Chapter 38: The Manhole Cover Sounded
The West City Lime Factory is located in a remote area, surrounded by dilapidated residential buildings that are long deserted. Once inside the factory, there is almost no light source at all due to the tall brick walls blocking everything out.
Fortunately, the sky is clear tonight, and the moonlight is bright, preventing the entire factory from sinking into complete darkness, allowing for faint discernment of the road direction.
However, all the surroundings are blurry, with outlines blending into one another, appearing from afar as pools of deep black color.
Walking through the abandoned factory, Luxianbei dare not use her phone for light; in such an environment, any strong light source would appear exceptionally bright, exposing her to the potential view of members of the Seek Truth Mutual Aid Society.
Thus, she could only carefully proceed in the dark, and when passing near a workshop close to the courtyard wall, she faintly sensed a smell in the air similar to that of boiled eggshells. As she got closer, she found some lime piled up, compacted into blocks.
If Luxianbei guessed correctly, the white powder on Gu Xiniang’s body must have been from the dust drifting around the factory grounds.
Continuing to move forward cautiously in the dark, she pried open manhole covers she encountered along the way, recording the approximate distance between each cover. After about ten minutes, she finally arrived at an open space behind Workshop 2.
Looking up, even under the cloak of darkness, she could see a deep gorge in the clearing, surrounded by withered grass scattered among the remnants of crumbling walls, some of which vaguely maintained a rounded shape.
“……”
It seems that these bricks are the remnants of the once-great chimney.
But, has it been demolished or collapsed due to years of disrepair?
Luxianbei looked at the ruins of the massive chimney, slowly turning to gaze at Workshop 2 behind her, which was enveloped in darkness with a damaged roof, frowning slightly.
Or perhaps… something unexpected happened?
The fire that once occurred in Workshop 2, along with the damaged roof, was caused by that very incident.
Could it have been those strange figures that caused an accident after sending Gu Qiqi into the chimney?
Luxianbei was lost in thought, attempting to piece together what had once happened here.
At that moment, a dull sound echoed from a distance, interrupting her thoughts.
In the silent abandoned factory, that dull sound was particularly pronounced.
“Clang—!”
That was the sound of a loose manhole cover returning to its place, colliding with the ground.
Is someone moving within the factory?
Is it a member of the Seek Truth Mutual Aid Society?
Upon hearing it, Luxianbei’s heart tightened slightly. She looked around and, upon spotting a crescent-shaped hollow formed by the debris of the chimney, quickly slipped forward and hid.
Using the noise from the returning manhole cover as a warning for approaching danger was the very purpose of prying the covers loose along the way.
——
Speaking of which, she could think of such a bizarre way to warn of threats approaching from behind, thanks to her good mother, Mrs. Wang Meili.
That year, shortly after Luxianbei’s father had gone missing, not yet confirmed dead, she was living with Mrs. Wang Meili in the Lu Family Manor on Mudan Street, waiting for her father to return.
At that time, Luxianbei had just started elementary school. Young and carefree, she was clueless about worries and just wanted to play, especially immersing herself in online games, which made Mrs. Wang Meili quite troubled.
To control Luxianbei’s gaming time, Mrs. Wang Meili had no choice but to engage in a battle of wits that lasted nearly half a year.
At first, Mrs. Wang Meili employed the traditional method used by parents—feeling the temperature of the computer case.
She indeed caught Luxianbei several times using this method.
But soon, Luxianbei struck back—wrapping an ice pack with a towel and successfully evading several surprise attacks.
This good streak didn’t last long, as one time, when Mrs. Wang Meili scaled the wall to perform a surprise check, she felt the icy exterior of the computer case, which had clearly just come out of the fridge. Luxianbei immediately received a beating.
After that, every time Mrs. Wang Meili left home, she would take the mouse and keyboard away.
However, within less than a month, Luxianbei had saved enough pocket money to buy the cheapest mouse and keyboard set, which she would take with her whenever she went out to avoid being discovered.
But, as the saying goes, one cannot walk along the riverbank without getting their shoes wet. She eventually got caught by Mrs. Wang Meili.
That night, she lay in bed in her bedroom, looking out the window at the moon, tears in her eyes while rubbing her sore bottom.
Like a hallucination, she heard the sound of footsteps in the alleyway outside, stepping on the loose manhole cover, and a bold idea began to form in her mind.
From that day on, whenever Luxianbei played on the computer, she would pry open the manhole covers in the alley.
Few people usually walked through the alley, and as long as she heard a “clang,” there was at least a fifty percent chance it was Mrs. Wang Meili returning. By counting the steps from the alley to the door, she could estimate a rough time for her return.
So, upon hearing a noise, Luxianbei would immediately shut down her computer, return to her study, and open her textbooks. By the time Mrs. Wang Meili got home, the computer case that had been cooled by the ice pack would have returned to room temperature.
This method proved to be highly effective!
Thus, she enjoyed a prolonged period of happiness until one day, instead of hearing “clang,” she heard “crack… splash!”
After that day, Mrs. Wang Meili took the bedridden Luxianbei to live in the faculty dormitory.
Later, Nanling Yaohua appeared in Luxianbei’s life, drastically reducing her gaming time.
Perhaps it was because Mrs. Wang Meili had sweet-talked Nanling Yaohua into becoming a spy.
Or perhaps it was because the faculty dormitory was filled with professors and teachers from Huacheng University, exposing Luxianbei to a better cultural environment.
But most likely it was… because games can’t compare to cute little girls!
——
Hiding in the crescent-shaped hollow, Luxianbei listened carefully, just as she had when she heard Mrs. Wang Meili stepping on the loose manhole cover.
Although she couldn’t be sure if this method would be effective, being prepared is better than being completely unprepared.
As it turned out, her preparations had some usefulness.
From the earlier dull sound, the person who stepped on the manhole cover should be about two to three hundred steps away.
At that distance, combined with the faint lighting, the other party probably hadn’t noticed her presence, giving her time to react.
However, after the first dull sound, the abandoned factory fell silent again.
“……”
Strange, what’s going on?
Are they not walking towards me anymore, or did they not step on any other manhole covers?
Luxianbei pondered, frowning slightly.
On her way here, she had observed that although there were numerous manhole covers along the factory path, the roads in the factory were quite wide, unlike the narrow alley in front of the old manor, where one couldn’t step on a cover every time.
Uncertain if the person who caused the earlier sound was approaching her, Luxianbei decided to remain hidden for the time being and assess the situation outside before making any plans.
With this in mind, she leaned against the wall and slowly crouched down, hoping to better conceal herself among the half-man-high dried grass in the open ground.
These crumbling ruins had probably been abandoned in the open for many years, with a thin layer of mud accumulating in the shaded areas, where some moss grew and many insects thrived, making it feel slimy to touch. Occasionally, an unknown bug would scuttle across her hand, causing discomfort.
As Luxianbei crouched down, instinctively placing her hands behind her for support, the next moment her palms encountered the slimy, cold sensation.
In such a scene, unexpectedly touching something so ghastly sent goosebumps all over Luxianbei’s body, almost making her shout out loud.
Just as she was about to retract her hand, she touched something concealed beneath the moss, and her body stiffened slightly.
On the inner wall of this damaged enormous chimney, there were actually inscriptions!?
And not just one!
Did I misinterpret what I felt? Luxianbei thought.
She couldn’t be sure if the regular-shaped indentations she felt were characters. After all, it wouldn’t be surprising if this chimney, which had suffered some unknown damage, had scratched marks during its collapse.
Filled with doubt, she took a deep breath, steeling her courage to carefully explore the wall behind her, and her mood gradually turned serious.
Her feelings were not mistaken; there were indeed numerous inscriptions carved into the inner wall of the chimney.
Those deep and shallow grooves were evenly distributed across each brick in a circular pattern, clearly indicating human intervention.
The scratches formed during the chimney’s collapse could not possibly be this well-ordered, both in depth and distribution.
However, it was too dark, and Luxianbei couldn’t see the inscriptions on the chimney’s inner wall at all; she had never learned Braille, and the inscriptions had weathered over time, making her unable to discern what was written.
“……”
Were they carved by the members of the Seek Truth Mutual Aid Society gathered here?
But what could their purpose have been for inscribing characters on the inner wall of the chimney?
It couldn’t possibly be meaningless graffiti like “was here” or “I love Bai Xiaohua,” right? Moreover, those grooves did not resemble modern Chinese characters.
As Luxianbei mused, a sharp pain suddenly hit her brow, and then a fragment of a vague dream began to clarify.
Related memories surfaced from the fog like a tide flooding into her mind.
Initial Scene Spring Wind Spell, Zhuyan Alteration, Siye Society’s standardized trigger type solidification spell…
Various names and methods of symbols and solidification spells appeared in Luxianbei’s mind.
In the darkness, she squinted her eyes, looking back at the chimney ruins hidden in the dark.
What was carved on it, could it be… some form of symbols or incantations of solidification spells?
If that is the case, could the destruction and collapse of the chimney be related to these inscriptions?
With this thought, Luxianbei suddenly conceived a bold yet reasonable speculation.
Perhaps, in the dream, the figures seen in the abandoned factory sending Gu Qiqi into the chimney intended to use her for some sacrificial ritual!
But that sacrificial ritual failed, leading to the destruction and collapse of the huge chimney, also causing the fire in Workshop 2, and Gu Qiqi becoming half-human, half-ghost.
“……”
Did the Seek Truth Mutual Aid Society really conduct experiments on living people?
d*mn, people are unpredictable; someone as friendly as Gu Xiniang in the Seek Truth Mutual Aid Society might just be an exception, right?
Or it might even just be a public relations strategy to recruit members… Luxianbei thought, a chill rising along her back.
If her speculation aligned closely with reality, then the West City Lime Factory, as one of the strongholds of the Seek Truth Mutual Aid Society, had likely undergone countless terrifying experiments.
Those who tragically perished might be buried beneath her feet.
“Clang!”
The dull sound suddenly rang out again, breaking the silence, and the source of the noise seemed closer than before.
Luxianbei’s heart jolted. She quickly held her breath and pricked up her ears to listen carefully.
Then.
A situation she had not anticipated arose.
After the first dull sound, a series of dull sounds followed, sending a strong oppressive sensation compressing her chest, as if trying to suffocate her.
“Clang—Clang—Clang—!”
The sounds that continued to echo from the darkness sounded like someone was sprinting. However, even the world champion sprinter among humans could never reach such a speed.
On the way here, while prying the manhole covers, Luxianbei had taken note that the closest covers were spaced at least twenty or thirty meters apart.
Yet the interval of the sounds was no more than a second, and even a lighter creature stepping on those loose covers wouldn’t make such a pronounced noise.
A “monster” moving at a speed of twenty to thirty meters per second and weighing close to an adult human was rapidly approaching!
With that thought in mind, Luxianbei’s pupils contracted, her heartbeat quickened, and beads of sweat formed on her palms.
Nervously, she peeked out from her hiding spot, using one eye to look towards the direction of the sound, and her breath caught in her throat.
She saw that the clouds in the sky had covered the moonlight, making the light within the abandoned factory even dimmer, and everything in view reduced to dark and vague outlines.
In that eerie darkness, Luxianbei noticed a pair of crimson lights and a vague shadow about twenty meters away from her, flashing by before disappearing.
As that shadow vanished from her sight, the open ground again fell into a silence devoid of any human presence.
A foul and pungent odor filled the air, gradually becoming more intense, constantly reminding Luxianbei that danger lurked nearby.
“Thud…”
A light sound came from behind Luxianbei, like some viscous liquid dripping onto the ground. She quickly turned around and instinctively raised her hand to unleash a Red Flame Flash.
Thus, the fiery red light pierced through the darkness, illuminating the terrifying face hanging at the entrance of her hiding spot.
That face was abnormally swollen, the entire mouth devoid of lips, exposing pale teeth in a grotesque grin, with patches of mold-like erosion visible on the jagged flesh, appearing to reach the bone.
Dark red, fleshy tendrils broke through the skin of its face, waving and crawling around, countless tiny eyes quivering on its face, gazing at Luxianbei, radiating maliciousness.
Then.
Just when the fist-sized red fireball was less than a hand’s distance from that terrifying face, it suddenly vanished from view.
“Puff—!”
The fireball generated by the Red Flame Flash smashed into a shattered wall, flickering twice before extinguishing, and the surroundings plunged back into silence and darkness once more…
