Xu Xiaoyou tilted her face up, letting the falling droplets of water wash over her as she gradually regained her composure.
She attempted to understand the nature of Alley No. 5 through an abstract lens.
If Alley No. 5 was an urban eldritch creature,
Then 8:15 PM every night was its hunting time.
Hunting was for feeding, and feeding was for growth.
It would open its bloody maw and swallow the entire area into its gut to be digested.
The sky of Alley No. 5 looked the way it did because the stomach walls were bright red.
The red tide flowing through the alley was its gastric juice, and the dismantlers born from it were the decomposers helping to break down the food.
Only when every bit of food in the stomach was fully digested would the alley’s supper time come to an end.
As for the two walls used to enter and exit Alley No. 5, they corresponded to the monster’s open mouth and...
Every month, the monster had to expel the digested remains of its meal.
Thinking of this, Xu Xiaoyou’s face darkened.
From 8:15 to 8:30—if every minute in the outside world equated to half a month inside Alley No. 5—then last night’s supper time had lasted for a staggering two hundred and twenty-five days.
A deep sense of powerlessness welled up in her heart.
This meant that besides herself and Anya, there were likely no other survivors from last night.
After finishing her shower, Xu Xiaoyou changed into a short-sleeved shirt and loose shorts. Without even drying her hair, she sat down on the sofa in her slippers and turned on the television.
As expected, it was just as she had predicted.
The events concerning Alley No. 5 had exploded across the hot searches, triggering widespread panic throughout the Corrupt Hive City.
All sorts of conspiracy theories and rhetoric aimed at inciting social chaos were flying everywhere.
It wasn’t just the hot searches in Corrupt Hive City; even other hive cities within the sphere of influence of Universal Heavy Industries had learned of the incident.
The news caused a significant stir in the Star of Art and Chichutian, where citizens were likewise denouncing the Corrupt Hive City government’s inaction.
This was because catastrophic urban legends like these, once they grew, often had an influence that could cover several or even dozens of hive cities!
No one knew if a disaster from a neighboring hive city might suddenly overflow and appear beside their own bed one day.
Major news stations were scrambling to report on what had happened last night.
A catastrophic urban legend incident resulting in nearly ten thousand deaths!
An entire city district emptied overnight.
The mere thought was enough to make one’s blood run cold.
The urban area that had been prosperous just last night was now reduced to a silent wasteland. Under the morning sun, it appeared desolate and lifeless, like a forbidden zone.
Before the various factions could even begin their public condemnations, the mayor took the initiative to resign in the early morning, taking responsibility for the incident.
On the news, the mayor—who had looked so distinguished just a few days ago—had gone white-haired overnight. Facing countless microphones and flashes, he did nothing but sigh and shake his head repeatedly, looking as if he had aged decades in a single night.
Presumably, this mayor had already prepared himself for the post-resignation liquidations by the Fixer Association and the internal departments of Universal Heavy Industries.
Universal Heavy Industries had not experienced such a malicious incident in decades.
While Xu Xiaoyou was watching the news and peeling an apple, there was a knock at the door.
Xu Xiaoyou stood up and opened the door, and Bai Youyou’s figure came into view.
The girl had changed back into her pure white investigator uniform. As soon as they met, she spoke:
"Yuzu, you know about what happened in Alley No. 5 last night, right?"
Not only do I know, I experienced it firsthand.
Xu Xiaoyou thought to herself.
However, she maintained a facade of having just found out, nodding with a heavy expression.
"That rate of growth..."
"Don’t go out at night for the next few days. Stay by my side," Bai Youyou said. "I will protect you."
Xu Xiaoyou was slightly stunned. Seeing her lack of response, the girl reached out and grasped her hand, her gaze very serious.
"The current behavior of Alley No. 5 is very dangerous and extremely unstable. No one can predict what it will become the next time it appears."
"The association has already classified Alley No. 5 as a disaster-level urban legend. Soon, they will dispatch a prism grade fixer to deal with it."
"Prism grade?" Xu Xiaoyou asked in confusion.
Every fixer above grade 5 possessed the ability to refract the world's radiance; their every move could influence the global landscape.
When a grade 5 fixer’s individual strength was enough to single-handedly annihilate a hive city, they would be recognized as a prism grade fixer by the association and granted a unique codename.
To think that someone of that level would be dispatched by the association to a place like this.
Wasn't that like using a cannon to kill a mosquito?
"The association has suffered quite a bit from not taking these disaster-level legends seriously early on, only to stumble later."
"The next few nights will be very dangerous. No one knows how many areas Alley No. 5 will cover when it appears next."
"But don’t worry, Yuzu. As long as you’re with me, an urban legend of this level won’t be able to hurt you."
"I just wonder when Lady Sparrow Feather will arrive."
"Maybe I can handle this legend myself?"
The girl muttered to herself.
Hearing Bai Youyou’s words, Xu Xiaoyou nodded.
That woman called Sparrow Feather should be the prism grade fixer sent by the association to handle the matter.
Seeing the girl prattling on incessantly, Xu Xiaoyou smiled slightly and stuffed the apple into the girl’s mouth, cutting off her worried words.
"Alright, don't worry, Youyou. I’ll be fine."
"If I really run into it, I’ll run."
"It’s different this time! It’s not as simple as you think!" Bai Youyou raised her voice.
It was the first time Xu Xiaoyou had seen a look of irritation on the girl’s face.
Especially when facing her.
"I’m sorry, Yuzu. I’m just a little angry," Bai Youyou said, waving her hands apologetically as she saw Xu Xiaoyou dazed. "You’re always like this whenever I talk about things like this."
"In any case, don’t go running around for the next few days. I’ll be keeping an eye on you!"
Xu Xiaoyou shrugged helplessly as she watched the girl walk away.
Finally, she let out a long sigh.
Actually, Bai Youyou had a pretty good personality. Ever since she came to this world, very few people truly cared about her.
If she could keep this secret and remain friends with the girl, that wouldn't be so bad.
After resting with her eyes closed for a moment, Xu Xiaoyou stood up and walked to the window.
Tapping her reflection in the glass with her fingertip, a card manifested in her hand.
It was the Substitute card.
The Substitute’s durability was down to only one percent.
Looking at the Substitute’s location displayed on the card—a conspicuous red dot on the 3D model of the city—a slight smile played across the corners of Xu Xiaoyou’s mouth.
Last night, she had left the Substitute in Alley No. 5. By now, it should have been bagged up and taken back to the nest by those dismantlers.
Once she confirmed the location of the nest, she could find a way to resolve the crisis of Alley No. 5 before that Lady Sparrow Feather arrived.
With that in mind, she dialed a number.
"Who is it?"
A weak, low voice came through the phone.
Xu Xiaoyou could almost imagine a wretched figure with a crippled leg, groaning on a hospital bed.
"It’s me."
After hearing her voice, the person on the other end went silent. It was a long time before he spoke through gritted teeth.
"What do you want now?"
"Manager Wilson, how is your health?"
Xu Xiaoyou’s fingertip drew a large wolf’s head with X-X eyes on the mist-covered window.
"If you have something to say, say it."
Wilson’s tone was hostile. The other party had struck ruthlessly yesterday; he likely wouldn't be able to leave his hospital bed for the next half month.
"It’s nothing. I just wanted to offer my regards. An employee showing concern for their superior is only natural."
"You fcking..."
Realizing his loss of composure, Wilson took a deep breath to calm himself.
Xu Xiaoyou chuckled, finally getting straight to the point. "You’re aware of the situation with Alley No. 5, right?"
"Yes," the werewolf said in a heavy voice.
"It’s a tough one. That’s a disaster-level urban legend. I’m just an ordinary little corpo employee, so maybe we should just forget it?"
The werewolf sneered. "You have to do it even if you can’t."
Xu Xiaoyou clicked her tongue.
"I haven’t been idle these past few days. I have a pile of evidence of your crimes—records of you taking bribes from company employees. It’s enough to sentence you for eighty or a hundred years."
Wilson remained dismissive. "So what?"
"At worst, we’ll die together. We can be cellmates then. I hear the environment at Stillwater Prison is pretty good. The whole hive city is one giant prison, and everyone there talks so politely."
"Wilson!" Xu Xiaoyou cursed under her breath. "Are you out of your mind?"
"No one threatens me. I’m the only one who does the threatening," Wilson said, emphasizing every word. "If I don’t get that money back, everything goes boom!"
Rate on N.U.
