Chapter 168 How could the words "red wedding dress" not be incredibly tempting to the child ghost?

The promise of a red wedding dress was incredibly tempting to the little ghost, and he really wanted to agree on the spot. So even when the little ghost said these words to Qiao Yanyu, Qiao Yanyu couldn't help but ask, "Aren't you really tempted?"

It would be a lie to say it wasn't tempted. It missed its friend so much, and the little ghost would certainly be happy to spend more time with her.

"Of course I'm tempted, but the boss lady told me before that I would affect my friends, so we can't even meet face-to-face, we can only catch a glimpse from afar. The red wedding dress sounds very tempting, but I don't think it can completely eliminate this influence. If the boss lady can't do it, how can it possibly do it?"

The little ghost clenched his fists: "And I can guess, the boss lady not setting up her stall, and you guys being too busy to care about me or let me see Haoyou, is all because of that red wedding dress, right?"

After Qiao Yanyu nodded, the little ghost waved his fist: "Then it's my enemy! It's all its fault!"

After expressing his resentment, the little ghost still cautiously asked Qiao Yanyu, "Is the boss really alright? The woman in the red wedding dress said she was locked up, but with you here, she'll definitely be fine, right?"

"Yes, it's okay."

After bidding farewell to the child ghost, Qiao Yanyu's next task was to find the Red Wedding Dress. The Red Wedding Dress clearly knew that Qiao Yanyu was keeping a close watch on it; otherwise, it wouldn't have gone to find the Mud Ghost and the Child Ghost, two pawns it had planted beforehand. It was now standing on the edge of a cliff, and it was estimated that if Qiao Yanyu pressed it any further, it would launch an attack.

Two days later, there was still no word from the Mud Demon. It regretfully indicated that Red Wedding Dress hadn't come looking for it since. Qiao Yanyu simply nodded, indicating that she understood. She also told the Mud Demon not to worry, as she had already caught Red Wedding Dress by the tail.

In a few days, He Zhao will return to his stall and chat with his old customers.

Qiao Yanyu returned to the Countermeasures Bureau with the information she had found, and went to see Jiu Qing and the bureau chief. With their small, rudimentary bureau, it was difficult to handle the situation unfolding on multiple fronts, so seeing Jiu Qing was essential. However, what Qiao Yanyu needed to do was to vie for command with Jiu Qing.

After meeting with the bureau chief, she summoned Wang Yu, Li Xia, and the entire special investigation team to the conference room, where she presented all the information she had collected so far. Then she began vying for power with Jiu Qing.

In some respects, Jiu Qing was someone Qiao Yanyu couldn't shake. She was sent down from above and had a long-standing working relationship with the special investigation team members; this alone made it difficult for her to gain the respect of the masses. However, she did make some mistakes regarding He Zhao.

Faced with the massive stack of documents Qiao Yanyu presented, coupled with the investigation over this period and He Zhao's performance, it wasn't hard to see that Jiu Qing had indeed made a mistake. Although Jiu Qing was a bot, precisely because of this, he readily admitted his error and expressed his willingness to fully cooperate with Qiao Yanyu.

The meeting lasted a long time, and Jiuqing's side took on several missions to destroy Tonghuan Society's strongholds. Near the end, Jiuqing asked, "Should we release He Zhao?" She knew she was wrong, so the first thing to do was to release He Zhao and make amends.

He Zhao probably wouldn't accept the official compensation, since she still needs to run her stall. However, Jiu Qing is offering her financial compensation, which would surely make her very happy. But Qiao Yanyu said, "No rush. Tong Huan Hui wants to take action against He Zhao. Leaving her out alone is not as good as keeping her in the Countermeasures Bureau, where it will be easier to protect her."

Jiuqing nodded, indicating that she understood.

After the meeting ended, Li Xia took the suddenly extra documents back to her office to continue organizing them. After everyone had left, Qiao Yanyu, Wang Yu, and the bureau chief went to the bureau chief's office.

Wang Yu asked with some concern: "Will Tonghuanhui take the bait? Will the fake Li Xia really bring the information back?"

Qiao Yanyu nodded: "Of course."

The bureau chief sighed: "I still think this method of luring the snake out of its hole is a bit too risky. Isn't there a better way?"

Qiao Yanyu frowned: "There might be better options, but I can't think of any right now. He Zhao has been imprisoned for too long, and I don't want her to stay locked up any longer. But letting her out alone now is too risky. Besides, Li Xia is still in the hands of the Tonghuan Society. If we don't capture them all soon, Li Xia might get into trouble."

The bureau chief would absolutely not allow anything to happen to his secretary. Although Li Xia's professional abilities were only average—she was merely a level three investigator—she was incredibly useful as a secretary. Without Li Xia, the bureau chief felt he would eventually be buried under the mountain of official duties.

Without Li Xia and others, things really wouldn't work.

Qiao Yanyu also didn't want anything to happen to Li Xia. She and Li Xia weren't very close, but Li Xia was one of the few people He Zhao had a good relationship with in the Countermeasures Bureau. Moreover, she could even tell the real Li Xia from the fake at a glance, which showed that He Zhao cared about Li Xia.

In this situation, if something were to happen to Li Xia, He Zhao would definitely be devastated.

"But we still don't know Li Xia's location. If we can't capture them all and some escape, won't that put Li Xia in even more danger?"

Faced with Wang Yu's question, Qiao Yanyu paused for a moment before replying, "Trust Li Xia a little. She's an investigator, not someone who just waits to be rescued and is powerless. With our 'luring the snake out of its hole' strategy, most of the Tonghuan Society members will be drawn out. Even if some hold back, they'll just be small fry. If Li Xia can't save herself under these circumstances, she might as well not be an investigator."

Having said that, Wang Yu had nothing more to say.

Just as Qiao Yanyu said, Li Xia was also trying to save herself. After all, she was an investigator. Even with her hands tied behind her back and her eyes covered by a blindfold, and only when it was time to eat would someone come to bring her food and remove the blindfold and ropes, she successfully found out her location.

Li Xia was a meticulous person. Even though she was being driven there locked in a car, she calculated the approximate distance from home based on the time and speed. Because of the rainy season in their city, most houses in the countryside did not have basements, and the room where she was held was just an ordinary farmhouse.

Tonghuan Club didn't actually have much money; otherwise, they wouldn't have bought the dress for Hong Jiayi online. Besides, their previous hideouts were all self-built houses in the suburbs, not villas. Based on various clues, Li Xia quickly found out where she was being held.

She had only been locked up for a short time when she was stunned to see someone who looked exactly like her walk in. Li Xia had never seen such a secret technique before, one that could make someone look exactly like another. But since the person was standing there looking exactly like her, she had no choice but to accept that such a magical art existed.

The person looked exactly like her, almost identical. Even Li Xia, standing there, would think she was looking in a mirror. The other person's attitude wasn't particularly bad; they just asked Li Xia some basic questions and also asked He Zhao many questions.

Li Xia didn't try to cheat or deceive anyone. On less important matters, she kept quiet and told that person everything. But on the important issues, she remained silent. She knew that only in this way could Tong Huan Hui see her as useful and prevent them from killing her immediately.

Tonghuan Society possesses soul-searching magic, but unfortunately, Li Xia's family secret technique targets the soul. Unless the soul-searching technique is exceptionally powerful, it's unlikely to work on Li Xia. However, if the soul-searching technique is used to forcibly break through Li Xia's soul, it could easily turn her into an idiot. She might not even be able to extract any information before she becomes so stupid that she remembers nothing.

Therefore, Tonghuan Society did not use the Soul Searching Technique on Li Xia, which relieved Li Xia.

But as the days went by, Li Xia noticed that the members of the Tonghuan Society were becoming increasingly impatient, and they even led her to relocate. It wasn't hard to see from these small details that the Countermeasures Bureau was relentlessly pursuing the Tonghuan Society, which made the atmosphere within the society increasingly tense.

While imprisoned, Li Xia also met Red Wedding Dress, who tried to invite her to join the group, but Li Xia refused. Red Wedding Dress wasn't angry; she simply said, "Sooner or later you'll understand our good intentions."

One by one, the strongholds of the Tonghuan Society were destroyed, and more and more people went out, leaving fewer and fewer behind. At this moment, Li Xia realized that her opportunity had arrived. She planned to use her family's secret technique—dream entry.

Li Xia's family's secret techniques have many limitations; the people she wants to enter their dreams usually have strong self-protection mechanisms. For example, if she were to enter Qiao Yanyu's dream, without prior agreement that she would voluntarily remove her protective measures, Li Xia would not only be unable to enter but would also suffer a backlash.

Even someone as unreliable as Wang Yu carries many defensive magical artifacts, making it impossible for him to enter easily.

However, there is one person Li Xia can enter her dreams with. That person is He Zhao, the key figure in this incident.

No matter how special He Zhao may seem, he is still an ordinary person at heart. Although Qiao Yanyu said that she is immune to the influence of Yin Qi, she is probably special in some way. However, Li Xia believed that she was not malicious in entering He Zhao's dream.

However, the risk is now quite high for Li Xia. When she used dream entry to scare ordinary people before, she had to prepare guiding candles, have someone protect her, and even inscribe a magic circle in advance. But now Li Xia can't prepare so many things.

She could only grit her teeth and risk entering the dream without any protection. Although it was impulsive and risky, it was better than waiting to die. As Li Xia used the dream-entry technique, she prayed in her heart: I must succeed, and be lucky enough to be able to return safely.

When her soul crossed the long distance, found He Zhao's soul, and successfully entered his dream, she breathed a sigh of relief: being able to enter his dream meant she had at least succeeded more than halfway.

Li Xia didn't have much time and didn't even have time to construct a dream before she directly entered He Zhao's dream. She couldn't wait to talk to He Zhao.