The first day of high school involved registration, picking up uniforms and textbooks, and touring the school to learn about clubs. Wu Ming handled everything on his own. This independent and strong personality immediately outshone the other kids who still needed their parents’ company. His excellent academic performance also attracted many clubs to reach out to him.
However, Wu Ming wasn’t in a hurry. He still planned to observe for a while longer.
Although he had set his sights on climbing to the upper echelons of society, neither a military nor political career seemed to suit his personality. Eventually, he found the Business Club most appealing. This club nurtured students interested in finance and business, aligning somewhat with his own ventures, making it a practical application of his studies.
“Boss, something feels off. You need to come check it out!”
At the school gate, Wu Ming immediately saw Neville.
Dressed in clean, neat clothes, Neville’s family had moved out of the slums thanks to the income from Wu Ming. They had managed to rise from the bottom of society.
“What is it?”
Wu Ming never intended for Neville to become a garbage king. As early as the summer, he had started teaching Neville some basics of appraisal, intending to train him as an appraiser.
Eventually, everything would first pass through Neville’s hands, and any uncertainties or questionable items would be sent to Wu Ming for final verification.
Moreover, lately, many imitators had appeared near the garbage dump. Although the secret hadn’t been exposed, Wu Ming had become somewhat vigilant. After all, the dump still yielded very few quality items. Wu Ming planned to have Neville take over the front-facing operations, going door-to-door under the guise of offering high prices for used furniture. This method would at least increase the chances of finding better items.
Still, hearing a half-grown boy call him “boss” felt a bit strange.
“Feels off?”
Wu Ming noticed Neville’s choice of words. It wasn’t just uncertainty—it was something wrong, which piqued his interest slightly. “Tell me more!”
“It’s a music box. Its design is very unique, and it’s completely undamaged. At first, I was really puzzled as to why its original owner would discard it…”
As Neville walked with Wu Ming, his expression was serious. “Since Mary really liked it, I let her take it to play with. But for these past few days, she’s been saying she can’t sleep well and keeps having nightmares—dreaming of a little red girl coming to play with her to the sound of the music box…”
“That doesn’t sound like a nightmare, though?”
Wu Ming twitched his lips slightly.
“Of course not, but what if that girl had no legs and was crying bloody tears from her eyes?”
Neville shivered. He had come to Wu Ming somewhat out of desperation: “For several consecutive nights, it’s been like this. But when I took the music box away from Mary, I found nothing unusual at all. However… after I threw it away…”
Neville continued in a voice as lifeless as a corpse: “It always reappears on Mary’s bedside the next day without any warning. This is definitely not a prank!”
If an ordinary person heard this, they might get goosebumps all over, as it sounded exactly like a ghost story.
But Wu Ming immediately felt a spark of interest: “Take me to see it!”
“Supernatural power? Could it be a vengeful spirit?”
Wu Ming clenched his fists.
Though he still looked like a teenage boy, his physical strength was already no worse than that of an adult.
Moreover, within his consciousness, his mental energy had accumulated to an astonishing degree. This was his confidence!
Besides, from Neville’s description, the item didn’t seem particularly dangerous—just a bit scary.
…
“I’m back. Where is Mary?”
Neville took out his key, opened the door, and immediately asked.
“It’s Neville, and Mr. Steven too. Your sister should still be in her room. She screams every night these days, making it hard for anyone to sleep. Maybe you should take her to see a doctor and get some sleeping pills…”
A middle-aged woman rambled on. She was Neville’s mother, and her current attitude was quite amiable.
Perhaps it was because Neville had already become the family’s breadwinner, surpassing his parents.
“I’ll go check on her!”
Neville frowned, already showing considerable maturity and a sense of responsibility befitting a young man.
“No… don’t come to find me!”
Inside Mary’s room, Wu Ming saw the little girl cowering in the corner, dark circles and bags under her eyes, staring fixedly at a music box on the floor.
The girl had met Wu Ming before—she used to be sunny and cheerful. Now, she had been reduced to this pitiful state.
“Sigh…”
Neville looked at Mary, draped a blanket over her, and sighed again: “If this music box didn’t keep mysteriously returning, I’d suspect my sister had a mental issue and would have taken her to see a doctor already…”
But now, clearly, this was something no doctor could solve.
So Neville immediately thought of Mr. Wu Ming, his boss, who had left a deep impression of being almost omnipotent.
“This is the music box?”
Wu Ming picked up the small box in the center of the floor. Its dark golden base felt quite heavy. When opened, two delicate figurines of children appeared—one boy and one girl. The boy wore a suit and tie, while the girl wore a red dress and held a small parasol.
After winding the key, the metal plates clicked into motion, and a pleasant melody filled the air. The two figurines slowly twirled around to the music.
“Don’t! Don’t come near me!”
But as soon as Mary heard the sound, she screamed and hugged her head.
“There, there, don’t be afraid!”
Neville quickly tried to comfort her.
“Handcrafted, all parts intact—this definitely shouldn’t have been discarded as trash. Unless there’s some story behind it…”
Wu Ming examined the exquisite music box in his hands.
Such toys were exclusive to the upper class. Even if not antiques, they were quite expensive to produce. Moreover, since it wasn’t damaged, no one would deliberately throw it away.
“I’ll take this back with me to have a look!”
For now, Wu Ming couldn’t detect anything unusual, so he asked casually.
“Of course you can… after all, it originally belonged to you…”
Neville scratched his head: “As long as it doesn’t come back, that’d be best!”
…
Unwilling to bring the item directly home, Wu Ming went to a roadside telephone booth, inserted a coin, dialed a few numbers, and then picked up the receiver.
“Hello, please go ahead!”
A sweet female voice came from the other end.
“Please connect me to number seven, White Oak Road—Mr. Straling’s residence!”
“Okay, please wait a moment…”
Wu Ming waited briefly. After a few busy signals, Mrs. Straling’s voice came through: “This is the Straling residence. Who is this?”
“This is Steven. I have some business matters to attend to, so I’m planning to stay out for one night!”
He made up an excuse casually.
After months of demonstrating mature thinking and strong earning ability, his family had gradually stopped treating him like a child.
“You won’t be back for dinner either? Well… okay, be careful. Do you have enough money?”
Mrs. Straling rambled on for a while before finally hanging up.
Wu Ming rubbed his ears and stepped out, preparing to spend the night in a warehouse.
With some capital now, he had upgraded his operations. Neville had even rented a warehouse specifically for storing various items that might interest Wu Ming.
Neville’s mind was simple. Seeing the mountain of clutter gave him a headache, and he had no intention of going independent yet.
Even if he wanted to strike out on his own, he at least needed to master all of Wu Ming’s skills first.
“Really… Neville collects everything. His eye for quality hasn’t improved at all!”
The warehouse smelled pretty bad. As soon as Wu Ming entered, he complained. Then, he wandered through the piles of clutter and found several sketches that seemed to be the work of a famous master. He carefully tucked them away to take home.
Outside, it gradually grew dark. Wu Ming casually grabbed a blanket, sat cross-legged on it, and slowly began to practice the “Great Luo Jing.”
After years of practice and cultivation, he had now reached a new level—perhaps the second layer. His mental energy had greatly improved, and his physical fitness had surpassed that of ordinary people.
“This world seems quite tolerant of supernatural powers. I just haven’t encountered enough supernatural events yet. Is it because the transmission has been severed?”
Wu Ming speculated.
Since arriving in this world, he had only encountered two incidents related to supernatural forces: one was the bank robber, Jack the Two-Gun Bandit, and the other was the music box in front of him.
As his cultivation deepened, so did his accumulating questions.
At this moment, he didn’t rashly use his mental energy to probe the music box. Instead, he turned the key, letting it play its pleasant melody.
“If you can hear me, come find me!”
Wu Ming smiled slightly and, amidst the beautiful music, entered a deeper state of meditation.
…
A foggy scene emerged.
A feeling of weightlessness came over him, and Wu Ming immediately became alert, snapping awake.
Surrounding him was a small villa, with exquisite furniture and displayed antiques, all indicating the wealth of its owner.
“Invaded my dream, huh?”
A faint, ambiguous smile appeared on Wu Ming’s lips as he strolled casually through the mansion.
“Hmm? The smell is nice!”
He opened the wine cabinet, casually took out a bottle, tasted a sip, and nodded: “A very realistic dream. To recreate everything so accurately, quite promising…”
Ding-ding-dang…
Just then, a melody identical to the music box’s echoed. Behind Wu Ming, a sweet voice floated: “Have you come to play with me?”
He turned his head and immediately faced a pale face with blood-tearing eyes!
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