Chapter 141: To Eat or Not to Eat, Life or d*ath
Beneath the darkened dome, fine threads of rain floated down.
Surrounded by the endless black mountains, the desolate village seemed as if it had perished, lacking any signs of life.
Suddenly, a series of high-pitched screams pierced the tranquility of the night, awakening the lifeless village in an instant.
The sound of wooden doors being pushed open echoed continuously as lanterns floated out from the dark corners, their crimson hue resembling the evil spirits of a late-night hunt, bringing with them an unspeakably malevolent aura.
“Power of the Kuā Gē, turn the world upside down!”
A delicate shout reverberated above the village, joined by murmurs seemingly from ancient times. A golden, shimmering phantom flashed at the edge of the village.
Following that, a heavy and formidable aura surged upwards into the sky. The cold rain in the air quivered, momentarily pausing, as even the longstanding dampness lingering over the village seemed to be subtly suppressed.
……
Gu Qiqi’s level of spiritual ability had definitely reached that of an A-grade Gatekeeper. Generally speaking, a spiritual ability user like her would promptly end up on the Siye Society’s national wanted list if they engaged in any wrongdoing.
While those women in red might play important roles in this eerie village, their combat abilities would never match Gu Qiqi’s.
Under the whirling metal baseball bat in Gu Qiqi’s hands, they couldn’t last even two rounds. To quote a classic line from a certain drama: “She hasn’t even exerted herself, yet they all fell down.”
In the small courtyard, shattered tiles from a broken water vat lay scattered on the ground, the filthy water soaking into the earth. Strangely, there wasn’t a single deformed infant among the shattered vessels.
In the center of the courtyard, the red clothes were violently torn apart, and beneath the scattered red shreds, the peculiar women’s bodies lay on the ground as if shredded like paper dolls, yet without a trace of bl**d.
Under their broken bodies lay some sort of active jet-black substance, glimmering like asphalt, akin to dense fog with no tangible form, writhing furiously like a swarm of intertwined poisonous snakes.
Looking at the remains of the red-clad women on the ground, Gu Qiqi flicked her baseball bat and frowned, asking the system in her mind, “System, are they urban legends? Where’s the core of the legend?”
“They are indeed considered urban legends,” the system replied. “But clearly, they are not the core. Without the core, where would the core come from? Also, Gu Qiqi, didn’t you say you knew what to do? What were you doing just now?”
“Eh?!” Gu Qiqi was taken aback, expressing some grievance. “Didn’t you say that as long as we k*ll all the witnesses, it wouldn’t count as a failed stealth mission?”
“I never said that!” the system retorted, feeling exasperated. “That was something the calamity had said. She’s such an idiot. Can you really believe what she says?”
“What I meant was to take the opportunity to slip away!”
Based on the system’s previous experience in the Bamboo Slips Illusion, the number of those bl**d-red lantern urban legends was astonishingly high, and they had some sort of special communication method among themselves, able to coordinate and assist one another regardless of the distance.
So while it was feasible to carve out a bloody path, it was entirely impossible to eliminate all the urban legends.
Too many ants can k*ll an elephant; avoiding direct confrontation is the best choice. There’s a basic guideline even for fishing in a pond!
Moreover, their primary purpose for entering the Bamboo Slips Illusion was to steal knowledge once belonging to gods. Excessive use of violence would lead to a transformation of the “criminal” act, changing its nature!
But now…
“Forget it, Gu Qiqi. At this point, hurry and run!”
“But I haven’t completed the mission yet!” Gu Qiqi said with a sense of loss, turning to the man who was trembling in the corner of the courtyard, “You! I’m asking you! Tell me useful information about your village, and, and where is your ancestral hall?!”
Upon hearing the mention of the ancestral hall, the man’s body jolted as if electrocuted, intense fear washing over him, pulling him from the terror brought by Gu Qiqi. A grim expression gradually appeared on his contorted face.
“You… you’re here for the ancestral hall! You killed Hui Mother! How dare you… just wait! The village chief won’t let you go!”
“Village chief? What village chief? Stop interrupting me, where’s your ancestral hall?!”
“Ancestral hall… ancestral hall…” the man mumbled a couple of times, just about to say something when his muscles suddenly tensed up.
His body arched back into a bow shape, the deformed spine creaking with a series of cracks. Following that, his pupils violently contracted, and a series of faint noises erupted from his abdomen, as if something were gnawing at his bones.
“Crack, crack—!”
As crimson bl**d blossomed from his chest, a lantern emerged from within him, and at that moment, he lost all signs of life.
“……” Gu Qiqi, witnessing this, slightly parted her lips, preparing to say something when a distinctly mechanical prompt suddenly resonated in her mind.
“Mission accomplished. The host successfully gained points and rewards. Please find a safe place to eat!”
Although Gu Qiqi’s mission completion rate wasn’t high, the system’s determination that she had completed the mission at this moment hinted at deliberate leniency allowing her a quick escape.
However, the system indeed gathered a considerable amount of useful information: the existence of Hui Mother and the village chief, as well as the phenomenon of ordinary villagers without spiritual energy fluctuations suddenly transforming into low-level urban legends—things it had previously been completely unaware of.
Upon hearing that she could eat, Gu Qiqi no longer cared about anything else, putting away her baseball bat, turning around, and with a forceful stomp on the ground, accompanied by a blast of air, she vanished into the dilapidated temple.
……
A few minutes later.
A figure wrapped in golden light rushed through the barren, desolate fields. Behind her, hundreds and thousands of bl**d-red lanterns floated, densely gathering into a long dragon, following her footsteps towards the distant black mountains.
In the distance, the scarecrows with their heads bowed slowly raised their heads, eerie light flickering in their dark eye sockets, watching them leave while faint whispers of ghostly chatter resonated faintly.
……
In the early morning, at Jingyi Apartment, in Lu Xibei’s home.
Jumeng sat cross-legged on the sofa, while the many urban legends, forced to become listeners and advisors, huddled around the coffee table appearing weak, pitiful, and helpless.
“Do you think that brat will never come back because of what happened last night?” Jumeng propped her chin, looking worried.
Yesterday, after Lu Xibei left, she secretly went upstairs to help tidy up his messy room, only to find that his magical girl costume had disappeared.
Thus, the plot unfolded: a cross-dressing big shot was humiliated, taking off with their beloved little skirt, leaving home in a huff, vowing to roam the world.
The urban legends hurriedly shook their heads in denial. “That’s impossible!”
“Right, right! This is his home. He’s too stingy to leave behind such an expensive house!”
“Exactly! Besides, he still has such a beautiful girl like you here! If he had even a bit of sense, he wouldn’t not come back, right?”
Jumeng tilted her head in contemplation. “Really?”
The urban legends glanced at the slender green vines beside them, which could swell dozens of times at any moment, and replied in unison, “Absolutely! More genuine than the currency issued by the central bank!”
“Hmm…” Jumeng pondered for a few seconds before seriously asking, “Then what do you think I should do to ensure he doesn’t stay angry with me?”
Acting cute? Exposing her chest? Offering herself?
For a moment, various strange phrases flashed in the minds of the urban legends, but they were quickly dismissed.
Not to mention how they would answer Jumeng would risk her tying them up right then and there.
Even if she really took the advice and acted accordingly, based on the witch master’s character, she would certainly suspect that she had ulterior motives and was up to some trick that endangered her life.
Our witch master has significant issues, she’s as cautious as if she has a psychological disease.
“What if we don’t just do… do…”
“Do? Are you talking about those special actions taken for procreation? That won’t do!” Jumeng glared at the sleep dress floating in mid-air. “No, no! It’s not the right time yet!”
The urban legends, “???”
We mean no harm.JPG
Although that’s not what we meant, we didn’t expect you to actually lust after her body! It seems your intentions for staying here are not as simple as they appear!
“Uh, what I meant was… never mind, you wouldn’t understand!” Jumeng rolled her eyes.
All of us are blossoming teenage girls; who doesn’t yearn for a romantic relationship where spirits and flesh intertwine?
However, my poison levels are such that few urban legends or humans can withstand it. This kind of thing has to wait at least another one or two hundred years, until after further advancement, to practice.
“Cook… prepare a meal…”
When the sleep dress finally stammered out what it wanted to say, Jumeng twitched her lips, “……” Oh, so that’s what you meant? That seems to make sense!
Don’t look at me like that! What are you looking at? Keep looking! I am still very pure, alright? Jumeng thought.
So…
Around nine in the morning, when Lu Xibei finished bathing in the morning sunlight, conveniently washed up at Gu Qiqi’s place, and returned home to get his textbooks and phone for school, he saw an indescribable thing on the table.
He could swear he had never encountered this kind of sight in his ten-plus years of life.
In a large copper basin, rolling with dark green liquid, was a corpse of an unknown animal, now indistinguishable in shape due to the stain of the ominous liquid.
Another part was the reproductive organs of some creature, still soft, yet tightly entwined with each other, resembling the drooping arms of a dying person, or like something that could spring back to life at any moment.
“What the hell is this? I went out for one night, and you start creating urban legends in my home?” Lu Xibei shouted, pointing at the bizarre item on the table, unabashedly expressing his disdain.
“Stir-fried garlic shoots with meat…” Jumeng replied sheepishly.
Was it that exaggerated? I just tasted it earlier, and it was pretty good! Jumeng thought.
Lu Xibei, “……” Stir-fried garlic shoots with meat? Are you sure it doesn’t need the prefix “evil energy,” “doom bell,” “ancient god’s,” or something?
Looking at her expression, it seemed she wanted to apologize for last night’s events, but this kind of thing…
To eat or not to eat, life or d*ath, that is the question. Lu Xibei thought.
