**Chapter 16: The Evil Face Pattern**
The rain stopped, and the morning light filtered through the rain-washed clouds, casting a golden-red glow over the city.
A girl wearing a red scarf sat atop a towering glass-walled building, her legs wrapped in white stockings slipping out from under a lace short skirt, gently swaying as she lightly kicked her khaki ankle boots, her clear eyes gazing at the rising sun in the distance.
“System?”
“I’m here, host.”
“You always eat those strange things; don’t you get sick?”
“No, host. Cleaning up the filth of the world is my responsibility.”
“Can you eat other things?”
“No, host.”
“Then I’m relieved.” The girl sighed, pulling out a box of strawberry vanilla-flavored Pocky from the opening of her shirt, tearing open the packaging, taking out a stick, and carefully bringing it to her pink lips with both hands, looking just like a squirrel guarding its food.
“But… why do my snacks always mysteriously disappear? It’s like someone is stealing them!” The girl tilted her head, munching, and muttered.
The system responded, “…… No, that’s just because you eat too quickly, isn’t it?!”
……
“Name?”
Lu Yibei woke from a slumber, opening his eyes to find himself in a familiar place, confronted by a familiar face asking this familiar question.
Do these mysterious organizations not consider how the subject feels? I just walked along the ghost gate!
(╯一_一)╯┴—┴
“I mean, big sister, can you ask something new? We just saw each other a few hours ago!” Lu Yibei said expressionlessly.
The little maid slapped the table, hands on her hips, and admonished, “Less chit-chat, do you think I want to ask you?” I’m worried about turning on the switch of your trash-talking machine!
“Hey——!” Lu Yibei sighed helplessly, “My name is Lu Yibei! I guess your next question is how old I am, right?”
The little maid rolled her eyes, “No, I just wanted to simply inquire if you remember what happened last night when you were attacked?” Since you said that, I won’t!
“Last night…” Lu Yibei thought for a moment and frowned, “After I got home, I tossed and turned in bed, and not long after, someone knocked on the door, then he came in, and then…”
At this point, Lu Yibei suddenly recalled the scene of swinging the Ming King Statue at “Mr. Rabbit,” followed by “Mr. Rabbit” rolling down the stairs and lying on the ground motionless; that lingering stench of decayed bl**d seemed to resurface in his nostrils.
An intense feeling of discomfort washed over him, and he couldn’t help but gag, his face turning pale.
Lu Yibei’s reaction seemed to have been anticipated by the little maid; seeing this, she gently shook her head and handed over a tissue box and a cup of Bai Kaisui.
Once Lu Yibei calmed down a bit, the little maid continued, “If I tell you that you did not k*ll anyone, would you feel better?” Her tone bore a hint of sympathy.
“Then… is that an urban legend?” Lu Yibei asked, staring blankly at the cup of water.
“Sort of,” the little maid nodded.
Her reply was like a soothing balm, instantly relieving a lot of Lu Yibei’s discomfort.
“That’s good, it’s better that way…”
As he said this, Lu Yibei suddenly seemed to think of something, and a flash of anger appeared in his reddened eyes.
“d*mn it! You all treated me like bait, right!? Since you want someone to be bait, why are there no protective measures?”
“I see, you think my dying doesn’t matter, right? d*mn it, you group of heartless beasts! Is there no humanity left?!”
“Don’t give me that nonsense about being light as a feather but heavy as a mountain; I don’t buy it! I’m hurt, my little heart has suffered serious damage!”
Lu Yibei shouted, his chest heaving, his red eyes fixated fiercely on the little maid, his cruel gaze seeming sharp enough to tear off a piece of flesh from her.
“I’m sorry, in fact, I’m the one responsible for protecting you…” The little maid lowered her head, biting her lip, “And, unfortunately, the thing you killed was just a low-level aberration, Mr. Rabbit…”
“Still not caught.”
After venting his anger, Lu Yibei’s fury gradually subsided. “Then I guess that counts as eliminating a threat to society? Can I get a commendation? It would be best if there was recognition for heroic deeds; I heard it can earn credits.”
The little maid looked up at Lu Yibei’s serious face, tilting her head, suddenly feeling a lot of question marks in her mind.
From an irate accusation to a shameless attempt to profit, his ability to switch so effortlessly left one in awe; how did he pull it off?
……
Meanwhile, in the basement of the Huacheng Folk Culture Management Bureau.
In a pristine white room, the mingled scent of disinfectant and bl**d drifted through the air, accompanied by the echoes of heavy metal rock music.
A corpse, bearing a grotesque wound on its forehead, lay on a silver dissection table, its deep purple body dotted with many livor mortis spots.
Beside the dissection table stood a woman around twenty-five or twenty-six years old, gently swaying her tall, curvy body to the rhythm of the rock music.
She wore a black professional outfit topped with a white lab coat, the collar of her shirt slightly unbuttoned, and the alluring cleavage seemed to emphasize – look at me, come quick!
Her long, jet-black hair was skillfully pinned up, and a bl**d-red lip held a lady’s cigarette, her elegant nose softly humming along to the rhythm as if lost in the music, while her willow-shaped scalpel accurately sliced open the corpse bit by bit.
The woman was named An Qing, a key operative numbered “Lu” in the Huacheng Siye Society.
Before long, An Qing halted, her slightly seductive eyes narrowing as she carefully examined the already dissected body on the table, frowning in thought for a moment, glancing at her wristwatch before turning to press her recording pen.
“August 29, 8:37, individual record number 1574; the individual is a non-ranked aberration, with severely decayed internal organs, the back has…”
Before An Qing could finish, suddenly, footsteps echoed behind her.
“Tap—tap—!” The sound was abrupt and intermittent, mixed with the soft clattering of metal hitting the ground.
Quickly, the dissection room doors opened, and Jiang Li walked in.
She glanced at the corpse on the dissection table, then turned her gaze to the woman beside it. “I knew as soon as a new urban legend body appeared, you’d definitely be here.”
An Qing set down the recording pen, flicked away the cigarette b*tt with the tip of her high heel, looked at Jiang Li, and said with a wry smile, “You make it sound like I have some strange hobby.”
Jiang Li eyed the cigarette b*tt on the ground, raising her brow slightly. “So, what did you find?” Her tone showed no fluctuations.
“Of course, during the dissection, I found that the man’s precise time of d*ath should be three to five days ago. In his body, there are remnants of ghost mushrooms, bulltear glands, and refined saltpeter…”
“Are you saying it was engineered by someone?” Jiang Li bit her finger, interrupting.
Ghost mushrooms, bulltear glands, and refined saltpeter are materials used in evil rituals; she had seen them in a report from an urban legend incident from the West.
“Exactly,” An Qing nodded, smiling, “In addition, I have another major discovery that you should look at.”
After saying that, An Qing turned around and easily flipped the corpse over, exposing its bloodied back to Jiang Li’s view.
Jiang Li examined the back of the corpse, puzzled. “Although it’s a bit unusual to be destroyed like this, what’s the big discovery?”
“Look closely,” An Qing pointed at the corpse on the dissection table, smilingly prompted.
Upon hearing that, Jiang Li frowned, covering her mouth and nose, leaning in closer for careful observation.
On the corpse’s back, there were numerous wounds arranged in a regular pattern, with certain cuts appearing parallel to one another, as if cleaved by some creature’s claws.
Jiang Li’s gaze swept across the wounds, preparing to look a second time when suddenly, as if recollecting something, her expression turned serious.
Among the numerous wounds, one was significantly deeper than the others, nearly penetrating completely through the flesh, revealing the bone beneath. The deep red lines were smooth and gracefully traced some sort of pattern.
A faint blue light flickered in Jiang Li’s eyes, filtering out the distractions from the other wounds, and soon she reconstructed the pattern in her mind.
It seemed to be some kind of mask, extremely distorted, with one eye high and the other low, resembling two bl**d holes of different sizes. The shape of the mask was entirely misshapen, intertwined with eerie patterns that made anyone who looked at it feel a wave of unease.
Retracting her gaze, Jiang Li turned to An Qing, “Is it the Evil Face Pattern?”
“You recognized it? You’re as sharp as ever!” An Qing raised her eyebrows, a meaningful smile gracing her lips. “I just wonder if it was learned from the Solar Eclipse Society or the Miracle Cult; that rabbit seems to have found a powerful ally!”
The Evil Face Pattern is a particularly sinister spell formula that allows upper-level urban legends to control or possess lower-level ones or other beings. If necessary, it can also obliterate the controlled individual, completely severing ties.
That rabbit must have sensed that it was being targeted, which is why it sent a puppet to test the waters, Jiang Li thought. An Qing was right; Mr. Rabbit had indeed latched onto a heavy-hitting ally.
Lu Yibei as bait cannot be used anymore, but it’s certainly too dangerous to let him loose like this.
Should I have him stay temporarily with the Siye Society?
As Jiang Li was pondering, resting her chin on her hand, a sudden knock on the door interrupted her thoughts.
“Knock knock knock——! Knock knock knock——!”
“You b*stard cripple, open the door! Don’t stay inside without making a sound! I know you’re in there! You have the guts to use someone else’s son as bait, but you don’t have the guts to open the door, huh?! Hmph!”
“Not coming out, huh? If you don’t come out, then I’m not leaving today! I’ll just sleep here; I’ll leave when you come out!”
Hearing the loud, shrill yelling from outside, Jiang Li and An Qing exchanged glances, both instinctively pressing their temples, letting out a long sigh.
“Hey——!”
