Chapter 114: Blessing and Calamity
Jiang Li’s hands trembled uncontrollably, and panic began to grip her heart.
The source of all her confidence had been these skills that had appeared out of nowhere, which she could use as effortlessly as if she had studied them for years.
But now, her mind was a complete blank.
"Sister, are you okay?" Yu Huannian asked, looking at her with concern. She hadn’t said what she was about to do, or he would have done his best to help.
Jiang Li clenched her fists, gradually calming herself. "I’m fine. Xiao Nian, can you go handle the discharge paperwork for me?"
"Okay." Yu Huannian stood up and walked out.
Jiang Li watched the door close, then used her left hand to pin down her trembling right, her nails digging deep into her flesh.
’I can’t panic. There has to be another way.’
The discomfort in her chest grew stronger, and a sense of agitation flooded her, until Jiang Li finally lost control. She bit down hard on her own arm. Only when the pain spread through her entire body did the turmoil inside her gradually subside.
The sound of the door opening made her look up. She wiped the blood from the corner of her mouth as she watched Yu Huannian come in.
"Sister, it’s all taken care of." Yu Huannian glanced at the forms in his hand. It had taken him a while, as he’d never done this before.
"Good." Jiang Li got out of bed, and Yu Huannian rushed forward to support her.
"I’m fine now, I can walk by myself." Jiang Li smiled and gently pushed Yu Huannian’s hand away before heading outside.
Yu Huannian quickly followed her.
Outside the hospital, the cool, damp air hit her face, clearing her head a little. A look of resolve appeared in her eyes.
’So what if they’re gone? I’ll just learn them again. The only thing that’s real is what you earn yourself.’
"Jiang Li!"
Lu Xingye spotted the two of them before he had even finished parking. He was glad he’d gotten here a little early; otherwise, given Jiang Li’s tendency to leave at a moment’s notice, he probably would have missed her again.
Seeing Lu Xingye running toward her, Jiang Li’s hand tightened into a fist. "Officer Lu."
"It’s starting to rain. Let me give you a ride home." Lu Xingye pointed to the car parked by the road.
Jiang Li nodded and walked with him toward the car.
Lu Xingye’s expression shifted. ’The smell of blood... Is she hurt?’
Lu Xingye looked down, his gaze falling on the sleeve of her shirt. It was stuck to her arm.
Jiang Li and Yu Huannian got into the car.
Lu Xingye drove them to Jiang Li’s home.
"Are you on leave today, Officer Lu? Would you like to come in and sit for a while?" Jiang Li asked, looking at Lu Xingye.
"I can’t. I still have to go get some tutoring from Brother Huo." Lu Xingye felt a pang of regret, but he had already made plans with Huo Qing.
"Alright. Drive safely."
After seeing Lu Xingye off, Jiang Li turned around to find Miao Anji studying her. "Xiao Ji, what is it?"
Miao Anji’s fair face was serious as he stared at her. "Sister, I smell blood. Are you hurt again? Who bullied you?"
"It’s nothing, I just got a scratch. You have a sharp nose," Jiang Li said, her expression unchanging.
"You need to be more careful, Sister. It breaks my heart when you get hurt." Miao Anji’s gaze swept over her, then he looked down and pulled a tube of ointment from his satchel.
"Sister, this is an ointment my grandma made. It’s very effective."
"Alright. Thank you, Xiao Ji." Jiang Li took the ointment from him. Seeing their concern made her feel a little less awful.
Back in her room, Jiang Li sat dejectedly on the bed. The feeling of powerlessness washed over her again. Without her abilities, she was just an ordinary person—no, even less than ordinary.
She was uneducated, uncultured, socially awkward, and didn’t know how to interact with people.
"Little Li." Jiang Li buried her face in her blanket, tears streaming down her face as her body trembled with fear.
’What am I going to do? I don’t want to go back to being that helpless person who was at everyone else’s mercy.’
She was suddenly filled with cowardice, wanting to run away, to find a place to hide.
"Sister, don’t be afraid. Little Li is here. Little Li will always be with you. No matter what you do, Little Li will support you."
"SOB SOB SOB... Little Li."
Jiang Li hugged Jiang Li and couldn’t help but burst into tears.
Jiang Li patted Jiang Li’s back, just as she had when they were children.
Jiang Li cried herself to sleep. Miao Anji stood outside her door, a small snake on his wrist flicking its tongue. He glanced at it, a cold light flashing in his eyes.
’Sister cried.’
He squeezed the snake in his hand so hard its body went rigid before it coiled tightly around his arm.
Miao Anji’s grip slackened. He turned and went back to his room, where Gu Worms crawled out, trembling.
"Go," he commanded. "Find out who made my sister cry."
A swarm of Gu Worms scattered with a RUSTLING sound, slipping through the cracks into Jiang Li’s room.
Miao Anji leaned against his bed, watching the little snake in his hand. His delicate brows furrowed. ’Sister was crying while hugging a doll? Was her wound hurting that much?’
’But Grandma’s ointment is supposed to stop the pain.’
Miao Anji tossed and turned in bed. Unable to figure it out, he eventually drifted off to sleep.
"Are you sure it’s okay to bury the body here?"
"Who’s going to come looking for a body out here in the middle of nowhere? Shut up and dig faster!"
Jiang Li stared dumbfounded at the scene before her, and then she wanted to weep with joy. ’Thank heavens! Thank heavens!’
It was dark all around. The sound of a shovel digging into the earth mixed with the RUSTLE of leaves. Nearby, there was a large bag.
"Alright, quick, quick, throw it in."
The two men worked together to lift the bag and toss it into the freshly dug pit. Jiang Li’s sharp eyes caught sight of a hairy black mole on one of the men’s hands.
The two men threw the body into the pit, filled it with dirt, and then tossed the shovel into the nearby bushes before heading down the mountain.
Jiang Li woke with a start. After a quick glance around her room, she grabbed her phone and sent a message to Ji Qinghe.
[Officer Ji, I—I dreamed that someone was burying a body on a mountain. The tool was thrown into the bushes nearby. One of them has a hairy black mole on his hand.]
After sending the message, Jiang Li was overjoyed. She couldn’t help but feel a thrill of excitement. ’It’s back! It didn’t disappear after all.’
’But what about my skills? Could their disappearance have something to do with what I said?’
Jiang Li clutched her blanket in excitement. ’I’ll have to run a few more experiments to make sure this doesn’t happen again.’
After washing up, Jiang Li got up and headed outside. The moment she opened the door, she saw Miao Anji standing guard.
"Xiao Ji? What is it?"
Miao Anji blinked. His voice was bright and cheerful, and he had a smile on his face. It seemed he had been worrying too much last night.
"It’s nothing, Sister. Wu Ming and Yu Huannian went out, so I’ll be taking good care of you."
As he spoke, Miao Anji tossed the snake he was holding onto the sofa and then skipped happily into the kitchen to heat up their food.
As Jiang Li ate, her mind was on her experiments. The dreams would only trigger after a crime had been committed. Afterward, she could replicate some of the criminal’s skills.
’My skills disappeared because I broke some kind of balance... In that case, does controlling a criminal’s body also have side effects, or limitations?’
’The last thing I want is to drop the ball at a critical moment.’
DING-DONG~
[Jiang Li, Zhao Shuo happened to be over there investigating the case of the person who fell from the cliff. When he got your message, he immediately started searching the area, and he actually found it.]
[The victim matches the description of one of the people from the opera troupe you mentioned before. Zhao Shuo and his team are on their way back now.]
[Do you want to come down to the station?]
Jiang Li read the message from Ji Qinghe. ’Someone from the opera troupe,’ she thought. ’What a coincidence.’