Free Web NovelThis was a basement arranged like a warehouse, without windows, the air was murky, and clutter was piled everywhere, giving one the feeling of having nowhere to step.
This place felt like a corner forgotten by the world in the dust, with an air of decay permeating it.
On the dusty shelves on the east side of the room, transparent crystal jars held spherical objects emitting various colored glows.
"Clang—!"
Suddenly, a crystal jar placed in the center of the shelves shook, and the light golden sphere inside it gradually intensified in radiance, vaguely outlining the contours of a handsome face.
Immediately, the light golden sphere spoke in human language, "Stop sleeping! I said stop pretending to sleep, everyone. Can I discuss something with you?"
As the words fell, the crystal jars on the entire shelf shook slightly, emitting a series of clinking sounds.
Following closely, a dark purple sphere in the corner spoke, "I say, Old Lu, save your breath? I bet you're trying to incite everyone to rebel and escape again, aren't you?"
"You've tried over one hundred and thirty times, and they've all failed. Why won't you give up?"
"Ah—!" Above, a emerald green sphere sighed, saying, "I'm not going to mess around with you anymore. Thinking about it carefully, you're trying so hard because someone is waiting for you outside, but I have nothing. Even if I escaped, it would just be trading one cage for a bigger one."
"There's no difference!"
"You bunch of bastards!" the light golden sphere cursed angrily, "How long have you been locked up? And you've already resigned yourselves?"
Speaking excitedly, the light golden sphere directly lifted the lid of the crystal jar, transforming into a stream of light that drifted out lightly, landing on the small table directly facing the shelves, condensing into a palm-sized human silhouette, waving its arms excitedly, trying to boost morale.
"Cheer up, brothers! I've already calculated it. That old guy should have a tribulation recently and won't have time to manage us. This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. If not now, when will we run?"
"Xiao Huohuo, where's the fighting spirit you had when you pointed to the sky and swore to overturn the firmament?"
"Jia Sanshao, where's the courage you had when you faced the Eclipse Society President alone with a hammer?"
"And you, Little Zou, didn't you say you wanted to be the Kami of the new world? How can you create a new world while being locked up here?"
"Once upon a time, in my heart, you were all prominent figures, beings capable of achieving earth-shattering great deeds. I never expected you to become so decadent in such a short time?"
"..."
The light golden sphere spoke with impassioned fervor. Perhaps his highly inflammatory words reignited the extinguished flame in their hearts, as the spheres on the shelves lit up one after another, bursting forth with their strongest light to the best of their ability.
For a time, that entire wall shone brightly, in a riot of colors.
"For freedom, break through the Li Gate! For freedom, break through the Li Gate!"
Just as the spheres' emotions were stirred to the extreme and they were shouting in unison, the door of the small room was suddenly pushed open from the outside.
A middle-aged man, looking listless as if his body had been hollowed out seventeen or eighteen times, strolled in from outside, placed his briefcase on the small table, took out a still-warm boxed meal from a convenience bag, and slowly began to eat.
Thus, the shouting came to an abrupt halt.
Seeing this, the man slightly furrowed his brow, looked at the shelves filled with crystal jars directly in front, and said flatly, "Sorry, did I disturb you?"
All the spheres, "..."
It wasn't exactly a disturbance, but...
It was like a group of prisoners were discussing escaping, and the warden suddenly arrived, sat down next to them, and quietly started eating a boxed meal. Continuing the discussion under such circumstances would be somewhat disrespectful.
Just then, the light golden sphere, which had returned to its crystal jar at some point, suddenly spoke, "Hmph! You bunch of scoundrels, you don't know what's good for you!"
"Although we are nominally prisoners, the Chairman Adult has always treated us quite well, even often helping to take care of our families outside. How could you possibly think of rebelling and escaping?"
"I know some of you have temperaments influenced by Power, making you a bit paranoid ➤ NоvеⅠight ➤ (Read more on our source) and extreme, but we can't be completely without conscience, right? Don't make things difficult for the Chairman Adult!"
"Chairman Adult, I actually tried to stop these scoundrels just now, but I couldn't stop them at all. Sigh! Don't worry, I'll definitely help you deal with them later."
All the spheres, "???"
Wait, weren't you the one who started it just now? Lu Ming♦ You are truly despicable! freewebnσvel.cøm
The man put down his half-eaten boxed meal, stared expressionlessly at Hunqiu Luming for a few seconds, and said calmly, "Mr. Unmyouki, you worry too much. I won't get angry with them."
"That's good, that's good!" Hunqiu Luming said repeatedly, "They've just been locked up for a long time and feel restless. They're just venting their emotions in this way, they won't really escape."
"What's more, this Li Gate, apart from the core members of your organization, has always been a place where one can enter but not leave. They can't escape even if they want to, right?"
The man didn't reply, but he inwardly agreed with Lu Ming's statement.
The Psychic and urban legend residual souls imprisoned here previously had Spiritual Energy fluctuations starting at least at A-Level, up to Calamity level. Although they were now only residual souls and couldn't maintain their peak strength for long, they still possessed considerable combat power.
And yet, this terrifying force had attempted to escape countless times over the long years. To this day, only one tianzai level strange story with a special Power managed to successfully escape during the chaos of the Black Emperor's raid on the Li Gate more than ten years ago.
However, there is only one Black Emperor in this world, and he can't raid the Li Gate every day, so the possibility of escaping now is almost zero.
"Mr. Unmyouki, I want to talk to you about Lu Yibei."
"Oh?" Hunqiu Luming asked, pretending to be calm, "What's wrong with that kid? Did your plan succeed? Was he really infatuated by the Miss you sent?"
"If that's the case, there's nothing I can do. That kid has been lustful since he was young. When I took him out for a walk when he was a child, he couldn't walk straight when he saw an Older sister wearing a short skirt, and he would try to burrow into their arms at every opportunity..."
Speaking of this, Hunqiu Luming paused, then cursed fiercely, "That brat, burrowing into people's arms is one thing, but with such good fortune, he didn't even think of finding a way to let his Old Dad have a taste of the sweetness too."
"..."
After a moment of speechless silence, the man spoke, "Mr. Unmyouki, do you still remember the name Hua Xizhuang?"
"Who?"
"She lives in Liming City, Xiang Niangzi Cave. Her father is named Hua Qianli. Eight years ago, when the Maitian God tried to cause a Night Parade of One Hundred Demons in Liming City, it was her father who stopped him," the man reminded.
"Oh—!" Under the man's reminder, Hunqiu Luming seemed to finally recall a not-so-familiar friend, letting out a long drawn-out sound, "You mean her? I have some impression."
"As far as I know, although Hua Qianli is an A-level Spirit Ability User, compared to the Maitian God's clone that descended upon Liming City with seventy to eighty percent of its strength, he was no match at all. I'm very curious how he managed to stop the Maitian God... Do you have any clues?" the man asked.
"How would I know that?" Hunqiu Luming said indifferently, "There are at least eight thousand, if not ten thousand, special Spells in this world that can provide a short-term burst of power. Maybe he just used one of them?"
"So, where do you think he learned that special Spell?" the man pressed, pausing, and then added before Lu Ming could speak, "Intelligence shows that you appeared near Liming City during that time."
"..." After a brief silence, the light golden sphere flickered on and off.
Following closely, Hunqiu Luming said with a somewhat impatient tone, "Tsk, you guys always like to beat around the bush when you talk, it's annoying!"
"Since you already know everything, why not just say what you want to ask?"
He had indeed been to Liming City before and made a deal with Hua Qianli. The content of the deal was that he would give Hua Qianli a special Spell that could temporarily increase his strength, and Hua Qianli would "sell" his daughter to him.
In fact, if Hua Xieyu hadn't rushed out that day, or if Lu Ming didn't know and let her grow up alone in Xiang Niangzi Cave, that would have been the best choice. Lu Yibei might have had a "child bride" living with him eight years ago.
It's just that Lu Ming vaguely knew back then that if he really took Hua Xieyu away from Xiang Niangzi Cave, eight years later, there would be over a dozen children in Xiang Niangzi Cave who would be left homeless, starve to death, die from illness in the streets, or even become playthings for local gangs and cults.
Everyone who comes into this world has their own mission. Saving those children might be Hua Xieyu's mission.
"Then I'll be direct," the man said, "For this plan, I specifically traveled across the ocean to stay at the Gray Forest Cabin for a few days recently."
"To my surprise, although the Elders couldn't interfere with my plan, Hua Xizhuang gradually went out of control. After some investigation, I discovered that Hua Xizhuang going out of control was related to you."
"Wait!" Hearing this, Hunqiu Luming interrupted, "I see, your plan failed, you can't find anyone to take the blame, so you're trying to extort someone, right?"
"Not so," the man shook his head and said, "I originally thought you had violated the contract and secretly interfered in this matter, but on second thought, you are currently in the deepest part of the Li Gate and cannot contact the outside world at all. And when I came, I checked the contract between you and the previous Chairman, and it hasn't been damaged."
"Then there is only one possibility for this situation, and that is that you already knew that I would use Hua Xizhuang as a chess piece, so you had countermeasures ready, and perhaps..."
"She might have originally been the opportunity you used to contact me and Lu Yibei. Am I right? This time, I really fell into your trap."
"..." Hunqiu Luming was silent for a moment, "I don't know what you're talking about. How could I have known eight years ago what would happen now?"
"If I really had that ability, would I still be in this spherical state?"
"..."
Become like this?
To make you like this, the previous generation paid a price more tragic than life itself!
One can only say, he is indeed the most dangerous Psychic in the Night Watch besides Zhang Huainan.
The man thought and smiled bitterly, "It doesn't matter if you don't admit it. Anyway, I roughly have an idea in my mind. I came to see you this time simply out of curiosity as to how you foresaw all of this."
"Since you are unwilling to tell me, then I will take my leave."
After speaking, the man did not leave, but instead picked up the remaining half of the boxed meal on the table and quietly began to eat.
Amidst the faint chewing sounds of Hunqiu Luming, which rose and fell, he was silent for a moment before finally asking, "No, why aren't you leaving yet? Didn't you say you were taking your leave?"
"Uh..." The man was startled for a moment, raised the boxed meal in his hand, swallowed the food in his mouth, and said, "I'll leave after eating. I was thinking earlier that I needed some sense of ceremony for meeting you today, so I indulged and bought a 48-yuan premium boxed meal. Can't waste it."
Hunqiu Luming, "..."
"Emmm..." The man asked vaguely while eating, "Unmyouki, Mr. Ji..."
"You're the 'Ji Ji' Mr., can you finish eating before you talk?" Hunqiu Luming said irritably.
Hearing this, the man indeed quieted down and slowly chewed and finished the entire box of rice before speaking again, "I've never understood, since you understand and agree with the idea that this world has reached its end, why can't you cooperate with us?"
"..." Hunqiu Luming was silent for a few seconds, then said seriously, "Because I believe there is a way to have the best of both worlds, and Lu Yibei can achieve it."
Upon hearing this, the man nodded thoughtfully, "I understand. Unfortunately, I don't believe it."
—-
Just past two in the morning, Liao Zhai Tavern.
Like most taverns, Liao Zhai Tavern had its good and bad days for business. Today, business was clearly not good, and most of the customers had left shortly after midnight.
Boss Hu had been running Liao Zhai Tavern for many years and assumed no more customers would come today, so he closed the tavern's main door, leaving only a small door ajar for Ying Ningning to stay alone, and instructed the other waiters and kitchen staff to leave work early.
After arranging everything, he led Lu Yibei back to the kitchen, preparing to teach her the cooking method for Human Hell.
As they walked, Boss Hu suddenly asked Lu Yibei, "Oh yes, Miss Disaster, have you ever been exposed to Alchemy?"
"I know a little," Lu Yibei nodded and said, "Why are you suddenly asking this?"
She was telling the truth. Her level of Alchemy was limited to the initial processing and supplementing of potion ingredients, still some distance from even basic proficiency.
Of course, if creatively modifying Alchemy Dirty Bombs counted, then she could reluctantly call herself a master.
"Then have you ever heard of the method of using emotions and intentions for Alchemy?" Boss Hu asked with a smile.
"..." Lu Yibei was startled for a moment, then came back to her senses and said in surprise, "Could it be that the cooking method for Human Hell is similar to Alchemy?"
"How smart!" Boss Hu praised, "The principle is indeed similar, just with slight differences in the details."
"If you have a foundation in Alchemy, you might learn faster. Come with me! Today, I'll make an exception and show you my skills after a long time."
Saying this, Boss Hu quickened his pace. Lu Yibei's gaze slightly narrowed as she followed closely, taking the elevator into the kitchen.
