But at that moment, slowly, very slowly, the boy suddenly turned his face towards Xu Lingqiu's direction—
He was crying, and he was laughing.
Xu Lingqiu knew that the boy was possessed by something; he had encountered this kind of thing several times when he was a child.
But Xu Lingqiu couldn't do anything; he had suppressed his abilities for too long.
After the event, all the students who had lost their shoes fell seriously ill. The skinny little boy also fell seriously ill, and his condition was even more severe. He had a persistent high fever and ultimately could not be saved.
Around the fifteenth of July that year, Xu Lingqiu kept dreaming about this classmate, dreaming of his face that was both crying and laughing, dreaming of him asking him blankly:
"Xu Lingqiu, I know you saw it, please save me."
Xu Lingqiu was provoked by this incident.
After graduating from university, Xu Lingqiu appeared to be an ordinary office worker, but in reality, he had begun to explore his abilities. His methods were a bit unconventional and arbitrary, but perhaps because he was a genius, he actually managed to accomplish a lot.
"He just sometimes gets really down and sits on the edge of the bed in the middle of the night, lost in thought."
Lu Mingran nodded, indicating her understanding:
“I know, I used to play on my phone when I couldn’t sleep at night.”
"Oh, Xu Lingqiu doesn't use her phone."
The system said:
"When he was in a bad mood, he would take out money, which he earned from exorcising ghosts for others."
Xu Lingqiu loved counting this money. She would count it bill by bill every night; there was so much money that she often counted until dawn.
"..."
Lu Mingran: "I've made up my mind, I'm going to count money tonight too."
The system's voice suddenly became excited: "Oh, can I count with you?"
"Okay, let's count to four together, then we can go back to bed and continue sleeping."
Author's Note: I can count from 11 PM until dawn the next day! How long can you guys count? Hehehe
Chapter 38 Want to Rise to the Top Quickly? No Way (2)
Suffering severe psychological trauma, Lu Mingran ordered a bunch of takeout to comfort herself.
The system said, "You spent 100 yuan on this meal, so we can only count to three tonight."
"It's good, it's better than counting to one and then going to sleep."
After saying that, Lu Mingran looked at the sky outside.
It's already evening.
At 10 p.m., Lao Yan finally returned to the hotel. This guy was quite amusing; he stomped his feet outside, said "Excuse me," and then went inside and made a gesture inviting someone out.
Seeing Lu Mingran looking at him blankly, Old Yan explained:
"Before checking into a hotel, you should ask your 'good brothers' to leave. Also, you should open the wardrobe and check under the bed for anything."
Old Yan not only said it, he also did it. He first opened the wardrobe, then bent down to look under the bed. Lu Mingran panicked, because he knew what was under the bed.
but……
After looking under the bed, Lao Yan straightened up without changing his expression, showing no unusual look at all.
Wait, something's not right. Lu Mingran thought to herself as she bent down.
There was absolutely nothing under the bed.
Old Yan had already gone to wash his hands, and amidst the sound of running water, his voice drifted over indistinctly:
“I’ve heard of this hotel. It’s said that a few years ago, a couple got too carried away and the man handcuffed the woman to the bed and accidentally strangled her to death with a piece of black cloth.”
Lu Mingran's face froze.
Now he understood why Xiao Jiu could make such a complex and dramatic cry. Lu Mingran also started to cry out, her cry even more earth-shattering. Finally, Old Yan came out, wiping his hands with a towel, and looked at him with a smile.
"Stop yelling, I was just kidding. I just put those two things under the bed somewhere else."
After saying that, Old Yan took out a pack of cigarettes from his pocket:
"To calm your nerves?"
Lu Mingran: "...In the last world, someone wanted me to drink alcohol; in this world, someone wants me to smoke. I, a good young man who neither smokes nor drinks, am now gradually degenerating."
However, the appearance of this pack of cigarettes is quite unique.
The system interjected, "How can it not be special? This is a specially supplied cigarette; you can't just buy it with money."
Then, Lu Mingran remembered.
When Xu Lingqiu first met Lao Yan, Lao Yan gave him a cigarette.
That's it.
Just as the system said, the value of this cigarette lies in its rarity. As soon as Xu Lingqiu saw that Lao Yan had given him a special supply of cigarettes, he immediately realized that Lao Yan was no ordinary person.
As a result, Lao Yan left a deep impression on Xu Lingqiu, and when they met again later, Xu Lingqiu couldn't help but approach him.
Sigh, to put it bluntly, the child hasn't seen enough of the world and isn't calm enough.
However, we can't blame him. This cigarette signifies a special status, and to resolve it, we must address the root cause.
Lu Mingran took the cigarette Lao Yan handed her, lit it, and tried to take a puff, only to be nearly choked to death.
In this half-dead state, amidst the swirling smoke, Lu Mingran spoke to the system with feigned profundity and regret:
"It's getting cold, let's bankrupt this cigarette factory."
——————————
Of course, the cigarette factory couldn't go bankrupt, and Lao Yan would definitely offer cigarettes on the day they met.
Therefore, Lu Mingran had to think of another way.
After exchanging a few more words with Lao Yan, Lu Mingran stood up:
"Then, I won't disturb your rest any longer."
Old Yan said "okay," personally saw him to the door, and closed the door.
Then Lao Yan took out a yellow paper talisman folded into a triangle from his pocket and pushed it under the bed.
"The child is ignorant and offended you. I'm really sorry, I apologize."
He apologized with a smile, and the ghost under the bed howled and vanished into nothingness.
——————————
There was still a week before Xu Lingqiu met Lao Yan. In this week, the cigarette factory was unlikely to go bankrupt, and the cigarettes that Lao Yan brought out could not be smoked out quickly.
Lu Mingran pondered for a while, then asked the system two questions:
"Could you help me create a few fake accounts?"
"Could you get me a lot of these cigarettes?"
The system checked and said, "Okay, but you have to tell me what you want to do."
Lu Mingran smiled and said, "From today onwards, I will take over all of Xu Lingqiu's businesses."
Lu Mingran kept her word.
By the next morning, Lu Mingran was no longer Lu Mingran, but had been keeping several mistresses and had even attracted the attention of the young devil's elderly and wealthy businessman, Mr. Chen.
Following Xu Lingqiu's rules, Lu Mingran called him first to arrange a time. On the other end of the line, Xu Lingqiu's lazy voice came through:
"Mr. Chen? Okay, I understand. Let's meet in the room you bought for your sixth wife."
This is the haunted room. Lu Mingran sat upright on the sofa in the room, nervously watching the system debugging NPC and inputting lines.
During this time, the system couldn't help but glance at Lu Mingran several times and asked, "Are you sure you won't get beaten up if you do that later?"
"That's called taking someone by surprise."
Lu Mingran had just finished speaking when the phone rang:
"Mr. Chen, I'm downstairs at your apartment building."
Lu Mingran patted her thigh: "Little Yao, go open the door."
NPC Xiao Yao tilted his head, quickly got into character, and opened the door.
A young man wearing a hat stood outside the door, pulling the brim down very low to cover his deep-set eyes and brows.
Lu Mingran swallowed hard and pointed at the large mirror standing in the living room, making noises.
Xiao Yao promptly relayed the message:
"When the master got up to use the toilet at night, he saw a little boy smiling at him in the mirror."
Xu Lingqiu nodded slightly and took out a compass or similar item from his bag. After a while, he pointed to the Sixth Madam standing next to Lu Mingran:
Have you had an abortion recently?
Then Xu Lingqiu looked at the elderly businesswoman with a complicated expression: "I guess she's afraid to admit that she had an abortion."
Much of the plot this time was automatically generated by the system, and Lu Mingran only had a vague understanding of it. Now, seeing Xu Lingqiu looking at his gray hair with pity, his heart skipped a beat, and he realized what kind of script he was holding.
"Holy crap—"
“Host, I call this a surprise attack.”
While the person and the system were arguing, Xu Lingqiu walked up to the mirror, bit the tip of his left index finger without blinking, and used the blood to draw talismans on the mirror.
After efficiently completing all of this, Xu Lingqiu turned around:
“I took him to where he needed to go.”
The sixth wife was about to cry, sobbing as she said, "Thank you for helping him reincarnate, my poor child..."
"No, he is a very fierce infant spirit and cannot be reincarnated."
Xu Lingqiu smiled, revealing his beautiful teeth: