Free Web NovelIn the open space of Baiyanzi Village, a white figure danced up and down around the stage, extending pale tentacles, busily rearranging the stage.
Under Mengmeng's control, the stage surface was dusted off, the red silk was re-hung, four flat, round red lanterns were hung on the four pillars around the stage, and a hip-and-gable roof and two performance curtains were set up using the limited materials in the village, looking quite professional.
Mengmeng truly lived up to her reputation as a former famous star in Hua City. What is professionalism? This is professionalism!
Lu Yibei sat sprawled out on a long bench below the stage, chewing on spicy strips, watching Mengmeng busy herself while waiting for Xing Yuan to arrive, thoughts flitting through her mind.
For urban legend like Mengmeng, who have lived for a long time, there is a high possibility that they possess cultural traditions that have been lost in modern times. Why isn't there anyone specifically researching this?
It's been a while since Du Sixian was captured. The servant mark hasn't sent any signal that the servant is in danger. Did that River God not harm her, or was even the signal intercepted?
Speaking of which, the story between Shui Ge and the Superintendent is truly confusing. One says he was cheated out of money and affection by a scumbag woman, while the other claims she never intended to harm him. I wonder if someone is lying...
Just as Lu Yibei was contemplating, a fierce wind struck from behind, followed by the soft sound of high heels hitting the ground. She looked in the direction of the sound and frowned.
Sister, I know you have a good figure, but isn't this dress a bit ill-fitting? Lu Yibei muttered inwardly.
From a distance, she saw Xing Yuan appear in her line of sight, wearing a pure white wedding dress.
It was a strapless, mermaid-style wedding dress.
Its color was not pure, even a bit yellowed, the bead embroidery was not delicate, seemingly made entirely of plastic, and the lace mesh was not light enough, with a quality close to inferior.
Even its size wasn't quite right, as if it could be torn apart by Xing Yuan's proud figure at any moment.
Aside from being clean, neat, and well-preserved, Lu Yibei could hardly see any merits in that wedding dress.
Why did she choose such a tattered and old dress?
There's no reason!
Even though it was late, with her means as a Night Watch Superintendent, getting an exquisite wedding dress should be an easy task, right? Lu Yibei muttered inwardly.
————
Hua City city center.
A silver light weaved through the gradually thinning jungle of steel and concrete, tearing through the night like a meteor.
Under the night sky, Bai Kai moved forward continuously towards the address Lu Yibei had given him.
Although he always felt something was off, even if they were getting married, logically, they wouldn't hold a wedding in such a remote village in the middle of the night.
However, as long as there was a possibility, he wanted to go and see.
Moreover, thinking that the woman getting married was her, his mind was filled with memories from when he was eighteen, and he couldn't care about anything else.
...
Twenty-two years ago.
Eighteen-year-old Bai Kai, along with his Senior Brother Lu Ming, left the Gobi Desert where they had lived for over a decade and came to Hua City.
At that time, the two who had mastered their skills confidently felt that even if they weren't overwhelming forces, they were at least like fierce tigers descending the mountain.
However, reality quickly delivered a heavy blow, beating them into two dead dogs.
No matter how strong one's Spiritual Energy was, one still had to eat.
Two single poor guys with neither diplomas nor °• N 𝑜 v 𝑒 l i g h t •° work experience, entering modern society for the first time, could only guard a dilapidated old house, their minds constantly thinking about how to make a living.
Unfortunately, their opinions always clashed, making it difficult to proceed.
Lu Ming was never serious from a young age, as if he had the genes of a destructive element in his bones, always coming up with crooked ideas.
With an empty stomach, he wanted to cause trouble. It just so happened that tomb raiding novels were popular on the market at the time, and he slapped his thigh, deciding to use the Feng Shui skills learned from his Master to engage in tomb raiding.
"Xiao Bai, look, the protagonist in this book is called Bayi, and my Grandpa is also called Bayi. Maybe I really have a genetic talent in this area! How about it, want to pull off a big one with me?!"
As he spoke, Lu Ming's eyes seemed to glow, the glow of money.
And at that time, Bai Kai was as pure as a white lotus.
Who would have thought that the future King of Hua City's nightclubs, when he debuted, adopted the persona of a naturally innocent young man?
Facing the excited Lu Ming, he refused without thinking, "No, absolutely not! Confucius said: A gentleman does what is right and refrains from what is wrong."
"Taking something without asking is stealing, something even a three-year-old knows. How can we do such a thing!?"
"Xiao Bai, your Spirit Mark advancement is Sage, it doesn't mean you actually have to be a sage. Are you perhaps reading too much and getting silly?" Lu Ming said impatiently, "Besides, when we raid tombs, we can use soul summoning methods to summon the tomb owner and ask them, and then take the things!" freeweɓnovel.cѳm
"As long as we ask, it's not stealing, right? Yes, we don't call this tomb raiding, we call this tomb borrowing!"
"You..." Bai Kai looked at his Senior Brother, wanting to speak but hesitating, "Forget it, Senior Brother, if you want to go, go by yourself! I'm certainly not going!"
"Are you really not going?" Lu Ming asked, narrowing his eyes slightly.
"Not going!" Bai Kai said decisively.
"Then if I make money from 'borrowing' the tomb and buy food, will you eat it?" Lu Ming asked again.
"I..." Bai Kai touched his stomach, which was so flat it was almost sticking to his back, gritted his teeth, turned his face away, and said fiercely, "No!"
"Alright! Xiao Bai, you're awesome!" Lu Ming gave Bai Kai a thumbs-up and said, "Then I'll go by myself. Anyway, my trash Spirit Mark doesn't have as many taboos as yours. Filling my stomach is the priority."
After speaking, he opened the window and jumped out, quickly disappearing into the night. He was gone for over three months. He didn't 'borrow' a tomb, but he dug up a troublesome relationship and got himself involved.
However, Bai Kai only learned about Lu Ming's experience half a year later.
During the time Lu Ming was gone, he, a living person, almost starved to death due to the restrictions of his Spirit Mark.
If someone hadn't introduced him to a job hunting urban legend, by the time Lu Ming returned, he might have found his Junior Brother lying dead in their old house.
Bai Kai learned about the urban legend attack incident from Liu Banxian, the fortune teller, when he was competing for business with him on the pedestrian bridge at the entrance of Peony Street.
He went to try fortune telling to earn money like Liu Banxian, but he didn't have Liu Banxian's thick skin. When a Miss asked him to read her palm, as soon as he touched her hand, his face turned red, and he was too shy to say anything at all.
Seeing Bai Kai holding her hand and fumbling with it for a long time without letting go, and unable to explain anything, the Miss thought he was taking advantage and immediately wanted to take him to the police station.
Fortunately, he had a handsome face, and Liu Banxian helped him out, so he managed to barely avoid danger.
Finally, Liu Banxian sat down next to Bai Kai with his small stool and said earnestly, "Young man, why bother competing for business with a lousy fortune teller like me? This isn't a good job anyway."
"If I weren't old and had a family, I wouldn't be doing this either..."
"I say, young man, I just calculated with my fingers that you are also someone in the know, right? If you don't mind, I, this old man, have some connections and can help you find some jobs hunting urban legend."
Bai Kai stared blankly at Liu Banxian, unable to see anything through his round-rimmed sunglasses. After a long silence, he cupped his hands and said, "Thank you, Senior. This junior would like to hear the details!"
"It's like this, there's a clothing factory in the East District of Hua City. The factory owner was having illicit affairs. Specifically, every Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, he would invite the female employees to..."
"Senior!" Bai Kai's cheeks flushed, and he couldn't help but interrupt, "Confucius said: Do not look at what is contrary to propriety; do not listen to what is contrary to propriety."
"You don't need to tell me the specific details. Just tell me what I need to do."
"How can that be!" Liu Banxian stiffened his neck and said fiercely, "Don't you know that when hunting urban legend, every single detail is important! You listen to me carefully!"
Bai Kai, "..."
And so, Bai Kai, who was still as pure as a blank sheet of paper, was pulled by Liu Banxian and given over half an hour of basic physiological education.
...
Bai Kai's first job as a urban legend hunter, received through Liu Banxian, was to help hunt urban legend at a clothing factory in the East District of Hua City.
According to Liu Banxian, the owner got a young female worker pregnant but didn't want to take responsibility. The desperate female worker, overcome with shame and anger, committed suicide wearing a prop wedding dress produced by the factory.
She cut open her stomach, already five months pregnant. The undeveloped infant mixed with her internal organs, spilling all over the floor, and the blood stained the prop wedding dress that hadn't yet left the factory.
Although the factory owner suppressed this matter with money and connections, workers subsequently began to hear the crying of an infant and see a woman in bloody clothes wandering in the factory.
Logically, dealing with this kind of newly formed evil spirit type urban legend should not have been difficult for Bai Kai's level.
However, people die if they don't eat!
When Lu Ming left, he gave Bai Kai all the money he had, but it didn't add up to more than a hundred yuan.
Bai Kai lived for two weeks on less than a hundred yuan and the five yuan fifty he earned from fortune telling. Although he didn't starve to death, his face was sallow, and he was not far from starving.
Bai Kai's personality at that time was like that of a poor scholar from ancient times, his mind full of sage teachings, always saying "entrusted by others, loyal to their affairs." He was so thin-skinned that before hunting the urban legend, he didn't even dare to ask the employer for a meal.
Furthermore, the factory owner was not a good person to begin with and had no intention of treating him to a meal, so he was even more embarrassed to ask.
Thus, he faced the urban legend alone on an empty stomach. After only a few exchanges, he felt dizzy and weak, his hands trembled and sweated, and he began to show severe symptoms of low blood sugar.
...
Bai Kai had told Lu Yibei many stories about his youth intermittently, but there were some embarrassing things he hadn't told her.
For example, how he almost starved to death in front of a urban legend, or how his love story with his first girlfriend began.
Many love stories begin with a hero saving the beauty, but his love story began with the beauty saving the hero.
...
When the factory owner introduced the situation to Bai Kai, he only told him that there was a bloody female ghost wandering in the factory, but he didn't tell him that besides the bloody female ghost, there was also an accompanying Ghost Infant urban legend.
Bai Kai, who was already physically weak from hunger, was barely managing against one urban legend. With the sudden appearance of another urban legend, the increase in pressure was by no means a simple one plus one equals two.
The bloody female ghost's attacks were brutal and fierce, while the Ghost Infant's methods were bizarre and sinister.
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Soon, Bai Kai was forced into a corner, his clothes tattered, his body covered in black-smoking wounds. It seemed he was about to be swallowed by the gaping maw in the blood-robed female ghost's abdomen.
Just then, Xing Yuan appeared.
“If you don't have the ability, don't try to hunt urban legend like others!”
“I've been eyeing this job for a long time. I watched Li about to be unable to bear the pressure of stopping work and raise the reward. I didn't expect you, a stinking brat, to butt in and ruin everything!”
“It really pisses me off! Why do I still have to save you now? Damn it!”
In a daze, Bai Kai heard a very pleasant voice murmuring to him. He slowly raised his head and saw, from bottom to top, a pair of white running shoes, tight jeans, a beige jacket, and an exaggeratedly large, pitch-black battle axe.
A girl with delicate features appeared behind him at some point, looking down at him with a cold face. Her slightly charming eyes were sharp and fierce, as if they were about to spit fire.
This was the first time Bai Kai had encountered such a beautiful Miss. Not only was she beautiful, but she also exuded a captivating confidence. Facing Bai Kai's scrutinizing gaze, she looked completely self-assured, as if she didn't care about others' opinions at all.
A beautiful heroine saving someone from distress – this was Bai Kai's first impression of Xing Yuan.
“Watch carefully, a urban legend hunter should be like me!”
Xing Yuan just said this coldly to Bai Kai, then grabbed her battle axe and charged towards the urban legend.
Thus, a sharp air blast suddenly erupted, and a crimson arc tore through the night.
Bai Kai didn't know what happened after that. Under the impact of the powerful Spiritual Energy fluctuations, his vision went black and he fainted. When he woke up again, he was already lying in Xing Yuan's arms.
She was carrying him in a princess-carry, flying over the city and arriving at that dilapidated residential area, then throwing him onto the bed, stripping off his clothes and taking off his pants.
Hua City in September already had a touch of coolness. Feeling the cool breeze on his skin and watching the beautiful Miss's hands fumbling around, Bai Kai's mind was filled with Liu Banxian's lewd little stories.
And so...
“Mi-Miss, the Master once said... Wait a minute, don't come any closer!”
“What are you yelling about? I found that you're not only fair-skinned like a Miss, but your temper is also like a Miss's?” Xing Yuan said irritably, “If you keep moving around like this, how can I apply the medicine for you?”
Bai Kai looked at the blackened wounds on his body, then at the ointment in Xing Yuan's hand, covered his face with his hands, and responded weakly, “Oh, sorry, misunderstanding. Miss, please feel free.”
Hearing this, a mischievous smile appeared on Xing Yuan's lips. She stuck out her pink tongue and licked the corner of her mouth, “Really feel free? Honestly, I quite like your type of fresh young man.”
Bai Kai, “???”
Thus, another label, 'lustful', was added to the beautiful heroine.
Seeing Bai Kai's eyes widen and him shrink back towards the corner of the bed in panic, Xing Yuan burst out laughing.
“Hahaha! Look at how timid you are, are you trying to make me die of laughter and inherit my Huabei bill?”
“Alright, I'm not someone who takes advantage of others. Apply the medicine yourself. After you're done, if you want something to eat, go look in the kitchen yourself, but there's probably only instant noodles left.”
“As for me, I'm going to find that Li guy to ask for my wages now.”
After saying that, Xing Yuan left Bai Kai behind and went to the clothing factory boss to collect her reward, seemingly not worried at all that Bai Kai would steal anything from her house.
Of course, there wasn't much to steal in her house anyway, except for the cabinets full of instant noodles of various flavors.
Sometimes Bai Kai would think, maybe that was the day he fell in love with eating instant noodles, so much so that later, every time he investigated a urban legend incident, as long as he had time, he would make a bowl of noodles.
Even if he didn't eat it, just holding it in his hands.
...
I wonder if all those bosses have a habit of having illicit affairs and running away.
Anyway, the bosses of the Jiangnan Leather Factory and the Hua City East District Clothing Factory both did it, and they both ran away.
Bai Kai and Xing Yuan worked hard, but in the end, they didn't get a single cent in reward.
In a fit of anger, Xing Yuan directly looted the clothing factory's warehouse and brought back over fifty boxes of clothes that hadn't had time to leave the factory as compensation.
For a long time after that, the two of them lived a life of battling wits with the urban management uncles during the day, setting up street stalls to sell clothes, and accepting commissions to hunt urban legend at night.
During those days, they called each other father and grandfather all day long, watched movies together, ate at roadside stalls together, whistled at beautiful women on the street together, and... were inseparable all day long, even squeezing onto the same bed at night.
However, a gentleman's feelings are expressed but restrained by propriety. Bai Kai would always stubbornly place a bowl of clear water in the middle of the bed before sleeping, just like Liang Shanbo and Zhu Yingtai. Then, every morning, he would fall into contemplation looking at the empty porcelain bowl.
At that time, Xing Yuan always told Bai Kai that she was the strongest Psychic in the Hua City area, and following her meant having meat to eat. Bai Kai would just smile and not say anything, lowering his head to eat two mouthfuls of instant noodles.
He knew very well that among the Psychic in Hua City, at least Lu Ming was much stronger than Xing Yuan, and he himself would be quite a bit stronger than her once he had eaten his fill.
Although he knew, he never exposed it. Every time they hunted urban legend, he would silently stand behind Xing Yuan and secretly help.
Just like that, autumn went, winter came, and spring returned, and it was again the season for all things to reproduce.
One night, Bai Kai, as usual, placed a bowl of clear water in the center of the bed. Not long after falling asleep, he heard a crisp sound.
The bowl containing the clear water was fiercely smashed by Xing Yuan. Then she lifted Bai Kai's quilt and offered his lips a warm and damp kiss.
Then, the curtains blocked the light from the street lamps outside the window. The night was like an abyss, without light, without consciousness, only intense, ambiguous, joyful life.
The bed beneath them seemed to turn into a small boat, they nestled together, floating and sinking in the surging waves.
Their breaths mingled, they spoke intimate words with their eyes closed, their hands exploring in the haze touching and then separating.
They were intoxicated in the bumpy night, having the same absurd, crazy beautiful dream, rising, rising in that hazy dreamscape.
The clear breeze blew from outside the window, fluttering the curtains, bringing fine rain, leaving a few peach blossoms. Someone spoke in the quiet night.
“Good boy, don't cry, I will take responsibility.”
“Hmph! Who, who wants you to take responsibility!?”
“But, your Spirit Mark, doesn't it require abstinence?” Xing Yuan said, rubbing Bai Kai's hair in her arms.
“The Master said: Food and sex are human nature. There shouldn't be any problem, right?”
“Oh.” Xing Yuan responded thoughtfully, murmuring, “That's good, that's good...”
A week later.
Xing Yuan, without any warning, disappeared from Bai Kai's world, taking the Spiritual Energy she had taken from him, and taking the savings they had accumulated from selling clothes and hunting urban legend together...
It seemed as if it had been planned long ago, not even leaving a reason.
----
In the open space of Baiyanzi Village, everything was ready.
The four red lanterns were already lit. Lighting these four lanterns meant inviting the lanterns, signifying that a performance was to be held tonight.
Lu Yibei looked around, snapped her fingers, put one hand on her hip, and held a rolled-up newspaper as a microphone in the other, shouting, “Actors in place, lights ready, Kamsahamnida music!”
“What? Master, I don't understand.” Mengmeng stood on the stage, looking at Lu Yibei with a ghostly cute expression.
Xing Yuan, who had already walked to her seat and sat down, adjusted her wedding dress, rolled her eyes and said, “She means, sing a little tune for Master!”
Seeing Mengmeng cast a questioning look, Lu Yibei scratched the back of her head, “Uh... that's pretty much what it means. Mengmeng, shall we start? Just sing as we discussed before.”
“Okay!” Mengmeng responded, walked to the center of the stage, struck a pose, and with a clear voice, entered the performance state.
“Recalling the iron horses and golden spears of yesteryear, since the initial sworn brotherhood in the Peach Garden...”
----
Meanwhile, on the small mountain not far from the stage, Bai Kai looked at the figure wearing a wedding dress, sitting alone on the edge of the stage, looking around. His heart felt as if it had been fiercely squeezed, skipping a beat. He murmured, “I didn't expect you to keep it.”
That wedding dress was the last one left when he and Xing Yuan were selling clothes back then. Because it was a sample dress, the material and workmanship were not exquisite, and could even be called inferior, so it couldn't be sold at all.
Bai Kai had originally planned to throw away or get rid of that wedding dress at a very low price, but Xing Yuan stubbornly kept it.
She said, “If it doesn't sell, then it doesn't sell. I think it fits me quite well when I wear it, so I'll just keep it for my future wedding.”
“Wedding? With whom?” Bai Kai asked foolishly.
“You...” Xing Yuan said, stopping halfway through her sentence, pausing for a long time before adding the second half, “Don't worry about so much! Just keep it anyway!”
Bai Kai was immersed in his memories. Just at this moment, a change occurred on the river.
----
Mengmeng first sang a section of “Shuang Fu Meng,” and after finishing the song, her voice shifted and she began to sing “Ku Xiang,” followed by several funeral plays, and finally, she sang “Nu Qi Jie.”
“First, I hate my parents for being so cruel... Second, I hate... Third, I hate...”
The ethereal and melodious opera singing flowed from Mengmeng's mouth. Perhaps because she herself had similar experiences, she expressed the despairing hatred of the weak so vividly that it made people feel uneasy while also evoking sadness.
Immediately after, the lake behind the stage began to change.
The quietly flowing river water merged with the mountain and the night, making it impossible to distinguish where the sky was, where the water was, or where the riverbank was.
One could only see a thick fog suddenly appearing in the dark distance, with points of light shining through the fog, as if someone had grabbed a handful of stars and sprinkled them into the mist.
The dark, heavy river water merged with the night, making it impossible to distinguish where the sky was, where the water was, or where the bank was. One could only see tiny lights suddenly appearing in the dark distance, as if someone had grabbed a handful of stars and sprinkled them into the river.
Under the illumination of those lights, in the flickering lamp shadows, more and more dark human figures appeared on the riverbank, densely floating in the water, slowly approaching the stage.
And then.
In the distance, a terribly red, terribly red large boat, as if riding on the mist, floated lightly towards them...
