Chapter 71: The Core of the Parasite Species Urban Legend [4K]
Huacheng, Yingtong Street.
On the side of the road, on the non-motorized lane, a beautiful girl with a weary expression was riding a shared bike, heading towards the old gymnasium.
The girl was Huaxie Yu.
The University City was about twenty kilometers away from the old workers’ cultural square where the old gymnasium was located, and the existence of the swimming pool had already been removed from various map applications.
In a place unfamiliar to her, Huaxie Yu followed the only place name provided on a flyer. She asked as she walked, spending nearly two hours before finally finding herself near her destination.
During this time, she experienced a dilemma of over ten minutes with no ride accepted through ride-hailing and several instances of taxis refusing to take her.
As she got closer to the address given on the flyer, her mood grew increasingly anxious, her mind flashing back to a somewhat peculiar yet kind reminder from a taxi driver—
The taxi driver who reminded Huaxie Yu was a middle-aged man in his early forties, tall except for a slight middle-aged spread, with thick brows and big eyes, looking quite spirited.
“Hey! You’re going to that d*mn place, right? Are you the kind of person who drives away urban legends?”
For some reason, upon hearing that Huaxie Yu was going to the old gymnasium swimming pool in Huacheng, this taxi driver didn’t show the same expression of dread as other drivers would and instead seemed somewhat excited.
“Why do you say that?” Huaxie Yu thought confusedly, frowning and replying, “I’m not.”
She had a clear understanding of her own abilities; it would be difficult enough to deal with an ordinary strong person, let alone a genuine urban legend.
Becoming a spiritual ability user in places like Dawn City or Fragrant Lady Cave had already been an unexpected outcome of various coincidences, and taking it a step further was completely out of the question.
“Then I’m sorry,” stated the taxi driver, immediately changing his attitude by one hundred eighty degrees after hearing Huaxie Yu’s answer. “I can’t take you there; that damned place is rife with urban legends, very sinister.”
“Urban legends?” Huaxie Yu tilted her head. “What kind of urban legends?”
“There are quite a few rumors.” The taxi driver thought seriously for a moment and began to recite like an expert, “Some say that many years ago, due to mismanagement, a girl drowned in the swimming pool and turned into a water ghost to drag people down with her…
“Others say that during a renovation at the swimming pool years ago, a tomb was disturbed, awakening the spirits. Although the tomb was handled promptly and the news suppressed, since then, at midnight, the water in the pool would turn into foul-smelling sewage…”
“And there are those who have heard the sound of a girl crying in the abandoned swimming pool on windy mornings. Some have even seen a monster with a rabbit head wandering in the empty, filthy outdoor swimming pool, constantly muttering to itself as if speaking to something invisible, and there’s…”
The more the taxi driver spoke, the more excited he became. Huaxie Yu listened, feeling increasingly creeped out, and finally couldn’t help but interrupt, “Stop! Why do you know so much about the urban legends there?”
It felt as if those urban legends were neighbors of his, Huaxie Yu thought.
“To be honest, it’s a bit embarrassing,” the taxi driver smiled. “Besides being a taxi driver, I also host an urban legend podcast. My hobby is collecting and organizing urban legend folklore.”
“If it weren’t for the fact that you wouldn’t be able to handle the urban legends there, I would’ve wanted to take you along and see what’s happening!” “By the way! Here’s my business card; it has my live streaming channel number, WeChat public account, and submission email.” As he spoke, the taxi driver handed a card to Huaxie Yu.
“If you encounter anything interesting at that swimming pool, you can submit it to me; there’s compensation!” Huaxie Yu thought,
There are always some people in this world who like to court disaster.
Does this uncle driver not fear encountering an urban legend one day? Huaxie Yu mused as she silently accepted the card, glancing down at it.
[Taxi Urban Legend Event Host: Zhang Shan
Live Streaming Room: Douyin]
After reading the information on the card, she frowned and looked up at the taxi driver, but the car had already driven away, leaving only a yellow-green outline in her line of sight—
Huacheng, inside the changing room of the old gymnasium swimming pool.
What kind of urban legend core could influence the bizarre abilities of the Solar Eclipse Society President? Miss Rabbit ultimately couldn’t help but voice her doubts, and upon hearing the concrete answer, her eyes widened. “You mean this thing is the core of the parasite species urban legend?”
Shuo E nodded expressionlessly, then shook his head, correcting himself, “To be precise, it should be a specially modified core of a parasite species urban legend.”
At this, terror and disgust instantly appeared on Miss Rabbit’s face, her body trembling as if electrocuted, and as she slackened her grip, the metallic core of the urban legend “thud” fell to the ground.
Seeing the core roll at her feet, she hurriedly stepped back, increasing the distance.
If given a choice, Miss Rabbit would much rather be with Mu Se or Calamity than stay with a parasite species urban legend.
What if I just got parasitized just now? Miss Rabbit thought as that notion flashed through her mind, her body trembling again—
Though the number of parasite species urban legends is scarce, they are among the most feared entities within the known types of urban legends.
This is because their hunting process is quite concealed; once the host realizes they’ve been parasitized, it often leaves no room for redemption. Although some other types of urban legends may also possess parasitic traits, the difference is that other urban legends aim to consume, while parasite species urban legends gradually reach an irreversible symbiotic state with their host after invading the target’s body, ultimately completing fusion and assimilation.
During the process of achieving the symbiotic state, parasite species urban legends will develop the host’s dependence on them in various ways, whether by enhancing the host’s abilities, satisfying the host’s desires, or creating false illusions in which the host becomes entranced.
Once the symbiotic state is achieved, it moves into the assimilation stage. In this phase, parasite species urban legends continuously integrate the host’s existing spirit patterns, urban legend core, Nightfall Syndrome, and other spiritual energy benefits while eliminating drawbacks, eventually giving birth to a brand new parasite species urban legend with even greater powers.
Then comes the sublimation stage, where, as the host reaches their limit, the new parasite species urban legend will rapidly detach from the host, beginning the search for the next host.
The entire process resembles the reproductive cycle of fungal spores.
Some urban legend researchers believe that parasite species urban legends cannot even be considered a separate type of urban legend; from a certain perspective, they resemble entities with autonomous consciousness that can reproduce urban legend cores.
Moreover, some silly spiritual ability users believe that the process of parasite species urban legends merging with their hosts is akin to playing a fusion card in a card battle game, offering two materials to summon a brand new urban legend.
Miss Rabbit is aware that in a small country in South America, a horrifying calamitous-level parasite species urban legend attack occurred, resulting in over a hundred thousand deaths.
The origin of the event is untraceable; all that is known is that from a certain point in time, a wave of aggression unexpectedly swept through that small country, resulting in a surge of numerous spiritual ability users of roughly C-level spirit energy fluctuations.
According to a survivor of the urban legend event, those abnormally appearing “spiritual ability users” seemed to have emerged out of thin air overnight; he even thought for a moment that his country was about to become the strongest in the world.
However, just like flowers that quickly wilt after blooming, soon those “spiritual ability users” began to display abnormalities. They became increasingly lazy or apathetic, losing interest in everything around them, even food and water, as if they were nothing but empty shells devoid of souls.
During that time, the streets of that country were filled with people who were so emaciated they looked like walking corpses.
Suddenly, one day, those corpse-like individuals “came back to life,” rushing into the streets, either dancing frantically in peculiar ways or gorging themselves, or wreaking havoc as if it were a wild celebration of primal instincts.
Then, at a certain moment, those undead-like people seemed to stop moving all at once, as if they were robotic toys that had had their winding pulled; they lost all signs of life.
Miss Rabbit had seen related influence materials within the Solar Eclipse Society; the chaotic frenzy captured in the videos provided a chilling visual impact, yet it also instilled a yearning to join in.
As the first batch of spiritual ability users “perished,” more and stronger “spiritual ability users” began to emerge, and then soon after, they plunged into frenzies again, leading to mass deaths once more.
After several repetitions, the d*ath toll swiftly escalated to over a hundred thousand.
Yet the urban legend event that sparked such widespread destruction, that parasite species urban legend, had a spirit energy fluctuation level of only B-tier.
According to the data within the Solar Eclipse Society, even higher-level parasite species urban legends exist, and their hosts aren’t limited to humans or urban legends; in fact, they may just be some kind of concept…
In the silence, Miss Rabbit stared intently at the urban legend core on the ground, not daring to act recklessly.
She was unclear about how the calamitous urban legend event in that small South American country was finally resolved, but since the Solar Eclipse Society retained a wealth of related data, it must be connected to the Society.
Now, with Shuo E taking out another core of a parasite species urban legend, it further solidified her suspicions. If it’s this kind of thing, maybe there really is a way to deal with that President whose ability sounds so bizarre? Shouldn’t this be one of the Elders’ Council’s powerful weapons? Miss Rabbit speculated.
Seeming to sense the uneasiness in Miss Rabbit’s heart, Shuo E began to explain, “You don’t need to be afraid; this parasite species urban legend core is modified; it’s not the same as the usual ones; it won’t indiscriminately choose hosts for parasitization.”
“You should’ve said so earlier!” Miss Rabbit sighed in relief, taking a few steps forward and bending down to pick up the urban legend core, walking over to Shuo E’s side.
Just as she was about to return the urban legend core to Shuo E, she heard him continue, “After modification, its parasitizing ability and intent are far more terrifying than usually conceived. Um, this is a direct quote from the Elders’ Council.”
It felt as if he had calmly stated, “Don’t be afraid; what you’re holding isn’t a firecracker; it’s just a b*llet.”
Hearing this, Miss Rabbit’s expression darkened, and she abruptly threw the urban legend core away, jumping forward in a panic, shivering.
“Are you really scared?” Shuo E asked. “Yes!” Miss Rabbit nodded.
Of course! How could she not be afraid in this situation?
If she wasn’t careful, she’d end up being an egg incubator for an unknown parasite species urban legend! Miss Rabbit thought. Shuo E fell silent for two seconds and then sighed silently, “Alright then.”
Realizing the helplessness in Shuo E’s tone, Miss Rabbit suddenly regained her focus, realizing that something was slightly off.
Shifting her gaze, she noticed that in the flurry of panic, her hands had somehow wrapped around Shuo E’s neck, her long legs draped over his arm, her body laid against his chest. Lifting her head, she could see his sickly pale yet distinct and rugged profile.
She was essentially in a princess carry position!
The atmosphere suddenly grew ambiguous, as if pink bubbles were floating in the air, and even the foul-smelling dark red stains in the corner seemed to take on a more adorable appearance.
Miss Rabbit thought, “That’s annoying! He couldn’t be doing this on purpose to scare me into his arms, could he? This blockhead finally gets it?”
“In fact, there’s no need for you to be scared,” Shuo E said expressionlessly. “That urban legend core hasn’t activated yet.”
“If possible, can you get down for a bit? It’s a bit uncomfortable like this.”
Miss Rabbit thought, “Does anyone know how to activate the parasite species urban legend core? Contact me! I want to split this guy’s head open with an ax and shove that damned thing inside!”
Just as Miss Rabbit clenched her fists, preparing to resort to violence against Shuo E, he suddenly spoke, “Of course, if you mind, I’m okay with holding you for a while, but we need to wait a bit.”
It seems someone is coming; it should be Miss Hua Zhuozhuang.”
In the meantime, Miss Rabbit steadied her nerves, unleashing her spiritual awareness, and indeed detected a faint spiritual energy fluctuation.
This swimming pool once suppressed Mu Se, and even though Calamity has now become the king of urban legends in Huacheng, Mu Se no longer existed; typically, urban legends wouldn’t come here.
That’s why she and Shuo E chose this place as a hiding spot after sneaking into Huacheng. Being able to enjoy the gravesite of its former owner while avoiding Calamity’s gaze was just too ideal!
Now a weak spiritual energy fluctuation appeared uninvited near the swimming pool, likely the target of this mission, Miss Hua Zhuozhuang.
Hmph! I didn’t expect her to arrive so early? Miss Rabbit said coldly. “Then let’s go meet her.”
