Chapter 74 "Hmm, you want rice? That's easy." He Zhao continued...

"Hmm, you want to eat rice? That's easy."

He Zhao continued, and at the sound of her voice, the ghost's eyes lit up: "Can I still eat it?" The crying tone in its voice disappeared, replaced only by longing and hope for delicious food. He Zhao nodded: "Yes, you can."

The girl in front of him, Hua Hua, had shed her original cold and evil demeanor; in reality, she was just a fifteen or sixteen-year-old girl. However, without Qiao Yanyu's support, He Zhao would have had a hard time dealing with her alone.

However, now that things had settled into He Zhao's familiar rhythm, she spoke with increasing confidence: "Eating this meal is quite simple. Look at those ghosts. They're helping me like this because they want to eat. Of course, I certainly won't make them do anything difficult. You see, they're just helping me out, playing a little trick on those... well, bad guys. Later, I'll even host a banquet where everyone can eat their fill. It's just that I don't have much money, so I can't buy too much rice. Therefore, I can only give priority to those who are on good terms with me."

He Zhao looked at Hua Hua: "Do you want to be on good terms with me?"

Whether she had a good relationship with He Zhao or not wasn't the key point. The key point was that in Hua Hua's mind, "having a good relationship with this person" meant "being able to eat rice whenever I wanted." So Hua Hua nodded her head like a rattle-drum: "I think so."

Hua Hua really wanted to, but her dad definitely didn't. In the middle of his fight with Wang Yu, he even yelled at Hua Hua, "You damn woman, what are you doing?! What are you talking about? Hurry up and kill them, come help me! Don't you remember all the things I've done for you?! If it weren't for me, would you be so strong?! Want to get beaten up again?!"

Hua Hua clearly couldn't bear to hear such words. It quickly curled itself into a ball, covered its face, and started crying, shouting, "I was wrong! Don't hit me! I'm sorry, I was wrong, Hua Hua will be good! Don't hit Hua Hua!"

He Zhao looked at Hua Hua with such disappointment. She nudged the rice towards Hua Hua, and the aroma was clearly already there. Hua Hua cried, but she still managed to pull her hands away from her face, peeking out a little to look at the rice.

Because of its blatant attempt to cover up its intentions, and its failure to attack the investigators, it was obvious that it just wanted to eat white rice. The villain was furious and wanted to continue attacking Hua Hua. He Zhao, taking advantage of his loud voice, shouted, "I don't want to listen to this bastard's chanting!"

She began enthusiastically promoting her white rice: "Huahua, look at this rice! It's so fragrant and sweet, and just one bowl will remind you of the taste of your favorite food. Besides, even without a banquet, I don't charge much. It's only ten yuan in ghost money, which is a small amount for a powerful ghost like you. With your strength, I estimate you could eat ten bowls a day without any problem!"

Hua Hua was clearly persuaded by He Zhao; it even swallowed hard and couldn't help but ask, "Really?"

While He Zhao was promoting the product, the villain's voice kept coming over, relentlessly insulting Hua Hua and saying he would beat it. Even though Hua Hua had already been persuaded by He Zhao, it still couldn't help but tremble and let out a few sobs when it heard the words about being beaten.

At this moment, He Zhao understood why the Mud Demon said the crying was annoying—it truly was annoying, enough to make any normal person extremely irritable. Coupled with the villain's constant harassment, He Zhao snapped, "What the hell are you yelling for! All you do is curse and hit! What skills do you have? Aren't you just relying on Hua Hua to bully us?! If you're so capable, stop relying on Hua Hua, stop yelling, and just take care of all of us yourself! If you're not capable, shut up!"

She was doing a great job promoting it, and every time she was about to succeed, the villain would ruin it. How could He Zhao not be angry?

But the main villain wasn't one to be trifled with either. While dealing with Qiao Yanyu's soldiers and Wang Yu, he also managed to engage in a verbal battle with He Zhao: "What's it to you?! It's my daughter! I created it! After I sacrifice this city, it will become even stronger! Thanks to me, it's so strong! I'm its father, so it should listen to me!"

"Should be my ass." He Zhao gritted his teeth in anger. Turning his head again, he saw Hua Hua curled up in a ball, crying incessantly. He Zhao couldn't take it anymore. At this rate, they wouldn't be able to completely turn Hua Hua to their side even by dawn. The good news, however, was that Hua Hua had already been partially won over; at least she wouldn't attack He Zhao anymore.

So He Zhao, emboldened, went straight for it. She patted Qiao Yanyu's hand that was wrapped around her waist, and after Qiao Yanyu let go, she reached out and stuffed the remaining rice into Qiao Yanyu's hand, then tugged at her hair.

Just as He Zhao had expected, the hair had no strength at all and was easily pulled aside by He Zhao. Then, He Zhao took a step forward and, amidst everyone's "Are you crazy?" looks, directly grabbed Hua Hua's hand that was covering her face.

The moment He Zhao touched Hua Hua's hand, she truly felt its extreme coldness, like the kind of ice that never melts, as described in novels. The bone-chilling cold felt as if her hand was being pierced by sharp thorns. Even so, He Zhao still gripped Hua Hua's hand tightly and pulled it down.

“Listen to me carefully. You don’t need to be afraid of him. What’s the point of being afraid of him? Is he even as strong as your little finger right now? No, right? So how can he possibly beat you? You’re already very strong, while your own father is just a piece of trash.”

She pointed at the villain fighting Wang Yu and continued, "Look closely, that woman fighting your dad, and that little soldier, you could take them down without lifting a finger. You're that strong, why are you afraid of him hitting you?! That's not right, sister, he should be afraid of you hitting him! You're a disgrace to us women. If I had your strength, I'd definitely slap that damn man's face!"

"He's gone too far! He really doesn't understand the difference between the two kings. He's still calling you a dead woman. You should give him a good beating!"

He Zhao's voice was very loud, and because it was a closed basement, the echo was significant. While everyone was focused on their fight, her voice was particularly clear. So much so that even the people fighting the villains nearby could hear it perfectly.

At this moment, the stitched-up water ghost, who had done something similar before, stepped forward and loudly supported He Zhao: "Yes! That's right! If you don't want to slap him in the face, and feel that's giving him too much face, you can try kicking his butt! Kicking his butt is super satisfying!"

He Zhao remained silent for a moment, and could only silently express his gratitude to the sutured water ghost for his personal testimony.

With He Zhao encouraging her and the sutured water ghost cheering her on, Hua Hua was clearly very tempted. Her earlier attempt to cover her face and cry completely fizzled out; she lowered her hands, revealing her small face, her eyes gleaming with a sharp light, as if a speech bubble above her head was asking: Really?

This was undoubtedly a heavy blow to the main villain. He didn't want Hua Hua to be bewitched, and was about to say something when Wang Yu, wearing boxing gloves, delivered a heavy blow. The villain dodged quickly and wasn't hit. Wang Yu's punch landed on the ground, kicking up a cloud of dust.

The dust prevented the villain from opening his mouth for a moment.

Wang Yu appeared youthful, lively, and enthusiastic, but unexpectedly, she was a remarkable woman with both strength and speed at the A level. Her weapon was a glove, and her strength was truly astonishing. Today, she was still wearing her favorite red preppy-style coat, which billowed up with each swing, making her a vibrant splash of red.

Taking a moment from her busy schedule, He Zhao gave Wang Yu a thumbs up. Wang Yu had done a really good job getting the main villain to manually mute himself. He Zhao turned back to continue brainwashing Hua Hua, speaking rapidly and with a hint of impatience. He Zhao had realized something: Qiao Yanyu couldn't be delayed any longer.

The hand that Qiao Yanyu had just put her arm around He Zhao's waist was warm, and the hand that held her was strong, but compared to usual, her strength was not as firm. Moreover, under normal circumstances, Qiao Yanyu would not be standing behind He Zhao at this moment, just acting as someone who helps carry the rice bowl.

She did this willingly because Qiao Yanyu was exhausted. When He Zhao came in, she found Qiao Yanyu sitting on the ground in an awkward position. She had been preparing to fight on with her last breath. But He Zhao's sudden intrusion interrupted that effort, and getting back on track wasn't so easy.

Even though Qiao Yanyu stood motionless like a pine tree at this moment, she was actually just barely holding on. She didn't know when she would collapse from exhaustion.

He Zhao didn't want to see this situation unfold, and she knew that the longer it dragged on, the more dangerous it would become. If she could directly win over Hua Hua, it would obviously bring a turning point to the situation. Therefore, she spoke earnestly, hoping that Hua Hua would consider whether its own father could really beat it.

Hua Hua was thinking, but clearly, thinking takes time. The villain's oppression of Hua Hua didn't start overnight. From when Hua Hua was very young, this damned man must have been abusing her for a long time, and even after Hua Hua's death, when she was still weak, he continued to use his methods of violence against her.

Such prolonged oppression meant that even if it were suddenly awakened by someone and found the strength to resist, it would be difficult to break free from its inner constraints. The only positive thing was that when it was contemplating whether to deal with its own father, all its actions ceased, and it showed absolutely no intention of harming the investigators.

He Zhao was getting anxious because simply stopping its movements wasn't enough to tip the scales of victory in their favor. Before He Zhao and his ghost guests arrived, they had already been fighting the villains for a long time. Before that, Qiao Yanyu had held them off for an extended period. Over that time, each of them was already covered in wounds, and if the battle dragged on any longer, they wouldn't be able to hold on.

He Zhao was anxious inside, and his mouth was practically blistered from talking, but he could only control the situation and couldn't directly charm Hua Hua and make it stand on his side.

If only... if only I had that power.

This was the first time He Zhao had such a thought.

It was at this moment that she felt the light source blocking the doorway suddenly shift and then go out completely.