Chapter 53: Don’t Want to, But Must Try
Imagine this: you find yourself at the scene of a massive traffic accident, with the victims’ plasma mixed with chunks of red, white, and yellow organs spilling all over the ground. On the street, bystanders stand frozen with terror, as if petrified.
A dark red mist drifts in the sky, obscuring the sunlight, making it impossible to distinguish between day and night. Between the high-rise buildings, a vast shadow of an indescribable shape floats around like a ghost searching for prey.
At this moment, your mobile phone rings. Without hesitation, you tap the red option on the screen and hang up the phone.
Immediately, the call connects, and you hear your own voice from the speaker asking if you are familiar with this apocalyptic scene.
May I ask, how do you feel at this moment?
……
Lu Xianbei doesn’t know how others might feel, but she is terrified, her whole body tingling from head to toe.
“Hey, are you there? Say something! You didn’t get scared stupid by your mom’s creation these past few days, did you?”
The voice on the other end rings out again. Lu Xianbei furrows her brows and steels her heart, dragging the phone back and forth near her mouth to respond.
“Hey! What are you talking about? Huh? My signal here isn’t good! You know what, I’ll hang up for now, and later I’ll find a place with better signal to call you back, okay? Bye!”
After speaking, Lu Xianbei hangs up…
d*mn! Why can’t I hang up?
Lu Xianbei pressed the screen of her phone repeatedly, realizing she was unable to end that eerie call. Gritting her teeth, she lifted her hand and threw the phone away.
Watching the phone trace a parabolic arc in mid-air, flying into the nearby ruins of a collapsed store after being hit by a car, she secretly breathed a sigh of relief and turned to run toward the faculty quarters without looking back.
However, after running about a hundred meters, she was struck on the back of her head by an unknown force.
“DUANG——!” A clear, loud sound erupted, and an intense shock surged into her skull, as if it were trying to shatter her brain.
Dizziness overwhelmed her, and Lu Xianbei’s vision instantly blurred, as if a layer of mist had enveloped it.
She stumbled like she was drunk, her body tilting toward the ground.
In her daze, she saw the Ling Tai Purification from her backpack, which had flown out at some point, seemingly suspended in the air by some force, elegantly blooming like a sword flower.
Lu Xianbei, “？？？”
What the heck? What’s going on? My sword stabbed me?
Where did this traitor’s sword come from!?
Lu Xianbei thought indignantly, but soon darkness enveloped her, and she lost consciousness.
————
Lu Xianbei felt herself falling in the darkness.
Her head felt heavy and dizzy, as if hit by a blunt object, with a faint pain at the back of her skull.
The sound of wind howled in her ears, and her body felt as if it were shoved into a washing machine, spinning wildly and making her stomach churn.
She didn’t know how long she had been falling, but she finally crashed heavily onto the ground.
The hard surface, soaked by rain, was as cold as ice.
With the violent impact, Lu Xianbei felt as if her internal organs and bones had shattered. As she opened her mouth, the taste of rust filled her mouth.
“Pat… Pat…”
Footsteps approached from not far away, as if someone was walking barefoot on the waterlogged ground.
Lu Xianbei turned her body slightly and looked in the direction of the footsteps, spotting a silver-haired girl in a pure white long dress walking towards her.
As she walked, her silver hair gently swayed, and something on her head emitted a dazzling golden light, resembling a halo.
In her daze, the girl radiated an aura of holiness.
She hummed a tune while walking.
From the melody, it seemed to be “The Only Good is Mom,” the ethereal and melodious nasal sound resembling that of a siren, striking straight at the soul.
It sounded…
As if she had just lost her mother!
“……”
Is that… an angel? Have I already died?
No, although I often pray for protection from all the gods when I encounter difficulties, I’ve never believed in any religion. Can angels really come to guide the dead?
Is the threshold for entering heaven way too low or casual now? Or is it a free trial before they pull you in with endless charges later?
While Lu Xianbei was lost in these chaotic thoughts, the girl had already reached her side and lifted her delicate foot, stepping onto her face.
“You little dog! Bad signal, huh? Throwing away the phone, huh?”
“Do you know how much trouble I went through to help you deal with the world’s malice from the big boss?”
“I finally got back on my feet and was trying my best to save your miserable life, yet you wouldn’t even call me ‘Big Sister.’ Your conscience must have been eaten by a dog!”
Some people just won’t be satisfied until they’ve suffered. Lu Xianbei was precisely that kind of person.
Thus, after being trampled by the girl, aside from feeling a bit dizzy, she immediately regained her senses, sat up with an agile motion, pointed at the girl’s nose, and exclaimed, “Oh! I remember now, it’s you, Proxy Player Sister!”
The girl impatiently brushed Lu Xianbei’s hand away, rolling her eyes, “At least you haven’t completely lost it! Fine, I forgive you. After all, we all have our struggles.”
As she spoke, she raised a hand and removed the dazzling halo from her head, bringing it to her mouth, and bit off a chunk with a crunch, chewing it with enjoyment.
Lu Xianbei, “….” May I ask why this angelic sister is eating her own halo?
Noticing how Lu Xianbei was looking at her oddly, the Proxy Player Sister glanced at the halo in her hand and then at Lu Xianbei, explaining, “This is the core of the urban legend I casually picked up on the way here!”
“Is what you’re doing… bloody and violent?” Lu Xianbei inquired cautiously.
“Kid, don’t ask so many questions.” The Proxy Player Sister shot her a glare, “You know, I got pretty hurt last time, and I always need to recharge!”
“So, want a taste?”
As she spoke, the Proxy Player Sister broke off a piece from the halo and held it out toward Lu Xianbei.
Lu Xianbei glanced at the golden piece in her hand, shining like metal, and ignored her.
Seeing Lu Xianbei reject her “kindness,” the Proxy Player Sister shrugged, returned the half-eaten halo to her head, letting it float there for easy access, then clapped her hands and said seriously, “Since that’s the case, let’s get back to business!”
“You should have talked about business a long time ago,” Lu Xianbei retorted.
Although she said that, she wondered if it was because the memories of her dream hadn’t fully unlocked, or if the earlier blow to her head had knocked something out of her mind.
Up to now, her head was still a mess, and she looked at the Proxy Player Sister, not knowing how to get her to provide “services.”
But that didn’t matter! As long as she kept talking, when the time was right, whether it was two hundred an hour or a thousand two for a night, she was sure she would come up with her own conditions and negotiate with me. Lu Xianbei thought.
After waiting for a moment and seeing Lu Xianbei remain silent, the Proxy Player Sister let out a silent sigh and began speaking for herself, “Honestly, when I re-established contact with you, I was really shocked.”
The Proxy Player Sister was genuinely surprised; this special space she initially found had already been completely eroded by the Inheritance Beast.
Within the entire space, not a trace of maternal authority remained, let alone a chance for someone like Lu Xianbei to see her mother again.
When she stepped onto this land, the vast city was devoid of any living creatures, leaving only desolate ruins.
Even though she spent enormous effort cleaning the bl**d and flesh of the Inheritance Beast from the city and merging the wreckage of the decayed city with her God Realm, she couldn’t restore it in the slightest.
Instead, such actions triggered the mark left by the Disaster-Class Spiritual Energy Manipulator of the Siye Society in the city and brought about calamity.
As for what happened next, it’s a long story; anyway, her animosity with the Siye Society wasn’t a recent affair. Killing a Disaster-Class Spiritual Energy Manipulator seemed quite reasonable, right?
The Proxy Player Sister refocused her attention on Lu Xianbei and said, “I didn’t expect that just a few months without seeing you, you would actually find your way into the special space constructed by our mom.”
What a surprise, and so enviable!
Hearing this, Lu Xianbei was taken aback, her face changing as she contemplated.
From her tone, this false Huacheng was created by Mrs. Wang Meili?
But if that were true, she should be the supreme god of this false city. Now that such a huge mess had erupted in the city, how could she still be catching crabs in Alaska?
After pondering it for a moment, Lu Xianbei suddenly sensed something was off, turning abruptly to the Proxy Player Sister, “Wait a minute, what do you mean ‘our mom’?”
She corrected her with a stunned voice, “Don’t get too close; that’s my mom!”
Moreover, Mrs. Wang Meili is just a naive middle-aged girl, who aside from being good at business and courting disaster, is nothing else; how could she construct a special space? Lu Xianbei mused inwardly.
“Tsk!” The Proxy Player Sister straightened her posture and gave Lu Xianbei’s shoulder a firm pat, “You’re thinking too small, little brother!”
“The naive girl from old romance stories is always the main character, you know? The protagonist must be powerful and omnipotent!”
“Besides, who are we to each other? Isn’t your mom my mom too? When we have time…” The Proxy Player Sister paused for a moment and smiled bitterly, “I really want to meet her!”
“……” Lu Xianbei silently assessed the alluring girl in front of her and seriously said, “May I ask, you’re not someone my dad arranged as a childhood betrothal for me, are you?”
Wanting to meet the parents right off the bat, Gu Qiqi hasn’t even had that privilege. Lu Xianbei thought to herself.
“I…” The Proxy Player Sister hesitated, rolling her eyes, “Little brother, your XP is probably at a point where it’s bizarre, just like the urban legends imprisoned by her mother at the Siye Society.”
“Tsk, while I expected that having two chatterboxes together would produce a power output greater than one plus one, could you not keep interrupting? Let me finish the main point, okay?”
Lu Xianbei pouted and gestured for the Proxy Player Sister to continue.
The Proxy Player Sister nodded in satisfaction, straightened her posture, and adopted a serious expression.
“Let’s not discuss whether Mrs. Wang Meili has the ability to construct a special space; to put it simply, this special space has already been invaded by a rather powerful urban legend…”
“I understand now!” Lu Xianbei’s expression turned serious, “You’re here to tell me the correct escape route, right?”
The Proxy Player Sister shot Lu Xianbei a glare, tightening her fist, and held back the urge to punch her delicate face, taking a deep breath and applauding, “Beautiful, impressive, just as expected of you!”
“Escaping this place of chaos is indeed one feasible option, but doing so is quite likely to…”
The Proxy Player Sister paused mid-sentence, suddenly raising her right hand as an outline of a city appeared in her palm.
As the light and shadow changed, Lu Xianbei recognized it was a miniature version of Huacheng. She was even more astonished to see that the pedestrians on the streets were perfectly replicated.
Then, the Proxy Player Sister snapped her left fingers, and with a crisp pop, a dark and sinister fissure suddenly opened beneath the miniature Huacheng, swallowing spirit energy and creating a small vortex in her palm, causing the miniature city to teeter precariously.
In just a few seconds, the fissure widened, and a dark city identical to Huacheng slowly rose from it, merging with the miniature version.
Time seemed to stand still for a moment.
In the next instant, the two cities in the Proxy Player Sister’s palm began to shrink violently, from the size of a palm down to the size of a cherry, then to a grain of rice, and finally leaving only a brilliantly glowing point of light.
Then…
“BOOM——!”
As the Proxy Player Sister opened her red lips and simulated an explosive sound, the dazzling point of light in her palm exploded violently, releasing light akin to a supernova explosion.
When the shockwave settled and the light faded, in her hand was now a mass, the size of a basin, composed of dirt and various mixed metals, resembling a cancerous cell sculpture.
Its volume was more than a hundred times larger than that of the original miniature Huacheng.
“Guess how many people would d*e from this? How much land would turn to wasteland? And afterwards, who do you think the blame would fall upon?”
Lu Xianbei was immersed in the brilliant scene before her until the Proxy Player Sister’s voice rang in her ears.
She steadied herself and pointed at her own nose, wailing, “Me? Why should I be blamed?”
“Why?” The Proxy Player Sister shook her head, explaining, “This special space was created for you by Mrs. Wang Meili. Now that a huge problem has arisen, someone has to take the blame, right?”
Lu Xianbei was taken aback by the Proxy Player Sister’s words, but upon careful reflection, it seemed to make a certain degree of sense.
Just like it was necessary to have a Lich King; when something happens, someone has to be chosen to take the fall.
Otherwise, those souls, filled with hatred and restlessness, those hot-blooded individuals always seeking an opportunity to showcase their “justice,” would become a mob, becoming a destabilizing factor.
Moreover, this blame was originally intricately connected to her.
But…
“d*mn! Are you going to persecute me? I’m not a plush ball!”
It’s over, Lu Xianbei felt like there was no hope left.
“Very unfortunate!” The Proxy Player Sister shrugged her shoulders helplessly, “If you choose to run away, whether you become a plush ball or not afterwards is not something you can decide.”
“Killing one to benefit the many, how great! Besides, you’re not even human.”
“When the time comes, all you can choose is to be a plush ball fighting in vain or one that has completely turned into the shape of a plush ball.”
“Of course, this situation may not necessarily occur; you could also try trusting the Siye Society.”
In fact, the higher-ups of the Siye Society had long known about the existence of this special space. After Qin Nanzhu fell, when a large number of urban legends flowed into Huacheng, a Disaster-Class Spiritual Energy Manipulator, with Lu Ming’s assistance, used a tremendous amount of spirit energy to anchor this space in the spatial fissure.
Under normal circumstances, if not for the unexpected invasion by the Inheritance Beast’s bl**d and flesh, the Huacheng would have naturally perished, and this special space wouldn’t have been resurfaced.
“However, the Siye Society’s craftsmanship has always prioritized frugality; if it can be used, that’s enough. Whether it can withstand or not, I can’t guarantee.”
But what if that individual’s method was remarkably clever, doing great things with little spend, and even the Inheritance Beast couldn’t corrode the anchor they left behind?
Lu Xianbei’s eyes twitched as she cautiously asked, “So what if I don’t run?”
Upon hearing this, the Proxy Player Sister’s eyes lit up, and her pupils rotated mischievously, saying, “Then there are ways inside here we can discuss.”
“Such as?” Lu Xianbei pressed on.
The Proxy Player Sister raised a finger and said, “Option one: find the core of this special space and devour it. This would also completely destroy this special space, resulting in just a few people dying quietly. I personally recommend using this method.”
After all, as long as the special space was destroyed, Mrs. Wang Meili’s goal would be achieved.
Destroying a false world could also be seen as destroying the world.
It would successfully deceive fate as long as Lu Xianbei didn’t continue to court disaster, finding a remote place to hide, she could live freely amidst the mountains and rivers and enjoy the rest of her life.
Overall, it could be considered a HAPPY ENDING, right?
“This method…” Lu Xianbei was about to praise it when she suddenly sensed something was amiss, switching her tone to ask, “Wait! Why does it still involve d*ath?”
“Of course, there must be deaths!” The Proxy Player Sister rolled her eyes. “Do you think those seemingly alive beings with their own emotions in this special space are illusions?”
“Don’t be foolish! Although Mrs. Wang Meili is quite powerful, she hasn’t reached the level of creating life out of nothing.”
“As far as I know, the top alchemists can only create things like figurines in a bottle; that doesn’t even count as complete life. It is already a miracle that can be compared with the Philosopher’s Stone. Do you think Mrs. Wang Meili is some omniscient, omnipotent god?”
Lu Xianbei shook her head, followed by a frown as she inquired, “Then the lives within the special space are…”
“Those lives were brought in from the outside when she constructed this space!”
The principle is similar to the earlier giant serpent, bringing a group of people or urban legends into the special space for them to reproduce and live.
However, Mrs. Wang Meili’s methods are much more sophisticated, and she has far more energy than the dying Great Serpent God to perfect it, allowing the beings and urban legends within to merge with the special space, becoming essential components.
The offspring they produce become shells that possess bodies but lack souls until they align with the projection of some existence in Huacheng, at which point they would arrive in this special space.
This shortcut is much simpler than directly creating life.
Just like Gu Xiliu, if she doesn’t leave the special space, over ninety percent of her life trajectory will overlap with Gu Qiqi’s.
However, once Gu Xiliu leaves the special space, she gradually distances herself from Gu Qiqi, ultimately only resembling her in appearance and personality to some extent.
Upon reflection, for those seeming live beings or urban legends, being forced into becoming mere projections of some existence in the special space under its rules is quite tragic.
It’s like being a tool, having no life of their own; it would be better to be dead. The Proxy Player Sister thought.
“d*mn? Human trafficking? Mrs. Wang Meili’s gentle maternal image in my mind has collapsed!” Lu Xianbei blurted out.
“What do you mean by human trafficking?” The Proxy Player Sister tapped Lu Xianbei’s head, correcting her, “Those are all transactions; Mrs. Wang Meili found people or urban legends from all over, those who were dying or had given up hope.”
“They exchanged their descendants’ lives for a chance at rebirth, so you can’t blame Mrs. Wang Meili entirely, can you?”
Lu Xianbei frowned, feeling a bit complex.
She always thought that her ancestor making reckless transactions, causing her descendants to suffer, was similar to her dad arranging her childhood engagement, complex and hard to evaluate. She could only vaguely murmur, “I still feel it’s a bit inhumane.”
“Aside from that, is there another way? It can’t just be option one, right?”
“……” The Proxy Player Sister fell silent, stood up and looked into the distance, surveying the surrounding crumbling city ruins, and said quietly, “Do you remember when I asked you if the scene you saw was familiar? Look around you.”
Lu Xianbei froze for a moment and, following the Proxy Player Sister’s pointing, looked out beyond the ruined rooftop.
The sky was thick with dark clouds, and a faint light seeped through the gaps in the cloud layer, indistinguishable between dawn and dusk.
The towering skyscrapers ahead seemed to have eroded with time, their surfaces covered with a layer of dark red grime, exuding a sense of decay.
Thick dark red mist accumulated in the city, like wandering souls, floating and darting through the concrete jungle.
In the further distance, a vague, enormous silhouette was moving, even larger than the skyscrapers, with only a fraction of its massive form visible to the n*ked eye.
The entire city appeared as though it had perished under the corrosion of the dark red flesh, a dead Huacheng.
“Option two is difficult; even if successful, that special space might turn into what you see before you now, and it could also bring you significant trouble. Do you still want to try?”
“No,” Lu Xianbei blurted out.
The Proxy Player Sister opened her mouth, about to say “As expected of you!” but in the next moment, she questioned her own hearing.
“I don’t want to, but I must try; otherwise… many people will d*e, right?” Lu Xianbei said earnestly.
In that moment, she thought of many people: Nanling Yaohua, Su Mi, Granny Wang, Old Man Nanling, and the kind elderly people from the faculty quarters who took good care of her…
Even though they were all ‘created’ and even the memories regarding them were fabricated, Lu Xianbei was still afraid of the troubles the Proxy Player Sister mentioned.
But she couldn’t bring herself to end their lives…
