NHSDO Chapter 10: Lin Mu, You Set Me Up!!!

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After helping his new colleague resolve a personal matter, Dahei was feeling quite pleased with himself.

He spent the entire morning guiding Lin Mu through some basic work procedures. After lunch, he rubbed his hands together and sidled up next to Lin Mu. "Mind if I skip out for the afternoon? Got something to take care of."

Lin Mu was momentarily stunned but then nodded. "Sure, I think I can handle things on my own."

"Great!" Dahei grinned widely and pulled out a brand-new white shirt and a pair of jeans from the cabinet.

The moment Lin Mu saw the outfit, he immediately knew what Dahei was skipping work for.

"Lately, Old Turtle's been having some trouble at work. I've been stuck here alone, and it's been a real pain," Dahei said as he changed his clothes.

Lin Mu had long since given up expecting this dog to have any human-like sense of shame.

He turned his head away to avoid looking, then asked, "What kind of trouble?"

"Seems like that nine-tailed fox who came by earlier asked him for a divination. He ended up predicting something big," Dahei replied. "He's been running around dealing with it ever since. Takes forever. I haven't even had time to visit the old lady."

Lin Mu paused when he heard that. "The old lady..."

Dahei's voice was calm. "I went to see her over the weekend. Looks like she's having a final burst of energy before the end. Her face is rosy, and her spirits are high. A lot of relatives, friends, and former students have heard the news and come to visit. She’s happy. It’s nice."

The old lady had always been gentle and serene. Even at her most passionate, she never raised her voice. Now, all of a sudden, she had become more animated. Her children, who had rushed back from overseas, probably had a sense of what was happening.

When people reach their final days, they often have a feeling about it.

Her time was near. This sudden burst of energy was merely a sign that she would soon be gone.

"Her great-granddaughter is already three years old," Dahei said, then fell silent as he finished getting dressed. "I'll be back after work. You go ahead and take care of things."

Lin Mu nodded. "Alright."

He watched as Dahei walked out. Seeing that no one was around, he headed upstairs to the records room.

After five days, Lin Mu had finally started seeing the shadows of the second floor.

What he saw was an immense, pitch-black pavilion. He used the word "immense" because it practically covered the entire street.

The structure was bizarrely twisted and irregular, as if built by a clueless child stacking toy blocks haphazardly. One block stacked on another, with occasional sections jutting out at odd angles.

It was crooked and entirely defied the principles of architecture and aesthetics.

Even stranger, despite the dense structure overhead, sunlight streamed evenly through the gaps, illuminating the entire street below. It made no logical sense—there was no obstruction of light, even though the building should have completely blocked the sun.

The pavilion's exterior was made of pitch-black bricks and dark gold tiles, all meticulously arranged. Brightly colored lanterns hung from the eaves, standing in stark contrast to the dark structure. Even in broad daylight, the lanterns glowed red.

There were no windows. Every bit of light was tightly sealed off.

This was the first time Lin Mu had properly stepped onto the second floor.

At the top of the stairs was a circular space with a small platform in the center, just big enough for about five people to stand on. When he looked up from the platform, he could barely make out the distant ceiling, a tiny black dot high above.

Surrounding the space were countless densely packed bookshelves, filled with books of various materials and time periods—some so old they were made of clay tablets and wooden slips.

It was called the "records room," but in reality, it was a massive library, far surpassing any known library in the world in both size and collection.

It was said that there were five such facilities across the country.

The reason these places were so vast and packed with knowledge was because their archives dated back to ancient times. Even the oldest recorded documents, which could still be studied today, predated the tenure of Old Turtle—the one who had been guarding this place for over three thousand years. Even he couldn't pinpoint their exact origins.

To preserve historical continuity, the supernatural community had an unspoken agreement that all conflicts would stay far away from these five locations. As for human wars, it didn’t matter. After all, humans couldn’t see or touch these archives anyway.

When wanting to look up information, one only needs to step onto the platform and say a keyword, and the platform will transport them to the place where the relevant materials are stored.

Dahei had emphasized to Lin Mu that this archive had existed for so long that a spirit had already been born within it. Some malicious demons had once entered with ill intentions, but before long, they were turned into corpses and thrown downstairs.

So if one wanted to go up, they had to be sincere and well-intentioned.

Lin Mu had learned the method from Dahei, but when he actually experienced it, he was still very surprised.

He marveled as he picked up a few books about the Great Wilderness and the Central Plains. The moment he held those ancient materials, they transformed into words he could understand, and when he casually flipped through them, they even came with full-color illustrations.

Lin Mu let out a small "hmm" in surprise, glanced around at the archive he was in, and softly asked, "May I take these downstairs to read? I still have work to do."

The platform beneath his feet trembled slightly, then rumbled as it sent Lin Mu back to the entrance.

Lin Mu thanked it, carefully carried the materials downstairs, and sat at his desk to read.

Dahei had told him that the Great Wilderness existed as a projection of the Central Plains. Lin Mu hadn't fully understood at first, but once he opened the book, everything became clear.

The Great Wilderness, the Celestial Court, the Underworld, and many other places that only existed in myths and legends all depended on the existence of the Central Plains, like reflections.

Demons, immortals, and ghosts all lived within these reflections. They could clearly see everything in the Central Plains, but to ordinary beings living there, they were nothing more than illusory phantoms that did not exist.

In addition to this, the book detailed the major powers in these special regions. The content was extremely thorough—so detailed, in fact, that even the personal interests and hobbies of these factions' leaders were meticulously recorded.

At the very front of the power distribution section was the Great Wilderness East, the Qingqiu Kingdom, with the current ruler being Yan Gui and the heir Yan Xuanjing.

Lin Mu suspected that the spirit of the archive did this on purpose.

With a serious expression, he read through the information. After flipping past the first few pages on Qingqiu Kingdom, the next two pages clearly laid out detailed profiles of Yan Xuanjing and his father—complete with images of their true forms.

A colossal, snow-white fox stood as majestic as a mountain. As if sensing something, both nine-tailed foxes used their fluffy tails to conceal most of their bodies, preventing a full view.

Lin Mu decisively skipped the page about Yan Xuanjing's father and glanced at Yan Xuanjing's profile, only to find that the "favorites" section contained terms he had never heard before.

However, there were explanations below. After scanning through them, Lin Mu discovered that this fox had a preference for eating birds.

Lin Mu spent the entire afternoon reading through the materials. Despite some difficulties, he managed to complete a portion of his work. When it was time to get off work, Dahei returned.

As Lin Mu tidied up his desk, he asked, "How’s the old lady doing?"

"She probably only has a couple of days left," Dahei said as he unbuttoned a few top buttons of his shirt. "Let's go, time to clock out."

Lin Mu nodded. On the way back, he stopped by the market and bought two cleaned pigeons. When they passed by Uncle De’s house at the village entrance, he also bought a live chicken.

Dahei looked at the two pigeons and the chicken he was carrying and asked, "Why are you buying so much?"

Lin Mu wasn’t sure why he had suddenly decided to buy them. After thinking about it, he suspected that seeing the long list of birds in Yan Xuanjing's preferences had stirred his own appetite.

"I just suddenly felt like eating them," Lin Mu said while riding his electric scooter. He glanced at Dahei, who was sitting in the back and planned to have dinner at his place. "You don’t like them?"

Dahei shook his head. "I’m fine with anything."

Lin Mu felt reassured. As they approached the gate of his yard, he said, "I’ll roast one pigeon and make soup with the other. As for the hen, how about stir-frying it?"

Dahei thought about it and figured eating it raw wouldn't be bad either. Just as he was about to say so, he suddenly caught a whiff of a highly aggressive and threatening scent. It was an obvious territorial marking, carrying a heavy presence of hostility and bloodlust, as if issuing a clear warning. The shock made him jump off the scooter instantly, staring warily at the courtyard ahead.

Lin Mu was startled by his reaction and quickly hit the brakes. He turned to look at him. "What are you doing?!"

Dahei, still holding the pigeons and chicken, asked cautiously, "Whose house is this?"

Lin Mu followed his gaze. "Mine."

Dahei: "…?"

Dahei was stunned for a couple of seconds. "Has any demon moved into your place recently?"

"Uh…" Seeing Dahei's reaction, Lin Mu simply answered, "A ginseng spirit."

"A ginseng?"

"Yeah, a ginseng."

"…" Dahei looked at Lin Mu, then at the courtyard, and reconfirmed, "A ginseng?"

Lin Mu nodded. "Yes, a very cute little ginseng."

"…" Dahei frowned. "It hasn’t hurt you, has it?"

Lin Mu looked himself over. "See? I’m perfectly fine."

Dahei examined Lin Mu, thinking he should at least help this clueless half-demon rule out any possible threats. He set the hen on the ground, quickly sent a message to Old Turtle just in case, then shoved the birds back into Lin Mu’s arms. Transforming into a more familiar and battle-ready form, he said seriously, "I suspect there’s a very ferocious demon in your house."

Lin Mu, seeing Dahei’s battle-ready stance, also grew tense. Pushing his scooter forward step by step, he said, "That’s possible. The little ginseng I just took in seems to attract demons easily. But isn’t Chaomu guarding the place?"

Hearing this, Dahei thought it made sense and relaxed a little. He looked around Lin Mu’s yard and suddenly froze. "Why did you plant Chaomu in a ring of fried eggs?"

Lin Mu halted. "…I planted them in a sun shape."

Dahei was silent for two seconds, then said dryly, "…Oh."

Lin Mu hesitantly looked around his yard. "Does it really look like fried eggs?"

"No, no, it looks like the sun," Dahei quickly corrected himself. After saying that, he shut his mouth, focused his senses, and cautiously approached the yard.

Just as the man and the dog reached the entrance, a fluffy white ball emerged from the small side path, carrying a struggling sparrow in its mouth. It came face-to-face with the two who were about to open the door.

Dahei heard the fluttering of wings and turned his head alertly. The white fluff was accompanied by a faint but familiar aura of tranquility. The moment it hit Dahei, he fell into complete and utter silence.

Lin Mu, unaware of anything unusual, parked his electric scooter, ran over, and squatted down to coax his little "Nai Tang" into letting go of the sparrow.

Lin Mu truly couldn't understand—Nai Tang was clearly a dog, yet its posture and habits were just like those of a pampered cat.

Like a worried father, Lin Mu sighed. "You shouldn’t eat wild, uncooked things like this. What if you catch some disease? You don’t even like going to the vet..."

As he spoke, he noticed that his dog's attention was completely off him. Instead, Nai Tang was staring directly at Dahei, eyes unblinking and unusually focused.

Meanwhile, Dahei was crouched on the ground, staring back at Nai Tang, frozen in place.

"That's Dahei," Lin Mu said.

Nai Tang's ears twitched. Under its gaze, Dahei involuntarily shivered but didn’t dare move, afraid that even the slightest action would result in him being torn apart by the nine-tailed fox before him.

Lin Mu looked at Dahei, then at Milk Candy, completely baffled by this silent exchange between the two dogs.

After a brief hesitation, he said, "I'm planning to keep him."

Upon hearing this, Nai Tang turned to glance at Lin Mu, then shifted its gaze back to Dahei, scrutinizing him from head to toe.

…

…

…

What the hell!!

What is going on!!

Dahei felt like he was about to lose his mind.

You never told me before coming here that your so-called "Nai Tang" was actually Yan Xuanjing!!

Lin Mu, you've set me up!!!

____

Author's Note:

Dahei: I came! I left.

T/N: Please give support on my ko-fi page, thank you🍊🍊🍊