The milk tea was warm and silky, carrying a faint tea fragrance.
Jiang Ning took two sips and felt satisfied.
Although she had never drunk real milk tea before, she imagined it must be similar to this.
She left the milk tea shop owner’s line of sight, found a bench to sit on, and followed the System’s instructions to open her comment section.
By now, Jiang Shu’s comments had been removed due to reports of overly intense language.
Jiang Ning thought for a moment, exited the Sky Dream Literature Network app, and started browsing news related to “Urban Legends” online instead.
She had only glanced at it yesterday and didn’t understand it fully.
Today, Jiang Ning wanted to take a closer look.
As soon as she opened the browser, the top trending topic was #Xiao Ning Village Urban Legend Scope Expands#.
The location indicated that Xiao Ning Village was more than thirty kilometers away from Jiang Ning—it seemed to be in the same city.
However, Jiang Liu kept saying “it’s safe here,” probably because the Urban Legend in Xiao Ning Village was relatively far away and didn’t threaten the city center.
The System supplemented in time: [ This world has some people with special abilities. These people guard the vicinity of the urban areas to stop Urban Legends from entering the city center. ]
[ Moreover, Urban Legends rarely appear in the city center. ]
Jiang Ning understood. She looked back in the direction of the milk tea shop she had just visited, only to find the shop was gone, vanished without a trace.
Some “Urban Legends” were mobile.
The System continued: [ Jiang Liu thinks the existence of Urban Legends doesn’t threaten him, but in reality, the situation in this world is already very severe. Since the appearance of Urban Legends, more and more people have died because of them. ]
[ The Urban Legends of this world are not like the Survival Game. People who survive an Urban Legend often end up disabled or mentally deranged, and unlike the Survival Game, there are no item rewards for clearing a level. ]
[ Humans are forever in a disadvantaged position in the war against Urban Legends. And since Urban Legends are inexplicably getting stronger, the human authorities are actually struggling to hold on, though they conceal it well from the public. ]
The System spoke in a flat tone, briefly explaining the current situation of humanity to Jiang Ning, while casually dissing the arrogant Jiang Liu.
Hearing this, Jiang Ning recalled the “black gas” she saw on Jiang Shu and instantly understood that he had probably been targeted by some mobile Guayi.
The master of an Urban Legend was called a “Guayi.”
Guayi could not be killed and possessed various inconceivable abilities. If someone violated its rules, that person would become nourishment for the Guayi.
The black gas was the mark the Guayi used to hunt Jiang Shu.
She wondered if he was still alive.
Jiang Ning carried the two cups of milk tea home.
Jiang Shu was lying on the sofa. Seeing Jiang Ning return, he immediately let out a heavy huff through his nose.
Because he had been banned, he felt humiliated and didn’t want Jiang Ning to know he had read her novel.
He was also angry that Jiang Ning had written about him and Jiang Yu like that in her book.
He said sarcastically, “Oh, look who it is. The great author Ning is back.”
“Has your novel been contracted yet? Sky Dream Literature Network doesn’t accept just any trash.”
Thinking that such a big website would definitely reject Jiang Ning’s crappy novel, Jiang Shu’s gloom dissipated quite a bit, and he felt physically and mentally refreshed.
Jiang Ning glanced at him.
Under her dark, eerie gaze, Jiang Shu’s smugness instantly vanished by half.
Mother Jiang glared at Jiang Shu reproachfully. “Why are you speaking so discouragingly to your sister?”
Seeing that Jiang Ning had gone out and brought back milk tea, Mother Jiang guessed she must have had a decent time. Relieved, she smiled. “Ningning, if you don’t have enough money, tell Mom, and I’ll send you more.”
She really didn’t know how to interact with this grown-up daughter. Plus, Jiang Ning didn’t seem interested in being intimate with her either. When the two were alone, she felt awkward and eager to leave.
She had specifically called Jiang Yu today to discuss this matter. Jiang Yu had advised her to give Jiang Ning more money and just let her have fun, since Jiang Ning had indeed suffered a lot in the past dozen years.
If she wanted to make up for it, giving material things was the way to go.
Standing two meters away from Jiang Ning, Mother Jiang looked at her exquisite but cold features and suddenly realized that this daughter looked exactly like her when she was young.
She had given birth to two sons who both looked like Father Jiang. Her daughter was switched at birth, so she always thought her genes were weak since no child looked like her. Although she didn’t care much, she occasionally felt a bit of regret.
Now that Jiang Ning was back, she realized she did have a child who inherited most of her looks.
This softened her heart a little. Her tone became gentle. “Ningning, did you have fun today?”
Jiang Ning nodded. “It was okay.”
Jiang Shu, feeling ignored on the side, became dissatisfied and shouted, “Mom, you don’t know! Jiang Ning insinuated about our family’s switch-at-birth incident in her novel. She has a huge grudge about it!”
Mother Jiang was startled. She looked at Jiang Ning hesitantly, a bit disappointed. The affection that had just risen disappeared.
The switch was an accident. How could she write about it in a novel and tell outsiders?
Didn’t she know not to wash dirty linen in public? Especially when Xiao Yu was such a good child.
Jiang Shu looked at Jiang Ning triumphantly and said, “You don’t think writing like that will make people like you, do you? Wrong! They’ll only find you even more annoying!”
Mother Jiang felt mentally exhausted. Neither her daughter nor her son gave her peace of mind. She said wearily, “Jiang Shu, speak properly.”
“I won’t.” Jiang Shu didn’t care what his mother said. He turned to Jiang Ning: “I’m telling you, your writing sucks. You won’t get a contract, and no one will read it.”
“While it’s still early, find something else to do.”
Jiang Ning didn’t listen to a word Jiang Shu said. She focused on the increasingly thick black gas on his body and suddenly thought of a type of Guayi she had encountered in the Survival Game.
This type of Guayi liked to feed on human emotions.
Once it targeted someone, their emotions would unknowingly become more and more intense.
Finally, when they reached a breaking point, they would trigger the rules set by the Guayi and be swallowed whole.
People who died this way often didn’t even know how they died.
Jiang Shu was probably entangled by such a Guayi.
She had material for her next chapter.
Jiang Ning took a sip of milk tea, her heart calm.
A snippet of her previous chat with the System drifted through her mind.
[ People in this world have funerals when they die. ]
Jiang Ning thought to herself, The System said funerals are lively.
I haven’t seen a funeral yet. Maybe I can see one. It would be perfect to write into the novel, too.
Ordinary people made up the majority of this world, so they should be interested in a wealthy family’s funeral.
At least Jiang Ning was interested.
In the Survival World, when people died, they just died.
Most didn’t even leave a corpse, let alone have a funeral. Jiang Ning was always curious about things she hadn’t seen.
The Jiang family was well-off. If they held a funeral for Jiang Shu, it should be quite lively.
She glanced at Jiang Shu and said, “Did you read my novel? How do you know I won’t get a contract? I think I wrote it quite well.”
Jiang Shu’s expression changed instantly. “I was just curious, but I found out you wrote garbage. It’s like a composition by a three-year-old.”
Jiang Ning said “Oh,” completely unfazed.
Jiang Shu was puzzled. Since coming back from the hospital, why had Jiang Ning’s skin become so thick?
Suspicion rose in his heart.
The System was increasingly dissatisfied with Jiang Shu’s sharp tongue: [ He’s talking nonsense. Ningning, your novel is very good. Don’t be misled by him. ]
Jiang Ning felt the System was right. She said to Jiang Shu, “It’s fine if you think my writing is bad. But if you think what I wrote is fake, then you should get your eyes checked, because everything I wrote is true.”