The Fish and No One Calling

[Urban legend—(Fish) Human-Faced Fish]

[Level: Lingering Fear]

[Urban legend type: Insect and Beast]

[Basic traits: (Splash) (Tough) (Bullies the Weak, Fears the Strong) (Swimming) (Great Strength)]

[Personality: Gloomy and twisted]

[Condition: Extremely poor]

[Beneath the calm surface of Thousand-Mountain Lake, a man-eating beast waits for travelers to arrive. Intelligent enough to stalk its prey, it silently watches every foolish angler from the darkness.]

[Born in Huizhou, the meat-eating fish acquired a taste for human flesh and found someone whose goals aligned with its own. Together, they slaughtered those who came for the bounty.]

[It appears to have encountered XXXX deep in Changzhao Reservoir and suffered severe injuries.]

[Reflected trait: Swimming]

[Encounter location: Tributary of Changzhao Reservoir, Thousand-Mountain Lake, Xinlin Subdistrict, Jiangcheng District, Jiangzhou City]

[Cost of use: None (heaven)]

[Controlling Insect and Beast urban legends requires no cost.]

Fang Xian stared at the Urban Legend Compendium on his phone.

The chibi Human-Faced Fish pictured there was finally complete.

A bizarre fish body now joined its twisted head. Even rendered in chibi pixels, it was deeply unsettling, like an old man in a rural village spying on you from the darkness while you used the toilet on a summer night.

"Got you!"

At last, Fang Xian smiled.

Those two nights of hard work hadn't been for nothing!

He had finally captured this fish!

And it was an urban legend that could actually fight!

Not one like Xiao Jiu and Baldy.

Xiao Jiu gave an adorably clueless "chirp," clearly unaware of what Fang Xian had called her in his head.

"Xiao Jiu was a huge help this time!"

Fang Xian stroked Xiao Jiu's head.

She narrowed her eyes and enjoyed the attention like a puppy, chirping away all the while.

Fang Xian remembered the earlier information: Insect and Beast urban legends were highly resistant to the abilities of Obsession-type urban legends. The Interference trait had been completely useless against the Human-Faced Fish.

For some reason, though, Xiao Jiu's Spirit Separation skill had been remarkably effective against it.

Could skills have hidden attributes?

Fang Xian thought it over.

He looked at the Human-Faced Fish beside him. It might as well have been a corpse.

Strangely, it no longer looked quite so terrifying.

If anything, it seemed to be regressing.

Was it turning back into a normal fish?

Fang Xian wondered if capturing it as an urban legend had caused this.

Would it matter if the thing died?

"Also, it looks like the reason this fish wasn't very strong is that it was already injured."

"What did it run into deep in Changzhao Reservoir?"

Fang Xian approached the Human-Faced Fish and pried open its human mouth.

Something seemed to be lodged between its teeth.

Holding back the urge to vomit at the stench of rot, Fang Xian pulled a small scrap of white paper from its mouth.

"This paper... The material feels familiar."

Fang Xian was a college freshman, after all. His memory hadn't started failing yet.

The paper effigy he had seen by the riverbank last night had been made from the same material.

The paper felt slightly fuzzy yet tough.

Wasn't that paper effigy just a prank someone had left there?

Could there really be an urban legend called the Paper Figure in Changzhao Reservoir?

Fang Xian rubbed the soaked scrap of paper between his fingers.

[Urban Legend Alert]

[Damaged urban legend item: Paper Figure Fragment (incomplete)]

[Paper Figure Fragment: A remnant of a complete paper effigy after it was torn apart. Its bearer is more likely to attract Folklore-type urban legends and has a very slightly increased chance of encountering an unusually colored Paper Figure-type urban legend.]

[A complete Paper Figure can be consumed to raise an urban legend's level or converted into a portion of one's own lifespan.]

[There is a chance it can cause certain urban legends to evolve.]

Fang Xian frowned slightly as he read.

So that ferocious Human-Faced Fish had already been weakened.

It seemed to have ventured deep into Changzhao Reservoir a few days ago, encountered an urban legend called the Paper Figure, and been forced to roam the outskirts after suffering serious injuries.

And that meant...

The Paper Figure really did exist here.

For now, though, Fang Xian had no intention of going deeper.

He straightened up, feeling the ache throughout his body.

After battling that bizarre fish in the water, Fang Xian felt utterly refreshed.

What could feel better than capturing an urban legend after a hard-fought battle?

There was something.

Oh, there definitely was.

Fang Xian's gaze moved past the Human-Faced Fish, which lay there like a corpse.

Farther away, on the shore, a faint glow appeared for no apparent reason.

It was like a phone suddenly lighting up in the dark.

Its light cast a deathly pallor over whoever was using it.

Fang Xian cautiously picked up his trusty Fire Axe from the ground, then had Xiao Jiu float ahead of him as a shield while he slowly advanced.

He held his phone in his left hand.

He was practically armed to the teeth.

An Urban Legend Alert had already arrived.

[He missed his mother terribly and felt guilty for always missing her calls.]

[If the man hadn't died, he would probably have signed up for missed-call alerts.]

[Aberrant Machinery poses no danger only during the capture process.]

Only?

Fang Xian caught on that word.

Did that mean it was dangerous at every other time?

Fang Xian still had a fair amount of faith in the Urban Legend Compendium, despite how thoroughly it had screwed him over.

Even so, he edged forward slowly.

He looked ready to bolt at the slightest sign of danger.

But in fact...

There was no danger.

Only sparse grass surrounded him.

Following the faint light, Fang Xian finally saw what he had originally come here to find while hunting the urban legend.

A latest-model Stars phone.

There were also some clothes and supplies caked with mud. They looked to have been lying there for nearly half a month.

"This must be the person who went down to catch the Human-Faced Fish."

"Too bad he never came back up."

"But if he dared to catch the fish alone, he must have had some confidence in his abilities."

"He might not have died here because he wasn't strong enough. Someone could have set him up."

Fang Xian stopped. For some reason, he immediately thought of the harmless-looking child in the baseball cap.

"Today is a good day..."

Amid the insect calls and darkness, a phone ringtone suddenly rang out.

Fang Xian looked closely. It was the Stars phone.

After a moment's hesitation, he picked it up and answered.

"Hello."

Fang Xian kept his voice low.

A long silence followed, then came a strange sound of running water.

It sounded as though someone's mouth had been filled to the brim.

Gurgle, gurgle, gurgle, gurgle.

Then a voice spoke.

"My mother... Take my belongings to my mother."

"Boo-hoo..."

"Boo-hoo..."

Then came the sound of sobbing.

Frowning, Fang Xian raised his own phone, which he had just picked up. At some point, its lock screen had changed into a black-and-white memorial portrait of a man!!

Yes.

The man stared straight at Fang Xian, his eyes wide open.

His lips seemed to be moving.

At the same time, an Urban Legend Alert appeared in the notification bar.

[Congratulations to Urban Legend Compendium member Fang Xian.]

[Urban Legend Compendium—Urban Legend]

[No One Calling—Capture successful.]