Twenty hours ago, in Xiangjiang City, Yanghe Hospital.

Nameless Book, who had appeared from a street magazine and hurried over, met Zeng Bailu, a Night Watch agent stationed in Xiangjiang City, here.

He was a young man who looked to be in [N O V E L I G H T] his early twenties, with dreadlocks and an orange jumpsuit. Two palm-sized masks hung from his waist, one with a green face and fangs, and the other with a red face and a ferocious expression.

He was a Night Watch agent left behind in Xiangjiang City, responsible for protecting the nineteen urban legend incident victims who had been sent there earlier.

The slightly hurried footsteps echoed in the empty corridor, bathed in pale light, outside the special ward. When Nameless Book arrived in front of Zeng Bailu, displayed the jade bao sang cang xiao badge unique to Night Watch Guardians, and explained her purpose, Zeng Bailu immediately began to pour out his grievances.

“Guardian, you’re finally here! Otherwise, we wouldn’t know what to do!” he said. “This incident is too strange. We know it’s a urban legend at work, but we just can’t find any clues or pinpoint the specific urban legend. We truly feel like we have all this strength, but nowhere to use it.”

Upon hearing this, Nameless Book nodded gently.

She was very clear about the Night Watch's agent configuration in Xiangjiang City. Due to its special geographical and economic environment, although there were many urban legend incidents, very powerful urban legend rarely appeared. Instead, high-level Psychic attempting to infiltrate Z Country through the large port were more troublesome.

Many times, large-scale armed conflicts between Night Watch agents and illegal Psychic organizations, rarely seen in other cities, could even be observed near the Xiangjiang City port.

Therefore, most of the Night Watch agents in Xiangjiang City had Spirit Marks that specialized in direct combat, such as the 【Evil Spirit Seed · General Zeng】 drawn by Zeng Bailu in front of her.

If things were truly as Void had said, that behind every incident there was a high-intensity information explosion phenomenon, and the enemy was an existence that could not be seen or touched, then the Night Watch agents in Xiangjiang City, who specialized in direct combat, would indeed feel at a loss in the short term.

“Understood. Could you tell me the specific details and the current condition of the victims?”

Although Nameless Book had already obtained enough information and outlined the general course of the incident in her mind before setting off, she still felt it necessary to hear what the Night Watch agents in Xiangjiang City had to say.

Information composed of text, videos, and pictures was still very different from what was seen and heard firsthand.

“Oh, alright, my apologies!” Realizing that he had started complaining as soon as he saw the Guardian and forgotten to get to the point, Zeng Bailu bowed slightly. “The situation is like this...”

Earlier, when those incidents occurred, they did not attract the attention of the Night Watch in Xiangjiang City. Similar traffic accidents occurred dozens or even hundreds of times a day in Xiangjiang City. Some of them might have involved urban legend and Psychic factors, but due to limited manpower, they could not pay attention to every single one.

In fact, the Night Watch in Xiangjiang City only detected the anomaly about an hour after the victims left the accident scene and were sent to the hospital for treatment...

After detailed examination, most of the victims' injuries were not particularly severe, mostly common external injuries from traffic accidents such as abrasions, fractures, and soft tissue contusions. Only one case had slight organ damage, and no one had sustained fatal injuries. Theoretically, after treatment, consciousness would quickly return.

However, the reality was that even now, six hours and thirty-one minutes after the earliest accident, all victims were still in a state of lethargy, weakness, and inability to communicate with the outside world. Even more bizarrely, their cerebral cortex was abnormally active in this state.

“Although I don’t understand much about this, our boss said that their current state is probably like having dozens of times more information than an ordinary person receives in a lifetime suddenly crammed into their brains, and then, under the influence of some terrifying force, their brains are uncontrollably thinking non-stop.”

“We tried various conventional methods to distract them, and various inhibitory drugs, and finally even used Alchemy potions... I’m sorry, sir, I know it’s against regulations to use Alchemy potions on ordinary people, but we really had no choice.”

As he spoke, Zeng Bailu’s voice took on a hint of a sob.

As a new agent who had been officially employed for less than a year, he had always been proud of his work protecting ordinary people. He had never experienced a situation where people who needed help were right in front of him, but he could do nothing but watch them die. Psychologically, it was somewhat difficult for him to accept.

When he was a child, he never understood why his father, a chief surgeon, always locked himself in his study and sighed when he returned home. Now, he could finally empathize.

It’s even more serious than expected... Nameless Book nodded thoughtfully.

Organisms all have self-protection mechanisms. Logically, if one suddenly receives information beyond the brain's processing capacity, it should trigger a protective mechanism and stop thinking.

If some force destroys this protective mechanism and continuously infuses a massive amount of information, forcing it to keep thinking, for 99.9% of individuals, the only outcome is death.

Machines running overloaded for a period of time will break down, let alone the human body, which is much more fragile than a machine.

Low-level urban legend that rashly devour the core of a high-level urban legend entity, or devour an excessive amount of urban legend entity cores at once, will be corrupted, fall into madness, and have similar factors at play.

“Have there been any deaths?”

“Yes...” Zeng Bailu said.

“Have they been autopsied? What’s the situation?” Nameless Book pressed.

“Yes, an hour ago, a member of the Special Operations Team autopsied the first deceased victim. It was found that the victim’s brain was almost completely dissolved, just like...” Zeng Bailu recalled the image in the autopsy report, his face turning pale, “—like sewage mixed with blood plasma.”

Nameless Book pondered for two seconds, then said calmly, “Are there any victims who are slightly more conscious?”

“Yes, in Special Ward No. 3.” Zeng Bailu said, then frowned mid-sentence, “However, this patient is a little different from the others.”

“Different?” Nameless Book tilted her head.

“Well, the other victims all experienced traffic accidents, but this victim was sent from the Clatter Data Center. He’s a server room administrator,” Zeng Bailu explained.

“I understand.” Nameless Book nodded her chin slightly and looked towards Special Ward No. 3 not far away. “I’m going in to see him now. If... if I haven’t come out in an hour, add this chat group and find a guy named Void, and tell him everything that happened.”

As she spoke, she gently flipped her right hand, and a piece of paper with the Monster Story Chat Group number and Void’s ID appeared in her palm.

Taking the paper, Zeng Bailu frowned slightly and asked tentatively, “This is...”

“A friend, a trustworthy friend.” Nameless Book explained lightly, then walked quickly towards Special Ward No. 3.

————

“That’s not right!” Hearing Zhang Huainan say that Nameless Book had entered Special Ward No. 3, Lu Yibei couldn’t help but interrupt, “Senior Nameless Book, as the most cautious Guardian, how did she get injured? Old man, can’t you just get to the point?”

Although she wasn't clear about Nameless Book's specific authority, she had already witnessed Nameless Book's ability to have her main body stationed at the Si Ye Hui Headquarters while different avatars, with completely different appearances, appeared in different places, simulating different local urban legend, and completing different tasks.

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This should count as the most cautious Guardian, right?

“You scoundrel! What do you mean, the most cautious Guardian?” Zhang Huainan reprimanded, then pondered for a few seconds before continuing, “Actually, this old man isn’t very clear about the specific details of Nameless Book’s injury...”

“This old man only learned from her scribe and that Little Freak that she was injured while trying to read the information in the mind of the victim in Special Ward No. 3. Now she...”

Mid-sentence, Zhang Huainan suddenly thought of the situation when he went to the Si Ye Hui Headquarters to check the original manuscript of the si ye book after Nameless Book was injured.

On those ancient, yellowish pages, which seemed to be made of paper yet also skin, which should have only recorded knowledge related to urban legend, Psychic, and Alchemy, there were now, at some unknown point, a large amount of meaningless content... text, drawings, symbols, haphazardly arranged together, their meaning incomprehensible.

The authority held by Nameless Book was inextricably linked to the original manuscript of the si ye book. In fact, from a certain perspective, Nameless Book was a urban legend born from the original manuscript of the si ye book. Now that the original manuscript of the si ye book had undergone abnormal changes, it meant that Nameless Book's authority had also been contaminated.

However, the relationship between Nameless Book and the original manuscript of the si ye book was one of the Night Watch's top secrets. Zhang Huainan felt that even if Lu Yibei had already guessed it, he should not mention it to Lu Yibei himself.

“In short, her injury, though not fatal, is recovering very slowly, and she won’t wake up for a while.”

“But...” Lu Yibei sensed that Zhang Huainan was hiding something from her, but then thought that knowing too much about some things was not good, and Zhang Huainan probably wouldn’t harm her, so she wisely didn’t press further. “But, Senior Nameless Book is injured, what about the case she was investigating?”

“Information explosion... sounds quite serious.”

“Not quite serious, it’s very serious!” Zhang Huainan corrected.

As he spoke, his voice sounded as usual, light and airy, like clouds in the sky, yet it had an added sharpness, like thunder hidden beneath the clouds.

The last time Lu Yibei heard such an unsettling tone in Zhang Huainan’s words was when the natural disaster at the Pashupatinath Temple in India passed away.

“What about Void then? What is Void doing? Didn’t Senior Nameless Book tell that agent named Zeng Bailu to contact Void if something happened to her before she entered Ward No. 3?”

Speaking again, Lu Yibei’s voice unconsciously became a bit softer, as if she felt a little guilty.

Ever since she experienced the beating from Black Emperor in the God Kingdom Prototype, she had unconsciously developed a bit more reverence for Zhang Huainan.

Perhaps this was the reason for the saying, “A good son comes from under the flogging stick.”

“Don’t mention that Little Freak, he makes this old man angry!” Zhang Huainan said. “Nameless Book, assuming she would encounter danger, told someone to contact that guy, clearly intending for that guy to take over the investigation after she had an accident.”

“But after he received the message, he abducted more than a dozen victims who were originally being treated at Yanghe Hospital and hid, God knows what he’s up to!”

Upon hearing this, Lu Yibei nodded thoughtfully.

Don't be fooled by Zhang Huainan's verbal complaints about Void, which seem unfriendly. But from her understanding of Zhang Huainan, if he hadn't temporarily approved of Void's actions, he probably wouldn't even bother to curse twice. He would have directly gone for the

divination and positioning, setting up an altar, and five thunder strikes

triple combo.

Void and his dependents are both network urban legend. Dealing with urban legend that cause information explosions is like prescribing the right medicine, so there shouldn't be any problems. I'll ask about the specific situation later... Lu Yibei thought, pulling her thoughts back to the main topic.

She was still planning to report her findings in the Angel Rose Theater underground and then quickly escape from the Free City, a place of trouble!

“Alright, since Senior Nameless Book is unwell, it’s the same if I tell you, old man, about my situation.”

“What are you planning now?” Hearing Lu Yibei’s sudden change of address from “old man” to “old senior,” Zhang Huainan was clearly more cautious. “Don’t say I didn’t warn you, the major Psychic organizations were only temporarily fooled by that fake death video. If you cause any more trouble, this old man won’t be able to help you.”

“It’s not causing trouble, how could I cause trouble? I just want to run away...”

Lu Yibei had only said half her sentence when Zhang Huainan ruthlessly interrupted her, “Say that again?!”

She was already planning to run away, what else could it be but causing trouble?

Clearly a guilty conscience!

“I really didn’t cause any trouble...” Lu Yibei said, feeling a bit wronged. “But if I don’t run away and leave Free City soon, I’m worried that trouble will come looking for me.”

With that, she recounted to Zhang Huainan how, after witnessing Yu Yinchuan assassinate Zhongliu God, she had paid special attention to the Ariel company's logo when leaving that basement rental room, and how the logo urban legend had detected her presence.

“Yu Yinchuan definitely can’t be used, and the logo urban legend knows I became a witness. Who knows what evil he’s brewing to cause me trouble! Old senior, do you think I can still stay in this place?”

...” After listening to Lu Yibei’s narration, Zhang Huainan remained silent for a few seconds, noncommittally. “Is that all? Just these?”

“Yes! I also found a half-dead natural disaster under the Angel Rose Theater. I originally wanted Senior Nameless Book to help me investigate it. That guy seemed to call himself Tong Fengwu...”

“Wait! What did you say he called himself?” Zhang Huainan interrupted.

“Tong Fengwu!” Lu Yibei asked, puzzled, “Is there a problem?”

“Do you know what Caishen (God of Wealth)’s real name is?” Zhang Huainan asked with a solemn tone.

Upon hearing this, Lu Yibei’s heart trembled, and she tentatively asked, “Could it be... also Tong Fengwu?”

“Exactly!”

Lu Yibei, “???”

What the heck? The natural disaster imprisoned under the Angel Rose Theater is that adult?

Could it be that these foreign pleasure houses also popularize inviting Caishen?

Are their methods of inviting Caishen a bit too violent?