Chapter 480: The Gambling Queen Returns to the Scene

2:14 AM. The night was slightly chilly, shrouded in thin mist.

About two kilometers from the West City lime kiln, a taxi was parked by the roadside. From inside the car, solemn and dignified music could be faintly heard.

Zhang Shan had already waited for Lu Yibei for over three hours. The music in the car had shifted from soothing light tunes to rock, then to “Great Compassion Mantra DJ,” and finally to “Diamond Sutra Remix.”

His entire emotional journey could be summed up as: using light music to relax his nerves, then rock to boost his spirits, then the “Great Compassion Mantra” to reason and connect with any possible haunting, and finally, “To hell with reason and feelings, I’ll exorcise you right here and now!”

As a mature and reliable taxi driver, Zhang Shan had spent many nights on the road, but he had never been as afraid of the dark as he was tonight. It was probably because those ghost stories earlier felt so real.

It was autumn, and once night fell in the mountains, the mist began to rise.

Looking out through the car window, the headlights could only illuminate three or four meters ahead. Beyond that, his vision started to blur, and farther still, there was only a vast expanse of white, gradually swallowed by darkness.

From the distant abandoned factory, strange and eerie screams echoed from time to time. Zhang Shan had spent half his life driving taxis and considered himself well-traveled, but he couldn’t even begin to guess what kind of creature made those sounds.

This place is damn cursed! Zhang Shan cursed fiercely in his heart, and just then–

“Zzz… zzz…”

It sounded like static from poor signal, coming from the car’s audio system.

Immediately after, the music seemed to be interfered with–sometimes sharp, sometimes hoarse, sometimes dragging out the final note, sometimes mechanically repeating a phrase. It was extremely bizarre.

Not good! Something’s starting to go wrong!

Zhang Shan didn’t know if it was just his imagination, but the car suddenly felt inexplicably cold, yet beads of sweat the size of beans formed on his forehead.

“Gulp–!”

He swallowed hard, nervously tugging his jacket down a bit to reveal his eyes, peeking outside. The next moment, he was so frightened his face went pale and his heart stopped.

The pale glow from the headlights stretched forward, finally vanishing at the edge of his vision, swallowed by darkness.

Right at the border between light and shadow, he could see, far away, a figure in a dark red long dress, appearing at the end of the road leading to the West City lime kiln, standing there in a bizarre pose.

Her long hair hung loose, covering her face. Her shoulders were slightly raised, as if invisible hands were propping up her body. Her arms hung limply, swaying back and forth as if boneless.

Zhang Shan stared in that direction. Time seemed to freeze for a second or two, then the figure suddenly moved, swiftly floating toward him.

Yes, floating–Zhang Shan was sure that, just before the figure moved, he saw it clearly!

Her feet weren’t touching the ground, only the tips of her toes grazed it, legs motionless, and her whole body glided forward at speed.

Seeing this, Zhang Shan’s body jolted, his limbs went numb, and he collapsed into the seat. Before he could react, the eerie figure vanished from sight.

A sudden gust of wind howled, carrying a faint stench into his nose. The withered grass, stones, and crooked trees outside all became sinister and strange. For a moment, the wind seemed to howl and every shadow felt threatening.

Zhang Shan didn’t know where that eerie figure had gone, but he could feel it approaching. The air grew colder, biting like the dead of winter.

He trembled as he grabbed his jacket, silently covering his eyes, fully embracing the “if I can’t see it, it doesn’t exist!” ostrich mentality.

But just because his eyes couldn’t see didn’t mean it wasn’t there, nor did it mean his ears couldn’t hear.

“Thump… thump… thump…”

Something tapped on the car window beside him, making a furtive, weak sound. Each tap came at intervals of a second or two, feeble and heavy with a sense of death.

Zhang Shan shrank into himself, burying his head in his clothes. Time seemed to turn viscous, flowing slowly. The “person” outside seemed to grow impatient, the frequency and force of the tapping increased, matching the frantic beating of Zhang Shan’s heart.

“Thump thump! Thump thump! Thump thump!”

Suddenly, the tapping stopped. In the silence of the deep night, only the “zzz” sound remained in Zhang Shan’s ears.

Is it… gone? Zhang Shan wondered anxiously.

After a long while, he finally mustered the courage to lower his jacket and glanced outside from the corner of his eye.

Through the fogged-up window, he saw a blurry human figure.

The figure slowly raised a hand, slender fingertips gently touching the glass. Using the condensation on the window, she slowly wrote a line of small characters–Let me in.

Droplets of water slid along the edges of the writing, twisted and menacing. Through the gaps of each stroke, he could vaguely see the woman’s corpse-like pale skin outside.

In an instant, a chill shot from Zhang Shan’s back to the top of his head. His throat felt as if gripped by strong hands, a suffocating sensation relentlessly attacking his nerves.

And then…

Driven by intense fear and surging adrenaline, Zhang Shan finally remembered he was a seasoned driver. He let out a scream, unsure if it was terror or rage.

“Ah! Ahhh–!”

He gripped the steering wheel tight with one hand while twisting the ignition key with the other. He slammed his foot down on the gas, and in the next second, the taxi’s engine let out a deafening roar. 

As the car sped forward, Zhang Shan had a sinking feeling: even if he managed to escape with his life today, this nightmare would cast a shadow over him for the rest of his days…

The taxi suddenly started moving.

After a clean, sharp drift and U-turn, the wheels kicked up dust as it sped away.

Lu Yibei’s hand was still suspended in midair, frozen in the act of about to knock on the window, her face expressionless as she watched Uncle Zhang Shan gradually disappear into the swirling dust, lips parted as if she wanted to say something but stopped.

“……”

A long silence.

“Jacket, did I… do something wrong just now?” Lu Yibei asked weakly.

As if to comfort her, the jacket wriggled gently twice.

It doesn’t know either!

┓( ´-` )┏

“……” Lu Yibei pondered for a few seconds, then sighed silently. “Forget it, Jacket, just fly me back, okay? That should be fine, right?”

“Oh, right!”

Suddenly remembering something, she asked, “Before we left, in Gu Xinian’s room, that diary we found–did you put it away?”

The jacket wriggled twice, as if confirming.

“Alright, let’s go back then!”

Although peeking at someone’s diary isn’t exactly proper, I’m really curious about what Gu Xinian wrote in there! Lu Yibei thought.

——–

Early morning, inside Office V of the Hua City Folk Culture Administration Bureau.

Jiang Li lay curled up on the office sofa, her slender figure outlined by a thin blanket draped over her. In her delicate hand, which hung over the edge of the sofa, she still held an unfinished document.

Outside the window, sunlight gradually brightened, casting a thin layer of pale gold over her fair face. Accompanied by a few birds chirping, her thick, brush-like eyelashes fluttered twice before she opened her eyes.

Just then, the office door creaked open, and Ah-Hua walked in carrying breakfast.

She set the breakfast on the coffee table in front of Jiang Li, looking at her with a face full of concern and complained, “Miss, did you stay up all night again? Really, if you keep this up, you’ll collapse sooner or later!”

“I quite agree with that.” A gentle voice came from outside the door.

An Qing strolled in, stopped in front of Jiang Li, and crossed her arms, saying, “You’ve been working nonstop for days. You should really get some proper rest.”

Jiang Li sat up, tidied her hair at her temples a bit, then, as if she hadn’t heard An Qing’s suggestion, calmly asked, “Has Silver Horn woken up?”

An Qing pursed her lips and shook her head.

“What about those new cases?”

Although the Nocturnal Syndrome outbreak in Hua City had been well controlled with the help of the Alchemical potion Silver Horn developed at great personal risk, several new cases had appeared not long after Golden Horn’s second failed attempt to capture Berses.

The Nocturnal Syndrome in these cases showed symptoms similar to before, but the infectivity was much lower, while the fatality rate and destructiveness had clearly increased.

It was as if the “virus” had mutated.

An Qing sighed silently. “We gave them the Alchemical potion, and their conditions are temporarily under control, but there’s been no improvement.”

“They’re sleeping, not having any strange dreams, and the rate of limb deformity has slowed, but…”

“But their physical condition is still deteriorating, right?” Jiang Li asked.

After all, those patients already had Nocturnal Syndrome, and the Beast of Inheritance hadn’t been hunted.

With someone deliberately controlling the Beast of Inheritance’s will and continuously supplying it with psychic energy, Silver Horn’s Alchemical potion could only prevent infection, but it was hard to cure the root cause.

Those already sick wouldn’t recover because of it, and might never recover, possibly continuing to deteriorate slowly until death.

It was like an old faucet–even if it’s turned off, it still leaks slowly, and the water that leaks out continues to corrode the faucet.

An Qing nodded helplessly. “No one expected that Berses would go so far, that he’d already prepared to blow up the base. Judging from the wreckage the special task force found, the value of that equipment was about equal to two years of The Midnight Watchers Society’s expenses in Hua City.”

Money power!

This was probably the only, and also the greatest, advantage the Eclipse Society had over The Midnight Watchers Society, besides not having to follow the law or ethics.

Jiang Li lowered her eyes, pondered for a few seconds, then suddenly remembered something and asked, “Where’s Bai Kai? What’s he been up to these past couple of days?”

“What else?” An Qing spread her hands, face full of disdain. “Eating, sleeping, hitting the nightclub!”

“I’ve already asked around. For the last two days, he’s practically lived in that nightclub–diving in before sunset and dragging himself out only after sunrise. He is absolutely hard at work, day and night.”

As she spoke, An Qing deliberately put a lewd emphasis on the word “hard.”

“Maybe things aren’t so harmonious with a certain Supervisor lady at home?”

Although the saying goes, ‘There are no bad fields, only tired oxen,’ who knows if a gigolo can ruin the field–after all, gigolos use modern tools… An Qing thought to herself.

Is it really that simple? Jiang Li frowned slightly.

In her view, Bai Kai might be unruly and his lifestyle questionable, but as a file management operator for The Midnight Watchers Society in Hua City, she’d read almost all his mission reports. In past haunting incidents, Bai Kai usually completed his tasks in half the time it took other operators.

Part of that was due to his Spirit Pattern talent giving him incredible speed, but it also showed his dedication.

But this time, Bai Kai had been slacking off from the start, and often disappeared with special task force leader Qi Dong and operator Gu Xiliu.

A few days ago, when she couldn’t reach Lu Yibei and went to ask Bai Kai, he was vague and perfunctory.

Jiang Li could tell at a glance he was hiding something, but at the time, the epidemic control work for Nocturnal Syndrome in Hua City was urgent, and she didn’t have time to investigate further.

But now…

“Qing-Jie.”

“Hmm?” An Qing tilted her head.

“Then I’ll hand over my work to you in a bit, and go get some rest, okay?” Jiang Li said.

An Qing smiled and waved her hand. “Go ahead, go ahead, leave it to me.”

“Mm…” Jiang Li nodded, thoughtful.

Come to think of it, I’ve never been to a nightclub in my life…

Maybe, later, I should go to the Fortune Star Mahjong Room and visit those old friends, Jiang Li thought.

Two hours later, the secret door of Fortune Star Mahjong Room was pushed open.

The gamblers in the inner hall saw the girl who had once been a nightmare to them walk in, and chaos erupted instantly.

“What’s going on? Why is she here again? Wasn’t it said she got married, retired from the scene, and went home to be a housewife?”

“Damn it, which bastard spread that rumor?”

“Waiter! Please cash out my chips over here… My DNA is shaking, I’m done playing!”

The return of the Gambling Queen sent the gamblers scattering like birds and beasts.

As usual, Jiang Li ignored the gamblers and walked straight to the corner, to that table that always seemed to have only three people. With a “bang!”, she slapped her cane and chips onto the table.

“Shuffle the cards? Let’s play a couple of rounds.”

“……”

Seeing Jiang Li arrive, the three hauntings disguised as humans looked as if they’d just eaten two pounds of raw pig intestine–utterly miserable.

As Jiang Li’s “informants,” they were already used to this way of meeting. But as hauntings under the command of the King of Hauntings, Calamity, they had also long received Calamity’s warning–psychic energy gambling was forbidden.

So now, when they came here every day, it was just to reminisce about old times, occasionally playing a few rounds for fun, without using psychic energy.

But now, seeing Jiang Li again, they were caught in a dilemma.

If they played with her without using psychic energy, even their core entities might be lost.

What’s more, as hauntings under Calamity, if they sold information to The Midnight Watchers Society operators, wouldn’t that make them traitors?

If Calamity caught them, their core entities would probably be gone too.

“What’s wrong?” Jiang Li swept a cold glance at the three hauntings and said calmly, “Haven’t seen you three for a while–have you turned over a new leaf?”

“Yes, yes! That’s right, we quit, haven’t played in ages!” one haunting said.

“Bang!” Jiang Li slapped the table, her voice sharp. “You think I’d believe your nonsense? If you’ve turned over a new leaf, what are you doing here?”

Another haunting gave the first one a look as if he were an idiot, then forced a smile at Jiang Li. “No, Operator Jiang, we really have…”

“I’m not here to win your money today,” Jiang Li interrupted. “I just want to ask you something, and maybe catch up a bit.”

By “catch up,” do you mean getting information from us, giving us a bonus, and then winning it all back–basically freeloading? the three hauntings thought in unison.

Jiang Li deliberately ignored their odd expressions and continued, “You all go to The Underground World often, right?”

Hauntings like these, who feed on human negative emotions, would never put all their eggs in one basket.

Although the Mahjong Room was their main battlefield, they also frequented places like nightclubs.

“The, The Underground World?” one haunting asked blankly. “Isn’t that under Operator Bai Kai’s jurisdiction? Wouldn’t it be more convenient and thorough to ask him directly?”

Jiang Li glanced at the haunting who spoke and said coolly, “It’s not convenient to ask him about this.”

I was planning to sneak in by surprise to see what he and Qi Dong are up to–how could I ask him? Jiang Li thought to herself.

“Then…” another haunting hesitated, then asked, “What do you want to know?”

“Not much.” Jiang Li said calmly, beckoning to the three hauntings with her finger. “Just want to borrow your VIP cards, liquor cards, that sort of thing.”

Though she’d never been to a nightclub, she knew the basics.

If she hadn’t known that Bai Kai had been frequenting the luxury suites of The Underground World lately, and that without the right connections you couldn’t even get near those suites, she wouldn’t have come here.

Hearing that Jiang Li wasn’t here to gamble or dig for information, the three hauntings were relieved, and like pouring beans from a bag, they placed all sorts of cards from Hua City’s major nightclubs on the table.

“No problem, no problem! Take whatever you need!”

Jiang Li glanced at the cards on the table, and without ceremony, reached out and swept them into her bag.

——–

At exactly six in the evening, darkness had completely fallen.

In front of The Underground World club, a black sedan pulled up and parked by the roadside.

A hot-bodied, black-skinned, blonde girl got out of the car, head held high, swaying her slender waist as she walked into the club’s main entrance.

“……”

Let’s see what tricks you’re all up to! Jiang Li thought.