Legend Management Bureau Chapter 230

[ … words ]

“Drive to the police station?” The driver looked somewhat troubled upon hearing this. “It is the evening rush hour right now. Getting to a nearby police station will take quite a bit of time!”

At that moment, several voices suddenly rang out across the bus. “Yeah, head to the police station! We cannot let the thief get away!”

Seeing the situation, Zhi Nv looked conflicted. What should they do?

Whether the bus stopped or drove to the police station, it was a thorny situation for them.

Qu Xi also felt somewhat troubled at this moment. Even though this Masked Woman was sitting right in front of her, she had no idea how to resolve the situation.

But just then, Qu Xi suddenly felt an itch on her arm, as if a furry little creature had burrowed its way over.

She looked down and froze. Standing right on her thigh was a small, mouse-like animal. Its paws had three long claws, and its eyes were big and round.

Qu Xi was just about to say something, but the mouse-like creature placed a paw over its mouth, making a shushing gesture.

“Eh?”

Seeing that Qu Xi remained silent, the mouse-like animal pulled a Mobile Phone from behind its back and placed it into Qu Xi’s hand. It pointed at the Mobile Phone, then pointed at the Masked Woman sitting in front of Qu Xi, and gave a confident thumbs-up.

This bizarre series of actions left Qu Xi completely dumbfounded.

“Are you saying… this Mobile Phone is hers?” Qu Xi whispered.

The “mouse” nodded excitedly, then spun around, squeezed into the gap between the seats, and vanished.

Before Qu Xi could fully process what had just happened, the commotion on the bus escalated.

Half the passengers suggested going straight to the police station, while the other half argued that the thief had likely gotten off already and there was no need to waste everyone’s time.

However, letting this drag on was not a good idea either. If the uproar continued, even if the vehicle pulled into the station normally, the plot of the story would have already deviated. She had to put an end to this matter immediately.

“Everyone, wait!”

Qu Xi shouted. The passengers on the bus fell silent, turning around to look at her.

“I…” Seeing everyone’s eyes on her, Qu Xi suddenly felt nervous. She stammered as she addressed the Masked Woman in front of her, “I found this Mobile Phone on the floor just now. Could you check if you dropped it?”

The Masked Woman was taken aback. She reached to check her pocket, only to find that her Mobile Phone was indeed missing.

Her heart was filled with confusion. ‘The Saint once said that even if Qu Xi showed up, there was no need to worry. After all, she is merely a Mortal; we only need to deal with the others.’

‘But now, is this Mortal actually capable of stealing my belongings right under my nose without my noticing?’

“You…” The Masked Woman clearly wanted to say something, but she had never anticipated a situation like this and had absolutely no countermeasure prepared.

“Is this not your Mobile Phone?” Qu Xi asked.

The Masked Woman thought for a moment before replying, “Correct. This is not my Mobile Phone.”

At that moment, Zhi Nv suddenly chimed in, “Miss, what is your phone number? Just tell us, and we can dial it for you to check. Would that not solve it?”

The Masked Woman frowned, feeling as though she had been played.

She was not a modern person and had very little understanding of what a Mobile Phone even was. She had absolutely no memory of her own number, and she had a sinking feeling that if she continued to entangle herself in this, she would definitely be exposed.

Seeing this scene unfold, the cold and stern man standing not far away hurriedly stepped in to smooth things over. “Miss, why do you not take a closer look? This should be your Mobile Phone. Just take it.”

Hearing the man say this, the Masked Woman finally let out a sigh and reached out for the Mobile Phone.

Qu Xi thought she was just going to retrieve the device, but instead, the woman grabbed Qu Xi’s wrist in a vise-like grip.

“Eh? What are you doing?” Qu Xi asked in astonishment.

“Regardless of whether this is my Mobile Phone, I merely wish to ask why it appeared in your possession? Could it be that you are a thief?” the Masked Woman shouted coldly.

“Ah?” Qu Xi was startled. “A thief?”

“Indeed, you must be a thief!” The Masked Woman suddenly thought of a better countermeasure and declared, “Get off the bus with me right now and explain yourself clearly!”

With that, she clamped down on Qu Xi’s wrist tightly, determined to drag her off the bus no matter what.

Qu Xi knew that if she alighted right now, all their previous efforts would be wasted. If Zhou Zhuangshi did not see her, the rest of the story would not happen.

“You are being completely unreasonable! I already told you I picked the Mobile Phone up from the floor!” Qu Xi yelled back.

Seeing the commotion at the back of the bus, Zhi Nv grew tense as well. She turned her head to look at Du Yu. Du Yu was listening to music and did not seem to have noticed any of this yet. However, if those two got into a heated argument, Du Yu would definitely be affected.

With this thought, Zhi Nv pinched her middle finger and thumb together, forming a strange hand seal. With a light point, the seal flew straight toward Du Yu.

Du Yu paused. He clearly felt the volume in his earphones increase. He reached for his Mobile Phone and pressed the volume buttons a few times. Finding no response, he had to give up. After all, the song currently playing was his favorite, Hotel California, so having it a bit louder was not a bad thing.

The two girls at the back of the bus remained locked in their relentless dispute.

The Masked Woman shouted loudly, “I refuse to believe you merely found it! You must have heard that the vehicle is heading to the Yamen, so you hastily returned the Mobile Phone! Get off with me right now! If you are not a thief, I will naturally let you go!”

Qu Xi grew anxious. She had never been wrongly accused like this before. Tongue-tied for a moment, she did not know how to defend herself.

Seeing this, Zhan Qisheng spoke up on Qu Xi’s behalf, “You masked girl, you are going too far and bullying people!”

The masked girl was stunned. “I am bullying people? On what grounds?”

Zhan Qisheng snorted coldly. “If memory serves, you and I boarded this vehicle at the same time, correct? By then, this young lady was already seated here. You are the latecomer. Since when do thieves secure a seat in advance and lie in wait? Could it be that you are the naive ‘hare’ from the old fable, throwing yourself right into the waiting thief’s trap?”

Hearing Zhan Qisheng’s words, the passengers naturally found them reasonable. After all, Qu Xi looked quiet, frail, and beautiful. Where would you find a thief like that nowadays?

Then again, the way this man and woman spoke was incredibly strange, sounding just like two ancient figures. Was this some new trendy way of speaking taking the internet by storm?

After Zhan Qisheng finished speaking, a female voice rang out from nowhere, “The handsome guy is right!”

“Exactly!”

“The handsome guy makes a good point!”

Looking closely, all the Mortal women on the bus had unanimously sided with Zhan Qisheng. This was something the Masked Woman had completely failed to anticipate.

Seeing this, Zhi Nv decided to add fuel to the fire, declaring loudly, “I bet this Masked Woman is just trying to extort money on purpose!”

The moment these words were spoken, the Masked Woman’s position was completely overturned, and the passengers voiced their agreement one after another.

Although the Masked Woman’s face was covered, one could see the flush of red spreading across her features. ‘I am not some heinous villain,’ she thought. ‘When have I ever suffered such an insult?’ In that moment, she just wanted the ground to swallow her whole. Without another word, she silently took the Mobile Phone and sat back down.

After voicing a few more comments and seeing that she was no longer responding, the crowd naturally dropped the matter.

Just a minute later, the bus arrived at the station.

The front and rear doors swung open simultaneously.

The cold and stern man, who originally intended to alight, saw the open rear doors but remained motionless.

At this moment, Zhan Qisheng’s voice came from behind him.

“What, having second thoughts? Do you no longer wish to alight?” Zhan Qisheng asked coldly.

“Not exactly. I was just afraid you would not follow.”

With those words, he took a step forward and alighted from the bus. Zhan Qisheng took a deep breath and followed him out.

Over at the front doors, quite a few people were crowding their way aboard. Among them was a scrawny old man with eyes full of vulgarity. As he passed by the young women, he made sure to press his body against theirs as much as possible.

“Zhou Zhuangshi!”

Just like when Du Yu boarded, many eyes instantly locked onto this wretched, sleazy man.

Although not a single one of the many Great Pivots present had any favorable feelings toward him, their differing allegiances meant that some wanted to kill him, while others needed to keep him alive.

A silent, unseen battle was about to begin.

Zhou Zhuangshi walked past the first row of seats. There were no Great Pivots here, and the young people seated acted as if they did not even see him, showing zero intention of giving up their seats.

He moved to the second row, where Zhi Nv was sitting. Zhou Zhuangshi whistled at her. Zhi Nv bristled with anger and was perilously close to beating him to death right then and there, but after thinking it over, she held herself back.

He reached the third row. A Kui and an ugly woman were seated there. They had not made a single move previously, almost as if they had been waiting for Zhou Zhuangshi to board the bus. Seeing him approach, they immediately tried to stand up, only to realize that they could not move an inch. The two looked down to find their legs bound tight by silk threads that had seemingly appeared out of nowhere.

A Kui made a Prompt Decision, marshaling all the strength in his body to tear himself free from the silk. But before he could even stand, fresh layers of silk began to spread across his legs like creeping frost.

“Sister Zhi… It really is you!” A Kui said anxiously, gritting his teeth. When he had spotted Zhi Nv earlier, he had been somewhat doubtful, reasoning that it was impossible for her to be a Great Pivot; he assumed it was merely a lookalike. He never expected that Zhi Nv had actually entered this place.

Zhi Nv turned her head and whispered, “I am sorry. I have to ensure that the storyline this time unfolds exactly as it did back then. You will just have to endure this minor grievance for now.”

Zhou Zhuangshi arrived beside Du Yu. Although Du Yu had his earphones in, he slowly stood up and offered, “Grand Master, you can take my seat.”

Qu Xi was growing anxious because back then, she had absolutely no idea how Zhou Zhuangshi had fixated on her in the first place. She could only stare fixedly at him, hoping to draw his attention. No matter what, she could not let Du Yu give up that seat of death.

Zhou Zhuangshi nodded, feigning an air of profound dignity, before casually glancing toward the back of the bus, locking eyes with Qu Xi.

That lecherous gaze had once been branded deep into Qu Xi’s memory like a scar, impossible to erase no matter how she tried. All the pain and terror buried within her heart came bubbling back to the surface.

She swallowed hard, forcing a ghastly, strained smile at the wretched man.