I Became a Witch in a World Full of Urban Legends

Chapter 251: The Jew's Harp vs. The Laba

A laba? You and Bai Kai are truly like-godfather-like-goddaughter…

Coming back to her senses, Jiangli watched as the Witch closed the door behind her, and nodded with slightly affirmation.

To be honest, I wonder if the residents are as friendly as they seem. Imagine somebody playing an instrument this loud at night – wouldn’t it be abnormal if they were able to tolerate this kind of behaviour? If they have no complaints, that might mean they are being influenced by something.

Even then…

 

Jiangli hurriedly retrieved her bag and took out a mask and a hat, and left the apartment to chase after Lu Yibei.

“Vaccaria, please, wait a moment.”

Hearing her superior calling after her using her username, Yibei turned around, only to be greeted with her superior handing her a mask and a hat.

“Uh, what’s this for?”

“Seriously?” Jiangli blinked. “Cover your face when you’re committing crimes. This is basic etiquette when you’re doing something bad.”

I’m not objecting you to doing this, but don’t let them remember your face before coming home.

Yibei tilted her head as she looked at Jiangli, then at the laba in her own hand. Soon, she realized what Jiangli meant by handing her the items.

“Oh! Surely, you don’t think I’m heading out to play this bad boy, now do you? Do you think that I’m the type of person to have no morals?!”

Jiangli eyed Yibei up and down as her eyebrows furrowed, before nodding and speaking, “Yes. You are that type of person.”

During their last ‘collaboration’, so to speak, the Witch must’ve been worried that the failed reincarnation of Beelzebub would have some sort of self-destruct attack, and pretended to be incapacitated while shouting at her ‘colleagues’ to finish the beast. What morals could you possibly have?

If you’re heading out with a laba and claim to want to test how friendly the residents are, what else could you possibly be doing?

Jiangli, known for being a cold, yet charming woman who distances herself from people; unattainable and jade-like, found her mind becoming much more active after running into Yibei.

Forget it. No matter who comes across this Witch, they will never be able to decipher her garbage mind. If I don’t try to intervene, I’m afraid my own heart won’t be able to take it.

 

“Did you really need to emphasize the ‘are’?” the Witch pouted.

Jiangli folded her hands on her chest as her eyes unconsciously drifted towards the laba, and asked, “Alright then, let me ask you a very fair question – what are you planning to do outside with that laba?”

“Self-defence?”

She said it in a matter-of-fact tone, then put the laba to her mouth. With a huff, a loud “bwa!” sounded. The sound was crisp, yet harsh at the same time.

All she needed was two days of observing the senior citizen performance group’s brass player, and she was able to pick up the ways of playing the laba.

Moreover, she went to the culture centre to practice playing a couple of songs.

Even the teachers there were impressed by how fast the strange boy was picking up the laba. Despite that, they still refused to accommodate to his refund request for half of his fees.

“Self-defense?” Jiangli tilted her head in confusion. A laba… for self-defence…?

She blinked for a moment and thought about the somewhat attractive Witch playing a laba and smashing urban legends with it. Her face itched slightly with emotion.

If she isn’t going out to be a public nuisance, then it should be fine, right?

“Right,” Jiangli felt a little more relieved after her mini-interrogation. “Then, tell me how you are planning to test how friendly the residents are.”

“Hehe!” Yibei chuckled without expression as her eyes glimmered underneath the apartment lighting. “You haven’t had dinner yet, correct?”

“Dinner? No. I haven’t.”

“Oh, just you wait!” the Witch’s eyebrows raised slightly. “I’ll be making you something good later!”

She turned around, strutting towards the unit opposite of theirs with the laba hanging on her waist as she rang the doorbell.

Ding dong! Ding dong!

Squeak!

The door opened slightly, and a man wearing glasses who looked to be about thirty and in his loungewear, greeted them. He was slightly startled when he saw the beautiful girl in front of him.

“Oh, hello! How can I help you?”

“Sorry to bother you this late in the evening,” Yibei bowed. “I just moved in the unit opposite of yours, and I was making dinner when I realized that I ran out of vinegar! I was wondering if you had any!”

Neighbours lending things were common, but to have such a beautiful girl doing so is a whole other can of worms.

“W-wait here a moment, please!” the man responded as he ran into his house. After a moment, he came back with a bottle of vinegar and placed it into Yibei’s hand.

Yibei nodded and took the vinegar bottle and placed it on her coffee table. She sat on the sofa and looked at the time on her phone. When exactly ten minutes had passed, she got up again and strutted towards her neighbour’s door.

Ding dong!

As soon as the door opened, the Witch stuck out her tongue and put a hand to her head, “Oh, silly me! Turns out I ran out of garlic too! I was wondering if you had any garlic to use!”

“Of course! Don’t worry about it!” the man replied with a smile.

And hence, Yibei obtained garlic.

Ten minutes later.

Ding dong!

As soon as the man opened the door, the voice of a woman could be heard from inside his unit, “Damn it! Why is she at the door again?”

“We’re neighbours! Neighbours should help each other, no?”

“Hmph!”

“Ah, am I disturbing you?” Yibei pouted in a guilty tone. “Your girlfriend is in, isn’t she? I didn’t mean to disturb the both of you. I hope she isn’t mad at you.”

“No, no! It’s no problem!”

“Ah, okay! If your girlfriend’s upset, I’ll feel guilty over it – in that case, I was wondering if you have two packs of instant noodles and a handful of green onions…”

The corner of the man’s mouth twitched slightly, “Of course. It’s no problem.”

My god. Why is she such a bitch?! Jiangli covered her mouth in embarrassment.

If they were living anywhere else, various fights and arguments would’ve happened by now.

She couldn’t stand to listen anymore, so she took an umbrella and left the apartment. She planned to take a walk around the Happy Community to see if she could find anything special.

Before she was ready to leave, she could hear the doorbell ringing again.

Ding dong!

“Haha, I’m back again! Do you have two eggs?”

“We do.”

Ding dong!

…

The sounds of a doorbell rang intermittently in the corridor for more than an hour, and it was soon quiet.

Yibei sat alone in the living room, looking at the ingredients and condiments on the coffee table as she held her chin, lost in her thoughts.

…The residents here are way too attuned to the values of Buddhism. I almost emptied their entire refrigerator with what I have here, and he was only very slightly unhappy. Even then, it didn’t seem like he was about to get impatient at all.

I took more than 30 items from them! If it were me, I would’ve called the police on them by now! There is something seriously wrong with them! I guess…

…it’s time for Plan B.

Thinking about it, she walked over to her guitar bag and took out a mini speaker. She plugged in her phone and searched for the playlist that Shui downloaded for her from god-knows-where. Just as she was about to hit play, she suddenly remembered about her roommate.

“Hey, you don’t mind if I play a little music, do you? It miiight be a little weird and inappropriate for children, but I swear I’ll keep it down!”

“…Hello? You there?”

“What the-? Where did she go?!”

…

It had been raining for most of the day, but it turned into a light drizzle at night. The falling rain could barely be seen with the naked eye as they gently pitter-pattered from the sky.

Jiangli walked alone on the footpath of the Happy Community, making sure to look around warily.

All the buildings of the community were painted grey and white, and every household seemed to have their lights on. Even the gloomy rain couldn’t mask how warm the community was.

Too quiet, though. She thought to herself – in her ears, all she could hear was the soft sound of rain dropping on her umbrella, and the gentle wind caressing the leaves of the grass and the trees.

She was only about three streets away from the busiest streets of Huacheng, and yet, she couldn’t hear the slightest hint of noise from the city.

In this manner, she walked around the community before remembering something. She began briskly walking towards a building in the third block of the community that had just recently been taken up by newer residents.

On the urban legend forums, the person who posted the commission lives in this block, in Room 417.

Maybe I can find something of use there.

Thinking about it, she quickened her pace and walked towards the apartment…

…

Arriving, Jiangli immediately extended her psychic senses and surveyed the area. Finding nothing unusual, she walked towards the main entrance.

As soon as she walked through the threshold, she thought of the woman who lived on the first floor who was mentioned in the poster’s story. Confirm her suspicions, it seemed that the woman’s unit is the only unit of the entire apartment to not have its lights on.

Walking towards the unit’s windows, she decided to peer inside of it.

It was pitch-dark, and she could only see her own reflection.

Frowning, she imbued psychic energy into her eyes to strike through the darkness obscuring her vision, only to be greeted with a blurry outline of a human face staring right back at her.

The face was lifeless, like a turbid lake. The pale face seemed to get closer, and closer, and closer, and closer…

Thwack!

The windows swung open.

A very beautiful woman with messy hair and a soulless-looking face greeted her.

Even a seasoned Night Division Operator like Jiangli felt uneasy about the current situation.

Moreover, the woman’s face matched the description of the poster on the forums, and this is the very woman who had supposedly disappeared a long time ago.

The woman stared straight through Jiangli without blinking, attempting to squeeze out a polite smile, “Hello. How can I help you?”

“Ah…” Jiangli tried to return a polite smile. “I was just taking a look.”

The woman was visibly startled at Jiangli’s idea of a smile, before nodding and closing the window behind her.

Stepping aside, a trace of doubt flashed across her eyes. Didn’t the commission state that the woman and her family were all missing? Why is she here?

Is it possible that the poster’s memories are unreliable?

Jiangli recalled back to the time when she tagged along the Night Division’s various investigations early on in her career. Many of the victims were suffering from mental disorders, or seemed to have jumbled-up memories due to excessive fright from being exposed to things that weren’t meant for the human mind. It was difficult to obtain any useful information from them.

She wordlessly glanced at the pitch-dark windows and narrowed her eyes. Or, maybe, the woman was captured by the figure in the story – the strange figure nailed that tentacle-like nail into her head, forcefully transforming her into one of the many friendly neighbours of the Happy Community.

As she was pondering, a strange sound could be heard, interrupting her thoughts.

The sound was like a voice, barely audible and slow, as if it was resonating in the back of her mind.

The jew’s harp.

 

She pricked up her ears and listened carefully to its strange calling, but the sound was too weak; too light, masked by the wind and the rain.

If she was none-the-wiser, she would’ve thought it was the wind blowing through the narrow corridors of the apartment.

The more she listened, however, the more she felt that something was very wrong.

The source of the sound seemed to be coming from all directions. Her eyes tried to follow the noise, walking back and forth to find the source. Finally, as if she had just remembered something, she lowered her head and looked at the damp ground beneath her feet.

It’s coming from… under me?

Thinking to herself, she held her umbrella and walked towards the direction of the community’s underground parking lot.

…

During the Night Division’s previous investigations, Jiangli and a few members of the Special Operations Team disguised themselves as maintenance workers for the underground ventilation ducts of the community, which can be found within the parking lot.

The underground parking lot is vast, with a total of three floors spanning across the entire community. It seemed that it was built with the idea of having a community over it.

Under the guise of maintenance work, they carefully inspected the entire parking lot, but they couldn’t find even the weakest semblance of an apparition or an urban legend.

Although it was great that there are no urban legends, it was, indeed, peculiar.

Jiangli has seen all kinds of urban legends and apparitions that linger within empty parking lots – human heads rolling from car-to-car; a head hanging from a ventilation duct with their tongue hanging down; dark figures popping out from dark corners; faceless women…, but never has she encountered a parking lot with absolutely zero urban legends.

Objectively, this meant that the parking lot of the Happy Community is uniquely safe from urban legends, but it’s different now.

Jiangli thinks that there is a problem lurking here.

She couldn’t detect any fluctuations in psychic energy with her senses, but the eerie melodies of the jew’s harp continued to itch in the back of her mind, and confirming that the jew’s harp did indeed exist, she felt that it was necessary to investigate further.

She walked slowly towards the slope leading towards the underground parking lot – the street lights showered her from the back, casting a long shadow on the slope.

She walked on top of her own shadow, and gradually, she smelled damp asphalt. The rain from earlier had flowed in, forming deep puddles on the ground of the parking lot.

The lights of the parking lot were dim, and countless, thick concrete pillars connected the ceiling and the ground casted their shadows. Parked vehicles were randomly distributed in the dimness of the parking lot, silent, unmoving.

Suddenly, she could hear the jew’s harp once again – its distorted melody echoed and reflected across the pillars of the parking lot; its melody increasingly disturbing the longer she listened to it.

It was as if it was some kind of sacrificial music.

A strange image seemed to be plastered in Jiangli’s mind – she could see the residents of the community enjoying themselves to the warm and harmonious atmospheres of their home. Looking closer, however, the residents’ faces were blurred out, and the cacophonous melody of the jew’s harp twisted their limbs to its rhythm, as if they were subject to an otherworldly ritual.

The image before her eyes seemed too real, too clear, as if she was one of them.

Following the sound of the jew’s harp, she unknowingly came to the bottom floor of the parking lot. The sound of the jew’s harp was almost deafening, and almost real.

Just up ahead.

She moved closer and closer towards the source when the music suddenly stopped. Then, it became louder, and faster, and…

In an instant, a terrifyingly powerful wave of psychic energy washed over her as her vision went dark. She couldn’t see anything, and all she could hear was the screeching melody that seemed to weigh her down with its horrifying emotions.

The sound was approaching closer and closer, and soon, it was deafening.

No human can describe the eerie, cacophonous sound in detail. All the blood vessels under Jiangli’s jade-like skin bulged out, as if they were trying to escape her body.

She could no longer focus on the fluctuations of psychic energy, but she knew that she was being attacked – like someone had inserted something sharp into her brain, and the pain that followed struck out from the depths of her soul, filling her brain with nothing but pain.

However, at this moment, a new melody, carrying the telltale harmonies of a sad, yet ear-shattering sounds of a laba resonated throughout the parking lot.

Yibei could be seen rushing towards her, playing a song titled [Sunrise at Emei].

It was a little out of tune, but it couldn’t affect how majestic and grand the melody was. The jew’s harp tried to play over its thunderous sound, but stopped. It tried again, and stopped, then tried again, and stopped…

After several attempts, the jew’s harp’s putrid melody was seemingly led astray by the magnificent of the laba, and it reluctantly made a loud, mournful note before falling silent.

Jiangli’s blurred vision returned to her bit-by-bit, and she could see countless translucent swirls that resembled densely-packed tentacles, and the end of the tentacles were as sharp as spiked bone.

Looking around, she found that she was actually at the entrance of the parking lot.

TRANSLATOR NOTES:

EDIT: Fixed up the TL. Thanks catventurer4 for pointing them out! ^_^

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