Free Web NovelThe warm winter sun shone on the accumulated snow; the snow half-melted on the ink-colored tiles, leaving streaks of dull marks under the horse-head wall, as if someone had stepped there.
Sunlight filtered through the gaps in the bare branches, illuminating a tall figure standing by the roadside on Taohua Road Antique Street.
Professor Ma stood alone by the street, taking a note from his jacket pocket with his left hand, confirming the address on it, and nodding.
"This should be it. I didn't expect him to move here from the countryside. It looks like he made quite a bit of money dealing in antiques over the years!"
He muttered to himself, put away the note, took out a copper coin, tossed it into the sky, caught it, looked at both sides, and a faint smile appeared at the corner of his mouth.
From the result of the copper coin prediction, everything would go smoothly today.
Using a copper coin to clear the way when going out to do business was the self-cultivation of an old handsome guy from the "Copper Coin Divine Cult."
Putting away the copper coin, straightening his clothes, and pulling up his trench coat collar to ward off the cold wind, Professor Ma stood on the roadside, looked left and right, then crossed the sidewalk and walked towards the alley opposite.
According to the address on the note, his old friend lived deep inside the alley. fгeewebnovёl.com
----
Thinking back to that year, Ma Zhen, just past thirty, led a team for his first solo field investigation. He accidentally got separated from the team and lost his way on the Loess Plateau, which was full of ravines and wild weather. He almost died in a sandstorm, but this also began the most thrilling and exciting journey of his life.
At the brink of death, a young man with peerless martial arts and astonishing looks rescued him from the yellow sand. After waking up and learning that the young man's purpose for this trip was to find the legendary tomb of the Yellow Emperor located somewhere on the Loess Plateau, he volunteered to travel with the young man, taking on the role of an "encyclopedia."
Later, during their joint exploration of the Loess Plateau, they met Lan Sheng and his group, who had been tomb raiders for generations. The three hit it off immediately.
A knowledgeable and mature elder brother, an unrestrained young man who was a tomb raider, plus a cold and stern young man with extraordinary martial arts who seemed to possess knowledge of the occult—what kind of combination was this?
This was simply one of the golden combinations in various tomb raiding novels!
Later, this small team of three ventured through deserts, traversed dense forests, witnessed ancient cities standing tall in the yellow sand, and delved into bronze palaces beneath the earth forests. They outsmarted poaching gangs and engaged in life-and-death struggles with strange wolf packs.
It was truly a time of youthful vigor, full of grand aspirations, a worthwhile and carefree journey through the human world.
But...
However, legends are just legends. After witnessing things that many people might never encounter in a lifetime, the three ultimately failed to find the Yellow Emperor's tomb. Later, due to a series of irreconcilable conflicts, the three eventually went their separate ways.
Professor Ma returned to the university to continue his research on ancient special characters, while Lan Sheng, who made a living by tomb raiding, turned over a new leaf and returned to his hometown, Tang City, to start a business dealing in antiques.
The two kept in touch occasionally, sometimes reminiscing about the past, sometimes discussing antiques. They weren't close but not distant either.
As for that young man with high martial arts skills, he left after separating from them and never returned, with no news of him. Just as he came, he left just as Chic and mysteriously.
Recalling the past inevitably brings a sigh. Thinking about it now, that was already twenty-one years ago.
----
Walking through the alley, it didn't take long to reach Professor Ma's private antique shop, which had no sign.
The main door was half-open, but the shop floor inside was not lit. Stepping over the threshold, a faint scent of high-grade incense burning drifted from the courtyard.
"Old Lan, Old Lan?" He called out twice, but no one responded. He took two steps forward and called out again, "Lan Sheng, I'm here!"
The shop was quiet, as if time had frozen there. Only the sunlight coming through the wooden window, reflecting the dust particles slowly floating in the air, proved that time was still flowing.
"Strange, didn't we agree to meet this morning? Where did he go?" Professor Ma mumbled. Just then, something suddenly hit the back of his head.
Looking around, he saw an exceptionally clean date pit in the snow.
Staring at the date pit for a few seconds, Professor Ma suddenly looked up and saw a Little Girl in the window of the small building next door on the second floor.
That Little Girl, a tiny thing, looked about six or seven years old. She was wearing a peacock green padded jacket with velvet trim. Silk fabric wrapped her long hair into two round buns. Her exquisite melon-seed face had some baby fat, and her skin was glowing white, like the accumulated snow on the eaves.
What a cute Little Girl. I wish she were my granddaughter! Looking at the Little Girl, Professor Ma, a severe granddaughter-lover, couldn't help but sigh in his heart.
Although many men are old perverts, liking black-stockinged older sisters, cosplaying lolis, stay-at-home wives... with a wide range of hobbies, Professor Ma truly had no hint of lust.
He simply liked children, especially Little Girl.
The reason for this was his grandson at home, who was like the Monkey King reincarnated; no one could control him.
How wonderful it would be if he had a well-behaved granddaughter!
Sometimes, Professor Ma was so angry his blood pressure soared, and he even wanted to slap his grandson to death with a Five Finger Mountain.
Just as he was sighing, the Little Girl finished another winter date, raised her hand, and threw a date pit, hitting him squarely in the center of his forehead.
"Old shameless one, staring at a Little Girl, your eyes are glowing, aren't you ashamed!" The Little Girl stuck out her tongue and mumbled, "Tell me, what are you here for?"
Hit by the date pit, Professor Ma suddenly snapped back to attention. Looking at the Little Girl again, he couldn't help but frown.
A child of six or seven should be at an innocent age, but the Little Girl, despite her young age, had a charming and affectionate look between her eyebrows. Looking at her temperament, although charming, she was not vulgar; on the contrary, she was noble, elegant, pure, and refined, not like a mortal.
Being looked down upon by her, Professor Ma actually had the illusion of being in an audience with a queen.
He had long heard that some children were precocious, but he had never seen one so precocious. It was as if he was facing an old monster with profound scheming.
If she grew up like this, what would she be like?
He wondered which family's son would be in trouble in the future!
Seeing that Professor Ma hadn't spoken for a long time, the Little Girl frowned and said, "Old man, I'm asking you a question! If you don't tell me, I'll call the Uncle Police to arrest you!"
"Uh..." Professor Ma was stunned for a moment and quickly said, "I'm here to find someone. It's Lan Sheng, who runs the shop here. He's my friend."
"Oh~!" The Little Girl nodded thoughtfully, "Looking for Little Lan? Then I'm afraid you won't find him."
Little Lan? Lan Sheng is old enough to be her Grandpa, isn't he? Professor Ma frowned, "Can't find him? Where did he go? I contacted him yesterday, and we agreed to meet today."
"He probably went back to his hometown!" The Little Girl mumbled, shrugging her shoulders with a winter date in her mouth.
If he was fast enough, his family might already be keeping vigil... Ju Meng added silently in her heart.
"Hey, Old man, what are you to him? Why are you looking for him?"
"Haha!" Professor Ma chuckled and explained, "Little Girl, I'm here to ask him about some things. As for what exactly, you're still young. You'll understand when you grow up."
She's just a child, how could she understand anything about protecting cultural relics? Professor Ma thought.
Tsk, when this old lady grew up, your Grandpa hadn't even been born yet! Ju Meng rolled her eyes and said impatiently, "How do you know I won't understand if you don't tell me? If you don't tell me, I'll treat you as a bad guy!"
"Grandpa, there's a bad guy!"
Professor Ma was stunned for a moment, a flicker of panic in his eyes, and he quickly said, "Little Girl, don't talk nonsense. I'm a good person. Lan Sheng and I are really friends!"
What bad intentions could a child have? Just explain it clearly. Professor Ma thought.
"Friends?" Ju Meng pouted, "What kind of good people can that guy's friends be?"
She had known for a long time that the neighbor of Chunfeng Residence was a Psychic, but she hadn't paid any attention until last night when He Tiejun went with whoever to attack the pawnshop.
Thinking about it now, his malicious intent was probably long premeditated.
She just didn't know why, as a B Level Psychic who relied on various Spiritual Energy items for assistance and whose Spiritual Energy fluctuations barely reached B+, secretly watching was one thing, but why did he go join the fun at the pawnshop?
A B Level Psychic, in front of a raging Turtle Elder, isn't it just a matter of one kick?
Turtle Elder is a great urban legend with the Power of the Longbo Giant Turtle.
There is a poem that says: "The Giant Turtle carries Mount Penglai on its head."
It describes the scene of the Longbo Giant Turtle stepping on the sea with four feet and carrying Penglai on its head.
When she woke up this morning, the first thing Ju Meng did was investigate Lan Sheng's small courtyard. Seeing that there was no one in the courtyard, she thought maybe he had been crushed to death by Turtle Elder last night.
Now seeing Professor Ma appear in Lan Sheng's small shop and claiming to be his friend, she naturally tentatively assumed he was an accomplice.
Her current situation was dangerous, and she had to be on guard.
If Professor Ma didn't have any Spiritual Energy fluctuations on him and looked completely like an ordinary person, he would probably be lying down talking by now.
After a brief thought, Ju Meng's bright eyes rolled around, a cunning glint appearing in them, and then she turned and shouted towards the house.
"Grandpa, Grandpa, there's a bad guy here, a bad guy bullying children! Quickly call the Uncle Police to arrest him!"
Professor Ma, "???"
Suddenly, he felt that his granddaughter didn't seem so cute anymore. What was going on?
Damn it, didn't I use the copper coin to divine when I came today?
Did I see incorrectly, did I misread the divination result?
Just as he was stunned, an Old man with a heavily protruding belly suddenly rushed in and knocked him to the ground with a broom. In a moment, Officers from the nearby police station also rushed in and put a pair of shiny handcuffs on him with a "click."
Friendly reminder: The Website is about to be revised, which may cause loss of reading progress. Please save your book shelf and reading record (screenshot saving is recommended) in time. We apologize for any inconvenience caused!
As he was being led away by the Officer, Professor Ma stood at the alley entrance, turned his head to look back, and saw the Little Girl standing on the second floor of the small building, looking at him from afar, with a smile he couldn't understand at all, and then waved at him.
Professor Ma, "..."
----
Early morning.
Tangcheng University, School of Literature building.
【Cultural Relics and Museology·One】Caution tape was pulled up in front of the laboratory door, and the corridor was crowded with people, mostly members of the East Yi cultural research project team, interspersed with some students watching the excitement, but everyone seemed to be deliberately keeping a distance from that laboratory, standing very far away.
Li Ziqi's body was discovered by Professor Hou's student when he came to the laboratory in the morning to retrieve materials.
When he opened the door, he saw Li Ziqi lying face down on the long table, most of his upper body covered by a laptop, and thought he had stayed up all night playing games, was too tired, and had fallen asleep on the table. While teasing him for not knowing restraint when playing games and warning him about sudden death, he approached him.
The moment his gaze went past the laptop screen, the student was instantly terrified, his face ashen, and he collapsed onto the floor. It took him a while to regain his senses, and he tremblingly took out his phone to call the police.
Li Ziqi was dead; everything above his collarbone had vanished. His entire body was connected to the display screen at the collarbone, as if he had been swallowed by the computer or something had pulled his head into the display screen, and the entire display screen was covered in blood.
Even the police Officers and forensic doctors who rushed over after hearing the news were startled by this bizarre way of death.
...
Lu Yibei, chewing on a croissant she hadn't finished on the way,
watched the police and forensic doctors go in and out of the 【Cultural Relics and Museology·One】laboratory with a heavy heart, deep in thought.
This method of death was clearly a urban legend attack incident.
Furthermore, there were residual Spiritual Energy fluctuations at the scene. Preliminary estimates put the Spiritual Energy fluctuation level between one old rabbit and two old rabbits.
It wasn't strong, but the urban legend had disappeared to who knows where. It would be great if she could observe it up close, but that would have to wait until the police were gone.
Thinking this, Lu Yibei silently sighed, took out her phone, and continued trying to contact Jiang Li.
Although her previous attempt to contact Jiang Li was intercepted and Void couldn't provide support, she still hadn't given up.
However, she had tried methods like taking screenshots, using homophones, and sending messages by breaking down sentences, but without exception, they were all intercepted again. The level of interception was comparable to the Great Harmonizer, and even attempting video calls to communicate through eye contact was affected by poor signal, resulting in blurry and lagging visuals.
Feeling helpless, Lu Yibei simply started reporting her daily schedule to Jiang Li.
Wang Bu Liu Xing: "The hotel breakfast was pretty good today. I met a senior sister while eating breakfast, she was quite cute."
Miao Miao Jiang: "Cuter than me?"
Wang Bu Liu Xing: "Your beauty is exceptional, how could a senior sister compare to you?"
Miao Miao Jiang: "Can I interpret that as Wang Bu Liu Xing finding me beautiful because of my personal charm? 【Heart emoji】"
Wang Bu Liu Xing: "Emmm... alright!"
If one day in the future, I suddenly stop reporting to her, she should be able to figure out that something has happened here if she thinks about it for a bit, right?
Looking at Jiang Li's reply, a gentle light appeared in Lu Yibei's eyes, and she quietly put away her phone.
"Tsk tsk, moderate gaming benefits the brain, excessive gaming harms the body, and high-intensity gaming leads to vanishing into thin air!"
The voice came from Lu Yibei's right. Mao Sanyou had squatted down beside her at some point, both of them huddled in the corridor staring blankly at the laboratory.
"You still have time to space out here? Don't you Tang City Si Ye Hui manage this kind of thing?"
"I want to..." Mao Sanyou shrugged, saying helplessly, "But I can't manage it. Didn't you know something big happened last night?"
"Oh? Did friends from the M78 Nebula appear in Tang City and invite you to become light together?" Lu Yibei threw out a piece of trash talk.
"I wish! But I've been waiting for over ten years and they still haven't come to pick me up." Mao Sanyou pouted, "However, considering the things I've done, I probably don't have a chance to become light. Becoming Gatanozoa is more likely."
He paused, then whispered to Lu Yibei, "Last night there was an explosion incident near the Arrow Tower Old Street. Centered around an unnamed pawn shop, it flattened buildings within a fifty-meter radius, killing seventeen people and injuring over forty."
Lu Yibei frowned, "Was it a urban legend incident?"
Mao Sanyou glanced at Lu Yibei and said solemnly, "No, it should be said it was an accidental incident caused by aging gas pipes and long-term disrepair in the old district."
Lu Yibei shrugged, noncommittal.
Excuses like gas pipe explosions, high-voltage wire leaks, and small-scale earthquakes caused by ground subsidence were old tricks used by the Night Watch to cover up malicious urban legend incidents. She had seen it more than once in the Hua City Si Ye Hui's files.
Seeing Lu Yibei didn't speak, Mao Sanyou stood up, leaned closer to her, and said in a voice only they could hear, "From the scene, a battle between urban legend occurred there last night."
"The damage caused was still under the condition that they had set up a barrier. If they had unleashed their full Power, the scope of destruction would probably be no less than a medium-scale Night Parade of One Hundred Demons."
"Also, Shang Nanxing had another discovery on the ring highway. Guess what she found?"
Lu Yibei gave Mao Sanyou a look that said "Say it or don't say it" and said expressionlessly, "Are you the Tang City Riddler?"
Ignoring Lu Yibei's trash talk, Mao Sanyou said listlessly, "We found what is suspected to be the blood of the Master of Taoyuan, Ju Meng."
"Combining this with the series of anomalies around Tang City recently, we suspect that the battle last night was likely an assassination attempt targeting Ju Meng."
Hearing this, Lu Yibei's heart tightened slightly, but her face remained expressionless.
Seeing this, Mao Sanyou crossed his arms over his chest and frowned, "Why do you look like you're not surprised at all?"
"What's there to be surprised about? Ju Meng is a urban legend I've only heard the name of, never seen the person. I'm not a local, so I have no real feeling about her being assassinated, okay?" Lu Yibei said nonchalantly.
"That's true!" Mao Sanyou shrugged.
"What I'm more curious about is, with such a big incident happening, why did you come here?" Lu Yibei asked suspiciously, "You're not slacking off again, are you?"
"A urban legend incident happened here after all! And the person who died was my junior brother." Mao Sanyou said, "Of course I have to come and take a look! If the urban legend that caused the incident hasn't gone far, I can even take care of it along the way."
"But now..." Mao Sanyou shook his head, "That urban legend has clearly escaped. I'm afraid I don't have time to continue the investigation until I find it."
"There are priorities. Shang Nanxing is urging me, so I can only go help her first. If we get through this crisis smoothly, I'll find a way to avenge my junior brother."
"..." Lu Yibei looked in the direction of the laboratory and was silent for a few seconds, then nodded, "Understood! However, saying something like that, aren't you setting a flag? Be careful you don't survive this crisis."
"..." Mao {N•o•v•e•l•i•g•h•t} Sanyou opened his mouth, just about to say something to Lu Yibei, when suddenly a low shout came from the laboratory.
"Miss, please don't cause trouble, hurry up and get out!"
Hearing the sound, Lu Yibei and Mao Sanyou were both stunned for a moment. They looked in the direction of the sound and saw a blonde girl being 'invited' out of the laboratory by an Officer.
"Uncle Police, you have to believe me! I really can summon souls. Let me try, let me summon his soul and ask what happened last night, won't everything be clear?"
Lu Yibei, "..." Is that Fu Xinyi? She can even summon souls? Could my guess be right, was she that person last night?
Looking at the girl's appearance, which was cute with a hint of grievance, Mao Sanyou took a deep breath and muttered, "There's such a beautiful junior sister in our team? How did I not notice her before?"
Lu Yibei glanced at Mao Sanyou, whose face was practically shouting "This woman is fated to be with me," rolled her eyes, and said irritably, "Don't even think about her."
"What? You like her too?"
"No, I'm worried that even if you succeed, Professor Hou will break you two up." Lu Yibei said, "Her name is Fu Xinyi. She was the one who helped me set you up and annoy your Teacher yesterday."
Hearing this, Mao Sanyou glanced at Professor Hou, who was staring at Fu Xinyi with a livid face, shrank his neck, and turned to Lu Yibei, saying, "Alright, I think it's about time I go to Shang Nanxing's side."
"It might be dangerous over there, you'd best not go. If you have time, you can stay here and investigate last night's urban legend incident. If you need any help, just ask."
Lu Yibei nodded, just about to say something to Mao Sanyou, when her phone suddenly vibrated. She took out her phone and glanced at it. The call was from an unfamiliar landline number.
"Hello?"
"Yes, I am Lu Yibei."
"Do I know Ma Zhen? Yes, I do, he's my Teacher. Officer, has something happened to him?"
"What? Attempted child abduction?"
"???"
Lu Yibei was stunned for a moment, suddenly remembering Professor Ma's strange behavior when he saw her mythological form, and immediately felt the situation was not good.
This Old man, it's one thing for him to be weird towards me usually, but now he's even extending his claws towards innocent Little Girls on the street? Is he seriously not acting human?
After a few seconds of silence, she said expressionlessly, "I'm sorry, Officer, what did you just ask me? My signal was bad just now, I didn't quite hear you clearly."
"If you have time, come over to the Peach Blossom Road Police Station?" the other end of the phone said.
"Not that sentence." Lu Yibei denied.
"Uh... Do you know Ma Zhen?"
Lu Yibei thought for a moment and said solemnly, "I'm sorry, Officer, I don't know Ma Zhen. I've never even heard that name. If there's nothing else, I'll hang up now, bye!"
"Beep—!"
