Chapter 54: Unknown Components on the Bamboo Slips
Seeing Du Sixian appear at the entrance of the Siye Society and behaving quite intimately with An Qing, an ominous premonition subtly arose in Lu Xibei’s heart.
Although “The Book of Siye” mentioned that higher-level urban legends are mysteriously connected to their dependents, it does not state that dependents cannot betray their masters!
Have there not been many cases throughout history of selling out one’s master for personal gain? How thrilling it must be to stab a kn*fe in the back of a big shot! Lu Xibei thought.
In any case, he felt that if someone left a dependent mark on him, he would definitely find a way to break free of their control. If no methods came to mind, siding with the Siye Society might not be a bad choice.
He already pictured An Qing learning about the activities he was involved in from Du Sixian, with his heart filled with righteous indignation and a surging sense of justice that couldn’t be quelled.
Then at that moment he saw them, with a wave of the hand and a command, seventeen or eighteen muscular men leaped out from the dark corners, executing a series of strongman moves, subduing him on the spot, sending him off to the Yun Kang Psychiatric Hospital to be “planted like chrysanthemums.”
Oh no, oh no…
At this point, there was definitely no way to dodge, so did he have to fight back? Lu Xibei thought; what if he got lucky and went on a rampage?
But how the heck would he transform during the day? Was he supposed to teach them all a set of military boxing?
Lu Xibei thought while An Qing and Du Sixian approached him. He immediately felt a sense of danger, clenched his fists, yet all the imagined scenarios did not unfold.
An Qing stepped forward, slightly pausing, smiled charmingly, pointed at Lu Xibei, and introduced him to Du Sixian, saying, “Oh, by the way, let me introduce this interesting guy. His name is Lu Xibei, and he joined the Siye Society a few weeks before you. You can barely consider yourselves contemporaries!”
“Lu Xibei?” Du Sixian’s bright eyes turned strangely, and she extended her hand to Lu Xibei, smiling lightly, “Nice to meet you, please take care of me from now on!”
For some reason, Du Sixian did not mention that Lu Xibei shared the same symptoms as her, as if she had never heard of Lu Xibei’s name at all.
Seeing this, Lu Xibei instinctively reached out his hand but hesitated for a few seconds, his hand hovering in the air before swiftly pulling it back.
Is there a trick here!?
Seeing Lu Xibei extend his hand, Du Sixian’s smile faltered.
This person… has a problem, right?
Noticing this, An Qing patted Du Sixian on the shoulder and smoothed things over, saying, “Ah, don’t mind him. He’s just like that; his personality is a bit strange. You’ll be fine once you get to know him better!”
“Let’s go inside. As long as you pass the final test, you’ll be a full member of the Siye Society.”
With that, An Qing pulled Du Sixian along as they walked away.
Lu Xibei watched the two leave until their figures disappeared at the corridor entrance, then let out a slight sigh of relief.
However, before he could relax, Jiang Li’s voice drifted into his ears.
She had been quietly observing him from the side, like an audience waiting for a good show to begin, until An Qing and Du Sixian left.
“I noticed something’s off with you.”
“Is there?”
“Yeah!” Jiang Li nodded confidently, resting her chin thoughtfully for a moment before continuing, “When you were looking at that girl just now, your gaze was very strange, like…”
“Like what?” Lu Xibei weakly repeated, his throat tightening.
Jiang Li said seriously, “Honestly tell me, do you have a crush on her? From the way you hesitated to shake her hand, I could see you were nervous—it seemed shy.”
“Uh…” Lu Xibei opened his mouth but found himself at a loss for words.
Was that shyness? That was fear! Leader, you probably haven’t been in a relationship before, right?
Although I haven’t either; tsk, why does a single dog suffer for being single?
Lu Xibei thought, and to avoid raising Jiang Li’s suspicions, he decided to play along with her.
“Honestly, I’m really embarrassed; you’re quite perceptive, Leader. But I wouldn’t say I like her—she just really resembles someone I saw in a dream…”
Wait, a dream!
Mentioning dreams, Lu Xibei frowned slightly as something flickered through his mind.
His intuition told him it was important, yet it remained vague, like a bubble drifting away with the wind; he tried to grasp it but was interrupted by Jiang Li.
She patted Lu Xibei’s shoulder, saying, “Although I’m not fond of office romances, I want to tell you to give it a try! Sometimes you won’t know…”
“Won’t know how excellent you are?”
“No.” Jiang Li gave him a disapproving look, saying calmly, “Won’t know how inadequate you are.”
Lu Xibei, “…” Does this person only say things that aren’t uplifting?
The two fell silent for a moment, looking at the gradually dimming sunlight over Mudan Street.
“Leader, don’t we look like an old couple who are too exhausted to move?” Lu Xibei joked.
Jiang Li replied blandly, “I think we resemble the stone lions at the entrance…”
“So should I step on a ball?”
“…” Jiang Li fell silent for a moment and then asked, “Do you have anything else? If not, you should hurry back. It’s getting dark.”
“Actually, I wanted to ask something.” Lu Xibei said, “When can I officially become a member?”
Originally, Lu Xibei had planned to wait until he finished telling his story before bringing it up with Jiang Li. But with Du Sixian’s sudden appearance at the Siye Society, he felt a strong sense of urgency and needed to expedite his plan.
He needed to get in, keep an eye on Du Sixian, and prevent her from causing any trouble.
“You want to become a full member?” Jiang Li frowned.
“Of course! I dream about it. After all, temporary workers have no rights!”
“Becoming a full member…” Jiang Li hesitated, her gaze lost in thought, and after a moment continued, “If you really want to join the Siye Society, then just wait a bit longer; it’s not the right time yet.”
“Ah? Why could that person just join directly? I have to wait? There won’t be any exams, trials, or political reviews, will there? Leader, that’s unfair treatment! Disregarding public opinion and losing the people’s trust will lead to big trouble.”
“That person has seventeen or eighteen buildings in his family; do you?” Jiang Li replied calmly.
Lu Xibei, “…”
d*mn, a pay-to-win player!
……
Lu Xibei walked away dejectedly. Watching his retreating figure, Jiang Li let out a gentle sigh.
“Sigh… just wait a bit longer!”
At least, she needed to wait for Bai Kai to return.
A few days ago, after Bai Kai parted ways with Lu Xibei, he thought for a long time and, taking advantage of the night, sneaked into Amber Hall without bringing any instruments.
When he found Jiang Li, Bai Kai earnestly asked her to fill in for him for two weeks, saying that Lu Xibei might propose to formally join the Siye Society, and he needed time to gather the core and materials for drawing spirit patterns of urban legend entities.
In his words, “My little Bei has to have the best and most suitable spirit patterns if he wants to become a spiritual ability user. The inventory of the Huacheng Siye Society is all garbage!”
Though he said he didn’t want to, Bai Kai was quite serious about helping Lu Xibei join the Siye Society.
If he couldn’t help him choose the best path, he’d at least help smooth the one he chose.
What a loving father! Jiang Li thought, feeling a pang of envy.
……
Lu Xibei emerged from Mudan Street just after five o’clock in the afternoon. With night approaching, he hurriedly hailed a taxi and headed towards Jingyi Apartment.
Once it reached five o’clock, Huacheng was gradually entering the evening rush hour; everyone hurried to get home before dark, and traffic congestion began to show.
In the city where concrete met steel, the taxi moved slowly under the setting sun.
The driver was a quiet young man, so uneventful that Lu Xibei was feeling drowsy from the silence, almost missing Uncle Zhang Shan…
In this tranquil atmosphere, Lu Xibei began to think quietly.
Although Jiang Li interrupted his thoughts earlier, he remained keenly aware of that important information that had fleetingly crossed his mind.
The dream… the dream…
What did I dream about last night?
Oh right, I dreamt about that mysterious space, the strange rooftop in the ruined city. It seemed there were many people hiding in the city, shouting something at me, and… and…
People often struggle to remember dream details after waking up, and Lu Xibei tried to recollect but found his thoughts shrouded in a mist, unclear.
Time flowed unknowingly, and the scenery outside whisked by. Before the sky completely darkened, the taxi stopped in front of the main entrance of Jingyi Apartment.
“Hey, kid, we’re here!”
The driver’s words broke through Lu Xibei’s train of thought, and the clue he had just grasped vanished like bubbles in sunlight.
Feeling frustrated, Lu Xibei clicked his tongue, paid the fare, and headed straight for the rooftop.
“It felt so important; why can’t I remember it?”
……
At five-thirty in the afternoon, outside the Ancient Special Character Content Research Room at Huacheng University of Science and Technology.
A male student in a white lab coat hurriedly walked down the corridor with a stack of documents.
He wore thick-rimmed glasses, had a somewhat thin frame, and his slightly curled hair was messy, making him look unkempt and somewhat dispirited.
Pushing open the door to the research room, the student headed straight for Professor Ma’s lab table, “Professor, Professor, the component analysis is out, come take a look; something’s off.”
Professor Ma was hunched over the lab table, with various papers and documents scattered around him.
He was meticulously reading the text on the bamboo slips under a magnifying glass, constantly comparing it with various special characters he had studied before, hoping to decode the information contained in the bamboo slips.
Ritual? Formula? These two sets of characters seem similar to those in ancient Yi scripts about rituals and formulas.
Could these bamboo slips concern the sacrificial rituals of ancient ethnic minorities?
Fully immersed in thought, Professor Ma gradually felt a bit foggy, as if he were drunk, and confusing whispers began to echo in his ears.
This state lasted for a few minutes until his student called out to him, pulling him from that odd trance.
“Oh, Lu Xu, what did you just say?”
“Professor, I said the analysis of the ink used in writing the bamboo slips is out; look, there’s something off.”
“Is that so? Let me see.” Professor Ma frowned as he took the file from Lu Xu.
Analyzing the component of the ink is essential for the study of special character content. Through component analysis, one can generally infer the craftsmanship and living environment of that ethnic group, and further speculate about the cultural makeup.
Professor Ma studied the report on the ink component analysis carefully. At first, the report was normal, mentioning common plants and minerals found in the southwestern region, but the last entry simply noted 【Unknown】…
