Chapter 371: Information Overload

Two hours later, on the dilapidated rooftop.

Qing Ji propped himself up with both hands, slumped on the ground, gasping for air in large gulps. His forehead was drenched in sweat.

The legendary Hundred-Armed Giant was said to be capable of slaughtering the Titans and their gods. The deaths caused by its power were excruciatingly painful, truly unbearable.

Not far away, Lu Yibei adjusted her posture, stood up, and began walking toward him.

“Ancestor, shall we con-“

Qing Ji’s pupils contracted slightly as he suddenly turned to look at Lu Yibei. “Wait! Let’s call it a day for now!”

As he spoke, he stood up, clasping his hands behind his back.

“Excess leads to failure. Everything should have its limits. Balancing work and rest is the true path.”

Lu Yibei tilted her head, replying earnestly, “But I feel like I can keep going.”

Qing Ji’s mouth twitched. With a wave of his wide sleeve, he slowly drew a long sword from within, casting a sidelong glance at Lu Yibei. “No, I think you can’t.”

In truth, Qing Ji had initially suspected that his great-grandson’s untimely death might have something to do with this girl who claimed to be his great-granddaughter-in-law.

But now, he had completely dismissed that suspicion.

If she had truly been responsible, could his great-grandson have died so easily?

Lu Yibei looked at Qing Ji with a complicated expression, hesitating several times before finally saying, “Alright, Ancestor, I’ll take my leave for now.”

After all, there would be plenty of days like this in the future!

Judging by the time, dawn was approaching. If she missed today’s sunrise, she’d have to remain in her haunting transformation state for an entire day.

That would be troublesome, as there were certain things she couldn’t do in her current form.

For instance, reporting to The Midnight Watchers Society, replacing her SIM card at the telecom office, or heading to school to handle research-related paperwork with Teacher Ma…

Ten minutes later.

On the rooftop of Jingyi Apartment, a “mummy” stood facing the pale light of the approaching dawn, arms outstretched.

As the sun rose above the horizon, its radiant golden-red light bathed the curvaceous figure of the “mummy.”

As if responding to the sunlight, her skin began to emit a faint glow through the gaps in the bandages.

Thick, pale smoke rose, gradually obscuring her body. Within the shroud of smoke, her silhouette grew taller and more upright.

Thus, amidst the scene resembling a mummy disintegrating under sunlight, Lu Yibei gradually returned to his original form.

“…”

He raised a hand to gently touch his chest. The cold, eerie energy from The Witch’s Egg within him had subsided, and even the violent, turbulent power of the Hundred-Armed Giant had temporarily gone dormant.

Perhaps because the Hundred-Armed Giant was tied to legends of slaughtering the Titans, its power inflicted the most damage on the bodies of mythical type hauntings with psychic energy fluctuations. Witches tied to mythical legends came next.

Relatively speaking, psychics-humans whose psychic energy originated from Spirit Patterns-were actually in the safest position.

So, it’s true what they say: divinity is a debuff!

After stretching his limbs slightly and confirming that none of his critical body parts were missing, Lu Yibei rolled his eyes and snorted coldly. “Hmph! Just a mere Hundred-Armed Giant, and it thought it could kill me?”

“Didn’t expect this, did you? I’m a man equipped with three operating systems!”

As soon as he finished speaking, a sharp pain suddenly erupted in his chest. It felt as though a massive hand had gripped his heart tightly, causing it to stop momentarily. He collapsed to the ground immediately after.

His body convulsed and spasmed, as if someone had jabbed him in the back with a stun baton.

The power of the Hundred-Armed Giant seemed to be warning him in this way: “I’m still here, kid. Don’t get cocky!”

Lu Yibei: “…”

Fine, you win!

At worst, I’ll just adopt the persona of a melancholic young man with a congenital heart condition. That should be acceptable, right?

Who knows, I might even meet a cheerful, energetic girl and start a romance straight out of a K-drama!

At that thought, an image inexplicably flashed through Lu Yibei’s mind: Gu Qianqian running toward him, shouting “Brother!”-only to trip and fall flat on her face.

Damn it! I said a cheerful girl, not a clumsy fool! Lu Yibei thought, shaking his head vigorously.

10:32 a.m.

Outside the telecom office in Hua City’s University Town.

Lu Yibei held his newly purchased phone, eagerly inserting the replacement SIM card. After booting it up, he connected to the internet and opened the app store to download the Love and Magic Girls app.

The [Flower of Chaotic Parallel Timelines] had exploded, and the themed four-piece merchandise set at his home had been stolen. Now, only gazing at Bai Xiaohua’s “face and voice” in the game could slightly soothe his wounded, fragile heart.

It was like the feeling of [setting an alarm in the morning, wanting to snooze for a bit, only to wake up half an hour late, as if time had been swallowed by something].

Or [having no one contact you on most days, but the moment you turn off your phone for over 24 hours, a flood of messages inexplicably appears]. Truly one of life’s great mysteries.

Once his phone finished syncing his contacts and re-downloading all his social apps, Lu Yibei’s new phone immediately entered “information overload” mode.

Messages from Shui-Ge, Gu Qianqian, Professor Ma, Jiang Li, and Du Sixian, notifications from cloud storage services, video membership renewals, Love and Magic Girls New Year event announcements, and various spam texts-altogether exceeding over a thousand messages.

The phone vibrated continuously, resembling some indescribable adult toy.

Clutching his phone, Lu Yibei found a nearby bubble tea shop, bought a drink, and settled into a corner seat. Patiently, he began opening the messages one by one.

Just as meals must be eaten bite by bite, messages must be read one by one. And this pile of miscellaneous tasks? They, too, must be handled one at a time. No rushing.

Lu Yibei opened his inbox and saw the first message from an unknown number, sent over an hour ago.

[Lu Yibei, I am your ally, Anonymous.

I’m in big trouble right now and need 200 hauntings and 30 million to resolve my difficulties. I can’t meet you in person at the moment, but you can transfer the money directly to me. My account number is my phone number.

Once the transfer is complete, I’ll send someone to collect the core entity of the hauntings. If I successfully overcome this crisis and reclaim the old lands, I’ll share half the benefits with you!]

“……”

What era is this? Even scammers are keeping up with the times?

How is there still someone pulling this “I, God, need money!” kind of scam?

Scoffing mercilessly, Lu Yibei dismissed the message without a second thought. He tapped the back button in the upper left corner and blocked the number, which had already been flagged as fraudulent by his phone’s security software.

Scrolling further down his inbox, he came across messages from Gu Qianqian.

That woman hadn’t seen him for a while and had been bombarding him with messages asking if he was alive. At first, her inquiries were subtle and restrained, but later they turned into blunt messages like, [Hey? Dead yet?], sent punctually at midnight every day, like clockwork.

These messages seemed to express concern for his well-being, but when Lu Yibei recalled how Gu Qianqian had always secretly tried to get rid of him, even resorting to poisoning him with alchemical potions, he couldn’t help but read between the lines.

Looking closer, he could almost see the words hidden in the gaps: “Can’t wait for Lu Yibei to die already!”

“……”

With my current state of haunting transformation, constantly losing health, on the verge of exploding, and generally weak and frail, it’s probably better if she doesn’t find out I’m still alive.

Otherwise, this wouldn’t be a matter that a simple pig trotter could resolve.

Grumbling to himself, Lu Yibei skipped over Shui-Ge’s utterly pointless and overly affectionate messages and opened the ones from Du Sixian.

There were only three, but they left Beibei stunned for three whole minutes.

[Du Sixian: Benefactor, are you free to meet up?]

[Du Sixian: Benefactor, I found your secret base! Everyone here is so friendly! I didn’t expect hauntings to be like this.]

[Du Sixian: Benefactor, your management is terrible. When I get back, I’ll have my dad’s company’s HR department draft some management plans for you.]

Lu Yibei: “???”

What the hell? Did she actually find Xingfu Community? How did she even get there? And what did she do once she arrived?

After reading Du Sixian’s messages, Lu Yibei, who had been unsure about what to prioritize, suddenly found his direction.

He needed to head to Xingfu Community later to see what kind of chaos Du Sixian had caused among the hauntings in Hua City. Hopefully, it wasn’t “all hell breaking loose.”

Scrolling further down, after going through three rather unserious sets of messages, Lu Yibei finally came across someone relatively normal.

The messages were from Professor Ma, mostly updates about the progress of the paper he had submitted and the joint research project on Dongyi culture.

Two messages in particular caught Lu Yibei’s attention-one sent ten days ago and another just yesterday.

[Professor Ma: The project team has approved you joining as my assistant.]

[Professor Ma: The team has made new discoveries in Tang City and decided to start the project research ahead of schedule. I plan to depart on the 6th. Looks like I won’t be spending the New Year in Hua City this year. Are you okay with that? Reply when you get this.]

After reading Professor Ma’s messages, Lu Yibei frowned and muttered to himself, “The 6th? That’s the day after tomorrow, isn’t it?”

As he spoke, he opened the input box, typed [Got it.], and hit send.

Less than a minute after the message was sent, Professor Ma replied.

[Professor Ma: You little brat, what have you been up to lately? Your phone’s been unreachable, making everyone worry! ]

Lu Yibei: “……” While the message seemed warm and caring, the term “little brat” could definitely be up for debate.

[Lu Yibei: Uh, I went back to my hometown to visit relatives. No signal in the countryside.]

[Professor Ma: You’re back now? Perfect. Pack your things quickly-I’ve already bought your plane ticket. Research is all about efficiency, so stop dawdling. See you at the school gate at 8 a.m. the day after tomorrow.]

Lu Yibei: “……”

When did I become a researcher? Why does it feel like this old man tricked me into this?

[Lu Yibei: Got it. See you the day after tomorrow.]

After replying to Professor Ma, Lu Yibei finally opened Jiang Li’s messages. Setting aside Shui-Ge’s melodramatic ramblings, Jiang Li had sent the most messages, and he was curious to see what she had to say.

It’s probably all about urging me to report to The Midnight Watchers Society, maybe even complaining about the mess I left her to deal with. That’s what Lu Yibei thought.

However, after reading Jiang Li’s messages, his expression turned complicated, and he fell into a heavy silence.

It was as if a bomb had gone off in his head, leaving his mind buzzing.

January 22, Jiang Li: Are you there? [heart emoji]

January 23, Jiang Li: Thirty-two incident report reminders? How are you even doing your job as a proxy operator? We’ll talk about this when you get back.

January 24, Jiang Li: Watched the movie you recommended today. The ending sucked.

January 25, Jiang Li: Didn’t expect your bedsheets to be so cute. Is that some anime character?

January 28, Jiang Li: Went to the hospital to visit Ah-Hua today. She’s recovering well. I’m doing fine too.

January 30, Jiang Li: Watched that movie for the seventh time. Maybe it’s just me, but the ending doesn’t seem so bad anymore.

February 1, Jiang Li: You’re probably not going to reply, are you?

February 2, Jiang Li: Are you there? [heart emoji]

“Bang-!”

A muffled sound of a fist slamming the table echoed through the milk tea shop, drawing the attention of other customers.

Ignoring the curious gazes of those around him, Lu Yibei stared at his phone with bloodshot eyes, gritting his teeth. “You bastard! I finally caught you. Was it you who messed with my treasure?!”

“Just you wait!”

As he spoke, he quickly opened his contact list, found Jiang Li’s number, and dialed it.

“Sorry, the number you have dialed is currently unavailable. Please try again later…”

“Beep-!”

Hanging up the phone, Lu Yibei wasted no time leaving the milk tea shop.

He had initially planned to check on Xingfu Community first, but he changed his mind. He was heading to The Midnight Watchers Society to confront Jiang Li face-to-face!

Twenty minutes later.

Mudan Street, Hua City Folk Culture Administration Bureau.

A mushroom girl, dressed in a bright red floral cotton jacket, squatted in the small garden. She tilted her head back, staring blankly at the last withered leaf on the tree above her.

Suddenly, hurried footsteps approached.

A figure stormed through the gate, striding with purpose. The person rushed into the office building, and moments later, stormed back out just as quickly.

Failing to find any trace of Jiang Li or Ah-Hua in the office, Lu Yibei stood in the center of the small garden with his hands on his hips, a spicy strip clenched between his teeth. He chewed on it furiously, as if trying to “kill” it.

Where could they have gone?

I don’t believe it!

I’ll wait here all day if I have to. It’s Friday, so she has to show up eventually.

As Lu Yibei stewed in his thoughts, Li Xuan walked in, holding a folder.

Spotting Lu Yibei, Li Xuan raised an eyebrow and smirked sarcastically. “Well, well, isn’t it our dear proxy operator Lu? Where have you been gallivanting off to lately? Is The Midnight Watchers Society no longer good enough for you?”

Lu Yibei shot Li Xuan a cold glance. “I’ve been studying advanced car bumper disassembly techniques.”

Hearing this, Li Xuan’s mouth twitched. He suddenly remembered his new car parked at the street corner and hesitated to say more.

“By the way, have you seen Jiang Li?” Lu Yibei asked.

“You’re waiting for her?” Li Xuan gave him a once-over and sneered. “Well, you’re out of luck. She’s on leave today.”

“Tch! Like leader, like subordinate!”

Ignoring Li Xuan’s sarcasm, Lu Yibei pressed on. “Do you know where she went?”

Li Xuan rolled his eyes. “How would I know? As her subordinate, shouldn’t you be the one most informed about her whereabouts?”

Narrowing his eyes, Lu Yibei stared at Li Xuan and said ominously, “Then as the owner of your beloved car, you must be well aware of its bumper’s whereabouts, right?”

Li Xuan: “???”

Hua City, outskirts, Lion Rock Public Cemetery.

The sky was overcast, and the breeze seemed to whisper secrets.

Amidst a cluster of greenery, a tombstone stood, adorned with a sculpture shaped like a white flower. The cheerful design starkly contrasted with the somber atmosphere of the surrounding graves.

Before the sculpture, Jiang Li, dressed in a sleek black formal skirt suit, stood silently. Through the black veil hanging from her hat, she watched as the stonemason engraved Lu Yibei’s name onto the tombstone.

After finishing the engraving, the stonemason turned to Jiang Li and asked, “Miss, should I carve the words ‘My Beloved’ in front of his name?”

“…” Jiang Li remained silent for a few seconds before shaking her head. “Forget it.”

The stonemason scrutinized her for a moment and asked again, “Are you sure about this?”

“I’ve been in this line of work for years, and I’ve never seen anything like this. If something goes wrong later, don’t come blaming me!”

He had seen lions, tigers, and dragons placed before tombstones, but never a Magical Girl.

“Yes, just like this…” Jiang Li nodded slightly, then softly called out, “Ah-Hua.”

At her call, Ah-Hua stepped forward, holding a crystal urn. She placed it gently into the grave.

Inside the crystal urn were the White Flower Four-Piece Set taken from Lu Yibei’s home and a rare item Jiang Li had recently purchased online at great expense: The Flower of Chaotic Parallel Timelines.

Once the urn was in place, Jiang Li turned to the stonemason and said calmly, “Please seal it.”

The stonemason’s mouth twitched. He glanced at Jiang Li, then at the crystal urn in the grave, before quickly pulling out his sealing tools and getting to work.

Damn it! This woman is so strange!

Once I’m done here, I better report this to Miss An immediately.

Having worked in the cemetery for years, the stonemason had learned a thing or two. Graves with unusual burials often had a haunting incident rate ten times higher than normal ones.

And as a contact for An Qing, he always reported strange occurrences promptly.

Twenty minutes later.

After sealing the “Lu Yibei’s Grave,” the stonemason left without delay.

Jiang Li paid no attention to the stonemason’s hurried departure. She took the bouquet handed to her by Ah-Hua, placed it before the tombstone, and gently wiped the engraved name. She let out a silent sigh.

“Ah-Hua, you can head back now.”

Sensing her thoughts, Ah-Hua asked worriedly, “Miss, are you going to his house again tonight? Should I go with you? I’m out of the hospital now, after all.”

“No need.” Jiang Li shook her head. “I prefer to be alone.”

“…”

Watching Jiang Li’s retreating figure, Ah-Hua opened her mouth as if to say something but ultimately remained silent.