Chapter 136 Property Rights

"What position?" Wen Chong asked.

The other party immediately replied, "It's in the territory of Western Province, in an unnamed wild mountain in the southeast of Western Province. Locals generally call it Xiaokun Mountain."

Surprisingly, this was discovered by the police during their thorough investigation of the Tianguo Group's criminal lair in Western Province. The discoverer was none other than the panda-like and adorable Western Province police officer Wei Fufu.

What a lucky guy...Tu Lanxun couldn't help but sigh.

Wen Chong looked at the current personnel configuration and equipment facilities of Xiaokunshan Tourism Management Bureau again, and frowned slightly.

"Aren't we going?"

"We can't even crack the ones here, so we can crack the ones over there by going to Western Province? The one in charge there is also a director-level officer, and the equipment is as top-notch as ours." Wen Chong sighed, "You have to learn to trust your colleagues."

Tu Lanxun nodded in agreement. Wen Chong glanced in the other direction and said, "Dong Tianlong will be released from the hospital tonight for trial. You should come to the police station at 4 pm. Now go back and rest."

Since Dong Tianlong was detained, his health condition has been very poor and he was once admitted to the hospital.

Tu Lanxun said, "Okay."

So she went back to the convenience store. After following the police around for so long, the sign was a little unfamiliar to her. As she walked in, she saw Bai Xiaoju drinking soy milk. She looked up and saw her smiling face, a white beard forming. "Sister."

The computer ghost lazily glanced at Tu Lanxun, as if she were watching a foreign vampire romance movie, then turned back and said, "You're back."

Tu Lanxun sensed a hint of dissatisfaction in the other person's tone, and with a cheeky smile, he sat next to the computer ghost and pointed, "Oh, the leading actress is so beautiful. The leading actor is also extremely handsome. And I can even smell the hot puppy smell of the second male lead..."

The computer ghost pondered for half a second, then couldn't help but start a discussion with Tu Lanxun, "You don't understand! The heroine's father-in-law and the vampire leader also have their own unique charm!"

After playing with the computer ghost for a while, a ghost customer came in. Tu Lanxun stood up to scan the code to pay. The ghosts were both surprised and relieved to see Tu Lanxun, saying in a mixed voice, "Young boss, you're back."

Tu Lanxun quickly smiled and said, "I went out recently, went out."

The ghost community seemed to have grown even larger than when Tu Lanxun left. Before, it was only about the size of a village, with dozens or hundreds of ghost households; but now there were so many that it was almost as large as Bapian Town.

It feels like I'm the king...

Li Ao wouldn't send the police to exterminate me, would he?

No, no, no, I am certified...

Tu Lanxun was lost in thought and gradually felt sleepy when someone suddenly tapped his arm. He turned around and saw that it was N.

N returned to the convenience store much more relaxed than before, and immediately pounced on his beloved coffee machine, floor scrubber, cake maker, and vacuum cleaner. He had been carrying the iron snake in his blue-painted trouser pocket for several days, but he was exhausted.

"Do the spiritual facilities of the Tourism Administration have any radiation side effects?" Tu Lanxun waved his hand in front of N, and his wrist was grabbed. A coffee cup was stuffed into his hand. When he opened it, he realized that it was not coffee, but warm sweet milk.

N looked at Tu Lanxun, his fingers still circling her wrist, "Come on, follow me into the house."

Tu Lanxun took a big gulp and almost spit it out, but N's face didn't look like he was joking.

Liu Maosheng quickly said from behind: "You guys go ahead, Xiaobai and I are here."

Aunt Lu also smiled: "Yes, yes, Jiahui and her husband are here too. Oh, speaking of this husband..."

Tu Lanxun quickly thanked them and stopped them from talking. She ran up a few steps and saw N standing on the third floor stairs of the illegal building, looking down at her. She and N went up to the third floor and entered the house. The smell of home was overwhelming.

It is different from the busy and orderly police station, and also different from the familiar and lively convenience store.

Home is a special word.

This house was like a piece of wet warm wool, weighing heavily and softly on Tu Lanxun's thoughts.

So she looked at N, met those broken peach blossom eyes, and said, "You're finally back. How are the injuries from your previous fight with the evil spirits, shrew ghosts, and the others?"

N wasn't injured, just overexerted. But he didn't mind Tu Lanxun calling it an "injury," as if being defined that way would add a touch of solemnity and a pleasurable feeling of being cared for.

N replied: “No problem at all.”

For the first time, Tu Lanxun felt a little hot when facing this ghost. Maybe it was the strange words Aunt Lu and Liu Maosheng said that made her ears itch.

No problem at all. What does no problem mean? Does he have to do 250 push-ups and a 10,000-meter round trip run at home?

Sonia will come up and kill people.

"Oh, okay." For the first time, Tu Lanxun felt that he was not good at speaking.

N stopped talking, just staring at her with those heavy eyes, his expression unchanged. Was he thinking about something? It didn't seem like that, more like he was in an emotional struggle and chaos.

Tu Lanxun could only find a topic to talk about: "How about I talk to Professor Mu Zhenzhen?"

She didn't know why she blurted out this sentence, but the rest was much easier to say. "Ask Professor Mu about this." She pulled the necklace out from around her neck.

N was so smart and understanding, his brows furrowed, "You want to untie me?"

"I, I just feel bad for you being so frustrated these past two days." Tu Lanxun explained, "Look, when I was working on a mission at the South Branch, whenever there was any trouble with the Tourism Management Bureau, you'd be pressed down by the equipment and hidden in my pocket. It must have been so uncomfortable."

N stared at Tu Lanxun. "Then why Mu Zhenzhen? Do you think she will help you—keep it secret?"

Tu Lanxun rolled his eyes and said, "First of all, I can't possibly lead you to Professor Mu and say, 'Look, this is the most terrifying boss in the world and the former assistant to the chairman of the Tianguo Group. Now, can you help my boyfriend untie his restraints?'"

What she said seemed to amuse N. His brows relaxed and a smile appeared on his face, which then faded away.

Tu Lanxun continued, "Secondly, of course I wanted to show Professor Mu Zhenzhen this necklace. It was developed by her research group back then. And you forgot that Ms. Tu Penglai and Professor Mu have a connection. I even had dinner with Professor Mu when I was a teenager."

If Professor Mu could figure out the cause of the necklace bug, N wouldn't have to be confined within her 20.22 meters.

After saying that, Tu Lanxun shook her body. She felt a little dizzy, probably because she was too tired recently.

N stepped forward and supported her, allowing her to sit on the sofa. Tu Lanxun leaned against the sofa pillow, holding N's arm, preventing him from standing up from his one-kneed position. She looked up and said, "Nan Xishan, I don't want to break up with you. The convenience store will always have half of you. I just want you to be freer."

After a few seconds of silence, N said, "Let's finish this batch of interrogations first. Since Kris isn't arrested yet, I should be by your side all the time."

Seeing that the other party insisted, Tu Lanxun had nothing more to say and smiled: "Okay, it's good to keep it tied up."

N forced a slight smile, still looking at her with deep eyes.

She took a nap in the convenience store until noon, when N knocked on the door and asked her to come out for lunch. As usual, lunch was served at the house on the third floor, with bowls and dishes of all sizes arranged on the table like an army formation.

Tu Lanxun rubbed his eyes and said, "Wow, it's so rich."

Small plates of pickled bamboo shoots and sugared radish with preserved vegetables, ginger chicken and sweet braised pork, with slightly crispy and sweet choy sum arranged neatly, are accompanied by a spicy and sweet cold seafood dish and a snow-white and emerald green fish fillet and water shield soup.

"I'm so happy. Why did you change the sweet dish to a little sweet today?" Tu Lanxun sat down and picked up his chopsticks. N placed the two bowls of rice facing each other and said, "Let's make it a little lighter."

Tu Lanxun picked up a piece of ginger chicken with chopsticks. The chicken was tender and smooth, full of chicken flavor. The aroma of the ginger paste passed through the gums as soon as it entered the mouth, and the fresh, salty and spicy taste seeped into the soft grains of rice. When he took another spoonful of fish soup, a mellow breeze washed over his tongue and throat, leaving only a lingering fragrance.

N’s cooking is really delicious. I don’t know who he learned it from. Maybe he was busy practicing his cooking skills during his vacation at the Kingdom Group?

Tu Lanxun ate instant noodles and lunch boxes with Li Ao and the others for a long time. The happiness at this moment almost overwhelmed her heart.

What to untie?

This necklace is a really nice item.

She wants to eat N’s cooking for the rest of her life.

In the afternoon, Tu Lanxun went out again with N in his pocket. Liu Maosheng followed him out and said, "Boss, there are 251 ghosts looking for a place to live recently. All the renovated houses around here are occupied. Do you think you can tell the higher-ups about this..."

The ghost community currently operates a "three-transfer, rent-and-buy" system. Ghosts who have managed to settle nearby are wealthy. Since the living residents of the development zone are afraid to return, any ghosts who find a house they like will ask the approval team in Wenchong to send a contract to the original owner for negotiation, concealing the buyer's identity and paying the normal market price. For the living, this is a resounding success, turning a pit into a profitable business, and virtually no one refuses to sell. Those whose property rights are still in the hands of the property salesperson can even more easily be traded in bulk.

Tu Lanxun believed this was only a temporary solution. First, as the ghost community grew larger, speculators who had come to their senses might drive up housing prices in the development zone. Second, once the ghost community became public knowledge, the currency transactions and lifestyles of both sides would inevitably intersect, creating another legal and political dilemma.

Finally, and most importantly, how are ghosts' property rights defined? Currently, like living people, they have 70 or 40-year property rights. However, ghosts' lifespans are significantly longer than those of living people. How will they acquire their next home after 70 years through labor? Can a person continue to own a property they owned in life after death? If so, wouldn't ghosts then significantly seize social resources, leading to stagnant circulation?

"Young Boss, you're thinking deeply, but you don't know something." Liu Maosheng smiled. "Not every ghost wants to stay in this world. To tell you the truth, after two or three years of death, we begin to think about leaving this world. If we don't have a clear obsession, few ghosts would want to stay."

Tu Lanxun didn't understand: "Why?"

"Because the world we see is different from yours," Liu Maosheng said gently, "Every ghost has a strong sense of not belonging, and they desperately want to start over. Yes, death is another journey, and we haven't started it yet, but are stuck at the intersection of the end and the beginning. People like me stay here, on the one hand, because of my friendship with you, the young boss, but more importantly, my daughter is still alive, and I want to see her build a career, start a family, and have someone who loves her and loves her."

Tu Lanxun's worries were relieved a little, and Liu Maosheng took the message and went back.

She turned to look at N who had silently appeared behind her: "Do you also feel like leaving?"

N nodded: "Yeah."

Tu Lanxun asked again: "Then what is your obsession?"