Are You There?

[Urban Legend: No One Calling].

[Attribute: Simulated Communication].

[Ability: If you have seen the phone containing your target's SIM card, you can impersonate any number to contact them. They will be unable to trace your IP address or personal information. Your IP location will appear to be wherever they are. The specific information available about the target depends on whether their SIM card is registered under their real name].

[Cost: Already paid (unknown)].

In the small, unlit room, Fang Xian put down his phone.

A new urban legend brought new possibilities.

For the first time, Fang Xian truly felt that urban legends could change his life.

Who said this urban legend was bad? It was fantastic.

Like Ghost Call or Call Shock from a horror movie: a strong signal, untraceable, with simulated communication.

In a modern city, No One Calling was even more useful than Xiao Jiu, an unusual urban legend that seemed so much more impressive.

"Chirp, chirp."

Xiao Jiu lay on the nearby table with a snot bubble at her nose. She gave Fang Xian a sleepy glance, made a little noise, then went back to sleep.

Still, using an urban legend came at a cost.

Come to think of it... what was the cost of No One Calling?

Hadn't he already paid it?

Fang Xian raised both hands and looked them over.

Then he bent down for another look.

Nothing seemed to have changed.

Unless!

Fang Xian pulled open his pants!

Ah... little Fang Xian doesn't work anymore! Wait! Little Fang Xian never worked in the first place.

Fang Xian breathed a sigh of relief. In that case, it was fine. It didn't seem to affect his life much.

This urban legend was a true brother.

"Don't worry, buddy. I'll make sure your belongings reach your family."

With that, Fang Xian continued watching the surveillance footage.

There were two more cameras outside the guesthouse.

Together, they covered almost the entire surrounding area.

Fang Xian skipped through the footage as he watched.

Before long, he spotted a small figure near the guesthouse.

"Just as I thought. It's that boy in the baseball cap."

The little boy's face was gloomy.

He seemed to blend into the darkness around him.

This must have been after Fang Xian met him on the shore.

In the middle of the night, the boy had first cased the area around the guesthouse.

Then he had strolled into the lobby.

After that, he appeared on the second-floor camera.

An unnatural smile seemed to hang on the little boy's face.

Step by step, he approached Song Yizhou and Huihuizi's room.

His body gave a twitch and a shudder. Then he took a tiny paper figure from his pocket.

In the darkness, the little boy pulled out a lighter.

He set the paper figure on fire.

Then he left.

After that, the entire recording turned a little blurry.

Clearly, this was the effect of an urban legend's power. But Fang Xian!

Fang Xian was unaffected!!

The burning paper figure crumbled into a ring of ash, and another, smaller paper figure appeared in the middle.

Then...

At the window at the end of the corridor, the tiny paper figure Fang Xian had scared away gradually appeared.

It looked as though the wind had blown it in.

Even after watching it several times, Fang Xian still found it terrifying.

Auntie Huihuizi's reaction back then had been perfectly normal. Her habitual battle cry was nothing unusual either.

But Song Yizhou, the literary young woman, had impressed Fang Xian.

Not everyone could stay so calm the first time they encountered an urban legend.

Fang Xian thought back to his own first encounter with one.

Never mind.

He focused on the little boy.

The boy's grin had stretched to an absurd extreme. From the other end of the corridor, he seemed to be admiring his handiwork.

"He put the paper figure there, so why didn't the urban legend attack him?"

Fang Xian was curious.

On the monitor, the little boy took out a phone.

A tiny point of light shone in the darkness. He seemed to be calling someone.

The footage had no audio and was too blurry for Fang Xian to read his lips.

The moment the boy noticed the camera was running, he left with his phone.

All right.

After watching himself heroically drive off the paper figure a few times, Fang Xian deleted all the recordings.

Anything connected to an urban legend was best destroyed if possible.

This trip to Changzhao Reservoir had already been quite rewarding.

Successfully capturing the Human-Faced Fish and No One Calling had brought his remaining lifespan into the minus-fifty-eight range.

Life was looking brighter by the day.

In the surveillance room, Fang Xian let out a quiet chuckle.

That little boy.

Your teacher Fang isn't letting you get away.

At the very least, you deserve a lesson.

As for where the boy was now?

Did it matter?

Little Fang Xian had seen his phone in the footage just now.

Fang Xian took out his own phone, ready as usual to watch an ad before opening the Urban Legend Compendium.

At a glance, he saw the black-and-white memorial portrait of that man on his lock screen.

"Damn it, I said I'd take your belongings home. Stop changing my lock screen, okay? Thanks. You don't have to make your presence felt quite so much. Where did my picture of Song Yizhou go?"

Something that should have been terrifying only left Fang Xian exasperated.

If you're going to change it, at least tell me first.

The man in the portrait naturally said nothing. Fang Xian activated Simulated Communication.

[Urban Legend Alert].

[Using urban legend No One Calling's attribute, Simulated Communication: Connected to bad child Zhu Shuang's phone (Stars 15 Pro Max)].

"Oh, so you're Zhu Shuang?"

"Just wait for your buddy Fang."

Changzhao Reservoir.

Somewhere along the shore.

The little boy in the baseball cap stood in the darkness, talking to someone on the phone.

"Yes, I failed."

"I was building a rapport with that strange fish. Everything was going according to plan."

"But... that guy. That damned adult!"

"I already got back at him. He seems to have a pretty girlfriend!"

The little boy, Zhu Shuang, had an innocent young face and voice.

But there was nothing childlike about his expression now.

It held only malice and bitterness.

A somewhat muffled, electronically synthesized voice came from the other end of the call.

"You wasted a bottle of my Pest Spray. You'll pay me back out of your allowance."

"Also... three promising candidates have turned up in Yan Prefecture. Find time to get in touch with them for me."

Zhu Shuang lost his composure. "But I still have school! I only just started fifth grade!"

"I have classes during the day and homework at night! When am I supposed to..."

The voice cut him off. "That's your problem. Otherwise..."

Crackle.

Crackle.

Static hissed through the phone.

It sounded as if something were tearing the voice apart.

"Hello? Hello?"

Zhu Shuang's face darkened. He looked at his latest-model Star-brand Phone.

The call was still connected.

But...

He couldn't hear anything.

"What's going on?"

Zhu Shuang angrily tapped at his phone.

Then, all at once...

A notification appeared on the screen.

[You have a new message].

[From: Unknown].

Zhu Shuang paused. Thinking it was spam, he opened it.

[Are you there?]

"What kind of spam is this? Stupid phone."

Zhu Shuang was furious.

He tried to restart it, only to find that his phone wouldn't restart no matter what he did.

Another message arrived.

[Are you there?]

[Are you there?]

[Are you there?]

[Are you there?]

[Are you there?]

[...]

In an instant, dozens of messages bombarded him, flooding the screen like a waterfall.

Zhu Shuang finally realized something was wrong.