Chapter 14: 1:1 Paper Cicada Fairy
After leaving the conference room, Du Sixian led Luxianbei through the office area, past a short corridor, and stopped in front of a wall covered in mottled moss.
I remember this is the entrance to the cellar? Why is there an extra stone? Luxianbei thought.
“Bang—bang, bang—bang—!”
Du Sixian tapped the wall in a rhythmic pattern, and suddenly several small holes opened up in the wall, releasing a puff of white smoke as if it were breathing. Following a rumbling sound, the wall rotated ninety degrees, revealing a heavy iron door hidden behind it.
At that moment, Luxianbei noticed large eyes attached to the inner side of the wall, looking hazy, as if just waking up.
She turned around and sweetly smiled at Luxianbei, raising one hand and softly explaining, “This is the child that watches over the door, just born recently. I thought that iron door wasn’t secure enough, so I let it guard here.”
You call that just born? That head is bigger than mine! Luxianbei frowned and quietly leaned closer, whispering, “I mean, hiring child labor might not be ideal, right?”
Du Sixian gave Luxianbei a meaningful smile, “If you don’t pay, it doesn’t count as hiring!”
Luxianbei, “???”
Ah, is this the ugly face of capitalism?
“Pfft!” Seeing Luxianbei frozen in place, Du Sixian covered her mouth and chuckled softly, “Don’t worry, everyone treats this little guy well!”
“Is that so? Well, that’s good…”
Luxianbei scratched the back of her head, not thinking too much. Seeing Du Sixian take out a key to unlock the iron door, she followed her into the warehouse.
This warehouse didn’t exist when the Huacheng Calamity Irresponsible Scare Company was first established. It was only after the urban legends of Huacheng expanded their “lost and found” business for a while, and the number of lost items gradually increased, that Luxianbei dug out a cellar for storage.
While she was in Tangcheng, Du Sixian rebuilt the cellar and further transformed it into a large underground warehouse of over twenty thousand square meters.
Although the Huacheng Calamity Irresponsible Scare Company doesn’t currently need that much storage space, Du Sixian is confident that at the current rate of development, one day, she will definitely turn this place into a treasure house worthy of a “king”!
Upon entering the warehouse, a faint smell of dust greeted them. The wide space, about five meters high, was filled with simple and practical metal shelves arranged neatly, extending all the way to the line of sight. At first glance, it seemed like they were in a large supermarket warehouse.
On the shelves were small bamboo woven baskets, each containing an item that had been cleaned, disinfected, dried, and sealed.
There was a pink suitcase with a shipping label but never sent off, a patched teddy bear with the words “Most Beloved” scrawled on it, or a handmade photo frame containing a yellowed old photo of a family of three…
Each item seemed to silently tell stories, the stories of Huacheng’s residents and of Huacheng itself.
Looking at these items, Luxianbei inexplicably thought of Mrs. Wang Meili’s album, her eyes dimming.
After she used those photos that recorded her life to reshape her body, that album had already gone missing.
Whether it was lost or destroyed, she didn’t know.
Du Sixian noticed Luxianbei frowning tightly while examining each item, moved closer, and whispered, “Actually, I feel that most of the things here are probably hard to find their owners, and they may have been intentionally discarded by their owners.”
Hearing this, Luxianbei withdrew her thoughts, looked at Du Sixian, and silently sighed, “Let’s keep them for now! After all, there’s still space here for the time being, right?”
As she spoke, she picked up a tattered diary without a cover from a small bamboo basket and then gently placed it back.
On the first page of that diary, it said, “February 20, 100 days of being in love, I wrote my first diary, starting to record our daily life…”
“Let’s keep it! Maybe their owners just don’t want them for a while.” Luxianbei said, her frown easing.
One day, people will remember the beautiful things they once lost, Luxianbei added silently in her heart.
I should ask the online old perverts how their urban legend reward website works, to open randomly when a person or story needs it. I could do that too, specifically for “lost and found.”
Of course, it cannot be free!
Continued distress, a small amount of lifespan, or a certain sum of money, one must choose something as a storage fee, right? Luxianbei pondered.
The urban legend reward website also has matching payment recovery technology, they can just use it.
That Void guy always learns from me; can’t I learn from it?!
After all, it doesn’t affect their business.
————
Luxianbei followed Du Sixian onward, passing through the towering shelves, and about two minutes later, their vision cleared, revealing a spacious platform the size of a soccer field.
In one corner of the platform, shrouded in shadow, something was stacked into two small mountains under a waterproof cloth, resembling a sleeping monster.
“Please wait a moment, High Person.” Du Sixian smiled and said to Luxianbei, then walked forward, turned on the lights, grabbed the corner of the waterproof cloth, and gently pulled.
“Whoosh!” The waterproof cloth fell away, revealing hundreds of cardboard boxes.
On the outermost layer, there were two or three unfilled boxes, opened slightly, revealing small paper figures about palm-sized inside.
Examining the open boxes, Luxianbei squinted, her mind racing.
From the half-filled boxes, it seemed that one box could hold roughly eighty small paper cicadas, roughly counting, here there were probably around one hundred twenty boxes…
In other words, there are about nine thousand to ten thousand paper cicadas here?
Not bad, should be enough!
Luxianbei nodded in satisfaction and turned to Du Sixian, raising her eyebrows and asking, “So, where’s the big treasure?”
With so many small paper cicadas, wanting to equip them all with alchemical grenades would definitely not be enough, and the fingertip bl**d needed to activate the paper cicadas would require her to drink a whole jug. So temporarily, she couldn’t fully utilize them.
Thus, she was more concerned about the 1:1 paper cicadas that might be needed right away.
“Over here.” Du Sixian answered, stepping aside. “Whoosh!” Once more, she pulled away another piece of waterproof cloth.
“Whoosh!”
As the waterproof cloth fluttered down, twelve large paper cicadas of different designs appeared before them.
The twelve paper cicadas, three in a group, were made in four states: human form, witch form, mythological form, and the current state, which balanced the two core forms of the urban legends.
Looking at those paper cicadas, Luxianbei’s eyes sparkled, exclaiming, “This… Did Mengmeng make all of these? They’re amazing!”
Although according to Qing Ji education, the requirements to create a moving paper cicada aren’t that high. One just needs bamboo strips, glue, and yellow paper to form a recognizable body and then use watercolor and vermilion to paint on eyebrows, eyes, and red lips.
However, based on Luxianbei’s previous experience making them herself, being careless in the shaping phase resulted in each finished item being capable of becoming a source of spiritual pollution once they barely moved.
Lack of skill is a disease with no cure!
Now, the twelve in front of her, while made from the same common materials as before—bamboo strips, glue, yellow paper, watercolor, and vermilion—represented a complete difference between “minimalist design” and “extreme color.”
Excluding the paper texture still somewhat visible on their skin, and the slightly traditional makeup on their faces not considered a flaw, almost all the body details were completely restored.
Just looking at them, one couldn’t help but want to reach out and feel their breath, to see if they were alive.
Before leaving Huacheng, Mengmeng had volunteered to undertake the task of creating these large paper cicadas, and Luxianbei didn’t have high expectations.
If they succeeded, great; if not, she’d figure it out another way.
But the results exceeded her expectations.
“Mengmeng is amazing! I need to ask her to help make another one, modeled after the limited-edition figure of Bai Xiaohua’s third anniversary!” Luxianbei murmured excitedly.
That figure had become a thorn in her side.
Once there was a 1:1 replica of Bai Xiaohua in front of Luxianbei, limited to fifty pieces. She chose to spend her mobile game funds on the game instead of acquiring the figure and later regretted it.
Now, with another opportunity before her, she just wanted to say, “If others have it, then our child must have it too! Not only have it, but it must be able to move!”
However, soon she shook her head, pondering for a moment, she roughly figured out how Mengmeng was able to make such high-fidelity paper cicadas.
Mengmeng’s natural talent skill, “Dream Creation,” is somewhat similar to the operation principle of God Realm Prototype; it’s basically a simplified youth version.
So she is very familiar with the body structure and details of those she has pulled into dreams when making paper cicadas, so it becomes relatively simple to replicate.
However, Mengmeng has never pulled the Bai Xiaohua with the third-anniversary commemorative skin into a dream, so the finished product is likely to become a mobile source of spiritual pollution, just like Luxianbei’s previous attempts.
Luxianbei glanced at Du Sixian, who seemed hesitant to speak, silently sighed, “Forget it, I don’t actually want it that much.”
It’s the unattainable things that linger in one’s mind. When they are finally attained, one may take them for granted. Had she really bought that Bai Xiaohua figure back then, it would probably just be gathering dust in her storage room now.
Moreover, if a moving Bai Xiaohua were to appear in her home, she wouldn’t be able to explain it to Miaomiao Sauce.
Most importantly, although being the king of Huacheng’s urban legends was not by choice, Du Sixian and Mengmeng already have their hands full managing all the urban legends large and small in Huacheng. Since she cannot help much, she shouldn’t trouble them further.
As Luxianbei thought, her willow brows furrowed, her big watery eyes revealing a hint of disappointment, unconsciously pouting her pink lips.
That expression was like a child discovering a toy they liked in a glass window, but knowing their family’s financial difficulties, they restrained their desire and did not ask for it.
Du Sixian secretly observed Luxianbei, seeing this scene, couldn’t help covering her mouth and silently laughing.
Why do people always think High People are scary?
They’re clearly very cute! Du Sixian thought.
With such a cute “boss,” engaged in the most beloved work related to urban legends, and able to maximize her management talents, she felt that there was nothing better than this!
“Next, we need to find a place to try out these precious treasures.”
Luxianbei evaluated the twelve paper cicadas, resting her chin on one hand, speaking to herself.
She needed to think of a way to infiltrate the Dachunyang Palace. Given the possibility of leaving Huacheng at any time, she planned to use the 1:1 paper cicadas to attend classes for her, ensuring attendance while maintaining her graduation eligibility.
If it was just a spontaneous idea before, after seeing the finished products of these 1:1 paper cicadas, she was ready to put that idea into action.
However, this task might not be as simple as controlling Qiu girl.
Controlling Qiu girl “Heaven’s Justice” just required letting it fly over, land smoothly, and trigger the inherent skill imprint attached to it.
The technical requirement is low.
However, to multitask, infiltrating the Dachunyang Palace while simultaneously controlling the paper cicadas in school would significantly increase the difficulty.
At the very least, it had to ensure that the movements of the paper cicadas at school did not appear too suspicious, right?
It was like the difference between using an excavator to dig soil and demolish walls versus cooking with an excavator; the former can be done in a rough manner, but the latter must at least ensure the pot doesn’t get broken.
Thinking for a moment, Luxianbei turned to Du Sixian and said, “Si Xian, if possible, I’d like to take a few with me now. I want to find a place to practice controlling these things.”
“Okay!” Du Sixian nodded eagerly, “Do you need me to help you carry them?”
“No, I can carry them myself.” Luxianbei shook her head.
She had already figured out that she would use the God Realm Prototype to transport the paper cicadas to Huacheng University and find a deserted place to start practicing control.
After all, she would need to maneuver the paper cicadas around the school later, so it would be good to practice on-site and adapt to the environment.
Besides, at this time, there were almost no students or teachers active on campus, especially near Gate Four. Due to the frequent urban legend events there, it was nearly impossible for students or teachers to appear. She could even have Decapitated Senior help keep watch.
It was perfect!
————
Thus, a little over ten minutes later, in the bushes near Gate Four of Huacheng University, a wild Jigglypuff appeared, staring with its big eyes at the main path not far away.
On the dilapidated main path, a “creature” was running wildly in a strange posture. Whenever it encountered obstacles, it would smash into them and then wander around for a long time before awkwardly maneuvering around.
During its progress, it emitted a few sharp cries that sent chills down the spine.
“Lah~li~lah~li~li~lah~!”
Watching that paper cicada, whose lower half was running wildly while the upper half appeared to have its own ideas, flailing about chaotically.
Luxianbei pressed her forehead and rubbed her aching temples, falling into silence. She felt like she was controlling a poorly optimized video game character, both physically and mentally exhausted.
It turned out that controlling the paper cicadas for attendance was much more difficult than she had imagined; control over the hands would lead to failure with the feet, and vice versa. Even when both hands and feet were in sync, the mouth and torso would start acting up.
d*mn it, is this even possible?!
Crashing into walls, running wildly, acting independently is one thing, but why do you have to make those noises too?
I’m not even multitasking yet, when I really have to control you both, you’re going to break apart and act independently, aren’t you?!
As Luxianbei was grumbling about this, a light sound reached her ears.
Looking over, she saw the rampaging paper cicada, having wandered off the main path in her distraction, rushing into the densely grown little woods near Gate Four.
In the thicket of branches, it unintentionally got its head caught by some iron wire that came from somewhere, and with a tug, its body unexpectedly tore apart from its neck with a “rip.”
Then…
Its body continued running forward, disappearing from sight.
Luxianbei, “…”
