to lead the students outside the gate when the teachers fell down one by one.


    Their exit had been quite easy since the shocked guards couldn''t withstand the mobs'' rally. Hmm, er, wait... Han Su''s eyes darted to the people present. Now he was remembering something odd. How did the usually cowardly and spineless students be so courageous at that moment again?


    Normally, the sight of even a single baton-wielding adult would instantly make them cower back to their dorms or kneel on the floor. He had observed this point on his first day before he got thrown at the dark prison cell. One of the students enjoying the wonderful prison life also shared some stories with him, making him understand what was going in the ce. The teachers not only intimidate and beat up, but also cultivate spies in every ssroom and dorm room. In short, it should be very hard to unite the students.


    However a few hours ago, not even one of them hesitated in bashing the guards and tossing them somewhere. They acted possessed and listened well to the six''s orders. Was it because when the school''s staff went unconscious, everyone just realized they couldn''t let go of this opportunity hence the do or die attitude?


    The male lead looked at Jiang Li. Well, it doesn''t matter now. Who knows what got into the students'' head that time. So far, what he was dying to know was how this boy of the same species as him executed everything earlier.


    Jiang Li stared back at him. Unfortunately, he couldn''t answer since his mouth was full.


    Thankfully, a familiar person chimed in and came to his rescue, even though his voice was quite odd, containing a hint of... hostility? Or was it wariness?


    It was the fellow in the same ss who got punished by the math teacher for helping the short-haired girl. "New student. He''s Jing Mo. From my ss. He''s been in the school for a month. And he''s a famous teacher''s pet. One of the few who never got punished, at least not that is known to the public."


    "A teacher''s pet?" Han Su studied Jiang Li again.

 Chapter 165: Ye Xinya (7)

    Chapter 165: Ye Xinya (7)


    Jiang Li raised an eyebrow at the boy. He was sure he was the helpful guy earlier supposed to receive the same punishment with the girl who gave him some food to satiate his hunger.''Did I bully this one or something?''


    When he tried to recall anything... Oh, well, it seemed he and this one did get into a fight a few days ago due to him getting away from punishment after bootlicking a teacher. He winced internally.


    The boy was correct. Jing Mo, his current Original, was an annoying character through and through. In order to get to the teachers'' good side and not get beaten up, he usually buttered up with them or used his fellow ssmates as scapegoats. Last time, when he identally ruined a basket of origami, he pushed the me to this boy who then had his meals for that day cut off. Given Jing Mo''s character, how would it not be easy to attract aggro from the others? He was basically a traitor.


    ''I feel like thest time I was in a modern world, the bastard system gave me a sick character too...''


    The one called a bastard felt indignant and immediately reasoned.


    System: Host, I''m not a bastard. Jing Mo is not sick too... He''s perfectly fine... And his wish is very easy, to escape and live an honest life outside.


    ''Oh... I know''


    A secondter, Jiang Li gloomily frowned at himself for not noticing the system could speak. He muted the foreign being in his head. He truly disliked it when something just suddenly talks in his brain.


    "You''re a rare teacher''s pet?"


    Suspicion-filled gazes went to him yet he just shrugged. However, deep inside when he heard them asking if he was a teacher''s pet, even though the Original truly was, he still felt insulted.


    Even when he was in the ancient world, he never bootlicked the male lead emperor. So he said, "Don''t make meugh. Only an idiot will be one. Not to mention those gangsters are not even qualified teachers."


    Jiang Li took arge bite of the bar. Remembering the question was thrown at him due to the male lead, he annoyingly turned to his right and said to the male lead. "You asked how I did it, right? You look smart. How about you guess how I lead the principal to gather people there."


    Han Su answered with mild irritation, "I wouldn''t ask you if I know."


    The ssmate who helped the girl looked meaningfully the guy who was now throwing the wrapper away after finishing the whole bar. "I''m guessing you either ckmail him somehow or trick him into it. But most likely, you''re in cahoots with them. The escape had been very smooth and easy. Who knows you might have a tracker on you." Afterward, he looked at everyone. "Schoolmates. How about we go separate ways this guy since we are not sure if he''s with us or not?"


    "That... seems not okay?" The person who spoke was one of the six from the ck house.


    "But he makes sense." The others were exchanging nces with each other. And they were giving Jiang Li aplicated gaze. Many were his ssmates. When he checked, it seemed the majority truly didn''t have a good impression of him.


    "After all I did?" Annoyance was starting to show on the interrogated boy''s face. He gave the person who incited the others a good nce and thought that this guy, despite being a good looking nerd, had a huge mental problem.


    The other seemingly noticed the sharp gazes so he raised his voice and replied in an using tone, "Jing Mo. Are you implying we can''t be suspicious of you? What if the teachers are just conducting another survival game and you''re tasked to do something for them? This escape could be setup so why can''t we be wary of you?"


    "Your proof." With a cold look, he demanded.


    The busybody girl from earlier admitted everyone already had a guess about his actions. So what was with the questioning? Making difficult for him? Hehe... Wasn''t he just being a sissy? And oh, speaking of being effeminate...


    Jiang Li narrowed his eyes at the other guy and through the vigorous fire from the distance, he finally noticed that something was not adding up about the boy. He was too thin and his height was below average for a male... The face was also too small.


    "Proof, you ask?" The odd boy stood up and walked toward him with unfriendly eyes. "Didn''t I say the escape is suspiciously easy? Also, don''t think I don''t know you told the six from the ck house to use the path. Why did you say that? Wouldn''t the school people easily catch up and find us if we take that route? So what''s your motive?"


    Instead of admiring the series of questions thrown at him, he began pondering over the added abnormalities that he managed to observe as the subject went closer.


    ''Nothing''s bobbing on the throat, so no adam''s apple... But even if this person reasoned it''s due to slow growth development, his voice is still too soft for a boy, and even if it''s not the real issue, it''s just still obviously faked, his tone is purposely lowered... I didn''t notice these at first since even in the Original''s memories, this person doesn''t talk a lot.''


    Mirth and admiration danced in his eyes upon realizing this. The ''boy'' actually escaped from his hawkish eyes. Incredible. Was it her acting? Or was this person just excellent in staying low-key? Probably thetter.


    However, the real reason for his admiration was that he realized she did all to protect herself.


    True to the intention, if she looked like a mediocre guy, of course, no pervert instructor would take interest in her. And even though the mediocre-looking male students were not exempted from the corporal punishments, it was still better than getting sullied or shamed. He didn''t know how many girls on the campus applied the same tactic as her, but he hoped Jiang Ying Yue''s incarnation was one of them... Otherwise, he''d hope this person was her.


    He amusedly told himself, ''Wow, now I know to what extent my stupidity is, I should have checked the profiles more. She could be posturing herself as a man and even changed her appearance the moment she realized what kind of ce she got sent to. Why did I forget she''s a lot smarter than me?''

 Chapter 166: Ye Xinya (8)

    Chapter 166: Ye Xinya (8)


    Augh came out of Jiang Li''s mouth before he lowered his head. He decided, once they were back to the civilization, he would browse the materials he had sent to an ount earlier again. Who knows? He might find a surprise. With a clue like this, he might be able to locate Jiang Ying Yue for real this time. He was really itching to get a hand on one of the so-called devil devices.


    "What''s funny?" The disguised girl''s voice was very cold. In her eyes, all she could see was somebodyughing at her usations. His reaction was so sardonic as if what she said was like a joke. How couldn''t she not be displeased?


    "You have no way to deny, right?" she pressed on, gaze not at all friendly.


    Jiang Li got annoyed and then stoppedughing. He slowly looked up. After shooting the effeminate ''boy'' a serious and prating look, he asked. "Ye Xin, so just because I didn''t say a thing yet, you''re free to assume I can''t defend myself? But in the first ce, you are just speaking without basis. Remember? I demanded proofs but all that you gave are usations. Actually, why are we making a big deal out of something that doesn''t matter now?"


    This time, another person from his ss who got irked by hisst question irately chimed in, "Hey, it''s a big deal! Because Ye Xin might be telling the truth! I''m actually also suspicious of you ever since I heard that you led everyone out!"


    This seemed to have be a catalyst since those unhappy about him stood up and surrounded him. They were so lively and energetic as they red at him.


    "Our whole ss knows that Jing Mo''s despicable and not reliable."


    "Yeah. He''s a damn bootlicker. I''ve been annoyed at him since forever. I just couldn''t speak since in the school he''s those ugly goris'' favorite."


    "This could really all be a ploy."


    "I''m thinking of that too. I don''t suspect those ones who spread the news that it''s him who leads us out coz they are from the punishment hall and are maybe just misled by him. But it''s hard to trust someone who could be working with those devils!"


    The male lead frowned a bit but then he remembered Jiang Li fainting earlier. Even in his n, why was his fainting included? Han Su couldn''t understand. But he felt like the guy had no other intention apart from helping all the students escape. Probably because he was new so he doesn''t know much but at the same time, he could see clearly that everyone was just ganging up on the cold-looking boy.


    ''So brash. And why bring that up when we''re still not in a safe zone.''


    Meanwhile, Jiang Li swept his heavy gaze around and felt amused in his heart. The people here were suddenly showing to the world that they could actually be aggressive. But why didn''t showcase that before, to those low-lives'' face? Heh. Because he looked weak now so they wanted to vent their pent up stress, misgivings, and anger somehow through him who they viewed as a public enemy?


    The kids around him, even the interesting leads and the disguised girl immediately turned ridiculous in his eyes. Yeah. They were all immature and stupid. So much for his efforts and pity.


    Jiang Li then stood up and said in an indifferent voice. "I''ll leave then. Whatever makes you all happy." It was neither loud nor soft yet could travel to even the ones located farthest from him


    In his heart, he was sneering, ''Thinking you all can get better sleep once I''m away? Fine. But I hope none of you will be guilty once you all know whether it''s a setup or not.''


    He just realized he didn''t want to be with these immature brats. In any case, they''ll safely arrive at the borders tomorrow since this forest was not that dangerous. He doesn''t need to babysit them. And they were annoying so yeah, let them survive by themselves.


    If they chanced upon troublesome things, a snake or a beehive for example, he would leave their life or death to fate. Anyway, the ones adamant on opposing him was them, and their leader seemed smart, so yeah, let the cowards be led by her.


    ''This...''


    The one the other busybody ssmate called Ye Xin widened her eyes and acted like there was something she wanted to say, but in the end, she only watched as the boy she hated turned around and randomly chose a direction to take. Her deep-set eyes hidden by herrge eyesses shed in confusion though.


    ''He''s actually leaving...?''


    She thought he''d argue more and then got ostracized for showing his true colors.''


    "Cruel..." A momentter, she heard that voiceing from her left. Ye Xin saw that it was one of the most miserable yet good-looking male students in their group. She had been in school for almost a year and memorized the faces of those admitted there, so she knew this person was a new student.


    "What did you say?"


    She narrowed her eyes. The cheering noises from the people behind her helped lessen the slight pang of guilt upon driving another person away in the middle of the night deep within a forest. Yet this didn''t mean it faded away.


    "I don''t know him. But I don''t think he''s lying." The male lead who was initially lost in thoughts told this to nobody in particr. Not long after, he raised his head at the cold-faced short andnky boy. There was no expression in his face, but what he added was a bit unexpected. "Ye Xin, right?"


    She held onto her silence but nodded. The male lead then snickered. "Alright. Do whatever you want. As for me... He seems a lot better than you ingrates who don''t even bother listening to the other''s side. So I think I''ll follow him."


    "What? Ingrates?" One of the hot-tempered boys stood up and almost rushed up to beat him up, but he got stopped by one of his friends.


    "Hey, calm down! Don''t bother with a fool! He must be joking. I also don''t think he''ll be leaving" The person meant there was no way somebody without a strong reason would leave the safety of a group. They were at an unfamiliar ce and the night was so eerie. It was also very hard to see in the dark. Who would want to venture alone in the woods? There should be none, right? Unless left without a choice.


    However, his guess was proven wrong. The male lead expressionlessly turned away from the fire and walked away.


    The air-headed short-haired girl called out in a voice full of worry. "H-Hey, what are you doing? A-are you going to bring back the other guy?"


    The only reply she received was the echoing of herst three words.


    "H-He really..." murmured the girl.


    They all watched with widened eyes as Han Su gradually got further away from the area lightened up, heading to where Jiang Li go. The rest did not budge, not even the female lead who was supposed to be inexplicably attracted to the male lead.


    However, Ren Lian did question Ye Xin why they did that. She then eximed after hearing everything the boy did to many students in his ss and dorm.


    A couple of minutester, Ye Xin voiced out they should make arrangements now for their trip. She then gave suggestions on how they should maintain the fire tonight and move out tomorrow.


    As for Jiang Li who was more than a dozen meters away from them, he threw the male lead a casual nce. He was walking leisurely and without even checking the ground for safe footing.


    The other shoved away a few branches from his face and smilingly greeted, "Hello, Jing Mo."


    ''Hmm, this bastard easily parted from his female lead? So the one manipting the fate of this world a rusty onepared to those of the other worlds?''


    There was not much illumination in the surrounding apart from the pure-looking blue moonlight peeking through the dark canopy above. Han Su didn''t see Jiang Li''s incredulous expression.


    Maintaining that cold yet curious expression, the male lead carefully went down the small hill to catch up to him. Jiang Li did not wait for him. He was looking up to the barely visible night sky, trying to check for directions, when the other boy spoke in a calm tone.


    "I know that the world is not always nice but only now did I realize that at least it is full of surprises. I never expected to meet the Jing family''s famous illegitimate son in this interesting ce..."

 Chapter 167: Ye Xinya (9)

    Chapter 167: Ye Xinya (9)


    Jing family was one of the four prominent families in Ruby City, known for their wide range of businesses and strong ties with the government. Actually, their n heads had been elected city mayor at least once in their lives. It was as if they were a political dynasty of the city.


    Apart from their n heads, the other important members were holding high positions in the office, and people were not questioning them because they trust in them. In everyone''s eyes, all surnamed Jings were responsible and really care for the welfare of the citizens.


    Of course, what''s going on outside their offices and duties was a different matter altogether. Like the other big and rich families, the Jings had their own internal issues. Some were small and not worth the masses'' attention, the others were big deals and could be the whole city''s gossip for days toe.


    One of those belonging to thetter was how the younger brother of the previous head allegedly got misled by amon woman. The result of that was a son born out of wedlock, which the Jings only found out two yearster, when the woman who had be an escort left the two-year-old child at the gate of their mansion together with a DNA test result and other identity documents.


    Truth be told, it was one of the issues that gave the city mayor''s family some headaches. They would not have epted him into the family if not for the several paparazzi always loitering around the premise. Those nasty and persistent people captured photos of both the baby and the small stack of documents next to him, leaving them, reputation lover, with no choice but ushered the baby in and raised him.


    However, as an illegitimate child, what kind of life would he get from people who don''t truly want to acknowledge his existence? The Jing family doesn''t treat the unwanted him kindly of course. He grew up like an orphan, with both parents alive yet never willing to see him. Ooops, no, his father was actually at least seeing him from time to time, whenever he wanted somebody to beat up andsh out at.


    From childhood to teenage years, he was always looked down upon and mistreated. The insults and injuries he got throughout his life were the real dealpared to those he got from the students earlier.


    Yup. Jiang Li''s current identity in this world was indeed as the male lead said. He was Jing Mo, that illegitimate and unacknowledged son of the Jings, someone who grew up protecting himself from the harshness of the world by buttering up to the strong and using the weak. This was his way of survival. Because the environment around him dictated that this was only how he could adapt to his situation.


    In all honesty, the battering and abuse he saw in the school were stuff he had been experiencing since he was young. If he had not learned to bootlick those princesses, princes and some privileged people from the main branch and other influential families, he would have still been having a more difficult time, beaten up and discriminated against.


    His situation only got better through his efforts and wits. Now, even though the emotional scars kept increasing, at least, his body''s injuries were lesser and he could get education and food. This all probably helped him gain some sense of victory in his heart, against life and fate. He wanted to live and be independent soon so he was fighting.


    Unfortunately, he was always an eyesore in some people''s eyes so in the end, he ended up sent to the disciplinary school. His half-brother and father who thought he was a stain that should be removed from the family orchestrated everything. And without a doubt, they were hoping for him to die there and no longer go back.


    Not sure if it was for better or worse, but Jing Mo had long developed a skin thicker than the city walls from Jiang Li''s previous life so he survived. He was observant and knew at a nce how he should adapt. As a result, while the others were feeling like they were thrown into hell, he was having a rather easy time in that ce. He only suffered for a few days and then he instantly knew how he would have a more bearable life. If Jiang Li did not take over, he would have been the small viin there, ensuring that no one would escape and threaten the status quo.


    Jing Mo, the one thought as a public enemy of the students, was truly wicked in some ways. But it had to be remembered that nobody was truly born evil. Yet the more unfortunate thing was that not many would bother knowing why a viin ended up walking down a stray path.


    Sometimes, in stories, they were given the most tragic backstories to bait some readers to sympathize, but amongst those in the same world as him, how many knew of his pain and how many among tried to reach out a hand? None. Because everyone was busy thinking that their pain was already the most, or simplymenting that he was beyond saving.


    How ironic that in the end, this same person couldn''t truly be a modern demon king. His heart still retained some light in it which made him wish for those students to be able to escape with him. He even wished to lead an honest life after that. There was nothing wrong with that of course. It was just hard not to sigh at his story.


    ''Jing Mo... is as retarded as He Chen. Now that I think about it, first and third Originals are sane people while second and fourth is a bunch of indescribable people. Is this some sort of pattern?''


    "I was framed by my brother and ended up getting an undeserved punishment from my parents. How about you?"


    In the middle of the night, two figures were incessantly moving in the woods with no source of light whatsoever. One of them was attempting to chase away the unsettling atmosphere and eeriness by chatting with the other.However, the other party seemed to have turned into a mute,probably in a bad mood due to what the group did to him... The male lead was unaware that Jiang Li was simply recalling the memories of the original Jing Mo.

 Chapter 168: Ye Xinya (10)

    Chapter 168: Ye Xinya (10)


    In the middle of the night, two figures were incessantly moving in the woods with no source of light whatsoever. One of them was attempting to chase away the unsettling atmosphere and eeriness by chatting with the other. However, the other party seemed to have turned into a mute, probably in a very bad mood due to the treatment gotten from the people he saved from the devils'' hands.


    But even though the male lead was lost in thoughts, he didn''t forget to constantly stay alert about the surroundings. He then somehow observed that Jiang Li seemed to be very experienced in trekking mountainous terrains.


    This would simply make those who knew Jing Mo''s story curious if the Jings had once thrown him in the forest for their enjoyment. How else did he be familiar with how to move into a forest at night? This Jing Mo just looked like somebody frequently in a ce like this!


    The other boy only gave the male lead a sweeping nce and then looked away. As for his question, did he ask him to tell how he ended up at the rehabilitation school?


    The visibility was low due to the dense foliage and the darkness, so it seemed that they were still in the same part of the woods. There was also no change in the frequency of the cries of the night birds and insects. However, Jiang Li knew that they were getting nearer to the exit. The height and diameter of the trees they passed by were now smaller or shorter.


    Probably around midnight they would be able to reach the peripheral part of the city.


    ''Once I''m back... I won''t return to the Jings. Who wants to return to a ce sh*ttier than the school?''


    Just because he is a real bastard, nobody there treats Jing Mo like a human being. He''s a joke there, and has no choice but to always act the part. Given such, how could he not grow into a scumbag only focused on survival?


    Jiang Li inwardly shook his head, his hands which were now riddled with cuts and wounds from the branches, twigs, and sharp-edged nts.


    He was not worried about himself since he was back to modern and could just hack into a bank or some shadypany if he was truly forced into desperation. But he would need some time to familiarize himself with how business works in this world, and deal with some issues regarding his current identity.


    Everything would only be easy once he had some capital. And to be honest, this would not be a problem actually, if not for remembering that he had to live honestly, as the Original hoped.


    Han Su who had been snubbed since the beginning narrowed his eyes but no longer spoke. He was also starting to notice that the trees and fauna were getting lesser. It was simply unbelievable since it had only been an hour since they parted with the huge group.


    They didn''t encounter anyone along the way. No dangerous animal too, apart from some small insects which seemed to only bother him and not Jing Mo. Why was that though? He never saw the other stopping to ward off the small horde of insects flying and buzzing around.


    It was ten minutester, when Jiang Li finally opened his mouth. That time, the two of them were somehow back to the road leading to the city. He said without turning to the other boy. "I guess... We''re arriving there in an hour."


    Han Su lifted his head and saw that they could partly see the night sky already. Relief washed over him and the gaze he pinned at Jiang Li became full of admiration. He thought of those fools who chased this guy away. A sneer came from him and then he cheered in his mind for deciding not to stay with those people.


    Most likely they were still at the same location, feeling fearful for their lives, not daring to create loud sounds, or even sleep. This was simply the price of not knowing when to trust and distrust, or not knowing how to judge one''s value and usefulness.


    After a minute of gloating, he gradually calmed, regted his breath that had be a bit ragged from all the walking they did, and then started to think of the future. It didn''t take long for his face to warp, recalling his own family was a mess too which he could not return to.


    "Hey. I just need to ask you this badly."


    Jiang Li briefly nced at him before returning his gaze in front.


    Han Su maintained a cool expression as he inquired, "So... what will happen after this? You get what I mean, don''t you? Once those people wake up, they will definitely look for the escapees. We''re good since we''re almost out of the forest. But it won''t stay like this for long. The school admin might go after us and retrieve us even if we''re back in the city. I suspect they have ties with some influential people. Otherwise, their school won''t stay for long." The male lead paused for a while before adding, "What I''m saying is that they can definitely trace us. Aren''t you worried those who sent you away will dly cooperate with them in searching for you?"


    "Why worry for something that will definitely happen?" ''Especially if even those dogs look for me, they will no longer find me or have anywhere to dump me.''


    "Because you''ll need to do something about it." The male lead seriously replied, not at all baffled by what the other half-heartedly answered to him.


    "Oh."


    Jiang Li had no intention to reveal stuff to somebody he just met, even if he was the favored son of heaven. He kept quiet and just silently walked, looking forward to arriving in the city and getting a decent ce to rest at.


    As they reached the end of the forest and entered a region with only grasses on both sides, the male lead sped up his pace. Despite it not showing in his face, the excitement was there, and it helped ease his annoyance at Jiang Li who seemed to like treating him as air.


    Fortunately, modern towns were unlike ancient ones where people would be blocked by tall walls and would only be able to get inside during the daytime after paying some coins to the guards. When they reached the part of the road where houses and shops, of course, with closed doors, could be seen more frequently, Jiang Li said to the male lead, "Let''s separate from here. Safe trip. Bye."


    That time, Han Su had finally realized that one more problem to deal with was how to contact a trusted somebody from the family and help him get through the night.


    "Hey, wait!" He shouted upon seeing Jiang Li changing directions and taking the right turn of the intersection. A momentter, he just nkly stared into the dark and lonely street.


    "Where did he go?" Puzzlement crossed his face after some time. He was about to ask if he has money and could lend him some for the payphone. But when did Jing Mo leave? He seemed to have no recollection of the other guy suddenly vanishing. Also, apart from freezing from the cold, why does he feel like his legs were about to break? Was it because he momentarily stopped that the fatigue from walking for two hours finally rushing into him?


    The muted system who wished it could talk to Han Su: Hello, the male lead of this world. My sincerest apology on my host''s behalf. But for being too noisy while he was in a bad mood, you''ve been hypnotized to stand there for an hour... My host is already inside a 24/7 inte cafefortably sitting in front of aputer after hypnotizing another victim. Now I really want to cry...


    The system was feeling down because Jiang Li had definitely done something using theputer apart from hacking some unfortunate group''s bank record. Regrettably, it couldn''t say a thing and remind him. It could only watch its host y around with codes and ounts, forgetting he was supposed to live an honest life...

 Chapter 169: Ye Xinya (11)

    Chapter 169: Ye Xinya (11)


    When tomorrow came, around lunchtime, several batches of worn out and weary teenagers appeared on the different parts of the towns nearest to the inte rehabilitation school. Dressed like high-schoolers, all of them looked famished and in bad condition.


    Not few even copsed upon stepping into the bustling streets near the town''s center. Theirpanionsbored into bringing them to the police station where they sought help in contacting their trusted loved ones.


    "Ren Lian... we ask around and even had the officers contact the other nearby police stations. They said Jing Mo and that new student are never sighted in their areas." The short-haired girl sadly shook her head to the female lead. The two turned friends after talking to each other the whole night.


    The group of students was ushered into arge conference room within the station, made to sit on the chairs of the floors, while the kind police officers were distributing lunch boxes and water.


    Ye Xin was standing not far away from the two girls hence she heard what they said. The disguised girl lowered her head and then focused her eyes again on theputer screen. Her chest felt stuffy for some reason.


    On their way back, despite getting lost several times and ending up only finding the exit in four hours, at least they had proven the forest didn''t hold many dangerous terrains or creatures. Escaping from it should actually not be difficult. So what happened? Did she do wrong?


    While several thoughts were churning and turning in her head, she spoke in a low voice to the female police officers next to her. "Miss, I''m sorry for the trouble. But can your people trace who sent the files about us and the teachers in that ce?"


    That ce, of course, referred to the hellish school.


    Thedy in blue fitting uniform shook her head. "No, little brother. We received aroundte noon yesterday, but an anonymous ount is used so even after so many hours we can''t say who. All we manage to trace is the location. And to be honest, it''s very unnerving because when we investigated it''s a ce not usually receiving signal so while it''s doable to contact it through the telephone, sending simple SMS through a cellphone is quite difficult."


    Eyes holding endless pity to her and the other students, the female police officer pursed her lips and then told the miserable-looking teenage boy a fewforting words. Apparently, the woman thought she misspoke and made ''him'' remember several unhappy moments there, ''his'' inability to contact people outside one of them.


    Ye Xin stared nkly at the screen. After blinking and reassuring thedy that she was fine, she eximed. "How are these files sent then? In my estimate, everyone''s profiles plus the pieces of evidence at least added up to a gigabyte!"


    The girl was just surprised, finding it hard to imagine how arge folder of data was sent given that ceck of inte ess. Not long after, she regained her wits and realized, it was not truly the issue worth pondering over. It was the person who did it.


    "By the way, I tried to check again, but the officers from the other stations once again confirmed there is no Jing Mo or Han Su who approached them for help. There are many other students who came to them though. Do you have friends or perhaps, family members you want to find from them?"


    "No. I have already contacted my family earlier through the telephone in the lobby."


    "Hmm. I see. I''m d for you then. Don''t let your heart be in too much burden. I assure you those heartless people had already been captured by the officers from the other police station."


    "Thank you."


    She told the woman before giving her a weak smile and closing her eyes.


    She then wondered why a selfish person who kept pushing others deeper into the abyss or making them more depressed suddenly changed and even led everyone out. What were the odds he had been nning this all this time? Does it mean, in everything he did, he merely had no choice but do since getting close to the staff was one of the crucial steps in his n?


    ''What have I done then?''


    Anger budded in her heart. It was like a fire swiftly engulfing her whole system. She was angry because the guy did not exin. However, after a couple of seconds, the anger got directed to herself since it was her who did not give Jing Mo a chance to speak his mind to the rest.


    ''I need to find him then and apologize.''


    When she opened her eyes again, she saw that another policeman in blue entered therge room and walked towards thedy seated in front of theputer situated near the entrance.


    Seeing they would talking about important stuff, she took the initiative to move away and walk towards her friends who were busyforting and talking about life in the opposite corner.


    However before she managed to get far from the two officers, she somehow heard the man said in a regretful tone, "... Ah, That Jing Mo you''re asking me to check, whoaaa, I didn''t know it''s that one... the poor guy from Ruby city mayor''s family."


    She pursed her lips and kept her head low again. But that information she captured from the older man, she silently engraved in her mind.


    ...


    Hours ago, when Jiang Li kept lying to those people interrogating him, he felt that Jing Mo''s remnant soul was disagreeing with him and making him feel a bit ufortable with his body. Obviously, it was for not abiding by the second wish which was to live honestly. However, it was almost negligible. The difort brought to him could simply be brushed off as the night wind giving him a slight chill.


    Seemed like while it was true that Jiang Li was not yet assimted with Jing Mo''s body, thetter was at least reasonable and wouldn''t protest like crazy, different from He Chen before who nearly vanquished him from his body when he went against his ns in wooing Tang Lan.


    Remembering those days made Jiang Li feel like going back again to give He Chen a good thrashing, or if he couldn''t meet that guy anymore, he would stick to his n, to correct everything from the start.


    But for now, back to the current world.


    Contrary to what the system thought he was doing, he did not actually hack into any other group or organization, but only sent some gifts to the police and some truly honest and upright politicians. After that, he checked the students'' profiles one by one before transferring the funds in his own ount to another not named after Jing Mo, but Jiang Li.


    The Original''s stash, for a mere student having a difficult life in a huge family, was quite substantial, 30,000 credits. However, it was not an amount Jiang Li of the three previous modern lifetimes would rejoice for or nce twice.


    For a while, his hands parted from the keyboard. He tiredly leaned his back against the backrest and looked heavenward. ''If food, rent, new stuff, and tuition are brought into question, the money I have will onlyst me for a month.''


    He was having a headache again. How he badly wanted to bankrupt the Jings or even steal money and assets from some shady group!


    But no matter how he wished to do all of these, whenever his hands hold the mouse with the intention of enacting the n, the damn remnant of the Original would suddenly act up and give him headaches, or make him extremely dizzy, or outright paralyzed. It simply did everything it could to prevent him.


    It was just a tragedy to have the skills which could not be used without worrying if he would end up a ghost-like being in the nexting second or not.


    ''Damn. What a joke have I be? Those f*ckers froze my ount. And I had to waste time hacking it. Now I have to worry about how to get living expenses without being dishonest. This. ain''t. funny!!!'' He gritted his teeth and almost pounded his fist on the table surface next to the keyboard.


    Not long after though, he managed to calm himself down. Then simply epted his fate that he had to do more work than simply invading somebody''s ounts or system.


    Well, yup. In reality, he was merely feeling a bitzy, or maybe, eager for sleep and rest.


    When he realized the easiest shortcut to richness could not be used, he resorted to researching the current technology and creating a program to sell. After managing to get money from one client from abroad who he spent an hour enticing, he gained enough money to get himself a decent ce, aptop, and stuff tost him for another three months.


    By then though, five hours already past. Jiang Li sighed, supported his chin with the back of his left hand, and decided to forgo sleep in favor of checking a certain someone''s profile again.


    Using the mouse, he clicked something on the screen then erged the image that popped up. His eyes went to the side where a few data were listed.


    Ye Xin... name of the viiness'' twin brother, somebody who died three years ago due to an illness.


    He then spent some more time researching. For the first time today, a corner of his lips arced up upon seeing the records for the viiness who was supposed to only appear a year after the leads'' escape from the disciplinary institution.


    ...

 Chapter 170: Ye Xinya (12)

    Chapter 170: Ye Xinya (12)


    Based on the records, Ye Xin and Ye Xinya were a pair of dragon-phoenix twins born to the prestigious Ye n, one of the wealthiest families in the capital, a family not even the Jings who were deeply connected to the city government could match up to.


    Reportedly, the twins had very simr faces. They were both beautiful, smart, bubbly, and adorable. Had they been from the same genders they might be called identical twins.


    Years passed and the two grew up quite happily in the Ye Mansion, regarded with high importance not only due to being geniuses, but due to being born as direct descendants. Even when Ye Xin was still not even ten years old, he was already the unannounced heir, a source of pride for the whole n due to showcasing extraordinary wits, thus groomed meticulously.


    Unfortunately, when he was thirteen years old, he died from poisoning.


    The Ye family was simr to the other aristocratic family so of course there were many infightings and one of those was about the position of the n head. The twin''s mother who was afraid that her and her family''s position within the n would be threatened had no choice but to make it appear as if her daughter went abroad when in reality she had Ye Xinya act and disguise as the son being groomed for the head position.


    For three years, Ye Xinya endured losing her identity to be somebody already dead. However, despite being intelligent, she was still quite immature and felt like it was unfair to shoulder the burdens when she was still not even in the legal age. While she was also sad about her brother''s sudden passing, she couldn''t understand why she has to be him. Even if it was to retain some sort of standing in the family, why couldn''t she do it as Ye Xinya?


    At first, she was okay with the setup and had gotten a bit used to it after some time. However, when everything just couldn''t be endured anymore, the pressure, the feeling of alienation, the fear of her life drifting further and further away from what she should live as Ye Xinya, she crumbled down and decided she had had enough.


    Her case was like those teenagers who think they should not work because they were still young. If the world was truly a novel, then maybe this was why she ended up a failed heroine. If she was to go the gender-bender or disguised woman route, only her destined male lead was allowed to expose or get rid of it. She was also not allowed to crumble down.


    However, one day, she just gave up and even used her scheming uncle''s n to get rid of ''Ye Xin''. That was how badly she wanted to go back to regain her identity. As a result, she ended up in a disciplinary school where she knew if she just suddenly died as Ye Xin, nobody would question it. She knew of these and arranged things on how she would resume being Ye Xinya again. Yet she underestimated how hard it would be to get out once she was admitted there.


    "Young Miss!" The moment she arrived at the townhouse in the outskirts of the city under her mother''s name, she was immediately greeted by her nanny, one of the very few people she trusted and knew of what she all went through. The woman was a bit fat, age was around mid-fifties. The moment this person caught sight of Ye Xinya, her eyes turned red and she immediately brought the disguised girl in her arms. "I''m d you''re finally back!"


    "Yes, nanny Wang." Looking as emotional as the other, the girl broke down into sobs and tightened her arms around the nanny''s waist.


    The driver and bodyguard both looked at each after witnessing this scene. The two were loyal people of Ye Xinya''s mother so they were d to see the sole offspring of their real boss out of that school. The old driver smiled and said, "I feel bad that you have suffered. But it''s good that you''re no longer in that ce, miss."


    Eyes red, the girl nodded. She let herself be led into the house by her nanny. After taking a bath and finally changing into a set of clothes that she had not used for three years, she walked back to the living room and talked with the people there with a serious face don.


    "Has my mom heard of my escape from that ce?" While plopping down on the one-seated sofa in front of a round coffee table, she asked.


    The rather young bodyguard nodded his head. "The madam doesn''t agree. But since young miss is adamant, she gave in and used the opportunity to weaken the other houses by linking each of them to framing you and you ending up in that school. The old master is angry. Your third uncle is no longer given a part of the old master''s inheritance and is also demoted from executive to a small branch store''s manager."


    "He deserved it. Even those others whose shares got forfeited deserved it!" Ye Xinya said viciously.


    She med those people''s greed for what happened to her. If they were not greedy and were not coveting what was not theirs, her mom wouldn''t have her pretend to be Ye Xin. The girl was kind of naive for her thinking but she believed that this was the case. There was also her arrangement for her own escape which she didn''t manage to aplish in the end due to someplications. She suspected somebody bribed the people supposed to help her get out.


    The nanny grasped Ye Xinya''s hand and worriedly asked, "How did the Madam settle Miss'' identity? She''s recorded as the young master before and after the transfer. The police also have records of her exiting that ce. At this rate, wouldn''t they question why the ''young master'' suddenly vanished?"


    Silence descended upon them. Ye Xinya looked around the ce, seemingly lost in thoughts. She then closed her eyes. For some reason, a pair of cold indifferent eyes from that person she used to dislike floated in her mind. Had that guy made it safely to a nearby town? She had to look for him and make up for what she did. The thought that she owed someone made her feel weird and uneasy.


    A few minutes after finishing a n about it, she asked her bodyguard for a phone which thetter respectfully presented. It was time to address the more pressing issue. However, she was but a helpless girl. Somebody''s more capable hands were needed.


    ''Will she answer? Does she still remember my real voice?''


    Hesitation showed on her face after pressing a few numbers on the screen. However, knowing she had to speak with that person, she summoned her courage to dial the number. Not even ten seconds passed, and she managed to connect to the other.


    "Xinya." Her mom greeted in a cold, unfeeling voice.


    The girl looked up the ceiling to prevent beads of tears from streaming down her already reddish eyes. After a couple of minutes of silence, she managed topose herself, then said, "Mom, I''m back."


    "Nn. I know. I heard from the police."


    She unconsciously nodded and hung her head. She felt a bit of emptiness in her chest because the woman''s tone did not carry any longing for her or dness for her escape in that hell. Her mother was somebody with connections. Doesn''t she know what kind of ce the rehabilitation was?


    Ye Xinya waited for some time but did not hear any words offort or concern. Feeling a bit heartbroken, she held her throat and willed herself not to cry.


    She initially wanted to say, she missed the other, but since she heard nothing more from her, she only said, "Yeah, I''m now in the townhouse. And I don''t want to be someone not me again, so for this... I''m no longer against the engagement!"

 Chapter 171: Ye Xinya (13) <2-in-1>

    Chapter 171: Ye Xinya (13) <2-in-1>


    In the story, Ye Xinya was also sent in the school as Ye Xin. However, because the wealthy Han family asked for the hand of the direct line''s daughter, her mother did everything to get her out of the school.


    That happened a year before the male lead was sent for ''rehab.'' They reasoned that ''Ye Xinya'' was still abroad, so they postponed epting the engagement.


    Of course, in reality, she was nowhere abroad, but already in the school, riding along with her uncle''s scheme to go back to being Ye Xinya. Like what happened in the current timeline, she discovered itte that it would be very hard to escape.


    After knowing she had gotten out of that hellhole due to the Han family''s influence on her mother, she became passionate about the male lead and looked forward to meeting him. Yet, because she was busy straightening out her identity and n members, plus Han Su requested to focus on his studies, they couldn''t meet each other. Both families then agreed to only have the two''s engagement be announced on Ye Xinya''s eighteenth birthday.


    Ye Xinya patiently waited for that meeting. One time though, when she could no longer wait, she went her way to see how her future looked like and got satisfied with his grade and appearance. But then a yearter, Han Su was sent to the ce she just got herself out.


    When she heard about this, she panicked. Unfortunately, she couldn''t do anything because the one behind that ce was backed by a high politician. She was powerless. So she could only try to ask for help from her parents. However, both dismissed her and said, the young man had to first regain some sense before qualifying to be with her.


    Out of guilt, upon seeing he had escaped from there after a month, she tried to make up by going to the male lead and bringing him all sorts of items and tokens.


    However, by then, Han Su was busy with his revenge and helping the female lead. How would he have time to appreciate Ye Xinya''s efforts, especially when she kept advising not to go against ''them''? He had guessed she knew who was behind that institution, but since she was not disclosing it to them, he took it as her being on the same side as those evil people.


    That time, he was not aware, she also experienced getting thrown at that ce. All he knew was after the investigation, somebody close to her was actually rted to the mastermind, so she became someone the male lead did not want to associate himself with. Han Su became closer to Ren Lian, which, of course, made Ye Xinya''s heart bubbled in jealousy. After that, hehe...


    Well, that was for the backstory. This time though, a bit of deviation from the plot happened even before Jiang Li''s arrival to this world.


    The viiness was supposed to be pulled out of there a year before Han Su''s arrival. But she ended up staying for a year and encountering Jing Mo who then became Jiang Li.


    The reason for this was that she refused her engagement to Han Su. As for why she did so, me it on her being at the peak of immaturity and pursuit of idealistic dreams. Her mind was polluted by the popr belief that she should only be with someone she loved. She forgot that she was not from a regr family, but from an aristocratic one which viewed marriage as a tool of convenience.


    Of course, there was also arge part of her mind somehow dictating to her that she should not agree, that there was somebody else she should wait for. To who that person was, who knows?


    When her nanny heard of this before, the older woman asked her if she was making excuses to support her first reason for the refusal. She had to admit... it indeed sounded like that. The realization depressed her a bit.


    Only when she got out of school did she agree. She realized in their patriarchal family where her twin was no longer around, in order to not get bullied and have a hard time in the family, the only choice was to have connections with another family as, if not more, powerful than theirs. Their first pick was the Hans, a n rumored to be descendants of royalties. She was hoping that through her fiance''s deterrence, she would be able to lead a more normal life in the Ye Household.


    "Good. You finally agreed. But because something happened to the first son, you''ll most likely end up with the second son."


    "... I''m fine with anyone as long as he''s someone from a powerful family. It''s not like I have a choice anyway.His name?"


    "Han Yu."


    Ye Xingya closed her eyes upon remembering this part of her conversation earlier with her cheap mom.


    Han Yu. Han Su. She managed to piece out those two''s rtions because her mother''s assistant sent a picture of the younger twin who would likely be her fiance. To her surprise, it was somebody resembling that other guy who argued with herst night and then went after Jing Mo.


    ''So I was supposed to get engaged to that boy... What a coincidence...''


    She opened her eyes twinkling with amusement and then slowly turned her head to look through the car''s window. They were on their way back to the Ye mansion. She would be surprising her whole n of her return.


    About the engagement, she doesn''t know what to feel about it. But if her opinions would be asked, she really doesn''t want it. It was a maddening situation... The wants couldn''t always go hand in hand with the needs.


    The car temporarily halted in the middle of the street due to the red traffic sign. This allowed Ye Xinya to observe the surroundings more.


    She missed the city view. Before she used to think it was very boring and redundant  the lights, the uneven rows of buildings, the shops, the people...


    Now she let her eyes bored of the moldy ssroom setup and tall trees beyond the tall walls feast on the lively sight. She knew after a few days, she would be back to being indifferent to this kind of scenery.


    It was right before the car moved again that her chin parted from her palm that was propping it up. With widened eyes, she unconsciously brought her face closer to the windowpane.


    Did she see correctly? That interesting person she was about to ask some investigators to look for was on the second floor''s balcony of a rtively tall building with a huge ''apartment for rent'' sign?


    "Granpa Li, please stop the car for a moment. I need to check on something." She urgently called out.


    The driver obediently stopped the car after parking it at the side. She watched as the boy aged fifteen or sixteen bowed to the olddy he was talking to and then walked down the stairs after saying a few more words.


    Because the car was parked exactly where it was facing the stairs, when the windows rolled down, Ye Xinya''s face was visible. The one who just stepped on the ground floor immediately saw her and showed a faint expression of surprise. Then the girl remembered that even though she was now wearing a girl''s dress, her face and short haircut visible to the other was that of the disguised Ye Xin. She had yet to restore her real looks.


    Who knows what sort of spirit got into her for her to smile at the tall and cold-looking boy who was still in their previous school''s uniform. Unfortunately, it looked cynical to Jing Mo which probably caused the other to immediately look away and then walk away without greeting her.


    By that time, she was done observing the ce and managed to conclude that this person had no ns to go back to his family. With that in mind, she loudly called out.


    "Jing Mo!"


    Naturally, the boy did not turn his head. She understood where he wasing from so she merely signaled the driver who then drove the car slowly to match Jing Mo''s speed.


    After taking a deep breath and pondering over it several times, she said, "Hey, there is something I would like to discuss with you."


    "Not interested." Jing Mo merely threw her a brief, emotionless gaze.


    That gaze appeared too meaningful to her, so she looked away for a moment, embarrassed. But then she saw that, despite looking like he was still walking normally with hands in his pants'' pocket, the other was actually speeding up with the intent to dive into the moving crowd ahead.


    After pursing her lips, she looked again at Jing Mo''s face and noticed the redness of the edge of the man''s left eye. It appeared to her that the other had not slept a wink yet. The feeling of guilt in her heart intensified, thus she dered and offered without thinking much,


    "Hey... I am from the Ye n and was only sent there due to a mistake. If I''m not mistaken you''re in need of a ce to stay. I can make you my in-house tutor and ask my parents to sponsor your studies. How about it?"


    She finally elicited a response from the boy. He turned to her with a doubtful look asking if he heard correctly and if her head was okay.


    "You did not hear wrongly," she seriously added.


    While sporting an amused look on his face, Jing Mo asked, "Have you gone insane, Ye Xin?"


    Ye Xinya only smiled faintly and replied, "I know what you did. And I can somehow guess your situation. So why don''t you just ept my offer instead of asking nonsensical questions?"


    "Oh?" If the viiness only answered more politely and admitted it was for an apology, Jiang Li would have only pretended to be thinking for some time and then epted. After all, it meant getting into close proximity with the target.


    However, the woman''s attitude had rubbed him wrong. Thus he answered while nodding and looking at her meaningfully, "Okay. I understand. You''ve truly be crazy."


    After saying that, he sped up his pace and dove into the crowd. Ye Xingya lost sight of him and couldn''t help staring nkly at the direction he took. Such a good offer extended out of goodwill was unexpectedly rejected? She shook her head in disbelief. Not long after, the disbelief turned into anger and she started pouting and scolding Jing Mo in her head.


    ...


    Two dayster, when things had already settled down in the Ye mansion, despite knowing her granddaughter was a genius, the doting Grandpa Ye got her a tutor after hearing what happened from her bodyguard. Ye Xinya, whoappeared as her real self, not the disguised Ye Xin, widened her eyes upon seeing who it was.


    A couple of momentster, she sneered in her heart and inwardly thought, ''In the end, here you are, ending up as my tutor.''


    Theughter in her eyes for thinking the other did not recognize her distracted her for a few seconds. Because of this, she failed to see the amusement in the expression of the seemingly intellectual boy escorted by the main housekeeper of the Ye Household.

 Chapter 172: Ye Xinya (14)

    Chapter 172: Ye Xinya (14)


    On the surface, Ye Xinya appeared as her real self, not the disguised Ye Xin. Her previous appearance was drastically different from what she looked like now, thanks to the skin mask she asked to be custom-made before she got sent to that ce. The item helped her in various ways.


    To be honest, she was not too worried about her identity when they walked out of the forest. The face registered in both the school and the police records was totally different from the real Ye Xin.


    Now the family suspected that even before she first stepped into the disciplinary school, Ye Xin was already long been reced. But reced doesn''t mean dead. Until her brother was confirmed deceased, her family would stay safe from the others'' deadly schemes and machinations.


    However, she doesn''t dare assume the mask would remain foolproof and that they could maintain the status quo. There were many intelligent and capable people in this world so she doesn''t dare becent.


    If she and her mother won''t do anything to strengthen their influence and power, they would still be vulnerable to the other houses. After all, the family head ces too much importance on tradition. And the main branch was not really looking good due to Ye Xin''s disappearance.


    Ye Xinya decided to stop thinking about her circumstances and focused more on the situation in front. Looking at the person escorted to the main hall, she unconsciously snickered.


    ''In the end, he still ended up as my tutor. Did he forget about me mentioning I am from the Ye Family? Hmmm... Grandpa most likely heard about me trying to rope this person in, but did not know it''s because I feel guilty and indebted to him for what I did. Whatever the case is, he probably mistook it as me discovering a talent, or simply being whimsical.''


    Because she was informed that she would be meeting another person today, she put on a long curly wig tied into a ponytail and dolled herself up before walking down the gigantic staircase. She was wearing an borate yellow dress, a pair of silvery-white stilettos, and a few pieces of jewelry on her jade white wrists, ears, and neck.


    Face-wise, she qualified as a viiness since she was more beautiful and elegant than the female lead. She was also wealthier and wittier. Unfortunately, none of these could beat up the female lead''s halo and luck.


    Given her change in appearance, she reckoned the big boy in front of her would not recognize her. And it seemed she guessed right. So far, he never showed aggression or dislike to her. After all, this was officially their first meeting. However, if she was to appear as the Ye Xin he knew, he would definitely look at her indifferently or leave. There was no way he would act as polite and warm as he was now.


    To be honest, for a few seconds, Ye Xinya was stunned. When sheid eyes on him looking a bit professional in his white dress shirt tucked into his pants, the gloomy but calcting disposition was gone, reced by an intelligent look. If only he was a bit older and with more meat and muscles in his thin body, he would appear more mature and truly intellectual. A pity...


    But now that she remembered it, there was a rumor about this guy allegedly having been mistreated in his own household. So maybe that was why he looked almost as thin as her? No matter what though, it was still a fact that his face and built surprised the princess of the Yes.


    "Good morning, young miss. Youe at a very opportune time. Let me introduce to you your new tutor." With a wide smile that would give people afortable feeling and favorable impression, the aged housekeeper, one of the longest employed people in the mansion, gently motioned his wrinkled hand to Jing Mo. "He is Mr. Jiang Li. Mr. Jiang, she''s the student you will tutor from now on."


    A bit taken aback at the name she heard, she stared at Jing Mo for a while before understanding that the person indeed no longer nned to go back to Ruby City''s Jing family. Why create an alias for himself otherwise?


    She smiled sweetly at the person and then lightly bowed. Her ponytailed hair swayed and peeked out elegantly behind her. "Hello, my name is Ye Xinya. Please take care of me from now on."


    The young man returned the greeting with another polite smile.


    "Young Miss, Mr. Jiang is a bit young and only two years older than you, but you don''t need to worry. He is a real genius already in his third year of college. He is taking business administration so aside from helping you catch up and limate with the countries'' current education curriculum, he will give you advance lessons in business administration."


    Thest part said by the housekeeper was probably because everyone knew she just came back from abroad.


    Ye Xinya secretly grunted, ''This liar. He said he''s 18 when he''s also 16 years old like me.''


    She was starting to suspect again this person''s martyr-like attitude three days ago was only something he does once in a blue moon. His real self was the detestable bootlicker who helped the devil teachers in oppressing his fellow students.


    If Jiang Li heard the thought she was having in mind, he would definitely snort and say with a cynical smile, ''Yeah, Proud liar here. My real age is more than ten times of yours.''


    Thirty more minutes were spent on small talks with the housekeeper. After that, the old man left the two of them on the verandah. Atop the table were many textbooks, workbooks, and reference materials.


    Jiang Li casually sat in front of the girl, feeling funny in his heart as he took in her prim anddy-like posture. She was now so different from that annoying woman who kept bombarding him questions that night in that forest.


    "Once again, I''m Jiang Li. And I''ll be your tutor from today onwards. Shall we begin?"


    The two seemed to be hell-bent on acting their own parts. Both were feeling superiority upon thinking they knew who the other party really was and knew whether the other was lying or not.


    When Ye Xinya nodded, Jiang Li showed her a demonic grin. A second after, he said, "So... Since we''re newly acquainted and there is a need for me to gauge what you know, I would have to administer some test on you. You don''t mind, do you?"


    She knitted her brows for a moment, wondering if she would be given a very long diagnostic test for high schoolers or college students. If given a choice, she actually didn''t want to do them. However, since she was confident with her memories, she still nodded.


    No matter what was thrown at her, she wouldn''t have to worry about failing because even if she had skipped school, a proper one, for a year, whatever she read and studied before, tertiary level knowledge included, would never be erased from her memories.


    Jiang Li noted the overflowing confidence radiating from her body and got annoyed at it. Naturally, he did not show it on his face. As he passed the test booklet to her, he maintained his calm expression, acting as if he didn''t know the girl before him had a damn cheat.


    Ye Xinya scanned the questions for a full minute. After that, even though she felt that something was wrong with them, she only tilted her head once then slightly knitted her brows before answering. An hour passed before she finally put down her pen.


    Jiang Li gave her paper a cursory nce then picked up his red pen for marking. Before scribbling anything there, he raised his head at the beautiful girl giving him confident smiles. After that, under her careful scrutiny, he marked several of her answers wrong.


    "What?!"


    Upon receiving her test booklet and seeing the results and reasons for getting an x there, Ye Xinya threw Jiang Li a disbelieving look and then nced down again at her paper held by her trembling hands. Her lips were twitching as she reread the exnations there.


    <em>Question 73. Where was the treaty of Haris signed on September 13, 1783?</em>


    Her answer: Hotel D''York


    Correction: At the bottom of the paper, duh.


    She froze. A momentter, her eyes went to the person looking at her innocently.


    ''...Keep calm. He made sense a bit. So don''t doubt his sanity yet.''


    She looked at the next question given a huge x.


    <em>Question 98. Name the following quadrterals. *images below*</em>


    Her answer: Depending on the lengths, shapes, and angles of the figure, Square, Rectangle, Rhombus...


    Correction: Duh, I said ''name''. Give the poor four-sided figures specific names, not general ones. E.g., Harry, Justin, James, Lisa. Gets?


    A vein popped up and throbbed in her forehead. ''Keep calm. Don''t think of murder!''


    <em>Question 136. Andy has 57 candies. She ate 52. What does she have now?</em>


    Her answer: 57  52 = 5 candies


    Correction: Girl, the question is ''what does she have'', not ''how many left''. It''s diabetes, okay? Andy now has diabetes.


    Several other questions were corrected by him in such a manner. Ye Xinya weakly ced her booklet down the table. It was now badly wrinkled due to her clutching it too tightly and crumpling its sides.


    With a sharp, almost murderous, re, she asked, "Mr, Jiang, this is how you n to tutor me?"


    Jiang Li inwardly snorted. ''No, this is only how I n to mess with you, IQ braggart.''


    Heughed, aware that if he did this to another tutee, he would definitely be chased away and fired at the next second. However, he had confidence that Ye Xinya wouldn''t do that. After all...

 Chapter 173: Ye Xinya (15) <2-in-1>

    Chapter 173: Ye Xinya (15) <2-in-1>


    In the days that passed, Ye Xinya learned that Jing Mo knew about her IQ. However, she had a hunch that the guy was merely giving her weird logic questions and ''philosophical'' sessions that could annoy people to death because the other discovered she was ''Ye Xin''s'' sister.


    Jing Mo must be counting on Ye Xin''s favor so he was courageous. It was true though. ''Ye Xin'' felt indebted to him so ''he'' wouldn''t do a thing. But Ye Xinya could at least retaliate. Thus two people ended up in a weird secret contest where they had toe up of ways to piss off each other. The girl often lost. She was always angry for the other seemed familiar on how to one-up her.


    One time, Jing Mo told her, "It''s good to be angry once in a while. It provides clues on what your shorings are. Look. Aren''t you mad because your prided intelligence can''t always solve humor and logic questions? But as a result, aren''t you realizing being good at memorization and remembering stuff doesn''t automatically equate wisdom and intelligence?"


    Hatefully, she couldn''t retort back.


    Meanwhile, the other two, the leads of the world, were busying themselves with uncovering the seemingly endless loop of secrets behind their admittance to the disciplinary institution.


    Jiang Li did not monitor them strictly but he knew that Ren Lian and Han Su encountered each other on their way back to the city.


    Who knows how the omnipotent plot brought them together?


    What''s confirmed was that they were now developing feelings for each other as they worked together to uncover the identities of the school teachers, admins, and backers. And oh, the leads were actually living together.


    The worlds, or probably the fate''s obsession in making the leads get together was not something Jiang Li would understand even if he was given fifty more lifetimes. All he knew was that a few students who had nowhere to go back were with them, but for sure, fate set it up so those people would serve as means to further the rtionship between Han Su and Ren Lian.


    Regarding their main quest, thest time Jiang Li checked, their progress halted due to being distracted by their families. Han Su was located by his family a few days ago because he used his hacking skills, exposed his evil brother, but left a trace upon doing all of these.


    Since he was designated as the leader of their small team, he didn''t want to leave the other five so he brought them back with him. What followed was a y between the female lead and somebody from the branch line. If no deviation from the timeline happened, for sure the drama would move to Ren Lian confronting her uncle''s family.


    Well, enough of those since Jiang Li had no n to help or meddle with them. It was already a great favor that he was keeping the viinesspany.


    One thing he disliked though was that it would be impossible to have Ye Xinya not encounter Ren Lian and Han Su, especially after it was confirmed that Han Su was her fiance again. But could the uing encounter make the viiness fall in love with the male lead?


    Heh.What an interesting question...


    ...


    Ye Xinya cupped her face as she ced her elbows against the ss surface of the table to support her hands. She was sitting inside the VIP room of the clothing store frequented by her family, lost in thoughts, pondering over the party to be held at a senator''s mansion.


    ''I''d surely meet that Han Su there. The various influential families, including those with deep ties with the government, will also gather in that ce.''


    Feeling ufortable with her position, she moved her hands and crossed them over her chest, her back against the soft cushion of the sofa. Her legs exposed underneath her ck knee-length skirt were blemishless and blindingly white, and crossed atop each other.


    "Miss Ye. While waiting for yourpanion, would you like me to go and fetch some jewelries that will go well with the dresses you picked?"


    Politely, the manager in her thirties waiting by her side asked when Ye Xinya began to look seemingly bored out of waiting.


    The girl pursed her lips and directed her eyes in front where the fitting room was. She was not really feeling impatient or anything.


    It had only been two minutes since she threw several sets of formal attire into the arms of the half-suspicious, half-puzzled Jing Mo and pushed him inside to change. It would take some time to take off his own clothes and figure out how to put on the suits. Since there was a chance the other would be not familiar with those types of clothing, she resolved herself to be patient.


    Wearing a perfectdy smile on her lips, she replied to the manager, "I will dly take your offer then. But would it be alright if you bring some men essories too? Cufflinks, tie clips, and dress watches perhaps?"


    "Of course, Miss Ye. Please give me a minute to fetch our finest collections."


    "Sure. Thank you. And sorry for the trouble."


    "Miss is too kind. It''s my pleasure."


    The olderdy shed a professional smile and then walked away. A minuteter, when the manager went back, two other saledies were with her.


    Together, they spread out boxes after boxes of items on the ssy patterned ss table in front of Ye Xinya who then carefully checked each item sparkling with both sophistry and elegance. She was not much interested in the female jewelries for she already had a set at home matching her dress perfectly. So she focused more on the men essories.


    "Miss, are you sure you''ll really have Sir Jiang act as your escort? We could ask one of your cousins," asked one of her bodyguards who apanied her inside. The person was a new one recently assigned to her by her grandfather.


    The sudden question was not something she expected. She raised her head, disliking she was asked something like that in the presence of others. She mirthlessly looked at the bodyguard.


    "Sir Qiao, you shouldn''t be speaking like that. It''s me who would be asking Tutor Jiang a favor because I didn''t want to bother my cousins."


    The other party saw the staff of the shop nodding in praise at the meaning of the youngdy''s answer. He sweated a bit and then hurriedly said, "Miss is very thoughtful. Forgive me for being the inconsiderate one."


    On the outside, Ye Xinya appeared to be magnanimously smiling. But inwardly, she was grudgingly thinking, ''What thoughtful? Each and every one of them already has a partner even before the invitation arrived. It should be easy to tell all of them have already received an instructing to put me in a difficult situation beforehand. But, hah, are they thinking they''re the only guys on earth?''


    After giving the man a meaningful stare, she went back to browsing what wasid before her.


    One time, her eyes stopped at a pair of round sapphire blue cufflinks. She felt like she saw it before. But she immediately shook off the thought since this was definitely the first time she asked for men essories to be presented to her. She also couldn''t retrieve any matching data from her memories which confirmed that she also hadn''t seen it from anybody in a social gathering.


    Ye Xinya couldn''t take away her sight from the item for quite a long time. In the end, she picked a few colors and designs for the watch, tie, and clips, but for cufflinks, the round blue item was the only pair that she asked to leave with her.


    It was after she ced down its box that a change urred in the room. Gasps and sighs of admiration resounded from all the nearby staff. Was a handsome star or a young, rich CEO around? Ye Xinya couldn''t help the curiosity so she looked up. Her choice left her with a mouth slightly parted and eyes widened.


    Brown eyes, tall nose, perfectly shaped lips, and skin as clear and smooth as Ye Xinya who was a girl... The tall young man possessing all of these facial features looked very imposing and handsome in his tuxedo. ''This is Jing Mo?''


    After holding her breath for a full ten seconds, she slowly shook her head, dumbfounded by the transformation he showed. Her eyes followed him as he walked towards her and she could swear that even with that ever-present frown in his face, he still looked the type who could easily take one''s breath away.


    To distract her from the sudden racing in her heart and the slight burning hear from her cheeks, she hung her head then murmured to herself, ''... The Jings surprisingly let this fine specimen go. With such a face, he could even feed them, or be their walking billboard. How could they be so blind to chase him away?''


    Jiang Li, that time, was feeling a bit displeased by the ogling eyes turned at him, hence the frown. There was also his guess that the girl nned to invite him somewhere but did not ask for his opinion when he brought him here. This was why as he exited the fitting room, he didn''t restrain the cold aura around him.


    Despite this though, not many dared to look away. Only the security personnel of the girl and the shop did, frightened by the momentum and look he had on his face. In their mind was the disbelief that somebody so young could have the air of someone so dangerous.


    As for thedies... Er... Were these people aware he was still a minor? A few of them were married aunties or singledies in their thirties, and the kind of stares they were giving him was tempting him to do something violent.


    The gaze Jiang Li fixated on Ye Xinya turned a bit sharper than usual. "Let''s finish everything here and then talk seriously somewhere else."


    Hearing the authoritativeness in his voice, the girl recovered from her daze. But instead of going letting her pride act up, she obediently nodded, fully aware of how bad his mood had be.


    She now realized her blunder and her face burned more from a bit of shame. However, even though she wanted to apologize, this was not the right ce to do so.


    She could only act cool as she clears her throat. "Tell me your opinions about these things."


    "Fine, but give me a good exnationter." He replied in an annoyed tone, only checking the items spread out on the table after the girl meekly nodded.


    Jiang Li focused his gaze at the box of the sole pair of wrist essories there, a brow of his raised.


    He picked up and closely scrutinized one of the cufflinks, the matter about his irritation from the stares and Ye Xinya''s dragging of him somewhere without his opinion temporarily forgotten.


    ''So it''s Zhu Li''s memories this time?''


    While it was true that he liked blue gems and sterling silver for stuff like this, something Na Yu definitely knew, the one before his eyes right now was almost identical to the pair he used that time.


    Before leaving the first world, he got curious about the person who helped him bankrupt the family of that world''s scummy male lead. It was then that he discovered it was the heiress of the Zhu family, the male lead''s supposed fiancee.


    That woman was Na Yu''s first incarnation.


    Now that he thought about it, in the previous life, when he was idling at the southern region, he once asked what happened to Zhu Li after he left that world, and the system told him the girl suddenly kissed ''him'' and proposed to be his fiancee.


    Unfortunately by then, he had already left the world.

 Chapter 174: Ye Xinya (16)

    Chapter 174: Ye Xinya (16)


    After picking some stuff, the pair of cufflinks included, to go along his tuxedo, Jiang Li changed back to his ordinary shirt and jeans. He paid for his own bill and then dragged the girl to a popr coffee shop. The guy felt he was in a bad need of some caffeine to calm his nerves. They unexpectedly bumped into the two leads who were also in that mall to shop for attire to wear for tonight''s events.


    But it seemed Ren Lian and Han Su were too preupied with their date or the nning of the probing forter to notice Jiang Li and Ye Xinya''s entrance to the ce. Not even once Jiang Li considered it as those two failing to recognize them.


    The leads were at the table just next to the entrance. If Han Su would only look closely, even if he missed Ye Xinya, he would still at least recognize Jiang Li since nothing changed in his face apart from the unspeakable degree of aloofness and indifference in it.


    Actually, as they were passing by their table and looking for a spot for themselves, the male lead met Jiang Li''s eyes. Surprise shed across Han Su''s face for a brief second. Nheless, the bastard did not even nod at him, much less waved a hand and greet.


    He could only shrug and also pretend he didn''t see them. "Let''s take that one?" When the girl walking side by side with him asked, he didn''t nod but went straight there. He liked the spot since it was in one corner quite far from other tables. There were also two huge pots of ornamental bamboo nts on each side hiding it away from the others'' prying eyes.


    Without waiting for the waiter to arrive at their table, he sat down, crossed his arms, and asked with a raised brow, "I only know of one event which will need you to bring a partner. It''s Senator Fang''s fiftieth birthday. So care to exin why you want to bring someone with a humble background like me there?"


    Ye Xinya gave him aplicated stare after taking a seat on the sofa opposite his. Even if he was birthed by amon woman out of wedlock, it was still an indisputable fact that the blood of somebody with deep ties to the government flowed in his veins.


    Even now that he was detaching himself from that family, which part of him was humble? He could easily pay for more than five hundred thousand worth of luxury goods. That was certainly not something one from a humble background could do. It took her a great deal of effort to stop herself from reminding the young man where he was from.


    ''Alright, Ye Xinya, stop fussing over the minor detail. He is actually just asking for an exnation.''


    She coughed and exined, "Tutor Jiang. Please don''t take offense for what I did. To be honest, I have just been informed about the party this morning. Thankfully, my mom prepared a dress and a matching set of jewelries for me. The dress is the one we just picked up."


    Due to her hand pointing to a direction, Jiang Li''s eyes subconsciously followed, ending up at the peach-scented paper bags in the hands of her bodyguard standing three meters away.


    After nodding to showprehension to her point, he replied, "Alright. I get it. However, even if you can''t find someone your age to help you out, don''t you have a brother? Ye Xin?"


    ''You''re someone my age, blockhead.'' She almost rolled her eyes. But thanks to her face trained to maintain calmness at all times, she managed to stop the urge. "Tutor Jiang. I indeed have a brother and he''s even my older twin. However, from when I went abroad up to this date, we have yet to meet each other."


    She lowered her head and kept giving him conflicted gazes. He knew the purpose of those was to tell him that something sensitive and personal happened so he should stop prying.


    ''... What a liar and actress.'' He clicked his tongue and threw her a disapproving nce.


    The girl thought it was still about permission, but in reality, the guy was simply havingplicated thoughts within, not knowing how to feel about the fact that he finally came across an incarnation who knew how to lie and trick people without batting an eye once.


    ...


    The viiness''s beauty was very hard to ignore so the moment they stepped into the loud brightly lit hall, people''s eyes concentrated on her who was following her parents and being escorted by an equally stunning young man.


    It was just unfortunate that no matter how beautiful they looked together or individually, they couldn''t hog the spotlight to themselves once the leads made an entrance.


    Han Su and his partner for the event, Ren Lian, a girl who was less qualified to be here than Jiang Li, marched into the sparkling hall literally followed by the light from above. Who knows how the world made the chandelier''s glow focused on those two. But given such entrance, how the hell wouldn''t they attract the masses'' eyes?


    "Waaah, so blindingly cute and beautiful."


    Jiang Li weirdly looked at the girl next to him when he heard what she eximed. "I know the guy. He''s Han Su. Your supposed fiance."


    "I know."


    Ye Xinya''s lips arced up, the glint on her eyes was unreadable. She alternately nced at the fiance she would be seeing for the second time and the person by her side who had already been her ''tutor'' for more than a month.


    For some reason, even without the soft, shimmering light shining upon Jing Mo''s head, this liar and user who had made her feel helpless yet also helped forget some of her worries whenever she was with him, appear more striking and attractive.


    The girl started blinking repeatedly when she realized what she just thought. A momentter, she held her breath and gaped at the liar who nced at his phone to check something there. Her eyes were following his movements as he put his phone back to his pocket. She was still gaping at him even when his lips got drawn into a thin line.


    ''I... need to seriously think this through!'' When panic and short-circuiting brain teamed up together against her, all she could think about was to give herself space and get away from the guy who was the source of the alien feeling in her chest.


    Of course, Ye Xinya was still an educated girl and knew that no matter what, she at least has toe forward and greet those she should greet before going anywhere else. Jing Mo apanied her throughout these and even did perfectly, leaving asting impression on the people her family was acquainted with.


    But when she noticed herself taking notes of a few small details about the other person, she wanted to swear at herself. This all wouldn''t have started if she didn''tpare her fiance to him!


    ''I really need to go to the break room.'' Even while pretending to beughing and smiling at each other with her mom, this was all she was thinking about.


    Ye Xinya was about to excuse herself from Jing Mo when she heard her mother''s voice ringing near her ear. "Tutor Jiang, the music has started and I''m afraid my daughter who just got back from abroad is feeling shy about joining the rest of her peers there. How about you help her a bit in here?"


    "Sure."


    How badly she wanted toment on the fake polite smile Jing Mo turned to her mother.


    A few minutester, she found herself dancing in a ssical tune with him. Her fiance who she was supposed to greet and then acquaint herself with was also in the middle, joining the dance with Ren Lian. Somehow every time she looked away from Jing Mo to prevent her mind from going haywire, she would end up chancing upon the male lead teasing the ck belter beauty.


    She let out a surprised gasp after realizing she always ended up meeting Han Su''s eyes every time she moved her gaze away from her dancing partner.


    Jiang Li noticed her behavior and wondered if this was the plot forcing the viiness to fall in love with the male lead. Irked and a bit annoyed, he was about to say something about this when somebody called out to him from behind him. "Jing Mo!"


    It was Jiang Li''s first time being given a rotten family but while he expected there to be dramas between him and some people from the Jings, them calling him out loud whileughing evilly was something a far cry from his imagination. It was actually a novel experience for him.


    Although he didn''t turn around and pretended he was not the one called out, Ye Xinya turned her head to the direction of the person who shouted it. A bit of shock shed across her eyes, but then showed a face of realization upon seeing the person who shouted at the top of his lungs.


    Ye Xinya once looked through Jing Mo''s records so she recognized it was his older cousin, the second branch''s eldest son, Jing Yuhan. Twenty-two years old yet already an executive within the Jing''s food and drinkspany.


    As she observed the approaching tall guy whose looks resembled Jing Mo a bit, she saw the trace of conceit, arrogance, and maliciousness in the person''s eyes. That was when she knew, the intention behind that simple action was nasty and appalling.


    ''I''m afraid... Jing Mo''s image in people''s eyes is not that good.'' Her eyes darkened subconsciously.


    Not many knew how the illegitimate son from the Jing family looked like, but almost everyone heard of his name so many eyes gathered to their direction. Even the female lead and the male lead turned their heads since they were familiar with that name.


    Their reason for their curiosity was that the person called by that name was the one who led the helpless students out yet never got credit for it. However, the others were simply intrigued by his background.


    Wasn''t Jing Mo that illegitimate son thrown out of the house for leaking important business secrets to an opposing party? Didn''t he also get thrown into a rehabilitation facility due to addiction? Howe he was already out?


    A few of those Ye Xinya greeted him wrinkled their forehead in confusion since they remembered him introducing himself as Jiang Li.


    "Cousin?"


    The one in question had no choice but respond when Jing Yuhan ced a hand on Jiang Li''s shoulder.


    ''Living honestly, you ask?''


    The man hid a cold smirk in the slight smile he wore in his lips as he faced his cheap and annoying cousin. "I got caught in surprise since this is the first time I saw you."


    ''As me, the task-taker, so technically, I''m not being dishonest.''


    "Good day. I''m Jiang Li, son of Jiang Liuxian. Do I know you?"<ol><li>XD Who remembered?</li></ol>

 Chapter 175: Ye Xinya (17) <2-in-1>

    Chapter 175: Ye Xinya (17) <2-in-1>


    Not only Jing Yuhan, but a few, mostly those from the business world, were a bit taken aback the moment they heard the name Jiang Liuxian. For a moment they doubted if their ears were working properly. Did the boy who apanied the Ye''s daughter say he was that person''s son?


    "The tycoons'' reaction is a bit weird. All of them looked shocked. However, I haven''t heard of the name Jiang Liuxian until now. Who is he?" discreetly asked one of the madams to her husband.


    "The name Jiang Liuxian is not popr." The husband, a CEO of famous chains of hotels in the capital, started to exin. "But actually, that person who assumed that name is a big shot foreigner who ns to establish a new cellrwork in our country. He just recently began to call himself that."


    Despite the man not directly mentioning the name, those around him who heard what he said all gasped in surprise. The madam was as shocked so she eximed with eyes as wide as a pair of saucers, "You mean, it''s James Zuckerberg, the tenth richest man in the world?"


    The silence she got was her spouse''s silent affirmation. The middle-aged CEO was not the only one aware of the name so in just a minute everyone was once again looking at Jiang Li''s direction. This time, the gazes were 180 degrees opposite what they initially gave him. Ye Xinya even saw a few rich madams looking at him meaningfully as they passed a few words to the ears of their daughters and sons.


    One such mother-daughter pairs was just two meters away from her so she heard some of their conversations.


    "I didn''t know Mr. Zuckerberg already has a son. Fei-er, once you see an opportunityter, make sure to leave asting impression on him. If you can be his fiancee, then spouse, you will surely have a future greater than any other girls here. Don''t fail!"


    Determination crossed that pretty girl''s face and when she looked at the subject of their discussion who was standing with a slight smile in front of Jing Yuhan, there was fascination in her eyes.


    In reality, there were many excellent young men in the ce, Han Su the male lead included. However, at this moment, the son of the famous billionaire became the center of attention. When Ye Xinya looked around, she found that many girls were already giving Jing Mo a sticky nce. As she returned her gaze to her ipetent tutor, a weird feeling arose in her heart. Jealousy? Annoyance? Possessiveness?


    To distract herself from the difort she was having within, she asked herself, ''Why is nobody first asking or confirming if he''s really that person''s son? Is Jing Mo that good of a liar? Or is it that these people think nobody would dare use that person''s name if it''s for posing?''


    A full ten seconds passed before somebody raised the first question Ye Xinya had in mind. Jing Yuhan who was finally done confronting his doubts threw an using re at Jiang Li. "Jing Mo, do you know what you are doing? Even if you have misgivings with the family, you should not drag somebody else''s name into this!"


    ''If you truly care for someone or for your family, you wouldn''t air his dirty to the world. Stupid.''


    Erasing the trace of a smile in his face, Jiang Li nced at the taller man indifferently. "Sir. I don''t know you and can''t understand what you''re talking about. And what of it if I dragged my own father''s name in this?"


    Ye Xinya looked down at the arm circling her waist. ''He tightened his hold of me a little bit. Is he feeling pressured? Or angry?''


    She couldn''t help the anxiousness and worry, hence, she spoke up after bowing a bit, "Good evening, Mr. Jing. It''s our pleasure to meet you. However, I think you have truly mistaken him for someone else. His name is indeed Jiang Li and I''ve been fortunate to be his tutee for some time now."


    "Brother, what''s happening? I heard cousin''s name."


    A beautiful girl in the violet knee-length dress came forward and raised her head to Jing Yuhan. A secondter, she nced to her right side and finally noticed Jiang Li there. Surprise also showed on her face covered by a fairly thickyer of makeup.


    "Jing Mo. It''s really you! I have heard you have escaped from the detention ce. We didn''t have any news from you for some time. How did you get in by the way? And does uncle know?"


    The morous girl batted her longshes that were framing her big brown eyes. She looked like a model out for amercial shooting as she elegantly twirled her champagne ss. However, the words she spoke were anything but morous and elegant.


    She not only purposely misled the masses when she said detention ce instead of that infamous disciplinary school, but insinuated he was a gatecrasher and an ingrate because despite being back to the city, he never visited his father once.


    As a result, those listening not only became apprehensive again about Jiang Li''s identity due to a second person from the same family iming he was really Jing Mo. The thoughts that ran in their heads were mostly not pleasant.


    "Are you saying, all this time, the one tutoring my daughter is your cousin?" In a doubtful voice, Ye Xinya''s mother questioned.


    "Miss Ye," Jing Yuhan smiled apologetically and replied. "About this, I think I have to ask for your forgiveness. Your daughter has only returned from abroad but this is what happened. But I believe my cousin has a good reason for deceiving you and posing as another person to be her tutor."


    "Hey," While those two were exchanging words, the viiness nervously elbowed Jiang Li who was busy ncing down his dress watch and dialing something on his phone. She tried to tell him through her nce, ''They''re bullying you, do something?''


    Unfortunately, all she got was silence.


    Seeing he was not going to say anything, Ye Xinya puckered her lips in irritation then fiercely red at Jing Yuhan. She said to Madam Ye, "Mom, I don''t believe that Tutor Jiang lied."


    ''Alright, sorry for lying that I don''t believe it.''


    She secretly thought after voicing that out, then continued, "I''ve been meaning to ask this, but what proof do you have to use him? Just the face alone? But, in the whole world, every person could possibly have seven other look-alikes. In my knowledge too, your cousin is at the same age as me, yet Tutor Jiang is two years older."


    The man originally messaging someone through his phone with a cid expression finally looked up to give Ye Xinya a good look. Approval and amusement could also be seen from his eyes. ''She knows I''m really Jing Mo, but she insisted on defending me. Hmm. I''ll reward herter.''


    When the viiness finally got into a full-blown argument with his two annoying cousins, he was in the middle of wondering if the reward should be a pass from his brain-twisting homework or something more practical.


    From beginning to the end, he pretended to not know the Jing siblings, maintaining an unperturbed expression even as he listened to their sickening fake words of concern. When he got bored a bit, he noted the girl''s adamant attitude on taking his side. He wondered if she realized what she was doing for somebody she had hated for a year.


    "I can prove that he is indeed my cousin. If he lifted the back part of his tuxedo, there should be a small red birthmark there!"


    Jiang Li saw Ye Xinya sported a disbelieving face at Jing Yuhan. He didn''t know that it was because the girl remembered seeing something like that near the bottom of his spine. She identally chanced upon it at the forest when Han Su haphazardly brought down the unconscious Jing Mo on the ground which caused the hem of his upper uniform to lift up a bit.


    A couple of momentster, her eyes regained brightness. She then shook her head in incredulity, "Did you really suggest for someone to take off his shirt in the middle of this gathering?"


    Everyone else stared at Jing Yuhan for a second.


    To be honest, this was also the first time the guests around encountered something like this. However, while they felt that Jing Yuuhan going this far was wrong, the spectacle was just too funny to watch so nobody interfered.


    Meanwhile, Jing Yuhan realized his own blunder. However, he was already at the point where he could only bite the bullet.


    He could only glower at the cause of his plight and make his answer sound as righteous and convincing as possible. "I don''t really see anything wrong with what I said if it is the only way to prove it, especially if someone is not taking his silence as an affirmation!"


    Ye Xinya continued to shake her head while asionally letting out a burst ofughter from time to time. The spotlight seemed to have focused on her. The world must be wanting to emphasize her crazy and fierce appearance to give a less favorable impression on the onlookers. However, she was too beautiful that not even the male lead, much less Jiang Li, could move their eyes away from her.


    ''I know that she''s pretty when angry at me. But she''s prettier when angry for my sake.''


    A corner of Jiang Li''s lips lifted up. He watched as she gestured her hands andughed at the Jing''s executive. Her beauty did not diminish even as she spat out with clear sarcasm.


    "I might have been abroad only for a few years but I never expected that when Ie back, I will encounter someone who can say with a straight face that it''s okay for others to be shamed as long as his honor could be retained. Such sophistry, is not something I would ever understand! I keep trying to make some sense out of it, but it''s really just nonsensical and not gentleman-like!"


    Jing Yuhan felt speechless and couldn''t find words to retort. So with a face burning in both anger and shame, he looked away from the girl and barked at Jiang Li, "Jing Mo, stop being silent! Do you dare to show your back to prove that I am wrong!?"


    Jiang Li looked at him the way he would at a retarded person. Heughed. "Pardon but I''m sure no gentleman will strip just because a random person asked."


    "You just don''t dare." The female cousin coldly said.


    He swept his eyes around and noticed a few more familiar figures from the Jings in the crowd. They were older and had some brains inside their skulls so they did not join Jing Na and Jing Yuhan in harassing him. But of course, they also wouldn''t stop those two since they too were enjoying the show.


    ''Such heartlessness.''


    "Tutor Jiang. Aren''t you going to exin to clear the misunderstanding?" The look on the viiness'' mother''s face was not really as bad as one would expect, but there was also no trace of warmth in it. Ye Xinya alternately nced at her mother and Jing Mo.


    Thetter turned his head to meet the chilling gaze of the Ye''s first madam and then smiled.


    "I don''t understand." He started. Theposure he exhibited was infuriating the heck out of his older cousins.


    ""What is there to exin?""


    That single question was asked simultaneously by two people, one old and one young. Jiang Li being thetter again.


    His eyes automatically went to locate the source of that booming voice that ovepped with his, eventually stopping at a fifty-something years old man dressed in a ck suit and red ties walking down the gigantic staircase.


    "Greetings and happy birthday, Senator Fang!"


    "We wish you great health, Senator!"


    ""Happy Birthday!""


    This person''s air had something in it which could immediately inspire awe and respect. But such a man had a very gratifying smile put on, his eyes not caring about the people bowing and greeting him reverently. Still with that same wide smile, he was actually only looking at the young man standing next to the lovely princess of the Yes.


    "Please to meet you, young man. I''ve been informed that you havee on behalf of your father, James. As I can see today, the famous founder and CEO of the world''srgest social media andworking servicepany has raised a fine son. Not many can maintain calmness in such a confusing situation."


    As these words echoed in the grand hall that suddenly descended into silence upon the senator''s entrance, not few gasps and held their breaths. There were also others whose face grew ashen. Jing Na stared nkly at the birthday celebrant. Jing Yuhan was as dumbfounded.


    ''This person is truly not Jing Mo?'' The man''s face was losing blood every passing second.


    ''No, that can''t be. Thest time I saw him is two months ago, how can''t I not recognize him?''


    While his cousin was in denial, Jiang Li turned to the man''s direction. Like a real western aristocrat, he lightly bowed. "Good evening, Senator Fang. Please ept my greetings and thanks for your kind praises earlier. My name is Nathan Zuckerberg, Jiang Li in Huaxia''s records. On my and my father''s behalf, allow me to wish you a happy fiftieth birthday. We hope for more birthdays for you to celebrate and look forward to in the many decades toe."

 Chapter 176: Ye Xinya (18)

    Chapter 176: Ye Xinya (18)


    There was no way a person of high caliber like Senator Fang would mistake a random person for a billionaire''s son. This was why the people could only ept the new information they learned, note how to deal with the person in question and move on.


    Anyway, looking at Jiang Li''s refined movements, even the slightest gesture screamed of ancient elegance. It''s not the kind of sophistication present to normal rich, but one which should only be present to somebody trained to be well-mannered and cultured since young.


    <em>''He really seems like the heir of a very wealthy family. Nouveau riche, but the kind nobody will dare disrespect since his father is a self-made multibillionaire.''</em>


    Seeing this, even Ye Xinya started to wonder for a few seconds if the person who became her tutor was really that Jing Mo who escaped from hell with her, or Nathan who seemed to have grown up in the western states. Which one was the real him? Which one does she want him to be?


    A momentter, she lowered her head. Nobody knew what she was thinking. Her unfocused eyes appeared lost within the red fabric of her elegant dress.


    A meter away from the gracefully smiling young man, Jing Na grabbed the shoulder of his younger brother and pulled him away there. The woman was smarter than Jing Yuhan so even though she was also feeling badly humiliated, she only gritted her teeth then whispered to the man. "Let''s stop making a scene. Apologize and then disappear. Even if we know he''s our cousin, since he is recognized as the son of Mr. Zuckerberg by the senator, we won''t be able to do anything to him."


    The man first looked discreetly for their n members, yet only found them scattered around, involved in discussions with the other guests. ''Suddenly busy with discussions? They simply don''t want to be involved...'' He concluded while cursing in his heart.


    The siblings waited for the greetings and small talks between Jiang Li and Senator Fang to end. However, as if the former was doing it intentionally, their conversation took so long. As a result, the siblings who were afraid of offending the senator had to stand there for some time under the gloating and sharp gazes of the other guests. It was truly a painful experience, the stares were too prating, digging into their skin as if they want to expose their flesh and bones. The ufortable feeling and sense of shame kept getting stronger every second and minute that passed.


    <em>''When have I ever needed to go through something like this?''</em>


    The two cursed Jiang Li in their hearts, badly wanting to kill him. They were thinking if not for this shameless bastard, they would not have to be this embarrassed. The Jing siblings forgot that if they did not provoke Jiang Li and tried to shame him at this party, things would note to this. In fact, he wouldn''t even remember that they exist, at least not for today.


    The Senator''s attitude towards the boy was warm throughout the conversation. This did not change even when he took note of the girl by Jiang Li''s side. "So is this girl the one who had the fortune of having a billionaire''s son as her teacher?"


    Ye Xinya politely pulled the corner of her lips up and gracefully bowed, "Congrattions on your fiftieth birthday, Honorable Senator. My name is Ye Xinya and I''m indeed lucky to be under Tutor Jiang''s care."


    Jiang Li once again admired that the girl who had always been losing temper at him for his wonderful lessons could lie this well, with a matching smile even.


    The old man who was at first puzzled why a Zuckerberg like him was in Huaxia and tutoring a girl from a second rate family nodded then threw the boy a look of understanding. He was already assuming that the two met abroad and then the little guy just fell in love so he followed her here to pursue her. The thought made him sigh in his heart.


    What a romantic boy.


    But well, it couldn''t be helped since the Ye family indeed produced ady whose beauty could make people assume she was a little goddess that descended on earth. That prominent person from the west did call to confirm to him that Jiang Li was his son. However, even if he was a Zuckerberg, he was still a mere mortal that could be smitten by a woman, especially if it was someone who looked even better than a fairy.


    Not long after, the old man finally bid farewell to them to take the center stage and greet the other important guests. Jing Na took that time to apologize with a stiff smile on her face. How did Jiang Li respond? Of course, he just sarcastically sneered at them, especially after seeing Jing Yuhan balled his fists and looked away to prevent himself from giving the illegitimate bastard of his family a death re.


    Forgive them? Why would he? Benevolence was never meant for people who were annoying. Kindness was only for people who deserve it, and even that was up to him to decide.


    "Hello, nice to meet you." Instead of answering the woman waiting for his response, he returned the greetings of the baldie CEO in a shy red three-piece suit. He then moved away from them with Ye Xinya, making acquaintances not as Jiang Li thepanion the Ye''s princess brought, but as the ''heir'' to a multibillion-dorpany.


    His action of leaving the Jing siblings standing there without receiving a word from him was akin to telling them that they were nothing but air, or a waste of space.


    If they think they were important people, they might as well reconsider it now.


    And one more thing, he was not really Jing Mo, the damn bootlicker. He was Jiang Li, someone who had a higher likelihood of using or destroying the strong, instead of fearing them.

 Chapter 177: Ye Xinya (19)

    Chapter 177: Ye Xinya (19)


    In one obscure corner of the lively hall, Ye Xinya watched as the grumpy-looking Han Su led Ren Lian, away from Jiang Li and her after a talk. Her gaze then went back to the indifferent man by her side, her thoughts wandering all over the ce.


    Eventually, her curiosity prevailed, so she looked around for a bit then brought her lips near his right ear after making sure nobody was looking at their direction. While loud ssical music was pouring into the whole ce, she asked in a hushed whisper, "Hey. Why did you refuse to cooperate with them to find out and punish the one behind the inte rehabilitation school? Is it because you already know who they are?"


    The man first shook his head and then walked towards the open side entrance. The girl ignored her mom''s call and followed him.


    "How much do you know about the ce where your brother is sent?" he asked the moment they arrived at the verandah which only had the most minimum amount of lighting.


    Ye Xinya squinted her eyes to get used to the sudden darkening of the ce. She then turned her head to the back of the tall boy leaning forward on the white-painted balustrade there. What should she reply to him? What she knew was different from her guesses. Which one should she disclose?


    She sunk into silence and contemtion, remembering something which she found out when she got curious about the other students that had escaped from that ce. Everyone''s records were tampered with. None showed they got admitted to the mysterious and notorious disciplinary school.


    Now that she thought about it, there was also him sending the files and evidence of the admins and teaching personnel''s misconduct to the police.


    She gave him aplicated look before shaking her head and answering, "I think there''s no point asking what I know since I''m sure it''s way lesser than what you know."


    Jiang Li tilted his head a bit toward the girl who crossed her arms after walking to his side. "What do you mean?"


    "Exactly what I said."


    ''Well, if my sometimes unreliable cheat memories are factored into the equation, then yeah.'' He chuckled.


    Ye Xinya asked, "If you know who the mastermind is, why are you not making a move then? Is the person somebody even you, with your ''backer'', cannot touch?"


    ''Nah. It''s simply because it''s a mystery the leads have to solve by themselves to deepen their rtionship in the absence of a viiness pressuring them in the romance side. I''m turning into a new leaf by not meddling with them.'' Of course, he couldn''t say this out loud.


    He nced down to the ground below. But, apart from the shadowy silhouette of the nts and leaves there, he really did not see anything more. For such a sight, depending on who was looking at it, the meaning would also differ. Others would rte it to something else, mostly negative. While he only saw it as his figure obstructing the light from the hall, thus, theck of visibility on what the world looked like there.


    After shrugging off the useless thoughts and wearing that same nonchnt face, he spoke. "No. That backer is like a time-limited extra rare item in a game. It''s even the type that has many locks on its features. It''s good for decorations and could deter minor people. But in front of those with real power, or once those with a bit of ability learned it''s a limited-use talisman, it wouldn''t be able to cover up the fact that I''ve always been powerless."


    The viiness widened her eyes at him, her mouth gaping. She couldn''t believe the helpless and self-mocking smile he shed at her for a brief second. "You..."


    He looked away, returning the look of nonchnce in his face. "Ye Xin. After this day, I supposed your elders will use my name to pull your branch ahead of whatever internalpetition is happening in your family. Your engagement with the Han''s eldest son is not yet announced so they will take advantage of that to link you to me. Are you okay with that?"


    "Link?" Knowing what he was referring to, Ye Xinya took a deep breath and asked herself if she was really okay with it.


    Starting today, especially with the recognition of the Senator, the media people who managed to sneak into the party would surely broadcast to the world about Zuckerberg''s son and the ambiguous rtionship he had with the littledy by his side. The Hans would most likely question her family for the sake of formality but even they wouldn''t do a thing since they were no match to Jiang Li''s family. Jiang Li hinted that the whole thing was just a deal, but the world doesn''t know. All they were aware of was that the girl from the Ye family had won the heart of some big shot boy.


    Was she alright with that setup?


    When no difort or reluctance sprung forth from her heart, she hung her head low, hiding her reddening cheeks. For a moment, she forgot even if she didn''t do that, he wouldn''t see the change in her face''s color due to theck of illumination in the ce.


    Questions were running in her head. It was so shameful and annoying.


    How could she have that burst of happiness for being mistaken for an item with somebody she only truly knew for a month? No, the question should be, why did she fall for a liar who only knew how to anger her?


    Jiang Li was oblivious to the girl''s raging emotions and even if he knew about it, he would justugh it off and think she was making a big deal out of nothing.


    Hearing her asking about rification, he said, "The aristocratic world might be sparkling with gold and wealth in themon people''s eyes, but it is actually a very cruel ce. It''s all about utilitarianism. Both boys and girls had to enter marriage arranged for the family''s welfares. Even couples are regrly using each other for their benefits. It''s all for fame, wealth, and status. Those enved by these three words don''t know they''re already being demons to others, especially once they think those inferiors to them have no more purpose or merit in existing in their world."


    Ye Xinya kept her silence and merely listened. It was actually not the first time that she heard or thought of his statement.


    "Anyways, all I want to say is that since my newly gained father''s name is useful, your mother, at the least, will take advantage of it."


    "Are you angry? About it?" After holding her peace for some time, she voiced out. "And... aren''t you toox in revealing to me that Mr. Zuckerberg is more like a godfather?"


    Disregarding her nervous stares, Jiang Li turned around and leaned his back there while crossing his arms above his chest. "Well, nobody''s around. I''m not worried. And no. I''m not angry. I''m too used to the system to get angry at something that negligible."


    Her eyes lost focus for a moment, wondering if what he meant was the beatings and embarrassing stuff he did to survive. When the kids in the school whined about the battering and punishments they got there, was he also thinking the same? Negligiblepared to what he already went through?


    ''If Jing Mo could impress James Zuckerberg to the point he would adopt him as his son, maybe that''s the heaven finally smiling and making up to him." Gaze softened, she secretly thought.


    "By the way, I''ve called you Ye Xin earlier, don''t tell me you didn''t notice?" he jokingly asked, that familiar sneering face put on.

 Chapter 178: Ye Xinya (20)

    Chapter 178: Ye Xinya (20)


    She was in no mood to get mad at his indirect attack on her IQ so just she replied in a quiet manner, "I noticed. But it''s not noteworthypared to what you lectured. You know, you rarely do something befitting of your job description, Tutor Jing."


    "Well, since you''re aware of who I am, then you should be aware I just disliked you and wanted to make life a bit difficult for you."


    <em>''Do you still dislike me now?''</em> When she was about to ask that question, she suddenly couldn''t summon the courage to say it.


    Jiang Li saw through her though. And heughed. "Stop making faces. I don''t hate you anymore. Anyway, you seem pitiful in your own way. Otherwise, why would you pretend to be your brother? Your mom is the usual utilitarian. Your whole family is, probably apart from the old man. There''s also your fiance not talking to you at all earlier due to the girl by his side."


    "I don''t know him so I don''t care who he brings here." Her wrinkled nose showed how much displeasure she was feeling for being told something as random as thatst one. "By the way, I have to say." She raised her head, eyes blinking innocently. "I also don''t hate you anymore. You... are saner than expected."


    "Sane?" He snickered. "Not good?"


    "I''m being considerate by not giving you a good guy card, Mr. Jiang." She amusedly reasoned.


    "Oh? Then thanks?"


    After remembering that it was a concept poprized in the modern era, he shrugged. Those given that ''card'' where suitors girls rejected. It was mostly from the phrase, ''You''re a good person but...'' which would definitely end up with the guy getting friend-zoned, hence the concept.


    If he was to be asked though, he had been a bit viinous in the past so he was okay being addressed with that so-called good guy this time. It wouldn''t affect him since he was not courting her, yet.


    Well, if he wasn''t, then he''s fine with that too. What''s important was that deep inside him he knew he was leading an ''honest'' life per the Original''s wish.


    Yup. So far, apart from hypnotizing an inte cafe owner on his first day in this world, he hadn''t done anything illegal or dishonest, Even when he was teasing Ye Xinya, he used unreasonable logics and jokes to infuriate her. As for how he ended up a filthy rich man''s son, well, he didn''t ckmail anyone.


    Ridiculous. As if a self-made billionaire was somebody he, a student with neither background nor money, could ckmail?


    Obviously not. So all he did was analyze the memories he received, then forward some key information and helpful ''predictions'' to that middle-aged guy.


    It was a bonus that the person was the employer of that dude who bought his programst time. He also probably got amazed that a 16 years old kid from an eastern nation managed to hack directly into his private ount.


    And oh, it seemed the remnant of the real Jing Mo did not attack his soul because the hacking was not for bad intentions, but to save an importantpany from a huge loss in the future. Or maybe the good side of this action just offset the bad side so Jiang Li did not get punished by the Original.


    No matter the case, apart from having the right to be his son in name, he was able to get three favors from that man. And speaking of the adoption... Now he remembered why he was making this talk with Ye Xinya.


    Heughed then announced, "Let''s talk about a more serious matter."


    "Yes?" A few strands of the girl''s hair framing her face fluttered gently in the wind when she turned her head to him.


    "I haven''t informed your parents but I will be going abroad next week to meet that man. Everything has already been settled by his people. It''s just me who postponed it for some issue to settle first here."


    "..."


    She went silent, digesting the meaning. In a sense, it was actually quite bad news since it meant if her family back out from the talk with the Hans yet there was nobody to exin or catch her from the fallout, she would end up in a pitiful state.


    What should she reply to in a situation like this? In all honesty, it was her who owed Jing Mo for that incident in the forest. The favor had not even been returned yet since it seemed the man never needed a source of ie. In short, she was not in a position to ask for a favor or anything.


    It was quite a whirlwind of events for her. An hour ago, she realized she had feelings for the guy, but now, she learned he would be leaving.


    ''It''s only been a month... They said feelings are fleeting so maybe I could go back to normal after a few days? Anyway, what do the memories we shared with each other in such a short span of time amount to?''


    "Tch." That single clicking of the tongue from the man awakened her from her stupor. She looked up and saw he was actually looking at the direction of the hall. Four or so girls in different but nearby locations were watching him.


    "Damn, creeps."


    While heined, she was busy digesting the answers that popped up in her head for the questions asked a while back. Not long after, she raised her head to him. Appearance-wise, he was already eye-catching so it was not really questionable if girls fell for him.


    "Should we change locations?" he asked her with a frown on his face.


    See, even the frown was attractive. Ye Xinya suddenly banged her head on the balustrade, to the guy''s surprise. Alright. She just actually looked down and buried her face in her hands as if she was about to cry. Her actions appeared just weird to Jiang Li.


    Five seconds after knitting his brows at her, he once again asked, "I said, should we change locations? Or simply go home? Anyways, we already greeted the senator so there should be no problem even if we leave. So?"


    Hearing his suggestion, she slowly lifted up her face and then nodded.


    "I''ll inform my mom we''ll have Grandpa Li to take us back."


    "Fine."


    The girl did contact her driver while following behind the guy back to the main hall. They would have to pass by it if they want to go to the parking lot.


    Once done sending the message, she lifted her head up only to meet eyes with a familiar girl heading to intercept Jiang Li.


    Wasn''t she the one standing near her that time and was instructed by her mother to get close to Jing Mo? She looked around and saw that there were many others like her.


    Hate and insecurity instantly drowned her. Sometimes in a fit of strong emotion, people could just do things that they never imagined they would ever do in their lives.


    Ye Xinya might be pretty bright but she grew up like a caged bird whose actions and decisions were directed. She had less experienced in some matters and was still a bit immature. She didn''t know how to handle herself once everything bottled up. This was why when she could no longer stand the feeling in her chest and the annoying sultry stares from the other girls directed at the person she liked, she ended up doing what she never thought she would ever do.


    She began it by yelling his name while takingrge strides toward him. "Jiang Li!"


    The man who was also dialing up a number on his phone halted his steps and turned his head to her. There was a bit of surprise in his face. No, he actually looked very stunned, as if he just heard something very unbelievable.


    ''She called me Jiang Li, and not Jing Mo?''


    The guy had almost be ustomed to being called names the system just borrowed for him. This was the first time in the current and the previous two worlds that she called him using his full name. He thought he would remain indifferent to this since it was simply another two words that could be used to address him. However, he ended up falling into a trance since the words were uttered by her.


    Nheless, the surprise for tonight seemed not yet finished. All of a sudden, while he was still in a daze for being called out, she appeared in front of him.


    He nkly stared at her when she suddenly tiptoed and brought her face nearer to his... And before his mind totally nked out for some time when she nted her lips on his, one thought popped up in it.


    So as long as they are in a modern setting, his girl would be proactive?

 Chapter 179: Ye Xinya (21)

    Chapter 179: Ye Xinya (21)


    Ye Xinya''s cunningness awakened when she did all of that in one fell swoop.


    The stuffy feeling in her heart caused by jealousy and insecurity was too much for her to take. How could she not want to get rid of them so badly?


    She might not be too different from the other girls since she was also quite materialistic and bound by family rules. However, she liked the guy not as the rich heir Nathan Zuckerberg, but as the liar Jing Mo, and the annoying fake tutor Jiang Li. This was why she felt indignant upon seeing those other girls suddenly taking interest in him just because he was actually a bigshot''s son.


    They did not see him as he was and had no n to give him the attention and love he deserved. Why would she let them get near him?


    With these in mind, even though she also really had no right, she decided to dere sovereignty upon Jing Mo, to chase away and discourage those nning to use him just so they could reach somewhere higher.


    Lastly, she wanted to steal his first kiss. For this one, she was willing to sacrifice her first kiss too, just so she could leave a deep impression on him and maybe... just maybe... to enter even the shallowest crack in his heart.


    Didn''t novels and dramas often feature the mystery of this concept?


    Before she thought those reference materials were very weird and dramatic and that her mother was correct to advise her to stay away from those. She only managed to browse a bit of those things online when her friends, the ones she had before her twin''s death, strongly rmended some to her.


    Out of courtesy, she checked those out but whether they be by chapters or episodes, she never went past the fifth one. She was okay with how the women acted there because women were indeed foolish when in love. But whenever she saw lovestruck men there, especially CEOs, people described as misogynic or those capable men with a dead-inside disease, she would end dropping the series.


    Why? Because as a girl, it was hard for her to picture in her head that a person from the opposite sex could truly act so contrary to their original setting!


    The most ridiculous part for her was that the characters were always from prominent families, no matter if it was historical or modern. They downyed the role of arranged marriages as stupid stuff that always blocked the path of romance between amon girl and a cold, handsome man.


    The impossibly sweet scenes there, the flower backgrounds and special effects that always appeared out of nowhere, the possessiveness and blind devotion of the male leads, and even second male leads, to the silly female protagonists... All of these never failed to make her wish she had no eidetic memory.


    Imagine the torture, as long as she sees one such sight, or anything traumatic and unpleasant, it would be forever be imprinted in her mind, the most fatal disadvantages of having a photographic memory.


    One of the most cringe-worthy scenes she had ever watched was about a high school boy who became helplessly and stupidly smitten by a girl just because she got his first kiss.


    She remembered it was a drama series from five years ago that became a huge hit due to the stunning visuals of the actors and actresses there. However, the plot... was a huge puzzle for her.


    Probably because she was not a hopeless romantic so she couldn''t understand why a big boy could act like his world revolved around that girl just because their lips touched. Was she the only one who thinks it was very embarrassing?


    How ironic that now she was hoping that something like that could truly happen in real life! She also was hoping that it could help her, not only shoo away the unwanted voracious stares, but imprint her image in his mind.


    ''Ah. I still can''t tell if I just did the smartest thing ever, or the dumbest one...''


    More than ten minutes already passed since then. Inside the carrgely enveloped by darkness, Ye Xinya hugged her herself while lightly knocking her forehead on the headboard of the passenger in front. She didn''t dare look at her left where the reason for her agitation was seated.


    The young man was there, looking sofortable browsing his phone while she was here, going crazy. She couldn''t erase everything that happened earlier in her mind. Although she should be angry, the embarrassment was simply clouding her mind. Now she could rte a bit on how those people from the Jings felt earlier and understood why for people put to shame, wishing for the ground to eat them or the cause of their embarrassment was a natural reaction.


    It didn''t take long for them to finally arrive at the Ye''s mansion. They were climbing up the long staircase, with her following behind him, when the thought crossed her mind.


    ''Why does it seem to me that he is not at all affected? I just kissed him! Why is he acting as if nothing happened or whatever had happened is not worth fussing over?''


    When the realization hit her, the stares she was directing at his back turned sharper. She disliked it that she was the only one troubled with that matter and stressing over it.


    Feeling the sudden hostility, Jiang Li turned around and frowned a bit since the girl did not attempt to hide from his eyes this time.


    "What''s the matter?"


    There were only three steps until the second floor so she first crossed that before facing him. "Don''t you have anything to say to me after what happened?"


    "Oh?" He met her eyes while loosening his tie a bit. A cid look was on his face when he snorted and added, "I thought it''s you who have to exin something. I''m not even forcing you to speak up. Yet... Tch."


    She froze, face instantly reddened in shame. Why was her IQ not working when she asked that grave-digging question?


    Jiang Li resumed walking, heading towards the left turn where his room, as the guest tutor of the girl, was.


    Seeing him leaving just like that, she wanted to go after him, her mind telling her to just confess that she liked him. Wasn''t he hinting for her to exin what she did earlier?


    "Hey, I..."


    However, at the next moment, she stilled, the next words couldn''t escape out of her lips.


    ''Wait... Can I really say that? Especially if it would sound coincidental due to the revtion of his identity earlier?"


    Her shout called his attention so he looked back, only to get puzzled upon seeing him looking like a lostmb, with zed eyes and slightly parted lips, while staring nkly ahead. "Hmm? You saying something?"


    "...."


    What could she say? She dejectedly wondered, eyshes drooping downwards to hide the zed look in her eyes.


    Seeing her hanging her head low, he grimaced. ''No reply?''


    At times like this, he could truly confidently say that there were two types of people with thoughts unfathomable to normies - women and geniuses. The girl before her happened to belong to both.


    Shaking his head, he tilted his head up then said, "By the way, earlier, you did something unnecessary..."


    Her heart dropped upon hearing that.


    Yet a corner of his lips went up as he added, "After all, I was meaning to say that if you ask I think your parents will allow you toe with me abroad." Hisughter then rang throughout the whole ce.


    Meanwhile, Ye Xinya stood there with a gaping mouth after realizing what he meant.


    ''He''s okay bringing me abroad? Even though it will really tie my name with his?''


    She wanted to hear some rifications from him. Unfortunately, he had already walked away and entered his own room.

 Chapter 180: Ye Xinya (22)

    Chapter 180: Ye Xinya (22)


    For the first time in the current world, Jiang Li almost jumped from fright when a mechanical voice suddenly rang in his head with a child-like pitch. It happened a few minutes after he got into his own room. Before heading to sleep, as a habit, he exercised a bit before resting for some time and then headed for the bathroom to freshen up.


    With a change of clothes in his hands and a navy blue bath towel draped across his right shoulder, he was about to take a shower when the words echoed in his brain and ears.


    ''Host, a special announcementmencing..."


    Creepy and weird. Those were what he thought upon hearing it, especially since he knew it was the system''s voice, yet it didn''t seem like the system because it never used such a t mechanical tone when talking to him. The disturbing part was how it was like a five year old child talking like a grandpa, tone unspeakably monotonous.


    "Host is given the choice to save the announcement and rey it at ater time...'' It began.


    With a scowl on his face, Jiang Li looked around to double-check whether there was somebody eavesdropping or watching him from some unknown corner. He was not truly worried that someone would hear the weird being inside his brain. Only, he remembered eximing a bit loudly a while ago due to being taken aback.


    ''... It''s supposed to be muted... So if there are emergency situations or if it has something it badly wanted to say, it will be able to supersede my request ormand?''


    Meanwhile, the voice continued, ''The system, at this point, considers the host as a qualified one....''


    ''Commencing exnation for the series of transmigrations and missions... Host is advised to attentively listen and only ask questions once the exnation is over...''


    Jiang Li was feeling puzzled in his heart, but he didn''t let it stop him from taking a bath. The sight turned a bit strange though due to this. A teenage boy naked under the shower was sometimes motionless while in the middle of washing his hair or running the soap all over his body. At times he would frown and then look as if he was very angry. If somebody else was around, given his unusual richness in facial expressions amidst the bath, he would definitely be taken for somebody needing some professional help.


    By the time he had dried his hair and body and changed into his sleepwear, thirty minutes already passed. The boy threw his body on the bed and then closed his eyes, talking to the weirdly acting system for rifications.


    "In the previous world, I raised this issue to you and refuse to say a thing. Answer me now. Are there any other transmigrators beside me?"


    The mechanical voice echoed. ''... No.''


    "Do they all have systems too?" He absent-mindedly asked, thinking he received a yes response. Only a momentter did he realize the system answered the opposite. Surprise got written all over his face. He opened his eyes and then sat up, confusion showing in his eyes as he frowned.


    "Wait, you answered no? Then you mean I''m the only world-hopper in the entire multiverse?"


    The system''s reply sounded so simple. ''In this multiverse, yes.'' But it contorted Jiang Li''s face.


    If he was the only one, why the heck was it name 025? Doesn''t it know its name was misleading and could make people think there were other systems too? Oh. wait, maybe there were people like him too, but in another universe, or whatever it was.


    Jiang Li shook his head in disbelief, not knowing whether to feel ttered about his title, sole world-hopper of this multiverse. What was definite though was that he was quite overwhelmed. After all, there was also the other information shared with him.


    Before, the system exined that the first world is a trial world. Now it added that the next three worlds after the trial world made up the tutorial phase... The tutorial phase would be ending soon since he was already in the third tutorial world. The next mission locations would be worlds that wouldn''t easily deviate from the plot. There were many other stuff mentioned. But all he remembered were these important ones, and how the future viiness would be people that wouldn''t be easily led around or wrestle away from their fates.


    Speaking of the viiness...


    Jiang Li thought for a moment then asked, "System, if I''m truly the only transmigrator in this world and the previous ones, then what is the matter with Ye Xinya, Jiang Ying Yue, Na Yu, and Zhu Li? If you''re nning to tell me nonsense, forget it now. You can''t fool me if you want to say they are not the same person. Their habits and personalities might differ depending on the backgrounds and upbringings, but there are many other aspects that are simr. It''s not only the face. So what is she?"


    To be honest, for a moment, even though he was quite sure he did not make a mistake about them being the same girl, he still got scared of the possibility that that the person he found every world was not her. It was a hateful feeling. But in a world where the wrong things always happened more than the right ones, it was not easy not to be swayed by doubts and fears. The feelings doubled for Jiang Li since he had been to four worlds with her.


    ''If the system contradicted me, what then?'' Did he wrong Na Yu then?


    He fell silent, anxiously waiting for the reply. Unfortunately, nothing came to him. That mechanical voice went back to normal, with the system crying and saying nonsensical stuff to him about his initial motivation and real missions.


    ''It refused to tell about her again?'' When the realization dawned to him, he gritted his teeth and subconsciously stared daggers at the ceiling as he imagined it to be the system.


    After some time, he thought, ''Good, silence means yes.''


    In annoyance, he muted the system again.


    When he fell asleep, all he was thinking was that Ye Xinya was indeed Jiang Ying Yue. However, for some reason, the system was not allowed to speak about her, otherwise, why would it always evade his questions regarding her. It gave him the notion that there was something in her true identity. What could it be?


    She was not a world-hopper or a transmigrator but she was in every mission world.


    She was always in danger of getting killed directly or indirectly by the leads or the plot, whether as a viiness or any other role. He knew he had only four worlds as references but since he met Jiang Ying Yue, this had been in his mind.


    Was he merely thinking too much about it, especially thest one?


    If he was, then good. He was okay with treating her as a world-hopper soulmate inseparable from him and not stress over the missions and the system''s behaviors. Otherwise, it meant there was really more to his missions, the system, and the girl who always appeared wherever he went.

 Chapter 181: Ye Xinya (23) <2-in-1>

    Chapter 181: Ye Xinya (23) <2-in-1>


    Tomorrow came. He came out of the room when the sun was already high up outside.


    He was not the least bit surprised when he headed downstairs only to see so many people joining him and Ye Xinya for breakfast. Usually, it was only the two of them, or sometimes only him if she was summoned by her mother or grandfather. Now though, he could see a lot of unfamiliar faces.


    ''What else should happen after the incident and shocking revtion yesterday?''


    A mirthless grin surfaced from his face, annoyed at the reason which forced him to reveal one of his cards in that party.


    Now he really thought he did great by hypnotizing those two to stand there more until the party was over. He did something overboard and dishonest? Well, his soul received a bit of a bacsh, but after he reasoned to the remnant that he was just being honest to himself, it eventually stopped.


    His cousins'' childish but extremely ill-intent actions got into his nerves, so of course, he punished them more. And he didn''t regret it, especially now that he was starting to feel the nasty effects.


    The viiness'' rtives, certainly only here as a result of the revtion, were not a good bunch. After all, when she got framed, involved in a scandal, and then made to cken, they were the first ones to cut off rtionships with her and even took advantage of everything to hit on her family branch just so they could take over the Ye family. There was a lot he didn''t understand but he was sure that the viiness ckened and suffered until she went crazy. Since these bunch had a part on it, why would he be d to see them?


    ''Way to ruin a good morning. Great.'' He sarcastically told himself.


    Ye Xinya saw the kind of expression he wore on his face and became very embarrassed. She hung her face down for a moment to hide the redness of her cheeks, understanding what he was feeling. There was a smile hanging on his lips. But look at the glint in his eyes.


    ''I can''t me him. Who wouldn''t be displeased after seeing the current situation? He might even be thinking everyone here is a gold-digger or user?''


    She remembered what he said about utilitarianism.


    When he was just a tutor in name whose origins appeared humble due to the brandless belongings he brought in a month ago, nobody from the household bothered even ncing at him. No, in their mind, he might even be only a tiny weeny higher than a family servant because he was still one of their in-house ''employees''.


    But now, see what happened after they heard of his ties with James Zuckerberg... As they saw an opportunity to use him, here they were, flocking at the dining hall, even with a very wide smile stered on their faces the moment they saw him. Such weirdness. She suspected if it were not for being warned by her grandfather not to disturb him in his sleep, these people might even knock on his door to ''chat'' with him yesterday evening.


    Why were there people who only thought of using others for their own benefits? Why were there people who only befriend people at the top?


    Despite the thoughts swirling in her head, the meal proceeded in a weirdly peaceful manner. It was lively since there were many people chatting, and in every topic, they were involving Jiang Li.


    She had witnessed it yesterday, but the liar was better than her in making acquaintances and joining conversations. Whether it be politics, business, fashion, weather, or events, no matter the topic, he could easily chime in and insert a few sentences to express his opinion.


    In fact, he seemed too well-informed that in no time, he left everyone in awe since, without their notice, he had already be the center of attention and the one leading the conversation. It was certainly not a feat that everyone could manage.


    Ye Xinya couldn''t help but sulk inside whenever she heard them praising him andmenting that he was very knowledgeable and that she was very lucky to have him as his tutor.


    ''If you only all know how this annoying guy is teaching me... Which tutor dumps workbooks after workbooks to their students after making them self-study? When he teaches, it''s mostly him giving me logic questions or infuriating and poisonous chicken soup for the soul.''


    Why does she suddenly want to strangle him?


    She patted her chest and repeatedly told herself to calm down.


    Time flew by quickly. Although Jiang Li did not truly like the people who dined with him, it was still quite easy for him to pretend he noticed and minded nothing. Getting led around the nose was one thing though. As if all these people, whose total age barely equates to his real one could one-up him just like that?


    And thus, the breakfast surprisingly ended well, with nobody saying bad stuff to Jiang Li or requesting for any business-rted favor or asking his rtionship with Ye Xinya.


    Of course, it was because he was great at steering the discussion to somewhere advantageous to him. And there was also the fact that at least the people in the ce knew they had to be acquainted with him first, better if considered close friends or conversation partners, before asking for some favors.


    "Sir, I n to bring Ye Xinya with me to learn with me abroad. Are you willing to part with her for a few years?"


    This was what Jiang Li told Grandfather Ye whente afternoon came and he got questioned about yesterday''s matter.


    The old man with him right now was the current patriarch of the Ye family, somebody already in his mid-sixties whose hair was full of white yet with a back that was still ramrod straight. This person straightforwardly said they nned to cancel the talk with the Hans if he fancied Ye Xinya.


    Jiang Li was surprised, not by the directness of the words, but the concern in the wrinkled eyes as he spoke about this sensitive matter.


    Even as the old man replied to his question, that glint of worry did not go away.


    "Xinya is now the only descendant of my first son, how will you guarantee that nothing untoward will happen to her if she goes with you?"


    Jiang Li casually looked around the verandah to check for unwanted eyes and ears. There was no one nearby. He studied the face of the aged patriarch before saying in a serious tone. "Mr. Ye, I have to be honest. I actually value her brain very much. She is a real genius who can easily get into Harvard and pass the Mensa IQ screening. My father will definitely wee talents like her."


    "So you''re only after her intelligence? Are you only here to headhunt for a future asset to your dad''spany?" Dumbfounded, then offended, the old man asked in a sharp tone.


    Why were they making this talk if this person merely wanted to poach a possible future pir of his family? While a part of him was hoping for some benefits, he wouldn''t reallypromise his granddaughter''s happiness for somebody who would only use her. And thus, the re he threw at Jiang Li was like de too, dying to dice his body into pieces.


    How unfortunate though that the target was oblivious to the deadly stares. The boy did not see it since he was then walking towards the column to his right side. Only after picking up something hidden on a potted flower there did he turn around to reply in an impassive manner. "Ah, wait. What did I say again earlier? Nevermind them. I was just kidding. The real answer is no."


    While putting strength in his hand, he was actually grumbling in his mind, ''You kidding me? That dude''s doorstep is full of people camping out to beg him to hire them. Why would he care for a little girl with no qualifications and experience? Once we''re there, it''s me who''s gonna look after her.''


    When he asked that a while back, his main intention was to try if he could bring the viiness away from trouble. But there was also the part that he knew this was the safest and easiest solution to her problems in her own family.


    After all, even though she was quite different from the rest of the incarnations, it was still a fact that she was his wife for two lifetimes. He couldn''t allow her toe into harm.


    The eyes of the older one brieflynded on the ck round device that his granddaughter''s tutor crushed into bits and pieces using one hand. What kind of person could easily locate bugging devices and even had enough physical strength to pinch an electronic device into fragments.


    ''My granddaughter liked a dangerous person.'' Grandfather Ye groaned and suddenly felt wary in his heart.


    On the other hand, Jiang Liughingly continued, "Mr. Ye, please don''t be offended by my previous actions and statements. It''s just a joke. With something like those around, there''s no way I can make a fool out of myself and broadcast who I fancy. What if it is aired in some local channels? Imagine the embarrassment for me and her."


    "... Shouldn''t you be guarding her special talent instead?" After recovering from speechlessness, the viiness'' grandfather gave the boy a weird look.


    At this point, he unknowingly stopped treating the other like a greenhorn yet to know how the world revolves. He had seen it earlier. The little guy had a way with words and talent in infuriating people.


    Why couldn''t he just tell him outright that he was offended by the items he asked his men to scatter around? How did her granddaughter stand him?


    Meanwhile, the boy shook his head and stared at him with his clear brown eyes. "Mr. Ye, allow me now to exin. Please think about it. What will happen to her once she''s officially branded as a sweetheart of James Zuckerberg''s son? Given her age andck of awareness of the bigger world out there, could she withstand all thements and expectations that will be thrown at her?"


    "Don''t look much at my standing. I can''t do a thing since I hold no sway in my father''spany. Even if I have, it doesn''t mean I can control the media. If you can risk her getting affected by those, I can''t. Even if those involved think there''s no problem with the differences in statuses and that they could withstand the world''s opinion, time would prove them that once a battle gets too tiring, they will just cave in and not fight."


    "Anyway, let''s not talk about useless things. I''m still more curious about how you''ll answer my first question."


    The elderly person looked at him for some time before sighing again. Hearing Jiang Li''s retort, he felt like he aged a lot. The reply earlier was just a test, but indeed, he merely worried for nothing upon discovering that the boy was more mature than anyone else. What did this person eat to grow up like this?


    Remembering the real matter, he ended up nodding. "Fine then. I give you my consent. Please take care of Xinya once you''re there."


    "Sure. And I''m certain she will be delighted once she heard you''re okay with her going abroad. You should know, she looks stressed about your n''s circumstances, always on-guard that her mom will suddenly make her cross-dress again."


    He got silence and re as responses. But Jiang Li was lost in his thoughts so he once again did not notice. The word ''cross-dress'' earlier reminded him of her times in the school... And speaking for school...


    Eyes pinned at the beautiful rockeries and pond beyond the verandah, he subconsciously blurted out, "Sir. Do you know? There used to be an odd disciplinary school that existed deep into the forest in the south. It''s a ce where kids and teenagers too attached to inte and gaming devices are sent for a so-called rehabilitation. Is Mr. Ye aware of its existence and the people behind it?"


    Seated on his white cushioned rocking chair, the old man closed his eyes and hummed in an inquisitive tone. "Hmm?"


    Jiang Li wondered if he was truly not aware, at least of thest part or if he was just faking it.


    Nheless, before leaving that ce upon catching sight of Ye Xinya entering the gate, he told the patriarch, "Whether Sir is aware or not, let me offer a piece of advice. Stay away from the Jings and sort out your fourth son. That stupid school might be gone for real, but for a long time, it has done countless young people harm. Now, somebody with both power and brain is making a move against those who built and ran it."


    As the boy walked down the path leading to the usual tutorial ce, a stand-alone gazebo in the wide garden, the old man froze a bit and then looked heavenward. He stayed like that for some time before rocking his chair again.

 Chapter 182: Ye Xinya (24)

    Chapter 182: Ye Xinya (24)


    "The Ye Family, like you expected, back out of the engagement." The morning of the next day, one of the five people Han Su brought into his family''s protection sought him out to announce this to him.


    It was a normal school day. As a month had already passed since then, Han Su, Ren Lian had already settled their schooling, identity papers, and amodation. All of them were now enrolled in the same high school. The male lead extended help to the others by giving them a ce to stay and some livelihood means since none of them wanted to go back to their real families. However, he was not the one who truly smoothed down the identity papers of the five people.


    When they were already out, they discovered that in all records, none of them appeared to have been enrolled at the disciplinary school. No matter how many years or months they spent inside, no records of it stayed! In papers, at least, they had forms and grades filled in by other proper high schools all over the country. This only meant two things. In the future, nobody would be able to connect them to that hellish institution and brand them as graduates of an inte addiction rehabilitation school.


    One could just wonder, how did that happen and who did it?


    Han Su now knew. Jing Mo.


    The male lead back then was on the second floor of their school''s luxuriously furnished cafeteria. This was where all students with background eat. He looked at his friend, Dong Lan. This person was quite an intelligent and mature tall fellow, albeitcking in the appearance department.


    Ren Lian, who was sitting at the same table as them,mented in a serious tone, "As nned, I went to the party, observed a few government figures who attended, and asked some of the snobbish youngdies for information. We can discusster who I suspected since there are quite a few, but I can say with confidence that all of them have the tendency to maltreat people or sexually harass them, especially the young ones."


    "Okay then." Nodding, the male lead replied while slowly sweeping his gaze around the bustling dining hall. "We have to be careful and mindful of naming names at ces like this. Let''s do thatter once we''re somewhere safe."


    While the others nodded in silence, the karate beauty hummed in agreement. After a few seconds, having seemingly remembered something, she gave Dong Lan an inquisitive look thenmented, "Hey, Dong Lan. You mentioned the engagement a while ago and that it has been canceled. But isn''t it bound to fail the moment it is announced that esteemed person who escorted her is actually the son of Facebrick''s founder?"


    Han Su''s face contorted, but it was not because he was displeased by the dissolution of the engagement. On the contrary, he was d that he didn''t have to get engaged with somebody he didn''t know.


    The reason for his frown was that Jiang Li was mentioned.


    He was sure that Jiang Li was Jing Mo. However, despite being like them, escapees and survivors of the hellhole, Jing Mo refused to help them in tracing and punishing the evildoer who had wronged several of their fellow schoolmates. Why?


    For numerous times he wracked his brain to think of an answer. He obviously had the power and the means. If he used his connection or ask for a favor from Senator Fang, a person of very high stature in the national government, for sure, the case would be brought to light and the investigation would speed up. That was his privilege as somebody from the top. So why did he decline his invitation for cooperation?


    Wearing that same scowl, he chugged down a ss of water and then irately said to the few people around him. "I have no opinions about that broken engagement since it''s still unofficial and unannounced. I''m more hung up on that guy''s refusal."


    A frown appeared on the female lead''s still immature but already beautiful face, " Yeah. It''s unbelievable that he doesn''t want to help."


    "Well, if it''s me, I won''t help too. After all, he did everyone a big favor, but got chased away, and in such a dangerous ce even." One of the bored-looking boys butted in, chewing on a piece of boiled egg that was still on his right hand. "We should probably hunt down Ye Xin. It''s his fault that we ended up not getting a capable guy to lend us help. Such a shameless guy! But there''s also Jing Mo not telling anything to anybody and ending up misunderstood by everyone. So he''s also one to me. What is he thinking? That everyone is a genius and will realize he is just acting and there''s a purpose behind his actions when he did all those despicable stuff?"


    ''No, boy, you should be asking why somebody always has to help when they''re not getting something in return.''


    Dong Lan shook his head. He was somebody who stayed longer than Ye Xin in that ce, most of the time, staying in the ck house. Yet even then, now that he was back to civilization he was actually pretty content with his regained freedom and felt like he could not ask for more.


    To be honest, sometimes, he wondered why these people, especially Ren Lian and Han Su were so adamant about pursuing the mastermind behind the school. Wasn''t it enough that they took revenge against those who sent them there? These two did not even stay there for a week, what were they fighting so hard for?


    One time he asked Han Su about it, and he didn''t get an answer. However, he noted the lost and puzzled expression on the boy''s face which hinted that he too was wondering why. Or was it that he had a reason that couldn''t be disclosed?


    A minute after, while the others were in a discussion about Jing Mo, Dong Lan thought while shrugging his shoulders, ''Maybe I''m thinking too much for being too bored. I''ll just ride along since I''m getting allowance and ce to stay from Han Su.''


    Their discussion once again went back to convincing that dude whose dad was apparently more powerful than Han Su. And every once in a while, Dong Lan had the urge to roll his eyes and retort, ''What makes you all think just because you guys have an unusually strong sense of justice, everyone else will be like you? And he has already helped so many times, covertly at that before. If he doesn''t want to lend a hand this time, it''s his call. It''s not always good to depend on other''s free lunch, okay?''


    Unfortunately, he knew he had no right to say this, since Han Su was the leader. Once he also mentioned that there was no free lunch in this world, they might reply back that he was depending on the Hans for food and everything too. So yeah. Better shut up and not invite hate upon himself. y along and be a hero of justice. Anyways, who asked him to be from a poor broken family who was literally sold to the institution in exchange with a few tens of thousands of credits?


    ''Ah, life is really hard... Why am I stuck with mental people who think of pursuing impossible enemies instead of enjoying a normal life that they regained?'' He eximed after the weird group came to a decision.


    It was concluded that half of them would look into the backgrounds of the people Ren Lian suspected while the other half would find an opportunity to speak with Jing Mo, no, Jiang Li again.


    For a moment, Dong Lan felt sad that he had to be with Ren Lian and Han Su. The n was that they would barge into the Yes in the pretext that Han Su personally wanted to speak with the girl who was supposed to be his fiancee.


    What a stupid excuse. Would they really be able to get in once they used that?


    Looking at the two who would be at the same team as him, he felt like he would just be the third wheel there.


    ''Fine. Let''s just sightsee and enjoy the traffic and pollution en route.'' In ridicule, Dong Lanughed to himself.<ol><li>Don''t judge my naming sense please, *cries* I can''t possibly use Facebook or Facetime. Don''t want to be sued (no matter how small the odds are). Haha</li></ol>

 Chapter 183: Ye Xinya (25) <2-in-1>

    Chapter 183: Ye Xinya (25) <2-in-1>


    It was a bit surprising but the stupid n actually worked. While acting as the male lead''s assistant, Dong Lan and Ren Lian actually managed to get inside the chateau-like residence. They were even attended by one of the housekeepers who then led them to a stand-alone pavilion in the middle of a well-kept flower garden.


    Along the way, even though the male lead''spanions did their best not to wander their eyes too much, it was just hard not to appreciate the trimmed hedges, ornamental nts, fountains, and every fanciful decoration that they encountered in this short walk.


    They eximed in their hearts, the lifestyle of the rich was indeed a totally different world withmon people.


    They walked for some time before catching sight of their destination.


    Two figures were seated on the white-painted benches there, one boy and one girl. Atop the table standing between them were several books opened on pages packed with notes.


    The handwriting definitely belonged to the girl who was now looking at them, not with curiosity, but with surprise.


    Han Su wondered if it was because she remembered him as her supposed fiance. He studied her for a while. Long straight hair not inferior to those inmercials, snow-white skin, cat-like eyes, a nose that was neither too high, red lips, and rosy cheeks. The girl was indeed very pretty, in fact, prettier and more refined than the one by his side.


    However, he felt nothing about it. Regarding the recent rumors about her dating somebody else behind his back, he didn''t pay those much attention. They were never an item, to begin with. She could like whoever.


    Anyway, she was not truly his goal for today.


    "Miss, this is Mr. Han. He insisted on speaking with you."


    Ye Xinya nodded then instructed the housekeeper to get them refreshments and snacks. She then stood up and as if it was a natural thing to do, she half-circled the table there and then sat down next to Jiang Li. In that way, the opposite bench was vacated.


    "Feel free to sit down." While gesturing with her hands, she told the three visitors.


    It was Ren Lian who took a lead this time and sat down opposite the girl dressed in a shoulderless blouse and walking shorts, looking so fresh and neat due to her exposed white blemishless skin.


    "What brings you here?" Indifferently andcking wee, Jiang Li directly asked while ncing at Han Su and the other two. "It''s obvious you told the housekeeper you''re going to speak with her, but in reality, the one you three wanted to meet is me. I wonder why."


    "I know you''re smart, or else, how did you n out the escape and even the students'' profiles. So yep, we want to speak with you."


    Han Su did not sit down but walk towards Jiang Li and stood in front of him. A momentter, a blue scented foldernded on the table before him, creating a faint thud sound as it hit the marble surface.


    The seated guy cidly looked at it without opening it. He already expected the content to be the leads'' collected information. That was why he did not show any reactions to it.


    Yesterday he already expressed his stance and said that he was more inclined to worry about his future and stay out of trouble than chase a mysterious and hidden force in this country. His reasoning behind this was simple. He was not somebody guarded and loved by fate.


    What was Jing Mo''s role again here? Oh, a small viin set to die in prison once he was no longer a minor protected by thew.


    Even if he was already informed that the fate would only start going after his life on the next phase, it didn''t mean he had so much free time that he would try courting death by being with the leads.


    "Sorry, once again, I don''t n to be involved. In fact, my desire to not get dragged by you in this is so much that in four-days time, I will be flying abroad to flee."


    Ye Xinya turned her face away while covering her mouth to hide her giggling expression. Han Su scowled, while the female lead gaped her mouth at the one who just spoke.


    Meanwhile, Dong Lan secretly chuckled, amused by the statements he heard. ''Wow. At least the foul mouth is the same as ever.''


    "Before deciding, could you at least pretend to be looking at what I presented to you?" Even though the now official heir of the Hans tried his best to calm himself down to make the bulging veins in his forehead disappear, mild irritation still showed in his tone and voice.


    Seeing the tenseness in the situation, Ye Xinya lightly elbowed Jiang Li on the waist.


    At the same time, the only average-looking person in the ce coughed and said, "Mr. Jiang. Please take some time to even nce down at the transparent part of the front cover. I assure you you''ll find a wonderful surprise."


    Jiang Li gave the person who spoke a good look, remembering his strange behavior earlier. Thinking he had done his part acting like the unreasonable semi-viin that he was, he nodded.


    His pupils shrank a bit though some time after. ''An older me? No. Who is this guy? The Original''s real father?''


    He didn''t expect to see a picture of somebody resembling him in the square-shaped cut-out part in the upper center of the folder. Naturally, it made several thoughts surfaced in his mind. And the direction where they took him was leading him into thinking of a weird cliche plot.


    Jing Mo was not the real son of that annoying guy. The Jing family knew, but didn''t say a thing due to the stuff and info the paparazzi spread around and them being idiots too concerned about their reputation.


    ''Lols, no wonder the Original is treated less than a human being in that household. He''s not one of their own. Of course, he won''t receive any acknowledgment there!''


    His guesses which he was sure close to the reality amused him. It was hard stifling hisughter, but he knew he had to control his expression since he still had a show to put on. So troublesome. Now he was getting a bit angry for real. The leads definitely investigated him not for a simple reason.


    ''ckmailing me?'' A cold smirk disyed on his lips.


    "What''s the meaning of this?" Tone holding chips of ice, his gaze slowly went up to the male lead''s face.


    Han Su never thought he would ever freeze after being stared by somebody not his father or someone with a very high position in the corporate world or government. Yet, Jing Mo did.


    Actually even the viiness, the female lead, and the extra widened their eyes at the invisible frost that seemingly seep out of the billionaire''s heir''s body. The feeling was as if they got thrown into either of the world''s poles naked. The cold was biting at them.


    In reality though, they were at an open space, with the sun shining brightly above. Howe they suddenly felt like they were currently braving a snowstorm in a wintery region?


    The cause of their dilemma picked up the folder and leaned his back casually against the metal backrest as he flipped on its pages. Ye Xinya''s eyes all the time were alternating between her boyfriend''s expressionless face and the texts and images in the pages she could take a glimpse from her position.


    Jiang Li purposely let her see and read everything.


    How would she react once she realized the leads were threatening her beloved tutor of his real origins? Would she go down the ckening path right away, forced by plot?


    Highly likely, but even if she did, he could easily take her away to the Western side of the globe and block her from having contact with the troublesome darlings of heaven.


    Not long after, while he remained expressionlessly flipping through the pages, the reaction he was waiting finally came.


    It started with the girl silently withdrew her head near the stacks of paper in Jiang Li''s hand. After looking around and fiddling with her phone, she then stood up and started to re daggers at the trio.


    Somehow, apart from the female lead, all others directed their eyes at the phone Ye Xinya put down on top of an open book. But while they were doing that, she suddenly mmed her palm on the tabletop and roared with madness and anger evident on her face, "Han Su! What the hell is wrong with you!"


    "No! Don''te over!"


    "Stop!"


    "Since you already have a girl by your side, shouldn''t you be content and stop bothering me?!"


    Dumbfounded, the male lead blurted out, "Hey, what the hell are you saying?"


    In actuality, he was not the only one confused and stunned by the sudden turn of events. But unlike him, the others merely stayed silent. Her tutor was watching her with wide eyes, then facepalmed and looked away, because her lines were just so...


    Maybe Han Su just unconsciously responded because his name was mentioned.


    And Ye Xinya hurriedly used that opportunity to spat out in the same furious tone, "Shut up! Shut up! Shut up!"


    "Han Su, I never think somebody from a so-called family of former royalties can be this shameless!"


    "I''m telling you! Don''t you dare open your mouth again if you''re just going to insult me or Jiang Li! You have no right to just badmouth anybody from this house!"


    From the moment Ye Xinya finished saying her first line, everybody already guessed that she was recording the audio or the scene itself. If she gave it to some media people or her family, what would happen to Han Su''s reputation? The society was biased. Women''s voices were default taken as the weaker side which people should sympathize with.


    This was why when the viiness was still in the middle of delivering her impassioned speech, Ren Lian instinctively reached out for the phone sitting atop the book.


    The attempt naturally did not seed because of Jiang Li who raised it up high. This left the female lead huffing as she tried to snatch it from him.


    Angered once again, the girl who was staging a one-man act bombarded the male lead with many more usations which became fiercer after the panicking female lead tried to snatch the phone.


    The already angry girl became harsher and more ridiculous in her words. and only stopped when her equally raging grandfather appeared on her sight.


    Jiang Li looked through her phone after lightly pressing on its power button. Then a smirk hung on his lips upon seeing that she actually did not open any sound recording app.


    Now, this exined why Grandfather Ye, who quite liked doting on his granddaughter, appeared very furious when he arrived at the gazebo and even brought security personnel with him. It was because she actually phoned her grandfather directly and had him listen to her angry statements! And ooops, maybe she did record the conversation.


    If his guess was correct, the grandfather did not truly fall for her trick, but still turned mad because the girl''s message got across him.


    Han Su did something, maybe ckmailed, or insulted their bigshot guest. Most likely he knew his granddaughter well and expected that she would record the call before uploading it somewhere. So since the matter was bound to be known by the world, he was forced to take a stand.


    "Boy when you requested to see Xinya, I gave you my consent because I was feeling guilty and a bit of pity about the dissolved engagement. But the moment I heard you bullying my granddaughter, I know my pity and guilt are unfounded. This house no longer wees you. Please leave!"


    Han Su looked at a loss. Seeing this, Ren Lian tried to say, "Wait, Sir. We still have something important to discuss with Mr. Jiang and Miss Ye."


    Grandfather Ye chose to pretend he didn''t hear a thing, "Guards! Guards! Lead our visitors out!" The second to thest word was strangely emphasized.


    "Jiang Li!"


    "Bye and thanks, Han Su," With an amused smile put on, Jiang Li raised the folder given to him then waved his other hand at the trio chased out of the mansion.

 Chapter 184: Ye Xinya (26)

    Chapter 184: Ye Xinya (26)


    "Hey, I just couldn''t help but recall. Jiang Li, did I go overboard that day? When that Han guy visited and tried to ckmail you?"


    The two were on their way to the airport. Ye Xinya who suddenly remembered what happened days prior asked about this to Jiang Li.


    "Hmm." The young man whose eyes were tightly shut since he was trying to catch some sleep lightly hummed. It was taken by the other as him saying yes.


    Ye Xinya widened her eyes. "I did go overboard? Really?" Worry was in her tone.


    Jiang Li was barely conscious then and didn''t get why she suddenly brought that matter up. "No. Stop asking and don''t think too much about it. They angered you so they deserve it."


    After grumbling something like she should not mind them because they were too free and could poke their nose into stuff, he finally drifted off to sleep. A handkerchief was covering his whole face as he leaned his head and back on the soft cushion of the car''s backrest and headboard.


    "Hmmm..." Ye Xinya actually felt bothered for days but only remembered to ask about this now.


    After getting an answer from him, she did not make noise anymore as she was aware that for some reason, this guy was up all night working on something on hisputer.


    When she got too worried and chose to bring him snacks and tea in his room, she tried to ask what he was doing, but all he replied was one word, codes. Who knows what kind of codes or programs he was doing? All she was sure of was that it wasmissioned or requested to him by his godfather. This left her wondering how capable he was that a person of that caliber was requesting his help.


    ''His starting line is way worse than mine but he''s already way ahead of me... This can''t do. I need to work hard.'' She closed her eyes as well, lost in her thoughts and ns.


    It didn''t take long for her to remember why she was trying to remember all sorts of stuff in her head. She felt too nervous because she would be leaving the country today for a ce she would stay for at least five years. What kind of days was waiting for her in the western states?


    The insecurity and the drumming inside her chest made her open her eyes and look at her tutor. Only after repeatedly ensuring and brainwashing herself that he would be with her that she calmed down. Alright, she lied.


    Probably because of her movements next to him, he roused from his nap and half-opened his eyes.


    "Hiieee." The redness of his eyes scared her a bit. And this made her already fastly racing heart beat faster and louder.


    Thankfully, it seemed Jiang Li was too tired and sleepy to scold or sneer at this nervous viiness because after staring at her for a full ten seconds, he just patted her head then lightly flicked her forehead.


    "Sleep. Or if you can''t, let me sleep. Once we''re there, I''ll be awake by then. I''ll make sure to ''humor'' you so you won''t have time to feel nervous."


    His voice was a lot softer than usual so the threat did not sound frightening at all. Usually, she would sulk upon imagining the kind of questions and teasing he would use on her, but now, she was strangely looking forward to it.


    Despite this though, the nervousness was still there. She knew she should be excited since it meant riding an airne and seeing all sorts of sceneries, but what could she do if all she think about was how she would survive in an unfamiliar ce for years. She also has to impress a global bigshot.


    Why feel antsy when she had even survived from the hell school? Laughable. Even when she went there, she also felt very nervous. People said what the eyes don''t see, the heart doesn''t grieve. But couldn''t it also work the opposite way? It was human nature to feel insecure when venturing into the unknown. And right now, she was just about to go through that, a new chapter of her life unfolding.


    "Jiang Li." She lightly tapped on his shoulder when the unsettling feeling refused to go away. "Can you lend me your shoulder until we arrive at the airport."


    Ye Xinya held her handkerchief and sling bag on herp tightly while waiting for him to speak.


    ''Asleep already for real?'' Her lips pouted because it had been more than ten seconds since she heard from him. When her eyes went to his figure next to him, she found out he was unmoving and silent. It seemed he couldn''t resist the alure of the dreand anymore.


    ''I''ll just assume that no reply means yes. Hmph.''


    ...


    Minutester, the old driver in front smiled after looking through the rearview mirror. What greeted his sight was quite the picturesque scene.


    The young miss was leaning her head on the shoulder of the person whose face was all covered by a small towel. Grandpa Li didn''t pay much attention thinking why thetter had that on his face when he could have just requested the driver to turn off the lights there. His focus was on the intimate yet pure close contact of the two teens.


    "Ahhh, I miss my wife already... When we are younger, no, even at our current age, we are also this affectionate to each other."


    As Grandpa Li drove the Ye family''s car, he muttered in a low voice while smilingly shaking his head.


    In front, the sun had yet to fully rise from the east. Grey and orange were still battling in the sky above. However, it would only a matter of time before the worldpletely brightened. Once that happened, the beauty and ugliness of the world would be for everyone''s eyes to feast on again.


    So far though, the old driver only saw a heartwarming scene that made him sink in nostalgia and smile  the locked fingers of the two fast asleep people seated on the backseat.


    This was the reason why he had been very careful and a bit slow throughout their ride to the airport. Before they reached the Jiangs'' private ne, he felt that it would be a pity to drive recklessly and cause their hands to split up.

 Chapter 185: Ye Xinya (27)

    Chapter 185: Ye Xinya (27)


    Time was like a handful of sand, as they said. The tighter you tried to grasp it, the faster it runs through your fingers. This quotation from a wise dude Ye Xinya didn''t know was interpreted by her in several ways.


    Don''t rush things. Enjoy every single moment in life. If possible, if there were two or more things that needed to be at the same time, pay more attention to what truly matter and learn what to prioritize and not.


    After all, time was also like a river. Nobody could touch the same water twice since the flow had passed would never pass again. It was another quotation from a dude that the viiness didn''t know. But it was a wise saying telling people to be mindful of their actions and spent time more wisely.


    However, maybe due to always having these in mind that Ye Xinya managed to adapt fast in the new country and lifestyle and excel in the new school where she transferred. At the same time, she was finally learning real expertise from Jiang Li. And she was fastly getting the key points and skills easily, leaving the young man helpless yet also proud.


    One time when they were already living two months in the new mansion that Jiang Li bought, the two received some intriguing news from Huaxia.


    Ye Xinya just came back from school and dressed from head to toe like a sister of a convent due to a roley. While in such attire, she sought out Jiang Li. She would have looked the prettiest and hottest nun ever if not for her bunny flip flops ruining the image as she ran towards him in the study room.


    "Hey, the bloke who always skip ss!" Before she could even step inside, her voice already rang all over the ce and distracted Jiang Li from what he was doing.


    "Jiang Li, look! It''s the current greatest scandal in Huaxia."


    Her tablet in hand, she immediately tapped on it then showed an article and its apanying pictures to him.


    "This department secretary has been receiving many attacks for the past week and now it''s been revealed that he is actually the mastermind behind the disciplinary school. Somebody anonymously sent various pieces of evidence to all major police stations and even the army so the whole Huaxia is shaken!"


    Jiang Li curiously read on. He studied the picture in the article for a while before letting out a few chuckles. "Quite interesting. I heard the police stations near the school which helped the other students got an order from above not to release everything found about the school to the media. The news stations are even manipted to broadcast as if the students attacked the teachers and staff. Are the materials disying what kind of ce it really was has been shared with the whole world too?"


    "... Yes." Her expression was a bitplicated. With one nce, it was quite obvious something was weighing on her mind. "Hey. This has really be big and I''m worried about my family. Are we going to get involved? I remember that my fourth uncle has a lot of dealings with this Secretary Bu. To be honest, I''m even suspecting my fourth uncle is one of its sponsors."


    "Sponsor? Oh, you mean that school?"


    "Yes." She nodded heavily, biting on her lower lip.


    When Ye Xinya was still cross-dressing as Ye Xin, she discovered that this particr uncle was scheming to send her to that ce. One of the odd points about her enrollment was that the uncle appeared, though disguised, in her first orientation there. The person was not close to her hence he was not one of those who came with her when she first stepped into this institute. Therefore, why was he there a day after?


    Before and after she got back from that disciplinary institution, there was plenty of time when she chanced upon that Secretary Bu speaking with her fourth uncle inside and outside the Ye mansion.


    "You don''t have faith in your grandfather?" Amusedly, Jiang Li asked seeing how anxious she appeared.


    He knew she was just worried that the mainline would be impacted since thest name of one of the persons sponsoring the devil high politicians was Ye. But her anxiety was clouding her reasoning. That Grandfather Ye had lived up to this age. What had he not seen and experienced while leading a whole n for decades?


    ''If he didn''t heed my advice, then he had gotten old for nothing.''


    Ye Xinya saw that his lips curled up, seemingly telling that there was a catch somewhere. Her eyes lightened up as a thought crossed her mind. Jiang Li must have done something behind the scene again. Wasn''t that what he usually does?


    Even though she had this guess, since he was not saying anything, it meant he wanted his contribution or deed to stay in the dark again.


    The girl could only say gingerly, "You''re right. Sorry, I panicked a bit and forgot as long as grandpa is around, nobody will be able to topple the Yes."


    He shook his head. "You''re like a kid who doesn''t want to grow up if you keep thinking he will be around forever."


    With a re, she replied at him, "Hey, aren''t I doing my best to be a super powerfuldy in the future and help you and Grandpa? You told me I''m already an excellent student!"


    As he returned his gaze to theputer screen, he chuckled, amused by the indignancecing time and the furious glint on her eyes. ''On ount that she also mentioned me, fine, I won''t argue with her anymore.''


    ...


    It was probably human nature to cling on somebody powerful and try to dump the majority of works on them if possible. This was most prevalent among young people, especially those in the schooling age.


    An example of this was in a school group project, most of the works go to the leader. Using the members'' words, he was the capable one and the person who knew what to do so he should lead by example. And by example meant the leader should be the one to tell and demonstrate everything.


    He could only count himself unlucky if he ran into somebody who always reasons that he was better at doing the tasks so he should just continue doing it. Yet the worst part was if, while the leader busied himself with theborious stuff and mental nning, the members chill at one corner, chat and kill time with each other, in the pretext that they were waiting for what their leaders would designate them to do.


    If the project failed, me the leader.


    If it seeded, the credits had to be share to all members, no matter how unfair it was.


    Not that urate but this could be used as a basis to the leads'' intention that day.


    When Han Su and the female lead went to the Ye mansion to look for Jiang Li, their thinking back then had been very simple. ''Jing Mo led us out once. He should lead us in punishing the evildoers.'' In other words though, this could be interpreted as them wanting to have somebody who would do most of the work for them and at the same time, be their beacon of light, cough, babysitter.


    But Jiang Li saw far more than it. Even if he disregarded the truth that whoever got involved with the leads would forever be haunted by troubles, he would also have to consider what would happen if he did go with them and then steal the spot meant for the male lead.


    He mainly had two misgivings about the matter.


    The first was that he had no reason to carry more burdens with him or create self-mission for him. The viiness and the Original''s wishes were all enough to make his hands full. And even if they were not, who cares. No matter what, he doesn''t want to concern himself on anything not mission-rted.


    The second was that trying to steal the spotlight of the male lead would be a useless attempt. A mysterious force would definitely interfere and correct the plot. Or at least correct, or purge, everything that would take away the leads'' spotlight and force them apart. So why just not let the male lead hog that central position all for himself and make the matter simpler?


    Anyway, without him, the leads would still aplish what they were supposed to aplish.


    Also even though it was no longer apparent, from the very beginning, he was just a small viin, was he even needed in the leads'' n? What for? To add unnecessary drama or be their babysitter?


    No thanks. The world, fate, or whatever it was called, was daydreaming if it was thinking it could force him into something like that.


    In any case, the plot still managed to proceed smoothly even without his and the viiness'' interference. He suspected the fate or will of his world was different from the previous ones and had a stronger auto-correct function because it still managed to steadily make the leads go closer to each other.


    The mysteries too were one by one unraveled. The plot was gradually approaching the leads'' ''happy ever after''.


    The hidden viin of the story who had faithfully done his best to create troubles for Han Su and Ren Lian in Ye Xinya''s absence had finally been cornered, even dragged to the police and the court for his sentence.

 Chapter 186: Ye Xinya (28) <2-in-1>

    Chapter 186: Ye Xinya (28) <2-in-1>


    One sunny day, Han Su and the five others visited the police station and tried to take a glimpse of the infamous former national government official.


    They didn''t really appear in front of the person, but only observe from a distance. They watched as mobs threw all sorts of stuff, mostly disgusting ones, on the person who came out of the armored vehicle, their faces showing enough anger and desire to drown Department Secretary Bu in spit and curses.


    The boys and girl didn''t leave until they saw how, or more appropriately put, heard the results of the hearing and the arrangement the police had for him.


    In the end, despite all the evidence and such, even though the judged did reject the fake medical records stating Secretary Bu needed to be confined, the ce given to thetter to stay wasparable to a luxurious suite. This perfectly showcased that a politician''s connections just couldn''t be underestimated. It was both unbelievable and infuriating.


    This was the reason why Ren Lian cried when they were on their way back. They had to stop at the park they passed by since she requested it, reasoning she felt like she needed some fresh air.


    "It''s so unfair." Face buried in her hands, the female lead''s delicate shoulders were trembling as she incessantly let out sniffing noises.


    She was the most affected after finding out the truth behind her parents'' ident. It was that nasty old man''s fault. He plotted somebody''s death which then also became her parents'' passing. Yet even with a thick book''s list of crimes, he was still spared from the death sentence. "Why is it like this? Why?"


    Then the girl broke into sobs. The male lead pulled her close to his chest and allowed her to cry on his shirt.


    He softly said in an attempt to cheer her up, "Lian, don''t be too sad. That scum Bu is at least to be imprisoned for life. Don''t you think it''s better than giving him swift death? Think about it. Won''t he be suffering more, and longer? Don''t look at him getting a presidential suite-like prison cell this time. I suspect he only had one of his rtives or subordinates bribed the people there with money."


    "But how deep do you think his pocket is? With countless people topensate, plus the legal fees, and fines, his corporation and other businesses are bound to dere bankruptcy sooner orter. Once he no longer has money to feed the wardens, and the judges, won''t he be then be very miserable? As somebody used to the luxury of life, once he tasted bothck of freedom andfort, how would he fare? I''m telling you, he will definitely have days worse than death!"


    Ren Lian raised her head, showing the male lead her red-rimmed misty eyes. He saw a bit of hope in them for a few seconds. "Really?"


    Among the group, probably only Dong Lan thought that her expression that time was anything but cute or pitiful. While her reason was justified, it was just unsettling that her face showed how much she longed for somebody''s death or misery.


    "Nn." Han Su nodded. Heart feeling pained in Ren Lian''s behalf, he gently wiped off the tears streaming down her pale cheeks.


    The female lead was silent for a while before lowering her head. Not long after, a self-mocking smile hung on her cherry lips. She appeared to have thought of something which then made her feel even more down. With that ugly smiling but crying expression on her face, she tried to meet the male lead''s gaze.


    "Han Su," Ren Lian''s voice almost cracked. She looked tragic while forcing a smile. "Thanks. For everything. You have already done so much for me, and for everyone here. Even now, here you are, attempting tofort me. Thank you. I truly appreciate everything."


    "However... while I like everything you said earlier, can you please not fool me?"


    The male lead sported a confused and offended look."Lian, I''m speaking the truth."


    Resentment crossed Ren Lian''s countenance more. "Han Su. Stop. Okay. I''m not that brainless. I know that he is extremely rich. How could mere bribery money, legal fees andpensation fees bankrupt him?" She shook her head thrice before going back to crying.


    The sight of her truly could make most, if not all people seeing her like this feel a tug in their heartstrings. It was probably one of the wonders of the female lead''s halo. When they were crying, they appear more pitiful and easy to sympathize with, even more than the cutest animal in the world.


    "My parents in heaven must be scolding me for not ensuring that viin gets what he deserves. I feel so hopeless and useless..."


    At her self-derision, the male lead sighed then replied. "Don''t be harsh on yourself, Lian. For a girl your age, you are already very admirable. I''m sure Aunt and Uncle are already content and only wishing for you to have a good future full of happiness."


    "Han Su..."


    ''Hah... This is a scene cut straight out of a third rate soap opera...'' Watching Han Sufort this girl, Dong Lanined internally in his mind. He was starting to feel tired mentally.


    Dong Lan was the only one among the group of boys who did not go over to join Han Su inforting the crying girl. He was busy. Busy questioning in his mind if this was the reason why the rich leader of their little justice club moved against Secretary Bu.


    Pretty obvious to everyone in the group by now that there was something going on in between Ren Lian and Han Su.


    Now, did they have a secret talk where Ren Lian told him her suspicions about her parents'' demise? And because Han Su liked her so much, he decided to help her and even dragged them all in this?


    Wow.


    In mild irritation, he went to a nearby vendo machine to get himself a drink. He chose a strawberry-vored juice, nning to test how sweet it would taste.


    Surely, it wouldn''t be as disgustedly sweet as those two flirting, right? Sarcasm was in his tone when he asked this to himself while walking back to the group.


    "Lian. Stop crying, alright?" In a helpless tone, he heard Han Su told the girl. The guy sighed and looked heavenward. After a few seconds, he looked around and then blinked upon seeing Dong Laning over with a carton of juice in his hand. "Hey, Dong Lan, did you buy that for Lian?"


    Stunned, the tall boy called out stopped in his track then nced down at his drink.


    Who purchased what for an annoying crybaby again? With a twitching mouth, his gaze went up. "Sorry. But I bought this for myself."


    "Good. It''s annoying that she keeps crying so give it to her now. Maybe her favorite drink will be more effective than all our wordsbined."


    ''Huh? What the f*ck is with this guy?'' Dong Lan scowled. ''Is he deaf? Or is it his mysterious ''I only hear what I''m expecting'' disease acting up again?''


    While this question was still lingering in his mind, one of the idle guys snatch the pink carton box from him and presented it to the female lead.


    Dong Lan was caught off-guard since the other boy ''attacked'' from his blind spot. When he came to his senses, the juice he bought for himself had already been punctured by the male lead using the straw and passed to Ren Lian. Thetter pouted only for a second before epting it. She then immediately took a sip.


    "Hmm. Good taste! Thanks!"


    The girl''s cheeks were a bit red. But Dong Lan was sure it was not because she felt apologetic that she was now drinking something snatched from others and given to her.


    The hell! When he checked, her eyes were on Han Su which meant she was even thanking the one who snatched it!


    Seeing all of these, he felt like something was on the verge of snapping inside his skull.


    ''No, no, no. Dong Lan. Don''t lose your mind, calm down! You are handsome and smart.'' He began to chant in his mind to brainwash himself.


    ''Be understanding okay? They''re the unfortunate and needy ones, needy of a brain transnt! So keep calm and be open-minded, alright? Once again be understanding, be understanding.'' One part of his brain helped chant.


    Yet the more honest part retorted, ''Damn. But aren''t you also thirsty? And didn''t you use your own money gotten from part-times to buy that?''


    Knowing the funny and scary expression on his face, he turned around to hide and then started to kick pebbles to vent some of his annoyance.


    ...


    More months passed since that incident.


    Without the plot binding him, Dong Lan, who had been dying to break away from Han Su''s sphere of influence, somehow felt that he could finally separate from them.


    He immediately reasoned that he got a call home so he would be checking his family out. His excuse was that he wanted to see how they were doing. He told Han Su, "Hear me out, leader. I know I''m weird. I hated them for literally selling me to that school just because they heard if I die they can get some hundred thousand from the management."


    "But even then, when I escaped and got back to the civilization, I just couldn''t stop myself from wanting to go back, or at least, see the ce which had been my home for more than seventeen years."


    "It''s my soul and heart being restless. Maybe this is what homesickness is all about. It''s just very hard to fight back against."


    Dong Lan disregarded the odd stares he was getting from the wealthy boy and continued talking as if he meant everythinging out of his mouth.


    He even matched it with a sad expression and hand gestures, gloomily sighing, "Hah. It''s stupid, I know... I know that I''m being silly like this. But when thought about it, what else can I do? They are my home. My only family. Damn, I hate myself, but even from afar I want to see them."


    The leads gave him a weird look again. But seeing how heartfelt he appeared, they exchanged nces with each other and decided not toment on the idea.


    But the two other guys listening to him lowered their heads. After a minute or so, they stood up and patted him on the shoulder. "To be honest, I also feel like you. It''s hard not to think of our old homes sometime. But unlike you, I think I can move on because I am determined enough to bury my past. You know, we can already see a better future ahead. Du Cheng will be taking part in an eSports contest in a month. If you n to check on your family, our only request is you go back before that contest so you will be with us to show support to him."


    Dong Lan nodded. Han Su and the others sent him off the train station where they joked around a bit before letting him go when they heard the announcement of the train''s departure. "See you in a month! Don''t miss me much!"


    With a goofy smile on his face, the average joe parted with them and jumped into the moving tform.


    But the moment his back turned to face them, he erased that same smile from his lips and put on an indifferent expression. The hand grabbing the strap of the huge knapsack slung across his shoulder tightened its hold on it.


    He could finally go away!


    Remembering what one of theckeys reminded him, he sneered.


    Go back here within a month? Oh, what for? To die being fed dog food every day from those two''s flirting? Or be their errand boy for manual orborious stuff just because he was the tallest and looked the strongest?


    He he. They were free to daydream but in actuality? Fat chance!


    He didn''t want to go back there and be the one assigned to things nobody wanted to do. He also didn''t want to linger anymore with people who had too much free time in their hands but were not using it to more meaningful things!


    "I don''t need to depend on Han Su or anyone else if I want to live! Heh, even if I have to support myself by working, so what? There are jobs that don''t need a face for me to qualify. And even if I have no destination yet, so what too. Anywhere is fine as long as it''s not here!"


    Once done murmuring this to himself, Dong Lanughed. This guy could even qualify as Jiang Li''s brother from a different parent boarded the train but got off the next station. He then took a bus leading him to a city far away from his real family and the leads. With his papers and everything else brought in tow, he had nothing to return in the capital for.

 Chapter 187: Ye Xinya (29)

    Chapter 187: Ye Xinya (29)


    The Ye Family did not change a lot these past few years. They remained as prestigious and wealthy as before. They were still as influential in the aristocratic circle.


    However, those who didn''t have an idea of what happened to them in the past few years and only knew of Ye Xingya''s rtionship with Jiang Li would ask in their minds, howe they only remained like before?


    It was weird because the first miss of their family was already engaged with Zuckerberg''s son who had even be a Huaxia denizen for her. When the dating scandal about them flew about years ago, it had be a huge topic and was linked to the Yes rising into prominence, bing a true hegemonic family in the capital.


    So here was the question again. Howe they only stayed as a second rate family despite being future inws with Facebrick owner''s family?


    The answer was simple. Reputation. That one word was the key.


    It had to be said that there was a reason why a family like the Jings was too mindful of that. While reputation seemed to be an intangible thing remaining only within people''s mind, it actually had the power to make or break people or even a whole n. Ye family had just tasted what would happen once bad reputation got mentioned at the same breath as their name.


    It all started five years ago, when the family was dragged into scandals that the fourth son of the master, Ye Jing, had gotten himself into. Drugs, prostitution, sexual harassment, child abuse...


    Apart from these were the mess he did to the family businesses entrusted to him, including but not limited to, corporate fraud, embezzlement, extortions, briberies, bankruptcy fraud, tax evasions...


    The list goes on, and so was the number and names of his victims. Who would have ever thought the fourth branch''s head would be a person dabbling in all of these? Had he no shame or moral sense?


    The father and his brothers, including the dead first son who was Ye Xinya''s father, were all good people and principle businessmen, who the hell did he take after then?


    s! Maybe it was true that apart from the usual infighting for resources and fortune, a ck sheep would always appear in everyrge family.


    When the matter about the inte rehabilitation institution for young people got brought to light, all hell breaks loose in the whole Huaxia. All the evildoers were punished and sentenced to prison. Their crime seemed to have extended to those dear to them because even if their families were innocent and not dragged into the court or prison cells, because they had blood rtionship with the criminals, people viewed them as evildoers too. They began having a hard time outside.


    ''Son, oh my son. Didn''t I tell you not to y with that evil spawn? Do not associate yourself with that person''s kid, his father is a drug dealer! Do you hear me, stop being friends with him!''


    ''Come, my kids. Note in mind everything I''ll say, okay? See that house? That is where bad people live. Help throw eggs or anything on their door once in a while. That will definitely help drive them out of our subdivision!''


    ''Go away! Terrorize other towns! But here, we don''t need an immoral family in ourmunity!''


    ''My daughter, listen to me! Like father, like son! I''m sure that young man is also raised to do horrible things to other people! If you see him, avoid him! And if he shows any untoward intention to you, shout and run away!''


    These were from five years ago, toward the loved ones of those caught by the police back then. That much time already passed, but who knows whether this kind of remarks toward the innocent family members had already stopped.


    As said, reputation could make or break. When those people involved with both Ye Jing and the Department Secretary did all of those immoral and nasty deeds, did they ever see themselves getting theireuppance one day? How about the part where with their punishment their loved ones would also be affected? Worse even, killed socially, judged, and discriminated?


    Anyway, one of the families severely affected was the Ye family. They got branded as a household who had produced a drug and syndicate lord. Not only that, in the video sent by Jiang Li to the police, that drug lord, Ye Jing, also got recorded doing something unspeakable to a few of the young girls of the rehabilitation school.


    He was that vile. It was hard to believe that this person was a member of the Ye family. And from the looks of it, he never thought of what would happen to his family, immediate and extended, once all his evil deeds were brought to light. After all, if he ever did, he should not have stooped this low.


    Now the damage was done. Even when the Yes cut ties with Ye Jing and the whole fourth branch, the bad impression of the people did notpletely go away. Even if they were now clean, how many would care or believe?


    As said by one wise dude from the old times, reputation,once broken may possibly be repaired, but the world will always keep their eyes on the spot where the crack was.


    Very few retained business and political partnerships with them as the majority feared their own image and brand suffering.


    It had been quite hard. If not for Grandfather Ye being capable, and Ye Xinya , his granddaughter, and her supporter, Jiang Li, sending mary support and paving way for the Yes abroad, they would probably have been buried under pressure and attacks already, especially since apart from the victims of Ye Jing, the Ye family themselves had lots of enemies.


    Opportunists were everywhere too, waiting to strike directly on the Yes'' stocks and main businesses. Also, it had to be mention too that Ye Jing''s victims were not onlymon people. Some were from prestigious and wealthy families. With the criminal jailed and apprehended, the people naturally looked for another target for venting, them.


    "Ye family is lucky to have you, Old Man." Reading through the reports and records he had in hand, Jiang Li gave Grandfather Ye, whose hair had now turned all white, a gaze of admiration. At a nce, it could be seen how much this person went through. But here he was, alive and kicking, the whole Ye n as well.


    "Shouldn''t you be saying it''s been hard on Grandpa?" The voice came from the doorway to their northeast.


    When the men turned their heads, they saw a woman with peerless grace and appearance taking huge strides towards them. Her hair that was braided at the sides then styled into an elegant updo had many little shiny pins on it. She was wearing a white sleeveless blouse and mocha-coloredyered skirt that was fitted near the waist and thighs yet red outside near the hem. A pair of white strappy stilettos adorned her delicate feet.


    Her neck was bare, but on her wrist was an expensive-looking white wristwatch. Gazing head down to her right hand, an borate diamond ring was on her ring finger, shining conspicuously there with or without light being reflected on it. It was this sophisticated and aplished-looking woman''s proof of her engagement with the person she loved.


    "Wee back, my always beautiful Xinya."


    For this granddaughter that he would be seeing personally for the first time in five years, Grandfather Ye automatically rose to his feet and met her with a warm hug.


    "I miss you, Grandpa! I''m d you''re not thinner than I expected." Laughingly, the 21-year-old viiness returned the hug.


    "What thinner? I''m doing very well and can eat whatever I want. Girl, you have now turned into a woman. Yet it seems you''re still as mischievous." The old man shook his head then led Ye Xinya into a vacant seat near his, engaging in pleasant small talks with her as he probed how she passed her days in the western states.


    "Did you take care of her well?" Since Ye Xinya''s father had already died, Grandfather imposed it on himself to be the bad old guy roasting the prospective son-inw his treatment of his daughter.


    The guy pretended to think before replying, "Well, I think I didn''t?"


    "Oof." The girl loved the look her fiance had as he said that.


    "Xinya, why are youughing? Did he bully you? Don''t be afraid to tell me, I''ll get justice for you!"


    "No, no, grandpa. He''s been very good to me."


    Jiang Li by then had already raised his cup of tea, bringing it to his mouth while giving the girl a nce.


    It was then that the woman lowered her head shyly.


    "Ah Li might seem like that, but I don''t think there''s any better guy out there or somebody who will treat me better."


    "Pfft." Upon hearing what she said, he almost choked. He even widened his eyes at her a bit. However, the shift in his expression only stayed for a few seconds before going back to normal.


    Funny thoughts then started to run in his mind.


    ''Even though a failure one, she''s still a heroine who can see the good points even of a bad person.'' Heughed.


    Jiang Li would never admit that he felt pleased how despite his odd personality which none of his previous lifetimes could correct, she still thought highly of him in her mind, and most likely in her heart.

 Chapter 188: Ye Xinya (30)

    Chapter 188: Ye Xinya (30)


    After talking with the aged patriarch of the Ye, they headed to the parking lot since there was a ce Jiang Li wanted to visit. Ye Xinya followed him and got into his passenger seat.


    While putting on her seatbelt, she said in a soft voice hiding a hint of worry in it, "I saw the files in your office before we took our flight back yesterday. You''re the one who gave me ess to your stuff there since years ago so I don''t know if you purposely left it there just so I can read them. But are you finally nning to meet him now?"


    Jiang Li indifferently nodded. "He wants to see me. So why not?"


    "He only wants to see you because you''ve be very prominenttely."


    Her meaning couldn''t be any more obvious. The person they were about to meet up was somebody rted to Jiang Li, no, Jing Mo. Yet she already disliked this person despite never having seen him yet. User, and opportunist. Whoever the other party was, it was already set in stone that she would never have a good opinion of him.


    To be honest, she preferred for Jiang Li not to ever meet this person. But since she couldn''t stop Jiang Li, her thoughts went to nning how she would deal with that man if ever he did anything excessive or inappropriate to her fiance.


    Shrugging his shoulders and cing his right hand on the steering wheel while the other pulled the car door closed, the man responded. "Well. It''s obvious? But hey, I have a very big heart. Maybe if he has a reason for not meeting or stealing me from the Jings before we went abroad, I can forgive him and then have a fresh start with him as his son."


    "Lying again." In a scolding tone, she replied. But in her heart she was relieved.


    She had been with Jiang Li for five years, a span of time that was already long for an engaged couple. What quirk and expression of his had yet to be imprinted in her photographic memory?


    She knew that if he was being this nonchnt, it meant he didn''t ce much importance on his biological father.


    His light and joking tone signaled that he was not feeling unusual, emotional or something, upon the thought that finally after five years since discovering his real identity, he would be meeting one of his real parents.


    ''If you only know. I''m tasked to be honest. Yet honesty to the real Jing Mo means being true to one''s desire. Lols. right now, the Original''s remnant desired to meet that dude. So troublesome.''


    "What do you think I should do once I see that Long Cheng guy?"


    "If I were you, I''d kick him in the balls!" Paws bared like a tigress'', she hissed with a fierce look on. That stayed on her face for three seconds before shifting into aughing expression.


    "I can''t do that, girl." He joined her inughing. <em>''That''s very lenient.''</em> He nearly voiced out.


    They stopped talking about it after. She began chatting about the recent events in the country.


    From time to time, she would point outside, describing to him the changes she noticed. For example, the convenience store a hundred meters away from the mansion had turned into a clinic. A flyover was constructed on the turn leading to the airport. Two malls belonging to enemy corporations were built on the opposite sides of the huge private school Ye Xinya and Jiang Li attended before they went out of the country.


    Night had fallen when they reached their destination, a resto-bar at the central district of Ruby City. Ye Xinya became puzzled because instead of going inside immediately, Jiang Li had her stay inside the car while he walked out and looked around for who knows what.


    A couple of momentster, she saw him heading towards a group of men in the darker part of the parking lot.


    She winced at the next sight, her fiance beating up everyone there except for the youngest-looking man. She didn''t know what they talked about, but when Jiang Li walked back to her, the man who was initially cowering in fear, prostrating in the ground, suddenly stood up and fixed his hair and attire, looking as if he hit the jackpot.


    "Weirdo," shemented on the person happily yet meekly following after them.


    Jiang Li led the two of them into the resto-bar. But while he and Ye Xinya went to the second floor, and only got themselves a drink each before standing near the stairs, the young man went by himself to a table on the first floor near the center.


    The two above were leaning on the chest-high balustrade, staring at the sight from above.


    "I supposed that middle-aged man is Mr. Long." A few minutester, she asked tly with her eyes still on the rogue-like man talking to a widely grinning waiter.


    "I can guess that youmissioned that guy to do something for you. But what did you ask him to do?"


    With a grin, Jiang Li replied, "If you can''t guess-"


    "Please don''t tell me to watch and listen to the show because I can''t hear a thing from our location. We''re too far away from there. And the music is too loud." Even though the words were a bit prickly, she was actually wearing a gorgeous smile on her face.


    He coughed thenughed, "Well, I just asked that guy to order three sets of all the dishes on the menu, plus the three most expensive ones."


    ''Hmm. He didn''t mention it, but that man must have been ordered to pretend to be Jing Mo.''


    Ye Xinya took a good look at the older guy at that table in the center. The person who did resemble Jiang Li by seventy percent was wearing a tuxedo and a navy blue tie. However, it could be seen from his subtle movements and way of looking around too much that he was not usually at a ce like this.


    She tilted her head upward a bit to the left, eyes still pinned at Jiang Li''s father. "He must be a normal sryman, a manager or director level in apany at best. So indeed, he would probably burn a hole through his wallet if he was to shoulder the bill alone. And even if he tries to make his ''son'' shoulder the bill, he will not get anything because this ''son'' is not the real one."


    For a moment, she thought, she really did well upon advising Jiang Li long ago not to reveal his true face to the media. Now she was d that it helped him in today''s ordeal, though her original reason for telling him to always wear masks or have somebody act as his proxy in public gatherings was jealousy and insecurity.


    All of a sudden, Jiang Li began to exin, "Did you know? Long Cheng is quite the aplished guy, at least for somebody from a vige. He is already a senior department head of a fairly big hardwarepany at the age of thirty. For that woman who is involved in that kind of business, he is already a very big fish. Yet at that time, this guy was already married to hispany''s CEO''s daughter."


    The girl nodded, taking small sips of her cocktail drink as she listened to his narrative with interest.


    Jiang Li gulped down a mouthful of his own liquor before continuing, "The woman fell pregnant and then gave birth to Long Cheng''s son. But since there was no way he would ept him, she chose to fake documents to make it appear like the baby was her son born to another lover of hers. It happened to be the father I''d known in the first sixteen years of my life."


    She sighed and gingerly replied. "I see. But then it makes sense why he didn''t attempt to get you from the Jings. He is already married. Plus, the house he married into has some sway with themon people and a simr level of industrial power, but not that powerful to go against the city mayor''s family."


    "If he appeared before the young Jing Mo and introduced himself as his real father, he wouldn''t have to take his son away. He would be the one to figure out something to escape. Sadly now, Jing Mo is no more."


    He saw the slight confusion in the viiness'' eyes so he added with a slight smile. "Only Jiang Li remained. And he is the adopted son of James Zuckerberg, a man he had even ckmailed, convinced, to create a Huaxia name for himself."


    This was the first time this information made its way into her hears. Ye Xingya was surprised, and then amused.


    At that time he was only sixteen. Where the heck did he get the guts to coerce the tenth richest man in the world into doing something like that?


    "Hmm. It seems the drama has started when we were not paying attention."


    "Whoa! My mistake earlier!" She eximed not long after when her eyes wandered around and found that there were many suspicious people on the first and second floors of the building shing their cameras from covert corners.


    "Long Cheng is actually not really feeling ufortable about the ce but checking out where the paparazzi are. I think he is the one who arranged for those people tonight."


    The person by her side shrugged. "Yeah. And now that the person he thinks is me is making scenes and badmouthing him, his ns are backfiring. For trying to con me, well, this is already a lenient punishment."


    While swiveling around the liquid in her wine ss, Ye Xinya was feeling heavy in her heart, wondering how he felt about the matter.


    One time too, he wondered what he would do if the one who tried to do the same was his biological mother instead.


    Her galldder knocked her out of her dazed state. She smiled wryly, "Excuse me. I have to go to the restroom."


    He nodded, sending her off with his eyes and watching her walk towards the hallway to the right side of the counter. But she first left the champagne flute to the waiter she ran into.


    Jiang Li returned his attention to the scenario below. However, after some time, he also decided to leave to find a table for them.


    The ticking of the wall clock was not very audible since there was loud soulful musicing from the piano performance in front. But not that the sound matters since a single nce at it was enough to know the amount of time that passed.


    Less than a minute.


    In his estimate, the girl would take not less than ten minutes there. An annoying waiter passed by carrying a tray full of fragrant dishes. So should he order their dinner, now?


    He didn''t have to think for even a second to know the answer. ''Pass. She''ll scold me for being inconsiderate if I order without asking her opinions or waiting for the food together with her.''


    At the thought of bing bored from waiting, he crossed his arms above his chest. It was in the second-minute mark of his waiting and fiddling with his phone that somebody with a familiar face passed by his table and stopped by upon recognizing him.


    "Jing Mo?"


    When he raised his head and scanned the shocked person on his right side, he also raised a brow at him.


    Even if he didn''t have the viiness'' superb memory, the face in front was quite memorable due to being the only normal-looking dude at the time the leads barged into the Ye mansion to find him.


    ''What''s a guy who should be assisting the male lead in his business empire doing at a faraway city like this? An errand? Or corporate meeting?''


    Jiang Li had no idea Han Su had lost contact with this man since five years ago.


    "Ooops, apologies. I seemed to have addressed you incorrectly, Mr. Jiang. Do you still remember me? I''m Dong Lan. Your senior from that school."


    Jiang Li only nodded, disying no intention whatsoever to get acquainted with somebody from the male lead''s faction. He even nced away. But the man with a goofy grin on his face shing his white set of teeth did not seem offended.


    "I won''t take much of your time. I would just like to apologize for whatever happened five years ago."


    ''I don''t talk. I''m a mute, go away.'' That was how Dong Lan interpreted the extremely rich second generation''s silence.


    Seeing that, he shrugged his shoulders and understandingly said, "Well, it''s natural that you''d pretend to not know me. After all, I''ve been with those idiot people when you first see me. Just know my apology is sincere. I''ll be going now."


    ''... Did somebody under the influence of the plot just dare say the darlings of heaven or fate are idiots? Hmm.''


    ''Interesting.'' That was what Jiang Li thought when the tall but average-looking guy walked away whileughing and entertaining the guests or colleagues apanying him.

 Chapter 189: Ye Xinya (31) <2-in-1>

    Chapter 189: Ye Xinya (31) <2-in-1>


    The third day of being back to Huaxia. The two returned to the capital after enjoying a day of leisure and travel in Ruby City and stayed the night in the Ye Mansion.


    Who would have thought that the following day, while Jiang Li was meeting a private investigator to locate his biological mother, an amusing scenario would arise somewhere the viiness randomly went to?


    The supposed ending had been thrown to a bin. Since some elements in the story did not move ordingly to their supposed trajectory, the drama automatically extended to when the viiness returned to Huaxia.


    In all honesty, the leads no longer needed somebody to matchmake the leads since they were now together. However, it seemed the world was intent on forcing Ye Xinya to encounter the leads, cause some problems for them, and be in conflict with them.


    Before going through the first conflict that arose between her and one of the leads, it had to be mentioned first that many changes had happened during the time Jiang Li and Ye Xinya were out of the country.


    Han Su, at the young age of 20, became the shadow maniptor of his family''s business empire. On his 21st birthday, his father had no choice but to pass the position of CEO to him due to his genius and machinations. So far, the result was positive. The stabilization of the whole organization took ce even before he assumed office. In this part, the male lead proved that he still had a brain.


    As for Ren Lian, she had a high position in one of the mainpanies under the Han Conglomerate. And she, of course, used the backdoor and Han Su''s affection for her to get to where she was. Yet not many was criticizing her because the moment she assumed the position of chief operating officer, she showed an eptable rate in learning and had great brains and talent in leading.


    Despite this though, she was yet to be Han Su''s fiancee. Her origins deterred her from being engaged with the male lead. Everybody in the male lead''s family stood against it and for some unknown reasons, even the major shareholders hinted that the male lead should be mindful of who he should make his spouse.


    If Jiang Li''s opinion would be asked though, he would reply that this was simply the plot''s arrangement. Maybe the one manipting fate was an actual god and he was bored to death so he wanted to add some dramas to his beloved leads'' smooth sailing lives.


    Anyways, the conflict happened at a reputable 5-star restaurant, when the extremely beautiful Ye Xinya appeared as her grandfather''s representative for a talk with a potential client.


    The client was sly, or more appropriately put, wise, inviting everyone bidding for the partnership with her at the same table. Ye Xinya was one of them, so was Ren Lian, the female lead.


    There was one more person who joined them for dinner but seeing the kind of aura Ye Xinya was giving off to everyone around, one both screaming of intelligence and influence, he just knew he should not waste energy fighting for the deal with her.


    ''Hah. Either my pay will be docked or I''ll get scolded. Better enjoy the airconditioning and food then.''


    The bespectacled guy from a fairlyrge merchandisingpany sat down and watched as the client herself, a middle-ageddy from overseas, treat the beautifuldy more attentively and warmly than him and the female lead.


    Thedy was already satisfied with Ye Xinya since even in the discussion part, the elegant viiness shone more fiercely and brightly than the others.


    It was at times like this that the world had no problem showcasing to everyone that she was somebody who grew up as a real aristocraticdy, a standard viiness with the beauty, behavior, brains, and wealth.


    Had she been in love with Han Su and fully went a true viiness route, she would have definitely been reduced into a stupid woman who knew she could have any man in the world yet persist on that one damn man she could not have and also does not want her.


    Thankfully, right now, she was not, and would never be head over heels for the male lead. This made her shone more brightly in this small gathering because her greatest strong point was retained, IQ.


    What did the others have topete with her? Ren Lian''s female lead halo?


    Well, maybe it was indeed effective but just in a different way than usual.


    While the other guest already knew the oue and was staying there for free food, Ren Lian had probably been pushed to the edge. By resentment. She was jealous of the viiness'' beauty, natural elegance and glib of the tongue. And she feeling impatient and indignant.


    Ye Xinya was from that family that produced the malevolent spirit who was also partially at fault for her parents'' death. Why would she easily let things go their way?


    ''She never mentioned her name so thedy is just assuming she is a normal representative of the Ye Corporation. Forgetting to disclose who you are? I''ll help you then!''


    When the foreignerdy finally showed signs of giving the hundred million contract to Ye Xinya, Ren Lian used the fact that they were still at the idle chatting phase to purposely blurt out something in malice sugarcoated with innocence.


    "Lady You, by the way, do you know that Miss Ye and I were acquaintances? Because I was mostly busy in school while she was abroad, I couldn''t check on her, I didn''t get to know more about the incident five years ago." Turning to Ye Xinya, she asked. "So how did it go? Are you and your family okay now? I mean, your uncle... has been used of those. Are the cases already closed?"


    Two things, thest name Ye, and the case five years ago.


    As such, the female lead somehow managed to ry to thedy that Ye Xinya was from that family and was even the niece of that drug lord, Ye Jing.


    "You''re that Ye Jing''s rtives?" Thedy spoke fluently in the Huaxianguage with a light ent. A change was obvious on her tone and facial expression, the kind not going in a good direction.


    Ren Lian looked down to hide the faint satisfaction that crossed her eyes upon hearing the question.


    Meanwhile, the spectator sitting opposite her was not slow and immediately guessed that she had grudge against the beautiful woman. After all, no matter how disadvantageous one was in a talk like this, they wouldn''t resort to this kind of low-level trick without extreme justification.


    Ye Xinya nced cidly at the female lead before shing a perfect smile at thedy and answering truthfully. "Madam, my name is Ye Xinya, granddaughter of the current patriarch, Ye Cheng. By blood, I''m indeed a rtive of that person but by n, he''s no longer part of us."


    "Still... I didn''t know the Ye family I will be speaking with tonight is the one rted to that man. To be honest, I initially didn''t ce much importance on it since I know thatst name is quitemon in Huaxia."


    The scandal that year had been very big that those from the other countries nearby heard of it. Even though it had been a matter of the past already, if given a choice, not many would choose to work with the Ye family. At least not those from the other countries who were not updated to thetest events in Huaxia.


    The other person was quite simple-minded and also straightforward so she did not hide her reluctance and feeling of repulse when saying ''that man''. After that, the madam''s judging eyes went to Ye Xinya.


    ''This again... Extending the me to the innocent just because of their flimsy connection to the criminal. What a foolish person. If you''re going to a discussion, isn''t itmon sense to first study your conversation partner''s backgrounds?''


    Ye Xinya pursed her lips, pulling the corner of her lips a bit downward to show her disappointment. "I see. Lady Yoo must have been shocked."


    Since then the girl maintained perfect mannerisms and behaviors throughout the lunch, but she was no longer as enthusiastic for the partnership like before. The change in her persona was very apparent that even the client had noticed it.


    But Ye Xinya did not change her ways.


    If she was truly the inferior one here, she might try to humble herself in front of her. But that was not the case. Without mentioning her identity as the famous Nathan''s fiancee, she was the prized strategist of Facebrick whose monthly ie was a hundred thousand dors. Definitely, her qualifications was greater than all these three peoplebined. So why would she try to butter up this woman?


    ''It''s okay to be somebody who not only sees potential profit but also judges character when selecting partners. But it has to be done in a rigorous and careful manner. Not in such a biased way. ''


    Eyshes nted forty-five degrees downward, the viiness smiled and nced at the wall clock.


    It seemed thedy did not know, but it was actually her who was being judged, not the other way around. Ye Xinya was okay about her at first since she was very amicable, but the moment she showed contempt to the Ye family, the girl lost all the good thoughts she had for the foreignd.


    There was no way she would work with somebody who was not only easily swayed by somebody''s words, but showed ack of tack and awareness of the matters around her.


    Without her knowing, due to offending Ye Xinya, thedy forever lost the chance to get connected to the Yes, and in extension, to the Zuckerbergs. Of course, she was not the only one. This same goes to the eyesore who kept throwing res to the viiness.


    Ye Xinya retained the captivating curve on her lips when she excused herself from that table, expressing her intention to no longer participate in the discussion about partnership.


    Thedy, whose impression of her turned 180 degrees from the initial one, almost couldn''t contain her frown as she asked using her slightly sharp ent, "Miss Ye. I thought yourpany is interested in a talk with us. May I know what''s the meaning of this?"


    "Lady Yoo. No need for formalities anymore. I can see you no longer have any thoughts of cooperating with us because you learned we are that Ye family. Since this is the case, I wouldn''t stay to be a nuisance to your talk with the COO of the Han Corporation and the director of Fortune Holdings." The girl was as softspoken as before when she lightly bowed and added, "I had a nice time with everyone. Please excuse me, I still have another matter to attend to."


    The gazes which sent her off were either hostile orplicated. They watched for some time until a young man appeared near the entrance and wrapped his hand around her thin waist. The smile that the woman gave him proved just how happy she was at being fetched by her dear one.


    A couple of secondster, somebody broke the silence that had unknowingly reigned upon the female lead''s table. It was the bespectacled man who looked to be in his mid-thirties. His face sported a brooding look when he said,


    "Now that I think about it, the son of Facebrink''s CEO was reported to be a future son-inw of the Ye family. Hmm. The name of that person''s fiancee is Ye Xinya. Age is around Miss Ren''s. This is too much of a coincidence."


    Thedy stilled and then gasped in horror after hearing what the bespectacled man stated, "Don''t tell me it is the youngdy we just shared a meal with?"


    "I suspect so. After all, while there are otherdies in the Ye family, I''ve met all of them before. At least, all women from that family staying in the country. Only this girl is unfamiliar to me. But given her looks and air of intellect and grace, it''s impossible to forget her face or name once a personys eyes on her."


    "True."


    Looking at the backs of the departing couple, the Fortune Holdings'' Director hesitantly asked the other girl present in the meeting, "Miss Ren, I remember that you imed to be acquainted with Miss Ye. I supposed you also know if I''m speaking the truth or not. So, is the man who she just linked arms with at the entrance Mister Jiang Li?"


    The female lead was originally celebrating internally that she one-upped the viiness. When the question made its way into her ears, she felt caught off-guard and didn''t know what to answer, but she did nod.


    Since then, she began receiving unfriendly stares from Lady Yoo. And this did not simply end with that. Not long after, she could only feel at a loss for she ended up failing to get the contract.

 Chapter 190: Ye Xinya (32)

    Chapter 190: Ye Xinya (32)


    While the female lead returned to the male lead''s side feeling wronged at her failure to get the contract, Jiang Li dropped Ye Xinya home and then he went to his recently bought penthouse to change clothes. By then, it was already past ten pm. His day was not yet over. Not especially after he heard back from the detective that he hired.


    He wore a simple shirt, pants made out of simple materials, and a pair of ck rubber shoes. After fetching his phone and wallet, he went out of the house, rode the elevator down and boarded a night bus heading to Ruby City.


    "Are you sure you want to go to a ce like that? We''ll get there at midnight. It''s already veryte. Why don''t you juste tomorrow?" The taxi driver''s tone had hints of worry since the location Jiang Li instructed him to go was very unusual.


    "No. Don''t worry, I''m sure. Just drive there. I''ll double the fare." With a smile, the young man repeated the name of the ce again. "Trinity Light Cemetery. If you can wait for me outside and then take me to the Jing''s mansion, I will even triple the amount."


    Swayed by the alure of money, the driver did not hesitate to ept. Jiang Li smirked and then contentedly leaned his back against the backrest before closing his eyes to get some rest.


    More or less two hourster, at a dead silent cemetery in the southern part of Ruby City, Jiang Li crouched down before a tomb. Using his phone''s shlight, he shone some light upon the inscription on the gravestone. The words there read ''In Loving Memories of Lin Huan''.


    It was the name of ''his'' biological mother.


    As usual, the Original''s remnant wanted to know about his real parents so Jiang Li was forced to contact a private investigator andmission the task to that person. This was the result found.


    Lin Huan died seven years ago when Jing Mo was still fourteen years old. The caused of her death was a sexually transmitted disease she contracted upon going back to the flesh business after giving birth to Jing Mo.


    She was never married. But she had several lovers on which only one turned up on her funeral day. The people who buried her here were from the Jings, because funnily, that lover who cared for Lin Huan despite everything she did was Jing Zexi, the man Jing Mo mistook for his real father for sixteen years.


    "I don''t know who you are. But in my memories, you have at least visited me once. Yet that was when I was still very small and Jing Zexi used me to force you into meeting him. When you appeared, it''s only to tell him not to bother you. Did you nce at ''him'' back then? I can''t remember. I''m sorry but in this life, I won''t ever recognize you as my mom. All you ever did was bring ''me'' to this world. For that, I am very grateful. But that''s it, nothing more."


    After saying those words, he stayed for a few minutes to enjoy the uncanny silence of the ce, then stood up and made his way back to the taxi that was parked outside of the memorial park.


    As soon as he entered, the taxi driver pressed on the gas and drove away. That made him wonder if this middle-aged man heard of anything eerie about the cemetery or if he was just in scared by the strange atmosphere and the cold light of themppost around there.


    "Hello." The driver only started speaking again when they finally went back to the main road where lights and houses were in great abundance.


    "You told me earlier that the next destination was the Jing''s mansion. I''m not familiar with this area since I''m mostly stationed in the capital. Can you give me the exact address or at least a general direction?"


    Jiang Li pulled up his phone and showed the address to him. The driver nodded and let him have his peace again. Or not.


    Probably bored of the ride, the other guy tried to strike a conversation with him. "Hey, young man. Even though it''s weird you visited a memorial park in the middle of the night, I won''t judge and think that you did something shady or illegal there. Anyway, you don''t look like a graverobber. Hahaha."


    The young man felt a bit speechless. Even though the other wasughing heartily, the kind of stares he was getting from him was contrary to what he said. Jiang Li shook his head and chuckled. "Don''t worry, Sir. Even though I wear all ck, it doesn''t mean I''m a criminal."


    ''I''m indeed nning something bad though. Still, I didn''t lie.''


    The other person defended himself, "Young man, please don''t take me wrong. I''m not judging you. I know there is a reason for your visit there."


    "Well, I visited my mother."


    The driver smiled wryly, "I''m sorry to hear that. You look very young. It must have been hard to not have a mother tending and caring for you. To be honest, even when I was still in my thirties I was too attached to myte mother. When she passed away, I felt like my home became very deste and lifeless. A mother is somebody who knows every nook and cranny of the house so when you ask something from her, she could immediately answer; she knows where it is located. A mother also knows what to say to you in all sorts of situations. Hah."


    The gaze given to Jiang Li was that full of pity.


    It made himugh for a while. When hisughter died down, he indifferently looked outside of the open window of the backseat. "I lost my mom since I was still one year old."


    The sad look in the driver''s eyes intensified. For a second he wondered if this gullible dude would burst into tears. "It''s really been hard on you. But since you could go to the extent that you''d visit her in the middle of the night, she must be a pretty wonderful person when she was still alive. Is your father telling you stories about her?"


    "No. I lost my real father five years ago. I was then adopted by someone. About my mother, I only found out about her yesterday, a few hours before I hailed your cab."


    Now the old dude appeared to be dying to pat him in the shoulder. It was just quite funny. However, he quite liked the fact that even though they wereplete strangers, this person showed him sympathy.


    He was referring not to the caring words that was said to him. But this: "We''re here,d, go ahead. The fare is on me."


    "..."


    Who would have thought while he was on his way to visit the Jing''s mansion to nt some nice stuff there, he would meet a middle-aged man who wanted to give him a free lift just because he told him a tragic story?


    He had to admit, he found himself wanting to say sorry.

 Chapter 191: Ye Xinya (33) <2-in-1>

    Chapter 191: Ye Xinya (33) <2-in-1>


    The Jing family was still as respected in Ruby City. The current head, Jing Zexi''s nephew was the city mayor and his reputation was just as good, if not better than Jing Zexi''s brother who used to be the family head.


    It was probably due to being skilled in manipting their images in people''s minds that five years ago, when the illegitimate son of Jing Zexi disappeared out of nowhere, no news about it came out. They must have also suppressed the reports about Jing Na and her brother ''mistaking'' Jiang Li for that person.


    Apart from wanting to ensure the embarrassing scenes featuring the Jing members were not known to the masses, they didn''t want Jing Mo to be called one of their own anymore. Additionally, as a mere local rich household of a remote city, they didn''t feel like they have the qualifications to question somebody rted to a global personality. They knew their ce. Even in their own nation, their sway on the masses was limited within their city.


    Of course, this was only the thinking of those higherups and wise ones. In a family, one should not forget that there would be always a mix of stupid and smart people.


    Five years ago, the slightly immature Jing Yuhan told his father, "Dad, I really hate it. Can you believe that? He dared to shame us in front of many people." Shaking his head, he furiously added. "What Jiang Li or Jiang Liuxuan? He''s obviously second uncle''s illegitimate son! That scourge embarrassed me and Na''er in Senator Fang''s party!"


    The father replied to him in a chastising tone, "What do you want then? Even if you are confident that Jiang Li is Jing Mo, so what? Are you going to kill yourself proving that meaningless stuff? Don''t forget, even Senator Fang and Mr. Zuckerberg formally announced that he is now a Zuckerberg! Yuhan, don''t ever tell me you still don''t get the situation!"


    Jing Yuhan maintained silence for some time, calming his raging emotions and pondering over his father''s statements. When a certain thought crossed his mind, his lips formed into an evil smirk and enthusiastically replied.


    "I understand now, Dad. Since we can''t say he''s Jing Mo, we can just use this to our advantage. Aren''t we aware of his secrets? He should be scared that he will be ratted out or revealed as a fake! Now, even if we can''t make him admit it to the world, we can just ckmail him to connect us to the Zuckerbergs in exchange for us not releasing his secret to the media!"


    The wiser older man widened his eyes in anger and then whacked the stupid young man on his head. "Rascal! Where has your brain gone to?"


    "Ouch, Dad. What''s that for?!"


    Like a kid wronged, the young man scowled and distanced himself from the other man who then roared at him in a lecturing tone apanied by the asional poundings of a fist on the wooden table''s surface.


    "Do you think somebody like Facebrick''s CEO will miss Jing Mo''s real identity? He, who is in control of the biggest socialworking site in the world and has countless super hackers and investigators at his disposal? Use your brain! Obviously, there''s no way he would be that easy to fool!"


    Although intimidated by the scary expressions and stares he was getting from his middle-aged father, Jing Yuhan kept grumbling, making faces, and gesturing his balled fists in the air which made the father shook his head in dismay. Whilementing and asking himself why his son turned out to be a huge idiot, he waved his hand and said to dismiss the matter, "Alright. This is just an issue not worth debating for anymore. Let''s stop making a fuss over it!"


    "But it''s really Jing Mo."


    ''Damn, this stupid kid. Na''er is smart. I''m also smart, so is my wife. How did our family produce this fool?''


    With a sharp re, the head of the second branch remarked sternly, "He already died while escaping from that inte addiction rehabilitation school! We don''t want him toe back! A dead onlyes back as a ghost to haunt the living. Understand?"


    Five yearster, the man''s words would show that there was truth in them. The ''haunting'' he was referring to was perhaps taking ce now.


    It was in the middle of the night and the huge mansion was as quiet and peaceful like any other house. The people in the ce were sleeping, apart from some couples still in the middle of deepening their bonds with each other.


    A figure in all ck, from cap to shoes walked into the mansion. He was not liking the feeling he was getting from his own body and the surge of memories.


    In a bad mood which had begun getting into his nerves since he got off the taxi, he hypnotized the guards in duty at the gate to directly forget everything they saw tonight. The method he used was the normal one which used many conditioning words and gestures. At times like this, he felt pity that he could no longer do ck magic.


    To be honest, what he did there was not as violent or overboard as he did to the previous worlds. The real Jing Mo''s wish popped up in his mind and he thought that it was not only not lying anymore, helping people in need, and donating arge sum to orphanages and charities. He must be an ambassador of honesty and transparency.


    As a filial child, shouldn''t he start with the family who ''raised'' him for sixteen years?


    It was not good that they could live so carefreely even after doing all those sh*tty things to ''him'' for years. They should announce their evil deeds to the world... using their own mouths. Eyes gleaming ominously, Jiang Li resolved to get justice for the dead Jing Mo.


    ...


    When tomorrow came, Huaxia citizens discovered that every channel and social media in the country was broadcasting the same type of information.


    It was once again about the infamous school from five years ago. But the videos and confessions circting online and on news were about the most reputable family in the Jing city, on how they treated one of their family members.


    The members of the high society knew of those stories, well, a part or summary of the stories passed through words of mouths, but they only felt that those that used to be a source of entertainment for them were noughing matter when they witnessed for themselves to what extent the wrongdoings of the Jings against the illegitimate boy was.


    Beasts. This was the realughable matter. Every three years, the whole Ruby city was actually electing such a family of beasts as government officials.


    Ye Xinya was woken up early by one of the maids on that day because her grandfather wanted to eat breakfast with her. Sheplied. They dined in the living room where a wall-sized TV was. Grandfather Ye had a habit of watching the news every morning so when they were in the middle of eating, they switched the TV on to a channel broadcasting news report at this time of the day.


    "Damn, dogs! I had some dealings with those Jing people of Ruby City before but I didn''t know they are this kind of people, capable of doing those, those unspeakable things!!!" With a piece of bacon on his fork, the old man whose eyes were glued to the screen eximed in both anger and shock. "That kid is minor! Child abuse! Oh my blood pressure! There''s even a clip and evidence that they started doing these since he''s smaller than you when you are 7 years old, Xinya!"


    Listening to her grandfather, the girl who was then about to swallow a sliced piece of a mango froze in shock. She unknowingly held her breath before moving her eyes slowlyon the two lines of small texts under the video.


    Jing Mo. The child in the video clip ying at the side had his face mosaiced but he was called Jing Mo by the announcer. Ruby City too was mentioned.


    These were not leaving her any leeway to deny who was there.


    "Bring me my phone!" Ye Xinya shouted at one of the maids.


    Thetter was shocked by the ferocity in her voice so in a minute, the phone she requested had been brought to her from her room on the second floor to the living room which was located downstairs.


    Ye Cheng, the old man, heard his granddaughter''s yelling but he did not pay it much attention. He was too engrossed in the information flowing out of the announcer''s mouth.


    "Tch. Wow. Quite the evil family. And careless too. All big families have this kind of secrets and dirt going on internally, but they all know how to control the information from leaking outside. How could they let these many materials slipped out of their notice? No. In the first ce, why go this far to a mere child?"


    Ye Xinya that time was trembling badly as her fingers scrolled through her phone. Looking at the pictures there, she couldn''t help but exim in a shaky voice. "T-This is so ridiculous...!"


    "Yeah." Grandfather Ye sighed.


    His old heart was toughened by his years in the business world and aristocratic world, but it was hard not to get affected by what he saw.


    The kid certainly had a very harsh childhood. There were video clips of him getting beaten regrly by his father. His cousins made him do so many embarrassing things. He was, most of the time, starved and even thrown into a sewer and a sea of earthworms.


    Since he saw that Ye Xinya didn''t dare look ahead, the grandfather who didn''t know Jing Mo was Jiang Li enumerated everything shing on the screen.


    Badly trembling and on the brink of an emotional outburst, the girl stood up and ran to her room and grabbed her keys. She ignored her grandfather who was calling out her name and even her mother who dropped by for her only to see her starting her car and driving away.


    On her way to her fiance''s penthouse, she had to stop by a gasoline station to have her gas tank refilled, identally grazing the bumper of Han Su''s car when she was leaving the premise.


    The male lead saw her due to the rolled-down window of her car and wanted her to apologize. However, her mind was too preupied by the desire to see Jiang Li. How could she notice him? Wasn''t he nothing but a stranger to her?


    "Hey! How are you going topensate me for the damage, Miss Ye!"


    Naturally, to that irritating question uttered by Han Su, Ye Xinya replied with silence, her mind wandering to a ce far away from there. ''He is not answering his phone. Damn!''


    Red-eyed from worries, the viiness did not wait for the angrily marching male lead to approach her vehicle. She stepped on the elerator and had the male lead eat the dust left by her car''s wheels.


    "Jiang Li!!!"


    The whole penthouse was engulfed by that loud and high-pitched shout the moment the automatic door allowed her entrance. She took a deep breath upon being greeted by a silent living room. He was nowhere in sight and thus, her feet dragged her into his bedroom.


    The ce was only bought yesterday but before she went to meet the client, the man first showed him around. This was how she knew every nook and cranny of his penthouse. Referencing his habits when they were still abroad, she knew that guy could only be in his room at this hour even if he was also an early-riser.


    Chest heaving, she stopped in front of the door leading to his bedroom. What kind of scene would greet her once she opened this door? Was he okay? Or lost in thoughts because the secrets and scars he never told anyone, not even her, were suddenly exposed to the world?


    Feeling nervous in her heart, she pushed the door open to know the answer.


    "Jing... Jiang Li..." She was used to calling him by his real name whenever they were together by themselves but now it was hard to say those two words.


    The man was actually half-naked while lying on his stomach in his bed. His phone was on his right ear when he turned to the direction of the door. Surprise crossed Jiang Li''s face because she looked odd. By odd, it was about her wearing only short walking shorts, sleeveless blouse, and bunny flip flops.


    An appearance-conscious woman like her went out of the Ye mansion looking like that?


    Ye Xinya was unaware of the thoughts running in his head. Upon seeing that he seemed okay, she only felt at a loss for a couple of moments before sniffing and sobbing silently.


    Jiang Li furrowed his brows then spoke on his phone, "Hey, I''ll just call backter. I have an urgent matter to deal with here. Bye."


    Ye Xinya didn''t dare look at his figure directly for some time. It was not her feeling conscious of the exposed muscles and skin of the man. She just couldn''t help but remember those videos and photos.


    Jiang Li took advantage of the time she was not speaking and looking at him to swiftly grab a shirt in the closet and wear it. "What''s the matter? It looks like you drove here in a hurry."


    He didn''t notice when she arrived behind him. The next thing he knew was that she suddenly wrapped her arms around his waist from behind.


    "I... saw everything. Those things. I know... it''s you who released them."


    A look of realization showed on his face.


    "Do you want to know why I did that?" He spoke wryly, feeling that the back of the new shirt he put on was getting soaked in her tears.


    "No..."


    Behind him, Ye Xinya shook her head, refusing to release her hold of him even when he repeatedly said she was hugging him too tightly.


    An exnation was not what she wanted right now. What was an exnation good for anyway? When everything had already been done and was causing a small typhoon outside?


    She only wanted to cry for his sake.


    She knew he was capable and strong. And that it was he who most probably hacked or bought the materials from different sources. Yet it would have taken so much courage to release those for the masses'' perusing.


    Indeed she initially wanted to ask him why, to tell him a secret and dark part was not something that should be shared with the world, but to only those he trusted. He should not do self-harm if he wanted to avenge himself. There were many ways.


    ''If you only ask, I can be the one to take revenge against them for you.'' She also wanted to tell him.


    "For once, I don''t know i-if you''re testing my heart... or s-simply being stupid." In the end, she only managed to say these. Her mind was a mess due to the pain in her chest.


    Meanwhile, Jiang Li felt like he was wronged because when he turned around to face her, instead of bringing him in her arms, she began raining punches on his chest. When he tried to capture her fists, her red-rimming eyes stared daggers at him.


    He awkwardlyughed, ''I''ll never be emotionally or mentally affected because from the beginning, I''m not Jing Mo. But maybe I''ve really been too stupid.''

 Chapter 192: Ye Xinya (34)

    Chapter 192: Ye Xinya (34)


    There was no way Jiang Li could tell Ye Xinya about him not being Jing Mo so he only kept his quiet and allowed her to cry all she wanted. It was obvious there were various thoughts running in her head, but he had no way to guess them and address them. Thankfully, no matter what, he knew those that would run in her mind were random thoughts favorable to him. If his guess was correct, she felt that he was too pitiful because of his childhood. Otherwise, why would she refuse to go home even after reassuring her that he was fine?


    "So did you intentionally fly your car to my penthouse while dressed like that because you''ve nned beforehand to stay all day here? Tofort me?" A corner of his lips went up as he sneered and made fun of her get-up.


    Her eyes were red from crying for an hour but she looked so at home as she crossed her legs on the couch wearing that cute footwear. "It''s your fault that I''m worried." Angrily, she spat out.


    Used to her fiery temper, he replied, "Well, it''s weird that you''re worried even though you know I''m a grown man."


    "Even if you are a grown man, you have to know that even adults are susceptible to depression! I''ll be staying in your house until the ripples created by the news are over!" She dered with finality in her voice.


    "Are you sure you want to stay?" Jiang Li''s lips curled into a meaningful smile as he ced down a tray of snacks and cookies on the coffee table in front of the woman who was busy blowing her nose on some tissue.


    She nodded innocently. "I''m sure."


    "It''s different from when we lived in the same mansion in the western states. There, our maids and butlers were with us and there''s a guard sent by your grandfather ensuring I don''t bully you. This time, it will only be the two of us." He exined, expectantly watching for her next reactions. Would she finally be scared and realized how bad her deration was?


    Betraying his expectations, Ye Xinya looked at him in a solemn manner and replied, "I know what you''re thinking."


    He heartilyughed.


    yfulness shed across her cat-like eyes, "Just so you''ll know, I''m only afraid of you not daring to be a beast."


    The girl''s logic was simple. They loved each other and they were formally engaged. Since they were already very very very sure that they would marry each other, it would be okay if they be wife and husband physically in advance. Though of course, if there was a chance, she wanted to have their special night on the day of their wedding


    As for Jiang Li, even though he had not many romantic bones in the body, his brain was quite sound so he knew that even if the girl meant what she said, there would be a part of her wishing for something else. He had already been inconsiderate today, plus he was not truly a lustful person.


    "I''m okay with you staying here, but let''s talk about beastly matters once we get married." While shaking his head, he replied. A hand of his reached out to grab a cookie which he then brought near her mouth. "Open your mouth."


    Though puzzled why he was suddenly feeding her and because this was the third, if not second time in their five years of rtionship, that he did this, she instinctively opened her mouth wide. While she was relishing on the sweet taste of the chocte, Jiang Li said, "That''s my thanks and sorry for earlier. Enjoy."


    Of course, his words elicited a sharp re from the girl who felt that she was severely wronged. Or not.


    As the worried lover that she was, what she actually felt was that she should be the one saying thanks and sorry. Thanks because he survived the real hell so she could meet him. And sorry because she felt bad for what he went through.


    Seeing the viiness on the verge of crying again, for the first time in this lifetime, Jiang Li wanted to punch himself in the face. He sighed, "Don''t cry alright."


    His statement came a bitte. Now he was harboring regret that he didn''t just throw grenades at the Jing mansion. Why did he go this route? The part where he hypnotized a few members of the Jings to backstab, bankrupt and destroy each other internally was okay. But his way of destroying their reputation to the outsiders was not.


    ''Well, even if I be a thousand year old soul, since I''m still a human in both spirit and mind, I''m sure I''ll still make mistakes asionally.''


    While he was busy feeling annoyed at himself a bit, Ye Xinya who was wiping her tears and perhaps, even snot, on his shirt again, was actually also busy organizing her thoughts.


    Even when he took her out not only to shop for items and clothes, eat in a ssy and expensive restaurant, and sightsee all around the city, her mind would most of the time wander, busy formting ns.


    ...


    Jing Zexi was heavily condemned, alongside the whole Jing family. It was an inevitable result. The people would not care if their image before the issue was clean. The sympathy of the masses would always be for the unfortunate, needy, and weak, which was certainly not them, but the little kid in the videos who they had treated mercilessly for years.


    In actuality, things would not have been this bad if the issues were simply about the illegitimate son being maltreated.


    They had already revealed through the paparazzi that Jing Mo''s mother deceived them about him being Jing Zexi''s son and that he not truly had a Jing''s blood flowing in his vein.


    Bullying and bad treatment could be justified by falsifying records.


    They could hire somebody to pose as him and the had this person act like he did an uncountable number of crimes and evil deeds which resulted in those punishments. That way at least the people would know that, even though the punishments were very harsh, at least there were many reasons behind them.


    They could make it appear as if lenient punishments couldn''t make him straighten his ways, so they were ''forced'' to employ more extreme methods.


    If they said that, at least half of the me then would shift to Jing Mo. Little by little, they would be able to clean their image in the citizens'' minds.


    However, as of now, could they still do that?


    Unfortunately, no. Because this afternoon, it was revealed that Jing Mo died in the forest when he tried to escape from the disciplinary school. The death itself was not the real issue. How he got sent to that ce was. Whoever was moving against the family was quite thorough since he made sure the reason would also be known to everyone.


    So again, what''s the point of employing the ns mentioned above?


    All sorts of backstabbing and throwing of me happened within the Jing family. The stressed family head, Jing Long convened the important members to talk about the issue. Amidst the serious discussion, Jing Yuhan suggested, "Why don''t we have Jing Mo exin everything for us? Or at least make him appear and announce that he did not die?"


    The twenty-seven year old almost said to force the person say it was his fault that he got sent to that school. Thankfully, while the past years did not give an increase to his intelligence, it at least made him note what could anger or appear stupid to his rtives, especially the n head.


    A debate ensued after that. Not many of the middle-aged uncles'' favored the suggestion since they were wary of Jiang Liuxian, aka James Zuckerberg who was standing behind the person in question. Not only that, it was pretty obvious the person who revealed the dark materials could be very well Jiang Li himself. As the victim, who else would have a strong grudge to drive them into a corner?


    As Jiang Li, a prized executive of Facebrick who was also reported to be starting his own brand and ITpany, he had nothing to fear. Nobody would dare, not even the Jings, to link him to Jing Mo since no one would believe them anyway.


    "But, are we just going to suffer like this? The people are rallying to remove everyone surnamed Jing from their posts in the government. Our stocks are plummeting down. And our shareholders and partners are backing out of thepany. Soon we''ll have to dere bankruptcy. Our downfall will definitely be faster than the Bu family from five years ago because our assets and power are not as extensive, solid, and deep as them. Are we going to simply wait for our death?" Jing Yuhan impassionately argued, looking one by one into the eyes of everyone else present.


    The retired former head, Jing Zexi''s elder brother looked him in the eyes too, asking, "Then tell me, how are you going to make the enemy that nned all of these to stop adding more attacks or appear to at least say to the world that he is Jing Mo and is alive?"


    Eyes fell upon the young man. He went silent because he didn''t know what to reply. The question had caught him off-guard since he only thought of proving his point and not giving a solution. It was his sister who broke the silence after some time.


    While sporting a brooding look, she parted her magenta-colored lips to say, "I have an idea. But it''s an extreme one which involved somebody important to him."


    The old man was already sixty three years old and was older than fifteen years by his younger brother Jing Zexi. Used to the ways of the world, he could already guess what Jing Na, the brighter of his grandchildren from his second son, was having in her mind. A sigh escaped out of his lips. "If you''re nning to suggest that overused n, to kidnap his fiancee Ye Xinya and threaten Jing Mo with her life to make him help us, how are you going to execute it?"


    That was the hard part. Say they did consider stooping that low, how would they execute the n when there was a high likelihood that Ye Xinya was protected by some skilled bodyguards?


    While everyone else was wracking their brains to either think of other solutions or an answer to the old man''s question, some of them were looking downwards, eyes unfocused and zed.


    One of them, the father of Jing Yuhan and Jing Na, raised his hand and resolutely announced, "I''ll take responsibility since it''s my daughter who thought of the n. Please leave the execution to me."


    Looking at the determination from his second brother''s eyes, the current n head only thought for a minute before nodding in agreement. Their father did notment on anything and continued sporting the same cid expression he had in his face. Did his second son not say outright what he was nning because he was afraid of leaking from traitors or spies? If so, good. He wouldn''t pry then.


    However, what was with this unsettling feeling he was having ever since the matter broke out this morning? Was this what Murphy''sw really meant? Whatever could go wrong would go wrong?


    The old man learned of the reason a dayter.


    His usually smart second son executed the n and ''tried'' to kidnap Ye Xinya. Yeah, tried. Because in his mind, he really intended to do so. It was just that Jiang Li already predicted they might turn against Ye Xinya and thus hypnotized Jing Yuhan''s father as a precaution. Due to this while in his quest to abduct the woman, as if possessed, he intentionally left clues to the police so he and his men would be apprehended before they do anything untoward to her.


    The worst thing was that the weirdness did not end with just that. Upon hearing what bad ns he had against Ye Xinya, Jiang Li appeared in the police station and said a few words to him. After that, even though he was supposed to wait for hiswyers and deny every charge thrown at him, he found himself voluntarily admitting to the crime and even selling out his own daughter and son as masterminds!


    "No, this can''t be happening!" Jing Yuhan''s father kept shaking and denying to himself. But when the angry and heavily protesting Jing Na and Jing Yuhan got escorted into the interrogation room, he had no choice but ept the reality... and faint on the cold tiled floor of the same interrogation room.


    ...


    The culprit behind the Jing family''s misfortune was in a fancy western-styled restaurant he reserved a few miles away, He was with the viiness, meeting a VIP that had just arrived in the country a few hours prior to this meeting.


    Ye Xinya was feeling nervous despite calming music created by the world-ss pianist specially invited for this dinner. Jiang Li was curious and was in a staring contest with the middle-aged dude, the VIP. All in all, the atmosphere the strange.


    The girl was feeling antsy, yet couldn''t escape from the ce since she felt that it was her responsibility to apany Jiang Li. They were the only ones at the ce because this meet up was not to be made public. But theck of other people''s presence in the restaurant apart from the staff who had retreated five meters away from their center heightened the awkwardness and ufortable sensation in her heart.


    She raised her head a bit so she could take a glimpse of their visitor from abroad. It was a person she already met a couple of times in the past, yet every time she saw him, she would involuntarily feel in awe of his imposing air and momentum.


    ''As expected, he is really somebody who became a living legend under the age of forty.''


    Ye Xinya noted the difference in the kind of stares James Zuckerberg was giving his adopted son. For a moment she was stunned.


    It seemed the tycoon made time to see Jiang Li because of that incident.

 Chapter 193: Ye Xinya (35)

    Chapter 193: Ye Xinya (35)


    The rtionship between Jiang Li and his not really cheaply gained billionaire godfather was more like that of businessmen or partners than father and son. It was an exchange. It was hard to tell if the exchange had been of equal value but the two did not talk much about it.


    In summary though, while Jiang Li managed to gain the backing of this global personality, he had to deal with the Northerners who tried to manipte election results and a small research firm from the central continent who managed to steal and misappropriate the data of more than a hundred million active users of Facebrick.


    By that time, both crises already happened, causing this person to be roasted by the world. The man arranged for a press conference where he would answer every query and defend himself. When Jiang Li extended help, he was only given a couple of hours to prove himself and do something about it, which he couldn''t do even if he could qualify to be called a super hacker. So how did he still get the status of being Facebrick''s CEO''s son? How else? But cheat ''honestly''?


    The honest part had to be emphasized because his side mission was to live honestly. Anyway, the cheating mentioned was the use of the system, a dubious existence which he only nned to use if forced into a corner or if there was absolutely no choice. He said James Zuckerberg was not really a cheaply gained plot armor because he had to painfully pay some points to tamper with all the pieces of evidence convicting the CEO with the crimes.


    Only through performing that miracle which helped the person evade losing his whole userbase''s trust did he ept Jiang Li. And even then, it was probably not about what he did, but his potential which truly convinced this person to adopt him.


    After all, the journey of a billion-dorpany would be long and troubles would always be in the way. The CEO must have considered that if there was one more skilled person, no, godly skilled person, by his side when those troubled timese, then thepany he founded wouldn''t suddenly die.


    So as said above, the two, for thest five years were not really like father and son, but partners, or maybe, boss and subordinate, with Jiang Li being the lower party.


    Yet it was a surprise that the magnate suddenly flew over to this country to meet him just because of the drama that was revealed about his past.


    Jiang Li heartilyughed when James, no, Jiang Liuxian told him using the Western states''nguage, "The stupidest and funniest family I have and will most likely evere across in my entire life is the family which let go of a superbly useful and dependable kid like you. You''re practically a secret ace. I feel bad for them. But it''s their loss. And my win."


    Who would have thought a man of this standing would make time to cross the oceans just tofort him? Was this a ploy? So he would be attached or more emotionally invested in this person?


    Lame attempt then. Jiang Li felt funny deep within as he replied, "Indeed, they are the stupidest family."


    Nodding, the other man then asked, "How long are you going to stay here?"


    Ye Xinya kept her silence and chewed on her food. However, she had also perked her ears to listen to Jiang Li''s response. Their initial agreement was only for two weeks since the n was only to sightsee and visit the grandfather of the viiness who kept pestering them with emails, text messages, and calls toe back. After that, they would go back to the western estates again to further their studies and qualifications.


    Jiang Li answered, "I''ll follow Xinya''s arrangement."


    She raised her head at him in surprise. A momentter, her eyes turned a bit panicky, the look she was giving the man was discreetly using, ''You know all I want is to be a quiet flower vase in this meeting. Why did you pass your Dad''s question to me!?''


    The gaze she received was quite annoying, one which was seemingly replying, ''You can do it, I''m giving you this precious opportunity to deepen your bond with your future father-inw.''


    ''It''s you who should spend more time and exchange more words with your Dad!'' She wanted to tell to his face. However, seeing the eyes of the tycoon directed at her, she could only put on a perfect and practiced smile then told him what they nned.


    Jiang Li asked, "How about you join us in sightseeing, Dad?"


    It was an invitation said in a whim, for formality per se. But he didn''t expect the older man to really ept it. For a while he was surprised, but not long after he smiled wryly since he saw the viiness lowered her head, looking so sad.


    ''So I just dug my own grave and would have to think of ways to avoid getting buried earlier than expected?''


    The muted system''s trantion: Host made the viiness'' sad because it was supposed to be a trip for only the two of them but now there would be a third wheel, somebody she would have to be mindful of. Now he would have to think of ways to make up with her.


    Jiang Li stared at the man while guessing what air got into his brain to agree to something he obviously knew he should decline. When the other maintained a neutral expression, he felt irritated. As a result, when they got to the car, he immediately pulled up his phone and typed a few things there. Not long after, James Zuckerberg received a phone call from one of his secretaries who told him that there was an urgent matter in thepany that the CEO must immediately deal with.


    At that time, the young man saw the CEO red at him. Clearly, it was not easy to fool the man since he immediately guessed it was Jiang Li ying a trick on him. "Young man, if there is something you want to say, don''t be shy and say it. I won''t be unreasonable."


    Jiang Li''s face darkened. "..."''I''m lectured by somebody younger than me in age...''


    System: Who asked you to feel like it''s okay to act your body''s age when mentally you should be more than three hundred years old? He he.


    The system was brave in retorting since the host wouldn''t hear him.


    Apparently, Jiang Li''s attempt to make the tycoone back to his own country failed. But thankfully, the person finally stopped his humorless teasing. Instead of tagging along with the couple, he asked to be driven the Ye mansion where he would meet Grandfather Ye.


    When they dropped the person off there, Ye Xinya worriedly asked Jiang Li, " Did your Dad bring an interpreter with him?"


    When the person walked towards the gate where the Ye Cheng and some of the Ye family housekeepers and maids were lining up, only the bodyguards in charge of James Zuckerberg''s safety were with him, following faithfully behind his back. Was one of those people proficient in Huaxia''snguage and would act as the CEO''s trantor?


    "Don''t worry about that," Jiang answered. "That person won''t be able to build Facebrick is he is not a genius himself. Learning anguage or two shouldn''t be a challenge for him. Since he didn''t ask for my help to get him a decent trantor, it means he learned thenguage himself and is confident of his skills."


    Ye Xinya thought about it for a couple of moments and felt like he had a point. She then chose not to worry about it anymore.


    After dealing with James, they had more talk about random things as they drove to the next destination. Two days ago, the girl did a little research on ces they could visit in the country and made a n for them. Since the night sky had just risen up, the girl reckoned it was still early and urged him to drive the car in a famous night park sh night market. In order to not feel out of ce there, they changed into normal clothing and parked the car in a nearby mall while they went on foot to the location which they only reached after asking around a few times.


    The site was full of brightly lit tents and stalls. And of course, people. Even though they were not near a river and the type of people loitering around was wearing modern clothing and taking pictures of every moment they found memorable or beautiful, the sight reminded Jiang Li of the time he went with Jiang Ying Yue to antern lighting event hosted near a river.


    After looking around, the girl pulled him into a fortune-telling booth, meeting his questioning eyes with her bright ones as she happily said, "This is only for fun. Come on!"


    "Wee and fifty credits per session. The rules are on the wall to your right. Ask only what is not there," said the veiled woman seated in the middle of the booth.


    This person whose only visible parts of her body were her hands and hazel-green eyes looked so bored as she propped her face up with one hand. There was no prop on her table. No tarot cards, or marbles, or crystal ball. How would she divine her booth''s customer? This was a night market so it was obvious the fortune teller was a fake, but even so, shouldn''t she put more effort into ying her part?


    On his side, the viiness enthusiastically exined to him. "Ah Li, I have done a bit of research about this ce and thedy fortune teller is one of the best attractions here because whatever she says will alwayse true."


    He wandered his gaze around and nodded. But inwardly he was thinking, ''Yeah, famous attraction indeed. Coz there is no queue outside.''


    The woman whose age couldn''t be discerned due to most body parts being wrapped in clothes spoke, "I have no problem divining the future of you two in this current lifetime. I can also divine what happened to the two of you in the previous lifetime. But no asking what would happen in your next life because I have no way of knowing."


    Mentioning lifetimes, Jiang Li became intrigued. As they sat on the stools in front of the woman, he confirmed, "What''s with the divining of the future of the current lifetime and the past of the previous lifetime?"


    Ye Xinya discreetly whispered to him, "Aren''t fortune tellers, people who can tell fate? Perhaps they have ways to glimpse into the different lifetimes."


    "Sir, I''m an honest businesswoman. Ask what you want to know. But of course, pay first? Or sign this stub so before you leave, I know how much to collect from you two."


    "Hmmm." After pulling up a number of paper bills exchanged in the money-changers from the mall, he asked, "Can you divine what happened to us in the previous life?"


    "Of course." ncing at the money ced down on the box on the left side of the table, she answered.


    "So what did you see?"


    "I can''t tell." Indifferently replied by the woman. Jiang Li did not truly be stunned since it was a rule written on the wall. But since he felt like testing the person, he continued, "It''s not said in your rules that we can''t make a guess while you will answer if it''s correct or not. So just out of curiosity, is it perhaps me wearing a general''s costume while this girl looks like an aristocrat?"


    Without a change in the fortune teller''s tone, the words came out of her mouth, "Well, if you know. Why ask?"


    Her eyes momentarily lingered on Ye Xinya''s face and he didn''t miss the slight change in them. Why did he see wariness in them?


    And her way of speaking... It was hinting that she was extraordinary, so extraordinary that if she really knew what he was, she was not in awe of his identity. However, there was something in his harmless viiness that made her guarded? Why? Could he be simply thinking too much?


    He looked at Ye Xinya and noticed the confusion in her expression.


    "I''m riding along with her rules and set up." He exined with a shrug. The look she gave him said he was lying again, and heughed because while he phrased it in a way easy to misunderstand, like he always does, he was actually speaking the truth.


    "Miss, can you tell us now our future in this lifetime?" The girl asked. To which the fortune teller tly replied, "Sure. The usual small dramas with those disgustingly lucky people. But no morerge dramas because you two are basically free from the main plot."


    Ye Xinya didn''t know what was with that extremely weird and cryptic divination, but when she wasmenting finding a fake fortune teller, Jiang Li smiled so widely before making her go out.

 Chapter 194: Ye Xinya (36)

    Chapter 194: Ye Xinya (36)


    Before Ye Xinya walked out of the dark tent, she could swear that he saw Jiang Li smiling so widely yet the look in his eyes was the coldest and most dangerous she had ever seen in her life. Out of fear, she nodded and hurriedly walked out.


    When she was outside, the air finally flowed naturally around her and she could breathe again. That was scary. Countless spections ran in her mind, most were wondering if the words the woman said were not really fortune-telling but secret messages, or threat from someone she was working under.


    What could that mean though? And what kind of threat?


    Now she was feeling annoyed that she was asked to go out. Yet her mind was also rationalizing there was no other choice since the man left no room for argument, which he very rarely did unless the situation was not something she really should take part in, or something very dangerous.


    Which one was it? In all honesty, she hoped it was neither. Between these two evils, none was the lesser. The first one would make her feel bad since it meant he was keeping secrets from her. The second one would make her worry like crazy about his safety. There was the option of pretending she didn''t see and guess anything, but that would make her in insane then.


    ''There should be no problem if I eavesdrop, right?'' When she was on her wit''s end, the thought popped up.


    Although the idea was quite bad and not in line with what a properdy should behave, Ye Xinya couldn''t care less. She half-circled the tent and tried to lean her ears on the part of the tent where at least the woman was located.


    There was no sounding there? Were they not speaking at all?


    She wandered her eyes at the outer tent which was only made of thick ck fabric. She was not really hearing anything at all for a minute. If those two were actually in the heights of their discussion, then she could only assume that the owner installed soundproofing or something for privacy. So annoying!!!


    Now, what else could she do but to stand there lost in her thoughts, ''Will he tell me about it once their talk is over.''


    The rear end of the tent was also next to a narrow road and on the opposite side were various stalls and shops. It might have been a puzzle why the female lead and male lead appear in that ce, but they just did, and they ran into Ye Xinya who remained standing at the same spot.


    Ren Lian was the one who saw her first and led Han Su to where she was. But instead of showing anger for her failed signing of contract before, what she nned was to showcase her kindness in front of the male lead.


    "Miss Ye. Are you here by yourself? Even though the night market is a fairly safe ce, it''s still nighttime so there are some bad guys roaming around. Would you like toe with us?"


    Those were the words she wanted to say. It was an opportunity to get back to what happened days ago and her eyes were already glowing in mischief as she thought of the stalls and ces in the vicinity where she could make things difficult for the viiness.


    Unfortunately, she didn''t truly manage to say all of these because Han Su who was in a bad mood upon seeing Ye Xinya beat her to it. He spat out in a t tone yet the statement was full of sarcasm, "I didn''t expect to meet you here, Miss Ye. Isn''t a good opportunity to continue our discussionst time? I remember I''ve yet to receive an exnation andpensation for the damage done to my car."


    Ye Xinya frowned and then looked at the pair before her eyes settled on Han Su. At that time, she wished she didn''t have a good memory so she could confidently say that she tends to forget unnecessary people and stuff. But well, she couldn''t. And it was bad not to admit one''s wrongdoings and apologize.


    "Good eve. Don''t worry, Mr. Han. There is just an emergency that day which left me helpless but to prioritize it. To be honest, it''s not that I''m running away from the responsibility. In fact, for the past two days, I was waiting for the people from the repair shop to the Ye mansion so I could pay for it. Who would have thought instead of just bringing your car for repair and telling the people there to collect the payment from us, you actually waited for us to meet before asking for it?"


    "How would I know if the Ye family would not deny it?" The male lead asked with a dark expression on his face.


    The girl clicked her tongue because she couldn''t believe what this person just said. "You''re afraid of an established family doing what again?" Sheughed mirthlessly, giving Ren Lian a look of pity because as she could see, the man the female lead was linking arms with was quite the stupid one. As a tactfuldy, she didn''t say of course what was on her mind. With a smile, she asked for Ren Lian''s bank details and transferred some money to her through his mobile app.


    "I''ve wired the money over. I''m leaving."


    "Miss Ye won''t want to hang out with us?" The female lead sported a pitiful look.


    "No." Why would she want to be a third-wheel? If she was as the plot initially intended, somebody madly head over heels for Han Su, she would definitely dance along with the other girl''s plot and then make a fool out of herself somewhere. She shook her head. "Excuse me. Someone is waiting for me."


    When she was about to half-circle the tent of the fortune teller back to its true entrance, she heard a familiar voiceing in front. "Excuse me. That someone is impatient and simply decided to look for you."


    She turned her head in surprise then unconsciously beamed. It was hateful being rubbed to her face that no one was apanying her while those two were acting lovey-dovey with each other. Annoying. Didn''t they know she and Jiang Li were one step ahead since they were officially engaged? Why was the eyesore girl who suddenly turned hostile to her since that day without reason looked as if she wanted her to die of jealousy of them?


    "We met again, Mr. Jiang." Unlike theck of warmth the male lead showed to the viiness, he was quite respectful to Jiang Li. Or more like, he was disying both admiration and pity. As another person aware that he was Jing Mo, it was hard not to feel those two emotions toward Jiang Li upon being reminded of the greatest scandal of the year. How amazing that the subject of that stuff was here carefreely strolling the night with a beautifuldy, as if he was not the person shamed?


    Jiang Li returned the greetings with a nod then nced at the female lead who still kept giving Ye Xinya was an unfriendly gaze. "It seems you and Miss Ren are in the middle of a date. My fiancee and I won''t bother you two. Enjoy sightseeing."


    "Likewise." The male lead replied.


    Ren Lian was irritated by the tight feeling in her chest so she spoke before those two couldpletely leave. "Mr. Jiang, Ms. Ye. Our Han Corporation CEO''s birthday celebration will be three days from now on. May we send a formal letter of invitation to your address or the Ye mansion?"


    Who knows what crossed her mind to say that? But after some time, she realized the outdoor party sh camping would be full of opportunities for her to exploit. The female lead couldn''t really fight back against the desire to do or n something untoward to the niece of that criminal.


    Seeing the other woman''s reaction, Jiang Li asked Ye Xinya, "Three dayster is when we''ll meet Dad with your grandpa, right?"


    The kind of look he gave her was telling her, don''t contradict, or else his question would turn into a lie and he would have to be punished by the Original.


    Ye Xinya whose nerves were rubbed wrongly by Ren Lian''s attitude spoke apologetically. "I''m sorry, Ms. Ren and Mr. Han. We have an appointment on that date."


    Finally, the viiness brought her fiance away from there.


    As they walked towards where their car was parked, Ye Xinya remembered the real problem was not those two random people, but the fortune teller. Worriedly she poked her right forefinger on his back. "Hey, how did the talk go? What did she tell you?"


    Jiang Li who couldn''t lie had learned a bit of how to effectively distort or blurred the truth without making it sound like a lie replied with a sigh, "That woman only predicted my future with you. And I forced her to say nice things about it."


    "You''re lying," her stare told him. "You looked very scary a couple of minutes ago. I don''t believe it''s nothing big deal like what you said?"


    "Well, I have a feeling she''s not lying but I dislike cryptic messages so I talked with her and then discovered what she meant. Look, don''t you think one of the little dramas thatdy fortune teller said has just happened?"


    They got into the car and mutually decided to head home now. The sched tomorrow was packed since the girl had been too enthusiastic in nning. An early need would be very much needed since her ns included many outdoor activities demanding on stamina.


    As he drove the vehicle away, Ye Xinya seated on the passenger seat, he once looked through the rearview mirror to take a glimpse at the direction of the fortune teller''s tent.


    He recalled how their odd conversation flowed which started with him demanding to know if she was rted to the system or the fate of the worlds.


    She replied while looking at him like an idiot, "I am but a fortune teller. Teller. Not maniptor. How the heck will I get acquainted with things created or governed by high gods?"


    "High gods?"


    "Beings way above mortals, what else? I thought you were one because you mentioned a system or something that could bring you to different lifetimes. Oh. So you are not..." Nodding, she looked heavenward, then guessed, "Then are you perhaps a ve of a high god? Or a messenger?"


    That time he didn''t understand a thing of what she asked. However, he did be offended after being asked if he was a ve to a higher being. The source of irritation in his heart was that he did feel like he was one, the system the living proof of it.


    "What did you see in her then? I saw how you reacted after you take a good look at her." He next said as he suppressed the anger rising within him.


    Looking at her ck-painted nails, the woman narrowed her eyes, "Oh. That? Well, I''m an authentic fortune teller who can see the past lifetime, existing events in the current lifetime, and future events in the current lifetime. Is it my fault that I got intrigued why somebody like her...."


    The woman yfully hanged her sentence andughed. "Ooops, I can''t tell, or else, the heavens or fate or whatever it was, would take away my ability. I would die then since I''m just a woman fed by my fortune-telling business."


    Jiang Li tried to offer, "I can give you a whole building and a sum of money to help you with your livelihood if you tell me what you know. If there''s something else you need, as long as it''s a request within the scope of my ability, I''ll grant it. What do you say?"


    She snickered, "Unless you present to me a billion-dorpany I wouldn''t trade my only source of ie and joy for anything. Otherwise, I''ll just kill myself. Anyways, you''re a ghost who lived at least the same amount of time as me. Since you don''t seem to be brainless, only rude and arrogant, I don''t believe you don''t have a guess in your mind."


    He lowered his head then and pondered over her statements. Before leaving, he said, "Thanks for all the information then. But I''m curious, saving seen who I am in the past life, if you''re as simple as you imed to be, howe you''re not afraid that I''d kill you for not telling me what I wanted to know?"


    "What''s your guess?" There was no fear in the woman''s eyes despite feeling the full pressure and aura of a veteran general pouring down on her whole body.


    "You''re a liar, witch."


    He remembered sneering as he walked out, but deep within, he had made up his mind to not evere back there since the person was giving him a dangerous aura he never felt since he became a task-taker.


    A person who could glimpse at events taking ce in another world... and also did not truly show fear when mentioning mythical beings called high gods. Who the hell would say she was harmless and ordinary?


    "Jiang Li, I just thought of it now. What do you think went on between Grandpa and the CEO?"


    "Maybe about business partnership? If not, then marriage?" The manughed, choosing to give the issue more thoughts once back home.


    ...

 Chapter 195: Ye Xinya (37)

    Chapter 195: Ye Xinya (37)


    Tens of minutes after the viiness and the world-hopper left the tent, another person entered, dressed in a suit, the kind which normal sryman in apany or business entity would wear. The guy was tall and had a good body built and posture. His face looked average, but it was the kind which would give off a feeling of intellect yet the goofy grin hanging on his lips made him easy to get along with.


    In a loud booming voice, he announced his arrival, raising a stic bag of food and drinks, "Old hag!!! Your handsome and beloved adopted son is here!"


    Thedy fortune teller looked at the direction of the curtain entrance cidly, "Oh. Hello."


    Ignoring the lukewarm response the young man looked around while walking towards her table that was clean and empty apart from the money box on the left. The woman extended her fair right hand to snatch the bag in his hand. Her adopted son merely shrugged and then sat on the stool there while waiting for her toy out the cups of noodles, the side dishes and the carbonated drinks on the table


    "Your tent is unusually quiet and empty by the way. What happened?"


    "A VIP arrived. Of course, I had to reserve the whole ce for them. Didn''t you see the sign hanging on the door?"


    The fortune teller''s voice was full of contempt, and so were her eyes that were the only ones visible in her face.


    There was such thing ced outside? He awkwardly scratched his head, "Well, I missed you too much, mom, that I just barged in without thinking."


    "Fool," she spat in ridicule before lifting her own spoon. Tasting the broth scooped up, she nodded, "At least you know where to buy good food. You''re notpletely hopeless."


    ''If I mind this old hag''s sharp tongue or indifferent attitude, I''d die of a heart attack.''


    "Who is the VIP, by the way? Is he a real VIP of this world, or a VIP from the higher worlds that you told me before?"


    She encountered the woman when he was still a part of a group of six. He escaped from the capital only to encounter her somewhere. Then ever since he was adopted by the woman, she began passing to him her knowledge about the world and her skills in divination. That was when his mind opened up to reality.


    Even though he already epted that there were all sorts of people in the world, it was sometimes hard to fathom how the two people he encountered five years ago were always acting as if they were the center of the world.


    Who knows if they were aware or not, but they were making it appear through their actions that everyone existed for them.


    ''They are the fated son and daughter of this world. Of course, once their stars or fate started to get drawn to each other, everyone and everything in the world would move in their favor. Even their downfalls are the world''s way of giving them the best things. How else will they only be the ones benefiting through the ''fishing in troubled waters'' scenarios,'' exined to him before by the fortune-teller? How dark had his face be back then?


    To his question asked earlier, the woman answered after swallowing a mouthful of noodles. "Well, I don''t know. He didn''t say. Maybe he got annoyed at me because I also kept my identity from him. Who knows. What do you think? Help me think so you will not be useless again today."


    The young man felt speechless. His brain which only made him qualify as a normal intern in a fairly newpany''s marketing department tried its best to convince him that the woman before him was an elder that he should respect. ''Don''t lose temper. She has little entertainment in her life and infuriating you is one. Don''t be heartless.''


    shing a toothpastemercial smile, Dong Lan told the woman, "Mother, you''re a liar."


    The other person felt amused since she just heard the same from her most recent customer. However, Dong Lan felt scared because usually, if her eyes looked to be smiling like that, it meant a disaster would ensue. Gesturing with his hand and the spoon, he hurriedly said, "W-wait. Please don''t be angry. Your son is still young and learning. So whatever you say, I''ll take it as the truth. He he. That''s what I mean. Y-you just heard wrongly earlier."


    "Tch." The woman clicked her tongue. Her eyes were on the spoon in her right hand. She red at the young man and then said, "How did you be so spineless in just a few years? And stupider too. If you''re going to buy noodles, make sure to get chopsticks, not spoon!"


    The man chose to y a deaf ear, internally telling himself, ''Is it my fault that the store owned by the only beautiful woman in the stall outside has run out of chopsticks? Who am I to refuse a beauty when she offered an alternative?''


    The sight within the tent was one between a mother scolding her foster son for something that was not a big deal. However, it always happened in every household, so it was quite heartwarming. This was how a parent-son rtionship deepened.


    Of course, every child hated being scolded for stuff they don''t think as huge. Dong Lan was not an exception. So to stop the fortune teller from torturing his ears, he interrupted her by telling her something that might interest her.


    For example, his encounter with a man who was not a hidden boss or a viin, yet could make things difficult for the male lead or the female lead.


    "Alright, mom, listen, I met this guy five years ago and I think he''s the very first person who didn''t mysteriously get led around by those disgustingly lucky people."


    "Oh? Are you making up stories again?"


    "No. No. I''m somebody living an honest life, alright? I''m telling the truth. When I was still a person without awareness of the world, he kept refusing Han Su and I even heard that after leading him out of the forest, he left him in the town even though it''s past midnight."


    "Hmm. Interesting, indeed."


    "I know right? I''m thinking maybe this boy is like me, a person with awareness. Or maybe he is also like that Han Su? Hmm,e to think about it, his background his more tragic but he soared to great heights when he got adopted by somebody super rich... So maybe he is really another person like Han Su."


    The more than three hundred years old witch shook her head after slurping the noodle''s soup. "It''s impossible for there to be another person like that Han Su in this world. However, I''m intrigued. Who is the person? What is his name? Do you know?"


    Dong Lanughed, "Of course, I know. After all, he''s popr, and my target to be my boss. Maybe I''ll get epted because he''s at least familiar with me? If I can be employed in his dad''spany, you won''t have to set up a tent in a ce like this, in a few years you can set up your own circus or theme park!"


    The fortune-teller rolled her eyes, hand reaching out to the can of soda. "There''s no problem lusting after wealth but quit daydreaming. And don''t approach that person ever again. He is dangerous."

 Chapter 196: Ye Xinya (38)

    Chapter 196: Ye Xinya (38)


    Three dayster.


    Jiang Li remembered once that Ye Xinya had encountered the female at a restaurant. Back then he noticed from afar that thetter was throwing the viiness a not so friendly stare. Why so? Wasn''t the plot finished five or four years ago? The attitude Ren Lian disyed when they were at the night market was not very nice too. He saw displeasure, or maybe hate... but then again, why?


    Once Jiang Li asked Ye Xinya and she replied how would she know why a woman she was hardly acquainted with was suddenly jealous or hostile to her?


    When he thought about it, the only thing that came to mind was that there had been a change of plot, the viiness was hated by the female lead for being superior and having a blood connection to Ye Jing, a mere sidekick of the old corrupt dude who caused her parents'' death. Apart from this, there should be more interaction between the two.


    Forced. If this was truly the case, then he would have no other opinion other than the reason for the hate being forced.


    "Miss, can you tell us now our future in this lifetime?"


    "Sure. The usual small dramas with those disgustingly lucky people. But no morerge dramas because you two are basically free from the main plot."


    Remembering this part of his conversation with the witch, Jiang Li frowned. He was lost in thoughts when somebody knocked on his door.


    "Hey, I found the watch I''ve gifted to youst year!" A melodious voice rang from the doorway of his room.


    While he was busy checking himself out in the mirror, fixing his navy blue tie, the girl walked popped up behind him, mumbling in aining tone, "Do you know how much trouble I went through to search for this one under the many boxes of things in the living room? Tomorrow, let''s not go anywhere but clean up the house!"


    While Ye Xinya went in front and slipped the dress watch on his left wrist, he took notice of her attire and said, "You look okay. But something''s off. As if you''re going on a funeral."


    Ye Xinya harrumphed, then crossed her arm and turned her little head away. "Well... I don''t like the celebrant and his girlfriend."


    "Well... We can hate and like whoever. But what happened to your professionalism and maturity? Are you having a fever? Being delirious? I would hate to bring you to the hospital for a check-up."


    Ye Xinya was not offended by his strangely asked questions since she was used to it. Also, the man did not mean anything bad. Instead of making a fuss over what he said, she scrunched up her nose toin.


    "Hey, why did your father suddenly feel like dragging us into that birthday celebration? And there''s a more pressing question here. Why is somebody as old as that Han Corporation''s CEO still celebrating birthdays? When I became of legal age, I only had a debut then after that, no more celebrations as grand and childish as that! You too only had youring of age ceremony because you''re Mr. CEO''s foster son. But him? A grown man needed a normal birthday party? Does he n to do that every year?"


    At times, people would just find things to nitpick on those they don''t like, even if in the process of doing so, they would appear childish or unreasonable.


    Ye Xinya, at that time,ughed like a real viiness, throwing her head back and clutching her t stomach. Take note that she was wearing all ck, fitting long dress that had a wavy tail and a veil with a small hat on the left part of her long flowing hair, high heels that had a small ck rose pattern at the tip... Even the ring, bracelets and ne... To be honest, her get-up would only be eptable if she received an invitation to a Halloween party. However, it was currently July, four months away from the month of October.


    "Well, that''s not only a birthday event actually, but the actual celebration for him getting elected or chosen as the CEO. That person must have wanted to use this event to show much authority he held in hispany and, as usually, established partnerships and connections. Typical business strategies." Jiang Li patiently exined.


    It was impossible for Ye Xinya not to know about this, but there were just asions when a person had to be reminded ofmon sense.


    After nodding at himself in the mirror, he dragged the girl back to her room and chose a decent blue long dress from her walk-in closet before walking out of the room.


    "If you hate the all-ck outfit, why didn''t you choose something morous for me? In this dress, only my arms and face will be revealed. Are you scared if they saw anything more skin, even a little bit, will cause everyone in the venue to go crazy for me?"


    "No. You''ll feel cold. The ce will definitely be greatly airconditioned. Even if the fabric of that dress is still not up to my standards, it''s already the thickest. Better than nothing. At least it should be able to block some cold and wind." With an honest face, Jiang Li said what was on his mind. He even added, "No need to thank me. I''m just trying to be thoughtful here."


    The girl stared at him suspiciously for some time but when nothing changed in his expression, she scolded outright, "Shameless liar!" Then she turned around and walked towards her dresser table.


    Jiang Li shrugged then said, "I''ll wait for you outside. If you can''t do it, since I''m sure you also don''t want me to experiment on your lovely hair, don''t worry we have lots of time to go to a salon and have the people there take care of your hairdo."


    After closing the door and ensuring nothing from the outside would make its way into the ears of the one inside the room, he beganughing and shaking his head. Even though years already passed, he still couldn''t get enough of teasing the girl.


    Hisughter lingered in the ce for quite a while until it died down because the owner of the voice went back to pondering over the witch''s word days ago.


    ''She called the leads disgustingly lucky people, which is very urate when factored in how everything revolves around them and goes the leads'' way once the plot officially started.'' He plopped down on the furry peach sofa in the middle of the room.


    ''The witch also said there will be no more big dramas because the leads are already together. She made it sound like the little dramas will not be big deals. However, I''m having a strong feeling this wouldn''t be the case. It''s hard to fathom the plot. Underestimating it might result in it managing to do fatal damage to the viiness.''


    Reminded of the kidnapping n by the Jings, his expression turned solemn. Since Ye Xinya would surely take more time inside, he fetched his phone from the room and contacted several people. It was time for the Jings to either self-destruct. Or be heavily damaged but survived, forever haunted by the bad image they now had.


    As for the female lead... Ah, that bothersome woman.


    She should be thankful, all she did were minor tricks and that she already got embarrassed a few times when she tried to sabotage or n something not nice against Ye Xinya.

 Chapter 197: Ye Xinya (39)

    Chapter 197: Ye Xinya (39)


    It was as if the incident from five years ago was repeated. Ye Xinya and Jiang Li walked in, even though they did, following James and Grandfather Ye, they still managed to get the spotlight onto for a dozen seconds until the Ren Lian and Han Su appeared to be the new center of the attention.


    Jiang Li dragged Ye Xinya in one corner after getting some food and drinks. They left the center stage to the leads and their guardians, feeling like having to smile surrounded by people they didn''t know would not be a good experience.


    All sorts of boring things happened in the sparkling wide hall and the two did not take part in them. When everyone else was busy dancing and socializing, they were at the sides, fighting over food andpeting on their knowledge of the ingredients. Whenever people tried to get near them, they would pretend like business partners in the middle of a very important discussion.


    Why were they invited there again? No, why did they attend the event again?


    They only remembered after two hours. Seeing that most people were in their group of friends or social circle, the two stood up and looked for the leads. While they were on their way there, as they were from the opposite side of the hall and their targets were on the other side, they had to pass by the entrance.


    "What do you think are you doing? Why are you still barring my way when I have already presented to you my invitation letter? Let me in." The voice was baritone and did not truly shout or raise his voice.


    However, the two were near the entrance, and Jiang Li felt that the voice was familiar. Holding his fiance by the waist, he turned his head on the open double-doors direction and happened to meet eyes with a man in his fifties who looked respectable and neat in his red and ck suit. That upturned, stern-looking eyes, thick lips and a huge mole on the left part of the jaw. Even if he looked haggard and badly stressed, those features could not get any more familiar to the scarred memories of Jing Mo.


    A smile formed from Jiang Li''s lips as he saw the surprised that crossed that person''s face. ''How have you been Jing Zexi?'' There was no way he could say those words to the bastard who essentially turned Jing Mo into one of the most pitiful yet hateful people in the world in the previous lifetime.


    "I have already repeatedly said, nobody surnamed Jing is allowed to step into the hotel. This is not about getting invited by the person who reserved the ce. It''s about the hotel owner setting that ban!"


    Ye Xinya noticed the tension and weirdness of her beloved''s behavior. There was also the other guests pointing fingers at the man because they recognized him from the videos and photos which just spread all over the inte. This was why after watching the guard, who got angered by the incessant and persistence of the middle-aged man, roared at him, she tugged on Jiang Li''s sleeve and said, "Let''s go. You said you have something to say to the celebrant and that we have to formally greet him beforeing back to your Dad''s side."


    Jiang Li only nodded, not knowing behind his back the girl, the secret hotel owner, signaled to the guard''spanion with her hands and wordlessly mouthed somemands.


    ''So you''re that Jing Zexi? You''re that devil in human''s disguise who did all of those unforgivable things to him? '' The person was reported to have hidden himself when the scandal broke out in fear of the court, the police, and the masses'' pursuit.


    Eyes tearing up, she viciously mimed more words to the head guard. ''Devil''s are not allowed in human territory! Drag him out and beat the hell out of him until he can''t be easily recognized anymore!''


    "How dare you! Call out your manager, I''ll talk to him about your behaviors!" Enrage shouts came out of Jing Zexi because the guards tore the invitation letter into pieces and then pointed at hispanions to drag the man away. "You, you tear the letter? Bastard! Bastard! Call out Jing Mo! He''s my son! I''ll make sure you''re all fired!"


    "Jing Mo? Isn''t he the son you have already killed? Sir, you''re really a beast in human''s clothing! Even in death, you''re not letting your poor son rest!"


    "What the hell are you saying! Jing Mo is alive! And he just saw me! He''s inside, call him for me! I''m his father, he will immediately go to me once he hears my name, Jing Zexi!"


    "Sir, just leave, you''re not wee here!" One of the guards cidly said.


    Another chimed in, "Yeah, Sir, you''ll be more weed in the mental hospital."


    The man who sent by his family to do the negotiation for them furiously fought against the three guards. "Stupid bastard! You''re the lunatic! I have been talking for so long to you but you can''t even understand human speech! Out of my way! I''ll my take Jing Mo away by myself then!"


    "Don''t let him through!"


    Given he was just a normal middle-aged man while the oppositions were trained personnel, in no time he was escorted out of the venue. No one from the party knew what happened to him, what he did after, or what he said. Once tomorrow came, Ye Xinya had already ensured that he would be thrown into prison and would forever remain there.


    Meanwhile, Jiang Li actually saw and even heard everything that took ce by the entrance and even noticed Ye Xingya''s actions. However, he didn''t say a thing. The grin on his face just widened up more without him knowing.


    "Good evening, Mr. Han."


    "I hope you''re enjoying the celebration, Mr. Jiang. Thank you foring despite your busy schedule."


    "It''s true we had dinner with my dad, but who knows he is actually a close friend of your maternal grandfather. Since there is a good rtionship between the two families, my dad brought me and Xinya." Wearing a very honest face, he sighed and nodded while exining.


    Ye Xinya perfunctorily greeted the birthday celebrant, her manners perfect and courteous, if theck of sincerity and look of ''I''m forced by circumstances'' in her face would be taken out of the picture.


    Jiang Li told to Ren Lian who was wearing a body-hugging white and ck knee-length off-shoulder dress, "How are you, Miss Ren. I and my fiancee have something to rify to you."


    Even though the two women were reluctant because it was Jiang Li who said these, Ye Xingya''s reason was needless to say, Ren Lian just didn''t want to offend a tycoon''s son, especially since the said super tycoon was nearby.


    Probably because the plot couldn''t interfere much anymore due to thepletion of the storyline, the talk had gone much smoother.


    Han Su was surprised to know that his girlfriend was harboring bad intent towards Jiang Li''s fiancee. The other man revealed how the female lead seemed to be stalking the viiness just so she could do anything which could cause even the smallest inconvenience to the other girl.


    The confrontation ended up with the woman breaking down into sobs, exining it was just hard not to feel grudge because she was a mere little girl when her parents passed away. She couldn''t ept that people rted to those who took her parents away from her were living happily.


    Jiang Li''s lips twitched watching as the male leadfort his female lead. Hiding the mild irritation in his heart, he said to the crying girl, "Miss Ren, we don''t me you because you have a reason. However, please note that my fiancee is merely rted to that person by blood. She is not the one who personally wronged you. The me should not be dragged into this mess. Or else, even if the ways employed by the two of you are different, how can you truly say you''re different from the ones you are condemning if you''re doing something wrong to the innocent."


    "What am I supposed to do then?!" In anger and grief, the female lead whose makeup was strangely still perfect and unstained despite sobbing and crying her heart for more than thirty minutes red at Jiang Li.


    The man exchanged nces with Ye Xinya. Thetter was not truly willing, but she hung her head and disclosed what had been agreed upon between her and Jiang Li.


    "I''m that Ye Xin." The pretty girl in blue began, smiling bitterly. "I''m the one sent by that same uncle to that school. My brother, the rightful heir died. My father is dead. Only my grandfather is keeping our mainline afloat. So I had to be Ye Xin, my brother for more than three years and be the target of Fourth uncle and the others schemes since then."


    Both the leads were dumbfounded. It took a long while for Ren Lian to recover from her shock. She couldn''t believe it because it meant that the girl before her also suffered so much and was also thrown to a very terrible ce by his own rtives, specifically put, by that Ye Jing. So they hated the same person?


    ''Girls are people who most of the time easier to appeal to through emotions. If they feel that they have something simr or had shared the same fate, they would easily let things go.'' With a smirk, Jiang Li mused to himself.


    Ren Lian went back to crying while Han Su went back toforting her. Not long after, as if a very urgent thought suddenly crossed her mind, she raised her hand, alternately looked at the beautiful couple in front of her and said in a weird inquisitive tone.


    "Wait. This means you''re the one who drove Mr. Jiang outside of the forest yet Mr. Jiang Li still fell for you?"


    Ye Xinya immediately turned red and the ce descended into a long silence. The male lead once again gave Jiang Li a gaze full of both pity and admiration. Jiang Li disdainfully nced at him and spat out, "I''m better than you who can''t even go against your elders and make the girl you like your official fiancee."


    A momentter, the leads looked at each other before smiling broadly at Jiang Li and Ye Xinya. Whileughing and shaking their heads, they held hands and then dered something which stunned the other couple, "Sorry... we''re already... married."

 Chapter 198: Ye Xinya (40)

    Chapter 198: Ye Xinya (40)


    Just in case the plot would still have something store against Ye Xinya, Jiang Li brought her back abroad and even settled there.


    The wedding had been arranged and nned by a professional hired by Facebrink''s CEO. Although the rtionship between them and the leads was no longer as strained, they didn''t invite them to their wedding. It was Jiang Li who denied the thought without even thinking twice. Ye Xinya naturally had no problem with that. In her opinion, the visitors didn''t matter as much as those who would be married themselves.


    How did Han Su and Ren Lian receive the news of not getting invited?


    Ren Lian: They must probably be angry because they thought they are ahead of us.


    Han Su: I think so too. But what''s the matter with losing in that aspect?


    Ren Lian: Hide your smug smile first before asking that question again.


    If Jiang Li learned of these two''s assumptions, he would definitely scoff and say, "Thinking too much is really a disease, you two. Tch. Who would want to associate with people always attracting troubles? What if they go to the wedding and then trigger another plot again?"


    Well, the wedding happened. Life goes on. And time passed by.


    ...


    James Zuckerberg was not truly warm to Jiang Li but since the man did give him hisst name and even called him his son despite having no blood rtion with him, Jiang Li reciprocated the goodwill by dering that his Jiang Corporation who hadter grown as big as Facebrick would forever be allied with the Zuckerberg.


    For him, this might not be much, but the remnant truly appreciated James since he was the first father figure who at least showed some care to him. That rascal from the Jing family and Long Cheng were not decent people so despite James Zuckerberg being indifferent and as expected from a self-made billionaire, a calcting utilitarian, the remnant had treated him as his true father and wanted to do something for him. Jiang Li, the borrower of the body had to do his bidding since he had to live a life honest to the Original''s feelings and beliefs.


    This led to him creating a will that upon his death, half of everything he had founded and earned would remain the properties of the Jiangs, while half would go to James'' family.


    The world did not get why he had to make a deration and will for an obvious matter, but the father nodded in praise but his attitude towards Jiang Li did not change. Anyway, thetter seemed not that hungry for attention and fatherly love. He was getting plenty enough from his wife and children.


    ''I have to leave again...'' When he had be an old man in that world, Jiang Li sighed and looked at the bright sky that could be seen from the open verandah of his chateau. Seated on his rocking chair, heughed. His aged wife thought he was happy due to the kids who were ying and rolling on the grass by thewn so her gaze softened.


    "Host''s time in this world will be up at 21:00 today." The mechanical voice of the muted system rang in his ears, delivering a piece of news that without him knowing, he had started to dread.


    However, Jiang Li acted as if he didn''t hear it, continuing to watch the scenery around him.


    Nighttime fastly approached. Jiang Li went to bed earlier than usual and chatted with Ye Xinya there. They talked about their days in the school, the weird tutorial sessions she had with him and their time abroad. After she talked about their kids and how they alternated with fetching them from kindergarten and elementary, she lowered her eyes, hardly suppressing the tears from the wrinkled corners.


    Sitting on the edge of their bed, she looked at the old man who always listening to her endless chattering. The rocking chair was now motionless and the person seated on it had now closed his eyes, breathingpletely undiscernable.


    Ye Xinya stood upboriously, movements as slow as a turtle due to old age catching up with her. Step by step she walked towards him and when she finally arrived in front of his seemingly sleeping figure, she forced a smile on her aged face. Her expression looked tragic. How could it not be tragic when at the same time she was crying so badly.


    "You''re still as crafty as ever, and now you''re leaving before me, Jiang Li." There was a hint of sorrow and sulking in her tone because she felt like her husband had just wronged her.


    However, when she hugged his still warm body so tightly, it showed how afraid she was afraid that even the shell that he left would vanish in the air. She was hugging him and refusing to let go.


    "Old man, you dared left earlier than me and I bet you''re now feeling scared there."


    While crying, she said determinedly. "But don''t worry. You won''t be lonely in the afterlife. I will being soon to you. I love you."


    ...


    The departure this time was surprisingly not as painful as when he left Jiang Ying Yue''s world. But because he was now very sure that at least in his future journey, someone out there would be apanying him, the faint ache in his heart was more bearable. He knew it wouldn''t linger for long since in the next world, once he found her again, the days would be better.


    The only question would be... how long would he take to find her?


    "Host will be transferred to the first official world now..."


    When Jiang Li clicked the option to leave the previous world, the system''s mechanical voice echoed in his brain, seemingly like a broken record since it had repeated the same words more than a dozen times.


    Alongside that came the usual darkness which always apanied his transfer to the next destination. After that. Silence.


    ''Am I in the next world already?''


    When close to ten minutes already went by, impatience blossomed in his heart, hence the question. In his opinion, so much time already passed.

 Chapter 199: Dong Lans After Story (1)

    Chapter 199: Dong Lan''s After Story (1)


    Once upon a time, there was ady fortune-teller in the famous night market of the capital.


    She seemed to be a youngdy because her hands which showed from her closely wrapped body were very beautiful, ones which only women in their twenties or early thirties would possess.


    Her eyes were very pretty too. And whenever she stood up and went out of her booth, one would be able to take a glimpse of her perfect S-shaped body.


    The many regr guys lining up outside of her tent made a bet that she was a very beautiful woman, just that she was from the south wheredies hid their hair and body under thick fabrics.


    The others were assuming she used to be a prettydy, but got disfigured at some point in her life hence she was wearing a half-mask below her eyes all day.


    Anyways, no matter her appearance, her booth was popr, not only due to her unseen face and air of mysterious, but because as people said her predictions were always urate.


    And she was not a fake.


    The im stemmed from the many rumors about her urately divining everything about a person, not only love but also family, future, troubles... And this was without any medium apart from seeing the person seeking divination face to face.


    The reason her service had no refund system was that there was no need for a refund. She would never make a mistake. Even if it would have proventer than expected. This fact had already be an urban legend of the ce.


    This was a regr day when people were lining up outside for the famous fortune-teller. Actually, the closing hour was nearing.


    When there was only ten minutes left, the fortune-tellerdy swept her fierce gaze to the young man idling by the side, ying with stocks on his phone and said, "Take over for me from now on."


    The answer came immediately, "Pass. I''m busy!"


    The most recent client had just gone out by then and the woman was annoyed that somebody was looking so rxed in one corner of her tent, tapping on his phone''s LCD.


    She red at him. "I said, take over here and assist the few remaining customers."


    The man scratched the back of his neck and replied without lifting his head up, "Mom, I''m busy making money for you. Don''t disturb me, okay? Anyways, there are only ten minutes before the closing time."


    "Don''t make me want to build a true inte rehabilitation school for you, Dong Lan." Annoyed, she spat out in a vicious tone.


    This time, the young man felt the chill from her voice, all his hair stood up.


    ''F*ck, the old hag is angry.''


    Sweating a bit, he put away the ck phone in an instant and fixed his tie since he was still in corporate attire before standing up. "Mom, yes, I will be the one assisting the customers now. In fact, I''m going out now to invite my first customer in. He he."


    He awkwardlyughed before darting to the tent''s entrance. The veileddy sneered then vacated her spot.


    It was already dark actually since the time was past 8:30 pm. The fortune-telling booth was only avable until 9 pm. When he checked, actually there was only one person there. A woman.


    "Hello, next client, pleasee in." Politely inviting the woman inside, the man raised the curtain higher so she would have no difficulty passing through.


    "Thank you."


    The youngdy lifted up her head and revealed a pair of blue eyes that made it obvious that she was wearing contact lenses. Those eyes hid the trouble and anxiousness. Now all that could be seen from them was that she was surprised.


    Nodding, shemented with approval in her tone. "I didn''t know this booth is so professional. Curtain-lifters have to wear fashionable corporate suits. Nice. The service is great despite the unseemly location."


    While the officedy was looking around, inspecting every corner of the tent lit in yellow and violet light, the man behind her was rolling his eyes.


    ''What professional? I''m a proper corporate ve, alright! I''m just checking on the old hag. Who knows that she''ll suddenly want to rest at one corner.''


    Don Lan''s eyes flickered to his left where the only other chair was located. But to his surprise, the witch was not there.


    ''Huh. When did she leave?''


    Absentmindedly and still wondering how and where the fortune-teller went, he took her usual seat behind the tall table. The woman who had now sat down in front of him finally noticed that something was wrong. "Where''s the famousdy fortune-teller?"


    Dong Lan smiled apologetically at the girl. "I''m sorry, my mom has to go somewhere urgently and won''t be back before closing time so I will take over for now. Don''t worry, I''m a fortune-teller too. And has frequently helped my mom in her business. Even though I am not as famous as her, I did help many people and has yet to tarnish our tent''s reputation. Please do tell me how can I help."


    The woman had all the reasons in the world to be suspicious of him. Everything he said was a lie. The woman did not say anything about not being back before closing time. He had never helped her in this business, and thus it was not true that he had helped many people before.


    But maybe because of his honest smile, the girl finally relented and began to speak. But Dong Lan did not miss the woman''s hand going inside her hand bad and reaching out to what he suspected as a stun gun.


    "Since you said so and I can''t see anyone here..." Eyes ufortably looking around, she nodded and then said, "Okay, I''ll tell you my dilemma. I mean, what I want you to divine."


    "No problem. I am born a listener. Before anything though, may I know how to address you, miss?"


    "You can call me, Miss Du."


    "Alright, Miss Du. I implore you to speakfortably with me. Don''t worry, nothing seen, said, and heard from this small room would make their way outside. I can assure you that. I swear to the reputation of my mom." Gesturing with his hand, he said passionately.


    The woman in white corporate attire nodded. "That put me at ease then. Let me begin."


    Dong Lan patiently listened to the client''s story for minutes... Not.


    Although not as skilled as the fortune-teller, divining normal people''s lives was quite easy for him so with just a nce he already knew what happened and what she wanted to consulted.


    However, he was annoyed by the kind of nce he got from her when he told her he would be the one divining her, plus her remark about him being a curtain-lifter quite got into his nerve.


    So yeah. He would let her stage a drama in front of him, telling him how she was suspecting she got cheated upon not only her heart but also money.


    While the woman was already crying yet still looking up to stop the tears, he noted in his mind,


    ''Hmmm. She''s familiar. I think I saw her already before. Where?''


    "I.. It''s a rtionship that has been going on for more than seven years. But he... he, I think he''s really cheating on me j-just because I.. I refuse to..." Crying and couldn''t continue, thedy stopped and buried her face in her hands.


    It took her a long time to recover. By then Dong Lan had already browsed her past to check who she was.


    He eximed with amazement in his heart. ''Oooh, nice. So she''s that short-haired girl before who became friends with that Ren Lian when we all escaped!''


    A goofy expression almost showed on his face upon thinking the girl used to be his schoolmate. Wow, although he didn''t know her, they were still a bit acquainted. Couldn''t believe, the bratty girl had grown up into a beautifuldy. Sadly, heartbroken.


    At the same time that Dong Lan was shaking the thoughts off of his head, the other party finallyid down her request as she slipped in some paper bills inside the money box. "H-hey. C-can you please, check for me... If I really have no fate with him?"


    "Sure, I just need your permission to check on your future in this timeline. What kind of fate do you want to confirm by the way?"


    Nodding, the woman replied, "I... A-at least, I want to know who I will end up with... Is it him... or somebody else?"


    ''All the dramas and tears, just for the sake of knowing who she will marry in the future. Why can''t women just be straightforward?'' He shook his head inwardly.


    But with a polite and professional smile of the merchandising department''s head, he exined. "Alright. I heard your request and I will be starting now. Will it be alright if you look at my eyes for ten seconds straight without blinking? This is a necessary step so I could take a glimpse of your future."


    He was sping his hands on top of the table, looking honest and in the know. The girl seemed determined to know the answer so she readily nodded but first requested some time to wipe the tears on her face and let the redness of her eyes fade away a bit. Watching her action, he almost burst intoughter.


    ''Wow, this is quite enjoyable. Next time, if another babe seeks the old hag, I''ll request to be the fortune-teller, he he. If possible I''ll hold hands with them while staring into their eyes. Who knows, maybe in that way, I can embed my face into their memories. He he he.''


    There was no need for a staring contest for whatever number of seconds. The dishonest man was simply having fun deceiving the other. And he was not feeling guilt whatsoever in his heart since only he knew of this, the fortune-teller was not around, or so he thought.


    Without his knowledge, the woman was actually still inside the tent. Standing near the tent''s entrance and with her arms crossed, she sneered and disdainfully watched her disciple amusing himself through a dishonest way. ''In a few seconds, let me see boy if you can still have that inerasable smile in your lips. Idiot.''


    In her country from the South, there was a phrase, ''devil''s tongue'', referring to how a person could sometimes utter malicious or bad predictions which alwayse true. The witch, who could predict things very urately, just said something which could be taken for that.


    The result showed exactly ten seconds after Dong Lan started peeking into the girl surnamed Du''s future. He saw her breaking up with the person she was currently dating. After that, she went into a severe depression due to always thinking of the past seven years she spent with the man.


    One time, she charged towards the other girl''s apartment and made a scene there, making her ex feel disgusted with her more. She didn''t care about the insults and pity thrown at her, but when her ex, the one she had loved and dedicated herself for years, exploded in front of her and threw many hurtful words at her, that was when her little remaining self-esteem broke down for real, leading her to attempt suicide numerous times.


    ''Well, seems to me her suicide attempts are not serious and mere ways to attract attention, his specifically, again. Tch. Foolish women. When they are cheated, they became angry, but instead of fighting the ones who hurt them, they go for the other woman first. Wow. This is why the guys approved of that annoying duckling''s Love Yourself song.'' Dong Lan shook his head inwardly and then continued browsing the memories.


    After fast-forwarding the images, he finally saw the person destined for her. And a ''huh?'' escaped out of his lips involuntarily.


    ''No way, right? Haha.'' At first, heughed at the next images that appeared in his vision.


    Not long after, as his cheek went red and his brain became muddled, he muttered, "F*ck. It can''t be!"


    The eye contact was broken. The misty-eyed girl before him repeatedly blinked and fetched her handkerchief inside her blouse''s pocket. While wiping her tears, the woman asked, "How did it go? Can you tell me what you saw in my future?"


    The man who was still in a daze parted his lips slightly, then swallowed, before opening them again. "M-Miss. I know this is abrupt. But would it be alright if you tell me your name first?"


    "I thought I already told you you can address me as Miss Du." With knitted brows showing both her displeasure and confusion, she replied. Her eyes looked around for a couple of seconds, heart feeling relieved after finding a small trash can on the table''s left side.


    The man watched her question for some time before saying, "By the way, my name is Dong Lan and I can always be found in this booth."


    "Ah, okay?"


    Nervously, he added, "About your question, well... You''ll break up with your boyfriend... And in the future..."


    As nervous as he was was the girl who unconsciously pulled up another pack of tissue from her bag.


    "You''ll marry me!" He spat out with a red face.


    "..."


    Thedy who thought she encountered a fake: Ah. I knew it. He''s a damn con artist!


    A loud smacking sound then followed.


    ...


    That day, Dong Lan finished the business hours with a bright red palm print on his left cheek. The woman had left with a huff. He was dumbfounded there, sitting and watching as she gave him a sharp re before closing the curtain. In one corner of the ce, theughing fortune-teller suddenly appeared, canceling whatever dark spell she conjured to make herself invisible.


    "You should be realizing by now that I helped you meet your fate, no?"


    "I''m sure you also saw me making a fool out of myself there," listlessly, the young man said.


    The fortune-teller tidied up her workce while throwing amused nces at her adopted son. It was the first time that he had truly acted pitiful, like a drenched puppy in the middle of the rain. Who asked him to have stupid thoughts in the middle of a session though? And why answer thedy just now in that way?


    As the woman recalled this scene a few yearster at his wedding, she wouldugh and tell herself, ''I found a very too-faced, and stupid apprentice. How nice!''

 Chapter 200: Dong Lans After Story (2)

    Chapter 200: Dong Lan''s After Story (2)


    This happened a few years after Jiang Li left thest trial world. Ye Xinya had died shortly, leaving all her and her husband''s wealth to the Zuckerberg, Ye, and their children. The leads had so many dramas and misunderstandings in their lives yet they still ended up living up to old age and being a legend in Huaxia.


    Meanwhile, Dong Lan had a colorful story with the girl who once asked for his fortune. Of course, in the end, they still came together and got married. The fortune-teller then disappeared. At least, she no longer set up stalls in the night market near the capital. And nope, Dong Lan did not be so rich that he could force her to leave that ce.


    She just moved to another country, probably worrying that her unaging appearance would be found out, or maybe she just got bored of Huaxia. Anyway, the world was big but in it, whether in the past or the present, there was nobody qualified to confine her in one ce.


    Decades passed since then.


    And she became bored with life or maybe... of this world.


    "Perhaps, I should leave too." She sighed, one evening, sitting inside her tent in another night market in some country in the west. This time, she was not wearing her veil, revealing a country-toppling appearance only a point inferior to Ye Xinya.


    The fortune-teller had never aged. For hundreds of years, she already looked like this. In her youth which she used to brag to her adopted son, countless men sought her hand for marriage, few even gifted her a country or city.


    She retained that same appearance. However, even though the outside didn''t age, it didn''t mean nothing change within. Time never failed to mold one''s temperament.


    Before Dong Lan''s life expectancy ended, she returned to Huaxia. She arrived just when her son who had be an old frail man only had one breath left. Through a method Dong Lan never managed to fathom in his life, she seized his soul and then brought it with her when she exited the world.


    ...


    Before choosing a new ce for her and her son, the fortune-teller came to a ce that only Jiang Li could ess before.


    The woman resumed her usual getup when telling fortunes at Huaxia. Everything from head to toe was covered, apart from her eyes and hands of course. In the darkness, she casually walked, as if she was strolling in the park. Her steps were light. And her posture in walking was like a cat, graceful and elegant, but in a manner that no normal human could emte.


    She was supposed to see nothing ahead since the scope of the light her earrings were emitting was no more than a meter radius. Yet here she was, acting as if she had a clear destination in mind. And it seemed she really did have. After all, she stopped by a certain point, looking into the darkness like her eyes could glimpse at something there.


    Inside the blue gem dangling on her left ear, a voice rang and echoed. "Hey. What are you looking at there?"


    The voice was from Dong Lan, seemingly like what he used to sound when he was still in his twenties. Apparently, that was where the fortune-teller temporarily put his soul into. As it glowed in the darkness with a gentle blue hue, it also gave off a feeling that it was not a simple earring.


    The woman briefly sneered and replied, "I''m looking at a poor existence pretending to be some ck technology just to please his master."


    "Huh?" The soul form couldn''t see anything in the darkness so he was already confused. But what was more confusing was what his mysterious adoptive mother spat out to him.


    What existence? ck technology? Come again?


    Dong Lan''s mind worked furiously. However, no answer came to him. He reluctantly opened his imaginary mouth to ask. "Hey, mom. To be honest, I don''t get what you said. However, there is one thing I need to know to maybe get some idea. Regarding that master you mentioned, is he like some sort of shady god? Coz if so, why does your tone suggest he is as mysterious as you? Also, he has a servant in a ce like this which sounds a bit amazing. So what is he? A god? Then, I want also to know if you are the same as him. I mean, same, as in, a god-like existence."


    He was hoping to get a definite answer this time. They were no longer in the modern world where talks of gods and ghosts could not be easily done. His mother then was reluctant to say anything. But maybe now that they were outside, she would finally share stuff outside of fortune-telling.


    "The owner of the spirit?" A small smile graced her lips. This time it seemed she had no ns to conceal some matters to him anymore. "Well... Yeah. He is indeed a special existence. He''s like me and maybe you can really call us gods. True gods, in fact. We are not under the confines of these low-level mortal worlds."


    For some time, the soul could not speak as the revtion just sounded too ridiculous and grand in his ears.


    But well, at least he recovered fast and did not do all sorts of denial acts. It greatly helped that he himself now possessed an ability which not many had, the ability to pry on one''s past and future.


    He knew the woman who adopted him was a lot more powerful, so it became a bit easier to ept.


    Now that he thought about it though, wasn''t he too lucky then? After all, his mom now was an awesome existence. As an extension, wouldn''t he destine to a more awesome life?


    "Hey," oddly in a serious tone, he called out. Dong Lan had thought of something and became solemn. "To be honest, I still don''t get it. There are many other children out there who you can adopt or pitied. So why me? I''m not narcissistic enough to say I''m the most handsome, most charming, or most intelligent. At most I can qualify in the middle. So yeah. What made you take me as your son and apprentice?"


    To this question, she crossed her arm and scoffed, "Do you think I''ll just snatch a kid somewhere for no reason? Dong Lan, you really need some brain transnt."


    "..." He didn''t see her until his death, but as he could hear, she was still as poisonous as ever. Thankfully, his cheek had been trained to be thick, and his brain that needed transnt could at least process a poisonous remark into something with a nicer mean. "In other words, mom, you''re mean, ooops, you mean that I''m still somehow special?"


    The fortune-teller wanted to facepalm, a feeling she not had for a few decades ever since he parted ways with the dorky man. After a sigh, she replied, "It''s not easy to break away from the influence of the world''s chosen ones."


    "But didn''t you exin to me I only managed to realize that Han Su and Ren Lian are weird, like some sort of protagonists from third rate dramas orics, because of my idental contact with you?" Confusionced the man''s voice.


    "I''ve brushed shoulders and held the hands of many people handing me money or asking me for fortunes. A few of them were directly or indirectly rted to those two. Do you get my meaning?"


    "Oh..." Within the blue gem, Dong Lan nodded. "I see. So indeed, I am special. But how is that useful to you or me? Is it the reason I can learn your craft?"


    "No."


    The fortune teller was already annoyed by his barrage of questions so she momentarily ignored her. In any case, she was also done waiting for the spirit housed in the middle of the dark void toe out and greet her.


    She stepped forward a few times and then lightly knocked. Dong Lan got weirded out by her action since there was nothing in front of them but obscurity. Where was she knocking, an invisible door? So were they in an invisible box and he was just not informed?


    "Who are you?" A child-like voice suddenly echoed from nowhere, scaring the heck out of the young man. He never knew the cute voice of a boy could make him want to look for a nket to wrap around him and bury his eyes in. What the hell? No, in the first ce, what caused it to be full of so dragged out, and full of resentment, anger, and hopelessness?


    "I''m the fortune teller from the most recent world you just visited. I''m here to seek an audience with your master."


    Silence took over before the voice gasped and made an ''aha'' sound. "Ah, you''re that one who pissed off my master so much! I see. So why are you here? Shouldn''t you go away and not interfere with the affairs of this universe?"


    "I already told you my goal," she simply replied.


    The child-like voice harrumphed and arrogantly said, "Sorry. My master has no time to see you! He''s busy! Go away!"


    "Wow, this kid has guts." Dong Lan whispered to himself softly, amazed that somebody dared to raise his voice and refuse his overbearing adoptive mother.


    When he was expecting her to flip out though, he was surprised to see her still looking unperturbed, as if she was not the one scolded.


    She calmly said, "I won''t stay long though. Since you can still contact him directly, just tell him my advice. Finish his business as soon as possible. After all, the supremews would be changing hands again. Just to remind you, I''m the kind of existence who can neither lie nor make mistakes about my predictions."


    The other party remained hidden in the endless darkness. Feeling like her business there had beenpleted, she said, "I''ve told you what I should. What happens next, whether you appreciate my kindness or not is up to you and no longer my concern."


    Afterward, the woman turned around and started to walk away. When she got outside the confine of that absolute ckness, the sea of stars which should be the normal scenery outside of a finally entered their sight.


    Dong Lan sighed, feeling mixed emotions in his heart. He then hesitantly asked, "Hey, mom. After all, the swimming in the inky darkness? That''s it?"


    "What else are you expecting?" She snorted in disdain. "I merely did my duties. Now, stay quiet."


    "Wait, before I keep my peace, what''s going to happen to us after? Where are we going?"


    "Didn''t I tell you we''ll be going to another world?"


    "Uh... Mom, even if you use your powers to look to the past, I can confidently say, you didn''t!"


    "Oh?"


    The mother and son pair had a talk, no, a banter, as the woman flew towards a certain star and thennded on it''s rocky but luminous surface. She then looked around for a while and then walked over a rtively clear and t space. The male spirit trapped in the gem wanted to inquire about the weird things she scribbled here and there. However, the woman specially warned him not to disturb her as she did things. So even though the curiosity was killing him, he resisted the urge to speak.


    "Dong Lan, you asked earlier where to go, right?" When the woman seemingly finished with what she should do, dusting her hands and clothes, she started taking her earrings off.


    While the gem containing his soul was being ced down on the ground, he replied, "Yeah. I want to know where we''re going. Also, you haven''t told me much about the real universe. Why don''t you educate your illiterate son lest myck of knowledge ends up embarrassing you in our future journeys?"


    The fortune-teller coldlyughed. "No need. You won''t ever have the chance to embarrass me."


    As if feeling shy, Dong Lan replied, "I didn''t know you have that much faith in me, mom."


    The woman who now felt so irritated at being called mom numerous times rolled her eyes and gestured in the air. "Whatever. Just wanna inform you, the answer to your question earlier... Well, you''ll have many destinationster."


    "Huh?" The male spirit eximed in both exasperation and panic. The ground around the gem was gradually lighting up, forming a mysterious pattern, two snakes intertwined, where he was at the center.


    He noticed that the fortune-teller was not inside the circle. Then remembered that she kept saying ''you''. A bad feeling arose from within his incorporeal heart. "You''ve got to be kidding me..."


    While he was busy denying reality, the woman mercilessly said to him, "I won''t be going with you so treasure my earrings well. Good bye, Dong Lan. Safe trips."


    With that said, a bright light engulfed Dong Lan. Before he lost consciousness and woke up as a different person in a world he didn''t know, thest thing he remembered was him cursing out to the woman who was smilingly waving a hand at him.


    ....

 Chapter 201: (Dont Unlock!!!) Mistakenly Published, Preview/Spoiler!!!

    Chapter 201: (Don''t Unlock!!!) Mistakenly Published, Preview/Spoiler!!!


    Don''t unlock please!!! Will rece this chapter with a side story. T.T


    ...


    When Jiang Li opened his eyes again, he was in a small, messy, and shabby room. There were bottles of beer and liquor around. There were some broken sses and tes too. The stench of alcohol permeated in the ear, making the smell of the ce unbearable.


    Apart from him, there was nobody around. It seemed the body he was using this time had drunk too much and thus he was suffering from both hangover and headache.


    ''The scene is pretty simr to when I first woke up in He Chen''s body.'' He thought, closing his eyes again as he lied down on the floor.


    The system spoke in his mind, "Host, for what you did in thest world we visited, a punishment will be issued, but thankfully this is your first offense so the punishment will be lenient. You''ll only be tasked to fulfill the wish of a soul client, the one who offered you your current body. However, you have toplete this mission one hundred percent. And you won''t get any points. Host, please work hard so we could go back to official worlds."


    He took a deep breath, digesting the meaning of the system. He then asked. "Why am I sent here? Did the viiness be crazy and died in her own world?"


    To the barrage of questions, the system only answered thest one, "... Yes, at least, she died with resentment, angry that you deprived her of a fairytale-like life. In her death, even though the resentment is not enough to deal a great damage to her real world, it''s still a dangerous hence you are to be punished.."


    "... Fine. I don''t have any more opinions about that. However, I remember you mentioning a foreign term. Are all my previous Originals considered soul clients? So all this time, while you said all I have to do is to save viinesses, in reality, I''m doing two more side tasks? One is toplete a soul client''s wish? And the other, rted to ''her''?"


    "Ahhh... ha ha." An awkwardughter came as a reply. "Host, once again, please work hard so we could go back to official worlds." It could only say.


    Jiang Li stayed silent and began to review the memories of the so-called soul client. To not be annoyed by the smell of the alcohol and spoiled food, he grabbed one of the pillows and used it to cover his face as he remained lying on the carpet.


    He was back to modern, and he was officially in a world of novel. Heck, even the pen name of the author was mentioned, an insanely stupid one at that, I''m_Proudly+Wearing-A@Green~Hat.


    Was the author admitting he was a cuckolded husband and was even taking pride in it? He must admit, for a second, he had the urge to kneel to the one who courageously used that. No, in actually, he wanted to meet the person and crack his skull to see if there was a brain inside it.


    Regarding the story, well, it was actually quite an intriguing one since it was about a transmigrated guy''s journey to be at the top of the entertainment world. Yup, the male protagonist this time was from another parallel world. His name was Liu De.


    Before the transmigration, the original Liu De was a handsome guy with no background or money but was attempting to strike it rich through being a star. His face allowed him to pique the interest of a talent scout. He used to be a struggling college students with two part time jobs to pay for his tuition. Then when he was walking outside a mall casually, a talent scout noticed him and then helped him sign a contract with a two year old mid-level entertainment agency.


    Unfortunately, despite trying to mix in for almost a year, he had had no luck. All the roles he got were always small or that of an extra. The sry he got so far ever since he started this career was barely enough for him to eat and pay his rent. But take note, the ce rented out to him by thepany was a small one, with an area of twenty square meters.


    Family? The dude''s parents were vige farmers. He had several uncles who were either unmarried and unemployed, or married and with fields to plow, but were still leeching off from his family.


    The only thing he could be proud of was... well, definitely not his studies, On campus, he was not really excelling as an art student. But he was the envy of many male students because he managed to get himself a sensible girlfriend who was not only very smart, but was also a campus belle. Her name was Wen Bi''er.


    Being her boyfriend was his source of pride. After all, she was a very popr girl, yet out of her hundreds of pursuers, it was him who became her lover. And they were already together for two years. She was even very supportive of him when he entered the entertainment circle and was frequently appearing in the set to deliver some food and drinks to him.


    As a man, if a girl was that dedicated to him, wouldn''t he strive to give her the best? After all, how easy would it be to find somebody willing to be together with a dudecking in everything but face?


    And so despite the numerous setbacks, he never gave up and persistently went to sses to further his skills and try his luck on auditions. Every time he managed to sessfully get a role, he would celebrate with Wen Bi''er. They would talk about life and marriage as they strolled in the nearby park. Their love and bond always seemed so indestructible.


    If only those days could stay forever...


    The guy''s misfortune started when a second generation rich actor suddenly started to target him and gave him countless trouble. He was not left off, whether at work or in thepany. The pitiful number of work opportunities he had were taken away from him without him knowing why. While he knew something must be going on, but without knowledge of who he somehow offended, there was nothing he could do. For several days, he felt quite helpless.


    Due tock of money revenue, he had to resort to taking part times again just to get by. However, his family in the vige were also not let off. All the problems were pushing him to the edge, it was to the point that depression started to hit him off.


    Probably thest straw which really triggered Liu De was the sudden betrayal of his girlfriend. Wen Bi''er broke up with him. When she did, she came together with the actor who often gave him a hard time in work. That was when he realized what happened. He got targeted because of his girlfriend. And in the end, this same girl hooked up with the rich guy who caused all of his suffering.


    The man lost all hope and reason on that day. He got drunk, swearing to take revenge. But misfortune seemed to be his twin. He died from tripping on his feet, his head smashed against the edge of his table.


    When the next day came, even though a pool of blood under his head had actually already dried, this man''s eyes miraculously opened again, but this time another soul had already possessed it, somebody from a parallel world, and with the same name, Liu De. He was forty-plus otaku, which would not have been bad if only he was also not an unfilial man and a NEET. Anyways, the guy was another loser from another dimension. But the difference was, when he transmigrated, he had a cheat that only gods know where he had gotten from. Its name, Superstar System.


    Jiang Li temporarily paused the memory viewing. ''Same creator as you?''


    The system immediately protested, "No! I''m sure, not! Host, just continue watching and you''ll see that this half-baked ck technology is not the same as me!"


    The man lifted one edge of his mouth then went back to the memories and then summarized it in his head.


    Basically, it was that Liu De suddenly could act so well, winning himself many roles until he became a permanent favorite of the directors for lead roles.


    When he sung, he instantly became the most romantic bdeer in the world.


    When he danced, his elegant and powerful dance moves could easily charm everyone. If he ever decided to go the idol route, he would easily get him the leader position of any idol group.


    His charm, eloquence, and warm smiles were enough to make even elementary girls want to marry him. Liu De step by step became the opposite of who he used to be.


    From then on, gone was the guy who could only get one minute screentimes on movies and was almost blocked by the whole entertainment world.


    With a suspicious being giving him ess to ck technology and inexplicable items, he changed from a loser, into a once-in-a-century talent chased by many beauties!


    He swiftly took revenge against the rich second gen actor and his ex, and while collecting beautiful and talented girls into his harem, he embarked in an exciting journey to be a superstar!


    At the end of the story, this person became an icon and then obtained a desert state''s citizenship just so he could legally marry multiple beautiful women.


    It was a true wish fulfillment story with lots of face smacking, scandals, and smuts.


    A story of a loser who managed to turn his life around through the help of the Superstar System.


    There was no female lead, of course, or if all the members of Liu De''s harem could be considered as such, they were too many to enumerate.


    So anyways, why mentioned the male lead''s backstories when his mission was only supposed toplete the wish of his current Original? Wait, what was the mission first?


    "Host, your goal is almost the same with the male lead. Clean the image of the Original and take revenge against the scum woman and pick up a good, virtuous wife along the way."


    After some time, Jiang Li frowned. His current situation was not something he ever thought he would ever encounter.

 Chapter 202: Su Luxi (1)

    Chapter 202: Su Luxi (1)


    ''Am I in the next world already?''


    When close to ten minutes already went by, impatience blossomed in his heart, hence the question. In his opinion, so much time already passed.


    Usually, after the transfer, he would be assaulted by headaches or stuff which were the after-effects of inhabiting a body not really his. However, none of those happened to him this time. He couldn''t even tell if he had already arrived since he couldn''t open his eyes and couldn''t feel his body too.


    He unmuted the system, and just as expected, the mechanical one or probably mode of the foreigner thing in his head was gone, reced by the childish one he had been used to.


    "Hello, host. Congrattions on passing both the trial phase and the tutorial phase. As of now, your total points are 2520. 10 points had been deducted for the sending of some files from the disciplinary school before. The new world is an official one where you can get up to 5,000 points! Host, please work hard!"


    Jiang Li suppressed the annoyance in his heart as he once again asked, "Are we in the next world yet?"


    "Er, yes. But since there are certain circumstances about your current identity, host is advised to first look into the plot."


    Just what the heck happened? Was he stuck in the void or somewhere simr? He couldn''t open his eyes no matter how much he willed it. He was also not really getting any feeling from his body. This was why he had assumed he was yet to get one. But the weird thing was, he could hear a heartbeat and some other static frequency-like noises.


    Which was the truth? Was he actually already in his new Original''s body and he was just in aa? That sounds so troublesome and maddening.


    Feeling that there was nothing else he could do, he could only roll his imaginary eyes and hope that he was not in a dangerous situation. Afterward, he chose to heed the system''s advice and ask for the memories to be transferred to him.


    Half an hourter...


    ''It''s a western setting, with magic, but with more romance. And my current identity is... wait, what?''


    The system had long withdrawn in some corner of his brain, hiding. No matter what the host thought of the memories transferred to him, it didn''t want to risk being scolded. And it seemed to have done the correct thing, since Jiang Li beganughing like a maniac after going through the plot.


    Jiang Li couldn''t believe what just happened.


    He did not actually transmigrate! The body and its future identity was really his, not from a designated Original! He didn''t know if this was a perk of having entered an official world, or the system was just pitying him who was sometimes having some identity crises. In any case, it chose to give him an incarnation of himself.


    But the downside was that he was a mere baby!


    And damn. A very newly conceived one at that, hence theck of eyes, and limbs to move about.


    ''Should I feel intrigued? I''m not even sure if I''m already qualified to be called a baby since I''m probably just like a meatball in my current mom''s belly. Wow. In the whole history of this whole multiverse, I''m probably the only baby in the germinal stage of prenatal development who can think, and like an adult one at that!''


    He once againughed like crazy, and like how the system predicted, violent thoughts were swirling in his mind. He had be very angry. But how couldn''t he?


    ording to the memories, he was not even one week old! It meant that he would have to stay like this for more or less nine months!


    ''I can already see himself dying of both anger and boredom. Damn you! System!''


    ...


    Jiang Li went through an uncountable number of troubles and annoyances after that. He endured extreme boredom for nine months.


    All he could do while waiting to be officially human was to sleep, or recall the memories in his brain, either the plot or his previous lives. It was extremely excruciating for somebody with a mind of an adult to be trapped in a body that could barely move around in the endless but warm darkness. There was little to nothing for him to do.


    The long-awaited childbirth happened atst, but when he got out, he realized only another episode of awkwardness and suffering would be waiting for him.


    Imagine. His mentality was that of a more than 300 years old man, okay fine, around 20 if his pettiness and asional fits of immaturity were factored in. Still, how easy would it be to ept that he had to watch his body always crave milk, wet the bed, make stupid noises, and do all strange and embarrassing things in the first few weeks?


    He couldn''t easily move around due to the weak body. But when he got to the point where he could walk and crawl, he still couldn''t move around much due to being watched by at least 2 nannies, 2 maids, and 3 guards. Yeah, the household was quite rich so they could splurge money this way. But...


    "Damn," he cursed out, at least he tried to. Yet in the eyes of the maids smiling and making faces at him, he was merely spouting his usual ''cute babblings''. Every time he saw that he just wanted to go back to being a zombie.


    By now, he could probably get a Guinness record for being a baby that had sighed more than cried in his first year in the world.


    One time the system cheered the extremely pissed off him. "Host, don''t be too sad. Or angry. And please stop sighing like an old man since you are currently a baby. At least you will only have to suffer a little bit, then once you are three or four years old, you can start enjoying many carefree years of childhood and adolescence. It''s amazing, isn''t it?! You don''t know how many troubled and stressed adults in the whole multiverse always wish to go back to their childhood years. Also, your identity will definitely ensure you a life of unparalleledfort in your early days!"


    ''...You don''t know what''s awaiting me. Even as a cannon fodder little marquis of this western medieval world, I can''t have afortable and leisurely childhood. Now I know why most transmigrators who became people of high birth always wanted to escape from their households.''


    "Host, er, sorry. But starting from this world, you can only change the plot three times. Any sessful attempt after that will garner a punishment from the system..."


    As he stood up wobbly inside his crib, one of the wet nurses noticed that the future young lord who looked very adorable in his diaper while sucking on his pacifier was throwing knife-like gaze at one of the toys in front of him. ''Is our dearest baby angry with ducks? It''s cute though. Hmm.''


    The wet nurse random thoughts got interrupted when the senior maid of the marquis'' heir called for her for some errands.


    As for the odd baby, he just spoke with the system to rify the rules in the ce. Afterward, he sighed for thest time today before muting the system again. When he got very bored, he went back to ring at nowhere.


    One of the rational guards who witnessed his weird behaviors watched him for some time before asking himself, "Why does this baby look as if he had a grudge against the world?"

 Chapter 203: Su Luxi (2)

    Chapter 203: Su Luxi (2)


    Days passed in unsettling peace and serenity. He was fed, clothed, attended. He basically didn''t have to do anything. A privilege of being a baby.


    Almost every day, his parents, Marquis Allen Wade and his wife, Helena Wade, would visit him. They seemed like a happy couple content with their days. Even though these two never failed to feed him dog food, they also never forgot to shower him with love, always showing to him that he was the greatest blessing in their lives. It was such a weird feeling being treated like that. The happiness in their faces and the smiles on their lips as they yed with him were too blinding and scaldingly warm.


    This became one of the best things he liked about being a baby. Yet this was also one of the worst since he had to endure the prickly stubbles of his father every time he rubbed his face with his while listening to the couple''s unending tales.


    Still. Alright. He had to admit. He was d to be been born in a great and warm household. Even though he would also always be tired of his days due to the chatterbox couple.


    Now the only problem was the days of a one-year-old baby was still as boring as hell. He was not growing up as fast as he wanted. What could he do to escape from babyhood and went straight to being an adult?


    ''System, give me any item which could make one transform into an adult, or at least an adolescent!'' He tried to demand once.


    System: Sorry, this time I''m okay being muted and pretending to be dead.


    At that time, his maid had brought him outside for a change of scenery and to get some fresh air. They were at the balcony. The freckled girl sitting at a round table in the middle of the ce had him sit in herp while she held a huge picture book in front of him.


    Her voice was what she heard instead of the system.


    "Baby Luke, listen to me, okay? I will be reading our continent''s history to you now."


    He looked up, wanting to sneer at her, but his mouth did not move ording to his will, instead automatically curving into a cute smile. Feeling as if she was melting within, she first giggled and started pinching his chubby cheeks before going back to reading.


    Jiang Li felt even more miserable.


    "Long, long ago, gods and goddesses were the only beings in this beautiful world. They were beautiful and couldmand nature. They have a passionate heart..."


    ''Yeah, insert a thousand words of description for those mythical creatures.'' He boredly said in his mind.


    "One day, the god of creation created humans."


    ''And then humans multiply. Deities began gaining faith power through them so they be active in giving them miracles. However, they could only do miracles through people so they created mana so miracles will be easier to make. One day though, the deities suddenly disappear, and only the goddess of light is left to care for the world.''


    ''And this damn goddess had be very bored of the world after a very long time so she started the plot by performing summoning magic on a whim.''


    While the maid kept on spouting praises for that being she never saw even once in her entire, Jiang LI kept contradicting her. When her introduction went to the people who founded the empire, he kept quiet and sunk into contemtion. Unknowingly, the plot started to y in his mind.


    ...


    The story took ce in a medieval world where magic existed. Unfortunately, its practice had already deteriorated a lotpared to the ancient times since even those born to prestigious noble ns were not guaranteed to possess aptitude and affinity for it.


    The setting for the romance of the leads this time was in Baler Continent, specifically the empire at its center, Litus Empire.


    The female lead was Rumina Bolden, the only daughter of the head of the second most prestigious n in the empire, Duke Bolden. She was very smart, beautiful, and had a ster background. It was as natural as it could be that she was engaged to the crown prince and trained to be his empress since she was twelve years old. Everything had been going nicely, until when she turned fifteen.


    The empire believed in the Goddess of Light since time immemorial and many citizens were devout followers of her even though nobody, not even the High Priest had seen her. But well, she did exist. And out of the blue, this goddess snatched a soul from the modern world and made that girl the Saintess.


    This new girl caught the eyes of the crown prince so when the church imed that it was the goddess'' edict to make her the Empress once he ascended the throne, he did not protest but even enthusiastically went along with the church''s and royal family''s arrangement.


    What happened to the female lead? She was made the royal concubine, a position second only to the Empress. For women of lesser status, it would have been a great honor to receive this title but for the female lead, it was an insult. It had been unfair to her since she all her life she was trained to be the Empress. Yet when she was about to crown, somebody snatched it from her. Many times she wondered, why couldn''t an esteemed duke''s daughterpare to a woman with a shady background from another world? Why did she have to be the lowly royal concubine despite being promised to be the most distinguished woman in the empire?


    The royal family said it was topensate her hard work and preparation all these years that they still gave her the royal concubine position. Was she supposed to feel happy?


    They said she was the one trained and the Empress had yet to know her duties so she should help by carrying out the task on her behalf. Once again, should she feel happy?


    When she entered the pce, a ce dreamt of by countless women in the empire, that was when her sufferings started.


    The female lead led a life full of abuse since the arrival of the Saintess. Thetter despite being somebody who was not really useful to the empire apart from being the symbol of authority and miracle of the church, was more doted on by the Emperor.


    As for the female lead, it was the opposite. In fact, the Emperor hated her because, in their childhood days, he was alwayspared to her by everyone. In all thoseparisons, she''s always the more excellent one between them.


    The Emperor was a stupid and insecure brat and thought that it was the female lead''s fault that he had always been humiliated every time theparison between them was brought out by other nobles or even members of the imperial n. The unreasonable grudge he held against her made him not favor her in the pce.


    This was reflected in how she was treated as a ve assuming the empress'' duties. Her residence, clothes, and items were two levels inferior to the Saintess. When she got pregnant and told him about it, the scumbag got angry and did something to cause her to miscarry. Lastly, when the baby was lost and she was bleeding and crying for help, he forbid any doctor to go forward.


    The female lead was escorted to her pce only to die there because she was not treated on time. That was how the tragic life of someone destined for greatness ended.


    She did not do anything wrong. She never even tried to fight for favor against the Saintess. Quietly, due to having a strong sense of responsibility and respect to the principles passed down to her by her parents, she performed her duties splendidly, disregarding the pities and mockeries thrown at her.


    But what did she get in the end? Heartbreak, sorrow, betrayals, undeserved treatment, and a joke-like death.


    ''If I will be given a second chance in life, I will not be as foolish...'' Those were the words she whispered to herself right before her world got submerged in darkness.


    Thankfully, the blind and deaf heaven seemed to have finally realized that she was the female lead so it heard her wish and sent her back on time. She became ten years old again. The girl became so overwhelmed and decided to live a life she wanted, not decided for her by the royal family or church.


    The first must in her list of things to do in her second life was not to be engaged with the crown prince. What came next was to save her family from destruction, because, in the first life, the bastard Emperor executed her father as punishment for causing the Empress to miscarry. Thetter was not something she did. But she underestimated his hate of her or her family. Though it was also true the Empress was also behind it since, in that ck-haired woman''s grief, she used the royal concubine despite having no proof.


    Thinking about this, even though deep in her heart, there was a voice dictating for revenge, she chose to ignore it. The third thing she must ensure was to have no whatsoever involvement with the Saintess. That useless person only knew how to act mushy and cute in front of the Emperor yet still managed to be respected by everyone in the Empire. Which woman could be more dangerous than her?


    The female lead did her best to adhere to the rules she made for herself and passed her first five years in peace. However, since no matter what she does she still appeared excellent, she still caught the fancy of the royal family and was decreed to the crown prince.


    How helpless and scared she looked back when she first meet that future Emperor in her second life. She was at the point where she nned to escape from the Empire with her father.


    Unfortunately, no matter how she tried, the plot wouldn''t let her.


    Because despite all the damnable things done to her by the Emperor in the previous life, he was actually still the male lead... Yup. The world belonged to the sick one where it wanted to give the female lead the most abhorrent background and route possible.


    How the hell did that Rumina Bolden stomach being together with that someone who tortured her and made her life very miserable? Who knows? This person was even the one who indirectly killed her! He also even killed her innocent, unborn child!


    It was really a wonder. To what extent could a woman be so masochistic?


    Well,ter in their abusive love story, it was revealed that the male lead was actually bewitched through magic. The stupid Saintess, sh viiness, had been granted a wish by the whimsical goddess. Yet she used her precious wish to make the Emperor, who had gotten her smitten, at first sight, to also love her back.


    If thought in a certain angle, if her goal was selffort, then the viiness did wise, because the crown prince who then became Emperor was the highest authority in the Empire and could grant her the best life possible in this world.


    However, it couldn''t be disregarded how evil she was for manipting someone to like her and influencing him to make someone else''s life hell. She was a failed heroine because despite being granted the highest status in the holy church, she rarely did her duties as a Saintess and allotted more time on scheming against the female lead and the Emperor.


    In the second life, it was of no surprise that this Saintess, a girl named Su Luxi, wished the same the second time around. However, that time around, the one favored by the heaven was the female lead so even though the wish was the same and the Goddess did grant it, the power of love, cough, plot, triggered a miracle and paved ways for the girl to lose her fear of the future Emperor and properly fall in love with him.


    Who knows if it was a trope for stories like this, but in the end, in an imperial ball held at the pce where all the nobilities in the empire and some important envoys from surrounding countries were invited, a grand revtion urred. The revtion of what? Of course, the viiness'' misconducts, plus the extra usations from the other random people who suddenly sprouted out of nowhere just to convict her.


    The Saintess was condemned and treated no more as a symbol of the Church of Light, but a fake, or a witch from another world. She was used of using taboo ck magic to travel through worlds and posed as a Saintess of their Empire.


    What happened next? Naturally, it was the leads'' happily ever after, and the viiness road to insanity and madness.


    ...

 Chapter 204: Su Luxi (3)

    Chapter 204: Su Luxi (3)


    Now let''s go to Jiang Li''s current background.


    Like said earlier, the body was created for him, so his current identity didn''t appear in the story. He was now Luke Wade, the firstborn of Marquis Allen Wade and the heir to Wade''s marquisate.


    As a high noble of course, his family were staying in the capital and only sending people to their fief to manage it. Sometimes the father would visit the territory, but because he was working as an advisor in the pce, he couldn''t stay there for long. Once in a while, the Marquis would bring his whole family there to enjoy the countryside and breathe some fresh air devoid of the capital''s pollution and corruption. But they were staying more in the capital since that was where their connections were, plus it was a symbol of privilege. Only nobilities with both hereditary titles and fiefs could stay in the capital.


    ording to the system, Jiang Li would be in the world where the female lead had already gone back in time. The only problem was that it would happen twenty years in the future. Well, he was not truly concern about how long he would have to wait before the plotmenced. It was just a certain thought always popped up in his head every time he felt bored to death.


    ''I feel like rooting out the imperial family or preventing the male lead''s birth to save some effort.''


    He passed his few years frequently saying this to himself and hearing warning from the system.


    Somehow, without him noticing, he grew older and until he became thirteen years old. He reached that age doing his lessons and searching around for anybody who could be Ye Xinya. However, his luck in his family did not extend to that matter. Despite the effort put in, he never saw her.


    It seemed like he had guessed before she only appeared right before or while the plot was unfolding.


    And it also seemed like the plot was finally done being merciful to him since, on his thirteenth year in this world, bad news passed into his ears from the mouth of their family doctor.


    It was after he woke up learning that he passed out twelve hours ago while in the middle of his sword training.


    All of a sudden, Jiang Li''s bedroom became strangely popted yet very silent. For a moment, when he roamed his eyes around, he wondered if the Marquis whimsically had called a meeting for servants in his room.


    Meanwhile, under the menacing yet scared eyes of Jiang Li''s father and mother, the doctor awkwardly shook his head. He then spoke in a soft but sad tone. "I''m sorry, Marquis Wade, Lady Helena. While it''s unfortunate, I have no choice but inform you two that Young master Luke has that curse."


    The thirteen-year-old boy sitting in his huge bed stared awkwardly at his father who suddenly sported a very grim expression, then to his mother who seemed to be on the verge of crying.


    ''Curse? I''m healthy a day ago, but suddenly felt so ill and weak. Is this what the system warned me about before? About how the one manipting the plot will start to notice me for real and act against me?'' He sneered in his heart.


    "Doctor Julius, please forgive our ignorance. But will you please... rify to us what you mean?"


    In a trembling voice, thedy who was clutching her chest for seemingly having trouble breathing braved asking. However, it could be seen from the expression in her face that she had an idea what it was and only asked in hopes that the doctor would tell her that her guess was wrong.


    As if heaven wasughing at her, the doctor shook his head again. He nced at Jiang Li, showing hesitation for a couple of seconds. Then he returned his eyes at the marquis who was now hugging his silently crying wife.


    "It''s the Grim''s Heart Curse. I don''t know what happened for the young master to suddenly contract it." Sitting on the edge of Jiang Li''s bed, the doctor chanted something and then his hand hanging in the air above Jiang Li''s chest suddenly emitted a mysterious glow.


    A momentter, the doctor who was actually also a magic-user chanted some iprehensible words again and willed for arge oblong-shaped water screen to appear before them. The boy initially eximed in surprise for the world this time was medieval but here he was, seeing a magic version of blue X-ray.


    It didn''t take long for his expression to change into a frowning one, one of his brows raised up.


    "My son''s heart suddenly became halved?"


    Thedy, who had grasped what the image meant, gasped for more than five seconds before fainting.


    "Dear!" Horror was on Allen Wade''s countenance as he caught his falling wife.


    "In the whole continent, it was amon knowledge that a person cursed to only have half of his heart remaining would only be able to live up to 20 years old."


    The doctor sighed, his eyes full of pity went to Jiang Li. The boy was popr for being a genius, especially in sword fighting and was predicted to be a future pir of the empire. He was young and his future was very bright. In a few decades, he might even be able to elevate Wade''s Marquisate into a Dukedom. Why was heaven so unfair to him?


    When he was about to pat the head of the beautiful boy, he suddenly stilled since he finally noticed that something was wrong. He blinked and then looked at the boy''s expression again. The servants and even the couple had already broken down into sobs and panic. But howe this kid Luke looked so nonchnt?


    Didn''t he hear him saying he only has 7 more years to live?


    The doctor unnerved by the look on the Marquis'' heir''s face could only try to convince himself that maybe the kid was actually deafened by the earlier announcement he made and was yet to recover from the blow. He didn''t know that the patient he just diagnosed was just used to not caring about his life expectancy due to being a world-hopper.


    ''It''s just the plot telling me I only have a year to fight against it since the saintess, that viiness, will only be summoned to this world seven yearster. But what''s the big deal? It''s more lenient than He Chen''s three months deadline.''


    Jiang Li was not panicking since in his opinion he had so much time to figure out how to extend his lifespan. If worsees to worst, then he would use his points. Anyways, the female lead would reincarnate in two years. The world was always working against him and ensuring he would not be able to meet the yet to be reincarnated female lead. He reckoned though that once the future Rumina take over her younger self, which would signal the start of the plot, he would be able to get near the leads.


    ...


    If there was something he had already anticipated the moment his mother woke up, that was that his parents, in their heights of panic and indignation, would rush him into the Holy Church to get blessed. Obviously, they were hoping that the Pope''s magic would be able to help him get rid of the curse which was pretty understandable since the two really loved their only child.


    He was their pride so as natural as it could be, they wanted him to live a healthy life and lead their House into greatness. How could they stand there and do nothing?


    "Even if the doctors can''t help him, I don''t believe The Pope His Holiness wouldn''t be able too! I''m bringing my son to the church!" With red-rimmed eyes, Helena Wade announced to her husband. Her beautiful voice, one of the many things that charmed the Marquis was loud and cracking.


    Allen was a wife-ve, plus he also had the same intention even without her mentioning it, so after ordering the servants to help their weak child changed into a decent but light set of clothing, they immediately set off. Within the carriage, both the mother and father never let go of his hands, as if they were afraid that he would just suddenly vanish.


    When they arrived there, they forgot that today was the day when the old Emperor would go to the church to also get a blessing from His Holiness, The Pope.


    Somehow, the two worried parents managed to anger the Emperor. On how they did? Well, they loudly begged for the Pope to prioritize them, their actions one which they would never do had there been no strong reason.


    Still, since they caused a ruckus just when His Majesty was about to undergo the blessing ceremony, the old Emperor was offended and would have demoted the whole Wade Household by two ranks if not for Jiang Li.


    Surrounded by several clergies and holy knights dressed in all white, plus the Emperor''s entourage and guards, Jiang Li was sweating hard, not because of fear for the Empire''s monarch, but the extreme chest pain that he was feeling since he came to this ce. He cursed in his mind, ''Damn plot, it must have done this since it knows I''ll be rushed here by my parents! This is how it wants me to kill me. Great! Death by Le Je Majeste or demoted into amoner and dead from not receiving treatment!''


    To be honest, all he wanted to do was to curl up somewhere he could gasp for air morefortably since he was also having difficulty breathing. But he had to endure it. Or else, he and his family would be f*cked up by the plot!


    "Greetings, Your Majesty. This one has something important to say!"


    Although he hated doing so, he bowed his head and even bent his waist to the tall, burly, heavily bearded old man elegantly dressed in a violet robe who was standing in front of them. The action had been veryborious because of the difort in his body.


    ''Even if I say that my parents only got anxious for my sake because of my condition, the Emperor would still treat it as a great disrespect.''


    "What is it, the young heir of Marquis Wade." The Emperor''s voice carried a great authority that one would just find themselves being in awe.


    Seeing his son''s extremely paleplexion and the beads of sweat running down his forehead, the Marquis disregarded the hostile and judging nces from those around them and interjected, "Your Majesty, please forgive us. We truly didn''t-"


    "I received an oracle from Her Grace, the esteemed Goddess of Light!" It was Jiang Li who cut him off, which he did after gulping down a huge amount of air and yelling at the top of his lungs.


    At that shout which came from the mouth of a mere teenage boy, the whole ceremonial room descended into pin-drop silence.


    Many eyes widened in exasperation. After a couple of moments, some started to shake their heads and stutter ims of disbelief.


    How could that be? Why would the esteemed goddess revered in the whole Baler continent, give a random boy her oracle? Not even the Pope of this current generation had ever heard something like that from the Goddess!


    "Lies!" After that one reaction, many simr others resounded in the great hall. A few even attacked his parents, ming them for raising a scourge who dared to say sphemous things and im he was a messenger of the Goddess, inside the Holy Church even!


    ''Why couldn''t this bunch first let me finish my performance?''


    Jiang Li suppressed the annoyance he was feeling in his chest, not. He swept his gaze around icily, surprising even the emperor and causing the hall again to be as quiet as a graveyard. "I am in the sacred grounds of the Great Goddess, and in front of me is the greatest person in the Empire, there is no way I can lie!"


    The Emperor looked through the eyes of the person who dered those words to him. The boy inherited his father''s hazel brown eyes and his mother''s silky ck hair. Focusing on the first point, the greatest man in the empire was amazed because all he could only peer through those hazel brown orbs were calmness.


    The Emperor narrowed his eyes. "In an ount that a once-in-a-millennium genius before said that children couldn''t lie, I will hear you out." The lion-like man threw the curtsying and bowing couple a careful look before directing his eyes back to the weak young man in the middle.


    This same young boy met his gaze first for a couple of seconds before bowing again, seemingly imitating his father.


    "This Goddess'' servant thank Your Majesty''s kindness from the bottom of his heart."


    Looking around for a short while, he then continued, "The Esteemed Goddess told me in my dreams. In seven years, the Esteemed Goddess of Light will summon the Saintess who will lead the new era of our Empire. The whole empire and the Holy Church must prepare!"


    Internally he said, ''Uhhh... well, sorry, saintess and you whoever goddess, let me borrow your names because I need to save me and my family first.''

 Chapter 205: Su Luxi (4)

    Chapter 205: Su Luxi (4)


    "In seven years, the Esteemed Goddess will summon the Saintess who will lead the new era of our Empire. She wille from another world more advanced than our own. The whole Empire and the Holy Church must prepare for her arrival!"


    The moment those words finished resounding and echoing in the great chamber, under the wide eyes of everyone inside, the ce just suddenly went blindingly bright. Hymns sang by angels from heavens seemed to have rung throughout. And at the center of it all was not the Pope or the Emperor, but the pale-faced ck-haired teenager who raised his head in shock and confusion then annoyance. Thankfully, when thest expression took over his face, the surrounding was still very bright so nobody could see him.


    The system''s mechanical voice echoed in his mind, "Host is warned. First of the plot-changing privilege used. Two more and then the system will formally issue a punishment. Please work harder toplete the task."


    Since he knew his action would result in this, he didn''t argue about the warning but still ask something connected to the announcement, ''System, are the consequences of this action also considered another change? Or is it only this one considered for that?"


    He felt relief when it answered that only the first action was to be taken into consideration. Or actually, he had an inkling, the punishment was passed down because this one deed would cause a chain of consequences.


    For example... The goddess was provoked...


    Or else, why would light suddenly burst forth from atop his head? What was this anyway? Would that bored goddess appear or just make him be like a lightbulb? Wow. How nice of her. Now because of this, the annoying bunch at this ce would consider it a miracle and think of his words as true oracles.


    Should he pray now and give some words of thanks?


    "My son..." Feeling so moved, the person next to him suddenly eximed while looking at him. This was when the light vanished and his features were revealed.


    Jiang Li couldn''t see it, but probably to reward him or punish him, the Goddess took away his ck hair and turned them all white. Of course, Jiang Li, was yet to know.


    He was more concerned about the Emperor''s reactions. After all, this lion-bodied dude would decide whether they were demoted or not. He didn''t want the Wade family to be punished in whatsoever way hence he risked iming he received a word from the revered deity.


    "Your Majesty...." After recovering from the shock, one of the bishops standing near the esteemed person in an elegant violet robe and wearing an ornate golden crown trembled and stuttered out, "Her Grace, The Esteemed Goddess, responded to the boy''s deration...."


    The Emperor was also very surprised. He first wandered his eyes around the ce and noted the changes in everyone''s expression. Not a few suddenly bowed their heads, afraid of looking at Marquis Wade''s son. The others who did were staring at him with shock or reverence. Apparently, everyone had already considered the light that engulfed the ce, and the change in Luke Wade''s hair as miracles. And actually, even the Emperor was thinking of this, surprised and at the same intrigued.


    When his eyesnded on the subject of the attention, Luke Wade then spoke again humbly, "Your Majesty, your subject is humbly requesting for your mercy. me it all on me. My parents are devout followers of the Goddess, just like me, so when I requested to be brought here to ry Her Grace''s important oracle, they didn''t hesitate once to do so. Please find in your heart thepassion to forgive us."


    "Aha!"


    Gasps echoed next. So were words of praise for the couple and their son. What a reversal. Just a minute ago, these same people were roasting them for disturbing the Emperor''s Blessing Ceremony.


    ''Interesting...''


    When Jiang Li was waiting for what the Emperor or the Pope, the bald skinny old man, would say, he said to himself. However, in the next second that followed, his eyes widened a bit after realizing he heard a female voice''s apanying his.


    ''To have thought of what I just nned to do, you are amazing, Mr. Trespasser.''


    The Goddess'' voice?


    Jiang Li subconsciously looked heavenward but found nothing there, no ball of light or any miraculous signs, only colorful murals and distorted tinted sses. The hall was abuzz in gossips and chats. Next to him, Behind him, his parents whose heads were lowered, hugged each other, his mother stifling her cries through her handkerchief.


    The Emperor saw the Pope''s literally glittering eyes as he looked at the young man. Amused, he said, "I can see that Marquis Wade''s heir is speaking the truth. The goddess even performed a miracle to confirm your words."


    Jiang Li had his head hung a bit as he looked around for clues about the Goddess. The Emperor waved his hand, "Very well! I will ignore the disrespect shown to me earlier and let His Holiness, The Pope decide how it should your matter be dealt."


    "We thank Your Majesty for your great kindness!" The family of three immediately chorused. The two adults bent their waists to salute and also bowed their heads. Seeing the Emperor waved his hand again, Helena hurriedly brought her son into her arms, her heart breaking feeling how cold he was and how his whole body was trembling.


    The father also came forward and brought his wife and son into his arm. Noting the change in Jiang Li''s hair, only the Goddess knew how hard he tried to make himself look asposed as ever despite wanting to question the world why this was all happening to them.


    The Marquis had still yet to forget that his son was suffering from the curse''s outbreak. So when everyone else, was looking at the Pope, simply curious about what he would say to the miracle boy, Allen only wanted to speak with the old man in private to help ask for a cure.


    ''When will the other busybodies leave? Should I wait more? Or just say my request now?''


    "Honored Father..." The Marquis'' face looked grimmer when his son shook his head at him.


    Meanwhile, the Pope finally arrived in front of the young man and asked, "Marquis'' Wade''s heir. I have a question to ask you?"


    Jiang Li took that chance to escape from his parents'' hugs since he was not in the best shape possible to entertain them. Even though he hated it, he replied in a humble tone, "Your Holiness, I will be more than happy to answer it. Please ask away."


    Nodding, the old man sped his hands within his sleeves and smiled, "Would you be willing to enter the Holy Church as our and the Litus Empire''s only prophet, fully dedicating your life for the Esteemed Goddess of Light?"


    "No."


    While the surrounding fell into silence due to that response which seemed to have not been thought twice at all, that same familiar voice echoed in his brain, starting with a burst ofughter that was pleasant to the ears despite sounding as if it wasing from everywhere.


    He knew it was the Goddess. She was around and merely couldn''t be seen. And her yful voice was as annoying as heck, yet he couldn''t feel any remorse for it since it was very familiar and was even causing him nostalgia.


    ''Hey,'' she started.


    ''It''s not so nice of you to refuse, right? After all, you use my name to avoid some disasters. Shouldn''t you at least do something for me to reciprocate the favor? After all... I helped you..."


    ''Do you know in this world, only you can hear me?''


    Jiang Li gazed upward and narrowed his eyes.


    ''Be my prophet, okay!''

 Chapter 206: Su Lixi (5)

    Chapter 206: Su Lixi (5)


    ''Be her prophet? Or a messenger?''


    He was barely holding on to his consciousness as the pain in his chest surged again. Wow, the plot was truly hellbent on killing him. When it noticed the goddess whose sole purpose was to summon the viiness and give her wish was suddenly showing interest in him, it fought back in a nasty way.


    He had to admit, it was rming how his aching heart was palpitating so much as if it would burst any given moment. Beads of sweat dripping down from his forehead, he panted for air.


    The Pope who saw his condition frowned, but was more concerned about why he said no. He once again asked, "Son of Marquis Wade, won''t you reconsider the offer. In the past thousands of years, you are the first one to hear the Goddess'' voice again. It was simply a miracle and a sign that you are destined to be this empire''s pir of strength through serving the Goddess of Light...."


    While listening to the thousands of words of lecture that the old bald man started preaching, Jiang Li heard the female voice said, ''Right... right! He makes perfect sense! As expected of my Pope. Listen to him, okay! And say yes!''


    He secretly rolled his eyes, feeling that he was listening to the immature and bratty Ye Xinya. He said to the other being listening to his mind apart from the system, ''Goddess, now, don''t tell me you still can''t understand why I refused. Too chatty. And inconsiderate.''


    ''Say yes!'' As if his opinion was not heard, the voice spoke. ''I will tell you how to disperse your curse if you do! And I will even perform another miracle for you!'' That offer was followed by a giggle that really sounded nice, but childish.


    He once again looked up, pondering about the words she said. ''Prophets are only tasked of rying the information you said to your believers, no? Why can''t you find one to do it for you?''


    ''Because they can''t hear me. Didn''t I tell you that already?'' After that question, she eximed in frustration, ''Ouch, the trespasser has a slow brain... Such a pity.''


    He felt greatly offended since, in his mind, the face of the younger Xinya popped up, in there, she was pouting, eyes showing great resentment or disappointment. This goddess told him he was an idiot?


    Well, an idiot had no way of understanding a deity''s speech.


    "Your Holiness, the Pope." As if he was feeling very regretful in his heart, the boy made a sad expression. Looking back to his worried parents, he continued, "It''s not that I don''t want to serve the Goddess wholeheartedly, however, I am the only son of my family. I would forever be haunted by guilt if I don''t help my parents lighten up their burdens when managing our fief and household. All my life, I have been raised as the next lord of the Wade Marquisate. While it''s negligiblepared to the Church''s prophet''s lofty status, I don''t wish to toss aside my parents'' sacrifice and love by not being the perfect heir for them. I hope you understand my predicament..."


    Behind him, both Allen and Helena looked more heartbroken since they thought the boy was indirectly saying he wanted to stay with and help his parents until his life ended. As for the Pope, based on his silence and closing of his eyes, he must be contemting something, or praying for patience and wisdom from the Goddess.


    Without him knowing that same Goddess was pestering Jiang Li in his mind, ''If you don''t agree, I''ll punish you!''


    ''Oh?'' Jiang Li scoffed. If she was who he was thinking she was, he doesn''t believe, she would do him any harm.


    Still, as if challenged, his body suddenly glowed again, blinding the people present. Obviously, it was that bored being''s handiwork. The majority were losing their minds because in just a single day, they seemed to be frequently witnessing many miracles and unbelievable events. Like now. When their vision returned to them, their mouth fell upon seeing that the stubborn boy''s head changed again.


    Jiang Li''s hair turned green, and longer... Looking like... seaweed? Where did the cool-looking white hair go? What the hell was the new look this time?


    For a moment, the people had a suspicion if it was the boy himself who was casting the magic and changing his own hair to make it appear as if there was a miracle happening around him.


    ''Hey, if you still don''t say yes, next time, I''ll make you go bald for life! You''ll be like those annoying monks from the heretical temple!''


    Looking at everyone whose faces were a mixture of weirdness and suspicion, plus the yful threat, he finally knew there was something wrong with his appearance. So the so-called Goddess of Light equaled Goddess of Pranks and Childishness?


    Feeling his hair which was now a far cry from his short-ck hair, he grimaced.


    "...Your Holiness, after getting enlightened by you, a question crossed my mind and I would greatly appreciate it if Your Holiness can give me an answer."


    The Emperor saw a cunning glint on the Pope''s eyes. Most likely the old man was feeling like just a bit more and he could convince the mature but stupid boy into being a Church''s ve. Annoyance crept into his heart. ''The Church''s people spend half of their day kneeling down to pray and have a very regted and strict lifestyle. They don''t seem to have a life actually. What''s good with being clergy or holy knight?''


    Jiang Li sheepishly asked, "If I were to ept the position, will it still be alright if I only work parttime?"


    The Pope tilted his head a bit to the left and looked intently at the young man.


    ''Part... time?''


    ''Oh my goddess, why did you choose this boy who is obviously very attached to a noble''s power?''


    While the old man was getting pissed off in his heart, the Emperor felt amused and said, "That''s a good idea. Working for both the state and the Church. Why not?"

 Chapter 207: Su Luxi (6)

    Chapter 207: Su Luxi (6)


    The plot couldn''t stop Jiang Li from being instated as the Holy Church''s prophet. His status in the whole empire took a different turn and was now probably only a bit lower than the crown prince who had just turned eleven years old that year.


    Jiang Li became the subject of gossip, of course. The attention he got was not limited to the Empire, but even from other nations and countries. After all, everyone in the Baler Continent believed in the same deity.


    The Goddess acknowledged a prophet for the first time in a thousand years. How could the world not be excited? On the day of his official ceremony, many envoys from the surrounding territories and countries hurried towards the empire''s capital to witness the event.


    At the same time as Jiang Li''s formal ceremony of being the Goddess'' messenger, the Marquisate became a Dukedom due to the Emperor''s grace. It was probably because the prophet pledged his loyalty not only to the Holy Church but the Empire.


    The Holy Church had noplete control of the sole person who couldmunicate with the divine being. Of course, as the Emperor, he would be pleased. The imperial power was always trying to keep a bnce with the Holy Church''s power.


    As for Jiang Li''s condition, in the end, he told his parents to make the doctor pledged not to tell anyone about his curse. The servants too were forced to swear non-divulgence of the secret to anyone. He didn''t bother asking the Pope for the cure since the Goddess told him that nobody in this world could treat the disease.


    ''Hehe. Sorry. I can''t do it directly too unless youe to my Holy Land which is not located in the physical world. The only one who can cure you is probably the Saintess who I will summon in seven years'' time because I will have to grant her a wish. But of course, that would depend on whether she will use her wish on you. Hehe.''


    ''... But aren''t you a goddess? And of light even? I was thinking light means healing. Or even if it isn''t, didn''t you easily make my hair explore all colors as if it''s a rainbow before settling it to white again?''


    ''Oh?... Well... That''s very easy. Because it''s a prank!" The voice cutely giggled for some time, showing that she was having fun teasing him. After that, she exined. ''True miracles, however, like healing a person with a deadline... will take at least a dozen times more holy power. Which I could have done easily... If only you believe in me and have faith in me from the bottom of your heart!''


    ''The question is, is your belief in me, stronger than the Pope?''


    ''...'' The answer was obvious. That kind of faith... No.


    Before and after being a world-hopper, when he did believe in gods? Even though the fortune-teller from the previous world told him divine beings existed, he didn''t give them much thought. Not that he was a ''to see is to believe'' person, but it was just hard to deify somebody who never helped him in any definite way.


    Deities create miracles? Laughable. How would he know if those were only coincidences and lucky encounters? When one pray, if it was not heard, people would just rationalize, the gods would hear them out at the right time and ce. What if theck of response was that there was no one hearing them out in the first ce?


    He might be currently conversing with one, but he was doubting whether the Goddess was truly a goddess. Magic existed. So there was a chance she was merely a supreme magician who managed to achieve pseudo-immortality. To be honest, that was the vibe he was getting from her. She was less dangerous and powerful than the fortune-teller.


    "Sorry, while I am convinced of your existence, that''s it." He shook his head and said in a matter-of-fact tone.


    "Haha, why don''t you start worshipping me now?" When she finishedughing, she added in a carefree but coaxing tone, "Come! My prophet! I am your beautiful and merciful Goddess! Worship me from dusk to dawn and vice versa! I assure you before your seven-year time is up, you would have collected enough merit and faith for me to heal you! Probably!''


    The Goddess once again burst intoughter. It was morning. He went out of his bathroom in a robe, drying his hair. Instead of wondering whether the divine being talking to him had seen his everything when he went to the bath, he was feeling sullen, wanting to curse out.


    Would he be bad if he rained the ce with profanities now? She told him she would say how to disperse his curse. But this was all he got after agreeing to this woman''s ckmail?


    "..."


    ''If she''s only not her, I''ll probably dly choose to be a monk and be a bald man instead.''


    "Luke, my dear..." Helena went to his bedroom, following a maid bringing in his lunch. No, it seemed the Duchess would apany him.


    By this time he had already changed clothes, every inch looking like an elegant young master of a western noble family, probably apart from getting a lot thinner.


    Well, two years already went by. And his illness or curse was no joke. In the past two years, he was frequently fainting and vomiting, making him hate his body because he felt that he was now weaker than most women.


    The ducal couple was most of the time worried about his safety since he always met idents, no matter the ce. The plot must have had its fun attempting for his life since the leads'' stories had yet to start. As for him, he just became used to it. What else could he do?


    He couldn''t get near the leads, so he couldn''t interfere with the plot for now. All he could do was increase his influence in the church and the state. But thetter was also a challenge when he didn''t know when his condition would rpse. The heck with his half-heart disease!


    "Look at this. Tell me what you think about it."


    While the servant was arranging their meals on the while painted round table in the verandah, he looked at the Duchess then took the envelope being passed to him and inspected it.


    "Why am I invited to the pce?" He knitted his brows, double-checking if it was truly the crown prince who sent the invitation letter. ''Maybe this is fake?'' A secondter, the notion was thrown off somewhere since he saw the royal seal pattern.


    "It''s the little princess'' party actually. It''s Her Highness'' sixth birthday next week. But since it''s not her fifth nor hering of age ceremony, the scale of the party will be small. Those invited will be mostly kids or heirs around your age. The crown prince is the one who sent the letters on her behalf," revealed the Duchess with a smile on her lips.


    Worry could be glimpsed from her eyes though. Most likely, she was anxious about his health, as always. "Would you like me toe with you?"


    Jiang Li sat down, followed by his mother who took the seat opposite his. Looking at the bright sky and the mountain scenery from far away, he shook his head. "No. I will be fine. I''m sure the Pope will send a toon of his holy knights to protect me in secret."


    ''Only, being attended is not something I consider glorious... Damn. When did I be so fragile?'' Hemented within, seeing that the woman still looked as if she would rather lock him in the house so there would be a lesser chance of harm happening to him. He couldn''t me the woman though. He had be too sickly, thanks to the damn plot.


    "Mother, how about we start eating now? The food looks delicious. It will be a waste to just staring at them."


    Seeing that the young boy who had be fifteen this year was smiling so cutely at her, the Duchess hesitantly nodded.


    An annoying voice resounded in his mind. ''Sighs, maybe in this world, only I will know you are the most uncute liar and pretender. I feel like in the future you''ll be like the disgusting fogies of the pce who smile all day while scheming against others behind their backs. So unfortunate...''


    Jiang Li only snorted. In this world, only he knew the usual adjectives used to describe the Esteemed Goddess in the prayers passed down in the Holy Church have absolutely no rtion to the real one.


    Merciful? Compassionate? Sympathetic? Forgiving? Come again?


    Three days passed in peace and quiet. The birthday of the princess who was unnamed in the plot came. In this event, he found out how disgusting the thirteen years old male lead already was, envying a child barely eleven years old.

 Chapter 208: Su Luxi (7)

    Chapter 208: Su Luxi (7)


    "I heard the royal family is already deciding for the first prince''s marriage..."


    "Oh? That''s new to me. Has there been a result? I''m sure many families already volunteered their littledies. Who became the final candidates for his fiancee?"


    "There are many notable girls in the capital and even in the major cities outside the capital. But I''m certain the ones the royal family considered are with ranks of at least Marquis. The four ducal houses have greater chances to be selected."


    "Hmm."


    "Cross out thest ducal house. Duke Wade has no daughter and I don''t think the Emperor will take his branch families into consideration. Remember, they only rose by two ranks because of the prophet."


    "So the only ones left are the House Jasmine, House Lc, and House Bolden? If so, then I think it''s already decided. To be honest, I think the one with the highest chance to be the crown prince''s fiancee is the one from thest house I mentioned."


    "Rumina Bolden, right? Well, I also have heard of her excellence. She would make a very good empress. The crown prince is good, but with her around, it''s like he has been given a pair of wings."


    "... Actually, though I hate to admit it, the littledy from House Bolden might even be too qualified... and more excellent than the crown prince...."


    The day was bright thanks to the clear and sunny weather. It was a great day for a birthday celebration. The party had not started yet but there were already many people gathering in groups in the gigantic garden.


    A few parents came with their children and most of them were on one side of the garden seated at the round tables scattered there. The kids were on the other side, making friends and socializing, acting like adults as they make connections. From thetter group, not few were having their first societal debut today.


    ''They are talking about her again...'' A boy around the age of thirteen balled his fist and held too tightly on his little sister''s small hands after hearing the words the adults were exchanging amongst themselves.


    The princess who felt pain from her hand cried out, "P-prince brother! P-pain!"


    However, the young boy was lost in his thoughts and insecurities, remembering how his father, the Emperor, praised that girl in front of him and told him to cherish her in the future.


    He was working hard too. Why did he never hear his father praising him for his efforts?


    His train of thought was interrupted when the girl he was escorting violently cried and pushed him away to free her other hand. "Bad brother!"


    The crown prince nkly stared at the girl on the verge of crying then recovered from his stupor. With an apologetic smile, he crouched down and led the girl to a vacant table, ignoring the gasps and sudden silence at the table where he heard the gossiping.


    "Your brother did not mean it. Believe me. I... was just thinking of something very important."


    He coaxed the little princess with sweets before leaving her to her nannies and peers. Walking towards the circle where he would be surrounded and ttered, his steps were heavy. His mood was dampened by another mention of that girl who had actually already be his fiancee.


    "Your Highness, the servant at the gate has just announced, Mr. Luke Wade made an appearance."


    "Your Highness, it seems Ms. Rumina Bolden has also arrived."


    After the greetings and idle chats he had with the various people of different ages that attended the gathering, one of his servants walked toward him to ry this information.


    Despite wanting to frown after hearing his fiancee''s name, he maintained the unreadable expression on his face and nodded to his acquaintances. He didn''t move from his position, knowing those two, like the other guests, would definitely find him to greet him.


    Dictated by customs and traditions, to a certain extent, one''s actions could be predicted. However, outside of that, it would be hard to predict what a person you don''t know would do.


    The crown prince was indeed greeted by the two people who just arrived. But unlike the others who stayed to tter him, one of them moved away to find a secluded corner, seemingly scared of him, while the other did the opposite, he found another spot and gathered the crowd around him.


    However, for thetter, he felt no annoyance, since, to understand why he was getting that much attention, he simply assumed that guy was the next leader of the Holy Church.


    The girl''s case was different though.


    It was his first time meeting her, but despite seeing how beautiful and cute she was in her dress, all he could find in his heart for her was annoyance.


    Why was she better at everything than him? And could garner everyone''s praises even though she was younger than him? And why was she afraid of him?


    The immature crown prince couldn''t think far ahead yet and see the advantages a smart and capable woman could bring him. Thepetitiveness in him and his childish jealousy was causing his judgment to be impaired.


    The party started at his cue and greetings. But since the celebrant was a kid, most of the events were for the younger generation. The Emperor only showed up in a few minutes and before leaving, said,


    "Both the heirs of House Wade and House Bolden came. Good, good. It''s nice to see you two here, especially you, Miss Bolden. I''ve heard of your great genius,ing up with a cure to a terrible mdy by yourself, and even at your age. It''s admirable."


    The prince''s eyes darkened because the lion-like man never said a thing to him, and did not even smile at him. As a challenge to him by the other royalties, he arranged everything at this party. It was him who made sure the food, the people, and everything else was taken care of, yet instead of getting praised, he got snubbed? And it was that heiress from House Bolden who got noticed just for attending?


    ''... Even though I know this Rumina Bolden is not at fault... Why is my heart feeling so ufortable? Will I truly want to live with this girl in the future?''


    Aware of the answer, he gave the girl a good look. Not long after, he fell into contemtion, eyes somehow falling onto Luke Wade''s poker face.


    With a n in mind, while all sorts of literary and talentpetition between the young people were happening, the young male lead walked towards the boy who was older than him by two years.


    "Mr. Wade." After exchanging with the other a standard bow, he asked, in a way which naturally sounded like there was no room for refusal. "May I invite you for a talk."


    ...


    Jiang Li was not annoyed by the male lead''s sudden action earlier, but amused. He might have been too boredtely. So he entertained the younger boy and looked for a private ce to continue their conversation.


    And this seemed to be a good decision as he heard something funny.


    "You... I''m ordering you to help annul my current engagement!"

 Chapter 209: Su Luxi (8) <2-in-1>

    Chapter 209: Su Luxi (8) <2-in-1>


    "As the crown prince of this empire, I''mmanding you, Luke Wade, to help me break my engagement to the youngdy of House Bolden!"


    The prince was sporting a serious and intimidating face. Even when the two knights behind him called out his name quite urgently to remind him who he was speaking with, the young boy remained as same as before, looking straight into Jiang Li''s eyes, full of conviction and determination.


    The taller but skinnier of the two dressed in a lighter set of blue clothing bowed his head and covered his mouth to hide the upturned corners of his lips. The knights and the prince thought it was him being shocked and rendered speechless.


    As if the prince, Romualdo ''Rome'' Natividad, was afraid the other young man did not understand what he meant, he added, "Mr. Wade, I want you to announce to the world as the prophet that Rumina Bolden is dered by the Goddess as not fit to be my Empress!"


    "Your Highness!!!" One of the two knights cried in rm, apparently couldn''t believe what he just heard. The knight saluted and said, "Please reconsider, Your Highness! If you dislike Duke Bolden''s daughter, there are other ways to annul the engagement to her! If, if we do that..."


    ''Because it''s dered by the prophet, nobody will dare marry the heiress of Duke Bolden anymore. For such a kid who has a bright future and has no fault whatsoever, it''s... unfair.''


    Unfortunately, thest part could not leave the guard''s mouth because he received a sharp re from Rome and a shake of a head from hispanion who even tapped his shoulder to make him stop speaking.


    ''Heh. Such a funny and selfish kid.'' Jiang Li thought to himself after watching the scene.


    A whileter, he raised his head with a smile on his face, asking, "Your Highness. I am just curious, what made you think I have the power to help you annul an engagement approved by His Majesty?"


    The young male lead stared intensely and menacingly at him, as if through that way, he could show his authority. "I already said the reason. Stop asking. Know your ce as a subject of this empire!"


    ''What did I just hear?'' The moment those words fell on his ears, Jiang Li started narrowing his eyes and exerting pressure onto the young boy''s body in front of him. He was very much offended.


    "Know... my ce?" A smile unbefitting of a Goddess'' servant or messenger formed on his lips. Since he was taller and he was looking down at the other guy, his face appeared quite scary.


    The prince and his knights then remembered that the person before them was somebody talented in sword and had gone missing for a few months before to train in a beast packed forest in the eastern part of the empire. The life-threatening days he had there must have trained the young heir to exert this much pressure.


    However, as if triggered, the crown prince pinched his thigh hard and then raised his head, "Luke Wade. What do you think are you doing!? Are you casting magic on us without permission!?"


    ''This damn brat... needs to be killed at once!''


    Instead of withdrawing the pressure, Jiang Li did the opposite. With the same grin hanging on his face, he nced each at the prince''s bodyguards, then to the people from afar still having a nice time at the party.


    "I would like to have a heart to heart talk with the prince. In a more private ce." After saying that line, without care for the protest of the person involved, he dragged the prince towards a break room inside the princess'' pce.


    "Hey!"


    "Sir Wade, what''s the meaning of this!" The two knights naturally blocked his way. Jiang Li gave them a nce again before snapping his finger once and saying, "I would just want a good talk with the crown prince about the doctrine of the Goddess. If you may excuse us. It will take a while. I permit you two to stand guard outside and not let anyone in without my consent!"


    "We" Suddenly, the two tall knights in their early thirties lost their ability to say no or utter words of protest, their body automatically moved for them, saluting and then standing straight in front of the door, facing the other direction.


    Pushing the door open, the older of the two teenage boys threw the protesting other on the floor.


    "How dare you!" The crown prince shivered and tried to get up. However, before he couldpletely part from the marbled flooring, a shiny and bone-chilling ice de appeared before his eyes, resting only half a centimeter away from his neck.


    Fear instantly flickered across the younger boy''s face. "Hiiieeee! Y-you!"


    How did he manage to cast a spell, and such a high-level one at that, in just a second? Also, was he nning to kill him? He wouldn''t right? After all, he was a servant of the church!


    It didn''t take even a couple of seconds for Rome to realize how wrong he was. Reflected now on the prophet''s emotionless hazel brown pupils was the prince''s image. From the neck part, something was trickling down.


    "Y-you can''t kill me!!!" Cried by the crown prince in rm.


    Jiang Li kicked the other at the back to make him continue lying down on the floor, then answered in a matter-of-fact tone. "Of course, I can''t... Under my name."


    The golden-haired boy shivered and grunted in fear. ''He means it is still okay to kill me?!!! And that he''ll just have someone take the me for him!!!?''


    "N-No! I''m the crown prince! T-there''s a magic that can glimpse to the past! If, if my father investigated, he''ll know it''s you who kill me!!!"


    The reply he got was a sneer and a remark uttered in a disdainful tone, "Heh... Idiot! The magic can only be used through the Holy church''s artifact."


    The boy froze and then went back to shivering. When he tried to turn his head to the other person in the cozy room, all he saw was disdain andck of respect.


    For a while he was scared of those eyes, but then his pride rose up again.


    ''I know magic too! I''ll fight back! And then request for this damn boy''s head to be chopped off!''


    The male lead did try to cast some magic, trying to counter Jiang Li with some fire tricks. Thetter indifferently pressed the de against the target''s neck and then the casting stopped.


    "Why?" When the crown prince couldn''t take it anymore, he tearily asked. "Are you, are you doing this to me because I told you to help me annul that engagement?! Are you also on that girl''s side!?"


    The response he got was another kick, this time, which sent him flying across the room. "Uggggh!" The poor male lead curled into a ball on the ground, groaning.


    Jiang Li looked at the ice sword in his hand and then willed it to disappear. The feeling of using magic for quite a long time was fascinating. It had been a while since thest time, two years ago to be exact.


    "Damn," he cursed out. In just a minute he already felt drained physically and gasping for air. If this was before, he wouldn''t even break a sweat. His body had truly weakened and it was not to his liking.


    After taking a seat, the young man irritatedly crossed his arms and legs and then met the crown prince''s furious gaze. "Crown Prince. I''ve long heard of your inferiorityplex towards other people superior in magic, sword skills, and academics, but I never thought you''d fail to realize it''s because you''re an idiot."


    "W-what did you say?!!!" Exasperated and angered, Rome who forgot what he just went through from the hands of the other stood up. He would have charged towards Jiang Li if only he didn''t suddenly be paralyzed. It was Jiang Li''s ck magic at work.


    "You''re stupid, aren''t you?" Eyespletely merciless and full of mockery, Jiang Li repeated. "If not, then what else should you call someone who can''t appreciate talents and use them to his advantage? Who can''t tell that he is groomed by the Emperor but hasn''t shown great results so was neverplimented? And who can''t understand that the prophet is somebody protected not only by the Holy Church but also by his own father?"


    Silence took over the ce for some time as one person satfortably on the sofabed while the other stood unmoving a couple of meters from the first one, face ashen.


    The younger boy was only paralyzed, but he was not muted. Why was he not saying anything? Couldn''t refute?


    ''I''d host a party if this damnably idiot prince realized what he should realize from what I said.'' Jiang Li thought, confident that the male lead would act the opposite.


    And as expected, Rome only started denying his words and cursing him. "Once I go out from here, I''ll make sure you''re punished! I, I will make you pay the price!!! Even if you''re from the Holy Church, don''t forget you''re still from a weak duchy under my royal family''s rule!"


    It was amazing how childish and foolish a teenager groomed to be elegant and wise since young could be. Earlier, he performed quite a great job greeting the people around. But was that actually all this person amount to? Easily influenced by feelings? Had an amazingly unreasonable inferiorityplex? Only okay when not talking?


    Jiang Li listened to the immature and conceited remarks of the other until he finished. Afterward, he grinned and said, "Now I know why the other older nobles are discussing you among themselves, saying you''re lesser than a ten-year-old girl."


    The male lead flinched, his hands were on his bleeding neck and aching upper arm which received the blunt impact when he made contact with the wall. He always hated beingpared.


    Jiang Li knew it. However, knowing was different from understanding. No matter what angle he used to look at it, the male lead''s behavior was not making sense.


    In the future, this sense of jealousy would poison his mind and heart and make him ruin the life of somebody doing her best to lighten up his load in managing the empire. How was that justifiable?


    Jiang Li shook his head. "To be honest, they are very lenient."


    Hearing those, Rome''s eyes turned round. "...What?"


    "If my opinion if asked, they are not really saying the truth. If you be the emperor, because you a very big idiot... this empire is simply doomed for destruction."


    Looking at the dumbfounded male lead who probably couldn''t digest what he said, the prophet clicked his tongue and added, "Should I just make a statement to have your other siblings be the heir? After all, my position and title will make things pretty convenient for this cause? Don''t you think so, stupid crown prince Rome Natividad?"


    ...


    When Jiang Li stepped out of that room, he and the prince had already been there for less than five minutes. The guards tried to probe for information on what they talked about inside but got nothing as the other party simply refused to talk to them. Not long after, the two exchanged nces and attempted to enter the room. But they found out they still couldn''t move.


    ''Is he really somebody acknowledged by the Goddess? Not the devil?''


    With a smirk, Jiang Li told them, "Don''t speak to anyone about what you saw and witnessed here."


    While walking away, he thought, if the male lead had only stayed amusing and did not make him annoyed by ordering him and saying that he should know his ce, he would have entertained the other and not resorted to violence.


    Anyway, he was d his second plot-changing chance was not used.


    Regrettably... it also meant the male lead wouldn''t change despite all those beating...

 Chapter 210: Su Luxi (9)

    Chapter 210: Su Luxi (9)


    As said before, the plot was always finding ways and opportunities to erase Jiang Li from the surface of the earth.


    So when he was walking outside nning to return to the gathering of people in the garden, his heart suddenly started to palpitate and his vision slowly blurred until they cked out. The world''s consciousness took advantage of the fact that his body was drained of energy and low on mana to strike at him. Since he was never part of the story, it naturally wanted his death!


    ''Damn plot!'' Even though he didn''t manage to change anything in the storyboard, it still found the fact that he did something to the male lead unforgivable. So it immediately attempted to kill him at the next moment!


    It was ast-ditch effort that he evaded the sharp pointed rock which ''mysteriously'' appeared on that part of the hallway. And then as he fell unconscious, all that was on his mind were curses targeting the culprit behind his condition.


    ...


    Nothing bad truly happened to Jiang Li since the people from the church were nearby. However, in the end, the one who found him first and brought him somewhere safe was not one of the holy knights, but a girl who had escaped from the party to get some peace and quiet.


    The holy nights were definitely around. It was just that the girl the nearest to him when it happened. She got her maids and guards with her who helped her carry him to one of the guest rooms.


    An hourter, he woke up. And his pupils dted upon recognizing who the person in his room was.


    The female lead?


    "I''m d Mr. Wade is now awake." She greeted with a polite smile unbefitting of her age.


    For Jiang Li who had knowledge of the plot, it was easy to tell that she was now really the person who had regressed to the past. Her eyes were simply the clue.


    It was just quite a mismatch that the face and the smile were very innocent and child-like, yet the eyes showed that she had already gone through the various vicissitudes of life. A child''s eyes were usually very pure, while an adult''s showed stories and tales, or sometimes, calctions and schemes. Thinking of what happened to her in the past life, it was easy to tell hers belonged to the first type. She was indeed deserving of pity.


    Pretending he didn''t know who the cute child before him was, he muttered in a questioning manner, "You are?"


    "My name is Rumina Bolden, only daughter of Duke Bolden." She respectfully added, rising for a couple of seconds to perform a curtsy. "It''s an honor to meet you, Your... Honor."


    As she said thest part, the confusion which crossed her eyes for a brief moment did not escape his notice. He was very sure that the cause for that was his identity, or maybe his very own existence.


    Jiang Li first returned the courtesy with an impassive face put on, "Greetings and a good day, Miss Bolden. Allow me to thank you from the bottom of my heart for taking care of me today. As they said, kindness should always be repaid. Don''t worry, Miss. I would make sure to return the favor in the future."


    "No, no need for that," waving her hands in front of her, the girl first showed surprised and then shook her head. "I, I did it not do that for a return. If somebody''s in need, it''s a noble person''s duty to help if it''s within his or her capabilities. I''m sure no matter who is in my stead when that happened, they would also do what I did. My action is nothing great, really."


    "Miss Bolden is very polite."


    "I don''t deserve your praise."


    After looking at the girl for quite a long while, the man realized why he kept feeling that she was odd. Afterward, he nked out a bit and then frowned.


    The expression he made that time did not register on the eleven years old female lead since she did not dare to look straight into the boy''s face.


    A minute passed in silence.


    The girl who finally noticed that he was observing her raised her head for a second but then immediately bowed.


    Seated on the low stool, she corrected her posture, feeling conscious of the boy''s stare. A couple of secondster, to distract herself, she busied her mind recalling if the person before her existed in the previous life.


    ''No matter how I wracked my brain, I couldn''t remember him. But how could that be?''


    ''A prophet should not be lower than a saintess. This person is even rumored groomed to be the next leader of the Holy Church, which means his position and identity are very lofty and hard to miss. Howe there is no information about him in my memories?''


    The girl''s beautiful green eyes stared down lost in the curious patterns of the marble flooring. Circles. The sight below was full of those, in various sizes and colors. Now, she felt like she was being hypnotized and pulled into a different world, somewhere she could be absorbed in her thoughts.


    A momentter, a possibility shed in her mind which made her eyes go round and mouth slightly fall open.


    ''Could it be... Due to my time-traveling, some very important pieces of information got erased? Before my death, I seemed to have heard the Goddess'' voice, then I suddenly woke up in my ten-year-old body. Mr. Wade right now, or at least before the Saintess'' arrival, is the closest person to the Goddess. Are these two rted? So there is really a possibility that my memories of him have been deleted?''


    ''Ah...'' The girl subconsciously let out a sigh and lowered her head more.


    Rumina Bolden''s mood turned gloomy due to that thought.


    If her guesses were true, then why didn''t she just lose memories of how she got treated by the Emperor?


    All those sufferings and heartaches she experienced, why were those not erased instead?


    She felt ufortable in her heart. While there was extreme fear in it, there were also remorse, unwillingness, and regret. However, she knew miracles were hard toe by so instead of wallowing in depression and bad thoughts, she should focus more on her newly found goals.


    ''In this life, I really should not entangle myself with them. Or else, I''d suffer and die again!''


    A hint of fear and nausea rose up from within her as her petite body trembled. She covered her mouth since the image of the miserable her popped up in her mind, almost making her vomit.


    Jiang Li''s voice rang, knocking her out of her stupor. "You look unwell as if something heavy is weighing on your mind. Is there something you want to ask from me? Maybe I can repay the favor that way?"


    "Hah?" She let out a surprised yelp. Instinctively, she raised her gaze to the other person in the room, seeing him already up from the bed, standing before her. The difort instantly disappeared, reced by feelings of emptiness, and then confusion.


    Now that she managed to get a good look at the prophet, she could see that not only was his white hair striking, all his facial features were. It was simply hard to forget his face after seeing him for the first time. There was also his House joining the ranks of the duke.


    If her memories were not tampered with, then was he simply non-existent from that timeline? The assumption sounded probably, yet it was not adding things up...


    Seeing, the look on her face, Jiang Li batted his eyes once then continued, "If a matter is guing you with worries, ask then. It''s a free chance to inquire something from me, valid while I''m still here. You don''t know how many people in this continent wanted me to divine their future for them."


    ''That sounds...'' The girl didn''t know how to describe what she felt upon the offer. But she did open her mouth, albeit reluctantly. There was only one thing that came to mind, that one thing which she badly wanted right now.


    "C-can you help me... cancel my engagement to the prince?" Midway she paused to swallow the invisible lump in her throat.

 Chapter 211: Su Luxi (10)

    Chapter 211: Su Luxi (10)


    "C-can you help me... cancel my engagement to the prince?" Midway she paused to swallow the invisible lump in her throat.


    "Oh? Engagement again? No."


    "..." The female lead became speechless. Why ask for her if he would only say no to her? Wait, somebody else also tried to request this from the prophet? The prince?


    The answer came out immediately since Jiang Li had no ns to y with words with a true adult. The young boyughingly added, "Sorry about that, Miss. But I don''t think you should bother trying to break the engagement. I''m sure you know for yourself why."


    Jiang Li would not meddle with the plot for now. He was saving his two chances for the viiness who was his mission. Also, there was no way the plot would let the leads not end up with each other.


    In other words, this girl would have no way of escaping the sick romance with the stupid ML. That was unless she could go against the plot by herself, or make Jiang Li be so moved that he would shoulder some punishments for a plot-change outside of the allowed chances. The question is, could she do that? Breaking the leads'' ship would mean an absurd amount of work, how would he be willing to do it without a very strong reason?


    ''Bringing me somewhere in the pce when I copsed in the hallway is not so big to make me move.'' He indifferently thought, watching as despair crossed Rumina''s eyes.


    "Ask me something different. If it''s within my capabilities, I don''t mind answering or helping."


    The girl was disheartened. ''... What else can I ask though...?'' She only had one desire in this life and the prophet couldn''t do anything about it.


    Thankfully, she was someone whose mind was that of a twenty-year-old girl so she managed to restrain her expression and said, "Your Honor, thank you for your grace. I will take this opportunity then. But my mind is simple. Please let me just leave the judging of what I should get aspensation to you."


    In other words, up to you. You judge. I''m done.


    A corner of Jiang Li''s lip rose up. It seemed like the woman''s IQ returned, and that fast even. ''Quite witty.''


    So he would be the one to decide how to return the favor? Was he counting on his titles, both as a prophet and an heir to a duchy, to make sure she would not receive a loss? Or maybe she was simply not counting on him much after receiving that initial reply?


    ''On ount that you look like the young her, I''d then be more tolerant.''


    Jiang Liughed and opened his mouth to say something which made the little girl stunned and rooted on her spot. Another person listening and witnessing their conversation watched the look on the boy''s face with both interest... butter on, her own expression turned a bit darker.


    ...


    Even before the day ends, the crown prince went to the Emperor toin about Jiang Li''s conduct. By then thetter had been already escorted home by the church''s people. When the news reached his ears, heughed so loudly that the ducal couple was alerted.


    "Son, son, what is the good news that made you so happy. Care to share it with your mother and me?" A smile hung on Duke Wade''s face when he lovingly rubbed the white hair of his son.


    Jiang Li looked at the maid who called for the two and glowered, then turned to the Duke with an amused expression. "I heard the crown princeined about me to the Emperor. I was simply imagining in my head how the Emperor responded."


    The duke frowned, "There is such a thing? Why did His Highness do that? Did something happen at the princess'' birthday?"


    "Well. He tried to request something from me. But it''s against my principle both as the prophet and a subject of the empire. I think the crown prince is displeased so he spoke with His Majesty."


    "... I''ll send people outside to inquire more about this piece of news."


    "Okay."


    ''Anyway, I also want to know whether he finally realized the truth through that audience with the old dude?'' the thought shed across his mind after he remembered how he purposely did not make the crown prince forget what took ce in the break room.


    Once the Emperor asked the guards following the prince and received an answer opposite of what that boy said, what would the Emperor do?


    The next morning, he got the answer he wanted. The crown prince was scolded. Yet that was it.


    Jiang Li knew the Emperor was saving face for the male lead, either through his own discretion as his father or because he got forced by the plot.


    ...


    Time flew by quickly. When Jiang Li was eighteen years old, the leads started to have more interactions. The female lead then began to seek him out more frequently, fearing how urate his predictions were.


    On that day when he beat up the crown prince and then spoke with the girl, he told her everything he saw in his memories. And it was amusing how his chances of changing the plot did not decrease. Meaning even though Rumina Bolden acquired the knowledge of her future, since she was the female lead, her fate was essentially written down and predetermined by the plot already. This was proven by how many times the girlined about the frequent encounters she had with the crown prince when she turned thirteen.


    Maybe because she had already guessed that he knew her past, she treated him like her best friend. Regarding this, Jiang Li only rolled his eyes. It was amazing how thick-faced a lead character could be to im she was best friends with a guy who rarely spoke with her.


    It was the afternoon of a bright and sunny day when Rumina snuck into Wade''s mansion, pretending she was a maid.


    The duke''s heir was seated in the balcony facing a mountain of books at the top of his table. Since he only had so much free time in hand, he spent most of those in training his magic and arts, learning stuff to make his body stronger, and researching about the curse and the Goddess.


    Amidst his busy schedule, the girl was simply an unweed existence.


    "L-Luke. I-It''s really scary. I, I went to the opera hall and met that man there. H-he really did invite me in his private booth!"


    He flipped a page of the book in his hand.


    "Oh? Why? Because of a letter?" He casually asked, not even lifting his head to see her reaction.


    If this was before, she would have widened her eyes for the young man had guessed it correctly again. But now, she only sighed, seemingly used to this. Every time, this white-haired boy would give her a disinterested look. It had be so familiar with her that she could not even feel annoyed at it anymore.


    She simply started telling him that he gained a new male friend who she was actually quite attracted to. This person noticed her aversion and fear of the prince and asked about it in a letter. She replied with a very long narration of her experiences in her previous life, telling him it was her dream, a very realistic and vivid one. Yet before this letter could reach the correct recipient, itnded in the hands of the male lead.


    The thirteen-year-old girl''s face was full of despair as she cried. "He, t-that disaster read what''s in that letter and interrogated me about it! A-and then he promised he wouldn''t be like that! I-It''s scary how my heart suddenly started pounding even though my mind is full of doubts about his words. I mean... I don''t even believe he will change!"


    For so many years, she suffered in the hands of that scum. It was hard to rewrite the impression she had of him in her mind. Since the images were burnt at the back of her mind, why did her heart behave like that when he said that meaningless and empty promise?


    "Well..."


    Jiang Li shrugged then went back to reading. He had nothing to say. Or more appropriately put, he didn''t find it interesting since this had happened numerous times already, both this girlining and the plot entangling her to Rome at every given chance.


    Seeing the ducal heir''s reaction, the girl let out a sigh again.


    "In your prediction, that girl will be summoned in 2 years..." Downcasted, the female lead subconsciously murmured. Gloominess could be seen from her expression, her tone too was displeased.


    "Yeah." The man simply replied.


    She clutched her chest, "... I... dreaded that daying..."


    This remark was said in a tone full of both fear and resentment.


    He cidly looked at his bony fingers, taking in the annoying paleness andck of meat in his arms before raising his head and shing a smile at the disguised girl.


    "Sorry." He apologized. "But contrary to your wish... I actually look forward to that daying..."

 Chapter 212: Su Luxi (11)

    Chapter 212: Su Luxi (11)


    As the Goddess said, there was only one way to heal a curse that no healing or light magic in the world could cure. To make the future Saintess wish from the Goddess to take away this curse from him.


    Yet, to be honest, Jiang Li actually did not care much if his life had a deadline.


    His n was not to butter Su Luxi up or make her feel coerced to wish for his recovery. If he could not stay long in this world, then that would really be a pity, but moving on should be easy since his goal was only to save a stupid girl and then he could go to the next world.


    The problem might have been the fact that a certain someone did not know of it, so she pestered Jiang Li by repeatedly saying, ''Hey, there are only a few days left before the summoning, shouldn''t you prepare ns to make the new girl like you or feel like she should use her wish on you?''


    The Goddess'' message was clear, she was insinuating him to start drafting schemes to make the Saintess be in love with him or attached to him. Pity could also work since he was a wheelchair-bound guy. In short, he should n to y with a girl''s emotions.


    But to this, the guy who had be a fine white-haired young man only replied, ''You mean, to make her wish for my benefit? Should I?''


    A sardonic grin formed in his lips. His eyes looking up at the clear blue sky. He was seated on the chair overseeing the unending mountain ranges from Wade''s mansion''s second floor.


    If he would move his sight to the valets respectfully standing on his two sides, he would see the sadness in their eyes. They must be feeling down, aware that their young master only had a few months left to live.


    The Goddess'' yful voice echoed in his ears, ''Are you sure you don''t want to seduce the Saintess? Your looks are okay. Once I summon her, you should stand at the front so the first one she would see is you! What do you think?''


    ''I sincerely think this talk is purely nonsensical.''


    ''A,'' the Goddess purred like a hurt kitten. ''How could you say that? Don''t you know you''re just giving me reasons to think you''re not confident of yourself? That you''re afraid you cannot make a little girl from another world fall for you?''


    ''...'' For some reason, he felt so offended by the teasing tone of the woman. There was also the meaning she was trying to get across him.


    He sneered. If she had memories of the past, would she still find her suggestions funny?


    He really wanted to know.


    He closed his eyes for a while and ignored the voice giving him weird ideas to make him feel embarrassed and uneasy.


    "Sir Wade!"


    ''Sighs. Herees another trouble needing some attention.''


    Jiang Li automatically looked down, seeing a beautiful maid with blonde hair and face reminding him of Ye Xinya. She was happily waving a hand at him. Following behind her were her most faithful maid and guard, both also in a disguise.


    The valets next to Jiang Li exchanged nces with each other, their expressions not that good.


    The fiancee of the crown prince had visited again. And it was not something they weed.


    Jiang Li was still the heir despite the ducal couple having a seven-year-old daughter. Not many knew of his life expectancy but the duke and duchess did, yet despite so, until their firstborn breathed hisst, they resolved to retain his status. This was maybe their way of appeasing their hearts too, seeing the young man getting more frail and weak each passing day.


    Anyway, the issue was how the prophet remained the same as before in terms of social standing and influence. People now were aware that he was ill since the paleness of his face and theck of meat in his body was not easy to miss, yet despite that, he was still one of the dream husbands of many.


    But he reached the age of twenty without getting engaged or involved with any love scandal. The two valets had dark faces since they couldn''t help but wonder if it was because of the barely sixteen-year-old girl before them.


    ''Of all people, why her? The young master is pitiful. Even if he likes this girl and the girl also likes him, I''m afraid there is still no future between them. He is sick. And the girl is already engaged... Ah, my merciful Goddess...''


    While the female lead was making her way up the balcony, Jiang Li sipped on his cup of tea, sometimes biting on the cookie in his hand.


    After a few seconds, he felt that it was not good to monopolize the food to himself so he offered some snacks to his valets.


    But who knew that after painstakingly convincing the two, both of them would suddenly end up choking, both feeling frantic and didn''t know who to perform hemlock first.


    Jiang Li looked at the two with interest. Did he pass them his passive ability to court death even without doing anything?''


    Without looking at his cup of tea, he paused drinking, barely stopping before a needle, which <em>mysteriously</em> slipped into his drink, entered his mouth.


    He ced the cup down.


    ''Goddess... If I were to ask you...''


    Remembering the question thrown at him, he smirked inwardly. ''Do you think I should really go after the Saintess just so I can extend my life span?''


    ''... Well, it''s your life, after all... so yeah?''


    Now that the Goddess was asked this question, she suddenly couldn''t understand why she sounded so unsure.


    In a ce where no mortal could reach, a girl dressed in a long white and yellow dress stared at the mirror before her in confusion.


    Earlier she was having fun teasing him but when he asked and then images of this person being nice to another girl appeared in her mind, she no longer found it fun. Why?


    ''Alright. Since you said so,'' Jiang Li looked at the calm surface of the transparent teapot atop the table, smiling faintly. ''But, Goddess, you know that a mortal''s life has an end, right? Every person has a limited number of chances to y around and explore rtionships, and lesser time for trials and errors when choosing their partner for life.''


    ''I have to tell you... I''m not the type who has deep knowledge of how affections should work among people. But if I were to go after someone, it means I will seriously be with her for the rest of my life.''


    ''It''s all or nothing. If my choice happened to be wrong, then so be it. Anyway, nobody truly knows the future and there is an infinite number of possibilities. Most likely I''ll move on... But then again, I will not entertain that kind of thing anymore...''


    The Goddess thought for a moment and really felt that such words should not being out of the mouth of somebody like Luke Wade.


    Seven years of observation made her confident that his statements were not in line with his personality.


    He loved lying and hated troubles and threats. It was hard to pique his attention. Even now, all she could peer from the face of the man on the tall mirror was indifference.


    Why else would he act like he just spoke about an insignificant matter when it was his feelings and future that they were talking about?


    Yet it was also puzzling how he seemed very serious. So given what he said, was he really going to marry the Saintess if she heals him? Since if she used that precious wish, it meant he was going to be emotionally indebted or invested to her?


    The person standing in front of the huge mirror in a realm attached to the current world breathed deeply. Her eyes subconsciously darkened.


    ''I don''t want that!'' Uncontroble anger and unwillingness rushed into the woman''s brain, which made her forget she was still in telepathy with her messenger.


    ''Hehe.''


    Jiang Li asked for a new cup which the valet on his left respectfully handed to him. The other valet professionally poured tea on it which Jiang Li promptly brought near his mouth.

 Chapter 213: Su Luxi (12)

    Chapter 213: Su Luxi (12)


    When the female lead finally climbed the stairs and saw the grin the prophet had on his face, she momentarily flinched, questioning herself if the man already had clues on why she appeared today.


    Earlier, Rumina was in a happy mood since she couldin to a friend who knew her past and true self, but now she found it was hard not to feel downcast seeing the other seemed to have predicted the reason for her trip here.


    "Sir Wade." The fifteen-year-old girl curtsied and greeted. Since she was reprimanded heavily by one of the valets, she noted in her mind to not call him by his name when other people were around. "It''s a good day. I''m d to see you looking much better than before."


    Jiang Li cut off hismunication with the Goddess, returning to his usually bored face. "Yeah, hello. What made you sneak into our humble house again?"


    "To speak with you!"


    ''Rude and brazen!'' thought the other two young men nearby, frowning.


    After throwing her a nce, Jiang Li indifferently replied, "I have to say to you in advance. But I don''t n to divine anything today too."


    "Sir Wade, hehe, when did I look for you for that? Don''t worry, Sir. I''m merely here to apany you in admiring the flowers and tea."


    The female lead unceremoniously sat down in front of him under the sharp and attentive gazes of the valets.


    The scene was quite weird, not because a maid started casually speaking with the heir of a duke, but because the guards of that heir was treating the girl like an enemy that should be watched out, acting like fathers toward the prospective fiance of his daughter.


    Jiang Li stayed silent as the girl narrated about the kind of things the male lead did to her, mostly strangely good and sweet deeds unimaginable for the future Emperor to direct to her.


    "You won''t believe it! I don''t know why, but I felt goosebumps when that guy insisted on dancing with me on that ball! It''s really hair-raising. I want to run away from him!"


    "..."


    The valet on Jiang Li''s left side red at her: Did you try? By mentioning His Highness here, aren''t you just trying to make our young master jealous? Who do you think you are?!


    As if she was oblivious to the thoughts written all over that valet''s face, she added with a grave expression put on, "There''s also that time when I attended Miss Lc''s tea party. I didn''t know why he''s there! Crazy! A man appearing in an all-girls'' party! But that man forced me on a tea session with him and then fed me some cake, PERSONALLY, using his fork. I-It''s just so disgraceful! It made so speechless!"


    "..."


    Valet 2: Oh? You''re so speechless that you came here running your mouth?


    Valet 1: Hah! This must be intentional! This annoying girlcks tack and awareness of people''s feelings yet she will be the future Empress? Wow... So hateful! I hope once she goes back, she gets caught ying truant and be scolded or grounded!


    The two young men acting both as Jiang Li''s valets and guards looked as if they wished the security personnel of the mansion would be more vignt. Or if because of the years of familiarity with the girl, those people would not, the two valets wished they could kick her out by themselves.


    Jiang Li noticed his servants dark faces and inwardlyughed.


    "I think that man has be crazy! I swear he''s not supposed to be this considerate! No! He should not even pay me attention! I... I hate it! In just a few days I''m sure his attitude will take a drastic turn!"


    He spoke. "Well. How is it rted to me?"


    The female lead sighed. She got herself a cup and a saucer and then poured herself some tea. The manner she did it confirmed she had done this countless times.


    Well, Jiang Li never chased her away, but he also never entertained her frequent visits apart from listening to her. He never even offered his food. Such a stingy and ungentlemanly person. Her eyes darted to the man seated across her aplicated gaze.


    Actually, if those mentioned above were taken out, Luke Wade was still somebody many girls in the empire wanted to marry, mostly for his money and status, or face. In fact, in most noble girls'' minds, he was more ideal to marry than the crown prince.


    It was not only what he could offer, but that he was freer and had fewer duties to shoulder which means he would NOT be the type of husband his wife would only see for a few minutes every day.


    Which girl didn''t want some more romantic moments with their lovers or partners? Although ill for now, this guy was the Goddess'' messenger so there was no way he would not be cured by the Goddess in the future. Or so the majority assumed.


    Anyways, Rumina Bolden suddenly had all these thoughts in her mind because she remembered again how odd her heart was when facing the crown prince.


    To be honest, she quite liked Luke Wade.


    She was clearly more attracted to this older guy than the male lead, but howe her heart would beat as fast as it when he was with that person???!


    Could a woman''s heart hold two men at the same time?


    She doubted it.


    ''This is so hateful. Why do I feel like I''mpelled to like that heartless bastard without knowing why? Is this heaven''s arrangement for me? Haven''t I suffered enough? Why?''


    The female lead didn''t know that she was in theplete control of the plot hence the reason that when she was with the person she loathed, her heart seemed to be not her own.


    There was one more thing she didn''t know.


    That was how a supreme being looking at them through a mirror started to think that she was a great annoyance!


    ...


    ''Why does she have my face?'' While the girl seated across Jiang Li was drowning in her thoughts, the indignant voice of the Goddess rang inside his head.


    Once again, the Goddess seemingly forgot that Jiang Li could hear her and that the man looked down to hide his bright expression, forcing down the edges of his mouth which uncontrobly went up.


    The voice in his head kept grumbling, spouting so manyints, as usual.


    On the other hand, Jiang Li secretly muttered in his heart, ''... Well. Even though the personality is fiercer and more yful... no doubt about it... She''s Xinya.''


    He had to admit. Every time, this fact was reaffirmed in his mind, he would feel d and relieved.


    Now the only problem was what the Goddess initiallyined to him.


    Why does the female lead look like ''her''?


    ''... Is the world trying to confuse me when it gives Rumina Bolden a face simr to Ye Xinya?''


    He began to ponder about this.


    The world, or the person controlling the fates of the mission worlds, had unknowingly revealed to Jiang Li the real importance ced upon the Goddess'' incarnations.

 Chapter 214: Su Luxi (13) <2-in-1>

    Chapter 214: Su Luxi (13) <2-in-1>


    Days passed yet since thest day the female lead came over to the Wade Mansion, Jiang Li did not hear from the Goddess again.


    He wondered, was she busy setting up the summoning ceremony? Or were there just other duties making her busy?


    It was hard for him to guess since he had no knowledge of what level of power she had and how otherworld summoning works. He turned to the system but it was useless, it couldn''t answer him.


    It only said to him, ''Host, the Goddess, though mentioned as a powerful and majestic being of this world, is nheless a mere extra in the plot. The system deemed her an unimportant character too. Her role is only to summon the viiness. If you ask me about the leads though, I can probably help. But if it''s regarding an extra... Ha ha.''


    Lying. The damn system was obviously lying since itsughter was very awkward. For sure, it could show him the coordinates of anyone in this world apart from the Goddess.


    But he didn''t pursue anymore since he had already a guess that the Goddess'' disappearance was rted to the summoning. The Saintess, after all, would being to this world soon.


    Now that he remembered it, why was she entitled to a wish again? Was it thepensation because the soul of that person was suddenly pulled into this world?


    Hmmm...


    While he suspected Su Luxi was summoned in random to set up the stage for the leads, the plot justified it as a means to consolidate the church''s power and make the faith for the Goddess of Light stronger.


    Then again, for what reason? The continent was too peaceful and there was no mention of a dark faction or any opposing forces in the plot. So was there a need to consolidate power?


    System: Host, this is fantasy. It was normal for some things not to add up here. Take note as well that the plot is more focused on romance. The existence of magic and the medieval setting are only for the sake of beautifying the romance. And also, look. A romance between two people will be boring without a viin, so the Saintess could not not be summoned. Try to create a harlequin novel without a viin and see if any publishing house will ept it! Host, I''m telling you, no editor will ept it!


    ''Oh?''


    He muted it. Reminding him of the obvious, even though it was appreciated, he''d rather have some peace and quiet for himself, a long one at that.


    After some small events between the crown prince and crown princess which didn''t fail to spread to the whole empire, the awaited day finally came.


    Jiang Li met the female lead and the male lead near the altar where he had ''predicted'' the Saintess to appear. It was a ce inside the main branch of the Holy Church, where most baptisms were held.


    Many came to see whether the prophet truly lived up to his reputation, curious about whether a girl from another world would truly appear out of nowhere. They gathered around but gave space near the fountain where the Saintess woulde into being.


    "Luke, my son, are you a hundred percent sure that today is the day the Saintess will grace our world with her presence?"


    The Duke and Duchess also came with Jiang Li to check the asion. Thetter kept pinching her husband''s waist, feeling so tense and nervous from all the wait.


    Jiang Li did not answer, busy trying tomunicate with the Goddess. Unfortunately, no matter how many times he called, he didn''t get any reply.


    It was the Duke who responded to the antsydy, whispering softly to her ears while capturing her hand, "My wife, believe in our precious son. As the most distinguished messenger, of course, he won''t lie about it."


    "But what if the Saintess doesn''t appear?"


    "Have faith, alright? The Goddess won''t forsake our son and not summon the Saintess."


    At the best spot in the ce, the crown prince Rome stood half a step behind the Emperor, narrowing his eyes at the direction of the prophet. ''The Goddess, huh?''


    One question kept ying in the male lead''s mind. Once the Saintess came around, what would be the prophet good for? Wouldn''t his special status became null since the one who would be closest to the Goddess would be the new girl?


    ''Heh.''


    He did not bother hiding the smirk that appeared on his face. He really looked forward to knowing if his guess would be reality.


    Soon, gasps echoed in the huge square followed by ovepping noises and screams. A bright light suddenly shone from the fountain. Its intensity was a lot greater than seven years ago when the Goddes acknowledged the prophet. Not even the priests used to light and healing magic could stand it. Everyone could not help but shield their eyes from the bright light and wait for it to settle down.


    "Is this... the Saintess?" A full minuteter, one of the onlookers murmured absentmindedly. This person, an honest-looking young priest, was one of the first few people to recover.


    Jiang Li squinted his eyes at the white-d figure of a girl who popped out of nowhere by the foot of the fountain. The light gradually faded away until the features of the woman got revealed.


    ck hair, ck eyes, and snow-whiteplexion - a weirdbination that resulted in a delicate and typical oriental beauty.


    In this world, there were very few people who had these features. Even though Duke Wade''s hair was ck, his eyes were a pair of beautiful emeralds.


    Perhaps, the girl''s hair and eye color were purposely arranged by the plot to set her apart from the inhabitants of this world. Her clothing too was very peculiar. She was the Saintess, she had to be unique. So of course, she was also beautiful.


    The longshes of this beauty fluttered a couple of secondster as she stood there in ce. She then roamed her widened eyes around in shock and panic. Her face turned stiff.


    Where was she? She was supposed to be sitting in front of herputer and chatting with her friends. Howe she was suddenly standing in a very unfamiliar ce, surrounded by people wearing costumes only seen on medieval-themed ys and dramas?


    "Hiieeee" Frightened by the kind of stares she was getting from the people around, she hugged herself and then continuously stepped back.


    Jiang Li repeatedly blinked. A couple of seconds after, he could be seen trying his best to hold hisughter.


    ''The hair is neat, obviouslybed, but she is in her pajamas and slippers. Is she summoned in the middle of the night? Specifically before going to sleep?''


    He truly found it funny. The Goddess was really a yful one.


    Everyone present examined the girl carefully and was in awe of her unusual but beautiful appearance. However, one guy noticed the ugly and thin bear printed clothing she was wearing and frowned. What an odd set of clothing.


    Jiang Li stayed where he was even after seeing the male lead, the Emperor and the Pope move forward the girl. He only watched cidly as time slowed down without a warning. This is it. Herees the only time when a viiness and a male lead had their slow-mo moment!


    In front, the crown prince handed his cape to cover the shivering girl. Thetter subconsciously epted it and wrapped it around herself.


    <T-Thank you.> She also blurted out in her ownnguage without many thoughts.


    When she looked up and saw the handsome cold face of the crown prince, it was easy to tell from her stunned expression that she fell in love at first sight.


    There was just something in the way their eyes met. Or more urately put, Su Luxi, the clueless saintess was too absorbed in staring into the crown prince''s beautiful sapphire eyes. She did not even notice the surprise and confusion the people surrounding her showed on their faces.


    "I don''t recognize thenguage," the Duchess whispered softly to her husband.


    "Well, she''s from another world so it''s not that surprising."


    The Pope smilingly stood between the crown prince and the summoned girl and spoke in an archaic localnguage mostly found in holy texts.


    Jiang Li once again had to suppress hisughter because the girl did not notice him. Poor old man. As an extra, he dared to insert himself between two prominent characters? Was he betting the neer was blessed innguage when he spoke something akin to old English to somebody speaking Chinese?


    For a while, two parties tried tomunicate with each other. It was after the Saintess recovered her senses and realized that all the three people before her were dressed more prominently than the others. The bulkiest among them was wearing a golden crown. She flinched and her face turned pale. Her eyes then swam practically everywhere.


    <W-where am I?>


    "Hello, I am the Pope of the Holy Church."


    <W-who are you people!? A-am I, k-kidnapped?! Is this a variety show!!! I''m not informed there is something like this!?>


    "Wee to our world. You are the Saintess summoned by the most benevolent goddess of all, the Goddess of Light."


    <W-what are you saying? C-can you understand me? Hello? Hello? Hi?>


    "Thank you for responding to our benevolent Goddess'' request and going to our world to lead the Holy Church and the Empire to greater heights!"


    <Ahm... Hello again? To your side?>


    "Miss, can you please speak ournguage so we can understand each other?"


    How could people from different cultures and backgroundsmunicate ifnguage stood as their barrier? Well, they resorted to body gestures and hand movements. And it was not truly an easy method.


    Before approaching the four, Jiang Li watched for a while longer, enjoying their talk which gradually evolved into a monkey show.


    After a bow, he suggested to first bring the girl into a private ce and dismissed the guests. Both the Pope and the Emperor agreed. The crown prince had no opinion, only slightly frowning at the distressed and insecure girl who kept clutching on his sleeves.


    On their way to the room specially prepared for the Saintess, the three were surprised to learn that the prophet could speak the samenguage as the girl. It didn''t take long for the shock to turn into an annoyance.


    ''If you know what she was saying, why didn''t you step forward much earlier to be our trantor.'' Rome looked at the white-haired man coldly.


    Jiang Li treated the hostile prince as air, looking at the girl shocked when he suddenly spoke in Chinese and asked what she was doing before finding herself near the fountain. Since he knew the Saintess would start throwing countless questions at him if he let her be, he hypnotized her first to only answer what was asked at her.


    As expected, Su Luxi was a high school girl at the same age as Rumina Bolden and she was summoned when she was about to go to sleep. A light just suddenly appeared in her bedroom while she was chatting with a friend online.


    In her foggy memories, it seemed to be after she identally clicked the yes button of a pop-up. Could that ad possibly be the cause? If she was in her right mind, the thought would have lingered longer.


    <Anything notable after the transfer?> he asked.


    The Pope furrowed his brows at him so he looked at him meaningfully and mouthed that he was introducing the world to the Saintess.


    <... Before I opened my eyes, I heard a voice, a masculine one... telling me to help him and this world...>


    Rome could not understand a single word she said, but he noticed that her eyes looked a bit zed and her speech was slower than usual.


    But more than that, he saw that Luke Wade''s face froze, then darkened...

 Chapter 215: Su Luxi (14)

    Chapter 215: Su Luxi (14)


    "Good work." A deep baritone voice echoed inside a pce not located in the mortal''s realm.


    Towards the man who just spoke, a pair of cold golden eyes red. Those enchanting eyes belonged to a woman of peerless appearance and elegance. She was floating on top of a gigantic andplicated magic circle giving off an intense bright yellowish light. The sight made her appear so holy and pure.


    It was to be expected since she was the embodiment of holiness. She was no other than the esteemed Goddess of Light.


    However, so many things were odd about this famous goddess right now. Her breathing was very erratic and she couldn''t stop shaking. Her distance from the ground where the magic circle kept lessening as she slowly descended. When she closed her eyes and slumped on the ground, she hung her head low, trembling.


    ''Good work?''


    The Goddess of Light had just finished summoning the Saintess. But she was not pleased.


    In her heart, fury and unwillingness kept bubbling up. Yet she also felt very powerless since the affair just now drained all of her meager divine power.


    "One day, I will really kill you and avenge myself!"


    A reply came after a dozen of seconds from somewhere she couldn''t see. It sounded so unconcerned. "Before you swear something, observe first if you have the capability, dearest Goddess of Light."


    A look of humiliation and indignance shed across the woman''s beautiful face. If she could only tear the flesh and bones of the other supreme being talking down to her, she would have definitely done so ages ago.


    "I''ll be leaving now. Good luck, recovering your power, and don''t forget to watch the human realm and assist the girl you just summoned."


    "Bastard!" Her voice full of anger, she shouted.


    Silence pervaded in the surroundings after that.


    "Bastard?" The Goddess once again called out. But now in an inquisitive tone. Her face alertly wandered around for some time.


    When she confirmed the presence of the other was no more, she erased the wary and serious expression on her face and then stood up.


    She looked around more, checking every nook and cranny of her gigantic room. When she felt like it was nowpletely safe from other eyes, the corner of her lips lifted up.


    Then she beganughing until she ended up clutching her stomach.


    She then sneered andughed before elegantly twirling around. "Done finally! That damnable unkible geezer won''t look for me for at least a hundred years!"


    The Goddess looked very happy, aplete opposite of her expression earlier. Apparently, she was faking her indignance and fury for a reason only she knew.


    Now that the unseen being that confined her in that lonely and cold pce was no longer monitoring her from an unknown corner, her real feelings were showing.


    In her glee, she didn''t notice that she was approaching the window to her room which would only lead to a never-ending sea of clouds.


    When she was about to reach it, her body was forcibly stopped by something. That interrupted her good mood, causing her to frown and look down on her feet.


    "Geez."


    Annoyed, she turned back, heading towards the huge body-size mirror. As she walked, cold metal sounds kept ringing in her ear, reminding her that there was no way for her to leave the pce due to the chains connected to her left ankle.


    Fuming she vowed in her heart not to fail her n. She really looked forward to her freedom and would go to any lengths to grasp it.


    Using her little remaining divine power, she created a bed andid her back on it before making the gigantic mirror to float up so she could watch the scenes there while in the bed.


    The images currently reflected was her prophet exiting the summoned girl''s room and meeting the anxious-looking Rumina Bolden in the hallway coincidentally.


    "Her again?"


    The color of her face darkened a bit and her mind subconsciously tried to connect to Luke Wade''s.


    A couple of momentster, she froze and then started trembling in anger, this time, for real.


    "Aaaaaaaahhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!! Why did I forget the summoning will drain even my mind power?!!!"


    While iling her limbs in the air and hugging her head, she cried.


    "I won''t be able to contact him for six months!"


    Now, even though, she should celebrate becausepleting the order of that guy would amount to not being bothered and ordered around for another hundred years, she could no longer find the mood for it.


    As she looked at the interaction between the young man and girl in the mirror, she felt sullen. And this worsened after she remembered that Luke Wade only had less than a year to live.


    "... It''s only six months... which should pass by quickly." After thinking for a moment, the Goddess of Light sat up in her bed and murmured. "In six months, I hope that saintess doesn''t use the wish given to her by the Creator..."


    "Once I recover, the first person I''ll try to contact will be her."


    ...


    The appearance of the Saintess was a joyous event. The Empire was in a jubnt state and many were looking forward to better days that Su Luxi would usher.


    Not few made spections on what she would and could do. Would she unite the continent? Or campaign to banish all non-believers from the Empire? Or rule the world?


    It might have been a good thing that the Goddess only gifted her the ability to understand thenguage of the Empire a monthter. The expectations would have crushed her otherwise, without her aplishing anything.


    The Holy Church officially instated her as the Saintess on the same day that she arrived.


    That was thest time Jiang Li acted as her interpreter. After that, he vanished from the scene and let the leads, the Emperor, the Pope, and the Saintess be the focus of the world.

 Chapter 216: Su Luxi (15)

    Chapter 216: Su Luxi (15)


    A monthter. In the grand mansion of the newly promoted ducal family...


    It was on the afternoon of the third week. The maids at theundry yard gossipped with each other while doing their parts of thebor.


    It started when the youngest of them, a freckled girl with twin braided hair asked one of her co-workers. "Hey, Eldest Sister. I''ve been meaning to ask this since ages ago, but why did the young master suddenly develop an interest in learning the various folklores of the world?"


    The question sparked a discussion centered on the heir. Sweet voicesing from young teenage girls floated about in that part of the residence, apanying the sounds of water and the wringing of fabrics.


    The first reply came from the oldest female servant there, a slightly chubby girl. "To be honest, Sister Sue, I have no idea. But if I were to guess, maybe he''s doing that to find clues on how to escape from his disease?"


    "Eh? Illness? Oh, wait, I did hear something about that from our seniors. But I thought it''s just a rumor."


    "Youngest, you''re new, so I understand why you''re clueless. However, I''m not lying."


    "Is it the type that not even the Pope can heal?"


    "From what I heard from our head maid, yes."


    "How could that be!"


    "Sister Barbara, are you kidding? What if the young master is simply faking it to escape from those hyenas and opportunistic people?"


    "Sighs. How I wish that is the case. But the young master is truly suffering from a terrible illness. And his health now is very worrisome. My heart aches at the thought that he has to undergo those nasty symptoms!"


    "He fainted yesterday afternoon. He''s actuallybeen fainting a lot this year."


    "True. And I heard, his wheelchair suddenly malfunctioned and almost caused him to fall down the swimming pool."


    "Ah? That happened? Oh my gosh, all this time, I''ve been assuming it''s a certain trespasser''s fault."


    "Geez, no! You didn''t witness it. But even I feel like the one who sold that mechanical chair deserved to be cklisted from the Wade Household!"


    "Well, maybe this is what the clergies referred to as thew of cause and effect taking ce. The words the people from the Church used are profound, but I think it is because he''s the prophet so to offset the Goddess'' favor, he has be unlucky?"


    "... That sounds contradictory, Sister Mary..."


    "The Goddess of Light brings not only light and healing, but also health and wealth! You sphemous maid, I''ll bring you to the churchter to confess your sin!"


    "Oh? Who? To Father George? Aren''t you just finding excuses to go to the church? Sister, it''s you who should seek forgiveness from the Goddess for having a crush on Her servant!"


    "Wow, it''s my first time hearing this."


    "T-that... Y-you, s-speaking nonsense!"


    "Hehe."


    "In any case, the young master must not want to leave the world early. He is even browsing children''s fairytales and anything rted remotely to myths and stories of the ancients."


    The mood of the girls there plummeted down, each of them heaving a sigh.


    "If only I can read... I want to help the young master!!!"


    "s, we''re just maids. We can all hardly recognize our names..."


    ...


    Inside the library of the Wade family, Jiang Li momentarily moved his gaze away from the book he was reading. His eyesnded on the face of the female lead who was rarely not in her maid disguise today. In front of her was a water screen showing what was happening all over the mansion.


    "Now. How do you feel about your people''s opinions of you?" With a smile, Rumina Bolden waved her hand and moved the screen closer to him.


    The valet apanying the heir red at her. ''Are you still not done showing off your long-distance water-screen magic?''


    "Miss Bolden, when are you leaving?" Jiang Li asked instead of answering.


    "I''m in no hurry. So I don''t know."


    ''This troublesome female lead.'' Losing goodwill for the guard who let this person in, he nced at her unamused.


    "State your business, then. Because while it''s regrettable, I really don''t have much time to spare on you."


    The girl felt some bad taste in her mouth. Smiling bitterly, she canceled her magic, then said, "The Emperor wanted to test me as the future Empress. I would be to depart for a region on the eastern part of the Empire and do charity works there personally."


    "... Okay?"


    "I''m afraid the Emperor would suddenly change his mind and ask the crown prince to apany me. So could you please go with me to that region instead?"


    The girl was concerned about working with and being in close proximity to her fiancee.


    Each passing day, it was getting harder and harder to stomach her unusual reactions whenever the male lead was around. She was hoping the prophet''s presence could help alleviate the mental and emotional stress.


    Unfortunately, the response she received was not to her liking.


    Firmly and coldly, the valet answered on Jiang Li''s behalf."Please excuse my impoliteness. Miss Bolden, I''m sorry. The doctor advised the young master not to travel or leave the mansion for at least three months."


    After saying that, the valet gave her a cold look. Why asked his master to travel when he was obviously ill?


    The extent one could be inconsiderate and bothersome should have a limit!


    Rumina had no idea about the curse on the prophet so she frowned and thought that a servant''s rudeness should also have a limit. "Why is the valet speaking before his master?"


    "My opinion is the same as him. Miss Bolden." The man sitting across her replied. "So is there anything else I can help you with?"


    The noble girl knitted her brows, then sported a pitiful face. "I showed you your people''s opinions of you to remind that you should not hole up in the library reading all day long. Let''s have a breath of fresh air outside, alright?"


    "No." The prophet''s voice was emotionless.


    A bit irritated that the female lead wanted to use him to avoid scenes with the male lead, he additionally spat out. "Now, if there is nothing else, I implore the crown princess to observe customs and leave. I can no longer entertain you because I''m busy."


    Rumina showed a tired face at his unfeeling response.


    Why couldn''t he help her? Didn''t he know how much she hated and dreaded that prince? She truly didn''t believe the other party was sick!


    The Saintess was busy trying to catch up with her studies of the basics and the customs of this world. Until she showed great progress and could assume office, the prophet remained equally important as her to the church and the Empire.


    Since Rumina hardly interfered in the state''s affair, only Jiang Li managed to showcase his knowledge of the future, stabilizing his prestige as a prophet before the Saintess even arrived.


    In her mind, in the next six months, he would remain the closest to the supreme being.


    He should have no problem getting treatment directly from the Goddess of Light.


    The female lead thought of this, unaware he could only ess the plot through the system. She guessed it was the goddess who gave him the power to glimpse in the future.


    The Goddess liked him. Of course, She would not truly allow illnesses and everything inconvenient to gue his life. Or so she believed.


    At times, assuming too much without knowing the real situation could lead to fallout, anything awkward, or even a dire situation. A guy thinking a beauty like him just because of few idental nces would have his heart broken once he confessed and got rejected. Trust between a couple would be lost once a wife or a husband assumed without basis that their spouse was cheating.


    It was hard to tell whether Rumina Bolden was lucky that Jiang Li knew how the brains of most female lead work and hardly cared for them. He hardly cared for the feelings of all females in the various worlds he''d been to.


    His family members and wife were the only exceptions and the only reason he was willing to meet this female lead was her face. Yet he was not senile yet to mistake her for Ye Xinya''s incarnation since he knew the real one was somewhere not in this world.


    "You really won''t join the caravan?" The female lead was persistent, asking again in hopes he''d change his mind.


    Yet the man clicked his tongue. "Miss. I''m ill. If I die along the way, how are you going to exin to the church, the Imperial family, and the masses?"


    Rumina eximed, "You must be kidding!"


    "I''m not."


    She only gave up due to his indifferent expression. "Fine, I''ll leave. Thanks for your time and I hope you have a great day ahead."


    Her shoulders were slumped when she went out of the library. She appeared depressed, still thinking he was joking. But without her knowledge, he would really die within this year. If he passed away while in the middle of a journey, as the one who dragged him outside of the capital, could she bear the consequences?


    Well, maybe if he truly dies along the way, the female lead wouldn''t truly be in trouble. But since he didn''t want to go with those people, who could force him?


    Anyway, aside from his unwillingness to go out, it was truly a fact that his death was already a foregone conclusion since the Saintess had already used her wish on the male lead.


    Yes. He''d be dying soon, because he did not do anything ever since Su Luxi arrived. He let her fall for the scum prince and wish for that guy to return her feelings.


    Now Rome was showing equal favoritism to the female lead and the viiness. If no ident happened, Su Luxi would join the two leads in this trip and ''set'' the two up so they would have more encounters.


    ''Host, you''re supposed to save the viiness.''


    The mechanical voice of the system once reminded him yet he turned a deaf ear to it.


    The system wanted him to do something about the viiness who was falling deeper into the pit dug for her.


    A punishment awaits him once he fails.


    However, he kept acting like he didn''t care. Why?


    Of course, there was a reason for it. He stumbled upon an interesting piece of work. And it made him decide to conserve his two chances to change the plot.

 Chapter 217: Su Luxi (16)

    Chapter 217: Su Luxi (16)


    "She... The Goddess... has given me an oracle..."


    The Pope dropped the quill pen grasped in his hand and stared wide eyed at the Saintess who suddenly strode inside his office.


    He held his breath for some time and blinked, before eximing in shock, "W-what did you say? An oracle?!"


    The girl was a bit dumbfounded by the reaction of the Pope. Then for a moment, she didn''t speak, remembering the old man dressed in all white was a devotee of his faith, or else, he would not have reached his position.


    How could it be easy to suppress the guilt that suddenly gnawed on her heart for her deceit?


    He must be very ecstatic upon hearing the object of his fanatism responded to somebody from the church he was leading. It was moreso after considering that the person who received the oracle was not like Jiang Li who was not even as half-devoted as a normal priest, but truly a member of the Church.


    ''The Goddess has opened her eyes for real this time and recognized Her devout followers'' devotion!'' he eximed to himself in glee.


    The old dude was not aware that his excitement blinded him for a while, hence he failed to notice the ck-haired girl''s oddness. She lowered her head and looked away before nodding. "Y-yes..."


    He asked in excitement, "Dearest Saintess, w-what did the esteemed Goddess tell you?"


    Even under the urging of the other, it took a while before the lie came out of the delicate Saintess'' mouth. The wait was taken by the Pope as her hesitation because it was an oracle not only concerning her fate, but others.


    She parted her red lips to say, "... I heard a voice in my head saying... Before she would give me her next instructions, I, I first have to be the most respected woman in the Empire. I, I don''t know what it means. Is being the Saintess not what the Goddess wanted me to be? Does she want me to... to be... like Miss Bolden?"


    There was no need for the viiness obsessed with the male lead to pretend she was nervous because she was indeed nervous, for a reason not in line with what the Pope was thinking.


    The old man assumed she was feeling tense because the oracle was implying her to be an Empress.


    The position of the Church''s highest-ranked girl was already heavy. Now, she had to assume the position of the Empress? Whichdy wouldn''t be overwhelmed and worried?


    "Your Highness The Saintess. Indeed, as you thought the message is stating you are to be Empress." The Pope spoke unhurriedly as he confirmed. "I''m certain the Goddess has a reason why you have to assume that role before telling you the next step in Her grand n. As the Goddess'' servants, we have to do our best to act on her will. Each of us has a purpose and role to y. So please don''t worry and focus on learning your future duties. Leave the preparation to us!"


    Determination flickered in the other person''s eyes.


    Meanwhile, the smile on Su Luxi''s face was awkward, same with her curtsy which was still not as elegant as those nobledies who had been trained since young.


    "Thank you, Your Holiness." Her voice faintly trembled.


    Don''t worry?


    Su Luxi was nervous because she just lied to him, the Highest Authority of the Holy Church. She knew her reason was not glorious at all.


    However, the ck-haired woman was determined to be with the person she fell in love with. It was love at first sight, an attraction of unimaginable degree. Although she tried to reason she should not let her fall, it proved futile because her heart already decided.


    The prince was a person of the noblest status, handsome, and rich. He was so good to her and was also one of the few who looked after her when she was feeling insecure, afraid, and confused in this world. How could she not want him?


    He might have a fiancee. But was that enough for her to give up?


    She was a modern woman. From her former world equality prevailed. She picked up from childhood through various sources of media that everything was fair in love. Once you fall in love, seize the chance to pursue it. She was only following it, fighting for a man she liked. Anyway, he was not tied to anyone yet. And... it has to be said that even a married man could be snatched away...


    While the Saintess was busy justifying her current and future actions, the Pope began to tell her the various steps they would have to take to aplish the goal and exined what should be noted.


    "The first problem we will encounter is the opposition of the House Bolden. The crown princess has long been prepared and promised to be the Empress..."


    Su Luxi drew in a cold breath, looking at the serious-looking Pope with a zed pair of eyes.


    The guilt for making an innocent and devout old man paved way for her disappeared. Her heart was small and now it was upied by anxiousness... envy and disliked for that seemingly perfect fiancee of the crown prince.


    ...


    The female lead received a break from her training from the pce. She immediately headed back home, seeing her father in the study busy writing.


    Instead of announcing her presence there, she merely stood by the doorway in a daze. Her father''s back was hunched as he dealt with paperworks from their territory.


    She then remembered there was only a year left before she would be ussed of causing the future Empress'' miscarriage which would then prompt her father to get beheaded as punishment for raising a ''malicious'' woman like her.


    After silently returning to her room, she took a bath and changed into a maid''s clothes before sneaking into the prophet''s home. She stayed there for some time and then wandered around the suburbs, her maid and guards following her from a distance.


    The talk with Duke Wade''s heir was as dull and depressing as usual, but every other day she found herself returning there, holding a one-way chat with Luke Wade.


    She once again tried to request him to help her escape from the embarrassing and dreadful marriage. And then when Luke Wade refused in silence, she only pursed her lips and then talked about the closeness of the Saintess and the crown prince.


    Those two were getting closer steadily, just like in the previous life. In a month, she knew the old Emperor would step down and alongside the crown prince, that other girl would be crowned Empress instead of her.


    Heart cold and a bit weary, Rumina murmured to herself, ''... If I don''t do anything, the tragedy of my House will take ce in a year. In a month''s time, I will be made a lowly concubine.''


    She was back to the Bolden Household. Inside the stand-alone mini-chapel, the girl sat on a pew bench, staring nkly at the statue of the Goddess in the middle of the altar.


    Behind her, outside, the two maids kept stealing worried nces at her. The guards maintained their vignt and serious look.


    Rumina did not pay them attention as she was busy questioning about life and making ns for her and her family. The Goddess knew how many times she nned to ruin her reputation before marriage, but while that might sessfully help cancel the wedding, her whole family would either be demoted or executed, depending on how vicious Rome Natividad had already be.


    How could she be willing to witness her n''s demise again?


    Without her notice, tears were already streaming down her cheeks. Memories of the previous life''s suffering surged in her brain, followed by this life''s ambiguous interaction with the prince.


    So what if Rome had gotten a lot better to her than before?


    ''... In the end, won''t he still abandon me and kill my whole family, including my father and me? I will never forgive him!''


    Slowly, the light in her eyes returned, glowing sharper and sharper every passing second. She didn''t want to experience that hell again.


    She stood up and used magic to erase all the traces of tears in her face.


    "I would like to have dinner with father. Please inform him of my request." As she walked down the corridor leading to her room, she told one of her guards. The other party saluted and then went to the Duke''s study.


    There were two sure methods to cancel the engagement without getting killed.


    This time, she hardened her heart to do one of them.


    ''With the prophet as a fiance long promised to me, I should have no problem escaping from the grim fate!'' A look of determination and desperation shed across the eyes of the sixteen years old female lead.


    ''A written agreement between my grandparents and Luke''s grandparents Even if I have to forge one, I''ll dly do it!''

 Chapter 218: Su Luxi (17)

    Chapter 218: Su Luxi (17)


    "Mdy, should we pair this pearl ne with this one?" A maid timidly asked Rumina who looked absentminded as she stared at her reflection in the mirror.


    The girl had to be called twice before noticing that the maid was asking her opinion about the other pieces of jewelry.


    "Hmm? Ah, yeah. Which one to pair with which?" She asked back before giving them a slight smile.


    She cooperated with one of the girls and raised her right hand. The maid slipped a bracelet with many small red precious stones on her jade white wrist and then respectfully retreated to one side. The girl removed her gaze from it and through the reflection, she checked how it looked when viewed with her dress. Her hands were making waving gestures as she turned her cheeks from one side to another.


    After looking into the mirror for ten seconds, Rumina subconsciously pulled the edges of her lips downward. Something was off. She was not pleased by the red glow the prominent encrusted gem in the middle part emitted.


    ''I feel like that man wouldn''t like it.''


    While the female servants were watching her nervously, she looked at the boxes jewelriesid out on the dressing table, checking each of the sparkling gems there one by one. Not long after, she spoke softly yet with finality.


    "I don''t want the ruby one. Find that sapphire bracelet honored father gifted mest month. I want that one. And the other articles and essories...? In fact, I think blue is better so let''s change all my essories to that color."


    The maids widened their eyes and exchanged nces with each other.


    Even though they have no doubt that their youngdy would look good in anything and any color, still, wasn''t she fond of red? She was even wearing an especially tailored fiery dress and her hair decors were also in that color. What made thedy change her mind?


    The youngest attendant came back with a box in hand. When Rumina opened it, she showed satisfaction at the essory stored inside. Her expression became brighter and after putting it on, she found it more beautiful on her wrist.


    "Do I have a dress in yellow or sky blue color?" A couple of secondster, without removing her eyes from her reflection, the female lead asked.


    "Mdy, of course, we have. The master of the house has told our exclusive seamstress to take care of your dresses, bags, and shoes. Clothes for all seasons and asions are delivered timely. There is one perfect for a ball. However..."


    Rumina waited for the older woman dressed in a standard maid''s clothing to continue her words. A full minute passed without the other speaking again. However, she could guess what she wanted to say.


    The dress was not made for a simple and private meeting. And the cold hue might not match her temperament and style.


    ''Sighs.'' The girl lowered her gaze at the blue gem shining on her hand.


    It was a gem preferred by the crown prince and was usually worn by the Saintess. Blue and white made that ck-haired woman appeared lovely, holy, and pure. Combined with that and once that woman made a pitiful appearance as she asked for something from the Emperor or the other ministers and church members, they would immediately do her bidding.


    Couldn''t she try the same? To confirm whether men would always have the urge to protect once they saw a woman acting and looking pitiful?


    The female lead was not confident that she could make the white-haired man agree to her request. The repeated rejection had worn down her confidence that she could get a yes from him through normal means.


    But what if a little tweak in her getup could bring a change?


    She had a hunch it was merely a wishful thinking, but if there was a choice and lesser evil, she would take that. Deep inside, she also didn''t want to pull out the faked written agreement.


    However, Rumina was in a constant state of worry and these days, it was so intense, and still growing worse the closer the coronation day approaches.


    Don''t look at how satisfied she was at her appearance. In reality, she relied on makeup to hide her eyebags and dullplexion.


    The nightmares kept haunting her. The dark circles under her eyes became prominent due to sleepnessness. It was getting harder to keep her reason.


    Hence, the female lead already made a decision. Once everything went south and the coronation happened the same way as the past life, she would not hesitate.


    She knew it would be hard to aplish since the other party, if pushed to a corner, could simply use his authority to deny her ims. However, there was no more leeway to back down, hence she nned to give her all in this endeavor.


    Thinking of this, Rumina took several deep breaths. When she felt herself and there was no change in her heart, she realized the determination did not waver, not even when her father dissuaded her.


    Feeling a bit nervous, she left her room and walked down the hallway towards the entrance. Her father, Duke Bolden, a tall and slightly thin gentleman stood near the carriage talking to the main housekeeper.


    He approached her afterwards, getting her gloved hand and escorting her personally to a rtively simple carriage not bearing their house''s crest. "Have you truly made up your mind?"


    ''To stop being Prince Rome''s fiancee?'' she knew he wanted to add but considerately didn''t.


    The girl silently nodded.


    ''Luke, I''m sorry... and Dad... sorry if your daughter will be a bad one this time... I know this will be overboard. But I really need an excuse so we could survive.'' When she said thest part to herself, she nced at her father then recalled the bloodcurdling sight in her memories. Face pale, she looked away and then quietly boarded the horse-driven ride. Yet her heart be more desperate.


    One of the two methods she thought of were to wed herself to a person of considerable weight in the empire. The prophet who was exclusively bound neither to the Church or the royal family was the best choice. There were other important noble households in the capital. Needless to say, most of them were loyal to the crown. The ones not were heavily guarded against by the other houses, not to mention, for some weird sort of reason, all of them had no unmarried members around her age.


    Only Luke Wade was the only heir of a duke or a marquis still not tied to anydy. Rumina knew the royal family had long wanted to nt a woman loyal to them by his side to control him. But up to date, not even the current Emperor could force that man to marry. Actually even the Pope could not. Because when thetter did try to pair him with Su Luxi on her second day in this world, he declined and even retreated from the public''s view. Luke had not even stepped out once since then.


    Rumina worried about whether her ns would seed and conveniently forgot that the other person repeatedly told her that his health condition was poor. This was the real reason why he could no longer go out as frequently as before.


    The second method which crossed her mind was to be a nun and have the prophet, in the name of friendship, to dere the Goddess heard of her devotion and approved of her being a pure female cleric. However, she was sure that man would not heed this request too. The prophet definitely can''t lie. Otherwise, why did he refuse to help terminate her engagement with the crown prince?


    ''Ah... The sun is setting soon.'' She sighed in her heart. ''The world will usher the night sky soon. And that will be a good cover. Two dukes and their heirs talking privately will not garner much attention. But it was a different matter altogether if one of the heirs was already promised to somebody else. The night will be helping us.''


    Duke Bolden observed his daughter for a while and then sighed secretly. He didn''t know what had gotten into her head to think of terminating the contract now.


    The duke was aware that Rumina frequently went out of the mansion in a maid''s clothing, but not how she was frequently at Duke Wade''s residence. However, he knew that the girl would be going to the Wade Mansion to meet the prophet.


    For a moment, the man in his forties felt tired. The girl must have tried a rtionship with the prince but didn''t seed. So now that she wished to escape from the marriage, she thought only the prophet could go against the royal family or invalidate the agreement.


    An hour passed and both the father and daughter didn''t notice that they had sunken deep into contemtion.


    ...

 Chapter 219: Su Luxi (18) <2-in-1>

    Chapter 219: Su Luxi (18) <2-in-1>


    When the coachman told the father-daughter duo through the small window that they were now at the entrance of the Wade Mansion, Rumina peeked out into the distance and saw that the ce was already starting to turn dark. There were guards lighting up thempposts outside. A carriage bearing a violet rose crest just passed by the tall and wide green arch.


    The female lead''s eyes narrowed. ''Someone from the House Lc visited before us?''


    Duke Bolden also watched as the other carriage passed by theirs. The symbol belonged to another ducal house so he was intrigued who was the person onboard. A whileter, the man said to his daughter. "I think the other ducal houses are also interested in being rtives with the prophet''s House."


    The female lead kept her silence.


    With her being the main candidate for Empress, the other heiresses anddies from various prominent families must be feeling threatened. Everyone wanted to retain their social standing or help elevate their own Houses in ranks. There was no more hope for them to enter the pce as the crown prince''s wife. It was natural for them to shift their focus toward the next most eligible bachelor in the Empire.


    Rumina Bolden closed her eyes. The duke''s sight kept following the other vehicle slowly drifting away from theirs. Not long after, he squinted his eyes when the curtain got slightly lifted up. "Hmm. How surprising.So it''s not a youngdy from their house who visited. It''s the heir, that boy Marcus. While I wonder what they talked about, it makes sense that he could stay thiste there."


    The girl opened her eyes and then turned her head back. After staring at that direction for a long while, she subconsciously replied, "Honored father, you''re right... Although it''s not truly good news, it''s better than a youngdy getting seen leaving the Wade Estate at this hour."


    The older man held his chin and nodded.


    Had it been another girl exiting the ce in a shy manner at night, with an aristocratic symbol giving away her identity and House attached on her ride, she would have easily gotten into a scandal with Wade''s heir.


    She didn''t voice this part out, knowing her father was also aware of it.


    "Let''s go."


    Duke Bolden signaled the coachman to continue advancing. Rumina removed her gaze from the other carriage. As the former talked about how fitting their decisions to not use a conspicuous ride was, the female lead recalled a particr piece of memories.


    House Lc rose into rebellion a month before the coronation. However, before those people could deal some great damages to the crown prince''s faction, Rumina warned Rome about it, telling him her suspicions about the number of weapons smuggled into the Lc family''s territories and the strange number of soldiers seen outside their estate.


    As a result, when the rebellion happened, the crown prince easily managed to respond. House Lc failed. Rome never mentioned Rumina''s contribution. But it was because of this that the Empire considered him apetent future ruler.


    Rumina got nothing. The man did not even try to reward her privately. Instead, he repaid her good deeds with public shaming, giving the promised position to another girl of questionable origins.


    It was not like she truly looked forward to assuming the Empress'' position. However, it left a bad taste in her mouth as the throne meant for her got easily given away to somebody neither worthy nor prepared for it. How stupid. She knew, apart from showing off his love for the Saintess, the Emperor from her previous life did that to demean her.


    ''This time around, let''s see how you would deal with them if I keep my mouth shut.'' The female lead thought with a scoff.


    Because they came incognito and uninvited, even though the guards easily let them in, the main housekeepers were the ones who panically received them. They were led into a spacious and luxurious room, followed by maids whoid out a table of snacks and drinks for them. From the corner of their eyes, they saw the oldest and most authoritative-looking maid giving orders to a younger female servant who then ran towards the second floor of the mansion.


    The father and daughter pair exchanged nces discreetly. The female lead felt a bit embarrassed as she took in the Duke''s meaningful look. She looked down while maintaining herdy-like sitting posture. Had it not been anotherdy without intensive etiquette training since young, she would have tried to look for a nice spot to bury herself in.


    "Duke Bolden. How rare that you visited my house." Allen Wade entered the room and shed a warm smile at the two guests. The two sides engaged in an exchange of greetings and pleasantries.


    Rumina silently watched the two dukes'' interaction. Her eyes wandered around discreetly.


    She and her father did not wait long before Duke Wade arrived. The girl had an inkling the other person simply transferred locations, so either the receiving room prepared for them was close to that one prepared for Lc Dukedom''s heir, or Duke Wade was simply nearby for another reason.


    Was Luke with him, simplygging behind due to being seated in a wheelchair?


    A frown appeared on the female lead''s beautiful face. She waited but Luke''s figure did not appear. Then she realized, by rank, the prophet was no worse than any other duke in the empire so if he was with his duke father, they would havee into the room side by side.


    Duke Bolden coincidentally saw her expression and guessed what she was thinking. After another exchanged of words, he asked about Luke Wade. "Forgive me for imposing. May we have the fortune to meet with Luke?"


    "My apologies. But my son is in his room upstairs." Duke Wade put on an awkward expression and exined, "His health condition has not been goodtely. A doctor is by his side as of now. To be honest, only after being reassured by the doctor did I leave temporarily."


    The father and daughter duo pretended they did not understand what the house owner was implying. How shameless. If they didn''t see somebody from House Lc leaving the Wades'' grand estate earlier, they would have believed Duke Wade''s statement. But now... well, they did say their apologies for suddenly visiting without advance notice but deep inside, they wanted to roll their eyes at him.


    Allen couldn''t see through their thoughts. But in fact, he was not truly bothered. Instead, in his mind, he was wondering why his son warned him not to properly entertain anyone who woulde to their estate tonight.


    ''I see. Duke Lc sent his heir to negotiate an engagement and a deal. Duke Bolden and his daughter must be wanting to get my son''s help about the engagement too.''


    Duke Wade shook his head inwardly and felt dissatisfied in his heart. His son was ill, yet here were people only thinking of taking advantage of the prophet and his House. As a loving father, how could he have a good impression of them?


    And thus, he tried numerous times to steer the conversation away and then make them leave. However, to his surprise, the crown princess always had ways in words and could counter his attempts. He saw pride in Duke Bolden''s face. For a moment, he didn''t know whether he should admire the youngdy and sighed in annoyance that such a fine girl couldn''t be his daughter-inw, or be annoyed that such a fine girl could make him helpless sometimes.


    ''How did my son deal with this girl?'' Aware of Rumina''s countless meet up with Luke, the duke wondered. If only he saw interest in his son''s eyes towards this girl, he would have dly heard out House Bolden''s request.


    Allen Wade was thankfully someone of high birth so, from childhood, he already knew how to control his facial muscles and movements. None of his gestures gave away the irritation he was feeling within. Instead, he looked like a regr elegant nobleman as he sampled the snacks his family servants brought in. With a warm smile put on, he even invited the two guests to pick up their forks and cup of tea.


    ''When will they leave, damn....'' Yet inwardly, heined.


    ...


    Jiang Li looked out into the nket of darkness outside. He subconsciously called out the Goddess. However, like usual, which somehow started more than a month ago, there was no reply from her. The gust of wind entering the window he opened reminded him of how silent the ce was, for it sounded so audible in his ears.


    As usual, he frowned, not liking the current situation.


    Did something happen to her? Even though he heard that a miracle happened a week ago, that the Saintess suddenly with the ability to converse fluently in theirnguage, he still felt ufortable and incensed. The miracle might be the work of the Goddess. But if she was okay, why was she not responding to him?


    ''System, give me her status.'' He almost asked the being in his head, if not for remembering apart from muting it, it also had no ability, or n to meet his demand.


    In mild irritation, he walked back inside and entered a small room full of clothes through a door connected to his room. Right. He walked. In public''s eyes, he had long be stuck to his wheelchair, but in reality, even before his ''curse''pletely worsened, he had already cured himself, at least, ensuring his legs would not be paralyzed for life. He didn''t want to forget that they still could function.


    "Young master..." A male servant walked in the room with a lowered head, not daring to look at the man fixing his bowtie. This time, Jiang Li was already back to sitting on his wheeled chair.


    "What is it, Lando?" the heir asked without turning his head to the other man.


    "Young Master, the duke and the heiress from House Bolden are downstairs and Master is currently entertaining them. They keep requesting your presence in the audience room. It seems they want to speak to you. Will you be seeing them?"


    Jiang Li cast a look at the servant.


    The other lowered his head, silently hoping his master would not say yes.


    Regarding the female lead''s appearance here with her father, Jiang Li had some guesses in mind. The plot made it appear like a woman could easily be together with a guy who obliterated her whole n and shamed her for years, however, a person''s heart was never forgetful. Since five years ago, the girl who came back in time expressed unwillingness to repeat the past. She doesn''t want to be the male lead''s concubine.


    Now, the urgency that pitiful woman was having in her mind and heart had clouded her reasoning, so much that she forgot being somebody else''s wife was not the only solution.


    It was hard not to shake his head at this thought.


    Still, after a couple of moments, he spoke to his valet with a slight smile. "Escort me down then. I can''t be rude to guests who especially made a trip at night for me."


    "Young Master, the doctor just left. He told me and the masters not to allow you to strain your body too much." Worriedly, the other young man said.


    "Lando, I will meet the crown princess and the duke of House Bolden."


    Finality was in his voice so the valet had no choice but stop persuading him and started pushing his wheelchair gently outside the room.


    Jiang Li then absentmindedly stared ahead as he neared the meeting ce. A thought suddenly shed across his brain.


    If his assumption was correct, he might have discovered through the books he read before why that girl was badly mistreated in her past life and why she was bound to get a happier ending this time.


    The key to everything was the Goddess'' sudden disappearance. The thought was truly making him dislike this world and its Creator.

 Chapter 220: Su Luxi (19)

    Chapter 220: Su Luxi (19)


    A minute after the pleasantries and idle talks... When the real reason for the female lead''s trip to Jiang Li''s house was finally revealed, the man intently looked at her for a while before giving him his honest reply.


    "Do you know that the way you ask for bonding between us is making me speechless?"


    With the same slight smile put on, Jiang Li spoke unhurriedly to the girl who requested to have a private talk with him. Now, only their personal guards andpanions were around, hence he said those words unabashedly.


    The two dukes were still inside the receiving room. Those two must have shed already their pretenses since their kids were not around but in an adjacent room with a bigger firece.


    As the prophet was genuinely in poor health condition, even though the garden at night was also a picturesque sight to see, Duke Wade made sure to remind the valets and maids not to let the chill reach his heir. Only by ensuring his son would not be inconvenienced by the cold did he put his mind at ease and started an unmasked talk with the other duke.


    The son worrying his father was near the firece, propping his head up using his left hand. Boredom showed on his face that was more mature than the crown prince''s.


    "Desperation can drive a person to do something even she never thought she would." Hearing his statement, Rumina resisted the urge to bite her lips and replied with an awkwardugh.


    Leaning against the backrest, Jiang Li chuckled at the female lead. "You are willing to marry a dying man over a man who would lord over a vast empire?"


    "You are not dying."


    "Who can tell for sure what fate awaits a person?"


    The girl took a deep breath. She answered in a tone full of conviction. "Of course, it is outside an ordinary person or mortal''s ability. But the Goddess can. You, as the prophet, also can. I''m certain of it!"


    "Oh, sure." Even the servants who were pretending they didn''t exist momentarily looked up at the young heir. His tone was just that sarcastic. "What if I tell I saw myself dying in a few months while you won''t be able to escape your fate?"


    "..." Rumina''s mouth fell open. She felt like her ears kept ringing and she was going deaf. There was no way to escape that fate, he said? That she was struggling to no avail?


    The female lead couldn''t ept those words.


    And it was a good thing she didn''t because the prophet was merely jesting with her.


    Jiang Li only knew the plot. And so far, nothing much had changed on its supposed trajectory. The fate the girl was dreading was different from what was stored for her. The male lead would like her this time around and persecute the Saintess for her. Since she would not truly die and her House would not be implicated in some sort of scheme, why was there a need to change the status quo?


    And even if she truly wanted to escape from the male lead this time, was there a need to use Jiang Li for that purpose?


    The shell was the same. But a vase was called a vase because the inside was hollow. A flower could be inserted inside to decorate and beautify it, but this flower would someday wilt, leaving only an empty, dark, or sometimes, dirty interior.


    "... A shame that the faces are alike, but the soul... are not." The words identally spilled out of his mouth.


    Naturally, the female lead did not get his meaning so, in confusion, she asked, "What did you say again?"


    Jiang Li shook his head. "Nothing."


    She was truly not his Xinya.


    The girl in front of him was more concerned about what he meant earlier, so she continued, "If so, then what did you just mean by saying I won''t be able to escape. Why? What did you see?"


    Smiling faintly, the man tapped on the left armrest of his wheelchair. But like a breeze in the middle of a snowstorm, his tone was icy and even his eyes werecking the usual calmness or even indifference. "Miss Bolden, don''t worry. I was just joking earlier."


    "Yet I think I have to say, what makes you think that everything about your affairs will be included in what the Goddess will show me? Do I really always have to waste my ability in predicting your future?"


    "My existence is for the people and the Empire, not for a select few. I hope you haven''t forgotten."


    "..."


    Heughed. "Also... If your goal is simply to not be married to that idiot, howe bothering me for engagement is the only method you came up with?"


    Rumina almost brought her hand up to clutch her chest. However, she restrained herself, remembering the blue sapphire was resting there. The man actually noticed her gesture and saw the gem there. Yet instead of receiving a less intense re, he became colder than before. This was the first time she witnessed him acting like this.


    She only saw him looking proud, sarcastic, indifferent, or silent. Had he always been a scary man? Lost in her thoughts, the girl appeared stunned. However, the question he asked surfaced in her mind.


    Howe bothering him was the only method she thought of?


    Her chest tightened and she felt she was suffocating. The feeling came from being seen through. What he asked might have a different meaning contextually, but since he knew what she was, how could that small detail escape his notice?


    "Rumina Bolden is a genius. There is no way, even under extreme pressure, that she''d onlye up withtching onto an equally or more influential man to free herself from the engagement with the crown prince." This must be what he was thinking.


    In line with this, he must have realized the improper thoughts she was harboring for him.


    ''I want to be the future Duchess Wade.''


    This was the first time, she admitted this to herself. Honestly, embarrassment washed over her for some time. It showed through her cheeks that first went white before slowly getting dyed red.


    But what she could do? In her past life, duties, worries, heartbreak, and sorrows upied most of her time. She hardly remembered any instances where she wanted something because everything she had and had to carry back then were imposed on her.


    The question he uttered yed again in her ears. His voice was cold, but still hypnotic for her. She unknowingly raised her head and slowly said, "... I thought of being a nun..."


    This was her real answer. Her lips curved into a bitter smile. "... A nun couldn''t marry. They are expected to dedicate their whole lives serving the poor and the needy in the name of the Goddess."


    "I''m sure you won''t cooperate with me if I said I want you to tell them the Goddess wanted me to enter her convent."


    "Desperate times call for desperate measures. So here I am, talking with you."


    "I... swear to be good to you, Luke. Can''t I really be your wife?"

 Chapter 221: Su Luxi (20)

    Chapter 221: Su Luxi (20)


    Like a broken machine, she said, "I could only be your fiancee. Luke... Please make me... your fiancee... You''ll agree, won''t you?" She kept repeating these lines until her face warped into a heartbreaking one, begging and crying.


    Did the nightmares and worries push her so hard these days?


    She had no time to wonder as she waited for his response.


    After a long while spent on watching her act, the man simply asked, "Have you lost your mind, crown princess?"


    Rumina''s eyes shook. The girl saw that the prophet''s face turned emotionless, and his cold eyes were not staring at her, but at the few servants from both parties who suddenly slowly swayed in the air and fell down. The carpet which extended to the four corners of the room muffled the sounds, but even so, with the ce being so quiet, even a mosquito''s buzzing could be clearly heard, much less the soft but chain-like thudding sounds from people that crashed on the ground.


    After observing the servants who had now lying messily on the floor with their eyes closed, Jiang Li''s face hardened.


    He hissed. "You drugged the maids and valets? No. You used mind and sleeping spells on them?"


    The female lead calmly replied, "I realized they can''t know what we talked about and will talk about in this room. We have to be careful since not everyone around us is guaranteed to be faithful and loyal. Betrayals can happen at any moment. Our conversation must not reach the crown prince''s ears. What I did... I, I was just being careful."


    ''Careful?'' The man swept his gaze around and shook his head. He almostughed. This was not how one should enact caution. Magic spells that dealt with the mind were not something to be casually used.


    "Now I know that people''s praises of your intelligence are exaggerated and that Rome is truly very stupid to envy someone like you." He shook his head. "You have lost it, Miss Bolden. Otherwise, why would you dare to use mental spells when you''re mentality and emotions are not stable? How are you going topensate these people if you identally killed them or made them contract mental conditions?"


    Rumina looked away, self-remorse was on her face. Jiang Li had a point. Inyman''s terms, she was a therapist in need of therapy yet proceeded to administer treatment to unwilling victims,parable to a blind man trying to lead another fellow blind man.


    The girl decided to be selfish at once, however, it seemed she did in a way not liked by Jiang Li. The frost in his eyes never went away, silently enveloping her.


    ''You want me to be engaged to a woman like you?'' Those hazel brown orbs seemed to be speaking to her. On that while, the girl knew she had gone overboard. Yet a decision was already made.


    "I... know, I did wrong. But I can assure you there won''t be any damage to your people. Now, shall we continue to the real issue?"


    With narrowed eyes, he watched her approaching slowly and pulling out a scroll of paper. Seeing the unusual glow from her eyes, he fell silent for some time. Then he said in a serious manner. "You will regret this."


    "I won''t." She immediately replied.


    Jiang Li didn''t know if he should admire how she could still focus on her hypnosis even while speaking to him.


    He shook his head and said, "If you are only truly after a life free from the crown prince''s influence, you should be aware of all the choices, the easiest is not really to wait for me or force me to ept your terms..."


    He paused for a while, seeing her halt her steps too. She was pitiful, but she was also bothersome. With a sigh, he briefly nced down at the white light enveloping the wheels of his chair as he continued,


    ".... Why can''t you just pretend terminally ill and with no strength nor energy to fulfill your obligations as an Empress.?"


    ...


    Two people not from the mortal world were intently watching the weird scenes in the mansion of the prophet.


    One was a big man wearing clothing simr to what an Emperor would, except even with the same style, the material was a million times better in quality and was even giving off a faint glow, appearing ethereal and out of this world.


    He was alone in the clouds. No one could see him.


    Silently, he watched with sharp eyes and waited whether there would be a change to the future events written down on the hardbound book in his right hand. At times his sight would wander to the abode of the other divine being of this world.


    That other person was staring into the mirror intently. It was the Goddess of Light who was still confined in that pce.


    Her beauty was so radiant and pure that all grandmaster sculptors in the continent should be ashamed as not even a percent of her charm had been encapsted into their works. The woman was wearing an borate yellow and white gown. Her ankle-length blonde hair was straight and beautiful.


    Unfortunately, her gem-like eyes... were staring dagger at her look-alike in the image before her.


    ''She''s angry at this look-alike?''


    The other man squinted his eyes for a while before putting his heart at ease.


    It seemed the mortal''s face was not the Goddess'' handiwork. There should be no connection between them. Instead of fussing about the idental simrities in those two''s appearance, the focus should be on the prophet.


    ''This trespasser... is not someone who should exist in this world...'' Looking at Jiang Li, the Creator, no, the will or sentience of the world told himself.


    Outside his knowledge, the goddess originally gritting her teeth also bowed her head.


    A minuteter, she raised her head, her cid gaze never leaving Rumina Bolden''s crazed expression, her fingers drawing magic circles in the air.

 Chapter 222: Su Luxi (21)

    Chapter 222: Su Luxi (21)


    That night, the female lead whose thoughts had been seen through tried to hypnotize the Wade Dukedom''s heir to make him sign a contract saying he was willing to be wed to her. The girl had an outburst before that, spitting out her desire to be freed of the crown prince''s grasp. Yet at the same time, she still wanted to retain her noble status and take care of her household.


    Let''s say it was not entirely out of greed, but pragmatism.


    But how should Jiang Li face a woman who had seemingly gone a bit crazy due to the viiness'' appearance and her nearing doom?


    While the other girl was busy formting ns with the Pope to make herself the Empress, the one here was clutching on the person she thought could fulfill all her wishes.


    She wanted to cancel the engagement, but the plot would not let her. She didn''t want to love the future Emperor, but even the right to that was being taken away from her. Was it strange for her to momentarily lose her reason?


    When thought from a different perspective, the desires of the two women did not truly sh. Yet because of divine intervention, they could not just talk it out between themselves and not involve Jiang Li. He suddenly felt tired.


    ''This must be the plot''s machinations against me... Rumina Bolden is not ying by its rules sometimes, so it wanted to use that to get rid of me before forcing her to be with the male lead?''


    Lse-majest. No. Jiang Li actually didn''t know what it was called. But a man coveting a woman betrothed to royalty was treason, right?


    "I like you, Luke Wade." That was the first time in her two lifetimes that the female lead confessed to somebody.


    Yet even though she was a sobbing mess, the sight was in no way touching nor heartbreaking. It was making one''s blood cold. In her momentary fit of insanity, the girl wanted to put him under a spell and then control him.


    Heughed. ''... She doesn''t like me, but my identity and status.''


    A woman in her mid-twenties wearing the skin of a gentle and delicate girl barely sixteen years old. Was she under the control of the Creator or the will of this world? He was not interested to know. He just couldn''t help but wonder whether he had been too cold to even attribute her weirdness to the plot instead of pitying her helplessness.


    She wanted to be saved. But if he did, who would save his own viiness?


    System: ... Uh, is my host is finally being humane?


    Looking at the emotionless face of its host, the system kept its silence. Anyways, it was muted, as usual. Silence was golden.


    Half a minute passed since the girl''s outburst. Jiang Li was forced to left his wheeled seat. The female lead who firmly believed he was not ill was not surprised, but was rmed. A couple of secondster, he flickered to her side.


    All sorts of scenarios yed in the girl''s head, but she didn''t panic much since she had confidence in her own skills.


    Only, she just didn''t anticipate that he would be faster than her and would attack her before she could react or cast any spell.


    "Stop! Don''te ever! I said, stop!" When he closed in and raised his hand, she hurriedly yelled, apparently still trying to cast the mind control magic on him


    However, the fist mercilessly and heavily fell on her stomach. "Sorry. I''m done testing you. And your hypnosis failed, Miss Vessel."


    "Luke..." She cried as her vision ckened slowly. The attack instantly made her groan in pain and knocked her out.


    He expressionlessly let the woman fall on the carpeted floor.


    No matter what small schemes and idents the plot arranged for her, he wouldn''t easily fall for it. If he does, that would be the greatest shame of his life.


    Even if the curse was still on him, he was a warrior and a magician. He was also a general, a martial artist, a ck arts practitioner. Thetter ensured he wouldn''t fall prey to hypnosis and other mind attacks unless he taxed his mind so much and there was no way to recover. Unfortunately, that was not the case yet in this world.


    Hence the reason for the female lead''s surprise upon seeing him not fall down or be dazed.


    "Tell her, I didn''t agree." He simply said to the father of the female lead.


    Duke Bolden''s mouth was wide opened, in great disbelief seeing his beloved daughter and her servants sliding down in front of him through a carpet of ice. The prophet was a known ice magician so he knew it was the handiwork of the young man in the wheelchair looking down at them from the second floor.


    A father always had a soft spot for their child. Seeing Rumina''s state, the duke momentarily lostposure and shouted, "Your Excellency. Why did you do that my daughter!?"


    Allen Wade who had crossed the flight of stairs arrived at Jiang Li''s left side and anxiously checked his son. He disregarded all decorums too and left the fuming guest downstairs. "Son, what happened?"


    Jiang Li did not remove his gaze from the right hand grasping the armrest. He smiled. "Father, the night is no longer young. Please tell our housekeeper to escort the guests out."


    "Luke Wade!" The other duke seething in rage deliberately did not address the second-highest figure of the church by his title. "Don''t think just because of your status you can escape exining to me!" The tall middle-aged man''s roar was very thunderous and full of boundless anger.


    Yet the person he spoke to that way was not intimidated. The young man was equally in a bad mood.


    He was in the middle of contemting about the missing Goddess when the female lead barged into their mansion only to hypnotize him into being her fiance.


    "Are you sure you want my exnation, Duke Bolden?" There was a slight smile on the young man''s face. The one asked was a bit taken aback due to the sudden tingling of his scalp. But where did the sense of dangere?


    A secondter, the female lead''s father froze.


    From the prophet...?


    In the end, the whole group of people from the crown princess'' house went back in a daze, apparently getting nothing from this night trip.


    None of them couldn''t fathom what had happened, all of them were waiting for Rumina Bolden to regain consciousness and tell them.


    As for the duke, his face grim, he med himself for forgetting that before and on the earlier years of getting reinstated as the messenger of the Goddess, the prophet was apetent swordsman who had already bathed in blood, beasts and humans alike.


    Among the younger generation, which individual had the ability to render someone speechless and frozen just with a stare?


    It was a mistake to provoke that person, the duke realized. Now depending on how his daughter had acted in that ce, they have to ept that they were no longer in the good books of House Wade.

 Chapter 223: Su Luxi (22)

    Chapter 223: Su Luxi (22)


    When the next day dawned, Luke Wade, stepped out of Wade''s mansion to visit the Holy Church. It was the first time after the Goddess'' grand summoning that the prophet left the confines of his home. And it was rumored that it was to visit the Pope.


    The piece of news immediately piqued the interest of many people.


    Nobody knows what he did there. But after the talk, instead of going back to his family''s mansion in the capital, he headed East, where the Wade Dukedom was. Immediately, questions, guesses, and conspiracies spread around.


    Why did he vanish from people''s sight for so long? And ording to rumors, he never once spoke with the Saintess except on the day she was summoned.


    Could there be something going on in the Holy Church and that the messenger of the Goddess was not getting along with the Saintess?


    While it was normal for curious citizens to gossip, it was still unexpected how the prophet could garner that much interest.


    The other person mentioned in the rumors looked for the Pope to inquire about what he and Luke Wade talked about.


    "The Prophet? Oh... He only informed me that he will be going to his family''s territory. He knows I will definitely provide him a few toons of knights and clergies, so I reckon that is his goal."


    The two leading figures of the Holy Church were strolling in one of the gardens of the ce. Two long rows of white-robed priests followed behind them silently, ready to do their bidding or request at any given time. Also, a few holy knights were trailing behind them. Even though they were at their sacred grounds, there was no telling when an ident could suddenly happen. There was no way the people of the Church could be careless about their leaders'' safety.


    Su Luxi watched as a bluebird descended onto the arm of a young blonde holy knight. The person pulled out a small rolled-up paper attached to the bird''s leg and then bowed to her and the Pope. He reported, "Excuse me for interrupting. The captain of the seventh squad said that the convoy has temporarily stopped at the second city."


    "They stopped? It''s only 2 in the afternoon. Did the Prophet encountered a problem along the way?" The old man creased his forehead, reaching out to the piece of paper.


    "It''s not like that, Your Holiness," hurriedly replied the knight, obediently letting the Church''s ultimate boss snatch the scroll from him. Even though the old man was already reading the contents of the message, he still added. "His Excellency purposely stopped to hand out food and nkets to themoners in that city. The letter states that he saw a mother and son pair and several beggars begging in a za which aroused his pity."


    The Pope nodded. "It seems there is really a reason why he''s the closest to our Goddess apart from me and the Saintess. Such a wonderful heart. If my guess is correct, the trip this time is to contribute to the masses and give help to the needy and poor. The ce he wanted to start his journey is naturally his family''s fief."


    If the subject of their spying heard their conversation, he would have definitelyughed in glee. Who wouldn''t like being praised and mistaken for a saintly person? For mundane people like Jiang Li, it would be a goodughing material.


    ''That man...'' Holding her breath, the girl listening to them praising the prophet fell into a daze and reminisced her few meetings with the white-haired guy.


    With her sight glued to the small white status of one of the legendary Popes, the Saintess asked softly, "... May I know if he mentioned anything else to Your Holiness?"


    Su Luxi tried her hardest to conceal the worry in her tone. But deep inside, she was worried whether that man received a real oracle contrary to what she told the Pope.


    The sudden withdrawal of the prophet from the masses'' eyes before and hisck of contact with the pce and church made her feel nervous. Whenever that person''s name or title was mentioned, she would involuntary flinch.


    Through the rumors, she learned that white-haired young man bound in his wheelchair could reallymunicate with the Goddess. He was unlike her who only had one encounter with Her.


    When she got her ability to understand the localnguage, a holy woman whose face she could not see appeared in her dreams, but this person did not speak to her. She only remembered Her bathing her in a warm glow before disappearing. That''s it. The meeting only happened in a dream, and this did not evenst for a full minute.


    In other words, although she was the Saintess, she actually never heard a thing from the Goddess. She also didn''t really have any extraordinary trait apart from having holy magic a bit stronger than the Pope.


    However, the prophet was different. Even though he was ill, he was a famed genius who could predict the big cmities and events that would befall not only to the Empire but the whole continent. Right now, it was easy to see that the man both had the abilities and the Goddess'' blessings. His existence''s importance might even be greater than hers.


    The Saintess didn''t know the truth about Luke Wade''s power of foresight so she was so anxious as she waited for the white-robed old man''s reply. Her wrinkled handkerchief in her hand proved how nervous she was feeling.


    The Pope replied in an amicable tone, "What else did we discuss?"


    "Well, he actually didn''t say anything apart from that."


    Softughter rang after. The eyes of the old man went up, following the bird which flew back to the skies. He thought for a moment before he continued, "We didn''t talk much. I was busy with the Church''s affair, while he was in a hurry for the trip. When he came to me this morning, I asked him if he would be back before the coronation. He said, yes. Then I reminded him, his post is very important so he must be present by then."


    The coronation required all people with titles and important posts in the empire to attend. And thus, those from the countryside were already preparing gifts and setting off for the capital. If no ident happened midway, Luke Wade would be back at least a week before the ceremony.


    "I see. Thanks."


    The old man pondered for a bit then added, "Maybe if he is back at least three days before that day, you should consider deepening your bonds with him, or at least leave more impression. Before, his health is not good. But since he could now go on a trip, he should be fine now. He''s not exclusively a church person. However, he is still the messenger of the Goddess. His experience should be useful to you. Even if it not, a good rtionship with a fellow servant of the Goddess would not hurt."


    "Okay..." Su Luxi had no problem with that suggestion so she readily nodded. As for whether the other party would be willing to talk with her, that was a problem for another day. For now, there was one more thing bothering her.


    "Your Holiness..." head bowed, the girl then asked. "Do you think the prophet is aware... of the n?"


    Knowing she was referring to the movements the church was doing for the sake of pushing the saintess up the Empress'' throne, the Pope smiled.


    "Why? His Excellency is aware, of course. The reason my heart is at ease is that he didn''t contradict your oracle, Your Highness. This only means it is really the will of the Goddess for you to support His Highness the crown prince in leading Her people to something greater and more purposeful."


    "I see."


    For a long while, the ck-haired girl couldn''t find any more words to say.


    Was she relieved that her lies were not exposed? Of course. The only person who could refute her was on her side, thankfully. But she didn''t know why. Even though she managed to calm her breathing, the unusual and irritating feeling in her chest didn''tpletely go away. She found that it was still there, making her on edge and unable topletely sigh in relief.

 Chapter 224: Su Luxi (23)

    Chapter 224: Su Luxi (23)


    The several prestigious Houses and forces in the Empire suddenly all showed some peculiar movements. Some were big, the other negligible. However, due to the fame and influence of these aristocratic families, no matter the scale of their actions, as long as it was about them, the attention of the masses and the other concerned parties would always easily be caught.


    The heir of House Wade had a sudden trip outside the capital. He brought with him a thousand people, both from his own House and the Holy Church.


    House Lc suddenly seemed to lie-low and hosted lesser gatherings and tea parties than normal. The young nobles from this ducal house rarely went out. Even the heir who loved to go on outings and spend time with his group doing horseback riding was not seen much these days.


    And there within House Bolden, the crown princess suddenly fell ill. It had almost been a week since then and there were numerous rumors about her contracting a terrible, incurable disease. They said she was bedridden and had be ugly due to the ck patches on her skin. Even the Duke didn''t dare to look at her directly.


    The whole capital reckoned that once this piece of information was verified, there was a high chance that she would be reced as the crown prince''s fiancee.


    The Emperor would simply not allow a dyingdy to assume the post. Her sickness itself right before she was officially crowned was a sign of disapproval from the heavens. No question about it. Rumina Bolden had to be removed from the list of candidates.


    As of now, there were already several aristocratic families perking their ears for news. Thedies from eligible ns once again started visiting the members of the imperial family, the clothing stores, and jewelry stores. A few were even doing stuff to improve their reputation as to enter the royal families'' eyes such as donating to orphanages, winning talent contests, buttering up the church.


    Of which of these stories were true and without undercurrents, no one knows.


    The capital ushered in a very busy period. Themon people knew it was not only due to the approaching grand ceremony. Not few became restless from not knowing what was truly going on. Although powerlessness caused the majority to always becking in information and they already getting used to it, it was still not a good feeling having to grope in the dark.


    ...


    Unknown to most people, even from those in upper society, the Holy Church also made a move, directly speaking with the current Emperor to discuss the new oracle passed down through the Saintess.


    The Emperor, of course, had no choice but informed the concerned people. The keyword was ''inform''. Not ask for opinions. When the Saintess and the Pope heard of this, both shed a grin. One from satisfaction, the other from excitement and glee.


    The result was already imminent, hence that time, the two people silently whispered to themselves. ''Praise The Goddess for her mercy.''


    However, contrary to them, the crown prince did not really like the news that made way into his ears. Although he had no problem marrying the Saintess, owning the woman holding the highest post in the church, he still wanted to get wed to the heiress of House Bolden.


    One was backed by the current dominant religion of this continent. The other had a whole ducal House behind her.


    He was reluctant to let go of either.


    Also, unlike the previous life where he hated Rumina Bolden to death, he quite liked her this time. More specifically, he liked that she was not really as infallible as he thought. His jealousy and loathing of her stemmed from the fact that she seemed so capable. But now ever since he discovered she was also the same with other women who could feel fear and be vulnerable, his impression of her began to improve, until he noticed all the good things in her.


    She was very beautiful and sensible, and usually act more mature than her age. She knew how to act in public and would definitely not allow him to lose face. That was how smart and prudent she was.


    Yet there were also times when she was too clumsy and in need of support and help. And most of all, she respected him and took his words and actions seriously.


    Who wouldn''t want a wife who knew how to respect a man''s authority and treat him as her sky?


    The eighteen-year-old young man had no idea that the girl he had begun to like actually hated him to the bones.


    He went to the Emperor and said he wouldn''t agree to dissolve the betrothal with Rumina.


    Of course, because of the health condition of the girl in question, the response he got was not favorable.


    The formerly lion-like Emperor, now reduced into a weak and aged fatty, looked at him calmly and asked, "Crown Prince, you disagreed with my decision?"


    Rome swallowed some saliva due to the stare he was getting from his father. The pressure was there, especially since the older man was high up in his throne, while he was a few steps below, keeping his head low. Still, he forced the word out of his throat. "Imperial father, forgive me, but I don''t think it will be favorable to both our family and reputation to suddenly withdraw."


    "Do you think a woman who can''t assume her duties as an Empress is fit to marry you?"


    "...The pce has many servants and she is smart. There should be no problem just dictating hermands to her maids."


    The male lead was not looking directly at the Emperor''s face so he missed the mild irritation and slight disappointment which crossed the fatty''s eyes.


    "An Empress has to appear in important banquets, meet foreign envoys, negotiate and pacify the nobles, and sometimes go from ces to ces to extend help to the subjects of the empire. If her body is weak and in constant worry of death, do you think she can do all of these?"


    The young man stilled. He blinked twice to his borate boots made by the royal seamstress.


    The answer was simple... no. Even if the crown prince was not as bright as the female lead, it was easy to realize the situation, especially when already exined so bluntly. This was why although he tried to argue, in the end, he gave up.


    Rome tried to visit the Bolden mansion, yet he was not allowed entry to her room. The master of the house told him the illness was very serious. Of course, the worrywart prince forced his way inside. He was that anxious to see her and was even holding hopes in his heart that she was merely faking it, yet what he saw made him almost puke.


    It seemed even with the interference of the plot, a fickle heart would remain fickle.


    The next morning, the female lead, who was lying on her bed, just heard that the whole empire knew of her condition, that she was dying. The famed makeup artists painting hideous dark spots all over her skin temporarily stopped.


    "Mdy..."


    Hearing the worried tone of the servant, the female lead just blinked thrice and smiled. "Continue applying it. We can''t be negligent. Visitors mighte to see me anytime. We can''t disappoint the imperial n and fail to uphold their reason for their recent announcement."


    "Is this the crown''s work?"


    "Hard to tell." The girl shook her head lightly. "But does it matter?"


    ''It does!''


    In the makeup artist''s mind, it mattered because it meant the imperial family had wronged their youngdy.


    Rumina wordlessly stretched another arm which the other girl had no choice but start to work on.


    Another person spoke.


    "... In any case, let''s hope the imperial family will at least give the master a good exnation andpensation. Even though no amount could..." The maid only knew that the youngdy was let down by the crown prince hence she staged this act. This was the reason for the indignance in her tone.


    Another female servant who was carrying the bedsheets to be put onundry hurriedly chastised, "Mimi, less speaking! The walls might have ears. If what you have said reached the ears of somebody from the pce, you don''t know what will happen to you...!"


    The female lead slightly lifted a corner of her mouth and looked out the window. After a long time, she said.


    "Instead of gossiping about the pce, how about you girls just tell me about the church, themon people... And the prophet?"


    Seeing theck of tremors in Rumina''s eyes, the female servants exchanged nces. Silence reigned for quite a while until the oldest and most sensible of the girls started to tell about the prophet''s trip to Wade''s fief.


    "They said he received another word from the deity..."


    "It''s not known if this is true. Only one thing is certain, the prophet has been helping out the poor along the way in the name of the Goddess."


    "Hmm... I see."


    That morning, the imperial formally family abolished her as the crown princess. Another day passed, and then the church dered a new oracle. The Goddess wanted the Saintess to be the new crown princess!


    It was rumored that when the Pope read the scroll containing the oracle, a bright light descended upon him. Since then, even though many feel pity for Rumina, they easily epted her sessor since Su Luxi was the one blessed by heaven.

 Chapter 225: Su Luxi (24)

    Chapter 225: Su Luxi (24)


    It was a lie that there was only one religion on the continent. In reality, in that turbulent era where gods suddenly vanished and idols and statues depicting deities suddenly cracked and turned into pieces of rubbles, apart from the belief to the Goddess of Life, another one had survived. Although this religion''s believers were small and were even hiding from the world.


    Who were these people? Once, seven years ago, the Goddess mentioned them to Jiang Li, and her tone back then was not very nice. Bald and wore saffron robes or sometimes old rags all year round. They were the monks living in the southern part of the Empire.


    They were not really heretics, despite being called that way by the girl. In the first ce, they were not true believers of the Goddess who just went against the norms or refused the epted truth. Their faith lies in someone else, a being called Creator.


    In their holy text passed down to the chiefs of every generation, the world has two realms, one for the mortals, the other for gods. The gods disappeared because a great massacre happened in their realm. Only two divinities managed to preserve themselves.


    It was said that the Creator, the most powerful of them all, was the one who saved the Goddess of Light. Because he got too injured from the fight with the Deity of War, he sunk into a deep slumber and left the management of the mortal world to the Goddess. It had been a few millenniums since then. Throughout the course of time, many changes happened, and not all were positive.


    It was unfortunate but the Goddess'' power was not as vast as the Creator or the other higher beings. She did not forbid the use of other magics. But without the other gods, the mana in the world continuously lessened, leading to the number of magicians also dwindling.


    The Creator left the world in her hands. But she couldn''t even do a good job maintaining it. The only good thing she had done so far was to summon a Saintess. But even that was questionable until this summoned person showed results.


    It was due to this that the monks of the Southern temple held the Goddess in contempt. When these monks were still mingling with the believers of the Goddess, they frequently vocalized theirints about Her, thus earning the wrath and displeasure of the Goddess'' devotees.


    In the end, they got driven out of the capital,beled as heretics. Even now no monks could step into the capital. They could only inhabit a fairly prosperous ind in the South, refusing to interact with outsiders and silently maintaining their faith in the Creator.


    This was a piece of information Jiang Li learned through browsing an uncountable number of books and scrolls.


    A day after he arrived in the East, he found those reference materials extremely unreliable.


    Hehe... Upon arrival, he immediately saw a few monks wandering the streets of his family''s territory. He then issued an investigation, and guessed what? Apart from the capital, the monks were in the other regions too!


    When did they begin to establish branches of their monastery?


    Thest record he read detailing their close-off culture was written two years ago. Did the monks start mass recruitment since then?


    Jiang Li nodded in amazement as he looked into the reports.


    ''The Emperor and the other nobles did not notice anything.''


    ''If these people had truly worked in the shadows, growing their numbers in secret, they are too effective and efficient! Good seedlings!''


    This afternoon, after going through the usual routine, going to ces with many people and distributing relief goods that were bought using the church and the fief''s funds, he disappeared. There was nobody with him, not even the knights assigned to him.


    He didn''t leave the city so the idents he encountered along the way were limited to falling into a manhole, getting stabbed by a thief, and getting chased by a dozen crows.


    The moon was in a crescent-shaped, it made him annoyed since it looked like lips that were smirking at him. After all, when he had reached near a nipa hut in the outskirts of the town, he looked a bit miserable, arge part of the clothes on his back was missing.


    "What are you doing in front of a monk''s house?" The voice came from behind. When he turned around, a pair of red-rimmed eyes was ring at him. The distance between him and the bald man was only four meters. He could not see much of the other person''s facial features due to the dimness of the ce, and he didn''t truly care. The hostile stance of the other was more concerning.


    ''... This guy''s voice is a bit too loud and the face too contorted. Why so aggressive?''


    Jiang Li would have loved to reply... If not for finding himself being encircled and attacked by more than five monks. There was also the fact that he couldn''t answer.


    His intention was only to observe these people from afar. Curiosity got into him, especially after finding out that these folks seemed to be having operations in various cities. This was why he made this trip.


    However, for some reason, even though he was still more than a hundred meters away from the house referred by the monk, he was discovered and then surrounded.


    "Why are you not answering, Prophet of the Goddess'' Holy Church?"


    He stared at the leader in astonishment. A kick almost grazed his head. Thankfully, a hole somehow appeared underneath his feet which messed up with his bnce but saved his face. Within a second, he stabilized himself and continuously jumped back to evade the iing palm strikes from two slender monks.


    When he sessfully managed to distance himself with the enemies, although a fatal attack almostnded on him, his mind was on the question thrown at him earlier.


    ''... The senses of these monks are so good. And they seemed to know my appearance even though I have only been here for five days? Wow. But within those five days, I didn''t even show my face since I was wearing a mask. Even now, I''m wearing a mask. What the hell?''


    If he asked the biggest baldie among the bunch how he recognized him and the other party answered through his body figure, he would not hesitate to kneel down.


    Jiang Li was tempted to engage in a conversation. However, replying would mean admitting who he was. He resolved to quietly fend off the strikes aimed at him.


    The leader figure seemed to have be angry at Jiang Li''s silence so he joined the people ganging up on the target. "If you don''t want to answer, then die!"


    ''... Wow. How unreasonable.''


    Jiang Li had to be thankful that the men from the monastery of the Creator preferred martial arts and fistfights instead of magic. Also, about the misstep earlier, even without it, he could avoid the attacks. The monks had a good defense against magic and could evade them or nullify them with their own arts. But since Jiang Li''s goal was to escape from the encirclement, the barrage of ice and illusion was enough to give him that opportunity.


    The man hurriedly slipped away when an opening presented itself to him. He didn''t remain unscathed. However, the number of wounds and injuries were nothing serious. He could just find a priest to heal him. Actually, his convoy had a dozen of them. And it would easy to create excuses on why he ended up wounded and dirty. The people from the mansion and the church were aware of his unusual unluckiness. It greatly helped that the enemies were not weapon practitioners so the bruises could just be attributed to numerous falls.


    In a few minutes, he managed to break away from those people''s pursuit. While panting for breath, he slumped on the ground and leaned his back against the trunk of a huge tree. Staring into the endless nket of stars in the sky, he began to ponder.


    He was very careful. Howe the monks knew he would be there?


    The exchanged of blows earlier also crossed his mind. The attacks had been deadly and always aimed at his vitals.


    ''... I was targeted? And possibly by the whole monastery?''


    The realization dawned upon him only when he reached his lodging and changed into a clean set of clothes.


    As he burrowed into his nket, he frowned, wondering if the weird feeling he had for the past days, that he was being watched, was from the monks scattered outside the capital.


    The creased on his forehead stayed for a long while. But oddly, before dreand had truly imed his consciousness, a corner of his mouth slowly formed a smile. He seemed to have thought of something again.


    The being who was always observing him from somewhere didn''t know what was in his mind at that time. However, she stood in front of the mirror, frozen. A hand of her automatically reached out to the image.


    She wondered why she felt like she had seen images from her own memories simr to the current one before her. Impatience blossomed from within her.


    Suddenly, she couldn''t wait for the coronation day toe as faith and prayers addressed to her would spike up in number and intensity for certain.


    That day was also a day dedicated to her. The first day of the week-long festivalmemorating the first miracle of the Goddess.

 Chapter 226: Su Luxi (25) <2-in-1>

    Chapter 226: Su Luxi (25) <2-in-1>


    When the next day came, Jiang Li had already been healed back to his optimal state and returned to doing charities while preaching in the name of the Goddess. It was if nothing happened yesterday. He passed food rations to people lining up in front of him and directed priests in healing the sick. Once in awhile, parents carrying their newborns would approach him and he would always smilingly agree to name the baby for them.


    One time, when a baroness who cut in line approached him for a name, a thought shed in his mind.


    ''Hmm, I see, thest name is Park...


    In this world, only those with noble titles had the right to have ast name. And among these minorities, thest name Park was quite rare. Thinking of its English meaning, a famous movie from Na Yu''s world popped up in mind.


    ''Ah A ce where kids could y around and adults could stroll or have a date... Yeah, Park, surname Park So how about we give him the name Jurassic?''


    For a moment, he felt like it was very fitting and that he was quite a genius.


    A secondter, he had to shake off the ridiculous thought. With a smile, he bestowed a proper given name to the baby so he could chase away the slightly overbearing madam.


    "Madam, the eyes of your lovely child shows intellect and wisdom. I feel like he is destined for greatness. He might be a great schr or a government official in the future. So let''s call him by the name to!"


    Looking at the kind expression on Jiang Li''s face, the baroness felt like the name sounded nice to the ears, so he repeatedly nodded in satisfaction and kept mumbling the word. "to. Oh, to... What a wonderful name! It has been decided, my son blessed by the prophet should be called that!" After eximing this, she curtsied with the baby still in her arms. "I thank you, Your Excellency! I promise to tell my son of your favor to him once he grows old enough."


    "It''s natural for a little treasure to get a good name. You''re exaggerating my contribution, Madam."


    "No, not at all. We won''t forget your kindness, Honorable Sir. I''ll make sure to raise my to into a devout follower of the Holy Church. Once he''s old enough I''ll make sure he personally pays you a visit too."


    ''I might be long dead by then,'' he almostughed out loud.


    She curtsied and said with a bowed head. "Praise be to the Goddess!"


    His smile turned into a happy grin. "Praise be to the Goddess."


    Inwardly, he told himself, ''That''s right. Praise her more, glorify her more, and be more devoted to her. Make her more powerful...so she can escape and see me in person.'' In thest part, Jiang Li''s eyes darkened for a moment. He expended some effort to ignore the irritation in his heart.


    The man sitting in a wheeled chair was pushed up a raised tform in the middle of the town''s square. He exchanged pleasantries and words with other people.


    Even though the tform had a shed, his white hair and clean skin glistened under the sun''s warm rays that fell onto him. The face he wore was as warm. And his hands were rarely free. For helpless citizens wanting guarantees to a better future, the prophet''s hands were what they strived to touch. They were probably hoping that miracles from the Goddess could happen through those hands. Or maybe they were thinking he could pass to them some luck and good fortune.


    Jiang Li never showed reluctance to hold the hands of those reaching out to him, no matter the age and appearance. He had to do this. After knowing a part of the truth, he knew he had to do something, hence he made this trip, and even deployed people to the other cities and regions. Those ces already had branches of the church. The faith of the people there had already reached a bottleneck. So in order for them to get results, he made the guys lent to him go to public squares and zas, and hand out vials of holy water, boxes of food, and some clothes ''She'' personally blessed through him. Of course, the blessing part was a lie. But he reckoned many would fall for it.


    As a mortal, this was all he could do. To be honest, he felt remorse not doing this much earlier. He only realized something was wrong when he couldn''t hear from her for more than a week. It was hard to entirely shift the me to the system who refused to tell him about the Goddess'' whereabouts. It was he who became negligent andcent.


    The realization had given him a few sleepless nights. This persisted even if he knew she should be okay. A week ago, the church publicized that the Saintess saw the Goddess in her dreams and gave her the ability to speak the Balernguage.


    ording to the Pope, Su Luxi did not hear her voice. Maybe there was really something preventing the girl from directly speaking with anybody from the material world. But if she could show herself to people, why not to him?


    Plot again?


    Time passed. When the rays falling onto his skin became a bit too hot to take, he subconsciously looked up. He saw that the sun was already only a few degrees away from the center.


    A cleric walked towards him and said, "Sir Prophet, it''s already past eleven. Please take a rest and have your meal. I will bring three brothers in faith to take over here until you return."


    The man nodded. When he smiled and excused himself from the sea of people, he pretended to have not noticed the few suspicious individuals mixing in the crowd, eyeing him with either curiosity or aggression.


    The moment he got to the tent set up behind the raised tform, he told one of the knights, "A few unweed eyes are observing me from various corners."


    The other man, dressed in white te armor with a seven-petaled flower symbol on the chest part, bowed and replied, "Don''t worry, Your Excellency. Our brothers are already looking into it. We have actually already tracked some and discovered where they came from."


    Jiang Li nodded at themander, his gaze conveying appreciation. He then drove his wheelchair towards the table andid a white clothe skillfully on hisp. The ce was small and had the bare minimum amount of furnishings inside. In front of him, there were already various dishes arranged, each giving off a pleasant and appetizing smell. He lifted a corner of his mouth. Bringing a group of chefs with them had been a great decision.


    "Putting the monks aside, which factions are the others dressing up like normal civilians from?" he asked as he began eating.


    "Sir. There are informants from each ducal Houses and some other lesser noble families. But we can see that they are not really hostile. It seems their only goal is to check on your movements and report them to their masters. They are also to spring into action if ever a few fools threaten your safety. It must be a n to get to your good side."


    "Good side?" The idea sounded ridiculous and so the question came out sardonically.


    Should he be happy that everyone was now treating him like a weakling? Also, about their actions, the spies would defend him if he evernded in a thorny or life-threatening situation so it was okay to disregard that they were obviously spying on him? He he.


    "Don''t pay them much attention. Ignore those from the Emperor too. " He quietly savored his meal for a couple of minutes before inquiring, "How about the hostile ones?"


    The burly knight nced down. "It''s only the monks, and somewless andmon people from the slums and the mountains..."


    "I see. And the crown prince''s people?" Jiang Li lifted his head up and watched themander''s change in his expression.


    The leader of the holy knights was a big person in his mid-thirties. He had seen quite many things and types of people and thus was usually smart. Despite no rumors arising about the stiff rtionship between the prophet and the future Emperor, he had long inferred about it. Although a bit torn inside due to being a citizen of the empire, he was still ultimately a person from the church. He only hesitated for a couple of seconds before giving a reply.


    "We have captured one of the men sent by Prince Rome."


    Jiang Li showed an interested expression. The older man first wandered his gaze around, double-checking for prying eyes and ears. He then said in a low voice. "The crown prince has given them orders that are not favorable to Your Excellency. The Pope is already aware. However..."


    The pause made the young man wait for his continuation, but it didn''te. It seemed the leader did not dare say things out loud. Jiang Li voiced it out on his behalf, of course, in a nonchnt manner. "The Saintess will be the future Empress so since the crown prince has yet to do anything to me, despite that hit order, the Pope won''t raise this matter to the imperial family. Correct?"


    It had been days since he departed from the capital. The announcement about the new fiancee of that idiot prince made way into his ears while he was still on the way to the territory. It came as no surprise to him as it was a major event in the plot. Rumina Bolden was rumored to have fallen sick. A few were saying she fell ill due to the crown''s heartlessness, but the majority imed she contracted an incurable disease first so she was removed as the primary fiancee candidate. Anyway, it was a matter he hardly cared about for now.


    Inside the tent, silence reigned for a full minute. This made him think the holy knight was guilty, or perhaps, feeling bad and conflicted on his behalf.


    "I''m already away. What else do they want?" Jiang Li couldn''t help but click his tongue.


    The other people present maintained a stoic expression, but they too were feeling puzzled in their hearts.


    Why does the crown prince keep acting against the prophet? Shouldn''t he be doing the opposite instead?


    For a moment, they wanted to doubt whether the brain of the heir to the throne was working correctly. If they were him, they would surely draw an influential and useful man to their side, especially if it was a person who could predict cmities and huge events and had a whole House standing behind him.


    ...


    Jiang Li chose to personally travel to nearby cities after the charity works in the fief. Along the way, he passed by many towns and viges. He met all sorts of people of course. At daytime, he wore a smile all day long, ying the role of a saintly but fragile noble. At night, he would lead the people of his ducal house into raiding the monasteries of the Creator, collecting information, and also sending some fake or misleading news back to the capital.


    ''A holy text was uncovered from a cave in this mountain.''


    ''An old sculpture of the Goddess from the dark ages was recovered from that river.''


    ''Both the stele and sculpture had the same content. A warning from the Goddess of Light was etched, stating that the evil god who caused the disappearance of many gods would be reappearing in the near future. Everyone should prepare.''


    ''The Saintess'' summoning is rted to the evil god.''


    Jiang Li went to as many ces as he could. But on the fourth day of his third week of being away from the central region, he led the whole group back, then met up with the pope again.

 Chapter 227: Su Luxi (26) <2-in-1>

    Chapter 227: Su Luxi (26) <2-in-1>


    Once Jiang Li was back to the capital, he briefly talked with the Pope about the ceremony, saying he wanted to be the one to officiate the mid part of the ceremony, namely the wedding. He was not a priest. However, due to his special position in the Church, since the Pope approved and the Emperor had no problem with it too, the matter was then settled. His goal was achieved just like that.


    "There are really reasons why many are so hungry for power and influence. Depending on the situation, there are things money could not help one get or aplish, but power and influence could. If it is other people who requested what I just requested, even if they give up all their wealth to get the chance to host or officiate a very prestigious event, they will be rejected within a second."


    He shook his head as he sighed to his valet. Lando, one of the two youths always giving the female lead a sharp re whenever she approached Jiang Li, looked at him in puzzlement and asked, "Did something happen, milord?"


    They were inside a spacious and luxurious white painted horse-driven carriage, on their way back to Wade Mansion. The ride was slow to ensure there would be little to no bumps along the road and dozens of knights and servants were either marching or riding their horses as they escorted the carriage.


    Since the trip would take a little more than fifteen minutes, the valet couldn''t help but wonder if his master was bored and thus wanted to talk about random or philosophical things.


    Jiang Li shook his head andughed. "Nothing. I just suddenly recalled our experiences outside. I couldn''t help making theparison since the people we encountered are helpless as they have neither money nor power and are subject to the others'' rules. Had I been one of them, or someone with only one of the two, would His Holiness still smile and agree to my request?"


    "Milord, you are the prophet. The Holy Church only had two people who canmunicate with the Esteemed Goddess. There is no way they will not hear you out."


    "If I was not the prophet?"


    The valet thought for a moment, keeping his silence. If he was a simpled, he would have answered, the young master was still a Duke''s heir, a position of less weight, but still with considerable power. It was just that the power was not one which a personality like the Pope would think highly so it would be no use bringing it up.


    Something flickered in his mind, ''The prophet''s mental condition... People said there are two things that could happen when a person neared their death, either they be wiser, or stupider than ever. Is he being thetter? Asking things that don''t actually matter in the current situation...''


    The thought rendered the valet silently contemting for quite a while.


    Lando then could only say in a serious manner, ".... Milord, actually, there is no use pondering over the what-ifs and other possibilities. If you are feeling burdened by the responsibility or in some sort of internal dilemma, please just remember that you are important because you matter not only to the family, but to the whole empire. Young master, don''t fall into depression!"


    "..." Depression? Just what the hell had gotten into this servant of his?


    Jiang Li''s almost burst intoughter. Shaking his head, he chose not to speak anymore as the valet was not in the right state of the mind to hear out hisints about life. Just the opening questions already made the other person''s brain flew far away.


    The march, under the watch of the several spectating civilians and escorting knights, safely reach the destination by the afternoon. Jiang Li was warmly weed back. A feast was even thrown for him and many high personages were invited. It was near 10 pm when the mansion turned quiet.


    The young man obediently went to sleep after that, feeling a bit worn out by the long travels and the umted fatigue. The next morning, he rose early. Wearing suspicious overalls that hid his features and body figure, he snuck out with no one in tow.


    He didn''t want to bring servants or errand boys around as first, he was notfortable with people tailing him, and second, if he brought them, it would be tantly telling them his illness was now nothing but a lie.


    Before daybreak graced the horizon above, Jiang Li was already sneaking into the Bolden''s ce. The guards in the residence were not negligent people, however, Jiang Li was using qinggong learned from Jiang Ying Yue''s world to bypass the patrolling guards and other roaming servants.


    ''This is the first time I''m the one going inside the female lead''s house without permission or advance notice. What a funny experience,'' he snorted in his heart, his mouth forming a lopsided smile.


    After jumping onest wall which separated the chapel of House Bolden from the ''sick'' girl''spound, Jiang Li halted for a full minute to catch his breath. His eyes also wandered around. Since the sky had barely tinged of grey, the visibility in the ce was still poor. The man did not dare use magic right now since the Ducal house might have some safety measures ced around, like stuff that could detect magic power not from people of the mansion. No, actually, he was positive House Bolden had something like that since no matter what position they had fallen these days, they were still publicly recognized as the second most powerful and wealthiest family of the Litus Empire.


    Jiang Li lightened his footsteps as he entered the tall, dome-like entrance to the residence owned by Rumina Bolden.


    Meanwhile, inside the building, the girl opened her eyes, feeling that something changed in the air. She sat up on the bed and looked out of the window. Seeing that no light was pouring into the room through the ss pane, her heart tightened a bit. The maid should be in the nearby room, on standby in case she called out for them. Outside, there was somebody else whose presence seemed not one of her father''s people. It felt a bit familiar. However, she had no time to rummage through her memories to recall whose was it...


    ''Who would visit me at this ungodly house? Somebody curious about my situation?''


    Having lived in a pce where treacheries and assassinations were amon thing, she didn''t panic much. Or at least, even if she did, she immediately regained reason and decided for her next course of action.


    The female lead was somebody with a great affinity to light and mind magic. Her dual attributes was the reason why she was hailed as a genius. Now she chose to demonstrate a peculiar spell learned from her previous life which could be used through her light magic.


    She quickly left the bed and stood in front of the mirror. With eyes closed, her mouth constantly moved even though there were no soundsing out of it. However, a couple of secondster, something odd happened to the full-body mirror. A big ball of light, the size of the whole coconut fruit, appeared before her chest and then slowly flew by itself above the space between her and the mirror. Another couple of seconds passed. Slowly, the Rumina reflected there suddenly opened her eyes and looked around. The image was a bit weird, or even, uncanny and spooky, since the real Rumina still had her eyes closed. Couple with the darkness around and the eerie silence, if only a bit wind would flow inside and y with the female lead''s hair, the scene there would certainly qualify as a scare point in a horror movie.


    The girl opened her eyes and looked at the reflection which started to move and even came out of the mirror. She bit her lower lip, ''I seeded, but it''s a doppelganger who could only stay for no more than five minutes. It is unfortunate, but Light could mostly illuminate, and not breathe life into something incorporeal.''


    She then gave the look-alike in front of her a long nce before issuing some orders. Not long after, when light footsteps rang outside of thevishly decorated bedchamber, only one person was inside, lying in the bed, underneath the soft satiny nket.


    Outside, the eastern sky was still nketed by ck and greyish clouds. There was still more or less an hour before the sun appears.


    ...


    The footsteps that the female lead heard were not from Jiang Li. No, he was not yet at the point where he would casually intrude in a girl''s room, especially if it was not his lover or a family member.


    The young man actually bypassed the female lead''s room and went to the study and small library there. For a while, when he saw the ce and its grandiose, a small sigh escaped out of his lips.


    Duke Bolden must be very proud of her to build a small western pce-like buildingplete with most facilities and rooms. There was a small library, a small indoor swimming pool, kitchen, dining room, living room, servants'' quarters, conservatory, cloak room, drawing room, a gallery, music room...


    Well, there were more, ording to the map he found iid on one of the walls in the library. He wanted to ask, was the duke afraid that people who woulde visit would not see how much he pampered his daughter?


    Most likely.


    Come to think of it, she had been the crown princess for five years. With a ster background, talent, and future, it was no wonder she was given all these luxuries.


    "But why isn''t there any useful information in her study?" he crinkled his nose at the extremely neat and tidy room that greeted his eyes after he lit up the torch.


    There were stacks of paper next to the bottle of ink. Other than that, there was nothing else. The smell of oil and permeated the air. His breathing was suppressed to the minimum so only the sound of crackling fire could be heard.


    When he spoke, his words seemed especially loud even though he only whispered it under his breath. Due to this, the discontent in his tone became clearer.


    In some fiction works, some sensitive information was sometimes left in unlikely ces like this. People would not usually assume an intelligent person would do that but the intelligent person would actually do just that, as if ying some sort of reverse psychology. So was the girl truly very careful? A pity...


    Jiang Li pretended he was looking around the ce.


    Inside the main bedchamber, the female lead was already panicking since it was already her third time casting the mirror doppelganger spell. The drain in her magic power was already substantial. In her heart, she kept wondering why the footsteps from outside never ceased and if it was actually a maid pranking her.


    When another five minutes passed, Rumina stood dumbfounded before her reflection. The face of the person reflected there was already ashen and the glow of her eyes became a bitckluster. Her nightdress had traces of wrinkles and a bit of dirt from the umted dust. After all, every time her doppelganger would pretend to be sleeping in the soft mattress, she was under the bed, curling onto the hard and cold ground.


    Maybe if there was one thing the whole farce had brought her, it was that her mind cooled and she remembered the person who should be having the aura she felt.


    ''Calm down. Calm down,'' she chanted.


    ''Peace, Supreme peace. Let the anger return to its source of universal energy so that the energy is purified, returned to me and bes usable.''


    ''Om... Om...''


    ''Was I yed for a fool?'' she resentfully wondered when the calming mantras did not show results.

 Chapter 228: Su Luxi (27)

    Chapter 228: Su Luxi (27)


    Two people had their talk that morning. It was a discussion that should have finished within a minute, but due to the resentment one of the parties held against the other, it took more than ten minutes. By then, the sun was already rising, spilling beautiful blinding rays from the east.


    From start to end, Jiang Li never revealed himself to the woman, preferring to talk to her through the window screen. He even made his voice sound more robotic.


    The first time he spoke in that way, it was to remind her that she was not the only one who knew how to make doppelganger and that pretending to be dead asleep was more effective when done personally.


    "Naturally, a fake created through magic, even if they could carry out physical actions and act so well, will still reek of mana. But a real person gives off an aura unique to the living. Do you know about that?"


    "Hmm. Considering you cast the same magic five times, the answer is obvious." The person with a stiff and weird voice clicked his tongue.


    His action made the girl already annoyed at her became more irritated. She was eighty percent sure the person outside was the one who rejected her for so many times but here he was, not even a bit apologetic for what he did.


    Jiang Li didn''t know the bitterness the girl was harboring, otherwise, he would have rolled his eyes and asked, had she been apologetic for hypnotizing his servants and trying to mind control him? If he remembered correctly, she never apologized for it. Only her House sent a letter of apology which sounded so perfunctorily and forced.


    "On the day of the ceremony, no matter what happens, don''t do anything. Don''t interfere," he said in an authoritative voice.


    Rumina''s mood turned sourer. She was officially ill, so why would she go to the ceremony in the first ce? A secondter, her eyes flickered to one corner of the room, a guess crossed her mind. "Is it about House Lc?"


    The disguised prophet refused to say more and might have even left already. The female lead was left there frowning.


    Even without the other telling her, she would not say a thing to that g man. Hah. Did he think she would want to help somebody who would definitely not appreciate it?


    The female lead seemed to forget that the Rome of this lifetime was a bit more reasonable than the one from the previous lifetime. However, impressions burned in the back of one''s mind was very hard to change, especially if the person in question only had bad memories with her.


    In the uing rebellion, she wanted to see how the proud crown prince would stand up by himself and create the ''wise andpetent'' reputation to his future subjects. She would not help. If possible, she wanted tough at him from a concealed, high ce.


    When the girl dissolved her engagement with the future Emperor, she felt so at peace and had somehow walked out of her fear for him. Now, she could harbor thoughts like this against Rome.


    ...


    The Emperor''s health had been deteriorating so fasttely so the one handling the preparation for the ceremony was mostly the crown prince, Rome Natividad.


    The prince was excited to be assigned such a heavy responsibility. Every day he would be seen visiting therge open amphitheater where the event would take ce and talking to various church and government officials who were helping him with the matter. The busy days helped him forget his heartbreak over Rumina''s situation.


    He was not aware that many were shaking their heads at him, not due to overworking or anything, but because while he was sessful in showing his hardworking side, he was also disying a bit of his ipetence.


    It was another day when the male lead went to the church to talk with the Pope. Two royal knights in charge of guarding the prince chatted with each other in low voice. They were left outside so they dared to chat with each other. Those who could see them doing so were quite far so they paid them no heed.


    "The crown prince should be busy this time and won''t make us engaged in group duels with the holy knights."


    "I hope so. But who can tell?" A sigh was heard.


    "Thest time, the crown prince thought it''s a must for us to show our abilities first to convince the church to cooperate with them. But I''m sure that''s very unnecessary."


    "Let''s not talk about it anymore. This issue is minorpared to the prince being so fussy about the stage and the program. He''s micromanaging everything."


    "Yeah. He looks like somebody who would want to take over everything if he only has eight arms or many bodies."


    "But he''s supposed to lead."


    "Well..."


    A few more words were exchanged between them and at the end of it, they simply shook their heads lightly, finding nothing more to say. They also purposely stopped speaking since they spot the subject of their conversation emerging from the Pope''s room, wearing a bright face as he walked with the beautiful and holy-looking Saintess.


    The man who was merrily talking with his fiancee did not seem to notice that the many eyes were watching him attentively. He was the man who would be the Emperor. The pce spread that he was brilliant in all aspects and well, he did sometimes disy good decision-making and intelligence. However, his inadequacies were alsoid bare to the eyes of the majority...


    Until now... He had yet to approach the prophet who would be the master of the ceremony. This was supposed to be the first thing to do. The prince seemed to be forgetting one more thing too. The task was not only for him to prepare his own wedding and coronation, but arrange the program and events for the Festival of Light.


    ...

 Chapter 229: Su Luxi (28) <2-in-1>

    Chapter 229: Su Luxi (28) <2-in-1>


    Meanwhile, the Saintess was busy receiving education from both the imperial family and the church. However, no matter, how upied she was, somehow, she could still make time to grow her feelings with Rome. This just proved that love was indeed a very powerful emotion. It could make one do anything or go to any lengths. But of course, to what direction one would take in loving, no one could tell for sure.


    If Su Luxi was still in her original world, she would definitely never have thought of snatching one''s fiancee from somebody else''s, just as she had never thought of suddenly getting summoned into another dimension too. But before she knew it, she already did.


    This was why some people just found life funny. It was just full of the unexpected and there were limits to how much nning one could do to go against fate or dictate their own destiny.


    But Su Luxi was happy with how things were ying out for her and Rome. She felt like she made the correct decision to request a marriage with him from the Church''s leader. Look. Every day she was smiling and her chest felt like it could burst from too much excitement and glee.


    Because of the man, she felt like it was okay to stay in this world for good and to receive a strict education for being a Saintess and Empress. It had been a week since she started thanking the heavens for giving this opportunity. She was currently the center of the world. Maybe from the moment, she was summoned, it was already destined that she would be the happiest and noblest woman in this world.


    The church and the empire were expecting great things for her but she knew they respected her a lot. She had a good life and a powerful and handsome fiance.


    How could she not be thankful?


    Of course, she was! In fact, she had be a true devotee of the Goddess who pulled her into this ce.


    Alright, enough of this. After all, no matter how smooth-sailing her life was, there would always be some tiny nuisance to remind her of how she should conduct. One of them was the Pope.


    She had to frequently see the prophet to be more familiar with him. as instructed by the Pope.


    One time, when the white-haired man became annoyed at her, he purposely invited her to visit the ill daughter of Duke Bolden.


    When the invitation made way into her ears, who could understand how aggrieved she was? But despite her reluctance to see the perfect girl who made her wallow in jealousy for many days, she agreed. Did she have another choice? The visitation resulted in her feeling ufortable from beginning to the end. Rumina''s state dampened Su Luxi''s mood, reminded that if the other girl had not fallen ill, she would not have easily gotten her position.


    "Saintess, do you know that I will be the one presiding your union with the crown prince?" on their way back to the Holy Church, the prophet unhurriedly said, turning a gentle smile to her. Inside the spacious carriage, each of them was apanied by a close servant. The rest were outside, serving as their escort.


    They were sitting across each other and there was only a low white marble table separating the two of them. Seeing Luke Wade''s face clear upfront, she absentmindedly thought, the ducal heir was as good-looking as Rome and she might have liked him if for the prince was not only more like her type. Now, all she felt for him was nervousness. Since he was a true messenger, it was hard to shake off the feeling that she was inferior to him. This was even if he was ame person seated in a wheelchair all day long.


    With a wry smile, the Saintess slightly bowed and replied to his question, "Your Excellency, I know. It is His Holiness who informed mest time."


    "Hmm." The man nodded and then lowered his head to the table, the same with his hand which ced his cup of tea and saucer down. "Good then," he said.


    He lifted his head again and smiled, "Usually, the ceremony will only require the one presiding it to know the sequence of the events. It''s not a hard job. I had to thicken my face to ask for the role due to this and I''m very thankful that the Pope agreed. It must be because he knew I am in poor shape."


    "His Holiness is a very considerate and gentle person," Su Luximented.


    Jiang Li, Luke Wade, wore an amused face and expressed his agreement. "He is."''Considerate, my a$$. Biased, you mean?'' He added in his heart, his expression outwardly not changing.


    While his valet was pouring tea on his empty cup, he asked, "So have you decided who make as the Royal Lady?"


    Su Luxi widened her eyes in surprise and then asked back in a doubtful tone. "Royal Lady...? May I know what you mean by that?"


    "All Empresses have to choose a Royal Concubine for the crown prince before the coronation day. On the official marital ceremony, the crown prince would be wed both to the crown princess and the royaldy. Didn''t His Highness tell you about it?" The young man furrowed his brows slightly. "Yesterday I met him and inquired about this and he told me he would inform you."


    Upon hearing what the prophet said, thunderps which came from nowhere seemed to have deafened the Saintess. She subconsciously parted her plump rosy lips, yet no words came out of them. Her mind had nked out for some time. When rational returned to her, a realization made her ce a hand on her chest. She looked so dumbfounded.


    ''The prince won''t solely belong to me?''


    At that ridiculous thought, the girl only stayed still for a moment before she began shaking her head. ''No, such absurdity... I would have to share my husband with somebody else?''


    The girl was too shocked and conflicted to reply to Jiang Li, but he didn''t mind. There was a meaningful smile on his lips when he parted ways with the Saintess.


    Girls from the modern era... They naturally hate for their love interests to have other women in their lives. Actually, this was the case even for boys. In ces where people believed in monogamy, those with feet on two boats were despised and treated as moralless individuals.


    In this world though, polygamy was a practice that had been prevalent among nobles since ancient times. His parents and the female lead''s parent were a rare species in the aristocratic circle. But here, it was normal for men to have multiple wives. Among them, the one standing at the very top, the Emperor was required to have at least one Royal Concubine.


    As the future Empress, the Saintess would be required to choose ady from the list of candidates to be her future husband''s other woman.


    Hah. Of course, there was no way she could easily ept it!


    As said above, a transmigrated or summoned girl in worlds like this would want their partner to be monogamous and faithful. Usually, as she sauntered across the street dering this, her destined prince would be intrigued and thought she as interesting. Then through repeated encounters, romance would bloom between them. And once the prince proved enough that he would not entertain another woman in his lives per the transmigrated girl''s wish, they would then be together.


    In historical novels, there would be tons of women wanting to throw themselves at the prince and he would showcase his love by rejecting her, persisting on going against the customs and traditions by marrying only one woman.


    Yet in reality, how could it be easy to go against the established norms? The crown prince''s case was especially sensitive. As a member of the royalty, he had the obligation to strengthen his family''s influence. The more he marries, the more he could fulfill this condition. Heck, marrying princesses from other countries were even highly encouraged.


    "Milord, the fight between the crown prince and the Saintess has been the talk of the town sincest eve."


    Jiang Li was having his breakfast at the garden when his favorite knight reported to him. Even though his mealtime was interrupted, he didn''t appear offended. Laughingly, he held his twisted bread using two hands and ate messily. There were no other nobles around so he could not be bothered to put up pretenses and act like a refined gentleman.


    "What happened?"


    "The Saintess confronted His Highness in public about why there''s a need to pick a Lady Royal. After some time, the Saintess has been left to tears. It seems she is forced to pick one of the nobledies from the Upper Houses." The expression of the knight was weird as he recounted this. It was a norm for Emperors to have Royal Concubines so what the Saintess did was a puzzle.


    Jiang Liughingly said, "It must be the difference between our world and her world''s custom. Maybe from where she came from it is a traditional belief that a man and woman could only faithful to one partner."


    "What kind of society can be like that?" Lando asked in astonishment.


    "Maybe and where people are equal and there''s no monarchy to rule over them, or a world where the prevalent religion dictates a marriage could only be between two people?" replied the prophet in a casual manner. He shrugged and added, "The idea just came to me. Because when you think about it, only an environment with those rules will not demand a man to have more wives just so he could appear influential."


    The words Jiang Li said was of course, not entirely true, and the man knew it. Even in modern societies, men in power had mistresses left and right. Some were doing so to satisfy their ego and certain needs. The others only wanted to have more children to inherit their businesses and families. All sorts of reasons existed for one to notmit themselves to only one lover. Jiang Li could not be bothered to enumerate them all.


    Lando gave him his honest opinion. "Milord, while it sounds like a good society, it should bepletely impossible for the male poption there to uphold that monogamous practice."


    He raised a hand to signal the newly promoted knight to stop. "Lando, just tell me who the Saintess chose."


    The other man respectfully bowed but the prophet still saw theplicated expression which flickered through his eyes.


    Jiang Li suddenly felt like he knew what Lando would answer.


    "It''s Lady Rumina Bolden of House Bolden, milord."


    Hearing this, he only shook his head. ''Pitiful female lead.''


    Sadly, the plot won''t easily let her go.


    ...

 Chapter 230: Su Luxi (29)

    Chapter 230: Su Luxi (29)


    All sorts of things were happening all over the Empire and the capital had simply be a ce of chaos underneath.


    However, none of the disturbances and undercurrents in the capital stopped the day of the coronation froming. Time was like a river. No one should assume they could touch the same water there twice. Even though some people who could read fortunes and the skies or had knowledge of how the future would y out hope time could pause, there was no way their wish woulde true. The day that Jiang Li, Rome Natividad, and Su Luxi looked forward to gradually neared.


    Everything was pretty much set, even that one about the Royal Concubine position. After all, while it was unfortunate, Rumina could not refuse. No, she was not even given the chance to say her opinion because it was the Saintess who appointed her.


    Rumina could only hatefully thought, ''It must be nice being given the highest status in the church. huh. She did not work for it. Nheless, she has a position that would not let anyone but the Pope, the Emperor, and the Prophet to ignore her words. Why?''


    Sadly, there was also nobody who could give her an answer.


    Due to her firm belief that Rumina Bolden was truly ill, the Saintess chose her as the side concubine. Wanting no one to steal her husband''s attention from her, Su Luxi naturally required somebody bound to die for the position.


    The male lead had mixed feelings about it, remembering the state of the girl that he saw when he visited her. However, his fiancee had already spoken and with regards to the matter of choosing the Lady Royal, the authority was solely hers. He couldn''t and shouldn''t interfere.


    There was also his mind which kept dictating him to just let things be and his heart which seemed to have no repulsion against the idea. With the Saintess close by, there should be a chance the Royal Concubine could recover, right? He told himself repeatedly in an attempt to convince himself.


    On the eve before the fated day, for various reasons, there were many people having sleepless nights. The female lead''s was due to anxiousness and nightmares. The expression Rome directed at her that time he first visited him drained away all the few good feelings the plot had given her.


    Since she wanted no marriage to happen between them, Rumina tried to stage her death and escape. However, the Emperor''s people were guarding the whole ducal residence. Hatred started to grow in her heart against the heavens. She began fervently praying that Duke Lc''s rebellion bes sessful. That was how she spent thest day before the coronation.


    At the same time, inside the pce meant for the crown prince, the male lead was too excited to sleep, thinking he would be able to marry the two most influential youngdies in the empire. Of course, nothing could beat the excitement brought by the thought that finally, by tomorrow, he would be the master of a whole Empire. Several ns beneficial for the empire swirled in his head, there were also terrible kinds of stuff like giving troubles to people he disliked. Duke Wade and his heir were of course on top of his list. He simply couldn''t wait for tomorrow toe.


    As for the prophet, he sleptte due to having randomly remembered when he went to the female lead that morning and realized a fatal w in his logic. Sleeping and remembering something from his encounter with Rumina before had no connection? Not really. Recalling that it was him who snuck into House Bolden''s mansion days ago, a realization dawned on him.


    Why couldn''t he be the one to go see the Goddess? The thought made him leave his bed and pace around the room.


    He was unlike the other mortals who could only go to the realms of gods if they could reach the peak of the magician path and ascend. He was different.


    Even if he was wary of it, it was still a fact that the system was a weapon that could utilize.


    ''Damn idiot me!''


    After a minute of debate and ckmail, cough, exchange session with the system, Jiang Li dove into his bed again and closed his eyes. Who knew what the system did, but courtesy of the 100 points he spent, it showed him through his dreams a pce which stood above the clouds.


    From the distance, it looked like a dreamy ethereal ce. The light enveloping it seemed too holy and pure.


    Yet Jiang Li was sighing. Although the green vines running along the walls and the moats appeared to be designs, same with the small cracks here and there, he knew the Goddess'' ce was simply not taken care of for who knows how long. Nobody was manning the gates. He suspected there was nobody inside the pce apart from the detained Goddess.


    The man looked around more. When his interest waned, he then inspected himself and then concluded he came into this ce in his spirit form. The system was not with him.


    Nobody stopped him from entering. There was also no magical barrier that made him halt his steps. He walked the deadly silent pathways and corridors. The more he saw the desteness of the pce, the more his heart grew heavier.


    Before. she could at least speak with him. He also had a hunch she could see him through some sort of medium or spell. Still, the physical presence of a person to somebody was different from an interaction limited by a device. Long-distance rtionships could hardly withstand the test of time precisely due to this. What the heart doesn''t see, the heart doesn''t feel. He disliked the idea, so here he was, wanting to see her, even for a brief period of time.


    The walk ended shortly. He arrived in front of a tall door that seemed no different from the others he had passed by along the way. But his feet brought him here due to a faint feeling he was getting from this direction.


    Would she be here? The texts he gathered hinted that she was a divinity who almost fell but was saved by the Creator, either by the urging of the plot or for an entirely different reason? What was her situation right now?


    He extended his right hand forward.


    Only by pushing the door open would he know. Feeling a bit expectant and nervous, he twisted the doorknob and pushed it.


    Lights more radiant than any he had seen in this lifetime greeted him. The lights were not actually painful to the eyes. However, he also couldn''t help but squint his pupils.


    Suddenly, before him, a person with long blonde hair and a face exactly the same as Ye Xinya appeared. She was holding her breath and was staring wide-eyed at him, shocked.


    To be honest, he too was dumbfounded. Was she standing there all the time, or did she only do so after feeling an intruder''s unwee presence?


    Anyways, here was a devastatingly beautiful woman in front of him, dressed in a sleeveless long white dress that reached her calves, exposing silver chains on her ankle.


    "... My prophet?" a gentle and beautiful voice drifted into his ears.


    Jiang Li shook off the useless thoughts. "Goddess."


    The next moment, the surprised woman who then started to ask him how he got to her home became more shocked. All of a sudden, he pulled her into his arms. Right. A goddess like her suddenly found herself confined within the arms of the white-haired man who should not be at this ce at all. Of course, the woman tried to escape.


    However, before she could truly do so, he was already patting her head and she stiffened due to her body''s familiarity with the action. Or maybe it was due to the feeling that the man hugging her seemed to be treating her like somebody he regained? While she was also trying to question herself why she felt oddly happy and content, the preposterous mortal took that chance to mutter,"I learned your situationte..."


    "... What?"


    The confusion might have umted and bewildered her greatly so the Goddess subconsciously stepped back. That single movement caused a series of rattling sounds to echo throughout the room. Jiang Li''s eyes darkened when he saw the chains. Those things were normally unseen, but his case might be different since he was no ordinary soul, but one who had been through five worlds.


    Suppressing the anger in his heart, he told the girl in a distressed manner, "I''m sorry... I should not have beente to see you."


    ...

 Chapter 231: Su Luxi (30)

    Chapter 231: Su Luxi (30)


    Thousands of years ago, the barrier the Creator erected between the two realms ensured no mortal could cross to the realms of the gods. It still stood in ce, unseen, but faithfully keeping the mortals away from entering the other side. It was even blocking those eligible to ascend and be deities, to the woes of many supreme magician who should have been able to enjoy divine power and enjoy an extremely long life.


    However, through a means outside of the Creator''s knowledge, a magician barely at the grandmaster level managed to sneak into the gods'' realms. Right now, a meeting between a goddess and a mortal was taking ce, which could be considered a miracle and against thew.


    The ce remained looking out of this world, with glowing white clouds or smoke drifting all over and fireflies glowing and floating everywhere like thousand charms.


    Amidst that were two people hugging. Why was the goddess letting the young man hugged her? Even if she was his messenger in the mortal world, how could she tolerate this great disrespect? A deity should be untouchable and unreachable to mortals!


    In no time, although the girl was bewildered and a bit taken aback by the weird words said by the man, she recovered and escaped from the other. With her brain back to normal, she returned to her haughty self.


    Even if she was a Goddess in house arrest, she was still a divinity! Gods were high and mighty. She was one of them. At least, she had to act the part. And she did so by disappearing from Jiang Li''s embrace and reappearing high above him, with crossed arms as she looked down at him from a throne conjured on the spot.


    "I didn''t imagine that a mere servant like you can reach this ce. Congrattions! Even though you''re slow in both mind and ability progress, I have to admit you finding me is quite an amazing feat!" She said after clearing her throat, a yful smile hung on her lips.


    After pretending to inspect him from head to toe, she clicked her tongue and shake her head. The action caused her long straight hair to sway behind her too.


    "How sad... but you onlye in your spirit form."


    "Would you have liked it more if your prophet appeared here as another deity?"


    Jiang Li looked up and then upon seeing the Goddess was on the opposite side, deep into the room, he walked in.


    A tinge of worry shed across her eyes. Earlier, she only realized another person was in the realm when he was standing outside of her room. She attributed it to herck of divine power. Was this man aware that he was in mortal danger as that old bastard was wary of him even when he was in the mortal realm? Had the Creator found out about him already?


    She had no way of knowing. Unconsciously, she wrapped the whole room from inside out with her remaining mana, trying to iste it from the outside.


    Then with a mocking smile, she replied to the white-haired man, "Dream on, my prophet. The current realm of the gods could barely support me and the other deity. Even if you managed to ascend, there is no avable source of divine power for you. Not to mention, your curse will... Eh?"


    The smug face she had disappeared in a sh.


    "Gone?" She muttered.


    Her beautiful eyes stared wide-eyed at the man who had just arrived directly below her, looking up at her. The other person obviously wanted to go up, but in this world, magic power could not be used. Or even if it was possible, the strongest magic a mortal or ordinary spirit could cast here would be barely enough to boil water, fan one''s self, or wash one''s hair.


    The Goddess slowly floated down, thankfully. Dumbfounded by her findings, she inspected him and kept flying around him. "W-who healed you!? Did the Saintess do? Was she given two wishes by the old bastard instead of one?"


    Why did the girl lose her cool all of a sudden? The way she raised her voice just now showed her dislike of the Saintess. Her eyes too, was nowhere near what a perfect and pure goddess should have. As of now, she looked like she was both aggrieved and bitter.


    ''What did I conserve my power for then? I even spent days searching my memory for that curse-breaking ceremony.'' The girl wanted the breaking of the curse to be the miracle for tomorrow. Or, at least, that was the excuse she gave herself.


    "I healed myself." The man said, tilting his head a bit.


    "Lies!" The woman angrily refuted. "There''s no way for a mortal to escape from the curse. It will first eat away half of the heart and then slowly invade the bones and the other important organs. The cursed one will be invalid in no time and would have only seven or so years to live... It''s that fatal since it''s the old bastard''s curse to all the very very exceptionally gifted people... and those with potential to speak with me, the only other remaining god."


    For a moment, the light surrounding the woman dimmed. It was like she got tired of something, maybe of pretending she was that tough and could control her emotion. Her lips tugged downward. Her sad expression made him extend his hand to pat her.


    "That trespasser already used her wish on the crown prince."


    "You speak as if you''re not a trespasser."


    Jiang Li watched her reappear seated on the queen-sized bed on his left, his hand left hanging in the air. He withdrew it calmly then shrugged.


    The mirror next to it showed real-life situations in the mortal world. For example, just now, what shed was an image of Rome visiting the female lead and standing separated from her bed with gauze curtains.


    The blonde woman looked at them briefly too, but then quickly lost interest.


    "Nevermind." She crossed her arms while giving him a side nce. "I''ll just consider it as you being an anomaly since from the beginning, your soul is not from this world. Who summoned you here anyways?"


    Jiang Li smiled but did not answer.


    The Goddess harrumphed. Seeing her like this was a new experience. While Ye Xinya also had some degree of haughtiness in her bones due to being born to a wealthy family, she was not this arrogant. If the soul was the same, it was fascinating how the same people could have different personalities. Or was it that in every world, there were only certain traits that stood out?


    Suddenly he heard her ask, "You''ve been investigating him so much, even so, there is a chance you are summoned by him. Are you a spy?"


    "Is that how you see me?" Eyes glued to the mirror, he asked.


    "Not really. You rarely left your wheelchair and home. And you have no dealings with the bald heretics."


    The man frowned a bit. But it was because he noticed the speed of events unfolding in the mirror seemed fast-forwarded. The time in this ce moved faster than in the mortal world? Based on the images, at least twice as fast?


    The discovery made him knit his brows.


    While he knew it was normal for there to be some differences in the time between the two realms, it was not a good thing for the mortal world''s time to be a lot faster than the god''s realm. He could only stay here until he woke up which tranted to only two hours.


    Two hours. What could he do with her in just two hours?


    While the man was worried about the duration he could be with the girl, the Goddess reluctantly opened her mouth. "... By the way, why are you not as pious as my other believers? You don''t pray to me. And your faith in me is barelyparable to a mid-ranked priest. When you talk to me too, it is as if you''re very familiar with me. I''m sometimes doubting if you''re treating me as your goddess!"


    Her voice contained a bit of resentment. Even the woman couldn''t understand why when she hardly cared about the other believers'' devotion to her, she wanted the prophet to be more devoted to her and think more of her.


    Hearing her tone, Jiang Li grinned and replied,"You''re my goddess though. How do you want me to show piousness? I can only be here for two hours. Tell me your requests. I know how to sing, dance, tell jokes or even striptease."


    "Huh? What again?"


    She looked to be doubting her ears and was gaping at him. Apart from her glowing skin and clothes, where does she resemble a divinity?


    The rich expression on her face made him want to tease her more.


    "Earlier, I said you can tell me your requests. I can sing, dance, tell jokes, and... Ooops, I forgot. There''s no use repeating thest one. After all, for sure..." The man paused, briefly ncing at the mirror, heughed. "Yup, for sure you have already seen everything."


    Since she loved peeking, there was a chance she also did that while he was at the bath, right?


    Like a cat with her fur standing up, the woman roared in indignation. "You! Nonsense! I''m a Goddess! Why would I do such indecent thing too, to a m-mere mortal!"


    "For seven years, you never did?"


    "Never!''


    Seeing her blushing, he found that she was still as lovely when teased. The rogue couldn''t help but nod and add, "Hmm. I see. Well, maybe you really didn''t. Only, I remember speaking with you numerous times inside the bathroom. So you make do with the sounds of water and leave everything else to the imagination?"


    "..."

 Chapter 232: Su Luxi (31)

    Chapter 232: Su Luxi (31)


    "I remember, numerous times, I spoke with you while I was inside the bathroom. So you make do with the sounds of water and leave everything else to the imagination?"


    "..." Hearing him, even the girl''s ears became dyed in pink.


    He faked a surprised expression. "You really did?" The gasp he let out made her tremble, most likely in shame.


    A pity he could not cast magic, otherwise, he would definitely conjure a real mirror on the spot, one made of ice, and show her how adorable she was right now.


    Anyways, the current scene was already funny enough. Jiang Li roared inughter and said, "So if ever it''s thetter, you just create pictures in your head? Guessing a body part depending on the sounds of water? I, I didn''t know. Sorry." Then he went back toughing.


    "You rogue with filthy mouth!!!"


    Feeling ashamed and wronged, the Goddess started fuming in anger and like a tigress provoked, she jumped down from where she was sitting. Not long after, Jiang Li was pummeled down on the ground, and the girl''s small fists kept descending on his stomach and torso.


    "You said imagination?"


    The prophet tried to escape but even though the other was from the fairer sex, her physical stats were just at least a dozen times higher than the mortal, him. He naturally ended up pinned on the floor.


    "Hey, wait! You''re being too violent! Violence in situations like this means you''re guilty. Let''s talk!"


    "Talk to your face!" She was too angry since the man kept making it seem like she was a pervert! How dare he! Was it her fault that he kept talking even while soaking his indecent mortal body underwater? She was a goddess known for benevolence and honesty! Without a reason, she wouldn''t peek! Oh no! Wait, the logic was still wrong.


    The redness of the girl''s face did not recede as the sense of shame also did not vanish. It rendered her wishing she could feed the dirty-minded guy a few bottles of holy water. Maybe that would help purify him.


    On the other hand, Jiang Limented that his spirit form was not free from pain. But it was probably because no matter her status, she was still a deity. At least, against him whose corporeal body was only that of a regr human, it would be very easy to beat him up. She was several times more powerful physically.


    In any case, due to Jiang Li courting death, a beating session urred. Thankfully, the girl still managed to retain reason and did not use her full strength on him, or else, the spirit which would return to his body would only be half and weary.


    A few minutester, somehow it ended with the man having to sing serenades and worship songs to her. Of course, he sang while lying on the floor.


    He couldn''t move his body after all. The Goddess of Light was sitting on the edge of her bed facing the mirror. Even though he was lying down like this, he could still take a glimpse of it. Suppressing hisughter had been a challenge when he noticed that there was a very small box at the bottom of the mirror showing his room.


    ''So I had been stalked for years again?''


    He found the idea so funny. Although he was also aware that if it was another person doing the same thing, he would not find the action cute andughable.


    Jiang Li shook his head and chose another song which he sang faithful to the melody. The Goddess listened attentively. Before she knew it, her perfect set of teeth was peeking out as she smiled and nodded in contentment from time to time.


    There was no way to stop time so nearly two hours passed by quickly. Nheless, that short moment the Goddess shared with her prophet was a fantastic one. They just talked, he hummed some melody for her. One time she scolded him for not entering her church''s choir if he was that okay in singing. It didn''t take long for her to realize she was being too casual with him.


    ''This prophet of mine is so sly. He keeps bringing up topics to prevent me from roasting him on how he crossed our world and even visited the divine realm.''


    Mood dampened, the Goddess made him sing something for her again. She made sure to select a hymn praising her as the most beautiful, most merciful, and most benevolent goddess of all. Narcissistic? Hah! That was her right as a Goddess!


    Jiang Li could onlyugh but still obliged. His current body''s voice was different from He Chen''s smooth and suave one which was very easy to the ears even when hitting high notes. His voice was the husky and low one. Still, the Goddess fell in love with his singing since his foundation was there, plus he knew even if he was bad at it, as long as he could follow the tune, she would not say a thing.


    Ten minutes before he woke up in the real world, he tried to ask about the Creator and how she ended up in this lonely pce.


    "You mean if the ounts in those bald heretics'' texts are correct?"


    "Yeah."


    "My prophet, you really are unusual. Your faith in me is not the normal way. And here you are, only asking about something after you spread a misleading story to my believers."


    "There''s just a reason why curiosity exists, you know. It''s normal to be curious about the truth."


    She looked at him for some time before pouting, "Well, if you insist. Treat this as your reward for being the first believer who managed to find me."


    "Yeah, it''s an honor." A chuckle resounded after. The girl''s eyes momentarily lingered on his face.


    ''I think I great job making his hair silvery white.''


    When the thought about how the hair color glistening sometimes due to the small lights made him look a bit more pleasant to the eyes, the Goddess looked away and coughed.


    At times like this when she knew her fondness of this prophet was not normal and that her eyes always unconsciously followed his every movement, she knew she liked him.


    It was quite a challenge to keep her nonchnce as she summarized what happened in the dark ages of the mortal world.


    The Creator created the world, followed by the other creations like the star, the moon, the various living, and non-living beings. Humans were madest. However, they were the ones to prosper and grow the greatest due to their ability to think and take care of things.


    When the Creator realized the human race had more potential than he initially assumed, it was alreadyte.


    Amongst them, people with a natural affinity to magic were already born. These people broke away from normal humans and reached the pinnacle of the magic route. After that, they took over thews of the world, created a realm and amunity in that realm. Later on, they were just suddenly called gods and were worshipped in exchange for a few miracles. The Creator could only ept them in the ranks. Time passed, and then he gradually realized the merits of having supreme magicians or gods like them helping him supervise his creations.


    A few thousand years passed with humans and gods starting to have a clearer boundary of their races. If before as long as one exhibited potential to be a magician, they would be epted into the gods'' rank, now only those who reached the pinnacle and ascended, or in reality, traversed the divine realm could be called gods. Even so, after a millennium, the number of the mighty beings became too high. Themunity could not go on anymore without a governing body.

 Chapter 233: Su Luxi (32)

    Chapter 233: Su Luxi (32)


    The Creator refused the post so her parents were made the leader of the gods. The reason for it was that one of them was in charge of thew of Life, while the other handled thews of Death, two of the most powerfulws.


    During their reign, many rules were created, like one could no longer go back and forth the two realms anymore. And that to gain followers, a god could not manifest by himself, only create miracles or aid the believer in magic.


    One way or another, the world became a bit chaotic and religions kept shing against each other. Godspeted for supremacy and faiths. Yet the situation gradually became the norm as the gods and humans both became ustomed to it.


    This persisted until all of a sudden... the Creator went mad.


    He said several thousands of years suddenly very dark in his prophetic visions and the records he had was no longer showing any dates and events. He thought it was due to the lesser amount of mana in the mortal and divine realm caused by the gods fight for faith.


    To gain faith, miracles were needed, and to create miracles, mana had to be spent to create divine power. Since the Creator determined that the world he created would end due to the gods, he then exterminated them.


    It had to be said that his madness had ushered in a nightmarish era for both the deities and the humans.


    "I was kept alive because he is too injured from all the fights and the world he painstakingly wanted to preserve will die without somebody maintaining it a bit. When he is about to retreat from the scenes and sleep to regain his power, he captured me, the lucky survivor. Since then I had to guard the mortal world and make sure no wars or anything destroy it."


    The Goddess'' tone became heavier. Her face remained fascinating and beautiful, yet it was obvious that her eyes darkened a bit.


    What she did not mention was that she only became a lucky survivor as she was a princess protected by many other gods.


    When her parents were in the frontline fighting against the madman, she was at the very back, far from the deadly attacks that decimated hundreds of gods.


    "What do you n to do from now on?"


    Jiang Li asked after a long period of silence. He would have not minded staying silent and just looking at her for hours.


    Unfortunately, when he identally raised a part of his left arm, he saw that his fingertips were starting to turn transparent.


    ''I can''t remain here any longer.''


    The girl whose eyes were in the mirror replied, "My n? Since you have read those books and the other texts, you should have an idea about what happened. I''m drained of my power. So I have to be a good captive. What else?" Since she was rolling her eyeballs around slow, it seemed her answer was really perfunctory or joke-like.


    It made Jiang Liugh and almost ask, ''Why did you create an avatar if it is as you said?''


    Thankfully, he didn''t truly voice it out. Her actions told him that she must be wary too of extra ears eavesdropping.


    Frowning, he inquired, "Is the Saintess summoned because somebody else told you to?"


    "En. Why else would I do that? That old guy said he saw the end of the world again and only after simting thousands of possibilities did he see hope. Snatching a poor soul from another world is the solution he got." The Goddess sneered.


    "However, he''s just woken up and is afraid the summoning will make him enter deep slumber again, so he passed the task to his hostage?"


    The girl shrugged at his guess. If possible, she truly did not want to talk about that damnable geezer.


    Jiang Li pressed his lips into a thin line,plying with her wishes.


    However, he stood up and tried to look for a weapon around. Nothing satisfactory entered his sight after a long while. He could not create an ice weapon. So he could only turn to the goddess. "Could you create anything that can break the chains?"


    She looked at him like he was a great idiot. Jiang Li also realized the question he asked was weird.


    If given the chance or if she could, why would she not want to create a weapon like that and free themselves from the chains?


    She shook her head. "It is useless. It''s not like I don''t want to, but that I can''t. The chains are created by the Creator using his unique power of creation. These days, he could no longer create anything divine since he has exhausted his powers to create that prophetic book of his. Unfortunately, the item on me was something he made before the era of gods."


    The man''s brown eyes darkened as he lowered his gaze.


    By that time, his left arm had already turned into white particles joining the light butterflies around to light up the huge but barren hall.


    "You..." The Goddess who saw him vanishing little by little panicked a bit and reached out to him.


    He lifted his head andughed. "I''m not dying. Don''t worry. It''s just that my time here is up."


    Even though she clearly heard his exnation, she still looked reluctant and tried to grab his still intact shoulders. She even yelled, "I''m your Goddess! I''m telling you not to go back! Hey!"


    "... The real world where I belong is now calling me back though."


    Dreams always had to end. He was a mere mortal so there was no way to extend his stay there. Feeling the strong pull on his soul, he sighed and said softly, "See youter..."


    "Wait!"


    He hadpletely turned into small dots of light by then. Now, she back to being alone. There was no way to describe the sudden weight that pressed on her heart.


    Her tone was quite aggrieved when she murmured in a sad tone, "... I won''t really ask you how youe here. So why can''t you just stay here for good? Or for just a little longer?"


    She inspected the spot where he used to stand and then pursed her lips. A couple of moments passed before she noticed that something was there. Presence of magic.


    With light footsteps she walked towards it and bent down, one hand on her knee, the other reaching out to the small object. The gloomy face she had immediately turned into a bright one as a smile which could light up even a whole town appeared there.


    A secondter, she was alreadyughing.


    "It''s made of ice."


    "...but the craftsmanship is quite good." Her eyes twinkled in both delight and haughtiness at the cold item in her palm.


    The Goddess''s chains made annoying noises again when she walked back to her bed, but she didn''t pay it much attention as her eyes couldn''t move away from the little statue that he crafted and left behind.


    It was a small statue of her.

 Chapter 234: Su Luxi (33)

    Chapter 234: Su Luxi (33)


    When Jiang Li woke up, there was still many hours left before the ceremony. He stood up from his bed and took a bath. He then dressed without the help of his servants. Theplicated clothing, of course, took a lot of his time, but no words ofint escaped out of his lips.


    The man silently sat in his wheelchair. He moved it forward by himself, surprising the valet who was about to enter his room and wake him up.


    "Milord, please let me!" The other man hurriedly went behind Jiang Li and pushed his wheelchair. "Are we going to the dining room? The master and the mistress are still not there, but if you would like, I can ask their personal servants."


    "There''s no need. It''s still very early. I don''t think the sun has even risen yet. Why don''t I take this opportunity to see it?" Jiang Li said with a smile.


    Like everyone in the mansion, the valet was worried about the prophet''s body condition. However, there was no way he could go against his wishes, especially when faced with such a gentle and hopeful expression.


    He could only say, "It''s a good idea, milord. The view should be spectacr on the balcony on the third floor. It''s also roofed so the morning drizzle should not be able to get to you."


    "Yeah. Perfect then. Arrange my breakfast there. Until it''s set up, I''ll be in the library."


    "Understood."''


    Jiang Li spent some time surrounded by books and shelves, just as he said. He looked into the notes that he piled up on his desk. The duke joined him there and chatted with him a bit, checking on his mental and physical condition. He had to spend some time reassuring his worrywart father that he was okay. After that, they talked about politics and management.


    Allen Wade was all smiles as his son had no trouble following up with his remarks.


    One time though, the Duke was surprised when the young man just suddenly asked, "Father, when are you nning to create another child with mom?"


    The white-haired young man even grinned as he added, "It''s been so many years. But even though I''m now twenty, the two of you are still fairly young."


    Even though the way Jiang Li asked it was full of teasing, the duke felt ufortable. It was hard not to smack the mischievous young man''s head. Of course, when he did, he made sure the cover of the book he used was not a hardbound one. "When did you learn to talk so irresponsibly, you rascal? Don''t speak nonsense, Luke."


    "I definitely didn''t, father. You and mother are still young. What''s the matter with giving birth to another son? You need an inheritor if ever I n to enter the church for real."''


    The father shook his head and refused to say anything.


    Jiang Li saw it and shook his head too. He lowered his eyes to the history book in his hand. It was something brought back from one of the monasteries. The awkwardness which reigned for a full minute was getting on his nerves so he finally let go of the book and shrugged.


    "Alright, father. I''m just kidding. Don''t take it to heart."


    "I''m d you still know."


    All of a sudden, Jiang Li smiled at the man before looking down again.


    "I know that Mother is already pregnant."


    Allen, who was sitting across him at the long table ced east of the room, widened his eyes at him. And then his expression slowly changed. The way he looked away made Jiang Liughed.


    Why was this duke feeling guilty over a matter like that?


    "Don''t make a face like that, father. A child is a blessing. To be honest, I couldn''t be happier. The territory needs a true heir, not one who would die soon or go somewhere else even if he survives."


    "... Is there really no other way."


    The young man knew he was referring to his curse, which was not truly a big issue if he would be asked. However he still bluntly replied, "No." Shaking his head, he added, "What should happen will happen. I''m just following the Goddess'' will. If I die, I will just be returning to her embrace. Which is not that bad."


    One or another, he was telling this time too. If he died, while carrying the mission in the next world, he could still return to that girl''s side. It was just that he would have to do another search again.


    The Duke sighed. The conversation then concluded. Jiang Li bid his farewell and allowed another servant to push him toward the lift specially built for him.


    When he reached the balcony on the third floor, the beautiful rays were starting to break through the dark night clouds. The corner of his lips went up, creating an arc that mesmerized the girl from the other realm peeking at him.


    He finished his breakfast in a light mood. After that, he let the servants put on a moreplicated getup on him. The rings and other essories made his body heavier. But thankfully he was in a wheelchair so he would not feel that burdenedter.


    Time passed. Before the sun reached 45 degrees on the east, the church''s people arrived at the mansion and escorted him towards the city center.


    His father''s delegation set out too, following after their small convoy. However, when he got out of the carriage, a high-ranking priest hurriedly intercepted him. He had to be separated from House Wade''s people since they were to only be part of the huge gathering below the stage. On the other hand, he was to be brought to a raised tform at the center of the amphitheater.


    Along the way, he noticed that the route they used was heavily guarded by holy knights and royal knights. It must be because there were too many people present already. The authorities and nners must have worried that he would not reach the venue even in an hour.


    What they didn''t know was that if Jiang Li was determined, he could cross the 100-meter distance by jumping from his wheelchair.


    "I''m d you make it here safely," the Pope greeted him the moment he arrived at therge hall at the back of the stage.


    The old man was wearing a gentle smile on his aged and wrinkled face. The clothes and decorations on the Pope''s body was especially grand today. Maybe the church''s highest leader purposely wore that many white gems on his person since he was nning to blind everybodyter.


    Jiang Liughingly nodded and greeted back. "May the Goddess always be with you, Your Holiness. Where are His Highness and the twodies?"


    "Prince Rome is downstairs, entertaining the nobles. The Saintess is praying in the nearby chappel while the Lady Royal is with her family. The doctors are on standby not only for you, but for her too."


    "Can the appointed Royal Concubine even stand?"


    The old manughed merrily. "Please don''t worry about it. Duke Bolden will personally escort and support Miss Bolden up."


    "I see."


    "... Poor duke. And poor female lead.''


    ...

 Chapter 235: Su Luxi (34)

    Chapter 235: Su Luxi (34)


    "... Poor duke. And poor female lead.'' He couldn''t help but pity the girl in his mind.


    In the end, that girl had to ept the crown princess'' nomination. They must still be wishing for divine intervention so fervently just so the ceremony would not take ce.


    Jiang Li raised his chin slightly as he looked into the distance. From his spot, he could see the pce and the spires piercing through the white clouds on the northern part. When he turned his head a bit to the left, he saw a chapel-like building where the Saintess should be staying. The whole amphitheater was very lively. He could see priests roaming around and holding prayer sessions.


    The young man''s expression froze when he saw some holy knights busily hanging long strings of small gs on poles.


    "Ast-minute preparation? Did the crown prince forgot to handle the festival matters?"


    Hearing his question, the Pope''s smile became stiff too and discontent flickered in his eyes.


    The old man felt guilty because he didn''t interfere much after hearing the crown prince was the one assigned to it. The preparation was his test. But the price of the result was that the important event was handled haphazardly.


    What made him ce his hope so much in that unreliable guy?


    He must have lost a bit of his brain. Or became too busy with ensuring there would be no mishaps on the Saintess'' part.


    Hmmph! In the future, he would make sure the Church would only send the minimum support and courtesy to that prince. See if he would still dare neglect them.


    He would also make sure to educate the Saintess on how to suppress Rome in the pce in a subtle manner. That way, the Church''s influence would also grow and take deeper root in politics.


    The Pope was truly devoted to spreading the influence of religion. But if he knew the deity worshipped by his church was a powerless one put in a house arrest by the god of the heretical monks, just how would he react? Well, devotion was a good thing.


    Speaking of the monks, Jiang Li spotted many of them in the crowd. He felt funny in his heart since there were quite many of them, all at one part of the amphitheater.


    All of the bald men were disguised as House Lc''s guards. They must be from their own holynd or the other cities he had not visited. On how they entered the capital, was there a need to mention it? If not for being familiar with the auras those guys possessed, he would have missed them in therge crowd.


    Around thirty minutes passed since then. One by one, the stars of the event appeared and greeted him. They of course, also greeted the Pope and the other high nobles.


    "The time hase, Your Excellency."


    "Yeah."


    Jiang Li signaled his valet to push him in the middle of the stage.


    Silence immediately reigned when arge pir of light suddenly descended from above. And no, it was not from the Goddess. There was a mechanism somewhere nearby manipting the light from the sun through several tall mirrors. The whole scene reminded Jiang Li of a movie from the previous world featuring people from a desert civilization who were adept in controlling mirror angles to give lumination to their underground bases.


    In any case, the mechanism sessfully made everyone''s eyes focus on the people upstage. The leads and the viiness were one of the scene-stealers, of course. So was the Pope.


    Down below, amidst the silent crowd filled with excited people, the solemn expressions of the private soldiers from House Lc were so out of ce. Unfortunately, nobody else noticed them apart from the prophet who was up on the stage. The rest of those around them was simply too focused on the male lead and the Saintess. There was also the veiled ''female lead'' escorted by her father, Duke Bolden.


    Jiang Li smiled as he took in the hostile nces. ''Their gazes are quite fierce.''


    He knew those bald guys hated him since they were aware of everything he did outside the capital apart from the charity missions.


    For now, though, he had to ignore them.


    After all, the Pope was already giving him signals.


    "Ladies and Gentleman, I thank you all for being willing witnesses for today''s events." He said as his opening remark. It was his valet who cast magic which would allow his voice to reach even those located farthest. Everyone''s eyes then went to the white-haired guy who was the only one seated up there.


    A child below tugged on her mother''s hand and excitedly pointed up. "Mom, mom! It''s the prophet! The prophet is speaking!"


    The peasant mother praised her daughter. "My Charline is so bright for knowing him correctly." Afterward, she hardened her face and said, "Now, now, let''s listen attentively, alright? It''s a very rare opportunity to hear from our prophet."


    The little girl''s eyes were very bright as she nodded and turned again to the stage. Those close by smiled at the mother and daughter pair.


    As all types of hustle and bustle took ce among the audience, Jiang Li''s voice rang again.


    "We are currently gathered here for several important reasons and one of those was to witness the crown prince''s union with his crown princess, the Saintess Su Luxi, and the Lady Royal, Rumina Bolden."


    Some introduction about the involved people followed. Music apaniment also started to fill the ce.


    After that, he obediently presided over the wedding. The vows were exchanged, but what he did next was to announce the end of the wedding ceremony, ignoring the male lead''s hate-filled eyes when he didn''t say that he could kiss his brides. Nobody dared to mention the ''blunder'' to him as his position was high enough not to be questioned for something like that.


    The female lead, whose face and all part of the skin hidden, was relieved.


    Su Luxi was still learning the customs of the world and this was the first time she witnessed and experienced attending a wedding. Due to this, she just assumed theck of that step was the norm here. She was disappointed though. Yet she was also happy since the man she loved would not have to kiss another after her in front of the masses.


    As for Rome''s anger which persisted even after the exchange of vows and rings, Jiang Li scoffed. ''I rushed the wedding for your sake, you fool. So you''ll at least be able to secure marriage in your lifetime.''


    Now that the leads and viiness were officially married, the next agenda would be the coronation. The emperor stood up from his seat at the back, and followed by his favorite eunuch, he strode forward. The old fat dude would only have to wait for the prophet to say some words again and then once the Pope came to him, he would surrender the crown and watch until it was put on top of Rome''s head.


    It was when the Emperor was only several meters away from the front center that a change suddenly happened in the holy atmosphere enveloping the amphitheater.


    All the knights hardened their faces as the smell of danger permeated the air.


    When a loud explosion resounded right below the raised tform, everyone lowered their heads and screamed. Fright-filled voices filled the ce.


    "Aaahhhh!"

 Chapter 236: Su Luxi (35)

    Chapter 236: Su Luxi (35)


    "Your Majesty!"


    "Your Excellency!"


    The holy knights and royal knights hurried toward the raised tform the moment a huge ck object suddenly shed above, heading towards the people up there. They didn''t know why, but they felt like something terrible would happen once it exploded or struck the ground.


    "Damn rebels! It''s a cannon! Hurry! Hide!!!"


    "Magicians! Where are the magicians! Intercept it!"


    It was hard to say whether it was fortunate that the stage was the only ce targeted.


    Chaos still ensued. With things happening so fast, nobody truly managed to react as fast. Before they knew it, it was already toote. Huge ck objects were already flying around. Each bringing panic to the hearts of those who saw them.


    The Emperor closed his eyes and even raised his fat arms to shield his face and heart as the thing was just so close to him. Heart consumed by fear, he screamed so loud, like a dying pig. "Knights! Guards! Priests! DO something! It''s an order! Do something!!!"


    "Don''t panic." All of a sudden, a masculine voice echoed in the ears of everyone present.


    Don''t panic?


    If those who heard it just have time to swear, they would have done so already. How could they not panic when there was an enemy attack happening and their lives were on the line? Why the hell did the wedding and coronation turn into a battlefield?


    "It''s okay to open your eyes now, everyone." Again, that voice rang.


    Among the sea of people, there would always be gullible and easily convinced few. These people did as told. Then they just eximed in surprise and wonder when they saw what was in front of them.


    The cannonballs and fodders fired toward the stage were now encased in ice. No, there was a tall and thick wall of ice suddenly erected there and the ck round object was simply embedded on it. That was how the weapons were stopped.


    Since the wall was transparent, those from below could see theck of panic from the faces of the Pope and the prophet. The emperor, the leads, Duke Bolden, and the viiness, were panting for breath though and wearing a lost expression.


    "Your Holiness, Your Majesty. I leave the civilians to you. And the spies mixed in the crowd to you, please give the orders to subjugate them." The prophet said, knocking everyone around out of their stupor.


    The Emperor, Rome and Su Luxi turned to him and then realized he was the once who cast the ice spell.


    Faced with such an attack, he actually managed to calmly set up a barrier? He was very fast too. And nobody around him even saw him chant anything.


    ''Ahhh! We forgot, like the Pope, the prophet is already a grandmaster level magician.'' To that fact, the majority had a lost expression.


    In the continent, there were a few hundred magicians, but less than ten were at the grandmaster level. The people at that level were either geniuses who had lived for so long or geniuses among geniuses.


    "Thank You, Your Excellency, for stopping those attacks."


    With that said, the Pope had sessfully confirmed to those present the prophet''s contribution and reminded that they had been attacked. The few guards on stage helped up the priests behind the Pope whose knees had copsed under fear. The cowering maidens in white grabbed the Saintess'' arms even though they themselves were scared.


    "My daughter..." The Duke from House Bolden worriedly supported his daughter and steadied her gait by grabbing onto her thin shoulders.


    Rumina''s veiled got swept away, revealing a face devoid of the disgusting marks. She too was still having a dumbfounded look. However, because she was aware of what was going on, her expression immediately returned to normal. Her eyes shone in expectation.


    Jiang Li looked at the female lead for some time and then chuckled. Before the veil that was lifted up by the wind blown by the first explosion went down to hide her face again, he saw the kind of expression she wore.


    To the Pope''s remark earlier, he humbly said, "There''s no need to thank me, Your Holiness. I only did what I should. Praise be to the Goddess for Her mercy."


    "Yes, Praise is to the Goddess for it''s she who willed us to be saved." The Pope nodded. The old man''s face was grim though. The sight below was not good. It was also very chaotic, and a bit loud. It seemed there were few casualties since the other Houses brought their own soldiers.


    "Your Holiness."


    With wrinkled forehead, Jiang Li called out to the old man and then said, "The holy knights and my House are prepared so we can temporarily be at ease. However, we can''t be sure that the foes can be easily repelled. Shall we take this opportunity to finish the ceremony? After all, the people only rebelled to stop the coronation."


    His words were quite misleading since there were many more reasons behind the attack. But nobody was in the mood nor right state of mind to retort against him.


    Hearing what he said, the crown prince seemingly regained his senses, or more urately put, a feeling of panic arose from within him. He was the one to be crowned. It meant that the current situation was staged to stop him from being an Emperor. He couldn''t allow that!


    "Let''s proceed with the ceremony!" In a panicky and loud voice, he yelled.


    A grin appeared on Jiang Li''s face.


    ''What an idiot who could easily be led around.''


    The Emperor and the Pope frowned, as continuing the ceremony in a situation like this was very stupid. There was nobody to witness it as everyone else was busy looking for shelter or spectating the fight between the knights, soldiers, and magicians; and rebels. It was also uneptable that a coronation was happening while the people of the empire were being ughtered right before them.


    The prophet''s raising of this suggestion was one thing. However, the real disappointing one was the crown prince who agreed without thinking about twice.


    "What the hell are you thinking?! We should leave this ce as soon as possible and also have our citizens be evacuated!" The Emperor roared in anger.


    Rome could have easily realized his fault and then rectified it had he been in the right state of mind. However, he couldn''t stop thinking about why the rebels suddenly attacked. To stop him from being Emperor.


    ''If there are people dissatisfied with me being an Emperor, I would disgust them by sessfully being crowned one!'' Rome thought while gritting his teeth.


    "I''m doing it for the good of the people! The rebels would have no choice but stop once they see me being crowned!" The male lead shouted as a response to the Emperor. His tone was full of righteousness.


    Everyone else just went, ''Huh?'' The logic was too beautiful for their minds toprehend.


    Jiang Li lowered his head for a short while to hide the look on his face. A couple of secondster, he lifted his head up and said, "Very well. Let''s begin then."

 Chapter 237: Su Luxi (36)

    Chapter 237: Su Luxi (36)


    A joke of a coronation ensued, taking ce before a crowd separated to the scene by a transparent ice wall. When it ended, only the crown prince, no, new Emperor had a smile put on. The proud arc formed by Rome''s lips irritated the Pope and the former Emperor.


    Jiang Li briefly looked down. The fight was still ongoing. Not many civilians were killed since he made sure his family knights prioritized evacuating them. Still, the number of people present below had been halved, and more were leaving the premise. Faced with such, it was unknown how the male lead could still look proud.


    "Congrattions, Your Majesty," In any case, he greeted him without even a slight smile.


    That time, Rome was in a good mood so the white-haired man sitting in a wheelchair before him appeared more pleasant to the eyes. "Thank you, Mr. Prophet," he replied.


    He didn''t know behind him, his father had been dying to crack his skull open to see if a brain was inside it.


    "Let''s proceed with the crowning of the Empress and the Royal Concubine." Jiang Li said, turning to the nervous Saintess.


    Unlike the Emperor, the girl who came from another world still had somemon sense hence despite the trembling of her lips, she voiced out. "Y-Your Excellency, I think what the His Majesty the former Emperor said is correct. We can postpone the next part of the ceremony and evacuate first since the real important part has already beenplete--- "


    "It''s the Goddess'' will." Jiang Li fiercely said, interrupting her. The others were surprised as it was not a daily urrence that the prophet spoke like that.


    In this world, there was no other man more qualified to utter this phrase. The Saintess was taken aback but even she was in no position to question him as he was the currently more trusted and real messenger between them.


    Without warning, the prophet threw something on the ground. It was a scroll which slowly turned into speckles of light and spread outward to form a huge yellow magic circle.


    Jiang Li''s countenance was very serious. No emotion could be seen from his face, not even remorse as if the item he threw was not something he bought for another hundred system points.


    When theplicatedyout of the magic circlepletely got revealed on the floor, his hazel brown eyes slowly went to the Saintess. There was an expression of confusion on everyone''s face since this was never part of an Empress'' crowning ceremony.


    Su Luxi couldn''t remove her gaze from the beautiful and intricate circr patterns. ''Why do I feel like I have seen it somewhere already...? Where is it?''


    "Before I formally dere you the Empress, may you please cooperate with me first and stand at the center of that?"


    "This..." Su Luxi visibly hesitated.


    Rumina also looked at the magic circle on the ground. She frowned. ''What is going on? Putting the rebellion aside, this also did not happen in the previous life.''


    The newly crowned Emperor and the former Emperor looked at them without saying anything.


    It was the Pope standing near the prophet who spoke, "Is this truly necessary?"


    Jiang Li seriously reasoned, "Your Holiness, yes. It''s the first time in history that a woman from the Church, the Saintess even, is to be instated as an Empress. The Goddess spoke to mest night and instructed me to do this."


    A huge fire spell from who knows where suddenly sted outside, specifically, against the wall of ice. Everyone''s heart turned cold. When Jiang Li saw they were more inclined to escape from the scene, he immediately shouted, "We should hurry! Once they focused more firepower here, my barrier will only buy us at most three minutes! We have toplete this fast as to not disappoint the goddess!"


    Because the prophet shouted, something he very rarely did, the minds of the people nearby became more confused. Their brains were telling them that something was not adding up.


    However, as more and more attacksnded against the transparent wall, their reasoning also faltered.


    In the end, one of the maids started urging Su Luxi to do as Jiang Li told. "Your Highness, please!"


    Once one leads, mostly everyone follows. In no time, there were many eyes and mouths telling the girl to enter the magic circle. The female lead couldn''t truly be bothered so she only watched, but the rest were literally forcing Su Luxi to make a decision. Under their collective voices, could the Saintess have a choice?


    "Don''t worry. I swear in my reputation as the heir of House Wade and the prophet of the Esteemed Goddess that I harbored no malicious intention towards the Saintess."


    Once these were said, even though the viiness felt like there was something really wrong, Rome signaled her using his eyes so she had no choice but to take a few steps forward.


    Gritting her teeth, the sixteen-year-old girl prayed, ''I hope my instinct is betraying me this time! Please!''


    ...


    Outside the scope of the ice wall, the heir of House Lc, a man with fiery red hair and ck eyes,manded to his family''s magicians, "Make that wall tumble!!! st it with more magic!!!"


    In the midst of the confusing mixed of people several robed individuals turned to him and saluted. They then silently went forward, joining the other soldiers from the same camp attacking.


    The red-haired man was left there to give moremands to the other personnel. The person was Marcus Bien Lc.


    To the outside world and people from the aristocratic circle, he was merely a person with great talents and wisdom. Who would have thought right at this moment, when the crown prince who he used to hang out with regrly was crowned, he would lead an uprising? Just where did he get the guts?


    Well, in the younger generation, he was not truly inferior to Luke Wade. At least, publicly, they were both. While some were pitying him for being eclipsed by the prophet''s reputation, in reality, the man was a secret big shot.


    House Lc rose to rebellion. They dared to do so not solely of their ambition to reced the royal family, but because Marcus, their heir, was the Creator''s prophet!


    This exined why there were many monks guarding him and doing his bidding and why he helped them stepped foot into the capital by giving them the identity of House Lc''s personal soldiers.


    "Be sted to oblivion!!!"


    "Fall down! Fall down! Fall down!"


    Some of the monks who had temporarily freed themselves from enemies started delivering fist blows on the icy surface. Unfortunately, the wall was too tough and only the masters managed to leave a few dents on it. This made the forces of the rebels and the Creators to leave the job to their magic users.


    "Milord, the pce has fallen to our hands, shouldn''t we head there now?"


    "No. I''ll remain here. Just send more people to guard those ces. And ensure there won''t be any more mishaps in the n."


    "Milord?" Confused, or maybe, in a state of disbelief about what he heard, the mustached man blurted out.


    The leader of the uprising refused to see the pce that had just been captured? What if there were some important stuff to recover there that only people of his personality and caliber could determine? No, even without that, wasn''t it the norm for a rebel leader to dere victory of the revolt by upying the throne?


    "Even if the crown prince and the Emperor are alive, if the main church of the Goddess, the pce, and the several Houses are in our hands, they wouldn''t be able to make aeback. I think we should just leave one of our magician units here," suggested a viscount retainer who had been enticed to side with House Lc in this rebellion.


    ''What do you know?'' The icy expression of the Creator''s prophet barely hid the frustration he was feeling right now.


    ...


    Marcus started being a prophet seven years ago, a few months after Luke Wade was dered as the prophet of the Goddess of Light. Unlike the other ducal heir''s patron, his was the vicious one. The so-called Creator was a deity who loved giving him orders and every time he failed, there would always be punishments delivered in the form of extreme torture and body pain. Since the first time he tasted it, he became afraid of receiving the same treatment hence he always made sure to do a great job when doing the Creator''s bidding.


    People only see his excellence and not the blood and sweat poured out to reach where he was.


    ''Kill Luke Wade! Throw the whole capital in disarray! Cripple their government and economic system!'' Originally, these were the orders given to him a year ago and he had been very faithful in carrying everything out, triple-checking the n and their progress every day.


    If this rebellion became a sess, all the objectives would be cleared which meant he would be able to breathe with ease again.


    However, just now, he heard the Creator''s baritone voice again, adding a task to his already full te.


    ''At all cost, stop the Goddess'' prophet from chanting his spell! Don''t let it be sessfullypleted!''

 Chapter 238: Su Luxi (37)

    Chapter 238: Su Luxi (37)


    ''At all cost, stop the Goddess'' prophet from chanting his spell! Don''t let it be sessfullypleted!''


    The urgency in the divine being''s voice made him panic. And this grew worse when he saw through the see-through walls that a magic circle was already shining on the floor of the tform above. That must be the spell! This was what he must stop at all costs!


    Ignoring the viscount, the red-haired young man roared, "Go behind and try to break through there! Once you''re there, make sure to destroy the whole floor! Do you all hear me!"


    "Sir, there was a barrier on the other sides of the stage. It''s also useless to try to toss people from the sky above that ce. We presumed it is the Pope''s work this time."


    "Just try and do it! Dammit!" He roared in frustration. The scared knights and magicians left in a hurry, probably thinking it would be better to deal with the enemies than Marcus who was apparently very irate and dangerous-looking.


    After that outburst, he stared ahead, pupils contracting at the burst of lighting from the center stage. That made him silent for some time. No. Not only that. Actually, he was silent because, in his mind, he finally gathered the resolve and tried tomunicate with the Creator.


    ''Please lend me your help, Oh Great Creator. My strength this time is unable to topple the enemy. This humble servant of Yours is begging You to be my strength instead.''


    Marcus closed his eyes. From within his mind, a baritone voice scolded him for being useless. After that, the pain just assaulted his brain and nerves. A momentter, when he reopened his eyes again, the color of those obsidian orbs changed into a beautiful silver. His aura changed into a more solemn and divine one.


    At that time, the prophet of the Creator was no longer himself, but the Creator! Given the consent of the mortal, he descended and temporarily inhabited Marcus'' body, even though doing so might cripple the Lc''s heir for life.


    However, Marcus had already made a decision. Because he was an aristocrat educated since young to prioritize family interests above all others, he managed to harden his resolve, sacrificing himself for the sake of this revolt and his family.


    If considered from another angle, the red-haired young man was a bit admirable and could have aplished greater things had he been born not a prophet. Unfortunately, no amount of what-ifs and buts could change one''s fate.


    Another momentter, the ones nearby just saw a red figure bolting towards the Emperor''s location, jumping up and raising his fist to struck the seemingly indestructible wall of ice.


    At the loud tremor which ensued, Jiang Li, who was on the other side of the wall, turned his face at the direction of the sound.


    ''Marcus Lc?''


    His pupils first dted before he narrowed them. Yet despite the crumbling of his barrier, he dared look away and to the Saintess who finally reached the center of the magical circle. It seemed the red-haired nobleman''s actions had frightened her and speed up her steps. Jiang Li smiled.


    The girl, after looking at the possessed Marcus Lc, shivered and threw a helpless gaze at the male lead. When the other man did not dare meet her gaze, she then looked at the prophet.


    "You made the correct decision, Su Luxi." Jiang Li said as he slowly parted with the wheelchair.


    It was time to drop the act. If his guess was correct, seeing the unusual eye color of the ducal heir who he had been acquainted with a bit, he reckoned he could no longer pretend to be a cripple with no ability to stand up. Otherwise, how would he fight the Creator whom he had suspected to have forcibly made Marcus Lc his temporary vessel?


    Under the surprised and gaping spectators, Jiang Li raised his hand and activated the scroll gotten from the system, "Saintess Su Luxi. Thank you for all your contributions so far, if you had any.... Now, you can return to where you came from."


    "What?"


    The Saintess involuntarily eximed. She was not as surprised as the others when the prophet rumored to be seriously ill and withme legs suddenly stood up. Her shock was that the ground where she stood suddenly lit up as bright as the sun and almost blinded her.


    "Ahhh! My eyes!" The girl whose eyes got assaulted by the blinding glow closed them as she buried her face in her hands.


    "What''s the meaning of this?!" The Pope tried to rush towards the girl.


    Outside, the raging Creator exerted more godly power and struck the same point on the wall in quick sessions. Even though the body he was using was already close to breaking down, he acted as if he didn''t notice it. He poured out more divine power from his body until the annoying wall of ice finally tumbled down, apanied by a continuous loud crashing sound.


    "Stoppp!!!!" The Creator roared with all his might. Blood trickled down from the corner of his eyes and mouth. Actually, even his nose was already bleeding. It was a bad sign since it meant that the organs and, or, even the brain of the body he was using had broken down under the pressure of the divine power.


    The mortal body was just ipatible with a god''s might. Marcus'' body managed to persist until now because his constitution was stronger than many. Apart from this, he had temporarily be a vessel. Thetter referred a body lent to or created by a god so he could manifest or show off his might in the real world.


    Yet for Marcus, the keyword was temporary. The Creator had no qualms using the mortal''s shell since it had long been decided that it was a disposable body.


    Given this reasoning, the red-haired man sped up, propelled by divine power again. More blood flowed out of the eyes and nose of the Creator''s vessel since he just used a portion of his power to pound his fist on the part of the floor where the magic circle was.


    "Damn, begone!!!" His goal was obviously to destroy the magic circle as to interrupt the ongoing magic transfer.


    The stage was only built using a normal mix of cement and some sturdy stones. Not to mention a god''s punch, it would even cave in and crumble from a master warrior''s punch. Another loud crashing sound echoed in the ce.


    However, what broke and got destroyed was not what the Creator expected. Something got away and took the ce of the floor. The silver eyes of the vessel shed with hatred looking at the grandmaster magician who produced that wall of ice again.


    ''This annoying pest of a trespasser! If only this vessel is stronger, I could have exhibited a bit more of my strength and kill him!''


    "Come to me, bastard!" Without any more n to uphold his prim and proper image, Jiang Li kept sending waves of attacks at the other.


    However, the Creator was more focused on stopping the interdimensional transfer. The divine being believed too much on the prophecy book in his person hence he prioritized the Saintess. He temporarily swallowed the anger and desire to kill the intruder to his world.


    ''The summoned girl first!''


    Unfortunately, when he arrived next to the Saintess, it was already toote. Her body was already incorporeal. Her crying voice calling out Rome''s name kept getting weaker too, as if her distance with them kept getting further and further away.


    The stretched out hands of the Creator only managed to touch the light particles that her hair had be.


    She formally vanished from there. But she was still alive. Only, the scroll from the system forced the Saintess back to her real world!


    This was how Jiang Li chose to save the viiness!


    Without her in this world, even if she harbored great resentments and go crazy, would she be able to bring harm to anyone here?


    No, right?


    Not to mention, Su Luxi was still young and had only been here for two months so even if she became depressed, she still had many years ahead of her. She could recover from it and then lead an ordinary life. She would then treat the experience she had in this fantasy world as dreams or delusions.


    The mechanical voice of the system echoed in his mind. It was a formal announcement that he had just used his second chance to change the plot. So that big of a change only counted as one? The discovery almost made him smile, if not for the system warning him that one more and he would be punished. The host ignored it as he ran towards Marcus who tried to vent his anger to those nearby.


    The prophet''s eyes darkened when the other''s attack almostnded on Rumina, intending to pulverize her body.


    The silver eyes of the red-haired man shone with a tinge of red.


    Jiang Li coldly said to the leads and the others. "Leave. Evacuate now. Help those below or if you can''t, then lead them away. Just don''t stay here!"


    "Your Excellency?!"


    It was Lando who tried to intercept the quick punch thrown at Jiang Li, but knowing that strike was definitely strong enough to decimate a whole town into a wastnd, it was the master who flickered to his servant''s side and kicked him away.


    The Pope had lifted a part of his barrier and coincidentally that was where the knight got thrown out.

 Chapter 239: Su Luxi (38)

    Chapter 239: Su Luxi (38)


    ''Just because I couldn''t stand up for years, people already forgot I used to rule the dangerous mountains in the borders.'' He clicked his tongue after the kick. What displeased him a bit was that he always got treated like some useless young master in need of a bodyguard to act as his meat shield.


    "How dare you!" The bloody-faced Creator angrily snarled at him.


    Jiang Li distanced himself a bit from the other, seizing a spot where his back faced the retreating group. If the old bastard tried to sneak attack them again, he could easily intercept. He doubted if the other would do that though. Currently, the Creator was dying to kill the Goddess'' prophet. He would certainly shower him with deadly strikes.


    He started taunting the other. "He he. You are not in your optimal state because the barrier is keeping you from using power greater than what this world could withstand. Isn''t it amazing? Your Creation is being faithful to its feature. Let me guess. You would have been not trapped and would be freer to use divine power if you have just not recently awakened and not inside a fake avatar."


    "Why can''t you just die peacefully without causing any trouble? What do you think are you doing?" The man spoke full of resentment. He was trembling from both anger and annoyance. One of the organs in the midsection just got turned into a mess of flesh and blood inside so he was really feeling ufortable.


    A reply came from Jiang Li just when he was vomiting red like a faucet. "What am I doing? Acting like a viin, the pig eats tiger type who then bes the talking to death type."


    "You must die!!!" Behind the man, the other monks and rebels finally caught up. They all raised their weapons and charged at him Other soldiers from the imperial side climbed up to cross swords with them.


    "Prophet!!!" One of the monks not engaged in battle went to Marcus'' side, extremely shocked at how he looked right now. The bald man did not recognize the Creator since the red-haired guy''s eyes were tightly shut, his hand covering his mouth which kept producing blood like a faucet.


    Looking at the one before him, pity was showing in Jiang Li''s eyes since a talented man would die just like that. Marcus Lc had visited him before, and he found the person worthy of admiration. Yet in the previous life, that guy died from the crown prince''s retaliation. He got executed because evidence of House Lc''s rebellion was found out before the coronation. In this life, Marcus would be dying from being made a vessel of the unreasonable god.


    "I''m sorry, but you have to fail," Jiang Li murmured.


    To be honest, his own magic power had been drained by the counter summon and the maintaining of the wall of ice earlier.


    This was why when he joined the battle, he relied on the martial arts and ck arts learned from the witch of Jiang Ying Yue''s world. These were skills he didn''t neglect even when he was busy learning sword skills and magic spells. The martial art was the reason why even though he was supposed to be having difficulties adapting to his legs when he cured it a month ago, the sense of difort was actually kept to the minimum.


    ''I umted all the mental energy so I can cast it here.''


    It was fortunate that the Creator had not left Marcus and that he was at best only on par with Jiang Li or any other generals in this world due to the physical body''s limitation.


    Jiang Li had a few bouts with the other. The Creator was creating weapons of all types on the spot and attacking through them. He was purely relying on qinggong and martial arts, a weird set of moves that both intrigued and annoyed the opponent. One time when the Creator was caught off guard, he chanted something.


    <Whether a ghost or god, since you want that body, forever be trapped there!>


    He just cast a spell usually used by witches from Zhou Dynasty to attach a soul to a dead body.


    Didn''t the Creator want a mortal''s shell so he could kill him and wreak havoc here? As a good guy, how could he not help him realize his wish, especially when he had the means to do so?


    The Creator, whose part of a soul suddenly got locked inside the dying vessel, stiffened and then hurriedly retreated. Jiang Li did not pursue him.


    Instead, he breathed deeply and went after the Pope''s group.


    ...


    Before leaving the amphitheater, the Pope heard a very beautiful and ethereal voice echoing softly in his mind.


    ''Bring Rumina Bolden at the altar in the main hall of the church... I will be descending... She is to be my vessel.''


    That time, he stiffened for a couple of moments, in a state of disbelief. The voice came from nowhere and was definitely not one from those around him. Add to this the fact that it would be hard to hear a uniquely clear and distinct voice like that in the middle of a chaotic ce like this.


    So was it the Goddess? He asked in his mind.


    A momentter, the Pope pped his face and called himself an idiot. What a stupid question? Of course, who else could speak directly to one''s brain, especially a person of his caliber, apart from the Goddess?


    ''S-She spoke to me?!'' The old man found it hard to control his excitement. Then remembering the oracle he received, he vowed to aplish it perfectly.


    "Leave this ce now!" When the prophet shouted those words to the others, the Pope seemed to have noticed the anxious white-haired man looking at him so he had an epiphany that the prophet also got the same message.


    ''On ount that this is the will of the goddess and that there are more important things to do, I will forgive you for sending the Saintess back to her world.''


    Thinking it was indeed very urgent, he led the group outside. In his heart, he was swelling in pride and was being thankful that the Holy Church was only about two hundred meters away from the amphitheater.


    Along the way, knights, magicians, and soldiers joined them. Feeling that he was on a very important mission, the Pope generously demonstrated his power, ensuring that his forces wouldn''t tire nor get injured. It was like the people around him became people who wouldn''t die even if they want to, like zombies.


    Initially, the imperial people nned to go back to the pce. However, a few of their people intercepted them and told them the situation. They all looked so bloodied and covered in wounds and injuries, so they had no choice but ept the fact that the pce had fallen to foreign hands.


    It was a great humiliation. The male lead balled his fists and trembled so badly. As an emperor, even though he had just been crowned, his house had been robbed away from him.


    "We will impose on your kindness, Your Holiness," helplessly, the fat former Emperor told the old man in a pristine white robe.


    The Pope readily nodded and then continued leading the way.


    "Your Holiness!" The priests and knights that were told to guard the grand cathedral anxiously greeted them the moment they stepped foot into the ce. The people there, of course, also bowed and saluted to the Emperor and the others.


    "Activate the holy barrier! Don''t let any rebel or people with malicious intention get inside! It''s an order!" He hurriedly shouted.


    After a bow, most of the white-robed men left to do what had been tasked to them. Another knight asked, "What are we going to do with the ones who followed our group here? Most of them are civilians or low-ranked nobles. Should we let them in?"


    ''Headache.'' The old man resisted the urge to massage his forehead before many people. There were many eyes around and he couldn''t destroy the wise image he had in their minds. This was why he settled on rubbing his fingers as he pondered.


    Since the prestigious Houses are either hiding away or engaging in the fight at the za, he shook his head and said, "The pce has fallen, people are anxious to find a ce to shelter them. They are the Goddess'' people so we can''t drive them out... However, we are about to do an important ceremony and we can''t afford to have a distraction...."

 Chapter 240: Su Luxi (39)

    Chapter 240: Su Luxi (39)


    The Pope dered passionately, "... They are the Goddess'' people so we can''t drive them out. However, we are about to do an important ceremony and we can''t afford to have a distraction. Send them to the back garden and the mini-forest for now. Have a few of our brothers in faith guard them and keep order."


    "We understand, Your Holiness. We''ll do as you said."


    After nodding, the Pope led everyone deep into the church. After a minute of walking, they reached the ce where the Saintess appeared. The mood of those around turned low, especially the newly crowned Emperor.


    Duke Bolden who had been quiet for some time noticed the atmosphere. But since there was something bothering his mind, he chose to break the silence, respectfully asking the Pope. "Your Holiness, when you said there is an important ceremony to do... what do you mean by that?"


    The one asked kept his eyes at the altar which could be seen lying ten or so meters away from them. He exined as they walked. "We all saw the heir of Lc. I''m pretty sure his state is very unusual. And his whole House is with the heretical monks. I think there is more to it. Like Marcus Lc no longer being himself, but a vessel."


    "Vessel..." Rome murmured. As a learned individual, how could he not know what the term means? But this was precisely why he became angry.


    As fury boiled within him, he turned to the Pope and asked in a fierce manner, "Your Holiness, the Pope. Why did Luke Wade do that to the Saintess? Now that an unknown god is wreaking havoc in my empire, who will be the one to go against him? Can he take responsibility?"


    Rumina Bolden and her father looked on with interest. However, they kept their silence, merely waiting for what the church''s leader would reply. The former Emperor also narrowed his eyes, which then disappeared due to the fat of his face.


    "Your Majesty, please observe decorum, especially towards the person who crowned you." In a rebuking tone, the Pope said. "While it''s disappointing and depressing, we can''t do anything if it''s the Goddess'' will. And the prophet is the one who held back that vessel for our safe escape, if you forgot."


    "What will of the Goddess?" annoyed, the male lead yelled. "Su Luxi is the Saintess she summoned, why would she suddenly want to send her back to the other world? Does that make sense to you? Your Holiness, I''m sorry but to me, it doesn''t!"


    The Pope disdainfully nced at him. After this, he would make sure to lessen the Church''s dealings with the pce. Building a good rtionship with such a stupid Emperor was not something he would do in exchange for his patience and brain cells.


    Seeing his leader''s coldness and unwillingness to speak, one of the bishops who had been there and saw at least from a distance what took ce at the center of the amphitheater stepped forward and bowed.


    "Your Majesty, please calm your anger. Even we are sad about what happened. However, please reconsider the events earlier. The rebels are not the usual run-of-the-mill type. They are organized and have a clear rank ofmands. And the vessel earlier kept targetting the Saintess for an unknown reason. I firmly believe that the Goddess has a reason why the Saintess is sent back. Perhaps it is for her safety?"


    "Are you implying once the problem this time is settled, she would be summoned back?"


    Rumina sighed and looked away after hearing Rome''s words.


    The former Emperor nearly strangled his son. To think once he got crowned, his stupidity shot up like a firework reaching for the sky. Faced with all these crises, how could he still think of a woman?


    "Everyone..." From the direction of the double doors that they had just entered, a husky voice rang, prompting everyone inside the huge hall to turn their heads back.


    "Prophet." The new Emperor''s tone was still quite unfriendly.


    Jiang Li had just arrived. His face still had a sparkling sheen of sweat on it and arms exposed due to his torn sleeves. Some traces of blood, of course, were present on him.


    "Your Holiness."


    "I''m d you are safe."


    Jiang Li nodded. He then walked towards the Pope, wearing a worried expression on his face. After a slight bow, he said, "I''m deeply sorry for earlier. I know my attitude earlier had been quite bad so I can only hope for your forgiveness, but the situation is just that urgent. I havepletely confirmed that Marcus Lc has be an avatar of the evil god and he is the leader of the rebels!"


    Avatar. Vessel. The two terms were basically the same. The suspicion of the bishop was confirmed and thus, a few of the people present exchanged nces, their countenance turning as bad, if not worse, than Jiang Li''s.


    Frightened, some of the priests turned to the Pope and asked, "It is as we guessed. It''s the evil god provoking our people. What should we do now?"


    "Have you chosen the person to be the one on our side?" Jiang Li immediately followed up. The old man''s aged eyes went to the duke''s daughter. The words he heard from a while ago lingered in his ears.


    ''The prophet did not know the chosen vessel is Duke Bolden''s daughter. So the Goddess only said the name to me? So to the world, the merit of choosing the vessel will fall to me?'' thought the old man who was still feeling feverish from having personally listened to the goddess'' voice.


    The Pope didn''t know the voice was something Jiang Li only simted and passed to the other through the system''s help, another matter which robbed the poor host''s points away.


    He looked at Rumina Bolden. The to-be-crowned Royal Concubine stepped back after receiving the Pope''s stare. Jiang Li pretended he didn''t know it would be the female lead.


    The young man also appeared just as shocked when the Pope suddenly said, "Miss Bolden, forgive me for the rudeness. But the whole empire, or even, the whole continent is facing a crisis. Would you please help us out by lending your body to the goddess?"


    "W-what?" The female lead blurted out, dumbfounded.


    This was another thing that did not happen in the past. Of course, she was caught off guard. She also disliked the idea. After all, it sounded like she had to sacrifice herself.


    Why? Why should it be her again?


    "I, I..." Rumina opened her mouth, intending to say no and use the illness card as her excuse. The Goddess would not want to use a dying body, right? She thought. Unfortunately, when she was about to voice this out, she found her body not responding to her wishes.


    "I-It will be my honor..." Instead, she said, filling her heart with horror.


    ...

 Chapter 241: Su Luxi (40)

    Chapter 241: Su Luxi (40)


    She didn''t know what happened after. However, she just found herself standing at the center of an altar located a dozen meters from the Goddess'' gigantic statue.


    The Emperor and the others were at the back, at least ten meters away.


    The Pope was in front of the statue, kneeling and praying.


    As for the prophet, he was next to her, catching his breath from the previous fight while circling the floor around her. With him by her side, even though she had the urge to escape, her body kept refusing her.


    She lowered her head and bit her lower lip. When her eyes moved in front, she felt so aggrieved and wanted to ask the Pope why he chose her.


    Jiang Li was observing her and then sighed.


    ''The body is supposed to be the vessel...'' His train of thoughts started.


    ''Who knows what happened. But somehow, a stray but innocent soul from somewhere unknown took over her.''


    ''But then, because the body and identity are not supposed to be hers, she is the one who suffered instead of the Goddess.''


    ''Poor female lead... The Creator must have been displeased by the avatar''s existence so he used the male lead and the viiness in her previous life to make her life hell. I just don''t know how that Creator manipted or guided Rome and Su Luxi. Maybe the Creator made Rome his prophet ormunicated with him through some other means.''


    ''Anyway, if my guess is correct, when the female lead died, the Goddess must have pitied her so much, apart from feeling that she is her vessel and a body she would im in the future. This was why she sent her back in time and even allowed her to retained her memories.''


    ''But, in the original timeline for the second life, the Goddess must have died since she tried to descend and take over her avatar which has already adapted to Rumina''s soul. Or maybe in the process, the old bastard, who then discovered the event, lent Rumina a hand and strengthened her soul so the Goddess'' will be pushed out and die.''


    ''The happily ever after of the female lead is then allowed by the Creator since the Goddess is killed through her help. Even though she didn''t know any of these.''


    Jiang Li nced down, closing his eyes. His guesses had a basis, of course. The part where the Goddess'' soul was extinguished was due to having so little power remaining in her after the summoning.


    If in that timeline, the Creator''s monasteries took over the Empire, then the Goddess'' power must have declined more. The monks working outside and some Houses apart from the ducal family of Lc were working in the capital. The faith she was getting was not enough to make a substantial recovery before the coronation or before the event where she attempted the takeover.


    As for why the Goddess acted as if she didn''t recognize the female lead, even being annoyed that she had her face, he didn''t know. It must be the girl acting, or maybe because of an unknown reason, she forgot or purposely erased her memories about it.


    What aplicated plot.


    It was unbelievable how a simple rebirth of a masochist had such a deep secret behind it. In the initial memories he got, all that was detailed there was her experiences. There was nothing about the supreme beings, so it was this surprising when everything got uncovered.


    Now, the question would be, to summon the Goddess into Rumina''s body or not?


    It was what he had been debating internally since the moment he found out the truth. The problem which kept giving him headache was where Rumina''s soul would be put if she makes way for the Goddess.


    Not long after, somebody knocked him out of his dazed state.


    "Milords! The defense mechanism has broken down!"


    A panicky voice filled the whole hall and made the people inside turned to the doorway where a trembling priest stood. This person still seemed busy panting for breath.


    The Pope, who was doing some offerings and signaling the Goddess to start the takeover her vessel, promptly stood up. His face darkened.


    The old man looked at Rome and the former Emperor who was standing at the distance. However, their looks hinted that the decision-making was his to make.


    The Pope felt helpless. Especially because before he could even open his mouth to reply, the dreaded enemies were already at their doorsteps.


    ...


    "Prophet of the Goddess...!"


    Jiang Li looked at the red-haired man marching towards him with heavy steps.


    "Hello, Creator." He waved a hand and smiled. Not.


    There was really no way he could still act carefree when the neer had the potential to kill all of them, especially, if this dude became too angry and just decided to bear all the consequences to summon his real body.


    Putting on a face full of anxiousness, he hurriedlymanded the people around to buy him and the Pope some time. He then crouched down and chanted something in a very low voice.


    "Luke!"


    The female lead''s cry of rm echoed in the altar. When the ce, or specifically, the circle around Rumina lit up, the red-haired man arrived before him. Fury could be seen from the other man''s bloody eyes. It seemed his act of trapping the Creator had angered the god so much.


    Jiang Li was caught unprepared so he got struck by the fist and flew towards the opposite wall. Wasn''t Marcus'' body supposed to break down at this point? Howe the Creator was still as lively as ever? Heined in his heart.


    Yet outwardly, he wiped the blood from his mouth and roared with urgency to the old man, "Your Holiness! Continue the ceremony!!!"


    In the divine realm, the Goddess watched with extreme attentiveness as the old bastard went crazy and attacked the one supposed to be her vessel with a sharp spear created out of thin air. Then in one corner of her eyes, she looked at the prophet who shouted and tried to stand up despite his wounds.


    The Pope did not truly know what to do. Nheless, he came into action.


    Jiang Li grinned when holy light from the strongest light magic user in the continent poured in the circle.


    And when the Creator yelled loudly ''even if the Goddess is summoned, he would win against her'' yet went to intercept the ''summoning'' anyways, he burst intoughter.


    ''He fell for it!''


    "Aaahhhhh!" The female lead shrieked and closed her eyes. When she did, she couldn''t help but wonder if she would end like the Saintess who vanished without a trace earlier.


    A full minute passed before the girl slowly fluttered her eyshes open. A couple of secondster though, she felt like her body became too drained. So before she knew it, she was already losing consciousness and falling down on the altar.


    Rumina Bolden was not aware of what truly happened.


    All she knew was that she was nearly killed by Marcus Lc, or by whoever was using that person''s body. Yet the man suddenly froze, trapped in a cage of light and couldn''t move from there.


    The person seemed to have shouted a lot of bad things and weird profanities to Luke Wade. But her memories were already too foggy to remember.


    Thest thing she would probably recall once she woke upter was how the Emperor rushed towards her, and the prophet telling her, "Sorry..."


    Luke Wade faintly smiled back then, adding, "Sorry... for I made you the bait... But thanks to you as well, since you greatly helped in subduing the evil god."


    Rumina felt too angry in her heart and knew that she would curse the white-haired man in her sleep.


    ...

 Chapter 242: Su Luxi (41) <2-in-1>

    Chapter 242: Su Luxi (41) <2-in-1>


    Jiang Li didn''t know what ran within the female lead''s mind at that time. However, he was clear of what was on his own.


    Looking at the red-haired man continuously vomiting blood, there was no emotion showing in his face or eyes. Yet, deep inside him, he was actually d that the Creator got caught in the trap. He didn''t care if the other was swearing profanities to him or doing something a being of his standing should not be doing. What mattered was that the crazy god was now like a dog put in a cage.


    But with all of these done, he felt quite exhausted. The current body had been trained, but since it was strapped in the wheelchair for years, the stamina built up was still a lot lesser than Lu Ling''s, the general who lent his body to him in Jiang Ying Yue''s world. There was also how he had confirmed that the system was more mysterious than the so-called gods of this world.


    With only hundreds of points, it helped him deal with a local god. How strong was the system then?


    ''The fortune-teller still seems to be a lot more powerful than the Creator even though I never saw her fight. It''s just a gut feeling.''


    ''Just what kinds of worlds am I going to experience in the future?''


    His goal did not change. Although, the system kept making him cross paths with the woman he liked, which he was very thankful for, the desire to go back did not truly diminish. It was just that he was now learning to think more about living.


    But was this also manipted by the system?


    On one hand, one part of his brain asked, ''Who told you to jump into the firepit and bound yourself with a suspicious thing?'' On the other, ''You are given a goal, a chance to experience many lives and be more humane, and met Na Yu and her incarnations. Why the heck are you not satisfied?''


    The shing thoughts and feelings were making him angry and helpless.


    To uplift his mood, he shrugged off the thoughts from his mind. And then said thrice to himself that he had done something worthy of celebration today. The plot had been f*cked up big time by him.


    Su Luxi was sent back to her real world. The Creator, who might even be the subconscious or will of this world would not be able to scheme against him or the Goddess for the time being. Rumina Bolden, the female lead had yet to be crowned.


    The system in his head also reminded him that all his three chances to change the plot had been used up. But he was okay with them. Thest change, of course, pertained to the Creator''s current situation.


    The Pope was panting for breath by the side. The others were gaping at him or the man entrapped within the cage of light which suddenly appeared after the Pope injected more than half of his light mana in the magic circle. Rumina was already unconscious. Thankfully, the Pope had pulled her outside the circle right before the Creator entered.


    Before she fainted, the girl must be feeling wronged after hearing what Jiang Li said. Why she was used as bait? Which part of her deserved this treatment?


    She had no idea it was the guy being petty for all the unweed intrusions she did in the past, plus there was the annoyance at how the Goddess died in the Original timeline partly because of her, even if she had no awareness of her part there.


    "Is it over?" After a long while, Rome strode towards the altar and asked weakly to no one in particr.


    Many eyes went to him, including Jiang Li''s. To this useless person whose role was only to make himugh at the initial part of the ceremony, he replied solemnly. "Your Majesty... I''m sorry to inform you. But it''s not yet over... Not until the rebellion outside is stopped."


    Several individuals inside the room subconsciously nodded at the prophet''s reply. The former Emperor''s face darkened and stared intensely at his son. "We have to reim control of the capital as soon as possible."


    Rome was silent for a full minute. He then recollected his calm and admitted, ''Fine, the Wade family''s heir had a point.''


    A while ago, he didn''t have any idea what to do since the pce had already fallen. But now, faced with a caged red-haired guy, an idea came to him. He spoke with the Duke and the others. Jiang Li did not participate as he was receiving treatment from the clerics.


    Helped by two priests, the Pope stood up and looked around. He too refrained from joining the discussion. He let the male lead shone. In all fairness, at this moment, Rome''s IQ seemed to have returned as he was now making sense as he led the talk with the others. Later, coupled with his luck, he should have no problem fighting against a headless group of rebels. After this, he would reim the pce, stabilize the situation, and then perhaps... pester the church to call back his Empress. Once that timees, Jiang Li would definitely watch the spectacle with folded arms and a mocking smile.


    "What are we going to do about Miss Bolden?" the bishop from before asked his leader upon seeing Duke Bolden worriedly casting healing magic on his daughter.


    The duke''s face was wreathed in helplessness. Rumina was not waking up and it must be as his healing magic was not helping. A reason for this might be that his affinity with light magic was not even half as good as his daughter.


    However, the duke was reluctant to ask help from the Pope.


    He had yet to forget it was the old man who wanted her daughter to be sacrificed. The Duke had already borne a grudge in his heart and even promised himself to cut the donation his fief gives to the church yearly by three-fourths.


    The Pope was not aware of the nobleman''s thought. He hated the headache which assaulted him again, hence he immediately turned to the second-highest authority of the church. "Your Excellency?"


    When Jiang Li heard the Pope calling out, he knew the other was not only asking for his opinions but update on the Goddess'' instructions. With the failure of the Goddess'' takeover, if a takeover had even urred, the old man must be feeling confused and at a loss.


    However, the Goddess still could notmunicate with him and that one which the Pope heard was merely a faked recording from the system.


    The young man raised his head. When the familiar voice did note after a dozen or so seconds, he shrugged and then shook his head, replying, "As we can all see, things have beplicated beyondprehension and several unexpected changes happened. Miss Bolden is one of those affected much. And so for now, I suggest, we just let her be nursed to health. It is unfortunate, but it seems she is ipatible with the Goddess. But it is not her fault at all, since everyone is subjected to fate, and Miss Bolden just happened to be not fated to be the Esteemed Goddess'' vessel."


    A frown appeared on the old man''s face. Afterward, he looked at the young man seriously. Was the prophet telling him that he chose wrong? But the girl was directly mentioned by the voice that he heard earlier. He could be not mistaken about it!


    "What say you, The Pope?" The man who had no qualms digging pits for the elderly asked with a smile. No one knew if he was finally taking revenge for the several matchmaking attempts before, with the Saintess'' being thetest, or if he was merely doing things on a whim.


    "Your Holiness." Timely, the male lead interjected. Even though Rome was quite far from there, since there were so few people in the ce, his voice was clear and was even echoing throughout. Or maybe this was another small effect of the protagonist''s halo?


    In any case, the new Emperor spoke, "Forgive me for I might be too forward in saying this, but how about you joined us, Your Holiness, in discussing the current situation in the capital?" He briefly nced at Jiang Li, then added, "The Prophet is correct. Until the rebellion outside is dealt with, the crises won''t be over. We would be more than happy to hear about your opinions and ideas... The holy knights... We would like to request their service to aid us..."


    The old man thought for a while and then waved a hand at the bishops and priests. He reluctantly followed the prophet''s suggestion and then joined the group of important personages.


    Jiang Li briefly nced at the Creator who was showering him with deadly res and poisonous words. He couldn''t truly hear a thing since he used ck arts to make the other silent. Surprisingly it worked, which must be due to the receiver of the curse being confined in a weak body.


    ''Well, this situation is not bad. Let him be muted for as long as possible.''


    System: Hello, mate. Wee to my world.


    ...


    All this while, the Goddess of Light was watching everything transpiring in the capital through her mirror. She was especially attentive to her prophet and Saintess.


    To be honest, she was quite baffled when the girl she summoned with all her strength got sent back just like that. And when things somehow ended in the Creator being trapped in a mortal''s body, she unknowingly held her breath. Her mind was a bit of a mess. She didn''t know what to feel back then.


    ''It''s unknown how he did it... but this preposterous mortal transferred aplete person to another world? And even trapped a god in a dying man''s body?''


    The Goddess was feeling lightheaded. Even she could no longer recall how many times she had shaken her head today.


    Then she remembered what took ce a minute ago. To lure the Creator into a snare, her prophet made it appear as if he was preparing the duke''s daughter to be the Goddess'' vessel.


    Would he be pulling another miracle or unknown magic? Back then she wondered.


    She had expected the prophet to help her descend onto Rumina Bolden''s body, the avatar she secretly created decades ago, but purposely forgot as she had been under the strict monitoring of the Creator.


    However, he didn''t.


    The disappointment was quite huge since the man used the woman as bait instead. The Goddess waste to realize that Luke Wade, or Jiang Li was bad for doing that to a woman.


    Anyways, on one hand, she expected to be summoned down, so she could escape from here and be in a mortal''s shell. That way, she could not only... be with him, but also confront and perhaps, finish that old bastard in one go.


    Now, when this did not happen, she was put at a loss. Yet, she also feltplicated, because, in the end, he still managed to aplish what he told her a few hours ago.


    ''I''ll see you.'' He had said smilingly.


    It was hateful to admit, but the words he said got burned in the back of her mind. She remembered that the tone he used back then was very firm. Confidence was oozing in it and one would just bepelled to wonder where he was getting that from.


    How would he make her see him? How would he see her? Dream again?


    When the ceremony and the chaotic rebellion started, a guess formed in her mind. Especially when talks about vessels flew around. Of course, this assumption had been crossed out.


    Now she knew what the man truly meant. He indeed wanted her to descend. But not in the way she initially guessed. At least, not in somebody else''s body, especially one which had already established a connection to another soul...

 Chapter 243: Su Luxi (42)

    Chapter 243: Su Luxi (42)


    The Goddess closed her eyes for a moment, feeling the change in the atmosphere around her. Slowly... purified mana seemingly got drawn to her location. The amount did not change. The realm was still circting the same quantity. However, because the only other god apart from her was trapped somewhere, the mana naturally got attracted to her, she was being flooded.


    She took a deep breath, letting her self be drowned in the wondrous feeling of being slowly filled with divine power. Actually, not really slowly, as she could it increasing every passing second.


    When a full minute passed, all of a sudden, another type of power rushed towards her,ing from the small statue likened to her image. It was not a foreign thing to her. No, it was what one of the things she sought highly even.


    "My goodness!" She eximed, covering her mouth as her eyes opened and widened in shock. The surprise that filled her heart when she suddenly felt it surging towards her was difficult to exin.


    Who would have guessed that the small statue she tied to a string and fashioned into a ne would actually be storing arge amount of faith power inside it?


    So a certain amount of purified mana or something was needed to activate it?


    "Crazy!" Another yelp escaped from her lips.


    She only pondered for a couple of seconds to guess where it all came from. It was from him. No doubt.


    The prophet had roamed around half of the empire and preached in her name just a month ago and that must be where he had gotten all of these from. Yet the question was, how did he manage to contain the umted faith of the power inside a statue?


    The girl scowled, unaware that Jiang Li left everything to the system and only paid points to it. But now that it was brought up, the system could actually do feats that even could surprise deities.


    ''Why does it seem like the mortal is giving the goddess me more surprises than I did to him?'' she annoyedly asked herself.


    The Goddess'' beautiful fingers fondled the ice carving.


    Complicated emotions shed across her beautiful eyes, simply contrasting the warm burst of light engulfing her.


    The man she had started to fancy was quite the mysterious one. And to be honest, she hated it. As a divine being, a truly supreme magician in charge of a Law of nature, her pride was at least knowing every mortal''s thoughts and deeds.


    But why was he not someone whose thoughts she could grasp?


    Was he aware that her curiosity towards him, for numerous times, had evoked her desire to be human?


    It was a weird feeling since she had also quite be interested in the lives of other people. Yet the curiosity only made her want to follow their lives. This was the first time she wanted to descend, not to create miracles, but to see a mortal in person.


    More divine energy moved towards her location and she absorbed them into her body without pause. As for the faith power, simultaneously, she was also bathing in it.


    The glow she was emitting right now would definitely blind even a god''s eyes, much less a normal human. If ced in the mortal''s world, her radiance would definitely eclipse everything that shines, even the sun. This time the phrase was not in a figurative manner or empty praising.


    No matter if the Creator''s captivity was temporary or not, the Goddess was thankful as finally, she had regained all the power lost from the summoning of the Saintess and the sending of future memories to Rumina Bolden. Yup, the girl did not truly go back in time. The Goddess was not powerful enough to tamper with the Law of Space and Time. In fact, not even the Creator could do that.


    Still, her act of predicting future events and sending those to the young Rumina''s brain was already quite impressive. Only that this cost her a lot of her divine power.


    But because of this, the female lead knew what fate awaited her if she took the normal route and fell for the bastard Emperor. This time, she would be spared of the heartbreak and betrayal. And even though the prophet''s act of making her the bait for the Creator''s entrapment could also be considered a betrayal, at least, she was not truly harm.


    The female lead''s fortune this lifetime was all due to the Goddess. But as said above, the miracle had drained her of her power. This time around, maybe it was fate''s arrangement for Rumina to at least help a bit in luring the enemy god in the trap. This way, the Goddess recovered her powers as she currently had no one topete with.


    ''I never know there''s still this much-purified mana in the realm. It seems more than three-fourths always go to that old man.'' She feltplicated emotions arising from within her.


    ''Is he that favored by the realm? Because he''s the Creator?'' She frowned, taking a couple of moments to erase the negative thoughts in her mind.


    A long time passed.


    The moment the woman felt that she had gathered enough, she raised her hand and destroyed the chains. The thing broke easily not only due to her regained powers, but because its creator could not supply it with his divine power.


    "Yay! Finally freed!" The Goddess cheered,ughing and giggling like a little girl for a fairly long while. After watching the chains turned into numerous light particles scattering around slowly, she stood in ce, too moved and feelingplexed in her heart. Herughter slowly turned silent as she became lost in her thoughts.


    It was hard not to feel moved after getting imprisoned for thousands of years. The boredom. The feeling of humiliation. The helplessness. And guilt.


    As if she was afraid the chains would suddenly reappear, or be alive again and capture her, she hurriedly cast a spell. She vanished from the pce itself, reappearing far away from there.


    The pce that had housed for thousands of years then got swallowed by light before noisily crumbling. Of course, this was something she did to destroy the ce reminding her of her humiliation as a Goddess.


    To where she went?


    The question was stupid. Where else would she go?


    It was naturally at the space above her patron empire''s capital!


    Even though not many seemingly remembered what day was today, the Goddess had still resolved herself to make a miracle...


    The sky responded to the smile full of excitement she had in her face and made way for the sun. This way, the whole empire saw the bright rays peeking out of the grey clouds, hope started to bud in the hearts of everyone, especially the male lead''s people.


    Below, the Goddess could see her prophet making faces and perhaps, taunting the red-haired guy weakly lying inside the cage.


    ''For now... let''s create a real avatar for me,'' she told herself after taking a deep breath.


    The sight below made her add vengefully, ''...And maybe, finish off the damn old bastard for real.''

 Chapter 244: Su Luxi (43)

    Chapter 244: Su Luxi (43)


    People saidcency was dangerous for a reason. The feeling made you think everything had already fallen into your hands or ying out ording to your will. When in fact, you were actually dancing to the tune of fate, making a fool out of yourself as you think that your ns were all going well. Comcence would always make one feel false satisfaction without knowing there was danger lurking behind, waiting to sting him or catch him off-guard.


    This situation befell the Creator and his prophet when they thought that their rebellion was proceeding without a hitch. The price they paid for theircency was the Saintess getting sent back to her real and the Creator being trapped in the fake vessel andter, in a spell purchased by Jiang Li from the system.


    However, after that, Jiang Li''s turn came. One of the issues he thought already taken care of backfired at him.


    If there was one thing Jiang Li had forgotten, it was that the plot was the greatest bastard of all which loved to dig pits for him. He quite rxed after seeing that the hostile god was still trapped in the cage of light. He forgot that there was still stuff he had yet to learn in this world, especially about the deities.


    Or even if he did not forget about this one thing, he still should not have be content and let down his guard easily.


    After the female lead was taken away, the others all rushed out with their weapons. Along with some bishops and holy knights, Jiang Li got tasked to watch out for the dying dog in the cage. Yet he didn''t check the bloody person inside after the other went silent for a few minutes.


    The man, and actually everyone else inside the spacious altar room only assumed the Creator''s body couldn''t hold on anymore and thus lost consciousness or even died.


    What they didn''t know was, although the body had indeed given up on him, the soul inside was actually no longer the same.


    The Creator''s divinity got pushed out. Or rather, when a window of opportunity for him to escape got presented, in the form of a foreign soul invading, he determinedly grasped it. He would be a fool to let go of course. And the Creator was not truly a fool, just muddle-headed at times, especially if it concerns the world he loved so much. This time''s muddle-headedness was due to the only ray of hope for his world that was about to reach its end again suddenly getting sent back to who knows where.


    ''I don''t know who you are and where you came from, but I won''t pursue you for now and just let you be the one to be trapped in this body!'' the god coldly told himself in a hushed whisper.


    In just a second, before anyone noticed, the Creator escaped.


    Jiang Li was not aware. And he had no way to check since the red-haired shell of a man was unconscious.


    When his wounds got fully healed, he briefly thanked the healers around him. Afterward, he stood up and walked towards the Goddess'' statue. It was the only one depicting a veiled woman, facial features hidden. He ced his hand in one of the statue''s shoulder and closed his eyes. ''Are you there?'' he asked.


    Outside, the Goddess who had finally escaped from the rundown pce in the divine realm stared at the man attempting tomunicate with him. A corner of her lips got lifted up. Her disposition became more radiant and warm.


    As she could see it, the prophet did not want to touch a sculpture with a face not belonging to her. Thankfully. His small action pleased her.


    After all, who knew which mortal those preposterous sculptors used to model her face into? It was simply ridiculous.


    Who said there would be a mortal worthy to be used as a model of her sculptures? Her face was a hundred points greater than anyone in the two realms! And this was absolutely not her being narcissistic!


    Anyway, she was happy that the prophet did not choose to touch a statue with a random woman''s face. Those were not her after all. No matter how the artists of those masterpieces made it look as ethereal and beautiful as possible, it was still a fact that the figures were not anywhere like hers. To be honest, if he touched any of those and then uttered her name, she might order the whole church to burn all of those annoying sculptures!


    ''Hey, are you there? If you are, speak to me.'' The man''s voice echoed again in her ears.


    The Goddess really loved listening to it. So she stayed quiet. When she looked down and checked again, the young man was still in the same position. She knew he would frown for a moment but then after that, he would call out her name one more time, letting her hear his voice again.


    In less than three seconds, her prediction came true.


    ''Hello? Goddess?''


    Smilingly, she still kept quiet.


    ''Is something the matter?''


    ''You should at least have enough ability to talk now...''


    ''Hey! What''s going on?'' In thest part, anxiousness could actually be heard. Did he just worry about her?


    ''Fool,'' she said in her heart.


    In the space above the Holy Church, unseen by the naked eyes, the woman the prophet tried to speak to could no longer stop herself from giggling. The faint sounds she let out was of course captured by Jiang Li''s ears. His mouth, in turn, twitched in annoyance.


    "Wow." The word just escaped out of his lips. So was he being teased? At least, the minutes that passed without her reply was intentional from her part?


    All of a sudden, he felt some helplessness in his heart. However, he was also quite relieved.


    No matter what, at least, the girl seemed fine.


    ''I''m here. I can hear you.'' Finally, she replied. Her voice sounded so gentle and melodious, like the yful breeze of spring. The same voice trailed off in the wind as she softly added, ''... Thank you.''


    The next words that should have followed were left unsaid, but both of them knew what they were anyway.


    Jiang Li slowly lifted the corners of his lips, ''Thanks are not needed to be said, you know. You''re my goddess after all. So where are you now?''


    The woman kept her silence for a couple of seconds. She then snorted. ''Hey. Even if I''m grateful to you, I don''t need to report my location to you. I am a Goddess. I can be anywhere?''


    ''I''ll sing a hymn for you if you tell me.''


    ''You''ll do?''


    ''Yeah. Why not? I can even do so while inside the bathroom. People say one''s singing will magically improve inside there. Even though I don''t know why that is so, there should be no harm in trying, no?'' he replied, doing his best to pull down the edges of his mouth which almost arced up.

 Chapter 245: Su Luxi (44)

    Chapter 245: Su Luxi (44)


    The answer from her took a long time. Overlooking from above, the Goddess actually rolled her eyes. Her voice was very gentle, except it held contempt on his intelligence and sense of shame. ''Are you aware of what you just said?''


    ''Yeah,'' he chuckled. ''What''s wrong?''


    He heard nothing from her so heughingly said, ''Alright. Now I realize I should be asking what you just thought of my proposition. I''m certain my mind is pure when I suggested that.''


    The man meant that there was nothing wrong with a man singing hymn inside a bathroom... Or there would only be... if the listener''s imagination was wild.


    Somewhere in the other realm, the goddess who was busy creating her avatar, with both hands extended forward, flinched. Her face turned red.


    ''Indecent rogue!'' The reply Jiang Li got was a high-pitched one. The one speaking was obviously agitated. ''In my name as the Goddess of Light, I''m ordering you to stop speaking nonsense!''


    ''Heh, guilty.''


    ''I won''t tell you where I am!'' Remembering what he was initially requesting, she announced in a tone tinged with annoyance.


    As the two conversed in their minds, those around Jiang Li only watched him for some time and then wondered if he was receiving another oracle. Awe and respect were in their eyes as the person before the statue was one of the key figures today who contributed greatly in tiding over the problem. Now, he even seemed to be contacting the divine goddess to ask for wisdom and help on their behalf. What a respectable person!


    "There''s only the rebellion outside to worry about." The bishop sighed, tone full of mixed feelings.


    "Yeah, their leader is already captured. A good thing too the prophet can actually stand up and fight." The highest captain of the holy knights replied. He was the same person who came with Jiang Li in the territories belonging to Wade Dukedom.


    The muscle-bodied guy was having mixed feelings about the prophet. Earlier, thetter just demonstrated a fighting capability equal or stronger to his. No, if he was the one facing off a vessel, would he have fared the same?


    The man shook his head, "Maybe with the prophet okay, there''s no need to worry about the disappearance of the Saintess."


    "Watch your mouth." A secondter, the other church leader chided. "Sometimes the truth should stay unspoken. What if His Holiness knew about what you said?"


    The holy knight''s captain shrugged. He was not worried at all. After all, the Pope was aware that he was one of the few entrics in the church skeptical about that summoned woman.


    Her arrival had been a great fanfare since it had been predicted seven years ago which raised very high expectations in the hearts of the people. However, the girl that became the Saintess did not seem impressive at all and had not done anything for the Holy Church even until she was sent back. There was a reason for him to say he was okay even if the Saintess would not return here.


    "Anyways, do you think His Majesty''s force will be alright?" All of a sudden, the bishop changed the topic, reminded of Rome''s operation outside. In a worried tone, he added, "I heard many of them are monks from the heretical temple who managed to sneak into the capital through some Houses'' help?"


    "Is that so? But his Old Majesty is with them so I have high hopes the situation outside will be stabilized as soon as possible."


    "Hmm. Yeah. Let''s be thankful the Pope easily managed to produce another barrier for our Holy Church so we''re currently safe from the insurgents."


    The conversation of the two then returned to the church and then to the refugees before ending to the prophet still standing there in front. The man would probably be a statue himself there if he maintained his pose for thirty more minutes.


    Meanwhile, a few meters from them, the one imprisoned stirred and slowly opened his eyes. He was panting so hard and feeling like his body was very heavy. The pain was also overwhelming his senses.


    ''F*ck that old hag!'' He eximed after he realized in what state he was in. His face paled. He could see, hear, and feel that many things were wrong about him. Apart from finding himself in arge cage of light, when he looked down, the skin and hand he saw were that of a young man. But he was already supposed to be an old man past his eightieth birthday!


    There was also the shock he felt upon seeing how bloody his body was and smelling the heavy stench of blood on him!


    ''Aw, my organs seem to be failing here and I''m like a faucet of blood.'' Dong Lan, the man from Ye Xinya''s world, wanted to cry, even though in his current condition, crying was veryborious.


    He was one hundred percent positive. He was dying again!


    That damn heartless fortune-teller did some sort of sorcery on him only to make him die somewhere! What the hell was she thinking? Had she ever considered that he was still her son? If she had and still did this, then which damnable dog ate her conscience?


    The man tried to roam his eyes around to check his surroundings. After a couple of seconds, once done coughing with blood, he finally saw that the ce seemed to be a church, a huge one at that. As for which saint they were patronizing, who knows? But he saw that next to one of the statues there was a white-haired guy with his eyes closed. On what he was doing there? Who knows too? If his hair was dyed though, he wanted to know who made the magic on him. It looked cool and natural.


    ''Dong Lan, it is no time for tomfooleryyyyy!!!'' A secondter, one part of his brain scolded him, reminding him of the reality.


    "H-hey! Help!" Using his hoarse voice, he shouted. The yell sounded quite weak though. Maybe it was already a miracle that he could still speak since even his throat seemed like it would copse any time soon.


    Just what the hell happened?


    Wait? If he was too injured, were the people around him the culprit?


    How stupid was he for shouting for help?


    "The evil god''s vessel spoke."


    When the man turned to the left, he saw a big guy in semi-full te armor looking at him with animosity.


    ''As expected, enemies, damn.'' Dong Lan suddenly felt so tired and just wanted to go back to being a soul.


    In any case, he immediately shut his mouth up, unnerved by the feeling of danger from the stare that he received. The keyword evil god, made some cold sweat ran down his spine, even though it was suggesting something ridiculous and out of this world.


    ''I''m bleeding to death and there are hostile people outside who seem to have no concept of morals and conscience. Damn. On earth, even prisoners are treated and fed. They are even givenwyers!''


    ''I curse you to have year-long diarrhea and be bald, Solina Soledad!!!''


    As this crossed his mind, his eyes were already getting blurry and he could already hear some angels'' singing from who knows where. Alright, he might be being very delirious.


    While Dong Lan was cursing his fortune-teller adoptive mom in his mind, his gaze went back to the white-haired dude. It was unknown what spirit possessed him but as he looked at the guy for quite a while, in his blurry vision, a figure seemed to be ovepping with him. Somebody he was quite acquainted with in his younger years.


    "Jing Mo?"


    That was thest thing that came out of him, a name that belonged to a man that his adoptive mother warned him not meddle with before. It should be impossible for that elite guy to be here, right? After all, it had been several decades since then and Jing Mo seemed to have passed away sooner than him.


    While Dong Lan was shaking the thoughts off of his head, he vomited blood for thest time and then copsed on the floor. He got sent to a new body only to experience dying a couple of minutester. Of course, his heart was full of sorrow and grievances.

 Chapter 246: Su Luxi (45)

    Chapter 246: Su Luxi (45)


    The Goddess did not hesitate to create a real avatar, one of blood and flesh of mortal which could amodate her divinity. She did not question the urgency she was feeling as she did so. Her delight in the process made her miss the slight changes in the divine realm again, or maybe the amount slipping from her was just very minuscule for her to notice.


    Meanwhile, Jiang Li was silently waiting for the woman to appear before him. He had confidence that she would not betray his expectations. Even though all this while, the time they spent together were only in listening to each other''s voice, no one would be able to say a thing to the seven years that they spent doing this. Moreover, their souls were not actually only together for that duration.


    It was seven years here, but it was more than fifty years in every other world they had been through. Which couple would be able to say their rtionship coulde close to that total of years when added up?


    The time was more than enough for two people to build a bit of soul connection to each other. The concept was vague and there were no clear indications apart from guts and inexplicable attraction. Still... or maybe this was the reason why Jiang Li could say with confidence that the Goddess would want to be with him, just like he wouldn''t consider other girls other than her. It was a trust and affection built through lifetimes of being together.


    It was definitely something to be proud of.Even though, it was unknown whether this trust which they had built over the years had done them a bit of bad.


    There was no problem to long for each other, especially if a lot of time passed before they could meet, and the meeting was even only two-hour long. Sadly, the yearning to be together clouded their minds for a while and made them miss the Creator''s escape. Without their notice, the one they dubbed as an evil god, albeit heavily injured, had already gone back to the divine realm.


    Jiang Li was only able to realize something when a name that should not exist in this world suddenly rang in the altar.


    ''Jing Mo...''


    He subconsciously traced the direction where ites from. However, the voice had already vanished. His eyes roamed around several times yet he found nothing.


    Did he just mishear?


    The idea sounded far-fetch, but he felt like he didn''t. Had the voice from a woman, he would have attributed it to him hearing things, that he had unknowingly imagined the girl from the previous world uttering the name. However, he was sure the voice was from a man. Also, Ye Xinya had long been ustomed to calling him Jiang Li.


    This just meant the voice was from a man. But who?


    "Who just spoke?!" He yelled to those present in a hurry regardless of whether his connection with the Goddess was still on or not.


    In the realm, the Goddess halted momentarily to check the scene below. Confusion shed across her eyes. But she didn''t ask what was wrong since it would be against her pride to not know it before him. Instead, she looked around too.


    ''Hmm. The damn old man?'' The girl reviewed the scene before and asked, ''Hey, are you referring to him saying the words Jing Mo?''


    Jiang Li automatically frowned. With his brows knitted he walked towards the bars that were still glowing brightly. Seeing the bad state the person inside was in, he remembered that there was a chance, instead of dying too, the Creator might be able to escape if the body died. He naturally felt a sense of uneasiness blooming in his heart.


    ''Damn. I''m an idiot! The death of the vessel might be his chance to escape!''


    ''No. More important than that, why does he know my previous name?!''


    Feeling that he had to interrogate the guy about thatst one, he hurriedly roared to the group of clerics who treated his injuries, "Hurry! Medics! Heal this guy! At least make sure he''s not dead or else the evil god would escape from the body!"


    Maybe the people in the church were just too used to listening to the orders of those above them so none questioned his decision and just immediately went to his side to administer the treatment.


    A minuteter, with beads of sweat on his pale face, the bishop turned to Jiang Li. With an apologetic expression on his eyes, he shook his head. "Your Excellency, we''re toote. He''s already dead."


    "Damn." Jiang Li''s eyes dted at the report. He felt like an idiot for not reminding the ones nearby to watch out for the man dying. The item from the system was wasted just like that, detaining a corpse. The priests did not have the ability to revive the dead.


    Watching the scene from above, the Goddess repeatedly blinked. She hadpletely stopped coughing up divine power to create a mortal body for her. Perhaps, because some time already passed, the difort from the lessening of the density of purified mana around her woke her up from her trance.


    She muttered unconsciously, ''... It''s turning less dense around me again... The mana is slowly being pulled towards another location.''


    The Goddess went silent for some time. Jiang Li was staring coldly at the corpse inside, not minding the smell of iron. The man not aware that Dong Lan took over Marcus'' body for a couple of minutes heard the woman saying ''It''s heading towards your family''s mansion!''


    Feeling his heart constricting and getting halved again, he ran out of the ce, leaving the others confused by his action.


    ...


    Even amongst the families he had transmigrated into in the past, the Wade household stood out for being the warmest and caring to him. This was why he really hated it when he realized, through the Goddess'' words, that the Creator was nning to get back at him using them.


    How dare he?


    He wouldn''t question why the damn god would resort to such low methods. After all, there was really no way to tell what a cornered person would be able to do. Still... What kind of god was the Creator that he would involve the innocent in their feud?


    Every passing minute, Jiang Li''s thoughts kept getting darker and darker.


    ''Connect me to the Creator!'' In a cold voice, he told the system.


    ''Are you sure? It means points will be spent again?'' The child-like voice rang, confirming, since it knew its host was somebody very thrifty. It had taken him an official world to be able to make him spent more than 300 points. And most were spent on the scheme to free the Goddess from her confinement. Would he really take out any more from his stash for people not rted to his mission?


    The system was surprised but did not say any more words. It patiently waited for the reply.


    As Jiang Li rode a horse towards Wade mansion, he thought for a moment and then realized contacting the Creator wouldn''t ensure his parents'' safety. How he wished his heart was just as cold as before and that nothing could affect him like the situation right now. He gritted his teeth. He didn''t take back his words earlier but added another request.


    "Help me show the Creator how the Saintess is doing. It doesn''t have to be me speaking. A letter or a projection with lines. I leave it to you!"


    "Tell him I have the means to call the woman back. But I also have the means to just destroy his world if he doesn''t stay put and do what he should not!"


    After a long while, the system couldn''t help the silence as it thought,


    System: ... My host is scary and sick... ckmailing without having the means to do what he said.


    In any case, no matter the opinion it had about Jiang Li''s order, the system carried out his request faithfully as it knew he was hoping to make the Creator hesitate, that the enemy''s hesitation would buy him some time. Afterward, even though the man did not say anything, it quietly retreated after announcing the number of points left.


    Miles away from them, the Creator who possessed the head knight of Wade household sneered at the message he received.

 Chapter 247: Su Luxi (46)

    Chapter 247: Su Luxi (46)


    In the rebellion led by the Creator''s prophet, two ducal houses actually teamed up to support him. One was naturally Marcus Lc''s own House, and the other, of course, the one which seemed the most lowkey of all the ducal families, House Jasmine.


    When the members of the imperial family heard of this, the hearts of these people holed up in the Church sank. It was just unbelievable! Because House Jasmine was actually the maternal root of the current Emperor. Thete Empress was from this n!


    Marcus'' family was also connected by blood to the imperial family. Actually, all the ducal houses apart from House Wade had some degree of blood rtion to the Natividads. The web of rtions had acted as an invisible string tying the four most prestigious families together. This exined why the people were so shocked upon hearing that those two ns wanted to revolt.


    The Emperor who was with the other able men out there and leading the newly rallied force coldly swore to himself to exterminate both Houses. Afterward, he promised to the nobles on his side to promote the two families with the greatest merits. His announcement naturally ignited the fire of ambition in the hearts of those around him.


    As for the two remaining ducal families... House Bolden, despite the treatment begotten by the heiress, was still made up of people loyal to the crown. The father of the female lead was a very upright person who would not betray since the teachings of his ancestors had long been etched in his mind. Being the most loyal had always been the pride of his n since the founding of the Empire.


    On the other hand, House Wade was not truly that devoted to the Emperor. However, they were deeply tied to the Holy Church because the Goddess'' prophet was from their household. Since the church recognized the sovereignty of the Natividad family and was supporting them, House Wade naturally followed. Anyways, they were quite obliged to be partial to the imperial family since it was they who promoted them to their current standing.


    Unfortunately, misfortune fell upon thisst ducal House. This happened when the newly crowned Emperor had just gone out of the church to lead his own forces.


    Amidst the fierce fighting near the pce, they suddenly received news that their Mansion had fallen into the hands of the rebels!


    Where lies the problem if the prophet and the ducal couple were not even in that ce?


    Well, nowhere, except the beloved nine-year-old daughter of Helena and Allen was there! Yup, they had a daughter. The two had another child after Jiang Li but since it was a girl and their first son was still alive, they did not remove Jiang Li as heir. Actually, even if the second child turned out to be a boy, the ducal couple would still not take away their first son''s title... Not unless death ims him.


    In any case, the daughter who was left at home was captured by the enemies. Originally, she could note with them to the ceremony due to her illness. She caught a cold two days ago and was still bedridden. Due to the fragile body of the girl, the doctor advised her not to go out for two more days. In other words, she couldn''te with them.


    But no matter the condition of the daughter, because the event was about a royalty, House Wade had to go. High statuses came with great benefits, but none of these would excuse them in attending a coronation. This was why when they left for the amphitheater, they could only make do with having the strongest person in the Household stay behind.


    This was their way of proving that the girl was important and that they just had no choice but to attend. The captain of the knights was tasked to guard her, at the same time, to look after the whole mansion. He was at the grandmaster level so they reckoned he should have no problem stalling the opponents if a crisis arises.


    To be honest, the whole household, due to Jiang Li, was aware that there would be a rebellion.


    So they especially split their forces into two, three-fourths would go with the duke and the prophet, while a fourth would be left home, with the head knight with thetter group.


    This way, the crown prince would not think their delegation was shabby. Yet at the same time, the defense of the mansion would not bepromised.


    When the people from House Wade departed, with the eldest son''s repeated guarantees, they thought everything was already concluded and that there was nothing that would go wrong. After all, the one who made the ns was the prophet. As somebody who could glimpse into the future, how could he go wrong?


    They all expected toe back safe and sound and had already nned to apany and give extra pampering to the little girl to make up for her.


    But who would have thought in the end, their House would still fall in the hands of the rebels?


    There was nothing like this in the prediction of their prophet!


    It was truly unexpected that the rebels would be so clever to immediately focus half of their forces on Wade Mansion. They took the daughter as a hostage, and even executed some of their loyal servants!


    "Bastards!" The report, of course, made the duke feel so much anger in his heart.


    Even though he knew the situation was dire and fire and explosions were raining here and there, when he was asked what they should do, he did not hesitate to roar at his followers and knights, "Go back!"


    Obligations as a noble? He was supposed to assist Rome? Who cares about all of these? Even if he suddenly became the Emperor, his priority would still be his House, his wife, and children!


    Duke Wade was a loyal subject but despite this, he would never put the Empire, the church and the people who had nothing to do with him, over his family. This could be seen by how the man rushed his son to the church seven years ago to have him treated, regardless of whether he would offend the Pope or whoever there. Now, he was doing the same as hemanded his people to go back.


    Not long after, only a fourth of the duke''s men remained in the za to help the Emperor fight the rebels. This was even when the bald heretics suddenly became aggressive in their attacks and the male lead kept cursing Duke Wade''s party when they retreated.


    As for Jiang Li, even though he had left the Holy Church, instead of helping outside, he also hurried towards his home. Along the way, he met a royal knight toon which offered to escort him, but he refused. Instead, he made them pass a message to the Pope and the Emperor.


    Things had been blown out of proportion. Out of the three sides, The Emperor, the rebels and Jiang Li, all of them encountered so many surprises that rendered them off-guard for a while.


    Jiang Li might seem the winner amongst them, but the Emperor was the world''s beloved so his loss would only stop at temporarily losing his pce. After reiming it, he would no longer have any entanglements with the rebels. What about the other two?


    Unlike him, Jiang Li would still have things to settle with the Creator. Who knows when the battle between them would stop?

 Chapter 248: Su Luxi (47)

    Chapter 248: Su Luxi (47)


    As Jiang Li requested to the system, the hostile god did receive his message containing what the young man had said. No more, no less. Word by word. For some time, the god couldn''t react due to the mysterious scene and letters that floated before him.


    However, after grasping the content, fury immediately rose in his heart. It was just very unbelievable!


    A mortal trespasser whose name not in his records just ckmailed him?


    And not did he only ckmail him, this same disgusting person was also discussing terms with him?


    The god started trembling in anger as he found himself finding it harder and harder to control his temper.


    If his strength had not be greatly impaired or if the body he was currently inhabiting was not twice physically stronger than Marcus, he would have damaged his current vessel again, ending up more injured. However, even though he was controlling himself well, the whites of his eyes still turned scarily red. It had taken him so much time to calm down.


    ''I can''t waste another vessel! There''s no way I can always find someone suitable and willing to give up their bodies to me,'' he repeatedly chanted to remind himself of his situation. Both Marcus and the knight captain, Lirco, just happened to be ardent believers of him, thetter a spy and a secret devotee. But he wouldn''t always be able to find people like them who not only faithful but with a strong physique.


    Time quickly passed. Yet in actuality, the chanting and mantra did not work.


    The only reason the Creator managed to soothe his anger so as to not destroy his current vessel was that the father and mother of the opposing prophet were finally arrested by his followers. It seemed, no matter how many people the other had, without somebody like Jiang Li restraining the new vessel, defeat was imminent. That was simply what happened.


    "Your Eminence, what should we do with these people?" asked one of the senior monks working for him. They were at the foot of the huge double staircase. He and his followers were forming a circle around the people they had captured.


    The possessed head knight looked emotionlessly at the duke and duchess gagged and bound by rope and kneeling before him. An unconscious girl with slightly reddishplexion was on theirp. The woman was weeping silently while the man was looking venomously at the person who used to be his family''s head knight.


    "I suggest we exchanged them for ransom... or for the prophet of the Goddess," another bald man advised.


    The monk from earlier replied in a sharp tone. "Ask for Luke Wade? Are you in your right mind? What benefit would we have if we exchange a whole House for the Goddess'' prophet?"


    "The Holy Church would, of course, lose one of their leaders." The answer was said in a matter of fact manner by the other. The senior monk looked at his fellow believer in disdain as he exined. "Once we have him, no matter if we kill him or simply detain him, they will be losing somebody important, who knows how to predict the future. I think the reason we failed to kill the Emperor and the Pope is him. So if he is no longer in the church, it would be very beneficial to us. Don''t you think so?"


    "... You actually have a point."


    Afterward, the two, no, everyone else focused their gaze on their leader.


    The Creator gave the kneeling people before him an indifferent look.


    Use them as an exchange? For an eyesore? The idea sounded pretty sweet but he felt like his revenge could no longer wait. Hence his voice rang, as cold as his res.


    "Execute them."


    ''What?'' As soon as the words registered in their minds, everyone almost blurted the question out. Fear crossed the eyes of the Duchess and the other female servants tied and gagged near her. The Duke''s also showed hints of surprise, but it only lingered for a second before returning to the usual sharp res.


    "Your Eminence..." The senior monk who suggested to do an exchange shot a worried nce at the muscle-bodied knight. Bowing and cupping his fists, he spoke in a humble tone, "Please excuse my impoliteness... but I implore you to reconsider. I believe these people still have some uses. We can use them as a shield or exchange them for something or someone of value. I''m sure too they have a stash of wealth somewhere which we could only pry the location from their lips."


    ''Why should I covet a mortal''s wealth when this whole world is mine?''


    Irritated, the Creator raised his hand and said, "I said execute th----"


    However, before he could finish, another voice also interrupted him.


    "STOPPPPP!"


    It was a shout filled with panic and anger,ing from a young woman, followed by a bright burst of light that drowned the whole premise.


    Even the Creator momentarily closed his eyes due to the sudden brightness. It was the kind of light that could blind and ruin one''s sight, testifying to its owner''s wrath.


    Who else in the world could give off such intense brightness?


    The Goddess of Light arrived. No, she might even be nearby since the beginning but was just hiding and observing. Or even if she was not, given her powers which governed light, it would be as easy as pie to teleport to this ce.


    No matter which, the important fact was that the woman temporarily set aside her fear of the other god to intervene! And she made an appearance using her newly created vessel!


    ''The sun I have created must have risen from the west today.''


    The male god spat out in a serious tone holding chips of ice. ."You''re courageous to appear before me, useless girl."


    After the light receded, he gave the beautiful woman that materialized in the air a disdainful nce and then sprinted towards her to attack her.


    Those who didn''t know the breathtaking woman''s real identity held their breaths as they could see that the bulky grandmaster knight''s fist was just a few centimeters away from her.


    The duke and the duchess would have yelled for her to dodge, or cry out ''No!'' if they could only speak.


    The others who could, the servants only bound but had not yet been gagged, did the favor for them. So for quite a while, shouts and yells reigned in the ce.


    Suppressing her trembling body which disliked the presence of the Creator, the Goddess fiercely replied, "As usual, you''re still thinking everyone should fear you! Old bastard, you''re too full of yourself!"


    She then turned into particles of light and reappeared near the duke. After that, even though for about three seconds, she contemted whether to counterattack or not, in the end, she only swiftly took the whole ducal family away. The magic she used was of course of light nature. Even though her attribute was not particrly strong against the creator, at least, it was effective in blinding people and also allow one to be fast.


    The Goddess appeared only to escapeter with Jiang Li''s family.


    It was quite funny since the words she just said were contrary to what she did.


    But seeing her gone, many people turned dumbfounded, staring nkly at the empty spot previously upied by the Wade family. One of the monks asked to no one in particr, ''There''s actually magic which could bring people elsewhere that fast?'' Apparently, those present were not aware the girl just now was the Goddess of Light.


    The Creator madly roamed his eyes around and yelled to his people. "Find them! Scatter around! Don''t let them get away!"


    He looked so fierce that the monks and rebels naturally obeyed and split into multiple directions. Their speed in fleeing was maybe they just got frightened by the crazy expression on their god''s vessel''s face.


    The search went on for some time.


    Unfortunately, nobody managed to find them.

 Chapter 249: Su Luxi (48)

    Chapter 249: Su Luxi (48)


    The search went on for some time. Unfortunately, nobody managed to find them.


    After all, the woman kept casting the same spell just she could swiftly get away from them.


    To where she reappeared next?


    At least, nowhere in the enemy''s sight.


    Even though the Goddess made an unnecessary move when she revealed herself instead of quietly lurking in the shadows, the goal, to take away her prophet''s family from there, was still achieved.


    ...


    In reality, since there were only two gods in the world, even though the Goddess of Light sessfully brought Jiang Li''s family away, the Creator actually had a method to locate her no matter where she was.


    He only remembered this after regaining his senses. By then, the search had been ongoing for more than five minutes and his subordinates had reported quite the number of bad news, a few not only about theck of results from their side but also from those confronting the Emperor.


    When his anger had subsided, he connected to the divine realm and personally did the search there. A minute passed and he finally sensed some irregr fluctuations in the mana of the divine realm. Without any hesitation, he hurriedly tracked it.


    Actually, a while ago, this was also how the Goddess traced his location, scanning the divine realm and checking where an abnormal movement of mana was urring.


    Now, he was the one applying the same principle to her. A matter which could only be med on the fact that even though their vessels could be considered mortals and could exist in the material world, the divine power used to maintain the bodies were still from the divine realm. There were only two people in that ce, so of course, if the Creator was not the one pulling out mana from there, it could only be the Goddess.


    "There you are, rat," he sneered and thenmanded half of his forces to go with him to the east.


    A chasing game ensued after, with the Creator acting as the cat, and the Goddess the fleeing mouse.


    ...


    While this was happening, something was also taking ce outside of that world.


    Once again trapped inside the blue gem of the fortune-teller''s earring was the fortune teller''s son, Dong Lan, in his spirit form. He was raining curses upon his adoptive mother and venting his frustrations about his recent transfer. As he was busy erasing the bloody and pitiful scene of his death in his mind, he didn''t notice that the gem had already entered a new world. A normal one, where he would start a new life oblivious to the purpose of the fortune-teller for making him do so.


    ...


    A couple of minutes before Jiang Li made thetest requests to the system...


    In the void where the fortune teller once visited a confined ''spirit'', a voice rang. It was from a man, and he didn''t say hello or whatever greeting like the fortune-teller.


    "Twenty-fifth..." It began, alerting the spirit who was in the middle of the darkness, immersed in pretending to be a product of ck technology towards his so-called ''host'', Jiang Li. The child-like being did not answer, but he did cut off his connection with the world-hopper and let out a sound of surprise before going back to silence.


    The male voice softly continued, "I have seen how he is faring... All is well... You''ve done a great job."


    "Thanks," the spirit humbly responded. "... but this one is not worthy of the praise. I am just doing my job."


    "Hmmm... Anyway, he''s back on track, which is a good thing... The only problem is that he encountered an outsider... and I think I know what this outsider wanted to tell me."


    "What is it? That fortune-teller is a suspicious person. So I''ve been thinking we should be cautious of her and pay no heed to what she said."


    The male voice answered after chuckling, "No need to be that wary. I think I know her. But you''re right. We have to be cautious. No one should interrupt our business here. This is why in the next few worlds..." He paused for a while before decisively adding, "Erase his memories of the previous lives and only retain some basic awareness of his missions."


    After a long while, the voice of the young boy replied in a hesitant and careful manner.


    "To erase just like that... Have you really thought about it?"His tone suggested unwillingness to carry out the given orders when he reasoned out, "I''m sorry to say this, but I really don''t get why we need to delete all his memories... What about his memories of the real objective... Why are we erasing them? Shouldn''t we let him retain those so that he won''t get out of track again?"


    "There''s no harm in being careful... And you are with him. You don''t even worry about himmitting so many mistakes. You are also setting up a few whatever rules to entertain yourself. So what are you fearing?" A low chuckle resounded after that.


    The other was silent even though deep inside, it wanted to argue about the ''whatever rules'' that he thought it had invented.


    However, knowing arguing about something negligible with the other being was a waste of time, the child-like spirit chose to let go of the annoyance in his heart. Thinking of the real matter, he then asked, "Hey, do we really have to go this far? Remember, I only appeared in his life as a fake system because he refused to reincarnate. But he''s fine now."


    "It''s your master who wants things this way. He wants to assist that woman in ascending. Who are we to go against his wishes? Anyways, if you think my measure is not appropriate, sorry, but keep your opinion to yourself. Your master has designated me as the one in charge. I am the one to be followed with regard to this matter." The tone of the unseen man was indifferent this time.


    He bade his farewell not long after. "I''ll be going now."


    However, the spirit was still busy digesting the words the other party said, so he was reluctant to let him go. In case there were things he would have to rifyter, who would he ask then?


    "Wait... Before leaving, aren''t you going to tell what''s going on at your end?"


    "There''s not much happening up there." The male voice answered in a way rendering the child-like spirit to imagine a guy in a long moon-white robe shrugging, "It''s a peaceful era. So I was a bit surprised when that fortune-teller said there will be a change in the heavens. But I realize there''s no harm in speeding up the process. If you can do something so that guy couldplete a thousand or so worlds, do it."


    "... A thousand or so worlds... You made it sound so easy." The spirit grumbled with mild irritation. "Is that all? When are you going to check on us again?"


    "I don''t know. Anyway, you are here to oversee and I''m sure you will do your best since you''re extremely devoted to your master. I won''t be contacting you in a thousand or so years."


    "... So irresponsible."


    Not saying any more reply, the presence of the person then vanished without a trace, leaving the gloomy being in the caged of darkness.


    A sigh resounded after, and it sounded a bit tragic since the voice seemed to be from someone so young.

 Chapter 250: Su Luxi (49) <2-in-1>

    Chapter 250: Su Luxi (49) <2-in-1>


    Along the way to the mansion, while bypassing several streets and fields, Jiang Li subtly realized that there were some things that did not add up in his memories.


    For example... When the Goddess said the Creator was heading towards his family''s residence, he panicked because, in his mind, his whole family was there. However, he also felt like, in reality, his parents and other important rtives should be with their knights and servants somewhere in the amphitheater. Only his sick sister was at home, being protected by the head knight Lirco. So why was there a discrepancy?


    There were some other small details too which started to get blurry or different in his memories.


    However, due to the crisis in front of him which was still giving his heart anxieties and annoyances, he subconsciously chose to ignore them. What else could he do anyway?


    The Creator was his target. Knowing that was enough.


    Sometimes in order to get past a certain line or aplish something faster, a person had to devote his or her mind only to that one thing which he knew he should put first before anything else. This was what Jiang Li was trying to do. Arrive faster and then kill the damn god once and for all!


    The muted system sneakily wiped a cold drop of sweat on its imaginary forehead: ... Thankfully, his suspicion did notst long. Still, I messed up... I''ll never tell a soul about me identally tampering with his other memories apart from the previous lives.


    Apparently, the few small discrepancies in Jiang Li''s memories was caused by the dubious being in his brain. He also had no idea that some memories from his previous lives had been slowly erased. The system was only nning to retain the one which he thought was his first set of memories.


    As for the moments he had with Zhu Li''s incarnations, unlike what the man ordered, the system only nned to seal them, and he would only do so in between the transfer to the next world. That way even if Jiang Li managed to realize that something was wrong, the system would be able to reason it was the fault of the transfer between official worlds.


    After thinking that there were suddenly many things to do, it grumbled.


    ''I forgot to tell that annoying man that I''m no god. How to delete something I have no permission nor right to ess?''


    ''And if I did, won''t he hate me once he wakes up?''


    The system felt so aggrieved. However, he didn''t stop slowly erasing the useless memories. Thankfully, Jiang Li himself was quite forgetful. Unless it was a big event, he wouldn''t bother remembering them.


    People were like always this, they subconsciously forget some details from the past that they deemed negligible so that their brains could amodate or store more new memories. Jiang Li, as a normal person, was no exception.


    Example was how he subconsciously forgot the names of the small restaurants and the hotels he had been to in Na Yu''s world. Since so much time had already passed, he also could no longer recall the name of the annoying girl who caused him to only get half the max points in Zhu Li''s world. Ask him this girl''s name and he would only frown then answer, ''Cao something?''.


    And the face of his billionaire adoptive father from Ye Xinya''s world? Well, how the hell would he remember the face of somebody he rarely met even when he had be his business partner?


    In this world, how many would be like Ye Xinya who had a superb memory? She was probably one in a million, if not tens of millions whereas he belonged to the ranks of normies.


    With these said, the system''s workload decreased as there were fewer trivial memories to delete. It had to be very careful though, to not identally damaged Jiang Li''s brain. After all, his brain was already quite not in the right direction sometimes. If it brought further damage to it, wouldn''t he be somebody truly crazy?


    That was thest thing the system wanted to happen. After all, a real crazy person would not function the right way. A few even would do more destruction than save people.


    ''Before, the man already has no qualms sending people to a mental hospital and setting houses to fire. He has already mellowed down. He must continue that path to be a proper host!''


    Half an hourter, the system''s heart shattered and then it realized it was raising hope too much.


    Jiang Li arrivedte at the scene and saw that his family''s mansion got upied by bald people. This was a dozen minutes after the Goddess and the Creator started their tag race.


    His parents and sister were nowhere in sight. Four servants too had been impaled to death or beheaded. He didn''t know how his other family members were doing since the Goddess was busy running away and could not contact him.


    With many dark guesses forming in his mind, how could he not be furious?


    He was angry but he knew he couldn''t stay there for long and confront the monks by himself.


    This was why he directly cast ck arts again. He had the enemies go outside the mansion''s ground and turn against each other. Whether they ended up killing each other, he didn''t care.


    Later, he learned the girl and his family''s whereabouts through the system. Who knew why it became so generous suddenly to tell him? What was important was that he now knew where to go.


    ...


    ...


    ...


    Thousands of years ago, the Goddess was somebody given the ability to govern the Law of Light. Yet because the massacre of the Creator suddenly took ce before she could master her powers, she ended up imprisoned in an abandoned pce.


    She witnessed how easy the other gods, even the strongest of them, got killed by the Creator. This was why a bone-deep fear got etched in her whenever she was facing the other god. For a princess protected since birth from the harshness and ugliness of the world, her reaction could not get any more normal.


    When she summoned the resolve the send the other to eternal sleep, unfortunately, she needed an avatar first to descend. The female lead was no longer suitable as it was already housing another soul. Thus she began to create a new one for herself. But regrettably, the Creator had already escaped before she could finish it.


    Their next face-off was when the god was in a weakened state, and she could have exploited that. The Goddess'' mistake was not striking the Creator down with all she had when the opportunities presented itself. Instead, she first took away Jiang Li''s family to save them from the imminent execution.


    After that was a chasing game. As all of these series of events took ce, it was a puzzle whether she ever considered how many chances had been wasted away by her. Had she incapacitated the enemy before anything else and made the followers lose their leader, there would have been more opportunities to save the family. Without the vessel, no one would lead the monks properly, and nobody would follow her or catch up to her.


    A pity...


    Obviously, another one big weakness of the Goddess was her cowardice to fight the Creator upfront. With the other injured and in a weakened state, she could have left the family somewhere, deep within her church perhaps. Then she could confront him without a burden to weigh her down. Regrettably, she instead let the drumming in her heart confused her mind. It was to the point she forgot she could rally her believers under her banner.


    In a sense, whenpared to mortals, a god or goddess was actually only superior in powers and physical traits. But experiences and intelligence? It depends on how productive and hardworking they were and how gifted their brains were since birth. A nearly eidetic memory only ensures stuff could be remembered longer than most people. However, it did not equate to better judgment abilities.


    No matter whether a person was a deity or a human, it was inevitable to have weaknesses andmit blunders. It was like how light would always be apanied by a shadow.


    It might sound ridiculous, but gods really could make mistakes. It was a misconception to assume that gods were always omnipotent and right. Because if this was so, then it would like saying the Creator''s act of dragging innocent people into an internal war was pardonable.


    ''My vessel''s already showing protests to the amount of mana it''s receiving. It''s a newly created body. There''s a limit to how much it can take and how many spells I can cast. I can''t cast magic recklessly anymore.''


    Worry wormed into the Goddess'' heart as she reappeared a few miles away from the Creator. She was not panting for breath or anything, but her chest felt constricted. After looking around and finding that she was in a forest, probably somewhere in the eastern part of the Empire, she thought a minute or two of rest would be okay. The pursuers were still quite far away.


    Thinking of this, she closed her eyes and soundlessly chanted a few words.


    A secondter, particles of lights formed three human figures. Two with sizes and builts of adults, one shorter and skinnier, apparently a dainty child. Allen and Helena slowly appeared, together with a fast asleep little girl. Bewilderment could be seen in the faces of the first two.


    "Ms. Bolden?" asked the duchess upon seeing her face.


    The Goddess involuntarily frowned. "I''m not her."


    She exined to the confused ducal couple what was happening. There was no use pretending she was somebody from the church hidden from normal people because they wouldn''t believe it. Their son was the prophet and had ess to all information about the church. Hiswork naturally extended to them. This was why she told them outright that she was the Goddess, and her body was a vessel.


    "Rumina Bolden is supposed to be my first vessel and thus her appearance is modeled after mine." She finished.


    The two looked at each other and then bowed with reverence and fear. "We have sinned for questioning You, Your Eminence, Goddess of Light. Please have mercy on us."


    The Goddess shook her head and didn''t speak. Or actually she was about to reply but something just caught her attention and made her stunned.


    ''The old bastard changed directions?''


    There was disbelief in her heart at first so she double-checked. Her face hardened not long after.


    But looking into her eyes, she visibly hesitated.


    However, it didn''t take long and she took a deep breath. Afterward, she told the couple, "Hid well. I have to go to another location."

 Chapter 251: Su Luxi (50) <3-in-1>

    Chapter 251: Su Luxi (50) <3-in-1>


    Author''s Note: Good day. Hello, everyone. The chapter is long because I decided to just end the arc in one go. Sorry in advance coz I know this is not the ending the majority would want. If you''re the type who hates tragedy, please proceed to the next arc, that one, I promise a happy ending. Anyways, for this chapter, you''ve been warned. Thanks for reading.


    ...


    The other ce she was referring to was actually Jiang Li''s. She was rmed because the Creator changed directions. Thetter must have predicted or sensed her prophet''s location. Remembering that the Goddess was not really the one who dealt him the greatest blow today but Jiang Li. The god did not think twice toe after him.


    After all, it was the prophet who messed up the rebellion. It was also the prophet who stopped the monks and his believers from taking over the capital and burning down the Holy Church.


    He was also the one who transported the Saintess away. Now, the book of prophecy was still showing no predictions thirty years from now on.


    How could the Creator not feel hatred against him?


    He really wanted to kill Luke Wade more than his family or anyone else.


    Likewise, he was also aware that the other felt the same way to him, especially now that the Mansion belonging to his family was captured.


    The battle at the center of the Empire''s capital was slowly tilting to the Emperor''s favor and nearing its end, courtesy of the male lead''s halo. Meanwhile, another battle was just starting miles outside.


    Jiang Li dismounted from his horse and rained ice attacks on his family''s head knight that appeared in his vision. He had long guessed that the older guy was the new vessel from the traces of blood from the corner of his eyes and mouth.


    Of course, the other did not let him do as he pleased. The Creator ordered his forces to mob the white-haired man. There was no way thetter could repeat what he did to the enemies at his mansion because the number of people this time were not just in tens or twenties, but more than a hundred.


    What to do then? Jiang Li briefly looked around and then came into a decision.


    Thankfully, the ce was a forest. After isting himself and the Creator with a barrier, he called out all the poisonous and dangerous animals within a mile radius and had them distract the monks. This way, he managed to focus on exchanging blows with the knight.


    Jiang Li made sure to use deadly attacks, raining down ice of all shapes and sharpness to the other while evading metal weapons the other conjured on the spot.


    The enemy was naturally as good as he was, if not better, in melee fights. So of course, none of Jiang Li''s magic, arts or physical attacks struck him. It was a bit regrettable.


    However, the deadlier it was and the more concentrated it was on the fatal spot, wouldn''t the more the Creator would also expend effort to deflect them? Wouldn''t the enemy need more divine power then?


    This was the reason why even after so long, even though he himself was running out of stamina and mana, he kept the attacksing.


    At a nce, Jiang Li''s goal was actually very obvious! Render the vessel unusable! Have the Creator wreck the current body again!


    He had to thank the fact that the other wanted him dead so badly and did not give a damn whether his current body was giving up on him. The Creator must be thinking nothing mattered more than erasing Jiang Li''s existence and that he could just scour the world for another vessel if the head knight''s body turned unusable.


    The terrain around them was destroyed. Outside the wall of ice, growls and howls of both men and beasts were filling the ce. The white-haired man''s eyes glowed faintly when he dealt thest blow which pushed the vessel to emit more divine energy that then ruined the body.


    Yup, the Creator identally had to pour more divine powers into the body which then ruined itpletely!


    ''Finally! He fell again! He must be quite injured! So it should be okay even if he escaped before I could capture him and lock him up in the body. He should be not appearing for some time.'' Jiang Li madly panted for breath and turned around to face the monks.


    When his goal was achieved and the Creator''s believers who were still fighting the wild and berserk wild beasts saw this, they naturally couldn''t believe it. The distraction caused these people to lose focus on what was in front of them. At ces like this, a moment of hesitation andck of concentration would spell death.


    However, which devotee wouldn''t be put at a loss if they suddenly discovered that their god, even if it was in a vessel''s body, had died?


    "LUKE WADE!!!"


    There were a few people who shouted this name after. One was the approaching Goddess, the rest was the angry supporters of the Creator. He was a bit surprised by the girl since she finally appeared in a mortal body. She knew it was her through his gut feeling. Also, Rumina Bolden, the female lead, was still confined in the church, guarded by her father and some holy knights.


    ''She''s alone. So she must have left my family somewhere far ahead,'' he thought, a bit relieved.


    However, worry and fear could be seen painted all over her face.


    And he realized the reason for that unusual expression of hers a bitte when she noticed she was widening her eyes behind him. When he looked back, a thought flickered in his mind. ''Damn I''ve been had!''


    Reality taught the man a steep lesson today. No matter what, where, and when, you should not let their guard down and letcency ate on your hearts. As it would most likely be helping your enemy strike you down.


    The angry shouts from the monks became like a joke or perhaps diversion.


    "You... vited the world''sws...?" Eyes widened and with great difficulty, he asked the unfamiliar person who suddenly appeared before him.


    The man looked especially imposing... And divine... and out of this world. And this neer who popped up out of nowhere was ring daggers at Jiang Li before staring at the girl materializing a dozen meters behind the white-haired man.


    The man was the Creator, in his real form. A real divinity in flesh.


    Jiang Li''s eyes dted at the realization.


    "Crazy...." The Goddess was bewildered as well and stiffened on the spot. She then kept shaking her head in disbelief and fear. "Y-you... I thought you wanted to preserve this world... Why, why did you materialize here?! You know the mortal realm can''t handle a god''s direct appearance!?!"


    Her voice started off weak, until even she didn''t notice that she was getting hysterical.


    Long ago, thousands of years before the dark ages, all the gods, including him, used their power over thews of nature to alter the rules governing the material world.


    It would crumble once a deity invades it. Various cmities would begin all over the world to im the lives of the inhabitants and no amount of magic or human intervention would be able to stop those. Floods,ndslides, typhoons, volcanic eruptions, beast tides... Piece by piece, the world would fall into ruins and disintegrate, going back to the state of origin. Nothingness.


    The rule was added so those having designs to use their divine bodies to do something unspeakable or overboard in the realm of mortals would immediately back out.


    No god would want the mortal realm to be destroyed as it was the only ce where they could get faith power. Also, if they happened to cause the great copse, they would definitely be hunted down by all the other gods. In short, the rule had been effective. And it was still showing effect even now.


    Among those who heard the Goddess, only Jiang Li and a few sober individuals within the enemy ranks felt like their hearts would burst out of their chests from the tension and fright.


    The rest were so devoted that even though they also felt rmed at what they heard, they still immediately kneeled to the handsome and valiant blue-eyed bald man now suspended in the air above them. After all, he was their patron deity.


    The Creator though, after hearing the Goddess'' words became dumbfounded too. Right... He was also stunned silly... and fear also engulfed his heart.


    The world he loved so much and wanted to save from doom... would actually meet its end due to him?


    "No!" He denied. This was not what he wanted! Never in his wildest dreams did he consider it!


    Yet it was a fact that he let his anger and emotions got the better of him.


    As a result, he subconsciously materialized... without using a vessel.


    So he was actually the reason for his own prophecy?


    The Creator looked down for some time. Jiang Li by then, was running towards the Goddess. In his mind, he asked the system what would happen if the mortal realm turned into dust and if the inhabitants could be moved to the other realm. However, before the child-like voice could answer, the man saw the stupid god raising his bloodshot eyes at him.


    The Creator hated both of the Goddess and her prophet. One forced him to materialize. The other was the daughter of the two gods that made the rules and had all the gods of the ancient time, including him be bound under that stupid rule.


    "Since it''s your fault, you should die!" That angry voice reverberated throughout the whole realm. The god''s wrath descended onto the world.


    Whether it be Jiang Li, the mortal, or the Goddess, who was in a mere vessel, none of them would be able to stand against a god in his real form.


    Seeing that a huge hand which seemed like a Shaolin temple attack from a movie from Ye Xinya''s world wasing down towards the Goddess, Jiang Li didn''t hesitate to push the woman away. Thetter was still too shocked, so even though she could teleport away, she didn''t manage to do so on time. Before she knew it, her body was already flying back several meters.


    "Noooo!" She shouted upon seeing what happened after.


    The next scene was like in a slow-mo in her eyes. Her prophet shoved her away. And then a huge hand made of purified man chopped him, separating his chest part to the rest of the parts below. Actually, there was a bit of muscle and bones barely ensuring Jiang Li''s body was still in one piece. Yet the blood was pouring out like a fountain and the sight was just too unbearable to look at.


    She trembled in horror as she had been observing the humans for so long and knew people could die from severed body parts and blood loss. "Luke Wade!!!!"


    "Tch. I''m aiming for the Goddess so she can''t interfereter once I start torturing you." The Creator said in irritation.


    As Jiang Li''s consciousness slowly fade due to the pain and the feeling that he would soon be dying, he tried his best to look at the now crying Goddess.


    He was relieved to see that she was alright. She was standing up slowly and calling out his name, ''Luke Wade.'' As for him, he was a ghost since long ago so it wouldn''t matter if he died. The pain was, of course, killing him. But if worsees to worst, he would simply wake up in another''s body in another world.


    However, her case might not be the same as his. Although he could meet her in other worlds, he had a hunch that he still couldn''t let her die. Even if this hunch was not urate, he still didn''t want the Goddess to die or be injured. In this world, she was too stupid and naive, like the sheltered princess that she was, despite living for so many years.


    His hand reached out to her face and he weakly shook his head. There was something he wanted to say but his mouth refused to move.


    After the Creator who seemed to be hating him to death, the system spoke, "Host, the body is just too damaged and could not hold your soul anymore. I''m sorry. We can''t stay any longer in this world. We''ll be leaving. Emergency transfermencing..."


    Leaving? Wait, even though a while ago, he told himself it would be okay for him to die identally since he could just go to the next world, it didn''t mean he wanted to be transferred away just like that.


    Before everything around him ckout, he managed to curse the system,


    Hey, stop! Stop! Is there no way for me to just pay points so I could repair it?''


    The system replied to the bloody man, ''Er... Sorry, it''s too damaged, and even if you repair it, the enemy is right behind you and will be more than happy to pulverize you again.''


    His breathing was getting fainter and fainter.


    Jiang Li felt angry at the reply. And at the current situation. He was dying. Yet the Creator was still alive. Thinking that the mana in his body could at least bring some damage to the crazy dude before the Goddess reached them, he willed his body to explode.


    "You want us to die? Thankfully the feeling is mutual!" Craziness shing across his eyes, Jiang Li shouted.


    The man did not even hesitate when he decided this. After pushing himself back towards the mad god using magic, he immediately set himself to detonate. It was an ability that all magic users could do once in their life.


    "You crazy bastard!" The horror-filled voice of the Creator, who stared at him wide-eyed before fleeing, rang in his ears.


    "NO!!!!" A tragic cry resounded after.


    An eerie explosion followed. Time seemed to have stilled as the Goddess watched a white-haired man''s body turned into a colorful mess.


    ''My prophet... is gone?'' A momentter, she began to hold her breath shake her head in utter disbelief.


    Her whole body was trembling. And she was crying as much as she did when she witnessed her parents and all the other gods dying.


    Before Jiang Li''s soul truly disappeared from that world, his voice seemed to have rang in her ears, speaking so softly.


    ''Sorry... It''s my fault for beingcent and unprepared... I wish I could stay longer. I hope I don''t have to leave this early...''


    That time, the Creator''s threat was forgotten in her mind. No, her mind was actually nk, too bewildered to process what happened. .


    ''Do you know, in this world, I still want to be husband and wife with you again?''


    The Goddess naturally looked around, yet found no one. Without him on sight, she couldn''t help but sob more. She couldn''t believe how much tears a divine being like her could shed for a mere mortal who had been acquainted with her for only seven years.


    What were seven yearspared to the countless centuries she had already lived? Negligible. Not worth mentioning.


    However, for this person, especially when she heard him ask something absurd, her heart just couldn''t stop trembling. "Hey... y-you''re around, right? I, I don''t want you to go?! I can heal you!"


    The Goddess hurriedly chanted a healing spell , the light of her magic illuminating the ce. But where would she use that spell when he didn''t even leave an intact part?


    "I-If you are now a spirit, I, I''m ordering you as y-your Goddess! Show yourself to me!"


    She didn''t know he was barely conscious, even as a soul, and the system was merely waiting for him to faint before transferring him away.


    His voice echoed once again, this time, as if it was from somewhere far away. And the reply seemed to have nothing to do with hermand as it sounded like somebody speaking while lost in a daydream.


    ''... Hey.. Do you know that I was always hoping you can recover your past?...''


    The Goddess didn''t know what past he was talking about, of course. In her blurry vision, she saw a hateful figure trying to stand up. It was the creator of course. He was not yet dead...


    Not dead yet? Why? What right does he have to live after everything he had done?


    The Goddess'' heart was grieving and full of anger. So she subconsciously conjured a sword made of light and walked towards the heavily injured guy. She didn''t bother checking how a mortal''s mana managed to damage him this much.


    No one coulde close to her who had literally be a walking light bulb. Every stab was apanied by a soft murmuring in her ears which made the tears keep running down.


    ''I really hope you can remember our past lives... So that we can talk about the past... So that I won''t be the only one remembering the beautiful memories... It doesn''t seem possible now.''


    The voice got fainter and fainter, even her sight was cking out, and when thest thing she heard, ''...It''s my fault and idiocy. I can''t apany you any longer in this world... Sorry.''


    It seemed that thest word was uttered when the weakened Creator breathed hisst.


    ...

 Chapter 252: Selena Tang (1) <2-in-1>

    Chapter 252: Selena Tang (1) <2-in-1>


    A phrase kept repeating in the ''system''s mind as it waited for Jiang Li to be willing to leave the Goddess'' world. A wish that could actually escape from that man''s mouth.


    ''I hope I won''t be the only one remembering the beautiful memories...''


    The ''host'' didn''t want to be the only one remembering. The system was really like a child when ites to emotions and feelings so it realized now that all this time, the man was actually hiding remorse and resentment about herck of memories of him.


    All this time, the system thought its host was unfeeling, crazy and, sometimes, heartless and that he didn''t care much about her. He was already okay with knowing that in every world, ''she'' exists. It forgot that all normal humans could feel emotions.


    ''Travelling from world to world with only him knowing who the other party is and what they have shared in the past must be quite painful.'' The system finally realized.


    He was the only one reminiscing and recalling everything that had been shared between them since the beginning of this journey to the various worlds. Only he had the memories. Given this fact, even if he wanted to talk about the good old times from the previous lifetimes, he couldn''t. Because she wouldn''t be able to rte. Although he was content to have somebody apany him through lifetimes, it was an inherent trait of humans to feel greedy and wish for more.


    Ever since he confirmed who she was, he began to want her to remember.


    Every lifetime, while he had no problem just creating new memories with her together, there still were so many things he wanted to say...


    Do you remember my real name? Or how a weird gothic woman punched you in the face when we first met?


    Do you remember how I toiled hard to build ake ofnterns and flowers for you at one of our weddings?


    Back then you were the daughter of thete marshal while I was a prince-general. We both learned witchcraft but while I loved using it to disgust people with animals, you loved to disgust others by giving people diarrhea. Quite the nasty habit you had back then... if I may say. But don''t worry, I don''t mind. Even though you always worry appearing udy-like to me, in reality, I''m okay with that... even though I''ve experienced the same witchcraft when you got very angry at me once.


    By the way, that time when you kicked me out of the forest only to chase me as your tutor... do you still recall that? You didn''t know but prior that, I worried so much about you when I realized you were also at that abominable school. I yed it cool when I got chased away. But in reality, I bore a bit of grudge so I got back at you for months using weird questions and homework. But anyway, I''m thankful that we both managed to escape and started a good life outside.


    A billionaire adopted me, though I can''t remember his face and name anymore. Then I founded a family andpany with you. I still remember when I took our kids to school and you only waved us goodbye because you were feelingzy to change your shirt into a dress. That was from the past lifetime. You were a willful, but nheless, lovely. I was a liar but could no longer lie so I frequently had to use traps in my honest words to annoy you. How many times did I piss you off?


    From one of the previous worlds, I still remember how sorry I was for tying a beautiful woman like you to the terminal patient me. Did you resent me for turning into a ghost earlier than you? And for leaving you another ghost to guard you in my stead?


    I was a singer, you were a stalker manager. I was a general, you were a distressed boudoir girl. I was a scammer businessman, you were an upright but yful statistician and strategist.


    Each time our identities were different. Because we had lived more than three lifetimes together... Ah, in one of the lifetimes, I think I''ve wronged you for leaving early... and in this lifetime, I''ve once wronged you again...


    Do you know, each time I travel to the next world and feel like I have some regrets rted to you, I would wonder whether you would make my life difficult next time as revenge?


    Jiang Li never brought all of these up. Even that smallin about why he was the only one remembering was done in a wishing manner. He wished that as they spend more lifetimes in the future, she also regains the memories they shared before.


    But wanting for the other party to remember him does not mean that he does not want to remember anymore...


    The realization was too beautiful. The system couldn''t help but sigh and thank heaven that it was still not toote.


    ''Why am I the one feeling soplicated and guilty here?'' it grumbled.


    Before sending away the man who temporarily lost consciousness due to the explosive death, the system still erased some of his memories. However, at least, only all the irrelevant ones. So his brain could store more beautiful memories in the future.


    If the overseer checked on them again and learned what it did, the system would just reason that he ran out of energy to aplish those, that predicting the future before entering every world was very time and energy-consuming. In any case, the overseer was not truly the system''s master...


    ....


    ....


    ....


    When Jiang Li opened his eyes again, he felt like he had been asleep for so long. He was in a small, messy, and shabby room. There were bottles of beer and liquor around. There were some broken sses and tes too. The stench of alcohol permeated the air, making the smell of the ce unbearable.


    Apart from him, there was nobody around. It seemed the body he would be using this time had drunk too much. He was suffering from both hangover and headache. And he also felt very tired and weak. Was the Original this time a weird one who does something heavy, like weight-lifting, every time he bes drunk?


    Weird thoughts were swirling inside Jiang Li''s head as he didn''t know the feeling of fatigue and weakness wasing from his own soul.


    ''The scene is pretty simr to when I first woke up in He Chen''s body.'' He thought, closing his eyes again as he lied down on the floor. Fatigue was washing all over his body.


    The system spoke in his mind, "Host, for what you did in thest world we visited, a punishment will be issued. But thankfully this is your first offense so the punishment will be lenient. You''ll only be tasked to fulfill the wish of a soul client, the one who offered you your current body. However, you have toplete this mission one hundred percent. And you won''t get any points. Host, please work hard so we could go back to official worlds."


    He took a deep breath, digesting the meaning of the system. He then frowned and asked. "This is not a mission world? I don''t remember exceeding the number of changes I''m allowed to make to the plot. Why am I sent here?"


    The man thought for a moment. Something flickered in his mind. "Did the viiness be crazy and died in her own world?"


    To the barrage of questions, the system only answered thest one, "... Yes, at least, she died with resentment, angry that you deprived her of a fairytale-like life. In her death, even though the resentment is not enough to deal great damage to her real world, it''s still a dangerous amount hence you are to be punished."


    The man silently mused, ''Wow. I didn''t know decades could actually pass by in some other worlds while I am in the middle of a transfer.''


    The system''s words also made him realize that it could check the other worlds even if he was not there. How else would would it know Su Luxi was already dead?


    A couple of secondster, he began massaging his forehead.


    So they would deprive him of a chance to gain points just because of that? Was he really at fault that the viiness still went crazy even though he made sure she didn''t get that attached to that world? In any case, she saved her from getting crazy and miserable due to the leads! He even spent points just to sent her back. Even if she went crazy and die filled with resentment, what did that have to do with the previous mission world?


    Thinking of thest part, he angrily protested, "Hey, system! I was not informed about this. It should not be counted!"


    "Host..." The system''s child-like voice shook for a moment. "Sorry, I can''t do anything. I''m just an AI, executing what has already been decided. There''s nothing we can do. In any case, it''s still a truth that the viiness you were supposed to save went insane and died unnaturally. The true mission is failed. So you are punished."


    Hearing the other''s firm tone, Jiang Li, of course, raged, but since the judgment was already passed down and he was but a mortal under its ''employment'' or bound, he forced himself to calm down.


    A minute passed just like that. Only after that, did he manage to reply.


    "... Fine. I don''t have any more opinions about that. However, I remember you mentioning a foreign term. Are all my previous Originals considered soul clients?"


    "Er..."


    He narrowed his eyes. "So all this time, while you said all I have to do is to save viinesses, in reality, I''m doing two more side tasks? One is toplete a soul client''s wish? And the other...? And the other..."


    Jiang Li found it hard to bring up the fact that his meeting with the woman every world was really not a coincidence. He had no problem with it, of course. He was just having mixed feelings. And speaking of her... How was she doing right now? Had she moved on from the grief?


    "Ahhh... ha ha." Awkwardughter came as a reply. The system had no n to answer his questions so it only said, "Host, once again, please work hard so we could go back to official worlds."


    Jiang Li clicked his tongue. He then stayed silent and began to review the memories of the so-called soul client. To not be annoyed by the smell of the alcohol and spoiled food, he grabbed one of the pillows and used it to cover his face as he remained lying on the soft carpet.

 Chapter 253: Selena Tang (2)

    Chapter 253: Selena Tang (2)


    Jiang Li stayed silent and began to review the memories of the so-called soul client. To not be annoyed by the smell of the alcohol and spoiled food currently filling the ce, he grabbed one of the pillows from the sofa and used it to cover his face. He remained lying on the carpet.


    He was back to modern, and the difference with the previous ones was that it was officially in a novel. Heck, even the pen name of the author was mentioned, an insanely stupid one at that, I''m_Proudly+Wearing-A@Green~Hat.


    Was the author admitting he was a cuckolded husband and was even taking pride in it? Which man would be proud of being NTRed?


    He must admit, for a second, he had the urge to kneel to the one who courageously used that pen name.


    No, actually, he wanted to meet the person and crack his skull to see if there was a brain inside it! Or if this author''s hair had been dyed green!


    ''Alright. I need to calm down and stop thinking of the irrelevant...'' Jiang Li told himself and then started to watch the moving pictures in his head for real.


    The plot officially began to y. And thus, he found that the story this time was quite an intriguing one.


    It was about a guy''s journey to the top of the entertainment world. This person was a transmigrated one.


    Yup, the male protagonist this time was from another parallel world, and his name was Liu De.


    Before the transmigration, the original owner of the body, who was also called Liu De, was a handsome guy with no background or money but wanted to strike it rich through being an actor.


    He used to be a struggling college student with two part-time jobs to pay for his tuition. However, Lady Luck seemed to have smiled at him as when he was walking outside a mall casually, a talent scout noticed him and told him that his face could feed him if he entered the entertainment industry. Later, this talent scout helped him sign a contract with a two-year-old mid-level entertainment agency and introduced him to a manager.


    Unfortunately, his luck stopped there. Despite trying to mix in for almost a year, all the roles he got were always small ones or that of an extra. The sry he got so far ever since he started was barely enough for him to eat and pay his rent. Take note that the ce rented out to him by thepany was a small one, having only an area of twenty square meters. Even so, his pay was barely enough for it. How miserable was his situation back then?


    So yeah, career-wise, Liu De had nothing to show off.


    Family? The dude''s parents were vige farmers and had toiled hard under the sun just so they could send him to the city to study. He had several uncles who were either unmarried and unemployed or married and with fields to plow, but were still leeching off from his family. In short, the Liu family was not doing really well.


    The only thing he could be proud of was... Well, definitely not his studies. On-campus, he was not really excelling as an art student. But he was the envy of many male students because he managed to get himself a sensible girlfriend who was not only very smart, but was also very beautiful. His girlfriend was a campus goddess! And her name was Wen Bi''er.


    Having her as his girlfriend was his greatest source of pride. After all, she was a very popr girl, yet out of the hundred guys madly pursuing her, it was he who got chosen and became her lover.


    They were already together for two years. She was even very supportive of him when he entered the entertainment circle and was frequently appearing in the set to deliver some food and drinks to him.


    As a man, if a girl was that dedicated to him, wouldn''t he strive to give her the best?


    After all, how easy would it be to find somebody willing to be together with a dudecking in everything but the face?


    Of course, he must treasure her!


    And so despite the numerous setbacks, he never gave up and persistently went to the sses thepany arranged for him to further his skills. He also kept on trying his luck on auditions.


    Every time he managed to sessfully get a role, he would happily celebrate with Wen Bi''er. They would talk about life and marriage as they strolled the nearby park. Their love and bond always seemed so indestructible.


    If only those days could stay forever... That would definitely be wonderful...


    Unfortunately, as people said, nothing was permanent in this world apart from change.


    The guy''s misfortune started when a second-generation rich actor suddenly began to target him and gave him countless trouble. He was not left off, whether at work or in thepany.


    The pitiful number of work opportunities he had or could have in hand were taken away from him without him knowing why. While he had a hunch something must be going on, his level was too low for him to get assistance from others.


    Without knowledge of who he somehow offended, there was nothing he could do to improve his situation. For several months, he was constantly feeling helpless.


    Then there came a time when due tock of money revenue, he had resorted to taking part times again. However, one day, when he got back home after a very stressful and tiresome day, he just heard that ident happened to his father. His family members in the vige were actually also not let off! All the problems were pushing him to the edge, it was to the point that clinical depression started to hit him off.


    Probably thest straw which really triggered Liu De was the sudden betrayal of his girlfriend.


    Wen Bi''er broke up with him. When she did, she came together with the actor who gave him a hard time at work countless times. That was when he realized what happened.


    The troubles actually started due to a woman.


    He got targeted because of his girlfriend!


    The rich actor must have seen Wen Bi''er once in the set and then fell for her but she was already taken so he, the boyfriend, became the stumbling block which should be removed. Most likely, while giving him a hard time, the devil also started to pursue his girlfriend.


    In the end, the girlfriend hooked up with the rich guy who caused all of his suffering.


    What aughable situation.


    The man lost all hope and reason on that day. He got drunk, swearing to retaliate. He didn''t want those people who trampled on his heart and pride to continue having good days! He wanted revenge! And so dark ns formed in his mind.


    However, misfortune seemed to be his twin. Without even taking a step to aplish what he vowed to himself, he tripped on a bottle of beer, smashed his head against the edge of his table.... and died...


    When the next day came, even though a pool of blood under his head had actually already dried, this man''s eyes miraculously opened again, but this time another soul had already possessed it, somebody from a parallel world, and with the same name, Liu De.


    The transmigrator was a forty-plus yeard old otaku, which would not have been bad if only he was also not an unfilial man and a NEET. Anyways, the guy was another loser from another dimension. But the difference was when he transmigrated, he had a cheat that only gods know where he had gotten from. Its name, Superstar System.


    ''Same creator as you?'' Jiang Li temporarily paused the viewing of the memories.


    The one he asked was, of course, the system in his head.


    He just remembered it has very silly names: 025, and Crazy Viiness Saving System...<ol><li>In China "wearing a green hat" (di l mo z) is an expression that Chinese use when a woman cheats on her husband or boyfriend because the phrase sounds simr to the word for cuckold. - </li></ol>

 Chapter 254: Selena Tang (3)

    Chapter 254: Selena Tang (3)


    Jiang Li''s question elicited a protest from the system.


    "No! I''m a system which can transport my host from world to world! That bogus Superstar System is not! Therefore I''m sure, its creator is different! Host, just continue watching and you''ll see why this half-baked ck technology is not the same as me!"


    Jiang Li shrugged. "Since you said so, fine."


    Basically, it was that Liu De suddenly started to act so well and won himself many roles until he became a permanent favorite of the directors for lead roles.


    When he sang, he instantly became the most romantic badeer in the world.


    When he danced, his elegant and powerful dance moves easily charmed everyone. If he ever decided to go the idol route, he would easily get him the leader position of a boy group.


    His charm, eloquence, and warm smiles were enough to make girls, even those in elementary schools, want to marry him.


    From then on, gone was the guy who could only get one-minute screentime in movies and was almost blocked by the whole entertainment world.


    Step by step, Liu De became the opposite of who he used to be, reaching a position he never imagined he was capable of reaching before.


    With a suspicious being giving him ess to ck technology and inexplicable items, he changed from a loser, into a once-in-a-century talent chased by many beauties! So given all these talents and cheats, what did he do next?


    What a no-brainer question! Of course, he swiftly took revenge against the rich second-gen actor and his ex! And while at it, he naturally did not forget to collect beautiful and talented girls into his harem, embarking on an exciting journey to rich and stardom!


    At the end of the story, this person became a superstar and then got himself a desert state''s citizenship just so he could legally marry multiple beautiful women.


    It was a true wish-fulfillment story with lots of face smacking, scandals, and smuts.


    A story of a loser who managed to turn his life around through the help of the Superstar System.


    There was no female lead, of course. Or if all the members of Liu De''s harem could be considered female leads, then there was the powerful female CEO of his agency, the capable and caringdy manager, the Goddess-like super actress, the brainy campus belle, the charming dance instructor, the cool blonde supermodel, the sweet childhood friend from his vige... Gosh, they were too many to enumerate! After all, every ten chapters of the novel, Liu De was meeting new pretty girls to collect into his harem!


    So anyway, why mentioned the male lead''s backstories when Jiang Li''s mission was only supposed toplete the wish of his current Original?


    Wait, what was the mission again?


    "Host, your goal is almost the same as the male lead. Clean the stains on the image of the Original and take revenge against the scum woman. Picking up a good, virtuous wife along the way is optional."


    After some time, Jiang Li frowned. His current situation was not something he ever thought he would ever encounter.


    A falling career. Half-emptied bank ount. And a failed marriage. Wow. So basically, he was now a man in his early thirties used and discarded by his wife of several years after she found a better thigh to hug?


    ''Quite a maddening background,'' he thought. He involuntarily remembered the novel author''s pen name since he actuallynded in the same situation. Scratch that, his Originalnded in that situation.


    When the LCD of the phone lying a meter away to his left suddenly lit up, half of the dark room instantly got filled with light.


    The loud song which served as his ring tone rang twice before Jiang Li reached out to it. When he pressed therge green button on the screen, he was still frowning.


    A panicky voice immediately rang in his ears.


    "Hello, Mr. Zheng! Are you there?"


    "En..."


    "Mr. Zheng, thankfully, you answered immediately. But, this is bad! The female actress supposed to star on the movie suddenly back out! Four other actors back out too! What should we do now?!"


    Jiang Li suppressed the groan that almost came out of his mouth as hebed through his memories. While at it, he got up and sauntered toward the mirror.


    ''I''m supposed to be a photographer, sometimes a cameraman. But I am only doing this for passion, and it''s more like a pastime. The person from the other line is obviously not talking about this profession... What a puzzle.''


    He continued rummaging through the set of memories.


    As he did, with the phone still ced against his ears, he absentmindedly looked at his appearance in the mirror. Not long after, his eyes widened in disbelief.


    ''What the hell?''A swear word almost escaped from his lips upon seeing what he really looked like right now.


    The image reflected in there made him a bit angry.


    He was clearly a man in his early thirties, at least in his memories, but due to the lush stubbles on his chin, coupled with the lifeless countenance and dull messy hair, he looked like a guy in histe forties.


    What was with his red eyes? And this loser-like appearance!? Was losing a scum wife that much of a blow to the Original that he would neglect himself like this?


    He couldn''t wait to wash his face and go to the barbershop to at least trim the long hair.


    But first, he had to deal with the stranger talking to him on the phone.


    "What happened?" he first asked to get a clear picture of the matter the other party was panicking about.


    "Sir, another investor also pulled out... I am with the entire crew right now and it''s like a graveyard here. The Director is noting. What should we do? We both have invested so much in this?"


    The frustration in the other party''s voice was very obvious. For a while, he couldn''t resist raising his left brow. Even if the situation was somehow quite bad, was it justifiable for a subordinate to raise his voice to a superior? Oh, wait? Was the other''s attitude due to being under a different boss?


    ''Forget it. I need to know what''s going on first.'' He massaged his forehead.


    After putting the call in loudspeaker mode, he swiped his phone''s screen and tapped at a local browser. Without typing anything, the hot searches were already disyed, which was a feature of that browser. At that moment, he felt likeughing. He saw his own name there, in bold and provocative fonts.


    ''Producer Zheng Xiang, divorced for domestic violence, A-lister actress Mo Fang cried rivers in the hearing!''


    ''Filming of the high-budget drama ''Daughters of the Giants'' postponed due to Producer Zheng Xiang''s court cases.''


    ''Actress Mo Fang''s stance on her ex-husband''s addiction to alcohol and gambling...''


    Upon clicking the articles, at the bottom of each were a seemingly neverending number of replies. Each more infuriating than the previous. He chose not to torture his eyes with the annoying stuff used of the Original.


    However, although he looked away, the slight annoyance creeping in his heart did not recede.


    "Sir... What should we do?" asked the caller once again.


    Jiang Li''s mouth twitched. ''How would I know?''


    "Give me a moment to think." He replied, even though he just went back to reviewing the memories, this time, of his body''s real owner.

 Chapter 255: Selena Tang (4)

    Chapter 255: Selena Tang (4)


    The dude who just spoke to him was Xu Da, the assistant director of the film he was part of. Zheng Xiang, the identity he would be assuming from now on, was a producer and a slightly famous one at that. This was apart from being a photographer.


    And a crisis struck him recently.


    To have ground for divorce, his ex-wife let out the news that she was being battered at home. Who knew how and where she got them, but one day that woman went home full of bruises and wounds, her lips even having a cut. Zheng Xiang helped her up when she came home bursting in tears, yet in the photographs captured, the angle made it look like she was crying under his beating.


    Other pieces of evidence went along with that, mostly medical certificates issued by big hospitals.


    But one thing which blew the matter out of proportion was his wife''s merciless action. As his ex-wife, Mo Fang, had been a veteran actress for five years, it was very easy for her to pull off a pitiful y after the photos spread, not saying anything at first and only crying whenever cameras were around. And then when things escted to the point that the whole country knew about the issue, she cried out at a press conference that she was a victim of domestic violence. Their identities as people from the entertainment industry made the matter veryplicated.


    The Original was caught off-guard, too dumbfounded by his ex-wife''s betrayal. Somehow, the issue became sorge, yet he couldn''t focus solely on it because Mo Fang directly filed a divorce. His heart was in tatters and couldn''t ept reality.


    Why was the woman he loved so much suddenly persecuting him and wanting to separate from him? No matter what angle he used to look at it, he never wronged her. So why?


    There were so many questions swimming in his mind. Due to clouded reasoning and under the threats of Mo Fang''s agent and theirpany, he had to sign the divorce papers.


    So just like that, two people walked separate ways, with one of them getting the shorter end of the stick, left in shambles.


    Who would have thought a love which he thought wouldst forever under the bindings of marriage would fail and end in that manner?


    It was only when the previous Zheng Xiang saw his ex-wife with the new A-rank actor Liu De did he realize what truly happened. His ex-wife no longer loved him. She fell in love with another man. He, as the husband, was on the way if they wanted to be together.


    ''This Zheng Xiang is quite pitiful. He had been married to that woman for five years, yet he never knew she was capable of doing something like that.''


    Jiang Li rubbed his chin, lost in thoughts.


    ''If she has a problem with her husband and wants to divorce, why not talk it out?''


    ''Is it that hard to tell her husband she''s no longer happy with him and wanted a separation?''


    Jiang Li found it annoying as when he checked the plot further, he found several more dubious points about the whole affair.


    For example, just a few weeks ago, Zheng Xiang and Mo Fang were still very cordial to each other.


    Howe she changed so fast, faster than the sky changing its weather? Was it that easy to fall out of love and fell for another? Was the five years ofpanionship with him a mere joke to her?


    If so, then this Mo Fang was truly something!


    ''Wait... I feel like the matter is not that simple. I don''t know much about thews of this country, but the divorce and the spreading of news...''


    He frowned. ''If it is simply the male lead''s freaky aura and his system at work, then okay... But I have a feeling there is something more to it.''


    Jiang Li wanted toin about why the speed of integrating the images with his own was slow this time.


    It was only in thetter part of the memories did he find out that his ex-wife was really a strange one.


    She was actually a reborn woman!


    In the previous life, she retired at age forty-five and led a normal life with her husband. But maybe after some time, she got tired of this? Well, at some points in her life, she got in contact with the upper society. To be exact, she had taken a glimpse of the upper society''s real life. So maybe without her husband knowing, she secretly started to long for it?


    Quite the ridiculous guess, but if this was the case, then some things made sense now. She did those things the moment she woke up in her younger self''s body because she wanted to climb to a higher tree branch.


    She knew there would be a better future and greater wealth waiting for her if she became the cheat Liu De''s woman. Therefore, she didn''t hesitate to divorce her husband. Anyway, this husband would only give her a mediocre life and in the future where she was from, she had already grown tired of him. That was why she could be heartless to him.


    ''I don''t know if I should call this woman mad or smart?'' He shook his head after.


    The pity Jiang Li felt for the Original instantly doubled. He also pitied Mo Fang because she had no brain and let go of somebody who loved her so much for somebody already keeping more than five partners. Well, there was the fact she no longer loved Zheng Xiang but did she know the wealth she saw in Liu De was gotten from his other women? He wondered.


    Zheng Xiang was a loving husband and an honest producer and part-time photographer. He never truly beat Mo Fang or did her wrong. In fact, he was very protective and caring for her. After all, he loved her genuinely. Also, even though he was not really that influential and rich, despite his bit of fame, it was still a fact that in her initial years in her career, it was him who did his all to bring fame to her.


    How could she repay his goodwill and love with treachery just so she could immediately be with Liu De?


    No matter how tired you were of a person, it was not ground to destroy his image and make him a bastard to the eyes of the nation!


    Jiang Li slightly grinned. ''I think I already know what to do toplete the mission...''


    ''That annoying male lead too needs some lesson.'' He told himself, remembering the deeds of that Liu De which were just so abominable and could destroy one''s three views. Keeping multiple women, destroying those standing in his paths, snatching married women from their husbands, cheating using his golden finger, framing people left and right...


    It seemed systems really knew how to choose their hosts, binding themselves to bad people who would definitely create chaos in the world. He was a mild case. But that Liu De... Heh.


    ''Host, there''s a situation in front of you that needs your immediate response.'' Afraid that its host would start nning of murder or anything unpleasant, the system hastily reminded him.


    ''Oh, right.''


    Jiang Li pursed his lips and replied to his assistant director. "Xu Da, I really don''t know how I suddenly became the one inmand. But since the director is not around, just tell everyone to take a day off today. Tomorrow, the shooting will resume."


    The one from the other line almost swore in annoyance. The assistant had been made to wait for almost three minutes and Zheng Xiang only managed to think of that kind of solution?


    "Wait, sir. But we don''t have a female lead actress anymore!" Displeasure sounded out from the other line.


    While the other person made sense, Jiang Li hated to be shouted at like that.


    With a tone of finality and frostcing his voice, he asked, "Xu Da. Can you please tell me who am I and what role I really have in the crew?"


    The reply came only after some time, probably because the assistant instantly recognized the change in his tone. "... You''re the chief producer, Sir."


    "Ahhhh. Okay, producer."


    Jiang Li coldlyughed. "I''m d you still remembered. After all, it seems just because a few false reports started appearing here, you have forgotten who I am and what I am to the crew."


    The other couldn''t speak for a while. Jiang Li wanted to sneer.


    ''This idiot. I told them I need a day to recover a bit from the mental and emotional damage caused by Mo Fang. Why bring up the female lead of the movie when he knows it''s the director who should be worrying about it?''


    While the director oversees the creative side of the production, the producers are in charge of the finance side. At least, based on what he remembered. He knew where this guy wasing from. But he was just annoyed by the veiled ming.


    ''Can''t he just go direct to the point and say that the investors and everyone else are pulling out because of me... That if not for my chief producer title, they would have kicked me out long ago?''


    "Mr. Xu. I won''t repeat myself. Since the director is not around, just let the crew go home. Unless you can do it yourself, or you n to make me direct it." The sarcasm was not hidden.


    He was a man who had just recently divorced. It should be pardonable to have a bit of temper. If the other did not stop, it would be no problem for Jiang Li to show more of what he could act out right now.


    The other remained silent for a couple of seconds. "Sir. I''m sorry. But I just need a real answer. I''m just an inexperienced one. I know now that my words earlier offended you, but please understand that I was just anxious because our investors keep asking for progress."


    "Progress...?"


    ''What progress were those annoying creeps asking about? The film production? Or the dismissal of the immoral and unprincipled divorced man?''


    Instead of listening to Xu Da''s follow-ups, he immediately hung up and even threw his phone away. The device, fortunately,nded on the sofa so it was still intact.

 Chapter 256: Selena Tang (5)

    Chapter 256: Selena Tang (5)


    Jiang Li pinched the part between his brows and wrinkled his forehead. It thankfully helped ease the dizziness and headache, but only for a bit. He had to walk towards the sink and twist the faucet so he could bring his whole head under water.


    Finally, his mind cleared. Only, when he raised his head, the reflection still showed him a man with puffy eyes. The sight really almost made him curse out.


    He looked for a towel to dry his face. Afterward, he moved the towel on his hair, at the same time, his eyes were busily wandering around.


    Regardless of how he did it, now that the annoying caller was taken care of, the next thing to focus on was the ce. It waspletely unbearable to look at, as if it was not a human''s home.


    So, after drying his face and hair for a while, he walked around and started picking up the trashes.


    He began tidying up the room. He also opened the window and let the fresh air in.


    It took him a minute to realize that it would take time for the smell to fade away. Afterward, he decided to explore the other areas.


    The ce was quite big. It was a two-story house that looked quite luxurious. Since the Original and his former wife were both people with a bit of money, they naturally did not skimp on decorations and appliances and even bought only the good and branded ones.


    ''Should I be d that at least that Mo Fang found her conscience at thest minute and left the whole house to me?''


    Not long after, a sarcasticugh came from him as he looked at the vacant spot on the wall which had traces of a huge painting being hung there before. He was sure a wedding photo used to be there. Who knew where it was now? Maybe his ex-wife set it on fire? The idea sounded a bit ridiculous but since he could not find info about it in his head, he simply assumed that was the case.


    ''Tch.'' Jiang Li couldn''t help but shake his head. ''No matter where it is... since it''s not here, it proves that she is really quite ruthless. Probably she also did not take an interest in the house because she was given something better and has already gotten half of my other assets and savings.''


    Had he not known that the Original treated Mo Fang good as he was genuinely in love with her, he would have wondered if the woman had truly suffered in his hands in the past five years. Otherwise, why was she this vicious towards Zheng Xiang?


    "Now, now there is no use recalling the ugly and puzzling memories."


    Jiang Li went up the second floor again and entered the master bedroom. Then, he took a shower and got dressed. He was not satisfied with his appearance but there was no choice but get out wearing a pair of huge sunsses and a face mask covering half of his face.


    Originally, he was worried that Mo Fang''s fans would be waiting for him outside, ready to throw eggs or something at him. But thankfully, there was nobody like that there. At least the security personnel of the subdivision were not decorations. He was not hurt when he got out of the house, so he could ignore the suspicious people with cameras lurking discreetly and watching him from unknown corners.


    After half an hour, the modest car in the garage was driven towards the nearest mall.


    He had his hair cut and styled. He bought several suits in various styles and colors. Of course, he did not forget the necessary essories for men.


    When he walked out, nobody could recognize him. Girls were frequently stealing nces at him and even married-looking young madams were checking him out.


    Jiang Li was content and happy since he finally looked like a decent young man, the kind which could dazzledies and make them forget they had a boyfriend or husband.


    "This is what a good guy should look like. Handsome." As he looked at the mirror of the mall''s restroom, he nodded to himself and said.


    "The dark blue is really awesome." He was referring to the current color of a part of his hair.


    The satisfied smile on his face was too dazzling that the other men in the ce who had just finished their business couldn''t help giving him weird looks. The system could only grumble secretly, ''Ah... Life is truly hard. And surviving is not easy. The host has be narcissistic and it will be a lot harder to convince him to be more normal. Which part of him is that of a good man?''


    Its grumbling was of course not heard by anyone else apart from it.


    After checking himself out one more time, Jiang Li walked out of the restroom looking like a celebrity going to a g or semi-formal party.


    He found himself an empty table in a Western restaurant and ordered some food. The man actually ordered dishes that would drain his little remaining funds. There was a high chance he would be reced in his work, but he seemed to not care. Here he was, ever since he stepped into this mall, he kept spending money like water.


    "We''ll carry your order within fifteen minutes, Sir. Please just stay on your seat."


    Jiang Li almostughed as he nodded. Before leaving for the counter, the beautiful waitress had just winked at him. He had to restrain theugh that almost escaped from his lips as he knew it would sound sarcastic.


    With a corner of his mouth up, he pulled up his phone and powered it on. He ignored the notifications that automatically shed in his screen and tapped on the built-in browser app. After looking into a page there, a couple of secondster, he was on phone with somebody else.

 Chapter 257: Selena Tang (6)

    Chapter 257: Selena Tang (6)


    "I''ll be selling the house. Help me find a buyer and a ce for me to move in." He told a real estate agent he contacted through a number found on the inte.


    The other party asked him for some details about the property and his preferences for his new home. Jiang Li answer the other''s questions briefly and then hung up.


    That was exactly when his food arrived. It had only taken five minutes. After giving a polite smile to the same waitress who walked away with a slightly red face, the man discreetly sneered in his heart.


    ''In all worlds that I''ve been to, three things never changed: love can make people blind or idiot change is constant and people are always visual animals.''


    ''Mo Fang is someone like this waitress too, a person who initially fell in love with the Original due to his face. However, I''m sure that she fell for him too because of his connections and resources. After all, around that time, she was nothing but a fledgling actress whereas the Original has three years of experience in the industry.''


    ''Look at what vanity could do to a person. Over time, she got acquainted with people with greater sesses and deeper wallets. Her ambition soared higher too. Of course, it was natural for her to abandon the Original.''


    It was hard not to shake his head at the thought.


    Anyways, the Original was different from him. He held no attachment to the ex-wife, so he was not feeling sad about being divorced by her. This was why when he regained his senses and smelled the aroma of the signature dish he ordered, his appetite also returned, and he began to ate with relish.


    ...


    While Jiang Li was having his meal after the makeover, the person who just called him this morning was talking on the phone with Liu De, the transmigrated guy who had already been in this world for one and half a year.


    "Mr. Liu, the director has expressed his stance. He might be kicking Mr. Zheng out soon. The result should be out today," said Xu Da in a low voice, as if he was afraid somebody else would hear him.


    Within avishly decorated room which was actually Liu De''s private room in the set, was the male lead who was wearing a smug smile in his face. The year and a half spent under the convenience of the system had made him extremely arrogant and confident. His tone reflected these as he replied smugly, "Good. Since Fang''er dislike him now, he should know his ce and disappearpletely from her life. I want that man out of the entertainment industry soon."


    The male lead''s self-righteous words elicited an eye-roll from Xu Da, which he only dared to do since Liu De could not see his current facial expression. Of course, if the other was before him, he would even put on a ttering face.


    Yet in all honesty, behind Liu De''s back, the assistant director was thinking that the actor was really bold. The actor snatched somebody''s wife and put a green hat on an innocent man''s head. How morally upright could he be? On top of this, he was known to be keeping several ambiguous rtionships with many beautiful women. Who knows how far those ambiguous rtionships had gone?


    These thoughts kept running in Xu Da''s head. The assistant knew he was being a hypocrite in doing so, but he just couldn''t help the helplessness and annoyance in his heart. If given a choice, he actually wanted to lead an honest life, but the circumstances forced him to be somebody wearing a mask.


    A momentter, Xu Da shook his head. ''Forget it. Even though a few insiders knew the truth, the reason nobody''s provoking this damn ancestor is precisely because several powerful women from prestigious backgrounds are protecting him. There are really people with strange eyes and preferences in this world.''


    The assistant director erased the thoughts and said in a ttering tone, "Don''t worry, Mr. Liu. The investors also expressed their stance so Zheng Xiang will have no choice but leave the set. I lied to him that Ms. Jing, the one ying the female lead has left. Certainly, he''ll interpret it as her agency being willing to lose some money just to not have their top actress be wronged and dragged into the mud by his reputation."


    "Hmmm. I''ll wait for the good news." Liu De simply said before hanging up.


    On the other line, Xu Da waved goodbye to thest crew at the set.


    Only after that did he stare at his phone for some time, then shook his head.


    Those with contact with Zheng Xiang knew the man loved his wife so much, but this wife suddenly turned her back against him. Alright. The others were not aware. But he at least was.


    He found the producer pitiful. However, he owed Liu De''s woman a favor, so he had to help the g man.


    In this world, owing a favor was definitely one of the most damnable pits one could fall into.


    If money was the one owed, at least one knew money was the one needed as repayment or a tangible thing of equal value.


    But what about favor? Its concept was very vague. Who could tell for sure what the other party would demand in exchange?


    If the favor was small, a person could just take the other to a meal or send gifts. Or maybe a simple thanks would suffice.


    However, if it was quite big, for example, Xu Da''s case, one which could decide one''s future and livelihood, he had to give in to the other''s request, no matter how unreasonable it was.


    The assistant was doing Liu De''s bidding precisely because of this reason. Between a man he didn''t know and his career and of course, future with his family, Xu Da naturally chose thetter.


    ''Zheng Xiang is nothing but a small fish in the point. He''s nothingpared to the owner of the biggest modeling and entertainmentpany, the queen of the box office, and the heiress of a century-old apparel brand.''


    ''He''s pitiful but who asks him to be the husband of a fickle wife thattched on someone protected by those three women?''

 Chapter 258: Selena Tang (7)

    Chapter 258: Selena Tang (7)


    Jiang Li enjoyed the food in peace and contentment. Afterward, he briefly toured around, feasting his eyes on the beautiful scenery in the outskirts.


    He didn''t know why but he had a strong feeling that he should spoil himself a bit. That he should eat the best food, see the best ces, and make himself happy. It was definitely not because of his Original''s memories. Zheng Xiang''s experiences were not his, even though he sympathized and vowed toplete the mission cleanly this time.


    The feeling was a puzzle. But anyway, he followed the urge, trying out street foods, dining at expensive restaurants, going wherever he wants using his car, and buying whatever he liked, mostly techie stuff.


    He had seemingly forgotten about the Creator. In his mind, there was nothing about how the previous''st boss forced him to be a suicide bomb. This must be why he did not react strongly about it after waking up in another world.


    After all, if he could remember, why hadn''t he thrown a fit yet? Judging from his character, why hadn''t he med the system for all reasons he could think of, for example, not warning him about the real backstory and giving him the opportunity to use points so he could stay? The questions could be endless.


    Knowing that Jiang Li was fond of the Goddess, he would also definitely ask about her condition if he could remember. Did she escape from the Creator? How about the inhabitants of the mortal world? Had she settled them down in her divine realm? Was she doing alright? Or angry at him?


    However, out of these questions, only thest two crossed his mind. And these were because he was worried about how she was faring after his death. Funny enough, Jiang Li knew he died, prematurely at that But he couldn''t connect his death to the Creator.


    When he woke up as Zheng Xiang, the first thing he did was ask if he failed his mission due to the viiness, Su Luxi. When the system replied to him a ''yes'', he naturally noticed the slight pause before the answer. However, even when he thought hard about it, he couldn''te up with any guess regarding that.


    Jiang Li died. Before he got sent away, he still managed to say a few words to the Goddess, and none of these stayed in his memories. He didn''t know that because of the system''s nonsensical fear of how the trauma or sequ would harm his soul or change his attitude about life or something, it tampered with his memories before death. Who knows if the system was truly showing care?


    But now all he remembered was dying stupidly after the crowning ceremony. The reason his traitorous illness that mysteriously rpsed and made him vomit blood for a whole damn five minutes. Who the hell could remain alive by then? In his recollection, the rebellion happened but before the newly crown emperor managed to suppress it, he was already long dead. Then he became Zheng Xiang.


    While the man hated the feeling it was as if there was something he had forgotten, he had to dismiss the matter as he was already in the new world and had to move on.


    A new life meant a new beginning.


    The man looked at the setting sun spraying orangish rays of lights on the slightly wavy surface of theke before him. A smile graced his lips then.


    Leaning against the pir, Jiang Li also watched as people flocked towards the sunset terrace of the mall. Most of them came by batches, probably on a tour, but some were lovers, the others, family. The excitement on their faces was heartwarming but also annoying. Why was he feeling that once in his life, he also brought a group of people somewhere like this?


    The man seemingly couldn''t tell that he was being jealous or envious of these people as he hade here alone.


    One time he saw a teenage girl telling the boy beside her, "OMG, look at that guy. He''s so hot! I want to take a picture of him!"


    Seemingly jealous, the boy looked back to see who his girlfriend was pointing at. Displeasure crossed the teenager''s face, and mixed with it was envy and anger. Jiang Li watched as the person held his girl''s face and forcibly turned it to him. "Hey, you already have me! So you''re not allowed to look at others! If you look at others, see if I don''t punish you with more exercises!"


    Jiang Li''s face turned weird, the same as those nearby who heard the boy. Many eyes went to the girl so her cheeks turned red. What were these people thinking? As answers rushed in her mind, she felt very embarrassed. Her embarrassment made her punch the guy in the stomach. "What the hell are you saying!? Watch your mouth! Or else I''ll break up with you!"


    "Ouch!" the boy first groaned, his face warping in pain. He probably couldn''t believe that what his girlfriend just did to her. "Xiaotong, y-you punch me for a random uncle?"


    "You speaking nonsense! Of course, I did not! You said something misleading so of course, you have to be punished!"


    The guy clutching his stomach was probably minding the pain a lot so he shook his head and bitterly replied, "You clearly found a random uncle more attractive than me. I''m so hurt! For a bastard who might be a single dog and was deliberately seducing you, you did not hesitate to hit your boyfriend in the stomach!"


    Uncle bastard single dog


    While the two little lovers were quarreling over there, with theughter of those around and the setting sun as their backdrop, Jiang Li''s mouth was twitching in anger and annoyance.


    ''Forget it. They''re not worth my time.''


    He moved his gaze away from the two annoying people and swept his eyes around. The ce which only had around twenty people ten minutes ago, was now holding more than a hundred. However, since the terrace was huge, there were still spaces among the groups of people. He focused on single dogs as well.


    A hint ofughter shed across his eyes when he saw a very forlorn figure among the crowd of happy people. This other guy was quite very conspicuous at the ce. After all, who asked him to look so lost and sad while looking at the distant waters? While everyone else at least had a slight smile on their faces, this person was the only looking as if at any moment he would cry.


    Tch. In a sleek ck suit with a small red rose brooch on his front pocket, the man appeared somebody from the high society, with a good upbringing, ability, and handsome face. Why look as if he just came here straight from a funeral?


    Jiang Li pulled up his phone and checked for news rted to Liu De again. The bastard was reported to have attended a prestigious award ceremony yesterday and, in the photo captured, there was something in the smiles he exchanged with the beautiful woman who handed the golden trophy to him.


    ''I coincidentally meet a guy secretly head over heels for this blind woman.'' Jiang Li was in a happy mood as he approached the guy.


    Since the two of them were victims of the same bastard, maybe they could take this chance to share stories and let out grievances to each other?


    System: .... Sorry, host... But who are you fooling?


    With that in mind, Jiang Li stood next to the heartbroken guy. The other seemingly did not notice the sudden appearance of another person next to him. Or maybe he did, but only assumed that the guy wanted a better location to observe the scenery. His current spot was one of the best since it was only a meter away from the safety balustrade and there was nobody standing in front to obstruct the view.


    "They said it would be easier to get over the pain if a person who underwent the same thing was there to support or perhaps, be there to say that he was not alone."


    Suddenly, those words entered the handsome young man''s ears, and he couldn''t help but turn his head to his right. There, he saw another guy in casual attire with a mature but warm smile on his lips.


    The man who dropped that meaningful line smilingly extended his hand introduced himself, "I''m Zheng Xian."


    Feeling bewildered, and a bit cautious, he first studied the person trying to make him his acquaintance. However, after realizing that the other held no ill-will towards him, he epted the handshake, albeit with aplicated expression on his face.


    "Nice to meet you, Producer Zheng. I''m Qin Tai."

 Chapter 259: Selena Tang (8)

    Chapter 259: Selena Tang (8)


    Among the women in Liu De''s harem, the one with the highest specs and most ster background was the boss of Dreamer Entertainment, a woman named Mo Zan.


    She was a known ice queen, born to the prestigious Mo family and educated to be one of the Mo business empire''s inheritors. She was very independent and efficient in doing things, yet in her management, because she valued results too much, she had no qualms hurting people''s feelings to get what she should get done. Her reputation was okay, but still, one which would make people hesitate to cross her.


    Mo Zan A woman with both beauty and brains, who was also gifted with a powerful background and a guaranteed future... Ady with an iron heart


    But such a woman unattainable to most men actually fell for an n-timing bastard named Liu De. What a shocking revtion!


    "ording to my sources, Ms. Mo encountered Mr. Liu many times in the past and gradually became interested in him. After all, he seems to have powers to predict which works will turn out great. Starting from one and a half years ago too, he has never made or participated in something that flopped. And he could produce hit scripts and songs. What an admirable and lucky guy."


    Qin Tai gave the one who spoke a weird look. "Howe you''re okay praising a dog who stole your wife from you?" He almost asked, if not for realizing it would be too rude.


    The two men ended up grabbing a drink and a table at a nearby club. Jiang Li looked on with interest at the people on the dance floor before shrugging to the man bitterly smiling opposite him. Actually, the other, the guy called Qin Tai was seated diagonally across Jiang Li. He was an admirer of Mo Zan, at the same time, that woman''s fianc.


    ording to the plot, Qin Tai never hesitated to show how much he loved the woman. Even though he was meant to be the Qin family''s leader and manage their family''s business, because he wanted to get close to the boss of Dreamer Entertainment, he did not hesitate to join herpany and be her vice president.


    The title sounded nice, but in reality, it meant being her corporate ve. Who knows why this man thought that was the best way to show his support and affection to the woman? In the end, what he got was heartbreak. Mo Zan only treated him as a business partner or maybe even a spy.


    The woman was a user though, so since the man was good at business and efficient in his work, she made sure to maximize his use for thepany''s growth. Once he ran out of uses, she would simply toss him out. That was the n.


    The man was content to be able to contribute something for her. This was why he never told her that all he only put that much effort because of her. In his mind, in the near future, even if she was treating the marriage as a business, they would still be husband and wife. So what was his, should naturally go to her, including his support and talent.


    Jiang Li wanted to facepalm at the plot. Yet he also reckoned those two would still have a high chance to be together, if not for a certain third party who barged into their awkward love life.


    "Mr. Qin. Don''t you think, Ms. Mo is only using Liu De?" Once, Jiang Li asked in a probing tone.


    The other man did not really look sad. At least his facial expression was okay. It was just that his aura was a little off, betraying his real feelings within. Probably because of what he was truly feeling inside that he no longer questioned himself why he was suddenly acting so familiar with a person he only knew from the news.


    "I don''t think so." The young master of the Qin family lowered his head, absentmindedly staring at his emptied wine ss. "I saw how her eyes lit up whenever she watches Liu De, or whenever Liu De is around I''ve been with her for so long So I know that she has really fallen for that man."


    The talk inside the private booth went smoothly, albeit in a weird mood, as the ce was isted from the noisy dance floor by soundproofed ss walls. They could see what was going on outside and could hear the loud music if they left the door a bit open. However, they were after the peace and quiet withoutpromising the beers and liquors so they naturally closed the door.


    Jiang Li managed to hypnotize the person into telling him everything about the woman and her interaction with Liu De.


    Qin Tai, like any normal jealous man, tried to make Liu De appearcking in moral and everything to Mo Zan, but his schemes always failed.


    Don''t ask why. Since he was just a high-quality cannon-fodder, of course, he got defeated easily by the male lead. In the end, it was he who appeared very bad and untrustworthy in the eyes of the woman he loved.


    It was sad. Despite giving so much and supporting her unconditionally since the start, he got nothing good in return. Being able to see her every day was not counted since it worked the other way too. The woman could always see eye candy yet didn''t appreciate him. This simply ignoring the pearl for a fisheye.


    Yep. Jiang Li thought Liu De was a fisheye, not because he relied on the system to rise, but because he was a scumbag through and through. In the end, his Superstar System was merely a tool. It was still the hands of human which dictates whether it would be something that would cause good or evil to the world. Yet look at how the male lead used it. Why couldn''t he be content with rising as a superstar? Why did have to do so many unscrupulous and immoral things? Surely, the women he put in his harem had people who loved them better.


    Ah, whatever. Anyway, he really couldn''t put the me to that man all the time since some of thedies jumped into the male lead''s arm in their own volition. He nearly forgot it was Mo Zan who pushed Qin Tai away by herself.


    ''I''m an idiot, but thankfully, there are more people with lesser IQ than me.'' Jiang Liughingly thought.


    He didn''t dwell much into the reason, but in the end, Qin Tai chose to leave thepany as to not torture himself seeing Mo Zan favoring Liu De in an abnormal way.


    A moment after confirming some details from Qin Tai''s memories, Jiang Li canceled the hypnosis and then returned to a normal talk with the other.


    "You know" With that same warm smile that Mo Fang used to love about Zheng Xiang, Jiang Li said to him, "After what happened to me weeks ago, I realized that sometimes treasuring others so much that we forgot ourselves is not good."


    Qin Tai listened with interest. "Oh?"


    "The other party would always want to take advantage of us and think it''s okay to hurt us." The producer finished his bottle of wine and then continued. "Now I know, our fault is loving too much. And forgetting ourselves in the process."


    "... You''re right." After giving it a thought for some time, Qin Tai replied in a soft and weak voice. Even now, he had no heart to me the woman he loved. And only thought of ming the person who he assumed had seduced his fiancee away. In a sense, wasn''t he doing this because he loved her too much?


    "So since it''s the case, we just have to change our ways."


    "How?" the younger of the two asked. The gloominess was still there, but the glint of light and realization in his eyes was an improvement.


    Jiang Li answered, "Simple. Treat ourselves better, or put ourselves first. If possible, stop showing to them that while they only walk a step for us, we''re okay walking miles for them. Don''t forget to shine and excel, of course, But this time, dedicate the sesses to us and stop being an idiot working silently behind the scenes for them."


    The younger guy was the young master of the Qin family, another prestigious household in the capital. However, right now, he looked like a lost man. nkness could be seen from his eyes before he closed them.


    As an intelligent person, he naturally understood what the producer wanted to say. Actually, he got the gist after seeing the transformation of the man before him. That should be this divorcee''s way of showing he was moving on, right? That he nned to excel and love himself more...


    Still, Qin Tai subconsciously asked, "So are you saying I should stop thinking of her as my world? Even though she is?"


    "Up to you to interpret it." Jiang Li stood up after giving the young man another nce. He was already nning on leaving. But before hepletely walked out of the ss door, he told him meaningfully.


    "But you know... We have to realize that only if we be treasures ourselves will the others begin treasuring us. Only then will they no longer dismiss our feelings as something disposable..."

 Chapter 260: Selena Tang (9)

    Chapter 260: Selena Tang (9)


    The next day, Jiang Li just heard that the young master of the Qin family moved back to the Qin Enterprise. It was then announced that he had broken his engagement with the ice queen of the Mo family. A move that caught everyone caught off-guard.


    However, there was one more thing shocking that happened at that time. The Qin family suddenly ceased all cooperation with the Mo family!


    This time, not even the old head of thetter could stay still. The other members panicked and started looking for Mo Zan.


    Actually, it seemed even the other business entities and the media were astonished since the cooperation between the two was supposed to get stronger due to the betrothal. So what happened?


    Perhaps, only the involved people knew...


    ...


    Jiang Li was at home when he heard about the recent news. However, he didn''t bother looking up the extent of damage done to the Dreamer Entertainment and otherpanies under the Mo Group.


    All he knew was that he was looking forward to how Mo Zan would prove to the world that she chose correctly when she pushed Qin Tai away for the new Movie Emperor, Liu De.


    Independent and capable? It should be fun to spectate how this woman that the male lead fancied would show this to everyone now. Could she do this now that the man silently supporting and sweating blood for her behind the scenes had given up on her?


    "The situation should be temporary. But if this Mo Zan is like the CEO of a typical urban love story and the secretary sh fiance is Qin Tai, without him she should realize she was not as good and strong as she thought. There should be a chance she would be forced by her family to apologize to him but then, the lovestruck fool would have wanted to treasure himself more and would not easily give in."


    Would a love chase ensue? With the girl falling for the man she used to ignore in the process? However, once someone learned his lesson, it would be hard to fool them again.


    ''I wonder how the other system host will react to the situation...''


    Jiang Li wondered, "If this is a normal story and a female lead bes busy and can''t act lovey-dovey with the male lead, the male lead would be the one adjusting and giving help behind the scenes."


    "But with Liu De as the guy in question And given that there are many sisters out there who would dly take her spot Would he support her? Doubtful. But, it would be interesting to see what will happen."


    The man wasughing while holding a mug of coffee in his left hand. As he typed on the keyboard using his free hand, he acted as if he couldn''t see the letter on the left side of hisptop.


    Dismissal Letter. It was something sent to him by the assistant who called him yesterday. What was his name again? Xu whoever? Well, no matter what it was, this guy mailed the letter this morning formally informing him that he had been kicked out of the set.


    He was no longer the producer of the drama starring one of the harem members of the other transmigrator. In other words, he was now jobless and without a project. But he was not at all bothered.


    Anyways, why would he? When from the start, he had no n to continue being a producer?


    Even if the Original passed his memories and expertise to him, so what?


    If one had the ability to shine by themselves, of course, they should take the opportunity and not dedicate their lives to making others take the spotlight instead.


    If the real Zheng Xiang had no problems being the behind-the-scene man for his ex-wife, Jiang Li had. He would not do it even if the person was her. Instead, he would go to the front line and fight or stand side by side with her at the battlefield or stand at the same stage.


    Look at what happened to the Original and the guy he talked to yesterday. Who would not bepelled to shake their heads at them?


    Qin Tai was at fault for going against the male lead and trying to sow discord between Mo Zan and Liu De. His fault lied in not first determining whether the woman he was fighting for would be gracious enough to remember his contributions in case his schemes all went south.


    However, what of the Original? Oh, well, maybe his fault was trusting too much that marriage was a very powerful binding.


    Anyways, back to Qin Tai. Thankfully, the guy was intelligent and easy to convince.


    He was sure that part of the reason was that the man already knew the real situation. He was being used. Only, he didn''t want to admit to himself. The reason could be pride, or unwillingness to ept that he was being used and deceived.


    Well, people were sometimes like that. While they could easily see the truth, they would subconsciously choose to ignore it to maintain the little warmth or illusion in their hearts. For them, although it hurts, they would still choose to cling onto the illusion as if it was their sole ticket to happiness. Sometimes to wake them up, various measures would be needed.


    Luckily, Qin Tai was somebody who only needed another person to point out the truth to him.


    Maybe it helped that he just experienced being pushed away for another guy so he could quickly sober up.


    Nheless, it was still quite a surprise that the guy not only went back to his family and took back all the support given to the woman''s family, but also cut off their rtionship as betrothed partners.


    He thought Qin Tai would be the hopeless kind who would use the partnership and shares as bargaining chips then ask her to leave the male lead.


    But maybe, this was all for good. Society sometimes had a misconception about men, that no matter what kind of rtionship they entered, they were less likely to get hurt than women once it goes downhill. Or even if they got hurt, they would be able to easily move on and heal.


    Now, the guy was showing the extent of pain brought to him by the woman he loved.


    But whatever


    Those people''s affair was not what he should focus himself on today.


    After taking a few sips, he stood up and ced down the cup of coffee atop the dismissal letter. Making sure the software he downloaded was running okay, he searched for his guitar and then brought it back in front of theptop.


    "Mic test. Mic test." While plucking a few strings there, he said. Afterward, he moved his hand on the mouse and yed the recorded sound.


    "All good."


    The man did various tests with the instrument and the recorder before moving on to the cameras. After ensuring that everything was working well, he then changed into a ck regr shirt with long sleeves folded near his elbow. When he sat down, he also made sure the sunlighting from the opened ss window was pouring directly onto him, especially his face.


    Only after that did he start recording. At the end of it, he had cursed several times because he had to take video four times. It was hard to get to the mood. And from time to time, he was forgetting the lyrics. What a shame for a former song artist!


    But who asked him to disgust himself by writing cringy lyrics and singing like a lovelorn man begging for someone toe back to him?


    ''I want you back Please return to me''


    ''I can''t go on without you''


    It was easy for him to record audio, but this time, the challenge had been keeping his face from turning sour. Heaven knows that he felt like dying as the words escaped from his lips.


    It was only through gritting his teeth that he finished the recording. Without much editing, apart from mashing up videos taken from different angles, he posted the finished product online, reviving his Weibo which was still a battlefield due to the recent scandal with Mo Fang.


    Once that ex-wife of his saw this, how would she react? He wondered.


    Does she know he suffered so much for her? And that he would make sure that his efforts wouldn''t go to waste?


    A secondter, he saw a message shing on his screen. Without the camera recording his expression, he did not suppress the disgust from showing on his face.


    Uploaded Sessfully: Title: I''ll wait for you ''til I breathed myst (Original by Bluelover)

 Chapter 261: Selena Tang (10)

    Chapter 261: Selena Tang (10)


    Time passed. Yet the uploaded song did not gain any views orments at all.


    Why? Well, definitely not because Zheng Xiang''s face was unsightly or that his voice was unbearable to the ears. On the contrary, the makeover made him eligible topete for the most handsome face of the year. His singing foundation was also there. At the very least, he should have no problem staying in tune and not ruining the melody he had created by himself.


    So why was the attention gain nonexistent again? The answer to the question was quite awkward.


    Of course, there wouldn''t be any views orments. After all, for a weird reason known only to him... he had set the uploaded video as private!


    In other words, the heartfelt song which he tortured himself with for an hour was only sitting there in his med Weibo ount! He was the only one who would be able to view the video! ...Unless somebody else knew his password and username and logged into his ount.


    On when he would reveal it to the public or if he had the ns to reveal it to the public, only he knows. He might not even have ns to do so.


    But to be honest, even the system was puzzled why the man did. He seemed too ufortable singing the lyrics he had penned by himself. Was this included in the mission?


    ''Who is this crazy man?''


    ''Is this really my host?''


    Jiang Li was not aware, but when he was in the middle of the recording, the system was watching him as if it was the first time it had seen him.


    Time passed by as the man tidied up the room. Before noon, he had already eaten his lunch.


    By the afternoon, he was contacted by the promoter informing him that he found a buyer for his house and quoted a price that made him satisfied. Without further ado, he agreed with the transfer and asked the other to help him with the change of ownership.


    Two dayster, he was already moving his things into the new home that the agent found him.


    Yet oddly, after that, he donned a coat and dragged a suitcase to the airport.


    Nobody knew, but once people discovered that he moved out and was nowhere to be found, especially those who knew Zheng Xiang''s history with Mo Fang, they just assumed that he was either guilty or too hurt by the incident... so he fled abroad.


    Probably, in the country, only that new guy he got acquainted with knew, or had an idea, of what was truly going on.


    His ex-wife? She was oblivious to Jiang Li''s recent actions. The Mo family forced Mo Zan to seek out Qin Tai.


    How could Mo Fang pay any more attention to her ex-husband when she was too happy taking the vacated spot next to the male lead''s side?


    ...


    ...


    The entertainment world was never a ce that waits for somebody. No news really stayed for long there, and peoplee and go on a regr basis.


    In just a week, there was no more people making a big deal out of the divorce that happened between a popr A-list actress and a producer.


    The incident might not have been forgotten by those fangirling or following Mo Fang, but since the news was consistently popping out and there were some about bigger personalities than her, the talk about her divorce, of course, could only die down.


    Maybe it was this which made Mo Fang feel like she should climb up more... because the current her was not one who could cause a huge andsting ripple in the big pond which was the entertainment world.


    It was in this manner though that Jiang Li managed to live a quiet life, away from the prying eyes of the busybodies. He began traveling to the big cities in the country.


    Of course, he was not only sightseeing. Along the way, he was umting funds and digging up dirt to be used against the cheaters.


    He also kept making music. A few not with a forlorn love theme were uploaded all over the inte under the name Jiang Li.


    Sometimes he would reveal his face as he live-streamed the song, so he was also gaining fans. Even with only half of his face visible each time, the rate of the increase in his followers was very satisfying to see. Although the price of this was hearing the system announcing that he had wasted one chance to change the plot...


    As he busied himself with these, he did not stop monitoring the leads.


    But the reason he was never idle was that aside from checking out how they were all doing, he was also watching out for ''her'' appearance. When would they meet again? She shouldn''t be in immediate danger, no?


    He believed the girl he was looking for would always be somehow rted or near the leads. And she was always the one prone to idents or disaster. So he must find her as soon as possible.


    The will was there, and the perseverance too. However, as said, man proposes, god disposes. The heaven''s n was simply different, or maybe just outright against him.


    It was unfortunate but there was no result even after months of searching. He found not even a trace of her.


    Days went on. From time to time he amused himself through throwing shades at Mo Fang and Liu De. However, he had yet to make any great moves.


    He only spread memes andptions of ugly pictures and angles of those two on the inte.


    Some were expression packs obtained from various movies, dramas, and reality shows. People shouldmend him for managing to scour through many materials just topile those. He was truly bored or with too much time in hand.


    "Mr. Jiang. We really want to sign you under us. Would you please give us a chance to prove our sincerity to you? Allow me to buy you a meal as we discuss the terms. What say you?"


    One time, a talent agent sought him out through email. When he gave his number so they could talk over the phone, the other party happily called right away.


    He was in the hotel at the heart of the city he visited this time. Looking out into the boundless sky above from the transparent floor-to-ceiling ss wall, Jiang Li asked, "Are you really from ''Starlight''?"


    "Yes, Mr. Jiang and I can definitely prove it to you once we meet up. I''ll bring my credentials with me to show you."


    The agent from the other line was someone called Tang Jingyi. He didn''t voice it out, but he also nned to bring a modified ''sample'' of the contract with him. Apparently, he was prepared to give his all to bring Jiang Li under his banner.


    After all, this man was a real talent.


    With no backing whatsoever and only video clips of songs, he managed to umte around five million fans! Five million!


    What kind of sorcery did this unknown artist use to be this popr?


    His videos had ten million views on average!


    It was simply outrageous and astonishing, especially since the man was a one-man army! The one recording, singing, mixing, editing, and promoting his own songs and videos!


    Does hard work and talent really impress and pay off at the end?


    As an agent, he had been in the industry for quite a while and saw many things. And thus he knew the answer. The people at the top would always say, they really worked hard to reach where they were. But were the efforts of those from the bottom any lesser than theirs?


    It was not really hard work which propelled people up every single time. Luck was more needed sometimes. Yet sometimes too, charisma was all that was needed to make people like you and voluntarily share your works.


    Which case was Jiang Li''s?


    When the agent checked, he discovered Jiang Li had an extremely soothing voice, but what could capture the audience was his lyrics and melodies which ording to him, he hadposed by himself. So was it all talent and luck?


    Such good songs would usually be hunted down by musicbels, or other artists. Given that the man was somebody not protected by anyrge names, it would have been no surprise if one day, an issue about giarism and stealing of the song just suddenly popped up, caused by songwriters and music producers eyeing his pieces of work. Yet up to this date, none of those things actually happened.


    It was another puzzle about him.


    Maybe, people just didn''t know, but Jiang Li actually had some sort of backing...?


    ''But even if he has, it''s okay!'' thought the agent.


    He wouldn''t be intimidated! Starlight was under the Giant Qin family! And the Starlight was a giant too in the entertainment circle, standing toe to toe against Dreamer Entertainment!


    With such a background, he didn''t believe the other would not be tempted to sign!


    "Sir, how about we decide the date and time now?" The agent then followed it up with augh, the kind which sounded confident yet not offending.


    ''Does this guy know Starlight''s secondrgest shareholder is now me?''


    Jiang Li alsoughed.


    The answer to the question was most likely no. After all, he never attended any of the meetings personally, only sending random people as his representative. Qin Tai never pursued the matter for he knew him or maybe, that guy was simply happy not having an additional person questioning his every move and decision in thepany.


    Shaking his head, he replied, "I''m free tomorrow, noon."


    "Great! It will be the best decision on your part, Mr. Jiang! I will make sure you won''t regret it" The person spouted more words, deciding the best ce for a meeting, exining that this ce had the best scenery, food, and music.


    Of course, Jiang Li didn''t give much damn about those.


    But yep, in the end, he agreed to meet.


    It was time to go back to the capital anyways. The best ys and drama were there, and there was nothing more satisfying than spectating the fun from a VIP seat.


    "Thanks for the offer then. I''m quite busy so I''ll hang up now."


    The person replied, "Okay. See you tomorrow. Please don''t forget."


    A snicker just came out of Jiang Li''s mouth as he ended the call.


    When he turned around, he saw Liu De''s smiling face on the TV mounted on the wall opposite the ss pane. The male lead was really a popr bastard loved by the people and was the first choice for magazines and billboards. Even onmercials, Liu De was popr. That guy''s face could be seen almost everywhere.


    It was naturally annoying for Jiang Li so he reached for the remote control on the low coffee table and switched to news channels. Deep inside, he was already nning to spread more ugly photos of the male lead and every one associate with him.

 Chapter 262: Selena Tang (11)

    Chapter 262: Selena Tang (11)


    The meeting was at the Glory Hotel located in the center of S city. The person who shook hands with him a minute after he entered the cozy and luxurious ce was a man in his early thirties too, named Tang Jingyi.


    When Jiang Li firstid eyes on the other, amazement crossed his eyes as he couldn''t believe somebody like him was working as a mere agent.


    Tang Jingyi seemed from a rich family seeing how expensive the items on him and the way he carried himself. There was a slight smile on this person''s face and the air around him seemed to suggest that he was not one who could only asionally be at ces like this.


    ''Is this guy from a powerful family and is just bored so now he''s out to contract me?'' the thought flickered in his mind.


    "Nice meeting you, Mr. Jiang," the man said after introducing himself.


    Jiang Li nodded. "Yeah, hello."


    When he briefly looked down to open a seat for him, a hint of amusement showed in his eyes as he saw some signs that Tang Jingyi seemed to be aware that he was not originally named Jiang Li. It showed from the other''s eyes which narrowed for a brief while before giving him a fewplicated stares.


    If his guess was correct, then this Tang Jingyi was truly not simple. At the very least, this person knew that the man before him whose hair was glistening with some tinge of blue was using a ''fake name''. Maybe he was even aware he was Zheng Xiang.


    Although there could also be a chance that he was simply surprised by how the singer seemed to have an aura of somebody that should not be neglected or taken lightly.


    The agent, if he was even truly an agent, started to exchange pleasantries with him, mostly bullsh*tting about how he found Jiang Li''s music nice and revolutionary. The exaggeration was embarrassing, almost to the point he was calling those randomly uploaded videos and songs life-changing.


    Thankfully, Jiang Li''s face was thick, so he epted it all with a calm face. Also, he knew what was truly going on.


    ''Heh,mon tactics Wearing out one''s awareness and wariness through praises and then either push down the arrogance they raise through making them see that they still don''t amount to much. There is actually someone better or with better resources. Once this fact is drilled in the other party''s mind,ter, it will be easier to lead someone by the nose.''


    ''You think I''d fall for that?''


    Thankfully, the guy had no other intention and seemed to be sincere in pulling him into Starlight. So the transmigrator still chose to listen to the other''s nonsense.


    "Mr. Jiang. I''m sure you have ns to grow more and create more music. However, it will be hard for a solo artist, one army even, to develop more. But don''t worry. Because ourbel is very much interested in your potential and would love to support you and give your resources to further your career."


    Jiang Li nodded, feigning interest. "That sounds nice. But what can you offer me?"


    "A lot, no worries!" The agent then excitedly added. "I''m aware, Sir, that you''re already popr. But, there''s a limit to how much you can mize through Youtube and sponsorship."


    ''Well, obviously? But am I someonecking in money?''


    "There are also channels or means that you can''t ess since you''re limited by the inte. For example, the TV or big screens On the other hand, these things are not out of Starlight''s reach! We can help you get your songs there, be the OST of dramas or films. We can also help with your albums!"


    "Oh?"''Liar. If one is determined enough, he could work his way solo to gain those opportunities too. One could also crowdfund if he''s very desperate but has many fans. But well, at least it''s true that an established business entity will have an easier time getting those''


    In the end, he replied. "Seems impressive."


    "Yes! We can do all of those and will even make sure to give you the best opportunities. And we will be fair to you!" Tang Jingyi paused for a while, pulling up a pen and a piece of paper from his pocket. While writing, the man continued, "Your share will be this. And ours, this. What do you say?"


    After ncing at the numbers written down by the agent, Jiang Li suppressed theughter and pretended to be thinking as he lowered his sight on the food.


    Tang Jingyi considerately gave him time to think of the offer. "Take your time, Mr. Jiang. I believe before the meeting ends, we''ll reach a consensus."


    "Hmmm. Let''s see."


    Midway, he stopped eating and excuse himself for the restroom. The nearest one the waiter he first saw pointed at him was at another side of the restaurant which was separated from theirs with a wall full of assorted flowers. He walked down the wide space at the center and avoided the chairs and tables.


    He discovered that the restroom was at the end of the hallway next to the staircase. He didn''t really walk far in. After leaning on the wall, which was actually a side of the double staircase, he fished out his phone from his pocket and messaged Qin Tai.


    ''Your agent sought me out for a contract, and is tricking me to sign the lowest tier, 10-year contract stuck with that crappy 7:3 distribution.'' He let out a sneer as he sent the text.


    It was around 12 noon and the president of the entertainmentpany was in his office dealing with paperwork. Seeing the message that popped up, he felt speechless.


    '' Who''s the poor fellow who tried to approach this guy?''


    Jiang Li only received one reply from Qin Tai. ''Do as you wish.'' That made him lift one of his lips.


    ''Nice. I''d do what I want then. Bore that Tang whoever to death then, I mean, in waiting.'' He simply decided.


    Instead of going back to the table where the agent would be waiting for him, he approached a waiter and paid the bill, then walked the nearest exit which was not where he originally came from. In his mind, this was not really him being lenient. Time was just precious, so he would rather spend it on booking a flight back to the capital and packing his stuff.


    Mostly rich people or people from middle-ss families were eating there. Still, the majority who saw him stayed their eyes at him for a few couples of seconds, probably finding his hair or his face striking. Either these people''s eyes were good, or Jiang Li just could stand out even amongst those with eyes used to riches and beauty.


    A momentter, when he was about five meters away from the exit, a tall man wearing a formal attire approached him with a kind and polite smile on his face. The person could be differentiated from the other guests through the badge and name tag on his left chest.


    "Hello, Sir. You are Mr. Su, right? The one who came here for the audition?"


    Jiang Li blinked once after being stopped by a guy who seemed like a staff of that huge restaurant. What was this guy saying?


    "Sorry, I''m not someone surnamed Su. You must have mistaken me for somebody."


    Surprise showed on the tall young man''s expression. After a while, he tried to confirm. "You''re not?"


    "No." Jiang Li shook his head, musing whether this person was an employee tasked to look for a missingmb. ''I don''t know which director held an audition at a ce like this, but perhaps, there''s arge room upstairs which could serve that purpose. But is the lost guy somebody resembling me?''


    The change in the expression of the staff member did not escape Jiang Li''s notice. "Oh, I''m sorry, Sir. I thought you are the person I''ve been tasked to look for. I based it on your hair color. My apologies."


    He nodded. The other bowed and stepped aside to make way for him.


    He then continued walking towards the exit. Yet the moment he stepped out, he stilled.


    He had locked eyes with a pretty woman with hair tied up. She had a pair of slightly upturned hazel green eyes, high nose, and lips that were neither thin nor thick, just right. She was dressed smartly and was being followed by a girl in a semi-formal attire who seemed to be her assistant.


    Jiang Li stared nkly at the girl. Disbelief actually flickered in his eyes.


    "..." ''So she''s here...''


    He finally found that someone who he had been looking for since eight months ago.

 Chapter 263: Selena Tang (12)

    Chapter 263: Selena Tang (12)


    The two of them had experienced kinds of meeting from the past worlds, yet Jiang Li seemed to feel that the one in this world was very odd. It was a chance encounter at the exit of a random restaurant.


    Their eyes met. Thatsted for more or less three seconds. Yet it was enough to make him hold his breath and feel that his mind was slowly getting nk.


    ''I found her, atst,'' feeling moved, he eximed in his heart.


    However, while the man was feeling a whirlpool of emotions within him, the woman showed no interest in him and swiftly looked away Her gaze did not stay on him that long, treating him a normal stranger that one would cross paths once in her life... whose face and name she wouldn''t know or remember.


    While it was nothing but a normal reaction, Jiang Li hated it. The smile that almost appeared on his face promptly froze. A whileter, his lips pressed into a thin line. He thought, wasn''t it unfair?


    While he was a bit shaken, and even feeling guilty for dying without spending more time with her, here she was, passing by him, treating him like air.


    He was fully aware she didn''t know him so it was normal.


    But it was just quite disheartening because once again, it was only him who could remember!


    Had it been a man from a drama and he was at the same situation, even though he was also feeling sad, he would still say, ''It''s okay I can bear with this.'' But Jiang Li was not like that. He was selfish. And if he could, he would openly state his resentment to her about their situation.


    It just happened that right now he couldn''t. Because she wouldn''t get what he meant, if ever. What a damnable situation.


    He was really angry at was her circumstance.


    Even now, it was a puzzle why she was in every world he visited and why they, even though they were the same person, were not sharing the same memories. What was her true identity?


    Watching the elegant and smartly dressed woman walked passed him, the man thought to himself. ''Keep calm, idiot. Be content with at least finding her.''


    ''You''re already fortunate to have found her again.''


    Jiang Li tailed the woman and then found out that she was headed for the second floor where an audition was being held. The way he went after her was quite obvious, but it seemed the woman was too busy to care. As for the other girl, she noticed him but did not pay him any more attention. It was probably because he was not the only one nearby.


    The two women went inside arge hall and then got greeted by a fewdies and men of ages ranging fromte twenties to mid-forties. It seemed ''she'' was quite an important person since those other people kept respectful faces as they conversed with her. Her whole person emitting frost that made even him feel awkward, yet the smiles of those people did not waver, even as she stared at them with her cold hazel eyes.


    Jiang Li was secretly watching them from the hallway. He was standing by the sophisticated balustrade, his back facing the direction of the double-doors. His head was bowed and tilted to the left. People who would see him from a distance would assume he was watching the floor below when in reality, his eyes were at the woman and the people surrounding her.


    ''I know that guy. He should be a fairly popr director. A few notable films andmercials have been produced by his hands.''


    ''And that middle-aged dude with huge beer belly... If I''m not mistaken, he is known as the owner of thatrgepany owning up almost 60% of the liquor industry. Since he appeared here, he should be an investor. So just who is she, that even a person of his status is doing his best to tter her?''


    His hand was not idle as he wondered about this. A momentter, he shook his head at the results.


    The only thing he managed to confirm was that this time she was ady of influence. Perhaps, she was from a giant family. If not, maybe she had a very high status in a particr industry which could intimidate even old fogies. Good. At least it meant she would not be easily bullied.


    Perhaps, the only problem would be that she was extremely cold


    When she was greeted passionately, her poker face and freezing stares did not rescind. She didn''t engage in any more perfunctory talks with them. There was also no change in her expression when she passed by those people.


    He saw that their smiles turned stiff. It was a given. Yet none of them dared toin. Instead, they pretended as if they had just not been snubbed. They continued talking to each other as they headed deeper into the room where the actors were already standing by.


    Jiang Li hated that he couldn''t go inside. But who asked him to have no rtion to anyone in the audition? ''I should have said yes to the staff earlier!''


    Left with no choice as he also didn''t want to leave, he simply pretended to be busy with his phone as he waited outside.


    An hour after, the woman walked out of the room, still followed by her assistant. She elegantly walked down the stairs no. There was an elevator nearby so of course, that was what she used to reach the ground floor. Jiang Li did not hesitate to follow, not caring when she nced at him twice.


    The girl surely had a superb memory and since it would be the third time she would be seeing him, she might take note of him, most likely in a less favorable way. But so what?


    What he wanted right now was to leave an impression. So of course, if joining her in the elevator after that another eye to eye contact from the hallway could help, he would be more than happy.


    Otherwise, he also wouldn''t mind being the stalker today... and if worsees to worst, for the next days toe.


    Time proved that he was merely daydreaming. At least, for what he was initially hoping.


    There was no impression left.


    The colddy did not even spare him a nce which left him an odd and ufortable feeling. After all, he was such a hot and mature guy, cough, not boasting since it was true.


    However, despite this and even though everyone else had already checked him out thrice, she was the only one who didn''t even turn her head in his direction once.


    In that short stay inside the elevator, the otherdies had even sneakily taken a photo of him whereas she never looked at him! Crazy!


    He gritted his teeth as he asked himself, ''Did my charm diminish so much that she no longer takes interest in me? Even if it''s normal coz it''s our first meeting Still, this is too much!''


    The poor man simply didn''t want to admit. But his ego was bruised since the woman he wanted most to notice him didn''t. Instead, he got treated like air. How high was her standards?


    He discreetly followed her on the first floor. Since the elevator was on the other side of the restaurant, he immediately saw Tang Jingyi and discovered that still waiting at the table. Jiang Li got surprised when the other man stood up in shock upon seeing her.


    But what made his pupils dte for a second was when the woman marched with full momentum and grace towards this agent.


    "Tang Jingyi!" It was the familiar voice, sweet and pleasant like music to the ear, yet it was very cold, way colder than when she, as Jiang Ying Yue, urged him to kill her on their first official meeting.


    The face of the man called out paled. However, in three seconds he changed his expression into a ttering one.


    "Hello, my beautiful cousin Selena!" Tang Jingyi stood up and weed her with wide arms, attempting to hug her. "It''s been a while. Nice to see you here! How have you been?"

 Chapter 264: Selena Tang (13)

    Chapter 264: Selena Tang (13)


    Tang Jingyi stood up and weed her with wide arms, attempting to hug her. "I''m d you''re back in the country now! Cousin!"


    Side-stepping to dodge him, the woman sported an expression of disgust.


    Jiang Li did not see her face back then but from where he was he heard her say, "Stop, Tang Jingyi. I''ll be brief. Although it pains me and disgusts me to see your face, it''s good that I can pass auntie''s message to you. Go home and stop embarrassing our family. You have three days. If you fail, your father warned through her that he will find you himself, break your legs, and disown you."


    ''Oh, savage,'' thought the eavesdropper.


    Faced with the woman''s sarcastic but cold face, Tang Jingyi did not erase his smile. Perhaps, in his heart, he was already expecting the woman''s words. He calmly retracted his hands and put them down by his side. He was still beaming as he nodded half-heartedly. "Alright. By the way, since we''re already here, would you like to join me here?"


    "Join you for lunch?" Looking at the half-eaten dishes opposite her cousin''s, she coldly said, "I can see that there''s already some food before yours. It seems you''re already with someone else. I don''t n to intrude. Unless your dinner partner is already gone? But then, are you going to offer me the leftover?"


    Tang Jingyi''s face briefly contorted before his smile turned stiff. Heughed awkwardly after, "Cousin, for thatst part, you''re still full of humor."


    ''How the hell did she think of that? Is she purposely embarrassing me?''


    "I don''t need you to tell me the obvious. I''m leaving."


    Giving no heed to what he was feeling, she emotionlessly nced at this cousin of hers for a second before turning around. The n was to leave right away and not entangle with the runaway son of her uncle.


    However, the n couldn''t be realized. Who would have thought that a man would suddenly appear behind her? Somebody not her assistant, and with a ss of wine in his hand?


    This spelled trouble!


    "Oh!" The woman''s ice-cold expression broke when her body collided with somebody else.


    Sshes of water or something liquid echoed a moment after. Due to the collision, she lost bnce and her back made contact with the edge of the table.


    "Miss!"


    "Cousin!"


    When her eyes involuntarily looked back, she saw that if she continued this way, she would fall onto the table and her back and perhaps, her face and hair would smash on the dishes atop it!


    ''Oh no!''


    ''Damn idiot with no eyes!''


    In anger, the cold woman cursed in her heart. She closed her eyes, her mind already picturing the disastrous scene. It was so infuriating that she vowed to make the life of the person who caused this hard. All of people, he could victimize with his idiocy, why her?


    Jiang Li, who didn''t know what ran in the woman''s mind, extended his free hand and pulled her up by the waist. Panic could be seen from his face for a while. He didn''t want any real mishaps to happen to her.


    He ignored the sticky feeling around his chest due to the spilled wine. Yet when he pulled her up, and even when he purposely caused the collision, he made sure her dress or any part of her would be stained by the wine.


    Yup, he ran into her on purpose. Because what else could allow him to be as close as possible to her and at the same time leave asting impression than a clich scenario like this?


    But no matter his goals, her meeting harm and disaster was not part of it.


    "Are you okay, Miss?" he asked with concern.


    The girl opened her eyes and stared nkly at him before examining her condition. For a brief while, relief crossed her face. However, the frost that was originally in it returned.


    Her cold eyes were affixed on him when she steadied her gait and said, "Release me."


    ''May I not?'' His mind answered subconsciously.


    ''Do you know hard it is to find you?''


    ''And howe you did not look enthralled by my face for even a while whilst this up close?'' He grumbled thest one after remembering that most female characters on TV would react like that in situations.


    While he had someints in mind, he couldn''t vite his character setting and thus albeit reluctant within, he showed a polite smile and then did as she said.


    In front of them, separated by the round table was Tang Jingyi, who then spoke to him, "Mr. Jiang! You''re back."


    Jiang Li smiled at him and said, "Sorry, I took long. I received a call from a cob partner."


    The exnation was nothing but an excuse. The man just now was nning to make the agent wait indefinitely there for somebody not returning. Only, the appearance of the mystery woman made him change his mind and go back.


    Yeah, without discerning how close and rted these two were, how could he be impolite to a future cousin-inw?


    The shameless man''s reply earned a nod from Tang Jingyi. "I see. It''s okay."


    Thetter then joined the assistant in asking if the girl was alright. Jiang Li found the woman ring coldly at him, making him cough awkwardly.


    "Miss?" he asked, making his act of looking down to the wet and stained part of his clothes as natural as possible.


    "Shouldn''t you apologize, sir?" It was the assistant who said that.


    "What?" He sounded bewildered.


    Jiang Li blinked in confusion and exchanged nces with the agent who looked nervously at them. After a couple of moments, he moved his gaze back to the girl and saw that she was staring the same at him.


    "Sir, I''m waiting." After a minute-long staring contest, the woman said.


    Jiang Li yed innocent. "I admit I have some fault in the matter. However, isn''t the bigger fault with you, miss? I didn''t know you would suddenly turn around. On my part, I was simply returning to my seat."


    The temperature in the room seemingly lowered when the woman''s gaze darkened. Selena almost scowled. The man was simply insinuating it was her fault? That she was the stupid one?


    Hah, that wouldn''t sit well with her.


    "How would I know you would also suddenly bump into from behind? Huh?" Coldly and full of thorns, she ''reasoned'' out. Her voice and tone especially sounded low.


    She quickly added after making a face as if she suddenly grasped something, "So is it that you don''t have eyes? And you expect me to have a pair on my back so I''ll know an idiot like you will run into me?"


    "..." The one called an idiot was speechless.


    A momentter, she crossed her arm and looked up at him condescendingly, "Come on. Throw at me your next excuse."

 Chapter 265: Selena Tang (14)

    Chapter 265: Selena Tang (14)


    Tang Jingyi wanted to facepalm and sighed. ''The guy is my client. But I''m sure he knows now I''m the man-hater''s cousin so he won''t sign. Damn, this sharp-tongued witch!''


    The agent made the conclusion after realizing Jiang Li heard the exchange between him and Selena. He watched as the singer blinked at the woman twice. After a while, he heard Jiang Li spoke calmly.


    "You seem to be thinking ahead unnecessarily. Why will I need an excuse? More important right now is a solution for my suit. No matter if it''s my fault for expecting you to have eyes on your back or what, it''s a fact that you bump into me and caused my drink to spill on me. For your information, everything is spilled on me because I held your waist and made sure no drop would fall on you."


    He bluntly said it. ''You''re safe and sound because of me, and you don''t have to be drenched in liquor or sauce. Shouldn''t you be grateful?''


    ''Ungentlemanly!'' Selena Tang, the cousin of the agent, cried out in her heart. She looked at the other man with disgust.


    If he knew how a true gentleman acted, he wouldn''t bring up that and used it against her. Heck, he wouldn''t even argue with ady. Were real gentlemen all already extinct? It would be tragic if only boorish, uneducated, or stupid men were left on earth!


    The woman knew there was a bit of w in her thinking, but the anger brewing in her heart did not let her admit it.


    "So you think you saved me?" She asked in a prickly manner. "In the first ce, there wouldn''t be a collision if you''re just a bit more intelligent and did not appear behind me. For Pete''s sake, you could use so many ways to reach your seat! So why did you just have to pop out of nowhere? You even almost cause me to fall on top of a table full of dishes?"


    ''Coz I can.'' The man answered in his head to the first and second questions. A smile almost formed on his lips. After a couple of exchanges of words between them, he had gradually adapted to her personality. He even found it quite refreshing.


    Of course, he still had to hide his thoughts and suppressed the urge to express his amusement.


    "Miss. I didn''t know instead of simply saying thank you and that you''ll be responsible for the dry cleaning of my vest, you''ll be like this Like a."


    Jiang Li shook his head, his eyes showing disapproval, and acted like he couldn''t find the word to describe her.


    He turned to Tang Jingyi who was sporting a dumb face on them. "Mr. Tang. I heard from earlier that she''s your cousin? Is this for real? Pardon me, but I am just having a hard time believing it. You were so polite and well-mannered whereas she."


    Once again, he left his sentence hanging. When he looked at the other man, he saw awkwardness. But more than that, in the other''s eyes was pity for him? This agent was pitying him?


    Jiang Li turned his head to the girl again and only saw her still throwing unfriendly looks at him. But deep inside, he could see resentment and a bit of embarrassment. Oh, he knew why. The ''talk'' had proceeded for quite a while so a few customers were already looking at their direction.


    Many probably saw what happened and from their perspective, the woman was a bit too much. After all, she was saved from bing a mess. However, since she turned around without warning and bumped into him, his clothes got dirty. Yet instead of saying sorry, she was the one demanding an apology.


    When was thest time she had been shamed like this? Having a guess of what was in the other customers'' mind, she, of course, became a bit resentful of the man. Nheless, knowing this wouldn''t end if she didn''t say a thing, she irritatedly extended her palm to the man. "Since I can''t seem to beat your shamelessness, pass me your phone."


    "Oh? What''s with this?"


    "Can''t you just do it? This is what you want, right? So you can contact me for the money you''ll need."


    Jiang Li''s lips curled up. "Here." He swiftly fished out his phone and unlocked it before handing it to her.


    With a few presses, she finished adding a string of numbers in his phonebook. Jiang Li noticed though that in the process, she never withdrew her chilling aura and dagger-like stares at him.


    Once done double-checking the number, she wordlessly returned the dark blue device to him. After that, she gave him onest re.


    She didn''t see him fiddling with the phone as her eyes were too focused on imprinting the face of this shameful man in her mind, nning to give him a difficult time in the future if ever they met again.


    "I hope your conscience would let you sleep at night for what you did to ady like me." In that same cier-filled tone, she spat out.


    After that, she turned around. The female assistant naturally followed, but not without first giving Jiang Li a brooding look. Tang Jingyi said his goodbye, waving a hand ufortably.


    "Hmmm." Jiang Li, on the other hand, a slight smile on his face.


    ''Sorry, I really don''t want to let you go just like that.''


    He tapped a button on his phone''s screen, which immediately caused a mechanical voice to reverberate in that part of the hall.


    "The number you have dialed is incorrect or not yet in service. Please check the number and dial again."


    "The number you have dialed is incorrect or not yet in service. Please check the number and dial again."


    "The number you have dialed is incorrect or not yet in service. Please check the number and dial again."


    Time seemed to have stood still when the woman heard that recurring message. Many busybodies stopped eating and focused their ears on that, Tang Jingyi included. Meanwhile, the woman froze in her tracks. Her skin crawled. A foreboding sense of danger welled up from within her.


    ''Don''t tell me''


    From behind her, around ten steps away, the man''s voice echoed clearly despite the music filling the ce. "Hmm? Strange" It followed a mncholic sigh. The man seemed to have realized the truth and became disheartened by it. He said, "Hah I didn''t expect this Miss."


    Tang Jingyi walked out from behind the table. He also had spection about what happened. And actually, he felt ashamed. For a while, he didn''t know whether to approach his cousin or the prospective talent.


    Selena Tang heard the younger woman next to her called out her name in a concerned manner, "Miss Tang"


    Gritting her teeth, the woman said. "Let''s get out of here fast."


    She was about to take arge stride towards the exit when the man''s voice rang again.


    "Hey, Miss"


    Jiang Li stood in his spot, trying his best not tough. The situation right now was very amusing, plus it was a rare chance when he could see her both very cold and very angry.


    He also noticed her behavior where after being busted from crime, she wanted to run away and leave the trouble behind. So after all these, even though she was the one who wanted to deceive him, she just wanted to wash her hands off of the matter?


    As if he could let that happen! Why wouldn''t he take advantage of this god-sent opportunity?


    Thinking of this, he faked surprise and even though deep inside, he wanted to roar inughter, he forced himself to looked so frustrated as he asked. "Is your impression of me that bad that you have to give me a fake number? Are you really that unwilling to take responsibility for me?"


    The words came out quite loud.


    Selena Tang trembled. It took him so long to summon back her reason.


    But even so, when she turned around, her eyes and face were red due to embarrassment and rage.


    ''This damnable animal!!!''

 Chapter 266: Selena Tang (15) <2-in-1>

    Chapter 266: Selena Tang (15) <2-in-1>


    If there was one thing Jiang Li was not wrong about, it was that the woman could easily remember things and was to recall them with almost impossible rity.


    After the collision, her head then cleared. Selena Tang promptly realized that she had seen him for a few more times. At the entrance, at the staircase, in front of therge private room booked by the director shooting her script, and here, near his cousin''s table. No, he seemed to be also with her and her assistant in the elevator!


    As said, once is happenstance, twice is a coincidence, and thrice is enemy action. There was no fourth, or fifth In the woman''s mind, the guy before her was her enemy! Starting that day!


    What a shameless rogue!


    His intention was obvious to her the moment she realized he had been tailing her since she arrived in the ce.


    Want to hit on her? Going as far as to collide with her so he could get her number? If so, then don''t me her for giving him a fake number! In her imagination, she was already anticipating him calling it countless times once he was at home or somewhere private.


    But who would have thought the man would call the given digits right away? How paranoid was he? At that time, there were so many people around, spectating the matter between them.


    ''The worst part is how that shameless man announced it to the whole ce and put the machine reply on a loudspeaker!'' Selena gritted her teeth.


    That day, the woman who became red-faced from shame and anger had no choice but give a hardly convincing reason why she inputted the wrong number on his phone. While she was changing everything in the saved contact, she imed loudly that she only mistyped one digit.


    It had been a very embarrassing scene. Especially since the whole time, she was desperately praying for the annoying man not to expose her again. How did her enemy respond?


    Probably in her entire life, she wouldn''t ever forget the kind of smile the weird blue-haired guy had on his face as he watched her performance. It got on her nerves so badly! It was that irritating!


    She didn''t know how she returned the damn phone to him. But she rememberedshing out on her cousin, giving Tang Jingyi a fierce re and making him follow her back home just so she could divert the attention of the masses and march out of the ce with a bit regained poise.


    A dayter


    "Jiang Li. A popr online singer your cousin Tang Jingyi wants to pull under the Starlight''s banner. He''s really sought after by manypanies and musicbels. Even if he can''t be a music artist, he can be a music producer orposer. A talent per se" reported the female assistant whose notable features were her short hair and mole under her chin.


    The way the young woman spoke was quite monotonous, giving the impression that what she read was not that extraordinary.


    Selena Tang''s cold eyes went to her. She was silent for a long while as she contemted something. After a full minute, she asked, "How about other details? Where did hee from? Background? Is he from a notable family?"


    The short-haired woman shook her head. "Don''t worry Miss Tang. Even though we have no information about where hees from, it''s evident that he''s not from any affluent n nor has strong backing. There''s no upper-ss family or anybody with influence and power with thest name Jiang"


    "I see." Selena Tang slightly narrowed her eyes and tapped her fingers on the mahogany desk.


    After watching her boss'' expression for a couple of seconds, the assistant continued, "However, he seems to be in a good financial situation since he could travel around frequently and he has a bit of friendship with the CEO of Starlight who is also the best friend of your cousin. He is also seen frequently with the great contemporarily painter Jing who has founded a gallery of his own, and the male supermodel Dwight who has remained number one in the global male supermodel rankings for more than a year."


    "There are also some others included in his circle of friends. While the rest are not worthy of being mentioned, one of them seems to be the man from the Fang family who is pursuing Tang Yu Yan."


    The beautiful elite woman frowned at the mention of the name. Her gaze darkened and the air surrounding her became more spine-chilling. "Somebody pursuing Tang Yu Yan, huh?"


    Tang family was an old aristocratic family with both wealth and history, thus making them one of the few great families in China. However, just like every family, theirs were also gued with controversies and dramas. In the Tang family''s case it was literally a drama.


    Her parents, for an unclear reason, ended up in a public hospital in some remote ce when her biological mother gave birth to her. There was another person who gave birth at the same time as her.


    When this whoever saw that the two babies had been put near each other and that there was no nurse nearby, evil ideas got into her brain and exchanged the two babies. The result was also an exchange of lives between the two. One of them, the fake princess, grew up in a very affluent household. She was loved by her ''parents'' and given all the riches in the world. On the other hand, the real princess lived with a poor family who treated her badly until she reached college.


    Something happened which caused this fake princess to need some blood transfusion when she was eighteen years old. When the parents volunteered, they then found out the blood did not match.


    It was unknown why it took so long for them to do this test and discover the truth, but at least it was finally revealed that the girl they raised for neen years was not their biological child.


    The parents looked for their real princess. Yet when they found her, even though they took joy in discovering she was a genius and an aplished woman, the poverty and harshness of life had already shaped her personality into being cold. She neither adored them or clung to them for love or pampering.


    The awkwardness at finding that the real princess made the parents decide to keep the fake. Anyway, in their eyes, this fake, Tang Yu Yan, was still somebody they raised and loved for years and was as good as a biological daughter. The two girls could simply get along and treat each other like real siblings. That shouldn''t be hard, no? They also heard the other family was very bad. How could they be willing to leave her in their hands?


    And so began the weird state of things in the Tang Household. Tang Yue became disgruntled at the fact that the daughter of the people who mistreated her and gave her a bad childhood and teenage years, could live good days in her biological parents'' mansion. It was hard for her to ept that all these years, what she should get went to this Tang Yu Yan. But even when she returned, what should solely belong to her still had to be split in half with this other girl.


    The Tangs did not pursue the Hai family because they were the fake''s original household?


    The sufferings she went through could be dismissed just like that?


    Hah... Tang Yu Yan was not even innocent and was somebody always framing her and painting her ck to everyone in and out of the mansion. She was sure the other did so to highlight how good, nice, and well-bred she was. Was the fake that afraid of leaving the riches of the Tangs? Why should she tolerate her?


    The reply given to her by her parents was quite heartbreaking. Tang Yu Yan, no matter how one turns the world around, was still a daughter who grew up with them. It was a very entric answer.


    The woman''s heart turned cold, realizing her biological parents were not people she should rely on. Hence she chose to distance herself from her parents who seemed to have some pits in their brains.


    By using her wits and resources, she managed to send herself abroad where she studied everything rted to writing and seeded in being a notable script and drama writer. That was also where he got the name Selena, which was synonymous with her real first name  yue, the moon.


    Yesterday was the first day she was back in the country. As expected, the people who luckily got the chance to direct the script of a multi-awarded young writer received her warmly in an audition held near the airport where she firstnded. However, the good things ended with the usual pleasantries andpliments received. The rest of the day had not been a very pleasant experience.


    The twenty-seven-year-old woman grunted. Whether it be the annoying man or that fake, the mention of their names could easily make her mood so low.


    "Miss Tang, I''ve just confirmed that Tang Yu Yan''s pursuer is Wen Hui, the son of the city mayor, Wen De."


    After taking a few sips of water and then cing down the tumbler on the table in her office, she asked the assistant, "Isn''t that fake sister of mine already in a rtionship with that actor Liu De? I heard of the news just a week ago."


    "It''s not officially confirmed."


    Selena boredly scanned the page in front of her. It was a part of the earliest act in her script. "Continue telling about that annoying singer then."


    The other girl obeyed. However, the amount of information about the man was just too little, maybe because he was not truly one of the most popr people in the country. Heck, he did not even have a wiki or Baidu page.


    In the end, the woman lost interest and simply said, "I heard enough. I decided. Tell my cousin, he can forget about signing Jiang Li."


    " Are we going to block him?" The girl''s question was because the Tang heiress had the power and the means to do this. Yet for some reason, although the youngerdy thought the man was not someone good, it was still excessive to kill his career for a simple grudge.


    "No. Why would I?" Selena Tang emotionlessly replied. "Stop asking questions and just do what I said. Also, the script needs somebody with mature stature and face and bluish hair, right? Call that Jiang Li on my behalf and tell him the role is his."


    As the creator of the story who was quite acimed in the industry due to her aplishment abroad, Selena naturally had the right to select some of the screeny''s characters. The short-haired woman naturally knew this. However, she expressed disapproval. "Miss that will be inappropriate!"


    "I simply want to reciprocate the favor. I don''t think dry-cleaning will be enough." The frost in her tone and eyes were subtly hidden when the woman replied.


    The assistant''s voice trailed off weakly, " But he is a singer and hasn''t done any acting rted things He has not been in the audition. If he gets that role that easily wouldn''t that be too easy"


    "Hmmm."


    Selena lowered her head and went back to reading her work to double-check what should be improved. Her free hand subconsciously reached out to the cup on her right side. The other girl despite feeling uneasy, she professionally and wordlessly poured tea into it.


    "That man called this morning so you should still have his logs. Inform him of my decision."


    "Miss"


    ''Earlier her question about blocking him has a hint of disapproval. And now that I want to include him in my film, she''s still showing disapproval. It must be tiring having a contradictory brain.'' She rolled her eyes.


    She knew what the other wanted to say, concerned that the film would have an imperfect element due to this Jiang Li.


    But without the assistant''s knowledge, that was actually what the woman was aiming for.


    Like said earlier, the man was now her enemy. And should be taught some lessons for embarrassing her yesterday.


    So she cidly raised her sight at the youngdy and said authoritatively, "Do it now."

 Chapter 267: Selena Tang (16)

    Chapter 267: Selena Tang (16)


    The assistant had been quite persistent so Tang Yue, no, Selena Tang, ended upshing out on her with her sharp tongue.


    A secondter, she regretted not doing it a minute earlier, wasting time in arguing with the short-haireddy


    Days passed and as she expected, the man did not hesitate once to ept the offer. As expected, he was no different from the others, somebody hungry for opportunities to get famous and rich.


    ''Let''s see how long he''llst and how everyone will view him. No matter what happens, he has no one else to me other than himself.''


    The woman disdained him for epting, yet at the same time, she was happy that he did. When her people confirmed to her that the arrangement for the guy had been done, there was an unknown glimmer flickering in her beautiful eyes.


    The entertainment industry where people with the best masks gathered. On the surface, it looked like everyone else was getting along with each other, doing charities, smiling sincerely to the cameras with others. It seemed like a sky where stars could shine. Full of splendor and glory.


    But it should not be forgotten that it was also where people wouldn''t hesitate to insert a knife behind others. While some people put in efforts and hard work, there were some people with no bottom line on what they should and should not do to attain poprity. Behind the spotlight, it was a ce full of scandals and dirt. Betrayal was amon thing. So was the hidden rule and other nasty stuff.


    However, while it was a ce where wits and schemes for resources were needed, the ultimate requirement was still the ability to act.


    But as a thirty-plus-year-old guy with no whatsoever background in acting, how was the man named Jiang Li supposed to y a fairly important supporting role in a big-budget movie?


    For sure, the majority would adopt a wary attitude since he was rmended by someone big. But once his true ''capabilities'' were exposed and the other cast members discovered that the bigshot had no more ns to shield him, which of them would not show him how annoyed there at him for being cast there?


    With a malicious grin on her face, only one thought Selena crossed her mind. She wanted to see that scene so badly! More than her prided script being brought to life!


    ''In a month, let''s see who will get thestugh, ugly rogue!''


    The girl did not know, but the singer she wanted to dig a pit for was aware of her intention. After all, he had not been involved in the industry for a few months.


    Since more than ten years ago, the Original had already been mingling in the entertainment circle and he had his experiences in mind. Since he was not really new to the showbiz world, the girl''s scheme was naturally, as clear as day to his eyes.


    However, he didn''t think twice to ept the offer. He even showed contentment and happiness to the female voice that informed him of Selena Tang''s decision.


    He had no acting experience?


    And the role given to him was that of the third male lead, an important role with many screen times which no rookie in acting should have?


    So what!


    His character was a general from ancient times. The drama to be filmed was a historical story. How hard would it be for a former general to act it out? Once he donned his armor, he might even make everyone in the crew trembling in awe. Who knows, maybe the director would like him more due to his good portrayal of himself and even add scenes for him. Or maybe she would be torn in between making him an embarrassment or a proper character of her work.


    Jiang Li was smiling from anticipation.


    He knew there was still a risk that he would fail in the filming process. However, he was not burdened by the thought.


    In any case, the sole reason he said yes to the assistant''s call was that he wanted to stay close to the girl.


    He was certain she would somehow face a disaster or fatal ident in the future. He had to be nearby and being in the same industry and social circle was the best solution. Working on the same project would be best. Like now.


    He would be an actor, something he never tried before, except when he created MVs for his band''s songs from the second world.


    She was the scriptwriter. No matter how lofty her social status was, her working ethics and duties would not allow her not to be in the set once the shooting started. Her presence would be required there since there would surely be times when the director would request some changes to cater to some people and circumstances.


    There would be many opportunities to meet. From the sidelines, she would be watching him.


    The man shook his head, the corner of his lips tugged upwards.


    ''Sorry, Miss Tang. Even if you are angry and want to embarrass me in front of the whole nation, I won''t be acting this time, but being myself. I''m afraid I would have to anger you with my sess, but I hope that will leave more impressions of me on you.''


    ''Well, even if I fail, it won''t matter. At most it will only be a signal that I should choose another stalking method,'' thought the manughingly.


    He was at a gathering and there were several others surrounding him. One of them, the first acquaintance he made in this world snickered seeing the look on his face. The other, the famous contemporary painter Gao Jing who was fond of post-expressionism and romanticism, sighed. As soft music rang in the whole ce, the voice of the man also resounded.


    "Mr. Jiang. I think I''m in trouble. Even though I repeatedly showed Miss Li that I like her, she still keeps dismissing me. Why? I even waited for her in the rain outside her house just to hear her agree to the date, but she didn''t answer..."

 Chapter 268: Selena Tang (17)

    Chapter 268: Selena Tang (17)


    "...Also, the other day, I gave her a precious ne, but she felt more happy receiving that man''s cheap bouquet It''s making me feelplicated," said the painter with a disheartened expression in his face.


    Those nearby gave him a brooding look. No, there were hints of smiles andughter in their eyes and lips. "Mr. Painter, you really are an artist."


    "Yeah. So romantic."


    "But a pitiful one."


    "Can you all not butt in? I''m talking to Mr. Jiang." Gao Jing said gloomily. Heaven knows that he badly wanted to pick up a brush right now since he got inspired and wanted to paint thugs with these men as the models.


    "Sorry, he seems busy musing about some funny matters. Look at the grin in his face,"mented Qin Tai in aidback manner.


    The guy was the same one Jiang Li met at the sunset terraces of a mall near a mountain. He used to be a lovelorn fool, but a word of advice woke him up months ago. Now, he had to thank that the people in the party were already busy talking to their cliques and were not looking at him or else, many would have seen his unsightly sitting posture unbefitting his position as a future chairman of a whole conglomerate.


    Jiang Li who had been called out let out a soft ''huh'' and then parted his chin from his right palm. He subconsciously asked, "Who talked? I think someone called me. What did he say again?"


    Young master Qin chuckled while the painter surnamed Gao covered his face, thetter looked as if he wanted to cry. When he repeated what he said earlier, his tone became a lot heavier, and with a hint of annoyance. Who would want to repeat an embarrassing history to someone?


    "Next time, you listen and don''t let your mind wander around." Because the others wereughing, when he finished parroting the words earlier, he grumpily added.


    Jiang Li shrugged. Since his brain was on what the other had consulted about, his eyes were now the ones wandering around. "Mr. Painter. Your problem is actually very easy to solve. Only give something and appear before the girl whenever she''s annoyed by your rival."


    " Don''t make me think I''m an idiot for not getting what you mean" Gao Jing answered, annoyed.


    "Comparison done at times when she''s feeling down should be effective in making her see how better you arepared to him. Don''t you think so?"


    Laughter rang after,ing from the other idle guy, who was chasing another woman of the male lead.


    The person was the son of a politician. He was Wen Hui, the one courting Tang Yu Yan, the adopted sister of the famous scriptwriter Selena Tang. "Mr. Jiang. I''m sorry, but I have to say that while you make sense, what you said is not easy at all. How can we know when those opportunities will present themselves to us? Or if those opportunities will evere?"


    At the time, Jiang Li was concentrating on the entrance and waiting for a certain girl''s arrival. He grumbled internally upon hearing the politician''s son''s retort, ''Do I have to tell them the obvious?''


    The question might have shown directly on his face. It was Qin Tai, the one no longer head over heels for one of Liu De''s woman, who was able to think of the answer clearly. "Actually, you don''t have to worry that an opportunity won''te. If it didn''t, why don''t you just create it? Although you would have to be super meticulous. It''s tried and tested on my part; the bastard has outstanding luck. So maybe if you''re going to stage a scene where you''ll be the one shining, you should make it appear as if it''s very coincidental."


    "CEO Qin, even you are now giving cryptic answers. Is that really based on experience? You should borate more!"


    The people at Jiang Li''s side exchanged their views about the matter. It was prettyical since these men of high statures were all troubled by love and were treating the same man as their rival.


    A while ago, they were all joking about stuff, sharing interesting stories, and congratting Jiang Li for his return to the capital. Thetter clinked his ss with theirs for a toast, not acting inferior to them at all even though he garnered many looks from other guests puzzled by how an unknown man like him could stay with famous and reputable people.


    From time to time, some acquaintances of the other guys near him woulde to greet them and each time, Jiang Li would introduce himself as a mere online singer. The change in the kind of look in those people''s eyes was entertaining to watch. Not few had disdain flickering discreetly across their faces. However, several insightful ones guessed there was more to him based on the unusual attitudes of his friends.


    Time passed. Unfortunately, he caught no glimpse of the person he was waiting for. Maybe the woman was busy amending her work or was simply not having any urgency to acquaint herself with the local powers and big personalities in the country.


    He saw Liu De and his ex-wife. But he didn''t approach them nor create troubles for them. He was too kind for that. And it would be troublesome. Why would he directly fight someone with abnormal luck?


    He heard somebody clicking his tongue. "I really hate seeing that man''s face."


    "Well, we all do."


    " But somehow women love it and I don''t get it," retorted the painter to Wen Hui.


    Jiang Li heard Qin Taiughing at them. "If you guys are that bothered, then stop being a loser and snatch back your women from him. Better do it at the same time, so he will feel the pain. Hurry and save your love of your lives from him!"


    Towards that malicious remark said in a joking manner, his friends fell into silence and looked at the Qin heir solemnly. Jiang Li stood up and alsoughed. Judging that the girl would not show up, he bade farewell. "Boys, I''m leaving now. CEO Qin, don''t forget my contract. Both for my songs and for me to be your signed artist."


    The politician''s son gave him a weird look. "What kind of game are you two ying?"


    Jiang Li onlyughed and looked at Qin Tai. Thetter shrugged and exined the matter to the others while the former started heading towards the exit.


    In his mind, as he walked out of the lively ce, he was remarking to himself in a cynical manner. ''Young Master Qin sure lives up to his name. Brainy. He easily managed to deduce my simple n.''


    Towards this man who stayed with them despite no longer sharing the same characteristics, being in love with somebody from the male lead''s harem, Jiang Li felt appreciation. In times when the rest were lost or purely thinking about chasing their love of their lives, Qin Tai could supply useful opinions or be the voice of reason. Like what happened earlier.


    Jiang Li walked towards the parking lot and got inside his vehicle. He did not see Selena Tang that eve, and even seemingly had his eyes burned after seeing his reborn ex-wife''s happy expression as she linked arms with the cheat Liu De.


    However, he left the ce in a pleasant manner. After all, apart from being amused by his friends, before reaching his car, he got two calls from the other guys he was in contact with.

 Chapter 269: Selena Tang (18) <2-in-1>

    Chapter 269: Selena Tang (18) <2-in-1>


    Qin Tai forgot to consult Zheng Xiang, no, Jiang Li about the exact ns for the songs so he temporarily left the group of men, nning to call the guy who just left. He also wanted to know why he sold those to him.


    He was one of the few aware that those were songs not yet released to the public but posted privately in the man''s ount. Since the man seemed unwilling to let those pieces be air to the masses, why sell then? After all, he was a businessman. It would be natural for him to put those songs to use. Yet wouldn''t that contradict the singer''s original intention?


    ''Jiang Li must have a n. He keeps giving the other boys weird advice. I don''t believe he has no scheme for himself when he''s the one who suffered the most in their hands.'' Qin Tai absent-mindedly thought as he evaded the other guests and sought out a fairly secluded spot.


    It seemed his call went through when Jiang Li was already driving back to his recently bought two-story townhouse in the southern part of the city. The manined to him. "Hey, young master Qin, how free are you? Do you know if I end up in an ident because you suddenly called, I will haunt you until you die?"


    Qin Tai coughed. His eyes checked the surroundings, and when he saw that there were people seemingly heading his way, he frowned then walked towards the balcony. There should be lesser chances of being pestered by anyone there.


    Leaning his back against the wall, he faced the dazzling night scenery in front. The mansion of the magnate celebrating his wife''s birthday was in a high location which overlooks the whole city. The assorted lights and gentle breeze was perfect to lift one''s mood up.


    The man chuckled as he replied, "Sorry, I just remembered the songs you want to sell to me. I simply don''t get why you don''t want to retain even a part of the copyright. Do you have other ideas for those?"


    "My only n is to mize them." Jiang Liughed. "I''m a poor man. Since there''s a CEO who can generously give me something in exchange, I''m more than willing to sell my creations. How much are you nning to give me again? May I expect more than ten thousand dors?"


    ''Poor man, your face,'' the heir''s mouth formed a sneer. In his mind, he was in awe of the other''s shamelessness.


    "Since you said so, fine. I''ll send mywyer to you tomorrow. You only need to sign. And the money will be transferred to your ount. Don''t worry, it will be an amount which will definitely satisfy you. I saw the value of the dozen or so songs. I''ll be fair."


    "Hey, that should be separate from my dividends." Jiang Li reminded.


    "What are you taking me for? A swindler?" Qin Tai answered, his tone hinting that he was a bit offended.


    "I''m just being careful. Because I heard apart from our circle, you are best friends with Tang Jinyi. Days ago, that guy offered me a ten-year contract with 7:3 distri----"


    "Stop! I already told that guy about you. He''s a fool, alright? I''m sane!"


    ''Don''t you know you sound like somebody hiding something nasty?''


    "Good then. I have noints," from the other line, the man answered. He then asked, "So do you have anything more to add? I''m driving."


    Qin Tai thought for a moment and when the guess in his mind became finalized, heughingly shook his head. "No. Drive safely."


    However, before he let Jiang Li hang up, he actually added, "Actually, I have something to add I just realized, you sure know how to create disgusting lyrics. I wonder how you stomach writing and singing those."


    "Huh? What---!"


    He then ended the call, smirking to himself since he had a hunch the other guy, the oldest of their bunch, was nning to spout profanities at him. The thought put him in a good mood.


    ''You made fun of me and my reputation? Fine, I''ll simply apply what I learn from you and get back at you.''


    Qin Tai felt like he had taken revenge a bit. After all, it was hard to make their oldest loseposure. The online singer sh shadow shareholder was a faker who loved donning the guise of a gentleman who was both mature yet nave. Who knows how could he stand acting like that in real life?


    ''I heard he''s going to be an actor. Is his fake persona a training for him?'' Qin Tai almost burst intoughter.


    After shaking his head, he pocketed his phone and turned around. He was naturally intending to head back to his boys and see how far and stupid their discussion had be.


    Perhaps they were already talking about how to murder Liu De, the bastard of the century, as they dubbed? Or perhaps, exchanging more silly ideas on how to chase women? If not for seeing his previous self in them, he would have imed no association whatsoever to them.


    "Mr. Qin." Suddenly, a female voice rang from his right, prompting him to turn his head there.


    It was quite unexpected. He showed surprise upon seeing a familiar figure slowly making her way out of the dim spot near the entrance. She trotted towards his direction in her ck stilettos. In his estimate, the woman had been there for some time.


    Since there was no one else nearby, he could only be her target. The only reason she didn''t interrupt nor speak earlier was that he was still on phone with somebody. If not for that, she would have not observed decorum and approached without any hesitation.


    ''Again?'' Young Master Qin almost didn''t manage to hold back his frown on time. ''What does she want this time?''


    He gave thedy a smile, however, it was one which was at most polite, neither servile nor joyous like he used to give her before. The reaction was purposely made to look perfunctory.


    "Good evening, Miss Mo. It''s a pleasure to meet you here," he said to Mo Zan. His tone suggested politeness, yet it sounded distant. He was denying familiarity with her.


    A smile appeared on the face of the refined woman. She was dressed in a ck shoulderless gown that fitted on her upper body and hips but flowed loosely around the calves.


    Yet, although she maintained the elegant arc formed by her red lips, her gaze darkened. As somebody taught from a young age to be observant of the behavior and speeches of people around her, she naturally noticed his unusual attitude. He was acting so distant.


    Why did Qin Tai change?


    It was a question that gave the woman countless headaches.


    She hid her thoughts and maintained the captivating curl of her lips. She said, "It''s been a while since we spoke to each other, Mr. Qin. I have yet to congratte you on the opening of your new mall in Shanghai. May I have a few words with you?"


    Qin Tai inwardly wanted to sigh, annoyance creeping into his heart. But on the outside, he shed another smile. "Thank you, Miss Mo, and we''re already talking. It''s nothing special, but it''s an honor for a small aplishment of mine to be noticed by the big boss of Dreamer."


    Mo Zan stared at his face for some time. At first, she only felt irritated when seeing that same smile, but after trying to get his attention and cooperation for months, as she had no choice due to her family''s pressure, her opinions of him began to change.


    She didn''t know when it started.But it seems since months ago, she started noticing many good points about him. One of those was his face which was actually not one whit inferior to Liu De


    There was also his air of nobleness which the other man barely had. She was referring to that aura of confidence that was deeply rooted in Qin Tai''s body as someone born to superior lineage and with natural superior qualities and capabilities.


    Of course, in her heart, was still Liu De The morousdy silently whispered to herself. After regaining a bit of rity in her head, she raised two champagne flutes. "I would like to formally congratte you. So how about a toast?"


    Oblivious to Mo Zan''s train of thoughts before her offer, the man lightly puckered his lips looked at the two sses in her hands.


    A momentter, his grin reappeared as he sped his hands in front and said, "Pardon me, Miss Mo. But I have already drunk too much so I don''t think I can ept the drinks. My acquaintances are also waiting for me in the lounge."


    ''Escaping from me?'' Mo Zan felt like her pride got hit, a hint of anger crossed her eyes and she barely managed to hide them when she hurriedly replied, "Mr. Qin. I''m sure you know why I approach you and I think you simply don''t want to engage in pleasantries. But can''t you give me more of your time? If you''re really in a hurry, I will be brief, I assure you it''s business cooperation that you''ll be interested in."


    "The host said we should enjoy ourselves tonight and refrain from talking about stressful or work-rted matters. And I think he has a point. As career-oriented working people, it''s hard for us to find time to rx. So I want to take this opportunity to just be happy with my friends."


    The man''s handsome face showed augh that stunned Mo Zan for some time. But seeing her not retorting, he made use of that chance to add, "Miss Mo, I think you should do the same too. If you have some other business with me, please forward them to my secretary. Don''t worry, if it''s something worth coborating with, they''ll definitely send it to me."


    The woman was enthralled by his face and voice for quite a while. However, upon hearing what he just said, anger rose in her heart again. None of her letters or proposals ever got a reply for him! And ording to her insider in the Qin Enterprise, those never reached his hand anyways! What did he mean by his recent statement then? Was she insulting her? Or testing her?


    As much as she didn''t want to admit it, a hint of bitterness rose from within as well. A question once again lingered in her mind, ''When did he change and be cold to me?''


    She tried to shake it off, of course, after she realized what she just asked herself. ''No. I should be minding when this dog will agree to cooperate with us again so I can get my peace and return to my happy days with Liu De.''

 Chapter 270: Selena Tang (19) <2-in-1>

    Chapter 270: Selena Tang (19) <2-in-1>


    The woman whispered to herself that she was doing this because she wanted to return to the carefree days she used to have before. She would no longer be pestered by her family, threatened using her inheritance. Liu De and her would be able to meet more often.


    However, a whileter, she actually gritted her teeth, recalling her most recent fight with the male lead. The memory put her in a bad mood. The reason for the fight was herck of time for him because she was busy with regaining her grandfather''s faith and love for her. She really disliked how that lover of her kept finding fault in her instead of helping her by not stressing her out. Did he think she was not aware of his other women?


    Mo Zan seemed to have yet realized that each day, she was growing dissatisfied with the male lead. Her innate personality was also surfacing faced with Qin Tai, her former vice president who had caused her some big headaches.


    Thetter kept running away from her and rejecting her proposals and advancements, so she kept chasing him and trying out ways to get him to notice her again. Deeply ingrained in her bones was the urge to dominate and conquer, so since Qin Tai kept slipping away, her pride and desire to conquer surfaced.


    He said they should enjoy themselves and forget the stressful matters?


    Mo Zan briefly swept her gaze around while taking a swig from her ss. Seeing there were no guestsing towards their direction, she swallowed the wine and let it flow down her throat. The moist redness of her lips appeared especially charming under the warm glow from the moonlight.


    The man saw that she closed her eyes for a while, looking as if she would be choking at any given time. However, a momentter, she opened them and then tookrge strides toward him.


    The glint in her misty eyes was dangerous, at least in his perspective. She remained charming, but Qin Tai was way past the point where he would have no choice but be enraptured by her beauty.


    "I think our talk is done so I will be leaving." He couldn''t help but say, nning to walk away.


    "No. Stay!" The woman yelled in an authoritative manner after noticing his subtle movements.


    To be honest, Qin Tai was offended by her tone, reminded of the days when she was working for her instead of his family''s business, taking in her angry roars, just to be near her. How stupid he was back then?


    "Mo Zan. I know you''re intelligent so you should be aware that I''m already done with you. Have some decency!" The man looked away and held her on ce by the shoulders when she tried to embrace him. Disgust was painted in his face as he evaded her lips that keep seeking his cheek and mouth.


    "No! Don''t think I''ll let you get away again!" She replied, a fire could be seen in her eyes, but who knew if that was out of anger, or something else?


    Her tone was strange when she continued, "Qin Tai. Can you please stop acting like this? Your objective is now achieved. I''m interested in you. Aren''t you supposed to be happy? I have to look for you everywhere and think of you days and nights after you suddenly annulled our engagement. My family forced me into this. Still, you sessfully captured my attention so I persisted in trying to get you back. So why do you keep testing my patience?"


    Mo Zan probably simply lost reason since she felt that her pride had been challenged so much already. In her mind, the man still loved her and was only being cold to him so she would have to chase after him. The chase had been going on for months. It was time to end it.


    "Miss, I think you''re drunk and need some sober soup or sshes of water on your face." Face crumpled, his tone held sarcasm.


    "I''m sober!" she replied firmly. She was feeling ashamed, but her situation would not allow her to back out, so she just pressed forward. Trying to put her arms around his neck and pull down his tie.


    Her actions led the man to sport aplicated expression in his face. Why was the goddess he used to pursue before acting like this today? Did she know her speech and deeds were just making him regret liking her before?


    He greatly disliked what she was doing. So he put more strength in his hands and pushed her away. He felt that he should have done this earlier, even though the woman cried out in pain and shot him a look full ofints.


    "Qin Tai, you never hurt me before. You changed"


    "I didn''t change. I simply realized we''re impossible. Sorry, Mo Zan. I don''t like you anymore."


    The other, after steadying herself, looked up at him in shock. The shock was then reced by disbelief. She shook her head and said to deny his im, "I don''t believe you. If you do, why didn''t you push me much earlier? Is this another attention-seeking tactic of yours? Huh, Mr. Qin?"


    "You should be hearing yourself clearly." He shook his head, finding it unbelievable how highly she was thinking of herself. "I hope you realize how sounded and acted just now. It''s absolutely disgraceful." While saying that, he took a couple of steps back, then turned around.


    The woman left behind there gave a dumbfounded expression. Her gaze was vacant as she watched the man leave her behind, going further and further away from her.


    The guy she always ignored before was walking away from her. He strode with confidence inside, weed by his friends. A smile that was miles better and more radiant than the one he gave her earlier showed on his face.


    So he could actually make such a captivating expression?


    For a moment, she could not move her gaze away from the man. She felt like there was something she missed out. Or maybe, it was her heart that seemed to have skipped a beat.


    However, the feeling did notst for more than three seconds. It was as if it was never there in the first ce.


    Mo Zan hurriedly shook off the unnecessary thoughts and closed her eyes.


    Not long after, she was back to her real, indifferent self. Gone was the seemingly mad woman who nearly ''assaulted'' a guy. In her ce was somebody who awed the entertainment circle for making Dreamer apany standing at the same level as Starlight, the previously sole king of the showbiz world.


    Mo Zan looked away from the radiant scene inside and walked towards the balcony. She raised the other ss which only had half of its original content remaining. The rest had spilled on the ground when she got pushed away by Qin Tai.


    Thankfully, only a few drops got on her dress and since the color of it was ck, it would not be noticeable. However, that did not stop her from thinking that she should get a change of clothing as soon as possible.


    The woman would have bolted into one of the break rooms, if not for waiting for a certain person to appear on her sight.


    She did not wait long and before she finished the remaining drink in her ss, a shadow showed up next to hers. Words were exchanged between her and the neer.


    Before they parted and mingled with the crowd inside again, Mo Zan tly said, "I don''t n to engage in any more games with him. Please forward everything nice you captured to the old man of the Qin family. Make sure to pick the ones with the most ambiguous positions."


    As she walked away from the ce, she heard a hum of agreement from behind.


    "Brother Qin, that Mo Zan is quite hrious. We saw it. She threw herself to you! How''s the feeling of somebody you liked before jumping into your arms in her own volition?" tauntingly, an impossibly handsome man with red ruby piercing on the left ear named Zhao Ming, asked. He was a fairly known model, with the international stage name, Dwight.


    The moment Qin Tai sat down, heughed. "Don''t ask. It''s horrible. Before, I just thought she''s doing this to regain my family''s cooperation. After all, even though our families are rivals in the entertainment circle, we used to support each other in the other industries. I didn''t know she would suddenly be like that."


    "Well, if you don''t like the woman and she jumped at you like a creep, I bet you felt like you''re being raped,"mented the politician''s son in a serious manner. The man, Wen Hui, spoke by experience. He shook his head to chase some unpleasant memories away.


    The others didn''t know about it, so they shot him an amused look.


    Meanwhile, Qin Tai roamed his eyes around and realized somebody was missing apart from their former producer. "By the way, did Gao Jing go home already?" he asked.


    "I''m here." Suddenly, the painter''s low and raspy voice rang from the left.


    The tall man with a schrly and restrained air around him could be seen making his way towards them, one of his hands was covering his ear. Based on his slightly distorted face, the painter quite disliked the noises around, especially the weird ssical music with irregr tempo.


    "Hmm. I thought you have left."


    "Nope. I saw something more interesting than somedy clinging onto you, Mr. CEO." The man threw his phone to Qin Tai. After the man caught it and looked at the disyed picture, no, video, he only nked out for a moment, before bursting intoughter.


    Seeing him like that made the other guys curious, they snatched Gao Jing''s phone from him so they could take a glimpse of the secret. Qin Tai was too busyughing to resist the thieving hands.


    "Ah? So all along, this woman is acting?" In a tone filled with amazement, the model eximed. His eyes were glued to the scene ying on the screen.


    Wen Hui''s look of astonishment was not on what was ying on the phone, but towards Gao Jing. "Hey, Mr. Painter. I salute you. I have no idea how you realized there''s something more to President Mo''s actions, but Brother Qin will be saved due to you."


    "Small matters," the painter replied, taking a seat too beside Wen Hui. "I thought thisdy boss finally realized our CEO''s greatness. A pity"


    He grabbed a ss of water and then took a few mouthfuls. However, he didn''t swallow everything in one go. Gao Jing was mindful of the intake of liquid since he read from somewhere it was not healthy to drink and swallow inrge gulps.


    Hispanions thought it was a quirk of an artist. But anyway, they didn''tment about it. They were more interested in the drama staged by the woman and what she nned to do with the misleading photos her paparazzi gathered.


    Zhao Ming jokingly told his friend, "Mr. Qin, you better be careful of ckmail."


    "Yeah, you should. Why else would a woman angry at you hired some paparazzi if not to frame you or ckmail you?"


    "Well, maybe, it''s not to be used against me, but on someone else?"


    The man teased then once again roared inughter. Afterward, he shook his head. As he engaged in a guessing game with the men, he was actually sinking into deep thoughts.


    He let go of the past love, but instead of feeling like he lost the world, he actually regained himself and what should belong to him, and even made new friends, who were quite irritating at times but were still reliable.


    He thought, there was simply nothing to regret. Or maybe there was. That he should have woken up from his dream much earlier.

 Chapter 271: Selena Tang (20) <2-in-1>

    Chapter 271: Selena Tang (20) <2-in-1>


    The celebration went on. The ones who stayed were quite lucky since they managed to witness a few more interesting events. An example, was how the sole Tang family member who attended was outcasted


    Tang Yu Yan was the one sent by the family to congratte the birthday celebrant. The woman was known to the whole upper society as a leech to the prestigious family. Due to Selena Tang''s return, aparison between them was brought up.


    Usually, in dramas, it would be the fake who would shine when ced next to the real since the fake was the one who received an elite education and grew up knowing how to be elegant and stylish.


    However, Selena Tang did not follow this script. Through her own hard work and brain, she showed that she could enter and graduate from an elite university. In fact, before Selena Tang was discovered by her family, she already had a bit of fame for winning international contests in literature. She obtained riches through her own effort and severed her connection to the parasite family that ''raised'' her as a maid.


    The fake was put in an awkward situation. In the minds of people, she was nothingpared to the real princess, be it her real lineage or ability. Even though Selena Tang''s parents did not drive her away, the head of the family already announced that she would not have a part of the inheritance of the Tangs.


    Had she been promised some part of the Tang''s legacy, a few would have flocked to her side and befriended her. But she was not. Her appearance was only enough to enter Liu De''s harem. It fell short whenpared to Selena Tang''s.


    The fake only exceeded the other in terms of skill in appealing to her parents and appearing weak, pitiful, and lovely to people. Yet those were skills that had no effect on the majority of the people in the gathering. Therefore, the gazes directed at her from most who knew her were strange.


    Actually, even those from Qin Tai''s group were.


    One time, the painter said, "Come to think of it, one way or another, aren''t those few who fell for Liu De are problematic?  I think many arecking in vision Or have some attitude problems What do you think guys?"


    The rest who heard them felt pain in their heads, inwardly agreeing despite this silence.


    Qin Tai shrugged and said, ''You''re right, so thankfully, I''m done with my previous obsession. But actually, it''s not that bad. I mean, not everyone is like that. The case is not that serious, at least whenpared to who Wen Hui likes''


    The boys gave the man mentioned a meaningful look. Wen Hui also shrugged. ''It''s my business who I like. And Yu Yan is also not that bad.''


    Listening to his reply, the rest could only dismiss the matter. Although to be honest, if not for knowing that she was at least sweet and genuine to those who cared for her, they would have advised Wen Hui to give up on Tang Yu Yan and instilled some sense into his brain.


    That was all for the fake princess of the Tang family.


    The other exciting event that took ce was Mo Zan''s meeting with Liu De who attended the party with Mo Fang as his female partner.


    ording to rumors, those three had a heart to heart talk inside the restroom. Not many knew of what they discussed. However, one loose-lipped person spread rumors about how thedy CEO warned the actress to know her ce and to stop being familiar with her


    ''We have the same surname but we''re not rted by blood. Stop assuming you are free to call me sister,'' Mo Zan apparently said to the other woman, in a tone filled with disgust.


    At the time, Mo Fang turned to Liu De, showing a pitiful face. The man felt like she was being bullied so he defended her against Mo Zan.


    But his actions resulted in the high-born woman holding more dissatisfaction with him. This was why even though she could feel that she still had feelings for Liu De, she did not continue speaking to him and directly left the venue. She gave him no more opportunity to lecture her again.


    Along the way home, her eyes fell on the smiling photo of her ex-fianc sent to her anonymously by her associate. She kept looking at it for a fairly long while, her thoughts unknown to anyone.


    ...


    ''Stop assuming you can call me sister. I don''t n to take a shameless adulteress like you as my blood rtive!''


    Hourster, these words kept echoing in Mo Fang''s ears, making her absentmindedly stare into the distance. She was manually drying her hair using a white towel. Reflected on her vacant eyes was the painting of a vast grasnd. It was quite breathtaking. There was a cute prairie dog standing on its hindlegs facing the beautiful sunset on the left side of the painting.


    It was the same artwork that made her remember what the arrogant president of Dreamer Entertainment told her. Mo Fang subsequently remembered the embarrassment she felt.


    "That b*tch." With displeasure written all over her face, she spat out in annoyance. She stood up and paced around her hotel room.


    What made that Mo Zan think that she was on the top of the world? Hours ago, all she did was greet the other woman since she was herpany''s ultimate boss. There were other women with ambiguous rtionships with Liu De who attended the same event. So why was she the one who received theshings?


    All sorts ofints ran in her mind. As she grumbled about the CEO of Dreamer, she also remembered Liu De''s attitude earlier and then became even more annoyed.


    "Liu De is too much as well!" she hissed.


    Mo Zan was not aware but when the man saw her leaving, he panicked and then began throwing ming words and gazes at Mo Fang. He didn''t want thedy CEO to leave. He must have wanted to im her in his left arm while holding the b*tch on his right. So when this did not be reality, she was rebuked.


    This was actually what made her very dissatisfied. It was that other woman who had a dirty mouth and even shouted in the restroom what she shouldn''t. He chastised Mo Zan, and it was only fair. But then, he med her when that woman left?


    "I think we should not meet for a week." She remembered that in anger and frustration, she told the male lead these which also made him sport a lost expression. But then, she was truly fuming.


    Mo Fang had been too obedient towards the man so he would remember her as a good woman. However, it seemed she couldn''t pass some days without showing him that she also could have her temper.


    And well, it was the truth anyway. The insult had just been too much... So she also left him there.


    The woman only remembered getting insulted by what Mo Zan said, however, she subconsciously forgot that there was a reason why she got those words from the other. In her heart, she was only feeling angry about how Liu De treated her horribly just because one b*tch threw tantrums.


    ''I better clear my thoughts and stop making myself angry. There are many more things to do. I have to check how the media sees my participation in the party.''


    Mo Fang, still dressed in her bathrobe, picked up her phone from the dressing table and then went back to the bed. Her figure as sheid there was very enchanting, giving off a vibe present only to mature women.


    A smile emerged on her pretty face currently devoid of makeup upon seeing the news. In her heart, she praised the reporters who sneaked in because the photos of her were all beautiful. The sparkling little gems and sequins on her red dress made her beauty shine more. She really looked gorgeous there, worthy of stepping into that ce as one of the invited guests.


    Her eyes promptly moved downward, ncing through the body of the article. Originally, anticipation was brimming in her chest. However, it vanished like smoke a momentter when she confirmed that her name was not mentioned.


    In the news, There was only a part hinting that CEO Mo of Dreamer Entertainment got into an argument in a restroom for an actor. Liu De was not named in the incident. However, he was mentioned in the opening part of the article, detailing how prestigious the party was due to his and Mo Zan''s appearance.


    "Arrrgggghhhhh!"


    She vented her frustration by shouting. She spent some time spouting profanities and vulgar words inside the room. She had no qualms shouting there since she was the only one inside. More yells poured out of her throat, and her hands kept punching and throwing pillows.


    ''When did I suffer like this? I''m so angry! I''m so angry!''


    ''Mo Zan hates me and does not wee me in the sisterhood. She must have intentionally let the news out so people will be curious and then made some moves against me.''


    ''Hah. They won''t find anything! And Liu De will surely not give up on me because his brain is filled with straws!''


    ''Still, so infuriating!!! I want to throw sulfuric acid on her face!''


    The woman kept on cursing the two while not forgetting to encourage herself. However, deep within, she recognized that she was also feeling inadequate and a bit afraid of the future.


    Somehow, an image floated in her mind. Afterward, she quietened down and sat on the edge of the bed.


    ''Before, Zheng Xiang never allowed me to suffer. And whenever I feel depressed or insulted by my haters, he would be the first to jump to my defense.''


    Mo Fang was quiet for a while before shaking the thoughts away. Before she knew it though, her fingers were already betraying her, fiddling on her phone. When she realized this, questions rose up one after another. How was he doing? What had he been up totely? He should be doing worse than her, right?


    ''It''s empty.'' When she visited his page, there was nothing uploaded there in the past seven or so months. All she could see was the badments left by her supporters about their divorce.


    A faint pang of guilt assaulted her conscience. After all, she caused all these just so she could be with Liu De. Now that she thought about it, she never heard about him for so long. Where did he go? Did he leave the entertainment circle altogether?


    Mo Fang felt at a loss when the question popped up. However, a momentter, she cursed. "Really stupid. But it''s for the better. I don''t wish to see him in the entertainment world anymore."


    ''I''ll just feel guilty.''


    After shaking her head. She exited the page. However, she did not leave the app. But stared nkly at it for some time.


    A couple of minutester, she just found herself logging into her ex-husband''s ount.


    As expected, he still had not changed his username and password. What a silly man.


    A nk page greeted her for eyes for some time as she waited for the contents to load. A circle that kept spinning and changing color every rotation upied her screen for more than ten seconds. Not long after, pictures and letters emerged. And she was stunned.


    It was not true that Zheng Xiang never uploaded or wrote anything in his ount for months!


    One two sevenno, thirteen. When she stopped scrolling through her phone, she couldn''t help but feel dumbfounded after discovering that there were thirteen private videos uploaded. It seemed that all the videos were actually songs. Was he the one whoposed them?


    The woman trembled, and a feeling of numbness spread all over her body. She was having mixed feelings about the titles. She was moved, and felt a bit of regret. However, she also felt like the man was hopeless and a fool.


    ''Why wrote that you''ll wait for someone who has already abandoned you...''


    ''What the heck is with the line ''I''ll be here until I breathed myst''?''


    ''Does he know the titles are so cringeworthy? He''s really making me feel ashamed on his behalf!''


    The woman did not seem to notice how badly she was shaking and how hard she had bitten her lower lips.


    ''Right, Mo Fang, he''s really an embarrassment''

 Chapter 272: Selena Tang (21)

    Chapter 272: Selena Tang (21)


    Once done looking into the titles and reading the short descriptions, or more like, messages under, she closed her eyes and wondered. Did he have an inkling that she would suddenly have an impulse to log into his ount one day? Or was he simply hoping she would and left these in case she did?


    "Zheng Xiang" She called out the name in her heart.


    A couple of minutes passed in silence.


    After deliberating for some time, the woman ultimately did not listen to the songs nor watch the videos. She knew if she did, her heart would only waver. After all, the person featured there was someone she used to love and a man she had been with for years.


    Mo Fang shut down her phone and threw it somewhere she wouldn''t see it temporarily.


    Her decision to not check the videos was so that her conviction would not be affected.


    She had already vowed to be part of the upper society. And Liu De was the easiest to ess amongst the avable tickets. Not to mention in the future, Liu De would also be the richest man in the country. Before glory and riches, was the love and longing of somebody she was no longer fond of worth mentioning?


    ''People could argue that I''m being a coward, but I should not care. I have no time to be nostalgic,'' she quietly whispered.


    Having made up her mind, the reborn woman set on her objectives once again dismissed the love expression through the songs.


    When days passed and she made up with Liu De, the sweetness of her days with him made her forget about it entirely. Or maybe, it started with her acting as if she did not see anything in Zheng Xiang''s page until the passage of time helped her no longer remember.


    Until one day, she was reminded of the songs'' existence and realized that each of the melodies was very nice to the ears despite sounding emotional.


    She copied the songs to her device and deleted the ones in Zheng Xiang''s ount. Her mood was good when she did that and there was no remorse in her face.


    She was assuming the man would no longer remember about it after not visiting his page for so long. So even if his creations went live on radios, if the lyrics were different, he would not be able to say anything.


    No, in her estimate, he would not say a thing once he learned it. Especially, if it was her who used them. He was just that kind of man.


    A few dayster, after studying the melody and recording a rough, unpolished version of it, she submitted the output to thepany. In the afternoon of the same day, she received a call from a known producer of the music department.


    "Good afternoon, Miss Mo. I''m calling about the files your personal assistants endorsed to us. May I ask if you are really the one who wrote them?"


    Her voice was very sweet and pleasant when she replied, "Hello, Mr. Sun. And yes. I am. Is there a problem?" At the end of her sentence, nervousness was even present in her voice. When she sent the pieces, all she was thinking was that all of the songs were beautiful to listen to and with rhythms and melodies that were easy to memorize. "I thoughtlessly sent the files, hoping that at least one can catch your fancy, Sir. I''m sorry if there''s some problems with them."


    Hearing the veiled anxiety in her tone, Mr. Sun hurriedly spoke to rify.


    "Ah, no, Ms. Mo. There''s no need to act like that because there''s no issue with everything you submitted. In fact, there would never be a problem because the works are just so great! I can see good potential for them!"


    Laughter rang then from the other line and when the woman heard it, her heart felt at ease. She secretly heaved a sigh of relief. As expected, the songs could be used and perhaps, made into chart-toppers. Good. That was all that matters.


    A huge smile was stered on her lips were as sheughingly replied, "Thank goodness then, Mr. Producer. I feel so happy receiving your evaluation. However, earlier, you really almost made me believe that something''s wrong. Like the songs are too amateurish or too emotional."


    "Ooops, it''s definitely not my intention. Haha," said the producer amidst a heartyughter.


    "I see. Okay then. To be honest, I''ve been learning about music long ago. However, I only recently managed toplete the lyrics Although you seem to like them, what do you think about their future performance? Can we make an album out of them?"


    After that question was asked, several exchanges of words followed between them. When Mo Fang felt like there was no more problem, she tasked the other to secure the copyright. She even especially requested for the songs to be given to Liu De, her lover.


    At that moment, she alreadypletely forgot that she was not the real creators of the tracks.


    While the ex-wife wasying out ns for the songs that were dedicated for her and heartlessly giving them to the man she wastching onto, the real creator of the music pieces had already finalized the contract with Starlight. It was quiteical considering how he was actually one of its shareholders. However, he realized that it was not forbidden to be an artist and shareholder at the same time.


    New songs, the ones he sang in his channel as Jiang Li would be officially made into an album. An MV was even already decided for the one which would be the main track, and actually, the filming had already started.


    Jiang Li was only featured there singing before a piano, sometimes in some random backgrounds and dashing costumes and suits. This was why his part where allpleted in a day. After all, he only needed to sing and match some emotions to it. If he couldn''t pull off any, close his eyes then and act as if he was internalizing the lyrics. Simple He heard somebody made a script for the official music video but he didn''t pay much attention to it. His focus went on the shooting of the drama which finally began after three days.


    It was a sunny Wednesday.


    The venue depicted a traditional house called Siheyuan. When he first entered, he was a bit in awe since the ce was really preserved and did not look that different from themon houses he got used to seeing in Jiang Ying Yue''s world.


    Alright to be honest, he did not remember much about theyout and styles. However, the feeling was at least authentic, probably only minus the smell of the air in the ce which did not escape from the pollution outside. In the historical world, the air could not get any fresher and more pollution-free.


    Anyways, after recovering from the brief nostalgia, he looked ahead and saw that there were many crew members already exploring the courtyard house. Selena Tang was next to the director. Thetter spoke to her as if seeking opinions before pping and shouting to everyone that they would be starting the filming.


    Jiang Li was caught by some makeup artists as he had scenester.


    Selena Tang''s mood was good when she left the set thatte afternoon. This was despite the director holding her and the producer team back for an hour while the rest were okay to go home.


    "I''lle again tomorrow and spectate the shooting," she subconsciously said. The cheerfulness in her voice would have made her assistant throw her a weird nce if not for thetter being left behind to continue the talk with the other staff. Her tone and mood right now was simply a huge contrast to her usual ice cold one.


    Naturally, there was a reason for it.


    She recalled what happened earlier.


    Before noon, the parts showing the general started.


    The man Jiang Li surprised her a bit with his appearance and decent acting.


    Okay, actually, she was annoyed, because the man could easily replicate the scene and emotion she envisioned when writing that general.


    But thankfully, the director was a very kind person and always listened to her opinion. Or maybe he was simply acquiescing to her since she had a good reputation as a writer and was the heiress of the Tang family. In any case, she was d that when she said she was not satisfied with the scenes, especially those involving the general yed by the man, the director graciously took in her suggestion.


    Because of this, even though the singer''s parts should have been only taken for at most three times, the director ordered and rearranged a bunch of things which made somebody rted or around the man received many NGs. As a result, all of Jiang Li''s scenes needed 5-7 takes on average! That was 5-7 no goods!


    ''Hehe, I would have asked for more if not for some dissatisfied looks from other staff.''


    The girl''s immaturity was in full disy. A smug expression was even on her face when the thought flickered across her mind. Actually, her footsteps were even lighter than usual as she trotted towards the parking lot.


    She was really pleased with witnessing her enemy suffer. She would have to admit, she almostughed out loud upon taking a glimpse of that guy frowning or having a lost look put on whenever he was made to repeat an act. It was quite the masterpiece.


    ''I fell in love with seeing my enemy angry.'' The woman yfully added to herself. With one hand holding her purse, she reached out the other to the door of her car.


    In her mind, there was already a n on where and how she would treat herself for this small victory.

 Chapter 273: Selena Tang (22) <2-in-1>

    Chapter 273: Selena Tang (22) <2-in-1>


    When tomorrow came, Selena Tang went to the set and copied what she did yesterday. Of course, the result was an unexinable satisfaction from watching her enemy once again repeat his scenes a few times more than necessary.


    Was he enjoying it? What was the feeling of seeing the director always switching ideas or his colleagues failing to enact some parts?


    ''He must be thinking it''s not his fault. It''s either mine, the director''s, or his co-actors.'' Sheughed secretly.


    The woman was aware that she was being petty and childish, that she was proving herself narrow-minded to the guy. But so what? The embarrassment she experienced that day would never be exined through words. And the heaviness in her chest would never be alleviated unless she gets back at him!


    "Let''s call it a day! Pack up!" The afternoon quickly passed and the sun on the west was already partially hidden by the mountain ranges. Selena felt her throat dry so she twisted the cap of her bottle of mineral water and chug on it.


    The weather in the province where they were shooting most of the outdoor scenes was quite odd. Since the ce used to be at the top of a mountain, the temperature was pretty low and moist.


    Even if it was sunny and one put on a jacket to protect themselves from the painful rays of the sun, they would not sweat since the wind was very cold. For those used to the warm climate, it would be easy to get chapped lips and crave for water or anything that could alleviate thirst. It sounded bogus, but it was real. Selena and the others were wrapped up in their jackets, however, even though the sun above hours ago was quite intense, they barely perspired. Those who imed that they did eximed that the sweat instantly cooled.


    As the woman recalled some of the crew reporting to that to the Director, her cold face crumpled a bit.


    "Good work, Miss Tang." Came a voice to her left.


    She turned her head to the middle-aged man and nodded, "Likewise. My assistant already told me the details I missed yesterday. The modifications will take a day or two."


    ''Wouldn''t that be okay?'' The words did not leave Selena''s mouth.


    She was the type to only inform, not solicit opinions.


    "No problem for me. The part needing some changes will be for next week so you can take your time," replied the other.


    The woman nodded again and then turned around. Yet before she could walk away, one of the producers reminded something to the director.


    It turned out that after she left yesterday, the rest of the crew members that stayed behind jokingly pestered the leader to treat everyone for a sessful start. The middle-aged guy reluctantly agreed. He was evidently reluctant because if one of the producers did not remind him, he would have conveniently forgotten about it.


    "Miss Tang, please join us. It won''t be an every day chance to have Director Fu treat us," asked the brave producer who seemed to be in histe thirties.


    Selena narrowed her cold hazel emerald eyes at him for a while. At that moment, the rest was wondering whether she would reject the invitation in a ''creative'' manner.


    She failed their expectations when she asked, "Are all the actors, producers and staff members going?"


    "Yes." With a forced smile, the director nodded.


    The woman thought for a moment and decided toe too. She was in a good mood so it would be okay to go with them. Her only worry was if the food would reach her standards. "Since everyone''s in, I don''t want to be called killjoy for not going."


    "Great!" The assistant director hurriedly made arrangements with the middle-aged man.


    Selena saw some of the staff scattering around and she had a hunch that they were already announcing the news. The others left to deal with the several pieces of equipment and props hastened their movement and were almost sprinting as they carry everything towards the vans and trucks nearby.


    "Unbelievable. Is free food that attractive?" The woman heard Director Fuining.


    Including Selena, many gave the man a disdainful nce for asking something extremely obvious.


    Arge group of people was ushered into a local but reputable restaurant. The director opted for unlimited pork and beef which they had to marinate and fry by themselves. The drinks and various side dishes were also unlimited. The time limit was two hours, and around ten stoves were provided.


    If not for the delicious and appetizing smell of the meat, everyone there would haveined to the director that he was too stingy or inconsiderate.


    Selena was among the select few not fighting hard over pieces of meat that were still sizzling in the pan. Her assistant constantly cooked for her and there were also people eager to cotton up on her that kept piling up food before her.


    She was graceful as she ate. Even though she had not had the opportunity to learn etiquette until she was in college, amongst the prettydies that were still observing manners at the table, she stood out. Her beautiful face that showed no change of emotions strangely further enhanced her elegance.


    Time passed by in this matter. She rarely spoke throughout the meal even though the others tried their best to make her join their conversation.


    A couple of minutester, while the others were still chatting warmly and merrily eating, the woman stood up and told Director Fu that she already had her fill and would be going back first. She casually turned to the short-haired girl who rose to her feet with the intention to escort her back.


    ''Silly.'' She raised a hand and told the other to stay to have her fill. After all, the assistant had been needlessly too considerate of her boss that she forgot to stuff her own mouth.


    Selena walked out of the restaurant with her right hand clutching on her ck gold purse. But then, she had to pause her steps at the second rows of parked cars outside upon encountering someone she quite disliked. Her face automatically turned sour, eyes narrowed.


    ''I didn''t notice this guy leaving before me.''


    A few steps in front was Jiang Li talking with somebody on the phone in a good mood. The man was standing near her car, in front of a pir which had a trash bin next to it. Since his sight was in the opposite direction, he did not see her. However, the angle made it convenient for her to see how happy he was about whatever he was talking with the other party.


    Her steps resumed, with her pitch-ck strappy high heels echoing crisp click-ck sounds against the floor. The man promptly distanced the phone from his ear, making her think that he finally noticed that somebody else was within the vicinity.


    ''If he greets me, I''ll make sure to ignore him.'' She huffed and quietly told herself.


    What happened next was quite not within her expectation though.


    Who would have thought the reason the man put away his phone was actually to pull up his handkerchief?


    Coughing sounds ensued. A brow of her rose up as she reached for the handle of the car door. With a bit of force, she pulled the door open. However, before getting in, her eyes momentarily went to the man only a meter away from her. His body was bending a bit over the bin as he coughed. And when he finished, he threw the piece of cloth with some bright red blood on it into the trash can.


    A momentter, she looked away, indifference was on her face as she ced her clutch bag on the passenger seat. Yet, it did not take long for her to stiffen on ce when she realized something.


    She saw blood! On the handkerchief recently thrown in the trash bin was fresh blood that was scattering, or ''blooming'' on the white surface! The man coughed it out!


    So this Jiang Li was ill? Wait, so was this guy the type who should not be exhausted so as to not rpse?


    It took her quite a while to calm down. Afterward, she crossed the distance between them and officially appeared in front of the man. "Are you sick?"


    It seemed her appearance had been very abrupt so the other had been a bit shocked. A couple of seconds, he seemed to have recovered and shed a polite smile at her. "Good eve. Miss Scriptwriter. I''m okay, just caught some cold."


    ''Hmm?''


    Selena would have believed him, if not for noticing from the corner of her eyes that he pulled out a few wrappers of candies that he specifically threw towards the red spot.


    A frown appeared on her face. And the stares she gave the man became more ice-cold. "If you''re ill, you should not have epted the job. I would be med if you suddenly copsed or vomited blood on the filming site!" She said in a voice restrained in volume yet not in the intensity of annoyance and anger.


    She was really angry. After all, it was her who essentiallymanded the person to enter the crew. Her antics for the past two days might also have pushed him too much when he was supposed to not get that tired.


    ''Damn idiot with no brain. I''m sure the staff under Director Fu did not demand medical certs from the actors and actresses!''


    ''And this idiot is more than happy to be tortured with tiring battle scenes so he didn''tin.''


    ''He deserves to suffer then.'' She coldly told herself. The words she let out sounded heartless even to her.


    However, what she acted was different from her thoughts. Before she knew it, she had already pushed the guy on her passenger seat, nning to take him to the nearest hospital. She reasoned to herself that she had to do this to ensure there would be a problem with the shooting. Or if there would be, it must be settled it as discreet as possible. There was no way she would allow herself to be held responsibleter.


    ''Gosh! This is so troublesome!'' Sheined inwardly.


    Seating next to her, the dumbfounded expression on Jiang Li''s face did not disappear for some time. He was unaware of what was running in her mind. Yet a couple of secondster, there was a well-concealed yful glint in his eyes.


    The woman''s personality was not the same, leaning towards coldness. However, there were still several aspects that stayed the same apart from her appearance, for example, her love for jumping to a conclusion.


    He turned his head towards the other side to hide his expression lest he suddenly broke into a grin. After a minute, he lowered his head and checked his phone that vibrated. One of his acquaintances, a college student from a famous university was calling, but since it was inconvenient to speak right now, he simply pressed the red button there.


    He was quite familiar with the city due to his previous travels so when he looked up, he already knew they were already near the hospital.


    ''I wonder how she''ll react if she learns that I really only have a mild cough and that I just identally bit the inside of my cheek,'' he amusedly asked himself.

 Chapter 274: Selena Tang (23)

    Chapter 274: Selena Tang (23)


    Jiang Li learned the answer to the question in his mind half an hourter.


    The girl did not hide her sour expression after hearing the doctor''s evaluation, her hand which received the prescription for cold and cough was trembling badly.


    Back then Jiang Li did not have any more time to wonder why even cough and cold in this world needed prescriptions when over the counter drugs should be avable and easy to purchase. Because even though they were in front of a doctor in histe forties and there were a few nurses nearby, Selena Tang openly red at him. "You...!"


    Another second after, a man''s groan echoed in the ce. The owner of the pained voice had his face contorted in a way different from the girl. He got stepped on by the woman using her pointed heel!


    While Jiang Li wasining in his head as he hopped around in one foot, the angry and cold voice of the woman rang. "As expected, men like you can''t be trusted and are opportunists! Shameless! How hard is it to properly exin your condition, huh? Is it that your tongue is giving you trouble speaking the truth? No worries, I can sponsor a transnt! I''ll also make sure to teach you how to use it properly!"


    '' I exin though.'' The man who felt wronged hissed as he endured the pain on his right foot. He also red at Selena who, with her balled fists on the sides, still looked like an Amazona about to hack him to death. "Hey, Miss Tang. Didn''t I exin? It''s you who suddenly made me get into your car! In a sense, you kidnapped me!"


    ''What?'' The scriptwriter felt like she heard something unbelievable. Actually, it was not only her who thought of this, but the others spectating the scene also let out a ''huh?'', exchanging nces with each other as they processed in their mind what they just listened to.


    "I kidnapped you? If you had just exined earlier that you didn''t vomit blood, that it came from you identally biting your tongue, I would not have rushed you to the hospital!" The frost in her tone was enough to send chills to the spines of the nearby bystanders.


    Yet the guy getting the full brunt on it seemed to be not affected. Was he simply fearless?


    Jiang Li replied, "Hey, it''s a fact that you pushed me into your car without asking for my permission and took me somewhere. It''s true that I''m not blindfolded or rope-bound. Still, if it''s not kidnapping, then what?"


    His words held some sense. But he said it in a matter-of-fact manner that people, including Selena, could just not help but think that something was wrong with his phrasing.


    ''There''s a problem with this man''s head. Yet his logic sounds reasonable'' thought the majority who heard their exchanges.


    For a while, Selena did not speak, not because she couldn''t think of any words to say. But that she was afraid she would spout something unbefitting of herdy-like image. As they said, less words, less mistakes


    ''Keep calm Don''t think of murder You''re aw-abidingdy, Selena.'' She chanted.


    As for the man, it took some time before he was no longer making all sorts of jumps in ce. However, his face still contained sorrow and pain. One corner of his lips was still twitching as he wondered whether the unlucky toenail that had been stepped on hard was still alive. There was no way he could take off his dress shoes to take a look at it before a crowd. He could only grumble.


    The man who was still thinking that he was sacrificing a part of his body for a noble cause regained his senses half a minuteter when he saw that the woman was eerily quiet without withdrawing her sharp, deadly stares.


    Selena swept her gaze around once. And felt like her chest was once again burning from too much anger. Her blood pressure was rising at an exponential rate, the palpitation in her chest was a little scary. Strangely though, she was able to think more clearly than ever. Or perhaps the silence just helped.


    ''Attention-seeker.'' After going through her memories and recalling her few encounters with him, she felt like everything that happened so far was for a purpose or setup. The word just shed through her mind a momentter.


    Her sight went back to Jiang Li. Suppressing the fiery beast inside her which wanted to cut this guy apart, her soft hand grabbed the man by the left arm and pulled him outside regardless of his opposition.


    The crowd automatically parted for them, most likely scared by the look in the girl''s face. "Hey! I''m injured! Wait!"


    For the first part, he wasining about his foot.


    However, thetter was because while he was being dragged around, he seemed to have taken a glimpse of someone familiar emerging from the elevator. No, actually since his eyesight was quite good, he only needed a single squinting to make sure he did not see wrongly.


    He surprisingly chanced upon the male lead outside the capital!


    ''Liu De is injured?'' He once again squinted his eyes.


    The male lead was talking to a beautiful nurse and he was sporting a radiant expression. Wow. How admirable that he could have a nice conversation with a beauty even though his forehead was full of huge beads of sweat.


    "We''re talking in a while, man!" The voice of the woman pulling him violently rang, making him turn his head to her. A wry smile briefly formed on his lips as he knew he had angered for real this time.


    When his gaze went back to the direction of the elevator, he could no longer see Liu De. The man and the others with him must have vanished in one of the corridors there. Jiang Li could only shrug. He was not really curious about the other guy. But his appearance there was quite the coincidence. Who would have thought he was also outside the capital?


    ''Now that I think about it, I forgot to check on the lead and his harem yesterday. I''ll do itter. To know if this Liu De came here with Mo Fang.''


    The walk did not take more than a minute. The goal of the girl seemed to be to only find somewhere people would not temporarily go to.


    Selena stopped when they were near a restroom, on the opposite of the corridor leading to thedies''. It was a short hallway leading to a locked door with a ''Staff Only'' signage. The room behind it must be housing cleaning tools and other maintenance stuff.


    ''She made sure it''s a spot that is still within the scope of a CCTV.'' A satisfied glint flickered across his eyes. It was pleasing to know that she was at least this cautious.


    "Why did you pull me here?" he asked.


    Selena took a few deep breaths and distanced herself a bit from the man. The slight smile she cracked was paired with widened eyes and head tilted up a bit to the left. It made her appear intimidating and dangerous, like a lioness that would pounce and shred him to pieces using her ws. "Mr. Jiang. Do you believe that I won''t call mywyer to talk to you for saying those misleading and infuriating statements earlier? Do you believe I don''t have means to let you enjoy some prison time for a minimum of a year?"


    Jiang Li blinked using his innocent eyes. He appeared extremely puzzled. "Wait, what did I do to deserve that?"


    Selena became more annoyed. "Hah. You have the nerve to ask something obvious. Great! I have to acknowledge, you can rank within the top five of the most annoying people I have encountered in my whole life."


    The man didn''t seem embarrassed. However, he was also not idiotic enough to think he gotplimented. He only paused for a couple of seconds to look at her before heughingly replied. "Miss, don''t worry, you don''t lose out to me that much. You''re one of the most unreasonable women I have encountered. The one who always getting angry at her victim whenever her crime is exposed."


    He continuedughing. While shaking his head, he amusedly added, ''Actually, the sole girl I tolerated shouting, ring, and threatening me.''


    Unfortunately, Selena couldn''t read minds and did not know what he just thought of her. Yet even if she could, at the current stage of their rtionship, it would be impossible for her to appreciate it.


    Silence reigned between them for some time. Jiang Li kept the grin on his face as he waited for her response. Yet when she finally spoke, the corner of his lips arced down.


    "I don''t think I can tolerate this anymore so we should stop the riddles. I''ll just be direct, Mr. Jiang." She narrowed her eyes at his clean-shaven face and slowly enunciated. "Are you purposelying after me, pestering me with the intention to court me  so you can dump me, or perhaps, ruin me after."


    ''Huh?'' From hearing what she just said, he had even forgotten about the slight ache from one of his toes as an expression of displeasure and disbelief showed on his face. What had gotten into this woman''s head? Was she practicing some sort of script on him and he just did not know?


    He was truly baffled. "Miss, do you need me to call a doctor? We''re still at the hospital, and I don''t think I''m the only one needing to see one today."


    Selena Tang crossed her arms above her chest. She ignored his snide remarks and sneered in a condescending manner which would remind one of a detective proud to have uncovered a scheme.


    "Stop acting, Mr. Jiang. Just answer me. Are you doing this because your friend, Mr. Wei, son of that politician, hired you to do so?"

 Chapter 275: Selena Tang (24)

    Chapter 275: Selena Tang (24)


    "Did your friend make you purposely annoy me with the intent to get my intention, before making me fall for you? So after that, you can dump me or do something damaging to me or my reputation?"


    With her arms crossed and her eyes narrowed, Selena threw a suspicious nce at the man.


    Jiang Li was quite baffled. Her question was so out of this world for him so it took him some time to realize what she meant. ''I am treated like a bastard and a spy? Of that kid Wen? Does she know that man never dared order me around?''


    '' Her imagination'' He thought nkly. His statement was not finished, as he was having mixed feelings about what descriptions he should use.


    At the same time though, he knew where she wasing from.


    He was friends with Wen Hui, somebody courting Selena Tang''s fake sister Tang Yu Yan.


    But Tang Yu Yan''s rtionship with the real princess of the Tangs should not that be good. After all, the other had taken her ce in her real family. Selena had openly shown repugnance towards the offspring of the people that had treated her horribly for several years.


    There was also the fact that the fake repeatedly tried to paint her ck to others, be it to the Tangs or the people outside. Everything was most likely Tang Yu Yan''s attempt to make her appear more valuable to the Tang family. The message she wanted to imply was that even if she was not biologically theirs, as a youngdy educated since young, she should appear more elite than Selena.


    Unfortunately, Tang Yu Yan did not know that Selena was quite the schemer, or at least, somebody who knew the ways of the world. She was not brought down. Instead, she appeared shining more, although the people around thought it was something she had gotten from her bloodline instead of her own wits and experiences in themoner''s world.


    Jiang Li gave the woman before her a good look and fell into a daze for a couple of moments. ''She would have suffered from extreme inferiorityplex if not for having a strong personality It''s not always absolute that blood is thicker than water. Time can also y a huge factor in aplex family rtionship.''


    In the Tang family, the one Wen Hui was courting had been with the Tangs since birth so the affection and soft spot allotted to her by the parents should not be something easy to dismiss. As said, even a dog would be somebody''s dear one given enough time, much less a human. The warm memories the fake spent together with her adoptive parents should be countless already, so it would not be a surprise if they were reluctant to let her go.


    ''I heard her parents are quite entrics and would have shared a part of her inheritance and birthright to the fake if not for the old Mr.Tang.''


    ''Since the fake is quite ambitious, she must not have wanted to settle things like that. She grew up believing it would be her inheriting a portion of the wealth of the Tangs, especially the hotels and the food businesses. I would not be surprised if she''s reluctant to let go of those.''


    Instantly, the image of the girl his friend was chasing became a bit worse than it already was.


    ''Thankfully, Selena is quite bright, it is Tang Yu Yan who felt inferior to her, and insecure of her position in the Tang family.''


    ''However, it is still a fact that woman must have done some things to make my wife extremely doubtful of people. All of it must be to make her reputation suffer or appear not that worthy of getting an inheritance. Like introducing her to people, friends, subordinates, or potential lovers, who would make her too attached to them only for them to backstab her or lead her astray at ater time. Aware of the danger, of course, she could only be very careful.''


    The man shook his head. A momentter, his train of thoughts went to his current predicament. Then after thinking about it for some time, he just found himself bursting into merryughter.


    How should he prove that he was only doing the first half of her prediction and not thetter half?


    Jiang Li only pondered for a moment before deciding on a simple solution.


    This time, without her permission, although quite gentle and not that forceful, he pulled her out of the hospital and drove her car away from there.


    At the same time. Beijing, China.


    In a three-bedroom bungalow house located at a vige subdivision where most middle-ss people lived, five youths gathered in the living room. All were young men around the same age. Two were wearing a blue-ck checkered school uniform paired with ck pants. The others were in casual clothes no, one of them was not even half-naked which invitedughter and jokes from the other young men a while ago.


    Most of the guys were sitting on the floor or upying the couches surrounding arge rectangr wooden table. Scattered on top were pencils, pens, books, and several pieces of paper. There were also twoptops on the floor. Each of them was busy correcting answers on the paper while ncing on their reference materials from time to time. Three appeared suffering based on their expressions.


    A minuteter, one of them, the one hanging a shirt on his bare shoulder,id his back simply on the two-seater sofa that he imed for himself. A sigh escaped out of his lips as he rubbed his forehead. "Damn!!!!! I can''t do this anymore No moreeee. I just want to y basketball!"


    Theint of the half-naked young man elicited a brief stare from everyone else.


    However, they all went back to work after.


    One of them, the most handsome but serious-looking guy answered in a t tone, "We only have two more days to prepare our materials and practice. In an hour, we must finish tallying the survey questionnaires. After that, we have to sort these by group and analyze them ording to the statistical treatment we chose in chapter 3. Theputation and tabtion should take about an hour too, if and only if none of us will ck off. If we can finish early. We can take a few minutes of rest, or have some snacks. But we must return immediately to working."


    Most of the boys were not really into what they were doing so for a brief moment, they let grief and depression showed on their faces. Why were they doing this to themselves?


    The clock hanging on the wall to their left showed it was already nine pm. It was not a time for normally bad students and youths like them to sleep. However, they just felt like it should be a time where instead of papers and books, what should be in front of them were their phones or Nintendos...

 Chapter 276: Selena Tang (25)

    Chapter 276: Selena Tang (25)


    "We can do this, guys. We have already corrected a third of the papers. Let me start working on encoding the numbers," another fair and handsome guy spoke, trying to encourage the boys who fell listless after hearing their leader''s reminder. He was called Yuan He, one of the fellows still wearing their college department''s uniform.


    He gave the half-naked whiner a look. "Hey, Mo Zemin, if you don''t want to check papers one by one, how about you just sort them out by categories?"


    "I would still have to look at papers though" grumbled the youth.


    Looking at his face, it could already be inferred that Mo Zemin was the type who hated studying and loved ying. If he was given a chance, he would rather go to the basketball than be confined in a small room. Unfortunately, there was no way he could do that.


    First, his leader, the first guy who spoke to him when heined, was a serious and no-nonsense type of person, a regr study geek. This dude was a friend of his and was actually reasonable and fun to be with. But that was only as long as his grades were not at stake. Yep, the leader was his exact opposite, a grade-conscious campus male lead.


    The second reason why he, and actually the rest of people here, couldn''t ck off, was that they were currently working on something very important. Their final thesis! Yup, all the dudes here were students in the fifth year of their studies in college.


    "All of us have to suffer for a few couples of days since our final defense ising. If we don''t take this seriously, we will be held back by a semester, or worse, a whole year. Hey, I also just want to y video games, but I can''t right now because I don''t want to stay a math student for life!"


    "Stopining and work. If we finish early, we can be freed from this torture!" said another guy wearing their checkered uniform.


    His words made sense so although miserable groans and sour faces filled the ce for some time, apart from the leader, everyone started to work more efficiently. They looked as if they had finally epted their fates.


    This was simply a hurdle that all graduating students had to suffer from... cough, no, ovee! Unless they didn''t wish to graduate.


    Time passed swiftly. After an hour, due to the constant urging of the serious-looking guy, the questionnaires were all checked, and the tallying was alsopleted. Following this, the leader finally dered a rest. Everyone happily dispersed, but since it was already quite deep into the night, they didn''t leave the house and only went to the bathroom to finish some business, or to the kitchen to grab some snacks and drinks from the fridge.


    They then returned to the living room. The son of the owner of the house, the half-naked young man probably finally felt the chill of the night wind so he put on a ck shirt.


    He frowned at his thesis groupmate who emerged from his group with something foreign in his hand. The person was his neighbor and a close friend so he was not surprised that the other randomly picked up something from his room. But looking at the cards in the other''s hands, he inquired in a sharp tone, "Where did you get that? From what I remember, you did not even bring anything when youe here."


    "Hmm. From your room, where else? Isn''t this yours?" The guy, Zhao Xieren, who was in a casual getup raised the tarot cards and tilted his head as he walked towards the table.


    "No. Why would I buy stuff like that? I''d rather save up the money for a new pair of shoes," replied the guy wearing a ck shirt.


    "Oh, then it must be your brother So your little brother knows how to use this?"


    Mo Zeminughingly shook his head. "Probably not. I don''t know. But I know that I need to tell my mom and dad that the little bastard is spending money on useless stuff again. They will be back with little bro tomorrow."


    "You must be pissed off that you can''t go on vacation with them due to our thesis. Bad bro, wanting his sibling to be scolded." Zhao Xierenughed.


    Mo Zemin shrugged. He then snatched the deck from his friend and sat down before the table. "Hey, leader." There was a toothy grin on his face as he shuffled the cards and cut them.


    "Hmm?" The handsome young man sat down after cing his cup of coffee down the table looked at his hard-headed goofy groupmate.


    "I heard you really liked the Fashion Department''s goddess. Hehe, you really have a nice taste. But don''t worry, I think you two are quite suitable. It''s just that we can''t know what fate stored for us. Why don''t you let me check if you have a chance with her?"


    As the person in question, it was natural that the leader got caught off-guard. What did he hear again? Did someone just openly mention to everyone here who his crush was?


    For a moment, he couldn''t reply and even forgot toment on how Mo Zemin just looked and sounded like a half-baked chatan. The tips of his ears were slightly red. His reactions were seen by the other guys. Had it been a girl who saw it, she would have found him cuter, but since it was his friends, it unfortunately only garnered loudughter and teasings from them.


    "Son of a beach! I saw a certain dude blushing! Gosh, save my eyes!"


    "Huh, what? Gawd, it''s real!"


    The serious face of the handsomed fell, annoyance was then painted all over it. "You guys"


    ''Oops, he seems to be on the brink of allocating more tasks to us. I can''t let him think of more ways to torture us throughout this overnighting.'' Feeling threatened, Mo Zemin hurriedly spoke. "Come on, leader! Ignore these monkeys! Pick a card."


    With a frown donned, the one teased a while agoplied, probably thinking there was no need to exin or say more words of denial after remembering that the whole campus knew about his infatuation with their campus belle. He extended a hand and drew from the deck.


    It was Yuan He, the youth who helped him convince Mo Zemin to stopining, who flipped the card for him.


    "Hmm, it''s a poor guy hanging upside down."


    "Aw." At Mo Zemin''s words, the teasing gazes became pitying nces. "Poor you."


    The leader frowned.


    The other guy in the uniform quickly chimed in, "Hey, don''t forget this kind of stuff is not real. So it might not even the least bit urate!"


    "Hmmm, true."


    Mo Zeminughingly contradicted them, "What if ites true? There''s a chance, okay? As they said, tarot cards are tools used by people to connect to their higher selves and asked for visions or signs from the future. So maybe this is a real revtion."


    One answered whileughing, "Where the hell did you read that? Baidu? Or some doubtful sites online?"


    "I found it on the deep web! It''s from the deep web, alright!"


    The youth who fetched the cards from the room shrugged. "This guy, apart from loving basketball is a keyboard warriorr so I''m not surprised. How did you ess that by the way? Be careful of stalkers and malicious busybodies."


    He turned to the guy looking intently at the tarot cards and said, "As for you Dong Lan, you should not put that matter into heart. Mo Zemin''s a fake, so yeah, you''ll be a fool to believe him. Anyways, I heard you and Ms. Xia are getting along quite well these past weeks."


    He heard no reply from the one he asked. It was Mo Zemin who spoke,"Wait, why are we discussing whether I''m a fake or not? We''re just having fun, alright!"


    "Zemin, give me that, let me be the one divining this time."


    The yful guy who said an hour ago that he preferred gaming than studying snatched away the cards and spread them atop the table one at a time.


    "Hehe, I''ll be the one acting as the fortune-teller. Come, boys, on your behalf, I''ll connect to this so-called higher self of mine and see if you all will pass Mr. Ling''s calculus exam next week and graduate!"


    Peals ofughter immediately followed. Shuffling cards and various noises also resounded in the living room.


    ''The Hanged Man'' As the leader watched the others yed around and joked with each other, a wry smile slowly formed on his lips.


    Following that, he subconsciously took a deep breath. ''It''s happening again...''


    A chunk of words suddenly shed across his mind, all of which seemed connected to the tarot reading that just took ce. A while ago, the others simply interpreted it based on the fact that the picture looked sad, leaning to the negative side. However, right at this moment, some other interpretations just crossed his mind, making him forget to scold the noisy boys.


    ''Keywords: surrender, new perspective, sacrifice, release, waiting''


    Dong Lan started to feel weird, confusion filling his eyes. He subconsciously touched the blue stud earring on his left ear. He didn''t know when it started, but since he was young, every time he felt sad, or ran across difficult times, he would always do this.


    To his horror though, instead of calming down like usual, a wall of texts popped up within his vision, floating in the air. It read,


    ''The Hanged Man XII...''


    ''You may feel frustrated that things aren''t moving as quickly as you''d like today...''


    ''Be patient, stop trying to force things to happen. Take this time of waiting as an opportunity to practice being present with yourself...''


    ''You may find that when you let go of your expectations that things turn out differently, and even better than you''d hoped.''

 Chapter 277: Selena Tang (26)

    Chapter 277: Selena Tang (26)


    The student named Dong Lan who recently started to see weird things, mostly predictions, was the same guy who had been sent by her adoptive mother, the fortune-teller, to travel from world to world.


    It was unknown whether his appearance at Jiang Li''s current mission world was a coincidence.


    However, before Jiang Li took over as Zheng Xiang, he was already in that world, born to a normal middle-ss family who managed to send him to good schools from kindergarten to college. The young man led a normal life, albeit his personality was a bit different from before, being geeky and serious, instead of goofy and sarcastic in words.


    In the original plot, he was merely mentioned as somebody who liked Xia Ling, the campus beauty of Liu De''s harem. He was studying at the same university as her, albeit they were from two different departments. The difference in their courses, of course, did not impede him from courting her.


    Unfortunately, his crush never liked him back because he was quite cowardly, stoic... and boring. His faults were further highlighted when Liu De appeared. Or more like, he became the object ofparison so that the male lead would appear much better.


    Dong Lan was not that wealthy... He was not able to gift her precious bags and pieces of jewelry or bring her to famous concertos and elite gatherings. He was not as cheerful and humorous... or as attractive... At least, not personality-wise.


    But Liu De was different. He was the opposite. The man was even a popr star, something she could brag to everyone she knows. And so the girl naturally fell for him and rejected her dull schoolmate.


    In this lifetime though, Dong Lan''s path started to stray away from the original when a man who introduced himself as Jiang Li more than half a year ago barged into his life, giving him all sorts of counseling and advice.


    Months ago, he could not be called a campus male god since his hairstyle and getup were always nd or weird. People only remembered him for having a serious face all day long and high grades. However, ever since Jiang Li sent someone to him, a middle-aged guy who never introduced himself to him, he transformed into who he was today. The personality did not change that much, but his appearance did. Perhaps, it was a natural result that he became more confident and more used to being the center of a group and of attention.


    Dong Lan became someone that could pique the interest of girls. Inherently, he did not change and was still as solemn as before. But hey, serious guys had an edge too! Coupled with a handsome face, whatever they said could easily sound sincere and moving.


    Seeing that his crush was gradually warming up to him, Dong Lan felt thankful towards Jiang Li and since the man did not mention why he was helping him, he just silently vowed to return the favor once he formally entered society.


    As for the other weird changes in him...


    ''Why am I seeing things like this?'' The young man felt puzzled as he studied the letterings floating in front of him. Since he was silent and lost in his thoughts, the members of his thesis group took that chance to watch some funny videos on theptops.


    ''The first time I experienced this is when I approached Xia Ling in the cafeteria and one of her female ssmates is trying out palm reading on her. While it helped me gain some favorable impression which I felt grateful for, it''s still quite scary to suddenly experience words or knowledge appearing in my field of vision or mind...''


    Dong Lan couldn''t associate his experiences to his profession from the previous life since he couldn''t even recall it. Perhaps, his memories would take a while toe back to him, just like how he was only recovering his ability to divine.


    For now, since he was not sure, he didn''t delve much into it, only pondering about the recent revtions he got.


    ''It says not to rush... But I''m not really rushing anything... Perhaps, my weird ability is a bit faulty?'' He frowned, considering another angle, ''Maybe I touched something dirty recently so I''m being haunted... Should I get someone to help me? But when I went to a temple, I ended up learning that the abbot there didn''t know how to exorcise spirits and barely knew how to interpret kau chim sticks.''


    Dong Lan almost sighed, relieved that the texts hovering before him finally vanished. He felt like a normal person again. Except, he hadn''t forgotten what he saw.


    It seemed that deep down, the young man still had retained a bit of his tendency to be prudent about things so he messaged Jiang Li and consulted him. Of course, he did not mention his gained abilities lest the other mistook him for an escapee of a mental hospital.


    ''I just called Mr. Jiang yesterday. I hope he doesn''t be annoyed that I''m bothering him again.'' The text was sent, mostly asking again for advice when one felt that he was being impatient.


    ...


    The reborn student''s message was naturally delivered to the intended receiver. Unfortunately, Jiang Li was dealing with his own matter so he had no chance to check his phone.


    Since the girl had an idea about his intentions for her, Jiang Li did not bother concealing it. He acted as if he had just not been used of something ridiculous and drove her towards a clubhouse he owned.


    Along the way, he made sure to lighten the mood by ying songs and trying to speak with her. Yet she also made sure to shower him with sharp words that did not include profanities or vulgar words. Her statements were simply as deadly and sharp as ever. The anger on her face was also genuine, with even a hint of killing intent.


    "You''re so fierce" he lightly said, which seemed to have angered her more.


    "You think a bastard like you deserves a good treatment?! No! Gosh! You are a kidnapper! A scourge of society who should at least be subjected to a Russian Sleep Experiment!"


    Jiang Li twisted his body a bit to the side, nearly stering himself on the car window to his left. The girl''s fist just nearly grazed his shoulder. There was a follow-up attack targeting his side again so he slightly bent his upper body down, inwardlyining to himself about the treatment he was getting.


    She said he was kidnapping her, but she also did the same to her earlier. Fine, he was a bit guilty, since he used her of bringing him somewhere without asking for permission, yet he was now doing the same.


    But she mentioned the Russian Sleep Experiment. Does she want him to evolve into something evil due to ack of sleep?


    "I can be evil, just not through the way you wanted." He replied.


    "Scourge! Are you that threatened because I discovered your bad intentions!?"


    Heughed after seeing her look around in a frantic manner.


    After shaking his head. He told her, "Don''t panic. I mean no harm. I simply want to rify some things with you and I need a few witnesses. You leave me helpless since you don''t listen to reason. Actually, if you want, you can just have your bodyguards and people follow us. They should be at least capable of tracking this car and our destination."


    The woman quieted down, seemingly thinking about what he said.


    A momentter, because she kept her silence longer than normal, he realized that something was wrong.


    ''Shoot.'' The sceneries beyond the car window kept changing. Within the ck-grey car speeding along the wide road under the bright streetlights and traffic lights, a man smiling wryly scolded himself for subconsciously using hypnosis on his beloved passenger.


    ...


    Not long after, the two arrived in the clubhouse. Emerging from the various vehicles were a group of men and women who seemed to be her guards. He nodded at them. He saw the girl visibly rxed due to their arrival.


    Afterward, she resumed her barrage of words for him and her res.


    Towards the artistic insultsing from her mouth, he only smiled and greeted the people inside. He then sought out Wen Hui. The man agreed to a private and serious talk with Selena Tang after giving Jiang Li a suspicious nce.<ol><li>tools in a fortune-telling techniquemonly practiced in a Taoist or Buddhist temple. The t sticks have poetic verses that a priest would help interpret on behalf of the querent (the one asking questions).</li></ol>

 Chapter 278: Selena Tang (27) <2-in-1>

    Chapter 278: Selena Tang (27) <2-in-1>


    Half an hour passed before Selena walked out of therge activity hall escorted by two of her bodyguards. The rest were waiting outside chatting with Jiang Li with a wooden expression on their faces.


    "How did it go?" Smilingly, the man asked.


    She gave him a snort and went past him. No matter what took ce inside the room, he would always remain unpleasant in her eyes. "Drive me back to the hotel." She said to the few men and women wearing professional attire who went after her.


    Before the talk, Jiang Li told Wen Hui to tell Selena about him and Tang Yu Yan. It seemed that it had been a clue for the politician''s son to know that he was suspected of having a deal going on with the Tang''s adoptive daughter.


    As she marched out of the clubhouse, barely discernable from her cold countenance was some hint of confusion. However, since the dark blue-haired man did not attempt to catch up to her, he did not see it.


    Jiang Li exchanged nces with the man who came outst and got annoyed by the huge grin he saw.


    Selena continued walking towards the parking lot.


    When she was finally sitting at the back seat of her car, with one of thedy bodyguards taking the driver''s seat, she exhaled.


    "Miss Mei." A secondter, the woman opened her mouth. "I have a request for you and the others."


    Thedy bodyguard who started to drive her boss away from the ce did not answer. But her bodynguage showed she was alert and intently listening.


    Selena looked out into the distance, relieved that she was getting further and further away from the clubhouse. She then said, "I want you to investigate a person. I want a detailed one, especially from the past few years. As for the name of the target it is Zheng Xiang."


    Silence reigned within the ce for a long while. Selena saw through the mirror in front that before the other nod, a sh of recognition crossed her eyes. The bodyguard knew the person? She was aware of the scandal that happened around seven months ago?


    Not long after, she realized it wouldn''t be a surprising matter given how the woman was in the country when that happened. Aside from this, Wen Hui said the matter had been the talk of the town for more than a week.


    She remembered what that other guy told her before letting her exit the room.


    "You know what, Miss Tang. You can doubt him all you want. But I just want to say my piece and rify something with you. Jiang Li is like a big brother to me and I know how Tang Yu Yan views me. So if Jiang Li says I should give up on her, I would only hesitate for some time before doing so. Between a friend, no, an older brother who cares for me and a woman so hard to chase, I would, of course, choose who gives more damn about me. Naturally, I won''t do anything which would harm him."


    She didn''t know that in his mind, he added, ''Of course, I won''t dare try. Because he''s someone who would demand an arm or leg as repayment for emotional damage once truly pissed off.''


    What she grasped was that Wen Hui had indirectly denied her guess about him ordering someone to y around with her for Tang Yu Yan''s sake and amusement.


    Could she believe him just because of a few words? When everyone else who liked that fake sister of hers all tried the same method on her, only in a different manner and timing.


    Selena frowned. What she heard from the clubhouse did intrigue her and trigger her writer''s imagination. But she was not the type to easily believe in people''s statements.


    ''Men are liars.'' If Jiang Li heard her thoughts just now, he would have realized making the girl like him would still take a lot more effort than normal.


    Her gaze went to thedy bodyguard driving the vehicle for her. ''Actually, everyone is a liar.''


    ''No one is truly trustworthy in this world.'' She added to herself.


    Her thoughts wandered around as she closed her eyes and leaned her head against the back of her seat.


    She said those words to herself because she knew even these people protecting her from the shadows were not totally loyal to her, but to her parents, or perhaps, the other members of the family.


    A few days passed. The MVs of Jiang Li''s songs were now in the editing process. Since there were already a few snippets'' avable, the music production team from Starlight''s music division asked him to hand over his Weibo and other SNS ounts, the one under his new name Jiang Li, to his manager or their PR team. It was so they could officially post the trailers and pictures and share them with his fans. In short, his album was already entering the promotional stage. He was informed that it would be out in a week or so.


    As for the drama he participated on a whim, its filming wouldn''t be ending any time soon. It had just started not long ago. Apart from the main leads, the rest of the cast was yet not revealed. But none of them questioned this decision since it was already announced that the promotional posters, pictures, and teasers would onlye out a week or so before the drama airs.


    For now, the shooting could only go on.


    Jiang Li was cooperating with everyone there, honestly. Nheless, because of the encounter at the hospital, he was reminded of the male lead''s existence so he went to regrly checking on him. As a result, he learned that Liu De had just joined the crew of the director who he almost worked on a film with before. This made him realize that the circle was truly small. He remembered that the female lead there was the popr S-tier actress enamored with Liu De. Her name was Li Xia, the girl the painter from his group was trying to chase. Now, this actress was once again working with that director for a historical drama. And of course, with Liu De.


    "If my memory is still okay, our director is having a talk with ZHK for the timeslot of our drama, right?" Jiang Li once asked the manager given to him by his good friend. The person was someone emitting the vibe of a learned and experienced guy, all day long dressed smartly in a suit.


    "Yes," replied the manager named Fan Jing, staring into the eyes of his talent which was being tended by a makeup artist inside a makeshift tent. "In our estimate, we can finish the filming only after two more months. It depends if no ident or weather interference urs. Anyways, we can''t really say a date or timeslot. At least, not now when the filming is still in the beginning phase. What we can be sure about is that ZHK will be airing it."


    The manager did not borate more on the details. He also did not mention which video-streaming sites will be given rights to broadcast their drama. It was still currently a faraway matter. Jiang Li was not interested to know as well.


    His interest was in another topic altogether.


    "ZHK is one of the biggest localworks so it''s all good." He perfunctorily responded. Then added, "However, I heard there''s another director working on a historical piece like ours. And the cast members are quite the bigshots. Ms. Li Xia is formally announced to be working with Director Su. And I think I know who''s the one ying her male lead."


    "Hmm?" Judging on the tone and expression of the other, the manager was not aware. "I haven''t heard of it. But I''ll look into it. Where did you get the information by the way?"


    Jiang Li and Fan Jing were not the only ones inside the huge tent. The other artists and their managers who were present shifted their gaze to them, curious at what they were talking about.


    "Well, I remembered seeing Mr. Liu somewhere in this city days ago. I also happened to watch an interview with him where he said his next project would be a pce period drama under Director Su. Shanxi province is quite the destination for historical pieces. So I just pieced out the clues."


    "Brother Jiang, there are many ces in China where historical and wuxia dramas can be shot." Argued one of the younger actors nearby.


    "True," he answered. "But at least I''m sure Mr. Liu will be filming a historical drama with Ms. Li. They''ve been a popr couple celebritiestelyrgely due to the box office sess of the previous film they had starred in. "


    Jiang Li''s eyes darkened for a couple of seconds. He felt a bit of difort from his body. Zheng Xiang, the Original, seemed to have been stirred by what he just said. After all, he was supposed to be the producer of that movie Inwardly shaking his head, heughed and continued, "People probably want to see them acting on a project again. I just realized. There might be a chance we will be pitted on the same timeslot. I heard their director is in talks with somebody from a rivalwork."


    Doubtful gazes went to Jiang Li. Most were puzzled how he could speak so sure about the matter when nobody else had ever heard of it. Where did he get the news from? Not a few wondered it was from the backer who allowed him to enter the crew as the third most important male supporting character.


    The man only smiled at the nces he was receiving. "I swear I''m not making things up."


    His manager said, "Jiang Li, you don''t need to worry much about these. Our own crew has bigshots. The female lead might only be a B-list actress, but the male lead, Mr. Hua is as famous as Liu De and Li Xia. Not to mention, our production team has long hyped up the drama using Scriptwriter Selena''s reputation."


    He shrugged after hearing what Fan Jing said. Who said he was worried? He was merely saying stuff to make a certain someone curious. After all, following her talk with Wen Hui, the girl ignored her for days and did not even try to make him suffer.


    Unfortunately, Jiang Li''s stupid n did not bear fruits. At least, it did not really make Selena Tang summon him for interrogation. The director also did not show interest. All it did was make some of his colleagues a bit restless and worried since the only historical drama reported topete with them on that season was going to star Liu De, someone who had a stunning reputation of never participating in something that would not be a hit project.


    ...


    Weeks already passed since Mo Zan had someone sent several ambiguous pictures to the Qin family. However, she did not get any response from them. Because of this she had no choice but admit that something was amiss.


    But what did go wrong?


    The question popped up in her mind as she absentmindedly looked into the documents presented to her by her nervous secretary.


    Her office that was located on the topmost floor of Dreamer Entertainment''s building was very silent.


    "President Your grandfather wants to speak with you on the phone." Li Mn, another secretary respectfully walked in and reported.


    In an instant, a scowl appeared on Mo Zan''s face. She could already foresee an unpleasant conversation taking ce. Her sharp intuition as a woman was telling her this.


    "Did he mention why he wants to talk to me?" she asked in a low voice that was, as usual, stern/


    "I''m sorry, President. He didn''t. It might be something very important."


    The woman sitting behind the table could only nod. She asked the caller to be transferred to her.


    When it connected and the voice of her paternal grandfather rang in her ears, she raised her eyes and gave the two otherdies in her office a look each which immediately made them hurry outside. That one nce was enough for them to realize she wanted them gone.


    As a pridefuldy, there was no way she would let anyone knows how she would be scolded by the aged family head of the Mo family.

 Chapter 279: Selena Tang (28)

    Chapter 279: Selena Tang (28)


    Almost at the same time that Starlight Records'' new artist, a recently popr online sensation, was announced to be releasing a new album, the other bigbel spread the news that Liu De, the prized treasure of Dreamer entertainment, would be cooperating with a subsidiary recordbel to produce an album too.


    Since thetter had a bigger reputation than the online singer, more attention naturally went to him. A lot of the male lead''s fans were excited since it had already been months since their idol produced some songs.


    As for Jiang Li''s album, the momentum and hype from the masses were not that small, yet it paled inparison to Liu De. His around five million followers were simply no match with the other''s more than fifteen million.


    This could be said to be a natural oue whenpeting with somebody favored by the heavens.


    "Your album will be a flop," once, when Jiang Li greeted the scriptwriter, the woman replied to him with a sneer. After that, she ignored him again.


    His co-actor, the one ying the second male leave, a suave prince dressed in light green with a fan in his hand approached him, asking, "Hey, what did you do to make Ms. Tang mad at you? I just noticed that she seems to be always ignoring you or if she doesn''t, her replies or statements were always spicy."


    Jiang Li chuckled, "Isn''t she like that to everyone? One time, she even openly scolded our second female lead, Miss Ke, for troubling her to modify some parts of the script just because she couldn''t pull off certain expressions."


    From a distance, they could see that the extras ying the roles ofmoners had gathered on both sides of the street. There were rows of symmetrical-looking ancient traditional houses on each side but the roofs of those houses were barely visible at a nce due to the countless people around. The scene was where the other male supporting character was parading the streets for some sort of ancient event. In the storyline, this person was the favored son of the emperor to ascend the throne. However, since he was vain and a bit stupid, he would end up overthrown by amoner-born magistrate, the male lead.


    The director dropped his usual line to start the filming, so the ce ahead started to be noisy.


    Thankfully, since the two actors, who were not yet needed for that part, were quite a distance away, they could at least speak to each other without shouting. Jiang Li saw the scriptwriter taking a seat on a lounge reclining chair under an open tent. She pulled up a tablet where she typed things from time to time while watching the shooting.


    "Mr. Jiang." The handsome young man standing beside him noticed where Jiang Li''s eyes were, so heughed and teasingly said, "I think I know now why our drop-dead gorgeous scriptwriter is like that. You''re too obvious. So she, of course, can only be wary."


    "Too obvious in what?" replied the singer to his colleague. There was a smile hanging on his face as he pretended to be oblivious.


    "You seem to like her. I mean, Ms. Tang." The dog-like grin from the green-wearing guy widened.


    He waited for the actor who came from nowhere yet surprisinglypetent in his role to blush or start looking around everywhere. To disy typical reactions of somebody whose secrets got found out. He reckoned a calm and soft-spoken guy like Jiang Li would be the shy type or awkward type when ites to talking about romance.


    Who knows where this actor got the idea and the confidence to tease or test somebody older than him by a few years?


    A couple of secondster, he received a response from Jiang Li. But it was not what he was expecting.


    The manughed, looking both valiant and carefree while wearing the ck-red heavy-looking armor. "So it''s actually obvious huh. Good."


    ''Huh? What good? Which guy who has no courage yet to confess would want people to know of their crush on someone?'' wondered the other, puzzled.


    Jiang Li cracked a slight smile. He sounded like a lunatic, or a fool daydreaming when he said, "Well, I want everyone to know that I want to take Selena Tang home."


    "" ''Bro I never knew you''re that ambitious. I hope you won''t fall to the ground with no bones intact once you soar from a cliff only to realize you have no ability to fly.''


    The second male lead actor looked around and felt that his colleague was lucky that the extras in the street in front were too noisy so those standing only a couple or so meters away from them did not hear him.


    A smile was still on the singer''s face when he looked back at him. The actor thought he probably needed to stay away from the guy for a while in case he did something bad that would implicate others.


    Jiang Li had not yet forgotten about the albums and why the woman told him his own records would be a flop.


    While the others, the girl included, were simply thinking it had something to do with being backed by a highly influential person within a majorbel, he knew that the matter was not that simple.


    This was why he fetched his phone from his manager and checked something through it.


    He received a message, which was more like aint, from Qin Tai.


    ''The capital is only two hours away from your filming location. You should be avable by evening, right?''


    ''If so, meet me because even though I already have a hunch on what''s going on, I still need to hear the exnation directly from you,''


    He took note of thema after thest word and felt like there was a word that should have been there. He reckoned that Qin Tai was quite annoyed for being pulled into something troublesome. What could be the deleted word? Jerk? Or bastard?

 Chapter 280: Selena Tang (29)

    Chapter 280: Selena Tang (29)


    "A*shole!" Anger could be heard distinctly from the voice of the one who just spoke.


    It was Qin Tai, who had just finished messaging hispany''s secondrgest shareholder.


    The man was not truly angry, but he was a bit pissed off. Thinking of the report he just received, he couldn''t help but pound a fist on the sophisticated office table and grumble.


    "If he wants to dig a pit for someone, can''t he first inform me of the details, especially since I''m involved? Is he always assuming I''m someone who loves guessing games?"


    Jiang Li''s faith in his intelligence was not making him happy.


    The office only had him, so he was not afraid of speaking to himself. The rest of his secretaries were in arge ss room in front of his. Those from the other offices or floors would first need to pass through them if they wanted to meet or talk to him.


    The reason for his annoyance stemmed from the fact that Liu De would beunching an album in the same month as his musicbel. But no, it was not because he felt like Mo Zan was taking revenge on him for thwarting her ns to paint him ck to his grandfather by making use of Liu De, herpany''s bastard lucky charm.


    As said above, it was due to the album itself that Dreamer Records nned to release.


    A music producer in charge of arranging the songs for another popr song artists of theirsined to him! And it was about the uncanny simrities between the melodies of Liu De''s teaser and one of the songs recently sold to him by Jiang Li!


    Qin Tai''s heart sank upon hearing that. Because he smelled trouble.


    He would eat sh*t if this was all a coincidence that his friend did not n!


    A knock rang from the door, calling his raging soul that wanted to ce a curse on Jiang Li back to his earthly body.


    "Come in." Due to his low mood, the voice that came out of his mouth was a bit cold and gloomy.


    A beautiful face emerged from the door. When the secretary entered and temporarily turned away from him to close it, he saw her beautiful hair that reached her mid-back swayed like a ck waterfall behind her. The woman, Lu Lingxi was his secretary that had stayed the longest with him, from when he was still in Dreamer until he assumed office in Starlight and could be said one of his trusted people.


    "Sir, pardon my intrusion. Vice President An from the music department is outside, together with Producer Han and Team Leader Song. They all requested to speak with you about Jiang Li and Andrew C''s album ande back," she politely said.


    Hearing her voice and seeing her sneak peeks at him, he recalled Jiang Li once joking to him that the woman was too loyal


    Qin Tai took a deep breath, trying to disperse unnecessary thoughts and the mild irritation he was feeling. "Alright, let them in. Bring us tea after. Thanks."


    The man then lowered his head to the presentations on hisptop that he was working on. For a couple of seconds, sounds from keyboards reverberated throughout the silent room.


    Until he heard a soft voice again, making him realize the secretary had not yet left. "Sir"


    "Yes?" He asked, raising a slightly frowning face.


    There was reluctance on the girl''s expression before she reported in a cid tone. "I got an email from Miss Mo, President of Dreamer Entertainment, asking for a dinner appointment with you."


    ''She still hasn''t learned her lesson?''


    ''What should I do to make Mo Zan stop all of these?''


    He fell silent for some time before replying, "Actually, Miss Lu. It''s okay if you simply block all contact numbers or emails from those people''s side." He took note of the brief happiness that he saw from the girl''s face and felt like shaking his head. "Is there anything else?"


    Lu Lingxi bowed. "No, Sir. I''ll call the vice president and his people in."


    Qin Tai nodded and did not wait long before three gentlemen in their forties or early fifties strode towards his table.


    As expected, the old guys wanted to seek his opinion and instructions about the songs. The vice president was even worried that Jiang Li''s songs were problematic.


    ''No, the songs are definitely fine. If there''s something problematic here, it''s the head of the creator of those. He''s not a traitor. Yet he''s worse since he''s a pig teammate,'' he disdainfully said in his heart.


    Quite a time was spent convincing the men twice older than him that everything would be fine and that they should keep doing what they were doing. He even urged them to speed out the processes so the albums would be out before the rivals.


    He told them, "Don''t worry, I assure you, the other side won''t make a single profit out of the songs Liu De is recording."


    His smile and words that were said with fullposure must have awed the three and gave them an illusion that Liu De''s side was the real one with problems.


    ''Did he tamper with the opponent''s song? He must have nted a spy within Dreamer and had this person did something nasty there. Probably as revenge against Ms. Mo for ignoring him when he still liked her and stalking him when he no longer does.''


    The three exchanged nces with each other, hiding a knowing smile as they exited the office.


    The young CEO, unaware of what ran in his employee''s minds, pressed his lips into a thin line. Several minutester, he left his office and headed down the basement to get his car. Afterward, he traveled to the clubhouse where he and his friends mostly gathered when not meeting up in some politician or businessman''s party.


    There, Jiang Li was already in the bar, mixing drinks for him and the idle son of City Mayor Wen. He overheard the two talking about Tang Yu Yan''s sister. However, since he had a bigger issue in mind, he didn''t participate in their talk and straightforwardly pulled the oldest of their bunch to a random corner.


    "Aren''t you going to say anything to me?"


    That time, Qin Tai could swear he made his tone to be as threatening as possible.


    However, the man had seemingly thought of it as a joke andughed at him. Then he heard him say, "Well, didn''t I simply help you have a reason to sue Liu De and Mo Zan?"


    " You seemed to have forgotten that the legal fees will be high."


    The CEO was once again barely keeping his temper in check, almost asking if the man before him had taken his medicine today.


    How dare he think that a court battle between famous people would be as easy as pie? Did he forget that there was Mo Zan, Tang Yu Yan, Mo Fang and Li Xia backing Liu De? All of them were people who could incite the masses and other sectors to make the issue a hundred timesrger and to an extent, pressure authorities through public opinion.


    He saw Jiang Li repeatedly blinking at him.


    '' I would have punched him in the face if not for being aware that he knows boxing,''mented young master Qin.


    The man leisurely sipped on his ss of wine, seemingly infuriating the CEO with the wait.


    "Qin Tai, calm down." Secondster, Jiang Li said smilingly, patting the other on the shoulder. "Don''t worry about those songs. You won''t lose a winning battle. Unless you still love Mo Zan and will give in to her request once the timees."


    Towards the singer''s joke and the mention of a certain woman''s name, the younger man felt a bit offended. However, his head also cooled a bit and then made him smile bitterly for he realized that he had been had by his emotions and perhaps, inexperience.


    Since the man quieted down, Jiang Li looked at him for some time before pouring him a drink. He had no idea what was running on his friend''s mind. But, there was one thing which he had confirmed.


    As the first minor viin who hadpeted against the male lead for more than two months, Qin Tai was the one with more contact with Liu De. He experienced many instances where sure win cases or ns went awry at some point.


    He thus became apprehensive and always felt like the male lead would never lose a battle.


    Jiang Li couldn''t help but wonder if the other rivals of the male lead were also thinking the same thing.

 Chapter 281: Selena Tang (30)

    Chapter 281: Selena Tang (30)


    A week was quite a short period of time. However, while the majority spent it in some routine matters, there a few who could get some really meaningful and spectacr things done in that span of time.


    Jiang Li, as someone who had a mission in mind, could be said to be one of them. He was not only preupied with work, although it was what was taking arge chunk of his time.


    Because most of Jiang Li''s songs had been recorded by himself before he got signed by Starlight, his album had been released earlier. The sales were very good for a newbie. His MV was also fast climbing in views since his fanbase online was very strong. Sales -wise though, it was nothing impressivepared to other established singers.


    However, the man predicted that within a month, the situation would be different. Or maybe it would not even take a month. It would all depend on how efficient Mo Fang and Liu De would be.


    Qin Tai was steadily drifting apart from Mo Zan. This was because of the woman''s forceful attempts in making him help her reestablish the broken partnership between their families or the other partners of the Qins.


    Since Liu De was currently enamored with his manager and the famous actress Mo Fang because the two had already tumbled in bed with him, he couldn''t pay much attention to most of the women he was trying to rope into his harem.


    Tang Yu Yan was getting depressed and choked within the Tang family due to Selena Tang''s return but couldn''t find the male lead most of the time. This was why she could only turn to Wen Hui. Probably in her subconscious, she was treating Wen Hui as her spare tire but the man was aware of it and didn''t want to settle for that. Whenever appropriate, he would bring up how the male lead was treating her with less importancepared to his other women.


    The painter and the others were doing the same. Dong Lan was excluded in this since the campus belle had not yet made a lot of contact with the male lead so his courtship of her was normal. The rest though, to maximize the opportunity and brand themselves more in the brain of the women they liked, they made sure to appear or give something only whenever the girls were angry at Liu De.


    The boys had some degree of sess. And they were already happy with it. After all, they were genuine to those girls yet had hardly received attention or chance from them. Now that the opportunity was presented, they would be a fool not to take advantage of it. They were given an inch, they would work their way into getting a mile before conquering thempletely in the future.


    How would Liu De fare once that happened? Well, there was a chance he would just look for others.


    Jiang Li could just shake his head in distaste. In the end, the problem was the system of the male lead. The only good thing was that it was not the kind that could grant superpowers to its host, only enhancement of talents. Yet having superior talents and abilities to impress women''s heart already made Liu De cut above the rest.


    On that week too, an important announcement was made.


    For a reason Jiang Li didn''t bother to know, the producers and director of Selena Tang''s drama would start airing two weeks from now on. This was even though the shooting of the fourth episode was not yet finished. ording to his manager, it was because the director was informed that there would be a vacant prime time slot so he hurriedly took it. Anyways, there was no problem with that decision.


    Since it would be a drama aired twice weekly, with each episode having a runtime length of about an hour and thirty minutes, as long as there were at least four episodes ready, it would be fine. In any case, there were two more weeks before that, so the production team would have a lot of materials to present.


    Probably, if there would be a problem, it was that there was another historical drama who would be broadcasting its pilot episode in the same week. The timeslots were the same, which meant that the two would be rivals in ratings. And like he predicted, Liu De would be starring in it.


    Even now, not a few from Jiang Li''s side were already wishing the male lead''s lucky streak would end The man wanted to sneer in disdain to these people and asked them just why their faith in their own director, Director Fu, was so little.


    Because thepetition was quite tough, the promotion had officially started. The important people in the crew were called in for a pictorial. The result came out this week as well, actually. And to Jiang Li''s surprise, the teaser too. As he heard a familiar voice and melody from its background, he felt like calling his good CEO friend to ask him if he was taking revenge against him.


    ''So in this world, songs can be OSTs even without the permission or written signature of the copyright holder?'' When he found out, the thought just crossed his mind. The piece he heard was not one of the sad love songs he begrudgingly wrote for Mo Fang so he was still the legal owner of those.


    It took him a few whiles to calm down. He repeatedly told himself this was a fictional world, born from the imagination of an author. Look, Youtube which had been banned in the country from the modern world he had been was thriving here! That was simply one of the proofs.


    Anyways moving forward from that.


    Apart from busying himself with real work-rted stuff, there was one thing he never forgot, apart from taming a lioness.


    Two days ago, when Jiang Li''s MV officially premiered.


    Mo Fang drew a huge breath upon receiving a tag from one of her non-celebrity friends. When the notification shed on her phone''s screen, she tapped on it, leading her to a page that was actually shared with her.


    Her eyebrow rose when she saw a guy in histe twenties or early twenties wearing a white suit. Only the side of the face could be seen since on the paused screen with the title of the song and the name of the singer, he was sitting in front of a ck piano. However, that smooth, fair, seemingly poreless side which she wondered if had gone through photoshop, was enough to captivate the eye. There was no doubt that the person could only be handsome. This was despite the unusual shade of the upper part of the man''s head. It was a glossy dark blue which glimmered like the sapphire stud earing he was wearing.


    ''Who is this? Why is the side profile giving me a sense of familiarity?'' She knitted her beautifully drawn eyebrows, creating a few creases on her smooth forehead that did not really take away any of her beauty.

 Chapter 282: Selena Tang (31)

    Chapter 282: Selena Tang (31)


    Mo Fang slowly got up from her reclining chair, sitting properly on it. She let her long wavy brown hair to cascade down and block some of the rays interfering with the lighting of her phone screen.


    Before she could y the video, another notification popped up, this time, it was a request for a call. The name disyed was Samantha Gu, the same woman who shared the link to her.


    "Hi, Fang fang!" An energetic voice rang from the other line, greeting her using her pet name. "Have you seen the video? What do you think? Isn''t the guy there just quite dreamy? Haha."


    Amidst the softughter of her friend, Mo Fang reluctantly hummed in agreement. She then greeted back before asking what she was calling for. "Hey, Samantha, did you only call for this? To be honest, I''m quite busy So."


    She made sure to sound like she was really having some sort of dilemma. The girl who called was quite bright so she immediately got what she meant. She awkwardly replied, " Well, that''s all actually, although I also want to ask how you''re doing and engage in some small talks. It''s been a while, you know But well. I''m sorry if I disturbed you while at work. It should be one of your break hours. Sorry, I just got excited. I noticed apart from the man in the video being a looker, he seems to resemble your ex-husband Zheng Xiang"


    "Hmmm?" The name immediately made Mo Fang rm. "You mean, this Jiang Li?" She asked as she read the name in the description box below.


    "Yeah. Actually, I was about to ask if this Jiang Li is also Zheng Xiang. I know a lot of people in your industry use other names on stage or change their names outright to something more nice sounding. But hey, if he''s really your ex-husband, he doesn''t pale inparison to your current boyfriend''s looks."


    "I know some rumors about him are not true but no worries, I''m not saying anything bad about you since I''m aware what you did is for the two of you. Coz it would be torture for both of you to stay in a loveless rtionship together So how about you introdu----"


    The more Mo Fang listened to what her friend was saying, the more she could feel her chest drumming. This was why without saying her goodbye, she hurriedly ended the call.


    With her trembling fingers, she pulled up all the information of the singer named Jiang Li from Baidu. There were pictures avable there, but all, without exception were only showing the side of his face. A few of his fans thus dubbed him the side profile hottie.


    ''There is none about where hees from? Or who his parents are? Or where he attended to learn his skills in ying various instruments?''


    Mo Fang bit her lower lip for a moment. She went back to the video shared with her and yed it. It took her only a minute to confirm, based on the voice that voice which had sung thirteen mncholic love songs for her. She remembered that when she was learning the melody from the private videos, she never took a good look at the person singing there, going as far as to close her eyes so she would not see how he was doing there.


    Now, she could perfectly see it. The man had changed hairstyle and even his hair color. Gone was the so-called fashion beard that he sported on his chin which used to make her so annoyed. His posture and body movements became elegant. Who was he? Had her former husband always looked like this?


    . Why did it seem like he became better and looked better when they separated?


    Mo Fang was stunned for some time. No, her eyes simply couldn''t leave the face of the man singing in the video.


    It took her a long while to regain her senses. And when she did, it was to recheck the information about him again.


    "Ah De! Help me! He, He is back! I saw that he has be a singer just so he could be back in the entertainment industry again!" In a semi-hysterical tone, she told Liu De the moment she saw him.


    The woman immediately asked him to meet up with her and they met in her condo unit.


    When the male lead appeared in the doorway, she instinctively jumped into his arms.


    "Fang''er," eximed Liu De as he caught her. Then he asked, "What happened? What''s making you afraid? I''m here for you"


    The actress gave him a teary nce which somehow sparked a short kissing session. After that, she led her into the living room. There she exined what happened and her suspicion of how the singer who had just debuted was Zheng Xiang.


    As a qualified wife-stealer, he, of course, could not remember the name, so Mo Fang had to remind him that Zheng Xiang was her ex-husband.


    "Did he show himself to you?" Liu De''s expression was not good. "Did he harass you to make youe back to him?"


    "No but, but I''m afraid that is actually his real purpose. Should I call him and confront him about it?" The woman lowered her head and pursed her lips. Guilt was filling her chest, but since she had already taken this path, she could only go all the way. Her eyes instantly reddened, and some drops of tears started to well up from them.


    Liu De gently wiped the crystal-like tears and said in a coaxing tone, "Hush, baby. Don''t worry, I''m here. I won''t let him hurt you again. Since you don''t want to see him, I''ll make him not able to go near you ever again."


    Mo Fang discreetly heaved a sigh of relief. She discovered months ago that this future billionaire was someone who was very lustful and had a very low bottom line, but he knew how to keep his word.


    She raised her pitiful looking face and said softly, "Thank you."


    To reassure his woman, Liu De stayed there until the night, soothing her with words. However, since there were only two of there in the ce, inappropriate thoughts naturally bloomed in this guy''s head which led to a steamy night filled with passion.


    "Sorry, we can''t do much. We have to give a face to Starlight."


    Mo Fang had her own contacts so she nned to not solely depend on Liu De''s resources to shut Jiang Li, no, Zheng Xiang, down. However, the first one she called gave this response which truly made her dumbfounded and rooted on the ground.


    She was still in her house. And had just woken up. Wrapped in her nket, she was about to flip the switch of her aroma-diffuser open to chase away the blush-inducing smell subtly filling the room.


    "W-wait!" She stuttered out when her brain finally processed what she heard. Though of course, epting was a different matter. She subconsciously said, "Director Lee, did you just say, he''s a signed artist of Starlight? That Starlight?"


    "Yeah, Miss Mo. It''s that one owned by the Qin family. To be honest, I don''t want to offend them unnecessarily since the ones I n to use for my next movie are from theirpany. Is there anything else I can help you with, Miss Mo?"


    She didn''t speak for a full ten seconds, deeply thinking about the information she received.


    Pursing her lips and realizing being informed of her ex-husband''s musicbel was already the best help she would get from the other party, she politely replied, "No, thanks for giving me some of your time."


    It was the director she spoke to who abruptly ended the call.


    But Mo Fang was too absorbed in her thoughts to feel offended by theck of goodbye greetings from him.


    ''Since he''s from the rival side, my and Liu De''s connections won''t be able to do much against him. Unless... we use our fans I can easily revive the matter from seven months ago. But'' Aplicated expression flickered in her beautiful eyes. If given a choice, she no longer wanted to use that fabricated charge against an innocent person. Yet if pushed to a corner just so none of her ns would go awry, she wouldn''t hesitate.


    ''Should I meet him first?'' The question just suddenly popped up in her head which led to her deciding to do so.


    It had to be a meeting nobody else would know, she added in her mind.


    Maybe she could persuade the man to quietly retreat, and not be part of her world again. And of course, pretend the songs which were currently her source of insecurity had been given to her out of his own volition.


    ...


    Mo Fang''s beautiful fantasy was broken when she found out she had no way to contact the man in secret. Her calls wouldn''t go through the old number. She couldn''t message him through his old socialwork ounts since all of those showed no sign of activity in the past seven months. The ones registered under his stage name were surely being handled by Starlight''s people.


    She would only have her personal assistant go on her behalf and lure the man out to meet her. And to be honest, this was already uneptable to her since there would be one or two witnesses of her rendezvous with the man she didn''t actually want to meet if given a choice.


    ''No Mo Fang Stop the pessimism. Maybe this is for the better. At least, Liu De will think I left witnesses so he wouldn''t doubt my reason for meeting Zheng Xiang. Since my assistant already knew, I will have her standby near so she can at least see that Zheng Xiang and I will only be talking.''


    The woman waited patiently in her car outside the building where amon friend of her and her ex-husband said he would be. She didn''t question much why the man was in a photography studio since even singers, as long as they were popr and had good looks could be invited to be the cover girl or boy of a magazine or perhaps be an endorser.


    Ten minutester, the man she was waiting for emerged. Her assistant already informed him so when she walked out of the car wearing shades, cap, and scarf and strode towards a caf with tinted wall sses, he wordlessly followed.


    Before getting inside the cafe, she looked back to check for suspicious individuals. She spotted no one, probably apart from a beautiful woman in a ck dress who had the bearing of an elitist standing on the other side of the street while strangely eyeing her with a cold expression stered on her pretty face.


    Mo Fang looked away and dismissed the ridiculous thoughts in her mind. As long as there were no paparazzi, she was safe. How could she think of somebody who looked like somebody from a well-off family as suspicious?


    She marched into the coffee shop and sat at a table in a corner. The man followed her and took the seat opposite hers. After cing his elbows on top of the table and sping his hands together, he said, "It''s been a while."


    The woman momentarily felt at lost, staring at the soft smile, that familiar and heartwarming expression, he shed towards her. It was the only thing that seemingly remained the same after his transformation.


    She had yet to speak when he asked, "How have you been Mo Fang?"

 Chapter 283: Selena Tang (32)

    Chapter 283: Selena Tang (32)


    The talk between the divorced couple did notst longer than five minutes. In that short span of time, Mo Fang tried to hint about the songs and inquire why he went back to the show business. But the man only replied to thetter.


    "I have to work in order to feed me," heughingly said. "Since I have left on a whim months ago without exining to the crew, I know I won''t be epted anywhere. I have to find other means to get ie..."


    ''You are kicked out,'' retorted the woman in her mind. She wanted to threaten him into stopping what he was doing. But shame got into her because when she used that way to divorce and requested Liu De to block him so he would no longer be able to stay as a producer, she never thought of what would happen to him after.


    ''He is a man heartbroken by the divorce. He might fall into depression.''


    ''The money he earned is split in half topensate me for the emotional damage from the ''domestic violence.''


    ''If he loses his job as a producer and can no longer mix in the industry, how will he survive? Or where will he go?''


    None of these ever came to her mind.


    So now that he brought the topic up, she felt a bit of embarrassment in her heart.


    How should she continue the conversation?


    Mo Fang found herself saying not long after, "Zheng Xiang Can''t you find another job? Anywhere else but in this industry?"


    Jiang Li sported a nk look that stayed in his face for almost a minute. Then he puzzledly blurted out, "This is my livelihood now. Why would I?"


    ''Yeah why would he?'' a momentter, her mind also asked her. She couldn''t find the answer to it so she couldn''t speak for quite a while.


    Jiang Li patiently waited for her, and the same gentle look did not disappear. But when more than a minute passed, he nced down on his wristwatch and read the time there. "I''m sorry, Miss Mo. I have to be back in the studio in two minutes and it''s quite a distance from here. I''m d to see you doing well. Goodbye."


    The man stood up and pointed a finger at his wristwatch while wearing a helpless look on his face.


    "Wait!" The woman tried to stop him. She couldn''t let him go yet! But it seemed he was really in a hurry since he only turned his head for a short while without pausing his steps.


    In just a fewrge strides, he disappeared from her sight.


    Mo Fang did notpletely give up and frequently tried to intercept Jiang Li whenever she could. However, never did she manage to tell him her purpose in seeking him out.


    When she got fed up with the situation where she either couldn''t say it or he would have to leave due to appointments to others, she made up her mind to just resort to threat. Yet she also never managed to do that, seemingly forgetting about it once the moment of truth arrived.


    How hard would it be to spout a few words in front of him? It should not be that difficult. But she could tell for herself why hse couldn''t. Now, all she knew was each day the restlessness in her heart grew the more the release date of her sweetheart''s album approaches.


    The uneasiness she was feeling kept growing that it was starting to affect her job and life. She would frequently fell into deep thoughts and bore the heck out of the people surrounding her, including Liu De.


    But thankfully for the male lead, he was busy with his drama and recordings so also couldn''t pay much heed about the abnormality of the woman.


    One time she could no longer stand the weird feeling in her heart she sent a message to him through texts, ''Zheng Xiang, withdraw from the entertainment world. Please do it for me.''


    Not even a minuteter, she received a reply, ''This is his manager, Fan Jing. You are so shameless. Please don''t contact my talent again.''


    The chunk of text made her dumbfounded. And even though she should have suspected if it was her ex-husband who sent it, she unconsciously believed it was not him.


    Her unusual state persisted. And before she knew it, the date she dreaded arrived.


    The album for the artist Andrew C. who would be the one singing the emotional and sad love songs which Jiang Li wrote months ago sessfully made it at least at the same time as Liu De''s album release.


    Yet for a few hours, there was no unrest or unusual activities online.


    Most talks were about the two historical dramas about to air three days from then on. Both garnered many interests as one was starred by two S-listers and produced by an award-winning director, while the other had its script written by a famous figure abroad who had already won several international literature and scriptwriting award. The lead actor was also a bigshot.


    Both teasers were very interesting and pleasing to the eyes, although there were some simrities since the two stories were both historical and about intrigues in the military and the pce.


    Probably the good thing that happened for Jiang Li was that many noticed him in the teaser due to the color of his hair.


    Onemented in ZHK''s official site, ''The one ying the general has a strange hair color. Why didn''t he dye it ck or brown?''


    The original post received quite the number of replies.


    ''Why do you care that much? It''s good as long as the face is handsome!''


    ''I agree. Handsome for the win!''


    ''Fools! I care because he''s an oddity ruining the solemn atmosphere at the scene.''


    ''It''s odd because of the hair, but other than that, everything''s okay. His fighting andmanding scenes are awesome by the way, at least more believable and appear more natural than in the other drama. Who''s the actor?''


    ''It''s the first time I see him.''


    ''Hey, that''s my idol, Jiang Li. He''s a popr singer!''


    ''Popr? Never heard of him. And he seems unprofessional because he acted without knowing what kind of drama he''s ying at.''


    ''Will you stop, whoever you are. The fact that you and the other haters only know how toment on his hair is making me believe you guys are hired water army! The glistening blue hair is due to the awesome skill of the director, alright!''


    The director who was sneakily checking the webpage but kept his silence:  For the sake of hype, I won''t clear up this misunderstanding.


    When the middle-aged guy scrolled down more to check on other news, he got surprised to find many praising and requesting more photos of the beautiful Selena Tang who was not really one of the cast members. And even though a lot were criticizing Jiang Li for his hair, a lot more werementing about his face.


    "Look at this kid. It seems he never showed his whole face before when singing so when he does, it contributed a lot of hype to the drama." Director Fu clicked his tongue as he epted the cup of coffee his assistant director passed to him.


    The man then dragged a stool and sat on it before joining him in reading. The director gave him a cold re and hid the screen of his phone. "Why are you looking?"


    Laughing awkwardly, the assistant shook his head. "Sorry, just curious. By the way, director, you seem to be not aware. Actually, Mr. Jiang has shown his face on his music video two weeks ago so this is not really the first time that the people saw it."


    "Oh?"


    "How is it the same? It''s the first time they will see him in an ancient warrior costume. And the news that he will be acting as a major supporting character in his first movie should be shocking enough. Pull up your phone and look. It seems this man has quite therge following. At leastparable to B-list actors." The one who spoke was a producer who happened to be eavesdropping.


    "Well, he''s lucky," grunted the director whose left cheek spasmed for a moment after he remembered the writer requesting to directly give the role to him.


    Even now, he had yet to figure out Selena Tang''s reason for rmending Jiang Li. The two didn''t seem to be in a rtionship despite thetter''s obvious show of affection and interest towards the icy woman.


    The interest of the director in Jiang Li''s matter did not stay for long. The man continued checking the news and thements online until he put his phone away to start working.


    As for the matter about the simrities in the music of the two established and reputable music artists from rivalingpanies, the one who found out about it only managed to finish drafting the article around noon.


    There was no actual rivalry between the two artists. However, the moment one of the critiques pointed out about the exact melodies and started to share their observation with the world, that was when the two musicbels official websites began to be flooded with inquiries and all sorts ofments.


    At that moment, a huge controversy was born. Who copied whom? Between Liu De, a very popr actor who recently started to dabble on music, and the singer who had built up a strong career for five years, which one of them was the giarizer?

 Chapter 284: Selena Tang (33) <2-in-1>

    Chapter 284: Selena Tang (33) <2-in-1>


    The world outside was in a rare state of unrest as the whole country was plunged into a frenzy which was no lesser than when the matter about an actress being a victim of domestic violence.


    Liu De was so bothered by it. He just got a call from Director Su''s assistant that the filming site for today somehow got leaked to the reporters and they couldn''t head there due to the countless people camping nearby.


    Two days passed since his album was released. It was reported that its performance in the market was not looking good despite the hype and the number of records sold both digital and physical was lesser than the neer called Jiang Li.


    "F*ck! F*ck!" Liu De angrily threw down his phone after reading the message.


    "Why am I the one they''re pointing fingers at? Just because I was newer in the industry than that Andrew? I should have just produced my own songs!"


    Regret welled up in his eyes and he began to look hostilely at Mo Fang who was hugging her knees on the couch before him.


    The woman''s eyes were a bit vacant, as if the body was just merely a shell now with her mind elsewhere, wandering. She was so absent-minded that she didn''t even flinch at the continuous unpleasant noises created by the phone which broke into numerous pieces and scattered on the floor.


    Alright. In reality, she was done being surprised each time the man threw something on the tiled flooring.


    "Mo Fang! Aren''t you going to say anything?! This is your fault!!!" angrily, the male lead shouted.


    There were others present and all of them alternately looked at the two, especially at Mo Fang. Thetter did not respond and seemingly did not even notice how the man''s way of addressing her became too distant and cold.


    Disgruntled for her boss'' sake, the actress'' assistant jumped to her defense. "It''s not necessarily Miss Mo''s fault! Maybe the other party is the one who stole from us and that there''s a spy! We should patiently wait for the investigation!"


    Hearing thest word said by her personal assistant, the light in the actress'' eyes returned. Investigation Damn, investigation. She was the one guilty of stealing!


    Mo Fang stood up and took a deep breath. Her gaze only went up for a second before she looked down again. The eyes of everyone present were too painful for the skin.


    "I need time to think. Sorry, I''ll be leaving." Heaven knows how hard she tried not to make her voice tremble.


    "Who says you can leave?" coldly, the male lead spat out.


    However, the woman''s mind was too on edgetely so the words of the man who used to tter her and shower her with love only made her hasten her steps.


    Her high heels made loud sounds since she was almost running away from there. Both the angry Liu De and her wary PA caught up with her. The man grabbed her by the arm and tried to stop her from leaving, but her personal assistant pped the male lead''s hand away. Mo fang used that chance to open the door of the manager''s office and entered the hallway. As she half-ran, half-jogged towards the elevator, her shaky hands clumsily put on her dark shades to hide her puffy eyes and the dark circles underneath.


    Once she arrived home, the first thing she did after closing all the doors, the curtains, the windows, was to open Zheng Xiang''s Weibo ount.


    Her eyes widened in shock after triple-checking the whole page.


    ''S-so it''s really my fault? Because I forgot to delete the videos hereafter recording my own rough version?''


    ''Mo Fang! You''re so stupid!'' The woman kept chastising herself, unaware that it wouldn''t matter if she deleted the videos or not.


    For almost a minute, she forgot how to properly breathe. She painfully closed her eyes as numerous possibilities on how the scores ended up in the Starlight management''s hands.


    Nheless, no matter the reason or the process of how somebody from the opposing recordbel managed to acquire the songs, it was a fact that Liu De was already embroiled in a huge scandal that stemmed from her negligence.


    Even though both sides had yet to provide evidence on their innocence, the man she chose was the one receiving more suspicions just because the other had a greater reputation in the music industry.


    ''This can''t continue!'' The woman gritted her teeth as a sense of danger and crisis struck her heart.


    ''I have to do something about this!''


    It wasughable but the solution which the reborn woman thought of was to see her ex-husband and, regardless of his schedule as a busy artist and actor, force him to have a serious talk with her.


    Yet since Jiang Li was in a good mood due to the chaos happening these days, he humored the woman and led her to a secluded area in the shooting location, an ancientpound in the outskirts of the capital.


    Mo Fang was in a disguise so he was not worried about her being recognized or her identity being guessed by those who were unaware of their history. Behind the entrance where a lush acacia tree stood tall, he concernedly asked. "Miss Mo, is something the matter? Why did you rush here?"


    "Please help me!" With teary eyes, she looked up at him. Mo Fang would have removed her scarf and all to reveal her pitiful face to garner the man''s sympathy. However, with the danger of being seen, she didn''t dare do so. She could only cry out, "Xiang! I beg you! Please remember our old feelings and help me! T-those songs, can you please give me the full copyright of those?"


    Her own cheeks burned from embarrassment. Thankfully, her scarves and huge shades and her long hair helped her shield his sight from seeing it.


    Jiang Li was amused and purposely remained quiet for a fairly long time. Since the actress'' line of sight was below, with a slight turn upwards she saw that his hands trembled slowly balled into fists. She held her breath and looked at his face, only to see him looking at her with aplicated gaze.


    He quietly said, "Do you know that those songs are dedicated to you?"


    Mo Fang heard the helplessness and bitterness in his voice and her heart shook a bit. Unaware the man was feeling bitter for saying such disgusting things, she thought it was because he was suppressing the pain from within.


    ''It''s a chance!'' A soft glimmer shed through her eyes.


    "So it is supposed to be mine, right?" she said in a hopeful voice.


    Jiang Li nodded, "Yeah" And the woman''s eyes almost became as bright as a diamond until he suddenly added in a dry tone, "However, since I saw you are happy with Liu De, I didn''t have the courage to bring those songs to light"


    "Only after a few months did I endorse the music scores to Starlight, because I was really tight on budget"


    There was embarrassment on his expression when he said that, and one of his arms rose in the air a bit. The man must have wanted to scratch the back of his neck but then remembered that Mo Fang once said that he looked stupid doing that.


    At that moment, the woman couldn''t find the words to say.


    In the end, due to guilt, she turned around and started heading towards the exit. Jiang Li''s voice sounded behind her though, which made her tremble.


    "The copyrights for those songs are solely owned by Starlight now. But I will try my best to appeal to them as the original creator Once I get a positive result, I will then contact you"


    It took Mo Fang a few couple of seconds to digest what he said and recovered from the daze.


    "Okay"


    ...


    That day, Qin Tai happened to be on an ongoing call with Jiang Li so he heard everything.


    There was a long moment of silence from his end as he was too speechless.


    " So you''re really into acting now?" he asked.


    The question sounded amusing to Jiang Li so he wasughing while pressing a finger on the blue wireless Bluetooth earpiece on his left ear. "It''s actually fun. You should try. Maybe like me, you''ll fall in love with the feeling."


    ''Who will I use as a practice target then? Do I have to do something like that too? Act pitiful and hopeless in front of someone?''


    The young CEO couldn''t contain the revulsion he was feeling so it showed on his face. Regrettably, Jiang Li wouldn''t be able to see it and make fun of it.


    "I''ll pass on that. It sounds disgusting. By the way, I heard what you said to her. Are you really going to do that? I don''t think you still need to interfere since it is already chaotic enough. Gao Jing is busy these days because the one he liked, Ms. Li Xia is quite depressed for the terrible ratings of her drama''s pilot episode. Liu De''s mess is, of course, to be med."


    "I am somebody who never goes back on my word. If I said it, I''ll do it unless it will cost me my life. Or something dear to me."


    He wouldn''t renege on his promise unless it will cost him his life or something with great worth to him?


    Qin Tai only sensed malicious intent from the supposed to be honorable words.


    "You''re losing your sense of shame though. So shame is not important to you? Oh. I get it. Because you''re shameless."


    Laughter came from Jiang Li and he pressed the red icon disyed on his phone''s screen. He also pressed its power button, causing it to be put on sleep mode.


    But he didn''t immediately put it inside his pocket.


    Because on its darkened mirror-like surface, he saw somebody four or five meters behind him, with crossed arms as she leisurely leaned on the brick walls to her right. She didn''t bother hiding so if he would turn around, he would immediately find her standing there. Was that her intention? Or was she confident that he wouldn''t look back?


    No matter which, it wouldn''t change the surprising fact that she was actually not ring at him today. It was the reason why his sight lingered a bit longer on the reflection.


    "Hello, Miss Tang."


    To his greetings, Selena Tang only responded with a silent stare. She put her hands down and started walking towards his direction. It was not a surprise to Jiang Li that she walked past him. What she said in passing was not new to him too.


    "Liars go to hell," a popr saying to scare children from being a liar, or hiding truths to their parents.


    Perhaps she was there from the start and heard her brief exchanges with Mo Fang and Qin Tai.


    He was only a bit taken aback by the woman''s milder tone.<em> ''If only that means she''s no longer hostile to me.''</em> He wryly thought.

 Chapter 285: Selena Tang (34)

    Chapter 285: Selena Tang (34)


    Due to the voices of the masses who were either curious or furious about the unsolved giarism event, the legal teams of each party were put into pressure.


    Like what he promised, Jiang Li always visited Qin Tai''s office, although it was to joke around or have free coffee there. He would never stay for more than ten minutes. And sometimes he would not really be able toe up or go near the top floor since the CEO of Starlight was of course, always busy.


    The news passed to Mo Fang and her frequency of staring nkly into the void became greater in number.


    "Have someone take the me for me! If not I''ll make a statement by myself that I''m innocent. I''m only the singer and the faulty, damnable songs are only given for me to interpret and record, which is the one and only truth!"


    The woman listened to the male lead reasoned to Mo Zan. Thetter''s eyes fell onto her when the man finished speaking.


    '' You kept praising me before for writing those. But now you want me to take the sole me?''


    Mo Fang wanted to argue but couldn''t when faced with President Mo''s icy stare. She felt wronged and secretly looked down, then slightly raised her eyes towards Liu De.


    It was for him that she did those things. Yet how was he treating? Didn''t he promise he would always be there for her so no matter what challenges they faced, she didn''t have to be afraid? Without her noticing, the gaze she was giving him became loathful and sharp.


    The man also did not notice it since he was increasingly getting stressed by all the chain of events. Haggardness was starting to show in his face.


    He wanted to tell the world he was innocent, because he really was. But Mo Zan instructed him not to stay anything for now. He had a hunch she was trying to reverse the situation so she wanted him not to reveal that it was their side which was in the wrong, with a stupid actress pulling out the songs from god knows where and iming them theirs.


    ''No matter what happened, if you speak and rat this truth out, then Dreamer will be damaged. The giarist still came from my side. Please Liu De. Let me think of something,''


    Mo Zan rarely showed weakness so even though he felt wronged as well, he stoppedining for several days. But he was reaching his limit too. After all, this was the first time his music and drama were being flops. The endorsement supposed to be in his bag were backing out And the same woman was telling him to disappear from the industry for a couple of months before returning.


    How could he ept that? He was meant to be a superstar so he couldn''t go on hiatus! What if the people forget him?


    ''At times like this, I hate that the system can only improve my face value, singing, dancing, and acting. But nothing else. It constantly issued mission which I have to make sure to achieve, or else, it will randomly deduct my stats.''


    ''So f*cking useless. Why can''t it detect giarism issues ahead of time so it can warn me or help me go back in time so I can p the foolish me who believes in Mo Fang?''


    The man kept ming things. But he forgot that the fault was also in him for not verifying Mo Fang''s source. He also put so much faith in the system and became too dependent on it. Thest time he actually practiced honing his skills was a year ago. Since the system could magically make him improve, he chose the easy way and justpleted missions, regardless of the content and motive. Even the songs and scripts he used to unt before were not also created by him but conjured magically by the system as his reward for ''leveling up''.


    ''Host, I''m not omnipotent. I can bring you to the top of the entertainment world through skills. But all matters outside that shall depend on you.'' This was a warning on his first day of waking up in this world. Yet he already forgot it.


    With his mind clouded by anger and the urgency to immediately clear his name, he debated with his manager and his lovers.


    Mo Fang reached the point that she couldn''t stomach looking at his face or listening to his voice so she walked out and let them continue their talks by themselves there.


    It took her an hour to reach her condo. Actually her ce was only less than forty-five minutes away but she was held back for some time by the reporters camping outside.


    The woman saw the messages on her phone asking her toe clean. The texts were from Liu De and their manager. She ignored those and snorted. In the end, it was Mo Zan who was fighting for her even if it was for the reputation and credibility of Dreamer.


    "In my past life, with an attitude and a dark heart like this, how the hell did he manage to reach the peak of the showbiz world?" She spoke as if the man was not a lover who fell into bed countless times with her.


    She cried for almost half a day and somehow ended up browsing the videos on Zheng Xiang''s ount. This time she did not close her eyes so she found out that her ex-husband longed so much for her and had started his makeover maybe to show him that he could change, if it was his appearance that made her lose her interest. Of course, this was only in the messy head of the woman. But it did not stop her from crying more and wishing she had not be so stupid.


    ''Why did I think to be a member of the elite, the only way is to marry someone who is sure to be one of them? Dogsh*t Liu De He''s not that impressive. He''s also way too lusty and arrogant when his size is not evenparable to Zheng Xiang.''


    With that thought, the girl seemed to have woken up from a long dream and realized her mistakes


    She was a reborn woman!


    She was with the knowledge of a few important events that could help her be rich and respected on her own.


    Who was Liu De in front of somebody who could resist fate and predict the future? Why did she have totch onto him as if he was her sole hope in bing a member of the upper society?


    Ah she had really been stupid and let go of the one who truly loved her.

 Chapter 286: Selena Tang (35) <2-in-1>

    Chapter 286: Selena Tang (35) <2-in-1>


    On the very next day, somebody who imed to be an insider of Dreamer just suddenly posted on a forum that the real songwriter responsible for the giarized content from Starlight was Mo Fang.


    At this time, the male lead still had many supporters and followers since all that had been confirmed yet was that the songs from Dreamer and Starlight were simr. That was all.


    Seeing a chance to prove their idol''s innocence, Liu De''s fan immediately attacked Mo Fang and even condemned Dreamer for tolerating a scumbag artist like her in their ranks.


    The two women, Mo Fang and Mo Zan, immediately learned of the incident. One confronted the man who could be behind this, the other, also did not stay silent.


    Mo Fang had long be cool-headed and was alert so she had already set up countermeasure against this possibility. Her hopes in Liu Depletely died when this piece of news broke out.


    Since she had already awakened, she didn''t hesitate once to retaliate. She used her skills as an actress and made a video which she posted on her Weibo. The greatest weapon she had was her face, but she did not cry or act pitiful this time.


    "Hello, everyone. This is me, Mo Fang," she even waved in front of the camera while wearing a smile.


    "So I''m here today coz I heard there''s a funny rumor circting online about me!"


    She saidughingly, without a trace of fear or guilt. All that showed on her face afterward was puzzlement and amusement. "


    Oh, sorry, forughing. I just didn''t know how else to react to this. Here, on my phone, when I wake up I just saw articles and threads saying I giarized Starlight songs, WHAT?"


    A burst ofughter followed. Those watching suddenly couldn''t believe somebody like her who could smile andugh freely after being used of something heavy like this could be guilty.


    Mo Fang was shaking her head in the video and wiping the corner of her eyes. Her happy voice was so pleasant to the ears.


    "OMG, it''s unbelievable. I don''t know who made this stuff up. But I''m somebody with no music background and at most, I can do covers with the help of free karaoke instrumentals and auto-tune, oops. Haha. Sorry, forughing too much here. SO anyways, I just want to rify that there''s NO WAY!" She matched with a cross formed by her arms before adding in a matter of fact manner. " that I am the one who wrote the songs because.... hey, I''m an actress and have been an actress all my life. Those who have bought Liu De''s album, even if you checked it ten thousand times, you won''t find my name there. And the same goes if you checked his music video. All I did there is to act with co-star Li Xia"


    The woman added more messages after this, mostly addressed to her fans who kept supporting her. She then expressed her stance about the incident and asked everyone not to drag her into the issue anymore.


    As she was a popr celebrity on her own right, actually somebody who had been popr even before Liu De entered the industry, she still had many fans and supporters and all these people believed her side since it was very logical.


    Nobody from Dreamer, not even the producer who spoke with Mo Fang to get the music signed, came out to refute her im After all, she had already phoned everyone who knew about the issue and used her knowledge from the future to ckmail them into shutting their mouth!


    As for why she confidently imed that nobody would find her name in the credit section of the album or the music video, it was because as a precaution from being found out, she told the music production team not to include her name there since it would elicit many questions.


    ''I just want to stay an actress.'' Weeks ago, when they were deciding how to package the CDs and the online version of the album, she jokingly said. ''I can simply stay a ghost songwriter. It''s pretty much an awesome experience being someone from behind the shadows.''


    Now, she wanted to thank herself who made that decision since it greatly helped this time.


    Upon receiving news of her counterattack, the masses who loved to jump into conclusion concocted several conspiracy theories in their heads, but the majority agreed that Liu De was suspicious. No, actually, everyone involved was suspicious apart from the pretty actress Mo Fang.


    The battles online ensued, bringing forth a nice show for those who had nothing better to do other than surf the inte. An hour or so after Mo Fang''s video came out, Liu De made an exnation too, iming he only sang and interpreted the songs, but it was simply given to him. Not long after, Mo Zan had someone under her hire the water armies to steer the direction of the opinions into ''perhaps, it''s Starlight who made up this allegation to make Dreamer appear guilty.''


    One of Liu De''s fans went as far as to say to check on apps like Youtube and SoundHound to see who registered sooner, unting his knowledge about how those sites or apps have the algorithm to check the melody, lyrics, and arrangements.


    However, this was a wed method since it would depend on who uploaded first on those ces, not who truly wrote it.


    Towards the annoying statements andments that they were getting, Qin Tai got pissed off so much and ordered Lu Lingxi to screenshot their certificates and written proofs signifying that the copyright was theirs.


    Although Jiang Li specifically told him to drag the issue for at least ten days just to wear out his ex-wife and her cheatmate''s mental health or caused internal strife, the CEO had be so irritated that such a simple matter had to take more than a week to be resolved.


    His capable secretarypleted the task beautifully and even added some fancy taunting. Attached to the photos was a small wall of text underneath.


    ''Here are the proofs that the copyright for the eight songs in Liu De''s album is actually ours. You can use anything you want to prove the authenticity of the pictures. The numbers needed are written there so you can check from the Copyright Protection Center of China if all of these are authentic. Please note the date. Dreamer Entertainment, please show your proofs too so we can see who giarized who. All it takes is written documents from CPCC.''


    ...


    ''In the end, Liu De is saved. Well, lucky him,'' seeing the news from the huge TV screen mounted on the wall, the man responsible for everything was chilling at home, watching TV while sometimes working on hisptop.


    There was no hint of disappointment in his expression even though Liu De only got harassed online for about a week and had histest drama faring quite badly on its first and second week of airing. And oh, had no time to meet most of the women in his harem apart from Mo Zan and Mo Fang.


    The male lead was judged not guilty because, in a sense, he was really not the one who giarized from others. He was a victim of the vile employee who stole the music scores from Starlight through some unknown means and then changed the lyrics and a bit of the arrangement before submitting it as his creation.


    His Right. It was not Mo Fang who got convicted in the end. Although Dreamer admitted some faults for not triple-checking it at the CPCC, they said they were also a victim. CPCC had also shown negligence in this regard. But the real issue was how Dreamer pulled somebody from who knows where to take the me for Mo Fang.


    So yeah, in the end, none from the two cheaters was invited to the court or the police station. They both could just lie low for a week or two and they could bounce back to work.


    But how would they interact with each other at work? After all, what Mo Fang did? If his guess was correct, the woman would not be pushed to make a statement online if the male lead did not do anything to make her see that he was a scumbag while her ex-husband was the real gold.


    Oops, he was being carried away and being narcissistic. He almost forgot, the reborn could also have awoken from her silly fantasies of an easy road to richness and realized she came back to the past, with intact memory from the future.


    "Mr. Jiang, Mo Fang denied outright that she was the stealer. Her actions made Liu De became the target more of criticism since those without ideas about what really happened could only infer that he is the real scourge of the music industry. I''m guessing in some people''s mind, they''re thinking the first side who made a move without presenting actual proof is the guilty one."


    "Since Liu De should be the bigger one between them, I mean in terms of backing and influence, he would surely have a fallout with Mo Fang. Why does it seem like Mo Fang is protected."


    When Jiang Li met Qin Tai in his office for thest time, the man asked him.


    He shook his head. "Who knows. Maybe it''s your ex-fiance. The camaraderie between two women who awakened from their stupidity."


    "Don''t joke with me." The other guy tiredly replied. Sometimes he regretted befriending this type of person. All-day long he was tired using his brain, but he got a pig teammate who still added to the burden his skull already was enduring.


    "Alright. Since you said so."


    Jiang Li smirked at him and then hinted that not only is Mo Zan protecting Mo Fang now, but several others working under or has connections with Dreamer Entertainment. He also did not forget to mention that even though the male lead suffered a bit, he was still as strong as ever.


    After that, he walked out of the office. Behind him, Qin Tai was staring sharply behind his back, annoyed that the man demanded a high-quality tea a while back yet did not take more than a sip of the one which he asked to be brought in.


    ''As strong as ever If he is, then why is his drama''s rating continuing to decrease? And his songs were taken down. Sometimes, a woman''s affection is based on the degree of sess of a man. Who knows how many will stay with Liu De now that his name is associated with copyright theft even though he is proven not guilty?''


    Qin Tai called for Lu Lingxi and had her massaged his temple for some time.


    As for Jiang Li, before walking out of the automatic ss door he first gave the tall two-meter giant guard there a polite smile. After that, he looked up and saw that the sky was starting to turn dark. His expression then immediately turned mncholic, as if he just got out after a job interview where he ended up rejected.

 Chapter 287: Selena Tang (36)

    Chapter 287: Selena Tang (36)


    Mo Fang saw him but didn''t hurry out of her car to meet him.


    Thinking of everything she did to him just so she could attach herself to a future tycoon, she felt embarrassed. The guilt which she had been ignoring all this time had begun toe back to her at full strength, making her find it hard to breathe due to the irritating feeling in her heart.


    Could she still restart with him?


    Right now, she no longer wanted to be rich through a man, but somebody who loved her, who had done so much for her and would continue to do so in the future. Was there any other men better than Zheng Xiang? Her n was to use her knowledge of the future and the ck materials she could use to control the people who could help her reach the peak of life. With him as her unconditional support, she would not fail and would not feel lonely.


    ''Instead of waiting for him to make me rich, I can make it up to him by doing it the other way,'' she thought, hypnotizing herself that the wealth and luxury she not yet has but would gain in the future would be enough to wash away her sins to make him forget that she once gave him a green hat and divorced him through unscrupulous means.


    The window of her car rolled down. Now, she could take a good look at the man she started to find attractive again. Liu De was already thrown at the back of her mind andbeled as someone to destroy.


    All of a sudden, somebody stood before her and blocked her sight.


    "Excuse me?" Since the person stopped and seemingly had no intention of moving away, Mo Fang raised her eyes in annoyance. She only fell in a daze for a moment after seeing the woman''s appearance. Then she regained her senses and said, "Hello, Miss. Can you please move away. You''re blocking my sight."


    The woman merely continued standing there, creeping her out.


    It took her some time to realize the face which was half-hidden by therge pair of shades was familiar. Where did she see her? No, the first problem was why she kept standing before her like a fool!


    She narrowed her eyes and drove her car a bit forward. Now she could see her ex-husband''s profile again, walking towards her direction, no, the direction of the parking lot.


    ''Why are you being a stalker? You should go walk out there to talk to him, Mo Fang!''


    Just when the thought popped up, shadows fell on her face again as a figure obscured her sight. It was the same woman again.


    Anger rose in her heart. "What do you want, huh? I moved forward yet you followed me? Miss, you looked okay and even dressed in many branded items. So what the hell is wrong with you!?" She spat out as she red up.


    The other woman raised her fair arm to remove her shades. She took her time searching her ck gold clutch purse for the case. As she did this, she knew the actress sitting on the driver seat of the red car was sizing her up, or probably dumbfounded by her appearance.


    "I''m Tang Yue, Selena Tang. I never knew Actress Mo Fang''s tongue is quite the masterpiece, the kind which I would find delight pulling and cutting into pieces for speaking so rudely at me," said the woman while casting her extremely cold pair of eyes at the famous actress.


    "Selena Tang?" Mo fang was taken aback upon recovering from her stupor. Her eyes began to carefully study the other woman''s face and indeed, she was the scriptwriter who had been gaining a lot of attentiontely for the spectacr performance of the drama she penned and for her own appearance.


    To think at first, she was still trying to recall which 18th-tier actress was she that she was so breathtakingly beautiful yet unknown. So the elegant but weirddy was actually Selena Tang. Why was her so memory so bad that she had to be reminded personally by the other?


    A momentter she narrowed her eyes at the beautiful scriptwriter who looked so sophisticated in her peach off-shoulder blouse and ckdies'' pants. She still had not forgotten that the one who provoked first was this Selena.


    "I see. A pleasure to meet you, Miss Tang. Forgive my rudeness just now. I was just incensed because you stood before me earlier without telling me who you are and what''s your purpose. May I know your business with me?"


    Mo Fang sounded polite, but her words were not, hinting that Selena was the one with a problem. Thetter maintained her frosty exterior and said, "You are not allowed to look at him."


    "Him?" asked the actress in a confused tone.


    Selena haphazardly threw a folder into the window, catching Mo Fang in surprise. A yelp was followed by a gasp, and then by a furious roar.


    "You!!! Which sane person throws something at someone she hardly knows and in such a rude manner even! What if the edges of the papers and folder are sharp and leave a cut on my skin or face?"


    Nothing changed from the expression of the scriptwriter, even when the other woman was tantly ring at her. "If I were you look back first to what you have done before you entertain the thought that you''ll easily be forgiven. You have eyes, look down. Unless you want me to help you move your neck down. I have to warn you, I might grab you in the hair instead."


    The seriousness and calmness in Selena''s face even after being shouted at dumbfounded the actress. For a while, she couldn''t speak. The first few words made her reflect unconsciously, lowering her head.


    That was when she discovered that the contents of the folder scattered all over the front seats and the floor. What greeted her eyes made her feel like color was draining from her face.


    Why Why did this woman have this kind of photo?


    "W-who are you?! No, why do you have this?!" Trembling, she looked up at the woman only to see her smiling coldly at her.


    "I''m Selena Tang, heiress to a century-old high-end apparel brand of the Tang family. On why I have those Do you think nobody would be able to dig your foul past just because you deleted some of the pieces of evidence yourself? You''re nave."


    "Then why are you doing this? What''s your goal?!" Wary but scared, Mo Fang asked as she gathered with extreme haste all the pictures and pieces of paper and secure them inside the folder.


    Selena frowned a bit, not liking the slowness of this person''s IQ. "Didn''t I already tell you? Do you need me to spell it out to you one by one? If I may say, I''m a generous person and I think you need a brain transnt. Would you like me to call a doctor to operate you now? Please don''t doubt my capability. I love threatening my enemies with these, so I know a few doctors who specialized in all sorts of surgeries and transnts."


    The long-winded but scary threat made Mo Fang''s face be paler. If the person could easily pull out her scandalous photos with timestamp detailing that it happened before the divorce, what else she couldn''t do?


    Her palm started to be sweaty. Even though she was feeling scared and helpless since when she tried to search her memories for the weakness of the Tang family or this Selena Tang, she couldn''t find any.


    It must be because in her past life she focused her attention more on the entertainment circle and rarely outside of it. She knew about popr investors, producers, directors, actors, and evenwork owners. But not much from hugepanies from the other industries stayed in her mind even if she managed to take a glimpse of them from the news.


    This Selena had a thunderous name in the circle too, but she paid her not much attention since she left the Tang family and let Tang Yu Yan be the sessor. All she heard was that this woman became fed up with her biological parents and chose to inherit the separate businesses owned by her powerful grandfather.


    With helplessness and fright flooding her mind, she slowly turned her head to the heiress and asked, " You are you doing this for Zheng Xiang? Y-you like him too?"


    She was guessing because the man was the only one who seemed to be theirmon intersection. She was his ex-wife so their connection was a given. As for Selena, she had worked with him in a drama series.


    The scriptwriter wrinkled her nose and furrowed her brows upon hearing the scandalous woman''s question. She snorted. "He''s someone I want to bury alive and tied with a rock before throwing into the Mariana trench."


    Mo Fang didn''t believe her and started shaking her head. Who would go this far for somebody they treat as an enemy? Who was she fooling?


    Her thoughts must have shown in her expression so a slight grin emerged from the pretty female elitist''s face.


    "Actually, my mind changed. You... I want you out of his life forever. y around with whoever you want. But don''t go near Jiang Li... Because even if I don''t like him now, who knows, maybe one day, I''ll find myself wanting to disgust him for a lifetime."

 Chapter 288: Selena Tang (37)

    Chapter 288: Selena Tang (37)


    While the woman''s choice of words was quite weird, when viewed literally, apart from ignoring the man or throwing him statements which were either sharp or spicy, she did nothing else. At least, nothing that could be said harmful to him. The prank where she urged the director to make him constantly repeat scenes did not really make Jiang Li annoyed. So he was quite dumbfounded when he overheard the woman talking to Mo Fang about him.


    After that though, he pretended he did not see the two women nor heard anything from them. He had a hunch they saw him already. But he didn''t want to be held back by Mo Fang so he hid and discreetly entered his car which was on the opposite side of the lot.


    Of course, he did not leave yet, nning to at least confirm that Selena would be able to go back to her vehicle unharmed. Although he was confident that Mo Fang wouldn''t be able to do anything to her and would be no match against her wordy, there was nothing wrong with being careful and prudent.


    Time passed and Selena seemed to have finished saying her piece to Mo Fang. She walked away from there and started going to his direction.


    After watching the red car which appeared unpleasant to his eyes drove away, he stuck his head out of the open window of his car. He waved a hand at the cold girl. "Would you like to join me in a ride?" he asked with a smile as she neared. He reckoned Selena''s ride was parked near his.


    Her signature scoffing face registered in his eyes as she elegantly strode towards his direction. "Who would join someone so suspicious and two-faced like you? I''m afraid I''ll be killed with boredom."


    "I thought you want to disgust me for life." He teasingly said.


    That made her freeze on the spot. Selena blinked her beautiful hazel green eyes at the man, wondering, ''So this damnable bloke overheard but purposely did not show himself or intervene?''


    ''Keep calm You have to be the one angering him. Not the other way around.''


    With a forced smile and eyes still emitting frost, she rolled her eyes and pulled the door to the backseat.


    "Hey, sit here in front. The passenger seat is a free seat. I don''t charge fees."


    "No, thanks." She said as she fished her phone out, nning to text her bodyguards to follow Jiang Li''s. She raised her head and indifferently told him, "My time is precious. Go drive. If the destination is not nice, I''ll make you regret it."


    "Treating me like a driver, huh?" Jiang Li chuckled, amused but not offended. ''Should I tell her my n is only to waste gas and circle around the city?''


    After switching the lights on so the interior would not at least be pit ck, with only her phone''s LCD giving off a bit of light, heughingly added to himself, ''Better not. I''m sure she''ll realize it soon.''


    Two people set off with no destination in mind. However, since soon started to bicker back and forth, the drive didn''t truly bore them.


    The aimless trip ended up with them visiting unusual ces in the city, like a Watermelon Museum, an underground city. They even entered a gay club. But it was Jiang Li who backed out and then led the woman to a restaurant inspired by waterside towns. There they ate Cantonese cuisine inside an elegant-looking ck-awning boat that still wobbled above the water, of course, not without an exchange of ''humorous'' words.


    When the man woke up and reached for his phone that was still ringing an annoying and childish ringtone, his eyes were still half-closed and blurry. Actually, his head was hurting a bit since he drunk a bit after being dragged to the clubhouse by Wen Hui and their painter friend, Gao Jing. Selena was escorted home by her bodyguards. In actuality, he wanted to be the one to send her home, but the girl had already transferred to the other car before he could protest.


    In his anger, he made sure the two apanied him to drink until past midnight. No, it might be close to witching hours when they finished since he got annoyed when those two unted to him that they were close to capturing their targets. Normally, the report would have made him pleased. But said more than ten times in a single hour, who could stay calm and collected?


    "Hello? Who is this?" he unhurriedly spoke while checking the time.


    "Zheng Xiang, I suppose?"


    The voice that came from the device was that of a female. It was familiar actually. Feeling his sleepiness flying away bit by bit, he knitted his brows and rubbed his forehead.


    "I see." A whileter, he said. "What do you need from me, President Mo?"


    He descended from the bed and sat on its edge. When he looked around, he realized he was not at his house in the southern part of the city, but in the clubhouse.


    While he was wondering which devil threw him so haphazardly on the bed in the guest room and caused him to have a bump on the head, Mo Zan''s softughter rang briefly. He was busy giving the headboard a re when she finished and spoke. "Mr. Zheng. I know you''re a busy man so I won''t take much of your time. Are you the real songwriter of the songs Mo Fang handed over to me?"


    He fell into silence as he contemted the purpose of this woman who called him out of nowhere. Numerous swirled in his head and most were eitherughable or frightening, so he did not hesitate to reply, "Sorry, no. You got the wrong person."


    "Mo Fang, your ex-wife, told me the truth, Mr. Zheng."


    ''Then why the heck are you still asking?''


    He walked out and temporarily muted his phone. He then looked for any soul present, the first one he found was Wen Hui''s bodyguard who seemed to be boiling his boss a hangover soup.


    "Call Qin Tai. Or have your boss call him. Tell him to go here."


    The burly guy responsible for the safety of the mayor''s son nodded. Jiang Li looked for a quiet ce on the first floor and ended up outside, at the verandah near the swimming pool.


    From the other line, Mo Zan kept talking but the content of her speech was mostly bragging like how she knew he was Jiang Li, the newly signed artist of Qin Tai''spany, and so on and so forth.


    "What do you want?" Pressing on his temple with mild irritation, he repeated the earlier question he threw at the woman. "Ms. Mo, you told me you''d be direct. Where are you now? I think you also got lost in your own chattering just like I am."


    "" Mo Zan looked at Mo Fang, who was in her office and red at her. Why didn''t she inform her that her ex-husband had a nasty temper?


    "Alright. Since you insist. You still love your ex-wife, right? I know you did your best to fight for the copyright that has been sold months prior to the releases of the album." The Dreamer''s President paused for a while and red again at Mo Fang, reminded of all the embarrassment, scolding, and troubles she went through because of Liu De''s album. If the b*tch who caused all of these was not only backed by several important shareholders of Dreamer, she would not really botherpleting the requesting of the shameless woman.


    "Miss Mo. I don''t know where you got that idea, but I don''t love Mo Fang anymore."


    " Please listen Just remember that the two of you still had been husband and wife for many years"


    ''Heh, I need to remember those fleeting memories that give my Original pain and subsequently makes him give my soul some difort when she didn''t give a damn about those when she pushed my Original to hell?'' He stifled a yawn and squatted by the poolside.


    The woman''s voice echoed again. "So here''s the situation. There''s a woman who threatened Mo Fang of some pictures and documents that can ruin her career. Her name is Selena Tang Can you help us erase traces of those?"


    "I don''t get why I need to do that." He replied in a t tone, sounding disinterested.


    Mo Zan said in a forceful and intimidating manner, "Zheng Xiang. You are still developing your career as Jiang Li. I''m sure now that you tasted what it''s like to stand on the stage, perform, record, and be popr, you must want to improve and reach a higher ce. I remember The Golden Melody Awards will be three months from now on. Your album and title track have a high chance now that Liu De is out of thepetition. You won''t want your first step to stardom to be destroyed by your scandal eight months ago, right?"

 Chapter 289: Selena Tang (38)

    Chapter 289: Selena Tang (38)


    "Oh" He didn''t know why the woman brought up Liu De''s name as if the highest awards were already that guy''s if only the most recent incident did not happen. But he knew he disliked the tone of the woman. "I see. So you''re saying Mo Fang will destroy me too if the pictures and documents that are making her fearful spread."


    "You don''t need to be intelligent to get what I mean. But it helps make a smooth conversation."


    How thankful he was that he pressed the record button and did not swear any profanities yet.


    Suppressing hisughter, he asked, "Is that Mo Fang''s instructions to you, Miss Mo Zan?"


    "Does it matter if it is or not?"


    "Not really. But I hope she knows how disappointed I was in her. Goodbye. And may you hold on to your seat for long, President Mo."


    It was him who ended the call. However, he didn''t leave the ce and casually sat on one of the chairs scattered by the side.


    Qin Tai arrived not long after, and since his location was just on the opposite side of the parking space, the man immediately saw him and his miserable state.


    Probably finding him both funny-looking and disgusting, the man sneered. "You look dumb."


    Jiang Li said, "Yup, I haven''t showered yet so of course, I could only look dumb. But you know, looking dumb is still better than being outright dumb like you."


    He threw the other his phone which the young master Qin almost did not catch. His step just now was dangerous, only one more misstep and he, along with the phone, would dive into the cold water.


    Furrowing his brows, he unlocked it and the first thing that greeted him was a voice recording. "Jiang Li, I still think you''re worse than me if this is the only reason you made me drive towards this ce when I should be at my office. Have you forgotten there are thousands of apps that could help you sent this electronically?"


    "Just go listen to it."


    He shook his head and started ying the recording. On the chair, Jiang Li had already closed his eyes and seemed to be taking a nap. Yet he was actually also listening intently. When the audio recording that was ying ended, he opened one of his eyes and tauntingly said to the silent man, "Now, won''t you agree you''re dumber than me?"


    Qin Tai seemed to be calming his raging emotions so he remained silent for a few more minutes. Then he began shaking his head and said in a sad voice. "I used to admire her because she seems to independent and strong, and intelligent of course. The admiration turned into love after a couple of years. Yet that same feeling of affection blinded me to her shorings and ws."


    "At least you can see now." Jiang Li lightlymented.


    "Yeah," nodded the other young man. "I never knew she could stoop his low. Putting Liu De aside, based on what we just listened to, your ex-wife has more dirt than what you already dug. The two most recent scandals were due to her too. So why instead of kicking somebody as problematic as her from herpany, she''s protecting her?"


    Jiang Li had an inkling that Mo Zan had no choice because Mo Fang had grasped some sort of sensitive issue or secret that could not be aired to the public. But since he had no basis and evidence, he kept his guess to himself.


    He just said, "Women''s minds, especially of those who think they are goddesses, are not something us, mortal men can fathom. We''ll just die of heart attack if we push our poor brain into deciphering a mystery that is out of our league."


    Qin Tai shook his head, too mentally exhausted to get angry at his cryptic message again.


    The younger man asked what he was nning and the singer only smiled.


    That evening, the answer to Qin Tai''s question showed.


    Jiang Li simply did what he was usually doing before returning to the capital. When he was still traveling from city to city, exploring where he could inspiration for his songs or simply where he could see good sceneries, it had been his pastime to create memes, grids of pics, expression packs using Liu De and Mo Fang''s picture.


    The materials he used back then were very basics and humane At least, those were only bad angles or awkward and ugly poses of the two which he either paired with funny quotes or jokes.


    Now, he simply upped the game and released everything he had gathered ever since he transmigrated here. Yup, everything.


    The recipients of the files were the big mediapanies in the country.


    It was already him being lenient when he did not spread the news by himself. He was also being considerate when he mosaiced the parts that should not be seen.


    ''Mo Fang I pity you. But you have done so much against me and the Original.''


    ''Well there wouldn''t be anything to be used against you if you have lived cleanly in the first ce.''


    That night when the ruthless news reporters and article writers penned down and broadcasted about the adultery case of the popr actress Mo Fang, Jiang Li was in a local temple nearest to his house and prayed for Zheng Xiang''s real soul.


    When he was there, he realized, he had always been borrowing bodies, but he had never yet said his thanks to the kind souls who let him do so. Feeling solemn and in deep thoughts, he lit more incense and prayed for the souls of the original He Chen, Lu Ling, and Jing Mo''s soul.


    As for Luke Wadeughable, that was him, he had not borrowed any identity when he descended in the Goddess'' world.


    ''Maybe I should also pray for the soul of that Jiang Li who let me temporarily reside in his body toplete my first mission,'' he thought.


    He was referring to Jiang Li from Zhu Li''s world. Once he asked what would happen to the body once he prematurely left a world, the system said the soul of the original owner would take over it. Since he left right after being given the opportunity to do so, the soul of that guy must have taken over after him. However, for a long time already passed, perhaps, a thousand years even, he knew that guy should be already dead.


    At that thought, he really did pray for that Jiang Li.


    It did not take long for him to burst intoughter as he realized that ever since he arrived there, he unknowingly been praying to the Goddess of Light from the previous world.

 Chapter 290: Selena Tang (39)

    Chapter 290: Selena Tang (39)


    Mo Fang remained in a daze as her fingers that went numb from trembling scrolled through the phone.


    " Is it because I always want to chase Zheng Xiang out of the entertainment industry for a barely eptable reason, that Heaven is punishing me?" That was what she asked herself after seeing thetest news reports and the articles that were dominating the hot searches today.


    Surprisingly, all the news had the same content and subject.


    Mo Fang. Liu De. Adultery.


    There were so many spections and interpretations circting on the inte and all of these would have been easy to dismiss or refute as lies Yeah, if not for being backed by more than a hundred pictures


    Finished Everything was over now She was done for.


    Tears ran down her eyes as the white phone slipped from her hands. Not caring for her broken phone that had rolled over somewhere, she slumped on the floor and hugged her knees and buried her face in it.


    There was simply no chance to wash away the bad reputation stuck to her name and identity. She would not be able to restore her good image even if she jumped a thousand times in the yellow river.


    What had gone wrong? Why did it happen to her?


    All she wanted was to rise in ranks and social status and obtain wealth. There were many more women who used disgusting methods and engaged in hidden rules to climb up. Why was she the one who unluckily got embroiled in another scandal?


    The woman began to sob loudly. Her thoughts were all over the ce, ming whatever and whoever she could think of. She med Liu De. She med Dreamer. The publishing houses and websites. Everything else, apart from herself.


    Just a week ago, she was still fantasizing that she was a blessed person as somebody who managed to go back in time. She met a few mishaps and waste to realize her reality, but those were only challenges that she had to go through so she could be like a phoenix undergoing a rebirth.


    Her n was to use their secrets to y the high ranking people in the entertainment circle that she knew. If there were also good stuff that she would be happening or appearing in the future, she would make sure to be the one to get those before others.


    One instance was how yesterday, a fashion model that she knew would meet a terrible ident in the airport was saved by her, thus gaining the goodwill of that person who was destined to be a supermodel and influential spokesperson.


    Her memory was getting clearer and clearer each passing day, something which she attributed to her gaining cheat powers or characteristics after freeing herself from Liu De''s influence.


    Wasn''t she supposed to be destined for greatness? She would soar in power, wealth, and influence, and then regain her husband.


    Mo Fang cried more the more she thought her current circumstances andpared it with what she was envisioning.


    The woman who thought she was a protagonist after realizing she had her memories of the future to rely on was hit by setbacks after setbacks.


    When her head cleared a bit, instead of reflecting that it was ultimately her who caused everything to be so bad for her, she thought of the woman she met in front of the Starlight building. Right, it was her.


    Fury emerged from her teary eyes. "IT must be her! She wants Zheng Xiang for herself she wants to destroy me!"


    She looked for the phone that she threw away. But when she couldn''t find it, she simply headed inside the bedroom and opened herptop. As she waited for the home screen to load, she rummaged through her belongings for the folder that was thrown at her by that scriptwriter.


    Mo Fang checked through her browser, the pictures, and screenshots of messages that had already spread on the inte. Madness was creeping from her eyes. When she did aparison, even though many from those she found online were not in the folder, and that the angles were sometimes different or blurred, in her mind, it was already cemented that Selena Tang was the culprit behind everything.


    Muddleheaded and lost in her bouts ofughing and crying, she roared within the ce.


    "That b*tch! I''ll kill her!"


    "I will kill her! I''ll make her pay for this!"


    Liu De''s situation was no different from Mo Fang. He was once again the butt of jokes and the topics of conversation online and offline.


    But while he was also reduced to tears like the reborn woman, he was at least being sheltered by his kinddy manager who let him stay in her house. Although, in actuality, the manager who felt a bit betrayed only that to help him avoid the reporters and nasty people waiting outside his house.


    Still, at least, he got someone tofort him when the rest of his friends and the girls he was closed with turned their backs at him.


    "Thank you, Manager Ding," he said when he had calmed down.


    He immediately tidied himself since he finally realized that it was embarrassing for a grown man like him to cry in front of a woman, especially since the reason was that he got dragged into a scandal, a s*x scandal with his other woman. It was truly shameful and made him worried. ''What if Ding Xue thought I cried because I saw my body being shared with the whole world?''


    The woman was indeed very kind and had been taking care of him sincest year. Deep within, she was feeling some insecurity and anger too, but because she truly loved the man, she temporarily ignored the suffocating feeling and provided the ce and care he needed.


    To all of this, Liu De was very thankful.


    The male lead fixed himself and took a bath. He stayed long inside. No more crying shamefully like a wimpy kid. But reflecting on what had happened to him in just a month.


    Hemunicated with the system and asked what was going on. And maybe because the unluckiness of its host was also starting to affect it, it was forced to reveal that there was another person interfering with the fate of this world.


    Liu De''s system cooperated and gave full details to him. However, it only managed to detect the anomalies within Mo Fang and not Jiang Li.


    At the end of their conversation, the male lead regretted entangling with that woman. Indeed, she was the reason why his fortune changed. It was her who kept digging pits for him.


    Now, what was it this time?


    The man contemted deeply and considered all the angles possible. There were many people who probably would want revenge against him. But if he would narrow it to those rted to Mo Fang, then only one person came in mind.


    Blue haired. Used to be a producer. But had returned as a singer under Starlight, another giant entertainmentpany apart from Dreamer.


    He had always known it. Zheng Xiang, Mo Fang''s ex-husband came back for revenge!


    Liu De felt thankful to the system which provided him the clues and gave him an idea of what had gone wrong.


    With a decision in mind, he came out of the bathroom and get dressed. After that, he fished out his phone from his manager''s bag and dialed the number of an acquaintance in a rtively big newspaper publishingpany.


    After waiting for five minutes, the call did not go through


    The same happened when he tried to call his other acquaintances. The situation was pretty delicate, so no one wanted to associate themselves with a damn wife-stealer.


    ''None of you want to talk to me?'' The male lead gritted his teeth. He painfully closed his eyes and almost pounded a fist against the table, if not for remembering that this was not his house.


    A full minute passed before he opened his eyes. There was a strange glint that could be seen from it. Self-mockery, for he had fallen this low. It was almost the same as when he first transmigrated. Yet mixed with it was madness.


    ''Fine. If none from the publishing houses and newspapers wants to hear me out, I''ll simply hire a water army. I can afford the cost since I''ve yet to truly fall into poverty.''


    Confident of his n and his bank ount, the man stopped going through his phonebook for people who would not answer him anyway.

 Chapter 291: Selena Tang (40)

    Chapter 291: Selena Tang (40)


    The day after the scandal spread, there was no scheduled shooting because the whole crew was invited to a reality show.


    Selena Tang''s debut work in China was getting so much attention. While it helped that the series being broadcasted by the other major TV station was a flop, one which people disliked watching due to the reputation of the male lead and another major character there, it still could not be denied that Selena Tang managed to bring nice twists and surprises in her story.


    The plot was a typical historical war and pce story with a romantic subplot. But she brought more vor and natural cohesiveness that made it appear so captivating to the point where Jiang Li''s blue hair could be pardoned.


    Naturally, it became the favorite of so many people. The viewership was high. So the crew of the whole drama rose in poprity and got invited to a few reality shows.


    The ones always in the limelight that day was the director, the scriptwriter, the leads, and the major supporting characters.


    Jiang Li was even made to sing live and impromptu since the host whimsically decided to make him sing on the spot, acape. Well, at least, it was an easy request so he didn''t grumble much internally.


    An hour swiftly passed, and the show ended, but not before thetest controversies were brought up. Of course, he did not participate in it even though he was supposed to be one of the most important people involved there.


    "If not for our dramas poprity and the people''s curiosity towards the weirdo of our crew and the pretty scriptwriter, probably, the seats vacant in that thousand seater studio would have been not only ten or so, but more than a hundred," sighed the young man who yed the second male lead.


    "We''re quite unlucky. People''s attention is more drawn to the adulterous scandal between Mo Fang and Liu De." Disgust was on the pretty actress who yed the role of the main heroine.


    "Yeah. Well, what can we do? Dramas are everywhere, but sometimes what people want are real dramas, scandals, conspiracies."


    "Speaking of scandals, I suddenly felt pity for Ms. Mo Fang''s ex-husband."


    "He''s somebody who beats his own wife. That''s a true scum as well."


    "No. Wait. Think about it. Don''t you think what happened more than half a year ago is really, really weird?" The pretty actress asked, widening her expressive andrge eyes. "Trust in my guts, okay. Coz I''m a woman. I have a feeling that Mo Fang has long been having an adulterous rtionship with Liu De so to get out of wedlock, she framed her husband!"


    "Hey, it could also be that she started to feel for another man because her husband is always subjecting her to domestic violence."


    "Hmm. Possible."


    "Ladies and gentlemen, I don''t think we should discuss something as sensitive like that anymore. Let''s disperse and meet tomorrow at the same ce."


    The cast members listened to their director and went their own ways. The majority would most likely return home to catch some sleep or eat at a very expensive restaurant to treat themselves.


    "Are we also heading home? To the Tang Mansion? Or the townhouse?"


    Selena heard her short-haired assistant asked.


    To which she replied, "Neither. You can take a break or day off today. I''ll bring my bodyguards and roam the city or go to the spa."


    The girl looked at her for a long while before confirming whether she was truly letting her go home already. "Miss, are you sure? Even though it is not 10 in the morning yet?"


    Selena nodded. That was all that was needed before her personal assistant happily left.


    The woman who stayed behind waited by the lounge near the exit of the first floor. On-standby from different locations were the people given to her by her grandfather a week ago.


    She sat there for more than five minutes, flipped through three fashion magazines and watched seventeenmercials before a tall shadow obscure her sight, rendering her to put down the materials she was reading.


    The person she was waiting for appeared, emerging from one of the elevators. When he saw her, he gave her a happy grin, the type which did not show his teeth, probably as to emphasize the unusual glow in his eyes.


    ''The pest-like liar is here,'' she muttered to herself.


    Selena''s eyes narrowed at him. She felt herself, but there was really no speeding of the heartbeat or any physiological cue. Why did she again warn Mo Fang to go away from him and say that it would be her spending a lifetime with him?


    It was just too weird.


    Maybe she was not being herself at those times, including when she asked her favorite bodyguard before to investigate him.


    "Hey, it seems like you''re a loner today, Miss Tang. Would you like to have another aimless tour with me? Perhaps outside the capital?"


    ''Men are beasts so I should be cautious No, maybe I should check the reason for my abnormality myself. If he attempts anything bad, I can just take that opportunity to make him suffer under my bodyguards'' attacks.''


    A corner of her lips went up. But even though a decision was already reached, it was not her style to ept a condition or invitation without givingments about it.


    So she sarcastically said, "As usual, you''re a serious case of myopia, forgetting I am never alone."


    "I said a loner, not alone," he shook his head and stood before her without erasing the annoying warm smile on his face. "Anyways, since they''re with you, you should not be worried that I will kidnap you for real."


    "Why would I be worried?" She looked away indifferently while fetching the bag she ced earlier on the couch next to hers. "You look like somebody with no guts to kidnap someone."


    Selena stood up and trotted towards the door. It was closed. But she did not have to raise her hand because somebody pushed it for her. That person leaned forward slightly and whispered, "You seem to be forgetting I kidnapped you once? But well. Since you said so, does it mean you''re going?"


    She did not speak and only turned left where the vehicles could be seen parked.


    Yet to her surprise, a hand grabbed her left one and pulled her back. "Let''s not go by car. "


    "Huh?" Selena almost blurted out. Wait. Did she agree to him? Was he too optimistic when reading between lines? But even if she did agree, what the heck did he mean they wouldn''t take a car?


    The man pulled her free hand that was not ensuring her bag''s sole strap wouldn''t slip down her shoulder. A frown momentarily surfaced in her face since she felt like this guy was too used to grabbing girls'' hands and pulling them wherever he wanted. While she felt no repulsion to it, she just couldn''t help but disliked the idea.


    "What do you n to do? The ones tailing me this time are from the military." She said, annoyed.


    What she got as a reply was a wink that made him want to punch him in the face. "Thanks for informing me, Miss. Don''t worry, I assure you we''re simply going on a trip. And to make it a bit different, we will be taking public transport. It should be a good experience for you, Rich Miss."


    ''... This fool probably did not know I''m basically a normal person before I was brought to the Tang Mansion,'' she disdainfully thought, assuming the guy wanted her to suffer from..., or rather, experience riding a bus or a pedicab.

 Chapter 292: Selena Tang (41)

    Chapter 292: Selena Tang (41)


    There were two things that stood out on the bus ride.


    First, of course, was how Liu De and Mo Fang became the talk of the town, growing in poprity in a way they would probably not appreciate. Even children were openly discussing the matter! The parents were using the names of those two as examples of people not to follow. Even from her seat, Selena could hear a fairly young mother telling her little girl that stealing was bad, using Liu De''s act as one of the highest forms and most disgusting methods.


    Towards people like Liu De and Mo Fang, she could actually hardly care about them. Thetter would not even garner her attention normally. There were actually so many of them in the world. She had even encountered or heard of those who had done worse than them. The world was simply dark, and all sorts of people were inhabiting it. Rule-breakers and individuals with no bottom line would always be present in everymunity or ce.


    Selena could barely keep herself from shaking her head. Her face was stillcking in emotion, but just a while ago, her eyes shed with an unknown emotion.


    The second thing that she kept noticing while inside the bus was the number of songs yed by the driver which had the same voice. Jiang Li''s.


    ''Your album will be a flop,'' she remembered telling him these a week or so ago This was still before the giarism news broke out, her confidence stemming from the fact that an established singer idol would bepeting against him for sales and attention.


    If the first matter simply made her a bit interested, this one had made her gloomy. The bus driver was ying his songs. Actually, before they hopped into the vehicle, another piece from him was engulfing the ticket booth area... and the college student seated behind her had also his soundtracks on loudspeaker mode.


    As she ced her hands on her bag that was on herp and crossed her legs, she was barely keeping herself from clicking her tongue in annoyance.


    If Selena could notice these, how could the singer of those pieces not?


    "Stop grinning, it''s an eyesore." Her voice held chips of ice as she warned the disguised fellow sitting next to her. With her left hand, she unhurriedly nudged her sunsses on her nose when she spoke.


    "Alright. Since you said so." Jiang Li easily agreed and beganughing. Yeah, he stopped smirking but in a way that would earn her ire more.


    She sharply red at him. Through her eyes, she really wanted to warn him that if she became too annoyed she would shout to everyone present that there was a celebrity singer joining them in this ride.


    Unfortunately... she could not do this. She immediately realized that she would only be inviting trouble to herself too since in a sense her face had be a bit famous after the various guesting.


    She drew in a cold breath. "Mr. Zheng." Since they were in a public ce where being recognized would mean disaster, she switched her way of addressing him. "I just want to tell you... I''m starting to regreting with you on this impromptu trip. If you are sincere to me, don''t make me feel more disappointed..."


    The man was taken aback for some time and fell silent, not expecting she would reply calmly like this.


    He thought she would flip out and smack him in the face or shout to the world that the stupid-looking guy next to her wearing cap, scarf, and thick ck-framed eyesses was the rising actor and singer Jiang Li. If that were to happen, it would be a bit problematic for him since it would be a question whether they would be able to get off the bus safely. This was not what happened. But he couldn''t help imagining the ''what ifs''.


    He then smiled wryly.


    Jiang Li became popr these days since it was revealed that he was actually the creators of those songs that got giarized. Curiosity was a predominant trait of every human so since the songs were linked to a huge matter, they checked out the songs in his album. Then when they found out all the pieces were excellent, they began checking his pages in search of covers and other originals.


    Interest was quite contagious. It was not a strange development that his songs'' poprity led to him being more known until people realized he was the dorky blue-haired general in Selena''s drama, The Monarch and I.


    All of these was actually within his expectations when he let Mo Fang copied the ones uploaded in Zheng Xiang''s Weibo.


    But hey! The problem right now was in a ce like this where he wanted to go unnoticed. When she warned him not to disappoint her anymore, was it an indirect hinting that if he did, she would really shout to everyone on the bus that he was?


    His mouth twitched, ruminating about how the feeling of being threatened was really no good.


    The man who didn''t know he simply fell victim to overthinking andpletely misunderstood her keeping of her silence.


    But at least the misunderstanding led to what Selena was hoping. Jiang Li was no longer distracting her with his dog-like smile.


    How could a thirty-two-year-old guy like him could stomach stering that kind of expression on his face anyway?


    The bus became overly crowded when it passed by a major bus stop, opposite apound full of high-end stores, restaurants, and malls.


    Selena briefly wrinkled her nose due to an elderly woman who passed by their seats carrying a basket full of durian. Jiang Li was quite okay since he was actually also wearing a face mask. But the girl was not.


    He smiled slightly and offered her handkerchief. She silently looked at her then pulled up her own. That left him feeling awkward, especially after she gave him a disdainful nce before covering her mouth and nose with that.


    ''This is awesome I love her attitude,'' heughingly said to himself a couple of seconds after he retracted his hand.


    The trip took them about three hours. It should have been only more or less two and a half, but there was quite a traffic jam at theplicated intersections and flyovers near the border of the city. Thest bus stop was in front of a bustling market that was next to a park and near to several tall hotels and other establishments.


    "Have you been here before?" he asked the woman who kept looking around the crowded ce.

 Chapter 293: Selena Tang (42)

    Chapter 293: Selena Tang (42)


    "Have you been here before?" he asked the woman who kept looking around the crowded ce.


    " When I was still in high school, this was one of the destinations for our field trip," she answered.


    The man smiled. He had already been here since for the past few months, all he did was to travel around, either to seek the second male leads and pull them to his side or simply treat the soul-deep fatigue that he kept guing him for months. The famous mountain city had been one of the ces he visited before.


    Yet he still said, "Perfect! You tour me around then! I''m not familiar with the area. And the guides online are not always reliable. It''s better to have somebody who knows the are leading me around to save both money and time."


    Selena gave him a nce. She then tilted her head and smiled knowingly. "Sir. As usual, your shamelessness knows no bound. And you sure know how to invent a story."


    "... I would have believed you if I didn''t hear from my cousin that for months, you have been jumping from one city to another for an inexplicable reason. Very good. At least you lived up to my expectations of you, Mr. Zheng."


    ''You''re indirectly calling me a liar, but you''re a liar too, my girl. The cousin you mentioned only lived in your imagination.''


    The manughed but still insisted that she led the way. As he foresaw, the scriptwriter almost pummeled him down using her expensive limited-edition peach shoulder bag.


    A minuteter, she took him into a rtivelyrge and air-conditioned department store. The woman changed her clothing into a more normal pairing, with no brand in fact. She also changed her bag into a ck cheap one, the kind which no pickpocket would target.


    To his surprise, she also bought him a regr shirt and a pair of faded jeans but from an adjacent second-hand goods store. Mischief was dancing in her eyes when she pushed him to a fitting room.


    "Wear all of these. You''re not allowed toe out if you don''t."


    "Huh?" By that time, the door already closed and locked from the outside. The girl ignored his calls so his eyes could only fall onto everything she shoved in his hands.


    Not long after, he walked out of there. Since he was not really putting on aplicated attire simr to the ones nobles wore from the previous world, he only needed a couple of minutes to change.


    As they headed to the department store which offered baggage services, he could not help but voice out.


    " You shouldpensate me. You''ve been unfair. There are other ways to be lowkey and not attract attention or pickpockets to us."


    Hisint got a beautiful smirk from her. "Who asked you to make me the guide? Now, you have no choice but listen to me. And I''m telling you it''s the proper way of securing expensive items in a bustling but insufficiently guarded ces like this. Go there and change your bills into smaller denominations. I''ll line up to get our stuff stored in the baggage counter."


    Once again, surprise flickered in his eyes as it was just hard to believe he would hear those words from her mouth. Why did she know all of this?


    ''Ah, right She''s a girl who grew up from a ce like this. I''m an idiot for not remembering this earlier.''


    With a wry smile, he headed over the money-changer booth. The person there gave him a weird look since he was not asking for another currency to be exchanged into yuan. Although, his request was still fulfilled, he couldn''t help but wonder if this was also deliberately arranged by her to make fun of him.


    Shaking his head, he went back and then walked with her side by side towards the exit. "Will our things be safe there?" he asked.


    To which she only shrugged and answered, "At least, safer than carrying those with us as we roam around. This mountain city is quite a good tourist destination but because it has be densely popted, the marketces, zas and some other crowded ces became favorites of robbers and pickpockets. Wait, hail that cab."


    The ce was the sidewalk opposite the famous park. There were many people there. So he was not surprised when the taxi only passed by him. He shrugged at her and waited for the next one. Yet he had already signaled to more than ten cabs yet all ignored him since they already have passengers inside!


    Jiang Li felt that this was more awkward. He didn''t know the situation would be like this without bringing their own vehicles. Thest time, he did this, touring through public transport, was when he was still He Chen Ugh, that was four worlds back. Did he encounter this kind of situation back then?


    Selena who was not really that patient. She sat on a public bench and pulled up her phone to type some scenarios and ideas. She made sure her spot was only three or so meters away from a bank''s burly and tall security guard so people with bad intentions would think twice.


    From time to time, her head would lift up to see the helpless man nkly watching a white car with no taxi sign above. A corner of her lips also lifted up. The fool must have mistaken a normal car for a taxi.


    ''Why did I go with this guy again?''


    An hourter they arrived at a green park which offered various services including horse and boat rental. Selena looked at the hand extended to her, hesitating whether to ept it.


    Jiang Li asked, "What are you waiting for? Aren''t you always looking at me with envy whenever I have horseback riding scenes?"


    She was stunned for a while before her expression turnedplicated.


    In the end, she reluctantly let him help her up, but only after warning him, "Don''t ever think of taking advantage of me."


    The man pulled her up and ced her in front of him. She thanked her foresight when she changed into regr blouse and jeans since she wouldn''t have to sit sideways and be worried that the wind would lift her skirt up She had her hair tied into a ponytail so from time to time she could feel the warm breath on her nape. Her back too was almost stered onto his upper body, plus there was his arms enveloping her. But for some unknown reason, she was not feeling any rejection towards their excessive body contact.


    "You make sure to hold tightly."


    "Hmm? Wait"


    The woman could no longer think too much about it because the horse suddenly started running. The start had been unpleasant for her since when it ran, it was as if it was racing against an invisible opponent. The speed was just too fast! Selena barely managed not to scream, but colors were drained from her face.


    For a while, she began to regret again why she impulsively let this bastard pull her into this trip. Throughout the ride, when she recovered and adapted, her eyes never warmed up to the annoying man.


    Jiang Li received a cold treatment after. This was even if he moderated the speed to what wouldn''t frighten her and brought her to the fantastdmarks in that park.


    It was past one pm when they entered another floating restaurant to dine. The woman cidly nced at him when heughingly said he would be treating. Then before he knew it, she had already ordered at least five servings of each kind. How much was the total? He didn''t say anything and let her do as she pleased. Thankfully he had been a tycoon from one of his lives so he knew that the best not to have a heart attack was not to ask but directly swipe the card.


    "There''s a masked woman with orangish hair who kept looking our way." While sampling a baked mushroom and bean custard with Portuguese sauce, she raised her head towards him, her eyes briefly darting towards her left.


    Jiang Li also raised his head and looked at her, trying to see through her eyes the reflection. He lowered his voice and asked, "A stalker? Or somebody with malicious intent."


    The scriptwriter did not hesitate to answer, "Obviously thetter. If only eyes could kill, I might have died ten thousand times over now. Who do you think she is?"


    She looked downwards, her longshes casting shadows on her pale cheeks and nose.


    He had taken note of her sarcastic tone. But there was no change in his expression. It took a minute for them to finish what they were eating. The rest of the food there that was left untouched, they both told the staff to give those to the street children loitering the park outside.


    As they made way towards the exit, they walked side by side, his arm wrapped around her shoulder as he pulled her near him, making their distance zero.


    Selena''s gaze momentarily lingered at the hand grabbing on her thin shoulder. She then looked up at him again. ". Do you know? When that maskeddy briefly raised her hand to order something and her shirt got lifted for a while, I saw a mole on the left side, a few centimeters up the waistline. It''s quite familiar. Since I just saw something like it this week."


    "Many people share that trait." Heughed.


    Her head was lowered but her sight was straight ahead, staring into the reflection in the ss wall. "At least, I know who she is. And that she just stood up. If my guess is correct, this woman will either storm out or stop you. Do you know the reason I''m familiar with the mole is that I just saw many interesting vids and pics starring her?"


    The corners of her lips lifted up when she added, "I just want to say... it''s that kind of videos and pictures,beled not safe for work."

 Chapter 294: Selena Tang (43)

    Chapter 294: Selena Tang (43)


    ''She said she recently watched what? NSFW?''


    Jiang Li stared nkly at her for some time before his hand automatically ruffled her head. His eyes darkened, unknown emotions started brewing within. He extremely disliked that she saw something that should not be seen... And he was referring not what to could be seen from Mo Fang...


    He said in a chastising tone, "Don''t watch those kinds of things again."


    ''Damn, I''m regretting releasing those materials. Pixted or not, it''s making me so annoyed now that this hard-headed woman is involved.''


    She hissed in annoyance since her hair was styled into a ponytail and if it was messed up, she would have to redo it again. Her hand pped his away. "Wait. Let me just rify. It''s not my fault that somebody spread those things around. And don''t treat me like some pure nun. I''m twenty-seven and I''m a writer!"


    Selena was a bit angered and also confounded, because the guy ced more importance on the fact that she saw something NSFW than how his ex-wifemitted something abominable before divorced and that she was now tailing them, thoughts and motives unknown.


    "Ah Xiang" From behind them, a voice rang.


    ''See. The b*tch is going after you.'' Selena tantly rolled her eyes at him.


    Jiang Li blinked his innocent eyes, purposely showing he had no part in this. Deep down, he was feeling a bit regretful that he didn''t ensure that the shameless woman would not be able to leave Beijing.


    ''This is an oversight on my part. I never thought the reporters, paparazzi, and hostile fans in this world are so lenient that they let a scandalous celebrity goes out of the house.''


    Inwardly, he shook his head, never stopping as he led Selena outside the floating restaurant. A group of people came in just as the pair stepped out of the exit. For a reason inexplicable to them, they suddenly found themselves repeatedly barring the way for the heavily disguised woman.


    As guessed by Selena, it was indeed Mo Fang, red-eyed from seeing her ex-husband getting along and even having lunch together. She called him out before he left, but he seemed to have not heard him. Pesky people obstructed her way when she tried to chase after them. This was why when she finally made it to the outside, her ex-husband and the hateful woman had already boarded a private boat.


    Without the actress'' knowledge, she got hypnotized numerous times before and managed to build up a bit of resistance or immunity due to the repeated cases. This was why Jiang Li who was determined to leave her behind, simply influenced the neers to block her on his behalf. Then he acted as if he never saw her, that never discovered her sudden appearance at the ce.


    "Ah Xiang." A helpless whisper escaped from her lips when she realized there was no way she would be able to catch up to them. The restaurant was like a t ship anchored a bit distance away from a bridge so a boat was needed to travel back and forth the ce. It was usually a praised uniqueness of the restaurant but ironically it became a stumbling block for her.


    Mo Fang would never forget the hate she felt in her heart as she watched the man she wanted to reim for herself smiling gently at Selena Tang whose out of this world beauty was barely hidden by her sunsses. Why was it her again? Had he already fallen for that person? The more she thought about it, the more the heaviness in her heart grew.


    ''I feel like someone is drilling holes in my back.''


    The scriptwriter had a hunch the scandalous actress was watching her with killer eyes, so she turned around. No expression could be seen from Selena''s face as she studied how warped and intense the emotions on Mo Fang''s face was. Later, she would make sure to jot down everything she recalled as materials for her future works.


    When she had enough of the other''s wonderful expression, she returned her gaze to Jiang Li. The man was busy rowing the boat that he had rented. A glimmer of admiration shed across her eyes since it was apparent to her that he was not struggling in dictating the direction of the boat.


    First-timers would probably downy the difficulty of rowing for the first time. But actually, it would always be a challenge on how to properly control the paddles and make the boat go the desired direction.


    She knew this by experience because when she was still abroad, she tried boating with her adventurous friends on one of the most tamed and safestkes. The boat they rented only had a pair of paddles which meant those two curved nks would be all that they would use to navigate the serene waters. Her face burned in shame after recalling that as when it was her turn to row, she splendidly managed to collide their boat more than five times with others. In fact, there was even one boat holding a couple which almost capsized That was the first time she experienced how wonderful the Englishnguage could be when scolding people, albeit the scolding was directed at her.


    Selena could only say that it had been a valuable and memorable experience, one that she would never be proud of.


    ''Did he learn this from one of his trips? Or he had already done it before for somebody else? For example, Mo Fang?'' Her eyes narrowed in suspicion.


    Although she was liking the smooth journey, she could not enjoy it to the fullest due to his ex-wife. How weird that she felt like that actress was a lot more annoying than her fake sister... To think all that woman did was to call out Jiang Li''s previous name. She was feeling so much gloomier than when she visited the Tang mansion a week ago.


    The boat trip ended shortly. The man jumped out smoothly and turned around to secure the boat from drifting away by itself using his left hand. He then extended the right one to help her get off.


    "Let''s be quick and not give that woman a chance to disturb our sightseeing. I don''t want to be further followed by a stalker. Where should we go next?"


    Her eyes were not that friendly due to thest thought she had in mind, so her voice was quite cold when she blurted, "Cemetery."


    "Huh?" Jiang Li found it hard not to raise his brow at the answer he received. Cemetery? Looking at the frosty face she donned, he suddenly had a scary guess and his smile turned awkward.


    Could it be.... this girl became too jealous and angry so she wanted to bury him?


    In just a few minutes, she had be that violent?


    It had taken him twenty minutes before he discovered what Selena meant. It was another attraction at the city called Cemetery of Pessimism, a ce that could be reached simply through walking down the stone pathway on the left side of the short bridge.


    While the name was like that, it was not really a cemetery, but a garden surrounding an amphitheater.


    He should have known that the girl would not suggest or want to bury him since it was still broad daylight. His misconducts were also not that bad to elicit much hate from her, probably.

 Chapter 295: Selena Tang (44)

    Chapter 295: Selena Tang (44)


    In the Cemetery of Pessimism, the tombstones were actually like monuments with quotations written on them, the topics mostly funny or thought-provoking, all about how tobat stress, worries, pessimism, and depression.


    The goal of the one who built the park was probably to share to people a unique attraction where they could not only reflect and chill out, butugh and learn of some good sayings that were both meaningful and useful in daily life.


    "The real meaning behind the name of the ce is suggesting you to bury all the negative thoughts in your mind so you''ll be freed from stress and things depressing you," Selena exined as they joined the people roaming the beautiful green park with ''gravestones'' and fortune trees scattered here and there. "As you know, no matter the age, everyone is susceptible to stress. It doesn''t discriminate between young and old, or rich and poor. Depression is also like that."


    He nodded, "You''re right.  Those are things looming above the heads of every human, in varying degrees and forms. Students worry about their grades, or performance at school, and perhaps interactions with friends too. Adults constantly worry about work and expenses at home. Those at marriageable age that are having difficulties finding partners always have to worry when their parents would nag at them or send them to a blind date. Some elderly are having trouble sleeping at night thinking of how long they''ll live or if their children would visit them even once a month once they die. I''m sure what I mentioned are only among the few."


    "Even a baby can feel stress ording to the research I read before. If you''re curious just searched about it from Baidu," she added.


    Jiang Li saw that there were even some people bowing and praying before those. He thought of something funny andughed, "I hope that what the peopleing here wanted to bury, the sources of their stress and worries, are not actual people."


    Indifference was on her face. "Why not? Online, some people confessed that''s what they did when they visited this tourist spot, wishing to the gods or spirits in the monuments to take them away from their lives."


    He was a bit surprised and silent for some time. ''Is she praying the same and I''m the target?''


    The thought was ridiculous but to be safe, he wrapped his hand around her waist and led her outside the ''cemetery.''


    "Let''s leave. I think we''ve seen enough. The ce is not something people would want to visit more than once."


    She neither agreed nor disagreed. Her focus was on something else.


    " You''ve been getting used to holding me without my permission." While frowning, she whispered in a low voice.


    He heard no trace of anger, so he merely smiled.


    There were other spots nearby which they could visit so they naturally checked those out. One of the ces was a mansion allegedly owned by one of the emperors from thousands of years ago. A pity it was closed that day for maintenance.


    It was around three in the afternoon when they arrived back at the department store where they had their items stored. However, they did not really stop there, but instead crossed the street and walked around the park opposite it. The ce was a tourist attraction as well with many amazing sights. The pair did not settle with appreciating the garden,ndscapes, and everything the ce could offer though walking.


    Jiang Li rented a quadricycle, a human-powered one since it was those vehicles emitting ck smoke that were forbidden inside.


    He had to affix an idiotic smile on his face for more than thirty seconds before Selena recovered from the daze and reluctantly entered the sidecar.


    "You''re the first guy to make me ride a children''s vehicle" she said while giving him a side nce.


    She took in the sight of a tall and mature-looking man sitting on a seat that was so small and holding onto a hand bar which was also very disproportionate from his stature. Then sheughed, feeling like her situation was a lot better than his.


    He shrugged helplessly as he pedaled. "There is nothing that can be done about this. The rental shop doesn''t have anything better to offer. At least it has a vehicle attached to the bike which can amodate a single passenger. I''m sure you won''t want to take the seat behind mine."


    " True." Although she was slim, she had no confidence that the small space there would be able to amodate her.


    She lightly looked away and up at the sky which already had some orange and dark blue hues faintly spreading on the western side. She had been to this city before so she knew once the evening falls, it would be very cold, as if it was heralding the winter season.


    Should she request the man to take her back to the capital?


    For a long while, she couldn''t decide. She had to admit that the tour had been quite memorable, and since the city had more ces to offer, there was a part of her wanting to go all the way and visit every scenic spot with him. Don''t ask her the reason why.


    He circled the park thrice, letting her see more of the pleasant sight there. He then urged her to try moving the quadricycle by herself while he takes a rest. It took him another cycle to make her agree. But when the scriptwriter took over, even he felt like it was a mistake. Without evenpleting a wholep, she had already bumped against five vehicles and among those, three were being run by kids


    It was totally unfair for him to receive her sharp res when she was the one at fault. But of course, he had to keep his silence or else she might walk out and then ignore him for days.


    The two returned the quadricycle around five pm then crossed the street to get their belongings from the opposite building. After that, to Jiang Li''s surprise, she walked towards therge hotel situated only two buildings away.


    When she was showing her ID to the receptionist and getting a room, he asked, "Why did you suddenly decide to stay a night here?"


    The response he first got was a belittling look probably targeted at his IQ.


    That made him think and then when the answer came to him, and hurriedly took back what he said. "Forget that I ask. I know, it''s not safe to take a return trip at night."


    Selena watched him as he awkwardly nodded.


    "En. This city is on top of a mountain and the way here has many twists and turn. Arge part of the road has or near a cliff and some parts have streetlights so distant from one another. Of course, it''s not advisable to travel at night," she added.


    ''Should I be guilty now that I made her stay thiste in this city?'' he wondered.


    A whileter, a thought popped up in mind. '' In second thoughts, maybe I should not, since if she''s determined, her bodyguards are hiding nearby and could drive her home. Or is also being considerate of them, not wanting them to drive along the roads at the cliffside in the middle of the night?''


    Shaking his head, he also presented his ID and asked for a room.

 Chapter 296: Selena Tang (45) <2-in-1>

    Chapter 296: Selena Tang (45) <2-in-1>


    There was no clich part where thedy tells them that there was only one couple room avable. This fact made Jiang Li realize that those things really happen only to protagonists.


    It was sad but while there were many tourists visiting, there were also many hotels and inns avable and convenient from the center of the city. If the visitors preferred quieter residences, they could check out the houses a few kilometers away from the center as there were also locals renting out their properties. The house owners who were stationed in other cities but wanted to get some side ie were in this business.


    Anyways, the two were given separate solo rooms that were opposite each other. He had no idea where the bodyguards protecting her from the shadows would stay the night.


    After leaving their stuff behind, Jiang Li and Selena Tang headed down, having no ns to settle their dinner with the hotel''s food. Since they were already there, it would be stupidity not to try out the specialty dishes of the ces.


    Jiang Li consulted a forum for this. Selena satiricallymended the other for not taking her to a fast-food restaurant. She thought he would bring her to one in an attempt to show her themon people''s lives.


    Time passed and they arrived at the rmended restaurant. It was not far away from the hotel, approximately four to five minutes away on foot. Once again, the girl who had yet to forget the grudges incurred today showed how much she wanted to thin down his wallet.


    Jiang Li merely smiled and then pretended he didn''t hear her ordering each of everything.


    "What time should we leave?" he asked to break the silence between them.


    She thought for a moment, her eyes were still on the dishes ced neatly before her. "Probably around 6 am. You should try to book seats in advance, so you won''t have to line up for tickets tomorrow," she said.


    Her reply garnered a smirk from him. "This is new. I thought you''d strive to make me suffer from lining up instead. Afraid of beingte to work?"


    Selena quietly stared at Jiang Li for some time before she nodded, "You''re right. I am. So you should line up and I''ll book my own ticket and perhaps, leave on my own."


    His jaw almost fell to the ground. His expression was still a bit too wonderful in her eyes so she sneered beforeughing softly.


    That was simply a real stunner for Jiang Li since it was quite hard to make Selenaugh.


    "You look stupid," shemented with a rare yful glint in her eyes.


    "..." ''... I think I have just sessfully sacrificed my image.'' The thought made him smile helplessly.


    There was a time when Jiang Li had to excuse himself because of a call he received. The man was reluctant to leave at first. However, since it was from the CEO, he reckoned it was important.


    Selena did not say anything and merely nodded. She then watched as he sauntered towards the open balcony of the second floor where they were currently located. A couple of momentster, he vanished from sight due to a tinted ss wall decorated with some peach blossom patterns separating the balcony and the dining area.


    It did not take long for her to feel weirded out by herself. Her gaze just momentarily lingered on the chair opposite hers and the one sitting there earlier had not even been gone for a minute, yet she was already feeling like it was wrong for it to be empty.


    Was she... perhaps missing him?


    For a while, her eyes zed over. Her face turned solemn.


    ''Two thoughts y in my mind for no reason''


    ''First, I can''t let him get together with someone else and I don''t know why.''


    ''Second, I must make his life hard although this time, I know it''s because he''s annoying and our first meeting is not pleasant.''


    She was a bit absent-minded as she stuffed a piece of meat in her mouth.


    Her wandering mind only returned to her body when a figure appeared before her, casting shadows on the table.


    It automatically made her raise her head, something that caused a frown to surface on her countenance.


    "Miss Mo." Her voice was extremely cold when she uttered the name of the person.


    "Selena Tang"


    Mo Fang had arrived, her efforts in locating her ex-husband finally bore fruit.


    Right now, on her face that was being half-concealed by a facemask was barely restrained anger and desire to kill.


    Selena noticed that the other woman''s eyes moved around too fast and she inferred that it was to search for Jiang Li. Her eyes involuntarily narrowed. This little actress should have a n in mind. Was it something that should not involve or be witnessed by Jiang Li?


    Her eyes also briefly scanned the other tables and customers and she felt awful after realizing that without her knowledge she got surrounded by people discreetly looking their way with odd expressions on their faces.


    Are they paparazzi and reporters Mo Fang tipped off in advance for a drama?


    While she was pondering over this, something out of her expectation happened and made her eyes widened.


    Mo Fang kneeled!


    That very self-centered and annoying ''famous'' actress bent her knees in front of her!


    Selena was temporarily deafened by the crisp sound of knees loudly hitting the marble tiles. She didn''t know how to react.


    Mo Fang, who bowed her head to hide the uncanny look in her eyes, started making sobbing noises. The ones nearby gasped, letting all sorts of guesses y in their minds as they took in the situation.


    The woman who looked as if she was gathering her courage even as she cried slowly looked up and cast Selena a pleading look.


    At that moment, even the scriptwriter felt that the miserably crying person before her was too pitiful. It made her fall into a daze again.


    "Miss Tang What do I have to do to make you stop disturbing me and my husband?"


    "I beg you Please stop seeing and confusing him He''s already somebody tied to me by marriage Miss Tang, I beg you. I beg you."


    The sobs echoed again, loudly. But it was a lot softer than the words that rang just now.


    Selena felt like she was thrown in an icy pond after she understood what was happening.


    The other woman was really staging a drama with the two of them as the main characters.It seemed she was being made into a viiness...


    After sweeping a nce at the people whispering madly about her, she looked coldly at Mo Fang.


    "I think I was hearing things earlier. What did you say again, Miss Mo?"


    Without rising, bent on painting Selena Tang as a homewrecker to the unknowing people, Mo Fang met the woman''s gaze with a bit of fear, trembling in ce. This gave the onlookers the idea that she was really pitiful, scared off by the cold beauty''s gaze and words. Not few began to wonder if the third party was somebody from a very good background that fell for a married man of humble status and origins. The man had a wife and they were in a loving rtionship but she was still determined to get him for herself.


    Selena was truly pissed off by the whispers she was hearing and the kind of looks she was getting. Her shoulders trembled.


    Mo Fang balled her fist and swallowed her misgivings as she cried her heart out Shaking her head, she said in between her sobs, "Selena Tang I, I know... You love him just as much as I do... But please... Y-you''re someone with elite background and there where many guys out there who would fall for you. You don''t have to be a mistress Please I beg you, just stop"


    The tears rolling down the actress'' face were real. And since people could see this from the eyes that were not concealed by the mass, their hearts began to feel heavy on her behalf. Since there were individuals mixed within them that kept incessantly saying words of sympathies for Mo Fang, the majority subconsciously started to side with her.


    ''Mistress?''


    The Tang heiress was dumbfounded again. It was just hard to believe that one day the word would be associated with her name. She felt like she just heard something very funny. Holding her breath and with her face darkening, she fell into contemtion.


    ''So she really wanted to paint me ck to people.''


    ''Does she n to use the audience here andter, the unsuspecting and clueless people online to make my reputation suffer?''


    Thoughts started to churn in her brain. She was suspecting the actress was also not worried about being called out by her real name since her name was quitemon in the country. Mo Fang wouldn''t probably mention the name of the man and show her real appearance.


    ''As expected of a real b*tch, until the end, she is showing everyone how stupid and evil she is.''


    Selena stood up slowly. Her face had returned to normal. No, she openly began to look down at the other woman using her of breaking her marriage.


    Mo Fang forgot her warning days ago? The infamous actress was somebody who only learned by experience and not by hearing? No problem!


    With her arms crossed and phone raised a bit high, Selena said in a t tone to no one in particr. "Remove her mask."


    Not few were confused by what she said. Amongst them, only one person stilled, finally remembering the scriptwriter''s identity.


    Mo Fang panicked, guessing who the man swiftly heading towards her was. A bodyguard?


    A momentter, the man seated two tables away with a long-haired prettydy in a violet dress, stood up and marched towards the kneeling woman.


    "D-don''te near me!" She stood up and backed away, still shivering. "R-remove my mask? Then what? Make them beat me up again, l-like you did before?!!!"


    The lies registered in everyone''s ears. Onedy sympathized with her and left her seat to pull Mo Fang away. "Miss, what you''re doing is not nice!" Some otherdies chorused with her.


    It was simply a scene where the masses side with the one who looked more pitiful and weak.This was probably why many green tea women like donning a white lotus'' mask...


    Selena threw the bodyguard a nce. Thetter was formerly from the military so he viewed a superior''s order seriously. In just a second, he crossed the distance between him and Mo Fang and without letting the ''protectors'' react, he grabbed the target and pinned her hands on her back.


    "Y-you, l-let go of me! This is harassment! I, I''ll sue you!"


    To the actress'' horror, the man who apprehended her disregarded her threat and tightened the grip on her wrists to the point that the pain was bing unbearable. Then in one fell swoop, he made her face the panicking noisy crowd and removed her mask!


    "No!!!" Mo Fang screamed and turned her face away. But it was already toote.


    "M-Mo Fang? Actress Mo Fang?"


    "Wait... That actress linked with singer-actor Liu De?"


    Gasps kepting from the surprised audience who recognized her. This time, her body shivered for real due to the statementsing from their mouths. The stares were also painful to her skin.


    Selena raised one of her brows and scoffed. "Miss Lady in Violet. Yes, you I''m sure you recognized this person. May you please introduce her to everyone and share with us the recent news about her?"


    The ''dumbfounded'' woman sitting at the same table as the male bodyguard took some time to process what she just said.


    Not long after, thedy in violet looked around and then nodded, "Okay."


    Mo Fang, whose heart began to get cold, started screaming, "Shut up! Shut up! You are not allowed! You have no right to speak! Selena Tang! You''re so shameless, you not only wanted to destroy my career! You are stealing Ah Xiang from me! You should die! Die! Why can''t you just steal another woman''s husband, huh?!!!"


    "You''re a third party no matter what you say! It won''t change the fact that you did something to steal him away!!! Aarrrrrggggghhhh!"


    Selena indifferently looked away from the madwoman screaming and trying to struggle from the male bodyguard. She said to the girl in violet. "Miss, can you start now? Everyone''s waiting."


    Her words sounded so vicious and malicious to the actress.


    The eyes of thedy in violet were seemingly asking if it was still necessary now that Mo Fang''s face was shown to those present. There should be very few people in the country who had yet to know about the adultery and s*x scandal of the infamous actress.


    Still, urged by Selena''s eyes, the female bodyguards began to narrate everything she knew in a clear voice. The whole floor then became silent, apart from the beautiful woman with a warped face rampaging and crying.


    "Lies! Lies! That b*tch is lying! Don''t believe her!!! She''s in cahoots with that shameless woman! They''re working together to ruin me!"


    No one was convinced by her act anymore. Not when in people''s minds, her face was closely associated with some blush-inducing pictures and videos.


    Selena Tang quietly ended the video recording and sent the file to the woman in violet, Miss Mei. After giving Mo Fang onest nce, she messaged Jiang Li that she had to head back to the hotel due to something important. She then grabbed her furry jacket from the back of her chair.


    Before walking out of the restaurant, she instructed the bodyguard to take Mo Fang away and ensured Jiang Li would not see the woman once he returned to the table.


    The temperature of the mountain city at night was really low. But at that moment, it paled inparison to the mood of the scriptwriter who had boarded the elevator alone.

 Chapter 297: Selena Tang (46)

    Chapter 297: Selena Tang (46)


    Only one thing came to mind as Jiang Li watched the woman strode into the elevator.


    ''Sufficiently ruthless.''


    Mo Fang was dragged away by the male bodyguards under the unblinking eyes of the spectators, a few of the people she arranged to take videos and entrap Selena Tang. These arranged spectators exchanged nces with each other, not knowing what to do. The reborn woman''s n did backfire at her. But it was her sole fault because, in the first ce, it was not what she prepared herself to yet still pushed it through.


    While it was true that the crazy actress wanted to take revenge against the scriptwriter, her initial n was to simply stab Selena or spray sulfuric acid on her face to ruin her beautiful looks.


    Jiang Li, of course, would not allow that. His hypnosis worked onest time on the woman, ensuring that she would not do her any harm.


    Yet Mo Fang was persistent, or more like, the hatred in her heart for everything she was experiencing wouldn''t let her leave things just like that. Her instinct rendered her nning something else impromptu. Her brain miraculously interpreted the harm as the kind limited only to physical.


    ''Allowing her to have different interpretations of my psychological cue is probably a perk of someone sent back in time.'' He sighed.


    In any case, everything led to the current situation. When Jiang Li''s phone conversation with Qin Tai ended, Selena was already confronting Mo Fang.


    The man thought of what was happening on the inte and went silent.


    It was ten minutester that he knocked on the door to Selena''s hotel room.


    Would she greet him with an angry expression then me him for not properly concluding things with Mo Fang? Or simply give him the cold shoulder?


    "It''s me, Jiang Li," he said, though unsure if his voice could transmit to the other side of the door. His right forefinger kept pressing the doorbell.


    It was about a minuteter that she popped her head outside, looking up at him a bit as she widened the gap of the door. "What do you want?"


    He was silent as he pondered over what to say. If he were to continue acting like before, then the next course of action should be to tease her why she left, gradually reveal that he knew what happened, and then ask how she felt about the matter. But as the real Jiang Li, was that really what he should do?


    He closed his eyes. The girl said softly, "Hurry and say it here. I don''t n to invite you in."


    ''I don''t have anything to say yet though.'' Heughed.


    A momentter, he found himself pulling her to his chest. "I''m sorry."


    That was all that came out of his mouth.


    He remembered that no matter how he acted out his current role, he was Jiang Li, not Zheng Xiang. The real him was a ghost tunneling through space and time for missions. Yet at the same time, he was this woman''s husband for so many lifetimes.


    He was not someone versed in love matters, probably the reason why his first girlfriend betrayed him for money, but ever since he got married to her when she was still Na Yu and continued being with her through different lifetimes, he knew he would not have any other woman in his life until his soul dispersed.


    "Is it a mistake to chase after you this early when I''ve yet to settle Zheng Xiang''s matters?" The question was muttered absent-mindedly.


    Selena''s mind was not on how he mentioned ''Zheng Xiang'' as if it was somebody else. She was stunned after suddenly being enclosed within his arms. However, she was still rational, so she started pushing him away. "Mister Zheng, or Mister Jiang Observe manners, please. If your goal is to apologize for the misdeed of ex-wife, you alreadypleted your goal so you can now scram."


    He didn''t insist. It was already a miracle that she didn''t have her bodyguards storm out to pummel him down. However, he didn''t leave yet.


    Heughed and lowered his gaze to the floor before seriously looking at her.


    "Before I scram, let me tell you something," he said, watching her grab the handle of the doorknob.


    His next words made her freeze on the spot. "I want to take you home"


    ...


    They said that karma was really a b*tch. And Jiang Li could not agree more than that.


    Mo Fang became viral again, not only because she tried to frame Tang ''Selena'' Yue, but because as a result of Liu De''s act of divulging Jiang Li''s former name, it was gradually revealed that the domestic violence was not true.


    Basically, now she was branded as a woman who hooked up with a younger actor for fame and wealth because, at that time, Liu De''s career was soaring and he was backed by three powerfuldies. One reason, or more like schemes, after another, led to the divorce which left one man condemned of a crime he did notmit.


    She lived happily for a few months after. But then when her ex-husband tried to make aeback, she stole his songs and gave them to Liu De, an act which spelled her doom, leading to her bad deeds being exposed.


    Probably in this world, there were still some women worse than her, but right now, the title of ''Worst Scumbag Woman'' was formally attached to her name.


    The court reopened the case about domestic violence since some ''fans'' rallied some people and protested in real life and online. She had to exert some of her remaining contacts to end it with paying marypensation. After all, with her case of perjury and adultery, it would have been no wonder if she was put behind the bars for at least a year. But while the endeavor was sessful and her freedom was retained, it burned a huge hole in her bank ounts though, leaving her with a bit of wealth only enough for her to survive half a year in frugality.


    She could have just simply withdrawn from the entertainment stage and enter the corporate world with her plethora of knowledge and ''foresight'' in business, but because she pissed off the Tang family, specifically Selena''s grandfather, nobody would want to hire her or shelter her.


    Those she ckmailed before also found her current situation as an opportunity to banish her from the capital. Mo Fang had no choice but ept the arrangement of one of them as she had even received death threats from the others.


    Even though she managed to settle down and she was not jailed, there was never a day that she never felt miserable and regret over her actions.

 Chapter 298: Selena Tang (47)

    Chapter 298: Selena Tang (47)


    So what about Liu De, Mo Fang''s adultery partner? His reputation was so stinky so apart from one stubborn lover, all his women abandoned him. There were better options anyway, all, without exceptions, had cleaner backgrounds, more sincere and had no other women and friends with Jiang Li.


    The male lead''s scandals were filling the streets, making him subject to the conversation of everyone who knew about his affairs. Dong Lan had a bit of fame on the campus and he was gaining poprity from being an online fortune-teller. So, when he revealed, as a ''fan'', how Liu De also had a part in the adultery and thus denying the ims that he had been misled by Mo Fang, the news spread out so fast, resulting in Liu De''s image getting dirtier.


    Around this time, Dong Lan already had the ability to glimpse into the past and future of a person, slowly regaining his memory and real personality. Towards a douche like Liu De who almost stole his wife from the previous lifetime, he was more than happy to help Jiang Li screw him.


    Nheless, the male lead''s halo was still strong so, despite the few setbacks, he was not really doing that bad.


    His system graciously suggested through a mission issuance that he fled abroad and start anew there. His skills and looks were his assets anyways so after undergoing cosmetic surgery, he did fly to Taiwan, but only after marrying his manager and promising all sorts of stuff to her.


    ''I would only be gone for a few years. Once Ipleted my dream, I''ll make sure to bring home a fortune so you can live a carefree life.''


    The scumbag didn''t know the kind manager was already pregnant. All he knew was that he couldn''t bring her abroad since people would definitely recognize her at one point even if she disguised herself.


    It would be a year or soter that she would learn how big of a star he had be and how many women he had involved himself with. It would be Tang Yu Yan who would extend help to her. The information originally came from Jiang Li who urged Selena to inform the poor woman, but since the scriptwriter was toozy to bother, she ''ckmailed'' her adopted sister into doing the task. Tang Yu Yan would then introduce the manager to a caring man who would help her divorce Liu De and love her and her son.


    Liu De would settle the divorce quietly and not even fight for the custody of his child. Obviously, he didn''t want to risk the hard-found career he built in Taiwan. Only six or seven years in the future when he once again loses everything would he realize how wrong he was for not taking the chance for a quiet life presented to him by his former manager.


    ...


    Back to the present.


    Many dayster after the trip to the mountain city.


    Jiang Li received a notification from the system, reporting that Mo Fang was pushed back to the countryside, barely surviving as she depended on her little savings.


    The woman realized she could no longer use the same method to earn money since she could no longer go back to the capital and extort the magnates and politicians there. The businessmen in her hometown where small fishes she didn''t ce much importance in her past life.


    She had some insights in the future and could try investing in stocks, yet she was too afraid since the whole thing was no different from gambling in her mind. The woman was long aware that she was not good at gambling, proven by how the man she invested her everything failed to make it to the top in this lifetime.


    With all of this said, Mo Fang could only cry for days andment her misfortune. Taking revenge was currently out of her mind since survival was even a question mark.


    ''Host, the target has changed her name and tried to apply to regrpanies, nning to climb step by step and then seduce some wealthy man. But she has no qualifications since she was from a different industry. This was why she could only settle for less, building a school supply shop in front of a private high school. The soul client has deemed it enough so you can leave anytime you want. But if you prefer to stay, there''s no problem too. He only hopes you visit his parents'' graves once a year and pray for their souls.''


    The system''s childish voice rang when he was in another talk show where the host was praising his acting in the Monarch and I. Of course, he was not the highlight of the event, but the announcement of Selena Tang''s new work. He would not be acting in it, declining the invitation since there were no suitable roles for him which he could act based on past identities. But this did not mean he would quit participating in films.


    Jiang Li decided to formally take acting lessons, intent on being part of Selena''s work, either as the singer of the OSTs or an actor.


    Selena knew his real intention and couldn''t help but remember what he said that one time.


    She regretted pping him hard which resulted in him tumbling on the floor, his arm somehow getting cut by the edge of the door. To be honest, even now she was puzzled how the heck he ended up getting grazed or falling. Her strength was not supposed to be that high.


    As a result, she had to apply first aid treatment to him which ended with him getting an opportunity to kiss her on the lips, something which probably sped up her falling for him. But of course, by only a bit.


    After all, their strange rtionship where she pissed off the other who kept courting her took about two years before she agreed to be his girlfriend. By then, Jiang Li had been secretly taking hair treatment for about seven months to stop his receding hairline.

 Chapter 299: Selena Tang (48)

    Chapter 299: Selena Tang (48)


    Two yearster


    It was March when an invitation letter was passed to him by Fan Jing, his manager.


    The next month, both Jiang Li and Selena Tang had to attend a wedding since the bride and groom were no strangers to them. One was Wen Hui, an uing politician, the other was Tang Yu Yan. At the reception, thetter greeted both of them with a smile. Selena''s attitude towards her was not warm, at best cordial, but she didn''t take offense.


    Tang Yu Yan had learned to repent for her actions in the past and apologized twice, the first was done publicly when she was still a bit of a b*tch scheming to use the crowd to make Selena forgive her, the second was when she truly repented and wanted true forgiveness. It was only unfortunate that Selena was quite the bad character herself and only treated her apology as a joke.


    Well, for her, apologies were really a joke. If one wanted to admit her sins, it was not enough to simply vocalize it. An action should apany it.


    Tang Yu Yan showed it by simply not intruding in Selena''s life or annoying her in any way.


    Not long after, the wedding reception formally started. Speeches were delivered at the same time that the food were served. Jiang sat next to Selena joining Qin Tai''s bunch.


    Dong Lan was there. ording to the younger man, he was invited because when the newlyweds were having a cool off, Tang Yu Yan went to the then famous fortune-teller. His statement was remembered up to date by the woman, ''You know, it''s you who should wake up and realize the other party had given so much. Even if you are the female protagonist of some drama, you are still not entitled to only receive and not reciprocate.'' so he was invited.


    It was Jiang Li''s first time meeting Dong Lan after thetter reawakened his talent and memories. He then remembered that from Ye Xinya''s world he encountered somebody with the same name. But his encounter with that person was so brief and left no impression. Jiang Li also didn''t know the man''s rtionship with the strange female fortune-teller, plus the appearance was difference so he didn''t pay any more attention to the coincidence.


    "Hehe. I know for sure that you won''t be married before me."


    ""


    With that simple statement, Jiang Li was guided not to notice the knowing smile on Dong Lan''s face.


    Arge part of the memories had been recovered so the younger man finally remembered that there was a dangerous person from his previous lifetime named Jiang Li who his adopted mother warned him about. His tarot divination before had confirmed that his guess was correct. The person before him was the same Jiang Li, the annoying guy previously named Jing Mo. On why there were sent to another world, he had yet to remember the reason, if there were any.


    Time passed and the danced floor was opened to everyone after the beautiful and happy newlyweds dance.


    Selena didn''t want to join the people locking the dance floor. ''Why would I want to dance on somebody else''s wedding? I never danced, even on my parents'' birthdays,'' she said with a scoff when he invited her.


    He simply shrugged and did not take the rejection to heart. The meat dishes were more tempting anyway.


    The throwing of the garter and the bouquet part arrived. But neither of them stood up. In the end, the one who got the two was the fortune-teller. Yup, only Dong Lan since after catching the garter, he shamelessly tagged along the bachelorettes and raced with them to catch the bouquet for his girlfriend.


    Jiang Li and co sneered andughed disdainfully at him. The damn guy was so desperate that he had no qualms embarrassing himself in the gathering. Where else would one see this kind of scenario? So this was why he said he would be married first before anyone else?


    "If you''re not invited there, I wouldn''t have even considered attending," said Selena after they reached her penthouse which was on top of the sky-high building actually next to the hotel where the reception took ce.


    The two left the moment the newlyweds vanished from the hall, going who-knows-where for their first night.


    "Your parents would have forced you nheless so there''s no way you won''t." He chuckled.


    The woman narrowed her eyes as she threw her phone and bag on the sofa because without her permission, the annoying man was already inspecting her ref.


    "Hey, why do you only have wines and canned beers here?"


    "Because obviously I ran out of milk, yogurt, ice cream, and milo and I''ve yet to stock up on them?" She sarcastically said, joining him in checking the bottles before picking up the one with the highest alcohol content not. She randomly grabbed a bottle of red wine.


    When he was about to remind her evil thoughts easily ran a man''s mind for a drunk woman, he saw her marching towards the kitchen.


    Half a minuteter, she came out with a dish in hand and widened her eyes in fake surprise. "You are still here? I thought you went home already."


    ""


    ''Is she really treating me as her future husband?''


    It was quite amazing that he managed to sh a smile at that time. "You haven''t told me to. And the door is locked from the inside. If you forgot, you haven''t told your boyfriend the password so I was wondering if you want to lock him up here. I''m sure he would be willing."


    Selena was nning to enjoy her food in front of the TV since she didn''t eat much at the party, but without a choice, she ced the te and spoon down and walk towards the door. "I don''t want a rogue to stay the night."


    Jiang Li looked at her back for some time as she keyed in something on the door keypad. Her hair was down, reaching halfway her back. Its ck hue was exactly the same as the color of her ck dress that clung tight on her body.


    He selectively forgot what she just said and gently hugged her from behind. When she puzzledly turned her head to him, he nted a kiss on her lips.


    Normally, this would be out of character for him. But maybe all this time, he was finding an Original which easily allows a man to express himself and be affectionate with somebody without seemingly going OOC.


    "What do you think are you doing?" After recovering from her dazed state, she asked as they briefly parted.


    All of a sudden, instead of answering her, he said, "Selena Tang. Let''s get married...."


    The words were deafening and shocking since they seemed to havee out of nowhere, done spontaneously out of jealousy of the newlyweds from earlier.


    Yet she only sneered and said, "So you''re asking me to marry you so you can achieve your goal of bringing me home? Mr. Jiang, you''re downying this matter. Marriage is something you at least have to think over a hundred times before deciding. If your second marriage failed, people will start to think something is wrong with you."


    ''Our marriage will what?'' he started blinking his eyes.


    Then the manughed since the question sounded stupid. They never had a failed marriage. Not even once. Proven and tested many times already through the magic of time and reincarnation.


    Also, wait, shouldn''t she firstment on how he was asking her hand in something serious without a ring or anything? This was the first time he brought up marriage. This was making him feel like his regret for notpeting with Dong Lan for the bouquet was unnecessary.


    He chuckled and shook his head. "It won''t fail." He said with certainty.


    The beautiful eyes staring at his face glimmered with doubt. For her who lost her memory every lifetime, it was unfathomable how a guy who loved so much and got betrayed could still be this reckless in making important decisions like this.


    "Your confidence is making me, the partner, feel awkward."


    "Hmm? Why?"


    One corner of her lips lifted up and answered, "Because you know, just now, I was thinking nothing is absolute so you should not count your chickens before they hatch."


    The reply she got was a meaningful grin and something else thatpletely shut her up andter left her panting for breath, mind nk.


    Lost in her man''s soulful gaze, the passionate kiss sessfully made her forget about opening the door and pushing him outside.

 Chapter 300: Selena Tang (49)

    Chapter 300: Selena Tang (49)


    Qin Tai somehow met Mo Zan at the wedding of his good friend Wen Hui. The woman had that same queenly aura since she was still the boss of a wholepany, yet mixed with it was some hint of gloominess. Obviously, the slight decline of Dreamer for the past years had dealt some damage to her esteem, or made her a bit morose.


    He politely raised a ss towards her as a response when she raised her ss for a toast. After that, he looked away.


    The painter Gao Jing approached him and clinked his champagne flute against his. "Cheers! One less unmarried guy in the world!"


    "Are you doing this intentionally? I''m single. I''m not the one you should be looking for," a bit irritated, he replied.


    Gao Jingughed, "Well, the groom has already left. Jiang Li also slipped out with his girlfriend. And you look lonely in this corner."


    The man shook his head. His friend''s words were a bit offending but true. For the past years, he never entered a rtionship, even after he moved onpletely from his first love. It was not that he developed an aversion towards girls or love itself. He just couldn''t find the right person. Well, his fault was not actively looking for it and believing it woulde find him on its own.


    He had to admit that Jiang Li had done him a bit of damage. Ever since the ''love yourself first'' motto got etched into his mind, he began to feel like if he would ever fall in love again, it had to be with someone who would love him more than he loved himself. That selfish thoughts just blossomed and had yet to wither from the depths of his heart even though he knew it might lead to him being single for life.


    When he fessed this up to Jiang Li, the older manughed and said, ''Hey, there is nothing wrong with your choice. If you think you''re not yet the kind of treasure you want to be, it''s fine. Take your time. Be better than you currently are so when the timees and you fall hard again, at least it will be easier for you to remember your true worth once it goes south again.''


    The funny words of his friend made him realize. It might be that after experiencing to be at the bottom and be left with nothing after he offered his all, he somehow wanted to experience the same, to be the person receiving that kind and intensity of affection. Would that time evere though?


    Qin Taiughed. Gao Jing thought his expression was weird and walked away to look for another person to chat with, someone more normal.


    As for the CEO, since he didn''t want to mingle with people yet also didn''t want to be pointed at for being a loner, he decided to simply leave. The event was over anyways and he was not the kind which needed to be escorted out by the hosts.


    Joining Gao Jing, Dwight, and the others for a brief get together? No, thanks. Those people were all with their girlfriends. He would just make the situation awkward since an hour ago, heughed after seeing all his friends together with women used to be close to Liu De. For sure, those narrow-minded guys would not let go of the chance to mock him once he came over.


    He was speaking on the phone with his mother who was somewhere in the hall when he bumped into Mo Zan again on his way to the elevator. He looked at her for a couple of seconds.


    Mo Zan He heard that the past two years had quite been rough for her, and he had a hunch it was because Jiang Li kept doing some harassment tactics in their business through some unknown means.


    That time, thepany had yet to recover from the numerous scandals brought to them by Liu De and Mo Fang. They managed to stay afloat, but it couldn''t be denied that since then Dreamer was barelyparable to his Starlight, unlike before when they were standing shoulder to shoulder in the Entertainment World. It was a result that stemmed from Mo Zan and Mo Fang''s act of threatening him two years ago.


    Was there still anyone that pissed off Jiang Li before who have yet to get some sort of revenge from him?


    To be honest, he couldn''t remember. He was included among those that tasted revenge from the two-faced guy since he identally angered him one time when he got drunk and tossed hisptop on the pool whileughing. He was having a hard time recalling why he did that.


    Qin Tai regained his senses and realized the woman had been staring at him with aplicated glint in her eyes. He merely nodded then walked past her.


    "You loved too early, and I, toote" After she said in a bitter voice while wearing a self-mocking expression, she did not do anything else.


    Back then, he pretended that he did not hear her. But he was thankful that she seemed to have epted that there was no possibility of a restart between them, unless miracles exist.


    ''Hmm? A guy thinking he has already crossed the bridged when he had just got there?''


    Dong Lan saw the brief encounter and subconsciously divined about them. Now, he no longer needed tarot cards or other tools since he could do it by simply looking at the person''s appearance for around five seconds.


    The vision he got was interesting... and cringe-worthy, and he wanted to inform the other about it.


    Unfortunately, before he could approach the tall and handsome guy who seemed to be quite close to his fellow transmigrator, the campus belle named Xia Ling called out his name and distracted him with small talks. When he remembered the prediction again, the other was already nowhere in sight. Seeing this, he could shrug and then escort his girlfriend home.


    ''That man seems to be rted to my mysterious friend. I''ll just have Jiang Li pass the message to him.''


    When the guy got to the hotel sponsored by Tang Yu Yan and her husband to those who came afar, poor or not, regardless of profession, he pulled up his phone and texted,


    ''Hello. I know you''re familiar with a guy called Qin Tai. Tell him I did some little predictions for him,'' he began, diving in the bed.


    ''His career will have small ups and downs but it is guaranteed that he won''t cause his family to be bankrupt.''


    ''... And his love life will be the same, quite colorful. After all, he seems to be like a character from a book. Tall, rich, and handsome (I''m sincerely not hoping in the back of my head for him to die). Girls fell for him easily. But after being hurt and recovering from it, he will fall for someone head over heels, no,pletely obsessed, for him. She will be quite destitute and in dire straits though for being thrown out by her n or something...''


    ''Oh, and her name is Mo Zan... someone he should be familiar with already! I don''t know what''s their fates. But it''s like something written by a sicko author! A viiness turning into a good leaf and a guy with a terminal dead inside disease, the usual and undyingbination in drama novels nowadays!''


    The guy who had regained a bit of cheekiness subtly hinted to make sure his name as the fortune-teller was mentioned. His goal was to reap some benefits from the wealthy man as an exchange for his reading.


    Dong Lan''s message got through.


    However, that time, Jiang Li''s phone was nowhere in reach, thrown somewhere together with his outer coat and other pieces of clothing. It was gloriously ignored even after it rang for more than a minute.


    The reason? Well, not because he was back to his lonely townhouse, taking a bath. But because he was still at Selena Tang''s penthouse with the passionate event in front of the door somehow proceeding to her bedroom.


    The man had missed holding his wife in his arms for two lifetimes so when the atmosphere escted into something steamy, he just let things happened. Dong Lan''s message was snubbed since the supposed recipient of the text was busy with a matter more important than somebody else''s fortune.

 Chapter 301: Selena Tang (50)

    Chapter 301: Selena Tang (50)


    An ordinary weekday dawned. It was Monday. The rays of the sun could barely sneak into arge but simply decorated bedroom in the penthouse due to the flowery curtains. However, since the fabric of the curtains was not that thick, while it covered the floor-to-ceiling ss wall, light could still pass through, only a bit suppressed, so the resulted illumination was gentle to the eyes. It added a mysterious vibe to the room that seemed to be owned by a woman despite the minimal decorations.


    The ce belonged to the famous scriptwriter who had recently started to enter her paternal grandfather''s corporation, Selena Tang. It was still very early in the morning so she was still asleep.


    Currently though, there was a half-naked guy in her house, rinsing his mouth in the bathroom using a mouthwash before stifling his yawn. The man was even quite daring, checking her drawers, hiddenpartments, and dressing room, seemingly looking for clothes he could wear. Yet when he found none, he strangely let out augh.


    ''This body''s giving me the impulse to check if there were really nothing from other guys left in the ce. It must be the Original, Zheng Xiang''s trauma from the previous marriage.'' He shook his head and decided to just throw his own clothes into the washing machine.


    After that, he went back into the room, watching as the girl peacefully sleeping underneath theforter stirred and half-opened her eyes. When she saw that the intruder was familiar, she then rolled over and went back to sleep.


    "Go away Don''t disturb me" In a very sleepy tone, she purred like a kitten.


    Jiang Li almostughed, if not for remembering what she just said. It would be bad manners to rouse one who badly needed sleep, no?


    Although the man felt like he would be med once she woke up and realized she had a meeting to attend, he still followed her wishes.


    ''I''m hungry and she would definitely look for foodter.''


    Since the girl did not want to get up from the bed and there was nothing in her fridge, Jiang Li simply searched for his phone to order some takeout. It was because while he had the option to go out and buy ingredients and then do some rudimentary cooking, he didn''t want some misunderstanding to arise. Such as he left because he was done with her after the night of passion.


    The simple meat dish she cookedst night with red wine was thrown in the back of his mind. Not. He ced it inside the refrigerator, with no intent to eat it since it would be quite heavy for breakfast.


    ''What is this?'' Knitting his brows, he read one particr message receivedst night, skipping those from Qin Tai and the others.


    Jiang Li finally saw Dong Lan''s divination of Qin Tai''s future.


    That young man was so free that upon seeing someone interesting, he automatically tried his ''fortune-telling'' on him?


    Why would his CEO friend be with Mo Zan though? Qin Tai was that hopeless?


    A momentter, when something about the author was mentioned, Jiang Li chuckled. Thankfully around that time, he was not in the bedroom, but near the bathroom where he was waiting for his clothes to dry.


    '' It''s like a drama written by a sicko author! A viiness turning into a good leaf and a guy with a terminal dead inside disease, the usual and undyingbination in novels nowadays!'' The tone of the message suggested disbelief and ridicule.


    Jiang Li continuedughing as he read this part.


    He wondered, how would this Dong Lan react once he learned this world was conceived by the imagination of an author who was really sick in the head? Hey, could someone with a pen name ''I''m_Proudly+Wearing-A@Green~Hat'' be sane?


    Although busy mocking the author and the fortune-teller, he still did not forget to forward the message to his CEO friend. After this though, he did not do anything more.


    Why would he work more when he wouldn''t gain any points? Now that his mission was essentiallypleted, he did not want to involve himself with the lives and decisions of others.


    Qin Tai was a mature man anyways. If he felt like his life was turning boring and that torturing himself in the future would be fun, he could go ahead and stage a sadistic-masochistic romance story with Mo Zan. If not, then he could simply flee abroad, find a woman to marry or simply settle with his prized secretary. The decision was his.


    Jiang Li got himself dressed. After receiving the delivery, he checked on Selena again and found that she was already up, looking in a daze as she held the quilt up to her shoulders to cover her from the cold st of the aircon.


    Was she perhaps, recalling what happenedst night?


    He grinned.


    She looked at his hands and then seemingly woke up from the trance. He heard her muttered, "Takeout?"


    He simply answered, "Yep."


    Selena harrumphed andined, "I must have been bewitched! Why did I get myself a useless guy who can''t even cook for me?"


    The useless thirty-four-year-old guy: ""


    Jiang Li was stunned for a while, rendered speechless by her remark. A whileter, he shook his head, a smile was on his face. "I''m somebody aware of his real capabilities so instead of blindly trying to impress you with my half-baked cooking, I just n to impress you with my thoughtfulness. Look, I''m here and I had the head chef from the nearby five-star restaurant especially cooked something light and easy to digest for you."


    The man then listed his other reasons for not leaving his goddess behind, mostly centered on preventing the scene where he woke up without him on sight. "You know in dramas, it always happens."


    She stared at him for more than ten seconds before he got a sneer from him.


    "I won''t ever write dramas like that. Too recycled."


    "Recycled still means usable."


    "Those who did that, their dramas ended up in small stations or weekdays afternoon time slots where there will be lesser views."


    Heughed. "Not necessarily. If written and directed skillfully, cliches can still be masterpieces liked by many people."


    "What do you know?"


    Jiang Li stopped her grumbling with a kiss and ced an overbed table before her since she showed reluctance to part with her nket.


    After they had their breakfast, he pulled her outside and brought her to Starlight where he revealed that he was one of itsrgest shareholders. He also presented a bunch of deeds and documents detailing his properties and shares in differentrgepanies. This was something he always forgot to do for the two years until he just decided to make this a future surprise.


    As expected Selena was dumbfounded for a long while, finding it hard to believe the artist she was raising and supporting was actually a bigshot himself.


    "... Some acquisition dates are older than two years..." She looked at him quietly as he shrugged his shoulders. He looked proud for making her surprised.


    After that came Jiang Li''s regret. When he proposed marriage, she declined, saying, ''Sorry, I need time to digest the news. I''m having a hard time believing it. I''m still shocked. Shocked that someone I keep has also been keeping secrets from me.''


    His mind nked out for a while, forgetting to argue that he was not being kept by her. His brain was all about her rejection. Yup, he had been rejected... even though their rtionship had gone so far... The heck!


    Looking at her scoffing face, he had a hunch she was simply giving excuses to torture him more with the wait. Perhaps, her previous incarnation was really getting back at him for his early demise and was subtly influencing Selena. Wait maybe all her previous incarnations were, since he always died earlier than her in all their past lifetimes. But was that all his fault? Wasn''t this current incarnation of her too petty, using her wits in the wrong matter?


    It took him a long while to shake off all the ridiculous thoughts. Heughed and simply changed tactics, employing a bolder method to get her marching on the aisle, working hard every night for a reason up to everyone''s imagination.


    Thankfully, he was at least officially the lover. And that he was equally persistent and shameless.


    Three seasons swiftly passed by since then. Sadly, when he reached his self-imposed goal, everyone else, apart from Qin Tai, had long been married. Qin Tai was still single and was living a curious life being chased by two women. Jiang Li hardly paid attention to this guy after a year of being pestered for advice.


    Several monthster, he just heard that the young CEO secretly got a marriage certificate with Lu Lingxi, the beautiful and virtuous secretary. Mo Zan still had some decency as an elite woman so she finally let go and epted that they had really no future together.


    Like Mo Fang, she would be haunted by regrets forever, ming herself for being blind.


    Yetpared to Mo Fang, her ending was at least many times better. The new male lead went against the plot, so she retained her position and was still the ever beautiful and mighty daughter of the Mo family. Maybe if the author, or rather, the influencer from another world became kind enough to give her another story, she would find somebody which would help her tone down her dominating personality, teach her to love again and appreciate those supporting her.


    ...

 Chapter 302: Selena Tang (51) After Story

    Chapter 302: Selena Tang (51) After Story


    A lot of students listless and full of resentment against Monday were passing by a particr school supply store that morning. Some were stopping by to get a recement for the pens they lost at school or various types of paper for artworks. The ce had many items ranging from normal school stuff to keychains and small souvenirs.


    As the shop helper assisted the studentsing in, the owner was on one side of the store near the entrance, setting up the newspaper stand.


    Since space where people could move within the shop was not thatrge, one of the boys in uniform collided with the owner, causing her to drop the newspaper in her hand that she was about to ce on the stand.


    "Ooops." The boy panicked and kept on bowing at her. "I''m sorry, I''m sorry, Auntie! I was not paying enough attention."


    "Auntie?"


    The voice did not hint that the owner was offended, but the tone was a bit odd. It was asked in a soft tone, rendering the boy to lift his head. The woman was beautiful and familiar. However, he couldn''t recall where he had seen her face. That did not stop him from falling into daze though.


    "I-I''m sorry. I mean, fairy!"


    Hearing the kid''s reply, the womanughed in a carefree manner. When the people passing by and those inside looked towards their direction, they saw a male student holding a small stack of colored paper blushing at ady in simple blouse and jeans who wasughingly shaking her head at him. Thetter was indeed pretty, although she seemed to be already more than thirty years old. Her hair was tied up, her lips were red and her face only had some powder. She wore no blush on, eye shadow, foundation or concealer, which all made her appearance fresh and easy to the eyes. It was no wonder many boys were mesmerized.


    "Alright, you''re forgiven." The woman then picked up the newspaper and patted the dust there. She then raised her eyes back to the kid and said with the same tone and expression, "Be careful though. Others won''t be as kind as me. You should watch out for your steps next time, handsome boy."


    The kid teased bowed onest time and ran away, probably too shy about receiving apliment and reminder from her. The woman could only shake her head.


    She raised the newspaper. Her eyes had traces of warmth as she looked down at the pages that got flipped open. A momentter though, albeit very subtle, the warmth became lukewarm.


    "Boss." The woman''s employee walked over and gently called out. Thetter must have noticed that her boss had been staring too long at the news and craned her neck to check what article had caught her attention. The younger woman was not worried about identally offending her boss since the other was a very mild person.


    "Ah, I see." The employee let out a voice of realization. "The article is quite long but it''s only about the newborn of Mr. Jiang and his wife. No wonder. This couple is quite controversial. The whole country knows that Mr. Jiang had chased his wife for two years before bing her boyfriend, and another year before finally seeding in marrying her."


    "Is that so?"


    "Er, I''m not sure. Maybe they held a private wedding before Mrs. Jiang is announced pregnant. No matter what, the current news is nothing noteworthy. It''s only about a baby shower, not an album or a new drama. Tch. The media is really unbelievable, reporting even the slightest scoop they could find. Are they that desperate to make their papers sell? Or is this done by the couple intentionally?"


    The girl pondered over the question with seriousness.


    There was a smile on the other woman''s face, but she was silent for a long while. She then jokingly replied, "Actually, your guess might not be too far-fetched. Maybe Jiang Li and Selena Tang intentionally leaked the news to brag about their baby. Look, there''s no way the media could get the newborn''s photo if they didn''t give them their consent."


    "Oh, I see Actually, I''m single but even I find it understandable since the baby looks like an angel" said the girl, nodding. She then helped her boss ced the newspaper on the stand.


    A bitter smile almost formed on the woman''s lips. Tears started to well up from her eyes. Her conversation partner did not see it since a customer came in that needed to be assisted. Also, she had hurriedly bowed and let her bangs conceal her teary expression.


    While she was searching her pocket for her handkerchief, voices drifted into her ears. Her efficient assistant was talking to the new customer.


    "Hello, Little Miss. What would you like to buy? I can help you look for it in our store."


    "Hi. Ahm Yes Do you have a notebook with numerous lines on its pages It''s for writing music, or music symbols." The voice of the female student who just walked in was soft and hinted enough that she was not sure what the item was called.


    The employee kindly smiled, not making the customer embarrassed by correcting her. "Of course. Hold on. Let me get one for you"


    The beautiful female boss turned away from the conversation since she didn''t wish for anyone else to see how she looked like right now.


    The upward arc made by the corners of her mouth became quite tragic to behold. She was barely suppressing her trembling shoulders as random thoughts crossed her mind,


    '' Had I not been so stupid to get blinded by my ambition Had I not believed I was the protagonist of the world, that angel should have been his and mine''


    ''I should have been the one enjoying fame and love from him I should have not been fading away in obscureness, pretending I am alright being an ordinary, unremarkable, and lonely woman in the countryside''


    The woman was Mo Fang, the one who divorced Zheng Xiang, now Jiang Li, three and a half years ago. She had changed her name and was living a boringly peaceful life outside the capital. She was still as pretty as ever since as a former star, one of the things she mastered was taking care of her skin and keeping her appearance young. Sadly, her beautiful exterior was hiding a hollow heart.


    If there was one thing that ruined her good looks a bit, it could only be the obvious dark circles under her eyes. Those were the results of recurring nightmares and sleepless nights spent on crying and fantasizing about a life that she should not have let go.


    Bothered all night by random thoughts and nightmares, Mo Fang decided to sneak into the capital to witness how her former husband was doing. She didn''t immediately head to the new Jiang mansion, but visited their former home.


    Sheter found out that the one who bought the ce was abroad so it was left to a caretaker who was quite easy to talk to. From this middle-ageddy, she learned that it had already been three and a half years ago, a few weeks after the ''Zheng Xiang and Mo Fang Divorce Controversy''. The caretaker kept bragging that it was bought from the then poor producer. It was a piece of news that made her, as the other protagonist, bitter in her heart.


    That didn''t damp her motivation to check on Zheng Xiang though. The only problem was that she forgot the man had already made quite the fortune and married a real member of the upper society so there was no way he would settle his family in a random neighborhood. It had to be amunity with tall gates guarded by men equipped with real guns and batons.


    Naturally, a person like her with no contact whatsoever with those living inside was not allowed entry.


    Mo Fang was in a daze for a long time and had even pissed off one of the guards since she kept standing before the gate.


    When she was chased away, she left, feeling ashamed, and then realized that her trip was a wasted one. Why did she even let herself be carried away by her emotions and made a fool out of herself? Hadn''t she epted her ending?


    ''Mo Fang, beat it. If he sees you, you''ll stop yourself anyway. Selena is hateful, but Zheng Xiang is not. You gave him enough pain already, and he doesn''t know about the incident in the mountain city.''


    Sheughed satirically at herself and then made a trip back home. She didn''t know that while she was heading towards the bus station, she crossed paths with the man she was looking for.


    The actor-singer briefly watched her, expressionlessly. Not long after, she disappeared from sight after hopping into a bus.


    In his mind, the system spoke: Mo Fang appears here. It must be due to the news yesterday.


    Of course, he didn''t hear it since it was muted. But simr thoughts were ying in his mind.


    Mo Fang got what she deserved and even then, she was lucky since she was still alive and could get a good life in the countryside if she works for it. However, there was also arge possibility that she was having a hard time extricating herself from the past.


    It was her difference from other normal viinous people. She had memories of her past life. There were two lifetimes topare. With good old times to recall and once she sobered up and realized what she had done three years ago, her present life would seem unbearable and shameful.


    He knew exactly the feeling since before being the ve of the system, he was bearing so many embarrassing memories and ming himself for a lot of things that sped up his family''s downfall. Yep, once in his life, he had probably been one of the greatest fools in history.


    It was funny, but there were people who only became a bit smarter after rebirth, but there were also people whose intelligence decreased after rebirth. None of them were really noteworthy.


    It had to be said that those who lived spectacr and fulfilling days in one lifetime were the really amazing ones. They needed no rebirth or transmigration for their lives to be meaningful.


    Jiang Li was, of course, excluded from that list. He was one of those who needed several lives to learn, and he found it not glorious to mention, of course.


    The good thing was he could live and experience a few more worlds. Maybe his journey would not even end. But somebody was there to apany him at least, and he could learn and see many things.


    He grinned and then drove away, more eager to look at his beautiful wife and cute newborn at home than somebody never part of his life as Jiang Li.


    ...


    Years would past and he would learn that Liu De was exposed by his model friend, Dwight in a g in Taiwan. The male lead drowned in another series of controversies before getting ganged up and forced out of the entertainment world for real. There was no possibility of restart since his face had been quite mutted in one of the encounters with a fan-turned-hater.


    It was around this time that Liu De remembered that he had a child and a woman who waited and loved him for so long. Yet when he went back to China using his little savings, he discovered that the woman he abandoned had long moved on from him and married another. That led to the male lead losing his motivation to improve and work, mostly drinking his sorrows away in thetter part of his short life.


    More or less fifty yearster, when Jiang Li was leaving for the next world, he would learn from his own system that Liu De''s Superstar System had long left for another host since he was no longer ''interesting''.


    It then showed Jiang Li some amusing video clips where he discovered that the Superstar System was created by somebody from another, somewhere more technologically advanced than Earth.


    ''The Superstar System is something controlled by a superior species of humans outside this. The male lead is like an experimental subject and his journey is being broadcasted, like some sort of drama in a TV for the other aliens'' enjoyment. Every time Liu De received an upgrade, the alien controller was actually just sending an invisible robot that would inject a syringe of drugs into Liu De''s bloodstream. Fancy items were delivered through an invisible courier, andmunication was done through an invisible chip imnted somewhere in Liu De''s body,'' the system exined.


    In his deathbed heughed, asking it in his mind, ''So it''s like that, huh. How are you different then? You''re from a different creator? Or made by somebody from a different civilization?''


    ''Host, like I told you, that Superstar system can''t travel from world to world like we do. Or even if it can, it''s limited to this gxy. I have been bringing you to different worlds and points of time since the beginning of our journey!''


    The system wanted to answer it was not even a true system but reined itself in since Jiang Li did not have enough authority to know this yet.


    It did not take long for the old man to pass away. Once again, he died before Na Yu''s incarnation, thus filling Selena''s heart with anger.


    However, it could not be denied that the grief was stronger. After all these years, she learned to truly love her entric husband, and not only became obsessed with keeping him by her side due to the weird voices in her head.

 Chapter 303: Agatha (1)

    Chapter 303: Agatha (1)


    Once upon a time, there existed arge continent in the middle of thergest ocean in the world. The continent was called Mu, a ce where human civilization also thrived. It was located in the vastest body of water on earth and there seemed to be an invisible barrier causing shipwrecks for the expeditions of the other continents so no outsiders had discovered it.


    Of course, while entry was impossible, exit was not. So those curious inhabitants who wanted to explore the world could do it, and they did.


    The only problem was that they would bear divine punishment once they decided to tell others about Mu''s existence. They would forever forget about their home continent, their families, and sometimes, even their names. They would also receive the same punishment if they didn''te back within a year.


    People were naturally scared and didn''t want to incur the wrath of the heavens. So although some still ventured out, none dared to divulge information about Mu, or stay outside for more than eleven months. It was in this way that the Mu continent remained isted from the rest of the world.


    The reason for the istion was not known to mortals so rumors and conspiracies emerged. But the one whichter became amon belief of those from the continent was that they were a superior race so they should not mingle with the primitives and pagans outside.


    The royals supported the im. After all, even though there would be punishments for vitors, people of Mu could still go out and sail the ocean to check on the other continents. Yet those not from Mu would never even know that a vast area ofnd containing a mature civilization, blessed by the great deity, existed inMaris Pacifici.


    Several kingdoms existed in thend, born from several tribes that used to follow one government and one religion.


    Due to nature''s blessings and the wisdom shared by the angels of the Great Deity, they ushered in the ssical Antiquity. Back then, the outside world was still on their Bronze or Early Iron Age.


    The tribes became prosperous and became kingdoms, all believing in the same doctrine.


    Unfortunately, the dark ages came. The Great Deity was said to have died or fallen into eternal sleep. For various reasons, chaos and wars then ensued.


    It was at this time that the angels who used to serve the Great Deity ascended and made their own thrones. They became gods that walked thends, giving their believers blessings, knowledge and power. As a result, the believersforted from their griefs willingly built statues and churches corresponding to them. The whole continent then regained peace and gradually recovered from the aftermath of the war and cmities.


    - Page 5 and 6 of the Mu Continent''s Creation Myth


    A thousand years after the fifth and sixth pages of the continental creation myth was first recorded.


    Alternate Earth, Medieval Ages  an era where the beliefs in the ascended angels had matured greatly and where humans seemingly entered another golden age.


    In a city within the Borley Kingdom where people were believed in Armaros, the god of mystery and enchantment; Penemue, goddess of wisdom; Gadreel, goddess of beauty and war; and Sariel, goddess of the moon


    "Argghh"


    A groan filled with pain echoed within a room that was only illuminated by the bluish light from the candle on a low marble table.


    There were two people inside the ce.


    One was ady dressed like a medium, wearing a hooded violet robe and with several silver essories on her wrist, fingers, and neck. Her hands were separated, swaying in the air as if directing the shape and flow of the candle me and the smokeing from it. ce an arm''s length away from her and the candle was a small bottle for essential oilsbeled in an unknownnguage.


    The second person inside the room was also ady. She was seated on the armchair in front of the mysterious hooded woman. She wore a green dress that had excellent materials and the essories on her body and her long straight brown hair were nothing like what peasants or even some people in the lower-middle-ss could afford. Her eyes just now were quite not right, as if she was in a daze or hypnotized.


    Yet she managed to let out a groan and briefly showed an expression of pain.


    "Focus, Miss I know you''re quite feeling some headache. But this is for the truth and for your peace of mind which you will only get once the truth is uncovered" The voice came from the hooded woman who briefly nced at the beautiful aristocraticdy before her.


    "Try to remember Remember that dream" With the darkness as her background, the atmosphere between them turned more mystifying.


    Thedy in a green dress closed her eyes and held her head in agony. The other woman did not stop speaking despite seeing the client in pain, thinking it was because she was finally opening the door to her subconscious.


    ''Ouch, my head!'' thedy in green groaned in her heart again.


    The hooded woman was not aware, but various memories were pouring inside the client''s brain and the feeling was just too painful. For thedy in green, it didn''t help that the voice of the spirit medium seemed to being from everywhere, echoing inyers. She felt like without her knowledge, a hammer had stuck her head or skull and now she was feeling the aftereffects. It was just hard to think straight. It was that painful.


    "What... do I have to remember?" She was almost shouting as she asked this to the other.


    The medium answered. "Remember your grieving, Miss."


    ''Come again?''


    Thedy in greenboriously opened her eyes, finally realizing she was in a weird ce. She barely knew anything about her situation and the images in her head so she was very confused.


    What the hell was happening? Was she in a fortune-teller''s tent? What was she doing here?


    While feeling like the world was running out of air, she inspected the ce. The medium seemed to be not bothered that her client opened her red-rimmed eyes and started acting crazy.


    "You cried so much that morning," said the hooded woman. "The day before that was the day of the year blessed with the most sunlight. Yet before you and your brother can join the people outside celebrating the blessing of Shamsiel the Sun Angel, a tragedy befell you two."


    ''... Tragedy... tragedy your face! Someone''s dying here!''


    "Docto---!"


    "He died. You survived. Yet this should not be the case since the two of you are at the same ce when the incident happened." The medium interrupted the young girl''s plea since she thought it would only be some nonsense. She continued, "... You mentioned earlier that you feel like your heart will forever be restless without knowing the truth."


    "Actually, the reason for this is simple. In your heart lies a great desire to know the answer to this mystery. But sometimes the answer is near us. Sometimes it has physical forms. Other times, it can be pieced out from the clues and bits of evidence that could be found in our subconscious, or memories."


    "Miss Obson, since you came to me, it''s my duty to help you open the door to your consciousness so we can explore the realm beyond it. Through this, we should be able to find your lost memories"


    More hypnotic nonsense was spouted by the medium who even exined to her the vastness of the universe and the starry skies. Yet by then, thedy in aplicated green court dress was no longer listening.


    She was repeatedly shaking her head for an unknown reason, her expressions showed both shock and disbelief.


    In actuality, her reason had returned a couple of moments ago. And the first thing she did after was to pinch her thighs secretly. She did it to confirm whether she was dreaming or not... as if the terrible headache earlier was not enough of a proof.


    ''My name is Aliyah Monte...''


    A whileter, her eyes went to the candle me dancing before her.


    ''I am a modern woman who was supposed to be in a museum, eyes feasting on the newly found artifacts from the age of antiquity.''


    ''Yet for some unknown reason, I appeared here.''


    With these thoughts in mind, of course, she was finding her current situation not only baffling, but scary. Her eyes regained a bit of rity, but if not for ''knowing'' beforehand that the woman in front of her was a rare spirit medium, she would have shouted ''Witch!'' already.


    "Am I dreaming?" In her reluctance to ept her few guesses about her current situation, she muttered.


    "Yes, you are, my dear"


    The medium looked at the aristocratic girl as her voice tried to hypnotize her. She slowly asked, "Let the dream takes you back to the past You came to a week ago,st Midsummer''s Eve. That night when your brother died What did you see?"


    The headache of the woman persisted for more than a minute so even though the chatty hooded medium said a lot of things to her after the question, she remembered nothing.


    Actually, before she knew it, she had already fainted due to the pain and the violent influx of memories.


    At the end of it, what did she see?


    Before her consciousness truly flew away, she seemed to have seen a vague picture of several half-naked men withrge wings on their backs that immediately got reced by another image. Oddly, it was one with the digital cover of the book that she had just read online.


    After that, she totally cked out, temporarily freed from the killer headache. She was not even able to tell the other woman about the first image she saw.


    Upon seeing her copse, the other was stunned and immediately stopped talking. A momentter, she killed the candlelight that was suffused with hypnotic aroma oil to stop the ritual. She then ran outside to get help from the knights of thedy in green.


    After that, the medium watched as the female servants of the aristocratic girl bring their unconscious master outside. The guards red at her for some time.


    In both worry and annoyance, the spirit medium grumbled, ''Why did that youngdy from the Obson Castle faint? What if I get used of heartlessly harming a grieving aristocrat by conducting false rituals on her?''


    ''My dearest Armamos, God of Mystery and Enchantment, I hope I don''t get med for this. I didn''t even get to do anything! She fainted before I can attempt to summon her poor brother''s soul!''


    As the carriage disappeared, the medium felt torn between fleeing from the city and seeing refuge from the church of the god she believed in.<ol><li>Pacific Ocean''s first name on the map. The ocean was first mapped by Abraham Ortelius; he called it Maris Pacifici - Wiki</li></ol>

 Chapter 304: Agatha (2)

    Chapter 304: Agatha (2)


    It was an hourter when thedy in green being transported back home by her servants woke up in a horse-drawn carriage with red velvet interior.


    For a long while, she was staring nkly at the empty seat opposite hers, looking as if she was yet to regain her soul. If not for a thoughtful maid asking if she wanted some water or tea, she would not have recovered from the stupor.


    The youngdy ignored the question and instructed the personal maid to draw open the curtains of the carriage for her.


    After that, she unconsciously held her breath as her eyes slowly widened at the sight outside.


    The houses, the clothing style of the people, the roads, the fresh air and the extra memories in her head. Everything was telling her that she was no longer in her world or time.


    Where was this? Why was she transported to an unknown ce? She didn''t know the answer. She would have to go through the extra memories to get a grasp of her current situation.


    Before suddenly waking up in her current body, she was Aliyah Monte, a Youtuber specializing in contents about weird history, artifacts, creatures, and conspiracies. Her topics were educational but mostly unheard of which meant extra effort in doing research.


    She was supposed to be in a museum that just received batches of goods and relics from an archaeological site at Anatolia, also known as Asian Turkey or Asia Minor. Hearing that the items seemed to be from before or early medieval ages, she attended the exhibit, her title for the next video even decided.


    So why did she appear here?


    When she lowered her head, lost in her thoughts, a weird feeling arose in her heart. It was because she remembered seeing the cover illustration of the e-book she was reading yesterday.


    Aliyah was sure she was in a weird state a while back which meant the spirit medium''s sorcery worked on her. Since the illustration popped up in her mind, she unconsciously tried to recall the plot of that story.


    ording to the synopsis and spoilers she read online, the e-book was about an aristocratic girl seeking justice for her brother who died a mysterious death for discovering the royal family''s secret.


    It was a mystery-romance-fantasy medieval-themed story of which a movie trailer had already been announced.


    A book with an uing movie adaptation, Aliyah remembered getting curious about it and buying the electronic copy online. However, since she was someone easily bored, she only read the first two chapters, checked the spoilers online for the rest, and then took a nce at thest page. That was how she finished a best-selling book that normally would take one three or so hours to read.


    So now, with that said, what did it have to do with her current situation?


    Did the author learn of her bad treatment of the work and feel like she did not give it enough respect so he or she sought out a witch or ghost to punish her?


    She shook off the stupid thoughts.


    ''If I''m not mistaken, the memories I received, together with the body and identity, are that of the female lead. The one who is always seeking death and ying with fire.''


    ''Marian Obson, 17 years old, the female lead''


    ''The scene earlier matches the opening chapter of the novel which I have also seen in the movie trailer''


    A whileter, her green eyes that were still scanning the medieval scenery outside darkened.


    In the story, this female lead went to a spirit medium to get some help in reawakening her hazy memories of the night when her beloved older brother died. She also wants to talk to the spirit of her deceased brother, unaware that the world is muchplicated than she could ever think.


    This was a fantasy medieval world and its wonders were beyond theprehension of normal humans... not limited to only witchcrafts, angels, spirits, and demons.


    The one who sealed Marian Obson''s memories about her brother''s death was dabbling in witchcraft. This person was also somebody employed under the royal family and the very involvement of the crown was what made this story a bit moreplicated.


    ''In the book, it was exined that the people of the continent and the countries are believers of those so-called ascended gods. Worshippers of fallen angels also exist.''


    ''Uhh Fallen Angels are supposed to be servants of this so-called Great Deity, creator and the first-ever guardian god of the continent. These Fallen Angels used to be normal angels and were just banished from Heaven because they fell for mortal women, procreated with them, and fathered giant monsters called Nephilim.''


    ''The warlock who killed the female lead''s brother is said to have used a magic item blessed by Jeqon, the king of the Fallen Angels.''


    ''And there is a seal in the female lead''s mind so when the medium tried to pry on this seal, she received a mental bacsh However, in the original story, it only put her in aa, not let some spirit from another world or the future take over her body''


    ''Uggh...''


    ''Since I''m here and haven''t be a sleeping beauty, the plot must be changing then?''


    After going through the fishbone plot in her mind, Aliyah, now Marian Obson, fell into deep thoughts. Her maid kept quiet, afraid to disturb her. It probably helped that ''her'' brother had just had his funeral yesterday, so the girl that suddenly became somebody else looked to be grieving and not thinking about something unscientific.


    Not long after, she raised her eyes upon the horizon, unknown emotion danced within her gorgeous emerald eyes.


    Only one thing was for sure, as she swept her gaze around as if she was inspecting the streets for something, gone was the confused soul from a minute ago who kept staring nkly at the ground. She was not really somebody inflexible. When she realized she was in a foreign world, she hurriedly began reviewing her situation again and digesting the memories of the female lead.


    If she wanted to survive until she determined how to get back, or if she would want to go back, she would have to get all the information she could find and then determine her next course of action.


    ''Interesting Even though something changes in the plot of that book due to my takeover I''m still sure that I''m being watched by the culprit behind ''my'' brother''s death My current situation is interesting. Yet, it''s also dangerous''


    The ride continued until they left the town proper.


    From the distance, a castle with tall brick and stone walls appeared on sight. One nce was enough to know that the castle lord who built the ce was a cautious person - a standard lord who wanted his ce to be like a manor attached to a vige. He must have wanted his territory to be self-sufficient as to have less contact with outsiders. It was weird since nobles nowadays used the open field system. Yet it was also no surprise since centuries ago, gues and wars frequently broke out.


    Their group gradually neared the castle. Aliyah knew that if she wanted, she could simply use the main gate and ordered the people standing by the twin towers to raise the drawbridge. That was her privilege as ''Marian'', the daughter of the territory lord, Viscount Osbon. But the wait for the drawbridge sounded troublesome so she simply instructed her carriage driver to take the side entrance.


    Did her decision elicit protests from the servants and escorts? Naturally, because it would be unbefitting of her status as a lord''s daughter. Unfortunately, she was the boss.


    The carriage then entered an elevated doorway that could be essed through a wooden structure sloping upwards. The elevated doorway was a precaution against war and attacks, after all, gateways were recognized as weak points in tumultuous times.


    Within the walls, since there was still a distance away from the castle, various questions formed in her mind again.


    If she truly traveled in time or transmigrated into a book, how could she go back?


    Who was the one behind this phenomenon and what is her motive?


    Does she really have to go uncover the plot behind Marian''s brother''s death even though she knew her life will be smoother and more peaceful if she stays put?


    There was no expression on her face as she got off the fairly fancy carriage. She stared at the medieval castle standing tall before her. Her personal maidservant handed a clean handkerchief to her which she used to cover her sensitive nose that was already smelling a lot of annoying odors.


    She had already confirmed that apart from the unfamiliar customs and traditions, the most hateful things about a medieval castle... were bad sanitation and smell...

 Chapter 305: Agatha (3)

    Chapter 305: Agatha (3)


    The spoilers on the forums about Marian''s story, ''Kingdoms and Angels'', included quite a lot of things. For example, the ones who gave the magical item to the murderer was somebody from the royal family. This meant that somebody from the royal family of Borley Kingdom was actually the final boss.


    Somementers also mentioned how Marian gave up on the secr investigation authorities and turned to the lesiastical juries. It was because the capital''s investigators were so slow in their work. This time, it was not only because the crown passed down an order to be as half-hearted as possible in the progress.


    Severalyers of authorities had to be taken into consideration when investigating a criminal case. The churches were simply more efficient when ites to matter like that since all inhabitants of Mu were respectful to servants of the deities. A case of an office, or local authority making things difficult for an investigator from church rarely happens, at most one in a million So yeah, that was why.


    There were other major events that took ce as the story progressed. Balls, talks with other nobles, hunt, and other typical elements of a medieval story were on the list. She was also courted by a prince from the enemy family, something that everyone knew was very fishy from the beginning. Only after that wait, no. Only after onest drama with her own family did she find out the real secret that cost her brother''s life. As mentioned before, it had something to do with the royals.


    These were all pieces of information obtained from the spoilers.


    A forum was really an amazing ce that not only gives fans of certain works to vent their emotions and express feelings, but allows one to go through a whole book without actually having to read it. Through it, one would know whether to continue reading or not. Of course, there was just arge risk of losing interest in that story once the whole plot was unveiled


    In any case, Aliyah was very thankful to the ''reviewers'' on that site.


    Without the spoilers, she would have been blindly groping in the dark. Or feeling happy that she transmigrated without knowing that as the protagonist, one of her feet was already in her grave.


    Probably, if there was one thing which she was dissatisfied about the forum it was how none of the people from there mentioned about the living conditions in the castle or the daily lives of those dwelling inside


    Now that Aliyah, now Marian, was there to experience it all by herself, she found it hard not to marvel at the human race''s superb ability to adapt and tolerate.


    She covered her nose elegantly with a handkerchief and then walked down therge hallway. It was one of the few hallways that the family of the Lord would use.


    Every castle had many passageways but most were narrow and dark. Nobles naturally only used those withmps or ess to sunlight, and wererge enough to amodate at least four people at once. After all, members of a noble family would rarely walk around without servants following them behind.


    ''Squeak!''


    Aliyah trembled and almost jumped to her feet. She seemed to have heard something frightening, a squealing of a creature in the dark followed by some light bouncing sounds... She looked around. Those with her didn''t seem to mind that arge rat just announced its great presence amongst them.


    Seeing how ufortable the beautiful youngdy looked, a close servant bowed her head and said softly, "Mdy, are you okay? We''re extremely sorry about this. Please bear with it for a while. The next turn leading to the exit is already cleaned."


    ''What kind of clean is clean in your standards? Is that enough to make rats ashamed to go there?'' She almost asked, her eyes once again roaming around.


    Aliyah didn''t talk as she really couldn''t focus much on anything else. While she was thankful that after some time, there was no more cries from the dark creatures. Still, she couldn''t rx. She was busy ensuring the smell of the herbs, reeds, and other stuff wouldn''t knock her out. The first two were carpeting the floor to make the dirt and litter-filled flooring appear clean. No, it must be to cover up the annoying stench. Yet how effective could this makeshift, half-baked air-freshener be?


    The girl secretly shook her head. The natural fragrance of the herbs and reeds barely made the ce bearable. Of course, she was still more amazed by how those walking beside her or behind her were not even batting an eye for it.


    Would she eventually be like them in the future? Learning how to adapt and ept the rats and the other pests coexisting with the humans here?


    How about the odor filling the ce? Yesterday, she eavesdropped on the conversation of three young maids and they were actually having fun talking about some people''s behind that they saw in the public ''toilet''.


    That time, those girls called the thing a necessarium.


    Since she was Youtuber covering weird histories, she knew this necessarium was simply a long bench with holes in it. The ruling ss at least could have a privy chamber. Still There was no toilet paper No soap with good detergent power... No running water All the wastes simply go to a giant cesspit directly below the castle Even if those long benches were set up strategically...


    ''Ugh.''


    She momentarily closed her eyes and shuddered.


    When she got outside and saw how bright the sun was despite the tall trees shielding a part of its brilliance, arge part of her felt relief. She also realized just how dark the interior of the castle was.


    "To the church," she said to her handmaid who seemed surprised.


    "Not the chapel?"


    Aliyah gave the girl a nce, remembering that the castle had a chapel of its own where one could pray.


    A traveling priest about to be transferred to a church in the neighboring dukedom happened to pass by. He would be staying in one of the guest rooms for a week or two. In exchange, he would preach in the chapel so the whole Obson castle could just hear the mass there every morning.


    However, while she wanted to speak with a priest, the one she needed was someone who might be able to give her clues about her situation if there had already been a precedent of somebody transmigrating into this era and if there was a way back. The chance that the priest staying in brought important records about that was nil.


    This was why she had to make a trip outside. There were four churches in therge town nearby and she was hoping at least one had some relevant records.


    After giving Lotta, the handmaiden who asked her just now, a slight smile, she silently got into the vehicle. She sat down on the cushioned seat while making sure her long skirt was not stepped on.


    Seeing this, the few knights and female attendants briefly looked at each other.


    In the end, the carriage still set off since nobody from the bunch could make the youngdy change her mind.


    An hourter, they arrived at the Church of Wisdom located in the middle of the city and met the head priest there. Thetter was quite polite. But Aliyah was sure, it was not because of her status as a viscount''s daughter. Yet her father must have something to do with it.


    ''As a believer of the Goddess of Wisdom, that Viscount that I''ve yet to meet must have donated quite arge fund to the church.''


    Aliyah couldn''t picture the father of the female lead in her head since she had yet to see him in person. The man was said to be not around since he went to His Majesty, the King of Borley Kingdom in the capital to settle the matter about the heir. With her elder brother dead, there was only one sessor left.


    In this kingdom, if there were no more men to inherit, a woman could be the heir. Yet she was sure her father was not going to the capital to request she be made heiress. The viscount and hisdy were still young so they might be able to produce another male heir.


    Aliyah was not that enthusiastic about inheriting a stinky castle so she approached the priest and directly consulted with him her dilemma after curtsying to him.

 Chapter 306: Agatha (4) <2-in-1>

    Chapter 306: Agatha (4) <2-in-1>


    "Hmm," the man wearing a long white gown and had a religious bearing looked at her with utter seriousness after she told him her what she wanted to consult.


    "Lady Osbon, are you really telling me that somebody told you he is from another world? That one said you are the first high-born looking person he met so he asked you if there''s a way to go back to his time?"


    The priest''s face was full of puzzlement and irritation.


    Aliyah pretended she didn''t see that the irritation on the other''s face was directed at her seemingly nonsensical question. She answered, "Reverend, indeed. It''s someone I encountered in the town a few days ago. He said he''s from a ce called Modern Earth. I initially thought it''s simply the world outside. But the ce he described me seems somewhere at least five hundred years more forward-looking than our civilization"


    "That''s impossible!" Immediately retorted the priest. He looked agitated as he exined, "The outsiders are barbarians who are a thousand years behind our civilization! They are not well-favored by the gods because they have low intelligence andck faith in the guardians and supreme beings of our world. There is no way there could be a ce more advanced than our Mu continent!"


    For Aliyah, it had been a challenge not to raise her eyebrow at the passionate speech she just heard. It was okay to be proud. But did he really have to demean the Iron Age civilization outside thisnd?


    ''Hey, around this time, the Egyptians are already leading lives quite simr to modern people. They practice gender equality. They know how to make beers, perfumes, and other stuff. Healthcare is avable to everyone. And hygiene awareness is a big deal. I haven''t explored much the Greeks'' side and those other states of that age, but I''m they also have practices simr to those of the modern people of my era! How dare you boast so much?''


    ''Alright, if you''re really capable, just try to lead everyone here to colonize the other continents outside!'', she almost replied, feeling a bit offended since her real ancestors were not from here.


    Of course, these silly thoughts only lingered for some time.


    Aware of what she should prioritize right now, the polite smile returned on her face.


    "Then, is there a possibility, he came from the future? Is he describing our Mu continent in the future?"


    The priest thought for a moment and frowned. "The feasibility cannot be ruled out. He might have received revtions from above and is a little confused so there are some discrepancies in his memories. As servants of the Goddess of Wisdom, we have to confirm if the person is somebody sent by our Goddess. Lady Osbon, can you tell me where the gentleman is?"


    ''In front of you. In the imagination of thedy talking to you right now?'' inwardly she thought while making a helpless expression to him. "Pardon me, Reverend. That gentleman is merely someone I met in passing. To be honest, I would have not listened to his story if not for getting a bit intrigued by it. So if he happens to be really from the future, is there a way for him to travel back to his time?"


    " I''ve yet to see any record about that kind of situation. Maybe if I learn more details from the gentleman, I would be able to recall something. May I know where you met him? I will send some people to invite him to our church."


    "It''s near the circus, if I recall correctly. But I don''t remember much, Reverend... That happened when my beloved brother... has just returned to the Goddess'' embrace."


    The priest who was about to interrogate her more about the weird person cast a sympathetic look at her. "I won''t force you to remember then. Anyways, if the gentleman is truly the Goddess'' messenger, he would definitely appear again. Youngdy, I''m sorry and my deep condolences."


    "Thank you, Reverend," she replied with a slight smile before curtsying and bidding her farewell to the priest.


    Aliyah could swear that the redness of her eyes and the unnatural tone of her voice was not merely acting. It was her body''s instinct at the mention of her family''s deceased heir.


    Marian must have loved her brother too much to the point that even though her spirit was already gone, her body still instinctively showed grief. Aliyah purposely did not control her emotions since she needed those drops of tears to distract the priest.


    She had to be careful after all.


    Her woman''s instinct told her that before she had mentioned her brother, the middle-aged guy was already nning to get some mystics to hypnotize her. What would happen once her lie was revealed? What would be of her once they learned that the one who came from another world was her?


    It was a risk she had to bear for bringing up the Goddess'' name.


    Still, she was thankful that the tears ran down so she would have an excuse to end their conversation.


    Back to her carriage, since she essentially gained no useful information from the white-robed man from the Church of Wisdom, she had the coachman drove her towards the other churches. The results were the same.


    '' I refuse to believe I have to stay in this era.'' For a couple of seconds, she hated that she was thrown to this ce and that she didn''t read that e-book from beginning to end.


    The woman clenched her teeth and worked her brain furiously. A momentter, her eyes went to the direction of the kingdom''s capital... It seemed if she wanted intel about time travel, she would have to consult higher-ranked clergymen, at least at the level of a bishop.


    Half an hourter... when the youngdy within the carriage was about to take her nap on her seat...


    Without being informed beforehand of the reason why, the wheeled vehicle suddenly stopped! Following that, Aliyah just felt a sudden chill all over her body.


    They were in the middle of a short bridge full of people when this happened. It became very noisy outside. Her eyes widened at the curtain to her left.


    ''The heavy metal noise which she initially assumed as something from a negligent man dropping some metals outside must have been something more undesirable to know.''


    "W-what happened?!" Her handmaiden Lotta shouted to the ones outside in a shaky voice.


    "Danger!" replied one of the guards.


    Hearing that, Aliyah only had one thought. Danger? That was exactly what her senses had just warned her about!


    "Mdy! Please don''te out!" Sounds of horses neighing, shouts, and nging of metals echoed after.


    "We''ll resolve this quickly! Please don''t panic! Stay inside!"


    The handmaiden''s hands which grabbed Aliyah''s were cold and trembling. Aliyah''s body also grew cold since the shouts and frightened yells never ceased while the sounds of sword fighting kept getting closer.


    ''Assassination? Hah... Right. Of course, ady who keeps poking her nose into a delicate business will be an eyesore to the royal family.'' Fear gripped her hearts.


    Just then, a thought suddenly crossed her mind. Her eyes turned round before she pulled her personal maid down with her on the carriage''s flooring.


    Thudding noises resounded after which was followed by something less noisy, yet more rming.


    "A-aah!!!"


    Their shouts were not because they felt like the floor was dirty or that the impact of their actions was painful.


    Arrows! Out of nowhere, there were several arrows that flew past their heads and struck the wall of the carriage! Had they not ducked on time, those arrows would have pierced through their bodies!


    Aliyah felt numb for a moment, having a hard time believing what she just went through. It was her first near-death encounter. And it was not something she wanted to experience again.


    When she recovered a bit from her reverie, she let her mind run wild tobat the fear and hopelessness in her chest.


    ''As expected, assassinations like this work in a way where some would be distracting the knights while the archers target those inside the vehicle. History might have been a liar, but it''s still really the best teacher!''


    ''... Now, I regret not reading more. Why the hell did I stop at the part where Marian fell into aa after seeking a medium?''


    While regret was filling her heart, she secretly wondered whether the hidden enemies thought she was approaching the churches for help in investigating her brother''s case.


    How she wished she could send them a messenger to tell them that she had long made up her mind not to involve herself in their matters!


    ''Ugh... This life... is really not something I want.''


    "Protect the youngdy!"


    "Finish them off quickly! Don''t let anyone get close to the vehicle!"


    "Mdy, are you alright!?"


    Questions poured out from outside but no one truly opened even the windows to check on Aliyah and her female servant. The guards were being careful not to reveal any more opening in the carriage. One of the mounted knights cut through the panicky crowd to chase after the archers. The others were angered and suddenly became more aggressive.


    However, the other party was more decisive and smart than they expected. Seeing that there was no blood dripping down from the floor, they already determined that the assassination failed. This was why after counterattacking onest blow and making the adversary fall back a bit, they took advantage of their opponents'' stunned state and hurriedly ran back into the different alleys.


    "Captain, what do we do? They''re escaping!"


    "Do we give chase!?"


    The captain of the guards, Adam, watched with dark eyes as the attackers disappear on sight. He thought for a moment and then with a frown on his face, he said, "No. The attackers are skilled fighters. Secure mdy first!"


    It was still chaotic outside. The driver was severely wounded on the right arm and would have difficulty driving so he would be brought to a physician by one of the guards. Adam, the captain, kept giving various orders, assigning his men some tasks while dering he would be the one to drive the youngdy back.


    A whileter, the carriage did start to move and was gradually picking up pace, as if it was being madly fleeing from something terrible.


    Within the vehicle, while the maid was still cowering, crying, and covering her ears as she continued lying on the floor, Aliyah slowly got up. As time passed, she had confirmed that there was no more crisis. The guards had not yet announced that she was safe, probably thinking that there was a chance the offenders woulde back and ambush them again. However, Aliyah was pretty positive that there would not be any more attacks.


    Although the assassination failed, those people still seemed to havepleted their mission... She could see a small piece of yellowish paper at the tip of one of the arrows embedded on the wooden surface.


    The maid would have seen it too if she only raised her head. But the girl was still too terrified. Aliyah let her be since she was not good atforting people. One more thing, she also actually needed to beforted despite being twenty-two-years old in age!


    As if it was the will of the heavens, the arrow that was supposed to be stuck deep into the wall slowly came off and fell down.


    She hurriedly picked up the piece of paper. Of course, without forgetting to use a handkerchief in case it was poisoned.


    ''Curiosity kills.'' That was all written there.


    Seeing this, although her expression did not change, deep down, she actually felt a bit depressed... and angry.


    Who would want to be threatened?


    How hateful that the world was filled with people who loved to jump into conclusions without verifying the other party''s stance or situation.


    Aliyah took a deep breath, but the stifling feeling in her chest did not go away.


    Feeling like the anger in her heart was like a festering wound that needed to be cut off right away, the girl then made an impulsive decision...


    "Detour. I will be going back to the church."

 Chapter 307: Agatha (5)

    Chapter 307: Agatha (5)


    "Detour," she said in a cold voice as she narrowed her eyes at the scenery outside through the small gaps of the curtain.


    "One of you leave to find me a separate carriage. I will be going back to the church."


    They were still in the town proper.


    The escorts who were assuming she was trembling inside unmoving due to fear were stunned. The clear voice that did not stutter nor hint any emotion surprised them all.


    Shouldn''t she be so shocked? Even men like them would have trauma if met with a near-death experience like that.


    "Mdy, it''s still dangerous." It was the head guard who spoke first.


    It didn''t take for the others to recover from the stupor, and the first thing they did was to second Adam''s statement, convincing her that it would be a bad idea.


    "Yes, mdy. Chances are those attackers are still in the vicinity! Your safety is currently of paramount importance!"


    "Mdy, don''t worry, we''re just half an hour away, and George has already been sent ahead. If he went full speed, only captain''s horse will be able to catch up to his. In ten minutes, we might be able to meet up with the Viscountess'' guards!"


    However, Aliyah had already made up her mind, aware of the consequences once she really went to the church.


    "I know what you all wanted to say. But I also know that once we get back, I will be detained. With that said, I want to take this opportunity to tell something very important to the church. Fret not, the enemy has already aplished their goal and won''t go after me again," she calmly said, giving them a few more words to make them do her bidding.


    "Captain" The helpless gazes of the men went to Adam who looked a bit gloomy due to the woman''s stubbornness.


    In the end, the people outside acquiesced. They could not do anything anyway since she looked so determined that she jumped out of the vehicle wearing her maid''s clothing. Now, they knew what kind of sounds they were hearing earlier as they mored to persuade her.


    A minuteter, somebody returned with a horse-drawn wagon which Aliyah did not hesitate to enter.


    Thevish carriage carrying nothing continued heading towards the castle, while she and her maid huddled inside the wagon. Adam and one other guy was with them, driving the vehicle. The two were quite nervous and were constantly roaming their eyes around.


    When she sessfully reached the nearest church, she hurriedly got off her ride after making sure that there was nobody suspicious nearby. It was a church still believing in the Great Deity.


    Aliyah then ran inside with her hands slightly lifting her heavy skirt to not interfere with her steps. Disregarding the people praying inside who was distracted by her loud footsteps, she entered the small booth and said, "I have a confession to make! I, I am Marian Obson of the Obson Castle!"


    Thetter was said in worry that her current clothing would cause her to elicit no response from the people there.


    "Obson? The Viscount''s family?"


    Feeling her tension and the urgency in her voice, the two nearby priests exchanged nces with each other. One seemed to be preparing for some sort of ceremony so the other nodded at him and entered the other side of the confessional.


    "I am here to listen. The Lord is with us to listen too. So ease your mind and tell us what''s bothering your mind" he said unhurriedly in a kind voice.


    The tall and burly clergyman looked more like a warrior than a priest but he was patient as he waited for the youngdy on the other side of the screen to speak.


    After catching her breath, Aliyah then repeated, "I am Marian Obson from Viscount Obson''s family... My sincerest apologies for the discourtesy earlier."


    "T-there is something just that I suddenly remembered about Louie Obson''s case. I am his sister! My brother When we were at the capital, before he died."


    She looked down and paused, not out of guilt or because she felt that she needed some time to organize her thoughts, but to make sure she was okay for what this confession would entail in the future.


    Confiding the secret would mean she would really be involved in Marian Obson''s matter. It would mean she would be busy with other stressful things apart from adapting to medieval life and searching for a way back.


    Was she really ready for the extra headache? What a tough question! She fell silent for some time. The priest did not urge her since he assumed she was going through an internal battle or mapping out what to say. After all, her speech just now had been quite intermittent and messy.


    ''Uhhh Let''s try to be a rat and whistle-blower in the shadows, then. Or simply be hermit within the fortified walls of Castle Osbon,'' thought the girl.


    When her heart agreed and reasoned, ''Screw it. It''s them who wanted your life and provoked you first!'' she looked up once again, softly saying,


    "Reverend, here''s the thing. Actually, that night when my brother passed away, before I lost consciousness due to an unknown reason. I vaguely heard my brother mentioning something S-sacrifices sacrifices to the royal family"


    "The royal family?" asked the person from the other side of the confessional. The priest with arge built had no idea what sacrifices were being made so he ced more importance on who was receiving them.


    Her next words horrified him a lot.


    " And Nephilim."


    ording to the records, Nephilim were evil giant creatures from ancient times who made the Great Deity so mad that He purged all the cities containing them. The fire kept raining on those ces for a day regardless of whether there were humans living there.


    It was said the gods who were still angels back then did not spare the humans since they had also be evil, influenced by the giants. In the present time, those cities had be ruins in the Great Mountain Ranges at the Western borders of the Mu continent. Nobody dared to approach the ce since that part of thend received the gods'' wrath.


    Aliyah had no idea whether those creatures still exist nowadays.


    She also did not know what the clergymen from the Church of the Great Deity did after. But she had a hunch those people would not be half-hearted about the issue. After all, it involved ''Nephilim'', the so-called ''offspring of the sons of god and the daughters of men''.


    She wondered, how they would deal with those blue blood involving themselves with corrupted monsters?


    All the churches were pretty much hostile to creatures that were not humans or friendly to humans. This was why she knew they would be very serious since it was about these mythical beings fathered by Fallen Angels.


    She actually did not care if some Nephilim truly survived the purging thousands of years ago. This would be somebody else''s problem, somebody more informed and had the means to deal with them.


    But she was hoping for the royal family to start receiving some trouble from the churches soon. She hoped the churches would harass the royal family so much that they would forget she exists.

 Chapter 308: Agatha (6)

    Chapter 308: Agatha (6)


    Dayster


    Although indifferent to her most of the time, the Viscount rushed back from the capital just to confirm the situation in his castle. Most likely, the nobleman was rmed after hearing she was targeted outside the castle in one of her impromptu trips.


    He looked tired and weary when he was weed by the family, yet instead of going upstairs to rest, he looked at Aliyah and began to interrogate her. It was an interrogation thatter turned into a stern lecture. When it showed no stopping after an hour, even though the girl kept her head lowered, appearing repentant, in her mind, there was a mini-Aliyah whose jaw nearly fell on the ground. The eyes of that mini-Aliyah were also like that of dead fish.


    She felt numb and the muscles in her legs and thighs were beginning to protest, yet she didn''t dare leave her spot. What if the scolding intensified?


    "I have already lost a son, I can''t let my sole daughter be put into harm too!"


    "Don''t ever do that again! Do you understand? My heart is already fragile. You can see that your father is the same as me. Please stop making everyone worry," cried the Viscountess.


    An hour ago, thisdy was still on Aliyah''s side, defending her and saying they shouldfort her instead of frightening her. But thirty minutester, the Viscountess joined her husband in admonishing their daughter. If thetter was truly Marian, she would have felt wronged and betrayed...


    Time passed and dinnertime arrived.


    Once done with the scolding, both the lord and thedy of the castle put her into confinement.


    Aliyah was actually thankful because the ''lecture'' finally stopped, and because while it would be hateful to be in the stinky castle all day, at least, her safety was guaranteed. And she could still actually go out. She was okay with it even if the farthest she would be allowed to go was the small vige within the walls. She had also no problem even if there was no way she could leave without bringing at least three guards or knights with her.


    A month went by just like that.


    The days were spent on morning masses, daily prayers, embroidery and all dull stuff. There were very few memorable moments. She frequently got some earfuls from the Lady due to her daily sprinkling of essential oils on her room and items as if it was water. Apart from that, the only events that broke her boring routine were the departure of the priest, the rare interesting history sses, and the rat hunting contest she held for the servants


    One time, she eavesdropped on the conversation of the servants in the kitchen.


    "Recently, I keep feeling that manpower keeps lessening There are more and more people hunting rats and insects than working in the other areas of the castle..."


    "True. My husband is actually one. He told me if the rules will not change, he will not mind bing a professional rat catcher."


    "Sighs. Actually, many people are having the same opinions as him. I can''t me them though. They will be given meat, money or other nice things depending on how many they killed. You see, those courageous ones are already teaming up and secretly dividing rooms for their hunt."


    "Is that for real?!"


    "Yes. If only I''m faster and a little more courageous, I would have joined in the fun. s, I''m quite afraid of those creatures that lurked in the dark and damp spaces. Their eyes are sometimes red and their front teeth are quite huge! My Dearest Goddess, who would not be afraid of them? I''m sure if not for the generous reward, even the brave men will choose to stay away!"


    "Anyway, the youngdy must be too bored to host this contest"mented the oldestdy amongst them


    That time, Aliyah wanted to tell her not to voice out the obvious.


    With so little entertainment plus the gloomy atmosphere and all sorts of sanitation problems in the castle, how could she not be bored or irritable?


    Medieval was all about princesses, knights, and romance? Oh, please! This was why Disney was so poisonous to the minds of the young ones! No, those colorful romanceics and television series withvish settings were too!


    Why are mediapanies so ruthless that they lie or romanticize things just to sell? Did they ever think of the many hearts that would break once they learn that their childhood days revolved around deceitful myths and fantasies?


    ''Ha this is annoying Forget about the unimportant stuff... Now people must be thinking I am a bro-con who has gone stupid from mourning so she started a castle rat hunt.''


    She left after rolling her eyes.


    Yet thinking she might not really be able to go back and that she would have to put so much effort into making her home pass her standards, she couldn''t help but shudder.


    The next morning dawned.


    Aliyah woke up feeling listless, with no whatsoever drive to leave her perfumed nket. However, she was forced to get out of the bed by her mother who informed her that she had to dress up and be presentable because a priest from the Church of Wisdom came to the castle to visit her.


    When she entered the room used for receiving guests, the white-robed man standing before arge painting turned around and smiled kindly at her. It was the same person as the one who lectured her about how impossible it would be for a state outside Mu to be more advanced than theirs.


    After paying respects to each other, they sat down, waiting for the servants to finish arranging the snacks and the drinks. Following that, Aliyah smilingly started the pleasantries and idle talks. Her attitude was quite enthusiastic since she thought the priest might havee to talk about her questionst time.


    Maybe the reverend had found something in their church''s archive after all?


    The matter was very important to Aliyah as she greatly desired to go back to her real world.


    For her, thefort the ruling ss here was experiencing was not evenparable to that of a low-ie sry worker. Also, none of the things here truly belonged to her.


    The feeling of alienation was very strong since her current identity, the Viscount''s family, the memories they were all not originally Aliyah Monte''s.


    Where was the real Marian Obson? Was she dead? Or was it Marian who was dead?


    If the one in her current situation was not her, the girl would have found it interesting, but this time, she dared not specte.


    The talk about random things continued until the majority of the servants vacated the ce.


    Aliyah impatiently waited for the priest to go straight to the point. Thankfully, the other seemed to be not that eager to stay that long too, simply waiting for the ce to be less popted before speaking.


    A minuteter, the girl felt quite disappointed since the priest''s reason for his visit had nothing to do with what she really wanted to know. It was still rted to what she told him before though.


    Dumbfounded and confused, she muttered to herself, ''Come again?''


    ''The Church really found a man suspected to be a messenger of the Goddess of Wisdom?''


    ''...But I was merely making excuses at that time Oh my gosh! Don''t tell me the clergies really did a search around the circus until they found somebody closest to my descriptions?''


    ''But wait... The people of this era are extremely faithful to the gods even though those gods and goddesses rarely respond to the prayers. Who the hell would dare to impersonate a divine messenger or im that he is a messenger of the gods?''


    In her mind, she pictured a fraudster, scratch that a fake monk, who was making a living tricking innocent peasants using the Goddess'' name.


    Her expression became wonderful and it puzzled the priest.


    Thetter was unaware that she was making that face because she was feeling funny... and, at the same, sorry for the guy caught by the Church.

 Chapter 309: Agatha (7) <2-in-1>

    Chapter 309: Agatha (7) <2-in-1>


    Aliyah was invited by the priest to the Church of Wisdom. She visibly hesitated so the other thought it was due to the assassination attempt on her life a month ago. But that was not actually the case.


    The man put some effort into reassuring her safety with the church''s knight, simply unaware that she was totally not interested in meeting whoever got captured by them.


    She couldn''t tell him this reason though, right?


    "I''m sorry, Reverend. I''ve been feeling a little under the weather these past few days... I would have loved to go with you to the church, but... *insert drama and excuses*."


    Nope She sadly couldn''t say that because her mother, the Viscountess, popped up at one point in their conversation. The olderdy was a pious believer of the Goddess of Wisdom so she wouldn''t tolerate any form of disrespect towards the church of its priests.


    The girl felt miserable but she had no choice but follow the priest outside the castle, especially since her mother also tagged along.


    Along the road, since it would be quite a long and boring journey, the priest took the initiative to speak about the person they found, describing the other as a young man who seemed very knowledgeable and had an unusual air of maturitymonly found only on men aged forty and above.


    It seemed they thought quite highly of the person. But of course, there was no way they would truly deem him as a messenger without several verification processes and tests.


    "We invited the young man into the church, and he has been with us for two days. Today we took the trip in hopes that you can help us verify if he''s the person you saw a month ago."


    She slightly bowed and smiled. "It would be my honor to be of help to the Church, Reverend."


    That was what she said even though deep inside she didn''t know what to feel upon learning that somebody got detained for days due to her irresponsible words.


    Halfway through the journey, the priest not only exchanged news with the mother and daughter pair but gave more information about the suspectedd.


    "All in all, we are quite satisfied with the man. But yesterday, we''re quite not getting along with him because he mentioned something future predictions of the human civilizations outside thend of Mu."


    "What did he say about them?" Aliyah was curious.


    The clergyman''s face was not that good. He frowned for a while before answering with a serious face.


    "The predictions are interesting. He said the Eastern part and the Western part of the outside world would both enter a golden age. Humans would no longer be simple war freaks as they would realize that they need some ''peace and quiet'' to make new inventions, further their society''s developments in other fields to make their lives easier... That''s how he phrased it."


    None of those listening interrupted him since he seemed immersed in his narration despite the odd look he was sporting. His hands were gesturing in the air as he continued.


    "He did not borate on the Eastern regions. But for the Western side, he said one state there would be the center of everything for some time. The name is Rome. All roads in that part of thend will lead to that ce. It will be technologically advanced than most nations. For example, they will know how to connect running water to their homes and districts and will be more conscious of hygienes, and health. He said, in fact, barbarians there already have their own forms for concrete! Unbelievable!"


    "Tch. However, after a few hundred years, they would be divided into two and attacked by neighboring states. A few hundred yearster again, they, and the whole Eastern region would enter a dark age But"


    Aplicated expression emerged from the priest''s face.


    Aliyah blinked for a couple of times after realizing her elegant mother who was sitting next to her was also sporting a weird look.


    The Viscountess suddenly asked in doubt, "Is that messenger truly predicting the outside world''s future? Why does it seem to me that he''s just reciting our history and simply changing some details while at it?"


    Obviously, the noblewoman found it ridiculous. Someone suddenly imed that whatever had happened to the kingdoms in Mu would happen at the Western Side of the outside world. In the first ce, why would that be?


    The pretty daughter was quite thrilled by what she heard, remembering her recent history sses. A guess popped up in mind.


    "Your Honor. I hope you were not offended by my remark..." Softly, the olderdy apologized after voicing out her misgivings. She was afraid that she had spoken inappropriately after being carried away by her emotions.


    "There''s no need to feel sorry, Lady Osbon. The Goddess is ever merciful and encourages people to pursue knowledge. At the same time, we''re not to blindly believe in something that is not yet fully verified or backed by factual evidence."


    "Yourforting words are also words of wisdom. My sincerest thanks, Reverend. "


    Nodding, the priest replied. "It''s the Goddess who willed it. Anyway, like you said... The little gentleman seems to have used our own history as a reference. It''s like this whatever Rome is equated with the ancient central tribe that existed before our own continent''s dark ages Many technologies and secrets are lost due to constant wars and gues."


    ''Yeah, including plumbing and pest control methods'' Aliyah almost interjected. Reminded of this, she badly wanted to scold her past self for not conducting more research on these two matters. This was despite knowing she could have not known in advance that she would transmigrate without warning.


    Moreints and doubts came out of the priest''s mouth and she attentively listened to each of them. But this time, her interest was piqued and she began to want to know about the captured youth.


    At one point, she subconsciously said, "Someone who knew about the outside world within thend could not be an outsider. No one from thends beyond Maris Pacifici would ever be able to set foot in their continent. This sacred rule applied even to those who hitched a ride in ships owned by people of Mu." Her thoughts, wandering.


    "Since the situation is like this, is the person impersonating a messenger somebody whose family frequently ventured outside?" asked the olderdy.


    The Viscountess didn''t really believe that the person in question could be a real messenger. There should be no way the Goddess of Wisdom would be interested in barbarians not believing in her. Why would his information be all about the outside world then?


    ''If even a woman mostly trapped in a castle can think of this, what are the odds the clergies won''t be able to?'' Aliyah shook her head.


    The priest smiled and replied, "Anyway, we will be there soon."


    He looked at Aliyah. The girl nodded almost half-hearted. She knew what her role would be.


    When they arrived at the destination, the priest immediately wanted to lead the mother and daughter pair towards a room at the inner part of the church. But before he could open the side door of therge hall, he was stopped by one of the trainee priests. It was a boy with reddish hair wearing an unadorned grey robe who looked quite timid.


    After the salute and greetings, the boy told him, "Reverend, Bishop John came and the guest has been taken away by him."


    "Taken away? Where?" asked the white-robed man in puzzlement. He was not informed about this.


    "Reverend" The child first looked at the guests brought by the priest, obviously hesitating.


    Aliyah looked on with interest while her mother stayed silent.


    "It''s okay. Everyone is believing in the same goddess. They have the right to know."


    The child was not aware that the main priest of the church would bring back somebody rted to the matter but since the higher-ranked church member nodded, he did not conceal the location. "Mdies, Reverend, it''s near the Holy Fountain."


    "Ah? The ce where Goddess Penemue first taught humans how to create wine?" The viscountess couldn''t help but exim.


    Aliyah looked up for a while. She then remembered from the history lessons she had been having since she arrived in this world, the human settlement near the Obson castle had a bishop stationed in there due to this myth.


    Apologetically, the priest looked at the twodies and asked them toe with him to another ce. The mother and daughter pair did not turn down the invitation. They were there anyways.


    Thankfully, it was not that far. In fact, it was behind the church. They only had to walk along the path cutting through the groomed grasses and flowers for about five minutes.


    Soon enough, Aliyah saw a carefree looking young man, somebody around her age,ughing before a stoic middle-aged guy. Thetter seemed to be the bishop since he was wearing a white robe and some sort of cap that had more borate patterns than the priest escorting them.


    All of a sudden, that boyish voice resounded. "Is Your Honor is doubting me? Because I have yet to give predictions about the Mu continent?"


    Aliyah gave the speaker a closer look. She didn''t know what the youth''s conversation partner said. But it was kind of surprising that the young man appeared younger than her.


    "Is it the boy?" asked the Viscountess in a low voice to which the priest nodded. An expression of disbelief crossed thedy''s face. "So young!"


    "He said, the Goddess of Wisdom chose him precisely because he is young. So he can stay in service for several more decades." The tone of the priest was weird.


    ''I see,'' thought Aliyah as they crossed the small bridge leading to the gazebo. ''I wonder what this person will say. He''s aware that everyone is skeptical about him.''


    The boy whose age was around 16-17 slowly turned his head towards them, letting them see an innocent smile on his barely above-average face. Somehow, that gave Aliyah the creeps so her own expression stiffened. But thankfully, his eyes did not linger on her for more than a second.


    She couldn''t help but look away, consequently rummaging through her memories to confirm if she had ever read about this guy on the forum. A momentter, the answer came. She hadn''t.


    "My mistakes then," said the boy when his gaze went back to the person seated before him. He then continued with a solemn attitude. "To be honest, all I know now is that our current continent is actually barely past the dark ages. Diseases and epidemics pop up every now and then. Wars are still rampant in each kingdom''s borders and it wouldn''t show signs of stopping for another five hundred years. A witch hunt will start in a decade or so, which will continue for about three hundred years. Many more will happen. But what people like us should focus ourselves on is that one which takes ce in the near future."


    Aliyah nodded to herself. ''Ah. It''s really a chatan''


    Time passed and the ones nearby had grown tired from waiting. Yet no more continuation resounded. The topic was steered away from predictions and the bishop nearly failed to keep his kind and serious front.


    There had been a bit of awkwardness so the priest decided to save the situation by asking her in front of the two whether the young man was the one she saw that day


    Aliyah chose a vague answer. "Forgive me, Your Honor. That time I didn''t see the face of the gentleman clearly because his face was covered by some dirt However, the stature is the same."


    The girl added thest one since the church was pretty sure that it was him. Yet if ever they discovered that the one they found was a fake, they would also not be able to me her much.


    She did this as a precaution... because she had a hunch that the person would create some trouble. After all, it was basically confirmed this little guy was somebody from another world.


    A transmigrator, timetraveler, or reincarnator could only belong to either of the two types of personalities: extremely cautious, the wary type who felt like since they were in a foreign ce, they must not excel much, or excel greatly but hidden in the shadows and the extremely arrogant, people who felt like they owned the era and they had to do their best to unt their knowledge.


    She was afraid the other belonged to thetter type In short, trouble!


    ''Uhhh, I already decided. I''ll simply hide in the shadows and only worry about money. The Viscount will soon not tolerate myrge expenses so I would have to think of ways to raise funds to pay my rat-catchers and fragrance makers''


    Not long after, the slightly stressful talk ended and they were invited for lunch.


    Without looking at the person in question, she let the priest and bishop led them back to the church. She pretended to not see the weird gaze the bishop was giving the strange youth. She even sped up her pace, dragging her mother along with her to distance themselves from the two clergymen who were whispering about something to each other.


    ...


    The girl was unaware, but themoner youth she was intentionally ignoring was intently looking at her back.


    None of the clear weather and the rare flower-scented air in the weird smelly medieval city could get his attention. He also cared not about the fact that the priests could no longer tolerate his nonsense and were secretly deciding how to deal with him.


    Unmuting the foreigner being in his brain, hemented satirically, ''Hey system. Do you know that you''re so annoying and deceitful?''


    System: ...???


    ''Come out. Exin to me why you said there''s another female lead in this world. I thought there''s only one, the woman confronting the viiness royal concubine, Agatha.''

 Chapter 310: Agatha (8)

    Chapter 310: Agatha (8)


    The youth ignored the two church higher-ups who were already nning how and where to crucify him. His eyes were at the girl walking in front. To the unreliable being in his mind, he asked,


    ''Hey, system. Answer me. Why is there another female lead in this world? Didn''t you say it''s the princess confronting the royal concubine Agatha, not a daughter of a Viscount?''


    The priests had clearly introduced Marian as the heiress of a Viscounty. Believers of the Goddess of Wisdom were arrogant and stubborn when ites to the truth. They wouldn''t lie. This only meant one thing.


    Marian Osbon was also a female protagonist.


    Yet he was not informed about it. ''Hey, bastard!''


    The system let out an awkward chuckle. It then went silent for almost a minute before reasoning out with him. ''Host er, I didn''t tell you because she''s not rted to our mission. I, It''s for your own good! So you can concentrate on what you should do! Believe me, my intention is only this!... And also, didn''t you already see it from the previous world? A world can have multiple protagonists aside from the original pair Every world isrge after all.''


    Jiang Li felt weird in his heart. Then he inwardly shook his head.


    ''Have you always been treating me like an idiot? I''m asking about why there''s another female lead because it might mean there''s another viiness! So if ever there is one, it''s not rted to me because that whoever Agatha is my only goal in this world?''


    The system was initially caught off-guard, so it did not immediately reply, double-checking something. It then rified, ''Don''t worry, host. There is only one viiness here. The one Marian Osbon and her knight Adam has to confront is a viin.''


    ''Oh.''


    Jiang Li didn''t really believe it. In all the worlds he had gone to, apart from the viiness, there were also the second male leads or viins. For example, in Jiang Ying Yue''s world, she was not the only person supposed to give the biggest headache to the leads, there was also the cruel fourth prince.


    So yeah, when was it not a trend for both leads to have a very persistent admirer who would do anything to obstruct them from getting together?


    Ah, wait. Perhaps, Selena''s realm was an exception. All it had were minor girl rivals since the author of Liu De''s story was more focused on creating viins for Liu De.


    Jiang Li looked away from the girl walking in front. They were already in the church''s dining hall and the nuns and church volunteers were preparing the table for them. Thedies and the priests sat down. Before he opened a seat for himself, he asked onest question. ''System, when you threw me to this kingdom, are you perhaps thinking I won''t bump into this heroine so you felt it''s not necessary for me to know?''


    System:...


    That time, the one asked wondered what would happen if it confessed that it simply got the wrong soul client. Instead of the one from Holon, it grabbed the poor soul from Borley...


    Silence could mean yes and no at the same time. The interpretation was basically up to the person who asked.


    ''Ah, let''s pretend I didn''t know I''m not muted.''


    When the bishop led the prayer, Jiang Li did not actually close his eyes but stare at the candle me trapped in the ssmp. His mind flew somewhere, the plot he got ying.


    It had been a week since he arrived in this world. The system said he was back to doing main missions and this time, the one who needed to be steered away from the path of destruction was a witch called Agatha.


    It was unfortunate for him, but the stage of the story was in the neighboring kingdom, Holon. This was also why he immediately denied the possibility that the female lead in his memory was Marian.


    But yup, to his annoyance, he had not only entered the world when it was already halfway into the story, he had also be a young wandering philosopher of Borley Kingdom. Thebination of his age and profession was really making him grind his teeth in anger, yet nothing beats knowing he would really have to travel on foot for about three or so months before reaching the Holon Kingdom. By then, who knows if all that would be left for him to do was attend a celebratory feast because the story had ended?


    Anyway, that was all hisint about his current situation. He was an orphan and a regr lowborn so there was nothing interesting about his previous days There was only conflict with andowner south of the Osbon''s fief. Then again, he simply fled after knowing the situation, finding nothing more urgent than to arrive at the Holon Kingdom.


    The male lead was a young duke from a powerful family named Andre Grey while the female lead, Margarette Holon, was a low-rank, almost forgotten, princess. The two had a contractual marriage and were set to separate after a few years. Divorce was not allowed in this continent so they made an agreement. After three years, the female lead would pretend to die and then slip away before taking over a new identity somewhere.


    Yet how could there be a divorce between the two lead characters?


    The marriage started off loveless, but due to the matchmaker sh troublemakers, they ended up falling for each other. And the process was quite slow... it appeared natural because while at it, they were strengthening their fief, capturing the hearts of the people, and saving the kingdom from a malicious witch. Weren''t they a lovely couple?


    Agatha, the viiness, was also quite lovely.


    Alright, no more kidding. She was the opposite. She was a very ambitious woman who wanted to be queen. The problem with her was that shecould go to any length to get what she wanted. That was why she was evil.


    To be honest, the life of this person even before the plot was already quite spicy.


    When she first entered the pce, she was so young yet was selected for the female lead''s grandfather, the former king. However, due to the age difference, she couldn''t find herself liking her husband.


    She got into an ambiguous rtionship with the old king''s brother who was younger than him by a decade. The man knew of Agatha''s desire for the queen''s crown so he nned to stage a rebellion. Unfortunately, in a battle against the Borley Kingdom, he died before he could even begin.


    A year after that, the old monarch also died due to a strange disease. A new king was ced on the throne. Agatha vanished from the scene for several months.


    Yet one day, the king who had just finished a hunt went back with this woman in tow. He was so smitten with her and began to favor her over his queen.


    The only thing barring her from getting the queen''s crown and seal was that she could not bear a child. Oh, wait, there was actually one more reason, the king could not depose the current queen since she was blessed and acknowledged by the churches in the kingdom.


    But without these, given the monarch''s affection for her, she could have been the one sitting on the throne next to him.


    Agatha''s misgivings stemmed from this fact. So using her talent in witchcraft, she kept creating troubles for the royal family and the other members of the aristocracy. She hated those supporting the queen and those rted to her, and her hate manifested in a strange illness that made one have an insane fit ofughter, causing cardiac arrest or asphyxiation.


    Princess Margarette was not in the queen''s faction so she could have lived a life away from these troubles... Unfortunately, she was a female lead.


    Long story short, the princess saw the skeleton in Agatha''s closet, not literal in meaning, of course and Agatha became aware of this. Since there was no way a witch could tolerate someone knowing her secret, she repeatedly tried to kill Margarette or made things difficult for her. The female lead would not have survived the viiness'' witchcraft if not for the male lead, a powerful military duke, who kept on rescuing her.


    At first, the male lead was only asionally helping. But heter fell for the princess, so he went full-force and pushed the viiness towards destruction.


    How did the leads withstand Agatha''s witch power and smoothly carried out the counterattack?


    Oh, well... The male lead was actually from a mysterious bloodline, a descendant of the first prophet of the Great Deity. Not only that, he inherited a legendary sword from an Archangel. In the whole continent, he could rank within the top 3 list of swordmasters because of it. Lastly, his uncle who loved him so much was a church''s pope...


    The female lead? No need to ask. If the male lead was like a cat with nine lives, she probably had more than that... This world adored the female lead more than anyone else. It gave her a male lead a thousand times better than the Emperor in the Goddess'' world.

 Chapter 311: Agatha (9)

    Chapter 311: Agatha (9)


    When he first awoke in his current body, he thought he was a tramp. After all, he was sleeping in the open, leaning against a wall wearing a dirty brown robe with no nket or anything to cover him. Thankfully, it was summer, so he didn''t freeze to death. Still, the experience was pretty strange Negative thoughts could not help but sprout.


    Yet when he learned the truth, that he was not at least a beggar, he didn''t feelforted at all.


    What was a wandering philosopher? How do people like them make a living?


    Do they simply talk nonsense tomon people then pray inwardly that these people would be fooled into giving them amodation and food?


    Life was hard and the majority of the poption could barely feed themselves after working from dawn to dusk so the notion sounded like something from a stupid daydream.


    Also, if being philosopher meant imparting various philosophical knowledge and inspiring people through moral stories, then given his age, would there be people believing him? Again, doubtful.


    This was why he felt like his Original simply didn''t want to ept that he had be a homeless person after failing to be a troubadour. So he always told everyone he came across this weird upation.


    Well, people were like that. When they reached rock bottom or got hit by failure, they clung to something for hope or refused reality. There were also many who looked for somebody doing worse than them. In this way, they could convince themselves that they were at least not the most miserable in the world. These could be saidmon defense mechanisms by humans to not end up feeling so depressed and think of ending their lives.


    The name of the original owner was James. With no surname, since he was a peasant born to farmer parents. When no noble or richndowner wanted to employ his service as a troubadour, he refused to be a farmer and fashioned himself into what he was upon Jiang Li''s takeover.


    Anyway, after receiving the memory, Jiang Li left the vige and went to the center of the Osbon territory. There he received words of the Church of Wisdom looking for a man who imed to be Penemue''s messenger.


    Jiang Li was warned by the system not to mess with gods again, but he didn''t listen since he knew those ascended angels were actually asleep and wouldn''t wake up for at least a hundred years. He braved iming as the man they were searching for. They had no idea what the so-called messenger looked like. So he only needed to spout some historical nonsense to get noticed.


    Well, he did this to get himself somefortable clothing and food as he had yet to regain enough power to do some real magic tricks.


    Sadly, all good things had toe to an end.His prophecies were random tidbits picked up from his limited knowledge of Selena Tang''s world''s history. Coincidentally, these facts coincided with some key points in Mu Continent''s history.


    Since the priests of the Church of Wisdom were not nave and were recovering from psychological cues he nted in their minds, he knew he must leave before they started ordering their holy knights to throw him into a dungeon.


    He might as well take the hypnosis that started to wear off as a sign to embark on a real journey.


    So now, the question is, how to leave?


    The sumptuous meal consisted mainly of vegetarian dishes went on. The clergymen were too serious while the twodies were too observant of manners. It was quiet and stressful because there was nobody talking and the dark room was barely lit up by candles and some rays from the outside. Nobody also seemed to mind that the candleme on the borate copper stand was making the scene eerie.


    It was amidst such a situation that Jiang Li''s gaze went to the two Osbondies. His eyes then lit up. Yet it was so brief that it was as if it was also a mere illusion... When he lowered his head again the unnatural glint quickly vanished.


    Troubles always knock when least expected or wanted


    Aliyah hated that she had to learn the essence of this saying by experience.


    The next events that happened were so confusing. A couple of minutes ago, they were dining with the clergymen of their church. Then after the meal, the priest and the bishop apanied them to the entrance to send them off.


    But all of a sudden, while the mother and daughter pair were curtsying onest time towards the priests, the young man pretending to be a messenger took that chance to escape! Everyone was caught off-guard when he suddenly ran outside and knocked a fat driver off a horse-drawn carriage.


    "Out of my way!" A fierce boyish voice rang.


    On her right side, because the fatty had fallen off without warning, Aliyah who was nearby was so surprised that she screamed and jumped to her feet. And that was a stupid but unavoidable reaction. Because at that time, she was standing at thest step of the low staircase connecting the entrance of the church to the street.She and her mother were facing the direction of the church when the incident happened and notpletely done with the curtsy.


    The priests previously waving a hand at her and her mother involuntarily widened their eyes.


    "Goodness! Knights! What are you doing!? Help thedy!" In a panic, the priest shouted.


    The bishop also yelled at the top of his lungs, waving one of his hands in a fierce manner. "Stop him! He''s a fake messenger! Don''t let the fake messenger escape!" Seeing the youth''s action, he momentarily forgot to watch his words and maintain a dignified appearance.


    At the same time, the Viscountess also started screaming at the top of her lungs, nearly drowning the noises of the busy streets.


    When Aliyah jumped slightly to the left to evade the falling driver, her side body collided with her mom.


    ''Oh no!''


    After a few seconds of struggling to regain her bnce by iling her arms in the air, her face paled as fear consumed her. Her hands missed grabbing the Viscountess'' dress.


    Her misfortune did not end there. At the same time that the driver got thrown off, the young man bent on escaping from the church started driving the carriage. He apparently did not care about the ones in the surrounding!


    Jiang Li simply acted on the urgency to leave that he was feeling because the bishop just acknowledged that he was a fake that should be captured and tortured.


    His body was still weak since he had only been here for a week. He had not enough time to train and hisability to hypnotize was limited as it had to be in a situation where he could stare into the target''s eyes for at least five seconds.


    Even though the condition was fulfilled days ago, the guards he managed to hypnotize were quite the weaklings. It would be already lucky if they would be able to block the knights for a minute.


    But he had to escape! That was what his mind kept saying.


    So since the chance was here, after shouting, the young man didn''t hesitate to order the guards to do their best to stop the pursuers. Following that, he drove the carriage into the crowd!


    The youth''s focus was all on fleeing that he subconsciously did not pay any heed to the person who tumbled and fell into the vehicle...

 Chapter 312: Agatha (10)

    Chapter 312: Agatha (10)


    "Make way!"


    While the voice was echoing outside, Aliyah was whimpering after identally bumping her head on the edge of the seat there. She involuntary closed her eyes, her body curled into a ball inside the rocky floor. Within her mind, curses kept raining.


    Seconds ago, did someone put a curse on her? Why did she jump in shock when the obese man fell? Even if that was a normal reaction, why jump in the wrong direction.


    The girl kept scolding herself even though she knew that the ''what ifs'' and ''whys'' in her head were stupid questions. None of those would change her current predicament. But at the height of emotion, people really always find it hard to control their thoughts and feelings.


    Right now, she was feeling regretful as she could already guess where shended - a carriage not driven by a good individual.


    When the pain subsided, she opened her eyes, yet the contorted arc of her lips did not ease. Aliyah struggled to get up from the floor because the carriage kept turning from left to right and it was shaking so badly that she suspected the damn driver was drunk! Hey, if this was the modern era, not to mention the kidnapping, even DUI would get one in trouble with the police!


    After so much difficulty, the girl finally managed to get herself on the seat and looked outside. She then swiftly roamed her eyes around, ignoring the panicky crowd left behind. When she saw were no signs of people going after them, her heart dropped.


    ''None of the knights areing to my rescue?''


    She didn''t know who was driving but since the ride was so shaky, there was a high probability the person was in a hurry to shake off pursuers. There was only one person in her memory who would want to leave the church''s vicinity so badly. The fake messenger!


    This era was really dangerous! The people here were all dangerous!


    Deeming that she could stay in the carriage, she started checking out where they were, how high the carriage''s floor was from the ground and how fast it was.


    For a moment, she felt fear. Who knew a horse-driven vehicle could be so fast! Was the horse on steroid? Not long after, she shook off the stupid thoughts and decided to jump off. It was quite surprising since if otherdies were in their shoes, not many would choose the same option in fear of pain and of getting wounds.


    Aliyah? If she got injured, then so be it! At least she wouldn''t be dragged somewhere she didn''t know.


    ''Jump!'' At the thought, she did take a deep breath, protected her head with her arms and then leaped from the moving vehicle.


    Behind her, the carriage still continued to drift away and even became a bit faster since the weight inside disappeared.


    "Uggghh" The girl who had rolled a bit deeper into an alley groaned but swiftly got up when she realized the ce where shended seemed a little too smelly and dark. She ignored her aching left thigh and the cut on her elbow.


    "I need to go back to the main road and meet up with my family knights," she told herself with urgency.


    But when she was rising from the ground and dusting her silk dark greenplicated skirts, she suddenly froze at the silhouette that appeared in front. Her eyes turned round and disbelief flickered through them.


    Was it the teenage swindler? He just turned his face her way for a second so she was quite sure that it was him! But wait! It didn''t add up. He was supposed to be driving the stolen wagon so howe he was in the same alley and even standing a few meters in front of her?


    ''Gosh! I must be dreaming!'' The girl lightly pped her cheeks using both hands.


    "Save the youngdy! The vehicle is getting further away. Run faster! Catch up!" Behind her faint masculine and familiar voices rang. She then regained her senses. Right! No matter if it was the same youth or not, nothing was more important than to immediately reunite with her guards!


    ''I have to make them aware I''m here!''


    She turned around, nning to shout so the people from the castle would know her location. But shortly after, her body stiffened, and her heartbeat started to race.


    There was a group of people who just entered the alley, blocking the way back to the busy road. The dim surrounding was already a headache. It could make the people searching her not see her there. Yet a rtively tall wall made of men even appeared. And they all appeared like people who would not let her pass through them!


    Sure enough, the men in front stilled upon seeing her, a lostmb who looked attractive as a dish. But not long after, seemingly having thought of something fun, they all began tough.


    Aliyah became very nervous and her palms became sweaty.


    ''No way'' She started shaking her head.


    There was no way she would go forward! Not after seeing the weird smiles on those people''s faces and the meaningful stares they traded with each other! One nce and she knew they had no good intention!


    Seeing the men were hurrying towards her, her face paled. Before she knew it, she already lifted her skirt, not hesitating to bolt away in the opposite direction.


    Who cares if the youth swindler was also there? Who cares if this person mysteriously popped up here while having that horse-drawn carriage as a distraction? There was no need to think hard about it. Just run! Run! Run!


    Up ahead, there was also a suspicious gathering of people and her senses were warning her from going there, so she chose to follow the pretender who took the right turn.


    A couple of secondster, this young man looked back, probably distracted by the collective footsteps that were gradually nearing him. He then saw her, a woman being chased by more than five men, all with reddish eyes shining in excitement as they wildlyughed.


    The eyes of the youth widened. "F*ck!" With horror written all over his face, he immediately sprinted forward. Of course, he would escape since it would be a stupid act to get into a fight when he could avoid it! Chivalry? Because the one behind was a delicate girl? Gosh, that''s a female lead. He better worry about himself first. Who knows too if there was somebody in the bunch behind them with an unusual fetish for young boys?


    Aliyah''s chest was already heaving badly since her body was so delicate and was not used to physical activities. But she did not dare stop running, not even after the pretender gave her deadly stares.


    ''Why are the most alleyways upied by gangs? Or a dead end? Or with scary dogs?'' In frustration, she pulled her hair one time.


    Subconsciously, she started going after the fake messenger, copying him as he zigzagged across the maze-like alleyways. Many a time, the youth would yell at her to stop following him as they jumped through obstacles like bags of garbage, logs, mini-hordes of rats, and even dead bodies.


    "Damn troublemaker!" Half an hourter, the faker spat out in hate.


    As for Aliyah, she felt like dying from fatigue. But even so, she also felt like she had made a great decision. Even though the hostile youth looked like he wanted to punch her in the face, he indeed had helped her lose her unwanted pursuers.


    Now, she could already see the light most likely the end to the unnerving maze and an exit leading to the main street.


    "I, I don''t want to be in a damn alley again" She panted for breath. It was hard not to cry andin after formally exiting the ce. She even began to harbor a grudge against the church.


    "He he." Her statement garnered an unnerving chuckle. She looked at the source.


    Near her, the youth whoboriously sat with his back against the wall red at her while raising his fist... Gone was the intellectual who had led two important clergymen by the nose using his glib of the tongue and nonsense.


    ''... Hello... Fellow transmigrator, can we please not resort to violence and just talk like modern civilians?'' She wanted to say but she couldn''t speak them out loud due to the ominous look in the youth''s eyes.


    Aliyah suddenly found herself wanting to curse after realizing that she was not only lost, but stuck with a guy whose fist was probably itching to break her nose.

 Chapter 313: Agatha (11) <2-in-1>

    Chapter 313: Agatha (11) <2-in-1>


    Meanwhile, at the entrance of the Church of Wisdom


    "Huuuh" Bishop Gregory breathed in and out and then repeated the set of actions several times. Yet the aching in his chest barely eased up.


    It would not be hard to imagine how embarrassed and ashamed the bishop and his colleagues were feeling after the incident. Imagine it. They had just fed, clothed, and almost worshiped a fake messenger! sphemy! It was really sphemy! And they all felt like they had sinned so greatly for falling into that youth''s tricks.


    Right now, there would be no one on earth who wanted the pretender dead more than them! And to think they were servants of the goddess?


    Thinking of this, the bishop barely managed to maintain hisposed expression.


    The anxious madam seemed to have recovered from the stupor that time and grabbed the priest''s sleeves with her trembling hands. Her voice began to break as she asked in between her sobs, "Y-Your Honor! My child! N-nothing bad is going to happen to my child, right? The knights! Maybe we can send more knights! Please! Rescue my daughter!"


    Lady Obson had started to be this fidgety since it had already been half an hour since the chase started. Yet none of the people sent had gone back.


    Why? They were trained knights and the carriage should not be that fast? Why were they not back yet? Was that youth so formidable? Or working with others all along? Then was her daughter the target all along?


    The aristocratic madam began to think too much because she was also reminded of the death of her first child. At this point, she was starting to link the assassination attemptst month to the current problem, fearing that this time, it was her daughter meeting misfortune, that the church''s men would go back empty-handed. The female lead''s mother was really someone who deeply cared for her children so the recent events that befell her family left quite the psychological trauma in her.


    A bit of resentment welled up from within her.


    ''Didn''t this person say my daughter and I should not worry about safety because the holy knights are with us? He said that with full confidence. But in the end, what happened?''


    The priest might have been annoyed by thedy''s cries, but since he could somehow guess her mind through her ming gaze, he felt so horrible but realized he was partly at fault so he could only try his best to pacify her. "Lady, please believe in the Goddess. I''m sure she would not let her ardent believer fell in bad hands. Our knights would definitely return with good news"


    "But why are they taking so long? Is the boy working with somebody? M-maybe we should ask for more manpower from the other institutions!"


    Hearing this, the priest''s expression darkened while the bishop once again took a deep breath. It was so unbelievable for him to hear a believer suggest that they ask help from the other churches. There was a limit to how inconsiderate and thoughtless one should be, no?


    The bishop was very displeased.


    However, a secondter, he suddenly realized his mistake. If the real meaning was extracted Lady Obson mentioned that they should send out more people Right! The knights! He indeed should have done that, and in fact, it was stupidity that he only thought of it!


    The man who almost broke his scepter in frustration was unaware that he only didn''t immediately think of this obvious move due to the psychological cues left by Jiang Li.


    But now that the idea sprouted, he immediately worked on it, producing some stuff as proof and shoving them in the hands of a guard, "You and yourrade! Split up and go to the gates! The Church of Wisdom is chasing a heretic so the city should be locked up! No one''s allowed to exit the city!"


    The one roared at by the furious bishop hurriedly executed the order.


    Noticing his state, Bishop Gregory walked into the church and knelt to pray He badly needed the Goddess'' blessing right now. After escaping from the hypnosis, he really felt awful and embarrassed, havingmitted a serious blunder of pampering a faker and then letting him escape easily. He repeatedly asked for forgiveness from the Goddess.


    When he felt like he had finally calmed down, he walked out only to be met with a royal messenger saying that there was a prince visiting the Church. He was of course shocked.


    ''My goodness, why now?'' The bishop looked at the crying woman by the staircase and the restless people by his side. A splitting migraine swept over him.


    It was not easy having to squeeze out a smile and give orders at such a sight. But who asked him to be a leader? He had to sh a sincere and warm smile. The whimsical one who suddenly appeared at their doorstep without warning, the one he would be greeting was a royalty.


    If there was one thing which Jiang Li felt great remorse about it was that all female leads seemed to be very annoying creatures.


    They were beautiful, sure. The one in front of him was not an exception despite the messy hair. Probably they all have their own characteristics which would make them attractive to people. Still, he would probably never have any positive opinions of them.


    Most were so kind of troublesome to be with or just in lucky but not brainy. Some were beyond annoying or worse, beyond saving than most viinesses. IQ-wise, the only exception was probably the psychotic thriller writer from Feng Ru''s world. And he already forgot her name. But this person belonged to thetter case who was more viinous than a real viiness.


    Alright, in actuality, all he wanted to say was that female leads were sometimes so troublesome that people would just want to murder them or lock them away. He might have tried to scheme so, if not for the plot armors.


    May his beloved Goddess of Light forgive him for his nefarious thoughts. But he just couldn''t help it.


    Look! Right now, he encountered a female lead, and it led to his supposed to be easy escape turning this disastrous! How couldn''t he feel like beating someone up?


    Jiang Li gritted his teeth in anger.


    ''Those to be hypnotized have been hypnotized and the correct orders are passed down But idents could still happen, so I installed in the driver seat a scarecrow wearing clothes identical to mine.''


    ''The horse is also hypnotized to go forward without reducing speed while I secretly slipped away in one of the back alleys. It was all in case the knights managed to catch up.''


    ''Yet who would have thought this damn female lead will jump off and roll towards the same alley?''


    ''Fine, it is to escape and not to be dragged away somewhere far from here. It''s understandable. But even if she wanted to prove she''s a brave twenty-first-century woman by jumping off a fast-moving vehicle, why there? Why also provoke those thugs to go after her?''


    ''Hold on. In the first ce, how the hell did she end up in the carriage? Wasn''t she standing at the entrance of the church?''


    ''Damn, idiot!''


    There was no deviation from his n since he managed to escape from the church, but he disliked how the leisure walk in the alleys turned into a cat and mouse game! He also didn''t want to be associated with this trouble.


    A decision was immediately reached. He got up.


    "I''m leaving," he said with restrained anger.


    "Oh" The girl simply replied. This time she seemed to have calmed down already and were no longer having any difficulty breathing. She tried to rose to her feet.


    Jiang Li felt even more irritated seeing that. "Girl, I''m warning you. Don''t try to follow me. Or else, I''ll throw you back to the alleys! Don''t test me. I''m being serious here!"


    Aliyah was speechless. The tall skinny boy looked younger than her but here he was, he managed to scare her with his fierce expression and eyes. Why was that?


    However, she shortly realized that he was simply furious at what she did and was naturally not hiding hostility.


    Embarrassment swept over her and a wry smile appeared on her beautiful face. ''Er, I''ve been a bad girl just now as well, forcibly making him bring me outside the dark and smelly maze. Of course, he will be annoyed. Who won''t be?''


    She realized it was normal to be told that. However, there was also one fact that never left her mind since falling into that carriage. She shouted at the youth who had already turned around and began to walk away. "Hey!"


    Jiang Li paused his steps. His anger that had not totally cooled began to rise again as he felt a hand tugged at his sleeves. In a foul mood, he asked. "What else do you want? What? Are you a devotee of Penemue and want to catch me for them?" Heughed satirically. "Miss, don''t daydream. You won''t be able to drag me back to that church no matter how hard you tried."


    "I don''t care about that!" Aliyah replied.


    "Oh? If so, then better. Let go of me then."


    "Hold on. What I mean is, you can scam them for all I care. It''s a matter unrted to me anyway. But you kidnapped me from the central area and now I don''t know how to go back there. You should take responsibility for that. You, help me return!"


    "And be captured by your knights, Miss Obson?" Jiang Li felt speechless at her request for some time. Wait, why was he even hearing her out?


    Feeling a headacheing, while freeing his sleeve from her hands he said, "From the beginning, I never intended to bring extra baggage with me. Do you know that even now I''m still wondering how my empty carriage suddenly had you onboard?"


    "" Her mouth opened but she couldn''t think of anything to say


    Jiang Li thought she was mapping out her retort in mind so he hurriedly added, "Oh, wait. Actually, I don''t need to hear the answer from you. Curiosity kills. I''m sure I''ll only get hypertension if I hear the answer. So, let''s say I did kidnap you. Now that I already saved you and led you out the back streets, we''re even and you" he peeled off the other hand that was grabbing his clothes, " can separate from me. Alright? You understand? Then bye!"


    Aliyah was dumbfounded. He began to tunnel through the busy street filled with people, stores and wagons. As her eyes looked around, she really didn''t know which part of the earth she was. This was why she followed him once again.


    He must have felt her presence, so he turned his back her way and gave her a re. She hurriedly spoke up to exin. "I, I don''t know the way back!"


    How was that his problem?


    ''Ugh. This ''kidnapped''dy must have a serious case of Stockholm syndrome to follow her kidnapper on her own ord.''


    ''And even if she couldn''t go back, couldn''t she hire a coachman to do the job? Or simply stand there and wait for her male lead, her personal knight, to find her?''


    Jiang Li pretended he did not hear a thing. He really just wanted to shake off the stalker so with all his might, he began running in the streets. He had to apologize every time he bumped into carts or people.


    However, to his woes, when he arrived five miles away and entered an abandoned house next to a forest, the girl had actually followed him all the way there!


    Yup, for some reason, she was so good at running and tailing that she didn''t lose him in the sea of people even though she was wearing a heavy dress. Her legs and thighs must be quite strong, the type which would have no difficulty qualifying her for the Olympics.


    But damn, if she had that talent, why did she use that skill to go after him instead of running back to her castle or any of the churches in the vicinity?


    Jiang Li really felt like puking blood.


    Earlier, when he opened the door and saw that the Viscount''s daughter was the one knocking, his face was already that of somebody who had swallowed a mouthful of flies.


    But when she said in a bullsh*tting manner, no, in a helpless manner that there was a voice in her head which kept whispering to follow him, he began to wallow in regret.


    He should have not drained himself of mental energy from the most recent operation. Now he could not hypnotize the troublesome female lead to leave him alone

 Chapter 314: Agatha (12)

    Chapter 314: Agatha (12)


    "You are so cruel back then." The female lead kept saying. "What if I am not a fast runner? You''d let me end up toyed by those people?"


    Jiang Li was carrying a huge rattan basket behind him. On his face was an ever-present frown. He had been hearing the same voice and question over and over again that he felt so tired of saying his point.


    ''Why the heck is she still following me?''


    A secondter, he groaned. ''Is this incessant questioning and pestering an act of revenge against me?''


    The young man long wanted to kick her away because no matter how many times he said it, that she was not his responsibility, it was not sinking in her brain.


    Was it his fault that she foolishly fell inside the carriage? How about her rolling down and getting chased by backstreet hooligans? And she was a f*cking female lead so why would he worry that her knight would note on time?


    ''As Selena loves to say, keep calm, don''t think of murder...''


    ''Even if you''re not a knight or a gentleman, don''t think of murder...''


    ''Don''t think...''


    To be honest, Jiang Li was troubled by his current body''s anger management issue. It was okay if he was calm, and he was not easy to anger. But once he was triggered, it would be hard to cool his head.


    "When are you going away?" While rubbing his forehead, he asked the woman.


    The two had just left the forest where the abandoned house was. It was a ce said to be haunted so nobody dared to approach. But there was no way a random ghost would be able to frighten Jiang Li so he temporarily stayed there to recover mental energy. He knew the bishop would recover his wits soon and the gates would be closed down. He needed to make sure he would be able to hypnotize properly the guards to privately let him out.


    But now, the problem was the girl who did not stop knocking and yelling. Normally, it would be hard not to garner mass hate for being so noisy. But maybe people had already seen her and thought she was possessed by a spirit?


    Since it was midday, he had no qualms letting her stay outside. In any case, he was not really acquainted with her. Who cares if she got eaten by mosquitoes? For members of the opposite sex, as long as they were not his wife or family members, he usually would not give much damn to them. This was why it was already great kindness on his part that he did not try to hack down the annoying female lead.


    An hourter, Jiang Li decided he could no longer stay in that ce forever. If the church was serious, they might inspect all the houses in the city. So he went out, nning to leave.


    But what the f*ck! The Viscount''s daughter kept shadowing him! Was there something wrong with her brain?


    At first, he was badly wishing that traditional hypnotism works in this world. But it seemed every believer here had a high mental defense against mind tricks, blessed by the deities, so only hypnotism by magic works.


    A couple of minutester, he almost punched a wall after realizing his stupidity. Because when he felt like he could hypnotize again, he immediately tried it on the youngdy. But it failed! It was maybe an effect of her female lead halo but when he tried several times, the result did not change. It was seriously frustrating.


    "Miss Obson... You should be aware of my current situation. I have no real ill will against anyone or the churches, but I need food and amodation, so I was forced to do that. Now I am a wanted man so I need to leave the city as soon as possible. You. Can''t. Possibly. Thinking. Of. Following. Me, No?" He shed a scary smile at her.


    "" The woman was silent. No, she looked to be contemting.


    A minuteter, she silently nodded, making his face really dark. What does she mean? She was really thinking of following him outside?


    "... I seriously... regret talking to you. As myst act of kindness, I will drop you off near the church. But I won''t go further than that. We''ll separate and don''t ever meet again. Understand?" He said as if he was speaking with a kid.


    Without waiting for the reply, Jiang Li tossed the woman a cloak then wrapped himself up in one too, hiding his features. After that, he did walk towards the city center and when they were near the church, he tossed another article of clothing to her face to obscure her sight. Then he dashed into the sea of people then into the alleys again.


    He thought he would be able to breathe a sigh of relief after that. After all, she should not be able to catch up. And her destination was right in front of her. Why would she go in the opposite direction when her goal all along was to go home?


    It was because of this thinking that he assumed things would be okay from now on. And oh how wrong was he.


    Without somebody making him feel he could actually be a volcano, he reached the gate without trouble and also slipped out with the help of a guard.


    Yet when he walked past an obelisk and entered the next vige, he was so surprised to hear a set of footsteps rushing towards him.


    As a reflex, he turned around.


    ... There was a smiling face gradually crossing their distance.


    He involuntarily gritted his teeth again when he realized it was the female lead.


    At nightfall, people in viges were already back to their houses, eating their dinner. The source of light had disappeared into the horizon and the night was especially dark due to theck of illumination in the streets, so not many would wander outside.


    Aliyah woke up in a ce enveloped by a reddish glow of amp. She was feeling a bit lightheaded. She batted her eyes a few times then roamed them around to check on her surroundings.


    Her heart grew cold when she discovered she was not in her room or anywhere in the castle.


    "... Just what happened to me?"

 Chapter 315: Agatha (13)

    Chapter 315: Agatha (13)


    "... Where the hell am I?" she asked herself after realizing she was not in her room or anywhere in the castle.


    The girl fought the fear sprouting from within and tried to remember what took ce after she sessfully escaped from the street thugs.


    It seemed she was with the fake messenger who kept trying to shoo her away?


    What then?


    She got up and lightly massaged her back waist. It was aching due to hours of lying on a hard bed which she was not used to. Her expression contorted due to the pain from her back. Her feet too seemed bruised. What the hell?


    ''So I tailed that youth and then managed to get back to the main street. But why am I here? Where is this ce?''


    The girl hurriedly stood up, and without removing her hand on her back waist, she strode towards the window. A gasp came out of her lips upon discovering she recognized none of the houses and everything in the street. There were no tall establishments. It was as if she was in a simple vige, with the dwellings all so simple or, even, crude. There was a vast expanse of fields in front. She could even spot several farmers emerging from the fields and entering the paved roads.


    Wait maybe she was really in a vige? Which one? This did not seem like the vige inside their territory... There was no pond near the ntations.


    ''If I managed to reach the main street earlier Did I rent a wagon to send me back to the church? Or simply waited for Adam and the others to fetch me there?''


    ''Oh no! I remember knocking my head on the wall when I was chasing after the fake messenger. Er, wait, that seems to be a giant''s back  I might have lost consciousness back then.''


    Aliyah felt so uneasy as she had no recollection of what happened after. The ce was unfamiliar. She wanted to look for people to gather information. What if she was actually in a gang''s hideout?


    As undesirable scenarios popped up in her mind one after another, she scooted towards the door. For several seconds, she hesitated to move its bar lock to the side, fearing there would be malicious people waiting for her outside.


    Quite a while had passed before she came into a decision.


    When she finally managed to gather the courage to push the door open and peek out, the first thing she saw was dark brown Or maybe the color was different but since there was not enough light there, it appeared brown to her. What she was sure was that it was so close to her. There was no way it was the wall opposite the door.


    Her gaze moved down.


    She held her breath upon seeing a pair of worn-out leather shoes there. It meant there was actually a person standing before her!


    When her eyes moved up again, Aliyah''s mouth fell open as she saw a pair of brown eyes that were so cold, yet at the same time, seemingly burning in suppressed anger.


    "Have you fooled around enough? Then move to the side," said the person without raising his voice. Yet the words and tone were enough to tell his current mood.


    It was the fake messenger that spoke!


    Aliyah''s brain short-circuited for some time. She didn''t know her current situation so she didn''t reply. But her body moved before she knew it.


    ''Bang!''


    She closed the door fiercely! It was an involuntary move. She even pasted her back against the door while contemting which heavy objects inside the room to use as a blockade. Cold sweat was running down her spine.


    As expected the man outside became too irritated and began to knock violently on the door. "Hey, did you know you almost injured my nose? Why did you suddenly close the door? Let me in!"


    Loud screeching noises apanied the young man''s angry outburst.


    Before Aliyah replied, she first made sure the chairs and table she dragged where securely ced before the door.


    "Sorry, I''m still busy understanding my situation. So can you please stay outside for a while?" she said while checking out how high the window was from the ground.


    She had already confirmed that the room was on the second floor. There was a sense of urgency within her. She didn''t know how she ended up here.


    And the guess that seemed closer to the truth was that she was kidnapped by the youth again! As expected of a person who made a fool out of a bishop, he was not a good person!


    "Damn!"


    Outside, the young man felt speechless by the response he got. Using his free hand that was not holding the bread wrapped in a piece of clothe, he rubbed his forehead.


    "... What the hell is wrong with you? Until when are you going to give me problems? You don''t want to go back by yourself so you followed me all the way here. Now you''re acting as if I did something bad to you. This is so crazy!"


    "Yeah, you are too..." she muttered, unknown whether he heard it. Probably not since her voice just now was almost inaudible.


    "Hey, Miss Psycho. Are you''re finally done with messing with me? If you are, then I''m so damn happy!"


    The sarcasm in his voice was not veiled one bit. He sneered and turned around.


    Meanwhile, the person on the other side of the door gasped. What did he say? She began shaking her head.


    "Psycho? I''m no psycho! And Y-you said I followed you here. Y-you must be kidding! Why would I tail a kidnapper? You''re the crazy one!" In disbelief and agitation, she couldn''t help but exim aloud.


    The guy outside immediately stopped walking. An odd expression appeared on his face. He was silent for some time, as he too was confused by the woman.


    It was a fact that he was sometimes abnormal in the head, so that was not something new. But the case here was that she did tail him and even slip past the gate''s guardsmen through some unknown means. Howe she suddenly couldn''t remember?


    Perhaps she was really sick? With a real mental disease? Apart from the ''I''m a princess, you have to pamper me'' syndrome present to every female lead?


    While Aliyah was digesting the information gotten and filtering out which ones might be true and which ones should be lies, she heard the youth say in a doubtful voice.


    "So strange. You forgot every absurdity you did this afternoon. So are you saying, there is a stupid side and a slightly crazy, no, rational side? Also, there seems to be no synchronization of memory."


    "Are you a bipr? Or somebody with split personalities?"


    Her hands that were testing out the makeshift rope she made froze. A dumbfounded expression shed across her face and her mind turned nk.


    What did he say again?


    Aliyah couldn''t speak for a while as her throat began to feel dry. ''Split personality...''


    "I was conscious after the chase from the alleys?" she subconsciously asked.


    "..."


    A groan resounded through the gaps of the door. "I see. It must be thetter. After all, there is impaired consciousness as a symptom."


    The girl flinched upon hearing that. A minuteter, she cleared the obstacles and once again summoned the courage to open the door.


    She saw that the guy was already walking down the stairs. Due to anxiousness, her voice was breaking and her eyes were darting around when she yelled at him,


    "Hey, wait. Please don''t leave yet."


    He only scoffed. "I think I''ve got no business with you anymore. You locked the door. So I n to head downstairs to get a refund for a room I can''t use."


    Aliyah felt anxious since he did not halt. Now, only his head as he had already descended a few steps.


    "Alright! F-for what happened just now, I''m at fault. I''ll let you in too. I, I''m sorry. I just have mistakenly thought you captured me again. Can you can you please tell me what happened? After we made it out of the backstreets? It''s true that I have no recollections of that..."


    ""


    Jiang Li''s jaw almost reached the ground after hearing what the female lead said. He ended up staring dumbfounded at her for some time. Then he burst intoughter.

 Chapter 316: Agatha (14) <2-in-1>

    Chapter 316: Agatha (14) <2-in-1>


    Since it was nighttime and the ce was paid by Jiang Li, he didn''t think twice before entering the room even though there was a woman inside. He had no interest in her anyway and was even quite disdainful of her as she showed him a guarded expression.


    His reaction made Aliyah breathe a sigh of relief, although she also feltplicated. Was she thatcking in charm? Or perhaps, what she did when her other personality surfaced was just too shocking for him? She suddenly felt like crying.


    "First of all. I have no ns to sleep outside. I paid for this room. So either you sleep in the streetster or get yourself a separate ce. It''s already too much on my part that I let you stay here for a few hours after you suddenly had a convulsion." The young man took a chair for himself and began eating.


    She nodded. There was no problem with that arrangement. In the first ce, why would she share a sleeping quarter with a man?


    "Let''s get to the serious part then. I hope this will be thest time I will ask you this. Again, what happened after we escaped from the alleys?"


    "You tailed me like crazy," he simply answered, biting onto his brick-like bread. She flinched at his resentful eyes. A question then popped up. How crazy was her actions back then to be this hated?


    "Er... Sorry, I didn''t know. If I was conscious I would have not done that. I swear... I would have looked for my knights and mother..."


    She coughed and alternately looked at him and her shoes. "By the way, the term personality disorder should have not existed yet at this time. The people here most likely mistook the condition as being possessed by devils."


    There was a hint of sadness in her tone as she added, "So for sure, it had not been easy for patients with the same problem as me to live in this era as there are no skilled psychologists around. Heck, there is even no plumber. How could there be a therapist with enough expertise here? But anyways It''s not the matter at hand now. What I really want to say is... you should be someone like me, no?"


    "Huh? No. I have no mental issue as serious as yours. I''m sure of it." He batted his eyes once. A secondter, he stilled. He seemed to have realized the other meaning of her words.


    ''Ooops, I responded to the wrong thing. She wanted to say, I''m not of this world.''


    A skeptical look then emerged from his face, but he didn''t say a thing to the girl. Instead, he muted the system and began to question it.


    Meanwhile, Aliyah took his reply as his refusal to admit it. But she was also so offended by his remark so she harrumphed and said, "Mister. Can you please look at the mirror from time to time? For reflection. I tell you, it''s not a difficult task to do and it will keep you in check of reality."


    "Hmm? Do I need to? Sorry, I can''t afford that. Bronze mirrors are expensive," he simply replied.


    She made a face. "I suggested you that because I sincerely believe that you have issues yourself. Your morals at least have problems. After all, you so arrogantly provoked the church people and nobles. In this world, who else would be like you daring to scam a bishop? You also did not hesitate to run away instead of helping ady in distress."


    With a raised brow, he asked. "In short, I, or my actions are unreasonable?" His face was very serious when he let out a low chuckle before continuing, "Putting aside the scam issue since I already exined that I am a helpless person fighting for my food and amodation. Care to exin what''s unreasonable about being scared by a bunch of goons?"


    "You''re a man," she answered.


    "So what? I''m a single person. I mean in both ways. I am a single guy searching for a good and brainy wife, and I am only one person. So how could I go against them? Do you think I''m some sort of superhero?"


    He paused for a while then continued, "Miss Psycho. I think you''re the one who needed to open your mind to understand. What I did is logical. I ran, because it''s dangerous. Even you ran away. What? Are you thinking only women have the right to flee when faced with an impossible situation? So men are supposed to stand up and receive beatings or humiliation, if not death? That''s some serious double standards!"


    After saying his point, he went back to chewing his bread. His words made her doubt whether her three views were skewed or he just has some loose screws.


    ''Maybe we''re just both stubborn and crazy?"


    The girl closed her eyes and then asked herself why the hell she was arguing with somebody younger than her. The topic of the argument was not even relevant to the real issue at hand.


    Feeling that she should be the one to steer the conversation in the right direction, she calmed herself down. Shortly after, the girl spoke.


    "Enough of the nonsense, okay?"


    He shrugged.


    She continued, "Here''s what happened to me. I arrived a month ago. For some unknown reason, I suddenly became Marian Obson. But before this, I am a simple YouTuber troubled by that condition. I am the main personality. Before that, my doctor said I am already cured of it. My meaning is... I didn''t know one of them can still emerge."


    "Them?"Jiang Li had some curiosity about the condition hence he remained instead of leavingpletely.


    "I have about three personalities in me. But through therapy, all of us have already beenbined. At least that should be the case..."


    "Hmm. I see. So what''s with the super annoying child-like one? Is she already existing before the merge? Or after the merge?"


    " Before."


    "Oh." Heughed at her. "Poor you then. Either your therapist is a quack. Or the personality is simply very tenacious."


    There was no trace of sympathy in his tone when he said that. She seemed to be living healthily after all. "Alright, I''m only curious because it''s my first time hearing about a person with multiple personality disorder transmigrating."


    The girl gave him a bitter smile. "Likewise. But whatever. That term ''transmigration'' couldn''t possibly exist at this time too. So at least, it''s confirmed that you''re a colleague from the same world."


    His expression did not change. But inwardly he was thinking, ''How can you be sure? There are countless parallel universes. I might even be an alien in disguise.''


    She began asking him everything that happened. Jiang Li did not hold back since it was funny to watch the wry smile and embarrassed expression on the female lead''s face. He emphasized all the stupid things she did just to make sure to catch up to him.


    "Miss, you''re really so persistent, more than a broken record."


    "Before joining the crowd, you keep on saying I should help you be back to the church. Then after that, you keep saying I was mean for not confronting the gangsters for you."


    He momentarily paused to throw a meaningful look at her. "I should have noticed how odd it is for you to keep going after me. It is as if you''re a newly hatched chick whereas I''m the mother you first saw. F*ck, theparison is so gross."


    Aliyah: ""


    Jiang Li did not mention the other stuff her child-like persona kept saying, that there was a voice inside her telling her to stick to him. She was, after all, already thinking that she was going insane.


    He stood up and pointed to the door. His intention was very obvious.


    "For real?"


    The finger did not move. It was still pointing towards the door.


    She looked at him with a tired expression. " I get it... Just wanna say before I leave. It''s unfortunate, but I don''t know how to go back tomorrow."


    He said with a smile. "And I have no ns to escort you all the way to the gate. Have some shame, please. You obviously not a kid."


    For the girl, back was the feeling that the smiling boy before her was a lion wearing ''I''m a cat'' nametag. The smile on the face was harmless, but the eyes were screaming of irritation and annoyance. It was as if he would throw her down the window if she didn''t leave immediately.


    Even though it was already rified that neither of them wanted to end up in this situation, she still felt likeining in her heart. ''So heartless. After I satiated his curiosity, he still wants me to figure by myself how to return.''


    As she marched out, there was a frown on her face.


    She was not much worried though. She knew she was merely being difficult.


    After shaking her head she closed the door and walked down to talk to the owner of the inn. Nothing was more important right now than to get a ce to stay and some food. As for tomorrow There should be vigers going to the city in the morning. She could take that chance to get back.


    When morning came, even though it was still so early and the sun had yet to fully rise, Jiang Li was already up. After triple-checking that all his belongings were with him, he opened the door.


    He closed it again. Then he opened it.


    "" So he was not hallucinating?


    He didn''t know what to feel at the annoying face that greeted him.


    The girl shing a smile at him began to speak.


    "Hi. How are you? I just thought about it and realized my current identity is trouble. I''m not the real Marian so I have no ns to get in trouble with the church and the royal family just because of ''her'' brother''s death. You know, once the plot proceeds halfway, I might constantly have death threats and assassinations for breakfast. That''s totally scary!"


    "Also, I have no right to be in a love story with ''her'' knight"


    "So how about I just go with you and live a life in obscurity or just run away from them? Aren''t you going to the other kingdom? I can count as a historian so I might be of help before and after we get there."


    The man busy dealing with his anger management issue: ""


    ''Help? Help, your face!''


    ''Bang!''


    The door closed again, this time, in a much more violent manner. The impatience and frustration of the person on the other side was so easy to see from the loud sound the creaking door made. It made her wonder which part of her displeased the young guy.


    As for Jiang Li, his thoughts were simple.


    Who wants trouble for apanion? Why would he want to travel with a female lead?


    He understood that she was the kind of transmigrator that knew not to im a fate that was not originally hers. But just because she said she wanted to abandon her female lead status, she thinks the plot would let her?


    No, the bigger problem was that she wanted him to look after her.


    ''Ha ha.''


    The man directly jumped from the window and immediately began to run afternding.


    Aliyah was still pounding her fist on the door, thinking the youth was still in the room. Since he was not speaking, she thought he was taking revenge against her for what she didst night, dragging something to block the door.


    Hence she shouted, "Hey! Don''t be that petty. Talk to me, I''m serious! And I''m sorry for the mess yesterday. I just want to survive and I think I will be safe outside the influence of the royal family. Also, I think you''re still a nice person since you didn''t totally abandon me yesterday. I won''t be burden, alright?"


    She pursed her lips for some time. There was no answer from the other side.


    But if the guy was still there, under the influence of the Original''s real temper, he would have thrown a fit already, angry at the fact that this female lead was crazily assuming that there were many free people in the world.


    "... Actually, the reason I''m insisting is not that I''m thinking as transmigrators we should look out for each other. There''s just a voice inside me advising I should follow you. Mister, maybe you''re from my city and you''re familiar with one of my personalities? I don''t know. Hey? Hello?"


    Silence rang for about half a minute. Her knocks had be more frequent as she furrowed her brows. ''Why is he not speaking?''


    The answer came to her not long after. From the distance, shrieks, and screams from several women suddenly made way into her ears.


    "Ahhh! Thief!"


    "Somebody jumped from the second floor of the inn!"


    Voices from men resounded too. "Did he steal anything?!"


    "Catch him to be sure!!!"


    Aliyah was too stunned to listen to those.


    For a couple of moments, her sight was pinned at the door as if she could see beyond it. Shortly after, as the woman processed what she heard, she hurriedly picked up her clothes and pieces of jewelry that were already ced inside a bag.


    Wearing a set of clothes for female peasants which she exchanged with her bright lc shawl, she went downstairs and ran after the fleeing man.

 Chapter 317: Agatha (15) <2-in-1>

    Chapter 317: Agatha (15) <2-in-1>


    In the end Jiang Li did not manage to shake off the persistent woman. And it made him wonder whether the binding power of the plot in this world was quitex. If it was, then it was simply so damnably hateful.


    Throughout the journey, it was like he was stalked by several people wearing the same skin.


    Did she say she only has three personalities within her? Excluding the main, one was a child, and the other, a student-like fellow who loved topose and sing weird songs.


    Bullsh*t!


    There were five! Five freaky personalities!


    By now, he even managed to memorize their names and their characteristics! Everyone else, apart from one, was very irritating and tiring to talk to. That exception was not Aliyah, the so-called main personality, but the mute who seemed uninterested in everything. Of course, she wouldn''t be that much irritating since she couldn''t speak nonsense for hours like the others.


    Heined about it with the main personality. Yet the talk only ended with Aliyah crying about why her personality disorder order rpsed. She even started ming him, iming he must have done something to trigger the change. Just what the hell


    He once told her, "Congrats. So far, you''re the only female lead who made me wish so fervently for your male lead to get you back."


    The woman seemed tired of her own condition so she didn''tment nor ask why he said she was the only female lead who made him wish that. Had she been more alert, she would have asked if he had encountered other female leads or if this world was also a setting for other novel stories.


    Anyway, for three whole months, that Adam, was nowhere in sight.


    Jiang Li was so annoyed that he started to think that male lead was not sopetent after all


    Days reced one another. Three months swiftly passed by. After a not-so-smooth adventure thanks to a certain piece of baggage, he finally reached the real stage for his mission. Yet instead of heaving a sigh of happiness, Jiang Li only felt a bit of relief. Because he was finally where he should be.


    Holon Kingdom. A kingdom rich in natural resources due to having many forests in its territory and bordering a sea at its east. The ce had a moderate climate for it was one of the countries truly near the equators. The citizens from this kingdom never suffered from harsh winter or scorching summer. The six months of the rainy season helped in nourishing many fields. So among the kingdoms, it was supposed to be one of the richest. Supposedly Because while it was blessed with resources and a good location, it never had a good leader


    "I heard that the monarchy is quite rotten in this kingdom," whispered softly to him by the woman as they passed through the tall gate. Aliyah was the one taking over the body and she had somemon sense to cover up herself in male clothing andrge cloak.


    Jiang Li nodded. He didn''t speak more as there were soldiers watching them.


    They continued their conversation after entering the busy marketce.


    "Seeing how the number of beggars and poor in this kingdom is no different from those in a less favorable zone, it''s easy to see that the management here is not that remarkable. The location is superb, but it fell in the wrong hands. The current monarchy only has its sufficient military strength as its edge The economy is onlyparable to small kingdoms."


    "That made me wonder why there''s no rebellion yet, or an attempt to usurp the throne from the Holon family," she said while looking around and at the same making sure she wouldn''t be left behind by the man.


    She got a disdainful nce from herpanion. "You''re not listening, aren''t you? Like I said, the royal family is not good in other ces or barelypetent in other areas of the government, but when ites to military, then they are quite the leader. There is a reason why this kingdom has not yet been invaded by other nations."


    The girl first froze before showing a look of understanding. Then her expression turned awkward. "I see."


    "Tch. I overestimated your intelligence."


    "Sorry for being slow then," provoked by his scoff, she puffed her cheeks then harrumphed.


    "I will probably stay here for quite some time. I don''t know about you. But if I may say, I really look forward to you separating from me."


    "Why? You nning to scam someone again and you think I''m a liability in your n?" This time it was her asking with a disdainful look put on her face.


    Throughout their journey, she witnessed how he earned his money and food. The guy could have just worked in an honest way since he could truly sing andpose a poem. But he preferred the more ''challenging'' methods. Sometimes she just couldn''t help but wonder who taught him his three moral views.


    Jiang Li looked away, thinking he simply didn''t want to be with this troublesome female lead...


    "The people here are folks who believed in strength and military prowess the most. How about I bury a weapon in a mound or a hill somewhere. Then invent a legend and says to everyone I came across that I know the location of a legendary weapon. Say, this sword or this spear is previously blessed by an Archangel."


    "In which story are you giarizing this strategy? It sounds stupid to me" shemented.


    "Because you don''t get it. I can ask for information fees and then say it will only appear once a year, give them a date and time, and then wait for them to fight it out for the weapon buried there. I get money, and at the same time, get to watch an interesting battle royale."


    " Ah, normal jianghu tactics." She eximed after remembering where she had read this plot.


    She scrunched up her nose, realizing it was indeed a stupid n. Looking at his face, he didn''t seem serious about enacting that scam scheme. This lunatic why the heck did he bring that up then? So bored?


    Aliyah shook her head and rolled her eyes. When she looked ahead again, the guy was nowhere in sight


    She looked around again.


    "..."


    Yup. He disappeared. Aliyah held her head and grimaced, wondering why whether the guy was heartless to leave her alone or simply confident that she already knew how to mingle with all kinds of people.


    ''Maybe he''s also hasn''t learned his lesson already? No matter what he does, I will be able to find him.''


    ''And no matter what I do, if I don''t look for him, that other personality of mine won''t let us all have our peace. Crazy. Why can''t I be separated from a lowlife whose name I still don''t even know?''


    A wry smile appeared on her face as she entered a restaurant. She chose to simply satiate her hunger than to appear like a headless chicken looking for a bastard in the street.


    What was the best way to enter the pce and have contact with the viiness?


    For a whole day, Jiang Li was collecting information and even participating in gossip sessions in the pubs and other public ces. He was also contemting the question above.


    If he was given enough time, he preferred to be a nobleman so it would be easier and with more chances to meet. There were always events being hosted in the pce and the family mansions of the aristocratic families. As nobles, he would be invited to those. Of course, the royal concubine could also be there.


    If Agatha was really as ambitious as she was made out in the plot, then perhaps, she would even be the one to approach him, trying to get his backing. However, he had no time to get some random noble to make him their adopted child, or create huge merit to be ennobled by himself.


    What was the best way for a peasant to enter the pce apart from being a servant?


    He had two possible answers in mind. The first one was to pretend he was a priest of a local religion. The Holon Kingdom believed in Cambriel, god of weather, and Gadreel, god of war. Thetter was also someone people of Borley Kingdom believed in, but in their doctrines, Gadreel was a goddess. It was one of the reasons why the two kingdoms were not quite getting along.


    Regardless of the religious discrepancies, Jiang Li could choose either of the two churches to infiltrate. But it was very risky. As if busted, he would have offended another church. Was he that crazy to do that?


    ''While it would definitely be fun to mess with another church, I have to consider that I might settle in this world for a few decades'' A corner of his mouth twitched as the thought crossed his mind.


    Shortly after, he wondered. When did he start being like this? nning to get a future free from trouble? He thenughed and shook his head.


    In the end, he went along with the second choice, to enter as a member of a troupe, a group of entertainers hired to perform in a banquet or small royal gatherings.


    At first, he thought it was a lucky coincidence that there was an event in the pce today. Until he heard that there was always something going on in the pce.


    "Look at that spot. That''s only where we can move about freely once our performance ends," said the leader of the troupe to him.


    Jiang Li was ying lowkey so he did not hypnotize anybody in the group, imnting in their mind that he was long with them. He had to be a newbie since only a newbie gets the privilege of being briefed about the dos and don''ts.


    He listened intently to the prattling of the mustached man while inspecting the flute lent to him. When the litany finished, he immediately roamed around asking about the major events in recent days.


    As expected, there would always be talks about the viiness and the leads.


    "Do you know, kiddo? Everyone in the kingdom was surprised four months ago when the duke suddenly married that unknown princess. Many unmarrieddies cried, thinking a fine young man got wedded to someone unworthy and useless. Many of the gentlemen were also either curious or gloating since the guy they are jealous of ended up with a person with no political power nor backing. Oh, I forgot to tell you, Princess Margarette''s mother died to give birth to her so she''s seen as an unlucky child. Thus she''s made to upy a very remotepound within the pce."


    "Is that why she''s be forgotten for so many years?" asked Jiang Li the assistant cook who had snuck out to see the fun.


    "Yup. You got it right! Butter, you''ll see something interesting. You will probably have a chance to see the ducal couple at close distance and you''ll know why after her debut, she suddenly became the pearl of the kingdom."


    ''I want to know more about the royal concubine actually'' Jiang Li snuck away. He initially had no n to perform anything but he got dragged towards the center so he yed a tune.


    All this while, his mind was actually not on the piece he was ying, or the ecstatic feeling influenced by the Original for having performed on a big asion like this. He was thinking about the plot.


    ''Around this time, Agatha has pulled three assassination attempts against the female lead. The leads should be at the part where they''re slowly understanding their feelings for each other. Ack, what a gross phrase. Who knows if their feelings are true, or simply written by the plot for them.''


    All sorts of thoughts were swirling inside his brain to the point it was already a miracle that he finished the musical piece without hitch. He looked around afterward and inwardlyughed seeing there were four people who got put to sleep by his flute.


    ''If I ended up not invited again, I''ll simply switch profession,'' he carelessly said to himself while withdrawing from the scene.


    The celebration was at its early stage so there were still people arriving in the great hall. The arrival of the leads, of course, drew the attention of everyone in the ce.


    "Look, look. It''s Duke Grey with his Duchess."


    "The Royal Concubine is with them. Look. Even though she''s already in her early thirties, she doesn''t seem that inferior to the Princess."


    Jiang Li raised his head to where the majority were pointing their fingers.


    There he saw three beautiful people standing under a chandelier by the entrance. Two among them appeared more eye-catchy due to the glow from above which seemed to concentrate more on them.


    ''That one with a more morous get-up should be the viiness.''


    His eyes were at the confident woman smiling softly at the younger one who was standing next to a tall and impossibly handsome guy. The man had a cold aura around him but he looked quite thoughtful as he supported his wife by the waist. Jiang Li was sure he was the male lead. This meant the girl in red and ck whose back was facing him was the female lead.


    The three started to walk towards the center. Smiles that were obviously faked and forced were on their beautiful faces, testifying to their not-so-good rtionship.


    The music resumed again in his ears so was the discussion andughter.


    Jiang Li''s sight stayed on one of them. Then it went down to the hands snaking on that person''s waist.


    His eyes darkened for a couple of moments...<ol><li>the pugilistic world in Chinese storiemunity of martial artists in Wuxia novels</li></ol>

 Chapter 318: Agatha (16)

    Chapter 318: Agatha (16)


    Before Duchess Grey, the former forgotten princess, was escorted deep into the hall, she first looked around, checking out the surroundings to see which of the guests were allies and not. A wary expression was hidden in her eyes back then. Jiang Li managed to take a glimpse of her face.


    Then the music resumed, so was the discussion andughter. People began to swarm the lovely ducal couple, either to give them a toast or simply greet them.


    Jiang Li was watching them for some time.


    It did not take long and his eyes that darkened for a couple of moments regained luster and the anger that shed across his face was then reced by confusion.


    ''Weird.'' He referred to the feeling the sight gave him.


    A voice echoed followed by augh. "What did I tell you, huh? Haha."


    Somehow, the assistant cook he shared a conversation earlier popped up by his side and nudged him using his elbow. "See, you also can''t take away your eyes from the Princess. Newbie, what do you think? She''s truly deserving of being called the pearl of Holon Kingdom, no?"


    The man only looked at the contemtive face of the flutist, feeling satisfied by his silence. He then added, "It''s just a pity that she had been hidden for years, then when finally shown to the world, she has already be the Duchess. I can''t help but think that Duke Grey is really sly and lucky. Tch. Tch."


    Clicking of tongue resounded next to him.


    Jiang Li nodded and looked away. He felt anger just a while ago, yet it was not actually that intense, and did not evenst for more than three seconds. He thought about it for a moment before he arrived at the reason.


    "She only got the face." He said with narrowed eyes.


    "What do you mean?" A perplex face was sported out by the kitchen servant.


    The person asked simply bade his goodbye and went back to mingling with the busy crowd. For a couple of minutes, he listened to the people talking about random stuff, the degree of the rottenness of the monarchy, the secrets of each fief, love affairs of the nobles and known artisans. Once he felt he had heard enough, he chugged down onest ss of beer and decided it was time to leave.


    He took onest look at the princess, then no longer paid attention to her, thinking she was just another Rumina Bolden. He had to admit though, it was not a pleasant experience seeing somebody with Selena''s face being held by another man. The difort did notst long since he realized the truth immediately.


    It left him wondering where that girl was now. She should be in this kingdom, no? After all, she was never far from the lead characters.


    Who else in this world could have the same face as her here? Does the princess have a hidden twin or a female sibling? He didn''t know.


    Mood dampened, he did not say goodbye to the leader who kindly let him in his troupe. He walked towards the side where servants and performers congregate, passing by several tables where people rejoicing for getting a chance to drink fine wine could be found. He ignored them. The noise and smell of perfume and food were starting to get into his nerves so he quickened his steps. His goal was at the back - a simple door people like them could ess.


    "Hmm?"


    When he was near the exit of the gigantic room, to his surprise, he came across somebody familiar Somebody he was trying to escape from.


    "You again?" Looking at the woman seemingly waiting for him there, he subconsciously asked. His forehead was already aching.


    The irritation in his heart also returned. The speed of its disappearance when he learned the female lead was simply Selena''s look-alike was as fast as when it reappeared after seeing Aliyah sitting at the back with her hood pulled down.


    Right. She found him, again. He sighed.


    And until now, he still didn''t get how she could always locate him every time he tried to leave her behind. Why was she fixated on him by the way?


    "Yeah. It''s me," answered the woman in a soft voice


    Jiang Li felt like her reply contained joy and mockery so he looked up and roughly exhaled. He then nodded his head lethargically, "Yeah, congrats."


    A couple of moments passed before he met her eyes that was fixated on his face. His thoughts wandered for some time before he realized that something was wrong with her.


    This female lead seemed calmer? Not like the other four personalities who would immediately throw tantrums at him the moment he showed annoyance or other negative emotions.


    However, she also didn''t exhibit indifference which the mute always does.


    ''Another personality?'' Jiang Li smiled wryly at the guess his mind formted. ''Seriously, how many does that whiner have?''


    "You don''t seem to be Aliyah. Which one are you? And why are you here?"


    The woman stayed silent for some time. Or rather, her attention was not on him. She was looking at the merry scene in front. Her eyes briefly stayed at the face of the other female lead. Jiang Li saw it and got weirded out since he noticed theplicated emotions that flickered in her eyes. Was that grief? Or irritation?


    Now he was sure, she was not one of the five he was familiar with. None of the five would care about the people at this party.


    His guess was fortified more when she turned around and started walking towards the exit. She did so after grabbing his hand.


    None of this female lead''s previous personalities would dare touch him directly. It was as if they were afraid something bad would happen to them, something he only looked at with disdain since, in the first ce, he also did not have any n to hold them or what.


    So what was with this persona''s actions?


    His eyebrow rose. Although part of it was that he didn''t dislike the body contact. But why?


    While the young man was wondering about the reason, the girl turned her head his way, slightly smirking at his confused expression.


    "Hi, how have you been?"


    "... If you''re not Aliyah or any of the persona I''m familiar with, why are you acting close to me?"


    "Oh." Sheughed then apologized. "Sorry. I was previously asleep and busy integrating with another personality, so I waste in greeting you."


    "Let go," he said, interrupting her.


    However, the woman merely looked over her shoulder and shrugged. Her gaze seemingly telling she was not an idiot to simply do what he said. She even stuck her tongue out yfully.


    One corner of his lips lifted up in annoyance, ''Should I throw this woman in the air?''


    "I will be the main personality from now on." As if she was a manager reporting in a ce where she would in-charge of, she said.


    "And so that we can be formally acquainted, Mister-who-loves-to escape, let me introduce myself," she paused, smiling, "I''m Margarette."


    "Margarette?" he parroted.


    The name was very familiar. It was the name of the beautiful woman bathing in the spotlight just now. He narrowed his eyes at the hand which kept pulling his. She said she would be the new main? "How can you be so sure that Aliyah will let you take over?"


    The dimness of the night enveloped them both since there were now outside of the pce, exiting through one of the side gates.


    The girl only answered when the guards'' eyes left them. She wasughing, "Aliyah will have no choice but let me take over. You see. I''m now the strongest among us. Everyone else They feared me."


    Jiang Li instinctively pulled away his hand, intending to rub his ear and perhaps clear whatever was inside so he could hear clearly again. However, to his surprise, the girl''s hand seemed to be made of iron and refused to let go.


    He couldn''t help but wonder, '' Is it me who cked off in my training of this body Or is there just something wrong with this girl''s strength?''


    Thetter possibility made him feel odd. But what''s odder was her saying she was feared by the rest of the personas.


    "You didn''t believe me, did you?"


    His expression must have revealed what he was thinking.


    A corner of her lips rose up. "I''m telling the truth though. Think about it. Disregarding the others, why else would Aliyah, that second most rational side, and Cynthia, that unruly and child-like one, never disobeyed me... especially, every time I told them to go to you?"

 Chapter 319: Agatha (17)

    Chapter 319: Agatha (17)


    Jiang Li''s eyes widened at what he just heard. He stilled. Since his steps paused, she also stopped. They were at the side-walk, thankfully, so at most the two of them only bumped with some other peasants walking thene.


    She gave him a meaningful smile, which appeared quite mysterious to him,leaving the guy lost in his thoughts, busy piecing out the clue.


    ''So she''s the real Margarette?''


    ''Margarette Holon, the female lead, the one whose face resembled Selena?''


    It was just a guess since they were in a fantasy world, it didn''t seem a far-fetched possibility. Yet instead of regaining luster due to learning something good, his eyes had seemingly darkened. He leaned over to her ears and said in a whisper, "Mdy... I hate being treated like a fool, so let''s go to a ce we can talk without holding anything back"


    As a sign of consent, she smiled and led him into one of the streets with rows ofmpposts. The walk was not long, but since it was nighttime, there were bound to be people with malicious intent lurking in the shadow. However, nobody dared to target the two since one of them, the taller youth was emitting something scary from his body. The woman nced at him from time to time, revealing a look that was at times thoughtful, at times amused.


    Jiang Li didn''t know whether to be irritated or not. The girl was so brave despite feeling the dark auraing from him.


    "We''re here," she said, pushing the door open to uncover a dark interior. She moved around expertly as if the darkness was no issue. Not long after, candlelights were dancing around, illuminating the ce.


    Who knows where the woman had gotten the money, but when they separated this noon, she somehow managed to get a whole house for herself. It was located near the pce, only five minutes'' walk.


    The man gave the huge ce a cursory nce and realized the girl who had taken over Aliyah''s body was either a dangerous individual who just happened to share the same name... or really the princess and this ce was her property. Thetter seemed more convincing, although it was a puzzle how she set up the ess which allowed her to get in even though she was in a different body. There were other questionable things about her Many actually.


    "I''m sorry. There won''t be a servant for a while since this ce is a secret property of mine."


    "I see." So it was really something under her name.


    Jiang Li warily looked around. There were barely any decorations inside. The room next to the entrance only had two sofas and a table at the center and some cupboards on the side. However, it was quite huge.


    "Take a seat."


    He only looked at her and remained standing by the door. Obviously, he didn''t n to heed her invitation that sounded more like an order. The guy maintained a serious expression. If Aliyah was here, she would have freaked out at his emotionless face.


    "Are you Margarette Holon?" After an unknown amount of time, he asked, watching her sit down on one of the sofas.


    "I am." She readily nodded, a smile slowly formed on her lips. The woman had no qualm admitting this piece of information which at her current state could be said to be her deepest secret. Her reason for doing so was in line with why she kept following him. Speaking of the stalking issue. She wondered when he would inquire about it. Wasn''t he curious how she could always pinpoint his whereabouts?


    He spoke after a short while. "Quite... amazing"


    Shaking his head, he continued, "I just saw the Duchess. But here is somebody iming she is also the Duchess."


    "Are you wondering why or how I became one of this Viscountess'' persona?" she asked upon seeing no change from his face.


    She was not aware, but underneath his expressionless facade,plicated thoughts were guing the young man.


    Another bout of silence reigned between them and Margarette waited for his response patiently. Her bearing was currently so different from how the Aliyah and the others would behave. Aliyah could also be refined. But not as much as how Margarette was acting right now.


    If she was the princess, then it made sense. Yet it was also very odd, since he was looking at the same face used by Aliyah, and the other crazy or idiotic personas.


    She asked him something. What should he answer her question?


    Does he care how this girl ended up as a persona of somebody with a split personality disorder? Yes. Was he wondering about the authenticity of her words? Yes.


    The system was useless as ever and was not answering his question. But actually, this was also why he kept feeling odder. When did the system ever talk seriously to him if it was about ''her''? So since it was showing no intent to answer, wasn''t it a sign already?


    He said, "Miss. To be honest, there is something else thates to mind."


    She threw him an encouraging look, "Go ahead."


    So he did not hesitate to ask, "Did you be Aliyah''s persona before the wedding?... Or after the wedding?"


    The girl was quite taken aback as it was a question she was not expecting. Not about why she was iming she was the princess? Or how she became like this? She blinked continuously. Only after seeing how dark his face was did she answer in a soft voice, "It is before the wedding It should be when Miss Viscountess''s soul suddenly became strange."


    Another inquiry was thrown. " Who proposed the wedding? You or the one in your current body?"


    It was another question that was quite out of her expectation.


    Although puzzled, she answered instinctively.


    "Of course, the one pretending to be me."


    Face crumpled, she added, "Why would I propose marriage to somebody I don''t know well or don''t like? If I want to escape from the pce and live a new life, I can just disappear from the public ''this way.''"


    Her eyes showed confusion. But since she was the smartest out of the personas, she shortly realized what was wrong with the current situation.


    A realization dawned on her mind.


    Margarette sported a stunned expression thatsted for almost ten seconds before she began giggling. Her face was like a flower that bloomed, and the reason for this was the relief look that appeared on Jiang Li''s face.


    ''So this man is restless because he thought I was with another guy before the takeover of the pretender?''


    The scammer was so indifferent, if not heartless, to Aliyah and the rest. But he was showing interest, if not obsession, to her, a new persona that just emerged. If not for being aware of some things, she would have thought of him as a nutcase.


    While shaking her head, she said. "I think I get it now." She giggled again.


    "You see... Margarette Holon''s shell is married to Andre Grey now. But that''s only the shell, my dear. I mean, if you''re thinking I ended up as possession of that Duke. The soul is here..."


    With her eyes that were reflecting the dancing me intently looking at him, she softly added, "Do you know? I have been looking for you... I have been looking for you since I learned I was Chen Wang Fei in my previous life..."

 Chapter 320: Agatha (18)

    Chapter 320: Agatha (18)


    Chen Wang Fei Princess Consort Chen It all pointed to a single person, Jiang Ying Yue, wife of General Lu Ling, titled Chen Wang.


    When was thest time he heard anything about that incarnation of hers?


    The words had not entered his ears for so long. He was d, of course. Because nothing beats knowing that he not only found the girl, but she also seemed to be remembering a bit about their past.


    She remembered even if it was only a lifetime or some parts of it.


    As he recalled all the previous lives where she always showed no recollection of him or their pasts, how could he not be surprised?


    When the woman kept saying the images in her head kept giving her knowledge about ck magic, his aura, and the bet which had never been fulfilled, Jiang Li''s head felt like it would burst at any given moment.


    "You said you are called Chen Wang Fei in yourst time? Whose Chen Wang Fei?" he asked while slowly striding towards her, one of his hands was hanging on his side, the other reaching out to her.


    "Chen Wang Fei John Yin Yuway?" She replied, struggling with the pronunciation. Her face was quite awkward since she didn''t know whether he understood what she said.


    ''Jiang Ying Yue.'' He corrected in his mind.


    He should beughing right now. But several emotions just took over and almost robbed him away of his rationality. After all, he was merely a ghost and his joy in all the transmigration and missions he was doing was finding his wife again and again, and perhaps, falling in love with her over and over again too.


    Now, here she was before him, with memories of their past to boot. Of course, his natural instinct was to pull her into his arms. If he was only the severely emotional type, he might be crying now. His stubborn personality was just not letting him do so.


    "In your memories, who am I?" His speech was slow as he embraced her.


    " Good question. Hmm... You''re in an army and wearing a decorated armor so A general?" There was a hint of hesitation in her tone.


    In her mind, she was busyparing the majestic prince-general who was followed by thousands upon thousands of soldiers, and the scammer, oops, rather, a wandering philosopher, before her. Was this the wonder of the so-called reincarnation that he heard from that believer of Penemue, goddess of wisdom? Her sight then went to the arms enveloping her. It was warm and not giving her any repulsive feeling.


    "Good girl." Jiang Li patted her head and smiled. His line of sight traced the contours of her face before going back to her eyes.


    For a satisfying answer, wasn''t it imperative for him to reward her with something nice? Perhaps, a branding that he was his?


    Margarette showed no sign of resistance when Jiang Li suddenly imed her lips. His hands began to wander but she also did not say a thing. Every touch was scaldingly hot yet mysteriously gentle, the kind which would make any girl melt. If not for possessing memories of him, she would have been annoyed by now, wondering why was he so skillful in this.


    Instead of protesting, she also returned the kisses and caresses. It was like it was not her first time meeting him or her first time being intimate with someone. There was no sense of shame or shyness. Why would she be, when the person showing a fervent desire for her right now was somebody who lived a whole lifetime with her in the past?


    This was why when the young man regained his senses a couple of minutes, as he realized the face was different and her real body was upied by some random ghost, it was her who whispered in a sweet voice, "No No need to hold back This one is mine from now on And Aliyah we''re finding ways to send her back to her real body."


    For a moment, he wondered if the incarnation before him was Selena Tang.


    However, the mention of the other persona also made him sober up. His mind regained rity, then his eyes darkened.


    Who would understand what he was feeling right now? A fire was lit. And the one who did was his wife anyway, yet there were outsiders and he couldn''t possibly take her when there were others around.


    " Aliyah can''t perceive in the outside world once she''s not the one in charge But some of the others can. Damn." Frustration then became evident in his face.


    It was not easy not to grumble. ''Why is she was in somebody else''s body? Why is that body not only housing her soul, but also the odd soul of another person? On top of that, she is a female lead. Even if soul-wise she is not, this new body of hers belonged to a female lead. Just what the hell is with her situation?''


    "I''m so frustrated" He whispered.


    Joyfulughter reverberated afterward. She grabbed his hand and started pulling him to the staircase.


    "Didn''t I say already? I can suppress them all and they won''t darein."


    "Oh"


    Well, yup. She indeed said she had a more powerful soul than the other personas. Smarter. And braver. Still... her identity now was a persona of a girl with multiple personality disorder. His knowledge of her condition was so damn little.


    So was she proving something as she dragged him by herself upstairs and into one of the inner room? Her actions made his head muddled.


    A momentter, he almost broke intoughter, realizing this incarnation of her was the total opposite of her past life, Jiang Ying Yue.


    " I also have to add, I have no ns to get back that old shell of mine," she dered.


    He found it amazing that she showed no hesitation in telling so, as if her real body was not something she had been using for almost two decades.


    With full of curiosity, he asked while letting himself be led around, "Who is the one acting as the Duchess?"


    "The previous owner of this body, I supposed," she indifferently answered. "I was asleep this entire time so I haven''t investigated yet. You can ask around tomorrow. If she showed unusual behaviors like wanting to go to the Borley Kingdom to investigate Louie Obson''s death, then it''s really her. I saw from Aliyah''s memories that she''s a character in a book and she''s a so-called bro-con. It''s an odd term, but I think I get the gist of it. In other words, there''s no way she won''t do a thing to uncover the secrets behind Louie Obson''s death."


    "Good deduction." He praised her in his heart.


    The girl let go of his hand and pulled up a strike-a-light and a piece of flint.


    "By the way, please take note. I said you can But I actually prefer you don''t. I prefer not to hear you asking around for women other than me" Thest part was said in a whisper, but her tone wasced with warning.


    Heughed, his footsteps apanying the merryughter. After amp was lit and the room became easier to the eyes, he was revealed to be sitting by the windowsill while she was beside the table close to the door. When she faced him, he said, "Girl, do you know? I hate threats. It''s awakening my rebellious side."


    "Of course, I know. That''s why I did not directly threaten you."


    Margarette Holon lived as a forgotten princess. But her character was so colorful that it was a wonder how she managed to conceal from the kingdom her greatness before Marian Obson''s takeover. She was more soft-spoken than Selena. But as scary, if not scarier. He wondered what would happen when she was truly angered...


    He said, "We should rest. Tomorrow, let''s sightsee. I''ll also tell you about why I came to this kingdom."


    "And then?"


    "And then?" he parrotted the question.


    "What of tonight?"


    "We take a rest. What else?" He teasingly replied.


    Taking short strides toward him, she asked. "Milord, it''s not advisable to burn oneself. So can you just agree that we should not go into anymore pre-ceremony or any otherplicated stuff? A man and woman will only use the excuse of getting to know each other and postpone living together as a married couple because they are not confident that their feelings will stand the test of time. They are not sure about how long their affections for each willst. But aren''t we the opposite of them?"


    "I''m amazed that you are this confident." Another chuckle was heard.


    "Milord. Even if you run away, as long as you are within the city, I can easily locate you. And I don''t think you''ll let me run away from you too. How about we just skip the unnecessary steps and get married tomorrow? If you agree, I have no problems taking you as my husband tonight."


    ''... This situation is weird. It should be the other way around.''A nk look appeared on his face.


    She was more direct than any of her past incarnation. Crazy. Had he not known she would have different personalities each lifetime, he would have asked who she truly was.


    That night, Jiang Li acted as if he was scared by her suggestion. So he escaped, leaving a dumbfounded Margarette looking out from the window for a long time. As time passed, she did not go after him though, although the calmness that stayed in her face and eyes became quite terrifying to behold.


    When tomorrow arrived, he came back, having cooled off his head. The sleepless night was spent in investigating the royals and the irregr happenstances in the kingdom.


    The moment he appeared in the huge and deste house, he immediately sought her out, finding the woman with her head turned to the side. She seemed to be looking out of the window into the distance. Since she was inside the house, she felt no need to wear her thick brown cloak and so the green long gown she was wearing could be seen. It was not her face that made her so captivating, but the air around him and the feeling she gave off to people.


    Jiang Li kept looking at her for some time before determining that it was Margarette and not any other persona. "I''m back."


    Her green eyes slowly turned to him. "I can see it... " Her gaze swiftly turned resentful. It was quite frightening. Jiang Li heard her say,"And as you can also see... It''s still me. I didn''t turn into Aliyah or anyone else. I have proven that I''m now the main persona. So, milord," she paused and asked slowly, each word emphasized without raising her voice. "Are, You, Done, Testing, Me?"


    In Jiang Li''s mind, what he did was logical. The problem was simply her body. Was it bad to confirm? To be cautious? What if in the middle of a passionate kiss, she suddenly became Cynthia, the childish persona?


    Looking at the fire burning in her eyes though, maybe he did go overboard...


    To appease the angry princess, he immediately grabbed her arm and carried her like a bride to the nearest church. She wanted a wedding? No problem.


    ''Wife, this old ghost is never afraid of getting married.''

 Chapter 321: Agatha (19)

    Chapter 321: Agatha (19)


    Jiang Li''s desire to gain points had never waned. But since he was warned not to ask around about other women, he obedientlyplied... And made others do the investigation for him.


    How did he afford the investigators and information brokers?


    "Husband. Fret not. I can support you for life." The one who spoke was the girl who had been glued to his side since their reunion this morning.


    "My title as a princess might have been a joke before the parasite''s takeover. But that is because I intentionally hid from the limelight. Behind the scene, I am Holon Kingdom''s Queen of Commerce. You won''t ever worry about money ever again. Even now I can order people to create a bathtub full of gold for you How about I call an artisan to make one now? So that tomorrow, my dowry will be ready? If you want, I can even hold a contest so you can pick the best personally," In a sultry voice, Margarette asked the dumbfounded him.


    A secondter, his left cheek was twitching. He looked at the girl still dressed in her green court gown, with her light brown hair falling like a wavy ocean behind her, and face covered with a thin ck veil.


    ording to the woman, when she was young, she was so free most of the time as there was no teacher or anybody bothering her so she spent her days reading all sorts of books in the royal library. Since she was twelve, she was dabbling in business outside the pce. Her conquest of the Commerce World was real. It started with her secretly buying houses, shops, and lots all over the kingdom before her operations involved small andrge trades. Now she owned more than twenty ships, all for sea trading. Meaning, she was one of the tycoons who could even make profits from outside the Mu continent.


    In short, she really had the means to casually build that whatever bathtub.


    Earlier, he asked how she could be sure that those properties would not fall in the ''Duchess'' hands, she replied that she never used her real name for those properties anyways.


    ''Chen Wang Fei. To my right-hand men and other trusted subordinates, they only knew me through that name and all the letters I exchanged with them have secret codes. There''s no way that pretender will be able to get her hands in what''s under my pseudo name. All she would ever have are all that I''ve abandoned and left behind. Nobody in this world can steal what''s mine. Nobody.''


    Arrogance was oozing out from her soul as she emphasized thest sentence. It was said loud and clear. Those who tried to take advantage of her might have already met terrible endings.


    He then remembered one thing. A crease appeared on his forehead. She implied yesterday that it was her who purposely abandoned the body being used by Marian Obson. Was there a spell that could cause people to body-swap?


    The question crossed his mind as he could NOT remember any.


    Then again, Jiang Ying Yue was the real disciple of the witch from the Old China world. It would make sense if that old hag had taught her some additional magic spells. Since Margarette could get some of her memories as Jiang Ying Yue from time to time, it would no wonder if she had also learned them, and thus cause the current mess.


    Her way to escape being married to a random folk made his head ache He was relieved by the result. But to aplish her goal, she caused a woman to escape from the hunting of the Borley Kingdom and have someone else, a transmigrator to boot, take her ce. The worse was how she became one of the many personalities of this mentally ill scapegoat from another world.


    Alright. She was too damn powerful!


    And as expected of a female lead, a troublemaker...


    He might have spaced out for some time so the woman poked at his shoulder. "What''s the matter?"


    The guy shook his head. Afterward, he looked at her and drylyughed. "Would you believe me if I said I was nning to revolt and take over the throne of your kingdom?"


    It was asked in random and the one in his mind was nowhere near this, but the woman only batted hershes twice before slowly arcing her lips up.


    He changed his statement. "Actually, I was nning how to be one of the angels and then obtain my own divine throne to offer to you."


    She looked at him quietly for a long time then replied, "Husband. I could actually try to believe you if you want. But do you want me to?"


    He shut up seeing her ''don''t make a fool out of yourself anymore'' look. He then shrugged.


    Time quickly passed. Most people would have not believed that this very early morning, the two of them had just forced a priest out of his bed to wed them. There was no banquet that followed since one of them had no family members and friends to invite, a really sad situation, while the other was a forgotten princess trapped in somebody''s body, another very sad situation.


    Well, it was not like to express happiness after the wedding, a banquet was the only way


    The promise Jiang Li made yesterday was easily broken since it was Margarette who toured him around the city. Most ces were crowded, but scenic wonders were not and were truly nice ces that one should visit for rxation.


    Thest one they went to was a very tall building constructed out of woods and bricks. It was said to be a former observation tower for astrological movements but was abandoned due to terrible ghost sightings. Two yearster, it was bought by the princess.


    With a voice of proudness masked with serenity, she revealed a huge secret... It was her who schemed to force out the astrologers and other tenants there through the ''ghosts''. She did it because the building looked the closest to a pagoda he built for her in the memories. Anyway, to make up to those innocent people, she funded the construction of a new observatory, albeit it was not as tall as the former one.


    ''It''s sunset again...'' He looked up.


    "Let me show you something."


    It was actually the small interlude before the night, and the woman surprised him with a picturesque view of thousands of houses and buildings lighting who knows how many candles, just to form a certain word. The city seemed to have be livelier and brighter and it was extremely pretty. A pity, only those from very high ces could see the spectacle. Yet for those with ess to the sight, not many of them would know the meaning of the pattern.


    Yeah. In this continent, how many would be able to understand the word formed when it was actually simplified Chinese? Only two. Ironically, on the eastern side of the outside world, there was definitely no one would be able to recognize the symbol since the writing system of the Han people were still quite ancient.


    Where did Margarette learn the writing?


    In the first week he became acquainted with Jiang Ying Yue, he tested her brain by teaching her Arabic numerals and English alphabet. Actually, at ater time, he also taught her simplified Chinese. Perhaps, that time, he was very fascinated by the feeling that he was teaching her some symbols that only them in that world would be able to understand. See, through Margarette, the effect was showing now.


    The king, the other members of the royal family, and most likely those members of the aristocracies who possessed tall and gigantic residences and could see the scene were deeply frowning and cracking their heads, thinking what the character symbolized, if it was already a secret code of an enemy. Only Jiang Li and his wife would be able to know what it truly meant by the candles andmps down there.


    ''Chen Wang'' His title in the Old Chinese court.


    She gentlyughed and said, "I''m still serious about the bathtub filled with gold coins. We can discusster whether tomission a single artisan or host a contest. But since it would take some time, I first had my people distributemps and candles to those below. After this, as payment, they won''t have to return the items. How is it? Did you like the surprise?"


    The man could not say that he was not moved. But he was also having mixed feelings about it. He couldn''t stop feeling like this was a man''s job. Why was he the one being amused by his wife this way?


    Looking at her eyes looking like a puppy''s, heughed and patted her on the head. "You''re the best, alright?"


    A minuteter, she caught his hand in annoyance as she waited and waited but there was no sign she would get what she was really waiting for.


    If Jiang Li knew what it was, he would have felt moreplicated. It was really reversing their role.

 Chapter 322: Agatha (20)

    Chapter 322: Agatha (20)


    It was their fifth day in the kingdom. Before Jiang Li felt like he was really more like a boy toy or a kept man than a husband, he snuck out and roamed around by himself.


    More specifically, he went to a nobleman''s house located only two hundred meters from hisdy tycoon''s mansion. Of course, as he was a meremoner, he didn''t go in invited. He helped himself with the touring and familiarizing of the ce.


    "Hmm... Agatha managed to enter the pce despite not being a noblewoman. It was all due to this Count Cornwell... So right now, as he is her most loyal supporter, in turn, she made him the second strongest in her faction."With a solemn look far removed from his scammer image in Margarette''s mind, he stared at the huge painting before him.


    The ce was inside the mansion of the same Count. Yup, in this kingdom, it was already a trend for aristocrats and titled nobles to build and live in a mansion, and each of them made sure their ces were close to the royal pce. In that way, they could easily make an appearance before the king and interact more with the other aristocrats. Theirnds were left to the care of their vassals and they would only have to go their fief once or twice a year.


    Count Cornwell, as one of the most influential person under the beloved royal concubine of the king, was also one of those nobles. The security of his ce was quite tight, with around ten knights secretly wandering about. At night, the number of patrolling guards would double. He knew as it was an intelligence gotten from the people hired. Even though it was still daytime, due to the strict patrol, Jiang Li only managed to sneak in using hypnosis.


    It was around 2 pm. And nobody was in that room due to his maniption. For several hours he had been scouring the ces carefully and even took a glimpse of what was inside the Count''s secret safe. Now, it was time for what he really came here for.


    Footsteps began echoing from outside and were constantly getting closer and louder. His eyes went to the ornate wooden door to his left.


    Seven secondster, it flung open, allowing entry to two people who then hurriedly locked the room from the inside.


    ''Spicy.'' Jiang Limented due to the look of relief in those two''s faces. Were they that d to be left alone in a room?


    While watching the two get close, he made himselffortable in a chair near the firece which he deemed unlikely for the two neers to use. He shook his head and even almost clicked his tongue seeing that one of the people was a healthy middle-aged man while the cloaked figure was a woman.


    ''Why would they lock themselves up inside a room and even made sure the curtains are hanging down? They are both of high statuses and are married, but not to each other. Wow. Should I spread a rumor about this? I''m sure the city denizens will love me for the juicy gossip.''


    ''But first, what is the secret?''


    While he was wondering what dirty transactions these two people were trying to hide, the cloaked woman removed her hood, revealing a face that was very mature and beautiful. Her hair was a rare green that would not remind one of the grasses in a meadow, but pf chrome sphene, a precious emerald-colored gem that had more fire, or in another term, dispersion, than diamond. Her lips that were neither thick nor thin were like a blooming rose in color and her eyes were not like the stars in a bright night sky, but the calm river water reflecting those.


    Jiang Li was sure that those mysterious eyes were what fascinated the king of Holon. People had always been drawn to the beautiful and unknown.


    For him though, nothing beats Margarette''s. Hers were green too, but they seemed to only shine when looking at him... or at the ounts detailing the amount of money rolling into her pocket.


    "Count" The royal concubine, Agatha, finally broke the silence reigning in the ce. Jiang Li alternately nced at the two, watching out for the next event.


    There was no adulterous act that took ce after. Well, it was pretty obvious that nothing of that sort would happen since one was a beauty of the century while the other was an old fatty. The woman too, was a powerful witch. There was very little chance of a scandalous rtionship sprouting between the two.


    Steven Cornwell motioned thedy to sit on one of the long sofas before taking a seat himself. His tone wasced with worry as he said, "I''m sorry, Your Highness, I only received your letter this morning so my response iste. Are you telling the truth there? You have hidden that matter to me for so long. Why?"


    Thedy momentarily frowned, not liking being questioned like this the moment she sat down. However, her expression immediately eased and all that was left was a woman ofposure who had stayed in power for almost more than a decade.


    With a slight smile, she asked, "Won''t you at least serve me tea before the serious discussion?"


    The nobleman stilled for some time, realizing his mistake. He said his apology for the negligence. Then after fulfilling the request and personally brewing a cup for her, he once again asked, "So, our dearest Royal Concubine, why did you do that again?"


    After a sip, she elegantly held the cup in front of her without cing it down on the table. A sigh escaped out of her lips, her eyes were on the surface of the porcin cup.


    "Count You keep asking why and not giving me opportunities to say my real dilemma now. It''s making me a bit heartbroken. Do you think I did wrong? More than anyone else in the world, you are the one aware of my greatest challenge in bing the Queen and the burdens weighing down my shoulders. I always have to think of the more than fifteen aristocratic houses that betted their lives in me."


    The pudgy count gave her aplicated look. "Your Highness, you very well know that it''s easy for these people to abandon you once you fell from glory. Yet even though you can also do the same, you are naively thinking they are like your children to worry about If that is the reason why, it''s truly disappointing."


    She stilled thenughingly said, "My mistake. I was just being dramatic. Of course, I''m still ultimately thinking of myself, Count Cornwell. Don''t focus on unnecessary matters. In the pce, I''ve just learned to make my words always sound nice and noblest than anything else. But in reality..." she shook her head, "As the one who has known me for years don''t you really know my real intention?"


    Jiang Li was seated diagonally from them, and a corner of his mouth was raised from too much annoyance. What the hell were they saying? ''Hey, the windows and doors were closed shut so hurry up and stop the cryptic exchange!''


    What intention? What did she do?


    He wouldn''t be this impatient if not for discovering that it was not only Agatha who had dipped into witchcraft, but the Count too. The first time he swept his eyes upon the two, he noticed the same dark aura enveloping them. He suspected that this was actually what was bonding them together.


    Jiang Li was not contented withfortably sitting there and eavesdropping without getting found. He immediately wanted to know what they were talking about so he could be sure which part of the plot they were now.


    He was never a patient man, but thankfully after a minute a two of talking about random political issues, a clue was finally revealed.


    It started when the Count threw another nce at the witch. "Five months ago, who is the one who took your ce while you are not in the pce?"


    "It''s just a maid. You don''t need to worry about her. She''s dead."


    Her reply was uttered in a rxed way, as if she didn''t order somebody to die. It garnered a nod from her conversation partner. "You did well."


    ''You did well, your ass.'' In his mind, Jiang Li was so bored that he started ranting about life and criticizing the moral views of these two people.


    When he felt like his chest became too stuffy from his self-talk, he even reached out to the table and almost picked up one of the cups if not for the viiness saying something that made him interested and stop in ce.


    "So Count Cornwell. Did you do as I requested? When I was in Borley again two months ago, negotiating and telling those stupid royals how to arouse their ursed blood What happened? Why is that princess still not dead?"

 Chapter 323: Agatha (21)

    Chapter 323: Agatha (21)


    "So two months ago, when I was once again in Borley, negotiating and telling those stupid royals how to arouse their ursed blood Did you do as I requested?" asked the viiness in an unhurried manner without masking her nervousness.


    The Count nodded with aplicated look put on. "Since it is your request, Your Highness, naturally, I did. I''ve been trying to put a curse on that Duchess, the strongest one I can cast even. However, my attempt always ended up in failure. Until now, I have yet to figure out the reason."


    "How fascinating" said Agatha, even though there was no sign of fascination in her face.


    She was actually almost expressionless. Only her eyes had small, almost indiscernible hints of anxiety and mild irritation. It must not have been easy for her to ept that not only her, but even a warlock stronger than her could not hex Margarette Holon to death.


    Meanwhile, no change appeared on the eavesdropper''s face apart from growing more curious.


    ''This prideful consort is angry that she could not resolve a powerless princess through normal means. So it reached the point where the witch''s camp is trying to put a death curse on the Duchess?''


    He was immediately reminded of a particr genre in Huaxia''s literature where a small viin always drags his senior brother in the revenge, then his father, then his grandfather, until his n leader, and even ancestors came out. Of course, in the end, the whole n, if not the entire sect, would meet with destruction.


    What was happening now should be simr to that. It started with a genius member of the young generation, Agatha, until one day, the whole witch campes out to deal with a single person. It was kinda...ical.


    Agatha closed her eyes and firmly stated, "She... That Princess Margarette... She must die."


    "Of course," replied the Count. "For now, she must be scared of telling your secret to anyone since she has no proof. But there''s no guarantee that she is not looking for ways to have you burn in the stake, mydy. We can''t let her roam around freely anymore."


    "People whose lives are threatened will never be able to have a good sleep at night without removing the threats. That Duchess and I are very simr. Just as I wish to get rid of her to get my peace of mind, she too wants to do the same. It has nothing to do with her seemingly gentle nature. All humans just have this instinct to survive."


    "She is merely a powerless princess."


    "Yes... And I have the king and half the aristocracy behind me. But why can''t I kill her? Is she blessed with more luck than me? That duke always deflects the physical assassination attempts. It''s understandable. But how can she deflect the curses herself?"


    If not for her wording, no one would have thought she was extremely furious. Never once did she speak in a high-pitched tone.


    ''She has the whole world behind her, Miss.'' The eavesdropper amusedly retorted in his mind.


    Jiang Li was not really offended that this viiness kept expressing her intent to assassinate the Duchess. Five months ago That should be when the forgotten princess became a mere identity, her soul in Marian''s real body.


    The real Margarette merely thought of her former body as a shell. This meant that no matter how the fake used it, she wouldn''t care. Likewise, she wouldn''t care if it was destroyed. She had long rified that anything she abandoned, she would most likely not put in her eyes again. So what if the previous shell was very beautiful? It was now left to Marian Obson.


    ''Trying to kill a female lead is nothing but a pipe dream.''


    He soundlessly clicked his tongue. Even he never seeded in driving one of those rare species to death. Wasn''t it tragic that these people did not know this fact?


    "Is it possible that while you''re scheming her death and casting a hex on her, she actually learned your craft in secret?" out of the blue, Count Cornwell blurted out. "You said this princess saw your secret chamber and all the things rted to witchcraft in your possession."


    Like Jiang Li, Agatha sported a nk expression at the question. Her eyes then showed skepticism and doubt. "When did it be easy to learn our arts?"


    "But it''s been five months" the nobleman argued.


    Obviously, there was no other way to answer the question. He knew, it had never been and would never be easy. Agatha herself, famed in the circle as a genius, took a full year to master her first magic.


    ''While it''s possible, can you learn something like that without a guide? For dark arts, it''s not questionable if the viiness learns it in a month or so. But a female lead?'' Jiang Li''s hand went to his mouth to stifle his yawn.


    He lost interest in the talk after the viiness led the conversation to the real topic. This part was something he already knew or predicted.


    Still, the information he got earlier made him fell into deep thoughts.


    Apparently, the plot going on from Marian''s side, the one regarding Louie Obson''s death, had something to do with Agatha.


    A day before yesterday, Margarette told him that in her memories, Aliyah knew a part of the plot due to reading from a ce called forum.


    One of the biggest revtions there was that the royal family of Borley Kingdom were descendants of a Nephil, a member of the giant race who were actually half-angels, half-humans. The information came Agatha, the genius witch of Holon. It seemed the race possessed a lot of magic powers and physical strength which would definitely make one uncontested in the current era. And thus, the royal family of Borley wanted to know the secrets to arouse their blood.


    Louie Obson was merely an unfortunate man. By chance, he managed to know that the royalties had those evil giants'' blood. He had yet to tell anybody about it but because the blue bloods were alerted, he was immediately killed.


    But it was his death that triggered the plot on Marian''s side which then brought the girl into the center of the conspiracy. After a series of events, she reached the truth - that Louie Obson was only discovered and killed because Agatha detected him through some sort of means. Marian, with the help of her knight Adam, and some other helpers, destroyed the Borley royal family''s chance to be Nephilim. A minor price she paid for this was forever losing the chance to take revenge on Agatha since the viiness by then was already been taken care of by the duke of Holon.


    Two plots should be raging on at the same time ''Should be''


    ''Unfortunately, the Viscount''s daughter, this female lead, is not in Borley, both in body and soul.''


    Jiang Li''s face twitched. Now he knew why this mission world was considered official. He did not have to be wary of his food or boots suddenly having needles in it, but he would have to deal with so many events - each more confusing than thest, ferrying him further and further away from the crux of the matters.


    Had Margarette not wanted to reim her real body and status, what then? Wouldn''t he have to think of exchanging the souls of the female leads? It would surely not be easy and would probably push him deeper into the plot until he forgot that his mission was to prevent Agatha''s death and falling into insanity.


    Ah, speaking of Agatha...


    This royal concubine definitely already had a foot in her grave. At this point, Duke Grey was already in love with the Duchess.


    He stood up, wandering his gaze around for thest time before judging that there was nothing fanciful enough to take away. ''I''m done here.''


    The two were only concocting troubles for the leads so he deemed it was okay to leave.


    When he pushed the door open, he was a bit absent-minded. Of course, he did not really let himself be careless. He had one of the guards standing outside to knock and opened the door without popping his head in. The guard was made to report a minor noble''s visit, something that happened all the time and was deemed negligible. The count would certainly punish the kind guy, but it was out of Jiang Li''s concern. He took that chance to escape from there.


    It was still afternoon.


    The man did not go back to Margarette''s mansion immediately. He went to the former royal observatory, which was now owned by Holon''s Queen of Commerce.


    No guards there knew him so he did not bother showing himself to them. When Margarette first led him there, she made him hide his face. The girl was really intending to be a ruler in the shadows, hence her carefulness. Well, if it was known to people that he could enter and exit that ce at will, they would suspect his rtionship with the owner of the observatory. With this said, he simply bypassed the security through invisibility magic, the same spell he used to not be discovered by the viiness and her warlock advisor.


    Jiang Li reached the highest floor of the tower. This time, only the inner part of the room where he stood had amp, but the candle inside it was not lit. The sun was still shining out there so the city needed no other type of illumination.


    After staying there for ten minutes, he felt another presence in the room. There were no footsteps that echoed out.


    "May I know what''s in my lord''s mind?" rang a soft, melodious voice behind him.


    Even Jiang Li, who had trained his body and senses to the most optimum heard no indication of her arrival.


    So was the one who spoke his lovely stalker?


    He looked over his shoulder and saw a woman with eyes and hair that were emerald in color.

 Chapter 324: Agatha (22)

    Chapter 324: Agatha (22)


    In Aliyah''s memories, it was Agatha who disclosed the secret to the royals of Borley. They were hoping she could also help them to unlock their bloodline. However, she did not have the method with her. It was actually already a lucky encounter that she read about the real lineage of that family from one of the history books owned by her mentor.


    With the need to know the unlocking method, after the death of the Obson heir, Agatha left for Holon as she wished to consult some elders in the witch society regarding the Borley family''s demand. She had to do this in exchange for Borley''s kingdom''s support and perhaps, the cure for her barrenness.


    Right. This was the dilemma all along. She was barren. She wanted to be a queen. But how could she be queen without giving the king an heir? The problem was not only her. They were not getting any younger so even if she managed to preserve her beauty and slow down her aging, time would still catch up with the king. In short, she had to solve the issue as soon as possible.


    Actually, the first method the desperate woman thought of was to seek help from the temple. But would there be a god or an angel willing to hear out a plea of a witch, a believer of a fallen angel? Was she eligible to receive healing magic from a high priest? Thinking of this, Agatha could only pretend that the idea never crossed her mind.


    From the beginning, she only had one choice. The Church of Wisdom. They had always imed to be the most knowledgeable in the world. They worshipped and sacrificed to Penemue and in turn, this goddess bestowed them knowledge practically about everything.


    They surely possessed the method to cure her. When she sounded them out before through her servants, she saw clues that they have the means. Getting the piece of knowledge from them should be something that needed no ceremony or contact with an orthodox divinity. In other words, the acquisition of the cure or method would not put her life in danger.


    Yet here was the problem. The royals of the neighboring kingdom told her there was only one person in the world who had ess to this kind of intel The Pope of the Church of Wisdom.


    However, he was a loyal dog or rather, a follower of the Borley royals! Agatha, too, did not want to see him since his kind would be able to perceive her peculiarity at a nce.


    As part of the deal, the royals got the intel from the Pope, yet these people said they would only tell it to her after she fulfilled the next part of the deal. This secretly enraged Agatha. Still, no matter how she hated it, she had to go back empty-handed and do her best to get the information they wanted from her elders.


    Agatha''s date of return happened to be on the same day Jiang Li and Aliyah arrived in Holon City. Since then, she had been thinking hard of ways to ess the needed intel. Yet, she only managed to make up her mind on the fifth day, meeting Count Cornwell, one of the powerful warlocks hiding in the kingdom.


    Getting acquainted with a mysterious young man called James was an unexpected gain.


    '' I can''t believe the two plots going on at the same time are all triggered by the viiness just because of her infertility.''


    The conclusion he managed to arrive at made him feel weird. He didn''t know whether tough or cry. And by all means, he was merely borrowing the phrase from a popr Huaxia author who loved to pepper his novels with these words.


    That night, before going to sleep, he asked Margarette, "Among Aliyah''s personas, is there anyone proficient in treating infertility? Or know any method to cure this?"


    When the words left his mouth, the girl in his arms immediately gasped and tightened her grasp of his arm.


    He, of course, realized what had gone in her head and hurriedly exined the matter. Still, he would never forget the heartbroken look she gave him. He found it very interesting as it was not an expression she would normally wear in her face.


    Borley Kingdom, Obson Territory.


    The town near the Obson castle did not change much. Peasants still woke up early to start their busy day. The majority of the men would go to the fields or the castle to help in misceneous tasks. Women and children were not cking off too, either doing housework, weaving or feeding the livestock. Everyone had work to do and sloth was not tolerated since if one failed in his or her task, there was a chance there would be no food for him for dinner.


    Probably if something changed, it could only be that the Church of Wisdom was entertaining an important guest, a member of the royal family. It was no regr royal, the guy was the second in line to the throne after the crown prince, Third Prince Benedict Borley. This person arrived three months ago and had been staying in the church since then, much to the headache of the clergymen there.


    ''If only His Holiness is not very close to the royal family''


    Bishop Gregory inwardly shook his head in dismay after seeing the prince walked out of the small mansion given to him. Thetter was dressed like a normal noble son. Without his exaggeratedly decorated prince-wear and robe, none from those who had not seen him in the royal pce before would suspect his identity.


    The opinions of everyone in the church vary. But the majority did not want to entertain this annoying ancestor. He said he fell for the daughter of Viscount Obson and wanted to woo her, but when that youngdy disappeared, he never made an effort to look for her. At best, all he did was pester the priests for news about her.


    Bishop truly did not know what was with him. Apart from smiling and acting cordial with the prince, there was actually nothing else he could do since he did not know his real intention. What was going on in this person''s head? Why would someone of his standing stay in a mere town of a Viscount? At the very least, he should stay in the castle, not in their church!


    "Your Honor, it is another pleasant day, isn''t it?" greeted the prince who was still in his usual attire. All his attendants and knights were following him.


    The bishop smiled stiffly and slightly nodded. "It''s all thanks to Goddess Penemue''s grace."


    Pretending he did not see the stiffness in the expression of the other, the prince smilingly parrotted his words, "Yes. It''s all thanks to the Goddess'' grace."


    In terms of appearance, the prince was really good-looking, at least way more than Jiang Li. He was tall, and lean, and had a bearing that would not put his family to shame. The blond hair glistened like a pale golden bolt of silk under the sun. The hyacinth eyes were very attractive. His lips and nose too were like a work of a grandmaster sculptor. However, in the eyes of the bishop, he would only be attractive if he left.


    Yup, since the Bishop''s faith and loyalty was in the Goddess alone, this royal prince was nothing but an eyesore. There was no reverence whatsoever in his heart and he wanted nothing but the prince''s departure. Once that happened, the expenses would be cut in half and none of his people would be so careful when breathing in his presence. They would certainly regain their peace. Yup, as the Goddess once expounded in Her holy scriptures, there was nothing sweeter and more desirable in this world than peace.


    ''So Your Highness, when are you leaving?'' The bishop asked for the nth time in his mind. It had be a habit since the second day of the prince''s stay.

 Chapter 325: Agatha (23)

    Chapter 325: Agatha (23)


    ''So Your Highness, when are you leaving?'' The bishop asked for the nth time in his mind.


    But like the usual days, Prince Benedict never mentioned anything but his yearning for a girl he had never even seen.


    After the morning prayer and mass, the Bishop apanied the other to the house of a very wealthy merchant who had invited them forte breakfast. The two, and their entourage of course, then went back to the church, talking about what always piqued the prince''s interest.


    "Your Highness, Lady Obson will visit before noon. Would you like to meet her with meter? Maybe the Obson family has obtained a clue and will want to share it with us."


    The handsome man gave a smile, "Then please excuse my sudden presence in your talk with thedy." His eyes were outside thevish carriage. "I can still see the missing person notice on the walls of this ce... When will Lady Marian be found?"


    A sigh came from the clergy apanying him. "It''s been three months"


    ''... Since you started giving me a headache. Demanding. But not even topping up the reward to motivate more people to search for thedy.'' Thest part was added in his heart, in aining tone, of course.


    "True."


    "She should still be alive. The Pope has at least confirmed this through the Goddess'' revtion."


    "That''s good news. I sincerely hope nothing but for Lady Marian to be alright. I would love to meet her and slowly deepen her impression of me in her heart."


    The bishop said nothing, although deep inside, he wanted to suggest for this young man to personally search for thedy of his dreams and leave his diocese alone.


    The pious Viscountess arrived just as the messenger had said. Her condition was obviously not good as she obviously lost weight and was listless in both body and spirit. But this was inevitable given that both of her children were no longer with her, one was dead, the other missing. Her husband''s advice could barely get into her head. The only thing sustaining her was the fact that Marian was still alive.


    As usual, she received some counseling from the bishop and the priests. The royal prince also put in some words of constion from time to time, sympathizing with her and telling her that things would be alright. The viscountess was very thankful for their effort. She was not aware of the identity of the handsome foreign noble as she had never met him before due to theck of qualification and official summon to enter the pce.


    "Thank you..." Eyes red, she told everyone in the ce. "I truly appreciate every good word that you''re making me listen to. It''s just that I still can''t help but grieve in my heart, constantly asking why it''s all happening to me... I was but a simple mother of two children. So why it is me when there are many others out there? Oh, my Goddess, I must have been out of my mind already to think of something so awful. Oh, my Goddess..."


    Then she went back to crying and everyone else had to exchange awkward nces. The progress was back to zero.


    In one corner of therge room, Adam was standing with his back straight and hands on his sides. At a nce, he looked simr to the other knights and guards who were merely there to serve as decors. Yet in actuality, pain and shame always shed through his eyes every time his real master was mentioned. In parts of his body that were hidden by his armor were several scars and wounds. It was because even if nobody had told him to punish himself, he did anyways. For him, the demotion from being a leader of the knights was not enough.


    Time flew fast. In a few minutes, it would be lunchtime and the people in this room would head towards the dinner hall. It was at this moment that everyone heard a bird''s cry outside. The bishop promptly stood up and went to the window side. Those who were left at the center of the room saw the solemness in the chief priest''s countenance so they maintained silent.


    Half a minuteter, a joyful expression appeared on the bishop''s face and he brought over a piece of paper to thedy with tear-stained cheeks.


    "Praise Penemue! You won''t believe it but the Pope finally responded to me! Mdy, look here! The heathen is finally found!"


    "What?" The woman let out a gasp.


    Viscountess Obson couldn''t believe her ears so, with trembling fingers, she reached out for the piece of paper and read what was in there.


    "Oh, my goddess!" she repeatedly said, probably too consumed by emotions to think of other words to say.


    Adam was looking at thedy with a dumbfounded expression in his face. ''Heathen?''


    There was only one person that fit this description. A blurry face of a youth wearing a whitemoner clothing appeared in his mind. A guess then followed.


    ''Is it that fake messenger? Then mdy is also found?''


    His excitement must have shown in his faceter so a hand suddenly fell on his shoulder. When the young knight looked at the person on his side, he saw his captain shaking his head at him. Heposed himself then mouthed without an expression, ''I know.'' He was not allowed to make even the slightest sound at the presence of several important people...


    Prince Benedict only watched the scene. He waste to see the content in the piece of paper, but since the bishop had considerately broadcasted it a while ago, he had also arrived at the same conclusion as Adam. A strange feeling then got into the prince''s heart.


    ''The location is in the Holon Kingdom?'' Discreetly, his eyes narrowed.


    While the rest were busy celebrating and then making ns after learning that the fake messenger''s whereabouts, the prince excused himself and then secretly sent a message to the capital through one of his magicians.


    His father, the king of Borley, appeared through a mirror before him, albeit the face was blurred out. It was because the artifact''s capability was not advanced enough to let two or more peoplemunicate as if they were really standing face to face. After a few exchanges of words, a decision was reached. Prince Benedict''s request was granted and the image vanished.


    "Your Highness, congrattions."


    Despite the beads of sweat all over his face for having exhausted his limited power, the magician made an effort to tter the prince.There were no outsiders in therge room so thetter did not fear being overheard by someone unrted to them.


    Benedictughed. "It''s still early to celebrate. But I''m d to receive Royal Father''s permission. Now, which of those fools in the capital will dareugh at my decision to volunteer for this mission?"


    "Your Highness is wise," praise another attendant. "His Majesty himself approved of it. It''s a good idea to request the Pope of the Church of Wisdom to send another message to Bishop Gregory. That way, no one will be able to criticize you for suddenly joining a knight expedition leaving Borley for the Holon Kingdom."


    The man replied with a slight smile. "I simply figured that a sincere suitor will not shy away from crossing a desert or cruising an unassable sea. If I happen to be the first to be baptized by the future Queen of Holon, then it will just be a good bonus, a blessing from the Great Deity of the Nephilim..."

 Chapter 326: Agatha (24)

    Chapter 326: Agatha (24)


    Holon Kingdom. On the same day


    The talk in the tower happened because the woman was extra sensitive to danger. It was in the afternoon


    Back in the Count''s opulent residence, although faint, she managed to perceive one when a guard suddenly opened the door and reported some nonsense. As expected the count, who was angered for a sensitive talk was disrupted, heavily rebuked that person. Agatha also showed displeasure and even wanted to punish the other. However, not long after, she realized that something weird then remembered that her senses had actually warned her of some sort of danger a while ago.


    So why was it so? Where was the danger?


    ''It''s odd If the guard only wanted to be heard, there should have been no need for him to create a wide gap through the door'' Back then, she mused.


    Afterward, she fell into silence. So was the Count who saw her reaction and then arrived at the same conclusion. She momentarily closed her eyes.


    For almost an hour, there were not only two people in the ce, but three It was actually very funny.


    The two of them were so engrossed in their conversation that they failed to notice that an intruder had been in the same room and perhaps, even sat on one of the vacant chairs while listening to their talks. Nonsense! Since the topic of their conversation was very sensitive, none of them, of course, cked off for even a moment. What if the servants or any random person overheard and then reported them to the authorities? They couldn''t allow that, could they?


    And thus, from the beginning, they were very alert and monitored even the little insectsing and going in the room. Yet, in the end, they still failed to detect the presence of that intruder!


    Agatha, with the Count''s permission, immediately scattered sleep poison in the whole mansion causing everyone apart from the two of them to fall into a very deep slumber. Their thinking was that no matter how fast the other party was, he or she would still at least take a minute to get outside the count''s residence.


    But to their dismay, they underestimated the trespasser.


    With cold faces, the two split up to scour the city for that person. Depending on the situation, if ever they found him and discovered that he was very strong, then retreat. If not any stronger than the Count, then kill.


    Through some luck, Agatha managed to find the suspect in the semi-abandoned observatory a hundred-meter east of the royal pce. There were still guards there. However, it was very easy to pass by them as she could simply scatter some powder to knock them down. It was in this way that she reached the top floor of the tower.


    Yet in all the time that she was there, or in actuality from the time she began ascending thest two flights of stairs, she felt a very unsettling feeling eating her heart. And it intensified uponying eyes upon the mysterious person standing before a huge open window.


    The strangeness in her chest was probably the reason why she unconsciously called, ''Milord''. Even though in this world, only the king was worthy of being addressed that way by her.


    "May I know what''s in milord''s mind?" This was what she specifically asked the youth.


    When she saw the calmness in his eyes, she felt cold sweat running down her spine. The reason for the unnerving feeling was this. The youth had purposely guided her there!


    A bit frightened by the realization, she hurriedly took back her words. "It''s not my intention to be presumptuous. If milord does not want me to pry, please pretend that I, this insignificant woman, did not ask."


    She received augh and a very carefree reply from the other, "Hey, I''m but a youngster. This kingdom, although only strong in military and stupid in the rest, always has a good tradition to respect the old. You''re obviously older than me. So don''t act around me like that, Auntie."


    ''Auntie''


    If not for the dangerous feeling she was getting from the other, she would have poisoned him to death or had him executed. Now, she only dared to be resentful in her heart. On the outside though, she said, "Okay, milord."


    "Inflexible," he remarked. She didn''t reply, her mind busy guessing why this kind of person would eavesdrop on two witchcraft users.


    "Is it true that you, a respectable Royal Consort, went to Borley? To coax the royalty there to pry some secrets from the Pope of Penemue?" All of a sudden, the other asked.


    "Yes." She chose to be honest.


    "Fool," he said while crossing his arm and sitting on the windowsill. He seemed to not mind his dangerous position, that if the wind strongly blew over and swept him away, he would fall from a height of more than ten meters.


    He disdainfully looked at her and continued, "Once you hand over the method, do you believe that shameless bunch will not dy giving you your needed information with the excuse that they will first have to verify its validity? By the looks of it, you are so desperate and in love with that king that you won''t dare swap the information with a fake. But then, once they have a genuine Nephil, do you think they''ll still hand over the cure or that whatever they got from the Pope of Penemue?"


    "It''s the honor of two royal houses put in line."


    Hearing her reply, the youth acted as if he just remembered something. He eximed in an exaggerated manner, "Oh my goodness, I just remembered something. That even if they have it, all they will tell their inquirer is this; the cure to infertility is to grind up pig testicles and mix it with boiled wine before drinking it. Are you aware that its effectiveness is very suspicious? That in all of history among those who took it, only one of out a thousand managed to get cured? And it''s for males."


    He seemed to be enjoying her expression. He chuckled before adding, "Oh, wait. I just remembered another thing That you''ll put the honor of the Holon royal house for that kind of answer. May I ask again, really, will you?"


    The shocked woman couldn''t give an answer. For a long while, her open mouth moved but no understandable word came out of her rosy lips.


    For the past years, all she had been thinking about was to get a child and put herself in a throne. She had done so much, evenmitting the taboo of disclosing to outsiders a secret that only elders of her coven could have known. Why? No How? How could she ept that kind of answer?


    ''He must be lying.'' For people who didn''t want to ept the truth, denial would always follow. ''Yes, he must be lying.''


    Agatha''s mind denied epting what he just said, and through that, she regained her calm.


    "Milord, I know you are more powerful than me and my colleague. You might even be more powerful than my coven leader. But it''s not absolute that power means knowledge. I implore milord not to tease me like that."


    "How can you be sure I''m not one of those with both power and wisdom? I even guessed about your problem. I can, of course, know what''s going on between you and the Borley royals behind the scene."


    "Isn''t it because you have heard my exchange with my colleague?" she cautiously asked.


    "Oh, I see. So that''s why my words sound suspicious. Then tell me. Are you only going to believe it if it is said personally by that old man?"


    "Yes." Without a change in her expression, Agatha did not hesitate to reply.


    The youth dressed like a rich merchant''s heir stared at her quietly for a long while. The air between them seemed to have be stagnant. His silence was making it hard for her to breathe.


    But then a reaction came from him, a heartyugh actually, and then a feeling of panic rose from within her. Why was this personughing? Because his lies were found out? Or because he was finding her funny?


    "Sorry. I just found your answerughable," a minuteter, the youth stoppedughing but the unnerving smirk on his lips stayed.


    ''It''s honestly notforting to know what made youughed. It''s indirectly, it''s me.'' she thought in her mind.


    Still smiling slightly, the other person said, "You can believe whatever you want. If you prefer, you can also go ahead with your transaction with the royals of Borley. Anyways, it won''t be long before you realize your mistake."


    "Who are you, milord?" she asked after seeing him stood up on the window sill. The height of the window was just perfect for him, so he did not have to bend even a little bit.


    "Those who refused my oracle are not fit to know even my title." That was what echoed for almost ten seconds in her ears.


    Before she knew it, the person whose back was facing the direction of the sun disappeared. When Agatha rushed over to the window and looked down, her eyes widened.


    The viiness found no person falling from there. He vanished without a trace, as if he was not there all along.


    While furiously thinking how could a person right before her eyes could disappear just like that, a piece of paper fluttered in front of her. She grabbed it thoughtlessly.


    ''Tonight, you''ll get diarrhea.''


    That ridiculous line was the first thing she read there, making her feel it was hard to breathe again. It was followed by a meetup ce, a date, and a name that was perhaps, an alias. James.


    That time, none of the information contained there was taken seriously by her.


    It was only this evening when she really experienced some problems with her bowels that she remembered the piece of paper. By then, due to feeling so ufortable and taking a few trips in the bathroom that she would assume that the man was truly somebody with a predictive ability...


    The suffering woman was totally unaware, he only made his wife jealous to achieve that effect...

 Chapter 327: Agatha (25)

    Chapter 327: Agatha (25)


    Since the encounter, the royal consort had be restless but listless, having so many things in her mind that there was barely any energy and motivation left in her weakening body.


    It was not noticeable at first, but those in frequent contact with her saw that her appetite kept worsening and she was not doing most of what she used to love to do. Why was that? What could have caused this? Look, she was not even ying her favorite small schemes against the Duchess at the balls and gatherings.


    "What happened, my beloved?" the king, Francis IV, asked her one time. This man in his mid-thirties was barely worthy as a ruler, but as lover and a husband, perhaps, even Jiang Li had to learn from him.


    However, to this king''s deep set of ck eyes that were overflowing with love and concern, Agatha only shook her head, refusing to answer his question. Frustrated, the king could only order to invite more magicians and entertainers toe more often to the pce. He also began to throw more parties in hopes the festivities could help uplift her mood.


    All his efforts were admirable, especially given his ster status, but they did little to achieve his purpose.


    Since the woman''s downcast mood stayed for almost a week, even Marian, the Duchess, began to notice the change.


    At the ducal residence, Marian, who had easily adapted to her life as the new pearl of the Holon Kingdom felt very strange as she listened to herdies-in-waiting. They were talking about the sweet but secretly evil Agatha.


    ''What happened to that woman? Why has she been so quiettely?''


    Don''t mistake her questions as a sign of concern. Marian was a very gentle and lovely girl with a heart softer than the most tender persimmon, yet after being put to near-death state several times, she lost hope that she and that woman could get along.


    Only brainless would continue to desire to befriend somebody wanting her dead for a secret that she only learned identally.


    Now, hearing Agatha''s condition, all she wished was to know what caused the change. What happened to her? What made her so quiettely? Once she learned it, she would make sure to put firewood on the fire! She would make sure to make the reason stay for a bit longer so she could have more breathing space.


    "Dear, you''re spacing out again Please pay attention. Your fingers are very lovely and like pieces of art. If you identally puncture even one of them, even I will feel sad." The voice pulled her back to reality.


    She was holding a piece of cloth held in ce by a wooden embroidery hoop. The location was in was the balcony of her room, one of the best spots in the ducal mansion that was receiving the most sunlight at noon. Where else would stitching be best done if not here?


    After being reminded, Marian froze, repeatedly batted her eyshes, then giggled. "Oh. I''m sorry, I will make sure to pay attention from now on."


    Her focus then went back to her embroidery, ensuring her stitches would all be as perfect as possible.


    Watching her, the olddy sitting across, separated by a round table from her smile. "Good child. That''s right. With enough concentration and care, the output should not be that bad. Actually, you are making good progress with your stitches. It''sing out nice."


    The one who just spoke with her was the duke''s former nanny, Martha. She had had previously retired but came back to the mansion at the female lead''s request. Marian personally took a trip to invite her back as she had heard from a reliable source that Martha was one of the very few closest to the duke''s heart.


    Raised in this era and fully knowing a husband''s love could determine what kind of life a wife would live, she strived to win his affection despite promising a divorce after three or so years of marriage. The nanny was somebody Andre Grey valued. So she became Marian''s first step to conquer the duke''s heart.


    The first step became very crucial as Andre Grey was somebody with almost a heart of stone. Anyway, the journey had been hard, but after a few months of hard work, love, and sincerity, she was close to winning. She was still ying the emotional game with him, although part of this was dictated by the plot. On whether she knew this fact or not deep inside her, only she knew, as for now, all her care was to be in a loving and secure rtionship. Marian was not the most intelligent woman in the love, but as a woman who suddenly woke up in a foreign body and life, the duke had be her sce and fortress.


    "I''m doing my best to make the lion in the pattern look as imposing and close to real version as possible. Still, please look and don''t shy away from giving me your honest impression. Does the set of colors I used match the crest''s image? Do you think the duke will like this kind of handkerchief?" she asked with a hopeful tone.


    Looking at her bright eyes shining with no desire but to please the duke, the nanny heartilyughed. "Of course! Have some more confidence, my dear. You did a great job. After all, it not only has this house precious crest, but a lovely wife''s love."


    She instantly looked bashful. Martha''s words made her lower her face that reddened like a ripe apple.


    As a qualified female lead, her former looks were already over the top, making her a beauty of the century like Agatha. But now that she was in Margarette Holon''s body, she became prettier than before. Long curly blond hair and blue eyes reminiscent of sapphire moonlight, paired with her delicate temperament, who would dare say that she was not the pearl of the whole Mu continent?


    Her reaction was not only witnessed by the nanny stillughing loudly before her, but by the twenty-six years old duke who was actually standing near the door to the balcony. He had been watching them for almost a minute. Looking at the warm interaction between his gorgeous wife and his former nanny, a smile slowly formed on his thin lips.


    The oblivious Marian only noticed the man after finding it odd that the gossipmongers outside had quietened down. It was her secret joy listening to the merry discussion about the royals of the country, why did they stop?


    When she looked at the direction her maids should be, she then understood the reason. There stood a tall and imposing figure looking so handsome in his court getup. She had no idea how long he had been there.


    "Dear!" It was the woman who eximed in shock.


    What happened next was the clich of most western and eastern medieval-themed love stories.


    An excited female lead stood up due to either excitement or surprise. Since she was doing embroidery, the needle stabbed her finger, and it was seen by the male lead. A secondter, the male lead came to her hand and brought the pricked finger into his mouth.


    The rest Don''t ask for the rest. The author dies so no continuation. Just kidding. Here was the continuation


    "Why is it so hard for you to take care of yourself more?" Voice filled with faked anger, Andre Grey chastised the woman.


    Marian flinched at his also faked emotionless stare, then her eyes darted everywhere.


    All in her little and charming head were worries about how many eyes had witnessed her embarrassing scene, why he suddenly did what he did, why she was so stupid to prick herself, why her chest felt like it would burst at any moment, and why he was being irrationally angry.


    This all swirled in her mind while the man was seriously applying ''treatment'' on her injured finger. It was seriously a scene that would make single people have a stomach ache, or wish to stab these two to death.


    Only a very small minority, even from those around, thought they were cute together. The others who had seen simr scenes between the female lead and male lead were too tired of watching the same spectacle.


    "Why are you not speaking now?" The duke once again rebuked using that same tone after freeing his mouth.


    Marian felt it hard to meet his scorching gaze. "I, I''m sorry. It''s an ident. I''ll be careful from now on."


    "Promise?" He obviously cared so much for her well-being.


    "Promise," she nodded.


    Still holding her hand, the male lead had her sit back down. He then ordered a servant to ask the butler for his best ointment.


    With a smile on her aged face, the nanny said, "Oh, my dear Andre. How have you been? And do you know what she said earlier to me when I told her to be careful of the needle? It is the exact thing! But look what happened in just a minute after she vowed that to me! Save "


    The female lead looked down and she appeared lovelier as she blushed from embarrassment. Did she look so foolish just now? Concerns and all sorts of thoughts rushed through her head. She didn''t know that in certain people''s eyes, her actions only made her more charming. Look, she was so cute, the duke felt an itch in his heart that then led him into kissing the top of her head.


    Witnessing this, some secretly squealed in their hearts, either envying the luck of the girl and wishing they were the ones in her ce, or simply admiring the affection between the husband and wife.

 Chapter 328: Agatha (26) <2-in-1>

    Chapter 328: Agatha (26) <2-in-1>


    After a few minutes of idle talk and random flirting, the two were left alone and for a while, the atmosphere between them became solemn. It started when Marian asked about his meeting with the king and the other ministers.


    In the Holon Kingdom, a court meeting regrly happened between the king and his wise subjects every three days. As a duke holding a military post and a vast fief, Andre Grey was of course more than qualified to attend that. He was also someone with a good, albeit stubborn, head on his shoulders.


    Yet not everyone in the court was like him. Not all fitted to attend qualified through wits and merits. Some only managed to get there through lineage and glory of their ancestors. When the wise and the foolish mingled... could there be a good oue? If yes, how long would it take to show up? When opinions shed, even if a nice decision could be made, it would surely take days, if not weeks. After all, the majority would be stubborn or felt like they were the wisest.


    Although most of the kingdoms faced the same problem, Holon Kingdom was proven the worst in management because most of the kings were also short-sighted or half-hearted about the management.


    For example, the current one, although more decent than his predecessors, was still not cut out from a different mold. He was frequently neglecting his duties for impromptu excursions and other fun activities. When in court, he let everyone there fight and debate to their heart content instead of immediately making judgments. Another reason was Agatha, who loved demanding his time to prove his affection.


    Marian knew of this problem and she was quite distressed for her husband. She knew Andre was witty yet not that strong enough to create a huge change. Many a time, she couldn''t help butpare the system of government here with her own kingdom, Borley. Both were monarchies, yet the effectiveness of the ruling sses of these two kingdoms was like the difference between heaven and earth. Who knew how many times she had shaken her head at this truth?


    Afterforting and coaxing herining husband, the talk between them finally shifted to the real issue Marian wanted to explore.


    "The Royal Consort seems to be ill," the male leadmented after describing what he heard from the people in the pce.


    ''It''s almost the same as what my maids said... I didn''t know how they got the information.''


    She fell silent after. Half a minuteter, he asked what she was thinking.


    With fear faintly flickering across her eyes, she looked up to the man entrapping her in his arms. " Would you despise me if I showed how bad I am actually inside, wishing she stays ill for a bit longer? No, forever?"


    She could smell his masculine scent and he was driving her into addiction. So thinking that her statement would cause her to lose his favor was making her fearful. Yet what was the love of a man that could not even stand such a small test from her? The girl waited patiently for his reply.


    Heughed. He could see through her concern so he nted a gentle kiss on her forehead. "Don''t worry, my wife. I won''t. In my opinion, your wish is still so nave, testifying to your good nature. Had it been me, I would even wish for her death. She''s a horrible woman anyways. Remember that she not only attempted to assassinate you once..."


    The girl closed her eyes. "That''s precisely the reason I wish for her to merely be ill for a long time. I don''t want to be like her, wanting somebody''s death without heavy justifications. But I also don''t want her to make my life difficult anymore. I hope she just stays like that and allots more time in reflecting about life, not about taking others'' lives."


    The man let out a helpless sigh thenined to the heavens. "What should I do with you? You''re practically a hopeless little saintess, my wife!"


    His exmation garnered sweetughter from her. "Oh, milord. Your reactions too... I can''t help falling in love when you''re being like this."


    At her reply, he gave her an equally helpless look which then turned into a doting one. The female lead was also giving him a passionate gaze.


    If somebody like Jiang Li, who rarely had good opinions about the leads, heard and saw the exchange, a corner of his mouth would have twitched by now. And he would have knocked these two out or tossed them into an icyke to make them reflect. Saintess? What kind of saintess would say something poisonous such as wishing for somebody to remain sick forever? How was she good-natured that way? Because she didn''t immediately wish for someone''s death, but for a lifetime of suffering?


    Sometimes, viinesses and bad people were more likable since they were true to their nature and would not be as hypocritical as this pair of character leads.


    Fakepliments or exaggerated praises were only okay for appearances, but when pointed to character, even though it was opposite of what it should have meant, it was a different matter altogether. Not even if it was done to appease or tter a loved one. For example, it was okay to say one''s wife was the fairest of all, but it was not okay to emphasize that she was the kindest of all if her personality was like Agatha''s or Margarette''s...


    Anyways, back to the leads


    Marian steered the talk to its serious tone, still asking about Agatha''s affairs. It had taken her a long time to summon the courage to tell Andre of that woman''s real identity. She only did after ensuring the man trusted her enough to not easily dismiss her words.


    At this point, the duke was a yes-wife man so he ordered a portion of his men to focus on investigating the matter. To his surprise, his wife did not seem to be making baseless usations. While he had yet to get a tangible proof that Agatha was a witch, some of her acquaintances, close or not, were showing signs that they were believers of fallen angels. It was making him believe she really was, or at least, rted to at least one!


    "One of my men managed to intercept a secret letter detailing a covert meeting thising Saturday, 2 am at a remote part of the city. The location is a property of a wealthy horse breeder," in one breath, he told her. The man looked at her quietly and then added, "If the Royal Consort is indeed one of the coven members, then she or somebody closely associated with her will turn up in that ce. I n to go with my men to check."


    The female lead widened her eyes at what she heard. Shortly after, on her face that initially turned nk from disbelief began to show great excitement. "My dear, that could be a chance! To prove that she is a witch! Even if she won''t personally go, I''m sure one of the people there will have items that prove she is."


    "I know." What she said was obvious after all.


    Determination red up in her eyes and she dered, "I want to go! Milord, please bring me with you!"


    "... No," was his firm reply.


    The death-seeking female lead immediately jumped in protest. "Why not!"


    The next scene became, ''I only told you the secret to make you aware of the situation, but don''t think ofing with us'', ''But I am an involved party. I have the right to be in the operation!'', ''No, I can''t allow any part of you to be harmed!'', ''Ohe on. Don''t be like this, milord. Rest assured, I will take care of myself. I won''t be a burden to anyone in your group so let me tag along!'', ''Still, no!'', ''... You sleep outside for a whole month.''


    In the end, the husband had to agree due to the power of plot, cough, persuasion of the female lead.


    Time flew by. In just a few hours, it was already dinner time. In actuality, the conversation between the two leads had long finished. But for some reason, they didn''t immediatelye out of the second floor''s balcony. None from those in the inner room dared to barge outside and see how those two were doing. After all, what if they were in the middle of baby-making and they were interrupted by them? They would then be sinners and received the wrath of the male lead!


    Alright, so the situation remained like that and all the servants tacitly avoided the ce.


    None of them were aware that in actuality, the two leads did want to do some love-making since nobody was around. But due to some invisible person''s whimsical actions, they had yet to undress before they ended up being frozen with only their noses not caged in ice. They temporarily turned into odd but beautiful ice sculptures in the balcony. The fierce rays of the afternoon sun barely managed to melt the mini-iceberg and it was only an hourter that the magic applied to them disappeared.


    Andre Grey was so angry, but due to a period of being trapped in cold, he couldn''t move and speak well for some time. The male lead even trembled badly at the slightest touch of the wind. He would have been all red from embarrassment if his dear wife was conscious. But thankfully, Marian was not, she fainted at the fifteen-minute mark. The ordeal showed Andre how fragile the female lead was.


    Anyway, the man was very angry at the unknown perpetrator, but he didn''t even see the shadow of the person so he had no clue who it was. The servants and knights too, to his great annoyance were all not nearby. For a long period of time, his heart was like a raging volcano in his chest, yet there was no way to vent. The helplessness made him vow to hunt the evil magician, even if he had to approach his uncle, the Pope of Gadreel, the god of war.


    As for the guy he vowed to hunt?


    The guy had stealth abilities that not even a viiness specializing in dark arts could detect. Who else in the kingdom could it be? Of course, it was Jiang Li.


    The person was already outside, mingling with the normal city folks while praying to not run into his wife''s loyal guards.


    He was feeling regret that he couldn''t throw the two leads in the pond in the beautiful garden below. If only the servants wouldn''t be alerted he kept on saying to himself.


    This guy spied on the leads in passing while escaping from Margarette who seemed bent on keeping him tied to her waist all the time. The unnned trip to the ducal residence was fruitful. Yet because he got annoyed by the hypocrisy and flirting of the leads, especially since the face was originally Margarette''s, he chose to give them trouble a little.


    Anyway, the plot should not retaliate on him since those two did not die, right?


    When he immediately got found by Margarette and had to deal with the anger, he felt that it was the plot''s retaliation, if he was not thinking too highly of himself and one-sidedly assuming things...

 Chapter 329: Agatha (27)

    Chapter 329: Agatha (27)


    The news about the whereabouts of the heathen wanted by the Church of Wisdom ted the whole castle of Viscount Obson. Adam and a group of knights and mercenaries were tasked to set out right away. The preparation for the journey did not even take more than five hours.


    It wasmon knowledge that it was faster to travel by horse than on foot, especially if the group was onlyprised of elites and experienced horse riders. The Viscount seemed very eager to rescue his youngest child so he ordered the rescuers to go as fast as they could. Each rider was even given extra horses with them so once the one they were riding on became exhausted, they could rest for some time, feed it then continue with the travel using the backup horses.


    It was in this way that in just two weeks, Adam''s group immediately covered half the distance of what Jiang Li had traveled in one and half months.


    But while this sounds like a feat, Adam and co did not actually travel all day long. Every night they stopped by a town or vige. Although the people from the Obson castle could actually do some more traveling at night and even sleep outside, only one time did they spend a night camping and sleeping in the open when they really couldn''t find a vige to enter.


    As for why it was so, it was not Adam''s consideration for his men. It was because they were with an esteemed noble''s son. They had to be considerate of this person and was challenged to make the ride as fast yet also asfortable as possible.


    The esteemed noble''s son who suddenly tagged along with them was the guy who stayed with the bishop of Penemue for three months. He said his name was Benedict, and he had received a decree from the king of Borleans. He was ordered toe to the Holon Kingdom and deliver a secret message to the Royal Consort. Before the departure, the bishop repeatedly warned them not to slight this royal messenger hence the numerous stopover.


    "It is nearing dusk again!"


    Adam lightly swept his gaze to the left to see who shouted that. There he found the nobleman looking at him. It was apparent that the words were said to him.


    Closely following the male lead behind were the mounted soldiers of Castle Obson. Not many of them truly were that loyal to the youngdy so when they saw a vige in the distance, they immediately pointed it out to Adam.


    "Leader, there is still an hour or two before sunset. Are we going to pass by or stop there for the night?"


    The armored knight was referring to Adam.Yup, he was the one leading this time, not because his liege was giving him chance to redeem himself, but because the captain was not to leave the Lady''s side per the Viscount''s order.


    The male leads'' hands, like the rest of the men riding with him, were holding more than one rope. All of them, apart from Benedict, only had one hand tightly grasping the rein of their own horse, the other was securing the rope binding the other horses by the neck.


    Yet Adam did not seem worried that he could fall off at any time. Withoutmanding the horse to slow down, he craned his neck towards the vige spotted by hispanion, his gaze seemed to be at what was beyond it.


    "I''m afraid we will not be able to find another ce to stay." His vice-leader came to his side and said.


    The male lead frowned. If he was given a choice, since the sun was still high in the sky, he wanted everyone to venture further. But seeing how the men were low in spirits, he then announced loudly so those whose ears might be ringing due to the wind could still hear him, "Although it''s still early, let''s check the ce."


    His colleagues nodded in agreement, secretly d that they would not have to simply pass by and pretend that the settlement did not exist. Adam led them to the vige''s direction, exiting a mini-forest and crossing a shallow river. Their lower garments became wet and dirty due to the mud from the waters.


    Once they officially entered vige under the gazes of several locals, Adam asked the first viger he saw how far was the next town and vige. Then after hearing that the nearest would take half a day on horseback, he came to a decision, "Everyone, it seems we can only stay the night here."


    Upon hearing this, the knights gave him a weak grin. They slowed down to not cause an unnecessarymotion and then stopped near the center of the vige.


    The male lead took a deep breath before getting off from the horse''s back. It was probably around 4:30 in the afternoon when they came there. A couple of minutes or so, he went out of the vige head''s house, obtaining permission to pass the night there. Since his men had been apanying him on this journey for weeks, he allowed them to do whatever they want for the rest of the day. If they want, they could visit the tavern, or just sleep early.


    He saw the noble son get off his own horse, frowning for a couple of seconds before heading towards the sole inn at the center. He was sure this person who was amiable when talking to knights was not happy to settle in a small vige. But who cares about his opinion? There was no better choice anyway.


    Adam? He walked around, gathering information. Since there was still some time before dusk, the vigers were still outside, maximizing the light from the sun to get some more work done. He took advantage of this fact and like what he did in the previous towns and settlements. asking around about his lord, the Viscount''s daughter, and the scammer, a boy aged seventeen and eighteen. He considered all scenarios and focused on inquiring if there were two people pretending to be a couple, brother and sister, or just anything possible who came here together. He emphasized that one could be sick and had to lie all day in a cart or be carried by the other.


    "This ce is frequented by people crossing the borders of the Borley Kingdom and the Holon Kingdom. If you mean if we saw a pair of travelers passing by, then there are two many to mention, Sir Knight. ," said a kind and honest looking middle-aged farmer, shaking his head. "It''s hard to remember all. I''m just a farmer who''s even having trouble counting more than four dozen."


    "Can you dig more into your memories? Perhaps, there''s one among the many pairs who stood out more than the others. I''m sorry to trouble you, but please do try to recall."


    The farmer adapted a thinking pose, falling silent. Half a minuteter, he spoke. "Hmm. There''s indeed a pair. But they are with a caravan protected by several mercenaries. They stayed for several days since the head merchant of the caravan fell ill. When this merchant recovered, he did not immediately lead the people away as he had many things to purchase from the locals. Because of this, that pair also stayed longer with us. One always wore a hood, looking gloomy and cheerful at the same time. It''s hard to describe this person. I only know she''s quite talkative. As for the other"


    Looking at the man before him who suddenly paused, Adam had a weird feeling in his heart. Several fragments of memories shed across his mind. This same situation... had happened in the other ces too.


    "Is there a problem with thepanion of that hooded girl?" he asked anxiously.


    The farmer temporarily ced his plowing tools down and wiped the sweat on his forehead."That young philosopher is a true man of wisdom so it''s hard to forget about him. Young Sir Knight, you won''t believe what he''s done for us. Many in the vige are illiterate so it''s really moving when that person left us aplete set of teaching material which helped many of the children learned to not only recognize the alphabet, but even write them. Wait for me, I''ll just wrap things up here then you cane with me to my house so I can show you."


    "Thank you for your kindness." Adam''s face was expressionless as he helped the farmer carry the heavy iron tools.


    A dozen minutester, the male lead of Borley Kingdom was feelingplicated upon seeing familiar yet unfamiliar handwriting which he had seen in the other towns and viges. It was really the same person But as for which kingdom''s writing had been imparted by that scammer, he had yet to know. It was not his ce too to judge whether that person''s deed was noble or not. He only knew that for these people who had been mocked for not even knowing what reading and writing were, his deeds were huge acts of kindness.


    Adam bid farewell to the farmer and roamed around more, doing the same. When the night sky formally descended, he then followed his friends and got himself a room in the inn.


    Hearing of what he did beforeing there, Benedict, the kind but judgmental noble son, jokingly said, "Great Sir Adam, I heard you''ve been mingling with the local peasants beforeing here. Why are you even asking around when you know they are located in the capital of the Holon Kingdom?"


    The man only gave a thin smile and replied, "Your Grace, I''m aware of how my deeds will look like to others. But I can''t just rx without doing anything to check mdy''s health and mental state on the journey."


    To Adam''s good show of loyalty, Benedict fell silent. The disguised prince then praised him and openly said his wish to have a knight as thoughtful as Adam under him. He was not aware that he had been fantasizing too much to ask for the loyalty of a lovesick male lead.

 Chapter 330: Agatha (28)

    Chapter 330: Agatha (28)


    The journey of the knights continued. The most optimistic estimation determined that they would arrive in another half a month. If something happened along the way, then it could be dragged to another week or two.


    The next main event in the Holon Kingdom would not be able to wait for them as it would take ce this Saturday, two days from the next day that dawned upon them.


    Jiang Li never separated from Margarette. She was also informed of everything he learned from the leads. It was not that the girl had a curiosity about the one using her former body now, but that she was interrogating him why he had to spy on those people. Her cold attitude was from the fact that he seemed to have gone there specifically for a woman. It did not matter who, as long as it was a woman, she would be annoyed.


    He had to say, it was hard to deal with her jealousy It was not the type who brings harm to her partner directly. As she once reiterated, it was stupidity for a person tosh out their anger on their partner because it was not their partner''s fault that they were attractive. The one receiving the wrath should be the irritating clowns who kept showing themselves to them instead of knowing their ce in the corner.


    As expected, his wife was a genius. Jiang Li praised her in his heart, a smile lighting up his face.


    Yet with that said, his actual main job was to prevent her from plotting some women''s death or misfortune. After all, she seemed very proficient in that.


    "What I married is a real viiness and not a female lead." Augh escaped from him.


    He shook his head, secretly watching her deal with ounts about her various shops and businesses. It was at times like this where she was busy with something where her face would be the most peaceful, eyes shining with both intelligence and vitality. At a nce, it was obvious that Margarette was obsessed in her career just as much she was possessive of him.


    ''That''s not necessarily bad,'' he thought to himself.


    What he didn''t know was that every time he secretly observed her, she would detect it. It was the same stalking instinct which allowed her to always know his whereabouts. Each time he left to practice his own magic or body arts, she would also perceive it, and then revert to her scary expressionless face.


    It was intentional on her part to look serious and workaholic whenever he was around.


    And well, it was not a sin to strive to only show one''s best side to a loved one. Although Margarette had no doubt that no matter what she became, Jiang Li would never turn his back on her, it was etched in her mind both as Jiang Ying Yue''s incarnation, and as a daughter of a king to always appear most lovable to one''s husband.


    So she hid one fact from him. That actually, every day, he would take out a roughly made straw doll with a piece of paper with the name of the royal consort buried somewhere in the tied straws.


    She did this when he was not looking, regrly refreshing the curse put on Agatha.


    That was, in fact, what made the viiness listless all-week long


    Who knew if Jiang Li already realized.


    But Margarette''s greatest shoring was her strong sense of territorialism where she couldn''t tolerate others coveting orying hands on what belonged to her. Agatha unknowingly vited two, and even in her presence. Yes, back then, she was looking in from the outside. She saw that not did that woman speak with her husband, but step foot in her observatory. Of course, she could only transform into a tigress whose tail was stepped on.


    Inside her workroom, she harrumphed coldly, breaking the silence, as the memory had irritated. The straw doll silently appeared in her hands. Given the princess'' anger, it would be lucky for Agatha to walk out of her curse within two weeks.


    Oh, well, the poor woman was not really lucky As she had no choice but pay a huge price for an elder witch''s great potions just to alleviate her condition. It was because she could no longer stand the stares she was getting from the maids and the other people that could enter her residence.


    Her status was her pride. So when she was looked at so oddly like that without regard to her status, she felt that her bones were being trampled on.


    "Gosh" Since there was nobody else in the room, Agatha let the relief and moved expression show in her face. She might even be crying now if not for her innate stubbornness and clinging to the never extinguished pride.


    It had been more than a week!


    A minute after ingesting the extremely costly potion, the thought shed across and her eyes darkened, resentment budding in her heart.


    Who was the person who cast a strange and deadly potent dark art against her? And why? A new enemy? Or an old one?


    Agatha actually had a lead. But like before, she could only harbor hatred in her heart. Usually, her style was to immediately counterattack when aggravated. But this time, there was no whatsoever courage within her to look for that youth or provoke him. Even if it was to simply ask if it was him.


    The woman could only force herself to not think about the matters.


    She also pretended to not have verified the method and information about the cure that the youth mentioned.


    What about ''Margarette Holon''? Although low in spirits, she had not forgotten about this other thorn on her side. In fact, when she was ill, knowing that woman would survive due to the duke who had suddenly started showing his affection and overprotectiveness, she switched her targets of harassment into him. Since he began to put that stupid woman under his wings, then suffer for her too!

 Chapter 331: Agatha (29)

    Chapter 331: Agatha (29)


    A viiness would never stop targeting the leads, at least not of her own volition. And even if she was in the darkest period of her life, she would still be able toe up with ways to torment the protagonists.


    Since the third day Agatha fell ill and realized she would have to stop attending tea parties and balls, she had the ministers and officers from her allied aristocratic families begin giving troubles to the Duke.


    It was not simply limited to the court. The duke was also getting troubled by sudden business and territorial disputes that none of his subordinates could deal with anymore. He had to personally step up, frequently frowning after realizing that he had been targeted.


    Probably due to pride, Andre Grey chose to hide this fact from his lovely wife. The man wanted to solve everything in the shadows and made it appear as if there had been no problems underneath in the first ce. In this way, the duchess would not worry, and even felt like the disease had made the enemy woman stop attacking her.


    It was through one''s silence about his troubles that the rtionship between the two lovebirds could keep burning strong, like an unkible fire.


    And Agatha, she was more than happy to watch how the game with the leads would y out. Of course, whenever she could, she would make things difficult for the duke. As a royal consort, even if she was lying in bed due to her ''illness'', it was not hard to give verbal instructions... For example, she could hint to her maid to tell a certain minister to not approve this and that... This was exactly what she did in the past week that she was troubled by the curse.


    A day passed since her recovery and Agatha began walking around. Yet, since her body was still quite weak from the continuous days of diarrhea, she couldn''t exert herself much so she returned to her room.


    To not be killed by boredom, she secretly and briefly checked on the people she knew through a crystal ball. One image shed across her eyes after another. Her guesses, the ones mentioned above were confirmed, and her heart felt ted.


    "Collective power can really make a difference"


    She sighed with emotion after seeing the face of young Marquis Steffan which seemed more radiant than usual as he smiled. His expression was practically a mirror of what the other retainers looked like.


    Once done watching for a minute, she put away the crystal ball and summoned herdies-in-waiting to prepare her a table of desserts and drinks.


    While the setting of the table was ongoing, she sat before it and ced both her elbows on the tabletop, her smooth and fair chin cupped by her hands.


    "Everyone. I''m bored. Tell me about anything to entertain me." Without pretense, she ordered herdies-in-waiting.


    Those with her were loyal so they naturallyplied. Aware of what could uplift her mood, which was the suffering of people Agatha didn''t see eye to eye, the maids began with Duchess and Duke Grey.


    As said above, Agatha had begun to shift harassment to thetter, nning to wear down the shield that kept safe the delicate princess behind it.


    The duke had been a great power in the court by himself. After all, he was one of the only two dukes in the country, the other being a true rtive of the royals. But he was someone who has traditional and unconditional belief to the power of the divine sword passed down from generation to generation of the Greys. He deemed it not necessary to curry favor or gain the friendship of the other aristocratic families. So right, he was a great power by himself And he was by himself.


    The noble Grey family owned a vast fief, which bordered an almost endless desert in the west. It was under constant threats of sand barbarians who believed in so-called totem powers that came from the Deity of Sun, Shamsiel.


    As the ruler of the border deterring these barbarians, the local people were very grateful to the Grey family''s protection and thought of their every n leader as god or king. Given these influences, Andre Grey, like his ancestors, thought he was really one, hence the untamed arrogance. This conceit was even carried even to the court so even the royal members had long been annoyed at him. It was not only Agatha, this viiness who was simply added to the family tree through the king''s forceful edict. There were many other Once instigated, they banded together. There was even no need for her to give hints.


    "The might of collective power of weaker people shows when pointed at a single person," her wise personal attendant sh advisormented. Her name was Sonia, and she was aware that in her master''s eyes, the Grey couple was more than a nuisance, but people she wanted to erase from the surface of Mu.


    The edges of Agatha''s charming lips arced up meaningfully. She continued to listen to the report, her mood bing better and better the more she heard about Duke Grey''s blunders and how he was being isted. Of course, she was aware that these wouldn''t really damage the Grey family in any way.


    Although a bit happy, she still regretfully shook her head. "It''s sad but in the end Andre Grey is still influential and powerful. Once he cast away his sky-high pride and announce that he is willing to ept vassals or befriend some people, many would flock to his side."


    "True, Your Highness."


    The royal consort sighed again, "It''s really regrettable If I want the duke to really fall from grace, the current situation, being isted, chances for gaining merits stolen, and having some businesses shut down, would have to stay for two to three years If he resolves it before that, he''ll still remain as a duke. And that woman, the duchess"


    "Your Highness, please don''t be discouraged. At least, we know that even if a camel is bigger than a horse and canst even when made to thirst for half a year, it is still not a divine beast that will not copse under sieges or great cmities."


    "Sonia, I really love your sweet mouth." A sweet smile blossomed from the enchanting consort.


    A merry mood permeated the air for some time. The story-telling session to amuse a bored viiness ensued.


    But a dozen minutester, while the otherdies-in-waiting were telling interesting tales to Agatha, a servant tasked with guarding outside walked in and then respectfully knelt with her two hands lifting up a bundle of fabric.


    Agatha arched her brows at the sight. Sonia did not have to be instructed to take a step forward and inspect what was in the person''s hand. "Who sent this? And what is in the bundle?"


    "Mdy, please pardon my impudence, I was instructed to bring it directly to Her Highness by" The voice of the female servant trailed off as she couldn''t recall who exactly made her barge into the opulent room. No, when she did she even get this thing?


    Noticing the sudden pause in the speech of the kneeling woman and the sweat trickling down her face, Sonia grew angry and rebuked her.


    "Preposterous! How dare youe in and present something suspicious! Based on your actions just now, you don''t even know who it came from and what is wrapped inside the clothing! What if it is an item that can endanger Her Highness'' life? Can you bear the sin? Your Highness, I propose to let her be dragged out by the guards and be beaten until all the bones in her body break! Let her death be an example to the other daring servants!"


    Agatha''s face was also dark as she was very displeased. Looking at it, the rmed female servant began to beg for life. "Your Highness! I, I have sinned. I beg for your pardon! I beg Your Highness to spare my life!"


    The woman took a deep breath and stood up from her couch. No one in the room dared to breathe due to her heavy aura. Even the fearful servant suddenly began to hold back her voice, although her tears began to stream endlessly like a river.


    Agatha was indeed angry and wanted to punish the stupid maid who ruined her mood. But she noticed that there was something wrong with this servant.


    Exhibiting signs of loss of memories and could sneak into the pce without anyone noticing


    The woman''s thoughts churned faster and faster, her face turning sour. She carefully picked up the bundled-up item and unwrapped it. A letter revealed itself to her. Sonia, as the capable and thoughtfuldy-in-waiting, handed her a letter opener.


    Not long after, she could read its content.


    [Pick us up at XXXX at 1:30 am. You know the date.]


    ''Us?'' Reading that opening, Agatha confirmed her guess. The sender was that youth. Yet what was truly rming was him saying he would being with her tomorrow to the coven''s hideout! And he hadpanions!


    The woman was truly rmed and her heart was beating loudly as she lowered her sight to see the next texts.


    [Don''t worry. I only n to sightsee.]


    [PS: the maid is innocent. If I hear any harm befell her, I guarantee you, something worse than week-long diarrhea will befall you. For now, I''m still deciding what it will be. So how about you save me the effort by not doing what I don''t encourage you to do?]


    ""


    The kneeling maid who was closest to her felt heat above her so she raised her head. "Ah! Fire!"


    Agatha unconsciously burned the piece of paper in the presence of herdies-in-waiting which became a headacheter as she had to tamper with their memories.

 Chapter 332: Agatha (30)

    Chapter 332: Agatha (30)


    Agatha was a rational female viin. That was a fact.


    She would have not been able to strike a deal with the Borlean royals if not for her wits. She would also have not been able to get so many aristocrats of Holon even with the king''s affection had she been a foolish woman.


    However, there were also times when her emotions could get into her head, no matter how intelligent she was.


    ''That youth was the one behind the one week of suffering!''


    She immediately figured it out the moment she read the letter. But although she was angry, she really did not have the courage to fight the other. At least not face to face.


    Yet she was also not content with letting bygones be bygones, or pretending it was not in her nature to counterattack when targeted.


    So to demonstrate that at least in the pce,she was the master, after burning the piece of paper, she did not immediately erase the memories of herdies-in-waiting. Sheid her sight on the ''messenger'', anger still dancing in her eyes.


    The maid hypnotized to deliver the letter was first punished with them as the witnesses, and none of them protested as they were actually the ones vouching for the punishment. The maid entered without asking for permission and even delivered something inside without checking it first.


    "Of course, it was a must to give examples to those harboring funny thoughts!" Sofia replied when Agatha ''asked'' for advice on how the ipetent girl should be dealt with.


    A day passed and the detained female servant, starved since yesterday as an initial punishment, was woken up by rudely by two of Agatha''sdies-in-waiting. Listless at first then madly begging, the girl repeatedly said that she lost memories and that she was not a spy.


    However, all her words were treated as lies and she was not released from the prisons.


    Agatha appeared."Since you refused to tell who sent you, you shall suffer the consequences of your actions alone," she mercilessly dered.


    A scream then echoed out after a few minutes of cries and pleas for mercy. A finger from one of the maid''s hand was cut, and it was toote for Agatha when she remembered that she wouldter have to face Jiang Li for the gathering of the witches.


    More or less a hundred meters away from the main gate of the pceIn the former deste manor house that had now turned into an opulent chateau


    "Hmm?" The man who was casually sitting on the table checking the stack of papers next to him suddenly turned to the direction of the pce. His hand that was holding another thin stack of documents froze in the air.


    Margarette who was seated at a table across him noticed his sudden strange behavior.


    "What''s the matter?" She asked, her voice soft and tinged with curiosity. "Is something happening outside?"


    It was a regr day, with no celebration or church holiday whatsoever taking ce and thus she was puzzled by his sudden shift of attention towards the street outside. The two were, as usual, in her office. While she was looking through the ounts and reports, he was sometimes helping out. Although most of the time, his focus was on the stack passed to him by his informants, all about Mu Continent and some interesting happenstances from the outside world.


    So what suddenly caused her husband to suddenly be this expressionless?


    There was somebody in this world, apart from her body''s former main persona, who could anger him?


    The woman''s eyes followed his movements, awaiting his reply or next actions.


    Without saying anything, the young man jumped down from his table and walked towards her direction. His next action was really a surprise to her.


    Margarette''s expression froze. He fished out her straw doll from one of her locked drawers, the one with Agatha''s name in it! All this time, Jiang Li was aware that she was keeping a straw doll for hexing purposes! But since when?


    It took the princess a long while to recover from the stupor. Her face then fell and a bit of shame emerged on it.


    "... Do I need to exin?" she asked, aware that it would be sheer stupidity to deny anything by now.


    "No," he simply said. Margarette became even more worried.


    "Really not?"


    Normally by now, he should be giving her a teasing smile. Yet he didn''t, and his reply was so short. She was more bothered when her first remark did not wipe off the seriousness in his face.


    He simply set the doll in a fire. It burned for some time, but there was no damage done to it. Margarette observed as the fire subside and the man tossed it back to the drawer with another, stronger hex cast on it.


    His action really made her feel weird and surprised.


    "I''ll go out and check something in the pce," he said.


    "Okay..." she replied while watching him disappear from the window.


    Not long after he left, she called back one of her informers in the pce and then learned that a female spy got caught and punished by the royal consort.


    That was when she realized who pissed off Jiang Li, that seemingly happy-go-lucky pacifist husband of hers. Her cheap stepmother.


    .


    Margarette''s impression of Agatha could be simply summarized as a fairly sessful mistress of her cheap and ipetent fathers. Nothing more, nothing less.


    As said before, she could co-exist practically with everyone since not even a single soul outside her own humble ptial residence remembered that she existed or made trouble for her. That woman too never ced any attention on her before. The feud the royal consort had was actually only with Marian, the new ''Margarette''. So likewise, Margarette never paid attention to Agatha either.


    Well, there was the event in the tower. But even then, Agatha only leveled up into someone with a name in her straw doll, which she could lose interest in any time soon. In fact, after a week and a half, she no longer touched the doll, which meant that she was done punishing the woman.


    If the viiness had only been a bit more patient, she would not have needed to exchange for that healing potion from an old acquaintance. Unfortunately, she had no way of knowing and luck was not on her side.


    Anyway, for the Queen of Commerce, the royal consort was simply someone in another world with her. She looked down at her. Agatha was somebody who failed to get the queen''s scepter even after ten years of mixing on the political side of the kingdom. Look, she had all the resources and the people, and most of all, the king''s love, yet let her infertility to bar her way to the throne. If she was not a failure, then what?


    Had it been Margarette and her ambition was to usurp the queen''s position, she would have seeded years ago. The viiness should be thankful her ambition was not as small as her. Yup, small, as in the girl''s mind, those struggling for political power were not that amazing, especially since the said power was very confined in a small region, unlike merchandising and other industries that knew no borders.


    To be honest, the princess'' interest in that royal consort was only piqued because of what Jiang Li said, that he was secretly from a n who had vowed to help a descendant from Agatha''s family to escape disaster once. That was all, her prior rtionship with her as members of the same royal family never made her interested in Agatha.


    It was her husband''s faithfulness to the role that allowed her to remember Agatha existed. In his terms, hebeled as an eagerness to finish themitment so he could go back to roaming the continent. He said Agatha was the first person he found, so he no longer looked for someone else. Until the promise was fulfilled he would have to stay in this area.


    Finally, it made sense why he had to travel all the way here from the Borley Kingdom. She approved of his decision as Agatha was currently a member of a messy family which meant at any given time, she would face a disaster.


    As for what happened between them due to the pce maid? Margarette, as a good wife, had no opinion and would have no problem encouraging her husband to give more punishment.


    She thought there was nothing more about the royal consort to pay attention to.


    However, hours after Jiang Li snuck into the pce to check on the situation there, something happened, which made the girl fully at odds with Agatha...

 Chapter 333: Agatha (31)

    Chapter 333: Agatha (31)


    It was now witching hours of the night. The moon hanging up high in the sky began to hide through the canopy of the mini-forest in this part of the city. Just a couple more hours and the sun would rise to dawn a new day.


    Together with Jiang Li, Margarette was trekking a ragged path, once again hiding her appearance through a thick brown cloak.


    In front of them was a woman flunked by two other hooded individuals. They were acting as guides so they would not be lost in the woods.


    Margarette''s expression was not that good actually as the royal consort kept giving Jiang Li a nce. The frown was present and could not be erased, not even if the stolen nces that making her annoyed were full of nothing but fear and apprehension.


    On the fifth time Agatha stole a nce at Jiang Li, Margarette could no longer stand it. "Stop looking back, old hag." Her voice that wasced with frost revealed her hostility.


    "Old hag?" The one receiving the hostility was startled. Her fearful gaze turned cid, shifting from the youth called James, to the girl next to him called ''Maggie''. What did the girl call her again?


    Agatha, the hooded woman walking in front, barely managed to suppress rage from emerging on her face.


    The viiness was actually not feeling well since this afternoon and she knew it was because of the retaliation of the youth for her disobedience. Even now, underneath her long ck robe, she was heavily sweating and shaking from the ever-present pain in her feet. Every step wasborious, akin to the stepping in a sea of needles. Her fear and vignce of the youth was due to what he did earlier.


    Before she got called names by the girl, her mind was on everything that took ce almost half an hour ago, the reason why she was doing her best to restrain her temper.


    The coven meeting was already over and she, together with her two bodyguards, was guiding the two out of the maze-like forest.


    However earlier at the meeting, she secretly pulled up one of the most powerful members of the coven in one corner to ask for help and instigate an attack against the trespassers. Yet, Jiang Li suddenly appeared next to her, mockingly watching them. They didn''t notice his arrival and didn''t know when he had started listening to them. If the old witch didn''t turn her head to face her, they wouldn''t know he was there. When they did notice him, not only her, but even the old witch was scared sh*tless.


    "nning to attack me?" Back then, he asked with a weird smile that had traces of amusement.


    On the next second, they saw everyone tumbling down and lying motionless on the floor. Everyone was awake, yet none of them could move. That was when they discovered all the people who had been secretly exchanging signals to attack him had been poisoned, apart from the leader, and of course, thedy sitting next to him.


    The twelve poisoned participants, including the old witch and the viiness, felt despair because even the strongest under the leader had not escaped. The poison spread without even the leader noticing. And they were only cured after thedy beside the youth told him she still wanted to listen to their discussion.


    As the memory brought her back to that part, Agatha tried her best to calm her mind and gave the girl who just spoke a good look.


    Although she was very much offended earlier, it was a fact that this ''Maggie'' had saved many from the youth. This was why she reminded herself to back her arrogance and be more polite. She said in a sweet but chastising tone, "Miss. I acknowledged that you saved us back then, but I still don''t think you should speak to someone older than you like that Remember, the Holon Kingdom citizens are known for their exemry attitude towards those older than them."


    She said that with a smile, even though beads of sweat were all over her face. As long as she was walking or standing, there would be no bloodshed. But the pain of being stabbed by thousands of needles would always haunt her.


    "Hmm?" The night was already eerie, but now the atmosphere was tenser. The girl''s expression was very icy after listening to Agatha''s speech. She continued, "Old hag, I haven''t even started showing you how sharp my tongue could be. In fact, I was being polite when I told you what you should stop doing. Yet, you''re lecturing me?"


    "Miss. I was merely saying you should know how to respect people and be more polite with your words. I don''t know why you''re taking this negatively," Agatha maintained her warm smile towards the rude girl.


    Seeing her behavior, one of the witch''s escorts butted in. "Her Highness words made sense, Miss Maggie. It''s you who are suddenly picking a fight and being unreasonable."


    "I''m being what? Unreasonable?" Her eyes scared the other witch who spoke.


    Narrowing her eyes, the girl asked again, "Hey. I''m really annoyed. What''s wrong with me hating the fact that a dirty pair of eyes keep frequently stealing nces at my husband? Should I keep quiet, even though my anger is making me feel like killing her already?"


    Margarette kept ring at the other woman, keeping the cold smile on her face.


    Truth be told, Agatha now wanted to do the same, had it not been for her current condition and thetest event. At this point, she was still not aware that it was this girl who made her lie in bed for a week due to bowel problems. Nheless, that did not dampen her desire to rip the girl''s mouth


    h. She hated being talked back to, especially after she made an effort to be civil. She would have long ordered herpanions to detain and torture the girl if not for Jiang Li''s presence around. Why was he not putting a rein on the girl?


    "Miss Maggie, I really don''t know why you''re suddenly acting like this to me. All I want to say is it''s not polite to name names to somebody my age," she could only reply, finally hinting about what had started the argument.


    "I see..." Margarette coldlyughed.


    ''What''s with this little lunatic?'' The viiness was irritated by the expression of the girl.


    While Agatha was once again annoyed by the fact that she had to control herself despite the anger in her heart, the young man was also eyeing her with a cold expression. He was next to Margarette, with no intention to side with Agatha.


    Jiang Li knew that it was his wife making trouble out of unfounded jealousy, but his opinion of the viiness dropped a lot after what she did to the maid, so he kept his silence.


    To be honest, had the woman just been obedient, he would even be kind enough to remind her never to argue with Margarette But now


    He onlyughed when the princess suddenly went forward, grabbed Agatha by the cor, and mmed her on the ground. Thetter was surprised, letting out a yelp and a moan of pain.


    "What do you think are you doing!?" Enraged, the two other witches tried to detain the girl. But then, they found that they couldn''t move. Their hearts froze, eyes sweeping towards the youth who could only be the culprit. "Sir?" Jiang Li indifferently met their gazes and shrugged.


    "Old hag." Margarette''s voice echoed after the loud violent noise made by the tree trunk''s contact with Agatha''s back. The girl was coldly looking at the viiness while her hand was on the other''s neck.


    "For somebody with no morals to lecture me, I found it very displeasing. Even if you work your whole life to impress you, you won''t ever earn my respect. So don''t ever talk about it before, alright? And most importantly, don''t ever look him in the eyes, hmm? You know, the next time you do, I''ll help you remove them from you."


    As usual, she did not raise her voice. Yet her words could strike fear in the hearts of those around.


    Was the world blind for not giving her the viiness'' role?


    The real viiness had recovered from her stunned state and began to struggle from the hand of the girl. It had always been a rule that viins would never fail to rescue themselves from leads and would be equally unkible until the end of the story. So despite the iron-like grip on her neck, she was able to escape from the real female lead of Holon.


    "Little b*tch!" After staggering several steps back, distancing herself from the female lead, a coarsenguage identally spilled from Agatha''s mouth due to anger."You lowly woman! How dare you threaten me, this kingdom''s most distinguisheddy! Someone, cut her hand for me! No, kill her for me!"

 Chapter 334: Agatha (32)

    Chapter 334: Agatha (32)


    After the enraged shout, Agatha had seemingly forgotten about Jiang Li and threw several bottles of poisons at Margarette in quick session. The darkness of the night had affected her vision, although not as bad as an ordinary person, so when she did not hear screams from the target that she wanted to kill, she also began throwing poisonous darts in the same direction after running out of poison.


    The witchy viiness looked really mad. Her chest kept heaving. For the prideful her, the humiliation had been too much so she felt nothing but killing intent for the girl who had insulted her and damaged her pride.


    ''She should die! She must die!''


    Sounds of precious ss vials exploding and liquid sshing echoed out, the sizzling noises making Jiang Li''s face colder than ever.


    Behind the viiness, the two other witches had been long petrified. It was not that they dared not breathe, but they were feeling so suffocated due to the air of murdering from the youth''s body that was only locked onto them.


    "Don''t interfere." They heard. Interfere? Does it mean not to follow Agatha''s order? Or not to rush out to stop the royal consort and remind her of the youth''s presence?


    As the gears in their brain turned, they quickly realized that something was wrong. Why would a very strong magician who could even restrain their leader refrained from moving and even forbade them from taking action? From the beginning, it should be as easy as pie for him to stop the royal consort in the first ce. However, instead of helping the youngdy or restraining the rampaging witch, he was merely standing in his original ce with no intention to move. It was making them confused.


    For the answer, their worried gazes firstnded on Agatha, before going to the girl apanying the youth.


    "Your Highness! Dangerous!" The urge to shout a warning to the royal consort filled their hearts. In fact, their mouths opened up and moved as they were still under the impression that they could speak. Reality hit them hard though, proving them that they were wrong as no matter how they willed it or tapped on their throats, no sound ever came out of them.


    Their gazes that were full of fear went back to the youth who was watching silently on the side with his arms crossed above his chest. The two must have the notion that Agatha''s life and safety were more important than theirs so upon discovering that they couldn''t speak, they let their eyes do the pleading for them.


    But would Jiang Li care?


    His silence said it all. His eyes that were cold yet hinting ridicule said it all.


    ''Pleading for mercy? She''s my saving target so no problem. Butter, once this disobedient old hag is beaten until half-death.''


    Margarette inherited Jiang Ying Yue''s memories, and that included her knowledge in witchcraft.


    Not long after, the girl emerged from the shadows, the scant moonlight passing through the canopy of the dark forest shone on her face and added more charm on her immacte appearance. But those watching, apart from one, was not really given the time to appreciate her exquisite beauty. Why? Because she finally showed why Jiang Li did not have to meddle. She was also a witch! A terrific one at that!


    Even if Margarette was not as great as the Zhou dynasty witch whose arts had been perfected, she was at least not inferior to Agatha considering that she was seeing the memories since she was seven years old. This meant even if her own practice had not yet reach Jiang Ying Yue''s, the wealth of knowledge still existed.


    Between a person caught off-guard and one who had seized the initiative, it was not difficult the guess the oue.


    In just a minute, the girl had pinpointed all the weaknesses in Agatha''s craft and overpowered her. Thetter had no choice but to sober up under the relentless battering, her face paling after realizing she ran out of items, the other party was not injured, and that she was being bitten relentlessly by hordes of flying mosquitoes and bees.


    Beads of sweat running down her cheeks despite the cold temperature of the ce, the viiness kept screaming. She who had been thrown face-first on the ground slowly looked up at the girl in disbelief, "Y-your insect horde control Just... what are you...? I-It''s not from Mu continent! You picked up your witchcraft from outsiders!!!"


    The female lead who looked more viinous than the real viiness raised her leg and kicked the royal consort on the stomach. There was no whatsoever emotion in her face as the one underneath her feet groaned and protested in pain.


    "Old hag. Hey, look at your face. You must be nning to lecture me, no? About what kind of disgrace am I to learn a craft that is not from some fallen angel. Save it. Didn''t I say it a while back? I hate being lectured, especially by nobodies."


    Her reply was a confirmation that her power was not from some local deity or angel. It was the truth anyway since Jiang Ying Yue was technically from an empire on the eastern side of the world, albeit from an era unknown.


    Another stomp followed, and after that was another shriek.


    As usual, the two frightened servants were trying to break free from the petrification spell that was cast on them. When they went along with Agatha to escort out the two uninvited participants, they were simply thinking there wouldn''t be any fight considering theirdy''s high position. Yet, this happened. It was hard for the other witches to ept that the royal consort, the greatest genius of their coven, was treated like this by somebody so much younger.


    "Husband. Should I stop now?" Seeing that Agatha who was covered by all sorts of wounds, bite marks, and bruises from face to toe was no longer making any sound, the girl gave Jiang Li a soft smile.


    Again, the petrified witches pleadingly looked at him.


    But he only shrugged and said, "It''s up to you, girl. Although I can see that you haven''t had enough fun. How about you feed her a healing potion and then begin beating her up again?" He turned to the witches who seemed to want to say something. "Any objections?"


    For a few seconds, the two were granted permission to speak and they hurriedly took that chance to cry out, "Great Sir! Please, no!!! We beg you!"


    After hearing what they chorused, Margarette saw her husband nod. Then he muted the two again before telling her, "Okay. I''m done hearing them. Go on."


    Both corners of her lips lifted up. She sweetly replied, "Well, coincidentally, I''m really not yet done venting my anger at her."


    Jiang Li gesturedughingly. The female lead, thinking it was a wife''s duty to listen to her spouse, obedientlyplied. The gaze she was giving the viiness as she stuffed some healing herbs into the woman''s mouth was as cid as the waters of a deadke. In her mind, she wasughing coldly.


    In actuality, her anger was not purely because her extreme territorialism was provoked. With or without the woman stealing numerous nces of her husband, she would do this. After all, back in the meeting, Agatha tried to instigate the other witches to gang up against them and kill Jiang Li. That was what had infuriated Margarette greatly.


    Although she asked Jiang Li to spare the lives of the people there, it was only a front, her act of cooperating in his ns. However, deep inside, she was seething in rage seeing the deeds of the woman her husband would one day assist in escaping a cmity. How dare she? After plotting Jiang Li''s death, how was she worthy of receiving help?


    Now that they were the only ones in the vicinity and the other powerful witches were far from them, she no longer had to fear receiving joint attacks from the other members of the coven. So she began her retaliation.


    ''You want me die, right? Don''t worry, woman. I''m no copy-cat, so I won''t want your death.'' When the royal consort began coughing, regaining her consciousness, the female lead began another round of torture. It was what she meant when she said Agatha''s life was not what she wanted.


    Jiang Li was obviously not against the idea since it was him who suggested healing Agatha. The goal was to allow Margarette to have blemishless skin to cut and intact bones to break.


    What? The woman was someone he was supposed to take care of and steer away from destruction, and not torture?


    Ah. Sorry, he had temporary amnesia... and he only nned to remember after another hour or two.


    Probably when his own displeasure for being schemed again had faded, and the viinesspletely learned her lesson.

 Chapter 335: Agatha (33)

    Chapter 335: Agatha (33)


    Agatha woke up from the unpleasant nightmare several hourster. The moment she opened her eyes, what greeted her was the familiar canopy of her luxurious bed.


    She was back to her grand room in the pce?


    The woman blinked repeatedly for some time to get a hold of herself. Afterward, she breathed a sigh of relief.


    She forcibly willed for the horrible images in her mind to disappear as there was no way she would want to have any memories of the nightmare she just experienced. When her mood and mind were back to tranquility, she covered her eyes using one of her arms, a smile of relief about to form on her lips.


    But just when she was about tough in joy after finding that at least the whole ordeal was only a nightmare, a soft yful voice drifted into her ears.


    "Hi! I''m d you have woken up, my dear old hag."


    ''What?'' Agatha''s pupil dted and her body automatically got up. And that had been a bad move because it woke her up to the reality that every inch of her skin had wounds or bruises and there was no part of her body that was not aching.


    "Aaahhhh!" The viiness screamed from the sudden assault of pain that came crashing to her like a wave. She started to tremble.


    Margarette sat on the stool by the bedside, elegantly checking her fingernails that had just been painted red by one of Agatha''sdies in waiting. She was indifferent to the cries of pain of the other woman. But of course, the same could not be said about the maids.


    "Your Highness!" Each of them called out one by one, greatly irritating the princess. She mumbled with discontent, "It''s not like she''s dying. If she wants to, she can even heal herself."


    Agatha heard what the girl had just said andboriously turned her head to her, wearing an expression of disbelief.


    A couple of secondster, she regained her wits and realized what just took ce. As she couldn''t let the maids have any recollection of the teenage witch mentioning she could heal herself, she had to forcibly ignore the unsettling difort and erase the memories of the people around her.


    After the energy-draining task, the viiness panted while throwing dagger-like stares at the girl. Heaven knew how much she wanted to kill this person. Yet fear was also blossoming in her heart, reminding her that what she suffered in her nightmare were no products of her imagination.


    Margarette only reacted with a provocative smile at the re she was receiving. Footsteps echoed outside and the lovely arc on her lips became very sincere and happy.


    It was Jiang Li who came in, and Agatha almost held her breath seeing that nobody obstructed him even though they were at the pce. What did that imply? Simply that the two were a lot more powerful than expected!


    "Who are you? Are you two from the outside?"


    The question was because she remembered the unconventional ck arts disyed by the girl. The method to control insects and bring cmities and diseases through them was recorded in the coven''s ancient tome as a skill of witchcraft practitioners from the outside!


    Jiang Li stole a stool for himself. "Hey, Miss Old Hag, are you sane? No matter how powerful one is, as long as they are an outsider, the seal of the Great Deity will block their entry."


    "Sorry, husband, it seems I have gone overboard with the beating." Margarette apologetically nced at the youth. "I have probably scared her so badly and her intelligence suffers. Perhaps, I should have not held back, burying her alive in the forest would have been a better oue than turning stupider"


    ''Girl, a bit more and even I will be scared away by you.'' Jiang Li barely held back a wry smile.


    The maids were offended and wanted to interject. But Agatha raised her hand and chased them all out. She dispelled her anger and braved her trembling, "Why are you two targeting me?"


    Her question was met with an inquisitive look from Jiang Li. "Your royal highness, you seem to be forgetting something. Before your stupid attempt to provoke us and rally your people against us, we didn''t show any malicious intention against you. In fact, we''re even nning to help you with your problem. Do you know how many times I had to beg my wife for this? Oh, wait, I''m sure you''re not aware. But I''m from a family who has a stupid tradition of assisting a member of your family to avoid disaster once."


    ''Liar.''


    Agatha''s face darkened from what she heard, and she didn''t know whether to be in awe of the youth''s glib of the tongue. There was no way she would believe what he said. At least not thetter part. She was from amoner family and had heard no such tradition from herte birth parents. How the hell would her family have some other family''s weird form of allegiance or partnership when they were people barely making ends meet? It was simply impossible. Her face crumpled more at the thought that the youth was mocking her humble origins.


    Margarette robbed her of the chance to argue. "Hey, how about we talk about business if you don''t want help then?"


    Jiang Li looked at the girl andughingly followed up, "Good idea." He then looked at the royal consort." Hey, your coven sure is interesting. With so few members that are not even that united. It seems there are two factions within it even though the members only numbered thirteen. That oldest looking hag wants you to lead even though you''re just a gifted member whose personal strength only ces you in the middle."


    The young girl stood up and leaned forward which made Agatha back away instinctively. "Are you that young to be called a genius of the younger generation?"


    "Hisss," all of a sudden, the viiness hissed in anguish.


    The viiness'' face turned ugly due to the pain akin to stepping on a needle mat after she tried to push herself deeper into the corner using her feet. She was immediately reminded of the curse inflicted on her for cutting a maid''s finger that was still yet to be cured. Ignoring the tant provocation from the girl, the youth''s statement was also another headache of her which she had been ignoring in favor of focusing on the royal inheritance matter.


    Margarette only looked at her, ridicule showing through the arcs of her mouth.


    Agatha''s brain worked furiously to analyze her situation, yet she did not forget to make herself all ears to Jiang Li who started mentioning stuff about the political and mystic-rted situations of the Borley Kingdom and Holon Kingdom. As she maintained her silence, she was also directing her mind in the correct direction. She could feel herself calming down and realizing how she should approach the matter at hand


    "If it''s all about information"

 Chapter 336: Agatha (34)

    Chapter 336: Agatha (34)


    Viins would always be as lucky as the protagonists before the final confrontation. Or at least, their luck wouldn''t let them die just like that. That was something Jiang Li was long aware of so he didn''t feel the need to remind Margarette to not go overboard in her dealings with Agatha.


    His mind was on another matter altogether. On a troubleing his way.


    So while the princess was experimenting with the viiness, Jiang Li no longer stayed still and started to be more active in the mystic world of the kingdom. He discovered through one of his own pets, a crow raised through ck arts, that a group of people from the Borley Kingdom were rushing towards Holon.


    Their identities were unknown to most people, but Jiang Li had a hunch who one of the people in the small group of horse riders was.


    The male lead. Adam.


    As expected, even if it was overdue, the male protagonist would still be able to locate his female lead As a good extra character, Jiang Li, of course, would wee the valiant knight with the best gift that he could give.


    He was just wondering, which of the two would Adam recognize? The soul or the body? How would this poor guy react once he discovered both were already married?


    Jiang Li did not linger in the question for long and check on all the parties involved in the plot. The viiness and the people in the pce were left to Margarette since as the real princess, she had lived in the ce for eighteen years. She knew it like the back of her hands.


    As for the coven, it was inspected personally by him. Unsurprisingly, he had confirmed that there were two factions within Agatha''s witch group. Apart from the split factions from within, as a whole, they were also not coexisting peacefully with the churches and several other mystic groups, both from inside and outside the country.


    In the storyline, the viiness easily fell in the leads'' hands because of the two leads'' overwhelming luck and plot armor. But apart from that, it was also because she couldn''t receive timely help from her allies who had been attacked by another faction amidst internal strife. The most painful part was that it all happened just when she was about to hear from the emissary from the neighboring kingdom the information she wanted to know the most.


    She had no idea the cure would be useless to her. All she knew was that she didn''t manage to get it because of the two leads. With her dreams and hopes dashed like that, it was no wonder she fell into insanity and resented the world so much before she died. She must have felt that it was also the world''s fault because it favored the ducal couple so much.


    In this lifetime, Jiang Li told Agatha in advance the intel those bastards from Borley would give her in exchange for the method to break the lineage restriction.


    "I said it before, the Church of Wisdom won''t give you the real cure."


    "The contract only stiptes that they are to give you the method to heal infertility, but they could simply fulfill it by giving you a cure that works on men and you won''t be able to demand the Goddess of Vows to punish them."


    "Do you get what I mean?"


    The viiness'' coldly replied. "I''m no fool. But how can I trust you? I have investigated you and know that you posed as a fake messenger of Penemue before. "


    The viiness had the impression he was a vengeful trickster due to diarrhea and the other random punishments so she would definitely not trust his words.


    He could only shrug and wait for the woman to suffer again to learn her lesson. "Fine. I wish you the best. No, I wish catastrophe strikes you soon so I can consider my job done."


    He only got silence as a response.


    Days passed. From the royal consort, he learned that a royal from Borley had contacted her and informed her of his arrival. It caught Jiang Li by surprise, but then he realized it was simply the plot not giving up on the female lead of Borley so it wanted to progress the story by sending both the viin and the male lead to her side.


    He managed to confirm this when Agatha secretly slipped away and met up with Count Cornwell.


    "The second prince of the neighboring kingdom secretly joined a group of knights heading here to rescue a kidnapped noble," she told the count after the usual greetings. The venue was in thetter''s mansion which had more defensive measures than the previous time.


    "The Second Prince? Prince Benedict?" asked the old wizard.


    "Yes. That person is sent by the King of Borleans to spy on Viscount Obson. The deceased son of that noble is the one who overheard my conversation with the king of Borley about Nephilim. Those vicious royals killed the noble''s son but the daughter seems to know something about the situation."


    The count showed a disbelieving expression. He even shook his head. "Your Highness, no matter how many times I thought through it, it''s odd. Why did they have to send a prince when they are not sure if the daughter really knows something? A regr magician or clergyman should suffice. Is this daughter the kidnapped noble that those knights from the Borley Kingdom want to retrieve from our country?"


    Agatha nodded. "Indeed. I have heard that the nobledy has seen something about the angels and this bes another reason for those royals to retrieve her. I have already given my permission in advance. The prince will secretly meet me once he arrives with the knights from Obson Castle."


    The old man frowned, asking about the real issue at hand, "And the technique to break lineage restriction?"


    The viiness went silent and apologetically looked into the aged Count''s eyes. Her gaze revealed her intention to offer the information although she would omit some part of it to make it her leverage. The only reason she appeared here was to inform this teacher of her to lessen her guilt and to make him pass something to the witch leader.


    And that ''James''? She knew that the youth had eavesdropped once again so she deliberately did not say anything more about her n.


    Jiang Li actually did not make any move, letting the royal consort do as she wished. After all, without the viiness'' knowledge, he already saw what was in the goat parchment she was nning to give the second prince. He even added something there. He also did not interfere when the persistent woman went back to giving problems to the ducal couple. In his mind, those two suffering would not affect his own arrangements.


    "Blood of a hundred earthworms mixed with wild herbs and bamboo essential oil... I only put there that the caster needs to be in the middle of a snake ind before conducting the ritual. The viiness'' addition sounds like Eastern Witchcraft which I''m sure will manage to light up a magic circle. But what kind of effect will it have to the person performing it?" he subconsciously asked himself in puzzlement, remembering the extra lines added to the parchment by the woman.


    After following the viiness to the count''s residence, he went back to the pce, nning to consult Margarette about it. When he arrived, the princess was enjoying tea in her deste ptial residence, served by Agatha''sdies-in-waiting.


    He took a seat and narrated what happened before asking about the unusual materials and their effects.


    The witchy female lead said to him with wide eyes after hearing his question, "Ah? My husband, you don''t know any form with those disgusting things is for parasitic magic?"


    ''Parasitic magic?'' The answer he got was quite unexpected.


    "Well, I know how to control insects, but brewing stuff is never my cup of tea," he then replied nonchntly.


    The youth then went back to the mansion after the brief conversation with Margarette and pulled up a few scrolls that he had been rereading for several days already. Not many matched with the memories gotten from the system. He knew it was because of the unexpected body swap of two female leads.


    From his experience, resolving the coven''s problems would not be the only thing that needed to be done to secure the viiness'' survival Curing her of her illness also would not make her give up entangling with her enemies and aiming for the thone.


    The protagonists from both kingdoms were all variables.


    Another person also crossed his mind. Aliyah.


    Would it be alright to treat that girl with a split personality disorder as nonexistent now that Margarette was the main persona? To be honest, he was not convinced that it would be okay to ignore that bbermouth. That person was from the modern world. A transmigrator who thinks she is the protagonist of the world is scary, but a transmigrator who thinks she is not is sometimes more fearsome because the plot would instinctively give them more opportunities to shine and be in trouble. Wouldn''t she be the greatest variable if ever?


    The wandering philosopher was really feeling conflicted, torn between finding the situation amusing or irritating.


    The sun was setting for Holon City and Jiang Li left for the ducal mansion after putting every scroll and stack of documents away.


    A corner of his mouth lifted in mild irritation. <em>''Once the other male lead arrives and the four children of fate gathered in the same ce, things will no longer be simple....''</em>


    <em>''So troublesome.''</em>

 Chapter 337: Agatha (35)

    Chapter 337: Agatha (35)


    Duke Grey and his people were still looking for the trespasser and some pieces of evidence against Agatha. However, both had been very slippery. It was hard to locate the unassuming assant since the person left no trace and could not even be tracked using magic or hounds. As a result, the duke''s frown kept getting deeper each day since he really wanted to tear the perpetrator to pieces to get back his lost face.


    And the pieces of evidence? The previous coven meeting could have been a good opportunity. Marian even wanted to join in the fun. But a few inexplicable things urred to the two leads apart from the freezing incident, so the opportunity naturally slipped away.


    Both Andre and Marian found it regretful, yet what could be done? The weird events in the manor and the pce made their hands tied. The people they tried to send on their behalf couldn''t infiltrate the horse trader''s manor due to the forest in front which had turned into a maze leading any trespasser outside.


    Basically, all sorts of odd things still happened even though the witchy royal consort was not creating problems for them.


    And on top of it all, for three consecutive days, someone kept sending anonymous letters to the Marian. Each letter detailing Adam''s movement. In particr, the letters kept narrating Adam''s progress in his travel and his approximate date of arrival!


    The woman couldn''t help but hold her breath each time she received an envelope that mysteriously appeared in her dresser.


    <Dear Duchess,


    Greetings, mdy. Good day! Four more days to go. Get ready to be dragged back to your father''snd! Your beloved knight ising for you!>


    It was the same content, albeit the number changed. Yesterday, it said five days to go And like yesterday, it mysteriously vanished without a trace, sending shivers to her heart that was fearing the unknown sender.


    But what really made Marian Obson more fearful was thetest letter. She could be seen frequently staring into the void, looking lost in her thoughts. Her mind was obviously on the news that Adam had journeyed towards Holon for her, to bring her back to Borley. It was a fact she had no choice but to ept after seeing the image sealed in the artifact mysteriously sent to her together with the letter.


    ''Adam ising for me'' The words were repeated in her mind.


    Feeling like it would be hard for her to fall asleep, she got up. The man beside her stirred in his sleep and half-opened his eyes. Marian felt enchanted for a while, finding her husband very handsome and irresistible under the soft glow of themp. The constraint in her chest lightened up a bit due to the fluttering feeling in it, especially when she heard his voice.


    "Where are you going?" said the duke in a very sleepy tone.


    She hesitated for a but then still smiled and nted a kiss on his left cheek. "Milord, don''t worry. I''ll just be heading out a bit to get a ss of water for myself. I found the evening temperature hotter than usual so I am feeling thirsty."


    The male lead grabbed her arm. "You could have just called the servants. If they can''t even fulfill their purpose, what use do we have of them? Just order one to bring what you need here and stay with me."


    She shook her head and thenughed at the childish expression he was sporting. Why wouldn''t he even allow her to be apart from him for a while? Didn''t he know he just be more adorable in her eyes? She once again shook her head, "Please go back to sleep, milord. I will be back in a minute."


    The duke no longer held her back, watching her go out. He could hear her talking to the maid standing guard outside the door. His heart felt warm at the thought that she was keeping her voice low to not disturb him any further. Content, he fell back to sleep again.


    Time passed and the girl''s maid returned with a tray in hand carrying a porcin water container. The maid had asked this before, but asked again, "Mdy, are you sure you don''t want me to brew tea for you? We have received several supreme tea leaves as tribute from new vassal territories and one variety is especially good in calming one''s mood and heart."


    Marian only pointed at the vacant round table in the middle of the balcony and the maid understood hermand. She then said, "I don''t need anything anymore. I just found myself needing something to moist my throat. You can go back to your post and then follow the head maid''s arrangements."


    "As you wish, mdy." After onest curtsy, the female servant vanished in the dark, exiting through a side door connected to the balcony. The girl''s footsteps had been very light, scared of displeasing the Duchess or disturbing the Duke''s sleep. All servants were afraid to earn their master''s ire. The fact never changed even if the master was very tolerant and kind.


    It did not take long for Marian to be left alone in the ce. She helped herself with a cup of water and then walked towards the balustrade, her free hand grabbing the cold stone construct, afraid that the wind would blow her away.


    It was in the middle of the night. The season''s nighttime was not that cold. But Marian who was standing in the balcony feeling the evening breeze while reminiscing her childhood. Her thoughts lingered on her current situation


    Honestly, she felt soplicated and lost.


    The personing for her within the week was somebody standing by her side since she was young, protecting her from harm and making her days fulfilling together with her brother. That knight had been the first person to make her heart skip a beat. He was her first love that had be somebody from her past after turning into ''Margarette Holon''. Now, he was rushing to this foreign kingdom, riding his handsome ck horse to get her


    She took a deep breath, her eyes zed over the nket of stars above.


    "If he knows who I am now I''m sure he will easily believe it''s me, and he will try to persuade me toe back. He will be very considerate and gentle. But he won''t be able to force me to go back due to my identity here" she murmured to herself in a barely audible voice.


    The woman lost in nostalgia sighed and then started to n how she would deal with her knight. While it was unfortunate, there was no way she could fulfill Adam''s or her parents'' wishes. The old Marian had died


    A couple of minutester, when the cold had started to be intolerable for her, she turned around. Her husband, the main reason for her decision to stay would notice that she had disappeared from his side for so long. She wouldn''t want that big child to throw tantrums or ''punish'' her. With this in mind, she turned on her heels, nning to head back to the bedroom.


    But then stuff happened and she had to pause her steps, eyes widening at the impossible scene she witnessed.


    ''Did someone just materialize before me?'' A question so unbelievable flickered across her mind.


    Her shock came from the fact that the appearance of the infiltrator was noiseless and without warning, like a cat. Her whole body descended into an icy pond when she observed the person''s features.


    An expressionless face with red lips, snow-white skin that seemed to glow naturally under the moonlight, high nose, and a pair of soulful eyes that could no longer be more familiar to her.


    In this world, apart from her, who would ever have the fortune to experience seeing a reflection of her soul in the flesh while in the body of somebody else?


    A cold breeze kissing the exposed skin of Marian''s face, and a high-pitched scream came out of her mouth.

 Chapter 338: Agatha (36) <2-in-1>

    Chapter 338: Agatha (36) <2-in-1>


    "AHHHHH!"


    That high-pitched scream came out of the Duchess'' mouth due to extreme shock and fear. Marian was truly spooked out, her heart never prepared to suddenly see her real face coldly looking at her. And it was even in the middle of the night!


    "Shut up!" said a very familiar voice that made Marian tremble more.


    The Duchess kept backing away and at one point, her eyes even rolled back to check whether her screams had alerted the armed guards of the manor.


    As for the neer, a disdainful expression could be seen on her delicate face. "Don''t tell me you''re thinking I''m a ghost?"


    On normal days from before five and a half months ago, the same face could only produce lovely and pure expressions that would bewitch and dazzle any beholder, now it was ever so cold. The exchange of soul naturally caused the change in the demeanor. It could be seen clearly at how the current owner of the face was not concealing her air of dominance. She was the real royal, the real princess. And it was her aura that confused and scared the Duchess off.


    "Why? Why is she here!?" Panting for breath and with eyes as wide as coin, Marian hugged her body and repeatedly took a step back. She was speaking to herself and continuously shaking her head.


    Margarette lost patience in the other woman''s reaction so she said in a frostced voice, "Stop looking at the door, Pretender. You''re not funny. Even if you shout until you lose your voice, nobody will hear you, not even your beloved duke. So instead of shouting there and deafening me with your yells, why don''t you just shut up and save the two of us from being deafened?"


    Her words were like a thunderp to the ears of the woman who still couldn''t believe what was happening to her. What did she say again?


    Pretender? She was a pretender just because she ended up in a body that she didn''t originally own due to some strange an unknown cause?


    No, that was not the important thing. The truly bothersome fact was that the woman said no even Andre would notice themotion here!? How was that possible?


    As conclusion, she said after realizing what thetter part meant, "Magic"


    The real princess sat down, her delicate hand grabbed the porcin water container by the handle. She paused for a while when she realized there was no other cup on the table. Her eyes narrowed at the viscount''s daughter who was currently upying her body. Not long after, she snapped her finger and Marian''s servant walked in before respectfully presenting an borate cup to Margarette.


    After filling it with tea the maid brew for her, the hooded woman took a sip and then looked at Marian. "This is the first time we''re seeing each other in person, right? Marian Obson?"


    The other didn''t answer.


    Margarette nonchntly asked again, "How are you adapting to my identity?"


    "I"


    Although the girl asked had experienced being a part of the royalty and high aristocracy for some time now, she still felt inadequate before a real princess.


    Just now, she felt suppressed!


    On top of this, the words the woman wearing her face were simply like another round of thunderps. She couldn''t help but be dumbfounded.


    How should she respond to that question anyway?


    Indifferently, Margarette looked away from the Duchess. She helped thetter reply, "You are loved by the people and your husband. You are also treated like a goddess by the whole kingdom, I can see that you''re enjoying it greatly, Miss Obson."


    Marian felt ashamed and instinctively turned to the bedroom''s direction, nervousness shing across her face. Did he hear what the princess just said? He should be asleep, no? Please be asleep


    In her heart, the Duchess kept praying for thetter and that the woman''s words about the balcony being sealed by magic being true.


    The panic she was feeling was hard to calm. It took her a dozen seconds to barely stop her palpitation. Afterward, with a hint of hostility in her eyes, she slowly asked, "What do you want from me?"


    The beautiful woman with unmatched confidence that would remind one of a queen lightly turned her head towards the Duchess.


    Marian met the cid gaze and almost stuttered when she mentioned the other''s real name. "What do you want from me Princess Margarette?"


    .


    Jiang Li had learned his lesson from before. He knew that if he became half-hearted in what he was doing just because his wife''s incarnation was not the viiness, there was arge chance that he would either fail or die early. That was why after several days of rest and peace, he began throwing himself to the task. His operations had to continue.


    An official world could not possibly have two pairs of leads as its trouble But regarding what lies underneath the surface, who knows? In life, there would be times when people would feel like something was wrong with their situation. But that was it. It would take time to fully understand what it was.


    Since the system was practically useless after the initial set of memories were messed up big time by the body swap, Jiang Li not only set his eyes on the leads and the viiness and monitor their movements. With the help of the spies and information brokers that, cough, were funded by Margarette, he had also begun watching almost everyone in the capital. In fact, his eyes also reached the neighboring cities and countries A lot were concentrated on the kingdom which had living bombs in it  Borley Kingdom.


    <em>''I don''t know and care about what''s making those royals anxious to convert into Nephilim. But are those guys really limiting their movements to simply sending Benedict to Holon? No movement in the kingdom itself, or in the royal family that is in the capital of Borley? Doubtful.''</em>


    An absentminded Jiang Li materialized a street away from a Marquis'' manor. The reason why he did note out of the duke''s instead was that Margarette intercepted him earlier and volunteered to be the one to visit the duchess. The whole matter made him feel awkward, like a child caught doing something mischievous, but itter made him feel like he did something right.


    "That Marquis White" He muttered the name as he joined the crowd that was not as watertight as this morning.


    In the darkness, a figure walked out and joined Jiang Li in his walk. The person''s facial features were barely recognizable due to the mask on his face, but he was fairly tall and buffed, with a small beer belly protruding in the stomach part.


    The person heard Jiang Li and respectfully answered after a slight bow, "Good evening, Great Sir. Marquis White is one of the few close aides of the royal consort and is the father of General Hayes. The Emperor initially dislikes them for the same reason why he dislikes Duke Grey. But because they threw their support to the royal consort, they became less of an eyesore to His Majesty."


    In times of peace, the Emperor hates his Generals. Jiang Li knew this since he also experienced the same in Jiang Ying Yue''s world. The Emperor there plotted his whole family''s annihtion just because he had be a prince-general who could easily raise a rebellion and would have seeded if not for Jiang Li''s takeover.


    ''That Marquis unexpectedly knows a lot about the kingdoms and the gods''


    ''It seems too that he is the senior who gave Agatha ess to forbidden books.''


    Jiang Li continued walking aimlessly, closely followed by one of his followers. He asked, "How did they get their peerage?"


    The masked man replied, "Their title and fief were earned by their ancestor who fought alongside the old king a few decades or so ago, in a war against the four desert states."


    After a brief pause, the man finished arranging the pieces of knowlege in his head and then continued to exin, "You have to know, Sir, that time had been quite chaotic and bloody as many lost their lives due to the sudden invasion from the desert natives. The kingdom was caught by surprise by those barbarians because everyone was in the dark that those people had been scheming to conquer ournds for the rich resources and fertilend."


    "When several cities fell in those barbarians'' hands, the royal family was finally rmed. In order to encourage soldiers to fight with their all their might, the old king promised several benefits. Lands, golds, medals of honors. Stuff like those. And it so happened that House White has a very fierce warrior and strategist who managed to help the kingdom greatly in repelling the enemies. The person became the first generation Marquis. It is said that his secret tomes and techniques are what ensured the next generations'' excellence and foothold in the military."


    A frown appeared in the youth''s face. He asked, "Does the first Marquise from a family with special status or deeper history?"


    "Their House is less than a hundred years old so it is quite respected, but not to the level of those who have been with the royal family since hundreds or thousands of years ago. But if we are to consider what the former Marquis and the other older generation members boasted before, then maybe, they are quite special. They said the Marquis'' family are rtives of the Gaghers, an extraordinary noble family in the Borley Kingdom which has produced six Popes for the Church of Wisdom."


    "... A Papal dynasty?"


    "Yes, Great Sir." The other man nodded and then looked around for some time. After making sure there were no eavesdroppers, he added. "... If what they said is true. Even the current Pope can be considered their rtives."


    The young man couldn''t help but look at the masked informant for a while. For the courageous one who pretended to be a messenger of Goddess Penemue before, what he heard just now was really surprising. That family was that amazing? And there could be so many coincidences in the world?


    But then in a split secondter, the surprise in his eyes immediately turned into amusement.


    In fact, he even almostughed. He finally heard something very worthwhile and numerous thoughts began to surface.


    <em>''The viiness is a witch who wants to get a medicinal form from the Pope of the Church of Wisdom through the royal family of Borley.''</em>


    <em>''The royal family wanted to exchange the information in their hands with the method to release the bloodline restriction of the royals.''</em>


    <em>''The method came from Marquis White, who is most likely a warlock from Agatha''s coven.''</em>


    <em>''And Marquis White is a rtive of a family who produced the current and previous popes of the Church of Wisdom.''</em>


    He subconsciously muttered, " What a mess."


    The masked man briefly lifted his head to check his employer''s expression. But then scared off by the glint in the grinning face of the youth, he immediately lowered his head.


    Feeling ufortable and with the urge to leave, he asked, "Great Sir, is there anything else you want me to do? I am yours tomand. If there''s anything you wish for me to investigate, I will immediately check it for you."


    Jiang Liughingly turned his head again to the informant. Since the other party was asking for a job, he nodded and said, "Very well. Withdraw those in the pce and have them tail the Marquis and every coven member rted to him. But be careful. Report to me once the Marquis showed any strange movement."


    "Do we also send more on the Borley''s side?" the other cleverly asked. The man realized the employer seemed to have thought something when the Gagher family was mentioned.


    The youth shook his head though. Before heading to the pce, he speciallymanded to lessen their people in the Borley kingdom. "If possible exchange them with elites who know how to blend in the shadows and fight."


    When the masked guy heard the instructions, he became stunned for some time and only understood the reason when Jiang Li said they must take precautions against the Church of Wisdom.

 Chapter 339: Agatha (37)

    Chapter 339: Agatha (37)


    After paying several witches, magicians, and noblemen some visits, the rumors about Jiang Li started to spread in the city.


    ''He is either a ghost or a monster doing some sort of census or espionage'', they would say in hushed whispers. Each time, their faces would be wreathed in curiosity, confusion, or fear, either of these three.


    Like the previous world, the guy chose to not stand out much so only a handful had seen what he looked like. Especially now that his identity was of no social standing whatsoever. But people remembered him due to his shadowy modus that rarely left traces of his own identity. He sometimes did speak and every time, he would spook out some of the magicians. But towards most of the nobles, he only eavesdropped or checked some items, books or maps without rearranging them.


    Unsurprisingly, Jiang Li found joy and convenience in operating in the shadows. It was totally not because even if people saw his barely handsome face, they would not have any impression at all.


    Anyways, his actions resulted in Margarette asking him why about it.


    "What are you even verifying or testing out on those houses? You''re gone most of the time now, sometimes not even returning at night. Why are you going to those lengths when Agatha is already the most influential woman in the kingdom. I''m starting to hate that royal concubine!" Once, Margarette''s face showed just how unhappy she was, her emerald eyes burning with aggravation.


    He only smiled and patted his little wife''s head.


    That time, he only thought. ''The viiness is blind. She can''t see that she''s already above the queen that having the queen''s throne won''t make her any more regal. She also has no way of knowing she''s beneath the female leads. If I don''t do some work, the viiness will truly die and self-destruct, bringing this world in her demise too.''


    Unfortunately, his reasons could not be told to Margarette. She would not understand it, not because she was not intelligent or open-minded enough, but that he doubted the system wouldn''t do anything once he showed any signs of disclosing about to anyone. There was a chance it would tamper with her memories and he didn''t want that.


    Within him, he could feel a lingering fear about that possibility reminding him of a silly story where someone told her friend to try drugs so once she knew about its effects, she could effectively convince her kids in the future not to try it as she had already done so and experienced its bad consequences. Experience was the best teacher, so they said The guy shuddered at the thought that he might have already been experimented by the system in this regard. After all, in his recollections, he seemed to have been desiring several times in previous lifetimes to tell her about the real him.


    The man found himself silent, mulling over the dreadful thought. ''If the system did erase some of my memories before should I be thankful that at least I still have recollections of the important events in the past? And her?''


    Margarette resentfully looked at the quiet man.


    Since the little wife did not hear any definite response from him, she started sulking and since then, the frown on her face became more frequent. The petting and cuddling did not appease her that much.


    ''You don''t want to promise to limit involvement with that woman? Fine.'' She told herself. But on that afternoon when Margarette''s spy reported to her that Jiang Li was going to Duke Grey''s manor, her thread of patience finally snapped. She hurriedly went out of the pce and then intercepted him.


    She greatly disliked him meeting other women, even for business/s purposes.


    This was why despite her distaste of the woman assuming her identity, she took over the job of meeting Marian.


    "I want you to return to where you should be." Margaretteughed and yfully answered her that after she remembered what the Duchess asked her when she appeared before her.


    It was what sparked a stupid debate between the two female leads.


    Marian was a coward in front of Margarette because she was not only intimidated by thetter''s air of supremacy, she was also feeling guilty for taking over a much higher identity. Yet despite that the woman stood her ground and shouted ''no'' to the other. Margarette''s interest was piqued, so was her disdain. ''This girl''s shout came not even a second after the question was asked. What else could that imply?''


    The Viscountess'' daughter whose soul was now in Margarette''s body was trembling. But she was firm on her answer, "I don''t have your memories and it''s hard for me to guess how you lived before. But would you really want to be me now? The rumors and the ''you'' I can see now are different. Still, I, I already tied my soul, and this body, with the duke! Are you really nning to exchange life with me despite this? I won''t ept it!"


    Although Margarette truly had no n because the body was already tainted by somebody not her husband, she then realized. Despite Agatha''s threat, the other girl was determined to choose the new life she gained. And well, it was not really surprising.


    Marian was now a respected Duchess here, her beauty had improved leaps and bounds, and her husband was a very powerful and influential noble of this militaristic country.


    The witch was a problem, but even when Marian was still weak and not loved by the duke, the former could not kill her, much less now that Andre Grey was so protective and caring of her. There were also the influential acquaintances she made, a circle of people her previous identity would not be able to enter.


    In the Holon Kingdom, she was a hundred times more glorious as a Duchess than in Borley where she was merely a Viscount''s daughter with no formal rank and was hunted down by the royal family for the secret she had buried in her mind.


    How could Marian be willing to exchange identity again?


    Yet this female lead was also feeling greedy and did not want topletely give up her true self and family.


    Margarette confirmed this when she probed, "So you n to cut ties with your past andpletely forget that once in your life, you''ve been Marian Obson?"


    "No" the other replied.


    What did Marian really want? It was naked to the princess'' eyes.


    For more than one and a half-decade, Marian was a Borlean, and a devout follower of Penemue, Borley Kingdom''s Goddess of Wisdom. She grew up learning Borlean etiquette and stuff, following her brother in some small-scale adventure, and teasing her knight Adam and other friends in the castle. She was Marian Obson, a respecteddy from the Viscount Family of Obson, who loved her parents although she equally feared them.


    Why couldn''t she retain her connections to the past? Why couldn''t she be Marian Obson and Duchess Margarette Grey at the same time?


    "At least at one point in their lives, everybody is greedy," said the Queen of Commerce after rying Jiang Li''s message to the Duchess.


    Days passed since then and Margarette frequently recalled how the upant of her former shell acted in their first meeting. She had developed a bit of interest in knowing how Marian really lived as the Viscount''s daughter back in the Obson castle.


    After the first meeting, Margarette formally took over Jiang Li''s job of sending letters to the Duchess.


    Thetter misunderstood her and thought it was her sending the previous letters, threatening her or making fun of her with some news about the knight.


    Well, the woman had the right to think of thetter part because, on the day Adam and co arrived, Margarette secretly disclosed to them that Marian had be the Duchess. Jiang Li was not aware of it. Whether out of revenge or a hidden interest, the girl purposely did not inform him about this.


    When the princess who was in Marian''s body went back, all she told him was that she sessfully transmitted the order to make the Duchess mobilize her resources and influence in investigating Marquis White and his family.

 Chapter 340: Agatha (38)

    Chapter 340: Agatha (38)


    How would a person react once he finds out the one he was dreaming to save and bring back to his side had suddenly changed?


    Confused? Heartbroken? Mad?


    It had only been a few hours since Adam arrived in Holon City and he had been quite cranky due to the toll the journey took them. He found Benedict a real pain to deal with, so he and his men separated from the noble son as soon as they made it to the city gate. Thetter had a separate mission from the royal family anyway. Adam and co could no longer be more ecstatic when the disguised prince also said his farewell and their mood was a hundred times better as they went to settle their lodging.


    It was after Adam led his people into an inn when he received the anonymous message.


    <To The Head Knight of Obson,


    Your Lord''s daughter has be Duchess Grey.>


    Reading that two-liner letter, his forehead was furrowed all the time. At the same time a feeling of difort rose from his heart.


    He kept disbelieving it. There was no substantial and usible-sounding information, and no sender name. Credibility? None.


    It was very suspicious and rming because the sender knew what he was and where he came from which meant it could have been from that incredibly unreliable prankster. He immediately became furious at the thought.


    In his mind, several scenarios floated up. The most probable one was that the girl his Lord Viscount wanted him to rescue was somebody held captive by a swindler.


    Adam was more than ready to put effort into making sure thedy would not be hurt anymore by that youth who was keeping her hostage. If a ransom was demanded, he and his team would pretend to gather the amount while actually having one or two knights secretly saving her. After that, he would make sure to detain that pretender and bring him back to the Church of Wisdom to torture.


    Male leads were really creatures that had unlimited patience and sweetness towards their female leads. At the same time though, they had unlimited horrible ideas to make their enemies and people they didn''t quite like wish for death.


    Between the two male leads of this world, Andre was very extreme in this regard as he was born a fighter and soldier of a militaristic kingdom. The duke was very familiar with torture methods and devices. In this boring world which offered so little entertainment, how could he not be excellent at them? However, if the time and situation demanded it, Adam too could also be heartless and cruel. He was no saint after all, because saintly man wouldn''t make even the most average male lead. So like now, after months of mental and emotional agony that had driven him so mad and helpless, he nned to cut off the youth''s limbs the moment he saw him. Heaven was a witness in him swearing that it would not be long before he makes this a reality.


    So how did Marian suddenly be a Duchess?


    Was it even believable that while in captivity, that girl could be married and then elevated in ranks?


    The man only frowned for a while and then burned the piece of paper, making sure no other soul would be able to read the misleading message.


    "I''m sure it is that cunning, sphemous, fake messenger who sent this, probably to make fun of myte arrival andck of leads about their whereabouts," he murmured in a cold tone.


    Adam really came to hate Jiang Li so much due to the disappearance of the Viscount''s daughter and testament to this were his eyes that watched as the piece of paper became ashes were very disturbing to see.


    However, while he was indeed infuriated by the message, he still couldn''t deny that seed of doubt had been nted by those words in his mind, silently germinating and budding every passing minute spent in worrying over his nobledy''s situation.


    The next day came, and Adam immediately ordered his men to scatter into the city and track the fake messenger down. He instructed them once to dress likemoners and only bring easily concealed weapons with them as to not rm the target.


    However, instead of joining them in the search, he himself checked out the so-called Pearl of the Holon Kingdom and see why an anonymous somebody said she was Marian


    ''There is no way she has be a wife of a nobleman here, right?''


    Although he found it ridiculous, he disliked the idea so much and thus he wanted to go there just to make sure the sender of the message was just really trying to make a fool out of him. Regarding this matter, he was leaning to thetter.


    As the other male lead, the task had not been difficult despite arge number of guards in and outside Duke Grey''s Grand Manor. He scaled the walls on the southern side of the ce and swiftly took down the patrols there before proceeding towards the opulent residence.


    On that same day, he managed to take a glimpse of the Duchess.


    ...


    Before this took ce, even though she was constantly unnerved by the letters she was getting from Margarette, Marian was actually never worried about their content. Her appearance was a whole world different from her real one. How the hell would Adam bring her back if she was in the body of the princess?


    ''It''s impossible for him to recognize me unless I tell him this is me...'' she repeatedly told herself as to remind her.


    Marian was intending to only admit her real identity after she was sure the man would not make a fuss about her current situation and status and bring her unnecessary troubles.


    She never believed in any sort of miracle where her former knight would be able to see through her current face.


    In her ns, it would be her who would reveal who she was to him and she would only do it at the best time that she felt like doing it - when she was ready for it.


    Unfortunately, the female lead underestimated the male lead''s halo and the plot''s obsession to bring her back to him. In the original story, Marian was the female lead of Adam. Although the plot had been messed up by Aliyah''s unexpected transmigration and the body swap caused by Margarette, the plot still didn''t want to give up on the original pairing. And so the thing that never crossed the Duchess'' imagination happened.


    With just a nce, Adam recognized her!


    The unbelievable and unwanted followed after that. Marian found the knight barging into her bedroom, wanting to hold her and it was simply nowhere near what she envisioned. His blunt and emotional calling of her real name, Marian, led to her dismay and panic. She began backing away, each steps leading her deeper into the room. ''N-no, this ain''t happening.''


    "Mdy! Mdy, it''s you! Marian! I''m so d to find you safe, Marian!"


    "D-Don''te near! I, I am not who you are iming me to be!" she stuttered out in a loud voice in a poor attempt to deny it.


    Yet as if the guy had be insane, he kept on saying that name with both longing, joy, and relief. For an unknown reason, every time her name came out of his lips, her heart would beat fast.


    But to her horror, the problem did not end with just Adam suddenly popping out of nowhere before her and triggering something hidden in her memory and heart.


    "Intruder!!!" The true nightmare began with that yell from one of the duke''s elite subordinate.


    "Protect the Duchess!!!" A fight ensued, and Adam was not backing off in his quest to take away Marian from there.


    rmed by the trespasser''s unnatural strength, one of the duke''s men froze for a second before he shouted to hispanions, "The assassin is very strong! Hurry, call the others!"


    A minuteter, Marian could only slump weakly on the floor, her knees seemingly losing their bones. Her eyes that became vacant and a bit soulless were looking at the furious face of her husband, Andre who had easily captured and ordered the torturing of Adam.


    The valiant and handsome Borlean knight was apparently mistaken for a nasty assassin.

 Chapter 341: Agatha (39)

    Chapter 341: Agatha (39)


    One fairly known writer and philosopher from Selena''s world said that every man is a damn fool for at least five minutes every day, wisdom consists in not exceeding the limit.


    Adam was not aware of this quote, but if he was, he would definitely admit that it was true. It was what he had just experienced for himself.


    "Mdy." In between bouts of consciousness after the rounds of torture suffered from Andre Grey''s hands, the man called out to Marian. The woman was actually not in the vicinity as the duke didn''t want his beloved wife to see blood. Adam didn''t know that he was merely hallucinating. And as he looked at her hazy image that was before him, there was confusion and sadness in his eyes since he knew he only ended up in his current situation due to her. Yet there were still had hints of affection and tenderness too.


    Every man was really a damn fool for at least five minutes every day.


    Adam had long been in love with Marian, and it was what powered the plot to let him recognize her even though she was wearing a different face. Unfortunately, it was also this forbidden and one-sided feeling that made him lose control and cool for a second, leading him to be at an utter disadvantage as he confronted Andre.


    Andre was furious. And nobody knew what kind of bad ending he was concocting for the knight in his head.


    Right now, stifled sobs were filling the Manor above ground while the basement was full of hair-raising sounds from the body of the knight who was keeping his mouth shut despite the pain.


    One thing was sure. It would be a long and excruciating night for thetter.


    That same night, around midnight in Jiang Li and Margarette''s house, the girl suddenly awoke from her sleep and slowly opened her eyes.


    There was no moonlight seeping into the room since it was the first week of the month. Outside, the night sky was nketed by several clusters of clouds. Darkness greeted her sight and it was apanied by the silence that was sometimes broken by the gentle breathing of the man beside her. Sometimes the crackling of the fire and the singing of the night birds and insects would do the job.


    Slowly rising from her spot, the girl carefully peeled off the thick nket from her, uncovering a delicate but developed body of an eighteen-year-old woman that was d in a white nightgown. Thankfully, the fabric of her garment was quite thick, apart from being smooth and breathable for the skin. Of course, there were still parts exposed, like her arms and legs. Those were getting chilled by the night breeze, so in order to not freeze up, she fetched herself a long furry cloak and draped it over her.


    Warmth instantly enveloped her body, brought by the thick fabric made her sigh with emotions, albeit soundlessly.


    After giving the sleeping guy onest look, she silently headed towards the door with light footsteps. When she slid the wooden bar lock to the side using her right hand, she made sure her action was silent and careful enough to not rouse Jiang Li from his sleep. However, she didn''t turn to check on him onest time, but simply stepped out and closed the door slowly.


    "My carefulness might seem unnecessary after casting silencing magic," sheughingly said to herself after exiting the house. A corner of her lips rose as she gave a nce to the closed window to that particr chamber.


    After shaking her head, she started walking down the road to her left, her feet no longer paused for her after, bringing her away there. Her figure seemed to have blended seamlessly with the darkness and shadows in the road ahead. Her steps made no sound, as if they were made by a cat and not by a pretty human. It did not take long for her to vanish from that areapletely.


    Inside the room that she just left, a mechanical voice suddenly rang in the head of the guy who should have been sleeping.


    "Anomaly detected"


    "Reason for the drastic change in the plot before your takeover uncovered."


    "Reason for getting wrong coordinatesst transfer also detected"


    "Host is rmended to"


    The youth was suddenly could be seen sitting on the edge of the bed. The girl had been wrong to assume that all her carefulness would be enough to ensure he wouldn''t be alerted from his slumber because, from the moment she made the tiniest movement, he was aware of it. Right now, no trace of sleepiness could be made out on his face now. For a long while, he was staring at the vacated space next to him with no emotion.


    He was carefully listening to the announcements ying in his mind, especially since it was the mechanical, emotionless voice speaking. He knew, if there was no important announcement, this voice wouldn''t suddenly pop up. The child-like voice that frequently spoke nonsense to him couldn''t bypass the muting after all.


    A couple of momentster, the announcement finally ended. Jiang Li kept staring into the void, lost in his thoughts.


    ''So my stupid system did not really make a mistake in the transfer procedure before,'' he pensively said to himself, referring to the child version of the system. In his mind, ever since he knew about the mechanical side, he treated the system like Aliyah, with a split personality.


    ording to the robot-like voice, there was an unexpected interference from an outsider. All the big changes in the plot before he came into the scene was directly or indirectly triggered by this person. Who were they? He had no idea.


    Nheless, it was good to be informed of what sparked the changes. He wouldn''t deny it helped clear up some confusion However, the past was already the past, simply not as important as the matter at hand that was making more concerned now - his wife''s strange behavior.


    Why would a delicate princess like Margarette go out in the middle of the night? What was it that she didn''t want to alert her husband with? Questions popped up in his mind one after another.


    If he said though that he had no idea, he''d be lying to himself or admitting that every trip he made in and outside the city was useless. But what are the odds that the announcements had some connections to Margarette''s sudden and secret trip outside?


    The guy sunk into contemtion without the usual curiosity or amusement swirling inside his head. He was not amused, and was barely controlling emotions in his heart.


    This was not the first time Margarette went out at night without informing any soul, including him.


    Even if he removed his suspicions of her about the announcement, it was still a fact that was quite concerning considering they had yet to be together for more than a month He was okay reporting to her where he would go every day, but it seemed she was not yet ready to do the same to him.


    "The number of lifetimes has made mecent. I''ve be too rxed," he chuckled and stood up before grabbing a hooded cloak for himself.


    Jiang Li collected his thoughts and headed downstairs.


    To his surprise, a group of people was waiting to ambush him outside of the mansion, stopping him from his n to chase Margarette.


    Looking at the armors of the soldiers that surrounded him without a gap, he squinted his eyes. Even though the illumination at the ce was quite poor, he could clearly make out the exquisiteness of the armors and the weapons of the bunch. Their auras too showed they were among the best of the best knights.


    A pang of regret for not going invisible earlier assaulted Jiang Li, making his mood foul again.


    He asked in his mind, ''What the heck is with this pce dogs?''


    His thoughts immediately drifted to Agatha and grunted in annoyance.


    "By the order of whom did I manage to get the royal knights after me?" A cold voice escaped his mouth as he swept his gaze around.


    None could meet his eyes though, and to his irritation, it was not because the people encircling him were guys with no backbone. The knights were hanging their head low so of course, nobody would be able to see him eye to eye. Their actions made him both curious and alert since he had a hunch the one from the pce who wanted to see him was with them.


    Who was it, he wondered. Did Agatha be so brave to do this? Or was it somebody else''s maniption or orders? Honestly, his guesses were making him unhappy.


    Not long after, the answer showed to him.


    A part of the encirclement parted for the entry of a single person which somehow surprised Jiang Li. ''Francis IV?''


    After a squint of his eyes, he confirmed that it was indeed the most distinguished man in the kingdom. His father-inw, the ''foolish'' King of Holon.

 Chapter 342: Agatha (40) <2-in-1>

    Chapter 342: Agatha (40) <2-in-1>


    ''The stupid His Majesty, Francis IV?'' Jiang Li''s pupils dted as surprise became barely concealed from his face.


    The youth found it unbelievable that the highest person of this kingdom went out it in the middle of the dark to see somebody like him instead of gettingfy with his beloved royal consort. Was he so free? And with no regard for his life?


    As he could see it, there was not a single general apanying him, and while the knights were stronger than the ones in Agatha''s ce, they were still not enough of a deterrence. Even the sickly him from the Goddess'' world could still take out all of them in a minute. Not to mention right now the body he was using was trained and healthy.


    ''Damn, he''s a goat, indeed. Every country has spies from other monarchs, and probably with them are some assassins too. Even now, I can feel some malicious auras in the dark. Yet he darese out with just these few to secure his safety. Should Imend him for being blindly confident in his people or himself just because he hailed from somewhere under an Angel of War?''


    He was really speechless.


    For a minute, he wondered who did Margarette owe her intelligence and knack for business and ruling from.


    "Good evening, Your Majesty." After collecting his thoughts, he greeted without bowing. He continued with no whatsoever hint of respect or awe in his tone, "It''s almost midnight. Your Majesty should be in your chamber with your queen or consort. May I know how and for what reason did I gain the honor of a king like you looking for me?"


    Given such an attitude, what else would he get from the people nearby? His deed naturally elicited discontent from the proud knights apanying the king. Serving Francis IV and being the king''s escort was the greatest honor for them so they felt vited as theyid eyes on someone disrespecting their liege.


    "Boorish, illiterate, and foul-mouthed!" Jiang Li heard the insulting remarks from the back, and he waszy to check who it was. "Why are you not yet kneeling in the presence of His Majesty!?"


    "I never kneel even to my parents." The youthughingly said.


    "Then would you rather I teach you how to bend your knees?" The knight next to the king coldly queried.


    "As an act of kindness towards a fool like you, let me remind you that you are in no position to question anyone here or speak without being permitted to, you sphemous believer of the Fallens! Kneel!"


    The big guy was standing on the right side of the person who was dressed like a regr noble, with no crown or scepter on his person for an obvious reason.


    Jiang Li did not appreciate being trapped there with literal man-made walls as he couldn''t go after the girl who had left. But he certainly hated being interrogated more. As they said, prideful men hated being neglected and treated like air. This was why after giving the captain of the knights a stern re,he ignored him and turned to the king and deliberately asked using the same tone he used earlier, "So yeah, how I may be of service to His Majesty?"


    The loud-mouthed knight that had been deliberately neglected became furious and wanted to yell at Jiang Li, but a hand rose from his left and he knew it was the king who did this.


    An odd smile could be seen from the face of Francis IV.


    "I am but a simple man so I prefer no physical fights if words could do the job. Allow me to extend my greetings to you, Mr. James. How about we find a ce to hold our conversation? I''m sure you would prefer a better spot rather than this lonely and dark street."


    "Well..." Jiang Li was about to say he was busy when another person cut him off.


    "Your Majesty" Anxiously, a soft melodious voice from behind resounded, and Jiang Li was not surprised to find it was Agatha. "We have to get this done before the people in the pce realize we''re not there."


    ''As expected, it''s the viiness.'' He secretly clicked his tongue.


    He figured there should be a reason why this location was visited personally by the king and that it could only be because there was a witch loathing him and Margarette who could easily pillow talk to Francis IV.


    Another odd thing was how one of the knights referred to him as a sphemous believer of a Fallen Angel, which tranted to a witchcraft practitioner. How else would this bunch know about this?


    It seemed the viiness did not appreciate his effort.


    "My king." Jiang Li heard the woman softly reminded the king, "Please don''t forget that we are here to capture him."


    "I wonder why the royal consort hates me," he coldly chuckled.


    The woman''s eyes flickered with resentment.


    Her eyes were seemingly speaking to him, ''Are you really asking that?''


    Agatha obviously could not stand being grounded and pushed around by the couple anymore so she risked telling her beloved king about their identity, hoping to see them in the gallows. She was very vengeful and the appearance of the prince from Borley also gave her the urgency to do some cleanup.


    Wanting the pair to be gone for good, she was thinking if the coven couldn''t deal with them, then the royal army or knight toons should be able to. Or in actuality, the orthodoxws reinforced by the crown and one of the churches should be able to.


    "Your Majesty, the envoy from the Borley Kingdom has specially made a request for help and the great artifact from their side has already verified what the sphemer looks like. It also pinpointed this location."


    With ferocious eyes, the royal consort looked at Jiang Li, and her tone was theplete opposite of her tone earlier.


    "There''s no doubt it is him. The power of the gods and the Pope of Penemue have said it all. If he could even do that to a church, then he is a threat to sovereignty! Any time soon, he might incur the wrath of the gods. There''s no telling if our kingdom won''t be struck by their divine hands if he stays here! He should be arrested as soon as possible to be sent to the royal envoy from Borley!"


    Herdy-in-waiting saw the signs and nodded at the captain of the knights who then went to say in a thunderous voice, "We have pieces of evidence testifying that you, Mr. James, has posed as a fake messenger of the Temple of Penemue. We have also confirmed the Viscount''s daughter kidnapped by you. Your resistance is futile! You have toe with us and face the consequences of your actions!"


    Jiang Li''s bored eyes never left the king.


    "Your Majesty," Confronted with various usations, he called out with seriousnesscing his tone. "It''s bad to listen to only one side in a trial. The used should be given rights to speak and prove an allegation wrong."


    "Hmm, you''re right," replied Francis IV with a nod. "But if proofs against the used are passed down from the Church of Wisdom, then it''s another matter altogether. It''s universally known that the believers of Penemue, especially the Pope, never lie or spread made-up stuff. The Goddess of Wisdom never makes nor tolerates false notions."


    Jiang Li was stunned for a moment before he chuckled and shrugged, "If so then there''s nothing I can do but admit defeat. I am but a single person while the other is a church or even a Goddess. But as I am sure that the royal consort has told you so much about me, so I will just take this chance to make you aware. It''s already a great show of respect for me to continue letting you all stand"


    "Preposterous!"


    The enragedmander waved a hand and a secondter, everyone else was raising theirnces and swords towards him, killing intent pouring from all directions. It was evident none of them liked Jiang Li''s behavior.


    ''It seems it''s true that no criminal and guilty won''t admit to their crimes right off the bat and they would first deny or say something ridiculous, before protesting and running away when presented with proofs.''


    A step behind the man, next to the monarch was Agatha whose eyes shed with glee upon seeing that the youth was digging his own grave. He wants to go against more than a dozen powerful knights that could fight toe to toe against magicians? Good that he was being stupid then. She wanted to see him die from the knights'' collective attacks!


    Her beautiful eyes went to the man standing on her left. From the beginning, she knew his words were all that mattered today and she was waiting for him to issue the order to detain the man. All it would take was a single order and even those guarding from the shadows would join the fray.


    "Come on, my beloved king. Please, say it..." she softly, and almost inaudibly, whispered.


    As Agatha imagined her wishing true, she heard Jiang Li spoke again, "Well, I was about to raise two choices to you guys, make way or fight. I didn''t expect the answer will be this quick..."


    "But are all you really sure about this?"


    Francis IV, the middle-aged regal king with military air surrounding him, stared at Jiang Li for some time. The tension was filling the night air and the royal concubine''s heartbeat was racing. Probably from observing for quite a while, Francis IV noticed that the youth was not really concerned about the number of weapons pointed at him. Because of this, the king shook his head before he calmly told everyone, "The coldness outside is making me ufortable. Stop raising your weapons and escort me somewhere I can talk peacefully with this gentleman."


    The faces of the majority changed.


    ''What? His Majesty''s not going to punish him despite my report and his act of disrespect?'' The expectant look from Agatha also froze, turning into disbelief. Her expression suggested she felt betrayed just now and in her head, she kept questioning if she had heard correctly.


    After nodding to the king, Jiang Li cast the woman a meaningful nce.


    ...


    The two were ushered in a clean but simple activity room on the west side of a mansion in the same area which was secretly owned by the royal family.


    The youth was quite impressed by the majesty of the other when he kept the persistent knights and viiness outside.


    However, his mind, which never forgot his primary concern, was still following Margarette. Since he wanted to see for himself what she had been up totely, he wanted to finish the matter quickly.


    "Your Majesty, pardon me for being a boy with no whatsoever gift of the gab. So what is it that you wanted to negotiate with me to not order my capture per your favorite woman''s request?" he asked.


    If this had been somebody else, his head would have been cut off already for his disrespectful tones and words. It was a good thing the king seemed to be not after Jiang Li''s imprisonment or death. And in actuality, he seemed to be not the kind of foolish ruler people was making him out to be. Well, it was still true Francis IV didn''t make the best decision to seek him out with only that bunch to protect him.


    Jiang Li tilted his head, waiting for the other''s response.


    The king whose eyes were shining with suppressed glee suddenly gave him a slight smile. Francis IV greeted, "How do you do, Mr. James?"


    "Not in the best mood, I guess?" Jiang Li answered, not hiding his distaste for being put in an encirclement earlier.


    Apologetically, the seemingly amicable monarch said, "Well, I can guess why and I perfectly understand that everyone put in that situation will feel the same. My excuse for that is that I was simply making an opportunity for us to meet and speak in private. About my daughter."


    With arched up brows, the youth amusedly replied, "Is that why you want to talk to me? And in the middle of the night even? Sorry, I think the one Your Majesty should bother is Andre Grey. I don''t know much about the Duchess because I don''t care about her."


    "But so do I."


    Jiang Li''s left brow arched up. He didn''t know whether to take it as the king just being heartless. It didn''t make sense because the man just said earlier that he came to him for his daughter, which was technically the Duchess. Unless the middle-aged guy meant something else...


    "Here." The young man watched as the other pulled out something from nowhere which was thenid down on the table.


    It was a card. Jiang Li involuntarily furrowed his brow upon seeing the image drawn on it.


    He gazed into the king''s eyes, deeply wondering what a picture depicting a burning castle had to do with the king looking for him to speak about his previously ignored princess.

 Chapter 343: Agatha (41)

    Chapter 343: Agatha (41)


    The king could see through his thoughts it seemed, and exined, "This is something I ordered my craftsmen to make and my best painters to draw. And I can say it has not been easy to create them since the concept is so foreign to the majority. I have to tell everyone in the know that it''s just a game card, so they won''t use me of heresy."


    "Your Majesty, I''m not someone who enjoyed riddle games. I am just slightly curious about the matter with the Duchess. And the card, what does it have to do with me?"


    The king acted as if Jiang Li''s snide remarks did not enter his ears. He resumed the exnation with his eyes still on the card. "Please look. There are 78 of this in total, each with different images in them. Cups, stars, wands, and swords I called them suits and each has numbers from 1 to 9, knight, queen, and king. There is also a series I called Major Arcana in which really powerful cards belonged"


    Jiang Li was initially annoyed before hearing thest part, even secretly rolling his eyes and saying to himself, ''What a talkative monarch.''


    After the king finished speaking though, his mind then turned nk for a while before it worked furiously, guessing what this man wanted to tell him.


    He then froze, remembering something which doesn''t add up with the current situation.


    Surely, the Tarot Cards were still not created around this era If this person was referring to Tarot Cards... does it mean this king was the one who invented it and it just somehow leaked outside of the continent? Was the deck created for the purpose Jiang Li had in mind?


    ''This is not in the plot.'' He concluded, feeling some rm in his heart. He didn''t hesitate to unmute the system. He stood up and prepared himself in case of any unexpected events, to defend and attack. He then asked the system if Francis IV was the one who caused the changes that happened before he came to the world.


    He didn''t know why, but he suddenly had a hunch that the man was connected to it and he badly wanted to confirm it. After all, the king was in a position with resources and the ability to cause those ripples Plus he was also showing something so different from the memories that Margarette could not have possibly triggered.


    ''I''ve been negligent, damn. This guy''s appearance has been too sudden and coincidental, not long after the mechanical voice spoke to me. Is it him? The one the announcements are referring to?''


    But before the being in his head could reply, the king replied first. Smiling at the youth who suddenly began ring at him, Francis IV then looked at the card and said, "The first time I heard about you from my beloved royal consort, I became intrigued and tried using this new divination method and got this. It''s the same card every time I do the divination. Even if all I used is your name, this is what I will get."


    Jiang Li asked. "So what is with The Tower?"


    "Hmm? How did you know about what I named this card with?" The king sported an awkward expression as the youth didn''t even bother pretending to guess if the image was a castle or a monument.


    Feeling like he was not getting anywhere, Jiang Li who felt irritated for being asked back just proceeded to say coldly, "I know a little about this from a friend who is a master of divination. Still, I''m no master so tell me, what does The Tower mean? Disorder? Change? Or destruction?"


    "The cards are yet to enter the market. Your friend could not possibly know how to read it so it''s amazing you can think of keywords closely rted to the card''s meaning. May I know how you, or your friend, managed toe up with them?" amused, the other reply.


    Jiang Li had no answer to it and waszy to create an excuse. He said, "Whatever You don''t want to answer, I also won''t. It''s the simple rule of ''give and take'', you reap what you sow."


    "I just want to say though, it was really surprising to me that the stupid king the witches and other hidden entities in the kingdom are belittling has hidden so deeply."


    "As I can see it, you seem very knowledgeable about fate. And the concept you just told me sounds very futuristic, at least in my estimate, a thousand years advanced for the Outsiders toe up with it."


    The King of Holon smiled, "I don''t think it''s advisable to anger the Goddess by making things up, Mr. James. You are a fake messenger of the Church of Wisdom, if you forgot."


    "Simply making an estimate of when a certain item or technology should appear in history is sphemy? Then, in my opinion, you who is dabbling in divination using cards that can predict fate is angering your patron, the God of War, and Armamos, the God of Mystery. You also keep talking about unnecessary things even though you are in the presence of somebody feared even by your witch."


    The chatterbox monarch kept his smile and his silence.


    But this verified to Jiang Li that the king was the opposite of what he just called him now. The man before him was not really a fool. How could Francis IV be a fool if while the others were kept in the dark, the person knew that his own consort was a witch? It looked like even Agatha had no idea that her secret was not only known to the female leads and Jiang Li, but to her own husband too.


    "Maybe I''m just confident with my own strength," chortled Francis IV.


    The younger man continued with an emotionless tone, "Your Majesty, you are really interesting. And I believe you make a good conversation partner."


    "Too bad, I have someone important to chase so I would have to leave temporarily."


    "Would it be alright if I first imprison you here while I finish my business outside?"


    "I promise it won''t take long. Once I''m back, we can continue this talk to our heart''s content. What do you think?"


    Looking at the witchcraft practitioner who suddenly became like a sword unsheathed ready to strike with just one wrong reply from him, the king pretended he didn''t feel the cold sweat running down his spine.


    With the same seemingly rxed smile, Francis IV replied, "In fact, there is no need to prolong our conversation. I only came here for I have two questions to ask you."


    "You brought up those cards and bbered about destiny and some other cr*p for this?" Jiang Li narrowed his eyes, waiting for the next words.


    cing his elbows atop the table while interlocking his fingers, the middle-aged monarch began, "First. Who are you and how did you change your fate so drastically that it even touched the fates of the main people of this world?"


    The youth impatiently answered, "Damn that aliennguage. I am who your consort told me to be. If you don''t believe me, feel free to divine it using your cards. If that is what will generate a more believable result for you."


    After retrieving the card on the desk under the watchful gaze of the youth, Francis IV acted to not have heard Jiang Li''s response and continued.


    "My second question," the king met the young man''s gaze. " Where is my daughter Margarette? Not the Duchess, but the one who is proiming herself the Queen of Commerce?"


    "For some reason, every time I divine about her, all the cards will point to you."


    That time, Jiang Li froze again, a bit shocked by what he heard. And before Jiang Li knew it, he had actually activated the spell to iste the king for real.


    His expression as he looked at the man was in no way friendly. Gone was his apprehension to treat the other with hypnotic magic due to him being his father-inw. Jiang Li''s attitude changed so fast, and he had even sat back down.


    "Wait, what are you doing?" Francis IV was frowning badly at him. The king had stood up and distanced himself from the young man.


    However, Jiang Li''s eyes already started to be weird a few seconds ago. "I hope you won''t mind that I changed my own mind just now, Your Majesty. Since I know the person I was supposed to tail wille back to me anyway, I n to simply take my sweet time talking to you about your concern."


    The hypnotism was taking over slowly as the blue gem in the king''s right ear glowed slightly. The youth furrowed his brows, but didn''t halt the process. There was something maic and indescribable in his voice when he spoke again.


    "So, my regal king. Can you repeat what you just said? And also borate on why you are suddenly looking for your forgotten princess? Tell me everything you know... I''m now also quite open to discuss the changes in the fate that you''re talking about earlier..."

 Chapter 344: Agatha (42)

    Chapter 344: Agatha (42)


    Outside, Agatha looked to be calm and silent as she waited for the two men toe out. It had been half an hour since the door to the room closed, and no change appeared on her face. However, inwardly, she was actually screaming and pulling her hair out of frustration. The eyes of her knights and the king''s royal soldiers pinned at her were the only thing stopping her in doing it for real.


    Deep inside, she really hated how Holon''s supreme ruler suddenly went off the script, grabbing the target she wanted to nail on the cross for a talk instead of decreeing his death.


    Why? What had gone wrong? What suddenly had gone into the king''s head?


    Several minutester, when her patience and calmness wore out, she could no longer help but blurt out her worries, "Will His Majesty be alright, being left alone with that sphemer? That James uses dark arts and I''m worried that he will use them against His Majesty. Can''t we really break-in?"


    The knights and servants surrounding her all began tofort her. "Don''t worry much, Your Highness. The king is one of the strongest fighters in the kingdom and is blessed by the Pope of The Church of Combat. His light is with him and will help him triumph against all dark magicians."


    The rest said something simr that did not truly make her mood better. They were all doing their best to demean the forces and power of the believers of the Fallen Angels without knowing that the royal consort was actually one of those believers.


    Agatha paced here and there before facing the burly captain of the knights and throwing a question again, "Why did His Majesty choose to speak with that sphemer? I don''t get it. He could have just ordered you all to send him to the dungeon or the Ministry of Justice. So why?"


    This time, nobody could answer her. None of them could think of any reason or dare to say their opinion since it would mean questioning the king''s decision and authority.


    The royal consort saw that everyone had lowered their heads with no desire to meet her stare and it made her so depressed. She was also still very anxious since she actually had no idea how powerful the youth really was. What if that teenage boy was already hurting her king? Agatha was a woman with twisted morals, but she genuinely cares for Francis.Now that she thought about that possibility, she was starting to regret it. ''I should have just shut up and endured''


    Her thoughts were showing in her face and those secretly peeking at her were in awe of her devotion to the monarch. Yet they were also puzzled why she was acting like the young man could do harm to the king.


    "Since the boy is badly scared off by the Church of Wisdom and had to flee from Borley, he should be a weakling, no?" the majority thought to themselves.


    "Your Highness. Prince Benedict from the Borley Kingdom wanted to speak with you," said one of the magicians.


    Agatha''s train of thoughts was broken and she looked at the aged sorcerer with a frown. "Why is that person seeking me?"


    "I''m sorry, mdy. He''s asking to speak with you to request to see the sphemer. It seems our operation has leaked somehow and the Borleans'' second prince came to hear about it. "


    ''Oh? I wonder which imbecile betrayed us, huh'' she thought in exasperation.


    "Put him through to me then." A cold expression emerged on the viiness'' face as she ordered the magicians to lead her to a vacant room.


    In the former observatory tower, Margarette had no clue that her father went to see Jiang Li. She was kind of isted from her people right now since she was in the basement of the tower, walking down the hallway that would connect her to another realm.


    Her spies and guards in the mansion area had been knocked out long before they could take a glimpse of the knights, much less of the king and the consort. The whole matter had just no way of reaching her ears. Because of this, she didn''t know that her father was looking for her, aware that her soul was inhabiting another person''s body.


    But actually, even if she heard about this all, she wouldn''t turn back as she was currently on her way to meet the enigmatic witch who guided her in her practice of witchcraft - the real reason why she had her memories of the past life.


    "Wee and I''m d to see you again, Margarette," said a woman wearing a hooded violet robe looking like a medium with several silver essories on her wrists, fingers, and neck.


    The woman in violet was the only one in the small dome-like greenhouse that appeared at the end of the hallway. She was in the middle of the garden that had no othermp or any other type of illumination apart from the thousands of fireflies lingering there. With a slight smile, shemented to the dumbfounded girl, "How have you been? I''m truly amazed that you managed to get past all the tests I scattered in the city and find me in just a month. You have made me quite proud, my lovely student."


    Looking embarrassed and shy, Margarette bowed slightly to the woman seated at a table that had a bronze candle holder on top of it.


    "I don''t deserve thepliment, but I won''t deny that it makes me happy." The girl responded. "I''m also d to finally see you too in person, dearest mentor."


    She was genuinely happy toe here and see the woman. It was the first time, after all. Before, since she was little, the other had only expounded knowledge or extended help to her from the shadows, giving her no opportunity to see what her powerful master looked like. Now that she was finally given a chance, of course, she felt moved. Her mentor even showed her a mesmerizing scene, a live work of art, that made all the troubles in locating her worth it.


    However, she was still as careful as ever, checking out the ce for danger despite knowing the woman wouldn''t harm her. That was when her eyes briefly scanned the candle atop the table there that was burning with blue mes and emitting a pleasant floral smell.


    ''It has a scent that is from a rare mix of herbs and essential oils.'' A piece of memory surfaced in her mind, an image that didn''t belong to her, but Aliyah.


    Before the soul of that woman with multiple personalities arrived in Marian''s body, Marian had first sought out a mystic, a believer of Armamos, God of Mystery and Enchantment, in hopes of unlocking her sealed memories and speaking with her deceased brother.


    However, due to some man-made ident, none of Marian''s two objectives waspleted and she herself, had seemingly forgotten about it after bing the Duchess. When Aliyah transmigrated into the body amidst the ceremony, all she uncovered were two images, one, the cover of the book depicting Marian''s fictional story, the other, a mural of seven angels.


    "Teacher, are you the medium who performed the rituals for Marian before the body swap?"


    Margarette''s eyes widened in disbelief of the coincidence. As the scene was quite embarrassing to her, she was half-doubting the images she retrieved from Aliyah''s memory.


    However, contrary to the girl, no sign of embarrassment could be seen from the woman''s face. Sitting with her sped hands at the table, the medium batted her dark eyes that could seemingly suck souls in them and admitted, "Right. It is indeed I. Why? Are you having difficulty rting me to that medium? I look the same though, and I said ''I''m d to see you again'' about a minute ago.


    Margarette approached the violet-robed woman, and she resembled no princess ormerce queen as she awkwardly looked away from the otherdy. "I''m sorry, teacher. I was just shocked to learn I have met you before, and that you are a magician of"


    "Of an orthodox god?" The medium smiled, perfectly aware that the princess was wondering whether she was a real believer of the God of Mystery, or a faker and spy whose faith was still in one of the Fallen Angels.


    The medium pointed her hand on the simple wooden chair across hers. "Before anything else, you take a seat, Margarette. We have the whole night to talk about me, and the happenstances in the continent"


    "I think it will take a long while for my son and your husband toe"

 Chapter 345: Agatha (43) <2-in-1>

    Chapter 345: Agatha (43) <2-in-1>


    Confirmed as an outsider... And suspected to be the one who unnecessarilyplicated the plot to an exaggerated degree, Jiang Li had almost killed the king.


    Yup. Just a few minutes ago, Jiang Li, who had honed his ice magic alongside dark arts, suddenly conjured a sword made out of ice and pointed it to the monarch''s neck.


    Blood even trickled down for a few seconds when its sharp edge sunk a bit into the skin. The middle-aged guy was really caught off-guard by Jiang Li''s unexpected show of aggression.


    However, Francis IV seemed experienced in trekking between life and death so the man did not do anything unnecessary and simply threw out revtions to free himself.


    "Sighs. If telling you I am a friend from the previous life is not enough, which proves that friendship is something cheap and easily breakable, then I guess, all I can do is tell you that in my most recent reading, the tower has appeared instead of the card usually corresponding to her. I came here because I have divined that my daughter is in danger"


    "You said that every time you drew cards, it''s me corresponding to that card!"


    The angered young man stormed out of the room with the king dragged like a caught prey. The knights and the viiness could not even move as they watched the two exit the mansion with unnatural haste. All they could do was to widen their eyes in disbelief and horror.


    It was a hundred meters away when the petrifying spell he used against the king and the rest wore out.


    "Lead the way!" The youth told Francis IV. "Since you''re extremely priding over that divination cards of yours, locate Margarette now!"


    ''What the hell...''


    Francis IV was not in the best mood after what had just happened. After all, he was a ruler yet he was treated like that. But who asked the other to be more powerful. ''Is this awful guy a cheater? And even if he''s worried about Margarette, didn''t he know he had just manhandled Margarette''s father? I won''t let her date him anymore!''


    Jiang Li didn''t care about the protests though. Even if the other was indeed somebody he was acquainted with from other worlds and his father-inw, he was still more concerned about eliminating somebody who could not only travel to worlds with him but mess up his missions. He was also not pleased with what took ce earlier.


    ''I should have just left this king and followed her without dy.''


    In the end, the other man seemed to have thought of something and pointed Jiang Li a direction. Jiang Li did not miss the king''s blue earring glowing a bit, although he didn''t know what it did. But what was important was that he got a lead to Margarette''s whereabouts.


    Unfortunately, while on the way to the familiar abandoned observatory tower that the man had pointed, Francis IV actually managed to escape from the binding. The king freed himself from the rope and the spell which he did partially through the mysterious earring that suddenly lit up with a blinding light. The shsted for more than ten seconds and by the time Jiang Li had recovered his sense of sight, the king was no longer in the vicinity.


    ''The bastard escaped'' The youth balled his fist in annoyance.


    However, he didn''t allow himself wallow in the feeling for so long. No longer intent on dying looking for Margarette, he walked into the observatory and headed down to the basement.


    It was unknown when the guy had pulled out a straw doll though. But when he was walking down the dark and damp corridor with some wallmps guiding him through, he had somehow managed to write the name Dong Lan, Francis IV on the weaved straw using his blood.


    Jiang Li had really started to dislike the man for stopping him and then escapingter.


    And so with no pause in his steps, he made a simple stabbing motion against the delicate doll''s stomach. A cid look was in his eyes, as if he was only doing something naturally and as if he never went angry in the first ce.


    "The tower can actually be an actual tower"


    Francis IV murmured while staring into the direction of the observatory. His tone was quite weird, as he found it very embarrassing that after all the talk about the card''s meaning, The Tower actually pointed to an actual ce, not a situation. He reckoned if his adoptive mother heard about this epic failure, he would end up pummeled to death by her.


    "Maybe that girl is not really in danger. It''s me." The king shook his head, d that none of his entourage had followed so he would not have to be so careful of his image and speeches.


    The man clutched his stomach that began to feel weird, like the insides were being twisted and seared with a hot iron. A wry expression emerged on his face as he endured it back to the mansion although no cry of pain escaped from his lips. Thankfully, he was used to it, as before his memory of previous life had returned, which was also before his ascension to the throne, he was a man frequently dancing with death in the battlefield and court. Assassinations, wars, and injuries were no foreign matters to him before, and even now after being enthroned.


    If asked whether he was okay putting up with this pain though, of course, not. Who would?


    Shaking his head, Francis IV walked a little more and not long after, he ran into his knights and consort. The group obviously went after him the moment they got freed from the youth''s spell and regained mobility.


    However, to his surprise, the group was involved in a battle.


    "What do you think are you doing, Andre Grey!" shouted Dune, the bear-like knight who was currently shielding Agatha from the attacks.


    There was only one man waving his weapon before the knight toon, knocking people down at a speed that made the king''s face grim.


    He actually met the duke at such a time and situation? The king frowned.


    But Andre had indeede for the head of the royal consort.


    The male lead received news of the viiness'' sudden trip outside and he started to strike down when the king was separated from the bunch.


    It had been a decision made out of impulse and anger.


    It was stupid. Had he been in the right mind, he certainly would have first sent people to investigate where the ''assassin'' truly was from. But the male lead did not do it, thinking with absolute confidence that it was that person. There would be no anybody else so hostile to the Duchess. He even told himself he had had enough of the royal consort''s dark tricks.


    So he made this move,ing alone. The ''assassin'' was still being tortured by his subordinates somewhere.


    In a sense, this showcased Andre Grey''s arrogance. The male lead was not only letting emotions reigned on him. He had blind confidence in his deduction and believed he would sessfully pull off the retaliation and then get away from it.


    To be honest, with the plot as his backing, he would have no problem executing the poor n.


    Now a torn mask could be seen vaguely in the shadowy ground, which ruined Andre Grey''s covertness and anonymity in this operation.


    Yet the man only frowned. There was no other emotion in his face. He purposely did not answer the captain knight''s question as he had no intention to let those around hear his voice.


    "Apprehend the traitorous duke," Francis IV said in a loud enough voice after appearing next to Agatha. Giving the male lead a nce, the man endured the headache and added, "One of you, race to General Whyte and ry to him my order. Surround and capture the whole Grey Ducal House. None is to be allowed to exit without permission from me or the Chief Minister of Justice."


    Hearing the order, Andre was still silent, with no intention of retreating. Meanwhile, the knight captain immediatelymanded his men to surround the male lead. The formation had beplete since the king hade back and no knight was no longer needed to ensure the safety of the fragile royal consort.


    A few seconds quickly passed and the counterattacks from the knights became fiercer that Andre had begun to feel the difficulty of his mission. It left him no leeway to bar the chosen knight from leaving. He had to focus on defending more than attacking. And this made him scowl.


    Some more time passed and he began to question himself.


    At this rate, would he really be able to kill the witch?


    Only three out of the dozen elites had been wounded mortally and forced out of the battle.


    If killing was not an option, would he be able to force the viiness to use witchcraft in the presence of the king then? To make sure she would be put in a public trial?


    The duke was not aware, but actually, the question he should be inquiring himself was whether Agatha would continue to lie low now that Francis IV was back.


    The answer was no, obviously.


    The woman temporarily forgot about the fake messenger and her happiness in seeing the king back in one piece. Agatha yelled with malice that was masked with urgency, "My king, the duke didn''t show panic when one of the knights sprinted out to fetch the General. It''s making me suspect that there is a double in the ducal mansion acting as Duke Grey! I suggest that once we''re back, we should put every member of the Duke Household in a trial as all of them could be involved in this treason!"


    ''Really a female viin.'' While the king was nodding at Agatha''s guess, Duke Grey''s eyes shed with murderous intent that the royal concubine saw and provocatively grinned at.


    The male lead was initially not rmed by the order given to the knight that left because he really had a double in the ducal manor acting as him. Even if a search was conducted, the general would see ''him'' there.


    But now


    "Just seize this one first and then invite the royal envoy from the Borley Kingdom. The whole ducal family is to be on a house arrest until then. With the royal envoy''smunication device, we can contact the Pope of Penemue to confirm the truth about this assassination," the king said emotionlessly.


    ''His Majesty believed the witch just like that?''


    ''And there''s an envoy rted to the Church of Wisdom in the pce?''


    Andre nked out for a moment before suddenly fighting more ferociously than before. His face turned gloomy and his gaze towards the king and the royal consort became hostile.


    But it was already toote. He realized he had been had by hiscency.


    People from the pce too were not idiots, he realized. It was he who was, especially when he let his mask fall without covering his face afterward.


    Where the hell did he get the nerve to assume a simple scheme would not be seen through by them?


    And even if he said he was simply taking revenge on his wife''s behalf, would his stupidity and rashness be excused?


    The duke tightened his grip of the sword.


    Yet, what he really regretted was not that he hade here impulsively... but that he could not stop the knight headed for General White on time, and that he had not brought enough people to take the king hostage.


    ''What to do?'' the duke asked himself.


    Andre Grey''s cold eyes settled on Agatha.

 Chapter 346: Agatha (44) <2-in-1>

    Chapter 346: Agatha (44) <2-in-1>


    Dong Lan never mentioned the fortune-teller to Jiang Li. The option simply never crossed his mind. He never told the other guy, even though he managed to feel her presence just now through the earring she gave him.


    For him, no matter what happened before despite suddenly being thrown to another dimension without a warning, the fortune-teller was still a mother figure in his heart. Dong Lan remained someone with integrity, filial piety, and loyalty. As a son, why would he rat his mother out, especially after learning that Jiang Li was not exactly friendly to other people who could travel from world to world?


    Due to this, the junior fortune-teller kept his mouth shut, and preferred to use the cards in his possession and his prediction about Margarette as his leverage. The attempt ended with failure, but Dong Lan still stubbornly withheld the information about the fortune-teller. He chose to wait for an opportunity to escape, and luckily, he managed to seize it.


    When Dong Lan escaped from the ce and met up with the knights despite the curse he had incurred, he sighed in relief. He was thinking he at least did not have to deal with Jiang Li and risk blurting out about the female fortune-teller. His shoulders cked, and he began to focus on warding off Andre Grey''s ws which wanted to snatch Agatha from him.


    However, the king was not aware of one thing. That in fact, even though he didn''t speak, Jiang Li already had a clue. The king himself was the one who delivered that hint, when he tried to escape yet also ended up revealing to Jiang Li that the gem on his ear was actually some precious item that he had seen before.


    It then reminded him of the fortune-teller he met in one of his travels.


    If Dong Lan had not unted those tarot cards to him, he would not have rted the king to that woman, the previous owner of that piece of jewelry.


    Jiang Li kept walking after putting the straw doll away.


    Various images then came crashing down before his eyes, shing so fast to remind him of everything that happened when he first encountered the fortune-teller.


    ''She called me a ve of a high god'' A couple of seconds after, he absent-mindedly thought, a frown involuntarily surfacing.


    ''She told me she can''t tell me anything about Ye Xinya."


    ''She couldn''t tell or else somebody so mighty and omnipotent will take away her fortune-telling abilities''


    ''However, when I tried to intimidate her with my aura as a general, it backfired to me. I not only ended up not knowing more, I got suffocated by the fortune-teller''s gaze''


    ''I suspect that fortune-teller is a lot stronger than me back then, and is either lying or purposely hiding the truth.''


    His train of thoughts began with some keywords.


    Mysterious. Had put effort into emphasizing her weakness even though she was obviously capable of way more. A person who imed she could divine the past lifetimes of those who sought her out.


    While divination seemed to be the only thing Dong Lan could do, does the same apply to that fortune-teller?


    Maybe the outsider who truly messed up with the plot of this world was that woman?


    In front of him, he was already seeing light, signaling the short walk that served as a buffer would be ending soon. Aside from Margarette, he was sure to meet the fortune-teller again. Dong Lan was one clue the system was another. After all, thetter voluntarily surfaced to ward off the heavy pressure pressing down on him ever since he entered that passage.


    "Host Exercising caution ahead is very much advised," rang a mechanical voice inside his head.


    He couldn''t help but wonder, ''If a disagreement broke out, should I just fight it out with no regard to my life and death? The king should be able to protect that viiness for life anyway, no?''


    The guy was already thinking of a fight to the death. And he was betting his death wouldn''t fail the mission because the king was not a fool.


    Jiang Li held his breath as he stepped foot into thend revealed by the end of the dark passage.


    The pressure from the ce that seemingly wanted to squeeze him to death vanished. The memories which came back to him were quickly shelved away.


    Looking ahead of him, he easily found the person that gave him the second biggest impression in his several lifetimes, the fortune-teller.


    "How have you been?" A beautiful, dulcet voice rang into his ears. Its owner slightly grinning at Jiang Li.


    Unlike when Margarette arrived at the same ce, the candle flickering with blue light atop the center of the table had been put away. The fireflies kept flying around the woman as if they were moths drawn to the me. Their green glow that was concentrated on her made her appear so mysterious and ethereal. The sight was so beautiful, had it been another guy relishing on the scene with his eyes, he would have been entranced already, wondering if the fortune-teller was a goddess.


    Fortunately, Jiang Li was not amon man. He was already immune to beauty due to Margarette and was not easily intimidated by the enigma since he didn''t fear death.


    Jiang Li didn''t say a thing for a while, frowning. ''Margarette is not here?''


    Even after roaming his eyes around for a minute, the Queen of Commerce who had snuck away from him was nowhere in sight, a fact which despite naturally rming him, was not really out of his expectation.


    ''I was made toe to this ce...'' He then realized.


    "Do I need to pay 50 credits or equivalent of that per question?" When he understood he was essentially baited to go here, he stopped looking around and walked over before pulling out a seat for himself.


    Jiang Li acted as if they were familiar with each other. He added, "It''s been a while by the way."


    "Yeah. " The fortune-tellerughed carefreely. "And I can see that you Mister, seems to be as impatient as before. I haven''t said my weing line yet. It''s been several years since then and my expertise has be more expensive to afford. 500 credits or equivalent per question."


    "500 credits?"


    Jiang Li looked at the other and then nodded. Afterward, he conjured several pieces of ice that had the shape and the look of a diamond. Those pieces of ice floated in the air, dancing ording to his wishes.


    "Equivalent then. If this is shown on a circus or in the za, I''m confidentmoners and normal nobles will pool up more than a thousand for this."


    "Cheap miser." A look of annoyance emerged on the beautiful face of the fortune-teller. "Two questions."


    "Where''s Margarette?" he hurriedly asked. It was his main goal after all.


    The fortune-teller tilted her head a bit. "Where? I have no interest in taking that timebomb from you, so rest assure you''ll see her upon exiting this space. I didn''t harm her. She''s currently somewhere in this garden. She could see us, but couldn''t hear us."


    His mind conveniently filtered how Margarette was called a timebomb. Using Murphy''s Law in this situation was not good for the heart Should he believe that kind of answer?


    "I didn''t hear an actual location so I still have those two questions," Jiang Li cidly said to further disgust the woman. He was not pleased by the fact that he still could not see his wife. He knew Margarette was being hidden somewhere by this person.


    It seemed too, the fortune was quite displeased by his response.


    "Mr. Jiang, I staged this to meet you for a serious thing, and the answer is already been given. I have no obligation to convince you when the facts are alreadyid before your eyes. Why did you not bring that Dong Lan with you?"


    Silence reigned for a while as he was sizing up the other.


    "He doesn''t want toe here. Not even after I threatened him with my de," he then replied indifferently.


    "Oh, too bad."


    It took Jiang Li a second to realize that the woman was baiting her. Just now her most recent question made him curious about the rtionship between the fortune-teller and the king. He almost voiced out this curiosity which could have wasted a question. Was he thinking too much? How annoying.


    After that, Jiang Li dered to have gained another chance for a question from her. The woman wrinkled her nose but didn''t protest.


    The first one he asked was obvious. "Why are you in this world?"


    This was him acknowledging that she was probably like a world-hopper, or someone with the same abilities but higher standing.


    The woman asked back why he didn''t add ''how'' to the question which he just scoffed at. Even he, who was a ''ve'' of the system, could do interdimensional travels. For beings like her, how difficult could it be? Why should he be curious about how she traveled here?


    With a shrug, the woman began to speak, "It''s not important enough to be a secret, anyway so I suppose it''s okay to tell you. There are two reasons why I came here. The first one well, you see, I sent a fool to go through the same process as you, but I forgot to tell him his objective. The second, obviously, it''s you, Mr. Jiang."


    It was her who sent Dong Lan to undergo the same world-hopping process as him... This detail did not escape his notice.


    "I was thinking it will be my wife. That makes me nervous, wondering why it''s me" Jiang Liughed. "I was but an insignificant ghost. Last time, didn''t you indirectly call me a servant?"


    "Did I?" The woman rolled her eyes, still acting so natural around the youth. "I only said I''m suspecting you to be a servant of a high god, but you might be different than that. I set up some kind of formation on the passageway after Margarette passed by it. So care to tell me how you easily bypassed it when you''re that"


    ''Weak?'' He wondered if that was thest word which she withheld from voicing out.


    In the eyes of this person, was someone like him who was in the pinnacle of magic and witchcraft weak?


    What kind of person was she to talk this big? A ''real'' goddess? Someone who could influence the bigger universe?


    His eyes zed over for a moment before he took a deep breath, "On how I reached here safely, you better use your prided ability. Now I will use one of my questions."


    "Sure."


    "Why are you here for me?"


    The answer came very fast. "Oh, that. I will tell you before I leave this world."


    ''I really hate people like this who speaks in riddles.''


    Although annoyed, he nodded. "What about your rtionship with Margarette? What are you to her that she keeps looking for clues regarding your whereabouts for a month."


    "Her teacher." She gave the dumbfounded him a bored look and said, "Last one remaining."


    Jiang Li frowned, lost in his thoughts about thetest reply. If the woman became Margarette''s mentor, then maybe Margarette being so aplished in the Eastern Witcraft was rted to her? Was it her who actually taught the girl the body swap? And Aliyah''s idental transmigration... was her work too?


    She stared at him for a long while until the stares got on his nerve that he took a deep breath. He then stopped thinking about all sorts of things. He decided maybe he should not proceed with the conversation anymore. The answers he got were so cryptic after all and he didn''t like the questions popping up in his mind.


    Why was he even letting the other make a fool out of him and lead the pace? From the beginning, his goal anyway was simple.


    "Alright. I prefer you to owe me one question. Thank you for your hospitality but it''s now midnight. I want to take my wife back home."


    The medium batted her eyshes once, then slowly grinned, "You seem to prefer to see me a third time. But if you are dying to see Margarette again. Fine."


    Back then, the man was standing up. Or rather, he tried.


    But the attempts proved futile when Jiang Li just found himself unable to move a muscle apart from those in his eyes that were now staring icily at the witchy medium. He tried to say something to express his anger, but no voice came out of his mouth.


    "Teacher" On the left side of the woman, a figure of a younger girl suddenly materialized, slowly and gradually revealing Margarette. She was still in her hooded robe, now staring at the fortune-teller with confusion. The same look was on the girl''s face when she turned to the young man who had been locked up in space.


    For a moment, Jiang Li nced at the girl with relief, pleased to see unhurt. A secondter, he hinted her through his eyes to get over his side. At that time, that was all he could do tomunicate with her. He couldn''t speak due to whatever restriction imposed on him by the fortune-teller.


    But while Margarette saw his cue and expressed her surprise, she only frowned after that. That was all. For some reason, her feet did not bring her to his side even though that was she was supposed to do and what he was expecting her to do. She was not pinned down by any kind of magic Which meant she had the ability to move.


    And the medium too seemed to be not finished with what she wanted to say earlier.


    "You''re right that it''s now past midnight." After an exchange of nces with Margarette, the mature woman said to Jiang Li. Jiang Li saw the medium rising to her feet and half-circling the round table towards him.


    Margarette seemed to have no n of pulling him away from the suspicious fortune-teller who then said, "So after the brief discussion, shall we proceed now to the real matter at hand? You see, before you came, I received a curious request from my disciple."


    Margarette spoke, her hand tugging on the sleeve of the violet-robed woman, "Teacher, since he''s now here, can you help me make him remember who he really is and our real past?"


    '' What the hell?'' Jiang Li''s gaze froze on Margarette before it slowly fell upon the medium, his eyes became icier, with the temperature of the ce dropping so fast..

 Chapter 347: Agatha (45) <2-in-1>

    Chapter 347: Agatha (45) <2-in-1>


    The medium was just a couple of steps away, her hand reaching for his head.


    rm bells were ringing inside to warn him of the oing danger. Yet his eyes were still speaking to Margarette.


    Jiang Li wondered. When did the medium''s weight in Margarette''s heart be greater than his? His wife was standing by that woman''s side!


    Was there something going on behind the scenes that he just didn''t know?


    Everything had been odd in his eyes. Only a few hours ago, he was with the girl and they were okay. Then all of a sudden, she began acting so not like her which led to this situation. Why couldn''t she just continue lying at home? Did she know her actions disturb many people''s sleep and caused him so much trouble?


    ''Your husband is in danger.'' Before the fortune-teller reached him, he gave the girl onest look of pleading. ''Go to me, alright?'' his gaze said.


    He was ready to forget all this madness and treat it as her being manipted by the medium, as long as she heeds his eyes. In his imagination, already ying was her figure repenting for the hesitation she showed earlier by immediately going to his side. Once that happened, he would then use whatever means in his disposal, the system if needed, to leave that space.


    However, what he was hoping in his mind did not happen. Margarette stayed where she was. "Teacher, I''m sorry for troubling you to rouse his memories."


    Laughter rang. "It is no trouble if it''s for my dearest student. After all, I am the older one here and it''s my job to understand a young woman''s longing for a chivalrous and manly knight. In a moment, he will be the honorable man you wanted to see in him, a general, and not the homeless fake messenger who loves to deceive people."


    That simple exchange made Jiang Li silent. He was shaken. He didn''t know what to say after discovering that his wife''s incarnation in this world was only fierce inmerce and ck arts, and extremely stupid outside of that.


    However, when he determined that Margarette really had no whatsoever n to move, he knew there was nothing more to consider. His face fell. The world instantly became monochrome in his sight and he suddenly wanted to be crazy.


    ''Host.'' The mechanical voice rang when Jiang Li was throwing the fortune-teller a death stare.


    The guy jolted out of his thoughts and his eyesight regained rity. Right. He was betrayed. So he was still in danger. He was in a bitter situation where nobody would save him.


    ''Yeah, I can only count on myself now.'' Heughed, telling himself too that there was no way he would allow another being to tamper with his brain.


    A second after that, all urges and emotions disappeared from his eyes. The youth seemed to have sobered up.


    At that moment, Jiang Li hade up with a decision and his aura suddenly shot up, it became very suffocating for those around.


    A sh of surprise crossed the fortune-teller''s eyes. "A takeover?"


    She was referring to Jiang Li''s abrupt change that made him seem like a different person, a person possessed by a higher being.


    The fortune-teller''s hand that was only a couple of inches away hurriedly withdrew. She retreated a few more steps and then gave her previous spot a dumbfounded look.


    "Margarette don''te near. It has be dangerous!" In a grave tone, the woman said.


    Margarette''s body shook. She watched with wide eyes as Jiang Li suddenly escape from the chair where he was supposed to, bound with some invisible power. When he reappeared several meters back, only a few steps away from the exit, he was no longer looking at her.


    "General?" Like a foolish girl, she called out upon seeing the unnerving change in him.


    However, the man did not reply to her. He did not even look at her.


    Jiang Li, whose eyes and hair turned white, locked gazes with the violet-dressed woman.


    "I hope the Heavens punish you with death, Fortune-Teller," he said to her, his rage barely concealed by his icy voice.


    The fortune-teller replied after recovering her calm. "I''m afraid that wouldn''t happen. I vited now as I know about it more than you. When you asked me where Margarette is, Iter showed you that she is here."


    She looked at Margarette and signaled for her to step back again.


    "Is that so?" he asked emotionlessly. He let out a satiricalugh, "How shameless. What do you call your ridiculous deeds towards Margarette and the others? And just now, was that what you meant for saying you came for me in this world apart from Dong Lan?" He referred to the attempt to mess with his memories.


    Seeing the ice that was spreading throughout the room starting from the side nearest to him, the woman also repeatedly backed away.


    The ice was unforgiving, devouring living and non-living things on its way before shattering them into ice powder. It perfectly showed its creator''s mood.


    Jiang Li had prepared for this situation ever since he inferred the other''s presence in this ce so he had inquired from the system what he could do to increase his strength to the limit. This was the result. An answer that of course began to burn his points faster than ever. While Jiang Li did not protest, he felt a searing pain in his heart, both for the depletion rate of his points, and the reason why he had to burn those points.


    The uncontroble rage and pain manifested into something no mortal could achieve.


    Prompting the fortune-teller to say, "It seems, it is you who have vited something."


    "Teacher, did you seed?" On the side, Margarette asked anxiously.


    The girl was aware to ask this at this moment was stupid, but she could no longer suppress the uneasiness in her heart. Despite knowing the ''general'' was not an ice magician, there was something within her hoping that Jiang Li''s change was because of the medium''s spell.


    ''That f*cking general again.''


    Jiang Li inhaled deeply, his hands balled into fists, and the cracking sounds from the materials turning into ice and powder became louder. What Margarette asked just now almost made him lose control of the temporary power lend to him by the system. Warned that losing control was not only deadly but could bring harm to his soul too, he tried his best to calm himself. It took him a great deal of effort to not look at the girl.


    Yet his actions resulted in small red veins appearing in his eyes. The ce was seventy percent made into an ice world.


    He saw the fortune-teller shook her head to Margarette. "It failed."


    It seemed there was something more the woman wanted to say. However, in the end, she could only utter her name with rm."Margarette."


    The youth made a move just then. He tried to snatch the girl from the fortune-teller after conjuring several small lifeforms and weapons made out of ice which he waved towards thetter. Not even a second passed, the garden giving off a vibrant and fresh beauty a couple of moments agopletely turned into a beautiful ice world. However, the woman was very fast and had managed to pull the girl over to her side.


    She put the princess in front of her, temporarily escaping the fate of being encased in an ice cube or reduced into some sort of ice powder. The young man obviously had the intention to kill the fortune-teller after bringing the girl away so the former wanted to make Margarette her shield in case the man turned more berserk


    What she failed to consider though was him notpletely canceling his magic. Jiang Li did pause. Nheless, his hesitation onlysted a moment before he began pushing it forward again.


    And thus, the girl who was still wallowing in disappointment could only let out a yelp as a cold fog made of finely pulverized ice floated over and devoured her.


    "So decisive," the fortune-teller couldn''t help butment, her eyes not concealing her bizarre admiration.


    Jiang Li, empowered by almost a thousand points, became really too powerful, at the level of the acimed God of War. It gave him a new perspective of how odd and mysterious the system was, and changed the opinion of the violet-robed woman about him.


    Before the fortune-teller could move away, the fog that wanted to turn her into ice before breaking her into innumerable shards came before her.


    She breathed in quite deeply and then smiled wryly. ''Wow. This brat forced me into a corner. I might have to leave this world before I could meet Dong Lan.''


    A second after that, the three people in the icy garden suddenly disappeared.


    Jiang Li seeded in taking Margarette from there.


    Moreover, before leaving, aside from pushing the icy fog to its limit, he made sure to rain blocks of ice in the direction of the violet-robed woman. He wanted that entire special space to be destroyed. And if possible to kill the fortune-teller.


    But of course, he himself knew that this thought was crazy since there was no way somebody of her caliber would die from an attack like that.And he was actually right about it.


    The fortune-teller used a part of her real power to teleport out of that special space. She managed to get outside of the tower even faster than Jiang Li. Yet although escaping unscathed, she was not really pleased. When she reappeared near the pce, she watched with a frown as the observatory became covered with frost at a speed almost invisible to the naked eye.


    A momentter, she looked up, her lips parting a bit for an irritated sigh.


    She could feel the pressure in her soul upon being discovered by the world''s consciousness. In Jiang Li''s term, he called it ''Fate'' or most of the times, ''The Plot''. She was no longer weed by it so she started to feel ufortable, especially since she was not in her real body.


    "The first teleportation here was permitted, only causing me to be confined in a very weak vessel for the entire duration of my visit."


    "But the second usage of outside power, since it was a bit more than the highest local power in this world, it was considered an offense."


    "How ridiculous."


    The woman felt annoyed. She felt even more annoyed because Jiang Li seemed to be allowed to stay longer than her.


    Was it due to the difference in their statuses? Because she was a tad weaker than the spirit servant posturing as Jiang Li''s system so she could not enjoy the same treatment?


    Or was it because Jiang Li''s current identity was not even that of a cannon-fodder and thus he was more tolerated by the world''s consciousness?


    The woman''s train of thoughts began to wander until she started pondering whether that child spirit had a special ability allowing its ghost to linger for decades.


    Later on, though, she gave up thinking about it, shaking her head before marching towards the pce where she would enjoy herst hour in this world.

 Chapter 348: Agatha (46)

    Chapter 348: Agatha (46)


    Even though not many things happened to her that night, for Margarette it was an eventful evening. Still, thetest development really baffled her.


    It all felt like a dream.


    At one point she was in her mentor''s garden, bathing in the green glow filling the ce and surrounded by countless fireflies. The joy in her heart was immense because she finally managed to meet her most admired mentor.


    But then... a brief, disastrous fight broke out outside of the mortal realm in the garden without warning. No one was prepared for it. Everything happened too fast, as if Jiang Li being locked within space, escaping from it after, and attacking her mentor all took ce in just a second. Moments after that, she was already outside, feeling so cold due to being left to kneel on the street. It was still in the middle of the night.


    How did she arrive here? Was it teleportation? What really happened?


    She had no idea that Jiang Li couldn''t teleport and that all he did was to run with her in tow at the speed of light towards the exit of the tower that began to freeze from the inside out. And actually, that was not the important matter that ensued after exiting the mysterious space.


    "It''s copsing..." Margarette panted for breath. The first thing she saw upon lifting her head and rising to her feet was the crumbling ice tower.


    The fortune-teller was nowhere in sight, and might even be dying within that garden. Pain shed across her expression for a while.


    Then slowly, her eyes went to Jiang Li who was standing two meters away from her. It seemed the man never even spared the observatory a nce. He was looking at her. Remembering what this person had just done, she made a fearful expression. That was until she saw his smile. A sad and disappointed one.


    As the mystifying scene earlier was hard to erase in her mind, it took some time for her toprehend why he was making that face towards her.


    Afterward, she understood something. She had probably done wrong. Her impression of the youth before her was also wrong. Looking back to her actions within that garden, if she was in his shoes, she would find her ridiculous.


    Which guy would want to know that their wife was seeing somebody else in them each time she stares at him?


    Which husband would not be heartbroken upon seeing his wife ignored his pleading stares?


    She unconsciously ced a palm atop her pounding chest, feeling herself drowning in embarrassment... and regret. A secondter, her face paled. Now that the person he was secretly looking down upon turned out to be so god-like, would she end up dead or cursed to live a life worse than death?


    She tried to calm her racing heart. What she kept telling herself as encouragement was the man''sck of killing intent as he looked at her. But he was still gazing at her with that same look in his eyes...


    Jiang Li spoke to her in a quiet tone, "I can still remember everything that happened there. So you thought that from the beginning, I was never the general?"


    ''Because you two are too different''


    Margarette lowered her head, not daring to look at him in the eyes. And that was more than enough as an answer. Actually, the medium had said it all earlier... Jiang Li merely asked to confirm it from her own mouth, as it was holding onest hope in her. But of course, the result left him disappointed.


    He was silent for a couple of moments before he slowly nodded, "Well, you are right. From the beginning, I was never the general in your awakened memories."


    What he said made her look at him.


    He shook his head, feeling likeughing for some inexplicable reason.


    "I am also not the homeless warlock tramp that you think I am." His eyes were on the numerous beads of bluish light scattering in the wind like a thousand charms.


    He was never Lu Ling the prince-general, or James, the wandering philosopher.


    He was never Zheng Xiang or those names that he had already forgotten. He was Jiang Li, an old ghost traveling through space and time.


    Unfortunately, even in those worlds where he managed to change his name into Jiang Li, he was still undeniably wearing the identities given to him by the system.


    Thus in their eyes, including hers, he was never ''Jiang Li''.


    All these times, he was living lives that were not his. While he sometimes felt like a criminal who had snatched somebody else''s life and at times, a blessed person given chance to experience more and see more, he was also sometimes feeling wronged for being known as somebody else throughout a lifetime.


    He felt like this every time, but tolerated it because he at least could see in the eyes of her previous incarnation that he was for who he was.


    But, what about now?


    "Who you are then?" Margarette asked hesitantly. It was a question he was expecting, albeit he found it again disappointing.


    The man didn''t know whether tough or cry.


    "Well. I wish I could say I am simply your husband"


    "But it seems the one in your heart is not me." A trace of bitterness was in his voice which caused Margarette to feel ufortable.


    Jiang Li shook his head.


    It was his first time encountering an incarnation of hers who saw him for his previous identity. He knew the medium was the culprit behind this for a goal that he didn''t know.


    Yet he was not yet at the point where he would not me someone at fault what just because he liked her.


    ''Host, you only have a minute. Your points won''t be able to support you further than that.''


    His mind turned nk for a while before he remembered his current situation. He then answered, ''Okay, I got it.''


    ''And the outsider is still nearby. She could still stay for quite some time before she will be forced out by the world''s consciousness,'' said once again by the mechanical voice. Its no-nonsense replies were truly different from the childish version.


    Jiang Li just hummed, not the least bit worried since he knew that woman would rather spend thest hour or so with Dong Lan, or do something more meaningful or useful to her cause than chase after him.


    He marched towards Margarette.


    His mind was on her recent actions.


    Thinking of how the girl was shown a valiant ''him'' which she probably fell in love with, he unconsciously grumbled, "Such a puzzle. Women really are a puzzle. Youngdies, princesses not an exception, often desire a fantastic romance between a fairdy and a knight or hero..."


    He was obviously referring to how Margarette was pining for one of his past identities. To be honest, if he wanted, he could act like Lu Ling, since he was sure the person in her mind was him who was wearing that general''s skin and armor. But for what?


    People changed. Even within one lifetime, several changes in style, taste, hobbies, and such, could take ce to a person. If one day the wife found out her husband no longer have those hobbies, taste, or stuff she was familiar with, would it excusable for her to force her husband to change back? Because the past him was the one she loved? What about the current him? She couldn''t ept?

 Chapter 349: Agatha (47)

    Chapter 349: Agatha (47)


    "... Maybe it''s better to put it as in every girl''s life, there will always be a period where they had that kind of mentality. Every girl wants the perfect fairy tale romance... but on what age, it varies," Margarette answered with hesitation in her voice. She was feeling conflicted about whether to step back or not.


    "I see." Jiang Li chuckled. The ''person'' Margarette really wanted to be with was this valiant version of him, her response confirmed.


    When she met Jiang Li, because she had ess to Aliyah''s memories, she only stuck to him due to their strange connection, which he wouldn''t be surprised to find as something triggered by that medium too. This also exined her unusual attitude towards him.


    She was easily jealous, but it was the kind of jealousy of one who wanted to keep a treasured toy out of others'' reach.


    It seemed Margarette believed it was her mission to awaken the soul of the sleeping Lu Ling inside him. She believed Jiang Li was the iplete soul reincarnation. Hence the need for the awakening. Hence the need to tie him to her and keep him under watch so when the timees, she wouldn''t have to spend so much time looking for him.


    He wondered, did she know that she was used? Probably not.


    Her circumstances with the unwanted transmigrator and the other female lead was incited by that medium, this also goes for her obsession towards the general. She was bright, but because she was young back then, her longing for magic, love, and recognition was easily yed against her by the medium. In a sense, Margarette was a pitiful girl trapped in a dream.


    '' Host, I detect that your emotions are quite unstable. We have the option to leave this ce and start anew in the next one. With the other outsider''s protection, the viiness only has a five percent chance of encountering danger. Would you like to leave the world right now?''


    Jiang Li shook his head. With his mind full of question marks, he felt too drained to answer the system''s question.


    After holding her by the wait onest time, he brought her to her room in the mansion.


    "There are still four or so hours before daybreak. You should go back to sleep."


    Margarette, at first, breathed a sigh of relief because the youth had been a gentleman to her since the beginning. However, an rm bell rang in her mind when she saw him turn around and head for the door.


    "J-James." Margarette''s voice was breaking when she uttered it. Before, she only called him husband or dear. She never called him by this name for a reason already disclosed earlier...so now she was finding it quite awkward. Still, the woman instinctively called out to him with the feeling that she would deeply regret it if she didn''t.


    "James." She nervously stood there, speaking with forced calmness. "Y-you said it yourself, it''s alreadyte... and... and it''s been quite the night so we should be rewarding ourselves with rest so... where are you going?"


    "Outside," he simply replied.


    She furrowed her brows. "That''s a very generic answer. Outside can mean the mansion''s garden, or outside the continent."


    As the guilty one, she attempted to ease the tense atmosphere between them. After all, she was not used to this kind of set up. Although the one she kept fantasizing about was his previous incarnation, in actuality, she was already used to was the current him who loved tough and hatch schemes, and read about stuff while stealing nces of her.


    The girl didn''t notice that she was already trembling. Why hadn''t he looked back at her even once since arriving here? Why was that door so close to them?


    She was rmed because the man kept walking towards the door.


    "Hey... I, I know I''m wrong, so can we talk it out? I-It seems to me you''re nning to leave for long." Margarette didn''t know why, but thest phrase she said made her feel more ufortable than ever, as if those words meant something deeper and scarier.


    This time, the urge to run to hug him from behind suddenly overwhelmed her. And actually, when she could no longer fight back against that urge in order to preserve her pride or appear not so much affected, she tried to follow the voices in her head.


    However, to her horror, she found that she was frozen in ce. She couldn''t move at all!


    Jiang Li twisted the doorknob and said without turning his head, "I''ll just be outside, don''t worry." His tone was like usual. There was no disappointment or anything. He was simply informing her of his ns.


    However, Margarette was fixed on her current condition so with paning her voice, she yelled in fright, "No!!! Wait! Please! Why did you cast this kind of spell on me? W-what''s the meaning of this? James!"


    The question received no proper response as he only said in an emotionless tone, "I''ll be gone for a while. Please take care of yourself."


    "A, a while... How long is a while?" As muddle-headed and panicky as she was right now, the detail did not escape her hearing, and she couldn''t stop trembling at the possibility that it entailed.


    The query elicited no answer.


    Before stepping outpletely, he seemed to have thought of something and added, "Oh. In case you run into trouble that not even you can deal with, I suggest you go to your father. The king looks stupid, but I think he is actually a capable man. He would not be so heartless to you. However, if your pride won''t let you approach him, then you can ess Aliyah''s memory and trace that elusive vige where I taught the most number of students. Those people belong to no kingdom or state. They will definitely ept you."


    Margarette felt lost for some time, staring nkly at the back that was gradually disappearing from the doorway. Was this karma? She wanted to chase, but like how he was petrified in his seat several minutes ago, she was now the one experiencing what it was like to almost turn into stone.


    ''Him leaving means I wouldn''t be by his side if ever the general awakened... But he''s only leaving because I treated him as his past self...''


    When she came to her wits and realized what he meant, she struggled from the spell, wanting to escape. Yet her efforts bore no fruit. She switched into attempting to cast spells. Even a simple Grease spell would do. Just anything that would buy her some time or stop him. But then reality pped her the cold truth that he was way stronger than her in ck arts. Feeling defeated, she started yelling out his name, "James."


    In the dark corridor where the frantic feminine voice still echoed, a young man was only shaking his head, ''When I said I am neither James nor Lu Ling, she really didn''t listen...''


    However, Jiang Li felt too tired to exin, with no whatsoever energy to even look over his shoulder. It was the kind of exhaustion that clings to the spirit. It had silently umted for hundreds of years, suppressed by the bit of fulfillment and happiness from the previous lifetimes.


    But now that a sad realization was triggered by Margarette, he felt like his heart was suddenly too heavy and weary.


    He chose to leave without turning his head back once.

 Chapter 350: Agatha (48)

    Chapter 350: Agatha (48)


    He heard her voice calling out for him from behind.


    "J-James." Her voice was breaking when she uttered it. Margarette instinctively called out, feeling like she would deeply regret it if she didn''t.


    However Jiang Li felt too tired, with no whatsoever energy to even look over his shoulder. It was the kind of exhaustion that clings to the spirit. It had silently umted for hundreds of years, suppressed by the bit of fulfillment and happiness from the previous lifetimes. Yet now that a sad realization had been triggered by Margarette, it was like his heart was suddenly too heavy and weary.


    The system''s automated voice rang just then. ''Host.''


    ''Please let me remind you that you only have ten seconds before the boost ends.''


    He paused for a second before absentmindedly nodding to show that he understood. ''Anything else?''


    ''Yes. You haven''t answered my previous question yet,'' it said. ''Would you like to leave for the next world now?''


    ''No.'' It was an answer uttered with no hesitation or need to be pondered over.


    She was right. Outside was a big word that could mean the whole world, not just the backyard of her cold mansion or the chaotic continent of Mu. The definition of ''a while'' also depends on the speaker. It could be a minute, or a decade.


    For now, Jiang Li had no definite ns, aside from not returning for ''a while'', The system too did not ask anymore sensing that all Jiang Li knew was he needed some long period of peace and quiet.


    In the space where the child spirit was confined, the child spirit watched with aplicated expression as the fortune-teller exited the world, forced out by the hostile consciousness.


    In his vision was the violet-robed woman staring into the direction of the royal pce with ck lines emerging on her forehead. She looked extremely displeased. A momentter, she could be seen ring into his direction as if she could see him.


    ''Is that woman aware of who my host or Margarette is?'' the child spirit wondered, ignoring the unmasked aggression directed his way.


    ''If this is the case, is Dong Lan made to apany my host to disrupt his purpose? Or to assist him?''


    Even now, the child spirit had no idea why the woman hade for Jiang Li and why she caused all those troubles. Thest conversation only hinted that she knew something and wanted to get in touch with his master. Since he did not know her goal and only knew all the annoying things she did, his impression of the mother and son pair was not good. It would most likely remain that way even if those two did their best to assist Jiang Li or curry favor to the child spirit.


    If the fortune-teller wanted to mess up with his missions


    Amidst the uncanny darkness, the child spirit frowned before choosing to relinquish the thoughts. "I choose to kill the bridge when I get there Uhhh, cross the bridge rather Why do humans have so many nonsensical idioms?"


    His eyes then went to his ''host'' who had reappeared somewhere in the border of the Holon Kingdom.


    When he saw that Jiang Li had passed out inside an inn due to exhaustion and emptied mana reservoir, he felt pity for the guy. If his guess was correct, the man nned to set out for the other continents after ensuring Agatha''s crisis had passed.


    As part of him was in Jiang Li''s brain, he was aware of the man''s desire to leave thend of Mu as soon as possible. It was either to teach both himself and Margarette a lesson or for another reason, but he couldn''t do so without making sure Agatha would not die from House White''s schemes. While it was admirable for the man to have this sense of responsibility, it was also quite a pity.


    Jiang Li could have just continued doing what he was doing for days, yet everything almost fell apart due to tonight''s events.


    The child spirit directed his ming gaze towards Margarette.


    Thetter had finally regained mobility. She was now looking nkly at the door.


    Was she finally regretting because she disappointed Jiang Li? Or because her actions forced the ''vessel'' of her adored general to flee from her?


    To people from where the master of the child spirit hade from, it was not a secret that he disliked the woman. Actually, the woman was disliked by many in that realm, and there were many reasons for that. When the master chose to help the woman ensure her survival in every world, he was one of those who heavily protested.


    ''Master, she''s a despicable person, a viiness! Why should we go to that length to help her? It''s her who made the mistake, she should own it and stop dragging others into her mess!''


    His master, back then, only smiled before replying. ''Say no more. I''ve made up my mind. I wronged her, so she wronged the whole realm. I have to make it up for her.''


    Even now, the child spirit couldn''t understand the master''s decision.


    Since he couldn''t understand, he began to dislike that viiness more.


    It was probably the reason why he felt no sympathy as he watched the woman cry after being left by Jiang Li.


    He coldly harrumphed. "You seem nice in the previous world. But are you thinking I don''t know you have long discovered me and my host?"


    "Even though you forgot so many things and only have your instincts, you still have the ability and inclination tomit evil. Heh. User. It is obvious you purposely made him fall for you and attach to you because you learn that he''s essentially immortal. Is your goal to make him your shield from the cmity your incarnations will face? So now that you achieved the goal, you''re instinctively showing who you really are? "


    Below, in the mansion, all themps had been blown away when Margarette screamed out her frustrations at the top of her lungs. She started breaking things with one hand clutching her chest. It was the first time in her life that she felt this hopeless. Because she knew it was she who messed it up.


    The searing pain which she had yet to identify as heartache or damaged pride burned in her heart. Margarette''s head was momentarily not as sharp as before so she couldn''t see yet that guilt was therger part of it. She was given several chances. Even in the street where they watched the observatory crumbled, he was still giving her chances. So why the hell did she let it all slip out of her grasp?


    The feeling that she lost something so precious due to her own idiocy was driving her mad. None of her maids and guards could stop her rampage.


    Back in space, the child spirit peering down on her felt bored and stopped watching, focusing on his master again.


    However, before looking away, in his heart he sneered, "Is it painful? Is it? Hehe. One good thing about Jiang Li is that he is quite very very very vengeful. It has just started. And I''m happy because you deserve it!"

 Chapter 351: Agatha (49)

    Chapter 351: Agatha (49)


    The next day that dawned had been quite eventful.


    Adam''s knightpanions were very rmed upon learning that their leader didn''t return. They tried to search for him, but their efforts were futile as their range of search was limited by their foreigner identities. Another thing that gave them headaches was Adam''s carefulness which literally left no trace for them to follow.


    How were they supposed to track him if there was nothing to trace?


    Even if they wanted to just go on with the real purpose of their trip there, it had to be under the order of the leader. It was a rule amongst knights of Obson.


    In the restaurant below the inn


    "How the hell are we going to proceed with the mission now?" Garth, one of the senior knights, grumbled in annoyance, not pleased by the current development of things.


    "Shall we wait for two or three days before seeking Mr. Benedict for help? Maybe Adam will return in just a few hours?"


    Another senior knight, Brendan, thought for a moment and said, "If Adam didn''t appear today or tomorrow, let''s find that noble son in the pce and ask for his help to report Adam''s disappearance to the Viscount and Viscountess."


    "Hmm, I have no problem with that. Who should we send if the timees?"


    While the rest were nodding discussing, Garth reminded them, "Everyone, don''t forget that our real mission in this nation is to rescue Lady Marian and escort her back home. Real side mission is to escort the criminal sphemer to the Church of Wisdom too."


    A lot of them sported a troubled expression, feeling headache over the people mentioned.


    "I propose we split up into three groups then. There is no need to wait. One group goes to the pce. One search for the Lady, and the other, for Adam. The earlier we get to hear our Lord''s perspective about the matter, the better."


    The men got assigned to groups under Brendan''s lead.


    None of them had an idea that the man they wanted to locate was in one of the ces they would never dare venture in yet. Adam was even under the same roof as the real target of the mission.


    However, while the former was in a pitiful condition inside the Duke''s dungeon, the other was cowering in fear due to finding the whole ducal manor surrounded by thousands of armed men.


    Right. Although Andre Grey managed to escape upon failing to take the royal consort as his hostage, sadly, his castle and people were. Agatha''s prediction was also proven correct. The moment the king returned to the pce, one of General White''s soldiers reported to him that somebody with the same face and built as Andre was in the ducal manor.


    Adam was in a dangerous state because he had been tortured all night, not given any food to eat, and was left to bleed. His wounds were frequently visited by fleas and flies. No one could care about him for now, not even Marian, because the woman was specially invited to the pce together with the ''double''.


    The bad thing was how the woman cleverly managed to distinguish that the double was a fake. Right. It was a bad thing. Because she just confirmed outright to the military, the House of the Lords, and the Crown that the man who assaulted themst night was Andre Grey! The duke!


    What oue a household, whose head hadmitted treason against the king, would have?


    It had to be remembered that apart from Agatha, the majority in the aristocratic circle of the kingdom quite disliked Duke Grey


    "I heard in the Eastern Empire of the outside world, if onemitted arge crime against the Emperor or any of the royal family, that person''s whole family would be beheaded up to the ninth generation. Not even chickens or cows would be spared. Those luckily born after the ninth generation will be reduced tomoners and barred from stepping into officialdom..." In a hinting tone, one of the influential Marquises lightheartedlymented.


    To this, a fat pompous-looking count replied, "Oh, that? Lord Aberdeen, I used to think that punishment is extreme but now I have no choice but admit that at times like this it''s quite appropriate. We have to remember, one of those subjected to attempted assassination was even our king!"


    "Yes. It''s the highest level of treason one canmit, and the fact that the one who did it is one of own made it the more painful. How could a subject from a House with hundreds of years of do that? Where did his honor and integrity go?" Count Cornwell passionately said. He gave the kneeling Marian a contemptuous look. "With it testified by Her Highness Princess Margarette, Duke Grey has really disappointed His Majesty and the Kingdom!"


    The female lead made a dumbfounded expression that immediately turned into a terrified one. She finally knew that the fake Andre was not the reason why the whole House was detained.


    After looking around and taking in the disdainful smirks in the eyes of those present, her heart almost stop. Agatha''s expression made her realize she had unknowingly jumped into their traps.


    ''Oh, my god. What did I just do? I-It''s not that they mistook us for a n harboring a criminal without us knowing. But our family head had tried to kill Francis IV and Agatha''


    ''In the eyes of everyone who knew about the matter, Andre''s deed became more extreme because Francis IV is technically his father-inw.'' Marian''s heart froze for a couple of moments.


    "Your Majesty, I salute to the loyalty of Princess Margarette. With her testimony, we can now legally send our army after the traitorous Duke Grey!"


    "I agree, my king. Please authorize the hunt for Andre Grey now to uphold the honor of the royalty, Your Majesty." The rest of Agatha''s followers in the court chimed in, even emphasizing that the king''s own eyes were enough to prove the male lead''s crime.


    The way Marian flinched visibly in the middle of the hall would usually evoke the pity of everyone. However, the ones inside the ce only belonged to three kinds  Agatha''s supporters who were like hyenas unwilling to let go of the bitten prey, neutral factions who wanted to defend but did not dare to take on the majority who were against Duke Grey, and the ones who just didn''t care. The king and queen belong to thetter. But the problem with the former was his unusual doting of the royal concubine.


    As expected, with just a batting of Agatha''s beautiful eyes, the ''foolish'' king nodded to the suggestions of her followers. The queen too, who was as dignified, quiet and low-key as always, did not object. She only watched as Francis IV ordered his generals to chase after Andre Grey. From the beginning and probably to the end, the most distinguished woman of the kingdom looked on as if everything was merely a show.


    "Our God of War despises traitors the most and hates warriors who use their prowess in dishonorable deeds. General White, Imand you to lead this operation in the name of I, the king of Holon! Today, I want to see the traitor escorted to the Ministry of Justice!" Francis IV decreed authority.


    "By Your will."


    After the general bowed and led his soldiers out, Agatha gave her opinion in a melodious and calm voice, trying to strike while the iron was hot. She was really treating the court meeting as a trial.


    "My king, with General White on the move, we can set our minds at ease. There''s no doubt no man can go against a whole kingdom. It would just be a matter of time before the traitor is captured. Your Majesty, while it''s imperative to exempt the Princess from the punishment due to her outstanding contribution, shouldn''t we take this time now to decide how to deal with the rest of the Grey family members?"


    Marian''s face immediately lost color, realizing things were heading in a very bad direction. Her knees seemed to have softened and with all her limbs seemingly losing all their strength, she copsed on the floor trembling. Her pathetic state was seen by everyone in the throne room.


    However, with how things had been going, who would dare sympathize with her?


    Upon the throne, Francis IV seemed to be thinking about it. Not long after, he swept his gaze around and said, "Well, I guess I have to take advantage of the fact that all my trusted subjects are here."

 Chapter 352: Agatha (50) <2-in-1>

    Chapter 352: Agatha (50) <2-in-1>


    With how things were going, who would dare sympathize with Margarette?


    ''No,'' she kept shaking her head as if she was denying reality.


    However, when she snapped out of it, she subsequently realized that no one woulde to save her House. Her husband was out there fleeing from pursuers from the military. She had no real background here to shield her from the interrogation as Francis IV, her current identity''s biological father was so indifferent to her. She was even starting to suspect whether ''she'' was really the king''s child or if the monarch was simply this heartless.


    Finally, the Duchess realized, she could only depend on herself. She must do something.


    After overworking her brain toe up with a refute, she yelled out.


    "W-wait, Your Majesty! Please hear me out!" A bead of sweat was trickling down from her forehead to the tip of her nose. Her stutters had an unmistakable tone of desperation in it.


    "That traitor That traitor might actually be someone impersonating Milord, the Duke too! Right, it must be another pretender. Your humble subject is requesting for a fair trial and investigation! I believe there is something more to this situation. I really fear that this a malicious work of somebody from another kingdom."


    Francis IV, seated in the highest seat, appeared to be intrigued and looked at the woman kneeling before the throne with interest. "What makes you think so, Princess?"


    Marian had not managed toe up with an excuse yet so she couldn''t answer immediately, her eyes on her head that was bowed swam on the ground frantically.


    ''What to do? I am never someone good in words...'' the words kept repeating in her head, amplifying the worries in her heart.


    "Duchess" A vassal of the Grey family looked at her nervously from the farthest seat on the aristocrats'' side. The person was publicly known to be closely tied to the Grey family so he was truly afraid for Marian. The situation was bad for her and actually for him and the other allies too. In his nervousness where he was even wondering whether to cut ties or not, he didn''t notice somebody bringing in a stool and sitting on his left.


    Impatient for the female lead''s answer, Count Cornwell said with mask disdain, "Princess Margarette, allow me to express my doubt about another impersonator. I''m actually really finding it unbelievable that there will somebody in the kingdom who can rival Duke Grey in terms ofbat, that is, apart from General White...."


    "Right." Seated on the throne a step below the king and the queen was Agatha who was not even hiding her smile. "And General White shouldn''t be at the ce where the assassination urred because when the Grey Manor was put on lockdown by the general, the assassin was still with us being contained by the royal knights."


    The beautiful royal consort appeared extremely amused by the dumbfounded expression of the Duchess. Just how uninformed was the girl before march into the room?


    Anyway, Agatha was quite happy at the unexpected turns of events. Her face betrayed how she was feeling at the thought that even though she failed to apprehend those two devils, Jiang Li and Margarette, at least the ducal couple she had been hating for half a year now fell into the trap.


    ''The Princess'' mistake is admitting that this man is not the duke. If she said otherwise, there might be a chance that the king will believe her and spare their lives. But now?''


    Agatha''s eyes were literally shining as she stared at the cowardly man kneeling with his neck next to a de. If there was one thing she wanted to do to this double, it was to reward him for his unintentional help. It was definitely his presence whichrgely contributed to the weak mental state of the princess.


    Half a minute passed and finally, Marian spoke. Unsurprisingly, it was in a way people expected her to do. "F-forgive me for my presumptuousness, Your Majesty. But the count has said it himself. W-what if the real assassin is from another kingdom!" Marian loudly said with her voice betraying her confidence in her words. She was truly on the verge of crying, and looked like a wounded small animal.


    She added in the same shaky tone, "I don''t think this is just a scenario in my head. They might have sent someone to sow discord within Holon by secretly kidnapping my husband and switching him with somebody else. At the same time. At the same time"


    Due to being lost in her emotions, the thoughts in her little head were starting to jumble up. The eyes around and the pressure were not helping her to organize her thoughts.


    ''Her'' own father had obviously no intention to help out, narrowing his eyes as he asked, "You said your husband, the duke, could have been kidnapped?"


    The question made her taken aback.


    Well, even to Marian, it sounded like a huge joke when she finished saying it. Who was Andre Grey? In the whole continent, he might be the only one in possession of a Legendary Weapon. Frequently emphasized in the speeches before how everyone thought of him as one of the finest warriors of Mu even without that sword. Wasn''t it funny that Andre''s own wife said before the king that Andre could be kidnapped?


    "Pfft."


    "Good guess."


    Situations like this should be when one should be extra careful of his words so their enemies would not be able to nitpick anything. In line with this, Marian just really sounded so stupid formitting that simple blunder.


    Muffledughter faintly echoed one after another, which came off as no surprise. In fact, even the silent queen choked while covering her giggling mouth. The eyes of all attendees became very strange.


    Marian, as their recipient, could only bite her lower lip.


    "It was not at the same time. but a couple of hours after the first assassin was put in their dungeon that another assassin made to look like the duke came for the king and the royal consort."


    Just when the female lead was about to cry for real, in embarrassment and helplessness with no whatsoever princess elegance to speak of, a voice rang out. Amidst the fierce voices that wanted to add more to the pressure she was feeling.


    It was calm, so calm that it made those from Agatha''s faction shut up. Not. Of course, the count and the others wanted to re up with their rebuttals but discovered that they lost their voices.


    ''Which damnable and mannerless magician is it?!'' Everyone''s eyes widened before anger rushed up to their brains, veins popping up either on their forehead or the hands holding their throats. They began to look around. Even Agatha, and Marian did. But when their eyes widened next, like the rest of those present, it was due to fear.


    "I like that veryone has quieted down. Good. Allow me to continue." Next to the Viscount was a youth dressed like a regr noble''s heir. He looked unperturbed, with his eyes on the quill in his hand, even though several others reacted the same like Agatha upon seeing who he was.


    "Like the Duchess wanted to say, people from the other kingdoms have spies in Holon. When they saw that His Majesty came out of the pce escorted by only a toon of knights, they took it as a chance to strike down. Actually, the Duchess has solid proof of this im. I think I already said it a while ago. But didn''t somebody visit the Grey''s manor hours prior to the king''s night incognito trip?"


    ''It''s really him!'' Agatha was not listening actually, her focus on verifying her guess. She gripped on the armrest harder. The king''s slightlyzy expression turned serious.


    Earlier, it was the king''s sloppy disposition that turned a serious gathering like this into something so messy and informal, with his ''daughter'' even put on a hot seat almost equal to a public trial. In actuality, had Marian not been the one besieged by the unforgiving tongues of the nobles, she would have secretly grumbled how low-standard the court of Holon waspared to other kingdoms.


    But now that an uninvited guest had barged in, Francis IV straightened his back and sat properly on his throne. How could he dare to remain careless and indifferent? Especially when the uninvited guest was that damnable acquaintance of him who tortured his stomach for half a night and practically kicked his mother out of this!


    Remembering what the fortune-teller told himst night though, instead of bing resentful, he turned serious and wary and with a slightly forced smile put on, "What an honor for me to be able to see our continent''s sole Supreme Ice Magician. Sir Jiang. May this king know what you meant by what you just said?"


    If those in attendance could only make a sound, they would have eximed in surprise and fright already. Supreme what? That unassuming youth who looked no older than twenty?


    Hearing this, Agatha became very anxious in her seat. She lowered her head in fright, ''Oh my god. I should have known. Only someone in the supreme stage could suppress all my fellow coven members with pure strength and dare to be so disrespectful to the king. Yesterday, he even dragged Francis under our watch''


    Jiang Li smiled at Agatha to tease her, not. He would have done so if only he was not in a bad mood.


    After nodding to the king, he looked at Marian and stood up. In front of everyone, he cast magic in an effortless manner that caused a huge ripple in the air before taking shape into arge mirror made of ice. Most of them were familiar with it since they also have magicians under their employment. Therge scale magic impressed them nheless.


    "As I am nothing but an uneducated youth, I let your eyes see for yourself."


    A few scenes yed right after he said that. Everyone''s eyes were glued on the moving pictures. It was all they could do since they couldn''t speak anyway.


    "The person is from Borley. He came with the royal envoy" The video had no sound, so the youthpassionately acted as an interpreter.


    "He attacked the duke and the duchess."


    "A few hourster, Duke Grey was lured out of the manor. There were many things that could happen after that."


    "Duchess, why don''t you just bring here the detained spy? I''m positive the royal torturers can get some good information from him, or locate hispanions"


    ''What the hell is his intention?''


    Francis IV narrowed his eyes at Jiang Li. Few of the royals and nobles thought it was because of the foreign and vulgar term used by the magician to address interrogators.


    There were still some images shing across the ice screen, but most of the eyes were already on Marian. Agatha''s face was wreathed in a frown and ck lines after she took a look at the king. Although she disliked it, the viiness could already foresee the ducal coupleing out scathe free.


    ''Oh no. Prince Benedict of Borley might even be dragged into the mess.''


    Meanwhile, Francis was still looking at Jiang Li. Fresh in the king''s mind was how the man screwed up the male child of fate from the previous world, so why was he being lenient to Andre Grey and Marian Obson?


    The king did not get an answer and had to constantly guess.


    "That''s the end."


    The huge squarish bloke of crystal ice shattered into pieces. When everyone discovered that the youth had already slipped out of the room, it was already toote. The images they saw really distracted them and since Jiang Li had disappeared without warning, Marian was left to answer the queries and defend herself against Agatha''s faction.


    Unfortunately, while the girl was so muddle-headed and feeling guilty for her knight at first, it seemed that not even the power of plot could win over love. This was because when she epted the painful truth that she could not save the two men at the same time, she chose to grab the opportunity given to her by the youth. She chose Andre.


    ''I''m sorry, Adam'' Marian closed her eyes and whispered.


    A couple of minutester, when the discussion concluded, it seemed it ended with the king in a bad mood. Out of impulse which was gotten from his years of sitting in the throne, he ordered the execution of the ''double''.


    Francis IV did not attach much importance in the ''double'' since he knew it was only someone from Grey manor. Anyway, to stage the show, there was really a foreigner conveniently nearby. The king was not aware of how Adam, the man starring in the video as the assassin, was actually also another male lead.

 Chapter 353: Agatha (51) <2-in-1>

    Chapter 353: Agatha (51) <2-in-1>


    Upon leaving the pce, the system, the childish version, asked Jiang Li why he did all that he did in the throne room.


    "Host, if you really want to save the leads, but why do that? I mean, why did you only speak out after the arrest warrant for Andre Grey is issued? Wouldn''t that mean Adam being the distraction wouldn''t serve any purpose? I''m confused."


    Jiang Li arrived in the inn and jumped into bed after. He was hungry, but his desire for sleep triumphed over it. After all, he was truly spent and had to hurry over the pce even though he had yet to recover from the extreme fatigue and splitting headache. His mood was still terrible too due to knowing that the headache would persist for about a week.


    He answered grumpily to the system, "What else could be behind my actions? I simply want chaos. Two male leads confronting each other, with Dong Lan caught in the crossfire. If he survived, how great. But if he did more than surviving, it would be more awesome. I believe before I leave this continent, it would be very nice to watch him receiving the wrath of the plot first."


    ''That sounds like. Awesomely nonsensical'' thought the system discreetly as that was the first impression it got after hearing those words, but it didn''t voice them out when it realized what he really wanted to imply. In the end, it''s all about Dong Lan.


    "I see. Since you mentioned the plot, the same thing that kicked out the fortune-teller, you''re worried that the king, if he Andre is really branded as a criminal, would receive real retaliation from the plot or from Andre once he''s pushed into a corner. For now, all that was confirmed is a warrant of arrest."


    Jiang Li didn''t reply for a minute. When he opened his mouth again, a tired voice came out of it. "Well, let us just say you guessed it, right. Adam is okay to offend because he''s just a strong knight from Borley."


    No continuation was needed for the system to get thetter part. He had just indirectly said Adam was a different case though. The duke couldn''t be pushed into a corner because he was a native of Holon. The duke also had backers and territory here, and most importantly, with a great army belonging to him.


    If Andre really made a move and y all his cards right, usurping the throne would not be impossible, not to mention killing a mere consort. Once a male lead stooped low, they could even beat all criminals in shamelessness. Agatha could be branded witch without a trial. The church of the God of War had a high chance of backing him in this after all, because Andre''s was the Pope''s rtive.


    As Jiang Li was sure Dong Lan, that was, Francis IV, had no other skill that could overpower the male leads apart from divination, which couldn''t even be used in direct confrontation, Jiang Li did the minimum he could to ensure Andre wouldn''t target the king and Agatha.


    "Host, wait. But if it''s your intention is for Adam to distract Andre, how will that knight do that if he is to be branded as an assassin from another kingdom?" This was really a point that confused the system.


    In a way, the question served as a reminder to Jiang Li that he might be missing out on something. But the guy was only annoyed. He exined impatiently with closed eyes, "There is no need to worry. As long as it''s not a crime done by the male lead, the plot will ensure that his name is cleared. There happens to be somebody who can vouch for him in the pce. So yep, I''m very sure Adam will regain his freedom very soon and in turn, have the time and capability again to do his real mission foring to this kingdom."


    "Oh." Awkwardughter echoed. If the system probably had a body, it would be scratching its head at this point. Its head would be bobbing too as it replied, "Okay, I get it now. You mean that once Adam is freed, he can go trouble Andre by pestering his wife, or even kidnapping her, back to Castle Obson. Those two male leads will indeed have a good sh, one abducting, the other rescuing. But even if the former is used of viting the chivalric codes, he wouldn''t relent. He recognized Marian after all, even though she is in a different body."


    Thetter part of its sentence pissed off Jiang Li so he coldly asked, "Are you done bullsh*ting?"


    ''Ah. What did I do to suddenly anger him?''


    The system felt baffled, but since the danger it heard was not an illusion, it remembered that it was only unmuted because it promised not to talk too much more than necessary. The system then hurriedly shut up. Although it was used to being muted, it was still hard to give up on something regained. It was like a person caught into a lockdown would very much prefer not to undergo that painful self-quarantine again once freedom was reimed.


    Jiang Li was finally satisfied as he had one less headache to endure. But, just in case something unexpected happened, he told the system, "I will be going to sleep now. Don''t wake me up unless necessary. If ever, the emergency should better be the type where a knife is only a centimeter away from my throat."


    " If that something unexpected will result in the death of someone major?" It braved asking since the matter it put forward would indeed be concerning  if ever it happened.


    To this, its host whose soul was halfway into the dreand, answered slowly and half-heartedly, "If so, then it''s a pity. Agatha''s death would mean I would have to go to another world sooner than nned. The others'' would mean I would have a grave to dig or funeral to visit. Simple as that. Now, advance thanks for shutting up."


    ""


    The system obediently stopped speaking. It was left speechless anyway. And even if it was not, it knew manners and would not rouse a sleeping ancestor.


    Humans were not made omniscient as not even the legendary angels could im such. They were still at an era where the human brains could not breakthrough some inherent and ever-present limitations.


    As much as he wanted for everything to just go his way, a nature present to all humans, what happened next in the pce deviated a bit from Jiang Li''s prediction.


    It was not Benedict, the prince from Borley, who released Adam. But Francis IV. As a result, the royal envoy who Jiang Li had hoped to get on the bad side of the Holon locals, was kept out of the mess. The best scenario did not happen, Benedict did not personally do the releasing of Adam and thus, managed to appear clean from records in the eyes of the nobles and royals. It was really quite unfortunate because Jiang Li knew the prince''s reason for traveling to Holon and wanted that goal to fail. How easy would it be if Prince Benedict was detained or made into a hostage of the kingdom so he wouldn''t be able to do the trade with the viiness?


    However, whatever would go wrong would go wrong.


    The king did not order the investigation of the royal envoy from Borley as he had already uncovered the real story through his divination. Prince Benedict was not involved. Also apart from the Duchess'' pleas, although the so-called ''spy'' did trespass into the Duke''s manor, the reason was at least not the one Jiang Li told everyone.


    ''As expected, that person is a lying bastard.''


    ''If we ever meet again, I hope it will be in a new world where he could not wield magic so I could beat him up for doing this to me.''


    Francis IV nursed a headache upon realizing why that dreadful guy did everything he did in the meeting.


    Thetter was indirectly warning him not to make any more moves against Duke Grey. At the same time, Jiang Li wanted him to release the spy and even gave him a meaningful look before he left. This was what prompted him to do the divination. Given the results, even though Agatha was opposed to it since it would mean showing support to Marian, he had no choice but do so, because Adam was actually not just a simple knight. The man was another child of fate!


    Why was this world with two of them? He wondered with a frown.


    It was her adoptive mother''s teaching to avoid confronting them as much as possible, and while Francis IV was not really obedient due to his current identity and position, he was not senile yet to antagonize two male leads at the same time.


    Actually, at this rate, even the most minor act of antagonization was already bad enough. From his perspective the fact that a world could have two pairs of lead meant the world''s consciousness was quite powerful. How could he dare to provoke it?


    And thus, the knight was released just like that, albeit not treated since it was the man who chose to depart as soon as his chains were broken.


    After all was said and done, the king realized he had gotten nothing from the most recent turn of events.


    Andre Grey would definitely not be caught. The man was too slippery and with no emotional burden whatsoever since he was not worried that something untoward would happen to his wife, she was the king''s daughter after all.


    There was no use torturing or interrogating servants too as they knew nothing.


    He also would not be able to use the knight as a reasonable excuse to sweep away all the envoys and foreigners in the kingdom in the name of cleaning up spies.


    All those efforts and the suffering from abdominal pain went for naught.


    Naturally, it would be hard to be in a jubnt mind state.


    Due to this, Francis IV was quite in an unhappy mood since the court session yesterday, unable to erase his frown while working on the stack of documents to process.


    He was in this state when somebody unexpected went to visit him.


    "Who are you?!" The thunderous voice of the captain of his royal knights echoed upon the entry of a hooded person in the private resting room of the king.


    Meanwhile, Francis IV''s froze in ce for a moment, then went to inspect the neer who had barged in from the window.


    He might be a wife ve, but he still recognized his daughter from one of his dead ex-lovers. But it came as a bit of a shock to him because this aloof and prideful daughter hiding in the guise of a pitiful forgotten princess, took the initiative to find him.


    ''Has the sun risen from another direction today?'' He wondered.


    Margarette was looking at him intently. A bit of shame wormed into his heart as he remembered what kind of treatment he gave to this young princess from she was a toddler until she grew up into what she was now. Even after his memories of past lives returned, he chose to maintain the status quo since it was when the girl was already by Jiang Li''s side. It was no wonder her attitude was so cold.


    "Your Majesty. Good day, and I hope to speak with you about a very important matter," she greeted ndly, confirming to him thathis daughter had no high impression of him as she chose to hide her identity. She was also speaking in a distant tone as if the one before her was not her father.


    Margarette took advantage of the fact that she was in a different body, and propped up her mysteriousness by showing off her prowess as a witch.


    When the loud-mouthed beefy knight roared at her again, "I will be asking you one more time, who are you? Don''t you know the ce you trespassed into is the king''s property? Guards!"


    "Silence," she only said as a reply, her voice very quiet and calm.


    The next thing that took ce, all the hidden guards, maids, and knights in the room suddenly fell to the floor. Nobody managed to react when she put everyone to sleep.


    As for the king, while he did not fall into slumber, he couldn''t help but re at his daughter after discovering the sudden oddity in him. ''I''m stuck side an invisible box again?''


    It was the first real meeting between the father and daughter in years and thetter was even in a special circumstance. But there was no warmth or anything alike in this reunion.


    Margarette raised her cold face towards the king. Her eyes were a bit reddish due to the previous day spent on crying.


    Towards this man who, in her memories, was nothing but a failure of a father, there was not much affection or respect in her heart to speak of. If given a choice, due to her pride as a woman who became the Queen of Commerce without this person''s support, she would rather never see him again.


    Unfortunately, the past day had been quite torturous for her mind so she temporarily cast away her prejudice and snuck into this ce. She only came here for two reasons: first, to gauge Francis IV''s unexpected rtion to Jiang Li, and second, to make him help her locate thetter.


    Apparently, the news about the appearance of some Supreme Magician Jiang in the pce had reached her ears. In turn, it reminded her of what Jiang List said to her before he disappeared...

 Chapter 354: Agatha (52) <2-in-1>

    Chapter 354: Agatha (52) <2-in-1>


    To fall for the same trick twice would mean one was incapable of learning from their mistake. Francis IV, as seemingly useless and careless he was in politics and management, was still not as inept to ignore this rule.


    Margarette was unlucky. Because unlike when the king first tasted the same magic and tactic from Jiang Li, he was now more prepared in case it happened to him again.


    Shortly after he realized his mobility was taken away from him, Francis IV immediately chanted something which lit up the talisman given by the fortune-teller. The talisman was specially requested upon learning his adoptive mother couldn''t stay any longer. At witching hours of yesterday, the fortune-teller spent herst hour in this world by speaking with him and exining to him some stuff, in which the grasping the spell needed to activate the protective talisman became his greatest headache. But, at least the result bore fruit now.


    He managed to free himself from the binding magic.


    Looking at the woman who was dumbfoundedly looking at him after all her spells were negated, he roared for his servants to either wake up or be in a formation.


    What he ordered came into a reality.


    But it seemed Margarette was not totally without means to escape if put in an encirclement so she didn''t immediately flee upon realizing things were not going her way. With wrinkled forehead, she asked the king about Jiang Li, the so-called Supreme Magician who barged into the pce yesterday.


    The king, bewildered by the purpose of her visit, replied he didn''t know where that fellow was now. In his mind, he was also criticizing the girl whose three views seemed to be very skewed.


    ''I''ve done my divination, and it says this daughter of mine doesn''t harbor ill intention against Jiang Li. Wasn''t she there when the old hag was almost frozen to death? That old hag is her adoptive grandmother! Even if she doesn''t know, don''t tell me she forgot she''s her master?''


    The king seemed to have forgotten that his own concubine had no good morals to boast of as he thought of this.


    But indeed, if Margarette was a filial disciple, she would have thought of taking revenge for the fortune-teller whom she didn''t know if alive of death. However, all Margarette had in mind was Jiang Li. It was because she was his wife that she couldn''t shake off the feeling of guilt towards him. It was unusually strong, she was even suspecting if there other people inside her influencing her. Perhaps, Aliyah''s multiple personalities? She wondered.


    But the heartache was indeed there. She badly wanted to find him.


    Unfortunately, Francis IV, her cheap father, didn''t live up to her expectations and had no information to offer even after minutes of talking with him. She had to flee when more pce guards turned up. The trip was a waste. Nothing was gained.


    The other unfortunate thing was that she didn''t know the one she was looking for was only a few dozen meters away, checking up on the viiness and the royal envoy from Borley.


    They were not even miles apart but their lives seemed to never have any intersection after that.


    When Margarette charged into the pce to get news about Jiang Li, thetter was busy meeting Agatha.


    When Margarette went to House White after hearing another report of his sighting there, Jiang Li was actually no longer there but spying on the knight male lead while secretly practicing his magic.


    Days after that, Jiang Li was watching the fight between the two male leads outside the inner district when the girl strode into the royal envoy''s house upon receiving news of a young Supreme Magician stealing some very important items from Prince Benedict. The former happened when Adam and his team formally kidnapped the Duchess after Marian was identified formally with the help of the royal envoy.


    It was before the robbing incident. It was such an interesting turn of events that would make one wonder if the stealing was done deliberately only after Prince Benedict made use of themunication tool with the Pope of Penemue to verify Adam''s guess.


    A week after that incident which resulted in Adam''s sessful kidnapping, Jiang Li was teaching a talented young boy in the vige near the desert when the next fight between the two male leads broke out. It took ce right outside the same vige, and Margarette was there, following the tracks deliberately left by the guy.


    When she got embroiled in the matter, having contributed to Adam being distracted due to her face, she almost lost to despair, arriving at a terrifying conclusion.


    A popr quotation came out of her mouth. "Once is coincidence. Twice is stupidity. Thrice is an enemy''s action."


    "He knows I have the means to locate him if he just leaves any clue. So this is all in his calctions?" Margarette chewed on her lower lip, feeling wronged at this unending chase.


    "Why couldn''t we just sit down and talk? I already reflected and I''m more than willing to change as long as hees back."


    She carefully pondered over their actions and even referenced the rtionship between other couples. In her findings, the majority of those whose marriage had failed did not really hold a good talk or try again to work it out before giving up on each other.


    Communication was the key. But even if she was willing, how could she work on this without Jiang Li''s cooperation?


    It takes two people to tango!


    Her eyes reddening from helplessness, she cursed at Jiang Li''s heartlessness and pridefulness.


    Yet, even so, deep in her heart, she understood that he wouldn''t do this to teach her a lesson had she notmitted a grave mistake.


    But until when would they be in this situation? This was the question guing her mind.


    Margarette had no idea, as it was only something Jiang Li could answer. But perhaps, it was a good thing that he couldn''t tell her right now. It would be better that she had no idea about his n. Otherwise, she would just be more heartbroken.


    Jiang Li once told the system."They said absence makes the heart fonder"


    To which the special being replied, "So you left?" If it had eyes, the system would have widened them at him in shock. "So that''s the real reason?"


    The young man looked down and chuckled. "Oh. No."


    The child practicing writing on the ground looked up nervously at his teacher.


    Jiang Li shook his head at him and gave a reassuring smile. In his mind, he continued, "That saying is for her. Absence makes the heart fonder. As for me, I simply left to regain my IQ. You know, it has been a popr joke on the inte before how matters of the heart can make even the most intelligent person stupid."


    The system braved asking when he nned to end the cat-and-mouse running game. Jiang Li only smiled. But if Margarette learned what was in his mind, she would have despaired more.


    Unfortunately, the youth was really in his childish grandpa mode, set on disciplining a very bad granddaughter even to the point of being heartless to himself just to prove how petty, cough, resolute, he was.


    Days passed. After that grueling fight which was followed by an emotionally and physically taxing journey, Adam and his knightpanions finally managed to bring back Marian to Borley. Margarette and her group separately also entered this foreign kingdom with mixed emotions. The duke and his force were hot on their trails.


    Somehow, or rather through the magic of their very own existence, they managed to drag the huge personages in the kingdom, including the high priests of the churches, into their mess. This brought them closer to the real conspiracies and schemes being weaved by the Gagher n, rtives of the Pope of Penemue and House White. At the same time, Marian came into contact with the killer of her brother, albeit it was a coincidental one where she only thought the guy was familiar and gave her an ufortable feeling.


    Anyways, while the two pairs of leads were stirring up dramas and confrontations all over the capital city of Borley, Jiang Li was busy nning how to sneak into the Church of Wisdom''s archives. Days had been spent on it as his target was in the heart of the main headquarters of a religion.


    As everyone knew, the library was the most valued wealth of the church since they were believers of wisdom. The ce where millions of valuable books and insightful arts had been kept was guarded by more than a hundred holy knights outside. Inside it constantly patrolled about fifty clergymen.


    The real headache for the infiltration was the magic arrays ''allegedly'' set up there by the Goddess herself. Coming up of ways to deal with theplicated chain of arrays had been the real cause of his consecutive days of staying up veryte. Thankfully before the fifth day ends of staying in the capital, he managed to think of something.


    When he sessfully managed to sneak into the library, the guy withrge eyebags hurriedly plunged himself into the sea of knowledge. The system became bored from watching him read tomes for hours so it asked him one thing when it could no longer restrain its curiosity.


    It was the same question that Margarette had brought up to herself before.


    "Hey. My dear host, we both know your female lead has chased after you all the way here to Borley. And I think if she learns you are now in this gigantic library, she wouldn''t hesitate to follow you here. So, when do you n to stop this game and see her?"


    That time, Jiang Li was too absorbed in reading so its words only entered one ear and exited another. Surrounded by tall shelves and books about history and magic, he was standing before a particr section holding only ssified books. The one he was reading was about the angels who have ascended and made themselves gods for Mu denizens to worship. There was even a frown on his face as if he was reading something he was being skeptical about.


    The system had to call out his name several times before he temporarily stopped scanning the page he was on. He blinked his eyes, "When I n to stop this, you ask?"


    Footsteps rang from his left. When Jiang Li turned his head to that direction, the child-like voice asked back in a rather hesitant and defensive tone.


    "I mean, will it be once you are very very very sure that Agatha won''t be in danger anymore and won''t court death by herself anymore? That is, after officiallypleting your mission? Or will it be after your one-month tour outside the Mu continent?"


    The owner of the footsteps, the librarian or a patrolling priest perhaps, passed by and Jiang Li did not speak before ensuring the other was no longer nearby. Although no nervousness could be seen on his face as he was in an invisible state, this wanted fake messenger wanted to make sure no ident would happen. He was careful, not letting his pride in his spell blind him withcency.


    Only when the noises faded, returning that part of the library into a serene state, did Jiang Li''s breathing be regr again. A corner of his mouth lifted up with a smile. "Wrong answer, sorry. I only n to see her again once I''m done with my new goal."


    "New goal?"


    Jiang Li nodded in a jovial manner.


    The puzzled system did not get a definite answer even after an hour of waiting. Then, another hourter, its imaginary eyes just widened when the guy suddenly pumped his fist with joy. Curiosity got into it and he checked what restricted book made Jiang Li behaved like that.


    Its title read, ''On How To Be A God''.


    It sounded like a piece of bad news for Margarette.


    ...

 Chapter 355: Agatha (53) <2-in-1>

    Chapter 355: Agatha (53) <2-in-1>


    For some time, the system was speechless at Jiang Li since it could not help but wonder if he only thought of ascending to godhood of this world after the incident with Margarette.


    Wouldn''t that be too shallow? Even if it was happy because its host finally thought of taking the pinnacle as his goal, in its opinion, the driving force behind this decision was too stupid. It would be an utter insult to the other gods in the world, especially the angels who had spent thousands of years just to ascend.


    ''Bro, is your brain sound? You only want to gain divinity just because you want to get even with a woman?'' Those ascended angels might even ask in exasperation if they came to know about it.


    The conclusion in the system''s mind which it was finding as closer to the truth just really sounded like the wrong motivation to be a god.


    However, Jiang Li seemed to not mind whatever the system was thinking about the whole matter. Anyway, it was not entirely the truth.


    Of course, he wanted to grow strong since he was not sure if he would be given another opportunity toe to a world of magic like this. Since he was already here, he should, of course, grow himself to the best that he could.


    Even if it was only easier said than done, so what? Still be a deity!


    It would take an extremely long period of time? Alright! For sure Margarette would be fine with it even if it takes a few decades.


    Nevertheless, while this was in his mind, Jiang Li was not really heartless that to the girl. After all, he could see how determined she was to meet him. That moved him actually. Therefore, after the operation in the library, he began extending help to her in the shadows, deflecting some dangers for her as she was in a foreignnd, using an identity that was officially a citizen of Borley.


    Yep. The two male leads, due to some inexplicable force, had discovered the anomalies between Marian and Margarette. They had actually body swapped. their souls not in their rightful bodies! The duke especially hated it so even though he was still in the process of retrieving his wife from the kidnapper, he was already nning how to enable his beloved Marian to return to her real body.


    Marian, as she was with Adam, had no idea about Andre Grey''s thoughts, so all she currently had as a headache was how to drill into her knight''s mind that she was already a woman of Holon and even a Duchess of it. She really wanted to go back to her husband''s arms. However, Adam kept saying it was his mission to bring her back to Obson Castle.


    To his stubbornness, she could only feel resentment. Her body had thinned greatly due to worrying about the two male leads. She had greatly lost her appetite and was listless all day, if not crying all day.


    "Mdy, don''t worry, once we cross the capital, we will only be three days away from the territory. Your homesickness will be uplifted."


    "" Marian only continued to cry. There was no way to exin what she was feeling right now.


    As both of them could see, one from near, the other observing from afar, how down her mood was, the two male leads who had pits in their brains woreplicated expressions every day. Later, they assumed it was Margarette''s appearance giving their beloved a hard time.


    On how they managed toe up with that idea, it was a puzzle. As confusing as to why viins in Eastern Fantasy or Urban Fantasy novels couldn''t help but target the main character for the most minute involvement in their lives.


    Looking at Andre who kept sending pursuers and assassins to capture Margarette, the system felt headache on behalf of its host.


    ''It has be so chaotictely, with no whatsoever resemnce to the plot. This I think is not good? Host, wait, is this really the way to ensure the viiness is free from troubles?''


    North of the capital, the two male leads were once again battling. But because the people from Holon were not many, with two of them left near the southwestern to confront Margarette, the duke had to withdraw again, frustrated. Andre had no choice but leave for now because he could feel the presence of the royal knights of Borley heading over.


    In the dark street opposite the high-ss inn where Margarette and her team were staying, Jiang Li never strayed his eyes away from two people d in ck climbing the five-story building.


    He answered to the system, ''With the beloveds of fate gone, of course, she''s safer in Holon.''


    ''I''ve left some all-cure medicine on the viiness'' desk. I''m sure she would stay put because that cure is the greatest heirloom of the Church of the Great Deity."


    The system was silent for some time upon remembering the most dangerous infiltration its host did before leaving for Borley. He said back then, ''Hehe, the Great Deity anyway is dead. I''m sure he won''t mind if I use one of his heritage for a very good cause.'' The good cause in his eyes was to stop the mad consort from contacting bad people just to heal her from her infertility.


    Jiang Li ignored the voice in his head that began to grumble incessantly. His cold eyes was focused on the two men who were steadily moving towards Margarette''s room. The system reminded him, ''Host, those two are the strongest men under the duke. Their strength is only a bit weaker than Andre Grey without his sword.''


    ''I know.'' The other was basically saying none of Margarette''s mercenaries would be able to do anything to them.


    ''Well. Alright. I should not have asked. You won''t be here if not for them.''


    A moment, the two men in ck could be seen nodding to each other before the door, seemingly having a tacit understanding. However, when one of them was about to kick the door open, several magical arrays appeared in the air, catching them off-guard.


    "Not good!" The faces of the two changed, turning pale under their ck masks.


    Thankfully, they were quick to react. Before anything could get into them, they had already somersaulted away, doing all strange poises midair just to evade the attacks.


    Ten secondster, the twonded six meters from the door. They were wiping their sweat while exchanging nces.


    It had really been a close call. Had their reflexed not been good, they would have been struck by countless curses. If their eyes did not betray them, one of the curses could make one''s body melt as if bathed in a corrosive fluid.


    ''What a vicious witch,'' they both thought. As expected of the woman their other brothers failed to seize. Their duke called them out for a reason.


    No matter what opinion they had in their hearts, since the arrays were triggered, they knew they could no longer linger there. But would they have the face to appear before their liege if they retreated without even seeing the target?


    ''Let''s try another routeter,'' the stronger of the two signaled. The other nodded.


    It was amon belief that once an assassin failed to strike once, they would always retreat. These subordinates of Andre Grey did not follow it though, thinking it would be clever to make their targets assume they had left when they really hadn''t.


    When they exited the building, they only nned to wait somewhere near, waiting to see when the vignt mercenaries of the woman would disperse. However, to their woes, before they could even reach the street, people were already pursuing them. Margarette was even with those bunch, directing them.


    "Let one of them escape and I''ll see to it a year of sry is forfeited for all of you!" As she was in a very bad mood for more than a month already, she yelled loudly with a fierce voice.


    The chase hadsted for more than a minute as Margarette really wanted to teach a lesson to whoever was sending malicious people. The problem was that the two people this time were really capable and could easily lose them. Each second that passed, it kept getting harder and harder to keep track of them, making her heart feel more helpless and resentment.


    To her surprise though, after another minute of chasing, when her whole team took the left turn to another fairly deserted street, she saw the two people suddenly stopping and screaming loudly. Their petrified selves were gradually being covered by ice, until suddenly, with crisp cracking sounds, they turned into numerous ice powder.


    The sight had truly been a shocker to the girl''s group. The faces of the pursuers nched and some careful and cowardly ones began to take some silent and vignt steps back.


    ''Retreat! Retreat! Don''t make a noise! There''s monster ahead,'' thought all the people there. Well, except for one.


    Margarette''s eyes widened and her body trembled. A couple of momentster, she found herself running forward with all her might with her hand outstretched. Her sudden action rmed her subordinates, awakening the rest of them from the stupor caused by what they just witnessed. As some of them were loyal, fear for their employer overtook their fear for lives and they began to call out her name as they gave chase.


    "Mdy, stop! It''s dangerous, please don''t head over there!"


    Somebody who could entrap two powerful and slippery assassins was surely not to be trifled with. It had not urred to them why the person targeted those two. They were calling out because they were afraid that Margarette''s action would provoke the ire of the ice magician.


    "Quick! Run faster, we have to pull her back!"


    "Mdy! Please, stop!"


    But she couldn''t hear them as her mind was flooded with one name. "J-James!"


    As if she was back to that painful eve, the word escaped out of her lips, repeatedly.


    ''He''s back! He''s shown himself to me!'' The reddening of her eyes quite scary to behold.


    She was suspecting long before that he was always nearby, helping her ward off troubles like this, and he was just not exposing himself. But sincere repentance awards forgiveness, right? Had she finally moved him so he appeared before her?


    Hope filled her heart. She was truly happy to see him. The average face she used to quite dislike before never became so much something she longed to see. She began to run faster towards him.


    But she seemed to have underestimated the guy''s pettiness.


    Jiang Li didn''t look at her for more than a second before turning around. He also did not stay long enough for her to get into a ten-meter distance from him.


    When the crystal-like particles fell to the ground, he was suddenly gone from sight, as if he teleported. Margarette was left there dumbfounded.

 Chapter 356: Agatha (54)

    Chapter 356: Agatha (54)


    If thought from someone else''s perspective, while his actions showed that he still cares, Jiang Li still seemed to be quite cruel on Margarette as he constantly did stuff simr to that incident without letting her see him. It was like he kept giving hope that he was near, yet in actuality, he was so distant.


    On one hand, the system was really correct for calling him very vengeful.


    But on another, it was also because he found her previous actions uneptable.


    One should not take a person for a substitute for another. It does not matter if that person was still him or not, or if the other party was aware of it or not. No one with the least bit of self-respect should tolerate their partner seeing another''s face or soul in them. Jiang Li was especially sensitive about this since he was a world-hopper. No matter what identity he wore in every world, he was clear that all that belonged to him was his soul...


    What about her?


    The fact remained how he reached out to her several times before his points were emptied out, yet she ignored all of it.


    He didn''t want to not forgive, but forgetting, that one thing which he considered the key to forgiveness, was proving to be a fight more difficult than imagined. Even now he was sure the girl only wanted him back for that damnable previous incarnation of his! He knew because he never truly stopped observing her.


    To be honest, the thought really made Jiang Li unhappy.


    His unhappiness was channeled into his pursuit to be a deity.


    Thankfully, there was more to learn about the continent, magic, and divinity so there were things to distract him. Thankfully too, he had long be familiar with how to enter the Church of Wisdom without being spotted. Where else could he ess a very wide array of knowledge? What else but reading from the church''s archive could give him an idea where to start?


    He had stayed there until the Gaghers'' schemes were exposed and the royal family''s n to rouse their Nephilim blood was foiled by the leads.


    Speaking of the Gaghers, a few funny memories surfaced in his mind.


    When that particr event happened, Jiang Li was only watching from afar since he had no reason to involve himself there. His face had a hint of gloating. Those people tried so hard toe this far but they did not know that no matter what they do, they just had no way of seeding.


    How badly he wanted to say to everyone that the moment the two pairs of leads were lured into the capital, all schemes that could indirectly or directly harm them had been automatically negated in a ''reasonable'' way.


    One instance which Jiang Li couldn''t stopughing for an hour at was the farce staged by the royal family. And it all started from the Papal Dynasty which wanted to rece the Borley.


    The Gagher n had enjoyed a special status in the kingdom for almost a thousand years because of their close ties with the church. But from three generations ago, they started using their secretly exiled members to dig pits for the royals. These exiled people used theirst name''s guarantee as servants of the Goddess of Wisdom to disillusionize the royals into thinking they were descendants of very powerful beings.


    ''Hey, if you don''t know, you actually have a very awesome bloodline. Come and get the cure from the witch n.''


    ''I assure you, uniting the continent under your rule will be as easy as pie as long as you wake up your sleeping powers.''


    ''Getting the witch n to break lineage limitation will be hard? Oh. No problem, our whole Church will cooperate with you. We happen to know someone who will be desperate for something only we possess''


    That was how the Borley family were swayed into this plot. Since the Pope himself was backing them, they felt they had nothing to fear.


    However, in reality, the royals had no such thing. No awesome bloodline or sleeping power. It was all a sham, a poisonous trap.


    The ascended angels from the stone age period had long vanquished that nefarious n. So how could there be any descendants left to pass off that ursed bloodline?


    Unfortunately, the Borley family didn''t know, and even though some intelligent royal members had felt that something was wrong, the King himself was very stubborn due to his old age and ailing body. With thetter insisting, the ns were carried out. Marian''s brother had been one of the casualties. Yet even though the ceremony was done perfectly, despite the sacrifice of so many people from the royals'' side, everything was for naught as no Nephil was sessfully born. The King almost died even. If anything, all they earned from the ordeal was an embarrassment and their regime bing weaker than ever before.


    What happened to the Gagher family?


    He had not checked yet. But assuming they had escaped the Goddess'' wrath, since the people who carried out their schemes long volunteered to cut ties with the family for the sake of the family, they must not have suffered much damage. Only some minor retaliation from the weakened royal family.


    Today, the Church of Wisdom was still operating just fine. In fact, before he entered the gigantic library, he had actually bumped into the Pope in his invisible state. As long as this dude was alive, he guessed no real harm woulde to the foundation of that n.


    He was not one to care though. As long as Margarette and Agatha were left alone, he wouldn''te to trouble the Gagher family.


    And oh, before he forgot, the leads were involved as well in this matter. Their trip got dyed by their discovery of the royal''s secret.


    When they tried their best to stop the so-called ceremony only to find outter that their meddling was not needed at all, it had been quite epic. Their moods must be veryplicated, especially Adam and Marian.


    He wondered, were they feeling pain from letting the chance to be heroes slipped through their fingers? Or just awkward because the royal family they feared turned out to be such a joke?


    A slight smile appeared on his face while strolling past the rows of bookshelves.


    ''Host, your mood seems to be very good this day.'' The systemmented after observing him for a while.


    ''Well, I think it''s the same as yesterday?'' he replied. ''It''s you who are idle, how about you do something useful once in a while?''


    The childish voice wanted to say that he didn''t have even a single point, but held back its imaginary tongue in case the host was offended.


    ''As expected'' Hearing him purposely left hanging his sentence, it felt down. No one in this universe was more aware of Jiang Li''s impression of the system more than the system itself.


    After sessfully getting into the deepest part of the library, Jiang Li expertly unlocked boxes after boxes of materials. He transferred the hidden records from those containers into his own bag. The whole process took quite a while.


    An hour after, he could be seen joining the busy street in front of the church. The sun was so bright and the ce was full of vitality. He couldn''t help but let out a sigh and look around more.


    Another hourter, he was no longer in the capital. He was not worried that Margarette would be bullied since he knew she would also leave once she heard about his appearance in the neighboring city.

 Chapter 357: Agatha (55)

    Chapter 357: Agatha (55)


    Sure enough, whilst theplicated love triangle among the other leads was burning strong around the northern border of Borley City, Margarette did not hesitate to bring her people away upon hearing about Jiang li being sighted near the gate.


    She did not care if the mercenaries and battle maids she had cultivated for years were staring weirdly at her. Margarette was more than aware this bunch had so many opinions about her seemingly whimsical trips and decisions. But she was also confident that none of them would forget it was her giving their sries.


    ''''Husband, if a chase is what it will take to make youe back to me, I ept the challenge," she softly whispered in the wind, casting a spell on herself so she could calm down and stopped the urge to cry.


    Apart from being a cat-and-mouse game, this was an emotional battle, she realized. Even if she wanted to cry, it had to be while he was watching.


    With this in mind, she started another journey thatsted for another month. It had been a physically and mentally taxing one. It had to be said it was even a feat already for a delicatedy like Margarette that she managed tost until now.


    However, when she was finally getting the hang of it, her body adapting to a long period of travels, she discovered that there were no more footsteps for her to follow.


    Her group was back to that vige in the desert serving as borders of both kingdoms. All that she found there were line patterns on the sandy regions that stretched for miles and were appearing in random positions.


    Only after a day did she realize the simrities of the lines to the famous Nazca Lines in Aliyah''s memories.


    A bad feeling rose from her heart, towering over her suspicions about where he learned creating geoglyphs. It prompted her to decide to stay in that vige longer.


    "I only need Morris and Samantha to stay with me as my guards. The rest, I want you all to survey the lines in the desert and record the patterns," shemanded while giving out quills and parchments.


    One of the rather intelligent mercenaries asked with doubt, "Mdy, are you suspecting the dry canals we saw outside this vige are codes?"


    Margarette did not say a thing or nod. But her silence was enough for them. At this point, all of them were aware that their boss was looking for her husband. They sympathized with her but also wondered why she insisted on chasing after that outrageous guy. It had to be said, none of Margarette had a favorable impression of Jiang Li since he basically made everyone''s lives in the past months quite unbearable. Even now, he was engaging them in puzzling stuff like this.


    The group set out watched by many local farmers and viger kids. As the scope of thend needed to be surveyed was quiterge, they only returned a couple of hours before nightfall. Margarette hired four localdies to cook her tired subordinates a feast while she headed inside her room in the two-story house she rented.


    Following after her were the two guards who had been idle today, in their hands were the parchments collected.


    "Mdy, here are the submitted output. I think these are really codes. But how are we going to arrange it?" confused, thedy guard Samantha, a tall, bronze-skinned woman, asked.


    The princess impatiently looked at the symbols, "I can''t guess which kingdom''s characters these are. Perhaps, I will be able to get something if you spread them out on the floor."


    After a few arrangements where she tried to check if words would be formed, she frowned. She had mastered nearly all the alphabets in the continent yet none of the symbols corresponded to the characters she had learned. What was she missing?


    The two people had to keep flipping and arranging as if they were working on a puzzle. At one point, Margarette ordered them to temporarily stop. With her brows furrowed, a fragment of memory from Jiang Ying Yue''s memory bank floated up and she started to understand how she should arrange the patterns.


    However, was knowing how to do it really a good thing?


    Minutester, Samantha and Morris just found their boss freezing on ce. They exchanged nces. Having seemingly arrived in a tacit understanding, they silently withdrew from the room. Margarette was left there to look nkly at the wordsid out before her eyes.


    Shortly after, a gentleugh reverberated throughout that room. The girl squatted down with her hands covering her face.


    At this moment, she felt like really received her karma since she finally understood, it would probably very hard for her to see him in the next few years.


    ''Be a god he says?'' she whispered to herself.


    The sole person in the ce shook her head.


    Didn''t she put the ''General'' in her heart because she greatly admired the valiant and powerful man who had made a whole dynasty cower under his army? Because Jiang Li was aware of it, he wanted to show to her, the past was the past, and the new him could be someone mightier than that ''General''. A lot mightier, in fact.


    There was really no stopping for him now. The price to realize her desire for a man she would forever be proud of was a long-term separation that would truly test her patience and love for the real him.


    Understanding this, sheughed, albeit self-mockingly.


    Was there a redo button somewhere? If there was none, how about a time machine? She really wanted to go back in time and pull the hair of the arrogant her who caused their rtionships to be this cold. She really wanted to tell the past her to appreciate what she had right now or else she wouldpletely regret it.


    The Queen of Commerce holed up in her room for days after that, worrying her people. Because they had no idea if their boss was doing some experiments or simply being a shut-in due to some setbacks, they put in some effort in creating excuses to make her leave her room or to speak with them.


    There was already some unrest in the Holon Kingdom due to her extended absence, Samantha reported to her one time to force her out. It had no effect.


    ''Mdy, Mr. Jiang is spotted in Holon City talking to Marquis White,'' Morris said on the next day.


    Margarette dide out not long after. However, it was not because she fell for the mercenary''s obvious lie. It was to announce to everyone that she would stay in that vige for an indefinite amount of time.


    Margarette looked thinner but she seemed to be back to her usual domineering and sharp self. In just ten minutes, she had arranged who would return to the kingdom and who would remain with her. She chose only onepanion, Samantha. The rest, she ordered to help her managers in the capital.


    ''Be a deity huh?''


    As she did not want to passively wait for that man to ascend before looking for her, she decided to continue with what she was doing before.


    She would chase him to godhood, and maybe, if fate would allow it, she would seed first and be a goddess before he ascended. The world would then help her locate him, no matter if he was in Mu or outside, exploring the other continents. Once she learned his location, she would be the one to go to him. She would dere her victory. If she had to, she was even prepared to shackle him to her side. After that, she would tearfully say, she finally won him back.

 Chapter 358: Agatha (56) <2-in-1>

    Chapter 358: Agatha (56) <2-in-1>


    Since the day the Grey couple disappeared from the city together with the duke''s trusted subordinates, Agatha felt like the air of the ce had be much fresher. As for Jiang Li and Margarette''s disappearance, it caused the skies to look more beautiful and brighter than ever.


    The royal consort could be seen in a better mood than ever since then. Francis IV even pointed it out one time to her.


    "What made my lovely consort so happy these past few days?" he asked dotingly one afternoon when he visited her ptial residence.


    "Because I realized there are just things a person better be without?" sheughingly said, to the puzzlement of the other.


    Francis IV looked at her for a long time, but the woman only kept that tantalizing smile on her face, so the king could only reply helplessly, "I don''t think I understand. But, as long as you are happy."


    A month passed since the failed trial for Marian. Agatha discovered something atop her dressing table. It just magically appeared. There was not even the slightest magical fluctuation or any sign.


    It was a letter.


    The woman freaked out for some time, wondering which witch or magician ckmailer sent it to her. On top of the list inside her name was naturally that name that had left a bad impression on her.


    ''Did he return?''


    ''Is he back in terrorizing the witches and nobles of the capital?''


    Her heart was initially pounding from nervousness. But it almost stopped when she confirmed Jiang Li was really the sender after flipping the envelope. Only the initial JL was there and even though she didn''t know what L means, based on the handwriting, she was sure it was ''James''.


    Before checking out the letter inside it, she had first instinctively thrown the whole thing away. Buried deep within her heart was the fear that the person had something bad stored for her again. What if it was really a ckmail? She told herself, if that person bothered her in the future, she would deny seeing the letter. Of course, the best scenario was for him to not show up ever.


    ''... I really hope he dies somewhere or simply never return.'' While sipping on her calming tea, her eyes were darting everywhere. Thankfully, the tea took effect a few minutester and the matter was forgotten.


    However before the nave viiness could truly breathe freely, she saw the letter appear inside her room again the following morning. It was her most favoritedy-in-waiting who discovered it in her bed.


    "Mdy, is this something you made?" Sonia asked in confusion seeing it was underneath the consort''s pillow.


    Thedy-in-waiting probably never thought there would be someone who could ce an item like that in Agatha''s bed without alerting the maids or the guards. It could only be the royal consort herself.


    Because of jumping into conclusion, Sonia failed to notice that herdy''s face immediately turned extremely pale. Thinking the consort was speechless because she took out the envelope without permission, she hurriedly said, "I beg your pardon, Your Highness. If it''s something very confidential and important, I''m more than willing to vow to not divulge about its existence to anyone."


    Watching the woman respectfully ce it atop the dressing table before withdrawing from there, Agatha murmured while panting for breath. "... I don''t believe these are all not arranged by that malevolent spirit!"


    Agatha took some time freaking out, wanting to throw it away again. But when she realized if the letter coulde back today, of course, it coulde back tomorrow and the following day. That James was really not giving her any option other than to open the white envelope.


    Agatha closed her eyes and made an aggrieved expression before finally summoning the courage to check what the guy wrote. " I don''t believe I can''t deal with something from somebody half my age!"


    Upon opening her eyes, she was left dumbfounded by what she saw. A whole wall of undecipherable text written in beautiful scripts and she had no idea which country''s alphabet they were from.


    What was the meaning of this? Even ckmails now had to be in anguage that one would need to decode? Her expression turned nk.


    At the bottom was the only line that she understood. ''Bring this to the king.'' Nothing else.


    Should she show the letter to Francis IV? What if it was, from the beginning, some sort of scheme targeting the king? Like a vicious spell that only activates in the presence of a man? There was no way she could follow the instruction then!


    ''Forget it. Back to the real n. Treat like I never saw anything.''


    Days passed. In the end, she treated like the letter had be non-existent.


    Yet as if it was a work of fate, Francis IV discovered it when he visited her ce without warning. It was toote when she learned about it as there was no way she could take back what the king fancied. All Agatha could do was to pull her hair and resent Jiang Li. Why did the damn letter appear in the most conspicuous ce when the king visited?


    Since then, the king''s way of looking at her changed. His treatment of her be better and there were many doctors and herbalists summoned into the pce ordered to concoct something the king refused to tell her.


    Agatha was very concerned and inquired about the content of the letter.


    His reply? Silence and an ashamed expression.


    For some unknown reason, this king was not aware, and in turn, not bothered by Agatha''s infertility. Since he was mysteriously kept in the dark, for years, there was no action done from his side tofort the woman who was actually secretly drowning in her insecurities and fears.


    It stemmed from the fact that as a person who already experienced the joys and pains of being a parent, he was okay with or without children. Or rather, he thought an additional offspring would onlyplicate the matter of session.


    Before bringing back Agatha to the pce, which was before he awakened his memories, he already had several kids from the queens of the other lower concubines, hence theck of desire to have another kid.


    He really never imagined that his beloved wife of several lifetimes had be very desperate and evil just to cure this particr defect.


    Francis IV thought to himself, perhaps, outside kingdom management and wars, he was truly an idiot.


    It was only through his mysteriously hostile but sometimes friendly fellow transmigrator that he came to know about Agatha''s problem. But even though he immediately made a move to check the validity of the cure, he was still depressed and felt like a useless husband.


    Monthster, it was proven that the Great Deity''s concoction was an effective all-cure. It naturally made the whole pce noisy, but while some people were happy, there was some losing sleep over the issue.


    "Your Majesty, this is bad! The royal consort... She..."


    News about Agatha''s so-awaited pregnancy reached the Queen''s ears through the mouth of an anxious retainer. Her family members visited her one after another to sound out her reaction and check whether things were going bad for her.


    However, while everyone else was wearing a bleak atmosphere around them, the woman whose appearance was not that inferior from Agatha despite being older than thetter only smiled.


    Her father, Duke Legrand couldn''t endure the impatience and mixed feelings in his heart and spoke, "Your Majesty, the royal consort is currently the talk of the town for being pregnant with the king''s child. The royal physician confirmed it''s a male. Are we just letting this go on?"


    Worry showed on the aged man''s face.


    In the court, this the duke was one of the most feared individuals, the devil nobody wanted to cross in fear of their everything getting taken away from them. But now, he was simply an old father worrying over a daughter.


    But how could he not worry? From the moment the Queen married Francis IV, all she got was a polite rtionship with him. This politeness was limited to letting her keep all the benefits of being a queen. The whole nation knew that Agatha was the apple of his eyes.


    No matter which angle one looked at it, the Queen''s life was not satisfactory, and she was even living under the shadow of a woman who had already been a concubine of the previous king. Obnoxious!


    Now that malevolent star was even pregnant. Wouldn''t the vile spawn birthed by this person threaten the Queen''s son?


    Duke Legrand felt so much sadness the more he thought about it. Anger was also present, and he sometimes wanted to go back to the past to p the old him who let his precious daughter enter the pce.


    ''It''s the price of my ambition...''


    The Queen seemingly read the thoughts in the duke''s brain but she shook her head, a bit amused. "Father, it''s okay. From the beginning, all I want is to be the most distinguished woman in this kingdom. I don''t desire affection from His Majesty. I''m already content for I have already aplished this wish. His Majesty will never abolish me nor my son from our positions."


    What backed her confidence? The old duke fell silent as he wondered. He knitted his forehead, "My daughter, you seemed to be underestimating the gravity of the situation."


    Seeing the confusion of the old man, the regaldy smiled, "No. Father. I''m clear about what''s happening, and I know what will happen in the future. Believe me or not, father, I already feel lucky. The king is stupid because he missed a fine woman like me. But at least he''s not as stupid as the other kings who did everything to kick out their first wife to enthrone another."


    The duke was a witness of how many women failed to climb up and push the Queen out of the pedestal. But a father''s indignance was hard to ease.


    "Still, aren''t you feeling wronged?"


    "No." The Queen shook her head. "The affection between a man and a woman seems to be a very beautiful thing. But it''s not something everybody can obtain. We don''t love each other.It''s better to let them be. I assure you His Majesty won''t change anything even if the Royal Consort gave birth to a son."


    A yful grin formed on the woman''s luscious lips. "Anyways, don''t I have you as my backing?"


    The stern Duke Legrand didn''t know whether to feel ttered by her obviously joking remark, so he chose silence again, with his lips asionally twitching.


    The beautiful woman whose elegance was even a level above Margarette gave a thin smile and then began to steer the conversation away from Agatha''s pregnancy. She was not affected.


    In royal families, it was not unusual to find women who had long given up on finding true love. Princesses, queens, and consorts were tools for marriage to strengthen a ruler''s power. As the majority of them were educated from a very young age to be devoted to the country and their ns, they were aware that while they could have anything, love and freedom would be some of the exceptions.


    The queen, from childhood, had received the same kind of education and had prepared herself to be wedded to one of the princes. She knew she was excellent so there was no escaping from this fate. For such an excellent woman, finding a royal member willing to give her everything apart from love was already good enough.


    The dignified smile of the woman remained on her face.


    She thought, ''Why be sad over a man who has chosen to love another? Affection between strangers from opposite sexes is not the only type of love in this world... A woman might find a good lover, but has bad parents, or offsprings. Or has good father and son, but no lover. I happen to fall into the second type. We lose as we gain.''


    Yearster, her ims would be proven right.


    Despite the attempts of the ambitious woman to steal her seat, Agatha never seeded. The king had honored his words from their teenage days when the Queen epted the arranged marriage. ''If I couldn''t learn to love you, I will make sure to give you the best quality of life possible. I will shelter you from all the storms and difficulties. Miss Fiona Legrand, you will be my only Queen in this lifetime.''

 Chapter 359: Agatha (57) <2-in-1>

    Chapter 359: Agatha (57) <2-in-1>


    While Francis IV''splicated royal family drama was raging on in Holon city, after months of travel and battles, the leads'' side finally had a conclusion.


    In the end, Adam became somebody without a partner. The Duchess chose Andre and begged him to stop torturing the three of them with his stubbornness. Like a soulless knight that he had be, he watched as his beloved childhood sweetheart escaped from his grasp and ran to her husband.


    The ducal couple went back to their territory in Holon after that.


    Francis IV turned a blind eye to this and did not make trouble for them. Aside from the fact that he had to tend to a pregnant consort, he realized that there was nothing better than keeping people like them far from the capital. He needed Jiang Li''s warning from that time.


    However, despite having returned to their fief, the days of Marian and Andre did notpletely be peaceful. While the knight gave up, her family didn''t. The Obson couple was aware of the body swap due to their closeness to the Church of Wisdom and naturally wanted to retrieve her. It didn''t matter if she was married to the duke. With their son dead, thest thing they wanted was for no one to inherit the n. They sent several toons of knights to appeal to the king of Holon.


    Minor disputes and troubles followed. While the enemies sent were weak, since these people could always escape, they repeatedly made sure to harass the fief so the two leads frequently had headaches.


    As for what happened to Adam Well, he seemed to have received a blow to his pride as a knight so he tried following the Grey couple back to Holon.


    He was quite indignant about the result of the numerous fights with Andre. Yet because Marian repeatedly rified to him who her real love was, he eventually stopped restricting her froming back to Andre.


    Because he still wanted to see for himself how real the affection between the duke and duchess was, he followed the two, maintaining a safe distance from their group when they were still on route.


    He was alone. His friends had gone back to Obson to report to the Viscount. He knew once he goes back, he would no longer be epted for he released Marian even though the order he received was he should do his best to bring her back.


    Did he regret his decision back then? Well, not really. Maybe, at ater time, he would. But at that time, he was busy with his self-imposed mission.


    The months of covert tailing only ended when he got into the vige bordering the desert again. He no longer persisted in following them back to the capital.


    At this point, from several days of watching the ducal couple from the distance, he had epted that Marian did not lie to him.


    It turned out he really had no more chance to make her his wife in this lifetime...


    It happened while he was drowning in grief, walking towards the only two-story building in the vige, the inn. His whole body reeking sadness, he met Margarette who was guiding the kids in the vige in learning Jiang Li''s writing and counting system.


    "Mdy, I apologized for my previous transgressions towards you," he said.


    Without the presence of the other female lead nearby, he woke up and understood he should not have med Margarette before for Marian''s distress. It was he who caused his childhood friend and liege to be sad.


    "We met at Borley City and I caused you some trouble due to a misunderstanding. My sincere apologies for that," Adam added, briefly showing a nostalgic expression due to her face before looking away. "It''s my fault for not conducting a proper investigation. I''m willing to receive punishment for what I have done."


    Margarette recognized him. So she scoffed, almost saying she would have ordered for his head to be cut off if she was still in her previous body. But having remembered that apassionate and reasonable heart was required to be a goddess, she chose to remain silent as to not say anything crazy.


    ''I don''t care about you. Stay away. You don''t exist in my eyes.'' Her attitude said so.


    Yet after that brief encounter, the knight stayed in the vige to seek her forgiveness. Since she was treating the other as air, Adam assumed he had to step up his game and show more sincerity. He did this by helping her out in various tasks.


    Before he knew it, he had already been by the woman''s side for a year, silently helping her with errands and acting like her guard and knight.


    Before he knew it too, he had also forgotten about Marian and began to hold affection for Margarette even though thetter never paid him attention.


    Perhaps Adam had been fascinated by the air of a saint around Margarette although, at a nce, it was obvious her character was not at all saintly.


    From the beginning, the princess never spoke to him. It was he who adjusted for her. It was him who voluntarily stayed even though he knew she was a witch. But he still stayed.


    Ten years passed.


    In Margarette''s house.


    The teenage boy who had once been taught the longest by Jiang Li asked her, "Teacher, why did you choose to stay in this vige for so long? Knight Adam said you are a very impressive person in the capital and could have lived a better life there."


    "Finish your work, Matt." The woman who had be more mature and beautiful than ever did not lift her head. The day was special for her because she received an important package. She couldn''t take her eyes off the box as he unwrapped it.


    The teenage boy scowled. "Teacher, I can multitask, okay? Chatting while arranging books is not hard. So for real, why did you remain in this poor vige? I was young back then, but I can still recall you were escorted by a dozen people when you first came here. Each of them was scary, like veterans on the battlefield. I am really curious about Teacher''s identity since you could have people like them as subordinates."


    Margarette looked at Matt and indifferently answered, "You''re curious? Fine. I''m a pretty important witch there and I used to live near to the royal pce. What? In my many years of staying here without concealing my items to you and the other students, you failed to guess my real upation?"


    "Witch" Of course, he already knew. The youth stopped speaking for a while. Unaware that Margarette was the princess, he thought, ''Right, right. It''s an impressive feat to be a witch that survived years in the capital.''


    The woman did not forget to exin how because she grew tired of the situation in the capital, she decided to settle down in the vige. "Because I became poor, I had to terminate her contract with the mercenary group. That''s how I ended up here."


    If the managers of her conglomerate heard what she said, they would have doubted the official dividing line between the rich and the poor that had been decided by the king. As for the mercenaries, if she had truly terminated her contract with them, they would have cried rivers of tears from losing the support of the richest woman on earth.


    With a wry smile, the little guy changed the topic. "Then how about your rtionship with Knight Adam?"


    "What about him?" She asked in annoyance. She knew where this conversation was heading and was displeased by it.


    "Since I was a kid, he''s been around you, Teacher. He''s handsome, kind, and powerful... Everyone is fond of him and thinks he''s a good and capable guy."


    "..." ''Sales pitch, huh.''


    "It''s obvious to everyone that he holds affections for you. May I know what you think of him?"


    Margarette narrowed her eyes at the boy. Had she been the previous her, she would have put a curse on him already.


    She said, "You won''t make much progress in your study of magic if you keep poking your nose to things you should not delve into. Stop thinking of weird stuff, Matt. Or else, I''ll kick you out and disown you. If you''re close to that Adam, tell him to stop being shameless."


    ''... Pitiful Adam.'' The boy secretly shook his head.


    Margarette coldly smiled, "Tell him he should stop dreaming because thisdy here is married and is faithfully waiting for her husband."


    After speaking, since by then her chatterbox and nosy apprentice had finished his task and was only staring with wide eyes at her, she hurriedly chased him out of the room.


    And then, what shest said immediately spread in the vige.


    It came as a shock to Matt, much less Adam who had been lingering around Margarette like a big fly. For years, the woman had not talked much, except to her apprentices who were mostly kids who had been marked by Jiang Li. Not many knew about her personal life so this was everyone''s first time learning about her marital status. It instantly became the talk of the town.


    "It''s unbelievable. Miss Margarette, our beautiful hermit, is married!"For a long while, this became the most spoken sentence in the neighborhood.


    Adam couldn''t recover from the shock. It took him long to connect the dots and came to a realization.


    Years ago, he was chasing after Marian. Years ago too, she must have been looking for her husband so she appeared in the capital of Borley Kingdom.


    Adam never thought that the world was this malicious towards him. The knight felt sad after realizing he actually fell for marrieddies twice. He felt hurt and even started to wonder if he was still fit to be a knight since his heart was this sinful. ''Do I need to convert into a monk to repent? Why can''t my heart find ady who is single and willing to try loving me?''


    ...


    The woman who unknowingly made the poor male lead wallow in another bout of depression had no idea about what was going on outside. All she cared for was the birthday gift she received from Jiang Li.


    For a whole decade that she lived a suffocating, dull life because she couldn''t see and hug him, it had be her sole joy to wait for packages from him and to see what gifts from outside did he send her. Most of the time, the items were rare decorations or gems. Sometimes, it would be paintings with moving pictures depicting the ce he had visited. However, thetter never contained his image.


    This time, would there be a handwritten letter from him? Or painting with his face in there?


    If only she could know from where the boxes wereing from, she would have long replied and threatened him to go back or else she would find another or be a nun.


    ''Husband, do you know that I sometimes hate how I can''t forget your sad smile? I was born with this special trait. A whole ten years had passed. But I never once managed to erase your disappointed expression in my mind''


    With bated breaths, she opened the box before her.


    Not long after, her eyes reddened. Her tearful appearance right now was not something her apprentices would find easy to digest in their minds.


    Looking at the beautiful cheongsamdy in the painting which had her previous appearance, she really wanted to see him and ask whether this was another act of revenge on her.


    Just now, she finally understood in full how painful it was to be remembered as another person, even if it was her past incarnation.


    Thankfully, the painting was apanied by a letter this time. She ced all her attention on that.


    Only after reading everything there did she sigh in relief and startedughing.


    Despite the phantom pain in her heart, she was happy. Finally, she heard from Jiang Li and knew what he had been up to in the past ten years.

 Chapter 360: Agatha (58)

    Chapter 360: Agatha (58)


    Jiang Li''s trip to the outside world, that was the other continents outside of Mu, ended only two years after he sent Margarette the portrait.


    For a decade he had witnessed the rise and fall of several dynasties, which had only been possible because he wandered almost every ce on earth, thus discovering that there were a lot more tribes and kingdoms than ever recorded in history. Various religions, traditions, and customs graced his eyes.


    One thing he would never ever forget perhaps in his whole life was the weird bathroom traditions of the Romans where public toilets had some sort of sponge-stick as a substitute for toilet paper. Who would have thought the very technologically advanced Roman civilization which had wowed the modern people with its sophisticated customs, great infrastructures, and wealth of knowledge in various fields, had such unique hygiene routines?


    It was quite an eye-opener.


    But overall, the experience was not that bad. He had proven that the various modern ''love philosophers'' were correct.


    The best way to distract a brokenhearted man is to travel around to see all the beauty the world could offer.


    Meeting other people and seeing other sceneries could do wonders to any lost soul. But of course, one could never escape from what he would eventually face in the future.


    He could say it was a good thing that he could sometimes forget everything that happened in the Holon Kingdom. This also greatly helped in moving from the past. However, the weird effect of the continent to ''deserters'' was notpletely effective on him due to the system''s existence.


    It was necessary to negate the forced amnesia effect but he had no points to pay for the service? Easy! Hello, loan!


    Jiang Li made it cancel the weird influence on him every year so he would never forget what his goals were, the points owed to be paid upon exiting the world.


    "It''s time to go back" Two years after he sent Jiang Ying Yue''s portrait to Margarette, he stood up from the giant ind of ice and absentmindedly murmured to himself.


    The ce where he was right now was the North Pole, on that giant block of ice that never stayed in ce, drifting across the Arctic ocean. Nobody knew that this huge body of water, while perpetually cold and covered by sea ice, did not really have the ice ind until Jiang Li arrived.


    It turned out the greater his power was and the closer he was to igniting a so-called divine fire, the older, stronger, and longsting his ice would appear to be.


    In the future, once modern explorers visited the ce, they would think the oldest ice in the North Pole had existed for a million years when in reality it was only two-thousand-year-old. Had Jiang Li chose to stay there, the huge expanse of ice might even be mistaken as one that existed from the beginning of time.


    "In the end, this is not a ce I can stay for long." After roaming his eyes around for a couple of moments, he shook his head and left.


    A dozen years was spent on pursuing godhood. He was currently just a step away, a supreme ice magician at the level of an Angel. How about Margarette? Did she discover the geoglyphs he left near the sand vige and chose to pass the time by studying the secrets of the deities?


    While he was traveling the treacherous ocean using a boat made entirely of ice, he looked up. He knew he was being watched by numerous eyes from somewhere he could not yet see. He could feel their curiosity and varying emotions.


    "Don''t be anxious, everyone, we will meet shortly," heughed. His deration met silence.


    For those 15 or so ascended angels, it must have been quite unbelievable that the world produced another god a few thousand years after the death of the Great Deity. If Margarette heeded his hint and threw herself devotedly to the task, then there would be two of them. He wondered how this bunch would react. Would they be pleased? Or feel threatened because the territories within Mu would have to be divided again?


    Honestly, if he wanted to, he could take that onest step right now. But he didn''t. He postponed this because apart from the destination, Mu Continent, having a greater density of magic than the outside world which would be helpful for him, he also wanted to do it while Margarette was watching.


    Without disguising himself, he arrived at the seaport on the Western side of Holon Kingdom. As he was the only person who came back to the Continent aboard a weird iceboat, he immediately garnered the attention of the manager of the port. However, because his appearance had drastically changed, turning more mature and with an air more noble even than the king, it took two days before Beatrice, a middle-aged woman who had started following Margarette two decades ago, recognized the man.


    The manager of the seaport tried to meet Jiang Li and sweated a lot when she found out that even though she was a magician herself, she actually couldn''t look at the person''s face. No, she didn''t dare.


    Even without her guts warning her about it, her magic power suddenly felt oppressed when she came within five meters from him.


    ''What kind of man is ''she'' waiting for all this time!?'' Beatrice respectfully lowered her head.


    Jiang Li did not stay long in that port. His goal was only to have someone inform Margarette that he was back.


    He next went to Holon City, nning to check whether the viiness and the annoying king were still alive and if they had done anything detrimental to the leads or Margarette. On his way to the pce, he unexpectedly met a young child who had just jumped over the walls.


    "Catch His Highness! Don''t let him leave!" Panicky voices echoed from the other side.


    The royally dressed boy grinned in that direction before bolting away. "Haha, no one can catch up to me! See you, everyone. I''ll be back when I feel like it! Bye!"


    Following the kid in secret was a female shadow warrior he once saw lingering around Agatha.


    Surprise shed across Jiang Li''s eyes as he stared at the mischievous-looking boy who had probably wanted to have some fun by himself outside the pce and thought he had seeded.


    With amusement on Jiang Li''s face, he mused, the boy must be the viiness'' son. The age suggested so.


    Margarette was definitely aware that her evil stepmother had finally achieved her real dream of conceiving a child for the king. She was probably resentful of him, right? Because they too could have one if he did not leave.


    A man who could dress up in rags yet still appear noble could only be extraordinary. However, this same man had a wry smile on his face as he looked at the boy. He shook his head after and walked towards the pce. He did not stay long, only a minute or so, to check on Francis IV and Agatha.


    Before leaving, upon seeing the two were doing okay, he grew annoyed.


    ''This irritating pair still has done so many bad things in their lives. The Queen at least, I''m sure, will love to see them suffering a bit.'' With this in mind, the jealous guy impulsively hurled some spells on them.


    A day after he left, the news about the two being frozen in ice amidst something passionately unspeakable for more than twelve hours spread in the pce. It was said the wonderful scene was seen by more than a dozen people.


    After that, not mentioning the two middle-aged people, the youngest and most spoiled of the princes couldn''t lift his head up for months before his brothers whenever this was mentioned by others.


    The system too couldn''t believe its host went to the pce just to do something like that. It thought: Ouch. My host is still unreasonable and malicious.


    On that same day.


    Few hours before midnight, before Margarette''s date of birth for this year formally arrived.


    Adam just saw a very bright blue light shooting towards the dark horizon. Everyone in the whole Holon Kingdom and some other neighboring states were roused from their sleep as it was apanied by a loud sound that seemingly came from heaven. When everyone went out to check, they were dumbfounded by the sight that greeted them.


    "L-look, dear! Over there!"


    "Oh, my goddess! W-what is that?"


    "Celestial bodies in the sky are exhibiting some strange movements? No, it''s not from the sky... Weird..."


    "This is a sign from the gods!"


    "This is a miracle! Praise the Lords!"


    The pir of light that burst out at the border between the desert and the Holon Kingdom was just too dazzling that nobody could ignore it. Heavenly music even seemed to be ying in everyone''s ears as they gazed at it.


    For a while, nobody could close their mouths and they kept pinching themselves to see if they were not dreaming. Some even began to do or babble strange things, blurting out guesses about the mysterious phenomenon. The sober ones immediately pulled up several books from their collections to check whether this thing already happened before. Those ignorant and with no desire to overwork their brains simply assumed this was done by the divine.


    From the various churches near the site, several tall statues of deities suddenly produced resplended glow before turning into real people with human-like bodies but god-like air and appearances.


    Thousands of clergymen who witnessed the scene almost held their breath from shock until they almost forgot to breathe.


    There was one only thing in their minds afterward.


    ''Kneel! The gods have descended!''

 Chapter 361: Agatha (59) <2-in-1>

    Chapter 361: Agatha (59) <2-in-1>


    By the grace of Sariel, the Goddess of the Moon, the real features of these gods became visible. All of them had ethereal and beautiful appearances that could instantly make mortals feel awe and devotion in their hearts. Right now, curiosity and amazement could be seen on their immacte faces.


    The God of War Gadreel, a tall heavily armored man with brown hair and blue eyes appeared a few meters outside the range of the light, staring into the vague figure seemingly meditating in the middle of it.


    A momentter, he turned to the yellow-dressed fairdy with wavy long blue hair, sapphire eyes and cherry lips who gently floated down beside him. "Good evening, Penemue, it''s a surprise to see you here. You came to see the excitement?"


    The Goddess of Wisdom gave an elegant smile before curtsying. "It''s my pleasure to be in your presence, God of War. I''m here as it is the first time that a mortal ascended to the same level as us since the death of our master. It''s something I couldn''t wait to witness and write in my church''s archives. I would love to personally congratte this young man too."


    Looking at the excited gleam from Penemue''s eyes, the famed god nodded, "My intention is the same. And I am shocked. This kid is very young. It''s a wonder how he managed to do this."


    "Senior Araqiel said he''s an outsider."


    "Oh? I didn''t notice." Gadreel only narrowed his eyes for a second but didn''t do anything more. "My powers did not react since he is not malicious to our world."


    Penemue smiled softly then nodded. At the same time that a pen and parchment materialized in front of her, she lowered her head to record what the other had just said.


    "You two seem to be forgetting something, that even though he''s a master of the Law of Water or Ice, he is also very proficient in ck Magic. That''s what I''m puzzled about. Why didn''t he choose to upy the seat for that Law?" said Armamos, the God of Mystery. The man dressed like a normal courtier, with top hat, tailcoat, and cane walked over to them. The two greeted him with a nod.


    Several other figures appeared by their side. The discussion became livelier as more deities joined in the conversation.


    Thest to arrive, Araqiel, the God of Earth and the most senior amongst them spoke in a grumbling tone, "I remember now. This little guy here is the person who stole something from Master''s Church. How daring."


    "Oh, that''s news to me. He also stole some of the precious books in my grand library." The awkward voice was from the Goddess of Wisdom. She also began to note down this piece of information.


    Meanwhile, a wry expression immediately surfaced on the faces of everyone around. The Master Araqiel spoke of was the deceased Great Deity, the person who created the world and everything in it. Towards Jiang Li who did something outrageous to one of the original church''s remaining relics, they really couldn''t help but feel some awe and annoyance.


    For a while, a debate on whether they should make the guy pay for the stolen goods ensued.


    "He is really daring. And I like it," Yeqon, God of gue,ughingly interjected, earning the hostile nces from the ascended angels. He shrugged after. The man knew he was not well-liked by this prideful bunch because he was the first and only Fallen Angel to gain godhood. He was also the reason why dark arts and witches still exist in the continent.


    "Weird. Another pir of light rose from the vige ahead."


    Penemue eximed in surprise, stealing the attention of every deity present. She turned to Armamos, "God of Mystery, what is going on?"


    The other froze then asked back, "Shouldn''t it be a question yours to answer as you are the keeper of all wisdom in this world?"


    "My dearest brother Armamos, even the wittiest sage needs details and clues first before they could piece out the truth. I believe it''s in your jurisdiction to answer queries like this. It''s a mystery and I truly have no idea what''s happening there," the woman answered. She also made clear she was feelingzy to teleport over there since the God of Mystery was here.


    To this, the called god felt helpless. He was silent for a long time before saying to the Goddess of Wisdom and the others listening attentively to their conversation, "Another person is ascending. It''s. the wife of your fake messenger, Penemue."


    "Interesting."


    "I think these two have a prior arrangement. The other ascender is a witch who mastered dark arts from the Eastern Continent. When this kid appeared near the coast, hemanded a magician from there to inform his wife through magic."


    While these busybody-gods were leisurely watching and exchanging insights about the event, the mortals in the surrounding areas felt so suffocated from the heavy auras that kept pressing down on their souls. Their breathing became ragged. Many had begun to look away from the pirs of light. The others, especially those in the sand vige, prostrated on the ground the moment they realized who the other ascender was.


    ''Our vige has produced a goddess!'' The vige head eximed in his heart, excitement oozing out from his eyes and aged body.


    Adam and the two other leads were staring nkly at the direction of the light. The former''s eyes were narrowed as much as he could to lessen the pain felt by his eyes. He had not blinked even once. He wanted to confirm by himself the person confronting Heaven to gain a spot in the divine kingdom.


    The seconds that passed felt like a century.


    At the pce, the king of Holon looked once at the nearest pir of light before his eyes went down to the card he had drawn from the Tarot deck. Upon seeing The Sun there, his eyes reddened from jealousy. He knew the first person ascending.


    It turned out the jerk who froze a friend in ice due to the slightest misunderstanding was about to be a deity. The card just now ascertained sess.


    Francis IV fell into deep thoughts, frowning, ''If I give Divination route a go, maybe I will be able to seed? My age is worrisome though.''


    Not long after, to the west of the vige where the majority of the gods were gathering, the blinding pir of light slowly receded.


    A figure of a man was then revealed. Tiredness could be seen from him as if he just went through a tough unseen battle. Even so, the air around him had be much holier, not the least bit inferior to Penemue''s and the others.


    Some of the gods wanted to go forward to congratte this new god and see his attitude towards them. Yet they suddenly realized they couldn''t step up.


    They felt it. Going within a ten-meter distance from the man would mean getting caged in ice and not even them could guarantee a sessful escape from it.


    "Sure enough. This one is the embodiment of frost," After being taken aback, one of the busybodiesmented with a wry expression. To this everybody else, nodded, on their faces were varying expressions. Some were annoyed as if their pride had just been provoked. The others were neutral, only there to see the show.


    They saw the schrly man stared in the direction of the other pir of light. Like the others, he was patiently waiting. Several deities spoke with Jiang Li. Unfortunately, the guy was like a statue with his sight fixed in that ce. Thankfully, these gods had mild tempers,rgely because he was not an enemy. Upon being ignored, they only thought the newbie was very anxious for his wife, which was actually the truth.


    The wait did notst long. Just like what happened to him, the light receded, only leaving a shower of sparks that vanished a couple of momentster. Revealed was a dazzlingdy with a face that made all the female deities there gasp and widen their eyes in disbelief.


    They said Sariel was the most beautiful Goddess in the world.


    But when Margarette ascended, the Goddess of the Moon had no choice but to let go of that title.


    Upon bing a local deity, Margarette left the previous shell to Aliyah so she and her personalities could continue to get along within that. Margarette created a new body for her, modeled after her real appearance, with a cold ice-goddess-like charm that was more fitting to her face than the mushy sweet look Marian did with it from time to time.


    The woman''s closed eyes opened, just in time to see a man dressed in bluemoner clothing walking towards her. The other gods that popped up were automatically filtered out from her sight. She froze almost immediately.


    Looking at Jiang Li now, she knew she lost in her self-made battle.


    But anyway, does it matter?


    Her eyes softened and a calm voice came out of her mouth, reverberating throughout thend for all mortals to hear.


    "Finished having fun outside Mu?" she asked.


    He replied after a chuckle. "I''m done with my first touring of the outside world, yes."


    She looked at him, ignoring the strong auras sprouting around them. Her voice was still calm as she said, "You waited for me, right? To reach this point before crossing the boundary to godhood yourself. I remember years ago, you are already so near to being at the same level as an angel."


    "Well, yeah." Heughingly exined. "I vowed to myself I will only see you again once I be another god of thend. But I figured since you are on this road to divinity too, I couldn''t appear before you ascend. This is how I fulfilled the vow and gave you enough time to realize what you really want."


    A hint of nervousness could be seen from Jiang Li''s face when he continued, "So... How have you been... wife?"


    The new goddess was overwhelmed by emotions, especially after recalling it was twelve years ago when shest heard of his voice. She couldn''t speak for a while.


    She wanted badly to tell him that he had been a huge jerk for not seeing her for a dozen years, that even though she had done wrong, his retaliation had been too much, and that he should feel threatened because even though she was stuck in a remote vige, there were still countless men asking for her hand in marriage. However, when she found her voice, she couldn''t say those words. She stood there, trembling.


    In the end, the wife just opened her arms and hugged the other with teary eyes. "How have I been?"


    "The days had been unbearable for me I Before I know it, it has been my dream to have you back. I used to be a haughty princess, but since that day, I became a little wife praying every day for you to remember where you belong. I frequently asked myself, is it because I am a witch that no god is hearing me out?"


    Jiang Liughed at her resentful tone, "Don''t worry, I''m here now."


    System: ... That sounds like a response from a bastard.


    Sure enough, Margarette thought so too, her eyes still red and full of resentment.


    Jiang Li coughed in embarrassment, and hurriedly added, "I mean, the curse of the continent did not make me a man with Alzheimer''s. I did not forget where my real home is. I guess, it''s because there''s someone in thisnd that I am not allowed to forget."


    "Actually, I also brought back many gifts. I left it them the care of your subordinate and we can retrieve them any time. Would you like to see them now?"


    There seemed to be a tacit understanding between the two, probably due to the strengthened spiritual connection. Nobody brought out the reason for their separation or the suffering from the past twelve years. From now on, it would be a new beginning. They would be treading a new wonderful life ahead with each other.


    To histest question, Margarette shook her head. She buried her head in his chest and tightened her embrace of him as if she was afraid he would disappear again.


    She was crying when she said, "I''m really happy that you return to me."


    "Wee back. Husband."

 Chapter 362: Agatha (60) <2-in-1> end

    Chapter 362: Agatha (60) <2-in-1> end


    Freed from responsibilities and guilt from the past, the two began to dote on each every day. Jiang Li did and get whatever Margarette like as long as it was within his capabilities and vice versa. The two treated each other as equal in everything. Each party doing their part and sharing back as much as they were given, whether it be trust, love, knowledge or material things.


    Jiang Li saw the change in Margarette and thought that the wait was worth it. He was d he did not ept the system''s offer to leave the world impulsively. Had he been carried away by emotions back then, he would have missed seeing Margarette''s transformation and he would have been too unfair to her.


    Many things happened after that.


    In the first few days after their ascension, they were frequently visited by the various gods. Surprisingly all of them were with a mild temper... except the ''Leader'', Araqiel, and the Fallen Angel, Yeqon, thetter loved tough so much and seemed to be easy-going but was hated by Jiang Li for always looking longingly at Margarette.


    Jiang Li rejected being canonized as the God of Frost. As he knew a local god was nothing but a stronger magician, he believed it was not appropriate for him to bear the title.


    Margarette copied him and did not ept the title Goddess of Darkness. The epithet was very tacky anyway as if it was suggesting she was involved in something shady.


    Following that, they stayed in the Mu Continent for two decades to establish a small country. Then when their firstborn, a son they named James II turned eighteen, they passed the throne to him and made him the new ruler.


    Three days after the coronation of the new king, the two irresponsible parents decided to run away from there, journeying from country to country, meeting various people while pretending to be mortals.


    They watched as the king of Holon failed his attempt in ascending to be the God of Fate.


    They were still in Holon a couple of yearster, when the aged king passed the throne to the Queen''s son before dering he was to enter a recluse life with Agatha. Francis IV actually saw them from afar and wanted to speak with them, especially Jiang Li, but the two vanished from there in the middle of the ceremony, reappearing in another state. He never managed to speak with them since then and so now, only heaven knows what he wanted to tell Jiang Li.


    The journey of the couple continued, until they got outside of the continent. By Margarette''s request, Jiang Li brought her first to thend of Huaxia to see for herself a culture she only saw before in Jiang Ying Yue''s memories. There, they witnessed a few notable events in that region such as the Yellow Turban Rebellion and the emergence of the Three Kingdoms. In fact, Zhuge Liang was personally taught by Jiang who unscrupulously pretended to be Pang De Gong, a famous philosopher of that time. Margarette chose to establish a sect consisting only of witches and female Gu masters.


    They left the eastern side two decadester and traveled to the Western continent where they witnessed how religion slowly became the center of everyone''s lives. Later, their past time, apart from journeying to beautiful ces, turned into watching the major developments in the various kingdoms andparing them to their mothend.


    As Jiang Li ''predicted'' and said to the priests of the Church of Wisdom before when he pretended to be a divine messenger, almost everything Mu went through also happened to the western continent. But maybe because the outer world was a bigger stage, the wars and conspiracies here were bigger and more brutal.


    After a few centuries, Margarette got tired of watching all of these happened so even though there were many more things to see and visit in the upper maind, they left and checked out the various inds in the south before going back to Mu.


    A deity could practically live forever unless killed so if Jiang Li had wanted to, he could have stayed in that world for ten thousand years.


    However, he knew he had missions toplete. The system too kept reminding him that he had debts to repay. This was why when the God of gue ran amok outside, Jiang Li chose to stage a death battle with the annoying Fallen Angel to make his departure believable.


    He got his wanted resultster on. Exchanged with his life, the infamous ck Death that spread a thousand and three hundred years after his ascension ceased. But when he died, Margarette chose to go to an eternal sleep too, saying there was nothing more for her to live for since both her husband and son were now dead.


    Rare moment of peace came after that.


    There were still many years before the two sessive world wars. As the Mu continent gradually became more modernized, the rest of the world were still in their Dark Age, the medieval period.


    Because the impact of the ck Death had been very dreadful to the surviving mortals, the Ice God who confronted the God of gue became a very respected god, his tale included by all the churches in their canons and holy texts. His ethereal goddess wife, called the most beautiful woman in all of history, was also frequently brought up in conversations.


    But while their fame reached the point of rivaling the reputation of some of the old deities, the two short-lived couple became the ultimate weirdoes in the eyes of their fellows.


    Jiang Li opened his eyes and found himself in a rundown room with nothing but a bed and arge wooden box inside it.


    "Where am I this time?"


    "Host, this is a new setting, simr to Selena Tang''s world when it was in the 1930s."


    Jiang Li thought for a moment then nodded. Afterward, he stood up and inspected the situation outside the window before checking the contents of the huge box.


    While he was doing these, the system did not forget to announce the number of points he gained, that was five thousand points courtesy of that world being an official one. It then gave him time to process the plot in his mind and viewed the memories of his current body.


    "In summary, host, the world is reminiscent of China in its republican era. Both the leads are like ve performers in a circus who wanted to escape from the grasp of the evil proprietor. The viiness is the unpretty daughter of the circus owner destined to die on a huge fire started by the leads on the night they staged their escape."


    "As for you, your identity is that of amoner young man working at a bakery whose only appearance in the plot is when he watched the fire-breathing performance of the male lead."


    "I''m an extra, huh But the goal this time is pretty obvious, to prevent the circus owner''s daughter from dying in the fire."


    Jiang Li read the details for the second time then wondered if there was a glitch in the system for it sent him to a fairly easy world.


    The five months he was given with was spent in continuing daily tasks. He baked, he sold bread, and had been a righteous citizen under Grandpa Miao''s rule.


    When the killer fire broke out in the nearby circus, when he found out there was no magic in this world, he simply fetched the viiness from her room and took her out of the ce. The ordeal had not been difficult for him since the past five months were more than enough for him to restore some of his martial arts.


    He did not stay long in that ce after the incident. Why? Because a day after he arrived, he found out that Margarette was his older biological sister there. And not only that, she had long entered the monastery! No matter how much he fancied the girl, there was no way he would corrupt her into leaving her faith or entering an incestuous rtionship with him. That was why he left.


    The mission journey continued.


    Yet in the next eight worlds that he visited, he found something strange. The missions and plots were easy. There was rarely any outside interference and even if there was, it would only be Dong Lan who had always tried to stay out of his way.


    Really, he appreciated the easy five thousand points. The time limits could also easily be dealt with using points if he ever wanted to extend his stay there But


    "What the heck is happening! In this world too, she''s weird! Everything is weird! Why is she a Buddhist nun again who is rted by blood to me!?" Jiang Li was getting numbed by this funny chain of coincidences.


    He couldn''t hide the irritation in his voice when he inquired about this from the system. For the ninth world, he was sent into a jianghu setting and once again, Margarette''s incarnation was the same with the previous ones. Given this, even though he had just been here for ten minutes, he could already foresee himself leaving as soon as hepleted the goal. What the heck? Which bastard was behind this?


    "System! Come out!"


    "..." ''Why am I receiving your anger again?''


    The system wanted to cry and tell him this when it realized the guy was cing the me on its head. '' Host, She''s a bonafide viiness. You bullied one of her incarnations badly. Even if you made it up to her after, since that time, you left early again, she thinks you bullied her again. How can she let you off so easily? She''s the one unreasonable, not me!''


    The child spirit in the void was feeling aggrieved since it was not really his fault. How would he know what happened? Or guess what was going on in that woman''s head? It felt awful not having the authority to inform the paranoid guy thatst time, while he did well with teaching her a lesson, he was not really the most vengeful creature in this universe.

 Chapter 363: Mo Chou (1)

    Chapter 363: Mo Chou (1)


    When Jiang Li finished the mission a yearter, the system whether he would stay or not.


    The man did not hesitate to leave for the next one, not forgetting to express his annoyance for being asked such a silly question.


    Just why on earth would he remain? To further torture himself watching his wife devote herself to some foreign deity? Or let her call her ''brother'' every time they meet?


    No, thanks. That sounds totally mind-breaking, looking and wanting but having no rights to approach or touch.


    He would rather go to the next setting to distract himself with the plot than go through the whole experience.


    "Let''s leave," he quietly said, mood a bit down.


    When he woke up after an unknown amount of timeter, he found himself feeling strange, as if he was weightless and tied up in a very dark ce. He didn''t know where he was, and if his body was only numb so he couldn''t feel his limbs and other body parts. His head was fuzzy. When he opened his eyes, he was really confused since there was nothing around him. Only darkness.


    He frowned, ''Strange. Am I still in the void?''


    Before he could get a hold of his situation from the system, several gentle voices drifted into his ears. It made him stay still and alert. No matter the circumstance, he knew it was not advisable to ept the new memories in the presence of others. He nned to eavesdrop first and see if he could get a clue about what was happening.


    "Helloooooo?" That dragged out greeting came from a woman.


    Voices continued to echo, seeming like they were far away yet with rity that suggested they were near. He thought it was really strange.


    "Any entity nearby"


    " willing. to peacefullymunicate with us?" It was the same girly voice, sounding like psychedelic music to him. Jiang Li did not speak, busy processing what he just heard. ''Who is the entity?''


    "Spirit of the ss Spirit of the ss Are you there?"


    "Dear ghost"


    "Please answer us"


    Silence ensued. The atmosphere became more solemn and holy, even though what these guys were attempting was nothing holy.


    Jiang Li raised a brow upon figuring out what the owners of the voices were doing. What else but a divination session with the dead using a talking board? Something only curious minds or folks with obsessions with the other world would do.


    Now he was really curious about his identity here and their current location.


    ''I hope I am not one of these daredevils who just made a terrible mistake in their attempts to talk with a spirit. What any entity? What if the entity is a devil or a demon?'' He felt a headache.


    ''I really hope the reason for my strange condition is not I''m currently being possessed by some annoying entities, forced out of my own body. I don''t know what I''ll do if that turns out true.''


    Jiang Li suspected he did not truly manage to open his eyes earlier so he tried it again, wanting to check the real situation around him. However, not long after, he froze when he realized nothing changed in his vision. It was really all dark.


    The only thing worthy of the celebration was he could not feel any ghost nearby. So who were they calling? Could it be


    The voices echoed again, started by bell-likeughter. "Geez. Look. Nothing happened. How long since we started?"


    "About five minutes?"


    "And we''re all so nervous here but it didn''t move What a joke."


    These first three voices were from boys. It seemed none of them were pleased that after all the horror vibe, nothing spooky really happened so they started tough and make fun of the whole thing.


    " M-maybe we made a mistake I mean, in the process." A nervous-sounding girl spoke.


    "Actually I''m skeptical about the opening lines. Are we really supposed to say Spirit of the ss? Maybe it should be Spirit of the nchette or the like What do you think, guys?"


    Jiang Li coughed and tried to move his hand to cover his mouth before realizing that his hands were bound. It made him nk out. He then frowned. However, since he had confirmed he really couldn''t move due to the chains, he chose to shift his focus back to the group doing the session. There was a guess he wanted to verify.


    Around the same time, the group repeated the words said before, without revising their words. He took that chance to say, "Hello?"


    A secondter, hearing the drag-out sound, his pupils dted.


    A kind of spooky low voice came out of his mouth unexpectedlyIt made him stay still, having a bad hunch when it sounded like it came from the ground.


    Sure enough, the moment his voice died, he heard a few girls shrieking from fright. One of them stuttered out, "I-It''s moving! Somebody! S-somebody is really called out!"


    "Aaaahhhhhhhh!"


    "W-who pushed it! Who''s pranking us? Is it you, Yan Mei?"


    "No, not me."


    "I-it''s not me too!"


    "Wait! Don''t panic! Don''t panic! No one''s to move!" One of the guys tried to calm the girls, reminding them of the rules, but the momentary serenity that he bought was immediately broken by another person who had spoken loudly.


    "H. E. L. L H-hell?" Everyone else started to exim ''OMG'', and other simr phrases to express their shock.


    "W-wait, it''s still moving."


    Thirty seconds passed and Jiang Li felt so drained He didn''t know which was said by who. But within that timeframe, the group had said more than a hundred sentences collectively. All sorts of profanities, prayers, and nonsense graced his ears, to the point that he wanted to meet whoever taught this bunch their wonderful vocabry.


    Only after all the ridiculous reactions did he hear somebody spelling out loud that one word that he had said earlier.


    "It spelled ''Hello," said a girl with a mature and soothing voice.


    He imagined a youngdy exchanging nces with everyone surrounding the Ouija board. The scenario made him want to facepalm.


    ''Wow, it seems I''m actually the malicious spirit this stupid bunch has called.''


    "What do you guys want?"


    In the realm of the living, the nchette moved around and the people surrounding it tried their best to hold their breath as theymit to mind the letters.


    The same girl spelled out the words, facing the other participants of the game. "The ghost is asking us what we want You guys talk it out amongst you while I reply."


    "O-okay," he heard another girl say.


    The other nodded and proceeded with standard steps. "Hello again. We have no ill intention and hope you don''t find our actions offensive. May we know your name?"


    "Li." The guy answered considerately, a bit fed up by the length of time long words took to be spelled out.


    "Alright, Li. Thank you for responding to us. We dly appreciate it. If it''s okay with you there are some questions we would like to consult with you"


    '' I''m afraid these folks are mistaking me for a pen spirit who can take a glimpse of the past and the future.'' Jiang Li rolled his eyes.


    The fear the group was feeling probably diminished a bit and they gained some confidence seeing no one was harmed yet. It turned out the game was not really dangerous, they thought after watching one of them spoke so easily with ''it''. They were now talking amongst themselves what to ask the ''friendly'' ghost that they had summoned.


    Amidst this, they even managed to debate whether the nchette or whatever medium they used really moved.


    "Hey, Mei. You sure it''s not you moving it, huh?"


    "No. Do you think this is a kiddie game?"


    The one who answered was the same girl mostly doing the talking with Jiang Li, the only one who hadn''t stuttered. Her voice, although a bit cold, was really soothing to the ears and made him wonder if she was the heroine or the viiness.


    The bored Jiang Li, who was waiting for them to finish the session before checking out the plot, repeatedly moved the thing in a random direction to remind the daredevils that he was waiting.


    The four or so people gradually became absorbed in their discussion. However, they seemed to be not very knowledgeable about what they were doing since they did not be rmed when the nchette moved by itself again. Were they thinking it was simply the summoned friend making its presence known to them? And that they should not be scared since the ghost seemed friendly?


    He found it not funny that two of them even managed to argue whether to ask who their future spouses would be. He was reminded of the bad luck his previous lifetimes had. ''If they dare bring that up, I''ll tell them they are all fated to be nuns and celibates.''


    "Hey, let''s ask the spirit what''s the safest and fastest way to get rich."


    ''To rob a bank online.'' Jiang Li answered in his head.


    "Or maybe this"


    "Guys, I think Xu wanted to say something. Xu? You wanted to inquire about your grandma?"


    ''Ugh'' It had just been a minute at most. But seeing, or rather, hearing how unprepared and uncautious they were, Jiang Li had this urge to smack everyone on the ground. Did they think this was really fun?


    The nchette had already moved back and forth the arc of letters. The group did not know such an event was rming because it meant the ghost was taking this chance to create a portal to the realm of the living, whether intentionally or not. On Jiang Li''s side, he was simply bored and casually moving the medium. It was unknown even to him that his instinct as a ghost acted up and made him do this, desiring to seize the moment to escape from there.


    "Hmmm? I suddenly lost connection to the talking board?"


    Jiang Li blinked in confusion, although the action made no difference since he couldn''t see anything and likewise, wouldn''t be seen by anyone.


    Shortly after, the noises from the other side suddenly became louder than before. It baffled him. The voices became more psychedelic and messier,sting for a second or two until a burst of light suddenly descended into the dark room he was confined in.


    The light was gentle since it did not burn him or anything. It swiftly turned oval in shape, like a huge mirror pir.


    When it swallowed him and pulled him somewhere, he instinctively didn''t protest and only shut his eyelids to protect his eyes. He could feel it was a good thing for him, leading to a better situation than being chained in the darkness.


    His guess proved to be on spot.


    The next thing he knew, the light receded. His vision returned, and although a bit blurry at first, he could see that he was finally in a normal setting with trees, rocks, and ancient gate.


    He then knew by instinct, he got summoned to the material world!


    Body? Jiang Li lowered his sight to see a semi-transparent ghost-like body still floating in the air. "Nice. At least I can see now that I''ve really be a spirit."


    The group? He swept his gaze around and saw that apart from him there were seven people inside an abandoned temple. Large statues of Buddha on each side, the room was illuminated by a phone ced atop the table with its shlight on.


    Most of them seemed to have been blown away by evil air, groaning on the floor. In the middle of the messy room was a broken Ouija Board and a nchette with many cracks.


    "Well" It seemed this was all caused by him.


    After another brief scan of the ce, he froze, seeing the statues again. Why were these sculptures of a fat bald man here?


    Ignoring the pained moaning and cries of fear, his expression changed, having guessed where he currently was and remembering his body was no longer that of a god. When the pressure began pressing on his soul, he came back to himself and then hurriedly turned around.


    "Sh*t! I can''t believe these fools attempted a dangerous game like that inside a Buddhist temple!"


    He eximed in a loud voice as he began to fly away from there like he was being chased by thousands of monsters.

 Chapter 364: Mo Chou (2)

    Chapter 364: Mo Chou (2)


    As a soul who was aware himself that he was ssified right now as a malicious spirit, he knew it would be pure stupidity to stay in that ce. Here, his Original was definitely not a god.


    That was why he ran!


    The moment he felt there was some sort of pressure pressing on his soul, he immediately flew towards the exit. He ran outside with all his might as if he was being chased by the Grim Reaper himself.


    Mini-tornado seemed to have been left by his figure. Objects began flying again. Even people actually.


    One of the scared boys soullessly muttered when silence resumed again, "We, we seemed to have freed an evil spirit."


    To this statement wherein thest phrase was said in a weak trailing voice, the rest made various reactions, most having nk pale faces, the others sporting out expressions that were worst than crying.


    .


    The ghostly figure flickered when it reached past the gate andpletely disappeared upon entering the forest.


    Jiang Li reappeared hundreds of meters from the ce, looking back with aplicated expression put on before frowning upon seeing how semi-transparent he had be. He thought he had just been the disgrace of evil spirits.


    "If the one called had been another ghost, I''m sure they won''t respond unless forced by the plot. What else could be more suicidal than to appear before a Buddha statue possessed or blessed by a strong monk?"


    "Damn, system." The man cursed in a low voice, annoyed that he had to be in this situation right after he came into this world.


    In the material world, he looked nothing but a dark shadowy figure with only a pair of red eyes as facial features.


    Now, he seemed even more malevolent due to his evil aura that was gradually recovering and expanding towards the trees and nts in the surrounding. If he had not calmed his mood, those poor beings would have been contaminated or lost vitality. Once the sun rose several hourster, the ce would stand out as the only yellowing spot in the verdant forest.


    After floating around and determining there was nothing else in this are but trees, he determined there was no hope of him finding a better, secured, and morefortable ce.


    "Host, I believe this ce is fine. The only humans in this area are in the abandoned temple, passing the night there. They won''t dare toe out," said the system, purposely withholding, '' because they would be too afraid to encounter you.''


    Jiang Li was also feeling that his situation was very odd, as he didn''t know anything and had no idea where he was, so he agreed that it was now imperative to check the new set of memories in his mind.


    The man, no, the evil spirit sat on therge root with his back against the trunk of a tree. He did not forget to pray secretly. ''Let''s just hope this time I am not a ghost with a sister, living or not.''


    He then closed his eyes, the frown not erased from his face.


    The plot began to y. With the ce being dark and silent, he had encountered no trouble focusing himself on it.


    The shes of images started with a forest enveloped by darkness, a temple, and fingers ced on a heart-shaped t piece of wood. It seemed he had transmigrated at a good time, when the whole thing had just started.


    ''Good. At least not like in Margarette''s world where I arrivedte and have to journey months just to reach the viiness'' ce.'' His spirit a bit uplifted, he continued watching.


    Unlike he had guessed a while ago, only the male lead of this world was with the people ying the Ouija game.


    The group was really made up of daredevils - college students who loved to travel and explore various ces. Since they were from well-to-do families they had no problem going on several trips a year. All the notable tourist spots near their city had already been explored by them. But since they grew tired of the normal views, they decided to seek thrills, or at least go somewhere which would need some real efforts to reach.


    After a round of discussion, they agreed to do some mountain climbing for their semestral break. The mountain ahead of this forest was the one they had chosen, near the city, but with lesser tourists, so they wouldn''t have to worry much about encountering other climbers and then being babied along the way.


    Probably because one of the girls knew they would be bored by the repetitive sceneries before getting into the destination, she brought some exciting stuff with her, in which one was an Ouija Board that she had specifically requested from her aunt abroad for her eighteenth birthday.


    This was the first night of their travel in this mountain and they were fortunate enough to discover a temple where they could spend the night. Perhaps because they were not used to sleeping on the cold floor without a warm nket so they were still all awake around 10 pm, the reckless girl with the Ouija board managed to invite almost everyone into ying. Only the male lead was out of it, sleeping in the other room.


    Before the group identally allowed the portal to the material world open through the game, they were still joking around, teasing the girl why Ouija when the local equivalents, Pen Spirit Game and Die Xian were more familiar to them and easier to y.


    After a fewughs and exchanges of words, they started the divination session. The rest of how everything went wrong, history.


    ''The male lead, Fan Zheng, is not simple. He''s a disciple of Maoshan Sect, a monastery cultivating spirit hunters, but because he''s asleep prior to the summoning of the ghost, me, he couldn''te to the scene immediately. What a convenient setting for me.'' His left cheek spasmed, or at least he thought it did.


    He wondered, had Fan Zheng been there, would he be allowed to leave that easily? Or would he be forced to confront this son of fate and end up vowing to kill himter?


    After getting the gist of the next events, which was merely the cold male lead preaching about the spirits while the rest either cry or cower in fear, Jiang Li went silent. The following scenes were quite unbelievable, betraying his guesses.


    When he thought he would be like a proper bad ghost that he was, tailing and giving troubles to the stupid bunch, the plot swiftly pped him in the face and showed no more of him there.


    What the hell... Rewinding showed him no change, he was really no longer in the plot!


    " So my existence is for that trainee ghost-yer to be able to show his real awesomeness to his friends?"


    As irritation was boiling badly within him, even the slightest and gentlest noise created by the wind became offensive to him. The surrounding area immediately became creepier and more unsettling, even nocturnal animals innocently passing by felt their hairs stood up for no reason.


    Everyone knew not to provoke an evil ghost''s anger.


    Either the system was not aware or knew about it and felt embarrassed since it had no choice but confirm to the speechless spirit,


    "Host, I''m afraid that''s really it. You''re once again... an extra." The child spirit let out forced awkwardughter.


    "Your only role in the plot is to show up, spook them up a bit, and then escape so those students will be traumatized and have their third eyes open."


    " What a ridiculous role."


    Although it enabled him to escape from the strange imprisonment, he suddenly didn''t feel like the damage he incurred from being stared at by a fat, possessed statue was worth it.<ol><li>form of divination simr to the Ouija board, in which participants use their forefingers to push a small saucer over a sheet of paper inscribed with numerous Chinese characters</li></ol>

 Chapter 365: Mo Chou (3)

    Chapter 365: Mo Chou (3)


    The system let out an awkward and weakugh.


    Its next statement got an eye-roll from Jiang Li. "Host, you have to understand that only if their third eyes opened will they be able to see the male lead fighting ghosts near the vige tomorrow"


    "Then why did it have to be me?"


    "Er... coz, why not?"


    ""


    Jiang Li was speechless.


    He really couldn''t understand how a world''s consciousness work. From the very beginning, all of them targeted their viinesses, cooking up scenarios that would cause these girls'' miserable death even though it would mean destruction for all of them.


    Now, a world''s consciousness was at work again.


    To enable everyone in the bunch to see the male lead''s greatness, release an evil spirit that could wreak havoc upon the realm of the living?


    Forced. And illogical. This extremely forced set up also took no consideration of what would happen to the victims who got dragged into the borders between the spiritual and material world. The only thing done ''considerately'' was to make sure the evil spirit they released would not go after them.


    But, could that be considered enough?


    "If those kids really acquired this so-called third eye, this means throughout their lives they would have to see beings that they shouldn''t. Those presences unknown to them before would be part of their daily lives...."


    "This is unbelievable Not everyone can be strong and live a normal life with spirits constantly popping up around them. If they are even slightly careless and let the spirits know that they could see and feel ''them'', they would then be at risk of being followed and disturbed in ways unimaginable to normal people," he voiced out with a frown.


    The system couldn''t understand one thing so it said, "Host, you normally don''t care about other people unless they are the male and female leads, that mysterious girl, and the parents or close friends of the Original. You''re also not new to the randomness of every world. Why are you suddenly acting indignant on behalf of those students?"


    He went silent for a while before copying what it said earlier as his reply. "Coz why not?"


    "Er...?" The system didn''t know what to say.


    Jiang Li sunk into contemtion.


    Of course, there was another reason. A personal hunch even though he was yet to see the memories of his current soul-client.


    A ghost haunting was no joking matter.


    Some would be possessed or taken over, their lives stolen from them, and even if they regained possession of their bodies, there would still be a huge chance to go crazy. The majority, especially those who found it hard to adapt and had mistakenly shown their fear towards the unknown before a crowd, would face days with them isted from others or frowned upon for being close to dirty beings.


    If the owner of that soothing voice was Margarette...


    Jiang Li shook his head. "Poor things." He said, referring to the group. "As if after this sh*tty trip, the male lead would take responsibility for them and help them close their third eye."


    He could already foresee this NOT happening. Or actually, the plot showed exactly that.


    The problem with the situation was that Fan Zheng didn''t know it was all arranged by some mysterious hands for him. Fan Zheng only thought his friends only reaped what they sowed for provoking a malevolent spirit. He was not to me.


    If not for his sister being part of the trouble-seeking crew, he would not have even distributed to these guys some protective amulets that could keep them away from low-level ghosts. In his estimate, those amulets could onlyst a month at most.


    Done pitying the clueless bunch, Jiang Li resolved to double-check the Original''s memoriester to see whether he really never went to follow the leads.


    He then went back to what he was supposed to do.


    In the memories, a day after the incident in the temple, the group began to regain their calm since they no longer saw scary entities like the Original. Even if they saw some, it would only be weaker ghosts. Fan Zheng who had already disclosed his secret identity to his friends would quickly deal with the matter using some mysterious and cool-looking charms. Without them knowing, they entered the role prepared for them, cheering for the male lead and bing worshipful of him.


    Things stayed this way for another day. Ghosts popped up, Fan Zheng exorcised, they watched.


    Slowly, they crept closer to a vige far removed from civilization.


    When they were only two days away from the vige, courtesy of the girls'' stamina being pathetically low despite their adventurous spirits being very high, more and more ghosts, especially females, started to show up and haunt them.


    Nighttime became creepier. At the slightest noise, all of them would wake up only to see spooky faces floating near them. Cries seemingly from the depths of hell would enter their ears which would only disappear once they began to scream their hearts out. It was that scary. The darkness, eeriness and uncanny silence of the forest added itself to it.


    In these situations that made them realize having the ability to see ghosts was not at all times fun, Fan Zheng served his purpose by being the light of hope helping them to cling onto their sanity.


    However, the day they almost lost it still came. The male lead already exined to them that at this point, the ones they could see that Fan Zheng had no ability to chase away were evil spirits with terrible strength, capable of possession and moving real objects to kill. How could they not be scared?


    When the appearances of the ghosts menacing them became more frequent and their numbers too rose to more than Fan Zheng could handle, they knew all they could do was to scream and run. There was no distinction between genders. Everyone was consumed by fear and was acting upon it.


    Thankfully, while running away from the ghosts and yelling their lungs out, they stumbled upon a vige that had hospitable people in it willing to let them stay for a few days.


    It was a sheer miracle that although three got injured, nobody got lost as they raced through the forest.


    To their glee, they discovered none of the bad spirits dared to follow them inside the vige. Upon checking out what had driven the ghosts away, they found a Buddhist temple in the center of the vige and assumed that was it. After all, the locals said the statue of Buddha within it was one of the three original statues blessed by a real immortal from four hundred years ago.


    The group truly felt lucky. They escaped from evil ghosts who were obsessed with tormenting them. And they were alive and treated so well by the locals. With sincere gratitude in their hearts, they knelt before the statue and ryed their praises and thanks through heartfelt prayer.

 Chapter 366: Mo Chou (4)

    Chapter 366: Mo Chou (4)


    The temple was where Fan Zheng met his destined lover, Zhao Ai, the beautiful seventeen-year-old daughter of the vige head. The girl was a devout believer who volunteered to clean the temple every day.


    As Zhao Ai had a very charming smile that could beat even the city girls in the group who wore makeup all day long, Fan Zheng found her very charming and fell in love with her at first sight. It became another thing the male lead was grateful for when he prayed again to the obese deity. Brewing within his brain were ways he would employ to trick the littledy with a sweet smile back to the city.


    Unfortunately, heter discovered that she was kind of different from what he initially envisioned in his mind after he truly interacted with her.


    Compared to the other friendly and kind vigers. Zhao Ai''s behavior was odd, or, rather, extremely horrible. After observing her some more, he found out the vige head''s daughter was only like that to outsiders, especially girls. To the locals, she was very helpful and nice, like the way he thought her to be.


    Since the male lead''s sister was the one getting the most hate from her, everyone in the group, Fan Zheng included, began to believe it was because Fan Lan, the sister, looked as beautiful as her.


    However, was that the real reason?


    The girl who brought the Ouija with her, the one whoter became a bit ostracized in the group for that ursed board that prompted them to see weird things, sought out one of the vigers to ask why Zhao Ai was being mean to them.


    The woman''s eyes turned weird and gave her a slight smile before answering, "Miss, I''m sorry about what you experienced. But I implore you to be more patient with Xiao Ai. Her childhood days were not as easy as she grew up without a mother''s care. She is not friendly to outsiders because it''s them who took her mother away."


    That reply reached everyone''s ears and then made them more understanding of Zhao Ai. Their hearts even softened and they became more amodating to the pretty girl.


    But then again, was the woman''s answer the real reason for Zhao Ai''s actions?


    Experience is the best teacher, they said, a saying yet to be proven wrong. The college students came to know the truth about the female lead''s attitude when the third night came.


    The boys, except the male lead who was busy exorcising some ghosts outside, suddenly got captured, chained, and locked inside a small hut located far away from the other houses.


    The girls were seized too, tied with a rope, gagged, and brought to the center of the vige.


    None of them were prepared about this because prior to the operation, the vigers had sprinkled the group''s food with some local equivalent of date-rape drugs. They did it to make sure the preys would not be able to protest and cause unnecessary troubles.


    Guilty and afraid, Zhao Ai hurriedly looked for Fan Zheng. She was crying when she found him in the forest, her pitiful appearance arousing some tenderness in Fan Zheng''s heart. He asked what was wrong. As the good-hearted female lead that she actually was, she didn''t want his sister, and anyone else to go through hell. Therefore, she exined to him about what was happening in the vige while pulling him back to save the others.


    It turned out that while the vigers appeared simple and honest on the surface, in actuality, they were all devils in human skin.


    The vige had this weird curse so hardly any girls had been born within it. Newborns would always be male. Very rarely would there be a girl, perhaps, only two every century. Yes, this insane female to male ratio was real.


    So where did the vige womene from? Who gave birth to these little boys frequently seen ying with the dogs or training to be hunters? All of them, with Zhao Ai as the only exception, were captured or abducted from outside! Right! Each of them was either trafficked or had mistakenly walked into the ce!


    These girls were mostly with bright futures and had families in the city waiting for them. But here, they were sold to the locals who bid the highest for them, forced to create children, one after another.


    The men were all rapists and had twisted morals. It was not umon for a woman to be lent to another family or group of scourges for some silvers or harvests.


    The men had no sense ofpassion for the fairer sex as they were educated from a young age that women were made to worship and serve them, and give them children. It was this extreme patriarchal belief that reigned in that ce, dooming countless girls with tragic endings.


    They want to escape? And report the monsters here to the police? Or just have anyone destroy this hellish ce? Pipe dream!


    These vigers who were also the rulers of this forest area knew they had to keep their secret from leaking, so they especially devised a set ofws to tighten the security in the vige.


    They made sure it would be easy to go inside, but impossible to go out, like a prison ind housing the fiercest amongst the criminals.


    Girls were regrly fed drugs, abused, and given some beatings every now and then until their minds break. Boys were brainwashed to stay for good and integrate with the others as if this became unsessful, they would be killed.


    Did none of them try to make the vige women sympathize with them and help them?


    Of course, not. However, the belief ''it is impossible to escape so why try'' and ''escaping or allowing someone escaped means more terrible abuse and punishments'' had long been instilled in the brains of these vige women so they turned a deaf ear to the pleas.


    Perhaps in their subconscious too, they were thinking, ''I can''t even save myself, how can I save you?''


    ''I am suffering. So why would I help you escape?''


    Only Zhao Ai seemed to be an exception


    Even if she was the vige head''s daughter and treated like some sort of treasure by everyone, Zhao Ai knew she might get the same ill fate someday and was helpless to escape due to being tightly guarded and watched. This was why she greatly sympathized with thedies who were being treated less than humans by the other locals.


    In her own ways, she tried to help. Her always giving bad treatment to outsiders was in hopes it would force them to leave. Better if they leave while everyone else was asleep. She also tried to rope in the other women in this endeavor. Sadly, those foreigners never failed to let themselves be misled by the faked kindness of the others.


    This time was no different. She purposely acted mean to that group of college students, yet her efforts only made her a good contrast to the generosity and hospitality of the vigers, not made them run away.


    That night, the nave girl despaired, like she always did every time it happens. She saw the crying sister and friends of her crush got tied up, led towards the center in the vige or the most isted house in the outskirts.


    She despaired more when the auction began. The male lead interrogated her if she was part of this farce and almost ran forward to hack everyone. Thankfully, Fan Zheng listened to her exnation and agreed to rescue the people after the auction.


    However, bad things still happened even after they sessfully pulled off their impromptu rescue n.


    Although the leads managed to save Fan Lan on time, they couldn''t do the same to the rest. The other two girls had already been vited when they arrived, staring nkly ahead with tears streaming nonstop. They appeared to have just lost their souls.


    Also when they were escaping, although they managed to into the safest and shortest route to the city with Zhao Ai''s help, one girl and two boys still ended up dying in the hands of those devils... It became an experience that would forever scar their hearts, haunting their dreams more than the ghosts that they encountered before they entered that disgusting vige.

 Chapter 367: Mo Chou (5)

    Chapter 367: Mo Chou (5)


    The survivors sessfully returned to their city. Hearts filled with both fear and anger, they immediately reported to their families and the local authorities about the devilish practice of the vigers.


    Unfortunately, even though the police did move, only a few men directly rted to the killing of the two college students got apprehended and jailed. The others could not be arrested due to ack of evidence, and because the vigers knew how to look honest and nice and arouse the sympathy of the masses, the police force did not make things difficult for them.


    So just like that, not even five evildoers had been trialed. The most uneptable fact for the surviving students was how those men were only sentenced to twenty years in prison and five years ofmunity service. Only twenty freaking years! Even though two lives were lost and one was severely traumatized due to the abuse she went through! How could they ept that?!


    No! They wouldn''t settle for that. Everyone from that ce was a criminal. Those who raised their hunting weapons, those who just stood there watching instead of helping, all of them were guilty and should be judged by thew!


    With this in mind, the group did their best to appeal for extension and if possible, a more thorough investigation of everyone in the vige.


    Every survivor was aggrieved and poured all their energy into thewsuit.


    However, the male lead, who had the biggest backing, suddenly backed out halfway, much to the disappointment of his friends. The reason, a terrible female ghost from the forest followed them to take revenge against Zhao Ai.


    Jiang Li paused for a while as he was left speechless by the male lead''s action. ''How the hell did dealing with a spirit conflict with the case? His sister was almost ruined. If he''s busy, is it that hard to leave the job to the professionals of his family.''


    Anyway, Fan Zheng did shift his focus on this vengeful spirit. It was because it tried to kill Zhao Ai numerous times which was uneptable to him since the female lead had already be an irreceable existence in his heart. Distracted and annoyed, Fan Zheng killed the spirit with the help of a senior monk.


    That poor female spirit... She was quite spiteful, though undeniably, she was also pitiful. She was just a pitiful one abused, killed, and then disposed of at a cave by the vige head. It was wrong of her to channel her anger to an innocent girl, but what else could she do? Because the culprit was still alive and free so hatred blinded her and corrupted her soul which was not a wonder given what she went through.


    But yeah, the vengeful spirit died, her resentment not solved.


    Zhao Ai was saved and the affection between her and Fan Zheng grew. Later, he went back to supporting his friends, providing them money and resources and even pulling up witnesses against the vigers from who-knows-where. Finally, a decision was passed down and all males, regardless of age, as long as they took part in that inhumane custom, were taken away to be imprisoned.


    Although the members of the group found itcking, it was already quite good.


    For a while in this ghost romance story, romance took ce, with the two lovers showering everyone with dog food.


    When university sses resumed, Fan Zheng enrolled the girl in the same school, albeit she would be in senior high school. Fan Zheng was having some problems with his friends and family, but the romance between the leads was on the right track anyway.


    There was a rare moment of peace.


    Sadly, life was a wheel that constantly turned, and the plot was simply almighty. Thetter was upromising in preserving its title as the most disgusting script-writer ever.


    The real viiness eventually made an appearance to drag everything into chaos. A girl with unmatched beauty and grace born from a very rich family, a transferee to the male lead''s department. She was the reincarnation of a female witch killed by the vigers twenty-five years ago. Her name was Gu Mochou.


    In the previous life, she was just a curious person dabbling in herbology searching for a rare flower in the mountains before falling down a cliff and getting found by the vigers. In this life, she was from a powerful family, the heiress of a family with billions as worth, who couldn''t extricate herself from the past.


    For the same reason why the female ghost antagonized the female lead, Gu Mochou also started to give troubles to Zhao Ai. She even sessfully made Fan Zheng fall for her through a love Gu although the man still woke up monthster due to Zhao Ai''s relentless efforts. It was worth noting the female lead was truly too tenacious to be able to pester a brainwashed male lead to remember her while surviving the traps and hexes the viinessid out for her.


    So in the end, how did Gu Mochou die with resentment?


    Did Fan Zheng, out of uncontroble anger, summon everyone in Maoshan Mountain for help?


    "Weird."


    Jiang Li knitted his brow shortly after. The two questions, especially the first, shed across his mind several times.


    Just as he said, it was truly weird. For some reason, he couldn''t see what happened next to Gu Mochou after the male lead got rid of the gu imnted in his heart.


    The memories suddenly stopped there and no matter how many times Jiang Li reyed them, there was no change in thest image.


    He was not even sure if this girl had passed away. But if Gu Mochou did not die of extreme resentment, how the hell did he, Jiang Li, get pulled into this world?


    "System, what''s going on?" he couldn''t help butment. He was naturally unhappy. And also confused. He subconsciously stood up and floated towards the direction of the vige.


    "Are you being glitchy again?" he asked again.


    He was feeling alert, ceaselessly bombarding the system with inquiries.


    When no answer came, he suddenly had a hunch that something happened to the system. This was the first time he encountered an iplete plot after allSo what was the difference this time? The reincarnator? Or his ghost soul-client?


    No more clues at hand, he could only review the scenes in his head and specte.


    A minute after, he got nothing, and he also had no way of confirming whether the system was ying dead to escape from criticisms, or had gone somewhere.


    ''Maybe the original owner of his ghostly body knows something.'' Jiang Li eased his expression and closed his eyes.


    ying in his vision now was his soul-client''s memories. Unfortunately, after going through everything, while he had enough information about his identity, he found no connection to the missing part of the plot.


    He continued to float forward, frowning. It took him some time to decide to give up thinking so hard about it. ''Come what may and think about it again once I determine the real problem.''


    Now he only nned to see the devil''s den with his own two eyes and confirm something from the spirits outside the vige.

 Chapter 368: Mo Chou (6) <2-in-1>

    Chapter 368: Mo Chou (6) <2-in-1>


    Days passed.


    Finally, the group of students was a couple of miles away from the vige. All of them looked weary since, on the previous night, ghosts kept terrorizing them even in their sleep. Having not enough rest, it was no wonder when they had ushered the next day, they were without much energy, looking like walking corpses with hunch backs, slightly reddish eyes, and bleak expressions.


    After hours of trekking through the jungle, they could barely lift their legs. "This is supposed to be a fun group tour." They could no longer count how many times they eximed these words.


    When the sun was about to set, the male lead''s sister, Fan Lan grimaced and anxiously reminded them. "Everyone. It''s nightfall again"


    Without her needing to borate, the rest knew what she wanted to say. Their body became tense. There were four boys and four girls in the group. None of them noticed one of their hands subconsciously reached for the talismans given to them.


    Everything was silent. Until one of the guys couldn''t take the tenseness anymore and cursed.


    "Dammit! This is simply hell! We went the opposite direction to return to civilization but this goddamn forest seems alive and brought us deeper into it! If we do this, when are we going to reach the exit?"


    Fan Zheng nced at him, his face darkened. After thinking for a moment, he shook his head and said, "I don''t know what''s happening. But I agree with you, this wilderness is special. My guess is that there are more evil things here than expected. Probably a long time ago, before nature took this ce back, it is actually a cemetery or a war camp of some dynasties hundreds of years ago."


    "The ghosts are all women." His sister retorted.


    "Well, that''s precisely why I said it might be a war camp, not the battlefield. You should know, soldiers are vulnerable to stress so somemanders allow girls in the flesh business to stay in the barracks and only leave them behind in times of war."


    The boysughed and whistled at his answer while the girls red at them.


    Fan Zheng wryly smiled, "Anyway, what I want to say is their spirits might be the ones troubling us. They are influencing us, or our surroundings, giving us no choice but to walk in circles. Our priority is to either find a settlement or an exit. If not, then at least find our way back to that temple."


    This was, unfortunately, easier said than done. From the moment they realized they kept getting closer to the mountain, they turned around with the intent to go back to the temple, but where were they now? They were still in the forest!


    If thought seriously, the original goal had been to climb the mountain up the forest. Yet now, all they wanted to do was get away from it. This fact would make their adventurous group aughingstock to their acquaintances, but what else could they do?


    Looking upon the sky, Fan Zheng sighed and announced, "Let''s walk some more. Perhaps in a few more minutes, we''ll see that temple again."


    While the rest nodded weakly, Guo Hanying, a slim girl with long red-tea colored hair suddenly yelled with arms spread wide, "Ahhhhhhhhhhhh! I really hate theing of the night!"


    Herpanions instantly red at her.


    Fan Lan said with urgency, "Hush, sis, don''t shout. You might attract them earlier than we would want!"


    "Yeah, shut your mouth, red horse. Don''t bring upon us another cmity," An Ming, the oldest but most immature guy in their midst, followed up in a somewhat sharp tone. He called her horse not only because of her untamed personality, but because of herrge eyes, prominent cheekbones, and chin that was quite longer than normal. Red was obviously from her hair.


    An Ming also said to her in a discontent voice, "One trouble is enough. Can you please be content already with the previous one? Without that damn board of yours, our sight will remain normal and we won''t have to see those annoying ghosts."


    Guo Hanying replied indignantly, "Hey, that''s foul. Everyone consented with the game!"


    "But remember, it''s you who invited us. What did you call those who refused at first? Killjoy."


    "You still can''t put the me on me! It''s not as if the ghosts have all been summoned in that seance session!"


    An Ming coldlyughed, "Fan Zheng already said one possible reason they flocked towards us because they sensed that we could see them. So why again did our third eyes opened?"


    The ming game started until it was no longer only the two bickering. The others joined. Everyone had been friends for years, but because they were in a sh*tty position, they couldn''t help but find a way to vent their frustration.


    The exchange of hurtful words ensued until the girl with red-dyed hair burst into tears. She sat down to hug her knees and buried her face in her arms. As she had no idea that even if she didn''t bring an ouija board the plot would still make them do another form of a seance, Guo Hanying thought that it was really her who was mainly responsible for their suffering. The notion was actually painful for her and kept making her guilty.


    However, her words earlier, although said chiefly in poor defense, still holds true. As all of them were already adults, they should be responsible for their actions.


    After sighing, Zhan Rong, the female student who left the most impression on Jiang Li., tried to pull her up and calmed her down.


    "Ying-Ying, stop crying. It''s okay. We all know you never intended to harm us. It''s An Ming who is simply being a jerk here, not realizing how uncool it was to throw all the responsibility to a little girl. He even led others to bully you even though he knows he''s also at fault. Sickening." Her voice was calm, contrary to her face that had undisguised disdain written on it


    A scowl appeared on An Ming''s face, unappreciative of the stare from the pretty girl.


    The big guy continued arguing, much to the headache of the male lead, "I simply stated the facts earlier. What? Truth hurts? Don''t forget our situation we are in now. Also, don''t forget it''s you who talked the most at that time."


    To this, the girl rolled her eyes. "So it''s my turn. And how do I know that a ghost can actually appear in a temple? Go ahead, me everyone else you can think of, besides yourself. I''m also telling this to you, guys. I promise I won''t judge. I understand that it''s human nature to look for someone to me to feel better in a bad situation."


    As Zhan Rong was also pissed at this point, she still didn''t raise her voice, but sarcasm overflowed in it.


    Fan Zheng tiredlymented, "... Our gracious Lady Rong, can''t you just say in a subtle way that ming won''t take us anywhere?"


    "I''m just copying a certain someone''s manner of speaking. I''m still being polite," she said before walking past him while still hugging Guo Hanying. The male lead exchanged nces with his sister then shook his head to his other friends who had lowered their heads.


    Night fell no matter how unwilling they was.


    In the end, they had to ept the fact that they could only camp in the wild and pray that the ghosts would give them a peaceful night. Of course, even they were aware this was merely wishful thinking.


    Their prayer did note true as eerie presences began to disturb them two hours before midnight.


    More than a hundred spirits showed up around them this time. All had hideous appearances, wearing various styles of clothing from different eras. The sight simply intimidating as for the past few days, they only encountered ten at most.


    However, it was not solely due to the quantity of the wandering spirits that Fan Zheng and the rest momentarily froze in ce, feeling like every cell in their bodies was screaming of indescribable despair.


    No. It was because, at the center, an eye-catching female ghost slowly appeared, towering over others and surrounded by a thick air of malice that could frighten both humans and ghosts alike.


    Her head was bent to the left, barely attached to her neck. Her long hair hid her face, only showing her red left eye that seemingly wanted to jump out of its socket. Her white dress was stained with blood, the pale legs underneath just as bloody. Compare to the others, her appearance was not as painful to look at, but the air around her just simply evoked a sense of dread that kept ringing the rm in the students'' brains.


    "It''s a very strong ghost! Run!" Fan Zheng yelled in fright before pulling his sister away.


    The faces of the other paled and their bodies were trembling prior to Fan Zheng''s shout. When they heard his voice, they came back to their senses and picked up their stuff, then hurriedly scrambled to their feet while screaming their hearts out.


    "It''s the devil!"


    "Run, run!"


    "Don''te near us! Stay away! Ahhh!"


    After that, various profanities and iprehensible stuff from the mouths of those youths once again tore the silence and peacefulness of the forest, joinedter by the strange noises from the spirits and the cries of birds.


    Jiang Li temporarily ignored the students who had all abandoned their tents and ran away.


    From where he was hiding, his eyes flickered to the leader of the ghosts, recognizing a being at the same level as him. However, his change of expression was not because of worry for the life and death of the stupid bunch.


    ''Hmm... Among this little army, that one seemed to be capable of thoughts,'' he thought. His form slowly materialized. ''She is a rare one who is not driven by some remnant desire.''


    Wearing a frown, he came out of his hiding and tried to get near the gathering of ghosts. Thankfully, despite the other spirits not being familiar with him, they did not do anything to obstruct him, probably because they only saw him as a fellow ghost or because he was stronger than them.


    His sight never left their leader. Upon reading the female ghost''s lips from the distance, he was surprised by what he had decoded.


    ''Don''t go there.. Go back.'' She seemingly said in desperation. The movement of her chappy bloodless lips that were barely not concealed by her hair was exaggeratedly slow.


    ''Danger...''


    ''Please... don''t run... that way...''


    ''Foooollllllsssss!''


    ''No... Not... there...''


    The female ghost kept chasing, so were her followers.


    Whenever the leader of the spirits opened her mouth, the rest would also try to do the same, hoping their growls and ravings could convey their message.


    Seeing that all the evil spirits were sporting the same anxious expressions despite appearing scary, Jiang Li shook his head. He then silently flew over to attach himself to one of the girls in the group.


    His expression wasplicated when he looked back at the crying female ghost. All of a sudden, he was truly annoyed at the stupid bunch.


    Why do people never entertain the idea that ghosts could also not be bad?


    The ones in this area were really nice. Or at least nice to people from outside. The haunting was due to these deceased beings'' pure intention to save. Even though one of the students, that show-off male lead, acted disrespectfully towards them, their stance did not change. They still wanted no foreigners, especially girls, to venture deeper to be another victim of those devils.

 Chapter 369: Mo Chou (7)

    Chapter 369: Mo Chou (7)


    As said by Fan Zheng, upon meeting somebody who could see or hear them, a ghost would usually do everything it could to bother that person in hopes that they would help them fulfill theirst wishes, be it burying their remains properly or solving their resentment.


    Honestly, ghosts were more inclined to thetter as they normally only turned into lingering spirits after feeling like they got deprived of justice.


    It was rare to see one wanting to linger around the ce of their death to help others, yet here there was a bunch of them! Such a pity nobody appreciated this miracle. People were truly more inclined to assume that all spirits, as long as they were not their loved ones or ancestors, were bad.


    In Jiang Li''s opinion though, it was normal. But Fan Zheng, as someone who had the most dealings with ghosts among the group, was an embarrassment since he did not notice their difference with the typical malicious spirits.


    Fan Zheng even led his sister and friends in the direction of the vige, thinking the matter of greatest importance was to escape from the battalion of spirits!


    "Tch. This has be trouble."


    In irritation, Jiang Li swore to beat up each of these students, Zhan Rong and Fan Zheng included, in their dreams once they fell asleepter. Anyways, in their corporeal state, they wouldn''t truly suffer. They would even be able to help an annoyed ghost quell his dissatisfaction with them.


    Meanwhile, the female ghost leader gave Jiang Li a look of disbelief when he entered Zhan Rong''s ne and managed to get into the vige through that. The change in the other''s expression did not escape his sight. Jiang Li knew the reason for that reaction was that for several centuries, she had lived but it was the first time she saw a non-living passed through the invisible wall.


    ''This kind of cheating can be done?'' The female ghost gasped as the thought showed in her face. ''I never thought of this!''


    Excitement, hope, and malice all shed one after another. In no time, the woman flew over with unmatched speed, leaving her cronies behind.


    It was apparent her goal was to attach herself to an item too. She wanted to get inside! Her expression that tranted what she was feeling inside was overflowing with madness and desire for blood.


    She even shouted amand to the other spirits, ''Charge!!!! Possess them!!!! Or any item in their person!!!! Tonight, we will ughter those devils! Kill!!!!!''


    Every word conveyed conviction. The ambition was grand and bloodcurdling. An order she never passed to her followers prior to this was said and it was easily aplished since they suddenly became very spirited and full of determination.


    However, when she rebounded from the invisible barrier and got forced out of a hair essory on Guo Hanying''s head, her expression turned nk. For a moment, she was like that before a realization naturally came upon her. Her red bloodshot pair of eyes turned menacingly at Jiang Li.


    ''AAHHHHHHH!'' The surroundings nketed by shadows suddenly became more ominous due to this sharp-pitched cry.


    At that moment, the female ghost had branded Jiang Li in her mind as an enemy. Her anger prompted her to begin wreaking havoc as she tried to breakthrough using brute force.


    Sadly, not even her could go against something left by a legendary monk. Her effort bore no results.


    "Wow. That ghost instantly turned against me after seeing I can bypass the restriction," Jiang Li eximed in his heart when Fan Zheng''s group reached the entrance.


    He had just recovered from the daze after witnessing personally a fellow spirit being rejected by the vige. That very spirit was now charging like crazy towards him like a madwoman. Throwing herself into the protective halo of the vige, if not drilling her hair into it, or wing at it. The sounds she made was spine-chilling.


    In his current state, if he were to go outside confronting the female lunatic, he would only be able to hold on for five seconds before being forced to run away fast. He had no confidence that he would remain in one piece. Even if he was strong originally, the long period of captivity within that odd dark ce had weakened him significantly he did not even dare waltz under the sun, whereas in his estimate, that fiercedy ghost was powerful enough to have no problem walking directly into a church. The difference was quiterge. He really had to work hard if he wanted to restore more of his strength to at least not be easy prey for high-level monks and beings like her.


    Because these students kept shouting like crazy, the vigers were naturally awakened from their slumber. A few of them hade out to meet the foreigners. Dress in humble and coarse clothing, the vigers really looked simple and honest. Even though deep inside, they were all annoyed for being awakened at midnight, they managed to restrain themselves. The seven men who weed them also had restrained themselves from showing their joy looking at the four beautiful collegedies.


    From the moment, Fan Zheng''s group barged into their piece ofnd, they had begun their performance.


    "Wee to our vige, foreigners. We are d to have you here. Please, let us escort you into our littlemunity so you can get some rest."


    Jiang Li briefly appreciated the fake warm attitude and care of these people. Not long after, he lost interest and turned back to the direction where the spirits were still madly yelling at him.


    "Kill. Kill. kill."


    Heughed, "They sure have a very simple vocabry."


    Had this bunch been a group of mortals and they were facing somebody they hate, colorful profanities would have rained already. Inparison, these fellows of him were much cuter.


    "Anyways, did they be hostile because I am originally from this ce?" he wondered.


    A night passed and the tension Fan Zheng and the others felt also flew away. When morning came, all of them stared nkly at the wall for quite a while, still couldn''t believe that they had survived a life and death situation like that.


    "Once I get back to the city, I''ll make sure to sow good karma so the heavens would hear my pleas and not make me go through that again," Fan Lan tearfully said in an unhurried manner to which the others nodded.


    She pulled everyone into a group hug in which none of them knew aughing Jiang Li, who made himself not easy to be noticed, had mischievously joined in, stering himself on Zhan Rong''s back.


    Hourster, Fan Zhen and the others met up with the kind man in histe forties who weed them into the vige.


    "Did you just say you and your friends got ambushed on all sides by several unseen beings?" asked the vige head, Zhao Guo, with wide eyes. His tone of voice hinting disbelief.


    Fan Zheng had just narrated to him their experience. The young man said it in a low-key and hesitant manner, frequently looking around for eavesdroppers in slight fear he would be taken for a madman. Clearly, it took him a lot of brain cells to decide whether to ask about the vige''s circumstances.

 Chapter 370: Mo Chou (8) <2-in-1>

    Chapter 370: Mo Chou (8) <2-in-1>


    Zhao Guo furrowed his brow and then asked again, "Young man, are you perhaps referring to actual... ghosts? Those... terrible, evil beings that can possess people, or do supernatural things?"


    "Yes, Sir," Fan Zheng nodded stiffly and replied in a low voice.


    "I know it''s hard to believe and you might think I''ve gone crazy. But I swear that I''m telling the truth. Me and my friends We have all only intended to do some hiking for our semester break. This mountain happens to be our pick. All of us are very brave and are into some adventurous hobbies. But none of us ever thought that on our way here, we would experience something like that. My friends are quite traumatized."


    The male lead looked a bit embarrassed from being stared at by the middle-aged man but thankfully thetter only did it for about three seconds before patting him on the shoulder. "Don''t worry,d. I understand."


    ''...what did you understand?'' The male lead grumbled looking at the pity in the eyes of the man as he stared at him and hispanions. He was afraid this person was already taking them for a bunch of crazies.


    At this point, the male lead had yet to realize that it was never normal to bring up paranormal stuff to a person he just met.


    The ghost watching from a distance only had one word to describe him - idiot.


    "Sir?" Fan Zheng watched as the other sigh.


    The vige head was leading the group to the temple per their request. The weather was exceptionally nice, and the rural view was quite refreshing for those from urban ces so the tension in the hearts of the college students faded a lot, although it couldn''t be denied that fear was still lingering in their minds.


    Fan Zheng said again."I would just want to ask since I''m pretty sure we''re not the only tourists who strayed here Did anybody else go through the same experience that we did?"


    After a moment of silence, Zhao Guo made a strange expression and looked back to the other vigers, then to the foreigners being entertained by them behind him. Because he visibly hesitated, the smart male lead understood that his guess was correct.


    Momentster, the honest-looking middle-aged man finally opened his mouth, leaning a bit closer to whisper, "Mr. Fang. I hope you won''t spread this around. I don''t want my fellow vigers to panic, especially the kids and womenfolk."


    Fan Zheng nodded.


    Zhao Guo continued, "To be honest You''re right. Although none of us, hunters, could see them, we don''t dare go that way because those unseen evil beings there always attack us. Decades ago, we even have many people died there. Thankfully, we''ve learned to be self-sufficient, and the other side of the forest is safe. We usually hunt there and use that way to go to towns."


    The young man knitted his brows. "I see. So the ce is indeed haunted. But since there''s something wrong in this part of the forest, why haven''t you relocated yet? Don''t you know those dirty things are really dangerous? A while ago, it''s you who enumerated to me what they can do."


    Zhao Guoughed as he shook his head. "Yes. We know about the danger. But we are not afraid anymore, young man. Remember yesterday?"


    The handsome youth stiffened upon remembering the ghosts could not get near thismunity.


    The vige head added, "Also, we''re all used to rural life. I once brought my fellow vigers to a town, and while we appreciate some of the weird tools they have, their technologies and customs, in our hearts, nothing still beats the peacefulness of this ce. The air is fresh, and we don''t have to rely on paper bills to survive because we have everything here. We genuinely love our vige."


    ''Liar,'' Jiang Li secretly sneered to what he just heard. ''You know you''re all a criminal so you don''t dare leave this jungle. What love for the vige are you talking about?''


    The temple was in the southwest part of the vige which was quite a distance away from the house the chief lent to them. They had been walking for almost thirty minutes. The path was no longer smooth and easy to trek since it was an uphill slope. After onest turn, leaving thest row of wooden houses for a road surrounded by paddies of rice, they saw a small construct at the end of the road, elevated by a fairly high stone staircase.


    "I see. So this is the temple." Zhan Rong quietly said from behind.


    Fan Zheng looked at the wooden construct for a full minute. His pupil dted as he felt that there was truly something different from the ce. It had a trace of something magical. Or to be urate, it had a heavy holy aura that was refreshing to the living, but fatal to all others.


    No wonder they were saved and the locals were confident in staying. Because no ghosts would dare enter the vige.


    Fan Lan and the others stood meekly before the entrance. Their expressions solemn.


    Seeing this, Zhao Guo smiled and said to Fan Zheng, "This is indeed the one giving us the confidence and peace of mind to continue making this ce our home. ording to our ancestors, the huge statue in the middle was blessed by a real immortal, granting it a mysterious power to deter hostile creatures, beasts and ghosts alike. Like you all, every foreigner we epted went to this ce. They also went through what you experiencedst night. All, without exception, said they almost got killed So as thanks for the second life they got, they dropped by this temple to pray."


    Fan Zheng nced at the middle-aged guy. He sincerely said, "Sir, your vige is truly blessed."


    "I agree." The man heartilyughed. "All my people know that, so we are doing our best to be humans worthy of divine grace."


    His answer garnered a look of respect from the youth, and another scoff from the ghost.


    With their curiosity satisfied, the group then bowed at the viger before excitedly going up the high staircase to enter the temple.


    Zhao Guo smiled warmly as he followed.


    Meanwhile, Jiang Li who was in Zhan Rong''s ne groaned. He was annoyed. He began to feel oppressed and ufortable as if gravity became ten times greater and started to influence even incorporeal beings like him.


    This was truly the most hated ce of all ghosts and likewise, a ce that hated ghosts. How he could stay and let himself be delivered to the temple''s doorstep? Without a doubt, he would be exorcised in a minute!


    Left with no choice, he stealthily left the ne and grumpily watched as Fan Zheng and the others lined up before a strange bronze statue of an eight-armed half-naked man.


    In actuality, even he thought there was nothing wrong in giving thanks for surviving a cmity. But when he heard Fan Lan thanked Buddha for letting them escape from the evil army? Jiang Li rolled his eyes then turned around to wander about the vige.


    ''This stupid bunch is beyond saving. I''m sure the magnanimous Buddha is crying after being thanked for something like that.''


    Before truly leaving, he hid behind a small hut and peeked back once, just in time to see Zhan Rong pausing her steps and touching her ne.


    With slightly pursed lips, the female student nced over her shoulder, her eyes were full of vignce.


    Momentster, she tilted her head in confusion, ''Did I make a mistake just now? No one''s at the back? But I''m sure I felt a foreign presence''


    Guo Hanying''s voice rang to call her back to her senses, "Rong-Rong! You''re so slow! What are you doing?"


    After onest careful sweep of a nce around, Zhan Rong concluded that she had probably made up things in her head. She then resumed her strides and said, "Sorry, wait for me. I''ll also join the prayer meeting."


    The scene took ce in a couple of seconds. But this made the ghost nked out for some time. He then burst intoughter. It happened when he had already hidden from sight. Still, while it was reasonable for Zhan Rong to look back as it was her item that he had previously upied, it was funny that the real exorcist, a disciple from Maoshan Sect did not feel his presence.


    The sun proved to be a nuisance to beings like Jiang Li, but thankfully the ce was in the middle of a forest. There were not only houses around to help him. The trees were casting shadows, giving him more options. He felt very ufortable though even after reaching his goal, the center of the vige, or more precisely, one of the bigger houses in that area.


    "I need to get stronger so I can walk at daytime directly under the sun." He murmured to himself after appearing under a tree. He was yet to realize that his actions were a bit impulsive. Kids were ying nearby and one of them began to stare at his odd ethereal figure unblinkingly.


    "Hi." Suddenly, a kid slowly smiled at him and even waved a hand.


    Jiang Li was startled, looking at the one who spoke. He then checked whether he was the only one nearby and then stilled upon grasping that he really was.


    The kid''s ymates also noticed his strange actions and stopped molding mud. A little girl whose face was already so dirty at this time in the morning blinked her big eyes at him and then followed the direction of his sight.


    "Wang Delin, where are you looking?" she asked, furrowing her brows and returning her gaze to her friend.


    The boy smiled then pointed at Jiang Li. "There." In his eyes was a handsome young man with clothes simr to what adult vigers usually wore.


    However, it was different for his friends. The young girl and the others couldn''t see Jiang Li. She asked hesitantly, "There? What''s on the tree?"


    "Is there something special about it?" asked the tallest boy.


    Another ymate chimed in, "Wang, a rare bird or insect?"


    This boy''s eyes began to light up. His mind was simple so he even stood up and excitedly ran towards it to check if an interesting animal was hiding on its branches or leaves. The others just watched him go.


    "But I thought I heard him say ''hi'' just now?" the girl murmured in a soft voice.


    To the confused little miss, the boy Wang Delin puzzledly replied, "I indeed said ''hi''." At the moment, the boy couldn''t understand why he was getting weird looks from his friends. All he did was answer honestly and said he was saying hi to the person standing under the tree.


    Jiang Li saw the exchange between the two and realized the kid was not in a good situation so he raised his hand and ced a forefinger before his lips. ''Hush! Don''t speak anymore.''


    With several pairs of eyes on him, the little boy let out a "huh?" which sounded quite cute but weirded out his few friends more. It was written all over their faces, they began to wonder whether their friends could see something they couldn''t or if he had gone nuts.


    ''Don''t tell them about me,'' Jiang Li mouthed slowly.


    Fortunately, the kid was not beyond saving as he finally got his meaning when Jiang Li shook his head numerous times without retracting the ''silence'' gesture. The little boy no longer said anything about the ghost and pretended he was merely joking around.


    "Gotya! You all have been fooled by me! Look! You all look stupid!"


    "You''re just acting?" asked another boy.


    The little girl scrunched up her nose, feeling angry when she thought they might have been deceived. "Bad! Bad! You liar! Mom said naughty kids like you need to be punished!"


    "Come and catch me then!" Wang Delin taunted, giving Jiang Li onest nce before running away. The angered kids did not hesitate to follow, pissed off by theughter he let out.


    The ghost''s mood got uplifted and he began to chuckle while watching the kid steer the other children away from there. Their voices were full of vitality and innocence. Even though the majority were running around and shouting to catch their bad friend, the sight was still strangely heartwarming.


    He was in a merry mood until a thought flickered in his mind causing his smile to be wiped off his face.


    Jiang Li then stared at the house in front, the other reason why he infiltrated the vige.

 Chapter 371: Mo Chou (9) <2-in-1>

    Chapter 371: Mo Chou (9) <2-in-1>


    Once upon a time, a man nearing the age of 20, who never took part in the disgusting practices of this vige, existed. He was handsome and had a very warm smile that could charm thousands of girls. With his appearance alone which was above even some of the most popr male idols, he would not have to force an outsider to wed herself to him. Many would have volunteered to send themselves to him, ignoring the fact that he was from a remote ce... if he had managed to show himself to the world.


    Unfortunately, this did not happen. He died young and without a wife.


    The reason he did not take part in their stupid and wicked ways of getting a wife was... well not really because he was noble or what. It was simply because he was not right in the head. Right. the crazy, mentallycking kind.


    It was a sad fact but unfortunately, people like him do exist. He was one of those who could barely function and was always staring nkly ahead or sporting expressionless face all day long. He was not close to anyone. The only member of his family was his aged grandmother. Given his condition, why would anyone care about brainwashing him? His grandmother too did not have much money, as it was a time when the vige was very rarely interacting with the outside world. She couldn''t purchase his poor grandson a wife even if she wanted to.


    His condition coupled with his poor background made him destine for a sad life. But it was also because of this that he could maintain his humanity.


    One time he tried to help a woman escape. However, he ended up being killed by one of the men, his body thrown in the forest for wild beasts to feed on.


    Since then, the autistic guy who had been the shame of the vige ceased into being. Very few people mourned for his death as he was hated for his illness and face by the men, while the women who were supposed to adore him were long brainwashed to be indifferent to everything apart from their husbands and children.


    On how he ended up a soul chained in a dark ce somewhere in the spiritual realm, Jiang Li did not know. The remnant feelings of his soul-client only brought him here due to some nostalgic memories. His Original wanted to check on his grandmother.


    ''So many years passed. Is that old woman still alive?''


    Jiang Li entered the rundown house that seemed abandoned for years. Sure enough, when he ventured further in, the furniture and other decors inside were covered in a thickyer of dust. There was no trace of human activities there for years. He suspected the olddy, a poor woman also trafficked from outside, had already died. Sadness overwhelmed him as he thought the olddy was very pitiful to pass away without her family sending her off.


    The feeling stayed with him for several minutes.


    After that, the soul-client seemed to be in agreement with him that he should now let go. The strong desire to explore finally vanished after Jiang Li put his palms together for a brief prayer.


    Only momentster did he realize how odd his action was just now.


    Was it really okay for a ghost to pray for another ghost?


    "I''m suddenly embarrassed." The guy couldn''t help but scratch the back of his head before chuckling.


    Jiang Li exited from the house and then went back to the temple. He nned to wait outside. He had no desire to tour around since there was nothing much to see in a poor vige like this. The ghosts here were not good bunch too so he also had no n to socialize with them.


    Arriving under a tall Chinese Pine tree, he looked in the direction of the temple and then found several youths at the entrance. He finally managed to take a glimpse of the beautiful heroine, Zhao Ai, the daughter of the vige.


    Decades since the death of Xu Heni, Jiang Li''s Original, Zhao Ai became the sole humane person in the vige who had never epted nor taken pride in her fellow vigers'' practice.


    In front, the girl snubbed Fan Zheng''s handsome smiling face and his hand that was extended for a handshake.


    "I don''t make friends with egotistical foreigners." Zhao Ai said icily to the group without forgetting to make a disdainful face while looking at them from head to toe.


    Somewhere nearby, Jiang Li, this thousand-year-old ghost, was having fun imitating her, from the angle of her mouth to her body posture and hand gestures. If the system was around, it would have gave him an odd look already, wondering if this ghost was also possessed or swapped away or if he had received the wrong memories of his soul-client.


    By the way, Zhao Guo was present too. He had juste back from the shop of their local healer, the herbs he purchased were for the injured students.


    Seeing his daughter''s behavior, his face turned dark. He quickened his footsteps while roaring in anger, "Ai! Stop being rude to our guests! Take back your words!"


    Zhao Ai was surprised by her father''s arrival and instinctively looked at him, wiping off the arrogant expression on her face. "Dad," she timidly called out.


    The man scowled at her. Afterward, he turned to Fan Zheng and the others with embarrassment. Bowing his head lightly, he then said, "I''m sorry, I will talk to my child and give you an ount after this. Ai,e home with me!"


    Thetter was said in a stern tone.


    But the female lead seemed to be angered by her father''s humble attitude towards the outsiders so her rebelliousness emerged again. She red at Fan Zheng before protesting, "Dad, why do we need to be so polite with these people? I have a reason for saying I don''t want to befriend them! They''re haunted by the malicious beings of the forest, I''m sure there''s something wrong with them. They might have even brought those dirty things inside our vige! They are endangering us!"


    ''Oh! Clever!'' Jiang Li eximed in surprise hearing what she just said.


    Her father did not like her words though, climbing the stairs faster than before. "Shut up! I''ve had enough of your nonsense!"


    Jiang Li stared curiously at the female lead who stepped back a few steps seeing the rage on the vige head''s face. She was still acting stubborn though. Apart from her mother, she had another reason to act wary and awful towards them. He found it intriguing.


    Out of curiosity, he watched her the most after Fan Zheng. Thetter took quite a while to ept the fact that the girl he had a crush on was pretty domineering and mean. As for the father, he appeared fidgety and nervous. However, since the girl did not mention the real secret of theirmunity, it was apparent that he was just acting. Both the father and daughter were fascinating actors.


    When Zhao Ai became so annoyed, she chose silence, although her eyes spoke volumes of her hate towards the outsiders.


    A couple of momentster she opened her mouth again.


    "Fine. I won''t speak anymore. I still need to clean the temple!" She dered before rudely bumping her shoulders against Fan Lan and Zhan Rong who were standing together before she walked in between them.


    "Ouch," the sister of the male lead cried in pain before turning to Zhao Ai. Her face warped in both pain and anger, she shouted, "Miss, stop!"


    Zhan Rong did not say anything but even she frowned at the female lead''s behavior, especially since Zhao Ai did pause only to narrow her eyes at them.


    Fan Lan had a fiery temper. She said between gritted teeth, "Hey, you! We never did anything bad to you so what''s with your attitude? Aren''t you going to say sorry for what you did? What if I fell down the stairs and fractured a bone or two?"


    The most agitated one was the vige head who tried to grab his daughter and make her bow in apology. The urge intensified when Zhao Ai coldlyughed and replied, "So what if you fell down? It''s your fault for not making way! Better if you get injured the severely worse kind so you won''t have any choice but leave this vige for a big hospital outside!"


    It was a truly spiteful response.


    No wonder those who heard her, even Fan Zheng, was in a state of disbelief, having difficulty epting such words came out from the mouth of someone with a very lovely face. A couple of secondster, while Fan Zheng was still dumbfounded, the rest began to tremble in fury.


    "Take back what you said, you witch!" An Ming, the eldest who also had an explosive temper, yelled with unmasked anger.


    "Do you know you''re not being funny when you wished for someone to be hospitalized? You''re so wicked!" added another boy.


    Zhao Guo''s face was already like boiled shrimp in redness when he caught his daughter''s hand and forced her to bend her waist. As he was a personcking in the glib of the tongue, he only managed to say one thing, "Zhao Ai, apologize now."


    However, as she was intent on being a disobedient girl, Zhao Ai escaped from his grasp by violently flinging her father''s hand away and then replied, "Forgive your daughter for being unfilial. But Father, no! Never to people like them!"


    Her red eyes that spoke extreme hostility started to turn watery which truly earned Jiang Li''s respect.


    The father and the male lead were taken aback.


    The girls and the other boys were still fighting verbally with Zhao Ai.


    ''Great actress!'' Jiang Li couldn''t help but exim. ''Everyone believed her performance and no one is suspecting her real motive. The female lead is simply the type all the directors would fight for!''


    The ridiculous and childish fight continued. The female lead even raised the tools in her basket, in an internal battle whether to throw them at the group or not.


    When Jiang Li whistled from his spot, perhaps due to his overflowing emotion, the sound created became audible to the living. Yet because the people nearby were focused on what was on Zhao Ai''s hands, nobody noticed him.


    He chuckled when he realized this. Looking at the stupid bunch who were misled into hating her or thinking that she had some deep story to tell, he began to p. She was really impressive... impressively naive and stubborn.


    When Zhao Ai unwillingly gave up her n of throwing stuff due to Zhao Guo''s re and then huffed before marching towards the temple, Jiang Li took off his imaginary hat, performing a standard gentleman bow as a salute to her.


    And then after giving her all the due recognition that she should receive he threw a stone to trip her.


    ''A small payback for bullying my girl and stealing my role.'' The ghost with no concept of gender inequalityughingly told himself. And he was not nning to be biased since Fan Zheng''s group would receive something from himter... He was just waiting for the world to turn dark.

 Chapter 372: Mo Chou (10)

    Chapter 372: Mo Chou (10)


    After the minor scuffle at the temple, Fan Zheng and the rest toured the vige. Jiang Li took the chance to return into the ne when they became distracted. Although the item had no expensive gem on it and was just a simple jade, he found it afortable ce to reside since it belonged to Margarette''s reincarnation. He was especially happy. The girl had no whatsoever blood rtionship with him, which meant the only headache he would have to worry about in the future was his ghost identity.


    Lunchtime then arrived. They went to the vige head''s house where they were invited for a meal and then went back to the house lent to them. It was coincidentally the one where Jiang Li''s family used to live.


    The group chatted the afternoon away. They first talked about what they would do upon leaving. When the topic went to random stuff like this product and that TV drama, Jiang Li became bored.


    He began to think about the future, specifically, a certain somebody''s gruesome fate.


    He was not sure why the locals only acted three dayster. But he couldn''t simply sit still and wait for that day to arrive. So what should he do?


    After discovering the male lead was stupid as hell, he started to ponder over guiding them to properly punish the guilty vigers, or simply destroy the vige. In all honesty, with his views more biased now that he knew Zhan Rong was the one destined to die in that great escape, he was leaning towards thetter.


    Why let a damn ce like that exist after all? Even now, he was very bbergasted that Fan Zheng left the cleanup of these devils to thew. However, when he thought of the viiness whose hatred for the vigers should be the strongest amongst all others, he decided to leave it to her. Better if she would be more preupied with her revenge on the devils that she would forget about the leads. As long as the vige was not wiped out before her appearance, this possibility should not be that improbable.


    So now, what about Fan Zheng''s group?


    When the system finally responded hourster, after interrogating why it disappeared for a day, he chose one of the options allowing him tomunicate with them. When night time arrived, he fulfilled his promise of drilling some sense into their minds, beating them up and turning their sweet dreams into nightmares. He even started a game befitting his status as a bad spirit


    The remaining days were destined to be lively.


    ...


    Two men covertly entered the ancestral hall of the vige. The vige head with a kind expression stered on his face appeared and weed them.


    "Wee and thank you for dropping by."


    The big man with a muscled body dressed in a thick ck jacket nodded at him. "Think of us as envoys. Same rules. Our team is passing by this region tonight and if we don''t return, they will automatically know your people are interested in our goods."


    "Can we assume it is a yes?" asked thepanion of the man, another burly guy with a dragon tattoo on his exposed arm.


    The middle-aged vige headughingly nodded. "Of course. There is no need to ask, Mr. Feng. We have always been interested.Come with me, we prepare some good food and drinks as thanks for your efforts," said Zhao Guo with a ttering demeanor.


    The two seemed pleased and gave him a huge smile. They followed him as he led them to his house through the backdoor.The one with tattoos did not forget to give the other a fewpliments and a heads up about their ''goods'' that made the vige head look forward to the people who would be arrivingter.


    Thinking of the other batch of visitors though, Zhao Guo momentarily frowned.


    He almost forgot about them. If the sellers held the auction at the usual spot, there would be arge chance to be discovered by those youngsters then. He didn''t want to imagine what would happen then, the headache he and his people would have to face. Letting them stay in a house nearby had been his blunder.


    ''It would be odd if I ask those kids to change ce.''


    After a minute of careful pondering, Zhao Guo shrugged.


    ''I guess there''s no other way but inform everyone to change the venue. For the sake of the vige.''


    It was a moonless night. The surrounding was very quiet.


    Fan Zheng''s group was sleeping on the floor next to each other, in the living room of the house lent to them. There was only one candle on a ss atop the low table giving off light for the whole room. When the sleeping students opened their eyes at the same time, it flickered due to the slight wind that got in from the gaps in the bamboo-woven window.


    Yup. All of a sudden, these eight people woke up from their sleep, all looking so shocked and scared.


    "B-brother!" Fan Lan''s voice was trembling when she went to the male lead''s side. Without ncing at the others who had also inched towards Fan Zheng, she said anxiously, "I, I just had a nightmare. It''s really scary."


    Fright was still dancing in the eyes of the girl. It seemed whatever she had seen in her dreams had truly left her scared. She hugged her brother''s arm.


    The reactions of the others were not as exaggerated. However, their eyes were really wide and they kept roaming them around. When they heard the girl mentioning ''nightmare'' they unconsciously started to hold their breath.


    Zhan Rong''s slightly shaky voice rang just then, something rarely heard as their beautiful friend was the type who could usually remain calm no matter the situation. "Everyone," she paused for a while to swallow some saliva. "I think.. there''s something on the ceiling..."


    It was not only the male lead who froze in ce, the rest of theirpanions too. The girl''s message was not giving them a good feeling.


    "W-what''s there?" asked Guo Hanying whose back was already drenched in a cold sweat. She didn''t dare raise her head. The fear of the unknown was rushing over her like a tide.


    Her good friend looked around and noticed that the others were the same, they were afraid. What if something unspeakably horrifying was there?


    Only Fan Zheng slowly looked up, something he only braved doing after repeatedly reminding himself that he was a spirit hunter.


    Not long after, when the remaining six saw him only fixing his eyes above without screaming or saying anything, all of them exchanged nces before summoning the courage to check it out. It should not be that scary if their two friends could persist, right?


    How wrong they was, they only found out a couple of momentster.


    They copied the two.


    Fear then registered in their eyes, so was regret.


    For a full minute, none of them spoke.


    "We''re haunted.... right?" An Ming felt his throat dry.


    Only one person replied to him.


    "I''m sure it''s the spirit we freed from the abandoned temple," Fan Zheng weakly said. "It''s toying with us. It is aware of its power and is using it to scare us. It''s obvious it is very evil."


    Everyone hugged themselves. The room that was barely lit by themp became several degrees colder. Another bout of silence passed before it was broken.


    "He said his name is Li The same name as the one who talked to us through the board. He pulled me into a terrible nightmare," a boy''s voice trailed off while trembling.


    "Funnily, I experienced the same in my dreams, I, I was beaten to death woke up only to find out I was in sleep paralysis, and the ghost was standing right beside me... Can you imagine how scared sh*tless I was that time?"


    ''... We don''t need to imagine We went through it too."


    They all exchanged nces again. It was now confirmed what they dreamed of was shared by the rest of those in the room.


    Thinking they had not actually escaped from those dirty things after all, they felt helpless and depressed.


    Only Zhan Rong and Fan Zheng were in deep contemtion.


    The former wanted to talk about the bloody message above detailing a game that would most likely make them turn against each other. But looking at how everyone in the room was wallowing in a depressing mood, she kept her silence.


    Fan Lan hugged her brother, her tears like a broken string of pearls rolling down her face, "Brother... I really regret it. Had I known this would happen, I would have just stayed home. I would have been more filial and obedient to mom and dad. I really regret it. I don''t like this. Brother, take me home, please! Please!"


    Of course, her pleas resulted in nothing. Fan Zheng''s mind was upied by the nightmare and he prioritized collecting information about the malicious spirit from the people who had pulled it into their realm.

 Chapter 373: Mo Chou (11)

    Chapter 373: Mo Chou (11)


    It had be a sleepless night for the eight people.


    However, when tomorrow came, none of the vigers who saw them touring around at 5:30 am realized that these foreigners had not slept a wink after being awakened by a terrible nightmare.


    They only thought city people were actually not as they imagined, privileged individuals who woke upte waiting for everything to be served to them.


    How was the feeling of being praised for changing thezy impression of rural people on city folks like them?


    It was exined by their strange, forced smiles. Red-eyed, they wanted to roar, ''What do you guys know? We fell asleep around 10:30 pm and woke up sharp 12. Do you think it''s a wonderful experience?''


    Of course, none of them genuinely wanted to not sleep! But what could they do when some mysterious entity had forced them to take part in a nightmare game?


    Hourster, the weird state of the foreign students finally entered the eyes of the vigers. They saw them walking around separately as if they were looking for something. It was not simple sightseeing.


    Every hour, these youths would suddenly stop in ce and sport various strange reactions that could be categorized in two: first, relief, second, grief.


    For example, this 9 am, at separate locations, the locals saw one of the boys suddenly convulsing and perspiring in pain while the rest were sighing in relief or dancing around in happiness. Towards the former, they acted concerned for a while then left when An Ming politely declined their help.


    "Too sinister!"


    The eldest among the college students was still gasping for breath and trembling when they met up in the temple. The man only reached the ce through a friend''s help. He was the one who received thetest punishment, still feeling angry yet scared from suddenly losing his sense of sight.


    "An Ming, bear with it for some time. If the pattern is correct, your blindness should only be temporary."


    The man grumpily replied in a crying voice, "Easy for you to say because you''re not the one who turned blind! Bastard!"


    "Hey. We''re sorry about what you''re going through. But believe okay? You''ll return to normal in about an hour. At least at this point, it''s still just ying with us. Look, Guo Hanying failed the 8 am mission and turned bald, then, she magically regrew her hair around 9 am."


    "... Can you stop mentioning that?" The embarrassed girl whispered in a fierce tone. Her face reddened in shame, remembering her head was actually not the only thing that went bald. However, about this fact, she didn''t dare share with anybody.


    His friendsforted An Ming for a while, but since they were also tired, they soon prioritized getting rest. They didn''t talk much as they were all in a low mood, choosing to preserve strength for the next ''quest'' which they knew woulde in a few minutes.


    Sure enough, Fan Zheng and the others soon saw words getting written by an invisible on the trunk of a tall tree. They congregated around it to check the next weird mission the damn ghost wanted them to do.


    ''Find the seven most beautiful children in the vige and rank them from highest to lowest. Time limit: 10 minutes. Make sure to conceal your goal from the other vigers to not appear like a spiteful pedophile in their eyes. Good luck!''


    ''Punishment for failure: secret''


    The yful words made them grit their teeth with hate. ''I really want to exorcise this annoying spirit,'' they all thought.


    But upon grasping that they had so limited time to check the vige kids one by one, they then chose to spring into action.


    Time was precious and their lives were at stake so they didn''t dare waste time with other matters,pletely devoting themselves to the task. They even ignored their growling stomach and just smiled at the kind vigers that offered them food.


    The vige head nced at the tallest boy who was strangely acting blind then asked, "It''s past twelve and you youngsters have been ying around for hours. Are you all sure, you really do not want to eat?"


    Although resentment was brewing within them, theyughed and said, "Don''t worry about us, Chief. We''re fasting."


    "Fasting?" The humble-looking viger looked confused. "Is there an event warranting such in February? I am not that cultured, but if I remember correctly, there''s only the New Year Festival, but it''s a celebration too, so there is no need for people to starve themselves."


    "... It''s our show of gratitude to Buddha for letting us survive the previous bleak days. Haha."


    Zhao Guo did not understand it fully so he could only nod. The students who were preupied with something more pressing did not notice that the middle-aged man was frequently stealing nces of the beautiful and fair-skinneddies.


    Ten minutes quickly passed.


    Along with another boy who was not good at coaxing kids or creating excuses for parents to allow him to see their children, the pitiful An Ming who had temporarily be blind cried so hard after losing in default and vomiting a handful of earthworms as a result.


    The man regained his sightter, but precisely because he could once again see that he howled harder. How could it be easy to ept such sickening things hade out of his mouth?


    When he involuntarily imagined the worms collectively wriggling and traversing his stomach and intestines, he bent over and started to vomit. More tears sprung forth from his eyes. The inexplicable aftertaste from his throat almost made him pass out.


    As for the others, they stilled and watched in disbelief. What the two had vomited grossed out their friends and made them break out in cold sweat. Who knows if they would be the next victims? What if the crazy evil being stepped up his game and directly ced sh*t or something simrly disgusting in their mouths?


    ''Let''s work harder to not end up like them,'' they silently encouraged themselves. Their faces were pale. They had no idea the extreme fear they were harboring in their hearts made their hated ghost stronger.


    The next game mission was as weird as the previous ones, making them wonder if the spiteful ghost was deliberately teasing them before tossing a death game to them.

 Chapter 374: Mo Chou (12)

    Chapter 374: Mo Chou (12)


    ''Get the names of the kids in the vige and pair up every beautiful fair-skinned one with a coarse-skinned one.''


    In this mission no one failed, not even Guo Hanying who had ''mistakenly'' paired up four boys.


    ''Find fifteen mothers who can speak other dialects or have the ent of another province.''


    Fan Zhengpleted itte and ended up being paralyzed for minutes. The bad thing was he ran into Zhao Ai and received harsh and unreasonable scoldings from her. The girl did not stop there. Since she was very determined to disgust him, she kicked his leaving him wanting to roll in the ground in pain, but couldn''t. The sensation he felt back then would be one of his most hated experiences in his life.


    ''Make your phones useful by secretly taking pictures of all the mothers and children here. Learn the art of the paparazzi.''


    At this part, the phones they surrendered to Zhao Guo were stolen back by them. The phones were left to the man for safeguarding after he exined that the vigers would not want themselves or their way of lives to be photographed so they agreed. It was the condition to be allowed to stay after all. Yesterday, they were truly afraid they would be kicked out of the vige then chased by incorporeal monsters once again so they didn''t hesitate to give up their phones in exchange for permission to stay.


    ''Secretly trip ten able-bodied men. Every male local can only be targeted once.''


    "..." The test on their moral sense seemed to have begun, the targets the people they considered their savior.


    ''Secretly kill ten livestock and throw the remains at the doorstep of the neighbor of the owner. The one with the most refreshing performance will be exempted from the next game.''


    ''Doodle for five minutes on the statue in the temple. Bring out your inner child while making sure to not get caught in the act by the locals.''


    ''Throw stuff at Zhao Guo. The most creative one will be exempted from the next game. Hint: the more disgusting, the better.''


    "..."


    ''Eavesdrop secretly on ten houses and observe how the men treated the womenfolk of this vige. If you see something x-rated, I won''t mind if you record it too.''


    "..."''The damn ghost is so wicked and bored!'' They all thought.


    Anyway, thest one was a quest that gave all of them a breather. At this point though, they no longer had no sense of shame, trained toplete every mission as fast and urate as they could to avoid getting punished by the ghost that was toying with them.


    However, while Fan Zheng and the rest had be numbed and werepleting tasks instinctively, they had not truly gone senile.


    Yesterday, they were with the vige head all day so they failed to see the little clues. But now that they were moving around by themselves, without being tailed or led by anybody, they finally noticed something odd about the ce.


    Compared to the female lead''s horrible attitude towards them, their new findings were a greater mystery. The funny thing was they only noticed it all due to the missions.


    When they assembled again in the house, Zhan Rong brought up a scary possibility, "Is it possible that the ghost is making us do those strange stupid quests to show us those odd things?''


    Of course, this was ignored by the rest who were inwardly holding grudges against the damn being that gave them countless suffering. A malicious spirit did evil for a good cause? They told Zhan Rong, ''Sister, stop dreaming.''


    The bunch had probably been too tense so they bickered for a while.


    After this though, they recognized that there was a particr issue that needed to be discussed. Something quite bothersome...


    "It''s been guing my mind since then. But amongst the group of children that I approached earlier, I saw two who did not seem to be that close to the others. Their eyes, although quite concealed, showed anxiousness andck of security," in a quiet voice, Fan Zheng started, bringing up the issue that was guing his mind.


    His sister nodded. Her face was pale from all the running that they did. Her heart was as rmed though and she couldn''t help but say, "I ran into the same issue too actually. Or maybe from the start, I ran into the same group of kids. Theyughed and yed well with their peers, yet true happiness could not be seen from their eyes and bodies. One more thing... that one thing that bothered me the most... their skin and features did not look like what normal vigers'' offspring should"


    Fan Lan saw that her brother squeezed her hand softly. She looked up and asked anxiously, "Brother do you think I''m thinking too much?"


    Fan Zheng only lowered his head, lost in his thoughts.


    The others were silent at first. Only, the boys were very alert, frequently peeping through the window to check whether there were extra ears nearby.


    Not long after, when they couldn''t take the quietness anymore, they began to share their observations, mostly those that greatly troubled their minds, spoken in whispers.


    "To be honest, I''m thinking several children in this ce seem to be so beautiful to be the children of those people who introduced themselves as their parents," An Ming began. His face was the sourest amongst them for he could not forget what he went through after failing twice. There was also the disgust he was feeling at the conclusion he had arrived at.


    "I saw manydies with traces of beatings on their bodies Most of the wounds and scars appeared to be old They Even though I initially thought the missions were like a joke, but Those women. They spoke different dialects or have different ents. Some of those who seemed to be having hard times at home, I tried to speak with them in English, and they could understand me I swore they could really understand me! Do you get what I mean?"


    The one who spoke was Fan Lan''s best friend, Liu Lingxin, a shorty with a lovely face. Unfortunately, like the rest, she was also sporting a downcast expression, not liking the thoughts dancing in her mind.


    They were not looking down at the locals here. But since they were poor and isted, was it logical to produce many educated members? Even if it was possible, why only females? They were very sure the vige was one of those backward ces still stuck in a patriarchal system, amunity that favored boys over girls!


    "Just where the heck are we?" another boy asked, feeling uneasy and insecure.


    Fan Lan''s voice softly echoed again, not to answer him, but to express another guess in her heart, "I think... They must not be from here And for some reason, I don''t feel like they became part of this vige willingly."


    The other people in the group maintained their silence after hearing that.


    Their bodies were tired. But so were their minds. None of the others questioned the male lead''s sister whether she was referring to the kids or the women. Or perhaps, they only didn''t because they already had an answer in their hearts.


    "I''m really tired," Guo Hanying weakly said.


    Everyone sprawled on the floor, looking nkly at nowhere until a set of words slowly appeared on the wall next to Zhan Rong.


    It was another seemingly no-brainer task. A census of the total poption.


    When they finished, Zhan Rong told the others, "I just confirmed it. There are many new faces in the vige today."


    "Is that true? But we''ve just arrived yesterday and we''re not familiar with everyone so there''s a chance the ones you saw are simply locals who didn''t show up yesterday."


    "I don''t think so, Fan Zheng. I don''t believe it''s all a coincidence." Zhan Rong shook her head. "Maybe they are as you said. But honestly, I don''t think we should stay any longer in this ce."


    The girl looked around cautiously for a while before whispering in a low voice. "If I sound paranoid here, sorry. But seriously, we escape tonight, and we must not alert anyone."


    Everyone drew a cold breath. It had almost be a bit to check whether there were locals nearby.


    "But the forest" The girls looked at Zhan Rong with worry and unwillingness.


    Thetter once again shook her head, her brows knitted. But although her voice was as soothing and stable as ever, she didn''t sound calm at all.


    "I know you''re all hesitant because of the ghosts. But be honest, do you think the ghosts are scarier than the living? We have known each other for years, and I don''t remember befriending retarded individuals. Knowing this is a mountain vige should be enough to make some guesses."


    Fan Zheng and the other quietly looked at her. She was a bit annoyed by the stares so she asked, "Haven''t heard from the news of city people being trafficked to ces like this?"

 Chapter 375: Mo Chou (13)

    Chapter 375: Mo Chou (13)


    None of them was truly a fool, otherwise, they would not have survived until now, growing up into youths with boundless prospects as future graduates of a prestigious university.


    They were also not really acquainted with the vigers to have a never-wavering impression of them. Their identity was merely that of a passerby.


    Therefore, when Zhan Rong finally voiced out the guess all of them actually had in mind, they stopped denying the truth to themselves and became cautious of the locals around them.


    They became conscious mainly of the stares they were getting.


    The eyes were not right. Especially the elderly and men.


    Why did they look them as if they were prey?


    The warmth and kindness the vigers showed... Was it because they were already assuming the students would be part of theirmunity?


    Or that these people were already being generous of their warmth because tomorrow they would be their cows and horses?


    Everyone in the room could not help but shiver.


    Guo Hanying couldn''t help but share her experience yesterday. When she went out by herself in the morning, a middle-aged woman kept bringing up her teenage son and her wish to give him a virtuous and educated wife.


    While Guo Hanying maintained a respectful listening attitude, she was secretly feeling funny. Which cultured women would want to be in this rundown ce? She thought the other really knew how to dream, and to dream big at that. But now that she recalled the conversation again, she found it hard tough.


    An educated wife, huh Was that referring to her and her friends who came from the city? She felt the colors draining from her face.


    The others also got entered the sharing mode.


    People always had a story in their hearts and most of the time, they would want their friends to hear it to earn sympathy or useful insights and advice.


    Zhan Rong looked at Fan Zheng, "It''s past six already. You are close to the vige head, see if you can buy food ingredients from him. Even noodles will do. We will cook our meal tonight by ourselves. We need to eat to replenish our energy forter."


    The most educateddy spoke and since there was finality in her tone, everyone else did not argue about whether to leave or not.


    Years of friendship exposed them to Zhan Rong''s temper so they knew she would only take charge if the matter was absolutely pressing. The previous one with the army of spirits was not counted since paranormal stuff was under Fan Zheng''s area of expertise... if he could even be called an expert at that.


    "So it will be tonight?" Before going out, Fan Zheng asked in a barely audible voice.


    Zhan Rong nodded.


    The male lead then stood up and walked out of the wooden door. A secondter, he popped his head in. "By the way, why food ingredients when he could directly buy cooked ones? The aunt next door already said they could make extra portions for us. That could save us a lot of trouble."


    This time, he got an eye-roll from his friends. There was a couple of meter distance between the group and the guy on the doorway so the former only let their eyes do the talking.


    ''You dared ask? Tch. You, idiot. If some sort of self-made drug is added to the dish, then what? Just cry? And pray for a miracle?


    Their look caused Fan Zheng to be embarrassed whereas it made Jiang Liugh. So green, he thought.


    The group was still quite naive and was still trapped in the illusion that only soups and cooked dishes could be used to poison people. They must have gotten the ideas from TV dramas or films. This proved that if not for their incredible luck, if the vigers did not choose to poison them through incense on the third day, they would have been in a miserable situation by now.


    Afterughing for a full minute, the ghost went out of the ne and blend into the darkness. He then stared at the wall to their right side. His eyes could seemingly see through it.


    It was not visible to the others because a cab was ced in front of it, but there was actually a fairlyrge hole on the plyboard wall there.


    Somebody was eavesdropping on their ongoing conversation.


    Jiang Li could not see the person actually, Ghosts had a better vision at night than the living, but still had no ability to see through objects.


    Jiang Li would have not noticed the person there if not for sensing the fearing out from her. The fear of getting found out. The shock from what she found out.


    The girl''s eyes were so wide as she covered her mouth using her two hands.


    Zhao Ai was truly shocked. A yelp almost escaped from her lips. Thankfully, she managed to restrain herself on time,ing to her senses and knowing she could not make anyone alert. Still, her mind was a mess and her eyes began to swim around uncontrobly.


    ''These foreigners finally noticed something is off?'' she couldn''t help but ask herself upon hearing the foreigners truly nned to leave tonight.


    Zhao Ai did not dare move a muscle from her position and she held her breath as much as she could. When she felt numbness from her legs, she slowly turned around to ster her back against the wall while noiselessly sliding down to sit on the ground.


    After double-checking that she did not alert anybody, only then did she feel she had the leisure to wonder about things.


    Was it because she angered them too much? Or because they learned about what happenedst night?


    The voices became less audible from her new spot. But she could still make out a few details.


    Zhao Ai felt extremely happy because, for the first time, there were people not misled by her father and the others. Then extremely guilty and embarrassed discovering they sobered up due to discerning there were beautiful kids and highly educated mothers who couldn''t have hailed from here.


    After that, she thought, ''Sure enough, they must be geniuses from college or people gifted with greatly deductive minds.''


    She then stood up and whispered to herself, ''This is good... I must prepare too to help them.''

 Chapter 376: Mo Chou (14) <2-in-1>

    Chapter 376: Mo Chou (14) <2-in-1>


    It was destined to be a busy day, one which would not conclude so easily. The escape was inevitable. And now, even the female lead knew about it. Thankfully, based on thetter''s expression, she wouldn''t stop the male lead and his friends from leaving.


    But if Jiang Li were to let Fan Zheng''s group leave tonight and follow them into the city, would he be reconciled to let the male locals off that easily after they tantly looked at Zhan Rong with evil desire?


    The subject was his future wife. The damnable father of the female lead already talked with the prospective buyers about tomorrow''s show. He heard the only reason it was dyed was to give time for some families that had exhausted their money in the previous auctions to gather funds.


    In other words, Zhan Rong and the otherdies were alreadymodities in their eyes.


    Which sane man would not be angry if somebody disrespected their beloved? Even if he was currently not a man, just a ghost, the answer to both questions was still obvious. No, he would not tolerate them!


    The problem was that he also nned to leave them alive for Gu Mochou.


    Is revenge really a dish best served cold? Which person invented this damn quote?


    He scowled, then secretly went out while Fan Zheng and the rest were discussing their escape route.


    He checked on the female lead who had escaped back into her house and then locked herself in her room.


    Because the girl was so preupied with her thoughts as she sat in her bed, she didn''t notice something weird with the shadows around her, especially the one in front of her palm-size mirror hanging on a nail by the wall.


    Jiang Li briefly appreciated the face reflected in the mirror and thought to himself that the face was as handsome as his original one. He was quite happy that he could now materialize in full, his strength increased greatly after frightening the stupid bunch with his illusions and low-level spells.


    Actually, even he had no idea the fear his small games would instill deep fear in those students. The despair in their hearts was still feeding him with the much-needed energy to recover.


    Now he felt like he would get addicted to scaring people.


    Sadly, for now, he was limited to Fan Zheng''s bunch. The local vigers were out of the question as any ghost or beast that tried to harm them would receive harsh retaliation from the statue in the temple.


    Like now, although he was in the same room as Zhao Ai, he had to be careful to not scare her, which greatly annoyed him. He only popped out after ensuring she wouldn''t turn her head to his direction. Anyways, the fact that he could project his facial features clearly without making his presence known was making his mood great. It was a testimony that he had be stronger. Or perhaps the better phrase to use was that he was regaining his original strength.


    How did his Original, an autistic child, be this strong though?


    It was a puzzle as it was not in the memory There was only a long period of darkness from the time of his death to the seance ritual of Fan Zheng''s friends.


    Zhao Ai moved so Jiang Li temporarily shelved the question.


    The vige head was not around. The girl seemed to havee to a decision and took advantage of this to sneak into the biggest room in the house.


    "It should be here," Zhao Ai muttered anxiously as she rummaged carefully through the items in therge wooden box pulled out under the bed.


    "Where is it? Where is it?"


    The girl scattered the clothes on the floor Not. Like the usual gentle vige protagonist girl, her manners was still superb. She was too careful not to mess up the carefully folded pants and shirts. Yet her speed was still very fast. It was magic.


    Her actions confirmed one thing to Jiang Li, however. While she nned to help the foreigners, she also wanted to escape on her own.


    As expected, when the female lead found a red booklet with arge print ''Household Register'' on it, she cheered and then hurriedly ced the items back to their ce.


    Zhao Ai sighed in relief after confirming that nobody saw her exiting from her father''s room. She touched the booklet in her pocket and then felt a bit at a loss. It seemed before the escape formally happened, she would be in a state of confusion and indecisiveness, wondering if what she would do was correct or not.


    On one side was the guilt for her father and the people she grew up with.


    On the other was the guilt for the victims and future victims of the vigers.


    Between morality and kinship, she was having a hard time to choose.


    In Jiang Li''s eyes though, the girl was truly a match with Fan Zheng.


    It was not that she finally realized her method was not bearing results and thus nned to directly help at least some people escape. It was that she herself wanted to leave the people here behind. Why else would she steal the household register and the money her father stashed secretly? To satisfy her desire to show her goodness to others was one thing. To escape from hell was another.


    Although she seemed to not yet understand this.


    He said she was a match with the male lead because although she treated the group horribly, she was still thinking they would allow her to join them in the run, and even take care of her once they arrived at the capital. Her source of confidence was because she would help them get away from the vige safely. It was a beautiful and naive thinking, one that did not consider the possible future reactions or attitudes of the other party to her who was not just a simple viger, but the daughter of the shady vige head.


    ''At least she''s not that bad,'' Jiang Li only told himself, nodding.


    ''A bit smarter than Fan Zheng to know she should not associate with the folks in this ce anymore.''


    Zhao Ai began to pack some of her belongings in a huge backpack. At this point, she had fully made up her mind.


    The ghost then floated back to the adjacent house. The darkness of the night allowed him to no longer rely on shadows to move around.


    As to what he had decided upon about the dilemma he was mulling about earlier well, it was for another timeter. But as an old ghost, if he had to say, it should be quite reasonable for him to be vengeful.


    It was a good thing that none from the batch of ''goods'' auctioned by the traffickers yesterday were women. All were kids, which meant there would be no new person adding to the vited list of the beastly vigers. With that said though, it didn''t mean the kids and babies being stolen from the cities and towns was a good thing.


    Since the group was determined to run away, Jiang Li issued them a mission to take those kids with them. While they were on it, he also made them deliver letters to those fairly young mothers. Fan Zheng and his friends didn''t show their faces as ordered so even if some of the women turned out to be deeply brainwashed, they should not be able to rat out the foreigners. Chances are the message he sent to them would prove problematic for them if shared it with their husband or inws.


    ''If you still love yourself or your kids, escape through the forbidden side of the forest.


    Take advantage of the cover of the night.


    They won''t harm outsiders.''


    That was what he wrote on those pieces of paper. ''They'' naturally referred to the ghosts.


    If those mothers truly longed for freedom and had some affection for their children, once they read it, they would heed it, no matter how ridiculous it sounded.


    Escaping would not be hard since, in every viger''s mind, no sane person would use that path or even go near there due to the dirty things guarding it.


    ''The only problem is not if those pitiful women still have the courage to live But if they still have affection for their kids who are essentially proofs of violence to them.''


    ''There''s a chance they would go crazy and escape without their child...''


    There was a frown on Jiang Li''s face but as a ghost, one restricted by the blessing of the temple, there was only so little that he could do.


    The pieces of paper were delivered. After careful deliberation, he set it up so the message would only reveal themselves once the students had escaped.


    The n to make the other escaping people the distraction was abandoned.


    In the end, he had reflected that it was wrong to take advantage of people who already went through a lot. Also, even if the mothers didn''t dare to show their husbands or inws the message, they could still make them raise their vignce through a few words of suspicion directed toward the students.


    The choice was in those women''s hands. Unfortunately, while he could give them suggestions and help, it was under the condition that the male lead''s group would not bepromised.


    After all, even without anybody''s interference, the escape n of the students was already pretty dangerous.


    ...


    When the students went out of the house, they found out even at midnight, some able-bodied hunters were patrolling.


    "We can''t use this route too..." Fan Zheng said in a low tone as he peeked from the tree behind the temple.


    His friends were hiding behind a tall rock, trying hard to merge themselves into the shadows. All looked like they had swallowed a fly upon hearing his words.


    "Damn. We will be trekking the woods at this unholy hour without a source of light and I''m already scared. Why are these people adding themselves to our problems?"


    Gritting her teeth, Guo Hanying tenselyined. The girl wanted to cry, but because she received many res urging her to shut up, she forced back the tears and the sobs.


    When the local people manning the area distanced themselves from their locations a bit, Fan Lan finally managed to roll her eyes in annoyance and whispered, "Adding to our problems, you say? No. From the beginning, they are our problem. Stop speaking any more nonsense, Ying-Ying."


    Fan Zheng crouched and inched towards them to join their side.


    "What do we do now?" somebody quietly asked in anxiousness.


    He shook his head, clueless.


    Zhan Rong was silent, only looking down contemting. She spoke ever so softly after half a minute.


    "I know this already, but yeah, everyone in this ce is odd. The high security is definitely not because of the ghosts, the temple seems very effective about it. Also not because of beasts... The fire from themps and the bonfire from all directions are enough to ward them off."


    The male lead felt helpless, then nced at the sleeping kids at the back of their sixpanions. "It''s really due to people like us."


    The others nodded then looked down too, sighing.


    The children who all looked lovely and beautiful had tear-stained cheeks even before they ''stole'' them. When they convened, Zhan Rong told everyone, she had not seen these kids yesterday, something they had no choice but acknowledge since they too had no impression of them.


    What made them grateful, yet at the same time, scared, was the fact that the kids had not cried or woken up once as they ran around.


    The kids had been drugged to sleep. One of the students, in the middle of his quest, overheard from an old couple that they did so they wouldn''t make noise to annoy the other vigers. When this friend of them came back to the group, he told them how angry and frightened he was.


    They felt the same actually as they listened to the details.


    Each of them became more determined to run away with the kids since then.


    Unfortunately, they still couldn''t think of any way to bypass the tall walls made of bound logs without using the passages guarded by the scary male locals.


    How to do that when the radiant glow from the fire would them visible? They could also foresee their extra pieces of ''baggage'' would slow them down significantly.


    "How to proceed now that we''re stuck here?" Fan Zheng absent-mindedly murmured.


    Zhan Rong raised a crazy idea. "Brave that single unpatrolled way?" It was the one facing the haunted side of the forest.


    Of course, apart from the male lead, everyone else protested. They had no courage to storm through a battalion of malevolent spirits. As for Fan Zheng, he had unknowingly begun to consider whether to steal the statue or not and bring it with them as a mean of protection, although the idea made him feel despicable.


    When everyone was wearing bitter expressions on their faces, busy racking their brains on how to cross the first barrier, Zhao Ai finally revealed herself to them...

 Chapter 377: Mo Chou (15) <2-in-1>

    Chapter 377: Mo Chou (15) <2-in-1>


    Jiang Li watched with amazement as the world''s consciousness did its part in ensuring Zhao Ai would run away sessfully with Fan Zheng.


    The female lead set the fences of a nearby pen on fire whichter scared the pigs. The honking noises made by the panicking pigs rang so suddenly and were so loud that the male vigers were frightened. None of them hesitated to vacate their posts.


    "Everyone! Subdue the fire! Quick! Take the livestock away!"


    Chaos ensued as shouts echoed throughout the night, reverberating with the wind, the crackling fire, and the cries of the pigs and birds.


    "Some of you! Go fetch water from the well!"


    "The others, call the vige head!"


    Not long after another problem urred.


    In actuality, all animals had great instincts for survival, and the ones being domesticated by the locals were no exceptions. Because they sensed the danger, the pigs began to jump around to flee. The vigers could only stomp their feet and go after the escaping animals.


    The other headache was that another fire started. This time, the one next set on fire by Zhao Ai was not a house upied by a family, but a barn. This move had been a selfish one on her part as the owner of it was a pudgy guy frequently giving her dirty nces.


    But with this, the matter escted into something that truly needed the vige head''s attention. At least, the aftermath of the incident. Unfortunately, the central region was at least twenty minutes away, around fifteen if one ran without stopping.


    Everyone was truly stressed. Even now, the owners of the barn and the pigsty were already making a fuss and crying louder than the poor animals.


    In any case, there were temporarily no people paying attention to the exit. Even the nearest one had his back turned on it.


    ''An opportunity.''


    Jiang Li watched as Zhao Ai approached Fan Zheng''s group and led them away. The confusion about the sudden development must have been great. But like those pigs, their desire for survival kicked in, realizing there would be no one temporarily to stop them from leaving.


    "Hurry. Once the other vigers arrived, it would be easier to be spotted on!"


    Zhao Ai softly said, her voice almost inaudible because of the shouts from all over the ce.


    The group took a deep breath then ran forward. Fan Zheng stole the sleeping kid from his sister''s back when he saw that she was falling behind them. In the middle of the night, the zing fire revealed their figures, and one of the men holding pails almost turned his head upon catching sight of a shadow moving around.


    "Who started it?"


    The appearance of the angry vige head caught his attention more and made him forget about the human shade shadow that he saw in his peripheral vision earlier.


    "Sir, we didn''t see anyone. We''re checking the origin of the fire to get some clues," while wiping his sweat, the middle-aged man answered.


    Zhao Guo looked around, not knowing what to do for a moment. Then he heard the owner of the barn yelling in a tragic tone, "My grains!!! And the herbs I stored inside!!!"


    The vige head came to his senses then sprinted towards the well to help with the firefighting. His thunderous voice echoed, "Everyone, let''s first prioritize putting this fire off! Old Zheng, recover whatever you could. Move! Move!"


    Inwardly, like the other locals, Zhao Guo determined this was premeditated and cursed the perpetrator before taking his time off to give some people a separate instruction.


    A dozen meters away from them, Fan Zheng and his friends were still running. None of them rejoiced at the fact that they had bypassed the patrol and sessfully stepped out of that ce. None of them dared to stop in fear that some of the vigers would go after them. They also didn''t dare pull their phones up from their pockets, relying on the scant illumination from the moon to not lose sight of the others who were running in front of them.


    It was apparent that they had no destination in mind, only aiming to get away as far as possible. They had no other thoughts. That pure desire drove them to run recklessly in the woods, huffing when they felt like running out of breath, but standing up quickly whenever they fell.


    For minutes they were like this. They couldn''t help but recall their times before reaching the vige and subconsciously felt bitter in their hearts.


    To be honest, they did not like this situation and there were actually times when they felt like abandoning the ones on their backs. The urge became prevalent when they began to hear angry unfamiliar voices from afar that hinted the vigers had finally realized something was wrong.


    Somewhere in the middle, they heard Zhan Rong cussing. "It must be that Zhao Guo!"


    All of them had their good impression of the vige head turned bad, with even a hint of fear when they understood how deep that person''s scheming and acting were. Despair loomed above their heads. The despair turned into ming. The subject of thetter the small ones slowing them down.


    But every time the thought of leaving the kids behind crossed their minds, they would suddenly feel cold all over, then woke up to remember another sad fact.


    They were not only fleeing from the partners of traffickers butpleting a quest from a certain damnable ghost!


    Putting their conscience aside, even if they made it out safely tonight, soon they would still die from the invisible hands of this ghost. They could not leave the kids for even a second!


    "Follow me! This way!"


    Who knows where Zhao Ai got aser toy, but she used that to signal where Fan Zheng''s group should go. The girl was rarely outside the vige but since she had lived her entire life there, she still had some degree of familiarity on routes used by her fellow people when going to the city. She was doing her best to recognize thendmarks and secret signs even though the darkness of the night was giving her a hard time.


    "Sh*tty forest! Everywhere looks the same. All trees!" Comined a voice not from the group.


    Zhao Ai and the male lead''s side grew more nervous and tense. The sweet vige girl anxiousness reminded them, "They''re getting nearer. We need to hurry up! Follow me closely!"


    Fan Zheng did not immediately recognize the voice, probably because their brains were kind of nk from those malicious voices. Also, the one who just spoke was female. There were no women amongst the guardsmen so they didn''t give it much thought, assuming it was one of thedies within their bunch.


    They did as told.


    With their visions partially impaired, they could only trust in their other senses and rely on their eyes for some subtle details like the silhouettes of theirpanions.


    Luckily, Zhao Ai was devoted to her role and was truly on their side now.


    The youths were lucky too to have not encountered any ghost or beast along the way, which meant their only enemies were their own stamina and the ones chasing after them.


    Also, the ghost they feared and hated, Jiang Li, was silently working hard to contribute. From the moment they stepped foot into the woods, he started warding off the insects, snakes, and other nocturnal creatures that could have impeded their escape.


    Minutester, because it was confirmed no astral beings coulde to that part of the forest, Jiang Li frowned. No assistance from ghosts meant less distraction for the pursuers. It was bad news.


    The group had not even traveled two kilometers from the vige. It would just be a matter of time before some of the hunters caught up.


    Reflecting it was partly his fault for forcing them to carry the children with them, Jiang Li used his remaining spiritual power to direct the fierce animals and snakes towards the pursuers. Shrieks reverberated shortly, giving him some feeling of satisfaction. Comints and warnings about the bees and mosquitoes then rang from the hunters.


    Only after hearing that did Jiang Li return to the ne, feeling drowsy and weak as a result of expending almost everything earned from the previous day. Taking a few days of rest would be inevitable for him.


    Before he fell asleep, he called the system and instructed it how to settle thest task he had issued.


    "Hey, once they get out, leave them a note about regaining their freedom. Do a good job with the rewarding this time. And no need to thank me for giving you a chance to be a good system."


    The system onlyughed awkwardly at his sardonically meaningful remark. "Okay, host."


    However, even though it secretly thought Jiang Li had read too much stuff from the previous worlds due to boredom and became crazy again, it still did as he said. It was the system''s way of making up for its previous disappearance.


    Time passed.


    Jiang Li waspletely asleep now. The frigid temperature in the woods gradually took its toll on the youths. Thankfully, they had already lost the vigers going after them.


    The group rested below a low cliff, panting for breath while pulling out clothes from their backpacks that they used as nkets tobat the cold. They did not forget to drape some over the kids as well.


    "We rest for ten minutes and then move again. I don''t believe those people would stop searching for us just like that," said Zhan Rong.


    The rest slowly nodded. None raised a protest since their senses were still warning them of danger. Thedies were feeling it the most, reminded of the dead eyes of the womenfolk in the vige.


    "Let''s pray they don''t find us soon, and for these little ones to continue sleeping," replied Guo Hanying with a bitter smile.


    Fan Zheng ced a forefinger on his lips and softly let out a ''hush''. Everyone lowered their heads and did not make any more noise.


    "8 minutes and 35 seconds," said Zhan Rong.


    Zhan Rong then briefly closed her eyes and hugged herself for a bit of warmth. Like the others, uneasiness was eating at her heart. But because somebody had to be the calm and wise one, she had to always control her voice and expressions. Or perhaps, it would be more urate to say, she had to hide her true feelings from her friends.


    Why did it have to be her though, you ask? She felt sorry for herself but Fan Zheng was a bitcking in IQ while An Ming, the eldest,pletelycked maturity.


    Feeling resigned to her fate, Zhan Rong took a deep breath.


    But then, when she opened her eyes, it happened to be in the direction of a girl with a petite built and clothes unfamiliar to her. The face too was not visible due to the shadow cast by a nearby tree.


    She froze. Then slowly swept her gaze around to count the people in the ce.


    Pupils slowly dting, Zhan Rong roared to the girl, "Who the hell are you!?"

 Chapter 378: Mo Chou (16)

    Chapter 378: Mo Chou (16)


    In their opinions, Zhao Ai''s appearance was so sudden and suspicious.


    Zhan Rong, Fan Lan, and the others were wary of her. Impression was hard to change so even though the female lead softened her attitude towards them and exined her side, their dislike of her remained.


    However, while it was true it would usually be illogical to let somebody like Zhao Ai, a mean daughter of a rampant criminal, go with them into the city, there were just some things that happened without a reason. But who made her the darling of heaven?


    In the end, the girl was not driven out.


    Fan Zheng was still infatuated with her. His infatuation towards her rekindled or rather, burned fiercer than before, after hearing her side.


    She was not really bad. She only did those things to make the foreigners go away... She did not want them to be victims but because she was powerless and afraid of those people, she could only use that clumsy method.


    In other words, he was correct about his initial assumptions about her when he first saw her! ''I should have known. There is no way, my heart would suddenly skip a beat for a horrible girl.,'' back then, he thought.


    The male lead forgot about the egg-breaking experience and thought that Zhao Ai was different from the rest of the vigers. Because of this, he convinced his friends to at least let her go with her until they exited the jungle.


    "Everyone, I know the first meeting was not good. But let''s not be too harsh on her, alright? In the end, it''s still a fact that she helped us," he said in a righteous tone.


    Fan Lan looked disbelievingly at her brother. "What did you say? You already forgot what she did to me yesterday at the temple? I was badly bullied! Your sister almost rolled down the staircase because of her!"


    Zhao Ai looked awkward but still said sorry and repeated the reason for her behavior. "My mistake. I ask for your forgiveness, Miss Fan. I just don''t know any other way to force you all away. If I directly warned you foreigners about my father and the rest, I will be a traitor in their eyes. I''m afraid my fate would then be worse than anybody in the vige."


    "Worse than the mothers and kids there?" Guo Hanying hissed.


    Zhao Ai looked down, feeling her cheeks burning red from their stares. She stuttered out, "You lot simply have no idea what they can do"


    "We have eyes, miss. Look, we took these little ones with us. We know what they can do. So since you''re from there, are you an exception?" Zhan Rong asked coldly. They saw so many women with dead eyes at that ce. It was obvious, the female lead''s method did not work. With that said, she wanted to know if Zhao Ai had ever extended a helping hand to them after.


    Zhan Rong was very disappointed when the other looked away.


    Zhao Ai could only remain silent, not only because she was ashamed, but because she was momentarily intimidated by the calm but frigid re from the noble-like girl. Before she knew it, her helpless gaze fell on Fan Zheng. Seeing her that embarrassed and without a clue what to do, the male lead felt bad for her.


    "Hey, our great Lady Rong. Don''t be like that, okay? Think about this. No matter what''s been said and done before, she''s the one who gave us that precious opportunity to escape. We at least should repay this favor."


    Zhan Rong silently red at the young man.


    She had yet to reply when the eldest chimed in, "... We first need some guarantee that this girl is not coordinating with those people. I can''t be at ease because she''s that person''s daughter."


    Because Fan Zheng looked like he would fight them if they keep their stance, the group had no choice but grit their teeth and ept. Zhan Rong became very annoyed though. If a voting session happened, it would be 7 to 1, but for some inexplicable reason, even though the others were against it from the bottom of their hearts, they couldn''t win against Fan Zheng. The girl momentarily wondered if Zhao Ai was a witch, buffing the stupid guy with some eloquence.


    "Tie her up, throw away theser toy," she could only say.


    Fan Zheng''s face showed relief. He then nodded. The girl in question smartly cooperated knowing the one in charge did not like her at all.


    When ten minutes passed, Zhan Rong acted deaf when the girls asked for an extension and forced everyone to stand up. She no longer spoke.


    It was a great thing that when they moved again, they encountered no more human obstruction. Still, the return journey was not that smooth. It had been a long-established rule that whenever the children of heaven teamed up, troubles would follow.


    The pitiful bunch experienced being chased by a bear, a two-meter python, a horde of bees Some of them even stepped on traps made by hunters.


    How were they still alive?


    It was pure luck from the leads'' halos that saved them all, a miracle per se considering they were carrying kids.


    But while Fan Zheng and Zhao Ai were sessfully brought closer by these strange experiences, the others were in traumatized. They were exhausted, and tired of eating meat jerkies stolen from the vige. The kids had also woken up and began to cry and make a fuss. It took a lot of energy to deal with them. With their bloodshot eyes and cranky heads, they were on the verge of nning to just burn the whole thing down once they exited from it.


    Two days passed and the dirty miserable bunch finally reached a town.


    "Finally!" A cry of joy escape from everyone''s mouth.


    "Hahaha, we have escaped from hell!"


    "Hallelujah!"


    The residents were scared by the sight of the beggar-looking students crying andughing madly.


    Hourster, the extra pieces of baggage on them were left in the station for the police to deal with. Thetter did not make things difficult for them after seeing their state and their IDs. The contrast of the pictures from their current appearance made it easy for the officers to believe they had just gone through so much difficulty escaping from traffickers and rescuing the little ones.


    "We have verified your identities but since there are things we still want to discuss with you all, we will contact you soon."


    "Thank you for your consideration," said Fan Zheng. "I promise we will cooperate."


    The chief nodded and asked, "Do you need our help to get in touch with your guardians?"


    The group shook their heads, raising their phones. "We already contacted them."


    "Good."


    Two officers were then sent to escort them to the nearest hotel.


    Zhao Ai? She had long disappeared before they reached the police station. Not even Fan Zheng was informed of her ns and destination. In fact, he didn''t even know when she left them.


    After dropping them off the hotel and helping them with amodations, the police officers drove away. Everyone then burst into cheers,ughter, and tears. The mixed reactions simply made them look crazy, garnering odd stares from those who saw them on their way to their rooms.


    "It''s been hell," cried Guo Hanying in a tired voice.


    To this, An Ming said, "Yes. It''s been a heck of an adventure. But look!" While crying like a baby, the big guyughed out loud, "We survived! We faced ghosts and monsters, but we survived! Hahaha!"


    "I promise to not go anywhere near a mountain in the future. I''ll be a good daughter from now on. I swear."


    "Me too."


    "Hmm. Let''s go to sleep. We can''t forget to go backter to the station to report. The pictures are not enough. I''m sure they need our testimonies and only let us off because we''re in bad shape."


    "Fine." They nodded. Anyway, they were really tired.


    Together with the other girls, Zhan Rong entered the room, groggily washed up, and then burrowed into theforter. It was a wonder for her how the others could still chat. But anyway, she didn''t join them.


    She was so sleepy that she simply closed her eyes without removing the towel wrapped around her hair. But before sleep took her away, she seemed to have heard a voice speaking directly inside her brain. A voice she was sure not from her female friends since it sounded so stiff and robotic.


    [Name, Zhang Rong... Age, 21 Good day. This is system 025 speaking.]


    [Hello~}


    [I hope you can hear me clearly. If not, well... in any case...}


    [Congrattions! You sessfully cleared the horror survival game, Hell-Level Dungeon: Den of Devils!]


    [Main reward: Nothing, or rather, no more haunting from the Dungeon BOSS, Li]


    [As the first person to suggest leaving the most dangerous area of the forest, you are dered the MVP of your batch.]


    [Congrattions on being the MVP!]


    [Unconditionally receive the reward.]


    [Host, would you like to bind with it now?]


    With barely a thread of awareness remaining in her, Zhan Rong let out a groan of confusion and knitted her brows. Her brain was too muddled to understand half of what had been spoken to her. No. Actually, she didn''t even manage to hear clearly the second sentence because in between bouts of consciousness, she wondered if she was already in dreand, hearing and experiencing weird stuff.


    ''... I must still be haunted in my sleep. But whatever.'' This was thest thing she thought after tossing once. This happened when the voice was still halfway in its announcement.


    The system which was quite impatient with her did not check whether the girl was already asleep or not and simply took her soft ''Hmm?'' as a yes.


    Without even counting down or projecting a progress bar for the so-called binding, it said in a monotonous tone,


    "Alright! Thank you for your affirmative response. System has been sessfully loaded."


    "And congrats again! You''re now bound to the ''Ghost Petting System''!"

 Chapter 379: Mo Chou (17)

    Chapter 379: Mo Chou (17)


    If Jiang Li was still awake, the half-hearted job done by the system would have made himugh out loud already. But anyway, when 12 hours passed, everyone in the room was just suddenly woken up from their sweet dreams by Zhan Rong''s scream.Not.


    When the girl woke up from her sleep and escaped the shackles ced upon her by drowsiness and confusion, it was nearly 5 am. Her body which had nearly broken down from the days of stress and tenseness made her sleep more than three hours than normal.


    She stared nkly at the wall upon being greeted by a floating screen containing everything announced to her by the system yesterday.


    [Name, Zhang Rong... Age, 21 Good day. This is system 025 speaking.]


    [Hello~}


    [I hope you can hear me clearly. If not, well... it doesn''t matter. The system provides a speech-to-text conversion service for your eyes convenience.]


    It turned out the thing was sozy to repeat what it said before she slept and just created a panel for her to read. The drastic change of attitude, if seen by the real host, would have puzzled him greatly.


    But Jiang Li would not be waking up any time soon so his reaction would be forter.


    [By the way... Congrattions! You sessfully cleared the horror survival game, Hell-Level Dungeon: Den of Devils!]


    [Main reward: Nothing, or rather, no more haunting from the Dungeon BOSS, Li]


    [As the first person to suggest leaving the most dangerous area of the forest, you are dered the MVP of your batch.]


    [Congrattions on being the MVP!]


    [Unconditionally receive the reward.]


    [Host, would you like to bind with it now?]


    .


    .


    .


    The three dots that followed seemed to be there on purpose to show an interval, most likely to wait for a reply. But did she say anything?


    [Alright! Thank you for your affirmative response. System has sessfully loaded.]


    [And congrats again! You''re now bound to the ''Ghost Petting System''!]


    Zhan Rong reread the information shing before her eyes for a couple more times, digesting the details as much as she could, and formting several hypotheses in her mind to exin why she was seeing things.


    Momentster, she rose from the bed while looking at herpanions who were still hugging their pillows and nket tightly. Her expression then darkened. If her guess was correct, the boys next door were also in a simr situation. There would be no one for her ask.


    ''Forget it. I''m too pissed off at everyone to talk to them.''


    For a minute, she marveled at the panel that followed her wherever she went. Even at the bathroom, it was an odd sight seeing something that was not reflected by the mirror. She then checked her body if any weird item had been put on her. In some fiction works, there were characters like that who passed out for an unknown reason and then woke up in a deserted ind with a watch or a bracelet put on their wrists.


    Her circumstance was different. But didn''t she just experience something so unbelievable before arriving at this town?


    The announcement from the hi-tech holographic panel gave her that vibe. It was already quite a challenge for her to keep her cool.


    ''If some organization is really experimenting on me without my knowledge, if I have to, I''ll approach my old man to punish them.'' Her expression warped in irritation.


    However, even after twirling several times in front of the bathroom mirror, she found nothing of that sort. Her body was alright too. The slight fatigue was of no worth mentioning since it was obviously due to her nightmarish days in the forest.


    As for the floating bluish screen, it automatically disappeared when she got pissed off and yelled in her mind for it to get out of her sight. Zhan Rong was rendered speechless by that. She had to admit, while the thing looked cool, she was truly disturbed by the fact that she had no idea where it came from and what was going on. She couldn''t sigh in relief even after the panel went away.


    ''That suspicious thing said that ce is a dungeon, huh?''


    Several minutes were spent on browsing for the experiences of the other hikers and tourists regarding that forest. She became more restless when she confirmed only they had escaped from the vige alive. It made her wonder if the reason why there was no record about that the evils of those viges was this dungeon-thing or something else.


    Feeling so anxious, Zhan Rong took off her bathrobe and changed into a clean set of clothes. Her bag still had two clean sets due to them not having the leisure to change clothes when they were busy running away.


    Next, she picked up her belongings and phoned her nanny. A good thing before she washed up yesterday she had charged her phone''s battery. When the call connected, she was able to instruct the person on the other line to send a driver to her.


    Copies of pictures she took from the vige were sent to their chat group.


    Afterward, without saying goodbye to her friends who seemed to be nning to sleep the whole day away, she set out for the capital.


    On the road, she didn''t forget to stop by a famous temple and ask the abbot there to hold some cleansing ceremony for her.


    The door to the temple was open and smoke could be seening from it. Not long after, a voice rang.


    "Hmmm. Miss, we''re halfway done and actually, I didn''t feel any bad elements around you. While I can see that you have gone through something horrible, your fortune is good. Perhaps in your previous life, you have umted quite a good amount of karma which allowed you to survive the most recent cmity," said the skinny monk to her slowly.


    The kind-looking man wore a brown robe that covered almost his whole body apart from the shiny wrinkled head and bony hands. He was sitting cross-legged on a mat. Standing behind him were two kids who seemed to be his assistants or disciples.


    The kneeling Zhan Rong lowered her head to hide her frown. Not long after, she asked the bald abbot. "Forgive me for finding it hard to believe, abbot. But I really feel like I''m still haunted. I won''t ask for you to perform the cleansing again. But would it be alright if I take another fortune stick?"


    The monk stared at her for a moment then nodded. He pushed the decorated cup containing t incense-like sticks towards the girl. Thetter looked intently at the red-painted ends of the sticks before reaching for the cylinder and shaking it.


    "It''s a different verse than the one you got from the pre-ceremony, but the meaning is almost the same. Miss, you don''t have to worry about bad fortune anymore. At least not in the foreseeable future."


    A gentle smile formed on the face of the monk while holding the book on hand and looking at the number on the stick that dropped out of the red-painted cylinder.


    The bald man added, "In actuality, my reading said you''ve have benefited from the cmity and gained the best reward. It may be something spiritual or a lesson from the experience itself. If you don''t mind, can you tell me what happened to you in the past few days?"


    Zhan Rong''s lips twitched. "I''d rather not share it, master. Sorry."


    If she could she would have told the person about the escape and the weird thing floating before her every time she thought of the word ''system''.


    But probably the girl had had enough of the divination and realized a true Maoshan sect disciple should be who she should seek out.


    ''Where''s that best reward?'' The thought caused her to shake her head.


    She bid the monk a goodbye and stood up.


    It so happened that when she was just a few meters from the road, the driver from her home finally arrived which meant she would no longer have to use public transportations.


    "Miss, I''m d to see you back, " the driver greeted while opening the door of the ck car for her. "How''s the trip, this time?"


    Although her smile froze for a couple of moments, Zhan Rong managed to say in the end, "It''s quite... memorable."


    The driverughed. "It''s nice to hear then. Mr. Fan and your other friends must have taken care of you on the trip. They told me they have researched for days about the destination before inviting you."


    Zhan Rong almost rolled her eyes. ''It''s I who took care of them. If I only knew it would be that dangerous, I would have arranged for some bodyguards to follow me. It''s my fault for thinking nothing will go wrong or no one will target me for not many knew I am that man''s daughter.''


    "As usual, take me back to the vi near the university." After nodding, she said, no longer continuing the previous topic.


    The middle-aged man dressed neatly in a suit raised his head, "The vi? Uhm, Miss, it''s been two weeks since the master has seen you. When he heard you''re back, he wants you to join the dinner with the family tonight. Won''t you consider dropping by?"


    Zhan Rong threw herrge bag on the backseat. Before entering, she turned to the driver and saw the unreadable expression from his face.


    After thinking it through, she indifferently answered, "No."


    She flipped her hair and took her seat, "Mr. Zhan is busy so it''s definitely hard for him to get quality time with his family. An outsider like me should be sensible and not barge in. And it''s not like I need his attention and money to survive."

 Chapter 380: Mo Chou (18)

    Chapter 380: Mo Chou (18)


    The car door closed. The middle-aged man secretly sighed in his heart before starting the car. That was the only conversation they had since the girl no longer spoke.


    ''Poor girl. Maybe I should not have raised that topic. After all, if the boss is sincere about it, he would be the one to invite her over.''


    Zhan Rong was the eldest daughter of a very wealthy and influential man. But in the original storyline, Fan Zheng''s family was mentioned as the most affluent one, or at least the most influential amongst the ones who filed the case against that whole vige.


    There were two reasons behind this.


    First, Zhan Rong died.Second, she was not close to her father. Since there was not much familial love between them, the father did not pursue the matter and only sent some people to deal with her remains.


    The reason behind the awkward rtionship was not solely because the father had remarried when she was five years old and drifted closer to the new wife. It was because of Zhan Rong''s mothers... Yep, mothers. She was conceived through surrogacy so it could be said she had two.


    Unfortunately, when she was only seven months old, the surrogate mother kidnapped Zhan Rong to extort arge amount of money from her father. The incident left a bad taste in Mr. Zhan''s mouth and made him dislike the daughter who hade out of the womb of that malicious woman.


    Another culprit for the cold treatment from her father was her real mother, the former Mrs. Zhan. This woman was still alive. But she faked her death in order to run away with her real lover. The two were now abroad.


    Quite a number of properties had been transferred to her name before the event which wereter sold to fund her and her little lover''s escape. All of those properties originally belonged to Mr. Zhan.


    In all of these, little Zhan Rong was innocent.


    However, the man who had been done twice by women only knew she was rted to those two women and began to dislike her. For him, Zhan Rong was an annoying existence.


    Who asked her to be almost a carbon copy of his cheating wife, a reminder of humiliating experiences he went through in his first marriage? Not to mention, she was a girl!


    Mr. Zhan was not an extremely patriarchial person. But he wanted a son for his firstborn, a son who would bear his name and pass it down to his future descendants. Sadly, as a daughter, Zhan Rong naturally had no way to fulfill this, unless she would marry someone who would be kind enough to let their kids bear thest name Zhan.


    In any case, Mr. Zhan disliked her so Zhan Rong grew updistant from her father. She was only receiving mary support from him, almost like an orphan. She was not loved. Only nannies and servants checked on her whenever she was sad or ill.


    In the world of rich kids, her situation was a natural ma for bullies.


    However, was she bullied? Thankfully, not. No one dared.


    It was not only because she hid her real status most of the time and acted quite low-key. Mr. Zhan, being a face lover who frequently said to his acquaintances, ''It''s okay for me to scold my child, but others bullying her, it''s not!'', also contributed little to this. The man loved to talk. However, the number of times he truly extended a helping hand to his daughter could be counted on one finger.


    The real reason... it was Zhan Rong herself. She was quite clever and was never a pushover.


    Since she knew that only those who didn''t know how to intimidate others and fight back would be picked on, she cultivated a kind ofre that she rarely cast, but once she did, it was scary enough to keep bullies away. It had certain effects on adults.


    And the air around her, she got it from her environment and upbringing. That irresponsible face-loving father of her threw many private tutors to her after all, mainly to make her learn etiquette and stuff which she was very sure was for the purpose of arranging a good, useful marriage for her in the future. In any case, she capitalized on the knowledge gained, knowing it would make one think she was invible, an ice goddess that one should only admire from afar.


    Why was such a person acquainted with Fan Zheng and the rest? Due to the same hobby, what else?


    If not for that, in all honesty, only Fan Zheng, who was secretly a disciple of a modern cultivation sect, would be qualified to make friends with Zhan Rong. Or not really qualified... But would be interesting enough for Zhan Rong to acquaint herself.


    Now though, this hobby had done her badly and made her go through a horrible time.


    ''System?'' It was just an attempt to verify something.


    However, Zhan Rong''s face darkened when a panel floated before her. Secondster, she sighed. In front her remained the proof of her sufferings in the forest which could also be proof that she was haunted by some ghost or another weird entity.


    Along the way, she gradually epted that she was not being delusional and was really seeing something that others couldn''t. In desperation, since there was nothing else to reference, she resorted to checking some stories online under the system genre.


    She scanned thetter part of the screen.


    ''I don''t know if it''s legit. But why is it called Ghost Petting System?''


    Her eyes stayed on thest three words.


    Shortly after, her face turned sour again.


    ''Is it hinting me to catch ghosts and raise them like pokemon?''


    ''It can''t be, right?''


    Time passed and the girl began to kill boredom by waving her right forefinger in the air while summoning and de-summoning the screen.


    ''Well. Maybe it''s already good that this thing is not bringing me harm.''


    The system seemed to have heard her thoughts since it suddenly changed the wall of texts in the holographic panel.


    [Host is detected to have gotten past her initial shock. Thank you for epting the system''s existence]


    Zhan Rong suddenly froze in ce.


    [Checking database for a suitable mission.]


    [Mission Issued: Go explore ten famous haunted ces in this city to collect Yin Energy]


    [Deadline One week]


    [Reward: Your exclusive pet ghost will awaken to start selling meng to you]


    [Punishment You will be thrown into another Hell Difficulty Dungeon]


    Zhan Rong: "..."


    She felt like she heard a malicious giggle just now.


    The driver in front did not notice the abnormalities at first. But a minuteter, he saw the youngdy ring intently at the back of his headboard, her balled fists trembling, making him feel some chill on his back.

 Chapter 381: Mo Chou (19)

    Chapter 381: Mo Chou (19)


    Zhan Rong loved adventures and visiting tourist spots. She loved capturing beautiful sceneries using her camera, or if thetter was not avable, then her brain too would do. For beautiful ces, she didn''t mind traveling for miles and traversing ragged orplicated paths.


    But like any normal person in this world, she hated journeying to bothersome or unworthwhile ces and could find thousands of reasons to avoid making the trip. Like on the day she returned from the supposed mountain climbing and her driver suggested she visit her father. Since she knew the trip would only result in her blood pressure rising due to the annoying faces of her father, stepmother, and half-brother, she did not hesitate to dismiss the invitation. Otherwise, she would have gone there even if she was badly in need of rest and sleep.


    Right now, the thing that suddenly bound itself to her wanted her to explore locations rich in paranormal stories, ces that belonged to what she didn''t want to waste energy on.


    However, as someone who already got a taste of what supernatural beings could do, would she dare brave failing the mission to see whether the mentioned consequences would be imposed on her or not?


    That was a question that took quite a lot of time for her to consider.


    ''Maybe I should be d that at least it''s not strictly specified for me to visit haunted ces at night or wee hours?'' she asked herself, a bitter smile hung on her lips.


    At first, Zhan Rong tried to ignore the panel that would appear whenever the keyword crossed her mind. She acted like it didn''t exist. But knowing and not knowing could make a lot of difference. Because at the back of her mind, she knew that thing exists, and knew there was a task she mustplete, she became restless. Her lovely but icy figure could be seen frequently staring at the void. In the end, to free herself from that feeling, she began to collect information about haunted ces on the inte.


    The next day, Zhan Rong left her house and went to some of the nearer haunted ces. Without knowledge of how to collect that so-called Yin energy, she chose a spot near the exit and sat down. She stayed at every ce for an hour.


    Then reality hit her hard when she summoned the ''system'' and no progress showed on the screen. It made her face pale.


    So she has to do this at night? At a time when the presence of dirty things would be running rampant?


    Zhan Rong took a deep breath and almost considered dragging Fan Zheng and the rest with her so she could at least share the suffering with them. Didn''t they say friendship should be tested through fire? For a while, she pondered whether to bluff them that the haunting was still not over, her receiving a mission was a possibility that on the next mission, all of them would resume being haunted by that ghost, Li.


    She had some ckmail materials for those seven people, no? And Fan Zheng should be willing toe with her since ghosts that he could exorcise might pop up in those locations.


    A whileter, Zhan Rong came back to her senses. Her rational told her that no matter how hopeless she felt, it would be wrong to drag innocent people into something that could be dangerous and life-threatening. She was not yet at the point of no return to stoop that low.


    Days passed.


    Left with no choice, she spent the rest of the nights sneaking into eerie locations at night regardless of the odd gazes from the people from her house who were weirded out of her frequent night trips. She had not muchmunication with her friends too, either preupied with the mission or sleeping at daytime, dreaming of ghosts and scary stuff.


    In just three days, she developed eyebags that worried many of her acquaintances.


    ''The one yesterday should be the tenth haunted spot...'' Her eyes reddened, in anger and hopeless.


    ncing at the less than fifty percent progress on the floating panel, she knew she had been pitted. The top ten haunted ces on the inte and records might be different from the ones the system was making her look for.


    Once again, she found herself sighing.


    If there was something good her current circumstances brought to her, it was that she started to fear ghosts less after discovering they couldn''t harm her, most likely due to the talisman given by Fan Zheng. She was reminded that she already experienced the worst, so there was no need to be that afraid. At least not to the point that she would immediately scurry out of the neighborhood upon catching glimpse of something floating. A ghost or two showing before her was way less scary than a battalion ambushing her on all sides.


    Though when thought in another angle, growing less scared... Did that make her situation less sh*ttier?


    Anyways, Zhan Rong did not change her modus. Every night she went to haunted ces. Abandoned schools, hospitals featured on urban stories, apartment buildings popr to spirit hunters


    She was so busy and focused on looking for ghosts that she didn''t know, the worried housekeepers, told Fan Zheng about her suspicious behaviors. The young man then tried to tail her, although, in the end, the two did not meet.


    This happened on the fifth day when Zhan Rong visited an abandoned ancient-style mansion near a railway station. Fan Zheng lost her because he was targeted by a fairly strong spirit.


    Done running from the first floor to the third, he encountered Zhao Ai who was actually staying in that house! Yes, that pretty girl from the vige, the female lead!


    ''Wow, the plot sure knows how to create coincidences for these two.'' If Jiang Li was here, he would have sneered and said this.


    In any case, the female lead who had just entered the real society with no whatsoever n for her life nor clue on how hard for an innocent jobless minor to survive the city ended up taking refuge in that ownerless mansion. Before she met Fan Zheng, she did not even know that she had been cohabiting with ghosts for days, only that she was sharing living spaces with cockroaches and rats.


    One could imagine Zhao Ai''s surprise upon locking eyes with the male lead there.


    On why she didn''t use her money to rent a bedspace or a small room, well... who knows? Perhaps she thought she had so little in her pocket so she rather used the money for food in order to not starve while looking for a job?

 Chapter 382: Mo Chou (20) <2-in-1>

    Chapter 382: Mo Chou (20) <2-in-1>


    When the male lead found her, she was gloomily stacking up empty cups of noodles. Imagine her embarrassment from being found by her crush in that kind of situation. It was truly awkward. She couldn''t help but turn away in a panic and hide her face and a scream came out of her throat, "Ahhhhh! Intruder! Go out! Go out!"


    However, Fan Zheng did not move away since he had already recognized her. "Miss Zhao?"


    His voice was rather tense and hoarse, and he said this in a doubtful tone. But she knew he was sure of who she was, and only confused about her reason for being at this ce.


    It made her shiver. For more than ten seconds she didn''t answer and only kept on burying her face in her hand while retreating in a corner. Her response was almost suggesting he was a bad person that she should stay away from, not that she was backing away due to not knowing what to do or say.


    Fan Zheng felt odd in his heart. He spoke, "Miss Zhao. I''m d to see you again. But how did you end up here? Do you know? On that day, we were very surprised to suddenly find you gone. You didn''t bid us goodbye or exchange contact information with us. Why did you leave just like that?"


    Zhao Ai was embarrassed and did not know how to answer him. "I, I... "


    He just watched her do strange but cute gestures in the air, patiently waiting.For a while, he found it strange that the fierce girl from before turned to be this shy.


    She looked down. It took her some time to turn his way. Still, she didn''t dare meet his gaze that seemed to be studying her face intently. She began with an apology. "M-Mr. Fan. I''m sorry. I, I left since I know... everyone apart from you dislikes me... which is reasonable given how I treated everyone before the escape."


    The young man shook his head while slowly approaching. "All of us know you''re not like those people. My friends too just need a few days of rest to clear their minds. After all, we''re all on edge while fleeing so it''s not a wonder that their temper became quite explosive. However, by now, I''m sure they have calmed down... You... "


    Fan Zheng paused for a while, torn between asking and not asking about the reason she became a tenant of this eerie mansion. He subconsciously looked around for a while then saw her few belongings after shining his phone''s shlight in the ce. A lost expression surfaced on his handsome face. She stayed such a dirty ce? And lived on instant noodles and biscuits?


    Zhao Ai noticed his expression. Her face reddened so she bowed again. "Too shabby... right?"


    Fan Zheng gave her a nce and felt distressed about her thin figure that he immediately assumed to be due to malnutrition. There were many girls amongst his acquaintances who were as thin, yet the girl before him was the only one who made him feel like she should not look this unhealthy.


    "Hey, Miss Zhao. Don''t you have any rtives in the city? I thought you braved escaping with us because you have someone to depend on outside the vige. Even I can''t help but feel bad for you now. "


    Zhao Ai softly answered. "I have a mother who tried to escape from there. I can''t remember much since that time I was still little. But when I grew up and began to think more about my situation, I realized there''s a very small chance of her escaping sessfully. Also, even if she did, I have no way to contact her. In short, I have no one to turn to here."


    The ce was dark but the crescent moon yed its part. With some moonlight falling on her sad face, Fan Zheng just felt that something tightened within his chest. He disliked seeing her sad. In a minute, he forgot about his friend. All that was in his head was his pity for the beautiful girl.


    "Alright. Don''t make that kind of face anymore. I appreciate your helpst time, so I will give you a ce to stay. My home is quite big anyway. However, you still have to work for your food and other necessities. Are you okay with that?"


    His voice sounded very pleasant to the ears, especially since the words he said just now were good news to Zhao Ai. Her sense of shame was thrown away somewhere. She looked up and expectantly said, "I have no problem, working. I fear no hardships. But can I really stay at your ce?"


    Fan Zheng smiled. "Yeah. Since it seems we both came to an understanding, it''s settled then."


    She nodded and happily grabbed his hand. "Thank you. Thank you. I will work hard! I promise!''


    She received augh from him as a reply.


    In this way, although it happened at a weird time and weird ce, the leads were brought back together.


    The dirtiness of Zhao Ai''s face and clothes did not disgust Fan Zheng, but instead made him distress for her sake. So without seeing his friend who was supposedly his real reason for going there, he led Zhao Ai out of the eerie mansion and drove her to his apartment.


    Zhan Rong?


    An hourter, she walked out there by herself looking like a mess, a result of tripping on a metal bar and falling on a heap of garbageafter being surprised by a pervert-looking ghost.


    Following that encounter, she learned two valuable lessons. First, only those who could not control their expressions and emotions when faced with supernatural beings would end up being bothered by them. Seconds, spirits that could speak were way scarier than those who only chased people randomly. And nope, she didn''t realize this with the ''help'' of the pervert-looking male ghost.


    It was on thete afternoon of the sixth day, after she did a preliminary survey of the next destination, a road famous for being a haunted spot of a whitedy who allegedly died from a vehicr ident.


    Due to the call of nature, which could also be med on her nerves being put to test too much, she dropped by a nearby mall to use the public restroom there.


    When Zhan Rong was about to push open a door to the first cubicle which seemed the only vacant one at the moment, she suddenly heard that voiceing from inside. "There''s a human here, hey! You perv!"


    She froze in shock and widened her eyes before stepping back. She then watched as the small opening on the door closed gently as if it was pushed by the wind from within. A momentter, she then remembered what the other party called her. Face flushed, she hurriedly said, "Sorry, sorry. I swear, it''s not on purpose... I didn''t notice somebody''s already inside."


    "You talk too much, b*tch!" That sharp voice echoed again.


    Afterward, Zhan Rong heard a grunt.


    She knew the girl in the first cubicle was annoyed by her. But well, who wouldn''t? If that happened to her, she would definitely give the other a good demo of her killer eyes upon exiting.


    However, Zhan Rong was also pretty annoyed herself. She faced the mirror and chose tob her long straight hair to kill time, muttering under her breath, "B*tch, you say... But how hard was it to lock the door before doing your business? In a way, you''re also at fault."


    A minute passed and Zhan Rong had already checked the time twice on her phone.


    The person in the third cubicle walked out and looked at her, then hurriedly exited the restroom. Another young woman came in, heading for the first cubicle.


    Zhan Rong saw it all through the reflection so before she stepped into the most recently vacated spot, she instinctively opened her mouth to warn the new girl, "Wait, miss. There''s someone using that cubi---"


    "Bam!" A loud sound of a door being closed reverberated, causing her to stop speaking, her mouth still open, and her jaws slowly droppingpletely on the floor.


    She had to say, her brain suddenly nked out for a couple of moments.


    Because she realized the new girl only came in there because there was nobody inside the first cubicle in the first ce


    So who spoke to her and called her perv? Who owned that voice that kept repeating in her head? Did that person leave without her noticing... even though she had always been standing opposite the door, never looking away from the mirror?


    Zhan Rong closed her mouth and swallowed. While walking out of the restroom, she kept her eyes on the tiles, aware that if she raised her head, her eyes might wander and attract dirty things. She chose to head to another floor to settle her business.


    Her first encounter with a talking ghost left her quite a psychological dilemma since she knew the voice would ring by her ears in her sleep for at least a day or two.


    ...


    Zhang Rou who went off to do some shopping and food tripping to forget what happened on the first floor''s toilet did not know that before the new girl came inside the first cubicle, thetter first took a good look at her, tilting her head due to a feeling that she couldn''t name.


    Also, before she closed the door, she looked at the inside of the ce, finding nothing amiss... apart from a little female ghost that immediately scrambled off when it felt her presence. So was this what the woman wanted to talk about her?


    The girl, who was actually as pretty as a celebrity star, with a mole near the left corner of her lips as her most memorable trait, wanted to reply to the other woman. However, before she knew it, Zhan Rong had already run away. And thus she could only shrug and treat it as a strange experience.


    A couple of minutester, the twenty-year-old girl smirked at the mirror outside the cubicles. Just when she finished retouching her makeup, her phone buzzed. The smile on her face turned wry at the name that shed on her screen.


    "Hello, cousin!" she greeted enthusiastically in a sweet tone, as if she was not the one who reluctantly epted the call.


    "Gu Mochou, where the hell are you?!" A displeased male voice echoed from the speaker. Gu Mochou''s pretty face warped into annoyance almost immediately. "You ran away again! For the nth time! Do you know that Uncle Gu and Auntie Gu are calling everyone in their phonebook to ask for your whereabouts?!"


    The girl smoothed out her expression then checked her face one more time before walking out. While joining the mall-goers strolling around, she sheepishly replied, "Ahm, cousin. I''m sorry for worrying you... but allow me to rify, okay? I didn''t run away, just visiting city B in advance. You know, my parents n to transfer me to a university here. I figure it would be nice to familiarize myself with the ce before the transfer."


    Gu Yijun, her cousin who was also a busy graduating college student, went silent for some time. She guessed he took some time to calm himself, although he still ended up barking at her, "Just to survey some ce, huh? Even if you want to check out your new school, shouldn''t you at least inform someone beforehand before disappearing for days? How worried do you think your parents had been?"


    "Sorry." She softened her voice, dragged the two sybles, and made it sound very apologetic and sincere. However, her face had a cute smile on it as she took the esctor. It was easy to tell she was experienced in ying with her voice and expression to leave the best impression on her conversation partner or get away with something she should be quite guilty of.


    Just now, a good-looking guy stared at her in disbelief hearing how different her words from her face were and she only grinned at her haughtily.


    "I will contact mom and dadter to tell them how I''m doing. Will you still be angry with me?"


    After saying that, she froze. Her eyes suddenly stopped on a familiar figure, a long-haireddy wearing tight jeans and a blue hanging blouse, with a pair of white pumps on her feet,plete with other expensive-looking essories on her neck, wrists, and ears. It was the elegant girl in the restroom.


    "When are you going back?" Perhaps because Gu Mochou really sounded repentant a while back, her older male cousin also softened his tone.


    He didn''t know the girl on the other line was watching Zhan Rong intently.


    Shortly after, Gu Mochou seemed to have remembered something so he just heard her say, "Cousin, the thing is... I don''t know when I''ll go back. And I just saw an acquaintance so I n to catch up with her first. I''m really sorry. I''ll call youter, okay? Bye!"


    A beeping noise echoed after she pressed the end call button, leaving the man on the other line confused and angry again. Gu Mochou grabbed her bag tightly and then started climbing the moving esctor. Upon reaching the next floor, she did not hesitate to follow Zhan Rong.


    Her gaze that had a hint of yfulness in it a while ago turned solemn, and even a bit sharp. Why? Because that morous woman just now had the aura of someone very familiar to her, Zhao Bolin. That autistic guy who had died in his attempt to free her from that vige! Gu Mochou finally knew why she felt her connection with the other so without dy, she ran towards the woman.

 Chapter 383: Mo Chou (21) <2-in-1>

    Chapter 383: Mo Chou (21) <2-in-1>


    Mo Chou, that was the previous name she had in her previous life. As a reincarnated person, unlike Fan Zheng who was only lucky to be picked up by a Daoist from Maoshan Sect, but one who hailed from a spirit hunter family, Mo Chou had greater abilities when dealing with ghosts.


    In her previous life, while she was not the pride of her family for not being the strongest, she was at least one of the proficient junior members. At a simr age, she was stronger than Fan Zheng, thanks to her background and theck of technology and others that would distract practitioners from cultivation.


    She got her title of witch from having an interest in herbology. In other words, that appetion ''witch,'' was just a funny title her friends from the sect had given her for frequently digging around nts and sometimes unearthing worms and bugs which reminded her fellows of thedies from the Miao ethnic group. The sect leader frequently called those Miaodies, especially their female leader, a witch, and it got extended to Mo chou who happened to be sharing one of theirmon trademarks.


    But while her brothers and sisters called Mo Chou that, she actually had a great rtionship with them and received a lot of pointers from them. The girl grew up smoothly without much trouble and grew her abilities as well.


    At the time of her death, that was at thirty years old, she could already be considered a master that could deal with ghosts at the level of Jiang Li, a rank below monks that could vanquish ghost kings.


    Unfortunately, while Mo Chou had be a strong spirit huntress, with plenty of experience in exorcism, she was not good at dealing with real people. She was not stupid, true. Her parents and seniors often talked about things she should do when facing normal people and shemitted them all to mind. But knowing humans could be terrible from the mouth of ghosts who died horrible deaths from the hands of their fellow humans was different from experiencing it firsthand.


    Like a person would only know domestic violence was bad, but would not know the extent of the harm it could do to someone unless he goes through it.


    Because of her naivety andck of experience with the living, when Mo Chou fell from a cliff and ended up a captive of those vigers, her mind was paralyzed and she couldn''t think of a way to escape.


    In the end, she was vited by Zhao Guo. Then almost got passed on to another rough man. Her death would have be more miserable if not for the autistic guy who blocked that pig demon for her. He died though. And she who managed to run outside also died not long after from several arrows that punctured her abused body.


    In this world, there were really all sorts of evil and darkness. While some lived a blessed life, there were others not having it good.


    For Mo Chou, the past was really something very painful for her to remember.


    But perhaps because she had always been unwilling to let go of it that she mysteriously gained a chance for rebirth. Her memories were even intact, with herst moments the most vivid of all. So even though she now had a rich and caring family and a beautiful future, she refused to move on and treat the previous life as a matter of the past.


    Wasn''t there an army of ghosts that always stayed around Zhao vige? That was her curse! Her obsession!


    Gu Mochou seemed to be ying around and enjoying her second life but all this time she was actually waiting for the baleful spirits to break into the vige and kill everyone there.


    It would just a matter of time before the female leader there became a ghost queen, powerful enough to break that mysterious enchantment that repelled all entities with malicious intention.


    Didn''t those vigers desire for others to not know their evil deeds? She would respect that and let the dead erase them for her! They would not have to wait for the mortalw to punish them. The realm of the dead would be the one to deliver their retribution!


    She would be the sole witness to enjoy theirst moments. Zhao Guo would die from her hands after seeing how his little realm got reduced into a ghost vige.


    As for Zhao Bolin The chance meeting with Zhan Rong was something never in her calctions.


    Who would have thought there was still a trace of that foolish guy in this world? However, that littledy couldn''t be his daughter, right? After all, it had been thirty years since his death while the girl seemed to be around twenty years of age


    Given that girl''s sensitivity with spirits that became apparent at the bathroom, was it a remnant of his spirit?


    Gu Mochou couldn''t help but affix her eyes on Zhan Rong.


    However, the viiness had no idea that while she was momentarily lost in her thoughts, her target noticed that she was eyeing her.


    ''Weird. Why is she looking at me like that?''


    Zhan Rong had been pretty sensitive to starestely and had learned to differentiate the kind of people watching her. Some were admiring her poise and beauty, which she was used to since childhood. Some were just people she happened to have eye contact with. The rest from ghosts that somehow felt she could see them and unfortunately couldn''t be repelled by her amulet.


    That woman When she casually nced towards the esctor, she saw the one giving her an unsettling gaze was a living person. She had no clue about the reason, so the moment she recognized Gu Mochou as the one in the restroom, she crossed her out from people she should acquaint herself with. Especially now that the woman was tailing her!


    This girl could have been possessed by that female spirit who called her a perv, no?


    Not good! She must lose her!


    Hastening her steps, she indignantlyined in her mind. "Damn. I can''t believe this is happening to me again. That monk is really a liar! What good fortune? I''m now bing a ma for bad spirits!".


    Zhan Rong''s expression was not good. However, her hands and feet were fast. She walked past the shops selling beautiful clothes and essories and headed towards the bustling food court. She lightly nced to her left, gritting her teeth upon seeing the other party was running towards her. She pulled up a long shawl and a pair of shades from her bag, then tied up her hair into a bun. The shawl temporarily concealed the color of her blouse.


    Since she knew the little change would not confuse the other party for long, she hurriedly ran towards the exit, purposely colliding with people carrying bags and stuff, and only sighing in relief when she got inside a taxi.


    As for her pursuer, around the time Zhan Rong changed her hairstyle and wrapped a red shawl over her upper body, Gu Mochou was indeed a bit confused when she couldn''t find the long-haireddy in a blue hanging blouse. But when she saw someone running, she instinctively followed.


    Sadly, she was alreadyte. Dyed by the other mall-goers near the entrance and exit, she could only watch dumbfounded as Zhan Rong disappeared from sight. When she recovered from her daze, Gu Mochou stomped her feet in irritation.


    "That annoying b*tch! Why did she have to run from me? I''m not going to eat her! I only n to check why I felt his presence on her!"


    The girl had a belly full of anger since she was used to things going her way. It was hard for her to ept she just lost her lead so she marched towards a security guard.


    After messing with her hair, she began her performance.


    "Sir! Sir! Please help me!!! S-someone stole a very important sh drive from me! Please, I really need your help to get it back! It''s really important. W-we must hurry and check the CCTV while I still have an impression of the thief''s appearance!"


    The security guard looked at her tearful and distraught appearance and felt sympathetic to her. He hurriedly said, "Don''t cry, miss. Please calm down and tell me what happened. I''ll definitely help you retrieve what you lost. "


    The girl choked on her sobs but knowing the gravity of the situation, she immediately gestured with her hands and exined, "S-Sir! I, I''m an intern of apany under Gu Corporation. This The USB, the USB my superior lent to me is stolen! It has several important files! I, I saw a long-haireddy in blue snatching it from my bag before running away and hailing a cab and and I only realized it after remembering that I saw her in the restroom. I-I suspect she''s been following me since then! So please! H-help me! I m-must get it back!"


    The security guard felt distressed for the girl and forgot to question several suspicious points in her story, like why did she bring an important storage item in a crowded ce like this. And why an intern would have ess to something that would warrant attention from thieves orpanypetitors. The tears from her pretty face were enough to make him judge he must do his best to help. And thus he nodded, "Alright, miss. Don''t cry anymore. Since you said the thief has already left, all we can do is check the CCTVs, check the te number of that taxi, and if possible, get a good look at the appearance of that thief. Let''s hope we can find something."


    Watching the man report something to his superiors using the walkie-talkie, the girl wiped the tears from her eyes that gleamed sharply for a second and softly replied, "Thank you."


    Gu Mochou was not one to give up easily so she used her acting skills that couldpete for Oscar''s for her purpose.


    A face would be all she would need to locate the other!


    She followed the guard, unknowingly passing by a pair who were also looking in the direction where Zhan Rong disappeared.


    It was not shown in the memories, but before the viiness transferred to the male lead''s University, the leads and her also brushed shoulders like this, although their circumstances were different.


    The girl who was wearing a man''s dress shirt and pants tugged at the sleeves of the handsome boy next to her and asked, "Is that Ms. Zhan?"


    The girl was Zhao Ai who came here with Fan Zheng to buy some clothes and daily necessities.


    Fan Zheng tilted his head thenughingly replied, "I think we saw wrongly. That friend of mine is not one topromise her looks andfort if not absolutely needed. Also, I called her home and the housekeeper said she went back around 5 am. She should be asleep or at home."


    "Is that so?"


    Fan Zheng shook his head with a smile. "There''s something more important for us to do. Come, let''s quickly finish what we came here for."


    Zhao Ai nodded, letting herself be pulled towards a clothing shop.

 Chapter 384: Mo Chou (22)

    Chapter 384: Mo Chou (22)


    Zhan Rong managed to get away safely.


    Night then fell. she waited for the haunted road to reveal its eerie side and then did her utmost to pretend she was not bothered by the scary slightly obese whitedy that showed up.


    When the progress bar showed some change, she rejoiced in her heart and persisted for an hour.


    Afterward, she began to run with all her might towards the nearest 24/7 convenience store. Although it was a bit out of ce, when she realized how crazy she acted just now, she found sce from the fact that at least no one from those who saw her terrible appearance knew her.


    "Tomorrow''s thest day." She encouraged herself. Although in the following minute, her eyes that were almost tearing up closed.


    It was not easy even for her to persist until now. Even though in the first few days, it seemed as if she had gradually epted the changes in her eyesight and had be more tolerant of seeing unusual beings, it didn''t mean her mind and body was not getting exhausted by those things.


    In front of others, she had always been a toughdy. But it didn''t mean she could act like that all the time. All humans had their moments of weakness and she was no exception.


    Tomorrow, once the progress turned a hundred percent, she would be able to rest, right? Just that much was all she wanted as a reward. She was not even aiming for freedom now.


    Poor Zhan Rong had no idea about the hostility of the child spirit against her.


    It was the mentality of most people to promise to do a thing and set something as their target progress but go a little further than that, whether intentional or not, for a guarantee, or for just for fun.


    For example, a girl ordered by her mom to buy soy sauce would know how much the price was but would still bring excess to not be embarrassed in case she was charged more than the SRP.


    Another case was how a kid would promise his dad that he would stop ying games around 8 pm, but would actually y until 10 pm. Sometimes it was out of necessity, sometimes people just couldn''t help doing so or they found assurance in doing or getting extra.


    Zhan Rong, unfortunately, had no idea that the one hundred percent the system set for her was actually more than what was needed. Ny percent was enough to awaken Jiang Li and she had already collected that much from the haunted spot of the whitedy.


    In other words, the further suffering, unworthy trip in Zhan Rong''s terms, was no longer necessary. Yet the system did not remind her.


    When Jiang Li woke up, he only terrorized the system with some threats and curses. The child spirit, after all, was afraid of him for a reason he didn''t know and was not really curious to know.


    "I''ll take over from him," the guy said after yawning and reading everything recorded in Zhan Rong''s panel. He specifically showed great interest in the first page where he saw what his bastard system named itself to Zhan Rong.


    "Ghost Petting System, huh?" Jiang Li''s tone was weird, his face a lot darker than usual,.which also made him a bit more terrifying as a baleful spirit.


    ''Thank you for muting me, I don''t need to answer,'' thought the child spirit who shuddered upon seeing his expression and hurriedly began to y dead. No matter what kinds of words were thrown at it, it no longer responded. One would just bepelled to wonder whether it still exists.


    Jiang Li was truly annoyed this time. The system acted outside his set expectations and even made up a cringeworthy title. Didn''t he merely instruct it to act like a normal system and protect Zhan Rong while guiding her towards mild Yin-rich ces? Howe everything was a bit over the top?


    For some time, the ominous air surrounding him continued to thicken. But after the scolding, he calmed down.


    While floating behind Zhan Rong in his thinking pose, he plunged into deep contemtion, then shook his head and chuckled, "When I gave it some more thoughts, it''s actually interesting. So I will be the reward after the seven-day trial?"


    System:  You didn''t give any points. What else can I offer?


    On one hand, the child spirit wished he could say that.


    On the other, the ghost realized the whole thing could actually be amusing and fun. Before he knew it, the irritation was gone and he began to look forward to it, nning to make up to the girl by ying a good pet for her.


    Unfortunately, when the time was up and Zhan Rong visited a haunted tunnel, she failed. The tunnel was indeed hunted but the Yin energy there fell short by about 1.4%. Who could imagine the despair she felt?


    When that happened, Jiang Li was not around, tracking the spell that locked on Zhan Rong before the girl arrived at thest haunted location. After following the trace of spell, a grey mist thatter pointed him to the viiness Gu Mochou. Because thetter went as far as to bother a mall''s security guard and a team ofputer professional to get Zhan Rong''s name and birthday, he was surprised.


    ''Why is this woman curious about Zhan Rong?'' he wondered after disrupting the spell Gu Mochou cast.


    He didn''t immediately leave, intending to observe the woman from afar. His forehead then creased since he had yet to see what happened to this woman after the male lead''s amnesia arc. ''This girl is my target this time but I can''t see through her. Am I just too weak, or she''s just our of ordinary? Also, isn''t she here too early? There are still two weeks before the university resumes.''


    One of the female ghosts was supposed to be here before Gu Mochou.


    His face had a frown on it as he looked at the viiness from outside her hotel room. The woman appeared like a cheerful youngdy of a rich family, a typical spoiled brat. However, could she really be called normal if she kept mumbling a dead guy''s name while capturing and brainwashing a spirit to locate Zhan Rong for her?


    Jiang Li did not daree forward since he had not forgetten yet that he was a ghost. Although he could nullify her dark arts, it was still a fact that the viiness was secretly a Daoist capable of hunting and converting him. No matter how small the chances are, he had no ns to be a mindless ghost puppet, alright!


    It was past midnight when the woman got tired of her failed attempts and went to sleep. Jiang Li immediately floated back to Zhan Rong afterwards.


    He had no idea that when he was not around, the system had already administered the punishment for her failure. It sent the consciousness of the tearful Zhan Rong into an illusion where she was being hunted by monsters from the underworld.


    Who knew what method system employed to freeze the time temporarily? In her perception, she had stayed in that ''Hell Dungeon'' for another seven days. For a week, she had to forget her dignity to flee and survive. She was on the brink of crying when she got back to reality.


    [Congrattions, Esteemed Host, on Clearing the Hell Difficulty Dungeon: Realm of Astral Monsters!]


    "What the heck!" The male ghost eximed seeing the odd state of the girl and the changes in the content of the panel.


    Jiang Li managed to return just in time to see her reading the announcements with bloodshot eyes and trembling lips, like she was disecting and destroying the system in her mind for the nth time.


    It was still the same date and Jiang Li was onlyte by 10 minutes. Yet Zhan Rong already got into another so-called dungeon and escaped out of it. He didn''t understand how all of that happened. However, her reactions and the words on the floating screen didn''t seem like mere product of his imagination.


    [For clearing it solo, you are automatically dered as MVP]


    [Congrattions! For a job well done (Specifically for not crying and evenpleting the quest slightly ahead of time) you are eligible for an additional reward]


    [Unconditionally receive: Exclusive Pet Ghost - Jiang Li] The pet ghost was psychologically prepared but was still rendered speechless.


    [Host, you can get one more reward. Choose among the choices and pick one skill... Choices: Programming, Hacking, Ancient Calligraphy, Singing, Acting, Cursing]


    ck lines appeared on his face upon seeing thest option. Cursing? When did he be so uncultured that his knowledge in profanenguage became a skill?


    For a while, he doubted life and wondered what possessed him to give the system the autonomy to create scenarios. Seething in rage and, he took back themand and swore to do everything by himself from now on. Unfortunately, by then, it was already quitete. Those already written couldn''t be erased since doing so would be useless given that the girl had read everything.


    [Other options not avable yet to esteemed host... Your level is too low, the system doesn''t even bother to show it. Please select one from those mentioned above]


    [Just a reminder. After choosing, please find a way to please your exclusive pet ghost. Your skills will be imparted by him after all so the happier he is, the earlier you''ll get/enjoy your full reward]


    Zhan Rong was still experiencing something akin to PSTD so she didn''t make any move, although her fierce eyes were on the few options presented to her. Meanwhile, Jiang Li''s lips and face were spasming at thest thing that he read.


    [Tip: Summoning him and holding his hands might make him immediately teach you the skill]

 Chapter 385: Mo Chou (23)

    Chapter 385: Mo Chou (23)


    Both people found the options presented to them ridiculous. Zhan Rong, for example, was dumbfounded and could not rte the options to ghosts. All of these if she hired a tutor or exposed herself to the field, wouldn''t she learn them all the same? Why the hell did she have to suffer from the pursuit and pestering of those clingy spirits? A bunch of them almost followed her home!


    Zhan Rong had no answer to this as she didn''t want to entertain the conclusion that survival was already the best she could ask for. She was in a low mood even after she reached home and climbed onto her bed.


    As her eyes darkened, she thought, ''Who said everything happened for a reason? Clearly, there are things that happen without one. A lot of things about life could not be controlled and nned, rendering one powerless and helpless. However, who is to me? Who asks us to be mere mortals?''


    She had these misgivings in mind for a long while before she busied herself pondering over the second-to-thest line. A pet needed to be coaxed first before the reward could be obtained, huh? Didn''t it mean a break? That was, after all, that one thing she was hoping for in the first ce.


    The longer she took to choose, or please this whoever ghost should mean the farther she was from getting another weird mission, right?


    She took some time to convince herself.


    After that, she went to sleep with a slight peace of mind, although the ultimate reason was still the extreme mental fatigue the whole week gave her, including the fake seven days in that ridiculous ce.


    ...


    It happened on the same night.


    Jiang Li This bitter ghost did not get to hear anything from the girl despite the shameful hint so he was wearing agloomy look on his face all night long.


    Feeling a bit suffocated, he floated out of the room and killed time by exploring the girl''s neighborhood. Somehow, he also identally scared a lot of night owls and ghosts, the former referred to people whose concept of night and day was reversed. Since the ce was walking distance to the university and it was currently summer break, a lot of his victims were students partying together, doing broadcasts for money, or chitchatting the night away with their friends or lovers.


    ''I didn''t really do a thing besides phasing through walls,'' he shook his head and forced augh.


    Some people had been spooked out by him, yet it was not really his intention. He was too old to childishly vent on innocent people. In actuality, since this would be his first day in the city, he merely thought it would be necessary to grasp how technologically advanced this world was. Albeit there were some idents, his goal was achieved when he managed to confirm that outside of the ghost and cultivation matters, it was like a normal twenty-first-century world.


    One thing though that nearly wiped the ever-present frown from his face was his discovery of a few websites run by ghosts who wanted to scare people this way. He had to say, it was quite the eye-opener.


    Zhan Rong woke up around noon the next day and then pretended she was having a hard time choosing her reward. Jiang Li was in control of the panel now and didn''t urge her in whatsoever ways. Although a bit concerned about the viiness'' oddity, he didn''t leave the girl''s side, letting the situation continued for days until Zhan Rong reluctantly chose ''Singing''.


    ''I want to know how the hell a ghost would teach a human how to sing.''


    ''Since this is supposed to be a skill, it should not be the pet ghost only making weird noises, right?''


    She had this thought in mind,pletely forgetting how scared she was of talking ghosts. She then spent days going to tourist spots in another city with the excuse of needing a rxing ce to ponder how she would please her exclusive pet. A great n would only be made in a stress-free environment, she imed when she talked to herself. The ghost was amusedly watching her from her ne.


    Zhan Rong had no otherpanion this time. She didn''t invite her usual travel buddies, and not like she wanted to see them nor they had the time to do so.


    Fan Zheng and Zhao Ai were in their own world, and the others were either busy coordinating with the police or spicing up this pair''s romantic lives.


    It was currently their strange moment of peace. In Jiang Li''s mind, it also meant the leads'' drama phase.


    Guo Hanying, the oddballdy who brought the ouija before had a crush on the male lead and was quick to notice the interest Zhao Ai had for Fan Zheng. The girl naturally brought Fan Lan on her side and kept on staging small acts to discredit the female lead.


    It was quite a mess that was painful to the eyes of drama-haters. Because no one died, everyone was quick to move on. Guo Hanying was upgraded from an extra into a minor viin whose role was to bully the female lead and made thetter appear more lovely and pitiful to Fan Zheng. Even though her reason for treating Zhao Ai coldly was pretty reasonable, the male lead only concluded his friend had be bad. This male lead couldn''t see her love and care, only Zhao Ai''s plight. What a pitiful girl Guo Hanying was. Due to the plot''s impromptu revision, even if she knew Zhao Ai did a bit of help for them to escape, her jealousy was stronger than her brain.


    But practically all stories had something equivalent to this since no one true pairing would appear strong and realistic without being tried by fire. It, basically all boiled down to one fact, ''the leads are simply a ma for drama and troubles, especially when they are together''. Two, if the saying ''all minor people who will obstruct their love will be idiot,'' would be put into consideration.


    It was precisely because of this that Jiang Li had not done anything to stop Zhan Rong from leaving. Thankfully, the girl was also not ipetent to not hear about the ongoing drama on her Daoist friend''s side.


    "Sorry, I''m currently busy with something serious and important so I couldn''t answer your previous phone calls... I might only be back next semester... Hmm? What do you mean I''m not being a good friend for not supporting you? Can''t I cheer for you from afar?... Oh, wait, Hanying, my business partner is here. Good luck. And cotton up to Fan Lan more. I think his sister dislikes that girl very much too since she''s the one who got the most tongueshing. Bye."


    Zhan Rong indifferently ended the call, nodding slightly to the waiter who brought her meal and drinks. In a way, she was not lying. Her business right now was to eat so, of course, the one who brought her meal was qualified to be called a business partner. It would be a give and take rtionship after all. The waiter delivered the food, she paid it with her money. It could be called a small-scale transaction.


    ''How can she look so elegant while lying through her teeth?''


    Jiang Li had a goodugh inside the ne. Afterward, since the leads were not a problem, for now, he thought of another person who might be more of a trouble to them.


    ''Apart from those two people raining dog food and dog blood there, Gu Mochou is also in City B. But instead of going to Fan Zheng, she''s after Zhan Rong. Would that girl be crazy enough to chase Zhan Rong here?''


    This was a piece of information he got from a ghost staying at Gu Mochou''s ce. That ghost was lucky to be female and was thus allowed to loiter around by that viiness, but because Jiang Li was one step away from bing a ghost king, the ghost listened to him more and agreed to be his spy.


    Through this, he actually discovered he was the real target of that woman. Specifically, it was his current identity.But he didn''t have this self-sacrificing mentality. Even if it was to help Gu Mochou not be entangled with Fan Zheng and Zhao Ai, he didn''t n to risk himself nor Zhan Rong.


    He was always blocking any tracking spell from Gu Mochou, and even invaded the world wide web when thetter tried tomission hackers.


    Look how good he was to this girl.


    Sadly, she was not aware of it. Wasn''t it a bit tragic to work for someone''s welfare and not get credit for it? When the hell would she call for him?


    After her meal, Jiang Li stared helplessly at the girl happily strolling outside and taking pictures of a heavily decorated ancient arch bridge.<ol><li>cheesy drama that could make people vomit? haha</li><li>PDA in Chinese</li></ol>

 Chapter 386: Mo Chou (24) <2-in-1>

    Chapter 386: Mo Chou (24) <2-in-1>


    It was a Friday evening before she went to sleep when Zhan Rong finally thought of taking a look at the pet ghost ''rewarded'' to her more than a week ago.


    It was a sudden curiosity that allowed the idea to spring up, a decision made without any instigation from the system or the ghost. She did a lot of mental preparation and repeatedly encouraged herself that no matter what kind of pet ghost the system threw her way, it would still be just one ghost. Hadn''t she encountered more than a hundred of them?


    After freshening up and drying her hair, she changed into a shirt and hot pants and then double-checked if she had left the door to her hotel room unlocked. If worsees to worst, she wanted to at least be able to run away.


    When everything was set, she closed her eyes for a while before saying softly.


    ''System, show me the exclusive ghost pet.''


    At the same time that she finished speaking, her eyes opened just in time to see the familiar blue panel appearing.


    [As you wish, Host Establishing a connection with the Pet Ghost Jiang Li Please patiently wait... 30... 29... 10... 2...1]


    [Congrattions! Pet Ghost sessfully summoned!]


    Zhan Rong unconsciously gulped, her eyes slowly scanning the ce. When she found nobody in front of her, her body became tense and she immediately turned around then jumped back. If the spirit was not in front, wouldn''t it be behind her?


    Her bare feet made sound noise against the cold tile as she moved.


    After a dozen seconds spent on inspecting the other side of the room, her face became wreathed in confusion and she blurted out, "... Nobody?"


    Howe?


    Zhan Rong realized from the beginning, she felt no gloomy nor oppressive aura enveloping her body which she would usually experience whenever a spirit was around. Normally, she would feel coldness wrapping around her too, as if she was suddenly dragged in the water. It would always be a situation where she would feel goosebumps, her mouth drying up.


    But none of these happened to her tonight.


    Did she receive an invisible ghost? The kind unseen to people like her? Although it sounded stupid but how kind of the system.


    ''As if!''


    Therge hand of the wall clock struck twelve, with the small hand pointing at 10. An awkward chuckle came from her when she reflected how foolish she looked just now.


    It happened then when her eyes moved down and then her body froze.


    The screen floating in front of her showed some changes.


    In reality, Zhan Rong felt none of the aforementioned signs since Jiang Li was not a hostile spirit. He was actually about to appear, with a bad intent to ster his handsome face before her eyes at a very close distance.


    However, he backed out at thest minute, finding something on his astral body problematic. Naturally, Zhan Rong saw no one.


    ''Won''t it make a bad impression to be dressed like a country bumpkin from several decades ago? What I''m currently wearing is so ugly.''


    Men were less meticulous than women? That was a lie.


    Although they take less time fiddling with their appearance, the concern about their appearance was at the same degree, especially if they really wanted to appear their best before someone, for example, their wife, family, or important friends and business partners.


    This won''t do, he told himself with a frown.


    Because the ghost refused to show up, Zhan Rong''s system suddenly issued a task. It was this that made her dumbfounded. In fact, after a minute of speechlessness, she questioned herself if the system and her were speaking the samenguage.


    ''... It says the ghost is naked? So it''s shy and wants a gorgeous set of clothes to be sacrificed.''


    ''What the effing muffin is this?''


    The girl plopped down on the sofa and held her forehead. Was this the first step in raising a ghost? She had to say, her brain felt quite insulted.


    Tomorrow morning, she woke up earlier than usual, around 8 am and dressed up. She drove towards the nearest mall, which opened at 9 am. The coffee she bought had already been finished by the time the boutique employee flipped their ''closed'' signboard.


    "Good morning, Ma''am. Wee." The shop she entered had mellow ssical music ying on.


    Zhan Rong''s looks and the way she carried herself hinted to the people within the clothing store that she was a rich miss so the manager personally herself stepped forward and greeted her with a warm smile.


    The girl nodded and gave a polite smile, her hands reaching for her shoulder bag to fetch a small card.


    "Hello. I''m quite busy so just give me everything that fits these requirements."


    Without borating much, Zhan Rong took a seat on the sofa and even crossed her beautiful legs that were not fully concealed by her red gauze maxi long skirt.


    The professionally dressed manager wordlessly skimmed the long list of sizes and brands in the card. Seeing that her guess was correct, the girl was a big customer, a smile floated from her face and she called twodies to help her. While waiting for them to pick up the clothes and essories, she smilingly pushed a brochure in front of Zhan Rong which contained theirtest products.


    "Thanks foring to our shop, Miss. It would take some time to fetch everything so we prepare some magazines and brochures for you. Is the young miss picking a gift for her boyfriend?"


    Zhan Rong expressionlessly nced at her. Without batting an eyelid, she answered, "They''re all for my dad. It will be his birthday in three days. Or are you thinking all girls my age who buy male clothes and essories always give them to their boyfriends?"


    Thedy manager seemed not too surprised which meant she had heard of the same reason before. Still, her face froze a bit, especially when he remembered the styles of the upper garments and the watches were for younger males. Also, why was this youngdy buying from shirts to underclothes? Toyout everything on a long table then choose the best-looking one to gift?


    Only her professionalism allowed her toe back to her senses early. Zhan Rong managed to capture the thoughts that briefly showed on the manager''s face though.


    ''This is really testing my limit.'' The girl hid her frown.


    Like what thedy manager said it took about three minutes for the two helpers to get everything listed on the card. The manager tried to rmend other items in the store, but Zhan Rong stuck to the ones demanded by the system. She strutted off the moment her order was handed over to her, settling her payment through her own card.


    Unfortunately, when she thought she could finally go home, the panel suddenly popped up and made her go to the grocery to buy a toothbrush and cup, shaving cream, towels and all daily stuff for men. There was no mention of the reason behind this. At this point, Zhan Rong, who guessed it was the whimsical pet''s fault, wondered if she was being trained into a ve of this demanding ghost.


    She was quite in a downcast mood when she got back to the hotel and essed the rooftop to burn the ''outfit of the day''. Yep, another weird mission.


    "... I should not have let my curiosity get the better of me," Zhan Rong muttered in a depressed manner, feeling a bit of heartache for the clothes she bought with her own money.


    The fire burned the expensive fabric of the underwear, which the girl refused to watch. The pants followed, then the ck long-sleeved shirt. In just thirty minutes everything turned into ashes. These were unused brand new branded articles of clothing. So she felt like what she just turned into ashes was actually paper bills!


    Which damn ancestor said that to offer something to a ghost, that item should be burned?


    Zhan Rong''s eyes were a bit cold when she checked the system announcement. She had no idea the culprit who drove her to burn money literally was feeling pretty embarrassed for leeching off of her. But hey, he was just a ghost and one without any remaining family members at that. Where would he get the money? Hack or rob a bank?


    [Ding! Congrattions! You finished the task perfectly. Your exclusive pet ghost is extremely pleased although he will be extremely shy to admit it!]


    [Summon Jiang Li, yes or no?]


    "Now that I am at this point, and the sun is shining above to weaken all spirit entities, why wouldn''t I?" she said with gritted teeth.


    One hand tugged the silver chain of the ne hidden under her cream-colored shirt to reveal her amulet while the other pressed the yes button after a minute of careful deliberation.


    Jiang Li, who was no longer wearing the wacky grandpa farmer get up, but the ones Zhan Rong just burned, grinned.


    Even with the sunlight pouring so fiercely on the rooftop, he did not dismiss the n of surprising the girl using his face. A face that was already at the level of a popr celebrity even when he was in a corny shirt and trousers, one the heaven was so jealous of that it made him a mentally handicapped person. Wouldn''t it be a shame for him not to put it into use?


    Jiang Li slowly revealed himself to her and did a normal bow. It was around 10 am. While the lighting made his skin appear more translucent, he spoke unhurriedly in a mellow voice, "For being the first person to pray and burn a sacrifice for me, I thank you from the bottom of my heart, Miss. My name is Jiang Li. I will be teaching you some skills I''ve mastered when I was still alive as my token of gratitude. Please take care of me."


    Not long after, Zhan Rong could be seen staring nkly at the innocent and harmless-looking spirit with her lips slightly parted. She was quite dumbstruck.


    Neglected or not, as a girl from a rich family, she could not even remember when it had be a norm for her to treat handsome guys as cabbages that could easily be seen on the street. They weremonce in her circle. With money in hands, it was easy for second-generation rich kids to maintain their skin, avail the service of professionals, or get injectables to enhance their looks. Celebrities too, were easy to meet up close if they wanted.


    However... right now, it was hard for her to find a word to say.


    A ghost could be this impossibly handsome? Was this guy aware that if he walked out there, instead of scaring anyone, he would only enchant people to chase after him? The bigger problem was he was standing so close to her.


    Jiang Li saw her expression and felt content within but outwardly showed her a confused expression as if he was distressed for not getting a response. "Can you hear me, Miss?"


    Zhan Rong took note of the pleasant voice and thought that the handsome ghost must really be a good singer. The panel trying to provide her with speech-to-text service was thoroughly ignored.


    ''It''s quite unbelievable... So is this ghost who could put all idols to shame with his appearance alone seriously my exclusive ghost pet? The real reward from all the sufferings I went through weeks ago?''


    The girl held her breath and put a hand on top of her chest.


    She was not easily impressed by looks, but whenever she was, like when she was viewing a breathtaking scenery, her heart would race at a very fast speed and her IQ would plummet down a bit. Her mind became more of a jumbled mess the moment she realized she had an inexplicable connection to this maliciously good-looking spirit.


    Before Zhan Rong knew it, her eyes were shining as she looked at him. Who knew where she got the courage to hold a ghost''s hand. She even blurted out domineeringly, "You are mine!"

 Chapter 387: Mo Chou (25)

    Chapter 387: Mo Chou (25)


    "Hello Ah, yup, deliver everything to my house. I already gave the measurements and sent a note about his preferences. Thanks" Zhan Rong spoke softly on the phone.


    The other person replied in a ttering tone. "Miss Zhan, don''t worry. We''ve already prepared the items. I guarantee you''ll be satisfied. By the way, we''ve been in this for several days and our boss has noticed your excellent fashion sense. He wants to invite you for an exchange of ideas. Would it be alright to pass over your number to him for a talk?"


    At that time, the richdy was busy checking out Jiang Li from head to toe while wondering which colors and styles to make him wear next. Scratch that, she was busy watching the ghost make learning materials for her. It was such a novel experience. It took her some time to calm down and wipe the wide grin off of her face.


    She asked the manager on the other line, "The owner of your store is a famous fashion designer, right? His name is Mr. Feng?"


    "Yes. It''s Mr. Feng. He is called Gaston abroad and indeed, he can be considered quite famous. He''s participated in some shows abroad and has been invited several times as a judge in localpetitions."


    "Admirable!"


    Whether Zhan Rong was praising the boss of the manager or the one before her eyes, only she knew. "Since I found you tactful too and that you did not give my contact to others easily. Alright. I''m more than happy to exchange ideas with a professional."


    The managerughed, "I''ll tell my boss about this."


    "It will be my honor." Sheughed.


    After reminding onest time for them to deliver her order to her door before nightfall, Zhan Rong ended the call.


    A curious ghost floated over and asked, "Who''s that?" There was both a question mark and curiosity in his face when he took a seat.


    The girl readily answered, "It''s the usual person from that clothing shop. Remember? She''s called Manager Song."


    Jiang Li shook his head. "I meant the stylist. You readily agreed to meet him. And aren''t you taking a spirit''s outfit too seriously? To be honest, it''s already making me feel so overwhelmed and a bit worried about your finances."


    He meant what he said. The only reason he requested a set from her was that he didn''t want to appear in front of her looking like a regr viger of the 1990s. He didn''t know things would go this way. Look, she might even hire a personal stylist at this rate.


    He was barely maintaining a straight face when a shy expression shed across her face. "My pe---, Jiang Li, don''t worry about insignificant people. I promise to treat you well and I''m happy to do this. Moreover, I''m receiving a lot from you too."


    ''Exclusive rights in viewing, holding hands, chatting, receiving lessons'' Jiang Li almostughed, not knowing whether to be ttered or be amused at the treatment he was getting.


    Since that particr day, her fear of the unknown was thrown in the backburner.


    Zhan Rong forgot she was the same person whoined about burning money to offer clothes to a male ghost. She also momentarily forgot all the bad memories associated with spirits and how she dilly-dallied for so long to dy the summoning.


    From that day onwards, she gained another hobby.


    Buying expensive stylish menswear for her exclusive ghost pet!


    Money was not a big problem as long as she could have her eyes feast on a beautiful ghostly being!


    At first, of course, the girl was not very particr with Jiang Li''s get up. But after she verified to herself that he was really unlike any other malicious ghosts, she became rxed around him and didn''t feel afraid of him.


    She began to treat him as a model exclusive to her eyes. Her fashion sense for male clothing shot up a few notches that she almost considered leaving the Business Management department for Fashion and Design. If no ident happened, she would even have a meal with a famous designer.


    By the way, the pet ghost also became apanion only she could see. Whenever she went out to sightsee, he would be there.


    With this said, her break was not only spent on deciding which clothes to burn every few days, but also on several other soul-enriching activities. Ghosts were still part of her life, so did traveling, collecting information on the business world, and talking to Jiang Li. Unfortunately, for thetter, most of the topics were confined to music since that was the real reason why he could be summoned by her.


    Well, at least she got to own an eye-candy unique to her. This ghost was also not that useless. If the system was not lying, then it meant there were so many talents to learn from him which she could use to kill time.


    The first one, so far Jiang Li legitly knew so much about it and easily pointed out the ws in her normal singing and how to improve it.


    ''If this pet of mine is this proficient in everything listed by the system, then he''s way more useful than simply showing me that not all ghosts are scary,'' she thought with twinkling eyes.


    Days passed and unsurprisingly, Zhan Rong got the gist of what her pet ghost wanted to teach her. Learning how to sing was not hard, after all, singing in tune and out of tune were both still considered singing. But she was quite unwilling to look like a fool before a hottie ghost, so she took the sessions with him seriously. She even went home and set up a recording studio when the ghost tasked her to make a recording.


    After that


    "Hmm, alright. I think you already mastered the basics and with practice and more exploration of your own voice, you''ll find the type of singing that suits you best. To be honest, you have a way to bring out emotions in most songs, which I found very impressive. Bad is a rmended direction," he said to her one day.


    "What do I need to learn next?" she asked.


    "How about you try to record another song. Butan original one. You still remember the basics when writing tunes, right?"


    She nodded.


    After that, well... Zhan Rong quite regretted going over the top with her excitement and finishing the song, that was to say, the homework, early.


    When the ghost smiled, while it was not eerie and was actually very refreshing to the eyes, it felt a bit off since he was looking at her as if it was time to


    "Thanks for the nice and smooth teaching-learning journey, my student. You''re a fast learner and it''s been a pleasure interacting with you. There''s more I could have taught you but I heard learning by doing is better than being spoon-fed with facts and information. I''m sorry if I have to leave you to explore the rest for yourself. This ghost needs to go to sleep now. Good luck."


    "Ah? Good luck what?"Her eyes widened when Jiang Li no longer responded to her.


    "Wait! No, wait!"


    Who knew the pet ghost would disappear once the system deemed that she had sessfully learned the rewarded skill?


    She was not warned at all! She was not prepared!


    Yet when she raisedints about it to the system, on the panel all that was written,


    [Hello!]


    [Congrattions on Getting Your New Skill!]


    [Although you are just a beginner, ording to your pet ghost, it''s enough to be popr in karaoke and live broadcast!]


    [Work hard and you might be a prominent artist in this field, Host!]


    "Who wants to be an inte idol here?" After she calmed down a bit, the words came out of her lips. She did not raise her voice even though there was only dissatisfaction and anger in her heart. However, her hands were still trembling.


    How the usually mild-tempered girl wished the system was on her phone so she could grab it and throw it away to show how frustrated she was.


    And those corny emojis and confetti GIFs under? Who wants them? Bring back her handsome floating pet!


    The system must have read her mind, addressing her realint because as if someone was typing real-time behind the screen, a new set of phrases floated before her eyes that were gleaming sharply.


    [Just a rification, Jiang Li will now be taking his rest in your exclusive pet ghost dimension afterpleting his task. To summon him again, Host is advised toplete a mission that will let you select a skill as a reward.]


    [Would you like to check the details for the next task?]


    A yes and no button popped up.


    "..." Zhan Rong just froze in ce.

 Chapter 388: Mo Chou (26)

    Chapter 388: Mo Chou (26)


    On the following days, Zhan Rong could be seen summoning the panel only to re 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 epting 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 ces to uplift her mood.


    Since he was not really in the ne but was justpletely hiding his presence outside, Jiang Li saw all of the changes in Zhan Rong''s expression. A yful 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 thetter 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 nned 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 prone 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 hell?''


    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 nobody was investigating the ghosts near Zhao vige yet. Or maybe, the viiness 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 passed by since then, how did they easily brush off what they had seen in that ce? 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 ne today, Fan Zheng was confronting the ouija boarddy 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 ce 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 stered 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 friendship with Guo Hanying just like that?" Fan Lan''s voice rang.


    Jiang Liughed, even though he was not really amused. ''Their brains must not want to entertain any memories rted 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 vige 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 beforeughing 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 toote. 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 nobody 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 ouijady 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 here 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 aplice 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 vige 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 ne and let the four go on with their argument.


    ''There is only a week or so before the resume of sses. 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 vige. 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!]


    [Hello, 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 uponpletion: Random Skill, and a program for hacking (all to be taught by your ghost pet]


    [Good luck!]


    Zhan Rong stiffened in ce. 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 entity terrorizing her free time that made its presence known again.


    A minuteter when she calmed down, her brain working furiously to analyze 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.

 Chapter 389: Mo Chou (27) <2-in-1>

    Chapter 389: Mo Chou (27) <2-in-1>


    It was a sunny afternoon and on the streets, especially on the ones in or around the city center, peoplee and go undeterred by the scorching weather. Some were trotting with quick steps to get into shops andrge buildings that had air-conditioners. Hours ago, around lunchtime, Fan Zheng and the others were part of this bunch.


    "Boss Fu is already at the warehouse." Suddenly a voice rang.


    A ragged, battered kid with several bruises on his young body looked up with a numb expression at therge man who just appeared in front, towering over him. He was one of those rare ones staying outside despite such hot weather. With dodgy eyes, he softly replied to the owner of the other voice, "... G-good day, Brother Duan. I-It''s only me and another kid in this area."


    His greeting did not elicit anything more than a frown from the person.


    "I get it. .Stop dawdling and go." The man simply said before moving towards another location, leaving an intimidated little boy.


    The ce was a populous and wide pedestrian overpass near a famous za. Zhan Rong stood still when she saw therge man speaking intimidatingly at the kid who had stopped running after escaping from an angry middle-aged woman. While holding an umbre, she pursed her lips. Before she knew it, her eyes wandered around, but in a subtle way that wouldn''t arouse suspicion.


    ''Sometimes, I really don''t know whether it''s a blessing to have a good memory'' she silently thought to herself.


    Even though the girl did not look closely, her brain remembered it all. The ugly scenes and pictures that she wanted to take no part of, not because she was heartless, but because she was like any other normal people.


    This was part of the reason why she loved touring and going to scenic ces. She had a strong desire to engrave more beauty and positivity in her mind because she was the type who could retain everything perfectly. If she had to remember them all, because her childhood was full of ugliness andcked warmth she wanted to bury everything using beautiful memories. Bury them deep that they wouldn''t be able to surface.


    However, right now Those expressions


    ''Children are supposed to be lovely, pure, and free-spirited. Supposed. Because I know there are people like me born in unpleasant circumstances or families which they have no control of But this...Why the hell are they like this?''


    Although Zhan Rong controlled her face properly, her eyes still darkened.


    The area was not thatrge but it was very popted due to the number of malls and high-end establishments scattered around. In such a ce, kids and teenagers dressed poorly and with varying numbers of wounds loitered around, either begging or stealing. Shop owners and the police officers were always in a hurry to chase them away while normal passersby preffered to simply distance themselves.


    Where did they alle from and how did they end up as ves of syndicates?


    Zhan Rong''s face crumpled and she felt disgusted. She was actually not clueless because sometimes, second-generation rich kids would gather up and chat about the shadow lurkers in the country that dabbled in businesses frowned upon by the majority. There was no need to enumerate since they simply ventured into everything illegal. Even her powerful father would think thrice before messing with those guys.


    The kid who seemed to be around 7 years in age looked down to hide his dirty face andckluster eyes. Zhan Rong also looked down and swept her eyes to one side although she was watching secretly through her peripheral vision.


    "Let''s hurry." Another boy half a head taller went to the kid''s side and led him down the stairs. This one had an odd expression that seemed to have epted their situation, a face only those who lost hope and crumbled under torture or pressure would have. "If he''s in a good mood, we might not have to starve tonight."


    The smaller kid hesitantly asked, "But it''s that scary Uncle"


    The two conversed in hushed whispers so Zhan Rong could no longer hear what they said next. A couple of momentster, she stopped pretending like she was checking something down the bridge and walked the opposite way.


    ...


    Light exists because there would always be a need to illuminate something. Yet at the same time, because light creates a shadow, darkness also never fades. It just then became part ofmon sense. That those two things never go without the other.


    Yet she still couldn''t help but hold a childish thought in her heart, ''How good would it be if all the bad stuff only happens to scummy people.''


    As for Jiang Li, he believed that no matter the era, darkness always prevails, because regardless of what people do to vanquish it, it just never dies. It persisted to exist No, it didn''t even have to make an effort, and this fact was the proof of its victory.


    In the current one, even in TV programs that were supposed to show people the goodness in this world, a lot of sh*tty scenarios were purposely broadcasted for ratings. Producers and artists would say it was to make everything as realistic as possible and hardly would there be anyone who would be able to refute.


    And the news how puzzling that there was always news about people getting killed, abused, or kidnapped!


    Looking at the heavy atmosphere surrounding Zhan Rong, Jiang Li shook his head. ''Was I too extreme for making her face something like this?''


    Zhan Rong had to go somewhere the syndicate was active because Jiang Li could not really go far away from her. He had designated her, or rather, her ne as his object of obsession. A ghost below the ghost king level justcked the ability to roam around freely. They would easily tire without that certain item or person proving their existence nearby, and this was the case when he went to the viiness. He couldn''t stay long since he was weak and Zhan Rong was miles away.


    In all honesty, going here was pretty useless if the only objective was to simply check how syndicates operate. Zhan Rong was actually puzzled why ''the system'' made her look for a popted area. The only reason she didn''t ask was that she knew there would be no one to answer her.


    However, if traffickers were the target, wouldn''t it be obvious that they would be in rural or secluded ces? With police officers patrolling everywhere in the central regions, it would be risky to transport people out even if catching lost kids would be quite easy. That was the opposite in the towns and suburbs so traffickers were more active there. Some were truly kidnapping people, the rest, coercing parents or rtives to sell off their ''deadweights''. In thetter group, there were people really looking forward to the sale in order to ease their financial burdens or maybe it was to just get rid of rtives they disliked. Others were forced into a sky-high debt with their family as coteral.


    Wasn''t the kid Zhan Rong first saw earlier one such example? His name was Hao Bingwen. His father was an honest man at first, a young entrepreneur with a booming business in the courier industry. A malicious dude suddenly appeared out of nowhere and befriended him before introducing him to a casino where he eventually became addicted to gambling. When the man came to his senses, hispany was already bankrupt, his wife and kid taken away. The man was nowhere to be seen from then on too, most likely seized by shady doctors since he was still young and had some precious and functional body parts.


    Why were there people so unprincipled to bring misery to others?The list of answers could go on indefinitely.


    ''This dude''s in a different line of business... But he should still have some contacts with one of the higher-ups.''


    Jiang Li traveled through shadows to reach the guy called Brother Duan, a guy in his early thirties whose most striking feature was his cornrow hairstyle. Who knows which foreigner this man was idolizing. Jiang Li disappeared for a brief moment, phasing through the person''s body. When he reappeared again, a phone was already in his hands, and its owner had no idea about it.


    ''Stealing is tiring. Dammit.''Shaking his head at his slightly fatigued body, Jiang Li fiddled with the gadget for a moment. He looked through some call logs and messages before memorizing a few numbers and names.


    When he was done, he put a curse on the item before dropping it near a policeman. The ghost then went away with a content face put on, proud to have left the problematic phone to the correct person who would save him the trouble of posting a lost and found case.


    It was now time to leave for a while and go after the real targets, to mess with the rats at the bottom ranks before slowly weeding out the ones at the top of that annoying organization.


    ...


    Meanwhile...


    Gu Mochou was not really in the same city as the leads right now. Her cousin couldn''t find where she was staying there so it was not him who dragged her away. The vige also barely changed. However, she had to leave because she felt that one of the strongest female ghosts suddenly deserted the ''army''.


    On the way to the town a couple of miles away from the forest, she ran into three unexpected people. Dressed in normal civilian clothing, with the only girl looking like a fashionable idol even, they walked into the hotel with head held high and strange eyes that seemed to be unconsciously belittling the rest around them for being mere mundane. Taoists. That was what they were called.


    A smile formed on the viiness'' lips. When was thest time she saw her former colleagues?


    Had she been a girl with no hatred against those vigers, she might have considered joining a sect to have fun, thereby shocking everyone with her unprecedented genius and learning ability. She knew how to cultivate ny percent of the Maoshan skills after all. The ones passing by just now would be her peers, and if she wanted, she could live every single day wowing them or making them jealous. Like what protagonists of reborn themeics and novels usually do.


    How unfortunate that she couldn''t be like that. Never once in her life did the fury in her heart settle down and it was hard to truly be carefree and happy with unsightly images of her pathetic, ruined previous self always haunting her.


    ''Oops, I''m seen.'' The girl hurriedly lowered her head.


    "That gorgeous girl is looking at me," one of the three, a boy, caught Gu Mochou''s stares before she looked down and told hispanions with an amused grin.


    Nangong Mei casually gave the youngdy seated on one of the sofas in the lobby a nce then replied. "She''s really pretty. It looks like the girl is from a well-to-do family."


    "Yes. Sister Mei, if I approach her, do you think she''d be willing to talk to me?"


    "... I''m afraid even secr women would find you an oddball. Yan Li, forgive my bluntness, but you''re making it obvious that you rarely see girls fromrge towns and cities."


    The acting leader, Huo Bowen frowned at them and then sternly spoke. "You two, just stop focusing on random people. Remember that we only came to the secr world to meet Fan Zheng. Other things are of no importance."


    At the mention of the name, the faces of the two people did not really change, but their eyes became weird.


    "That Fan Zheng, hmm?"


    They were people from spirit hunter ns and had some degree of superiority to other disciples picked up from outside. However, it didn''t mean that they don''t acknowledge people not from known Daoist families asrades. Their sense of superiority was from being ahead in knowledge for being taught at a young age. None of them were really mean. It was just it was hard for them to like somebody always staying in the mundane world rarely visiting his master or interacting with fellow disciples in the sect.


    Fan Zheng. He was that kind of person, unfilial and arrogant in their eyes. The simple but traditional mindset of these disciples made them have a bad impression of someone not even paying respects to his master every foundation anniversary. Not to mention, Fan Zheng would tour around exorcising spirits to show off his abilities without first checking what kind of karma or backstory a ghost had.


    While getting his room key from the receptionist, Yan Li, the other boy, grunted, "I don''t want to meet that entitled bastard. Look. He seems to only remember us when he''s in a pinch. Why did he reach out this time to us again?"


    His two friends kept their silence for a while.


    The girl, Nangong Mei no longer stared at Gu Mochou. Yet despite her unfavorable opinion on Fan Zheng, she spoke no ill-will against him and instead changed the topic.


    "Leader. I saw some poor fellows needing our help to liberate them. I''m not tired anyway so may I walk around a bit? I promise to go back before midnight so I can catch some sleep and not bete for the train tomorrow."


    Huo Bowen thought for a moment before nodding at the girl. "Fine. Just be careful. Don''t stir trouble that will dy us. I''m sure it''s not only me who wants to go back as soon as possible."


    "Thanks. I will keep your words in mind." She then stopped speaking and simply followed him into the elevator.


    Gu Mochou, right then, raised her gaze from the phone in her hand. On the screen was her conversation with her mom who she was coaxing with cute intimate responses. New replies appeared, but she didn''t see them because her eyes were curiously following those three eye-catching people.


    She had no way of eavesdropping on their conversation since if she tried tomand a ghost to go near them, they would only end up detected, or worse, purified. Theck of information and her curiosity about them made her wonder why they appear here. Should she go after them?


    ''Hmm. Forget it... She''s here'' The viiness turned her head to the door, her piercing gaze seemingly seeing something beyond that.


    A momentter, thedy receptionist manning the front desk looked up in the direction of the waiting area. To her puzzlement, the pretty and elegant young girl was no longer there.

 Chapter 390: Mo Chou (28)

    Chapter 390: Mo Chou (28)


    Zhao Ai worriedly gazed at Fan Zheng''s back as they walked into the house. The man looked absent-minded. Before he climbed up the stairs, he didn''t even turn his head when he spoke.


    "I will work on my projects so don''t disturb me until dinner."


    ''Is he affected by what Zhan Rong said?''


    At the thought that immediately popped up after hearing his words, she unconsciously pursed her lips before lowering her head and uttering a "yes".


    She didn''t know what else to do. Therefore, she only watched him disappear into the second floor, stay there for some time, before realizing she looked stupid and hence deciding to leave.


    Zhao Ai headed to her room which was smaller than the other rooms in the house, but bigger than the one she lived in for seventeen years at the vige. After putting down the bags in her hand on the small round foldable table, she sat on the edge of the bed before lying down, staring at the white ceiling.


    ''... Fan Zheng must have been thinking about the encounter at the central square.''


    All of a sudden, a bit of nervousness and insecurity suddenly wormed into her heart. The feeling made her toss and turn in her bed before facing the door. Once again, she did not know what to do.


    Every time she looked around her new living space, she would be hit by a feeling of disbelief.


    To those who had lived in a beautiful house most of their lives, it would be hard to understand her sentiment. Why stare so long at the painted concrete walls? And marvel at ss windows and wide bed with a soft mattress? Because it was like the difference between heaven and earth whenpared to before.


    In the vige, the leader''s house was indeed the biggest and the most imposing, making it the envy of the other locals, but it was because they had thatched or nipa huts as aparison. In reality, it was still just a house made mostly of woods and bamboo-woven walls, a far-cry from even the most humble dwelling in the city.


    The roof was made of galvanized iron sheets. The front where the door was actually had hollow blocks as its foundation. The flooring of the bathroom and toilet was cement, unlike the leveled soil of the other houses.


    But that was it.


    No paint. The wood was exposed and visitors would easily see the termites sometimes popping out or making lines on some pirs. It smelled of decay and mold. Its only edge was looking bigger and a bit better, but every few years, there was also a need to change the pirs and plywoods, like every other residence.


    In short, it was not even worthparing to Fan Zheng''s house which she heard was only one of the numerous properties his family owned in this country.


    As the country bumpkin that she was, her sight was yet to turn to the huge wealth that Fan Zheng''s family had. Her simple mind only madeparisons limited to this room and her former room.


    This moment though, she didn''t reminisce anything about her former life. Like Fan Zheng, she also couldn''t help but think of what happened earlier.


    Zhan Rong''s words made her sad since in case Fan Zheng felt no more sense of responsibility for her, she would most likely have to part with this ce. Recalling the moments they had in the past weeks, she felt some confidence rising within for being told by the other that he liked her. But it immediately faded away like a deted balloon as a question popped up in her mind.


    Was Fan Zheng feelings for her deeper than the friendship he had with Zhan Rong and the others?


    Zhao Ai forgot the guy had just fought against Guo Hanying for her sake. She wallowed in insecurities.


    Recalling how she was med for the prolonged suffering of the women and children sold to the Zhao vigers, she felt guilty. It stemmed from the fact that she had actually never thought of reporting to the police each time they went to town. A blunder caused by herck of IQ andmon sense present to normal city dwellers.


    Zhao Ai knew she was not that smart. Because if she was, she would not have thought that angering outsiders would make them go away. She also would not have thought of taking a haunted house as her temporary residence while looking for a job.


    Theck of exposure to TV, inte, and other normal civilization stuff caused her to have a narrow viewpoint, plus whenever she apanied the vigers in selling their produce, they always made sure to not approach near ces with security guards and police officers.


    Zhao Ai sighed as she wondered how she would exin her side to Fan Zhengter.


    "Zhao Ai, are you there?" Three consecutive knocks came from the door.


    The sound knocked the girl out of her stupor, rendering her to push her upper body up in reflex. The female lead stood up and twisted the knob before popping her little head out. "Hello." She greeted the other housemaid standing outside.


    "So you''re really back."


    "Yes, Miss Mao. I was just resting. But if you have some errands for me to do, I would be more than happy to help."


    "Hmm."


    Mao Xin looked at the slim and pretty girl with lukewarm eyes. Towards this co-worker who seemed more like a little lover of their young boss than a housemaid earning her pay through domestic chores, she feltplicated. Many times the woman wondered whether to be annoyed that while the rest of the servants were working their butts off, this Zhao Ai was only in charge of apanying the young boss outside, or to ingratiate herself with this girl to earn herself some small benefits.


    ''I heard Zhao Ai is just a little chick from the countryside which means young master Fan would get tired of her in a few months.''


    The middle-ageddy inwardly shook her head and decided to not change her way of treating the female lead. She said with an ever-serious face, "Chen Ning will go to the grocery store which is just a street away from here. Everyone else is busy,. You go apany her since the list she got from Old Ke is quite long, meaning there would be more than threerge bags."


    The Old Ke mentioned was like a butler for the Fan siblings, although his real title was assistant to Fan Zheng''s father.


    Mao Xin was actually aware that Zhao Ai had just gone back from outside and had yet to rest for even five minutes. She waited for the girl''s response, nning to report to Mrs. Fan if ever Zhao Ai showed any arrogance.


    However, Zhao Ai readily nodded and agreed. "I got it, Ms. Mao. Is she waiting for me outside."


    After her eyeswidened a bit, Mao Xin replied, "That''s right."


    ''At least, this gal is not delusional or with ridiculous superiorityplex after being noticed by the young master,'' the olderdy thought to herself after coughing to cover up her embarrassment and watching Zhao Ai walked away.


    An hour after the female lead went out with her colleague, they came out of the grocery store pushing a cart.


    "Sister Chen, are we going to walk the way back?" Zhao Ai asked with her eyes at the cart full of bags of ingredients and items.


    The sun was still up high. Even if the house was only a hundred and fifty meters away, it would still be torturous to carry stuff while marching under the scorching weather. Personally, Zhao Ai had no problem doing that as she was a girl raised by her father to do household chores for him. Her skin was fair but not the type to tan easily. But the case might not be the same for herpanion.


    "Sister Zhao. We''re both maids, alright. But we also have to take care of ourselves. At least we should maintain our skin so once we''re no longer working as house helpers, we can find some decent partners."


    Sure enough, the other girl protested.


    "Taxi fare for a mere 150 meters doesn''t seem worth it though."


    "Nothing we can do since are only two girls. Hold on, I''ll call a cab," said Sister Chen before attempting to walk towards the street to g a taxi. The main street was quite the distance away from the entrance of the mart so Zhao Ai grabbed Chen Ning''s shoulder and said,


    "Sister Chen, let me." To which thetter shrugged her shoulders at, "Up to you. I''ll guard these then."


    Not long after Zhao Ai arrived at the loading-unloading area, a white car stopped by. It was still in the middle of thene and not really close to the pedestrian side, therefore, the female lead was more than shocked when the car door suddenly opened. On that side, a speeding motorcycle wasing from behind. From inside the door, a body was suddenly thrown as if it was on purpose so that the person would be run over by that.


    No matter how far-fetched and unreasonable it looked like, it did happen before Zhao Ai''s eyes.


    "Ahhh! Blood! Blood! Somebody''s dying!"


    The white car left before anyone could respond. People''s focus was first on the fatdy that screamed before going to the body lying motionlessly in the street. It had be a scene of chaos even though the oing vehicles, including the motorbike, had stopped because the others that regained their senses also began to make amotion, filling the ce with loud screams.

 Chapter 391: Mo Chou (29) <2-in-1>

    Chapter 391: Mo Chou (29) <2-in-1>


    Confronted with something so odd and shocking, Zhao Ai also froze for a while and almost forgot she was there to hail a cab.


    Yet when she did remember, instead of fetching her co-worker who was waiting patiently for her at the entrance of the mart, she chivalrously picked up the unconscious guy lying in the cold hard ground. This she did without hesitation, her face wreathed in righteousness that made her appear so holy and pure in the eyes of the onlookers.


    "Please make way! We don''t even have time to wait for the ambnce so stop blocking us!"


    With the help of some kind-hearted men, the bloody young man was carefullyid at the back seat of the taxi and ferried to the nearest hospital which was thankfully only half a kilometer away.


    ''I hope this poor guy will not pass away before reaching the hospital.''


    They had Lady Luck to thank for there was no heavy traffic on the road which could have dyed them.


    "I''m sorry, sister Chen." Once done leaving the half-dead patient to the care of the nurses who then pushed the person into the ER, Zhao Ai came back to herself and recalled the colleague she left without notice. On her way to the elevator, she repeatedly apologized before exining the situation. "It''s not really on purpose. I swear. You must have heard about the ident or seen the unusual gathering of people in front of the grocery store. I got unlucky because I was the one closest to the person."


    Chen Ning spoke grumpily. "No matter what you said, you still made me wait for half an hour in vain. That person is just a stranger and looked at how you treated him. How about me who is your acquaintance?"


    "I''m really sorry. Please, don''t be angry anymore, okay? I''m going back now. Where are you?" Zhao Ai unconsciously quickened her steps, guilty for making Chen Ning carried everything on her own. However, she felt no regret for helping the person just now. In her opinion, nothing mattered than saving a life that she thought she had just proudly done.


    "I''m now at the mansion. What happened anyway? Is that guy abducted for ransom?"


    "I don''t know. I only sent him to the doctor then left. The uncle who went with me said he is a traffic enforcer. His colleagues tried to check the te number of the car but it''s not registered in the system so it could be fake."


    Within the elevator, Zhao Ai filled the details to the half-mad, half-curious girl. To appease thetter, she promised to buy her a meal on the next payday. This female lead had no idea she had just sessfully dipped her feet into another trouble. The one she saved was none other than Zhang Jian, the viin who was also the sole sessor of the ck organization responsible for 70 percent of the illegal dealings and cases in the country.


    3 days after.


    Zhan Rong was sessfully distanced from the leads and her troublesome and dramatic friends. The panel that she had once tried to forget when her pet ghost disappeared became a frequent thing stered on her field of view again.


    Yet her side was having a fairly slow progression.


    On the other hand, Jiang Li was having a spectacr time.


    He traced the important members of the ck organization through the information gotten from Brother Duan. The means of torturing some scums of the societies... the process of driving them insane through several epic scare tactics to the point they became afraid of going outside. It was all extremely exhrating!


    ''Great. If this continues, although I would have to be careful of falling into madness, I might still be able to be as strong as a local deity.'' The man thought happily after observing himself and testing out how long he could grasp tangible objects. The heaviest he could hold was five kilograms, longest 10 minutes. Not bad for a spirit not possessing a body.


    Last night, he was able to lift a few pots of flowers which he dropped from the seventh floor of a building onto a shiny ck sports car of an annoying dude who tried to flirt with Zhan Rong when she went out for a meal.


    The girl didn''t know this because she was too preupied with lots of worries.


    System: The great viiness desperately wants to see her pet ghost but she has no idea ''host'' is frequently haunting others.


    Even now, the youngdy was sporting a grim expression pondering how she would proceed with the mission. The child spirit didn''t know whether to shake his head as he watched from the void, orugh at Zhan Rong.


    When night fell, at the city closest to Haowen Town which was only one and a half hours away from the viiness'' location, she checked into the first hotel she saw with the same expression stered on her face. Jiang Li naturally followed, although he left shortly for the city mayor who was actually in touch with the traffickers and was the main supporter of those goons collecting protection fees from small shop/stall owners. The corrupt politician was the one he nned to use for experimentation and for farming of fear energy that would help strengthen him.


    Zhan Rong was left to her devices. No other ghosts lingered around her due to her talisman.


    After getting a room for herself, she pulled up herbook to check the first batch of documents sent over by a private detective. The call and chat records and all pieces of evidence that could rat out her identity from the side of the investigator were unceremoniously deleted by Jiang Li without her knowing. Er, the fact that Zhan Rong was quite brainy still counts, although, in this matter, Zhan Rong forgot to pay attention to due to inexperience and stress.


    Crossing her arms above her chest with her back leaning on the armrest of the sofa, she spoke absent-mindedly to herself, "Seven days... Only four more days left"


    Her eyes were on the first few rows on the screen.


    Zhang Yazhu, a name Mr. Zhan especially warned her about. The name left an impression because, in the few, rare times that her father spoke to her without shouting, mostly at banquets where she had no choice but to attend, Zhang Yazhu''s name was mentioned four times.


    How evil could this guy be that even heartless, blood-sucking profiteers like her father would be so wary?


    She shook her head to clear her thoughts, resuming the review of the reports. A few minutester, a general conclusion formed in her mind.


    "It will be tough"


    "My greatest hurdle is to predict where these scumbags would appear because they are too slippery and quick to move. Once I get ahold of that information though, it would easy to report to the police. I could also just get a group of men to pretend that they are also in the same line of business to have them take away every prospective victim before the syndicate does."


    Seven days. That was the total number of days given to her. Now three days had passed. It was not that she was not taking things seriously, resulting in her only tracing now the ce where the traffickers were currently active. It was that her soft heart caused her to do something for the poor children that were forced to beg, steal, and touch porcin.


    When she was not focusing on them but being like the other people minding her own business, it was easier to not care, or pretend to not care. Because everyone else was doing the same, the guilt would be lesser.


    But now that she was forced to face them, Zhan Rong just found herself doing something crazy.


    Before she knew it, she was involved in a mass kidnapping case!


    Yup. A mass kidnapping.


    Zhan Rong somehow grew a liking to the term ''abduction'' and first employed the strategy that would make her famous in the future to the kids loitering around the central area of City B.


    It was a spur of the moment, a result of great impulsiveness that she didn''t know was still present within her.


    These scums took joy in the misery of others while profiting from them, no? Thinking they were so cool for they could defyws and get away with it, and that for this coolness, it was okay to make others pay the price?


    In Zhan Rong''s view, this kind of people should die and suffer in hell.


    Unfortunately, they were still alive, tougher than cockroaches.


    But hey, since they were alive, teaching them a lesson was very possible! Even if it was limited to one type, wouldn''t it be good revenge to make those pieces of garbage get a taste of their own medicine?


    Money was spent on hiring a group of security personnel that she instructed to dress up like bad guys in masks. These people moved separately and took away every child forced to work by the syndicate. As thetter was caught by surprise, by the time the higher-ups sent manpower to help, the perpetrators were long outside the city, delivering their ''victims'' to orphanages all over the maind.


    While this was happening, Zhan Rong was not idle too. It was her who personally phoned every director of the orphanages, styling herself an anonymous phnthropist promising a yearly lump of money in exchange for settling the identities, amodations, and education of the orphans.


    There were other loose ends that she took care of. Sealing off the mouths of her aplice was one example.


    It was a relief that her efforts paid off. The system acknowledged the impromptu operation as part of the mission which meant she only needed to do two more.


    Perhaps, it was because some of the younger kids who would not be able to follow orders properly might end up sold to mountain vigers or given to ''ck'' doctors to y with. In line with this reasoning, a future trafficking sh illegal human trading was sabotaged in advance due to her actions.


    ''This is good... But..."


    Despite this progress, Zhan Rong still found it hard to rx. Because, after that, she learned from her source that the syndicate became like provoked hos. They were too irrational that they spread warnings even topany and conglomerate owners yet too careful that every ce manned by their people was spotted with a few more suspicious and dangerous-looking individuals.


    This development indirectly told her that she would no longer be able to rely on luck and half-baked schemes.


    ''I need a n. A good, no, a foolproof one. And I also need to contact another group of helpers.'' She sunk into contemtion after carrying herptop on the bed.


    All of a sudden, a chat box popped up. When she checked who just PMed her, she saw that it was Guo Hanying and the rest, with the Fan siblings as exceptions, nning onest outing before the resume of sses tofort the depressed Guo Hanying.


    For a moment, she suddenly felt like telling this bunch that she was also depressed. But of course, that only remained as one of the many thoughts in her heart. As a girl forced to mature early, it would be very embarrassing to ask forfort from others.


    To be an adult means to know how to handle stress and temptations, she told herself.


    Not long after though, her eyes slightly shook at the fascinating pictures of tourist spots uploaded. Deep within her, there appeared a resounding voice urging her to reply that she, as usual, was more than ready to join the escapade.


    A momentter, her eyes briefly closed and when she opened them again, her face looked so gloomy.


    Would she dare to fail her current task and be thrown to another hellish dungeon?


    Just so she could join a trip like this that she could make any time in the future after settling her current problems?


    The answer was clear. No. So she could only close the tab with shaking hands.


    Yet because those bastards and b*tches kept sending replies to the group, the chatbox also kept expanding and notification rms resounded every few seconds. Even though she muted it, the words still shed in the space below.


    When the frustration became too much and there was nobody around to pick on her manners, Zhan Rong finally voiced it out. "This is so unbelievable! Why does a fragile woman like me have to suffer from severe headaches from all of this this ssshh....Ugh!"


    Her voice was loud. However, her upbringing stopped her from uttering a foul word that could have perfectly described the situation she got herself in.<ol><li>touching or bumping porcin is the practice of crooks cing ostensibly expensive, fragile items (usually porcin) in ces where they may easily be knocked over, allowing them to collect money when the items are damaged. In modern context, it refers to people pretending to be knocked down at the slightest touch so they could demandpensation.</li></ol>

 Chapter 392: Mo Chou (30)

    Chapter 392: Mo Chou (30)


    On that night when Zhan Rong began to consider befriending some ghosts toter make them do some espionage work for her, Jiang Li was jumping from houses to houses after dealing with the corrupt city mayor who suddenly got a heart attack.


    He was pretty unbiased towards his victims. As a fairly powerful poltergeist, every time he switched targets, he began with the usual ''drop some cutleries first... then bang the door loudly or twist the faucet so the kitchen or bathroom will be flooded... make the bulbs and generator explode... and force some knives to fly around chasing them for a whole hour regardless of the direction they took.''


    Other spirits loved to pull their victims into a nightmare or simply scare them with their frightening appearances that were usually a copy of what they looked like at the moment of their death.


    Well, there was a time, he wanted to try that, and it was difficult given his current face.


    This was why he was quite annoyed.


    ''Visual images are cheap,'' Jiang Li thought disdainfully after a few tests. ''Because one''s ghostly face won''t always work, the best scare tactic is to make the victim realize that they could be killed in the most mysterious and unjustifiable way possible. Only then would they be truly frightened. It is always the fear for their own lives that could draw the rawest emotion out of people.''


    Even if they were big men with explosive muscles and intimidating tattoos and piercings, would they be able to maintain a collected expression when confronted with something this creepy and supernatural and at the same time life-threatening? It didn''t matter if there was a killing intent or nor. The idea itself that one could die in the hands of a monster or a spirit was very rming.


    Before, this one guy with a bodybuilder look was like ''You, go to this region and wait for some idiots to drag her'' to his subordinates.


    Another guy, an extremely high-ranking ''executive'' within the organization wore an extremely arrogant face as he said,''A ridiculous upstart wants to defy me? When I said to deliver his wife to me and make her apany me for a drink, I allowed no objection! He doesn''t want to? Easy! Bankrupt him! Pressure him on all sides! Kill him mentally and spiritually! Until he will be at the point where he''ll sell even his daughter to me on his own ord! A mere dog should know when to bark and when to wag its tail!''


    Thetter was in fact that arrogant city mayor that was now being rushed to the hospital, marked by a curse from Jiang Li.


    What good did his unmatched confidence bring him against Jiang Li?


    A silly question. In this world, there was no other race who knew the real essence of justice, equality and impartiality other than ghosts!


    The rest of the evildoers Jiang Li managed to get a hold of, they ended up miserable, living an endless nightmare, fearful that they would die from idents.


    This old ghost was very merciful, not intending to kill them.


    However, he was also just as cruel, thinking the supernatural stuff had not yet driven them crazy and he felt that he had truly not done anything extreme at all. He was in favor of throwing all the members of the organization in the middle of a desert with no supplies or whatsoever where they would have a real survival game. There was also other various options, like introducing them to the group of ghosts outside Zhao Vige for a better paranormal experience.


    ''Thetter sounds nice and will help me reconcile with those fellows.''


    ''As long as they are not dead, I can recycle them to farm fear points too.''


    His thoughts right now seemed not that horrifying.


    Yet it was undeniable that eerieughter from an evil spirit reverberated through the night. The red light district that was finally showing lesser vibrancy at 3 am... in particr, the room at the highest floor of the top establishment in the area that was a dream for countless men, was suddenly so eerie on that evening. The noises of the visitors and girls having fun doing something that should not be mentioned downstairs could not reach the ce.


    As if the whole fifth floor was isted from the rest of the world.


    In such istion, Jiang Li burst into a crazy bout ofughter. His eyes were red and his figure was like flickering smoke still persisting against the wind.


    "Hahahahahahahaha!"


    It sounded so insane and malicious. "Hahahahaha!"


    However, while it was true that he was in a good mood due to the amusing plot ying in his head, therge part of why he kept cackling like an opera singer stubbornly holding onto a note for tens of seconds was still to freak humans out. On the many references he had browsed, tons of ghosts were depicted to have sessfully scared people with just a maniacal fit ofughter which most spirits purposely made to sound like it was echoing from six feet underground.


    No doubt, if he did this as a human, he would be very embarrassed by now.


    But anyways, his exaggerated happiness did render another victim of his, a woman in charge of a prostitution den, quake in her bed out of trepidation.


    "D-Don''te to me! I-in the name ofB-Buddha!Begone! Go away! I-I beg you!" The woman sobbed so badly that her thick makeup was ruined, giving her an appearance as hideous as, if not more than, a ghost.


    Her pitiful cries only elicited a sneer from Jiang Li.


    "Yeah. Stupid. Like hell Buddha would respond to a bug like you." He disdainfully said.


    After that, once again, heughed like a madman. In the next minute, several deep cuts appear on the body of the pimp manager. No second passed that she was not screaming at the top of her lungs. When a mirror floated over to show how ugly and bloody she had be, her cries reached a crescendo, it was so tragic, mncholic, and at the same time, ear piercing. For a while, the ghost had an illusion that he just did what only neuropathic sadist would do, yet he also felt like even if he did, it would be alright since... Well, who would sympathize with someone who deserved nothing but hell after driving countless women to a path of no return? He was already too nice this way.


    The ghost lifted the invisible barrier that temporarily blocked the sounds within the ce from escaping. ''Go ahead. You''re free to shout.''


    Without any cue from him, the woman cooperated.


    With her yells like that, of course, people woulde over to check what happened. The woman took pride in her beauty that she had maintained even though she was already in herte thirties. Her concern about her appearance was as much as those celebrities counting on their faces to eat.


    When the alerted guests and employees rushed over, the woman was initially happy to receive some help. So was it the densely-packed cuts across her whole body, or her ugly bloody face? After recognizing the shock and disgust in everyone''s expression when they looked at her after recovering from the daze, she lost it and turned into a rabig dog crazily chasing people away.


    It was obvious this unprincipled pimp wouldn''t have good days ahead.


    Jiang Li left contentedly, dropping by the hospital where the city mayor was. The old man was of course unconscious and would offer him no entertainment. But among his family members, close fellow politicians, and personal assistant some of them must be aware of the underground dealings of the mayor.


    How ecstatic he was that his guess was on point and that there was one more toy for the bored, untiring spirit him to kill time with.


    Unfortunately, these happy moments did notst long.


    "L-leader, b-bad news!"


    Jiang Li phased through a wall and saw the owner of the familiar voice floating over with an anxious look on his face. "What''s the matter?"


    "Leader! T-that girl! She suddenly k-killed three disciples from Maoshan Sect. The spirit realm is also forced to undergo a massive restructuring within its ranks. Master spirit hunters from that mountain descended out of rage!"


    "W-we should hide!"


    A piece of news about Gu Mochou made way into his ears from the mouth of his spy who had taken two days to travel back from Haowen Town.


    His brain did not bother to ponder why they should hide from spirit hunters.


    Jiang Li froze midair and only came back to himself a minuteter wherein he immediately asked with a gloomy expression. "Gu Mochou that woman Tell me, what did she do again?"

 Chapter 393: Mo Chou (31) <2-in-1>

    Chapter 393: Mo Chou (31) <2-in-1>


    "She murdered people!" To his question, the other ghost replied. "All from that scary and hateful spirit hunting sect!"


    That answer This was his second time hearing it yet the impact did not lessen. He couldn''t respond for a while as he was still stunned, badly at that.


    Amongst the female viins that he met before, which one had truly killed somebody?


    Jiang Li went through his foggy memory and immediately came with an answer. None. At least before he came to this world.


    He began to shake his head.


    ''Butterfly effect?''


    It was something he was very familiar with since he had already been on this journey for a thousand years. He was open to the possibility that anything could happen as a result of any change in the original story.


    But while he had already witnessed many ups and downs in his and the others'' lives, it didn''t mean there was nothing else that could shake his mind.


    "What the hell" Before he knew it, the words just escaped from his lips. He was that surprised. "This is not supposed to happen."


    Jiang Li knew he had no qualification to judge because every time he went to tricky worlds filled with wars and chaos, he also never hesitated to im lives when needed.


    It was just hard not to be caught unprepared because this did not happen in the original and Gu Mochou did not really show any signs of aggression to cultivators. Well, he could not see her all the time so something might have happened. Still, she was the first viiness amongst the ones he encountered who had killed people. The impact was doubled upon recalling this was a fairly peaceful world and that the victims were Daoists from one of the righteous sects.


    What the hell was going on? Why did she do that? Did they happen to do something disruptive to the viiness'' n so they were silenced?


    "Leader." A voice rang out to interrupt his thoughts. At that time, Jiang Li was torn between going to confirm the situation and staying to assist Zhan Rong.


    It would not be hard to picture how annoyed he was from being distracted. Actually he did not bother hiding his displeasure from the one who called him and he even raised a palm.


    Unfortunately, the other did not see his cue.


    "Leader.I-I can''t stay long because I''m weak so, and s-scary cultivators from one of the sacred mountains have descended. So I''ll say this quick. I-I really don''t know how the scary human girl did it. It just happened, and she made it appear like the deaths of those young disciples were the works of ghosts! She''s scary! You won''t believe what she did to kill them!"


    "What did she do?" Jiang Li asked. This was really what he wanted to know right now.


    "I-It''s hard to describe. So I''m worried all the spirits would be hunted down!"


    This ghost was called Xiao Gui, another powerful poltergeist. It was pretty obvious from how he could speak with such fluency and be away from the capital where his obsession was. Xiao Gui used to be the boss ghost of a big school that was near Gu Mochou''s ce at City B. Jiang Li beat him up and put him into an illusion where he took his most dreaded college exams thousands of times to convince him to be one of his followers.


    If there was one thing Jiang Li hated about this fellow, it was that his brain circuit worked differently from others, proven by how he managed to connect two dots that were just miles away.


    "How about the details on how she finished them off?"


    "I don''t remember! I''m speaking the truth. Those monstrous spirit hunters went down the mountains. We will be hunted down! We have to hide!" The boy repeated.


    That response was as good as not responding at all. Jiang Li naturally felt annoyed.


    ''They''re not idiots who won''t conduct an investigation and directly cut down all suspects,'' he thought. Jiang Li then told him grumpily, "Anything more useful thing to say?"


    The younger ghost shook his head.


    "Then shut up."


    Xiao Gui''s face still showed worry and fear, a reaction far-fetched for a ghost. However, he did shut his mouth up for it would not be a good thing to anger a half-king.


    Jiang Li didn''t have a fleshly body but he could feel his forehead throbbing as he exited the hospital.


    "Stop following me. You''re done with my job here."


    "Then what should I do next?"


    "Go away."


    "O-okay. Please stay safe. Don''t worry, Leader. I won''t forget to warn everyone I came across."


    Not in the condition to float around and chat with another spirit, he instructed the boy to go back to City B and hide.


    Once back to the hotel, he gave the surveince cameras around a quick nce and did the same to Zhan Rong''s phone andptop. After piecing out her n through the various search logs and memos, he became relieved that she was not nning to confront those low-lives of the syndicate head-on.


    In order to help speed up her operations and lower the risk, he began to insert some key information gotten by himself, for example, the habits and contacts of the suspected members.


    A thought shed across his mind while modifying some pages in the files sent by the private investigators.


    ''What are the odds that those geezers from Maoshan would be able to pinpoint the viiness as the murderer?'' His almost illusory fingers paused in the air.


    He had no experience dealing with cultivation sects, but if his guess was correct, the current generation should not be as scary as those from thousands of years ago. Pollution and other factors had thinned out the ''spiritual energies'' in the world needed to cultivate. Yet there was still no telling whether the mystics of today had no magic that could show what happened in the past.


    Jiang Li grimaced. ''Actually, there''s no magic for magic here. If even one of them is good at hacking surveince and Gu Mochou carelessly let her be captured when doing the act, she would also be finished''


    Done with his work there, he headed out again and searched the city for someone he could possess.


    What he needed to do right now was to travel to Haowen Town and stay there for a prolonged period of time. It would only be possible with points and a real body.


    The search had been troublesome. He was reluctant to spend points to ask for help in locating a prospect. He chose to do it manually. People on the brink of death wouldn''t do. Messengers from the spiritual world, ck and White Impermanence would being soon for them and he didn''t want to run into them. It had to be someone with affinities to ghost, meaning a person born on yin month, day, and hour. At the thought, he somehow wanted to murder whoever made up this rule which forced ghosts to do something akin to searching a needle in a haystack.


    "Damn. For a murderous viiness whose mind is filled with revenge, is it worth it?"


    By the time, he found one, the sun was almost up and his energy was quite depleted. The person he found was a ghost-seeing youth who was constantly bullied at school and home and badly wanted to run away but just had no guts to go against his abusive father. For Jiang Li though, as long as he had a real body, one that was not that of an old man or a child, it would be a piece of cake to slip away. He also wouldn''t have guilt over running away since it was the wish of the original owner.


    When he took over the body, it was with the consent of the youth, promising him to return the control over it once he achieved his goal, plus he would help him escape and go to another province. On why the youth easily agreed with Jiang Li''s offer without asking for a guarantee, it was not his problem.


    He spent some time limating to the body.


    When he was about to check how well she could control his regained senses, the door to the small room of the youth swung open revealing a boorish man who then spoke rudely to Jiang Li, "Hey, it''s morning already! Why are you still in bed? Stop beingzy and prepare my breakfast!"


    It was the father who woke up feeling cranky due to hangover. Jiang Li looked at him curiously.


    As someone who held not much love and care for his son, the man''s only impression of his son was a thin, cowardly weakling whose only usefulness was to be his nanny and punching bag.


    When he saw the little guy sitting on the bed, he thought nothing of it even though the other seemed lost in thoughts and in a sitting posture that seemed more refined than usual.


    "Get out already! I''m starving! Move! Or I''ll break your leg!" The man even shouted.


    It was a puzzle why there were parents like this guy who only thought of his kid as a servant. But there were people like that and one of them was in front of Jiang Li.


    Jiang Li frowned and felt pity for the owner of his current body. "What an attitude. And he didn''t even notice anything odd about his son. Tch." Had the man looked closely, he would have noticed that the glint in his son''s eyes changed and was looking in his eyes without the usual fear and look of numbness.


    However, his focus was on an entirely different matter.


    The burly man held his forehead and frowned. He then raised his voice and asked, "Did you just say something?" A guess crossed his mind. "Youining?"


    At thest phrase said, the man''s face changed and became uglier. He didn''t hear his son''s words clearly so he simply assumed the thin boy was saying bad things about him.


    No parents liked to be questioned, even if it only happened in his imagination, and so within a second, his belt was pulled out and raised. "Rebelling huh?"


    His next actions seemingly said, ''No problem! I''m more than willing to let you taste some beating for breakfast!'' And to this, Jiang Li only felt speechless.


    ''I have no time to waste on this bastard.''


    He stood up and spat out with mild irritation, looking at the man like he was looking at a bug. "While I admire your skill in filling the nks by yourself, I''m not in the mood to y with you, old man."


    Enduring the unnerving and nauseous feeling from his spirit being rejected by the body, he hypnotized the father. Jiang Li had done it a million times in the past already so there was no need to question his proficiency. He said with a cold smile, "Breakfast, huh? How about you cook and eat that cheap belt of yours?"


    In a second, thetter''s angry eyes immediately turned dull.


    Even though the man had a feeling that something suddenly became weird, that he should be furious from being impolitely called an old man, he nodded and replied, "Got it. I''ll go to the kitchen now."


    Watching the other walked out, Jiang Li sneered. Done with some light exercises to fine-tune his spirit with the unfamiliar vessel, he thought of something and said to the man who was about to exit the door, "By the way, before you make your meal, first give me the household register and your passbook. I need some cash too. Do you have some?"


    "Yes," replied the middle-aged man who then walked into his own room.


    By the time the father returned, the possessed boy had already stuffed his bag with his few clothes and books. Jiang Li unceremoniously stuffed the booklets into his bag too. His eyes followed the huge guy who went to fetch his other belts and put them in a pot filled with water.


    A minute after, Jiang Li was outside of the house, walking towards the nearest bus stop, joining the hawkers, students, and professionally dressed people already crowding the streets.


    It was 5:46 am. The town, his destination, was two and a half hours away.

 Chapter 394: Mo Chou (32) <2-in-1>

    Chapter 394: Mo Chou (32) <2-in-1>


    On that particr morning, several changes happened in Haowen Town and only people like Zhan Rong and beings like Jiang Li sensed it. Only they felt the tension slowly filling up the air.


    Gu Mochou was one of them. She felt that the streets became cleaner, with dirty things out of sight, yet the atmosphere was heavier because the ghosts were depressed.


    Aa storm was secretly brewing and its scale might reach the capital. She knew that the reason was the monks that began to take control of the local government behind the scenes and made the police force exceptionally active. They were that triggered by the deaths of the three innocent Daoists.


    As the guilty party, there was no one else around who should feel the urgency to leave. Yet for some reason, she remained in the town, showing no whatsoever intent to go back to the city.


    "I won''t go back yet," she even told her cousin.


    "Lil princess I sincerely believed that is not a good answer." On the other line was her cousin again whose voice was tinged with both worry and helplessness. "Uncle is angry because Aunt has told him you''re not even listening to her now. What''s going on? Can''t you at least exin?"


    Like the cheeky girl that she always appealed herself to them, Gu Mochou stated in a careless manner, "Hey, it''s nothing, alright? Mom and I are just in some sort of misunderstanding."


    "What misunderstanding?"


    "Come on. I''m still in the country and nobody has the heart to kidnap me or do anything bad to me. Why are you all so anxious? And mom, she''s being so exaggerated."


    "Although I understand that the concern from the older generation can be suffocating sometimes, it''s improper to dismiss it too. Bad girl. If you don''t like them nagging you, don''t create any reason for them to do so."


    "Cousin! What am I in your mind?"


    The man dodged the question and only said, "Little girl. It''s like this. If you think your job is to create mischief, then, of course, your parents will think their job is to scold you. Something happens because it is triggered. In short, it''s thew of cause and effect."


    The viiness had just finished freshening up and was drying her hair. She rolled her eyes. "It''smon sense. But I''m really doing well here. Nothing''s really worrisome on my end. No one''s tailing me to kidnap me for ransom. The scenery is nice and I''m not being bullied by anyone. I would have even shared pictures of the beautiful ces and things if not for my worry that you lot will hire professionals to track me down and drag me back."


    "Hah" Gu Yijun''s sigh reverberated. "Why are you like this?"


    Her sweetughter came as a reply. Gu Mochou was feeling triumphant from rendering this usually capable cousin of her sighing in defeat. "How about I promise to lessen this kind of getaways once the school starts?"


    When noon came and she came out of her hotel room to look for a ce to dine in before going on a tour, she ran into an old monk talking to the manager. It was an amusing sight, one looked stern and gloomy, the other looked impatient.


    ''Senior Ouyang It''s been a while.''


    Gu Mochou looked down to hide the slight smile on her face.


    The monk-robe-wearing guy must have been one of the people sent to investigate. The hotel manager was sought out and was sporting that kind of face since he felt unnecessarily bothered from work and there was no police officer apanying the monk.


    Modern folks no longer had that kind of veneration towards cultivators. One reason was that people found it hard to distinguish real from fake, so to be safe, they simply considered those looking like monks, except those from known temples, were fakes.


    Perhaps, only when they were in desperate situations would they reconsider the previous statement. Then again, it rarely happened, it was hard to look for cultivators after all. Also, for real monks, the ones in power would be their first choice to help. It was not only because they could easily provide resources and help to sects, but because the sects were a headstrong stupid bunch that still thinks, ''Since we are only few and we can''t extend help to everyone, it''s imperative that we prioritize the leaders and influential lot. People at the top can''t be lost because they are the ones managing, inspiring, and helping with the livelihoods of the normies below them.''


    The weird ideology resulted in the current scene. The top politicians knew the cultivators and were more than happy to serve them. But normal people didn''t know them and of course, more than happy to not encounter them or let them interfere with their daily mundane lives.


    The hotel manager talked for a while to the other person before impatiently calling somebody else to assist him. It signified that the senior would exin everything from the top again, convincing the staff why he had to see where the three disciples were killed and who the ones around when the bodies were found. It simply spelled ''waste of time''. But who knew what made this Senior Ouyang think that a handsome baldie dressed in an old-fashioned robe like him would get the unconditional cooperation of a normal person without a single police or municipal officer apanying him?


    If Gu Mochou was still a member of the spiritual realm, she would be anxious about the situation, but she was not. Beforepletely stepping out of the doorway, she was secretly watching the two people talking withouting into an agreement which was made obvious by their gestures.


    ''I guess, good luck?'' sheughed in her mind.


    Upon arriving at a restaurant seven minutes away from the hotel with a high reputation online, she ordered some dishes and ate them with relish when they got delivered to her table.


    It was apparent, the meeting with a person looking for the murderer of his disciples did not affect her mood or made her feel on edge.


    She phoned the townspeople shemissioned to watch out for tribal or vige peopleing out of the nearby forest. After that, she sampled the dessert, while browsing an entertainment news site for idols she followed.


    Then when she saw something interesting going on in one corner of the restaurant, she found herself in the mood to watch. There was nobody else paying attention to that side since everyone else was busy talking with theirpanions or enjoying their food. She happened to be close and the two people were directly in front of her.


    The voice of the guy with his back facing her rang. "I really can y the piano and I promise the guests would like my music. I''m sincere in my wish to work here."


    A teenage boy aged between 16-18 stubbornly pestered a chubby guy in a suit who seemed like the owner or manager of the restaurant.


    The boy seemed to want to be employed and earn money. On why he ended up job hunting, of course, she had no idea.Gu Mochou only knew the boss didn''t buy his words. Impatience was written on the obese man''s face as he crossed his arms and inspected the other from head to toe with scrutinizing eyes.


    "Boy, sorry to say this. But looking at the way you dress, I would have no choice but to tell you, you''re not convincing enough."


    The teenager had a face that was quite good but there was indeed a little issue with his worn-out attire. He couldn''t speak for some time. A secondter, he quietly said, "Sir. Then give me a chance to perform. Once I sit down, only my face or back will be visible to the diners. I think the viewers won''t have aint."


    "You have a certification? What''s the source of your confidence, huh?"


    Then came an unexpected reply, "If I will be sitting before a piano facing the audience then I have confidence in my face, if I have to sit with them behind me, then I still have confidence since I''m quite the looker with a sexy body."


    "Pfft!" She couldn''t stop herself from letting out a giggle.


    The teenager must have heard her since he froze then turned to her with a frown. He must have felt puzzled by her reactions or simply offended. Gu Mochou lowered her head to hide her amused expression. Because she did so, after giving her a re, the boy returned his focus to the boss.


    The viiness sipped on her ss of wine, the edges of her mouth still raised upwards. Who convinced people in that way? Her eyes went back to the funny boy.


    Both of them, she and the teenager, were facing the boss. Couldn''t he see that the fat guy seemed to be pissed off?


    Sure enough, her predictions of how the negotiation would turn out came true. The manager did not give him a chance to prove his skill probably because his mouth was stupid, so he could only walk away frustrated.


    Momentster, Gu Mochou was quite surprised to see the youth approaching her table with a gloomy look on his face.


    ''What does this guy want?'' she wondered as curiosity blossomed in her eyes.


    In no time, the guy arrived before her and called out with a serious face, "Hey, you."


    Gu Mochou met his stare with a confused expression.


    "Why did youugh at me?" he asked, looking offended.


    For a while, the girl looked at him and then thought to herself whether this audacious boy had any idea about what he was doing. Her expensive getup and exquisite face was a sharp contrast with his dull clothes and yellowingplexion. Even if he was being driven by pride now, shouldn''t he still feel a bit intimidated and conscious in front of someone like her?


    ''Interesting... But... I hate being questioned.''


    After raising her brow, she snubbed him and stood up once done leaving a few bills on the table.


    The boy watched her with the same unfriendly eyes, the expression purposely made because the viiness could still see him through the reflection in the floor-to-ceiling ss wall.


    He was the fellow who just escaped from the neighboring city possessed by a ghost. This was his first close contact with Gu Mochou, and it took him a lot of effort to control his face from showing an odd expression upon faintly sensing that in one the items in her body, three strong righteous spirits were being held captive.


    ''What does she n to do with those souls?'' wondered Jiang Li who was possessing the 17-year-old boy.

 Chapter 395: Mo Chou (33) <2-in-1>

    Chapter 395: Mo Chou (33) <2-in-1>


    Somehow, a few more days passed and the female ghost supposed to haunt Zhao Ai appeared while Zhan Rong and Gu Mochou were away from the city. The ghostdy managed to stir some troubles before getting wiped away by Fan Zheng who had sought the help of somebody from the sect.


    Actually, the ones to take care of the ghostdy with Fan Zheng should have been the group of three disciples from before. But they died, so the plot autocorrected it and made one of their seniorse in their stead. Things became more logical that way.


    The ghost was tracked down because the one following her was much more formidable than the disciples. As a result, Gu Mochou''s effort in saving the strong female ghost was wasted.


    By now, the viiness already sensed the disappearance of herckey. She was naturally feeling regretful. But she was not stupid to not notice that a former senior of hers disappeared in town. someone she dared not to confront yet in fear of getting discovered.


    If she learned that the female ghost died while Zhao Ai was having a love triangle sh jealousy drama with a male lead and a triad boss'' son, who knows what she would do. Right, not even two days passed and that triad boss'' son Zhao Ai rescued was not confined in the hospital, but pursuing the angel that saved him from death.


    Anyway, Gu Mochou really upset. The gloomy times continued and but in herst few days, it was because she frequently got involved in the troubles a certain someone created. Moreover, every night, she would always end up in a nightmare where she was one of the three disciples.


    She would see herself, and at times, even feel, how she died with all her organs crushed from within by a hand that could phase through skin and bones. The agony from being trapped in a body that was being tortured through supernatural means...


    Gu Mochou had two reasons for staying despite the previous incident and she had actually aplished both already. Yet she was not too happy and was even feeling pressured by the unseen enemy.


    Those whose lives had been going smoothly so far, it was easy for them to feel annoyed once met with the slightest setback.


    ''What did go wrong?'' A frown appeared on her face.


    Why was she having those nightmares in these past few nights?


    She was past the point where she would think it was her conscience acting up.


    Gu Mochou reflected in her mind as who could be the person behind the mental attacks. Following this, she crossed out the senior Daoists since she knew them and the possible techniques they could have possessed even if they made progress in the sect. Then again, who did she offend?


    The viiness couldn''te up with another suspect. She was quite unhappy when she went back to City B before midnight of the sixth day.


    ''Zhao Ai, daughter of the beast leader.'' Somehow, amidst her bad mood, the name popped up in her mind.


    It was probably because depressed and stressed people were more prone to think randomly than anyone else in this world.


    Remembering her subordinate''s report about an annoying fly that escaped her, her mood worsened and she suddenly had the urge to see why the female ghost died, if her death had something to do with that daughter. If she was correct, that Zhao woman was still alive. Suddenly, she had the urge to y with that person personally.


    In the neighboring city, Zhan Rong was doing okay with her quest despite theck of real-time support from Jiang Li. The first attempt in disrupting a nned trafficking went fine. She even managed to hit a few crooks on the head due to her rage.


    The reason why Zhan Rong couldn''t control her hands and emotions that day was that the women came from poor backgrounds and were simply seeking domestic employment. But they were deceived by the fake agency of the syndicate, forced to pay so they would be introduced to rich houses offering high wages. The women had no idea when they convened a few days after coughing up the ''referral fee'' in the ''office'' of the agency, they would actually be sold to the mountain viges. They were rescued just when the huge van was about to cross another province. Thedies inside were already bound by ropes and there were traces of abuse on their bodies.


    It was not only Zhan Rong who got angry. Some of the people she hired did too. The female bodyguards sympathized as members of the same sex, the men thought of their mothers, wives, and daughters and were angry as they thought that women should also be respected.


    Yet that was not what the sight inside the van had shown.


    "They look down on these foolish women. And at the same time, they look down on their customers in remote ces because they are uneducated"


    "That''s why before selling the girls off, they first take away the most important things from them Purity and dignity. They must be thinking inferior people only deserve the cheapest or used goods.."


    "They are truly something." When she spoke this out on the way back to her hotel room, her voice and eyes were terrifyingly cold.


    Perhaps, that became the day when Zhan Rong felt she should not tolerate the Zhang family and its underground group. She hated the ugly sceneries that she just saw. Because it made her realize there was no way she would be able to evade them without rooting them out first. People like them would always lurk nearby and because the world was small, at least on TV and news, there was a high likelihood to encounter them.


    ''Maybe my pet ghost is really a blessing in disguise.'' She inwardlyughed, dryly. A kind of twisted satisfaction rose in her heart as she recalled the wrecked state of those bastards in her mind. She thought, ''I must thank Jiang Li once I see him again. He''s the reason why I realized the most satisfying on earth besides discovering beautiful things is personally destroying things that are evil and ugly.''


    What happened to the traffickers she caught?


    They didn''t go to the police station. Zhan Rong anonymously contacted a middleman who then contacted another group of people. Thetter added the traffickers to the group of criminals supposed to enter an envement camp where they would be forced to do construction works and all sorts of heavybors for the rest of their life.


    The syndicate members would contribute to the betterment of the country while atoning for their sins. Wasn''t it wonderful? A fitting judgment that was much much better than simply being put behind the bars happily passing their days eating, sleeping, and doing nothing.


    On the seventh day, Zhan Rong looked forward to intercepting another batch. On the day the viiness and a certain ghost went back to the main stage, Zhan Rong was sitting inside a rented car which she used as an extra precaution, watching as her people kidnapped another group of traffickers.


    ...


    "... Howe you are here?" An annoyed voice came from Gu Mochou when she went out that Sunday morning to dine in a fairly reputable restaurant across her condo.


    A performance had just finished and she couldn''t help but approach the guy sitting before the piano.


    Her stare was met by a strange look in the boy''s eyes. "Shouldn''t I be the one asking that? You you followed me even here?!"


    Gu Mochou''s lips twisted at his answer. She tly replied to the delusional person, "I live opposite this restaurant."


    "... You bought a unit just to chase me here?"


    His reply sounded especially offending to the viiness as it made her appear like a creepy person.


    ''How full of himself is he?'' she wondered with an irritated face.


    The girl didn''t know what type of wind get into the head of the restaurant owner to employ this broke and boorish guy. She couldn''t hide her surprise though, as he really looked so different now dressed in formal attire.


    Who would expect a damnable narcissistic teenager could be a looker with good piano skills once dressed in a suit and allowed to perform?


    Right, the delusional guy who thought of her as his stalker was that one in the town, the guy rejected by the fat restaurant owner. Now, exposed to the soft lights of the chandeliers amidst a carefully decorated stage, he indeed looked less like a country bumpkin.


    However, it didn''t change the fact that Gu Mochou didn''t wee seeing the person again. In fact, she wanted him to disappear right now to get rid of her goosebumps.


    She became very infuriated when she heard him whisper to himself.


    "... The hell. This is so hardcore. The girl who I thought was merely wearing her new years dresses to unt around is actually a real rich man''s daughter."


    "??!!!!"


    ''What did he think of me again?''


    Gu Mochou felt her blood pressure rising after getting to know another bad thought swirling in this guy''s brain.


    Yet before she could harrumph or yell at him, another person approached him. The man only looked at her for a passing second then smilingly spoke to the country bumpkin, "Little Jiang, good job. And congrattions because a customer like the song just now and requested to see you."


    The one called Little Jiang happily nodded, "Okay, Uncle Ge." He then rose to his feet.


    However, before he could walk away, Gu Mochou grumpily told the man, "I''m sorry. This pianist is mine for several minutes. We have something very important to talk about." Then she grabbed the teenager''s hand and pulled him towards her table. Not... She was not too nice to offer an enemy a meal.


    "Wait, dear guest!" Uncle Ge tried to stop them and the teenage boy also blurted out, "No, hey, stop, my tip! I need to see that customer first for my tip!" before looking at Gu Mochou with both rage and incredulity.


    The girl seemed not in the mood to listen to others though nor care about their strange gazes. A momentter, she let go of his hand, thinking that it was from a filthy creature, then said in a cold tone, "Let''s talk outside."


    When she turned her head away and marched forward, she had full confidence that the teenager would follow. And well, her guess turned out correct, because he did walk behind her hesitantly.


    What she just missed was him dropping his act for a second and wiping his right wrist using a handkerchief while looking at his wrist with knitted brows. The body might not be his, but he really hated being touched by a female stranger.


    While walking, his eyes went back to the viiness and he thought, ''This person... Even though she held my hand briefly, she didn''t notice the one she was talking to?''


    ''It seems I''m really safe then?''


    Like what Gu Mochou said, he''d been acquainted with her before. It was already confirmed that she couldn''t see that Zhao Bolin aka Jiang Li was in the body of the youth that she kept bumping into when she roamed around that town. First and foremost, it was because in the first encounter Jiang Li was asleep and extremely weak. But now, he was awake and had recovered. Even if he was spending a lot of energy to maintain the ''possession'', he was still strong enough that unless he wanted to, nobody in this world who were not at the level of the Fortune-teller would be able to sense him.


    Another thing was that the old ghost also did well in making it appear like the dominant one in the body was the spirit of its owner, Lang Lei. As an actor for several years in Selena Tang''s world, he found it easy to put up a y and so Jiang Li managed to hide to everyone that he was constantly receiving some bacsh in his own soul for taking over a body that was not lent to him by the system.


    One thing he worried about though was being found out upon close contact.


    But it seemed he could rx now because his own soul was actually powerful enough to deceive her senses.


    Perhaps it was because even when he was purely a ghost, only Zhao Bolin''s face and memories stayed with him, but ultimately within, he was Jiang Li. There was little to no remnant fighting him for the ghostly body which made it quite an experience simr to his very first Original.The system confirmed to him that it was because when they did the takeover, the autistic and lonely ghost Zhao Bolin wished for nothing.


    He lowered his eyes for a moment. ''Now all I have to do is to stick around her, correct her three views that easily make hermit crimes.''


    ''And don''t let her do suicidal things against the leads. Starting tomorrow.''


    When he raised his head again, it was when he could no longer feel the refreshing coolness against his skin. They were outside. His expression went back to anger and indignance.


    He didn''t want to stay or speak with an insane woman who might be a stalker. At that moment, that was what his face told the world.


    The talk went on in a direction that didn''t please Gu Mochou. The bloke before her kept insisting that she was head over heels for him. Due to his stubbornness, Gu Mochou could not chase the guy out of City B so she could only warn him not to appear in front of her before turning around.


    However, it was naturally up to him whether to obey her words or not.


    In the following days that passed, although Jiang Li couldn''t attend university, he somehow always found seemingly natural reasons and opportunities to appear in the same space as GuMochou. He felt bad in his heart because he also had to sneak back to Zhan Rong. It didn''t sit well with him that he had to instruct thetter to only call him at night when his, or rather, Lang Lei''s body was asleep.


    At this point, he was starting to feel some resentment against Gu Mochou because he had to be in this situation.


    ''Tch. If I have a choice, I''d rather pretend to be Zhan Rong''s pet than be around this viiness.''

 Chapter 396: Mo Chou (34) <2-in-1>

    Chapter 396: Mo Chou (34) <2-in-1>


    If one''s unfilial daughter ran away and stole his money, what should a poor father from a very remote vige do?


    Also, if malicious people abducted the children from their vige, what should they also do?


    Of course, report to the police!


    For Zhao Guo, it did not matter that he was the head of a vige full of sinners, or that everyone had indirectly cooperated with trafficking by being the buyers. He was wronged! They were deceived! So, justice should be demanded!


    With this unreasonable logic repeatedly leaving the middle-aged guy''s mouth, which was his excuse in leaving the vige without thepany of others, he managed to convince the vigers that he must go.


    Of course, he did after settling the matter with the owner of the barn and pigsty that got caught on fire. Throughout the process, his face was not good, because unlike the other family who lost a child bought only from traffickers, he lost, or rather, got betrayed, by a biological daughter. The pain on his face appeared greater than anyone else. At least, that was he showed everyone around him so they would listen to him and be more considerate of him.


    "We let those foreigners inside our vige in goodwill but look at what they did! Those demons took away our children!" Zhao Guo roared at the entrance to the people who came to dissuade him from taking the trip.


    "I have to file aint to the authorities in the city!"


    This happened a day after the escape of Fan Zheng''s group. To his beautiful but idiotic words, not everyone really believed.


    Not everyone in the vige was an idiot who did not realize that letting those abducted kids slip away was a sure-way ticket to trouble. Many from the older generation wanted to move the whole vige away, preferably deeper into the mountains.


    "I don''t think going to authorities is a good idea. We could be investigated. It may lead to a development unfavorable to us."


    Quite a lot of women were nearby and they all threw a nce at the old man who stood before Zhao Guo. Although they immediately lowered their eyes on the ground or faked paying attention to their husbands'' and kids'' faces, if one looked closely enough, an odd glint shed across their eyes. They were listening closely to the conversation.


    The new ones badly prayed in their hearts for the police officers from the nearest town toe and take them away. Those who had been there for more than a year staredplicatedly at their kids. They remembered the paper that suddenly appeared under pillows like a work of ghosts.


    Their momentary daydreaming ended up when the old man spoke again.


    "Chief, I really want to suggest we take advantage of the fact that it will take days to go here on foot even if outsiders march towards here the moment those foreign kids make a report. We should relocate."


    Zhao Guo red at the old man, disregarding their age difference, and strongly replied, "Uncle Jing! What are you saying? No! We''ll stay! If we do as you say, we will appear guilty and that is uneptable! We are just honest people who paid in full what had been sold to us. Why would we move away to evade those outsiders? Did we steal the money we use to buy them?"


    Silence reigned until a reply rang from the crowd, a loud and agitated one, "No!"


    "Call me whatever they want, but I''m no liar nor a thief!" The same voice added.


    Zhao Guo turned his head to where he heard the voice and with a face full of conviction, he nodded, "Right. You did not steal so you are no thief or anything. So did everyone here! We made money honestly off of the crops we harvested and the game we haunted. Why do we have to move locations and abandon the ce built by our ancestors?"


    The sun had just risen from the east but many locals were tired from the forest chase and the putting out of the firest night. Perhaps that slowed down their cognitive function a bit so they only nodded at the words thrown at them. Well, if the first few phrases were analyzed, then it was true none of them stole anything or anyone. They only purchased those who had been stolen from their families by the syndicate.


    Zhao Guo continued his passionate speech, "I repeat, we did not take away what''s not ours! If anything, we are the victims because when we bought ''them'', those city people did not leave us any guarantee that we would not lose ''them''! On behalf of every victim here, I would like to find Mr. Feng to help us with this issue."


    Thest name mentioned was the name of the middleman who usually talked to the vigers.


    Zhao Guo did not say it specifically, but ''them'' was referring to the women and kids. But, while he brought up the word ''guarantee'', it was obvious there was no way to demand an exnation from those thugs since it was them who got careless in treating their guests.


    Most of the locals were simple people who disliked wasting time thinking too much. They easily got riled up by Zhao Guo''s words.


    They seemingly forgot that the women and children were humans and not goods, and that there was no way to ask for something like warranty or insurance. They also forgot they bought them not from legal sources.


    But once people of considerable authorities came over to question them, would they be able to say things like because they were at a remote ce, they had no idea illegal trades like very were long abolished? Could they reason to them, with their vige''s detachment to technology as a reference that they had this impression that they were living in ancient times?


    It was hard to guess whether this bunch who were transacting with the traffickers were pretending to be ignorant.


    Yet, the agitated crowd did easily agree with their vige head. Some of the wiser and sober men gave Zhao Guo a doubtful expression but because of the shouts distracting them, they failed to point out what was wrong. Swayed by the others, they began to think that Zhao Guo''s statements made sense.


    "Yeah, we should seek help from Mr. Feng to retrieve my son!"


    "And my daughter too!"


    "It''s uneptable for me not to gain my child back! To buy her, I even sold two of my healthiest and fattest hens and five strong cows!"


    The vige head watched the expressions on everyone''s faces and heard out their yells before raising a hand.


    "Alright. I heard you all and understand that you are all with me in this. I need to go as soon as possible. I also need to ask for help to find my daughter. She might have been threatened by those ungrateful foreigners! As her father, it''s my responsibility to bring her back too. As your chief, it''s also my responsibility to bring your children back!"


    Zhao Guo sessfully left after getting the blessings of his fellow vigers. All he had in his person was a bundle of clothing hiding some paper bills and coins that Zhao Ai missed. He felt regretful that he could not sell his house to raise funds. However, he knew he should not wish for more now that escaping was the main priority.


    Yes, he had no more n to go back to the vige.


    What a joke. The moment Zhao Guo realized the new kids were taken away by the group of students, he only foresaw troublesing their way.


    He was clear that there was no chance their vige would escape the eyes of the police after it was revealed that more than five abducted children were found there. As the vige head, he would definitely be the scapegoat to shoulder arge part of the me so that not many locals would be thrown to jail. He could not allow that to happen!


    Since Zhao Guo was very experienced in trekking the rugged paths in the forest and he was ready for the long trip, bringing a wooden bicycle with him, he reached the civilization before nightfall. It was not the town where he and his fellow vigers usually sell their produce. This way, he luckily avoided the ghost and the viiness whoter appeared there.


    Before passing the night in an acquaintance''s house, he did report to the police about Zhao Ai, a theft case, not kidnapping or missing case.


    On the next morning, he went to the bank and inquired about his money where a teller perfunctorily told him, "Sir, your name and date of birth match with one of our ounts here. And there''s nothing to withdraw from it since it has already closed yesterday."


    Although the middle-aged man did some psychological preparations, he still couldn''t help but ask dumbfoundedly, "There''s no money left? Miss, can''t you double-check for me?"


    "I''m sorry, but the ount has already closed. Even the deposit was taken away."


    Zhao Guo became angry. "You let a minor withdraw from my ount just because she has my passbook?!"


    The teller looked a bit offended but still patiently said, "Sir. It''s not because she''s minor, but because she has proven that she is your daughter and that she has your written approval."


    "Nonsense! That''s impossible! I didn''t give her my approval!" As he was clear about the amount there, which might seem unimpressive to city people but was arge one for poor people like him, he felt like it was suddenly so hard to breathe.


    "She presented valid proof." The teller only shook her head and then presented a photocopy of the letter. When he adamantly refused to acknowledge it, she suppressed the annoyance in her face and called one of the security personnel who then showed him the footage on the day Zhao Ai made the withdrawal.


    There had been more exchange of words to convince the aged man. Zhao Guo could only leave dejected and furious at the mad girl that stole his whole savings. Not even learning the officers from the station had marched towards the vige erased the ufortable ache in his heart. He only felt he did well in reporting his daughter as a thief.


    A weekter, when Zhao Guo was temporarily helping in the construction site to earn some money, he heard from his loud-mouthed colleagues that a dozen men was escorted outside the forest by the police officers of the neighboring town. A few women were said to be with them. He guessed they were the minority who wanted to gamble on their family''s affection for them to be epted back home despite having such shameful experience. It was said thedies had once talked about some other women escaping prior with their kids.


    The Zhao vige had be infamous in the area. Zhao Guo was naturally incensed as he was not clear about the details.


    But while he sympathized with his fellows, he was actually more relieved that he was not one of the men sentenced to prison service. It was a hassle to not have a house he could stay in for free and have no one preparing his meal, but it was way better than receiving the harshest sentence for getting caught.


    After work and the foreman distributed their pay, Zhao Guo hurriedly packed up to migrate to another county since there was a high chance the vigers not apprehended would seek him out.


    He arrived at a town adjacent to City B where the cost of living was still quite okay for someone like him who could only work as a helper on fields.


    There, he gradually forgot that he was supposed to look for Zhao Ai and beat her up for her unfilial deeds. That was until he followed his employer to sell their crops in City B where Zhao Guo coincidentally saw his daughter looking so pretty and happy while being apanied by a rich-looking young man that was not Fan Zheng.


    This happened on the day Gu Mochou went back to City B, on the day she reunited with Jiang Li who was wearing the skin of a narcissistic country bumpkin secretly observing her in the shadows, ready to rescue her from deadly encounters and punish her for the lightest misdeeds.

 Chapter 397: Mo Chou (35)

    Chapter 397: Mo Chou (35)


    Probably one of the most unbelievable things that happened for quite a while was Gu Mochou not doing anything malicious to Fan Zheng and that Zhang boy. At most, she only made herself known to them. The worst was already frequently setting up seemingly coincidental encounters with them and sometimes ruining some dates or ns. Just like what Jiang Li did who made sure to show his face to the viiness from time to time as to not be forgotten.


    Months passed like this in peace.


    It was so peaceful that it was just hard for Jiang Li not to wonder whether Gu Mochou was brewing something behind the scenes, given her temperament and tendencies. But really just like that, a semester approached its end as the examination week concluded. All that was left before another short vacation was the announcement of grades and rankings.


    Since exam results together with extracurricr points could take some while to process, the students took advantage of that window of time to host events that could uplift the moods of everyone.


    "Remember your invitations, okay? And don''t forget to bring a partner."


    The PR officer of the department''s exclusive club announced through an uploaded video clip on the forum. Thankfully, everyone was alert to online notifications since many professors loved to use the forum or other university SNS pages to surprise students with assignments.


    "Simply semi-formal, hmm?" said Gu Mochou.


    "Howzy are they toe up with a decent theme or motif?" A female studentined.


    "Forget that. The movie''s starting soon. Let''s buy some tickets."


    Arriving on the fifth floor of a nearby mall, Gu Mochou urged her friends to not pay much attention to the announcement and simply enjoy the day as a celebration on surviving an exam.


    "Hmm. Right. Let''s enter the cinema. By the way, do you have a partner in mind already? You don''t look worried."


    The viinessughed joyfully, making her charming eyes looked more dazzling than usual. "I can juste alone, or hold a lottery among the ones pursuing me. It''s that simple."


    Thedies who came with her looked at her with both disdain and envy. One openly chastised her for being a show-off, another openly stated how jealous she was of Gu Mochou''s face and poprity.


    Right. Gu Mochou had the looks and the skills to sway people to the direction she wanted so she managed to deceive everyone about her real personality. As a result, she became a very ster figure in the university, somebody very popr with students and professors, with a bevy of fans among her peers. It was a result very outstanding for a transferee. When the news about her reached Fan Zheng and even Zhao Ai who was at the senior high school division, they likened her to a protagonist that mostly appeared in novels and teen dramas.


    A campus belle that conquered everyone with both beauty and a carefree personality. A beauty deemed to be admirable and refreshing by many because she appeared more approachable and unpretentious.


    Gu Mochou was a reborn girl so if not for her excessive desire to kill some people, perhaps she would have been the proper female lead that people talked about.


    It was a Saturday evening and the multipurpose hall of the university was decoratedvishly since it was the venue for the yearly celebration of the Finance department, the same event announced by the PR two days ago. All courses had this kind of celebration, albeit the dates and venues differed from one another.


    Gu Mochou entered the lively and noisy ce with a confident smile on her face. Due to her poprity, a lot of students dressed in stylish attires eagerly came forward to wee her and brief her about the guest speakers and attendants.


    "Hello, Miss Gu. It''s a pleasure to see you here. You look very fabulous tonight." A guy called An Ming said, not hiding the admiration dancing in his eyes as he gave the viiness a measuring nce.


    "Hi, Senior An. I have once seen you in Miss Fan''s blog posts and heard about the project you''re starting with Senior Fan Zheng. How are you?"


    "I''m good."


    When the beautiful transferee raised her ss for a toast and did it so elegantly, An Ming, one of Fan Zheng''s friends couldn''t help but sigh in his heart.


    ''This chick really deserves attention. Face value alone isparable to Fan Lan. No wonder her rascal brother has a deep impression of her.''


    The two talked for a while before parting as more acquaintances arrive.


    Gu Mochou mingled with everyone until the MC walked onto the stage to officially start the program.


    "Mochou, look who''s here."


    When she followed everyone''s eyes, a hint of annoyance flickered across her face seeing Fan Zheng, the emcee, giving Zhao Ai, his partner, a smile before facing the crowd.


    ''Such an eyesore.''


    In the eyes of some imaginative people who saw her expression just now, it was out of jealousy. Her numerous attempts to get close to Fan Zheng and Zhang Jiang were no secret to everyone on the campus. Those who tried to ce themselves on her shoes thought it would be a challenge not to feel resentful at someone who could easily do what she had been working hard for months. Only Gu Mochou knew that it was out of indignance.


    "It''s that senior high schooler again. Is she really an item with Senior Fan Zheng?"


    Discussions whispered in tones dripping with jealousy made way into her ears and she had no idea whether the girls surrounding her were doing it in purpose.


    "How is that possible?" someone asked.


    "I think the rumors are exaggerated. What if Fan Zheng is just being as nice as usual? I''m quite sure that Zhao Ai is not with a prominent background." There was a hint of disgust in the girl''s face as if she remembered something sickening. "I saw her meeting an ugly middle-aged man and handing him money. Only stupid people would like someone like her who definitely has a messy family."


    "Then what''s with the scene just now? You saw it. They exchanged sticky nces and wide smiles. They might be with each other before the program."


    "So Senior Fan likes such a person?"


    Somebody wore a discontented face and replied, "Maybe not. Which of us don''t understand that one should make rtionships based on status?"


    If Jiang Li was around to hear their statements, he would definitely make face andin why in every story, the fans of the leads were either so many or had so much time in their hands to chat about other people''s lives.


    "I''m sure the good guys in this university know not to y like princes to Cindere. When the timees, the ones they will marry are girls with backgrounds and bankgrounds."


    They gave Gu Mochou a quick nce. She onlyughed and gestured them to listen to the speakers attentively even though inwardly, she was actually not pleased seeing Zhao Ai sitting below the stage, looking infatuatedly at Fan Zheng as if all she had to worry about in life was their love life.


    Her focus went back to the stage, or rather, to the subject of the discussion.


    A daughter of a monster was allowed to experience all the niceties of love and life? Was she worthy?


    As she recalled her past life, all the warmth in Gu Mochou''s eyespletely faded away, reced by a chilling glimmer. She found it uneptable that such a spawn from the den of devils could lead a good life outside the forest. She found it uneptable that such a person who was birthed by a demon and turned a blind eye to the suffering of her fellow women could live carefreely outside the vige.


    She felt jealous... and angry. Before she knew it, her chest was heaving like she was out of breath, her eyes were bulging out and the sounds filling the ce temporarily turned chaotic.


    It took minutes for everything to normalize again.


    An absurd thought crossed her mind and a grin tug at her mouth.


    ''If one''s existence is uneptable to others, she should die right?''


    Tonight, Gu Mochou was seized by a sudden impulse. She suddenly no longer wanted to suppress her desire to destroy.


    "Come out."When the almost inaudible words escaped her mouth, spoken so softly that it was drowned out by the loud music and the voices of the female attendees around her, the temperature in the ce lowered for a split second.


    ''... Your...mand... master?''


    Gu Mochou, seemingly not bothered by the supernatural presence, smilingly looked at Fan Zheng. Her gaze did not move away even when Zhao Ai stood up and walked towards the hallway to the left of the stage.


    However, a few minutes before the program ended, the female lead was suddenly found in a restroom unconscious, showing signs of a drug overdose.

 Chapter 398: Mo Chou (36)

    Chapter 398: Mo Chou (36)


    Before the program ended, the female lead was suddenly found in a restroom unconscious and showing signs of overdosing on drugs. Her breathing pattern was erratic, the temperature was very high and her body kept spasming from time to time.


    At first nce, she looked like someone having an epileptic attack so the people who saw her copsed on the floor were very rmed.


    "Help! Call an ambnce please!" cried one of the sobered women who recovered earliest from her shocked state when the otherdies were still screaming.


    "Someone''s dying here!"


    "It''s that senior high student."


    "Help! Someone who knows first aid or anything useful,e forward!"


    The moment the news reached him, Fan Zheng who was supposed to hand over the microphone to the alumnus guest in charge of delivering the closing remarks suddenly ran down the stage. He left without a word. The microphone, fortunately, fell on the hand of the recipient, but his sudden departure caused confusion andmotion below.


    ''The hell. Why did he leave?'' was written all over the guest speaker''s face when he turned to the tables of professors.


    A shout came from below. "Wait. Brother, where are you going?"


    It was Fan Lan, from the Interior Design department but was invited as a popr senior''s female partner. She repeatedly yelled to her brother amidst the disturbance and even tried to go after him. Their other friends stood up and hesitated for a moment before exchanging looks and deciding to follow.


    After that was chaos and confusion. Several voices floated around.


    In one corner of her eyes, Gu Mochou watched as the shadow of the other person anxious for Zhao Ai disappeared into the hallway. He was the reason why at thest minute, she ordered her ghost servant who had illegally and secretly administered the substance to withdraw.


    ''I almost forgot, it''s better to make someone live a destroyed life.Unless the person is somebody I''d rather wish to disappear forever from this world,'' she told herself.


    This was the first time Gu Mochou directly struck the female lead and thankfully, she had sessfully reined in her desire to kill off Zhao Ai, the bug who escaped her.


    In her mind, there was no consideration whether it was reasonable to extend one''s anger on somebody who had not yet done her wrong. Zhao For Gu Mochou, all Zhao vigers were sinners that deserved no pity. They were merely people to toy around and kill. Zhao Ai luckily escaped death this time, only because she knew the fun ends once the female lead dies.


    Zhang Jian, son of the syndicate''s boss and a guy Zhao Ai was unconsciously having an ambiguous rtionship with, was around.


    Fan Zheng, her official lover, rushed over a few seconds slower than Zhang Jian.


    And Zhao Ai once she arrived at the hospital, she would be diagnosed with methamphetamine overdose.


    ''It will be really fun.'' Her heart was already racing from happiness and anticipation.


    Gu Mochou was not interested in personally seeing the uing drama. ncing at the alumnus guest who obviously had no idea whether to continue his speech or not, she stood up from her seat and left the venue. Outside, her car which was parked nearest to the entrance could easily be spotted.


    Because her back was turned to the direction of the stage, she did not notice that from an obscure spot, a pair of eyes was following her, or more specifically, the ghostly ball of light floating behind her. The other reason she did not notice was that her brain was too busy picturing out the wonderful thing that would take ce twelve or so hourster.


    "As expected, she''s weird."


    Zhan Rong was also at the ce sitting at her good friend Guo Hanying''s table. She was there not because she was invited, but because despite being a neglecteddy of the giant Zhan family, she still belonged to the elitist group who coulde and go wherever and whenever they want.


    From the time Gu Mochou walked in, Zhan Rong instantly recognized her as the girl who once tried to stalk her in a mall. Her memory was not for show after all, aside from the fact that her first encounter with Gu Mochou was tied to her first experience with a talking ghost.


    She also heard the girl was just exceptionally beautiful, charismatic, and from a powerful family of another city, which added to the list of reasons why it was just hard not to know about Gu Mochou. A pity Zhan Rong was a year older than her and was from a different department, so there were so few asions for them to meet.


    Actually, in the foreseeable future, there might be no possibility of them getting acquainted.


    Zhan Rong was purposely avoiding Gu Mochou.


    As for why she was doing so Well, perhaps it was a woman''s sixth sense at work which was not only effective in knowing if her partner was being unfaithful, but also in sensing danger.


    She did not know why it felt like Gu Mochou was dangerous. All she knew was that her gut feeling was very rarely wrong. She thought there would be no harm in heeding it, especially when even her pet ghost warned her about the woman. And thus, whenever Gu Mochou was around or approaching Fan Zheng, she stayed away. It was not hard anyway since they were not acquaintances.


    However, avoiding was avoiding, it had no conflicts with her observing from afar. Today, she surprisingly came across something remarkably interesting.


    "Zhan Rong, what do you think is happening there?" The pretty and sophisticateddy seated next to her noticed her narrowing her eyes slightly at the table. "Aren''t you going to the restroom to check what''s going on?"


    Zhan Rong nced at Guo Hanying. Until now, the two had no idea Fan Zheng left the stage for Zhao Ai. The man left without a word after all. And even if they knew, they would not join the curious crowd as they were not close to the female lead.


    Zhan Rong shrugged and made a disinterested face. She chose to change the topic so that the matter about going to a crowded and noisy hallway would not be brought up. "Hanying, your eyes are still open. Am I right?"

 Chapter 399: Mo Chou (37)

    Chapter 399: Mo Chou (37)


    "Hanying, that third eye of yours is still open, right?" A slight smile formed on Zhan Rong''s lips as she inquired about something supernatural with a calm voice.


    "Why are you suddenly asking?" A confused Guo Hanying turned to her good friend. Like she just realized something pressing, she gently tapped Zhan Rong''s shoulder and whispered in an urgent voice. "Hey. Wait. We''re not supposed to talk about that in ces like this."


    Zhan Rong pressed her lips into a thin line as she sunk into contemtion. She appeared lost for a moment, however, it was not because she was reflecting on what Guo Hanying had just said. After finishing her ss of wine, she replied with another question. "Have you noticed what''s frequently popping up beside that new campus goddess, Gu Mochou?"


    The confusion on her friend''s face deepened. "What?"


    "You should have looked at her closely since she might be another rival for you." A slight, meaningful smile formed on Zhan Rong''s luscious lips.


    To this, the other girl maintained silent before saying, " Miss Zhan. Actually, I''m in the process of erasing my feelings for that dumbass so stop bringing him up or any random girl always next to him."


    "Oh? If you say so."


    Guo Hanying exined in detail why Fan Zheng was a jerk and Zhan Rong only tilted her head, her brain going back to the real issue at hand.


    She briefly closed her eyes to retrieve from her memories a few images that just took ce. Everything she experienced and saw today was still vivid in her imagination and kept surfacing for her viewing. She saw how many sses were in the tray of the first waiter she ran into which happened four hours ago. She knew at exactly what time the celebration began. Zhan Rong had always been the kind of person who had no need to pay close attention to memorize.


    It was through her extraordinary memories that she confirmed Before Fan Zheng left the stage, there was a dark shadow that came from the direction of the female restroom, reeking in malice and gloom. Shortly after, a powerful-looking poltergeist suddenly appeared near Gu Mochou but showed no sign of aggression.


    Didn''t most ghosts detest the living? Or wanted to catch the attention of the living through any means just to get justice for themselves?


    However, even when that transferee was leaving, the ghost was just closely tailing her behind, unseen to normal people. In fact, it looked like it was keeping a respectful distance and wary of its surrounding like a bodyguard.


    ''I''m very sure Gu Mochou opened her mouth earlier. She spoke. But at that moment, there was nobody, or rather, no human being near her.''


    Zhan Rong''s eyes opened as her forehead creased.


    A guess shed across her mind. She could not help but tell Guo Hanying, "I saw a filthy thing following that girl which seems to be on friendly terms with her."


    Guo Hanying looked at her dumbfounded and stayed like that for a couple of seconds. When she came to her senses, she rolled her eyes left and right, like a criminal checking for eavesdroppers, and then bent her body sideways to whisper to Zhan Rong''s ears, "You mean Gu Mochou is like us? Can see and interact with those detestable beings?"


    Zhan Rong nodded before stabbing a piece of meat with her fork and ying with it. Her other hand was propping her face up when she replied.


    "That transferee. If I''m not mistaken, she is rumored to be infatuated with one of those strangely enamored with the senior high student. It is either Zhang Jian, the male transferee from the engineering department, or Fan Zheng. If she is really as I have guessed, I suggest you stay away from her."


    " I''m having a hard time processing everything to arrive at what you really want me to grasp."


    A look of disbelief was on Hanying''s eyes.


    Zhan Rong calmly threw her another nce and said, "If you don''t believe me, or if you find yourselfcking in clues, ask around. See if the person who created a scene in the restroom is Zhao Ai. I think by that time, you''ll be able to guess my point."


    Guo Hanying seemed reluctant. Not long after though, she stood up and walked towards the restroom.


    Zhan Rong watched her friend for some time then brought the steak to her mouth. She was confident in her conclusion so instead of thinking more about it, she took her time savoring her dinner.


    To guess to some extent what had happened with limited clues was already impressive for someone who only saw seemingly unrted dots. Still, Zhan Rong failed to deduct the real reason why Gu Mochou targeted Zhao Ai. Because she only saw what took ce in the hall and was toozy to get up from her seat to see the other scene, there were many details she missed.


    Zhan Rong only assumed that the female lead had been scared to death, that Gu Mochou only used a spirit to frighten Zhao Ai.


    Since she also had little to no interest in Fan Zheng''s affair, instead of checking on this acquaintance of her, she focused more energy on hacking the surveince around, a skill taught by Jiang Li five months ago. It was to double-check whether her eyes did not y on her. And seeing that there were some questionable andgging parts, it seemed her other ''eye'', whose only good function was to let her see Jiang Li, was still working properly


    Zhan Rong shook her head and firmed her will not to entangle with somebody who could use pitiful spirits for something ugly like jealousy.


    A teenager dressed like a waiter was standing amidst the small gathering of people clogging the corridor. Nobody seemed to see him even though he had been there even before the syndicate kid arrived. He looked onest time at Zhao Ai who was finally brought into a stretcher by the paramedics before marching away with a frown.


    Not far away were two love fools fighting over the spot in the ambnce, sending sparks flying in the air.


    He gave Zhang Jian, the viin of this world, a nce. A corner of his lips twitched watching the young man engaged in a shouting duel with Fan Zheng. There was a cut on the corner of his lips which made it obvious that he had just been in a brawl.


    Looking at the viin, Jiang Li didn''t know whether to be amused about the fact that this guy was actually the reason why the minion ghost of the viiness did not finish off the female lead. To be honest, he was more inclined to lit a candle for the pitiful and nave Zhao Ai who would wake up tomorrow or the day after,terbeled as a drug addict.


    ''The culprit thought she had already got away with this.''


    ''Punishable or not?'' This was his current dilemma as he rode on his motorbike to catch up with Gu Mochou''s car.


    The evening wind blew on his face. He wore no helmet or any other safety gears over his waiter uniform yet when he reached a checkpoint, the traffic enforcers did not stop him. Like the people in the university''s multi-purpose hall, they could not see him.


    Shortly after, heughed. His happyughter could not be covered up by the varying noises from the vehicles in the street. Why agonize over a simple matter? He asked himself.


    Jiang Li did not have to worry that Zhao Ai would die because the male lead was there. As to why he didn''t prevent it from happening, it was not that he didn''t try. He was simplyte. Because even he had not anticipated what Gu Mochou did. He was not omniscient to know everything that would happen.


    Thankfully, female leads were immortal cockroaches so he would not have to worry about Zhao Ai dying.


    Yet, while he held not much concern over the heroine, it did not mean he was okay with Gu Mochou''s deeds. Although he disliked Zhao Ai a bit, to somebody like a piece of garbage just because that person''s parent was a criminal was not something she deserved.


    "This Gu Mochou might top the list of my most hated viinesses." He clicked his tongue.


    Because he was over speeding, he caught up to the girl''s car. The red light was up so the vehicles on thene were put on a stop. Jiang Li knocked on the car window and waited for it to roll down before revealing himself and hypnotizing the driver. His gaze then went to the smiling Gu Mochou whose eyes were glued on her phone.


    ''What to do with this one now?'' Although heughed, there was no mirth in his eyes.


    It was at that moment that Gu Mochou raised her face and widened her eyes upon seeing him. Sounds then seemed to have disappeared around that area for a whole minute.


    When the traffic light shed in green against the darkness of the night, the ck car was one of the vehicles that advanced. However, inside of it, the driver had be so unnaturally quiet and focused on the road ahead even though at the back seat, Gu Mochou could no longer be seen.

 Chapter 400: Mo Chou (38) <2-in-1>

    Chapter 400: Mo Chou (38) <2-in-1>


    Tomorrow morning, Gu Mochou woke up with not much recollection of what happened after she left the party. All she knew was that she somehow arrived home and right now, she felt refreshed and full of energy, something that was quite different from usual.


    For the past six months, she had been regrly haunted by nightmares. Every time, even if she had a deep understanding of the psyche and the paranormal, she never managed to escape being put into sleep paralysis. The worst was she never found out who the enemy was. Heck, she did not even have a single lead.


    At daytime, she would face the world and deceive everyone with a lovely smile, looking strong and beautiful. Her eye bags did not deter her from capturing people''s hearts.


    At nighttime though, she was a ve to terrible dreams and would frequently wake up bathing in sweat or on the verge of crying, a normal development considering how the weird experience continued for half a year without break. It did not matter whether one was strong or not, even if she was hell-bent on destroying the Zhao vige, it did not mean she could use that as a reason to shrug off the guilt for killing the disciples of her former home. It became her weakness and it always tormented her in her dreams.


    Without her noticing, this situation became the new, and of course, unweed norm for her.


    Only,st night had been an exception to that horrible streak.


    When she tried to recall what was different about it with the previous ones, only one answer came to mind. Because of it, she could not help but think, it seemed she did the right thing yesterday?


    She looked at the digital clock on her bedside table. Somehow, she became more lost in her thoughts as she watched the movements of therger hand.


    ''Perhaps the reason I keep getting nightmares about those juniors of mine is also me? Hmmm It must be. It''s my brain''s unique way of reminding me of the costs I have paid. It''s tempering me. As they have said, gold needed to be tested in fire. And that exins the nightmares''


    ''It''s making me feel like I need to hurry so that no more innocent people would be victims dragged along with my revenge.''


    ''A part of me felt a bit unburdened because I finally started doing what I should.''


    With this weird optimistic thought in mind, a terrible excuse to justify her malicious behaviors, her mood got uplifted.


    Gu Mochou stifled her yawn then climbed out of bed and walked towards therge ss window. Her skin especially looked radiant under the rays of the sun that poured into the room after she drew the green silk curtain to the side.


    Looking into the bright sky outside, she squinted her eyes to adapt to the sudden brightness, and then let a sigh of relief escaped from her lips that promptly arced into a beautiful smile.


    Fast forward to an hourter where she had already dressed into a casual shirt and jeans. She walked into the restaurant opposite the condo building with only her phone and wallet in her person. As the ce where she stayed was extremely close to the university, she spotted some familiar faces dining there.


    "Hello, Miss Gu."


    "You''re here again, Mochou."


    "Good morning."


    "Hi, everyone. Eat well." Due to her poprity, she received some high-spirited greetings which she replied to with a gentle smile.


    Until that smile was wiped away by the sight of an annoying figure cruising from table to table to deliver orders. What was his name again?


    For the six months that she interacted with this teenager, she could not even remember what he was called. Well, who wouldmit to mind the name of a hated someone when remembering the face was already a chore?


    "Xiao Jiang! Hi!" A girl who seemed to be a regr femininely waved a hand to the boy, obviously trying to gain his attention. Now, Gu Mochou was reminded that hisst name was Jiang Li. She sneered.


    Now that she thought about it, she seemed to have seen this guy yesterday at the celebration?


    Gu Mochou froze for a moment. She couldn''t help the frown on her face even after she took a vacant table for herself and ordered her breakfast.


    ''What a guy to affect one''s mood.'' The girl impatiently pulled up her phone from her purse, thinking of browsing the inte for news about Zhao Ai. To erase the bad vibes, look for something nice and refreshing. She told herself.


    What greater news would there be besides the suffering of a person she disliked so much?


    She tapped her finger on one of her browsers.


    However, before the pages could load up, her hated waiter sh third rate pianist approached her to deliver a tea set on her table.


    Gu Mochou gave him an unfriendly look. It was hard to have a good impression on someone who never failed to make her look like a desperate stalker. ''Why is this guy still in this ce? Why can''t he just move elsewhere since he thinks of me as a creepy admirer?''


    Heaven knows, although the other person was just a normal one, she was on the brink of using Daoist magic to teach him a good lesson. Only her scant rationality of not using supernatural means against non-Zhao-rted people was keeping her in check.


    "Today''s freebie," Jiang said without throwing her a nce.


    There was no smile on the face of the young man which was quite odd since he usually wore an irritating grin.


    Gu Mochou raised an eyebrow at the cup that was filled to the brim in no time. She looked around for a while to check the other table and only after confirming the others also got the same did she pick up the small porcin cup. Of course, she did so not without using tissue paper to first wipe the surface touched by that guy.


    Nothing strange happened in the first three minutes. She tried to kill time by checking the news and frowned when she got no updates about the people who went to the hospital.


    ''Are the doctors in this era so ipetent that they miss the drugs in that bug''s bloodstream?''


    Gu Mochou''s frown deepened the more she looked into the forums. She found nothing so doubt and disappointment shed in her eyes.


    Three decades ago, even Chinese medicine practitioners could determine if there was a weird substance in a person''s body and they would only take a few hours to do so. Now, Western medicine was widely used in the country and there were so many advanced apparatuses avable. There should be no way the medical practice of the current world regressed, right?


    ''In my previous life, tuberculosis was practically a death sentence, even for the rich, but now, it could be easily treated.'' It meant the science of healing had progressed.


    If so, then there was only one possibility.


    "Somebody blocked the news." She clicked her tongue, wondering if it was the Fan boy, or the son of the syndicate lord.


    "How blind are they to use their influence over a shameful matter like that? It was even for a lowly girl from who-knows-where. So when in love, even boys be stupid. Or are those two just born with many loose screws in their heads?"


    Her good mood instantly vanished, like a burst bubble. Anger then showed in her expression.


    Her meal arrived just then and once again, Jiang Li''s unsmiling face came into view. It became another reason for her to feel gloomier.


    "Enjoy your meal."


    " I will, once you leave to give me time to forget your annoying face."


    "If you say so."


    Gu Mochou then ignored him and waited for him to finish transferring everything on the tray onto her table.


    Almost a minute after he left, her stomach rumbled, and she stopped thinking about unnecessary things. She began to take a spoonful of the wonton soup before sampling the sponge cake.


    ''It''s quite good.''


    Her expression became a lot brighter. The dissatisfaction brought to her by theck of bad news and gossips about Zhao Ai was temporarily forgotten.


    Her speed of eating was still slow, and every action looked filled with manners. However, it was noticeable that since she started eating, she did not nce on her phone anymore, an odd situation considering she was the type to take a bite every sixty seconds and glue her eyes on her phone for the rest of the time.


    Gu Mochou had been dining here for six months whenever she was not on campus but this was the first time she felt like their dishes were so delightful and, how should she put it? Addicting?


    Has there been a change of chef?


    Time passed and before the viiness knew it, she had finished four-fifths of her breakfast even though before, it was not unusual for her to leave half of the dishes untouched.


    Then it started.


    ''Hmm?'' Gu Mochou was about to mp a piece of meat when she suddenly froze, a frown appearing on her immacte face. Her fingers began to tremble and the chopsticks in her hand slipped down. The noise it made elicited some attention from the ones close to her spot.


    "Miss. Your utensils fell on the floor."


    Unfortunately, Gu Mochou couldn''t turn her head to them to gesture an apology. She suddenly felt paralyzed. Itsted for more than thirty seconds before her heart began to palpitate crazily and an ufortable feeling assaulted her all over.


    Her thoughts began to elerate.


    She was a healthy person so why was she experiencing chest pain? It was getting harder to breathe as if a heavy object was pressing on her chest or something was clogging her windpipe. What the hell was happening?


    Gu Mochou rolled her eyeballs around, signaling for someone toe forward to help her. Unfortunately, there was a limit to what the eyes couldmunicate to others. Nobody got her message. They only looked at her with weird eyes, those that greeted her enthusiastically when she marched into the ce not an exception.


    Time seemed to be in a slow-mo. Yet the music, the images around her, became messy and irritating. Before she lost awareness of everything around her, she seemed to have thought of something.


    Her eyes went to the tes in front of her before slowly searching for Jiang Li''s figure. Her expression distorted.


    ''I''ve been drugged? Or is it poison?''


    Vengeful thoughts about seeing the one responsible and making him pay dearly swirled in her mind which she vowed to do even if she became a ghost.


    Gu Mochou then lost consciousness.

 Chapter 401: Mo Chou (39)

    Chapter 401: Mo Chou (39)


    A piano request came to Jiang Li, so he was on the small stage when Gu Mochou copsed. His spot was far from the corner where her table was located but the elevated tform gave him a good view of what happened there.


    Thest re she threw at him did not escape his notice. An amused grin appeared on his face since he knew what she was thinking at that time. She definitely thought the dishes had problems.


    ''Would that viiness even believe me if I said I did nothing? At least today?''


    He realized his phrasing sounded odd and secretly shook his head at it.


    Anyways, the six months of interaction opened his eyes to that woman''s personality and knew she had be a pretentious person who loved to me people once things went south. One thing he especially would never forget was the death of three meless people in her hands. Even if he knew it was because of her horrible past life, he still found it hard to like her.


    ''I don''t like her and she hates me too. It''s a perfect setup that makes it easier for me to guess her thoughts and retaliates with good conscience in case she stages anything against me.''


    The feeling was mutual since Gu Mochou felt the same way to him, which he found funny given the fact that his soul client, or rather, his current identity, was supposed to be her savior and crush.


    The piece came into an end and his hands parted from the piano. The note made by thest key he pressed had yet to die when amotion started. Since Gu Mochou copsed in a public area, it was very easy to discover her situation.


    Jiang Li was called by the owner who happened to be at the restaurant today and raised no objection when he was chosen to rush Gu Mochou to the hospital.


    "Sir, don''t worry. We have triple check everything and there are no harmful ingredients in our restaurant," said the manager to reassure him as they waited at the hospital.


    Jiang Li came with the man since he was the one who delivered the food to the girl. The chef was also with them and was the one talking with the physician. But strangely, no one was ming him. In fact, the older men appeared respectful to him, like a servant.


    ''Coincidentally'', they were at the ce where Zhao Ai was currently confined.


    Because Gu Mochou had yet to awaken and was still being treated sh examined by the doctors in the ER, he walked around followed by the manager. Gone was the waiter''s uniform in his person. He was wearing a tight-fitting ck long sleeve shirt and faded jeans. The slippers on his feet looked mismatched with his getup but he appeared indifferent about it.


    "I have already requested a nurse to review Miss Gu''s health records from the other hospitals." A voice came from his right side, specifically two steps behind. "If it is because of allergy, we can''t be med. As an adult, should at least be aware of her diet," added the manager.


    They reached the ward where Zhao Ai''s private room was. Jiang Li saw through the transparent window that Fan Zheng and Zhang Jian were inside. One appeared to be at a loss as he reviewed the document in his hands, the other pacing back and forth with an irritated face directed at the other guy from time to time. The strange thing here was the former being Zhang Jian, thetter, Fan Zheng.


    Jiang Li did not have any intention to meet and talk with these two since they were not acquainted. Therefore, he showed no interest in walking into the room.


    After a brief nce at Zhao Ai who was lying unconscious in the bed, he looked away and nodded to hispanion, "You''re right, about our share of ountability."


    They were still walking. They watched as peoplee out from and disappear into the rooms and elevators.


    With his hands in his pockets, Jiang Li continued, "All of us here are adults and we are no stranger to the concept of right and wrong. Only babies have no responsibility. Children, as long as they can talk coherently and walk already have the responsibility to look out for themselves and follow their parents'' or guardians'' words so at least they wouldn''t get hurt or kidnap. As for Miss Gu, no matter what she does and says, since she''s already a grownup, she should be responsible for herself, especially her decisions."


    "Good words, sir."


    The manager got that he was referring to Gu Mochou. However, he had no idea Jiang Li was not referencing her allergy which she should have taken into consideration before ordering anything.


    The teenage boy, whose soul was technically a thousand years old, said after a sneer, "Because she kept thinking it''s okay to do things willfully, others were seriously affected. Is it fun to drag innocent people into a mess?"


    A sigh came from the other man. "Sir is kind of sensible, but youngster at or below your age are mostly impulsive. Miss Gu I''m afraid you and our chef might be held responsible. The reputation of the restaurant will also receive some impact if things are not handled carefully."


    The two were talking about different matters but strangely their responses to each other did not sound weird. The subject of theirints was the same, but Jiang Li was expressing annoyance about Gu Mochou because of what she did at the party, while his colleague was simply holding misgivings about this whatever problem in that girl''s body constitution. Later, he might have to borrow the term once the ming game began.


    When the nurse called the manager, they walked back and checked on Gu Mochou. They only waited an hour before a woman in her thirties introduced came and introduced herself as the viiness'' guardian sh personal assistant. Eight more hours passed, and finally, Gu Mochou regained consciousness.


    "You bastard!" A voice filled with anger rang inside the room.

 Chapter 402: Mo Chou (40) <2-in-1>

    Chapter 402: Mo Chou (40) <2-in-1>


    Jiang Li inwardlyughed in amusement when the first thing the woman does the moment she fully regained control of her body was to point a finger at him.


    "You must have dumped illegal substances on my food! Sister Mei, call the police now! Detain him!"


    Gu Mochou''s red face was the proof of the rage she was feeling within. She was also panting like she had just finished a long run.


    The doctor intervened to remind her, "Wait. Miss Gu. I can see that we all have a lot of talking to do. But you have just woken up after a few hours ofa. Please calm down and don''t stimte your body with strong emotions."


    The viiness only red at the white-coat wearing guy to shut him up. Her eyes, red and menacing, were so scary to the point that it could rival the Zhan Rong''s res which the woman only makes when angered.


    Still, while her momentum was strong, her body was weak. So when she tried to stand up, she stumbled and had almost ended up kissing the floor if not for the timely help of the other woman.


    "Miss. Don''t push yourse."


    Of course, the person also closed her mouth after seeing the look in Gu Mochou''s eyes. The persuasive words about to leave her mouth got swallowed back. She awkwardly smiled and then raised her phone as if saying, ''Okay. Miss. I will follow your order and phone the police now.''


    Gu Mochou, after giving up on rushing over to Jiang Li, directed her sharp gaze to him. "Speak up, bastard. Did you do it?"


    He only stared at Gu Mochou. The manager nced at him for a while before stepping forward. The aged guy was an experienced member of the food service industry and knew that Gu Mochou''s usation was not to be allowed to continue for the sake of their business. However, he did not stop the other party from contacting the police.


    "Miss. I represent the Fortune Dragon Restaurant and we understand your concern so have no objection about involving the authorities for a proper investigation. However, I would still like to request for this issue to stay private, to be something only known to the people in this room until an actual resultes out."


    To this, he got a satirical look from Gu Mochou who then replied to him in a sharp tone, "Mr. Gao. Are you really asking for the obvious? So you are just so slow to not realize what the symptoms I experienced entailed?"


    Although a bit offended, the older man only bowed slightly. "It is good as long as we have an agreement. Doctor Xiao, I hope for your understanding about this too."


    "Yes."


    In actuality, Gu Mochou already mentioned a keyword a few seconds ago. Drugs. She did not know how something could be so fast-acting and potent, but she did feel the euphoria as she ate. The spasms, distorted sounds and images, and chest pains were some of the prominent aftereffects.


    If words came out, how could she lift her head in the future? What about her Gu family? Once people heard about it, they would not remember that she got victimized by a ck restaurant, they would only remember she was diagnosed with substance abuse.


    It was like the case of a thief where after a few years, people could not remember why he robbed a house or a bank, if it was because of a debt, extreme poverty, or a sick daughter. They would only remember that the robber had been jailed for his crime.


    Obviously, there was no way she could allow her reputation to take that nosedive.


    The manager said a few more words to her. Gu Mochou replied asionally with her piercing gaze still on the young man.


    Jiang Li met her hostile eyes and inwardlyughed. ''You know the symptoms and such, isn''t it because it''s what you''re waiting for the news and forums to mention with Zhao Ai''s name?''


    "Let me ask you again. Did you do it?" Gu Mochou''s voice rang again, threateningly low.


    It was clear to all that she was so adamant about forcing Jiang Li to admit it. He was the one receiving the most hate and me which appeared quite puzzling and unreasonable to others present since if it was really drugging or food poisoning, the one at fault most of the time, were the chefs.


    It seemed only he knew. Gu Mochou was convinced that he tried to kill her using poisons because of their bad history. It did not matter if it sounded illogical. She just believed in it.


    ''Perhaps, she knew that it in her heart that it couldn''t be me because, in her knowledge, I am only a poor boy. But, she just couldn''t let go of this chance to get rid of me by throwing me to jail.''


    Jiang Li was in the mood to anger her more, so he said cynically, "Miss Gu. Forgive me for doubting you. But wasn''t it so much of a coincidence that you had an episode of attack because of the dishes I served you? I am penniless so there is no way I will risk a good job to do anything untoward to you. So I thought this was just another attention-seeking gimmick of yours payback for not paying you any attention this morning."


    The ridiculous words that came out of his mouth elicited a disbelieving look from Gu Mochou. "What?"


    She now looked like she was dying to plunge a dagger in his face and chest. The ones around scrutinized him from head to toe and their varying expressions were seemingly asking him if he was still okay in the head.


    Alright. This did not happen.


    Jiang Li was only rude when nobody else was nearby. But whenever others were around, he would be a decent country boy who had escaped from a house full of domestic violence and now honestly working for his living.


    Why create a bad reputation when once everything he needed to do was done, he would have to return the body to its real owner?


    What was his acting skills for if he could not make people have the best impression of him?


    After Gu Mochou said her piece about the manager''s request, Jiang Li sincerely lowered his head and bent his waist a bit.


    "Miss Gu. Please ept my apology."


    The girl froze for a moment then immediately made an ''I knew it'' expression while looking up and shaking her head. She was taking it as him acknowledging his crime. So he immediately followed up, "I swear I did not mess with your order."


    "You apologized because you are guilty. It''s that simple."


    Jiang Li looked raised his head and looked into her eyes with a serious face. "Miss Gu. Because I am not well-off that I know to treasure my job and the people contributing to my monthly pay. I will not do something low like that. Not only because I''m penniless, but because I know it''s not right and it will risk my job."


    ''Aren''t you a witness on how it had been for me, a damn minor, to get employed?''


    Gu Mochou read this on his expression. Needless to say, those who had no idea about their history nodded in approval at Jiang Li.


    The young man continued, "Miss Gu. I''m only apologizing because you went through a horrible experience due to the food that had most likely triggered anaphxis."


    Gu Mochou was stunned for a while. It was just strange to see this person being this easy to talk to and looking so sincere. Still, it was not enough to make her forget her anger. She shook her head andughed coldly, "What did you just say? Allergy?"


    "Your records got forwarded to us by your doctor from City J. Since there is no preexisting one, then it could only be an undiscovered one." Jiang Li''s gaze contained concern and pity.


    It made Gu Mochouughed coldly. She turned to the silent white-coat wearing guy. Her temper red up. "Doctor. Until when are you going to pretend to be invisible? When will you start doing your job? I am sure you already did some tests on me. Be honest, can a mere allergy result in these?"


    She went on and enumerated the symptoms. Each time she mentioned one, the expressions of those around would get weirder and weirder since there were barely any that match with those of allergy.


    Jiang Li did not speak anymore, merely spectating on the sidelines. Gu Mochou alternately talked with the doctor and the assistant sent by her parents.


    The police officers arrived at one point in time and began to interrogate him at her orders.


    "Brothers, I suggest you first check the surveince in the restaurant. However, whether I was guilty or not should only be investigated once the results of the medicalse out." He only said to them.


    Another testing happened and the blue-uniformed guys did go to the restaurant. Gu Mochou rested while waiting. Jiang Li and the others had just returned from the restaurant, cooperating with the police investigation, when the doctor appeared and dered, "Patient Gu Mochou. The results are finally out And we found no trace of drugs on your body. You are quite healthy, Miss. Apart from having some signs of insomnia."


    Although the news was positive, it was not what she was expecting so she unconsciously blurted out, "Come again?"


    The middle-aged doctor tilted his head and repeated what he said. "There''s no harmful substance in your body system."


    The viiness was dumbfounded.


    Jiang Li also acted stunned. He was silent for a couple of seconds before giving Gu Mochou a strange nce which sessfully unnerved the girl.


    "This This is impossible It''s like you''re telling me I suffered and fainted from imaginary pain and symptoms." She began to mumble intermittently.


    Her words sessfully gained a few more odd stares.


    The manager asked, "Doctor Xiao. Can you please rify it to us. What do you mean by that? If it was not because of a substance or allergy, then what just happened?"


    To this, the other party maintained his silence for a while, pretending to go over the records again.


    What should physicians say once confronted with a puzzling situation where even they or their apparatuses could not see anything wrong with a patient? Are they allowed to reply, ''Probably this patient is a good actor, like a student pretending to have stomachache to skip sses?''


    The doctor coughed and brought up ack of glucose and umted fatigue to get away with the question.


    The secretary sent by Gu Mochou''s parents turned around to call her immediate boss to report the situation.


    As for Gu Mochou, she was simply at the state where she could not say a thing. It was not due to the judging gazes from Jiang Li who seemed to be thinking she had done it this time, doing something extreme to catch his attention.


    Gu Mochou was in no state of mind to pay him any heed. With her lips slightly parted, she sunk into contemtion. A minuteter, her hands grabbed onto her nket tightly, slightly shivering upon being reminded of someone.


    Why did she forget that she had amongst the ones in this room, there was really no one with a strong motive to harm her nor a history of doing so? Why was she suddenly so adamant about messing with a harmless guy instead of pursuing the mysterious one always using nightmares to mess with her?


    A night of good sleep was all it takes to wear down her defenses.


    ''I knew it! Whoever the enemy is, he did not truly let me off yesterday!''


    ''And And Damn. That being did not show himself again. I can''t even ask why he''s fixated on me.''


    ''I don''t even know if it''s a ghost or a human being. If he''s rted to the Maoshan sect or the Zhao people.''


    ''I only know that he is actually after my life!''


    When she lowered her head, she was round-eyed with terror. Afterward, she ignored everyone else who was observing her and looked around to see if there was something or somebody spying on her through the ss window or any obscure corners.


    Nothing. There was no suspicious or powerful-looking people nearby. ''Sh*t.''


    She missed out on Jiang Li''s mocking smile as even if she saw it, she would only assume in irritation that it was the boy thinking of something delusional.


    Gu Mochou held her breath.


    Her messy thoughts made her fail to remember this at first. But now that she was using her brain at full force, a lead popped up in her mind.


    She recalled that what she went through this morning should be what Zhao Ai went through yesterday midnight.

 Chapter 403: Mo Chou (41) <2-in-1>

    Chapter 403: Mo Chou (41) <2-in-1>


    Once one''s hypnosis reached a certain level, it would be possible to make someone fall under the illusion that they were in unimaginable pain, like they were thrown in the scorching fire, drowning in a sea of needles, or trapped somewhere without oxygen in the outer space.


    However, the pain would remain in one''s imagination that would only affect one''s mind. In the end, a fake was still fake. It was not something that really happened and while there might be some trauma, it would not be the type that the body remembers.


    Such a punishment, how could that be enough to correct a bad girl''s moral character? What to do to traumatize someone so she would not consider doing something horrible to those not from that vige?


    ''Hypnosis is going lenient on her. Ghost abilities would not work much because she is also a master of spirit-rted abilities.''


    Because of this thought, Jiang Li resorted to the techniques of the Maoshan people, the ones really called witches because of their Gu magic which he mixed with some techniques learned from the God of gue.


    Since that day, whenever Gu Mochou did something bad, whether it be towards the leads or somebody unrted to the plot, she would go through the same experience her victims went through.


    The pain and agony were real. It was a curse. Her mind felt everything vividly, and so did every fiber of her body. Each time, she would faint, go to the hospital, report to the police, discover that she was actually perfectly healthy, and search around like crazy for the damn culprit who was ying with her It became a cycle that left mental scars not only to Gu Mochou but to the doctors and the officers.


    The problem with Gu Mochou was that she was too stubborn. To confirm if there really was a connection between Zhao Ai and the hidden assant, she tried several times to mess up with Zhao Ai. But when things did happen, she only gritted her teeth, still not convinced.


    It seemed she now wanted to mess up with somebody not rted to the female lead for another test.


    A week and a half passed since the first incident.


    In his ghost king state, after leaving the sleeping body of Lang Lei, Jiang Li dropped by the viiness'' unit. After all, it was just on the opposite side of the road and would not dy him much on his way to Zhan Rong. Gu Mochou was yet to return since it was vacation and there were still a few days before sses resume. If he was not mistaken, the girl was called back to City J by her parents due to the assistant''s report.


    "Tch... What''s with this?"


    While going through the documents Gu Mochou sealed in a hidden safe, a brow of his lifted up. To make sure he did not miss anything, he squinted his eyes twice.


    There were two envelopes there, a small notebook, and some cards. On the first stack of papers, there were details about the food and beveragepany owned by the Fans.


    A thief had been marked by the viiness and there was a contract binding them which aimed to deal some blows to the family of the male lead using unscrupulous and self-destructive means. Naturally, the victim would be the criminal who had no choice but to obey since he was buried in debts and in dire need of money. Gu Mochou promised protection for the family of this dude.


    What''s in his hands was not really a contract, but just a drafted report. Who knew where the girl ced the contract or if there was a contract at all?


    However, because there are other pictures and info listed, he came to a conclusion.


    "I don''t think she only contacted one person and as I can see it, most likely, not all of them are evildoers. So does the so-called money and protection enoughpensation to those who will lose their family members?"


    Jiang Li clicked his tongue in amazement at how ruthless the girl could be. But now that he thought about it, most transmigrators or reborn were like this. Because they met injustice in their first life, they vowed to be bad people in their next one and no longer be the stupid pushover old them. His case was simr since even now, he wanted to go back to take revenge. However, the difference was that the numerous lifetimes he went through sobered him up to at least be mindful of not involving somebody innocent.


    So these other reborn people, when did having a second chance in life, a rebirth, or a time-travel a ground to hurt people unrted to the oppressors of their previous lives?


    And actually, if that oppressor had not yet done anything wrong, was it really okay to bestow them punishment?


    In his long journey, he sometimes did crazy things, but there was not yet an instance when he killed or destroyed someone before that person made an unpardonable crime. At least, that was his bottom line as he crossed through worlds.


    ''If theye early, don''t they always have the choice to reform the bad guy? But I''m afraid, most people are more inclined to wait for the bad guys to sin so they could justifiably punish them. Because punishing is easier and more satisfying than reforming.''


    ''Oh. Wait... I seem to be forgetting something.'' Heughed as he put back the contents of the first envelope.


    He came to his senses and remembered what really sparked his interest.


    In this timeline or even in the previous timeline, Fan Zheng did not really cross the viiness. Or maybe he only did after the amnesia event. However, it was something the current viiness had no memories of or experience with. As of now, Fan Zheng''s only connection with Gu Mochou was being the boyfriend of the daughter of her enemy.


    But look, Gu Mochou targeted him nheless even though she might have felt somehow that her excuse was weak and that wasting resources on this excuse was not worth it. It was the power of the plot.


    "I guess, I have to borrow somebody''sptop or pher to tip off the police. Though I doubt they can find something, at least I did my job as a good ghost citizen."


    He paid no attention to the cards, keys, and picked up the notebook. He found it disappointing that there were no more important things there. It was just a list of ingredients for something he did not know. The next envelope was picked up and when he went through it, seriousness appeared on his face.


    The room was dark and cold already but it became a lot more unfriendly to living beings even though the trespassing ghost did not do anything but maintain his reading pose. If one would look closely, the gloom and annoyance in Jiang Li''s face would be noticeable.


    He did not know whether to be annoyed or not.


    He, or rather Zhao Bolin, was investigated by the viiness.


    Zhao Bolin was truly as he expected, a non-native of Zhao vige, and somebody sold to the vigers when he was only a baby.


    ording to the investigation which was issued several years ago yet only came to Gu Mochoust week, Zhao Bolin was willingly sold off by his parents, not because they discovered he was ill as at that time, he looked no different from a normal baby. It was simply the civil war before the 1950s that made them too poor to raise another child.


    No matter what though, how obsessed was this Mo Chou for Zhao Bolin that she did this despite thirty years passing by?


    Also, about the parents, isn''t it too irresponsible of them to trade one''s son with food, and to traffickers even? Or were they thinking they struck a good deal since the viges scattered in the mountains were not very affected by the long civil wars?


    There were a bunch of ck and white photos attached to the files proving how bad the state of the country was around that time. None of the pictures showed what Zhao Bolin looked like as an infant.


    Research said cameras were already invented around the 1800s. Unfortunately, it was only in the year 2007 and up that they became more essible to the poor. It was pretty obvious that there would not be a photo of him in his early years.


    However... there was one picture, colored and different from the rest, featuring a handsome man in histe thirties resembling him, taken in the mid orte 1970s.


    The caption said ''Tao Zhen, a second-generation rich''. It said the dude''s parents had a lucky break around the 1960s and profited from several local snacks learned from a foreign master ptissier.


    Jiang Li furrowed his brow.


    ''I don''t know what to think about this.''


    ''Their brains are weird.''


    ''If they are good parents or have the slightest conscience, when they sessfully built a business and became affluent, they could have looked for the son that they have lost. So why didn''t they do so?''


    ''Because they felt they didn''t have to as they already have a handsome and intelligent firstborn?''


    ''Tch. Poor Zhao Bolin.''


    ''Perhaps it''s really much better that he got adopted by a kind vige grandma. At least he did not have to live with entric parents.''


    Jiang Li felt that the world today was very strange. In most matters, there was a need to get a license or past a test. Plus seminars and counseling. Those were mostly for stuff that determines a career, or a skill that needed to be certified. Parenting should fall under both. Yet look. Howe this thing only needed some counseling sessions and some seminars?


    ''Parenting, huh''


    ''There should be many many intelligent people in the world. I am not one of them. But while there are lessons and perhaps, test howe nobody thought of conducting some rigorous written and practical exams and issuing licenses first before letting couples have the rights to create children?''


    ''Even minors around 17 or 18 years of age, if they are ready, with money, with a sense of responsibility, and equip with the correct parenting knowledge, who cares if they have kids.''


    Jiang Li scoffed.


    How unfortunate that there was a concept of minor and adult because most people under 18 are immature and think that as long they have love, they can go against the world. ''Bah. This is where ancient times beat modern people. There are more responsible parents in ancient times than in modern times.''


    The ghost left the house. The items were shoved back into the vault, seemingly untouched in their original position. Nothing else changed in the ce apart from the spooky presence that faintly lingered. However, Gu Mochou would at most return three dayster so there was no need to worry about being found out since there was no way the aura left would stay for that long.


    Ten minutester, the ghost arrived at Zhan Rong''s cozy apartment and notified her through the system.

 Chapter 404: Mo Chou (42)

    Chapter 404: Mo Chou (42)


    <Congrattions, Host. Jiang Li has awakened.>


    Zhan Rong saw the notification which was hard to miss since it popped up with the blue panel. A time-check was even included in it, 8:30 pm. She temporarily stopped unpacking the items and dresses brought with her on a trip to a town in Zhejiang province which was near to another extremely remote vige.


    Like the previous semestral break, her exclusive pet ghost went into hibernation and she had no choice but toplete a mission to wake him up. Thankfully, she already experienced the worst at Zhao vige so she was not as unprepared as before.


    Misfortunate events still happened because no matter the amount of preparation made, there would always be small or unexpected things unounted. But none really impeded her as Zhan Rong had a greater determination to wake Jiang Li up since he had already be a part of her normal life.


    She felt it. Unlike six months ago when she first experienced the trap of the system but still managed to resist, her mind fell into a bit of disarray on the first and second day of the mission when she summoned the system to call Jiang Li only to get no response.


    It was quite funny, but indeed, in six months, a ghost did make herfortable and used to his presence. She became more active in finishing the mission, and she had to say, there was quite a difference between simply surviving and striving for a goal since it would always be thetter giving greater results and efficiency.


    The trip was still hateful though. It did not lead her to any beautiful ce, showing her only ugly scenes.


    Zhan Rong chose to forget for now the unpleasant memories associated with that vige which was also one of the small partners of the syndicate.


    ''My reward is here.'' Zhan Rong turned around after reading what was on the panel.


    Skin that was deathly pale. Slightly upturned brown eyes that could easily capture souls yet still made him appear pure and nice. The lips were pale, but it could not be helped due to his identity. But overall, it was an appearance that made her feel like everything she experienced in the past week was worth it. Just how the hell could a damn ghost be this good-looking?


    Anyway...


    "Jiang Li!" Zhan Rong''s eyes were like stars that instantly twinkled upon seeing her ghost appear before her eyes. He looked to have teleported into the room, though he could have also passed through the wall.


    ''Look at this girl.'' The man who was still irritated by thetest news he got suddenly felt it had be easier to breathe. When he arrived, he saw the solemnness in Zhan Rong''s expression too so the fact that his arrival lit up her face made him feel wonderful.


    Even without the girl saying a word, it was easy to guess what she was thinking right now and what she felt about seeing him again.


    How nice that even though they belonged to different species, their control over each other''s mood was still as powerful.


    "Wee back, I guess." He said with augh to the beautiful college student who was already checking him out, probably, for another set of clothes to order.


    "It''s you who disappeared." She said with a slight pout.


    In front of others, specifically of mercenaries and bodyguards helping her out in the strange business that she established half a year ago, Zhan Rong would always sport a calm face, looking mysterious and domineering. To her schoolmates and other acquaintances, she was a nice, mature, adventurous youngdy who only became scary whenpletely annoyed.


    This spirit was only the one who witnessed a more carefree, selfish, and at times immature and irrational side of her. Was it because he was her mentor? And exclusive model? In this world, apart from the system, this guy must be the only one who saw the most number of faces she could actually make.


    Like right now.


    "Jiang Li. Do you know what I went through when you were not around?"


    Pouting her lips slightly, Zhan Rong looked disgruntled. Her face became sadder remembering she was not allowed to bring up the system even to anyone, not even to this ghost. She was guessing Jiang Li did not even have any idea that he was actually given to her by the system.


    She could not exin it well. So she used her face to show that she was really aggrieved. "Shouldn''t you be guilty? I suffered so much."


    Jiang Li flew over and asked. "So what do you want to learn this time? I will make sure to double the effort in teaching to make it up to you."


    Zhan Rong went back to stuffing her clean clothes into the closet. There was no dirtyundry in her luggage since she was the type to dry-clean her clothes first before returning to the city. While her hands moved, her gaze darted towards the ceiling as she pretended to think it over.


    A couple of momentster, she narrowed her eyes at her pet ghost. Almost a minute passed before she realized her brain wandered to the wrong zone, subconsciously visualizing the next outfit to burn for him.


    ''Ugh. His sinful face and body are really too much.''


    Even though it was her who got distracted, the me got thrown to the innocent ghost leaning on the wall adjacent to her bed with folded arms. She briefly closed her eyes and recalled something serious.


    "Jiang Li, do you know?" After a minute, she opened her mouth and sat prettily on the edge of her bed. She was done unpacking and was looking at the options given to her by the system. Unfortunately, none of them was what she wanted right now.


    Zhan Rong continued, "Beforeing here, I had a talk with an annoying old man."


    "Old man?"


    If Jiang Li were not maintaining a good image, he would have furrowed his forehead already. ''There''s only that guy, right?''


    Sure enough, the answer matched his guess.


    "It''s my father." She said with a bored look on her face when no change in his expression urred.


    "You once told me that you two are not close since he already has a new family. So what did he say?" Jiang Li tilted his head. "How is it rted to my earlier question?"


    "Well, I was asked to go on blind dates, and I have no choice but to go since the old man kept bringing up myst name. Perhaps you could help me with that?"


    The ghost blinked his eyes as his lips suddenly pressed into a thin line. Then he opened his mouth again, "Did you say... blind dates?"


    Zhan Rong nodded and his countenance remained the same, although, in his heart, he instantly felt annoyed. Had it not been for his skillful control of his facial muscles, his expression would have looked ugly now.


    It was not really hard to understand. But really? Some stupid old man asked a marrieddy to meet other guys in hopes of tying them through marriage?


    Mild irritation crept on Zhan Rong as she exined the situation. Jiang Li listened. And when he felt like he could no longer maintain a straight face, he excused himself after promising to go with her at the reserved dinner spot.


    "It''s alreadyte. And I can see that you are tired so you should go to bed now."


    The girl asked, "You won''t suddenly go away, will you?"


    To this, he shook his head. "I won''t. I promise to go with you to the rendezvous ce."


    Zhan Rong looked at him for a few moments before she hesitantly nodded.


    He made sure to appear like he returned to her ne to appease her. An hour or soter, when it was confirmed that she had fallen asleep, he went out. The ghosts roaming outside, mostly his subordinates in charge of ensuring the safety of the neighborhood 24/7, flinched when he passed by them.


    "Be vignt. I have to leave for another area to settle some issues." He said to them.


    "Yes, king." Those who could speak replied slowly.


    That night, Jiang Li traveled several miles to reach Mr. Zhan who was living with his new family at the neighboring city. The wrinkled-face old dude reminded him of Zhao Bolin''s irresponsible parents so his resolve to deal with Zhan Rong''s father double. Yet when he was about to use the usual scare tactics, he remembered there was one thing people like Mr. Zhan really feared.


    ''Ugh. Restraint. Don''t think of murder. He''s still technically your father-inw even if he doesn''t know you exist.''


    It took a long while for the red veins in his ghostly eyes to disappear and for him to retreat to the study of the middle-aged magnate.


    Tomorrow morning when the stock market opened, no buy trade could be conducted for the Zhan Corporation. The sudden crash of every brokerage tform, which mysteriously only affected listedpanies rted to the Zhans, caused people to sell their shares in a heartbeat. The bond market was also weird. And several properties, whether a factory, a mall, or a corporate building, were sighted with several unclean beings even though it was daytime.


    Because the media immediately saw the situation, they hyped it up further. This was something already out of Jiang Li''s influence.


    Anyway, no people were really harmed in this revenge. Except for Mr. Zhan, and perhaps some executives and major shareholders, who nearly had a heart attack. Nearly. Since Mr. Zhan only got heartache from the millions of losses he was getting every passing hour. He was still healthy physically. Because even though the ghost despised him, it was only a fit of momentary anger that needed some venting, not to the point of wanting his demise.


    In the afternoon of the same day, a meeting was formally held between Zhan Rong and a guy called Huang Ming, grandson of the fifteenth richest man in the country.


    Jiang Li was floating behind the girl unseen by others. The ghost was actually unnerved but he did not prevent the meeting. With a smile that did not reach the eyes, he bombarded the panel with words, dictating her what to say to ''test'' the sincerity of the other party...

 Chapter 405: Mo Chou (43) <2-in-1>

    Chapter 405: Mo Chou (43) <2-in-1>


    Several messages floated before Zhan Rong, gradually filling in the empty spaces on the system window.


    <Jiang Li rmended you test this man''s willingness to be with you by bluffing him how controlling and dramatic you can be.>


    <Jiang Li rmended that you tell him you once castrated someone for cheating on a good friend and that you might do something nastier if it is towards your own man.>


    <Jiang Li rmended you demand several excessive things to determine how economically and financially able he is. Apany worth $100 billion will be just right. Tell him it has to be a defensivepany in case recession or something simr in the future.>


    <Jiang Li rmended you tell him that you are a filial daughter. You want your future spouse to gift your dad a big ind in the pacific which could not be worth less than 10 billion US dors. Your stepmother, a room full of gems and other precious stones. Your half-brother, an opulent mansion in the capital, preferably near the Presidential Pce... Your maid a...>


    <Jiang Li rmended you tell him you n to build a hundred-meter statue to forever imprint on earth how impossibly beautiful you are...>


    It was the first time the girl saw many windows popped up in front of her to the point that she could not even see anything beyond it.


    Zhan Rong lowered her head, her expression calm, but her heart was feeling strange. Although she appreciated the suggestions and wanted to use some to chase away the other fellow, the confusion in her mind became strong.


    Why was her pet ghost too creative today? And wasn''t he acting too strange?


    In her mind, Jiang Li was a gentleman. He spoke and behaved politely yet was humorous enough to not bore anyone. And his face... His face alone was more than enough to capture and retain one''s attention on him all day long.


    Zhan Rong was a bit overwhelmed by the sudden change.


    After the failed blind date ended formally with the male partner walking out looking grossed out and offended, Zhan Rong heard all the bad things that happened to her father''s businesses. There was some damage to the foundation, that was not really enough to bring him down. But, it had been a pleasure to read about his misfortunes


    The only problem was, it was hard not to wonder if everything was a series of coincidences.


    ''... Well, it''s still good this way.''


    Mr. Zhan heard about the failed blind date and proceeded to pair her up with another partner''s son. Zhan Rong yed along. The result was the same as the previous one. The maddened old man arranged another blind date and it also ended in failure. On the fourth day of the cycle, aughable rumor spread about Zhan Rong. ''Shameless butcher'', they called her that.


    Of course, the rumors were only used asugh material by slow-minded people who did not know Zhan Rong personally. Not everyone was an idiot.


    The olderdies from the same circle who simrly had no n to get their future spouses through blind dates and arranged meetings instantly got the gist of what she was doing. Their eyes lit up at the screen where they read about Zhan Rong''s recent deeds. On the following days, there had been several reports of girls turning up at blind dates only to disgust their partners with excessive demands and ridiculous stories.


    ''I want my future spouse to buy me private nes every month.''


    ''I intend to create a team of people researching time machines.''


    ''If we marry, can you promise to support me financially and mentally? It''s been my lifelong dream to recreate the One Piece universe in a real-life setting.''


    ''I have a hundred cats and dogs at home, all fetched from the roadside since I found them too pitiful. My future husband should be a very understanding guy who shares the same passion for cute animals as I do and could ept sharing a living space with them.''


    ''Can you do this and that for me?''


    Since she learned how to hack and dive into the deep web, Zhan Rong was always updated so the news naturally reached her. There was an odd feeling in her heart. Her goal of shooing away insincere bastards was aplished, and the process had been very enjoyable. But now, a greater guilty pleasure was consuming her upon realizing that she had started a weird trend.


    "Jiang Li, I did the right thing, didn''t I?" Red-faced from slight embarrassment yet with a grin stered on her lips, she turned to the ghost.


    "If you are genuinely happy, I assure you, you did." The ghostughed.


    On the sixth day, which was thest one she agreed to before she returned to the dorms, Zhan Rong met with a young man called Gu Yijun at a coffee house. Like with the previous guys, there was no whatsoever romantic atmosphere that blossomed. In fact, it was already a miracle that the other party was not throwing her odd stares or sharp res.


    As the guy was quite behavedpared to his predecessors, Zhan Rong deemed it would not be bad to treat him a tiny bit better and made an effort to start a conversation.


    "Mr. Gu. You''re a senior college student. And your university is not in this city. Howe you are here?"


    The guy was thrifty in words and simply said, "Escorted a rtive. And I have some business transactions toplete."


    "Oh. Okay." That was it. Her attempt ended with that.


    Zhan Rong was not interested in the person so she only nodded and then minded her own business. Around this time, her reputation was already quite resounding and there was no more need to exin much to the other party. Moreover, Gu Yijun seemed not interested in her too. The guy was typing on hisbook while waiting for their drinks. Perhaps it was apany report, or a reply to a more interesting chatmate.


    Zhan Rong pulled up her phone and then opened Taobao. Joke. Jiang Li''s outfits were always from branded clothing stores and she picked an online site belonging to one. Time passed by just like that. The two perfectly yed the parts of strangers who only had no choice but to share a table.


    Standing behind her, Jiang Li who was bored, began to stare at the person sitting across them. Thest name Gu was quitemon, but how could he not recognize that this Gu Yijun was Gu Mochou''s cousin?


    Since this guy was here, it only meant that viiness was back.


    He cast invisibility on Zhan Rong''s phone and fiddled with it to check some relevant news.


    As expected, a report about a healthy middle-aged man almost dying from an energy drink was trending online. It should be that criminal mentioned in one of the files in the safe. Another six from different regions were also covered by the news. The product was from argepany owned by the family of the male lead.


    ''What''s next?'' Jiang Li wondered. ''Will Gu Mochou stage her caring admirer drama after? Taking advantage of this time when Fan Zheng worries about his family business?''


    He rolled his eyeballs after confirming this part happened in the previous life. Except Gu Mochou seemed to be intending to destroy the business of Fan Zheng''s family altogether as she ordered some professionals to exaggerate the news and made it stay at the top of hot searches to let more people know about it.


    Who knew what other shady things did she do behind everyone''s back? In one of Jiang Li''s previous lives, a madman managed to force an enemy entrepreneur to take a great debt andmit suicide when everything he did to save his business failed.


    The viiness moved only to force Fan Zheng into a corner. If she was really taking the same route, then it would lead to a situation where the male lead would be pressured to break up with Zhao Ai and ept a rich girl as a girlfriend and fiancee. What if she went insane and thought the pain to be inflicted on the vige girl would be greater if Fan Zheng''s family became dirt-poor, or if Fan Zheng died, which both trante to Zhao Ai potentially losing her lifetime meal ticket?


    ''Dear viiness, you should apply your borate schemes and methods to the other guy approaching the female lead. That Zhang boy and his backer are the other evil forces in this world apart from the vigers. On the other hand, Fan Zheng''s only fault is being stupid, and perhaps, exorcising ghosts without thoroughly investigating their pasts.''


    Jiang Li suddenly felt tired and wanted an easy way out by using magical means to kill Gu Mochou while under something like ecstasy drugs. Didn''t it work on the bad girl of the second world? On that female lead who made him die quite early because of an unspeakable illness.


    Of course, while the idea lingered, Jiang Li was not truly thinking of doing that. It was just a normal episode of an angered person wishing someone''s death. Surely, in one''s life, nice or not, saintly or sinful, there was an instant when he or she carelessly wished for this.


    ''Forget it. I''m a ghost, so I will leave the economical, financial, and emotional issues to the living,'' he told himself after he had decided that Gu Mochou would undergo the usual cycleter as a punishment. Whether the viiness learned her lesson or not after that, it was not something he could control.


    And speaking of that person, they unexpectedly bumped into her when they were leaving the coffee house. Zhan Rong''s eyes turned dark as she watched the famous transferee exchanged greetings with Gu Yijun.


    " I didn''t know I''d meet Senior here. Good day."


    Gu Mochou smiled like a flower at Zhan Rong. The viiness knew thetter since Zhan Rong was also quite famous, a person that most rich and smart heirs and heiresses did not dare gossip about even though she was one of those with the juiciest stories. It was not a secret that she was favored in her house because of the former Madam Zhan who eloped with a no-named guy. Zhan Rong was also Fan Zheng''s acquaintance who had gone to that vige. How could Gu Mochou not know her?


    Zhan Rong nodded at the other girl. Because the unnerving feeling was rising in her chest, she did not hesitate to leave for the exit.


    The viiness innocently batted her curled eyshes, not moving her gaze away from Zhang Rong''s back. For a moment, confusion flickered in her expression, followed by disappointment, as there was something she was trying to sense on the other girl but didn''t manage to.


    "Senior, see you tomorrow on campus."


    Zhan Rong paused and nced over her shoulder. Her expression was unreadable.


    As for Jiang Li, he was long inside the ne looking at Gu Mochou with a cold pair of eyes.


    There was something bothering him.


    Why were the spiritual aura of the three deceased cultivators no longer on the viiness?


    Before the pair of cousins who started to exchange joyful greetings with each other disappear from his sight, Jiang Li suddenly felt another pair of eyes looking at his direction. It was not Gu Mochou nor any living person. The viiness seemed to be not aware of it. No normal ghosts also dare to do this to him, tantly showing interests that was also mixed with malice.


    Only one thing came to his mind.


    Another ghost king.

 Chapter 406: Mo Chou (44) <2-in-1>

    Chapter 406: Mo Chou (44) <2-in-1>


    Fan Zheng had experienced many inexplicable things in his life.


    Since the time he could remember, he could see ghosts. But great luck enabled him to only see harmless ones who still acted like they were alive. Because of this, there was a period in his life when he found living people and spirits indistinguishable.


    He would see them crossing the street with listless expressions at night like they were office employees or part-time job workers exhausted by their shift. He would see them in the middle of a bustling crowd and would not notice when they disappear from there. He talked with some of them before, for example, when asking for directions ormenting on their unsightly postures and faces.


    This kind of situation frequently happened and Fan Zheng did not think that he was bothered at all. He thought it was normal. That was until several kids pointed out how strange it was for them to see Fan Zheng sometimes staring nkly at empty space like he was watching something, or speaking to himself even though nobody was around.


    Kids were naive and were not prone to think too much. Upon encountering something odd and funny, they would always report it to their parents. On the other hand, parents were ruthless, or more appropriately put, too cautious, because none would desire for their children to be close to a bad egg.


    ''Son, that boy is a monster. Don''t y with him, okay?''


    ''Talking to air is a sign of insanity. Fan Zheng might be not right in the head so don''t approach him. It''s dangerous, do you understand?''


    There were times when these parents did not even care if the subject of their warning could hear them or not.


    Before he knew, only his sister remained nice to him. Everyone else followed their parents'' words and distanced themselves from him.


    Thankfully, Father Fan was smart and perceptive so after seeing that his children were not getting along with the other kids in themunity, he did not hesitate to move his whole family away. He was quite a good father and was more than willing to trade money for a better environment for his children.


    When Fan Zheng was in second grade elementary, a strange uncle took him in as his disciple and started sneaking into his family''s residence every day to teach him mysterious stuff. This was when his life truly changed. He saw several other types of spirits, not just those refusing to ept that they were dead. In this world, many were actually harmful, malicious, and with an inexplicable hatred against the living.


    At age 10, he was formally introduced to the sect where he learned how to exorcise souls that must go to the otherworld.


    "Fan Zheng, only one in a million could cultivate, and among them, you are genius that a sect could onlye across every one hundred years."


    His master told him that. As he was young, he didn''t know how amazing it was, especially in modern times when the spirit energy on earth was so less than its quality and density a thousand years ago.


    All he knew was that Maoshan Sect treated him so well, and did not let go of him even when he chose to remain with his family instead of permanently staying at the mountain. Life had gone smoothly since then. He was used to the presence of ghosts already and knew how to deal with them without escting it into an issue in need of a senior''s support. Therefore, he was not finding them a huge blockade to keep his identity as a spirit hunter.


    Disregarding some minor bumps like the incident in the Zhao vige and the female ghost that escaped from there, he could be said to be very lucky.


    But of course, to normal people, his experiences were still odd. On top of that, there were his daily encounters with the supernatural, yet he still managed to find time for romance.


    A ma of ghosts and troubles, yet also admired by many women on campus. How to describe such a person?


    Perhaps, indeed a male lead material?


    However. Precisely because he was the male lead that he was not destined, or rather, permitted, to have a boring life.


    Right now, he was going through another actual proof of why his life was so tiring.


    The news about several people ''harmed'' by the products of the Fanpany finally reached his ears!


    In the morning, Father Fan talked to him and reassured that everything could still be put under control. But then, in the afternoon, the mother phoned him to make theme to the hospital!


    "No. This must be fake news!Fan Lan was shaking in fear and anxiety as she yelled this. "H-How did it happen in the first ce?"


    She was half-crying as she continued, "The energy drink that e-energy drink and the coffee mix have been being distributed throughout the country for seven years and have then since had a good reputation. T-there has never been a problem with them. Why are there people suddenly wanting to throw shade at us? I don''t understand! I d-don''t understand!"


    The girl was a mess and she continued to sob while stuttering out words of denial.


    Fan Zheng''s own face was also full of disbelief. He watched nkly as his sister pounded her tiny fists on the thick ss windows separating their family from Father Fan.


    "Miss, please stop. Calm down."


    The housekeeper who apanied Madam Fan here was trying to stop her from hurting herself, repeatedly telling her topose herself and be strong at times like this. However, the devastated girl who kept fearing for her family, theirpany, and her future seemed to have be temporarily deaf.


    It had been fifteen minutes since he arrived after running with his sister from the first floor to the elevator and finally to the end of this long white corridor.


    On one side where the benches could be seen, Madam Fan was also crying, her tear-stained face buried in her hands. While no sound wasing from her, her figure strangely looked more tragic than her loudly wailing daughter. Fan Zheng understood that the woman had been crying longer than Fan Lan and was deathly worried about her husband.


    None of them could understand why they arrived at this point.


    Fan Zheng stared into the window and saw doctors in scrubs surrounding an operating table. He couldn''t see the person lying on the operating table. Then again, he wouldn''t be here if he had no idea who it was.


    Fan Zheng tightly balled his fists and moved his gaze away from that room, staring at the woman slouching on the bench crying. "Mom Are the articles telling the truth? Did somebody from ourbor division really substitute a normal ingredient with a harmful substance?"


    The shoulders of the elegant-looking woman stopped shaking. She was obviously startled by the question.


    Fan Lan immediately turned her head, looking furious. Her eyes that were frighteningly red red at him as she retorted, "Brother, did you even hear what just came out of your damn mouth?!!! It''s obviously false! It''s fake news! How could you even believe that?!"


    The male lead ignored his sister''s outburst. He took a deep breath and asked again, "Is he attacked by the family members?"


    This time, he only waited for a couple of seconds before a small nod came from Duan Lin, the madam.


    When the woman lifted her head to face her son, the tears had already been wiped away using a handkerchief. At a nce, it could be seen that she was trying to look strong andpose before her children. The woman probably realized already, at times like this, she had to be one of the responsible ones.


    When she felt like her voice would not break anymore, she looked at her son and began to exin.


    "The situation is like this."


    "Your dad is indeed attacked and we''re left vulnerable. Before this, thepany is not really in that bad of a state since nothing''s really been confirmed yet. Our major shareholders are also quite smart and not as fickle as random stockholders in the equity market."


    "However, the media escted the matter. It was hard not to suspect that there is somebody pulling the strings behind the scenes so your grandfather sent people to investigate. I also sent some of ourwyers to sue the media people who kept spreading false information."


    "But what we failed to anticipate was the family members of the deceased believing in the news that our products are really to me."


    "It''s human nature to obsess over finding something to me when things go wrong. It''s just that..." Shortly, she stopped.


    The woman looked up and repeatedly blinked her eyes to stop the tears threatening to stream down. Fan Zheng moved forward to give her aforting hug. Distress could be seen on his face since he finally understood what had happened.


    Needless to say, the aggrieved family members became angry, some lost rationality, and camped outside thepany building to protest and demand justice.


    Because the loved ones of the deceased people were not informed of the deal with the viiness, which thetter purposely did it in anticipation of this very moment, they harbored a great grudge against the sinner who caused their loss of parents or guardians.


    They let emotions controlled them. They did not want to let the evildoers off.


    One of them, husband of the person first found dead, impulsively tampered with the brake of the car belonging to the CEO, that was, Fan Zheng''s father. He even paid some people to force the CEO into escaping a riot using the car. This was how the man got into an ident, his life and death unknown inside the emergency room.


    "Is Dad... going to be okay?" Fan Lan''s voice drifted to his ears just then.


    Fan Zheng once again nced through the ss window. ording to his mother, the operation had been going on for more than an hour. Yet even now, he had no idea what those doctors were operating on.


    "Stop thinking pessimistically. Dad is strong." When he said this, who knew if he was telling this to Fan Lan or himself.


    He then went forward tofort his sister, patting her head and letting her use his shoulder to cry on. This was his responsibility as a man, as a brother.


    However, deep within, he was also at a loss about what to think of their current situation.


    The male lead looked around and felt something heavy pressing on his heart seeing the sad atmosphere enveloping the ce. The pain within his chest became especially numbing when the head doctor came out and informed them that even though his father was saved, he had fallen into aa.


    ...


    A day passed. At City B, sses had already resumed but the two could not attend due to the troubles at home.


    Inside the car which was ferrying them back to the university, the anxious and listless Fan Lan softly called out to the male lead.


    "Brother..."


    "Hmm."


    "Since you are a member of a mysterious ce, can''t you look for dad''s wandering spirit and bring it back to his body?"


    Fan Zheng was quite taken aback and visibly hesitated for a moment before sighing softly. "... To be honest, I would have done that already if I could. But Fan Lan, spirit hunters are only allowed to touch spirits that have turned malicious and refused to go ''down''. If I went against the naturalw, death will be lenient. There is a possibility that an offender''s family will receive some bacsh or bad karma."


    Silence reigned between them before Fan Lan opened her mouth again.


    "Then... are you going to do what grandpa asked you to do?"


    On the driver''s seat, Fan Zheng kept his silence before replying in a low voice that had hints of helplessness, "I need some time to think about it..."


    "I see." Fan Lan lowered her head and silently fiddled with her phone. The girl was usually a very talkative one so it was quite a wonder why she could be this lethargic today.


    She did not speak anymore. Fan Zheng focused on the road and the conversation died just like that.


    The two had just met their grandfather, the retired head of the family who had no choice but toe out and assume Father Fan''s position as thetter was still lying unconscious at the hospital.


    Only Fan Zheng was summoned and Fan Lan only came because she did not want to be left alone at home. When they arrived, however, they learned it was not to help out in thepany.


    Fan Zheng recalled what the old man told him just half an hour ago.


    "Zheng. I will do something about those false usations. However, I need you to go find somebody willing to inject funds onto ourpany."


    "Me?"


    At that time, he looked puzzlingly at the haggard face of his grandfather who took over the copsingpany for only a day yet already looked like he aged a few years overnight.


    He was about to ask why it had to be him, a mere college student who had yet to enter thepany when there were otherpetent finance managers and well-connected shareholders around. The old man pushed a folder towards him.


    "Look at this."


    Fan Zheng furrowed his brow since he disliked the serious atmosphere in the ce which was worse than some of the haunted spots he had visited.


    He subconsciously opened the folder and saw that it contained records of families that had daughters who were enamored by him. Gu Mochou''s name was even included in it, and actually at the top of the list.


    On the very next moment, Fan Zheng widened his eyes that automatically went to the old man, "Grandpa?"


    "... I hope you understand, Zheng. This is necessary." His grandfather''s voice sounded so tired.


    Fan Zheng felt like his heart dropped on the floor when he met the other party''s quiet, apologetic gaze. Because he understood what the old man was suggesting to him, his mind went nk and he forgot to question if this was the right thing to do or if they were already that desperate to resort to something like this.

 Chapter 407: Mo Chou (45) <2-in-1>

    Chapter 407: Mo Chou (45) <2-in-1>


    Even if Fan Zheng understood what his grandfather really wanted, he already had Zhao Ai.


    So did he protest and try to appeal to the old guy that there should be other ways to save their livelihood and home?


    A stupid question. Of course, he did!


    As he was a young man drunk in his first experience with love, he was even quite stubborn and resolute. His vision of the reality was limited, like the many youngsters who had yet to experience the hardship of surviving as a real, working adult. He thought there would surely be a way. But he had no idea that thinking of a solution was not the end of it, one would have to n how, where, why, and when it would be implemented, and most importantly, if the solution was even usible, to begin with.


    Thankfully, the old man was a powerful and experienced negotiator and knew how to manipte somebody in his father''s generation into doing his bidding. The male lead was merely somebody from the youngest generation. He was also at a disadvantage since he had to be mindful of the other''s seniority.


    How could somebody like him, whose expertise lied inmunication with ghosts rather than humans, best his grandfather in an argument?


    Fan Zheng did not even manage to rify if they were really in that desperate of a situation or ask why it had to be through engagement or marriage with another wealthy family.


    After a few minutes of discussion, the result came, and it was as one would have expected, a result tilting on the old man''s favor.


    "I''ll think about it." That was all he managed to say before hurriedly escaping from the old man''s eyesight.


    It was the afternoon of the second day of ss.


    Fan Zheng just found himself back to the dorms. He left his sister at the small mansion near the university after packing his belongings. He was in no mood to face his girlfriend who was staying there, so he showed his face to no one. As his mind was confused, he felt like he needs some time for himself to think about his grandfather''s orders and his family''s situation.


    Ignoring his roommates'' curious eyes as he was rarely staying on campus if there was no sses, he lied on his bed, sinking into his thoughts, ''When things go south, does it always have to be the firstborn carrying all the burdens? Or is it because I am a man that more responsibilities are falling on my shoulders?''


    He drew a cold breath and covered his eyes and half his face with his left arm. When night fell and he felt like he had rested enough, the man went out to fill his stomach.


    It was no coincidence that he appeared at Fortune Dragon Restaurant.


    Fan Zheng knew this ce was where Gu Mochou always dined despite having some conflict with the management two weeks ago. In his mind, the files kept appearing and it subconsciously influenced him to see one of the potential marriage candidates.


    Of course, he had no idea what time she would go there. He was merely banking on his luck. Yet when it worked on his favor that night, he didn''t know whether to be relieved or to be guilty. There was no cheating done yet but his heart was already ufortable thinking of his girlfriend eating by herself at the small mansion.


    Fan Zheng''s expression was unreadable when the beautiful transferee walked in through the entrance of the restaurant.


    Gu Mochou did not see him at first. And, he was hesitating to call her name.


    Fan Zheng still had the awareness and knew it was a scummy behavior for a taken guy to eat with a girl not his girlfriend, especially if the purpose was to develop a rtionship with her.


    Because of this, his mind was really torn. On one side was his girlfriend, on the other was his family. He had to choose between being an honest man and being a scumbag.


    ''Should I invite her over?''


    ''But since I could remember, I never talk enthusiastically to her. It will awkward.''


    It was at that time when the great love he had for Zhao Ai was about to win when Gu Mochou finally noticed him and instantly gave him a smile.


    "Senior!" She waved a hand at Fan Zheng who immediately had mixed feelings from seeing her sweet, happy smile.


    She was supposed to walk towards the vacant table near the piano, and only changed directions upon seeing him near the counter. The girl had been tipped off by the female ghost king hiding in her right pearl earring.


    Fan Zheng stiffly smiled and waved back. "Hello, Junior Gu."


    The male lead watched her get nearer and nearer.


    In all honesty, whenpared to Zhao Ai, this girl who was only a year younger than him, truly looked way more beautiful. Only Zhan Rong, that woman who refused the wacky title of campus goddess, could be said better than Gu Mochou in terms of appearance. Then again, Gu Mochou possessed a more pleasing personality. She was also from a good family. No wonder she was at the top of the list given to him by his grandfather.


    ''With her specs and qualifications, why did she like somebody like me? Her family might be not in a major province or city, but it''s richer than mine.''


    ''Or is she actually in love with that bastard of the engineering department?''


    "Let me share a table with you, Senior Fan," said Gu Mochou happily while pulling out a chair for herself.


    To this, he inly nodded, swallowing the words of rejection that almost instinctively escaped his mouth when he was engrossed in his thoughts.


    The girl noticed he really looked ufortable but failed to realize she was the cause behind it. She worriedly asked, "By the way, senior, are you okay? Why did you not go to ss today? You''re quite famous on campus, Senior, so many wondered why you''re nowhere around since yesterday. Did something bad happen?"


    There was no way a prideful male lead would open up about the troubles at home so he dodged the question by just smiling and bringing up another topic.


    "It''s just a minor trouble. It''s not worth discussing, especially since we''re at a ce with a nice ambiance. Rather than my boring life, I think yours is more colorful."


    "That sounds odd in my ears." Sheughed.


    He also forced a smile and asked, "So how are you doing? I heard you''re joining a talent show."


    "Nope, that''s just a rumor." Gu Mochouughed and shook her head.


    The two began to talk, although there were some stiff moments that could not be helped since they were not that close.Fan Zheng''s face value was high but in all honesty, the eyes that were darting everywhere was a huge turn-off.


    Thankfully, both of them were not really thinking seriously about each other. The viiness only found his reactions really funny as this was one of the developments she really wanted to see when shemenced the attacks.


    Gu Mochou, who had just recovered from another pain-hospital-police-embarrassment cycle, observed how the bug''s boyfriend struggled inwardly whether to hit on her or remain faithful to his lover.


    When the man excused himself for the restroom, she began to giggle.


    ''Look at this slow-brained guy. Most likely he did not even try to ask for help from his friends nor try to check who was the one attacking them.''


    ''How funny that he blindly followed the orders of his hypnotized grandfather.'' The viinessughed at the spections that formed in her mind.


    The dinner had been pleasant for her. One more thing she liked the most was that Jiang Li, the restaurant worker she quite hated, was not present. The music was from the stereo and the voice of some auto-tune type singer was echoing throughout the hall, but she was fine with it. Her mood was not affected.


    Because she felt like the world was really going on her favor, the grin on her lovely face never left.


    Her mood became more pleasant when Fan Zheng agreed to apany her to the jewelry shop next to the restaurant where they ended up bumping into Zhao Ai who was with Zhang Jian.


    As a girl striving to separate a so-called OTP, what was more satisfying to see than two pairs of lovers on a date with different people crossing paths at the most inopportune moment?


    The girl was supposed to be rehabilitating from the injected drugs, the boy was supposed to be at home or at the dorm. Yet they discovered one another apanying people who were obviously interested in them.


    Gu Mochou carefully imprinted in the back of her mind the shocked expression in Fan Zheng''s face whichter turned into a pained one. There was also Zhao Ai.


    The bug looked surprised at first too, but since she thought she had the clearer conscience between them, her surprise immediately turned into anger upon seeing the prettier woman by her boyfriend''s side.


    Once consumed by jealousy, even the mildest tempered teenager would turn impulsive.


    "I only went to apany Zhang Jian to help him choose a good gift for his mother. But what is the meaning of this, brother Fan? What are you doing with her?!"


    The female lead looked really furious as she strode forward and pointed a finger at Gu Mochou.


    At that time, Zhao Ai forgot that in their rtionship, she had always been the weaker one always watching out for Fan Zheng''s mood. She was after all, akin to a mistress who would not be able to survive a day in the city without her man''s support.


    The male lead was still gued with worries about his family so he was not in the best state of mind nor at the height of his confidence to himself when he looked at Zhang Jiang.


    When Fan Zheng quietly shifted his gaze to the girl whose eyes were turning red while yelling usations at him, Gu Mochou hung her head low to hide the faint smile that formed on her lips.


    ''What a wonderful show...''


    ''I want to drive Fan Zheng into poverty. But even if I seed, since he''s head over heels for the bug, he wouldn''t cut off his support to her.''


    ''He must be driven to the point of cutting the ties by himself.''


    ''I am close to my goal now, right?''


    It was quite unbelievable, but all along, this was her only intention for targeting the Fan family. To make a good guy who also had ties with cultivators leave the female lead''s side. Such a sick goal was what killed several people in the process of ndering the male lead''spany.


    However, Gu Mochou seemed to not find anything wrong with her thinking or methods. If Jiang Li were here, he would have guessed easily that if ever this particr move failed, she would easily resort to amnesia tricks.


    On one side of the store, Gu Mochou only maintained her silence even though she and the also silent Fan Zheng were receiving harsh gazes from the nearby people.


    ''After that, he will be next,'' she simply thought. For a moment, her eyes settled on the other person enamored by Zhao Ai.

 Chapter 408: Mo Chou (46)

    Chapter 408: Mo Chou (46)


    It was Saturday when Jiang Li felt the presence of the female ghost king in Gu Mochou, the same female ghost acting as the leader of the battalion right outside Zhao Vige.


    Four days had passed since then.


    Because no news came out about Haowen Town or anywhere near there, he reckoned it was most likely the viiness''s doing, and personally made a trip. Precisely because of this that he was not at the restaurant at that exciting moment, thus missing the confrontation at the adjacent store. His absence even thrilled the viiness, a fact that Jiang Li would probablyugh at if he knew.


    But as of now, it was true that he was away. And there was a more pressing issue bothering him. That female ghost who had just sessfully broken through to the ghost king level.


    Such a ghost striving to send every Zhao viger to hell Why would she suddenly leave her area of influence? Was it because Gu Mochou sent an SOS signal when the girl could no longer stand his covert attacks? Gu Mochou did not seem to be someone easy to admit defeat.


    When he finally reached his destination, the answer presented itself to him.


    "The vige is officially a ghost vige now." He absent-mindedlymented after being forced into silence by the sight that greeted him.


    The night time in this forest-mountain area was darker than usual, depressing even. Temple ruins could be seen in the southwest part of the vige.


    <em>''They''</em> were now everywhere. Even though it was currently midnight and vision was limited, he could see and hear them with extreme rity. The empty houses. Bloodied streets. Echoing wails. Corpses. And madlyughing spirits.


    Jiang Li came only in his spirit form so he did not have to worry about damaging Lang Lei''s body. That was why there was no sign of fear in his eyes when several ghosts surrounded him. These fellows of him were not showing aggression anyways, even after they recognized him as the sneaky little ghost from half a year ago suspected of being a local resident of the vige.


    However, theirck of hostility did not mean that Jiang Li found itfortable to stay there. In fact, it was the opposite. The gruesome sight was making the thousand-year-old ghost him frown. Even though it was not the most vomit-inducing he had seen, it was still one of the most appalling. The scene was definitely something no horror enthusiasts would want to see or be part of.


    The crazyughter continued to reverberate eerily. The living would definitely shiver and have goosebumps upon listening to it.


    "You guys are so happy, huh." Jiang Li smacked his lips and swept his eyes around coldly.


    "Ha hA ha Ha. ha" Creepy sounds came to his ears as a reply.


    Jiang Li did not even bother to guess from where it came from since it was reverberating on all sides.


    He held his forehead before putting his palm together and closing his eyes. Odd stares were thrown his way by his fellow spirits, but he did not exin. He did not have to since he made it obvious that he was praying for the pitiful souls of the few women and children who had not escaped the ghosts'' wrath.


    When he finished praying, a thought just came to him. That apart from thew of cause and effect, there was actually another unbreakable rule in this world.


    Thew of supply and demand. It was not all about the movement of prices that economics always talked about.


    When Jiang Li roamed the ce, he never spared the beasts a nce. There was no whatsoever interest in his mind to know how these people died miserably. After all, they were sinners.


    There would be no traffickers if there were no people wanting to buy abducted people or body parts.


    Because these men and, actually, some brainwashed older women participated in this scheme, the moment they received their retribution, they lost the qualification to receive pity. However their victims retaliated against them, they deserved it.


    He then looked at the corpses of the women who insisted on staying despite his warning six months ago.


    In his opinion actually, the samew applied to them as well, or maybe it was thew of cause and effect. Whichever it was, this group of women was on the losing side. In the first ce, they would not end up in this ce if they were cautious and had awareness of how cruel humans could be.


    There would be no conmen if there were no foolish or gullible people in this world. One should at least look out for themselves.


    ''I pity them. But I clearly warned them and told them the best time to escape. I don''t think it''s my fault or anybody''s fault that they did not seize the chance given to them. Moreover, I''m no longer around to lead them. It''s them who gave up fighting."


    The ghost king sighed.


    What were the odds that these dead women purposely ignored the pieces of paper he left them? Was it because they longed for death and thought it to be sweeter than the life they would get after escaping? Then again, why couldn''t they at least think of sending the children out of his hellhole like he advised?


    Because he didn''t know the answer, a feeling of disappointment washed over him.


    Now, the best he could do for them was to pray and hope that like him, some local deities would find them pitiful andpensate their poor souls. As he was in an incorporeal state, he would not be able to bury them.


    Jiang Li walked towards the broken statue of Buddha.


    Looking at him, the others stopped making odd noises and warily watched him. They were wary since he was a ghost king, two levels above the current strongest in their rank.


    It was an inferior being''s instinct to watch out for the mood of those above them. Also, they were curious.


    What did this superior spirit n to do with the ugly statue?


    Well, Jiang Li only inspected how it broke and did nothing else. In his mind, he only wondered how the female ghost king destroyed this sculpture and if the wisp of divine spirit inside it fought back or not.


    When he lost interest in the broken item, he nced at them before turning around and resuming his exploration, of course not missing the biggest sinner whose corpse he failed to find.


    A few minutester, Jiang Li left the ghost vige. While the noises resumed behind, nobody really dared to stop him. The ghosts were pleased with his departure and continued their own ''party'' which had most likely been ongoing for days.

 Chapter 409: Mo Chou (47)

    Chapter 409: Mo Chou (47)


    To be honest, he did not know what to feel about the fact that his fellow ghosts found his departure worthy of rejoicing. But Jiang Li was not thinking of confronting the partying spirits so he ignored the irritation budding in his heart. He did not look back once.


    Compared to the plot and the viiness, the ghost army was cute. They were the least of his concern.


    In his estimate, these folks would not be able to stay long in the material world. Even if their leader did something to get them a temporary license to kill, ghost messengers would stille over, no longer tolerating their stay, and would drag them to hell for judgment. At most, these ghosts would only be exempted from being thoroughly destroyed or from being reincarnated as pigs or animals in their next life.


    As for the corpses, obviously, they would stay like that unless a lost hunter from the nearest town or vige chance upon this ce which was unlikely given its location. The spirits would also do their best to steer possible visitors away.


    <em>''It''s already a foregone conclusion that no living people wille here in the next few months since all those aware of the massacre won''t report it to the police.''</em>


    The people he referred to were only two individuals. Him, and Gu Mochou. But like he said, none of them would say anything to the authorities. Gu Mochou''s reason was simple, she was one of the killers. And he? Apart from finding it was okay for a den of devils like that to disappear forever, he didn''t think to do so would be worth the hassle giving some of his time to the police.


    ''I''m sure one of these days, Gu Mochou will think of personally visiting this ce tough at the corpses of her enemies.''


    Jiang Li decided it would be okay to let her take a glimpse. But regarding Zhao Ai''s matter, or more specifically the deaths and harm done to the fake victims of Fan Zheng''spany, there was no way he would let it pass.


    ...


    ...


    The return trip this time was much smoother since Jiang Li no longer needed to crack some spells and illusions left by the female ghost king. He immediately hurried back to the town and possessed Lang Lei. A few couples of hourster, he arrived at the apartment unit lent to him by the restaurant owner where he rested for a minute before setting out again.


    An hour or so before dawn, Jiang Li was in his spirit form again, assuming a nk, featureless face not only because he felt toozy toe up with a new look, but because he was in no mood nor with enough leisure to waste time.


    He crossed the street and walked through the cars passing by to reach the seemingly sky-high condo building in front.


    However, before he could even get near the elevator, a female ghost appeared. Her neck that was bent in an impossible angle was barely attached to her neck and the lower part of her white dress was soaking in blood.


    It was the female ghost king blocking his way.


    "Hello. It''s been a while."


    He greeted quite enthusiastically the menacing spirit. But since they were from opposing sides, his greeting was met with a cold reception. In fact, the lights on the corridor and elevator started to flicker, the white glimmer instantly turning red, as bloody red as her dress.


    "Go awa.yyyy" Hostility was obvious in the tone of the woman and an air of both evilness and dominance flooded over. But would a scare tactic like that work on another ghost like him?


    Jiang Li kept his smile, although, to the other party, his face remained literally nk, without a nose, mouth, brows, and eyes.


    With his hands in his pockets, he met her scarily red eyes.


    "I have to go up," he replied.


    "De..nied!" The female ghost king added coldly, "Go away Youre not weed here.in my territoryyy. Ge..t lost."


    "So this area is yours even though I obviously came here first?" He acted like he didn''t hear the deration, he moved forward one step at a time, even started talking like they were close acquaintances.


    "Anyway, little girl. Don''t be so quick to shoo me away. I also have something to discuss with you."


    A weird conversation took ce with one stuttering out words of hostility, and the other acting like a normal human out to discuss stuff peacefully. Because the female ghost king did not want to entertain him, she started to move. In an instant, from the entrance of the elevator, she appeared next to him, attempting to choke him using her two hands. Who knew where this girl got the idea that a ghost needs air to breathe.


    Jiang Li let the girl grabbed his neck. No harm would be done to him anyways. A momentter, he let the incorporeal body copsed and then reappeared a few steps away from the other ghost king.


    "For your information, I''m only staying here because there is something I want to rify with you." He began to speak unhurriedly.


    "At our levels, or rather, upon getting promoted to our level will receive one special ability, although there are only so little choices provided. I was guessing yours should be something rted to direct murder. Specifically, it should be granting yourself and your cronies with permission to kill even the most innocent amongst human beings."


    "Am I correct?"


    Thedy ghost slowly rolled her eyes to the side. She did not reply, only looking at him quietly.


    There were stillws to be followed if a spirit did not want hell to send envoys to drag them down. Messengers from hell might turn a blind eye if the ones attacked were evildoers or had bad karmas. However, if the person were somebody not like that, the offenders would incur the wrath of heavens and be immediately destroyed by naturalws, forever forbidden to reincarnate.


    It would be a different story if a king granted permission. Yet that permission thingy was like a time-limited one-time use item in a game. It was not really a game setting, but it was like a ghost who broke through would have the chance to choose between a permanent skill and a disposable item. How deep would a grudge be for a ghost king to choose such a stupid option which would deprive her of a chance to gain a more useful ability befitting of a king status?


    Jiang Li asked softly, "Are you still with her to chase the vige head?"


    The ghost''s mouth formed an O and some static sounds came out of it. Completely, the lights went out and the terrifying aura of the female ghost king instantly engulfed every inch of the lobby. But that was it. Jiang Li chuckled and then resumed his steps.


    "I see." He decided to stop the talk, deeming it enough to confirm some guesses and make up his own mind.


    "Stop."


    He remembered that this was also the same words the female ghost always said to people heading towards that vige. The only difference was this time, she was warning him not to head over to where Gu Mochou was. Or perhaps, it was to warn him not to go against them.


    Jiang Li replied, "Miss. I don''t know exactly what you went through or what''s your deal with that reincarnator, but while I have no ns to deal with you, your master is a different matter, okay?"


    The other ghost was stunned because she suddenly couldn''t move, and she felt like she was trapped, with her ability to switch between gaseous form and semi-solid body disabled. It was of great difficulty that she managed to turn her broken neck to give him a confused look.


    The faceless manughed, "I don''t have to concern myself about you since a high-level underworld consul must being over already for you. You used your license on the vigers. It''s a mistake that you helped that woman kill peoplemissioned to die on stupid snacks and drinks."


    He then bypassed thedy ghost and entered the elevator. When the light went back again, he was already inside Gu Mochou''s house.


    Gu Mochou was still awake.


    Jiang Li was not really surprised to sense the woman moving around in the bedroom since the female ghost king downstairs must have informed this person of his sudden arrival before heading out. So was there an ambush?


    Now that he thought about it, the other ghost king was not really nice, no? Not being able to keep her mouth shut even though she looked like someone who could notmunicate properly. Otherwise, if it was not to give Gu Mochou some punishment, why would hee here, postponing his rest or visit to Zhan Rong?


    If he only had eyes right now, one would see disgust overflowing from it.


    After clicking his tongue, the ghost phased through the door. His presence seemed to have been picked up by something beyond it.


    "Got ya." A female voice rang.


    When that soft voice echoed in that room, the formations on the door and the walls were already shing with intimidating red glimmer.


    "Hmm?" A bewildered hum came from the ghost whose mere arrival had caused the temperature in the ce to drop and made the living creatures to feel so scared and pressured.


    Thousands of yellow charms with mysterious writings inscribed on them floated in the air surrounding the stupid ghost king that intruded.


    Following that, a loud st and a small hurricane that reduced the whole room into an indescribable mess.

 Chapter 410: Mo Chou (48)

    Chapter 410: Mo Chou (48)


    When Gu Mochou was still a member of Maoshan Sect, she was never fond of the so-called peach wood swords, wooden beads, and other strange-looking, if not stupid looking, props that her fellow disciples mostly used.


    Ever since she could remember, she was into herbology and talisman making. She was a girl, anyway, so the sect let her pick a rxing specialization that had no high demand for physical capability. Yet also because she was a girl that in her own way, Gu Mochou wanted to prove that she could beat boys in her chosen field.


    Sure enough, hard work smiled at those with both determination and talent, cooperating with them and giving desired results.


    Gu Mochou became aplished in producing talismans.


    In the current generation of seniors and masters in the sect, no one would be able to refute how she was the best in subduing ghosts using talismans, a female Daoist who learned all the techniques but only strived to master a non-mainstream art. Look, as if the heavens could not agree more, a proof showed right after the formation lit up and the talismans activated. Not even a second passed and a guttural groan came from the door.


    The trespasser was struck by the spells released by the charms!


    "Damn."


    "Arrggghhhhh!!!:


    Gu Mochou''s heart tightened upon hearing that male voice. But not long after, relief flooded her senses.


    The form of a malicious ghost was starting to materialize. It must mean he could not escape. Moreover, the word uttered just now was full of pain, as if he was suffering from unimaginable torture. That fact made her incredibly relieved, then pleased, and it showed on her face. After all, the ghost king on her camp clearly emphasized what level the opponent was, and here she was subduing it by herself!


    If her hunch was correct, this ghost might even be the enemy who made her life a bit hellish these past six months!


    ''If it''s really you, meddlesome scourge, I can finally have my revenge!''


    A yful thought came to her. ''Should I recite a Buddhist poem or line from a movie?''


    Just when a wide grin was forming on her lips as her grip on the wads of charms in her hand tightened, noises began to echo from her right side.


    "Hnnngh! Nnngggg!!!"


    Because the sounds were not dwarfed by the rhythmic noises of the mini-cyclone made of swirling pieces of paper, Gu Mochou subconsciously traced them, her eyes settling on a wounded woman tied up and gagged in one corner of the room.


    "Oh my. I almost forgot about you," said the viiness with an apologetic voice that did not match her facial expression.


    There were hints of ridicule in Gu Mochou''s gaze as she watched that face which was more beautiful than hers became wreathed in fear and shock.


    The bound woman looked in pain, the rope binding her feet and hands behind her was coarse and tied too tight. However, when this woman saw a ck mass looking like a cluster of clouds falling into the room, rm and fear flickered in her eyes. She, albeit with great difficulty, began to crawl forward crazily. She kept shaking her head and making those unintelligible words.


    The woman was none other than Zhan Rong, a Business Management student older than her by a year.


    Gu Mochou captured this person this afternoon because the female ghost king finally remembered to tell her that there was another ghost king lingering around Zhan Rong.


    Gu Mochou was quite the paranoid and sharp woman so when she heard it was Zhan Rong, she immediately remembered that the girl was a friend of both Zhao Ai and Fan Zheng.


    The female ghost did not forget to add that she suddenly could not feel the other party''s presence which gave the viiness the courage to kidnap the woman.


    "Haha."


    Gu Mochou walked towards the woman and appreciated thetter''s sorry appearance. Then she walked back to the bed where her bags and paraphernalia were scattered.


    She could not help butugh. Sheughed madly as she looked at the pathetic looking senior of hers whose face had somerge beads of sweat. Was this still the apathetic queen who regrly acted like a flower on top of a mountain? That same girl who was always faked calmness and elegance and rarely acted carefree unless to an awfully close friend?


    "Miss Zhan."


    The girl called turned to her with a re. It was quite frightening, capable of intimidating and making one ponder on the meaning of their life. But Gu Mochou did not get scared. In fact, she felt happiness welling up from within.


    There is pleasure in seeing someone you don''t like suffer. She forgot where she heard this. However, she quite agree with this notion.


    The viiness disliked Zhan Rong and actually, it was not because she was acquainted with Fan Zheng and Zhao Ai, but because when the female ghost king brought her in, she refused to tell her connection with Zhao Bolin. Gu Mochou believed in her guts and memories, that it was really that autistic guy she felt from Zhan Rong when they first met at the mall.


    "You won''t tell me what I want to know?" She sneered.


    "Look. I told you I won''t need to interrogate you since your ghost king dide as expected."


    "This ghost king or that something rted to that person, which is more important?"


    Needless to say, Gu Mochou had no idea the two were the same, only assuming that Zhan Rong somehow possessed an item that contained his spirit.


    So she once againughed. With a smile that did not really reach the eyes, the viiness said, "Miss Zhan, don''t worry, I know that you are smart, the offer still stands, you just have to nod. But if you will continue to refuse, oh well... A pity that my thread of patience is short... so after this guy, I could only send you to hell to be with him."


    The unintelligible protests became louder. Evident from the girl''s expression was unwilling and fright. That expression which was clearly for the evil made her wonder how strong was the bond between Zhan Rong and the ghost king.


    She did not remove her gaze from Zhan Rong, waiting for the other woman to move her head. She stood by the bed and slowly pulled up all her most powerful talismans and threw it towards the door.There was no trace of hesitation in her action.


    She truly wanted to not only exorcise, but to wipe out the existence of the ghost king. In her imagination, she could already see herself boasting about this feat to the people of the cultivation world. About the offer, well, she never once said she would stay her hand if Zhan Rong agreed. She didn''t believe Zhan Rong would remain stubborn if it was regarding her own life.


    ''Let''s see how long can you stay stubborn.''


    With this in mind, Gu Mochou turned and faced the door. The talismans must have reached the enemy already and silently burning his soul. Was that why the ghost king became quiet?


    A corner of Gu Mochou''s lifted up.


    Yet a momentter, the smile on her face froze and became stiff.


    ''... What?''


    Something happened that really caught her unprepared. The pieces of paper that had just left her hand were gently floating down, with no trace of power of them. This meant that no spell was triggered. In other words, the scene she was imagining could not take ce since the target suddenly disappeared.


    ''He vanished?'' Gu Mochou was really dumbfounded.


    ''He''s really gone? Just like that? Was it when I spoke with Zhan Rong?''


    ''Then where is he now?''


    Gu Mochou''s face became alert.


    She didn''t know when the struggling ckish vaporous cloud that should be stuck suffering in the middle of the formation disappeared. There were no signs, she felt no disturbance in the air so she thought all was well and that her prey was still struggling to free himself from the door. Moreover, when she was taunting Zhan Rong, she clearly heard the ghost still making pained moans! So what happened? At most she only looked away for a few seconds.


    Because she didn''t know and her heart was starting to get anxious, thoughts turned and churned inside her brain.


    Then an idea suddenly flickered.


    ''Wait... I just thought of this now, but it seems from the beginning, something was wrong?''


    What she knew about high-tier evil spirits were limited after all.


    Was it possible that if from the beginning, the opponent did not really fall into the trap and was just faking it to lower her defenses?


    Now that she thought about it, the other party was somebody only an elder or sect leader could deal with.


    So what made her feelcent that she could emte them? Why the hell did she ck off just now and even thought of annoying her captive just because she kept her mouth shut about Zhao Bolin?


    When Gu Mochou came to her senses, her eyes shook. She felt the colors draining from her face, remembering that the feeling of satisfaction had been too sudden, like she was influenced to feel and act like that.


    The viiness knew herself. She was somebody who preferred a seamless, if notplicatedlyyered, ns. Regardless if the opponent got caught in the formation or not, there was no way she would only throw killing and sealing talismans. Even if she did, she would not do it only after talking to a nobody, giving the opponent some more time to breathe.


    However, in reality, she had chosen to implement ayered n. There were scattered ghostly items in the room and their purpose was to aid her in creating arge passage that would automatically suck spiritual beings into it. And she had nned to open it right after the array was triggered. In case that too failed, there were other cards prepared.


    So why did she pause? Just to watch the scene at the door or relish on Zhan Rong''s reactions? As ady with nearly sixty years of wisdom in her head, would she truly be that careless?


    ''Not good.''


    As rm bells rang in her head, another realization shed and she finally had an inkling of what happened to her.


    She must have been controlled! Orhypnotized for a few seconds! If not, then the ghost must have a way to influence her thoughts and emotions to a certain degree!


    Gu Mochou''s face nched and her eyes instinctly began to swim around. Her hands and mouth were not idle too, searching for a defensive item and chanting protective spells respectively. This time, she was regretting taking pride in not learning un-girly stuff from the sect since in her current situation, a peach wood sword could have provided her some sort of security.


    ''Damn, where is that ghost now?''


    The confused and anxious viiness tried to send SOS signal to the female ghost king.

 Chapter 411: Mo Chou (49) <2-in-1>

    Chapter 411: Mo Chou (49) <2-in-1>


    Gu Mochou was searching around with her eyes and fumbling with her hands for a ghost defensive item when Jiang Li materialized in front of Zhan Rong. He reverted to his actual appearance and for a split second, he looked very cold and frightening as he cut the rope and carefully removed the tape on Zhan Rong''s mouth.


    "I''m sorry. I camete."


    The voice that came out of his mouth was not loud nor soft, just enough to be heard in that small room, yet it strangely did not alert the viiness. Zhan Rong could not help but give a quick nce to the other woman before wobbly standing up. There was worry in the girl''s face when she looked at her pet ghost.


    "How did you find me?" she asked softly as she studied this ghost''s unusually sullen expression. He did not immediately reply.


    There were a few things that did not match what Gu Mochou saw a while ago.


    Jiang Li did not truly pass through the door but through a section of the wall which happened to be not painted with any part of the array.


    On the other hand, while Zhan Rong looked like a proper hostage whose hands and feet had been tied up, when the thousands of charms floated up, she did not really crawl and wriggle forward in a panic. In reality, the girl was justying in the corner, leaning on the bedpost, looking like even at her disadvantageous situation, she knew how to make herselffortable and at home.


    Her expression was calm, her breathing pattern normal. If she had even panicked after being abducted, she was long past it and had now regained her cool. Also, because ghosts were long part of her life, the initial fear she felt uponying her eyes on the female ghost king was no more. If anything, there was doubt in her heart.


    It had been seven hours since she got forcibly brought to this ce.


    The protective amulet gotten from Fan Zheng broke upon contact with the Red Lady thus ghosts of all kinds flocked onto her, keeping only some distance because of the kingly presence near her. She was quite startled at first.


    But after she recovered from her daze and shock, specifically when Gu Mochou went out to eat and ran into Fan Zheng and Zhao Ai, Zhan Rong killed boredom by observing the ghosts that popped up nearby. That was also when she managed to take a look at each ghost''s spiritual aura.


    She beganparing not only their scary looks, but the air of gloom, malice, and everything negative around them. Somehow, the Red Lady''s always eclipsed everyone else, which made her notice that the other spirits seemed reluctant to approach her due to the Red Lady. She then understood that the female ghost was actually very strong. Yet such a scary being was but apdog of a spirit hunter. Yes. This Gu Mochou should be a spirit hunter like Fan Zheng as she had some quirky items for sorcery.


    Hours passed and Jiang Li came phasing through the wall easily bypassing all the traps set for him. His arrival alerted Zhan Rong because she was now aware of Gu Mochou''s identity. But not long after, she realized The aura given off by her real kidnapper was almost the same with Jiang Li, albeit her pet ghost''s was gentle and harmless to her while the female ghost king''s was very intense like it was badly craving for destruction.


    Why was that so? She pondered. There were several hypotheses in her mind, but only one seemed usible.


    Jiang Li''s appearance was misleading.


    Although Jiang Li looked like a handsome mascot ghost, he must be as strong as the female ghost king, the Red Lady.


    As this thought shed by, another realization dawned onto her now. Her hands would always pass through his body every time she tried to touch him, but he actually had no such problem and could easily lift physical items. The Red Lady could do the same and had even dragged her, a living person, out of her own room without looking like she was struggling or in pain.


    Zhan Rong pursed her lips.


    ''Fan Zheng said, a ghost''s strength depends on their obsession Some want to kill the ones who caused their death or harm their loved ones. Some merely obsessed with continuing their daily lives. They would not rest until they resolve their obsessions. What is making him stay in this material world?'' she wondered to herself.


    "You''re hurt." The ghost conveniently dodged her question about how he found her.


    Zhan Rong looked up and met his concerned eyes. Even though he was still wearing what she bought and burned for himst week, he was still good-looking as ever. One would easily mistake him for a genie or angel than a spirit. She batted her eyshes. Afterward, she looked down at her arms which now had deep red traces and bruises. A frown appeared on her face.


    "Just to bait you out and ask me who that Zhao Bolin is, she kidnapped me." Her gaze went to Jiang Li again, measuring his reaction which did not really change. Doubt once again flickered in her eyes before they vanished a second after. A couple of momentster, she continued speaking, "I must say, this Gu Mochou is pretty nuts."


    When Gu Mochou beganughing and staging her monologue, Zhan Rong only raised an eyebrow as she understood that her kidnapper was seeing something she couldn''t.


    She could not help but give Jiang Li another nce before saying, ''Look, I was right.'' before she let out augh. She bent down to massage her ankles and calves that had grown numb from keeping the same posture for hours.


    ''System you did not tell me about this'' Jiang Li''s eyes were pinned on the bruises and red markings on her skin, bursting out with sharp brilliance.


    The ghost hated seeing the markings left by the bindings on her, so he extended his hands and unhesitantly used a few points to heal them. Once done, he walked towards the viiness who had just finished chanting some mystical texts.


    However, before he knew it, Zhan Rong had already jumped on the viiness andnded a punch on her face.


    He chose to standby. Because he sensed that the female ghost king had already escaped from the paralysis and was rapidly heading over here.


    On one side, Gu Mochou seemed to have escaped from the illusion due to the abrupt pain. Her face warped and her eyes widened. Zhan Rong took a long breath and hurriedly pinned the other woman down on the floor by sitting on her stomach.


    "Jiang Li. Quick, leave." Without facing him, she said, her tone not leaving any room for objection.


    Zhan Rong decided to attack because no matter what level Jiang Li was as a ghost, the other party was a ghost hunter and would be a threat to him. It was apparent that she had not forgotten yet the menacing words Gu Mochou uttered when she was caught in the illusion.


    She wanted, and had the capability, to harm Jiang Li. There was no way Zhan Rong would let her be. Also, don''t look at her looking soposed. In fact, she felt insulted for being a victim of kidnapping when it was usually her ordering people to be abducted. Even if she could say that they caught her unprepared, it was still uneptable.


    "Leave now." Zhan Rong fiercely repeated. To which Jiang Li did not reply at.


    The girl raised her fist and aimed it at Gu Mochou''s mouth which she quite hated for spouting nonsense and threats against her and her pet ghost.


    "Go back. I know you can hold a cellphone. It''s left at home. Message Fan Zheng and order him toe here."


    "Agggh, cough, b*tch! Get off of me!" Gu Mochou coughed and moaned in pain, but she still did not forget to push the other. The punchnded on her shoulder instead, so her face was saved from another wound.


    The viiness was quite the rabid attacks but immediately came to her senses and struck back. Her red long nails reached for the opponent''s eyes. She was also trying to prop her upper body up.


    But Zhan Rong did not let herself be overpowered! She swatted away the hand that flew towards her face.


    She was helpless and bound earlier, so she acted like a good and obedient girl. Now that she was given the chance, naturally, she would fight back.


    Likewise, Gu Mochou who escaped from the weird mental state did not want to stay under and wriggle herself away.


    One had her physical built and brute strength empowered by her cultivation, the other trained in some usefulbat moves by Jiang Li as her rewarded skill since four months ago. The catfight naturally escted.


    There was no hair pulling, nail scratching, or anything like that. The two girls entangled themselves in freebat. Sometimes there would be an exchange of kicks and judo throws apanied by sounds of items and furniture breaking. If some people saw them, none would find it easy to believe that these two girls were from rich families, trained in etiquette since they were kids.


    The ghost? Of course, he was on Zhan Rong''s side. Needless to say, the viiness'' sneaky acts of kidnapping Zhan Rong when she was not prepared and mistreating her just to force him out quite angered him.


    The female ghost king was reluctant to enter due to the deadly traps inside. On the other hand, Jiang Li could bypass them with some system points. He took advantage of this and even though he got repeatedly asked to leave, he stayed to strengthen the spiritual traps andy down some on the vacant spaces. After letting Zhan Rongnd some more punches by momentarily freezing Gu Mochou every time she was about to counterattack, he pulled her away.


    "Jiang Li. Wait, we can''t let her catch her breath. She will definitely target you with her spells!" Zhan Rong protested when the wind suddenly carried her away. The girl thought the man decided to heed her words, but not without bringing her away first.


    "It''s all right. Leave the rest to me now that you have vented the dissatisfaction in your heart," he slowly said.


    Gu Mochou staggered to stand back on her feet, but her eyes were as piercing as hell. She did not see Jiang Li when she roamed her eyes around since the guy went back to his immaterial state. Nheless, she did not fail Zhan Rong''s expectations of her. Instead of wasting her breath on profanities or rebuttals, she immediately chanted something.


    She was weak? And no weapon or spell of her worked against the opponent? Plus, she couldn''t even beat the shhh out of this woman because the ghost king always intervened?


    The insane Gu Mochou seemed to have forgotten that an ally of hers was still outside. She used her exclusive knowledge of her former sect to release a summoning signal that only Maoshan disciples knew.


    In a few minutes or even seconds, all the spirit hunters living nearby or stationed in the city would rush over!


    The female ghost king did not know why Gu Mochou released so much spiritual energy. She only knew that the girl shouted for help. Yes, even at thest moment, the girl wanted to use her ally, and wring every drop of benefits she could squeeze out from her. Perhaps, if Jiang Li would be given the chance, he would want tough at the female ghost king for her terrible choice of siding with the vicious woman.


    The viiness'' threw down a bottle of special ink to erase some parts of the formation by the door.


    The Red Lady, named as such by Zhan Rong, did not miss out on the broken link and burst into the room after that.


    Or so she thought. At thest second, the female ghost king suddenly hissed from being stuck and a second after that, she was forcibly kicked out.


    "Sorry. Stay out of this, miss."


    Gu Mochou stared nkly at the spot where the angry face of her ally ghost king vanished. When she realized it was that meddlesome spirit''s doing again, she turned fiercely to Zhan Rong. Yet when the image of the ghost holding thetter in his arms registered on sight, her fierce eyes widened and instantly lost their malicious glint.


    The change in the viiness'' expression did not escape Zhan Rong''s notice, so she raised her head to inspect her pet ghost, wanting to check what was wrong to clear her confusion. Shortly, shock, rm, and horror crossed her face one after another and goosebumps appeared on her skin.


    "W-who are---"


    "It''s still me."


    The girl swallowed thest word about to leave her tremblings lips as Jiang Li gave her his usual reassuring smile before casting his cold eyes at the equally shocked Gu Mochou.

 Chapter 412: Mo Chou (50) <2-in-1>

    Chapter 412: Mo Chou (50) <2-in-1>


    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 viiness was obviously a narrow-minded person, so she would definitely find it uneptable for the white moonlight in her heart to be together with somebody else.


    "Why did she suddenly be scared of you?"


    After watching dumbfoundedly how the panicking viiness 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 viiness 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 ck 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 ce were her kidnappers, people with malicious intentions toward her. Maybe Zhan Rong just rxed 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 fashion, 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 exined, "That woman is not a regr 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 hell 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?"


    Heughed. "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 identity 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 exin 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 viiness with his Original''s appearance; he refrained himself. He knew that there would be more problems if Gu Mochou shifted her focus from punishing 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 exinter. 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 ce, this was the female ghost king assuming the viiness had other hiding ces. 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 perfectnding. If, and only if, some idents 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 assume 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 theck of solid ground beneath her feet.


    What if an unforeseen ident 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 harme her way. Zhan Rong silently pressed her lips tightly so no shameful scream woulde from her.


    Thankfully, she betted right. Not even ten seconds passed, 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 passed. Jiang Li shrugged off the few pursuers who sensed his presence before leaving Zhan Rong in one property owned by her family. Thetter 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 exining. "I was probably too stimted 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 embarrassment 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 wouldmand 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 viiness, 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 cluster of shadows where he disappeared, cast by thempposts 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 Reddy. It was six months ago, beneath a sky that was as ck 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 Vige, isn''t she?" The girl''s tone was low when thest two words came out of her mouth as she crossed her arms above her chest.


    There was nobody 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 ne. 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 ce. The escape from the army of hideous-looking female spirits. The weird vigers. The equally weird challenges that apparently aimed to open their eyes about the oddity of the vige.


    In fact, now that the images surfaced in her mind, she harbored some suspicions.


    Why was a resident ghost of Zhao vige located hundreds of miles away suddenly a subordinate of Gu Mochou?


    Was the Red Lady and the female ghosts under hermand, 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 ce. Upon reaching the telephone, she dialed Fan Zheng''s number, only to rememberter that he must have been unavable 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 upte. "Hello?"


    Zhan Rong''s eyshes 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?"<ol><li>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</li></ol>

 Chapter 413: Mo Chou (51)

    Chapter 413: Mo Chou (51)


    The only being Gu Mochou feared in this world appeared even though the one she had made a deal with said she had already escaped theirwork.


    Her mind was naturally a mess!


    Unable to think clearly, she scurried out of her house using one of the most far-fetched methods a normal person would ever consider doing if they were in her shoes. She even stole a car parked in front of the restaurant, deeming it not worth the waste of time to drop by the underground parking lot of the condo to retrieve her own vehicle.


    Apparent from her actions, she felt so out of time! She was fleeing because deep in her heart, she was very unwilling to be dragged down and lose her chance for revenge and a better life.


    ''I''ve been there before. When I died and became a spirit, even though it was only brief because I was still lining up for the judgment, I still managed to take a glimpse of their treatment of evil spirits.''


    ''It was already horrible. It would surely double for an illegal escapee like me!''


    ''No, I can''t let him capture me!''


    As countless thoughts and painful memories shed before her eyes, and as fear and unwillingness gripped her heart, she drove away with no destination in mind.


    However, Gu Mochou lived up to her title as a viiness. Part of the world''s luck was concentrated on her, so it was unlikely that she would be out of the picture before her role ended. Her brain was sound too, at least it immediately resumed its normal functions when she was around the university area.


    Her feet stepped on the brake upon realizing something inconsistent about the scenario earlier. Or perhaps she only understood that something was wrong when she realized that nobody was actually going after her.


    If she remembered correctly, that death consul seemed so protective of a mere human?


    Her brain was slightly malfunctioning earlier because the uniform worn by that spirit sparked the greatest worry buried in her heart, but now that she thought about it, it was just odd.


    A judge of hell possessed no emotion. In order to not have impaired judgments, they had sealed that part of themselves.


    Wasn''t it weird that the one she just encountered was embracing Zhan Rong affectionately, a female living human?


    Another weird thing was how she only thought of escaping when the ck-robed guy appeared. The normal her would have acted like nothing was amiss to ensure that the Death Consul, if he was even a genuine one, would not notice her strangeness. Running away just like that, wasn''t it like tantly screaming to the official from hell that she was a guilty criminal?


    No, the normal ''her'' wouldn''t be that stupid!


    ''Idiot! Idiot Mo Chou!'' It was the middle of the night, when the strength of dirty beings was at their strongest. If the consul or judge actually rushed after her and was just a bit dyed, it would spell doom for her.


    But Gu Mochou stopped her vehicle anyways, sinking into contemtion before her expression warped. Her body shuddered before she scolded herself.


    ''Gahhh!''


    ''Really really really stupid!''


    ''It''s just a ghost king''s exclusive power influencing my emotion and judgment!''


    ''It''s only a damn filthy thing which yed a joke on me by taking the form of a judge!''


    She had no idea how that ghost king learned what a great and influential being from the underworld looked like, but not knowing didn''t impede her from cursing him. He was able to fool her because of it!


    A feeling of embarrassment welled up from within her apanied by great fury and a desire to kill. She wanted to wash away the annoying emotions by the purging of that damnable ghost. When she realized that she had no ability to aplish that by herself, she gritted her teeth.


    ''If I can''t kill him, then at least wash away the humiliation by watching how the fellows from the sect would destroy him!''


    ''Damn you, whoever you are. I''ll see how you fend off the attacks of more than a dozen spirit hunters! You''ll die! You''ll die a miserable death! Even if you are a monarch, I know for sure that you won''t be able to teleport outside this city before they arrive! No, if needed, I''ll contribute to making sure you won''t be able to!"


    With that crazy thought, Gu Mochou grabbed the steering wheel again. After a fast U-turn, she drove back, only slowing down for a while after seeing Fan Zheng''s figure emerging from the gate.


    If not for her mood that was brought down by the meddlesome ghost, she would haveughed wildly at the male lead. She was fully aware that the man only looked so solemn and savage tonight because his family''s circumstances and Zhao Ai''s unhelpful attitude frustrated him very much.


    If this person would hurry more, he might run into that equally annoying woman and make a shocked expression from finding that his friend was in close contact with a ghost, a monarch at that.


    It would surely be interesting. She would definitely like the show that he and Zhan Rong would make.


    Unfortunately, right now her thoughts were all on the tricky opponent whom she wished to see dead in spirit and form.


    Gu Mochou stepped on the gas, abandoning the thought of running away and leaving the vehicle, to follow Fan Zheng.


    ...


    Half a mile away from Gu Mochou''s location, three spirit hunters appeared in front of the Fortune Dragon Restaurant. They nodded to each other before bolting into the tall building ahead with their weapons in hand.


    "Be careful! It''s a very strong one." Another male disciple yelled upon seeing them arrive.


    There were others already surrounding the female ghost king. Thetter waste in escaping as she was alsote in discovering that Gu Mochou''s room was empty.


    The Red Lady tried to switch from a solid form into an invisible one.


    However, the spirit hunters, although not uniform in strength, were used to cooperating with each other. It didn''t matter whether they knew each other beforehand or if they had cooperated before. They sessfully gave the enemy headaches as they harassed her in an odd pattern.


    The modern Maoshan sect had leaders who knew perfectly that the spiritual energy on earth was thinning out. It was impossible to allocate every member the same amount of resources members from the older generations received decades ago. The change rendered them helpless. Yet they were also not willing to see the sect degrade.


    Since the density of the spiritual energy caused them problems, instead of fixating on the quality of their disciples, they finally thought of shifting the focus on quantity and strength in numbers.


    Fighting in formations and in groups had be a norm and in just a decade, it birthed to dozens of arts and manuals that the ragtag bunch of spirit hunters now used in the current battle.


    It did not take long for the Red Lady to be caught in an array. She was surrounded.


    "Don''t hold back in your attacks! The sound istion spell will onlyst for five minutes! Finish this thing off before that!"


    Shouts echoed in the hallway. Fluorescentmps often blinked or some random things exploded as red lights of uncanny glimmer took over, signaling spells or weapons attacking the female ghost king.


    Thankfully, no normal people were nearby, or else they would be scared by the live horror scene or by the fact that grown men and women were thrown around by the ghost like pillows stuffed with cotton yet they were standing back to their feet easily.


    Their tenacity and persistence pissed their enemy.


    "Begone!!!" The eyes of the angered female ghost king fiercely swept around before green and ck veins emerged on her bent neck and became more annoyed, and partly, rmed, when she saw the expressions on the faces of the Maoshan cultivators. ''In your dreams''.


    Unnerved by that, an eerie and loud ear-piercing scream escaped out of the ghost''s wide mouth. "Aaahhhhhhhh!"


    "Oh no! Cover your ears!"


    Unfortunately, the warning came toote.


    Everyone got temporarily deafened even though they hurriedly ced their hands on their ears. It took them some time to recover from the painful ringing from their eardrums. The female ghost took advantage of that window of time to move. In an instant, she appeared in front of Fan Zheng who had just arrived at the scene nning to join the encirclement.


    A casual wave of her sleeve blew the male lead away with a ck gust of wind and two more got pushed back when she flew past the vacated spot.


    "Sh*t. She has escaped!"

 Chapter 414: Mo Chou (52)

    Chapter 414: Mo Chou (52)


    "Alert those yet to arrive. A ghost king is on a rampage! Surround the perimeter! Make sure it hurts no civilian!"


    No one knew or bothered to know, what was on the ghost''s mind when she flew towards the highway.


    The spirit hunters only knew they had to follow and hunt her. They only remembered that in the hallway just now, the ghost''s unpredictable attacks had hurt several fellow disciples, one still in aa with his body frozen stiff.


    In their mind, she was nothing more than an evil spirit who appeared at a residential area and forced a fellow disciple to chant a city-wide summon.


    A spirit that refused the summon of the underground? Who cares about its tragic backstory? Does this worldck ghosts with sad backstories? Must be exorcised! Purge if it had evolved into a higher-tiered malicious thing that hurts people!


    The Red Lady was more or less aware of what was running in the heads of her pursuers, hence she didn''t bothermunicating with them. Every spirit hunter was the same anyway, adopting the same ideology.


    In reality, the female ghost king was not entirely weakened by Jiang Li so if she wanted to fight to the death, it would be doable to take half of the enemy forces to hell with her.


    But she was a spirit who had yet to resolve her obsession.


    To stay, that was the only option for her. To aplish that, she had to flee from the cultivators even at the cost of being struck by several attacks and getting incapacitated.


    On the fifty-first time that a charm hit her on the back and caused an ufortable, painful ripple coursed through her soul. She unknowingly thought of Gu Mochou who had obviously abandoned her. Then, for some reason, the words of the other ghost king yed in her mind.


    "Get her!"


    The shout from behind woke her up from the stupor.


    The Red Lady took another turn, jumped into a manhole, and melded into the shadows to shake off her pursuers.


    However, despite losing sight of the female ghost king, Fan Zheng and the others did not leave.


    "Brothers and sisters, we can''t let the filthy thing escape! It has already killed a few people. We can''t allow it to run amok anymore!"


    "We split up into two groups!"


    "Stay strong! The enemy must be weak after our collective attacks. Once a team finds it, immediately alert the other team so we can finish it quickly."


    They scoured the area. Those injured temporarily retreated to heal themselves, but they soon bounced back.


    There were about a dozen of them which, when considered seriously, was a puzzle since it was unbelievable that many spirit hunters could gather that fast.


    Then again, it became entirely possible if, in the first ce, their appearance here was a calcted move of the viiness.


    When Gu Mochou decided that summoning the Maoshan disciples was her n C, or rather. Before kidnapping Zhan Rong to provoke her ghost king, she set up some backdoors in case the arrays she would use fail their purpose.


    She made sure the news about the uncanny passing of the deceased ''victims'' of Fan Zheng''spany would reach the ears of the Maoshan practitioners. To aplish this, the viiness specially instructed the Red Lady to leave some of her ghostly aurae in a morgue holding one of them.


    As predicted, because it uncovered the tracks of an extraordinarily powerful ghost, many spirit hunters took a trip to the city, sent by the sect master. Even Fan Zheng received word from his master.


    Their goal was to investigate if the deaths were due to the energy drinks and other food products or because of supernatural intervention.


    They didn''t know they conveniently fulfill the viiness'' goal which was to create cannon fodders out of them.


    Things led to the current situation.


    But an ident just happened midway which led to the Red Lady being hunted. Even now, the sect people were relentlessly searching for the ghostdy, half-convinced that she was the murderous thing that they had to punish. Zhan Rong''s pet ghost who was the real target of Gu Mochou''s scheme was not at all harmed. He was not even dragged into the most minor conflicts between the female ghost king and the cultivators.


    Speaking of this pet ghost, after leaving Zhan Rong''s house, Jiang Li was next spotted in the backseat of Gu Mochou''s car.


    It happened when the viiness was busy watching Fan Zheng cross the street with a sword sheath disguised as a violin case strapped on his back.


    Jiang Li still wore the ugly attire, but he was masking his presence so the viiness would not detect him. It seemed this time, he didn''t intend to frighten the woman. He knew that it would not work the second time since the viiness was quite sharp and perceptive. And it was not like he was nning to exploit his fake identity again.


    In but a moment, the ghost teleported to the passenger seat. There was no sound made, no airwaves generated, and no weight added in the seat. Because he suppressed his presence to the minimum, to the point of spending some points, the girl still hadn''t noticed him.


    He silently looked at the driver next to him and finally, a change happened.


    Gu Mochou who was driving madly in the driver''s seat suddenly became paralyzed. She had no idea at first because her brain process simply froze at the part where she was envisioning the Maoshan people ganging up on the daring ghost who impersonated a judge.


    It was only when her eyes identally flickered to her right side that she caught sight of the passenger that should not be there, dressed in a ck official garment.


    Her heart turned cold. When she realized her bodypletely refused to listen to her brain''smand, it was already toote for her to chant any spell. The slight curve ahead illuminated by the traffic sign registered in her sight.


    The blinking red warning all vehicles to stop reminded her of one of the most favorite tactics of ghosts to take revenge on a hated foe riding her or his vehicle.


    A road ident.


    ''Argghhhh!!!''


    As if fate could not wait any longer to make her feare true, a few seconds that felt like years to her passed and a loud explosion reverberated in the ce. Gu Mochou''s stolen car crashed against the utility pole. Her body flew outside before rolling a few times on the side of the road, looking extremely miserable.


    The st got her not only because she was paralyzed, but because as a cultivator whose major was talisman making, she had lesser resistance to fire. Moreover, she was at the center of the explosion, or more urately, trapped at the center.


    In fact, even the act of throwing herself out to survive was at the mercy of the evil spirit.


    "Bastard"


    A girl''s furious voice floated in the air and into the ghost''s ears. The word was spat out with great difficulty.


    Before falling unconscious, she had confirmed that he was that enemy, the one who made her life difficult for almost seven months, and now, the one who might im her life for good.


    Seeing Jiang Li''s blurry but obviously emotionless face as he silently looked down on her badly battered self, Gu Mochou shivered. As she passed out, embraced by the coldness of the night, she felt drowned in deep unwillingness, fear, and indignation.

 Chapter 415: Mo Chou (53)

    Chapter 415: Mo Chou (53)


    Jiang Li had always been vengeful, and for the littlest grievances suffered, he would not hesitate demanding an arm or leg from the offender to pacify his raging heart.


    He let Gu Mochou jump, or more appropriately put, he influenced the woman to jump off since he had no ns to waste time on the Maoshan disciples. At that time, he also did not want to fight the viiness since Zhan Rong was around. He wanted no more harm to befall onto her.


    But when Zhan Rong was back to safety, he set out to settle the score.


    Since he was now a ghost, he thought it would be excusable to execute a sneak attack.


    When Gu Mochou fell into aa, he dragged the dull spirit of the woman from her body. Jiang Li did so with no whatsoever hesitation as if he was really an experienced messenger of hell. He was also emotionlessfaced with a pitiful-looking and vulnerable soul that had not yet recovered from the st.


    Probably because the system deemed his actions too inconsiderate and ungentlemanly, its mechanical voice rang.


    "Host. Warning." It repeated this line three times.


    "No matter the circumstances, you are not allowed to take the lives of the male lead, the female lead, the viiness. Especially thest one! Remember your mission."


    "Failure toply warrants immediate death!"


    The warning that sounded more like a threat because the system spoke in a serious manner using an automated voice.


    It made Jiang Liugh.


    Fearsome! What kind of death? Was it scarier than dying as a bastard loser whoter turned into a mindless flesh-eating monster? In his recollection, it said immediate. Immediate death meant no suffering, no pain, no prolonged agony. How fearsome could that be?


    While giggling, he asked, "System. Are you really threatening somebody who has already died and then lived for more than a thousand years?"


    "Are you really insulting my knowledge of death even after making me go through it over fifteen times already?


    If Jiang Li could only do so, he would have nced disdainfully at the system already to hint it properly of how much he was doubting itsputational ability.


    "Lastly, are people in aatose state considered dead for you to meddle forcibly? That machine voice, it is only supposed to activate when there''s an important announcement to make while you are in a muted state."


    The system could not give a reply. What could it say as a rebuttal anyway? It was the truth that Gu Mochou was still technically alive, so he was not viting any rules. Also, it could not say directly why it was nervous because its host looked like he was seriously considering ying the viiness.


    The system could only repeat. "No matter what, don''t kill the viiness."


    Jiang Li snorted before ignoring the idiotic mechanical voice that rang in his head.


    Behind him, the deafening siren signaled an ambnce''s arrival. It came for an injured civilian near Fortune Dragon Restaurant. The viiness was lucky since paramedics passed by for her rescue. It would only take five minutes for the viiness to arrive at a proper healthcare facility. At worst, ten minutes, if the ambnce first gets the injured person a hundred meters away in front.


    In his calctions, if a timely measure was done, and it left no physical ailments untreated in her body, then Gu Mochou had a great chance of surviving. In fact, it could not get higher because Jiang Li would secure her soul until the mission was over.


    Right, he would make sure at least she would not die.


    The ghost did not notice how strange his cial smile looked like just now as he flew back to the apartment behind the restaurant.


    Miles away from his current position, Zhan Rong was still awake, holding the telephone in one hand as she dialed numbers after numbers and spoke with a few people. Half an hourter, she looked outside, waiting for somebody toe even though it was almost wee hours in the morning. But when ten minutes passed, and no one showed up, the girl moved her gaze away.


    Zhan Rong also hung up after speaking with a housekeeper from the An family. The young master of that house, An Ming, was not at home and was most likely partying somewhere that was why he couldn''t be reached by cellr phone too. But despite not being able to talk to that guy, the girl did not look disappointed. She stopped phoning people, calmly walking back to her room.


    The system''s panel floated before her, disying thetest missions and messages she had received. A minuteter, when she sat cross-legged on the bed, a frown could be seen in her face and she looked so displeased at the disyed rows of texts.


    She finally realized, everything about it looked so rough and illogical. Finally, Zhan Rong doubted whether this crude thing truly captured a powerful ghost and made it docile to her.


    .


    In an unlit room in an unknown realm.


    A few hours after her soul got pulled out from her body, Gu Mochou finally ''woke up''. That meant the dull eyes of the viiness slowly regained their luster after a few hours of looking like eyes of a dead fish, with absolutely no brilliance.


    Wisdom had seemingly returned to her. The shock of the ident had subsided and now she was once again capable of smooth thinking processes, simply unlike earlier when her spirit was in a a'' and she could not even form a word in her subconscious.


    ''Where is this?'' That was the first thing that came to mind.


    Confusion was not the only thing that could be peered into from her eyes after she swept a nce at the surrounding. She was rmed. Since her brain had resumed functioning, naturally she could now recall where she was supposed to be.


    It was not at this ce.


    In her memories, she was in her car, no, a stolen car. She should be driving slowly towards the condo again, wanting to arrive there to witness the fight at nearly its end.


    Countless thoughts and calctions were swirling in her mind when the bug''s boyfriend, Fan Zheng, came to view looking like someone about to join a war. This was when the vehicle was about to cross an intersection. The traffic light was about to turn into red. The cars on thene were several meters away from one another.


    In short, she should be in the middle of the street.


    So why was she suddenly in such a bleak ce?


    The question came to her after being done with her preliminary observation, which did not take long upon realizing everywhere looked the same.


    Moments passed.


    Gu Mochou''s heart dropped a bit because it was pure darkness all around her and there was no sign of activity apart from hers. There was no whatsoever sound to be heard When her hand went to her chest, Gu Mochou shivered and unconsciously looked down.


    Then again, her vision was almost as good as having no vision at all since she saw nothing but darkness there.


    She felt no heartbeat too. There was also no temperature. And actually, she could not even hear herself breathing. What was going on? Was her brain not yet functioning as effectively as she thought?


    The girl took a deep breath even though a strange feeling of emptiness and a sense of futility assaulted her shortly.


    "Anyone?!" Gu Mochou found her voice trembling a bit.


    There was no joy in her chest despite verifying that at least her mouth and ears were okay. Her anxious, unconfident voice echoed back to her in a while, which gave her the hint that she was most likely confined in a small chamber. It was so confusing and rming Who did it to her? Where was she? Was she truly alone here? No What happened after she saw Fan Zheng?


    The viiness tried to calm her racing heart and her brain that seemed to hurt from overthinking. Thankfully, it seemed to have worked on her.


    With theck of distraction, her mind regained more rity. Images finally popped up in her head.


    First, she remembered that she was in the car because she was initially fleeing from a hell envoy.


    Later, she turned back after realizing the hell envoy was a fraud. It was merely the enemy ghost king ying on her, most likely to buy them some time and create a point of a breakthrough for their escape.


    Afterward What happened?

 Chapter 416: Mo Chou (54)

    Chapter 416: Mo Chou (54)


    "Ugh"


    The viiness groaned before she took a long breath. Her eyes first burst out with brilliant light before slowly darkening, its glimmer turning unreadable. A momentter, her body was shuddering from the surge of emotions.


    At this point, Gu Mochou had already recalled that she lost consciousness. Now ying in her head like a slideshow was everything that took ce before that.


    A weird thing happened when her eyesight was on Fan Zheng. Her body became paralyzed and she could not move an inch. The car couldn''t change directions even though she, the driver, could see clearly that a concretemppost and utility pole were right ahead.


    Even if one used their feet to think, the oue was obvious. In fact, it couldn''t get even more tragic and stupid.


    A car crashed.


    An explosion shortly followed.


    And it fried a brainless victim to death inside a burning heap of rubber, leather, and metal.


    If there was surveince nearby, perhaps all they would see was the silhouette of a stupid-looking girl purposelymitting suicide.


    Gu Mochou''s breathing turned heavy.


    Right now, the woman finally understood that none of her senses were working because she had turned into a ghost.


    It made sense. If she were in an astral state, naturally, there would be no heartbeat inside her chest since there was technically nothing there. She would feel no temperature because her sense of touch was non-existent. Not that there was nothing to smell, but that her nose was only a piece of decoration in her face. She was nothing but a smoke-like thing that possessed the capability to think. Even her eyes seemed to be dysfunctional.


    Thirty years ago, when she also became a wandering soul, did she also lose her sight temporarily and only regained it after bing an evil spirit?


    Honestly, she could not remember.


    Time was enough to erode so many pieces of memory in one''s mind unless the pieces were holdings things or images of great significance.


    Anyway, the more important question right now was did she get locked up here by that vengeful and horrifying ghost king?


    For what purpose then? Because if it were to frighten her or to make sure she would not be any deader, the correct way was to shove her to a proper judge. That ghost king defeated her in a mind game so he should not be so careless or moronic to not think of that, right?


    Gu Mochou did some tests and concluded that she could float around. But there was no way to pass through the unseen walls. The ce had an area of four-square meters, empty apart from her drifting soul. Until now, there was nobody to answer from the outside.


    The girl passed half a day in a trance, not knowing what to do besides talking to herself. Because most of her senses were shut off, her brain became more active and the issues that had been neglected before surfaced one by one.


    At first, Gu Mochou tried to guess the actual identity of the enemy ghost. But because of theck of clues, she gave up. Zhan Rong who served as a link could not be investigated for now since she was at this state.


    Her bored brain drifted from thoughts to thoughts. The darkness and silence seemed to have given her more rity of mind so before she knew it, or perhaps because revenge was one thing her entire existence would not abandon, she remembered about the two remaining Zhao vigers who she nned to toy and kill within a month.


    Everything took her thirty years, but finally, her revenge was close topletion.


    Gu Mochou felt that all the wait and suffering was all worth it. Her mood brightened. If one could see her soul, they would notice the beautiful arc of her lips.


    How could she smile like this when the unknown foe had just defeated her?


    Well, her recent failure made her angry at first. But now, it was not bothering her.


    "I lost."


    "But actually, from the beginning, I know that battling a ghost monarch will not be easy. His abilities are unknown. His identity is also unknown. His weaknesses are also unknown. And I do not know of the information in his hands."


    "I only know I have to force him out and strike him down while he is in the dark about my new ally''s powers."


    "Even if I prepared so many ns and traps, there is no telling which side would win. There are just too many uncontroble variables."


    Gu Mochou had the urge tough after remembering that precisely because of this reason that she lost. No matter how good her brain was, there was no way she could predict a ghostly being would impersonate a judge. Actually, thetter was not the greatest issue. It was the ghost king''s ability to influence emotions and his skillful use of it to interfere with her judgment.


    "I lost. Thoroughly." This was a fact that she had no choice but to acknowledge.


    Yet despite that, heartyughter rang from her. She spat out after a few minutes. "But so what?"


    Gu Mochou spoke again. There was still nobody to reply to her, so her next thoughts sounded like she was convincing herself.


    Her soul was detained and there was no telling whether she could escape from this gloomy space at all?


    There was no one around to tell her how many hours passed since the failed operation?


    "So what?" She repeated. Her face wreathed with a smile and her eyes twinkling in mischief.


    In her imagination yed a scene where her other subordinate ghosts carried out the backup orders which she ced in case she died or fell into an unknown situation after the battle.


    Gone was the gloominess in her heart. In fact, a trace of madness and joy flickered in her eyes.


    Back to the university area.


    Fan Zheng''s group finally gave up since the Red Lady seemed to have disappeared. The group of spirit hunters was annoyed by the fruitless battle.


    They lost sleep and some of them were wounded. Yet the target of the purge escaped with a significant possibility of bouncing back in full health within a week or so. To soothe their raging hearts, a few unlucky ghosts lingering around the ce became their victims. They had even resolved to not go back that night.


    Fan Zheng, as one of the dissatisfied spirit hunters, was in the middle of a hunt when his phone buzzed, and the shaky voice of his sister echoed. Fan Lan sounded so worried, scared, and urgent.


    "Brother, masked people suddenly infiltrated the house a-around 12 am and they took Zhao Ai with them!"


    "What?" Fan Zheng''s eyes widened. It took him some time to digest the news. He then became anxious and without knowing it, he raised his voice. "Fan Lan. What happened to Ai? Are you okay? Have you alerted the police? Why didn''t you inform me?"


    The number of questions overwhelmed Fan Lan. At the end of it all, she only remembered thest question. Her crying voice rang as a reply. "What ''I didn''t inform you?'' I tried! But I couldn''t reach you and it''s been three and a half hours since then!"


    "H-huh?"


    It confused the male lead. His phone was working well. He did not turn it off even though he was with his brothers and sisters from the sect fighting a fierce opponent. Or did the call take ce when one of his seniors put up an enormous barrier right inside the condo?


    He drew a frigid breath, his feet moving further away from the others to a quieter spot. He plugged in his wireless earpieces so the call would not be interrupted. Then, he texted one of the practitioners before turning around and running. He said to Fan Lan, "Sis, I don''t know what happened but let''s stop the useless chatter. I''m on my way there. What''s the current development? Please tell me everything."


    He heard the girl inhaling deeply before her reply echoed into his ears.


    "To be honest, we still haven''t saved her. But on thetest breaking news online, at around 3 am, there''s a van in the southern border blocked by the guards there and rescued many abducted girls."


    "Go on," he said wearing a frown, his brows almost meeting in the middle.


    On the other line, Fan Lan''s voice broke. "Z-Zhao Ai was with them. B-But she was not those among rescued. They they used her as a hostage to get away. It''s almost certain that she was with the traffickers, their exact whereabouts unknown."


    The series of news rendered him speechless for some time. He was also having difficulty breathing. His head turned nk, and his face losing color, as seen from one side, at a speed visible to the naked eye under the scant lighting from his phone.


    "Traffickers?" The male lead voiced out in disbelief. "Since you are fine, did you really believe a group of traffickers would break into a rich family''s home just to bring away a random girl?"

 Chapter 417: Mo Chou (55) <2-in-1>

    Chapter 417: Mo Chou (55) <2-in-1>


    Twelve hours passed since the viiness'' empty shell was brought to the hospital. The news of heratose reached her family thirty minutes after she was admitted and in the following hour, the family members arrived in City B. Since then people dropped by the hospital for the viiness. Some were rtives of the Gu family, the others were ssmates, professors, and admirers from the university.


    Thetest visitors were people from the police station.


    "Mrs. Gu, please believe us. We have already investigated thrice, and it was truly an ident. No other car passed around the time of the collision. In fact, she did not drive her own vehicle. The owner of the car reported that his car was stolen," said an officer in blue to the parents of the viiness.


    The hallway was noisy. So the two parties walked near the end of the hallway where few nurses and others walked by.


    The angry madam who looked seventy points simr to Gu Mochou didn''t believe what the policeman said. Since the two parties met, there had been an inexplicable tension between them. One of the reasons was that the reports brought back were not at all pleasant.


    With a tear-stained face that was warped in anger, worry, and grief, she asked coldly, "Have you really been investigating since you heard about Mochou''s case?"


    "Yes. We''ve got the case 2 am this morning. I assure you, our workforce had been working on it since then."


    Mrs. Gu had been in the hospital for hours. This was not the first time she saw these policemen. But as they stood before her, even though they looked stalwart and serious, she felt that their expressions were odd. If her hunch was correct, their faces only became weird the first time they heard from her the name of her daughter.


    One thing that irked her the most was the slight grimace that crossed the face of the youngest policeman. Why did he make that expression? Did he know her daughter beforehand? Mrs. Gu was full of doubts, yet had not much time to discuss it at that time since describing Gu Mochou''s case was more important.


    Half a day passed already. Now it was almostte afternoon.


    Even though it had been a long while since then, Mrs. Gu couldn''t forget it. And now that the three people came back only to report to her that Gu Mochou''s case was an ident, Mrs. Gu couldn''t help but recall their attitude earlier and felt that they did not do a good job. She even thought they intentionally cked off.


    The madam''s daughter was also still had not woke up so her temper was not particrly good. A harshment escaped from her red lips, "I''m really doubting your team''s professionalism, Officer."


    "Madam," the senior officer did not conceal his displeasure.


    But would his frown lessen the fury of the woman before him?


    It showed in just a moment. The answer. No.


    "Don''t give me that look, Mr. Cui. I believe you''ve been given enough time to study everything about the ce of the collision and the people involved. But for a half a day, that''s all you uncovered?"


    ''What are you expecting us to uncover then?'' A bit offended, the man wanted to say, if not for fear of sounding impolite.


    Mrs. Gu closed her eyes tightly, her lips trembling in extreme agitation. When she opened them again, they were reddish and scream of unwillingness. She authoritatively ordered, "Investigate it again! I want to know why my daughter ended up this way!"


    The loud voice startled those nearby, mostly nurses and rtives of other patients also waiting for the doctor toe to them. However, the stares she elicited did not faze the Madam.


    But perhaps because she kept staring at him, the younger police officer flinched a bit. He exchanged a look with his colleagues.


    One of them frowned and nced at his wristwatch, which was showing it was now 1:34 pm. The othersmunicated with each other using their eyes.


    It took them some time until the oldest nodded with hesitation before saying in a defeated tone. " Alright. We understand how you feel, Mrs. Gu. I will tell my colleagues who are at the site to double-check if it''s really an ident."


    Mrs. Gu had no idea that her daughter was very infamoustely in the police headquarter due to her bizarre cases before. Because of this, the officer''s acquiescing did notfort the Madam and only made her feel like the other party was truly being half-hearted with his words.


    This time, she couldn''t help but said icily. "You guys keep mentioning that this was an ident. Are you kidding me? That is surely no ident. What forced my daughter to ride that crappy car? Who can tell me? What if that car had been tinkered to begin with!?"


    Mrs. Gu gritted her teeth and gestured in the air like she was pounding an imaginary table to express her anger. Her red eyes then red at the policeman.


    It was the calmer Mr. Gu, a fairly handsome man in his mid-forties who spoke after. "Look, officer. I''m sorry that my wife yelled at you. But can you listen to us and work on the direction that we advised? Our daughter is in legal age and already has got her driving license. The footage shows the ce is well lit. Would you find it believable that she would not turn to avoid that? And actually, our family was notcking in anything. I believe my wife is merely saying that the matter about her taking someone else''s car can be a lead."


    The oldest officer replied, "We have already considered that angle. Mr. Gu, when we checked, prior to the ident, there were no interactions between Ms. Gu and Mr. Huang."


    The viiness''s father nced at the room where his daughter was confined, his expression unreadable.


    "I hope that will still be your statementter." The middle-aged man''s tone was very soft. But nobody knew what was going on in his mind.


    "Then please excuse us." The blue-wearing officers bowed lightly before marching away.


    Gu Mochou''s parents watched them disappear into the next hallway. Mrs. Gu''s face was grim at first before she turned to her husband who patted her back to console her.


    "Let''s go. The doctor should have finished another round of examinations. Perhaps, this time, there would be pleasant news."


    Unfortunately, when the Gu couple talked to the physician, thetter said there was still no improvement in the viiness''s condition.


    A day passed.


    After the battle, the Red Lady did not show herself anywhere and only took over an abandoned factory. She stayed there even after she recovered, not going to the hospital to visit Gu Mochou even though she had a rough idea where it was located.


    Zhan Rong, on the other hand, broke her promise to her pet ghost. After phoning every participant of the failed mountain hiking seven months ago, she left the townhouse and went back home. For thetter, she meant the mansion of the Zhans where she met his father. The two exchanged a few words after she greeted him. Zhan Rong perfunctorily asked about his health that had been seriously affected by the most recent crises.


    Zhan Rong heard about Gu Mochou''s ident and sneered at it. Then learned that the vige girl Zhao Ai got kidnapped and might have already been sent somewhere outside the city, in a ce like the Zhao Vige.


    Was it karma, she wondered?


    Zhao Ai''s father indirectly participated in trafficking as was one of the regr clients of the syndicate. He was one of the reasons why the chain of supply and demand for abducted people never broke. Now, it was his daughter''s turn to be abducted and sold to someone else. Would that man feel regret? Well, the prerequisite was first,Fan Zheng would fail to rescue that trouble-ma girl.


    Zhan Rong mused. ''Perhaps, that desperate fool would try to use his ability to see and speak with ghosts to get clues to her whereabouts.''


    ''But can Fan Zheng spare that effort when his family''s business is currently struggling so hard and needs more attention from him?''


    Zhan Rong indifferently nced at the headline about the extreme drop of stocks of the Fan family''s food and beveragepany. Afterward, she closed the tab and spent the rest of the time reviewing somepanies. This time, it was because she had skipped a grade and was already nning to begin her internship.


    The girl was busy reading an article when the air in her room became heavier than usual. Zhan Rong did not lift her head. But she knew a certain somebody had tracked her down through her ne.


    "Zhan Rong." A pleasant and almost ethereal male voice echoed. She still did not raise her head.


    "I''m here." The voice announced. Sadly, the person called seemed to not want to see him.


    Half a minute passed and the silence in the room became so depressing for the neer. In the end, a sigh reverberated, resounding with helplessness. The girl maintained her posture. Only her lips curled into a disdainful smile.


    ''Even if you turn into stone, I will ignore you.'' Her current behavior screamed of that. The ghost seemed to have perceived her thoughts, so he floated behind her and intentionally crept his face close to her left ear.


    " I''m willing to ept very fitting clothes. For example, leotards," he weakly said, as if he was very embarrassed to say that.


    If one would not see the ghost and only based it on the tone of voice, they would think he was pitiful, bullied, and had no choice butpromise.


    Anyway, thest word whispered by the ghost sessfully distracted her from the bnce sheets that she was studying. Her imagination subconsciously conjured an image, a sexy but funny one, and before she knew it, a sweet giggle was escaping out of her lips.


    In fact, in no time, the giggle turned into a burst ofughter.


    Zhan Rong finally gave up ignoring him. She Jiang Li a look whileughing and shaking her head helplessly.


    "My god. Even if I want to be angry at you and ignore you, I can''t resist the temptation. But who asks me to be like this?"


    "Anyway, I feel likeughing at you as revenge will be better for my heart. I will definitely not let you back out from what you promised."


    The ghostughed too. However, he had no n to go back on his words. One reason was that he felt like he owed the girl. He was also not so irresponsible to not at least exin and ins and outs of the matter, especially since Zhan Rong obviously had an idea that he was the evil ghost from the abandoned temple a few miles from Zhao Vige. There was also the fact that the viiness targeted her, primarily for being rted to him.


    Jiang Li went quiet and floated towards the bed before sitting on its edge. He looked at Zhan Rong and then opened his mouth.


    "Miss Zhan. Even though narrating is not my forte, I have a story to tell. Are you willing to listen to me?"

 Chapter 418: Mo Chou (56) <2-in-1>

    Chapter 418: Mo Chou (56) <2-in-1>


    The girl nodded. The look in her eyes told that the answer could not get even more obvious. Hey, the past half a year had been like a whirlwind to her. Her problem did not end with just her so-called third eye opening, rendering her to see more filthy things than likable beings like Jiang Li.


    There were many traumatic and life-threatening circumstances popping up intermittently within the past six months. It was sometimes even scary to breathe. If this were all partly schemed to happen by her damn pet ghost, of course, she would want an exnation. In fact, his exnation was what she had been waiting for since yesterday.


    She waved a hand, gesturing, ''Go ahead'' which he nodded at with a serious expression.


    Jiang Li then opened his mouth and Zhan Rong subconsciously watched the movements of his lips.


    Yet he said, "Actually, before that, I think you should get some snacks and refreshments since this will probably take long."


    An eye-roll from the annoyed girl came to him as a reply.


    At the same time. In the ck room.


    The viiness was still in her soul form and was obediently staying in her spot. There was no choice anyway since it was impossible to escape. She could only waste her time away in useless thoughts and fantasies, her imagination strangely so active even though she was in a pitch-ck ce with no whatsoever illumination.


    That situationsted until a change took ce in the room.


    On one of the walls a full-length mirror suddenly popped up, brightening up a part of the dark room. There was no sign before its appearance there. Naturally, the viiness was caught off guard.


    "Damn. What kind of gimmick is this?" Gu Mochou cursed for the sake of her eyes which she thought had gone blind upon being assaulted by the sudden brightness.


    She was particrly not fond of the sudden pain from there. It took her a full minute to recover. But then when her teary eyes adapted to the change, she realized that her sense of sight was actually functioning well. When she looked down, she could see her hands and lower body that strangely looked solid yet intangible, like a cloud of smoke in the sky that could only be seen but not touched.


    Gu Mochou eximed, marveling at her discovery.


    She would have taken some more time to appreciate, or rather,ment about her current state if not for the sounding from the mirror right in front. It was gentle, like the noise of chime bells.


    Before she knew it, Gu Mochou had already floated over, looking into it with curiosity. Probably, because the long hours of boredom had killed some of her brain cells, instead of being wary of it, she even held a yful idea of checking what she looked like there now.


    She even told herself, a mirror would not discriminate against ghosts, right? Especially a beautiful one?


    ''There are a lot of ghost stories where the spirit showed up or scared somebody by letting themselves be reflected in a mirror. I should not be an exception if I will it.'' The viinessughed.


    To why she thought of this, once again, boredom.


    "I know many skills, but storytelling is not my strength, so"


    Fortunately, that voice brought Gu Mochou back to reality.


    The viiness was like a frightened rabbit as she stepped back and let out a yelp. The sudden noise had startled her. She had needed a few seconds to collect herself.


    "Please do excuse my poor storytellingter."


    After a slight grimace, Gu Mochou squinted her eyes at the source of the sound, and shortly, she saw dots of colors appearing on its surface. The small dots of lights were slowly forming a moving image.


    ''The girl is Zhan Rong.''


    ''Then this guy'' It could only be that ghost king, she concluded.


    Gu Mochou''s eyes turned fierce. Even if she had epted her loss, it didn''t mean she would look favorably at the enemy that had made her eat that loss.


    Unfortunately, no matter how angry she was at Jiang Li, the room was a prison that separated her from the material world. Setting aside whether she, as a ghost, would be strong enough to contend against him, she would first have to think of a way to escape from this ce.


    Gu Mochou knew to recognize her capability. She chose to chant some calming mantras in mind before casting her eyes on the scene ying like a movie in front of her.


    To the statement that came from the ghost, Zhan Rongughingly said, "I''m all ears. In fact, since yesterday, I am really looking forward to your exnation."


    ''Yesterday.'' Gu Mochou raised a brow.


    There was no concept of time in her current location. Because she was the only one here and the loneliness had been quite a bother, she thought several days had already passed. If the image was happening live somewhere in City B, it meant the time that went by was shorter than she had estimated.


    ''Hmm. How surprising.''


    ''However, no matter how much time has passed, I''m sure by now they have sold the bug to a poor isted vige simr to Zhao Vige.''


    ''Would that devil cry or regret for his only daughter became a victim of that very thing that he had done to other women?''


    ''I really want to know.''


    "Alright."


    The ghost spoke, uninterrupted by the other girl. Gu Mochou also began to pay attention to the ghost king. She was not that slow to realize that this scene was being shown to her on purpose.


    "Once upon a time there was a kid who got sold to traffickers." began the narration of the ghost.


    "Hmm," she hummed while casting him an encouraging look.


    Jiang Li pretended to not see the girl fiddling her phone for another cloth shop.


    He smiled, continuing, "He ended up in a mountainside vige, once again put on a sale, as if he were a mere item purchased from the city for the purpose of selling expensively in the countryside. A middle-aged widow bought him, a person who only wanted to have someone to support her in her old age. The olddy schemed to forever keep it a secret to the child that they are not blood-rted."


    "Unfortunately, as this kid grew, he disyed signs of being autistic. He was actually the type who looks fine on the outside, even handsome. But he couldn''tmunicate properly with others and has a very slow learning ability. In short, he was doomed to be a useless member of society until his death."


    "When the middle-ageddy discovered this, she despaired. She naturally felt cheated of her money. However, it was a time when medicine was not as developed. At the very least, their poor vige had no ess to marvelous people called psychologists and psychiatrists."


    "Their local midwives were not skilled enough to tell apart babies with or without mental disabilities by just their appearance. In other words, the old woman had no one to me apart from her bad luck. And the vige chief could not help her refund her money or exchange for another more useful boy."


    "In the end, the middle-ageddy could only persist in raising the autistic guy. After some time, she seemed to have epted everything. She even learned to love him. Her conscience was not yet dead after all. She might have thought he was her only support and he too, no matter how mentally handicapped, was her only rtive left. They have to tolerate each other. Especially her, she has to be more open-minded."


    "They were poor. One was slow-minded, the other old. It was a miracle that these two managed to lead a peaceful life."


    "However, in reality, it was not like they had truly lived a peaceful rural life."


    When the ghost king temporarily paused to collect himself, the two girls listening to him were long been frowning. Gu Mochou was even staring intently at Jiang Li. Thetter only had no idea about it since they were essentially separated by a dimension. He only smiled at Zhan Rong who nodded at him in response.


    Gesturing with his hands, he continued, "Like I said, their lives, while bearable, was not truly peaceful. From the beginning, they were in a vige involved with traffickers. It was already a tradition from a hundred years ago because the vige was cursed and no local ever conceived a girl. The buy and sell of abducted people happened regrly, and it persisted even after the autistic guy turned twenty years old."


    Zhan Rong looked up, deep in thoughts. She had raised a hand before interjecting. "Is the name of the person Li?"


    At that slight pause, she didn''t notice that her expression was odd like she was conflicted about whether to be annoyed or to feel pity.Jiang Li shrugged.


    "No," he replied before letting out augh. "Li is the name of the jerk who made things difficult for you and your friends in that forest. He''s just a stray ghost."


    Zhan Rong looked up again, the back of her hand supporting her chin. Gu Mochou held her breath in anticipation. Actually, the viiness also began to mumble stuff.From the moment the word autistic was brought up, she shook her head as if denying a possibility.


    ''What are the odds?'' The drumming in her heart began when the other girl asked a name and the ghost denied it.


    ''But how could that be? His face was different, so was his aura.''


    There was nobody to answer the viiness'' question. Just like characters in a movie, they didn''t care, nor have the ability to care about the conflicted feelings of their viewers.


    Zhan Rong only frowned. Jiang Li continued his tale.


    "Like what I said earlier, the autistic guy was slow in learning. He was also in anger, in expressing his emotions, and practically in everything. But that didn''t mean that hepletely couldn''t function. The grandmother''s reason for not helping those women or children who got abducted or trapped in the vige was her feeble strength and old age. Likewise, her grandchild had that mental condition. But when the foolish guy recognized that the viger''s practice was wrong, because he was also slow to realize that he''s weak and stupid, he didn''t think whether he should meddle or not. He just knew he wanted to help those oppressed."


    His living listener nodded. A slight smile formed on his lips again.


    "Do you know? The first time he tried to y hero was towards an injured woman who he thought was a goddess that had fallen from somewhere."


    "Unfortunately, the viin trying to vite this woman was a youthful farmer whose strength had been tested by the soil he was tilling. The handsome fool was at home all year long. The other party was stronger and had a more capable mind, even if the intellect was used in something dishonorable. In no time, the autistic fool was overpowered."


    "But that... person''s goal was only to buy time." Zhan Rong asked.


    "Yes." Jiang Li added, "It''s really just to buy time. He didn''t know if she haspletely escaped from the vige. But at least she was no longer in sight. He was already happy at that thought. His mind was simple, so chances are he assumed the only evil thing to be dealt with was the guy beating him up. Not only that, but the fool also underestimated the resolve of the other."


    "Tch."


    "Think about it. A beautiful but injured maiden escaped his grasp. How could he be happy about that? If no meddlesome guy intervened, he would have been having a splendid time with thedy already. But that n got foiled by a persistent fool who kept dragging him down no matter how bad he beats him up."


    "Take note that it happened in the middle of the night. There were no others around. The grandma was away."


    "Perhaps it was the darkness? Or perhaps this viin injected himself with chicken blood or some sort of drugs?"


    Jiang Li stopped. Zhan Rong looked at him expectantly, but when he no longer spoke after a minute, she hesitated before asking softly, "The other viger... killed him?"


    The ghost shrugged again.


    In the ck room, Gu Mochou just stared nkly. The other girl''s question sounded a bit stupid to her. Butter, she realized, she only felt that way because she knew the answer already. How couldn''t she know when she was the woman in that story?


    The viiness stared gloomily at the person sitting on the bed and then to the one facing herptop. Her eyes then settled on the male ghost whose back was facing her.


    The voice was nice, but his manner of narrating the story was not remarkable. There were a lot of details missed. He didn''t know when to pause to create suspense. It was like he spoke without arranging his thoughts first or nning the flow and the pace.


    But those minor things were not important for her right now.


    She wanted to know more, how the hell did he know about those? Was it because he was really rted to a hell envoy?


    Or was it because all along he was Zhao Bolin?

 Chapter 419: Mo Chou (57)

    Chapter 419: Mo Chou (57)


    Gu Mochou felt like her brain was like a CPU that was about to breakdown. She did not know what to think. Even if it was currently an astral one, her head was undeniably hurting. Yet the desire to escape since she found herself stuck in this ce could not get any stronger.


    Why so? A stupid question. Of course, because it was no fun to be locked up. She also wanted an answer from that ghost king face to face.


    Just then. When she was ring at the walls that kept preventing her escape, she found the guy on the screen was not yet done with his narration.


    "Let''s talk about what happened after that poor guy died," said Jiang Li after pausing for a full minute to let his listeners digest what they just heard.


    "Hold on"


    However, Zhan Rong''s face was still strange. She appeared deep in contemtion. Like Gu Mochou, she was assuming the guy was the handicapped person in the story. There were other pieces of information swirling in her head.


    The vige was the Zhao Vige.


    The ghost armyprised all the women who had perished in the forest. Some of them died nearby that area persecuted by the human-skinned devils or died inside the vige itself from trying to escape.


    Jiang Li was the one who got trapped in that weird temple. He ended up most likely because of his rtionship with the vige. Even though he was an outsider who only got brought into the vige by traffickers, he was still technically a Zhao viger. Naturally, he was hated by the vengeful spirits as thetter was to consume by hatred to think of properly categorizing the living people of thatce.


    Zhan Rong was assuming somebody from the ghost army or perhaps, the whole ghost army drove Jiang Li into the temple, confined under the watchful eyes of a Buddha statue.


    It was aplete coincidence that they freed him.


    It was unknown whether it was out ofpassion to warn them that he followed, but there was a high likelihood that it was a bored Buddha or deity from somewhere who turned him into a system ghost pet which got identally awarded to her.


    Now, this ghost pet was telling him his background like it was nothing.


    Zhan Rong did not actually dislike digging into the pain of others, as long the said person was an enemy. This was why she felt not much about Gu Mochou apart from feeling sorry for the abuses that the woman experienced in that ce.


    But Jiang Li was not an enemy. Regardless if the work of the system was a coincidence or not, Jiang Li was her exclusive property. So even if the ghost was not ufortable talking about it in that way, she was ufortable listening to it.


    The appearance was the same, so was the soul, so Jiang Li easily perceived the change of the air around Zhan Rong even though she looked calm on the outside.


    He shrugged. "Actually, since that guy already died in the story and there is not much to tell, I think it would better to move on to the woman whom he tried to help."


    Zhan Rong went silent for a moment before she raised her hand. "I already have an idea about that person."


    "Oh?"


    This time the poker face was gone. She looked at Jiang Li with her brows knitted deeply. Her face suggested that she was not fond of the person in her mind. She said slowly, "Jiang Li. It''s you who told me most of the things I know about her."


    Zhang Rong narrowed her eyes and continued, "For example, she canmunicate with ghosts, and to an extent, mobilize them."


    "Yes."


    "You said she feared judges from hell. And it is because she was supposed to stay there for good. But she escaped and went back to Earth."


    "She''s a person who only reincarnated to exact vengeance."


    The ghost king nodded.


    "Hmm. Just now, I saw a forum post about her stupidly crashing her car against amppost. This annoying woman should be lying in a hospital bed, right?"


    Gu Mochou red at Zhan Rong, seemingly dying to pull this woman''s hair and make her bald. She knew who the other party was referring to. The answer was obvious. Without factoring the hate dripping from Zhan Rong''s voice, it could only be her, Gu Mochou.And she couldn''t deny it since it was the truth, no matter how she hated thest description. But did she ever want to get into an ident? Who wants to be in aatose state?


    "Well, you are right." Jiang Li replied to Zhan Rong.


    This was actually another thing that Gu Mochou could not believe. That the one she was currently assuming to be Zhao Bolin, told about the affairs of the past and her identity to a normal human. Was the matters of hell and reincarnation something allowed to be told to people outside of Maoshan? No, in the first ce, what was this Zhan Rong for the ghost king?


    Gu Mochou narrowed her eyes, waiting for the next development.


    However, to her surprise, the subject of her death stares suddenly warped in her view. The viiness blinked repeatedly and then moved her gaze to the male ghost. A momentter, even the image of the ghost blurred out.


    ''No more to watch?'' Gu Mochou was dumbfounded.


    The surface of the mirror suddenly changed into something like a mottled table or wall. One would only see unusual patterns akin to a crumpled paper that waster straightened.


    Jiang Li and Zhan Rong temporarily vanished in her vision. The conversation ended as abruptly as it started, the reason why her expression turned ugly.


    In the end, Gu Mochou could not help but mutter in unhappiness. "Why show it to me if they won''t y it until thest scene?"


    Part of her was annoyed that the video ended just like that. Another was a bit unwilling for the light to die down since it would mean the room would revert to its initial state. Cold and dark. A reminder that she was mysteriously deprived of her freedom and ghost rights, and lonely. She was in the dark about the next scenes that might have rified the identity of the other ghost.

 Chapter 420: Mo Chou (58)

    Chapter 420: Mo Chou (58)


    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 vigers was eptable, 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 nothingpared 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 abor camp as a prisoner."


    At this moment, they were in the hospital. The ce was where Gu Mochou''s body was confined and where the victims of her recent scheme against Fan''spany were also confined. That afternoon, Jiang Li asked Zhan Rong to change her clothes. Afterward, they set off for this ce where Jiang Li led her to the floor where the viiness'' private room was.


    In the pitch-ck space.


    The mirror in the viiness'' 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 prisonbor camps also like that?" she reasoned with a calm expression.


    "I''m sure when they are kids or babies, they are also nave 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."


    Heughed 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 hell if he did that? How the hell 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 ordingly, how would his mission progress?


    At least, there was no way he could act like a grandpa even if his soul were old. To hell 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 regr 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 yed up by the media.


    "Let''s say The ghosts were really the ones who finished off that Zhao Vige, it means Gu Mochou was not as guilty. The vigers 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 ns about the bug.


    She felt ufortable, 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 onlyugh dryly and say to cheer herself a bit. At this point, the viiness was seriously wondering why the ghost king was hell-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 ce. There were also many patients and visitors around.


    But this time, not everyone inside was unfamiliar to her.


    Zhan Rong''s extraordinary memory yed its part in the next seconds that passed. Her eyes widened, and she subconsciously stered her face on the windows.


    Through therge transparent ss, 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 exim.


    ''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 assumptions about his identity, 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 ident and pulling her into this space 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 ns 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 wasmon 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''sughter rang just then.


    Heughingly added, "They are lucky that Gu Mochou is serious about damaging the Fan family''s business through manipting 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."

 Chapter 421: Mo Chou (59)

    Chapter 421: Mo Chou (59)


    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 simting 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 vige.


    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 snatch 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 ss window. "If they knew, they would surely not wait for time to pass to wash their reputation clean. So this is what you wanted to show me?"


    Doubt shed 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 ss 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 viiness was hugely popr at school. But when Zhan Rong was on that floor, she merely passed by the viiness'' private room. Towards the person who kidnapped her, Zhan Rong was already greatpassionate not to sue her or barge in to kill her with a pillow.


    A dozen minutes passed 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 rted to Gu Mochou. How couldn''t she be resentful?


    Thankfully, Jiang Li could guess her thoughts somewhat.


    He finally rified, or rather, BS his way to exin 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 theprehension of the ordinary people?" he began.


    "Some can paint like a pro since they were a child, or y the pianoparable to, if not better than, several virtuosos. They sessfully 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 ce.


    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 vigers''monst name and named him Bolin. The old woman''s mind is simple. When the child came to her life, it was nting 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 damnable 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 coterals 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 viiness. However, when Zhao Bolin offered his identity, 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 rm 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 vigers 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 godhood before, he was still not omniscient.

 Chapter 422: Mo Chou (60)

    Chapter 422: Mo Chou (60)


    "If we thought about it, don''t you also think that their story is a bit ridiculous? Especially given the fact he paid that much" The questions then poured out of his mouth. His consciousness returned to the topic.


    "Yet after bing a human, the other seemed to have forgotten about him and only remembered him when she bumped into you."


    "In the first ce, the two had bonded so little when they were still alive. Isn''t it confusing why one is so adamant on lending a hand to her, the other so fixated on chasing his traces when she regained memories of him?"


    Zhan Rong was intently listening to him all this time. The gears in her brain worked rapidly. Momentster, she tilted her head at the conclusion she arrived at.


    "It''s all illogical."


    Gu Mochou also recovered from the shock and shuddered after digesting what she just heard.


    The heavy traffic made the car stopped, so Zhan Rong crossed her arms. She then spoke again, this time in a matter-of-fact tone, "However, ghosts exist, so other mysterious circumstances can take ce too."


    "If Gu Mochou coulde back to life, why can''t the others too?"


    The ghost in her passenger seat slightly widened his eyes at her.


    Zhan Rong saw the intrigue in his expression, so she exined. "In fact, it''s not impossible for her, me, Zhao Bolin, and many others to have reincarnated twice, thrice, or even a dozen times."


    "Of course, this is only an assumption of mine. But if what I said is true, then it''s even possible to fall in love at first sight on their next reincarnations. After all, their previous lifetimes were long deeply intertwined with each other. I mean that woman and that guy."


    Her eyes settled on the car in front as she shrugged her shoulders and added calmly. "Unfortunately, I doubt that Zhao Bolin guy can still reincarnate and continue the cycle. It''s you who told me he traded practically his everything for a helper who would save that woman in case shended in a tricky situation."


    "If possible, I want to meet Gu Mochou''s wandering soul, wherever she is while in aa. I want to p her for kidnapping me and repeat to her everything you told me and watch her despair."


    "I want to tell to her face ''I hope the satisfaction your revenge gave you is greater than the satisfaction you would have gotten if you chose to reincarnate into better timelines with him''."


    Zhan Rong''s mind had been very open to supernatural things ever since she got the third eye and the system. It was easy for her to think of a seemingly farfetched possibility. The concept of reincarnation and karma had not been around for a brief period. Even if it was not her, some other people woulde to that conclusion.


    As for thatst part, she meant it.


    "Right." Jiang Li nked out for a moment before bursting into chuckles. He stared at her meaningfully.


    The ghost''s mouth moved for almost a minute.


    Because that sensitive topic about reincarnation was brought up, he subconsciously told her that she was correct. Two or more people could have several lifetimes and they, amongst these couples, were one pair that had met in various worlds and circumstances.


    ''Save viinesses from dying insane or else their resentment would cause world destructions.'' One reason Jiang Li could turn a blind eye to the silliness of his so-called missions was that in every world-hop, he could collect points to go back. He could also repeatedly meet ''her''.


    If Zhan Rong could retain her memories of him per world, it would have been more perfect.


    Sadly, when he finished speaking, like what always happened before, time seemed to have frozen her, and everything he said never made way into her ears. It was a sign that to the girl''s eyes, he opened his mouth for a second and said nothing.


    ''F*ck you, system.'' Jiang Li resolved to verbally abuse the annoying thing in his headter.


    Zhan Rong was unaware of the ghost''s feeling. After exining her answer, she realized the matter between those two mattered little.


    What was more important for her was to rify whether his concern over Gu Mochou was nothing more than a sense of responsibility on Zhao Bolin''s behalf.


    She asked in a soft voice. "Just because she''s in that state, you won''t suddenly leave and go back to the underworld, right?"


    "No," he replied. "Actually, something is preventing me from being away from you."


    ''The system''. Zhan Rong nodded, quite in awe of the great being who could shackle a bigshot like Jiang Li to her side. Just a bit of hassle that even though her purpose was not to summon it, the panel popped up. When Jiang Li acted like he could not see it, she snorted.


    Afterward, Zhan Rong stopped caring about the past and Gu Mochou''s matter to not be angered by it. While waiting for the vehicles in front to move, she fished out her phone and browsed for corporate news and bnce sheets. In no time, a fashion website was opened and another minuteter, she was phoning her favorite store.


    Jiang Li continued sitting in the passenger seat. When the sun shone his spot, he felt ufortable. Yet, before he went back to the ne, the girl turned to him and said, "Hey, wait, can you change back to the previous appearance for a few seconds?"


    Heplied. Gu Mochou saw the familiar face, but she didn''t find herself attracted to it. She even felt angry that her enemy used that face.


    Zhan Rong too seemed to be no longer pleased with that impable appearance. "As expected, I prefer the other. The real one," she murmured.


    Jiang Li shrugged. In a second, he turned back into his actual face. Likewise, he also felt more at ease with this one.


    "Please call meter. I have to go to sleep now." With a smile, he vanished into the ne.


    At the same time that he disappeared from Gu Mochou''s sight, the mirror and the scenes ying there faded altogether.


    The ce became pitch-ck again.


    Within the independent dimension at the abandoned temple near Zhao Vige, which was at the boundary between the material world and the underworld, her soul copsed weakly on the floor.


    Shone by the weak light from the vanishing screen, Gu Mochou forgot about thest scene that she saw. ying in her head were the mocking words that came out of Zhan Rong''s mouth.


    At first, she shivered in anger. However, before she knew it, she slowly sat down to hug her knees. She bit her lips. If ghosts could only shed real tears, she might have even done so, shaken not by the theory of reincarnations thrown out by Zhan Rong, but by the fact that when she turned into a ghost thirty years ago, she personally imprisoned that guy''s soul inside this mysterious space.


    She even forgot about him.


    Perhaps to go back, to achieve vengeance, what she traded with a consul was some of her memories and the other party chose the only good things experienced at the vige.


    Yet in this very ce where she was confined now, that mentally handicapped guy sacrificed himself for her sake without her knowledge. Zhao Bolin did not have to do that. Their encounters were too few, and the side of her that he saw was the pitiful and broken ''her''. In other words, his reason was too shallow. So was it because he was a fool that he did that?


    ''I wish I have told her, I hope that the satisfaction you received from your revenge is greater than the satisfaction you would have gotten from being with him in another life and timeline.''


    The hateful words seemed to echo more clearly because the ce was back to extreme darkness and tranquillity. It proved to have affected the viiness.


    Yesterday, Gu Mochou loved imagining the fire and tide of malevolent spirits that ruined the Zhao Vige. Sheughed at the ghost king who she thought had no idea that she was already a victor when Zhao Ai got kidnapped. She imagined the reactions of Zhao Ai once that woman realized she was to be sold at another mountain vige, doomed to be vited by several men and treated like a mother pig. The news would not veil the female lead''s name so Zhao Ming, that devil, would definitely hear about it.


    In fact, she also instructed some lesser spirits to set up Fan Zheng into an ident in case he still managed to reunite with Zhao Ai. Once theymenced that n, the male lead would also get into a car crash or anything as fatal, with the goal of not taking his life, but only shocking his brain.


    If he got amnesia, she would pretend as his lover, if not and the brain damage led to a more serious condition, she would make sure Zhao Ai would be shackled to Fan Zheng''s side, forever taking care of a disabled, if not, mentally challenged person.


    All these calctions. It showed how Gu Mochou badly wanted to win the game and finished her revenge.


    But now she didn''t know. Her mind had flown away.

 Chapter 423: Mo Chou (61) <2-in-1>

    Chapter 423: Mo Chou (61) <2-in-1>


    Jiang Li had no n to release Gu Mochou from the imprisonment. At least, not this week. After all, in that ce, he finally managed to make her reflect. Probably she was even doubting her life now, or deeply regretting. Her mind was probably full of Zhao Bolin since the den of devils amidst that forest was no more to distract her.


    He didn''t know and didn''t think it was important for him to know.


    Two dayster, in the body of Lang Lei, he went to work and yed a piano piece at the request of a rich sir who had brought his entire family for a holiday celebration.


    After that, he went back to the kitchen where the two idle sous chefs were sampling the work of their apprentices. It was a fancy-looking dish and it smelled nice even from the doorway. Jiang Li smiled awkwardly since his stomach rumbled.


    "Xiao Jiang!" A junior chef busy mincing onions paused his hands and looked at him with augh. "Hungry?"


    Jiang Li gave him an annoyed nce.


    ''Yeah. Hatefully.'' The ghost wanted toin because upon possession he would sense whatever the body was sensing. Yet when ites to eating, if he remained in the takeover, he would always end up vomiting whatever he had swallowed down. How unfair.


    "You want some?" Huo Fen, one of the sous chefs, extended his hand that was holding the te of half-finished food.


    Jiang Li''s, or rather, Lang Lei''s face momentarily darkened.


    The other sous chef only looked at him, showing no intention of sharing. He even turned his back as if to hide his food from robbers.


    A couple of momentster, a weird sound came from him followed by a scary stench. The faces of everyone in the room turned awful. Most of them reached for covers at lightning speed to salvage the prepared ingredients. Their professionalism was impable. The others busied themselves with covering their noses.


    "Damn you, Fatty Huo!"


    Huo Fen, the one called, stared nkly at his colleague, Wu Chao. Then when he realized why he was cursed, his face warped in anger. "What did you say? Bastard! Hey, everyone knows it''s you!"


    The one called Wu Chao blushed in shame when he noticed he was the sole target of the unfriendly stares. The man touched his nose and said. "Well. idents happen. That''s why we prepare covers and stuff. By the way, the thought just came to me."


    Jiang Li had luckily retreated and given back the authority of the body to its actual owner before the dreadful sound echoed. He looked on with a curious face, waiting for the shameless statements from the sous chef. On the other hand, the boy whose soul had yet to limate from the sudden relinquishing red at Jiang Li, his palm was on half of his face.


    "You''re too cruel!"


    The others who heard the boy''s remarks did not know it was not meant for Wu Chao. They felt goosebumps when Jiang Li turned back into a ghost, but their annoyance at the sous chef was greater, so they immediately dismissed the feeling.


    Wu Chao then spoke, raising his te. "I read this somewhere in Weibo. You see, this is meat. Its source was a dead animal. What if that, you know, ''that'', is the angry spirits of the animals we ate? That''s why it''s loud and smelly?"


    Jiang Li was dumbfounded for some time before he burst intoughter, pping at the sous chef''s way of diffusing the awkward atmosphere. Heughed louder when one of thedies threw her spat to the man out of anger. Needless to say, the others did not standby too, and began to scold Wu Chao. The head chef was outside anyways. The annoyed people did not care if they were ranked lower than Wu Chao.


    ''Genius.'' The ghost looked more evil as heughed madly. Lang Lei, the boy who had eventually learned to ovee his fear of socializing, secretly sprinkle some salt on Jiang Li for being irritated by his actions earlier.


    Naturally, the salt did not do any damage to the ghost, apart from feeling like he was bitten by a ck ant.


    Night time came and Jiang Li left the restaurant after bidding Lang Lei goodbye and thanking him for letting him borrow his body for several months.


    Feeling something oppressing appearing north, he climbed to the top of the highest building in the vicinity and looked in the directions of the vige.


    ''They'' werete.


    There was no telling what dyed them, if it was the queuing system in the underworld. But now the officials from there were here.


    The ghosts around that area would not be able to avoid being dragged to hell and would probably be forced to reincarnate into individuals with fairly bad luck.


    And the head of their army?


    Well, they would not easily find the Red Lady. In fact, because she finally changed her mind and approached to join forces with him, the envoys would probably let her off and allow her to stay until he was no longer around.


    He could not help but remember theirst conversation.


    Two days ago, the female ghost king had found the father of the female lead. The man was in the city. For the past six months, this scumbag was actually leeching off of his daughter after learning that Zhao Ai was close to Fan Zheng and Zhang Jian. When the vengeful female ghost king located him, she had almost ripped him into pieces. Perhaps, the old dude would not have an intact corpse if not for Jiang Li''s intervention. And no, Jiang Li did not talk to that vengeful spirit directly. He sent Xiao Gui, the poltergeist ruling an abandoned school in the northern part of the city.


    Done reminding her that she no longer had her license her kill, Xiao Gui maintained a safe distance and nervously read the piece of paper handed to him by his leader. His almost crying face couldn''t look uglier. "H-hey, how about you just curse him and stick to him so he would always be unlucky and followed by misfortune?"


    The creepy-looking female ghost king lowered her head, making her eyes that were staring straight at him seem more piercing.


    ''L-leader is nearby. No need to panic.''


    Xioa Gui looked pitiful, like a bullied schoolboy, no one would easily guess that he was a powerful poltergeist. There was no whatsoever hint of magnificence in his trembling body, which was reasonable due to the fact that the other party standing was strong enough to pulverize his soul in a few seconds.


    It was out of his belief in his boss that he carried on with his task, stuttering out the speech prepared for him.


    "L-look, Miss, no, Mdy."


    "You have waited for almost half a century, haven''t you? T-that''s more or less fifty years. It''s that long. So I''m telling you, you''re being unfair to yourself that way."


    "The momentary satisfaction you''ll get from killing him will not be worth your wait. Y-you should curse that man, regrly give him terrible experiences, open his third eye, so you can see him suffer for the rest of his life."


    "Yes, let him live. So you''ll see him suffer for a lifetime. That way, you''ll be also spent a long time happily watching him fall and fall again."


    ''Boss probably trained in MLM before.'' Xiao Gui swallowed some imaginary saliva then cleared his throat.


    Sure enough, the Red Lady seemed to have fallen into the traps of words. She fell silent for a full minute before her red-rimmed eyes settled on the hateful face of the former vige head. Her lips trembled for several seconds before words sounding from underground poured out, "I... see..."


    Since that day, the nameless powerful ghost lurked around the vige head. She knew how to give people nightmares and cause sleep paralysis. But she did not understand how to effectively curse someone. Therefore, she simply destroys important items from time to time, injects malicious aura all over the house, and invites stray ghosts into it.


    It sessfully made the life of the man sessfully harder than ever. Add in this the fact that prior to the ghost king''s unweedtching, Zhao Ming was already in a pinch for being hounded by debt collectors, with no money to pay them up since Zhao Ai was missing.


    That middle-aged man had no idea that within the syndicate, while Zhang Jian who was close to his daughter was the heir, there were several factions within their organization.


    A few of his cousins were dying to steal away the crown prince title from that guy. In fact, Zhang Jian was heavily wounded on his first encounter with Zhao Ai because of them.When these hyenas found out that their crown prince transferred university for a girl, they schemed to attack him using Zhao Ai.


    The ''traffickers'' were from Gu Mochou''s side. The ones whoter led Zhao Ming, the father of that vige girl, to gambling and drugs were minions of Zhang Jian''s rivals. Two sides that should be enemies unknowingly worked with each other.


    Jiang Li''s lips curled into a grin, reminded of what Zhan Rong said on the day they had a talk, when the viiness couldn''t see them because of the disabled mirror screen.


    ''To be honest, I quite admire her intelligence, dedication, and diligence. It''s hard to set upyered traps and make sure no link will be broken. So she''s amazing in that aspect.''


    ''But at the same time I doubt her IQ,'' said Zhan Rong calmly, yet with her eyes gleaming with a bit of contempt.


    ''It''s a cycle,'' she continued.


    ''There will be no buyers if there''re no sellers. The traffickers are guilty of making that vige like that. They wouldn''t entertain the idea of buying women and children if they had no channel to get them. Even if she''s not kidnapped but trapped, she should know by now that Zhao Bolin is. Since she has so much free time after destroying the vige, can''t she direct her hate from that innocent country girl to those syndicate members and traffickers?''


    The subject of Zhan Rong''s derision was mindlessly floating around in that small room, thoughts juggling between reflecting, getting angry at her abductor, and wanting to see a certain someone. Gu Mochou was a mess.


    ''I seemed to be so evil on thatst attack,'' Jiang Li chuckled.


    The small burst of light on the horizon that only ghosts like him could see finally vanished. That light should be quite big at the actual ce since it was a portal to escort more than a hundred spirits. The envoys definitely used arge portal as they were known for being impatient. The light did notst over ten seconds. It was apparent the envoys did not wait for the ghost army to line up and cross to the other side one by one.


    His mind went back to the viiness. About ten envoys took those souls away. Those ten were only for today, the ones who hade for the suicidal group at the hospital several days ago were another matter. The spirits were simple-minded beings, they would definitely be forced to say who organized the massacre once the envoys ordered them to talk. Even if most of the me went to the Red Lady, Gu Mochou''s name would still be mentioned. Moreover, the me for the fake food poisoning solely fell on her head.


    A corner of Jiang Li''s lips twitched.


    "If I didn''t confine her soul there, today, she would have been discovered and besieged by more than fifteen death envoys."


    "Those people would not care if she is dead, alive, or in aa. They would drag her down for the crime of using ghosts to wreak havoc on earth."


    "Can she fight back?"


    His mission would fail once Gu Mochou was dragged back to the world of the dead.


    ''Forget it. Somebody''s waiting for me.'' The lights in the rooftop flickered and in but a second, one of the shadows there disappeared.

 Chapter 424: Mo Chou (62) <2-in-1>

    Chapter 424: Mo Chou (62) <2-in-1>


    "When do you think will she wake up?" Zhan Rong asked.


    An unhappy expression could be seen on her face when she came back wearing white office attire. She did note home directly from thepany, but from the hospital. Guo Hanying, that liar who said she had already moved on, pulled her to that ce, confronting Fan Zheng who was in turn dragged by his grandfather to visit his new fiance.


    Yeah, Gu Mochou. That woman who was so unbelievable to set up so manyyers in her n to ruin Zhao Ai psychologically.


    Jiang Li had juste back too from the condo rooftop where he peeked at the portal. He thought for a moment and replied, "Actuality, there is no way to tell when. Doctors impose some sort of deadline per case, like for severe ones, the person must show signs of brain activity in three days or else chances of waking up are bleak. I don''t know about Gu Mochou''s case. But typically, aatose patient will have to depend solely on herself to wake up. Why did you ask?"


    "Nothing."


    ''I want her to wake up so it will be less immoral to beat her up.''


    Of course, the girl chose not to voice out her desire to p Gu Mochou nor describe how hard she fought against the devil in her head to not hit or scratch the face of that sleeping woman.


    Zhan Rong changed clothes, then walked downstairs for dinner. A smile finally surfaced when she caught sight of her exclusive ghost wearing an apron as he cooked her food. The sizzling sounds aroused her curiosity.


    ''He must be frying something.'' She could only conclude without any other to base on. There was no smelling from there.


    "What''s that?" she asked, peeking from behind.


    Her exclusive ghost was multi-talented and strangely so not behind the modern times despite just recentlying to Earth and he had surprised her time and time again so she was kind of curious what the guy was doing.


    However, when she saw the empty thing on the stove, her smile froze. Slowly, her gaze at him turned into a re.


    In the end, she still ended up ordering take out.


    When her order arrived, the ghost neatly arranged everything on the table. With a lift of his finger, utensils also floated up from the dish rack.


    "Why did you have to put on an apron and take out the pan if you will only roast with nothing on top of it?" Face dark, she asked as she received the spoon and fork, thinking nothing of the telekinesis since she was already used to it.


    To the grumpy girl, the ghostughed and said, "Well, you went down earlier than expected."


    "Uh-uh. So it''s my fault?"


    "You also didn''t give me time to experiment. Moreover, in this era, most women can''t cook aside from fried. Aren''t you expecting so much from a man?"


    "..." Zhan Rong was dumbfounded and felt a bit embarrassed. However, she had to say, his perfect image in her heart crumbled.


    Ten minutester, she finished eating and was about to carry her tes and utensils to the sink when the ghost''s cold hand suddenly extended to the left corner of her lips.


    "Sauce."


    Surprised, the girl froze a bit. Then she stared at Jiang Li. "Why didn''t you just tell me?"


    He grinned. "I did it without thinking." He pointed at his own mouth. "Because what I have on mind is actually not to use my hands, but this."


    Zhan Rong froze again. When she recovered, her gaze towards him becameplicated. Or more like lukewarm.


    "I never knew my ghost is so corny."


    "Haha." The man was having a pleasant time teasing Zhan Rong whose face regained calmness as fast as lightning. After all, her ears visibly reddened, looking extremely adorable.


    Jiang Li could cut some ck now since his mission target was not creating troubles. He had no idea about the leads, but he doubted that Zhao Ai would not be rescued.


    Lead characters were mysterious creatures who wouldn''t die even if they were put into the mouth of sharks. Worrying about them was pointless. Who knows, maybe tomorrow or the day after that, he would hear that Fan Zheng had long rescued that female lead and had just hidden her so she wouldn''t know about his family affairs. Male leads were prideful beings who could go to any length to prove their dependability. Perhaps, Fan Zheng would only reveal everything to Zhao Ai once the fiance trouble and thepany were all settled.


    However, all of these were spections only, built on the premise that Zhao Ai was already rescued from the traffickers.


    Jiang Li returned to his senses and checked what his ''owner'' was doing.


    Zhan Rong was leaning on the refrigerator. She had summoned the panel, probably double-checking if cooking was not really in his list of skills. Her arms were crossed and her eyes were narrowing at the rows of text.


    "Zhan Rong." He floated above her and fell down facing her as if gravity was truly working on him. He stopped just at the level of her eyes and asked, "I heard an intern''s life is not easy since the regr office workers would haze them or something. They said it''smon practice in this world. Are you tired from work?"


    "Hmm. Not really."


    The girl nced onest time at the pop-up window before making it disappear. She then shrugged and said, "I''m a Zhan. Even if that old man dislikes me, his pride won''t allow him to hear people mistreating his daughter."


    "I see." The ghost nodded. "Your father is not that bad, I guess. There are some fathers who did something worse than cold violence. Tsk. The father of that client of mine sold him as a baby so he could feed his older son. Yet this is a time of peace and order so even that person is a mild casepared to those from ancient times."


    "We don''t know what desperation can do to people.Perhaps it''s the wars." Zhan Rongmented. "More than that, I''m more curious about your side. You mentioned hazing, like in fraternities or army. In your world, is it alsomon practice for lower-tier employees to get more tiring work than those ranked above?"


    ''Most likely?''


    How the hell would Jiang Li answer that?After all, which workce or society treated new members like kings? Those at a higher position always have the capability to make things difficult for the ones beneath them. Disgusting nepotism also exists, but most of the time, people start at the bottom and suffer some time before they could climb up and get better treatment.


    He wondered, was it different in the underworld?


    Unfortunately, that question never crossed his mind when he spoke with some envoys before.


    Jiang Li''s expression turned awkward. In the end, he replied, "Actually, I can''t disclose anything." ''Because I''m not sure.''


    "Hmm. It''s a taboo?"


    Laughter rang before he shrugged his shoulders.


    A nod came from the girl. "Oh. Well, I was just asking since it''s where you came from. I was just intrigued. Have I told you that sometimes I found it odd that a judge like you possesses so many modern skills? I was wondering if all judges are like you in both appearance and value, if that ce is very strict in its standard when choosing envoys."


    "I''m special, probably one in a million." He grinned. "How about that? Are you feeling proud that I''m bound to you?"


    Zhan Rong looked up and observed his face. He was too close to hers so she could see how wless and good-looking he was.


    In actuality, the girl was not blind to see his fondness of her. His face was also very up to her standards and was more amazing than superman. She really liked him and was okay to stay like this with him.


    Unfortunately


    She helplessly shook her head andmented to herself. "Why are you a ghost?"


    Hearing herint, Jiang Li only burst intoughter, thinking, ''It''s not like I will always be a ghost.''


    Gu Mochou did not get imprisoned for so long. Jiang Li had to let her out for fear that the loneliness and remorse would drive her insane. He could not let that happen. And he had to be the one freeing her since it was doubtful whether another bunch of adventurous people woulde by and y Ouija there.


    To keep her busy and thinking for the future, Jiang Li made sure to leave enough hints in the room and on the road back about who she should target next.


    ''Zhang family.''


    ''Clean up the trashes in this world to repent. Earn enough merits so your current family at least won''t be affected by your negative karma.''


    Xiao Gui acted as the mailman.


    The words were more effective than Jiang Li thought since things were recently not going well for the Gu family these past few days. Mrs. Gu even copsed once for taking care of her daughter. The viiness was not totally heartless, cherishing her new family more than she knew.


    She silently stood outside of her own private room for a whole day, watching her family worry about her body, before setting out to sabotage the syndicate in her own ways.


    Two months swiftly passed and Jiang Li, who was on an outing with the ever-so-adventurous Zhan Rong, just heard from the girl that several higher-ups within the syndicate met idents. Important files and call records fell in the hands of upright police officers.


    Gu Mochou was raking in good karma fearlessly since she learned from other ghosts how to effectively avoid the people from the underworld.


    Jiang Li pretended to not hear about Gu Mochou ying pranks on Zhao Bolin''s true family members and embarrassing them on several important asions.


    As a reward for the viiness'' efforts, or rather, as a reward for obediently staying away from the leads and not causing any more headache for him, he finally left a message to her speaking the truth.


    Gu Mochou got the message, sent to him by the ghost boy Xiao Gui again.


    ''The soul of my client is still alive.''


    ''In his next life, he might be the son of a filthy rich tycoon for his merits. As for you, who knows?''


    When Xiao Gui reported back to Jiang Li, the little guy said the scary female spirit burst into tears, red at a wall, and scared the hell out of him even though he was stronger than the other.


    The system still issued tasks to Zhan Rong so she once ran into Gu Mochou. The former, faced with the viiness'' pitiful state as a wandering spirit, still couldn''t let go of her obsession to p Gu Mochou. Unfortunately, when she tried to do so, her hands couldn''t connect to the face that she hated.


    Afterward, Gu Mochou vanished.


    Upon returning to her residence in the city and sessfully waking Jiang Li up for the nth time, she told him what happened.


    In response to that, heughed. "I see."


    He turned to Zhan Rong and teased her by bringing his face so close to hers that there was barely any distance between their noses.


    With a grin, he said, "Don''t you think she''s been intimidated by you? So she finally returned to her body?"


    Zhan Rong tried hard to maintain her poker face. However, the silly close up expression of her pet ghost made herugh in the end.

 Chapter 425: Mo Chou: After Story (extra)

    Chapter 425: Mo Chou: After Story (extra)


    Comcency proved to be a snake that lurks in the dark and bites when least expected.


    Jiang Li believed so much in Zhan Rong, that she would only be attracted to him. Unfortunately while he was correct on that part, the father of the girl was not a fellow who would easily give up marrying his daughter off for benefits.


    "Since blind date didn''t work, he simply thought of hosting an event where men who lusted after the Zhan''s wealth and power would ''bid'' for your hand?" Jiang Li''s voice was icy and his eyes were gleaming with a dangerous glow.


    Zhan Rong, dressed for a party, nodded as she listlessly applied makeup. "He''s probably jealous of other tycoons and CEOs who managed to get nice deals by selling their daughters through marriage."


    "So what will you do?" he asked, an unreadable expression on his face.


    "I have enough wealth to support me and you for many years so I n to cut off ties with that old man formally tonight," she nonchntly answered.


    The reply instantly made him calm down for a while. That was until she smiled and added, "Of course, that is, if the guy who wins my n over doesn''t impress me with his abilities and looks."


    "???!"


    He prided himself in not venting frustration to their partner, unlike most male leads who got jealous but then proceeded to make things hard for their female leads. So, stimted by Zhang Rong''s response, the ghost king mobilized his force and reduced the venue of the evening party into an unrecognizable mess. The result of sabotaging the fiance hunting event organized by Mr. Zhan was very favorable.


    However...


    System: Host is an idiot.


    System: If not, why takes so long to realize that the main problem is being a ghost?


    Who knew if the guy heard its thoughts, but the man was frowning despite seeing the wrecked ce that resulted in a postponed event. He only had about fifty thousand points, and he was reluctant to spend any more of it, so he looked for Gu Mochou to ask how she gained a body.


    On Fan Zheng''s side.


    Actually it went just like Jiang Li predicted. The female lead reunited with the male lead. The two even managed to exorcise a few evil spirits on their way back before Fan Zheng hid his lover so she would not be reached by her blood-sucking vampire father and relentless admirer.


    Because the viiness was yet to wake up, she was out of the picture and the plot couldn''t be bothered to magic her resurrection. There was a limit too to the number of measures she had put up to ensure she would be chosen as a fiance.Given this fact, when Gu Mochou was still wandering around sometimes joining the Red Lady in watching Zhao Ming endured a never-ending series of misfortunate events, another person took her position as a third wheeler.


    But anyway, Zhao Ai was alive, so were Fan Zheng and Zhang Jian.


    As Jiang Li deemed their love triangle super clich, especially with the female lead always being pushed around yet still being carefully treasured by those two men who fell for her at first sight, he didn''t continue following up their story.


    He was more curious about the ''enlightened'' Gu Mochou.


    Lang Lei too, the owner of the body he borrowed for the past year, showed abnormal changes after Jiang Li left him for good. It was very interesting.


    ''Heh... So another outsider''s formally here.'' Yet Jiang Li also felt a mild irritation.


    Apart from Na Yu''s incarnation, there was one more person who never failed to be in the same world as Jiang Li since his time at the Fortune-Teller''s world.


    Dong Lan. A person adopted by a mysterious Outer Goddess, sent to various worlds with a purpose still unknown despite encountering him for more than ten worlds.


    However, his process of transmigration was different. Unlike Jiang Li who ''borrowed'' identity from soul clients, Dong Lan seemed to reincarnate on his own. Or maybe they were undergoing the same process all along, except Dong Lan sometimes had to wait for months or years to recall his past lives while Jiang Li did not have that kind of restriction.


    No matter the world, as long as the transfer was sessful, Dong Lan would always be the first to arrive and his identity was as random.


    This time was no exception.


    Fifty years ago, he was already here. The guy was born to poor parents amid a civil war. He was very unlucky though. The parents had no affection for him. He couldn''t awaken his memories because he was born autistic. Even in death, he was mentally handicapped.


    It was only thirteen years after he passed away that Dong Lan realized his real identity and situation.


    But this awakening really came toote as it took ce when his soul was already shackled by the viiness in a ce that received no light all year round. Its door was sealed and hidden in a temple built in the middle of nowhere.


    Poor Dong Lan truly felt that he was pitiful and wanted to cry. But since crying would not do him any good, he immediately stopped and forced himself to brainstorm how would he escape from the ce.


    Thankfully, the only thing his evil adoptive mother gave him was not just for decoration. The guy was fed up with the endless darkness, so he immediately activated the sapphire earring, hoping to just arrive in the next destination.


    However, his terrible luck seemed to be not done with him yet, as if saying, ''You want an easy escape? In your dreams!''


    And so just like that, while he did manage to escape and reincarnate, his soul was not really intact, and he was still in the same world. Matter of fact, even though the part still trapped in the endless darkness was just a tiny one and barely had any trace of consciousness like the imbecile he had first reincarnated into, therge soul fragment that escaped outside was not any luckier.


    His new identity was as sh*tty as the previous one! With a deceased mother and an alcoholic father whose favorite past time was to beat him up every now and then, how could he have a good childhood? Besides, filthy things kept popping up around him and he was not so bright in his younger days to pretend he could not see them. What would be the oue of any guy in such a condition?


    Seventeen yearster, he reawakened his memories. Afterward, he learned that ghosts loved to linger around him. In fact, one even possessed his body, although this ghost at least had some conscience and helped him escape from the abusive household, get a job in another city, and settle his amodations before abandoning him.


    Dong Lan awoke at the same that Gu Mochou awakened from hera.


    The plot was already wrecked.


    This time, the boy truly cried because when he reviewed what Jiang Li did using his body, he discovered that the bastard ruined so many things for him.


    He felt the aura of his wife in Gu Mochou. But his wife. That f*cker, Jiang Li made her disgusted of him using his, Lang Lei sh Dong Lan''s face!


    Another hateful thing was that the bastard had swallowed that tiny, missing remnant of his, Dong Lan''s, soul just so he could have a legit identity in this world. Dong Lan was angry since, in his knowledge, the other party also an exclusive vessel in every world which meant there was no need to take somebody else''s.


    ''Is that crazy a**hole targeting me? Are all of these intentional?''


    ''I already said our interests don''t sh. As if it''s solely my fault that a world''s fate changes every time we arrive. That idiot!''


    Red-eyed Dong Lan stood up from his bed, donned his clothes, and went out to visit the hospital.


    The young man was in the dark yet about who caused the viiness to be hospitalized and why he did that.


    As he walked out, the man did not forget to pull up a card from his pocket. There was a deck there that just magically appear.


    Jiang Li was not actually purely inventing a story when he said Zhao Bolin was gifted with the ability to predict the future. Perhaps, that was the case in the original timelines, but not in the current one. The only lie was that autistic fool already had that gift prior to Jiang Li''s descent to this world. Jiang Li only knew about Gu Mochou''s past and future through the system, the future was even a ck screen.


    ''Damn. A negative card.'' Dong Lan''s hand shook seeing the Ten of Swords card which screamed to him today that he would suffer a disaster or things would not go his way.


    However, the man couldn''t help but want to see the reincarnation of his lover.


    When he got there, several people were crowding around the girl. Dong Lan couldn''t help but stop walking. Unlike the mysterious goddess that his adoptive mother wanted him to monitor, his woman was only a normal person who reincarnates as his adopted mother''s advance reward to him. Her appearance changed every time.


    But for now, that all did not matter. There was a genuine smile on her extremely pale face that made him pause and stare like he got bewitched. Would that smile stay once he enters?


    Reminded of an awful memory, Dong Lan gritted his teeth and stayed outside, waiting for a chance to be alone with the girl.


    Inside the room, Mrs. Gu bawled her eyes out, "Mochou Mochou." The woman kept repeating her name and hugging her as if she was deathly afraid that her daughter''s smile was just an illusion she conjured in her mind.


    Gu Mochou weakly hugged back and told her crying mother, "I''m fine now, Mom. I''m back." Her tone was full of helplessness, yet her eyes and expression showed how happy she was right now.


    "No, let me call the doctor again! I, I hate seeing you so pale and sickly. Do you know how worried I was?"


    Forcedughter came from the viiness.


    Days passed. The princess of the Gu family stayed at the hospital to recuperate, sometimes visited by her female and male admirers from the university. Various news reached her ears, both from the people around her and the ghost lingering in the area.


    She was informed of things that she didn''t have much time to know due to being focused on the syndicate. Unlike before though when she wouldugh when she found something funny, or gnash her teeth when she heard something irritating, she rarely expressed emotions.


    As time passed, the faint change that happened in her personality was observed by her family and friends. Her parents felt it the most and they didn''t know at first what to think when they discovered that their daughter became more reserved and mature.


    However, there were still many things hard to change.


    For example, her dislike of Zhan Rong and Jiang Li. Both were people she would have no qualms cursing with all her brain.


    Another example, her dislike of the person was in front of her now. Somebody she met almost a year ago in the countryside. That same guy who was younger than her but had the guts to use her of being a crazy admirer time and time again.


    Of course, she noticed that the young man seemed to be different from usual and the repulsive feeling did not surface. But the power of impressions was really strong.


    "You really chose a time when everyone else is outside, huh." Lying in the hospital bed, Gu Mochou looked at ''Xiao Jiang'' and coldly spat out.


    As a full-fledged viiness who had also experienced a ghost life for several months, her sharp aura was not something an ordinary person could withstand, especially if she used her deep ck eyes to re.


    Considering that she had yet to have any good memory associated with the boy, her stares were naturally unfriendly. "What are you doing here?"


    "Well..."


    Dressed in a simple long-sleeved shirt and jeans, the boy couldn''t appear more normal. Although he had the looks, it was not the type that would stand out in a crowd. Unless possessed by Jiang Li.


    However, Dong Lan had awoken. In terms of soul, he had many lifetimes to back him up so he did not appear inferior. The air of dominance around Gu Mochou wouldn''t faze him even she reverted to being a vengeful spirit.


    "Hey." Even with a wry smile put on, he was able to speak calmly and without stuttering."You''re a regr there so you should have heard that I was a victim of domestic violence, right?"


    The other party disinterestedly listened, stares as intense and chilly.


    Dong Lan sat down on the stool beside the bed and like an awkward schoolboy who rarely talked to girls, he nervously said, "What if I told you the reason I''m not his real son and he felt cheated on by my mom so he vented his anger on me?"


    Gu Mochou signaled a lingering spirit with her eyes before turning to the young man, "Mr. Xiao."


    He frowned for a moment and interrupted. "It''s Lang Lei, my real name."


    She didn''t think it was a privilege to know the other party''s real name and simply continued. "You see. I''ve heard of so many tragic stories already and while I''m sorry about your past, it''s nowhere enough to change my impression of you. Can you stop wasting my time and just tell your purpose foring?"


    "Well, my dad is actually a rich tycoon overseas who is nning to go back to establish a branch in this city."


    "Oh?" Her simple reply tranted to ''So what?''


    Gu Mochou''s patience was running thin. The spirit saw it and began her work. It crouched down and in one swift move, it extended its right hand to grab the young man''s calf. The goal was obvious. To scare him off sh*tless that he wouldn''t dare return. To impress thedy boss.


    However, Dong Lan could also see ghosts and was not afraid of them as he had seen worse and more powerful beings. He only moved his feet to evade the frigid hands before he answered.


    "Miss Gu. I believe that our meeting is actually a work of fate. And I''m nning to recognize my ancestry."


    "Hah. What does it have to with me?" Gu Mochou finally couldn''t help but say with an annoyed voice. The room''s temperature was dropping because theckey ghost kept missing what it wanted to grab and became pissed that directly reached for the chair and flipped it.


    Yet it happened that Dong Lan suddenly stood up and grabbed Gu Mochou''s hands. He looked so serious as he continued speaking, "Miss Gu. Once I return to my real family, our standing won''t be that apart. I''m very young so education won''t be a problem too."


    "What do you think are---" The flustered viiness was shocked by the face that suddenly drew near.


    But her shout was interrupted by the crazy guy.


    "How about we try dating?"


    ''Perhaps, he''ll be reincarnated as a billionaire''s heir for his merits?'' Jiang Li once sent this message to Gu Mochou.


    However, she just regained her body and was still very weak so it was impossible for her to recognize Dong Lan''s soul. On Dong Lan''s side, it seemed like he only reawakened but some essential memories and skills had yet to surface.


    ''What did this imbecile say again?'' The stupid words made Gu Mochou''s brain crashed.


    "" The baffled viiness momentarily forgot to pull her hand away as she made an expression like she was looking at a retarded guy.<ol><li>I put it here since Dong Lan''s first transmigration was a failure (Goddess'' arc) XD</li></ol>

 Chapter 426: Wang Yu Yan (1)

    Chapter 426: Wang Yu Yan (1)


    It was an unfortunate fact, but the life expectancy in a regr modern world was less than a hundred years old. In most cases, it was already admirable for one to enter their eighties as it was officially reported that 79 was the average lifespan.


    Zhan Rong passed at the age of 74 and like always, Jiang Li was helpless since, for an unknown reason, his points were useless on her. Even in the previous lifetimes, he never managed to extend her days through the system.


    Before she died, she forced a smile and said with great difficulty, "Hey... Don''t go back to hell, okay? I believe... in reincarnation. If Zhao Bolin and Gu Mochou can do it... I believe we can too... Jiang... Li...I will kill you... if you look for another!"


    Perhaps because her words were so intermittent and sounded more emphasized, thetter parts became more threatening.


    Jiang Li could not help but space out for a moment before he chuckled helplessly at her, "You''re speaking nonsense, Ah Rong. Each time, I only look for you."


    "Good," she replied after a long while. By the time she breathed herst as she could no longer fight back the call of the underworld, her face kept a smile. One would bepelled to think that she was in a good mood when she died.


    Jiang Li was left in aplicated mood though, feeling sad, but as he was too used to it, he just shook his head.


    <em>''I''m done here,''</em> he said to himself.


    As Zhan Rong was no longer in this world, he naturally would not choose to stay any longer. Anyway, the two of them did not have a kid of their own. There was no whatsoever emotional burden left when Jiang Li simply closed his eyes and vacated the body obtained several decades ago.


    He had no idea when the people in the house would discover their icy bodies. It was no longer his concern since his soul immediately went back to the void.


    "Congrattions onpleting yet another mission!"


    Immediately, he heard that crisp childish voice. Where else could ite from if not from the system?


    A corner of his mouth went up into a sneer when it said, "Host, you are amazing. You an unsung hero for sessfully preventing the destruction of the world!"


    <em>''Can''t it think of a more creative lie?''</em>


    "Cut it out. Just report my reward?"


    To his annoyed tone, the child spirit only quietened down for a second before opening his mouth again. "Host. Your points are now exactly 50100! If you wish, it will be doable to visit one of the previous mission worlds."


    The system dutifully announced his gains and Jiang Li frowned since all he got was less than three thousand points.


    "Wait. I usually get five thousand per world. You mentioned halfes from you and half is from the soul client So Dong Lan retaliated?"


    <em>''Hehe.''</em> If the spirit could only appear before the man, he would have smiled toothily at him.


    <em>''Why else?''</em> The system wanted to say, if not for fear the conversation would lengthen and its host would try to pester it to increase the reward.


    Jiang Li sneered at the silence he got as a response, a bit displeased as he looked at his total that barely reaches 50,000 even with the recent addition of points.


    He didn''tin though. He knew the major fault lies in him for he resorted to buying a body from the system after learning that Gu Mochou''s method only worked on newborns that just died. As for Dong Lan''s side, even he would split open that man''s skull if he gave him points even after what he did to Gu Mochou.


    With a contemtive look on his face, Jiang Li went silent. He only had two options right now.


    <em>''If I were to go back like this With no idea if it will plunge me straight into an apocalypse world, should I risk it even though I am with few points?''</em>


    The darkness of the ce and the quietness of the system contributed a bit to his faster thought process.


    <em>''Hmm. The system never gave warnings about the point of time or ce of arrival. And things could easily be sh*tty if it suddenly shoved me into the body of a weak, brainless zombie whose head would soon turn into beehive by a military unit.''</em>


    <em>''Uhh.''</em>


    Not long after, he came into a decision.


    "Whatever. Next world please." Jiang Li shrugged, not that bothered with the thought that it would take longer to meet the people he really wanted to meet.


    "Okay, Host."


    And with that as a cue, his vision darkened.


    Many had predicted that a world war would be the end of humanity.


    And well, they were all dead wrong.


    Twelve hundred years ago, a third world war did raze down half the globe with various nuclear weapons fired by big nations against each other.


    However, humans were oversized cockroaches that had the ability to withstand any conditions as long as Earth held even the littlest amount of air and other resources.


    Gone were three-fourths of the habitablends, and more than a hundred fifty countries got erased from the map.


    But overall, humanity survived.


    After a hundred years, the Earth seemed to be slow on the track to recovery together with its greatest parasites called humans.


    Development was sluggish since a lot of technology was lost. There was also so little that could be done about theck of materials even if knowledge remained in the heads of brilliant scientists and information database of some organizations.


    And food This became the greatest problem. Water source too, since most bodies of water got contaminated.


    Que sera, sera. What could go wrong, would go wrong.


    So many problems kept cropping up to hind their survival. It was not an exaggeration to say that it was simply a miracle that not everyone was pushed into a hopeless situation.


    But then again, humanity survived. And after a few more hundred years, they went back to the level of the previous civilization, and even gradually exceeded it.


    They were only putting a break on their reproductive capability to lessen the need for food and space. It was a strategy that worked well while they waited patiently for morend and resource areas to slowly recover or to be discovered.


    Hope was never lost. It would never be. A spark of it would always exist somewhere.


    A dark age might have been forced onto humanity who were made to dwell on domed cities, but it also forced them to reconsider their morals and values, and be more resourceful and united.


    Great leaders sprouted one by one. Even if it was an era of desperation, they were long past the time when robbers, beggars, and starving citizens filled the street. Order returned to its truest sense. They were surviving without antagonizing one another or causing harm to the environment.


    What a dreamy world, right?


    It was like the war had devastated an enormous part of the world, but in return, its most dominant specie became more cohesive, sympathetic with each other, and were repenting for their crimes against nature by being more caring towards it.


    Alright, that was all just nonsense. Even toddlers would not believe such a tant lie.


    While the part about humans being ushered into dark age was true, and perhaps the emergence of great leaders too, there was one thing that was long proven harder to change than an entire dynasty - human nature.


    Human were gifted in survival, but they were inherently greedy and prone tomit stupid acts. Weren''t the barrennds still filled with radiations and other harmful substance the greatest proof? FYI, some parts of thend were ravaged not only once, but multiple times because whenever conflicts arose, they settled it out on those areas for a fairly obvious reason.


    Humans being united was a pipe dream. It was impossible. Hope, there might be. But various interests would always sh. Language was a barrier. Racism still exists. And because countries were reestablished,petition for resources became more brutal as everything had be more limited than before the world war.


    They couldn''t focus solely on exploring the outer space to get more resources from there due to the various conflicts.


    This continued even after a treaty among the new nations was established.


    .... That was until a powerful and genuine reason that warranted the unity of the whole humanity suddenly arrived and everyone was made to open their eyes on what real madness and hopelessness was.


    A serious threat that if not resolved as soon as possible would prove worse than the extinction of their entire race.<ol><li>What will be, will be</li></ol>

 Chapter 427: Wang Yu Yan (2)

    Chapter 427: Wang Yu Yan (2)


    A real dark age began, to which one distinguished figure from a hundred years ago once said full of grief.


    ''The greatest shame of us historians two hundred years ago is not being able to rify the origins of those overgrown lizards and reptiles from several million years ago.''


    His statement revealed the source of the disaster in the year 3001.


    Millions of years before the so-called pre-Great War of humanity in the year 2029, an asteroid or group of meteors struck Earth and wiped out the then-rulers of the world alongside countless species of nts and animals.


    The rulers wereter called dinosaurs, beings of great might and built that forced every creature to bow down before them. However, they longsting reigned was forcefully put to an end by the aforementioned reason. None of them survived and there were barely any remains left for the modern people to admire since nuclear warfare a thousand years ago destroyed more skeletal remains.


    Such was the ending of this mythical species.


    At least that was the history the historians, scientists, and archeologists deduced from the various pieces of evidence left, and for over a thousand years, everyone believed in it.


    However, everything changed when these beings suddenly made an appearance two hundred years ago. These giant animals that should have been long dead suddenly arrived on earth riding weird but gigantic living spaceships, proving that they were actually not extinct.


    The unexpected arrival of the gigantic beings of course threw the masses into a panic and made them so dumbstruck with their three views copsing.


    How did these creatures think of leaving earth on a spaceship to evade the disaster?


    Were they actually sentient beings and with the capability to see through the thickyer of atmosphere or predict the future?


    On top of that, were they all geniuses to possess this level of technology?


    Questions popped up one after another, baffling countless people.


    However, after a few shes with the new force which resulted in the sacrifice of over sixty percent of the man-made domed cities, they discovered the truth.


    Dinosaurs were stupid as f*ck! They were only scary because of their massive size, voracious appetite, and intimidating looks.


    But they were nothing more than mounts, if not pets, to the actual rulers of the Jurassic and Cretaceous era!


    Right! There was another race that reigned several million years ago, and this ruler specie called themselves Fae.


    They were all born with superior intellect and physique. Their appearances were exceptional too to the point that one could say there was no ugly people amongst them. And most importantly, the majority of the gods mentioned in ancient texts and worshipped from the end of the Paleolithic era to the Pre-Great War era also belonged to this race!


    Who cares how they lived throughout thewless, barbaric period that was known as the Jurassic era! The neers, or rather, the returnees, were simply that amazing!


    And now, they were back, hell-bent on reiming every single damn territory on Earth and enving humans like they did with the dinosaurs.


    ''They said there are few things that could be considered worse than death. But being an eternal ve or ything andcking freedom can qualify.''


    ''So I came to an era when humanity has finally united and is defending hard against this alien specie?''


    The introduction of the world finished, and Jiang Li had to take a deep breath. Not because he got overwhelmed by the amount of information.Rather, he drew in a frigid breath upon realizing that the world differed greatly from ones he had been to before.


    It was his first time in a setting like this, a world that was highly advanced, and in the memories that shed in his head, recognizing most of the items, equipment, and ces were quite the chore. That task even made him frown. He felt like his brain would soon direly need some brain cell transfusion, if the term even exists.


    Focus on the world background, he told himself.


    To easily adapt, Jiang Li made use of the rare tranquil atmosphere to list down the important points.


    ''Alright. This world probably qualified as a sci-fi setting. Even if an unprecedented war happened, technology had still advanced by leaps and bounds.''


    ''It was like my original world. No matter how devastating ck Death had been, things still progressed fast and the 21st century was a hundred times more convenient to live in than the Post ck Death era of the 1400s. In short, civilization did not really stagnate much.''


    ''But yeah, enemies from the outer space arrived. And that''s the origin of every problem here.''


    ''The poor humans, who are very inferior in both biochemical technology and physique, united. This time, for real, as they were left with no other choice. And they relied on their intelligence that is on par with the Fae to upgrade their own technology.''


    ''Their only edge is knowing Earth more than the Faes and having more poption despite the previous dark age.''


    ''But they are still inferior.''


    ''The Faes are more superior in looks and physical abilities. They have weapons too, with enough determination, not to mention, their gigantic pets. And most of all, they have special powers.''


    ''Oh, wait, it seems humanity has also awakened some special abilities, plus they seem to have semi-sentient machine corps.''


    ''However, they are still substandard.''


    ''So in the end, humans resorted to concocting a potent virus that could wipe out the Fae?''


    ''And this is where the two lead characters of the novel entered?''


    ''Uhh...''


    Jiang Li touched his aching forehead, wondering what kind of background or history his soul-client possessed to end up with a killer headache. Or was it actually he, Jiang Li, whose brain short-circuited a bit because of the plot?


    "What the hell" In the end, he eximed inwardly with a strange face.


    "In the first ce, those weird beings If Earth was already so damaged and had yet topletely recover from nuclear warfare, why the hell are theying back?"


    The doubt lingered in his mind for some time. There were many more odd details that he took notice of. However, he remembered that he had already gone through weirder plots and world settings and realized he was straying from the real important matters.


    Anyway, the review of the world background did not take much time, only a few seconds.


    It seemed the system was considerate this time. When he looked around, he found himself seated in an unlit ce. The chair was veryfortable and made him ponder whether he was in a war scene or something.


    However, he was no longer given any more time to think.


    Without a warning, a spotlight shone in front, close to his seat. The light that poured out from there allowed him to see that he was in a sophisticated and high-tech looking theater. People surrounded him in all directions, sitting elegantly. They seemed to be reluctant to break the solemn atmosphere, so at most, they were whispering if they had something to tell theirpanions.


    Even though humanity could be enved at any moment, and the world could be destroyed at a moment''s notice too, the people here seemed to not care and preferred to indulge themselves until the end always exist.


    Yet, in actuality they were also the ones most concerned about their safety, ensuring the ces where they hang out would be at the central area of the domed metropolis.


    How odd that his new soul-client was at this enormous theater hall.


    "Master Yue, please follow me to the backstage." A bespectacled man in a glossy ck suit suddenly approached him and said. "The auction will be starting soon."


    Auction. Jiang Li briefly lowered his head at the term mentioned. Of course, only gatherings like this could gather rich-looking people in this format. But even though he already had a guess about their personalities, it was still just a surprise that at times like this, these people could host something like this.


    Was this scene rted to the plot?


    Jiang Li did not know, but he stood up wordlessly. The transfer of the plot was interrupted since he switched to the soul-client''s memories. He had to grasp his new identity''s connection to the male and female protagonists.


    "Master Yue. The goods we received are mostly from the Pre-Great War and we want to ensure the quality of and information about each item. We have already sent you the files containing the images. May I asked if you have reviewed them already?"


    Jiang Li had no idea what the other party was talking about. But it did little to hinder him from bluffing his way to make the man stop questioning so he would be given enough time to check his memories.


    "Are you doubting my professionalism?" he asked with a sharp tone, acting like he hated being questioned about his work.


    Sure enough, the other man seemed rmed by Jiang Li''s displeased expression. His expression became stiff as he stopped walking. He slightly bowed and hurriedly said, "A misunderstanding, Sir. This is a misunderstanding. I mean nothing offensive."


    "Hmph. Stop asking nonsensical things and just do your job."


    "Yes, Sir."


    The response Jiang Li gave was rude, but since he was addressed as a master, he asserted that he had a high standing, probably a distinguished schr. His guess was spot on. The other party did not pursue the matter anymore which made Jiang Li a bit more curious about his soul-client''s identity.


    He slightly lowered his head. Information steadily streamed into his brain and in no time, he knew that his soul-client was a rare artifact appraiser. He bowed to hide his expression that turned bizarre.


    ''Artifacts?''


    ''What artifacts?''


    It didn''t take long for him to see an image of his soul-client, a man in his early forties, operating his watch which also functioned as a smartphone that could project holograms, a typical thing in most futuristic movies he had watched. Perhaps the people that first developed the item were influenced by what they had seen in fiction works.


    When Jiang Li watched further and saw the things to be auctioned today, items from the 21st century like razor, eysh curler, Nokia brick phone... He felt speechless. So these things qualified as artifacts? And in such a time, a fairly useless job like his one actually existed because these moronic rich people were so solemn for items that would change nothing in the ongoing wars?


    ''Should I just rejoice that my soul-client''s work at least won''t make adapting hard for me?''


    He could onlyugh after a few seconds of speechlessness. The auction formally began and he was invited to on stage for his ''expertise''. Of course, not many really asked for guidance, so he was just sitting there most of the time, marveling at the fanatic looks of the collectors bidding downstairs.


    When his episode of surprise passed, Jiang Li''s face was wonderful to look at as a thought flickered in his mind. He finally realized some important clues from being at a ce far from the battlefield.


    He was once again an extra. And if his wife and the viiness was on the battlefield, given his qualifications, it would be hard for him to approach them.<ol><li>Heyya, purely fictional!!!! </li></ol>

 Chapter 428: Wang Yu Yan (3)

    Chapter 428: Wang Yu Yan (3)


    Jiang Li was a professional. He knew a ''master'' like his soul-client was paid arge sum per session and the pay was directly proportional to how high the expected performance from him was. This was why no matter what garbage was presented to him for on-the-spot appraisal, he didn''t hesitate to give a smile and exaggerate the worth of the item. There was only one goal, to make its price reach sky high.


    He was helping both parties this way. The auction house earns more, and he too would get argemission, while the rich bidders'' wallets would thin down, ridding them of the headache of worrying where to spend their surplus money.


    It greatly helped that ''Master Yue'' had a dependable reputation, hence as long as he gasped, widened his eyes, and acted surprised or amaze, people downstage would fall for it and think whatever the auctioneer presented was awesome.


    Moreover, from time to time, he would talk loudly to offer his insight.


    "Look! This is a product from Gilette!" He held up a safety razor, his gaze shining like that of a fanatic.


    With his discerning eyes, he naturally grasped that it was an imitation. After all, without factoring the rusty edge and the fading coloration, the spelling was just incorrect. Most likely its bundle price a thousand years ago was not even two dors.


    Still, Jiang Li looked at it, so absorbed, as if it were a rare treasure. In fact, he even described it to everyone like it was a precious gem.


    "In my opinion, collectors of genuine antique should not pass on this item! It is as precious as the previous item, that hair-dryer once owned by Princess IU of South Korea! Because a splendidpany produced it," said Jiang Li sincerely.


    Inwardly though, he was snickering. Everyone in the venue had ess to the inte, yet none bothered confirming whether what he said he was true. Even if there was really nothing that could be found online, would it hurt to check even once? Were they really thinking auction houses were all run by honest people? How careless.


    ''Let''s hope the fellows in the battlefield are not as moronic.''


    "Alright, start the bidding," said the auctioneer in a booming voice, drowning the collective noises from the crowd.


    In just ten minutes, the heated bidding battle ended and the worthless item got sold for 1.46 million federal dors, an amount that could have afforded arge amount of food, weapons, armors, and medicine. The others were sold off around that price too. Jiang Li, who was reminded of his time in the military, became more pissed.


    So he spoke more and more.


    "I''m very sure of it! This antique was what abbots of the 21st century used to hold their candles when conducting important ceremonies!"


    As a result, even a cracked ceramic saucer fetched an exorbitant price after he pointed out the random Chinese characters below and said that it was a logo of a manufacturer exclusively supplying for huge temples all over the world.


    When the auction ended, he could see satisfied smiles from the faces of those who had sessfully purchased something.


    Jiang Li reverted to his calm and mature bearing, waiting patiently for the client to lead him away. Since the other party seemed to value him quite well, an employee was immediately sent to him, guiding him to a break room with a room full of dishes. The other party''s attitude to him was simr to the first guy who guided him on stage.


    "Mr. Yue!" The moment he entered, a middle-aged whose face was full of smile greeted him. He was the manager of the auction house, surnamed Gao, and he looked extremely pleased because of the sess of the auction earlier. As a regr coborator of Jiang Li''s soul-client, he was familiar with him and could have noticed Jiang Li''s strange attitude towards the items if he was not drunk in exhration.


    "Please take a seat, Sir." Manager Gao pulled a chair open for the middle-aged appraiser. "You have really done a great job this time and I can''t thank you enough for your contribution. We have prepared great dishes especially for you to sample."


    Jiang Li shrugged and sat down. He was not polite when he began to stuff his mouth.


    After engaging in some pleasantries as they finished the food, he demanded his payment and asked to be escorted to a secure hotel where he nned to immerse himself in the plotline.


    "Now, what do we have here"


    Once done marveling at the grandness of a high-tech room, he double-checked the lock, then frowned for a while upon catching sight of his slightly aged appearance in the mirror.


    "I look like someone with a family. Even though in reality, I''m still single."


    "But I guess, I should be d that the personality of my soul-client is not that agreeable." He shook his head, thenughed.


    He ordered the in-house robot to bring him something to drink, then he satfortably on the sofa.


    Finally, the actual plotline of this world yed like a slide show. The fellow made sure to not miss any detail since almost everything was new to him.


    Contrary to what one would usually assume after learning the world''s background, the female and male leads were not really humans.


    Why? Simply because there was a more wonderful species existing - the Fae race! They were more beautiful. More powerful. More intriguing.


    Moreover, that thing he called the plot was the world''s consciousness which was obviously sentient. Even if its IQ was not as high, at least ''it'' knew how to judge who treated it nicely and not. In other words, the world''s consciousness chose the two Fae members not only for their physical appearance. But becausepared to humans, the Fae race didn''t do much damage when they were still the rulers of the world.


    So just like that, the race of the two leads was decided.


    Actually, the Fae race was not that bad. They had a reason to go back.


    Also, they only wanted to control humans to stop them from further destroying the. The members of the Fae race only looked haughty and without regard to human life due to their prideful bearings, but they did not really intend to wipe out humanity. In their opinion, thetter was only being too much paranoid.


    ''Sigh. If only those stupid creatures would spy on the domed cities that are already captured. They would see we are not treating their fellow humans that poorly.''


    ''They are only punished when they cross the line or vite ourws. But in general, humans still have rights and are respected.''


    ''Of course, they mine the mines, wait upon their rulers, plow the arable fields, man the factories, and raise the livestock.''


    ''But it''s not that unreasonable, right? Look, they are mere captives, yet are still allowed to enjoy the privilege of being close to the descendants of their deities. Naturally, they have to reciprocate our goodwill.''


    These words were what the faes would converse with each other when in a high-ss gathering at opulent mansions taken over from humans. Their mindset was different from thetter since despite being forced by the situation tond back on Earth, they still thought highly of themselves. The Fae race''s concern over nature was genuine though. This was what drove them to think that they had to control and look after humans.


    On the other hand, no matter how noble the Fae thought of themselves, in every human''s eyes, they were merely aliens and butcher. There was just no way humanity would forget how these arrogant creatures led their dinosaurs into a surprise attack and used their weird weapons to annihte their army. The civilians were spared? So what! Millions of lives were lost and still being lost on the battlefield. The deep-seated grudge was impossible to wash away.


    Even though humans were weaker, since the hatred was so strong, they resorted to creating a very potent virus that would be thrown at the cities conquered by Faes.


    This was where the two leads came in...


    Everyone lived in troubled times. However,rge-scale wars don''t really break out frequently because of many factors such as provisions and troops. Perhaps conflicts were taking ce somewhere, but the number of people involved should not berge. Plus, both parties were reluctant to use high-grade war weapons in fear of damaging nature further.


    It was by considering these and connecting them to theckadaisical attitudes of the attendees of the auction that Jiang Li deduced that it was a rare moment of peace. At least, for today, there was no need to fear that getting some rest would result in him missing out on something important.


    Once done with reviewing the new set of memories in his brain, Jiang Li briefly browsed the web to confirm how deep he was into the plot before going to bed.


    It was a few hourster that he woke up, and the first thing he did after checking out of the hotel, was to throw away his smartwatch.


    ''The two Faes will screw humanity in a few days. Yet you want me to obediently continue being a strange old man who dabbles in the appraisal of useless artifacts all day long?''


    ''Dream on!''


    The emotionless mechanical mode of the system took over to remind him that his soul-client didn''t want to lose his job and wish to be the best in his field. However, Jiang Li disregarded the warning and charged into the nearest battlefield with apletely changed appearance caused by donning an awfully expensive high-tech mask.


    "Can''t you be helpful for once and add my name to the list of new recruits? Preferably of an expert who''s been promised a high position in the get-go?" Jiang Li was slightly distressed thinking how he would approach the viiness who was a high-ranking female tactician of the military.


    Sadly, the system was not a good thing that would do things for free despite the bond they had shared for more than a millennium.


    When he unmuted the system, it pretended to not hear him asking. The middle-aged guy then rolled his eyes, aware that he could only count on himself.


    A day was wasted on researching and executing a n. But in the end, he only managed to legally enter the tightly guarded headquarters by hypnotizing a recruiter stationed outside and making this person add him as a special soldier.


    As abilities exist in this world, every soldier must be with a useful ability before they could enlist. This proved to be of no hindrance to Jiang Li since the magical abilities he possessed before could be used here.


    "Your talent is Ice, Sir?" The emotionless soldier holding the data sheets looked up to examine the schr-like person.


    Jiang Li wordlessly nodded. There were other people in the open field where one would be able to smell the odor of metal and gas.


    It seemed the other party was a no-nonsense type, so no more question was asked. Jiang Li shrugged and joined the others as they received a briefing from the veterans in charge of educating them on how serious and perilous the battlefield was.


    ''So where''s that Wang Yu Yan?'' His eyes roamed the ce for the 5th time.


    At the training room where the instructors brought them next, Jiang Li tapped on his smartwatch and tried to hack thework in the base, only to feel annoyed as the whole thing was very tough to invade. Well, what to expect when his skills were limited to 21st-centuryputer tech. Of course, he would only be met with a defeat.


    However, Jiang Li was also not one to give up easily, so when his numerous attempts did not work, he threw a few points on the system to make it report the viiness'' location and current situation. Alright, that was not what happened. The man knew to consult the system only when all options failed. But that was not yet the case as he was already inside the base and could just search for a nonbatantmander and hypnotize the person. That was precisely what he did.


    "Mr. Jiang. Major Wang Yu Yan is the prized strategist of General Wang Wei. She''s at this camp too and her quarters'' on the southeast side. If Major Wang brought hermunication device with her, then she''s currently at the periphery, probably patrolling with a squad," said a logistic officer he had bumped into at the cafeteria.


    "Patrolling, huh?" Jiang Li fell into deep thoughts, reminded that today was when that woman would encounter the male lead and fall in love with him at first sight.


    So far, everything coincided with the plot.


    "What does she look like, by the way?" he asked curiously. For some reason, the system could not give him any picture of the leads and the viiness and the plot was not as detailed as before. He only knew the general direction of things and the names he had to pay attention to. Yet oddly, he did not have the same problem when epting the memories of the appraiser.


    "Wait a moment, Sir. Let me share it with you."


    Under hypnosis, the oldmander projected an image before him. Jiang Li did not wait long for the face of a person to show there.


    However, upon seeing the girl, Jiang Li''s eyes involuntarily rounded in surprise.

 Chapter 429: Wang Yu Yan (4)

    Chapter 429: Wang Yu Yan (4)


    Jiang Li''s Original this time was somebody with a distinct, if not entric, personality. He was not like the idiot Zhao Bolin who couldn''t even remember if he had some regrets he wanted to address. The middle-aged was somebody who knew what he desired and was not one to hand over his identity without getting something promised for his sake.


    Not only did the man left some wishes, but he also left a remnant of his soul to cause trouble for Jiang Li if needed.


    Like now.


    In reality, the woman in the picture was not Jiang Li''s wife so he should not be surprised or rmed. As an old soul, acting had long been second nature to him, and there were not really many things or faces that could make him agitated. Zhan Rong''s face, actually, would make him ecstatic. If there was one person who could crack his normalposure, it would be people he hated, like the Fortune Teller and her pesky son, and the ones from his original words.


    None of them made an appearance so far.


    So, he could only attribute his sudden reaction to his soul-client. It was the Master Appraiser Yue who was influencing him with his emotions.


    ''Well Does Yue Hong''s mother have a clone?''


    Yue Hong was the real name of the master appraiser who lent his body and identity to him.


    Jiang Li was inwardly feeling awkward at the reason for the old guy''s disbelief and annoyance.


    ''Maybe it''s an identical twin born decadester?'' Another ridiculous guess flickered in his mind.


    This time, the remnant urged him to investigate Wang Yu Yan''s connection to his family. The master appraiser was now an orphan with no wife or children so when this person learned of the possibility that he might have a living rtive, or perhaps, a parent who was still active, he immediately sprung into action. The remnant arose and kept speaking.


    But while it intrigued Jiang Li, he was also quite irritated since the other party kept adding conditions. ''Investigate! Investigate! Raise money too as preparation! Stop going to war! Investigate!'' The damn remnant continued shouting these words to his ears and he could do nothing to it since the voice wasing from inside his brain.


    His face could only turn sour.


    "Miss Wang doesn''t have a good temper," suddenly, the voice of themander rang to summon his wandering thoughts back to her body. He added, " and even though we all know she climbs to her current position using her own abilities as a genius strategist, the majority keep saying she depended on her uncle to get to where she is. In other words, not many held a favorable opinion of her."


    The two appeared like they were having a normal conversation since Jiang Li''s hypnosis was subtle. It was not the kind that could be rejected. Yet it was also not one which would leave remnant damage and alert the other party. In one corner of the cafeteria, they continued their talk, and even though there was a time limit for the fresh recruits, since Jiang Li was with the officer, nobody dared to call on him.


    Upon hearing what the hypnotized officer said, his brow lifted, "Wow. You guys are incredible. A crisis huge enough to threaten our race''s survival is looming above our heads and you guys still have time to envy people within your ranks?"


    "Well. As I have said, she doesn''t have a good temper. And not many have seen her face so there''s a rumor that Miss Wang looks ugly."


    ''Then how the hell did you know she has a bad temper?''


    Jiang Li didn''t believe a ''failed heroine'' could becking in appearance. But that was not important right now. He began asking about the war.


    The logisticmander was a typical soldier who was tight-lipped, who would rather die than be pried of sensitive military information. Too bad he ran into a millennium-old monster. Thetter simply asked questions and the other would answer. The process even looked so natural, like the officer treated him as his bosom friend. The logisticmander would have been more than happy to share the files in his possession if not for the fear that it would be tracked down by the super AI of the military.


    "Thank you,mander," said Jiang Li after the talk. His words elicited a nod before the other party walked away, still not feeling like he did something he normally would not.


    ''Time to meet the viiness and perhaps, the male lead, and his party''s giant pets,'' heughed to himself, looking around casually for a few seconds before blending into the darkness.


    Strangely, even though there were many ability users in the whole camp, with some even specially trained in surveince and traps, nobody actually noticed him vanishing. Nobody also remembered to look for him to enact punishment for not attending the next training.


    Just like that night fell.


    Furious roars rang from the distant hill. Sparks of different colors dotted the night sky, giving off lights that appeared more brilliant than fireworks and stars under the moonless sky. The wind blew more fiercely in that ce which was still not free from radiation and shouts from both humans and beasts could be heard intermittently.


    "Attack the joints! Target the weak points! Target what''s not protected by the armor!"


    "Shut up! I know what to do!"


    "Hey, wait! Not the eyes, idiot! The fae is guarding the head part!"


    At the foot of the rocky hill, seven humans could be seen jumping around or flying around a giant horned lizard that towered over them like a small mountain. Shrill cries rang from time to time as fire burst out of the angered beast. Six of the humans were engaging with this dinosaur, causing it to be deeply irritated. Among them, one was mostly in the rear givingmands wearing a stern face. The seventh person was a middle-aged man engaging with a handsome youth who looked like a human, yet was so impossibly good looking to be ssified as a human.


    The battle took ce five kilometers away from the human camp. It was not that far actually, considering the fact that there were several pieces of advanced equipment for scouting around the area. However, the fae who seemed to have attacked purely to taunt this group of patrol chose an excellent location that corresponded to a blind spot.


    Because even though the exact ce was a hill, it was further hidden by a small mountain range and the ck fog swirling around it! It was a ce usually guarded by super experts from the camp, but for some reason today, the expert was summoned for a meeting along with the other important officials.


    Wang Yu Yan was one of the seven individuals tasked to patrol here in case of an emergency for the reason that they were sufficiently strong and had a good leader and strategist in her. A testament of this was the woman''s tranquil expression that could not be wiped out even by the unlucky encounter with a noble scion of the Fae race. The ceratosaurus serving as a mount for thetter only made her gaze colder.


    As she attacked with her debuff spells from time to time, she also issued orders through their party''s channel, something she exploited to gain a bit more advantage in this battle. The panicky words her teammates loudly yelled every now and then were intentional on their part to mislead the enemy. Apart from banking on their numbers, Wang Yu Yang made use of this strategy to prevent the other from knowing the target of the next attack and where it woulde.


    "Attack the lizard''s belly!"


    When one of the guys roared this, Wang Yu Yan actuallymanded another person in the group to assist their middle-aged leader.


    <Distract that fae and aim for its eyes!>


    <Dinosaurs are stupid. They are of no threat if there''s no one tomand them. The others, go for the fae boy!?> She telepathically said through themunicator in a firm but urgent tone.


    <Don''t forget to watch out for hispanions!> She further stressed, vigntly looking around.


    She voiced out her doubts about the fae that dared to venture into their territory without others backing him up. It even happened when Lord Protector Guo, one of the strongest generals stationed in the city, was not around.


    "Hmph. How could it be so coincidental?"


    Everyone was not that inflexible to not get that something was wrong with the situation. No matter how arrogant Fae race members were, none of them would really let a group of elite soldiers gang up on them while they were detached from their own force. Fae members possessed the arrogance of tigers, yet lived inrge packs like wolves.


    ''You think everyone else is an idiot?'' Wang Yu Yan stared coldly at the fae youth who looked like he was slowly losingposure. However given her keen perception, she could clearly see the contempt hidden within those beautiful yet bizarre-looking eyes.


    In reality, the conjecture of the twenty-two-year-old girl was correct. The fae race member was merely ying around. Like how the group of seven were messing up with him with their confusing, disjointed orders, he was also fooling around with the opponents with his acting.


    ''Hehe,e. Don''t hold back. I''m more than happy to stall time here!''


    ''Five minutes is the duration of the bet.''


    ''Once that passes, the loser bastards from our second team wille out to help me.''


    There were more or less twenty domed cities left on humanity, and on the borders of these territories, skirmishes regrly happened. The one at this ce was not umon. Every time, the humans would appear like they were risking their all to repel the invaders. Yet, the other party would only appear like they were out there to walk their giant pets. It was always proven by theirckadaisical attitude and their contemptuous thoughts would always show on their faces or eyes.


    Several kilometers away from the hill, there were several other Fae youths, all handsome and proud-looking, peeking at the battle through the cover of the rocky mountains. If one were to gaze at their appearance solely, they appeared quite human-like, except the aura they possessed was very odd, capable of making others feel inferior. What separated them from humans was not only their unnerving arrogance and self-confidence, but their blue sclera. However, despite this odd feature, none even from the ones who hated them the most would dare say they were ugly.


    The expression they sported was not that of worry for theirrades but grins telling that they never once considered the possibility of the fae youth and his giant horned lizard losing. It was just a matter of how long the fae youth would take to finish the other party off.


    "One and half more minutes!"


    "Leader, just one and a half more minutes and we will win."


    When the battle reached a fever pitch, one of them eximed happily. As heughed, the meaning of his words was only known to the few people around him.

 Chapter 430: Wang Yu Yan (5)

    Chapter 430: Wang Yu Yan (5)


    "One and half more minutes!" One of them even eximed happily, elicitingughter from his friends, discontented grumbling from some others.


    The fae youths were from two different teams and they were all from the nearest domed city located thirty kilometers northwest, a city conquered by their race one hundred and seventy years ago. The trip here was to train, and for them to have fun battling against the young elites of the opposing camp. Given this mindset, it was obvious that none of them truly thought highly of the people from there. Apart from some powerful experts in the human camps, everyone else was akin to a training dummy to them, if not fodder for their pets.


    "Hmm. This group differs greatly from our opponents yesterday. Theysted a bit longer and are faring well against that boy. Perhaps, they might force us toe out to help Gaoli."


    "Leader, don''t think highly of them. Even though this ce can be considered their home ground, they are only barely holding on. That Gaoli must have been..." ''dying on purpose.''


    The one who spoke stopped upon being red at by the leader of the mini group on the left side. The guy spread his arms helplessly and made an ''oops'' expression upon remembering that their real opponents, the ones who entered a betting game with them, were just a few paces away.


    The children of fae were carefree people. Even though they were blessed with intellect, there were just things that they did for the sake of interest, if not for fun. Also, like humans, cliques also formed amidst their ranks and so did rivalry.


    They were intricacies and some behind-the-scenes politicking involved in it, but upon running into each other, two teams did not see eye to eye and entered a bet. The bet was whether the next group of scouts wouldst five minutes against one of them to which the other team betted for ''no''.


    The group of five refrained from giggling and even from turning their heads to look at the other team. Their crew couldn''t just taunt that this very member had long defected on their side, right?


    Meanwhile, the team where Gaoli came from looked on with a frown on their faces, certainly not because theirrade appeared to be losing against the ''scouts'' from the human race, but because by the looks of it, their whole team would lose against their rival.


    A male fae stood up from the boulder where he was sitting, his right hand stroking the pendant of the ne hanging by his neck. The lustrous grey gem was a precious stone unique to their race, capable of storing living beings. It was where most fae kept their pets for the convenience when on traveling and scouting operations. After all, there was no way they could do reconnaissance or infiltration missions with their huge dinosaurs disyed on the outside. Everyone else in the two teams apart from the person confronting Wang Yu Yan''s group had their pets hidden using that item.


    The male fae gave the opposing team a contemtive look and then turned to his own teammates. "The situation is not favorable to us. Gaoli is losing."


    "Hmm." With a grim face, the others nodded to him, feeling annoyed as their pride had been hit.


    The male fae who served as the leader of Gaoli''s team felt something was wrong with the situation but he just couldn''t pinpoint it. After watching some more, he judged that the guy fighting the viiness'' group would lose and so he shook his head in mild irritation and spoke. "I''ll go and help."


    Voices filled with rm and displeasure immediately turned his way. However, the male lead disregarded them and made his way towards the battlefield. People from behind shouted his name yet he ignored them, and he had the capital to be this arrogant since his and his family''s status transcended everyone there, only beneath the leader of the other team.


    In reality, the man was not as slow to realize what was going on. When he neared the battlefield and saw the skills of the ones fighting his subordinate, he already guessed that something was wrong with Gaoli.


    <One of them should be a new recruit, the sole female human helping in dealing with Master Gaoli''s mount. The rest are people with at least a year of service in the human military camp but are not worthy of attention since they are only scouts.> said the AI through the chip installed in his head after scouring through the information gotten from the main system of the faes.


    This was another reason their race had managed to upy almost seventy percent of the world, superior intelligencework. That they even possessed data of lower-tiered officers of the human race was a testament to this. The only saving grace was that Wang Yu Yan''s actual status was veiled, ensuring the faes would not pay attention to her for being a ''minor'' recruit.


    <I think they have a strategist amidst them.> Mohan said as he expressionlessly ran towards the rocky hill in a very fast manner, his figure like an arrow that had been shot by a master archer, unimpeded without losing momentum.


    The man did not stray his eyes off of the battle ahead and the more he observed, the more he felt that Gaoli had met some tough opponents, his gaze flitting onto the ice goddess-like woman who looked so eye-catchy even though her uniform suggested she should be a minor officer.


    By the looks of it, in just a minute, the male lead would arrive to join his subordinate. The experts of the human side were not blind to not see this. Their faces paled. The viiness gritted her teeth tomand everyone to finish off the current one as soon as possible. Fighting two at once would be asking for death after all.


    <Don''t dy anymore! Unleash your strongest attacks! We can''t let that other fae joined hands with this bastard!> Wang Yu Yan did not have to say this as the actual leader of the scouts, the middle-aged man, roared through theirmunication device.


    Everyone else sported a grave expression and became fiercer with their blows.


    "Die for me!"


    "Assume formation!"


    "Xu ZhengKang, assist Yu Yan in crippling the lizard! Everyone else, focus on the gigolo bastard!"


    A thousand meters away, against the backdrop of the ckish, lifeless ruins victimized by nuclear warfare and all sorts of skirmishes forcenturies, the male lead summoned his own pet, another giant bipedal monster looking like a hybrid of a lizard and a bull. In terms of imposing aura, it was only slightly better than Gaoli''s mount yet the lethality was on an entirely different level as it was one which had the advantage in size, speed, and strength. A mount truly befitting of a noble n''s scion.


    In just ten seconds, therge carnotaurus carrying Mohan traversed five hundred meters.


    This actually marked the start of the actual plot. It was on this battlefield that the male lead and the viiness would meet, thetter falling for the former at first sight despite their differences and circumstances.


    "This is bad" Wang Yu Yan''s pupils constricted at the gradually nearing silhouette as her hand reached for an emergency token in her pocket.


    Mohan stood tall like a god atop the giant monster that was now making the earth quake under its quick thunderous steps.


    One could imagine the pressure and fear that enveloped the scouts'' team and theughter that burst out of the mouth of one of the fae teams.


    The thumping of the hearts of the scouts kept getting faster the louder and closer the footsteps of the carnotaurus were. Every human in the vicinity wore a grim face and were secretly panicking.Well, that was, except for one. A man wearing the uniform of a new recruit hidden somewhere nearby appreciating the appearance of the legendary dinosaurs. He had also paid some attention to the viiness whose face was actually very different from the one in the database.


    When this person saw Mohan drawing closer and closer to them, he finally turned his head in that direction, an intrigued expression emerging on his face. Then without anyone knowing, he vanished from his spot and reappeared a hundred meters away.


    A momentter, something unbelievable appeared to force the charging dinosaur pet of the male lead into a halt.


    "What?" A dumbfounded look shed across Mohan''s face.


    A five-meter thick, fifty meters tall barrier made entirely of ice, erected in just a few seconds. And none of them saw who did it or how it was done.


    Of course, the sudden turn of events elicited shock from everyone who witnessed it.


    "Dammit!" A momentter, all of Gaoli and Moyan''s teammates dashed and summoned their mounts. "Our intel failed us! There''s a human expert not recalled for the summit meeting!"


    "No good! Charge! Save Gaoli!"


    "Mohan is in danger too!"


    On Wang Yu Yan''s side, everyone was shocked at first then jubnt as they knew nobody but somebody on their camp would erect a barrier to save them.


    Despite remembering that there was no extremely powerful ice expert in their city, even the viiness subconsciously sighed in relief despite the doubts that sprouted in her heart.


    Her eyes then searched around for a few seconds and when she saw that the fae before them were distracted and in a panic, gaze flickered and she immediately roared in the channel.


    <Opportunity!>


    <Resume the attack now! Hurry, before the enemy thought of fleeing!>


    The immediate response that she garnered caused some profane words to rain down on them from the mouth of the fae boy.


    Mohan too, on the other side of the ice wall, felt his heart drop, discovering a tough opponent was nearby. Even though the male lead was also an arrogant fae who thought of humans as nothing but parasites encroaching on Earth''s surface, as a youth, he knew that he could be potentially injured or even killed by the powerful experts of the humanity.


    Mohan instantly asked his AI about hispanions as he stared with extreme vignce at the man who slowly materialized atop the ice wall.


    He felt more unnerved because a smile appeared on this person''s face and he assumed it was a smile of a predator. Mohan as somebody from a superior race, although stunned at first, felt angry after for it seemed like a tant provocation.


    "Damn parasite!" His face warped.


    However, without his knowledge, his body and mount were honest and instinctively backed away.


    Also, he didn''t know the person he was cursing in his mind, Jiang Li, was not really smiling to annoy him.


    The man sat down on the icy wall, seemingly not minding the cold. He slightly leaned forward to take a good look at the carnotaurus, this so-called giant meat-eating bull, which had a short skull, spiked armor on the top and a pair of knobby horns over its small eyes. Its neck and shoulder des were well developed, and arms incredibly short. Needless to say, it appeared bizarre, yet also very ferocious, especially with its enormous jaw that exposed the sharp intimidating teeth within.


    It was as interesting as the smaller-looking lizard behind him.


    Speaking of the giant lizard, he looked back to the scouts fighting the incensed traitor fae.


    The monster seemed very injured after a dozen or so minutes of consistent battering from the cunning human army patrollers rendering the handsome fae very furious.


    Jiang Liughed.


    "You insects! I''ll kill you all!" roared the enraged Gaoli.


    In the plot, this minor character joined forces with the rival team and forced the male lead to be trapped and injured in this human territory when the middle-aged man did some self-destructive explosion technique.


    There were a few funny coincidences that happened after that, leading to the injured male lead somehow being found by the viiness and nursed to health by her. However, the matter was really brain-frying. Given the viiness'' spec and intelligence, it was impossible for her to not know the other party''s identity. So why did she still save him? With that said, it was not hard to guess that her action could only be attributed to momentary confusion forced by the plot.


    His gaze lingered briefly at the face of the viiness.


    In line with his expectations, the girl looked beautiful, like a white flower atop a snowy mountain. Since the appearance was different from the one in the database, it only meant that she was that valued by the military. In fact, he felt that even the nasty rumors circting within their ranks were also a form of protecting her which was not really unthinkable considering her countless unpublicized contributions.


    Truly, worthy of being the original female lead.


    The first time heid eyes upon the woman and remembered that she was supposed to be paired with Mohan, this was the first thing that came to Jiang Li''s mind.


    ''It''s probably a Romeo x Juliet plot.''


    With augh, he thought, ''But at this rate, the infiltration that would result in the male lead''s captivity by the humans would not happen.''


    On one of the ice wall, the battle still raged on and now it showed signs of tilting towards the human scouts. The fae youth who was not really blind to not see it stared nervously in Jiang Li''s direction before his expression dimmed seeing how sturdy and intimidating the tall ice all looked. On the other side, angry shouts from fae people speaking aliennguage rang by Jiang Li''s ears.


    Prompted by the shaking ground, Jiang Li looked at the rushing groups of dinosaurs and fae. The curious expression did not leave his face.


    Probably in all humanity, he was the only one who would think of the sight ofrge, dangerous monstrositiesing towards him interesting. Aside from this, he was also somewhat curious about the fae race, specifically their method of taming and rearing dinosaurs.


    ''Now that the fatal first meeting between them would not take ce today, my job here is done.''


    ''But I''m interested in the beast-taming method.''


    Jiang Li''s bright eyes were on the mounts on the male lead''s side since they were still all in perfect condition, unlike the one besieged by the patrollers. ''Should I first test how resilient these mythical creatures are?''

 Chapter 431: Wang Yu Yan (6)

    Chapter 431: Wang Yu Yan (6)


    The group of faes who wanted to attack him was still more than a kilometer away so, for over ten seconds, the man atop the wall spent his time watching how the group of humans dealt with the poor dinosaur.


    None of them showed any intention to keep it alive. Their attacks were deadly. Jiang Li noticed that most of the time, the ones hacking the enormous lizard were using sound attacks by its ear. It seemed the dinosaur which was almost ten meters in length boasting high defense was actually weak against anything deafening. Quite an irony for a thing that used thunderous noises to intimidate.


    The battle continued to rage on. The carefree spectator''s eyes did not move away.


    Perhaps, the human side thought the ice wall would notst long, they abandoned all hesitation and bombarded Gaoli with everything they had. The explosives thrown and firearms used opened Jiang Li''s eyes to the extent of the progress in technology. Now the fae boy, wounded, but nothing truly fatal, was genuinely angry, yet helpless since the viiness''panions were not giving him time to breathe.


    "Pest! Pest! Die!" The venomous words of the fae youth were filled with killing intent but because they also hinted desperation, the human soldiers did not be terrified, instead, their courage grew bigger.


    "Everyone! I saw the emblem on him! He''s a noble!"


    "I''m being serious this time! This one here is no deadly foe! Don''t hold back! He''s a merit bag that walked to our doorsteps!"


    "Kill!"


    It seemed Jiang Li''s presence stimted the morale of those youngsters? The various electronic and magic-powered weapons were really an eye-opener.


    This made himugh.


    ''These guys are lucky that this world has magic and so while I have yet to reach godhood again, dealing with everyone here is not that difficult. Otherwise, I would have left already, only saving Wang Yu Yan.''


    After learning a few tricks from the ones fighting below, Jiang Li faced the furious teammates of the besieged fae youth. He saw that all their faces were cold, some were even gnashing their teeth.


    The ice wall giving off a crystal-like luster was like a very thick transparent ss, so Mohan and his teammates could see how their colleague was faring against the human soldiers. It was easy to guess why they wore those expressions.


    As for the ones further away, they looked wary. However, they had no intention to join the male lead''s squad in confronting him. These guys were a bit at odds with them so it was understandable, plus Jiang Li looked like a tough opponent even if all of them were to join forces. The best service they could do for the death-seeking squad of the male lead was to report the appearance to the headquarters using theirmunicators.


    "Now what should we do, leader. Those cowards from Team 1 are noting over to help." A subordinate of the male lead said in a low voice, his eyes also warily watching every movement from the ice expert who was tauntingly grinning at them above.


    The male lead was conflicted when he heard the question, still silent as he weighed his options. At the risk of another subordinate or two dying, or even their entire squad getting wiped out, would it be worth it to fight a very strong human expert to save Gaoli?


    As if his precious mount could feel the emotion of its owner, it bellowed angrily at Jiang Li.


    "Marcus, stop!" Mohan who sat on its back immediately felt rmed and repeatedly patted its neck.


    Actually, all the dinosaurs on their side emted Mohan''s pet Marcus and bared their maws filled withrge sharp teeth at the enemy. The exposed tongues were long and unnerving.


    The fae atop these dinosaurs felt nervous too and they all began to cuss inwardly, hating theck of intelligence of their pets. They dide forward, but if there was a choice they did not want to enter a fight with somebody who could erect such an imposing and seemingly endless wall in just a second. They all did their best to pacify their mounts.


    "Mohan!" Another fae youth turned to the male lead, his tone heavy and anxious. This person only dared to call out the leader''s name because his family was not that inferior. Also, the rm in his heart rang because Jiang Li suddenly jumped down.


    At that time, the guy called looked like ck veins were about to fill the bluish sclera of his eyes from overworking his brain.


    "Damn! It''s just a lone person. Why are we all chickening out!"


    Another fairly brave fae spat out. This one could not stand it anymore and suddenly dashed forward with his mount that looked like a flying vulture, a winged reptile, that had scales in ce of feathers. Thed was courageous as his war pet that had a funny-looking crest on its head could just easily lift him up if things went south.


    "Wait, Barak!" His action caused everyone else''s faces to turn dim. But maybe since he took the lead, two more others also urged their mounts to run forward. Loud war cries filled the ce. A hint of anger shed across the male lead''s eyes and he too could only join the others in attacking Jiang Li.


    But not long after, they realizing that something was wrong. In just three seconds after charging, they were all forced to halt in ce, their faces paling.


    It was not only because Gaoli''s ceratosaurus suddenly bellowed loudly, its cries sounding so tragic as it got heavily injured by the collective attacks from the weaker humans on the other side.


    Four seconds passed with the fae youths roaming their eyes around alertly.


    " where is he?!" Then finally, the youth called Barak voiced out.


    None of them saw where the enemy went even though the person was just standing in front of them a few moments ago. They boasted clearer and greater eyesight coordination too so despite it not showing on their faces, they were actually panicking in their hearts.


    "Not good! Behind you!" Somebody in front shouted and Mohan could not help but frown as the guy was looking at him.


    The male lead instinctively looked behind him.


    And the moment he did, he saw a man seemingly in histe thirties to early forties waving a hand at him, smiling like he was his friend. Of course, Mohan felt the danger and jumped down from his own mount. He instantly charged and swung a fist, hoping tond a blow so he could buy time for his colleagues to arrive by his side. At the same time, the male lead activated his special ability that let him summon a torrent of mes.


    "Marcus!" At his call, the carnotaurus who had high fire resistance also charged, itsrge body vanishing for a moment before reappearing to where a roasted Jiang Li should be. It raised its leg, ready to stomp on whatever remains would be there.


    Well, that was what should have happened.


    However, when Mohan heard his subordinates calling out the names of their beloved war pets, he already knew that something went wrong again.


    He drew in a cold breath. "This is bad. We''re caught unprepared and this foe is proving to be a very tough one."


    The thin web-like lines in his two eyes became more prevalent as they bulged out. After sweeping his surroundings with a nce, the handsome face of the male lead turned as white as paper upon seeing that all the dinosaurs on their side suddenly became frozen, encased insiderge white ice crystals. The man disappeared again and the huge mes he threw in front before he jumped back vanished without a trace.


    "Cut off his limbs and don''t let him bite his tongue!" On the other side, the viiness'' fight finally concluded.


    "No, wait, he''s escaping! He''s abandoning his mount!" When Wang Yu Yan''s team had finally entrapped Gaoli in a formation, thetter suddenly let out tears of blood, looking so enraged and humiliated, before howling and running away.


    The fae youth was angry because he didn''t want to leave the ceratosaurus behind, but the mysterious formation of the humans had the effect of preventing one from using their grey gem from collecting their war pets. In the past two hundred years humans could note up with a way to tame these monsters due to some soul-binding technique the fae race employed on them, but humanity at least researched a way to deal with them.


    The greatest dilemma was stopping the faes from sneaking into the domed cities massacring the innocent civilians using their giant biological weapons. They could only strengthen the defense around their territories, shifting avish amount of resources into ensuring the borders would not easily be breached. They gave even the patrols and scouts formation techniques that would help restrain a fae from summoning a caught dinosaur back into their special storage.


    Not long after, because the owner of the war beast escaped, Wang Yu Yan and the others channeled their anger towards the ceratosaurus and in no time, the giant horned lizard let out a tragic cry before breathing itsst. It copsed in a pool of blood with a loud thud.


    When Wang Yu Yan saw it, she finally let out a sigh of relief and then looked over the other side. Her heart was filled with admiration upon seeing that the ice wall still remained sturdy and intimidating, emitting white fog that spoke volumes of its bone-chilling temperature. Even from where she stood, which was dozens of meters away, she could feel the coldness brushing against her skin despite theyer of armor on her person.


    "Waahhh!" While panting for breath, the other human scouts flew on top of the ice wall and eximed through themunicator.


    "Yu Yan! We''ve really run into an expert!"


    They widened their eyes at the unbelievable sight of several ice crystals containing frozen dinosaurs being thrown over their side.


    As their own battle finally ended, it was now their turn to spectate. Yet what they did not expect was for the ice expert to simply split the war pets from their owners before capturing them separately. The group of faes standing by from several kilometers away were not spared.


    When Wang Yu Yan doubled tapped on her temple as amand for the detector sh lense to zoom into the spot where the captives were bound, it happened that a ck stic bag wrapped around the head of the male lead.


    "Hehe, this one is the leader." Jiang Li casually said when he saw the questioning eyes of Wang Yu Yan''s teammates. He left the nks in his exnation for them to fill in.


    "Senior." They did a military salute towards him.


    Waving a hand as he walked towards the other side, passing through the ice wall that he created himself, he said, "Let''s not be bothered by formalities. Good work for helping me deal with these guys. Bring them back. I''ve rendered them unconscious so none of them would wake up in at least five days."


    "We understand. Thank you for saving us. We owe you a huge favor, Mister," said the middle-aged guy who served as the leader of the group. Aftermanding the others to do the clean-up, he turned to the other man.


    "May we know your esteemed name and which city you are from?"


    Jiang Li only smiled at him and the other felt cold sweat trickle down his spine. But then when he heard Jiang Li speak, his face rxed.


    "Jiang Li. Taipei."


    ''Ah? Isn''t that destroyed thirty years ago?''


    ''This expert is somebody who grew up in a ruined city? How could that be?''


    Regardless of what the old man was thinking, Jiang Li passed by him and walked towards the beautiful girl who respectfully saluted while still wearing her signature nd expression.


    "Thank you foring to our rescue, Senior Jiang."


    "Hmm." The man gave the girl a nce, slightly admiring her graceful yet sharp bearing. She was sharp to notice his uniform that did not match his power level.


    "Careful! Even you''re angry, don''t break their so many of their bones or injure them too much!" Voices from the jubnt scouts suddenly reached his ears.


    "Yeah, we need them to fess up something useful so they must be kept alive!"


    Jiang Li then looked at the male lead who was now being transported into a carrier together with his colleagues.


    Now that he recalled it, it seemed in exchange with him getting the chance to regain his peak power, the three plot-change rule came back and imposed restrictions on him. The system''s warning was the reason Jiang Li did not prevent humanity from capturing Mohan. So, even though he achieved today''s goal of not letting the male lead be seen by the viiness, it was still not enough. There was always a chance the plot would force them to meet each other officially.


    With a contemtive expression on his face, he stopped in front of Wang Yu Yan and shed a friendly smile at her.


    "You should be the famous Wang Yu Yan?"


    A hint of surprise briefly flickered in the viiness'' eyes but she immediately came back to her senses and replied, "Yes, Senior."


    He nodded. "My guess is spot-on. Do you know that I specifically infiltrated the army for you?"


    Wang Yu Yan was dumbfounded. As she stared at Jiang Li''s face, she secretly wondered, ''Is this uncle joking with me?''


    However, the ice expert did not seem to be kidding around. He continued, "Lass, I can see that you are smart and talented. Your strategies made my eyes light up specifically."


    "I don''t care if somebody taught you that and you recognized them as your teacher. Anyway, it''s never against the rules to apprentice oneself to multiple masters."


    "But since it seems you and I have some fate with each other, and you''re really talented and with potential, while I am really very very strong" This part already sounded shameless to Wang Yu Yan, and actually even to those listening around.


    Even though she was listening intently without interrupting, Wang Yu Yan''s face turned weirder and weirder. She had an inkling of where the conversation was going. Yet she couldn''t help but be puzzled. Hadn''t they just be acquainted? And while she, or more specifically, her name was quite famous within the army, the rumors about her were quite awful. Was this senior drunk?


    However, when she saw a notification popping up and read its content, she swallowed the doubtful words about to leave her mouth.


    While all sorts of thoughts were running inside Wang Yu Yan''s mind, the man finally resumed talking.


    "So how about you leave the army and be my disciple?" Finally, Jiang Li said, his eyes that still full of smiles gleaming a peculiar light.

 Chapter 432: Wang Yu Yan (7)

    Chapter 432: Wang Yu Yan (7)


    The starry but moonless sky above provided little illumination for the ragged ins and rocky hills underneath it. The ce was especially dark since it was a battlefield between the cities owned by humans and the faes. There might be buildings around, but were all reduced to ruins long ago. It was impossible to hope that there were lights from there.


    However, for a Fae whose special ability lied on vision enhancement, the darkness was not much of a hindrance. Even from a hundred miles away, riding a winged reptile simr to the war pet of the fae youth Barak, the Fae scout could see what had just taken ce on that ck hill. Everything was visible to him as if it was still daytime.


    "Such an imposing wall."


    Drake, the fae scout, mumbled with an expression full of admiration. Thanks to his ability, his blue eyes sparkled like little sapphires that had small ck marbles at the center, looking so mysterious and fascinating.


    It was just a weird thing that this guy paid more attention to the vast expanse of ice filling the horizon more than his fellow fae members tied up and dragged into the enemy''s carriers. The male fae too did not show any desire to save them, as if they being captured was none of his concern.


    However, if one were to be in his position, they would have likely reacted just the same. His job was just different, and of greater importance.


    From his spot, he could see just how majestic the ice walls were, looking like it had transformed the whole territory beyond it into an ice fortress.


    But there was another thing that made him sport a nk face and exim in shock. "The predictiones true. This is a serious matter for the Holy Temple. I must report this to them ASAP."


    "The chief priest said to report directly to him if an ice expert not in the database suddenly appeared on this battlefield."


    Without dilly-dallying, the fae scout urged his mount to fly back. He was supposed to tell theirmander about the capture of two of their most promising youth teams from the Talent Camp. Yet when he entered the domed city, he only sent a file to his superior, with some details even missing or not borated in detail due to his mind being preupied with something he deemed more important.


    The first ce he stopped by to was not the military headquarters, but the only odd, ancient-looking pagoda in the middle of this highly futuristic city, the Holy Temple.


    "I am a scout directly under themand of His Excellency, requesting audience with the Pontiff!"


    shing his token, Drake announced to the guard manning the high entrance of the tallest spiral building. The entrance was for people who were riding flying mounts to enter to, essible only to important people and subordinates of the Pontiff.


    The guard there looked up to him and then nodded in acknowledgment. As the fae race also had their ownwork ofmunication, there was no need for Drake to be dyed at the doorway since the guard could just directly send a message to the priest serving as a secretary to the Pontiff.


    "Your Holiness! General!" The scout greeted upon being granted permission to enter.


    The room belonging to the Pontiff was painted all white and even though not as grand as the offices of other high-ranking leaders, every piece of decorations screamed of high price tag, if not of being priceless. At the center of the ce was an elegant wooden table where two people were seated, both dressed simply yet with auramanding respect and awe.


    After saying his greeting, the fae scout immediately knelt on one knee, not daring to lift his head.


    "It''s you, Drake." The Pontiff was a fae who looked like a normal handsome youth with the same strange pair of eyes in his twenties. However, his actual age was over two hundred years old. He looked up from the table and threw a casual nce at the scout.


    "What''s the matter that you sought me for?"


    The voice of the highest leader of the Holy Temple sounded ethereal, like it was from the heavens. None of the fae in this world or from their real-world knew of this person''s real lineage, yet they treated him not as a mere messenger of the heavens but as an actual god due to his powers.


    It took a few seconds for the scout to recover from the trance. The Supreme General, a fae wearing a military coat with his personal insignia pinned on it, also looked over in curiosity.


    Drake spoke, "Your Holiness. Please forgive my unheralded visit, but I deemed it important to report about the thing you have predicted before. West of this domed city, on a row of ck hills near the military headquarters of the humans, an expert who could build an ice fortress in an instant turned up."


    The Pontiff lifted his head from the chessboard again. "An ice expert, huh? Do you know his identity?"


    "No."


    "He might be from the other human territories, just using some sort of mask to camouge his actual appearance. I know they have some intriguing inventions letting them change their faces."


    "That might be the case, Sir." The scout acknowledged, then added. "But before this person made an appearance, a group of human soldiers was fighting with one of our youth teams. Just a minute after he appeared and erected a barrier, every member of that team was caught."


    "Hmm. Which team?" It was the General who spoke this time, ncing briefly at Drake before a projection popped up before him. Looking at it, the General''s face crumpled a bit. "Mohan''s? Or Frau?"


    "Both, Sir. It''s Mohan''s squad which confronted the human soldiers first. Frau''s team was spectating from a distance, but because they were not very far from the ck hill, they got spotted and captured as well."


    The Pontiff made a contemtive expression, pondering for a moment before voicing out. "General, I know of those kids. There are three high nobles in these two groups. If this is not handled properly, the families of those youths will definitely give you trouble."


    "I know." What the highest-ranked priest just said was true, and this was precisely the reason the face of the one seated across him was sour. "It won''t end with just them demanding exnations."


    Drake gave the frowning General a look. To be honest, the presence of this person was unexpected to him.


    Then, he continued his report, not forgetting what truly made him fly all the way here, "Your Holiness, please let me continue. When I was spying on them from afar, the ice expert on the human''s side seemed to not notice me. I took advantage of that to connect my terminal to Frau''s before he got captured. I have then got to eavesdrop on the conversation of the humans. I managed to overhear the name of the unknown person."


    "Hmm. That''s making me curious."


    "He said it is Jiang Li," replied Drake who was then manipting his terminal to share it with the two high ranking fae race leaders.


    "Hmmm?" Since the white-robe-wearing Pontiff continued looking down, no others saw his eyes dting for a second.


    "It''s a standard name of those from that domed city,"mented the General who was already busy gliding his fingers in the air, sendingmands to address the issue about the two teams of prisoners.


    The scout added more details, giving opinions when his other superior began to ask about Mohan and the others.


    Time passed by just like that. The pleasant smell of the bamboo generated by the few potted shoots on one side of the room was lingering throughout as the two other people exchanged words. Yet the Pontiff looked absentminded, staring at the sent images. He didn''t join any more in their talk.


    A few momentster, he muttered something, in a voice that was still as pleasant and unhurried as usual, but in anguage that was foreign to everyone else present in that room.


    "The guy changed his face. But I''m sure now, it is him."


    Since the other party already had his powers awakened, or more like regained his ability, the Pontiff''s lips were twitching in annoyance as he imagined a troubled future.


    "What a sh*tty day it has been."


    "In the end, the motherf*cking bastard has descended to this world."


    One thing that Jiang Li''s failed hypnosis verified was the real status of the viiness. Twenty-two years old, yet the city''s armed forced made sure she would not be put under mental control by anyone, not even of someone who had at least a thousand years of experience. How many resources had been spent on her, he wondered?


    This was their first meeting and even the backup n failed. Therefore, Jiang Li''s ridiculous offer was rejected. Wang Yu Yan might not have detected the attempt to hypnotize her, but she was somebody with responsibility and knew her worth to the military.


    "I''m sorry, Mr. Jiang. I can''t make a decision about this right away. Please give me some more time to think." She said to tactfully refuse.


    Jiang Li could only shrug. Anyway, it was not that bad of an oue since his goal from the very start was to have a reason to be near to the target.


    Was a middle-aged wanting to recruit a disciple not valid enough?


    Oh well, even it wasn''t, he could just shamelessly stage coincidental meetings in the name of recruiting every time the viiness and the male lead were about to cross paths.


    "Someone among you must have sent an SOS signal, right?" Afterughing and shaking his head, Jiang Li pointed to a direction. "I can feel several presences moving towards here from there."


    "Lieutenant Hou Liqin here. Yes, Sir. I requested a reinforcement earlier," said one of the human soldiers who went over after transporting the captives to a vehicle that waster driven away by another soldier.


    Jiang Li nodded. "Good response. Though, these new guys camete."


    An awkward expression flickered briefly in the eyes of the viiness, although it vanished not long after. "I got a message from themander in that group and they immediately dispatched some people upon seeing the walls senior has made. But yes, it''s still quitete."


    "We can''t thank you enough, Sir, for your help in this battle."


    Jiang Li shrugged again and looked at the thick wall of ice as he contemted what to do next. Several secondster, he decided to just leave it like that. On when it would melt away, he didn''t know and didn''t care.


    After waving a hand at the viiness'' group, he disappeared into the shadows cast by the ck hill.


    "Yu Yan, are we going to include that senior in our ountster?" Watching the person faded away from their sight, the middle-aged guy acting as the leader asked.


    Because the person in question was no longer around, the soldiers no longer had to put up a respectful front, showing what they truly felt about the unknown individual.


    The woman did not even have to spend a second thinking about what to reply to him. "With such a gigantic thing as a souvenir, there''s no other to exin why we managed to win against those faes. We have to be honest and show our recorded footage of the battle."


    "We don''t know him. It''s doubtful why he would infiltrate the camp despite his abilities. What if he''s a member of the society of those pessimists scumbags?"


    It wasmon sense that despite the tough resistance, the human side was not faring well against the fae. Negativism naturally arose within the masses and there were damnable extreme ones proselytizing in every city that humanity would be doomed if they didn''t surrender. The soldiers naturally hated those people since they were indirectly saying that them fighting for their homnd was a lost cause.


    "I don''t think he''s with them." Wang Yu Yan shook her head. "The fact that he didn''t kill doesn''t automatically trante to that. Anyway, themander ising. They can decide the next course of action."


    Tomorrow morning, it was reported that a new recruit with ice ability vanished from the record of the military.


    At the same time, another meeting was conducted by the higher-ups in the central part of the domed city. The ce was near the auction house where Jiang Li first appeared. There were many foreigners from other domed cities belonging upying more than half of the seats avable. All of them had serious or grim expressions on their faces, which showed how important this meeting was to the future of their race.


    When the viiness entered the ce, she could already smell arge scale war or operation being hatched.


    Yes. This time, Wang Yu Yan, young, yet one of the brightest strategists of all humanity, was in attendance. However, she was not there just to report about the weird expert who helped catch the nobles of the opposing race. It was to join the discussion about the two other domed cities that recently fell in the hands of the fae.


    None of them knew that on the side of the Fae, a meeting was also convened and all the mayors from the conquered cities unhesitantly flew over to gather. After all, it was the highest leader of the Temple, whom everyone revered, was the one who called it.

 Chapter 433: Wang Yu Yan (8)

    Chapter 433: Wang Yu Yan (8)


    When Jiang Li disappeared from the ce, even though he let the military take the giant monsters and the fae race members away, he secretly tailed behind them and then snuck into the ce where they put the dinosaurs.


    The ones assigned to guard the prison were vignt, but Jiang Li was wearing the uniform and still looked like a new recruit. The guards did not shoo him away. The hypnosis also helped in guiding them to be friendly to him.


    That was how he managed to get some free information about the fae and the dinosaurs.


    "Hmm. So basically because Dino''s are stupid, so it''s okay to put them inside the grey gem storage. But if one tried to put an intelligent living creature inside it, he would be stupid?"


    "Yep, the one who barely knew how to function," replied a guard to him.


    Jiang Li was particrly curious about the grey gem because if one would think about it carefully, the item could store giant beings. But dinosaurs, while huge and carnivorous, were dumb.


    What if the fae just had several fae race members stored inside and threw it to one of humanity''s domed cities where they could wreak havoc? Or what if the humanity just stole some of the gems and have their elites infiltrate the fae territory?


    The item just had so much potential for assassination, no?


    ''So unfortunate that a highly intelligent race like human or fae would have to pay a steep price.''


    "Friend, it is really effective. If you have an enemy that you hate to death, since you''re so lucky to have that item, you can use that to make your foe an idiot. I''m telling you, in just three seconds of staying inside there, he would be an imbecile who will pee and giggle like a two-year-old kid in front of a crowd."


    Jiang Li alsoughed. "So this one can only store living creature."


    "Yup."


    "A pity then. Even if it can turn people into morons, if it can transport huge weaponry, it would still be a valuable item. And humans can benefit."


    The soldier yawned and then roamed his eyes again. He then replied, "What you said is true. Yet at the same time, we have to be thankful that it can only hold creatures. In the end, the fae have many deadly giant weapons too, and they are the ones with so many of these gems."


    After nodding, Jiang Li sauntered to one of the dinosaurs which had already been thawed from the ice. An extremely strong gravitational field paralyzed and restricted it. Thetter had no effect on him, so he boldly observed the colossal monster from a close distance.


    "Friend, step back a little. Even if that thing has been constrained, there''s no harm in being careful and watching out for unexpected movement."


    "Okay." Several secondster, the man called out shrugged then walked out of the gigantic cell. As everyone, apart from the imprisoned fae, was hypnotized, they did not think much about how odd it was for a new recruit to be given ess to a restricted ce.


    While the small gate was closing behind him, Jiang Li looked at the soldier closest to him.


    "Back to the grey gem. I am just curious. Since that thing has that particr effect, hasn''t the government of either race tried to capture important leaders from the opposing side and use the item on them?"


    "What did you say?" Another bout ofughter rang. It was from the others guarding the giant cells.


    "What a clown."


    "Is that male human staging aedy?"


    The fae race members too, although bound by chains made of a special alloy, were nearby. Who knew what was on the military leaders'' mind to let these folks be detained near their war pets. Upon hearing Jiang Li''s question, they also burst into joyfulughter.


    "Quiet!"


    "Brother, what the hell is going on in your mind?" One of the soldiers who did not join his colleagues in disciplining the prisoners shook his head at Jiang Li with a stupid grin on his face.


    "Well, I was just thinking the human race can send assassins for the Pontiff or the Royals of the fae. One team trying to kill, the other team acting as backups trying to capture the targets to toss them into the idiot-making storage. Then the war would be good as over."


    When Jiang Li exined his thoughts, his expression was half-joking, half-nonchnt. Although deep within, he wanted to know why the surrounding bunch was treating his words as a joke.


    Finally, he got the answer he wanted. It came from the mouth of Mohan.


    "What a stupid question. Do you think neither side has tried that before? Of course, they did. So now every leader has a battalion of high-level warriors, surrounding them 24/7. Assassination is but a dream, sneaking into ces where leaders go is impossible. Especially on the human side considering that your leaders are all weak cowards. It''s easier to just wipe out the army first and then raze the rest of the city."


    Jiang Li looked at the male lead in surprise, then nodded. "I see. So, it alles down to the assassins of today not having the capability to breach the defensive measures around the leaders."


    He was not awkward with his question being called stupid since from the beginning, he never thought of himself as someone who coulde up with genius ns.


    "Well, that''s all I want to know for now."


    The man stopped lingering in the ce after some time. He stole one of the dinos though. Why? Just because. He just wanted to have one for himself. Coincidentally, the one that got captured by him was the carnotaurus that belonged to the male lead, which happened to be the strongest of the bunch.


    When morning came, he heard about several leaders congregating at the central part of the city, holding a convention about the two domed metropolises recently imed by the fae race. He only got interested in this since Wang Yu Yan was secretly transported outside of the camp.


    If the information was correct, then it meant humanity only had 19 percent of the total number of strongholds remaining which was almost synonymous to 81 percent of the world today belonging to the fae race.


    Desperation could push one to do the stupidest and craziest thing. Anger too could result to something inconceivable or make one stoop to a low level.


    ''Within this week, the virus spreading operation wouldmence.'' Jiang Li could already foresee it.


    In the end, the man did not go to the venue of the meeting.


    After assuming his identity as Yue Hong, he was free to use his smartwatch again. He only needed that since he had returned to the city and checked whether he had some prior appointments. When he had confirmed that there were not, he went back to using the mask, changing his appearance to that of his real one. Of course, he matched the age so right now, he looked like a guy in his early forties.


    He then went back to the military headquarters and tried to ce the male lead into the idiot-making ne.


    Jiang Li was thinking along the line, ''Hehe, problems solved if the male lead bes too stupid to carry the plot on.'' There was no whatsoever guilt in his heart when he did that. After all, he knew he would fail. And well, he did fail.


    "Tch. You''re really beloved by the universe." Jiang Li could only grumble and put the item away.


    Mohan was ring daggers at Jiang Li, never having any good impression on the guy who captured him and then tried to throw him into an unknown dimension.


    "You''re insane," Mohan coldly spat out, to which Jiang Li just shrugged.


    ''I believe I''m already being mild like this though,'' he secretly thought.


    Probably the fae guy was still feeling some lingering fear from what the man attempted, he coldly spat out, "Low! Immoral! Humans really are a bunch of shameless creatures!"


    "You all don''t deserve to exist!"


    "One of these days, we will surely wipe you out to clean this of filthy things like you!"


    "Yup, it''s good to have ambition." Jiang Li indifferently said, walking out to meet the guards. He hadmanded them to shut down the cameras and bugs around, before making them unable to use their six senses for a full minute. Then he went back to where the male lead was.


    The prison was cold and damp for a reason. No sane faction would want to treat their unwanted guests well. There were torture devices lying everywhere. The ce smelled of blood, mold, and some other inexplicable disgusting things that would make humans, much less clean-freak noble faes, feel like dying more.


    Mohan was being red at by hispanions because he was one of the leaders yet he didn''t give the order to withdraw. Of course, the ones most grilled on the hot seats were Gaoli and Frau''s group. Because of the torture and terrible conditions of the ce, they began to throw mes at one another.


    When Jiang Li arrived, they temporarily quietened down, collectively focusing their hatred on him. Yet when he freed Mohan only to drag him somewhere they did not know, they began to make loud noises.


    "You monster! Where are you taking him!!?"


    Leaving the rest to enjoy the treatment from the soldiers once thetter regained their senses, he snuck the male lead out. Afterward, he tossed him into a ''borrowed'' jet aircraft.


    The male fae was not speaking, probably thinking he would be brought to an interrogation room or an execution ground.


    <System Warning. Host. If you bring Mohan out of the human territory now, it would mean using one of your privileges to change the plotline.>


    Jiang Li ignored the mechanical voice and continued to proceed to the fae territory. The system automatically reads his action as approval when he reached past the battlefield. In the following seconds, he heard another announcement saying he only had two chances to change the plot before all sorts of harassment from the world''s consciousness fell upon him.


    ''Heh. Two more. That''s plenty. It''s not like I n to stay long in this world.''


    Turning on the invisible mode and the automatic pilot mode, Jiang Li left his seat and went to the male lead who was still cutting a sorry figure on the floor.


    "Mohan of the fae race, I brought you out of the prison to make you my guide in the fae territory." He informed.


    "Kill me. You won''t be able to pry anything from me." Came the prideful boy''s icy reply.


    It naturally sounded annoying to the other man who knew that this creature was unkible. Thankfully, Jiang Li was not as impulsive as when he was still soul-wise younger so even though the normal him would have really tried to finish off the male lead, this time, he only smiled, and fed him some drugs.


    "What is this?!!"


    "Nothing special. Just something that increases sensitivity."


    At the scary grin that appeared on his abductor''s face, the male lead flinched. Then when he heard the answer, something strange and frightening passed through his mind.


    "Y-you! What the hell are you nning!"


    Mohan desperately tried to vomit out the pill and even pushed a finger to dug through his throat. He didn''t like the sound of the word Jiang Li just mentioned. Plus, when considered from a human''s perspective, all fae were really good-looking But nobles like him possessed a beauty that stood out even amongst others.


    ''Damn!'' Mohan was no longer calm and staggered to get up and back away with beads of sweat appearing on his face. If one would look in his eyes, it would be easy to spot that numerous ck veins surfaced there.


    "I like the look in your face, now, young fae."


    Jiang Li grinned. He could guess what was on the male lead''s head. That thetter was wondering whether Jiang Li was a middle-aged guy with a penchant for something unspeakable. Because of this, Jiang Li made himself appear scarier. Anyway, whatever he did would naturally trante as something gross and frightening to a panicky male lead.


    "P-pervert! Die!"


    Wasn''t his prediction on point?


    Then fire got thrown to his face,rge enough to burn the cockpit behind him into cinders had Jiang Li evaded.


    A couple of secondster, the middle-aged man no longer looked to be smiling. Jiang Li decided to just drop the act. He certainly did not like what he just been called, especially since the term came not from his wife. He also did not appreciate that somebody almost made the jet aircraft explode.


    "Well, it''s my fault for joking around. But since you asked for death, this is how I respond to you."


    He reverted to his usual self and beat up the male lead to fully show what the pill he got from the system was for. To multiply the sensation of pain by twenty times. An important recipe for making someone stubborn and prideful submit and cooperate.


    Then, two minutes before theynded outside of the fae territory, he stopped making a dartboard out of the male lead. Looking at the majestic fae city and the white pagoda that entered his view, there were some things he wanted to pry from the fae boy''s mouth before they get detected by the fae patrols.

 Chapter 434: Wang Yu Yan (9)

    Chapter 434: Wang Yu Yan (9)


    Jiang Li was supposed to be Wang Yu Yan''s shadow, especially since the woman had quite a dangerous job for a bonafidedy like her. However, he still took the trip to the fae city since he had already felt an unusual presence there.


    It was definitely somebody who was not supposed to be in this world.


    "Hey, you. There should be somebody in your race who could take a glimpse into the future, right?" Jiang Li turned to the fae boy who was following obediently behind him as they walked towards the city.


    Jiang Li was different from Dong Lan, that guy with a dubious goal and motive in world-hopping.


    Jiang Li didn''t know if it was because he had once achieved a very high achievement in magic before, but every time he transmigrated, he would be able to feel every foreign presence in the world. By foreign presence, he meant people who hade back to life, time-traveled, or transmigrated.


    Most of the time, it referred to the fortune-teller''s sessor. That was if the other party was not a lead or a viin. Of course, since he could only feel them, there was still a need to check in person to verify this. He had to be careful since the foreign presence could also be another ''outsider''. And while Dong Lan was mild and could be tolerated, people like the Fortune-Teller were not necessarily like that.


    There was still about five miles to traverse. The mountainous region was quite bothersome, but the two could only stride forward carefully as the aircraft they used was left behind. They could not pilot it anymore. There was no way the soldiers and dinosaurs manning the city walls would let a human flying vessel enter unless they have water inside their brain.


    Mohan looked up from the ground and coldly replied, "Every fae has an ability so it''s not unusual for them to be many seers amongst us. I''m only telling it to you, Sir, since it is justmon knowledge. We''re not like you, humans who only have few people with decent abilities."


    Ridicule could be seen from the male lead''s eyes, even though it was not very obvious.


    The boy was a confusing person. He didn''t want to offend the human expert before him, yet he also couldn''t contain his instinct to boast about the fae race''s superiority.


    Fortunately, the middle-aged guy was not somebody who would re up from hearing his own race getting insulted.


    "Well. Rather than saying there are few humans with decent abilities, it should be that few have abilities useful in the battlefields. Anyway, amongst the many seers of your race, is there somebody residing in that Pagoda?"


    Jiang Li paused briefly to nce at the tall ivory tiered tower with obsidian-colored eaves. The male lead subconsciously followed his gaze. Thetter frowned but did not answer. He looked down again and focused on his steps.


    "For your information, ignoring me won''t make much of a difference since that ce is my destination. I have to see someone from there."


    A small drone passed by and they had to take cover, yet the fae boy was almost a stepte since he momentarily got distracted. If Mohan was not somebody with impressive control over his emotion, he would have red at Jiang Li already or worse, attacked him.


    ''This guy!!!'' However, even though Mohan''s face instantly returned to normal, deep inside, he was still really shaken. He was barely able to control his fists from trembling.


    Every city owned by fae had a building simr to the Pagoda ahead and usually, it only housed normal priests who could perform healing magic and rituals. However, as a noble, he was aware that the Pontiff was in their city and was currently residing in the highest floor of that pagoda. That was the highest leader of their race! How could he not be rmed by Jiang Li''s intention? Why else would this human want to see the Pontiff?


    ''I need to send a warning!''


    Jiang Li looked for somewhere not heavily guarded and flipped over the tall walls made of the strongest metal of his race, adamantine. Mohan had to follow. Throughout this, Mohan was on high alert, feeling so pressured as he looked for chances to connect through the city''swork.


    The humans who captured them knew definitely that every fae had some sort of chip imnted in their bodies. But out of conceit, the humans did not take it out. Naturally, the one embedded at the back of Mohan''s head was left as is.


    ''Haha, go ahead, send a signal. I dare your arrogant people to waltz into our territory.''


    ''Better if you pretty-faces livestream this to your fellow fae so they''ll hurry!''


    As the words yed in his mind, Mohan was strangely not infuriated, unlike the first time when he almost wanted to self-destruct to teach those arrogant insects a lesson. However, right now, he felt thankful. When Jiang Li was marveling at the strange buildings and constructs that greeted him as they made way into the industrial area of the city, Mohan took that chance to send warning and advice to station more experts around the Holy Temple.


    When he closed his eyes, he heard a colleague''s voice ringing in his head, ''Don''t worry. I got you. The Pontiff knows your situation. Just continue following that person.''


    Mohan was startled for a full minute, but then when he realized what his colleague meant, he subconsciously looked at Jiang Li with a faint hint of ridicule and gloating. Why did he forget that the highest leader of the Holy Temple could glimpse into the future? Such an all-knowing fae, would it be possible for him to mistakenly let a mere bug get into their territory?''


    ''This human pervert is done for.''


    ''You want to see our greatest Seer, the Pontiff? Sure!''


    ''But every leader has gathered at that ce too, all great warriors and ability users who were strong enough to wipe out thousands of men by themselves.''


    ''I want to see how you''ll get past them or if you could even escape from here.''


    The male lead coldly chuckled to himself, unaware that Jiang Li briefly looked back at him, lifting his left brow.


    Hours passed and the congregation on the fae'' side finished, and the Pontiff was just about to dismiss the leaders.


    On another part of the city, two people were rushing towards the ivory tiered tower.


    The city wasrge as it was the sizeparable to a small country, but even without the current technology, individuals with great physiques and abilities could just race through the streets or fly to reach the central district.


    However, Jiang Li was not that stupid yet. He stole Marcus, Mohan''s pet from the military, to ferry him to the destination. Thankfully, the war pet was truly dumb and immediately thought of him as a friend the moment it saw him standing next to Mohan. In no time, it joyfully joined the other dinosaurs and biological transportation machines filling up the fae city streets. Most likely, it even assumed that the guards following them were ying tags with it, so it happily increased its speed.


    "Hello, we finally meet again." Upon arriving at the Holy Cathedral, Jiang Li immediately headed for the top floor where he chanced upon more than two dozen people congregating before a handsome white-robed youth.


    Jiang Li swept a nce at the fae people who promptly stood up to grab their weapons and assume attacking stances. The crowd made small noises as they summoned the guards and threw themselves toward their Pontiff to protect him.


    Then, the Pontiff finally opened his mouth. The white-robed youth wore a gloomy expression as hemanded in a grim tone, "My people, a guest has arrived. Please go back to your seats."

 Chapter 435: Wang Yu Yan (10)

    Chapter 435: Wang Yu Yan (10)


    The Pontiff''s eyes never left Jiang Li''s face, his own expression sour, fully showing how displeased he was at the unexpected visitors. However, he was not truly afraid of the other. In his slightly droopy eyes was only annoyance for the unannounced visit, nothing more.


    "You havee." The Pontiff omitted the next word that he said in his heart, turning to his race''s leaders and saying, "Everyone, stop making a ruckus. He''s a friend."


    ''Friend?!'' The word was enough to freeze the atmosphere of the ce as the noisy chatterings and the spells and beams about to leave their casters paused in the air. Dong Lan had to exert his aura as a Pontiff to his fellow fae to stop them from moving for a while. Mohan was also affected, though this male lead had long frozen when he also heard the most revered priest and leader of the race referring to a mere human as a friend. Was the world ending already?


    Jiang Li took a chair for himself, leaning his back on it as he met the Pontiff''s stare. In his heart, he was quite annoyed that the other looked so dashing and young. He couldn''t help butment on it with a sneer, "It seems your race this time allows you to wear the skin of a young man even though deep within you should be as old as an old grandpa."


    "I take that as apliment, old friend." Dong Lan kept the smile on his face. If one would look closely though, they would see his left cheek spasming.


    However, even without looking at that, the others in the room were already furious as they couldn''t believe that somebody could be so disrespectful.


    "Bastard insect!" They began to call Jiang Li names. Of course, only in their minds, as in reality, they couldn''t speak.


    The Pontiff continued, "So how about you, Jiang Li? Did youe to me as a representative of humans? Are you even human this time? Or have you already ascended?"


    "Yes, I''m still human. No, to yourst question," replied Jiang Li. "You''re a seer so you should know I just arrived here. And no, I don''t represent the human faction. It''s not like I n to stay long this time to warrant a mutually beneficial rtionship with them."


    Surprise shed across the chief priest''s elegant face. As for the male lead and the others, they could no longer follow the conversation.


    "I see." Dong Lan nodded. "In any case, I''m surprised that you came to see me. What''s your goal this time? It couldn''t be only to confirm that this is me, no?"


    The question was met with a disdainful nce. Would Jiang Li trouble himself to travel all the way to a foreign territory if it was only to see the face of a random dude? No. He directly said, "Don''t tter yourself, Dong Lan. I merely want to who she is this time."


    "Oh."The follow up came immediately. "Sorry, I don''t know."


    "Hmm? What do you mean?" Jiang Li''s face changed and the atmosphere in the ce instantly turned heavy and depressing. Apart from the paralyzing magic of the high priest, they also felt like they were getting buried in a thickyer of snow. "I''m warning you, Dong Lan. I hate jokers and liars."


    The white-robed fae looked offended. "Do I look like I am joking? Why the hell do you think I''m still staying in this world even though I''ve yet to meet my own wife? You want me to say the truth? She''s. Not. Born. Yet. And probably would have a higher likelihood of not ever getting born if I hadn''t hampered the ambition of the fae race."


    The Pontiff spoke in Mandarin since he could not let others hear what he just said. Nheless, the fae leaders who witnessed his outburst were dumbfounded. What did he say? Why did the usually calm and collected Holy Temple Leader lose his cool?


    Jiang Li red at the Pontiff. However, there was also a hint of shock in his face, finding it hard to believe that this time, the cmity that ''she'' would encounter was to die a stillborn due to the war between the two races.


    Jiang Li then closed his eyes and thought for a moment.


    ''Fine. Maybe this is already good. I can leave early and go back to my real world to settle everything there.''


    ''Only then can I resume the missions to meet her again.''


    Opening his eyes, he nodded at the other man. "I understand. I''ll go back now."


    It was when he was almost at the doorway to the balcony that Jiang Li heard a voice from behind. "Wait."


    Dong Lan contemted for a few seconds before he decided to rise from his seat. It was not a regr thing for them to have a peaceful conversation so Dong Lan did not want the other guy to easily disappear from his sight, no matter how much he disliked Jiang Li''s face. "Old guy. Before you leave, answer first a few of my questions. What''s your stance in this war? I know you have once reached godhood so since this is a magic-filled world, you can definitely regain that strength again. Are you nning to join the human''s side?"


    Jiang Li knew the Pontiff''s worry, but he just shrugged his shoulders, "I won''t enter as a soldier of the humans, don''t worry."


    In Jiang Li''s mind though, he was quite amused. The fortune-teller was wary of him even though this guy was now a part of the race calling themselves offspring of gods. What an ironic situation.


    "I see. Then..." Dong Lan still seemed not done with him yet, switching from fae tongue to Mandarin again. There was aplicated look o his face as he asked, "When you said you''re not nning to stay here for long, is it because you''re intending to return to your real world?"


    There was once a time when Jiang Li was quite idiotic and had blurted out this fact to Dong Lan. After all, they were not always enemies. He was once determined to know the purpose and origin of the guy and had brought up his own origin for aparison.


    But that issue being brought up here did not make Jiang Li happy. While heaving towards the open door, he looked over his shoulder and sent a warning nce at the Pontiff. He also replied, "Your Holiness, I don''t care about your reason for monitoring ''her''. But even if I leave early, don''t you dare go near ''her'' or let ''her'' get into harm. If possible, don''t also pop up to where I''m going. Anyway, for the first request, it should be easy for you, right? Mr. Fortune-Teller."


    Dong Lan watched as the intruder left as swiftly as when he first arrived. Mohan, the Son of Fate, was dragged away, which he did not prevent as he hadmanded the fae youth to monitor Jiang Li in his stead.


    "Pontiff." The Supreme General who had yed chess against himst night called out to him.


    The Pontiff was knocked out of his stupor, finally remembering that he was not alone in this ce. He freed everyone else from his magic. "I apologize, Your Excellencies. I only did that since that visitor was a very temperamental yet strong god. I hope you understand my point."


    The various city mayors in the room were respectful of the Pontiff so they did not say a thing upon hearing the apology. However, deep inside, doubts and suspicions were secretly brewing within. Not few amongst them wondered the rtionship between the Pontiff and the human expert for thetter to be allowed to call the Pontiff by his real name.


    Was there a chance the Pontiff had somehow colluded with the human race?


    One of them even entertained this ridiculous thought, which was fueled by the dissatisfaction from seeing a member of a weak racee and go just like that.


    Then when this term escaped out of the Pontiff''s mouth, everyone else felt like a bomb had been thrown at them. "G-God?"


    "Your Holiness, h-how could that be?" A female fae stood up from her seat. "That person is just a human! H-he seems strong, but not stronger than anyone else here!"


    Dong Lan frowned at thedy city mayor who spoke. "Lady Athanasia, I implore you to stop judging a person by their appearance. And I would like to extend it as a lesson to others in this chamber as well."


    He then sat back slowly and shook his head as he exined, "This is something I need to correct in everyone''s mind. That ice expert is no mere human ice expert. His name is James, localized name, Jiang Li. He''s the God of Ice, from the mythicalnd of Mu, a haven of human gods in the Pacific Ocean from several thousand years ago. That ce might have vanished, but that person has not."


    Dong Lan momentarily paused, then quietly added, "Had I not done what I just did, I might be the only one left alive in this room by him."


    Disbelief showed in the faces of those present. Their pupils dted, rendering their blue sclera to appear more prominent.


    In other words, everyone else would have died?


    The one called Lady Athanasia, a female leader who took pride in being a descendant of a goddess from the Greek mythology, shook her head and asked, "But Your Holiness, if somebody like Him is on the human''s side, howe he didn''te out when we''re conquering their cities?"


    To this, Dong Lan impatiently responded, "Of course, he couldn''t pop up on the battlefield to repel us. He was not in this world in the first ce. And the affairs of mortals were nothing important for him."


    The eyes focused on him widen and their expressions showed understanding. The fae leaders exchanged nces with each other and began to discuss about Jiang Li in a more serious manner. From time to time, they asked Dong Lan.


    In actuality, the Pontiff was already being annoyed by the questions. Why did he have to invent exnations for that guy''s existence, huh? He even had to bring up stupid tales from another world. Does everyone here think it was fun to make it sound like a jerk like Jiang Li deserved some veneration?


    ''The affairs of mortals are nothing for that bastard since all he cared about is that so-called viiness, and that woman whom my adoptive mother warned me about. Isn''t that why he''s nothing but a selfish jerk?''


    Dong Lan formally dismissed the meeting after saying to the incensed fae leaders. "Stop caring about that person. What we have discussed earlier is the priority. I hope Your Excellencies trust in my predictions as these are what would truly decide our race''s fate!"

 Chapter 436: Wang Yu Yan (11)

    Chapter 436: Wang Yu Yan (11)


    The spacious white room turned less noisy with the absence of the leaders on the long table. Dong Lan stayed behind and even instructed his personal guards and servants to not bother him. He then stared at the patterns on the table as he sunk into deep contemtion.


    Earlier, he clearly saw Mohan and remembered that most of thetest predictions revolved around this person. However, right now, this son of fate was not what was on his mind.


    A minuteter, he willed for a deck of cards to materialize before him, and then he picked up one. A bright gleam shed through his eyes when he finally remembered what he had forgotten to tell Jiang Li.


    ''That kid Mohan is with him. Should I just make him ry the message?''


    Once again, he was lost in his thoughts.


    However, in the end, heughingly shook his head and berated himself from overly being concerned about his frenemy''s imminent return to his original world.


    ''Forget it. I would only waste time being nice to someone insane and ungrateful.'' Afterward, he parted from the high-back chair and walked towards the vast office connected to the meeting room by a short corridor.


    "I wish to ry something to Marquis Wa." Upon entering his private space, a priest-servant approached and bowed. He waved his hand at him.


    The priest also serving as his secretary raised his head. "Your Holiness, are you perhaps referring to the noble n iming themselves as descendants of Nuwa, or the newly ennobledndless Marquis from Hill Tribe?"


    "The Nuwa descendants. There are people moring for the rescue of the captured the high nobles, right? I want the only daughter of the Marquis to form an elite squad and go after Mohan. Please, tell them, that noble youth is in my most recent prediction. He will be very important for the whole race in the future."


    If Jiang Li had heard what the Pontiff just said, he would haveughed madly, finding Dong Lan more annoying to the eyes. This person actually thought of sending the female lead after him. A few minutes ago, why didn''t this Pontiff just think of asking for Mohan to be returned to them?


    "I understand. It would be the Marquis'' honor to receive Your Holiness'' high regard." The attending priest said, for he interpreted it as the favor of the Holy Temple''s leader.


    "Go now. It would be more believable if you go to exin it to them in my stead. After all, our nobles are still a prideful bunch."


    Time passed. Dong Lan was left on his own again. He sat down to look through the paperworks.


    One time, he got tempted again to message Jiang Li through Mohan but then a couple of momentster, heughed to himself and said,


    "Alright. I should really not meddle anymore. Anyway, after several lifetimes, it''s impossible that he hasn''t realized yet that the world he called his original world should not be his real ce of origin."


    As he watched the setting sun through the window on his west, the Pontiff softly murmured, "I really want to know why my cards said he should be old as that old hag."


    In the original story, Mohan was captured by humans and then separated from his fellow fae because of a traitor who was actually working for the leader of another squad. The viiness was one of the soldiers who happened to patrol and confront the fae. And it was through the assistance of a high-rankingmander that they managed to capture the male lead.


    However, from the moment Wang Yu Yan saw the face of the fae squad leader, she had fallen for him. Even she had no idea why her heart suddenly beats for someone, worse, an enemy. Still, despite her head perfectly working, she could not stop herself from wanting to get close to Mohan.


    Wang Yu Yan volunteered to watch the prisoner. It was because of her that Mohan was given amodations and food that were much better than what war prisoners usually received. She also frequently stayed in the prison, acting like the warden there despite her actual status. It was all to apany the male lead and talk to him from time to time to ease his boredom.


    Unfortunately, the other did not appreciate the small efforts of the viiness. Mohan might be mild-temperedpared to the other proud nobles of his race, but in the end, he was still cut from the same clothe as them. He looked down on humans in his heart and thought that Wang Yu Yan''s treatment was a given. Because he was from a higher race.


    Days passed that the rtionship between these two continued. If things were to proceed in favor of the girl who was supposed to the heroine, the male fae would have slowly opened up his heart to the beautiful human strategist. Then like what Jiang Li had guessed, their love story would be akin to Rome and Juliet, like star-crossed lovers from opposing races.


    Unfortunately, the ''plot'' was fickle and deemed it better for a female fae to be the true female protagonist. Wang Yu Yan was not fated to be with Mohan.


    On the fae''s side, a team consisting of elites was formed and a fae woman called Nuwa was made the leader of them. Right. That was the name of the girl. She came from the Wa Marquis n which imed to be the true descendants of Nuwa, the Empress Goddess of the East who had created humanity, ording to ''Chinese mythology''. However, the female lead was not the Goddess Nuwa''s reincarnation or something. There had just been a time when baby female faes were named by their parents after the goddess and the Wa Marquisate got angry, so they followed the trend while banning everyone else from using the name.


    In any case, Nuwa was one of the people sent to rescue Mohan. The male lead, after all, became important in the eyes of the leaders because he got mentioned in the Pontiff''s prophecy as somebody who would help the whole fae race evade a great cmity soon.


    It did not take long for the two leads to meet. Nuwa was the one who found Mohan by making use of her earth ability. Don''t ask how exactly she bested the rescue experts from her team. When Nuwa was about to make her presence known to Mohan, thetter sensed her and signaled her not to make a move since he was still engaged in a philosophical debate with Wang Yu Yan.


    Later, when the female lead freed Mohan, he told her in a grim tone the nefarious plots that humanity came up with to wipe out the fae. The information naturally came from Wang Yu Yan who got agitated once and had spoken to a colleague some hints about the operation in the presence of Mohan.


    Fast-forward to some dayster, through the cooperation with Nuwa, Mohan managed to steal a dozen vials of virus that would have ended the fae race.


    Wang Yu Yan''s neglectful sharing of hints of important information to a fae was found out by the higher-ups. To atone for her crime, she volunteered to be sent to the front lines. Yet the soldiers and generals there still got wiped out by the true elites of the fae race despite her efforts to save anyone there. The male lead purposely did not kill her to make her a witness of how her home and fellow humans were destroyed and killed.


    In the original storyline, while she did get crazy and died like that, it was more of regret than resentment. Or if she was hating on the fae and Mohan, the resentment against herself was much greater.


    If one would analyze her life in detail, it would be seen that while she had harbored affections for the otherworldly good-looking male lead, she did not really do anything else that would have gotten into the way of the female lead.


    When Jiang Li first read about her story, he thought, Wang Yu Yan, at least did not deserve her ending.


    ...


    At the same time that the Pontiff ordered for the deployment of an elite team with the female lead as the leader...


    The two people who were supposed to have already escaped from the Holy Temple behind a huge fake mountain in the garden belonging to the temple''s leader.


    It would be a lie if Jiang Li ever said that he was not put into a bad mood by the news that Zhan Rong was still not born in this world. Yet he was not so unreasonable as to dwell into it despite the looming crises.


    "We''re going back to the human territory." He dered.


    Mohan was the weaker party and was technically a captive, so he could only maintain his silence. However, his expression fully showed his unwillingness.


    Even now, the male lead couldn''t understand what happened. Why was this perv uncle not purified by the Pontiff? Or reduced into a mess of flesh, blood, and bones by the experts on the Pontiff''s side? Was there nothing else he could do but follow this human?


    ''That superior of mine did not lie, the leaders have all gathered at the Temple. But why did His Holiness stop them from attacking him?'' Doubt emerged on his handsome face.


    When the fae youth regained his senses, he realized they were not heading towards the location where the jet airne had been hidden. They were going the opposite way and the man was leading him to sneak into the private ne of another city mayor.


    " I thought the destination was the human-owned city." The male lead quietly asked himself.


    But even though Mohan said it in an almost inaudible voice, Jiang Li was able to hear it clearly.


    "Well, I changed my mind. I think it would be fun to tour your territory, first." Heartyughter then rang, which only died when they officially got into the carrier that would fly them to another fae-owned domed city.

 Chapter 437: Wang Yu Yan (12)

    Chapter 437: Wang Yu Yan (12)


    On the side of the humans, specifically, the leaders who had gathered in the central district of the domed city named after the capital of one of thergest nations of Pre-Great War, Beijing.


    Wang Yu Yan stared coldly at the visiting mayors from the other cities.


    "Uneptable! I object to the virus n!" When she could no longer stand it, the female military officer did not press her n''s buzzer. Instead, she directly mmed her palm on the metal desk and dered in a frosty tone.


    Her voice was loud and clear. She followed it with a simple exnation while sweeping her sharp eyes around. "Pardon my impoliteness, but it is a very wed n! It relies heavily on sessful infiltration. The moment it failed, the vials would fall in the enemies'' hands. Even after removing the war beasts out of the equation, with a great seer by their side, the Pontiff, do you all think any infiltration would escape their notice?"


    Such a garbage proposal was actually raised in a serious gathering. Wang Yu Yan naturally red up as her brain could no longer endure processing the stupidity of the various ns that were brought up.


    Everyone''s eyes went to her. However, since she was somebody with great mental fortitude, the gazes did not make her flinch. She even stared back at some, still holding that same frigid re. Her actual rank and position in the army did not give her this much courage. Almost everyone in attendance had a higher standing than her. It was simply emotions that drove her to stand her ground.


    This was already the second day of the summit meeting.


    The first one was wasted on stupid ceremonies, pleasantries, andints about the fae that did nothing but consume precious time.


    Wang Yu Yan was somebody from the military. She knew how precarious their actual situation was, so she was truly disappointed that such things still had to be done even though they were tight in time. Even toward this meeting, she had opinions. No matter how advanced and fast modern transportation had be, the trip could have been saved through a holographic one.


    It could be seen that unity did not guarantee a rise in smarts.


    "That annoying old man, huh?" The one who spoke was the proponent of the virus idea, a great researcher from another city. A glint of intelligence could be seen in the man''s eyes as he retorted. "However, Miss Wang. The god-ying gue virus has already been developed. We have also tested it on some captured fae. Its effect is very potent. Humans won''t be troubled, as we have also already developed the vine. Are you saying we should not use such a strategic biological weapon even though we are already driven to a wall? That doesn''t sound like what a great strategist would say."


    The sarcastic words reverberated, its speaker earning frigid nces from Wang Yu Yan and her supporters.


    The woman did not even pause for a second toe up with a rebuttal. She simply said, "With all due respect, Sir. I believe I have already said my reason for not supporting such a n. The situation won''t allow it. How can you be so sure that everything will go smoothly and that your invention would bring forth the most ideal effect? Mr. Great Scientist. We have seers too, albeit not as strong and freakish than the one leading the fae race. Why don''t we first invite some of them to divine the sess rate of your n?"


    The onlookers interchangeably looked at the two. The scientist''s face lost all sign of haughtiness. From the beginning, the other showed no respect for the girl and was even quite nonchnt and impatient with his responses. It was easy to see that he was not taking the so-called genius of the Beijing military unit seriously. Amongst the researchers, which one of them was not a genius? But now, a solemn expression could be seen on his face. There was also annoyance in his heart from receiving the same disrespectful treatment.


    The scientist straightened his back to appear more confident and imposing, "Miss Wang," he began, once again not addressing the woman with her proper title.


    "Look. I have noticed that we always have to worry whether everything we do will be seen through by that old man. Shouldn''t we have had enough of always being cautious when nning attacks on Fae cities? My team has done our best to develop a weapon that could best help us reverse the tide and deal a huge blow to the fae race. Everything from our side had already been prepared. Now it''s the army''s turn. You must think of strategies and ns that can''t be prevented even if they got seen through! In the ancient world, they called it an open scheme! And I think that''s already the job of strategists and tacticians toe up with one!"


    Wang Yu Yan nced at the others, and upon seeing that even the Federal President, the elected overall political leader of humanity was silently nodding, her heart sank.


    It seemed many had been swayed by the man''s words, most probably because they were still consumed by the anger and heartache caused by the fall of two great cities.


    "I sincerely believed that you are focusing too much on the possibility of sess and not giving much thought about what would happen once it all failed," she slowly said, her face as serious as usual.


    Wang Yu Yan naturally argued and even brought up her suggestions, which centered on strengthening their military and producing more automated machine corps in conjunction with the other ns. At the same time, they must prepare forrge-scale migration to another.


    Earth was not as good as before anyway and even if they had a hunch something important was on the to attract the superior fae race, in her opinion, staying alive and preserving the human civilization was of utmost importance.


    But there was a reason why, despite a thousand years passing by, the aplishment of humans in space exploration was not as progressive.


    "There are several suggestions put forward but the resources of our whole race are limited. We have to choose a few that have the greatest chance of sess." The people from the westernb seemed to be adamant about going against her.


    "I agree. I believe since the virus n has already had the things prepared, there is no harm in pushing it forward. Colonel Wang''s petition to upgrade the army''s gear can also be considered."


    "However, despite the allied cities losing two more territories, our total poption is still over 2 billion, plus not every city has the proper facilities to produce spaceships. The war is already looming above us, the attack on the two cities of the west are naked provocations and signal of an uingrge-scale war. We can''t wait for too long. Let''s temporarily shelve the interster migration."


    "I approve of the suggestion to involve the civilians. They must contribute too. We can''t pretend anymore that it''s rare peacetime. The calm before the storm has already ended."


    At thetter part of the meeting, the voting sessions finally began and the different leaders started to voice out their opinions.


    On the host''s side, near the seat of the city mayor, Luo Deming, Wang Yu Yan felt anger bubbling within her heart. She watched them vote in favor of the foolish virus n and threw the nning of the operations to her and the other military leaders.


    ''Damn. All of them won''t listen.''


    ''Greedy. Short-sighted!''


    ''They just want to snatch whatever good thing is being eyed by the enemy race without even knowing if they have the ability! They don''t even know what it is! They are all cowards too.''


    ''With this level of ignorance, they dared underestimate the enemy?''


    For a while, she closed her eyes, as she was almost tempted to use some leaders of being spies or people mind-controlled by the enemies.


    However, she had to stop herself. She knew that was impossible as each leader and officer was protected by many experts and had undergone rigorous inspection before being allowed entry.


    Jiang Li had hitched a ride towards another fae city with Mohan. A day passed since then. Because he secretly eavesdropped on the city mayor, he knew that the discussion on the human''s side had been extended and that the plot was still correcting things even though Mohan was by his side.


    He was not aware that Nuwa and her team were busy tracking him and Mohan though.


    After spending some time sightseeing in the city, which should be located where Saudi Arabia used to be, he brought the fae boy atop one of the tallest building near outer defensive walls.


    Now he could see that there were just so many wrong things about the world now. Resources were probably nearly depleted, especially since it was wartime.


    He clicked his tongue as he watched the sun set on the miserable sight outside the magnificent and vibrant city of the fae race. "So ugly. Look at how barren and dead the outer fields and mountains are."


    Mohan was a step behind him, busy hesitating whether to sneak an attack on Jiang Li. When he heard the sigh, he rudely spoke, "There''s nothing new about it."


    Jiang Li looked up and shook his head. "Don''t you think it''s just so miserable? I bet no civilian wants toe close to the walls and peek at the distance, since everything beyond is just so full of an aura of death. The pollution is so terrible that every city is like this, half caged in ss and with very tall walls."


    The orange sky was beautiful yet thend it shone upon to was very unsightly. Such was the result of wars. There were probably many areas in the world like this, a hundred or sorge cities owned by both races were nothing noteworthy as they were at most a tenth of the territories before the Great War.


    He stared at Mohan again and said, "By the way, this is something that slipped my mind yesterday when I went to your city''s Holy Temple. But when I talked to one of your fellow race members a few hours ago, he said the where you guys lived for several million years is flourishing. To date, it should still be a great habitat full of natural resources. Why the hell did your racee back when Earth is like this?"


    A grim expression crept up on Mohan''s face. He did not speak. But he was annoyed since the ''talk'' the other mentioned was just this shameless uncle hypnotizing a fae citizen. And he did it right before his eyes.


    Mohan red at Jiang Li. As the man was asking for a sensitive piece of information, he would not reply naturally.


    "Hmmph." Mohan merely snorted.


    The other was lost in his thoughts, continuing. "Come to think of it, it''s just so odd. Looking at how scarce resources here are, I bet that in the 200-year protracted war that went on between humans and fae, your side had to use resources from outer space, or rather, that other, to sustain the poption here. Such a stupid move. Yet I don''t think your various leaders have straws for a brain. So what is it that made your race go back?"


    There was curiosity in Jiang Li''s eyes. Unfortunately, Mohan was somebody with tight lips and an unyielding personality.


    The young fae coldlyughed. "Dream on if you think you can pry anything from me."


    "Hey, don''t be like that." Jiang Li had long sat down on the floor, still inspecting thend.


    He threw a nce at the male lead, wearing a sincere expression. "I am really a close acquaintance of your Pontiff. You see, we even came from the same origin. We''re both from a very, very impressive civilization called Mu. It''s on a legendary continent ruled by actual gods in the Pacific Ocean. I am one of the gods there, while he is the king of a fairlyrge country worshipping me. The one serving as your Pontiff is an incarnation with full memories. Therefore, he remembered me. To summarize, your Pontiff definitely won''t scold you if you tell me."


    The words spoken were the truth, but since the other party was from a different timeline and world, it all only sounded ridiculous.


    So to this, Mohan only responded by looking at him like he was an idiot, saying, "So you are that awesome."


    "Yes!" Came the shameless reply. Who knew when Jiang Li''s face became so thick.


    Mohan then nodded, his lips forming a lop-sided grin as he sneered, "Alright. Since you are a god, you should be more omniscient and awesome than my race''s Pontiff. So my great god. Why the hell are you still asking me"


    ""


    Jiang Li tried to think of what to respond, but the ideas that came to him were more like excuses, so he didn''t bother pursuing the matter.


    ''Whatever. It''s not like investigating that is my mission.'' The man feigned nonchnce, even though he had subconsciously nned to visit another city mayor for a more pleasant talk.

 Chapter 438: Wang Yu Yan (13)

    Chapter 438: Wang Yu Yan (13)


    Wang Yu Yan did not encounter the male lead so far due to Jiang Li''s action. There was also little chance of Nuwa running into her within the human camp. This female lead had led her corps to another fae territory in an attempt to rescue Mohan from Jiang Li. On the other hand, Wang Yu Yan was in the most heavily protected areas in the human territory.


    However, the biggest event that took ce in the original timeline still proceeded in this one. It was decided that the various fae cities would be the targets of man-made virus that would spread like a gue and take down every self-proimed descendant of the gods.


    Wang Yu Yan, as one of the brightest strategists of the allied cities, had the pleasure of meeting the Federal President.


    It happened fifteen minutes since she left the huge theater room in a foul mood.


    She had already boarded the flying shuttle and was only a few miles away from the military camp when somebody intercepted her. "I''m sorry, Colonel, but pleasee with us."


    "Who are you!?" General Wang Wei''s voice thundered as he asked.


    Wang Yu Yan''s expression turned solemn. Upon studying the features of the person, recognition shed in her eyes but she didn''t speak. She waited for the other party to introduce himself.The wait did not take long.


    "I''m one of the city mayor''s bodyguards."


    ''What''s going on?'' She knitted her brows.


    "The city mayor?" A hint of surprise shed across'' Wang Wei''s eyes.


    A brief silence took over. Then, the girl and her uncle exchanged nces before the general nodded at her. "It seems important. Go, don''t make them wait for long."


    "... Yes, Sir." She could only say before casting a suspicious nce at the bodyguard.


    A few minutester, the beautiful female officer found herself in a spacious but not overly decorated room. There were other people inside and judging from their expressions, they seemed to have experienced the same as her.


    However, everyone was as quiet as a mouse.


    They patiently waited for the esteemed man seated behind the desk to speak.


    Half a minuteter, the maids excused themselves after arranging enough refreshments and pastries on the long table.


    Finally, somebody broke the unsettling silence.


    "The discussion at the official meeting seems quite stupid, right?" A warm smile was on the middle-aged man''s face. Considering his position, his opening remark was a bit awkward, but nobody pointed that out. After all, a thread of sorrow could be faintly seen in this person''s eyes as he faced the dozen people standing before him.


    The man sitting behind the desk looked young, yet he already with a head half grey. In reality, he was the highest elected leader of their race. His name was Shi Nianzu and his special ability was naturally in politics and leadership. It had been ten or so years since he hade to power. One could say that it was through the effort of this man that humanity had persevered to this point. Others even said in praise, had this leader been born several hundreds of years ago, he would still surely rise in power and might even speed up the rebirth of humanity from the dark age.


    Wang Yu Yan looked at the person withplicated eyes.


    To be invited to a special meeting with this person was a great honor. Especially since she was bothcking in experience and age. Yet it could not be said that she was without qualification to be there. After all, with just a few words from the President, she had realized that something was wrong.


    The others invited in the room exchanged nces with each other.


    ''Damn. So I actually made a fool out of myself.'' Meanwhile, Wang Yu Yan reflected on what happened earlier in the meeting room and then smiled bitterly.


    The President noticed her expression and said to her, "Colonel Wang."


    Upon being called, the woman regained her senses and bowed her head, "Yes."


    "Look at you now." The same smile was still on the President''s face. He said, "I think you havee into a realization by now. But please don''t feel down. You did well earlier."


    "I thank Your Excellency for the kind words," Wang Yu Yan could only say. Even though for a moment, her expression still turned stiff.


    Shi Nianzu nodded. "The others here are mature and not the type to easily voice out their opinions due to cautiousness. But you are different. What you did greatly helped to make everything there seems natural."


    When the word ''natural'' came from the mouth of the supreme leader, her hunch was already half-verified.


    She inwardly sighed. ''There is only a need to make something look natural when it is fake.''


    An old man, a military advisor from another important city, thought for a moment before raising his hand and voicing out the guesses that everyone else had in mind, "So Milord, the strange atmosphere earlier and those ideas thrown out are on purpose?"


    "Yes."


    "Since you have just insinuated that even in that ce, we had to stage a y, the reason behind it, it is the work of the enemy?"


    When the President heard the question, it appeared like the man had tried his hardest to not emte the bitter smile on Wang Yu Yan''s face. However, it was also a fact that he nodded. "That''s right."


    As for the ones that stood in front of the President''s desk, they all put in a lot of effort to not sport out a grim expression. It was very awkward.


    It was no news to them that there were traitors and spies amongst the humans who had already sided with the fae. Considering their bleak situation, it was inevitable. There would always be fickle and cowardly individuals doing something shady behind everyone''s backs. In human history, didn''t it happen all the time? Traitors selling out their countries for their own survival or benefits?


    However, while these leaders and brains of the army and government were aware of this fact, it was still hard not to feel bitter when these traitors began to act. The timing was just unfavorable for them.


    Another thing that made them downhearted was the fact that some spies were one of the city leaders or somebody working for them. Whichever of the two, since they could get past the security checks, it meant they were not brainwashed, they worked for the fae on their own ord. What could be worse than that?


    "How distasteful," mumbled Wang Yu Yan in both discontent and worry.


    One of the oldest city mayors, a proven loyal one, couldn''t help but sigh. "Even though the various governments have united, and the domed city-states have agreed to work together, the Federation is still not cohesive internally."


    Shi Nianzhu turned to him and said, "Don''t feel down, elder." His words sounded a bit odd since the old mayor was criticizing his administration, yet he was not offended. Instead, it was he who tried tofort the other. "We have always been in a desperate situation, anyway."


    Theughter that reverberated was hearty yet a bit forced.


    After ordering the others to take a seat, the President then began to discuss several ns with them. The ones present this time were chosen based on ability and loyalty. Here, there was no discrimination regarding one''s rank or upation. The atmosphere was solemn, and the people were burning their lifespan toe up with countermeasures and solutions.


    In the end, the President chairing the meeting said, "All right. Let''s summarize now what we have discussed today."


    The President pressed his lips into a thin line before continuing, "In the earlier congregation, only two proposals will be pushed forward. The first was the virus n."


    The people present quietened down and focused their attention on him.


    "I can tell you all that is not as stupid and reckless as Professor Huang had made it out to be. Some things that happened there were staged on purpose to make it sound like the fake aspect of the n is real, a simple deception, although it''s not guaranteed that it will confuse the opponents. Let us hope the fae''s spies would report the news that we want them to report. We''ll keep the real modus operandi to ourselves until thest moment."


    Wang Yu Yan looked down as she still had no good feeling about the n. She still had not forgotten that apart from the worry that the fae''s great seer would intercept it, thetter could also make it an excuse tounch a full-scale war. In the case that it seeded, it would still not be a joyous matter because millions of human ves would be victims too.


    In today''s world, it indeed seemed like more than eighty percent of the habitablend had fallen into the hands of the fae. But the poption of these fairy-like beings was fewer than humans. Only nine of the cities were inhabited by fae civilians, others housed fae armies. The rest only had ves and war beasts monitored by a few battalions of fae soldiers.


    Those hundreds of millions of humans, could they really bear to sacrifice all of them?


    "The other one to be implemented has been proposed by our junior here." The President did not give her more time to feel conflicted within.


    "I approve of Colonel Wang''s suggestion. It''s been two hundred years since humanity started a campaign against the fae to defend our homnd. Everyone should have seen already how hopeless and senseless this war is. We have already fought enough for honor, it is time to consider our race''s survival. Once the timees, there would be several starships setting out with a few millions of our poption to continue our legacy elsewhere."


    "The rest of our next course of action are the ones discussed in this room."


    "Everything will proceed in secret. I hope no news of this secret gathering would reach the spies'' ears."


    "Military rule, what you see, what you hear, what you feel. When you leave, leave it here! Dismiss!"


    Everyone bowed and said words ofpliance before leaving the room through a secret passage connected to the city mayor''s office borrowed for this meeting.


    Fae territory.


    On the third day, after the visit to another Fae city governor, Jiang Li finally decided to go back. Strangely, Mohan was not with him...

 Chapter 439: Wang Yu Yan (14)

    Chapter 439: Wang Yu Yan (14)


    After paying another fae city governor a visit, Jiang Li finally decided that it was time to go back. For obvious reasons, he left Mohan behind.


    Considering that there was really no way to separate the female lead from the male lead, in the end, he just let the two meet. He just made sure that their first encounter would not happen within the human territory where Wang Yu Yan was stationed.


    Jiang Li then hurried back to his own city. Since he was deep into the fae territory, the trip had taken him a full day. It was like he had just traveled from one end of the world to another, so he was quite thankful that technology, particrly, transportation had advanced so much. Otherwise, it would have taken him longer because he was also evading and running away from fae forces.


    The first thing that Jiang Li did when he arrived was to look for the viiness.


    "Hello, Miss Wang. Are you finally willing to be my disciple?"


    The military higher-ups were all gathered on the second floor of the biggest testing arena. They were watching the performance of thetest batch of the automated battle robots, all five to seven meters tall and controlled by AIs.


    Initially, Wang Yu Yan''s face was serious, pondering where to deploy these to maximize their use.


    Two meters from her left, there was a government officer exining the President''s most recentmands and the specs of the robots. The other experts were discreetly discussing stuff that the government representative seemed to be evading and she was half-focused on it. That was when the unfamiliar voice echoed directly inside her head. The sudden event made her flinch in rm and swim her eyes around.


    When she sighted of no one else apart from herpanions, she excused herself. As she left the elevator, the corridor in front was cold. Her expression changed, realizing that this was a trace left intentionally by the perpetrator for her to follow.


    As expected, when she tested it on the intersection leading to various training rooms, she determined that the path going to the left had a much lower temperaturepared to the other. She did not hesitate to take the left turn and continued to follow the same step whenever she had to choose paths.


    Not long after, she stopped before a training room and opened it with her badge after setting up the recorder and position tracker.


    "Greetings to Sir." Wang Yu Yan slightly bowed upon entering However, when she raised her head, the expression on her face froze. The one in front was just a hologram of an ice penguin, sitting cutely like a stuffed toy on a high-back chair. Where was that strange uncle? Was the aura she sensed earlier only in her imagination?


    Wang Yu Yan escaped from her stupor. But inwardly, she was quite rmed since the person was definitely nearby, yet deliberately not showing up. There was no way a freaking hologram could make the temperature on selected areas drop.


    However, it was a fact the reply that came to her was from the hologram. "Oh, hello, Miss Wang. I didn''t expect that your position here is actually quite high. So, Colonel, how have you been?"


    "I appreciate the concern. I''m doing good. I hope Sir is in great health too."


    "For greeting me as Sir and not Master, it seems you still don''t want toe under my tutge." The stuffed toy clicked its tongue. Of course, the sounds came from the hidden maniptor.


    ''I don''t even know what you''re going to teach me or if you''re even qualified.'' Wang Yu Yang secretly thought. What came out of her mouth was naturally different as she didn''t want to offend, and in turn, be bogged down by a potential variable while tending to military affairs.


    "I would never forget the favor from that time, Sir. But since you know of my real rank, I hope you understand that the weight on my shoulders won''t let me do anything that will affect my responsibility and soldiers."


    Jiang Li was once again in the prison apanied by his ''friends''.He raised a brow.


    "Is that so?" However, he was not fond of wasting brain cells to read between the lines, so he just said. "Well, I respect opinions and decisions. I won''t force you then."


    The girl slightly bowed and expressed her gratitude. Afterward, she asked, "Given your strength, Sir, and your cautiousness towards the military, may I know if you are a member of the Extremists?"


    "What''s that?"


    The ce went quiet for a while. The door was closed and no noise coulde from outside. Wang Yu Yan suppressed the doubt in her heart as she exined, "It''s an organization that revealed themselves to the world a decade ago. They are people who endeavor to make humanity surrender to have a chance of survival as they don''t believe we can win."


    To this Jiang Liughed. He said, "Well, I don''t despise cowards with a good head. But I am no member of them."


    Wang Yu Yan did not reply. Because she could not see the man''s face, there were fewer pieces of information for her to analyze. Since it was hard to determine whether the other party was lying or not, she could only y safe and notment on it.


    Suddenly, he spoke again. "We''re tight on time, so let me tell you a secret, Colonel."


    The corners of the penguin''s lips curled up into a grin, creating a creepy sight. Thankfully, Wang Yu Yan was no scaredy-cat. "I''m all ears, Sir."


    Jiang Li moved the animal doll around, but when he saw no change in the viiness'' expression, he stopped. Bored, he finally continued, "In the fae territory, there''s a troublesome prophet. And this prophet has misled you all. His ability is not something he can''t control. It is also not limited to the fae territory. As long as the other party is not a true god, he could know this person''s past, present, and future."


    He paused for a while andughed. "However, even with all of this, do you know that he is never the most dangerous enemy of humanity? Do you know who it is?"


    Wang Yu Yan seemed to have taken the lesson from the Federal President into heart, so instead of answering, she maintained silence. Only her bright eyes revealed that she was interested in what the strange uncle wanted to say.


    However, Jiang Li didn''t immediately continue as he sensed a high-ranking officer heading toward Wang Yu Yan''s location. Her sudden departure must have rmed the ones in the testing area. He looked at the ice penguin a few steps from him and then shrugged. "What bad timing for your colleague to arrive. They must be very protective of you."


    "... It must be a coincidence," she said without batting an eye.


    Jiang Li almost snickered. "I won''t be beating around the bush then. Your leader, he''s made the right decision. But I think you should urge him to speed up the migration project and allocate more resources and manpower in creating space ships. If he asks for a reason... Well, to see is to believe. Advise him to take some time off scheming against the fae to see what''s happening beneath the Earth''s surface."


    The hologram call ended just like that. Wang Yu Yan was left frowning. Apart from wondering how the temperature of the ce instantly returned to normal, thest phrase Jiang Li told her was also on her mind.


    ''What does he mean by that?''


    When her uncle, Wang Wei, a brigadier general, arrived to see what caused her to activate her position tracker, the contemtive look on her face did not go away.

 Chapter 440: Wang Yu Yan (15)

    Chapter 440: Wang Yu Yan (15)


    It had been two hundred years since people focused their attention and devotion to war matters.The priorities of scientists and researchers were mostly in developing weapons or studying the weaknesses of the fae and the dino. The dire circumstance dictated such change, and rarely would there be people studying what was underneath the Earth''s surface. Unless the purpose was to search for new mines and other strategic minerals and materials.


    Thankfully, there would still be reports forwarded to the central government whenever something unusual happened.


    Because of the small spark of doubt that the weird senior had sparked in her heart, Wang Yu Yan looked into it on the way to the testing arena. She then found some clues half-verifying Jiang Li''s words. It helped that there were already clues scattered on the inte and that Wang Yu Yan''s rank permission was enough.


    The more she read, the more things becameplicated in her eyes. Before she knew it, her brows were almost meeting at the center.


    Unfortunately, just when she was already considering whether to investigate personally, amand from her superior was suddenly passed down. She was left with no choice but to request somebody to do it on her behalf, and there was no telling when the results woulde out.


    ...


    This happened a few minutes after the viiness left the headquarters.


    "Suspicious people snuck into the city?" she asked.


    Wang Yu Yan did not tarry long to request to see the ones reported.


    The person who called her promptly showed the surveince footage and exined, "Colonel, they are first sighted between our city and Nur-Sultan, not in between the borders of our Beijing city and the ones owned by the fae race. Their faces could not be seen. But we detected grey gems on them."


    The officer was from another station but was reporting to her since she was just assigned to take over the soldiers there.


    Wang Yu Yan''s face showed no change, her eyes focused on the figure on the screen. A few momentster, she amusedly said, "I get it. They are definitely not humans from Nur-Sultan. Must be fae who are trying to confuse us. They are most likely on a mission to save the ones locked up in our prison. Officer Zhang, at all costs, captured those people. If you can''t, then kill them. And if they proved to be really tough opponents, hold on until I arrive."


    The soldier had just saluted when themunication ended.


    Wang Yu Yan looked at the Southeastern part, her carrier traveling towards it at almost a speed of light. Even though it was a thousand miles away, she would most likely arrive within thirty minutes. Of course, this speed was only possible because she was riding one of the most advanced transport in the city. A thousand years after World War III and space jump technology was still just a dream.


    The viiness closed her eyes. The map of the southern region, in particr, theyout of the important facilities there popped up in the darkness that greeted her. The information of the peoplemanded to go with her also appeared in her mind.


    As Wang Yu Yan was busy running simtions in her imagination, she did not know that she would run into two troublesome people shortly, the female lead and the male lead. Thetter was on his way to rescue his subordinates.


    Jiang Li was no longer in the city. He was heading south to speed up the recovery of his magic. Even though the world had entered a bleak state, that ce was still unaffected, and as cold as ever. There would be no better ce for him to practice and absorb nature energy.


    The man left hurriedly since he had no ns to simply side with the humans. Yet he also knew that the strength of a single mortal would not be able to make waves once the real war started. What to do then? Naturally, to power up! In this world where magic and science had yet to fully integrate, it was still possible to reach the level of local deities. When he visited Dong Lanst time, he had observed something and was sure that the other party was also aware of it. That fae high priest was also trying to breakthrough.


    Thankfully, even though Jiang Li had left, an informant in the military had managed to alert him about the southern part of the viiness'' city. This only became possible because he had yet to arrive where signals could no longer reach. Due to this, he managed to deduce that fae race elites had been sent to rescue the imprisoned nobles.


    Over the next few days, the viiness yed mouse and cat with the infiltrators while pretending to be a normal fresh recruit. It was quite the feat considering that she was also scheming for humanity''s survival.


    However, the leads'' party was full of elites from the younger generation of the fae race. How could they not discover Wang Yu Yan? Luck was always by their side so they managed to discover the identity of the person creating troubles for them.


    "Mohan, we have to do something about that woman." One time, the female lead Nuwa spoke again.


    There were seven more people around them, all sporting grim expressions.


    It had been three days since they ended up trapped in the human city. Somebody had closed down the whole area. They found it hard to leave the Southern district for the northwest where their rescue targets were locked up.


    The only thing they were being thankful for was the fact that not all humans were smart. Some had been easily fooled when they disguised themselves. If not for this, they would have been forced to hide in disgusting ces like sewers.


    Mohan cast his eyes on Nuwa. The woman was very beautiful. Although her real facial features were hidden by their colleague''s magic, in his eyes, she was still exceedingly attractive.


    However, the current situation was not one which would allow him to fully appreciate it.


    Mohan frowned at her words, sinking into contemtion. His blue eyes that temporarily looked like human eyes narrowed at the hologram disy before him. A momentter, he finally voiced out, "Honest thoughts. Even though overall, humanity is inferior to us, their home ground is still not something only a few of us could roam around as we pleased..."


    "We all know that, Mohan. We''re trapped, so we have to think of a way to bypass the checkpoints and get to where Agur and the rest are," replied Nuwa.


    "Should we split up to confuse them? We can also use our dinos. The rest of us buy time while one or two sneak away. I feel like the industrial area is not as guarded since it is owned by several families. We can stir troubles there by dragging two or more business families into a fight to make it more chaotic," suggested the most solemn-looking soldier, a fae elite who was actually the youngest.


    "We can try." Mohan though for a moment before he nodded. "With that said, now, I want us to discuss how to deal with themander."


    "That lowly ant? What''s there to discuss? We have to kill her!" One of the elites scoffed. The expressions of the others too did not look good. It was clear how annoyed they felt about Wang Yu Yan and her forces.


    However, Mohan shook his head. "No, we can''t kill her. I have a feeling that this human is one of the most important officers in the entire human army. She might be more useful for us alive."


    Nuwa nced at him with puzzlement. She did not know why the man gave that suggestion. If it were to trade for resources, that did not make sense. They were clear that humanity was not better than them in terms of resources. She could even wager that if they captured the daughter or son of the current Federation President, they would not be able to exchange them for anything.


    ''Hmm'' The female lead studied the other fae''s expression.


    Mohan was not blind so he saw that everyone around him was giving him puzzled nces. However, he did not exin. Hispanions then chose to not question him any more. It was not because of his status, but because they trusted in the Pontiff''s vision.


    After a few more exchanges of words, the group perfected the n. It seemed the fae elite squad had been triggered this time. When the battle began, they fought with their all, some even activated their trump cards.


    Their efforts paid off this time. Mohan sessfully escaped the Southern district. Nuwa who had been sent to infiltrate themand center of the Southern area managed to knock Wang Yu Yan out and capture her. This also testified to the superiority of the fae.


    Even though the female humanmander toughened up the surrounding defense, when an opening presented itself, Nuwa easily took advantage of it. She almost annihted the bodyguards assigned to the viiness. The female lead had exercised great self-control to stop herself from killing Wang Yu Yan.


    Now, the trajectory of fate had officially changed. In this lifetime, it was the female lead who first met the viiness.

 Chapter 441: Wang Yu Yan (16)

    Chapter 441: Wang Yu Yan (16)


    Mohan''s instinct which led him to instruct everyone not to kill Wang Yu Yan stemmed from the plot. In the original timeline, thetter was the one who indirectly informed him about the n.


    Unfortunately, this time around, the female lead was the one who captured Wang Yu Yan.


    The viiness was careful but when the elite squadprised of nobles were provoked, they dropped their wariness from being too deep into enemy territory and just retaliated with all they had. Nuwa had even eliminated almost a hundred soldiers guarding themand center of the south, further throwing everyone there in a mess.


    When the operation ended, Mohan''s squad was divided. Contrary to what was nned, four of them managed toe out of the southern region. Mohan was one of them since he was themander of the team imprisoned several days prior.


    Nuwa and three others were left in the Southern region, still doing their best to split the forces going after their leader. When the battle ended, they convened in a secret gathering spot, a room in the basement of one of the steel factories.


    "Nuwa, are we really staying here to guard this lowly human?"


    The one who asked was called Damos, the youngest among them, looking like a teenager. Like the others, he was busy catching his breath and was obviously not in good shape. A worried expression showed on his face as he studied the human thrown on the floor. He dared to raise the question now since Mohan was no longer around. "Nuwa, I don''t think this is good. What if Mohan and the others run into a situation where they need some backups? Do we truly have to keep this human alive?"


    Another male fae frowned at the foul, iron-like smelling from the girl. "Hey, vice-leader, you stunk of blood. How many did you kill?"


    The female lead put on an indifferent face as she wiped away the blood from her dagger.


    Just like what was mentioned earlier, Mohan, the scion of a ducal family who was also highly regarded by the Pontiff, was not on sight anymore. To Nuwa, it meant that no longer had to put on a careful expression.


    As a female heroine from a Marquis family who knew how to fight, she was above several men in military rank. She was also one of the most talented within the family. Naturally, she had the capital to put on airs. She hid this arrogance before Mohan, but now, it was in full disy, evident from her eyes and raised chin. The female lead was back to her real self.


    She lifted her left brow at the male fae. "Andre. Since you know I am the one inmand now, is there a need for me to answer you?" Apparent from her response that she didn''t like being questioned about her decision and action.


    When Nuwa nced at the unconscious Wang Yu Yan on the floor, she sneered. Then she looked at the youngest fae and said, "As for you, good that you raised this topic. I''ll leave a task for you. Make sure you made her fess up everything she knows. The person entrusted to us by His Holiness said this ant has a use, so we can only give him the benefit of the doubt and extract everything we could from this person."


    They nodded. The one she specifically called furrowed his brows. Yet he didn''t dare refute Nuwa so resigned to his fate, he strode towards the viiness. Disgust could be faintly seen in his eyes.


    Meanwhile, thest person in the room finally spoke. "Tch. Such a pretty face sadly belonged to a bug. Will the method used matter? I can definitely help."


    "Up to you." Nuwa plopped down on the floor. She closed her eyes and prepared to meditate to recover her strength.


    Time passed. Wang Yu Yan was forcefully awakened but her willpower was strong so no one managed to make her speak up any confidential information. The physical torture did not make her flinch. She viewed the fae''s tactics with disdain. However, in actuality, the four fae race members were also casual about Wang Yu Yan''s attitude since they knew no pain would work on tough humans like her. They were only punching her from time to time to relieve stress.


    "Heal her. Mohan won''t like it if he learns we did something to this ant when he''s not around." Every time, Wang Yu Yan was covered with wounds and bruises, Nuwa would indifferently order this.


    "If only Andre''s healing power is stronger, we could even try cutting off some fingers or limbs to add in our fun," muttered by the fourth guy in annoyance.


    "Last one," Nuwa spoke again. This time, everyone realized what she meant by it. Last round of punching and stabbing.


    The two men took this seriously. Wang Yu Yan gritted her teeth and did not let out a single sound, which made the fae admire her tenacity. But that was it. When Nuwa ordered a stop, this female lead stepped sheathed her dagger and stepped forward.


    The viiness had long felt badly humiliated by their actions, so she red at them. Her re was particrly murderous towards Nuwa as she remembered that this demonic witch was the one who killed so many of her subordinates.


    However, she was clear in her heart that she was powerless and at the mercy of the other now that her abilities were sealed andmunication devices taken away.


    "Tough, huh?" Nuwa stopped in front of the other woman, kneeling in one knee as shed a grin at the pathetic-looking figure before her. "Didn''t you have fun toying with us for days?"


    After tracing the smooth but swollen cheeks of the female humanmander, Nuwa moved her fingers toward Wang Yu Yan''s forehead. Thetter''s expression changed, predicting the physical violence was over and that the enemy was now nning to directly interfere with her thoughts or read her memories through magic.


    ''Not good!'' Things had taken the worst turn for Wang Yu Yan.


    Unfortunately, so what if she knew? The other elite faes were like iron chains as they made sure she wouldn''t be able to move.


    A soft glow emitted from Nuwa''s fingertip. There was an amused smile on the beautiful face of the female lead. Even though it was a fake appearance, this woman did not ept anything ugly. However, no matter how beautiful the exterior was, it would not change the fact that the current expression on her face was malicious.


    ''Now, what secrets does this ant hold?'' Expectations bloomed in Nuwa''s heart.


    Yet a few moments after, her smile froze when the various protective measures was triggered by her attempt to read Wang Yu Yan''s mind.


    "Nuwa?" called out Andre when the female lead suddenly trembled.


    The woman tried to cast her spell again. But whether it was hypnosis, mind control, mind reading, brainwashing, nothing worked.


    "How annoying." Nuwa became annoyed and ordered the others to do the job. Yet none of them could breach the mental barriers.


    They began to exim in shock. "Just how many have been cast on her?"


    "We''ve really caught a big ant!"


    "Yeah. I thought this woman is just a lucky bordermander of a huge city. Now it seems this woman is someone fairly important to the entire human race."


    No bacsh presented itself so the fae elites lowered their guards more.


    Wang Yu Yan became relieved as she didn''t want to bebeled a traitor in the future in case the mind magic worked on her. Yet there was still a trace of worry in her eyes. Nothing could change the fact that she was in the hands of the enemy and that not being able to hypnotize her now didn''t mean they would not be able to do so in the future.


    "Don''t be happy yet."Nuwa snorted. The female fae was only concerned about the fact that she couldn''t do anything more to Wang Yu Yan.


    The female lead''s expression was dark when she turned to herrades. "None of you alerted anyone when you tried to break her mental defense, right?"


    "We''re okay so, yeah. If we did, we would have felt some recoil by now."


    Nuwa nodded. Even she didn''t receive any counterattack when she tried to read Wang Yu Yan''s memories. This was why she rxed her guard and sat down in a corner. However, it was really hard to erase the faint feeling of humiliation in her heart from the failure.


    Nuwa ordered the others to take turns guarding the door while everyone else rests. No food was to be served to the prisoner, of course. ''Wang Yu Yan'' was destined to starve and endure the pain from the wounds and injuries that were purposely left unhealed.


    The captive could only satisfy her urge to kill everyone there in her imagination.


    Several thousand miles in the South, Jiang Li suddenly opened his eyes. He was sitting cross-legged at the center of an iceke when he felt that the spiritual awareness left in one of Wang Yu Yan''s mental barriers was touched by a foreigner''s magic power.


    Suddenly, the man stood up wearing a frown.

 Chapter 442: Wang Yu Yan (17)

    Chapter 442: Wang Yu Yan (17)


    Before sunset of the next day, Jiang Li had already returned to the human territory. His first move was naturally to locate Wang Yu Yan and when he found her wounded and chained, his brows automatically furrowed.


    "Disciple, what made you emit such an awfully murderous aura?" he asked upon seeing the woman sporting a very scary face in front of a holographic map.


    Wang Yu Yan was rmed. She automatically raised her head but saw no one nearby. She was alone in the room. When she looked through the ss window, the guards stationed outside did not seem to notice anything wrong or see anyone suspicious. A bit of annoyance wormed into Wang Yu Yan''s heart. She didn''t find it funny being prompted to talk to air.


    "Senior?" The viiness tried to calm herself down and make her tone mellower. Unfortunately, the voice that came from her was still icy cold. She was still too affected by her mood.


    The frown on Jiang Li''s face did not go away. The woman was safe so the tampering must have been from an ally wanting to reinforce the mental barriers.


    ''So what prompted them to do that?'' he wondered.


    "Did you run into any ident?" he asked. His voice came from an ant that he had controlled. The security around the Southern base was watertight and even he could only stay at the cafeteria which could already be said the closest he could get to. He had no way to sneak in without using brute force. But as an advocate of peace, harming the innocent was uneptable. So he could only use witchcraft that was still thankfully enough to let him manipte an ant considering that he did not train on it upon arriving to this world.


    Wang Yu Yan could not see the strange uncle, so she moved her gaze back to the map, plotting something there. She tly replied, "I thank Senior for the concern but as you can see, Yu Yan is alright. The only problem is that I''m awfully busy so I would not have much time to talk to you."


    Silence then reigned. Jiang Li raised a brow.


    He found the situation odd, and thus he left his hiding ce and sought out the informer he had nted in the military. The guy''s rank was not that high, but at least it was enough to confirm that the tension all around the southern region was due to the infiltration of several fae.


    Before Jiang Li reached the southernmost continent, he had actually been informed about them.


    ''Ah. I almost forgot, the troublesome pair is indeed here.''


    Since Jiang Li could not use the stolen flying carrier within the city, he justmuted, joining the civilians who were mostly discussing the fall of two great cities with anxious faces. The train was fast, yet even if it was slow, he still would not believe that people wary of the army would arrive there faster than him.


    Or so he wished.


    ''Damn. How I wish I can at least take the train or bus. But how the hell would that be possible when the city is on lockdown?''


    Jiang Li was quite in a bad mood as he drove a fancy-looking bike. Fancy, as in, for him who hade from a backwater era. In the eyes of those from this period, the bike was very shabby and with fewer high-tech functions. It was not a stolen one this time. Jiang Li only had misgivings about it since he had to drive personally, unlike if he was on a train or a bus where he could take a quick nap.


    As for why he chose to go to the military headquarters, it was because it would be easier for him to ambush whoever would rescue the captives there.


    Jiang Li left the ones who failed to exit the southern region to the viiness. That woman was very scary right now. If what he had overheard through the ant was true, then new machine corps were already deployed against those fae people. Jiang Li was not so bored to snatch the prey of the woman. Yup, prey. Because ording to the reports, the squad led by the leads had split into two, which meant that it would not be very difficult for the enraged Wang Yu Yan to hunt the ones trapped in her region.


    And those who had escaped from the. Well.


    ...


    Northwestern area. 9:56 am.


    Flying legionsposed of androids and cyborgs roamed the air, scanning every corner of the district from time to time. Cameras resembling eyeballs were also floating everywhere. The whole city had been in an alert state.


    Mohan and the others were not doing that well as they proceeded slowly towards their destination. Even from afar, the angered viiness was manipting things behind the scene. It seemed the deaths of her subordinates and the captivity of her double had a greater effect than one would expect. Human experts were even sent after the male lead''s group.


    When considered from a normal person''s perspective, the lineup was ridiculous since the other party was just made up of fae youths. But Wang Yu Yan had the justification and the authority, so the male lead''s group was destined to suffer a bit.


    Several hours already flew by since the escape. The technology advanced city looked cold from the outside due to the abundant steels and metals on the buildings and other infrastructure, which was coupled with theck of greeneries and trees. But now it seemed much colder and gloomy, like dark clouds were not merely hanging above it, but swallowing it.


    "Now, I''m really tempted to send someone on the residential area, let a war beast rampage there." Mohanughed. Slight fatigue could be made out of his voice.


    The bulky male fae who reported the annoying situation to him was not looking at Mohan, but in the sky. A momentter, this fae pursed his lips and suddenly whispered in a low voice, "... hide."


    Everyone else crouched down and did their best to blend into the shadows of the nearby factory. Mohan''s face darkened and the creases between his brows deepened. He was not pleased with the situation.


    When the redser light vanished from sight, Mohan heard apanion say, "This is bad, they increased patrols again. But we''re still a district away."


    "I know," he replied. Half a day passed and they were still not in the prison holding their captured colleagues.


    Jiang Li''s conjecture was correct. As more time flew by, even crossing streets became harder and harder.


    One of them could no longer help butin, "Dammit. Who is it this time? Even when we infiltrated Cairo before, it''s not this difficult. What''s with this insane deployment of war machines and experts? I thought the femalemander is the only annoying one in this city."


    "Lower your voice." Mohan red at the male fae. "We can''t always assume there are only weaklings in their race."


    ''Because even ants have queens?'' retorted sarcastically by the other fae in his mind. Unfortunately, this fellow was also not as courageous to speak it out loud.


    "Let''s move." Looking up from the ground where the shadow of several jets had just passed by, Mohan quietly led his teammates away.


    However, the male lead was also quite vengeful despite being the quiet type. In his mind, he had silently noted the name of the person who kept directing him dissatisfied nces. When the security once again tightened, and enemies encirclement began to shrink and focus on their positions, Mohan remembered his words before. They needed somebody to distract the enemy again. His gaze happened to fall on the grumpy fellow. So he ordered this male fae to head towards a civilian area and wreak havoc there.


    "Are you sure you want to send me away?" With a gloomy look on his face, the elite fae agent asked.


    "Or would you like me to do it instead? Do you know where the rescue targets are locked up?"


    Moving alone might seem safer than being with three more guys, but who knew what would happen once he did as told and released the dinosaur sitting inside his gem storage?


    The fae agent could not help but give Mohan a judging look, briefly scanning the male lead from head to toe. Afterward, heughed and sneered, "I get it. "


    Mohan did not move his gaze away. He pointed one finger on the faint golden eagle pattern on his wrist.


    The other seemingly turned around obediently, but beforepletely jumping down from the second floor of the apartment where they had temporarily hidden, the male fae nced over his shoulder once and wearing that same contemptuous look "Now it makes sense how two freakin'' squadsposed of elites from noble families just suddenly ended up in the hands of ants."


    He then said, "It must have been hard on them having such a stupid and unreasonable leader. I really pity them."


    Regardless of Mohan''s reaction, the other agent left. Because the male lead kept quiet as he watched the other guy leave, his otherpanions consoled him. "Brother, don''t think too much about it."


    "He must only be upset for the imminent death of his beloved pet."


    Mohan shrugged then continued the journey. The other fae kept his pride by doing a good job so, after an hour, the male lead and the two others finally saw the heavily guarded headquarters.


    Jiang Li had also arrived at the ce, although he ended up at another entry point. A ''friend'' of his personally weed him. Of course, hidden from the sight of others.


    Thirty minutes or soter, the male lead finally infiltrated where the prisoners were locked up. Then they looked at the middle-aged man waiting for him in front of the prison cells, someone dressed in a thick ck robe that would make one wonder which movie character of the Pre-Great War inspired the outfit.


    Mohan and hispanions were no longer in the most optimum state after the long travel and intermittent battles within a short period of time.


    This was why when Mohan saw Jiang Li sitting on a stool looking bored as if he had been waiting for so long for them, the relief expression on his face froze.

 Chapter 443: Wang Yu Yan (18)

    Chapter 443: Wang Yu Yan (18)


    The male lead was dragged by Jiang Li out of the city. The two others were gifted to the military, joining the other fae prisoners.


    Mohan kept shouting his actions would definitely spark a war between fae and humans but Jiang Li acted deaf about it.


    War? Well, who was this fae kid kidding?


    The moment the two big human cities fell, humanity had no choice but to retaliate, so war was already right around the corner. Jiang Li''s little action of intimidating a fae youth would do little to aggravate the situation that was already at its worst. The threats only made him want tough.


    "What will happen to the ones captured? Didn''t you say, you are a good friend of the Pontiff? Why don''t you just release them to prove it?" Mohan was not one to give up on his mission.


    Jiang Li sneered and replied, "Oh. I thought you didn''t believe a single thing I said there? What you just said made me so disappointed. To think I think highly of you for not being gullible. Tch."


    ''This pervert bastard!''


    Mohan''s face warped in anger. He wanted to strike back when Jiang Li threw him down from the ice wall that still stood tall near the ck hills. Yet, he lost all courage upon seeing where the shadow that suddenly covered his body came from. An iceberg with an approximate diameter of 300 meters. Who knew when the gigantic thing got created? But the fact that it was about to fall on him rendered his entire body cold.


    "This lunatic!" The male lead''s face lost color.


    "Hey, I tried my best to copy the ones from the Southern Ocean. Not bad, right? I don''t really know what the army would do to the members of a race that enved and killed more than half of their civilians. But I think I know what would happen if you don''t scram back to where you came from, brat." Jiang Li''s unfeeling voice came from above.


    Of course, Jiang Li knew that even if he mmed down an ocean-size boulder onto this fae, thetter would still survive, saved by some weird miracle conjured by the almighty plot. The male lead''s halo was not just for decoration and several lifetimes had already proven this fact to him. He was merely enjoying the feeling of bullying an annoying male lead.


    In the end, Mohan could only grit his teeth and leave. The fae''s beautiful face looked so hideous now, with his piercing blue eyes back to normal, as he walked back facing Jiang Li.


    ''Don''t celebrate yet. I''ll make you pay for this!'' The furious male lead vowed to tell everything to the Supreme General. He didn''t believe the higher nobles would not agree tounch a war to reim their lost honor.


    Anger clouded Mohan''s mind that he forgot how nobody had been allowed by his Pontiff to make a move against the person he loathed.


    After the male fae disappeared from sight, Jiang Li looked in the Southern direction.


    "Now, the next one I have to toss out is in that ce."


    Jiang Li immediately left. He still encountered problems crossing districts and checkpoints but at least, he had lesser things to worry about now that the fae youth was not with him. This was actually one of the reasons he let that guy go.


    When he passed by the central district, on one of the stations there that was surrounded by huge billboards, it was broadcasted that a dinosaur created a bit of mayhem in front of a mall before being quickly found out and killed. The owner of the albertosaurus, a theropod that could be said a rtive of T-rex, was nowhere to be found. This piece of news initially made Jiang Li click his tongue, but when he found that there were a few casualties, his eyes immediately darkened.


    ''At this rate, there''s really going to be a war. For a moment, I wish I could just forever separate the two territories with a sky-high wall.''


    ''... The problem is, I arrived toote.''


    He had no idea in which race ''she'' would be born. Remembering what Dong Lan told him, he suddenly felt reluctant to let either fae or humans be wiped.


    It took him two hours to safely reach the southern region. Even he had encountered some difficulties to not get caught. The tension near his destination was the highest since battles long took ce. Jiang Li had the fortune of seeing the group of fae from a distance.


    "Put your weapons down or we''ll kill this woman!" A beautiful female fae with long wavy ck hair shouted in a loud voice.


    It seemed like Wang Yu Yan had done a great job to force them to reveal their real appearances.


    Now, standing in the middle of an encirclement of human soldiers were four young faes with peerless appearances that could put most human idols and actors to shame.


    Atop the pieces of rubbles and billowing smoke, their beauties still shone. Unfortunately, most of the people surrounding them were trained to resist charm magic and stay indifferent before a beauty. As for Jiang Li, well... No use mentioning him actually, for an obvious reason.


    The only reason Jiang Li was currently dumbfounded was that he saw just who was being used as a hostage by these fae. Somebody with a familiar face, but with apletely different aura. After roaming his eyes once, he finally understood the situation.


    As reported by his informant, several small-scale battles took ce over the past few days which ended with a minor victory for the fae.


    Mohan managed to get past the blockade and escape the Southern part of the city.


    Nuwa sessfully infiltrated one of the important buildings in the southern base.


    Then, this female lead must have thought the one she had captured Wang Yu Yan.


    But as a brilliant officer, how could it be easy for Wang Yu Yan to lose? This was not even an official battlefield. If everyone truly assumed she had just eaten a loss, even if it weren''t an insult to her intelligence, wouldn''t that still be an insult to the honor and intelligence of the entire government and military that had dubbed her as a military genius?


    Ridiculous! Of course, Wang Yu Yan was not really the one captured! It was that double of hers! A carefully package double that even had an insane amount of protective spells cast on her to make her look authentic!


    The realization made Jiang Liugh.


    Because the ''double'' was caught by the enemy, as a precaution, human elites specializing in various types of barriers were sent to reinforce the ones cast on the real Wang Yu Yan.


    ''Now it made sense why the spiritual thread I left on Wang Yu Yan was touched,'' he thought.


    "I said throw your weapons down!" Nuwa''s voice reverberated in that intersection again. Jiang Li watched the spectacles from the parking lot of a restaurant.


    The female lead had one more miscalction, not many amongst the soldiers knew Wang Yu Yan. In the military''s database, the viiness'' picture was reced with that of a deceased person. Of those who knew about this, half had been killed by Nuwa, the other half naturally staying with the real Wang Yu Yan.


    After she shouted the threat, the armed men and robots pointing their weapons began looking at Nuwa with weird eyes, as if they staring at an idiot.


    A soldier even fired a bullet at her. Unfortunately, it was deflected by a kic shield.


    Offended, thismander continued shooting. He snorted, "Threatening us? With a nobody that looks like a weakling? Idiot! How can we be sure that person is not a disguised fae? Brothers! No listening to her nonsense! Fire at will!"


    Nuwa and co were dumbfounded. Jiang Li looked amused as he hopped off the bike. As he currently looked like a normal civilian, an rmed soldier noticed him and motioned him to go away. Of course, he was an obedient civilian so he did go away. He looked for the real viiness.


    Not long after, he found the woman in the samemand center, still wearing a serious expression on her face. Jiang Li knew the best role suited for him at the moment was to be a spectator and a hidden guard so he didn''t announce his presence to the girl.


    He silently watched from another building, one that had half of it blown into smithereens. Curiosity blossomed in his mind as he watched, and at the same time, checked the for everyone else''s reactions regarding the chaos in this city.


    Since the mess created by the leads were quite big, it seemed Wang Yu Yan purposely let news of it echo in every part of the city. It was safe to assume that the spies already delivered the information to the nearest fae city.


    Several minutester, the female lead was seized alongside three male faes. One of these men was on the verge of death after taking a canon attack for Nuwa.


    Wang Yu Yan did not waste any more time on them, leaving the cleanup and wrapping up to her capable subordinates.


    For the female lead who finally realized she had captured the wrong person, the realmander''s neglect was aplete humiliation. Like the other party was mocking her for falling for a trap.


    Unfortunately, Wang Yu Yan had no n to care about Nuwa''s feelings, shifting her focus on the four attack squads that had been assembled a day ago.


    One of these squads chanced upon the one that recently rampaged with his pet dinosaur. At the price of getting half of them injured, the male fae was also sent into a critical state.


    Thetter still made it to a fae city. Yet unfortunately, he had been silently infected


    When Jiang Li heard the news, a day already passed. He was finally sitting across Wang Yu Yan, meeting her face to face.


    After the initial surprise, he burst intoughter.


    He thought the viiness this time was quite admirable, and seemed tolerated enough by the world''s consciousness.

 Chapter 444: Wang Yu Yan (19)

    Chapter 444: Wang Yu Yan (19)


    Wang Yu Yan grew up without a mother or a father. There was no other rtive to take care of her. Even the strict but kind-hearted uncle who had raised her as his niece was not truly rted to her by blood.


    Thankfully, the ongoing war had made the leadership treat every single human in the territory preciously. The orphanage where she grew up before being adopted by General Wang was notcking in resources. There was no need to fight for food or clothes. The staff members were nice and they were provided basic stuff needed to survive and be literate.


    Of course, things were still not that convenient, and more than anyone else, they who got funded by the federation were expected to contribute the most to humanity. It would not be an exaggeration to say that they were properties of the federation. Only, this owner was quite sly yet humane and knew to make them feel indebted to their graces.


    Many orphans were kids who lost their parents and families on the battlefield. The government took advantage of this to prep them into being soldiers. Almost all those who got adopted went to families rted to the police or the army. Yet even though Wang Yu Yan was aware of this fact, there was really nothing to say as she had long epted it as amon-sense practiced for two centuries.


    It could not be denied that the government was cruel. There was nowhere else easier to lose one''s life than a battlefield. But what could orphans do when they have no parents to protect them?


    Wang Yu Yan did not really learn to value life andpanionship from discovering that her parents died from a sudden invasion more than twenty years ago. She had no impression of her mother and father and was only respectful to them in her memories for bringing her into this world.


    More than the couple she had never seen in her life, she was more grateful towards the nuns and sponsors of the orphanage. These people were paid to care for them, but grace was grace and should be repaid with gratitude.


    However, the ones she really considered her family were not them, but the seven kids that had grown up and joined the army alongside her. They were all about the same age, with varying stories and backgrounds that only had the word ''unfortunate'' as amonality.


    Wang Yu Yan reckoned that even if she didn''t have magic that could speed up her thinking process and retain most information in her brain longer, she would never forget their names, their personalities, and habits.


    When the army learned of herputational capacity and strategic mind, the other kids were assigned as her guards and attendants.


    Unfortunately, as mentioned earlier, the battlefield was cruel. Three years ago, these guys died for being by her side. Several of them took the strikes and bullets for her. Like the guards that Nuwa had killed two days ago.


    It was that incident that caused the higher-ups to assign a double to her. Nuwa also killed this person out of anger from being deceived.


    Remembering it all put Wang Yu Yan in a terrible mood.


    "Are you really going to request public execution for those fae seized yesterday?" asked General Wang to her, his image projected by therge screen.


    The woman''s expression was still dark even after the sessful operation. In front of her were several documents, about the funeral of the deceased soldiers. Looking at the red stamp on the faces of her former subordinates, her heart felt heavy. It was not hard to guess why a heavy atmosphere still lurked around her.


    She replied, "Yes, General. I have already submitted the report. The announcement''s already been made and the media are excited about it. Once the word spreads to the fae''s side, it would be the best opportunity for us to lure the tiger out of the mountains."


    "I heard you sent an independent unit to a few key cities owned by the fae. Aren''t you the one disagreeing the most to Professor Li''s n?" The general was not invited to the secret meeting held by the President so he thought of his niece''s actions as something weird.


    Wang Yu Yan exined, "They would be more like scouts. My whole attention right now is on ensuring the enemies that disturb this city''s serenity and killed off thousands of people would receive their proper punishment." Thest sentence was said in an icy tone.


    "By the way, General, I would like to hold a trial for the negligentmander who permitted entry to those filthy things. May I"


    The topic was diverted and another serious exchange of words began between the two.


    Their conversation ended an hourter.


    Leaning his back on the wall was a man dressed in a soldier''s suit. Out of the corner of her eyes, Wang Yu Yan watched this person''s movement with wariness.


    The man was Jiang Li who suddenly volunteered to be a hidden guard on the day of the execution. Wang Yu Yan could not shoo him away. The other party did not seem malicious anyway and was only jokingly pestering her to be her master so she let him be and granted him a temporary bodyguard position.


    Of course, despite feeling that the mancked malicious intent, she did not let her guard down and never talked about or dealt with ssified information whenever the person was around.


    Wang Yu Yan''s heart said it was okay to trust since Jiang Li was also a human. But his logic dictated even humans were not trustworthy. The repeated encounters prompted her to look into this man''s detail to get more clues on his actual aim.


    Meanwhile, Mohan was immediately summoned by the Pontiff when thetter heard that he encountered the ice expert on his mission at the human territory.


    After the male lead finished his report, the beautiful man in a pristine white robe stood up, sighing.


    "I sent your squad in hopes you will bring back the other children. Howe it ended up with you sending more into their prisons?"


    To this, the kneeling male lead bowed his head to hide his cheeks that flushed in extreme embarrassment and self-loathing. The fae sitting before him was none other than the highest spiritual leader of their race. Any lesser fae granted an audience would only want to leave a good impression on the Pontiff. Mohan who felt like he had disgraced himself so much hurriedly spoke.


    "I''m deeply ashamed for failing you, Your Grace. I deserve death! Please punish me!"


    ''As if you''ll die if I say so,'' thought the annoyed Pontiff behind his smiling mask.


    "Stand up. You''ll get your punishment from your leader and military superior."


    Two fae leaders stood up and bowed. Mohan was from the n iming to be descendants of the Babylonian Fire God Nuska. Thetter was not as well-known as the other ancestors so, amongst the ducal families, his descendants were always ranking at the bottom. Perhaps because the two consecutive failures were deemed a great embarrassment, Mohan''s n leader was ring dangerously at Mohan, as if almost dying to strangle him.


    "Leaders, we can''t neglect the issues at hand." The Pontiff raised a hand to call their attention. Should I just visit this Beijing city to fetch the kids in person?"


    His question almost scared the people around him into pulverizing the long table. "Your Holiness! Please reconsider! Even if humans are weak, if you go there, they would definitely use some despicable methods to to"


    The priest was not courageous enough to mention the next word as if saying so was a very unforgivable crime.


    However, the unsaid word agitated everyone there anyway. Another retainer shook his head in protest. "No. We can''t allow any untoward things to happen to the Pontiff of our race."


    "Your Holiness, why care about peace talks with them? They have already overstepped their bounds. This one suggests to just sent the Supreme General to wipe out those humans!"


    "Yes! They want to execute a few of our nobles, we should just stop letting their entire race exist! If we destroy them all now, once the Paradise appears, we won''t have to worry about unstable factors!"


    In this gathering of priests and local nobles, the ones most enthusiastic about sending a punitive force were the family heads of the imprisoned faes.


    The Pontiff kept his warm smile as he changed the topic. "Fine, let''s discuss next the small problem caused by the other kid that returned... One of you reported a strange virus entered the city which can turn a healthy fae into a dance maniac dancing for a full three hours before suddenly dying of heart attack..."


    A noble from the pro-war faction offered his insight. "I believe it''s just a small problem. We can just iste the infected areas and have our scientists rush the vine. No matter what those inferior beingse up with, we fae can easily ovee them. But in my opinion, this underhanded attack is another perfect excuse to just stop coexisting with humans."


    The discussion continued. Most of the topics brought up were preparations for the imminent war and the next great immigration. When the fae people realized their Pontiff was actually serious about the nned visit to the other territory, it was already toote. An hourter, the Pontiff went missing along with the male lead and the Supreme General.

 Chapter 445: Wang Yu Yan (20)

    Chapter 445: Wang Yu Yan (20)


    Travel was ten times faster and easier in the thirty-second century. However, the Pontiff of the fae race did not immediately look for Jiang Li or the death-row prisoners. He also did not pay the Federation''s President a visit.


    In his mind, he thought, why would he bother with any of that when him not seeking out anyone in the human city didn''t mean others would do the same?


    Sure enough, his prediction that did not cost him any mental power came true. The one who noticed the Pontiff''s trespassing was Jiang Li.


    Actually, the news actually camete to Jiang Li since he also set up his informationworkte. By informationwork, he meant the little insects in the city. The idea was gotten from Margaret, of course, ''her'' incarnation who had mastered both eastern and western ck magic. It took several hours to umte enough magic power to get in touch with those little creatures.


    Dong Lan who knew that Jiang Li was not somebody only fond of ice magic did not guard against creatures that could not speak or be turned into strong familiars.


    And Jiang Li was not one to disregard a visitor.


    Since he still wanted to keep an eye on the viiness, he just brought her along.


    Of course, his thoughtless actions caused a misunderstanding to arise.


    Wang Yu Yan''s neutral gaze turned unfriendly when she spotted who they had to meet. Jiang Li had to admit the murderous look in her eyes was quite amusing. Even without the word leaving her mouth, it was easy to tell that she was already considering if the strange uncle always pestering her to be his disciple was a traitor of their race.


    Unfortunately, he was not one to exin unless necessary for diverting the plot.


    Speaking of the plot, had this girl investigated what he asked to? The Earth''s core, instead of cooling down, was growing hotter and hotter as a certain approached Earth. He wanted the girl to inform her President about it. Had she already informed thetter though?


    ''Sadly, even insects can''t approach that old guy. I would have loved to talk to the President through them if I could.''


    Minutester, Jiang Li and the girl walking stiffly behind him were ushered into a hotel room.


    Heaven knows how the Pontiff even managed to get a luxurious ce like this in the heart of the city. He was without means to make things go his way.


    Also, this irritatingly good-looking fae was somebody who could lie down in the streets with Wang Yu Yan and people would still choose to vite him first due to his otherworldly beauty. Who could tell just how confident this freak to actually sneak into enemy territory without even wearing a proper armor underneath his white robe?


    Jiang Li tried to guess what this person came here for.


    When the acting servant, the male lead, finished serving the tea, the Pontiff finally broke the pin-drop silence.


    "Exactly how long do you n to stay in this world this time?" His opening remark was nothing short of a surprise package for the three others staying in the room.


    The Pontiff was either an idiot to let others heard their conversation or he didn''t care since it was not about him. upational hazards, people might call this. He was used to blurting out the secrets of others.


    But Jiang Li was displeased and even though he was smiling, there was no mirth in his eyes when he looked at the stalwart Supreme General and frowning Mohan.


    "Have them go out."


    The Pontiff cast him a puzzled look. "Why?"


    Then looking at the other man''s expression, a funny thought came to him, and a corner of his mouth naturally rose. "You afraid you won''t prevail if I suddenly go crazy and choose to kill you?"


    ''Wow.... I didn''t know this is how a religious symbol should speak.''


    "I suggest you don''t give me a reason to change my mind." Jiang Li said in annoyance. He referred to not interfering with the oing war.


    The Pontiff nced at Wang Yu Yan. However, after a few seconds, he moved his gaze away. He was curious at first since his fellow transmigrator brought this woman with him. For a moment, he even doubted if his prediction had gone wrong. That ''she'' was already born. But Wang Yu Yan seemed to be not his own observation target.


    On the handsome and youthful face of the Pontiff was a contemtive look. He looked up and said, "My mistake for being too forward. Let me exin."


    "In a month or so, our race would have to leave for a prophesied ce that we called Paradise."


    "I know." Jiang Li nodded. "I''ve done my homework."


    The Pontiff pretended to not understand that Jiang li pertained to hypnotizing one of the fae city leaders to know why the esteemed fae race who was living peacefully in their other home suddenly decided to fly back to Earth.


    Wang Yu Yan stood behind Jiang Li''s seat. She perked her ears up upon hearing something new. For two centuries, the reason for the fae''s return had always been shrouded in mystery, so she was also curious about the topic. This Paradise that the Pontiff mentioned, could it be it?


    Jiang Liughed when he saw her expression. He suddenly remembered something as he looked at Dong Lan again. "Now that you said it, do you know? The humans of this have been wondering why your race returned. Because they have no idea, they just let their imagination run wild until they came up with some interesting hypotheses. Would you like to know an example of their interesting guesses?"


    "Go ahead." Dong Lan acted magnanimous.


    "The fae people heard that the remains of their beloved dinosaurs are being disyed in museums, so they chose to go back and collect them." Jiang Li gave the three faes a taunting smile.


    Wang Yu Yan who was attentively listening threw him an odd look.


    Veins also popped up on Mohan''s forehead. They felt like they were being mocked. Like hell their grand cause would be that vulgar and senseless!


    On the other hand, the Pontiff only smiled.


    "Let''s stop the useless chatter. I brought the issue up since the time is approaching. As you already knew about the Paradise, you should be aware how it would descend on Earth."


    "Oh."


    The Pontiff nodded without care for his people that got anxious for their spiritual leader''s casual disclosure of their race''s secret. "I don''t want a war. But even if I am the leader of the fae, I can''t stop it. Unless somebody from the human side also stepped up to pull the rein. Can you be the one to do it?"


    Jiang Li merely gave a small, indifferent smile.


    "Both of our races should get ready for migration so we should avoid losing precious resources on a pointless war. So be the representative." The Pontiff rified.


    ''So when did this bastard be an honorable person working for world peace?''


    The words spoken just now sounded funny to Jiang Li, especially when he recalled what kind of beings they were now.


    Jiang Li immediatelymented with faked admiration, "I didn''t know you have be this benevolent and farsighted. While the rest of your people n to wipe out the other race, here you are wishing for peaceful coexistence and sessful migration to a mythicalnd."


    "I just don''t like bloodshed." The Pontiff defended.


    ''Oh? But you are a tyrant in one of your previous lifetimes.''


    Once again, Jiang Li felt likeughing. However, he managed to stop himself and reply after putting on a conflicted expression.


    "So do I. But your request would mean I would have to stay longer. It''s excessive and burdensome. So, no."


    Jiang Li added, "Talk to the President of the human federation."


    A sigh reverberated after that. The fae conversing with him kneaded his forehead that seemed to have started to ache.


    "He''s not influential enough. He has no prestige on the fae''s side." Dong Lan said with a frown.


    Beside him, two other individuals stifled their sneers. The sole woman in the ce looked so offended and was ring daggers at the fae people.


    If Jiang Li had turned his head to her, he would have been amused. The Pontiff''s presence must have taken away the spotlight from the male lead, so she had yet to pay attention to Mohan.


    A moment of silence reigned beforeughter came from the man seated across the white-robed fae. "You know what? You''re funny. What made you think I have enough prestige?"


    "Well, I''m sure if you freeze an ocean or two, even our most prideful fae noble would be in awe of you."


    Jiang Li was really having fun with the ridiculous conversation.


    "For your information, I''ve only arrived for a little more than a week. My vessel is a weak middle-aged man, so weak that even if I go to Antarctica to train, it would be lucky if I only take more than a year to reach my previous level."


    Dong Lan took a deep breath and argued, "But if you use your reserve power, you won''t even take a second." He naturally heard about this from his irresponsible adoptive mother.


    Jiang Li burst intoughter again, but this time satirically. "Even so, who on Earth do think you are to request such a huge sacrifice from me?"


    "This preposterous---" Mohan, as a hotheaded youth fanatic of the Pontiff, wanted to roar angrily at the human for the disrespect he showed, but the one he deemed disrespected raised a hand to stop him.


    The look Jiang Li turned to the Pontiff screamed of danger. It was different from the murderous gaze the harmless Wang Yu Yan gave.


    Jiang Li was offended since Dong Lan dared to bring up his hard-earned points. He wanted him to spend it? On recovering some powers that he would eventually lose once he left this world? Dream on.


    The Pontiff furrowed his brows and exined. "I don''t need you to recover them. I merely gave a suggestion."


    Jiang Li quietly waited for him to say his next piece. The look he gave seemed to say if the other didn''t stop beating around the bush, he would just capture him or personally send him to the afterlife.


    "If you ept my previous offer, to represent the whole of humanity in a non-aggression pact, I would help you with one thing that only I, and my adoptive mother, could do."


    "Boastful im." Jiang Li sneered, since in a sense, there was also nothing he could not do, if he were to depend on the system''s power. From the beginning of his journey, it had been doing the same, peeking into the future or the past to deliver those sets of memories and plots to him.


    Dong Lan shook his head and exined. "You know it. It has always been my ability to glimpse at the past. Specifically, past lifetimes. I know there''s one lifetime you''repletely dissatisfied about. The world you went to after that one where we met as schoolmates in an inte addiction rehabilitation school."


    When the words rang in the ce, everyone else part from Jiang Li looked at the Pontiff like he was some sort of god. They ignored the part where he said ''school'' and focused on the mentioned ability. For them, those who could touch time and peek on the secrets of the future or the past were individuals worthy of veneration. But where had they heard of somebody who could even glimpse to one''s past reincarnations?


    Meanwhile, Jiang Li only fell silent, unimpressed. There were indeed worlds he wanted to go back to if he could. One of them was Na Yu''s, and the other, the Goddess''. His desire to know what happened to the unnamed Goddess was still strong even to this day.Because both people were ''her'' incarnations, the system always refused to let him see what happened to them after he left.


    But he was not that desperate since he could just go visit after the next world.


    He looked at Dong Lan strangely. He wondered, how could this guy aplish it? If ever he could, what price would this guy have to pay?


    As Jiang Li threw the fae a distrustful look, he said, "You''re making me confused, Dong Lan. While I decided to no longer do anything outside of what''s necessary, here you are doing the opposite."


    He added. "For a ce that you would leave after a few years or decades, why do you seem so willing to do so much?"


    "Feel free to guess." To this, the Pontiff only smiled and said.

 Chapter 446: Wang Yu Yan (21)

    Chapter 446: Wang Yu Yan (21)


    Somewhere outside that realm, in the void-like ce where the child spirit stayed, a soft humming sound briefly resounded. If one would light up his exact location, they would see an incredibly young kid looking to their location. His appearance was very adorable. He was even fully dressed in white, like an angel, and there was a thinyer of light surrounding him.


    Sadly, bars made of unknown ck metal confined him in ce.


    His eyes narrowing with suspicion at the image of the blue-eyed fae talking to Jiang Li.


    ''A week ago, I can''t give my host actual images of would happen to Wang Yu Yan because somebody''s interfering with me, and now they''re doing this?''


    ''The sloppy excuse the kid gave really makes me wonder about their motive.''


    Unlike Jiang Li, who possessed limited information due to being at the actual ce, the child spirit who could observe from afar easily caught the odd details.


    In this world, the Fortune-Teller''s son arrived several hundred years earlier. He was already the supreme spiritual leader before the fae god race migrated two hundred years ago.


    Now, this fae who led the wanton invasions and massacre said they don''t want war?


    Really, the wordsing out of this liar''s mouth were different from his actual actions.


    ''Why do they want to increase the difficulty of his mission and dy his departure from this world?'' The child spirit was very displeased and forwarded the issue to his current superior.


    Back to Earth.


    Jiang Li ultimately refused as the curiosity he harbored about Dong Lan''s intentions did not triumph over his desire to just stay in the shadows.


    From the beginning, he made it a rule that he didn''t want to stand out too much or bear any other responsibilities apart from preventing Wang Yu Yan''s demise.


    This was why the whatever bait, making him a hero or representative something, did not move him. Rather, it only sounded like beautiful nonsense to his ears. If he might say, he was more surprised that Dong Lan, who was also at least a millennium old monster, actually spouted those childish stuff. The suddenness of that person''s actions only made him wary.


    For starters, about the war who would believe a pact sign by two people would prevent the angry members of both side from triggering it?


    "This already the thirty-second century."


    Wang Yu Yan looked at the uncle standing behind her who spoke after sighing.


    It was already the time of the public execution. A tall cage shaped like a cylinder stood in the middle of an open amphitheater. Since the circr wall of the huge cylindrical cage was almost like transparent ss, people could see the fae people chained and bound inside it.


    Wang Yu Yan who had the honor of being in the VIP seats could enjoy the angry expressions on the fae''s faces, especially of the audacious b*tch who ughtered her precious subordinates. She was actually busy admiring the ugly look on the prisoners'' faces. That was until Jiang Li''s voice suddenly rang.


    He continued, "Yet they want to talk about peace when they had never even brought up the matter about the enved cities or the damaged territories. Don''t you think they are being ridiculous?"


    Wang Yu Yan silently shook her head.


    Her mind went back to the crazy meeting in the previous day and she could not help but ask, "Sir, is the enemy leader actually diverting our attention. All along their aim is to rescue these fae elites?"


    Unlike Mohan and the Supreme General, her memories of the conversation between Jiang Li and the Pontiff were not erased. Jiang Li did not have that ability while the Pontiff who had was sensible enough not to try anything funny to somebody protected by Jiang Li.


    As a result, Wang Yu Yan still retained memories of what they spoke about.


    "Most likely." Jiang Li replied to her. "As for the talk yesterday, it''s not nned. He can''t predict my future. Maybe because I insulted them a bit that he wanted to strike back by wasting my time."


    To thest part of his remark that was obviously made thoughtlessly, the girl refused toment. She looked around. After making sure there were no people nearby, she asked again, "Would Sir me me for reporting that to the higherups?"


    He snickered. "No. You already did it anyway."


    Although the woman lowered her head slightly, no trace of embarrassment showed on her face. She only did her duty as a soldier.


    Jiang Li who had once been a military officer had no ns to pursue the matter. He only said, "However, don''t expect me to join your operation, Colonel Wang. I''ve long made clear to you my objectives here."


    Wang Yu Yan''s eyes darkened as she nodded. "I understand."


    After conveying her gratitude, she went quiet.


    The execution proceeded and like she had seen expected, uninvited visitors emerged from the crowd. When the fifth fae was beheaded, the Supreme General who came as the Pontiff''s escort could no longer sit still. Mohan appeared too. The Pontiff was nowhere to be seen, but with just those two, they managed to throw the ce into chaos and rescued the remaining fae elites. The corpses were collected too.


    Wang Yu Yan joined the others in pursuing them and Jiang Li was always nearby, only caring about the viiness'' safety.


    Time flew by. Unlike the almost week-long disturbance created by the male lead and female lead for the past week, the chaos brought forth by the Supreme General finished up fast. The results made Wang Yu Yan''s hard-earned victory look pale inparison to a powerful fae''s casual one.


    Because the three and the rescued faes had sessfully gotten away, Wang Yu Yan''s mood plummeted down again.


    "Damn. That w*nch is too lucky." Her breathing became a bit ragged due to the anger and helplessness that she tried to contain.


    The encounter was brief, but the capabilities of the Supreme General, whose clothes did not even get damage by the various high tech weapons and offensive abilities hurled at him, got etched deeply in her mind. There was only one more thing that greatly bothered her.


    "The traps have all been evaded." This was the case even though she tried her best to make the formation''s functions andponents as vague and negligible as possible. "Is this because the other party has a great seer?"


    When Jiang Li looked at her, she was really frowning. Butter on, he realized the girl was only angry because Nuwa was destined to live, unlike the others who already died of poison before the Supreme General and the male lead couldpletely take them outside the city.


    Wang Yu Yan had all the prisoners be fed with poison to ensure they would die whether beheaded or not. Most likely, she did itst night, immediately after returning from the secret trip.


    Unfortunately, Nuwa was an unkible creature, the very reason Jiang Li did not bother trying to give chase with his all. Before the female lead had sumbed to the poison, she had been rescued and brought to the Pontiff.


    Wang Yu Yan had no choice but to advise the human forces to retreat.


    She then hurriedly requested an emergency meeting within the military to discuss the recent infiltration to the other side.

 Chapter 447: Wang Yu Yan (22)

    Chapter 447: Wang Yu Yan (22)


    The security was strict, so the few ck ants that sneakily got onto Wang Yu Yan''s clothes died before they could trespass into the meeting room. The ones on the other military officers did not survive too. And he, a rankless temporary guard, had no right to participate. This was the reason Jiang Li had no idea what they discussed.


    Therefore, he was just surprised when the girl came out of the room and asked in a low voice. "Sir, if I agree to be your disciple, would you give me the honor of hearing what you know about the fae race?"


    "... Huh?" If he were to describe what he felt upon hearing the question, it was indescribably.... awkward.


    That offer was made thoughtlessly as he knew that the woman would refuse. His prediction came true, no? She rejected twice.


    So maybe he was merely hearing things?


    "I remembered Sir saying that he valued my character and brain."


    Wang Yu Yan did not know where she got the courage to stare into the eyes of the person before her.


    Jiang Li raised a brow and briefly wondered if it was alreadyte to take back those words now. "What changed your mind? And shouldn''t you know that when I said that, I was merely joking?"


    "Yes." She acknowledged with a nod.


    A whileter, she added with a serious look on her face. "However, I''m sure you have a reason for doing everything you have done so far.."


    The man''s face showed interest and she took it as a cue to exin her words.


    "Sir. Your appearance at the ck hills, you said clearly your objective there is me."


    "And on the day of execution, you volunteered to be my guard. This means I am or was somebody you need to ensure the survival of. This made me guess about the reason."


    "The best I can think of is you know my parents and they made you promise something to them, or you are rted to the orphans who used to be my guards."


    "Although the chance is a little lower than the previous two, you might also be rted to one of the faces and names used as my fake credentials in the army and the government. But regarding why you continued showing up after knowing that my face is different, I have no idea... I said the chances are low since it''s illogical."


    The man dressed like a regr soldier-guard narrowed his eyes for a moment.


    He didn''t know what to say, since technically, one of her guesses was correct. The profile of the mother of his soul-client was used as Wang Yu Yan''s camouge.


    ''System, you see this girl?'' In his mind, he called for the system. ''If you have a new sister or brother in the same line of business, you should rmend her to be their host. She''s a lot smarter than me when I first started.''


    "" The child spirit in the void space got knocked out of his stupor.


    Remembering he was not muted, the child spirit replied, ''Host, I''m the only transmigration system in this multiverse.''


    ''I know. That''s why I said if you have a new colleague,'' said Jiang Li.


    ''Host, I doubt I would ever have one!''


    It was not clear if the grin formed on his lips were due to the system or Wang Yu Yan.


    To the woman still waiting for his response, Jiang Li shook his head. "While I''m entertained by your hypotheses, sorry, I''m not fit to be a teacher as my motive for trying to lure in a brainy disciple is to get a free maid."


    "... I see."


    He controlled ice. Her powers were enhanced calction abilities and absolute marksmanship. It was obvious that the uncle had little to nothing to teach her. So, Wang Yu Yan did not bother considering the proposal before.


    Now that she heard his real purpose, she felt that her choice was correct.


    But strangely, regret also overwhelmed her for a moment.


    Of course, she immediately suppressed the feeling as she had a duty to do. In just a few seconds, the woman''s mind went back to her objectives.


    The fae race''s Pontiff snuck out, so everyone''s focus momentarily shifted to locating him. This was why even though part of the manpower set out to contain the virus spreading and to chase the culprits that spread it, several human elites still managed toe back and delivered a crucial piece of information.


    This morning in the middle of a conference, these elites brought a human boy, aged sixteen. Because of him, the discussion abruptly ended and Wang Yu Yan approached Jiang Li.


    The said boy looked normal on the outside, just a little skinny. The only abnormality was the eyes that seemed to be that of a dead man. However, he was breathing, his pulse was okay. His sclera was still white. When the federation searched their database, it was revealed that the boy''s name was Hugh Dalton, from a city in the west part of the globe destroyed about seven years ago.


    Perhaps, if a few physical examinations were not conducted, the army higher-ups would have thought Hugh Dalton was merely traumatized by his days in the fae territory, hence the worrisome look in his eyes.


    However, a simple blood test proved that they were all thinking too optimistically.


    Wang Yu Yan gave Jiang Li a special privilege toe with her in the meeting that was heldter this afternoon as her bodyguard. The boy was presented to them again.


    Jiang Li immediately recognized what was wrong with the boy as he had seen his case before.


    " Puppet?" His voice carried both confusion and shock.


    When the voice echoed near her ears, Wang Yu Yan bowed. Everyone else in the ce recognized it too.


    She whispered in a low voice, "Humanity''s modern technology is not that ipetent to not know. We called it living metal..."


    The boy''s internal parts long turned into something else, something that only faes could control and make. Silver in color, even a drop poured in the mouth of a civilian would turn them into a puppet in just a matter of days. In the process, the drop would multiply and convert the red blood into liquid metal.


    ''


    For not stuttering out of anger and other extreme emotions, Wang Yu Yan''s adoptive uncle was already amazing.


    "The previous day, thanks to Colonel Wang''s report, one of the scout teams managed to sneak in and returned with this boy We didn''t know about it before because there''s no way to infiltrate the other side with the Fae Race''s Pontiff overseeing everything there. But"


    Wang Wei stopped speaking for a while topose himself, his tone heavy as he continued. "We suspect that all human ves in the fae''s ve cities have been turned into something simr to industrial puppets."


    The President was with them, chairing the meeting and amongst those present, his face was naturally the gloomiest.


    Nobody refuted the general''s words. It was something they did not want to hear as those present in the ce might have rtives or acquaintances amongst those turned into puppets, but they were not foolish to not recognize an obvious fact.


    After the long moment of silence, somebody from the military side requested solemnly.


    "President, please authorize the use of nuclear weapons."


    At this point, humans were not even patient anymore to wait for the strange virus to do the job for them.


    After closing them for almost two minutes, the President, Shi Nianzhu, tiredly opened his eyes. "Alright. I open the voting session. Generals and City Leaders, please cast your vote."


    Jiang Li had no say in it, so he kept his silence.


    He just looked at the boy again only to feel displeased. Normally, stuff like this wouldn''t affect him since witnessing death had long turnedmonce for him. Yet at this moment, he absolutely hated what the lifeless eyes of the boy reminded.


    He then moved his gaze to Wang Yu Yan''s side profile. She was emotionless, but the air around her spoke of something else - anger.


    After the talk centered on wiping out half the surface of the world before the great migration, she once again bowed at him. This time, she didn''t bring up the matter about being a disciple.


    "Please advise me what to do." Even though there were others around, it was quite absurd that such a person of her status lowered her head to a nobody.


    The boy was next to her since she volunteered the arrange everything for him.


    Jiang Li touched the head of the boy, sighing in his heart. The one in question was already dead. ''What else can I advise but prepare a funeral for him?''


    "Let the body find peace too."


    Wang Yu Yan silently did as he told and arranged the burial for the boy that Jiang Liter froze.


    The whole ordeal did not take more than ten minutes from her. She did not even move from her office and Jiang Li took that opportunity to ponder what to do next.


    "I''ll have to make a trip," he then announced.


    When nighttime came, Jiang Li paid a visit to the territories beyond the cities inhabited by the fae people. He had finally confirmed with his two eyes that these ces were no longer inhabited by humans anymore. Another specie that merely used the human as their shell moved like robots there, manning the factories, mines, and other industrial zones.


    Wang Yu Yan who forcibly tagged along spat out due to anger. "Breathing. But living no better than a dead one. A living dead made to work for the betterment of the fae race. If I don''t wipe them out before we leave earth, I''ll resign from the army and remain behind then!"


    He reminded the girl. "The blue-eyed monsters are quite the genius."


    "Genius is used for people worthy of admiration. Lunatic is what I called people that used their superior intellect to dishonorable matters," she said coldly. "The Pontiff we met is just as filthy."


    Jiang Li gave her a nce and then pondered.


    About these high-ss zombies Does Dong Lan know about this?


    Oh, wait. That guy was the highest leader. How could a Pontiff not know when he had been in power for more than two centuries?


    Then what process did those poor souls go through and how painful was it?


    "He''s indeed a hypocrite." Jiang Li became more annoyed as he recalled the peace talk attempt that the guy wanted to endorse to him.


    Besides the displeasure from hearing that a billion humans turned into puppets, the fact that the other party tried to deceive him and make a fool out of him also provoked Jiang Li.


    "Miss Wang." He turned to the woman aboard the same aircraft. There was another person with them in the flying vehicle, eyeing him with both wariness and curiosity. General Wang, her adoptive uncle. "I will begin shortly."


    Wang Yu Yan looked up from the screen and nodded. "I''m coordinating with the ones in charge of disabling the city protective shields."


    Their vehicle had just gotten past the nearest the third fae city.


    Dong Lan was already back to his Temple. Jiang Li sensed him there. The female lead was recuperating somewhere on the lower floors and the male lead was back to his family estate. After learning about the infiltration at the ve cities, the Pontiff must have worried that Jiang Li would try to assassinate him so he put up several enchantments and formations around his room.


    When Jiang Li found about it, he merelyughed.


    Given his miles of head-start, the Pontiff was really as unkible as the two leads in this world.But so what?


    He jumped out and stood at the ten-thousand-meter tall ice pir. It was normally a bit hard to breathe at that height but he was unconcerned since there was a small oxygen pack on his back. His eyes fell on the three cities below him, one official, and two, a dwelling for mindless ves.


    Jiang Li chuckled, pouring out five percent of his magic powers. In less than ten seconds it began to snow heavily. It enveloped all three cities near the coast. Hailstorm also raged across thend protected by barriers that were now gradually being covered by snow.


    An amused glint flickered in his eyes as he nced at the endless stretch of water on his left. He remembered a word the Pontiff mentioned when he tried to convince him to be a peacemaker. Resources.


    He wondered if it merely referred to the fae race members, the dinosaurs, and the human ves.


    Once doneying out the distraction, Jiang Li returned to the flying vehicle and flew south. Upon reaching what he believed to be the most ideal distance, he signaled the General to watch out for Wang Yu Yan. Then he turned around andughingly faced the boundless ocean, spreading his arms as he waited for the shadow above to reach the horizon. The magic power he emitted terrified the uncle-niece pair.


    ''I sincerely hope you survive, you scheming bastard.''

 Chapter 448: Wang Yu Yan (23)

    Chapter 448: Wang Yu Yan (23)


    Thousands of miles away, Dong Lan who had just finished officiating the requiem mass for the deceased young nobles suddenly looked up at the sky. A messenger came and reported to him the ice walls in the neighboring domed city suddenly extended several thousand meters upward.


    "Did all the human domed cities be enclosed in that wall?" He asked with a frown.


    "No Halfway at most, separating territories belonging to the north and south. Those deep into the fae territories are the ones almost enclosed."


    "Let me take a look at the map."


    The Pontiff stopped in the hallway and observed the projected image. He disliked the ominous feeling he was getting since he knew there was a reason for it.


    Unfortunately, he was not given any more time to ponder. Several city names popped up on his own screen, projected by the gem-like device embedded at the back of his hand.


    The voices came from spies who ount for him stuff the city mayors forgot or did not want to inform him, and all of them reported the same thing.


    "Your Holiness, suicide human squads infiltrated the city and temporarily disabled the domed barrier!"


    "Your Holiness, the infiltrators used nukes and injured several civilians and soldiers! Threerge districts were damaged beyond recognition."


    ""


    Then came the report from the city mayors who merely emphasized the assaults done using nuclear-powered cannons. They deemed the temporarily disabled city protective shields a minor matter since it could be repaired in an hour. The anger at seeing their subjects killed prompted them to request a counterattack using nuclear missiles.


    "Your Holiness, humans have gone far this time. How dare they break the agreement! Since they use nuclear weapons, we also have to fight back using nuclear weapons!"


    All of them were saying the same thing, greatly contributing to the Pontiff''s headache.


    The Pontiff repeatedly said, "Please don''t act hastily before I receive divine instructions from the gods, our ancestors! Prioritize pacifying the citizens and repairing the protective domed barriers. I''ll inform you as soon as I get a response from the divine ones!"


    "But, Your Holiness---"


    "Do as I told. Stop making me remember that the enemy elites had snuck in due to your negligence." Dong Lan coldly said.


    The city leaders and generals stationed in the assaulted cities obviously had many misgivings but didn''t dare anger the Pontiff anymore after they were chastised.


    When their faces vanished from the projected screen, Dong Lan pressed his lips into a thin line, watching as new faces reced them.


    There were also reports from some cities near the coast. "Greetings, Your Holiness. This is ''87'' from Coastal City 1. Somebody activated arge-scale ice and water magic near the coast. Seeking guidance on how to proceed."


    "This is from ve City 5. We detected arge magic power movement outside the city before it began to snow and rain hard."


    "ve City 7 also detectedrge magic power movement, but we can''t find the source. We humbly request instructions from Your Holiness."


    No answer immediately came from the white-robed man. Lost in his thoughts, he remembered what happened the previous day after he intentionally let some humans see the tragic state of the enved people.


    He was sure the one moving against them this time was Jiang Li.


    So was Jiang Li freezing the oceans now due to anger? Or transporting icebergs from the Antic and the south to smash the unprotected cities? If he did so, then he would have to drain his powers ''till thest drop, right?


    Then he, Dong Lan, would achieve his adoptive mother''s order, to dy that guy''s return to what he called the ''original'' world.


    ''This is ridiculous. So many people from both races have to be sacrificed because of that crazy woman''s whims.'' Dong Lan was secretly feeling bitter as he really did not want to do this, but like how Jiang Li had no way to go against the system yet, he also could not go against the Fortune Teller.


    The Pontiff considered many possibilities. The fortified walls were taken for a measure Jiang Li set up to prevent the fae from crossing the territory for some time. The snow and hailstorm a camouge to veil the attacks that woulde from the sky.


    "Is there any movement from the human side? Like them also preparing to fire nuclear missiles to our territories?" The Pontiff asked quietly after calling the spies in the human cities.


    "No, Your Holiness. At least, not yet."


    Dong Lan could no longer reply since he sensed an unusuallyrge movement of magic power in the southwestern direction. Once again, he urged the city leaders and other professionals to speed up the repair of the protective barriers. The various powerful nobles and experts were also summoned to standby.


    The Supreme General who heard of the summon also had the entire army ready to go out to war.


    Thenter, they learned how wrong they were about their Pontiff''s intention.


    It came without warning, probably because it was from several thousand miles away and the Pontiff had no way to look into Jiang Li''s future.


    The closest they could take as a warning was the loud rustling of waters that echoed in all directions. But by then, it was already toote.


    Not even ten minutes passed and every single being from the fae race watched as more than eighty percent of thend in this world got swallowed by the raging waters from the seven oceans. The towering tsunamis that came waves after waves came crashing down, wanting to annihte everything on earth.


    Dong Lan who predicted it toote could only focus himself on saving his own city. He soon discovered that the city''s protective shield could barely withstand the water pressure. Over sixty city leaders reported earlier about the attacks on their city''s protective barriers. It was not hard to imagine what happened to those ces.


    "Pontiff." The Supreme General sought him out with a pale face.


    The one called out had a very sour face. "We''re punished."


    There were several other high-ranking officers and nobles that ascended the tower with the Supreme General and all of them sported a disbelieving expression at what they heard.


    "It''s that god. He chose to side with the humans." The Pontiff''s chest heaved as he struggled to control his breathing.


    ''The bastard He obviously did not believe that the viiness has yet to be born. Or else he would not have risked wiping out my race.'' Dong Lan angrily thought, referring to the woman always reincarnating with him and Jiang Li.


    The fae Pontiff realized it was he who ratted it out. That what gave Jiang Li the clue was his treatment of the enved humans.


    What gave him the confidence that he would be able to deceive a transmigrator older than him?


    Now, it was really the seconding of the Great Flood.


    Faced with the wrath of nature, a catastrophic one like this, only eminent experts and grandmaster wizards of the race called children of gods would dare say they could survive.


    At this moment, the entire city was already submerged in water and all the citizens were looking up at the white crack lines forming above with fearful faces. Bots and experts were working hard to reinforce those parts that showed signs of breaking.


    All humans from the other side of the ice wall also came out and stared nkly at the billboards andrge screens above the streets as they watched several icebergs flew towards the ocean. The gigantic icebergs seemed to havee from the sky. In the live broadcast, they saw as the enormous ice struck the ocean at an angle that made sure a great tsunami of unprecedented scale would arise.


    The waters that rushed over the nearestnds and gradually swallowed countless peninss and inds roared like a forcefully awakened beast. Angered, so it could not be bothered with the creatures underneath it begging for mercy.


    The viiness capturing the sight also could not hold steady her smartwatch because of the emotions rising from her chest. The look she gave the giggling middle-aged guy leaning weakly against the wall of her flying carrier had undisguised admiration.


    Jiang Li noticed her and asked, "Admiring me now?"


    She stared nkly and forgot to answer.


    Heughingly shook his head, "Little girl, record it all cleanly. Andter give me a copy so that I would have something to watch once I depart for Antarctica to recover."


    Wang Yu Yan regained her senses and replied, "Okay."


    The fact that they both knew was that after this, those in the human territories would definitely make copies of the video shared with the various cities. The videos would surely be avable for free on the inte. Jiang Li could just log on and find a random video sharing site. But she knew the man wanted the original recording as a souvenir.


    Thinking of this, Wang Yu Yan stered a bright smile on her lips and said, "My photography skills are not that great, but I''d do my best to capture the best scenes."


    "Good." Jiang Li''s lips also curled into a grin before he closed his eyes and focused on resting. Wang Yu Yan exchanged looks with her uncle who was in the pilot''s seat.


    ...


    In the office of the city mayor that was temporarily taken over by the President, Shi Nianzhu also looked nkly at the video that the young colonel requested to be shown to all of humanity.


    Prior to this, he thought it was the scenes of the suicide squads bombing fae cities that she wanted to air, so he granted him permission.


    Who would have expected this was what she would surprise them with this?


    The people secretly invited before were also in the office and they all chatted with excited voices.


    "Wang Yu Yan hid so well!"


    "How did she do this?"


    "So the suicide squads disabled the city protective measures of some fae cities for the flooding?"


    "Wait! Who created those blokes of ice! Is it the same person who erected the ice walls?!"


    "Only the Wang uncle and niece pair knows. But I''m telling you, that endless wall appeared out of nowhere a week ago and it''s not that high. Overnight, it became that tall, imprable, and extensive! I suspect it covered half of the continent!"


    Almost two hours already passed since the Great Flood began. The waters traveled fast due to the force behind it and the height of the tsunamis generated. It had already reached the center of the maind.


    A general famed for his earth ability finally couldn''t contain his excitement andughingly went out. He had no whatsoever ns to join the strategists and other decision-makers in nning how to take advantage of the situation.


    Minutester, he was already before the sky-high wall made of ice and there were countless citizens moring behind him.


    From afar they could already make out the line made by the moving water and the sounds of waves on the other side. Humans were curious but did not dare go near even though some of them possessed flying vehicles. They were probably intimidated by the height and the chilling air near it.


    Zhang Youughed, pleased. "General thanks everyone for allowing me to be the first to take a look!"


    In no time, the general reached the top of the wall. His merry mood did not get affected by the coldness that enveloped his body and the harsh winds hitting his face. In fact, hisughter grew more boisterous when he saw the endless water that filled his vision.


    "Hahahaha!" The General''s thunderous voice echoed even to those several thousand meters below.


    "The motherf*ckers of the fae race finally got their retribution!"


    "Drown! Drown! Look who''s the rats now!"


    Stillughing like there was no tomorrow, he turned around and waved at the crowd on the other side. "People of mankind! What the hell are you waiting for?! Come up now!"


    "Join me here! I guarantee you the scenery here is the most beautiful in the world!"


    Because somebody finally took the initiative and some onlookers even live-streamed the scene, others from all parts of the human territories rushed towards the borders to also see what made the general look so happy. And soon, while faint cries echoed from the horizon, joyousughter and excited voices rang on top of the ice wall.

 Chapter 449: Wang Yu Yan (24)

    Chapter 449: Wang Yu Yan (24)


    Nuwa''s mission was a failure. There was no denying it. The proof was the people she was supposed to rescue ended up dead. She herself was poisoned, and worse, if not for the Pontiff and the Supreme General who saved her, she would have died in a foreignnd, executed by lowly humans.


    When did she go ever through such a humiliating experience?


    For goodness'' sake, she was a dignified daughter of a marquis! Her abilities ranked her in the top 5 of her generation. And she was a golden agent famed for never failing any mission before!


    So what did go wrong?


    When Nuwa woke up the next day she became more aggrieved as there was nobody around waiting upon her. The ce was obviously a hospital. But there was not even a single nurse around.


    The anger bubbling inside her chest seethed like crazy, directed to the humans who reduced her to such a miserable state. She was aware that she only ended up this way, neglected, because of the failure. Her family and superiors must have been very disappointed in her.


    ''Calm down, Nuwa.'' A whileter, she told herself.


    She tapped the back of her right hand twice and then a screen appeared before her.


    However, none of those she called responded to her.


    After removing her hospital gown and putting on herbat uniform, she walked out of the hospital room, looking like the world owed her money or something.


    Not long after, she met so many panicking faes and got pushed around so much that it no longer became a wonder how she reached the parking lot. The sight before her rendered her speechless. Chaos. Utter chaos. Screams and cries echoed from both fae people and dinosaurs no matter the direction she looked to.


    Nuwa looked up to see what rendered her fellows this way. Then her face lost colors.


    "Officer Nuwa!" A flying dinosaurnded a few paces in front and from its back, a soldier jumped off before saluting to her.


    Nuwa ran towards him and grabbed his shoulders, shaking him. "What''s happening!? Are we attacked by some grandmaster water ability user?"


    Instead of answering her right away, the soldier pulled her up onto the flying mount and joined the crowd fleeing towards the different shelters and ship in the center. While en route, he exined, "Officer, the whole fae territory is swept up in a great flood and the Pontiff calls for every soldier and expert to rescue people from the other cities. Our city is not the only one underwater now."


    His voice was very loud tobat the collective noises from their surrounding.


    "What?" The female lead could not suppress the shock in her voice. "Why do we need to go to other cities? Wait! I came from a mission and have yet to report to the Pontiff! Do you know if anyone from my squad survived?"


    Even though she could see that the entire city was in a chaotic state, she still did not forget to seek rifications on what happened to herpanions. It was not that she did not see her fellow secret agents dying from poison or des. The appearance of the Pontiff there just gave her hope.


    "I''m sorry, you are the only one rescued alive from the execution. The Pontiff cured you of the poison and left you in the hospital to heal the rest."


    "... F*ck." The word escaped her mouth involuntarily. She was frustrated.


    Countless thoughts ran into her mind that she did not notice when the two of them reached the white Pagoda in the central district.


    "Your Holiness!" Nuwa was flustered as she greeted the Pontiff who personally received every noble and high-ranking military officer at the open ground in front of the tower.


    Dong Lan nodded at her. Although she was not as high ranked as the others, he knew what the fae girl meant to the world''s consciousness.


    "Nuwa,e here," rang the stern and frigid voice of Marquis Wa, her n leader.


    Nuwa saluted to the generals and colonels first before heading to the Marquis. Out the corner of her eyes, she saw Mohan standing behind the Supreme General.


    "You must have been briefed of the situation beforeing here, right?" asked the n head.


    "Yes."


    "Your failure, don''t forget to atone for it through some noteworthy contributions. You just shamed our whole n."


    Nuwa bowed. All eyes went to the Pontiff, so nobody saw her clenching her fists, well, apart from Mohan who was looking at her with a pair of guilty eyes.


    Later, the rescue operationmenced, and ships of different sizes and models rushed out of the harbor.


    One of the great ability users of the fae race began to control the water around and opened up a path.Of course, with the violent current and volume of water pressuring him around, this expert was not able to maintain the path for so long.


    In but a minute the spot opened began to close and the fae controlling the water slumped down on the ground, exhausted. Thankfully, the fae soldiers and experts sent out had already reached the surface. Although they didn''t fear getting crushed by the still-raging flood, they wanted to ensure the vehicles were free of damage so they would be able to transport survivors back safely.


    For now, nobody had the leisure to think of dering war against humanity again.


    For the first time in a very long while, the fae race had to worry about survival.


    Jiang Li who caused the current plight of the fae race was still in the aircraft tailing the tsunami. Even though he never nced up once, he knew that the ice walls were already visible from their spot. He sensed them.


    A few minutes ago, he also sensed whenever the flood swallowed a city or two.


    He knew exactly when the city under the Pontiff''s jurisdiction also ended up in the belly of the nature beast called flood. And he had to say that ce was quite annoyingly lucky since the dome-shaped protective barrier was doing its job ensuring the survival of the people inside it.


    As expected, the male lead and the female lead''s halos were disgusting.


    "If I knew we could deal them a great blow like this, I would have long snuck big types of machinery into the south pole to melt the ice there when the ice wall first appeared," murmured Wang Yu Yan in regret.


    She was thinking the tragedy of the two great human cities falling could have been prevented.


    "This is already a great result."


    The one who spoke was the General. Jiang Li was still pretending to be asleep.


    "Sigh, I know. Sorry, uncle. I was just voicing out my frustrations."


    "Hmm."


    "I know I can''t do that anyway. The human territory has too many spies. And the ice wall created by Sir is not yet that high at that time," said the viiness.


    Bored with the seemingly endless expanse of water beneath them, she closed the camera function of her smartwatch and checked what was happening on the other side of the wall.


    Meanwhile, Jiang Li''s perception went to the nearest city again which was where Dong Lan resided. Unfortunately, he could not really pry since there were various protective barriers in the vicinity of the pagoda. He could only busy himself wondering what expression that faker was sporting.


    ''I stuck to my words and didn''t participate in the war. He''s got no reason to condemn me if we ever meet again, right?'' heughingly thought, having remembered their conversation on the night before the execution.


    However, his merry mood did notst long since he knew that the enemies were not really damaged. At most the pitiful zombie-like ves were allowed to have their eternal rest at the bottom of the ocean, and some fae cities were drowned.


    Dong Lan, the greatest headache in this world was still alive and would definitely bounce back soon to give him trouble.


    Jiang Li could not help but purse his lips, disliking how abnormal this world was.


    ...


    Like what the Pontiff concluded, Jiang Li did not really believe that ''she'' was yet to be born. He never believed in Dong Lan''s words. And when he talked to that person before he went to Antarctica, he was not yet senile to do the visit within the enemy territory for a flimsy reason.


    Naturally, he did it because he was not pleased that he could not ess the actual sets of memories. The system''s abnormality was also too obvious that all he could think of was those outsiders.


    After seeing the living metals that looked like a human, he had confirmed that ''they'' messed up with the World''s Consciousness again.


    Jiang Li also came up with this assumption having thought hard why Dong Lan persecuted humans when he was all human in all his previous lifetimes.


    ''Beginning from the Goddess'' world, they appear wherever I go, observing from a distance. Their purpose is unknown, but I can somehow feel that they are not really friendly, at least, not to ''her''. And I''m also sure that they will not be mere observers every time. The case this time proved it.''


    He could say with confidence that he was their target right now.


    After some careful deliberation, he closed his eyes and fell silent to talk to the system. Besides those people in question, the system was the only existence that could answer his questions.


    Before talking to the system, hemanded it to be unmuted.


    ''Hey, do you think I made a mistake in the previous world?''


    The system was silent for a moment. Then it replied in an awkward tone, ''Host, sorry, I can''t make a judgment about that.''


    The careful response from it made himugh inwardly. ''It means you think I did."


    ''... I already realized that the other party long predicted that I''ll soon go back to my ce of origin. Moreover, for some inexplicable reason, they are against it, and now they are being a pain.''


    In the previous world, he was a ghost but since he wanted to be with his wife legally, he spent some points to resurrect in an actual body. Had he not done this, he would have had the exact number of points needed to transfer to his original world. He also would notnd in the current trap-like situation.


    Wasn''t the system or its creator frustrated by his blunder?


    In curiosity, he asked again.


    ''I can''t contact for a day or two in the first week so I know you investigated why I only got a written narrative. Hey. Don''t you think it''s time now to disclose your findings to me?''


    The child spirit apologetically replied, ''Sorry, host.''


    ''You won''t tell me even if it''s just to make up for tampering with my memories before?'' Jiang Li pressed on.


    '' Host. It''s you who is forgetful. Please don''t throw shade on me,'' answered the child spirit.


    However, even though Jiang Li could not see it, he recognized the nervousness in that voice.


    It made him smile. He said, ''Really? But when you disappeared I talked to Dong Lan, and that son of the Fortune Teller told me I have memories that went missing unnaturally.''


    "???!"


    Of course, this was only a bluff. None of his previous conversations with Dong Lan ever included this topic. However, he was positive that his words held some truth in them. He had been transmigrating for so long so he learned to not always stressed himself with the plots. Sometimes he would wonder what his actual role was or looked back to his previous experiences.


    Just two days ago, Dong Lan reminded him of the Goddess'' world. Then he realized he actually had no idea how his time there ended.


    A few momentster, he further realized, actually, it was not that he had no idea. Out of nowhere, the feeling just came to him, that he did not die of some sort of illnesses there. So what really happened? If he could not recall no matter how hard he tried, who else could be the culprit?


    The system, or rather, the child spirit in the outer space, was dumbfounded. A few secondster, he threw piercing nces in the direction of the Pontiff.


    ''Those annoying outsiders!'' he hissed, of course, his voice only reverberating on his side.


    Jiang Li who was waiting for his reply cleared his throat as if to remind him.


    ''Host, to be honest, I didn''t find much. But I''m sure it''s their work, the foreign Goddess is wary of you, and the viiness. Especially now that you''re getting stronger.'' The reply sounded helpless.


    Jiang Li''s left brow arced up. ''That doesn''t make sense then. Once I go back, all my points will turn to zero, which means I''ll be weaker than a regr zombie.''


    The thing he just heard was not at all convincing.Unless they did not want him to be weak? But he once attempted to kill the Fortune Teller and now, Dong Lan, through the flood.


    Yep, given their questionable rtionship, it was making little sense.


    ''Host, we can''t predict the minds of a greater being.''


    Jiang Liughed. ''But I''m sure you still know something, right? Or is it my status?''


    He went silent for a while before he opened his eyes and looked up at the sky.


    Then he slowly worded, ''I thought it is not that low, remembering how scared you are of me on our first meeting?''


    ''So did I remember wrongly?''


    Up above, in the realm beyond the clouds, there was a little child that froze before wearing a nk expression.


    The child spirit finally recalled that this should be the world where his host would be at his most powerful. He got reminded of the fact that Jiang Li''s collected points, or divine energy, were not only enough to request a transfer to any world, but also to request an actual meeting with him in the void.

 Chapter 450: Wang Yu Yan (25)

    Chapter 450: Wang Yu Yan (25)


    For a whole millennium, the system apanied Jiang Li, so it was impossible for it to not pick up a trick or two from him.


    So what if it was true that he was indeed scared of Jiang Li at their first meeting? The child spirit was not willing to reply. So he maintained his silence and yed dead.


    The annoyed Jiang Li had no way to force it to talk, so he could only drop the matter and sleep for real. When he woke up, it was already almost a dayter. The exhaustion must have contributed greatly to this. He was in a luxurious room that seemed to be owned or rented by somebody with a fat wallet.


    Jiang Li could not help but click his tongue at this carelessness.


    ''Is this Wang Yu Yan''s house?''


    ''Host, it''s the General''s.''


    What was the difference? Jiang Li clicked his tongue again.


    ''What time is it now? And date too?''


    ''It is already the afternoon of the following day, 3:33 pm.''


    He quickly followed up, ''What are your findings when you investigated Dong Lan and his freak race?''


    He had hoped the other would instinctively answer, led by the rhythm. Unfortunately, the system died yet again.


    A minuteter, Jiang Li climbed down the bed and stood barefooted before the life-size mirror. His eyes were half-closed at first and his arms moved to do some light stretches. Yet not long after, his eyes opened wide to check what the mirror showed him.


    '' What the hell'' There he saw that he was wearing a ck robe that he absolutely didn''t own. His appearance was naturally unkempt as his hair looked like a bird''s nest, it looked annoying to him.


    But what really made him raise a brow and creased his forehead was his face.


    The one looking back at him was not a tan-skinned guy in histe forties. The mask was clearly taken off by someone.


    Yet even though he was supposed to look like his soul-client now due to the disappearance of his mask, instead of a strict schr-like middle-aged man, the face reflected in the mirror was a young man in his mid orte twenties. It was the younger version of what he customized through the face-changing mask. Why was that so?


    ''System?'' Faint annoyance crept up on his face.


    He did not know whether the damn thing was taking revenge for being asked something sensitivest time. But when Jiang Li crossed his arms and red in front, the reflection also followed. When he frowned, it also frowned. It was troublesome since it gave him no choice but to ept that he had been had and most likely, somebody already saw this face.


    "It''s nice to see you awake now."


    Sure enough, a soft voice rang from the doorway, and without turning his head, Jiang Li knew it was Wang Yu Yan. Seeing that there was no hint of shock in her face, it was apparent that she was one of those who might have seen his true appearance.


    Her figure could be seen through the mirror. And for once, she was not wearing a military uniform. She wore a casual dress shirt and a long skirt. Her long brownish hair that reached past the shoulder des was down. Her vibe now could make one feel like she was justzy to tie it. There was also no trace of makeup on her face, not even lip-gloss.


    With her looking like that, even if the system did not say this was her home, Jiang Li would have easily guessed all the same. The usually alert viiness looked so at ease and carefree in the ce because she was one of its owners.


    "Good day." He greeted her perfunctorily.


    "Yes." She said with a nod.


    Jiang Li inspected what he was wearing and then looked at her. "Can you exit for a while? I don''t think we should talk while I look like this."


    "I don''t mind though."


    ""


    ''I don''t know if she means it or if she''s just joking. Oh, wait, thisdy knows humor?''


    Had he been not bothered by his face, he might haveughed and thought too much about the girl''s words. But now, he shook his head and created a meter thick ceiling-high ice wall right before her. Then he marched into the bathroom.


    On the other side, Wang Yu Yan turned round-eyed with surprise and her body instinctively moved back a step. After staring at the smooth icy surface for almost a full minute, her initial befuddlement disappeared, reced by the amusement that shed across her beautiful face.


    ''Shy?''


    ''No, probably bothered by the taking off of his mask?'' She wondered, thest part inferred from seeing him stand before the mirror.


    Since Wang Yu Yan had no way to see through the new walls, she just stood there, leaning her back on the opposite wall, passing the time with browsing news and articles on the inte.


    Inside the shower room, Jiang Li finished freshening up, but to his bemusement, there was actually no other set of clothes in the room apart from the bathrobe.


    What now, then? Parade his nakedness outside or still wear a revealing bathrobe and then be cut down for being a pervert?


    A corner of his lips convulsed, and he was almost forced to exchange a point with aplete casual outfit. Though of course, in thest second, he backed out, musing that buying an outfit with points was like exchanging several gold bars for a piece of bubble gum.


    "Miss Wang, may I trouble you to bring me any set of clothes?" he said after lowering the height of the newly built wall so that sounds could pass through.


    Wang Yu Yan wanted to say she would not be affected since she had long gotten used to seeing the upper bodies of the soldiers in the army. However, her voice could note out for some time when the unsmiling eyes of the man greeted her. Who knew if he did it deliberately, but a part of his naked shoulders were showing as he moved the towel to dry his hair.


    The face was really not that much inferior to average-looking fae, which meant he was that handsome. Wang Yu Yan thought maybe this was a natural perk of being a god.


    But the muscles she saw below the neck were a bit unsightly. She didn''t know the body itself was borrowed and he had yet to bring it to shape due tock of time, but for her, he was annoyingly skinny.


    "Hold on." She tapped on her phone for some time and then a humanoid robot came over with a change of clothes in its hands.


    Several minutester, they could finally face each other with Jiang Li appearing decent. The mask could not be found anywhere in the room so he no longer bothered with disguising his face.


    Another half an hour passed.


    Who knew which bold genius built them, but apparently in just a day that he lost consciousness, benches already lined the top of the ice walls. Since each of them were made out of sand and soil, he was sure there was only one perpetrator and probably an expert at that. Anyway, the sight surprised him a bit.


    ording to Wang Yu Yan, the whole border spanning thousands of miles had these sophisticatedly designed benches. She confirmed his suspicion when she said the ones who made them was a general called Zhang You, one possessing control over the earth element.


    "The view here is pretty boring," hemented after looking at the waves for more than five minutes.


    "Boring as it may look like, many peoplee over to look at the waves that drowned the enemy territory," said Wang Yu Yan. She preferred to stand than to take a seat. She didn''t forget to add, "Of course, they also appreciate the legendary walls that held these fierce waves in ce."


    With one corner of her lips raised, she asked curiously, "Will you despise us for gloating over the enemy''s misfortune?"


    Jiang Li gave her a tired look. What kind of question was that?


    "Girl, it''s not very smart of you to ask the one who made this all possible in the first ce."


    "I was merely considering that perhaps, this is not the reaction from humanity that you expected," she defended herself.


    "Well, I never really considered how you guys would react apart from being happy to be alive." When Jiang Li roamed his eyes around, everyone else in the ce looked happy and content even though they were shivering from the cold. Laughter could be heard from time to time.


    He nonchntly added, "I just want to remind you. It''s not advisable to celebrate too long. Give those faes a week or two and they would definitely knock on your doors with all sorts of weapons in hand."


    She shrugged at him. He stood up and climbed into the backseat of the multipurpose vehicle, and the girl followed.


    Wang Yu Yan actually did not need this reminder, since she and the others had already predicted it.


    The fae''s territories were all submerged in waters which was not good for their race. Like humans, fae needed oxygen to survive and if they stayed underwater, while the tools they had could generate it for the city, it would consume precious fuel and other resources. There were other inconveniences that would torment them in the long run. Of course, they would want to move out of there.


    Yet if they wanted to leave, the human territory was the only ce they could go.Considering the feud between the two races, the fae race would definitely try to take the cities for themselves and enve humanity.


    Wang Yu Yan thought for a moment before slightly raising a hand like a student, "Sir, may I know when this flood would recede?"


    "In two weeks or so," he estimated.


    "Sir, my memories are intact so I know those faes are aiming to enter a mythical ce in that same span of time." As the hovercar descended, Wang Yu Yan blinked her eyes and asked, "Should we get ready for an attack or should we just begin the migration?"


    Jiang Li gave no opinion. The help he gave was already enough. He would not participate in the next stage. Coz well, it was not like he had the powers or authority to do so.


    ''Now should I wait a week for at least half of my powers to recover? Or pester this woman to apany me to the south pole?''

 Chapter 451: Wang Yu Yan (26)

    Chapter 451: Wang Yu Yan (26)


    Jiang Li''s identity did not reach the ears of the other higher-ups of humanity despite everything he had done the day prior. All the people of the world knew was that a god descended to punish the fae race. This god was on the humans'' side, and he had given them his blessings to win the war.


    Wang Yu Yan who knew the truth smiled in satisfaction as the rumors and hearsays spread. She was behind it all because she was aware that Jiang Li didn''t want to be tied down by unnecessary connections.


    "By your request, not even the president is aware of your name," she said after they stopped by a restaurant to eat.


    When they were about to go back to the car, Jiang Li noticed the building in front and realized that this was really the central district. The auction house which was a very nostalgic ce for his soul-client lied before him and he couldn''t control his urge to check out the ce again.


    Wang Yu Yan was naturally curious. But she was not one to ask, especially if the matter seemed too personal and had no rtion to her work. The only thing she did was to tilt her head and show him a confused expression when he began chuckling at the ongoing auction of antique items.


    The two were standing at the very back of the lively hall. Jiang Li who saw the face she was making leaned closer to her ear and softly whispered, "Look. All items are being auctioned and sold for more than a million. But let me tell you, none of those cost 10 federal dors a thousand years ago."


    "Really?" Wang Yu Yan''s eyes widened at the amused guy.


    ''How did he know?''


    She was not present at the first meeting between Dong Lan and Jiang Li otherwise, she would have thought of it as a given since there he had hinted himself to have existed for thousands of years. But this did not mean that she totally had no idea. Remembering the ridiculoustter part of the conversation between Dong Lan and Jiang Li on the night before the execution of the fae elites, the Pontiff seemed to have mentioned something about reincarnation.


    ''Hmmm. I used to wonder if reincarnation exists, but now that this person confirms it before, I now wonder what kind of life my past reincarnations had.''


    Wang Yu Yan entertained the ridiculous idea for a moment before erasing it from her mind.


    Right then, Jiang Li nodded at her. "The fifth item from earlier, the painting, is a fake, it should be something forged by a skilled scammer. That ne made of wooden beads won over by that fatdy, while it''s not a fake, the history is. Princesses from Chinese dynasties don''t really wear them because they''re not monks after all. What''s preferred at that time are essories made of jade and other luxurious looking materials. As for that notebook well, that one, we can say it barely qualifies as a valuable antique since it''s a diary of somebody from the 20th century. It has evidence of an ancient writing system and written culture."


    "You''re good at this." Shemented after a few seconds.


    "Well, I would be ashamed of my age if I was not."


    Heughed and Wang Yu Yan stared at him for a while.


    Without waiting for the auction to end, Jiang Li turned around and left the area with Wang Yu Yan.


    Jiang Li chose to stay in the city for another day. As for Wang Yu Yan, she went out in the afternoon. Her day off that began the noon of the previous day had ended and now she had to go back to the army to work. Jiang Li followed her, of course, knowing that she would not go home until her next day off that no one knew if she would get again this year.


    On their ride to the headquarters, she turned her head to him with narrowed eyes.


    "Hey, Sir. I have a question."


    "What is it?"


    "This just came to me randomly, but now that I think about it, none of my advisors and guards protested whenever I brought you into a meeting or a big event. Did you"


    She was wondering what he did. But couldn''t say it outright.


    Several seconds passed and his silence confirmed that he either hypnotized the other soldiers or made himself invisible to them. Wang Yu Yan red at him. If it was thetter, didn''t it mean to her subordinates, she always looked like somebody talking to air?


    "They''re hypnotized to not mind my presence around you." Having guessed her mind, he rified.


    "Really?"


    "Up to you whether to believe or not."


    For a full minute, Wang Yu Yan looked at him with distrust, her expressions changing from narrowing her eyes to knitting her brows.


    Afterward, she stopped looking at him. ''I''ll just hope he''s no liar.''


    With that in mind, her gaze slowly returned to normal. Then she asked with curiosity. "How about the president? He has a high aplishment in mental defense. Did you also manage to influence him?"


    "Maybe."


    Jiang Li inwardly shrugged since he didn''t care much about who would or would not remember him in this world.


    They arrived in the destination and Wang Yu Yan was immediately ushered into the testing arena. There, she saw the President who personally came over to visit and wee her return.


    "Colonel, it''s nice to see you back."


    Wang Yu Yan''s conjecture was proven correct when she saw Shi Nianzhu looking at Jiang Li with mixed emotions.


    "President Shi." She awkwardly bowed to the President, thinking to herself, ''Of course, they would suspect anybody suspicious around me.''


    The Federal President was naturally an intelligent person so he knew he should not provoke somebody with dubious origins who could influence nature that badly. Yet his position did not allow him to not attempt to pull in a god-like individual to their side. After all, humans had always been at a disadvantage. Faced with a person who could reverse their situation, as the President, how would he answer to his people if he let the person slip away?


    Shi Nianzhu was actually in trouble. He knew that humanity was its most dangerous time.


    The preparation for the migration was going smoothly. The former presidents were not idiots too so they knew the entire race would eventually be forced out of the. They were merely fulfilling the sentiment of the people who wanted to put up a fight before conceding Earth to the superior fae race. But as early as 150 years ago, the production of spaceships already started.


    The incumbent President estimated that in a month, all preparations would finish.The problem was this. Would the fae race who was now desperate fornd and resources give them that much time?


    After throwing Jiang Li a nce, Shi Nianzhu looked at Wang Yu Yan, nodding to ept her salute.


    Wang Yu Yan was not a fool to not read the message in the other party''s eyes so she snuck a nce at Jiang Li.


    However, she saw that he really did not intend to associate himself with the President. He even excused himself when the greetingster turned into a serious discussion. Other important people had arrived to join them.


    When Jiang Li left, Wang Yu Yan felt relieved.


    She was loyal to the federation and thus there was no guarantee that she would not bepelled to divulge Jiang Li''s identity to the President once asked directly.


    With him gone from sight, it became easier for her to direct the conversation to other important matters.


    The training arena where the army tested new equipment and battle robots became shrouded in a gloomy atmosphere in just a few minutes.


    The fears of humanity''s leadership became reality.


    A day passed and as predicted, the fae race immediately managed to gather their forces. They wanted to steal humans'' territory and enve them. Without warning, they appeared at the borders fully armed.


    The only good thing was that the walls were sealed off by the military the previous night under the order of the President. There were no civilians in the ce. The people that were originally protesting at the government''s actions promptly shut up and then praised them for their foresight.


    However, humanity was still not sufficiently prepared.


    Seeing the huge pieces of machinery and the endless rows of modern warships, everyone was intimidated. Many began to cry, fight, pack up their things, or do crazy stuff just to be able to flee. Despite the great flood days ago, humans still thought the fae were above them and that now they were here to ughter them all.

 Chapter 452: Wang Yu Yan (27)

    Chapter 452: Wang Yu Yan (27)


    The skies became darker not because of the weather. Shadows covered the city from above. Ominous howling from engines and war beasts echoed without pause.


    Faced with a great threat that wanted to erase them from Earth, humanity also brought out their weapons, and now every inch of thend and the air was crowded with soldiers, floating cannons, ships, flying robots, and other weapons.


    Although caught off-guard, they were prepared to fight to death.


    Of course, there were still people who hoped for the war not to happen.After all, they knew, even with the fae army reduced to half, humanity would still lose.


    When both parties had yet to open fire, Shi Nianzhu made a territory-wide announcement targeted at the enemies.


    Dong Lan listened to it with a contemtive look put on.


    The Pontiff and the others who knew the humannguage understood the opponent wanted to threaten them with the mighty being that flooded the entire fae territory.


    However, under the leadership of the Pontiff, nobody responded.


    It did not help that many amongst the nobles not amongst the higher-ups or elites of the government and the Temple did not bother learning the humannguage. When the announcement rang, they did not get a word from it at all, nor could they be bothered to understand.


    They were the most enthusiastic ones when the Pontiff signaled the attack.


    Seeing this result, the President fell silent for a few minutes before he gave an unexpected order.


    "Have Wang Yu Yan join the frontline," said Shi Nianzhu, his tone filled with finality.


    For this order, he even argued with the militarymander-in-chief.


    He murmured to himself upon receiving disbelieving gazes of his subjects. "This is for the sake of humanity."


    No one could tell for sure if he was convincing himself or those around him.


    ''Let''s all hope the miracle-maker would make a move again once Wang Yu Yan is in danger.''


    The President made that decision despite the opposition from his advisors. He wanted to have the least number of casualties possible and a distracter big enough to give time for humanity to enter outer space.


    Even though Jiang Li was not as intelligent as Wang Yu Yan, he had not lived thousands of years in vain. The President''s intention for assigning a strategist on the front line was clear as day to him. And he knew it was definitely done out of desperation.


    The person must have guessed that he was guarding the woman, or blindly betted that he would care for her life and death on the battlefield.


    ''They''re smart,'' he said to himselfughingly.


    Wang Yu Yan obediently followed the orders and arrived at the dangerous zone where the battle already started. Her mind was on plotting for humanity''s survival and contemting about the sudden transfer.


    Hearing his words, Wang Yu Yan looked up and saw the man looking out the window. She inwardly sighed.


    About the transfer order, she was not an idiot to realize what Jiang Li realized. And the sad thing was, she could not not follow.


    Moreover, her brain too was telling her something despicable, yet reasonable.


    To take advantage of the man''s suspicious obsession with protecting her.


    Loud, chaotic sounds from the battle ahead made way into her ears. The smell of blood assaulted her nose. As she raised her weapon and listen to the reports flooding her, she heard a faint voice inside her head that was different from the rest. The words her mental devil was spouting were not full of seriousness and urgency, but malice and temptation.


    ''He caused the war to break out earlier than expected. Don''t hesitate anymore! Use him. This is all for the greater good,'' it said.


    It was urging her to forget how the great flood sank one of the hidden trump cards of the fae race, the transformed human ves. To forget that many resources and manpower of the fae race also got destroyed by the waters.


    She momentarily felt dizzy. ''Get a grip of yourself, Yu Yan. If the war proceeded without his intervention, humans would not even be able to withstand the first wave. We would be annihted by the dinosaurs and living metals.''


    The viiness closed her eyes.


    However, before jumping off the battleship to join the fight below as one of themanders, Wang Yu Yan nced at Jiang Li.


    She did not say a thing or make an unreasonable request.


    But this did not change the fact that she jumped.


    Moreover, before doing so, she did not tell the man that he already did enough for them, that it was okay not to join the war.


    Jiang Li watched her for some time before heughed. Then also jumped down. The relieved but guilt-ridden gaze that Wang Yu Yan gave him as she fell did not escape his notice.


    However, he had no whatsoever intention to y their game of war. Not even for the viiness.


    ''A thousand meters off the ground, meaning we have about fifteen seconds before impact.'' He estimated.


    Jiang Li''s voice rang echoed faintly in Wang Yu Yan''s ears, almost drowned out by the deafening whistling of the wind.


    "See youter. I''d first go see some really important people."


    Wang Yu Yan froze when he suddenly flew in a different direction, shortly disappearing from her sight.


    ''He left?''


    She was so dumbfounded that she almost crashed to the surface for not paying enough attention to hernding site.


    A momentter, as the woman gasped, trying to calm down her racing heart, she thought bitterly.


    ''I should have known. There''s no way we can manipte somebody way beyond our league.''


    Jiang Li ended the war in less than an hour.


    However, it was not in the way everyone else who knew him hoped. The territory still ended up in the hands of the fae, the entire humanity forced to leave. For thetter race, the only good thing that happened was that the casualties did not reach more than ten thousand and everyone else was given enough time to evacuate.


    However, when a space shuttle came to fetch her, Wang Yu Yan chose not to board it. She looked for Jiang Li, the guy that bought her race the time to migrate over to outer space.


    She found him sitting on the ground cross-legged. He appeared so bored as he looked up. On the other hand, Wang Yu Yan''s back became drenched in cold sweat upon seeing that facing him were thousands of huge creatures and oddly-shaped battleships.


    How could this person maintain such a face considering his situation?


    "Sir," she called out in a quiet tone.


    Jiang Li''s hunched back slowly straightened. He turned his head, looking over his shoulder "You''re still here?"


    Judging from his expression, it seemed that he was not pleased to see her.


    Wang Yu Yan sensed a few cannons and guns aiming at her so she made sure to activate her shield. Then with a stiff face, she replied. "My race is grateful for Sir so I stayed to convey our gratitude."


    Fifty minutes ago, the fae race suddenly stopped attacking. No one from the human side knew the reason. But instead of counterattacking or provoking them to resume the attacks, Wang Yu Yan advised the President to take advantage of the situation to fly every Federal citizen to space. Shi Nianzhu only deliberated for a minute before heeding her idea.


    Now, things hade to this. There were barely any humans left on the. Probably only the soldiers who chose to standby while remaining spaceships were taking off. Then there were Jiang Li and Wang Yu Yan.


    Although like others, she wanted to survive, deep inside her, there was a voice saying she would not be able to live with dignity without properly apologizing and returning the favor to him.


    The man threw her another nce. Standing before thousands of monsters and enemies, he could see that the viiness was not as calm as she wanted others to believe.


    "How''s humanity''s gratefulness rted to leaving you behind?" he asked, amused. Jiang Li never thought something illogical could actuallye out of the girl''s mouth.


    "Because..."


    The viiness closed her mouth after. She was not really someone easily stumped in a talk. But sometimes, when feeling guilty, humans would just find it hard toe up with anything besides excuses or stupid-sounding arguments.


    Jiang Li''s eyes went back to the ones lining up in the front. The eyes of the fae race members there were not friendly. Dong Lan for example, looked like he was dying to kill him. But they did not dare move.


    He said to the viiness, "I know there are private pods left at the central district that you can use. You should leave."


    She stubbornly shook her head.


    "Sir, I specifically looked for you to bring you away." Finally, she replied.


    His eyes replied as he pointed at the forces half-circling him. Without him speaking, she could see him asking if she could.


    Wang Yu Yan took a deep breath and asked, "May I know what''s the situation here?"


    "Sure." He nodded nonchntly and answered, "We''re at a stalemate, although they wanted to kill me, since I just turned the person the Pontiff cared about into a human."


    Jiang Liughed upon remembering the face of his annoying fellow world-hopper when Mo Han lost the beautiful sapphire glow of his sclera. Yes, it was the male lead.He turned him into a human.


    Because he put an effort in raising his voice, the faes turned to him with angry faces. Since he knew theirnguage, a perk that came with possessing his current body, he could understand their words and knew that they were madly cursing him to die. The faes felt badly insulted that somebody belonging to their race, a noble no less, turned into a lower being.


    Meanwhile, the Pontiff was angry for another reason, because he knew who Mo Han really was and what role he yed in this world. Even now as he tried to cure the Blessed Child, he could hear Mo Han begging to turn him back into a fae. Surrounding the youth and the Pontiff were several magic circles and formations that lit up the deck of the fae race''s gship.


    "Jiang Li!" Out of frustration that his efforts for a full hour resulted to nothing, Dong Lan spat out the name in fury.


    Wang Yu Yan never thought she would ever witness the prided seer, healer, and leader of the enemy race trembling like mad. All sorts of weapons were raised and aimed at the two of them. She looked nervously at Jiang Li and saw that the person was the opposite of her. He calmly pointed at the thick, sky-high wall of ice before turning to her.


    He exined, "It''s okay. They won''t dare since they know I can easily copse that thing over there. You see, for some reason, they valuend more than anything else now."


    The woman gave the enemy forces a look. The shadows engulfing them from above were massive, but the blue wall towered behind them and appeared more intimidating.


    Now she knew how the man bought them time.


    However there was still one thing she did not understand. "If you can turn a fae into a human, why that noble youth then?"


    Jiang Li did not answer. He taunted Dong Lan and made it appear like he did it on purpose, like he knew something more about the world''s consciousness and the leads that the other party did not know. In reality, he was just jesting.


    At his age, he was still someone who did things on a whim, a proof that not all people turned calctive the older they became.


    But who would expect that the Pontiff would give that kind of reaction?


    Maybe there was really a secret behind it that he just did not know?


    ''I never encounter a non-human protagonist before, so maybe there''s really something deeper into it.''


    ''But so what?''


    ''That fellow prophesied the male lead as someone who will y an important role for the fae race. I helped him make it a reality. He served as a distraction and a reminder of what the current I can do Oh whatever, I know it''s a weak argument.''


    Wang Yu Yan took his silence as him saying not to pry for something she should not know.


    Of course, she was still puzzled about the situation. There was also one thing that she disliked to consider but just wouldn''t stop popping up in her mind.


    ''Why did you wait for several thousand soldiers to sacrifice themselves before making your move? Why didn''t you do this the moment the enemies arrived?''


    She did not know that before the fae race arrived, Jiang Li was weak, that it took him some time to decide to spend some points in his recovery.


    Thankfully, her head was still sound, and she realized that Jiang Li was not like her who was obliged to work for humanity. The words never left her mouth. She remembered him saying that he could change a person''s race. That ability she didn''t believe any human or fae could do that.


    Behind her echoed the deafening sounds of another starship taking off. In her recollection, that one was truly thest remaining space vessel of the Federation.


    "Sir, it seems we really can''t leave Earth anymore," she muttered.


    In just a minute, the massive thing vanished from sight.


    Jiang Li smiled and stood up. He looked unconcerned by the fact that he would not be able to leave the.


    Without patting the dust off his clothes, he yelled to the Pontiff, "The agreement starts here."


    The departure of thatst spaceship marked the end of the war.


    "Bastard," grumbled the Pontiff.


    Dong Lan heard him and felt tempted to signal the attack. He almost agreed when Jiang Li showed his back to them and the Supreme General suggested through gritted teeth, "Your Holiness, let''s take this chance to kill him."


    However, the Pontiff controlled himself and did not give a reply to the Supreme General.


    When others urged him, Dong Lan coldly said, "I have already predicted that he would destroy the wall to drown the remainingnd with water once we make a move."


    The angered Duke, father of Mo Han, argued.


    "Do we have to be this careful? He might just be bluffing! He might not be able to tumble those walls down within a short period of time."


    Dong Lan was not looking pleased with the situation. He silenced the protesters with a re.


    In actuality, he brought his race to attack because he sensed that Jiang Li had not much divine power left on him. He wanted to force the man to consume his backup points. At the same time, his race needed a dry ce, a ce that would not force them to spend the resources remaining in them.


    However, a moment ofcency also made him overlook what was keeping this coveted territory from being flooded and who created them.


    The Pontiff silently returned to attempting to reverse Jiang Li''s spell on the male lead. Mo Han must be a fae again to fulfill his actual role. To not be bothered by the others, the Pontiff ordered them to begin settling their people in the vacated cities.


    Meanwhile, Jiang Li had a calm face as he walked towards the vehicle that he saw parked nearby. Wang Yu Yan boarded the same shuttle, assuming the role of a driver.

 Chapter 453: Wang Yu Yan (28)

    Chapter 453: Wang Yu Yan (28)


    Since they left, the entire region fell in the hands of the fae race.


    Several hourster, Wang Yu Yan looked on from a high northern mountain, watching her former home became the fae''s. The vehicle shielded her from the cold and the violent gust of wind.


    She felt bitter, but she was not resentful. This was already a much better oue than several million humans dying for a lost cause.


    She knew Jiang Li traded the territory for the time her race much-needed.


    The man resting at the backseat spoke.


    "This is part of the agreement."


    Wang Yu Yan pursed her lips then bowed her head, "I see."


    He borated, "They let your race escapes to the outer space, I let them have the vacated cities. I can''t destroy the blockade to flood them."


    ''So he is not really human,'' she confirmed mentally, noting in her mind how he addressed himself as someone not of her race.


    "In a few days, this will most likely bepletely inhabitable. In other words, you''d definitely die."


    When he spoke again, his tone carried annoyance. "Do you know how troublesome it will be for me if that happens?"


    "I didn''t know." Wang Yu Yan passed a disposable cup to him that contained boiled ration.


    She shook her head, eyes back to the city below. "Sir, I apologize for what I and my superior did earlier. About not leaving in a space vessel, it''s simply because I''ve already resolved myself to die fighting. Now that I''m still alive, I think this is fine too. My days are extended. I managed to gain some time for myself where I won''t have to think about my rank and obligations."


    "I said if you dieter, it will be troublesome for me," he repeated with the same tone. "You''re intelligent so if you really feel apologetic, you should have gone with your President and uncle to space."


    His expression made her amused. Before she knew it was already giggling.


    However, she did not ask the reason why he was very concerned about her safety. She already did it before and no response came back to her.


    Days passed and like Jiang Li predicted, or more like, read from the plot, the Earth collided with a huge that only showed itself a few seconds before impact. This was Paradise, a that made the fae race abandoned the prosperous world they had been inhabiting for millions of years. This was the that made them fly millions of light-years without regard to therge resources consumed, just to return to Earth.


    Before the crash, Jiang Li did not even need to copse the ice walls for mega-tsunamis to ur. The gravitational pull of the oing caused the tides to rise.


    Destruction followed as volcanoes erupted. Magma flowed on the surface. The ces untouched by the flood yet but close to the point of collision instantly vaporized. All sorts of cmities happened one after another.


    No more descriptions were needed. The world was simply ending.


    Yet in that very situation, the fae race members wereughing, looking so happy and proud.


    "Is this still the always elegant and arrogant faes?" Wang Yu Yanmented after batting her eyshes once. The disbelief she felt from the sight rendered her sighing.


    Jiang Li was with her. He who initially stayed to destroy the ice walls at this very moment got confronted by the fact that gravitational pull could do the job better and faster. He felt embarrassed, thinking he did not learn science well. Thankfully, he was not one to reveal his ns to the woman. When the end of the world came, they were already aboard a space shuttle stolen from a fae city. This was the true reason Wang YuYan was not as bothered when thest starship of humanity left earth. The fae race also had space shuttles.


    "They have always been lunatics." Jiang Li suddenly snorted. "If not, they won''t choose to return to a barrennd."


    The girl found his description apt and nodded. "I found it ironic since they alwaysbeled themselves superior in both powers and intellect."


    A couple of momentster, she murmured softly, "How could theyugh when so many faes and dinosaurs are dying just so they could go to the center of the collision?"


    Hearing her, he chuckled and said, "This is probably just one of the many differences between faes and humans. They are happy because the collision fulfilled the prophecies and opened a secret gate to the mysticalnd dreamed by their ancestors. They have a few minutes to cross that gate. These lunatics All they did for the past four or five centuries are only for this very moment."


    "Four or five?"


    "Yes. You should not forget the time they take to travel. They have crossed numerous wormholes and gxies. In my estimation, this had taken them two or more centuries. Maybe even a millennium."


    Wang Yu Yan eximed. "I see. So this race is not only harsh to their enemies and inferiors, but also to themselves."


    While the two were having a casual conversation in their space shuttle, human spaceships had yet to travel past Mars. Everyone who was still feeling sullen and unwilling to leave their home became gob smocked as they witnessed the collision.


    No one would be able to describe the pain they felt as they watched Earth get destroyed. The relief they felt for surviving was not as strong as their anger and their desire for all the fae race members to die in that incident.


    Shi Nianzhu, advised by his strategists, ordered the various battleships to attack using nuclear weapons. Unfortunately, they were a bitte in doing so. The Paradise lived up to its reputation and managed to remain undamaged both from the collision and the firing of missiles and high energy beams.


    The shuttle made by the fae were superior in specs so Jiang Li and Wang Yu Yan could see farther than the ones in the human starships.


    Although there were a lot of casualties, the fae race still sessfully crossed over.


    A corner of Jiang Li''s lips curled up, having recalled that the male lead would revert to his original appearance in a few hours. The condition would be to pass some real virus to his fellow faes.


    Dong Lan and his stepmother only wanted to dy him from going back to his ce of origin. Yet they actually had no idea how system points worked, that even tens of it could extend a mortal''s life in a normal modern world. That if he was willing to spend them, thousands could instantly help a mid-tiered magician be a god. In his first mission world, the system gave him some items that helped him there which long revealed to him that it could magic items out of nowhere.


    ''Sadly, I would not be able to witness those faes turn into humans.''


    Jiang Li stuck to his words and did not stay long in that ''world''.


    Opposite him was Dong Lan who was still tied to his position as Pontiff. Thinking he had already done his job regarding Jiang Li, and that his race that just arrived in a new world still needed his leadership, this person decided to remain.


    However, he had no idea that he did not really manage toplete his mission.


    Jiang Li would still have enough points once he went back to the void, and this was despite not being able to fulfill his soul-client''s wish. He also was not tied to any responsibility. Hisst task was merely to ensure Wang Yu Yan''s safety which he did by delivering her to the nearest human-owned starship.


    About the woman whom he always wanted to be with every time he transmigrates Actually, Jiang Li already saw her before. It was on the day of the execution. In fact, ''she'' was his other reason for not going after the fleeing Pontiff and Supreme General who hade to rescue the female lead.


    "A pity." The first time he met ''her'' in this world, Jiang Li clicked his tongue so hard and resentfully sighed.


    ''Her'' identity this time was really surprising.


    ''She'' who was brought to the spectator''s area by her mother was very young, merely a 5 or 6 years old girl. Probably, the mother badly wanted to see some fae elites executed. Since she had some circumstances where she could not leave her child at home, she simply brought her with her. To not let her see some blood, the mother put her to sleep. Her sleeping appearance was the one he saw and recognized.


    "If she is only at least five years older, I would have waited for her." Having taken a glimpse of her for thest time in the spaceship, he mused to himself.


    Discontentment showed in his face, but shortly, it vanished. Heughed.


    "It''s quite sad, but it''s not like this will be ourst meeting." His voice trailed off, the transfer already began.


    Everyone else apart from soldiers, technicians, and ship crew were put to sleep in cabins. The little girl was no exception.


    However, at that moment, her eyes slowly fluttered open. On her small, pretty face crossed confusion when she felt a presence on her right side. The confusing part was when she turned her head a bit and only found a few specks of light were there, drifting down gently and slowly.


    Yet she was sure that somebody stood there a while ago as she had heard a soft voice saying something confusing to her.It said, "Please forgive me for going first."

 Chapter 454: Chang Xia (1)

    Chapter 454: Chang Xia (1)


    Wang Yu Yan remembered that on her second day in outer space, she just woke up inside a cabin.


    Because the ce was vastly different from where she was supposed to be, she immediately realized she was no longer in the shuttle.


    ''Is this one of the starships belonging to mankind?'' she wondered.


    To confirm her suspicion, she tapped her wrist. Then fell silent upon seeing a red dot appearing on her messaging app icon. Surprisingly, she was able to connect to awork. It seemed her colleagues discovered her online status too, so she was being bombarded with messages.


    Wang Yu Yan suppressed the panic in her heart and looked through the list of senders. Her savior, and practically, humanity''s savior, was not around, her hunch telling her that she would no longer see him anymore.


    Seeing Jiang Li''s name there and the red number 1 next to it, she felt a bit empty, the departure of the mysterious guy left her at a loss. The feeling was not because she liked the person. But because she felt like she owed him big time and had not yet returned the favor.


    ''He left a message. Did he at least mention some requests so that I can feel better?''


    She tapped the icon.


    Surprisingly her wish became reality.


    "Topensate me, look after XXX on my behalf."


    Reading this, relief washed over her. She read the message carefully once more, then opened a separate window to look for the person mentioned in the database. Upon seeing it was a six-year-old girl, she wondered if this was his daughter or close rtives.


    However, the next few words that she read after scrolling down his text made her confused for a long while.


    "Remember, don''t let her marry anyone," it said.


    What kind of request was this? Was this some sort of revenge y targeted against someone using the little girl as the instrument? She didn''t know whether to call this cruel or retarded.


    "Tell her the boys of your era are stupid and ugly. Also, make sure to educate her about the awesomeness of a demigod called Jiang Li."


    This time, Wang Yu Yan froze. The uncanny thoughts that flickered in her mind rendered her bbergasted, to the point that the coordinates of a certain written at the very bottom were neglected for a full minute.


    "You there! Stop!"


    The noon sun shone brightly that day, as if it would just be any other ordinary day for the regr people. Yet something unexpected happened in one of the busier streets of the city.


    "I will support you so you won''tck anything since I would be the one to provide you whatever you need. Be it support on your career or money to spend on random stuff. I''m really, really rich! I''m really serious!"


    A lovely but slightly desperate voice rang in that popted street. Three people were standing on the pavement right in front of a flower shop. Two were male. One was female. One of the men stood one step behind the beautiful youngdy who just spoke, dressed in a neat ck suit. The girl was in a knee-length ck and white stripe dress and was wearing a pair of five-inch ck high heels. Her getup and the air of haughtiness around her screamed the fact that she was a rich brat.


    The words that she just said normally it would have sounded romantic to the ears, that was if the man was her lover. But what if they were all people who met just a couple of minutes ago?


    "Why are you not saying anything?" She pouted at the incredibly handsome guy standing before her.


    She couldn''t see the scared expression on the face of her chauffeur and the look of pity that others gave to the young man. Thetter batted his eyes and his mouth opened slightly.


    He must have been badly shocked, thought Mr. Liu who had also received quite the shock. ''Should I grab her and drag her away now?'' This chauffeur started to have these thoughts, merely hesitating due to his humble identity.


    "Miss. Are you perhaps talking to me?"


    Meanwhile, Jiang Li who had just woken up in a new body looked nkly at the girl. Then when he recovered his senses and realized what just happened, he turned his head to one side without breaking eye contact with the youngdy. Confusion could still be faintly seen on his face.


    She nodded and smiled. "Yes, you! I want you to be my boyfriend! No, my fianc! Your face is to my liking so I want to support you!"


    ''What''s happening?''


    Jiang Li looked at his reflection in the one-way ss door of the nearby shop and saw his current appearance. Blinking once, he found that his face did not change. If not for the set of clothes that he was wearing, he would have thought he was still in the futuristic world.


    ''I must be back.''


    A no-brand white shirt and no-brand pair of ck pants. He took a deep breath, wondering in what year and time he returned to.


    Then remembered that him wearing clothes like this only happened in his first lifetime. It was when he, a rebellious fresh graduate, ran away from home and his angered parents stopped his cards.


    He just took a walk after getting frustrated by theck of money in his wallet when he got stopped by a seemingly insane young woman who wanted to bring him back as her boy toy.


    Had it not been for the memories that got revived by the system, he would have not recalled that such an incident ever happened in his first lifetime. After all, one would always want to forget any embarrassing experiences that they had.


    Jiang Li faced the idiot no, the cute youngdy who was still haughtily staring at him. However, probably because his eyes stayed on her face for more than ten seconds, she suddenly felt conscious and blushed. She whispered to herself that this guy''s appearance was really fatal, the most attractive of all that she had seen so far.


    ''I''d bring this guy home without fail,'' she silently encouraged herself.


    "Miss," his voice rang, knocking her out of stupor.


    Jiang Li said, "You should be perfectly aware that this is our first meeting."


    "Yes." The girl, Chang Xia, nodded.


    Because he fell silent, she looked at him with iprehension. "Is there a problem?"


    ''A problem?''


    Then she heard him burst intoughter.


    Although the man''s voice was pleasing to the ears, she realized the reason that heughed was her. In no time, she recovered from the daze. To cover up her embarrassment that camete, she fiercely said, "Hey, why the hell are youughing!"


    Jiang Li looked around, then chuckled again. The weather was nice so there were a lot of people on the streets. The ce was noisy. But the girl''s voice just now was very loud, so he was sure that many heard what she said.


    If he was still the thin-skinned Jiang Li, he would have reddened from shame already. Or throw a fit and then walk away. Which man would feel good being offered to be raised by a female stranger younger than him?


    But this time, Jiang Li justughed and looked at her with amusement.


    "Are you really serious about what you just said?" he asked.


    "Of course!" Without even thinking about it, the girl repeatedly bobbed her head. The determination that shed in her eyes made her look both stupid and cute.


    "Miss, this is really inappropriate."


    Jiang Li crossed his arms and asked again, stealing a nce at the sour-faced chauffeur who tried to reason to the girl."Do you even know what it means to support a man?"


    "I do!" Chang Xia who kept ignoring the middle-aged man stepped forward as if she wanted to bring her face closer so he could see how serious she was.


    She enumerated everything she knew.


    Jiang Li was dumbfounded for a moment. But shortly, a peal ofughter escaped from him as he could not believe the situation he justnded himself in.


    The chauffeur, who had been hesitating whether to grab her away or not, could not stand it anymore and pulled her away. "Miss, we should really go back. Young sir, I''m sorry Please treat this as something that did not happen. Come on, Miss."


    "Wait." The girl escaped and ran back to Jiang Li.


    Her cheeks were still tainted red since from the beginning, she noticed that some people began to watch them with curiosity andughter in their eyes.


    However, she felt that she would regret this if she did not do this now. Therefore, she acted fast, without much care about what others would think of her. Anyway, these people would not be part of her life in the future. There was little to no chance of encountering them again.But the man was different. They were strangers, so if she let this fateful encounter end just like that, she felt like the two of them would no longer have any fate. Besides, even when he looked frustrated and annoyed, he already looked captivating for her. Now that he wasughing and smiling at her, she felt like it would be a sin to not tie him to herself.


    Every smart person would definitely agree that she did the right thing.


    "Wait! What''s your answer first?" Although the girl was blushing, her expression was serious as she tilted her head up to look him in the eyes.


    Mr. Liu sighed then gave Jiang Li a warning look. The other man was actually scary, looking like an unordinary person.


    However, to Jiang Li who already went through several worlds, the stares had no effect. He was still looking at the girl, finding her extremely interesting.


    ''I finally remembered that the previous me immediately ran away.''


    A corner of his lips curled up. But he shook his head, to the disappointment of Chang Xia and relief of her chauffeur.


    However, a momentter, he spoke again. "Okay."


    Chang Xia looked at him with disbelief. Then she asked absentmindedly. "You agree?"


    He met her eyes and nodded. "Why not?"


    ''He really agreed!''


    A broad smile started to form on the girl''s lips and happiness danced in her eyes. However, around them, several jaws almost reached the ground as they digested his shameless reply.


    But the person himself did say it.


    Right now, he was still grinning, inwardly thinking to himself.


    ''Now, I know why I have no impression of you here.''


    In his previous lifetime, he did what he considered the right thing.


    Yet now, in this lifetime, he deemed doing the same stupid.


    The efficiency, generosity, and decisiveness of the girl were truly worthy of admiration. Chang Xia did not hesitate to mobilize her family''s connections and money. In just two hours, Jiang Li was brought to his new fully furnished apartment, a high-end one located near a famous ocean park. There was even a car bought under his name, paid in full. His belongings had also been picked up.


    The butler who was made to do all of these eyed Jiang Li evilly. At the same time, a strange glint shed in his eyes because he noticed that there were several expensive items in the small ce that the young man previously rented.


    ''Is this the reason this young man immediately agreed? He''s used to being raised?''


    Thinking of this, he became angrier. Although Mr. Liu perfectly executed Chang Xia''s orders, he did not hesitate to report the matter to her parents.


    Meanwhile, when the girl saw that he had too few sets of clothes and other personal items, she felt so distressed that she did not hesitate to drag him into a city-famous apparel shop.


    The amusement in Jiang Li''s eyes was tinged with nostalgia. He almost thought he was back to being the exclusive ghost pet of a certain someone.


    It was not until night fell that she separated from him. Chang Xia lived in her parents'' house and had not yet thought of actually living together with Jiang Li.. No, her mind was not that impure yet. However, she really looked reluctant when she stepped out of the apartment.


    "Remember to call me," she said with a pout.


    "En," he replied with his sweetest smile, making her face flushed. At that moment, he felt like he was an evil guy deceiving innocent little girls with his face. No wonder Mr. Liu''s expression turned uglier as he red fiercely at him.


    Jiang Li closed the door of his new ce when the car parked right outside left. A couple of momentster, the smile on his face disappeared.


    It was now time to recall the reason for his return and review the plot.

 Chapter 455: Chang Xia (2)

    Chapter 455: Chang Xia (2)


    After the weird but adorable girl left, the smile on Jiang Li''s face slowly disappeared, then reced by a solemn expression.


    As there was nothing to distract his mind anymore, as Jiang Li closed the door, he let his thoughts run freely.


    It took an entire millennium just to return to his world. A full thousand years, an amount of time unimaginable to normal people. Well, to be fair, it even sounded unimaginable even to the current him.


    Before meeting the system, if somebody told him that traveling from world to world was possible, he would have definitely dialed a mental hospital''s number for that person. He would have definitely deemed it a service to society to help send a mentally sick individual to where he belonged.


    Yet the impossible happened.


    Jiang Li died. He met the system. He agreed to its condition and then embarked on a stupidly long journey that apparently would not end even if he managed to finish his personal matters in his original world.


    When he took his first step on this path, all that mattered to him was that there was a way back and that he could correct his past mistakes.


    However, just to return, the process had been incredibly long. The system adamantly refused to lower its demands.


    Time and time again, Jiang Li was forced to go along with its arrangement and go wherever it decided to send him. He could not say no. Or maybe he could. But even the unhinged newbie him was clear in his heart that everything he possessed now was because of the system. So he sought toplete every mission as his approach to repay the favor.


    Of course, there was no denying that all the world-hopping brought him a lot of gains. The knowledge and skills he picked up from various worlds remained with him. Those were very precious treasures indeed. Even though he loved to criticize the system, in actuality, he was eternally grateful.


    Yet deep in his heart, a sense of crisis was constantly growing. Jiang Li was always worried.


    Time was his greatest enemy. He could not tell for sure the passing of time would not erode his desire toe back.


    Once that happened, what would he do? What would be his centuries of struggle to collect points for?


    He remembered how he died, how he got bound to the system, and how he slowly adapted to his role as a world hopper.


    He went through a lot and experienced many identities.


    He remembered that the system had kept track of the times Jiang Li went against his supposed persona just to give the viiness or the two leads some trouble. Jiang Li was made aware of it since the system sometimes mentioned it alongside its warning or enforcement of punishments.


    The rule was to not cause major disruption of the plot more than three times.


    Jiang Li never imed to be an intelligent person, but logically speaking anybody doing the same thing over and over would always remember all the rules and notmit the same mistakes again after a few times.


    Yet Jiang Li managed to keep doing mistakes. In fact, before leaving the previous world, he actually got punished. Jiang Li lost a few points for purposely inflicting the male lead a virus that would gradually turn him and his fairy race into humans. That was his fourth blunder there. The system bluntly told him that if not for the rewards he gotter, his points would not have been enough to send him back.


    But was every mistake a result of his carelessness?


    Actually, not all. Some were. But many were done on purpose just so Jiang Li could remind himself that he is Jiang Li, not He Chen, not Chen Wang, not Master Yue.


    ...


    So who was Jiang Li before the system formed a contract with him?


    The sudden zombie outbreak took ce on the same day that he lost his parents and basically everything. But before that, Jiang Li was but a normal fresh graduate from a fairly affluent family.


    His family was rich. They had a few properties in the capital and had some profitable businesses under their name, so they were quite renowned in the city.


    Since Jiang Li was aware that his parents'' wealth was more than enough to feed and clothe him for life, he did not deem improving himself a priority. Why would he do so? There was no point, right? After all, even if excelled at nothing or even did nothing, he would still enjoy a good life aheadcking in nothing.


    Because nobody was pressuring him to worry about money and survival, he could have so much time for romance and other random stuff. Jiang Li had to admit that thefort and conveniences provided to him by his birth turned him into someone ipetent. It was no wonder people with malicious intentions easily deceived him and made a fool out of him.


    ''If I were still that same irredeemable fool, I would not even have the face to cry for forgiveness from my mom after being given this chance.''


    Jiang Li clicked his tongue.


    A few minutes after Chang Xia left the apartment, Jiang Li also went out with nothing but his phone and wallet in his person. He ended up in an inte cafe.


    Jiang Li looked up from the screen of the monitor and nced sideways. It was already nighttime, but the view outside could be seen with little problem thanks to the countless lights filling the streets. He took in the various colors produced by the passing cars and the lightsing from the various shops and signage.


    Ever since he came to this inte caf an hour ago, he had already done this over a dozen times. The shop was on the second floor of themercial building directly opposite the Jiangpany''s building.


    Not long after, a familiar car drove out of the exit to the underground parking lot.


    It had been a really really long while since hest saw that car. There was no way he still remembered the te number or the interior of that car. Yet he knew it belonged to his parents.


    The problem lied in him. He did not want them to see him yet.


    Jiang Li had a fallout with his parents for his then-girlfriend, Wu Huiling. The reason was simple. His parents did not approve of her and think that she was not sincere to Jiang Li. The emotionally sensitive girlfriend felt hurt and chose to break up with him. Later, he learned that arge part of the reason was Mrs. Jiang. His mom probably imitated some absurd afternoon drama when she domineeringly presented a check to the girl before ordering her to leave him.


    Wu Huiling was the campus belle that he had pursued for months. Rumors said that she was from an affluent family abroad who owned an airline.


    However, Jiang Li personally confirmed from his mother that Wu Huiling epted the money.


    Jiang Li back then was a thousand times stupider than his current self. His heart had always sided with Wu Huiling so his brain unhesitatingly made up a lot of excuses for her.


    ''She''s rich too. Mom is either lying. Or Mao Xing''er wants a reason for me to dislike her.''


    ''Her pride has always been high and so mom''s words must have really offended and hurt her.''


    An inaudible sigh escaped from Jiang Li''s lips at the various excuses that his past self made. Later it was revealed that his parents had someone investigate Wu Huiling and they were about to tell him about her actual background when he suddenly ran away to chase that girl.


    Imagined. If he just stayed a few minutes to listen to them, he would have known in advance that Wu Huiling was rted to that detestable cousin of his.


    "So embarrassing."


    Jiang Li got up from his seat. He left the caf but did not immediately go back to the unit given to him by Chang Xia.


    The system was urging him to ept the plot. But Jiang Li was not in the mood so he told the system to just transmit it to him in his sleep.


    In this world, Jiang Li nned to not care much about the plot. He had been doing that for so many centuries. It was no exaggeration to say that he was tired of it. Even a normal worker would be given a break. They could even go AWOL if they feel like it. Who said he must stay an exception?


    Jiang Li wandered around and enjoyed the familiar yet unfamiliar night scenery before going back to the house. After taking his jacket off, he threw it on the sofa.


    He was about to ce his phone on the table when he suddenly saw it shed. His phone was in silent mode so if he had not seen the notification, he would have missed the call from Liu, the housekeeper of the Jiang family.


    "You kid, you finally answer my call."


    The old guy was very familiar with him and treated him as his grandson so Jiang Li did not find it weird when the old housekeeper spoke quite informally to him. All he noticed was the anxiousness and concern mixed in the old man''s aged voice.


    "Jiang Li, your mom and dad are really worried about you. It''s been several weeks. Do you really not n to go back anymore? No matter how much you like that girl, it''s just wrong for you to ignore the ones who raise you for several years."


    Jiang Li remained silent. He sat down on the edge of the bed with his phone still on the bedside table. Naturally, he set it on loudspeaker.


    As he listened to the Housekeeper Liu, aplicated expression shed across his face. He actually had no idea what to say. But he did not interrupt the other since he did not dislike being lectured.


    His parents should be back home now. Were they secretly eavesdropping on this call?


    In the end, he just said to the person on the other line, "How are my mom and dad?"


    "They are in good health."


    "That''s great to hear."


    "Yes. Good that at least you remember to ask how they are doing." A sigh resounded from the old man. "Jiang Li, like I said, they are really worried about you. How about you call them too? While at it, also tell them that you regret it and that you n toe back."


    "I will go back soon."


    "Your mom''s birthday ising. You don''t n to not show up, right?"


    Jiang Li chuckled. "Grandpa Liu, I''m not that heartless."


    After the call, he shut down his phone then closed his eyes. He knew his attitude just now was not the best, and his body was not really tired. But his mind was. The exhaustion was from the millennium spent on assuming others'' identities. In no time, he fell asleep. The system did its part and transmitted the plot to him without disturbing his sleep.


    When the next morning came, an angry Chang Xia appeared before him.


    "You forgot to call mest night!" <ol><li>Absent without leave</li></ol>

 Chapter 456: Chang Xia (3)

    Chapter 456: Chang Xia (3)


    Chang Xia''s visit not only surprised Jiang Li, her greeting words also made him feel both awkward and guilty.


    She was right after all. Before falling asleep, he looked up her number on his phonebook. Sadly, before he could press the call button, he already fell asleep.


    Breaking a promise with a patron was not something a qualified kept man would do. It would leave a terrible impression on the other and would make them doubt their sincerity which could then cause a rift between the two parties. But while technically, what Jiang Li failed to fulfill was not a promise, it was still a problem since it made Chang Xia unhappy.


    Jiang Li did not make up any excuses, since he knew he was the wrong one here.


    "How about I be your servant for the entire day?" He just said with a helpless smile.


    The girl''s expression instantly brightened, liking how he basically proposed to be with her for an entire day.


    "Okay." Chang Xia readily replied, then linked arms with Jiang Li. She was beaming happily. Even he was surprised.


    In this world, they were people who just met yesterday. Their rtionship was not that deep yet. Thinking that she might act this way to other guys with handsome faces made him feel concerned somewhat.


    However, when he looked at her, she returned his gaze, wearing a radiant smile.


    ''...Alright. I will believe this is because of the connection between our souls, not because of my face.''


    Jiang Li guided Chang Xia to the living room before leaving her there to watch some random morning shows.


    It was weird. The current situation developed into something Jiang Li also never imagined before. Instead of the guy waiting for the girl to dress up, it turned out the other way around. Jiang Li whose face had thickened through his years of world-hopping felt likeughing at the thought, finding it amusing and at the same time, awkward.


    On that day, Jiang Li fulfilled his promise and apanied Chang Xia to various ces in the city.


    Actually, this morning before she came knocking on his door, he was thinking about whether he should meet his parents today. He missed them greatly. However, one part of his brain reminded him that as a disappointing son, if he were to return, it should be after proving his worth and aplishing something that would make them proud.


    With that in mind, he initially decided to do his research today. However, Chang Xia dropped by. He was the one who suggested spending the day together so while his n did not change, his schedule became packed. He just decided to not sleepter.


    The youngdy was still young at heart so they stayed the longest in the amusement park near the city center.


    Compared to her previous incarnations, Chang Xia stood out for being a very outspoken and lively one, the type to do and say whatever she wanted.


    She was really like a normal rich, spoiled, and naive girl.


    If she wanted something, for example, a stuffed toy, or a type of snack, or even a balloon, she would not hesitate to buy them. Even if she did not know how to use a particr item, as long as it looked good, she would buy it and even generously pay extra.


    Likewise, if she did not like something, she would not shy away from voicing out her opinions about it and would not be careful with her words even if some people get offended. For an instance, after sampling a pumpkin-vored cake, Chang Xia did not hesitate to criticize the snack in front of the seller, even saying that a 3-year-old kid she knew could make something better.


    Sometimes she would act like a child that had no idea how the world works.


    However, was that really the case?


    Jiang Li who already received the plot from the system knew not to think lightly of this cute creature as she was actually not that simple.


    The girl shared a name with the viiness despite not being the viiness. Chang Xia and the viiness were from the same family. Thest name Chang was not thatmon in their city. She was probably at least aware of what her family dabbles into, hence she was reluctant to tell Jiang Li. She was also at least conscious of the fact that the rtionship between them was still very new, and fragile.


    Even Jiang Li could tell that for now, she was only into his face, but their actual rtionship was awkward. They were not really lovers, but more like strangers that were trying to get to know each other. Of course, there would be many details that she would not be able to share with him.


    But even though she had no n to tell him about her family yet, Jiang Li was not perturbed because Chang Xia was quite a major figure in the plot.


    "Wow." At Chang Xia''s request, the two went inside a nearby cinema hall to watch a movie. "So many people."


    She acted like she had never seen a crowd queuing to buy tickets and buy snacks. The usual look in her eyes that showed curiosity on just about everything could really beguile people into thinking that she was innocent and easy to lead around.


    Jiang Li was shielding her so she would not suddenly be pushed around. "Careful."


    Chang Xia merely grinned. She asked, "Which do you think is more interesting? Scifi? Or youth drama?"


    "Whichever you like."


    "Oh, I get it, servants can''t refuse their master," sheughingly replied. "In that case, I will choose. Let''s go with this one."


    Surprisingly, she picked neither scifi nor youth drama. The tickets Jiang Li bought were for a romance story between two people who were about to divorce. And yes, he paid for it. His pride that he threw away the previous day already came back to him.


    He thought her choice was really interesting. Usually heavy and extremely mature topics like divorce were not liked by young people. After all, it opposes their ideal romance in mind,


    When he asked why he chose that movie, she said it was because she was friends with the lead actress and wished to support her. Jiang Li only smiled meaningfully, notmenting anymore.


    On their seats, Jiang Li did not pretend to like the movie. He quietly sat there, but his eyes were on the screen of his phone.


    Chang Xia immediately discovered that he was not paying attention in front. She snuck a peek at his phone, quizzically asking, "Are you not going to watch? What are you scrolling through there?"


    She did not seem offended. Instead, curiosity was overflowing from her eyes.


    Jiang Li looked up and nced at the huge screen in front. The film had just started. The two protagonists had just married and moved into their new house. Everything seemed to be going well for them. The start was a really generic one.


    Jiang Li lost his interest and replied to Chang Xia, "I''m checking news about my family."


    The girl''s eyes were still on the phone screen. She checked the titles and the links. He was browsing news websites.


    "Somebody from your home is famous? Or you mean you were from the type of families that could appear on news?" Chang Xia''s gaze remained full of curiosity. A smile could be seen on her lips though, and her tone sounded like she was teasing him.


    Had he been a normal pretty boy who possessed great pride without anything to back it, he would have already taken her tone badly.


    However, Jiang Li knew that Chang Xia was simply trying to make him talk about his background.


    "Hmm. If you mean the local news, yes," he said.


    "Oh? For real?" Chang Xia saw several familiar names in the article currently disyed. Surprisingly, a few were people from the same circle as her, while the others were names of brands and businesses. After digesting his words, she asked, "Does it mean you were also from a rich family but ran away for some reason?"


    Looking at her expression, nothing changed. Jiang Liughed. "Well..."


    "So I guessed correctly?"


    Jiang Li did not deny it, rather asking if she would believe it if he said yes.


    Chang Xia nodded. It appeared like she did not even bother to suspect if he was speaking the truth or not.


    The serious expression on her face made him grinned. "Miss Chang, you know, maybe I was actually making things up to amuse you."


    To this, she replied, "But you don''t seem to be lying." Chang Xiaughed. " And I''m at least confident that I am not someone a dear servant of mine would lie to."


    Weirdly enough, she said she believed him but did not ask him why he left his home.


    Soon, the movie ended. Somehow the two of them still came to know the plot despite not watching ny percent of the time. The other viewers filled it in for them as these people discussed the story while heading towards the exit.


    "Oh. So the story was pretty good." Chang Xia''s remarked after she overheard the plot. However, she also whispered secretly, "Sadly, the director is not talented enough. Could not even make me watch from beginning to end. Poor Sis Chen. I wonder who forced her to ept this film."


    This really left Jiang Li speechless.


    The two then ate dinner at a Chinese restaurant before resuming their tour. It seemed Chang Xia really wanted to take full advantage of his proposal. Jiang Limended her for her stamina and energy because 9 pm already passed yet Chang Xia still showed no signs of wanting to go home.


    However, he also could not help but wonder. Was his original face that fascinating to make her so reluctant to part with him? Or was there another reason?


    Several times, Jiang Li wondered why the chauffeur, who was clearly hostile to him yesterday, was eerily quiet today.


    Then suddenly, he remembered something about the Changs.


    When he saw hispanion looking at her wristwatch and phone frequently to check the time and refresh her mail, a guess shed through his mind which he felt like ny percent correct.


    ''What aplicated family,'' he mused.


    "I remember that there''s a night market nearby. How about we go take a look?" asked Chang Xia who looked excited about something she had never seen or experienced before. Jiang Li did not know if her excitement was faked or not.


    "Sure. Just don''t stray from me. That ce has many people after all."


    Of course, he did not refuse. Even if the ce she wanted to visit turned out problematic, he had enough confidence to secure their safety, not to mention, the old gentleman tailing behind them looked like a retired military officer.


    However, Chang Xia''s words further confirmed his hunch in mind.


    It was not his face. It was her family.


    ''If today is the day the other Chang Xia visits home, then it all makes sense now,'' Jiang Li thought to himself.


    His gaze stayed on her for a long while.


    For some odd reason, the real and the fake must not be seen in the same ce at the same time.


    When the real was at home, the fake must stay outside.


    Thetter must hide her identity and even stay in locations where nobody would be able to recognize her.


    This exined why the girl kept dragging him to ces very few elite people go to. It just so happened that those ces seemed the ideal romantic spots for normal people. Her actual purpose was to avoid troublesome eyes.


    Now the question is, why did the Chang family create a fake Chang Xia?

 Chapter 457: Chang Xia (4)

    Chapter 457: Chang Xia (4)


    <strong>Chang Xia (4)</strong> The two only parted a few minutes before 11 o''clock. Before they left, the chauffeur did not forget to give him a sharp nce. Jiang Li could see that Mister Liu still disliked him, but he just maintained his smile as he waved his hand back to the girl. 1


    Soon, the car disappeared from his vision. The ce behind him was still as busy, and it seemed like the closer it was to midnight, the livelier the night market would be. Standing alone under the streemp, the man whose expression turned solemn appeared a sharp contrast to the scenery behind him.


    "See you soon." He said, even though nobody could hear him.


    Chang Xia once again reminded him to call her before going to bed. The problem was that he had no n to sleep tonight. In fact, he would be busy in the following days, so there would be no opportunity to meet.


    Would she be angry? Would she then stop their current setup?


    Jiang Li was sure she was not really an air-headed girl. The way she acted an hour ago made it clear that she knew his real identity all along. This meant that she was probably aware of the troubles in his family.


    Jiang Li did not go home. He boarded a train and headed towards the east district. Since the trip would take about half an hour, he took out his phone and began ying random mobile games. However, having just returned from a sci-fi world, not even the best mobile RPG game could keep his interest, so he simply closed the app and went to his browser again. To not be bored, he let some random music y in the background. This time, the subject of his research was not his family or anybody rted to his uncle''s family.


    Why did the Chang family create a fake when the real one is still alive?


    The information the system gave confirmed a few things. There was another girl named Chang Xia in the Chang family. Three months from now, the world would descend into a zombie apocalypse. That cmity, unsurprisingly, had something to do with the Chang family''s real eldest daughter.


    ''The government was really involved.''


    ''Interesting.''


    This world''s plot was a really messy one. There was one female lead and three male leads. His cousin Jiang Yun was even one of them. As for Jiang Li, if this world was a novel, then he was merely one of those many characters who never made an appearance but were mentioned in passing.


    However, in the future, the wealth Jiang Yun got from Jiang Li''s family would fund the base that the female lead established.


    In the apocalyptic world, wealth means food and resources.


    Jiang family was not really the richest in the city. But Jiang Yun was very prepared when the end of the world arrived. Nobody could say where he got so many resources to keep an entire city afloat for more than a year. But everyone only knew that Jiang corporation only fell in his hand a few days before that fateful day and that mostpanies under the Jiangs were involved in electronics and entertainment businesses.


    Jiang Li tried to recall what his cousin looked like. Before his family got betrayed, Jiang Yun was like a brother to him. Thetter had a good temperament and gave off the impression that he would never do anything dishonest in his life.


    However, looks could be deceiving. The seemingly honest cousin was a calcting man. Even when the end of the world arrived, he never suffered a loss.


    Now it all made sense why. It turned out it was because Jiang Yun was one of the male leads.


    Before Chang Xia knocked on his door this morning, the system specially warned him. "None of the main characters here are ordinary."


    Xiao Chunhua, the female lead, was a transmigrator from another modern world. The woman Jiang Li saw in the images was a beautiful and charismatic female leader. She seldom smiled, which made her appear cold and unfeeling.


    The three male leads had extraordinary powers and were from other timelines.


    Jiang Yun, if Jiang Li''s suspicion was correct, was from the future. That was how he managed to prepare various resources beforehand. Through some unknown means, he came back from the past. He knew what to do since he already witnessed once how more than half of the world''s poption turned into zombies in just a day. Jiang Li''s family became a sacrifice to allow Jiang Yun to obtain a substantial wealth that would enable him to go forth with his ns.


    The two other reincarnators were from ancient times and were generals of rival nations. Due to frequent encounters on opposing sides of the battlefield, the rtionship between them could not even be described as ''not good''. At the sight of each other, their hands would automatically pull out their weapons. In this timeline though, these two were once again from rivaling factions, but somehow came into an agreement in order to stay with Xiao Chunhua.


    ''One is a high-ranking officer of the army. The other, a mafia boss'' right-hand man.''


    ''Sometimes it doesn''t make sense, but let''s just say love has a weird power to lower IQ, pride, and moral values.''


    Jiang Li''s train of thoughts halted at the same time the robotic female voice echoed. He joined the long line of people getting off the train.


    After buying himself a bottle of water from a hawker, he walked for half an hour to arrive at a seemingly abandoned hotel.


    "Looking at it from the outside, this hotel indeed looks creepy."


    The building looked so old. No lights could be seen from inside, not even from the parking lot in front of the entrance. Theck of human presence nearby made it apparent that it had long gone out of business. Nobody had been using the ce for nearly a decade, so all residents in the area thought it was already home to evil spirits or crooks. But was it really the case?


    Twenty minutester, Jiang Li stared at the weird patterns on the wall. He was already inside the hotel.


    Jiang Li entered the ce without even bothering to turn on his phone''s shlight, only doing so when he arrived in a spacious room in the basement where he had to inspect some inscriptions.


    Rumors of the hotel being haunted began three years ago. People living nearby allegedly heard weird ghostly voicesing from this ce every night. Sometimes the voice belonged to a crying woman. Sometimes, to aughing child. Those who tried to investigate met unfortunate idents. Efforts to purify evil entities here proved futile since nothing changed. Gradually, people just avoided getting near, and even if it was daytime, they would avoid looking in the hotel''s direction to not attract bad luck or unclean beings.


    However, who was Jiang Li? How could he be misled by these rumors? He was a former ghost king! Despite not being one right now, his knowledge and experience of the supernatural remained. Of course, he knew at a nce what was happening here.


    The rumors were false. This was no den of evil spirits and there was not a single ghost around. Actually, ghosts would avoid this building since it had traces of auras that ghosts hated - the police. It was also close to the ce inhabited by people who would even dare to experiment on evil spirits.


    "Host, this hotel is just one of the many buildings that act as entrances to thatboratory. The viiness'' research group got permission to continue their experiments and they want it to be as secretive as possible, so they chose a location surrounded by buildings like this. But the government knows the risk, so the research team is still being heavily monitored."


    The system finally spoke after a day of silence. Jiang Li quietly listened.


    Soon footsteps rang from the hallway. Hushed voices followed not long after.


    Jiang Li could hear them clearly despite the distance. Unfortunately, he could not understand them since they spoke in an unfamiliarnguage.


    But people actually came to this hotel at this hour? Or was he discovered?


    Jiang Li pondered for a moment before deciding there was no need to hide. After pressing the power button, he put his phone in his pocket. Then used his meager spiritual power tomand some tiny insects. It did not take long for the footsteps to go away.


    The next minute, he busied himself capturing photos of the various symbols on the ground and on the walls as he found them interesting.


    He spoke in a low voice. "When I transmigrated into a divorced producer, I remember that Na Yu''s incarnation used to read her scripts to me, asking my opinions on what to revise. She was a producer and scriptwriter. She''s not fond of sci-fi and horror but she would not shy away from those genres when asked by her fans."


    It was rare for Jiang Li to converse normally with the system so thetter listened attentively.


    "I remember that some fiction works she used as references when writing zombie apocalypse scripts have scientists and doctors creating medicines for a loved one''s incurable disease. Most of the time, it''s cancer. Unfortunately, their finished product would turn into an infectious virus somehow, or some sort of biological weapon instead of a miraculous cure."


    Jiang Li scrolled through the pictures he had just taken. He made sure none of the captures were blurry before he continued talking. "System, I triple-checked my memory. However, nothing pointed at Chang Xia''s reason for creating that thing."


    The child spirit imprisoned in the void answered, "Host, I''m sorry. I don''t know. The human brain and heart are tooplicated for me to understand."


    The man could not help but shrug. He also did not know.


    The real Chang Xia, the viiness, ended an era with her creation. What prompted her to do that? She even arranged a fake to stand in her ce while she worked in the background. It made him wonder if the girl purposely intended for her project to create monsters or do harm to humanity. The thought crossed his mind because if her goal was for the betterment of the society, there would not have been any need to be so secretive about her experiments.


    As he was without a clue, Jiang Li understood that he could only investigate. Since Jiang Yun was one of the protagonists, he knew the best way to take revenge was naturally to make the apocalypse not descend again, and to realize this goal, the viiness was the key.

 Chapter 458: Side Story: Superstar System (1)

    Chapter 458: Side Story: Superstar System (1)


    <strong>Side Story: Superstar System (1) </strong>... 0


    It would be many monthster that Jiang Li woulde to know that Liu De''s system had long left him for another host.


    The lucky one, you say?


    The person in question made their first television appearance in a reality show - as a traineepeting against a hundred talented people hoping they could gain poprity and debut.


    How would Jiang Li and Selena Tang deal with this superstar wannabe? Would ''she'' be another enemy? Or...


    ...


    It happened before Jiang Li and Selena Tang got married. It was a period when the two were still building their careers. Jiang Li switched from being a producer to being an actor and singer. Meanwhile, Selena had just returned from abroad.


    At a cafe near Starlight''s building, two people sat down and exchanged some dry greetings before proceeding into the actual discussion.


    The loveliest (?) and most high-profile scriptwriter in the country, Selena Tang, raised her left brow at the bespectacled middle-aged man sitting before her.


    "Idol Maker, what?"


    Disregarding the fawning look on the other''s face, sheughed like she just heard of something ridiculous and asked, "Did I hear correctly? You want me, Selena Tang, Tang Yue, a writer, in your show as a judge?"


    The famous reality show director, Director Zhuang did not mind the unusual gaze from Selena Tang and acted like he did not hear the obvious sarcasm from her question which had emphasized her ''names'' and profession.


    Director Zhuang smilingly said, "Yes. The n is to recruit 100 girls from different agencies and have thempete against each other for a debut chance. The group to be formed would only have around 10 members and the ones deciding who will gain the debut spots would be the audience."


    "So what''s the judges'' role?"


    "Well, to be honest, they would be more like teachers imparting their experiences in the entertainment industry and helping them improve. The initial evaluation of the sses would depend on the mentors. Then the next evaluation results would all be from the online voters and the audience."


    The woman nodded. She did not erase the smile on her face, albeit her brows furrowed, "I get the idea of the show. The format is not unique either, and has been implemented by otherpanies abroad. Now what I would like to understand is your reason for inviting me as a judge. What will I judge there, specifically in that so-called initial evaluation phase? Are these trainees making scripts? Am I to score their speeches or anything written every time we announced the vote ranking?"


    In thetter part of her sentences, the wordsing out of her mouth were spoken with stress, carrying out excessive annoyance. On her face, she was tantly saying that the idea was so ridiculous and stupid. Her smile was quite intimidating when she asked, "Is that it, Director?"


    ''I''m waiting for your stupid reply, Director,'' said her eyes that had no trace of a smile despite the curling of the corners of her beautiful lips.


    The forty-five-year-old director felt cold sweat trickling down his back.


    "Ms. Tang, wait, please calm down. We are sincere in our offer and we are not pranking you. We really want you in our production set."


    Selenaughed coldly, "As what again? Listen to yourself. Do you think you sound like in your right mind?"


    The directly froze a bit. The other''s face was awkward. "Ms. Tang...."


    Impatience showed on the woman''s expression and so she stood up. Before trotting away on her high heels, she said, "Mr. Zhuang. I appreciate your time, but I''m busy so I will leave first. And about your proposal. No matter what your n is, if it''s to make a joke of your own show, or to pull my fiance into it, I reject it."


    Dissatisfaction could be seen on her charming face.


    Until now, Selena could not believe they had just wasted half an hour of her day in a conversation that basically went like this.


    -Hello. Can you be part of our show?


    --To write scripts for contestants or something simr?


    -Oh. No, you be a judge?


    --What? How do I judge in a freaking idol show?


    In the entertainment industry, where would one find a conversation as dumb as this?


    ...


    That day Selena Tang ended up walking out and going to another appointment.


    However, she never expected that fate would y a joke on her.


    On the day the trainees from the various entertainmentpanies who passed the selection arrived at the huge dome for an orientation, Selena was there. She was seated amongst the judges, with the audience behind her and the trainees one by one filling up the stadium-like seats in front.


    ... She ended up epting because of Jiang Li. Now as she recalled the reason, Selena could not help but frown.


    That unreliable fiance of hers...


    Jiang Li said he would like to be with her on the same show and she reluctantly epted. It was alreadyte when she learned the man was talking about a different idol survival program. It was not the one Director Zhuang offered to her. Yet it was what she signed herself up for, thinking they were only being needlessly fussy for signing at different ces and not disclosing the program name and the other judges.


    "Miss Tang, I heard Mr. Jiang Li is on the other talent survival show of the rivalingpany, do you know?"


    Instead of dissing her for epting the judging offer despite being a scriptwriter, the famous rapper invited by the crew smirked and thought of annoying her with something more absurd.


    There were two more mentors sitting at the same table as them - one in charge of singing, the other dancing. Thetter was also the so-called producer representative acting like the official emcee.


    Even though there were cameras around focusing on her face, Selena did not restrain her expression. She red openly at the thirty-four-year-old rap mentor, Feng Lu, then simply warned. "Mr. Feng. With all due respect, I don''t think we should be discussing this. I suggest you don''t bring up this topic to me again if you don''t want to know fully why even directors are careful not to anger me."


    The others were a bit taken aback. This flower-like beauty was so fierce even though the recording had already started? Was she not aware that she was the most unqualified to sit on the panel?


    The woman seemed to have guessed what was on their mind and swept her gaze to her side. As they collectively looked away, they had to admit that she indeed looked cold and terrifying.


    "Ahem. Let''s behave ourselves, judges. The trainees can see us. Let us not make them more nervous by showing an intense atmosphere to them." The twenty-nine-year-old veteran singer, Ruby, tried to mediate, attempting to kill the awkward atmosphere before it even escted into something worse.


    Selena did not heed her though. She kept her disinterested expression on and leaned her back on the sofa chair while crossing her arms. Nobody dared to pick on her anymore, not even the directors and producers since they remembered who this youngdy really was.


    ''Forget it, this girl of the Tang family can''t be provoked.'' The majority thought while the marketing team decided to ask for a copy of this scene for promotion and hype. Thetter nned to leak the video so they could use the drama to get more attention in the future.


    "Hello, everyone. Hello, coaches..."


    Shortly after, the initial evaluation phase began. Trainees were called by group depending on the agency they came from.


    Selena looked bored as she held her mic and stared at the five stars attached to a female contestant''s shoulder. She weed them wearing a serious expression, "Hi."


    "Hello, Miss Tang."


    "Tell me about yourself." Prior to saying that, Selena already lowered her head to read the bio-data of the female teenager standing at the center of the 5-member group sent by her agency.


    ''A trainee for a mere 7 months... Uh-uh. Yet she dared pin 5 stars on her clothes.''


    Her critiquing eyes went back to the trainee''s face when thetter began her speech. "My name is Miley Xu. I am from Gentle Moon Entertainment and my hobby is singing and dancing."


    "Every contestant here treats singing and dancing as their hobbies," Selena remarked disinterestedly.


    "I also loveposing poems and songs. If the coaches would allow me, I would like to present one of my creations." There was a harmless smile on Miley Xu''s face. But a momentter, her expression changed as she hastily added, "Of course, if possible, only after our group''s performance. We worked really hard for this opportunity."


    Selena shed a meaningful smile as she took on the minute changes in the expressions of the beautifuldies before her. Although the displeased look on the faces of the other girls flickered only for a second, she saw it all clearly.


    She noticed the cue from the staff, but Selena went on, "So it says here that your actual training period is quite short. What gave you the confidence to wear that?"


    Everyone followed her eyesight. The number of stars on Miley Xu''s would not have been so eye-catchy if not for the gold background that differed from the silver ting of the other numbers. Obviously, the production team intentionally did it for this kind of moment.


    Yes. The trainee in the middle of the stage was really pretty. Even whenpared to Selena herself, she could be said to be not inferior at all. However, in this ce right now, there were about a hundred girls with stunning looks.


    Hearing that Miley Xu had short training time, people could not help but be skeptical since even some five-year trainees shied away from wearing 5-star emblems.


    Yet even when confronted with doubtful gazes, the girl kept her bright smile, "I am fully aware that I might not be deserving of this rating. But it is not because somebody told me to wear this that I picked it up from the basket in the waiting hall. It is more like a reminder... or it is like I am silently putting pressure on myself so that I will strive to be worthy of this 5-star emblem. That''s the kind of idol I want to be, striving for the best that I could in order to give inspiration to others."


    Exmations echoed right after. The audience seemed to have liked her humbleness, or maybe it was because they were expecting an answer filled with confidence so the contrast with their expectation created a positive impression. Even the rap mentor, Mr. Feng, and the vocal mentor, Ruby, nodded in approval. Thetter warmlymented, "I like your mindset, Miss Xu. To take the emblem as a goal and a form of pressure on yourself to always give it your best. I will dly watch your journey."


    "Thank you so much for the encouragement." The already bright smile Miley Xu had on her face blossomed even more, enchanting many from the audience.


    The famed scriptwriter erased the yful grin on her lips and picked up her pen.


    "Well, you''re still the first girl to pin 5 stars on your own clothes. Your teammates are more conservative and chose 4 stars. Confidence is good. Having a goal is also good. But this is apetition so let''s hope your predicted rating is what we would give you after your performance."


    Selena Tang then leaned back and held the evaluation sheet with both hands.


    As if the signal they were waiting for finally arrived, the girls went to their position.


    The good-looking emcee tacitly smiled and said, "Without further ado. Ladies and gentlemen, let us all wee. Miley Xu, Hana Lin, Rana Tang, Ke Lina, and Fu Renyu of Gentle Moon Entertainment, performing ''Lover''s Vow''. by J.E.W.E.L!"


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