Chapter 14: The Lucky One
Luxianbei’s speculation was correct; Mao Sanyou was indeed an unreliable fellow. His so-called busyness and urgent matters probably only involved a small part related to academic research.
Lost in thought, Luxianbei strolled to Mao Sanyou’s stall, leaned down, and picked up a signed board, casually asking, “Boss, how much for this signature?”
“Two thousand! Let me tell you, this is a hot commodity…” Mao Sanyou said as he looked up, his expression stiffening, and he twitched slightly at the corners of his mouth when he recognized Luxianbei, “What are you doing here?”
“Nothing, just wandering around,” Luxianbei replied nonchalantly.
I can’t tell him I’m here to report to the Siye Society in Tangcheng, can I?
“So why is my senior here? Didn’t you say you had urgent matters to attend to?”
“Yeah, just finished up and taking a break here,” Mao Sanyou chuckled, seemingly unbothered by having his lies exposed.
Seeing Luxianbei still staring blankly at the signed board, unconvinced by his excuses, he added, “Hey, junior, just let today’s incident slide, and don’t go around talking about it when you get back.”
“To be honest, I had a family crisis last year, and my family of three relies on me for support. I’m a bit proud and didn’t want to ask my teachers and classmates for help, so I had no choice but to do some side gigs like this on the side,” he explained.
“I didn’t expect our fate to be intertwined like this, letting you stumble upon me today.”
“……” Luxianbei continued to stare at Mao Sanyou without a word.
“By the way, junior, with the time being what it is, have you had lunch yet? I know of a particularly good restaurant nearby; do you want me to take you to try it?”
“Thank you for your kindness, but I’ve already eaten,” Luxianbei replied expressionlessly.
You think one meal could buy my silence and stop me from talking? What do you take me for?
At least it should take three meals!
“Is that so? What a pity.” Mao Sanyou shrugged, abandoning his idea of getting a free meal off Luxianbei but soon brightened up with another thought.
“Speaking of which, since you just arrived in Tangcheng and don’t know your way around, it must be troublesome to wander around by yourself, right? Do you need your senior to be your guide?”
No free meal? Well, he could still lead me to a gift shop and get a kickback!
With his rich experience in freeloading, Luxianbei keenly sensed Mao Sanyou’s attempt to take advantage of him.
“No need, I’ve already memorized the three types of maps for Tangcheng that are on the market.”
I almost got beaten up by a group of vendors outside the hotel… Luxianbei added in his mind.
Mao Sanyou’s lips twitched.
Memorized… the maps?
What kind of freak is this!
But who isn’t a freak in some way?
“Then would you like to check out the antique market? If you’re lucky, you might even recover some relics and help the teachers with their troubles!” Mao Sanyou continued with his usual perseverance.
“I can go by myself; I’ve also memorized the characteristics of the relics,” Luxianbei said flatly.
“How about if—”
“No, I don’t want to!”
Mao Sanyou, “……”
Taking advantage of Mao Sanyou’s inattention, Luxianbei discreetly dialed the Urban Management’s reporting hotline for Beimen Street, finally shaking off his entanglement amid the chaos of civilized law enforcement, and smoothly arrived in front of the Tangcheng Museum.
However…
Just as he reached the museum’s ticket booth and was about to pull out his phone to buy a ticket, he realized his phone was gone.
Recalling the moment he had bumped into Mao Sanyou when leaving, Luxianbei’s expression darkened.
d*mn it, that guy must have taken it!
We’re all fellow seniors and juniors, why hurt each other?
———
Ten minutes later.
Luxianbei finally managed, with his handsome face, to borrow a stranger’s phone and contacted Jiang Li, obtaining guidance from her.
Following Jiang Li’s instructions after entering the museum’s main entrance, he prominently pinned the Gray Owl Badge on his chest.
Thus, from the exhibition hall of the museum to the office area on the third floor, everything went unusually smoothly.
The security guards, seemingly part of the Tangcheng Special Action Team, roaming in various parts of the museum, did not obstruct him at all, as if he were wearing an invisibility cloak like Harry Potter.
Continuing up the stairs to the museum’s top floor, just as Luxianbei reached out to push open the tightly shut metal door of the security passage, the Gray Owl Badge on his chest suddenly vibrated.
As the badge trembled, making a humming noise, the metal door before him inexplicably started to move, sliding open like an elevator door and vanishing into the wall, revealing a small compartment illuminated by a dim yellow light.
Seeing this, Luxianbei carefully stepped into the small compartment. As the badge vibrated again, the wall on the other side of the compartment suddenly seemed to dissolve into dust, opening up a vast space before him.
Inside a room of several hundred square meters, there was a long table several dozen meters long, three single beds, a mountain of instant noodle boxes and beer bottles, and an array of scattered parts made from lore monsters hanging on the walls and floor; the expansive space gave a feeling of having nowhere to step.
If it weren’t for the large cardboard sheet at the end of the room with “Siye Society” written on it, Luxianbei would have thought he entered a “Homeless Shelter” or something similar.
One cannot tell what this several hundred square meters space was used for before the Siye Society moved to Tangcheng.
Luxianbei recalled Jiang Li’s earlier message again, confirming he hadn’t gone to the wrong place, and frowned.
“……”
The dog leader doesn’t deceive me; it seems the people’s taxes in Tangcheng have indeed been completely drained by the Stinky Sister.
This Tangcheng Siye Society, having to sell its property and move out of the Folklore Cultural Management Bureau, is certainly one of the most “grassroots” divisions in all of Z Country.
Perhaps only the Everest division and the Nansha Islands division in such remote areas could rival it.
Lost in thought, he cautiously stepped into the interior of the Tangcheng Siye Society. Just as he entered the unfinished room, a loud crashing sound came from behind.
Luxianbei was startled and turned around to see that the path he came from had completely disappeared, leaving behind only a rough cement wall.
Although the Tangcheng Siye Society’s financial situation was dire, their defensive and concealment measures seemed to be quite good?
Luxianbei mused as he called out softly, “Is anyone there?”
“……”
“Hello? I’m Luxianbei, a reserve operative supporting from Huacheng. I’m nineteen this year, single, I don’t like eating cilantro, please guide me on whether Douhua is sweet or savory, and I’m a fan of Bai Xiaohua…”
As Luxianbei softly called out, stepping around the scattered trash on the ground, while passing by the long table over fifty meters, his gaze inadvertently swept across the items displayed on it, and his words came to a halt.
It was a bronze bull statue representing a financial bull market, about half a person high, with a dent in its backside, faintly revealing a distorted human face in the depression, adorned with some dried bl**d.
Staring at the face-shaped indentation, he seemed to faintly hear echoes of anguished cries.
“Whoa—! What is this?” Luxianbei exclaimed. “Is the bronze bull statue a m*rder urban legend?!”
No sooner had his words fallen than a feminine voice with a slightly hoarse tone seemed to respond from behind.
“No, that was found at the scene of a certain operative’s m*rder.”
Turning towards the sound, a girl emerged from a pile of rubbish, her movements accompanied by a light clinking sound. She brushed off her head, which was hatted with half a can, then stretched and walked towards him.
She appeared to be around sixteen or seventeen, her messy side hair draping over her delicate oval face, a high nose giving her an impression of a mixed-race beauty at first glance. Her silver-gray eyes were shadowed with heavy dark circles, and she wore a shabby, oversized white T-shirt that exposed her disturbingly pale legs.
The girl approached Luxianbei, tilted her head to scrutinize him, lazily yawned, and calmly said, “Hello, lucky person. I am Officer Shang Nanxing of the Tangcheng Second Division.”
“You, hello…” Luxianbei replied, then glanced at the bronze bull statue beside him, weakly asking, “You just said this thing was found at a certain operative’s m*rder scene?”
Was it a former operative from Tangcheng?
“Yes.” Shang Nanxing nodded, leaning closer to the bronze bull and scrutinizing it. “This particular one is…”
“Ah right, it was found at the scene of Officer Wang’s m*rder in Moon City, according to the analysis of residual spirit energy fluctuations by our first operative. It was determined that a spirit ability user, strong in power, pressed them against the statue and killed them.”
Upon hearing this, Luxianbei paused for a moment.
It wasn’t a relic from a Tangcheng operative?
And from what she said, this wasn’t the only one? Luxianbei thought, a nagging sense of foreboding rising in his heart.
“Are there several more like this?”
“Of course,” Shang Nanxing nodded.
“Whoa—!” Luxianbei took a deep breath, stepped forward, and pointed at a cracked toilet, saying, “What about this? This one definitely isn’t from a m*rder scene, right?”
“Also,” Shang Nanxing replied with a calm expression, as she took out a cheap cigarette pack from her collar, extracted one, and lit it up, continuing, “That should be from the scene of an officer’s m*rder in Zecheng. The murderer is likely a monster known for dismembering bodies in Zecheng.”
“That murderer has a clean job; we searched the scene of the monster attack—uh, it was at a rest stop’s restroom in Zecheng when they came to Tangcheng—only finding this toilet and grain-sized meat chunks on it. All other parts should have been washed away.”
“Gulp—!”
Luxianbei swallowed his saliva, pointing at a beautifully crafted, cute teddy bear plush toy, just ready to ask, when he heard Shang Nanxing’s affirmative reply.
“Also, if you don’t believe it, you can rip it open and take a look. It’s been cold lately, so the meat shouldn’t have rotted yet.”
“Besides, don’t keep asking; everything laid out on this table are relics we found at the scenes of recent monster attack incidents, the victims being operatives who came to assist.”
“We’ve been busy collecting their bodies from last night until this morning. These relics will be sent back to the Siye Society they belong to, as a way to help them rest in peace!”
“All from operatives who came to assist?!” Luxianbei exclaimed, quickly counting along the long table: one, two, three, four… a total of twenty relics, matching closely with the number of the operatives Jiang Li mentioned who came to assist.
In other words, the operatives responding to the signal from the Gray Owl had basically all been wiped out on the way?
Lost in thought, Luxianbei’s attention locked onto a pink “fairy wand,” shouting, “Whoa! This thing is also a relic from a m*rder scene?”
The “fairy wand” might not have high attack stats, but it’s extremely humiliating; if someone were to be beaten to d*ath with such a thing, how frustrating would that be!?
Shang Nanxing casually strolled over, picked up the “fairy wand,” tucked it into the translucent gap of her clothing, and said dismissively, “Sorry, that’s mine. I forgot to put it away after using it last night.”
Luxianbei, “……” Impressive! The mourning room is playing with wands, huh?
Having put away the “fairy wand,” Shang Nanxing looked straight into Luxianbei’s eyes, coldly stating, “So, Officer Luxianbei, do you know why I called you lucky earlier?”
“Because you really are lucky; you are currently the only operative who has arrived alive at the Tangcheng Siye Society among the support operatives. The others have all been intercepted on the way.” Shang Nanxing said gravely.
Luxianbei, “……”
d*mn that dog leader, didn’t they say this support mission was a good opportunity to freeload off merits?
How did this overnight shift from a free ride turn into a BOSS raid task just like that! Luxianbei thought.
“But, you don’t need to worry; as long as you made it here, you are safe. This situation is quite severe. We didn’t plan to send reserve operatives to execute dangerous tasks. If nothing else happens, you can just…”
Shang Nanxing was about to continue when suddenly a loud crash came from outside, her expression tightening as she fell silent.
The next moment, as spirit energy fluctuations surged, her figure shot forward, leaving flickering afterimages as she reached the entrance of the unfinished room, delivering a powerful kick that knocked down the figure emerging.
With a heavy stomp on that person’s chest, she bent their torso into a V shape, eliciting a scream.
“What the hell, why are you so late? What about the food I asked you to bring me?”
“I told you, I went to pick someone up from the airport…” responded a voice that struck Luxianbei as oddly familiar.
Turning towards the sound, Luxianbei saw the annoyingly punchable face of Mao Sanyou.
“……”
He’s actually an operative of the Tangcheng Siye Society?
Could it be that the family of three he mentioned refers to the three of them in the Siye Society?
A family with a “father-father” relationship? Luxianbei thought.
“Shut up, what a lame excuse?” Shang Nanxing interrupted. “You can’t do anything right; all you know is to look for lame excuses to slack off!”
“I…” Mao Sanyou struggled to get up, about to argue with Shang Nanxing when he suddenly spotted Luxianbei, his eyes lighting up as he exclaimed, “It’s him! He’s the one I went to pick up!”
“You think Daddy would believe your nonsense? When you come up with excuses, can’t you be a bit more credible? He’s an operative from Huacheng, alright?” Shang Nanxing replied and turned to Luxianbei, casting a questioning look.
Luxianbei glanced at Mao Sanyou, shaking his head expressionlessly, “No, I don’t know him; I’ve never seen him before.”
Upon hearing this, Shang Nanxing turned back to Mao Sanyou, flexed her wrist, and pulled out a set of knuckle dusters from who knows where, revealing a cruel smile on her lips.
