Free Web NovelIt was midnight, four minutes away from the rumored time of Jiang Yuzhen's death on campus.
The exact time of Jiang Yuzhen's death is unverifiable; the security guard only knew it was roughly a few minutes past midnight when he found her body.
The time of 0:04 was likely an embellishment by a student to make the story more terrifying when the urban legend legend circulated on campus.
Over time, everyone came to believe it.
In fact, for high-level urban legend, changes in Power or corruption and degradation that occur during the spread of their legends are the result of the accumulation of small changes to the urban legend legends like this over a long period.
...
The night was like a dying person; the drifting cold wind was like the last breath that couldn't be swallowed, making a turbid sound in the throat.
Exactly midnight.
Jin Yecheng arrived at the middle section of Four Gate Main Street, next to the bulletin board that was so decayed it was about to collapse. He looked around, squatted down, took out the package containing incense, candles, and paper money, then watched the time, holding a lighter, waiting for 0:04 to arrive.
The dim light from the screen illuminated his pale face, reflected in his eyes. He stared intently at his phone until the time displayed on the screen jumped to 0:04.
“Click... click...”
With two soft sounds, the lighter immediately flared up. The cold wind blew, and the flame flickered as if it could go out at any moment.
Jin Yecheng cupped a hand to shield the flame, carefully moving it closer to the red candle stuck in the mud.
Then.
As if intentionally playing a trick on him, the cold wind suddenly intensified, blowing up the yellow paper held down by stones with a “whoosh,” sending it flying everywhere, and also extinguishing the small flame of the lighter.
In the instant the surroundings plunged into darkness, a series of faint sounds entered Jin Yecheng's /N_o_v_e_l_i_g_h_t/ ears.
“Rustle—rustle—!”
The sound came from the distant grass.
On both sides of Four Gate Main Street, there were originally two small forests, planted with peach and pear trees, one of the experimental plots of the College of Agriculture. There were stone paths laid out in the woods.
But since the urban legend incidents occurred nearby, they were quickly abandoned.
So, over time, the neglected peach and pear trees became intertwined with weeds and wild flowers, growing wildly in the limited space, twisting their bodies into strange shapes.
The weeds were so dense, they could completely hide something the size of a person, or even larger. Jin Yecheng thought.
He felt like something was watching him.
“Whoosh—!”
Suddenly, about ten meters away from him, a dark figure pushed aside the weeds, darted out in a twisted posture, and landed steadily.
It was a young girl wearing a long green dress. Her limb joints were reversed, and she was crawling on the ground, her neck torn at the throat, headless.
Seeing this scene, Jin Yecheng's face instantly turned pale, his body went numb, his chest heaved violently a few times, and a hysterical wail burst from his mouth.
“Ah! Ah—ah—! Jiang, Jiang Yuzhen, don't come over, I was wrong, it was Hu Chuan who killed you, not me, please let me go!?”
Admittedly, he had come to beg Jiang Yuzhen for forgiveness, but when the shadow of death truly began to approach, he still couldn't face it calmly.
This was the biological instinct for survival!
The headless girl quickly rushed towards him, then paused slightly less than five meters away, and darted into the small woods beside the road.
Her figure was instantly swallowed by the nearly human-high grass... fгee𝑤ebɳoveɭ.cøm
————
On the other side.
After darting into the grass, Lu Yibei secretly observed the man for a while and was immediately stunned.
“Why does that person look a bit familiar?”
“Wait... good heavens, isn't that Senior Brother Jin?”
“No wonder I vaguely smelled a familiar scent on him before, it turns out it was the fragrance left after burning incense and candles!”
However, even if he is a Senior Brother, he still needs to be scared. Otherwise, if I directly use Charm ability to search his memory, ordinary people won't be able to handle it.
Lu Yibei muttered to herself, calmed down a bit, and quickly began to think.
Students of Huacheng Institute of Technology, as well as surrounding businesses and residents, all know that Gate No. 4 Main Street is haunted. No one comes here during the day, let alone at night.
Risking being attacked by a urban legend, running here in the middle of the night to burn incense and paper money, and even shouting the Senior (female)'s name and saying such things when startled...
Does this mean that he is not only greatly related to the Senior (female)'s death, but also feels guilty because he knows some hidden truth?
If that's the case, I can't scare him too much at once... Lu Yibei thought.
Sudden fear will be like a bomb, shattering a person's spiritual world. In mild cases, it can cause fainting; in severe cases, it can lead to mental breakdown or sudden death on the spot.
But then, it would be impossible for Jin Yecheng to tell everything he knows.
The cause of Headless Senior (female)'s death is still a mystery.
Even the relevant files of the Night Watch simply record 【Died from urban legend or Psychic attack. Cause of death: Decapitation. Perpetrator: Unknown.】
Sometimes, when Lu Yibei thinks of Headless Senior (female), she always feels she was quite pitiful. Not only did she meet the wrong people, but even her death was unclear. At the same time, she was very foolish, never planning to take revenge on the bitches and dogs who indirectly killed her.
She only knew how to have silly fun with the Little Freaks on campus all day, occasionally hiding in the corner of a classroom to listen to lectures, or peeking at handsome boys showering in the men's bathhouse, never doing anything harmful.
Handsome boy Lu Yibei, seeing Headless Senior (female)'s foolish and pitiful appearance, once had the idea of helping her find her real killer.
However, after reviewing the Night Watch files, Lu Yibei fell silent.
Her situation was like a dangerous, ruthless fugitive who happened to pass through a city and, for some reason, randomly killed a girl who was out alone at night.
There was simply no way to investigate!
Tens of thousands of homicides occur in Z Country every year, half of which are urban legend or Psychic attacks.
Although this number is still less than the data before the night became longer in most countries and is not enough to cause widespread panic.
However, even the Night Watch finds it quite troublesome to identify urban legend attack incidents from this astonishing total number of homicides and then find the real perpetrator.
If you add the condition that the perpetrator is a fugitive and not a serial killer, the difficulty increases by several levels.
Reality had once made Lu Yibei abandon the idea of helping Headless Senior (female) find the killer.
But now...
Hello, boy, want to play a game!
Lu Yibei looked at the panicked Jin Yecheng, her eyes slightly narrowed, a cold glint flashing in her pupils.
Don't worry, Senior Brother, I will definitely not harm your physical body before you clearly explain everything you know.
Even if you go into shock, I have a way to resuscitate you and keep you conscious. Lu Yibei thought.
She had tried it before. Under the effect of Wang Quan (Royal Authority), she could even withstand mental Shock of Wang Yingying's level, let alone a little bit of fright.
As long as I control the intensity, I won't scare Jin Yecheng to death at once.
So, Lu Yibei concentrated and began to try to control the half of the "lost" Paper Cicada Immortal.
Soon she found that, perhaps because she had changed her previously casual mindset and become serious and focused, her control over the half of the lost Paper Cicada Immortal had actually become much stronger.
Then...
She looked down and saw the half of the Paper Cicada Immortal that had crawled to her on all fours, with its joints bent backward like an insect, lifting its half-neck in front of her. The corner of her eye twitched.
It seemed to be looking at her, along with the head in her arms.
With the black, gaping hole that had formed where its neck was torn.
“......”
Okay, I was thinking too much.
Although its movements are still very strange when it moves, at least it won't run around anymore, right?
This is progress, and progress is a good thing! Lu Yibei thought.
————
The brief appearance and disappearance of the headless figure just now did not ease Jin Yecheng's emotions at all; instead, it made him even more nervous.
He had prepared himself mentally, but the fear did not descend as expected, like a bomb tied to his body that didn't explode after the fuse burned out.
The fear that couldn't be released continued to brew and brew in his heart, eventually becoming a block of ice stuck in his throat, unable to be swallowed, unable to breathe, chilling to the bone.
The wind seemed to have grown stronger, pulling at the dense weeds and branches, casting grotesque shadows.
The sound of the wind was like a wolf howling, or like a woman weeping softly.
Jin Yecheng knew that the figure had not gone far; it was lurking nearby.
He saw it!
He saw the dark figure flashing as it moved through the dense grass.
Sometimes it ran on two legs like a human, sometimes it bounced like a zombie, sometimes it moved on all fours like a wild beast, and sometimes it crawled quickly in a twisted posture that humans couldn't understand or imagine.
“Wuwu—!”
Suddenly, Jin Yecheng heard a cry and jolted.
“Ah! Ah ah—! Don't come over, don't come over!”
He couldn't help but let out a scream and ran forward desperately.
This time, he heard clearly. It was definitely not the sound of the wind, but a woman crying.
The crying was a dry wail without tears, the tone was turbid, stiff, and tragic, with a broken sound like a damaged bellows, as if someone had cut her throat, making it chilling.
Admittedly, Jin Yecheng came here because he felt guilty towards Jiang Yuzhen and longed for her forgiveness, so he should have faced everything that might happen calmly.
However, when the shadow of death completely envelops a person, they become an animal.
Guilt, pain, fear... all emotions are insignificant in the face of the instinct for survival.
Perhaps, that wasn't Jiang Yuzhen at all, but the thing that killed Jiang Yuzhen! Jin Yecheng thought.
His mind was filled with scenes of the thing that was chasing him, hunting him down.
It would easily catch him like a little chick, tear off the flesh from his entire body piece by piece, then eat his brain, eyeballs, internal organs, and finally chew up all his bones, even sucking out the marrow!
————
“Run? Can you run away? Even if Shui Ge came today, he couldn't escape!” Looking at Jin Yecheng's panicked fleeing back, Lu Yibei said fiercely.
As she spoke, her thought moved, and the half of the Paper Cicada Immortal immediately soared into the air, like a hawk, quickly sweeping over the dense canopy of the peach trees overhead, and in the blink of an eye, caught up with Jin Yecheng.
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Then, surpassing him, it swept over his head, stopped three or four meters ahead, hooked its toes onto the tree trunk, leaned forward, and swung out with a "whoosh!" like a swing.
When the half Paper Cicada Immortal swept through the air, Jin Yecheng was lucky enough to run directly below it.
So, the torn neck swept over his head, and its hands took the opportunity to grab his shoulders, lock its joints, and yank upwards!
"Rip—!"
Accompanied by a crisp sound, the hands of the half Paper Cicada Immortal were torn off at the wrists and fell to the ground along with Jin Yecheng.
"..."
Seeing this, Lu Yibei, not far away, clicked her tongue expressionlessly, used her movement technique, and quietly approached.
Emmm, although there was a small hiccup, it's fine as long as it doesn't affect the outcome.
So now...
Talk therapy time begins!
Lu Yibei thought, silently activating Royalty. While using a faint mental shock to keep Jin Yecheng awake and prevent him from fainting, she secretly prepared a healing Spell she had secretly learned from Fu Xinyi.
Medic No. 1 Lu Yibei, ready!
Lu Yibei thought, gripping the head in her arms tightly, and with a throwing posture like serving a ball, she tossed it forward forcefully. Then she watched the head arc through the air, land on the ground, and bounce like a highly elastic rubber ball, rolling to Jin Yecheng's side.
----
He felt something sweep over his head, followed by his feet leaving the ground, and then a heavy crash. ƒгeeweɓn૦vel.com
After experiencing all this, Jin Yecheng slumped to the ground and took a while to regain his senses.
Feeling the tight grip on his shoulder, he cautiously glanced out of the corner of his eye. When he saw the severed hand gripping him tightly, his scalp tingled, and he quickly averted his gaze.
"Creak... creak..." The soft sound of branches swaying came from overhead.
Jin Yecheng swallowed hard, looked up, and in an instant, the fear that had been brewing in his heart for a long time exploded.
On the branches overhead, the "corpse" of the headless, handless girl hooked her toes onto the treetop, hanging straight down.
Her severed neck was a black hole, like a huge, dark, deep eye without a sclera, staring fixedly downwards, as if to devour people's souls.
Jin Yecheng was frozen, stiff as a clay figure, his gaze vacant as he stared upwards.
Yet in this situation, he surprisingly felt very clear-headed.
It was as if a strange power was stimulating his nerves, giving him strength.
Several times, just when he felt like he was about to faint, that power forcibly woke him up.
That feeling was like not even letting him die when he wanted to.
"Thump... thump... thump..."
A dull thud came from behind him, like a rubber ball bouncing.
Immediately after, Jin Yecheng saw a head roll to his side.
The head had pale long hair, the tips slightly red, likely stained with blood.
Amidst the messy long hair, a pair of wide, bulging eyes locked onto the pale-faced Jin Yecheng, and then a hoarse, rasping voice entered his mind.
"Long time no see, Jin Yecheng, do you remember me?"
Hearing this, Jin Yecheng's pupils contracted violently, but surprisingly, he showed no excessive reaction. He just gave a mournful laugh and calmly said, "Jiang Yuzhen, are you here to get revenge on me?"
At this point, there's nothing left to fear!
"That's right, I shouldn't have joined them in heckling that day, otherwise..."
Lu Yibei, "..."
Did he take me for Senior (female)?
Very good, this is exactly the effect I wanted!
His current state was just right; he wouldn't lose his mind on the spot and become a human self-propelled gun, and he could also be easily influenced by slight mental manipulation. Lu Yibei thought.
"Revenge? Heh heh, although those who don't respect life aren't worthy of having life, you're not the real killer, are you?"
"I... of course not."
Jin Yecheng, whose mind was on the verge of collapse from fear, seemed to have become a puppet on strings. Slightly affected by the Charm ability, he was at everyone's mercy, answering everything he knew.
"Oh? Then let me guess, it was Hu Chuan who did it, right?"
"No, it wasn't!" Jin Yecheng quickly explained.
"Shut up!"
A scream exploded in his mind, and his words came to an abrupt halt.
"Even now, you're still lying for Hu Chuan? Heh heh, perhaps I should start by eating your tongue!"
"It wasn't Hu Chuan, really! I can tell you everything!" Jin Yecheng said. As he spoke, his eyes became vacant, as if he was recalling something, and then he began to mutter to himself.
"That day, after you left..."
Hearing Senior (female)'s scum boyfriend and green tea friend discussing finding someone to teach her a lesson, a surge of unnamed anger immediately rose in Lu Yibei's heart. The two hands resting on Jin Yecheng's shoulders quietly climbed onto his shoulders, and she almost couldn't control the urge to twist his neck off.
However, rationality told her that Jin Yecheng was at most an accomplice, and he hadn't finished speaking yet.
What's more, if he was really killed, Professor Ma would definitely be sad. After Lu Xu's accidental death in a urban legend incident last time, his hair had turned quite white, and he had aged a lot.
"Called someone? Who? Heh, do you think I'd believe this kind of trick to fool children?"
"A very ugly man, seemed to be a mage," Jin Yecheng said.
Lu Yibei, "...A mage? I'm a ♦ knight! A centaur knight, are you scared or not?!"
"His name... seems to be Zhang Shuo."
"Wait! Who?" Lu Yibei's heart tightened, and she exclaimed.
She didn't expect that standing up for the Headless Senior (female) would lead to an unexpected gain.
It was like trying to draw an SR, getting a pull in a ten-draw, and even getting an SSR on the side.
"Uh..." Seemingly startled by her exclamation, Jin Yecheng paused before explaining, "Actually, I'm not too sure. I just heard Hu Chuan call that man Mage Zhang, and also Brother Shuo. I guess his name is probably Zhang Shuo..."
Zhang Shuo, codenamed 'Offering Plague', a high-ranking member of the Eclipse Society, and one of the culprits involved in ambushing and killing Lu Ming.
But is it really such a coincidence that it's the same person?
If so, it's absolutely impossible for an A+ ranked Psychic to come to Hua City just to kill Senior (female).
Then what is his real purpose? This matter is worth investigating thoroughly!
Lu Yibei thought, and questioned sternly, "Speak! Where is Hu Chuan now? Can you contact him?"
Jin Yecheng likely couldn't contact a Psychic of Zhang Shuo's level.
However, since that guy named Hu Chuan had contact with him before and could even ask him to act, it might be a good breakthrough point.
"This..." Jin Yecheng showed a difficult expression. "I can't contact him. Ever since you were killed, that guy seems like a different person. He doesn't hang out with us anymore and spends all day fiddling with Buddhist and Taoist stuff. Maybe he's worried you'll get revenge on him?"
"We thought he was acting weird and a bit scary, so we gradually stopped hanging out with him. Later on, we lost contact."
Tsk, you were just killed!
Lu Yibei first controlled the head on the ground to glare fiercely at Jin Yecheng, and then fell into thought.
He was so scared, and also affected by the Charm ability, so he should be telling the truth.
Thinking about it carefully, it's actually not that hard to find Hu Chuan. She just needs to find a way to check the school's archives, and if that doesn't work, she can ask the Monster Story Chat Group for help.
Since that's the case...
"Alright, there's nothing more for you here, you can leave!"
As she spoke, Lu Yibei dispelled the Charm ability and Royalty applied to Jin Yecheng, and at the same time, released a healing Spell on him from a distance.
Jin Yecheng's body went limp, and he fell to the ground. Dazed, he heard the words echoing in his mind and made a surprised sound.
"Huh? You're letting me go?"
He suspected his ears were deceiving him.
"What? If you don't want to leave, I can also find a place nearby to bury you, so you can be a ghost under a peach tree," Lu Yibei said coldly.
Hearing this, Jin Yecheng's silent eyes gradually regained their light, and he scrambled to his feet, ready to flee.
"Wait!" Lu Yibei suddenly remembered something and called out softly.
Jin Yecheng's body stiffened. He turned around and looked at the dead head on the ground fearfully, not daring to move.
"Don't think living is a given. After you go back, you must pray for atonement every day, respect your Teacher (female) and care for your junior brothers, especially caring for your junior brothers. Help him with documents when you have nothing to do, get him food, answer attendance in class, copy notes, and so on."
"Also, you can only eat meat on Saturdays and Sundays, no playing games, no watching porn and masturbating, no staying up late, no smoking or drinking, you must exercise for two hours every day, read at least three books every month, learn one hobby or special skill every year, mm... mm... that's it!"
"I will be watching you at all times. If you violate this, the consequences are yours."
After hearing "Jiang Yuzhen" state the most outrageous demands in the fiercest tone, Jin Yecheng was dumbfounded.
What does she want to do?
Why does she want me to do these things? This doesn't really seem like revenge!
And...
"What should I pray for? And to whom should I pray?"
"Oh right! I forgot about this, well..." Lu Yibei thought for a moment and said seriously, "Just pray according to the prayer I tell you!"
"Listen carefully! From the fruitful descendant of the Fusang Divine Tree of yore, King of myriad magpies, the struggler who refutes ill fortune with money, Monarch of the Eight Hundred Li Peach Garden, Master of marriage and progeny, the lofty existence who benefits the people with wood virtue, your subject Jin Yecheng prays for your protection."
"Pray according to this!"
Believe me, with this prayer and the previous requirements for self-improvement, you'll have such good luck with romance that you'll be exhausted. Lu Yibei added in her mind.
"Get lost, before I change my mind!"
Hearing this, Jin Yecheng felt as if he had been granted amnesty. Using his hands and feet, he scrambled along the Four Gate Main Street towards outside the campus.
Lu Yibei watched him leave from the shadows until his figure disappeared from sight. Just as she was about to come out of her hiding place to collect the scattered parts of the Paper Cicada Immortal on the ground, a heart-wrenching scream suddenly came from a distance.
"Ah—!"
That seemed to be Senior Brother Jin's voice? Could it be that he was silenced right after giving me information? Lu Yibei's gaze sharpened.
