Chapter 29: Going All Out [4K]
At 4:42 AM, the quiet moment finally arrived around Jiujie, which had been noisy since nightfall.
The rain had stopped, and the colorful shop signs along the winding long street were still lit up, but the shops were already empty of occupants.
Thin mist floated on both sides of the street, and the accumulated water on the ground wet the garbage left behind from the revelry. Occasionally, a few drunken individuals who had just come out of a nightclub could be seen, stumbling shoulder to shoulder, talking big without any self-control.
“Hey! Do you know the red silk list of the Siye Society?”
“Know it? Well, do you know about the bloody witch Gu Qiqi who recently appeared on the list?”
“Hehe, to be honest, I’ve interacted with her, but I ate too much and couldn’t afford to keep up, so we broke up.”
Luxianbei, who was following Jumeng, looked at the drunken man across the street, her lips slightly parted, hesitating to speak.
Although she didn’t discriminate against low-level spiritual ability users, this guy really dared to talk, didn’t he?!
Not only did he openly mention the Siye Society, but he also dared to claim a connection with “Gu Qiqi.” Isn’t he afraid that “she” would find out and eat him alive?
But then again, has “Gu Qiqi” really become such a well-known name now?
Luxianbei stared at the few drunken spiritual ability users, slightly lost in thought. At that moment, Jumeng’s voice drifted into her ears, interrupting her reverie.
“What are you spacing out for, you dog? Hurry up and go!”
Hearing this, Luxianbei steadied her thoughts, secretly sizing up Jumeng’s back and cautiously asked, “Stinky sister, what exactly are we going to do?”
Even though she considered her moral bottom line to be quite low, Jumeng had lured her out under the pretense of doing something “immoral” but hadn’t told her where they were heading, which still made her uneasy.
After all, compared to her, who had the lower moral bottom line? She wasn’t certain.
From certain perspectives, it might even be that Jumeng’s was lower, as she most often didn’t treat herself as human, which resulted in a lack of shame.
As far as Luxianbei knew, back at the Jingyi Apartment Complex, she had done something disheartening, like snatching bird food from the parrot kept by an old neighbor.
“Hey, why are you complaining so much?” Jumeng turned around, glaring at her. “You promised to accompany me, remember? Even if I suddenly want to strip down and run a marathon around Shancheng, you have to come with me, right?”
“But we can’t do anything illegal, can we?” Luxianbei frowned.
“Don’t worry, don’t worry!” Jumeng waved her hand dismissively. “It won’t be illegal; at most, it’ll just be against public morals.”
“For example?” Luxianbei pursued. “Singing karaoke outdoors in a densely populated area? Sneaking into someone’s house and stealing all the money from a child’s piggy bank? Or sneaking into a university dorm to use their phones to send a breakup text to a girl you like, while confessing to their roommate at the same time?”
She had actually thought of even more morally questionable things, but worried that saying them out loud would lead to a 404, so she repressed that impulsive thought.
Jumeng looked at Luxianbei, her eyelids twitching slightly, and spat, “You’re really a good Samaritan!”
Sometimes, people can truly be worse than urban legends.
She suddenly felt that after this, it would be necessary to guard against Luxianbei inviting her to do something “immoral yet thrilling.”
She was merely saying it, but Luxianbei might really go along with it.
Jumeng didn’t talk to Luxianbei anymore and continued on her path to the planned destination. A few minutes later, they arrived at their endpoint—a small noodle shop located at the entrance of a residential area, its entrance extending underground.
Stopping in front of the entrance, Luxianbei glanced at Jumeng and then looked at the small noodle shop, still packed with people even at this late hour. “This? Is this what counts as immoral and thrilling?”
“Why wouldn’t it count?” Jumeng raised her chin slightly in argument. “Don’t you like being health-conscious? Consuming large amounts of carbohydrates in the middle of the night doesn’t betray your inner self?”
“And what about the thrill?” Luxianbei suppressed her urge to retort and asked.
Jumeng glanced at the small noodle shop’s sign behind her, pursing her lips, “This small noodle shop is one of the spiciest and most authentic in the entire Shancheng, voted by netizens. I’ve heard that their supreme spicy bowl can numb your mouth from the heat; doesn’t that count as thrilling?”
Luxianbei thought, “Is this what they call ‘immoral yet thrilling’?”
She had thought there would be something more scandalous, like taking advantage of drunken people to sneak a kiss from someone. Wouldn’t that be a bit more brazen?
In fact, it would be better to join the Feng Ling Yue Ying Sect and play a game all night long! Luxianbei mused.
Seeing that Luxianbei hadn’t spoken for a while, Jumeng rolled her eyes and said somewhat exasperatedly, “Dog! Just say whether you’ll accompany me to eat!”
“I’ll eat!” Luxianbei replied and walked directly into the small noodle shop. “Boss, two orders of supreme spicy bowls, the big ones!”
As she watched Luxianbei’s back, Jumeng let out a soft sigh, but a faint smile quickly reappeared on her lips.
Actually, this was quite nice, wasn’t it?
Just like a simple date. Jumeng thought.
For her, who was revered as a goddess by the many humans and urban legends in Peach Source and who only had to inform the electric elder to obtain whatever she wanted, having a simple interaction like a regular person was as enjoyable as the things she had previously planned!
Yes, she had been preparing some nuclear-grade “immoral yet thrilling” things in that sound-proof suite at the Peach Blossom Inn, ready for a successful execution to ensure that Luxianbei would be leaning against the wall when she exited the room the next day.
Raw rice cooking into cooked rice + a potent intimacy, that lame girl was sure to lose!
But.
Sitting at the door of the Peach Blossom Inn, she waited and waited, and earlier, due to Jiang Li’s sudden appearance, the impulsive urge turned twisted and faded away quite a bit. Then thinking about those shameless things in the room made her begin to feel her cheeks grow warm, and ultimately, she simply canceled the original plan.
How could the dignified goddess of fate resort to such lowly tricks?!
However.
Running to eat the most extreme spicy noodles in the middle of the night was indeed a pretty bad idea… but apart from that, she really could only think of something even worse, like playing a game with hacks.
As Jumeng thought this, walking toward the small noodle shop, her attention was suddenly caught by the electronic synth music ringing in her ears, and her gaze fell on the claw machine in front of the shop.
Then, as if she had suddenly thought of something, her eyes brightened slightly as she moved towards the claw machines.
After ordering two supreme spicy bowls with a portion of pea pods, two servings of fermented rice ice powder, and a side of charcoal-grilled small yellow fish at the counter, Luxianbei took her number and found an empty table in a corner of the noodle shop to sit down.
After sitting for a while, she noticed that Jumeng hadn’t follow in.
“What’s that stinky sister up to?”
Muttering to herself, she stood up and walked outside the small noodle shop. As soon as she stepped out the door, she saw Jumeng hunched over the claw machine.
Jumeng bit her lip, her willow-like eyebrows scrunched together, carefully maneuvering the joystick as she focused intently on the mechanical claw descending, grabbing a small white dog plush toy, then, predictably, watched the toy drop back into the prize area.
Luxianbei thought,
“How peculiar! Who would have thought that a Cataclysm Grade urban legend would actually be interested in a claw machine?”
But when would she realize that the description of her powers had already determined that she wouldn’t have a good experience in any game unless her luck was sufficient?
Just as Luxianbei was thinking this, the next moment, she witnessed an astonishing scene.
After failing to grab a prize, Jumeng returned to the coin slot part. She straightened up, glancing around furtively, and confirmed that no one was watching her before executing a swift maneuver, causing slender roots to spread from her fingertips, retrieving a handful of shiny silver tokens from the coin slot.
Luxianbei thought,
“Good gracious, that’s our Jumeng for you!
It’s one thing to skip class for gaming and find proxy players, but she even has to hack for a claw machine?”
But thinking about it, wasn’t that much more “immoral yet thrilling” than eating some supreme spicy noodles?
Luxianbei thought as she strolled over and nudged Jumeng. “Are you done? Let me take over! Which one do you want?”
She really couldn’t watch any longer, not only because Jumeng’s claw machine skills were terrible but also worried that Jumeng’s “coin theft” would be discovered.
However, to her surprise, Jumeng only glanced at her before redirecting her focus back to the mechanical claw of the claw machine.
In the past, Jumeng would never act this way.
No matter what game she played, if she encountered difficulties, she’d just pass the problem to Luxianbei. If Luxianbei took the initiative to offer help, she would usually jump up from the couch excitedly.
“Stinky sister, you can’t grab it this way. Let me…”
Before Luxianbei could finish, Jumeng shot her a glare and immediately began muttering, “But I just want to catch a toy for you myself!”
“Alright, just hurry up and help me look out!”
At those words, Luxianbei closed her mouth that had just opened, and after a few seconds of silence, stepped aside, standing quietly as she watched Jumeng continue her efforts.
Whether it was her imagination or not, looking at Jumeng’s focused face, she suddenly felt that the “stinky sister” who she had always thought of as some kind of indescribable “filthy thing” now had a somewhat delicate and sweet flavor.
Emotions were truly a metaphysical concept, even more mysterious than urban legends!
Although Luxianbei was keeping lookout, Jumeng’s unethical behavior was eventually caught on the spot.
Spiritual perception wasn’t omnipotent; although it could sense someone approaching from behind, it was hard to avoid surveillance cameras.
Perhaps the void could, but calamity definitely couldn’t!
When the owner of the noodle shop stormed out, brandishing a rolling pin and a big wolf dog, Jumeng didn’t hesitate to punch through the glass of the claw machine, grabbing the toy she had failed to secure fifty times, hugged it tightly, and turned to run.
After a few seconds of daze, Luxianbei hurriedly fished out all the cash she had, throwing it at the oncoming noodle shop owner, taking advantage of his blinded vision to chase after Jumeng.
“d*mn it, hurry up! Don’t get caught; if you do, I won’t pay to bail you out!”
“Come on, if you pass me, that toy is your prize!”
Jumeng shouted back at Luxianbei while waving the toy, quickening her pace.
Watching Jumeng’s bouncy back and her spoils, Luxianbei found herself smirking unconsciously.
Wasn’t the feeling of being immoral yet thrilling just what they were seeking?
Besides, she hoped that one hundred and fifty dollars would cover the glass for the claw machine.
This scene reminded her of an old movie she had seen, which was a bit cliché. In the film, the male lead and a terminally ill female lead smashed the display window of a wedding dress shop to steal the dress the female lead had long coveted, all while being chased by others.
The wedding dress in the movie and the small dog plush toy in Jumeng’s hands were both pure white.
Being scared into a “drain” by a strangely behaving woman wasn’t actually embarrassing.
For two urban legends who were both on the red wanted list of the Siye Society, being chased out of a small noodle shop by an unknown owner and his big wolf dog, without even tasting the noodles they paid for, was truly embarrassing.
A moment later, near the Peach Blossom Inn, in front of a vending machine.
“Ha—!”
The hard-earned escape had Jumeng leaning against the vending machine, patting her chest as she exhaled deeply, handing the now-deformed plush toy to Luxianbei. “Here, for you!”
“This is a gift I risked my life for, so you better appreciate and keep it well!”
Seeing Luxianbei reach out to take the plush toy, Jumeng raised her eyebrows and turned her gaze to the vending machine behind her, pondering for a moment before extending her delicate hand toward the coin slot.
Seeing the slender roots spreading from Jumeng’s fingertips, Luxianbei quickly grabbed her hand. “You’re going again? Want to be chased for another few miles?”
“Let go, what do you want to drink? I’ll buy it for you!”
“Blue bottle of happy water, thanks!”
Luxianbei glanced back at Jumeng and unhesitatingly bought her a bottle of red bottle happy water with ginger flavor.
“Since tonight’s theme is immorality, we must go all the way! Here, in front of your beloved blue bottle of happy water, drink this bottle of red bottle happy water!”
A few minutes later.
Luxianbei and the pale-faced, gagging Jumeng returned together to the suite of the Peach Blossom Inn.
As soon as they entered, turned on the lights, and saw the odd-shaped items scattered across the bed, Luxianbei’s expression also turned pale.
“This is… Is this torture equipment?! They really went too far!”
“I remember someone just said that since we’re pursuing immorality, we should go all the way?” Jumeng’s voice echoed eerily in her ears, and Luxianbei shuddered, turning and running for the door.
Behind her came a burst of “kekeke” mocking laughter.
(EMMM, was this paragraph considered routine? It’s based on real experiences that I’ve always wanted to write into a book, and I finally found the opportunity!
Although we didn’t smash any claw machines.)
