Chapter 31: It Snowed
In the luxuriously decorated private room, the ambiguous and lazy lighting made one feel drowsy, and the ice bucket on the table had beads of water condensing on the surface of the wine bottles.
Lu Yibei looked at Bai Kai and asked with confusion, “Catching the move? What does that mean?”
Bai Kai curled his lip, took a wine bottle out of the ice bucket, poured himself half a glass at a leisurely pace, took a sip, and began to explain.
“Xiao Bei, do you know why Mu Se and the black-robed figures who secretly assisted her in infiltrating Huacheng would risk being discovered by attacking urban legend bases before the Hundred Demons Walk?”
“Um…” Lu Yibei thought for a moment and tentatively replied, “Is it to establish some credibility? Just like the conditions you mentioned earlier, she needs to make the urban legends of Huacheng aware of her name, right?”
“Exactly.” Bai Kai nodded, “That is indeed one of the reasons. However, as a long-established urban legend in Huacheng, Mu Se’s name is already well-known among the urban legends, even though she has been killed and her remains sealed; it hasn’t had much of an impact.”
“I think this is also why Pestilence Taijie chose her as a proxy to organize the Hundred Demons Walk.”
“If it’s not for this, then what could it be?” Lu Yibei became even more puzzled, “Is it because she has just been awakened and needs a large number of urban legend cores to regain her strength?”
“That might also be one of the reasons.” Bai Kai shrugged, “But these two reasons are not the most important. The most important thing is that she wants to relieve her pressure in this way.”
With Bai Kai’s reminder, Lu Yibei suddenly understood.
A Hundred Demons Walk is a behavior similar to proclaiming ownership, which will inevitably attract challengers and provoke challenges. The closer it gets to the end of the Hundred Demons Walk, the more intense these challenges will be.
Generally speaking, for an urban legend to organize a Hundred Demons Walk, unless their strength greatly exceeds that of the urban legends along the way, an unprepared Hundred Demons Walk will only lead to disaster.
Mu Se and her leading black-robed figures attack threatening urban legends or spiritual ability users in advance, effectively reducing challengers.
Rather than letting them swarm and attack during the Hundred Demons Walk, it is much easier to break them down one by one beforehand.
In fact, except for a few particularly confident brute-like urban legends, most urban legends will make similar preparations before the Hundred Demons Walk.
“I understand, Water Brother, you mean to let me appear as the final boss and challenge her when Mu Se’s Hundred Demons Walk is about to end, right?” Lu Yibei said solemnly.
Although the thought of facing an A-grade urban legend in a direct fight made his heart race and cold sweat start to form, this was still much easier than what he had previously imagined, potentially battling all the urban legends of Huacheng.
If he really charged ahead, Lu Yibei even doubted he could hold up, becoming one of the rare urban legends who fled midway during the Hundred Demons Walk, abandoning followers in the process.
“That’s right!” Bai Kai set down his wine glass, affirming, “The Hundred Demons Walk, in analogy, is like the feudal lords fighting for supremacy in ancient times; conquering the world yourself is always less convenient than seizing the throne.”
Hearing Bai Kai speak such dangerous words, Lu Yibei felt an inexplicable wave of anxiety wash over him, silently cursing that it was no wonder the Siye Society wanted to do everything possible to stop the urban legends from holding the Hundred Demons Walk.
It was said that after the establishment of the country, no one was allowed to turn into spirits, and now, with the long nights due to darkness and the surge of urban legends, managing the issue of becoming a spirit had become really difficult; wanting to “establish a country” would be too much!
Moreover, letting erratic urban legends, who could fall into decadence at any moment, rule a city at night was incredibly risky.
“But, Water Brother, your idea of seizing the throne seems a bit off, right?” Lu Yibei still had doubts in his heart despite finding Bai Kai’s plan feasible, “If an urban legend falls in the challenges of the Hundred Demons Walk, they would just lose everything, and the challengers cannot directly acquire its fruits of victory either!”
“If that’s the case, it still wouldn’t stop Pestilence Taijie from ruining Huacheng, would it?”
Bai Kai looked at Lu Yibei, tilting his head, “That’s true, but how do you know that?”
From the knowledge of the Great Serpent God… Lu Yibei cursed internally but maintained a straight face as he told Bai Kai, “From The Book of Siye.”
“Xiao Bei…” Bai Kai hesitated, almost at a loss for words.
How could The Book of Siye possibly contain records about the challenges of the Hundred Demons Walk?
Xiao Bei is really becoming harder to read, Bai Kai thought to himself.
“Um? What’s wrong?” Lu Yibei blinked, his face displaying an expression of calmness, with a demeanor that seemed harmless.
“Never mind, it’s nothing.” Bai Kai waved his hand, “As for how to seize the fruits of victory from the Hundred Demons Walk, I have my own methods. You just need to appear at the last moment.”
“Based on my estimation, Mu Se is very likely to hold the Hundred Demons Walk on the next Moonless Night, which is the night after tomorrow.”
“Okay!” Lu Yibei nodded seriously and said, “Got it, also…”
After a pause and a moment of hesitation, Lu Yibei added, “Water Brother, in the next two days, could you have someone pay more attention to the various water sources in Huacheng, especially the Huacheng Reservoir? I’m worried that Mu Se might…”
Hearing Lu Yibei say this, Bai Kai recalled Pestilence Taijie’s abilities and frowned, “You’re worried she’ll put Pestilence Taijie’s organization into the water sources? Hmm, that is indeed something to consider!”
However… why specifically pay attention to the Huacheng Reservoir? Bai Kai thought.
“Water Brother, let’s leave it at that for now. I’ll go back to prepare.” Lu Yibei said.
Committing crimes is not as casual as having a meal; it requires skill and preparation. How could one manage without preparation?
In this day and age, even dark dealings carry risks of backlash. It’s always better to be over-prepared.
But… how does one prepare for the Hundred Demons Walk for the first time while pretending to be an urban legend who often engages in wrongdoing and killing?
Hope someone has advice, this is urgent, Lu Yibei thought.
After a moment, Bai Kai dispelled the spell binding the private room and watched Lu Yibei hurriedly leave until his figure disappeared at the end of the corridor.
At the moment the door of the private room slowly closed, he suddenly wilted like a frostbitten eggplant, slumping onto the sofa, staring blankly at the ceiling for a long time.
After a while, he abruptly sat up, grabbed the wine bottle from the table, and drank it down in one go.
“Ha—!” Setting down the wine bottle, Bai Kai sighed deeply, muttering, “d*mn it, Lu Ming, is there something in your family that makes you all so restless!?”
“Your dad is like this, and your son is too. If one day I get taken by the headquarters, it’ll definitely be your fault!”
After that, there was another long moment of silence. Bai Kai looked in the direction Lu Yibei had left, his eyes slightly tipsy, “I hope he becomes a competent urban legend king!”
———
In Huacheng, beneath the deep night sky, the sharp sound of the long-closed supermarket door being smashed open broke the silence.
A woman in a red dress, covered in bl**d, staggered through the torn metal door into the darkness, leaving behind a long trail of crimson on the ground.
Under normal circumstances, this level of physical injury wouldn’t be severe for an A-grade urban legend, as it could be repaired with minimal spirit energy consumption.
However, Miss Rabbit’s ruthless axe had not only torn her body apart but had also infused large amounts of moon shadow fire attached to the axe blade into her body.
That highly corrosive and destructive flame burned within her, like a maggot burrowing into her bones. Each time she attempted to heal her injuries, it would send her into a frenzy, causing pale flames to erupt from her wounds and mercilessly tearing them open again and again.
Thus, the bl**d flowed incessantly.
“Tap—tap—!”
Chaotic footsteps echoed intermittently in the darkness.
When the footsteps came to a halt, Mu Se collapsed beside the seafood pool. With a thought, she heard a muffled sound coming from the drainage hole beside her.
“Boom, boom, boom!”
It was as if a living creature was racing wildly down the pipe from the drainage hole, quickly climbing upward.
Soon after, a mass resembling greenish-black flesh from the Pestilence Taijie organization jumped out from the drainage hole and landed beside Mu Se.
She gazed at that writhing mass of flesh, which was trying to differentiate into various distorted organs, hesitating for a few seconds, with a glint of determination flashing in her eyes.
Originally, she was quite wary of these fragments that differentiated from Pestilence Taijie, fully aware that merging with them could enhance her strength, but she had never considered doing so.
Simply becoming a vassal of Pestilence Taijie to help him complete the Hundred Demons Walk was merely a transaction. Once the transaction ended, she still possessed a great deal of freedom on this land of Huacheng.
However, merging with the fragments of Pestilence Taijie’s body would mean, to some extent, becoming part of his body. Even if she maintained an independent consciousness, it would only be a fraction.
Though doing so would enable her to benefit significantly from Pestilence Taijie’s growing power, even reaching heights previously hard to attain, it was akin to fingers or toes, or even the tail of a gecko, which could be sacrificed entirely at critical moments.
But by now, Mu Se had lost the right to consider the consequences. She would need several months to recover from the injuries caused by Miss Rabbit using her own strength.
Several months would be enough for many things to happen. If she continued to drag her injured body, whether found by Miss Rabbit or the Siye Society, it would be certain d*ath.
“Help me… heal!”
In the darkness, Mu Se squeezed out a sentence fiercely through clenched teeth. The next moment, the greenish-black flesh beside her stirred restlessly, expanding and proliferating, generating countless writhing masses of flesh that surged toward the gaping wound on her shoulder.
“Ah—!”
Countless chaotic limbs tangled together, drilling into her body, and a pained scream erupted from Mu Se’s mouth.
In an instant, bl**d-red ripples accompanied by pale moon shadow fire spread outward, and the surrounding shelves, water pools, stone pillars… were smashed into fragments as though hundreds of pounds of explosives had been detonated instantaneously by a powerful spirit energy fluctuation.
Mu Se coughed violently as if seriously ill, spewing foul black bl**d from her nose and mouth, along with pale sparks expelled from her body.
She could feel something spreading rapidly throughout her body, surging like a tidal wave, relentlessly devouring her shell bit by bit, obliterating the form that existed in the world, and forcibly taking control of the core of the urban legend.
The surging power erupted from within her, immersing her in an unprecedented sense of fullness and strength, and the painful wails gradually dissipated, transforming into waves of pleasurable inhalations.
After a long time, the turmoil calmed down. In the darkness, Mu Se slowly opened her eyes, a sinister smile forming at the corners of her mouth, as the images of Miss Rabbit, Jiang Li, and the instigating green-clothed urban legend flashed before her.
“The pain I endured today shall be repaid a hundredfold in the future!” she murmured, clenching her pink fists tightly.
———
The night was about to end, and dawn had not yet arrived. Huacheng was shrouded beneath a canopy of leaden clouds and a chaotic, hazy sky. The cold wind howled, and snow was approaching.
At this moment, on the empty terrace in front of the supermarket that had almost turned to ruins, several black-robed figures knelt on one knee.
In front of them stood an alluring woman in a splendid dark red gown, as if her body, exuding a highly aggressive allure, melded into the dress.
The black-robed figures remained silently anxious, occasionally stealing glances at her skirt, which seemed to writhe like flesh, proliferating with abnormal growths of flesh, and as their gazes met the sudden eyes sprouting from the flesh, they would panic and quickly avert their eyes, sweating beads of cold sweat.
“I trust you’ve completed the tasks I assigned?” Mu Se spoke coldly.
“Replying to the Witch Lady,” the leading black-robed figure hesitated for a moment and clasped his fists, saying, “We are unsure whether the Siye Society has caught on to our movements, as almost every location is guarded by two or more Special Action Teams, and several key water sources even have major operatives on watch…”
“So, there was no chance to make a move, is that it?” Mu Se spoke softly, a hint of a smile appearing, “You truly are useless!”
Hearing her gentle yet cold words, the black-robed figures all trembled in unison, their eyes flashing with a look of panic.
In the deathly silence, Mu Se turned around to gaze at the sky, seemingly deep in thought.
At that moment, a gust of cold wind swept by, and suddenly, small snowflakes resembling grains of salt began to fall from the sky.
Mu Se extended her delicate, pale hands to catch a few snowflakes and brought them to her face, but before she could examine them closely, the snowflakes melted in her palms.
Watching the small puddle of clear water accumulating in her palms, her eyes flickered slightly as if recalling something important, and a cruel smile gradually appeared on her lips.
With a thought, the clear water in her palm turned a light greenish-black.
“I suddenly remembered a few places; you all should head there immediately. I’m sure they won’t be monitored by anyone from the Siye Society.”
“…”
Staring at Mu Se’s back, the leading black-robed figure summoned his courage to ask after a few seconds of silence, “May I ask, Witch Lady, where should we go?”
“Sanitation station, large car wash, seafood wholesale market…” Mu Se listed, “Anyplace you can think of where water could fall into the corners of the city.”
Finally, she added eerily, saying something that left the black-robed figures perplexed, “It’s snowing, isn’t it? How wonderful…”
