Chapter 49: She’s Lying!
In the early morning, at Amber Hall.
Gold and silver jewelry, beeswax bracelets, sandalwood combs, gemstone-encrusted brooches and necklaces… Various ornaments were dismantled into small pieces, neatly spread out on the soft bed.
These ornaments, each one exquisitely crafted and quite valuable, were merely a pile of spellcasting materials in Jiang Li’s eyes.
Although she had arrived in this special space early in the morning and had quickly excluded the interference brought by false memories, she did not immediately take action to look for Luxianbei.
Being new here, acting rashly in the absence of knowledge about any external threats, or uncertainty about her own abilities, would be ill-advised.
After trying out a few Spirit Patterns, Jiang Li soon discovered that her Spirit Energy Fluctuations were indeed restricted to some extent.
Once she confirmed this, the first thing she did was to search through all the jewelry in the room.
These jewels made of gemstones, precious metals, and fine woods were excellent materials for alchemy.
Based on the interaction between alchemy, talismans, and spell formulas, over sixty percent of spells could, under restricted Spirit Energy Fluctuations, be executed with the aid of alchemy.
This was also an important means for many lower-ranked Siye Society operatives to make up for their combat power when facing slightly stronger urban legends.
Thus, after confirming that the materials in this special space could indeed be used to assist in casting spells with several basic spell formulas, Jiang Li spent several hours carefully dismantling her jewelry into “raw materials.”
Time ticked to seven o’clock in the morning.
Jiang Li withdrew her gaze from the clock, bent down to classify the spread-out spellcasting materials on the bed, and put them into small cloth bags.
She then stowed the bags into a sports backpack, changed into a set of sportswear, and briskly left the bedroom towards the dining room.
It was time to bid farewell to this false “home,” Jiang Li thought.
————
When Jiang Li arrived at the dining room, the butler, whom she hadn’t seen for a long time since her family’s fall from grace, was directing a maid to set various pastries, fresh berries, and coarse grain porridge on the table.
Her parents were already seated, her father in the main seat reading the newspaper, and her mother in the secondary seat scrolling through news videos on a tablet.
What should have been a warm scene of a family sharing breakfast in the morning felt strangely eerie to Jiang Li.
After all, in her memory, both her parents were already dead.
Especially her father, she had witnessed him hanging from a beam at the doorway of this dining room; she could see a pair of feet in leather shoes as soon as the door opened…
Sharing a meal with the dead was a scene Jiang Li, as a battle-hardened Siye Society operative, had never seen before.
Struggling to suppress her discomfort, she silently took a seat at the end of the table, her gaze lingering on her father for a few seconds, her eyes revealing a hint of coldness, then shifting to her mother, which instantly softened, revealing a touch of tenderness.
Although she knew all of this was false, seeing her parents in reality still stirred her emotions.
……
[At 12:12 AM Beijing Time, a major car accident occurred on the Sunshine Overpass in Huacheng, resulting in four deaths and one injury, with minor damage to the overpass…]
[At 4:31 AM Beijing Time, a device malfunction occurred at the No. 2 substation, causing a small fire, which is currently being urgently repaired…]
Her gaze rested on her mother as the interrupted news video sounded from the tablet, and Jiang Li frowned slightly.
As a senior Siye Society operative, she was particularly sensitive to news of such sudden events, inevitably linking them to urban legend incidents.
If this were the real Huacheng, at least half of these sudden events would have connections to urban legends, and a significant portion of them would need to be cataloged by her after Li Xuan compiled the news.
“…”
Am I overthinking this?
From the contents of those false memories and the information gleaned from Bai Kai and Qi Dong, this special space shouldn’t have urban legends present. Jiang Li thought bitterly.
[At 5:27 AM Beijing Time, an 8.3 magnitude earthquake struck the Barrow area in Alaska, USA, with tremors affecting hundreds of kilometers…]
The voice from the news video reached her ears again, and Jiang Li withdrew her attention, put down her kn*fe and fork, wiped her mouth, and stood up to give a slight bow to her parents.
“Dad, Mom, I’m full. I’ll be going now.”
With that, she turned and walked towards the door.
Seeing Jiang Li getting up, her mother, after checking her daughter’s silhouette, called out to her, concerned, “Wait a minute, Luer, why have you only eaten so little today?”
“Are you not feeling well?”
“……” Jiang Li turned around, hesitating to speak, and finally gently shook her head.
In truth, she had quite an appetite today, and the breakfast prepared by the cook was delicious. But sitting at the same table with her deceased parents made it hard for her to swallow.
After a brief silence, Jiang Li smiled at her mother, gently saying, “Mom, I’m fine. I’ve just gained a few pounds recently and want to lose weight. So please don’t worry!”
“You can’t skip meals while trying to lose weight!” Jiang’s mother admonished, “Don’t leave yet; I’ll have the butler prepare a snack box for you!”
“Ah, you really don’t need to worry about that!” Jiang Li said playfully, shaking her body slightly.
“If nothing’s wrong, I’m off to work out. I won’t be back for lunch, and I have plans to meet some girlfriends for afternoon tea. I might be back late tonight.”
After saying that, she turned and quickly walked out the door.
And perhaps never to return… In the moment she turned, Jiang Li added in her heart, and sighed silently.
Though Dream Come True Entertainment City had been destroyed and the journey of Dream Come True had ceased the opening of the Huacheng Station thanks to Luxianbei’s efforts.
Failing to retrieve her mother, who had long been missing and was also a pawn in the negotiation with the Big Boss, left her feeling unfulfilled.
Thus, even though she knew that everything she saw was an illusion, she couldn’t help but reveal the vulnerable side of a daughter when facing her mother.
Watching Jiang Li leave, Jiang’s mother elbowed Jiang’s father and complained, “This child! You should keep an eye on her!”
“What’s there to keep an eye on? She’s an adult; she has her own thoughts…”
————
Behind her, her parents’ whispers gradually faded away, until they disappeared into the morning breeze.
Jiang Li crossed the courtyard of the mansion, exited the gate, and walked a few hundred meters before pausing briefly. She reached into her backpack and took out the Zhen Yan Transformation Spell mask and put it on her face.
Immediately, a burst of light began to undulate and spread throughout her body, transforming her appearance drastically.
Her black long hair turned into golden waves, her fair skin became a seductive wheat color, and her slim figure became more voluptuous.
Once the Zhen Yan Transformation Spell mask had done its job, Jiang Li’s first action was to pull out her phone, open a certain social media app, and send a friend request to Luxianbei’s account.
After submitting the friend request, she waited a few seconds, and when Luxianbei still hadn’t accepted it, she shook her head lightly.
It seemed that trying to quickly confirm Luxianbei’s residence through adding her as a social media friend wouldn’t work; she would have to try other methods first, Jiang Li thought.
Although she knew some divination techniques that could track Luxianbei’s general location.
Before coming here, Bai Kai had also instructed her that later, Gu Xiliu would find a way to help her through dream entering.
However, Luxianbei’s current whereabouts were unknown, and once the distance exceeded a certain limit, the accuracy of the divination would drop significantly.
And due to the interference from the Inheritance Beast’s flesh and bl**d, Gu Xiliu was already finding it difficult to appear beside Jiang Li as precisely as before.
In fact, she could hardly control when she would enter the dream or which person’s consciousness she would attach to; the uncertainty was too strong, and whether she could be of help was still questionable.
Therefore, during the gaps in collecting materials that could be used for spellcasting last night, she had formulated a plan for today’s actions.
First, attempt to determine Luxianbei’s residence through social media; if that fails, check both Jingyi Apartment Complex and Lu Family Manor. If she still couldn’t find anything, she would repeatedly perform divination to gradually narrow down the area until Luxianbei’s location was pinpointed.
Now, since the first plan had failed, it was time to try the second plan.
————
Just after 8:05 AM, at Jingyi Apartment Complex, Building 3, 9th Floor.
Jiang Li stopped in front of apartment 902, took a deep breath, raised her hand, and rang the doorbell.
“Ding-dong—ding-dong—!”
“Who is it!? So early in the morning!”
After two rings, a rough voice quickly came from behind the door, and then it opened to reveal a man with a cheap cigarette hanging from his mouth.
He looked like a rough guy with a sinister appearance, wearing a white tank top and beach shorts, flip-flops on his feet, and a cute floral crystal pendant dangling from his chest that completely contrasted with his demeanor.
Seeing the blonde girl at the door, the man rolled his dead fish eyes and said impatiently, “Who are you?”
Is this Luxianbei? Jiang Li frowned slightly and, to be safe, she asked, “I’m looking for Luxianbei.”
“Luxianbei? Never heard of him, get lost!” The man replied unsatisfied, and as he spoke, he began to close the door.
Seeing this, Jiang Li quickly grabbed the doorknob and pressed on, “Wait! What about Wang Buliu?”
The man opened his mouth, about to say something, when a voice called out from behind him.
“Hubby, who’s outside?”
“Somebody selling cleaning products!” The man answered, turning to glare at Jiang Li and said tersely, “If you don’t leave, I’ll call security!”
With that, he slammed the door shut with a “bang!”
“……”
Husband?
Already married?
Then this must not be Luxianbei.
Looking at the closed security door, Jiang Li grumbled a bit, then collected her thoughts and turned to take the elevator to another possible residence for Luxianbei—Mudan Street.
Perhaps there, she could see her benefactor once more! Jiang Li thought with a hint of anticipation, her footsteps gaining a lighter rhythm.
————
On Mudan Street, the wind blew past, sweeping the dry leaves from the ancient willows by the clear canal, floating like a few light boats on the water’s surface.
Jiang Li stood on the flagstone-paved street, gazing up at the quaint two-story building in front of her, her brow furrowing.
If she remembered correctly, this should be where Luxianbei’s old home was located.
However, she didn’t see that iconic “Luxi Chuancaiguan” sign here; instead, there was only a dilapidated two-story building with a locked front door and tightly shut windows.
The door, with some signs of insect infestation, had rusted locks and the windows were covered in dust, clearly indicating that no one had lived here for a long time.
“……”
So, Luxianbei wasn’t living at Jingyi Apartment Complex, and this old house had also been uninhabited for a long time…
It seemed she had no choice but to rely on divination to search slowly. Jiang Li thought.
In fact, she was very reluctant to use such an inefficient method unless absolutely necessary.
Even though she was adept in several forms of divination, she hadn’t reached a master level. Even if Luxianbei remained within the Huacheng area, she’d still need to perform divination dozens of times to narrow it down to within a kilometer.
“However, before that, it’s best to ask around the nearby residents.” Jiang Li murmured to herself, “Perhaps someone might know where that guy moved to!”
As she was speaking, she searched around and her gaze fell on two elderly men playing chess under a tree nearby.
However, just as Jiang Li took a step towards them, a girl’s voice sounded from behind her.
“Hello, may I ask what business you have with the owner of this house? I noticed you seemed to be looking here for a while?”
Jiang Li was taken aback and turned around to see a girl in a white dress.
Her jade-like face glowed pearly white, and her slightly upturned red lips complemented her features, with a head of sleek black hair tied up neatly, radiating an otherworldly aura.
As Jiang Li met her gaze, for just an instant, she sensed a strong animosity from those bright eyes, even a hint of murderous intent.
From her words, it seemed she recognized Luxianbei?
But why was she hostile towards me?
Jiang Li thought bitterly and raised her chin slightly, returning the girl’s icy stare without backing down.
In an instant, their gazes clashed and felt palpable.
……
“Old Zhang, did you hear that strange sound just now?”
“What sound?”
“Like roaring dragons and howling tigers!”
“Old Wang… sounds like your high bl**d pressure is acting up again! You should take some antihypertensives!”
……
The mutterings of the two old men under the tree abruptly pulled both girls back from their standoff.
“It’s nothing much…” Jiang Li smiled calmly, “I was just passing by and really liked this little building, and thought of buying it.”
“Do you happen to know the owner’s contact information?”
“Well…” Nanling Yaohua smiled gently at Jiang Li, “I’m not sure! I’m just his neighbor, and he moved away a long time ago. I don’t know where he went.”
“Oh? Is that so? What a pity.” Jiang Li shook her head, “In that case, I’ll take my leave.”
“Bye-bye!” Nanling Yaohua waved gently at Jiang Li.
Then.
In the instant they turned to walk in different directions, both girls’ expressions darkened almost simultaneously.
She’s lying! Jiang Li and Nanling Yaohua thought in unison.
