Chapter Seventeen: Old House
In the dimly lit corridor, the walls were starkly black and white, and the ceiling, adorned with a crystal chandelier, showed signs of peeling paint. The heavy dark gray lead doors on either side were intricately engraved with complex patterns, with a golden metallic liquid flowing between the patterns like mercury.
Although what was locked behind the doors was unseen, standing in the corridor, one could feel the intense malevolence seeping through each lead door.
Jiang Li had finally managed to quiet Bai Kai down using the stain of “You are illegally using D-class spirit energy items for personal use” and followed them out of the dissection room.
However, An Qing thought that letting him roll around on the ground a bit longer wouldn’t be a problem; it could save her the trouble of cleaning up for the entire week.
Passing through the lengthy corridor and ascending the spiral staircase carved with strange beast patterns, Jiang Li lost track of time before she saw the light again, when suddenly, Bai Kai stopped in his tracks.
“Why aren’t you moving?” An Qing looked at Bai Kai in confusion, “Didn’t you say the person involved is your godson? Wouldn’t it be better to handle it yourself?”
“I thought about it, but I won’t go. I don’t want Xiao Bei to know I’m involved in this.”
Bai Kai leaned against the wall at the staircase entrance, lit a cigarette, and slowly exhaled the smoke.
“Clap—thud—!”
“Hiss—ah—!”
“If it weren’t for this mess, I wouldn’t even want him to know that urban legends exist!” Bai Kai said, his peripheral vision glancing at Jiang Li, with sharp light swirling in his eyes like a sword.
“Why?” An Qing asked, puzzled. “Isn’t it good for favored sons to inherit their fathers’ businesses? I heard he even had precognitive dreams; he seems quite capable! With how tight manpower is in Huacheng, a little more help would be great!”
“What do you know?” Bai Kai scoffed, about to say more but was interrupted by Jiang Li.
“I understand his thinking; he doesn’t want his juniors to end up locked away like those guys downstairs for eternity, so he doesn’t want him involved with the Siye Society, right?”
Bai Kai, with a cigarette in his mouth, glanced at Jiang Li, rolled his eyes, and snorted, “Hmph! Finally said something sensible! But don’t think this means I’ll forgive you!”
“You misunderstood; I understand you, but I don’t completely agree with you.”
Jiang Li gently shook her head.
“What you’re doing is putting shackles on him, blindfolding him; do you really think he can live a happy life knowing nothing?”
“As an independent thinker, you should let him choose for himself regarding such matters.”
“And then what?” Bai Kai retorted, raising his voice a bit, “Become monsters like us, killing each other with no idea when they’ll d*e? He’s only eighteen!”
As he spoke, Bai Kai looked at Jiang Li’s youthful face, suddenly recalling she was just a girl in her teens, even a year younger than Lu Yibei. She had only survived a greatly harmful urban legend event and become a spiritual ability user, leading to her current state.
Though he felt some sympathy for her plight, wasn’t she the best proof of what happens after joining the Siye Society? Some people were alive, but she was already dead!
Upon thinking this, Bai Kai fell silent and snorted coldly as he turned to leave.
“Hmph!”
Apologizing was absolutely out of the question! In this lifetime, it was impossible! That would tarnish my image as the most handsome and aloof man in Huacheng! Bai Kai thought.
An Qing watched Bai Kai walk away, then turned to Jiang Li, blinking her big eyes and pointing to her own nose, smiling wryly, “Do I look like a monster? I feel just fine! A lot of brothers out there are asking for my WeChat!”
Her porcelain-like face had a few tiny bl**d spots, and her deep brown eyes faintly reflected a hint of crimson. When she smiled, her bright red lips revealed two sharp canine teeth, and her hands were stained with dark red patches from bl**d.
Jiang Li looked at An Qing, expressionless, and nodded, “Yes!”
……
After questioning and finishing the record, the little maid led Lu Yibei to the reception room next to the interrogation room, throwing out a line, “Just wait here!” and left.
As the wooden door closed, the sound of the lock clicking echoed, as if afraid Lu Yibei would run away.
“Hmph! Thinking like a petty person about a gentleman’s mind!” Lu Yibei muttered, his gaze involuntarily drawn to the window.
Through the gaps in the blinds, he could vaguely see the ginkgo leaves in the garden falling with the wind, as if a golden fine rain were falling.
“Click—click—!” The sound of prying at the window echoed in the reception room, then fell silent.
Lu Yibei, “……” I just wanted to check if their windows were sturdy, not planning to escape!
Lu Yibei didn’t know how long he’d been in the reception room; he only remembered “checking” the sturdiness of the doors and windows and rummaging through the bookshelf’s displays. Finally, just as he was about to confirm whether the golden terracotta soldier model on the coffee table was real gold, the reception room door opened, and a delicate-faced, cold-tempered silver-haired girl limped inside.
When Jiang Li entered the reception room, she immediately saw Lu Yibei with the head of the terracotta soldier in his mouth, looking dazed. She said flatly, “It’s fake.” Then, as if she hadn’t seen anything, she walked past him and sat down opposite him.
Lu Yibei shrank his neck, slowly letting the terracotta soldier’s head out of his mouth, carefully placing both hands back on the coffee table, and returned to his seat with a straight posture.
“Hello, I’m Jiang Li. I will explain the follow-up matters to you. After that, you can go back.”
Lu Yibei tilted his head, surprised, and asked, “Just like that, I can go back? What if that Mr. Rabbit comes looking for me again?”
“So you’re just planning to wash your hands of it? It’s not that I’m small-minded; rather, you didn’t act very kindly before, and I can’t feel at ease about it!”
Lu Yibei spoke earnestly, his tone implying something like “As long as the thief doesn’t d*e, how can I sleep peacefully?”
“Abomination types are not malevolent spirits and typically won’t obsess excessively over a target,” Jiang Li explained. “After all, we are not your babysitters and can’t watch over you all night. It would be awkward for everyone if we saw something private, wouldn’t it?”
“You have three recent records of visiting illicit websites, thirty-two visits to fan comic sites, and…”
Lu Yibei’s face was calm, but his cheeks had already turned red. He couldn’t help but interrupt, “Stop! Are you checking my house records? Can we not bring this up?”
“Okay!” Jiang Li nodded. “Rest assured, I never said I wouldn’t take care of you, did I?”
“According to the records, you used to live on Mudan Street? If possible, please return to your old house for a while; this way, we can ensure your safety.”
“What do you mean by that…” Lu Yibei frowned, glancing outside the window, confused. “Is your place close to Mudan Street?”
“In fact, it’s on Mudan Street,” Jiang Li replied.
“Uh…” Lu Yibei froze for a moment, leaned a bit closer to Jiang Li, raised a hand, and whispered, “You told me the organization’s base address; you won’t come to silence me later, right?”
“I won’t,” Jiang Li said calmly. “To outsiders, we’re just a subordinate unit of the cultural bureau. If you spill, I can contact the colleagues at Yun Kang Psychiatric Hospital under the pretext of you being a mental patient and have you taken away.”
“Hiss—!”
Hearing this, Lu Yibei gasped for air.
He had heard of the infamous Yun Kang Psychiatric Hospital, known for housing severely mentally ill patients; once you went in, you could hardly come out. He hadn’t expected that this mysterious organization had connections there!
Could it be that those locked up in Yun Kang were actually people who went mad after being attacked by urban legends? They could even be the urban legends themselves!
As Lu Yibei thought, a chill crept up his spine.
“Then, does your organization have no reconciliation plan?”
Holding onto this mysterious organization’s thigh was something Lu Yibei had intended from the start, and now that the opportunity lay before him, he certainly wouldn’t let it slip.
Of course, he didn’t want to be the kind charging into battle; he was more of the type that quietly supports the successful woman behind the scenes.
“We do have one, but if you want to join, you need at least one or two special skills. We don’t raise idle people,” Jiang Li said, a hint of difficulty appearing on her face as she spoke. “Also, if you lie and it’s found out later, you will be sent to Yun Kang Psychiatric Hospital.”
“…” Lu Yibei hesitated, pondering in silence.
Seeing Mr. Rabbit’s killing dream might have been a coincidence, and he didn’t know if it would still hold true in the future. If it didn’t, being deemed a liar would be troublesome.
The girl he saw in the dream might not have any effect either, and telling her could be a ticket to the psychiatric hospital.
What special skill do I even have? Cooking?
Thinking of this, Lu Yibei weakly asked, “Does cooking count? If not, I can only do a split for you.”
“That works.” Jiang Li nodded and took out a prepared contract and a pen from her bag, handing it over to Lu Yibei. “Then let’s start by signing a temporary employment contract, one for each of us, for a month. Whether to renew it after the Mr. Rabbit incident is resolved will be up to you.”
Lu Yibei looked at the contract on the coffee table, scratching his head, mentally cursing. “A split works? I feel like she planned for me to join from the very beginning! Just took a roundabout way to wait for me to say it myself.”
Jiang Li seemed to sense Lu Yibei’s thoughts and, after he signed his name on the contract, said quietly, “Exactly.”
Lu Yibei, “??? Why do I feel so uneasy? It’s like I signed a contract to sell myself.”
Jiang Li neatly put away the contract and looked at Lu Yibei. “Now you’re a temporary agent of our Siye Society. To ensure your safety, you can choose one D-class spirit energy item for self-defense.”
“Um…” Lu Yibei thought for a moment. “Then can you return the Ming King statue to me? I heard from that little maid that it’s a D-class spirit energy item?”
“Not going to reconsider?” Jiang Li said, frowning slightly. “In fact, we have thirty-three D-class spirit energy items available for you to choose from.”
“Among the numerous D-class spirit energy items, the [Blessed Great Sun Vairocana Statue] can be considered the largest in size; it may not be convenient for you to carry around.”
“No thanks, I’m nostalgic.” Lu Yibei said expressionlessly. “I’ve been holding the Ming King statue to sleep lately. Without it, I’m worried I won’t be able to sleep.”
……
Half an hour later.
“Finally out!”
Standing on the cobblestone street of Mudan Street, Lu Yibei stretched, exhaling a long breath of stale air and breathing in the humid, fresh air, feeling as if reborn.
Jiang Li hadn’t lied to him; the Huacheng Folk Culture Research Management Bureau was indeed not far from his old house, less than two hundred meters in a straight line. Even though the ancient street was winding, it took him less than three minutes to reach his front door.
The white walls and gray tiles, with an antique architectural style, were not much different from other houses on the street.
Under the eaves, two stone drums stood with copper rings on the tightly locked door, which had accumulated a thin layer of dust. A wooden plaque hung above the door, simply stating the name “Luxi Chuancaiguan.”
This was where Lu Yibei’s old house was located. Not long ago, his family had not been this big; the first floor was a breakfast shop, and the upstairs attic was for living, together not even thirty square meters. His childhood had been spent in this somewhat cramped space.
Two years ago, his father had spent a large part of his savings to take over the storefronts of three or four neighboring houses, tore down the walls, and started the renovations, eagerly preparing to open his restaurant, only to unexpectedly…
Standing in front of his house, Lu Yibei shook his head gently, sighed, “Oh! The former emperor died halfway through the venture!” He took out the key and opened the door.
The old house had been unoccupied for a long time; since Lu Yibei had been discharged from the hospital, he had been living in the new house on Xuefu Road. Even though Water Brother would occasionally come to help clean, it couldn’t stop the house from becoming deserted. As soon as Lu Yibei opened the door, a faint smell of mold mixed with dust rushed at him.
Seeing this, he sighed, placed the Ming King statue on the dining table in the hall, rolled up his sleeves, and headed towards the bathroom to fetch a broom and a cloth to start cleaning.
Just halfway through the cleaning, a light knocking sound came from behind him.
“Knock, knock—!”
“Huh! Why is your place so dirty? You little brat, how long has it been since you cleaned?”
Hearing the voice, Lu Yibei set down the broom in his hand, turned around, and saw a burly man in a long coat, broad-shouldered, with a full beard—dark and sturdy.
Despite looking like a rough man, the guy had a delicate name, Su Mi, whose family had been in the handmade Shu embroidery business for generations, living across the street and being Lu Yibei’s old neighbor, the same age as him.
“Tsk, I haven’t been back for a long time, right? Isn’t it normal for it to get this dirty?” Lu Yibei pouted. “Why don’t you help me clean up?”
Su Mi was taken aback. “Haven’t been back for a long time? No way! I’ve heard someone inside for ages! That night, I even heard a girl singing! I thought you were dating or…”
Before he could finish, Su Mi noticed that Lu Yibei’s expression wasn’t quite right and abruptly stopped his words.
“Nothing’s going on?”
“Nothing…”
“Hiss—!”
Lu Yibei expressionlessly glanced around, and the shop, decorated in an antique pastoral style, surprisingly exuded a slightly chilly atmosphere.
This guy isn’t trying to scare me, is he?
It’s so close to the Siye Society; could any urban legends dare to act up here?
But what if?
Lu Yibei thought, throwing away the broom in his hand, expressionless, and shouldering the Ming King statue, walked up to Su Mi and said, “Forget it, it’s too dirty; I won’t clean now. I’ll stay at your place tonight! It’s not about being scared; we haven’t seen each other for so long; I just want to catch up with you.”
After saying that, he quickly locked the door and dashed into Su Mi’s home.
Su Mi turned back to glance at Lu Yibei’s old house. Through the gaps in the window, it seemed like he saw a shadow flash by inside. Remembering that just a few days ago, he was planning to eavesdrop on Lu Yibei and his “girlfriend” doing something embarrassing, he couldn’t help but feel a chill run down his spine and turned to run.
“Hey! You little brat, wait for me! Are you really not loyal?!”
