New Times, New Hell

Chapter 34 - Forceful Collection

After getting reminded by Yu Zhengdu, the belly spirit finally realized that if she were to be born from Gao Yun’s stomach, she would be Liu Ningan’s child. Her originally agitated demeanor immediately wilted. She started crying through the abdomen, “Liu Ningan is a bad person. I don’t want to call him Dad.”

Yu Zhengdu sighed and shook his head. “Isn’t that right. Liu Ningan’s just an old bastard. If you’re born, before you can even get your revenge, you’ll have to be the bastard’s son first. That’s not worth it at all.”

The belly spirit agreed. She angrily said, “I don’t want to call that lady Mom either. She’s so shallow!”

Everyone: “……” That’s not what you just said.

Yu Zhengdu slapped his thigh and concurred. “Exactly. Moms like her aren’t good moms.”

The belly spirit cried for a long time, then pitifully expressed, “Then I don’t want to be born by her.”

Shang Que who witnessed everything from the side: “……”

It wasn’t easy for belly spirits to get the chance for possession. In the past, as long as a belly spirit successfully possessed a physical body, they would refuse to leave the fetus even if it meant certain death. Half ghost, half mortal infants held a strength that normal Underworld spirits couldn’t compare to. Becoming a ghost-infant was practically every belly spirit’s ultimate dream.

This was his first time witnessing a belly spirit willingly agreeing to not be born……Did all programmers have such strong logical reasoning?

The Chen family didn’t know how difficult it was for a belly spirit to give up the chance of becoming a ghost-infant. Thus, they weren’t that shocked.

For them, it was the scene of Yu Zhengdu sitting criss-crossed on the floor, calmly chatting with a belly spirit through a woman’s stomach that was more astonishing.

Was this the basic quality that an employee at a high-tech evil removal company had to possess?

Yu Zhengdu finally heaved a sigh of relief after seeing that the belly spirit was convinced. He said, “Since you’ve agreed, hurry and come out. We can go find Liu Ningan for revenge together.”

The belly spirit wailed a bit more through the skin of Gao Yun’s stomach before finally whimpering, “I, I don’t know how to get out……”

Yu Zhengdu: “……”

Everyone else: “……”

It seemed like this belly spirit still hadn’t learned all her skills yet.

Yu Zhengdu looked to Shang Que for help. Shang Que silently raised his hand and casually made a gesture. He chanted, “Ghost spirit hear my command, come before me.”

As long as the belly spirit agreed to stop possessing the fetus, it would take no effort at all for him to summon her.

Following the last of his voice, a gust of cold wind blew through the room.

Yu Zhengdu saw a chilly, black shadow emerge out of Gao Yun’s stomach and land in front of Shang Que. After it stopped moving, it slowly started taking shape.

It was a five or six year old little girl. Her black hair was draped behind her ears; her eyes were round and bright. She truly was quite adorable. The only offputting bit was, her eyes were completely black and didn’t contain the light that living people’s did.

Yu Zhengdu went “wa” and held out a thumbs up. “You really are super cute.”

The members of the Chen family weren’t Luofeng’s employees, thus couldn’t see the belly spirit’s appearance with their naked eyes. Upon hearing Yu Zhengdu’s words, they huddled together once again. Father Chen’s expression was pained as he asked, “Did the little, little belly spirit come out?”

“Yeah.” Yu Zhengdu dusted his hands off and stood up. Then, he furrowed his brows. “Little belly spirit, don’t you have any clothes to wear?”

The little girl twiddled her fingers and angrily tattled, “Those evil people never burned any clothes for me.”

“They are too stingy. It’s a good thing they didn’t become your mom and dad……” Yu Zhengdu scolded a bit before looking up at the Chen family. He asked, “Um, can I ask you guys to go buy some children’s clothes made of paper……”

Chen Siyu immediately nodded. “Of course, of course. I’ll leave right now.”

“Buy a few extra sets of little dresses.” Yu Zhengdu thought about it some more, then added, “And some toys made from paper.”

Chen Sijie was eager too, so raised his hand as well. “I can do that!”

Upon hearing this, the belly spirit lifted her head and gazed up at Yu Zhengdu with her round eyes. “Gege, I also want an iPad.”

Her dark eyes were filled with anticipation, just like a normal child’s would be. “That lady spent all her time watching idol dramas. I want to watch Peppa Pig!”

Thus, Yu Zhengdu looked at the Chen siblings once more. “The little belly spirit also wants an iPad……”

Chen Sijie was a bit conflicted. “……I don’t think anybody makes those.”

As soon as he said this, he felt the temperature in the room drop. He was so scared he almost screeched.

At this critical moment, Father Chen stepped up and said with the confidence of a successful businessman, “No worries. We’ll give them money. They can make it on the spot.”

……

When Gao Yun woke up, she discovered that she was lying on the Chen family’s couch. There was no one around her.

At first, she was dazed. Then, she finally remembered what had happened before she had passed out. In an instant, her entire being was overtaken by the fear of being bothered by the belly spirit once more. Coincidentally, the smell of incense and burning paper floated past her nose at this time. After, she heard the sound of Yu Zhengdu and the others outside:

“Oh oh oh, this outfit is pretty. She really likes it.” This was Yu Zhengdu’s voice.

“Of course. I found the design online and had the master make it on the spot……You don’t say, the master’s craftsmanship is really great.” Chen Siyu’s terror had passed. After seeing how happily Yu Zhengdu was interacting with the belly spirit, she gathered her wits and asked, “Ey, can you use that ghost imaging technology? I want to see how the little belly spirit looks in it.”

Yu Zhengdu asked what the belly spirit thought, then took out his Underworld phone and opened the camera for Chen Siyu to see. In the screen, a little girl held onto the corners of her dress and spun around in a circle. She sweetly said, “Thank you jiejie.”

Chen Siyu immediately squealed and put her hands on her own face. “Ah——Too cute!”

Father Chen glanced in the phone screen too, then hurriedly pulled out his trophy. “The iPad is here. This year’s newest model, with an extra large 1024GB of storage.”

Yu Zhengdu was shocked. “Do they have ones with such big storage?”

Father Chen puffed out his chest proudly. “They do if you ask them to make it on the spot.”

Yu Zhengdu gave him a thumbs up. “Impressive!”

Gao Yun didn’t know what was going on. She struggled to get up and walked outside with her heavy stomach. Only to see Yu Zhengdu, Shang Que, and the three members of the Chen family gathered in a circle in the garden……burning paper?

Gao Yun asked them, stunned, “You……What are you guys doing?”

They all turned back to glance at her. Yu Zhengdu smiled and said, “We’re burning some stuff for the little belly spirit.”

As he spoke, his expression became contemptuous. “You guys were really so stingy. You trapped the little belly spirit for so many years and made her prophesize for you guys, but didn’t even burn her a single outfit. No wonder she wants to kill you all.”

The little belly spirit was wearing a pretty new dress. She stood beside Yu Zhengdu and angrily stomped her foot as she nodded. “Exactly. This auntie only knew to buy buy buy for herself every day. She would buy over twenty sets of clothes and a dozen purses every month, which is why she was so scared Liu Ningan wouldn’t want her anymore.”

Gao Yun had passed out right after the belly spirit had started slapping her stomach, so she didn’t know any of what had happened afterwards. Now, her face was that of someone extremely stunned. It took a while for her to react. She muttered, “The belly spirit……what happened to the belly spirit?”

Upon seeing how out of it she was, Father Chen decided to be the better person. He sighed, “Miss Gao, the belly spirit has already left your stomach. From now on, she won’t bother you anymore. You can relax.”

“Really?” Gao Yun suddenly widened her eyes. Almost reflexively, she reached out to feel her abdomen. Though she didn’t have any psychic powers, she could still very clearly feel that the fetus in her stomach was different from before. Obviously, Father Chan had been telling the truth. She practically burst into tears of joy as she panted while clinging onto her stomach. “That’s good, that’s good……”

Shang Que glanced at her and lightly said, “You should hurry and get rid of the fetus in your stomach now. Unborn spirits won’t enter mortal forms that have shared a life with Underworld spirits. If you give birth, it will be a stillborn.”

Gao Yun had originally had everything planned out, but in the end, she had only harmed others and herself. She blankly held onto her abdomen and stood there for a bit, before finally saying, “I’ll go to the hospital tomorrow.”

Shang Que didn’t actually care what she was thinking. After telling her this, he expressionlessly held out his phone and pulled up the payment code. “We’ve solved your problem. Pay up.”

The Chen family: “……”

This Mr. Shang truly didn’t make exceptions for the young or old. His money-loving image was as stable as could be.

Gao Yun’s emotions were on a roller coaster ride. Before she had fully recovered, a payment code had already appeared in front of her face as soon as she looked up. After looking at the fee Shang Que had entered, her expression immediately froze. She suddenly screamed, “That’s too expensive!”

Upon hearing this, the belly spirit who had just received an iPad spat. She angrily exposed, “She normally spends way more than that on purses.”

The Shang Que right now was only an emotionless cash register. His expression didn’t change as he simply stated, “Pay.”

Gao Yun: “……”

Actually, she would’ve been fine with this amount in the past. But now, she had been kicked out by Liu Ningan, so no longer had a source of income. Before she would be able to find her next sugar daddy, she was looking at a period of only spending without earning anything. She was used to making lavish purchases, so was a bit unwilling to save. She hesitated for a bit, then said, “I……I don’t have that much money.”

The belly spirit exposed her on the spot once again. “She does.” Then, she accurately relayed the amount in Gao Yun’s savings account.

Yu Zhengdu nodded after hearing this, then stared straight at Gao Yun. He repeated what the belly spirit had just said, then smiled. “Miss Gao, we apologize about this, but we’re only a small business. We don’t allow for bargaining.”

The Chen family: “……” Small business my ass. Your price range is already way higher than the top temples in the nation.

Gao Yun was bewildered after hearing him report the amount in her bank account, accurate to the decimal point. “How did you know my savings amount?”

Yu Zhengdu said, “The little belly spirit told me.”

Gao Yun’s face immediately paled. “Belly spirit? The belly spirit is still here?”

“Of course.” Yu Zhengdu casually dropped a handful of incense ash on the concrete. “Little belly spirit, here. Do a dance for auntie.”

After speaking, they saw a small trail of footprints appear in the thin layer of ash. Yu Zhengdu clapped and praised, “This doll and teddy bear dance is really good!”

When he turned back around to look at Gao Yun, her legs had already started shaking. She only managed to keep from falling by clinging onto the fence.

Yu Zhengdu slightly smiled. “So Miss Gao, when do you plan on paying the fee?”

Actually, if this were normally, Yu Zhengdu definitely wouldn’t act this way. But Gao Yun’s actions had crossed a line. She was truly willing to do anything for money; disregarding the fact that she had sold her own body, she was even trying to avoid paying them in a situation like this.

People like her didn’t deserve pity or understanding.

The more she valued money, the more important it was for her to remember the cost of her love of riches.

Gao Yun’s body couldn’t stop shaking. She didn’t dare to bargain anymore, hurriedly pulling out her phone and scanning the code to transfer the appropriate amount.

The emotionless cash register Shang Que couldn’t help glancing at Yu Zhengdu out of the corner of his eye. As expected, only mortals could understand other mortals.

The three members of the Chen family who had witnessed everything from the side couldn’t help but feel a deep fear and respect. This company’s debt collection techniques were really too terrifying!

And also, weren’t these two a little too in sync when asking for money!