Ling Yun shook his head, pulled Xia Zhen to a quiet corner, and whispered the bizarre story of the ghost possessing Yang Yuqi. Then he asked, "What do we do now?"
Xia Zhen was not surprised. Instead, she looked Ling Yun up and down with a half-smile in her beautiful eyes, and remained silent for a long time.
Ling Yun felt uneasy under her gaze and took a step back, asking, "Are you alright?"
After a long pause, Xia Zhen said meaningfully, "Ling Yun, you don't actually like that Yang Yuqi, do you? Are you trying to use 'ghost' as an excuse to get close to her? Are you really asking me what girls are thinking?"
Ling Yun was speechless. He hadn't expected Xia Zhen to think that way. He smiled wryly and said, "You think I'm lying? I'm telling the truth!"
Xia Zhen casually said "Oh": "Who knows if you're telling the truth? You know what? Your freshman year is really popular. In just a few days, the whole school has voted for the four beauties of the new year, and Yang Yuqi is one of them. I've seen her, and she is indeed very beautiful. No wonder you like her."
"What Four Beauties? I don't even know them. Besides, who do I like? Why are you talking about these useless things? I'm asking what to do now." Ling Yun was getting a little anxious as she kept going off on tangents.
"You get so anxious when it comes to your sweetheart." Xia Zhen snorted in dissatisfaction, a thoughtful look in her beautiful eyes. "I'll go with you tonight to meet that Yang Yuqi. She wasn't possessed by a ghost a couple of days ago, how come you ran into her today? I have to keep an eye on things for you. You're not an ordinary person, so you can't date an ordinary girl!"
"I was originally planning to ask you to go with me, did you even need to tell me?" Ling Yun said helplessly, shrugging his shoulders.
Chapter Twenty-Nine: Beauty Saves the Hero
At noon, Ling Yun and Xia Zhen casually chose a quiet little restaurant for lunch. They were thoroughly fed up with being the center of attention. Going to the cafeteria would only attract more gossip and stares.
During the meal, Xia Zhen brought up the matter of Ling Yun joining the Superpower Headquarters for an internship. Ling Yun was quite eager to join such a mysterious department. After all, superpowered individuals are extremely special beings, and without interacting with other people, they would feel very out of place in the secular world. He said that once the ghost possession incident was resolved, he would go to the Superpower Headquarters with Xia Zhen, which made Xia Zhen very happy.
After lunch, since Xia Zhen had classes in the afternoon, they agreed to contact her again after Yang Yuqi contacted Ling Yun that evening. Just as they were about to part ways, Ling Yun suddenly remembered Qin Zhengwei and the others from his dormitory, so he told Xia Zhen about what had happened during the start of the semester and asked her to help investigate Qin Zhengwei and the others' backgrounds. Xia Zhen readily agreed and went to investigate.
Ling Yun took out his phone and glanced at the time; it wasn't even 1 PM yet. Normally, military training would end around 5 PM, and the exhausted freshmen wouldn't have the energy for anything else, so they'd just go back to their dorms to rest. But today, because of Ling Yun, the afternoon training was canceled. So, the energetic freshmen changed into casual clothes and enthusiastically went shopping, played games, or strolled around, fully enjoying their wonderful yet decadent university life.
Just as he put his phone back in his pocket, his fingers suddenly touched a hard, card-like object. Ling Yun was startled, took it out, and couldn't help but chuckle. It was the special employee salary card from Sihai Group that Xia Zhen had given him on the day he reported for duty. After that, he encountered a series of events, plus the busy military training and opening ceremony, and had completely forgotten about the salary card.
Remembering Xia Zhen mentioning that special employees are paid weekly, Ling Yun suddenly became interested. He thought that school had been in session for over a week now, and his salary should have arrived this week. He wondered how much Xia Tian would pay him as a special employee. Unfortunately, he had made no contribution to the Sihai Group, and didn't even have the basic awareness of an employee; he truly felt ashamed of Xia Tian's high expectations.
Thinking of Xia Tian's childlike mischievous nature, Ling Yun couldn't help but smile. Who would have thought that this young man, not yet twenty-five years old, with his innocent, carefree, and cynical demeanor, was actually the boss of a large financial group and the top leader of the domestic underworld, capable of deciding the life and death of countless people with a single word? If word got out, it would probably shock countless people.
Ling Yun suddenly recalled the day he first met Chen Feng and Zhao Yu, when Chen Feng had mentioned meaningfully that the Sihai Group also had a deep background. And Xia Tian happened to be a superhuman, although his abilities were not as good as Xia Zhen's, but he had intricate connections with the Superhuman Headquarters.
Ling Yun suddenly felt a chill run down his spine as he considered a possible possibility: perhaps the true backer of the entire underground forces across the country was the Superpower Headquarters? And the Sihai Group was merely its public face? If that were the case, the Superpower Headquarters would be even more mysterious and unpredictable. Moreover, Xia Tian had mentioned the existence of vampires that day; it seemed this world was far more interesting and dangerous than the secular world…
With nothing to do in the afternoon, Ling Yun strolled to the ATM at the school, which accepts all major domestic banks. Just as he was about to withdraw his bank card, he realized he didn't know his PIN. He had to walk aside and send Xia Zhen a text message asking for it. After a long pause, Xia Zhen replied: "I only know the last six digits of your ID card. Please change your bank card PIN immediately. After changing it, please delete this message..."
When Lingyun returned to the ATM, there were already several people in line. Fortunately, they were all students, so the withdrawal was quick, and it was soon Lingyun's turn.
Lingyun only needed to check the amount of salary in her card, which was much more convenient and faster. First, she changed her password, and then she pressed the "Check Balance" button.
The ATM showed that it was in operation. After a moment, the balance was calculated and displayed as 1 RMB.
For a moment, Ling Yun was stunned. One hundred thousand yuan? That's outrageous! And that's just a week's salary. How much is it for a month? Four hundred thousand yuan. And how much is it for a year with fifty-two weeks? Five million yuan.
In other words, he did nothing, not even clocking in for work, yet he received a weekly salary of 100,000 yuan! Is this the treatment of a special employee? Lingyun's parents are just ordinary factory workers, earning at most 2,000 yuan a month. Their combined salaries amount to at most 50,000 yuan a year, while Lingyun can earn in a week what his parents earn in two years.
This summer! Ling Yun felt a bitter taste in his mouth. What on earth was he supposed to do? There's no such thing as a free lunch; they couldn't possibly give you such a high salary for nothing. Special employee? Was he going to make me a supernatural assassin? Ling Yun thought with a chill.
Ling Yun only snapped out of his daze when he heard an impatient urging voice behind him. Just as he was about to return his card and walk away, a hand suddenly patted his shoulder. Ling Yun turned around and saw a short, scholarly-looking boy giving him a gentle smile, pointing to a hundred-yuan bill on the ground and saying, "Student, you dropped your money on the ground."
"Oh, I didn't even notice." Ling Yun looked down, quickly picked up the hundred-yuan bill, and said gratefully, "Thank you, classmate."
The short boy smiled gently: "Don't mention it, it's my pleasure."
After watching Lingyun's departing figure as she returned her card, the short boy suddenly revealed a strange smile. He then slowly walked to the ATM, pressed a few buttons, looked around to make sure no one was watching, and then left as if nothing had happened.
He walked out of the campus of Jinghua University, his face filled with barely suppressed joy. He hurriedly headed northwest. Twenty minutes later, after passing behind a row of quiet, old city walls, the short boy suddenly stopped, his joyful expression freezing on his face.
Ling Yun leaned casually against the ancient city wall, a playful smile on his face, and stretched out a hand: "Hey classmate, can you give me back my bank card?"
"What bank card?" the short boy asked, trying to sound calm. "I don't understand what you're saying?"
"You used the money on the ground as a cover to trick me into picking it up, and then took your useless card to the ATM while I turned around," Ling Yun said calmly. "When I turned around to return the card, it was actually your useless card that was returned. My card was still in the ATM. After I left, you took my card."
The short boy's face turned pale instantly, and he argued, "I don't know your password, what use would I be to your bank card?"
"Heh." Ling Yun chuckled sarcastically. "And who was secretly spying on me when I was changing my password? You think I didn't know? I just let you see on purpose!"
The short boy looked at Ling Yun in surprise, gritted his teeth and said, "You have no evidence, these are just guesses."
"Whether there's evidence or not isn't up to you to decide. If you insist that you didn't steal my bank card, then let's go to the police station and clarify things, okay?" Ling Yun said calmly.
The short boy deflated like a punctured balloon, silently took out his bank card from his pocket, and handed it to Ling Yun.
"Also, next time, please be more professional when you're trying to scam someone, classmate. Don't use counterfeit money as bait. If you can't even part with a hundred yuan, how can you expect to scam more money?" As he spoke, Ling Yun opened his palm, revealing the counterfeit hundred-yuan bill. With a gentle flick, the counterfeit hundred-yuan bill flew automatically towards the short boy.
The short boy grabbed the counterfeit bill, tore it to shreds in a few swift movements, and said with a gloomy face, "Ling Yun, it seems you're not as simple as I thought."
“It’s not that I’m simple,” Ling Yun said calmly, “it’s just that your scams are so bad. Countless similar scams have already been reposted on the internet. Why do you still do it? Next time, try something new, okay?”
"It doesn't matter." The short boy sneered. "As long as you come here with me, my goal will be achieved."
"Then call them out. I've been wanting to see who's behind you." Ling Yun showed no surprise. "Otherwise, you won't even have a chance to leave the school."
"You already knew?" The short boy's expression changed; this time he was genuinely surprised.
“All I know is that you deliberately used underhanded tricks to bring me here,” Ling Yun said honestly. “But I don’t know what you’re planning to do. So I’m curious and wanted to come and see for myself.”
"Curiosity not only killed the cat, but also the man! Lingyun, classmate!" A magnetic voice rang out, and then several people walked out from the other side of the city wall. The leader was tall and handsome, and it was Zhou Ping, whom we hadn't seen for many days.
The short boy nodded to Zhou Ping and then walked behind him.
Ling Yun smiled and said, "So it's Brother Zhou. You went to great lengths to lure me to this deserted place. You wouldn't be planning to take revenge by poisoning me, would you?"
“I am a law-abiding citizen and an outstanding student at Jinghua University. How could I possibly take revenge on my classmate?” Zhou Ping said with a smile. “I just witnessed Ling Yun’s amazing endurance last time and found it very interesting. I just wanted to see it again this time.”