Chapter 255: The Chance is Now!
Chapter 255: The Chance is Now!
Is she asking me what I think she’s asking? Is God smiling upon me today?
“Well, yes!”
Lu Yibei nodded and leapt straight into the bedroom. As if she was afraid that Jiangli would regret her choice of words, she made sure to close the door behind her, and locked it with a firm ‘click!’
Now, there were only the two of them in the dark room, and none of them spoke.
Jiangli squinted her eyes at the dark, blurry figure by the door. Her mind conjured the form of the Yibei that she’s more familiar with, and her cheeks couldn’t help a warm up a little.
You… bastard! You’re shameless!
Cursing in her heart, she wrapped herself up with the blanket, and turned her back towards the door. At this moment, she could feel the bed shift slightly, and her heart skipped a beat.
After waiting in silence for a few seconds, the steady, rhythmic sounds of breathing could be heard.
Turning around and sitting up in a hurry, she saw the Witch now lying on the bed in a onesie (which her jacket presumably transformed into). The only parts of her body that were exposed was her delicately sculpted face, with a few strands of sticky saliva running down her slightly ajar lips.
The Witch has fallen into a deep slumber.Letting a beautiful girl sleep alone was an absolute no-no in her books, but what could she do with her current form? What else was there to do but fall asleep?
Maybe, the two of them could become scissor sisters¹.
In the darkness, Jiangli stared at the Witch’s sleeping figure, and after confirming that she is, indeed, in dreamland, she laid back down on their pillow again.
However, as she laid in bed, she found that it was impossible to relax and calm down. She couldn’t help but ponder about the possibilities that the Witch sleeping beside her is actually her saviour’s son.
She tossed and turned, feeling disturbed. Eventually, her body grew tired, and just as she was about to fall asleep, she could feel a hand snaking around her behinds as they groped it with a firm grip.
Instantly, her cheeks glowed with a deep red, and her body jerked awake as if it she was being electrocuted. She trembled violently, shaking away any trace of sleep in her body. It was as if her heart had been run over by a truck.
I-I knew it! She has evil intentions sharing a bed with me!
In embarrassment, she began channeling her runes, causing a four-meter-long sword to manifest in her arms, and was prepared to slash behind her.
However, the hand on her butt seemed to exert a forward-moving force, and…
Jiangli felt as if she was flying – her body felt light and weightless, and without her being able to react in time, she fell off the bed with a loud crash.
Slam!
“Ow…”
Jiangli groaned after falling off the bed, and supported herself by the bed with large question marks hovering over her head. Squinting her eyes, she could see the Witch sleeping as if she was a butterfly, with the entire span of her body occupying the entire bed.
“…?”
She looked at the sleeping Witch, then looked down at her own body, feeling slightly offended.
Sleeping in the same room with a beautiful girl, sharing the same bed and pillows, falling asleep almost instantly, and shoving me off the bed so you can have the bed to yourself…
Is something wrong with her, or is something wrong with me?
Her thoughts grew angry, and she shoved the Witch’s limbs back to their original position. Laying back down on the bed, she folded her hands on her chest, and stared up at the ceiling in a daze.
This time, the Witch didn’t make any more moves, and Jiangli soon joined her in dreamland.
…
In the dark of the room, a pair of scarlet eyes opened in a panic, with a hint of gold dusted behind her orbs.
Not long after her superior fell asleep, Yibei abruptly woke up and took deep breaths, feeling that she was having trouble breathing.
Her gaze was affixed onto the ceiling, and she could hear even breathing coming from beside her. She was stunned for a moment as she glanced to the side to look at her superior’s sleeping self – Jiangli’s slender arms were over Yibei’s own chest as their bodies were huddled close to one another. Even then, Jiangli’s forehead was scrunched up.
God, even the way she sleeps is terrible. Would it be kill you to be a little honest in your sleep?! God bless whichever man is marrying her in the future – thinking about the quality of his sleep after they get married is making me worried for his hairline!
Cursing, she gently unfolded Jiangli’s arms away from her chest and snuck out of bed. She took her own pillow with her and tiptoed out the room.
Closing the door behind her, she sighed silently.
Whatever. Something weird is happening in this community, so it isn’t good if the both of us fall asleep together. Might end up being a little unsafe.
Also! Before she wakes up, I need to find a place to hide when the Sun rises in the morning…!
…
Click!
The door closed softly behind the Witch, and in the darkness, Jiangli opened her eyes a little as she looked at the door. In the darkness of the room, the corners of her mouth raised ever-so-slightly, and she closed her eyes once again.
Yibei came to the living room, sitting and leaning against the sofa with her arms folded over the cushions. She decided to peep out the gaps of the curtains, looking out through the window to look at the other buildings that were shrouded in the night.
The night was pitch-black, and everything was deathly silent. Her unfinished stories that she has yet to tell Jiangli began playing in her mind.
…
According to the old lady, Aniu encountered an urban legend that night, but was rescued by the old man who was digging up graves in the forest.
The old man managed to intervene in time, and grabbed his hand as they ran like maniacs along the mountain road. They could barely see anything at night, but the urban legend was close in pursuit behind them. The thing pursuing them spoke in a thunderous tone, yet it sang a tune in minor scale that was barely audible.
Aniu was so petrified that his legs almost gave way after running around with the old man all night. They weren’t out of danger until a ray of sunlight appeared on the horizon.
When he finally came to his senses, he broke into a cold sweat once again.
They ran together all night, and even taking into account the old man’s weak legs, they still ran more than ten miles. After daybreak, however, they found themselves right at the village’s entrance.
Thinking about it, the urban legend must’ve manipulated their senses, so it was like they were running in place all night. Speaking of which, Aniu is brave too.
After experiencing something that frightening after searching for his relatives in vain, he chose to remain at the dilapidated house… what’s more terrifying? Urban legends? Or the threat of poverty and hunger?
Well, if what the old man said was true, as long as we don’t leave late at night, the urban legends won’t harm anyone. Who cares if they like to sing at night? I’ll let them! Fine – I can’t watch them, but that doesn’t mean I can’t listen! How beautiful, isn’t it?
It’s sort of like bumping into gold if you think about it. If you bump into an urban legend like he did, but escape unscathed, or if they have no intention to harm, you will be granted with luck.
After Aniu settled in the run-down house, he saved his money by doing all sorts of hard work. Then, he managed to start a small business. After making a lot of money, he found that he didn’t want to leave anymore.
Despite all the lurking urban legends of dead actors and children who were buried alive under the burnt rubbles of the theatre, their reign of terror would soon be restrained by an unknown psychic who came from afar.
They overheard that there were urban legends lurking in the area. On the same day, they found an old man who lived by the ruins of the theatre, and a young man who is living a happy life.
After they sent the two of them away that night, they blew on a laba while carrying an ancient sword, venturing alone into the forest where the ruins of the theatre laid.
According to Aniu’s recollection, he could hear music playing in the woods – the [Yin Yang River]. However, with the psychic around, their twisted tunes were forced into playing [Three Women’s Godson] instead.
Yibei drew inspiration from the above recollection. She thought that the laba might have a certain suppressing effect over the urban legends in the Happy Community, so he spent 800 yuan and signed up for a crash course in folk music.
It’s a pity that none of the teachers in the cultural centre knew how to play the [Three Women’s Godson].
After the twisted tunes were interrupted, there were countless of howls, and the entire forest erupted in the flames and explosions, like a fierce, ongoing war. The burning and explosions persisted the entire night.
When the Sun appeared on the horizon, the mysterious psychic limped out of the forest – their clothes ragged, and the ancient sword they were holding went missing.
The two thought that the sword was broken, but the psychic informed them that the sword was used to seal the urban legend away, and additionally requested them to prevent the sword from being pulled out of the seal. Otherwise, the urban legend will be revived.
Since then, there were no more urban legends lurking around the ruins of the theatre. Overtime, many residents decided to call this place their home, forgetting that an urban legend had even existed here in the first place. They even forgot that there was an ancient sword buried under the ruins of the theatre, long lost to time.
The old lady mentioned that the people who lived in the vicinity were very happy – arguments between couples or unruly children were a rare sight.
The urban legend must be good at heart. Maybe they were still protecting the community then.
This lasted until the old, dilapidated houses were fully demolished to construct the Happy Community.
When Yibei went to find Tang Yao again to scourge for information, his face morphed immediately as soon as he saw Yibei’s boy-self.
Neither of them spoke when they saw each other. Yibei simply sat next to him, and looked at him with great meaning as he offered him tea. From time-to-time, he would struggle to force out a smile from his malfunctioning face, to the point where it’d be better if he didn’t even smile in the first place.
Thinking of the experiences two days ago, Tang Yao could no longer bear Yibei’s presence, and swallowed two Suxiao Jiuxin pills as he slammed his hand down on the table, pointing at Yibei’s nose with an accusatory finger.
“You little brat! I’ve watched you since you were young! How could you do this to me? Whatever – just ask me anything you want! I’ll tell you everything!”
Hence, Yibei was able to locate the man who drove the excavator in the early stages of construction.
When he found him, it was obvious that the man didn’t want to have anything to do with what happened then. Yibei immediately understood, and muttered, “Well, that sword was mine.”
The excavation went very smoothly in the first month. However, on the final day, something went wrong.
The man was the first to encounter this problem – when he drove the excavator to dig out the remaining unearthed parts, the excavator got stuck.
He thought that it might be a hard rock, but even as he tried again and again, he couldn’t. He dug the soil up around the hard area, and discovered that there was an ancient sword buried underneath.
The blade was pierced straight into the ground, leaving only the strangely-shaped hilt exposed. Even then, there was no sign of rust on the hilt, and it glowed with a faint light.
The man, however, didn’t know that it was an ancient, sealing sword. He was secretly delighted that he didn’t damage the sword, and leapt out the excavator to pull the sword out so he could finish his job.
However, something happened as soon as he touched the sword. Immediately, his eyes were filled with visions of fire, and his head felt like it was being burnt to a crisp as the excruciating pain of being burnt alive embedded themselves into his brain.
After several attempts, he realized something was wrong, and ran to tell the foreman.
The foreman was also a vagrant, much like Tang Yao. He immediately called for some psychics to take a look, and they informed him that this sword was sealing away unclean things, so it is best to not touch it and leave it as it is.
The foreman sighed, “If we don’t get this sword out, we can’t finish our job. Can’t you guys deal with this thing?”
Each of them shook their heads, “No. We only know simple spells and are able to see things ordinary people can’t see. Whoever owns this sword is much, much more powerful than us. I’m afraid we won’t be able to do anything to the sword, let alone what might happen if we pull it out.”
After hearing their explanation, the foreman was frightened, but what could he do?
In their line of work, the foreman usually bears the advance payment. Money is usually paid in advance as a deposit, and once the work is done, the remainder will be paid out. If the job isn’t done well, then, the foreman and his workers might just collectively leap off the tallest building.
The foreman was incredibly worried over it for the next couple of days. He tried a bunch of traditional folk methods, like using darkened dog’s blood, spreading glutinous rice, burning paper money… however, the sword didn’t move an inch, and even the soil around it seemed to be as hard as iron.
Some of the excavators witnessed this, and they later pretended to fall ill and refused to drive the excavator over it.
The situation seemed dire, and the foreman grit his teeth, offering a reward – if anyone could get rid of the sword, they would be given 100,000 yuan.
The day after he issued the reward, a mysterious guy appeared – it was one of the psychics he had invited before.
He mentioned that he has a way of getting rid of the sword, and no payment was needed. All he wanted was that the sword would be returned to him, and those who knew of the situation must not mention it to anyone else.
Hearing that he didn’t have to spend any money to solve their current issue, he calculated the estimated costs. All he needed to do was silence the few excavators and ground employees with a gift of money, and he would save tens of thousands of yuan. Immediately, he agreed.
That night, the psychic drove the foreman and other onlookers away, walking into the area alone.
They waited all night outside the area, but didn’t hear any movement. Soon, the sky turned unbearably dark, and they couldn’t help but infiltrate into the area to take a look.
When they came, it seemed that the psychic had already left, and the sword was gone. Even the hole where the sword was originally embedded in was gone.
A few days later, nothing abnormal happened, and their work went on as scheduled. The few witnesses also collected their hush money, and not a single word about this incident was told.
It wasn’t until the piling was being drilled that something strange happened.
While building a foundation for a building, if the soil is too lose, the drilled holes will collapse. Hence, mud is required to be poured into the hole to protect the foundation. If mishaps like these happen, it can cause huge losses.
During this period, a barely legal profession would be needed – a diver.
These aren’t your traditional divers – when a drill bit gets stuck, or falls, these divers will dive into the borehole filled with mud to fish these drills out.
Due to how difficult and dangerous this job was, there was a saying that goes, “It’s ten thousand if you go down, but it isn’t ten thousand when you go down.”
Inevitably, a drill bit fell, and a diver had to be put to work. During then, an accident occurred.
Just as everyone was thinking that the diver had died under the deep mud, he miraculously leapt out the mud with the drill. Coughing out the mud, he seemed fine.
However, when he opened his mouth, everybody felt their spine chill.
He said that there was people beneath the borehole, and there were countless of them swimming about in the mud. They sang operas and played instruments, and through the turbid and non-visible mud, he could make out heads, and the outlines of limbs.
The only reason why he was able to escape because they pushed him up and out of the borehole. He felt that there were countless hands pushing him out, as if they were driving him out.
Hearing what he had to say, everybody chalked his reaction up to an adrenaline-induced hallucination.
“Well, if they rescued you, that means that they are nice! Maybe they can help us out with the work!” somebody joked.
Thus ended the strange incidents surrounding the construction of the Happy Community. The rest of the process went by surprisingly smooth, and it was completed more than a month ahead of schedule.
Nobody was killed, so nobody took the incidents seriously. There wasn’t a need to phone the police.
We work in this line of work all year round – it’s natural to encounter weird people sometimes.
Thus, everything would be sealed away in the long river of time, which makes sense as to why the Night Division had such limited information on them.
Hearing the old woman’s and the driver’s accounts, the Witch felt that the urban legends hidden away in the Happy Community might not be malicious before everything happened, even helping the community from time-to-time. Hence, their community would be a “happy” co-existence.
However, after the sword was taken away, the urban legends were twisted by its non-presence.
Even then, I can’t do anything much – they are hidden away, and I have no other information on them. Hell, I don’t even know how to find them.
Even if I find them, I might not be able to defeat them; if I can’t defeat them, I might not be able to run away; even if I am able to escape, I might only be able to do so by sacrificing Jiangli.
It’s too difficult. If I can find that damn sword, maybe I can turn the tables around.
…
The Witch sat in the living room until seven in the morning. Seeing that it was almost sunrise, she quietly left the apartment.
She came to a box that resembled a garbage can, and hid in it. She fiddled with her phone for two hours, and didn’t leave until the Sun fully rose.
Leaving her hiding spot, she went to buy breakfast for Jiangli outside the Happy Community amidst the friendly greetings of fellow neighbours. As soon as she returned to the apartment, she bumped into a man wearing a badge that displayed [Management], and he wore a black suit.
He seemed short, but held a strong stature.
As soon as she stepped into the entrance of the apartment, he flashed a professional smile, “Good morning. Are you the resident who moved in here yesterday?”
“Yes. Can I help you?”
“You see,” the man smiled. “Our community has a tradition – whenever a new resident moves in, a welcome party will be held for them.”
Finally! Yibei cheered inwardly. “Uh, I’m just renting. Am I welcome too?”
“Absolutely. If possible, the party will be held this weekend. I’d like you to come.”
“What if it’s impossible?”
The man was visibly stunned upon hearing this, but immediately flashed another smile, “Then, we’ll just adjust to a time possible for you.”
“What if it’s just straight-up not possible for me, then? You know, with a face like this, I am always busy.”
“…”
The man was silent, as if he was trying to formulate a way to reply.
“Kidding!” Yibei blurted out. “I’ll come to the party. After all, I can’t just let everybody’s kindness down.”
“How wonderful! Everybody will be happy if you come.”
“Oh, I’m sure of it,” Yibei waved her hand.
TRANSLATOR NOTES:
Note 1: “Scissor sisters” – The original states that all they could do at night is “grind tofu” (磨豆腐), which has the exact same meaning as 👩✂️✂️👩
Oh, things are getting creepier by the minute… I’m not very sure how the plot would continue to advance, but I’m excited! How are you all feeling about this arc so far? Let me know in the comments!
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