Chapter 775: 8. A New Beginning
“Boss, what are you doing, boss!”
With both hands slamming the table, Yang Chunxue leaned over, shouting loudly.
In the boss’s chair, a figure quietly sat inside.
Lu Li gently lifted his gaze, his dark pupils focusing on her. Yang Chunxue felt as if he was looking at her, yet not really looking at her.
His state was very strange; although he was sitting there, his presence was nearly non-existent, like he had faded into a blank sheet of paper, empty of all things.
“People really are fragile,” he said softly.
Liu Wenwei wasn’t an ordinary person, although he had never asked, it was clear to see.
In Lu Li’s imagination, her mysterious identity might lead to her dying in a gang war, or she could simply disappear forever—but he never thought she’d die so abruptly, just an accident, and she vanished from this world.
Yang Chunxue had almost guessed the outcome and deeply understood Lu Li’s sentiment.
Just like her, who died because of playing a little Pen Immortal game, despite turning around as a ghost and destroying the Pen Immortal afterwards… but it was still extremely annoying.
After all, she was already dead.
Yang Chunxue shook her head to shake off her negative emotions; she was here to comfort Lu Li.
Lu Li’s current state was off.
Usually, though calm, indifferent, and as placid as a well, he was within the range of normal. But now, he was extremely aloof, showing no signs of life, his presence almost vanished, sitting there barely perceptible, more ghost-like than a real ghost.
Who would have thought this guy is a tsundere… Saying he doesn’t care, yet upon learning the truth, he seems ready to transcend…
Yang Chunxue muttered to herself, thinking she couldn’t let Lu Li stay in this slump, she hummed lightly.
“I mean… aren’t you usually very smart? How could you not see through such an obvious trap? Obviously, someone dug a pit for you to fall into!”
Those empty black pupils showed some life, and Yang Chunxue finally felt he was actually looking at her.
Yang Chunxue was secretly delighted, but kept a steady face and sighed with a look of disappointment: “Think about it… What kind of woman is Liu Wenwei? Although I haven’t met her, it doesn’t stop me from imagining her image; she’s as cold as you… ahem, so I imagine her as a feminized version of you—”
Yang Chunxue paused here, thinking Lu Li might retort, but she was disappointed to see that his eyes still reflected no waves.
“Think about it, how could a Ghost Envoy Detective like you suddenly drown or get chopped to death?”
“Why not.” Lu Li looked at her, “If a person is killed, they die.”
Men are really troublesome!
Yang Chunxue secretly gritted her teeth but couldn’t show it, maintaining a stiff and smiling expression, she amiably said, “Why don’t you narrate the whole process and let this lady help you analyze it.”
For someone as irritable who believed that fist is the true logic as Yang Chunxue, it was truly an ordeal for her to be so tactful.
“I was guided by the Spiritual Guide to the riverside…”
After a brief silence, Lu Li slowly started recounting the entire encounter with the Scavenger.
“Well done on killing! Oh, it makes my phantom limb hurt from anger.” The hot-tempered Yang Chunxue couldn’t control her emotions, releasing a wave of eerie aura, even making Kong Nanqing, who was engrossed in her drama, glance into the living room.
She didn’t forget the official business and grunted angrily, “Don’t you think it’s strange? Why would Liu Wenwei, out of nowhere, go to the river alone? And the police reported her last known location was at Drum Tower Street, right? How far is Drum Tower Street from Flag Street? The most crucial point: I really don’t believe she would die so easily, just as I wouldn’t believe you’d die from simply tripping over.”
Lu Li still didn’t speak, but the indifference in his eyes was slowly peeling away layer by layer.
This argument had the nature of sophistry, and on a court, it wouldn’t be admissible as evidence at all.
But now was not a court, and Lu Li wasn’t a judge.
He was like a traveler lost in the desert, on the verge of dying from thirst. He needed water, but he knew there couldn’t possibly be water in the surrounding sandy wasteland. At that time, Yang Chunxue passed by holding a signpost, planted it before him, and left. The signpost read: Ahead lies Merlin, sour and sweet to quench your thirst.
No matter whether what’s written on the signpost was true or not, it was enough to spark Lu Li’s last survival instinct, prompting him to start walking in the direction the sign pointed.
“But the Spiritual Guide indeed pointed there.”
“Is the old Taoist reliable?” Yang Chunxue put her hands on her hips.
Lu Li nodded, then shook his head.
The shabby, crazy old Taoist didn’t possess a completely convincing aura.
From her high intelligence ground, Yang Chunxue lightly hummed, “That’s right, isn’t it? If the old Taoist isn’t reliable, on what basis do you trust his Spiritual Guide?”
Lu Li, at this moment, made a move. He picked up the phone and dialed the Taoist.
Nearly a minute later, the phone connected.
Yang Chunxue grabbed the phone before Lu Li could speak and shouted into it, “Is there any scientific basis for this Spiritual Guide!”
“Have you succeeded before?”
“Nonsense, of course, it succeeded before. Do you doubt the old Taoist’s skills, little girl?”
“Ha… How many have you done?”
“… Only once, the old Taoist helped a woman find her lost child.”
“Of course, it was found~”
“I mean how was it found!”
“The police cracked a human trafficking case and brought her lost child back.”
Creak—With Yang Chunxue’s grip tightening, the phone issued a grating sound.
Luckily, her strength wasn’t in power, so the phone remained intact.
She glared at Lu Li, filled with murderous intent, “Lu Lili, tell me if you want to kill or skin, and I’ll do it!”
“Bah, just a ghost creature daring to even think about harming this old Taoist?” The Taoist wouldn’t lose face, retorting without hesitation.
A Taoist and a ghost began to argue.
After a few exchanges, Yang Chunxue, having major matters to attend to, hung up and looked at Lu Li with bright eyes: “Next, we just need to find the soul of the Scavenger—”
“Already gave it salvation.”
“…Why did you kill it!?”
“You just said I did well in killing.”
“… Then what about the Spiritual Guide, if you say you threw it away, I’ll bite you to death!”
“Together with the bones.”
“Phew… good thing, we can retrieve it and ask the annoying Taoist.”
Yang Chunxue glanced at the sky.
On a rainy afternoon, four o’clock felt almost like evening.
Misty rain blurred the view, as Lu Li held a transparent umbrella, standing by the edge of a desolate open field.
The murky stream not far away flowed eastward.
“Perhaps you’re right.”
A thunderous roar shook the sky. Not thunder, but the sound of machinery working.
The once tranquil riverside from an hour ago transformed into a construction site, with excavators and workers busily going back and forth.
Under the umbrella, Yang Chunxue lifted her exquisite, pretty face, her expression filled with a bit of pride.
Lu Li lowered his head, quietly watching Yang Chunxue, and suddenly smiled.
He raised his hand and lightly tousled Yang Chunxue’s short black silky hair as she stood stunned.