Chapter 13: 0.01 to 53.4
In the early morning hours, at a villa in the outskirts of Huacheng.
The tall, thin man took drinks from the refrigerator and passed by the cat-eared girl who was studying the audit tasks. He inadvertently caught a glimpse of the members she had arranged for the audit and froze for a moment.
“Wait, did you really schedule Wang Buliu’s audit at the South Suburb Slaughterhouse? Isn’t that a bit inappropriate?”
The cat-eared girl glanced at the tall, thin man, “What’s wrong with that? I haven’t even asked you yet! Didn’t you say that Li Weiyi was killed the moment he entered the slaughterhouse? How come he appears on my audit list again?”
“Ah, um…” The tall, thin man smiled awkwardly, “I actually saw him being dragged into that place by a guy from the South Suburb Slaughterhouse!”
“I just found out he’s still alive. How would I know how he survived? It can’t be that the boss made a bad judgment, right?”
“Tsk!” The cat-eared girl spat lightly, “The boss isn’t like you, making so many mistakes at work.”
“Uh…” The tall, thin man opened his mouth slightly, looking at the computer screen as he changed the subject, “By the way, is it really a good idea to arrange Genius Mahjong Girl and Wang Buliu together?”
“I feel like if they bump into each other, it might cause trouble.”
The cat-eared girl turned around, staring at the tall, thin man with drooping eyelids, “I say, can’t you be a little more optimistic?”
“They both have things they’re eager to find out. I think they’re quite likely to team up.”
“The South Suburb Slaughterhouse has been on the blacklist, right? If they team up, wouldn’t they solve the South Suburb Slaughterhouse’s problem while undergoing the audit?”
The tall, thin man shook his head, “I don’t think so. What do you think the chances are of them teaming up?”
“At least 70%.”
“I think at most 30%.”
“Hmph!” The cat-eared girl huffed, waving her chubby pink fist at the tall, thin man, “Then we shall see who’s right!”
————
The next day.
Early in the morning, Lu Yibei experienced a glimpse of the life of the rich—waiting for the morning sun by his family’s swimming pool.
However, after basking in the sunlight and recovering, he soon fell into worry.
Sitting on a bench by the pool, Lu Yibei held a high-stem glass, looking at the meager drop of liquid inside it, frowning.
“Why is there so little today?”
In a daze, Lu Yibei felt like he saw his little money fly away with wings, waving a little hand at him as it flew.
————
When the day was completely bright, Bai Kai arrived early at the villa according to the agreed time.
Lu Yibei received a call and came out of the villa to see Bai Kai, staring for a few seconds in shock.
His pale face was sweating profusely, paired with deep dark circles under his eyes, making him look as if he had aged a decade overnight.
Thinking about how Water Brother had worked all night for him and ended up looking like this warmed Lu Yibei’s heart. He walked over and patted his shoulder, saying, “Water Brother, thanks for your hard work last night.”
Bai Kai was holding his waist with one hand and propping against the wall with the other, casting a mournful glance at Lu Yibei, “Wasn’t it hard work?! Who knows how Aunt Zhang found out I brought a girl here? I owe a favor and I can’t refuse… Ugh, never mind!”
But it wasn’t a loss; at least he made up for the massive economic gap caused by the rescue of Bei. Bai Kai thought to himself.
“I thought…” Lu Yibei opened his mouth, wanting to say something.
I thought Water Brother was just watching the human skin doll at the Siye Society last night, but didn’t expect his efforts to be much more than I imagined.
However, he had been driving the classic car all night, and now he was driving the Beetle again. Isn’t that considered fatigue driving? Lu Yibei wondered.
On the way to drop Lu Yibei off at the Siye Society, Bai Kai started his “spiritual energy science lecture.”
“When we get to Siye Society, here’s the process: first a physical check…”
“Another check? Just to clarify, we’re going to Siye Society, not some shady health check center, right?” Lu Yibei said.
“Of course! The physical check before drawing spirit patterns is to verify whether you’re an urban legend, and after it’s done, it’s to determine your adaptability to spirit patterns. It’s different, okay?”
“Okay then!” Lu Yibei pouted, “So let me ask, is it you who checks me, or…”
“Of course it’s that lame cripple checking you!” Bai Kai said, his already dejected face showing even more gloom. “From today on, you’re her subordinate. Matters within the Siye Society are no longer my responsibility.”
“That’s fine then.” Lu Yibei nodded.
Jiang Li may be a bit cold, but at least she’s a pretty girl; that’s better than being groped by Water Brother.
“Xiao Bei…”
“Hmm?” Lu Yibei felt a chill.
“I’m very sad about you like this.”
Seeing Bai Kai’s suddenly turned, tear-stained face, Lu Yibei got goosebumps and exclaimed, “WTF! Don’t do that; how about I personally cook you a meal another day?”
“Are you serious?”
“Yeah.” Lu Yibei answered perfunctorily.
“At your place?”
“Yeah, um… but we have to go to the old house; the apartment isn’t convenient.” Lu Yibei added, pausing for two seconds before supplementing, “Since I started college, I rarely cook, and my cooking tools aren’t complete.”
Bai Kai smiled, “Wherever works, we can call a few friends later.”
“……”
Something’s off? Is Xiao Bei (Water Brother) hiding something from me?
As if sensing the concealment in each other’s words, an awkward silence fell over them.
Through the rearview mirror, after a silent exchange of glances, they both said in unison, “You go first!”
“Well, okay then, I’ll go first.” They both spoke in unison again.
“……”
After a moment of silence, Lu Yibei took the lead, “Actually, I just want to ask, was my father’s d*ath really just a simple car accident? Since coming into contact with urban legends, I’ve felt something isn’t quite right.”
Upon hearing this, Bai Kai was momentarily stunned, then a smile appeared on his face. Instead of answering Lu Yibei’s question, he countered, “What I want to ask is, where did the power of the witch seed in you come from? What did you do after obtaining it?”
Is this a counterattack? Lu Yibei frowned slightly, “It was the time Mr. Rabbit attacked me. As for what I did, simply put, I didn’t do anything bad.”
“Xiao Bei, since that’s the case, I won’t hide it from you.” Bai Kai said, pouting. “After the car accident, I visited the scene and indeed found residual spiritual energy fluctuations. As for who the murderer is, I only have a rough guess and can’t tell you yet.”
After a pause, Bai Kai added, “Later, once your strength is strong enough and I confirm my guess, it won’t be late to tell you.”
“Okay, got it.” Lu Yibei replied lightly and fell silent, propping his head with one hand as he looked out the window.
————
At 8:50 AM.
In front of the Huacheng Folk Culture Research Management Bureau.
After finishing a night shift, Li Xuan stretched lazily and walked slowly out of the door, preparing to enjoy a hot breakfast at Mudan Street.
Just as he stepped out, he saw Jiang Li limping over from the other end of the alley.
The two made eye contact from afar, and as they brushed past each other, Jiang Li flashed a chilling, provocative smile at Li Xuan and nodded.
“???” Li Xuan was stunned for a moment, turning his head to watch Jiang Li’s receding figure, his face turning pale.
What the hell! How many times has this been? What does she want?
In the past day, they had bumped into each other six or seven times, and each time Jiang Li had shown Li Xuan that terrifying smile.
Once or twice was fine, but with so many times, it couldn’t help but raise suspicions.
She isn’t thinking of puncturing my tire again, is she?
Li Xuan thought while turning around, only to see Lu Yibei and Bai Kai walking side by side, then they almost in perfect unison, making a “stab” motion with their hands, poking at his heart again.
Li Xuan, “……”
A beautiful day, ended with encounters with Jiang Li, Bai Kai, and Lu Yibei.
Crossing the threshold, while passing the Well Courtyard Garden, Lu Yibei suddenly remembered the girl from yesterday who had given him so much pressure, and unconsciously looked towards a corner of the garden.
The mushroom girl was still squatting under a large tree with a big black umbrella. The moment Lu Yibei looked over, she slightly raised her head, locked eyes with him, and revealed a faint smile.
Lu Yibei, “……” What’s she smiling at me for?
At a time like this…
He couldn’t manage a smile, only nodded toward the mushroom girl.
Just as Lu Yibei was “emotionally gazing” at the mushroom girl, Jiang Li was standing by the office window, peering in like a ghostly homeroom teacher.
It seems like the senior really likes Lu Yibei? I’ve never seen her smile at anyone else. Jiang Li thought.
……
Half an hour later.
In “V” office of the Huacheng Folk Culture Management Bureau.
Lu Yibei emerged from a testing device resembling a giant iron maiden, shirtless. Jiang Li glanced at him, her gaze sweeping over the Ifrit spirit patterns faintly visible on his back. After pondering for two seconds, she picked up a pen and filled in some data on the form on the desk.
【Spirit Pattern Adaptability: Good
Spirit Energy Fluctuation Level: B- to B+
……】
Lu Yibei quietly watched Jiang Li fill out the form, recalling the experience he had in the testing device and still feeling a dull headache.
Just as he stepped into the testing device, before he could adapt to the dark and stuffy environment inside, a series of melodious melodies began to resonate in his ears.
The melodies seemed to echo deep within his brain, growing faster and higher in pitch, gradually losing harmony and turning into terrifying noise.
Those noises were like whispers of demons, tempting out various negative desires buried deep in the human heart.
However.
Since Lu Yibei swallowed the Witch’s Egg, he had encountered too many similar situations. Many times, he could not only hear maddening murmurs but also see all sorts of bizarre sights.
He had long gotten used to it and had flawlessly passed the test.
“So, does this mean I passed?” Lu Yibei asked.
Jiang Li put down the pen and raised her head to look at Lu Yibei, nodding slightly, “Yes, you passed.”
In fact, she had already agreed that Lu Yibei passed when she saw the first operator smile at him; the subsequent tests were just procedural.
“That’s good, that’s good…” Lu Yibei secretly sighed in relief; from today onwards, I am a formal member of the Siye Society.
Just as Lu Yibei was feeling joy, Jiang Li suddenly said, “However, the testing is not completely over.”
Lu Yibei, who had already heard Bai Kai explain the testing process on the way, nodded, “I know, the next step is the special ability test, right? Water Brother talked to me about it.”
“Uh, Water Brother refers to Bai Kai.” Seeing a hint of confusion flash in Jiang Li’s eyes, Lu Yibei explained.
“Oh, that’s a fitting nickname…” Jiang Li nodded and got up, limping towards the office door.
Seeing this, Lu Yibei stepped forward, wanting to help Jiang Li, but she subtly dodged him.
“Come on, let’s go to the practice room.”
Lu Yibei looked at Jiang Li’s delicate profile with mixed feelings. Feeling that he should ask, he suddenly asked, “Leader, can I ask you a question?”
“You ask.”
“Why do you like playing Mahjong so much?”
Since yesterday when he saw this question from the cat-eared girl, Lu Yibei had been pondering. Since this question could stand alongside the true cause of his father’s d*ath, the backstory must be complex.
Jiang Li lowered her head slightly, a hint of melancholy flashing through her eyes, but she didn’t seem to intend to evade Lu Yibei’s question and instead gave an unexpectedly candid answer.
“My father was once the most famous gambler in Huacheng. As his daughter, it’s natural for me to be influenced and develop a gambling addiction, isn’t it?”
After a pause, Jiang Li gently added, “Moreover, gambling is not a good habit. There’s never such a thing as happy gambling in this world; gambling is gambling, whether small or large.”
“Those who win want to win more, and those who lose want to recover; once the gambling spirit rises, nothing else matters. Once you sit at the gambling table, you’re bound to lose sooner or later.”
It was rare for Jiang Li to speak so warmly to Lu Yibei, who was momentarily dazed by her long string of words. When he came back to his senses, he realized they had arrived at the practice room of the Huacheng Siye Society.
The practice room was about the size of an indoor soccer pitch, with fine sand and gravel covering the ground, and the surrounding walls wrapped in a layer of metal plates made of unknown material.
In one corner of the practice room stood several human-shaped iron piles, while opposite them lay some exercise equipment.
Lu Yibei had not expected such a large space to be hidden behind that small subway door. He paused for a few seconds in surprise before following Jiang Li’s guidance to the side of the gym equipment.
“Give it a try?” Jiang Li pointed to a punching power tester, saying lightly, “Although your spirit pattern is an energy type, it usually strengthens the body to some extent.”
Lu Yibei frowned slightly. He was somewhat worried that he might break the testing machine with a punch.
However, he had to do the test. He took a deep breath, swung his arms a few times, and stepped forward really seriously to gently throw a punch.
Lu Yibei felt that the force he used was minimal.
But at the moment of punching, he still heard the sound of his fist slicing through the air, realizing that the forward force completely exceeded his expectations, causing his body to lose balance and lean forward.
However, just as he felt he was about to fall, the natural strength of his spine, tendons, and ligaments adjusted his center of gravity in an instant, stabilizing his posture.
“Bang——!”
With a thud, Jiang Li looked at the counting screen and raised an eyebrow, “217 kilograms? Not bad.”
“Alright, just a simple test of your bodily strength is enough. The key is the next project.”
“The energy-type spirit patterns are usually one of three types: physical energy transformation, attribute spell amplification, and one’s own spirit pattern spell. But judging from the power you just unleashed, it shouldn’t be the first type.”
Although Lu Yibei’s punch test had already reached the level of world-class boxers, if it really were a physical energy enhancement type ability, the strength should be far beyond that and should also carry some fire attribute when he punched.
Lu Yibei, “……”
So, that’s the difference between a warrior, a mage, and a mutant?
Just now, I was worried about exposing the fact that my body had been enhanced by the Witch’s Egg and that I had only used about two or three percent of my strength, maybe it would be the first type. Lu Yibei thought.
While Lu Yibei was silent, Jiang Li turned around and asked, “By the way, I’ve been meaning to ask you, after finishing drawing your spirit patterns, did you suddenly learn any special spell?”
“From a theoretical standpoint, this kind of spell should correspond with your spirit pattern, which is Ifrit’s ability.”
I haven’t seen Ifrit’s spell, but I have learned quite a few spells from Du Sixian… Lu Yibei thought to himself, shaking his head, “Nope.”
“Mm.” Jiang Li nodded thoughtfully, resting her chin in her hand. “Then the ability you obtained should be the fire attribute spell amplification. Generally speaking, this amplification effect caps at around 20 times, but since your spirit pattern level is relatively high, I think the cap might reach about 30 times.”
“Now we just need to see what the lower limit is, which should generally be between 0 to 5 times.”
“Wait, leader!” As Lu Yibei listened to Jiang Li’s explanation, he suddenly sensed something was off and couldn’t help but interrupt, “If my PE teacher who moonlights as a math teacher taught me correctly, zero multiplied by any number equals zero, right?”
“Mm, that’s correct.” Jiang Li nodded, “If you’re unlucky, it’s indeed possible to have a lower limit of zero, and in that case, you might fail to trigger your spells.”
“But you don’t need to worry; that’s an extremely rare probability event.”
Plus, even if it does happen, you can use talismans to deal with spell failures. Jiang Li added silently in her heart.
Lu Yibei, “……”
I was initially relying on this spirit pattern for self-defense when it wasn’t convenient to turn into an urban legend!
According to Jiang Li, that would be a disaster.
I, Lu Yibei, am just a jinx. Lu Yibei thought.
He always held the belief that as long as he lived long enough, bad things… would always happen to him.
And reality proved that his idea was not wrong at all.
When he held the tail of what looked like a giant copper-cast koi statue of the spell simulator and continued to infuse spiritual energy as per Jiang Li’s instructions, the koi opened and closed its mouth, spitting out several jets of varying strength flames.
Then looking at Jiang Li, he noticed a subtle change in her expression.
She supported her chin with one hand, looking down at the form in front of her, her brows furrowed, eyes clouded with tension, her expression making it clear that something bad had happened.
“Leader, I can’t have really encountered that once-in-a-century rare event, with a lower limit of zero, right?” Lu Yibei said weakly.
Jiang Li looked at Lu Yibei and gently shook her head, “No.”
Lu Yibei’s heart leaped with joy, but then sank again with Jiang Li’s next words.
“But your situation can be considered a once-in-a-millennium occurrence. In the Siye Society’s database, no one has ever just obtained spirit patterns and has their spell amplification reach a level of 53.4 times.”
“At this level, it can basically elevate the power of a standard spell to the level of a pure attack type precision spell.”
Lu Yibei glanced at Jiang Li’s expression, secretly thinking, I guess you’re about to say ‘but’, right?
“But…” Jiang Li looked gravely at Lu Yibei, “I’ve also never heard of anyone whose spell amplification is such a delicate number as 0.01 times.”
“This would also reduce the power of your forbidden spells down to the level of standard spells.”
Lu Yibei, “???”
Isn’t this like spending all your resources to draw the very hard-to-get but utterly useless SSR? It’s downright psychological torture! Lu Yibei thought.
Seeing the turmoil and disappointment in Lu Yibei’s heart, Jiang Li stepped forward, patted his shoulder, and earnestly comforted, “Don’t be upset. At least you’re the most unique among all energy-type spiritual ability users.”
“This might not even be a bad thing; the spiritual energy consumption when casting spells will also have wave amplifications. At least when you’re casting forbidden spells, the spiritual energy consumption might only be 0.01 times that of others.”
Lu Yibei, “……”
Spiritual energy consumption is only 0.01 times, but what about the power?
Leader, could you not try to comfort people if you’re not good at it?
Lu Yibei thought, then suddenly felt a bit reassured as he remembered he might still have the special ability of physical energy enhancement.
If I can’t become a great magician, at least I can be a bloody berserker! I can still sometimes go all out and toss fireballs like they’re incendiary blasts. Lu Yibei thought.
The first step to torturing others’ mentality is to maintain your own good mindset. As the king of torment in Huacheng, Lu Yibei quickly convinced himself to accept the current situation and adjusted his mindset.
Jiang Li had been quietly observing Lu Yibei from the side. Seeing the gloom in his eyes gradually fade, she calmly said, “Now that your mindset is adjusted, let’s move on to the next phase?”
“According to the regulations, new spiritual ability users need to start executing tasks after briefly adapting to their spirit patterns. However, I have a slight difference here.”
As she said this, she reached into the pocket of her double-breasted jacket and pulled out a form, handing it to Lu Yibei.
“The tasks on this form are ones you need to complete recently. They don’t have direct contact with urban legends; pick one for now.”
No direct contact? Then it’s fine… Lu Yibei thought excitedly, taking the paper Jiang Li handed him and glancing at it, his eyes twitching slightly.
This…
Why does the South Suburb Slaughterhouse look a bit familiar?
