Chapter 390

The culprit behind Lu Xiuqi's transformation was most likely that thread behind his soul.

It did not extend from Lu Xiuqi himself; it was a foreign object that had taken root in his soul.

Unfortunately, that thing had sunk into the void, its source invisible.

Tang Luo was not skilled at this either — deep "tracking and investigation" — this task still required Xiaotian Quan.

Thinking carefully, it was a bit sad; Tang Luo, Ao Yulie, Xiaotian Quan — in a certain sense, the one playing the decisive role was actually Xiaotian Quan.

No wonder Ao Yulie often felt his status was threatened.

Especially since Tang Luo could also fly, he could even sing loudly: "I want to, what use is this little white dragon?"

"Mhm, mhm." Listening to the incessant chatter, Tang Luo perfunctorily humored Lu Xiuqi with a casual air.

Seeing Tang Luo's reaction, Lu Xiuqi switched topics and said: "That... Master, is the Empress's matter completely settled now?"

This was the key point, what he most wanted to ask; he had originally planned to work up to it gradually.

But the Master was uncooperative, so Lu Xiuqi could only cut straight to the chase.

"It's settled. Even if there were issues, they definitely have nothing to do with you." Tang Luo said.

"Then that friend of mine..." Lu Xiuqi hesitated to speak; his friend had, after all, 404'd.

"You have no friends; your friend is yourself." Tang Luo said.

Lu Xiuqi froze, shaking his head repeatedly: "How is that possible?"

"Don't believe me? Take out your driver's license." Tang Luo said.

Lu Xiuqi took out his driver's license; Tang Luo opened it, pointed at the photo, and asked: "Is this you?"

"It's me, middle-age weight gain can't be helped." Lu Xiuqi was quite helpless.

The problem was, this was clearly two different people in their middle-age weight gain.

"Are you sure this person is you?"

"Definitely me!"

"Look at the rearview mirror."

Lu Xiuqi accepted the advice readily, looked carefully, and revealed a trace of satisfaction.

Standard man — when looking in the mirror he always feels he's that handsome, the more he looks the more handsome he feels, confidence brimming; unlike women, who look more and more dissatisfied.

"Alright then." Tang Luo no longer persuaded; it seemed in the fake Lu Xiuqi's eyes, his own appearance matched the mirror and the photo.

"Master, what exactly is going on?" Lu Xiuqi asked.

"With your insight, this poor monk finds it hard to explain clearly to you." Tang Luo said, "Benefactor, don't ask too much; this poor monk has already resolved your troubles at the root, no need to worry about the Empress's problem anymore."

Lu Xiuqi nodded somewhat helplessly; his arm couldn't twist against the thigh.

The other party's root-cause solution had clearly succeeded; the Empress certainly wasn't the "peaceful passing" written in news reports, and it was inseparable from this Master.

The other party bore him no ill will; Lu Xiuqi couldn't have a brain fart and push his luck — if he got "resolved at the root" that would be bad.

As for monks having compassion and all that.

What era is this; who still believes that?

Especially with Lu Xiuqi's journalist identity — he'd seen all kinds of people; professional identity was never the standard for judging whether someone was a "good person."

Rarely muddle-headed, then let it stay muddle-headed.

"However, just to be safe, this poor monk will give you another consecration." Tang Luo said.

"Again?" In this Lu Xiuqi's memory, there had been no soul-ferrying just now.

Before Lu Xiuqi could react, Tang Luo performed soul-ferrying again.

Moreover, this time it was double soul-ferrying.

Besides Lu Xiuqi, there was also Xiaotian Quan.

A moment later, Lu Xiuqi opened his eyes somewhat blankly; he had just experienced an out-of-body soul journey, the feeling not so good.

A shameful sensation of being stripped bare, even though his soul was wearing "clothes."

"It's fine now." Tang Luo said to Lu Xiuqi, "Go back, ask for leave, sleep it off, treat it as if nothing happened."

"..."

"Let's leave it at that; hope we don't meet again. If we do, it probably won't be good for you." Tang Luo opened the car door; Xiaotian Quan jumped onto his shoulder.

"What kind of thing is this." Lu Xiuqi watched Tang Luo's departing back and said a line.

"This is also a strange event, just didn't expect it to be a bit troublesome."

Tang Luo, walking on the street, also said a line.

Xiaotian Quan told him a piece of not-so-good news: finding the source of that thread rooted in Lu Xiuqi's soul would not be easy.

It wasn't that the scent was too faint, making tracking difficult for Xiaotian Quan.

The scent was indeed extremely faint, but not to the point where Xiaotian Quan couldn't track it.

The problem was, there were too many...

That extremely, extremely faint scent existed all over the city — over a hundred of them — and they were still moving continuously.

The moving speed wasn't fast; some were walking, some were driving at 30 km/h in the city.

Indicating there were many more people of Lu Xiuqi's type.

"Little White Dragon, come do work." Entering the Gray Mist, Tang Luo spoke.

"Okay, Master." Ao Yulie in the Cursed House kipped up, and said to the two maids Xiao Qian and Kawakami Eko: "I'm going out with Master to handle big business; you two watch the house well."

Xiao Qian and Kawakami Eko saw Ao Yulie out, without envy.

Staying in the Cursed House was quite nice; most of the time they were in deep sleep, coming out to move around only when needed.

Not boring at all — Kawakami Eko's heart had long since been put away; to use an idiom, it was called "washed clean of lead and powder."

The key was, in the past they still had to painstakingly maintain their "survival"; don't think becoming ghosts meant they could fly around carefree everywhere.

Being a ghost is actually harder than being human.

Once you take up residence in the Cursed House, it's a guaranteed livelihood, with no more worry of soul scattering — naturally a good thing.

————

"An unexpected windfall, a real unexpected windfall." Ao Yulie exclaimed repeatedly, "Master, does this count as us finding the key item for the mission?"

"You discovered a new strange event?" Tang Luo asked.

"Mm." Ao Yulie nodded and said, "But I can't be sure if it's real or fake, I'll go check it out."

The two were communicating in the Gray Mist; he and Tang Luo were operating separately, to ensure better efficiency.

After all, this kind of situation is rare; leave this village and you might not find this shop again.

At first, Tang Luo and the others sought out Lu Xiuqi, wanting to ask him if there was any new "street stall literature" freshly released, which might be a clue.

After all, it had been ten days since they dealt with the Undying Empress.

They'd rested enough; it was time to complete missions again.

Strange events weren't coming to them, so they'd go out and find them.

As a result, after deeper investigation, Lu Xiuqi still had a huge hidden secret, and was very likely another strange event himself.

In the end, this matter was not merely a strange event.

Or rather, the nature of this strange event helped Tang Luo and the others complete their mission better.

Ao Yulie named this event "The Book of Strange Affairs and Spiritual Anomalies".

Yes, those people in the same situation as Lu Xiuqi — they were all doing one thing: investigating, collecting, and recording various strange events that occurred.

Compiling them into data, consciously or unconsciously spreading these matters!

Including the previous Feng Family Great Fog, there were several people in this city collecting it.

The novel-like, richly illustrated news article Tang Luo first saw was from one of them.

There were also materials closer to the truth, already naming the "Feng Family" as the culprit.

Of course, just like the Undying Empress, they were full of all sorts of speculation and conspiracy theories.

But one must admit, they were really well-written.

Anyway, Ao Yulie read them with great relish, even generating an urge to tie people up, lock them in a dark room, and force them to write day and night, updating like madmen.

And while finding them enjoyable, they would also make people feel fear.

After all, they were written in a suspenseful, supernatural, horror style.

Properly so, the kind that doesn't joke around at all, penetrating deep into the heart; reading them was gripping.

When recalling them, especially inadvertently in the dead of night, it was like an icy hand piercing through the chest, clutching your heart!

Ao Yulie had high skill and boldness, so naturally he wouldn't feel fear, only that they were well-written.

He shouted "thoroughly satisfying!"

But if ordinary people read these masterpieces, those with partners clung to their partners, those without could only tremble alone, full of malice toward the lone wolf.

These people all had two faces — "I am my friend" — collecting, spreading.

Like bystanders, recorders, disseminators.

Yet they themselves knew nothing of this matter; that thin thread was like puppet strings, controlling the marionettes' behavior.

After spending several days, Tang Luo and the others temporarily hadn't found the source, unable to resolve this strange event at its root.

But Tang Luo and the others, through the data collected by the "Recorders", located and successfully resolved another strange event.

Of course, not everything recorded was a true strange event; there were many cases of rumors breeding rumors, the kind broadcast on "Approaching Science".

The Zombie Boy — in the end it turned out to be a child pretending to get adult attention.

The Dirt-Eating Girl — turned out to just be a quirk; she didn't only eat dirt, she just liked eating dirt while eating meals.

Like some people who like smelling stinky socks, it only counts as a quirk.

There were also a few that were most likely strange events, but with no source found in a short time, Tang Luo and the others temporarily gave up on them.

Anyway, there were many choices.

Those passive, profoundly mysterious, muddled strange events weren't qualified to be resolved by Master Xuanzang.

Master Xuanzang's subordinates do not save hiding, nameless rats.

Mm, that's roughly the situation.

Up to now, Tang Luo and the others still had two strange events left unfinished; once resolved, they could complete the mission and return.

As for Wen Hanfei, who knows where he ran off to, unknown if he's dead or alive.

Anyway, he provided no effective help toward mission completion; if not for the faction mission, at best he'd merely not count as a mission failure.

Oh, if viewed from the angle of providing equipment, he still contributed to beating the Suit Man.

"Master, why do I feel this world is done for." Ao Yulie exclaimed.

One investigation revealed, all kinds of messy matters, truly not few.

"How would the world end?" Tang Luo said, "At most the existing civilizational order has suffered a bit of a challenge."

The Mountains and Seas Realm's suspected total fragmentation — that counts as the world ending.

Most so-called apocalypses are actually just the end of a civilization, a race.

"And it's not a big deal either, doesn't feel like it'll stir up any waves." Tang Luo said.

"Hey, mainly because it's written too well." Ao Yulie said laughing, "The fakes seem just like the real thing, like this investigation, the black hole's secret, and it keeps up with current events — heard the real high-def photo of the black hole came out, it'll be released in a few days."

"Oh." Tang Luo acknowledged, "Let's resolve one more thing first, then when the time comes find this event's source, and this mission will be complete."

Use it first, save it afterward — a true villain.

"Okay, Master." Ao Yulie nodded.

The two exited the Gray Mist, and moved out once more.