An Unusual Life Beginning with Evil Spirits-Chapter 144 : Preparing to Investigate

Volume 4: High School Arc - “I” Come to Find You~
The next morning when I woke up, it was just like usual.
I slowly opened my eyes to Reina’s call.
But today, Reina seemed a little anxious and frightened.
"Young Miss! Young Miss!! What happened?"
Reina’s voice reached my ears, and when I opened my eyes, I saw her face filled with fear and worry, staring at me with deep concern.
"Hmm?"
Still a bit groggy, I sat up, rubbed my eyes, and glanced back at Sha Ha, who had somehow already run out of my arms.
Out of habit, I kicked that ungrateful little bastard who always loved tricking me off the bed, then turned to look at Reina.
"What’s wrong?"
"Young Miss... your phone..."
Reina knew I had two phones, so she wasn’t surprised about that.
But she was surprised that the phone was broken.
And it was broken even though it had landed on the cashmere carpet.
If it wasn’t deliberately smashed, the carpet and the hardwood floor underneath wouldn’t have been enough to damage the phone.
My room’s layout was quite simple—aside from the wool carpet in front of the bed, the rest of the floor was standard hardwood.
That’s because I preferred traditional Chinese interior styles.
"...It’s ruined, leave it. Don’t keep any data inside."
I glanced at the broken phone in Reina’s hand, stretched after getting out of bed, and then noticed the concern on Reina’s face.
I smiled.
"It’s nothing. I was just in a bad mood last night and threw it."
"...Young Miss, if there’s anything you want to talk about, you can talk to me, okay? This is such a waste... The phone can still be repaired."
"Forget it. After it’s repaired, the waterproofing won’t work anymore. By the way, what’s for breakfast today?"
To avoid continuing the topic, I quickly changed the subject and asked about breakfast.
Reina, casting a regretful glance at the phone, threw it into the nearby trash bin.
She cleaned out the trash every day after I went to school.
"This morning it’s black-bone chicken soup and lobster dumplings. The cold dish is century egg and tofu with double peppers."
Since I liked spicy food, Reina always prepared a spicy dish every day.
This cold dish was one of them.
"Mmm."
I quickly nodded, then turned around and took off my bathrobe, tossing it into the dirty laundry basket.
Changing clothes every day was a must.
After becoming Liu Yunyan, my obsessive cleanliness had only gotten worse.
I took a proper shower, and when I came out, the clothes in the dirty laundry basket were already gone.
A clean and neatly arranged school uniform had been placed beside the bed, and my women’s handbag had already been packed.
Everything I usually needed was already inside.
I had to admit, this kind of diligence from Japanese people was worth learning from.
I skillfully put on my women’s clothes, skillfully put on my stockings, and skillfully... felt a wave of sorrow.
"Sigh... I’m really used to it now."
After changing, I picked up my bag.
I didn’t even need to check what was inside.
Reina never made mistakes on these small things.
Just as I was about to go downstairs, I suddenly remembered something, turned back to the bedside table, and pulled a sticky note out from under the lamp.
I stuffed it into the pocket of my shirt.
"Let’s eat. At noon, I can let Lu Haochen take a look at this."
The one involved is always confused, while the onlooker sees clearly.
Maybe he could figure something out.
"So you’re saying you think this is important, but you just can’t remember the details?"
Sitting across from me, Lu Haochen looked at the sticky note that had completely confused me last night.
His brows were furrowed as he pondered.
Lunch was already over.
We were now sitting at a café by the street.
I didn’t know much about coffee, but having some occasionally to change up the taste was nice.
"Yes."
I nodded, looking at the sticky note in Lu Haochen’s hand.
Now... I had a very vague feeling about it.
It felt like something was there, but I couldn’t recall what it was.
And that exact feeling made it easy to cloud my judgment.
So I didn’t analyze it myself right away.
Instead, I gave it to Lu Haochen and had him try deducing something first.
After that, I’d follow his train of thought and continue from there.
After all, the person involved is often confused while the onlooker sees clearly—that much I understood.
"Zhang Yang, 19th floor of Tianding Property, elevator... Let’s start with these three points. I’ll share my thoughts first."
"Mm."
I nodded, stirring my coffee with a small spoon, then took a light sip.
Immediately… an intense bitterness lingered in my mouth.
"Bleh..."
Feeling the bitterness, I was shocked—how could this espresso be so bitter?
I quickly dropped a few sugar cubes in, hoping to ease the bitter taste.
"You... don’t like bitter coffee?"
Lu Haochen watched as I added sugar to the cup and glanced at me in confusion.
"Then why did you order an espresso?"
"I didn’t expect it to be this bitter..."
I couldn’t help but feel a little wronged.
Who would’ve thought this thing was so bitter?
Although someone in the erased memories used to enjoy it, and I had experienced it before, those memories had been wiped, so I had no recollection of how it tasted.
That’s why I ordered it.
"Then don’t drink it anymore. Waiter, one wet cappuccino."
Lu Haochen directly pressed the call button for the server, then reached over and took the espresso from in front of me.
"Hey!"
I was about to stop him, but then I saw him smiling as he placed the coffee in front of himself.
"If it’s bitter, don’t force yourself. It’s not like you can’t afford it. I can tell you don’t want to waste it, so I’ll just drink it."
Uh...
"Alright then."
I put down the spoon.
Honestly, I didn’t want to waste it, which was why I had tried to force myself to finish it.
But since Lu Haochen was so considerate, there was no need to push myself anymore.
We were on the second floor of a roadside café.
The second floor had quite a few small private booths, most of them enclosed, and judging by the setup, they were all for two people.
Probably designed specifically for couples.
I didn’t have any objections to that, of course.
Lu Haochen and I weren’t a couple.
But right now, I needed his help, and he was willing to assist.
At the very least, I already considered Lu Haochen a friend.
"Let’s start with this."
Lu Haochen placed the sticky note on the table, resting his chin on one hand and looking at me.
His right index and middle fingers tapped rhythmically on the solid wood table, making a steady "da~ da" sound.
"Zhang Yang is clearly a person’s name. As for the 19th floor of Tianding Property and the elevator, I think they should be considered together."
"There’s too little information, so I can’t give a hypothesis—only a conclusion."
At this point, Lu Haochen paused, then continued.
"Let’s go to Tianding Property and check the surveillance footage. If that’s not possible, then we should head to the 19th floor of Tianding Everything and ask around about Zhang Yang."
"If my guess is correct..."
"What is it?"