**Chapter 2: Symptoms of Spiritual Pattern Out of Control**
Shocking! On his way home from work, a corporate slave was suddenly struck on the head by an attacker; is this a result of human nature’s distortion or a decline in morality?
In front of the gates of the Siye Society, such a vicious attack—where is the rule of law?
In such a cold, violent, and gloomy world, how can anyone dare to have a third child?
In the瞬间 as the intense pain spread from his head, a flurry of chaotic thoughts flashed through Lu Yibei’s mind.
Soon, as the headache intensified, Lu Yibei, who collapsed to the ground, sensed something unusual.
It seemed that he had not been hit by anyone…
Initially, the pain felt like a hard object striking his head, but as the sensation grew stronger, he discerned that the pain did not arise from an external hit but was gradually emerging from within.
It was as if something inside him was heavily pounding on his skull.
The dizziness intensified, the objects in his line of sight began to distort, and circles of ripple-like waves spread before him, resembling stones stirring up waves on the water’s surface.
In the final moment before he lost consciousness, Lu Yibei saw Huasang looking at him, her languid gaze seemingly saying, “Something definitely happened” or perhaps “Just as I thought, this kid is seriously ill.”
“???”
Confusion rose within Lu Yibei as he opened his mouth, wanting to say something to Huasang, but the scene before him became increasingly blurry, ultimately plunging into darkness like a light being extinguished.
Thus, in the dim and cramped alleyway before the Huacheng Folk Culture Research Management Bureau, a man and a woman lay quietly on the ground, one in a “尖” shape and the other in a “大” shape.
The night was deep, with a chilling and eerie atmosphere spreading through the alley, enveloping the surroundings in a dead silence, broken only by the wind swirling fallen leaves and small pieces of paper across the ground, producing a faint “沙沙” sound.
“Hey, good dogs shouldn’t lie in the middle of the road; what’s that about?”
After a while, a weak sigh shattered the silence.
Huasang slowly got up from the ground, walked over to Lu Yibei’s side, tilted her head to assess him for a moment, recalled how her senior brothers practiced corpse-dragging techniques, and then, imitating them, helped Lu Yibei up and dragged him toward the side of the road.
“沙，沙……沙，沙……”
The faint, intermittent sound of body scraping against the ground.
Huasang dragged Lu Yibei, stopping to rest every half meter or so; from the center of the alley to the roadside, a distance of less than two meters took her a full twenty minutes.
“Bang!”
She threw the seemingly soupy Lu Yibei onto the roadside and leaned against the wall of the Huacheng Folk Culture Research Management Bureau, slowly sitting down, appearing utterly exhausted, her complexion pale, drenched in sweat, gasping for air.
She tilted her head back, blankly staring at the dense branches and leaves of the parasol tree overhead, and after a long while finally regulated her breathing, releasing a long breath of stale air.
Dragging a corpse is indeed tiring.
Huasang grumbled inwardly, turned her gaze to Lu Yibei, half-closing her eyes, focusing her mind, and silently activated her spirit energy. As a stunning aura shining like the dawn flickered in her eyes, a layer of thin, ethereal mist rose before her gaze.
Divination Technique, activate!
Maintaining this state, akin to observing the moon in water or flowers in the fog, after a few breaths, she saw a crimson phantom slowly emerging behind Lu Yibei.
The phantom was a towering giant, enveloped in flames and thick smoke; its curved, blade-like horns appeared to be made of molten lava, and its general form was identical to the Ifrit described in ancient texts.
However, unlike the descriptions, this Ifrit had blackened jaws and arms, its skin covered in cracks as if severely burned, to the point of carbonization.
Through the divination technique, Huasang focused on Lu Yibei’s spiritual pattern phantom, her brow slightly furrowing.
She wasn’t sure if it was an illusion, but she felt that the Ifrit’s expression didn’t seem as ferocious and evil as documented in the texts, but rather…
A bit wronged?
As if it had suffered severe bullying.
“……”
Strange, I thought he fainted because of a mutation in his spiritual pattern, resulting in a certain degree of loss of control.
But looking at it like this, his spiritual pattern seemed quite normal?
Then why did he… never mind, it’s none of my business, Huasang thought.
Just getting Lu Yibei to the roadside and checking whether his spiritual pattern was out of control had already exceeded her daily exercise limits; if she poked her nose into more matters, she worried she’d drop dead.
Really dead in a way that would take her right there.
Huasang mused, her sidelong glance involuntarily drifting to her back, where her own spiritual pattern was inscribed under her clothing.
———
Half an hour later.
Amidst strange dreams, with no eerie illusions, after a brief fainting spell, Lu Yibei naturally awakened.
Opening his eyes, he saw a starry night sky and was momentarily stunned; upon confirming he was still in the alley outside the Huacheng Folk Culture Research Management Bureau, he furrowed his brow slightly.
Something’s off!
According to previous patterns, before waking up, he would either witness a horrific urban legend assault, get scolded by the Ancestor, or hear a Proxy Player Sister starting with “You’ve woken up, you’re already x*x*x” and then go on a long-winded discourse.
This time feels a bit too mundane, Lu Yibei thought.
Perhaps due to undergoing so many persecutions in the past six months, waking up peacefully like this felt somewhat unfamiliar.
Could it be that unintentionally, he had picked up some peculiar oddities?
Rubbing his slightly aching head, Lu Yibei sat up, just steadying his thoughts when he heard a series of intermittent gasping sounds nearby; looking over, his heart instantly tightened.
What the hell! Who are you, girl?!
He saw a disheveled girl, her clothes tattered, sitting against the wall, her messy hair hanging down, obscuring most of her face, while her small, dirty face was tinged with dust, looking pale.
Her delicate lips parted slightly as she breathed heavily, producing a series of coughs reminiscent of someone seriously ill nearing d*ath.
“Cough… cough… cough…”
Staring at Huasang, there was a moment when Lu Yibei even thought he had encountered a ghostly soul seeking revenge, but upon second thoughts, this was Huacheng—there shouldn’t be any urban legends daring enough to attack the king of urban legends, so he relaxed a bit.
Gathering himself, he took a closer look at the girl; judging from the slender, white leg peeking out from the torn pants leg, he realized beyond a doubt that this girl was Huasang.
“…”
Wait, wasn’t I the one who fainted just now?
Why does she look like she’s on the verge of d*ath?
Lu Yibei wondered, discreetly probing Huasang’s condition with his spiritual awareness, and was slightly startled, deepening his confusion.
This girl, although she appeared to be on the edge of collapsing, was detected to have vast fluctuations of spirit energy and a vitality as robust as a prime bull.
For a spiritual ability user like her, even if she were to sustain a cut from a kn*fe and lose two kilograms of bl**d, she should theoretically continue to act lively.
“Girl, you…”
Huasang weakly raised one palm to stop Lu Yibei from speaking, then slightly turned her neck, giving him a look that said “Don’t speak, I need peace, understand?”
Lu Yibei made an “OK” gesture to Huasang and nodded.
Most of the time, he still had a bit of gentlemanly demeanor.
After quietly waiting for a moment.
Seeing that Huasang’s breathing gradually stabilized and her complexion regained some color, Lu Yibei estimated she had “rested” enough and asked again, “If you don’t mind me asking, before I fainted, I noticed your gaze towards me, which seemed to indicate you anticipated my fainting; could you tell me why?”
He was still keen on understanding why he had fainted without reason and the strange expression Huasang had when looking at him.
Huasang took a breath and reluctantly said, “I guessed.”
And she guessed wrong… Huasang added silently in her mind.
“Guessed? How did you guess that? There should be some basis for a guess, right?” Lu Yibei pressed on.
“Your spiritual pattern is off.”
“How so?” Lu Yibei continued to inquire.
It doesn’t make sense!
Wasn’t my spiritual pattern always suppressed by the core of two major urban legends, like a useless little brother, cowering in the corner?
Why did this little brother suddenly go off? What gave it the courage? Lu Yibei wondered.
“It’s mutated, but it’s fine.”
Upon hearing this, Lu Yibei’s heart tensed, and he hurriedly asked, “Huh? What does it mean that it’s both mutated and fine? Is it mutated for the better? Will I become stronger because of it?”
“Not at all.”
“Then will it become weaker? Or will it exhibit some strange symptoms? I won’t d*e, will I?”
Regardless of revolution or not, health is paramount; it’s the top priority, and one mustn’t be careless.
Huasang opened her mouth but hesitated, “…” Why can’t this guy just stay quiet for a moment?
I already told you it’s fine, so why do you keep asking? Encountering you, I’ve really run out of luck; tonight I might just d*e from exhaustion here.
Lu Yibei frowned, semi-swallowing his words, “…” Why does this girl talk like she’s squeezing toothpaste?
What happened to the good conversation? Encountering you, I’m really having a mental breakdown; tonight I might just d*e from impatience.
Silently, they faced off for a moment.
Adhering to the principle of “helping others to the end,” Huasang suppressed her inner irritation and, with a resentful look towards Lu Yibei, slowly said, “The thing is, when I encountered you this morning, I accidentally noticed your spiritual pattern had mutated, and feeling curious, I took a closer look.”
“Uh-huh.” Lu Yibei nodded, signaling her to continue.
“Furthermore, just now when I saw you suddenly fainting on the ground, I suspected it was mild out-of-control spiritual patterns causing common symptoms affecting your nervous system.”
She couldn’t be clearer about the instability of spiritual patterns and the symptoms of loss of control.
“Based on the above two points, I deduced that your body might have a significant problem, so…”
“So what?” Lu Yibei urgently pressed for an answer.
However, before Lu Yibei could get the answer he sought, he saw Huasang’s eyelids slowly drooping, yawning drowsily, nodding a few times, and then tilted to one side, collapsing onto the ground.
Earlier, to fulfill a task entrusted by the Chief Priest, Huasang had overexerted her spirit energy, which had caused fluctuations in the already stable spiritual pattern, putting considerable pressure on her body.
Now, after nearly a day without eating, overexerting herself, and consecutively using the divination technique to observe Lu Yibei’s spiritual pattern, she was left with virtually no surplus energy.
She really couldn’t hold on any longer; although she was far from dying, she genuinely needed to rest.
Watching the abrupt disconnection of Huasang, a string of question marks instantly filled Lu Yibei’s mind.
“Wait, are you okay, girl? Miss?”
If you have issues, can you at least finish your sentence first before passing out?
Isn’t it like a doctor saying to a patient, “Based on the test results, you likely have late-stage cancer, but…” and then simply stops talking? Don’t you fear being punched?
In a hazy state, hearing Lu Yibei’s call, Huasang struggled to lift her eyelids, then, with considerable effort, reached out a trembling finger to write one character on the ground.
It looked much like that scene in movies where a character desperately tries to write down the name of their killer before dying.
Lu Yibei tilted his head, attempting to decipher Huasang’s wobbly writing, frowning, “Hungry? Oh, right, she asked me to help buy her food earlier, but…”
But how many days does one have to starve to faint mid-sentence?
Doesn’t Li Xuan care that his junior sister is starving?
Bah! What a good-for-nothing!
Lu Yibei thought indignantly, rummaging through his pocket to pull out half a bag of spicy strips, asking Huasang, “Girl, how about you eat some spicy strips for now?”
Hearing this, Huasang made a feeble effort to raise her eyelids, glaring at Lu Yibei as if to say, “I’m not going to d*e with my eyes closed.”
“Alright, you seem to dislike spicy strips.” Lu Yibei shrugged, chewing on a strip, heading towards the convenience store at the entrance of Mudan Street.
———
The night grew darker.
The dim alley was quiet for a moment before footsteps echoed again.
Lu Yibei emerged from the convenience store with jellies, yogurt, and various snacks, tearing open the packaging and placing them in front of the sleeping Huasang, then wafting the smell towards her nostrils.
However, Huasang was not Gu Qiqi; food as bait was not effective here.
Seeing that Huasang did not awaken, Lu Yibei silently sighed, sitting by her side, munching on spicy strips while lost in thought.
Was the fainting due to a mutation in the spiritual patterns? Could it be due to contamination with the Black Sun’s fire?
If that’s the case, his life might be in danger; what good could come from the Solar Eclipse Society?
If it comes to that, maybe he should consider eliminating the little brother of the spiritual patterns; after all, it was of no use anyway and could be a potential disaster.
Just as Lu Yibei was secretly contemplating whether to deal with the Ifrit’s spiritual pattern, a rustling noise interrupted his thoughts.
The sleeping Huasang awoke, sat up, and began to eat the food Lu Yibei brought her, wordlessly.
She held the jelly with both hands, chewing slowly, resembling a squirrel nibbling on a pine cone, with her messy hair obscuring her face; only her rosy small mouth was visible when eating, appearing quite lovely.
However, how could someone chew jelly so slowly? Today was quite an eye-opener for Lu Yibei.
Unconsciously influenced by the unhurried and indifferent state of Huasang, Lu Yibei also seemed to enter a sage-like period, silently watching and waiting for her to finish eating.
After a long while.
After Huasang consumed the jelly, yogurt, and cotton candy, she stopped eating.
Licking the last yogurt lid clean and neatly tucking it into the trash bag, she sat up straight and recalled the incomplete conversation, continuing to explain to Lu Yibei.
“Earlier, when talking about your sudden fainting being indicative of mild spiritual pattern loss of control, I speculated that there was an issue with your spiritual pattern. Then I used the divination technique to observe closely and found that aside from some mutations, your spiritual patterns appeared normal, so I might have guessed wrong.”
Sometimes, a mutation in spiritual patterns isn’t necessarily a bad thing; some spiritual ability users can even advance to a higher level through such mutations.
After a pause, Huasang added, “However, you shouldn’t let your guard down; loss of control in spiritual patterns is like diagnosing cancer—difficult to identify in the early stages but incredibly hard to treat once it manifests. I suggest you find an opportunity to thoroughly check your spiritual pattern.”
“Moreover, even if the results come back fine, if you encounter similar abnormal reactions subsequently, feel free to come to Dachunyang Palace to find me. I have a good relationship with the Chief Priest and can ask him for a small favor; he’s exceptional at treating and detecting spiritual pattern loss of control.”
Huasang may be a bit lazy, but she usually is quite helpful, as long as it doesn’t require her to exert too much effort.
After hearing Huasang’s explanation, Lu Yibei’s confusion was finally resolved, but his mood instead grew heavy.
Although his spiritual patterns had been consistently suppressed by the cores of two major urban legends, making loss of control unlikely, what if they were indeed “twisted” from long-term oppression?
It’s better to be cautious.
After all, to obtain the last fragment of Ling Tai Purification, I’ll have to visit Dachunyang Palace sooner or later, so this is just an additional side quest.
However, the last fragment cannot be forcibly taken, and whether or not the spiritual pattern has lost control is still uncertain; these two matters cannot be rushed and involve Dachunyang Palace, so it’s best to consult the Ancestor for guidance.
With this in mind, Lu Yibei stood up, cupped his hands towards Huasang, “Thank you, miss; it’s getting late, so I’ll be on my way.”
“Uh-huh, goodbye.” Huasang nodded.
Lu Yibei cupped his hands again, turned, hopped on his beloved motorcycle, and sped out of the alley.
Watching Lu Yibei riding away, Huasang quickly fell back into her withdrawn state, lying on the ground, starting to recuperate.
d*mn, I said more today than I usually do in a month; I’m so tired.
But one can’t bite the hand that feeds; tiredness is just something to endure!
At worst, tomorrow… uh, the day after? No, I’d better rest until next weekend. Huasang thought.
