Chapter 486: She’s Lying!

Early morning, Amber Mansion.

Gold and silver jewelry, honey-colored bead bracelets, sandalwood combs, brooch necklaces inlaid with gemstones… all sorts of accessories had been dismantled into tiny pieces, neatly and orderly spread out on the soft bed.

Almost every one of these pieces was exquisitely crafted and expensive, but in Jiang Li’s eyes, they were nothing more than a pile of spell-casting materials.

Although she had arrived in this special space in the early hours last night and quickly eliminated the interference from the false memories, she didn’t act immediately to search for Lu Yibei.

Being new to this place, not knowing what threats might exist outside or whether her own abilities were limited, acting rashly would be very unwise.

After attempting to activate a few Spirit Patterns, Jiang Li quickly discovered that her psychic energy fluctuation was indeed restricted to a certain extent.

Once she confirmed this, the first thing she did was to search out all the jewelry in the room.

These accessories, made from gemstones, precious metals, and fine woods, were excellent alchemical materials.

Given the certain degree of interchangeability between Alchemy, talisman, and spell formation, over sixty percent of spell formations could be cast with alchemical assistance when psychic energy fluctuation was limited.

This was also one of the important means for many low-level operators of The Midnight Watchers Society to make up for their combat strength when facing slightly stronger hauntings.

So, after using a few basic spell formations to confirm that the materials in this special space could indeed assist in spell-casting, Jiang Li spent several hours carefully dismantling her jewelry into “raw materials.”

Time: exactly seven in the morning.

Jiang Li withdrew her gaze from the wall clock, bent down, and sorted the spell-casting materials spread out on the bed into small cloth bags by category.

She packed the small cloth bags into a sports backpack, then changed into a set of sportswear, quickly left the bedroom, and headed toward the dining room.

It was time to say goodbye to this fake “home”… Jiang Li thought.

——–

When Jiang Li arrived at the dining room, the butler–whom she hadn’t seen in a long time since her family’s decline–was directing the maids to bring various pastries, fresh berries, and whole grain porridge to the table.

Her parents were already seated, her father at the head of the table reading the newspaper, her mother at the side seat holding a tablet and watching news videos.

It should have been a warm scene of a family sharing breakfast in the morning, but in Jiang Li’s eyes, it felt inexplicably eerie and sinister.

After all, in her memory, both her father and mother were already dead.

Especially her father–she had seen it with her own eyes, right at the entrance of this dining room, hanging from the beam. As soon as the door opened, a pair of feet in leather shoes came into view…

Even for a battle-hardened operator of The Midnight Watchers Society like Jiang Li, having breakfast at the same table as the dead was a scene she had never encountered before.

Forcing herself to endure the discomfort, she sat quietly at the end of the table, her gaze lingering on her father for a few seconds, a cold glint flashing deep in her eyes. Then she looked at her mother, and her expression instantly softened, a trace of tenderness appearing.

Even though she knew all of this was fake, seeing her parents in person still stirred her emotions a little.

……

[Yanjing time, 00:12, a major traffic accident occurred at the Central Park section of the Huacheng Sunshine Overpass, resulting in four deaths and one injury; the overpass sustained minor damage…]

[Yanjing time, 04:31, equipment failure occurred at Substation No. 2 in our city, causing a small fire; emergency repairs are underway…]

Her gaze lingered on her mother as she listened to the intermittent news video coming from the tablet, and Jiang Li frowned slightly.

As a seasoned operator of The Midnight Watchers Society, she was particularly sensitive to news of such sudden incidents, always involuntarily associating them with haunting incidents.

If this were the real Hua City, at least half of these sudden incidents could be linked to hauntings, and a large portion of them, after Li Xuan compiled the news, would be archived by her.

“……”

Am I overthinking it?

Judging from the contents of those false memories and the information obtained from Bai Kai and Qi Dong, there shouldn’t be any hauntings in this special space, Jiang Li thought to herself.

[Yanjing time, 05:27, a magnitude 8.3 earthquake struck Barrow, Alaska, USA, with tremors felt for hundreds of kilometers…]

The sound of the news video reached her ears again. Jiang Li withdrew her attention, put down her knife and fork, wiped her mouth, and stood up, bowing slightly to her parents.

“Dad, Mom, I’m full. I’ll be going now.”

With that, she got up and walked toward the door.

Seeing Jiang Li get up, her mother looked her up and down, then called out to her, asking with concern, “Wait, Jiang Li, why did you eat so little today?”

“Is your appetite not good?”

“…” Jiang Li turned around, hesitated to speak, and finally shook her head gently.

Actually, her appetite was quite good today, and the breakfast made by the family chef was delicious. But sitting at the same table with her deceased parents, she still felt as if every bite was hard to swallow.

After a brief silence, Jiang Li smiled at her mother and said softly, “Mom, I’m fine. It’s just that I’ve gained a few pounds recently and want to lose some weight, so don’t worry!”

“Losing weight doesn’t mean you can skip meals!” Her mother scolded, “Don’t go yet, I’ll have the butler prepare a snack box for you!”

“Oh come on, just leave it be!” Acting a bit spoiled, Jiang Li swayed her body and muttered.

“If there’s nothing else, I’ll go work out first. I won’t be back for lunch, I’m meeting some girlfriends for afternoon tea, and I might come home late tonight.”

With that, she turned and jogged toward the door.

Maybe I’ll never come back again… Jiang Li added silently in her heart as she turned, then sighed quietly.

Although Dream Come True Entertainment City had already been destroyed, and the Dream Come True Journey had been suspended at the Hua City stop thanks to Lu Yibei’s efforts,

she still couldn’t let go of the regret that she hadn’t managed to win back her mother–who had also been used as a chip and had long since disappeared–through her gamble with the Big Boss.

So, even though she knew everything before her eyes was an illusion, when facing her mother, she couldn’t help but reveal her softer side as a daughter.

Watching Jiang Li walk away, her mother nudged her father with her elbow and complained, “That child! Why don’t you do something about her?”

“What’s there to do? Our daughter is an adult now, she has her own ideas…”

——–

Behind her, her parents’ whispers gradually faded away, disappearing into the morning breeze.

Jiang Li walked through the manor’s courtyard, out the main gate, and continued on for several hundred meters before pausing slightly. She reached into her backpack, took out the Face-Changing solidified spell formation mask, and put it on.

Immediately, a wave of light rippled and spread over her entire body, and her appearance changed dramatically.

Her long black hair turned into golden waves, her fair skin became a sexy wheat color, and her slender figure became voluptuous.

Once the effect of the Face-Changing solidified spell formation mask was complete, the first thing Jiang Li did was take out her phone, open her social app, and send a friend request to Lu Yibei’s account.

After submitting the request, she waited a few seconds. Seeing that Lu Yibei hadn’t accepted, she shook her head lightly.

Looks like trying to confirm Lu Yibei’s address by adding her as a friend on social media won’t work. I’ll have to try something else, Jiang Li thought.

Although she knew some divination methods that could be used to track Lu Yibei’s general location,

before coming here, Bai Kai had also told her that Gu Xiliu would try to help her through dreamwalking.

However, since Lu Yibei had moved to an unknown location, once the distance exceeded a certain range, the accuracy of divination would drop sharply.

And due to the interference from the flesh and blood of the Beast of Inheritance, it was already difficult for Gu Xiliu to appear precisely by Lu Yibei’s side as before, let alone by Jiang Li’s side.

Now, even when she could enter dreams, or whose body her consciousness would attach to, Gu Xiliu couldn’t control–it was too uncertain, and whether she could help at all was questionable.

So, last night, while collecting materials for spellcasting, Jiang Li had taken the time to draft today’s action plan.

First, try to confirm Lu Yibei’s residence through social media. If that failed, check both Jingyi Apartment and the Lu Family old mansion. If she still couldn’t find her, she would repeatedly use divination to gradually narrow down the range until she locked onto Lu Yibei’s location.

Now that the first plan had failed, it was time to try the second.

——–

At 8:05 a.m., Jingyi Apartment, Building 3, Phase 3, 9th floor.

Jiang Li stopped in front of unit 902, took a deep breath, raised her hand, and pressed the doorbell.

“Ding dong—-ding dong—-!”

“Who is it!? So early in the morning!”

After two rings, a rough voice called out from behind the door, and soon the door opened. A man with a cheap cigarette dangling from his mouth appeared.

He was a ruffian-looking man with a fierce face, wearing a white tank top and beach shorts, flip-flops on his feet, and a cute flower-shaped hair crystal pendant hanging from his neck, completely at odds with his demeanor.

Seeing the blonde girl at the door, the man’s dead fish eyes slanted with a bit of hooliganism. He asked impatiently, “Who are you?”

Is this Lu Yibei? Jiang Li frowned slightly, but to be sure, she asked, “I’m looking for Lu Yibei.”

“Lu Yibei? Never heard of her, get lost!” the man said irritably, about to close the door as he spoke.

Seeing this, Jiang Li grabbed the door handle and pressed, “Wait! What about Wang Buliuxing?”

The man opened his mouth, about to say something, when a voice called out from inside the house.

“Honey, who’s at the door?”

“Some detergent salesperson!” the man replied, glaring fiercely at Jiang Li, and snapped, “If you don’t leave, I’ll call security!”

With that, he slammed the door shut with a “bang!”

“……”

Honey?

Already married?

Then it definitely wasn’t Lu Yibei.

Staring at the tightly closed security door, Jiang Li muttered a few complaints in her heart, then collected herself, turned, and took the elevator to the next possible place where Lu Yibei might live–Mudan Street.

Maybe, there, she could see her benefactor again! Jiang Li thought with a bit of anticipation, and her steps became lighter.

On Mudan Street, the wind swept by, making the ancient willows beside the clear canal sway, scattering withered leaves onto the water like pages of light boats drifting downstream.

Jiang Li stood on the bluestone-paved street, looking up at the quaint two-story building before her, her brows tightly knitted.

If she remembered correctly, this should be where Lu Yibei’s old mansion was located.

However, she didn’t see the iconic “Lu’s Sichuan Restaurant” sign here–there was only a dilapidated two-story building, its main door locked and windows tightly shut.

The door, bearing traces of insect damage, had a rusty lock, and the windows were covered in dust, clearly uninhabited for a long time.

……

Lu Yibei didn’t live in Jingyi Apartment, and the old mansion hadn’t been lived in for ages either…

It seemed she’d have to use divination and search slowly, Jiang Li thought.

In fact, unless absolutely necessary, she was very reluctant to use such an inefficient method.

Though she was proficient in several forms of divination, she was far from a master; even if Lu Yibei was somewhere in Hua City, she’d have to divine a dozen times just to narrow the range to within a kilometer.

“But before that, I should ask the neighbors around here first,” Jiang Li muttered to herself. “Maybe someone knows where that guy moved to?”

As she spoke, she searched around and her gaze landed on two elderly men playing chess under a tree not far away.

However, just as Jiang Li took a step toward the two old men, a girl’s voice sounded behind her.

“Hello, may I ask, do you have business with the owner of this house? I saw you looking here for quite a while just now.”

Jiang Li was taken aback. She turned around and saw a girl in a white dress.

Her face was as pure as beautiful jade, set off by slightly upturned red lips. Her long black hair was meticulously coiled up, and she exuded an ethereal aura from head to toe.

As Jiang Li met her gaze, in that instant, she sensed a strong hostility–perhaps even killing intent–in those bright eyes.

From her words, did she know Lu Yibei?

But why would she be hostile toward me?

Jiang Li grumbled inwardly, lifting her chin slightly and meeting the girl’s gaze with an equally cold look, refusing to back down.

For a moment, their eyes clashed, almost as if forming something tangible.

……

“Old Zhang, did you hear a strange sound just now?”

“What sound?”

“Dragon’s roar and tiger’s howl!”

“Old Wang… that’s just your hypertension ringing in your ears! Hurry up and take a couple of antihypertensive medication!”

……

The whispers of the two old men playing chess under the tree drifted over, and only then did the two girls withdraw their gazes.

“It’s nothing serious…” Jiang Li smiled calmly. “I was just passing by, really like this little building, and wanted to buy it, that’s all.”

“You seem to know the owner? Could you give me his contact information?”

“Oh, that…” Nanling Rao Hua gave Jiang Li a gentle smile. “I don’t know! I’m just his neighbor. His family moved away a long time ago, and I don’t know where they went either.”

“Oh? Is that so? What a pity.” Jiang Li shook her head. “In that case, I’ll take my leave.”

“Bye-bye!” Nanling Rao Hua waved lightly at Jiang Li.

Then.

The moment they turned and walked in different directions, the expressions on both girls’ faces darkened almost simultaneously.

She’s lying! Jiang Li and Nanling Rao Hua thought at the same time.