Hidden Dead Ends-Chapter 56

But…

Everyone noticed that these poles weren’t light poles at all!

“Wait! Why are the cement poles on Xuezhong Road just power poles?” Zhong Ying exclaimed.

“Exactly! In the Mist Street flashback, all the cement poles were light poles—there wasn’t a single power pole!” Li Chengyi confirmed. “So…”

“So, given that we previously located a lake, it’s likely we’ve been looking in the wrong direction!” Sima Gui quickly chimed in.

“But that’s odd. Who would use cement poles for light poles? Do any places in Yi State do that?” Song Ran raised an important question.

After this was raised, there was silence in the AR chat.

The use of cement poles for light poles was odd—costly and complicated to construct compared to using a hollow metal pole, which would be much cheaper.

“Could it be foreign?” Li Chengyi asked.

“Impossible. All the signs in Mist Street are in Yi language,” Sima Gui refuted.

“Maybe the poles are a hybrid—light and power?” Sindra suggested.

“That could be it.”

Li Chengyi closed the photos he’d been examining, leaning against a support pillar and thinking deeply.

He longed to enter Mist Street again—not just for Zhong Ying’s sake, but because he was still intrigued by that mysterious small white flower.

Yet they were at an impasse, with everything hinging on verifying Xuezhong Road’s location.

While pondering, Li Chengyi’s gaze unconsciously landed on a bakery across the street, called Zhou Family Bakery.

The door was open, and outside were wooden crates filled with bags of pastries, small cakes, and biscuits. Inside, two clerks in white shirts and black aprons bustled behind the counter.

At that moment, a chubby kid with a stealthy air tiptoed to the bakery’s entrance. One by one, he stuffed pastries from the crates into a large burlap sack he was carrying.

Seeing that the clerks hadn’t noticed, the boy’s confidence grew, and he ventured inside to grab cash from the open register.

As the kid was about to make a run for it, Li Chengyi saw that no one else had noticed and decided to step in.

Quickly, he crossed the street, blocking the boy’s path on the sidewalk.

“What do you think you’re doing!?” he barked. The kid froze, his whole body shuddering as he dropped the sack and tried to flee.

Li Chengyi picked up the sack, finding it completely empty—apparently, the boy had already hidden the goods somewhere.

Li Chengyi immediately took off after the boy.

They ran down the street until they reached a red trash can, where the kid finally stopped, panting heavily and leaning against a support pole.

“Why are you chasing me?” he demanded.

“You tell me,” Li Chengyi replied, feeling it was only natural to intervene upon witnessing a theft.

“I didn’t do anything!” the boy retorted indignantly.

Now that he could see the boy clearly, Li Chengyi noticed his stout, almost cylindrical shape, his features squished into creases by his chubby cheeks, and his tiny, squinting eyes.

He wore an old red tracksuit, faded white sweatpants, and green rubber shoes caked in dried mud.

Li Chengyi also noticed an emblem on the boy’s tracksuit—a half-circle sun design with text beneath: Dongliu Experimental Elementary School.

“Where’s the stuff you took?” Li Chengyi asked sternly.

“I didn’t take anything! Why do you care? Mind your own business!” the boy shot back.

“Say that one more time?” Li Chengyi’s gaze turned icy.

“Screw yo—” The sound of a slap echoed as Li Chengyi smacked the boy’s face, sending him stumbling to the ground, dazed.

A clear red handprint appeared on the boy’s chubby left cheek.

“Steal and then have the nerve to mouth off? In my old neighborhood, people would’ve thrashed you for this!” Li Chengyi scolded.

The boy, teary-eyed, shouted back, “Why are you getting involved? No one else cares!”

“Because I’m bored. What’s it to you?” Li Chengyi retorted.

He grabbed the boy and gave him a few more light smacks, though he kept his strength in check, not wanting to actually hurt him.

“Stop, stop! Don’t hit me!” the boy cried, clutching his head.

“You little punk, mouthing off?” Frustrated by the dead-end search for clues, Li Chengyi found this outburst somewhat cathartic.

“I heard you guys are looking for Wu Ji Convenience Store—I know where it is!” the boy suddenly shouted.

“What!?” Li Chengyi stopped, his eyes narrowing. “How do you know we’re looking for Wu Ji Convenience Store?”

“You guys were standing around with those glasses on, wandering here and there like weirdos, talking so loudly anyone nearby could hear you!” the boy responded, sulking, his face swollen from the slap.

“…” Li Chengyi was taken aback, realizing how odd their behavior must’ve seemed to onlookers.

“Alright, then. Tell me where the store is,” he demanded. “If you can show me the way, I won’t hit you anymore and I’ll give you some money for snacks.”

“Fine, just let me up,” the boy quickly agreed.

Li Chengyi stepped back, watching the boy as he got to his feet and dusted himself off.

“So, where is it?” he asked.

“It’s the place that sells bubble gum, fried tofu snacks, and those little sticker packs. I’ve even seen a fruit machine and a kiddie ride out front,” the boy replied, wiping his nose and then his hand on his pants.

“That’s the one!” Li Chengyi’s spirits lifted. It matched perfectly with the description from the records of Wu Ji Convenience Store.

“If you take me there, I’ll give you a hundred yuan as a reward!” Li Chengyi quickly pulled out his wallet, showing a hundred-yuan bill he’d kept tucked away.

“Deal! Follow me!” the boy said without hesitation, heading down the street.

Li Chengyi’s excitement grew as he imagined finally being able to touch that mysterious small white flower.

But as he hurried to catch up with the boy, his vision suddenly swirled, colors blending and twisting around him.

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“What’s… happening?” he staggered, realizing he was being pulled into another memory flash.

“How could this happen now!?” he thought, frustrated at the timing.

But then a thought crossed his mind. “Wait! If I go in, I can still reach for that flower!”

His tension turned to anticipation.

As the dizziness faded, he found himself once again on that mist-covered gray street.

Without hesitation, he looked toward the base of the cement light poles, ignoring the fruit machine at the far end.

“Where’s that flower?”

Quickly scanning the ground, his gaze landed on a flash of white—the same mysterious small flower, "Mountain Red," swaying gently at the base of a light pole, delicate and beautiful.

Without a second thought, Li Chengyi lunged forward, hand outstretched toward the flower.

“Mountain Red: also known as red fruit or great hawthorn… Information incomplete. Medicinal properties… incomplete. Blooming period… incomplete.”

The details were the same as before.

He focused on the flower language entry:

"Flower language: Heaven-Severing, Earth-Destroying Heart Art."

Just as he remembered.

He quickly examined the next line of information:

“Flower-scale armor collection level: New flower deity slot not unlocked.”

This was expected. His goal remained the same—take this flower out with him.

If he could keep it alive for even a short while, maybe he could transplant it to reality...

Without hesitation, he summoned the flower-scale armor, the sharp edges of Sword Orchid forming on his hands as he carefully dug around the roots of the Mountain Red flower.

With each precise cut, chunks of dark soil and pieces of broken stone came away, slowly revealing the flower’s roots.