Chapter 552: Summoning Dad

After handing the unexpectedly acquired gold to Du Sixian to handle, Lu Yibei returned to the Lu Family old mansion.

In the early morning, a light rain began to fall over Hua City. The raindrops descended from the sky, silent for a long time, then pattered against the branches and leaves of the pomegranate tree, rustling and breaking the tranquility of the fog-shrouded old street, adding a hint of liveliness.

This was probably the last spring rain in Hua City.

Lu Yibei carefully cleaned the dining room and kitchen, checked all the cooking utensils, the range hood, the gas stove, and everything else needed for cooking, making sure nothing had broken from disuse, then went up to the attic.

Returning to the room where she had slept for many years, Lu Yibei leaned against the bed.

The room was unlit. The streetlamp outside cast a light tinged with the misty rain through the window, outlining everything inside with an orange-yellow glow.

Ding-ling…

Facing the window, Lu Yibei raised the string of bronze wind chimes, gazed at them for a moment, sighed silently, and then put them away.

She should have gone home by now, right?

She remembered her saying before that once she found her fiancé, she would go home to get married.

Looking at it now, she must have found him…

“Damn, living in my house for so long without paying any rent, taking advantage of me, huh?”

Lu Yibei grumbled, composed herself, got out of bed, sat down at the writing desk, turned on the desk lamp, and with a thought, took out that rod from the Divine Land prototype. She then pulled out her phone, snapped a few photos, and opened a certain goose chat app to send a message to Online Old Pervert.

Wang Buliuxing: “Are you there? [Pink-haired loli peeking around the corner]”

After sending the message, she didn’t get an immediate reply as usual. She wondered what Online Old Pervert was busy with.

While waiting, she wrapped her hands in psychic energy, picked up the rod on the desk, and began to ponder.

What the hell is this thing? Always calling it a rod seems a bit off.

When she attacked with it earlier, her luck was like a European god, even able to make gold. Since it looks like a rod, why not just call it…

Bzzz, bzzz—-!

Just as Lu Yibei was thinking, her phone on the desk suddenly vibrated, interrupting her thoughts. She picked it up and saw it was a message from Online Old Pervert.

Online Pervert 0: “I’m here, what’s up? [Blonde swimsuit big sister puffing out her chest]”

Wang Buliuxing: “Guess?”

Online Pervert 0: “……”

Wang Buliuxing: “Aren’t you guys the ones who love peeking into other people’s lives the most? Don’t you know why I’m looking for you?”

Online Pervert 0: “Well… our attention does have its priorities! Since the Nocturnal Syndrome outbreak in Hua City, we’ve been focusing more on that, but lately there are other things that need attention.”

Wang Buliuxing: “Other things? [Pink-haired loli question face]”

Online Pervert 0: “Since you’re an insider in The Midnight Watchers Society, you should know that Miracle Order has been very active everywhere lately, right?”

Seeing Online Old Pervert’s reply, Lu Yibei frowned slightly.

Of course she knew. The two criminals brainwashed by Miracle Order at Hua City airport were caught by her own hands.

She had planned to participate in the interrogation, but was told that The Midnight Watchers Society had, for some unspeakable reason, banned the torture of psychic suspects four or five years ago.

Even psychological torture was forbidden!

But she hadn’t even joined the interrogation yet, so why were all her colleagues in Hua City’s Midnight Watchers Society so sure she’d torture suspects?

So annoying! Lu Yibei really didn’t know what she’d done to make them misunderstand her like this. She was clearly a gentle person at heart.

After pondering for a few seconds, Lu Yibei typed: “So, since you’ve been following Miracle Order’s movements lately, have you found anything? PS: I know they’re apparently looking for something.”

Online Pervert 0: “Although there’s nothing important for now, it doesn’t hurt to tell you. But you won’t leak it to The Midnight Watchers Society, right? [Loli on guard]”

Wang Buliuxing: “What do you take me for? A double agent?”

More like a polyhedron, okay!

Online Pervert 0: “Just kidding. It’s just that Miracle Order members always act in ways that are hard to understand with normal logic. We’ve been watching them closely for days, and we only know a bit more than you.”

Wang Buliuxing: “A bit?”

Online Pervert 0: “Yeah, all we know is that Miracle Order members have recently staged a series of psychic energy attacks to search for their Holy Son. Their Holy Son got lost shortly after entering Country Z.

As for why they staged those psychic energy attacks before the Holy Son got lost, we have no idea.”

After reading Online Old Pervert’s reply, Lu Yibei glanced at the rod on the desk out of the corner of her eye and felt a bit relieved.

Not long ago, after witnessing the rod’s bizarre abilities, she had suspected it was related to Miracle Order, but now it seemed the two weren’t strongly connected.

Miracle Order’s Holy Son couldn’t possibly be a rod, right?

Wang Buliuxing: “By the way, doesn’t your haunting chat group have members from all sorts of factions? Isn’t there a Miracle Order member? Why not just @ them and ask what they’re up to lately?”

Online Pervert 0: “Let me clarify. First, ever since a member of the Eclipse Society traded with Lady Zi and got a few innocents killed, there haven’t been any Eclipse Society members in the group.

Second, there used to be a Miracle Order member, but after that guy reported the group and got it blown up, he was kicked out. [Blonde bunny girl big sister helpless]”

Wang Buliuxing: “Someone actually managed to report you guys successfully? How did they do it?”

Having failed countless times to report the haunting chat group, Lu Yibei had almost given up on that. Now, hearing someone actually succeeded, she felt a spark of hope ignite in her heart.

I want to see what kind of wild tricks Miracle Order has!

Online Pervert 0: “No harm in telling you. Even if you know, you can’t copy his method and succeed. His report reason was ‘pornography,’ with the detailed description: [Group owner doesn’t cross-dress on Arbor Day].”

“……”

After a few seconds of silence, Lu Yibei quietly exited the private chat, entered the chat group, clicked the little exclamation mark in the top right corner, and submitted a report.

Report reason: Fraud.

Detailed description: [April 30th, National Traffic Reflection Day, group owner doesn’t drive].

A few seconds later, she received a private message from Online Old Pervert.

Online Pervert 0: “Wow, you learn fast! So? Didn’t work, right? Give it up, you’re not a Miracle Order member, you can’t make that kind of miracle happen!”

Just you wait! One day I’ll succeed… Lu Yibei thought awkwardly, then changed the subject and typed: “On a serious note, help me investigate three things? Payment is not a problem!”

Now that we have money, we can be this extravagant!

Online Pervert 0: “[Married woman in bathrobe wiping sweat] Uh… why don’t you tell me first? I’ll decide after hearing, whether to help, and whether it’s free or paid.”

Wang Buliuxing: “First thing, help me investigate someone. Name: Hu Chuan, male, 24 years old, native of Hua City, used to be a student in the metallurgy department at Hua City University of Technology.”

Online Pervert 0: “Ordinary person?”

Wang Buliuxing: “He might also be a low-level psychic. The school records say he suddenly died unexpectedly before graduation. After testing by certain means, I suspect he faked his death. I want you to help confirm it.”

The principle of targeted soul summoning is to use the lingering thoughts left on the deceased’s belongings to communicate with the soul, creating an unformed haunting, thereby achieving the purpose of summoning. Simply put, it’s about first creating a shell for the soul to attach to, then bringing the soul over.

If the target is indeed dead, even if someone has imprisoned their soul or interfered with the spell formation in some way, during the step of using lingering thoughts to create an unformed haunting, under normal circumstances, there should still be a faint response.

As for the traditional sense of “soul scattered”… unless someone can completely erase all lingering thoughts from the deceased’s belongings, like how Lu Yibei “transcended” Suolang Baima, or if the death exceeds a certain time limit and all lingering soul thoughts dissipate.

This time limit is usually more than five years, less than ten. If Hu Chuan really died, the lingering soul thoughts should still be within the effective period.

If someone wiped clean all lingering thoughts from Hu Chuan’s belongings, that’s even more suspicious and worth investigating.

Also, although Lu Yibei already used the Fortune Deity Coin to divine whether Hu Chuan died, and the result was indeed death, her divination method is too crude. When divining matters other than herself, as long as the psychic energy level reaches a certain degree, interference can occur.

And Zhang Shuo, whom Hu Chuan once interacted with, as well as the Haze Deity who has countless connections with his rotten buddy Li Tanghan, both have very high psychic energy fluctuation levels and methods surpassing their level. Interfering with the divination result isn’t difficult.

Online Pervert 0: “This one can probably be free. I’ll check right away. Fastest one hour, slowest three days, and I’ll give you detailed info. What about the other two things?”

Wang Buliuxing: “I want to investigate the origin of a certain pattern, which might be an emblem or a totem. Wait a moment, I’ll draw it for you.”

After Lu Yibei finished replying, she took out paper and pen, relying on the memory left in the chaos while being hunted, and drew on the paper the pattern projected onto her body by the rod bursting with golden light. She then held it up, examined it carefully, and nodded in satisfaction.

“Mm, not bad, exactly the same!”

With that, she picked up her phone, took a photo, and sent it to Online Pervert.

Wang Buliuxing: “[Image][Image] This is it.”

Online Pervert 0: “Is this… an octopus with dozens of legs? Or a twisted version of the Flying Spaghetti Monster’s main deity? Where did you see this kind of mental pollution image?<Scream>.jpg”

Wang Buliuxing: “…It’s a sun with wings.”

No, is it really drawn that badly?

Damn it, it’s all the Ancestors’ fault, not a single gene for artistic talent! Lu Yibei thought.

Online Pervert 0: “…Let’s put this aside for now? When you find a more recognizable image, we’ll help investigate. What’s the last thing?”

Wang Buliuxing: “Didn’t I have a Dai Nichi Myo-o Statue before?”

Online Pervert 0: “Yeah, it got accidentally damaged during the Dream Journey, right?”

Tsk! The most annoying thing is you people who act like you know everything! Lu Yibei complained inwardly, typed a reply: “Mm… After the Dai Nichi Myo-o Statue was damaged, something fell out of it. That thing has been acting strange lately, I want to try investigating its origin.”

Wang Buliuxing: “[Image][Image][Image] These are photos I just took.”

Online Pervert 0: “Hiss, this thing looks… you know what I mean?”

Wang Buliuxing: “Just tell me if you can investigate! [Pink-haired loli with black face]”

Online Pervert 0: “We can, but probably not for free. The reward depends on the difficulty of the investigation. We can start checking, and once we have results, we’ll tell you how much the reward is. Is that okay?”

Wang Buliuxing: “No problem.”

Online Pervert 0: “Pleasure working with you! Also, stop trying the Miracle Order’s reporting method, it won’t work!”

Seeing Online Pervert’s reply, Lu Yibei’s finger, moving toward the upper right corner, froze, rolled her eyes, put away her phone, and looked at the rod on the table.

Speaking of which, what was I about to name it just now?

Let me think…

“Right, I think it was Ougin…” Lu Yibei stopped halfway, suddenly remembered something, her eye twitched, “Uh, or maybe Shengin… Forget it, I’ll just keep calling it rod.”

The word “rod” is really peculiar. No matter what prefix you add in front, the resulting term always sounds weird.

——–

5:07 AM.

After finishing her chat with Online Pervert, Lu Yibei had already been lying on the bed for almost two hours.

She stared at the ceiling, her gaze shifting back and forth, as if hesitating about something.

Something kept shouting from a corner of her heart, making it hard for her to sleep.

After a long while, as if finally making up her mind, a hint of determination flashed in her eyes. She got up, walked into the next room, came to a cardboard box in the corner, and tore open the tape forcefully.

“Rip!” The sound echoed in her ears, but felt like it tore deep in her chest.

A small sword carved from wood.

An ugly knitted scarf, made by Lu Yibei in elementary school craft class, which her dad would wear every winter.

A soccer ball with “Cristiano Ronaldo” written in Chinese characters…

“Tsk, Dad really is ridiculous. Even when tricking kids, he should consider reality, right? How could Ronaldo sign in Chinese?” Lu Yibei rolled her eyes, a smile in her gaze.

As she spoke, she took out her dad’s belongings from the box one by one, carefully placing them into the Divine Land prototype.

Although tonight she’d already experienced the failure to summon Hu Chuan and two setbacks from being hunted by the rod, she still wanted to try summoning her dad.

But she had to wait until daylight.

Otherwise, if she really summoned her dad, how would she explain the absurd situation of his son turning into a daughter?

This face looks so much like Ms. Wang Meili, it’s impossible to bluff like with the Ancestors…