The Real Heiress Just Wants to Be a Lazy Fish - Chapter 15

Chapter 15: “Dessert”

Night, within someone’s dreamscape.

A young child was hiding under the sofa, preparing to scare his older sister. Instead of his sister coming home from school, he heard a series of heavy, hurried footsteps.

From beneath the sofa, he watched his parents lead a stranger into the house. They discussed topics he couldn’t understand, and after a while, they headed down to the basement.

Once they left the basement, the child sneaked in. There, he saw a large cage containing a motionless “person.” Upon closer inspection… it was a faceless monster!

“Ahhhhhhh!!!” Terrified, the young boy scrambled backward, desperate to run. But his legs were weak with fear; despite his frantic thrashing, he couldn’t move very far.

The child stared in horror at the monster, unaware that deep within his own pupils, another pair of eyes was watching everything unfold.

Tao Yitong stood by the hospital bed, coldly observing Zhao Zhengzhi as he struggled in his nightmare. She held a small statue resembling a Baku (a dream-devouring spirit) against his forehead, sharing the images of the dream.

She hadn’t expected this trip to yield such an accidental harvest.

After Zhao Zhengzhi was taken to the hospital, he was diagnosed with a mild concussion. But he didn’t care about resting; the moment he woke up, he realized the “treasure” in his pocket was gone! The person who gave it to him had warned him repeatedly not to lose it. Ignoring his head injury, Zhao Zhengzhi immediately tried to return to the Jiang Group, remembering he had fallen just as he reached into his pocket.

However, as soon as he sat up, he felt a wave of dizziness. His vision went black, and he fell straight back onto the bed into a “peaceful” slumber.

Tao Yitong pressed the ruby on her earlobe to open a channel to the Bureau, requesting backup to stake out the Zhao residence for that “handler.” Now that the faceless Deviant Demon had been caught, she had to act fast. If they alerted the enemy, the target might vanish.

Unbelievable, she thought. The Jiangs, the Zhaos my relatives are truly a collection of ‘Crouching Tigers and Hidden Dragons.’ The matching mechanism was perfect; not a single one was easy to deal with. Even the maternal side, which seemed to possess no ability other than being scumbags and failures, was actually involved with a faceless Deviant Demon!

Judging by the timeline of the dream, the Zhao family had no connection to the Jiangs back then. Zhao Zhengzhi’s father was just an ordinary teacher. Ordinary people might go their whole lives without encountering a supernatural event, yet they had managed to obtain a Deviant Demon!

Could there be a hidden secret within her maternal family as well?

Tao Yitong’s fingertips lightly tapped the Baku statue. A wisp of black mist seeped through the carving into Zhao Zhengzhi’s forehead. This statue contained the remnant soul of a Baku she had personally captured; the creature had once kept an entire village from sleeping, nearly driving them to mental breakdowns.

Zhao Zhengzhi’s nightmare was accelerated. Unfortunately, the handler was extremely cautious, masking their face during every meeting. The dream couldn’t render their appearance.

The mental endurance of ordinary people is limited. When the mind nears a breaking point, self-preservation kicks in. Zhao Zhengzhi’s nightmare grew increasingly chaotic until Tao Yitong could no longer extract useful information, at which point she finally let him go.

But for Zhao Zhengzhi, this was not the end. Tao Yitong deliberately left some lingering effects. For the next six months or so, he would suffer from nightmares, and his mental state would likely deteriorate—this was the “interest” she was collecting on behalf of Jiang Zitan.

Based on the dream’s findings, Zhao Zhengzhi had been in contact with that handler ever since he grew up. Without a doubt, the talisman with the dark arts was also provided by this handler. Since this person called themselves a “handler,” Tao Yitong suspected they might be raising more than one Deviant Demon. There might even be a whole organization of handlers, which would be a major headache.

Turbulent times… and it’s all related to my relatives, she sighed. My boss is swamped yet still acts so kindly toward me. What a great leader!

Tap, tap… Very faint footsteps came from outside the door so faint that Tao Yitong immediately determined the person was not an ordinary human.

Click. The ward door opened, and a tall figure quietly entered. Despite being wrapped up tightly, Tao Yitong recognized her at a glance.

“Xiao Yu?” Tao Yitong, hiding in the shadows, was surprised.

Xiao Yu, completely unaware that her captain was lurking behind her, jumped in fright. Her fangs even poked out slightly. Once she recognized Tao Yitong’s voice, her wary gaze turned to joy.

“Captain?!” Xiao Yu’s lowered voice was filled with excitement. “What are you doing here?”

After asking, Xiao Yu noticed Zhao Zhengzhi sleeping like a corpse on the bed and realized it was Tao Yitong’s handiwork. “Are you here to investigate Zhao Zhengzhi too?”

“Mhm. He tried to move against Jiang Zitan today. I originally came to find out who gave him the talisman, but I didn’t expect to discover the origin of that faceless Deviant Demon,” Tao Yitong briefly explained. “What about you? Here for a mission?”

Xiao Yu was the only member of the team executing a different mission. She was investigating the disappearance and suicide cases of several female art students. Years ago, Xiao Yu had infiltrated her current company; unfortunately, her mission hadn’t been smooth. It was only after she became a top star that she finally caught a lead on the mastermind.

“I just found out that Zhao Zhengzhi had contact with one of the missing girls. His suspicion is even greater now. Captain, leave this to me. I’ll make sure he spills everything he knows,” Xiao Yu said.

Xiao Yu was an expert in interrogation, so Tao Yitong felt comfortable handing the matter over.

“It’s getting late. I need to hurry back, so I’ll leave this place to you.” Tao Yitong checked the time. Jiang Zitan was still working tonight; Tao Yitong had sneaked out using the excuse of buying something. If she stayed longer, Zitan would worry.

“Oh my, our Captain is now someone who has to be managed by others” Behind her sunglasses, Xiao Yu’s eyes were full of mirth. The Captain didn’t seem to notice that her eyes softened whenever she thought of the person at home, giving her an inexplicably docile air.

In the past, the word “docile” was miles apart from her Captain.

“How is your body? Is the wound healing well?”

“Ahem… my wound has been recovering quite well lately,” Tao Yitong cleared her throat. “Don’t talk nonsense. This is for my persona! Enough about me. You, on the other hand, be careful when you go out. Sigh, being too famous isn’t good either—meeting fanatic fans everywhere! Today, someone insisted on buying the gift you gave me, and they saw it was an original at a single glance…”

Recalling Xiao Ran’s gaze, Tao Yitong still felt it was a bit strange. Besides persistence, there seemed to be a hint of sorrow in those eyes. She wondered if she had misseen.

“The person you met… was their surname Xiao?” The smile on Xiao Yu’s face gradually faded.

“You two actually know each other?”

“Sort of. It’s almost 11:00 PM; if you don’t go back, Captain, your ‘attendance’ might be checked~” Xiao Yu quickly forced a smile back on. Tao Yitong could tell she was hiding something, but if she didn’t want to talk, it wasn’t her place to pry. She simply told Xiao Yu she could reach out if she ran into any trouble.

“Don’t worry, Captain. I’m fine.” Xiao Yu listened to the movements outside. Once she was sure no one was passing by, she pushed her Captain out. “Go back quickly. Don’t let your family worry.”

Xiao Yu gave her a reassuring look and closed the ward door.

Tao Yitong disappeared into the night after leaving the hospital. She turned on her jammer to prevent ordinary pedestrians from being startled by her high-speed movement.

Before going home, she made a special trip to buy a cake. That was her excuse for leaving, so she had to bring one back.

Jiang Zitan was showering when she left. Tao Yitong thought she’d be back before she finished, but the trip had taken longer than expected. When she returned, Jiang Zitan had already emerged from the bathroom. Her hair was still damp, and under the steam, the fragrance in the air was even more pronounced.

Tao Yitong clutched the cake box and swallowed. The sweet, delicious cake now seemed tasteless. After the shower, Jiang Zitan’s fair skin was faintly flushed, looking even sweeter and softer than the cake.

She suddenly understood why Taotie (a gluttonous monster) compared humans to “bite-sized little desserts”… Wait, wait, wait. She wasn’t like that monster. She just wanted to take a bite. A gentle one.

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