Chapter 420: See You in Half an Hour

Just like a newly hatched bird that imprints on the first creature it sees as its mother, making a good first impression is crucial when trying to gain someone’s trust.

In Lu Yibei’s view, whether the three psychics trusted or doubted her identity could very well influence their subsequent judgments.

When she took out Hu Yue’s bone flute as a token and unleashed her charm ability on the three psychics, she was even prepared to run at any moment if things went wrong.

Fortunately, these three psychics weren’t particularly strong-willed. Under the influence of her charm, just watching her seductive motion as she pulled the bone flute from her collar was enough to make their hearts flutter and souls drift, temporarily sparing them from the fate of being struck on the back of the head by the Pure Lotus Sword.

Of course, only temporarily.

Once you step through this door, nobody’s head is safe! Lu Yibei thought.

“Hehe, you really are Lady Jin! The three of us have long heard your name, but seeing you in person today, you’re even more beautiful than the rumors!”

Seeing that the three psychics showed no immediate hostility, Lu Yibei secretly breathed a sigh of relief, stood up, and gave a symbolic bow to the three, expressing her goodwill.

“You flatter me. Since none of you have any objections, please come inside and rest for a while. Once the other two friends arrive, we can discuss tonight’s plan together.”

As she spoke, Lu Yibei endured a strong sense of shame and resistance, gradually increasing the intensity of her charm ability, her watery eyes sending flirtatious glances at the three psychics, both intentionally and unintentionally.

Damn, why do I feel like I’m getting more and more skilled at this sort of thing?

If this keeps up, will I end up on some strange path and suffer a gut-wrenching Bad Ending?

Lu Yibei thought, secretly making up her mind that once the core entity of the mythical type haunting recovered, she would seal away the charm ability granted by the witch type as soon as possible.

The charm ability triggered by the high-tier witch type haunting’s core entity wasn’t like the one carried by low-tier witch types or elemental type hauntings, which provoked strong sensory stimulation and aroused the most primal impulses physiologically. Instead, it was a gentle, mentally pleasurable temptation that led to addiction.

It was like a cool breeze carrying a faint floral scent under the warm sun, accompanied by intoxicating music, subtly influencing and immersing people without them realizing.

The three psychics stared at Lu Yibei, only snapping out of it after a long moment, then followed her lead into the small house.

As soon as they entered, they noticed the windows were all covered, making the room very dim. They frowned, turned around, and were about to ask Lu Yibei something when they saw her close the door behind her as she stepped inside.

With a soft “creak,” the room was plunged into darkness.

In the instant before the three psychics could channel psychic energy to enhance their eyesight, Lu Yibei sprang into action.

With a sharp “swish,” the Pure Lotus Sword was drawn from the metal box hidden behind the door. In the darkness, she sensed the flashes of predictive thoughts in her mind and darted forward with agile movement.

Then…

Her hand rose, the sword fell, and guided by her predictive thoughts, the blade precisely intercepted the three psychics as they scrambled to dodge, striking them hard on the head.

“Ah-ah-ah-!”

Three screams rang out in the pitch-black room, followed by three heavy thuds as bodies hit the floor, and a faintly sweet scent of blood began to spread in the air.

Lu Yibei, “…”

Damn it, why did I end up drawing blood?

These three were a bit weaker than Hu Yue and that woman in terms of psychic energy fluctuation level, but they’d still reached 1.1 old rabbit. How could they be so fragile?

Did I kill them with one blow? Lu Yibei wondered, moving forward to check the psychics’ injuries.

Just then, a filthy, chaotic psychic energy fluctuation faintly drifted in from the courtyard outside the door.

In the darkness, sensing that psychic energy fluctuation, Lu Yibei’s gaze sharpened slightly.

Dark clouds like ink, the sky gloomy, a biting cold wind swirling with drifting snowflakes.

From afar, the three-story building standing in the wind and snow, long abandoned and uninhabited, appeared somewhat dilapidated and decrepit, faintly exuding a sinister aura.

Occasionally, someone would pass by the building, always hurrying their steps, not daring to let their gaze linger on it for long. Only one person was an exception: Wang Er, who lived across a small river from the building.

Wang Er was a freelance writer, making a living by posting articles online. Sometimes, after staring at the computer screen for too long, his eyes would grow tired, and he would gaze out the window to relieve his fatigue.

And from the window of his study, he could never avoid seeing the long-abandoned three-story building across the river. Looking at it, he would sometimes let his imagination run wild.

He wondered who had once lived in that building-perhaps a woman. He wondered if she was beautiful, if she was still alive, and if she was, whether she would ever return.

Such boundless imaginings became an indispensable pastime during his breaks for a long time, until a few days ago, when he saw a slender woman walk into the courtyard of the three-story building.

The woman Wang Er saw was, of course, Lady Jin.

As a psychic possessing the Mountain Spirit Pattern, Lady Jin did not have Lu Yibei’s controllable charm ability, but as the legendary monster who bewitched mountain woodcutters and played them to death, her Spirit Pattern itself invisibly radiated a mind-bewitching effect.

Some say that after seeing a certain person, all other women in the world become mere compromises. After seeing Lady Jin, Wang Er vaguely felt the same.

After that day, his infatuation with Lady Jin became uncontrollable. He waited by the window every day, even neglecting his writing. When his editor urged him several times, he fobbed them off with a photo of a pretty pigeon.

Today, after waking from a nap, he came to the window as usual to wait, and finally, once again, saw the figure that haunted his dreams.

Amidst the vast white snow, she wore a white dress and held a crimson oil-paper umbrella, gracefully walking along the ancient street’s blue stone pavement. Her waist-length hair swayed gently in the wind, and in his eyes, it seemed as if all color had faded away. Her slender figure shimmered with a faint cold light, as if she might slip into one’s dreams at any moment.

Looking at her silhouette, Wang Er took a deep breath and couldn’t help but call out, “Miss!”

Then…

She stopped, her body seeming to float, swaying as she turned in place, looking toward the source of the voice. She revealed the face hidden beneath the red umbrella, and Wang Er’s pupils instantly contracted to a point.

Beneath the monster’s loose long hair was a face swollen and pale, with no eyes, nose, or mouth. On the bare flesh, lipstick, eyebrow pencil, and foundation had been used to paint a twisted human face. Countless half-real, half-illusory black lines, like a child’s chaotic scribbles, scattered around her visage.

Ghosts have no face; The Painted Skin becomes the mask… As he saw the woman’s appearance, Wang Er’s mind flashed with the legend of The Painted Skin Haunting he’d once read online. He thought to himself that he’d disturbed something, hurriedly ducked below the windowsill, and silently prayed that the monster hadn’t noticed him.

Only then did he realize that he was never truly “love-struck without knowing its origin, falling deep and hard”-he was simply lustful.

–

In front of the three-story building, The Painted Skin Haunting glanced around, failing to find the source of the voice, then lightly merged into the wall ahead and slipped into the courtyard.

Where was the person? They’d agreed to meet at this time…

Seeing the empty courtyard, The Painted Skin Haunting seemed puzzled, pausing for a moment. It released its psychic sense, detecting a faint psychic energy fluctuation from inside the house ahead, and only then slowly walked forward.

Arriving at the front door of the building, The Painted Skin Haunting paused again, then raised its withered hand and gently pushed open the iron door.

“Creak-!”

With a soft sound, the door opened, and air thick with dust and mold rushed out. In the dimly lit room, dust-covered furniture was scattered about, and three pale-faced men lay collapsed on the floor, a hint of crimson blood seeping from their heads.

A woman stood with her back to the door, bent over before the three men of uncertain fate, her head tilted. On her petrified, icy face was a stiff, awkward smile, half-hidden in shadow. Through the gaps in her slightly disheveled white hair, she cast a gaze full of malice toward the door.

In her hand she gripped a rusty Broken Sword, stained with blood. Thick blood dripped from the blade onto the floor, making a soft “drip, drip!” sound.

“You’re here? Don’t be afraid, it’s all a misunderstanding-I can explain.”

The woman spoke coldly, slowly straightening up and walking toward the door.

Seeing this, The Painted Skin Haunting was startled, instinctively stepping back. Its heel struck the threshold, making it stumble. Once it regained its balance and looked fearfully into the room, it was shocked to find the woman had vanished.

Just then, a figure slowly appeared behind it, leaning close to its ear and whispering, “Where are you going? Since you’re here, don’t leave-stay and keep them company, won’t you?”

As she spoke, a sinister, bloody psychic energy fluctuation instantly spread like a vast shadow, enveloping The Painted Skin Haunting. Under the impact of the psychic energy fluctuation, its ears buzzed, and it vaguely heard the miserable cries of countless young girls.

In a mix of terror and shock, the skin on the face of The Painted Skin Haunting, which looked as if it had been painted on, began to writhe, and the brows and eyes formed by psychic energy nearly collapsed.

The next moment, a buzzing sound of air being torn apart rang in its ears, a sword shadow howled toward it, and a violent impact invaded its consciousness like a wild beast in an instant.

“Crash-!”

With the soft sound of paper scraping, a scroll with ancient brushwork floated to the ground.

Lu Yibei looked at the scroll lying quietly on the ground, scratched the back of her head, and muttered softly, “Did I kill another one?”

“Forget it, now’s not the time to dwell on this. Once I deal with the last haunting, I should go find Mao Sanyou.”

Although she said this, as she spoke, she secretly made up her mind to go seek out the Ancestors later and properly ask for guidance on the correct way to use the Pure Lotus Sword.

–

4:12 PM.

A telephone rang in the duty room of the ICU doctors’ office at Tang City University Affiliated Hospital.

The moment the phone rang, the doctor on duty quickly picked up, and immediately heard an astonishing piece of news from the nurse on the other end.

The patient who had just been admitted this morning, Mao Sanyou, was missing!

“How is that possible? Such a big living person, just gone like that?” the doctor said nervously.

“Y-yeah! I just went to change the dressing for another patient, and then, when I came back to check, he was gone,” the nurse replied weakly.

“Did you check the surveillance footage?”

“Doctor, I was just about to tell you!” the nurse’s voice trembled a little. “We checked the surveillance footage, and in the video, there was just-a black shadow flashed by, and the patient was gone. Do you think it could be a haunting incident?”

At these words, the doctor instinctively looked out the door of the duty room.

He saw that the hospital corridor in the evening was empty, a cold wind carrying a faint smell of disinfectant. Under the harsh white lights, shadows were scattered across the floor. From a distance, it was hard not to imagine that in some unseen corner, a strange figure might be hiding, casting a malicious smile in this direction.

“Gulp-!” The doctor swallowed nervously and said weakly, “That can’t be, right? Where are you? W-wait there, I’ll come take a look.”

–

In the darkness, not knowing how long he had been unconscious, Mao Sanyou began to have that nightmare again.

In an endless dream, he returned again and again to that bizarre and dark enormous cavern.

He wandered through that chaotic, abnormal, labyrinthine space, crowded together with those unseen living things, repeatedly feeling the psychic energy fluctuations that once belonged to his father’s familiars, but had long since fallen and become impure.

This hellish torment caused him unbearable pain, yet it seemed he could never wake up. It was as if he was meant to stay here, trapped in an endless nightmare.

So, once again, after seeing that monster with the power of the Golden Crow burst forth with dazzling golden light, he returned to the “starting point” and began a new “cycle.”

However, this time, as soon as he opened his eyes, he saw that in the cavern, which should have been pitch black, there was a trace of crimson light not far ahead.

Staring in the direction of the crimson glow, he stepped forward cautiously. When he found the source of the light, he was stunned.

On the stone wall just a step away, there was a line of extremely tiny characters, as if written with the finest brush dipped in blood. It took a great effort to make out the words.

When he leaned in and focused to read the tiny writing, his mind was filled with countless question marks.

“Hey, are you there? If you are, say something.”

What the hell is this? Mao Sanyou froze for a moment and instinctively took a step back. At that moment, he saw another crimson glow not far ahead.

Driven by curiosity, he walked forward and saw another line of blood-red writing on another stone wall, this time a bit larger than before.

On the stone wall it said: “Did you have lunch today? Haven’t eaten yet, right? If not, hurry up and get something to eat!”

Mao Sanyou frowned and continued forward, then saw even more blood-red writing in larger characters.

Are you there? Want to chat? I have something to say to you.

Are you there? If you see this, can you reply to me?

There? It’s about time, you should get up and study. If you don’t study hard while your hair is black, you’ll regret it when your hair turns white!

Get up, get up, someone wants to be your dad, do you know that?

……

Dense lines of tiny writing, like a barrage of comments, filled the stone walls of the cavern ahead. It felt just like when you’re playing a dark cave exploration game and your computer suddenly gets a virus, spewing out countless spam ads uncontrollably.

Mao Sanyou forced himself not to look at the trash talk that was almost reaching the level of mental pollution, but even with his eyes closed, he could still hear countless girls whispering in his ears, all repeating the words from the stone wall.

“Stop it, stop it, I told you to stop!”

Finally, Mao Sanyou couldn’t help but let out a hysterical scream, and immediately after, he felt the world spinning around him.

The whole world seemed to spin, the cave collapsing and shaking violently.

Then…

A bone-chilling wind swept across Mao Sanyou’s face, and he suddenly woke up from what felt like an endless Dream. He opened his eyes to see a clearing overgrown with weeds and covered in snow, and immediately felt a tight binding sensation on his body.

“…”

What the hell is this place? Why am I tied up? And it seems like I’m hanging in midair.

Mao Sanyou was stunned for a moment, then heard a soft girl’s voice from above his head.

“You’re finally awake. If you hadn’t woken up soon, I wouldn’t have been able to keep up with the psychic energy consumption.”

He looked in the direction of the voice and saw a girl in a pure white down jacket, squatting on the roof of a dilapidated building, expressionlessly chewing on spicy strips.

“It’s you? You’re the Witch who played with my aunt yesterday!” Mao Sanyou exclaimed.

As he spoke, he looked at Lu Yibei, then at himself, and finally realized that she had tied him up with hemp rope like a “live maggot” and hung him from the roof of an abandoned building.

“You recognized me? Good, saves me the trouble of introducing myself.” Lu Yibei said lightly, her voice clearly a bit weak.

She had thought that by borrowing Meng’s lnnate skill to enter Mao Sanyou’s Dream, it would be a technical job, but after trying it herself, she found it was actually a brute-force, double-Class S task.

She had no idea what kind of thing had hurt Mao Sanyou, but even Meng’s lnnate skill couldn’t fully invade his nightmare.

With no other choice, Lu Yibei had to use the “stone wall message” method, spending nearly an hour to wake him up, which consumed quite a bit of psychic energy.

Still, typing in the Dream was fast. If only she could type that fast online, she wouldn’t lose arguments so often, and she wouldn’t get so worked up at night that she couldn’t sleep.

Lu Yibei grumbled inwardly, slowly pulled Mao Sanyou up, raised an eyebrow at him, and said, “So? How did you get hurt? Can you contact Gou Meng now? I have a big plan to discuss with her. Don’t say you don’t know-you don’t want someone else to be your dad, right?”

“By the way, want some spicy strips? These are really good!”

Mao Sanyou, “…”

–

4:45 PM.

Jinmen South Railway Station, at the entrance to the high-speed rail from Jinmen South to Tang City.

“Tap tap tap!”

The hurried sound of heels striking the ground came from behind. Jiang Li turned her head and saw Ah-Hua, clutching a thermos cup and rushing over, her brows furrowing slightly as she chided, “Ah-Hua, don’t always be in such a rush. There are so many people on the platform-what if you bump into someone?”

“Sorry, Miss, I was just worried about delaying your boarding.” Ah-Hua lowered her head and said meekly, handing the thermos cup to Jiang Li. “Miss, your tea is ready.”

Jiang Li took the thermos, glanced at the time, and shook her head gently. “There’s still twenty-five minutes. Plenty of time.”

After a pause, she looked toward the entrance and changed the subject. “Alright, you can see me off here. I need to go in.”

“Miss…” Ah-Hua called softly, looking troubled, hesitating to speak.

After so many years together, Jiang Li could read Ah-Hua’s mind at a glance. She patted Ah-Hua’s shoulder and said gently, “Ah-Hua, I really can’t take you this time. You saw the documents before-it’s clearly stated that only psychics of Class B or above can participate.”

“Miss, but I just reached…”

“Class B- isn’t enough,” Jiang Li said calmly.

At that, Ah-Hua drooped like a deflated balloon, biting her lip.

Seeing this, Jiang Li sighed silently, patted her head, and said softly, “Don’t worry. I’ll contact Lu Yibei as soon as I arrive. With him there, I’ll be fine.”

Hearing Jiang Li mention Lu Yibei, Ah-Hua’s expression eased a little. “Then you must contact him as soon as you get off the train. Don’t act on impulse.”

“Got it.” Jiang Li smiled and shook her head, then turned and walked toward the entrance.

Ah-Hua watched Jiang Li’s departing figure, silently took out a tissue, lifted her glasses, and gently wiped the moisture from the corner of her eye.

After the Dream Come True Journey, if Jiang Li had to be entrusted to someone, Ah-Hua felt it could only be Lu Yibei. In that situation, Lu Yibei could guarantee Jiang Li’s safety; it should be the same in any other circumstance.

But somehow, when it came time to actually hand her young lady over to Lu Yibei, she couldn’t help but her eyes reddened.

Her mood was inexplicably like that of a mother sending her daughter off to get married.

–

5:20.

On the rooftop of the abandoned distillery.

After listening to Mao Sanyou recount what happened, Lu Yibei propped her chin with one hand, a spicy strip dangling from her mouth, sizing him up for a moment and sorting out her thoughts.

“So, Gou Meng asked you to help suppress the massive psychic energy left behind in the Fusang divine tree after your father died, but when you split off most of your psychic energy to form Fire Crows and sneak into Taoyuan, you were attacked by other Fire Crows, and in the cave of the Fusang divine tree, you saw your father who had been reincarnated from the impure land?”

Mao Sanyou’s face darkened, and he corrected in a low voice, “That’s definitely not my father!”

“Uh… sorry, I misspoke.” Lu Yibei apologized, then immediately followed up, “So, that means you’re not a psychic, and your Spirit Pattern isn’t a wind tanuki?”

“You should’ve said so earlier! If I’d known your Spirit Pattern wasn’t a wind tanuki, I wouldn’t have hung you from the rooftop to catch the breeze, or stripped your clothes off to increase the contact area.”

Mao Sanyou gave Lu Yibei a look that said, “How is this my fault!” and complained resentfully, “You never asked me!”

“Uh, sorry.” Lu Yibei apologized again, then changed the subject, “May I ask, what kind of haunting are you, exactly? I’m a bit curious.”

“……” Mao Sanyou sized up Lu Yibei, hesitated for a moment, then said, “Bennu bird, basically Egypt’s phoenix…”

“Sorry, let me interrupt!” Lu Yibei looked at Mao Sanyou in confusion, “Isn’t your father a haunting from Country Z’s mythology? How did he give birth to a haunting from Egyptian mythology!?”

Mao Sanyou replied impatiently, “My mother possesses some of the powers of Egyptian myth hauntings.”

Hearing this, Lu Yibei suddenly understood.

The Bennu bird, in legend, is the divine bird formed from the soul of Ra, Sun God.

Mao Sanyou’s father has the power of the Golden Crow, the sun symbol in Country Z’s mythology, while his mother has the powers of Egyptian myth hauntings. Their offspring inherited part of these, so it makes sense that he’d have a subspecies power also symbolizing the sun, like Ra, Sun God.

It’s just that…

Can the powers of hauntings really be inherited this way? What’s the principle behind it? Why isn’t there any record of this in The Midnight Tome? Lu Yibei wondered.

She vaguely felt that the reason The Midnight Tome didn’t record this wasn’t simply an omission or because it’s not common.

As she pondered, Mao Sanyou’s voice sounded in her ear.

“You’ve asked me so many questions, I should ask you one too, right?”

Lu Yibei looked at Mao Sanyou and nodded, “Go ahead.”

“Your haunting power is the Swollen Maiden, right?” Mao Sanyou said blandly.

Lu Yibei tilted her head, “What?”

“Otherwise, why are you so annoying? It’s like your greatest joy is tormenting other beings, driving them into terror and despair until they lose their minds.”

Lu Yibei, “……”

She opened her mouth, about to refute Mao Sanyou’s misunderstanding of her, when a soft fluttering of wings came from overhead. Soon, a magpie landed on Mao Sanyou’s shoulder.

The magpie chattered in Mao Sanyou’s ear for a while, then took off again. After watching the magpie fly away, Mao Sanyou looked at Lu Yibei and said, “My aunt replied. She said she thinks your plan is feasible. Meet at Chunfeng Residence in half an hour.”

Seeing that Gou Meng approved her plan and the most crucial manpower issue was solved, Lu Yibei breathed a small sigh of relief. Her red lips parted, just about to say something to Mao Sanyou, when her phone vibrated in her jacket pocket.

She pulled out her phone and glanced at it, instantly falling silent.

Jiang Li: “I’m almost at Tang City. See you at the train station in half an hour.”

Lu Yibei, “……”

Half an hour later? Did you two coordinate this?