Chapter 185 - 171: Special Items

Ying stood there after swallowing two ghosts, rubbing its belly as if it hadn’t had enough. Belatedly realizing there were still ghosts around, the edges of its shadow body trembled in wavy lines. With tears of blood pooling in its scarlet eyes, it threw itself at Yin Zhen’s feet. It habitually tried to hug Yin Zhen’s calves but forced itself to stop right before touching her, remembering that it couldn’t make direct contact with her anymore. In an instant, its fear morphed into grievance. Pressing the back of its hand against its mouth, Ying burst into a torrent of bloody tears.

Ying probably didn’t even realize it itself, but after mutating, its emotions had become exceptionally abundant and complex, making them hard to control. Furthermore, it never needed to eat before and couldn’t feel hunger, but now, upon seeing those terrifying ghosts... they were so delicious!

Yin Zhen finished the resonance with Liu Hua and Zhang Hai’s memories and furrowed her brows. Both of them had become Sealers by accident and were subsequently recruited by the incense master when he stumbled upon them. They had only joined the Temple Worshippers’ Association for a year and were merely peripheral errand-runners. Their knowledge of the incense master was only slightly more than hers. However, there was an unexpected harvest. Yin Zhen looked at Liu Hua’s corpse.

"Making you take the blame really isn’t doing you an injustice!"

Liu Hua had been in contact with Ye Mingzhe. She was an informant Ye Mingzhe had planted within the Temple Worshippers’ Association. Ye Mingzhe had once promised Liu Hua that he would help her deal with the White-faced Ghost on her body, allowing her to return to being an ordinary person. The ghost inside Liu Hua had been a human body sculptor in life, suffering from severe paranoia and obsessive-compulsive disorder. It was a Possessing Ghost.

After sealing this ghost, Liu Hua wore full makeup every day and dressed immaculately to satisfy the ghost’s obsession with perfection. To maintain perfect body proportions and skin conditions, she strictly controlled the grams of food she ate every day, and her exercise and skincare routines could not be neglected in the slightest. She lived a life harder than that of an ascetic monk.

Yin Zhen withdrew her gaze and saw Ying crouching on the ground, drawing circles. The habitual coldness on her face melted away, and the corners of her mouth couldn’t help but curl up a little.

"You’ve worked hard today, Ying. The film set’s duration is almost up, so come back for now."

Yin Zhen took out the crudely crafted small wooden figure that barely resembled a human shape. With two streams of bloody tears hanging on its face, Ying pitifully turned into a dark shadow and burrowed inside. Yin Zhen quickly wrapped the original red string around it.

Whether the film set could isolate the talisman on Ying’s body, Yin Zhen didn’t know. The blame had already been pinned on Liu Hua, and Guan Lan and her daughter, who were suspected by the incense master, were also here. Regardless, the suspicion wouldn’t fall on her.

After thinking for a moment, Yin Zhen took out the Item she had obtained earlier, ’a face skin’, and placed it over Liu Hua’s face. Liu Hua’s face was very beautiful. She might as well take it off first; it was always better to be prepared.

The face skin, which originally lacked facial features, immediately unfurled on its own like a living creature the moment it touched Liu Hua’s face. It writhed, emitting a wet SQUELCH SQUELCH sound as if eating something. Soon after, Liu Hua’s facial features appeared on the face skin. Yin Zhen reached out and gently peeled the entire thing off. What lay beneath wasn’t a mangled mess of flesh and blood, but an eerie sight—a face with only smooth skin and no features at all.

Yin Zhen scanned the courtyard and spotted an abandoned well in the corner. It was covered by a stone slab and overgrown with weeds, indicating it hadn’t been used for many years. She searched the two bodies, stowing any useful Items into her backpack, and manipulated the shadows to throw their corpses into the well.

After finishing all this, Yin Zhen walked over to Song Yingshu and patted her cheek to wake her up. When Song Yingshu opened her eyes and saw her, she immediately scrambled to the side with all her might, scurrying backward on her hands and knees with a face full of terror.

Yin Zhen stood up without explaining anything, because Song Yingshu’s expression began to undergo noticeable changes—shifting from initial fear to confusion, then contemplation, and finally excitement. Immediately after, she hesitantly opened her mouth to probe.

"F-Fellow worldling?"

Aside from this explanation, Song Yingshu couldn’t think of any other reason why Yin Zhen wouldn’t kill her. The phrase Jiang Xiyin had shouted when she used the Item to escape earlier—anyone who had browsed the system shop would know what it was.

"Mhm." Yin Zhen didn’t deny it. She was no longer the weakling she had been in the Red Corpse World, needing to hide and evade at all times.

Song Yingshu hurriedly stood up, overwhelmed with excitement. She even wanted to rush over, clasp Yin Zhen’s hands, and stage a tearful reunion between fellow worldlings. But upon meeting Yin Zhen’s icy gaze, she forcefully held herself back. Scanning her surroundings, she saw the blood on the ground but didn’t see those two people. She didn’t dare to ask, feeling that the aura of the woman in front of her was frighteningly strong.

"The thing you have on you, is it convenient to take it out for a look?" Yin Zhen asked.

Toward a fellow worldling who had also saved her life, Song Yingshu felt very favorably disposed. She immediately took out a rolled-up cloth bundle from a fanny pack hidden at the small of her back.

"I found this in the ceiling of the puppet carving room. Inside is a set of old carving knives. Honestly, I don’t know what it is either, so take it and give it a try."

Yin Zhen took the bloodstained cloth bundle from Song Yingshu. The moment her fingers touched it, the system notification chimed in her mind.

[Special Item discovered. Consume 1,000 words to appraise. Proceed with appraisal?]

Song Yingshu explained, "The three of us don’t have many words on us, and we need to save them for later use. So, we held off on the appraisal for now, planning to do it after claiming the squad mission rewards. Who knew..." She looked at Zhou Ji’s corpse with a sorrowful expression.

Yin Zhen noticed two crookedly embroidered characters on the cloth bundle—Chunhua. This was the tool kit Chunhua used to make wooden puppets! Yin Zhen’s heart skipped a beat, and that greedy desire flared up once again.

"I want to trade for this item. I’ll offer a Golden Item worth no more than thirty thousand words, plus I’ll help you complete your squad mission. Do we have a deal?"

Song Yingshu gaped in astonishment. Even though she still didn’t know what the item was, the other party’s offer had already made her heart race wildly. Her squad was now reduced to just her and Jiang Xiyin, making it highly unlikely that they could complete their squad mission. The remaining words between the two of them probably didn’t even total two thousand; they wouldn’t even be able to afford the penalty fee. Let alone appraising this item, they couldn’t even keep their lives.

And now, the big boss across from her was willing to offer a Golden Item worth thirty thousand words, on top of helping them finish their squad mission. Not only would this save their lives, but it would also yield a massive harvest.

"Deal! I’ll trade!" Song Yingshu nodded frantically, terrified that the other party would go back on her word the next second. "However, it’s not entirely my call. The item belongs to the squad, so I still have to ask my teammate. But I don’t think she’ll refuse either. When the time comes, could I trouble you to give us two Golden Items with individual values not exceeding fifteen thousand words?"

"That’s fine."

"Boss, is it convenient to add each other as friends?" Song Yingshu asked.

"Your forum nickname?"

"Uncle Ying is Me!"

[Player ’Blossoming Prosperity’ has sent you a friend request. Accept?]

Song Yingshu felt her mind go blank with shock. Her eyes nearly popped out of her head, and she almost suffocated on the spot.

"B-B-B-Boss... you’re Blossoming-Blossoming-Blossoming..."

For a minor Character holding a Gray Card like her to actually add the universally acknowledged number one boss of the forum and Kunpeng as a friend in her lifetime—and to be carried by her to boot—was simply like a dream. Song Yingshu grabbed hold of a tree and took two deep breaths to alleviate the dizziness caused by her brain’s lack of oxygen.

"If you don’t mind, I’ll take this item for now..."

"I don’t mind! Not at all, boss, you keep it!" She thought to herself, "Take me along too, woohoo!"

Yin Zhen placed the item into the backpack behind her. She wasn’t in a hurry to appraise it, fearing she might have unlucky hands today. She would wait until she washed her hands and turned into a lucky kitten before appraising it.

Despite the girl in front of her being a fellow worldling, Yin Zhen still spoke with a gloomy expression. "Regarding what happened here, and my affairs, you have two choices: live and keep it a secret, or lie down and shut up. Understood?"

Song Yingshu nodded emphatically, immediately miming zipping her lips, and frantically flashed the OK sign. "Don’t worry, I won’t tell anyone. I won’t even tell my teammate."

She wasn’t the type to show off anyway. If she ruined the boss’s favorable impression just to brag, it would be a massive loss. Secretly farming favor with the boss like this was the true path to success!

Yin Zhen glanced at the puppet carving room behind them. The fact that Song Yingshu and her team had come out unscathed meant Chunhua wasn’t inside. But she had already searched the front as well. Where could Chunhua be?

The old theater, and by extension the Source of the Ghost Realm affecting the entirety of Sanmen Town, had to be Chunhua. Only by finding Chunhua could this Ghost Realm be broken.

Yin Zhen thought carefully for a moment, then abruptly spun around to look toward the stage again.

The incense master had raised ghosts beneath Renxin Hospital using Zheng Jiahe’s corpse. It didn’t make sense that here, he would use a wooden puppet as a substitute.

Chunhua’s corpse must still be beneath the stage!