Chapter 51: The Thing That Interests the Ancestral Kitchen kn*fe
That night, on Huacheng Avenue, the broad road illuminated by streetlights was empty.
After a moment, the roar of an engine came from the end of the line of sight, and soon a matte black Yamaha R6 motorcycle sped into view.
The rider was a girl, her fitted black leather jacket perfectly outlining her impressive figure, with long hair tied into a ponytail cascading down from a pink cat ear helmet with a white-toothed design, fluttering like a golden flag behind her as she rode.
With a fierce aura complemented by her stunning beauty, she exuded an essence of violent aesthetics.
Suddenly, the signal lights on the cat ear helmet flashed twice, and the next moment, a successful connection tone echoed from the built-in Bluetooth headset.
“Meow—!”
“Hey? Is that Ahua? Go ahead, I’m listening.”
Jiang Li softly said, and after a moment of static noise, Ahua’s voice came through.
“Miss, are you on your way to support that guy Li Tanghan?”
“……”
Jiang Li pondered for two seconds before responding, “Yeah, even though the Hongshan villa area has always been one of Bai Kai’s key targets, I suspect that Li Tanghan’s sudden appearance there means…”
“Miss.” Ahua couldn’t help but interrupt, “Actually, you don’t need to explain. I never said you were going because you were worried about Li Tanghan!”
Jiang Li, “……”
“I just wanted to inform you that she’s up to some tricks again!”
“Mm? What did she do?” Seizing the opportunity provided by Ahua’s words, Jiang Li changed the subject.
“You previously asked me to monitor her calls, right? I just intercepted three anonymous tip-off calls she made, and the signal originated near Hongshan villa number 16.”
“Tip-off calls?” Jiang Li frowned slightly under the helmet. “What was the reason?”
In the form of an urban legend, she actually dared to make anonymous tip-off calls to the Siye Association? Li Tanghan, you really do have guts! Jiang Li thought.
“The reason…” Ahua hesitated.
“Why are you stuttering? Is there something you can’t say?” Jiang Li asked.
“Alright, fine!” Ahua sighed lightly, continuing, “She reported an area within the Hongshan villa district for gathering illegal gambling, drug trafficking, disturbing the peace, and other illegal behaviors.”
Hearing Ahua emphasize the words “an area” and “other” while speaking, Jiang Li’s mouth twitched slightly.
“So she didn’t call the Siye Association’s tip-off?”
“Correct, she called the police.”
Jiang Li, “……”
This was indeed something Li Tanghan could do.
However, her usual self would typically run away, right? Her style was to beg for mercy and flee when she couldn’t win.
What on earth was in the Hongshan villa area that made her stay there? Jiang Li pondered.
———
As the saying goes, when in trouble, call the police.
Li Tanghan wasn’t sure about the shady dealings Li Tanghan was involved in, but she was certain that these things were definitely illegal, well, at least against public morals.
So, this shouldn’t count as making a false police report, right?
To be honest, if it weren’t for this life-and-d*ath situation, I wouldn’t want to trouble the police. They already have a tough job! Li Tanghan thought.
When she called the police, she deliberately avoided giving a clear address to buy time—enough for the police to respond, conduct door-to-door investigations, discover and confirm the case’s connection to urban legends, hand it over to the Siye Association, and for the operatives and the Special Action Team to arrive, approximately within an hour.
With that much time, she would feel a bit more at ease to approach Li Tanghan; typically within that time frame, even if things fell through, it wouldn’t be a disastrous failure.
By the time the Siye Association personnel arrived, Li Tanghan would surely be too busy dealing with them to pay attention to her, giving her the chance to slip away in the chaos.
As Li Tanghan contemplated, she unknowingly returned to the solid wooden door of the reception room. She stood at the entrance, eavesdropping for a few seconds, confirming there was no dangerous movement inside before pushing the door open.
Once inside, she noticed a strange woman in the reception room. The woman held a leather box covered in strange patterns, opened the lid, and pushed the box toward Human Skin and Sack Face, speaking to them.
“This is what the boss promised you; have a look at the goods!”
Seeing the two transparent, high-quality cores of urban legends, Human Skin and Sack Face were ecstatic, their strange eyes glowing with a chilling light that couldn’t be suppressed.
They looked like a starved bull with a full buff, eager to swallow the urban legend cores immediately.
Until Li Tanghan unexpectedly entered the reception room at that moment.
Upon seeing her, Human Skin and Sack Face immediately shrank back, as if afraid she would snatch the urban legend cores, hurriedly putting them away and retreating silently to the side.
The unfamiliar woman seemed to sense the change in atmosphere and turned to Li Tanghan, smiling as she approached.
“This lady seems unfamiliar; you don’t appear to be part of this invitation list, do you?”
“……”
What was meant to happen, has happened. Whether I can bluff my way through this depends on the next round… Li Tanghan thought to herself, placing her hands behind her back, slightly raising her chin and snorting, “Hmph, unfamiliar is right. I haven’t been out much for many years.”
Though Li Tanghan was acting like a noble, it couldn’t hide the fact that she was feeling quite inexperienced inside.
After saying this, she discreetly peeked at the woman’s expression out of the corner of her eye.
A bit flustered, let me see if I can scare her.
“……”
As I suspected, is she an urban legend that rivals the strength of a deity? The woman thought with uncertainty, her gaze fluctuating several times, before her smile deepened.
“I see, I didn’t expect someone as powerful as you would lower yourself to visit my humble abode. I am truly overwhelmed; please forgive me for any neglect.”
As the woman inquired about Li Tanghan’s situation before leaving the reception room, she noted the girl’s high-quality spiritual energy, unarmed disaster response skills, and urban legend powers that could rival deities, along with her expression that seemed to disregard everything with no emotional fluctuation…
All of this was sufficient for her to judge that the girl standing before her was at least an A-grade urban legend.
Moreover, she called herself “this palace,” which was intriguing; behind her, there might be a large urban legend organization named after a certain palace, and she could be one of its leaders, the woman thought.
Li Tanghan reflected on what the woman had just said and couldn’t help but interject, “Wait a minute, what did you just say?”
“Uh…” the woman paused, “I said, if there is any neglect…”
“Not that sentence—the previous one.”
The woman tilted her head, tentatively asking, “Is it… that I didn’t expect someone as powerful as you to lower yourself to visit my humble abode?”
“Mm!” Li Tanghan maintained a serious face, nodding, “That’s the one!”
Oh hee hee—! I never expected that one day I would be associated with the word powerful?
Looking around, aside from Human Skin and Sack Face, there didn’t seem to be any other urban legends here for now, which means…
Today, I, Li Tanghan, am making a strong impression!
While pondering, she noticed the woman’s mouth twitching uncontrollably, and she quickly restrained her inflating ego.
Calm down, don’t get carried away; this is someone else’s territory, and there’s that large eerie statue outside! If I slip up, who knows what will happen?
“Ahem, I’ve lived for so many years, and I have no other hobbies; I just enjoy listening to others say nice things! Little girl, you’re pretty good!”
“You flatter me.” The woman bowed slightly, “It is my honor to engage with someone of your caliber.”
“However, I still want to boldly ask you, what brings you to my humble abode?”
Li Tanghan cast a sideways glance at the woman, then sat on a sofa nearby, crossing her legs, and casually took a sip from her teacup, saying indifferently, “What do you think?”
I’m not afraid to tell you, I just haven’t thought it through… Li Tanghan added internally.
I can’t just come out and say I’m here for your ancient sword, can I?
Asking directly about the origins of that eerie statue would be even more abrupt.
“That…”
Seeing Li Tanghan’s posture hinted at a potential interrogation, the woman felt inexplicably nervous and quickly recalled any recent business that might have conflicting interests with other urban legends.
“Are you here about that batch of Primordial Spirits from early last month? But that was the idea of the Solar Eclipse Society; we were merely intermediaries at most.”
The woman expressed with a slightly helpless and aggrieved look, as if eager to shift the blame onto the Solar Eclipse Society.
Primordial Spirits? The Solar Eclipse Society? You guys do business with those fellows and aren’t worried about a backstab? Li Tanghan thought, shaking her head lightly.
“Was it… the trafficking of young fox spirit urban legends?”
Li Tanghan, “……” What the hell? What kind of b*stard are you guys?
“Or was it the relic belonging to the Cataclysm Grade urban legend that was sold last week? But that was an unowned item! If you want to know its whereabouts, we could disclose it to you.”
“……”
“Surely, it can’t be about the anonymous letter we secretly sent to the Siye Association headquarters reporting that the Huacheng Siye Association has an insider, right?”
“Alright, stop right there; none of what you’ve said is correct.” Li Tanghan finally could not hold herself back from interrupting.
I mean, come on, do you have an extraordinarily colorful crime record or what?
Li Tanghan thought she had just stumbled into a smuggling gang’s den, but she was overwhelmed by all these serious matters, her heart could hardly handle it.
Moreover, since the woman dared to bring up such matters openly, she certainly wasn’t overly concerned about people knowing—those dark things hidden in the corners of their hearts might just be even scarier.
And indeed, that was the case.
“Actually, the reason I came here isn’t as complex as you think…” Li Tanghan set her teacup down and looked at the woman.
After contemplating for so long, she had already planned how to lie.
“I’m just here for something trivial.”
“……”
Trivial? Something of this magnitude being called trivial by an urban legend? The woman didn’t want to offend Li Tanghan by interrupting at this moment, so she could only secretly speculate.
“Come to think of it, I have some connections with you; earlier, one of my juniors received help from that little b*stard Li Tanghan.”
“I’m someone who always protects those close to me; seeing her remember him and mumble about it all the time over the years has become somewhat annoying. After considering it, I came to have a look.”
“After looking, I realized…” At this point, Li Tanghan paused and then disdainfully said, “She doesn’t even have the courage to face me; hmph, looks like that’s all there is to it.”
Junior? Help? The woman paused for a moment, quickly suppressing her curiosity and smiled, “You might be mistaken, my boss isn’t unwilling to meet you; he just has urgent matters at hand and can’t break free at the moment…”
Although Li Tanghan’s words had many points of doubt, it was best not to offend someone like her who could withstand the pressure from that statue on Lake Heart Island; cultivating a good relationship would be the best course of action.
Those urban legends gathering around Li Tanghan, including Human Skin and Sack Face, were all there for their own motives, weren’t they?
As long as what she wanted fell within acceptable limits, it shouldn’t be a problem to satisfy her.
Seeing that Li Tanghan hadn’t spoken for a long time, the woman’s eyes turned and asked, “May I ask what your junior’s name is?”
“Why do you want to know that?” Li Tanghan frowned.
Do you expect me to create a junior character along with the perfect backstory and name too?
Are you trying to drive me mad with naming complex?
The woman smiled and clarified, “It’s just that I want to know her name and address so that when our boss returns, we can present a generous gift to make amends for this negligence.”
“……” Li Tanghan contemplated for two seconds, raised her head at a 45-degree angle toward the sky, and sighed melancholically.
“Ah—! Her name is Sixian; I’ve watched her grow up and always treated her as my own. Unfortunately, she has grown too big to keep, huh!”
Sorry, Du Sixian! Let me be a male mom just once! After all, you live on Mudan Street and they probably wouldn’t dare to cause trouble there.
Moreover, I didn’t even mention her full name, Li Tanghan thought.
The woman, “……” A girl? Or a female urban legend? That makes sense; the boss must have had his share of flings over the years.
“But you don’t need to hand over the goods to her. I’ll bring them back after I finish checking on that little b*stard with the surname Li; it’s better they don’t meet before then.”
It’s reasonable for me to take the items for my associated descent, right? Li Tanghan mused.
Upon hearing this, the woman’s eyes displayed a relieved expression.
She wasn’t afraid that Li Tanghan would take things; she was terrified that she wouldn’t because, based on her years of experience dealing with urban legends, those who didn’t want anything were the hardest to deal with.
It’s like free games are often the most expensive.
“Then please follow me to take a look? Although my boss’s collection isn’t very complete—most items are elsewhere—all that’s here are top-tier goods.”
Following that, the woman began to lead the way out of the reception room, pausing slightly at the door, bowing slightly to Li Tanghan as if to signal for her to follow.
The collection room? There might be an ancient sword there; I can just pick it out and leave. When the time comes, the sky’s the limit; who would come back to this ghostly place again?
While she mused, Li Tanghan picked up her guitar bag and stood up, just as Human Skin, shivering and silent for a long time, with skin flakes floating around like special effects in the snow, could no longer contain itself and mustered up the courage to approach.
“Lady Witch, please wait a moment!”
Seeing how Li Tanghan treated the junior named Sixian, it was moved and just wanted to ask whether she could take in more associates.
Li Tanghan glanced at Human Skin, saying lightly, “What’s the matter?”
“Actually, the reason I became an urban legend is that my entire family was killed. I can’t forget them and have to carry their skin with me.”
“But that’s just a lifeless thing; over the years, I’ve wandered alone in this world. So I’ve always had one wish…”
“I understand!” Li Tanghan nodded, interrupting Human Skin, which immediately brightened.
“You mean, you want me to send you down to reunite with your family, right?”
Human Skin, “????”
You’re not right!
Under normal circumstances, shouldn’t you first comfort me and then inquire about my wish, so that I can say I want to become your associate?
Just as Human Skin was in a daze, Li Tanghan had already exited the reception room, disappearing from sight.
Watching the almost fully closed door of the reception room, Human Skin sighed silently in disappointment. Just when it was about to give up completely, Li Tanghan suddenly poked her head back through the door.
She popped half her body out from behind the door, smacking her forehead, “Oh right, I forgot to mention earlier!”
A turn of events? Human Skin felt a glimmer of hope.
“You stay here! I’ll go grab the treasure and come back to fulfill your wish!” Li Tanghan said expressionlessly and confidently, as if she would really be back.
Human Skin, “!!!”
The unpredictable swings of urban legends are thrilling and exciting.
———
The surface of Hongshan villa number 16, like other buildings in the villa area, consisted of three-story little western-style houses with gardens, pools, and parking lots.
Such an area, while somewhat luxurious compared to ordinary residences, concealed a secret space many times larger underground.
This was something Li Shunian secretly prepared when developing this villa area.
Li Tanghan followed the woman through a corridor set up like a castle’s secret passage, as complex as a maze, for three to five minutes until stopping in front of a stone wall engraved with strange patterns.
Li Tanghan carefully examined the patterns on the stone wall and found that, from certain angles, they bore a resemblance to that statue on Lake Heart Island.
Just as she was watching the woman, who seemed to be performing some sort of ritual while lightly patting the cloud-like patterns on the wall, she suddenly felt the ornate kn*fe hidden in her sleeve twitch.
The kn*fe pointed in a certain direction, causing the coat to stab her, and her sleeve lifted slightly in that direction for a moment.
Noticing something amiss, she looked towards where her sleeve lifted, only to see a dimly lit, narrow dead end.
“……”
Was there something over there that piqued the interest of the ancestral kitchen kn*fe? Li Tanghan wondered.
