Chapter Sixty-Three: “Trust”
In Huacheng, near University City, in Wenxuan Bookstore, in front of the Agricultural and Livestock Books Area.
The bookstore sales assistant responsible for this section discreetly observed the girl wandering in front of the bookshelves for quite some time.
She was a girl with chestnut hair, her delicate features still showing signs of youth resembling a middle school student, but her remarkably developed figure slightly pushed against the loose wool cloak she wore.
After observing for a while, the sales assistant finally couldn’t help but walk up to the girl, who looked indeterminate in age, and asked, “Miss, I see you’ve been looking for a long time. Is there a book you’re trying to find but can’t?”
Gu Qiqi looked up, shyly glancing at the sales assistant beside her, her expression earnest as she replied, “Hello, I’m looking for ‘Postpartum Care of **’, ‘How to Scientifically Raise Pigs’, and ‘Guide to Pig Breed Selection’. Can you help me find them?”
The sales assistant’s eyelid twitched slightly, but driven by professional ethics, she suppressed the urge to retort and smiled, “Little girl, I’m afraid we don’t have those kinds of books right now!”
“If you really want them, I suggest you search online and see if any Taobao bookstore is selling them.”
“Oh…” Gu Qiqi replied, her eyes flashing with disappointment. She didn’t continue to bother the sales assistant and dejectedly walked out of the bookstore.
Leaving the bookstore, the street was becoming sparse with pedestrians as night fell.
Once she was alone, Gu Qiqi angrily began discussing with the system.
“System, what is wrong with people nowadays? The Taobao bookstore staff told me to search in physical bookstores, and the physical bookstores told me to search online—are they just messing with me?”
The system, “…”
Isn’t it obvious? Of course they are!
In the brief silence, Gu Qiqi seemed to think of something, lightly stamping her foot as she complained, “System, this is all your fault!”
“Huh? Gu Qiqi, that’s unreasonable, isn’t it?” the system replied, “Those villagers raised the pigs to d*ath—how can you blame me?”
“Of course it’s your fault! It’s because you have no pig-raising skills! If you can’t even keep a pig alive, what kind of system are you?”
The system, “…”
I shouldn’t have tried to reason with a woman in the heat of anger, even if the subject was Gu Qiqi.
I should have understood this from the calamity long ago.
Moreover, clearly, she has a point.
Last time, she exerted herself, not sleeping properly for half a month, and managed to grow potatoes in that remote Bamboo Slips Illusion place where no one would go, earning the admiration of many villagers, completing her spirit patterns to nearly perfect levels. Now, only materials were needed for her advancement.
This time, it could rival the effort she put into strengthening herself through hunting urban legends for half a year—if she successfully raised pigs, wouldn’t that be something?
This is the advantage of turning the ignorant villagers in long-secluded areas into followers; if you present them with anything they’ve never seen before, you can easily gain a wave of prestige.
However…
It was also worth discussing towards which direction her spirit patterns would advance.
The God of Fortune and even the Lord of Mount Tai could be considered, but as for Hou Tu and Shen Nong, while there might be a chance, the materials required for advancement would likely be impossible to collect, the system thought.
As it pondered, the system suddenly felt a spiritual energy fluctuation tugging at its thoughts, and concentrating for a moment, it excitedly exclaimed, “Gu Qiqi, there’s a surprise!”
“What surprise? Did you suddenly comprehend pig-raising skills?”
The system, “…”
Seriously! Why is this girl’s mind always filled with pig-related nonsense?
“It’s not me, it’s the calamity! She…”
Gu Qiqi paused in shock, “Huh? She can raise pigs?”
“How could she possibly… wait a minute, if it’s her, she might actually learn something…”
The system began to say but then fell silent for two seconds, realizing something was off.
“d*mn! Why am I even thinking about this? What I wanted to say is that the curse toxin we placed on her is starting to take effect.”
“Eh?” Gu Qiqi frowned, “But didn’t she find out we poisoned her? I haven’t dared to set up a stall at the Ghost Market lately.”
“I think she might be using the toxic potion we gave her to poison others!”
“You don’t understand; one of the calamity’s best skills is to bluff. With just a mouth, she can make it sound like she has three thousand elite troops backing her up,” the system explained.
“I suspect she wasn’t absolutely sure which of the toxins were poisoned, hence she threatened you in that way.”
“Otherwise, given her nature of ‘I’d rather have the whole world owe me than owe the world anything,’ you would have vanished along with your stall from this world already.”
After a pause, the system added, “Moreover, with the calamity’s power, she even devoured the inheritor of Jumang’s power; why would she need to poison an ordinary enemy?”
“And any enemy too strong wouldn’t give her the chance to use poison, so I conclude she must have drunk it herself or given it to her followers!”
Gu Qiqi furrowed her eyebrows and scratched the back of her head, pondering for a moment, “So should we activate the curse bugs now and trigger the toxicity?”
“Don’t hurry; let’s toy with her a bit!” the system gloomily responded, “If my judgment is correct, she’s definitely battling a strong enemy right now.”
“We’ll first activate a small portion of the toxicity; when the potion takes effect and she lets her guard down while fighting, we’ll suddenly detonate all the toxicity to catch her off guard! Woohoo!”
“…”
Gu Qiqi fell silent, seriously considering the system’s words, feeling that something was off, but in light of the pork trotters of Luxianbei and the promise of roasted pork trotters, she silently activated the curse bugs.
After all, poisoning the calamity would surely profit, and helping her poison her enemy might just lead to being invited for roasted pork trotters—nothing could go wrong with that, Gu Qiqi thought.
————
In Happy Neighborhood, at the Community Activity Center.
As the lights went out, the entire Clear Bar was suddenly engulfed by deep darkness, even the light from the street lamps outside seemed to be blocked by some force, unable to seep in.
In the air, the sound of a musical mouth harp came intermittently, akin to invasive worms crawling swiftly, heading straight for the fallen people, swiftly burrowing into their ears.
It was unknown where they went after entering the ear, but none came out, still burrowing one by one as if they aimed to hollow out the bodies of those people, turning them into their home.
Inside those bodies, the worms rolled, twisted, and scratched, bouncing in a strange and comical manner, driving one to madness.
In the darkness.
Luxianbei whispered softly in Jiang Li’s ear, “Right now we…”
Before Luxianbei could finish her sentence, Jiang Li seemed to guess her intent, replying quietly, “Are we going down?”
Working with someone whose thoughts aligned with hers was such a comfort… Luxianbei inwardly grumbled, responding with a nasal tone, “Mm.”
Immediately, she released her embrace around Jiang Li, leaning her body back.
“Bang, bang!” Two dull thuds of bodies hitting the ground echoed almost simultaneously in the darkness.
Luxianbei, “…” This idiot really fell down? Doesn’t it hurt?
Jiang Li, “…” Tsk! Fool!
Not long after both feigned unconsciousness on the ground, someone in the darkness lit a candle, one, two, three…
The flickering candlelight resembled pairs of eyes opening in the dark, dimly illuminating the ballroom scene.
The yellow, wavering light fell upon those whose smiles were eerily identical, making them look like wax figures molded from the same template.
They tilted their heads at the same angle, their bodies seeming poised to float away, slightly leaning forward, half their faces shrouded in shadow, with pairs of eyes filled only with the whites staring intently at the couple huddled in the corner.
Then, over a hundred people spoke in unison with the same tone, resonating in the air like an echo.
“Why haven’t you eaten the dishes I meticulously prepared? Are they not to your taste?”
As they spoke, they had no physical motions, their bodies appearing to be pushed by some invisible force as they slowly moved towards the couple in the corner.
Seeing the scene before her, the girl in the corner couldn’t even move, the chill along her back surged up her spine, while the boy beside her fared slightly better, managing to stammer out some powerless threatening words.
“You, who are you? Don’t, don’t come any closer! If you get any nearer, I’ll call the police!”
In response to the boy’s threat, those who were already influenced by urban legends merely echoed the same phrase again.
“Why haven’t you eaten the dishes I meticulously prepared?”
“…”
As the residents of Happy Neighborhood and the property staff edged closer to the couple, Jiang Li, who was feigning unconsciousness on the ground, was about to burst.
She elbowed Luxianbei and then slightly turned her head, making a series of anxious expressions to convey her worried thoughts.
【What’s going on? Didn’t you say you had it all under control? What’s happening now?】
Luxianbei averted her face, “…”
d*mn, that little trickster Gu Qiqi!
The potion was forgivable, but to fake even the poison? What happened to trust between people?
If this mess unraveled, I’ll definitely smash her fake drug stall when this is over!
Cursing internally, Luxianbei turned back to look at Jiang Li, forcing herself to appear calm, responding with her gaze.
【Haste makes waste; let the poison brew a bit!】
Jiang Li, “…” Brew? Is it a slow-release poison? Shouldn’t it be a trigger-based poison in this situation?
While Jiang Li was pondering this, she caught a glimpse of Luxianbei, preparing to continue their silent communication when she heard the sound of two people falling in the direction of the couple.
Looking towards the sound, she saw that the two of them had gone pale, as if electrocuted and convulsing, then their bodies suddenly stiffened and fainted.
Jiang Li withdrew her gaze from those two and glanced at Luxianbei, noticing her had raised her eyebrows in triumph.
【What did I say? Young people shouldn’t be too anxious.】
【That’s not bad… [heart gesture]】
Jiang Li gave Luxianbei a perfunctory glance, preparing to close her eyes and continue pretending to be unconscious, but just before she closed her eyes, she saw Luxianbei suddenly frown.
【Something’s coming.】
Something? Is it an urban legend? Jiang Li was taken aback.
The moment she fell to the ground, she had quietly expanded her spiritual perception to its maximum range, but apart from the strange and faint sound of the mouth harp flowing through the air, she did not detect any spiritual energy fluctuations.
After a brief moment of distraction, she recalled that before Luxianbei had become what she was now, when she was still a spiritual potential seeker, she had already possessed a very high spiritual perception, and felt relieved.
Then, she glanced at Luxianbei again and froze for a moment.
Luxianbei lay still, her eyes slightly opened a slit, and in the darkness, her pupils shone with a faint red glow.
Though the glow was weak, it emitted an intensely dangerous aura, like a surging sea of bl**d enveloped in raging fire.
Just a sweep of those eyes made Jiang Li feel her muscles instinctively tense, entering a state of readiness out of primal instinct.
She… was so dangerous? Jiang Li thought.
While she was contemplating, an eerie tune suddenly echoed through the ballroom, soft and slow, as if the air vibrated and like beasts growling, slowly approaching.
At that moment, Jiang Li finally detected a terrifying, filthy, and chaotic spiritual energy fluctuation drawing near.
As the sound of the mouth harp became clearer, Luxianbei’s eyes began to painfully burn, thoughts of premonition flickering constantly, warning her.
【It’s getting closer】, 【It’s getting closer】, 【It’s getting closer】…
And then.
A massive, indeterminate shape suddenly crawled up from the ground, vaguely resembling pale mist, without any tangible form, instantly filling the Clear Bar, the activity center, or even the entire Happy Neighborhood!
Under the candlelight in the ballroom, those people seemed to sway gently, humming a tune with a peculiar melody, the lyrics incomprehensible, leaving one unable to grasp the meaning, or perhaps it had no meaning at all, only a murmur of dream-like babble.
It was as if calling forth some existence to arrive.
As they murmured, Luxianbei, peering cautiously out at the pitch-black window, noticed something beginning to clarify in her line of sight.
Suddenly.
Like lightning exploding before her, her eyes momentarily went blind, only a dazzling white remained, then as her vision cleared, a ghastly and terrifying figure appeared out of thin air in her sight.
It was a grayish-white swollen shape, a massive body seemingly composed of hundreds of charred bones, standing quietly outside the activity center, in the gaps between those bones that seemed to have crystallized in their last struggles, were inserted rotting, blackened, nameless gravestones.
On what could barely be called a torso, grotesque and distorted masks clung, their mouths slightly ajar with faint metallic clinking, accompanied by dizzying mouth harp sounds.
Beneath those masks, pairs of otherworldly eyes stared unblinkingly at every newcomer attending tonight’s welcome ball.
Behind it lingered a foul mist of burnt flesh and bl**d, in a daze, figures swarmed through the thick fog, resembling what the “water ghost” had seen when it infiltrated the drilling hole.
Pale limbs extended from the mist, like roots, sprawling in tangled formation throughout every corner of the Happy Neighborhood, resembling parasitic tendrils that connected to the heads of every resident present.
That feeling was as though it were a hub, a nexus uniting the residents with the neighborhood.
Accompanied by increasingly powerful mouth harp music,
The reward description mentioned that the urban legend in Happy Neighborhood was particularly sinister; before taking on this task, Luxianbei had hesitated a lot.
If you were to ask who gave her the courage to delve into the den of dragons and tigers with Jiang Li, apart from the urban legends she had previously fallen victim to, another reason was the nonchalant tone Qing Ji had used when mentioning the urban legend he had once suppressed.
Qing Ji said, “That? It’s just a not-so-bad little guy.”
But…
Upon seeing the true form of the urban legend hidden in Happy Neighborhood, a brief urge to curse flashed through Luxianbei’s mind.
This is called a not-so-bad “little” guy?
My dear ancestor, you don’t bring someone down like this!
This creature is at least five or six times the height of a pig-headed man from the South Suburb Slaughterhouse, emitting 1.326 times the spiritual energy fluctuation of the Great Serpent God—there’s no way to fight this; I’ll have to see if I can escape, Luxianbei thought.
Such matters should involve the Siye Society, letting them flatten Happy Neighborhood directly.
Luxianbei felt like running away, but if it weren’t for Jiang Li holding firmly to her wrist with a grabbing move and casting her a smile…
【Come on, don’t be afraid [heart gesture]】
That smile, seemingly filled with infinite malice and gloom, coupled with the flickering candlelight and the swirling fog, made Luxianbei’s heart tighten.
“…”
Sister, let’s keep our conversation civil and not smile like that, okay?
As Luxianbei contemplated this, the urban legend standing outside the activity center suddenly moved, its body leaning forward, effortlessly penetrating the wall and sticking half its body into the Clear Bar.
In an instant, the sound of the mouth harp became intense, countless high-frequency vibrations converged into a sharp noise, accompanied by the sudden surge of sound waves, causing the gravestones on its body to tremble, releasing thick smoke.
Those fumes slowly formed into swollen, writhing gray-white limbs extending towards the fallen newcomers.
Seizing the opportunity, Jiang Li elbowed Luxianbei hard and growled, “Cover me, I’m going for the suona and harp!”
“Huh?” Luxianbei was taken aback; before she could regain her composure, she saw Jiang Li bounce up like a carp, and as soon as she steadied herself, silver-white armor enveloped her body.
The next moment, her silhouette shot through the smoke and dim flickering candlelight like an arrow, darting straight towards the guqin bag and guitar case three to four meters away.
That was an unreserved acceleration, without making any defensive preparations, as if unconditionally trusting Luxianbei.
And Luxianbei responded to her trust with actions.
“Water flows, fire blazes, wind and rain accompany; vast, intense, dragon beasts clash, flowing bells devour flames!”
Accompanied by an incantation, blue and red streamers instantly burst forth from Luxianbei’s fingertips, intertwining and competing as they swept over Jiang Li’s head, like two sharp fangs suddenly clamping down, tearing apart the pale tentacles that were about to drop down fiercely…
