Chapter Five: A New Witch Is About to Be Born
At four-thirty in the morning, on the other side of the city.
A new moon slowly emerged from the dark clouds, revealing the dilapidated appearance of the ancient mansion hidden in the night.
Beneath layers of climbing ivy and vines, the plaster on the walls had long peeled away. The courtyard behind the iron gate, littered with dry leaves, was in disarray; the old, poorly maintained fountain had long since dried up, and the griffin stone sculptures on either side had broken wings and incomplete claws.
The entire building exuded a strange and chilling atmosphere.
This was Amber Hall, a mansion located on the outskirts of Huacheng, which once belonged to a wealthy merchant. After the merchant committed s*icide due to business failure, it had been left idle, gradually giving rise to rumors of hauntings until it was completely abandoned over time.
Now, very few people knew that the mansion still housed someone.
It now belonged to a girl named Jiang Li.
Deep within the mansion, in a large room, Jiang Li slept on a rose-colored bed.
Her long eyelashes trembled slightly, a few beads of sweat appeared on her forehead, and she occasionally murmured words in a soft, enticing dream, clearly having an uneasy sleep.
“Tap, tap, tap—!”
The sound of high heels tapping on the marble floor echoed in the corridor as a brass doorknob gently turned and a dark wood door was opened.
Dressed in a classical maid outfit, the little maid entered the room, approached Jiang Li’s bedside, and bowed respectfully.
The little maid did not speak, but Jiang Li seemed to sense something, suddenly waking up. The moment she opened her eyes, a flicker of crimson, restless light flashed across her gaze.
The crimson glow lasted only a fleeting moment, then slowly faded away like a receding tide, and her eyes returned to their sea-blue, full of spirit.
At this moment, the little maid spoke, “Miss, C-level energy alert.”
Jiang Li collected her thoughts and replied lightly, “Does the C-level energy alert require my presence?”
The little maid shook her head quietly, indicating that she did not know.
“Where?”
“In the direction of Changsheng Road.”
“Ah, help me change clothes.” Jiang Li sighed softly, sitting up.
The rose-colored down blanket slipped from her body, her long silver hair cascading down like a waterfall, covering her snow-white torso, with her slender yet delicate curves subtly visible.
“Understood,” the little maid replied, supporting the petite girl as she walked to sit down on a chair in front of the dressing table.
Bathed in the light, Jiang Li’s reflection appeared in the mirror: silver long hair, an exquisite oval face, a small and slender body that elicited pity.
Unfortunately, this doll-like delicate girl wasn’t quite perfect.
From the knee down, her right leg was entirely a metallic prosthetic, engraved with strange runes that glimmered with a faint blue light.
As the little maid helped Jiang Li comb her long hair, she quietly asked, “Miss, what outfit do you want to wear today?”
“Just wear the outfit we bought a couple of days ago, and by the way, get my cane. I’ll leave directly after changing, no food for me.”
“Okay, Miss.”
……
Twenty minutes later, Huacheng, Changsheng Road.
Several police cars were parked beside an old apartment building, a barrier was erected in front of the entrance, and red and blue police lights were flashing continuously.
Four police officers were carrying a stretcher outside, covered with a white cloth, the outline beneath it indicating that it should be a female corpse.
Shortly after, a black car slowly drove up and parked by the road. Seeing the car approaching, the on-site commander immediately went to meet it.
The window slowly rolled down, revealing the slightly pale profile of the girl, her brows furrowed as she coldly asked the newcomer, “What’s going on?”
Inside the dimly lit car, one could vaguely see a silver badge shaped like an owl pinned to the girl’s chest.
The mourning owl badge, unique to the Siye Society.
The Siye Society was a semi-official organization composed of spiritual ability users with special powers, specializing in handling various matters related to urban legends.
Outside the car, the on-site commander glanced at Jiang Li’s badge and chuckled helplessly, “It’s an urban legend attack. This matter is beyond our handling.”
“According to regulations, we must notify your Siye Society immediately after confirming,” he continued.
“But I’m not the one on duty tonight,” Jiang Li replied, her tone somewhat weary.
“I know it’s Lao Bai. We’ve informed him, and he’s already here, up there. He told us to notify you.”
Indifferently, as if it didn’t concern her, Jiang Li asked coldly, “Are there any witnesses?”
“None.”
“I understand,” Jiang Li nodded in thought.
Handling an attack event with no witnesses would simplify matters significantly, eliminating much of the effort needed to curb the spread of rumors.
With that in mind, Jiang Li turned and gently patted the back of the driver’s seat, saying, “Ahua, I’ll go check it out.”
“Understood, Miss!”
The little maid driving the car obediently responded, hurriedly getting out to open the door for Jiang Li while handing her the black cane adorned with a silver unicorn at the top.
Jiang Li took the cane and exited the car, instructing the little maid, “You don’t need to follow me, wait for me down here for a bit,” and walked towards the apartment building alone.
Her petite and slender figure was clad in a fitted blazer, with a white shirt underneath, and a high-waisted double-breasted skirt that cleverly masked the flaws of her legs with diamond-patterned stockings, though it did not conceal the difficulty of her steps.
Despite having worked together before, seeing Jiang Li’s unsteady back made the on-site commander feel a twinge of pity.
He sighed softly to himself, “Clearly, aside from her slightly odd personality, she’s quite a good girl. What a pity…”
“Hmph!” Before he could finish his thought, he heard a cold snort beside him. Looking over, he saw the little maid glaring at him with wide eyes, puffed up in anger, and she retorted fiercely, “Our Miss doesn’t need your pity!”
The on-site commander was taken aback, scratched his head with a wry smile, “Ha, ha, this really is…”
……
Changsheng Road is remote, not near shopping districts or academic zones, so few people lived here, mostly young individuals who had just started working and were drawn to the cheap rent.
Originally, there were very few residents in the apartment building, and after a simple evacuation, the whole building was empty. Jiang Li walked through the quiet corridor, with only the sound of her high heels tapping against the ground echoing in her ears.
The crime scene was not large, consisting of a simply decorated one-bedroom rental unit.
As soon as Jiang Li stepped in, she was hit by the strong scent of bl**d.
Inside the room, there was already a man present.
He was a rather handsome man, with a face that combined softness and masculinity, fair skin, a long neck, and eyes like cold stars on a winter’s night.
He wore a deep brown classic suit, with a silver owl badge on his chest. His suit jacket was slightly open, revealing a white shirt with an embroidered crimson rose on the collar, radiating a mix of romantic poet, flashy cowherd, and slightly sharp swordsman qualities.
This “flashy, romantic, and sharp” man was squatting unceremoniously at the bedroom door eating instant noodles when Jiang Li arrived.
Holding the fork with an elegantly curved finger, he was slurping down the noodles with abandon, splashing broth everywhere, seemingly unconcerned by the gruesome corpse that had been lying next door just minutes before.
Upon hearing footsteps at the door, the man put down his noodles, grabbed a yellow and black flyer nearby to wipe his mouth, and looked up with a warm smile for Jiang Li.
“Ha! You finally arrived. I was getting hungry, so I ate a bit. I thought you wouldn’t mind, right?”
Jiang Li couldn’t conceal her disdain in her gaze, ignoring the man’s irrelevant question.
“Bai Kai, it’s not my shift tonight. You called me here for a reason; tell me what you discovered.”
“Tsk, being called by my full name by a younger generation is quite an offense! At least call me senior!” Bai Kai spread his hands in a mock grievance, “Besides, I called you here for your sake!”
“For me?” Jiang Li frowned.
“Of course! Haven’t you always been in charge of hunting down the Twilight Witch?”
“This attack incident is related to the Twilight Witch?”
“Exactly.” Bai Kai sat up straight and pulled out a handful of pale fur from his jacket pocket. “Look, rabbit fur!”
Jiang Li looked at the pale fur in Bai Kai’s hand and nodded thoughtfully, “Is it that rabbit again?”
The Twilight Witch was an urban legend circulating in Huacheng.
It was rumored that she was a girl dressed in a gorgeous long dress, as if she had stepped out of a fairy tale, who would appear at dusk, wandering the city with a parasol.
Those attracted by her beauty would hear a series of discordant screams from her, and anyone who listened to her voice would lose their sanity, falling into madness, losing control of their soul and becoming her servant.
Half a year ago, Jiang Li had personally killed the Twilight Witch, but recently it seemed she had returned.
Urban legends are often difficult to eradicate completely; as long as there are people who believe in their existence, they can reappear.
The members of the Siye Society could only k*ll them repeatedly, preventing them from causing destruction until they were entirely forgotten by people.
Mr. Rabbit was one of the only remaining servants created by the Twilight Witch and had recently been implicated in three consecutive murders, with the victims all possessing the potential to become spiritual ability users.
These individuals could be easily filtered from ordinary people because if the urban legend deliberately concealed its existence, only spiritual ability users or those with the potential to become users could see them.
bl**d infused with spiritual energy was like a drug to those urban legends, serving as a powerful temptation, nourishing their power to grow more than that of an ordinary person’s bl**d.
“If you see it, you will be swallowed!”
This saying, often shared among rookies in the Siye Society, was no mere joke.
It was precisely because of Mr. Rabbit’s frequent activity that Jiang Li concluded that the Twilight Witch was about to awaken; she needed bl**d containing spiritual energy as a sacrifice to regain her power!
Bai Kai rolled his eyes and said, “I know you’ve already killed that rabbit, but as long as there are fools who believe that ‘rabbits are symbols of evil from the Middle Ages,’ it will come back, right?”
“I know everything you’ve just said; I’ll be able to see the files on tonight’s m*rder case later. I suspect you didn’t just call me over to talk about this,” Jiang Li said coldly.
“I brought you here because I suspect that the Twilight Witch has not actually awakened, and the recent attack incidents are unrelated to her,” Bai Kai explained seriously. “It’s that rabbit that is gathering power, trying to break free from its master’s control and become a new witch on its own.”
Jiang Li frowned, “Do you have evidence?”
“I do!” Bai Kai raised a finger, “First, it woke up before its master, and that’s very abnormal.”
As he spoke, Bai Kai raised a second finger. “Second, based on the residual spiritual energy at the scene, it has already nearly advanced from C-level to B-level.”
“In other words, if we don’t stop it quickly, a new witch will be born in Huacheng. I’m quite curious about what kind of urban legend it will become if it successfully advances! A bloody butcher bunny girl?”
Hearing this, Jiang Li’s expression became serious. Every urban legend based on a witch, once fully formed, had an energy response of at least A-grade, and the potential destruction was unimaginable.
The Twilight Witch Jiang Li had dealt with before only had a B-level energy response close to A-grade, yet it caused hundreds of deaths.
Thus, preventing the birth of a witch meant saving at least dozens or even hundreds of lives!
After pondering for a moment, Jiang Li nodded slightly, “Okay, I understand. I will keep an eye on it.” With that, she turned and walked away, taking unsteady steps.
Watching Jiang Li leave, Bai Kai rolled his eyes and muttered to himself, “A well-intentioned reminder, and not even a word of thanks; how cold-hearted!”
“If my future child is looking for a wife, they definitely can’t choose someone like her. What good is beauty? Everyone has their fair share of looks, right? Personality is what matters most!”
“Ha, do you have a wife?” Jiang Li’s voice drifted softly from the corridor.
Bai Kai’s expression gradually stiffened, his mindset shifting as he fell into contemplation.
He realized he had no children, no wife, and even his only friend was dead, leaving him feeling desolate…
