**Chapter 10: The Terrifying Honest Man**
As night fell, darkness blanketed the land.
In the city, foul and ominous scents rose from dark corners, the urban legends that had lain in wait all day opened their eyes, peering into the world.
The streets were illuminated by the dim yellow light of street lamps, pedestrians hurried along, their expressions indifferent. Only when someone passed nearby would their gaze briefly scan others, revealing a hint of vigilance in their eyes.
The entire city exuded an eerie silence; even the vehicles on the road sounded cautious when they honked their horns.
In this strange silence, a man approached from a distance, pausing at the corner in front of a fast-food restaurant that was about to close.
“One order of steamed dumplings, one order of crispy fried chicken, and a cup of mildly sweet pearl milk tea without ice, thank you!”
He appeared to be just over thirty, of average build, with a face lacking any particularly memorable features, wearing a pair of silver metal-framed glasses.
Perhaps due to exhaustion, his eyes looked somewhat vacant, combined with a slight hunch, making him appear quite dispirited.
His demeanor bore the unique air of an honest person, something difficult to describe precisely, but once seen, one would immediately feel that this man was easy to get along with, even easy to bully.
However, upon closer examination, one could detect a subtle madness deep in his vacant eyes, suppressed to an extreme, teetering on the brink of collapse.
He wore a simple gray suit and carried a brown briefcase, resembling a nearby office worker, though he was probably not a programmer, as his hair was thick and black.
The slightly curly hair was clearly unkempt, messy, resembling a black flame atop his head. “Your food is ready, a total of seventy-six yuan.”
“Thank you.” The man took the paper bag containing the food, expressed his gratitude, pulled out his phone, and hesitated a moment before asking the clerk behind the window, “Excuse me, do you accept mobile payment?”
“Mm-hmm, I’ll scan you.”
“Ding!”
The man handed his phone to the clerk to scan the code, put his phone away, pulled out a cheap cigarette, lit it, took a deep puff, and then picked up the paper bag.
“Ah, this month’s salary isn’t going to be enough again…”
Looking at the street under the night sky, he muttered to himself, slowly walking forward along the street, quickly blending into the crowd of latecomers and disappearing from sight.
Just like a drop of water dissolving into a river.
At the end of the bustling street, he turned left at a corner, passing through an old, dimly lit street, and a ruin suddenly entered his view.
Half-demolished old buildings leaned at odd angles, resembling corpses embracing d*ath.
The scattered broken red bricks on the ground were their bl**d stains, twisted and intertwined rebar was like a strange swarm of bugs flocking to the scent of bl**d.
Such ruins appeared not far from the city’s bustling area, like a patch of dermatitis unexpectedly appearing on smooth skin—somewhat jarring, yet upon reflection, quite reasonable.
In the dark of night, people were sick, and the city was sick as well.
This was an unfinished demolition site; several months earlier, an accident had occurred, resulting in a few deaths, quickly becoming the source of urban legends, followed by a halt in work, and it remained so until now.
The man, clutching the paper bag of food, paused momentarily at the isolation fence surrounding the site, silently drew several puffs of smoke, sighed deeply, pulled out his phone, switched to the flashlight mode, and slipped through a hole in the metal wall.
“Creak, creak…”
Walking amidst the ruins, he stepped on the debris of buildings, producing a series of light sounds as if stepping on shattered bones.
Soon, bl**d began seeping from the gaps in the debris, thickening the sound of his footsteps. But the man remained unfazed, just as he ignored the pale arm resting on his shoulder, the bloodied silhouette reflected in the broken mirror, and the heart-wrenching cries ringing in his ears.
He seemed wholly indifferent to everything outside.
This indifference provoked the urban legends lurking in dark corners.
Thus, amidst the debris stained with bl**d, a pale hand reached out and firmly grasped his ankle, nails digging into flesh; a chilling wind rushed in, accompanied by shadows, numerous dark and indistinct hands ruthlessly seized his throat, penetrating his body and stirring his organs.
After a few breaths, grotesque urban legends crawled all over the man, and from a distance, he resembled a terrifying amalgamation of urban legends.
“Cough, cough—!”
The pain from misplaced and broken organs caused the man to break into a violent cough, spewing bl**d mixed with tissue, splattering onto his body and soaking through his suit, staining his shirt red.
“d*mn it, this shirt was a gift from my ex-girlfriend; I intended to wear it to her funeral.” “We’re all just wage workers, why do we have to hurt each other?”
The man muttered helplessly and reached for the cheap cigarette again, bringing it to his lips. *Snap! Snap!*
The lighter, soaked in bl**d, seemed malfunctioning; the man flicked it several times in vain before reluctantly putting it away and continuing forward until he finally stopped in front of an old wooden door at the center of the construction site.
It was an old, black-painted wooden door, the paint peeling, standing lonely against a wall surrounded by ruins.
The man’s gaze lingered on the wooden door for a few seconds before stepping forward, taking out a key to unlock it and pushing the door open.
At the moment he opened the door, a breeze carrying a small amount of black particles surged forth from behind it.
The tiny black particles resembled ashes from something that had burned away, falling upon the man like bizarre charms, instantly igniting dark flames around him.
These black flames seemed to have no heat and did not cast shadows like normal flames, and within the flickering light of the flames, a repulsive aura brought about decay.
The urban legends clinging to the man were shrouded in these black flames, suddenly falling into eerie silence, and then in this silence, they transformed into ashes.
Bathed in the black flames, the man took a step forward.
Thus, the world turned upside down, revealing a space cloaked in darkness and starlight behind the door. Countless black cubes rose from the void, constructing a massive platform.
Beyond the platform, under the terrifying spirit energy fluctuations, everything twisted and deformed, with some semi-transparent beings moving through it.
Black passages opened at the edges of the platform, slowly writhing like the openings of some horrific organism, connecting to ominous and dark spaces.
Here was the Solar Eclipse Society’s designated base number 3—Limei Gate—
*Click!*
With a soft sound of a switch being pressed, the bulb on the ceiling flickered twice, illuminating the entire room.
This was a small room of about ten square meters, without windows, resembling a poorly ventilated basement with murky air.
Piles of books, bizarre souvenirs, rusty kettles, bags filled with dirty clothes, and other items cluttered the corners, forming small mountains.
On the wall to the east of the room stood a dusty shelf, with transparent crystal jars atop it—looking like glass jars used for containing origami cranes, but instead filled with spheres radiating various micro-lights.
At first glance, it looked like the collection of someone who kept exotic pets.
Each of those spheres had faces, both human and various urban legends, some displaying snarls of anger, others gloomy and terrifying, or helpless and sorrowful.
“Cough cough!”
Standing in this dirty, cluttered, and dusty room, the man felt an itch in his throat, unable to suppress a fit of coughing.
“This d*mn place, can’t anyone clean it up regularly? What has Phoenix been up to lately?”
The man complained weakly, carrying the paper bag to the shelf on the east side of the room, searching carefully. “Hmm—! Let me see, P, Q, L, found it.”
He picked up a transparent jar containing a pale gold sphere, walked over to a desk in the corner of the room, “Hoo,” he blew off the dust on the desk, set down his briefcase, opened the paper bag, took out a disposable food container, and began to eat.
After finishing a whole box of crystal shrimp dumplings and drinking half a cup of milk tea, he searched himself and pulled out a cigarette case, took out a poor-quality cigarette, lit it, and while exhaling, looked at the glass jar and slowly spoke.
“Respected candidate for the Siye Society Guardian, Mr. Yun Shenji Lu Ming, don’t you have anything to say?”
As his voice fell, the pale gold sphere in the transparent jar flickered with light, turning around to reveal its face. This pale gold sphere was none other than Lu Ming, whose remaining soul had been transformed into a prisoner of the Solar Eclipse Society, referred to as Hunqiu Luxuming.
“What to say? To tell you that the steamed dumplings you ate are filled with dead pig meat? To say that the pearls in your milk tea expired two months ago? To say that your chicken cutlet was fried in gutter oil?”
Perhaps because he was merely a remnant of a soul, unbound by a physical body, his expressions were exaggerated, resembling a Disney character that had broken free.
The man remained silent for a few seconds, took a bite of the chicken cutlet, and said expressionlessly, “Whatever, for a rotten wage slave like me, eating near-expired food is fine, right?”
“At least take a shower and change your clothes?” Lu Ming said disdainfully.
In the meantime, the man glanced at his clothes, torn by urban legends and soaked in bl**d, replying weakly, “Sorry, I’ll remember to take a shower before coming next time.”
After taking a couple more bites of the chicken cutlet, he continued, “I came to see you this time to talk about a relationship concerning Luxianbei.”
The moment he spoke Luxianbei’s name, the pale gold sphere in the transparent jar appeared to ignite, emitting bright white light, golden threads intertwining amid the glaring light, swiftly weaving a series of forbidden spell formulas that clashed against the jar walls, creating vibrant sparks.
Under the impact of the sparks, the transparent jar emitted soft, tooth-aching sounds, spreading jagged cracks as if it could shatter at any moment.
Terrifying spirit energy fluctuations enveloped the entire room, causing it to shake violently, as if an earthquake had occurred, with stacks of books tumbling to the ground, and the transparent jars clattering against each other.
The spheres inside each transparent jar, regardless of their previous expressions, all turned to fear at that moment, collectively facing the wall.
If this messy and dirty room was the most terrifying prison of the Solar Eclipse Society, imprisoning souls that had once caused great headaches for the society, then Lu Ming was the unruly tyrant of this place.
Now, the tyrant was arguing with the warden, and ordinary inmates dared not even cast a glance. Just looking could cost them their life!
“Kid, do you want to break the contract? Do you really think I can’t come out of this broken jar and k*ll you?”
The man leisurely munched on the chicken cutlet, speaking slowly, “That contract was established by the former president, not me…”
Saying this, he placed his hand on the transparent jar where Lu Ming was contained, and at the moment his finger touched down, the terrifying spirit energy fluctuations, blinding light, and violent tremors abruptly ceased.
The cracks on the jar walls healed at a visible speed, and within seconds returned to normal, as if they had never existed. “Rest assured, although the contract was signed by my predecessor, it remains valid here; otherwise, I wouldn’t have handed over the Witch’s Egg I fished out of the Red Sea to Cicada, that thing was really expensive.”
Inside the transparent jar, Hunqiu Luxuming glanced at the man skeptically, pondering for a few seconds before asking, “So, what exactly did you come here for, rambling on like this?”
The man had almost peered into the Black Sun through Zhang Shuo’s lingering thoughts. After finishing the chicken cutlet, he picked up a napkin to wipe his mouth and continued, “Truly, one of the factors that could lead to the world’s destruction grows at an astonishing rate.”
“Xiao Bei won’t destroy the world,” Lu Ming corrected in a low voice.
“Who can say anything about the future?” The man scratched his cheek, feeling a bit awkward, “However, it’s just a matter of differing perspectives; there’s no need for us to argue about this right now.”
“Instead of debating this, shouldn’t you be concerned about whether or not I’ve harmed her?”
“Hmph.” Lu Ming snorted, “Since you said you would abide by the contract, you wouldn’t harm her.”
“Uh…” The man was taken aback, awkwardly smiling, “You hit the nail on the head! Alright, I really didn’t harm her; I even helped interrupt the ritual, for which I paid a heavy price!”
Lu Ming pondered for a moment, glancing at the man, “You mean to say you’ve come here to make me thank you?”
As a former high-ranking member of the Solar Eclipse Society, Zhang Shuo possessed the Black Sun Ember. Without anyone helping Luxianbei interrupt the ritual, he could very well be burned by the Black Sun.
From a certain perspective, Lu Ming indeed ought to be grateful to the man.
“No, no, no, I came to find you because while helping Luxianbei interrupt the ritual, I discovered something exciting, which is why I rushed here to share with you,” the man explained.
As he spoke, his eyes reflected a mix of anticipation and shyness, resembling an innocent young man whose feelings had been spurred on.
“Are you sick? Don’t you have any friends? Why do you want to share with me?” Lu Ming asked, puzzled.
“Well, it’s a bit embarrassing to say, but I actually don’t have any friends,” the man admitted awkwardly.
“Given my unimportant job, reaching thirty without a monthly salary of four thousand, having no house, no car, no savings, no hobbies, and being someone who dislikes socializing—wouldn’t it be a bit harsh to ask me if I have friends?”
Lu Ming’s round face twitched, rolling his eyes. “You, this person, really…”
If the members of the Solar Eclipse Society knew their current president was a wage slave rotting to the core, with the identity of president merely a part-time job after work, what would they think?
Especially those from the elder faction who treated the president as a mighty adversary, Lu Ming mused.
“Honestly, I admire you; modifying Luxianbei’s fate using the red thread of destiny—now that’s a genius move,” the man marveled.
“Even if you flatter me like this, I still won’t consider you a friend,” Lu Ming interrupted, “Just get to the point; finish quickly and scram.”
Seeing through the man’s thoughts made him flinch as if struck, his body quivered slightly, then he lowered his head in pain, holding his forehead in silence for a long time.
Seeing this, Lu Ming opened his mouth, “I…”
“It’s alright, Mr. Lu Ming, the psychological adjustment ability of the society is quite strong; you don’t need to worry about me,” the man waved his hand.
“Your eyes tell me you care.” Lu Ming replied irritably, “I mean to say, get to the point quickly and don’t waste time.”
The man fell silent for a few more seconds, sat up straight, and seriously said, “Alright, Mr. Lu Ming, just as I mentioned before, I really admire how you came up with that method.”
“However, just now as I glimpsed Luxianbei through Zhang Shuo’s lingering thoughts, I suddenly realized something: the choice of a marriage partner indeed affects his fate trajectory, but it may not necessarily lead to a positive direction; it could also lead to worse outcomes, even pulling him into the abyss prematurely, right?”
“So, I came up with a plan…” Pausing, the man seemed worried that Lu Ming might not understand his idea, so he explained, “It’s that classic story trope where a person meets a bad woman and inadvertently ruins their entire life; you should get what I mean, right?”
“Uh, if you still don’t understand, I can share my own experience. How should I put it? My story began when I met Wang Hui…”
“Stop! No need! I understand!” Lu Ming interrupted.
He had no interest in learning how an ordinary wage slave encountered a beautiful woman’s scheme, ultimately losing both wealth and love, despairing in life, and spiraling into ruin.
“Alright.” The man shrugged, somewhat disgruntled, “It shouldn’t count as violating the contract to guide a girl who has a fated connection with Luxianbei to have a wonderful encounter with him, right?”
Lu Ming regarded the man, whose round body shimmered momentarily, and after a long pause, finally spoke, “Not counted.”
“Then that’s good.” The man smiled, raising his hand to check the time on his watch, suddenly changing his expression, hurriedly standing up, “Oh no, how has it gotten to this time?”
“Sorry, Mr. Lu Ming, I need to leave; I have a report to finish, or I’ll be scolded by my supervisor.” “Wait!” As the man turned to leave, Lu Ming suddenly called out.
“What? Do you have something else?” The man turned around. “Uh, please make it quick, I’m really in a hurry.”
“I’m quite curious why you’re so obsessed with…”
“Isn’t the world meant to be destroyed?” The man interrupted as if he had guessed Lu Ming’s thoughts. “Birth, development, decline, destruction, rebirth—this is the inevitable rule. To me, the ones attempting to prevent this inevitable cycle, like you and others, are the real villains!”
Lu Ming hesitated, wanting to speak but stopping short.
Just then, as he was about to say something to refute the man, the latter’s phone suddenly rang. “Hello, supervisor? I’m rushing it—uh, before nine-thirty? Is before twelve okay?”
After answering the call, the man timidly responded to the person on the other end, snatching up the briefcase on the table and hurriedly leaving. Lu Ming wondered… how did that supervisor’s call come through here? Did he have any idea he was pressuring a terrifying “honest man”?
He had an inkling that one day, that supervisor might unwittingly squeeze the man too hard and bring an unfathomable disaster to this world.
