Chapter 5 Patrol
The lack of fresh bl**d has always been a headache for the Siye Society.
Although the upper echelons of the Siye Society possess sufficient strength to deter urban legends and prevent large-scale incidents of extermination, there are also many key members maintaining peace and stability in various cities.
However, within each city, among the thousands of potential spiritual ability users, only a very small portion can be discovered and become spiritual ability users. Most people are only discovered after their spiritual potential has deteriorated into Nightfall Syndrome.
Moreover, even if potential spiritual ability users are identified, that does not guarantee they can become combat-ready operatives for the Siye Society.
According to the statistics released in last year’s “Warehouse Owl White Paper,” there were 10,789 spiritual ability users born throughout the entire year, with only 1,217 of them joining the Siye Society and successfully remaining, a ratio of nearly one in ten.
This number seems large, but when averaged across each city, it results in less than two individuals.
Additionally, those remaining two might still leave the ranks of the Siye Society due to temptations of interests, uncontrolled spirit patterns, urban legend attacks, and other reasons.
The probability of newcomers joining the Siye Society growing into capable operatives who can stand on their own after a period is, in reality, pitifully low.
So.
The muscular man of the Special Action Team stood still, watching as Luxianbei stared at the horrifying sight on the bed, his gaze vacant as if he had lost his soul, feeling anxious deep inside.
After all, there are quite a few newcomers like Luxianbei, fresh to the field, who, upon their first encounter with an urban legend attack scene, develop psychological issues from fear and have to retire early.
It should have been a joyful occasion for Huacheng to have two new operatives in a year—how did it end up like this? The muscular man thought.
Just as he was preparing to contact medical personnel to take Luxianbei away, Luxianbei’s eyes suddenly regained clarity, and he exclaimed, “d*mn it, killing people in bed is really out of line!”
The muscular man was momentarily stunned, and then heard Luxianbei say, “Bro, I think I have an idea about what this urban legend incident is about.”
The muscular man, “???”
After just staring for a moment, you already know what kind of urban legend did this? Isn’t that too fast!
“How did you figure it out?” the muscular man asked.
Luxianbei pondered briefly, his expression unchanged, “Uh, because my spiritual ability has some special traits, I detected some hidden details.”
Let’s put it this way, anyway, my file in the Siye Society states that I am a detection-oriented spiritual ability user.
I can’t just tell him that I watched the scene replay, right? Luxianbei scoffed inwardly.
“…”
The muscular man nodded thoughtfully.
He had heard that this new operative is a detection-oriented spiritual ability user, and being able to reach this level seemed understandable.
[Favorability +10]
In fact, the brothers in the Special Action Team have been eagerly anticipating the emergence of a detection-oriented operative in Huacheng, not for any other reason, but because it’s efficient and hassle-free.
In criminal cases, cases of random murders without clear motives are among the hardest to solve.
And the urban legends that incite such attacks are mostly of the “psychopath” variety.
At such times, if a detection-oriented spiritual ability user can uncover clues that others find difficult to detect, it greatly aids in increasing resolution efficiency.
With higher resolution efficiency, the workload pressure on the Special Action Team would also decrease significantly.
It is said that in Shancheng, there is a dual attribute operative with detection and fate attributes, who can casually knock someone unconscious on the street and uncover a pile of questions related to urban legends.
Members of the Special Action Team there have it easy; most of the time, they only need to be responsible for escorting criminal spiritual ability users and handling the aftermath of urban legend incidents.
However, because of that operative’s unique gift, she has to go through dozens of assassination attempts from urban legends, cult organizations, and illegal spiritual ability users each year.
Thinking about this, the muscular man couldn’t help but feel some concern for Luxianbei’s future. He patted his shoulder and said sincerely, “Little brother, promise me, for the sake of Huacheng, to live well!”
Luxianbei, “…”
You don’t need to worry about that; even if Huacheng can’t survive, I will still be fine.
But… why does that sound so strange?
It feels like I’m already being targeted by some dark force.
Luxianbei wasn’t affected by the muscular man’s words and instead thought that he was already being targeted by more than one dark force. The old saying goes, “the more lice, the less they bite,” so he was less worried.
Whether it was the urban legend incident directory left by Jiang Li, “The Book of Siye,” or various information gathered from Water Brother, it seems that those cult organizations, illegal spiritual ability user groups, and urban legends are not on friendly terms.
Luxianbei even had confidence that if a certain dark force jumped out to take his life, he could nudge them to negotiate with another faction about the sequence of actions.
It’s not like everyone would team up to beat me up, right?
Getting various factions with bad relations to unite… what kind of virtue do I possess?! Luxianbei scoffed inwardly.
————
To prevent urban legends from hiding or suddenly returning to the attack scene, and due to potential accidental situations such as lethal curses remaining at the location, as the temporary night policing operative, Luxianbei must wait until the Special Action Team members complete the aftercare work and eliminate any lingering dangers before he can leave.
During this interval, he took the required steps to document various clues found at the scene in detail and uploaded them to the Siye Society’s database. Next came the work of data comparison and locking onto the suspicious urban legend.
With the spirit energy item in the Huacheng Siye Society’s interior, which looked like an oversized pipe organ, there was originally a relatively simple and quick way to carry out this work.
However, only Jiang Li could operate that spirit energy item for long periods within the entire Huacheng Siye Society.
Now that she was temporarily absent, the filtering had to rely on the information comparison system built into the Siye Society database.
This process could take anywhere from one to two hours, or as long as five to seven days, during which time, if no unexpected events occurred, waiting was the only option.
But Luxianbei is an unexpected event…
At the very least, he knew where to find clues regarding the urban legend game involving Heliang.
Since Yang Yi and Heliang were in the same chat group and he had seen Heliang’s pictorial live broadcast during the urban legend game, it was very likely he could discover some useful information through him.
Maybe he could obtain the complete process of Heliang’s urban legend game and perfectly replicate it, directly summoning that peculiar little thing for a surprise ambush! Luxianbei mused.
————
It was said that Luxianbei saw someone at school performing a similar game, and the muscular man from the Special Action Team nodded, “Indeed! Mastering the process of the urban legend game would make things much easier.”
“However, Luxianbei, are you sure you can find the exact same process? Subtle differences in processes could lead to nothing happening, or attract other urban legends.”
“Yeah, it’s possible!” Luxianbei nodded.
He had seen pictures on Yang Yi’s phone and could confirm that it was the same puppet that attacked Heliang as seen in the illusion earlier.
“Then it’s easy!” the muscular man said, “In fact, if that urban legend game you mentioned is closely linked to this attack incident, the Siye Society has ways to trace it back.”
“That’s awesome!” Luxianbei exclaimed happily, “Then I’ll ask you brothers to catch them and ask some questions, just like when you caught me… cough cough!”
According to Luxianbei’s thinking, as long as these muscular brothers went to work, they probably wouldn’t have to do much; just show up, and Yang Yi would probably confess everything.
However…
Upon hearing this, the muscular man showed a troubled expression, “Luxianbei, regarding how to grab the urban legend game process, we may not be able to assist you.”
“Their situation is a bit different from yours; they are just a group of reckless young people who have not truly involved themselves with urban legends or illegal spiritual ability users, and they aren’t even the propagators of the urban legend game. If we forcibly bring them back for questioning, it might cause some trouble.”
Luxianbei furrowed his brows, “How are they different from me?”
The muscular man showed a hint of embarrassment, explaining, “At that time, we detected you had weak spiritual energy fluctuations, so you were treated as a suspect, and moreover…”
The muscular man leaned closer to Luxianbei, raised one hand, lowered his voice, and said, “To be honest, Jiang Li’s actions were rather too hasty at that time. You mustn’t follow her example; she was on the verge of touching the gray areas of the regulations.”
“Oh, and don’t say I told you this!”
d*mn Jiang Li… Luxianbei muttered inwardly, calming himself, he asked, “So what should I do now? I can’t just leave the clues right in front of me and do nothing, can I?”
“That’s easy! Don’t you know them? Just ask them directly!” the muscular man questioned, “You’re all classmates. This little matter, they shouldn’t refuse to tell you, right?”
“Luxianbei, I think you’re quite likable; you should have good relations at school, right?”
“…”
Pfft—!
Luxianbei felt like he had been shot in the chest with an arrow, triggering a critical hit.
Bro, you don’t understand; because we’re both abnormal, you think I’m easy to get along with.
It’s not that my relationship at school is bad or good—it’s that I have no social relations at all.
In fact, they run away as soon as they see me, leaving no chance for normal communication. Luxianbei thought.
……
It turns out that Du Sixian’s presence, apart from making a fool of herself, still had some use.
Just when Luxianbei was at a loss regarding how to obtain information from Yang Yi.
Du Sixian, who had been resting nearby and listening to the entire dialogue, stood up, waving her little hand and said, “Leave it to me! I’m really good at making friends!”
Although her confidence had taken a hit when trying to befriend Luxianbei, she still had many friends in the past.
Looking at the eager Du Sixian, Luxianbei’s eyes lit up.
Right! She can go!
If it’s her, she should easily be able to get into Yang Yi’s little group, right?
With her being rich, beautiful, kind, and full of vitality, who wouldn’t want to be friends with her? Whether to mooch off her money or because of her looks…
If it weren’t for accidentally turning her into my own shape and worrying about revealing identities causing trouble, Luxianbei would not only want to be her friend but even aspire to become a close friend!
Luxianbei thought, shook hands with Du Sixian, and said earnestly, “Alright! Then it’s up to you, comrade!”
Du Sixian nodded and replied seriously, “I will not disgrace my mission!”
————
Late at night.
The aftermath work at the textile factory came to an end. The comparative results of urban legend information were not yet available, and Du Sixian’s infiltration into Yang Yi’s little group to uncover urban legend games would have to wait until tomorrow, while Luxianbei’s work was still ongoing.
After parting with Du Sixian at Mudan Street, he slung his guitar bag over his shoulders, hopped onto his electric scooter, and leisurely left the Huacheng Folk Culture Administration, beginning his patrol.
Today is Friday, and it should have been Jiang Li’s turn to be on duty.
Now, with Luxianbei temporarily taking Jiang Li’s position, although this work could still be handled by the muscular brothers of the Special Action Team, it’s still necessary to put on a show.
One day as a monk, ring the bell for one day!
Moreover, during night duty, it’s triple pay!
At 2:27 AM.
In Huacheng, near Hongxing Street.
This is an old street near the city center, with many authentic local snack shops under the old banyan trees lining both sides of the street.
Before the night became long, this was a hot spot for many foodies to solve their late-night cravings. Luxianbei’s dad once wanted to open a branch here, but ultimately, due to distrust of outsiders’ skills and being unable to clone himself, the plan fell through.
It’s a pity that such a great place becomes deserted as night falls, with only a faint aroma of food still lingering in the air.
At night, Hongxing Street looks peaceful and tranquil, but Luxianbei knows that there are rogue spiritual ability users present there, and it’s also one of the “safe” patrol routes assigned by Jiang Li. This is also the second-to-last stop on tonight’s patrol.
According to the notes given in the urban legend incident directory, there is a spiritual ability user who has been extracting gutter oil from waste water with special abilities, and he has existed for a long time.
However, the harmful substance content of the gutter oil he extracts hasn’t exceeded the limit, and apart from deceiving people with substandard products, he has not committed any other evil deeds.
So, while it is disgusting, Jiang Li did not directly arrest him; she merely monitored and reviewed him periodically.
When Luxianbei saw this information, his mind was filled with images of the domineering and beautiful Jiang Li leveraging her power to oppress good-natured spiritual ability users.
He wondered if she collected protection fees?
If it were him, he would definitely take a cut.
……
“I’m riding my beloved little motorcycle, vroom vroom, it will never get stuck in traffic, vroom vroom~♪!”
On Hongxing Street, Luxianbei rode his vehicle along the road, feeling that the patrol was about to end. His joyful mood was difficult to express, and he hummed a little tune excitedly.
Before long, he arrived at the small alley where the urban legend workshop was located and, from a distance, caught a whiff of a nauseatingly pungent smell of waste water.
Even if the harmful substances aren’t exceeding the limit, I still don’t want to eat oil extracted from such a thing!
Luxianbei scoffed inwardly, increasing his little broken vehicle’s speed from eight to ten, before taking a left turn into the alley.
Can’t go any higher; it’s going to fall apart!
“Boom—!” As soon as he entered the alley, he heard a dull thud.
At the end of the alley, something had knocked over a plastic bin filled with waste water, leftovers mixed with oil splattered all over the ground, sending a horrible smell wafting towards him.
Immediately after, a figure rushed out from a nearby corner, staggering as if drunk, without slowing down, and, at a distance not far from Luxianbei, crashed against the wall with a ‘thud’.
They really stuck to the wall; their entire upper body, from head to abdomen, was stuck together seamlessly with the wall.
Luxianbei was stunned.
What kind of tough guy is this? Doesn’t it hurt?
The next moment, that “tough guy” staggered back, and upon seeing Luxianbei, lunged at him, his face obscured by shadows.
Luxianbei barely had time to reverse when suddenly the man grabbed the handlebars of his scooter. Following this, he heard a muddled voice coming from the man’s mouth.
“Hund… hundreds…”
Though Luxianbei did not know why the man knew his name, he could not help but weakly correct him, “It’s Bei Bei, big bro, what accent is that? It’s pretty heavy!”
“…”
The man seemed either choked by Luxianbei’s words or was actually out of strength; after two seconds of silence, he loosened his grip on Luxianbei’s wrist and leaned back, falling with a ‘thud’ onto the ground.
Only then did the thick, indistinguishable smell of bl**d mix with the pungent odor of waste water intrude into Luxianbei’s nostrils.
Luxianbei froze for a moment, quickly pulled out his phone, turned on the flashlight feature, and then saw the face that had appeared in the urban legend incident directory before.
In his memory, that sharp-nosed, cunning-faced individual was now bleeding from the mouth and nose, his eyeballs bulging out, his features almost twisted together, looking extremely grotesque.
He stared at Luxianbei in shock, as if he wanted to say something but opened his mouth and spit out a large mouthful of bl**d, which also contained big, writhing black maggots.
As soon as these little black worms came into contact with the air, they emitted a series of “hissing” sounds and instantaneously turned to smoke, dispersing into the air.
Quickly, it seemed that the individual also lost all strength, collapsing to the ground, devoid of breath.
Only thick bl**d kept seeping slowly out from beneath his clothes.
Luxianbei, “…”
It seems like… he’s dead?
What should I do in this situation? Should I call the police…
No, I’m™ the “police,” what am I supposed to do!?
In the silence, the alley was left with only Luxianbei. After a moment of silence, he grimly took out his phone and called Bai Kai.
“Hello? Xiao Bei? What’s up?”
Surprisingly, there wasn’t the deafening underground sound from Bai Kai’s end, nor was there the damsel’s moans; his tone was unexpectedly serious.
“Water bro, I want to ask you something. If during patrol, you find a monitored spiritual ability user being killed, how should you handle it?”
“What? Xiao Bei, tell me the situation over there!” Bai Kai exclaimed.
“Uh, okay…” Luxianbei began relaying exactly what he just saw to Bai Kai.
Upon hearing this, Bai Kai fell silent for two seconds and said seriously, “Xiao Bei, listen to me. Quickly find a place to hide nearby and send me your address; I’ll rush over immediately.”
After that, Bai Kai hung up.
Listening to Bai Kai’s words, Luxianbei froze for a moment, then slowly let out a breath.
From Water bro’s tone, it seems this isn’t an isolated case?
That’s good… otherwise, I might have thought this guy died because I came here!
Otherwise, it would be like that Jiang surname fellow, wherever he went, a m*rder case would appear; that would be too hard to handle. Luxianbei thought.
