### Chapter 40: The Evil God’s Armory
In the early morning, in Tangcheng, at Chunfeng Residence.
A woman with a graceful figure lay lazily on a daybed, fiddling with the SWITCH in her hands, completely engrossed.
Suddenly, her body stiffened for a moment, followed by a frown as she looked out at the bright morning sun through the window.
“Here we go again? I have to see what this prayer is about!” she muttered angrily, focusing her senses on the target of the prayer, her expression darkening.
The target of the prayer… was a person who doesn’t even exist.
“……” Jumeng pondered for a moment, then her eyes lit up. “Oh~ I get it! This d*mn thing is some otaku praying for his paper wife to have a child, right?”
“Tsk tsk, while I understand your feelings, I’ve really never tried this…”
Why not give it a shot?
If it actually works, the Seek Truth Mutual Aid Society can develop a new revenue stream!
Jumeng thought mischievously, a glint of cunning flashing in her jade-like eyes.
————
Lu Xianbei finished reciting the power description from her dream memory and murmured, “Okay, this should scare the soul out of them, right?” as she walked deeper into the factory.
Although she wasn’t sure how effective the power description was, “exorcising” was also an important step in delivering the final blow.
Without a physical form, isn’t there still the possibility of zombie-like situations?
Walking through the silent abandoned factory.
Though Lu Xianbei carried a few extra bricks on her back, her steps felt much lighter.
However, she didn’t let her guard down, cautiously observing her surroundings and prying open manhole covers along the way.
Although she had previously gotten caught by a loosened manhole cover, before that, other manhole covers served well as early warnings, didn’t they?
She didn’t know how that monster was born. If it was created by the Seek Truth Mutual Aid Society, there were probably more than one.
Better to be safe!
After finding that thing calling to me, I’ll leave immediately, Lu Xianbei thought.
————
The three workshops of the West City Lime Factory were arranged in a “品” shape, with the first and second workshops side by side, and the third workshop standing alone in the back, while the office and employee dormitory building was deeper in the factory, nestled against the mountain.
Lu Xianbei bypassed the second workshop and, when passing the third workshop, noticed a brand new heavy lock hanging on the heavy iron door, and all the windows tightly shut, making it impossible to climb in for a look like the first two workshops.
After circling around in front of the third workshop, she saw through a gap in a slightly old window the scene inside.
Through the narrow opening, under the harsh white illumination of her phone, she could vaguely see that the machines in the workshop had long been moved away, replaced by rows of chairs, nearly a thousand seats in total.
In the dimly lit workshop, murky air floated, and under the pale light, the chairs cast eerily shaped shadows, making it look as if the room was filled with people.
At the back of the workshop, a massive oil painting was displayed on the wall behind the podium.
“……”
A chaotic city, rain and stones flying toward the sky, a venerable banyan tree growing backward… the content of the painting was identical to those seen in Banshan Apartment.
This must be some kind of hall.
Perhaps members of the Seek Truth Mutual Aid Society frequently gather here, Lu Xianbei thought.
After taking a moment to survey her surroundings, she felt a chill run down her spine, thinking that if she looked any longer, she might “see” two figures appear in the empty workshop. Without lingering too long, she quickly headed towards the comprehensive building behind the third workshop.
————
The iron gate in front of the comprehensive building was tightly shut but not locked.
Lu Xianbei tried to push the iron gate, and with a slight creak, a gap opened. Taking a deep breath, she stepped through the gate into the small courtyard in front of the comprehensive building.
As she stood in the overgrown courtyard, she looked up at the building ahead.
The four-story building had eight rooms on each floor, but most of the doors had been removed, leaving dark doorways that, under the cloak of night, resembled nests housing some strange creatures.
After observing for a bit, Lu Xianbei found it unsettling, feeling that if she looked any longer, she might “see” a figure in the deserted building. After a brief look, she quickly made her way upstairs.
By common logic, the upper floors should be where people lived, relatively safer and easier to find useful items.
The basement might be used for storage or have some other special purpose, posing a greater danger; she could wait a bit to explore it; if things got odd, she could abandon that exploration… Lu Xianbei thought.
————
It was unclear whether the earlier killing of that monster had instilled fear in other monsters hiding in the abandoned factory or if that was the only one present in this factory.
During her ascent from the first to the third floor, Lu Xianbei encountered not a single insect, only the sound of her own footsteps echoing in the empty corridor.
The door near the stairway on the third floor was a security door that could not be opened without making a ruckus, so she had to give up.
However, the door at the end of the third floor was only an old wooden door, with a small padlock hanging from it.
Lu Xianbei took a brick out of her backpack and hit the padlock twice, and with a “clang,” it fell to the ground.
Pushing the door open, after her eyes adjusted to the darkness and she saw the furnishings inside, Lu Xianbei was slightly taken aback.
The scene before her was too familiar; the structure and layout of the room were almost identical to those she had seen in Banshan Apartment.
“It seems the owner here must have lived in Banshan Apartment before. If that’s the case…”
Lu Xianbei murmured to herself, raising her hand to shine her phone toward the study area, her gaze sharpening as she quickly walked forward.
“Creek—!”
With the soft sound of the door hinge turning, just as she opened the study door, three pale, vacant faces came into view.
The study was unlit, and in the dark room, an everlasting lamp flickered with a dim yellow light. The air carried the scent of incense, and several bright yellow paper money pieces were lifted by the breeze from the door, drifting to Lu Xianbei’s feet.
There were no bookshelves or desks in the study, only an altar.
“Sorry to intrude…”
Under the gaze of three pairs of eyes, Lu Xianbei said expressionlessly and tremulously withdrew from the study. Just as she was about to close the door, she suddenly noticed that one of the three black-and-white photographs on the offering table looked somewhat familiar.
A round face, chestnut hair… was this a childhood photo of Gu Qiqi?
No, it’s not…
With a sudden pain in her forehead, Lu Xianbei recalled Gu Xiliu, whom she had briefly seen during an internal meeting at the Huacheng Siye Society in her dream memory.
It’s not Gu Qiqi, it’s Gu Xiliu!
The two girls bore a striking resemblance, but they had a significant difference in temperament. Gu Qiqi always had a silly look about her, with a stubbornness between her brows, while Gu Xiliu was quiet and gentle, giving off a frail, Lin Daiyu-like vibe; looking at them apart made it hard to connect the two.
Only someone like Lu Xianbei, who had interacted with Gu Qiqi multiple times and had previously suspected that the two were the same person, could quickly pick out their similarities.
“d*mn, are they two different people… but then again! What is going on here? I’m completely confused.” Lu Xianbei murmured, her thoughts tangled in a mess.
If Gu Qiqi and Gu Xiliu were two different people, then some of her previous guesses were instantly overturned.
She originally thought that this world was an illusion, so everything she had seen and experienced must also be a hallucination.
However, both Gu Qiqi and Gu Xiliu existed in the dream memories, meaning one of them likely transitioned from this false Huacheng to the real Huacheng.
But if it’s an illusion, after going to the real Huacheng, it should dissipate, right? Lu Xianbei thought.
Just as she was puzzling over this, an unsettling noise suddenly emanated from the courtyard of the comprehensive building.
Lu Xianbei slightly furrowed her brows and quickly left the room, stepping out into the corridor and listening closely.
The sound was coming from the direction of the basement, resembling heavy objects being dragged along, mixed with the light sound of chains clinking, as if something imprisoned was struggling.
The thought that had been calling to her also intensified at this moment.
Lady Witch, you’re here~!
|´・Ω・)ノ
Lu Xianbei, “……” Is it starting again? Can’t I have a peaceful moment to think? d*mn, it would be great if I could send it b*llet comments too.
Thinking this, her vision suddenly went black, and her brain felt like it short-circuited, plunging into blankness.
Almost immediately, she felt her soul detach from her body, extending into the void, linking with some unknown existence, forming a strong connection with its consciousness.
This is… lifted the silence, I can send b*llet comments now?
Sensing an indescribable state, Lu Xianbei hesitated for a moment, tentatively relaying a thought to the unknown existence.
“Hello? Can you hear me?”
Uh-huh, Lady Witch, close hug~~
Ღ(๑╯◡╰๑Ღ)
Realizing a response from the other side, Lu Xianbei was momentarily stunned and then her smile gradually morphed into something sinister.
“Close hug my a**! So I can finally send b*llet comments to you, huh? Do you know how I’ve been passing the past two hours?!”
(´｀;)？
“Do you know? ** postpartum care must begin during pregnancy; ** the feeding amount should gradually decrease four to five days before giving birth to reduce abdominal pressure so that one can eat more after childbirth. Eating too much beforehand not only prolongs labor but can also lead to food accumulation in the stomach after giving birth.”
“You don’t know, you don’t care; you only care about yourself!”
“……”
The not-so-smart brain in the coat was trying hard to understand what its dear Lady Witch was saying, then it crashed.
“And you know what…”
“@！#@&1……”
So, after Lu Xianbei’s brain operated on high frequency, continuously outputting content, merging C language with elegance for nearly ten minutes, a segment of garbled text was transmitted from the other side, followed by silence.
Seeing this, Lu Xianbei nodded with satisfaction and turned to head downstairs.
————
A moment later, Lu Xianbei arrived on the first floor of the comprehensive building, pried open the basement door lock, and plunged into the darkness.
As the darkness enveloped her vision the moment she entered the basement, she felt an extremely ominous sensation.
Is it starting again? Lu Xianbei frowned.
That feeling reminded her of when she was being secretly watched in Huacheng Library, as if some terrifying monster had set its sights on her.
Adding to her unease, the moment she stepped into the comprehensive building, she caught a whiff of an unbearable stench, reminiscent of the odor emitted from the previous monster.
Lu Xianbei tightened her grip on the toilet auger with one hand, switching to holding it with both hands, her muscles tensing.
She had already made up her mind that if something suddenly charged out of the darkness, she would immediately stab it with the auger and then slice it with the Four Beasts Bright Sky Cannon.
Lu Xianbei thought angrily, swinging the toilet auger threateningly.
Following the stairs down, the moment her feet touched solid ground, she hurriedly used her phone for illumination. As the darkness cleared with light, she immediately noticed something unusual.
At the bottom of the basement was a narrow hallway about five meters long, with a rusty iron door that appeared a bit low at the end of the corridor.
Pale light swept across the whitewashed walls of the hallway, revealing dark red stains that resembled watermarks all over the walls.
Lu Xianbei leaned closer to examine, and her pupils constricted, her scalp prickling, abruptly taking a step back.
That was not any kind of stain!
Though those large dark red patches affixed to the walls and ceilings looked like watermarks seeping from within the wall, a closer inspection revealed that they were dense clumps resembling veins or mycelia.
Upon meticulously searching for their source, Lu Xianbei quickly discovered that from the tiny cracks in the walls oozed dark-colored, foul-smelling, viscous flesh, wriggling in the wall’s crevices as if it had parasitized the building’s interior.
“Chirp chirp chirp—!”
As she observed the dark red flesh, a piercing sound resembling that of a rodent suddenly emanated from the wall in front of her. Following that was the sound of something sneaking and moving like a reptile.
Everything happened in less than a second.
Before Lu Xianbei could react to the strange noises coming from within the wall, the dark red flesh suddenly bloomed from the wall crevice like a crimson flower.
A strong, foul odor rushed toward her. Lu Xianbei was startled and jumped back, creating distance.
Once she steadied herself, she saw that the wall crevice she had been observing was now covered with a fist-sized mass of foul-smelling, fluffy bl**d flesh.
It was covered with numerous twitching little eyes, and its end was waving tiny hands similar to those of infants.
It looked as if some horrifying entity was parasitizing inside the wall.
“d*mn! What the hell is this thing?!”
Lu Xianbei’s skin crawled, and unable to suppress her swearing, she was about to raise her hand to reward this peculiar little thing with a slice from the Four Beasts Bright Sky Cannon when a sound suddenly came from behind the iron door at the end of the corridor.
“Bang bang—bang bang—!”
The muffled thuds echoed through the corridor, sounding like a fish struggling on a chopping board, but much more intense, like a gigantic beast.
“Gulp—!”
Lu Xianbei swallowed hard, hesitated for a moment, then stepped forward, stretching out her hand with the wooden handle of the toilet auger from a distance to poke open the iron door at the end of the corridor.
Then…
She froze in place.
An extremely evil aura surged forth like a wave from behind the door.
Lu Xianbei felt her breath catch, as if she had stumbled into a sea of bl**d fog, and everything before her was bathed in a thin layer of crimson light.
Groups of semi-virtual dark red flesh clung to the walls and furniture of the building, writhing and crawling while emitting low chittering sounds like rodents and continually evolving into various bizarre organs and tissues.
At a glance, Lu Xianbei felt as if she had intruded into a factory coalesced by bl**d and flesh, with the center of the factory being an operating table covered in flesh.
An old and tattered scarlet garment floated above the operating table, bound by several rusty iron chains, drifting back and forth in the air, making a chilling sound.
Lu Xianbei, “……”
What the hell is this? The Evil God’s armory? Have I™ been caught in a fishing law enforcement operation?
