Chapter 390: Professor Ma’s World in the Dark

When Gou Meng was “coercing” Lu Yibei upstairs, Liu Seer had already predicted that he would soon hear a scream.

However, he guessed the beginning, but not the ending.

He thought it would be Lu Yibei who screamed, but to his surprise, the protagonist turned out to be Gou Meng.

Too bold, kid, do you even know who you just hit?

Are you tired of living!?

Liu Seer thought anxiously, one hand on his belly, the other gripping the stair railing, running upstairs with a “thump thump thump.”

“Awoo-awoo-!”

Upstairs, Gou Meng’s howls kept coming, and Liu Seer rushed up in a panic, but halfway there, he heard her childish, petulant shout.

“Don’t come up! Get back down!”

Liu Seer stood in the middle of the stairs, looking up with a worried face. “But…”

“But what? I told you to go down, so go down!”

The dignified King of Hauntings in the eight-hundred-li Taoyuan, getting her butt smacked and crying her eyes out-how could she let anyone see that?

Do I have no dignity? Gou Meng thought.

Liu Seer, “…”

When two tigers fight, one must get hurt. Either Lady Gou Meng’s butt suffers, or Lu Yibei’s belly, or maybe both of them together.

But what does that have to do with me?

Forget it, forget it…

Liu Seer stared at the top of the stairs for a few seconds, came to his senses, sighed silently, and quietly retreated.

In the main hall.

Professor Ma held his teacup, closely watching the commotion upstairs, not putting it down for a long time. Seeing Liu Seer go halfway up and then get scolded back down by Gou Meng, he couldn’t help but be a little surprised.

This little girl is really unruly and willful, scolding her grandpa like she’s yelling at her grandson.

Jade must be carved to become a gem-maybe letting Lu Yibei teach her a lesson isn’t so bad?

But such a cute little girl, could Lu Yibei really bring himself to do it? Professor Ma wondered.

Then, he suddenly remembered that when Lu Yibei had Nocturnal Syndrome, he was also a cute little girl, and his heart was at ease.

Not only at ease, he even wanted to watch the fun…

Second floor of Chunfeng Residence.

Lu Yibei was like playing Taiko Drum Master, giving Gou Meng’s butt a hearty, wild spanking.

After a while, maybe because his hand was getting sore, he stepped aside, snatched Gou Meng’s spot, and sat grandly in the rattan chair, glancing sideways at Gou Meng.

She was sprawled sideways on the bed, propping herself up with one hand, rubbing her butt with the other, her pearly teeth biting her cherry lips, her slightly chubby cheeks puffed out.

Her big eyes glared fiercely at Lu Yibei, as if she wanted to peel a layer of flesh off him, her long lashes still hanging with a few sparkling drops, her gaze inexplicably stubborn, showing no sign of giving in.

Pitiful, weak, helpless, but somehow begging for another beating.

I really want to spank her again! Bullying a cute little girl is kind of fun… Lu Yibei thought secretly.

“Bastard Lu Yibei, you’re not human! I’m already this miserable, can’t you go easy on me? Would it kill you?”

“Huh? I just saw you were too miserable, so I couldn’t help but bully you!” Lu Yibei said righteously.

If I don’t bully you now, what if you get through this? What if the criminal underworld doesn’t finish you off?

“Just you wait!” Gou Meng said fiercely. “Today I’ll let you taste what it’s like to be a father!”

Lu Yibei, “???”

What does that mean?

Can’t beat me, so you want to seduce me?

Looks like she’s really in a tough spot now, desperate for someone to do her bidding, or she wouldn’t be so eager to let me sleep with her. Lu Yibei thought.

While he was pondering, he heard Gou Meng say in a low voice, “Do you know how Liu Seer’s belly got so big overnight?”

As she spoke, she raised a slender, pale finger, the tip glowing with a hint of green, waving it like a magic wand, then pointed at Lu Yibei’s lower abdomen.

“When you were little, did you ever hear the haunting that says if a little boy and girl secretly hold hands, the girl will get pregnant?”

Gou Mang, the main god of all things’ growth and reproduction… This information flashed through Lu Yibei’s mind, and his expression changed instantly. He clutched his belly in a panic and backed far away.

Like a face-hugging bug, it’s not enough to just latch onto someone’s head-she has to lay eggs in your belly, too…

Are you a mythical type from the divine pantheon, or a Cthulhu-type mythical type!?

First, the neighbor’s spayed female cat miraculously had kittens again, then Liu Seer’s human tragedy.

Lu Yibei knew that Gou Meng’s power was far from just talk.

Just imagining himself after haunting transformation, waddling around with a big belly, Lu Yibei’s mind was left with only four words-social death.

“Hiding? You think hiding will help? This is my turf, with the time, place, and people all on my side. If I want, I can make anyone pregnant with just a glare!” Gou Meng bluffed.

Although after last night’s second assassination attempt, she didn’t have enough psychic energy left to use Shao Siming’s power again, but did Lu Yibei know that?

Liu Seer is such a big, living example right in front of us!

Gou Meng knew Lu Yibei was a cautious person; she figured he wouldn’t dare risk himself.

“Sis, big sis, my good sister, let’s talk this out, why resort to violence?” Lu Yibei said weakly. “Come on, let’s put our hands down.”

“Shut up!” Gou Meng put one hand on her hip, the other inching closer to Lu Yibei as she snapped, “That’s not what you said when you hit me just now.”

“Well…” Lu Yibei opened his mouth, glanced at Gou Meng’s perky little butt, and tentatively whispered, “How about I give you a massage?”

At that, Gou Meng’s face darkened even more. She ignored Lu Yibei, jumped off the bed, and walked toward him, slowly bringing her fingers glowing with green light closer to his lower abdomen.

Seeing Gou Meng’s movement, Lu Yibei suddenly realized her intention. In a panic, he shouted, “No, no, no! Don’t you know my mouth by now? It has a mind of its own-sometimes what it says doesn’t represent my true intentions. There’s no need for things to get this far, right?”

As he spoke, he gradually retreated to the corner, squeezed his eyes shut, and twisted his body wildly, dodging Gou Meng’s fingers like a silkworm larva wriggling in the corner after being startled.

A long while passed.

Sensing that things weren’t heading in an unspeakable direction, he slowly opened his eyes and saw Gou Meng sitting upright in the rattan chair, smiling with deep meaning.

Seeing Lu Yibei yield, Gou Meng lifted her chin slightly and said coolly, “Alright, I’ll stop teasing you. Let’s get down to business!”

If I scare him any further and let slip that I can’t easily use my power, he’ll probably start lording it over me again.

Besides, if I scare him off, I probably won’t find anyone to help me in the short term, right? Gou Meng thought with a hint of disappointment.

Lu Yibei sized up Gou Meng, sighed, and said helplessly, “It’s not that I don’t want to help. What’s our relationship? How could I not help you? It’s just, I have my own difficulties!”

“I didn’t come to Tang City for sightseeing either. I’m here on a mission from The Midnight Watchers Society.”

“Besides that, I have to help the project team recover the artifacts that have entered the trading market-uh, the ones that came out of Taoyuan. Tell me, where would I find the time to help you? And also…”

Lu Yibei was about to continue his tale of woe, ready to reason with Gou Meng that, faced with her enemies, he was nothing but cannon fodder and couldn’t help much at all.

Just then, Gou Meng seemed to remember something and interrupted him.

“Wait! Did you just say you’re helping the project team recover artifacts that entered the market?”

Lu Yibei nodded.

“That makes things easy.” Gou Meng clapped her little hands, excited. “Then do you know those are all my things?”

Lu Yibei nodded again. “I figured.”

All the incomplete inscriptions on them were translated by the professor, and you even wrote your own name on them. If I still couldn’t guess, I’d be an idiot, wouldn’t I? Lu Yibei thought to himself.

“Pretty smart!” Gou Meng raised her eyebrows and continued, “But there’s one thing you probably don’t know, and that’s why those little trinkets left Taoyuan, and what’s inside them.”

“There’s something inside?” Lu Yibei recalled the haunting attack incident he saw at Tang City University that morning. His mind raced, and he hurriedly asked, “Don’t tell me, what’s inside is a haunting?”

“That’s right! Besides hauntings, there are also a few psychics-they’re all my reserve rations. I used to store them like pickles, you know?” Gou Meng said smugly. “Now it’s time to take them out and eat.”

If I can devour all their haunting core entities, I should be able to recover almost completely, right?

The ones locked up in those little trinkets are probably beyond saving. I was going to give them a bit more time to reform, but now I’ll have to devour them ahead of schedule, Gou Meng thought.

Good grief, you pickle up hauntings and psychics to eat them? No wonder you’re on The Midnight Watchers Society’s Wanted List… Lu Yibei narrowed his eyes, deep in thought.

Professor Hou lucked out and bought the real thing, but didn’t know there was a haunting inside… At night, the haunting somehow escaped and attacked Professor Hou’s student.

So that’s how it is!

Doesn’t that mean the process of the project team and the authorities recovering the artifacts will be extremely dangerous? One careless move and they’ll be killed by a haunting? Lu Yibei thought.

Gou Meng quietly waited for Lu Yibei to digest the information, then strolled over and patted his shoulder on tiptoe.

“Little bro, do you get what I mean now?”

“As long as you take me along when you recover the artifacts, I can help you identify them, protect your safety, and devour those pickles to restore my strength-three birds with one stone.”

“When it’s all done, I’ll grant you the hereditary title of ‘King of Green Hats in Taoyuan.’ Isn’t that wonderful?”

At that, Lu Yibei shot Gou Meng a fierce glare. Clearly, he didn’t like the title at all.

“Tsk!” Gou Meng clicked her tongue and rolled her eyes. “No appreciation. In our Taoyuan, green is the most noble color!”

“If it’s so noble, you can keep it for yourself!” Lu Yibei retorted grumpily.

During their conversation, Gou Meng secretly sized up Lu Yibei for a while. Her big round eyes spun around once, then she scooted closer to him and probed, “So now, does that mean you’ve agreed to help me?”

Lu Yibei gave Gou Meng a deep look, nodded, turned his face away, and replied perfunctorily, “Mm…”

“Let me make this clear first! I’m only responsible for helping you recover the artifacts and letting you devour the hauntings inside. I won’t care about anything else. If there’s any danger to my life, I’ll ditch you and run at any time!”

Seeing Lu Yibei agree, Gou Meng gave a shallow smile, circled behind him, and nimbly climbed onto his shoulder.

Then, after hesitating for a few seconds while biting her lip, she leaned close to his ear and whispered very softly, “Thank you, Lu Yibei…”

Lu Yibei was stunned for a moment. Out of the corner of his eye, he glanced at Gou Meng sitting on his shoulder and asked in confusion, “What did you just say?”

Gou Meng reached out her little hand and pinched his ear impatiently, “Forget it if you didn’t hear…”

After carrying Gou Meng out for a few steps, Lu Yibei suddenly felt something flash through his mind and asked in confusion, “By the way, there’s one more question.”

“Go ahead,” Gou Meng nodded.

“Since those artifacts all contain hauntings, why would those guys who attacked you sell them? Doesn’t that make no sense? Wouldn’t it be better for them to keep the hauntings and devour them to get stronger?”

“Hmm…” Gou Meng thought for a moment and answered seriously, “Maybe they don’t know their value, or maybe they can’t break the sealing spell formation I left behind?”

Lu Yibei, “…”

Could it really be that simple?

If the hauntings inside were really that hard to release, Li Ziqi wouldn’t have been killed.

There might be a deeper reason behind all this. Without solid evidence, it’s better not to tell Gou Meng and let her worry for nothing… Lu Yibei thought.

“What? You-“

When Professor Ma heard that Lu Yibei was going to take Gou Meng back to the hotel, he was completely dumbfounded.

He just wanted to develop a grandfather-granddaughter friendship with this cute little girl, but Lu Yibei had used some unknown method to abduct her.

How could this be allowed? Are you even human?

“No! Absolutely not!”

He couldn’t just watch his beloved disciple walk down a criminal path.

“Professor, please don’t rush to refuse!” Lu Yibei explained, “I have no bad intentions toward her…”

Mainly, he didn’t dare.

“I’m taking her back only because she’s quite knowledgeable about artifact appraisal. Maybe she can help us recover the artifacts!”

“Mm-hmm!” Gou Meng nodded, patting her chest in agreement, “I’m really amazing. There’s no artifact I can’t recognize. If you don’t believe me, ask my grandpa!”

She looked just like a kindergartener showing off to adults, “I can go to the bathroom by myself now, isn’t that great?”

After speaking, out of Professor Ma’s line of sight, Gou Meng shot a cold glance at Liu Seer from the corner of her eye.

Feeling that almost tangible icy gaze, Liu Seer shuddered, snapped back to his senses, and hurriedly said, “Ah, right! My granddaughter has been surrounded by antiques since birth. Her childhood toys were all antiques…”

“Ahem-!”

Hearing Liu Seer’s words get more and more outrageous, Gou Meng quickly cleared her throat to interrupt him.

Who would give a child antiques to play with?

“…”

After two seconds of silence, Liu Seer patted Professor Ma on the shoulder, “Old pal, anyway, my granddaughter is a genius at appraising treasures. Letting her go with you might really help.”

Professor Ma looked at the smiling little girl on Lu Yibei’s shoulder, then seriously at the sincere Liu Seer, his thoughts a tangled mess.

Wait, are you sure she’s really your granddaughter?

Why do I feel like you can’t wait to send her away?

While Professor Ma was pondering, Gou Meng climbed down from Lu Yibei, came to his side, grabbed his pant leg and shook it, blinking her big eyes pitifully, “Grandpa, please, okay?”

“Bang-!”

Looking at the shamelessly cute Gou Meng, Professor Ma’s heart instantly softened. He slammed the table and declared loudly, “Alright!”

Whoever doesn’t let her come with us, I’ll fight them!

Seeing this, Gou Meng turned around and flashed Lu Yibei a sly, fox-like grin.

Plan accomplished!

Lu Yibei held his forehead and sighed silently.

And so, a world where only Professor Ma was kept in the dark was completed…