Chapter 68 [VIP]
After the lingering turmoil within his body subsided, Jiang Zhuochen accelerated the refining of the Azure Cloud Heaven. The thick wisps of essence swirled within the lamp, gently supporting his soul.
He opened his eyes, looked at the night outside, and thought about what he had done during this period, especially the feeling that while he was still rational, he could not control his actions, which was even worse than before.
He hesitated for a moment, then peeked out through a crack in the door like a thief, and then met a pair of eyes.
Seeing that he was startled and jumped up, Xu Xing pushed open the door and went in, teasingly asking, "Why are you sneaking around like that?"
Jiang Zhuochen scratched his head, glancing down slightly to avoid the other person's gaze. "Nothing... why did you come here?"
"See if you're all better yet?" Xu Xing said. "You've been here all day."
"Alright." Jiang Zhuochen pushed the person out the door. "Have you eaten? I'm so hungry, I want to eat."
"No, I'll wait for you."
After eating and drinking his fill, Jiang Zhuochen stretched and was about to go back to his room for a hot shower and a good night's sleep. He hadn't even taken two meters when someone grabbed the back of his collar, followed by a sharp pain in his earlobe.
Where to?
Jiang Zhuochen said in a muffled voice, "Go back, take a shower, and go to sleep."
Xu Xing leaned closer, "Going back where?"
“Well…” Jiang Zhuochen hesitated, “my room.”
Xu Xing moved the person over, looked them up and down for a while, and knew exactly what was going on, but still had to ask, "Which one is your room?"
Jiang Zhuochen quickly pointed in a certain direction.
Xu Xing followed his gaze, raised an eyebrow, and said, "You've been crying and begging to stay with me these past few days. I thought we'd be sharing a room, but it turns out we weren't?"
The closer they got, the closer they got, until the last few words were practically touching Jiang Zhuochen's earlobe.
Jiang Zhuochen covered his ears and stared at him. The man's eyes were full of blatant mockery. His slight embarrassment was overshadowed by anger. He slapped Xu Xing across the face and pushed him away.
"That's not true. Go to sleep by yourself."
"It's cold, I can't sleep alone." Xu Xing smiled and pulled the person who was turning to leave, leading him step by step towards another bedroom.
After these few days of delay, Jiang Zhuochen recovered, but he had not heard any news of the female ghost committing the crime.
He slowly made his way to Xu Xing's office, glancing at the people working there as he passed by, and pondered to himself, "Is even a wisp of a remnant soul this powerful? The connection between souls alone can be suppressed for so long."
Is it because his master is too powerful, or because the ghosts and monsters in this world are too weak? But this is a good opportunity for him; he has to hurry up and catch some ghosts.
That night, he dragged Xu Xing to the old town, to the building where the female ghost had appeared last time.
“I checked, this building is forty or fifty years old.” Xu Xing looked at the building in front of him. “There aren’t many residents now, the fourth floor is basically all empty. What do you plan to do?”
Jiang Zhuochen said seriously, "This female ghost's activities follow a certain pattern. She only targets food delivery workers, and all her victims are male."
"So she specifically targets male food delivery drivers who deliver food late at night?" Xu Xing pondered. "This doesn't sound like a random crime; it sounds more like a targeted act of revenge."
Jiang Zhuochen nodded. "Either all these delivery drivers have some connection with the female ghost in her previous life, or there's something wrong with this profession."
He changed the subject: "But having killed so many people, even if there are grievances, we can't let them go. I hope it won't be too much trouble."
“It’s alright,” Xu Xing said, leading him inside. “If there’s any danger, release that spirit and let it shield you.”
"...?" Jiang Zhuochen was speechless. "Those were collected with great effort, you're not allowed to covet them!"
The two went up to the fourth floor. The room, which had been in chaos due to the fight, was now back to normal. The female ghost was still standing in the candlelight, but this time her expression was more mournful and the blood in her eyes was even more intense.
"Little Taoist priest, you're here again," the female ghost said eerily, her gaze falling on Xu Xing. "You think you can suppress me like last time just because you're here? I won't die, and I won't let you get away with this."
Jiang Zhuochen has been preoccupied with his own problems these past few days, which has also given the female ghost time to recuperate. Extending the battle might offer an opportunity, but it's not certain that he can defeat her in the short term.
He sighed and put the talisman away. "Since you can still be reasonable, why don't we talk? What would it take for you to stop?"
The female ghost chuckled, "Once all the damned people are dead, I can stop."
"With your current status, I'm afraid it's not feasible," Jiang Zhuochen suggested to her. "Why don't you leave it to me?"
"My identity isn't good enough?" The female ghost seemed to have heard the biggest joke in the world, her face full of undisguised mockery: "I've already died once, do you think I'm afraid of dying again?"
“…That’s what they say.” Jiang Zhuochen couldn’t think of a way to communicate, so he secretly patted Xu Xing on the back.
Xu Xing naturally continued, "You've killed so many people and you still haven't stopped, is it because you haven't found the murderer who killed you?"
The female ghost looked at him in silence.
"And I checked, all these delivery driver deaths happened in the old town area. Does that mean you can't get out? The murderer hasn't come over yet, how long are you planning to wait here?"
The female ghost's hands hung limply at her sides, her fingernails gleaming coldly in the moonlight. Her face was paler than ever, and her eyes were dark and lifeless, making her look more like a true evil spirit than ever before.
After a moment, she waved her hand, and a USB drive slowly landed in Xu Xing's hand. "Since you're so capable, I want to hear news of that scumbag being brought to justice within three days. Otherwise, even if I'm reduced to ashes, I'll make sure you never have a moment's peace."
As soon as she finished speaking, she disappeared from the spot.
Jiang Zhuochen leaned closer, picked up the USB drive, and shook it. "What's this?"
"Evidence, please," Xu Xing said. "Let's go back and take a look."
"good."
They returned to the villa, inserted the USB drive into the computer in the study, and found that it contained multiple audio recordings and photos, clearly documenting a food delivery worker harassing a female customer.
In the recording, a male voice harasses a female customer with lewd language and threatens to come and wait for her every day if she doesn't cooperate. Although the photo is blurry, it appears to have been taken at night, showing a delivery driver groping a female customer.
Jiang Zhuochen pointed to the man in the photo and asked, "So this is the man we're looking for?"
"Okay." Xu Xing packaged the files and sent them to someone, typed a few words, and then shut down his computer. "Let's go to sleep. We should have news tomorrow."
Jiang Zhuochen chuckled and nudged him, "Master is still reliable."
Xu Xing glanced at him, "That's it?"
Jiang Zhuochen touched his nose and, under the other's intense gaze, quickly kissed him. Before Xu Xing could say anything, he pulled him up from the chair and walked back to the bedroom.
"Go to sleep, I'm so sleepy."
The day after the message was sent, Xu Xing noticed the reply on his computer in the office and waved to Jiang Zhuochen.
“I had someone check the owner of that house, and the photo matches the female ghost perfectly.” Xu Xing zoomed in on the photo. “Her name is Chen Li, and we’ve also collected her file.”
Chen Li, 26, a former customer service representative for a food delivery platform, went missing three months ago. Before her disappearance, she had repeatedly reported to her company that she was being followed, but her reports were ignored.
Xu Xing added: "More importantly, Chen Li reported to the police the day before she disappeared, claiming that she had evidence of a food deliveryman harassing female customers, but she withdrew the case the next day."
"Forced to withdraw the case?" Jiang Zhuochen guessed.
“Yes.” Xu Xing pointed to a record in the file, “And look, Chen Li’s body has not been found to this day. The police are treating it as a missing person case and have not opened an investigation.”
Jiang Zhuochen honestly replied, "I don't understand."
"..." Xu Xing chuckled, "Then listen to me, you little illiterate."
"Who are you calling a jerk?" Jiang Zhuochen muttered in dissatisfaction. "So that man killed her?"
"Hmm." Xu Xing opened another document.
Three months ago, Chen Li discovered that a food delivery driver was taking advantage of his job to harass female customers living alone late at night. She collected evidence and prepared to report it to the police. However, after the delivery driver found out, he murdered her and buried her body.
There happened to be a wealthy mansion near the burial site, and a hidden surveillance camera on the perimeter captured his crime route. Although the face was unclear, the body shape matched that of the man in the USB drive.
"So that's how it is." Jiang Zhuochen clicked his tongue in amazement. He only spent a little over a day investigating it. What was it that his master couldn't do?
Xu Xing casually found another document. "I checked the information of those victims and found that most of them had one thing in common. They had all been complained about for harassing female customers, but the cases were dropped due to insufficient evidence."
"Is she targeting delivery drivers with a history of harassment?" Jiang Zhuochen asked thoughtfully, then said tactfully, "So, she's doing a good deed?"
Xu Xing said, "If you think about it that way, then it does count."
"The rest were probably killed to replenish yang energy. After all, killing only a few in three months is not many for a 'beautiful ghost.'" Jiang Zhuochen then asked, "Has that man been found?"
"Found it."
The man, named Zhao Dayong, is 32 years old and a former food delivery driver with a history of harassing women, but he was never prosecuted due to insufficient evidence. He is currently using a smuggled device and is still accepting orders on a certain food delivery platform.
Jiang Zhuochen was surprised: "Why not call him Dayong? He's so arrogant."
"I've already sent someone to call the police." Xu Xing smiled and closed the files one by one. "They should be caught soon."
As night fell and the city lights began to twinkle, Zhao Dayong finished delivering a takeout order, parked by the roadside, went into a random shop, bought a bottle of water, and took a big gulp.
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw two men with their hands in their pockets walking towards him as if chatting idly. He felt inexplicably uneasy. He calmly tightened the bottle cap, then jumped on his electric scooter and sped off in another direction.
The modified electric car sped up, and pedestrians screamed and swerved to avoid it, before it had sped far away in no time.
The people lying in ambush all around followed the movement, converging in the same direction with a clear objective.
Zhao Dayong sped along, the howling wind unable to drown out his heartbeat. To evade capture, he could only choose some secluded and winding paths.
He was on high alert, focused only on shaking off people, and completely unaware of which direction he was heading. Only after driving quite a distance and finding no one behind him for a while did he stop and hide in the shadows to catch his breath.
His delivery uniform was conspicuous, so he quickly took off his coat. A gust of cold wind blew by, and he shivered.
In the darkness, a sash fluttered past his eyes, and Zhao Dayong slowly raised his head.
"You've finally arrived."
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