Chapter 391: Gou Meng, The Slayer of Me

1:03 PM.

On the dirty old street next to the Four Seasons Hotel in Tang City, the door of Tony Yang’s Discount Barbershop was pushed open by a young boy.

The boy swaggered into the barbershop, lifted the little girl who was engrossed in her mobile game off his shoulders, and steadily placed her on the chair. He glanced at the only barber in the shop, who was dozing off, pointed expressionlessly at the girl’s dark green long hair.

“Mister Tony, please dye this thing black for her, and straighten it too!”

“Huh? Uh…” The barber woke up with a start, stared blankly at the boy for a few seconds, then frowned and said, “My name’s not Tony, I’m Zhao Tiezhu.”

Gou Meng put down her phone and pouted, “Damn! If you’re not Tony, why’d you open a Tony Yang Discount Barbershop?”

Lu Yibei patted her on the shoulder. “Why do kids have so much nonsense? There’s no wife in wife cakes, so isn’t it normal for there to be no Tony in Tony Yang Discount Barbershop?”

“Come on, Mr. Zhao, get to work!”

Gou Meng, “…”

Two and a half hours later.

On the street in front of Tang City’s clothing wholesale market.

Gou Meng sat upright on Lu Yibei’s shoulders, her little hands tugging at her head full of golden waves, her face full of disdain.

“Lu Yibei, you’re way too stingy. Couldn’t you have taken me to a proper salon? This hair dye reeks like horse piss!”

“Isn’t horse piss great? Just think of it as fertilizer-maybe you’ll recover some of your strength!”

“Pah! I’m warning you, if I get leukemia, I’m sticking to you for the rest of my life, and you’ll have to take care of me!” Gou Meng said angrily, and with both hands, she gave Lu Yibei’s hair a hard yank.

“Never heard of a tree getting leukemia. Cut the crap!” Lu Yibei glared up at her impatiently. “Going to a proper salon costs money, doesn’t it? My money doesn’t grow on trees.”

As he spoke, he lifted Gou Meng off his shoulders and set her on the ground, pointing to a nearby children’s clothing wholesale shop. “Go on, pick out whatever you want. Once you’re done, your makeover is complete.”

After leaving Chunfeng Residence, Lu Yibei took advantage of Professor Ma being called to a project meeting to sneak Gou Meng out of the hotel for a full-scale makeover.

Gou Meng fully agreed with Lu Yibei’s plan. She was good at fighting and killing, but when it came to lying low, Lu Yibei was the true master. If she wanted to get through her period of weakness smoothly, it was more reliable to listen to Lu Yibei.

According to Lu Yibei, if they wanted to collect artifacts and help her recover her strength right under the noses of the criminal underworld, it was necessary to hide not just her psychic energy fluctuation, but also to change Gou Meng’s appearance.

Even though her body had shrunk a lot after her serious injuries, her looks were still too eye-catching.

That head of jade-like dark green waves, a face as if carved from warm jade, and a pair of sparkling peach blossom eyes that looked at everyone with affection-paired with a finely made little Qipao, her aura was both cool and gentle like a fairy, yet still had the adorable clumsiness unique to children.

For a little girl like this, people usually called her a “monster,” and honestly, she really was the original old monster herself.

Walking down the street with such a little girl, all sorts of people-children’s clothing model scouts, Douyin cute kid talent agents-had already approached them several times. The underworld’s informants weren’t blind; there was no way they wouldn’t notice Gou Meng’s whereabouts.

If Lu Yibei didn’t have a decently handsome face himself, barely able to pass as her “ruined” older brother, he’d probably have been mistaken for a child trafficker and gotten a well-meaning call to the police.

In this situation, let alone searching for artifacts sealed with hauntings, even just walking down the street without trouble was hard enough.

I, Lu Yibei, will never allow such a thing to happen!

And so, Lu Yibei offered up his first-ever precious experience of shopping with a girl.

…

Lu Yibei stood by the street, lost in thought with a spicy strip dangling from his mouth. When he snapped out of it, he saw Gou Meng plop down on the ground, arms crossed over her chest, glaring at him in a huff, saying nothing.

“What’s with you now? Didn’t we just agree on everything? You agreed to my makeover plan yourself!”

Gou Meng glanced at the children’s clothing shop ahead with a sign reading [Huge Loss Kidswear, 39 yuan/KG, No Haggling!], then looked at Lu Yibei, turned her head away, and snorted coldly.

“Hmph! That kind of toxic, substandard kidswear-my delicate skin can’t take it. I won’t wear it! Buy me something else!”

When has Gou Meng ever suffered such indignity?

She used to wear satin woven from golden silkworm silk mixed with peacock feathers and white crane down. Even though she’d fallen on hard times, she should at least get a pure cotton set, right?

“Don’t think I don’t know how much you Midnight Watchers Society people make. I know you’ve got money. If you don’t buy it for me, I’ll start screaming molestation right now and tell the police over there you’re molesting a little girl and trafficking children!”

Seeing Gou Meng’s childish face take on the look of a street thug, Lu Yibei rubbed his slightly throbbing temples.

“Listen to yourself-what kind of wild things are you saying? Didn’t I tell you to act more like a child? Would a child say something like that?”

As Lu Yibei spoke, he suddenly felt his thigh tighten. Looking down, he saw that Gou Meng had somehow come over, hugging his leg, looking up at him with teary eyes, and said in a crisp voice, “Big brother, I don’t want to wear those clothes. They’ll give me lots of little rashes.”

“Buy me a pretty little dress, won’t you? I haven’t worn a new dress in so, so long.”

“I promise I won’t make you angry anymore. I’ll do my homework properly when we get back, and I won’t tell Mom about you spending the dress money on games either.”

This time she actually sounded convincing, but…

What kind of wind is blowing with her all of a sudden?

Why is she suddenly acting? Is she plotting something?

Lu Yibei was full of suspicion, his heart pounding, when a wave of whispered gossip from passersby suddenly drifted into his ears.

“Tsk tsk, what kind of brother is that? The little sister is so well-behaved, what’s wrong with buying her a dress?”

“Hey~ Didn’t you hear? That brat spent the money meant for his sister on in-game purchases!”

“Ugh, what a scumbag! If it were my sister…”

…

“…” Lu Yibei silently looked at Gou Meng. Although she looked pitiful and delicate right now, on closer inspection, every blink, pout, and frown was full of cunning.

It just goes to show, the charm of children lies in their innocence. But if a child knows how to use her looks as a weapon, she becomes truly terrifying.

A little girl with a loli appearance and the sly heart of an old demon has a hundred ways to make you fulfill her every wish.

Lu Yibei had yet to even scratch the surface of this art, but Gou Meng had already mastered it.

“Fine, I’ll buy it for you. Whatever you want, I’ll buy it!” Lu Yibei gritted his teeth, scooped up Gou Meng, and, under the pointing and whispering of the crowd, fled toward the shopping mall across the street.

Gou Meng lay on his shoulder, grinning wickedly. Lu Yibei had barely taken a few steps when she shouted at the top of her lungs, “After we buy the dress, is big brother taking me to eat hotpot too? Yay! Yay!”

Lu Yibei, “…”

“Huh? And after hotpot, we’re going to the aquarium? Big brother, you’re so gentle today, I can hardly recognize you. I’m so happy!” Gou Meng said sweetly. “Will you always treat me this well?”

“Damn! Don’t push it!” Lu Yibei couldn’t help but curse in a low voice. “Can’t you act a little more like a deity? Aren’t you afraid your devotees will see you like this?”

Gou Meng twirled a lock of her jet-black hair around her finger and pouted indifferently. “Relax, I’ve dyed all this black, and my psychic energy fluctuation is well hidden. Even if Grandpa Turtle showed up, he wouldn’t recognize me right away.”

“But, you did remind me-if you saw me like this and word got out, I’d be so embarrassed. Killing you to keep you quiet is a bit too cruel for me, but…”

“To avoid anything unpleasant, maybe I should plant something in your body? Then if I tell you to go east and you dare go west, I’ll make you wish you were dead. How about that?”

“Are you the devil? Threatening people with a death curse at the drop of a hat?” Lu Yibei cursed fiercely.

“Believe it or not, I’ll tie you up right now, make a pretty bow, and hand-deliver you to the underworld bosses to end your wicked life?”

“Who knows, maybe the big bosses will like me and even give me a reward!”

“….”

Gou Meng, seeing the situation, hesitated for a few seconds, then gently pinched Lu Yibei’s shoulder and said with a grin, “Don’t be mad, don’t be mad, let’s talk things over, okay?”

“Then go buy the kids’ clothes at 39 yuan per kilo,” Lu Yibei said expressionlessly.

Gou Meng reached into Lu Yibei’s jacket pocket, pulled out a spicy strip, bit it, and said with a straight face, “Kid, if that’s how it’s gonna be, then there’s nothing to discuss?”

“You think you have a choice?”

“Bah, cheapskate! You’ll never get a wife like this! Hmph-!” Gou Meng pouted, made a face at Lu Yibei, then lowered her head and fell silent.

After a long silence, she lay lazily on Lu Yibei’s shoulder like a kitten drowsy in the warm sun, mumbling, “If it really can’t be helped, we can skip the aquarium and just have hotpot, okay? I always hear the young people in Taoyuan say it’s delicious, but I’ve never had the chance to try it myself.”

When she was in Taoyuan, she always seemed to be slacking off and playing games, looking idle, but besides guarding Taoyuan, she also had to be ready at any time to listen to the prayers of her familiars and people, so she rarely had a chance to leave.

Only games, anime, and comics-these fragmented forms of entertainment-could help her pass the time.

In fact, the nearly month-long stay in Hua City was already the longest Gou Meng had been away from Taoyuan since her consciousness fully awakened.

Lu Yibei glanced at Gou Meng on his shoulder out of the corner of his eye. He saw that her childish face held a pair of jade-green eyes that seemed especially deep, but on closer look, there was a cold loneliness in their depths, making her feel close yet far away.

Is she playing the sympathy card now?

But her tone… it actually sounded a bit genuine…

Forget it, whatever. At worst, he’ll just get scammed out of a few hundred yuan.

Lu Yibei thought, then casually asked, “You’ve never been to the aquarium either?”

“No…”

“Didn’t you say you’ve caught… uh, seafood hauntings in the sea? Why go to the aquarium then?”

“That’s different!” Gou Meng pouted.

“Do you want to go?”

At his words, a spark of light returned to Gou Meng’s eyes, but she quickly suppressed her excitement and shook her head.

“Although I really haven’t been there, I don’t actually want to go that much! I just said it offhandedly.”

“Oh…” Lu Yibei responded, paused for a few seconds, and said calmly, “Then let’s wait until I have time in the future and I’ll take you there, okay? There are only a little over four days left now, not much time.”

As if reborn, a smile suddenly blossomed on Gou Meng’s face, her eyes filled with excitement. “Really?”

“Once I say it…”

“Not even a rocket can catch it back!”

Lu Yibei, “… Tsk, just how much do you want to go? Wouldn’t it be better to just say it honestly?”

Evening.

As the sun gradually sank below the horizon, the light and shadows in Tang City University became dim and hazy.

Inside the College of Liberal Arts building.

After the police finished investigating the [Archaeology and Museology I] laboratory in the morning, they quickly evacuated the onlooking students, teachers, and project team members. The floor where the lab was located, as well as adjacent floors, were sealed off. For almost the entire day, no one set foot here again.

“Whoosh-!”

At the moment when darkness fully fell, a sudden gust of wind sounded outside the College of Liberal Arts building. With the wind, a figure clung to the outer wall, swiftly climbing up. Then, her figure blurred and passed directly through the glass, entering the [Archaeology and Museology I] laboratory.

Once the figure steadied herself, her reflection appeared on the window glass.

It was a girl dressed in a full set of black sportswear, her long golden hair tied high, a white silk scarf covering her face, revealing only a pair of deep eyes.

After entering the lab, she glanced around, her gaze locking onto the corpse sprawled across the long table, its head buried in the computer screen. She sighed silently, then quietly took a pair of white gloves from her jacket pocket and carefully put them on.

“Really, I’ve been waiting here all day and still no one’s come to deal with the body. The members of Tang City’s Midnight Watchers Society can’t be reached. Could they have already been killed?”

“The one controlling that puppet last night was probably the criminal force that attacked the operator who came to help. They even used the Death Owl Emblem’s resonance as bait. Shameless!”

“Luckily, when I went out, Shifu gave me enough treasures, or I would’ve fallen for their trick.”

“No choice now. Tang City is obviously in chaos. Before new support arrives, I’ll have to save humanity from their misery myself!”

Fu Xinyi muttered as she walked to the corpse, paced around it twice, then stopped at the northeast position. She reached into her small crossbody bag and took out four pieces of pale yellow whale oil candles, a sheet of yellow paper covered in strange cinnabar talismans, an ancient-looking bronze bell, and a porcelain bowl.

She placed the whale oil candles in the corners of the room and lit them, used the porcelain bowl to fetch a bowl of clean water from the lab’s restroom and set it in the center of the room. Fu Xinyi returned to the corpse, held the yellow paper between two slender fingers and gently shook it, chanting under her breath.

“Wandering soul, where do you linger, the three souls descend, the seven spirits arrive… Heaven’s gate opens, earth’s gate opens, the child from a thousand miles brings the soul, by the order of law, come quickly!”

After softly reciting the incantation, the yellow paper between Fu Xinyi’s fingers suddenly burst into a bright blue flame, hovering and burning in front of her. Seeing this, her eyes sharpened. She quickly picked up the bronze bell from the table and gave it a gentle shake, then set it down again and closed her eyes.

“Drip-drip-drip-!”

It sounded as if water droplets were falling into the porcelain bowl full of clean water, making a series of soft noises. Fu Xinyi kept her eyes tightly shut, fully extending her psychic sense, carefully feeling the ripples in the bowl caused by the psychic energy fluctuation.

“Splash-!”

Suddenly, the water in the porcelain bowl surged with a strong wave, making a clear splash. Sensing the psychic energy fluctuation approaching, Fu Xinyi’s eyes snapped open and she looked toward the direction of Li Ziqi’s corpse, shouting, “Li Ziqi, I command you to return at once!”

“Ding-!”

As soon as she finished, a faint light flashed in her eyes. The bronze bell on the table shook violently without being touched, letting out a crisp sound.

Then…

The candlelight suddenly went out, and the lab was plunged into darkness.

Through her psychic sense, Fu Xinyi felt something arrive-a black, indistinct presence creeping closer in the darkness, staring at her with an abnormally cold gaze.

The darkness lasted less than a second before the candlelight gradually returned. A grotesque, terrifying face, its flesh torn as if clawed by sharp talons, appeared before her eyes like a hallucination, blood everywhere.

Stared at by those numb, hollow eyes, as if dead, Fu Xinyi felt a chill in her heart.

However, the basic training of a genius reserve operator of the Midnight Watchers Society allowed her to suppress her fear. She cleared her throat and asked, “Ahem, Li Ziqi, tell me who killed you? If you have a grudge, take revenge; if you have a grievance, speak it. Tell me quickly!”

As her words fell, the Non-graded haunting in front of Fu Xinyi trembled, its cracked lips moving numbly, “The one who killed me… is the master of Taoyuan, Gou Meng…”