Lu Yibei’s suspicions about the forums only grew, but she didn’t jump to conclusions just yet.
Her account may just have insufficient reputation and data, so it may be ruled out as a bot account.
It may also be IP-locked.
‘I need to make a more convincing account and log in through my computer,’ she decided. ‘If it still doesn’t work, I can only let Jiangli continue with her investigation until she loses interest in my account.’
A small part of her prays that Jiangli never unravels the secret behind the forums. She felt like she needed to check it out herself.
She sighed as she laid back down on the sofa and fiddled with her previously scorched mobile phone, mourning over her lost game progress on it.
She missed Bai Xiaohua. Will she be lonely? Stuck in the game world all alone?
Maybe it’s time to look into more budget-friendly phones.
Huacheng University.
Professor Ma was leaning over the desk, still immersed in studying the contents of the bamboo scrolls.
Earlier, when Yibei transformed before his eyes, something told him that he shouldn’t be studying the scrolls for the time being, but it seemed to beckon him closer and closer…
Was it the scroll’s power? Or was it his insatiable thirst for knowledge?
After he came back from the police station, he engrossed himself in the bamboo scrolls as if they were the only things left in the world.
He translated the characters on the scrolls and compared and contrasted them while mumbling to himself as if it were more conducive to his thinking.
“A snake totem? Were they sacrificing for it…?”
“Mountains, flows… this must be an exaggerated description of worship.”
In various societies, the worship of snake totems isn’t all that uncommon.
Fuxi and Nuwa in Chinese culture; Wadjet in Egyptian mythology; the Naga in Indian mythology; the Feathered Serpent God in Mesoamerican…
They all have one thing in common: the worship of them bestows supernatural abilities corresponding to the elements, like life, death, air, lightning, etc.
For the snake totem in the bamboo scroll, it bestowed abilities related to the mountains and the rivers.
Professor Ma continued to mumble the research on the prayers given to the snake totems absentmindedly as he translated the scrolls. After recording a few keywords, he adjusted his glasses and pulled the chair forward to bring himself closer to the table.
At this moment, something slipped out of his chest pocket, making a soft ‘ding!’ sound.
It was his copper coin, lightly reflecting the light from the ceiling. However, it unnaturally flickered as if it were trying to commune with him.
“Why did it fall out?” Professor Ma muttered, bending down to pick up the copper coin and put it back in his jacket pocket.
When he sat up straight again and looked out the window, he jumped up from his seat.
Glancing his watch in a panic, it was already 8:47 pm. It was sundown for nearly three hours.
If the copper coin hadn’t fallen out of his pocket, he wouldn’t have realised the time and probably would’ve stayed longer.
It’s already so late, so isn’t it better to just retire for the night?
However, as his eyes glanced over the bamboo scrolls, he felt reluctant to leave.
And his brain felt fuzzy.
At this moment, his mind flashed with strange images: he could see He Ruo being attacked and the scene where Lu Yibei falls into a deep trance as he looks into the scrolls.
“Ah!”
Professor Ma covered the bamboo scrolls with his paper, forcing himself not to look at them. He shook his head violently and then stuffed it into the wooden box used to hold it indiscriminately.
“No, no… time to go home,” he muttered, carrying the box with him into the storage room.
Locking the storage room door, he felt an inexplicable sense of drowsiness hit him. He shook his head and headed towards the bathroom. The bathroom in the lab was like an ordinary bathroom found inside a house.
Squeak! Squeak!
With a few light turns, water gushed out of the sink.
Professor Ma bent down and repeatedly used both hands to slap water on his face until he felt less tired, but the moment he used his handkerchief to wipe his face clean, a faint stench entered his nostrils.
An all-too-familiar stench and his body froze.
In the mirror, an old man with a pale, wrinkly face appeared before him. His heart skipped a beat, and he took half a step back subconsciously but found that his reflection was mirroring his movements.
“Oh my god, it’s just me.”
He looked strangely tired as if he hadn’t been sleeping for the past few days. He scoffed at how engrossed he was in his research and couldn’t wait to go back home to his wife.
The moment he pushed open the bathroom door, the lights in the lab seemed to dim a little.
The bookcases, the tables, the chairs… Every single piece of furniture seemed to cast shadows longer than usual, and they seemed distant and unreal, like frosted glass.
In the southeast corner of the room, the window facing the school’s fourth gate opened at some point.
A gust of wind poured in from the window, beckoning the dark blue curtains to dance like a treacherous figure twisting its soft limbs for its puppet master.
The wind carried the chill of the late autumn night, and the lab seemed eerily cold. The books and papers rustled in the wind as if a figure were rummaging through them.
‘Something is in the library,’ Professor Ma’s brain warned.
He blinked, and everything was back to normal, save for the window that was left open in the lab.
His mind was a trained mind, with keen intuition obtained by working in the same room for more than ten years.
He could vaguely tell that something was different in this room.
Plop!
The sound of a book being knocked to the ground could be heard, and the lab fell into dead silence once again.
Professor Ma’s pupils shrank sharply, feeling terrified in their hearts.
His legs started to tremble, and the shadows seemed to dance and convince him that something, perhaps many things, was hiding in the room.
The corner of the wall; under the desk; the gap between the bookcases; behind the door of the bathroom that is right behind him…
All stared with malicious eyes and a wide grin.
Professor Ma’s heart was about to leap out of his chest, and his breathing became erratic as he forced himself to retreat straight into the bathroom.
He hurriedly fumbled with the lock and groped at his pockets, producing the three Charms of Spring Winds that Yibei gave him “just in case.”
He placed two of them in front of the door and on the window sill of the bathroom, respectively, holding the remaining one in his hand as he ran straight towards the first-aid kit.
Despite his old age, he has never encountered an urban legend before, but he has heard many stories about it. In many of those victims’ deaths, they were scared to death rather than killed.
Fumbling with the first aid kit, he plopped down two hypertension pills and swallowed them without water.
If he couldn’t survive the shock, then calling for help would be useless.
He hurriedly took his phone out and searched for Yibei’s contact number.
However, the stench seemed to be getting stronger, despite the closed door, and it seemed to get closer and closer.
Lu Yibei’s suspicions about the forums only grew, but she didn’t jump to conclusions just yet.
Her account may just have insufficient reputation and data, so it may be ruled out as a bot account.
It may also be IP-locked.
‘I need to make a more convincing account and log in through my computer,’ she decided. ‘If it still doesn’t work, I can only let Jiangli continue with her investigation until she loses interest in my account.’
A small part of her prays that Jiangli never unravels the secret behind the forums. She felt like she needed to check it out herself.
She sighed as she laid back down on the sofa and fiddled with her previously scorched mobile phone, mourning over her lost game progress on it.
She missed Bai Xiaohua. Will she be lonely? Stuck in the game world all alone?
Maybe it’s time to look into more budget-friendly phones.
Huacheng University.
Professor Ma was leaning over the desk, still immersed in studying the contents of the bamboo scrolls.
Earlier, when Yibei transformed before his eyes, something told him that he shouldn’t be studying the scrolls for the time being, but it seemed to beckon him closer and closer…
Was it the scroll’s power? Or was it his insatiable thirst for knowledge?
After he came back from the police station, he engrossed himself in the bamboo scrolls as if they were the only things left in the world.
He translated the characters on the scrolls and compared and contrasted them while mumbling to himself as if it were more conducive to his thinking.
“A snake totem? Were they sacrificing for it…?”
“Mountains, flows… this must be an exaggerated description of worship.”
In various societies, the worship of snake totems isn’t all that uncommon.
Fuxi and Nuwa in Chinese culture; Wadjet in Egyptian mythology; the Naga in Indian mythology; the Feathered Serpent God in Mesoamerican…
They all have one thing in common: the worship of them bestows supernatural abilities corresponding to the elements, like life, death, air, lightning, etc.
For the snake totem in the bamboo scroll, it bestowed abilities related to the mountains and the rivers.
Professor Ma continued to mumble the research on the prayers given to the snake totems absentmindedly as he translated the scrolls. After recording a few keywords, he adjusted his glasses and pulled the chair forward to bring himself closer to the table.
At this moment, something slipped out of his chest pocket, making a soft ‘ding!’ sound.
It was his copper coin, lightly reflecting the light from the ceiling. However, it unnaturally flickered as if it were trying to commune with him.
“Why did it fall out?” Professor Ma muttered, bending down to pick up the copper coin and put it back in his jacket pocket.
When he sat up straight again and looked out the window, he jumped up from his seat.
Glancing his watch in a panic, it was already 8:47 pm. It was sundown for nearly three hours.
If the copper coin hadn’t fallen out of his pocket, he wouldn’t have realised the time and probably would’ve stayed longer.
It’s already so late, so isn’t it better to just retire for the night?
However, as his eyes glanced over the bamboo scrolls, he felt reluctant to leave.
And his brain felt fuzzy.
At this moment, his mind flashed with strange images: he could see He Ruo being attacked and the scene where Lu Yibei falls into a deep trance as he looks into the scrolls.
“Ah!”
Professor Ma covered the bamboo scrolls with his paper, forcing himself not to look at them. He shook his head violently and then stuffed it into the wooden box used to hold it indiscriminately.
“No, no… time to go home,” he muttered, carrying the box with him into the storage room.
Locking the storage room door, he felt an inexplicable sense of drowsiness hit him. He shook his head and headed towards the bathroom. The bathroom in the lab was like an ordinary bathroom found inside a house.
Squeak! Squeak!
With a few light turns, water gushed out of the sink.
Professor Ma bent down and repeatedly used both hands to slap water on his face until he felt less tired, but the moment he used his handkerchief to wipe his face clean, a faint stench entered his nostrils.
An all-too-familiar stench and his body froze.
In the mirror, an old man with a pale, wrinkly face appeared before him. His heart skipped a beat, and he took half a step back subconsciously but found that his reflection was mirroring his movements.
“Oh my god, it’s just me.”
He looked strangely tired as if he hadn’t been sleeping for the past few days. He scoffed at how engrossed he was in his research and couldn’t wait to go back home to his wife.
The moment he pushed open the bathroom door, the lights in the lab seemed to dim a little.
The bookcases, the tables, the chairs… Every single piece of furniture seemed to cast shadows longer than usual, and they seemed distant and unreal, like frosted glass.
In the southeast corner of the room, the window facing the school’s fourth gate opened at some point.
A gust of wind poured in from the window, beckoning the dark blue curtains to dance like a treacherous figure twisting its soft limbs for its puppet master.
The wind carried the chill of the late autumn night, and the lab seemed eerily cold. The books and papers rustled in the wind as if a figure were rummaging through them.
‘Something is in the library,’ Professor Ma’s brain warned.
He blinked, and everything was back to normal, save for the window that was left open in the lab.
His mind was a trained mind, with keen intuition obtained by working in the same room for more than ten years.
He could vaguely tell that something was different in this room.
Plop!
The sound of a book being knocked to the ground could be heard, and the lab fell into dead silence once again.
Professor Ma’s pupils shrank sharply, feeling terrified in their hearts.
His legs started to tremble, and the shadows seemed to dance and convince him that something, perhaps many things, was hiding in the room.
The corner of the wall; under the desk; the gap between the bookcases; behind the door of the bathroom that is right behind him…
All stared with malicious eyes and a wide grin.
Professor Ma’s heart was about to leap out of his chest, and his breathing became erratic as he forced himself to retreat straight into the bathroom.
He hurriedly fumbled with the lock and groped at his pockets, producing the three Charms of Spring Winds that Yibei gave him “just in case.”
He placed two of them in front of the door and on the window sill of the bathroom, respectively, holding the remaining one in his hand as he ran straight towards the first-aid kit.
Despite his old age, he has never encountered an urban legend before, but he has heard many stories about it. In many of those victims’ deaths, they were scared to death rather than killed.
Fumbling with the first aid kit, he plopped down two hypertension pills and swallowed them without water.
If he couldn’t survive the shock, then calling for help would be useless.
He hurriedly took his phone out and searched for Yibei’s contact number.
However, the stench seemed to be getting stronger, despite the closed door, and it seemed to get closer and closer.
