Chapter 65: The Haze God Who Cares About Appearance
At first, when Lu Yibei saw the Haze God being so “aloof,” she was actually a little excited; her favorite type of character to pursue was the aloof kind.
However, she only spoke a little truth and touched on something the other party disliked, and before she could even weave accusations or offer threats and temptations, the Haze God appeared, which left her somewhat disappointed.
It felt as if, many years after graduation, she came across the WeChat of the girl she had a crush on in school, excitedly added her, and as soon as she said “Hello!”, she received a reply of “1K for a night.”
At that moment, according to Lu Yibei’s nature, she would definitely ask, “What discount is there for a monthly card?”
Well, it probably could be a 60% discount?
“…”
However, as a well-regarded cataclysm-grade urban legend, it shouldn’t be so easily flustered. Even if it didn’t show up, even the King of Heaven couldn’t do anything about it.
But now it was acting like an impulsive young fool; there might be some tricks involved here?
Lu Yibei thought quietly and looked ahead.
Outside the shield of her bracelet, the haze quickly coalesced and soon took on a human shape.
Wavy, golden hair that lightened closer to the ends, turning into pale smoke at the tips, spreading outwards. Its gray-blue eyes were filled with ire, as if brewing a storm in a dark sky.
It wore a brown vintage British-style suit that fit with rumors of the Haze God’s origins in London. However, the rough pose of rolling up its sleeves, seemingly wanting to hit someone, somewhat contradicted the “elegance and nobility” that British gentlemen prided themselves on.
At first, Lu Yibei was surprised by its face, which somewhat resembled Tan Qiuming’s, but after thinking carefully, she found it reasonable. She didn’t believe that Tan Qiuming’s existence had no connection to the Haze God.
“Are you here?” Steadying herself, she asked with a blank expression, trying to appear calm. “So… should I call you sir or madam?”
The Haze God’s gender was something she couldn’t quite determine.
Logically, the probability of being female would be higher for one capable of giving birth, but it couldn’t be ruled out that it was collaborating with others or with other urban legends.
Its facial features were not very defined, appearing very androgynous, and the slightly baggy suit concealed its body shape. More importantly, it didn’t have a “bottom”…
Similar to what Lu Yibei had previously seen, where a small brother’s lower body was composed of fire, the Haze God’s lower body was a highly condensed dark gray smoke, rolling and writhing, occasionally stirring up spirals filled with spirit energy fluctuations.
Though she already knew that more than half of the energy-type urban legends had certain parts presented in “energy” form, seeing it with her own eyes still felt odd.
Just one more look, just one more glance!
Noticing Lu Yibei’s overly intrusive gaze, the already enraged Haze God finally snorted coldly, saying, “Hmph, Qinan Zhu’s offspring, just like her, are as irritating as bedbugs.”
Qinan Zhu… Lu Yibei’s heart skipped a beat, but she quickly forced herself to regain her composure and responded, “Oh, I swear, if you keep saying things like that, I’ll kick your a**… Uh, sorry, you seem not to have one?”
Hearing the true name of Mrs. Wang Meili spoken by the Haze God caught her somewhat by surprise, but upon reflection, she thought there was a reasonable explanation.
Previously, in the Peach Source, notes taken from Professor Hu had mentioned the Haze God, and in Huacheng, there were Li Tanghan and his son as followers of the Haze God. Meng Meng had also been enslaved by the Haze God… Various signs indicated that it had already extended its claws into Huacheng.
“…” The Haze God’s expression darkened a bit more, Lu Yibei’s damned translation tone made it feel as if she was being strange and mysterious.
Like an illusion, the silhouette of that red-haired woman from many years ago appeared before it.
Back then, she was also like this, eating hot pot and singing, saying unpleasant things.
The only difference was that Mrs. Wang Meili would always subconsciously speak in an archaic style and occasionally cite classics, which was even more insulting.
Noticing the Haze God silent, Lu Yibei shrugged, “Honestly, I don’t really like the term offspring. After all, Mrs. Wang Meili isn’t an urban legend.”
“If possible, I’d prefer you to say, I am Qinan Zhu’s son…”
Before she could finish speaking, she saw the Haze God’s gaze slowly move down to her chest.
Following the Haze God’s gaze, Lu Yibei also looked down at her own chest.
Seems… a bit exaggerated?
“Uh, daughter is also acceptable… well, just call me disaster!” Lu Yibei said, facepalming.
“Ha!” The Haze God sneered, looking down at Lu Yibei with disdain, “If that’s all you have to say… Anyway, it’s nice to meet you.”
Here we go, the British-style strange and mysterious!
Lu Yibei had seen online that if a British person said, “Anyway, it’s nice to meet you,” they actually meant, “You should leave now, thanks.”
It was overly pretentious, as if a simple “go away” would do.
So if I were to ask you how happy you are, and if you don’t clarify today, I won’t let you go?
Just as Lu Yibei fell momentarily silent during the skill reading interval, the disdain in the Haze God’s eyes intensified, then it slightly raised its chin and spoke with an arrogant demeanor, “Or do you want to hear about your mother’s cause of d*ath?”
“Oh, sorry, did I say something I shouldn’t? But seeing you reminded me of her, to be honest, I was nearby at the time, and saw how she was tormented to d*ath by those three brutal guys…”
“It was too cruel, like a beautiful rose mercilessly crushed; I fear I will never forget that scene for the rest of my life.”
The Haze God actually knew that Lu Yibei called it here because of its impending offspring.
In fact, it appeared not because of Lu Yibei’s unbearable words, but after pondering briefly upon hearing her call, it decided to collaborate and thus revealed itself.
Although Lu Yibei had snatched away its followers, injured it, and indirectly caused significant deviation in the power purification ritual it had painstakingly planned for a long time, this also indirectly proved that Lu Yibei had the qualification to collaborate with it.
Moreover, since everything that was happening now was instigated by her, shouldn’t she bear some responsibility for it?
However, even if collaboration was to occur, with the Haze God’s pride, it would never let an A-grade urban legend manipulate it.
If it could utilize the information about Qinan Zhu that it knew, embellish it to the point of making Lu Yibei lose control and flustered, then it could easily gain the upper hand or the power to dominate Lu Yibei.
Besides, seeing the hot pot and that bracelet after so long also made it unable to resist mocking Qinan Zhu.
What good is immense power?
What use is holding so many high-level spirit energy items?
In the end, didn’t it lead to its own demise? the Haze God thought.
Hearing the Haze God’s words, Lu Yibei’s gaze seemed to grow claws, locking onto its indifferent face, her eyes deepening…
————
Suburb of Huacheng, in a certain standalone villa.
After receiving the intelligence sent by the informants, the old pervert of the internet stood guard in front of his computer, waiting for Lu Yibei’s reply.
Time passed, gradually nearing midnight.
Seeing that Lu Yibei still had no movement, the old pervert’s anxiety accumulated to an extreme degree.
“Forget it, no more waiting!”
He said fiercely, straightening his body, moving the mouse to click on the contact with the pale little worm icon in the contact list, typing text and hitting enter.
Old pervert of the internet 00: “Boss, did you notice the information sent by my informants earlier? Things are getting tricky, the disaster has gone missing…”
Void: “Seen, don’t worry.”
Looking at the reply from Void that appeared on the screen, a series of question marks floated in the old pervert’s mind.
“??? What the hell? This feels a bit weird! The boss doesn’t usually reply like this, right?”
In his impression, Void’s replies were always well-reasoned, analyzing the events and explaining why it acted that way for future reference for them, finishing with a perfectly timed expression.
But this time, it neither analyzed nor explained, and even the expression was gone.
Something was off!
Like an automatic reply…
Could the boss have caught a virus again? the old pervert thought.
————
“Sure!”
Without a trace of hesitation, Lu Yibei answered decisively.
Trying to disorient her with Mrs. Wang Meili’s d*ath? Not happening!
Since the Haze God was willing to speak, she was happy to listen.
Although she was also anxious, now was not the time for her offspring to arrive in the world, plotting to consume her; no matter what, the Haze God was certainly more anxious than she was.
Moreover, she being anxious was useless; if the Haze God didn’t let her through, she would have a hard time crossing most of the city to reach the ritual’s location.
“They used a forbidden spell formula to imprison Qinan Zhu, telling her that you have been erased by them. Taking advantage of Qinan Zhu’s unease, they suddenly attacked and disrupted her power…”
The Haze God described the circumstances of Qinan Zhu’s d*ath coldly and maliciously, but while it was just starting to speak, Lu Yibei interrupted it with an expressionless face.
“Wait!”
Heh, can’t bear to hear it? The Haze God silently sneered, then doubted if there was something wrong with its ears.
“They allowed Mrs. Wang to d*e such a swift d*ath? That shouldn’t be the case! Did you miss some important detail? For instance, before Mrs. Wang died, did they torment her body, trample on her soul, and destroy her hopes?”
“Was it called being tormented to d*ath without anything at all?”
The Haze God, “…”
What Lu Yibei mentioned, it really didn’t know if it were true or not; “tormented to d*ath” was simply a rhetorical flourish; what it saw was just the scene where Qinan Zhu was taken away by those three terrifying guys.
“Also…” Lu Yibei examined the Haze God and said, “What are those three guys, anyway? At least give me a name! Just calling them ‘them’ is confusing me!”
“They…” The Haze God’s expression suddenly tightened as it said in a low voice, “Do not mention their names directly!”
“Do not mention names directly?” Lu Yibei tilted her head, “Good God! Are they Voldemort? Are you scared?”
Although she kept talking for a moment, she was genuinely shocked inside.
The Haze God was at least a cataclysm-grade urban legend; who could be so terrifying that it wouldn’t dare to directly name them?
Could they be more terrifying than Zhang Hainan?
“They…” The Haze God opened its mouth, wanting to argue, but the next second, as if sensing something, it abruptly turned and looked towards the direction of Shancheng’s main city, its already pale face suddenly stained with a tinge of darkness.
The ceremony had already started, and it could sense it.
In its mind, the sound of a crying baby reverberated, as if an illusion, it heard a tender voice saying to it, “Mommy, I’m hungry!”
Noticing the subtle change in the Haze God’s expression, Lu Yibei leaned forward slyly and teased, “You seem a bit uncomfortable? What, is it labor pains?”
The Haze God glanced at Lu Yibei and forced itself to remain calm, “Not at all; I’m fine. I’m sorry if I gave you that impression.”
“Really?” Lu Yibei nodded expressionlessly, “Then let’s continue our previous topic, the ‘they’ you mentioned…”
“Enough!” The Haze God growled, its chest rising and falling violently, a large amount of thick smoke spewing from its mouth and nose, it glared at Lu Yibei, gritting its teeth, “Let’s get back to the point and discuss how we will collaborate.”
What’s it like to be obsessed with appearances and suffer for it? This is what being obsessed with appearances and suffering for it looks like! A glimmer of amusement flashed in Lu Yibei’s eyes as she gave a slight bow to the Haze God, “Of course.”
“If you don’t mind, how about having some hot pot together? I can also provide drinks and alcohol!”
Upon hearing this, the Haze God wanted to refuse right away, but the next second, it suddenly sensed that the ceremony, which had already begun, had inexplicably halted, prompting it to instinctively be polite to Lu Yibei, “It’s not unacceptable to try a bit.”
As soon as the words fell, a set of new bowls and chopsticks was presented before it.
The Haze God, “…” I was just being polite to you, can’t you tell?
Lu Yibei, “…” I know you’re being polite, but at this moment, if I don’t get mischievous, I just feel itchy all over!
————
The moment Jumeng descended from the sky to the ground, she fully activated her powers.
“Hiss—Hoo—!”
Her crimson lips slightly parted, inhaling the turbid air into her body and then slowly exhaling it.
The intense discomfort in her respiratory tract almost made her forehead bead with sweat in an instant.
Immediately afterward, a terrifying spirit energy fluctuation surged outwards, accompanied by a tidal wave of vitality.
During the construction of the highway, seeds and roots that had been buried deep in the soil, sealed from sunlight and moisture by concrete and asphalt, had lost their vitality, but now they were being reawakened and granted life.
As she breathed in and out, the ground began to shake slightly at a high frequency.
One after another, wild grasses, shrubs, and saplings tore through the solid asphalt road and sprang up.
Seconds later, her surroundings were filled with vibrant life.
“Hiss—Hoo—!”
After slightly adapting to the intense discomfort caused by the haze entering her body, Jumeng inhaled again, consuming massive amounts of toxic haze in the air, swirling it into mini tornadoes between her mouth and nose.
At the same time, as if to repay the favor of being revived, the rapidly growing vegetation began to breathe with her.
Thus, decay quickly descended upon those plants.
Leaves turned yellow, stems shrank, yet in the moment before they fell to the ground, they utilized their last breath of vitality to bloom and bear fruit, scattering seeds back to the earth.
Then, an even greater surge of vitality erupted.
Letting reproduction and decay coexist without fear of withering or thriving was something that “the great fruits born from the Fushang Sacred Tree of yore” and “the master of fate and offspring” could accomplish.
The dense haze around slowly receded like soldiers defeated in battle, and soon Jumeng cleared a space of clarity, then…
She saw two figures sitting around a copper hot pot.
One of them was Lu Yibei.
Jumeng, “???”
What the hell? Are you a dog? I risked getting chronic bronchitis, struggling to come in here to save you, and yet you’re here eating hot pot with someone else?
