1 Lay

Under the bright sunshine rays, people were going around, doing their own businesses.

At the street market, loud voices of vendors could be heard as they started to show off their prized products. Various kinds of products were on display as possible customers were strolling around, looking on their items.

Suddenly, a young orphan child ran away from her chasers as she stole the purse of a noble young lady. She was being pursued by the bodyguards of Miss Adelaide - the precious daughter of a billionaire who owned the infamous ComTech.

ComTech was a multinational technology company. It developed, manufactured, licensed, supported, and sold computer software, consumer electronics, personal computers, and related services that the company made.

As the only precious daughter of the president of the ComTech company, Adelaide Von Chester was spoiled to the core. She never let anyone get something from her without having any benefits from it. And that thief wouldn't get away from her preposterous act.

"Capture her! I do not care if you break things on this petty market, just don't let that thief escape!" Her shrill voice echoed as the bodyguards didn't stop chasing the little thief.

Adelaide was upset as she labelled this day as her most unlucky day. She coincidentally passed by this place and something caught her sight. To see that item, she went inside this petty street market but she didn't anticipate that an innocent-looking child would victimize her. She needed to teach that thief a lesson.

The little girl was occupied with running through difficult twists and turns of the street market as she purposely bumped into some stalls that earned her angry scoldings from the owners of each destroyed stalls.

Unexpectedly, she bounced back from a lean person. The handsome gentleman wasn't even that bulky and obviously, he had no hints of muscles on his lanky body but it made the little girl bounced meters away from the said person.

'Is he that strong?' Hope immediately alighted in the girl's eyes as she prepared to act pitiful so that she could gain assistance from this handsome young man.

"Brother, they are chasing me! I'm scared," the soft pitiful voice could pluck the heartstrings of young men but not on this person…ghost.

This was Lay's first time of possessing a body and he was practicing himself to be used to it. He decided to walk around the street marked for his practice but he didn't expect to be involved in this kind of play.

Lay looked were the scheming little girl was pointing at and he smirked from the oncoming men in black towards their direction. He wasn't good at any martial arts but as a ghost possessing a human body, he had tricks to spare.

The handsome gentleman ignored the pleas of the pitiful little girl as he was about to walk away but the little girl gripped onto his white shirt as she hides behind him.

Lay was trying to unclasp the tight hold of this mischievous kid but her hold was like an iron grip as if her life depended on it. Lay wasn't bothered from her tight grip as he comfortably sat down on the ground while he waited for the bodyguards to come.

"Brother! Aren't you going to help a pitiful kid like me?" The little girl was restraining her anger as she knew that the handsome young man didn't take the bait.

Lay just smiled in relax as a glint on his eyes was conveyed to the little girl.

"Right, I'll do anything for you if you help me on getting rid of them," The little girl proposed and unexpectedly, the handsome young man hummed in affirmation.

The little girl thought that she would need to resort to another trick but surprisingly the person was at first seemed difficult to convince but when she offered her service to him, he easily accepted. "Deal."

Had she laid her own trap?

"Young man, are you an accomplice of this little thief?" The panting bodyguard huffingly asked as he calmed his breath. The little girl was very hard to chase, as professional bodyguards, they had ran out of breath from keeping track of the mouse-like brat.

Lay was still seated on the ground as he expressionlessly stated, "No…"

The little girl was stunned to hear the reply of the handsome gentleman. She thought that he would help her but why did he---

"I'm just a concerned passerby," Lay continued as he stood up from his position. The little girl silently stepped back as she sensed a change of atmosphere around the handsome young man.

Hearing the response of the other, the bodyguard who asked was enraged by the arrogant tone of the lanky young man.

"Young man, that's your final decision?"

Lay didn't answer as he smiled in response.

The condescending vibe of the person in front of the bodyguard was intimidating but he ignored it as he believed that this person wouldn't stand a chance with just that thin body.

"Men! Surround them!"

Ten bodyguards surrounded the two individuals, this scene caught the eyes of the people who were present in the street market. They were in the middle of the market so it wasn't surprising to be the center of attention due to this ruckus.

From looking at the situation, the people who saw the two persons who were being surrounded by ten bodyguards, they felt sympathy but they weren't willing to involve themselves in this matter. Who would want to fight the might of ten bodyguards?

Immediately, the place where the fight was about to erupt turned isolated as the customers and vendors fled for their lives even their products were left on their stalls. They weren't going to choose their products from their own lives.

Only one person was left from the escaping people as this person was interested to observe their scene. Stealthily, the individual walked with quiet steps as 'they' stood on the corner which wasn't noticeable by the people who was involved in the fight.

Lay performed a basic stretching for his hands, mimicking the figures on the television that he saw, earlier. The main character of the scene would haughtily look down on his opponents and perform some stretchings to condition his body for the fight. The ghost was imitating that scenario as he put up his right and gestured for them to come.

With erupting rage, the men in black pounced to the handsome gentleman. Before they could near the person, Lay stated to the little girl who was hiding behind him, "Kid, if someone approaches you with the name Lay, do them a favor."

"Huh?" The sudden request of the handsome young man in front of her was strange but she immediately agreed to it not knowing why.

Lay hummed as he commanded the little girl to not stray far away from him as he would make sure to finish them with ease.

'Easy-peasy.' Lay thought as he dodged the clumsy punch of the bodyguard. In a spectator's sight, they wouldn't treat this as clumsy because it was expertly executed but to the ghost, it wasn't.

In his vision, the movements of the person were in slow motion as he skillfully dodged them one by one while covering for the little girl as well.

From the observing person's point of view, the movements of the handsome gentleman were illusory as it left the person baffled from the scene. But the little girl didn't witness this amazing fight as she instinctively closed her eyes. She only felt wetness on her cheeks as the fight ended.

As she opened it and felt her cheeks, she was horrified to see fresh blood on her hands. Finally, she noticed the frightening set-up. Blood was all over the place, even the stalls near her weren't left off from it.

Remembering about her saviour, she reluctantly dashed towards the scene of blood while looking for the handsome gentleman. She saw him but…

'Why is he lying on the ground?'

The little girl knew basic first aid so she felt first the pulse of the person and luckily he was still alive but in a dire situation.

"Brother?! Brother?!" She almost cried as it was her first time to witness a dying person. The handsome gentleman wasn't even responding.

Lay who was now ejected from the body he just possessed, sighed at the crying little girl. Even he wanted to go back to the body, he couldn't as perhaps his ability of possession wouldn't allow him to possess a dying body.

"Sorry, kid. Let's meet, again," he whispered to the wind as he left.

The person who was observing earlier snapped off from 'their' trance as 'they' called for an ambulance for the dying young man. The person seized the girl as help arrived but it was too late because the heroic person was now dead.

Sighing from the bad timing, the individual looked to the little girl who kept crying.