Free Web NovelThat winter, Mountain City experienced a rare snowfall.
Snowflakes fell from the sky, passing through the thick, almost solid smog, taking on a gray hue as they drifted down.
On the desolate, empty streets, the wind swept past earlier anti-earthquake banners, the pale paper soaked by snowmelt, its writing gradually blurring.
Curled up and hidden in a ventilation shaft, Ji Yunpei looked through the shaft opening at the circular patch of sky. She always felt that the falling snowflakes were the ashes of a dying city.
Earthquake? Ridiculous! Ji Yunpei's lips twitched.
She wanted to smile, but her lips felt as if they were being pulled by a force, unable to curve upward even slightly.
If not for the twisted flesh invisible to ordinary people, growing out of buildings and surging towards the sky like a hand that blotted out the sun, grabbing the grayish-brown smog in the sky, clenching it, and smashing it violently to the ground...
If she hadn't personally witnessed the lives buried under the ruins, affected by the Calamity Offspring, successively growing diseased, twisted, and smoke-spewing abnormal tumors...
That evil god's offspring forcibly converted them into dependents.
If not for a Disaster, mistaken for an earthquake, where the casualty ratio of Psychic and urban legend was several times higher than that of ordinary people...
She might have believed it was just an earthquake, right?
That day was her first day working at the company, and it was also supposed to be her Old Dad's last time entering the Sunrise Biotechnology Company building. But in the end, her Old Dad never came out.
Although several days had passed, the memory was still fresh: as the building collapsed, her Old Dad, with his back to countless invading twisted flesh, endured the pain of his body being torn apart bit by bit, and with both hands, lifted her up and sent her out of the ruins.
That phrase, “Peipei, don’t be afraid, live!” echoed in her mind, refusing to fade.
They, and all the employees in that building, were sacrifices...
Sacrifices for the birth of the evil god's offspring!
And she, a sacrifice who fortunately escaped, was inevitably destined to be hunted.
Now, the city was sealed by heavy fog, roads were blocked, and within the city, people eroded and transformed into urban legend were causing chaos everywhere.
The main forces of the Night Watch had not yet arrived, and the few Night Watch agents who had entered the city were almost entirely tied down by that Calamity Offspring and the ubiquitous black sun erosion.
It was rumored that the Night Watch originally possessed a certain super-standard Spiritual Energy item capable of dealing with that evil god's offspring, but recently, the Da Chunyang Palace, where that super-standard Spiritual Energy item was stored, seemed to have experienced serious turmoil and was too busy to help itself, let alone spare the effort to activate that Spiritual Energy item and support Mountain City.
Being at the center of the Disaster, Ji Yunpei wanted to do something, even if not to save people, even if just for her Old Dad.
But she was truly afraid.
She would tremble from the ubiquitous, defiled, and evil Spiritual Energy in the city, be unable to hold weapons, suddenly have her mind short-circuit and forget Spell spells, and even close her eyes in fear when she saw those low-level mutated urban legend roaring and charging at her.
Only now did she realize that her Old Dad had protected her too well since childhood, never letting her truly encounter danger.
As night approached, the temperature dropped, rapidly draining Ji Yunpei’s body heat and consciousness. In a daze, she felt as if her body had become lighter and was floating.
A few seconds later, she realized that she was being held by the back of her collar, lifted in front of someone like a small chick.
Then, a familiar yet unfamiliar face entered her sight.
It was familiar because Ji Yunpei immediately recognized that the face belonged to the Demoness of Hua City.
No, perhaps she should be called Disaster now?
And it was unfamiliar because the Demoness of Hua City's originally hideous and terrifying face was now beautiful and captivating; even Ji Yunpei, a girl, felt a slight flutter in her heart upon seeing it.
Perhaps it was because the one from Taoyuan ultimately fell under the Disaster's butcher knife, and thus the injuries the one from Taoyuan inflicted on the Disaster had also dissipated.
She clearly remembered the Disaster’s miserable state when she appeared at her house before, injured by the one from Taoyuan.
Her family's inherited Spell was originally derived from “Medicine” among the five Xuanxue arts of “Mountain, Medicine, Fate, Physiognomy, and Divination,” specializing in converting most Spiritual Energy and urban legend' core into materials to help patients repair their bodies.
While being forced to heal the Disaster, she carefully observed the Disaster's injuries.
The “seed” left by the one from Taoyuan in the Disaster's body, after a period of catalysis, had rooted and sprouted, devouring the Disaster's flesh and blood. Almost every inch beneath her skin had plant roots with strange vitality violently squirming.
In addition, there were multiple hidden injuries left by the Night Watch's precise Spells.
She didn't know how the Disaster survived.
To put it mystically, she survived purely by sheer willpower.
Such injuries would have killed most Psychic or urban legend long ago.
As for how the Disaster killed the one from Taoyuan, she had a general understanding through a special report on the urban legend bounty Website.
That special report even included photos of the Disaster grinning hideously, plunging a rusty cleaver into the chest of that benevolent deity who was willing to sacrifice everything for her people, and the Disaster holding that crystal-clear urban legend core, licking the blood from it, and staining her lips crimson.
Paired with the Disaster's scarred face, it looked especially hideous.
She also didn't know how the urban legend bounty Website managed to take those photos.
Ji Yunpei's assessment of this was: despicable!
The one from Taoyuan was, in her perception, the most benevolent and wise mythical urban legend, yet she was devoured by the Disaster.
What kind of hero is it to rely on bewitching others' believers and dependents, forcing them to give up resistance?
If you have the guts, fight with real swords and guns!
She even heard that poison was used, along with corrupt Divine Kingdom Jade Gate blood from who knows where—it was simply despicable and shameless!
Seeing Ji Yunpei glaring fiercely at her, the Disaster revealed a meaningful smile, “Haha, look what I found? It’s a twintail! She looks like she's almost frozen to death, how about we...”
Ji Yunpei's body trembled, and she shouted, “No, don't eat me!”
Just as she struggled in terror, the Disaster finished her sentence, “How about we adopt her? Give her a new home.”
“I say, you should want to do something right now, shouldn’t you? I also want to, shall we do it together?”
Ji Yunpei, “...”
She didn't refuse immediately, and thus lost the chance to refuse forever.
And so, she was “adopted” by the Disaster, like a stray cat that was almost frozen to death.
The Disaster took her, wandering through the city ruins shrouded in thick fog, gorging themselves in empty supermarkets, and choosing astonishingly priced clothes in deserted malls as if picking out clothes from their own wardrobe.
The Disaster always chose neutral clothes for herself—jeans and a black trench coat, paired with exaggerated sunglasses, like some strange assassin from somewhere.
For Ji Yunpei, the Disaster liked to choose various revealing and luxurious dresses, dressing her up like a doll to be played with, making her look like a beautiful lady accompanying an assassin.
A strange, perverse hobby.
Unfortunately, besides her decent face, her figure was truly too slender to be a qualified lady.
Sometimes, the Disaster would rush into the ruined streets, bombarding everything in sight, laughing wildly amidst the rising flames, and dancing on the ashes, like a madwoman without reason, psychologically twisted, and driven by destruction, wild and unrestrained.
At other times, she would quiet down, watching as if enjoying a movie, seeing groups of urban legend born from the evil god's offspring's corruption overwhelm and tear apart isolated refugees, then setting a fire to burn the fragmented corpses to ashes.
Snowflakes containing malicious Spiritual Energy sizzled upon contact with the flames.
At first, Ji Yunpei just watched, feeling like a hostage forced to act with a kidnapper, and everything the kidnapper did was to brainwash her, to impose a distortion upon her.
But soon, she also followed behind the Disaster, joining the ranks of destruction.
She was “infected” by the Disaster's madness.
When the violent roar sounded, she experienced an unprecedented, subtle pleasure.
The Disaster made her remember that pleasure, telling her that it would become her weapon to overcome °• N 𝑜 v 𝑒 l i g h t •° fear.
When they were tired of being mad, they would break into the doors of mansions together, lie on the master bed, and imagine what the mansion's owners had done, were doing, and would do.
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Sometimes, the Disaster would leave before sunrise in the morning and only return after sunset in the evening.
When she returned, the Disaster would place the captured urban legend or mutated humans in front of her, teaching her hand-by-hand how to kill, helping her overcome fear, like a wild beast returning with half-dead prey for its young, to train the young one's hunting skills.
From being unable to even hold a weapon at first, to gradually mustering the courage to fight those urban legend, and then to emotionlessly raising the butcher knife...
Ji Yunpei gradually discovered that people, or urban legend, were actually very fragile; she could easily kill them, so there was nothing to fear.
She also found that while medical skills could heal, it was simpler to create slaughter.
One evening, more than ten days later, Disaster no longer brought urban legend back, but instead said to Ji Yunpei, “It’s time.”
“Time for what?” Ji Yunpei asked.
“It’s time to understand everything!” Disaster looked out the window. “Haven’t you always wanted to end this Calamity and free those who have been corrupted and turned into urban legend?”
“Let’s go! Now is the time. We... will send them off!”
That night, the number of urban legend who died by Ji Yunpei’s hand exceeded a thousand.
As for Disaster, she turned the remaining half of the city into ruins, submerging it in a raging inferno...
————
Heh! She claimed that the remaining half of the city was already contaminated and beyond saving, and that only by completely destroying it could the Maitian God Offspring’s power of contamination be thoroughly cut off...
Just a high-sounding excuse! How could she be so kind?
Although forcing the one in Taoyuan to their own demise was a semi-consensual outcome, and the way it was later spread had elements of Void deliberately slandering it, Disaster was indeed extremely wicked. The system thought.
Listening to the “local residents” who suddenly appeared within the Divine Kingdom Jade Gate, recounting the legends of the two original Miracle Saintesses, it unconsciously drifted off again.
As if pulled by some force, all the events of yesterday slowly rose from the deep sea of memory.
“Bang—!”
The wood in the bonfire suddenly burst, making a loud sound that pulled the system’s thoughts back to the present. It shook its head and squinted its eyes.
Saving Yumen Pass a thousand years ago, allowing the burdened populace to avoid being corrupted by the Shaman King, with their descendants continuing to this day? What a truly miraculous feat!
Although it didn’t know how it was accomplished, from their descriptions, one of the original Miracle Saintesses must have been Disaster, right?
If so, it would explain the origin of that portrait, and why that strange person was so agitated upon seeing it.
However, Disaster must have done this to steal the power of the miracle flower, right? She has always been like this! The system thought.
At first, it also believed that Disaster, as she herself said, would give it a home. It and Disaster, along with the other eight Disaster dependents, indeed got along like family. It also believed that Disaster would lead it to revenge and together they would prevent Calamities and tragedies from happening.
But facts proved that Disaster merely wanted to steal those powers strong enough to cause large-scale Disasters, again and again, never changing...
Everyone and every Strange Tale were just tools for Disaster to achieve her goals.
Gu Qianqian’s attention was entirely focused on the stories of the Divine Kingdom Jade Gate locals, listening intently, completely unaware that the system’s figure had subtly faded, as if about to dissipate.
And the system, like her, was entangled in the past, not noticing its own anomaly...
————
“Wait, I think I understand. You mean you joined an evil Psychic organization, and they sent you to that city to round up the remnants from the previous Calamity, which is why you were being hunted?”
“So, you promised the twin-tailed Miss that she could follow you, not out of kindness or sympathy at all, but because she was originally one of your mission targets, right? And you made her get hunted with you as soon as she left that city, thereby creating resistance towards the righteous organization, right?”
After hearing Chatterbox Girl’s purpose in returning to that city, Lu Yibei quickly sorted through the information in her mind and came to this conclusion.
“...” Chatterbox Girl did not refute Lu Yibei’s words.
Because the twin-tailed Miss was indeed one of her mission targets, otherwise how could she have appeared there so coincidentally?
Making the twin-tailed Miss and the Eclipse Society members brought from Mountain City get hunted by the Night Watch with her was indeed part of the plan.
She needed suitable opportunities to cultivate a group of followers absolutely devoted to her.
As for those seemingly absurd things Chatterbox Girl did with the twin-tailed Miss before destroying the entire city and completely eradicating the evil god’s offspring, they were training to help her overcome weakness and fear.
It’s often very difficult for a person to take a big leap directly from being timid and weak to becoming ruthless or cold and numb. But if you let her start with small things like stealing, causing damage, and trespassing, gradually guiding her to release the evil hidden in her soul, it becomes much easier.
“And with all this, you still talked about dreams, revenge, and the future with her? Isn’t this pure fraud?” Lu Yibei said.
“How can it be considered fraud?” Chatterbox Girl defended.
She could admit to Lu Yibei’s previous analysis, but she instinctively chose to defend herself on this point alone.
“A mission is a mission, but what I told her wasn’t entirely false. I really did plan to bring her in to cause some trouble... Otherwise, why would I only deceive her and not others?”
When she found other Eclipse Society members, she sent them directly to the outskirts of the city, but she spent so much time alone with the twin-tailed Miss and even specifically trained her. This was only because the twin-tailed Miss’s experience reminded her of her Old Dad, who also risked his life to get her out of the car accident scene.
She didn’t tell Lu Yibei this.
It wasn’t intentional concealment; she only suddenly remembered it after being stimulated by Lu Yibei’s words about her deceiving the twin-tailed Miss.
Lu Yibei, “...”
Why does it feel like, “Why do I only bully you and not others? Stepping back, putting aside the facts, aren’t you also a little bit wrong?”
To describe fraud so grandiosely, perhaps only you can do it?
It was pointless to dwell on whether Chatterbox Girl had deceived the twin-tailed Miss. After calming herself slightly, Lu Yibei quickly shifted her line of thought.
Although Chatterbox Girl didn’t want to say it explicitly, from her description, the Calamity Offspring who destroyed most of the city should be the Maitian God’s Offspring, so “that city” should be Mountain City.
The evil organization should refer to the Eclipse Society, right? Why would she... freewēbnoveℓ.com
Thinking of this, Lu Yibei asked the doubt in her heart, “Why did you join an evil organization? Don’t tell me it’s because you’re also an evil person and have no other place to belong.”
Why Chatterbox Girl joined the Eclipse Society, even to the point of mastering the forging of black sun totems, made her somewhat curious.
“Saying I had no place to belong isn’t entirely accurate,” Chatterbox Girl shrugged. “I was willing to join mainly because I thought their Chairman was quite good.”
“How to put it? Setting everything else aside, he’s at least a good teacher.”
“Ah?” Lu Yibei’s eyes widened.
She didn’t understand!
What was so good about that man? Was it certain they were talking about the same person?
A teacher, indeed! What kind of teacher appears and disappears like a ghost around their students? Lu Yibei thought.
Just as she was grumbling inwardly, Chatterbox Girl added, “Of course, there’s another reason, which is to help someone out a little.”
“A certain agent from the righteous organization in my hometown,” Chatterbox Girl said. “Helping her collect some intelligence and, when necessary, reduce some casualties for the righteous organization. She would also help me avoid some dangerous direct conflicts. Hmm... saying it like this, it seems more like a transaction?”
However, she later disappeared, only to reappear much later... Chatterbox Girl added in her mind.
Lu Yibei, “...” An agent from the Hua City Si Ye Hui? Was it Leader or Shui Ge? It certainly couldn’t be Li Xuan, right?
Before Lu Yibei could come up with an answer, Chatterbox Girl continued to tell the story of the twin-tailed Miss, on her own accord.
“After leaving that city, she, my followers, and I went to many places: Z Country, America, Europe, the North and South Poles... Under the guise of completing missions for the evil organization, we utterly annihilated those urban legend capable of causing destruction.”
She suddenly sped up her narration, omitting many details.
As she continued to tell Lu Yibei about the twin-tailed Miss, she found that her memories of the twin-tailed Miss were gradually becoming clearer, which gave her a very bad premonition.
If she continued to recall, when she completely remembered everything about the twin-tailed Miss, the twin-tailed Miss, whom she had personally banished from the world, might...
Return to her side?
If it was truly as Lu Yibei had glimpsed, and she had worked so hard and gone so far, only to suddenly return to the very beginning, she would surely be very despairing, right? Chatterbox Girl thought.
