UD | Chapter 23 - Let the Ghost Take the Blame

"Miss, your main job isn't actually at the Human Resources Bureau, is it? And do you happen to live by the sea?" Rong Leying replied flatly.

What are you trying to do, investigate my household registration?

The taxi driver's face instantly darkened, though his tone remained casual.

"I was just making conversation. Young lady, you've got quite the temper. Let me tell you something—girls should be gentle. That's how men like them..."

"Sir, you've taken the wrong road. This doesn't lead to Dongning Hospital."

Rong Leying looked at the intersection ahead. He should have turned right, but instead he'd turned left.

"The other road's under construction. We have to go this way," the driver answered.

Under construction?

She had taken that exact road to the railway station earlier that day, and it had been perfectly fine.

Just then, Rong Leying noticed someone sitting silently in the front passenger seat.

Or rather...

A ghost.

It was a man with a face so mangled it was almost unrecognizable. The back of his skull had been crushed inward as if struck by a heavy object. Pale maggots writhed beneath torn flesh, and a nauseating stench filled the air.

Without saying anything, Rong Leying quietly rolled down the window.

This is the scariest—and smelliest—ghost I've ever seen.

Looks like my luck is terrible. I randomly hailed a taxi and ended up getting into a murderer's car.

The driver suddenly fell silent.

The atmosphere inside the taxi became deathly quiet.

Outside, the scenery grew increasingly unfamiliar. The roadside buildings disappeared, replaced by barren wasteland.

By now, Rong Leying was completely certain.

She had really run into a dangerous criminal.

The taxi eventually stopped on an isolated stretch of road where there wasn't a single building in sight.

"Sir, I'm going to Dongning Hospital. You've gone the wrong way," Rong Leying reminded him.

Without replying, the driver got out, opened the rear door, and reached in roughly to yank her out by the arm.

He pulled.

Nothing happened.

Taxi Driver: "...?"

The two stared at each other awkwardly.

Rong Leying cleared her throat.

"Just so we're clear—it isn't because I'm too heavy. It's because you're too weak."

She had only used a tiny bit of strength.

The driver's expression twisted viciously.

His eyes turned feral as he lunged at her with both hands.

"You fat bitch! Get the hell out here!"

Fat...

FAT?!

That single phrase instantly set Rong Leying off.

She hated being called fat more than anything.

Blood rushed to her head.

She lifted one foot and kicked him.

Bang!

The driver shot backward like a cannonball, crashing straight into the weeds beside the road.

Crack!

A sharp snap echoed through his body.

Agonizing pain exploded from his tailbone.

"My tailbone...!"

He screamed miserably.

How is this possible?! She looks like such an honest little girl! How can she hit this hard?!

Still fuming, Rong Leying climbed out of the taxi.

With one hand, she grabbed him by the collar and effortlessly lifted him off the ground.

"Aaaah! It hurts! It hurts!"

Grinding her teeth, she glared at him.

"This is called baby fat! You're the fat one! You disgusting psycho!"

Bang!

Her fist smashed into his face.

His nose bent sideways, and several teeth flew out.

"Aaaah!"

"You sick freak! I told you I was going to the hospital! The hospital! Do you not understand human language?!"

Boom!

Another punch landed squarely in his stomach.

The driver felt as though every organ inside him had shattered.

Ever since learning that Rong Mingda and Zhang Yan had gone to harass her grandfather, then hearing Shen Honglian's tragic story, Rong Leying had been bottling up her anger.

Now she'd encountered another lunatic.

The final spark had landed.

"Die, you psycho! Die!"

She unleashed a relentless barrage of punches and kicks, beating the man until he was barely breathing before finally stopping.

The male ghost stood nearby, staring at her with utter terror.

Dear heavens... She looks so cute, but she's terrifying when she beats people... She's scaring the life out of me—and I'm already dead!

Suddenly, Rong Leying turned toward him.

Her gaze landed directly on his ghostly figure.

"Was this man your enemy?"

The ghost jolted.

"S-... You're talking to me?"

He instinctively shook his head before hurriedly nodding.

"I... I used to be his friend."

"He beat me to death."

The taxi driver's name was Chen Qiang.

The ghost's name was Xu Fei.

They had grown up together in the same village and had once been inseparable friends.

When they were young, both had been street thugs who survived by stealing and petty crime.

One day, they stole over a hundred thousand yuan.

During the argument over how to split the money, Chen Qiang accidentally beat Xu Fei to death.

Afterward, Chen Qiang dumped Xu Fei's corpse into the cesspit behind his house.

Using the stolen money, he bought a taxi and reinvented himself as an honest driver.

Xu Fei's spirit was too weak to take revenge.

All he could do was follow Chen Qiang around endlessly.

His Yin energy slowly influenced Chen Qiang's temperament, making him increasingly unstable.

If passengers merely annoyed him, he'd curse them out.

If they pushed him further, he'd get into physical fights.

Earlier, Rong Leying's refusal to answer his nosy questions—and her sarcastic comeback—had irritated him enough that he'd driven her here to teach her a lesson.

Instead...

He had been beaten half to death himself.

"So he's a murderer."

After hearing Xu Fei's story, Rong Leying calmly walked over and kicked Chen Qiang squarely between the legs.

"Aaaaaah!"

At this point, Chen Qiang had far more breaths going out than coming in.

Even if doctors managed to save him...

He'd be a cripple.

Pointing at him, Rong Leying asked the ghost,

"Since you have a grudge against him... after I call the police, can I tell them you were the one who beat him up?"

This ghost wasn't exactly innocent either.

Taking the blame for her once wouldn't hurt.

Xu Fei: "...???"

You can do that?

Twenty minutes later, the police arrived.

And that was exactly what Rong Leying told them.

The officers all froze.

"...?"

Little girl... we actually went to school, you know.

The officer leading the team, Li Yingzhe, looked at Rong Leying as though he wanted to say something.

In the end, he couldn't hold it back.

"Little Ying... maybe you should make an appointment with the psychiatry department."

He still had no idea that Old Master Guan had found his first love.

Nor did he know that Rong Leying could genuinely see ghosts.

"Officer, I'm serious! I'm not lying! That male ghost is standing right beside you. He said his name is Xu Fei, and this man murdered him."

As she spoke, Rong Leying pulled out her phone, intending to buy a Ghost-Seeing Talisman to prove it.

The moment she unlocked the screen—

The phone died.

Battery depleted.

"...Oops."

Well... there goes my evidence.

"Old Li, that's Chen Qiang."

One of the accompanying officers recognized the badly beaten man.

Another checked the taxi's license plate.

"It really is Chen Qiang's cab."

Chen Qiang frequently got into altercations with passengers.

He was practically a regular at the police station.

"This time Chen Qiang finally kicked an iron plate."

The officer who had first recognized him glanced at Rong Leying before looking at the half-dead Chen Qiang.

His expression was one of undisguised schadenfreude.

Serves him right.

Li Yingzhe looked at Rong Leying.

"Little Ying... have you trained in martial arts before?"

Keeping a perfectly straight face, Rong Leying replied,

"No."

"I didn't beat him."

"It was the ghost."

Who knows whether I'd be judged for excessive self-defense?

Absolutely cannot admit it.

Standing nearby, Xu Fei immediately nodded frantically.

"That's right!"

"I beat him!"

It wasn't that he particularly wanted to take the blame.

The real reason was much simpler.

She could beat ghosts too.

Just what kind of person is this girl?

She's absurdly strong... and she can even beat up ghosts!

Li Yingzhe and the other two officers fell silent.

...She really should see a psychiatrist.

Meanwhile, Rong Leying looked at Xu Fei with mild disgust.

That ghost smells awful.

I should've just kicked him from the start.

I shouldn't have punched him with my hands.