**Chapter 48: Better Not at All!**
Looking at the entire barrel of calamity, the owner of Xiaoming’s funeral supplies store couldn’t help but twitch his mouth.
Unlike Fat Second Grandpa, who had become unfazed, the young owner was genuinely scared.
It was a standard water cooler barrel with a capacity of 5 gallons, equivalent to about 19 liters.
Although he recognized that the girl in front of him was a witch-type urban legend and that trading calamity was not uncommon, previously he had only seen such trades by the gram. He had never seen someone bring an entire barrel.
This whole barrel of calamity was indeed enough to make up for the price difference for creating a Zhipianxian, with some excess even. But…
This item is valuable yet has no market; very few people buy it!
Taking it back, he had no idea when he could turn it back into cash. The owner thought in a difficult predicament.
Seeing the owner did not speak for a long time, Luxianbei said expressionlessly, “Boss, why aren’t you talking? You’re not thinking of going back on your word, are you?”
“Dare not, dare not,” the owner replied repeatedly, embarrassment flashing across his face.
In his opinion, typically, a witch-type urban legend would only produce less than fifty milliliters of calamity a year. Even if this Ms. Wang’s core was somewhat special, it likely wouldn’t exceed a hundred milliliters.
But what lay before him now was nearly 19 liters of calamity.
Such an astonishing quantity implied that either this Ms. Wang was not as harmless as she appeared and was a killer that even her own kind would harm, or she had existed for a long time and had accumulated all this calamity bit by bit.
Whichever it was, it indicated her formidable strength, making others unwilling to provoke her easily.
Thinking of this, the owner weighed the situation carefully and finally, with great reluctance, reached an agreement with Luxianbei, “Then let’s do as Ms. Wang wishes! You wait here for a moment, I’ll go get a container…”
As the owner turned to leave, Luxianbei called out, “Wait! There’s one more question.”
The owner was stunned for a moment and smiled, “Please, go ahead.”
Luxianbei rested her chin on one hand, thoughtfully stated, “As far as I know, the price of this barrel of calamity should exceed the price difference you need to make up for quite a bit, you’re not thinking of just taking it all, are you?”
I’m not new to selling this stuff; trying to take advantage of me? Not a chance! Luxianbei thought.
The owner looked at Luxianbei’s expressionless face, and sweat appeared on his forehead. He weakly said, “What do you mean?”
In this remote area, if this witch-type urban legend wanted to harm him, he had no room to fight back.
Luxianbei frowned, looking at the large truck parked not far away, and raised a finger, “Let’s keep the truck? With so many paper people, I need something to store them, don’t I?”
Hearing this, the owner sighed in relief, but just as he was about to feel relaxed, Luxianbei added casually, “Also, leave the driver’s license? I don’t have one, and it’ll be inconvenient on the road.”
Even though the metal box he got from Heibaidan was larger than a guitar bag and had a weight-reducing spell, it still couldn’t fit a thousand Zhipianxian and over four hundred kilograms of alchemical residue!
Moreover, if something unexpected happened and he needed to deploy the Zhipianxian, he couldn’t let them fly over, could he?
Having a whole bunch of paper people flying in the sky, what kind of nightmare scenario would that be? It would scare the kids. Luxianbei thought.
The owner, “…”
No driver’s license and still planning to drive a five-ton truck? That’s practically indiscriminate m*rder, right?
Where did Mao San get this lawless man?
————
A moment later, watching as the owner of Xiaoming’s funeral supplies store carefully carried away a barrel of calamity, Luxianbei climbed onto the driver’s seat of the large truck, silently giving a thumbs up to Miss Rabbit for her friendly sponsorship.
If it weren’t for her hacking him twice recently, he wouldn’t have produced so much calamity.
“If I could find an opportunity to catch Miss Rabbit and have her chop me a bit now and then, wouldn’t I be set?” Luxianbei murmured to herself.
“I wonder if the influx of calamity into the trade market will lead to calamity inflation.”
While speaking, she took out her phone and sent a message to Jumeng.
Luxianbei: “Have you thought about where to play?”
Luxianbei: “Got a big truck; want to take a joyride?”
However, waiting in the truck for over ten minutes, she did not receive a reply from Jumeng. Growing a bit anxious, she found Jumeng’s number and dialed it, only to hear the voice of the operator indicating the other party’s phone was off…
————
Huacheng, Amber Hall.
Jiang Li watched as the message she sent to Luxianbei got marked as [Read], yet received no reply. She smirked, clearly realizing that this message, coupled with her previous fruitless contact with the Tangcheng Siye, only confirmed her suspicions that something big was going wrong in Tangcheng.
Putting down her phone, while waiting for replies from the various city Siye, she walked to her bedroom closet to change out of her nightgown. By the time she returned to her desk, her phone had multiple replies from mourners.
Without exception, the operatives and prospective operatives related to them had gone missing.
After confirming the situation with the operatives, Jiang Li immediately began drafting the report to her superiors regarding the situation.
————
A minute after Jiang Li sent her drafted report, it was initially reviewed and uploaded to the Jin Guan City Siye information center.
Following protocol, the information center staff sent three copies of the report: two to the southwest region inspector general’s office and Shengjing Siye headquarters, and one to the document management center for filing.
Three minutes later, a piercing phone rang in Xing Yuan’s office.
“Is that so? Hmm, I understand.” After the call, Xing Yuan’s expression grew serious as she pondered for two seconds, then shouted towards the secretary’s office just a wall away, “Jin Jiao, Yin Jiao, we’ve got serious work ahead!”
“Jin Jiao, contact your informants to gather intel regarding the recent activities around Tangcheng, compile the useful information.”
“Yin Jiao, quickly go through the procedures, reassign operatives who are not currently on missions and prepare to support Tangcheng…”
After pausing, she added, “Wait, Yin Jiao, this mission’s danger level is relatively high. Those with spirit energy fluctuation levels below B rank, make sure they don’t come to muck up the works; even B1s are unacceptable!”
“Understood, Inspector General.” Yin Jiao answered, hurriedly leaving the office.
Five minutes later, Jin Jiao completed the preliminary sorting of nearly a week’s worth of intel and reached a conclusion.
There was indeed a large gathering of illegal spirit ability organizations around Tangcheng recently, but what exactly they were plotting remained to be discovered.
“Investigation? Can we really expect those guys to do anything good? Helping the elderly across the road, aiding impoverished areas to prosper, or sponsoring students in mountainous regions?”
Xing Yuan spoke seriously to Jin Jiao, leaning down to pull an official seal from her desk drawer and throwing it over, “Take it and go find Yin Jiao, have him follow the procedures based on the crimson avian signal level.”
“This…” Jin Jiao caught the seal with both hands, puzzled. He looked at Xing Yuan and frowned, “Boss, isn’t that against the rules?”
“Against the rules? What are you talking about?” Xing Yuan interrupted him, “If you don’t mention it, Yin Jiao doesn’t say anything, who will know I gave you the seal? Hurry!”
“Also, that Jiang Li girl suggested in the report not to take a plane to Tangcheng to avoid an ambush, which could cause unnecessary losses. Have Yin Jiao add that in as well.”
“Additionally, this mission strictly forbids Huacheng Siye operatives Bai Kai from participating.”
“Ah?” Jin Jiao was taken aback, his expression complex as he tentatively said, “Boss, isn’t that a bit…”
“Are you implying I’m showing him special consideration?” Xing Yuan coldly glanced at Jin Jiao, “To be honest, I’m treating him especially well.”
“I ask you, this matter concerns his relative, Luxianbei. Based on your assessment of his character, if he shows up at the scene, will he cause trouble?”
“Uh…” Jin Jiao hesitated, then nodded, “Understood.”
Given Bai Kai’s character and his relationship with Luxianbei, if Luxianbei were to get into trouble, he’d rush in swinging a sword against those illegal spirit ability organizations with no hesitation, putting himself in danger. The key was that with his spirit pattern characteristics, no one could stop him.
At that point, not only might he be lost to those illegal organizations, but it could also alert others, affecting the actions of other operatives.
So…
What he wanted to do, who he wanted to k*ll, let me help him finish that after the mission is arranged, Xing Yuan thought.
Twenty minutes later, the emergency request for operatives in the southwest region was reviewed and approved by the Siye headquarters, and the operation permit was issued.
After uploading the crimson avian signal on the Siye internal network, Xing Yuan immediately called for Jin Jiao, Yin Jiao, and three operatives from Jin Guan City Siye who had their holiday temporarily canceled, to prepare for action and depart for Tangcheng in thirty minutes.
Once Jin Jiao and Yin Jiao left the office, after a flurry of activity, Xing Yuan sat leaning back in her chair, rubbing the slightly swollen area of her brow, her gaze passing over the seal Jin Jiao had just returned, suddenly recalling something, and a trace of sorrow appeared between her brows.
If I had this little thing back then, maybe I wouldn’t have had to leave Xiaobai? Xing Yuan thought, a wry smile breaking on her face.
————
Tangcheng, in a vacation rental five kilometers from the Peach Source scenic area, in a small room.
A joyride in a big truck? What on earth was Luxianbei thinking?
Juemeng closed her phone with a look of disgust after reading Luxianbei’s message. She turned around, her expression serious as she asked Shang Nanxing beside her, “Little Pudding, have they all arrived?”
Shang Nanxing shot her a sideways glance and slowly replied, “If you call me that name again, be careful I don’t stab you in the back later.”
“Come on, you used to love that name, didn’t you?” Juemeng raised her hands in a shrug, “I can’t even say anything, and I already know you’re yapping all day in front of my statue saying ‘Pudding, I want Pudding,’ right?”
“You don’t know how hard it used to be for me to find pudding for you back then!”
Shang Nanxing’s cheeks flushed in embarrassment as she held her forehead, “Let’s hurry up and go outside? Don’t keep everyone waiting.”
While speaking, Shang Nanxing stepped forward and opened the door to the small room.
“Creak—!”
With the soft sound of the door creaking, the door slowly opened to reveal a small conference room that could accommodate around twenty people, now filled with people, with several more standing against the walls. A quick glance revealed the number exceeded forty.
They were all spirit ability users and urban legends who had successfully arrived to support Juemeng in Tangcheng.
Juemeng scanned them and scratched her head, awkwardly saying, “Everyone is here? Sorry for keeping you all waiting, let’s get down to business!”
At that moment, her bashful demeanor was reminiscent of a primary school student making their first public speech.
She had never expected that simply sending out a distress message through Yuan Ye would result in such a large turnout, some of whom had even come knowing they might face ambush.
Facing these spirit ability users and urban legends, Juemeng felt slightly embarrassed, her cheeks flushing.
In fact, when she had helped these people and legends, she had never imagined that one day she would need their repayment.
By the way, only that idiot Luxianbei would treat my distress signal as scam information, delete it, and block the number! Juemeng thought.
————
A few days ago, on Tangcheng’s Arrow Tower Ancient Street.
Having rushed from the airport, Liu Banxian stopped at a small pawn shop at the street corner and, after some banter with his old friend Tan Caizhu, noticed Tan’s gaze subtly drifting to a man across the street holding a white porcelain plate.
After settling Liu Banxian, Tan immediately notified Juemeng about Liu being followed.
“… That’s how it is, my lord. I think that person is not someone old Liu deliberately drew attention to; it’s purely because old Liu’s spirit sense is too weak and he didn’t even realize he was being followed.” Tan Caizhu respectfully reported.
Upon hearing this, the servant beside them, Yuan Ye, darkened and suggested to Juemeng, “East Master, it seems this place is already unsafe. We’d better leave quickly!”
“…”
Juemeng fell silent for a long time before looking up at Yuan Ye, solemnly saying, “I’m not going anywhere; I’ll stay right here.”
Hearing this, Yuan Ye hurriedly replied, “But East Master, that person trailing Liu Banxian might alert those attackers in Peach Source. If you get hurt again, you might not be able to subdue that tree, and then how can we return to Peach Source to eliminate those rascals?”
“It’s just an injury, as long as I don’t d*e, it’s fine.” Juemeng said nonchalantly, but then the injury flared up, leading to a violent coughing fit.
“Cough, cough, cough, as for that tree, if I can’t subdue it, then don’t subdue it. If we can’t return, then let’s not return for now. Don’t they want to use those pickled vegetable jars to force the Tangcheng Siye to activate the city barrier?”
“Since we can’t stop them, then let them succeed. You go tell Little Pudding, if I am ambushed again in the next two days, just let her subtly encourage that surname Xu to activate the barrier.”
“East Master, do you want to…” Yuan Ye seemed to understand Juemeng’s intention, stunned as he exclaimed, “But, doing that, disregarding the extremely high risks, even if successful, your powers will…”
A life-and-d*ath struggle, breaking and then standing again… from a certain perspective, Liu Banxian’s fortune-telling was rather accurate.
“Powers?” Juemeng shot a glance at Yuan Ye and pronounced carefully, “That kind of power that’s almost rotten to the root, better to not have it!”
After speaking and noticing Yuan Ye’s stubborn stance, Juemeng frowned, stood up from her chair, patted Yuan Ye’s shoulder, and smiled.
“Don’t worry, I won’t d*e. Just do as I say. I just thought seriously about it; rather than struggling to survive for another few decades or ten years, it’s better to take a risk now so I can spend more time with everyone.”
“East Master…” Yuan Ye felt a warmth in his heart, looking up at Juemeng, his nose a bit sour.
“Feeling moved, huh? Since I’m making such an effort, how about you give me double the New Year’s money this year?” Juemeng smiled.
“…”
Yuan Ye was silent for a few seconds, then straight-faced replied, “In your dreams.”
“You! I’m about to cry!”
“Go ahead and cry.”
Juemeng, “…”
