Free Web NovelThe clouds in the sky were dyed fiery red by the setting sun.
Feeling the light outside the window dim, Jiang Li counted the jade she had won today, closed the mahjong game, picked up the cane leaning against the chair, and walked slowly out of the office.
As soon as she stepped out, she saw An Qing in the distance talking to the leaders of the various Special Operations Teams, her face beaming as if she had found money when she left in the morning.
Jiang Li stood at one end of the corridor watching quietly. Only after An Qing finished her instructions and the team leaders dispersed did she walk over.
"Tap—tap—!"
An Qing, following the soft sound of the cane touching the ground, looked at Jiang Li walking towards her and smiled charmingly.
"Guess what I discovered today?"
"The core of a mutated zombie's Strange Tale body, you've collected all the materials, allowing you to finally complete your Spirit Mark and advance?" Jiang Li replied in a flat tone.
"I gave up hope on that a long time ago, okay?" An Qing pouted, "Completing the Spirit Mark is a matter of luck, something you can't force!"
"I met a promising candidate today. I'm confident I can bring her into the Night Watch in a short time, and after training her for a year or two, she should be able to fill the vacant position."
"..." Jiang Li was silent for a moment, then nodded, "Mm, that's good. I hope she doesn't also have a shameless godfather."
As Jiang Li spoke, An Qing noticed the small bag she carried. The bag was very cute, shaped like a cartoon little yellow duck, but it was dirty, as if it hadn't been washed in a long time. freeωebnovēl.c૦m
"Going to check out the mahjong parlor on Gambler's Street in South City again tonight?" freeweɓnovel.cѳm
"Mm." Jiang Li glanced at her small bag out of the corner of her eye and softly replied.
"That's right!" An Qing shrugged, "The probability of encountering it on a moonless night is always higher."
"However, have you considered that the appearance of that gamble was just a coincidence?"
"..." Jiang Li looked straight ahead, musing for a few seconds, and said lightly, "It's always worth trying your luck."
After speaking, she limped forward, and her figure quickly disappeared into the afterglow of the setting sun.
...
"Hiss—!"
A soft sound, like water droplets falling on a hot iron plate, echoed on the rooftop of Jingyi Apartment, the grayish-white smoke mixed with the smell of sulfur adding a touch of hazy dreaminess under the dim yellow sunlight.
Lu Yibei knelt on the ground, supporting herself with her hands, her fingertips digging desperately into the surface. Her blood seemed to boil and surged through her body, the familiar whispers echoing in her ears, accompanied by her heart's violent pounding, and a bloody, cold aura emerged.
Just then, the sky began to darken, and a thin sliver of the new moon appeared through a gap in the clouds.
"Uh ah—!" The physical pain made Lu Yibei groan involuntarily.
After slightly adapting, she took a deep breath and began to recite that passage.
"There is Zhong Mountain. There is a woman wearing Qingyi..."
"There is Zhong Mountain. There is a woman wearing Qingyi..."
Lu Yibei recited it over and over, but the physical pain continued. Through the thick smoke, she saw her hands shrinking uncontrollably.
After a long while, when the sky had completely darkened, an angry curse echoed on the rooftop.
"Damn it! Damn it! Didn't I just eat my fill!?"
Lu Yibei sat on the stone steps in a corner of the rooftop, looking back and forth at her tender, white hands with a blank expression, gradually feeling a little emotional.
She had thought that the mysterious girl's phrase "there are always those few days each month" in the illusion meant that she needed to devour a Strange Tale core once a month to alleviate her hunger.
But...
Facts proved that she might have misunderstood the mysterious girl's meaning; facts proved that even after eating her fill, when those days arrived, she still couldn't suppress her transformation into a Strange Tale.
This was an inevitable, damn process.
So, what the ♦ is this ghost thing?
Why is it like this?! Lu Yibei thought, looking at the pile of ashes in the corner of the rooftop, feeling depressed.
Her new phone was gone again.
...
Huacheng Institute of Technology, Ancient Special Texts Research Lab.
Professor Ma gathered his graduate students for a brief seminar, finalized the preliminary details of a new project, and after assigning tasks to the students, he got busy.
The light outside the window was already somewhat dim, and the pale lamplight illuminated the round table in the seminar room.
Professor Ma stared at the wooden box on the table for a while in thought, then got up and carried the box towards the experimental area.
Upon reaching the experimental area, he gently placed the wooden box on the experiment table, put on gloves, and solemnly opened it with both hands. A roll of dark yellow bamboo slips was presented before his eyes.
"Whoosh—!" He took a deep breath; a faint, pleasant fragrance wafted from the bamboo slips and entered his nostrils.
He carefully took the bamboo slips out of the box, spread them out on the table, and began his work—sterilization, drying, and sealing.
This tedious and precise processing work continued for over three hours.
Around eight o'clock in the evening, Professor Ma, who had been bending over his desk for a long time, stretched his tired muscles and walked towards the storage room with the processed bamboo slips.
After properly storing the bamboo slips in the storage room, Professor Ma turned off the light and was about to leave when he saw a faint green light flash across the bamboo slips.
The moment he saw the green light, his mind instantly went blank, entering a brief state of emptiness.
A few seconds later, Professor Ma came back to his senses, looking at the bamboo slips in the darkness with a slight frown.
"Was that an illusion? Maybe I've been bending over for too long? Ah, I'm really getting old and useless. I've only worked for this short amount of time, and my eyes are already getting blurry."
Muttering to himself, Professor Ma locked the door of the storage room and left the research lab.
...
At night, at Lu Yibei's home.
She lay peacefully on the bed in her bedroom, staring blankly at the ceiling, like a salted fish that had lost its dreams.
Perhaps due to the excessive fatigue from the previous days, she unknowingly fell into a deep sleep, entering a long-awaited peaceful dream.
In the dream, hazy and indistinct, she found herself on the rooftop where she had first met the mysterious girl.
Calls came from the dilapidated and crumbling city.
Among the numerous, chaotic calls, a girl's voice gradually became clear beside her ear, somewhat resembling Du Sixian's voice.
"Expert, Expert, where are you... If I can't find you, what will I do if I encounter a Strange Tale again?"
"Expert, Expert, where are you..."
Just when she could finally get a good night's sleep, her dream was disturbed by Du Sixian's incessant whispers. Lu Yibei felt a surge of anger, walked to the edge of the rooftop, and shouted into the dilapidated city.
"Why are you shouting so loudly? For something like this, go find the Night Watch!"
Her voice echoed in the empty city, lingering for a long time before fading.
That night, several Night Watch branches across Z Country received mysterious anonymous letters. The content was very strange, looking like wish cards asking Santa Claus for gifts, except their wishes all involved urban legend.
So...
They were arrested.
...
In the dark apartment, small urban legend, small hides.
The little guys living in the apartment were having fun when suddenly a terrifying Spiritual Energy fluctuation struck, and they instantly froze as if petrified.
Then they heard a vague, milky-sounding mumble from upstairs.
"...go find the Night Watch..."
"..." The urban legend shivered, and the apartment became terrifyingly quiet.
After a long while, a sound of drawing in a cold breath echoed in a corner of the room.
"Hiss—!"
The urban legend began to whisper amongst themselves.
"When did she run into the Night Watch?" Maotuan (Hairball) said with a solemn tone.
"From what she said, it sounds like she's going to cause trouble for the Night Watch?" Eyeball said, "I've disliked those humans for a long time! But since she wants to go, I'll let her have this chance to show off!"
"Maybe she's had enough of changing back and forth every day and is planning to commit suicide on a whim?" False Tooth maintained its usual pessimism.
The urban legend had different thoughts, but on one point, they reached a consensus in their hearts.
She's really fierce; she even dares to provoke the Night Watch! Devil Woman is awesome (voice cracking)!
