**Chapter 50: Designated Mission**
Pripyat.
The vast wilderness is shrouded in night, with mountains, trees, and buildings reduced to vague silhouettes. The night wind wails, both mournful and desolate.
In this town, where time seems to have frozen in the wind, nothing is truly still: rag dolls lie on rusted playground equipment, buildings inhabited by grotesque rat colonies, and a Ferris wheel that has permanently ceased to turn… everything drifts like ghosts.
In the center of the town, a tiny figure suddenly bursts into the sky, resembling a scorching b*llet shot upwards.
Immediately, the ground shakes violently, dust swirls, and brilliant light instantaneously illuminates the sky above the town, as if that terrifying disaster recorded in human history is replaying.
Under the fierce light, the mall at the center of the town, completely taken over by plants, rises like a furious beast awakened from a slumber.
Broken bricks and rusty rebar roll and tremble in the twisted maw that has opened at the mall’s rooftop, emitting a deafening roar.
Accompanied by the deafening sound, countless small urban legends resembling giant cockroaches, made of plants and concrete, swarm out like an invading horde, waving their antennae and letting out shrill metallic screeches as they fly towards the plump little white worm in the sky.
From a distance, it looks like a broken building made from a structure that defies the laws of physics, towering with bizarre plants growing all over it.
The intense residual sentiment seems to solidify, swirling with strongly radioactive dust, forming aurora-like colorful streams that dance wildly in the air.
Just as the dense swarm of antennae is about to touch the little worm, a series of tightly packed codes suddenly flashes in its dark green eyes.
In the next moment, a triangle symbol, resembling a video pause, appears out of thin air, solidifying the moving “tower” and the legend-transformed mall below as if they have been cast in stone, freezing everything in an instant.
Following that, a whisper comes from the direction of the little worm.
“DELETE…”
As the words fall, the surrounding space momentarily distorts, with tricolor light patterns flashing across the sky above the town, accompanied by a faint sound similar to electromagnetic interference, crackling softly.
In the next moment, that which has been frozen in the air—the swarm of urban legends and its mother figure—suddenly trembles, as if struck by an invisible heavy hammer, instantly collapsing into powder.
Pale dust cascades down, quickly evaporating into nothingness before it even touches the ground.
As if consumed by another world, it no longer exists in this world.
The little worm slowly descends from the sky, landing on the trembling Ferris wheel, patting its steel frame, and says with a frown, “Stop shaking, I won’t k*ll you, just sitting for a bit.”
The Ferris wheel emits a soft creak and comes to a halt.
The little worm, wriggling its plump body, sits down, its six short front limbs barely noticeable resting on its chest, glancing around the little town cloaked in darkness, mumbling to itself in frustration.
“d*mn it, where should I go to find the God Realm Prototype?”
It had thought that this town, which has gained infamy for being a “Ghost City that Devours Lives” and the residual sentiment from the land had created an overall legend-transformed atmosphere, would be a natural God Realm Prototype.
However, upon arrival, it found that aside from numerous distorted urban legends scattered everywhere, there was not even a single hair of what it sought.
“How I envy Calamity for having a mother…”
As it spoke to itself, suddenly sensing some danger, it stiffened, its dark green eyes trembled slightly, and with a whoosh, it shot up from the Ferris wheel.
As it wriggles in the air, trying to escape, an overwhelming spirit energy fluctuation suddenly descends, trapping it in place.
That spirit energy fluctuation tightly grips it, loosens, grips again… cycling repeatedly, like an invisible hand playing with its bouncy body.
It can feel that spirit energy fluctuation drilling into its body, disrupting its spirit energy operation, causing painful cries throughout, but with no substantial injury.
This feeling reminds it of a traumatic encounter it had shortly after becoming an urban legend, when it wandered online and peeked at humanity’s sordid little secrets stored on hard drives.
At that time, it had met a lunatic who seemed to have raised a gu worm, installing various malware and virus scanners such as some goose butler, Kingsoft AntiVirus, and 361 Security on the computer.
Several programs would first clash with each other before finally freeing up some space to attack it.
Unable to k*ll it, the programs kept pestering it, slicing with dull knives, causing immense discomfort.
Humans, unknown types of spirit patterns, disaster-class spirit energy manipulators…
It sensed the source of that spirit energy fluctuation arriving less than two meters behind it, and in that instant, its spiritual perception spread out, gathering this information.
But just as it tried to probe further, its body suddenly spasmed, flashing “Insufficient Permissions” in front of its eyes, and in the next moment, its spiritual perception was blocked.
It felt as if the other party had invaded its “system” through the spirit energy fluctuation, restricting its usage rights.
To achieve this, the spiritual ability user must meet at least two conditions: their powers align closely with its own, and their spirit energy fluctuation level exceeds its own by one level.
Confirming through eye contact, they are someone it cannot beat!
“Uh, this friend, can we talk it out? Why start with violence upon meeting? Anyway, this is just a clone of mine; if you k*ll it, there’s no core of the urban legend to take…”
An online urban legend without a “backup” isn’t a good urban legend, and it never shows its true self.
The internet has over a million alternate accounts!
Though this clone is quite an important “backup,” it would be difficult to recover… it added anxiously in its mind.
“Help me with something, and after it’s done, I’ll tell you where to find the God Realm Prototype.”
The voice of the person speaking evidently processed the words through spirit energy fluctuations, leaving no discernible features.
“Oh, so it’s a collaboration? That’s great!” it said.
Like open-source code, cooperation benefits both sides—that’s what it enjoys the most.
Of course, this is provided that the other isn’t one of those whose negative emotions have clouded their mind, causing their powers to decay and rot.
“Uh, if you don’t mind, could you first tell me about the content of the collaboration?” it asked.
“Calamity.”
“Ah?” it exclaimed in surprise, “You want her? That’s not so good, is it?”
They’ve never actually done anything like kidnapping a female urban legend in the chat group; that’s too unethical.
“b*stard! Nonsense!” a low roar came from behind.
“Uh, so you’re looking to persecute her? That won’t do; she’s my important collaborative partner; I can’t harm her interests. Otherwise, we won’t be able to cooperate in the future.”
After all, losing an important clone is one thing, but Calamity is my important reference template; without her, I’d really be without her.
Moreover, if this kind of thing gets out, it would tarnish the reputation of the urban legend bounty website, it thought.
“Who said anything about persecuting her?” the person behind said coldly, “I know you’ve established a bounty website; I just need you to issue a designated mission for her.”
It remained silent, “…”
Still saying it’s not persecution?
Why do I feel like you’re setting a trap for Calamity?
Well, let’s pretend to agree for now; when issuing the mission, I’ll max out the danger alerts. After she sees it, she definitely won’t accept.
Thinking this, it responded, “Okay, it’s a deal! Now tell me what bounty you want to issue!”
“Very simple: give her the opportunity to join the secret society lurking in Dachunyang Palace…”
“What society?” it asked.
Even though it has the special ability granted by its powers to peek into any corner of the world with internet coverage, having the ability doesn’t mean it dares to use it.
Dachunyang Palace is indeed one of the places it doesn’t dare to explore deeply.
It still dares to peek at simpler information, like Fu Xinyi’s daily schedule.
But something like a secret society, never heard of before, hidden within Dachunyang Palace, touches on its information blind spot.
Seeing that the person behind has remained silent for a long time, it tentatively asked, “Hey, friend, should we join a group first? You could actually message Calamity privately about this…”
After it said this, it suddenly felt that oppressive spirit energy fluctuation that made its heart palpitate disappear without warning.
It paused for a moment, waited a few seconds, and suddenly turned around, only to find that the person was already gone without a trace.
Looking at the deserted abandoned town under the night, it spat, “Tsk! I really ran into weird people today… what bad luck!”
Saying it was a collaboration, but not mentioning what benefits I could get…
If that’s the case, why not go directly to Calamity? Why bother with me? it pondered.
——————
Shizhou City, Nightless Street.
Since the nights have grown long, the nightlife crowd around the world has sharply decreased, causing severe impacts on bars, nightclubs, and nighttime eateries.
But as with everything, there’s an exception.
For a city like Shizhou City that is close to spiritual ability forces and has rare urban legend incidents, it is an exception.
Originally, Nightless Street was just a common tourist bar street, but as the nights became longer, a large number of workers poured in from other cities, transforming it into a bustling, even chaotic place.
Exaggerated neon signs shining all night long, tightly packed shops, street vendors with snacks, and a continuous flow of people, along with the aroma of alcohol wafting through the air…
Various elements stacked together create a cacophony that lasts throughout the night, as if there is no darkness at all, and so it has been jokingly dubbed “Nightless Street,” becoming another must-visit spot in Shizhou City apart from Zhenwu Mountain scenic area.
Over time, the officially designated name of this bustling and noisy street has long been forgotten.
Near Nightless Street, within a secluded small building.
This is a rare quiet corner in Nightless Street.
In the depths of the small building, in a room with tightly sealed doors and windows, not a hint of light can be seen, the air is oppressive to the point of suffocation.
A man dressed in a moon-white robe hangs from the ceiling by ropes.
His hair is disheveled, clumped together by a sticky substance, and his robe is torn, exposing wounds deep enough to see bone. A circle of blue-purple metal rings pierces through his spine, wrapping around the spine and locking the area where his spirit patterns are located, bl**d dripping from his toes, splashing on the ground like leopard prints.
“Wu Yutang, have you remembered Chu? Are you certain you want to leave the society?” a voice echoed in the darkness.
“Y-yes!” answered the man called Wu Yutang, his voice trembling yet determined. “Joining you back then was a mistake.”
“A mistake? Heh!” The voice in the darkness chuckled coldly. “If that’s the case… then say goodbye to your precious fan!”
As the words fell, a soft “crack” resounded from the darkness as if something had been broken.
Accompanied by that sound of fracture, Wu Yutang’s body instantly tensed as if what had been broken was not just the spirit energy item that had accompanied him for long, greatly enhancing his strength, but some important organ on which his survival depended.
Thus, a horrific scream pierced the silence of the room, spreading out to be ruthlessly swallowed by the clamor on Nightless Street…
————
On a mountain road several kilometers outside the Zhenwu Mountain scenic area.
The middle-aged man driving the SUV is quite decent; after the car broke down, he let Fang Ji get in the car first while remaining by the roadside waiting for the repair shop to rescue him. When Fang Ji offered to compensate him, he refused to accept it.
“Thank you, Uncle, you’re really a good person!” Fang Ji bowed slightly to the middle-aged man and quickly stuffed the gold necklace he accidentally found into the SUV.
Having received someone else’s kindness, he returned it with gold.
It seems to be an ingrained behavior within him; he did this subconsciously, not feeling that anything was unusual.
“Uncle, let’s treat this as a birthday gift for your daughter!” Fang Ji shouted at the middle-aged man, who was still stunned.
After speaking, he ran towards the bus, scanned the QR code, and excitedly boarded the vehicle.
Then…
“A smack!” He fell in front of the bus doors, his forehead hitting the edge of the metal bar with a thud, bouncing back, and his back slammed against the metal handrail with a bang.
The bus driver, “!!!” This girl isn’t going to d*e on my bus, is she?
Huasang, “……” Uh, why are there so many strange people today?
Sheim and Salih, “……” The fake holy son, only the scent of Miracle Flower!
Luxianbei, “……” This girl is really too unlucky; she’s in the same bus as him, it wouldn’t be problematic, would it?
Luxianbei has only seen Fang Ji twice today, yet she has witnessed him running into bad luck consecutively, making her begin to doubt. Perhaps this isn’t a coincidence.
She feels that if there were gods rolling dice in the world, Fang Ji would be that sort loathed by the gods.
He resembles the Old Destroyer type, one of the “lucky” ones cherished by the world’s malice.
Under everyone’s gaze, Fang Ji stood up without a scratch, rubbing his forehead, with hopeful eyes scanning the interior of the bus, gradually revealing a look of disappointment.
There was no one he wanted to find on the bus.
In the next moment, his gaze slowly moved toward Luxianbei as if drawn by some mysterious force, and then it lit up.
Although he did not find Luxianbei, he sensed a similar warm aura from this unfamiliar girl that reminded him of her.
It was exactly that aura that had guided him all the way to here.
“Miss, have you seen Luxianbei? I’m looking for him!”
“……” Huasang remained silent, glancing at the girl beside her, her eyes appraising from head to toe.
“Sorry, I haven’t seen him!” Luxianbei politely replied.
Who’s your sister? Get lost! You’re looking for Luxianbei; why are you asking me about Calamity?
“Eh?” Fang Ji bit his finger and muttered, “But, miss, you have a similar aura to Luxianbei!”
Luxianbei, “!!!”
d*mn! Didn’t my coat completely mask the aura? How did you recognize it? Are you some customs inspection dog?
Huasang, “???”
She tilted her head, momentarily examining Luxianbei with sharper scrutiny, as if trying to discern every pore of her…
Spanish Doves
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I’ve been sleepless for several days, feeling unwell… taking a day off, I’ll write more tomorrow. Everyone should also sleep early today @@
