Free Web NovelIn the early morning, in the courtyard of the Huacheng Folk Culture Research Administration.
Gu Niang squatted under an umbrella, holding an old radio in her hand, playing the weather forecast before the city news.
"...Tomorrow's temperature is 7℃~20℃. Due to the continuous influence of unknown factors, rainfall and snowfall in Hua City will significantly decrease in the next seven days, and the temperature will remain warm and pleasant. It is foreseeable that since 20xx, Hua City will once again usher in a warm winter..."
On the plane trees in the courtyard, whose leaves had already fallen, tender buds had sprouted early, the withered branches adorned with new green color fragmenting the bright and warm sunlight, scattering it all over the ground.
Lu Yibei held her phone, lying on a long bench, with her legs crossed, a spicy strip in her mouth, humming an off-key tune through her nose, and a faint tea fragrance wafted from the freshly brewed white tea on the stone table beside her.
She looked exactly like an elderly person enjoying retirement life.
Ever since she witnessed Gu Niang's formidable Spiritual Energy fluctuations, she had made up her mind to establish a good relationship with her.
Although Bai Kai said that due to some special reasons, Gu Niang's combat power could not utilize even one-tenth of her Spiritual Energy fluctuations.
But just relying on that terrifying Spiritual Energy fluctuation was enough to scare away most enemies.
"Oh—!"
After listening to the weather forecast, Gu Niang seemed to suddenly think of something, her eyes widened slightly, an expression of disbelief appeared on her face, then she turned her head and patted Lu Yibei's hand.
It was as if she was gesturing to her, "Look at the good job you've done!"
Feeling the gentle pat on her hand, Lu Yibei looked at Gu Niang, tilted her head, pondered for two seconds, then reached into her jacket pocket and pulled out a spicy strip, "You want to eat too, right?"
After speaking, without waiting for Gu Niang's response, she pulled out a spicy strip and stuffed it into her mouth, then immediately continued to focus on the phone screen, refreshing the campus network page.
Today was the day the final exam results for the Chinese Language and Literature major at Huacheng Institute of Technology were released.
"Beep, beep, beep—! Prosperity Beijing time, exactly nine o'clock..."
As the time broadcast from the radio sounded, Lu Yibei lightly touched the phone screen, the campus network backend interface refreshed again, and immediately a transcript leaped onto the phone screen. She instantly held her breath.
The tense and exciting moment had arrived.
Lu Yibei covered half of the phone screen with one hand, like scratching a lottery ticket, slowly dragging the transcript upwards, counting the scores for each subject.
"89, 80.5, 92, 87..."
Just when she was fully convinced that this year's scholarship was securely in her grasp, her gaze stopped on the last line, "Ancient Chinese Literary Theory of Z Country," and her brows unconsciously furrowed together.
"Ah, this... 6, 62.5? It's over, it's over, Professor Ma is going to kill me!"
With almost all subject scores reaching over eighty points, only Professor Ma's "Ancient Chinese Literary Theory of Z Country" stood out with a glaring score mixed in, which was simply like a provocation.
But this isn't my fault!
Ultimately, it's the fault of Twilight Woman and X Tai Sui.
If they hadn't jumped out and caused trouble during the crucial period of final exam review, causing me to just leave the battlefield and then enter the examination hall, how could I have performed abnormally?
After Lu Yibei left the Huacheng Reservoir that day, she returned home, collapsed onto the bed, and slept for over thirty hours. As soon as she woke up, she rushed to school in a hurry to take the final exam for the first subject.
So.
On the day of the exam, the classroom, which wasn't spacious to begin with, was crowded with urban legend who came to watch.
A grey mist filled with ominous aura, like omnipresent lonely souls and wild ghosts, covered the entire classroom.
Dismembered limbs crawled and writhed on the ground, dragging out crimson trails.
The room was full of heads, trailing internal organs, floating in the wind like advertising balloons.
Several meters-long human-faced centipedes coiled on the ceiling, their twisted joints making a grating sound.
Watching her dear classmates walk into the "Hell Exam Room" as if nothing was wrong, sitting down on rotten flesh and blood, strings of Eyeballs, and strange organs that she couldn't tell what part they were from, Lu Yibei remained outwardly unmoved, but inwardly, her mind had already twisted into a famous world painting.
Fear.jpg
Although those urban legend were nominally Lu Yibei's subordinates, even the bravest normal person would uncontrollably feel a chill in their heart upon seeing such a scene.
Fear is an innate instinct in all living beings.
According to Darwin's theory of evolution.
The gene for being a complete simpleton could not have been inherited for over a billion years to the present day.
Fearless simpletons had long been eliminated by natural selection.
Honey badgers are an exception, just one accident among millions of creatures...
With the birth of the new Hua City "King of Weird Tales," the urban legend in Hua City who did not personally experience the Night Parade of One Hundred Demons all wanted to catch a glimpse of the King's magnificent appearance.
However, when Lu Yibei was sleeping at home, the urban legend dared not disturb her, so they could only suppress the excitement in their hearts. As soon as she left home, they swarmed in, chasing her to the examination hall.
Who knows which grandson leaked the news!
Lu Yibei, prioritizing the exam, suppressed the complex emotions in her heart, walked into the examination hall with a poker face, found her seat according to her student number, and sat down.
As the opening bell rang, she had just picked up her pen and written a line on the test paper when the urban legend swarmed around her.
Staring with dozens of large, curious eyes, they commenced a powerful, all-around, no-blind-spot observation. The desk was dripping with mucus and blood plasma invisible to the naked eye.
At that moment, she knew the exam was definitely going to fail!
Although there were reasons, Lu Yibei later displayed the dignity of a King in one battle, publicly beating the Eyeball who was holding high the banner of "studying is useless," and explicitly prohibited the "sasaeng fan" behavior of the Hua City urban legend.
But what was done was done. The answers on the test paper were written in black ink, red blood, and yellow plasma on white paper, and the result was a foregone conclusion. How to argue with Professor Ma next was the most important thing.
Should I tell Professor Ma that I was possessed on the day of the exam?
No, no, even I think this reason is absurd, how could the Professor possibly believe it?
Or, should I let those guys in the Monster Story Chat Group think of a way to slightly manipulate things?
Just as Lu Yibei was secretly pondering, footsteps suddenly came from outside the courtyard. Looking up, a figure walked in aggressively.
Li Xuan stopped in front of Lu Yibei, his hands on his hips, his chin slightly tilted up, and the corners of his mouth turned down. Every move seemed to tell Lu Yibei that the Hua City Si Ye Hui "Discipline Squad Leader" was about to cause trouble again.
"Some people are really idle! Sunbathing, drinking tea, and eating... eating spicy strips here early in the morning. If someone didn't know, they'd think you were a retired and rehired doorman grandpa!"
Hearing this, Lu Yibei slightly furrowed her brows, turned her head to look at Gu Niang beside her, who was holding a spicy strip in her mouth, a teacup in her hand, and fiddling with the radio, and said seriously, "Did you hear that? He's talking about you!"
"???"
Gu Niang was stunned for a moment, frowned, pondered for a while, then looked up at Li Xuan, giving him a fierce look.
"..." Li Xuan's mouth twitched, and he quickly said, "Lu Yibei, I'm talking about you, not Agent One! Have you finished your work? You're slacking off here early in the morning?"
"The atmosphere of the Night Watch is being corrupted by people like you and Bai Kai. Do you even know what your identities are?"
"I know!" Lu Yibei nodded seriously, "Hua City Night Watch Acting Agent!"
"You know, yet you still..." Li Xuan hesitated, pondered for a few seconds, and then patiently said, "Have you finished writing this week's data statistics?"
As an agent also responsible for report review, Li Xuan felt it was necessary to have a good talk with Lu Yibei about this.
Lu Yibei was too perfunctory, so perfunctory that he could barely stand it.
"I finished writing it!"
"Then... the night patrol report..." freēwēbnovel.com
"I finished that too!" Lu Yibei said seriously, "Not only the night patrol report, but also the seal location monitoring and repair logs are finished. If you still want to ask about the Spiritual Energy fluctuation monitoring log, that's finished too."
"Of course, there are some miscellaneous weekly and daily reports that I haven't had time to write because the time hasn't arrived yet."
"Hmph, you think I haven't read the reports you wrote?" Li Xuan said, "Except for the seal location monitoring and repair logs, they all say 【Everything is normal, nothing happened】. Who are you fooling?"
"If Hua City were really this peaceful, that would be great!"
"The fact is, nothing happened!" Lu Yibei shrugged, "If you don't believe me, you can ask the Elder brother from the Special Operations Team, or the colleagues at the Spiritual Energy Monitoring Center!"
As the dignified King of Weird Tales of Hua City, isn't it normal that no urban legend cause trouble when I'm on night duty? Lu Yibei thought to herself.
Li Xuan, "..."
What Lu Yibei said was the truth. Before he came, he had already checked the records. Indeed, Hua City had been calm and peaceful when Lu Yibei was on night duty these days.
However, even if it was perfunctory, Lu Yibei completing a month's work within a week inevitably made people feel there was an element of perfunctoriness involved.
He suddenly missed when Jiang Li was here. At least Jiang Li would always wait until the last day of the month to submit all her reports.
This made it possible for him to find traces and points to argue when he discovered Jiang Li was "corrupting" the atmosphere of the Hua City Night Watch.
Just as Li Xuan was secretly thinking about how to find an excuse to make Lu Yibei behave, An Qing strolled over to the two of them.
She looked at Li Xuan and Lu Yibei, subtly walked between them, and smiled, "Oh? Everyone's here! That's great!"
"Recently, Du Sixian's observation period is almost over. I'm planning to let her perform some simple tasks, but the black night disease patients affected by the Night Parade of One Hundred Demons haven't been dealt with yet, and I can't leave for a while. I wonder if..."
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"Does anyone volunteer to step forward and provide support to her on my behalf?"
In fact, in An Qing's opinion, the only reliable people in the entire Hua City Si Ye Hui were Lu Yibei and Li Xuan. Jiang Li was on vacation and hadn't returned, Gu Xiliu was an old procrastinator, Gu Niang couldn't provide support at all, and Bai Kai carried the risk of engaging in improper relationships, so they were all unreliable.
"Lu Yibei! He's already finished his work," Li Xuan quickly said.
"Uh, this..."
Lu Yibei opened her mouth, just about to say something, when she saw An Qing look at her and smile, "So, I'll leave the work of supporting Du Sixian to you, is that okay?"
"No, I actually..."
"It's alright. Although you're just an acting agent, everyone has seen your work ability. Please help out!" An Qing quickly interjected, "Du Sixian really looks up to you!"
Lu Yibei, "..." My Night Watch work is done, but the King of Weird Tales work isn't!
Lu Yibei had only recently discovered that the two to three dependents Bai Kai mentioned were not meant to play any role in the Night Parade of One Hundred Demons.
But rather, after the Night Parade of One Hundred Demons...
----
There were simply too many things the King of Weird Tales had to handle.
Putting aside extreme rulers like Plague Tai Sui, who would devour and assimilate all urban legend in an area after occupying it, being a qualified "King" was not easy.
Just like how taxpayers' money should be used for their benefit, the King of Weird Tales, who enjoyed the Spiritual Energy gathered through the earth Pulse Breath, was theoretically obliged to respond to the pleas of the urban legend.
These pleas ranged from territorial disputes to marital issues between urban legend, with at least dozens of large and small matters daily.
On the third day after completing the Night Parade of One Hundred Demons, Lu Yibei understood why Ju Meng was so skilled at officiating weddings.
And why Ju Meng was obsessed with being a "runaway girl," living a life of scamming food and drinks by hiding in others' homes, because it was truly enjoyable. freēwēbnovel.com
Looking at the two urban legend kneeling before her, Lu Yibei rubbed her throbbing temples.
When can I be like Ju Meng, run off to someone else's house to freeload, steal money for microtransactions, and play games all day?
I really wish I had a few more dependents to help me share my burdens...
Lost in thought, she expressionlessly flicked her sleeve and said coldly, "Speak, what kind of broken... disputes do you need me to judge?"
"Reporting, Devil Woman," the Strange Tale, large as a pig, with a tiger's nose and pig's tusks, and radiating a foul stench, cupped his fists and said, "This guy lost a bet with me and refuses to honor it!"
Lu Yibei looked at the Strange Tale beside him, whose head was square and face was evenly dotted with round spots, looking exactly like a die, and asked, "Is this true?"
The Dice Strange Tale blinked his eyes awkwardly, "Reporting, Devil Woman, it is true, but I didn't expect him to actually dare to go into a toilet and pick a human's butt!"
"urban legend also have dignity. Which normal Strange Tale would hide in a toilet waiting to pick someone's butt?!"
Lu Yibei rubbed her forehead and looked at the foul-smelling Strange Tale again, saying in annoyance, "It's not that I'm nagging you, but when you make a bet with someone, can you at least check their Strange Tale type first?"
"For him, being an evil spirit type, a Strange Tale with the Power of a toilet ghost, isn't doing something like this natural?"
"Exactly, exactly! Give me the Strange Tale core!" The toilet ghost echoed.
"Shut up, I haven't finished talking about you yet!" Lu Yibei glared at the toilet ghost and said, "It's one thing that your Strange Tale Power brings bad habits, but how can you use this habit to make bets with other urban legend?"
"Is this a bet? This is fraud!"
"Also, what did I tell you before? Within Hua City, urban legend are forbidden from attacking humans. Are you just letting it go in one ear and out the other?"
Facing Lu Yibei, whose face was cold and tone was angry, the toilet ghost trembled in fear, shrinking into a ball, and weakly said, "But, if we don't attack humans, what about our Spiritual Energy source? I'm almost starving to death."
As soon as the toilet ghost finished speaking, responses arose from all sides.
"Yeah!"
"Devil Woman, please give us a way to live?"
"Exactly, exactly!"
"..."
Seeing this, Lu Yibei rubbed her forehead, waved her hand, and saw Mengmeng walk up from the side, holding an A4 paper, and shouted, "Silence!"
"Regarding this, Devil Woman has her own plans!"
A chilling Spiritual Energy fluctuation spread, and the scene instantly fell silent.
After all the urban legend had quieted down, Mengmeng cleared her throat and, using her once unparalleled Hua City opera voice, began to read the content on the A4 paper.
"Now, I will announce the 'Hua City Strange Tale Management Regulations Disaster Revision Never Changing Again Final Version'!"
"First, electronic devices and urban legend are not allowed to enter the examination room.
Second, please resolve fights offline. Online brawls through Devil Woman's dream are prohibited.
..."
"Forty-fourth, when hunting among urban legend, please follow the principle of positive recyclability. Refer to Article Twenty-five for details.
Forty-fifth, and the most important one.
Hunting humans is prohibited (except for criminals). If found, the Strange Tale core will be immediately confiscated.
If you need to supplement Spiritual Energy, you can obtain it freely through methods such as scaring or spreading faith, provided human safety is guaranteed.
There's no need to worry about the Night Watch investigating; Devil Woman will help you handle all aftermath matters.
(Note: Scaring humans who have already hidden under their blankets and in their wardrobes is prohibited.)
Furthermore, those who obtain insufficient Spiritual Energy through the above methods can apply to Devil Woman. After review, approval may be granted to use earth Pulse Breath to capture free-floating Spiritual Energy for infusion.
The final interpretation rights for the above articles belong to the Disaster Witch.
All Hua City urban legend are expected to strictly comply and spread the word.
That is all."
After speaking, Mengmeng scanned the dense crowd of urban legend in front of her, waited for a few seconds, and asked, "I'm done. Who agrees, and who opposes?"
"..."
After a long silence from the assembled urban legend, the Human-faced Centipede leader tentatively asked, "Can we really scare humans freely without worrying about the Night Watch coming after us?"
"Are you doubting Devil Woman's ability?" Mengmeng glanced at the Human-faced Centipede leader, then turned her head to look at Lu Yibei with a questioning gaze.
Seeing Lu Yibei nod in approval, Mengmeng continued addressing the urban legend, "To be frank with you, Devil Woman has strong connections within the Hua City Si Ye Hui. As long as you don't kill anyone, she can help you smooth over anything."
"..."
After another period of silence, the urban legend present suddenly became excited.
"That's great, I've wanted to do this for a long time!"
"Exactly, exactly! As an enthusiastic ghost, I've long wanted to crawl through the internet cable to the keyboard warrior's home to conduct a series of ideological work (physical)!"
"Hah! Who would want to kill people if they weren't worried about the Night Watch causing trouble?"
"..."
Looking at the chattering urban legend, Lu Yibei nodded, very satisfied.
The creation of these regulations was not a whim; it was based on careful analysis and research of the content of the urban legend' various pleas during this period.
Lu Yibei had also confirmed with Jin Jiao and Silver Horn that as long as no one died, with certain operational methods, the higher-ups could turn a blind eye.
In fact, the urban legend in Taoyuan had long engaged in scaring tourists in the scenic area.
After combining these two points and conducting a thorough analysis, Lu Yibei came up with the current "Monster Energy Company"-like regulations.
In fact, most lower-level urban legend that haven't been corrupted or fallen require less Spiritual Energy to survive and don't necessarily need to attack humans to obtain it.
In the past, hunting individuals with potential Spiritual Energy and scaring humans were almost considered equivalent crimes, both resulting in attracting the Night Watch and being eliminated. Therefore, with equal risk, they simply resorted to killing, choosing the method that could yield more Spiritual Energy.
Of course, this is not the fault of the Night Watch. After all, most urban legend are not restricted by a King «N.o.v.e.l.i.g.h.t» of Weird Tales like Lu Yibei. Even if they were, they wouldn't necessarily make similar regulations; letting things slide usually leads to the worst outcome.
However, Hua City is different now. The Disaster Witch has arrived, and there is hope. The Night Watch can no longer control urban legend scaring humans, and everyone can live openly in the dark corners!
urban legend also have their own lives. If they weren't forced, why would they run out in the middle of the night to bite humans to death?
Moreover, Devil Woman even provides subsidies! Which normal King of Weird Tales would be willing to use earth Pulse Breath for such things?
Thus, starting the day after the release of the 'Hua City Strange Tale Management Regulations Disaster Revision Never Changing Again Final Version'.
Within Hua City, murder-type Strange Tale attack incidents sharply decreased, while sighting and contact-type Strange Tale incidents increased dramatically, yet there were rarely any casualties.
Even.
Hua City Central Hospital even received several emergency calls from urban legend on behalf of patients who had sudden heart attacks. The medical staff were very scared and hesitated to rescue, almost missing the best rescue time...
