Chapter 143 Jiu Qing was chatting with Wang Yu on and off, mainly asking the same questions over and over again...

Jiuqing chatted casually with Wang Yu, mainly asking the same question over and over again: "Is it really that delicious?" Wang Yu didn't really have any masochistic tendencies, so she wouldn't repeatedly bring up disgusting things at the dinner table to ruin her appetite.

Furthermore, since Jiuqing had already exposed her lie, she could only give perfunctory "uh-huhs" to get through it.

But Jiu Qing was indeed annoying, and at this moment she became exceptionally persistent. She launched into a tirade against Wang Yu: "Is it really delicious? Qiao Yanyu didn't look like it was bad just now, so how delicious is it exactly? There's still one left here, right? I don't think anyone will eat it. If you could, why don't you invite me? There's someone here who hasn't eaten and hasn't had dinner yet."

Given Jiu Qing's robotic demeanor, it's hard to believe she could speak so much in one breath, without pausing. However, aside from speaking, her other behaviors remained very robotic, including, but not limited to, a completely expressionless face with only a slight twitch at the corner of her mouth, and those somewhat strange eyes.

Wang Yu ignored what Jiu Qing said, turning her head to the side and focusing intently on eating her dinner, even eating much faster than before.

Just kidding, the child is at a crucial stage of growth, what are they chattering about over here?

Most importantly, she had no right to decide who could eat the leftover lunchbox from Li Xia, since it wasn't Wang Yu who made it.

Perhaps having realized this, Jiuqing decided to shift her focus and head towards Qiao Yanyu and He Zhao.

Although Jiuqing was a bot, she realized that He Zhao didn't like her and sensed something fishy about their relationship. Therefore, she chose to talk to Qiao Yanyu first. Qiao Yanyu, as an investigator, and a Level 1 investigator at that, was exceptionally good at communication—almost too normal for a Level 1 investigator.

People like Jiu Qing are more like the norm. Sometimes, Jiu Qing even feels that she's one of the most normal investigators. Otherwise, she wouldn't have been assigned as the team leader to communicate with others. But even so, in Jiu Qing's perception, Qiao Yanyu is still somewhat unbelievably normal.

What Jiu Qing had previously found difficult to understand became her breakthrough point today. She immediately asked, "Qiao Yanyu, I think I need to eat. There happens to be one here, what do you think?"

—Perhaps she thinks she belongs to the normal category of people, which is also Jiuqing's illusion.

To He Zhao, those words sounded incredibly rude, yet delivered with such righteous indignation. Before Qiao Yanyu could even speak, He Zhao retorted, "No way! There are instant noodles and self-heating hot pots in the lounge. Go eat those if you want. Why should I give them to you?"

Jiu Qing ignored her and stared intently at Qiao Yanyu, seemingly waiting for her answer. But Qiao Yanyu always supported He Zhao without question, so she nodded: "He Zhao is right."

After that, Jiuqing left in anger. Yes, she really left in anger. When Jiuqing left, He Zhao could feel the "anger" emanating from her, which surprised him. A bot, actually angry because he didn't feed her?

However, Jiu Qing was just a passerby to He Zhao. She shook her head, chatted with Qiao Yanyu for a while longer, then packed up her stall and prepared to leave. She didn't take the extra meal with her, but instead told Qiao Yanyu, "Don't work too long tonight. If you get hungry, heat it up and eat some. If you can't finish it, just leave it. Don't force yourself."

"good."

Qiao Yanyu reluctantly saw He Zhao off to the entrance of the Countermeasures Bureau. Only after He Zhao rode away on his electric tricycle and disappeared from sight did she turn back to the Countermeasures Bureau.

Before Qiao Yanyu even stepped into the Countermeasures Bureau, she saw Jiu Qing. Jiu Qing was standing at the entrance, seemingly having witnessed the entire scene of Qiao Yanyu seeing He Zhao off. She didn't speak, but stepped aside, waiting for Qiao Yanyu to enter the Countermeasures Bureau before following her. As they walked down the corridor, Jiu Qing suddenly spoke.

"You seem to really trust that person named He Zhao."

"Mm." Qiao Yanyu didn't say much, just gave a simple reply.

But Jiuqing had no intention of ending the conversation there. She seemed completely unconcerned about Qiao Yanyu's answer and continued, "Regarding her, I have reviewed the relevant information from the director and know the general outline. She revealed her identity completely when she first met you and has been actively cooperating since then."

"Um."

Qiao Yanyu wasn't surprised that Jiu Qing could see He Zhao's information. Even Wang Yu and Li Xia didn't know this; they were only level two or three investigators, and they weren't qualified to access He Zhao's data. The idea of ​​an interdimensional visitor sounded too far-fetched, and the director had already classified it as a confidential document. Few people even looked at it when it was sent to higher-ups.

However, as the head of the special investigation team, Jiu Qing held a high-ranking position and had the authority to access files within the Countermeasures Bureau. Therefore, it wasn't surprising that she knew about He Zhao's situation.

However, her act of flipping through He Zhao's information inevitably offended Qiao Yanyu. So Qiao Yanyu stopped and stared at Jiu Qing's back.

Jiuqing took two steps and then realized that the person beside her had stopped walking. She turned around and looked at Qiao Yanyu: "Don't be angry. You were recommended by the director to join the investigation team. You are considered an unofficial member of this special investigation team. Out of responsibility to the members, I will definitely have to check your information."

"The information shows that you and this visitor from another world, He Zhao, have a very close relationship, and you are even living together. The previous report said that you invited her to live with you because she was being watched by criminals, and you wanted to protect her safety. But today, it seems to me that your relationship is obviously not ordinary. In addition, the information I have reviewed before has given me even more questions."

Jiuqing's cyborg nature wasn't just evident in her actions; her tone was also very stiff, yet everything she said made sense, leaving Qiao Yanyu with no way to deny it.

Checking information about people related to Qiao Yanyu is indeed something that the head of the special investigation team should do.

"What I'm curious about is that the information we have about her is basically all based on her own account. You have no way to verify what she says, so you can't confirm whether she really is a visitor from another world. The only thing we know is that she does attract some earthbound spirits to eat at her stall every night. The food she makes can be tasted by ghosts, which is quite strange."

"However, this does not prove that she is from another world. If she has some special ancestral magic, she could also do so."

Hearing this, Qiao Yanyu felt she could no longer remain silent, and she said, "He Zhao doesn't have that much yang energy, so even if she really has such a strange technique, she can't cast it."

“Yes.” Jiuqing acknowledged this, but doubts remained in her heart: “But what if someone is behind her? She doesn’t need to have this yang energy herself; she can achieve the same effect simply by taking out the corresponding knife from the person behind her.”

The more Jiu Qing doubted He Zhao, the less Qiao Yanyu could bear to listen. Her hands clenched into fists: "I can guarantee with my integrity that He Zhao is absolutely not that kind of person. She has no reason to lie about this kind of thing, and besides, this is beyond your authority. Investigator Jiu Qing, you are here to investigate the recent emergence of many ghosts whose appearances do not match their appearances in life and the reasons for this, not to investigate He Zhao."

Jiuqing nodded in agreement, but what she said next made Qiao Yanyu want to attack her: "You're right, but the anomalies don't stop there. I don't know what's blinding you, but the fact that those weak ghosts, who should be bound to their places of death, can leave freely and wander around is also very suspicious."

She practically had "I suspect He Zhao" written all over her face, but Qiao Yanyu still couldn't hold back and raised her hand to slap Jiu Qing across the face. Jiu Qing seemed not to have expected Qiao Yanyu to do this, or perhaps she wasn't very good at physical combat. In any case, when Qiao Yanyu punched her, Jiu Qing couldn't dodge in time and was instead knocked to the ground by Qiao Yanyu's fist.

Therefore, Qiao Yanyu was unable to find the time to accompany He Zhao to set up the stall that evening, and had to ask Wang Yu to do it for her.

Before Wang Yu arrived, He Zhao had already guessed that Qiao Yanyu wouldn't be able to come with her today. She wasn't so prescient as to know that Qiao Yanyu had beaten up Jiu Qing because of her; she simply felt that Qiao Yanyu would have a lot of things to do today and probably wouldn't be able to come.

So when He Zhao saw Wang Yu, he accepted it well and even greeted him.

At first, Wang Yu didn't know how to explain to He Zhao why Qiao Yanyu hadn't come today, especially since Qiao Yanyu had instructed Wang Yu not to tell He Zhao what she had done. The fact that He Zhao didn't ask now actually relieved Wang Yu.

But it's unclear whether Wang Yu has some kind of unlucky constitution, as something rather strange always seems to happen when she's around.

Wang Yu had only been seated for a short while when she could see a red figure slowly drifting towards her from afar. Wang Yu instinctively clenched her fists, because she clearly sensed that this red-clad ghost was far stronger than herself. As the figure drew closer, He Zhao realized it was a guest dressed in red Hanfu.

The bright red veil was lifted, revealing a stunningly beautiful face, fully made up and dressed in a red wedding gown. She floated slowly to He Zhao's side and took her seat. Her first words were, "Excuse me, is rice served here?"

He Zhao's reputation as a nighttime ghost vendor spread far and wide through word of mouth among her ghost customers. Many people, recommended by others, would come to her stall and become regulars. Originally, only a dozen or so ghosts frequented her stall, but now that number has grown to over thirty.

In the past, her stall often had three seats, but there were usually only one available for customers. However, as the number of customers increased, it became common for two or three people to sit down at the same time.

He Zhao nodded, without much reaction, and said as usual, "Ten yuan for a bowl of rice, no credit."