Chapter 37: The Whole Person Splits Open
“Hu—!”
Having disengaged from the role of Liangyue, Luxianbei slowly exhaled a breath of turbid air, her mind a mess, feeling somewhat frustrated.
She originally wanted to uncover the Pharaoh’s secret, but unexpectedly ended up drawing Liangyue. Not only did this not resolve her doubts, but rather, influenced by the dream of playing Liangyue, her emotions felt somewhat low.
d*mn it, things like blind boxes or lucky bags are indeed unreliable, it feels just like a scam! Luxianbei secretly cursed in her heart.
Someone said about a card pool? That’s different; a card pool tests culinary skills and true love—how can matters of true love be counted as scams?
While pondering, she looked again at the suitcase in the living room, frowning.
What to do now? Should I eat half of one?
But what if this time I draw the Brazilian Warrior God? Would I need to eat another half?
Thinking about it, Luxianbei secretly felt the changes in her body. After devouring the core of Liangyue’s urban legend, her hunger had nearly completely vanished; only a primal desire still compelled her to continue devouring.
“Lady Witch, what are you thinking?” Mafun asked as he noticed Luxianbei lost in thought for a long time.
Luxianbei glanced at Mafun out of the corner of her eye and frowned, saying, “I’m thinking, if I continue to devour, will there be any side effects?”
“Ha!” In the distance, the deformed Eye sneered, “You shameful thing, in the world of urban legends, there’s no other way but to forge ahead. Now that you have the chance to devour, if you don’t take it, one day you might turn into food for another urban legend and then it will be too late to regret.”
“If you don’t eat, then I—” the Eye started to say, but caught Luxianbei’s icy gaze and immediately changed his words, “I will… just keep it safe for you!”
Luxianbei, “…”
Perhaps the Eye was right. It was overly timid of me to hesitate now when clearly no side effects had appeared.
Cores of urban legends like this are probably not easy to preserve. Perhaps other urban legends would be attracted by their scent, leading to more trouble.
Since I can’t think of a better way to preserve them, I might as well use the most primal method—devour them all!
With this thought, a fierce glint flashed in Luxianbei’s eyes. She stepped forward, directly taking the remaining two cores of urban legends.
Only children make choices; adults want it all. If you buy all the lucky bags, you’re bound to select what you desire.
If not, I suggest reporting the merchant.
Luxianbei thought this, drew her kn*fe, and cut both cores in half before taking one half each into her mouth.
Uh, taking two at once feels a bit reckless; it’s better to be cautious.
The next moment, both pain and pleasure were magnified tremendously, erupting within her body all at once.
Her consciousness began to thin, as if beneath her shell was an empty void, merely a hollow shell.
Thus, Luxianbei fell into a dream once more.
……
“Ding ding dang—ding ding dang—!”
Luxianbei woke up to the sound of things being smashed, finding herself playing the role of the Pharaoh, huddled in a corner of the sofa, trembling as she looked at the quarreling couple in front of her.
The man and woman were her parents, and the source of their quarrel was her long-missing brother, Zhao Ke.
“Shut up! When have you ever cared for the kids? From eating, studying, to dressing, wasn’t I the one doing it all by myself? All you care about is business, business, business!” the woman yelled.
“Ha, you still have the nerve to say that?” the man retorted with a cold laugh. “I’ve been to his school; guess what everyone there says about him?”
“They say he’s a lunatic, a freak, an oddball. What he does at school doesn’t resemble anything normal! Just hearing about the things he did makes me feel disgusting!”
“This is the child you claim to have raised with your own hands? Tsk, marrying someone like you has really made me the unluckiest person alive!”
“What do you mean, Zhao? Are you saying you want a divorce?” the woman asked, tugging at the man.
“Then let it be!” the man pushed her away.
Listening to her parents argue, the Pharaoh was lost in complex thoughts.
How could her brother be a freak?
He used to be such a gentle person, never losing his temper at anyone. Something must have happened to him for him to change like this.
But what could he have encountered?
The once gentlest brother who treated her the best and talked to her about everything, since entering high school, seemed to have become a different person. It had been a long time since they had a good conversation.
Their last dialogue was over a month ago.
That day was a weekend, and her brother returned home from school seeming very happy, chatting with her a lot, but it was also quite strange.
He said he had found a way and would soon return to his old life, that school was no longer a terrifying place.
He mentioned that after this school trip, he might not come back for a long time and urged her to treat their parents well.
Later, her brother seemed to say a lot more, but the Pharaoh couldn’t remember clearly. She only recalled the afternoon sun being bl**d red. He left home without bringing a change of clothes, and his figure was swallowed by the bl**d-red sunset, as if he would never return.
The Pharaoh hadn’t understood much back then when her brother spoke those strange words, but now thinking back, it probably had a lot to do with his disappearance.
So she couldn’t help but feel some guilt, blaming herself for not telling their parents about her brother’s odd behavior sooner.
The Pharaoh looked up at her parents and noticed they were still arguing. She couldn’t quite understand the point of their argument; wasn’t the most important thing right now to search for her missing brother?
Then…
As the Pharaoh was lost in thought, her parents suddenly looked at her together, causing her body to shiver violently.
Their expressions were strange, a mix of vigilance and disdain, making the Pharaoh feel as if they were looking at a monster, akin to the unfinished Zhao Ke.
She was frightened by her parents’ gazes, standing up from her hiding place, disregarding their shouts, and hurriedly left the house, fleeing as if for her life.
Crossing through half of the community, she stopped in front of another villa, slightly adjusting her breath, and shouted towards the street-side window.
“Zhuo Huang! Zhuo Huang! Are you home?”
“Zhuo Huang!”
The Pharaoh stood on the grass below the villa, shouting the name of someone who was her and her brother’s best friend.
Suddenly faced with the current situation, she didn’t know how to confront it; she wanted to find someone to discuss it with.
However…
After a series of shouts, instead of the person she wanted to find, she was met with a barrage of angry insults from Zhuo Huang’s family.
“You freak! Your brother is a freak, and so are you! Your whole family is a bunch of freaks—get lost! Don’t come back and ruin our Xiao Huang!”
The cold words were like sharp blades, piercing Zhao Ming’s heart. She stared at that window for a long time, feeling lost and desolate.
