Chapter 387: A Few Things About Professor Ma Looking for a Friend

The warm winter sun shone on the accumulated snow, the melting snow half-remaining on the ink-black tiles, leaving behind dim marks under the horse-head wall, as if someone had stepped there.

Sunlight filtered through the gaps in the withered branches, casting onto a tall, straight figure by the roadside of Taohua Road’s antique street.

Professor Ma stood alone by the street, pulling a note from his jacket pocket with his left hand, confirming the address written on it, and nodded.

“This should be the place. I didn’t expect he actually moved here from the countryside. Looks like he’s made quite a bit of money dealing antiques these years!”

Muttering to himself, he put away the note, took out a copper coin and tossed it into the air, then caught it, glanced at both sides, and a faint smile appeared at the corner of his mouth.

Judging by the copper coin’s prediction, everything would go smoothly today.

Using a copper coin to pave the way when going out to handle affairs-this was the self-cultivation of an “old commander” of the “Copper Coin Divine Sect.”

Putting away the copper coin, straightening his clothes, and raising the collar of his trench coat against the cold wind, Professor Ma looked left and right at the roadside, then crossed the sidewalk and walked toward the alley across the street.

According to the address on the note, his old friend lived deep in that alley.

Thinking back to those years, just over thirty, Ma Zhen led a team for field research for the first time, accidentally got separated from the group in the rugged, stormy loess plateau, and nearly lost his life in a sandstorm. But because of this, he began the most thrilling and exciting journey of his life.

At the brink of life and death, a young man of extraordinary martial skill and astonishing talent saved him from the yellow sands. After waking up and learning that the young man’s purpose was to search for the legendary Yellow Emperor’s tomb somewhere on the loess plateau, Ma Zhen volunteered to accompany him, taking on the role of “encyclopedia.”

Later, during their exploration of the loess plateau, they met Lan Sheng and his group, whose family had been tomb raiders for generations, and the three hit it off immediately.

A knowledgeable and mature big brother, a free-spirited young tomb raider, and a cold, sharp youth with superb martial arts who seemed to possess knowledge of occultism-what a combination!

This was practically one of the golden teams from all those tomb-raiding novels!

Later, this small team of three braved deserts, crossed dense forests, witnessed ancient cities standing tall in the yellow sands, delved into bronze palaces beneath earthen forests, matched wits with poaching gangs, and fought for their lives against strange wolf packs.

Truly, in the prime of youth, bold and unrestrained, living a life worth remembering.

But…

A legend is, after all, just a legend. After seeing things most people could never encounter in a lifetime, the three never did find the Yellow Emperor’s tomb. Later, due to a series of irreconcilable conflicts, they eventually parted ways.

Professor Ma returned to the university to continue his research on ancient special characters, while Lan Sheng, who had made a living as a tomb raider, turned over a new leaf, returned to his hometown Tang City, and started an antique business.

The two kept in touch from time to time, sometimes reminiscing about the past, sometimes discussing antiques-not close, but not distant either.

As for that highly skilled young man, after parting ways with them, he disappeared without a trace, just as mysteriously as he had appeared.

Recalling the past inevitably brought a sigh; thinking about it now, it had already been twenty-one years.

Walking through the alley, it wasn’t long before Professor Ma arrived at the unmarked private antique shop.

The door was half open, but the shop inside was unlit. Stepping over the threshold, a faint fragrance of high-grade spices lingered in the courtyard, left behind after burning.

“Old Lan, Old Lan?” He called twice, but no one answered. He took two steps forward and called again, “Lan Sheng, I’m here!”

The shop was quiet, as if time had frozen here. Only the sunlight streaming through the wooden window, illuminating the dust floating and sinking in the air, proved the flow of time.

“Strange, didn’t we agree to meet this morning? Where did he go?” Professor Ma muttered. Just then, something suddenly hit the back of his head.

Looking around, he saw a date pit, gnawed especially clean, lying in the snow.

Staring at the date pit for a few seconds, Professor Ma suddenly looked up and saw a little girl at the window on the second floor of the neighboring building.

The girl was tiny, looking about six or seven years old, wearing a peacock-green cotton jacket trimmed with velvet, her long hair wrapped into two round buns with silk cloth, her delicate oval face still a bit chubby, her skin so fair it glowed, just like the snow on the eaves.

What a cute little girl! If only she were my granddaughter! Looking at the little girl, Professor Ma, a devoted granddaughter-lover, couldn’t help but sigh in his heart.

Although many men are old perverts, fond of black-stockinged office ladies, cosplay lolis, homely married women… with wide-ranging tastes, Professor Ma truly had no lustful thoughts.

He simply liked children, especially little girls.

The reason was all because of his own grandson at home, who seemed like a little demon king-no one could keep him in check.

Wouldn’t it be great if I had a sweet, obedient granddaughter!

Sometimes, Professor Ma would get so angry his blood pressure would skyrocket, and he’d even want to smack his grandson to death with a slap.

As he was sighing, the little girl finished gnawing on a winter jujube, raised her hand, and flicked the pit, hitting him squarely in the center of his forehead.

“You shameless old man, staring at a little girl with your eyes glowing-aren’t you embarrassed!” the little girl muttered, sticking out her tongue. “So, what are you here for?”

Hit by the jujube pit, Professor Ma snapped back to his senses. Looking at the little girl again, he couldn’t help but frown.

A child of six or seven should be innocent and pure, but this little girl, at such a young age, already had a charming and alluring look between her brows. And her bearing-though enchanting, was not vulgar, but noble and elegant, fresh and refined, not like an ordinary person.

Being looked down upon by her like this, Professor Ma actually felt as if he were in the presence of a queen.

He had long heard of precocious children, but had never seen one so precocious-it was like facing an old monster with deep cunning.

If she grew up, what would become of it?

Who knows which family’s boy would suffer in the future!

Seeing Professor Ma silent for a long time, the little girl frowned and said, “Old man, I’m asking you a question! If you don’t answer, I’ll call the police and have the officers arrest you!”

“Uh…” Professor Ma was startled, then hurriedly said, “I’m here to find someone, Lan Sheng, who runs a shop here. He’s my friend.”

“Oh~!” The little girl nodded thoughtfully. “Looking for Xiao Lan? Then I’m afraid you won’t find him.”

Xiao Lan? Lan Sheng is old enough to be her grandfather, isn’t he? Professor Ma frowned. “Can’t find him? Where did he go? I was just in touch with him yesterday, and we agreed to meet today.”

“Probably went back to his hometown!” The little girl, a winter jujube in her mouth, shrugged and mumbled.

If he was fast enough, his family is probably already keeping vigil over his body by now… Gou Meng silently added in her heart.

“Hey, old man, who are you to him? Why are you looking for him?”

“Haha!” Professor Ma explained with a laugh, “Little girl, I’m here to ask him about something. As for the details, you’re still too young-when you grow up, you’ll understand.”

She’s just a child, what could she know about protecting cultural relics? Professor Ma thought.

Tch, when I was grown up, your grandfather hadn’t even been born yet! Gou Meng rolled her eyes impatiently. “How do you know I won’t understand if you don’t tell me? If you don’t say, I’ll treat you as a bad guy!”

“Grandpa, there’s a bad guy!”

Professor Ma was stunned, a flash of panic in his eyes, and hurriedly said, “Little girl, don’t say that-I’m a good person, I really am friends with Lan Sheng!”

What bad intentions could a child have? As long as he explained clearly, it would be fine. Professor Ma thought.

“Friends?” Gou Meng curled her lip. “What good people could that guy’s friends be?”

She had long known that Chunfeng Residence’s neighbor was a psychic, but until last night, when He Tiejun followed that so-and-so to attack the pawnshop, she hadn’t paid any attention.

Now that she thought about it, his ill intentions were probably premeditated.

But what was he doing, a psychic who barely reached Class B+ with the help of various psychic artifacts, sneaking around was one thing, but why go stir up trouble at the pawnshop?

A Class B Psychic, in front of Grandpa Turtle in a rage, would be dealt with in a single stomp, wouldn’t he?

Grandpa Turtle is a major haunting with the power of the Dragon Lord Giant Ao.

There’s a poem: “The giant ao carries Mount Penglai on its head.”

It describes the Dragon Lord Giant Ao striding across the sea, carrying Penglai on its head.

When Gou Meng woke up this morning, the first thing she did was check Lan Sheng’s little courtyard. Seeing no one there, she thought maybe he’d been stomped to death by Grandpa Turtle last night.

Now, seeing Professor Ma appear in Lan Sheng’s shop, claiming to be his friend, she naturally pegged him as an accomplice.

Her situation was dangerous now-she had to be on guard.

If it weren’t for the fact that Professor Ma had not a trace of psychic energy fluctuation on him, looking completely like an ordinary person, he’d probably already be lying on the ground talking by now.

After a brief thought, Gou Meng’s bright eyes spun mischievously, a sly glint flashing in them, then she turned and shouted into the house.

“Grandpa, Grandpa, there’s a bad guy here, a bad guy bullying children! Hurry and call the police to arrest him!”

Professor Ma, “???”

Suddenly, he felt like his granddaughter wasn’t so cute after all-what was going on?

Damn, didn’t I use a copper coin to divine before coming today?

Could it be I was seeing things and misread the divination result?

As he was dazed, an old man with a bulging belly suddenly rushed in, knocked him to the ground with a broom, and before long, police officers from the nearby police station burst in and snapped a pair of shiny handcuffs on him.

As he was being taken away by the police, Professor Ma stood at the mouth of the alley, turned to look back, and saw the little girl standing on the second floor of the small building, watching him from afar, a wicked smile on her lips that he couldn’t understand at all, then she waved at him.

Professor Ma, “….”

Early morning.

Tang City University, College of Liberal Arts building.

A police cordon was set up in front of the [Archaeology and Museology I] laboratory, and the corridor was crowded with people, most of whom were members of the Dongyi Culture Research Project Group, mixed in with a few students just there to watch the commotion. Yet everyone seemed to be deliberately keeping their distance from the laboratory, standing far away.

Li Ziqi’s body was discovered by Professor Hou’s student when he came to the lab in the morning to fetch some materials.

When he opened the door, he saw Li Ziqi slumped over the long table, most of his upper body covered by a notebook. He thought Li Ziqi had pulled an all-nighter gaming, was too tired, and had fallen asleep at the table. He teased him about his lack of self-control, warning him about sudden death from gaming, and walked over.

But the moment his line of sight passed the laptop screen, the student turned pale with fright, collapsed to the floor, and only after a while did he come to his senses, trembling as he pulled out his phone to call the police.

Li Ziqi was dead. Everything above his collarbone had vanished without a trace, his whole body cut off at the collarbone and fused to the monitor, as if he’d been swallowed by the computer or had his head pulled into the screen by something. The entire display was awash in blood.

Even the police and forensic doctors who arrived later were startled by such a bizarre cause of death.

….

Lu Yibei, with an unfinished croissant in his mouth,

watched the police and forensic team going in and out of the [Archaeology and Museology I] laboratory, his mood heavy and thoughtful.

This was unmistakably a haunting attack incident.

There were even lingering traces of psychic energy fluctuation at the scene. A preliminary estimate put the psychic energy fluctuation level between one and two old rabbits.

Not particularly strong, but the haunting itself had vanished without a trace. If only he could observe up close, but that would have to wait until the police left.

Thinking this, Lu Yibei sighed silently, took out his phone, and continued trying to contact Jiang Li.

Although his last attempt to reach Jiang Li had been intercepted and the Void couldn’t provide support, he hadn’t given up.

He’d tried screenshots, homophones, breaking up sentences-every method was intercepted again. Even trying to use video calls for eye contact and silent communication failed due to poor signal and a blurry, lagging feed.

Helpless, Lu Yibei simply started reporting his daily routine to Jiang Li.

Wang Buliuxing: “The hotel breakfast was pretty good today. I ran into a senior while eating-she was quite cute.”

Meow Meow-chan: “Cuter than me?”

Wang Buliuxing: “You are most beautiful; how could any senior compare to you?”

Meow Meow-chan: “So can I take that to mean Wang Buliuxing’s beauty belongs to me, and only me? [heart emoji]”

Wang Buliuxing: “Emmm… fine!”

If one day I suddenly stop reporting to her, she’ll probably realize something’s happened here after thinking about it for a bit, right?

Looking at Jiang Li’s reply, a gentle light appeared in Lu Yibei’s eyes as he quietly put away his phone.

“Tsk tsk, moderate gaming is good for the brain, but addiction is bad for your health. Play too hard and you’ll be ashes!”

The voice came from Lu Yibei’s right. At some point, Mao Sanyou had crouched down beside him, joining him in staring blankly at the lab from the corridor.

“You have time to space out here? Doesn’t your Tang City Midnight Watchers Society handle this kind of thing?”

“I’d like to…” Mao Sanyou shrugged helplessly. “But we can’t. Did you know something big happened last night?”

“Oh? Did a friend from the M78 Nebula show up in Tang City and invite you to become light together?” Lu Yibei tossed out some trash talk.

“I wish! But I’ve been waiting over ten years and they still haven’t come for me.” Mao Sanyou pouted. “But, judging by the things I’ve done, I probably don’t have a chance to become light-turning into Zetton is more likely.”

He paused, then explained quietly to Lu Yibei, “Last night there was an explosion at Arrow Tower Old Street. Centered on an unnamed pawnshop, it flattened buildings in a radius of over fifty meters. Seventeen dead, more than forty injured.”

Lu Yibei frowned. “A haunting incident?”

Mao Sanyou glanced at Lu Yibei and said solemnly, “No, it should be called an accident caused by aging gas pipes in the old city, neglected for years.”

Lu Yibei shrugged, noncommittal.

Excuses like gas explosions, high-voltage wire leaks, or minor earthquakes from ground subsidence were old tricks the Midnight Watchers Society used to cover up malignant haunting incidents. He’d seen it more than once in the Hua City Midnight Watchers Society’s files.

Seeing Lu Yibei stay silent, Mao Sanyou stood up, leaned closer, and whispered so only the two of them could hear, “From the scene, it looks like there was a battle between hauntings last night.”

“To cause that level of destruction, and that’s with barriers set up to block their sight. If they’d gone all out, the damage might have rivaled a medium-scale Night Parade of a Hundred Ghosts.”

“Also, Nanxing made another discovery on the ring expressway. Guess what she found?”

Lu Yibei shot Mao Sanyou a look that said, “Say it if you want, or don’t,” and replied expressionlessly, “Are you the Tang City riddle man?”

Ignoring Lu Yibei’s trash talk, Mao Sanyou replied listlessly, “We found what appears to be the blood of the suspected master of Taoyuan, Gou Meng.”

“Combined with the series of recent anomalies around Tang City, we suspect that yesterday’s battle was very likely an assassination attempt targeting Gou Meng.”

Hearing this, Lu Yibei’s heart tightened slightly, but his face remained expressionless.

Seeing this, Mao Sanyou crossed his arms and frowned, “Why do you look like you’re not surprised at all?”

“What’s there to be surprised about? Gou Meng, this haunting, I’ve only heard the name and never seen her. I’m not a local like you, so her being assassinated doesn’t feel real to me at all,” Lu Yibei said lightly.

“That’s true!” Mao Sanyou shrugged.

“What I’m more curious about is, with such a big incident, why did you come here?” Lu Yibei asked in confusion. “Don’t tell me you’re slacking off again?”

“There was a haunting incident here, after all! And the one who died was my junior,” Mao Sanyou said. “Of course I had to come take a look! If the haunting that caused the incident hasn’t gone far, I could even take care of it while I’m here.”

“But now…” Mao Sanyou shook his head. “That haunting has clearly already escaped. I’m afraid I don’t have time to keep chasing it until I catch it.”

“Some things are more urgent than others. Shang Nanxing is urging me over there, so I can only go help out first. If we get through this crisis safely, I’ll find a way to avenge my junior.”

“….” Lu Yibei looked toward the laboratory, fell silent for a few seconds, then nodded. “I understand! But, saying things like that-isn’t that setting up a FLAG? Be careful you don’t make it through this crisis.”

“….” Mao Sanyou opened his mouth, just about to say something to Lu Yibei, when suddenly a low shout came from the laboratory.

“Miss, please don’t make trouble. Hurry up and leave!”

Hearing this, Lu Yibei and Mao Sanyou both froze for a moment. Following the sound, they saw a blonde girl being “escorted” out of the lab by a police officer.

“Officer, you have to believe me! I really can summon spirits. Let me try, let me call his soul and ask what happened last night, then everything will be clear!”

Lu Yibei, “….” Is that Fu Xinyi? She can summon spirits? Could my guess be right-she really was that person last night?

Looking at the girl’s cute yet slightly aggrieved expression, Mao Sanyou took a deep breath and muttered, “There’s such a beautiful junior sister in our team? How come I never noticed before?”

Lu Yibei glanced at Mao Sanyou, whose face practically screamed “this girl and I are fated,” rolled his eyes, and said irritably, “Don’t even think about her.”

“What? You like her too?”

“No, I’m just worried that even if you succeed, Professor Hou will break you two up,” Lu Yibei said. “Her name is Fu Xinyi. Yesterday, she helped me with the banter and pissed off your teacher together with me.”

Hearing this, Mao Sanyou glanced at Professor Hou, who was glaring at Fu Xinyi with a dark expression, shrank his neck, then turned to Lu Yibei and said, “Alright, I think it’s about time I head over to Shang Nanxing.”

“It might be dangerous over there. You’d better not go. If you have time, you can stay here and investigate last night’s haunting incident. If you need any help, just ask.”

Lu Yibei nodded. Just as he was about to say something to Mao Sanyou, his phone suddenly vibrated. He took it out and glanced at it-a call from an unfamiliar landline number.

“Hello?”

“Yes, this is Lu Yibei.”

“Do I know Ma Zhen? Of course, that’s my teacher. Officer, did something happen to him?”

“What? Attempted child abduction?”

“???”

Lu Yibei froze for a moment, suddenly recalling Professor Ma’s strange behavior when he saw his mythical type form, and immediately felt a chill.

This old guy, it was weird enough how he usually acted around me, but now he’s set his sights on innocent little girls? Is he even human anymore?

After a few seconds of silence, he said expressionlessly, “Sorry, officer, what did you just ask me? The signal was bad, I didn’t quite catch it.”

“If you have time, could you come to the Taohua Road police station?” said the voice on the other end.

“That’s not it,” Lu Yibei denied.

“Uh… do you know Ma Zhen?”

Lu Yibei thought for a moment, then said seriously, “Sorry, comrade, I don’t know Ma Zhen. Never heard of that name. If there’s nothing else, I’ll hang up now. Bye!”

“Beep-!”