Volume 2. Game Update in Progress
Just over ten meters away from me, in front of a street vendor cart, stood a male... hmm, a man.
He had a buzz cut.
He didn't look particularly shady, in fact, he was a bit handsome.
There was nothing in his eyebrows or expression that resembled a villain.
At this moment, he was chatting with the vendor while holding a jianbing guozi (a popular Chinese street food, a type of crepe filled with various ingredients and known for its savory and crispy texture), eating and talking at the same time.
The moment his gaze locked onto mine, I locked onto him.
After seeing me, he even pulled out his phone to check something.
It seemed like he sent a message, probably notifying someone on the other end.
I didn't know how accurate my guess was, but logically, it shouldn't be far off.
Deduction is often just wild guessing, only with some basis.
To deduce the truth from all the clues, that is reasoning.
I didn’t keep looking at him and simply continued walking forward.
Because my head was lowered, and I was now only 1.6 meters tall, not very tall, no one noticed that ‘my’ eyes were actually closed.
If someone who could see spirits saw me now, they’d probably be scared out of their skin.
After all, someone walking with their head down, with a long, pitch-black, grotesquely comical humanoid face stretching out beside their neck—anyone who wasn’t scared must be a ghost themselves.
Though to be fair, even if you’re scared, there’s still a ghost.
I waited at the traffic light for a bit, then continued walking casually.
Of course, I checked both sides to make sure no cars were coming.
At the very least, I was now a little rich woman.
It would be laughable if I didn’t die in a horror incident but got killed in a car accident.
I had just crossed the street when the buzz-cut guy quickly said goodbye to the vendor and started following me.
He kept a distance of about seven or eight meters, not too far, not too close.
He ate his jianbing guozi while pretending to look at his phone.
However, the Evil Spirit Form observing him clearly saw the way his eyebrows occasionally lifted.
He was obviously tailing me.
"Looks like I was right..."
Even though I didn’t know whether their kidnapping method matched my guess, the malice in his gaze and his act of following me confirmed that most of my deductions were correct.
Zhang Yan... she really did conspire with others to harm ‘Liu Yunyan’.
What an ungrateful white-eyed wolf.
Actually, I had a few relatively simple ways to solve this.
For example, I could immediately contact Liu Yunyan’s second uncle.
He’s the provincial police chief.
With such a heavyweight around, I’m sure our righteous police would show up in three minutes and arrest these people as soon as I explained the situation.
Even if there were no prior records or hard evidence, they’d still be detained for at least forty-eight hours.
However, I didn’t plan to do that.
The reason was simple.
First, I didn’t want to blow things out of proportion.
Second... at this stage, ‘I’ wasn’t full yet.
Or rather... ‘I’ could never be full, so occasionally I needed to be fed.
And this way, everything could be settled once and for all.
As someone with a sense of justice, facing a scumbag like this, what I could do was make him lose everything and expose all his crimes.
And the most convenient method was already in my hands.
Plus it benefited me.
Why not?
I looked at a chess-themed teahouse near the school gate.
Because it was in the school district and many elders brought their grandchildren around, the place was quite lively.
Many elderly folks spent the whole day there, playing chess, drinking tea, waiting for the children to get out of school.
The food and drink here were also well-provided.
It was a rather new kind of business model.
And the prices weren’t high.
Ten or eight yuan for a cup of tea, with free refills.
You could play chess as much as you liked.
Of course, meals cost extra.
They had a separate kitchen.
From home-style dishes and bulk meals to premium and à la carte orders, everything was available.
Ten yuan was enough for a full lunch.
So many elderly people gathered here.
But now it was much quieter.
After all, school was out and the grandparents had gone to pick up the children.
I didn’t hesitate and walked straight in.
The waitress looked quite young, probably in her twenties, and had a pleasant attitude.
As soon as she saw me enter, even though I was just a student, she didn’t slack off and immediately came over.
Since this was a chess teahouse for elders, and the elderly all brought kids with them, perhaps she thought I had come with a guardian.
So when she asked me questions, she kept glancing behind me.
"Little friend, are you alone?"
After looking for a while and apparently not seeing anyone behind me, the waitress asked with some confusion.
"Yeah, get me a private room. I want to lie down for a bit."
The waitress froze and looked me up and down.
She was just about to say something, but I didn’t want to waste time.
I pulled my wallet from my bag and drew three hundred-yuan bills from a thick stack, handing them to her.
"Two for the tea. One for you. Any problem?"
"N-no."
Maybe she didn’t believe a middle schooler could be so generous.
She stood there stunned, looking at me suspiciously and cautiously.
She even seemed afraid to accept the money.
I knew exactly what she was thinking.
She probably thought I had stolen money from home.
Otherwise, how could a middle schooler carry so much cash?
I paused briefly, then unzipped my jacket, revealing the red wool sweater underneath.
I casually pointed at the logo on the chest of the sweater.
"Chanel. Seventeen thousand. Relax... the money’s not stolen. I’m a rich second-generation. Go prepare the tea. I like Longjing. If it’s from Shishan, even better. If not, pick something else. If it’s not enough, put it on the tab. I’ll pay the rest later."
The waitress was completely dumbfounded by my words.
When she came back to her senses, her eyes instinctively showed a trace of disdain and... envy.
Hmm, a normal reaction. I didn’t blame her.
"Please follow me."
Even though my words had left her stunned, the waitress still followed her professional responsibilities and led the way.
We headed straight to the second floor.
At the same time, I noticed the guy behind me also walked in.
But I had already turned the corner of the staircase, while he pretended to act casual, as if he were looking for someone.
However, his gaze kept glancing toward me, intentionally or unintentionally.
Upstairs, we went straight to a private room.
Although the waitress looked at me with a bit of malice in her eyes, I felt it was normal.
After all, someone like me, flaunting wealth and showing off in front of her like a spoiled young girl, would naturally earn that kind of look.
If it were me, I’d probably look the same way.
Once inside, the waitress said “wait a moment,” and went to prepare.
I didn’t know whether this teahouse had Longjing from Shishan.
Even if it was a lower-grade tea, she would still need to get it ready, so I figured it would take a few minutes.
Looking around the room, it wasn’t large, maybe just over twenty square meters.
There was a partition, and the middle of the partition was blocked by a wooden screen.
Through the gaps, I could see a Luohan couch inside.
In the center of the room was a chess table.
The air conditioner above was partially concealed by a rosewood cover.
Beside the chess table was a long table, with a small incense burner placed on it, along with a sound system.
I didn’t bother with courtesy.
I walked directly into the inner room, placed my backpack on a small cabinet beside me, then turned and lay down on the Luohan couch.
Casually grabbing an armrest pillow, I took off my school uniform and placed it on top of the pillow.
I had to admit, ever since becoming ‘Liu Yunyan’, it seemed like Liu Yunyan’s obsessive cleanliness had also passed on to me.
It has made me more hygiene-sensitive than before.
Resting on the pillow, I slowly closed my eyes.
In front of me... everything faded into darkness.
The next second, my vision suddenly brightened.
Right after that... a pitch-black hand slowly rose from my body.
Along with it, a black figure followed.
As it separated from the flesh, it started to stretch and distort rapidly.
When I stood up, I was already over three meters tall.
Fortunately, the ceiling of this teahouse was high enough that my head didn’t hit it.
I gave a deep stretch.
Technically, this did nothing for the Evil Spirit Form, but having the spiritual body finally released from the physical shell gave me a feeling of relief and freedom.
I glanced around.
Then I looked at the floor beneath my feet.
Reaching out my hand, I passed straight through it.
Then... I slowly bent down.
My head passed through the floor without any resistance.
I looked toward the first floor below.
“Cockroach...”
Just before I fully passed through the floor, I saw a cockroach living in the underfloor heating pipes.
Without hesitation... I crushed it.
I hate bugs the most.
Then I continued passing through the floor.
At this moment, if anyone could see spirits and looked up, they would definitely see a grotesque smiling face hanging upside down from the ceiling.
I looked around side to side and immediately locked onto the young man sitting by the window.
This guy actually looked decent.
To avoid mistakenly harming an innocent person based on my assumptions, I didn’t strike immediately.
Instead, I slowly descended to the floor and stood behind him.
The moment I landed, at a nearby chess table where five old men were gathered, all five of them shivered at the same time.
The Evil Spirit Form was inherently icy cold.
But this cold wasn’t purely physical.
It was a chill that targeted the soul.
Perhaps because older people are closer to death, three of the five old men instinctively looked in my direction.
They say young people need three years to start seeing ghosts, but the elderly can see them right away.
It seems there’s truth in that.
Their bodies were already deteriorating.
Their souls lacked the strength to nourish the body.
As a result, the gap between body and soul grew larger.
Their bodies and spirits became misaligned.
Maybe that’s why they were gradually beginning to sense things that couldn’t normally be perceived.
"Hiss~ Why is it suddenly cold? Little Zhao, did you guys turn on the air conditioning?"
"Yeah, seriously... Little Zhao, why would you turn on the air con in the middle of winter?"
The five old men immediately called out for the waitress.
She walked over, looking completely baffled, and started explaining to them.
I had no interest in watching them chatter.
I turned my head back toward the buzz-cut young man.
At that moment, he was making a phone call.
Maybe because of his youthful energy and vitality, his soul was tightly locked inside his body.
He couldn’t sense the Evil Spirit Form at all.
Still, he seemed to feel a chill and instinctively pulled his coat collar tighter.
“Brother Liu, she entered the teahouse.”