I created the myth of the Great Old Ones.

"What's the point, anyway?"

The shower water wet Lu Ban's body, and he tried using the skill.

Lu Ban's eyes suddenly turned deep and dark, changing from the blackish-brown pupil color common among Asians to a deep gray like a mist.

Looking around, Lu Ban's gaze froze near the drain.

He saw a bloodshot eye staring at him from under the drain strainer.

This was different from the fleeting glimpse before. Lu Ban blinked, but the eyeball still hadn't disappeared.

He crouched down and reached out to uncover the drain.

The eyeballs seemed to shrink back into the sewer as if they had been startled by some small animal.

Lu Ban saw that next to the eyeball, the wet hair looked like the tentacles of a reptile, clinging to the sewer pipe wall like a spider.

"You look like this?"

Lu Ban reached out, wanting to touch the eyeball, but the other party quickly shrank into the depths of the sewer.

"Still shy."

Lu Ban didn't try to pry open the drain, but instead thoughtfully covered it up.

He stood up and looked in the mirror again.

The thing in the mirror looked at Lu Ban.

It was as if his entire body had been burned, his flesh stripped away, leaving only a pair of eyeballs starkly in empty sockets.

His movements were exactly the same as Lu Ban's, except that his festering skin was quite different.

Lu Ban raised his left hand, and the thing in the mirror also raised its left hand.

Lu Ban threw a punch, and the thing in the mirror also threw a punch.

Lu Ban made another move, but suddenly withdrew it just before making the gesture.

He saw that the thing in the mirror couldn't stop for a moment and pulled out scissors.

Lu Ban then clenched his fist and stretched it out.

"I won."

He smiled, and Lu Ban in the mirror stared wide-eyed, somewhat frightened.

Lu Ban turned off the shower, dried himself off, and put on his clothes. He then saw a dark shadow forming a human shape at the bathroom door.

He immediately opened the door and found a figure that looked like it was made of black mist with a ferocious expression. It quickly hid in the corner and drifted away with the wind.

Upon entering the living room, Lu Ban noticed a blurry figure sitting on a chair next to the dining table.

"Hello."

Lu Ban greeted him.

Chapter 113 Let him have it!

The warm morning sunlight streamed into the living room, casting a golden glow on the floor.

Lu Ban saw the blurry figure sitting on the sofa, seemingly waiting for Lu Ban, or perhaps just spacing out.

His greeting went unanswered; the figure didn't even lift its head.

"So, the ability of [True Vision] allows one to see these extraordinary beings that are not human?"

Lu Ban pondered to himself.

"Is this similar to having the ability to see ghosts?"

He knew very well that although the environments and supernatural abilities of the Silent Lands were different, they all ultimately followed one unchanging principle: the more you know, the easier it is to fall into madness and lose your mind.

For example, Lu Ban was originally a pure and innocent young man. Under normal circumstances, he would never have seen the eyeballs in the sewer, the dead person in the mirror, or the blurry figure sitting next to the sofa.

But because Lu Ban knew the relevant knowledge and information, he was able to see these inhuman beings now.

In other words, Lu Ban's [True Vision] means that the more you understand the relevant situation, the more you can break through the illusion and see the truth. In other worldviews, it would be a convenient ability similar to having supernatural vision.

Unfortunately, in the Silent Land, such powerful and realistic vision only allowed Lu Ban to see more things that could easily drive people mad and burn away their reason.

"Oh, I've lost my mind. Never mind then."

Lu Ban changed his clothes, went downstairs, and ordered a serving of xiaolongbao (soup dumplings), a bowl of sweet soy milk, and two youtiao (fried dough sticks) at a soup dumpling shop at the street corner. He sat down, picked up his phone, and ate while looking at it.

As Lu Ban ate, he noticed that the child at the next table kept staring at him, looking like he really wanted his steamed buns.

"If you want to eat it, ask your parents to buy it for you. You can't just eat what's in someone else's bowl."

Lu Ban spoke earnestly, glancing at the woman next to the child. The woman looked over at Lu Ban, her eyes filled with confusion.

"And you, as a parent, how can you only think about eating it yourself and not buy one for the child?"

Lu Ban met her gaze.

The woman was taken aback, looked suspiciously at the seat next to her, and then at Lu Ban.

"What did you say... there are no children here."

"..."

Lu Ban silently glanced at the child who was staring at him expectantly.

"Come here."

He greeted them.

The woman muttered "crazy," then picked up her bowl, moved to a table a little further away, and kept glancing at Lu Ban.

The child obediently sat down in the chair at Lu Ban's table.

Lu Ban noticed that the child's face was pale and swollen, and his eyes were red. There were no injuries on his body, and his clothes were very light. He wondered what had happened to him.

Lu Ban ordered another steamer of xiaolongbao (soup dumplings).

"I don't know if you can eat human food, but I'll just leave it here anyway."

He pushed the xiaolongbao to the next table and continued looking at his phone.

At that moment, Lu Ban saw a news article.

A primary school student drowned while swimming in the Lingjiang River yesterday. Relevant departments are urging citizens not to swim in rivers during the flood season and to pay attention to their safety.

Clicking on the news article, there were no pictures, only a brief description of the situation: several primary school students went swimming in the river together, but encountered a strong current and one of the students was swept away and drowned when he was found downstream.

"Is this you?"

Lu Ban showed the news on his phone to the child.

Thinking about it, his face turned pale and his eyes turned red; he did indeed look like he had drowned.

Whether it was a misperception or not, when Lu Ban looked at the child again, the child's face became clearer, and he could see the wrinkles on the skin caused by prolonged soaking in water.

The child remained silent, only tears welling up in the corners of his eyes.

"I won't do it again..."

He muttered to himself, as if admitting his mistake and apologizing.

"It's too late."

Lu Ban sighed. The old man behind him, who was eating millet porridge, turned around and looked at him, looking very puzzled.

"Reincarnate well, and remember this in your next life: finish this meal of xiaolongbao before you go on your journey."

Lu Ban wasn't a Taoist priest or sorcerer after all, and he didn't know the techniques for helping the dead to be reborn, so he could only offer this advice.

He looked down and continued reading the news that popped up on his phone.

Demolition and construction of Nanhua Private Renji Hospital has been suspended due to overall planning.

The first phase of the renovation project for Jiangcheng Grand Theatre has been finalized, and construction is expected to begin early next year.

Several filming accidents have occurred at Mozhen Cinema; relevant departments have launched an investigation into potential safety hazards.

A murder case recently occurred in Chengdu; the perpetrator killed two people before hanging himself.

A civil dispute occurred in a distant city because a mother and daughter both fell in love with the same person.

Lu Ban read social news like these carefully. Some he could write down as inspiration, some he could only read for amusement, and some he could only make people clench their fists.

After finishing the xiaolongbao and the soy milk and fried dough sticks, when I looked up again, I found that the child was gone.

The steamer basket of xiaolongbao in front of him was empty, nowhere to be found.

"I hope to find a good family to marry into."

Lu Ban stood up and left the breakfast shop amidst the suspicious glances of the people in the shop, returning home.

The computer is turned on, and the desktop icons have rotated, replaced by the system's indifferent and cold text.

[Career Development Tasks]

It's time to step onto a new stage. In this entertainment-driven era, even ordinary people can showcase themselves. Keep creating; your future is bright and dazzling!

[Task Requirements: Produce a video of at least 30 minutes and earn one million yuan in revenue.]

Earnings: 0/1000000 yuan

"Let him eat, let him eat!"

"A million in profit?"

Lu Ban recalled that the last career development task was to attract 10 million views, but this time, the goal is to generate 1 million yuan in revenue. The difference seems a bit too big.

Even with tens of millions of views, legitimate video revenue based on traffic settlements would never reach millions of yuan. No, even with hundreds of millions of views, it wouldn't be that much.

It would be extremely difficult to accomplish this task by relying solely on the traffic revenue of video websites.

"Making a meal?"

Lu Ban saw the prompt below the task.

The so-called "sponsored content" is actually a high-EQ way of advertising. Some video creators, after their videos get a lot of views, become quite influential self-media, and naturally, manufacturers will approach them to do advertising. This kind of video advertising is called "sponsored content".

However, Lu Ban had obtained some information from Song Yunyan before. Even top-tier video content creators only earn six figures in advertising fees these days. Reaching a million-dollar advertising fee is simply a pipe dream.