Chapter 133: We Are Friends

"In the end, I've returned here!" Tanya looked around with a sense of nostalgia. It was a Gothic-style villa, its interior decor distinctly anti-human, clearly reflecting the unconventional nature of its owner.

Ever since the unexpected explosion at the chemical plant, Tanya had slunk back to Chu Ning's villa unnoticed. She sensed that the Horror Adventure Company must have been just as bewildered; the expressions of the staff at the scene certainly confirmed it.

Bewilderment, surprise, shock, confusion—a complex wave of emotions had erupted! As members of the show’s design team, they knew there was supposed to be a grand fireworks display for the finale, but what they could not accept was the discrepancy in timing.

It was like a fuse igniting a powder keg, triggering a series of disastrous reactions, with many staff members buried in the sea of fire, and others still missing to this day.

Because of this, Tanya’s escape was exceptionally smooth. Once she had fled the area shrouded in conspiracy, she fell into an unprecedented state of confusion. She did not know how she was to live her life from now on.

Should she let hatred be her motivation, striving to take revenge against that behemoth, or should she choose a new goal to pull herself together?

Regardless of her choice, Tanya had to face a realistic problem: she needed to find a place to stay. While the idea of a spontaneous journey—living wherever the wind takes you—sounded full of romanticism, she had to consider her status as a target for evil forces.

Wandering about aimlessly, afraid that no one would notice her, was a surefire way to court disaster. Tanya weighed her own strength and realized she lacked the capital to act recklessly. In the end, she chose to return to Chu Ning’s villa.

For a ghost, choosing a secluded, sparsely populated place seemed like a reasonable decision. This was by no means Tanya trying to mimic Chu Ning’s brazen occupation of someone else’s property.

Tanya slumped lazily onto the sofa in the living room, contentedly planning how to renovate her villa. She truly had not expected to own a detached house of her own—something that is incredibly difficult to acquire if you weren't born into it.

"I really should find a way to deal with that damned sofa on the second floor. Even if I can't get rid of it, I should find a way to seal it away!" Tanya muttered to herself, summarizing her to-do list. She felt that she was cursed when it came to sofas.

She even considered hiring a Taoist priest to set up an altar and perform rites to handle the paranormal activities in the villa, but she quickly realized that was unrealistic.

She abandoned that impractical fantasy; if she hired someone high-level who lacked a sense of compassion, it would be disastrous if they ended up exorcising her along with the rest.

This world had indeed developed in a very distorted way, or perhaps it had simply given rise to many local phenomena. For instance, one could find many ghost-busting experts on recruitment websites—a seemingly inevitable development in an era where ghosts and monsters were rampant.

Tanya couldn't guarantee whether there would be any forward-thinking individuals willing to accept a commission from a ghost. After all, by traditional moral standards, they belonged to opposing factions.

However, the allure of money seemed capable of changing many things. No one knew what people might do when driven by profit, which was why Tanya felt her idea might actually be feasible.

Tanya shook off her lethargy. A short rest was enough for her to summarize her gains and losses and further plan her own agenda.

She sprang up from the sofa, humming a cheerful tune—"My Sister Carries a Doll." With the experience she had gained, she began to search for the gifts hidden within the villa. She had to be very grateful for the guidance Chu Ning had given her.

While searching Wang Jinkai’s villa, Tanya had accumulated a wealth of experience; now, she could handle independent search operations on her own.

Harvests always bring surprises and keep one’s spirits high!

Tanya looted Chu Ning’s property with a clear conscience. Her original sense of guilt had long since flown away, carried off by Chu Ning’s brand of twisted logic.

To ensure Tanya didn't suffer from psychological burdens, Chu Ning had instilled in her plenty of unreasonable logic, allowing her to focus entirely on her great treasure-hunting journey.

"We are friends!"

This was the phrase Chu Ning mentioned most often. He said it with such natural ease that, combined with the things he was doing, it always gave one a feeling of absurdity.

Tanya also felt that since she and Chu Ning had spent so much time together (less than a week), and they had survived the tests of life and death (she had successfully clung to his coattails), they were surely close friends and companions.

It wasn't too much to accept the inheritance of a deceased friend, was it? Tanya thought silently, the corners of her mouth curling upward. This was absolutely within the realm of reason.

"Your wife, I shall care for"—the principle was effectively the same!

Tanya considered herself an evildoer who had lost her conscience. The only difference between her and a villain was that she would seek out so-called reasons to put her mind at ease, while villains always took such actions for granted.