Chapter 74: Two Bystanders
Just as Luxianbei fell into crisis, Bystander No. 1 quietly entered a state…
The sky was gloomy, leaden clouds hanging low, with the winds foreshadowing an impending storm, and a dark red mist swirling in the air.
On the dilapidated rooftop, a white-haired girl dressed in pink cradled a pure white giant egg, resembling a motherly avatar of happiness.
She gazed up at the sky, her crimson eyes flickering with unusual light, as if her sight transcended distant time and space, catching glimpses of the scene inside Changlekou subway station.
After a long moment, she silently sighed, her gaze dropping as she gently caressed the giant egg in her arms, as if talking to it, muttering to herself, “You know, when in a game, if the boss gets tower-dived and as the proxy player, I have the chance to assist but remain indifferent, doesn’t that seem a bit wrong?”
“But if I don’t let her learn to handle such situations, she might never be able to achieve high ranks on her own, right?”
In truth, just as Luxianbei was struck by a shadow attempting to destroy Xuan Ying Luo Fu, and the core of her urban legend was about to fall into a coma, the Proxy Player Sister was already ready to take action. However, she heard Luxianbei’s question—if all of that was wrong, then what was right?
At the moment she heard that question, the Proxy Player Sister froze.
What is right?
She couldn’t provide Luxianbei with an answer, or rather, no one—neither people nor urban legends—could provide an answer; it was something Luxianbei had to figure out for herself.
Luxianbei’s answer was the correct answer!
Thus, the Proxy Player Sister decided to wait a little longer, allowing Luxianbei to find the answer on her own.
After all…
The Proxy Player Sister looked up at the sky again, pursing her lips.
After all, that guy still can’t d*e, can he?
With a body reconstructed from the flesh and bl**d of the Inheritance Beast, her self-healing ability and resilience must have improved beyond several levels compared to before.
After all, she endured the crushing force of the hundred-armed giant, and now it was just a little “programmatic glitch” leading to a freeze; the hardware just overheated a bit—it’s not a big deal!
“However, what I didn’t expect was that Jumeng actually gained the power to counter such a ghostly thing… what a twist of fate!” The Proxy Player Sister suddenly revealed a bittersweet smile, “Could this be what they call ‘a bitter remedy’?”
Whether Luxianbei was wrong before, she didn’t know.
But she knew that at least regarding the matter of devouring Jumeng, she was mostly wrong…
————
The Shancheng 101 Building, also known as Shancheng Tower, is one of the tallest buildings in Shancheng.
As Jumeng and the massive shadow engaged in a standoff, this high-rise, less than two kilometers away from Changlekou subway station, was also shrouded by fierce winds.
At this moment, between the signal base station antennas atop Shancheng Tower, a series of crackling green electrical lights suddenly flickered. From the dazzling firelight emerged a figure that swiftly transformed from illusion to reality, elegantly perching on the antenna frame.
It was a boy who appeared to be around fourteen or fifteen years old, radiating a vibrant, sunny energy.
After crawling along the network cable for over ten minutes, Bystander No. 2 finally arrived at the best vantage point to watch the excitement.
That’s right, the boy was Xu Wu.
Although the Wordless Book had already warned him not to get too close to Luxianbei, he couldn’t resist sneaking away from the Wordless Book to the mountains.
Whether it was the calamity’s way of responding to the crisis and profiting from it, or the battles between Cataclysm Grades, these were crucial data for him. Seeing them with his own eyes would certainly provide a more complete picture than collecting information from various sources afterward.
“d*mn it, seems like I arrived too late; I hope I didn’t miss the most exciting part?”
Without yet discerning the situation towards Changlekou, merely sensing the turbulent spirit energy nearby, Xu Wu couldn’t help but complain.
It’s all Haze God’s fault!
If it weren’t for Haze God dropping thick fog that blocked signals around the mountains, he would have arrived on the scene in time.
Fortunately, the fog couldn’t completely block wired signals…
Steeling himself, he looked up and finally discerned the situation towards Changlekou subway station, his eyes widening in surprise.
He saw a chaotic storm pierced through by countless crows, and also that twisted, eerie shadow emitting an ominous aura.
“That shadow… Could it not be the power of the Old Destruction Bearer? How could it appear here?”
Indeed, he had seen that massive shadow before…
When he devoured the core of the urban legend of that Old Destruction Bearer.
In fact, while hunting that Old Destruction Bearer, he had paid a considerable price; however, that price was still within an acceptable range for him. What truly nearly killed him was the core of that Old Destruction Bearer’s urban legend.
At the moment he devoured that urban legend core, engulfed by the world’s malice contained within, his mind quickly fell into chaos, as if infected by a virus, entirely out of his control.
In that moment of mental disarray, he experienced a vision; he saw that mountain-like massive shadow, approaching him silently, exuding terrifying pressure.
At that moment, his powers, spirit energy, and all abilities essentially malfunctioned, halting their operations.
On the brink of disaster, he could only use the last bit of spirit energy to format his urban legend core, avoiding imminent d*ath.
He initially believed that the enormous shadow was a remnant of the Old Destruction Bearer’s urban legend core, containing a sliver of autonomous awareness, or possibly the long-accumulated intense corruption within the Old Destruction Bearer’s urban legend core causing trouble.
But now, seeing that massive shadow in the Changlekou subway station, he suddenly realized that his prior deduction might have significant issues.
That massive shadow affected not only him but also included the children of Calamity and Haze God.
If the Inheritance Beast also witnessed this massive shadow, one could even conclude that the targets influenced by this colossal shadow encompassed all factors of world destruction, including urban legends like Haze God’s offspring which could be considered secondary extermination factors.
If that’s the case, then what exactly is that massive shadow, and where does it come from?
This feeling of not knowing the enemy’s true nature made Xu Wu, who typically liked to have complete control over his adversaries and devise various countermeasures based on their weaknesses, feel quite heavy. But then he looked at Jumeng, who was struggling with that massive shadow, unable to decide an outcome in a short time, and he relaxed a little.
At least there were still urban legends that could confront that ghostly thing, weren’t there?
What’s more, it’s fortunate that Jumeng is Calamity’s most faithful ally, and I am too…
The ally of my ally is my ally!
As Xu Wu pondered that and secretly rejoiced, at that moment, an old network lecher suddenly sent him a message.
Network Lecher 00: “Boss, I received an interesting piece of intel that I think I need to share with you.”
Xu Wu: “Oh? Let’s hear it.”
Network Lecher 00: “I just received a message from a group friend, mentioning that the assets belonging to Jumeng in Peach Source are rapidly evaporating.”
Xu Wu: “What’s the reason?”
Network Lecher 00: “The cause is unknown; both I and that group friend find it rather strange. Those assets seem to have evaporated into thin air, with no trace left behind.”
“…”
After reading the message from the network lecher, Xu Wu fell into a brief silence. Soon, he heard Jumeng’s power description flooding into his ears along with the howling wind, his eyes slightly trembling.
Is it because of the struggle against fate with money? Xu Wu wondered.
————
On the other side, deep within the Peach Source’s Chunfeng Residence in Tangcheng, in a storage room filled with various antiques.
The old Yuan Ye, who seemed to have aged many years overnight, sat at the entrance of the storeroom, watching as the antiques on the shelves turned to dust, his expression grim. Standing behind him, Tan Caizhu and Liu Banxian also looked no better.
The antiques on the shelves were either priceless genuine articles or spirit energy items, making this storeroom essentially a small bank for Peach Source or Jumeng.
Now, this little bank seemed to be losing value at a visibly rapid rate, with its owner being the instigator.
After a long time, Tan Caizhu could no longer bear the silence and spoke up, “Yuan Ye, this can’t go on! What trouble could Jumeng be in? You should tell us so we can brainstorm together; perhaps there’s another way to solve it.”
“My old friend is right…” Liu Banxian echoed, “If it really comes down to it, I can help you ask for a fortune-telling?”
“Get lost!” Tan Caizhu and Yuan Ye shouted in unison.
Liu Banxian, “…”
“This matter can’t be solved by collective thinking.” Yuan Ye regained his focus, glanced at Tan Caizhu and explained, “Collective donations might still be somewhat useful.”
“Huh?” Tan Caizhu looked puzzled.
“Ah…” Yuan Ye sighed lightly, explaining, “Do you remember Jumeng’s power description?”
“Of course!” Both Tan Caizhu and Liu Banxian replied in unison.
As Jumeng’s loyal followers, they knew her power description by heart.
“The current situation is likely due to that ‘struggler against fate using money,'” Yuan Ye said. “Jumeng is probably in serious trouble.”
It’s all that guy Luxianbei’s fault! Every time Jumeng hangs out with her, something bad happens… Yuan Ye silently added in his mind.
At this moment, he felt an inexplicable sense of a child he had watched grow up being led astray by another child.
“Ah? What should we do?” Liu Banxian exclaimed.
“Do I even need to ask?” Tan Caizhu shot Liu Banxian a glare and raised his hand to show off his heavy bag. “Of course, we need to donate!”
After saying that, he rolled up his sleeves, took off a costly watch from his wrist, stepped forward, and placed it on the shelf.
Returning after a moment, seeing Liu Banxian remain unmoved, Tan Caizhu’s expression darkened. “What’s wrong with you, old man? Why are you just standing there?”
“I…” Liu Banxian opened his mouth, hesitating several times before finally gritting his teeth and pulling out a jade bracelet from his bag, placing it on the shelf.
“Anything else?” Watching Liu Banxian’s still bulging bag, Tan Caizhu urged.
Thus, Liu Banxian, wincing, pulled out a palm-sized solid gold compass.
“Is this all? Anything else?”
“…” Liu Banxian fell silent for a few seconds, steeling himself, he took off the bag and threw it on the shelf before turning to leave, saying in a tearful voice, “Just take it all, I can’t stand seeing this!”
Watching as his possessions turned to dust, even Liu Banxian, who had been tempered in the gambling trials of Dream Come True Entertainment City, couldn’t endure it.
As he watched Liu Banxian leave, Yuan Ye gently shook his head, stood up, and said to Tan Caizhu, “Old Tan, you keep an eye on things here; I’ll be back shortly.”
“Where are you going?”
“Back to Peach Source to get something,” Yuan Ye replied.
He had always opposed Jumeng’s frivolous spending, but this time, he hoped Jumeng could hang in there a little longer and spend a bit more.
