Free Web NovelAt the age of thirteen, Jiang Li came to a realization: there were no gods in this world, and therefore, no deity would respond to her prayers.
The room was unlit, and with the closet door closed, she could only see blurred figures through the cracks in the door, moving past the closet, entering the room, walking back and forth, rummaging through things.
Their movements were light, not making much noise, but at such a moment, any subtle sound became like the whisper of death.
She bit her lip tightly, her small body curled into a ball in a corner of the closet, her hands covering her eyes, staring motionless at the closet door, various hopeful thoughts flashing through her mind.
Perhaps they were debt collectors looking for her father, just like those who had come not long ago.
Perhaps they were just thieves who would leave if they couldn't find anything valuable.
Or perhaps her room was big enough that they wouldn't notice this closet placed behind the door.
...
Just as Jiang Li was lost in thought, the voices of those strange people began to echo in the darkness.
"Have you searched everywhere? She couldn't possibly not be here, could she?" a man with a hoarse voice said.
"She's here. The divination results show it. She must be hiding!" someone responded coldly, their tone not revealing whether they were male or female.
"Oh? Hiding, hiding, is she? It looks like our little darling wants to play a good game with us! So, shouldn't we give her a little surprise too? Hehehe!"
Another man, whose speech was unclear, said this, his words carrying a strange madness and excitement.
"Be careful, she's an important sacrifice for this ritual. At least leave her with one breath."
...
They really came for me! In an instant, all of Jiang Li's hopeful thoughts shattered.
The strange people in the house continued to converse, but she couldn't hear a single word, as if something had exploded in her ears, buzzing.
Her heart pounded, her neck felt as if it was being choked by an invisible hand, tightening little by little, her breathing becoming difficult, as if she was about to suffocate.
Time passed, she didn't know for how long, until the strange people in the house seemed to give up and left the room, their footsteps fading into the distance.
After the house became quiet again, Jiang Li dared to breathe deeply. She leaned against the closet door, carefully pushed it open a little, and peeked outside.
The room was pitch black, and the strange people were gone.
She waited for a moment longer, and there was still no abnormality outside. Only then did Jiang Li slowly °• N 𝑜 v 𝑒 l i g h t •° push open the door and walk out, crouching low.
As soon as her feet touched the ground, she stepped on something.
It was cold, slippery, and fragile, like some kind of insect. When Jiang Li stepped on it, its body burst with a "poof!" scattering a large amount of viscous fluid.
A faint sound, like awakening a sleeping demon, immediately brought forth a rustling, scalp-tingling noise from every corner of the house, as if countless insects were scuttling rapidly in the darkness.
Just then, a dazzling flash of lightning streaked across the sky, dispelling the darkness.
"Ah—!"
In that instant, the young Jiang Li witnessed a horrifying scene, her pupils constricting violently, and she screamed in terror, clutching her head.
Strange, cockroach-like insects of all sizes covered the entire house: on the floor, on the walls, on the ceiling, on the closet, on her feet, on her calves...
Dense, strange insects crawled everywhere, like a living, brownish-red carpet.
Her scream echoed far and wide in the empty Amber House, and soon footsteps in the corridor sounded like a death sentence, mixed with the strange people's mocking laughter.
"Hehehe, I knew she was hiding in that closet!"
"Our little darling must have been scared senseless by my pets, right? Did you hear it just now? Her scream was so delightful!"
Although Jiang Li was still young at that time, her unyielding character was already beginning to show.
Listening to the footsteps approaching in the corridor, she suppressed the fear in her heart, closed her eyes to avoid looking at the strange insects crawling all over the room, and ran quickly towards the balcony.
Jiang Li, you can do it. Those bugs aren't that scary, the third floor isn't very high, and there are bushes below. The nearest police station is less than a thousand meters away.
As long as you push open the glass door and jump out, go to the police station, you will be out of danger!
Jiang Li comforted herself while treading on the strange insects covering the floor.
Throughout the entire process, she was very afraid and kept crying, her pale face covered in tears, but she also bit her lip tightly, not letting out even a single sob.
The few seconds it took to cross the room felt as long as a century.
"Click—!"
As the faint sound of the balcony door opening accompanied the cold wind and fine rain, standing at the edge of the balcony and looking down, seeing the seven or eight-meter drop, the young Jiang Li hesitated for a moment.
Urgent footsteps came from the corridor; those strange people with obvious malice were rapidly approaching.
Jiang Li had no time to think. She climbed onto the railing, took a deep breath, covered her head with her hands, and leaped forward, jumping down.
The moment she jumped from the balcony, the strange insects in the room seemed to sense something, suddenly flapping their wings together, chasing behind her like a breaking dam, smashing through the balcony's glass door, carrying a shower of sharp fragments, and pouring out onto the balcony. ƒгeewebnovёl.com
"Damn it! She's trying to escape!"
"It's all your fault for saying you wanted to play!"
"Enough talk. When I catch her later, I'll torture her properly! I swear, she'll stay conscious the entire time!"
...
The bushes below the balcony had not been tended to for a long time and were growing wildly in this rainy season.
Jiang Li fell from the balcony, her arm grazed by the wall, her clothes and pants torn by branches and vines, her body covered in mud and leaves.
She forced herself to stand, enduring the pain that spread throughout her body. Just as she was about to take a step forward, she found that her right leg had lost all sensation. Looking back, the strength she had painstakingly mustered almost crumbled on the spot, and she couldn't help but burst into loud sobs.
Her right calf was pierced by several branches of varying thickness, and crimson blood was gushing out, mixing with the muddy water on the ground as the rain washed over it.
In mid-air, the strange insects that had been circling above Jiang Li, monitoring her every move, smelled the blood. Their ferocity was instantly ignited, and they vibrated their wings, descending from the sky with a dizzying hum, heading straight for her right calf.
Intense pain struck, and Jiang Li's vision immediately plunged into darkness, as if a light bulb had burned out.
She fell into the cold muddy water, her breathing became rapid, her lungs felt as if they were filled with ice, yet her forehead grew hotter and hotter.
Darkness, fear, and pain surged together, like the open maw of a fierce beast, tearing her consciousness to shreds...
------
When Jiang Li woke up again, she was already imprisoned in a gloomy dungeon at a certain Eclipse Society stronghold.
The entire dungeon was less than two square meters in size, and she could only curl up her body and sit against the wall in the corner every day.
A palm-sized skylight was open diagonally above the dungeon, allowing only a faint glimmer of light to fall at noon each day.
Most of the time, the dungeon was dead silent, with only the sound of spiders weaving webs in the quiet of the night and the intermittent dripping of water droplets condensed on the dungeon ceiling.
Occasionally, something fuzzy would scurry past her, likely a mouse-like creature. She would hastily dodge, and their long tails would sweep across her instep or the back of her hand, feeling slippery and cold.
Her leg injury had been simply treated by the Eclipse Society members, but during the treatment, they clearly weren't as careful and thorough as when they handled the totem tattoo on her back, even the gauze wasn't wrapped very tightly.
Consequently, in such an environment, her wound continued to ache for a week before becoming infected, and soon the area below her right knee lost sensation.
Yet, even so, her nerves remained taut, holding onto the last thread. She obediently ate the food they brought, counting the moments the sunlight fell each day to record the date.
When she counted to the one hundred and twenty-seventh day, the dungeon door finally opened again.
------
The person who opened the door was a man with black hair and red eyes, appearing to be around twenty-seven or twenty-eight years old, with a handsome yet somewhat effeminate appearance and undisguised arrogance in his brows.
He appeared before the door pushing a wheelchair. Behind him followed a member of the Eclipse Society dressed in a red robe.
At the man's signal, the red-robed Eclipse Society member picked up the dying Jiang Li, placed her in the wheelchair, and the man pushed her forward along the gloomy corridor.
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All the way, the man kept talking to Jiang Li.
He said, “You seem like a smart and strong child, and very fortunate, blessed with extremely high Ling Neng potential.”
“Do you know? This means you can become our companion!”
Jiang Li, “......”
She was too weak and hadn't spoken for too long. When she opened her mouth, she couldn't make any sound for a moment, so she could only glare fiercely at the man to express the resentment in her heart.
The man didn't seem angry about this. He just smiled and said, “Do you hate me? It doesn’t matter, you will thank me later.”
Then there was silence all the way.
More than ten minutes later, they passed through the long, secluded corridor, and a wide space suddenly appeared in their sight, or rather, a cave.
Several Eclipse Society members in red robes were moving through the huge cave, carefully outlining complex Spells on the ground with the blood of some creature.
A mummified centaur was directly in front, surrounded by candles flickering with a ghostly blue flame.
In a corner of the cave, a monster, about twice the height of an adult and with several deformed limbs, was roaring ferociously.
Jiang Li felt that she would never forget the scene when she first saw that urban legend born from a failed ritual.
On that ferocious face, there were human-like contours, but its eyes had long become like a beast's. From deep within its throat came terrifying guttural sounds, as if it were hungry, as if it could pounce at any moment and bite off the throats of the surrounding Eclipse Society members.
Its skin was as fragile as aged paper, and with a slight struggle, several wounds would tear open, oozing blood that flowed down like a curtain. Yet, its vitality was so strong that it wouldn't die from excessive blood loss, only suffering from constant pain and torment.
When those Eclipse Society members used huge iron hooks to hook the neck and shoulders of that urban legend and drag it away, Jiang Li, who was already scared out of her wits, was placed in the center of the prepared ritual altar, along with the mummified centaur.
The man gently stroked her forehead and said, “Good luck!” Then he poured out a massive amount of source spirits from his hand, activating the altar.
It was only later, after Jiang Li joined the Night Watch, that she learned the amount of source spirits used in that ritual was equivalent to nearly a hundred human lives.
At that time, the Eclipse Society's major ritual techniques were not as refined as they are now, and they often frantically added various potentially useful Ling Neng materials during the ritual process.
It was a wasteful squandering of resources, but they didn't care. They only sought to achieve low-probability evil miracles, creating terrifying powers that existed in legends.
Jiang Li, situated in the center of the altar, saw darkness spreading before her eyes, an ethereal turbulence outlined by flowing light, surrounded by countless bubbles.
Occasionally, in a flash of lightning, deserts, oases, isolated islands, steel cities under thick smoke, burning colossal statues flashed before her eyes...
Countless illusion-like scenes appeared and disappeared, until finally, everything returned to darkness.
In the darkness, the neighing of a white horse sounded from a distant place. Its long mane swayed in the wind, waving fiercely like a banner, finally merging into her body.
The Eclipse Society's ritual was initially successful. They created a miracle. They used an ordinary centaur, a girl with Ling Neng potential, a massive amount of source spirits, and various strange Ling Neng materials to simulate a trace of divinity and draw a Spirit Mark of a mythical species.
But they were not satisfied. What they wanted was to create a true mythical species.
However, just as they were preparing to use Jiang Li, who had already become a Psychic, for the next step of the attempt, an accident occurred.
A man in a red robe silently infiltrated their ranks while all Eclipse Society members were focused on the ritual.
As the ritual was about to proceed further, the man suddenly threw back his hood, pulled down his mask, held a silver baogang cang owl badge in one hand, and a long knife, retrieved from who knows where, in the other. He jumped to Jiang Li's side and shouted at the Eclipse Society members.
“Special Operations Team members of the Night Watch are handling a case! Everyone, hands on your head and squat down!”
“Damn it, I’m talking to you!”
“Oh! Still resisting? Curved Light warning!”
“Boom—!”
At that time, young Jiang Li did not know what kind of existence the Night Watch was.
Nor did she know that normal people wouldn't use high-lethality Spell number fifty-seven to warn others. Furthermore,
She didn't know how terrifying it was for someone to instantly cast Spell number fifty-seven without chanting a spell...
She only knew that she was saved.
After that man rescued her and, by the way, wiped out that Eclipse Society stronghold, he settled her in a simple civilian house and told her that A Hua would come to take care of her soon.
Before leaving, the man cooked a meal for her. That meal was instant noodles.
Jiang Li, who had been accustomed to delicacies since childhood, for the first time thought that the best food in this world was instant noodles. Following that, complex emotions surged within her, and she couldn't help but burst into tears.
Facing such a situation, the man, at a loss, spoke clumsy words of comfort, but the more he spoke, the harder Jiang Li cried.
Finally, scratching his head in frustration, he suddenly said, without knowing what he was thinking, “Little girl, are you worried that if your leg is crippled, you won't be able to get married later? If that's the case, leave this matter to me!”
Jiang Li's crying stopped abruptly at his words. She thought she had just escaped one danger only to fall into another, and immediately froze, the half-eaten instant noodles dangling from her mouth, swaying unsteadily.
Seeing this, the man hastily explained, “Little girl, don't misunderstand. I don't mean marry me. What I mean is, I have a son about your age. If you really can't get married later, then he can have you!”
Jiang Li looked at the man in front of her, then thought about his life-saving grace.
Hmm, he's a handsome uncle, so his son shouldn't be ugly. No need to be a cow or horse in the next life, she could repay him in this life.
And so.
Her small mouth went “Slurp!” as she sucked in the noodles, then she nodded solemnly.
“Mm-hmm!”
“Oh, by the way, Uncle, I still don't know your name, or where to find you later!”
“Me?... I'm known in the jianghu as Mudan Street Yanzu. If you're interested in joining the Night Watch later, just come to Hua City to find me. Just ask around, everyone knows!”
......
However.
Half a year later.
When Jiang Li joined the Night Watch, completed her training, and applied for a transfer to Hua City, she didn't find any Mudan Street Yanzu, only an underground Ren Guanxi...
— — — —
It was only when Lu Yibei placed the second bowl of cooked noodles in front of Jiang Li that she collected her thoughts, looked up, and stared directly into her eyes, saying, “Lu Yibei, I remember your home seems to be on Peony Street, right? Did your father have any special nicknames when he was young?”
Upon hearing this, Lu Yibei's hand, holding the noodle bowl, trembled slightly. She said expressionlessly, “Here we go again, here we go again. Didn't I tell you when I was at the South Suburb Slaughterhouse?”
“I don't know any Lu Yibei at all. Why do you keep asking this question? Can't we just have fun?”
“Oh?” Jiang Li raised an eyebrow, a benevolent smile appearing on her face, and pointed at the instant noodles in Lu Yibei's hand, saying, “But didn't you just say this was Old Lu's family's secret recipe instant noodles?”
“!!!”
Lu Yibei's hand trembled again, spilling half a bowl of noodle soup. She didn't know if she was scared by Jiang Li's smile or by her words.
Oh no! Did I really say that?
Damn it, when it comes to my family's ancestral skill, I got too proud and smug, and accidentally let it slip.
Now I can only...
“Did I say that? I said it was Old Wang's family's secret recipe instant noodles, didn't I? You were injured just now and got caught in the rain, so you're probably not thinking clearly and misheard! Hmm, yes, that's it!”
There's no witness, no physical evidence. As long as I deny it to my dying breath, even the King of Heaven won't be able to do anything. Lu Yibei muttered to herself.
“Is that so?” Jiang Li tilted her head and said, “Then do you know someone with the nickname Mudan Street Yanzu?”
Lu Yibei, “......”
What the heck? What's going on?
Why does she even know the nickname the neighbors jokingly gave me when I was a child?
What should I do now?
