Chapter 33: Modification
(There was a serious bug at the end of the chapter updated yesterday. I contacted the editor to modify the chapter over the weekend, and I’ll re-upload a free chapter! I’m very sorry for the bad reading experience caused by my careless typing~ Kneeling down.)
When Lu Yibei was chased out of the office by Jiang Li, his mind was still a bit hazy.
Standing in front of the Huacheng Folk Culture Research Management Bureau, Lu Yibei glanced back with a slight frown.
Miaomiao Sauce is here with me?
Is she hinting that she will accompany me to complete the mission?
But if she intends to join me in the mission, why use the identity of Miaomiao Sauce?
Wait, could it be…
As Lu Yibei pondered, a sudden spark flashed through his mind, and he quickened his pace, heading out toward Mudan Street.
————
Sitting in the taxi gradually moving away from Mudan Street, Lu Yibei estimated that he was almost out of the monitoring range of the Siye Society. Only then did he pull out the A4 paper with the urban legend case written on it from his pocket.
On the A4 paper, there was elegantly written small script detailing the mysterious deaths of residents in the Happy Neighborhood.
After noting down a few keywords, Lu Yibei folded the paper back and put it in his pocket, then casually pulled out his phone from the other side.
Holding his phone, he secretly sized up the taxi driver through the rearview mirror, then switched the phone to silent mode, opened the browser, entered the website, and skillfully navigated through a plethora of online gambling and adult product ads to find the secret entrance, entering the reward website of the Urban Legends Chat Group.
Focusing on the reward website, Lu Yibei silently took a deep breath, clicked on the search bar, typed “Happy Neighborhood,” and clicked search.
As the page switched, a reward announcement appeared on the mobile phone screen.
Looking at that reward announcement, the last shred of doubt in Lu Yibei’s mind instantly dissipated.
If he guessed correctly, Jiang Li indeed wanted to accompany him to fulfill the reward from the Urban Legends Chat Group.
He didn’t know how those guys from the Urban Legends Chat Group gained her trust, allowing an operative from the Siye Society to temporarily tacitly consent to their existence.
The Huacheng Siye Society only had a few capable members, and there were several moles hidden among them; now there was one more main operative mingling with the urban legends, which made it quite difficult.
By the way, I haven’t even considered whether to accept their cooperation invitation!
With Jiang Li pulling this stunt, do I really have no choice?
While Lu Yibei was deep in thought, his phone suddenly vibrated with a notification from a certain app.
[Genius Mahjong Girl requests to add you as a friend]
Lu Yibei, “…”
Agreed.
[You are now friends with “Genius Mahjong Girl,” go ahead and say something!]
Genius Mahjong Girl: “Are you there? Is it convenient to act together tonight? [Heart emoji]”
Wang Buliu: “There’s a bathroom in my house.”
Genius Mahjong Girl: “I meant to collaborate to collect the reward together.”
Wang Buliu: “I don’t want to act with the fake Miaomiao Sauce.”
Genius Mahjong Girl: “What nonsense are you talking? I am Miaomiao Sauce. [Heart emoji]”
Wang Buliu: “Really? I don’t believe it! Unless you send a selfie for me to see!”
Genius Mahjong Girl: “It’s not convenient right now, I’m using a landline.”
Wang Buliu: “? [Old man looking at phone emoji]”
Wang Buliu: “Then I also can’t right now, let’s talk another day.”
Lu Yibei had already planned to go to the night market tonight to sweep up some misfortune and buy materials to complete the deficiencies, so he had no time to accompany Jiang Li to fulfill the reward.
Moreover, such an urban legend event with an unknown level of spirit energy fluctuation is something that can be arbitrarily gone to? At least he should prepare some things first, right?
For example, let me first complete a deficiency patch, purchase some spirit energy items for self-defense, accept one or two simple rewards to probe into the authenticity of the urban legend reward website, visit around the Happy Neighborhood, and finally take the reward.
This has already been the simplest and quickest process, Lu Yibei thought.
Genius Mahjong Girl: “When is another day?”
Lu Yibei frowned and pondered for a moment, typed in his response, and clicked send.
Wang Buliu: “At least three days later.”
Genius Mahjong Girl: “Okay, I’ll be waiting for you! [Heart emoji]”
Lu Yibei looked at the message sent by Jiang Li, tilting his head.
Is she more lively and cheerful online than in real life?
Also.
Why does she always send this emoji? Does it have any special significance? It feels a bit strange.
Thinking about that cold beauty shell, underneath was actually an agitated soul, Lu Yibei felt a bit of an unexpected cute contrast.
————
Huacheng Folk Culture Research Management Bureau, V Office.
Jiang Li stared at the chat box on her phone screen, waiting for a moment before finally receiving Lu Yibei’s reply. Seeing that he agreed, a slight, inadvertent smile appeared at the corner of her mouth.
She held her phone, typed “Then it’s settled,” then clicked on the emoji option, selected the only emoji from the empty list, and clicked send.
Pretending to be a cute girl online isn’t that difficult!
Just send some cute emojis while chatting, Jiang Li thought.
————
The night grew deep.
Under the gloomy sky, dark clouds floated from afar. With a vast shadow covering it, Huacheng seemed to be sleeping, silent and quiet, while in the darkness, the demons and monsters waiting to hunt stirred restlessly.
On the shabby streets of late autumn, thin mist floated in the air. Merchants arrived from various corners of the city, traversing the streets, their figures hazy, like wandering ghosts.
This was one of the rare bustling places in Huacheng after nightfall.
The end of the night market and the start of the ghost market happened almost simultaneously.
Gu Qiqi packed up her large iron pot, gas can, and various stir-frying tools for sale. She flipped a wooden sign on her cart that read [Fried Rice, Fried Noodles, Fried Rice Noodles] to reveal the other side that said [Qiqi’s General Store], and pushed her cart toward a nearby dim alley.
Her little business had been doing well lately, and as she accumulated resources exchanged with various recipes, her “artificial little sun” had finally managed to “launch” in the Bamboo Slips Illusion, dispelling the gloom that had hung for centuries.
As she pushed her cart forward, the system couldn’t help but begin nagging in Gu Qiqi’s ear.
“Gu Qiqi, you must consider clearly that transforming that barren land which has remained unproductive for over a thousand years into land suitable for farming will require vast resources. I feel it’s quite not worth it.”
“I think being able to grow potatoes is already quite good. What else do we need? Tomatoes, rice… snow peas?”
“Eh?!” Gu Qiqi paused for a moment and retorted, “Didn’t you say that I need to show a miracle before my people or gain their faith?”
“The miracle I want you to show is for you to learn the story of [Five Fish and Two Cakes] and create food out of thin air to feed them. Why must you farm?”
The system could never understand why Gu Qiqi had an inexplicable obsession with farming. Obviously, the funds acquired through the sale of recipes and spirit energy items could completely solve the survival issues of the less than two thousand people in the Bamboo Slips Illusion just by purchasing ingredients.
“But I can learn from Shen Nong. Let the barren land regain vitality and then teach them modern advanced techniques for farming, irrigation, and harvesting, so from now on they can be self-sufficient and thrive. Isn’t that a greater miracle?” Gu Qiqi said.
The system, “…”
It surprisingly made sense?
Perhaps this was because her spirit pattern attribute was closely linked with mountains and rivers?
Or was it purely a racial talent buff ingrained in the genes of the Z Country people?
“This kind of miracle will take a long time to accomplish, and I worry we may run out of time!” the system said.
“How could time run out? Isn’t there an alchemical potion in those bamboo slips that accelerates plant growth?” Gu Qiqi remarked. “As long as I buy enough materials, I’m quite confident in alchemy! It doesn’t feel much harder than making those handicrafts.”
Once again, the system was persuaded by Gu Qiqi. After all, her talent in alchemy was visibly high.
The system had never let Gu Qiqi touch alchemy before, as it was worried she might mess up while making the [Sun Copper Ball], so when preparing materials, it had actually prepared enough materials to make five [Sun Copper Balls].
Unexpectedly, when Gu Qiqi first engaged with this medium to high-difficulty alchemy item, she barely succeeded on her second try. After that, by the time she made the fifth one, the production technique of the [Sun Copper Ball] had even approached perfection.
This situation genuinely surprised the system, which regretted for a long time that it hadn’t discovered Gu Qiqi’s talent in this area earlier and chosen spirit patterns that could assist in alchemy for her.
In a future day, the thought of Gu Qiqi concocting a cataclysm-grade alchemical potion capable of killing calamities excited the system immensely.
Just as the system was lost in the fantasy of using alchemical potions to spray disasters in the face, Gu Qiqi had already pushed the cart to a remote corner.
She looked around and pulled out a bamboo slip from the pocket stitched into the inside of her pants. With the infusion of spirit energy, a portal, the size of a manhole cover, appeared before her, stable and controllable.
Gu Qiqi began tossing cooking tools from her cart into the portal one by one, then slightly leaned forward, half her body peering in, rummaging around, and tossing out various spirit energy items as if tossing around cabbages.
Zhu Yan’s curse formula solidified mask, wisdom potion, replicated bamboo slips, and the bones of the Great Serpent God…
Hmm, it’s definitely the bones of the Great Serpent God.
Since Lu Yibei killed the Great Serpent God, the sinkhole collapsed and enclosed it, the system had always worried it might revive in some way, so it had Gu Qiqi spend some time digging up its “grave” to sell the bones.
Truly managed to scatter the ashes to prevent revival!
“By the way, system, yesterday a villager with a very flat head told me he found a glowing copper statue at home, which seems to be a spirit energy item.”
“Today during the day, someone delivered it to me. Should we sell it too?”
Gu Qiqi’s words interrupted the system’s thoughts. It asked back, “There seems to be such a thing; where’s the copper statue? Let’s take a look first before making plans.”
“Wait a bit! I’ll look for it!” Gu Qiqi said, leaning a bit more into the portal, her little legs in the little boots lifted, gently shaking, “Where is it? Where is it?”
“Hey hey, found it! Eh? System, this copper statue seems a bit off…”
“What’s wrong?”
“Um…” Gu Qiqi pondered for two seconds and said, “It looks very familiar, as if I’ve seen it somewhere.”
“Seen it? Let me have a look at it.” the system said.
“Okay!” Gu Qiqi agreed and shouldered the copper statue as she squeezed out of the portal, placing it down on the ground with a “DUANG!” sound.
The ancient bronze-colored statue depicted muscular lines and had a solemn face with wide-open eyes. Its arms were raised high, firmly carrying a nuclear warhead on its shoulder.
The system, “…”
Of course, Gu Qiqi would recognize it—if she hadn’t been knocked out earlier, she would have recognized it even better!
Isn’t this the statue that calamity carried around before?
“System, system, are you there?”
“I’m here.”
“Did you notice? This seems to be Lu Yibei’s copper statue!” Gu Qiqi’s little hand spun around the Ming King statue’s head, rubbing it.
“It’s not ‘seems’—it is!” the system said in a stern voice.
d*mn, why did calamity leave her statue in the Bamboo Slips Illusion? Could there be some special intention?
Could it be that she’s using secret techniques to anchor coordinates for observation and will teleport if necessary? She had already devoured Jumang’s power heir, so she should be able to do this.
Oh no! If that’s the case, with the statue lying in the Bamboo Slips Illusion for so long, everything Gu Qiqi and I did in the past month would have been right under her nose!
“Eh? Is this Lu Yibei’s statue?” Gu Qiqi glanced at the Ming King statue and frowned, “Shouldn’t we return it to him? Didn’t you always tell me to return lost things?”
The system, “…”
I™ was worried that you, little money grubber, would be captivated by money and pick up ghost money to be hexed!
This statue is clearly a backup left by calamity. Simply returning it to her would be equivalent to revealing that we discovered her conspiracy, right?
Now that we’ve finally gotten on the right track and seen a glimmer of hope, if we anger her, all our efforts would be in vain!
The system organized its language slightly before solemnly telling Gu Qiqi, “People and urban legend items cannot be treated the same.”
“Since this is something of calamity, we cannot keep it close, and even more so, cannot return it to her! Do you know what it’s called when you return a lost weapon to your enemies?”
“What’s that?” Gu Qiqi asked in confusion.
“Giving aid to the enemy!” the system growled in exasperation, “So, we not only can’t return it to her, but we need to dispose of it quickly at a low price!”
“When we set up our stall later, just have the statue stand in the C position. As soon as anyone shows interest, sell it immediately. Do you understand?”
“Oh, got it.” Gu Qiqi pouted, reluctantly agreed, and placed the Ming King statue on her cart as she pushed it toward the ghost market.
————
“This should be the place!”
Zhang Dexian stood at a winding, quiet alleyway that seemed to lead nowhere. He looked ahead, his gaze slightly firm, tightening his fists.
An hour ago, he received a message from the Urban Legends Chat Group saying that a member discovered someone selling the sacred artifact he had been desperately searching for in the Huacheng ghost market, prompting his rush over.
Now, this solemn and sacred moment is finally approaching, and the feeling of anxiety and excitement made him want to laugh at the sky.
Standing at the alley entrance, he slightly adjusted his mood and managed to control his facial expression before stepping forward toward the ghost market.
He mustn’t let the seller notice that he is particularly eager to obtain the sacred object, or else they would definitely drive up the price! Zhang Dexian thought.
He had suffered countless times from such a fate during the period just after he descended.
————
As night deepened, the ghost market gradually became lively, with all kinds of peculiar spirit energy fluctuations coming from the roadside stalls.
It was only at this time that Fat Second Grandpa finally allowed his employees to reluctantly open the store.
If it weren’t for the fact that someone had booked things for today to pick them up later, he wouldn’t really have wanted to open the shop today. Ever since the afternoon, his right eyelid had been twitching nonstop—it felt ominous!
As a seasoned dealer of spirit energy items, Fat Second Grandpa had always been exceptionally diligent about avoiding bad omens.
No one could tell when an apparently ordinary-looking but actually cruel and ruthless person would walk into his shop. If he wasn’t careful, a smashed store would just be a small issue; losing his life would be quite troublesome.
With such thoughts, he looked outside at the ebbing crowd, his green bean eyes gradually becoming hazy, and his mind uncontrollably drifted back to the time when he was running errands for people in the ghost market.
Back then, he met a man with a very scheming heart.
That man named Lu Ming, how should I put it? Perhaps I’m not human, but he is indeed a dog!
As for his appearance, probably… well, it somewhat resembled this!
Wait!
Fat Second Grandpa noticed a seemingly expressionless youth walking toward him, and his hefty body jolted violently. Drops of sweat immediately appeared on his oily forehead. Once he clearly saw the visitor’s appearance, he secretly breathed a sigh of relief.
d*mn, you scared the hell out of me!
It’s him; I thought it was his father!
I said, why has my eyelid been twitching today? Turns out it was because he was coming.
Zombies are terrifying to ordinary people.
To spirit ability users and urban legends, they are even more terrifying. Spirit ability users and urban legends that come back to life after dying are likely to go corrupt and lose control.
So Fat Second Grandpa was very afraid of Lu Ming’s rebirth.
If that guy were to rise again, wouldn’t that be trouble?
Seeing Lu Yibei arrive at the shop’s entrance, Fat Second Grandpa snapped back to reality, wiped the sweat from his forehead, and said with a smile, “Little master, what brings you here today? Did you come alone?”
“Hmm! Water Brother is busy today, so I came alone. I just need to do some business and tell him about it later.” Lu Yibei said, waving the flag of Bai Kai.
From his observation, this Fat Second Grandpa seemed rather wary of Water Brother. By casually mentioning Water Brother’s name before selling something, it at least ensured he wouldn’t be scammed. After all, this was only his second visit, and he didn’t understand the ways of the place.
“Oh?” Fat Second Grandpa said with a smile, “I didn’t know that young master came here today to buy something or to sell something?”
“Selling something.”
Upon hearing this, Fat Second Grandpa sat up straight with some difficulty, squinting as he inquired, “I wonder what you’re selling…”
Lu Yibei slyly looked around and quietly said, “Boss, do you buy misfortune?”
“Misfortune? Depends on how much there is. If it’s a small amount, I won’t buy it.” Fat Second Grandpa replied.
In Fat Second Grandpa’s opinion, Lu Yibei was just a spirit ability user who had recently drawn a spirit pattern. Even if he had accidentally obtained some misfortune while hunting an urban legend, the quantity probably wouldn’t be much.
Although Lu Yibei had the buff from Bai Kai and Lu Ming, friendships were friendships, and business was business.
If he set this precedent, it would ruin his business.
Fat Second Grandpa was pondering this when Lu Yibei reached into his bag and pulled out five bottles filled with misfortune, placing them in front of him. “How about this much?”
Fat Second Grandpa, “…”
Seeing Fat Second Grandpa deep in thought and not speaking for a long time, Lu Yibei said, “Uncle, don’t overthink it. If it’s not enough, just say so. It’s fine, I have a little more…”
Saying this, he swiftly pulled out five more glass bottles of misfortune from the bag and pushed them in front of Fat Second Grandpa.
Looking at the ten glass bottles of misfortune on the table, Fat Second Grandpa’s chubby mouth twitched subtly.
“…”
“Not enough? Then there’s only…” Lu Yibei said, reaching into his bag again.
Upon seeing this, Fat Second Grandpa finally lost control of his eyes, his round green bean eyes wide open as if he had undergone eye surgery in an instant.
If you™ pull out five more bottles, do you believe I’ll have a heart attack on the spot?
It seemed the teasing, uh, I mean, probing was sufficient! Lu Yibei noticed the change in Fat Second Grandpa’s expression and maintained his composure, putting down the few bottles of misfortune he had grasped.
He only took one bottle and gently set it on the table.
“If it’s still not enough, then there’s nothing I can do. I really don’t have a drop left.” Lu Yibei said with a tone of helplessness.
