Chapter 37: Why Does It Want to Go Deliver?
A few days ago, when a bunch of memories suddenly appeared in Lu Xibei’s mind, she felt that it was not a big deal.
After all, it didn’t affect her life.
Yesterday, when she woke up and found herself transformed into a beautiful girl, she still thought it was not a big deal.
According to the dream memories, she would return to her original self just by bathing in the morning sun.
And now, something even more absurd had happened, a strange thought had actually begun to flash like “b*llet comments” in her mind.
Lu Xibei felt that if her brain were compared to a computer, the current situation would be like allowing malicious plugins to install themselves freely, and now the system was finally about to crash.
She sat on the wall, groping her head in an attempt to find the option to turn off or delete the plugins, then despairingly tapped her skull.
“d*mn, how can I turn this thing off?”
She cursed softly, and just then, the bizarre thoughts that had been flashing in her mind suddenly stopped.
Wait, is this thing voice-controlled? Is it that advanced?
“b*llet comments, activate! Plugins, install!”
She tentatively shouted a couple of times, but the odd thoughts did not appear again.
Lu Xibei, “……I think I’m really going crazy. This is an original factory model human brain; how could it have such things?”
Thinking self-deprecatingly, she withdrew her focus and looked towards the West City Lime Factory.
The information she found online about the West City Lime Factory only included a few low-resolution old photos and a simple introduction. The only information she could gather was that there were three workshop buildings and a comprehensive building within the factory area, which was not very intuitive.
When she actually arrived on site, Lu Xibei found that the area was much larger than she had imagined.
The three workshop buildings were arranged in a “product” shape, and behind the workshops stood a dilapidated four-story building that should have been used for the workers’ offices and accommodations.
Sitting on the courtyard wall and gazing into the dark abandoned factory, it looked lifeless and deathly, like a grave. A faint, pungent smell lingered in the air, likely from the chemicals needed for burning active lime.
A bit farther away from the courtyard wall, the second workshop seemed to have suffered a severe fire; all the windows were shattered, the roof had collapsed, and the outer wall of the workshop was blackened by smoke, with some walls cracked, as if they could collapse at any moment.
After surveying the situation inside the lime factory, Lu Xibei quietly recalled the rumors about the Seek Truth Mutual Aid Society, feeling a bit creeped out, with beads of sweat forming in her palms, creating a chill.
————
The rumor that impressed her the most was a m*rder case she heard during casual conversations with high school classmates.
According to the rumors, the culprit was the owner of a small noodle shop at the entrance of Huacheng No.40 Middle School. His cooking skills were mediocre, and the noodles in his shop lacked soul, produced by machines; without the shop’s advantageous location, he probably wouldn’t be able to run the business.
Yet, this unremarkable noodle shop owner, under the influence of the Seek Truth Mutual Aid Society, gradually became mentally twisted, immersing himself in a state of delusion.
Using the noodle machine, he created a horrific killing machine that he called a “Real World Transporter” and, in less than a week, used it to turn seventeen students into meat paste.
When the police captured the murderer, his television at home was playing videos related to the Seek Truth Mutual Aid Society, and just a wall away, one of the victims was bound to the modified killing machine, the upper body already bloodied and lifeless.
When the police heard the roar of the machine and broke down the bedroom door, they thought they had stumbled upon a scene from a horror movie, their hair standing on end and their scalps tingling.
In the bedroom where over ten victims had been killed, a suffocating stench permeated, the walls stained dark red with splattered bl**d and flesh, and the floor littered with entrails and severed limbs.
Until he was judged, the murderer still believed he had done nothing wrong; the victims should even thank his “great” invention for sending them to the “real” world.
————
There were many similar terrifying urban legends about the Seek Truth Mutual Aid Society, most of which Lu Xibei had heard during casual class chats or discussions in the dorm.
For a time, she did not take them to heart at all.
Danger is sometimes really close to people, and if one is not careful, one might end up drinking a mysterious red tea handed over by a stranger.
But she believed that, most of the time, danger was still far from people; as long as one didn’t casually go home with strangers, even if their house had many fun things and was quite big, it wouldn’t matter if one stayed late to play.
Now, just before entering the lime factory, those rumors about the Seek Truth Mutual Aid Society she had once heard were playing like a movie in Lu Xibei’s mind.
She felt a bit scared.
The rumors might have elements of artistic processing, but most of the time, they were not baseless.
Perhaps the members of the Seek Truth Mutual Aid Society were not as brutal and terrifying as rumored, but they might also not be as friendly as Gu Xiniang portrayed.
Should I just give up?
Since I’ve found what seems to be the stronghold of the Seek Truth Mutual Aid Society, I could actually choose to report it directly to the police and let the officers handle them, right?
That way, not only could I roughly know what had happened here, but I might even get a banner for being a courageous girl saving the day! Lu Xibei thought.
Just when she was ringing the retreat bell in her heart, an unknown thought silently reappeared in her mind, causing her body to stiffen slightly.
Unlike the previous thoughts that had flashed in a barrage, this time the thought flickered and quickly vanished.
It left no strange emoticons, only a strong emotion, making her feel that something in this seemingly lifeless abandoned factory was indeed calling to her.
That call was warm, joyful, friendly, and not a trace of malice; in addition, it contained a hint of sadness, like a farewell, making her involuntarily recall the scene of her red bean cake leaving.
Red bean cake was a Corgi she had raised when she was young, and even now she still remembered that every day after school, when she opened the door, red bean cake would rush towards her at the speed of light, jumping into her arms to act cute.
It seemed she was its whole world.
Later, it grew old and peacefully died in the embrace of its world.
Lu Xibei squinted her eyes, scanning the pitch-black factory area.
Could the thing calling to me within this factory be waiting for my “return” just like red bean cake? What if I leave now…
“That’s right, I can’t leave! How can a tough guy be scared at a time like this? If I actually encounter danger, I can think of a way to escape, right?”
“Moreover, I’m super brave! As long as a mob of people doesn’t rush out to launch a full-scale attack on me, a few ordinary people shouldn’t be able to withstand an explosion from a water heater, right?”
After all, I’m not some petty woman sucking bl**d viciously while relying on the kindness of others; if there’s a chance to save, I should save, right?
While bitterly reflecting, Lu Xibei took a few deep breaths to slightly calm herself and then mustered her courage, leaping down from the wall and jumping into the factory.
After steadying herself, she glanced around to ensure no one was secretly watching before quickly hiding her figure in the shadows formed by the courtyard wall and the trees behind it, pondering to herself.
Now I still don’t know where the thing calling me is in the factory, so to find it, I’ll probably have to explore the entire factory.
Since I need to explore the whole factory, it doesn’t really matter where I go first; I might as well head over to check out the chimney first. Lu Xibei thought.
When she found information about the West City Lime Factory online, the pictures clearly stated there was a large chimney behind the second workshop, but upon arriving here, she didn’t find any chimney, and there were serious signs of a fire in the second workshop, which troubled her greatly.
After a brief contemplation and making a decision, Lu Xibei quickly took action, moving under the cover of night toward the direction of the second workshop, while also prying open every manhole cover she saw along the way.
“d*mn it, why did the b*llet comments disappear right now?”
In the darkness, Lu Xibei’s murmuring voice could be vaguely heard.
These b*llet comments were particularly magical; they could be annoying if you wanted to watch a video seriously, but if the video was a horror movie, the situation changed completely.
As is widely known, horror movie + barrage comments = black humorous comedy.
————
Moments ago, in a hidden underground storage.
The ceiling light flickered as if it was malfunctioning, and dark red mist spread throughout the storage, emitting a fishy odor.
“Ding—Ding—!”
On the console, a red-and-white jacket was struggling, causing chains to clank and echo with a metallic sound.
Half an hour earlier, Gu Weibing had done something that left the jacket utterly confused.
He stared at the mysterious crystal for too long, as if he had gone insane, and actually swallowed the entire crystal.
The jacket, with an intelligence only slightly above that of a six-year-old, could not comprehend why Gu Weibing would do such a thing.
Although it emitted spirit energy fluctuations and had a “fragrance” similar to that of a core of an urban legend, how could a human just swallow the core of an urban legend casually?
If humans could swallow the core of an urban legend unharmed, what was the point of drawing spirit patterns?
Even the powerful urban legend known as the witch would certainly not do that!
The witch probably would first cut the mysterious core of the urban legend into a hundred pieces, feeding five to ten pieces to an eye, and only after confirming the eye did not d*e, would she complete the swallowing of the remainder in at least ten parts.
Although it didn’t understand why the witch had to do this every time, she certainly had her reasons, which must be right!
Now, the middle-aged man had made a mistake, and his end was about to transform him into an urban legend.
In the corner of the small storage, a ragged figure with disheveled hair squatted against the wall, his body twitching and spasming, intermittently producing strange cracking sounds, like bones being crushed.
It was perhaps gnawing on its own body.
This state persisted for an unknown amount of time, and suddenly its body straightened, and it emitted a hoarse voice.
“Uh… uh…”
The sound was a whimper of great pain, or like a m*an of satisfaction during extreme excitement.
The next moment, its flesh began to churn violently, and the chilling sound of bones breaking echoed incessantly, a dark yellow gelatinous substance seeping from beneath its skin, attaching to its surface, corroding it, making its skin appear gelatinous and disgusting.
Then, accompanied by a soft sound of cracking flesh, two long arms bent at odd angles dropped to the ground.
With support from four arms and legs, it crawled on the ground like an insect, suddenly turning around to look at the jacket fixed to the console, its twisted face with multiple eyes twitching rapidly, emitting a greedy, ferocious light.
Humans who consume an untreated core of an urban legend almost always end up becoming a low-level mutated urban legend with chaotic thoughts filled with negative emotions.
And the newly spawned urban legend urgently needed to replenish spirit energy.
Driven by a strong sense of hunger, these slightly deranged low-level mutated urban legends typically hunt whatever they can encounter, or get hunted in the process.
Having gone through a similar phase, the jacket instinctively sensed the danger and felt that the situation was not good, struggling more violently.
At that moment, it suddenly sensed Lu Xibei’s presence within its spiritual perception range.
っﾟДﾟ)っWitch, save me, I’m done for!
(╥╯^╰╥)Witch, I miss you so much!
ヾ(O´∀｀O)ﾉHey, great! The witch is here; I’m safe now!
……
The jacket sent a series of signals to Lu Xibei through its kinship mark.
After waiting for a long time…
It felt Lu Xibei’s presence was not heading toward it but going in the completely opposite direction.
“Pat—pat—!”
The sound of viscous liquid dripping was heard.
The jacket’s attention was drawn away from Lu Xibei; it then noticed that the urban legend transformed from Gu Weibing had come beside it, opening its mouth without lips, exposing its bony white teeth, with foul, thick liquid dripping beside it.
(｡•́︿•̀｡)
Witch… do you not want me anymore?
Goodbye, Witch; this world is not worth it.
However, just as the jacket was mentally preparing itself for being abandoned by Lu Xibei and then being devoured by the urban legend transformed from Gu Weibing, he suddenly stopped.
Turning towards the exit of the small storage, he stood there for a moment before suddenly using all six limbs to sprint away, tearing open the metal door and rushing out of the small storage.
The jacket, momentarily confused about why Gu Weibing suddenly left, was dazed for a long time before coming to its senses.
That seemed to be the direction the witch is in!
Why does he want to go deliver?
