Chapter 23: How Can You Expect Me to Be Without Obsession?

Page (1/3)

“Harming people? Which of your eyes saw me harming anyone?” Although the female ghost was bound in soul-locking chains, her gaze at Chu Tian was full of fury, and her tone was anything but polite.

“Using underworld currency as bait, buying people’s lives and occupying their bodies so you can be reborn through them—that isn’t taking their lives?” Chu Tian asked, looking at the ghost.

“What do you know?” The ghost grew agitated at once. “I paid for a service, and the transaction was fair. I spent money to buy their time. How is that harming them? They agreed to it themselves!”

“She never agreed!” Chu Tian said, pointing at Li Weiwei.

The ghost gave a disdainful laugh. “How do you know she wouldn’t agree? The fact that she refuses now doesn’t mean she won’t agree in the future!”

“She refused to let you forcibly occupy her body today. Do you think she’ll even have a future after that?” Chu Tian asked.

“I only bought one year of her time. I never bought her entire life. How could she have no future?” the ghost retorted.

At that, Chu Tian paused. “What exactly do you mean?”

“What do I mean? Exactly what I said.” The ghost continued, “I buy one year of her time, and after that year, I return her body to her and go look for a new client!”

“So you’ve always done things this way?” Chu Tian asked, studying her expression to see whether she was lying. There was no karmic burden clinging to her. It seemed she truly had never taken a human life.

“Of course. She isn’t the only person whose time I’ve bought. Not one of them ever refused.”

Page (1/3)

Page (2/3)

“Can you explain why in detail?” It was not only Chu Tian who was curious. Chen Meng and Li Weiwei were also intrigued.

“I take over their bodies and everything that comes with them. I handle the work they can’t deal with and the relationships they can’t manage. I have knowledge, methods, and ability. I rent their bodies to enjoy life, while using their bodies to start businesses and make money. All they have to give up is one year, or perhaps a few years. When the time is up, I leave their bodies, and everything I’ve created remains theirs. Why wouldn’t they agree?” the ghost said.

“But you make them lose an entire year of their lives for nothing!” Chu Tian said.

“Lose an entire year for nothing?” The ghost laughed disdainfully. “Without me, would they not be wasting that year anyway? Working nine-to-nine-six? Overtime, endless workloads, never-ending ‘blessings’ to enjoy, the rat race, pressure, the double rejection of work and life… Whose life isn’t a complete mess these days? Does their time even belong to them? Haven’t they always been slaves to money? Money buys their time and gives them almost nothing in return. I buy their time and give them financial freedom!”

“A salary of ten thousand a month is enough to keep someone so busy they don’t know whether they’re coming or going. That adds up to only one hundred and twenty thousand a year. They work themselves ragged for twelve months, dragging exhausted bodies through life, and still have to face pressure in the future,” the ghost went on. “But give me one year, and I can use their bodies, identities, and social connections to earn far more money. I buy one year of their time, let them do absolutely nothing for that year, and by the end of it give them enough wealth to leap into another social class. If you were in their place, what would you choose?”

The corners of Chu Tian’s mouth twitched when he heard that. Damn it, there was an awful lot of sense in what she was saying.

“You make it sound wonderful,” Chen Meng said. “How much wealth can you actually leave them?”

“The last girl I possessed was a university student who had just been cheated on by her boyfriend. I borrowed her body for a year and enjoyed a year of youth. I helped her dump that boyfriend, punished the cheating pair, and even founded a company under her identity. When I left, the company was worth around five million,” the ghost said. “The girl before her came from a poor family. Her mother was ill, but they had no money for treatment. I possessed her for a year and helped her family through the crisis. By the time I left, that girl owned three prosperous storefronts. The rent alone was enough to support her entire family every year. The girl before her was a—”

“Stop!” Chu Tian interrupted as he watched the ghost prattle on. His eyes were filled with utter bewilderment. What the hell was she doing? Was she sure she was a female ghost, and not some merciful goddess?

Damn, she was like one of those all-powerful mentors who came attached to the protagonist in a fantasy novel. Even those mentors usually only offered guidance. This one did not even bother with that. She was practically saying, “Stand aside, disciple. Let your master flatten every obstacle for you.” Was she out of her mind?

“Are you sick in the head? You’re a ghost!” Chu Tian said, staring at her. “You possess one person after another just to help them overcome their troubles and reach the peak of life?”

Page (2/3)

Page (3/3)

“You don’t know a damn thing!” the ghost snapped. “I do it to enjoy life! If their lives weren’t miserable, why would they be tempted by my money? And if I couldn’t improve their lives, how could I use their bodies to experience different kinds of living?”

“So your fixation is enjoying life?” Chu Tian asked calmly. “Then it seems your death… must have been connected to this?”

“I…” The ghost fell silent.

Her death was indeed connected to it. She had never experienced all that life had to offer, and that truly was her greatest regret.

“Do you know what it feels like to spend your entire life rushing forward, only to plunge headfirst into death?” After a moment of silence, the ghost lifted her head and looked at Chu Tian.

“My whole life was almost nothing but rushing forward. I never stopped.” As if all her strength had drained away, the ghost collapsed into the chair. “From the moment I was old enough to understand, I was always studying—learning all kinds of things. I had talents ordinary people didn’t possess. I could remember anything I wanted to remember, and I would never forget it. But that didn’t make my life easier. Instead, my family always felt that I hadn’t reached my limit yet, that I could learn even more.

“I advanced smoothly through school, skipped grades, entered university, and earned more certificates than I can remember. Eventually, I seemed to forget that I was allowed to rest. I graduated, founded companies, made money, and opened new companies—one after another. I could always seize an opportunity, always catch the next rising trend. But… who could have imagined that I would suddenly die at the age of twenty-eight?”

A self-mocking smile appeared on the ghost’s face.

“Do you know what that feels like? I lived once in this world, yet I was like an artificial intelligence, stuffing information into my mind from beginning to end, without ever having a single day that truly belonged to me. I remembered so many things, yet my memories contained hardly any ordinary sunsets. I had seen mountains and seas, but I had never truly quieted my heart to experience them. I had witnessed love, but I had never once stopped to linger for the sake of any feeling. I had never had the chance to experience anything at all before I suddenly departed this world. How could I possibly have no lingering attachment?”

As she spoke, the ghost fixed her eyes fiercely on Chu Tian.