Free Web NovelAfter having lunch with Dorees, and hearing that she was going to visit Mountain City’s famous Guanyinqiao Pedestrian Street, Zhang Yu returned alone to his “doghouse”—CHARMCLUB.
Yes, he privately referred to this nightclub, which he personally managed and was one of Mountain City’s best, as a “doghouse,” because every night, many dogs and bitches gathered there.
In the afternoon, there was still a long time before the nightclub opened for business. The cleaning staff, who had cleared the mess left after last night’s revelry in the morning, had already left. Those preparing for tonight’s commotion had not yet arrived, and the vast dance floor was uncomfortably quiet.
Zhang Yu walked alone through the empty dance floor, went upstairs, and upon returning to his office, walked directly to the book shelf. He looked left and right, found the hardcover edition of “War and Peace,” gently took it down, and placed it on the floor.
Immediately after, the entire book shelf began to tremble and shake. Accompanied by Spiritual Energy fluctuations, more books fell from the book shelf, stacking together and orderly forming a staircase.
Once the book shelf stopped shaking and the staircase was completed, Zhang Yu ascended the spiral staircase and quickly arrived at the attic hidden within his office.
The attic space was not large, similar to the living rooms of most residential homes, and its decor style was also “unique”—
A fabric sofa, covered with a “Grandma’s handmade” white lace cover, the cover’s color was somewhat yellowed and had some small holes, looking quite old.
Two old-fashioned book shelfs with peeling paint, filled with manga, from “Dragon Ball” to “Dragon Ball Z,” from “BLEACH” to “One Piece”—
A wooden desk, on which were several storage boxes made from cookie tins, holding small items like Little Raccoon Shuihu cards, Yu-Gi-Oh! decks, and gashapon robots. On the wall behind the desk hung several photo frames, which contained old scenic photos of Mountain City.
And the square computer, the green-skinned refrigerator, the G-game—the entire room looked like a teenager’s paradise from the turn of the century, rather than a secret base for a mid-level Eclipse Society member.
All of this was restored by Zhang Yu according to the layout of his home when he was young.
That period could be considered the best time of his life: carefree, lighthearted, able to fully enjoy his youth and experience the unique beauty of Mountain City.
He loved this land deeply and missed the peaceful time before his third uncle led their family to “soar to success.”
The only things that seemed out of place in this attic were the three paintings hanging on the west wall, covering a series of animation and game posters.
Of the three paintings from left to right, the first one seemed to be a landscape painting. Two distorted black lines intersected, dividing the picture into four parts. Viewed separately, they depicted small mountains, a dry well, a dilapidated wooden house, and a murky river. When viewed together, they could be seen as a whole.
The content of this painting was so simple it was almost a plain sketch, yet the brushstrokes revealed an indescribable madness. The chaotic, trembling lines imbued the originally simple scenery with a subtle yet intense sense of morbidity.
Staring directly at the painting, one couldn’t help but have bizarre fantasies, imagining malevolent spirits lurking in the mountains, terrifying skeletal remains buried in the well, some non-human entity residing in the wooden house, and foul-smelling filth and animal carcasses making the river murky.
The second painting was a group portrait. Compared to the brevity of the first painting, the second painting, purely from a technical standpoint, had the delicacy and refinement of the once-glorious realist oil paintings of the Renaissance. And purely from the number of figures in the painting, it was definitely a “major project.”
In that painting, there were exactly one hundred people. Each person’s appearance, age, clothing, and demeanor were not entirely the same, yet they all shared a similar, indescribably morbid quality.
The hundred people all had varying degrees of physical deformity—twisted, grotesque, yet so realistic and detailed that they conformed to biological science, as if they truly existed in some corner of the world.
They gathered before a statue whose upper body was human and lower body was twisted flesh, allowing their bodies to be enveloped by the shadow cast by the statue.
They celebrated, danced wildly, and used sharp objects they carried—be it small knives, rusty rebar, or sharpened wooden sticks—to pierce parts of their bodies, letting abnormally colored blood stain the ground, as if laying a red carpet extending into the distance to welcome the arrival of something terrifying.
Zhang Yu’s gaze lingered on the second painting for only a few seconds before quickly moving away.
And it was these brief few seconds that caused an A-rank Psychic to turn pale, his eyes bloodshot, and cold sweat soaking his clothes.
Although that painting did not emit obvious Spiritual Energy fluctuations, it possessed a strange magic that made one lose control, wanting to join the grotesque and frenzied crowd, become one of them, and offer their fresh blood to that statue.
This situation is probably related to that guy’s Power, Zhang Yu thought.
As a child of X Heavenly God, it possesses the “Carcinogenic Power” separated from the “Smog” Power. In an era where most people turn pale at the mention of cancer, this Power brings it an undeniably powerful force.
However, in fact, cancer cells alone are not as terrifying as many people imagine. The human body produces cancer cells almost every day, but they are almost always defeated by immune ⊛ Nоvеlιght ⊛ (Read the full story) cells and cannot cause harm to human health.
This is probably one of the reasons why that child, despite having “been born” for many years, only recently managed to descend upon the world.
At the same time, that child’s special Power made its Spiritual Energy fluctuations extremely subtle, so much so that when it was dormant, even a Spiritual Sense that was among the best of Calamity level would find it difficult to detect, even face-to-face.
But if one has to wait for it to actively manifest its Spiritual Energy fluctuations, wouldn’t it be too late?
It’s like late-stage cancer where cancer cells have spread throughout the body—even immortals can’t save it.
Of course, at that point, there is actually a simple and crude way to continue living, and that is to become a urban legend.
Zhang Yu thought, his gaze shifting to the third painting, which, depicted with brushstrokes that blurred the line between reality and illusion, and with unconventional coloring, was precisely a “urban legend-ified” city. freewebnøvel.com
Unlike the suffocating suppression conveyed by the first painting and the mind-polluting madness of the second, the third painting conveyed a strong sense of despair.
Staring directly at the image, it was as if one were hallucinating, hearing whispers in one’s ear: “Forget it, it’s hopeless!” and “Give up, isn’t it better to enjoy the last moments?”
Those whispers seemed to be the dying city comforting its former residents, or perhaps the cold mockery of the evil god who created this tragedy, making one’s mind low.
Looking at the third painting, as if completely unaffected by that strange power, Zhang Yu clenched his fists, gritted his teeth, and his eyes were filled with anger. It wasn’t until the satellite phone on the desk rang that he broke free from that obsessive and angry emotion.
Warm reminder: The Website is about to be revised, which may cause loss of reading progress. Please save your “book shelf” and “reading record” in time (it is recommended to save screenshots). We apologize for any inconvenience caused!
“Hello, Mr. Adelaide, yes, it’s me.”
“Hmm, everything has been arranged.”
“Yes, Tan Qiuming has been taken away by the Night Watch. Zhang Shuisheng should be getting restless soon. Once he makes his move, I will proceed as planned.”
“Understood.”
After hanging up the phone, Zhang Yu put the satellite phone back on the desk, rubbed his forehead, and let out a long sigh, “Phew! I hope nothing goes wrong...”
Sorry, Mr. Adelaide, although I will act according to plan, it’s not your plan. Zhang Yu thought.
On the other side, in the public activity room of Taohua’s residence.
“Wait?” Ju Meng asked, tilting her head as she looked at Lu Yibei, “What did you say you’re going to do?”
“Meet a netizen, what’s wrong?” Lu Yibei said expressionlessly.
From a certain perspective, Void is indeed her netizen, so meeting Void can be considered an offline meetup, which is perfectly fine.
“Netizen? Male or female?” Ju Meng pressed.
Lu Yibei thought seriously, “Probably male? I’m not too sure.”
Void’s true form is a Xiao Bai worm; how can one tell if it’s male or female?
However, listening to its voice, it does have a bit of a shota voice. If it were to take human form, it should be a cute boy, right?
I just don’t know who is cuter, it or Fang Ji. Lu Yibei thought.
“I’m going with you!” Ju Meng said.
“No, why are you coming with me?” Lu Yibei frowned. “You don’t even know it.”
Void indeed doesn’t seem to have much friendship with Smelly Girl.
With its cowardly nature, if it found out I was accompanied by a Calamity level urban legend, it might be too scared to show up, right?
“Tsk, isn’t your Sister worried you won’t be able to handle it?” Ju Meng pouted. “These online matters are very complicated. You might get scammed later.”
“Hehe!” Lu Yibei squinted at Ju Meng and sneered twice. “I’m not like someone who got tricked out of top-tier equipment by a netizen and then had to find family members for an offline real-life PK to get the equipment back.”
As for me, if I don’t trick others, I’m already benefiting the vast number of netizens. Otherwise, with how I look now, if I took a few photos and sang a little song, wouldn’t I drain their wallets? Lu Yibei thought slyly.
“Me, that...” Ju Meng’s eyes darted around, and she lifted her chin slightly, saying, “That’s right, even your Sister can be tricked, let alone a dog like you!”
“And by the way, your Sister can also help you see if that netizen has a red string of fate with you!”
Seeing Ju Meng’s anxious expression, Lu Yibei smiled inwardly.
So that’s what she’s worried about?
But if it’s Void, there shouldn’t be a red string of fate between us, right?
Lu Yibei thought, shrugging, “Alright, I can take you, but the prerequisite is to get the other party’s consent first.”
Upon hearing this, Ju Meng’s eyes lit up. “Deal!”—
Wang Bu Liu Xing: “Beep beep! Did you get the God Kingdom Prototype?”
Void: “Successfully acquired. Although it’s just a damaged God Kingdom, it’s greatly beneficial for the completion of my Power.”
During the encirclement of that Virtual Currency God, it manipulated network data, causing many virtual currencies to plummet in value in a short period and creating an atmosphere that the issuer was absconding, which shook the faith of the Virtual Currency God’s followers and helped immensely. It was easy to ask for a damaged God Kingdom.
Although the God Kingdom established by that Virtual Currency God was only an empty shell after being jointly attacked by Caishen (God of Wealth) and the M Country Calamity level Psychic codenamed 【President】, an empty shell is always better than nothing.
Building a God Kingdom, from a certain perspective, is similar to constructing a skyscraper. Once the foundation is laid and the framework is built, the subsequent matters become much easier.
And in Void’s view, what it needs to do is actually similar to developing a community Website from scratch. It’s difficult because restoring the God Kingdom requires at least reaching the scale of a Website, but it’s also simple because initial restoration only requires virtual data.
Wang Bu Liu Xing: “So, you have a mom now? 【Pink-haired girl in horror jpg】”
Void:
In fact, it really tried to recognize Nameless Book as its godmother, and even rambled on about the origins of books and network data, but Nameless Book told it to scram, and then didn’t contact it for a long time.
Wang Bu Liu Xing: “Just kidding! I heard you can help get into the Eclipse Society now?”
Void: “That’s right, I’ve already initially gained the trust of a certain Elder of the Eclipse Society. I have you to thank for reminding me, which allowed me to obtain a lot of information I never had a chance to know before.”
Although infiltrating the Eclipse Society was an undercover operation carried out under the instruction of Nameless Book, that did not prevent it from copying and transferring data after successfully invading the Eclipse Society’s internal network.
Void: “As for which Elder, I can’t mention it, it’s easy to be spied on, you understand? So, do you want to infiltrate the Mountain City Eclipse Society now?”
Lu Yibei originally wanted to ask Void how it knew she was in Mountain City, but then she thought, if Void didn’t even have the ability to pinpoint an IP address, then it wouldn’t be worthy of being the King of Weird Tales of the Internet.
Wang Bu Liu Xing: “Yes! I originally wanted to meet you in person, but I have a small problem right now...”
Void: “What problem? If I act, I can easily create a complete identity for you that will definitely not arouse suspicion, and it’s free this time! Consider it thanks for guiding me to find the God Kingdom.”
Wang Bu Liu Xing: “That’s not the problem. My problem is that when I meet you, Ju Meng wants to come with me.”
Void: “???”
What the heck?
Why bring a Calamity level urban legend to a perfectly good offline meetup?
Have you ever seen young people meet up offline with their parents?
Wang Bu Liu Xing: “Don’t be scared, she has a very special relationship with me now, she won’t hurt you.”
Void: “How special?”
Wang Bu Liu Xing: “To the extent that if I propose to her now, she’ll say yes one hundred percent.”
Void: “Holy crap, awesome!”
Expanding my influence by marrying into a Calamity level—why didn’t I think of this method?
Should I also...
Void thought, and its filial piety suddenly began to change, and then the figure of Nameless Book appeared in its mind.
