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 ghost lady 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 ghost lady 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 seniors come 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 villainess already sensed the disappearance of her lackey. 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 slash 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 her last 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 accomplished 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 villainess couldn't come 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 net, 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 play with that person personally. 

…

In the neighboring city, Zhan Rong was doing okay with her quest despite the lack of real-time support from Jiang Li. The first attempt in disrupting a planned 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 villages. They were rescued just when the huge van was about to cross another province. The ladies 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 s.e.x, 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 places 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 inwardly laughed, 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. The latter added the traffickers to the group of criminals supposed to enter an enslavement camp where they would be forced to do construction works and all sorts of heavy labors 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 villainess 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. 

...

"... How come 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 flatly 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 villainess 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 become 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 welcome 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 flaunt 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 congratulations 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 moment later, 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 villainess 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 play and so Jiang Li managed to hide to everyone that he was constantly receiving some backlash 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 relax 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 similar 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 her commit 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 Gu Mochou. 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 the latter 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 villainess.'