Chapter 177

Chapter 45: Thought It’d Be Just Catching a Petty Thief

When Yuan Xiaoling saw such comments, she didn’t feel much. But the Tianhai City Municipal authorities were different.

Even though they wanted to grind Dai Hengzhu’s bones into powder, no matter what, he had officially held those positions and was affiliated with legitimate organizations.

He was one of the heads of Tianhai City’s Spirit Energy Training Base, the deputy director of the Confidential Zone at Four Squares Academy in Tianhai City, and the Director of the Office for Spiritual Countermeasures in Tianhai City—all titles that were officially recorded. There was no way to cleanly sever ties with him.

And he really did conduct secret experiments, creating something dark that aimed to destroy the world.

The municipal side was a bit panicked. In any case, they first needed to find people to investigate—whether it was someone knowledgeable intentionally leaking information or just pure speculation.

In short, after quickly gathering their forces, the Water Meter Inspection Squad had already set out, rushing toward every corner of Tianhai City.

“As for the name,” Luo Xing said, “I hope you come up with something that reflects its characteristics while also making people feel dangerous.”

Yuan Xiaoling thought about it for a moment, tilting her head, “Dangerous Sleepwalker?”

“…Too long. Best if it’s three to four characters.”

Five-character titles make people think they’re watching a movie.

The Blonde-haired Maiden snorted, “Shouldn’t we add a bit of Liyue flair?”

“You’re absolutely right.”

“…”

The requirements were pretty high.

After careful consideration, Yuan Xiaoling finally came up with a name, “How about Dream-eating Demon?”

A demon that creates illusions, sounds like it fits the bill.

“Good good good, I’ll reply to them immediately.”

Soon, Dream-eating Demon was officially announced as the official name through public notices. Yuan Xiaoling also took the time to make a call, asking Yuan Tong to implement it in the game.

During this period, messages kept coming in. The municipal staff drafted a situation report and brought it over for her to review. Yuan Xiaoling picked it up and skimmed through several pages, estimating there were thousands of words.

“What is all this? I don’t understand.”

“It’s just an introduction to the situation. Dark Energy has ill intentions towards us, everyone please be cautious about your safety,” Li Li summarized helpfully, “Then they assure us they will do their best to resolve it.”

“…Which basically means they didn’t say anything useful.”

But it wasn’t entirely their fault. They truly didn’t know anything, and Yuan Xiaoling couldn’t guarantee how long it would take to handle the Four Squares Academy either.

A little later, with the actions of the Water Meter Inspection Squad, news began trickling in.

The earliest internet user who mentioned the secret experiment was a hardcore conspiracy theorist lover. When they found him, his Bilibili favorites were filled with various conspiracy theory compilations. As for others, most were just following the trend, and a small portion were purely rebellious.

After investigating for a while, no real informants were discovered, and everyone sighed in relief, realizing it was a false alarm.

Another theory was the killer theory, a rumor circulating in neighborhoods, emphasizing disbelief in the existence of such strange things in the world.

This was normal psychology, and warning a few people was enough.

As for the last theory, “It’s all Yuan Xiaoling’s doing; she’s a soul-sucking succubus”…

“This is interesting. Before we even started investigating, someone voluntarily leaked information, saying someone approached them wanting to discuss this business.”

Luo Xing brought over a printout from the information department. Yuan Xiaoling picked it up and saw written on it—

“Water Comes From Sea Limited Media Company… What does that mean?” She didn’t understand.

“It’s just a marketing company that handles online trolls,” Luo Xing explained, “They voluntarily reported that someone online contacted them to place an order, asking for support for some posts they posted. This is usually a normal transaction, so they agreed at first, but then upon closer inspection, they realized all the posts were about you being a succubus… Cough, the posts about you.”

Li Li chuckled upon hearing this, “Then the trolling company got scared and refunded the money?”

“Not only did they refund, they also reported the person and sent back the data package. Our colleagues in the information department have already verified it, matching perfectly with the poster’s IP. Our people are preparing to move.”

…………

Time rewinds to early this morning.

Because of yesterday’s incident, a certain girl living in a nameless neighborhood was extremely happy, eating watermelons all night long, imagining Yuan Xiaoling’s miserable state. And when she woke up early in the morning, a sudden idea struck her—since there were so many conspiracy theories online, why not fan the flames and pour cold water on her?

So she logged into her several alternate accounts, hooked up the tablet’s keyboard, and started writing posts with alarming headlines—”Shocking! The mastermind behind yesterday’s event is actually her? A vile succubus that drains life essence!”

However, the post’s performance wasn’t ideal. Defaming Yuan Xiaoling in today’s Tianhai City was an extremely counterproductive behavior. Her carefully crafted post was quickly drowned out by waves of criticism, and occasionally a few people came to scold her.

This wouldn’t do. Fortunately, the clever her soon came up with a solution. She went online and found a store offering “Internet Marketing Popularity Boosting Services” and placed a lavish package worth several thousand yuan.

But when the other party saw the post criticizing Yuan Xiaoling, they directly refunded the money and blocked her.

“Scaredy-cat! Coward! You have no professional ethics!”

She cursed while holding the keyboard. No problem, if others can’t be relied on, she would do it herself. With the keyboard in hand, her essays flowed effortlessly.

[“Looking so beautiful, like a fox spirit, and with such big breasts, can anyone believe she’s not a succubus?”]

[“Putting aside evidence, doesn’t it make sense?”]

[“What, having big breasts isn’t allowed to be talked about?”]

Her hands clicked away on the keyboard, producing countless eloquent writings. If she saw reasonable rebuttals or embarrassing comments, she would simply delete, block, and ban them.

That was the confidence given to her by being a VIP member of Tieba.

About two hours later, the guard at the entrance of the residential area suddenly saw a car driving in and quickly put on his security uniform, blocking the entrance.

“Sorry, this is a private residential area. Please show a friend invitation.”

The people getting out of the car looked like plainclothes officers and asked, “Does Ms. Xin Lan live here?”

“…Ah?”

…………

These past two days, the municipal building has been very busy. People were rushing up and down the stairs, with plenty of things to handle.

But even so, it was rare to see someone running so wildly that they were panting for breath. Others looked at him and where he came from—the reception room.

“Trouble! Director! Trouble!”

The receptionist burst into the meeting room, tripped, and fell to the ground.

“Xiao He, rushing around like this is completely inappropriate!”

“Sorry, but… but there is a very urgent situation.”

The young man shakily pulled out the file folder he had hugged tightly in his arms.

Yuan Xiaoling gave Li Li a look, signaling them to bring it over and let her take a look first.

There were some photos inside, taken by the team sent out to check the water meters. The first photo wasn’t very clear, only showing two groups of people standing at the entrance of a residential area, about to clash, seemingly just starting to fight.

Flipping to the next photo, Yuan Xiaoling’s heart sank.

At this moment, the leader in the meeting room also received a phone call and stood up with a slap, “What? Life or death unclear?!”

In the photos, their own people lay sprawled on the ground, branches-like objects sticking out of their bodies. At the edge of the lens, some eerie and terrifying shadows could be seen.

The next photo was a wide shot. It seemed that no one at the scene could take more pictures. Looking from afar, the walls of the residential area were lush with foliage, the leaves reflecting an unhealthy dark green under the sunlight, completely surrounding the entire residential area.

“Rotwood…”

Li Li saw her serious expression and knew something was wrong. She quietly tugged Luo Xing, signaling him to step back a bit.

“Miss Yuan, Miss Yuan,” the leader who just answered the phone walked over anxiously, “We received a report from the scene. Something happened to the people we sent to investigate, currently life or death unclear.”

“Don’t say unclear, they’re gone. Arrange the aftermath.” Yuan Xiaoling sighed and handed the photos to him.

Although it was hard to understand, growing branches on people meant they probably weren’t alive.

“Miss Yuan, this… they… we…”

Looking at the photos, the leader was momentarily at a loss. He really didn’t expect that just going to investigate a few keyboard warriors would escalate to this extent.

This time, it was truly thought to be catching a petty thief, but instead, they stumbled upon a den of trouble.

“Pull your people back.”

Yuan Xiaoling ordered, pulling out her mobile phone from her pocket, walking to the window, and tapping the first number on her contact list.

“Now, it’s my turn to gather troops.”