Chapter 511: Negotiating with a Tiger

Seeing Lu Yibei’s reluctant expression, the PL girl rolled her eyes and said, “Are you thinking that after all your hard work, you got nothing out of it and took a huge loss?”

“No, not at all,” Lu Yibei replied earnestly. “How could I feel at a loss? If I feel like I lost out over something this small, doesn’t that mean I have a narrow mindset? Struggling doesn’t always bring rewards, but if you don’t struggle, you don’t even qualify to be taken advantage of, right?”

Although Lu Yibei herself knew that using a large amount of psychic energy and Ley Line Energy to repair the special space wasn’t really a loss for her–in fact, it could even be considered a gain.

But as the saying goes, ‘the squeaky wheel gets the grease.’ What if she could get something from the PL girl by playing the victim a bit…?

Uh, I mean, maybe if I act pitiful, I can freeload some benefits off the PL girl?

It can’t always be her taking advantage of me while I get nothing in return, right?

Even a few half-price power leveling coupons would be nice! Lu Yibei thought.

“……”

After listening to Lu Yibei’s sarcastic speech, the PL girl was silent for a few seconds before snapping, “Can you stop reading so much toxic motivational nonsense? That stuff just makes you dumber!”

“Besides, your power has been restored, and both the quality and quantity of your psychic energy fluctuation will increase. Although, you’ll have to reserve some of that extra psychic energy to keep the special space running.”

“How much do I need to reserve?” Lu Yibei asked in confusion.

The PL girl shrugged. “A sixty-forty split!”

Lu Yibei frowned slightly. “Only sixty percent is usable? Well, it’s better than nothing!”

“What sixty percent? Forty percent!” The PL girl shot Lu Yibei a glare. “Sixty percent has to stay in the special space to keep it running!”

“……” Lu Yibei was silent for two seconds, then said expressionlessly, “From what you’re saying, it sounds like this special space is just a burden now. If it really comes to that, I’ll just report myself and hand the special space over to The Midnight Watchers Society. Maybe they’ll even give me a little ‘Friend of Humanity’ banner.”

“Tch!” The PL girl clicked her tongue. “Look at you! So you lost a bit of psychic energy and can’t use Ley Line Energy for now, big deal!”

At this point, she paused, her gaze sharp as she looked into Lu Yibei’s eyes and said seriously, “Lu Yibei, you need to understand, Ley Line Energy is convenient, but it only lets you power up quickly within Hua City.”

“You can’t hide in Hua City forever, can you? That stuff isn’t your own strength. The sooner you break your dependence on it, the better.”

“What’s more, merging Ley Line Energy into the special space is so that you can use its amplification effect anytime, anywhere in the future, right?”

Hearing this, Lu Yibei’s eyes lit up. “Wait, what? Ley Line Energy can be taken with me?”

“I get it, I get it! It’s like swapping a fixed power outlet for a portable power bank, right?”

The PL girl nodded slightly. “Exactly. This is one of the most common uses in the Divine Land.”

Upon hearing this, Lu Yibei immediately pictured herself in a fight with an enemy, suddenly pulling out a special space from under her skirt, drawing Ley Line Energy from it into her body, and then instantly powering up like she’d just taken a shot of adrenaline.

However, just as she started to get excited, the PL girl, like a cold, unfeeling sprinkler, dumped a bucket of cold water over her head.

“But, not yet. After all, this special space is only a prototype of the Divine Land.”

Lu Yibei frowned slightly.

Then what’s the point of having it?

A power bank you can’t take out isn’t a good power bank. A cheat you can’t use anytime, anywhere isn’t a good cheat… Lu Yibei grumbled inwardly.

“But…”

“But? Why is there always a twist?” Lu Yibei said impatiently. “Can’t you just say everything at once?”

“Aren’t I just about to finish?” The PL girl shot Lu Yibei a glare. “Even if it’s just a prototype of the Divine Land, there’s still a way to carry it with you.”

Lu Yibei scratched the back of her head and pressed, “What way?”

The PL girl narrowed her eyes meaningfully. “Remember the Great Serpent God’s bamboo slips illusion?”

“Of course I remember. I think Gu Qianqian has it.” Lu Yibei nodded.

As the King of Hauntings who controls Hua City’s Ley Line Energy and commands a host of hauntings, it was easy for Lu Yibei to learn that Gu Qianqian had an ancient bamboo slip.

As for what Gu Qianqian did with the bamboo slips illusion, she didn’t know.

After pondering for a moment, Lu Yibei pinched her chin with one hand, narrowed her eyes, and said, “You mean, you want me to get Gu Qianqian’s bamboo slips?”

“Isn’t that a bit… unscrupulous?”

Ever since reading Gu Xinian’s diary and learning that Gu Qianqian was his fiancée, Lu Yibei always felt she ought to treat her a bit better.

“I’m just giving an example! Can’t you stop thinking about using those sneaky tricks all the time?” The PL girl sighed helplessly. “What I mean is, you could do what the Great Serpent God did–find a psychic artifact strong enough to anchor the Divine Land.”

A psychic artifact strong enough… Lu Yibei pressed, “Like what?”

“For example…” The PL girl thought for a moment. “Didn’t Ms. Wang Meili leave you a bunch of birthday gifts? There should be some reliable psychic artifacts among them, right?”

“Actually, no.” Lu Yibei rubbed her forehead, massaging her slightly throbbing brow.

Things like a mirror that lets you play rock-paper-scissors with yourself, a bracelet that ensures smoke never drifts your way when eating hotpot, a plush toy that can tell you the winning numbers of the last lottery without checking the results, shoes that guarantee you won’t trip when walking backward…

Aside from the wooden deer for riding and the furry gloves that keep mosquitoes from biting you as long as two or more people are present, Ms. Wang Meili’s gifts really didn’t have much practical value.

Lu Yibei only gradually understood while unwrapping the gifts: her old man hadn’t sent her those bizarre items as promised, not just because he wanted her to stay away from psychic artifacts, but probably because he realized those things were utterly useless.

“None?” The PL girl was surprised by the answer, paused for two seconds, then said, “That’s a bit troublesome. The only psychic artifact I can think of that could withstand this special space is the complete Pure Lotus Sword.”

“If you could make the Pure Lotus Sword the anchor for this special space, then not only could you carry the Divine Land prototype with you at all times, the Pure Lotus Sword would also be nourished and strengthened. It’s a win-win. But…”

“But what? Is it hard?” Lu Yibei asked.

How long has it been? I’ve already found four out of five fragments.

The last one shouldn’t be much trouble, right? Lu Yibei thought, feeling a bit overconfident.

“Not hard, not hard!” The PL girl shook her head, suppressing a mischievous smile. “As far as I know, the last fragment is in the hands of the [Dark Emperor].”

“Who?” Lu Yibei tilted her head.

“Member of The Midnight Watchers Society, one of the five catastrophe-class psychics, and also the strongest individual combatant among the Society’s psychics on the surface,” the PL girl explained.

“You just need to sneak into his home, find the last fragment of the Pure Lotus Sword, and quietly bring it out. How about it? Sounds simple, right?”

Lu Yibei stared at the PL girl for a few seconds, expressionless, making sure she wasn’t joking, then cupped her hands at her.

“Speaking of… I suddenly remembered, I think I left the gas on at home when I went out. I need to go back first, or Gu Qianqian will be poisoned to death. Let’s talk next time if there’s anything else.”

Are you kidding me?

Stealing from the strongest fighter in The Midnight Watchers Society is no different from skinning a tiger alive.

Why not just ask me to become the president of The Midnight Watchers Society?

Lu Yibei thought as she walked straight toward the edge of the rooftop, then silently climbed onto the railing.

This is absurd!

It’s like needing to defeat the first boss after leaving the newbie village, but you’re not strong enough, so you must get stronger–but the only way to get stronger is to defeat the final demon king and get its loot, otherwise you can’t leave the newbie village.

It’s a dead loop.

Just as Lu Yibei climbed onto the rooftop railing, ready to leap off and escape this damned place, the PL girl grabbed her wrist and yanked her back.

“Don’t be so hasty! I haven’t finished talking yet!” The PL girl explained. “I’m not asking you to steal it yourself–we can use some indirect tactics!”

“Wow, so it’s not enough to get me killed, you want to drag someone else down with me?” Lu Yibei exclaimed. “You’re so wicked, how can your heart be so dark?”

The PL girl rolled her eyes at Lu Yibei. “I’m not telling you to act right now. I’m just giving you a reference plan. When to act, whether to act at all, that’s up to you.”

Lu Yibei made a gesture of invitation to the PL girl, expressionless. “Go ahead, I’m all ears!”

Let’s see what tricks you can come up with!

“As far as I know, the [Dark Emperor] has a disciple-grandchild, a once-in-a-century genius from the Great Pure Palace…”

“Alright, I don’t want to hear anymore.” Lu Yibei interrupted. “I choose to lie flat. I’ll just stay in Hua City for the rest of my life and never go.”

With that, she climbed onto the rooftop railing again.

From the strongest psychic, now to the strongest psychic’s disciple-grandchild.

The difficulty has only dropped from facing the demon king right out of the newbie village, to facing the strongest of the four heavenly kings.

And there’s the Great Pure Palace, and ‘once-in-a-century genius’–those deadly modifiers… Wait, that’s not right, I think I’ve heard that title somewhere before?

Lu Yibei suddenly turned to look at the PL girl, eyeing her suspiciously. “Is this genius disciple-grandchild called Fu Xinyi?”

That’s right, back in Tang City, that girl bragged to me about being the Great Pure Palace’s genius.

“I don’t know…” The PL girl shrugged, unconcerned. “I just know there’s such a person, and she’s closely connected to the [Dark Emperor]. If you could use her to bring out the last fragment, the risk would be much lower.”

“……” Lu Yibei pondered for a while, then pressed on, “By the way, do you know the name of that [Dark Emperor]?”

“I don’t.” The PL girl curled her lips, her eyes showing undisguised disgust as she spoke.

“You two have a grudge?” Lu Yibei asked curiously.

“Not really!” The PL girl replied indifferently, “I just simply don’t like him.”

“Why?”

The PL girl, “……”

Why? The moment he sees me, he inexplicably wants to kill me. It’s not like, in a life-or-death fight, you’d stop to ask someone’s name, right?

Even if you did ask, he probably wouldn’t tell you. For hauntings and psychics, exposing your real name to the enemy is basically handing them another way to defeat you for no reason.

All sorts of curse-killing methods are still quite common between psychics and hauntings.

The PL girl grumbled inwardly but didn’t say it out loud.

If she told Lu Yibei all this, she might just surrender on the spot.

“Let me put it this way! Suppose there’s a girl who smokes, drinks, gets perms, and fights, but she knows she’s a good girl. Then one day, out of nowhere, some meddling old man shows up and, without knowing anything about her or what she’s been through, tries to persuade her to be good and become a nun. What do you think she’d do?”

Lu Yibei glanced sideways at the PL girl for a while, then asked in return, “Is the girl you’re talking about yourself?”

The PL girl glared at Lu Yibei and said nothing.

“Uh, I get it.”

Sensing a hint of killing intent in her eyes, Lu Yibei nodded decisively.

Although she still had doubts about what the PL girl said, now was the time to play along even if she didn’t understand.

“In any case, if I get the chance, I’ll give it a try.”

If the genius the PL girl mentioned was Fu Xinyi, then the [Dark Emperor], as Fu Xinyi’s grandmaster, was most likely Zhang Huainan. Even if not, he must be someone close to Zhang Huainan.

In that case, with the tangled relationship between the Ancestors and the Great Pure Palace, there was room to maneuver.

However, before that, she still needed to make thorough preparations to ensure that, when facing the [Dark Emperor], she had at least a one hundred percent chance of escaping alive, Lu Yibei thought.

——–

After spending some more time asking the PL girl about a few details, Lu Yibei said goodbye to her, climbed onto the rooftop railing, and leapt down, skillfully letting darkness swallow her vision.

However.

Although Lu Yibei had already gotten a lot of useful information from the PL girl, it was precisely because of this that she felt puzzled and couldn’t help but ponder.

Had the PL girl never come into contact with the Ancestors?

If she had deeply interacted with the Ancestors and then was meddled with by the [Dark Emperor] from the Great Pure Palace, she shouldn’t have resisted so violently.

Damn, now she was suddenly curious about what had happened to her. What should she do?

As Lu Yibei thought this, she also vaguely felt that if she dug too deeply into the PL girl’s affairs, she might bring about some very bad consequences.

And then……

Just as she was caught in this dilemma, the darkness before her eyes began to fade, and a faint light broke into her vision.

Her body seemed to be buoyed upward by water, and a strange, mysterious song echoed in her ears.

——–

“……~WRYYYYYYYYYY~Yeah!”

Lu Yibei jolted awake, staring at the pale white ceiling, dazed for a long while before finally dragging herself to pick up the phone by his pillow and answering the call.

“Hello?”

“Hey! Yibei, when are you coming out?”

“Huh?” Lu Yibei was stunned for a few seconds before realizing it was Su Mi’s voice on the other end. He opened his mouth, just about to say something, when Su Mi started complaining.

“Huh what? Look at the time! Didn’t we all agree to head out early before the graduation dinner and hit the internet cafe for some games?”

Graduation dinner? Internet cafe? Lu Yibei frowned and looked out the window.

Outside, the bright morning sunlight looked as if it had been washed clean, fresh and clear.

The pale golden rays filtered through the branches of the old trees in the courtyard, spilling onto the windowsill. Tiny dust motes floated in the air, refracting faintly colorful halos.

Seeing this scene, Lu Yibei felt a sudden clarity.

The operation of the special space was back on track.

Except for the part taken by the Eclipse Society, everything had returned to normal……