The Real Heiress Just Wants to Be a Lazy Fish - Chapter 49

Chapter 49: Special

Jiang Zitan struggled to stand up from the pool of water, her ankle throbbing as if the bone had cracked.

Was that… Tongtong just now?

There was no light around her, so she could only sense someone brushing past her, kicking the ghost away with a powerful strike. The air was thick with the scent of blood and the earthy smell of rain hitting the ground, so much so that the sweet fragrance of peaches was blurred to the point of being undetectable.

She didn’t dare move, fearing she would become a burden to Tao Yitong. In this moment, the only thing she could do was pray—pray that victory would belong to them, and pray that Tongtong would not be hurt.

Why did I encounter something so absurd!

Boom! A loud crash suddenly erupted from above the forest, followed by a sharp, piercing scream.

Tao Yitong froze for a moment. She mentally asked her beast souls if any of them had caught the monkey, but the replies were all negative.

Amidst Secretary Fang’s bewildered expression, she opened the internal channel to relay mission commands. “An abnormal creature has appeared at Choushan Zoo; it just snatched a child from the crowd. Send personnel immediately to handle the witnesses.” Tao Yitong had locked onto the source of the strange noise, but then another peculiar sound came from there.

It sounded like… the sound of running footsteps?! The noise grew louder it was coming toward them!

“I have a studio under my name. It doesn’t need my daily supervision, but it’s improper for me not to show my face for months, so I want to head over there occasionally,” Tao Yitong said.

Jiang Zitan was somewhat puzzled. “Do you think the Hunter will ambush you on your way to work?”

Tao Yitong waved her hand with a lazy posture. “Don’t give me that look. I’ve thought this through. The Hunter doesn’t know me, but his employer knows exactly who I am.”

She continued, “I’ve cut ties with my family now; I’m no longer the wealthy heiress. Although the studio was created as a whim, it’s now the only resource I can hold onto and my path to moving up. So, whether I want to use it to build a career so others don’t look down on me, or use it as a base to retaliate against my family once I’m successful, those are rational motives in his eyes. Even at the risk of being killed, I would do this.”

“Once he thinks that way, my move to the studio won’t be defined as ‘luring the snake out of the hole,’ and he’ll want to get rid of me even more. In his eyes, I won’t succeed; I’ll only provide a laughingstock for others. Yet I still carry the title of his fiancée if I’m mocked, he won’t be spared. So I plan to go to the studio by day and return to the bookstore at night, creating opportunities for them to strike.”

Moreover, she had her “Pikachu” system. If a hundred thousand volts were released, the Hunter isn’t a god; he’d be turned to ash in minutes. Of course, that was an exaggeration; she wouldn’t actually let the system electrocute him to death.

She had planned it well, but Jiang Zitan had her concerns. “That’s only for emergencies and can’t fully guarantee your safety. Furthermore, the Hunter is cunning. If he senses something is wrong, he might flee first. Even if you can protect yourself, you might not be able to catch him.”

Besides, she didn’t truly believe Tao Yitong was capable of self-protection.

Tao Yitong felt she might actually catch him, but she couldn’t explain how. After a moment, she agreed to Jiang Zitan’s arrangements. If the killer was “sensible” and stepped into the trap within a few days, everyone would be happy. If he was stubborn, she would convince Jiang Zitan to investigate further once enough time had passed.

The conversation seemed to reach its end. The house fell silent, and even the faint wind outside was audible. Tao Yitong wondered: Did I misjudge? Even though Jiang Zitan had discovered things and had suspicions, she didn’t seem in a hurry to test her.

Just as she was about to suggest they rest, Jiang Zitan spoke abruptly. “I went to the Rose Garden tonight.”

Tao Yitong was stunned, then slightly speechless. This direct? She looked up and asked naturally, “What did you go back there for?”

Jiang Zitan’s porcelain skin looked cold under the warm yellow glow. She watched her with a complex, focused gaze. “I left something behind and picked it up on the way back. Unexpectedly, I found someone lingering nearby, seemingly monitoring you. Later, someone sneaked into the small building into your bedroom.”

“I thought he was looking for something, but it turns out he was planting something.”

This was a development neither Tao Yitong nor the system expected. The system had been watching the Rose Garden constantly; nothing could hide from it, so it knew this hadn’t happened.

Who knew the protagonist someone who looks like they couldn’t lie—could deceive people?

Tao Yitong felt she wasn’t necessarily lying. She just looked at Jiang Zitan. “What was it?”

Jiang Zitan pulled out the silver button and placed it before her. Before Tao Yitong could touch it, the system cried out: It’s a bug! Good heavens! This is a very rare, expensive type that ordinary people can’t get their hands on.

Tao Yitong showed a rare look of astonishment. Jiang Zitan watched her. “As far as I know, this is a type of bug. You recognize it too.”

Tao Yitong thought: Well, a certain system just screamed a lecture in my ear, but she could only nod in admission. However, she knew for certain this wasn’t found in her room at the Rose Garden. Yet, Jiang Zitan had no reason to use a lie unrelated to her to test her.

That meant the silver button definitely had a connection to her. Where did Jiang Zitan go tonight to find a clue related to her that she couldn’t ask about directly?

The Tao family home.

Tao Yitong’s thoughts whirled, and she quickly understood the sequence of events. Jiang Zitan must have returned to the Tao family home tonight and discovered the bug in a place related to her. Then, she returned to the Rose Garden to check Yitong’s previous room to see if it was bugged as well.

If it were a common area at the Tao house, Zitan wouldn’t have immediately thought Yitong was being monitored. It had to be a private space like her bedroom. She didn’t need to wonder why Zitan went into her bedroom; perhaps it was a coincidence, or a servant found it while cleaning and handed it to her.

In any case, Zitan found out she was being bugged but couldn’t ask directly, so she transposed the discovery from the Tao house to the Rose Garden. Everything made sense now.

She explained the analysis to the system. The system was first dazed, then horrified. It must be. But to put a bug in your old bedroom… was it the aunt again?

Tao Yitong’s tone turned grave. Eighty percent chance it’s her. As a wealthy elite family, if the Tao family lacked the security to prevent outsiders from planting bugs, they would have been devoured long ago. It had to be an insider or an insider who was bribed, like a servant.

The system sighed. I thought you were overthinking her before, but she’s even more terrifying than we thought.

Tao Yitong felt a chill, similar to the one she felt when remembering her aunt’s incitement to spread rumors. When did the bugging start? Before or after Jiang Zitan’s return? She pondered. Looking back, she felt that while her aunt was always restless, her methods had only become radically aggressive in the last year or two.

But the aggression likely wasn’t related to Jiang Zitan’s return. They had no conflict of interest and no past grudges. So even without the “real vs. fake daughter” incident, she likely would have used her to cause other trouble. Something unknown must have happened to her aunt a change that served as the real trigger for her schemes. For now, she had no leads.

Jiang Zitan had been observing her. She looked surprised, but not confused as if she hadn’t expected the bug, but immediately had a suspect in mind once she knew.

She asked calmly, “Do you think this is related to Xie Chu?”

Tao Yitong was conflicted. This was an unplanned development. She wanted Jiang Zitan to see the aunt’s true face, but the timing was early. Everything was just a theory with no evidence. That was why she hadn’t asked Shi Yan for help at the banquet. In everyone’s eyes, her reputation was far worse than the aunt’s; on the surface, the aunt had done nothing wrong besides favoring her non-biological niece.

If she said now that she thought her aunt was using her and intended to spread rumors about Jiang Zitan, Shi Yan wouldn’t believe her; she would be utterly disappointed. She would think Yitong was trying to “wash herself clean” by throwing mud at the aunt who loved her just to get back into the family. If she had no credit with her old friends, how much would she have with Jiang Zitan?

So she wanted to wait for the aunt to act before asking Shi Yan for help for example, saying she noticed someone was monitoring her and asking her to investigate. Once Shi Yan found a link to the aunt, she would have both evidence and a witness.

So, should she pin it all on Xie Chu now, or speak her suspicions about her aunt?

“Don’t move!” Tao Yitong’s voice rang out suddenly. Jiang Zitan stopped in sync, while Secretary Fang’s heart nearly stopped.

“What…” Before she could finish, her eyes widened. She remembered that sound; she had heard it coming from the mountain before seeing that monstrous monkey!

“It—it’s here!”

Tao Yitong heard Jiang Zitan call her name softly. She understood, then turned her head. “Just a minor thing that hasn’t come into its own yet; it can only bully children.”

She felt a common C-class esper could take it down. Based on her years of experience, this thing’s only advantage was its strength. A figure flickered in the trees; the monkey was agile, its speed unaffected by its size. In a blink, it was before them. The monkey had no intention of dodging, charging straight at them as if fleeing in panic.

Tao Yitong met it head-on. The monkey was fast, but she was faster. Before Secretary Fang could even scream, viscera and blood sprayed across the trees and grass behind the monkey.

Splat! The monkey’s body was pierced like tofu. Lacking a weapon, Tao Yitong had simply used her transformed claws to rip open its abdominal cavity.

Fortunately, it didn’t have time to eat the child.

The monkey, as tall as Tao Yitong, twitched its eyes. A strange, whimpering cry came from its throat, like a struggle, but soon the blood-red light in its eyes went out and it fell, kicking up a cloud of dust.

As the only outsider, Secretary Fang gaped, unable to utter a word. The pierced monster and the blood everywhere… the “delicate” Miss Tao was emitting a terrifying aura. And her hand—was that a hand?!

It clearly looked like the claw of a monster, covered in scales!

The Healing

This was real pain, just like when she was first wounded by the fangs of the Xiangliu. But did it mean Jiang Zitan’s blood actually worked?! The wound hadn’t healed, but the aura of the curse had weakened!

“It works!” the doctor cried excitedly. She looked at Jiang Zitan as if she were a treasure. In all her years of medicine, it was her first time seeing blood break a curse. This lady was no ordinary person! She truly wanted to study her blood and find the principle behind it…

The doctor’s joy didn’t last long before she felt a suffocating pressure. She looked cautiously at Miss Tao, only to see that the woman who had looked like a “little white rabbit” just a moment ago was now wearing a terrifying expression.

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