Chapter 5 Countdown Five
But still… Xiao Hua probably wouldn’t be angry because of the Turtle Girl, right?
No, no, what is there to be afraid of? I have a clear conscience with the Turtle Girl!
Luxianbei thought, casting a glance at the notebook that Nanling Yaohua used for communication. After seeing the pencil that accompanied the notebook without any movement, a wave of unease washed over her.
At times like this, silence is far more terrifying than an emotional outburst.
With a nervous heart, she activated the special ability of her eyes, cautiously looking toward Nanling Yaohua. As the faint flame-colored halo spread before her, Nanling Yaohua’s figure appeared in her line of sight, and she couldn’t help but gasp slightly.
The neurotic mutterings and resentful, kn*fe-like gaze she expected didn’t appear. Nanling Yaohua was simply squatting beside the embedded Huasang, looking curiously at her and even reaching out a hand, trying to pull Huasang out.
After a failed attempt, she took off the broken arm of Luxianbei that was clipped to her waist and tried again. As expected, after another failure, she sighed silently and pouted slightly.
That look made her look like a somewhat gloomy heroine, valorously attempting to help others but failing, throwing a small tantrum, as if angry and sulking.
Somewhat cute…
Then, as if sensing something subtle, she noticed Luxianbei’s gaze and turned her head, tilting it slightly, with her amber eyes flickering as if asking something.
Was Xiao Hua wondering what I experienced with the Turtle Girl? Luxianbei frowned slightly.
The next second, accompanied by the gentle sound of a pencil gliding across the paper, Nanling Yaohua left some lines on her notebook next to her, confirming her heart’s guess.
[You seem to be very important to her! Did you experience something interesting together?]
Somewhat envious, I want to hear more… thought Nanling Yaohua.
Bai Kai caught a glimpse of the handwriting on the notebook and felt a slight jolt in his heart.
Xiao Hua’s trick has appeared…
I need to find an opportunity to remind Luxianbei, this is not something that should be told to her!
I still don’t understand what Xiao Hua is like? Bai Kai thought.
In terms of playing honesty games, he could be considered quite experienced; just recalling a bit would lead him to typical cases that could fill a love manual.
For example, he had confessed to Xing Yuan that he once had a fling named Xiao Yu. Xing Yuan only smiled at that, but from that day until now, on rainy days, if he gets distracted for even a few seconds, he would face Xing Yuan’s soul-searching question—“Are you thinking of Xiao Yu?”
On the other hand, Huasang wasn’t as fortunate; she had just greeted Luxianbei and hadn’t had time to get up when the weighty “Tian Shan Press” from her cousin followed closely.
The Shuishu Beast’s hefty body descended from the sky, sitting heavily on Huasang, forcibly squeezing out her interaction with Luxianbei, crouching in front of Luxianbei, shaking its head and swaying.
Seeing Luxianbei looking at it expressionlessly, seeming unbothered, it approached directly, bouncing around Luxianbei, its large head affectionately rubbing against her, and its long tail whipped the air, sounding like a fan running at maximum speed.
In the end, it simply lay on the ground, exposing its belly…
That look was just like a frisky Siberian Husky, and even Nanling Yaohua couldn’t help but think of something she herself couldn’t quite believe.
Could it be that this urban legend is also…
No, no, even urban legends can’t escape this; isn’t that a bit too much? thought Nanling Yaohua.
Just as she was lost in thought, Huasang, lying in the dirt pit, remembered that she still had unfinished business, giving up on the thought of “resting in peace,” she lazily crawled out of the pit, looked at Luxianbei, and after just a glance, boldly spoke up.
“I didn’t pay much attention just now…” she paused for a second to catch her breath, then continued, “Have you recently been haunted by something unclean?”
Although, from the standpoint of urban legends, you are the biggest “unclean” thing… Huasang added silently in her mind.
Luxianbei pushed aside her cousin, who was waving her wet, droopy tongue, frowning slightly at Huasang, “Unclean thing?”
“Yes, restless spirits, female ghosts, and so on.” Huasang said slowly.
Although she couldn’t see Nanling Yaohua, she could read Qi, and through that, she sensed the slight influence Nanling Yaohua had on Luxianbei.
There was a thin black mist swirling around the brow, her complexion seemed a bit green, and there were even slight dark circles under her eyes…
Isn’t that a sign of being drained by a female ghost?
“You’d better be careful, those female evil spirits…” Huasang had intended to say that while there are beautiful types among female evil spirits comparable to witches, their motives for approaching humans or urban legends completely differ from those of witches.
Witches mostly seek to manipulate hearts and gain benefits, while evil spirits are far more straightforward—they play with human bodies… a careless slip could leave one hollowed out!
However, before she could finish her sentence, Luxianbei snapped back to reality, hurriedly covering her mouth. It was just that Huasang spoke so slowly; otherwise, who knows what terrifying remarks she’d make.
“Xiao Hua, she was just saying it casually; she has no bad intentions. I’ll explain it to you later,” Luxianbei said, looking at Nanling Yaohua, whose gaze had genuinely turned resentful.
After saying that, she noticed Huasang giving her a look of surprise, as if saying, “Wow, there really is a female ghost? Prepare for monster-catching!” She then explained to Huasang, “Although there is indeed a girl with me whom you can’t see, she isn’t a female ghost. I’ll explain that to you later.”
Thus, the resentful gaze turned into joy.
The atmosphere abruptly dropped to freezing point.
“…” In silence, Luxianbei, whose forehead was now glistening with sweat, stiffly turned her head to throw a glance at Bai Kai nearby.
Help me, save me!
Bai Kai sighed silently, shaking his head gently.
He had intended to watch from the sidelines; after all, who wouldn’t want to see two girls sparked into a confrontation over another girl? Just thinking about it was quite exciting!
But who asked the girl caught in the middle to be his Luxianbei?
Quietly, he stepped behind the Shuishu Beast, taking advantage of its focus on the entangled Luxianbei, he raised his hand and slapped its backside.
“Smack!” a crisp sound rang out.
When slapping the backside, managing to make it sound loud and not too painful while fulfilling maximum humiliation was a thoroughly practiced professional skill for Bai Kai, even if the target was a non-human entity.
With a yelp of pain, the Shuishu Beast sprang up, seemingly losing its mind, bouncing around wildly, lunging toward Bai Kai with its claws bared and surrounded by lightning-like water columns. Bai Kai swiftly maneuvered away with remarkable agility, and chaos erupted in an instant.
Bai Kai was quite skilled at breaking such confrontational deadlocks.
All he needed to do was create a little external chaos, making them too busy to pay attention to those love entanglements.
It was like when a couple is flirting when someone suddenly jumps in front of them, loudly announcing, “Hey, everyone look over here, I have an announcement!”
Taking advantage of the commotion, Bai Kai gave Luxianbei a simple, understandable look—“Little Bei, your godfather can only help you this far.”
After all, chaos could only delay the outbreak of conflict, not eliminate it entirely.
Thank you, Water Brother! Luxianbei nodded at Bai Kai.
Cursed, my heart is so tired.
This was just her first meeting with Huasang, and it had already become so troublesome; what would happen when she meets the leader and Stinky Sister?
Should I capture Huaxie Yu or Gu Qiqi, bring them over for a round of beating on Xiao Hua, to vent my frustrations? Luxianbei thought secretly.
————
[“Calamity d*ath” countdown: 105H45M1S]
Free City, outskirts, a nameless little port.
An old road wound its way from afar, cutting across a wide area in front of the small port.
The sky was overcast, as if enveloped in mist; various things in the port appeared relatively clear. The ticket booth and fast-food restaurant were empty, and the huge billboard was covered in dark red rust that spread to the cartoon cowboy mascot as if it had some serious skin disease.
Looking out toward the sea, the sound of waves was fragmented and secretive, and the outlines of the few small ferries docked nearby blurred, and further in, one could only see ripple-like distortions, swirling in the darkness.
While Free City wasn’t directly by the sea, there was a massive coastal lake on the outskirts.
At the lake near the river mouth, there was a sizable island formed by a delta.
Sunshine, beaches, mangroves, the damp sea breeze, blonde bikini beauties…
All the coastal things could be found on that island, turning it and the small town on it into a sought-after vacation spot for Free City. The little port built specially for vacationers once bustled with people, never ceasing.
That boom lasted nearly fifty years.
However, a few years ago, as the nights began to grow longer, strange occurrences became frequent on that island, leading to a sharp decline in popularity, and within a year, it became deserted, and now it was fully abandoned.
Only heard that some stubborn folks from the town on the island had not left, still waiting for customers to arrive, preparing “warm” hospitality for them…
“Shasa——Shasa——!”
The sound of wheels rolling over small stones came from afar, and following the sound, an old car could be seen approaching, as if dreading something, stopping at a distance of a kilometer or two.
“Bang!”
The car door closed, and a girl dressed in a khaki trench coat, wearing round glasses, with deep gray hair tied in a ponytail, got out of the car, walking alone toward the small port. She had barely left when the old car driver drove away as if running for their lives.
Turning her head, watching the car disappear into the distance, Shen Baiwei let out a silent sigh, then turned back and walked toward the port alone.
After saying goodbye to calamity and departing from Yumen Pass, she was finally just a short distance from her destination.
The evening wind gently blew, carrying a faint hint of salt.
Standing alone at the shabby little port, Shen Baiwei gazed at the lake shrouded in mist, silently waiting. Just then, she suddenly heard a melody.
The melody was ethereal and resonant, seemingly emanating from the sea or the jungle; it was the sound of an Indian instrument, the antares flute.
Looking in the direction from which the melody originated, Shen Baiwei then noticed that apart from her at the shabby little port, there was actually another person.
It was an Indian elder wearing a feather crown, with a dark face painted in war paint, his body skinny like a dried corpse.
He sat there, wrapped in a cloak, his lower body seemingly stuck in the concrete of the port.
It seemed he noticed Shen Baiwei’s gaze, as he lowered the antares flute and looked at her, grinning widely before he began to chant a song.
The language of that song appeared to be Nahuatl, the tongue of the Aztecs. Shen Baiwei could barely understand a short segment.
“…d*ath is not eternal sleep, through the long ages, d*ath will also end, He is about to awaken! From the palace that gazes upon the sea, through the dark sea abyss, saving its people…”
“Excuse me…” Shen Baiwei hesitated for a moment before asking the elder, “What special meaning does this song hold?”
The elder did not answer her; the smile on his face grew wider, his mouth curving into the largest arc, his murky eyes fixed on her, never blinking, as if he had no eyelids at all.
Seeing the elder’s expression made Shen Baiwei feel somewhat uneasy. Following that, as if she thought of something, she slowly lifted her head to look at the billboard above.
On the billboard, that rusty, puppeteer-style cartoon cowboy image stared with excessively dark eyes and a wide grin, resembling the expression of the elder.
When Shen Baiwei quickly withdrew her gaze and looked back at the elder, she found that he was no longer looking at her but had turned away, raising his hand and pointing toward the fog-covered lake.
Is there something in the lake? Or does he mean that island?
But isn’t that where Tethys Laboratory is located?
What could be there? Shen Baiwei wondered in confusion.
“Ding-dong——Ding-dong-dong——!”
Just as Shen Baiwei pondered this, a deep bell toll echoed from the mist over the lake, followed by the sight of a dim yellow light from an oil lamp slowly approaching the port.
From afar, it resembled some gigantic, one-eyed creature slowly emerging from the heart of the lake.
That was the ferry the residents of the town had prepared at a high price for her, taking her to that island.
The appointed time had come, it was there to take Shen Baiwei to the endpoint of her journey.
As the empty wooden boat approached the port, ready to embark, Shen Baiwei suddenly thought of the elder beside her, only to realize that the melody that had been ringing in her ears had disappeared at some point, and turning around, she found that the singing elder had also vanished…
As if he had merged into the spreading mist, dissolving away.
