Chapter 413: I Want to Tell You My Plan

“Lu… Wang Buliuxing, are you playing hard to get, trying to let me loose and have fun, fall, feel guilty inside, then decide to pull myself together and obediently go do the right thing?”

Just like Li Cuihua at the entrance of Taoyuan village, always telling her son, “Just keep playing! Play however makes you happy. If you can’t find a job when you grow up, it’s fine to stay home and live off your parents.” Gou Meng thought.

She crossed her arms over her chest, sizing up Lu Yibei from head to toe, her expression like a sly little fox. She hadn’t expected that, just by casually mentioning it, Lu Yibei would actually take her to the theme park to keep playing.

This kind of total compliance-was this really the same Lu Yibei who used to take forever just to bring her a drink when asked to help out downstairs?

Something’s off, she’s really off! Gou Meng thought.

“Guilt?” Lu Yibei glanced sidelong at Gou Meng, snapping, “Do you even have that kind of feeling?”

Gou Meng lifted her pointed chin, retorting confidently, “Of course not.”

Usually, she was having a blast while playing; only when she ran out of time to finish her tasks and was about to collapse under the deadline did she feel a tiny bit of symbolic guilt.

After all, slacking off is fun for a moment, and always slacking off is always fun. Is there really anyone in this world who doesn’t like slacking off?

“So are you going to the theme park or not? If you change your mind and want to do something else, I can keep you company all the same.” Lu Yibei said with facial paralysis.

She knew that at times like this, she was supposed to speak with a gentle smile according to the script, but she really couldn’t smile. She didn’t know if it was the facial paralysis acting up, or if she was thinking of what Gou Meng had been through and was about to go through-she just couldn’t smile at all.

“Anything’s fine?” Gou Meng looked up at Lu Yibei, asking seriously.

“Mm.” Lu Yibei nodded.

“Always?”

“Always,” Lu Yibei replied earnestly.

“Hmph!” Gou Meng snorted sarcastically, nimbly climbing onto Lu Yibei’s shoulders and patting her on the shoulder. “Then let’s go! To the theme park.”

After she finished speaking, as Lu Yibei started walking forward, Gou Meng slowly lowered her head, burying her face in Lu Yibei’s silky hair. A trace of gloom flashed in her eyes, her lips moved silently, and from the shape of her mouth, it looked like she said, “Idiot.”

Every move Lu Yibei made was like giving end-of-life care to an elderly person, her intentions laid bare. If Gou Meng couldn’t see through it at this point, she wouldn’t have lasted so long as the King of Hauntings.

Gou Meng quietly lay on Lu Yibei’s back, even able to feel her heartbeat and catch a faint whiff of fragrance from her hair.

With the subtle scent threading through her nose, she quietly began to chant the description of her yet-unformed power in her heart.

“…The hall is full, oh beauty, suddenly you alone meet my gaze. Entering without words, leaving without farewell, riding the returning wind, bearing the cloud banner…”

She had listened to countless women fervently pray for love, but she had never prayed for herself, nor did she know if it would work.

But this time, she wanted to try.

Gou Meng actually didn’t intend for Lu Yibei to fall for her.

Love, that kind of thing-even as a deity, she couldn’t control it. All she ever did was speed up its arrival, like a catalyst.

Only when both sides had feelings for each other could her power take effect, establishing a bond of love and causing a series of subtle “chemical reactions” in a romance that might otherwise never happen.

But if she forcibly established a bond between two people who felt nothing for each other, making one person’s mind randomly conjure up the other’s image, it would only make them want to deliver a brutal blow to that face and drive it out of their head.

What Gou Meng wanted was simply to establish a bond with Lu Yibei, to leave a faint mark in her heart, so that years later, at some random moment, Lu Yibei would still think of her.

That way, even if the Tang City barrier activated and she failed, and the story ended in tragedy, it would be a tragedy without regrets.

“……”

After finishing the description of her power, Gou Meng fell into a long silence. She had failed; she hadn’t managed to establish a bond with Lu Yibei.

In the past, whenever she successfully helped those women pray for love, if both sides liked each other, her psychic energy would become lively, as if something joyful had happened, cheering and celebrating inside her, playing the zither and flute, making her genuinely happy for those women.

If the object of a woman’s affection didn’t reciprocate, or if both sides disliked each other and tried to force a relationship, her psychic energy would briefly sink into gloom, like just having watched a tragic movie.

However, this time her psychic energy was completely silent.

It was a bit ridiculous, really-a mythical type haunting who possessed the unformed Shao Siming power, presiding over fertility and women’s marriages, yet she couldn’t even bless herself.

Gou Meng, “…”

So it really doesn’t work?

But it makes sense. If she used that kind of power for personal gain, to bless herself, how would that be any different from using public resources for private purposes?

Thinking this, she pinched Lu Yibei’s cheek and whispered, “Lu Yibei, since you’re already here, if you’re looking for excitement, you have to see it through to the end!”

“What do you mean?” Lu Yibei was stunned for a moment, feeling an ominous undertone in her words.

“You know what a theme park is, right? They all have themes,” Gou Meng said. “Guess what the theme of this park is?”

“Ocean? Ghosts? Disn-uh, that’s copyright infringement. Could it be a Love and Magic Girls theme?” Lu Yibei said.

Gou Meng smacked Lu Yibei on the head. “What nonsense are you thinking!”

Lu Yibei rubbed her head and said, “I knew it. When did Tang City open a Love and Magic Girls theme park? How could I not know?”

“It’s an ancient-style theme!” Gou Meng said irritably. “How about we go rent some traditional costumes later? Immersive experience, you know!”

“I didn’t ask-wait, you want me to wear traditional clothes?” Lu Yibei was stunned. “No way, walking around in a skirt and hairpin in public-I’d rather you just kill me.”

Gou Meng gave Lu Yibei a serious sideways glance and fell silent for a long time.

“Why are you looking at me like that?” Lu Yibei frowned. “I said I’d keep you company, but I never said I’d throw away my dignity, okay?”

Gou Meng looked Lu Yibei up and down. “When did I say you had to wear a skirt and hairpin? Can’t you wear the men’s version? Or is it that, deep down, you already think you should wear the women’s version?”

In that instant, Gou Meng suddenly wondered if the reason her attempt to establish a marriage bond with Lu Yibei had failed was because of this.

Lu Yibei, “…”

Yeah, why did I think of wearing a skirt and hairpin?

Could it be that there’s really something wrong with my thinking?

Lu Yibei thought about it, then replied guiltily, “I-I just meant that, of course I’ll wear the men’s version. You don’t know, ever since I got this damn power, besides getting stronger, my greatest skill is cross-dressing as a man, then a woman, then back to a man again.”

“Wow, are you just nesting dolls at this point?” Gou Meng retorted. “Forget it, I’m too lazy to argue with you. Let’s get going!”

–

At 3:05 in the afternoon, near the entrance of Tang City’s ancient-style theme park.

Mao Sanyou sat in a small alley not far from the costume rental shop, perched on a stone bench by the roadside, head down, looking at his phone, cigarette butts scattered all around his feet.

His phone kept vibrating, pop-up notifications and messages flooding his screen.

Just as the Midnight Watchers Society members had an internal network for sharing information, and hauntings had the haunting chat group for mutual exchange, black organizations like the Eclipse Society and Miracle Order also had their own channels for sharing intel.

The messages Mao Sanyou received were from friends who had inquired through those black market information channels.

Two hours ago, the most explosive news in nearly a year swept through those black market intel networks like a storm.

The gist of it boiled down to two points: first, Gou Meng was on her last legs; second, in less than two days, after launching a fierce strike, Tang City’s city barrier would briefly enter a defensive vacuum.

Though nothing stays secret forever, and what happened in Taoyuan and to Gou Meng would eventually leak, Mao Sanyou hadn’t expected the day to come so soon.

Whoever the bastard was that leaked the news, Mao Sanyou had no idea.

He guessed it was probably one of the psychics or hauntings who had infiltrated Taoyuan to assassinate Gou Meng. Given the current situation, once the city barrier was activated, chaos and looting would inevitably break out inside Taoyuan.

At that point, some of the weaker psychics and hauntings, facing former companions blinded by greed, would be lucky just to survive, let alone get a share of the spoils.

How could anyone tolerate that?

There are always some petty people in this world who can’t stand seeing others profit more than themselves.

With such a twisted mindset, their actions were bound to go awry.

Soon, the news spread like wildfire, reaching the psychics and hauntings under the Eclipse Society, Miracle Order, and Wandering Poets Society.

Thus, a single stone stirred up a thousand waves.

By now, Mao Sanyou had already learned from friends that at least seven bounties related to Taoyuan had been posted, and several factions were closely watching the situation here, ready to make a move.

“Good grief, a bounty for the complete core entity of the Taoyuan master’s haunting, 1.3 billion yuan? Are you out of your mind! You think you can just buy something like that with money?”

“A bounty for Fuyang’s power, reward negotiable depending on the integrity of the power… Damn it, these bastards!” Mao Sanyou cursed fiercely.

As the saying goes, when a whale falls, all things are reborn. The death of a great haunting shares a similar fate.

If the great haunting that had existed for centuries-Gou Meng-were to fall, it would surely attract all sorts of monsters and demons, like a whale fall, but without the grandeur. What could be foreseen was only bloodshed.

To stop those beasts drawn by the scent of blood, unless The Midnight Watchers Society took action, there was no other way.

However, the channels for these illegal psychic ability organizations to exchange information were extremely secretive. Right now, the news from Tang City couldn’t get out, and by the time The Midnight Watchers Society noticed something was wrong and took action, it would take at least one or two days.

A lot could happen in those one or two days; by then, it would be too late.

What’s more, even if The Midnight Watchers Society got the news in advance, they would prioritize protecting Tang City and the surrounding human settlements to ensure the safety of the people. The priority for supporting Taoyuan would be very low.

“This is a headache, what am I supposed to do? This is killing me.” Mao Sanyou rubbed his throbbing brow and muttered to himself.

Just as Mao Sanyou was clutching his head in agony, a figure in a Qipao suddenly entered his field of vision.

The pure white Qipao was like white jade, embroidered with elegant peach blossoms. A gentle breeze lifted the hem of the skirt, swaying and faintly revealing her long legs in Embroidered Shoes.

“Raise your head, let me have a look?”

A voice, gentle yet imperious, sounded in his ear. Mao Sanyou felt something hard knock his head twice. He looked up and saw a tall woman with loose dark green hair, holding a slender pipe.

After sizing up Mao Sanyou’s face, Gou Meng showed undisguised disdain, “Tsk, you’re the offspring of that Fuyang guy? You sure are… unique.”

“How did you…”

“How did I know?” Gou Meng tilted her head. “It’s simple. When Fuyang’s consciousness faded, I guessed he was either truly gone, or he gave up his power and left the Fusang divine tree. And after Liu Seer saw your true form, I thought the latter was more likely.”

Besides, I admit I was bluffing you a bit… Gou Meng secretly added in her heart.

“Speaking of which, the dignified Sun Bird should be handsome and extraordinary. How did you end up looking like this, all broad-shouldered and burly?”

“…” Mao Sanyou was silent for a while, then explained in a low voice, “My mother is a haunting with a bit of Sobek’s power…”

Unlike the relaxed atmosphere when he first met Gou Meng in the old building of the College of Liberal Arts, facing Gou Meng now at the peak of her psychic energy fluctuation, Mao Sanyou actually felt a faint sense of fear.

This fear had nothing to do with the suppression of power or psychic energy fluctuation, but came from the faintly fierce aura emanating from Gou Meng.

It was like how an ordinary person would feel inexplicably guilty when facing a serial killer.

Mao Sanyou felt that if he said the wrong thing now, Gou Meng might kill him on the spot.

“Crocodile god? No wonder. It’s already pretty good you didn’t revert to a T. rex.” Gou Meng curled her lip and continued, “You’ve been following us for quite a while, haven’t you?”

Mao Sanyou was stunned for a moment. Looking at Gou Meng’s calm demeanor, his eyes widened. “When did you…”

“When?” Gou Meng thought for a moment and said seriously, “Probably from the moment you were at the aquarium, almost lost control of your psychic energy fluctuation, and were about to harm the penguins, right? Don’t forget whose turf this is.”

“Sneaking around. If it weren’t for the fact that you secretly helped deal with a few petty troublemakers, you’d already be lying on the ground, you know?”

“…”

Mao Sanyou didn’t dare respond to that. He just gazed off into the distance toward the theme park and frowned, “You’re just leaving that witch type alone? Is that really okay?”

“Who said I’m leaving her alone? I’ve got her waiting in line for the Ferris wheel! She’ll be in line for at least half an hour, which is enough time for me to finish things here.” Gou Meng said calmly.

“So, your purpose in coming here is…” Mao Sanyou probed.

“Two things.” Gou Meng held up two fingers. “First, in a bit, you’d better keep intercepting those troublemakers. Second…”

“I want to tell you my plan, and then ask you for a little favor.”