The Real Heiress Just Wants to Be a Lazy Fish - Chapter 27

Chapter 27: Ghostly Shadow

Another one.

Tao Yitong heard her teammates’ gasps. When the listening device was destroyed, she immediately dragged Taotie out to seal the space surrounding the nursing home. As expected, she captured another zombie crow serving as someone’s eyes and ears.

Since all surveillance within the nursing home had been disabled, no one knew exactly who the crow had gone to see. However, there was only one major suspect in this facility, and Tao Yitong couldn’t think of a second candidate.

Taotie’s consumption wasn’t limited to the surface level of power and flesh; if she wished, she could use that power to seize their spirit and memories. However, spiritual consumption was prone to backlash, so Tao Yitong didn’t attempt it lightly.

But this crow had a direct link to the cannibal, so she was willing to take a risk once. Unfortunately, the opponent was very cautious; the crow had no soul and, at the moment of death, had purged everything besides its physical body. There were even anti-tracking talismans etched onto its flesh.

It made sense; if the cannibal—or the organization it represented wasn’t this vigilant, how could they have evaded capture for decades?

This crow brought her no effective intelligence. Tao Yitong sighed inwardly. Thinking of the trouble those “blood-suckers” had caused her, she decided to continue using those vampires as a shield this time, though she had to think about how to orchestrate it.

“Tongtong?”

Zhou Xinyue had never met the Tao parents; the girl hadn’t been born when they passed away. But she had been to Tao Yitong’s house and seen their photos. Jiang Zitan looked very much like her biological mother, so Xinyue immediately made the connection to that rumor.

“Yes,” Tao Yitong nodded. “Her surname is Jiang, her name is Jiang Zitan.”

Zhou Xinyue’s delicate brows furrowed slightly. She leaned into Tao Yitong’s ear and whispered, “Neither of you changed your names?”

“We’ve been called these names for over 20 years. Suddenly changing a surname feels a bit awkward,” Tao Yitong explained.

“Fair enough,” Zhou Xinyue nodded in agreement. She didn’t know the twisted history and cases hidden behind this “Real vs. Fake Daughter” incident. Since their families shared a bit of a relative connection, she gave a polite greeting.

She then prepared to take Tao Yitong to find the landlady to have her prepare more breakfast. She knew the amount of food she had just asked for wouldn’t be enough to fill Tao Yitong.

But before Tao Yitong could take two steps, she saw Jiang Zitan raise a hand to touch the spot where she had been bitten last night. Tao Yitong froze instantly.

“Um… Zhou-zhou, could you tell the landlady for me? Just the usual. I have some things to deal with.”

“Okay, Tao-tao Sister, go ahead. I’ll bring the breakfast over to you in a bit.” Zhou Xinyue nodded obediently, though she kept looking back on her way to the kitchen. Tao Yitong was in no mood to deal with her, but Jiang Zitan glanced over. After making eye contact, Zhou Xinyue instinctively shuddered and hurried away.

“Sister…” Tao Yitong was almost too guilty to look Jiang Zitan in the eye. She moved forward sluggishly, one step, two steps…

Finally, Jiang Zitan, finding her pace too slow, walked directly in front of her. Tao Yitong hadn’t thought of how to explain away last night’s events, and Jiang Zitan’s sudden proximity made her recoil half a step in surprise.

Jiang Zitan saw Tao Yitong staring at her with wide eyes like a startled deer, before suddenly averting her gaze to the floor. She couldn’t see the girl’s face, but she noticed the tips of Tongtong’s ears were deep red.

Jiang Zitan couldn’t say why she was unhappy; she simply wanted Tao Yitong to stay. But now that the surroundings were quiet, and seeing Tao Yitong so close, the events of last night uncontrollably surfaced in her mind, followed by an irrepressible sense of shyness.

So much so that she forgot what she had been about to say.

Last night, both had their own unspeakable thoughts. At this moment, the quiet, somewhat ambiguous atmosphere simultaneously triggered certain memories for both of them.

Thud! Suddenly, a resident upstairs closed a door. The noise snapped them back to reality.

Tao Yitong was the first to react, blurting out: “Sis—Sister, I didn’t do it on purpose. I really didn’t know I bit people in my sleep. I won’t do it again! No maybe you should just tie me to the bed first!”

Then she looked at the spot she had bitten with concern. “Does it still hurt?”

“It doesn’t,” Jiang Zitan coughed slightly to cover her embarrassment, then comforted her: “You didn’t bite hard.”

The wound was hidden by the collar. After obtaining Jiang Zitan’s consent, Tao Yitong checked the injury; fortunately, it was healing well.

But the reason the mark didn’t look serious was that ointment had been applied and it had recovered overnight. Tao Yitong had seen the sorry state it was in last night right after she bit her; how could it not have hurt? Next time, she really should be tied to the bed.

She held a plate in one hand and covered her eyes with the other though if the gap between her fingers wasn’t so wide, her gesture might have held a bit more credibility.

You could have left that last sentence unsaid!! Tao Yitong glared at the person crouching in the corner like a mushroom. Just now, she had been wondering what this little brat was doing lurking there; now she didn’t have to guess she had definitely misunderstood everything!

She quickly straightened Jiang Zitan’s collar, then dragged Zhou Xinyue out from the corner. To prevent any strange rumors from spreading, she told her, “Don’t overthink it. We are… sisters.”

Hearing the word “sisters,” a flash of gloom appeared in Jiang Zitan’s eyes.

Zhou Xinyue nodded like a chick pecking at grain. “Mhm, mhm, I know. ‘Sisters’~”

Love-sisters, heart-sisters, I get it. Who knew Tao-tao Sister was such a player! She had felt the atmosphere between the two was odd; Tao-tao Sister’s soft, thin voice earlier had nearly scared her. She almost called someone to perform an exorcism on her! In all the years she’d known her, when had she ever heard her use such a soft tone?

But if it was “flavor” between lovers—hey, then it was normal.

Tao Yitong felt the girl’s understanding was worlds apart from what she intended to convey, but the landlady arrived with the porridge, so the issue had to be shelved for the moment.

“I need to bring food to my colleagues, so I won’t eat with you. Goodbye, sisters! Goodbye, Auntie!” Unexpectedly, Zhou Xinyue waved with her packed plastic containers and ran faster than a rabbit.

Tao Yitong didn’t even have time to call her back. She had a premonition that some very strange rumors were about to spread.

In the Car

Jiang Zitan concentrated on driving, when suddenly a black shadow flashed across the space in front of her!

This familiar scene made Jiang Zitan slam on the brakes. The momentum threw her forward. Fortunately, she wasn’t going fast, but when she looked up again, there was nothing in the sky.

This time the streetlights in the community weren’t broken, but she was currently positioned between two lights. The visibility wasn’t great, yet it was enough to let her vaguely see that the passing shadow was human-shaped!

That was over a meter above the ground! How could a person be floating there?!

Jiang Zitan felt her hallucinations might be getting worse. The frequency of seeing and hearing things was increasing; she needed to contact an authoritative doctor as soon as possible, or it would severely interfere with her work and life. She tried her best to calm down and restarted the car smoothly.

This time, she saw no shadow until she parked in the garage. But before she could breathe a sigh of relief, the moment she stepped out of the garage, she smelled the scent of blood!

And there was a hem of a skirt swaying gently in the breeze, brushing against her face every now and then.

That vanished shadow was right beside her…

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