Chapter 467: The Peeping from the Crab Boat

After changing clothes, Lu Yibei stood in front of the mirror, looked at herself, and sighed helplessly.

“Sigh-! I guess this is the best I can do?”

The girl in the mirror wore a white T-shirt with a little bear print that perfectly matched her small chest, slightly loose denim shorts revealing her fair legs, and her pinkish-white feet slipped into a pair of sunflower beach slippers. She looked just like a girl picking shells by the sea-simple and pure.

This body was honestly a bit too petite. Lu Yibei had spent nearly half an hour just to barely put together an outfit she could wear.

The T-shirt was something she dug out from the corner of her wardrobe, clothes from her elementary school days. As for the shorts and slippers…

Since she had already worn Wang Meili’s clothes to meet Grandma Wang just now, it shouldn’t be a big deal to go all the way and borrow a pair of pants too, right?

Who hasn’t, as a kid, tried on their parents’ clothes when they weren’t home, only to get a good spanking afterward?

But…

Doing this kind of thing as an adult was just embarrassing.

Even though Lu Yibei was sure her mom was floating somewhere on the seas of Alaska right now.

But when she was rummaging through Wang Meili’s wardrobe, she felt as if her mom was watching her from somewhere, with a mischievous smile on her face.

An illusion, it must be an illusion. Mom’s not a god, how could she possibly know?

Yeah, only heaven and I know about this. As long as no one else finds out, it’s like I never did it!

I still have to go out later! I can’t just walk the streets naked, can I?

Blushing, Lu Yibei thought to herself, turned, and walked to the study. She turned on the computer, sat down, collected her thoughts, and began searching online for information about that power description.

“…Wherever the sun and moon shine, wherever the wind and rain reach, all must obey.”

She muttered the power description as she typed it into the search bar. After hitting enter, search results quickly appeared on the screen.

[…The Han wields power and prestige, ruling all nations; wherever the sun and moon shine, all are subjects and concubines… <Book of the Later Han: Southern Xiongnu Biography>]

“This one doesn’t seem quite right?”

[…Wherever the sun and moon shine, all pay homage and submit… <Records of the Grand Historian: Annals of Qin Shi Huang>.]

“This one fits a bit better. Could that unknown haunting be Qin Shi Huang?” Lu Yibei muttered.

“No way, right? Then the world I’m in now, could it be the Mausoleum of Qin Shi Huang? And everyone here is a buried Terracotta Warrior…”

Wouldn’t that make this world a ‘grand underworld party inside the tomb’? Lu Yibei thought to herself, shaking her head, feeling that her imagination was a bit too morbid and not very reliable.

“……”

Time ticked by.

After carefully browsing nearly a hundred search results for over an hour, Lu Yibei rubbed her dry eyes, crossed her arms over her chest, stared at the computer screen, and frowned.

Among the nearly one hundred search results, aside from a few overlapping contents in some historical records, she found nothing similar to that power description.

To be honest, this result was within her expectations.

After calming down for ten seconds, Lu Yibei combined the contents of The Midnight Tome from her dream and the knowledge of the Great Serpent God, falling into deep thought.

The first possibility was that the haunting pointed to by that power description existed so long ago that even the owner of the power had changed several times, and the original description had already been lost to the river of time.

According to her dream memories, although the power descriptions of hauntings were very pointed when they first appeared,

as times changed, people’s customs and their understanding and belief in hauntings shifted, and the power descriptions would get distorted.

If the haunting had existed long enough, its power description might have dozens or even hundreds of versions.

This was also one of the reasons why heirs of power could never inherit a haunting’s power one hundred percent-the more powerful and widely known the haunting, the more so.

Trying to find the true, original power description among dozens or hundreds of versions was no easy task.

The second possibility was that some force had secretly covered up the existence of that power description.

If that was the case, finding the source of that power description would be even harder.

“But, since that power description appeared out of nowhere once and even affected my body, it probably won’t just disappear, right?” Lu Yibei muttered.

She kept feeling that the woman’s voice chanting the haunting’s power description would definitely appear again.

Although she preferred to take action herself, when there was no other way, lying flat and enjoying it didn’t seem like a bad choice either.

A poor start didn’t dampen Lu Yibei’s enthusiasm for investigation.

Nothing in the world is difficult if you’re willing to give up. As a grandmaster of quitting, how could something like this stump her?

There’s more than one path in this world. Even if all else fails, you can always just follow behind someone else!

Didn’t Mr. Lu Xun say, there was no road in the world, but when enough people tail after, a road is made.

Putting aside the investigation into the power description for now, she typed “Hua City abandoned factory” into the search bar, trying to find clues about the abandoned factory from her dream.

Soon, a flood of search results appeared before her eyes.

“This is trouble…” Lu Yibei frowned.

The investigation into the haunting’s power had hit a wall because there was too little information, but the investigation into the abandoned factory in her dream was troublesome because there was so much information it was overwhelming.

Hua City was once an industrial city. With industrial transformation and upgrading, there were more than a hundred abandoned factories, and even if she limited the search to those with giant chimneys, there were still over forty.

These forty-plus abandoned factories were scattered all over Hua City, and a large number of them had already been demolished, so it was likely she wouldn’t recognize the original site even if she went there.

If she checked them one by one, it would probably take a week or two and still not be enough.

Just as Lu Yibei was fretting, she suddenly noticed a key clue.

On the web page, in many articles about those abandoned factories, a certain book was frequently cited as a reference-Hua City Urban and Rural Construction Gazetteer.

“A gazetteer, huh?” Lu Yibei pondered for a moment, then nodded resolutely. “Mm, looks like I should make a trip to the city library.”

Once her thoughts were clear, she sprang into action, found a backpack, slung the toilet plunger over her shoulder, and hurried out the door-only to quickly double back, rush into Ms. Wang Meili’s bedroom, take off her jacket, and dig out a yoga tank top to put on.

That was close! First time being a girl, not much experience, almost had a wardrobe malfunction. Thank you, mysterious person who put the full-length mirror in the hallway!

But, why is there a full-length mirror in the hallway?

Forget it, never mind, maybe someone’s moving?

Lu Yibei thought, patting her chest, put on her T-shirt, and headed out again.

—

Meanwhile, in Alaska, about one hundred and twenty nautical miles from the northernmost town of Barrow, a large crab fishing vessel was braving the fierce wind and waves, occasionally striking a piece of floating ice with a cracking sound.

On the deck of the crab boat, a woman in a red cold-weather suit held onto the railing, seemingly unafraid of the snow and wind, smiling as she gazed into the distance. The crimson tips of her hair, hanging outside her fur hat, fluttered in the wind.

Looking out, all she could see were ancient, snow-white icebergs and the surging deep blue sea.

Between her fingers was a Polaroid photo, as if just taken, the image not yet fully developed.

A gust of wind swept up, sending spray crashing against the crab boat with a thunderous roar.

In the wind, the image on the photo gradually appeared: a girl with long pink-and-white hair, wearing a baseball cap, white T-shirt, and shorts.

She was pressed against the wall at a street corner, poking half her head out, looking furtive.

“Pfft!” The woman picked up the photo and glanced at it, unable to hold back a laugh.

She gazed at the photo with doting eyes and murmured, “Silly child, that’s more like it! How can you go out without dressing properly?”

As she spoke, a tall man came out from the cabin and patted her on the shoulder. “Hey, Qi! We’re getting ready to set the nets…”

“Really? Then let’s hurry inside,” the woman said, carefully putting away the photo and patting her pocket.

Noticing her action, the tall man gave a meaningful smile. “Is that your lover?”

“No!” The woman shook her head, thought for a moment, and said, “She’s my daughter.”

Entering the cabin, she pumped her fist with confidence. “Today I’m definitely going to haul up the biggest king crab ever!”

“Haha!” An older Black man laughed. “Qi, you’re the toughest woman I’ve ever met, but if you want to catch the biggest king crab ever, that’s up to God.”

“Is that so?” The woman raised an eyebrow and smiled. “But I’ve never believed in God, I only believe in myself!”

“Haha, then good luck to you!”

So, that day on the crab boat, they really did haul up the biggest king crab ever, over three meters long and weighing more than a hundred kilograms. When the older Black man saw it, he almost thought they’d fished up the offspring of some evil god…

—

The walk from the University of Technology faculty housing to the bus stop wasn’t far, but it took Lu Yibei a full twenty minutes to reach the stop.

Twenty minutes earlier, just as she left the faculty compound, she’d felt something was off.

A beautiful girl will always attract a few extra glances, especially one who, as a witch type haunting, unconsciously exudes a seductive aura.

If it were one of those girls who’d been beautiful since childhood, they wouldn’t mind the stares from passersby as long as it wasn’t excessive-that’s the confidence that comes from beauty.

But Lu Yibei hadn’t had over a decade to build up that kind of mental fortitude-this was her first time!

As she walked, whenever someone looked at her twice, she’d blush furiously, her heart racing, legs unconsciously pressed together, sweat soaking her clothes and sticking to her skin.

It felt just like crossdressing for the first time and being forced to go out in public, terrified someone would notice something off about her.

So, the whole way, she acted like a guilty thief, sneaking and hiding.

Of course, if it were just shyness, she wouldn’t be this bad.

What made her even more uneasy was the constant feeling that someone was secretly watching her, like being tailed by a creep, yet she couldn’t find the source of that gaze.

That inexplicable stare swept over her body, as if trying to see right through her clothes, scrutinizing every inch of her, making her shiver and break out in goosebumps.

“Damn! So weird!” Lu Yibei cursed under her breath, pulling the brim of her baseball cap lower. “Damn it, if I catch you, I’ll smash your head in!”

“Screech-!”

The bus approached from a distance and stopped at the platform.

Lu Yibei steadied herself, hurriedly pulled out her bus card, and hopped on.

I’m already on the bus, there’s no way he’d still follow me, right? Lu Yibei thought.

—

The alternating hot and cold weather in mid-August always comes as a surprise.

A few days ago, it was so chilly that people had already switched to autumn clothes, but today, even in the early morning, the blazing sun had turned Hua City into an oven, making everyone outdoors suffer.

So, the air conditioning on the bus became magical, attracting people waiting at the stop to board early, snatch a seat, and rest their feet.

“It’s so hot, so hot! Driver, can you turn the AC up a bit more?” a plump auntie shouted at the driver. “It’s already at the max,” the middle-aged driver replied without even glancing at her, then closed the doors and drove on.

As passengers surged onto the bus and scrambled for seats, Lu Yibei managed to secure a window seat in the back row.

Looking at those who failed to get a seat, sweating profusely, she couldn’t help but feel secretly glad that she was among the young.

Since they’re all young people, naturally, on the bus, the seats go to the capable!

Lu Yibei focused her senses for a moment, confirming that the secretive gaze watching her had disappeared, and felt a wave of relief.

Finally gone. If it kept following me, I really couldn’t take it anymore! she thought to herself.

“Hiss-!”

The doors closed, and the bus slowly moved forward.

Lu Yibei sat on the bus, enjoying the cool breeze, gazing at the scenery outside the window, and silently searching her dream memories for information about various abilities.

Judging from some pictures online, the content in the Hua City Urban and Rural Construction Gazetteer was fairly detailed, with illustrated records of all the factories built and demolished in Hua City over the past twenty years.

After checking the gazetteer at the library later, she should be able to narrow down the abandoned factories from her dream to fewer than ten.

When the time comes, she’ll pick the farthest and most remote abandoned factory to investigate, and at the same time, try out and get familiar with the abilities of this body, Lu Yibei thought.

Just as she was pondering, a harsh coughing sound erupted inside the bus, interrupting her thoughts.

“Cough- cough cough-!”

Lu Yibei frowned slightly, looked in the direction of the cough, and saw a teenage girl standing not far away, holding onto a hand strap.

The girl looked about sixteen or seventeen, with an ordinary appearance and attire, but what stood out was her sickly pale complexion. Even after sitting through several stops in the air conditioning, she was still sweating profusely, her white T-shirt soaked through.

“Cough- cough cough-!”

The girl’s coughing flared up again, shaking her whole body, her face flushed red, and the strange noises mixed into her cough sounded as if something was stuck in her throat.

The passengers who had been standing near the girl quickly moved away from her.

Then…

The girl suddenly lifted her head and stared straight at Lu Yibei.

There was a strange excitement and thrill in her eyes, as if saying, “I’ve finally found you!”

Noticing the girl’s odd gaze, Lu Yibei froze for a moment, looked around, then back at the girl, only to see her staggering over.

Lu Yibei, “……”

Don’t tell me… no way?

Are you seriously the pervert who was tailing me on the street just now?

No, has the survival environment for beautiful girls gotten so bad that, when going out, you not only have to guard against men with bad intentions, but also women? Lu Yibei thought.

Just as she hesitated over whether to greet the girl with a kick, the girl had already reached her, and then, as if suddenly fainting, collapsed forward into her arms without warning.

Their faces pressed together, the girl leaned close to Lu Yibei’s ear and erupted into another violent coughing fit.

“Cough- cough cough-!”

“!!!”

A softness she’d never felt before pressed against her face, making Lu Yibei’s body stiffen and her face flush red. For a moment, she couldn’t tell whether she was taking advantage of the girl, or the girl was taking advantage of her. She vaguely felt as if petals of lilies were drifting before her eyes.

Before Lu Yibei could recover and push the girl away, the girl’s eyes suddenly rolled back, and, still pressed to her ear, she parted her lips and uttered a string of strange guttural sounds.

The sound was distorted, as if the audio signal was being interfered with, muffled and mixed with a sizzling electric current.

“Lu… time is short… I’ll only say this once… everything you see now is an illusion, don’t believe… gah-!”

“???”

What the heck? What’s going on? At least finish your sentence!

Is this some new kind of scam?

Why does it feel like, “I’m Godzilla, I need 648 to buy a ticket to see King Kong. If you send me money, I’ll have King Kong take you to climb the Empire State Building and fight planes at sunset”?

Let me be clear, you can scam me for beauty, but don’t even think about scamming me for money. I’ve got plenty of beauty, but money-I’ve never made much in my life.

Just as Lu Yibei was silently grumbling and clutching her phone tightly to guard against theft,

The cloudiness in the girl’s eyes quietly faded, color returned to her pale face, her coughing stopped, and she seemed to return to normal all at once.

The girl steadied herself, looked down, and saw those big, sparkling eyes exposed at Lu Yibei’s chest. Their eyes met, and her expression grew increasingly panicked.

“You… you, I… I…”

Seeing the girl stammer for ages without managing a complete sentence, Lu Yibei sighed silently, pushed her away with a blank face, and said earnestly, “Miss, if I told you that you walked over yourself and shoved your face into mine, would you believe it?”

“I think you probably have heatstroke. If you don’t believe me, you can ask them!”

As Lu Yibei finished speaking and the girl turned her head, she saw everyone on the bus look at her, then at Lu Yibei, and then all nod in unison.

What bad intentions could a pretty girl have? It must have been an accident!

The girl, “……”