The sky was completely dark and true to her words, Gu Qianqian still wasn’t back home.
Yibei groggily got up and slapped around in the dark, finding the light switch after tripping over various trinkets.
As the lights flickered, she couldn’t help but feel bad—it was the tiniest LED light that she had ever seen.
Even if the source of electricity was stolen from a nearby street light, Gu Qianqian was still conserving as much energy as possible.
Withdrawing her attention from the light, Lu Yibei paced back to the sofa and sat down. At this moment, her phone suddenly vibrated twice.
She froze for a moment before turning it on, and she couldn’t help but widen her eyes.
[Helpem,]
It was a text from Professor Ma, and it seemed to have been sent in a hurry, judging by the typos. This was very out of character for him, and a vague premonition stirred in Yibei’s heart.
Plus, he’s a literature professor; there is simply no way that his texts would be ineligible, so…
‘He must be in danger,’ she gulped.
She hurriedly opened her contacts, but her finger hovered over the call button thoughtfully.
‘No. I can’t call him. Not now at least.’
Calling him may put him in more danger; plus, he may be isolated, just like Yibei was isolated by Mr Rabbit, and his phone may be useless by now.
But Yibei didn’t know where Professor Ma was, asking for help without providing any location. It only filled Yibei with immense anxiety.
Lu Yibei felt a little dizzy and anxiously paced back and forth in the room, taking a few deep breaths and forcing himself to think about the situation.
Jiangli once said that urban legends tend to seek out those who seek them; if Professor Ma has not had any incidents for many years, then he must have some way to avoid danger.
‘Doesn’t this mean that if he lives a normal life, then he would never know about urban legends?’
Hence, something must have broken his perception.
The bamboo scrolls appeared in Yibei’s mind.
Something bad must’ve happened when he was studying the bamboo scrolls. That must be it! He even mentioned strange phenomena happening when he was studying the scrolls!
Hence, he must be inside the University’s research lab!
With this in mind, Lu Yibei put away her cell phone and brandished her kitchen knife, dashing out of Gu Qianqian’s home.
Although she wasn’t sure where his exact location was, it was worth a try.
However, now she has no way to contact Professor Ma, and she can’t sit still. Even if it’s just a guess, it’s worth trying.
The young witch turned back around into Gu Qianqian’s home, taking the twenty-dollar bill she stuffed inside her piggy bank back out.
‘Sorry, but my powers might fail me, and I might need to take a cab!’
In an apartment in the west of Huacheng, Zhang Shan carefully browsed through his comment section and couldn’t help but feel a little worried.
[REPEATER: Your stories are getting more absurd. I might unsub in the future.]
[SENGSUO: Did you lose contact with that girl on your phone?]
[EMPEROR: You’re getting boring. I’ll come back in a few days.]
[internetwarrior34: I agree. I think you should sell foot pictures instead. They’re really pop-
[AUTOMOD: internetwarrior34 has been banned for 24 hours.]
“Ah…”
He let out a big sigh as he lit a cigarette and leaned back on his chair.
After he finished his stories relating to Lu Yibei, he began to go through his old drafts, but those drafts were all made up and admittedly absurd, so they didn’t seem real to his viewers.
In just a few days, his viewers have dropped by half.
Although he doesn’t make a living through streaming, he couldn’t help but feel frustrated by the sudden drop in his newfound popularity.
“My viewers are right. What if I…”
He glanced at his mobile phone and scrolled until he found an unsaved number.
His hands slightly trembled as he hit dialled, only to be greeted with a mechanical female voice.
“I’m sorry, the number you have dialled is unavailable.”
He hung up and put out his cigarette. He took his car keys and decided to start work for the night.
He wasn’t particularly surprised that his phone call didn’t go through—that girl is an urban legend, for goodness sake!
20:57, three minutes after Professor Ma’s text.
A lone taxi drove across the silent streets of Huacheng; the number of pedestrians gradually thinned as the night became darker, and after passing by two cars, he began to miss the gifts his viewers would gift him.
A job that supports his hobby and even funds it. He couldn’t help but feel sad.
‘If I meet her tonight, I must force her to give me more material. She seems harmless anyway.’
“Ah!” he yelled out. “What am I thinking? She’s an urban legend! She might still eat me alive!”
When he put his eyes back on the road, his eyes couldn’t help but widen as he slammed on the brakes.
Screech!
Wisps of smoke drifted out from his tyres, and two shallow skid marks were drawn on the road.
An all-too-familiar girl standing in the middle of the street, wearing a blue dress and donning a suspiciously shiny kitchen knife pinned to her waist…
“Gulp…”
‘H-how did she find me? I’m nowhere near the University, and yet…’
He stared at the girl in the distance without breathing, then silently put his hands on the gear lever and stepped on the clutch, ready to start off on the flat ground and accelerate quickly.
Fate is a strange thing.
She didn’t know if it was the luck of the draw, but whenever she needed transport, Zhang Shan would always be there.
She was in a hurry, so she didn’t even think about contacting him, but there he was.
‘Do I have… any metaphysical powers?’
As if she were phasing, Yibei appeared right next to Zhang Shan’s car as he started driving away, and she had to run to catch up to him.
“Hey! Are you free now? Could you send me over to the University? I’ll pay you this time, promise!”
Zhang Shan looked at Lu Yibei’s expressionless face, then at the kitchen knife on her waist.
‘I don’t care about money anymore!’
Zhang Shan cursed in his heart, then sighed silently, “Get in!”
He really wanted to say no, but he didn’t want to die either.
Meanwhile, under a bridge, shortly after a young witch had disappeared into the night,
Gu Qianqian returned to a slightly ajar door, and she couldn’t help but feel unsettled.
“I’m back!” she called out. “I brought you something delicious—two meats and one vegetable for us to share!”
No response, and the silence was making her more and more uneasy.
She slowly pushed the door open and fumbled for the light switch, and the first thing she noticed was the opened piggy bank. Her face turned pale, and the takeouts in her hand fell to the ground in a loud snap.
“It’s over! She must’ve stolen something! I’ve been so kind to her—I even bought her food, and yet…”
As Gu Qianqian cried with a choked voice, she dumped the banknotes in the piggy bank on the floor and counted them.
Perhaps it was because Gu Qianqian was crying that the system felt bad and started to comfort her.
“Witches can’t be trusted. We must beat her up the next time we see her, but for now, you must get up and eat your food.”
“Wait!” she cried out.
“What is it?”
“She… didn’t actually steal my money. In fact, there are three extra yuan inside.”
If the system had a physical mouth, it would be hanging down to the floor by now.
‘No… A witch couldn’t do this. There must be some kind of conspiracy, some kind of…’
21:02.
The bathroom was shrouded in darkness.
Professor Ma shrank himself into the corner as he trembled, staring at the mobile phone that fell into the toilet.
Five minutes ago, he was typing out a message for Yibei when the light above his head started to flicker before dimming.
The erratic dimming shocked him as the speed of his fingers increased tremendously, and as if he had been electrocuted, his phone fell and bounced straight into the toilet bowl.
Of course, his first reaction was to pick up the phone, but as he approached the toilet, he heard a strange sound of music coming from within it.
Like an old music box that played out of tune endlessly.
He suspected that if he picked up his phone, something bad would happen to him.
Even his trusty copper coin told him to stay away from the toilet.
However, he couldn’t help but glance at the toilet bowl—would Yibei know where he was after sending that hasty text for help?
Uncertainty, despair, and fear were like a three-headed beast that lingered in his mind.
And in the darkness, time seemed to slow down, and he felt strangely tired.
At this moment, the sound of music stopped.
There was dead silence in the bathroom, except for the occasional tick of water.
As he crawled closer to the toilet bowl, it suddenly rang again, and strangely enough, it became clearer and clearer, as if the music wasn’t playing from within the toilet bowl, but…
He retreated away from the toilet bowl and stuck himself to the wall farthest from it; however, he could hear the toilet gurgle as water would bubble out, and that familiar stench enveloped his breath.
Metal pipes collided with each other.
A few fingers protruded from the toilet.
He was frightened out of his mind, and yet his fingers trailed over the copper coin in his pocket as if he were searching for a divine answer to help him out.
‘Heads means I will die, and tails means I will survive…’
Tossing the coin and slapping it firmly on his hand, he revealed heads.
His face turned pale in an instant.
At this moment, there was another soft sound of water rushing up from the direction of the sink.
A complete, bloody arm forced itself out of the toilet bowl, and it brought its fingers down on the rim of the toilet.
The sky was completely dark and true to her words, Gu Qianqian still wasn’t back home.
Yibei groggily got up and slapped around in the dark, finding the light switch after tripping over various trinkets.
As the lights flickered, she couldn’t help but feel bad—it was the tiniest LED light that she had ever seen.
Even if the source of electricity was stolen from a nearby street light, Gu Qianqian was still conserving as much energy as possible.
Withdrawing her attention from the light, Lu Yibei paced back to the sofa and sat down. At this moment, her phone suddenly vibrated twice.
She froze for a moment before turning it on, and she couldn’t help but widen her eyes.
[Helpem,]
It was a text from Professor Ma, and it seemed to have been sent in a hurry, judging by the typos. This was very out of character for him, and a vague premonition stirred in Yibei’s heart.
Plus, he’s a literature professor; there is simply no way that his texts would be ineligible, so…
‘He must be in danger,’ she gulped.
She hurriedly opened her contacts, but her finger hovered over the call button thoughtfully.
‘No. I can’t call him. Not now at least.’
Calling him may put him in more danger; plus, he may be isolated, just like Yibei was isolated by Mr Rabbit, and his phone may be useless by now.
But Yibei didn’t know where Professor Ma was, asking for help without providing any location. It only filled Yibei with immense anxiety.
Lu Yibei felt a little dizzy and anxiously paced back and forth in the room, taking a few deep breaths and forcing himself to think about the situation.
Jiangli once said that urban legends tend to seek out those who seek them; if Professor Ma has not had any incidents for many years, then he must have some way to avoid danger.
‘Doesn’t this mean that if he lives a normal life, then he would never know about urban legends?’
Hence, something must have broken his perception.
The bamboo scrolls appeared in Yibei’s mind.
Something bad must’ve happened when he was studying the bamboo scrolls. That must be it! He even mentioned strange phenomena happening when he was studying the scrolls!
Hence, he must be inside the University’s research lab!
With this in mind, Lu Yibei put away her cell phone and brandished her kitchen knife, dashing out of Gu Qianqian’s home.
Although she wasn’t sure where his exact location was, it was worth a try.
However, now she has no way to contact Professor Ma, and she can’t sit still. Even if it’s just a guess, it’s worth trying.
The young witch turned back around into Gu Qianqian’s home, taking the twenty-dollar bill she stuffed inside her piggy bank back out.
‘Sorry, but my powers might fail me, and I might need to take a cab!’
In an apartment in the west of Huacheng, Zhang Shan carefully browsed through his comment section and couldn’t help but feel a little worried.
[REPEATER: Your stories are getting more absurd. I might unsub in the future.]
[SENGSUO: Did you lose contact with that girl on your phone?]
[EMPEROR: You’re getting boring. I’ll come back in a few days.]
[internetwarrior34: I agree. I think you should sell foot pictures instead. They’re really pop-
[AUTOMOD: internetwarrior34 has been banned for 24 hours.]
“Ah…”
He let out a big sigh as he lit a cigarette and leaned back on his chair.
After he finished his stories relating to Lu Yibei, he began to go through his old drafts, but those drafts were all made up and admittedly absurd, so they didn’t seem real to his viewers.
In just a few days, his viewers have dropped by half.
Although he doesn’t make a living through streaming, he couldn’t help but feel frustrated by the sudden drop in his newfound popularity.
“My viewers are right. What if I…”
He glanced at his mobile phone and scrolled until he found an unsaved number.
His hands slightly trembled as he hit dialled, only to be greeted with a mechanical female voice.
“I’m sorry, the number you have dialled is unavailable.”
He hung up and put out his cigarette. He took his car keys and decided to start work for the night.
He wasn’t particularly surprised that his phone call didn’t go through—that girl is an urban legend, for goodness sake!
20:57, three minutes after Professor Ma’s text.
A lone taxi drove across the silent streets of Huacheng; the number of pedestrians gradually thinned as the night became darker, and after passing by two cars, he began to miss the gifts his viewers would gift him.
A job that supports his hobby and even funds it. He couldn’t help but feel sad.
‘If I meet her tonight, I must force her to give me more material. She seems harmless anyway.’
“Ah!” he yelled out. “What am I thinking? She’s an urban legend! She might still eat me alive!”
When he put his eyes back on the road, his eyes couldn’t help but widen as he slammed on the brakes.
Screech!
Wisps of smoke drifted out from his tyres, and two shallow skid marks were drawn on the road.
An all-too-familiar girl standing in the middle of the street, wearing a blue dress and donning a suspiciously shiny kitchen knife pinned to her waist…
“Gulp…”
‘H-how did she find me? I’m nowhere near the University, and yet…’
He stared at the girl in the distance without breathing, then silently put his hands on the gear lever and stepped on the clutch, ready to start off on the flat ground and accelerate quickly.
Fate is a strange thing.
She didn’t know if it was the luck of the draw, but whenever she needed transport, Zhang Shan would always be there.
She was in a hurry, so she didn’t even think about contacting him, but there he was.
‘Do I have… any metaphysical powers?’
As if she were phasing, Yibei appeared right next to Zhang Shan’s car as he started driving away, and she had to run to catch up to him.
“Hey! Are you free now? Could you send me over to the University? I’ll pay you this time, promise!”
Zhang Shan looked at Lu Yibei’s expressionless face, then at the kitchen knife on her waist.
‘I don’t care about money anymore!’
Zhang Shan cursed in his heart, then sighed silently, “Get in!”
He really wanted to say no, but he didn’t want to die either.
Meanwhile, under a bridge, shortly after a young witch had disappeared into the night,
Gu Qianqian returned to a slightly ajar door, and she couldn’t help but feel unsettled.
“I’m back!” she called out. “I brought you something delicious—two meats and one vegetable for us to share!”
No response, and the silence was making her more and more uneasy.
She slowly pushed the door open and fumbled for the light switch, and the first thing she noticed was the opened piggy bank. Her face turned pale, and the takeouts in her hand fell to the ground in a loud snap.
“It’s over! She must’ve stolen something! I’ve been so kind to her—I even bought her food, and yet…”
As Gu Qianqian cried with a choked voice, she dumped the banknotes in the piggy bank on the floor and counted them.
Perhaps it was because Gu Qianqian was crying that the system felt bad and started to comfort her.
“Witches can’t be trusted. We must beat her up the next time we see her, but for now, you must get up and eat your food.”
“Wait!” she cried out.
“What is it?”
“She… didn’t actually steal my money. In fact, there are three extra yuan inside.”
If the system had a physical mouth, it would be hanging down to the floor by now.
‘No… A witch couldn’t do this. There must be some kind of conspiracy, some kind of…’
21:02.
The bathroom was shrouded in darkness.
Professor Ma shrank himself into the corner as he trembled, staring at the mobile phone that fell into the toilet.
Five minutes ago, he was typing out a message for Yibei when the light above his head started to flicker before dimming.
The erratic dimming shocked him as the speed of his fingers increased tremendously, and as if he had been electrocuted, his phone fell and bounced straight into the toilet bowl.
Of course, his first reaction was to pick up the phone, but as he approached the toilet, he heard a strange sound of music coming from within it.
Like an old music box that played out of tune endlessly.
He suspected that if he picked up his phone, something bad would happen to him.
Even his trusty copper coin told him to stay away from the toilet.
However, he couldn’t help but glance at the toilet bowl—would Yibei know where he was after sending that hasty text for help?
Uncertainty, despair, and fear were like a three-headed beast that lingered in his mind.
And in the darkness, time seemed to slow down, and he felt strangely tired.
At this moment, the sound of music stopped.
There was dead silence in the bathroom, except for the occasional tick of water.
As he crawled closer to the toilet bowl, it suddenly rang again, and strangely enough, it became clearer and clearer, as if the music wasn’t playing from within the toilet bowl, but…
He retreated away from the toilet bowl and stuck himself to the wall farthest from it; however, he could hear the toilet gurgle as water would bubble out, and that familiar stench enveloped his breath.
Metal pipes collided with each other.
A few fingers protruded from the toilet.
He was frightened out of his mind, and yet his fingers trailed over the copper coin in his pocket as if he were searching for a divine answer to help him out.
‘Heads means I will die, and tails means I will survive…’
Tossing the coin and slapping it firmly on his hand, he revealed heads.
His face turned pale in an instant.
At this moment, there was another soft sound of water rushing up from the direction of the sink.
A complete, bloody arm forced itself out of the toilet bowl, and it brought its fingers down on the rim of the toilet.
