[VACCARIA: Sorry, but I have no interest in joining.]
With a hint of annoyance, Lu Yibei finished replying to the cat girl. She propped her chin on her hand, her eyes fixed on her phone screen, with a sneer.
Oh, this person is truly good at tricking people. Theyve conducted thorough background checks, crafting a web of lies to entrap their victims. I nearly fell for their tricks!
Thankfully, I know the circumstances of how my dad died. Whether its from my own mories, the police records, or Shuis recollection of rushing to the scene, it was nothing more than a tragic accident.
An accident of my making.
As Lu Yibei delved deeper into her thoughts, a deep guilt crept from the recesses of her heart, making her feel suffocated. Her hands involuntarily clutched at her chest and bathrobe.
If I hadnt insisted on dragging my father along on my graduation trip, none of this would have happened, right?
Her thoughts drifted, her eyes clouding over as her mind journeyed upstream through the river of ti, back to the past.
In the first two years of high school, Lu Yibei enjoyed his years, far removed from his academic obligations.
As the first sester of his senior year approached, the harsh reality of the impending college entrance exams finally dawned upon him. The once carefree student was forced to confront the daunting task of securing a place at a decent university.
The carefree days of his youth had co to an end, and the price for his past ignorance was about to be paid.
His senior year was marked by relentless toil and stress as he struggled with the demands of college preparation. Yet, funnily enough, his determination never wavered, fueled by the hope of escaping his current predicant.
Finally, his unwavering dedication bore fruit. The mont he clutched his admission notice, the pent-up emotions of an entire year were unleashed in joy.
Elated by his success, he started planning his graduation trip with a close friend. The prospect of adventure and the chance to escape the stress of high school filled him with a sense of freedom.
After years of suppressing any form of enjoynt, the taste of excitent proved irresistible. His itinerary for his graduation trip was a testant to his yearning for thrills, and he ticulously crafted it to incorporate at least sothing strange, sothing dangerous or sothing out of the box.
However, fate had other plans. As the nights grew longer and the world around them began to undergo subtle shifts, planning for a trip was sothing that would soon prove to take a wrong turn.
Two days before graduation, all his friends were ordered by their parents to cancel their plans. Therefore, he begged his father to follow him on his graduation trip instead.
On that fateful day, they went rafting on the Xiling Riverit was a thrilling father-son bonding mont. Soon, they went back to their hotel to rest.
It was lightly drizzling. After a short rest, the two of them took advantage of the cool weather to leave the hotel and hit the streets.
After visiting several snack vendors, Yibei suddenly ca up with the idea of going to the Ei Mountains to watch the sunrise over the sea of clouds.
It originally wasnt part of his original itinerary, so he didnt expect his dad to agree to it so swiftly.
However, his father suggested that if he simply wanted to watch the sunrise, there was sowhere still mostly untouched by human developnt where the both of them could watch the sunrise in natures original splendour.
This is located in the Qionglai Mountains, and Yibei, like his father, was full of energy. If they agreed to go sowhere, they would leave overnight.
He spent half an hour buying the ticket after their short conversation.
The father-son duo left their hotel on the three-oclock bus in the morning. The timing was precise, and it was hard to tell whether this was the first bus of the day or the last bus of yesterday.
When the two of them walked to the station, it began to drizzle, and a light mist covered the area.
Seeing the impending weather, Yibei suggested postponing it, but his father simply retaliated, But its your sumr vacation! It should be no problem; its just so light rain.
The two of them boarded the bus, but for so reason, as the bus drove away from the city, Yibei noticed a faint uneasiness between his fathers brows.
Now that I think about it, dont humans have so kind of sixth sense of when theyre about to die?
The bus was out of the city now, and the scenery outside the window was filled with nothing but steep, green mountains that towered over them. The sky beca darker than it already was, and dark clouds announced their arrival with each thunder strike.
In the blink of an eye, it began to rain heavily.
The bus was extrely quiet, but it was clear that it was suffocating.
Everyone on the bus was uneasy, including the driver.
It beca hard to see outside the window, and only the cascading droplets of water could be seen. If a school of fish suddenly swam past the window, it wouldnt be strange at all.
Yibeis father had his eyes and hands trained on his phone.
On a treacherous, rainy mountain road, Yibei didnt know how his father managed to obtain a strong enough signal to support that magical girl online ga that he loved to play.
The other passenger is sitting diagonally in front of them.
He was tall and burly, wearing traditional clothes fit for a Tibetan and a pair of worn sunglasses. He seed unkempt and dirty, and the skin on his face was dull and colourless as an indescribable sll emanating from him spread across the bus.
He had been sleeping since he got on the bus, snoring intermittently. It was as if the downpour outside and the bumpy road were nothing but a lullaby to him.
The bus continued to brave the dark and stormy night, and its light could only illuminate a tiny area ahead.
The drivers driving speed was incredibly slow. The bumpier it got, the slower the bus drove.
This continued for a long ti, and soon, Yibei could see a young man and a woman stranded by the roadside not far ahead.
The driver slowly parked the bus on the side of the road and turned his head back, saying, Sorry, but its unlucky for them to encounter such terrible weather outside. Do all of you mind if we help them?
After obtaining the approval of most of the passengers on board, the driver opens the bus doors and lets them inside.
Perhaps it was because it was raining so heavily that everyone was suddenly caught off-guard, or perhaps it was because this area was close to a hidden town in the mountains. As soon as the young man and woman entered, a bunch of other people entered one after another.
There were shepherds with tanned skin; girls were wearing traditional clothing with pale, blue faces from the cold; there were youthful teenagers with colourful hair.
Soon, the quiet bus was filled with people.
Among these people, the one who caught Yibeis attention was a man with a hunchback, wearing a dark raincoat.
He caught his attention for three reasons: first, he visibly leapt out of the bushes as the bus was driving.
If it wasnt raining and if the bus wasnt driving slowly, this man wouldve been run over by the bus.
Second, he seed scary; his face was weathered, and a large scar in the corner of his eyes and mouth was present. From a distance, it seed as though his mouth extended from the upper ear to the lower ear.
Moreover, the wound seed fresh, and the stitches could still be seen. Soaked in the rainwater, the stitches bulged as if the wound was threatening to fester again.
Lastly, the mont the man got into the car, the sleeping, snoring man suddenly woke up and clutched the prayer beads in his sleeves. He hurriedly yelled at the driver and begged to get off the bus.
When the unknown man saw this, he scoffed and simply sat in the seat he vacated.
The mont he sat down, he imdiately stared at Yibei, stretching out his tongue and licking his wounds. His saliva burnt his wounds, but his face forced out an expression of pleasure.
Glancing at him, Yibei felt nauseous, and his father put down his phone to raise his middle finger at the man.
He could still rember how his father glared at the man before he gently gestured at Yibei to sleep on his shoulder.
He mustve learnt that move from Shui, he deduced. He didnt refuse and leaned on his shoulder, and he felt warm and at ease as his consciousness began to fade in and out from the lulling of the rain.
He had no idea that it would be the last ti he felt his fathers warmth.
If he had known earlier, he would not have fallen asleep so quickly.
When he tried to open his eyes, he found that he couldnt as he lay on a bed in Yucheng Hospital, and severe pain echoed throughout the walls of his body.
He soon found out that, after he fell asleep, the bus encountered a massive landslide and was swept away into a ravine, crashing through the highway fence.
The police told him that the accident was tragic and that he was the sole survivor of the incident. He was told that large stones crashed into the bus from the landslide and sohow avoided him.
Then Shui hurried over and told him words that were very different from those of the police.
Yibei once thought that death must be a very painful thing for all parties; it would involve crying and tantrums before falling into a deep depression.
However, after losing his father, it didnt seem to be a big deal. No tears seed to fall from his eyes.
He would simply nod and help his mother handle funeral arrangents, and Shui would comfort him from ti to ti.
This stark indifference lasted for a long ti until he lived in his old house in Huacheng. One morning, he woke up and yelled into the living room, Dad, I want so stead dumplings and tofu for breakfast!
But there was no response, and only then did it fully hit him.
Guilt, pain, sadnessall kinds of negative emotions that his body bottled up crashed into him wave after wave, destroying his faade and leaving nothing behind.
Recalling this, her brows furrowed.
There were indeed many things about her fathers death that made her feel weird: the weather, the sudden introduction of new passengers, the snoring man wanting to get off the bus, and that strange, strange man
She recalled having rembered these scenes when she ca into contact with the Eclipse Societys totem.
Judging from her repressed mories, her father was a strong psychic. Could he really die from a re car accident?
And, if there really was an urban legend attack, did Shui know? Is he hiding sothing?
In this new world of urban legends, Yibei felt that there were too many inconsistencies about the accident.
No, it cant be that simple.
Even though 100 2/3 CATS claid to have the answer, she felt that she couldnt trust a group of people with unknown origins.
She must first understand their nature.
On the other end of the phone, the cat-girl waited but received no response from the Witch. She couldnt help but feel anxious again, and she got down on all fours as she scurried through the windows, tables, chairs, and floor.
Finally, the lanky man couldnt stand the cat ssing up his desk and interrupted, Can you stop that? Youre making feel dizzy.
The cat girl glared at him and scoffed, That Witch hasnt replied yet, and I feel anxious. I want to see her and cyberbully her in real life!
Youre a cat, he reminded her.
Whatever, she huffed as she grabbed her phone to send another text before being interrupted.
Wait a minute, the lanky man stopped. Are you sure you want to send her a text now?
So what if I am?
She doesnt care, he simply said. What are you going to send her to convince her to join us? She doesnt even care about how her father died, which shows how cold-blooded she is. If you send her a ssage now, I think
He hesitated to speak.
Well? the cat-girl urged, revealing her claws.
Get those claws away from my face; I still have girls I need to seduce.
Get to the point!
Well, he said. If you send her a ssage now, she will only continue to be annoyed, which in turn will annoy you.
As he finished speaking, a cold light flashed across his face, revealing three more scratch marks on his face.
What the fuck? Why did you do that? He moaned, covering his face.
Tsk, then what do you think we should do now?
Well, I think shell cave soon and text you herself.
As soon as he spoke, the cat-girls phone vibrated twice, and on the screen was a ssage sent by [VACCARIA].
[VACCARIA: Fine. But you have to answer a few of my questions.]
[100 2/3 CATS: No problem. Ill tell you everything I know.]
After reading the cats ssage, the Witch slightly frowned as she tapped into her phone.
[VACCARIA: Does my fathers death have anything to do with urban legends?]
[100 2/3 CATS: Yes.]
[VACCARIA: Does it have anything to do with the Eclipse Society?]
[100 2/3 CATS: Sorry, but I cant reveal that yet.]
In translation, it probably ans that they are involved, but I cant be sure until certain conditions are t.
[VACCARIA: How do I know what youre saying is true?]
It was silent for a mont.
[100 2/3 CATS: We have our own ways of receiving information, and it is always reliable. I cannot prove it now, but the decision is yours to makediscover the truth or continue living in the dark.]
The Witch frowned slightly.
Why are they suddenly so formal?
[VACCARIA: Here is my suggestion: We will help each other. I will complete your review, but you have to form a contract of alliance with . After that, you will answer a few more questions for .]
In the past month, Yibei was very free, which gave her enough ti to study the alliance contract between her and Jung.
Whenever she had thoughts of killing Jung, the mark on the back of the goddess hands would light up, and the sa would be true if she wanted to lie to her, albeit a bit dimr.
Therefore, she felt that this contract could be used as a lie detector.
As for the spell to form the contract, it was just a few simple incantations. She could recite it after listening to it once, but she needed a target.
After a while, her phone vibrated.
[100 2/3 CATS: I can promise you this, but you must join us after passing the review.]
[VACCARIA: Dont worry about it.]
[100 2/3 CATS: If you go against your word, you will be cursed!]
[VACCARIA: Well, Ill definitely keep my word.]
Its impossible to not get involved, so the best she could do was cooperate.
[100 2/3 CATS: Dear VACCARIA, tomorrow night, you will undergo the second review. Please head over to the Southern Suburbs Slaughterhouse at 12 oclock midnight and wait until daybreak.]
That slaughterhouse? Rumour has it that a giant, black pig eats people who venture into it.
Am I the only one? Is there anyone else coming?
[100 2/3 CATS has added you to the 104th Review Discussion Group.]
Besides this cat, are there other people?
Looking at the chat groups mbers, she started to morise their usernas.
[Genius Mahjong Girl], [Invincible Wang], [Lis Outdoor Broadcast]
After writing down their IDs and morising them, she put away her mobile phone.
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