I Became a Witch in a World Full of Urban Legends

It took about an hour. Like any ordinary tourist, Lu Yibei sampled all kinds of tasty snacks while making a rough circuit of Sleepless Street, committing the general layout within a radius of about two kilometers to memory.

Eating was secondary. Getting the lay of the land was what mattered.

Sleepless Street could be divided roughly into three roads. There was one main thoroughfare, lined mostly with food and drink vendors—everything from a single pushcart to specialty restaurants occupying thousands of square meters. Of the two side streets, the flatter and livelier one was devoted mostly to shops selling local cultural souvenirs. At the end of it stood a Jin Opera theater, where tonight’s performance was Fengyi Pavilion. The other, slightly more uneven side street was the Bar Alley Fu Xinyi had mentioned. The first half was lined with small bars on both sides; farther in, it grew quiet, with quite a few homestays and inns operating there.

The three streets were separated by numerous faux-antique buildings and seemed independent of one another, yet countless winding, narrow alleys linked them together, weaving a complicated web across the ground.

Lu Yibei stood at the fork where the three streets split, a baked bun with a crisp surface held between her teeth, her eyes narrowed slightly as she watched the crowds come and go.

The bustle here surprised her a little. She had grown used to cities emptying out after nightfall.

Stalls and storefronts filled her vision, nearly spilling into the very center of the streets. Hawkers’ cries rose and fell, camera flashes flickered from time to time, and a blurred snatch of song drifted over from Bar Alley in the distance.

There were people everywhere. With the slightest probe of her psychic perception, she could tell that roughly one or two out of every ten people were psychics—an astonishing number.

Under the glow of multicolored signs, light and shadow carved faces and retreating backs into strange, fragmented shapes.

The clamor was like a nest of snakes pouring out all at once; every so often, a stray little serpent would twist its way into her eardrum.“…”

If I were Hu Chuan, and I’d fled to Shizhou for some reason and wanted to live under an assumed name, I’d probably choose to hide here.

But with this many psychics around, this place is also where information converges. If someone wanted to find information on a person, it would be just as easy, Lu Yibei thought.

A street awakening beneath the night curtain, the complex terrain woven by countless buildings, and the surging tide of people… It was more than enough to swallow a person’s existence whole.

————

At the same time, in Bar Alley, inside a very small and utterly deserted lounge bar.

“I’d like a special cocktail, please. Fifty-year Fenjiu as the base, with a touch of bright moon and a wisp of clear breeze.”

Hearing the voice from beyond the counter, the bar’s only bartender looked up at the girl who had pinned her bangs back with an exquisite bow-shaped hair clip. A smile appeared on his face.

“One moment.”

As he spoke, he bent down and rummaged through the cabinet for a while before taking out an empty glass. He placed it on the counter and pushed it over to the girl.

Engraved on the outer wall of the glass were the characters “Sixty-Nine.”

“Bright moon is rare; clear breeze is fleeting. Please enjoy it quickly, honored guest.”

The girl accepted the empty glass, scanned the code with her phone to pay, then went around the counter and walked straight toward the small door beside it, concealed behind a floor-length cloth curtain. In moments, she had vanished from sight.

————

At the three-way fork.

After standing in place for a moment, Lu Yibei set off toward Bar Alley. Passing one small bar after another, she soon found the sign for Moyue Pifeng at a corner deep within the alley.

The sign was extremely inconspicuous, nothing more than a square wooden plaque. The characters “Moyue Pifeng” engraved on it had already grown somewhat blurred.

It was a very small storefront. From the entrance, the interior of the lounge bar could be taken in at a glance. A somewhat worn pool table sat right in the center. No one was playing, yet it occupied a large area, with several drinking tables scattered sparsely around it.

Soft music echoed through the room. The smell of alcohol, mixed with a faint trace of tobacco, drifted in the air. There were no customers in the bar. The sole bartender sat behind the counter, fiddling with his phone.

Lu Yibei’s gaze paused for an instant on the floor-length curtain door beside the counter. Then she walked up, recalled the information she had obtained from Fu Xinyi, and ordered a drink that was not on the menu.

“I’d like a special cocktail, please. Fifty-year Fenjiu as the base, with a touch of bright moon and a wisp of clear breeze.”

At that, the bartender bent down as usual, took out an empty glass, and pushed it in front of her. Engraved on the outside were the characters “Seventy-One.”

So that means before me, seventy psychics have already come here? Seeing the tiny characters on the glass, the thought flashed through Lu Yibei’s mind.

“Bright moon is rare; clear breeze is fleeting. Please enjoy it quickly, honored guest.”

Although she had long since learned from Fu Xinyi that this kind of special cocktail always consisted of nothing but an empty glass, Lu Yibei still could not help asking when she looked at that vacant cup, “Sorry, but selling alcohol like this… has no one ever reported you to the Consumer Association?”

The bartender: “…”

“Judging from your reaction, I guess not.” Lu Yibei curled her lip. “Then does this business make money? Do you accept investors? What happens if the passphrase gets leaked? Do you need to change it regularly?”

She was terribly tempted by this sort of zero-cost business. She was already wondering whether, if conditions allowed, she could set one up herself after returning to Hua City.

After all, the twenty-four-hour convenience stores Du Sixian had set up were doing very well. Perhaps opening a hidden trading venue would be no problem either. Once more psychics and hauntings joined the encirclement against Gu Qianqian in the future, business ought to be good. Thinking about it that way, maybe it could even develop into a full-service industry chain!

The bartender: “…”

Seeing that the bartender remained silent and slowly raised his hand, seemingly about to take back the glass, Lu Yibei hurriedly gripped it and pointed at the curtained door not far away.

“I go in through there, right?”

On second thought, that probably involves their trade secrets. It’s reasonable that he wouldn’t tell me, isn’t it? Lu Yibei thought.

“Yes.” The bartender spat out the single word coldly.

“All right, then I won’t disturb you any longer.”

Lu Yibei acknowledged him and said nothing more. She went around the counter and lifted the curtain. The instant the curtain rose, a burst of noise and a chaotic wave of psychic energy fluctuations rushed at her.

Passing through the curtained doorway, Lu Yibei let her eyes adjust briefly to the light. Then she saw a large room bathed in warm illumination, furnished with many fabric sofas. Quite a few people sat scattered throughout the room. Some hid their appearances beneath masks and hoods, while others did not care at all and exposed their faces openly.

Each of them held a wine glass. The glasses were filled more than halfway with liquor, and within the liquor floated a small, bright, moonlike orb of light. Around it, several wisps of pale cyan aura coiled and drifted.

From time to time, the guests gathered in groups of two or three and lightly clinked their glasses together. With a crisp ding, the orbs of light in their cups immediately blazed, and the pale cyan aura rose upward, enveloping them.

Shrouded in moonlight and clear breeze, their figures were reduced to vague silhouettes, while the sounds of their conversations were completely isolated by the breeze.

Lu Yibei lowered her head and glanced at the cup in her own hand, frowning slightly.

Why is mine still empty?

This makes me look rather out of place!

In a place like this, drawing too much attention was not a good thing.

As she pondered, the sound of flowing water caught her attention.

She looked toward the sound.

In one corner of the room, near the ceiling, floated a huge wine jar of ancient, rustic design. Clear liquor poured down from the jar, yet the instant it was about to touch the floor, it vanished as though swallowed by the void.

The falling liquor formed a massive water curtain, releasing a rich, mellow fragrance of wine.

On the water curtain, exactly seventy lines of small text were neatly arranged.

【Three · Gan Ningxia of Hu City · Seeking one Class B aberrant-type haunting true-body core. Haunting type unrestricted.】

【Twenty-Two · Wang Taibao of Tie City · Selling one Class C psychic artifact. 120g of gold, or equivalent goods.】

【Forty-Three · Killing. Price negotiable.】

【Sixty-Nine · Seeking three chi of Cloudborne Paper, one portion of dandelion extract, and also seeking a person. Details negotiable.】

…

Lu Yibei skimmed the words on the water curtain, got the general idea, and fell into thought.

The way this place operated seemed somewhat similar to the haunting bounty website: the establishment posted information on people’s behalf, and visitors traded freely among themselves. However, the bounties posted on the haunting bounty website went through a strict review process, and members of the haunting chat group would also keep an eye on whether fraud occurred during transactions. Here, though, there was none of that.

Whether a deal was trustworthy depended entirely on the guests’ own judgment. One careless move, and they might be swindled—or have their information recorded down, then be murdered and robbed…

So that was why the requests on the water curtain included both anonymous entries and real names. Those who stayed anonymous were most likely afraid of being targeted by greedy eyes, while those who wrote their real names were confident in their own strength and reputation.

This place is fantastic! Surely there isn’t anyone in this world who doesn’t even know how to lie, cheat, and scam, right? I can hardly wait to post something! Lu Yibei thought.

The instant the thought of posting information flashed through her mind, along with a rough idea of what she wanted to post, she felt the wine cup in her hand grow slightly heavier.

Looking down, she saw that at some point, half a cup of liquor had appeared in it. Within the liquid, a small orb of light wreathed in pale cyan aura bobbed gently up and down.

Lu Yibei froze for a moment. When she looked back up at the water curtain, she found that the fine print on it had already become seventy-one lines.

The last line read: [Seventy-One · Gu Qianqian of Hua City · Seeking a person, details to be discussed in person]

After the incident at Taoyuan, coupled with rumors that many psychics and hauntings had gone to Hua City to besiege her only to return empty-handed, the title of the Bloody Witch who devoured hauntings had become even more famous among the public than Calamity, the King of Hauntings of Hua City.

The moment the three characters “Gu Qianqian” appeared, they immediately drew quite a few people’s attention. At the instant that line of fine print surfaced, the surroundings suddenly fell silent for a second or two, and many figures froze in place.

It was like being in a bathhouse sauna when a big shot covered head to toe in evil-spirit tattoos suddenly walked in—no one dared to make a rash move.

Lu Yibei could clearly feel more than a dozen gazes—some probing, some fearful, some brimming with malice—cast over from every corner of the room and lock onto her.

————

In a dimly lit corner.

A pair of slightly languid, beautiful eyes glanced at the line of fine print on the water curtain that had caused the disturbance, paused for a second or two, then shook her head.

Although Moyue Pifeng had no rule against receiving haunting guests, for a witch-type haunting with such a notorious reputation to swagger into a psychic gathering place inside Shizhou City was simply far too brazen and arrogant.

“Cloudborne Paper and dandelion extract, then, at the price we agreed on earlier! Also, the person you want to find is?”

Hearing this, Huá Sāng turned to glance at the sharp-mouthed, monkey-cheeked man, her brows knitting slightly.

Sensing the wariness in her gaze, the man hurriedly corrected himself. “Oh, don’t mind me. I was just asking casually. If it’s not someone especially important, I’ll treat it as a free piece of information for you.”

“…” Huá Sāng hesitated for a moment before saying, “Do you have any information on Jade-Faced Peach Blossom Fan Wu Yutang?”

————

Standing before the cloth-curtained doorway, Lu Yibei felt as if the air were filled with flammable, explosive gas, ready to violently detonate at any moment.

“…”

Uh, this…

Heaven and earth as my witness, although I am pretending to be Gu Qianqian, I really didn’t mean to screw her over this time. I had clearly already made up my mind to keep a low profile. I only roughly thought about the information I wanted to post, and I hadn’t even organized the wording yet, but it just threw it up there for me. I was completely unprepared, okay?

Sure, just now I did briefly consider using Gu Qianqian’s fearsome reputation as a shield, but this water curtain is way too smart. It didn’t consider the user experience at all… Tsk, screw you, give me a refund!

Lu Yibei grumbled inwardly, then quietly found a seat in the corner and sat down, silently waiting for someone to come forward and trade with her.

At this point, there was nothing else she could do.

She could only properly play the role of Gu Qianqian and do her best not to cause trouble for her.

Mm, do her best! Lu Yibei thought.

However…

The guests moving to and fro were either intimidated by the name of “the Bloody Witch who devours hauntings,” or already had some grudge against “Gu Qianqian.” She waited nearly half an hour, yet not a single person came up to clink cups with her.

Just as she felt that tonight’s entrance fee of one gram of gold might end up being wasted for nothing, someone finally came before her and clinked cups with her.

“Ding!”

With a soft chime, bright white moonlight enveloped Lu Yibei and the newcomer. As a cool breeze coiled around them, the clamor faded from her ears.

The surroundings quieted down. Lu Yibei looked up and saw that a black-robed man had appeared in front of her. He wore a hood, its brim pulled low enough to hide his entire face in shadow.

He stood silently before Lu Yibei, waiting for her to discuss the details of the transaction, faintly giving off an extremely unpleasant feeling.

Like there’s an invisible pair of hands trying to strip off my clothes…

Lu Yibei frowned. She likewise did not speak, instead silently taking out the Pure Lotus Sword and holding it in her hand.

The instant she drew the Pure Lotus Sword, she clearly felt the blade tremble lightly.

The Pure Lotus Sword seems excited? Is it because of the person in front of me? Lu Yibei thought.

Before she could figure out the reason for the Pure Lotus Sword’s abnormal reaction, the black-robed man before her, seeing that she had remained silent for so long, glanced at the broken sword in her hand and said in a low, hoarse voice, “I have something here that may be able to help you.”

“An item?”

“Yes. A wondrous item that can help you solve many problems. If you like it, I can sell it to you at a low price. Would you like to take a look?”

Lu Yibei considered it seriously, then said expressionlessly, “No.”

What the hell is this, already trying to show it to me? I’m clearly looking for a person, not an object, okay? And you can sell it to me at a low price? Is there really such a good thing under heaven? Lu Yibei thought.

In her view, a description like “can help you solve many problems” sounded suspicious no matter how she heard it. If she had an item that could help some stranger solve many problems, there was absolutely no way she would sell it cheaply. She would even raise the price and squeeze that person’s wallet dry.

She would never believe in pies falling from the sky. She believed that the only things that fell from the sky were objects thrown from high up!

“…” Seeing that Lu Yibei no longer spoke to him and seemed to have no intention of trading, the black-robed man shrugged and quietly walked away.

After seeing the black-robed man talk to Lu Yibei and leave safe and sound, the other guests gained quite a bit of courage. Very soon, Lu Yibei welcomed a second trader.

“E-Excuse me, what sort of person are you looking for?”

The newcomer was a girl wearing round-framed glasses, freckles scattered across her face. She seemed very afraid, speaking timidly and not daring to look Lu Yibei directly in the eyes.

“I want to find twenty underage hauntings to roast and eat,” Lu Yibei said blandly.

The girl: “???”

“I’m kidding. Don’t run, don’t run!” Seeing the girl’s face instantly turn deathly pale and that she was about to flee, Lu Yibei hurriedly corrected herself. “Actually, the person I’m looking for is someone named Hu Chuan…”