**Chapter 33 Boss, Are You Buying Calamity Water?**
When Lu Yibei was pushed out of the office by Jiang Li, her mind was still in a fog.
Standing in front of the Huacheng Folk Culture Research Management Bureau, Lu Yibei glanced back with a slight frown.
Miaomiao Sauce is with me?
Is she hinting that she will accompany me to complete the task?
But if she intends to join me, why is she using the identity of Miaomiao Sauce?
Wait, could it be that…
As Lu Yibei pondered, a flash of inspiration crossed her mind. She quickly picked up her pace and headed towards Mudan Street.
————
Sitting in a taxi gradually moving away from Mudan Street, estimating that she was probably out of the Siye Society’s surveillance range, Lu Yibei took out the A4 paper that listed the urban legend cases from her pocket.
On the A4 paper, written in elegant small script, was information about the mysterious deaths of residents in Happy Neighborhood.
After noting a few keywords, Lu Yibei folded the paper back and put it in her pocket, then reached for her phone with her other hand.
Holding her phone, she discreetly scrutinized the taxi driver through the rearview mirror. After switching her phone to silent mode, she opened the browser, typed in a website, and skillfully navigated through countless online gambling and adult product ads to find the secret entrance, entering the bounty website of the Urban Legends Chat Group.
As she focused on the bounty website, Lu Yibei took a silent deep breath, clicked on the search bar, typed “Happy Neighborhood,” and hit search.
With the page transition, a bounty announcement appeared on her phone screen.
As Lu Yibei read the bounty announcement, the last shred of doubt in her mind suddenly vanished.
If she’s not mistaken, Jiang Li really means to join her in completing the bounty from the Urban Legends Chat Group.
She wondered how those guys in the Urban Legends Chat Group gained her trust, allowing an operative from the Siye Society to temporarily tolerate their existence.
There are so few capable fighters in the Huacheng Siye Society, and with many hidden traitors, now adding another key operative mingling with urban legends makes things quite difficult.
Speaking of which, I haven’t even decided whether to accept their collaboration invitation!
With Jiang Li doing this, do I have no choice?
As Lu Yibei thought this, her phone suddenly vibrated, and a notification popped up from some app.
[Genius Mahjong Girl requests to add as a friend]
Lu Yibei, “…”
Agree.
[You are now friends with “Genius Mahjong Girl.” Hurry and say something!]
Genius Mahjong Girl: “Are you there? Is it convenient to move tonight? [Heart emoji]”
Wang Buliu: “I have a toilet at home.”
Genius Mahjong Girl: “I meant to cooperate to collect the bounty together.”
Wang Buliu: “I don’t want to work with a fake Miaomiao Sauce.”
Genius Mahjong Girl: “What are you talking about? I am Miaomiao Sauce. [Heart emoji]”
Wang Buliu: “Really? I don’t believe you! Unless you send a selfie!”
Genius Mahjong Girl: “Not convenient right now, using a landline.”
Wang Buliu: “? [Old man on subway looking at phone emoji]”
Wang Buliu: “Then I am not convenient either, let’s talk another day.”
Lu Yibei had already planned to go to the night market tonight to dump calamity water and also purchase materials to fix some defects, so she had no time to accompany Jiang Li to fulfill the bounty.
Moreover, such urban legend incidents with unknown levels of spiritual energy fluctuation can’t just be approached casually, right? At least some preparations should be made first, right?
For instance, let me first complete my initial defect fix, procure a few self-defense spirit energy items, then take on one or two simple bounties to test the waters of the urban legends bounty website, and finally visit the surrounding areas of Happy Neighborhood, before taking on the bounty.
This is already the simplest and quickest workflow, Lu Yibei thought.
Genius Mahjong Girl: “When is another day?”
Lu Yibei furrowed her brows in thought, typed out her response, and hit send.
Wang Buliu: “At least three days later.”
Genius Mahjong Girl: “Okay, I’ll wait for you! [Heart emoji]”
Lu Yibei looked at Jiang Li’s message and tilted her head.
Is her online persona more lively than in reality?
Also, why does she always send this emoji? Does it have a special meaning? It all feels a bit weird.
Thinking of that cold, beautiful shell housing a restless soul, Lu Yibei felt a strange sense of contrast.
————
Inside the V Office of the Huacheng Folk Culture Research Management Bureau.
Jiang Li stared at the chat box on her phone, waiting for a moment. Finally, she received a response from Lu Yibei. Seeing that he agreed, a faint smile involuntarily appeared on her lips.
Holding the phone, she typed, “Then it’s settled,” then opened the emoji options, selected the only emoji from the empty list, and clicked send.
Pretending to be a cute girl online isn’t too difficult!
While chatting, just sending some adorable emojis will do, Jiang Li thought.
————
The night grew deep.
Dark clouds floated in the somber sky, and under the vast shadows, Huacheng seemed to be asleep, silence enveloped, while demons and monsters lay in wait for their hunt.
On the dilapidated streets of late autumn, thin mist drifted as merchants rushed in from all corners of the city, weaving through the streets, their figures blurred like wandering ghosts.
This was one of the rare bustling places in Huacheng after nightfall.
The night market started to close as the ghost market opened, almost at the same time.
Gu Qiqi packed away her large iron pot, gas canister, and various stir-fried items for sale, casually flipping the wooden sign that read “Fried Rice, Fried Noodles, Fried Ho Fun” to reveal “Qiqi Groceries” on the other side, and pushed her cart towards a nearby deep alley.
Her small business had been doing well these days. With various formulas exchanged for materials, her “artificial little sun” had finally launched in the Bamboo Slips Illusion, dispelling the gloom that had lingered for centuries.
As she pushed the cart forward, the system couldn’t help but chatter in Gu Qiqi’s ear.
“Gu Qiqi, you need to think this through. Transforming that barren land that’s been desolate for over a thousand years into something suitable for farming requires a massive amount of resources. I think it’s somewhat not worth it.”
“I think being able to grow potatoes would be very nice already. What else do we need, tomatoes, rice… snow peas?”
“Eh?!” Gu Qiqi froze for a moment and countered, “Didn’t you say to showcase miracles in front of my people, or gain their faith?”
“The miracle I want you to showcase is for you to learn the story of ‘Five Fish and Two Cakes,’ conjuring food out of thin air to feed them. Why do you have to farm?”
The system could never understand why Gu Qiqi had an inexplicable obsession with farming. With the funds earned from selling formulas and spirit energy items, she could completely procure food supplies to solve the survival issues of those under two thousand people in the Bamboo Slips Illusion.
“But I can learn from Shen Nong. Reviving the barren land and teaching them modern advanced techniques of farming, irrigation, and harvesting so that they can be self-sufficient and thrive forever, wouldn’t that be a greater miracle?” Gu Qiqi replied.
The system, “…”
Somehow, that sounded very reasonable?
Perhaps it’s because her spirit pattern attributes are closely related to mountains and rivers?
Or is it simply a racial talent buff ingrained in the genes of the people of Z Country?
“This kind of miracle would take a long time to accomplish. I worry that there won’t be enough time!” the system said.
“How could there not be enough time? Aren’t there alchemical potions in those bamboo slips that accelerate plant growth?” Gu Qiqi replied, “As long as we buy enough materials, I am quite confident in the alchemy part! Feels like it shouldn’t be much harder than making those handicrafts.”
Once again, the system was swayed by Gu Qiqi, realizing her talent in alchemy was obviously apparent.
The system had never let Gu Qiqi touch anything related to alchemy before, as it was worried she might err while preparing the materials for the “Solar Copper Ball,” and thus had prepared enough materials to make five “Solar Copper Balls.”
But who would have thought that during her first encounter with this moderately difficult alchemical item, she barely succeeded on the second try, and by the time she made the fifth one, her production techniques for the “Solar Copper Ball” had even approached perfection.
This situation truly surprised the system, which regretted not discovering Gu Qiqi’s talent earlier to select spirit patterns that could assist alchemy.
In the future, the idea of Gu Qiqi creating an alchemical potion potent enough to obliterate calamities excited the system just by thinking about it.
While the system was lost in fantasies about blasting calamities with alchemical potions, Gu Qiqi had already pushed the cart to a secluded corner.
She looked around, took out a bamboo slip from the pocket sewn on the inside of her pants, and infused it with spirit energy. A stable, controllable teleportation portal the size of a manhole cover appeared before her.
Gu Qiqi began throwing the cooking tools from her cart into the portal and then leaned forward slightly, reaching in to fish out several spirit energy items one by one, tossing them out as if tossing cabbages.
Zhuyan’s spell formula solidified mask, wisdom potion, reproduction bamboo slips, Great Serpent God’s bones…
Hmm, just the bones of the Great Serpent God.
Ever since Lu Yibei had slain the Great Serpent God, and the sinkhole collapsed and buried the remains, the system had always been somewhat worried it would somehow resurrect, so it had Gu Qiqi spend some time digging up its “grave” to sell the remains.
In a true sense, they achieved the goal of scattering its ashes to prevent resurrection!
“By the way, system, a villager with a very flat head told me yesterday that he found a glowing copper statue at home, which seems to be a spirit energy item.”
“Today during the day, someone brought it over to me. Should we sell it too?”
Gu Qiqi’s words interrupted the system’s thoughts. It countered, “Seems like there was such a thing. Where’s the statue? Let’s see it first before deciding.”
“Wait a moment! Let me look for it!” Gu Qiqi replied, then leaned into the teleportation portal again, her legs in small boots wiggling softly, “Where is it? Where is it?”
“Hey, found it! Eh? System, this copper statue seems to have a problem…”
“A problem? What kind of problem?”
“Hmm…” Gu Qiqi pondered for two seconds, “It looks very familiar, seems like I’ve seen it somewhere.”
“Seen it? Can you take it out for me to have a look?” the system asked.
“Sure!” Gu Qiqi replied, and she shouldered the copper statue as she emerged from the teleportation portal, placing it on the ground with a loud “DUANG!” sound.
The statue’s bronze texture outlined muscular lines, and its solemn, stern face glared wide-eyed, with both arms raised high, effortlessly hoisting a nuclear warhead on its shoulder.
The system, “…”
Gu Qiqi would definitely find it familiar because if she hadn’t been knocked unconscious earlier, she would recognize it even more!
Isn’t this the statue that Calamity brought along everywhere before?
“System, system, are you there?”
“Yes.”
“Did you notice? This seems to be Lu Yibei’s statue!” Gu Qiqi’s small hand was spinning on the statue’s head, rubbing it back and forth.
“It’s not ‘seems like,’ it is!” the system said sternly.
d*mn, why did Calamity leave her statue in the Bamboo Slips Illusion? Could there be a special intent behind it?
Could it be that she used a secret technique to anchor coordinates for covert observation and possible teleportation when necessary? She had already devoured Jumang’s power inheritor, so this should be doable.
Oh no! If that’s the case, then the statue being in the Bamboo Slips Illusion for so long means that everything Gu Qiqi and I have done in the past month has been under her watch!
“Eh? Is this Lu Yibei’s statue?” Gu Qiqi looked at the Ming King Statue and frowned, “Shouldn’t we return it to him? Didn’t you always tell me to be honest?”
The system, “…”
I™ am worried you little money-grubber might get greedy and pick up cursed coins!
This statue is clearly a backup left by Calamity! Just returning it to her would be like explicitly revealing to her that we’ve discovered her scheme!
It’s not easy to have come this far and see a glimmer of hope; what if we provoke her and all efforts go to waste!
After slightly organizing its language, the system solemnly said to Gu Qiqi, “People and things related to urban legends cannot be generalized.”
“Since this is Calamity’s item, we cannot keep it around, let alone return it to her! Do you know what returning an enemy’s lost weapon is called?”
“What is it called?” Gu Qiqi asked, puzzled.
“Strengthening the enemy!” the system roared in exasperation, “So, not only can we not return it, but we also need to dispose of it quickly at a low price!”
“When we set up shop later, let the statue take the center position. If anyone shows interest, we sell it immediately, got it?”
“Oh, understood.” Gu Qiqi pouted her lips and reluctantly replied, lifting the Ming King Statue onto the cart and pushing it off to the ghost market.
————
“It should be right here!”
Zhang Dexian stood at the entrance of a winding, quiet alley he didn’t know the destination of, gazing ahead with a slight squint, clenching his fists.
An hour ago, he received a message from the Urban Legends Chat Group informing that a member had discovered someone selling the sacred relic he had long sought at the Huacheng Ghost Market, prompting him to hurry over.
Now, this incredibly solemn and sacred moment was finally approaching, and his anxious yet excited mood made him want to laugh skyward.
Standing at the alley entrance, he adjusted his emotions slightly and managed his facial expression before stepping forward toward the ghost market.
He must not let the seller sense his eagerness to obtain the sacred relic, or they would definitely raise the price! Zhang Dexian thought.
He had suffered a lot in the initial period after descending the mountain due to that.
————
As night deepened, the ghost market gradually became lively, with all sorts of peculiar and strange spirit energy fluctuations emanating from the roadside stalls.
Only then did Fat Second Grandpa finally allow his employees to open the store.
If it weren’t for someone reserving items today and coming to pick them up later, he would’ve preferred not to open today. Since the afternoon, his right eyelid had been twitching non-stop—an omen of bad luck!
As someone who engaged in the trade of spirit energy items, Fat Second Grandpa was always quite meticulous in avoiding misfortune.
No one could say when a seemingly unremarkable but actually ruthless character would walk into his store; one wrong move and the store could be smashed, or worse, he’d lose his life.
Thinking of this, he glanced at the ebbing crowd outside the store, his green bean eyes gradually becoming blurred, his thoughts drifting back to the time when he used to run errands at the ghost market.
That was when he met a terrifying woman.
That woman looked somewhat similar to this one… wait!
When Fat Second Grandpa noticed the silver-haired girl approaching him, his hefty body jolted, beads of sweat instantly appearing on his greasy forehead. Once he clearly saw the person’s face, he secretly let out a breath of relief.
d*mn, that gave me a scare!
Turns out it’s her, I thought it was her mother!
I wondered why my eyelid was twitching all day—it turned out to be because of her!
The issue of resurrection is terrifying for ordinary people.
For spiritual abilities users and urban legends, it’s even more frightening—once a deceased spiritual abilities user or urban legend comes back, they would most likely go berserk and lose control.
Seeing Lu Yibei arrive at the store entrance, Fat Second Grandpa snapped back to reality, wiped the sweat from his forehead, and greeted her with a smile, “Little master, what brings you here today? Did you come alone?”
“Yeah! Water Brother is busy today, so I came by myself. I’ll let him know after I finish the transaction,” Lu Yibei said, waving the flag of Bai Kai.
From her observation, Fat Second Grandpa seemed somewhat wary of Water Brother, so by mentioning Water Brother’s name briefly before selling things, she would at least avoid being scammed. After all, this was only her second visit, so she wasn’t familiar with the ins and outs.
“Oh?” Fat Second Grandpa smiled broadly, “I don’t know if little master came here to buy or sell today?”
“Sell.”
Upon hearing this, Fat Second Grandpa straightened up with difficulty, squinting slightly to ask, “I wonder what it is you want to sell…”
Lu Yibei glanced around furtively, and in a low voice said, “Boss, are you buying calamity water?”
“Calamity water? Depends on how much. I don’t buy less quantities.”
“Is that so?” Lu Yibei frowned, reached inside her upper clothing, pulled out a bottle of calamity water, and placed it in front of Fat Second Grandpa, “What do you think, is this enough?”
Looking at the two-liter crystal bottle filled with calamity water, Fat Second Grandpa paused and looked at Lu Yibei in confusion, “Isn’t this…”
Isn’t this a bit too much?
Lu Yibei furrowed her brow slightly, “Is it too little? It is indeed a lot less than what you have here, but that’s okay, I have…”
She quickly pulled out two more bottles of calamity water from her backpack and pushed them forward.
Looking at the three bottles of calamity water on the table, Fat Second Grandpa’s pudgy face twitched uncontrollably.
You™ call this little? My store is abundant, but it took seven or eight years of business to accumulate it!
