Chapter 58: Farewell
The bus slowly made its way along the road to the center of Huacheng, outside the window, an air of decline lingered on the once-bustling streets on both sides.
This route was originally specially prepared for the Flower Language Sunshine Resort Hotel, and even the bus looked like a beautifully decorated sightseeing vehicle.
However, the Flower Language Sunshine Resort Hotel had already fallen into ruins, and many versions of urban legend stories had spread about it; now, no one went there for leisure anymore.
Perhaps it wouldn’t be long before this sparsely populated route would also be canceled, gradually buried along with the resort hotel in the tales of urban legends.
Lu Yibei gazed out the window at the ever-changing scenery whizzing by, lost in thought.
Just now, Jiang Li had mentioned that the urban legends of the Happy Neighborhood suddenly attracted many tenants, and they even held a welcome party a day in advance. This might have something to do with my finding the Ling Tai Purification.
But what was the purpose of their early welcome?
If the welcome party hid some sort of ritual, could it be that they wanted to enhance their power through this ritual to deal with me, who had obtained the Ling Tai Purification? Lu Yibei pondered.
————
After returning to the city of Huacheng, it was still early, and he decided to return to his apartment.
He lived with Jiang Li in the Happy Neighborhood, which made washing up, bathing, and sleeping quite inconvenient. Seizing this opportunity to return home, he could have a comfortable shower and rest well.
Moreover, if he stayed away for too long, that stinky sister, Jumeng, would probably get anxious.
As soon as Lu Yibei entered the house, he saw Jumeng rummaging through a storage room, pulling out the black suitcase he had picked up from Lin Yiqi, sitting cross-legged on the floor.
Beside her lay a mess of items, which she was sorting through and packing into the suitcase.
Seeing Jumeng acting like she was packing, Lu Yibei walked over and firmly pressed down on her hand, gazing deeply into her eyes.
“Why are you leaving without saying anything? Are you really going to sneak away like this?”
“If I hadn’t happened to catch you in the act, were you just going to leave without a word?”
Jumeng cast a glance at the shiny mark on the back of her hand and forced a shy smile.
“My injuries have healed faster than I expected; seeing that I’m almost perfectly fine, there’s no reason for me to stay here, right?”
“As the top leader in Peach Source, there are a bunch of things waiting for me to deal with!”
Lu Yibei tilted his head skeptically, frowning, “Is that reason really so simple?”
“Hmm…”
Jumeng paused for a moment, straightening her posture and said, “I initially didn’t want to tell you, worried you might blab and cause unnecessary trouble.”
“But given our connection, I still have to remind you that Huacheng might soon go chaotic; someone is secretly organizing the Hundred Demons Walk.”
Jumeng was worried Lu Yibei might report to the Siye Society; based on what she knew of him, he was exactly the type to do such things.
At that time, it would surely exacerbate the situation and create trouble.
In fact, from Jumeng’s perspective, the emergence of a leader in an area through the Hundred Demons Walk wasn’t necessarily a bad thing.
Where there was a leader, there were rules, at least much better than the chaos of a leaderless territory.
It was, in a sense, a kind of alternative balance that adhered to the survival laws of urban legends while also bringing relative peace.
“I advise you not to meddle; when the Hundred Demons Walk begins and you sense something unusual outside, just go home, lock your doors and windows, and sleep until dawn.”
“Of course, I’m not afraid of those eerie urban legends instigating the Hundred Demons Walk; many years ago, I single-handedly went from the foot of Fanjing Mountain to Huangguoshu Waterfall without blinking.”
“How did you manage that?” Lu Yibei asked pensively.
Jumeng lifted her chin slightly, pridefully declaring, “That’s because I, your sister, am charming and invincible!”
“I meant, over a distance of more than four hundred kilometers, how did you do it without blinking? Don’t urban legends have tear ducts?”
“……” Jumeng shot Lu Yibei a glare, “Regardless, don’t blame me for not reminding you! With your current level, if you get involved, even the resurrection armor won’t save you.”
Jumeng was genuinely worried that Lu Yibei would go to watch the excitement; if he went, he would surely encounter a fight and end up being harmed as the bystander.
In her observations, she noticed something strange about him that made her feel uneasy.
That vibe was reminiscent of the inheritor of the Plague God’s power she had encountered before, the type that seemed to have bad luck like “even drinking plain water gets stuck in your teeth, wearing a cassock brings ghosts.”
However, his aura felt even weirder and more mysterious, seemingly still growing.
People like him typically would meet an untimely end, not living to adulthood; she couldn’t understand how he had survived until now.
Perhaps he was among the extremely lucky ones of the “misfortune gods” group?
Even if Yuan Ye predicted I had calamities, avoiding them through seeking good fortune and averting misfortunes was still one of the ways to eliminate disasters, Jumeng thought.
Lu Yibei, “……”
Hearing about the Hundred Demons Walk sounded very dangerous…
Why would there be danger where I, Lu Yibei, would go?
You don’t even need to tell me; I’ll avoid it as much as I can.
Lu Yibei silently cursed as he looked up and down at Jumeng, “Are you really leaving? Can you not go?”
“Of course not.” Jumeng shook her head, patted Lu Yibei’s shoulder, and said earnestly, “I know you’ve developed deep feelings for me and don’t want to part with your sister.”
“But in this world, the most common thing is parting; you need to learn to get used to it. Even if you try to keep me, I must leave this time.”
“It’s not that I’m unwilling to leave you…”
Lu Yibei glanced at the meticulously chosen items in Jumeng’s suitcase: blue-ray discs, a SWITCH, comic books, and novels, expressionless, “I actually can’t wait for you, that stinky sister, to get lost earlier, but what do you mean by taking my things?”
“In a word, you can leave, but the things should stay!”
“Bang——!”
Jumeng jumped onto the suitcase like a sloth, firmly wrapping her limbs around it, glaring at Lu Yibei with mock ferocity, “You ungrateful loser!”
“I’ve been so nice to you; what’s wrong with giving me something as a farewell gift? Why are you so stingy?!”
Is this like an old immortal playing tricks online?
Lu Yibei crossed his arms and looked at Jumeng sideways, “As the ancients say, taking without asking is considered theft. Farewell gifts should be something I give you, not something you sneak away with!”
“Get off, get off!”
“I won’t!”
“……” Jumeng rolled her eyes at Lu Yibei, annoyed, “What I mean is, if you want to give presents, I should choose them for you!”
“Look at what you picked — stuff from a tranquil NTR? Such a unique interest! ‘FIFA19’? I definitely wouldn’t buy that unless it was on sale! ‘Hunter x Hunter’? I’m afraid you won’t even get to the ending before you fall into depravity…”
As Lu Yibei grumbled, he started pulling out each item Jumeng had chosen. During the process, she realized that her stinky sister was indeed godly; she was not like normal humans.
One by one, she stepped on those infamous landmines of “bad adaptations,” “abandoned stories,” “hiatuses,” and “poor optimizations.”
Truly amazing!
Lu Yibei spent over an hour filtering out some works he found classic and interesting but didn’t want to revisit soon, neatly placing them into Jumeng’s suitcase.
“These should…” After standing up, he pointed at the overstuffed suitcase, “Be enough for you to watch for two or three years. When you’re done, just let me know, and I’ll send you more.”
“Hmm?” Jumeng squinted, evaluating Lu Yibei suspiciously, “Why are you being so eager today? You’re not planning to sneak something from me before you leave, are you?”
“Would you like… me to sleep with you tonight? We can leave tomorrow morning?” Jumeng said, raising her eyebrows alluringly.
“No need!” Lu Yibei immediately rejected without a second thought.
Although he did have some knowledge about familiars, after studying with the mysterious girl last night, he felt lost.
If Jumeng could share her experiences independently, that would be great.
However, he dared not ask her directly about such matters.
Asking would be like revealing his identity!
Moreover, he had seen this kind of trick many times; it seemed beautiful but was, in reality, a huge trap.
Even without doing anything, anyone bold enough to share a bed with a deity of reproduction would inevitably experience a hundred different ways to feel the pleasure of drinking from the Mother River, with no way to find someone to take responsibility.
The neighbor’s already spayed old cat was caught up that way.
Lu Yibei had seen it with his own eyes, how that old cat had managed to sneak into his house and had been pampered by Jumeng for an entire night, only to find its belly growing day by day.
To this day, the neighbor was still in a dispute with the spay clinic!
Since then, Lu Yibei had never dared to respond to Jumeng’s “sweet temptations” again.
Sometimes he thought, Jumeng’s claim of frequently hosting weddings in Peach Source wasn’t without reason.
After all, the newlyweds who sought her help for weddings might not achieve lifelong happiness, but they would certainly have children soon.
Lu Yibei thought, handing the packed suitcase to Jumeng, asked, “When are you leaving? Do you want me to see you off?”
Jumeng waved her hand, taking the suitcase and said, “No need, I’ll take off from the balcony in a little while; it’ll only take me a meal’s time to get home.”
After saying that, she turned and walked towards the balcony.
After taking just a few steps, she stopped again, waving at Lu Yibei, “Come here for a moment; we’ve completed our contract early, and I need to help you dissolve it.”
This was not only about keeping promises but also mainly out of concern of being implicated… Jumeng added silently in her mind.
Jumeng could feel that ominous vibe surrounding Lu Yibei was slowly intensifying. If this continued, it might lead to symptoms of spreading urban legends from person to person.
“Is it really dissolved like this?” Lu Yibei frowned, “Shouldn’t we keep it as a memento?”
“It’s uncertain whether I’ll have the chance to see you again in the future!”
“……”
Jumeng pondered for a moment and nodded, “Okay, if you want to keep it, then let’s keep it for now!”
After all, when something goes wrong, I will be able to notice, and I can unilaterally dissolve the contract. Jumeng thought.
Thinking this, she waved at Lu Yibei and dragged the suitcase toward the balcony. The moment she crossed the glass door, she transformed into a faint green glow, wrapping around the suitcase and disappearing into the dazzling sunlight.
“Hey——!”
Watching Jumeng disappear, on the clear sky hung a few white clouds as Lu Yibei sighed at the loss.
————
In the sky over Huacheng, amidst the clouds.
A green light that seemed to blend with the wind suddenly twitched, transforming into a bird-like shape, unfurling its wings like spring’s breeze and soaring in the heavens above.
It wasn’t long before it seamlessly blended into the flock of migratory birds that returned here every year for the winter.
Thus, on this day, the local migratory birds encountered a bunch of strange magpies they had never seen before, hailing from elsewhere.
They spoke in odd dialects, made a ruckus, chirping about things involving eggs, cloacas, and beautiful tail feathers.
They looked quite crude and bizarre, yet oddly made the migratory birds feel impressed, unable to resist the urge to present their collections of beer caps, metal buttons, and colorful plastic scraps as gifts.
However, upon getting closer and observing what was clutched in the claws of these foreign magpies, the migratory birds abandoned that idea.
Comic books, game consoles, light novels… Aren’t these all things humans like?
d*mn! The XP system of these out-of-town magpies is so strange!
————
Meanwhile, as the magpie transformed from Jumeng flew across the sky of Huacheng.
At Huacheng University, inside the College of Arts and Literature’s Science and Liberal Arts Building, a certain guest professor was animatedly lecturing his students when he suddenly seemed to sense something, raised his head looking out the window as if peering through the clouds at something.
“Teacher, teacher? Are you okay?”
A girl in the front row inquired, ringing in his ears. He blinked, smiled at her, shook his head, then turned to his students and said, “Apologies, everyone, I’ll be stepping out for a moment.”
With that, he left the classroom.
Stepping out into the hallway, he arrived at the restroom, locked the stall door, and then took out a shabby white porcelain plate, pressing his hands on its edge softly, murmuring, “Look ahead and behind at night, women bind the grass men, paper powder face, kerchief skirt…”
As the man’s low voice flowed, the dim light in the narrow restroom stall suddenly dimmed, and something filthy and unclean began to writhe uneasily behind him.
After a while, the porcelain plate gently shook, and only then did the man stop murmuring.
“Sir, that terrifying entity has left; it seems to be heading away from Huacheng. You may notify those people you mentioned to start preparing.”
“Ding——!”
As if responding to the man, the white porcelain plate gently rattled with a crisp sound, then fell silent, and the shadows in the restroom stall receded like tide.
The light returned to normal.
The man waited in place for a moment, took out his phone, opened a rarely used chat app, and sent a message to someone named “Miraculous Child.”
【The inheritor of Jumang’s powers has already left Huacheng; whether to intercept them en route is up to you.】
【I promised to help monitor her; when will you fulfill your part of the bargain?】
After a long wait, the man’s phone vibrated, receiving a reply.
【After it’s done, I’ll double your reward.】
————
On the other side.
In the outskirts of Huacheng, in a standalone villa that had been closed tight for years where delivery personnel often reported seeing eerie figures.
Miao Xiaoqi, resembling a cat, was using all fours to crouch on a chair, observing the chat content among the core members of the Urban Legends Chat Group, her ears twitching from time to time.
After a while, she frowned and turned to the old perv beside her, who was anxiously watching the download progress bar of some adult content.
“Ah Se, haven’t you noticed that the boss hasn’t changed his ID in a long time?”
The old perv didn’t even glance at Miao Xiaoqi, still engrossed in reading more about the adult content, nonchalantly replying, “What’s wrong with that?”
“Of course there’s something wrong! He used to change his ID faster than you change your 2D wives!”
“What do you mean by change? I expand my collection! They are all concurrent; I love each one equally… never mind, you won’t get it anyway.”
The two quarreled, failing to see eye to eye, and after a simple exchange, fell silent, each returning to their tasks.
While Miao Xiaoqi kept her eyes on the core members’ chat, licking her delicate white hands, she suddenly saw a message from a member in the bronze market group that made her frown involuntarily.
Pure Love Warrior: “@Void, those guys watching the inheritor of Jumang’s powers seem to be taking action. Should we follow up?”
Void: “Let’s just watch for now; based on my assessment, this information may turn out to be quite valuable in the future!”
Having finished reading the two messages, Miao Xiaoqi quickly turned and tapped the old perv’s shoulder, “You should take a look at the message sent by Pure Love Warrior in the group.”
The old perv rolled his eyes at Miao Xiaoqi, “What is that ** talking about now? Hunting Minotaurs? I’m telling you, you don’t need to care about that kid; what does he know?”
“When the time comes, he’ll realize he doesn’t actually like pure love nor hates Minotaurs; he’s simply quite lecherous!”
“……”
Miao Xiaoqi shot an annoyed glare at the old perv, “Just look already! Why the fuss?”
“Fine, fine, fine!”
The old perv had no choice as he hurriedly complied, switching the display on his computer to the core members’ group, scrolling back a bit to read the message, frowning.
“The inheritor of Jumang’s powers is Jumeng, and Jumeng is Wang Buliu’s mistress?”
“Is the boss planning to sell this information to Wang Buliu?”
Miao Xiaoqi chimed in, “It does seem that way, but didn’t the boss say that j*rk is our important ally? If that’s the case, why not just share the information directly?”
The old perv shrugged, “How should I know what the boss is thinking? As long as he doesn’t have any ill intent, that’s good enough.”
After a pause, he added, “Perhaps the principle of being an information trader is at play here?”
Hearing this, Miao Xiaoqi nodded thoughtfully, “Just don’t know how Wang Buliu will choose then; will he prioritize knowing his father’s cause of d*ath or his mistress’s safety.”
“Hmm…”
The old perv contemplated for a moment and said, “I have a gut feeling she won’t choose either.”
“Why not?”
“No reason; it’s just a peculiar instinct developed from all the women I’ve met.”
Miao Xiaoqi, “……”
