After Transmigrating as the Northeast CEO's Pampered Little Husband - Chapter 9

Of all the people you could have tried to scam, you two just had to pick this Young Master. Now look at you you’ve come a cropper, haven’t you?

 

Gu Jiaoyang was executing the Soul Hooking Technique. The technique’s physical manifestation, a Soul Snake, writhed its translucent body as it lured the two men’s souls out of their physical forms. Once done, it slumped onto the table and stuck out its tongue with utter disdain.

 

The stench of these two souls was truly foul, making the picky Soul Snake want to tear these fetid spirits to shreds right then and there.

 

“Tsk, tsk, tsk. Look at you. Your souls are all grey; not pure or pretty in the slightest,” Gu Jiaoyang tutted.

 

While roasting them, he opened his phone, scanned the QR code on the table via WeChat, and ordered a coffee. Dropping his previously timid demeanour entirely, he leaned back with unrestrained insouciance, resting against the chair back and crossing his legs.

 

After locking eyes with Gu Jiaoyang, the two ‘brothers’ felt their vision blur. When they came to, they found themselves floating in the air above the café, while their physical bodies remained seated below, staring blankly ahead.

 

Because they were engaged in illicit activities, they had chosen a secluded spot. No matter how many people walked by, no one noticed anything amiss with the two men sitting there.

 

“Are we dead??!!!”

 

“Impossible!!!!”

 

“What is going on??? That… th-th-that’s our bodies isn’t it?”

 

“Why are we in the air???”

 

“It’s because we looked into his eyes!”

 

“Snake! It’s a snake!!!”

 

Floating in the café’s airspace, the brothers’ souls began to scream in distorted terror. Yet, no matter how hard they struggled, they couldn’t leave the two-metre radius around the coffee table. They tried repeatedly to dive back into their bodies, but they simply passed right through and came out the other side. They couldn’t return to their original vessels.

 

“What is happening?!!”

 

Scabby screamed in a breakdown, looking at the transparent snake on the table with skin-crawling horror.

 

“Tsk, it’s just an out-of-body experience. What’s there to be afraid of?” Gu Jiaoyang picked his ear, looking at the two bickering souls with undisguised contempt.

 

“You did this!!!” Scabby yelled. The boy who had sat opposite them, looking meek and submissive, had suddenly unleashed a terrifying aura, looking at them with a delinquent slouch and talking about out-of-body experiences.

 

Scabby and Beanpole looked at each other, a chill running from their insteps straight to their scalps.

 

Was this kid a human or a ghost?!!

 

“This Young Master is human, alright? As for you two… daring to scam me? Even if I don’t kill you, I’ll make you taste the true meaning of regret!”

 

“You should count yourselves lucky you were born in a socialist society ruled by law. Hmph.”

 

Gu Jiaoyang’s coffee was ready. A waitress wearing bunny ears brought the cup over and placed it on the table. She couldn’t see the two souls floating in the air at all. Because she placed the items down quickly, she didn’t notice anything strange about the two men opposite, simply assuming they were staring at the pattern on the tablecloth.

 

“Hey! Save me! The person in front of you is a monster! He’s not human!!!”

 

“Help!!! Help us!!!”

 

The brothers’ souls frantically clawed at the waitress, but no matter how they shouted or pulled, they couldn’t move a single hair on her head.

 

“She can’t see us!”

 

Finally realising the gravity of the situation, the brothers looked at each other and huddled together in fear. Watching Gu Jiaoyang start to sip his coffee, their regret poured out of them like a burst dam.

 

“Scream away. Even if you scream your lungs out, it’s useless.” Gu Jiaoyang took a sip of coffee and ate a small piece of cake, staring at the two trembling souls with interest.

 

“Sigh. You two, there are so many ways to live, yet you insist on doing these illegal things. Spill it. Who put you up to this?” Gu Jiaoyang swallowed his third bite of cake and reached out with his other hand to stroke the Soul Snake, which was lying on the table sticking its tongue out.

 

“It-it-it-it’s Wang Wang…”

 

“What are you stuttering for? Speak properly!” Gu Jiaoyang glared at the two souls curled into balls. With the imposing manner carried over from his previous world, he scared the already shrunken souls into shrinking another size smaller.

 

“Yes, yes, yes…”

 

“I’ll say it, you shut up.” Seeing the boy’s impatience, Scabby covered Beanpole’s mouth and began to spill the entire story like pouring beans from a jar.

 

You couldn’t blame them for breaking confidentiality; this situation was simply beyond their ability to resist. If they were caught by the police, they could play dumb and wait for their boss to bail them out. But in this situation, it was clear that if they didn’t speak the truth, their lives were at stake. They didn’t dare stay silent.

 

They hadn’t even spent the money they earned yet; they absolutely didn’t want to die like this.

 

“It’s Wang Yongyuan, Young Master Wang! His subordinate contacted us! Although Young Master Wang didn’t show his face, I’ve seen our employer with Young Master Wang often. Our employer is definitely Young Master Wang’s lackey…”

 

“Pah, running dog. Young Master Wang has a beef with Boss Dai, so blah blah blah…”

 

After tremblingly explaining the ins and outs of the whole affair, the brothers’ souls shrank another size.

 

It was purely due to the cold air Gu Jiaoyang released while listening and the terrifying look on his face.

 

Gu Jiaoyang angrily ate another mouthful of cake.

 

Although he could hear the full story, because the two thugs were currently soul entities, ordinary electronic devices couldn’t record their voices.

 

Tsk. If he shoved their souls back in, what if they seized the chance to go crazy in a public place? He didn’t want to attract undue attention from bystanders.

 

“We… we kept evidence when we made the deal with that person. Great Immortal, you can l-l-look at our photo albums…” Beanpole, seeing that the person opposite didn’t seem inclined to let them off after Scabby finished speaking, hurriedly added this.

 

Oho, quite sensible.

 

Gu Jiaoyang glanced indifferently at the two souls curled into balls. His expression finally lifted from its gloomy state.

 

“What’s the passcode?”

 

“Six eights…”

 

“Six sixes…”

 

Truly surprisingly consistent in their superstition and money-worship. Gu Jiaoyang unlocked both phones and opened the albums. His eyes stung at the sight of various screenshots from WeChat sellers advertising “X Resources… Japanese Island… Married Women…”

 

His face immediately darkened again, and his pressure increased. The two soul balls opposite shrank to the size of basketballs and couldn’t make a sound.

 

“Which album?” Gu Jiaoyang asked through gritted teeth. He was so disgusted he nearly wanted to take the plastic jelly spoon from his snack bag and gouge out their… ‘bits’ right there.

 

“Woo woo woo woo woo!”

 

The oppressed brothers wept in the wind, unable to speak.

 

“Speak.” Retracting his pressure, Gu Jiaoyang wiped his hands with a tissue, feeling the whole phone was greasy.

 

“In the second to last album, the password is six eights.” Scabby gasped for air pitifully, not daring to look at Gu Jiaoyang’s face.

 

Gu Jiaoyang operated the screen while holding it with a tissue. Finding the screen responsive, he continued. He opened their WeChat, added himself, and transferred all the evidence photos of the screenshots they had taken to his own phone.

 

“There are also some recordings in the folder for table games.” Like death row inmates begging for a reprieve, the brothers confessed everything automatically before Gu Jiaoyang even asked.

 

Gu Jiaoyang finished the operations with disgust. He saved all the evidence locally and then uploaded it to a cloud drive. He hurriedly threw their phones back and scrubbed his fingers vigorously.

 

Being disdained like this, the brothers dared to be angry but not to speak. They wept silently in their hearts, afraid that if they cried out loud, their unpleasant voices would annoy the person opposite and earn them a beating.

 

“We… we’ve confessed everything! Great Immortal, when will you retract your divine power? This humble one won’t dare do it again!!! Great Immortal, spare our lives!”

 

“Yes, Great Immortal! We have elders above and children below; we were forced into this line of work!”

 

“Life is hard! We were forced into it!!”

 

Seeing Gu Jiaoyang remain cold and indifferent, the two brothers began to play the victim card relentlessly, hoping to muddle through and return to their bodies.

 

Never mind face for now. Once they were back in their bodies, they would skin this monster alive!!! They’d strip him right here in the café! Make him taste that kind of suffering!!!

 

Pah, a monster who’s been slept with by a man just damaged goods!

 

Gu Jiaoyang paused in drinking his coffee. Looking at the black aura generating around their already grey souls, he narrowed his eyes and smiled.

 

“What, not convinced? Fine then. I intended to do it myself, but in that case, you two can go do it yourselves. After all, you two are so dirty, I’m afraid of soiling my hands.”

 

After saying this, Gu Jiaoyang tapped the Soul Snake that had fallen asleep on the table. The disturbed snake woke up, stuck out its tongue reluctantly, and upon receiving the order, wriggled its body to float around the two men’s souls. It performed a particularly bizarre dance, and then vanished.

 

“What are you doing?! Monster!!!”

 

“Help! Murder!!! Is there no law?!!”

 

The brothers knew they had been reduced to this state by that strange snake. So, when Gu Jiaoyang woke the snake up, they began to retreat frantically. However, unable to leave the two-metre radius of the table, they could only hug each other tightly and scream, watching helplessly as the invisible thing flew around them.

 

“Let me emphasise this again: you really should be grateful you live in a society governed by the rule of law.” Gu Jiaoyang downed his coffee in one gulp, shouldered his bag of snacks, gave the brothers a vicious glare, and walked out of the café without looking back.

 

The two brothers, still shivering in place, hadn’t figured out the situation before they were left dumbfounded by Gu Jiaoyang’s sudden departure.

 

“Why did he leave?”

 

“I don’t know?”

 

“What do we do now that he’s gone?”

 

“How should I know?”

 

Just as the two were about to start arguing, they suddenly felt a tearing pain erupt from within their bodies. Within seconds, they found themselves back in their physical forms, their perspective shifting to sitting in the chairs, looking straight ahead.

 

Just as they were about to rejoice, they discovered they were standing up without having willed it.

 

“F*ck me, why am I moving on my own?!!”

 

“Sh*t, what is happening!!!”

 

The brothers stood up in perfect unison, walked to the front desk to pay the bill, then walked out of the café arm in arm, heading in a different direction.

 

As they walked further and further, the brothers began to panic. Not only because they couldn’t control their bodies their souls were in, but unable to pilot the vessel, they were better off watching from the outside!

 

And as the road changed, their fear intensified.

 

Because if they remembered correctly, if they kept walking down this road, it led straight to the police station!

 

Anyone planning a crime would scout the area around the police station beforehand. They weren’t stupid enough to commit crimes right next to the station, so whenever they arrived in a city, they mapped out the police stations first.

 

Watching themselves getting closer and closer to the station, the brothers screamed frantically inside, but they couldn’t leave their bodies, nor could they regain control.

 

“Come back!!! Not the police station!!!”

 

“Come back!!!!”

 

No matter how hard they tried, it was useless. They watched helplessly as their bodies stepped through the gates of the police station, greeted the police officer politely, and then, with calm faces, said in unison:

 

“I (I) want to hand myself in!”

 

They were finished!

 

Returning to the Dai residence, Gu Jiaoyang carried his snacks back to his newly assigned bedroom on the second floor. He flopped onto the bed, only to be startled by an electronic voice suddenly speaking in his brain.

 

Observation System loaded successfully… Binding data.

 

Please mind your words and deeds in this world. If you exceed the operational parameters of this world too greatly, we will forcibly recall your soul.]

 

Remaining anomaly chances: 2. Please strictly regulate your behaviour and strive to be a guardian of a harmonious world.

 

“What? Time-Space Administration? Observation System?”

 

Gu Jiaoyang sat up, clutching a bag of snacks, and immediately closed his eyes to look inside his consciousness sea.

 

His consciousness sea had changed. Above the original vast ocean, a floating fortress had appeared. It was a high-tech structure in pale blue and silver-grey, radiating a strong sci-fi glow.

 

Gu Jiaoyang’s consciousness avatar flew up to the floating fortress and found the doors wide open.

 

He walked in cautiously and saw a room with a very modern style.

 

It was a standard one-bedroom, one-living-room setup. To the side was a large semi-circular transparent area that looked like the cockpit of a spaceship.

 

The voice was coming from the room that looked like a cockpit.

 

Welcome to the Observation System Space. Xiaozhi is at your service. Is there anything you need?

 

Gu Jiaoyang reached out and pressed the glass outside the room. The glass melted away like water. He stepped inside, and subtitles matching the audio appeared on the wall-to-wall screen.

 

“You are the Observation System? Where do you come from? And what is your purpose?”

 

Gu Jiaoyang wasn’t afraid. He found a chair, sat down, and stared at the screen.

 

Hello, User. I am Observation System Xiaozhi, serial number TC9527, from the Transmigration Bureau of the Time-Space Administration. Because your soul does not belong to this world and carries skills alien to this world, to prevent your changes from causing the collapse of this world, I will temporarily record your actions here as a partner and monitor. I will report truthfully to the Time-Space Administration. Only after passing the final assessment will you be qualified to remain in this world permanently.

 

“Time-Space Administration? That thing actually exists? Isn’t that just stuff from novels?”

 

Hello, User. The world you are in is itself a novel. However, due to the fusion of small-world energies, this world has undergone a qualitative change and become a real world. As it has just been born, it is relatively fragile. Its defence capabilities against powerful souls like yours are not up to standard, hence the need for our monitoring to ensure the complete operation of this nascent world.

 

“Right then. So you’re responsible for saving the world, right? Maintaining world peace?”

 

[You could say that.]

 

“Then will you be spying on my privacy? If you’re recording truthfully as you say, do you have to report everything I do? Eating, drinking, sh*tting, and pissing, or perhaps the ‘Great Harmony of Life’?”

 

Hello, User. We only record and report your illegal activities. For actions that are not illegal but carry suspicion of illegality, we will summarise and report them periodically.

 

“So, you won’t pry into my privacy, and as long as I don’t destroy the world, you won’t interfere?”

 

Illegal activities refer to: All actions that lead to the collapse of the world. For example, the cultivation skills you just used. This world does not have cultivators, so your use of skills will cause a shift in the world’s direction. For more detailed rules, please see the manual, which has been downloaded to your inventory. Would you like Xiaozhi to read it to you?

 

“Forget it, I’ll read it myself.” Gu Jiaoyang waved his hand. As soon as the words left his mouth, a particularly thick book suddenly appeared in his hand.

 

Gu Jiaoyang, who had dropped out of school years ago and hadn’t read a book since: I think looking at words makes me dizzy.