I created the myth of the Great Old Ones.

"As expected of me."

Lu Ban gave himself a pep talk, revised the copy, and was about to send it out when his phone suddenly rang with its default ringtone.

He quickly turned the volume down to avoid waking Qin Tiantian and disturbing her peace. He glanced at the number; it was an unknown number.

Is there something wrong with making a phone call in the middle of the night?

Lu Ban answered the phone.

Chapter 033 My House Doesn't Have a Water Meter

"Hey?"

Lu Ban went to the balcony of the room, closed the glass sliding door between the balcony and the room, and answered the phone while watching Qin Tiantian sleeping with a pillow in her hand and wrapped in a quilt in the middle of summer.

The other party remained silent for a moment.

Just as Lu Ban was wondering if some strange sounds would come from the phone later, and that he would receive a videotape containing a well and a woman the next day, a sound came from the other end.

This is cause for celebration; it is the voice of humanity.

"I'm so sorry to bother you so late. May I ask if you are Mr. Lu Ban? Your username on the old video website is 【一动不动】, right?"

"My house doesn't have a water meter."

Lu Ban immediately replied.

"?"

The other person was clearly taken aback, unsure of what Lu Ban was talking about, but he was obviously worldly-wise and quickly composed himself.

"Mr. Lu Ban, I am Li Zijian, the chairman's secretary of Jiangcheng Industry. We saw the video of your visit to Jiangcheng Grand Theater online and would like to discuss this matter with you. I wonder if you have time tomorrow? I apologize for bothering you so late at night."

You could hear a hint of helplessness in the voice of this man who called himself Li Zijian. It was like his boss suddenly calling him on New Year's Eve, asking him to find a client to collect a payment. He was clearly unwilling to disturb his and the client's Spring Festival mood, but he was forced by his messed-up life to put on a business smile and go to find the client.

"You're going to sue me?"

Lu Ban blurted out his first reaction.

The Jiangcheng Grand Theatre is now essentially rotten in the hands of Jiangcheng Industry, and is their property. What I'm doing is considered illegal intrusion.

Wait a minute, there are no warning lines or no-entry signs next to it. It shouldn't be illegal to go in and take a look, right?

I'll find some legal videos to study later.

"...No, no, you misunderstood. Our chairman saw the video and wants to ask you some questions."

Li Zijian on the other end of the phone was momentarily speechless after Lu Ban's interruption, before finally replying.

"Your chairman?"

Lu Ban sensed something was wrong.

"Yes, I don't know if you've heard of her, but our chairman is named Song Yunyan."

hum-

Lu Ban's heart skipped a beat.

Song Yunyan?

Didn't she... die at the Jiangcheng Grand Theater?

"Mr. Lu?"

Li Zijian was somewhat confused by Lu Ban's sudden silence.

"...Um, what time should I arrive at where tomorrow?"

Lu Ban collected his thoughts and turned to ask a question.

"You don't need to go to all that trouble. We will send a car to pick you up at 10:00 AM. Your current address is 1304, Building 4, XX Community, right?"

Li Zijian fluently recited Lu Ban's current address.

"……Correct."

Lu Ban responded.

"Okay, I received it. Then I won't disturb Mr. Lu's rest any longer."

The other party hung up the phone.

Lu Ban stood on the balcony, listening to the melodies of classic Spring Festival Gala songs coming from the room, feeling somewhat lost.

Let's not even discuss why the other party was able to obtain my account, identity, and address information. In the internet age, privacy is utterly vulnerable in the face of capital. Just spend some money to investigate the real-name authentication information of old video websites, and then find a real estate agent to check the rental information of the corresponding ID card, and you can find all of this.

Lu Ban was concerned with something else.

He picked up his phone and searched for news about Song Yunyan, while comparing the images with those from old newspapers he had downloaded.

Then Lu Ban realized that he had indeed been negligent.

The reports at the time focused on Du Danping's death, mentioning that there were five people in total, but did not mention that Song Yunyan also died at the same time.

So, although Song Yunyan was present at the time, she was not burned to death in the fire?

She is the daughter of the former chairman of Jiangcheng Industrial, and now she has followed in her father's footsteps and become a female CEO.

"Did Song Yunyan come to me after seeing me explore the Jiangcheng Grand Theatre and see Du Danping performing?"

Lu Ban roughly figured out the ins and outs of the matter.

"Luckily, I didn't show the scene of smashing Du Danping's head, otherwise, would Song Yunyan have turned me to dust?"

He was somewhat slow to realize it.

"Or is it that Song Yunyan is indeed dead, and the current 'Song Yunyan'... is actually something disguised as her?"

Another possibility then surfaced in my mind.

"Forget it, I'll leave these worries for tomorrow. Time to sleep!"

Lu Ban decided not to dwell on her troubles.

He lay in the chair and drifted off to sleep to the strains of the song "Gong Xi Fa Cai" (Wishing You Prosperity).

……

The next day, at eight o'clock.

Lu Ban woke up on time, the song still playing in his ears.

"Run forward, facing cold stares and ridicule; how can one feel the vastness of life without experiencing hardship..."

He glanced at the bed, where Qin Tiantian was sleeping soundly like a dead pig, completely still.

Lu Ban sat up, washed up, changed his clothes, and went out to buy breakfast.

Two steamers of xiaolongbao (soup dumplings), two bowls of soy milk, and four youtiao (fried dough sticks) were all packed up and brought back.

When Qin Tiantian got home, he had just gotten out of bed, looking half asleep and half awake, his eyes barely open.

Lu Ban placed the breakfast on the living room table, thought about the methods for increasing the number of fans he had seen before, and decided to establish his own persona.

To establish a persona, you can't be too deliberate; you need to do things naturally.

So he picked up his phone, took a picture of his breakfast, and posted it on an old video website.

Did everyone sleep well last night? Time to get up and have breakfast!

Such a positive post is sure to inspire people!

As soon as Lu Ban put down his phone and opened the takeout box, a notification popped up.

He used chopsticks to dip a fried dough stick into soy milk with one hand, while scrolling through comments with the other.

【It's all your fault for making that video, I couldn't sleep all night!】

[Could this breakfast be some kind of ghost breakfast brought from somewhere?]

Wait, look closely, isn't there a human head in this soy milk?

[Damn, are you taking revenge on society so early in the morning?]

The soy milk must be salty!

[Get lost! You can drink salty soy milk?]

A jumble of comments popped up in just a few minutes.

Lu Ban already has about 15,000 fans, which makes him a small content creator with his own circle on the old video website.

Is there a problem with the photo?

Lu Ban saw the comments, clicked on the photo, and zoomed in to examine it closely.

He saw that a face was indeed reflected in the soy milk! A face that did not belong to Lu Ban.

"Don't stand there, eat up."

Lu Ban saw Qin Tiantian reflected in the phone screen, looked up and urged her.

"I slept so well. Your bed is really something. I've never slept so comfortably at home."

Qin Tiantian stretched like a cat and sat down opposite Lu Ban from an angle where she couldn't see anything.

"I'm going out in a bit, you should go home now."

Lu Ban asked a question.

Is this woman trying to sleep with me?

His bed is only for his blue-eyed Ragdoll cat to rub against; women, get as far away from him as possible!

"Go back, of course I'll go back! I'll leave as soon as you leave."

Qin Tiantian yawned, picked up her chopsticks, and started eating breakfast.

The two ate breakfast while looking at their own phones, without exchanging much conversation.

After tidying up for a while, at 10 o'clock sharp, Lu Ban's phone rang.

It's yesterday's number.

"Hello, Mr. Lu, I'm downstairs, and the car is ready."