Chapter 167 Significant progress has indeed been made on Qiao Yanyu's side; through the graffiti artwork, Xiao Hei found…
Qiao Yanyu's side has indeed made significant progress. Through the graffiti artwork, Xiao Hei located the member's position. Combined with the intelligence provided by the information processing department, Qiao Yanyu easily apprehended the member. This small organization doesn't have a large number of people, so each member is a core member and knows quite a lot.
Moreover, it's not difficult to get the answer out of them, because they don't think they're doing anything wrong at all. After being brainwashed, they only feel that every step they've taken is upright and honorable, and they even try to recruit Qiao Yanyu, saying a lot of irrelevant things.
Compared to the mud ghost, Qiao Yanyu quickly discovered the loopholes in their words, sneered, and tossed the person to Jiu Qing, telling Jiu Qing to get her position right and stop staring at He Zhao all the time. Whether it was soul-searching or hypnotizing this member, she should try to extract more information as soon as possible.
The only regret is that although this member knows quite a lot, he is still unaware of the truly core events. Jiu Qing doesn't believe that the words of this junior member can prove He Zhao's innocence.
Qiao Yanyu stared at her for a long time before finally saying two words: "Whatever you want."
Before Qiao Yanyu left the Countermeasures Bureau, Wang Yu called her, and the two arranged to meet in a conference room to exchange information. Qiao Yanyu was somewhat surprised to hear what Wang Yu relayed. Wang Yu scratched her head: "The boss said he dreamed about it, but I don't know if it's true or not. It seems that none of those ghosts have the ability to enter dreams."
Qiao Yanyu, however, chose to believe He Zhao, thinking that it was most likely true. In response to Wang Yu's words, she said, "Who knows? We still haven't studied Yin Qi enough. Maybe if there are too many ghosts thinking about He Zhao, they might actually enter our dreams."
After saying this, Qiao Yanyu went to find the Mud Ghost and explained her purpose. Hearing Qiao Yanyu's words, the Mud Ghost was also surprised: "I don't know, I'm a ghost, I don't dream, how could I enter the boss's dream?"
"Maybe it's a dream message. After someone dies, some of their living relatives will dream about that person and receive their instructions. Maybe this is what happened to you too." Although Qiao Yanyu was also quite curious about this kind of thing, now was not the time to verify its authenticity.
Hearing Qiao Yanyu's explanation, the Mud Ghost nodded, indicating that perhaps that was the case. With that matter dropped, they began their conversation. Qiao Yanyu had chosen to arrive at night, so the human and the ghost stood by the roadside communicating.
The Mud Demon didn't let Qiao Yanyu go down into the sewer where he was, as that was somewhat impolite.
It recounted the events of that day in detail, and asked with some confusion, "Is it really possible to achieve harmonious coexistence between humans and ghosts, as it says?" When the Red Wedding Dress said these things, the Mud Ghost spoke with disdain, but had to admit that the Red Wedding Dress's words were somewhat tempting. Even a ghost like the Mud Ghost, who was devoid of desires, couldn't help but be tempted afterward, and even asked Qiao Yanyu if such a possibility was possible.
Qiao Yanyu immediately rejected the idea: "How could that be?"
She pointed out the flaw in this seemingly beautiful statement: "It only says that ghosts can live by absorbing the negative emotions and yin energy of the living, and that this can actually make the living happy every day. But it doesn't say anything about what happens if the human becomes unlucky because of the contact between the ghost and the human, even without considering the impact of negative emotions?"
"You should know that when ghosts come into contact with living people, it not only affects the other person's psychology, but also, in severe cases, their physiology and fortune. Ghosts cannot absorb these things; they can only be driven away by yang energy. Ghosts have no yang energy at all, so how can they absorb all the yin energy? Even if they can absorb some yin energy, when they leave, the yin energy on their body will remain on the living person."
The Mud Demon exclaimed "Ah!" and then nodded: "Yes, it deliberately concealed all the other problems, making harmonious coexistence impossible."
"And it says it only eats bad ghosts..." Qiao Yanyu snorted coldly: "How can you be sure that all the ghosts it eats are bad ghosts? Even if it can guarantee that it only eats bad ghosts, once the ghosts in the organization go into hiding, can you guarantee that every ghost eats evil ghosts? You can't guarantee that, right? If it eats good ghosts too, they won't even have the chance to be reincarnated. Who will bear the consequences?"
"You're right."
After Qiao Yanyu's words, the Mud Demon no longer thought about the red wedding dress. It just said to Qiao Yanyu, "I suspect it wants to kidnap He Zhao. It keeps asking me if I want to go and save He Zhao, but I feel that it definitely has ulterior motives."
“…Hmm.” Qiao Yanyu lowered her eyes and softly hummed in agreement. The Mud Ghost muttered to itself, “But why does it want to kidnap He Zhao?” At this moment, the Mud Ghost completely disbelieved what the Red Wedding Dress had said about saving He Zhao. Saying it was to save him was a lie; it really wanted to kidnap him.
Regarding this, Qiao Yanyu had her own guess: "Because He Zhao is special."
She can make ghosts leave their location and even provide them with delicious food. Having such a talent would be a tremendous boon to the Red Wedding Dress organization. With He Zhao, their allure to other ghosts would increase exponentially.
Moreover, the fact that a confused ghost can walk freely is a fatal temptation for any ghost. It can also quickly restore a ghost's memory and keep it conscious; no ghost can resist that.
Putting yourself in her shoes, if Qiao Yanyu were in Hong Yiyao's shoes, she would have wanted to take He Zhao as her own the very first day she saw him. That's why it went to such lengths, step by step, to devise one scheme after another. The first step was to sow discord between He Zhao and the Countermeasures Bureau.
Hong Jiayi definitely knew about Hua Hua's affair, and might even have been keeping an eye on her the whole time. That's why she turned her attention to He Zhao and started plotting something sinister.
But the Red Wedding Dress is truly a cunning individual. It had planned this scheme long ago and could quickly adjust its plans to align with its goals. The Mud Ghost was one of them. It's not hard to see that the one who was brainwashing the Mud Ghost and the Child Ghost by constantly muttering things like "Why?" and "I hate you!" before they even became ghosts was the Red Wedding Dress.
At that time, it might not have even become a ghost yet, but it was already plotting to make the mud ghost, who was without desires, and the child ghost, who was simple-minded, its pawns. If it weren't for He Zhao, it could have easily brought them both under its control. Even the tall guy might have been a pawn it had placed beforehand.
Not only in this city, but in other cities as well, it must have made its moves in advance.
However, He Zhao's appearance caused its plans to deviate. Perhaps it noticed He Zhao earlier than Hua Hua's father's organization, and was just observing in secret before quickly changing its strategy in an attempt to make He Zhao its own.
Qiao Yanyu simply could not tolerate something like this involving He Zhao.
"Want to take her away? That's wishful thinking." Qiao Yanyu scoffed.
With her around, no one can touch her.
"If the woman in the red wedding dress comes looking for you again, pretend to submit and act as an inside agent. I will come to you at this time every two nights so we can exchange information."
The Mud Demon nodded in agreement. It could tell who truly cared for He Zhao. It had no reason to linger in the human world; it was He Zhao who made it want to spend more time with her. Therefore, the Mud Demon was willing to cooperate with Qiao Yanyu for He Zhao's sake.
Next, Qiao Yanyu plans to go find the child ghost.
It is easier for the child ghost to be persuaded by the red wedding dress than the mud ghost. At least the mud ghost is a ghost without desires and is wholeheartedly devoted to He Zhao, so it is not so easy to control. But the child ghost is different. It is a ghost with a simple mind and a strong desire.
If the woman in the red wedding dress comes to it, there's a 60-70% chance it will be persuaded by her.
Qiao Yanyu rode over without stopping, carrying her little black horse. She started riding her beloved motorcycle, even though the doctor said that although her leg had healed, she still needed to rest. She still rode the motorcycle very steadily, unlike some other riders who deliberately revved the engine to make a loud noise. Her motorcycle sped through the night streets almost silently.
She stopped in the bustling city center, where many people were still out enjoying themselves. Qiao Yanyu weaved through the crowd and quickly found the child ghost. It had died near the fork in the road, and the two, one dressed as a person and the ghost, arrived at the rooftop where the middle-aged man had jumped to his death.
Even though the rooftop was closed, it wasn't a problem for them; they could easily get in.
"Why are you looking for me? Where's He Zhao? Is she alright?"
"It's alright," Qiao Yanyu replied simply, then asked, "Has a ghost in a red wedding dress come looking for you?"
The little ghost nodded: "Yes, yes! If the owner hadn't been staying away from the stall these past few days, I would definitely have told her that the woman in the red wedding dress was up to no good and told her to stay away!" Qiao Yanyu observed the little ghost for a while and found that it spoke with such sincerity that it didn't seem to be lying to her.
"It said a lot of nonsensical things."
From the child ghost's account, Qiao Yanyu understood that what the red-bridal-dress said to it was almost identical to what she said to the mud ghost, only with some modifications for the child ghost, especially in tempting it: "Don't you want to be with your best friend? Even if you become a ghost, you can still spend time with her. When she paints, you can float around her, and you can even be a drone, providing her with 360-degree visual references. Wouldn't that be great?"
"Besides, didn't you become the little figure she drew? She would be very happy to see the character she imagined moving in front of her."
These words were a fatal temptation for the child ghost, and it really took a lot of effort to resist the temptation: "Of course I want to, but I don't really understand. The little figure she drew is her OC. I have become her OC. What's going on?"
The little ghost sighed and said, "Besides, you all promised me that you would let me catch a glimpse of my friend from afar."
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