Chapter 47: Do You Have a Mom Now?
After having lunch with Dorethea, and hearing her say she wanted to stroll around the famous Guanyin Bridge Pedestrian Street in Shancheng, Zhang Yu returned alone to his “doghouse,” a CHARMCUB night club.
Yes, he privately referred to this night club, which he ran single-handedly and was one of the top establishments in Shancheng, as the “doghouse,” because every night, many promiscuous couples gathered here.
In the afternoon, with a long time before the club opened, the cleaning staff, having tidied up the chaos left by the previous night’s revelries, had already left. The people preparing for the night’s festivities hadn’t arrived yet, and the large dance floor felt unnaturally quiet.
Zhang Yu walked alone across the empty dance floor, went upstairs, and directly returned to his office. He walked straight to the bookshelf, looked around, found the hardcover edition of “War and Peace,” gently took it down, and placed it on the floor.
Immediately, the entire bookshelf began to tremble and shake, accompanied by the fluctuation of spiritual energy. More books fell from the shelf, stacking together in an orderly manner to form steps.
Once the bookshelf stopped shaking and the steps were complete, Zhang Yu began ascending the spiral staircase, soon arriving at the attic concealed within his office.
The attic wasn’t large, comparable in size to most living rooms, with a “distinctive” decoration style. A fabric sofa, covered with an “old-fashioned” white lace cover made by his grandmother, had a somewhat yellowed color and a few small holes, looking quite aged.
Two slightly chipped old wooden bookcases were filled with comics, from “Dragon Ball” to “Dragon Ball Z,” from “BLEACH” to “One Piece.”
A wooden desk held a few transformed storage boxes made from cookie tins, containing small collectibles like Raccoon Water Margin cards and capsule toy robots. On the wall behind the desk, there were some picture frames, showcasing scenic photos of Shancheng from the past.
With its square-shaped computer, green refrigerator, and gaming consoles, the entire room looked like a teenage paradise from the turn of the century, rather than a secret base of a mid-level member of the Solar Eclipse Society.
Everything was restored by Zhang Yu to mimic the layout of his home during his youth.
That time could be considered the happiest period of his life—carefree, without worries, and able to enjoy his youth to the fullest, experiencing the unique beauty of the city of Shancheng.
He loved this land deeply and reminisced about the humble days before his uncle brought the family to success.
The only thing that seemed out of place in the attic were three paintings hanging on the west wall, obscuring a series of animation and game posters.
From left to right, the first painting appeared to be a landscape painting. Two twisted black lines intersected, dividing the scene into four parts. Viewed separately, it depicted small hills, a dry well, a precarious wooden house, and murky rivers, but together they formed a whole.
The contents of this painting were simple to the point of being sketched, but the strokes revealed an indescribable madness. The chaotic, trembling lines transformed the otherwise straightforward scenery, imparting a secret yet intense morbid atmosphere.
Staring at the painting, bizarre thoughts uncontrollably surfaced in his mind, imagining that the mountains concealed malicious spirits, the well buried shocking skeletons, the wooden house housed some inhuman being, exuding foul filth and animal corpses, tainting the rivers.
The second painting was a crowd portrait. Compared to the simplicity of the first painting, the second displayed a level of detail reminiscent of the Renaissance’s once-glorious realistic oil paintings. From the sheer number of figures, it was undoubtedly a “grand work.”
In that painting, a hundred individuals were depicted, each with their unique appearance, age, attire, and expressions, yet they shared a similarly indescribable malady.
Each of the hundred individuals had varying degrees of deformities—twisted and grotesque, yet so realistically detailed that they seemed to exist in some corner of the world.
They gathered in front of a statue that had a human upper body and a lower body of twisted flesh, their own figures overshadowed by the statue’s shadow.
They celebrated, danced wildly, using edged tools they carried—be it a small kn*fe, rusted rebar, or sharpened sticks—piercing their bodies in certain places, allowing red-stained bl**d to seep into the ground, as if laying a red carpet for the arrival of horror, extending into the distance.
Zhang Yu’s gaze lingered on the second painting for only a few seconds before hastily shifting away.
Yet those brief seconds left an A-level spiritual ability user pale-faced, with bloodshot eyes and cold sweat soaking his clothes.
Although that painting didn’t emanate obvious spiritual energy fluctuations, it possessed an eerie charm, drawing one uncontrollably towards the grotesque, delusional crowd, compelling them to become one of them and offer their bl**d to the statue.
This scenario was probably linked to that guy’s powers, Zhang Yu thought.
As a descendant of the X Celestial God, it possessed the “carcinogenic power” that emerged from the ability related to “smog.” In this era when most people were terrified of cancer, this power undeniably granted it formidable strength.
However, the truth is, cancer cells themselves aren’t as terrifying as many imagine. The human body produces cancer cells almost daily, but they are typically defeated by immune cells and do not harm health.
This was probably one reason why that descendant, despite having “existed” for many years, only recently descended into the world.
Simultaneously, that descendant’s unique powers concealed its spiritual energy fluctuations to an extreme, to the point that when it lay dormant, its perception wasn’t powerful enough, even among Disaster-Class spiritual ability users; even when face-to-face, it was difficult to detect.
But once it actively revealed its spiritual energy fluctuations, it would be too late, right?
Like cancer reaching the terminal stage, when the cancer cells have already spread throughout the body, even a divinity might be helpless.
Of course, by that time, there would actually be a straightforward and crude method to continue living: turning into an urban legend.
Zhang Yu thought, directing his gaze to the third painting, which, through its ambiguous strokes and unconventional colors, depicted a “transformed city.”
Unlike the suffocating oppression conveyed by the first painting or the madness polluting minds in the second, the third painting communicated a profound despair.
Staring directly at the image conjured hallucinations, as whispers echoed in his ear: “Just give up, it’s beyond saving!” “Surrender, isn’t it better to enjoy what little time is left?”
The whispers seemed like the dying city soothing its former residents, or perhaps a cruel god that produced this tragedy, coldly mocking and leaving one mentally fatigued.
Looking at the third painting, seemingly unaffected by that eerie force, Zhang Yu clenched his fists, gritted his teeth, his eyes filled with rage, until the satellite phone placed on his desk rang, pulling him out of that obsessive anger.
“Hello, Mr. Adelaide, yes, it’s me.”
“Yes, everything has been arranged.”
“Yes, Tan Qiuming has been taken away by the Siye Society. Zhang Shuisheng should be restless soon; once he takes action, I’ll proceed as planned.”
“Understood.”
After hanging up, Zhang Yu placed the satellite phone back on the desk, supporting his forehead and letting out a sigh, “Phew! I hope nothing goes wrong.”
Sorry, Mr. Adelaide, although I will act according to plan, it’s not your plan, Zhang Yu thought.
On the other side, in the public activity room of the Peach Blossom family’s house.
“Wait a minute?” Jumeng tilted her head, looking at Luxianbei, “What did you say you were going to do?”
“Meet a net friend, what’s wrong?” Luxianbei replied expressionlessly.
From a certain perspective, the Void could indeed be considered her net friend, so meeting the Void could be regarded as an offline meetup without any issue.
“Net friend? Male or female?” Jumeng pressed.
Luxianbei thought for a moment, “Probably male? I’m not too sure.”
The Void’s true form was a small white worm; how could one tell if it was male or female?
However, from its voice, it did have a somewhat boyish tone, so if it transformed into human form, it would likely be a cute boy, right?
Just wondering if it was cuter compared to Fang Ji, Luxianbei thought.
“I’m going with you!” Jumeng declared.
“No, why would you come with me?” Luxianbei frowned. “You don’t even know it.”
The Void seemed to have no connections with Stinky Sister.
With its timid demeanor, if it found out she was accompanied by a Disaster-Class urban legend, it might be too scared to show up.
“Tsk, I’m just afraid you can’t handle it.” Jumeng pouted. “These things on the internet are very deep; you might get scammed!”
“Hehe!” Luxianbei shot an eye at Jumeng, sneering twice. “I’m not someone who gets scammed over lost equipment by a net friend only to find allies for a real-life PK to get it back.
For me, if I don’t scam others, that’s already a blessing to the vast online community. Otherwise, with my current appearance, if I snapped a few photos and sang a little tune, wouldn’t I drain their wallets dry?” Luxianbei thought mischievously.
“I…,” Jumeng’s eyes rolled, her chin raising slightly. “Yeah, even I could be scammed, let alone you!”
“…And while I’m at it, I could help you see whether you two are fated lovers!”
Seeing Jumeng’s anxious expression, Luxianbei chuckled inwardly.
So, that’s what she was worried about?
But if it’s the Void, there should be no fated red thread existing between us, right?
Luxianbei thought, shrugging. “Alright, I can take you, but on the condition that I get the other party’s consent first.”
With that, Jumeng’s eyes lit up, “Deal!”—
Wang Buliu: “Ding! Did you get the God Realm Prototype?”
Void: “Successfully obtained, although it’s just a shattered God Realm, it’s quite beneficial for my power completion.
When besieging that virtual currency god, it manipulated network data to cause the values of many virtual currencies to plummet within a short period, creating an atmosphere as if the issuer was about to run away, effectively shaking the faith of the virtual currency god’s followers. Asking for a fractured God Realm was quite easy.
Although the God Realm built by that virtual currency god was nothing but an empty shell under the combined assault of the [God of Wealth] and the Disaster-Class spiritual energy manipulator codenamed [President] from M Country, an empty shell is always better than nothing.
Building a God Realm, from a certain viewpoint, is similar to constructing a skyscraper. Once the foundation is laid and the framework is up, the subsequent processes become much easier.
From the Void’s perspective, what it needed to do was akin to developing a community website from scratch; it’s difficult in some aspects, such as needing to develop to a station of that scale to repair the God Realm. However, it’s also simple, as initial repairs only require virtual data.
Wang Buliu: “So, you have a mom now?”
Void:
In fact, it did try to acknowledge the [Wordless Book] as its godmother, even bringing up connections with books and network data, but the [Wordless Book] told it to roll away, and it hadn’t contacted it for a long time since.
Wang Buliu: “Just kidding! I heard you can now help infiltrate the Solar Eclipse Society?”
Void: “That’s right. I have preliminarily gained the trust of a certain elder from the Solar Eclipse Society. I owe you thanks for alerting me to gather a lot of information that I had no chance to know before.”
Although infiltrating the Solar Eclipse Society was an undercover operation under the instruction of the [Wordless Book], it didn’t prevent it from copying and transferring data after successfully breaching the Solar Eclipse Society’s intranet.
Void: “As for which elder, it’s not convenient for me to mention, as it could be monitored, you understand, right? So, you want to infiltrate the Solar Eclipse Society in Shancheng?”
Luxianbei initially wanted to ask how the Void knew she was in Shancheng, but then realized that if it didn’t even have the ability to trace IP addresses, it wouldn’t deserve to be the king of urban legends.
Wang Buliu: “Yes! I wanted to meet you in person, but there’s a small issue on my end.”
Void: “What issue? I could easily help you craft an entire identity without raising suspicions, and this one’s on the house, as a thank you for directing me to find the God Realm.”
Wang Buliu: “Not that issue. My issue is that when I meet you, Jumeng wants to come along.”
Void: “???”
What’s that about?
Why bring a Disaster-Class urban legend along for a meetup?
Have you ever seen young people bringing their parents along for an offline meeting?
Wang Buliu: “Don’t be scared! Our relationship is very special now, and she won’t harm you.”
Void: “How special?”
Wang Buliu: “I’m currently proposing to her; she would respond positively for sure!”
Void: “Whoa, impressive!”
Using a marriage alliance with a Disaster-Class entity to enhance his own power, why hadn’t I thought of that?
Should I also—
The Void contemplated, as its filial heart suddenly began to shift, and the figure of the Wordless Book emerged in its mind.
