Chapter 345: She Said, She Doesn’t Know You

In the early years, around the stone bridge at the entrance of Mudan Street, there were many fortune-telling street stalls.

From the most common reading of the eight characters of birth, to character analysis and bone-touching, each “sect” dressed themselves up like a Hero, gathering around the stone bridge, each displaying their own supernatural skills.

The signs hanging from the stalls were equally varied. Some read “Feng Shui1 and fate, predicting good fortune,” others boasted “Iron words and direct judgment, guidance from an immortal.” The most outrageous one Lu Yibei had ever seen said, “Insight into the code of life, examining blessings and disasters of life, quantum divination, worth having.”

In this swirling chaos of supernatural charlatans, only Liu Seer seemed completely out of place.

He didn’t wear ritual robes or monk’s cassocks, only a faded dark blue Zhongshan suit (Mao suit, the iconic Chinese tunic), a pair of black cloth shoes. He didn’t hold a horsetail whisk or prayer beads, just a pair of round-rimmed sunglasses perched on his nose, a battered stainless steel thermos in hand, sitting on a small folding stool. He never called out to attract customers, just sat there quietly, watching the endless stream of people pass by.

Together with his white beard and hair and his plain, unremarkable face, if not for the cloth in front of him with “Life and death are fated, wealth and honor are in Heaven” written on it, you’d never guess he was working a stall. He looked more like one of the old men watching the excitement.

What’s more, when he told fortunes, Liu Seer never said anything good-he only spoke of misfortune. As soon as he opened his mouth, it was always, “Your brow is dark,” “This year’s luck is bad,” or “Your mother’s dead.” Not only did this make it hard for him to earn money, sometimes he couldn’t avoid a brutal beating.

So, it was common to see him with bandages wrapped around his body, wrinkles creased with scars and bruises.

If it weren’t for the neighbors on Mudan Street helping him out, the little money he made from fortune-telling wouldn’t have been enough for food, let alone medical bills.

Lu’s Sichuan Restaurant was one of those who helped him, and Liu Seer owed them quite a few meals.

Later, when Lu Yibei was in middle school, with the development of the Mudan Street ancient town tourism project, the stone bridge was demolished and replaced with an overpass.

All those fortune-telling stalls around the old bridge vanished with the sweeping reforms, leaving only Liu Seer, who still came to the overpass every day, set up his little folding stool, and spread out his yellowed cloth.

There was hardly any business-he just sat there quietly, like a lonely watchman.

And then, one day, no one could say exactly when, even that watchman disappeared…

The sturdy men punched and kicked Liu Seer until he rolled all over the ground, wailing in pain.

Lu Yibei stood on the side, clapping and cheering, “Yeah! Yeah! Beat him to death!”

“Old people are the worst! Wouldn’t it be better if they just died earlier and let the world belong to the young?”

“Big brothers, this isn’t good enough. Look, he can still move. You’re not showing your strength or his pitiful weakness at all. You should go all the way, then you’ll really get the house.”

“…”

With Lu Yibei’s strange cheers ringing out, more and more bystanders gathered around, and the sturdy men, now the focus of attention, grew awkward and lightened their blows a little.

Soon, they stopped, cursing as they walked away.

“You old swindler, just you wait!”

Only Liu Seer was left, lying on the ground, covered in messy shoe prints and minor scrapes.

Just as Lu Yibei had expected, Liu Seer, who had survived far worse beatings in the old days, could easily handle these sturdy men on his own.

When the sturdy men had gone far away, Lu Yibei finally stepped forward, helped Liu Seer up, and led him to sit on a bench nearby to rest.

Before Lu Yibei could say anything, she heard Liu Seer thank her, “Thank you, young lady! If it weren’t for you speaking up for me, I’m afraid I would’ve been beaten to death today.”

“Your lure-and-release tactic was clever. Otherwise, if you’d accidentally gotten dragged in, I’d have had nowhere to put my old face.”

Judging by the way those sturdy men acted, they probably meant to take Liu Seer’s old bones as payment if they couldn’t get the debt out of him.

Even if she mentioned the house, they likely wouldn’t have let him go so easily.

Lu Yibei’s method of using reverse psychology was a bit risky, but for her it was the safest.

Besides, those sturdy men would never actually beat Liu Seer to death-if they did, the house would be lost to them.

Lu Yibei curled her lips, unconcerned. “No need to thank me. This is what I should do.”

Liu Seer held his old waist with both hands, moved a little, straightened up, and looked at Lu Yibei in confusion. “You’re from Hua City too, aren’t you? Otherwise, how would you know the housing prices on Mudan Street?”

“Yeah, I’m from Hua City, and I even live on Mudan Street,” Lu Yibei replied. “When I was a kid, I always saw you on the overpass!”

She paused, then asked, “By the way, how did you end up here? The adults all said you were gone, I thought…”

“Heh…” Liu Seer gave a bitter laugh, sighing, “I ran into some trouble back then. I thought I could use my meager skills to make it here, but the deeper I got, the worse things became. Now the business has failed, and I’m up to my neck in debt. I’m afraid I can’t go back.”

Lu Yibei gazed at Liu Seer, opened her mouth, about to say something, when at that moment, Ah-Hua, who had gone to inquire at the notice board, came hurrying back.

“Wang Buliuxing, miss has news-someone at the notice board said they saw her in the Entertainment City. We-“

Halfway through her sentence, Ah-Hua noticed Liu Seer beside Lu Yibei, and frowned. “And who is this?”

Liu Seer cupped his hands to Ah-Hua and explained, “My surname is Liu, from Hua City. I just ran into some trouble, and thanks to this young lady’s help, I was able to get out of it.”

Seeing that Liu Seer claimed to be from Hua City, Ah-Hua more or less understood why Lu Yibei had helped him, but she still pulled Lu Yibei aside and reminded her, “Wang Buliuxing, even if he’s from Hua City, in the territory of Dream Come True Entertainment City, you should trust no one.”

Lu Yibei curled her lips, “Don’t worry. I don’t even trust you, how could I trust him?”

“…” Ah-Hua was silent for a moment, then said seriously, “Good. Then shall we go to the Entertainment City together now, find my miss, and meet up with her?”

“That’s exactly what I think,” Lu Yibei nodded.

Her main purpose on this trip was to find someone with enough influence over the Dream Come True Journey, and to figure out a way to remove Hua City’s station, just in case another inexplicable haunting slipped into Hua City to stir up trouble.

Although there had been two small incidents on the way-Jiang Li’s disappearance and the attempted assassination by the Celestian-now that Jiang Li’s whereabouts were known and the Celestian’s attempt had been successfully evaded, it was time to get down to business.

Jiang Li seemed to have met with the Big Boss of the Entertainment City many times. Maybe, through her, there was a way to get in touch with that Big Boss, Lu Yibei thought.

As she was pondering, Liu Seer sidled up with a beaming smile. “Ladies, are you heading toward the Entertainment City? What a coincidence, I’m going there too. How about we go together?”

Upon finishing, seeing the guarded look in Ah-Hua’s eyes, Liu Seer hurriedly explained, “Please don’t misunderstand, ladies, I mean no harm.”

“It’s just that I’ve been away from Hua City for too long, and I’d like to hear from you about what’s been happening here lately.”

As he spoke, a hint of bashfulness and nostalgia crossed his face, much like an ordinary old man who could never return to his roots, asking for news of his hometown that he could never revisit.

Hearing this, Ah-Hua couldn’t help but feel a momentary surge of sympathy. She turned to look at Lu Yibei, her eyes silently asking for her opinion.

Lu Yibei shrugged. “If it’s just traveling together, I don’t mind.”

“All right, then!” Ah-Hua compromised. “Old man, let’s go together, shall we?”

With that, she turned and made her way to the exit marked with a tram symbol.

The tram was the cheapest and most convenient means of transportation within the Dream Come True Entertainment City. From the train station to the front of the Entertainment City’s main building, it only cost one chip for the fare.

The night of the Dream Come True Entertainment City was as solid and unyielding as iron.

On those grimy, gray-white walls, blinding neon lights hung everywhere-so bright they could almost be called light pollution. These marked places like Mahjong parlors, Mahjong Rooms, arcades, and bars, though most had more or less a gambling atmosphere to them.

It seemed that nothing here could escape the shadow of gambling.

Even at that rain-drenched street corner, you’d occasionally spot a few roadside stalls running shell game scams, Landlords card game scams, or chess endgame scams.

Lu Yibei had a feeling that in this ghostly place, if you stopped any random person on the street and said, “Want to play some cards?” it might not work-but if you said, “Care for a gamble?” even if his wife was about to give birth, the passerby would still stop for a bet.

The tram threaded its way through the city. Every so often, she’d feel the ground tremble-then, a black carriage drawn by eight wild horses would thunder past and vanish.

Those horses were pure black, wearing silver-white masks, their eyes glowing with fire, like beasts of the night made flesh, thundering by as if they could take flight at any moment.

And the carriages they pulled looked like they belonged to an evil queen in a fairy tale-brimming with ominous energy, yet exquisitely luxurious.

When those carriages raced by, Lu Yibei, sitting in the slow-moving tram, felt all the more shabby by comparison.

“Wonder when I’ll ever get to ride in one of those!”

“Don’t even think about it. Only VIPs of the Entertainment City can ride those,” Liu Seer chuckled at Lu Yibei. “You’d need at least tens of millions of chips to qualify.”

The changes in Hua City in recent years had been nothing to write home about-a few new tourist projects, a couple of big factories relocated, and that was it. Besides these well-known changes, there wasn’t much to talk about.

She certainly couldn’t tell Liu Seer about the Midnight Watchers Society setting up shop on Mudan Street.

As for the surge in hauntings, the arrival of the Plague Taisui, or the Night Parade of a Hundred Ghosts-those topics were even less suitable for Liu Seer’s ears.

So, before long, Lu Yibei switched from speaker to listener, as Liu Seer launched into a lively account of the Dream Come True Entertainment City’s surrounding anecdotes, and his own ups and downs within the Entertainment City-at one point, he’d even ranked among the top ten in chips.

One had to admit, after mixing around the Entertainment City for over a decade, Liu Seer knew the local customs inside out, and was familiar with every kind of gambling game to be found.

What interested Lu Yibei most was the gambling game inside the Jiajia Arcade: betting on whether the number of rare cards drawn from one hundred mobile game gacha pulls would be odd or even.

She couldn’t help but think that if she entered, she’d have at least a ninety percent chance of making a killing.

After all, she never pulled a rare card-always hitting the pity guarantee.

A hundred pulls would only yield one at the minimum; just keep betting on odd.

But with only a ninety percent chance, she managed to restrain her urge to “risk it all and strike it rich,” obediently sitting on the tram as it headed toward the Entertainment City’s main building.

And so, twenty minutes later, that snow-white building-like it had been wedged into this patch of gray earth-appeared at the end of the tram tracks, its golden lights turning it into a dazzling beacon…

The three of them stepped out of the tram station, walked through a grimy street, and arrived in front of the building. On the plaza, with its giant fountains, three beautiful girls in bunny girl outfits immediately came over to greet them-each so attractive that they could have passed a girl group audition.

But beautiful or not, as long as they were wearing bunny girl outfits, Lu Yibei couldn’t muster the slightest interest.

What’s more, those furry ears and tails seemed a little too real.

If they weren’t real, how could they move like that?

Anyway, Lu Yibei just felt like at any moment, one of them might pull a rusted crowbar from who-knows-where and bash her in the back of the head.

Maybe this was the trauma left over from the Mr. Rabbit haunting attack incident?

The three bunny girls stepped forward naturally, each linking arms with one of the trio, and smiling as they led them toward the Entertainment City.

“Welcome, guests! I’m sure tonight will be the night your wishes come true. Is this your first visit? Would you like me to give you a quick introduction?”

Hearing the bunny girl beside her say this, Lu Yibei paused, a faint frown creasing her brow.

How did she know it was my first time here?

Seeing this, Liu Seer leaned close to Lu Yibei, raised a hand, and whispered, “The girls here are quite something! Once you’ve been here, they’ll remember your face.”

“Firstly, to keep out those with malicious intent, and secondly, to better serve regular customers.”

Quite professional, Lu Yibei thought to herself, nodding in understanding.

At that moment, the sturdy man in black, standing guard at the heavy, ornate bronze door, opened it for the three of them, revealing a vast view.

And then, Lu Yibei was stunned.

Not by the massive, crystal-clear glass wall, nor by the lavish use of gold in the decor, nor by the fair-skinned, beautiful women.

But because, as Ah-Hua had said, the sides of the extravagantly luxurious corridor were indeed plastered with promotional slogans.

Lu Yibei thought, “…”

Goodness, it’s like walking into a gambling addiction support group!

Will someone come up to me later asking for a little help?

As Lu Yibei was pondering this, Liu Seer suddenly cleared his throat and said, “Ahem! Miss Wang, I think we should part ways here?”

“You and this Miss Hua look like you’re headed to the upper floors. I won’t accompany you. Before I go, I just want to say…”

“Could you lend me some chips? Just a hundred!”

Lu Yibei, “???”

Seer, what are you doing, Seer?

Seeing that Lu Yibei was unmoved, Liu Seer hurriedly said, “Trust me, with a hundred, I can turn the tables. Just one night, and I’ll win enough chips to join you on the upper floors. I’ll repay you tenfold in chips, how about that?”

Lu Yibei thought, “…” What a classic gambling addict’s plea!

Seeing this, Ah-Hua whispered to Lu Yibei, “Why not just give it to him? You have so many chips, don’t you? We still need to find my miss. Let’s not delay here.”

Lu Yibei shot Ah-Hua a look, “I only have two hundred and twelve chips in total, and you want me to give him a hundred? Easy for you to say!”

“What? You only have that few chips?” Liu Seer’s expression froze, “I thought you were headed to the upper floors!”

Lu Yibei paused, then realized, “What do you mean? Without enough chips, I can’t move freely in this building?”

Seeing this, the bunny girl beside Lu Yibei smiled and politely explained, “Sorry, dear guest, it’s like this: to ensure fairness and that all guests have a good time, our Entertainment City has betting limits for different floors.”

“The betting limit for the lower three floors is 1 to 1,000, the middle three floors is 1,000 to 100,000, and the upper floors have a minimum of 100,000 with no upper limit. So, if you wish to go to a particular floor, you must have at least the minimum betting chips for that floor.”

“If you need to exchange chips now, I can assist you. Our Entertainment City accepts payment in money, lifespan, psychic energy, or haunting core entities.”

After speaking, the bunny girl playfully winked at Lu Yibei, flashing a sweet smile.

“No need!” Ah-Hua interrupted, “We have a friend upstairs waiting for us.”

Upon hearing this, Liu Seer’s eyes lit up, thinking to himself, I knew it, today I’ve truly met benefactors. All my efforts weren’t in vain.

This time, I will definitely turn the tables!

“Is that so?” The bunny girl beside Ah-Hua bowed slightly, “Sorry, if it’s convenient, could you tell me your name and your friend’s name upstairs?”

“I’ll go ahead and confirm the information with your friend upstairs. Once confirmed, I’ll take you and this miss up together, is that okay?”

“Of course, no problem.” Ah-Hua nodded, “My name is Ah-Hua, and my friend upstairs is called Ah-Li.”

“Alright, we’ll contact your friend as soon as possible. Please wait a moment.”

The bunny girl beside Ah-Hua said, bowing respectfully, then clicked her heels as she walked deeper into the Entertainment City.

Once the bunny girl was out of sight, Liu Seer couldn’t help but exclaim, “Wow! Are you friends with Miss Ah-Li?”

“Indeed!” Ah-Hua slightly raised her chin, a hint of pride in her expression.

“Then could you lend me more chips? A thousand, no, five hundred, five hundred will do!”

“Honestly, I was just unlucky before. At my peak, I was ranked ninth in the entire casino. This time, I can definitely turn the tables.”

“…” Faced with Liu Seer’s eager gaze, Ah-Hua was momentarily speechless.

Noticing Ah-Hua’s embarrassment, Lu Yibei stepped forward, tiptoed, and wrapped an arm around Liu Seer’s neck, pulling him down, and said in a low voice, “Come on, Liu, why are you raising the price? That’s not fair, is it? Didn’t you say a hundred just now?”

“This…” Liu Seer hesitated for a moment, gritted his teeth, and said, “A hundred it is!”

“No! A hundred was the price just now, not anymore. Now I can only give you eighty.” Lu Yibei said expressionlessly.

Although they would have plenty of chips once they found Jiang Li upstairs, helping Liu Seer now wouldn’t hurt, but saving a bit wouldn’t hurt either, right? Lu Yibei thought.

“Huh?” Liu Seer was taken aback, frowning, “Isn’t eighty a bit too little? How about ninety?”

“Seventy.” Lu Yibei said softly.

Liu Seer widened his eyes and quickly said, “Eighty, eighty it is!”

“Sixty.”

Liu Seer, “…”

He stopped talking, feeling that if he continued, his blood pressure would spike.

In the end, Lu Yibei managed to send Liu Seer off with fifty-eight chips.

Yes, after a 4% transaction fee.

After sending Liu Seer away, the two waited in a lounge near the main entrance, led by the bunny girl.

Twenty minutes later.

The bunny girl who had gone to find Jiang Li returned with news that left Ah-Hua pale.

“Sorry, Miss Ah-Hua, Miss Ah-Li said she doesn’t know you…”

Ah-Hua’s eyes widened, “?!!”

Footnote:

1. Feng Shui(风水): Feng Shui is a traditional Chinese practice that involves selecting and arranging living environments to influence luck, health, and wealth.