**Chapter 47: Can’t You Make Things Easier for Me?**
The antique street was quiet at night; under the dim street lamps, Lu Yibei strolled with Ju Meng, lost in thoughts about Chunfeng Residence.
As they approached the alley leading to Chunfeng Residence, Ju Meng lightly patted Lu Yibei’s shoulder. “Lu Yibei, let’s stop here. Put me down. If Xiao Liu sees us, he’ll start gossiping again.”
This somehow felt like the situation of sending a female classmate home and worrying about encountering her father. Lu Yibei thought to himself and set Ju Meng down on the ground, nodding, “Alright, go on!”
“Okay.” Ju Meng replied without looking back and dashed into the depths of the alley.
As her small figure gradually disappeared in the shadows, Lu Yibei suddenly remembered something. He gently tapped his head and called out to her back, “Wait a moment!”
Ju Meng stopped and turned, tilting her head at Lu Yibei in confusion. “What’s the matter? Is there something else?”
“…”
Are you about to d*e?
This thought, Lu Yibei nearly voiced it several times but ultimately refrained, feeling it carried a deep meaning of urging someone to hurry and perish.
“Well… why don’t I stay with you tonight?”
Ju Meng placed her hands on her hips, frowning in disgust. “My house only has one bed.”
“Well, that’s not impossible. After all, we’re both girls now; I don’t mind.” Lu Yibei said.
“……” Ju Meng examined Lu Yibei, then looked down at herself, narrowing her eyes. “Lu Yibei, are you harboring some strange f*tish?”
“When I was at your house previously and wanted to squeeze onto the same bed, you practically wanted to spread a basket of iron thorns on it. Now that I’ve changed, you actually want to go home with me? Oh right, you seem to really like Bai Xiaohua, don’t you?”
“I’m not, I didn’t. Stop talking nonsense!” Lu Yibei vehemently denied.
Can they be the same? Enjoying copper forging in the second dimension is an interest, while in the third dimension… let it perish, quickly!
After a few seconds of pondering, Lu Yibei scratched the back of his head and said expressionlessly, “Forget it, where do you want to play tomorrow?”
“Tomorrow, hmm…” Ju Meng thought seriously, pouting. “Let’s talk about it later! I’ll think about it when I get back and call you tomorrow morning.”
After a few seconds of silence, Lu Yibei nodded, waved at Ju Meng to let her hurry home, then turned and walked towards the exit of the antique street. When he reached the street corner, he paused for a moment, looked up at the snowflakes falling from the sky, and sighed silently.
Even though it was night and everything was resting, there was still much for her to do.
Having not seen her for a day, she needed to go to the hospital to check on Fu Xinyi’s situation. After that, she had to find Qing Ji in her dreams to continue practicing controlling the Giant with a Hundred Arms’ powers. If time allowed, she wanted to practice the sword techniques and spells she had learned before.
With the barrier near Tangcheng about to activate, accompanied by a bombardment at Peach Source, she felt something terrible was about to happen. Before that, she must be adequately prepared.
Oh! If possible, she also needed to make a few more paper cicadas!
With this in mind, Lu Yibei pulled out her mobile phone and sent a message to Mao Sanyou.
Lu Yibei: “Senior brother, do you know where I can find someone to make paper figures?”
On the other side, in Tangcheng, at the Eight Immortals Ancient Street.
This street, located in the most remote corner of Tangcheng’s center, was the street for funeral supplies, mainly dealing in offerings like candles, ghost money, wreaths, and the like during the day.
At night, as most people avoided these things for fear of encountering urban legends, the entire Eight Immortals Ancient Street became a trading place for spirit energy items.
At this moment, Mao Sanyou, ragged and covered in bl**d, stood in front of a funeral supplies store called “Little Ming Classmate,” preparing to sell the core of today’s urban legend he had harvested and a small amount of spirit energy items. He received Lu Yibei’s message and instinctively glanced at the vividly life-like paper figures in the corner of the store, frowning slightly.
Mao Sanyou: “What do you want that for?”
Lu Yibei: “For self-defense.”
Mao Sanyou, knowing some special spells using paper figures, coupled with the upcoming turmoil in Tangcheng, found Lu Yibei’s reason for “self-defense” quite justifiable, so he didn’t press any further.
Mao Sanyou: “How many do you plan to get? Do you have any specific requirements?”
Lu Yibei: “Not many, the key is the material and shape. Here’s the list [image].”
Mao Sanyou, “…”
Can’t Lu Yibei do something more normal?
To make a living person into a paper figure based on their own appearance, doesn’t that feel ominous?
The owner of “Little Ming Classmate” was also quite knowledgeable. Glancing at the picture of the list Lu Yibei sent, he immediately recognized what she wanted to make and muttered, “Oh, it’s a paper cicada! Techniques from Dachunyang Palace… and she’s supposedly a disciple of a prestigious sect, heh!”
Didn’t expect Lu Yibei to be a disciple of Dachunyang Palace… Mao Sanyou thought to himself, further dispelling any doubts about Lu Yibei’s actions.
What bad intentions could a disciple of Dachunyang Palace have?
Mao Sanyou had seen plenty of Dachunyang Palace disciples who had joined the Siye Society, each with overflowing justice. Getting them to do something shady was harder than killing them.
He glanced at the boss, ignoring his strange comments, and casually asked, “Boss, can you make that thing here?”
“Of course! The method for making paper cicadas is quite simple; the secret to making them move is the key! Moreover, even if made, knowing the secret and controlling them is another challenge. Without a year or two of effort, forget it…”
“Alright, alright, no need to say more,” Mao Sanyou interrupted, unable to stand it when others flaunted these things in front of him. “I’m not interested in this, so I’ll just give you my friend’s WeChat, you can talk to him directly.”
Saying this, he informed Lu Yibei and then presented the screen showing Lu Yibei’s account QR code to the boss.
The boss scanned the QR code and successfully added Lu Yibei’s WeChat number. He looked up and smiled at Mao Sanyou, “Master Mao, I express my gratitude for helping me introduce business!”
Mao Sanyou shrugged and pushed the bag containing the core of the urban legend and spirit energy items towards the boss. “Since that’s the case, I won’t haggle; we’ll do it based on the commission you mentioned earlier, and just put these up for consignment.”
At this point, he suddenly seemed to remember something and added, “By the way, I noticed the list my friend sent over uses some cheap materials. Once those things are sold, you can deduct the labor cost for making those paper figures from my share.”
“Master Mao, it’s not that I’m saying this, but that paper cicada thing isn’t exactly cheap!” the boss reminded.
“Doesn’t matter; that’s just how I am with friends. I don’t care about this small amount of money at all!” Mao Sanyou waved his hand nonchalantly.
Now that he has money, he wouldn’t need to sell on the street anymore; that’s how generous he is!
“Alright, if anything comes up later, just talk to him. I’ve been very busy lately with major matters to handle, so don’t bother me.”
Going to help his aunt, whether he could return unscathed and collect the consignment income was still uncertain.
Taking out a portion of the income in advance to support his colleagues at the Siye Society was also considered doing a good thing.
Moreover, Lu Yibei said she only needed a little, even a thousand or eight hundred small paper figures won’t cost much, Mao Sanyou thought, curling his lips before turning to leave the little shop.
In the cold wind, the “mournful” character on the sign of the funeral supplies store shimmered slightly. The boss watched Mao Sanyou’s figure disappear at the street corner, secretly giving him a thumbs up for being righteous, then bowed his head and relayed his words to Lu Yibei via text.
Little Ming: “The situation is just as we mentioned earlier. Lord Lu, how many do you intend to make?”
Lu Yibei: “Is there such a good deal? I don’t need many, let’s start with a thousand!”
Boss: “???”
————
The next morning, 9:03.
In Huacheng, Amber Hall.
After the snow fell overnight, a thick layer of snow blanketed the garden of Amber Hall. Early in the morning, the sky was still a bit obscure, with vague light floating at the horizon. Ahua changed into warm clothing and took a shovel to start shoveling snow in the garden.
At the end of the garden, inside the building, long white curtains fluttered with the breeze.
In the room, Jiang Li, sound asleep, heard the faint sound of a shovel clattering against the ground from outside. She furrowed her brows, her long eyelashes fluttering gently. She soon woke up and sat up.
The white down comforter slipped off her, exposing her delicate shoulder. She lazily rubbed her eyes and gently pulled up the fallen strap of her nightgown, then, like many people do upon waking, picked up her phone from the bedside.
Unlocking the screen, she checked her inbox and some chatting records on a certain social media platform. Jiang Li frowned, “Not a single reply all night…”
Muttering to herself, she pondered for a moment and then began typing a message.
“Preparatory Operative Lu Yibei, today is the third day. Please complete your work report by 6 PM today and reply upon receipt.”
After finishing the message, she stared blankly at the screen for a second but didn’t hit send. Instead, she touched the “Cancel” option in the top right corner and dialed Lu Yibei’s number.
“Beep—beep—! Hello, the number you dialed is busy and cannot be answered at the moment…”
“…”
It hung up after just a couple of rings?
Jiang Li paused for a moment, holding her phone in front of her and examining it for several seconds. Her bright eyes turned slightly, as if she thought of something, and quickly got out of bed. Skillfully tying on her prosthetic leg, she hobbled over to the desk in her bedroom, opened her computer, and casually grabbed a pen to put her long hair up neatly.
The phone hanging up after only a few rings indicated that Lu Yibei might have heard the call but was either unable or didn’t want to answer.
First, she ruled out that there was another girl beside Lu Yibei who might not want either of them to hear strange sounds, which would give rise to misunderstandings. This was basic trust. Moreover, if that were the case, he wouldn’t have been silent for more than ten hours without replying to work messages.
If answering the phone wasn’t possible, and he also couldn’t reply to messages, it indicated he might have encountered some trouble, or his phone wasn’t in his hands at all, which was a dangerous signal.
As Jiang Li pondered, her hands swiftly tapped the keyboard, typing a piece of special gibberish into a blue-themed browser icon and gently pressing the Enter key. She glanced out the window and called towards the busy Ahua in the garden.
“Ahua, when you come back up, please make me a pot of bitter tea. Keep breakfast simple!”
“Got it, Miss!”
Hearing Ahua’s response, Jiang Li took a deep breath, recalling the list of Siye Society operatives and preparatory operatives who went with Lu Yibei to Tangcheng for support, and then quickly brought up their file information.
“Moon City, Wang Yichen… Shancheng, Zhou Zhengxiang… Jiang City, Fu Xinyi… Foshan, Ye Shihu…”
After a brief look over the information of those operatives and preparatory operatives, Jiang Li casually selected one and dialed the number provided in the file.
“Hello, you’ve reached Jiang Li, Operative No. 5 from Huacheng Siye Society…”
“……”
After about half an hour, Jiang Li had contacted the bereaved contacts for all the missing operatives and preparatory operatives, then put down her phone, her expression turning serious.
If it was just Lu Yibei who couldn’t be reached, it would be debatable whether something unusual was occurring in Tangcheng.
But if all the supporting operatives and preparatory operatives were unreachable, then it might indicate a big problem, Jiang Li thought.
At this moment, the bedroom door was pushed open, and Ahua entered with a cup of bitter tea and steaming dumplings, bringing them next to Jiang Li.
Seeing her serious expression, Ahua was about to ask what had happened when she saw Jiang Li grab a dumpling and put it in her mouth, muttering, “Ahua, help me book a flight to Tangcheng…”
But halfway through her sentence, realizing Tangcheng might be facing unforeseen crises, where taking a flight could result in encountering urban legends or spiritual ability users, leading to no chance of survival, Jiang Li paused slightly and changed her words, “Just book me a high-speed train ticket instead.”
“And notify Bai Kai to come find me. If he doesn’t come, tell him Lu Yibei is dying quickly.”
“Ah?” Ahua was taken aback, surprised. “Miss, what nonsense are you saying? Lord, um, Lu Yibei, how could he possibly be dying?”
“I can’t explain it clearly in a short time, just do as I say.” Jiang Li said.
“…” Ahua slightly parted her lips, then bowed her head. “Understood, Miss, I’ll handle it right away.”
After Ahua left the room, Jiang Li took a sip of her prepared bitter tea, swallowed the dumpling she was chewing, and quickly returned to her computer. She compared the information of the unreachable operatives and preparatory operatives to contact their listed “bereaved persons.”
Becoming a member of the Siye Society meant d*ath could occur due to unexpected accidents at any time. The so-called bereaved person not only acted as backup contacts but also, in a sense, served as those handling affairs after an incident.
Just like Jiang Li was Lu Yibei’s bereaved person, Bai Kai had previously bothered her about this for a long time.
“Hello, is this the Huacheng Siye Society, Shi Datong?”
“Creak—creak—!”
“……”
Listening to the piercing sound resembling metal scraping her ear, Jiang Li moved the phone slightly away from her ear, frowning, and waited a dozen seconds before hearing a response.
“Hey, who are you?” A rough male voice on the other end said impatiently.
“Hello, this is Jiang Li, Operative No. 5 from Huacheng Siye Society. What was that noise on your end just now…”
“Oh, a colleague from Huacheng? I was just bitten on the neck by a ghoul and couldn’t speak! You don’t know; ever since that certain urban legend from last year, uh, I can’t remember the name, the sixth one on the wanted list, stayed with us for a while, everything has been chaotic here…”
Jiang Li nodded slightly, seeming not at all surprised by the notion of a ghoul locking someone’s throat with its mouth.
Before he could finish his sentence, the man on the other end suddenly yelled at someone, “Less chatter! The mountains are full of ghouls, so blow them up! Why can’t you? That mountain is full of coal mines; listen to me, just blow it up. If something goes wrong, I’ll take the responsibility!”
The sixth on the wanted list, the Inheritance Beast? That guy who could mimic the abilities of other urban legends? Thinking as the man was yelling, Jiang Li silently criticized him in her mind.
“Hey? Jiang, are you still there? By the way, what’s the matter that you suddenly contacted me?”
“Oh, I wanted to ask if your preparatory operative Wang Yichen has been in touch with you recently.” Jiang Li replied calmly. “Our preparatory operative Lu Yibei has gone missing after going to support Tangcheng, and I’ve attempted to contact other supporting operatives and preparatory operatives, including Wang Yichen, with the same result.”
“What? Wang Yichen is missing?” The man swore on the other end. “d*mn it, Miss Jiang, hold on a moment. I’ll finish blowing up the mountain and send someone to confirm the situation. I’ll get back to you soon.”
“Hmm.” Jiang Li replied. “Then I’ll trouble you; I’ll contact the Siye Society in other cities to inform them of the situation.”
Realizing the seriousness of the situation, the man on the other end repeatedly said, “Yeah, yeah, it’s critical; you handle your business.”
After hanging up the phone, Jiang Li immediately opened the file of the second operative, found the bereaved person’s contact information left in the file, and dialed the second phone number.
“Hello, this is Jiang Li, Operative No. 5 from Huacheng Siye Society…”
“……”
After spending about half an hour, Jiang Li had contacted all the bereaved persons of the missing operatives and preparatory operatives and then put down her phone, waiting for their confirmations.
During this waiting gap, she rubbed her forehead and once again took her phone, venting her inner grievances by sending Lu Yibei a message.
Jiang Li: “Can’t you make things easier for me?”
————
On the other side.
In Tangcheng, near the outskirts close to Eight Immortals Ancient Street, in an abandoned distillery’s vacant ground.
Lu Yibei felt her phone in her pocket gently vibrate. She took it out and glanced at it, a faint smile curving at the corners of her lips.
As expected of Miaomiao Sauce!
It seemed she had already reacted; given her efficiency, she had likely confirmed the situation with the Siye Societies in various cities and had even reported to her superiors, getting ready to take action.
This wave is just like “though they fly with wings in two colors, they share a silent understanding!” Lu Yibei thought.
While she didn’t want to rely on such vague connections to gamble, the actual circumstances didn’t allow for anything else, so she could only do this.
She had previously attempted to use Morse code to convey information to Jiang Li, but it ended in failure.
Fortunately…
Just as Lu Yibei was thinking, the roar of an engine echoed from afar. An old truck with a tarp covering the cargo slowly approached, and a middle-aged man with heavy dark circles under his eyes jumped down from it.
The person was the owner of Little Ming Classmate funeral supplies store.
He took a good look at Lu Yibei, testing, “You are…?”
“Exactly, I’m Lu Yibei, called here to collect the goods. Are the thousand paper figures ready? They’re the small figures with long wings, right?” Lu Yibei said expressionlessly.
The boss gave a bitter smile. “Don’t worry, they were made exactly as you said. I found half a street’s worth of people to help, and after working all night, they just barely completed it. The alchemical waste you requested is also in the truck. Please sign for it.”
“Thank you.” Lu Yibei acknowledged, took the receipt handed over by the boss, and signed her name—Wang Buliu—fantastically before stepping forward to lift the tarp on the truck.
“Whoosh—!”
With a light sound, the tarp slowly fell away, revealing the truck’s cargo filled with paper figures resembling the small paper cicadas Lu Yibei had made before, looking endearingly clumsy, with a pair of small, delicate wings added to their backs.
This pair of wings was the result of Lu Yibei’s careful consideration after observing the performance of the paper cicadas in the previous battle, aimed at enhancing their flight capability.
Although this modification would significantly increase their production costs, but…
The money isn’t even coming from me!
After examining for a while, seeing the boss still hesitating to unload, she furrowed her brows slightly and turned to inquire, “Is there anything else?”
“This, uh…” The boss chuckled awkwardly, rubbing his hands, “Although Master Mao prepaid the labor cost, you later increased the order for the alchemical waste…”
For such a large order, not only did it spend all the earnings Mao Sanyou had made yesterday, but it also exceeded quite a bit. He wanted to contact Mao Sanyou to inquire how to deal with it.
However, after Mao Sanyou left last night, he lost contact. If he could not recover his expenses from this Miss Wang, he’d take a loss.
Watching the boss stammer and rub his hands, Lu Yibei paused momentarily, coming back to reality and said expressionlessly, “I understand. You want to charge the price difference, right? Do you accept disaster relief funds?”
“Collect but…” The boss’s face showed difficulty.
How much disaster relief could there be? It wouldn’t even offset the surplus funds!
He thought this, and then saw Lu Yibei take out a full tank of dark liquid from a uniquely designed metal box.
The boss, “……”
