Chapter 643: Cornering Ye Jinglan

Luo Huian narrowed her eyes when she heard that Ye Jinglan had run away. She knew that things were not going to end so simply. That mer was like a sleazy and slippery eel; if not, then that mer wouldn’t have escaped from the clutches of the authorities so many times. He must have known a lot of ways to escape from tricky situations like these.

However, this time around, he was unlucky enough to get involved with her.

Luo Huian scoffed. She turned off the television and said to Luo Qingling, “What do the police officers say? Didn’t they find anything about Ye Jinglan? I mean, a living person cannot disappear into thin air like this, right?”

When Luo Qingling heard Luo Huian’s question, she hesitated. She sighed and shook her head before saying to Luo Huian, “They didn’t find any traces of him, but according to the officers, the buildings around that area where the Hollow Break happened have collapsed completely. Even if they did find some bodies, they are damaged to the point that no one can find out any traces of who they were before their deaths.”

“So the officers said that it is better to leave the matter alone, as there is no point in tracing someone as vile as Ye Jinglan.”

“What if he is still alive?” Luo Huian questioned. She turned and looked at her sister with a raise of her brows and mused, “Do you really think that someone like Ye Jinglan would die so easily?”

Honestly? Luo Qingling didn’t believe that the mer was dead. But this incident was quite a mess, and the council, which had the highest authority, wanted to close this case as soon as possible. Thus, even though she wanted to find some clues about Ye Jinglan, Luo Qingling also had her hands tied.

As for meeting Gu Sirou and asking her for an explanation, it was almost impossible. Maybe the woman knew that she had done something wrong, but she had long flown away. Luo Qingling couldn’t find any traces of her in the country at the moment. It was annoying, but there was nothing that could be done about the current situation.

Luo Qingling sighed and stated, “I will try to send a few more scouts to see if we can find anything regarding that mer. You are right; since we have no evidence to prove that the mer is dead, we still need to find a way to trace him down.”

However, it was not going to work, thought Luo Huian, as she knew that the mer was not hiding somewhere that was easily accessible to the scouts or the police officers.

**

“Dang it!” Ye Jinglan was pacing around the small house that he had gotten from his grandmother. After the Hollow Break, he had no other choice but to run away. He knew that after Nan Zhi turned into a Hollow, there was no way he would be able to shirk responsibility. Thus, he found the right opportunity and slipped away before things could go wrong for him.

Who would have thought that even after running away, the police officers would not stop chasing after him? He was almost caught many times, and it was through sheer luck that he somehow managed to escape. Damn it, this was all because of that woman, Luo Huian. If he had known that she would cause him so much trouble, he would have cursed her to death. If that woman was not going to be helpful to him, then she might as well die!

Maybe he should have done that; at least that way Luo Huian would no longer be an obstacle in his way, and he could have made Qi Yongrui suffer as well. What a shame that he took pity on Luo Huian and thought that she was too pretty to die.

“What am I supposed to do now?” He questioned no one in particular as he walked left and right inside the small, leaking hut. It was quite fortunate that he had this small, dilapidated house of his grandmother; if not, he truly wouldn’t have a place to stay tonight.

However, he couldn’t stay here for long. He raised his head and looked up at the ceiling that was leaking. This place was no longer fit to stay in, and if he stayed here, he needed to make a few changes and renovations to this place. Ye Jinglan knew that it was impossible for him to do something like this at the moment he was being chased down by the police officers.

Where would he get the chance to waltz down to a shop and get some groceries and concrete to stop the leaking? There was nothing that he could do at this point.

Ye Jinglan sighed, running a hand through his hair.

“Chen Long, don’t go there. That house hasn’t been open for years—who knows, there might be snakes hiding in that place?” An elderly voice spoke outside the shack, and Ye Jinglan stiffened. He carefully peeped out of the window and saw the old mer dragging the child away from the shack. However, just as he raised his head and looked outside, the child who was being dragged away by his grandfather also looked up.

The two of them exchanged a gaze, and Ye Jinglan immediately dropped to his knees while the child outside burst into tears. “WAHHH! Ghost! There is a ghost!”

“Alright, alright, there is no need to be scared. As long as our little Long is nice and kind, no one would dare to cause trouble for him. Even ghosts stay away from kind people,” Old Man Chen thought that the kid was scared due to his words and chortled. He picked him up and took him away.

While Ye Jinglan, who was lying inside the shack, was filled with great relief. He really thought that he was going to get caught this time around. Slowly, he got to his feet and muttered, “I really thought that I was going to be caught this time around.”

“Oh, well, I thought the same,” a voice remarked from behind, and Ye Jinglan stiffened. He turned to look at Luo Huian, who was sitting on a wooden barrel and smiling at him. The woman looked perfectly at ease and if not for the threatening smile that was playing on her lips, the mer would have thought that she came there to meet with him.

“You—how did you come here?” Ye Jinglan questioned. His head whipped toward the door that was still locked from the inside and then turned to look at Luo Huian, who had jumped off the barrel. The woman was still smiling but she looked a bit more solemn and scary now that she was standing in front of him.

The sight of her terrified him to the point that he wished he could dig a hole in the ground and scramble out of this small space where he was locked up with this she-devil.

“You are scared,” commented Luo Huian as if she were telling him about the weather. With her arms locked behind her, she started walking toward Ye Jinglan, who stepped further and further away from Luo Huian.

“Seriously, what are you trying to do!?” Ye Jinglan asked, his fear rising to the point where he could feel his throat getting clogged up. He immediately got to his feet and then ran to the door that he had locked with a lock. He didn’t care about being caught anymore. Something kept telling him that it was better to be caught by the police officers rather than being caught by Luo Huian.

It was something that he had known ever since he met with Luo Huian.

Back then, his neighbours told him that a pretty woman had gone to look for him in the apartment, and he thought Luo Huian had broken into his place and recorded everything. But when the lock was intact and there were no changes in the entire place, he thought that he was thinking too much. How could Luo Huian break into his apartment without him finding out?

He was certain that he was thinking too much, and when Luo Huian was getting discredited on social media and news channels, he thought that his plans might have worked. Who would have thought that the woman would be so skilled that she would break into his apartment and even collect evidence against him without leaving any traces behind? It was terrifying.

He would rather leave his fate in the hands of police officers than get involved with someone like Luo Huian.

However, just as the mer tugged at the door of his shack, he realised that he couldn’t pull it open. The key seemed to have become jammed in the lock and even when he pulled it and turned it around with all his strength, nothing seemed to be working.

“You–seem to be having a hard time, Jinglan.”