Chapter 276: “Trust”

In Hua City, near University Town, inside Wenxuan Bookstore, in front of the agriculture and animal husbandry book section.

The bookstore guide responsible for this section discreetly observed the girl who had been lingering in front of the bookshelves for quite some time.

She was a girl with long chestnut hair, her delicate features still carrying a hint of youthful innocence, resembling a middle school student. Yet, her overly developed figure slightly bulged even under the loose woolen cape.

After observing for a while, the guide finally couldn’t resist approaching the girl whose exact age was hard to discern, asking, “Miss, I’ve noticed you’ve been looking here for quite a while. Is there a particular book you’re searching for but can’t find?”

Gu Qianqian lifted her head, timidly glancing at the guide beside her, her gaze earnest as she replied, “Hello, actually, I’m looking for ‘Postpartum Care for Sows,’ ‘How to Raise Pigs Scientifically,’ and ‘Guide to Choosing Breeds of Domestic Pigs.’ Could you help me find them?”

The guide’s eye twitched slightly, but driven by professional spirit, she resisted the urge to make a sarcastic comment, smiling as she said, “Young lady, we don’t have those kinds of books here at the moment!”

“If you really want them, I suggest you search online and see if any Taobao bookstores are selling them.”

“Oh…” Gu Qianqian responded softly, a trace of disappointment flashing in her eyes, and she didn’t continue to pester the guide, leaving the bookstore dejectedly.

Outside the bookstore, the streets were becoming sparse with pedestrians as night fell.

Once she was alone, Gu Qianqian angrily started discussing with the system.

“System, what’s wrong with people these days? The Taobao bookstore people tell me to check physical bookstores, and the physical bookstore tells me to search online. Do you think they’re just messing with me?”

System, “…”

Isn’t it obvious? Of course, they are!

After a brief silence, Gu Qianqian seemed to have thought of something, lightly stomping her foot in frustration, blaming, “System, this is all your fault!”

“Huh? Gu Qianqian, that’s not fair,” the system replied. “How can you blame me for the villagers not being able to keep the pigs alive?”

“Of course, it’s your fault for not having pig raising techniques! You can’t even keep pigs alive; what kind of system are you?”

System, “…”

I should have known better than to try reasoning with a woman in a bad mood, even if it’s Gu Qianqian.

I should have learned this lesson back when dealing with calamity.

Moreover, in this matter, it’s clear she has a point.

Last time, she put in a lot of effort, barely sleeping for half a month, and managed to grow potatoes in the barren illusion of bamboo slips, gaining admiration from many villagers, which almost perfected her spiritual patterns. Now, she’s just short of materials for advancement.

This time, if she can successfully raise pigs, it would be as significant as the effort she put into hunting hauntings to enhance her strength for half a year.

That’s the advantage of recruiting ignorant people from long-isolated areas as familiars; you can easily impress them with things they’ve never seen before and gain a lot of prestige.

However…

The direction in which Gu Qianqian’s spiritual patterns should advance is also a matter worth discussing.

The God of Fortune and Virtue (a land deity in Chinese folk belief), or even the God of Mount Tai (a deity overseeing life and blessings) could be considered. As for Houtu (the Earth deity) and Shennong, although there’s a chance, the materials for advancement might be hard to gather, the system thought.

While pondering, the system suddenly sensed a psychic energy fluctuation that stirred its thoughts, and it excitedly said, “Gu Qianqian, there’s a surprise!”

“What surprise? Did you suddenly acquire pig-raising skills?”

System, “…”

Enough! Why is this girl so fixated on pig-raising now?

“It’s not me, it’s calamity! She…”

Gu Qianqian paused, surprised, “Huh? She, she knows how to raise pigs?”

“How could she… Wait, if it’s her, maybe she could actually learn…”

The system stopped mid-sentence, briefly silent for two seconds, then realized something was off.

“Darn it! Why am I even considering this? I meant to say, the Gu we placed on her is taking effect.”

“Huh?” Gu Qianqian frowned. “But didn’t she discover we poisoned her? I’ve been too scared to set up a stall at the ghost market lately.”

“I suspect she might be using the toxic concoction we gave her to poison others!”

“You don’t understand; one of calamity’s best skills is bluffing. She can make it seem like she has three thousand elite troops backing her with just her words,” the system explained.

“I suspect she doesn’t have absolute confidence in identifying which of the concoctions were poisoned, so she used that method to threaten you.”

“Otherwise, with her ‘I’d rather betray the world than let the world betray me’ attitude, you would have disappeared along with your stall from this world long ago.”

The system paused, then added, “Besides, with calamity’s strength, she even devoured the heir of Gou Mang’s power. She wouldn’t need to poison ordinary enemies.”

“And for enemies too strong, she wouldn’t have the opportunity to poison them, so I conclude she either drank it herself or gave it to her familiars!”

Gu Qianqian furrowed her brows, scratching the back of her head as she pondered for a moment, then said, “Should we activate the Gu worm now and trigger the poison?”

“No rush, let’s toy with her!” the system replied sinisterly. “If my judgment is correct, she’s definitely battling a formidable enemy now.”

“We’ll activate a small portion of the poison first. Once the concoction takes effect and she lets her guard down, we’ll suddenly unleash the full poison, catching her off guard! Haha!”

“…”

Gu Qianqian silently considered the system’s words, feeling something was off, but for the sake of Lu Yibei’s pig trotters and the promise of roasted pig trotters, she quietly activated the Gu worm.

After all, poisoning calamity is a win, and if it helps her poison her enemies, maybe she’ll treat me to roasted pig trotters. It’s a win-win! Gu Qianqian thought.

Xingfu Community, Activity Center.

As the lights went out, the entire Lounge Bar was engulfed in deep darkness, even the streetlights outside seemed blocked by some force, unable to penetrate.

In the ears, the sound of the jaw harp intermittently reached, like insects crawling swiftly, directly into the ears of those who had fallen, burrowing inside.

Where they went after entering the ear canal was unknown, but they didn’t come out, continuing to burrow as if they intended to hollow out the person’s shell and make it their home.

Those insects rolled, stretched, scratched, and jumped bizarrely and comically inside, driving people mad.

In the darkness.

Lu Yibei whispered in Jiang Li’s ear, “Should we now…”

Before Lu Yibei could finish, Jiang Li seemed to have guessed her thoughts, whispering, “Pretend to be affected?”

Working with someone whose thoughts are on the same wavelength is comforting… Lu Yibei thought, responding with a nasal sound, “Mm.”

Immediately, she released her hold on Jiang Li, tilting her body backward.

“Thud, thud!” Two dull thuds of bodies hitting the ground sounded almost simultaneously in the darkness.

Lu Yibei, “…” This fool fell so realistically? Doesn’t it hurt?

Jiang Li, “…” Tsk! Idiot!

Shortly after the two pretended to be poisoned and collapsed, someone in the darkness lit a candle, one, two, three…

The flickering candlelight resembled eyes opening in the dark, casting shadows over the dance floor.

The dim, swaying light fell on those whose smiles were eerily uniform, making them look like wax figures made from the same mold.

They tilted their heads at the same angle, bodies seemingly about to float, slightly leaning forward, half their faces obscured by shadows, their eyes, devoid of pupils, staring intently at the couple huddled in the corner.

Then, over a hundred people simultaneously spoke in the same tone, repeating the same words, echoing like a reverberation.

“Why haven’t you tasted the dishes I’ve carefully prepared? Are they not to your liking?”

As they spoke, they made no physical movements, yet their bodies seemed propelled by some invisible force, slowly moving towards the couple in the corner.

The woman in the corner, seeing the scene before her, dared not move, the chill on her back already creeping up her spine to her brain, while the man beside her was slightly better off, but could only stammer out some weak threats.

“Who, who are you? Don’t, don’t come any closer! If you do, I’ll call the police!”

Faced with the man’s threats, those already influenced by the haunting merely repeated the same words.

“Why haven’t you tasted the dishes I’ve carefully prepared?”

“…”

As the residents and staff of Xingfu Community slowly closed in on the couple, Jiang Li, who was pretending to be unconscious on the ground, was about to lose her composure.

She elbowed Lu Yibei, then slightly turned her head, making exaggerated facial expressions to convey her anxious thoughts.

[What’s going on? Didn’t you say you had it under control? What’s happening now?]

Lu Yibei turned her face away, “…”

Darn it, Gu Qianqian, you little liar!

Faking the concoction is one thing, but why fake the poison too? What happened to trust between people?

If this messes up, I’ll definitely go and smash her fake medicine stall!

After cursing inwardly, Lu Yibei turned back to Jiang Li, feigning calmness, using her eyes to respond.

[Haste makes waste; let the poison brew for a while!]

Jiang Li, “…” Brew for a while? Is it a slow-acting poison? Isn’t this situation supposed to use trigger-type poison?

Jiang Li thought, glancing at Lu Yibei, ready to continue communicating with her through eye contact, when she heard two thuds from the direction of the couple.

Following the sound, she saw the two had turned pale, convulsing as if electrocuted, then suddenly stiffened, fainting.

Jiang Li withdrew her gaze from them, glancing at Lu Yibei, who smugly raised her eyebrows.

[What did I say? Young people shouldn’t be too impatient.]

[Not bad… [heart emoji]]

Jiang Li responded to Lu Yibei with a perfunctory look, ready to close her eyes and continue pretending to be unconscious, but just before closing her eyes, she saw Lu Yibei suddenly frown.

[Something’s coming.]

Something? Is it the haunting? Jiang Li was momentarily stunned.

When she fell, she had already silently expanded her psychic sense to its maximum range, but apart from the strange and faint jaw harp sound flowing in the air, she hadn’t detected any psychic energy fluctuation.

Momentarily puzzled, she recalled that before Lu Yibei became what she is now, even as a psychic potential bearer, she had a high psychic sense, feeling relieved.

Then, she glanced at Lu Yibei again, once more stunned.

Lu Yibei lay quietly, her eyes slightly open, in the darkness, her pupils glowed with a faint crimson light.

Though the light was weak, it emitted an extremely dangerous aura, like a tidal wave of blood, carrying a raging fire.

Just being swept by those eyes, Jiang Li felt her muscles involuntarily tense, instinctively entering a combat-ready state.

Is she… really this dangerous? Jiang Li thought.

As she pondered, the dance floor suddenly echoed with a strange music, soft and slow, like the air vibrating, or animals growling, slowly approaching.

At that moment, Jiang Li finally detected a terrifying, filthy, chaotic psychic energy fluctuation approaching.

And as the jaw harp sound became clearer, Lu Yibei’s eyes began to sting intensely, premonitions flashing, warning her.

[It’s approaching], [It’s approaching], [It’s approaching]…

Then.

A massive, indescribable entity suddenly crawled up from the ground, its body, like pale mist, without a tangible form, instantly filled the Lounge Bar, Activity Center, and even the entire Xingfu Community!

On the dance floor, those illuminated by candlelight suddenly swayed gently, humming a bizarre tune, the melody indistinct, incomprehensible, perhaps meaningless, like a dreamlike murmur.

As if summoning a certain presence.

Accompanied by their murmurs, Lu Yibei, secretly observing the pitch-black window, saw something becoming clearer.

Suddenly.

Like lightning exploding before her, her eyes briefly blinded, leaving only a dazzling white, then as her vision cleared, a grotesque, terrifying figure appeared in her view.

It was a gray-white swollen figure, like a massive body composed of hundreds of charred skeletons, standing silently outside the Activity Center, the gaps between the skeletons, frozen in their final moments of struggle, filled with decayed, blackened wooden nameless tombstones.

On what barely counted as its upper body, distorted, grotesque face masks were attached, their mouths slightly open, faintly revealing metal constantly rubbing and colliding, accompanied by dizzying jaw harp sounds.

Beneath the masks, those alien eyes stared unblinkingly at every newcomer attending the welcome dance tonight.

Behind it, a thick fog of burnt flesh and foul smell spread, vaguely, figures swam within the fog, like what the “Water Ghost” saw when it burrowed into the ground.

Pale limbs extended from the fog, like tree roots, growing in every corner of Xingfu Community, or like parasitic tendrils, connecting to the heads of every resident present.

It felt like it was a hub, a hub integrating the residents and the community.

As the jaw harp sound intensified,

The haunting described in the bounty for Xingfu Community was particularly sinister, and before accepting this bounty, Lu Yibei had many hesitations.

If asked who gave her the courage to venture into the lion’s den with Jiang Li, besides the hauntings she previously dealt with, another reason was Qing Ji’s nonchalant tone when mentioning the haunting he suppressed back then.

Qing Ji said, “That one? Just a not-too-bad little guy.”

But…

Seeing the true face of the haunting hidden in Xingfu Community, Lu Yibei had a fleeting urge to curse.

Calling it a not-too-bad “little” guy?

My dear ancestor, you can’t be this misleading!

This guy is at least five or six times taller than the southern suburb slaughterhouse pig-headed people, with a psychic energy fluctuation 1.326 times stronger than the Great Serpent God. There’s no way to fight it, only to see if escape is possible, Lu Yibei thought.

This kind of thing should be reported to The Midnight Watchers Society, let them flatten Xingfu Community.

Lu Yibei was tempted to flee, if not for Jiang Li using grappling techniques to firmly hold her wrist and giving her a smile…

[Cheer up, don’t be afraid [heart emoji]]

That smile, seemingly filled with infinite malice and gloom, paired with the flickering candlelight, pervasive fog, made Lu Yibei’s heart tighten.

“…”

My dear sister, let’s talk this out, could you not smile like that?

As Lu Yibei pondered, the haunting standing outside the Activity Center suddenly moved, its body leaning forward, effortlessly penetrating the walls, extending half of its body into the Lounge Bar.

Instantly, the jaw harp sound intensified, countless high-frequency vibrating notes converged, transforming into piercing noise, accompanied by the sudden surge of sound waves, the tombstones on its body trembled, stirring dense smoke.

The smoke slowly coalesced, forming swollen, writhing gray-white limbs, reaching towards the new residents who had collapsed.

Seeing this, Jiang Li fiercely elbowed Lu Yibei, growling, “Cover me, I’m going to get the suona and harp!”

“Huh?” Lu Yibei was momentarily stunned, before she could react, she saw Jiang Li spring up like a carp, and as she stabilized her stance, silver armor enveloped her body.

In the next moment, her form shot like an arrow through the smoke and dim candlelight, straight towards the guitar case and jaw harp bag three or four meters away.

It was an unreserved acceleration, without any defensive preparation, as if she was unconditionally trusting Lu Yibei.

And Lu Yibei responded to her trust with action.

“Water surge, fire blaze, wind and rain accompany, mighty, fierce, dragon beast form, Flowing Bell Fire!”

Accompanied by a chant, blue and red streams of light burst from Lu Yibei’s fingertips, intertwining and racing past Jiang Li’s head, like two sharp fangs biting down, tearing apart the impending pale tendrils…