Deep Inside the Water Pipe

According to what Li Wan had told Old Zhou,

the idea of putting a pot lid on her head had come from her father.

"It doesn't actually work."

"I'm smart, but not because of that useless Lü Pot."

"But Father doesn't believe me."

"He always listens to that woman."

Little Li Wan could only speak freely with Old Zhou.

"I wish you were my grandpa, Old Zhou."

The seven-year-old girl spoke sadly.

Old Zhou's diary clearly recorded his time with the little girl.

They were less like grandfather and granddaughter than friends who happened to be generations apart.

"Isn't Li Wan's father, Li Yu, a university professor?"

"Qigong and the pot-lid theory were debunked by the Council ten years ago."

"Even ordinary college students know that. How could he not?"

Li Yu's brooding face surfaced unbidden in Fang Xian's mind.

Could superstition really fit with a supremely rational university professor?

There was something else.

Fang Xian looked at Old Zhou's diary.

"That woman."

Who did it mean?

Was it... Wang He?

No.

No one would be that cryptic. Besides, Zhou Dun had recorded Li Wan's perspective. To Li Wan, Wang He was her mother, not "that woman."

Did that mean she was someone neither Li Wan nor Old Zhou knew?

For now, Fang Xian set the question aside.

Long stretches of the diary covered Zhou Dun's dull retirement routine, including tutoring other children. Fang Xian skipped through them.

Until he reached

the day before Li Wan disappeared.

That afternoon,

Li Wan had come to see Zhou Dun.

"Old Zhou, I'm going to take a break."

"Honestly, I'm a little tired."

The girl spoke quietly.

"I'm running away from home."

"For the next few days, I'll go somewhere no one can find me."

"The police? I won't let them find me."

"I'm only telling you. You can't tell anyone—I won't leave the neighborhood."

Zhou Dun's attempts to dissuade her had done no good.

That very night, word spread through the neighborhood that Li Wan was missing.

"Li Wan didn't tell Zhou Dun where she was going?"

Fang Xian kept turning the pages of the diary and soon found the answer.

Li Wan had left Zhou Dun a simple riddle.

The answer was...

the Cement Pipe.

Fang Xian immediately thought of the concrete pipe in the scenic river, which now held very little water.

The pipe was long and deep.

But according to the records, the police had searched that narrow, deep pipe at the time. No one had been inside.

Zhou Dun had looked there himself.

Neither had found her.

No.

Something occurred to Fang Xian.

If everything in Zhou Dun's diary was true, would someone as clever as Li Wan have hidden in the pipe right from the start?

Once she had evaded the initial search, no one would think to look again in such a cramped place.

Fang Xian's face remained expressionless.

He still had no way to know whether the diary was genuine.

A diary alone proved nothing.

If Zhou Dun was a bad man putting on an act...

Fang Xian was about to ask for more details.

But as he turned the pages,

the Urban Legend Compendium sent him an update.

[Urban Legend Compendium updated]

[Urban legend: Going Home]

[Urban legend level: Lingering Fear]

[Urban legend type: Obsession (incomplete)]

[A child covered in wounds wants to go home. Her parents have waited far too long.]

[Li Wan was so clever that she deceived everyone, forgetting only herself.]

[Urban legend location: No. 3 Water Pipe, scenic river, North Bank Garden, Xinlin Subdistrict, Jiangcheng District, Jiangzhou City]

[Note: An unusual urban legend. Its form and appearance differ significantly from ordinary urban legends. Specific methods can increase the chance of encountering it.]

Fang Xian had explored less than one percent of what the Urban Legend Compendium could do.

This time, it had revealed a new urban legend type: Obsession.

Unlike Anomalous Human, this Obsession had "incomplete" after it.

Before Fang Xian had knocked Liu Changgui unconscious with the Fire Axe, Anomalous Human had never had "incomplete" after it.

He finished reading.

Fang Xian raised his head and looked at the old woman.

The wrinkles on her face were like deep ravines. "From that day on, Li Wan was gone."

"Old Zhou looked everywhere, but he couldn't find her."

"It was as if she'd vanished into thin air."

"And we... faced a lot of accusations."

"I grew resentful too."

Fang Xian closed the diary with care. "I think I understand now."

"Thank you, ma'am."

"I'll... find Li Wan and bring this to an end."

The old woman assumed Fang Xian was only trying to comfort her. She was about to ask him to stay a little longer,

but Fang Xian had already stood up.

He slung his backpack over his shoulder.

"I have to go."

The old woman froze. "Where are you going at this hour?"

Fang Xian took a bite of the fruit left as an offering. "To find Li Wan."

It was summer.

There was little water in the neighborhood's scenic river.

Just a thin layer.

Wild grass and stones lay tangled together.

The place looked disordered.

The narrow Concrete Culvert Pipes, which should originally have been underwater, lay piled up like industrial waste.

"One... two... three."

Fang Xian crouched and peered into the pipe's pitch-black depths, roughly gauging its size.

There was about enough room for a child.

For an adult, it was already a tight squeeze.

The Concrete Culvert Pipe had been here for ten years. It had probably been abandoned and forgotten long ago.

Fang Xian had no idea what might be inside.

"Is Li Wan really in there?"

The pipe was so narrow that he could only get in by lying on the ground and drawing his shoulders in.

That meant he couldn't take his Fire Axe.

Fang Xian did not feel safe without it.

Still, he did not hesitate for long.

He set his backpack in the weeds nearby.

He checked his surroundings.

Then he lay down on the ground.

The shallow water soaked Fang Xian's back at once.

After the stifling summer heat, it felt unnaturally cold.

"Jingzhou time, 11:12 p.m."

Fang Xian synchronized his phone and watch.

Then he pushed off with both feet.

Holding his head up, he slid into the pipe.

Scrape, scrape.

Scrape, scrape.

The air felt oppressive.

All Fang Xian could see was the concrete wall of the culvert, inches from his face.

It almost touched the tip of his nose.

Water kept flowing beneath him.

He could hear its faint rush.

He could not lift his arms, so he held his phone against his stomach with its flashlight on.

He stretched his other hand ahead to feel deeper into the pipe.

Pushing with his feet, he slowly inched forward.

"Even without claustrophobia, this place feels awful..."

Fang Xian thought as he moved a little deeper.

The water grew higher. Gradually, it covered his ears.

Gurgle, gurgle.

That was all Fang Xian could hear.

Soon, only part of his nose and his mouth remained above the water.

"This is bad... Getting back out... is going to be difficult."

Fang Xian could not help coming to that conclusion.