Chapter Fourteen: Take Half a Step Back
It was three thirty-six in the morning.
In the late night, the bustling streets near the Huacheng Workers’ Gymnasium had quieted down, but those who loved the night still had not ended their revelries.
In a corner of the street stood a multi-faceted building, next to a futuristic pentagonal entrance where a gray frosted wall bore the metallic inscription—”THE UNDERGROUND WORLD.”
This was the only nightclub in Huacheng that stayed open until the early hours, and it was exactly what Bai Kai referred to as the “Underground Realm.”
The twisted glass corridor was laid with gradient sea-blue floor lights, resembling a tunnel to another dimension. Behind the half-closed soundproof curtains, mysterious lights flickered, and a mixture of tobacco, alcohol, and perfume wafted in the air.
Bai Kai, dressed in a flashy white fitted suit and cherry-colored shirt, sat in a booth at the center of the nightclub. He listened to the pulsating electronic music in his ears, watching the young men and women swaying under the mesmerizing light of the dance floor, his deep-set eyes sharp as if waiting to hunt.
Suddenly, his phone rang. He took it out and saw it was Luxianbei calling. A smile immediately appeared on his face as he hurriedly got up and walked to a slightly quieter corner to answer the call.
“Hello? Is that you, Xiao Bei? Why are you calling me at this hour? I’m at the Underground Realm! Want to come over and have some fun?”
Xiao Bei was already an adult! Coming here to see the world was certainly better than hugging a copper trinket and sleeping all the time! Bai Kai thought. That thing was meant for house protection, not for doing strange things!
If something went wrong, it would be a big problem!
“Hey, I’m about to d*e! There’s a monster outside my window, I…”
On the other end of the line came Luxianbei’s tense voice, and Bai Kai’s smile instantly stiffened.
“Hello? Hello! Xiao Bei, you said monster? How could there be a monster? Didn’t I give you a Ming King statue?”
“…”
There was no response from the other end, and Bai Kai’s expression gradually became serious.
“d*mn it!”
“Xiao Bei, listen to me, no matter what happens, you must stay with the Great Sun Vairocana statue! Trust me, it’s very useful!”
Not knowing if Luxianbei was still on the line, Bai Kai shouted into the phone again, then turned his head to look toward the center of the dance floor.
In the midst of the revelers, there was a tall, slender woman with exquisitely deep features and a hint of exotic charm. She swayed her hips and seemed to radiate an unusual charm that made those around her fade in comparison and attracted countless gazes.
Bai Kai watched the woman, his eyes narrowing slightly as he muttered fiercely to himself, “You’d better not do anything tonight, or when I get back, you’ll have it coming!”
As if she had heard his mutterings, the woman turned her head and glanced in his direction, twitching her mouth into an awkward, stiff smile.
“Hmph!” Bai Kai snorted coldly, averted his gaze, and casually tossed his wine glass into a nearby trash can, quickly making his way toward the exit of the nightclub.
Once outside, walking on the empty streets, Bai Kai’s footsteps quickened. Complex silver patterns emerged on his cheeks and arms, his white suit billowed in the wind, fluttering and rustling, while his polished pointed shoes sparked against the pavement.
In the next moment, accompanied by a buzzing sound like a sword being drawn, a phantom of an ancient warrior flickered past, and Bai Kai’s figure suddenly moved, leaving a trail of white shadow on the street.
At the street corner.
The traffic police, who had been checking for drunk drivers all night, had started to feel sleepy. Suddenly, the speed detector beeped, jolting both of them awake as they hurried to the device, playing back the footage in slow motion. They both stood frozen in place.
“What on earth was that just now?!”
Looking at the frozen image of a figure running in an exaggerated posture, one of the officers whispered, “It looks like a… running cowherd?”
“…”
A man dressed like a cowherd was running at over 73.2KM/H on a midnight street?
That should, maybe, possibly be the rumored urban legend, right?
For a moment, the two exchanged glances, feeling a chill run down their spines.
On this chilly autumn rainy night, not only did they have to brave the wind and rain, working overtime to ensure the safety of the people, but they also had to endure the fright of an “urban legend.”
Night shifts were really not easy!
……
At the Huacheng Folk Culture Research Management Bureau.
In the quiet V Office, Jiang Li diligently flipped through the case files under the bright desk lamp.
Outside the window, a gentle breeze brought a fresh, damp scent, and the indigo wind chimes on the windowsill swayed in the wind, yet made no sound.
“Ding-ling—!”
The wind stopped, but the wind chimes continued to sway, producing a faint sound.
The fishbone-shaped clapper struck the bell, first producing a slight echo that lingered in the wind, like a fine needle dropping on smooth porcelain, followed by a series of crisp notes that were both pleasant and inexplicably tense.
Hearing the sound of the wind chimes, Jiang Li suddenly turned around, looking at the clapper that struck the bell fiercely, her eyes narrowing slightly.
Did it succeed? That was fast.
The spell that Ahua secretly left on that guy took effect, moving the wind chimes. This indicated that Mr. Rabbit’s spirit energy fluctuation had appeared nearby!
Thinking this, Jiang Li hurriedly picked up the satellite phone on her desk and called the Little Maid.
However…
After several seconds, Jiang Li looked at the phone in her hand, which remained unanswered, her expression gradually becoming grave. Her clear eyes flickered as she sighed softly, picking up the cane leaning against the office desk, she left the office and walked out the door of the Siye Society.
I can only go in person. Jiang Li thought.
Although she didn’t know why Ahua, who was keeping an eye on Luxianbei, and the special operations team had lost contact, the bait was placed by her, and within her ability, she would not allow the bait to come to harm!
On the rain-soaked bluestone road, Jiang Li leaned on her cane, limping slightly. It seemed every step was laborious, but her speed did not decrease at all.
Soon, her slim figure appeared to merge into the hazy rain of the ancient street, slowly dispersing and disappearing from sight.
……
A “click” echoed in the dimly-lit apartment as something pried open the window lock.
A cool breeze swirled in with a few strands of raindrops through the open window, tugging at the gray-white curtains, and vaguely behind the curtain, a shadow of a person with a rabbit head was struggling to squeeze through the opening.
In the chaos, Luxianbei’s phone fell to the ground with a “clang,” rolling out to a corner under the bed, still connected, with Water Brother’s urgent voice intermittently coming through the receiver.
“… stay with the Great Sun Vairocana statue… it’s very useful…”
Immediately, the phone screen flickered twice and then went dark.
Ming King statue? Luxianbei was stunned. What time was it, and Water Brother still believed in such an IQ tax scam? That™ was a hot item on Taobao! Could that thing actually save lives?!
Though his mind was filled with such complaints, Luxianbei still leaped onto the bed, clutching the beloved Ming King statue tightly!
Not a case of saying one thing and doing another!
With sincere heart, comes results!
“Clap, clap!”
The sound of feet landing from above echoed in the living room, followed by an odd laughter.
“Ah ha, you’re here!”
Hearing the strange laughter, Luxianbei’s head buzzed, abruptly halting his thoughts, and he instinctively held the Ming King statue tighter, his knuckles whitening from the force, a sensation of electric tingling instantly spreading from his scalp to the soles of his feet.
His eyes suddenly burned as if they were on fire. His vision blurred in waves, making it hard to discern between reality and the chaotic, dark lines twisting and dancing in front of him.
In the next moment, he felt as if he had entered some strange state; darkness began to fade, and the colors before him reversed: red turned to green, blue to orange, yellow to indigo, all colors sometimes clearly defined, sometimes overlapping, drifting through a misty haze.
Suddenly, his vision brightened, penetrating the walls of the room, revealing countless bizarre shadows.
Eye-like beads shrank in a corner of the ceiling, motionless, while a few tufts of hair shivered beneath the sofa like stitched-together fur balls. A tattered white sleep dress curled into a ball hiding behind the bathroom mirror, seeping a large patch of water, and…
A tall figure in a black cloak, drenched from the rain, advanced slowly while dragging a bloody crowbar.
“Clop—clop—!”
Strange footsteps echoed in the living room, getting closer, with the sickening sound of metal scraping against the floor.
Wet footprints extended from beneath the windowsill all the way to the staircase, and “Mr. Rabbit” paused for a few seconds before heading up the stairs, hesitating slightly, as if intentionally controlling his pace to avoid making noise.
“Thud—thud—!”
As “Mr. Rabbit” drew closer to the upstairs, Luxianbei let out a confused voice.
“Eh? What’s…”
He looked at the head of “Mr. Rabbit,” his gaze penetrating the lifelike rabbit mask, revealing an ordinary man’s face.
Wait! A passerby wearing a rabbit head costume?
This was somewhat different from what he had seen in the dream, right?!
Could it be…
Could he not be the Mr. Rabbit from the dream?
Luxianbei frowned at the thought, leaning forward to confirm once more what he had seen, but at that moment, a sharp pain shot through his eyes.
The image in front of him flickered twice like a bad signal, then returned to normal, plunging into darkness.
Luxianbei, “…”
If it weren’t an urban legend, perhaps there’d still be a chance to resist!
But, is what I see really true?
If I misjudge and act recklessly, would it all be for nothing?
“Thud—thud—!”
Luxianbei wrestled with his inner turmoil as the downstairs “Mr. Rabbit” continued to ascend, the intermittent footsteps making him feel that he could appear at the staircase at any moment.
Perhaps finally unable to bear the suffocating pressure of that slow approach or perhaps the thought that “the person downstairs might not be Mr. Rabbit” along with the surging adrenaline gave Luxianbei a bit of courage.
In the darkness, a flicker of fierce determination flashed in her severely bloodshot eyes. She turned and grabbed the Ming King statue, hoisting it onto her shoulder, standing up angrily.
With nowhere left to retreat, who wasn’t a “reckless man”?
When one was pushed to desperation, they would even bite the rabbit!
Today, I™ will either k*ll you or be killed by you!
Hearing the footsteps of Luxianbei getting up upstairs, the downstairs “Mr. Rabbit” suddenly quickened his pace, striding up, covering several steps at a time, and in an instant, he appeared at the staircase.
……
Rain had begun to fall again at some point, and a flash of lightning streaked across the sky, illuminating Luxianbei’s figure.
His deep brown hair was disheveled, his face pale without any color, and his eyes were bloodshot, as if about to bleed. On his shoulder rested a strangely shaped large “copper hammer”…
Seeing such a silhouette emerge abruptly from the darkness, “Mr. Rabbit” clearly paused, his steps stuttering.
Then…
He instinctively took half a step back.
Outside the window, the electricity flashed by the gaps in the dark clouds gradually faded away and vanished.
Darkness once again swallowed the youth’s figure.
Before “Mr. Rabbit” could adapt to the dark scene before him, a sudden rush of wind whooshed past his ear, and as something whizzed through the darkness, he lost consciousness from a powerful blow to the head just before seeing the Great Sun Vairocana statue glaring with a majestic face…
