Chapter 231

Chapter 231

◎I'll Help You◎

Chen Xi made no attempt to conceal her intentions—she wanted them dead. However, she did not possess the Mother Gu, and this time, without any concealment, Ji Nanxing could clearly perceive the aura around her.

She bore life-and-death karma, but there was no murderous red aura.

Ji Nanxing asked directly, "Who is helping you?"

Chen Xi merely lowered her head, smiling as she picked at her nails. Her nails appeared to have gone without maintenance for some time—likely, she wasn’t fond of such embellishments unless for being on camera. The crystals embedded in them sparkled brilliantly under the light, beautiful yet now being picked off one by one by Chen Xi, leaving her once-elegant nails bare.

After removing one, she glanced up at Ji Nanxing with a derisive smile. "I don’t understand what you’re saying. Aren’t you all so resourceful? Go investigate yourselves."

Ji Nanxing said, "Do you believe retribution is nothing but nonsense? They’ve done so many terrible things, yet they still enjoy privilege, wealth, and elite status."

Chen Xi’s eyes turned colder, but she remained silent. Her goal had already been achieved—those people would either confess the truth or die.

Ji Nanxing continued, "You’ve dealt with Gu worms, so you must also know of Taoists. You should understand that souls persist after death—there is an underworld, a hell. You resent that they’ve committed countless evils yet escaped retribution. Some are simply blessed with great fortune, delaying their reckoning. But no matter how fortunate they were in life, the evil they’ve done will be accounted for in death."

Chen Xi stopped picking at her nails and looked at him. "If retribution doesn’t come while they’re alive, can it even be called retribution?"

Ji Nanxing replied, "We’ll discuss their retribution later. What I want to tell you now is that the person helping you kill will carry the weight of four deaths. They may evade justice now, but after death, the debt of these four lives will be settled in the underworld."

Chen Xi’s expression was no longer so cavalier.

Ji Nanxing pressed on, "You never wanted their lives, did you? What you truly wanted was the truth to be known—for everyone to see their sinful faces, for them to pay for their actions. If that’s your goal, we can help you. Don’t let an innocent person shoulder sins they shouldn’t bear."

Chen Xi said mockingly, "You’ll help me? How laughable. Do you think playing on emotions will work here? You just want to save them. I’ve said it—unless they confess the truth, they’ll all die!"

Ji Nanxing stood, no longer willing to waste words. "Death is never the end—it’s only the beginning. Hell isn’t a myth. Every sin committed in life must be repaid before reincarnation. Chen Xi, do you know how long one must suffer in hell to atone for four lives?"

As he turned to leave, Chen Xi suddenly stood, her face contorted with emotion. "If retribution never comes in life, how bitter that death would be! Why should they live carefree after all the evil they’ve done? Just because they were born privileged? Because their families are rich? Why? Tell me why!"

"We took matters into our own hands to make murderers pay, and now you tell me it’s wrong—that we’ll bear the sin for it? Hah! How laughable! I’ve always known the world is unfair, but I never thought even life and death would be so unfair!"

Ji Nanxing said, "The world has never been fair. A Taoist’s duty is only to seek some measure of justice for the dead. Human power has limits—we can’t stop all evil, but we work to bring justice to the departed."

Chen Xi, her eyes red, shot back, "But what’s the use when they’re already dead?!"

Ji Nanxing replied, "If death makes it all meaningless, then what are you doing now? What you want and what we do are the same—only the methods differ. Chen Xi, a Taoist speaks for the dead. Some never received fairness in life—we deliver it after death."

Though for some, death means nothingness, and fairness comes too late, the police hunt criminals while Taoists guide lingering ghosts. They work to prevent evil, yet shadows always linger where light doesn’t reach.

Chen Xi was softening but refused to relent. "I can’t accept it! Thinking of them living happily all these years—I can’t!"

Tears streamed down her face as she stared at Ji Nanxing. "You probably know the methods of bullying, but can you really fathom the despair of those who endure it? Do you know how it feels to be shoved headfirst into a urinal? The pain of being stripped and beaten until not a single inch of skin is untouched? Having your underwear torn off and hung on a tree outside the classroom? Your backpack stuffed with used sanitary pads? Rumors spread that you’ve slept around, that you’re dirty, that you have an STD?"

"Everyone avoids you, whispering behind your back. Do you know the disgust of being forced to swallow earthworms? The agony of cigarette burns scarring your skin? The despair when teachers turn a blind eye and parents blame you, leaving you with nowhere to turn?"

Her gaze swept over Ji Nanxing’s well-tailored, undoubtedly expensive clothes. "Your family must be wealthy. You’re a Taoist—you’ve never been bullied in school, have you? In your eyes, do people like me deserve it? ‘Fight back if you’re bullied,’ right? ‘The strong fear the desperate, the privileged fear the reckless’?"

"It’s like a mayfly trying to shake a tree—utter futility."

Ji Nanxing didn’t argue. True empathy was impossible—even with identical circumstances, differing individuals could never truly understand one another.

Once Chen Xi’s emotions had settled somewhat, he asked, "How did Tan Ling die?"

Chen Xi answered, "They killed her—pushed her into the sea to drown. Her body bore wounds from being struck by rocks, yet everyone acted blind, claiming she jumped and hit them herself. Even her parents took money and let it go."

She was unwilling, but she had no standing—she was merely Tan Ling's classmate and close friend. She begged Tan Ling's parents to use the law to seek justice for her death.

But Tan Ling's parents pushed her away, saying, "Justice? What good would justice do? Could it bring our daughter back to life? Since she can't be revived, as long as we get enough compensation, at least raising her wasn’t for nothing!"

Chen Xi repeated these words to Ji Nanxing with a cold laugh. "Every life has a price tag. If the money is enough, whether someone dies or not doesn’t matter anymore."

Ji Nanxing: "Why did they kill Tan Ling?"

Chen Xi: "Zhang Haoyu fell for Tan Ling at first sight, but she didn’t like him. The Zhang family—you know them, right? They’re powerful, influential. No one at school dared cross them. He took her repeated rejections as ‘playing hard to get.’ Tan Ling was beautiful, so they assumed a girl like her must be materialistic, that her refusal was just pretending for a higher price. But Tan Ling wasn’t the gold-digger they thought. Her rejection meant she simply didn’t like him. So those bastards got furious. Their pursuit turned into bullying. They wanted to break her down piece by piece until she had no choice but to bow to them. Tan Ling’s leg wasn’t broken in an accident—they smashed it themselves. But they had money and power. Tan Ling’s parents didn’t press charges, so who would bother interfering?"

Ji Nanxing: "Then what about you? Why are you so determined to avenge Tan Ling?"

Because she, too, had been abandoned since childhood.

Her parents divorced, keeping only her younger brother and discarding her. She lived with her elderly grandmother, who hunched over every day collecting scraps and empty bottles to sell for a meager living. From a young age, she was mocked as "trash kid."

No matter how clean she kept her clothes and shoes, no one wanted to get close to her. They called her stinky, dirty, said she ate garbage.

Her classmates ostracized and bullied her, while the teachers turned a blind eye. Some even looked disgusted when she asked them questions.

Recalling the past, Chen Xi let out a laugh—whether mocking or self-deprecating, she couldn’t tell. "I thought teachers were noble, brilliant, selfless—just like the textbooks praised them. Teachers molding young minds, their influence spanning generations. Turns out they’re just ordinary people, doing a job they don’t want to risk for anything beyond survival."

So who would stand up for a girl with no parents, only a frail grandmother who scavenged for a living? Who would offend the overprotective parents who treated their own children like precious jewels?

After starting high school, her grandmother passed away. The pressure of tuition and living expenses made life unbearably hard, compounded by classmates who ostracized her. Even when she kept to the corners and bothered no one, bullies still sought her out.

For so long, Tan Ling was the first person to reach out to her. Seeing her lunch of a plain bun and free egg-drop soup, Tan Ling would deliberately order extra dishes, claiming she couldn’t finish them, and share them with Chen Xi.

When Chen Xi stained her pants, Tan Ling lent her a spare uniform and bought her sanitary pads.

She’d hold Chen Xi’s hand, eating ice cream, and say, "Let’s pick the same city for college, okay? After graduation, I’ll dance, you’ll work, and we can split rent. What do you think?"

What did she think? She thought it sounded wonderful. Chen Xi had never imagined herself lucky enough to have a friend like Tan Ling. For the first time, she understood the meaning of their bond—not bound by blood, yet closer and more trustworthy than family.

The word "future" had always been an abstract concept to Chen Xi. But under Tan Ling’s vivid descriptions, it became real, something tangible she could look forward to.

Yet all of it was cut short—because of one man’s obsession, because of their wealth and power.

The bullying unleashed on Tan Ling made Chen Xi realize her own past torment had been nothing compared to this. Ostracism and isolation were mild compared to breaking someone down piece by piece—crushing every ounce of pride underfoot.

Facing Zhang Haoyu’s retaliation, Tan Ling pushed Chen Xi away, insisting it had nothing to do with her, that she could endure it alone. She said they just had to hold on, that someday they’d leave for a new city and start fresh, just as they’d planned.

Every time Tan Ling was dragged away by the girls Zhang Haoyu sent, she’d shoot Chen Xi a look, warning her not to follow. And when Chen Xi saw her covered in bruises, sobbing helplessly, Tan Ling would comfort her.

She said it’d get better when they grew up, when they went to college, when they had the power to leave that place behind.

"She never once thought of dying. She was stronger than anyone. Even after they broke her leg, she never gave up on the future. And then she died. They all said it was because she couldn’t dance anymore, that she killed herself out of depression. I didn’t believe it. I rushed to the funeral home and yanked off the white cloth covering her. The mortician couldn’t even hide the marks on her head from where they’d smashed her with rocks. But everyone acted blind. They all chose to look the other way!"

Chen Xi: "Of those four, Qin Lang was the dumbest—brainless, impulsive, lecherous. But he was easy to control, a perfect enforcer. Jiang Cheng’s family was rich, the one bankrolling them. Guo Yuchen’s family was fairly wealthy back then, though his access to money was limited. But he was clever—usually the one planning for them. Zhang Haoyu was arrogant, but his family had connections. The wealthy loved sucking up to him. He treated Qin Lang as his muscle, Jiang Cheng as his wallet, and Guo Yuchen as the brains."

"Zhang Haoyu’s obsession started it all, but every single one of them is responsible for Tan Ling’s death!"

Chen Xi stared fixedly at Ji Nanxing. "Do you still want to save them? Those scum! The kind of trash who treat lives as worthless just because they have money and power!"

Ji Nanxing pondered for a moment. "Do you want them dead, or do you want the truth about Tan Ling’s death to come to light?"

Chen Xi: "If they don’t get a taste of death, why would they ever confess? Only when they watch the others die one by one, when they realize they’re powerless and their turn is coming—only then will the last one spill the truth to save their own skin."

Besides, she’d already killed one. There was no turning back now.

Ji Nanxing: "I’ll help you. Let’s make a deal. I won’t ask who’s behind the Mother Gu helping you. You tell them to stop, and I’ll make those four confess the truth. Whoever’s aiding you must care deeply for you. Do you really want them to carry four murders? Even if you both wrote off your own lives from the start, no one escapes judgment after death."