Free Web NovelAmong all kinds of frozen foods, the one Lu Yibei liked the most was undoubtedly thinly sliced beef rolls. Whenever she went to a hot pot restaurant before, beef rolls were always on her must-order menu.
Some say that the deeper the love once was, the stronger the hate becomes after seeing its 'true face,' and that's absolutely right.
After witnessing the 'half person' that appeared in the frozen food store, Lu Yibei was like someone who had given up her once-beloved spicy rabbit head, burying her fondness for beef rolls deep in her heart.
Who the hell knew if the beef rolls she ate before were mixed with something weird, and she ate them without knowing anything?
Based on her fondness for beef rolls, assuming each meal of beef rolls was mixed with human flesh the size of a fingernail, over a decade, it would be enough to form an adult male.
So, every time she thought of this, Lu Yibei would feel as if something was churning in her stomach, causing uncontrollable spasms and an irresistible urge to vomit.
It could be said that this frozen food store located in the 96 Cai Market had become a major, indelible shadow in her life, second only in area to silkworm pupae and rabbits.
If An Qing hadn't come to confirm and temporarily ruled out the possibility of urban legend existing in this frozen food store, even if this was the market in the main urban area of Hua City with the most complete and freshest variety of goods, Lu Yibei would not have been willing to come here again. freewēbnoveℓ.com
However, what must come will always come. The most terrifying aspect of psychological shadows is that they almost never truly go away; they always jump out at some point, attempting to expand their area.
But, after experiencing so many storms and seeing over ten types of urban legend, is Lu Yibei still the same Lu Yibei as before?
Yes, she is. She is still that same youth, without any change. She doesn't delight in the spring breeze, isn't bothered by summer cicadas, and reports urban legend.
However... it's better to confirm the situation first.
The sudden opening of the long-abandoned shop door doesn't rule out the possibility that the Master of the shop returns regularly to clean, or temporarily needs to retrieve something.
Rashly reporting the situation here to the Night Watch, and then having them send people to investigate and find nothing, would be somewhat like the boy who cried 'Wolf'.
Lu Yibei thought, turning her backpack from her back to her front, pulling open the zipper to reveal the handle of her ancestral kitchen knife, and walked towards the frozen food store with a serious expression.
If she finds something this time and helps the Night Watch resolve a urban legend incident, she must remember to ask them for a bravery reward to make up for the loss from Ju Meng's unauthorized spending. It's all about increasing income and reducing expenditure!
Such thoughts flashed through Lu Yibei's mind as she gradually approached the frozen food store. fгee𝑤ebɳoveɭ.cøm
This frozen food store, located in a corner of the 96 Cai Market, has been there for quite some years. Lu Yibei vaguely remembers that it seemed to be there when she followed her Old Dad to shop here as a child.
The roller shutter door was covered in dust and stained with unknown grime. Above, on the faded plastic banner, only the four large characters for 【Frozen Food】 remained.
Since the nights began to lengthen, the closing times for major markets were much earlier than before. Previously, they often stayed open until the nearby office workers got off work.
But now, as soon as lunchtime passed, nearly half the stalls would pack up, and the vendors at the remaining stalls seemed bored and distracted. So, Lu Yibei's action of approaching the frozen food store didn't attract anyone's attention.
Standing in front of the roller shutter door, Lu Yibei took a deep breath, and a peculiar stench entered her nostrils.
It was a smell similar to that of a refrigerator that hadn't been cleaned for a long time. She silently reached her hand into her backpack, gripped the handle of her ancestral kitchen knife, glanced left and right, and then, crouching down, entered the frozen food store through the half-person-high gap in the opened roller shutter door.
As soon as she entered the shop, with the change in light, Lu Yibei's vision went momentarily dark. She quickly drew her ancestral kitchen knife from her backpack and held it defensively in front of her, ready for anything. It wasn't until her eyes adjusted to the light inside the shop that she froze in place.
The layout of the shop was simple: a square room, about thirty to forty square meters, with yellowish walls stained by water seepage, mold, and subsequent drying. Standing inside, she wasn't sure if it was an illusion, but the ceiling always felt a bit low, creating a strangely oppressive feeling.
Just as An Qing's previous investigation had concluded, the entire shop had been almost completely emptied.
It was as if the ice cabinet containing the 'half person' Lu Yibei had seen before, the old cashier counter, the stooped, sallow-faced boss... were all just Lu Yibei's illusions.
However, what Lu Yibei saw at this moment was more than what An Qing had described.
In the center of the room, directly below the fan, was a very small table with an incense burner. Burnt incense sticks were stuck in it, the apples offered as sacrifices on the white porcelain plate had grown large patches of mold, and black ash from burnt paper money was scattered on the ground.
There was also a photo frame on the table. The black and white photo in the frame had been torn in half, as if the person in the photo had been split in two from top to bottom.
Lu Yibei immediately recognized the person in the remaining half of the photo; it was precisely the owner of this frozen food store whom she had seen before.
That appearance of being sallow, emaciated, and stooped, with eyes that flickered with an unsettling, strange light, was like a walking dried corpse. Most people would find it hard to forget after seeing it just once.
Lu Yibei glanced again at the incense burnt on the table: two short, one long.
Humans avoid three long and two short; ghosts avoid two short and one long. This was an old saying she had heard even before coming into contact with the Night Watch and a series of urban legend incidents.
Offering sacrifices to the former owner of a shop in that same shop, with the incense burned in such a way... Lu Yibei muttered to herself, what in the world was the person who did this thinking? If someone saw this, would they still be able to do business here in the future?
Just as Lu Yibei saw this rather ominous scene, and the part of the shadow area occupied by frozen food in her heart unconsciously expanded a bit more, and she was contemplating leaving quickly, a muffled thud suddenly came from above, attracting her attention.
"Clatter—!" The muffled sound was as if there was an attic hidden above the ceiling, and someone in the attic had knocked something over, which then fell onto the floor.
Something's happening? Lu Yibei was startled for a moment, then quickly scanned the surroundings, and only then did she notice the detail she had previously missed.
Her feeling that the ceiling in this frozen food store was very low and the space was oppressive wasn't an illusion; there really was an attic hidden here.
In a corner of the shop's ceiling, there was a square ◆ Nоvеlіgһt ◆ (Only on Nоvеlіgһt) opening. The opening was pitch black inside, making it impossible to see what was above.
The size of the opening was similar to the floor tiles, barely large enough for one person to pass through, and a section of a hanging folding ladder hung down from the darkness, at a height that was just enough for someone to jump up and pull it down.
Staring at that deep, seemingly ever-expanding darkness, one couldn't help but feel a lurking gaze, as if a bloody corpse, split in half, would crawl out along the folding ladder at any moment.
Lu Yibei stared at the opening in silence for a moment, then mustered her courage and walked forward. She aimed at the position of the folding ladder, bent her knees slightly, and jumped upwards with force.
"Holy crap!"
Her legs suddenly burst with unexpected strength, and Lu Yibei felt as if she was flying, her head more than halfway into the opening, causing her to let out an exclamation.
Then...
In the darkness, in her line of sight, a cold, white light flashed.
Landing back on the ground, Lu Yibei staggered twice before steadying herself, her gaze shifting several times, deep in thought.
The first question that popped into her mind wasn't when her body had changed? Without being affected by urban legend, she had actually erupted with strength significantly beyond that of an ordinary person.
Rather, what was that light just now?
With this doubt, she silently loaded the Poker Pistol in her backpack with talismans, cocked it, and pulled open the zipper of the interlayer storing the First Light Spring Wind Curse. Only then did she aim for the folding ladder and jump again.
Controlling her strength, after trying two or three times, she successfully pulled the folding ladder down with a 'clatter'.
Climbing up the ladder a short distance, enough to extend her arm in, Lu Yibei stopped. She gripped the ladder with her left hand, reached into the backpack on her chest with her right hand, grabbed a few First Light Spring Wind Curses, and threw them into the attic.
"Clatter—!"
The talismans landed with a few crisp sounds. After waiting for a few seconds and seeing no reaction from the talismans, Lu Yibei climbed up a bit more and stopped again. She drew her ancestral kitchen knife, extended her arm in, and after a series of wild, windmill-like hacks, she finally confirmed that the threat was eliminated and climbed up.
Upon entering the attic, she immediately saw the source of the white light that had flashed in her sight earlier.
It was a strangely shaped ice cabinet, square in shape, unlike common upright display freezers or chest freezers. Its lower half was silver metal, while the upper half was entirely made of glass, like a rectangular lid placed on top.
At this moment, the strangely shaped ice cabinet was placed in the deepest corner of the attic, plugged in. It was empty inside, filled with cold, white mist, emitting a seemingly temperatureless light.
In a frozen food store that had been closed for a long time, someone had set up a mourning hall, and there was a plugged-in ice cabinet hidden in the attic, yet it contained nothing. Wasn't this a bit too bizarre?
Lu Yibei felt that although no urban legend had appeared in this frozen food store, the scenes she had witnessed, if spread, would be enough to evolve into 'urban legend incidents'. She immediately decided to report the situation here to the Night Watch.
You ♦ made me unable to eat beef rolls, just you wait, I'm reporting you!
Lu, who held a serious grudge, cursed inwardly, took out her phone, and was about to contact Jiang Li when she suddenly remembered something. She walked forward a few steps, raised her phone to take a photo, opened her browser, and made good use of the Baidu image search function.
The ice cabinet had a strange shape, and after seeing it, Lu Yibei always felt something wasn't right, which bothered her greatly.
Her old counterfeit phone had a painfully slow internet speed and processing speed. Lu Yibei stared at the phone screen for a while before seeing the page redirect. As the search results slowly appeared in her sight, her face instantly turned pale.
The faint light from the phone screen illuminated her pale cheeks. On the screen, below the similar images found by the image search engine, the words "Ice Coffin" were clearly written.
Ice coffin? Isn't that used to freeze and preserve corpses?
