Chapter 78: The Egg Is More Exciting Than the Feature
At the back mountain of Dachunyang Palace, inside the Moon Gathering Cave.
Zhang Hainan, dressed in a plain robe, sits at the window, bathed in moonlight. As he breathes, strands of wandering spirit energy fluctuations coalesce into moon-white threads that float around his mouth and nose like a dreamy mist.
Faint footsteps approach from behind. He opens his eyes just a slit without turning around and says, “Old friend? It’s the middle of the night; what brings you here?”
Behind him stands a girl, around twelve or thirteen, dressed in a white dress with a cold expression and a flat tone, “I want to ask the Black Emperor to activate the Zixiao Terrace.”
As she speaks, she steps forward, opens a file bag in her hand, and presents a document to Zhang Hainan.
At this moment, Shancheng is shrouded in heavy fog created by the Haze God, with several high-level urban legends engaged in battle. Even if the Siye Society wants to provide reinforcement, they need to ensure they have firepower for cover first.
Upon seeing the red mourning owl emblem at the top of the document, Zhang Hainan furrows his brow slightly, takes the document, and scans its contents, his squinting eyes gradually widening.
“Three waves of calamity-grade urban legends have appeared in Shancheng, and one of them is…”
Just as he begins to speak, seemingly hesitating about something, Zhang Hainan suddenly falls silent.
“That’s right,” the Wordless Book nods, seeming to deliberately push Zhang Hainan to confront it, “The calamity-grade urban legend that appeared during the accident where Yunshen Machine went missing, code-named Zero.”
Although the Siye Society knows very little about the specifics of that accident, reports from the operatives who went to investigate at the scene indicated that at least two waves of calamity-grade spirit energy fluctuations were found.
One of them, slightly weaker, was from Lu Ming, whose spirit energy fluctuation characteristics are recorded in the Siye Society’s files. The other wave, however, is from an urban legend that has never been recorded in the Society’s files and has no known origin of power.
This urban legend seemed to have appeared out of nowhere on a rainy night, abducting Lu Ming and then vanishing without a trace.
This is very strange, and thinking about it sends chills down one’s spine!
Unknown enemies are often terrifying. When they first detected that spirit energy fluctuation, the members of the Siye Society were thrown into panic.
Theoretically, any urban legend or spirit ability user’s power can have its corresponding origin found. Whether it’s myth, urban legend, or some phenomenon, there is usually a trail to follow.
It’s this traceability that allows the Siye Society to make targeted preparations to minimize casualties when dealing with related urban legend events.
Completely untraceable powers can stem from two situations.
The first possibility is that the origin of this power does not exist within the awareness of most people. As a calamity-grade urban legend, it may only appear briefly, like a comet that visits the night sky once every few decades or centuries.
The second possibility is that the urban legend’s power is too strong, making it impossible to glean what its power symbolizes from the residual spirit energy fluctuations.
By analyzing the residual spirit energy samples returned from the scene, the Siye Society’s research staff lean towards the first possibility.
From the analysis results, the spirit energy fluctuations of that calamity-grade urban legend are extremely unstable.
From the time of the accident to the return of the residual spirit energy samples for analysis at the Siye Society’s southwestern headquarters, without human catalysis, just 68 hours, 32 minutes, and 7 seconds elapsed before it completely dissipated, leaving a Night Erosion that was even lower than that of a C-grade urban legend.
This bizarre phenomenon also indirectly proves that this calamity-grade urban legend cannot exist for long in this world; it only emerges briefly when certain specific conditions are met.
It was only after confirming that the calamity-grade urban legend wouldn’t appear frequently that the gloomy cloud over the hearts of the Siye Society operatives involved in the investigation gradually dissipated.
…
Returning his thoughts to the present, Zhang Hainan looks at the Wordless Book and smiles, “I understand now; I will head to the Zixiao Terrace. But before that, there’s one thing I’m perplexed about; I hope you can enlighten me.”
“Please, go ahead,” the Wordless Book replies.
“You should have been stationed at the headquarters’ archives, right?” Zhang Hainan asks. “Since you were at the headquarters, why not directly use Tong Gong, Wan Wu, or contact me to inform me of the situation?”
“Even if you’re asking our good allies for help, borrowing the White God’s Staff would be much faster than traveling all this way just to reach me, wouldn’t it?”
It’s puzzling that something that could be solved in five or ten minutes would take an hour instead; such behavior as using distant water to quench nearby thirst by the Wordless Book is baffling.
“Because…” a fleeting image of a small white worm flashes through the Wordless Book’s mind. Regaining composure, a slight smile appears in her eyes, “The calamity is there; the Black Emperor wouldn’t want her to be harmed, would he?”
Zhang Hainan replies, “…”
I knew it! That strange urban legend appearing again must be related to that kid!
Why did I bother to ask that!
Indeed, whether it’s Tong Gong, Wan Wu, or the White God’s Staff, although they, like the Zixiao Terrace, have the ability to strike urban legends from extremely long distances, unlike the Zixiao Terrace, these three have decreased precision while making it easier for multiple guardians to activate.
If the Wordless Book were to control Tong Gong, the striking range could be limited to a radius of two kilometers around the Changlekou subway station, whereas Zhang Hainan directly controlling the Zixiao Terrace could precisely draw a “Along the River During the Qingming Festival” with thunder on the road near the Changlekou subway station.
This illustrates the difference between general and specialized!
“I understand now.” Zhang Hainan stands up, bows to the Wordless Book, “Thank you for the information; I’m off to the Zixiao Terrace.”
With that, he leaves the Moon Gathering Cave in a hurry, heading straight for the Zixiao Terrace.
————
In Tangcheng, deep within Chunfeng Residence.
“Yuan Ye, how much longer do you think Jumeng can resolve this crisis?” Tan Caizhu looks at the items collected from the Peach Source’s citizens on the warehouse shelves, turning to dust one by one, and gloomily says, “At this rate, we’ll have to launch a second round of fundraising, but… sigh!”
As generations of the Peach Source citizens who have been protected by Jumeng, they are more than willing to contribute when Jumeng is in need; they never complain, even if it requires great sacrifice.
However, this limit likely extends only to that level of sacrifice.
In the first round of fundraising, the citizens of the Peach Source were very proactive. Nearly everyone contacted brought out their valuables as soon as possible. Some even contributed not only money but also their long-accompanying spirit energy items.
Next, the Peach Source will likely experience a long-lasting wave of frugality and saving.
Under such circumstances, if a second fundraising round occurs, it would truly cost them their “old lives.”
At that point, inevitably, some might harbor ill thoughts, and in severe cases, it could cause Jumeng’s powers to become tainted with a hint of corruption and fall.
After all, among the many citizens of the Peach Source, there are only a small portion, like Yuan Ye and Tan Caizhu, who are d*e-hard “believers” following Jumeng to their deaths.
Historically, in Z Country’s myths, deities protect their citizens, and those citizens worship the deities within their means; when a deity goes astray, there are plenty of examples of them being overthrown.
“…” Yuan Ye, with a heavy expression, taps his pipe thoughtfully. After a long pondering, he waves his hand, “No need to trouble them anymore. I will bear the burden for now; I aren’t lacking enough to notify them for fundraising.”
With that, Yuan Ye stands up and walks into the warehouse, reaching a relatively spacious open area where he takes out a palm-sized dark gray turtle shell from his pocket and places it on the ground.
As soon as the shell touches the ground, it grows in size, reaching two zhang in an instant.
The turtle shell, reminiscent of rock, is filled with deep trenches that vaguely trace natural incantations, exuding a heavy earthy smell.
This turtle shell was a part of Yuan Ye before he became an urban legend and contains power that shares the same origin as him. When he transformed from a turtle shell into human form, the shell became an A+ grade spirit energy item and established a subtle connection with him.
The day he ascends to calamity, this turtle shell might also become a calamity-grade spirit energy item.
From a certain perspective, one could say it is the core of his backup urban legend form.
In this way, it should help Jumeng hold on for a few hours, right? Yuan Ye thought, his gaze falling on the turtle shell that had accompanied him for a long time, his eyes suddenly feeling moist.
In fact, if it helps Jumeng, he wouldn’t mind making such a sacrifice.
However, just thinking about Jumeng being with calamity and probably getting into trouble because of it makes his heart ache.
That feeling is like raising a child with great difficulty, only to have to be drained dry and sell the ancestral home to help him buy a house and get married; it feels too d*mn painful!
With such emotions, Yuan Ye fixed his gaze on his “treasure,” staring for fifteen minutes, gradually furrowing his brow, until finally, in his murky eyes, a hint of surprise surfaced.
His treasure hadn’t been “drained” by Jumeng; not even a trace of spirit energy had been lost.
It seems that this “wild spending” crisis, which almost brought trouble to the Peach Source, has come to a halt…
————
At the top of Building 101 in Shancheng.
Is Siye Society’s reinforcement about to arrive? Void heard the Wordless Book’s reminder echoing in his mind, paused for a moment, but soon regained his focus.
He must hurry to leave.
It wouldn’t be good if the reinforcement from the Siye Society ran into him and created any misunderstandings, Void thought.
With that, he jumped down from the signal tower, took a few steps, and reached the fiber optic junction box on the rooftop, just as he was ready to slip into the fiber optic cables, a flash of lightning suddenly struck across the sky.
The dazzling lightning penetrated the thick fog, instantly coating most of the Shancheng with a layer of silver radiance. The next second, the thunder boomed, a violent yet solemn aura piercing through his body and soul like a spear thrown down by a deity, leaving him with no courage to look directly at that lightning.
“Is this… the Zixiao Terrace?” Void’s eyes lit up, “Wow! I thought it was all going to end, but it turns out the egg is more exciting than the feature?”
During the intelligence work, it had heard of the Zixiao Terrace’s reputation more than once, but it never had the chance to witness the scene of the Zixiao Terrace launching a long-range strike. Now that it finally has the opportunity, how could it resist?
Thus, it made a decision that defied the Wordless Book’s warning…
