Free Web NovelDark clouds piled up, the sky was gloomy, and snowflakes fell silently from an unseen source.
Each flake was unique, an irregular hexagon like lace, and most melted into water droplets before they could even land, falling into small pits filled with patchy soil, quickly accumulating a puddle of muddy slush.
Hua City was once a city full of sunshine, and even though the climate has become colder in recent years due to the shortening of daylight hours, and it snows in winter, it still has its last stubbornness.
The first snow of winter in Hua City usually doesn't accumulate.
...
University City.
On the street in the early morning hours, a taxi slowly pulled over onto the street in front of Jingyi Apartment.
The passenger in the car paid the fare and hurriedly got out. Just as a cold wind blew, carrying the chill of melting ice and snow, it desperately burrowed into their clothes through the gaps in the collar, cuffs, and hem. The cold penetrated to the bone, making their bones tremble, and they couldn't help but want to hide back in the car with the warm air conditioning.
Facing the cold wind, Lu Yibei gritted her teeth, closed the car door, and quickly ran towards the quiet apartment complex ahead, stepping on the wet ground and making squelching footsteps.
As she walked forward, she muttered a fierce Spell under her breath, "Damn it, this wretched weather!"
As someone who feared heat and cold, if she had encountered such weather in the past, Lu Yibei would have long since activated her ability to sever social connections and hidden at home, curled up in bed, "playing dead".
Returning home, as soon as she closed the door and looked at the empty, dark house, Lu Yibei shouted at the top of her lungs, "Maotuan (Hairball), Eyeball, False Tooth, Sleeping Dress!"
"Where are you? Stop hiding! I know you're all home!"
"Hurry up and come out, I have something about the Night Parade of One Hundred Demons I want to discuss with you!"
After waiting for a moment, just as Lu Yibei's lips parted slightly, ready to call out again, whispers came from the corner of the room. Following a rustling sound, several sneaky figures squeezed out from the gap under the sofa and lined up in front of her.
They looked like little pets who had made a mistake and were waiting for their Master's punishment.
"Speak!"
In an awkward silence, Maotuan (Hairball) was the first to speak, "Devil Woman, listen to our explanation! Everything we did, although there's suspicion of being overly eager for success, was all for you!"
"Exactly!" Eyeball echoed, "Woman, I hope you know what's good for you!"
"Fine, let death come!" False Tooth said gloomily, "As of today, all the bad consequences stem from me alone, and are unrelated to them. If you want to punish, then punish me!"
Lu Yibei rubbed her slightly throbbing forehead and said irritably, "Who told you to talk about this? Besides, did I say I was going to blame you?"
"See? I don't even know what you're being cowardly about!" Eyeball said smugly upon hearing this, looking around at its companions, "This woman has clearly been conquered!"
...
Can you say a little less?
Muttering inwardly, Maotuan (Hairball), False Tooth, and Sleeping Dress all moved aside simultaneously, as if to draw a line between themselves and Eyeball, creating distance.
Lu Yibei clenched her fist, stepped on Eyeball with one foot, and continued, "What I want to ask is, how many urban legend have gathered? After last night's commotion, can they still be gathered together?"
The Devil Woman knows everything that happened last night?! All the Little Freaks were startled.
"Devil Woman, are you thinking of..." Maotuan (Hairball) probed.
Lu Yibei straightened her back, narrowed her eyes slightly, lifted her chin slightly, and said in a seductive tone, "I'm going to do something big, are you willing to follow me?"
Doesn't that have the right feel?
For these few seconds, I seriously watched some exciting clips from "Emperor Wu of Han", "Prosperous Great Tang", and "Kangxi Dynasty" in the taxi! Lu Yibei thought to herself.
"A scholar dies for his confidant! We are willing to follow behind the Devil Woman, even if this path is destined to lead to death."
Born as a Strange Tale, False Tooth, who was bent on death, agreed without thinking. Since it was death either way, it might as well be a spectacular death.
Lu Yibei, "..." Can you say something more auspicious?
"We, we are already the Devil Woman's ghosts."
Sleeping Dress said weakly. As soon as she finished speaking, Eyeball struggled and squeezed half of its body out from under Lu Yibei's foot.
"Woman, is this how you ask for help? When asking for help, show your chest..."
"Squelch—!"
Before Eyeball could finish speaking, Lu Yibei moved her foot.
With force, she stepped down.
Eyeball's movement stopped abruptly.
Maotuan (Hairball), who had vaguely guessed Lu Yibei's idea, was so excited at the thought of possibly following her to do something that would shake the entire Hua City urban legend world, that its fur stood on end.
"Reporting, Devil Woman, except for the school you used to hide in and a small surrounding area, all the urban legend around University City have been brought under our command!" frёewebηovel.cѳm
"Ninety-seven D-level urban legend, twelve C-level urban legend, B Level urban legend..."
Hearing Maotuan (Hairball) say half of it, Lu Yibei's gaze couldn't help but become fervent.
If there were enough B Level urban legend, or even A-Level urban legend, she might have a chance of winning even in a head-on confrontation with the Twilight Woman, let alone a surprise attack halfway through.
"...There are no B Level urban legend, and the remaining approximately four hundred and fifty-seven are all unranked urban legend."
Lu Yibei, "..."
Alright, they are just a group of Little Freaks with an average Spiritual Energy fluctuation of less than 0.1 'rabbit' units after all. What was I expecting?
However...
The quality isn't enough, but the quantity has already far exceeded the conditions Shui Ge mentioned.
Thinking of this, Lu Yibei looked at Maotuan (Hairball) seriously and said, "Well done, I'll leave the matter of gathering them to you."
"But..." Maotuan (Hairball) hesitated for a moment and said, "Devil Woman, after last night, those Little Freaks are already terrified, I'm not sure I can gather all of them."
"Is that so?" Lu Yibei propped her chin with one hand, pondered for a few seconds, and said, "That's understandable, after all, challenging an A-Level Strange Tale's Night Parade of One Hundred Demons is indeed very dangerous."
"Oh right... if any Little Freaks don't want to come along, you can't force them, got it?"
As long as I can find a way to gather a hundred Little Freaks, that should be enough, right? Lu Yibei muttered inwardly.
Maotuan (Hairball), who had originally planned to gather all the Little Freaks even by kidnapping them, twitched its body and said weakly, "Under, understand."
"Oh right!" Lu Yibei suddenly remembered the funeral-like display Maotuan (Hairball) and the others had last night and reminded them in a serious tone, "Those white banners, black and white photos, gongs and suonas, and stuff like that, get rid of them as soon as possible. What you had there wasn't a Night Parade of One Hundred Demons at all! It was practically ghosts clearing the way!"
It seems the Devil Woman's aesthetic taste is a bit distorted! Maotuan (Hairball) muttered inwardly, then asked Lu Yibei, "Then, Devil Woman, what do you think we should..."
"How simple is that!" Lu Yibei rolled her eyes and said, "Don't you always use my computer to download and watch little movies online? Can't you use it for something proper?"
"For example, search for keywords like 'parade', 'vote canvassing', and so on!"
"Understood!" Maotuan (Hairball) said, enlightened, "We'll go do it right away!"
"Alright, hurry up and go!" Lu Yibei said, then walked upstairs.
When she reached the stairs, as if remembering something, she suddenly stopped and asked the Little Freaks in the living room, "Speaking of which, what's the name of that organization you guys set up?"
As soon as she finished speaking, four black shadows flashed "swish swish" in the living room. The Little Freaks gathered together and struck a pose as embarrassing as a photo of middle-aged women.
"Our organization is called, Messengers of Love and Peace..." Maotuan (Hairball) was the first to speak, but stopped before finishing, letting False Tooth take over.
"Models of Morality and Conscience..."
Following next was Eyeball under Lu Yibei's foot, wriggling and struggling while saying in a mournful tone, "Handsome Guys and Beautiful Women..."
"...The Devil Woman's Warrior Group!" Sleeping Dress said weakly at the end, completing the finishing touch.
Good heavens, even organization names are trendy group purchases now? Lu Yibei covered her eyes with her hand, the scene was too beautiful for her to look at.
...
----
After Lu Yibei's figure disappeared into the apartment living room, the Little Freaks quickly sprang into action. They found her laptop, booted it up, opened the β Website, and entered "parade vote canvassing" into the search bar on the homepage.
Immediately after, according to Lu Yibei's usual search preferences, a bunch of videos with titles like "XX Year White Little Flower Moe Battle Vote Canvassing Live", "Magical Girl Festival Float Parade", "Z Country Heroine Support Live" appeared on the Website.
One couldn't help but exclaim, the power of big data is terrifying!
After spending several dozen minutes carefully watching over a dozen videos, Maotuan (Hairball) said thoughtfully, "So, this is the style the Devil Woman likes!"
"Understandable, which girl doesn't have a princess dream?" False Tooth murmured.
"Tsk! Woman!" Eyeball spat disdainfully, "She just likes to mess around with flashy, impractical stuff!"
----
After entrusting the task of gathering the Night Parade of One Hundred Demons team to the Little Freaks in the apartment, Lu Yibei plunged into her makeshift Alchemy workshop.
Although, when leaving the Underground Human Realm club, Shui Ge had solemnly instructed her to prepare for the upcoming fierce battle after returning.
However, this was her first time doing something like this, like a young woman getting married, and she had no idea what to prepare. The Great Serpent God's knowledge also didn't have detailed records.
After all, aberrant species like It are naturally powerful and belong to the minority of urban legend who are particularly confident in their strength.
At its peak, when it felt like doing a Night Parade of One Hundred Demons, with absolutely no preparation, it just brute-forced a bloody path directly through the large mountains filled with many urban legend.
Lu Yibei considered herself not to be that kind of exceptionally talented brute. Following It's example would be a dead end.
However, having no precedent to refer to doesn't mean no preparation is needed.
If I don't know what to prepare, why not just prepare everything that can be prepared?
Before, when she was refining the completion potion, there were still a small amount of raw materials and scraps left over. Some of these could be used to refine Pure Silver, which is the standard healing potion of the Night Watch.
Preparing some Pure Silver would at least give her a skill that could heal.
As for the rest, they could only be used to make "bombs".
As the famous bomb fanatic who struck fear into the hearts of Hua City's urban legend, how could she not have dozens of bombs by her side?
Lu Yibei had originally planned to keep these scraps for making talismans later.
But by chance, she discovered a small secret about these scraps.
These scraps containing a large amount of fire-attribute Spiritual Energy, if melted and shaped in one go and then activated with Spiritual Energy, could release heat comparable to a tenfold amplified Red Flame Flash while consuming only a small amount of Spiritual Energy. If she were to mix in some calamity water beforehand...
How about a homemade Alchemy Dirty Bomb? Just thinking about it is exciting!
With these "bombs", she could also barely cope with situations where there wasn't enough time to cast Spells, and her sword techniques and movement skills were restricted.
As for how she discovered this little secret, it's a bit complicated to explain. In a word, a young person who doesn't court death hasn't lived.
Anyway, the Fat Man upstairs called the police, and the Uncle Police knocked on the door five times in one day...
From just after five in the morning until two in the afternoon, nearly eight hours, Lu Yibei was immersed in her proposed simple Alchemy workshop.
The twelve portions of pure silver and twenty-seven pieces of crude Alchemy Dirty Bomb successfully refined, along with three portions of supplementary potions and a pile of miscellaneous items, stuffed the guitar case full.
Finally zipping up the guitar case and holding it in his arms, Lu Yibei felt as though he was carrying an armory, filled with a sense of security.
The snow outside, which had only recently stopped, began to fall again at some unknown time. Lu Yibei looked out the window, sighed silently, took out his phone, and sent a message to Professor Ma.
Lu Yibei: "Professor, are you at the university? There's a small matter I'd like to ask you about in person."
Professor Ma: "I'm in my office. I'm free until four o'clock. You can come anytime."
After receiving Professor Ma's affirmative reply, he stuffed the guitar case under the bed to hide it, got up to stretch his sore joints, and crooked a finger at the Coat on the bed. The Coat flew over, gently draped itself over him, then stood up its collar and rubbed affectionately against his face.
Just as Lu Yibei was about to leave the apartment to go to the unfinished building to welcome the urban legend transformation, he suddenly remembered something. He got up and went to the storage room, took out all the urban legend main body cores he had unexpectedly obtained from releasing his power previously, and summoned Maotuan (Hairball).
"Maotuan (Hairball), come up here!"
"Thump, thump, thump—!"
After a series of muffled thuds like a ball bouncing on the stairs, Maotuan (Hairball) appeared before him.
"Devil Woman, what is your command?"
Lu Yibei looked at Maotuan (Hairball), placed the urban legend main body cores on the ground, thought for a moment, then pulled back a small portion to put in his Coat pocket. He pushed the rest forward and said, "Here, take these. Maybe you can use them."
"I have something to do and need to go out. You guys continue doing your thing."
With that, he hurried downstairs and headed to Professor Ma's office.
"Woman, go early and come back early! Don't stay out all night!"
Downstairs, the arrogant voice of Eyeball came.
"Shut up!" Lu Yibei cursed fiercely and slammed the door shut with a "Bang!"
————
The light snow fell softly, and a faint, ethereal gray ribbon like smoke and mist lingered and circled in the sky, unwilling to leave for a long time. The entire Huacheng Institute of Technology was shrouded in a layer of gloom. In these biting cold days, there were few people in every corner of the campus.
Lu Yibei walked along the Four Gate Main Street with an umbrella, his brows tightly furrowed, his mood somewhat low. It wasn't until he saw the figure of Headless Senior holding a red umbrella that he managed to move the stiff muscles of his face and force out a bitter smile uglier than crying.
"Tsk, I don't know what I'm worrying about. Didn't I guess this result long ago? At least it's not completely hopeless!" he comforted himself.
Lu Yibei's main purpose for visiting Professor Ma was to borrow his 【fuxing copper coin】 to divine good or bad luck.
Although he also had one, Professor Ma's seemed to have become spiritual, showing a tendency to develop from a Spiritual Energy item towards a urban legend, obviously much more accurate.
However, after tossing the copper coin three times in a row and getting the divination result for the question "Can I successfully challenge Twilight Woman?", Lu Yibei's uneasy mood did not calm down at all.
The copper coin stood upright on the office desk three times in a row, a clearly unfavorable result.
So, Lu Yibei secretly used his own copper coin to divine "Is Professor Ma's copper coin divination accurate?", and then got an affirmative answer.
The strange upright position of the copper coin coupled with Lu Yibei's dejected appearance, Professor Ma immediately saw his abnormality, but did not ask too much. Instead, he pulled him aside and chattered for a long time about various matters related to the East Yi cultural research project.
Finally, before Lu Yibei left, Professor Ma said to him solemnly, "Have a good New Year, and report back to me early after the year."
But Lu Yibei joked self-deprecatingly, "I've been too busy with other things lately. I might not even pass the final exams. If I have to retake them, I won't be able to report early."
Professor Ma was furious when he heard this, slapped the table, and cursed, "Then why aren't you going back to study! You're still messing around with these feudal superstitious things here, can you divine during the exam?"
"......"
Amidst Professor Ma's barrage of scolding, Lu Yibei scurried out of the office. Unknowingly, he had already walked onto the Four Gate Main Street, near the abandoned warehouse where Headless Senior and a group of school Little Freaks were hiding.
Walking up to Headless Senior, Lu Yibei reached into his Coat pocket and fumbled for a while, then stuffed the remaining small portion of urban legend main body core into her hand. "Here! Take it! I might not be able to bring you food for a long time after this. These should be enough for several months' worth of rations."
With that, he continued walking forward along the cold wind-swept Four Gate Main Street.
"......" Headless Senior hesitated for a moment, then suddenly gripped the urban legend main body core in her hand, took two steps forward, and asked, "Are, are you going to do something dangerous?"
"Of course not!" Lu Yibei didn't turn around, just waved his hand. "I was so scared I ran away when I first saw you, how could I possibly do something dangerous?"
"Oh, right, if you can, give a little more to 'Rouxun'. I'm really looking forward to the day it can speak and then have a high-intensity debate with it!"
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"Pfft!" Headless Senior chuckled, then adjusted her tilted head and said, "You can't give it any more, otherwise the students at the university will suffer!"
"Last week, a student went to worship it and asked it to bless them to pass the exam smoothly, but it was held down on the ground and hit on the palm of the hand a hundred times with a ruler."
Lu Yibei, "......" The ruler of the Rouxun statue, is it solid brass?
"The day before yesterday, two young couples were in the small woods, showing off their affection under the guise of studying together, and they were also beaten."
"And..."
Headless Senior chattered on and on to Lu Yibei about the funny stories of the school Little Freaks, lost in the moment. When she came back to her senses, she found that Lu Yibei had already walked far away.
On the cold, deserted Four Gate Main Street, a cold wind swept the falling snow that hadn't melted in mid-air across her eyes. Accompanied by the sound of the evening self-study bell, which had long since lost its purpose, that slightly thin figure, without warning, transformed into a small, delicate girl.
Her pink and white long hair, swaying in the breeze, became the only bright color on this gloomy street.
"No skirt, no skirt! It's one thing on a normal day, but wearing a skirt in this cold weather? Even with cotton socks, it won't do. Are you trying to give me old man's legs?"
From afar, the clear voice like a wind chime came, and a smile appeared on Headless Senior's lips...
————
As night fell, Lu Yibei huddled in the unlit apartment, embracing Lingtai Pure Karma and waiting.
Because Bai Kai speculated that Twilight Woman might start the Night Parade of One Hundred Demons at any time in the next two days, she didn't dare to enter the dream world to review the Taihe Gentleman Sword Illustration with Qingji again.
Thus, she stayed awake all night, and nothing happened.
When he lifted the urban legend transformation on the rooftop and returned home, he received two messages from Bai Kai.
Bai Kai: "Xiao Bei, I'm ready here."
Bai Kai: "None of the water sources were attacked yesterday."
Holding his phone with both hands, Lu Yibei drafted several lengthy replies, but finally deleted them all and felt it was better. He responded briefly: "Thank you, Shui Ge, I understand."
Bai Kai: "Good luck!"
Looking at Bai Kai's reply, Lu Yibei felt a warmth in his heart. He put away his phone, took out his key, and opened the door. As soon as he entered the house, he saw over a dozen Little Freaks in the living room, uniformly prostrating themselves on the ground towards the door.
"What are you guys doing?" Lu Yibei asked in confusion. "Are these all Little Freak leaders?"
"......"
After a brief silence, Maotuan (Hairball) said in a heavy tone, "Sorry, Devil Woman, these are all the urban legend. The others..."
Before Maotuan (Hairball) finished speaking, Eyeball angrily cut in, "Woman, this is all your fault! You said you didn't want to force them if they didn't want to come, and now look? They all ran away. You're dead this time. When that happens, I'll definitely be the first to devour your urban legend main body core!"
Lu Yibei's face paled slightly, and his brows furrowed into a knot.
"......"
It's over, the situation seems even worse than expected... This is going to be difficult.
But...
Twilight Woman was originally one of the strongest urban legend in Hua City. Now she has the assistance of a group of black-robed people and has killed so many urban legend and Psychic. It's normal for the Hua City urban legend to fear her.
I can't force those urban legend to go to their deaths, can I?
Lu Yibei thought, looking at Maotuan (Hairball), expressionless, still forcing himself to remain calm. "No rush, take your time. Isn't there still time?"
"Also, let me say in advance, looking at the situation, if it's really dangerous when the time comes, you can leave anytime, and I won't mind!"
"Alright, if there's nothing else, let's disperse for now? While it's daytime, I need to catch up on sleep."
After waking up, he still had to go to the Night Watch before dark to check the detailed information on Twilight Woman and X Tai Sui.
Maybe he could find some details that could lead to victory from their information... Lu Yibei thought.
"......"
Hearing this, the urban legend fell silent, and the living room was dead quiet.
————
Meanwhile, under a manhole cover next to a convenience store at Hua City University of Finance and Economics, in a damp and foul-smelling sewer.
A large urban legend, shaped like a rat but with six legs and long antennae, sat on a "throne" built of brick blocks. It was the King that ruled the cockroach-rat swarm in this sewer.
It watched the sewage pool not far away from a distance.
Sewage from melted snow flowed down from the gaps in the manhole cover like a waterfall. A group of urban legend similar in appearance but much smaller in size played in the sewage pool.
Before long, a Little Freak swam to the side of the Cockroach-Rat King, poked its head out of the water with a rotten vegetable leaf on top, blinked its six eyes, and asked curiously, "Big King, do we not have to participate in that... whatever it is... anymore?"
"No need to go. Even if Maotuan (Hairball)... Commander Maotuan (Hairball)'s backer is an A-Level urban legend, she's fighting alone! If we follow, aren't we just going to die?"
Just as the Cockroach-Rat King was speaking, a small cockroach-rat suddenly scooped up a mass of dark green substance from the water, held it high, and cheered, "It's rotten meat! Everyone, there's rotten meat in the sewage today, we can have extra food!"
As soon as its voice fell, Spiritual Energy fluctuations erupted from the mass of dark green substance it held with its four limbs. It grew violently, sprouting wriggling tendrils that fiercely pierced into its body.
Soon, the entire sewage pool was filled with smooth, viscous dark green substance...
The Cockroach-Rat King fled in panic.
————
Almost at the same time, near a primary school in Hua City.
A young woman in professional attire and black-rimmed glasses was anxiously searching everywhere for something.
She walked through streets and alleys, and finally stopped when she saw a student curled up and squatting at the end of a narrow alley. She then slowly approached, rubbed the student's head, and showed a bitter smile.
"Tongtong, what are you hiding here for? You're already near the university, why don't you go in?"
"......" The little girl heard the Teacher's voice, paused for a moment, and her eyes turned red the moment she looked up. "Te... Teacher, I don't dare to go to the university, I'm scared..."
"Scared?" The woman's expression became serious, and she asked, "Tongtong, tell Teacher, did a bad person bully you?"
"Wuwuwu..." The little girl sobbed, wiped her tear-stained face, bit her lip, and shook her head.
The woman frowned, then stroked the little girl's head and smiled, "Tongtong, don't be scared! If a bad guy bullies you, just bravely tell Teacher, and Teacher will help you deal with him!"
As she spoke, she waved her fist and whispered into the little girl's ear, "Tongtong, let me tell you a secret, Teacher knows magic..."
Before the woman finished speaking, she detected a weak and foul Spiritual Energy fluctuation from the little girl. Subconsciously, she pulled back slightly and saw a wriggling dark green flesh bud in the little girl's slightly red, tender ear, which was cold.
Immediately after, the little girl fell to the ground. Her body suddenly began to convulse, her pupils dilated, and her consciousness became blurred.
It's a urban legend! The woman's face instantly turned pale.
This solitary Psychic, who was a primary school class teacher during the day and occasionally hunted urban legend at night, immediately made a judgment upon seeing this scene. She silently chanted a Spell, and a warm white light appeared on her fingertip, which she then placed on the little girl's forehead.
"Buzz—!"
Amidst the faint vibration of the air caused by the Spiritual Energy fluctuation, the flesh bud withered and fell off. The little girl's consciousness briefly cleared. She slowly opened her eyes, looked at her Teacher, and said with a weak breath, "Teacher, is Tongtong going to die?"
"Of course not, silly girl, you're just a little sick. Teacher will take you to the hospital now."
The woman said softly, picking up the little girl. Immediately after, she heard the little girl whisper in her ear, "Teacher, nobody bullied Tongtong. Tongtong did something bad herself."
"What bad thing did you do? Can you tell Teacher?"
"On the way to school, Tongtong saw a small pond with many little mushrooms growing in it..."
"Teacher, I'm so sleepy. Can I sleep for a while first?"
"No, you can't! You have to see things through!" the woman said.
"Okay!" the little girl replied, forcing herself to stay awake and continue, "Those little mushrooms were so pretty, and they could move. Tongtong thought it was fun, so she didn't listen to her mom and stepped in the water..."
Upon hearing this, the woman's expression changed. She quickly put the little girl down and was about to take off her little boots to check when she saw the little girl's chubby legs melt like wax, turning into liquid that dripped onto the ground, spreading out into a patch of dark green flesh and blood...
The woman stared blankly at the young body gradually being covered by the dark green substance. Something was churning in her eyes. Then, she reached into her jacket pocket, pulled out a string of small white flowers like pearls, and gradually clenched them in her hand...
----
In the old district of Hua City, near the seafood wholesale market, on a remote street.
An Old man dressed shabbily, like a homeless person, hugged a foam box filled with seafood and hurried towards the direction of the low-rent housing, walking on a street full of sewage.
As he walked, he cautiously glanced behind him, as if afraid that the original owner of the box of seafood would chase after him to reclaim it.
Although this box of seafood was something he had dug out of the trash pile, the people at the seafood wholesale market had always disliked him greatly. Even taking something found in their trash pile wasn't an easy task if he wanted to get away «N.o.v.e.l.i.g.h.t» smoothly.
After a moment, the Old man returned to the small room filled with beverage bottles and cardboard, locked the door, and finally let out a sigh of relief.
"Good, good, they didn't chase after me. This full box should last for quite a few days."
Mutering to himself, the Old man lit the coal in the stove, placed the old iron pot filled with water on it, and while the water was heating, he opened the foam box, preparing to start sorting.
Although the food discarded in the trash pile would have some issues, based on his experience, as long as he carefully selected, he could at least pick out a small portion of edible items.
However, when he opened the foam box and saw a full box of almost completely fresh yellow croaker inside, his eyes widened in disbelief.
"This... this... Oh no, I couldn't have'stolen' someone's stuff, could I? No, no, I can't do this." the Old man said, his gray eyebrows furrowed as he spoke.
Just as he was contemplating whether to take the risk of being severely scolded or even beaten by the fishmongers at the seafood wholesale market and return this box of yellow croaker, he suddenly discovered that near the gills of the yellow croaker, there were quite a few small dark green flesh buds that looked like mold.
Seeing those flesh buds, the Old man let out a sigh of relief, "Phew, good thing, good thing!"
After confirming that he had only taken something someone else didn't want, rather than stealing from someone, he felt much more at ease.
"But this is really wasteful. They threw it away just because this little bit was bad? If I cut off the bad parts, there's still a lot of meat to eat, right?"
As the Old man spoke, he took out a small knife from his waist, carefully cut off the parts of the yellow croaker that had flesh buds, and put them one by one into the boiling water. He added a few scallions and two slices of ginger, and before long, he had boiled a pot of simple but fragrant fish soup.
The Old man scooped out a bowl, holding it in his hand as if it were a treasure. He brought it to his mouth, blew on it, took a sip, and a happy smile instantly appeared on his face.
"Delicious, really delicious. It's been so long since I've eaten something this good."
The Old man muttered to himself, and without minding the hot fish soup that had just been cooked, he began to gobble it down.
As he ate, he suddenly felt his face burning, and his forehead seemed to be on fire.
His chest tightened, his throat felt uncomfortable, and soon he had symptoms of difficulty breathing.
Is he sick? Getting sick just as winter begins this year is a bit troublesome! the Old man grumbled inwardly. Immediately after, he felt his forehead getting hotter and hotter, he became dizzy, and his vision blurred.
He heard his own labored breathing, and then he began to cough. Amidst the violent coughing, which felt like something was tearing at his lungs, a bloody sweetness spread in his mouth.
Soon, his body went limp. He knocked over the freshly made fish soup, fell to the ground, and his vision plunged into darkness.
In a daze, he heard a rustling sound, like those damn rats crawling in the dark corners, and then his consciousness fell into silence.
He didn't know how long had passed when he heard the sound of someone fumbling for keys outside the small room. Immediately after, he heard a soft voice call out, "Grandpa Zhang, I've brought you something good! Guess what it is?"
"Hehehe, it's the lamb spine you love the most!"
"Creak!" The door opened.
Gu Qianqian, who had come to visit the Old man who had taken good care of her when she was homeless, stood at the doorway, staring at the scene inside the room. She froze on the spot, and the lamb spine in her hand fell to the ground with a "Thud!".
In that dark, narrow room, continuously wriggling dark green flesh buds grew everywhere: in the sink, in the trash can, in the fish soup spilled on the floor, in the eyes, ears, nose, and mouth of the Old man lying on the ground...
----
In the afternoon, at the Hua City Si Ye Hui, in the dilapidated office.
Lu Yibei put down the files on Twilight Woman and X Tai Sui, which she didn't know how many times she had read. She rubbed her slightly swollen temples and sighed helplessly.
While everyone else was guarding the various water sources, thanks to Bai Kai helping him pull some strings and securing a position as a liaison at the headquarters, he had the opportunity to carefully study these files.
According to the internal files of the Night Watch, Twilight Woman indeed has relatively obvious weaknesses. Her special abilities cause damage almost entirely through corrosive wildflowers and screams.
As long as one has Spiritual Energy comparable to hers to block out sound, plus sharp footwork to dodge the wildflowers, she can only resort to close combat.
Of course, as an A-Level urban legend, her close combat ability far surpasses most B Level urban legend and should not be underestimated.
What's more, she now has a long blade in her hand, condensed from the corrupted Spiritual Energy of Jiang Li.
But...
Lu Yibei picked up the file on X Tai Sui again, looked left and right, and frowned.
As a urban legend high on the Night Watch's wanted list, according to the Night Watch's files, it seems to have weaknesses all over its body, but due to its astonishingly fast rate of division and proliferation, it can also be said to have no weaknesses at all.
"Unless it's a Calamity-level urban legend that can cause substantial damage?" Lu Yibei muttered.
Fortunately, all water sources are being watched by the Elder brothers of the Special Operations Team, and the most important Huacheng Reservoir even "grew" a Gu Niang, preventing Twilight Woman from having the chance to plant the X Tai Sui's tissue.
Otherwise, if I fail, Hua City will be unsalvageable.
As Lu Yibei was thinking, she suddenly heard An Qing's slightly agitated low growl coming from the small garden outside the window.
"How could this happen? Haven't all the water sources been secured?"
Hearing this, Lu Yibei's heart tightened. She stood up and reached the window in a few steps.
Du Sixian, who was standing opposite An Qing and reporting the situation, saw her out of the corner of her eye, gave her a bitter expression, and then continued reporting to An Qing.
"Sister Qing, the water sources are indeed secured, and even the important sewage treatment plants are guarded, but..."
"But what?" An Qing frowned.
"Those things don't seem to be growing from a fixed water source, and the locations of black night disease outbreaks across the city are completely random. We can't determine the source for now," said Du Sixian.
If it's not growing from a fixed water source, then where is it coming from? Could it be that X Tai Sui has evolved the ability to spread through the air without the Night Watch knowing? Lu Yibei thought.
While she was thinking, Qi Dong hurried from outside the main gate, stepping on the wet bluestone slabs in the small garden, making a series of squelching footsteps.
"Tap-tap—Tap-tap—!"
Hearing those footsteps, Lu Yibei's pupils suddenly contracted slightly. She looked towards the ground, and upon seeing the accumulated water on the ground, she inwardly cried out, "Not good." ƒrēewebnoѵёl.cσm
A snowfall in Hua City usually doesn't accumulate snow; the melted snow water spreads throughout the entire city.
Tiny "water sources" will be scattered in every corner of the city. This means that Twilight Woman can, like a lottery draw, spread the X Tai Sui's tissue in any corner of Hua City, and then...
Damn it, why did I only notice this now?
It's over, is there no hope?
Thinking of this, Lu Yibei's face instantly turned pale. After a few seconds of silence, she suddenly clenched her fists.
No, it's not over yet. As long as I succeed!
As long as I succeed...
She thought silently, reached into her pants pocket, pulled out the "Hua City Ten-Point Perfect Escape Guide," and fiercely crumpled it into a ball.
