Chapter Eighty: Surviving
“Click!”
With a soft sound from the door lock, the door closed. This “warehouse” deep within the Lime Men returned to silence, and the faint light of the soul orbs in the crystal jars gradually extinguished, leaving only vague outlines in the darkness.
After a long while, a series of chilling sounds echoed in the darkness.
On the display shelf, a crystal jar shook a few times, and the soul orb sealed within gradually glowed with a sky blue light.
“Mr. Yunshen Machine, Mr. Yunshen Machine…”
Hearing a call from the corner, the previously dim soul orb, Lu Ming, once again emitted a faint golden light, lifting the lid of the crystal jar; it floated out and landed on a small table facing the display shelf, looking around to find the source of the voice.
“Oh? It’s you? What was your name again?”
“I’m Ding Yi.” The sky blue soul orb introduced itself, “I am a rather unknown small gang leader.”
Unknown? It can’t be that simple, Lu Ming thought.
A remnant soul that can be specifically collected by the Solar Eclipse Society, locked deep within the Lime Men, is at least an A-Class Spiritual Ability User.
An A-Class Spiritual Ability User, placed in a place like Dawn City, could not possibly just be an unknown small gang leader.
However, Lu Ming had never heard of Ding Yi and did not intend to investigate further.
After all, falling into the hands of the Solar Eclipse Society and being trapped here, everyone is the same, just a “ball.”
“By the way, why did you suddenly call me?” Lu Ming inquired, “It seems we have no intersection, right? Are you planning to join my jailbreak plan?”
“Uh, I wouldn’t dare to do that, and I don’t have the ability.” The soul orb Ding Yi said, “I just overheard you talking with that man about the Haze God and Huo Qianli; I wanted to inquire about some past events.”
“Inquire about some past events? What do you want to know?” Lu Ming asked, puzzled.
Ding Yi sighed and explained, “To be honest, when the Haze God tried to trigger the Hundred Demons Walk in Dawn City, my wife and children happened to be there visiting relatives and unfortunately got trapped.”
“I should have rushed to help in Dawn City, but on the way, I was ambushed by a hostile gang, and by the time I regained consciousness, I was already in this cursed place.”
“I just want to ask you, when that Mr. Huo Qianli stopped the Haze God from triggering the Hundred Demons Walk, what was the casualty situation in Dawn City?”
As soon as Ding Yi’s words fell, another emerald soul orb on the display shelf lit up with faint light and interjected, “I’ve heard about this; there were quite a few injured, but actually, not many people died.”
“However, speaking of this, since Mr. Yunshen Machine was nearby at the time in Dawn City, why didn’t you take action?”
“According to what I know, the being that descended in Dawn City was just a projection of the Haze God, with only seventy to eighty percent of its power. If Mr. Yunshen Machine had personally intervened, Huo Qianli probably wouldn’t have had to d*e.”
Although Yunshen Machine was not the formal guardian of the Siye Society, he was rumored to be almost as dangerous as Zhang Hainan.
Anyone who had heard the rumors about Lu Ming would generally think that such a Spiritual Ability User, let alone facing just the Haze God’s projection with seventy to eighty percent of its power, would likely have a chance of winning even against the true Haze God.
Lu Ming fell silent for a few seconds, chuckling dryly, “Ha! I say, you all might be overestimating me too much! After all, rumors are just rumors and can’t be trusted.”
“I’m just an A-Class Spiritual Ability User; facing top-tier Cataclysm Grade urban legends, being able to keep my life is already quite good. How could I possibly defeat them?”
“Furthermore, when a man shows all his vulnerabilities and then demonstrates his last stubbornness, I feel I have no reason to stop him.”
All the soul orbs reacted with disbelief.
After a pause, Lu Ming continued, “However, since you want to hear about that incident with Huo Qianli, I don’t mind sharing.”
“After all, a long time has passed, and it’s not a secret; it’s good to k*ll some time.”
“Actually, this story begins with an operation I was involved in with the Siye Society in Hundred Islands City, called the Dream Fulfillment Journey. During this operation, I met an operative named Du Heng. That guy told me that Huo Qianli was a Spiritual Ability talent he discovered and had watched grow.”
“However, ever since Huo Qianli took revenge for his wife, relentlessly pursuing a branch organization of the Wandering Poet Society to their headquarters in Dawn City, he lost contact, and it’s unknown whether he died or was turned.”
At this point, Lu Ming paused, perhaps recalling his own past experiences which bore similarity to Huo Qianli’s.
He saw his own shadow in Huo Qianli.
Just then, a knowledgeable soul orb spoke up, interrupting Lu Ming’s drifting thoughts, “A branch of the Wandering Poet Society? Could it be the Afterglow Tea Society?”
“Exactly!”
“What a guy! Huo Qianli wiped out the Afterglow Tea Society; no wonder they suddenly disappeared.”
Eight years ago.
After participating in the operations of the Siye Society in Hundred Islands City, operative Du Heng found Lu Ming and entrusted him to head to Dawn City to find the long-lost operative Huo Qianli.
After some pushing and pulling and striking some unspeakable dirty deals, Lu Ming set off from Hundred Islands City and arrived in Dawn City two days later.
Lu Ming stayed in Dawn City for several days. After quite a bit of effort, he finally found Huo Qianli in a trash bin in the alley behind an underground casino—
“Mr. Yunshen Machine, you’re putting in so much effort just to find one person? Even in a mixed place like Dawn City, could he possibly be hiding well?” A soul orb couldn’t help but ask.
“What do you know?” Lu Ming replied, “In fact, if he had still been in his peak condition, it should have been easy to find, but by that time, he was already completely useless.”
“I understand that!” The emerald soul orb chimed in, “With billions of people in the world, at times, finding a regular person can be much harder than finding someone emitting any Spiritual Energy fluctuations or urban legends!”
“Exactly.” Lu Ming agreed.
After Huo Qianli had wiped out that branch of the Wandering Poet Society and successfully avenged his wife, he had suffered injuries that were difficult to heal. Initially, he could suppress his injuries with Spirit Patterns, but over time, as the wounds festered, he had to rely on alcohol and addictive substances to numb himself just to ease the pain slightly.
Under the torment of injuries and the dual harm of alcohol and drugs, in just a few years, he had been reduced to a shadow of his former self.
In the information Du Heng provided to Lu Ming, Huo Qianli appeared as a clean, charming young man with a good disposition, and his Spiritual Energy fluctuations were impressive. However, when Lu Ming finally found him, he saw a middle-aged man with a dirty, unkempt appearance, exuding a foul odor, and his Spiritual Energy fluctuations had dropped to a C-Class level.
He lay silently in the garbage bin, his dull eyes following flying flies. If he had moved slowly, he would have looked like an unclaimed corpse of a vagrant who froze to d*ath on the streets.
After losing his wife, Huo Qianli seemed to fall back into the abyss he had once inhabited for nearly ten years, even slipping deeper.
Hearing this, a soul orb couldn’t help but exclaim, “Wow, what’s the point of living in such a state? It would be better for him to end it all.”
“What do you know!” the soul orb Ding Yi cursed, “Didn’t Mr. Yunshen Machine just say he has a daughter? If he ends it all, then what will happen to his daughter?”
“Speaking of which, since he has become like that, how is he supporting his daughter? He surely wouldn’t want his daughter to suffer with him, would he?”
“What else can he do?” Lu Ming replied, “He can only engage in immoral, disreputable business, or rely on his identity as a Spiritual Ability User, worm his way into local organizations to scam for food and drinks until he’s found out!”
At this point, Lu Ming suddenly thought of Huo Qianli’s daughter and her extreme aversion and disdain toward him, not understanding her father at all.
If my spoiled kid looked at me with those lifeless eyes, I would probably feel very sad, right?
But, I feel sad; he would probably not be any better off! Lu Ming thought.
When Lu Ming found Huo Qianli, he had already shut himself off completely, refusing to communicate with anyone.
He tried to talk to Huo Qianli a few times, but all ended in failure.
Huo Qianli seemed to have lost all interest in everything outside, even in food and water.
Though his stomach growled from hunger and his lips cracked from thirst, he ignored the lunch box and bottled water Lu Ming offered.
When Lu Ming swapped the bottled water for alcohol, he seemed to react a little, but after a few sips, he lost interest and tossed it aside.
Seeing Huo Qianli in such a state made Lu Ming feel very conflicted, after all, he had once had a period when he was also avenging his wife with a child by his side.
However, in completing his own revenge, he walked out of the shadows, while Huo Qianli let his hatred consume himself.
Hua blossomed into the faint light of his world, guiding him like a moth desperately chasing light, following his last primal nature, moving forward continuously.
“Speaking of which, at that time, I actually planned to tell Du Heng that Huo Qianli had already died.” Lu Ming said, “But before I could tell him, the Haze God descended.”
“Speaking of which, you all probably didn’t notice when the Haze God’s projection first descended, right?” A rough-voiced soul orb asked.
“Indeed.” Lu Ming said somewhat embarrassingly, “It’s not like every time there was fog, we would think it was the Haze God causing trouble, right? Dawn City is quite polluted, so it’s not surprising to have fog.”
As Lu Ming mentioned, during the initial stages of the Haze God’s projection’s descent, there was virtually not a single person or urban legend in Dawn City that noticed.
At first, it was just a brief fog that dispersed after two or three hours.
Then the city was swallowed by dense mist night after night, and the air began to emit a slightly irritating smell.
As the length of time the thick fog persisted increased, taking control of the night and extending into daylight, people in the city began to suffer from varying degrees of respiratory diseases.
Mild cases resembled colds, while severe ones resembled pneumonia.
As night fell, the urban legends in Dawn City became much more active than usual.
Additionally, many local cult organizations secretly worshiping the Haze God, took advantage of the chaos to abduct a large number of those with Spiritual Energy potential, preparing to manufacture Primordial Spirits for the Hundred Demons Walk.
Meanwhile, under the malicious orchestration of the Haze God’s fanatics, a rumor began to circulate in Dawn City.
[Three days of thick fog with no sign of sunlight, following which, Dawn City will forever know no dawn.]
As the rumor spread, a sense of unease silently spread among both Spiritual Ability Users and ordinary people living in Dawn City.
When Lu Ming realized something was off and identified the Haze God among the numerous urban legends that could trigger thick fog, it was already too late; lives had been taken by the fog.
He immediately prepared to engage the Haze God’s projection alone before reinforcements arrived.
And it was on the very day the first d*ath occurred that Huo Qianli unexpectedly came to Lu Ming’s door, holding his daughter.
“She inhaled the fog and fell sick.” Huo Qianli told him, “Without her mother by her side, she has been weak since childhood, and I’m afraid she won’t make it.”
Lu Ming had thought that Huo Qianli had come to ask for help in treating Hua, but he was surprised to find he had misunderstood Huo Qianli’s intentions.
“I know the reason for the heavy fog is highly likely related to the legendary Haze God preparing to induce the Hundred Demons Walk in Dawn City. To heal my daughter, the only way is to stop it; otherwise, any treatment will only address the symptoms, not the root of the problem.”
“I will handle stopping the Haze God. My Spirit Patterns have a certain restraining effect on it. I came to find you because I’ve heard of your reputation, and I know you must have special spell formulas that will allow me to gain the power to contend with the Haze God in a short time.”
There are indeed some, but they might cost you your life! Lu Ming thought to himself, but he could not bring himself to say it when he looked at Huo Qianli.
Survival is a human instinct, and in Huo Qianli, he saw a strong will to seek d*ath.
In fact, he had already died twice; the first time was when his happy family shattered, drowning in the waves of time, and the second time was when he witnessed his wife burst forth with crimson moments of bl**d.
Killing every member of the Afterglow Tea Society did not truly liberate him; he was well aware that the one responsible for his wife’s d*ath still lived on, and it was him.
Since then, he had been trapped in a mire of guilt, awaiting an opportunity—an opportunity to d*e with purpose, to prove that he truly lived in this world.
Now, that opportunity had come!
He had the chance to d*e for countless ordinary people in Dawn City, and more importantly, for his daughter.
Thus, though Huo Qianli’s heart was filled with the resolve to d*e, in that moment, he appeared more genuinely alive than in any second of the past ten years.
He stood tall, his eyes bright as stars, unabashedly calling out the name of the Haze God, seemingly unafraid that in some corner of Dawn City, a “mole” insignificant in its eyes was plotting to undermine it.
It felt as though he were pointing at the Haze God’s nose, angrily shouting, “Come on, I’ll k*ll you!”
Lu Ming saw through Huo Qianli’s thoughts and sighed heavily, saying, “I can teach you that special spell formula, but I have a condition.”
Lu Ming raised his hand and pointed at the feverish girl in Huo Qianli’s arms, “How about we arrange her to be betrothed to my son?”
A fleeting flash of anger crossed Huo Qianli’s eyes, but it seemed he soon understood something, and his brow relaxed as he solemnly said, “Thank you!”
He had originally worried that after he was gone, Hua would be unable to survive alone, but now that last worry had also been laid to rest.
“If possible, could you help her draw Spirit Patterns in the future?”
“Sure!” Lu Ming shrugged, “Coincidentally, I have several methods and materials for drawing Spirit Patterns that I can share with you. What do you think about Ifrit?”
“No need for that.” Huo Qianli furrowed his brow and said, “Just like her mother, a money-making Spirit Pattern will suffice.”
“Although that Spirit Pattern would only bring her some windfall and isn’t a long-term solution, at least when she encounters difficulties in the future, she won’t starve to d*ath.”
“Are you sure?” Lu Ming glanced at the girl in Huo Qianli’s arms and asked, “I see she has good Spiritual Energy potential. With proper cultivation, growing into an A-Class should be no problem.”
“Absolutely.” Huo Qianli affirmed, “Being ordinary is just fine; as long as the Spirit Pattern can ensure she won’t be bullied, that’s enough.”
Lu Ming was taken aback, “That’s quite similar to my thoughts.”
While speaking, he glanced at Hua again, raising an eyebrow and asking, “What’s this girl’s name?”
“Hua Zhuozhuang, as in ‘growing strong’.” Huo Qianli replied blandly.
“Huh?” Lu Ming exclaimed, “Wait a minute, you gave your daughter that kind of bizarre name? No wonder she dislikes you; if it were me, I’d dislike you too!”
Huo Qianli fell silent for a moment and said, “You can help her change her name later.”
“Change her name?” Lu Ming thought for a moment and asked, “What was her mother’s name?”
“Gong Yu.”
Alright then! Lu Ming clapped his hands and said, “I know what she should be called from now on!”
“You should head back now. Later, I will send the special spell formula’s application method along with a gift for your daughter.”
“Gift?”
Lu Ming rolled his eyes and pointed at Hua Zhuozhuang, “She has a high fever! This can’t go on; otherwise, her brain will get damaged!”
“I don’t want my son to marry a mentally challenged daughter-in-law in the future.”
Huo Qianli opened his mouth, wanting to say something but hesitating. He then nodded to Lu Ming and turned to leave Lu Ming’s temporary residence.
As Lu Ming saw Huo Qianli off, he gazed at his departing figure thoughtfully.
For a long time, as Huo Qianli’s silhouette finally disappeared into the thick fog, he sighed, “I wonder if one day I will also generously face d*ath for that little rascal of mine?”
That evening, he dutifully sent the method for the special spell formula along with the alchemical potion for Hua’s illness to Huo Qianli’s home.
The last time Lu Ming saw Huo Qianli was on the evening of the third day, under the fog clouding the skies of Dawn City.
When he arrived at Huo Qianli’s house, he was shocked by Huo Qianli’s appearance.
Unlike two days ago when he looked like a vagrant, Huo Qianli had showered, shaved, combed his hair meticulously, and changed into a tailor-made Italian suit, looking like the photos in the Siye Society’s files— no, even more handsome than in the files!
The only downside was that after enduring years of hellish torment, he had become considerably thinner, and that suit was probably from his youth when he was flourishing, making it slightly ill-fitting.
Just as Lu Ming was preparing to send Huo Qianli off, Hua Zhuozhuang pushed the door open and entered.
Seeing his daughter, Huo Qianli hesitated for a few seconds and stiffly said, “From now on, you’ll follow him!”
Upon hearing Huo Qianli’s words, Hua Zhuozhuang was clearly startled and bolted out like a frightened little beast.
Seeing his daughter escape, Huo Qianli looked at Lu Ming and asked, “Did I say something wrong?”
Lu Ming rolled his eyes and said impatiently, “What do you think? Are you out of your mind? A child hearing that could very well think you want to sell her to me!”
“I’m sorry.” Huo Qianli frowned, “I rarely interacted with the kid before, and now I don’t even know how to talk to her properly.”
“Not knowing how to talk doesn’t mean you should say it like that!” Lu Ming waved his hand, “Alright, stop! I’ll go check on her; you should do what you need to do!”
“Okay!” Huo Qianli answered, and as Lu Ming walked a short distance away, he suddenly called out to him, “Can you tell me the new name you’ve thought of for Zhuozhuang?”
“Hua Xieyu.”
“Xieyu, Xieyu?” Huo Qianli repeated the name a few times and nodded, revealing a smile. “Thank you, I’ll take it from here.”
“Take care!” Lu Ming said seriously.
As the story drew near its end, Lu Yibei’s cooking was about to be completed.
Hearing the Proxy Player Sister talk about Hua Zhuozhuang rushing out the door, she couldn’t help but pause her work and asked, “So, in the end, did Hua Xieyu misunderstand her dad?”
“How could she not misunderstand?” the Proxy Player Sister scoffed, “Think about it; if you were in that situation, what would you think?”
Lu Yibei frowned, imagining the scenario.
The usually disheveled old dad suddenly looked like he won the lottery, dressed in high-end custom suits, appearing dapper and presentable.
In the vicinity, strange urban legend events were occurring, and cult organizations were frequently harming people.
One day, returning home, he found his old dad talking to some mysterious, shady figure, and when he saw that, he even said something like that.
“What the hell!” Lu Yibei snapped back to reality, “Then I’d probably have to think of a way to make that mysterious person take my dad away; his spiritual potential is higher than mine!”
The Proxy Player Sister fell silent for a moment, rolling her eyes and scoffing, “You really are something!”
“What happened next?” Lu Yibei asked, “Did Huo Qianli just d*e like that? What was the process of him fighting the Haze God?”
“I don’t know that.” The Proxy Player Sister said, “That friend of mine didn’t mention it; he probably didn’t see it himself either.”
“However, he told me that that night, an unusually violent storm suddenly descended on Dawn City, dissipating the fog that had enveloped it for days.”
“Some say that the rain in that storm was all crimson and boiling hot, like a person’s bl**d.”
“Others say that when the fog cleared and the moonlight first appeared, someone could be heard shouting over the city: Who says Dawn City will never know dawn?”
“Still others claim that amidst the raging wind, they heard murmurs: The Wind Mortals can cause winds, study the messages of the Eight Winds, communicate with the Five Elements’ climate, thunder through it, and moisten it with rain.”
“That is the description of the power of the Mythical Species ‘Flying Duy’, which is one of the progression paths of Huo Qianli’s Spirit Patterns, capable of reaching the Cataclysm Grade.” The Proxy Player Sister explained.
“So, he advanced from C-Class to Cataclysm Grade in one night?” Lu Yibei exclaimed, “Can you ask that friend of yours what the method is? I want to learn!”
“Why do you want to learn everything?” The Proxy Player Sister asked, both amused and exasperated, “Do you wish to d*e?”
“I don’t want to!” Lu Yibei replied without hesitation.
“If you don’t want to, hurry up and let that old fox taste your cooking!”
“Although, I feel that the ending of your story doesn’t quite meet the standards for Hell on Earth!”
“Hey, when have I ever lied to you? Just cook it for him, why all the fuss?”
“Oh!” Lu Yibei replied perfunctorily, glancing back at the beer-braised chicken wings that were nearly done in the pot, and quickly started plating the dish.
“Boss, give it a try!” Lu Yibei presented the plate of food to Hu Boss and introduced, “I call this dish, Surviving!”
Indeed, at the crucial moment, she changed the dish’s name to one she felt was more fitting.
Hu Boss,
(EMMM, my writing skills are limited, and I always feel I haven’t written it perfectly, but it can only reach this level. If everyone doesn’t mind, just bear with it.)
