Chapter 10: Brothers, Let’s Get to Work!
“Next up, who’s turn is it?”
Yang Yi said expressionlessly, his tone cold, as he scanned his surroundings. His eyes seemed unfocused, vacant and lifeless, making him appear very abnormal. The heartbeat of everyone in the room skipped a beat, and the atmosphere dropped to freezing point.
Du Sixian thought, “…Could he have already been controlled by an urban legend?”
But why was there no spirit energy fluctuation around him?
After a brief silence, a male student mustered the courage to tentatively ask, “Bro, are you okay? You look kind of strange.”
“I’m fine, never been better,” Yang Yi replied indifferently.
“Yang, Yang Yi, don’t act like this, it’s a bit scary,” the girl said weakly.
Black Uncle nodded in agreement, “Exactly, it’s scary for us too!”
Seeing Black Uncle’s performance, Yang Yi couldn’t keep the act going any longer. He burst into laughter, “Haha, Jacob, don’t do this, I can’t handle it, haha!”
After laughing, Yang Yi waved his hand, “Alright, I just tried it. It’s nothing special, just like other urban legend games. It’s just scaring ourselves. Who’s next?”
Perhaps due to Yang Yi’s earlier antics, everyone was truly frightened, and no one spoke up for a moment or volunteered to enter the bathroom.
Seeing this, Du Sixian frowned slightly and stood up, declaring, “I’ll go!” After this, she walked toward the bathroom amidst brief cheers from the crowd.
With a click, the door shut, and the surroundings fell silent.
After the start of winter, the temperature in Huacheng had already begun to drop. Perhaps the bathroom window was not closed tightly, as the night wind blew in, brushing across Du Sixian’s face like an invisible hand.
The shower curtain swayed gently in the wind, making a sneaky sound, and droplets from the ceiling dripped down the pipe onto the floor. It seemed there were bugs crawling in the drain, rustling softly.
In the silence, all sounds were amplified, making the atmosphere feel uneasy.
I am an operative of the Siye Society, mastering intricate spell formulas. If an urban legend really appears, I can just throw a Whistling Wildfire at it. If that doesn’t work, I’ll throw another Red Flame!
Du Sixian thought this, and her fear seemed to dissipate somewhat.
Then, she bit her dry lips and took out her phone to illuminate the dark bathroom. As her eyes adjusted to the sudden light, a shadow crossed her peripheral vision.
In the pitch-black bathroom, the light from her phone was the only source, casting her profile in the mirror.
However, due to the darkness, the screen appeared nearly black, barely revealing a figure.
But the light from the phone was exceptionally clear, as if guiding her to reveal something from the mirror.
When Du Sixian recognized the figure in her peripheral vision was her own reflection, she suppressed the impulse to throw a spell, took a deep breath, and walked toward the bathtub.
The round bathtub was filled to the brim with cold water, shallow ripples disturbing the surface.
Although the bathtub was quite shallow, the darkness made it difficult to see the bottom. A doll with a pale color and a red thread stitched across its chest floated atop the water, gently swaying.
Fluff that had been pulled from the doll’s body lay scattered on the floor beside the tub.
The doll was bought from the souvenir shop on the first floor of the hotel. After buying it, Yang Yi had removed the doll’s clothes and cut a long slit across its chest, stuffing a part of a game participant’s body into it.
Whether a small piece of fingernail or a small bunch of hair, Yang Yi even pricked his finger, dripping two drops of bl**d into it.
The innocent girl had advised him not to do that, but he insisted that it was more stimulating that way…
In the darkness.
The doll’s button eyes glowed ominously, seeming to stare at her from whichever angle she looked. Du Sixian watched the doll, her mouth twitching as she avoided its “gaze” and silently uttered the necessary phrases from the urban legend game process.
“Doll, doll, the new body is here, please use it.”
“Okay, let’s play! We’ll be the ghosts first.”
“……”
After saying that, Du Sixian suddenly felt a chill breeze blow by her ears, as if something was lurking around her. She couldn’t help but clench her fists.
After waiting a few seconds, seeing no strange spirit energy fluctuations appear, she turned around and left the bathroom.
Upon leaving the bathroom and seeing the light again, Du Sixian felt like she had suddenly returned from an illusory world to reality.
She walked to the sofa in the room and watched the next “victim” enter the bathroom, lightly touching the d*ath-Owl Badge on her chest.
“Phase one of the game is temporarily normal.”
Using the badge, she sent a message to Luxianbei, glancing up at the now-closed bathroom door, frowning slightly.
Perhaps, just as Yang Yi said, this game is just about scaring ourselves. As for Heliang’s d*ath, besides playing this game, there could be other factors?
Or maybe, it’s because the game wasn’t completed, so the urban legend hasn’t appeared yet? Du Sixian pondered.
————
Gambling has never been a game of luck… Jiang Li had told Luxianbei this before.
At that time, Luxianbei thought she meant that certain mathematical geniuses could improve their chances of winning through calculation, or maybe underhanded tactics that were more despicable.
After all, both situations often appeared in rumors around town.
But after playing cards with these strange men and women before the coffee table today, he realized that Jiang Li’s point might not be that simple.
Just like how these strangers encountered him, if they couldn’t win, they just couldn’t win.
He hadn’t even actively used his spirit ability; just relying on predictions that occasionally flashed in his mind, his win rate exceeded eighty percent. On top of that, with his trash talk that messed with their mindset, he swept through the entire game with an overwhelming presence.
For these uneducated guys, he felt no psychological burden in winning against them.
Knowing full well they were polluting the social environment at such a young age, environmentalist Luxianbei expressed strong condemnation and quickly threw in a “super double.”
“Let’s go all-in!”
The boy sitting across from Luxianbei stared at him for a long time, hoping to detect a hint of anxiety or panic on his face.
Then, a fierce glint flashed in his eyes, “d*mn it, you didn’t even look at your cards, why would I be afraid of you? You must be bluffing, why would I be afraid?”
Luxianbei replied expressionlessly, “Sorry, straight flush.” As he spoke, he flipped over his cards on the table.
The boy glanced at his pair of Aces, fell into silence with regret.
Thus.
In less than twenty minutes, across five or six rounds, he had made the men and women at the table besides himself anxious and restless. Even a slightly chubby guy started sweating.
If not for the fact that he had deliberately brought over a decorative marble weighing at least a hundred pounds as a stool when he joined the game, someone would have likely jumped out accusing him of cheating and calling for “hack detection.”
He relished seeing them, frustrated that they couldn’t get rid of him, couldn’t win against him, couldn’t outsmart him, seemingly anxious as if they had gone to the bathroom without toilet paper!
Luxianbei was completely unfazed and even increasingly arrogant.
“Is this it? You guys play so slowly, drinking a bucket of cappuccino won’t help!”
“Come on, young people, be brave and think positively. Just bet boldly, maybe you’ll lose it all at once, and your pain will end, right?”
“My spit is for counting money, not for chatting with you. So, are you in? If not, I’m counting my money!”
……
Another round started, and as everyone had just received three cards, having glanced at their hands, carefully observing Luxianbei while scheming about strategies, they saw his brows furrow deeply.
His spirit senses told him that in the master bedroom upstairs, besides Du Sixian, a strange spirit energy fluctuation had suddenly appeared.
That twisted, faint spirit energy flickered past so quickly that Luxianbei nearly doubted he was having hallucinations.
But after that spiritual energy flickered, his eyes genuinely began to heat up, and the d*ath-Owl Badge in his pocket started vibrating slightly.
This indicated that a spirit energy fluctuation from an urban legend was indeed nearby.
“……”
Is it here?
The urban legend game has really summoned an urban legend…
I need to quickly notify the Special Action Team and check the situation.
Luxianbei thought, covering his hand over his cards, tapping the table to indicate he was folding, then stood up and left the coffee table, heading toward the second-floor bathroom.
As Luxianbei stood up, everyone at the table inexplicably felt a sense of relief.
Although it’s normal for someone to have an incredible run of luck over two or three rounds or even ten, he gave off the impression that his luck would keep going.
Luxianbei’s departure shifted everyone’s focus back to the game, eager to seize the chance to recover some of their losses, and no one cared too much why he chose to go to the bathroom upstairs rather than the one on the first floor.
Upon reaching the second floor, he observed the group below from a distance, and after confirming no one was paying attention to him, he bypassed the bathroom and dashed into a small gym next to the master bedroom.
Once inside the gym, he immediately pulled the d*ath-Owl Badge from his pocket and pinned it to his chest. Touching the badge with his fingertips, he infused it with spirit energy to send a message to the members of the Special Action Team hiding on the rooftop.
“Brother Qi, the urban legend has arrived, prepare to take action! I’m currently in the small gym next to the master bedroom.”
Soon, the badge on his chest vibrated gently, and it was as if someone whispered in his ear; he heard Qi Dong’s response.
“Received!”
It felt like an ASMR experience? It was the first time Luxianbei used the d*ath-Owl Badge for communication, and he didn’t expect this kind of experience.
Then he imagined a group of burly men whispering in his ear and couldn’t help but shiver.
As he waited for the Special Action Team members to arrive, Luxianbei touched the badge again to send Du Sixian a message.
“Du Sixian, calling Du Sixian, this is Luxianbei. How’s it going on your end?”
After a two-second wait, Du Sixian responded.
“The second phase of the urban legend game is underway and it’s soon my turn. No urban legend has appeared yet.”
Her soft and sweet voice filled his ears, making them tingle. Luxianbei nodded in satisfaction.
Hmm, not bad, it’s got the right feel!
————
Moments later.
A rustling sound came from outside the gym’s open window as two static ropes descended from above. Then a strong figure swiftly descended, gently swinging with the ropes before landing steadily, making almost no noise.
After several repetitions, the five-member Special Action Team gathered in the small gym, and the room, which was originally spacious, suddenly felt cramped.
Just as Qi Dong finished counting heads and Luxianbei prepared to contact Du Sixian for updates, there was a knock on the gym’s door.
“Knock, knock, knock—!”
“Bro, are you in there? What’s going on? Did you run off after winning some money?”
The person knocking was the boy who had gone all-in with Luxianbei earlier, having lost the most in the short half-hour game.
Now, seeing Luxianbei leave and not return, he evidently wasn’t satisfied, unwilling to let Luxianbei slip away this easily.
Upon hearing, Qi Dong tilted his head, casting a puzzled glance at Luxianbei.
Luxianbei held his forehead and waved his hand to signal Qi Dong to stay calm, then whispered, “I’ll explain later. I need to go negotiate with him now and try to send him away.”
After listening to Luxianbei’s directive, Qi Dong frowned but eventually nodded in understanding.
“Knock, knock, knock— knock, knock, knock—!”
“If you don’t come out, I’m coming in!”
Just as the boy was about to knock the second time and say something else, the gym door opened, and Luxianbei stuck out half his head, impatiently saying, “Stop knocking, stop knocking, I haven’t run off! Are you that eager to deliver money to me?”
“Bullshit! Who’s giving who money is still uncertain!” The boy retorted, tiptoeing to peek into the gym.
“By the way, what the hell are you doing hiding in there? Wasn’t it the bathroom? Why did you come here?”
“You’re not up to something, are you? You didn’t pull some trick in here that caused me to lose so badly, did you?”
Losers always like to make excuses… Luxianbei thought to himself, rolling his eyes and expressionlessly looking at the boy. “It’s just a bunch of gym equipment in here. What’s there to look at?”
“No way, you have to let me in to have a look!”
“You must see it?”
“Of course! Now I have reason to suspect you’re cheating. If you don’t let me see, I’ll report you!”
“Hey—!” Luxianbei sighed helplessly, “Alright, come in, but whatever you see, don’t tell anyone else.”
Sure enough, there is something shady going on! The boy narrowed his eyes slightly, pursing his lips. “Tsk, well, I need to see before I can decide.”
Hearing this, Luxianbei shrugged, stepped back slightly to allow him in.
Once the boy stepped inside, seeing the shadows of three hulking men illuminated by moonlight and their “friendly” smiles revealing white teeth, he instantly froze.
What the hell is this? A trio of muscular men under the moon?
The next moment, he heard Luxianbei’s voice beside him.
“This is what you insisted on seeing, brothers, let’s get to work!”
The boy’s pupils constricted, and just as he wanted to scream for “help,” he heard a sharp scream coming from the master bedroom, momentarily stunned, only to be suddenly pinned down by two imposing dark figures bursting out from behind the door.
The two members of the Special Action Team clearly had experience with such matters, one covering his mouth while the other restrained him expertly, not allowing the boy to make a sound…
(Today, I’m a little blocked on the writing, so a shorter update today.)
