Chapter 581: What Are You Laughing At?

Online Pervert 00: “Sorry, I searched through all the information on our side and still could not find anything related to that kind of badge. My guess is that it is the badge of some local secret organization. The haunting chat group has too weak a grasp of intelligence around Shizhou City, so it would not know about more secretive matters.”

Online Pervert 00: “However, I did find the home address of the Lin Nian you mentioned. It is Building 5, Unit 2, Room 401, Huifeng Community, east of Sleepless Street. [Image] [Image]”

Lu Yibei looked at the chat log, then looked up at the somewhat old residential building ahead and gave a slight nod.

“Building 5, Unit 2… this should be it, right? It looks about the same as in the photo.”

After confirming that she had found the right place, she put away her phone, jogged upstairs, and after reaching the fourth floor, raised her hand and knocked on the door of 401.

“Knock, knock, knock!”

Lu Yibei had only knocked three times when she heard a faint “clack!” from somewhere not far behind the door. It sounded like something had been knocked over onto the floor, and her eyes immediately lit up.

She is home? I was worried she had fled to escape punishment!

Lu Yibei grumbled inwardly. Her lips parted slightly, she took a breath, and then began a Wang Xueqin-style door-yelling routine.

“…”

————

Lu Yibei had thought Lin Nian would not open the door so easily, and she had even prepared to charm her through the door and control her into opening it.

Calling at the door was only out of courtesy, and also to remind Lin Nian that her creditor had arrived, putting a little psychological pressure on her.

But the door opened just like that, completely unexpectedly, as if the person standing outside were not a creditor, but her dear delivery guy.

For a moment, Lu Yibei even wondered whether her recent contact with members of the Miracle Order had rubbed a bit of good luck onto her.

However, she soon discovered that she had thought too much.

Misfortune was like a part of her body, just like her eyes, nose, and mouth.

How could it leave her so easily?

As the door slowly opened, the first thing Lu Yibei saw was Lin Nian, flustered and pleading in her eyes. Immediately after, her gaze probed into the apartment, and she saw the sturdy man.

The sturdy man held a gleaming ring blade, maintaining a forward-moving posture. Half his body was hidden in shadow, while the other half was lit by the dim yellow corridor light, making the face with a scar at the corner of one eye look even more ferocious.

There was a trace of astonishment in his eyes, as if he was surprised by Lu Yibei’s appearance, but very quickly, that trace of astonishment gradually turned cold and sinister.

A faint, unsettling psychic energy fluctuation emanated from him.

Lu Yibei: “…”

Good grief. I was wondering why the door opened so quickly. So there was a trap?

Tsk, young people are still too naive!

Doing this, did you never consider that I might not be a match for him either, or that I might be on the same side as that guy? Lu Yibei thought.

Just then, the sound-activated light in the stairwell went out after a long stretch of dead silence. Darkness instantly spread, swallowing the three figures.

Vaguely seeing the sturdy man move a step forward, Lin Nian’s heart immediately tightened.

“Hey!” Lu Yibei suddenly shouted, lighting the sound-activated lamp again.

The sudden shout and the returning light made the sturdy man’s body freeze for a moment. Then he tilted his neck and cast Lu Yibei a puzzled yet vicious look.

At this moment, Lin Nian came back to herself. Her eyes darted slyly, and she quickly took a step out the door, trying to grab hold of her “lifesaving straw.”

“…”

No matter what Gu Qianqian is thinking.

As long as I make that person of unknown origin think I am very close to Gu Qianqian, that should work, right?

Once they start fighting, I will use the chaos to find a chance to escape with Grandpa! Lin Nian thought.

However, just as she reached both hands toward Lu Yibei and had not yet had time to speak, Lu Yibei stepped back with lightning speed, dodged aside, and mercilessly seized the conversation, speaking rapidly.

“Yo, you have a guest! Looks like I came at a bad time.”

“Big brother, do not misunderstand. I am not familiar with her at all. We only have a small financial dispute, and I will not interfere in your affairs.”

“If there is nothing else, I will stop disturbing you. Farewell!”

Trying to drag me into the water? Not happening!

As Lu Yibei spoke, she forcefully shoved Lin Nian back into the apartment, slammed the door shut with a bang, then ran down the stairs at full speed.

The whole process was smooth and practiced to an astonishing degree!

Lu Yibei’s speed of speech, enough to make a fast-tongued rapper sigh in admiration, and her movements, fast as a bolt of lightning, left Lin Nian completely unable to react.

When the door closed again and darkness once more ruled her vision, her mood instantly fell to rock bottom…

————

Would someone like Lu Yibei get into a head-on conflict with a sturdy man of unknown origin for a girl she had only met for the second time today?

Of course not!

That sturdy man’s psychic energy fluctuation was at least B+ class, and his whole body gave off an unsettling, eerie aura. She was scared too, all right!

But attacking from behind was another matter…

If she could ambush him, why lose her mind and fight him head-on?

That girl is pretty quick-witted. She should not fail to last even a minute or two, right? Lu Yibei thought.

The moment she saw the sturdy man in Lin Nian’s home, she had already started thinking.

The faint malice radiating from the sturdy man, combined with the fact that she had been tailed immediately after leaving Moyue Pifeng, made Lu Yibei feel that he was very likely in the same group as the three people Shem and Salih had driven back.

The reason the sturdy man came to Lin Nian’s home was probably the same as the reason she herself had been followed. Perhaps she could find some important clue on him.

However, the eerie aura on the sturdy man, faintly similar to the berserk Wu Yutang, made Lu Yibei decide to avoid a direct confrontation with him as much as possible.

A returning thrust was a special technique for winning by surprise!

As she thought this, Lu Yibei quickly reached the bottom of the building, looked left and right, then raised her head and confirmed the location of Lin Nian’s home.

“Jacket, stealth mode, on!”

Jacket: “?”

What is Lady Witch saying? I do not understand!

[・_・?]

Feeling the message Jacket sent through the familiar mark, Lu Yibei fell silent for a second and rephrased, “I mean change into clothes convenient for movement, and suppress my psychic energy fluctuation and aura to the lowest level. Do you understand it that way?”

Jacket: “…” Got it!

(｡･ω･)ﾉﾞ

As Jacket squirmed, it turned into a light, close-fitting athletic outfit and concealed her aura. Lu Yibei leapt up, flying into the air.

In an instant, the wind howled.

Like a sprite dancing on the wind, she rose at astonishing speed, lightly and swiftly stepping on the drainpipes, windowsills, and security grilles on the outer wall of the building, leaving not a trace or a sound. In just a few moves, she reached the area near the fourth floor.

The whole process took less than five seconds.

As her hands grabbed the outside windowsill and she vaulted upward with force, she slipped nimbly through the half-open window as if she had no bones.

————

After Lu Yibei left, the sturdy man went through a brief moment of astonishment, then quickly came back to himself and looked at Lin Nian, who was standing rigidly in front of the door.

Although he had failed to react in time and let Lu Yibei run, Lin Nian was the main target of this operation.

Dealing with the one in front of him first, then going after the one who had run away, would be the same!

Lin Nian looked toward the living room. Seeing the sturdy man approach step by step, she swallowed hard, summoned her courage, and shouted, “D-do not come over. We can talk this out!”

“I am very capable! I can help you investigate intelligence, and I can help you do dirty and tiring work. I can even be your dog and give you **!”

“Heh!” the sturdy man sneered. “What would I need your ** for?”

“Uh…” Lin Nian pondered weakly for two seconds. “It can cure athlete’s foot?”

“Hahaha!” Hearing this, the sturdy man burst out laughing. “I never expected that the granddaughter of Shizhou City’s Know-It-All would be someone with absolutely no bottom line when it comes to staying alive!”

Taking advantage of the sturdy man laughing and briefly losing focus, Lin Nian suddenly stepped forward, both hands striking fiercely toward his lower abdomen.

Two serpentine golden sleeve blades slid out from her sleeves, drawing a golden arc that sliced through the air with a sharp whistle.

Hearing the whistle, the sturdy man snapped back to himself in an instant. In his haste, his reaction was fast, like a startled leopard: he jumped back, while the ring blade in his hand thrust forward, twisted, and stirred. As cold light flashed, an ear-piercing sound of metal and stone burst out, and the two sleeve blades immediately shattered.

The strange strength with which the sturdy man crushed the sleeve blades numbed both of Lin Nian’s arms. Her body lost balance, and she staggered forward.

Seizing the chance, how could the sturdy man allow her to react? He drove a knee straight into her chest, then as her body bent forward, raised his hand and followed through with a tiger-claw strike to her forehead.

Accompanied by a faint, almost inaudible long howl, Lin Nian’s petite body was sent flying, her back slamming heavily into the door with a muffled sound.

“Bang!”

Although Lin Nian had grown up around the psychic circles near Sleepless Street and had seen many formidable psychics.

Until not long ago, however, she had still been under her grandfather’s protection, like a flower in a greenhouse, and had no real combat experience at all. Calling her moves flashy but useless was hardly an exaggeration.

How could she compare to that sturdy man, whose hands were stained with blood?

Her attack failed, and she was struck hard in return. She collapsed against the warped door, feeling as if every bone in her body had come apart in pain. Her small face, shrouded in darkness, turned deathly pale, and something hot swirled in her eyes.

Having failed to grab onto “Gu Qianqian” as her lifesaving straw, and then having her sneak attack easily defused by the sturdy man, her emotions were already on the verge of collapse.

“Y-you can kill me, but you will not get away. That young lady just now is the famous Gu Qianqian. She is my best friend!”

“You really think she abandoned me and ran? She, she just went to get reinforcements. She will bring people back very soon, and when that happens, they will definitely tear you to pieces!”

“D-do not come over! I… I…” Lin Nian shouted haltingly, her voice full of sobs.

“Shut up! If that person just now really was Gu Qianqian, and if she really was willing to help you, why would she leave?” the sturdy man growled.

He knew his own strength. If that girl just now really had been the rumored Gu Qianqian, then the one slumped on the floor right now should have been him.

Watching the sturdy man remain unmoved by her words and gradually approach until he was in front of her, Lin Nian felt as if an invisible hand had clamped around her throat, leaving her unable to say half a word.

After meeting those beastlike eyes shining with cold light, Lin Nian immediately felt as if all her strength had been squeezed dry. Her whole body went limp.

Immediately after, the sturdy man raised the ring blade in his hand. The reflected cold light swept across her face, and her emotions completely collapsed. She could not help crying out loudly.

“Grandpa! I am sorry, sob sob!”

“Gu Qianqian, may you die a horrible death! Even if I become a ghost, I will not let you go!”

As she cried, she shakily raised both hands, wanting to cast a spell, only to discover that her mind was completely blank and she could not remember a single complete incantation.

Just then, a figure slipped in through the half-open living room window. Hidden by the darkness, it moved forward as swiftly as a ghost, silently closing in behind the sturdy man.

Then…

Psychic energy fluctuation was released without the slightest restraint.

In an instant, a terrifying psychic energy fluctuation swept in, and the sturdy man froze in place. Lu Yibei seized the chance and thrust out with her sword, piercing through his body. Then her wrist suddenly shook, and with several crisp cracks, she shattered his spine and churned up his internal organs.

“Splurt!”

The muffled sound of flesh tearing suddenly rang out. Scalding blood mixed with fragments of viscera splashed across Lin Nian’s face. The nauseatingly thick smell of blood drilled into her nose, and her body immediately spasmed as her crying stopped abruptly.

For an instant, she thought she had already died.

Died drenched in blood, in an extremely miserable way.

But very quickly, she realized that no pain came from her body. Her consciousness was still clear, and her heart was still beating powerfully in her chest.

She opened her eyes and looked forward, only to see a broken sword piercing through the sturdy man’s chest, gouging a fist-sized hole in his body.

A small, fair hand reached out from behind him. Its palm gently brushed over the ring blade, then one finger tapped it, and moonlike white light rapidly gathered at the fingertip.

“G-Gu Qianqian…” The sturdy man’s eyes widened as a muffled, unclear sound came from his throat.

“That’s right, it is me! Sorry. Although I am not familiar with this young lady at all, she still has not paid back the money she cheated from me, so she cannot die for the time being. Since you insist on killing her, I can only kill you first,” Lu Yibei said expressionlessly.

“Heh, haha, hahaha!” For some reason, the sturdy man suddenly began to laugh, the sound chilling.

He was laughing at “Gu Qianqian” for being ignorant and underestimating him.

He was a hidden chosen one, a person favored by that great being. The destruction of his physical body would not affect him in any way.

Lu Yibei leaned close to his ear and said one sentence in a low voice. His smile immediately froze, and his body trembled violently as if struck by lightning.

Lu Yibei said to him, “What are you laughing at? If your laughter is because of the weapon in your hand, then we should say goodbye… Four Beasts Bright Sky Cannon!”

As her words fell, the Four Beasts Bright Sky Cannon amplified by 0.2 times and the palm imprint left on the ring blade detonated at the same time, and dazzling light burst forth.

Enveloped in pale white and crimson light, cracks spread across the ring blade. Then, with a crisp ding, it snapped into several pieces and clattered to the floor like scrap metal.

Looking at the pale, viscous liquid slowly oozing from the fractured edge of the ring blade, Lu Yibei frowned slightly.

The same as the stuff that oozed from that folding fan earlier?

Good thing I made sure to destroy both the man and the object.

“Bang!” The sturdy man’s body fell to the floor with a muffled thud.

Only then did Lin Nian come back to herself from her terror. Trembling, she asked “Gu Qianqian,” “Y-you came back?”

Lu Yibei curled her lip. “Probably to cure athlete’s foot? Speaking of which, who was it you just said should die a horrible death?”

She heard all of it? When did she… Lin Nian was both ashamed and afraid. She hesitated, shrank her neck, and did not dare look into “Gu Qianqian’s” eyes.

“Hmph!” Seeing this, Lu Yibei snorted coldly. “If you have any trouble, just go find Gu Qianqian. It is even better if you become a ghost and still do not let Gu Qianqian go. Gu Qianqian can use you as a drinking snack.”

Still shaken, Lin Nian did not notice anything wrong with “Gu Qianqian’s” words. Her body merely trembled slightly as she said weakly, “I-I can refund all the payment to you. Please do not kill me, okay?”

“Who said I am going to kill you now?” Lu Yibei tilted her head. “As long as you tell me Hu Chuan’s whereabouts, I will let you off this once! Between your life and the information, you should know very well which is worth more, right?”

“If that really will not do, you can tell me the address of the person who forged Hu Chuan’s identity. I can go ask him myself.”

“…” Lin Nian bit her lip and remained silent for a long time. Then she suddenly raised her head. A look of determination flashed through her eyes as she said seriously, “I can tell you, but you have to promise that you will not hurt him!”

Lu Yibei raised an eyebrow and said indifferently, “That depends on whether he cooperates.”

Hearing this, Lin Nian hurriedly said, “Do not worry. He will definitely cooperate with you!”

That Third Grandpa of hers was, aside from her grandfather, the person in this world who treated her best and cared about her most. Now that “Gu Qianqian” had saved her life, she believed Third Grandpa would definitely cooperate.

“That would be best! However…” As Lu Yibei spoke, she glanced at the sturdy man lying on the floor. “However, we had better deal with this guy first. You do not want your grandfather to wake up and see this bloody scene, do you?”

When she had sneaked in earlier and passed by the bedroom door, she had seen it.

She had seen the old man sleeping peacefully in the bedroom.

Hearing this, Lin Nian froze for a moment, then nodded.

————

A little past midnight.

With Lin Nian’s cooperation and help, Lu Yibei quickly brought the sturdy man’s corpse to an empty garbage dump. Under Lin Nian’s strange gaze, she ran her hands over the sturdy man from head to toe like a creep, then detonated the palm imprint and burned him to ashes.

After leaving behind a few small objects found on the sturdy man and sealing them inside layer upon layer of spells, Lu Yibei followed Lin Nian back to Sleepless Street and headed straight for the Jinju theater.

However, when they arrived at the theater, entered through the back door, and found the old man, it was already too late.

The old man was dead.

He had died on the stage after the show had ended, wearing a splendid costume and holding the posture of an opera curtain call, as if the pitch-black, empty seats in front of him were filled with spectators.

Most of the flesh and blood all over his body had already fused together with that costume in an eerie state, impossible to distinguish from each other.

Lu Yibei silently tore a few plumes and several pearls from the old man’s costume, then sealed them again with spells.

“…”

Although those people acted quickly enough, with these things, I should be able to summon the souls of these two people. Thinking this, Lu Yibei patted the shoulder of the loudly crying Lin Nian and handed over two spicy strips.

“Stop crying. Want two?”

Lin Nian: “…”