“Anything else you want to say?”
Lu Yibei sat obediently and properly on the stool, shaking her head.
“No.”
She had tried very hard to get information out of Gu Xinian.
From “currently available public information,” extending to the daily lives of Xunzhen Mutual Aid Society mbers, transitioning from daily life to romantic relationships, and then branching out from romantic relationships to “What did you eat this morning?” and “Are you full?”, she was just short of directly asking for Gu Xinian’s ID number.
And incidentally, she fully displayed the appropriate curiosity of a misguided, ignorant minor girl towards a mysterious cult, showing no flaws.
But Gu Xinian wasn't Gu Qianqian; this fellow was very tight-lipped and always managed to gloss over crucial points with evasive answers.
Besides discovering that this guy was a highly disciplined monster who could get up imdiately the mont his alarm went off, the only information Lu Yibei obtained was that he was suspected of having a sister complex.
Or, should I tie up Gu Qianqian again later and threaten him to tell what I want to know?
Tsk, I knew Gu Qianqian was a weapon against her brother; I shouldn't have let her run away!
Wait, isn't my way of doing things getting more and more similar to the mories in the dream? Sothing's not right with ! Lu Yibei thought.
“Then I’m leaving, okay?!”
Lu Yibei waved her hand expressionlessly.
Seeing this, Gu Xinian was about to leave when he suddenly noticed Lu Yibei’s hesitant and then wanting-to-speak look, and his heart imdiately tightened.
“Don’t say anything; if you have any questions, ask next ti!”
Lu Yibei opened her mouth, then nodded dejectedly.
“Whew—!”
As if granted a great amnesty, Gu Xinian let out a long sigh of relief, turned around, and quickly walked towards the outside of the library.
When Lu Yibei introduced herself, Gu Xinian didn't quite believe that this Miss had psychological problems. With her peaceful and harmless appearance, what problems could she have?
Now he believed it.
Dealing with her alone was more tiring than dealing with dozens of Mutual Aid Society mbers. If Gu Xinian hadn't been acting as the Chairman’s agent all these years, helping his Uncle deal with various difficult mbers, any other mber who ca into contact with her would probably have already resorted to violence.
Perhaps, it was precisely because she was good-looking that she was Lived now?
Otherwise, she should have been beaten to death long ago.
As Gu Xinian thought this, his left foot had just stepped out of the door of the third-floor library when he heard a long sigh from behind him.
“Alas—!”
Gu Xinian, “......”
Sothing happened with his Uncle over there, and he was pressing him to return quickly; he absolutely couldn't entertain her antics anymore.
“Alas—!”
Gu Xinian’s right foot had just stepped out of the third-floor library when the sigh sounded again.
That sigh, with three parts regret in its helplessness, entered his ears like hundreds of cat claws sliding along his ears, drilling into his body, and batting his heart and liver around like a ball of yarn.
“Damn it, if you have sothing to say, just say it, don't be so passive-aggressive!”
Lu Yibei stared at Gu Xinian for two seconds, her gaze drifting towards the chair opposite her seat, and weakly said, “You kept taking out your phone, kept taking out your phone, and then you dropped it on the chair and forgot to take it...”
The corner of Gu Xinian’s mouth twitched, and he covered his forehead, saying, “Why didn’t you say so earlier?”
“Hey! You told to ask next ti if I had sothing to say!” Lu Yibei said with an innocent look in her eyes.
“......”
What the hell...
Lu Yibei was supposed to appear today, so how did such a Miss co instead?
Gu Xinian returned with a dark face, picked up his phone from the chair, put it back in his pocket, and the mont he turned around, as if to sweep away bad luck, he forcefully patted his sleeves.
“Poof—poof—!”
Accompanied by a light sound, a thin layer of dust [N O V E L I G H T] floated in the air.
Lu Yibei watched the white dust flying like stirred-up dust under the sunlight, a hint of disdain appearing in her eyes.
What the heck was falling off him?
Had he not washed his clothes for several months? Was it so bad it was crumbling? Or was it so indescribable powder used against beautiful girls?
I’m scared, I’m scared, better be careful!
Complaining inwardly, she shrank her neck and slowly raised a hand to cover her mouth and nose.
————
In the evening, the setting sun cast down from the sky, dyeing the city streets rose-colored.
On the third floor of the Hua City Library, Lu Yibei was still sitting by the window, buried in her phone.
After waiting for a long ti and confirming that there were no Xunzhen Mutual Aid Society mbers secretly observing her, she put away her phone, sat up straight, and began to look through the hua city urban and rural construction local chronicle on the table.
“Big idiot, if you don’t tell , won’t I find it myself?” Lu Yibei muttered in a low voice that only she could hear.
What is the Xunzhen Mutual Aid Society? It's a cult! Can you believe the nonsense they say?
Teammates can even backstab each other, let alone a cult with no connection?
Believing them is less believable than believing that the love and magical girls Autumn Limited UP pool really has a 5% drop rate!
Anyway, Lu Yibei felt that in necessary circumstances, she was very likely to backstab her teammates, and if she couldn't yet confirm whether they were teammates, that was even better!
If the enemy is weak, suppress them with artillery fire and grind them to dust. If the enemy is strong, use sneak attacks, poison, and whatever dirty tricks are available.
Considering the above factors, Lu Yibei felt it was very necessary to thoroughly investigate the abandoned factory that appeared in the dream.
From Gu Xinian's behavior, that place should be very important to the Xunzhen Mutual Aid Society.
If she could figure out the exact location of that abandoned factory in advance, investigate which route nearby is suitable for escape, where is suitable for engaging the enemy without being surrounded... and other information, then if she unfortunately went there in the future and encountered any difficult dangers, she could still successfully escape.
After all, in the dream mory, the scene of the blurry figures sending the little girl who resembled Gu Qianqian to the huge chimney left a very unfriendly impression on her.
She always felt that they seed to want to send Gu Qianqian into the boiler room below the chimney, to make a dish like 【Charcoal-Grilled Baby Gu Qianqian】.
And without adding green onions or salt, the thod was extrely cruel.
Thinking of this, Lu Yibei suddenly missed her Alchemy Dirty Bombs.
If she had a few Alchemy Dirty Bombs with her now, after finding that abandoned factory, she could set them up in the chimney in advance. Once the situation was wrong, with a flick of her little hand, the danger would imdiately turn into the most dazzling fireworks in the sky.
While thinking, Lu Yibei quickly flipped the book to the table of contents.
She had been troubled before, even with the help of illustrations and text, filtering out the abandoned factory that best matched the dream from dozens with large chimneys was a massive undertaking.
The act of the Xunzhen Mutual Aid Society tearing out pages undoubtedly helped her narrow down the scope.
This imdiately turned an analytical problem into a freebie, which was incredibly heartwarming.
When Lu Yibei turned to the table of contents listing the content related to pages 336 to 343, she frowned.
Blacked out? Damn it, are you still human?!
Books are the ladder of human progress. Doesn't tearing books so casually hurt your conscience?
I'm different; I'm a urban legend, and I don't have a conscience...
Thinking this, Lu Yibei prepared to tear off the table of contents and take it ho for careful study. Imdiately after, as if her conscience suddenly awakened, she took out her phone and took a complete picture of the table of contents.
I disdain to go along with them!
Lu Yibei angrily waved her little fists in the air, secretly glancing at the cara in the corner.
“Almost... I’ll go back first. I can search for a list of abandoned factories in Hua City online. As long as I compare them and see which ones are missing, and then look for them one by one, I can find the location of the abandoned factory in the dream.”
She muttered to herself, put away her phone, and quickly left the library.
————
Shortly after six o'clock in the afternoon, Lu Yibei, who had returned ho, drew the curtains in the study.
Although she didn't know if doing so could prevent the Xunzhen Mutual Aid Society from secretly observing her, she still had to take basic precautions.
She opened her laptop, typed “Hua City abandoned factories” into the search engine, gently pressed Enter, and quickly found a list of factories that had been demolished or relocated in the past fifteen years. Then she took out her phone...
Without realizing it, she was swallowed up by the β site and her phone for nearly an hour.
Coming back to her senses, Lu Yibei looked at the ti displayed on her phone, 19:07, and frowned, “That’s not right! What the heck was I trying to do just now? Oh, right, compare the table of contents and the list.”
And then...
The short video APP quietly stole another half an hour of her ti.
Friendly reminder: The Website is about to be revised, which may cause loss of reading progress. Please save your book shelf and reading record in ti (screenshots are recomnded for saving). We apologize for any inconvenience caused!
“Bang—!”
Half an hour later, Lu Yibei slamd the table, making the sound of Hu Shizhi, “Damn it! Lu Yibei, Lu Yibei, how can you be so degenerate? You can't go on like this!”
“Hey, 《love and magic girl》 event push... Oh, right, I haven’t finished today’s daily grind yet.”
So, nearly two hours after returning ho, she reluctantly opened her phone album and began to compare the photos of the table of contents with the list of relocated factories.
Am I not doing serious business, just playing? No!
I’m doing this to cover my tracks! What if the Xunzhen Mutual Aid Society is still secretly monitoring ?
No one would be so bored as to do nothing but watch soone play on their phone for over two hours, right? Lu Yibei thought.
----
Ti passed little by little. After more than two hours, as the city outside the window gradually fell silent, Lu Yibei finally completed the comparison.
Qianjin Cast Iron Factory, Xujiagou Brewery, Hongxing Aluminum Alloy Factory, Zhaojiadang Leather Factory, West City Li Factory.
These abandoned factories are the ones ntioned on the missing pages of the hua city urban and rural construction local chronicle. Combined with the characteristic of having large chimneys, the brewery and leather factory can be ruled out.
"Then only the cast iron factory, aluminum alloy factory, and li factory are left... Which one would be better to check first?" Lu Yibei muttered to herself.
Four choices, for her, a patient with decision-making difficulties who would struggle over whether to choose the sweeter blue bottle or the fizzier red bottle when buying a bottle of happy water, or support a local brand, only to end up with a bottle of sugar-free Sprite, it was truly a bit difficult.
Just as she was racking her brain over which abandoned factory to check first, a detail flashed through her mind.
The "residue" that fell from Gu Xinian!
Although it was just a thin layer of white dust, the floating dust was only visible under sunlight.
But what if that was li powder?
Does that an he had been to a place with li.
Lu Yibei mused, her gaze falling on the words "West City Li Factory".
Could it be here?
Although the West City Li Factory has been abandoned for nearly twenty years, according to the information available online, it was not demolished after being abandoned due to its remote location, and there might still be leftover li ore inside. It is reasonable for Gu Xinian to have so white dust on his clothes after entering and exiting the West City Li Factory.
"Then... let's go take a look?"
----
So, half an hour later.
After a simple dinner at a small noodle shop near the Teaching Staff Compound, Lu Yibei stood by the roadside and waved at an approaching taxi.
The mont she got in, she stole a glance at the driver, saw the weathered stubble and the potbelly with stories, and nodded in satisfaction.
As expected of the "Causality Law · Exclusive Driver Summoning Great thod", it's you!
Seeing that the passenger hadn't spoken for a long ti after getting in, Zhang Shan couldn't help but ask, "Miss, where are You going?"
"To the West City Li Factory," Lu Yibei said expressionlessly.
"West City Li..." Zhang Shan repeated quietly, as if rembering sothing, his brow furrowed slightly, but he said nothing and started the car, driving forward.
Fifteen minutes later.
"Uncle, do you like listening to urban legend stories?"
Zhang Shan glanced at Lu Yibei through the rearview mirror and said lightly, "Do you want to say that a friend of yours told You that if You tell urban legend stories, You won't have to pay the fare."
"Uh..." Lu Yibei pondered for two seconds and said solemnly, "Absolutely not, I don't have friends who like to freeload!"
"I just feel it's too quiet and a bit boring."
This is true.
"Oh, is that so?" Zhang Shan nodded, "Then tell !"
"Hmm, let think..." Lu Yibei thought for a mont and slowly began, "How about I tell a story about 【Hide-and-Seek Alone】?"
"The story begins with a certain man trying the urban legend ga at ho..."
----
Night deepened, West City Li Factory.
The old factory buildings were silent under the night sky, the broken windows were dark, looking like dull eyes from afar.
Underground, the small warehouse that was originally used to store miscellaneous items was brightly lit by several high-wattage light bulbs.
Gu Weibing, covered in sweat and breathing heavily, held a shining electric saw and stared at the windbreaker fixed on the workbench in front of him, his expression solemn.
Earlier, he had shown this "Divine Gift" to the mbers of the Xunzhen Mutual Aid Society and claid that he would soon be able to interpret the "Divine Revelation" contained within it, causing the mbers to cheer.
But...
How was he supposed to interpret "Divine Revelation" from this broken piece of clothing!?
Although he firmly believed that he had indeed had an extraordinary contact with a great existence in a dream and received a gift from that great existence upon waking.
However, as of now, he still doesn't know what that great existence wants him to do.
The reason he boasted in front of the Xunzhen Mutual Aid Society mbers was because he had been doing this for the past nearly twenty years.
Only by doing this could he maintain his image of being profound and unfathomable, strengthen the mbers' faith, and continuously receive sponsorship from elites from all walks of life.
Yes, this is very materialistic, disgustingly materialistic.
However, he doesn't want to ruin his life with his own hands for a fleeting dream, like his brother.
So people cannot live without dreams, but so people just want to be "Lived".
Here, he has everything he wants. Why should he take risks and live in a world full of unknowns?
However, as the Chairman of the Mutual Aid Society, he still respects the mbers' dreams. If he truly mastered the thod of going to the "real world", he would be very happy to send those mbers away first and help keep everything they left behind in this false world.
However, reality often goes against one's wishes.
He originally thought this ti, like before, he could just show sothing magical in front of the mbers and gain their admiration and a huge amount of wealth.
Today, after seeing this strange windbreaker, those Mutual Aid Society mbers seed to be possessed, causing the situation to completely exceed Gu Weibing's control.
Those mbers who held the economic lifeline of the Mutual Aid Society even put pressure on him, claiming that they would suspend their financial aid until the "Divine Revelation" was interpreted.
This made Gu Weibing feel quite powerless and annoyed.
So, shortly after the dayti gathering ended, he ca to this small warehouse and began to study this miraculously obtained windbreaker.
However, in the past few hours, he had gained nothing.
After multiple unsuccessful attempts, Gu Weibing threw the electric saw in his hand aside fiercely and said with a gloomy face, "Damn it, I can't communicate with it, I can't wear it, and I can't even saw it open with an electric saw..."
"How the hell am I supposed to deal with this damn thing?"
Just as Gu Weibing was getting anxious and angry, the lights above his head suddenly flickered a few tis, and the surroundings fell into a deathly silence.
In such a deathly silence, the rustling sound from the windbreaker beca particularly clear.
As the light sound echoed in the deathly silence, the first thing that beca abnormal was his vision, which first blurred, and then was tinged with a faint dark red halo.
Imdiately after, the semi-illusory, semi-real dark red flesh attached to the windbreaker seed to proliferate wildly in an instant, invading every corner of the small warehouse.
They were attached to the walls, the ceiling, the tables and chairs... slowly wriggling.
In an instant, he felt as if the entire small warehouse had suddenly co to Lived, emitting a terrifying pressure that surged towards him.
Countless strange sounds drilled into his ears: the sound of wind, thunder, a woman's soft laughter, a beast's roar, lodious music, and the whistling of weapons.
Fear climbed into his heart, making his whole body tremble.
Gu Weibing's body was wrapped by the wall that seed to have turned into so kind of strange cavity, his eyes rolled back, and he convulsed non-stop.
Finally, all sounds stopped abruptly.
Gu Weibing, who was almost completely unconscious, quietly showed a happy and sweet smile on his face.
At this mont, in his mind, there were only the happiest and purest thoughts, as beautiful as first love, the first achievent, or the first toy of childhood.
----
He didn't know how long had passed.
Gu Weibing erged from that indescribably wonderful state. After stunneding for two seconds, he imdiately checked his body in a panic.
"Phew—!" After confirming that his body was intact, he let out a long sigh.
Just then, an irresistible thought flashed through his mind without warning—to spread those "creations of the gods" to the mbers of the Mutual Aid Society.
At this mont, he suddenly had a realization in his heart. This was a divine revelation!
Suddenly, the light flickered. As the light and dark alternated, a light sound like a stone falling ca from the workbench.
Gu Weibing stunneded for a mont, looked in the direction of the sound, his gaze falling on the dark red crystal that had appeared on the workbench at so point, his eyes deepening...
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