Chapter 418: Sneak Attack

Noticing Hu Yue appearing at the other end of the corridor, Lu Yibei frowned slightly, got up, and quietly retreated to the nearby corner, pressing herself against the wall, revealing half her face to secretly observe Hu Yue’s every move.

The insider professor, Mr. Hu?

Since the first full meeting of the project research team, Lu Yibei hadn’t seen Hu Yue for two or three days.

According to what Professor Ma had found out, Hu Yue was visiting old friends, joining forces with various parties to inquire about the artifacts, and had achieved remarkable results. But Lu Yibei felt he was more likely colluding with those who had invaded Taoyuan, engaging in some shady dealings.

It was just that, a few days ago, she had focused all her attention on another “insider”-Fu Xinyi, and then encountered Suolang Baima and Ms. Rabbit, suffering serious injuries, which led her to overlook Hu Yue’s presence.

Now, seeing him outside Mao Sanyou’s hospital room, Lu Yibei instantly became alert.

His appearance here could only mean trouble!

–

The ghastly white lights illuminated the corridor, the air filled with a faint smell of disinfectant, and an invisible, oppressive atmosphere enveloped everyone. Whether family members of patients or medical staff, all unconsciously moved more quietly.

The floor where the intensive care unit was located was always like this-most of the time, it was eerily quiet, as if something was brewing, and whenever the silence was broken, it was always accompanied by heart-wrenching tragedy.

Just like the scream from the nurse when Mao Sanyou’s heart stopped moments ago.

The medical staff inside Mao Sanyou’s room were doing everything they could to wrestle with death over the young man’s fate.

Outside the room, footsteps approached. Hu Yue, dressed in a gray woolen coat, stopped in front of the bright glass window, his right hand silently slipped into his coat pocket, gripping the cold bone flute.

Just as he was about to take out the bone flute and gently blow it, his body suddenly stiffened, and a strong thought flashed through his mind-Don’t act! If I act now, I’ll definitely die!

Lady Zi, known for her foresight, is often worshipped at home, divining all matters.

As Lady Zi’s familiar, Hu Yue’s sense of misfortune wasn’t as efficient as Lu Yibei’s eyes, but when it came to crises like bloodshed or mortal danger, his intuition was much stronger than that of ordinary psychics.

Shrouded by that intense sense of impending doom, he stood frozen like a statue, cold sweat beading densely on his forehead.

Has someone targeted me? Is there a psychic or haunting secretly protecting this kid? Hu Yue wondered, the constant flashes of danger warnings in his mind making it impossible to focus.

It was as if he’d been pulled into the deepest nightmare, almost unable to wake up, until…

“Excuse me, please make way! The person in front, please move aside!”

A nurse pushing a medicine cart hurried over, her loud shout from afar snapped Hu Yue out of his trance.

He glanced at the approaching nurse out of the corner of his eye, his gaze sharpening. As the nurse brushed past him, her body briefly shielding him, his right hand relaxed, letting the bone flute fall back into his pocket. In that instant, he turned and jogged toward the emergency exit.

[He’s preparing to escape.]

This prediction flashed through Lu Yibei’s mind as her eyes locked onto Hu Yue, and almost at the same moment he fled, she sprang into action, following in the direction he’d left.

Trying to run? Not so easy!

It wasn’t easy to catch someone who not only knew why Mao Sanyou was injured, but might also know about my pesky little sister through those Taoyuan invaders. How could I let you escape?

Running into me-consider yourself unlucky! Lu Yibei thought fiercely.

–

Hua City, Folk Culture Administration Bureau.

After messaging Bai Kai, Li Xuan sat at his desk, handling the various documents submitted yesterday, but couldn’t concentrate at all. He cast several spell formations to calm his mind, yet still felt restless.

After a long while, he sighed helplessly, “Sigh, you become like those you’re around. After spending so much time with this bunch, I’ve unknowingly picked up their bad habits.”

“……”

In the silence, he stared at the document processing interface on his computer screen, zoning out for a moment, then muttered to himself, “Forget it, slacking off once in a while isn’t an unforgivable sin.”

As he spoke, Li Xuan released his long-suppressed gossip-loving soul and concern for his beloved car, exited the document interface, skillfully switched his intranet account to anonymous mode, and entered The Midnight Watchers Society’s internal information exchange forum.

As soon as he entered the forum, his gaze landed on a post pinned to the top three on the homepage.

[Responding to Tang City’s Crimson Owl signal, I am Jinmen’s number one handsome guy, about to reach the outskirts of the great haunting Gou Meng’s territory. Here’s the current situation…]

“Is it really impossible to contact the outside world?” Li Xuan frowned, muttering thoughtfully, “Tsk, these guys’ analysis doesn’t make sense!”

As he spoke, he typed in the reply box: “I think, besides the possibilities mentioned above, there are also the ignorant wanderers that interfere with human cognition, and the Beast of Inheritance can do it too.”

Two minutes after Li Xuan clicked [Submit Reply], he immediately received his first sarcastic comment.

Anonymous user: “Bro, just forget about mentioning the Beast of Inheritance, that kind of outlier haunting. What power of a haunting can’t it mimic?”

“Still, you can’t completely rule out the possibility!” Li Xuan muttered unhappily, exited that post, and continued browsing the next one.

A gentleman agrees but does not conform; when encountering trolls online, he always adopts an “You’re absolutely right” attitude. Otherwise, if he argued with them, it would never end.

[According to unreliable sources, there are currently more than ten bounties related to Taoyuan circulating through the channels of those illegal psychic organizations…]

[Shocking, Gou Meng has fallen! A brief discussion on the life and death of the legendary great haunting…]

[…]

Li Xuan’s gossip-loving soul burned fiercely as he browsed post after post about the Crimson Owl signal in Tang City, quickly recording any useful information, then screening it one by one and anonymously sending it to Bai Kai and Jiang Li’s intranet accounts.

Gossip, like haunting legends, is all about being half-true and half-false; as long as you accurately grasp the real part, you can obtain useful information.

This wasn’t some secret assistance-it’s just that gossip, if you have no one to share it with, can it even be called gossip?

Oh right, since this concerns junior sister Fu Xinyi, he had to notify Shifu first. If the old man could make it to Tang City, junior sister would be safe.

Thinking of this, Li Xuan hurriedly took out his phone, found Huá Sāng’s contact on a certain social app, and sent her a message.

Then…

He stared at the bright red exclamation mark after the message, and the line in the middle of the screen: [The other party has enabled friend verification. You are not his (her) friend yet…] and fell silent.

Wait, wasn’t it just a few days ago that I mentioned wanting to investigate Lu Yibei again? Is it really necessary to go this far? What’s so special about that kid anyway? Li Xuan wondered.

–

Tang City, Furong Street.

This is an ancient street whose history rivals that of the Arrow Tower ancient street, but due to the lack of iconic scenic buildings, it hasn’t been as well preserved as the Arrow Tower ancient street. In times when the awareness of protecting historical buildings wasn’t strong, many alleys and courtyards here were demolished, replaced by rows of residential buildings.

Later, as times changed and the awareness of protecting historical buildings grew, some ancient structures were repaired and preserved. As a result, the area now forms a complex terrain where new and old buildings intertwine, making it an even better hiding place than the Arrow Tower ancient street.

At noon, thick clouds covered the sky with not a ray of sunlight shining through. The river running through the middle of Furong Street flowed slowly.

On one side of the river stood a rather grand three-story small building. The garden in front of the small building was piled high with snow, eerily quiet, as if all plants, insects, and life had perished in the days-long heavy snow of Tang City.

Second floor of the small building.

A woman with deep-set features and a cold, striking aura reclined by the window in a lounge chair, sipping a cup of hot tea, her gaze occasionally drifting outside.

Suddenly, the sound of a door opening came, and hurried footsteps crunched through the snow. The woman’s expression darkened; she stood up and walked to the window, silently looking out at the garden, where she saw Hu Yue, looking a bit disheveled.

Standing in the courtyard, Hu Yue looked ahead. The garden was overgrown and desolate, a sense of decay hanging in the air. He could faintly hear the sound of the river outside the yard. The dim daylight fell on the snow, as if pressing down, as though night was about to fall.

Everything was just as it had been on his previous visits, yet he felt something was off. He tried to pinpoint it but couldn’t say exactly what was different.

The woman upstairs watched Hu Yue’s somewhat dazed expression, curled her lips, and with a light leap, stood on the windowsill, looking down at Hu Yue below. She jumped, landing silently among the falling snowflakes in front of him, interrupting his thoughts.

“Professor Hu, what’s with you today? You look like you’ve got some evil spirit chasing after your life.”

Hearing her teasing, Hu Yue took two deep breaths to steady himself and said seriously, “There really is something chasing me, but it’s scarier than any evil spirit.”

At this, his words paused. The image of the figure stalking him flashed through his mind, and he couldn’t help but shiver.

That presence seemed to be hiding in his shadow, everywhere and nowhere, disappearing whenever he tried to find it.

Pulling himself together, Hu Yue looked up at the three-story small building behind the woman and frowned, asking, “Didn’t we get word yesterday that the friends coming to reinforce us from outside would arrive this morning? Haven’t they shown up yet?”

At this moment, although the Tang City barrier had not yet been activated and was still in defense mode, meaning large numbers of psychics and hauntings couldn’t enter the city at once, there were still a few psychics and hauntings who knew the situation in Tang City and had paid a price to sneak in early, preparing for tomorrow’s battle.

“……”

The woman was briefly silent, as if thinking, then quickly replied in a casual tone before Hu Yue could sense anything amiss, “You know how things are now. It’s not unusual for something unexpected to happen. Maybe they were delayed on the way?”

“It’s also possible…” Hu Yue nodded thoughtfully, but the next moment his expression turned tense. “Damn, if the reinforcements haven’t arrived yet, that’s bad!”

After leaving Tang City University Affiliated Hospital, Hu Yue had been chased by a tremendously dangerous yet untraceable aura, fleeing all the way here without stopping. He had planned to join forces with what should have been three psychics, two hauntings, and the woman before him to face the enemy together.

But now, the reinforcements-both psychics and hauntings-hadn’t arrived, and only this woman was at the agreed meeting spot. If the being tracking him showed up now, he had no confidence of victory.

“Bad? What do you mean by that?” The woman pressed nervously.

Hu Yue steadied himself, glanced around furtively, and lowered his voice. “Didn’t I tell you earlier?”

“The tree in Taoyuan seems to have awakened. That damned Crow Slave’s power has surged, and he found me this morning, forcing me to use my identity to go to Tang City University Affiliated Hospital to kill someone…”

“Oh, I know that. And then?” The woman nodded. “Don’t tell me you failed because you’re not strong enough, botched the assassination, got counterattacked, and have been running ever since?”

Hearing her reply, Hu Yue’s eyes flickered almost imperceptibly. He beckoned her over, signaling her to come closer.

Then…

Just as the woman leaned in, a pale bone flute slipped from Hu Yue’s sleeve into his hand. He gripped it tightly, aimed at her chest, and thrust forward.

When he first entered the courtyard, Hu Yue had sensed something was off. After chatting with the woman, he became even more certain.

Though she was his collaborator, her attitude was always casual and dismissive, unwilling to communicate much. And after the change with Crow Slave, when he was forced to use his position in the project research group to assassinate Mao Sanyou, he had never told anyone else about it. So how did this woman know?

Based on these two points, he concluded the woman wasn’t who she appeared to be.

If he was wrong and hurt an ally by mistake, then she was just unlucky!

Hu Yue thought fiercely, and struck like lightning. The air exploded with a sharp crack as he plunged the bone flute into the woman’s chest. Psychic ability burst forth, tearing her body apart. Blood spurted from her back, splattering onto the snow piled in the courtyard, the pure white and crimson starkly contrasting.

But at that moment, a searing pain like flesh being torn erupted from above his head. His vision suddenly shattered like a mirror, then exploded into fragments that scattered everywhere.

When his sight returned to normal, the three-story small building ahead had become a dilapidated, dust-covered old house. In the main hall with its doors wide open stood a portrait with a face already blurred.

What the hell is this place?

That thought flashed through Hu Yue’s mind. He slowly turned toward where the woman should have fallen, but saw only white snow. The next moment, he sensed a powerful danger surging from behind.

No, behind me!

His pupils contracted violently. Just as he was about to turn, he felt a heavy blow.

Something cold and hard struck the back of his head with force. A strange impact ignored his psychic energy defenses and poured straight into his skull, as if to tear his brain apart.

At that moment, the attacker struck the back of his head several more times. He vaguely heard the brittle sound of his skull about to crack.

In an instant, his vision went black, and his consciousness snapped, plunging into silence.

–

“Bang-!”

Watching Hu Yue collapse in the snow, Lu Yibei hurried forward, gripped the Pure Lotus Sword tightly, and struck the back of his head another twenty or thirty times.

Only after making sure he wasn’t faking and truly couldn’t wake up did she crouch down, cast seventeen or eighteen sealing spell formations, and wrap him up like a zongzi, finally relaxing a little.

“Tsk, this Pure Lotus Sword really does have the direct consciousness-shocking effect the Ancestors described. But this charm ability mixed with Meng’s innate skill to create illusions is still not skilled enough!”

“I practiced so many times on the Ancestors last night, yet I still slipped up so quickly.”

To influence a target’s sight, hearing, or even perception without them noticing while they’re fully conscious is much harder than charming Ms. Rabbit and crudely giving her psychological trauma.

Lu Yibei muttered to herself, crouched down, and turned Hu Yue over, starting to search him. Soon she found a palm-sized notebook with a deerskin cover and sealing spell formations carved into it in the lining of his jacket.

Looks like following this guy really paid off.

He kept it so well hidden-there must be some unspeakable secret inside!

Lu Yibei thought, glanced at Hu Yue, and tapped his head lightly with the notebook in her hand. “Professor insider, do you know how badly you’ve screwed over your companions? What kind of decent person uses something like this?”