After Zong Jiu pulled out one large handful of hell banknotes after another, the atmosphere seemed to become silent for a few seconds.
The white-haired young man didn’t realize at all what kind of shocking thing he had just done. Instead, he casually asked, “Is this enough?”
The ghost official stared, stupefied. He stammered out, “This… engaging in bribes in the nether world, if caught, is very serious.”
Although that was what he said, he couldn’t help but look towards that thick stack of hell banknotes.
AD
The nether world’s currencies were in constant circulation. The easiest to obtain type of currency would be the type burnt by descendants on the Ghost Festival.
However, the denominations of the nether world currency made in the human world were always very large. Every time, they burnt folded gold and silver sycee made of paper. In order to avoid inflation in the nether world, since ancient times, a rule had been set that as long as it was nether world currency that came from the human world, there would be a deduction made before it could arrive in the hands of all ghosts.
However, a famine was raging these years. The living people couldn’t even take care of themselves. Where would they have the time and energy to burn paper money for the dead?
So, nether world currency was very precious now. Some ghosts who hadn’t lined up for reincarnation were unable to stand it anymore and would send dreams to their relatives, telling them that they must remember to burn some paper money.
The stack of money in front of the ghost official now was probably worth ten or eight times of paper money burning in the human world. Ghosts would only get this amount with that many times.
That ghost official swallowed his saliva. His Adam’s apple moved very visibly.
Being able to reach this position, who knew which generation his descendants in the mortal world were on. How could there be anyone who still remembers him and burns money for him? He could only receive the salary given to officials and live off that.
With one glance, Zong Jiu knew that it was feasible. He didn’t reveal anything with his expression, but his hand pulled out another stack of hell banknotes from the Strange Black Box, adding to the current bargaining chips one bill at a time.
Ghost official: “……”
It wasn’t that his will wasn’t firm enough; it was that the other party gave way too much!
The ghost official furtively glanced towards the left, then glanced right before he smacked his thigh, “Oh great one! Let’s talk somewhere else. Put away the money first. It would be bad if we are caught.”
Zong Jiu, hearing his words, quickly put away the money. In his mind, he made a victory sign with his hand.
Success!
No one would’ve guessed; the A-rank prop that every trainee thought was trash would have such unexpected effects. It was really not a loss for him.
The ghost official said, “For now, we’ll leave it at this. I’ll open one eye and close one eye to it. Afterward, even if those at the top start to investigate it, this money is enough… That’s right. You said that you were going to go back and settle accounts with that Grandma Yin?”
The white-haired young man turned his head, “Otherwise?”
“Don’t be in too much of a hurry. You are a living soul. If you exit the city gates like this, you definitely won’t have it good. What’s more, Grandma Yin is very strong.”
Since the ghost official had taken the money, naturally he would continue to put himself in his shoes and help him consider his situation, “How about this? Grandma Yin’s life is close to reaching its end, and she will have to experience this then anyway. If you’re willing to give a bit more, I can send a few helpers to go with you.”
Zong Jiu was elated. He didn’t expect that he could enjoy such luxurious service from bribery. Naturally, he readily agreed.
He found out that the ability to make money was really very useful. The ghost official had already decided to completely abandon following the rules. He had already broken them, so it was better to earn more.
In the end, when Zong Jiu walked out of the government building, he was leading three to four ghost servants. The other ghosts and monsters looked at the big shot whom they envied but didn’t dare to approach.
Leading all the ghosts, he ran outside the city with great fanfare and could see that figure with a rickety back and holding a lamp from far away.
The NPC Grandma Yin’s setting was an old elderly person, so she walked slowly. And, thanks to the Yin walking lamp being too eye-catching and making other ghosts not dare to get close, Grandma Yin’s position could be seen with one look.
Ofjvlcu atf utbra rfgnjcar, tf gertfv bnfg jcv lcab atf ugbeq bo utbrar kjamtlcu boo ab atf rlvf.
Ktf vfcrfis qjmxfv utbrar qfgofmais tlv Ibcu Ale’r tfjv oeii bo ktlaf tjlg. Qlat rb wjcs utbrar oibjalcu lc ogbca bo tlw, tf kjrc’a jogjlv ja jii.
Ibcu Ale mjiifv bea ab atf utbra rfgnjcar ktb kfgf obiibklcu tlw. Qjamtlcu atf oilmxfglcu iluta mbwlcu ogbw atf ogbca, j qijc revvfcis jqqfjgfv lc tlr wlcv.
“Like this. You guys first do this, and then…”
The ghost servants had gotten information from the ghost official and knew that the white-haired young man who was like an immortal was a big customer who was hard to encounter in hell. Naturally, they didn’t dare slack off. They all repeatedly reposed with yeses.
“Okay, then do as I say.”
Zong Jiu patted his hands. He watched the ghost servants go to carry out his orders and revealed a cold smile.
Sorry, he was also a petty and vengeful person who believed in a tooth for a tooth.
If they continued to repay each debt to each other, when would it end?
####
No. 1’s mood was very good right now.
After he saw the white-haired young man’s figure disappear into the back hall of the government building, he used the puppet strings to control Grandma Yin’s body to carry the Yin walking lamp and leave.
After someone entered the nether world, if they didn’t have the guide of a Yin walking lamp, wanting to go back was as hard as ascending into the skies. Additionally, he was someone who was personally sold to the nether world by the NPC Grandma Yin.
Once the instance ended or once the normal cards completed their main task, the mole who hadn’t completed his task and couldn’t find his way back to the mortal world would naturally be obliterated by the system.
The setting of the NPC Grandma Yin was the behind-the-scenes villain of the entire Famine Village.
There was not a single innocent NPC in the entire instance. Everyone was a perpetrator, and everyone was lying.
The village head was lying. Wang Shou was lying. The woman was lying. Similarly, Grandma Yin was also lying. If he had to pick out a person who didn’t lie, then it would only be the little boy from the village head’s family who didn’t know much about the world.
If the trainees wanted to find a way to survive, they would only ask one by one, then logically reason out everyone’s words and find the clues hidden within.
Truthfully speaking, there was some difficulty to this, because it was very difficult for anyone to guarantee that they wouldn’t be influenced by anyone’s words or be biased towards the first narrative.
Originally, he still wanted to play with him a bit more.
The Devil thought without much emotion.
After all… it was really rare for him to encounter such an interesting toy.
The Devil had never believed in the so-called prophecy from Gui Guzi.
Thinking about it now, there were indeed commendable parts within it.
After all, since making a trade with the system, his puppet strings weren’t able to be touched by any physical means, unless they relied on an extremely special type of prop. Until now, the trainees didn’t have it. Being able to touch them with bare hands was unheard of. It did indeed fit the “natural enemy ordained by the heavens” and the “restraining of his abilities” in the prophecy.
Except——
He remembered the words “fateful opponent” and “the only existence that could keep the Devil in check” said in the prophecy.
In the dark space, No. 1 randomly played with the other end of the strings in his hand and revealed a rather bored expression.
It was a pity that he was really too weak.
So weak that he couldn’t feel any desire.
Thinking this, the Devil let the puppet strings operate by themselves and stood up from the wingback chair.
He was acting as the NPC instructor and didn’t need to enter instances like the other trainees. In addition, the puppet strings could freely penetrate into different spatial dimensions, so his real body was actually still in the trainee dormitory and didn’t go anywhere.
No. 1’s dormitory was on the top floor of the entire trainee dormitory. Not only was it a duplex, but it also occupied an extremely large area. It even had a sky garden completely surrounded by glass on all sides.
Standing in the sky garden and looking down, he could see that the trainee dormitory was built on an isolated island. The vast sea spread into the distance, and underneath him was a cliff. The view was beautiful.
The decorations in the rooms of A-rank and above trainees could be adjusted and changed according to the trainee’s thoughts. S-rank trainees’ rooms all occupied the space of one entire floor. In short, the system had always been generous in material things and not stingy at all.
The man unbuttoned the black suit’s outer jacket, revealing the neat and tidy white shirt underneath.
He hummed a strange song and walked towards the wine cabinet with tango steps.
The lights in the room weren’t open, yet it didn’t affect the sight of the person in the room one bit.
Pulling out the bottle cap, crimson liquor flowed into a decanter. The air was full of the rich smell of wine.
The Devil held a glass decanter in his hand, playing with it. He was just about to take a look at another puppet that was fully controlled by him. However, he found that something happened in the Famine Village instance.
In the grey and gloomy nether world, Grandma Yin was suddenly stopped by a few ghost servants.
The ghost servants had deadpan expressions, “After you sent that living soul, the Life and Death record in the government building is now missing a page. We have come to search on Master Qin’s orders. Please cooperate.”
The Devil didn’t control NPCs every second and every minute.
Most of the time, unless there was an especially interesting plot point. He would always choose to let the NPC freely act according to their original personality. Adderall, acting as an NPC was harder than acting as a player. He had to strictly follow the plot. As for players, unless they got a similarly demanding identity card and thus had to strictly act according to character, they were like the trainees in the Famine Village instance where they receive a general identity and that was it.
He would only personally control them by hand when No. 1 wanted to cause trouble.
Thus, when the Devil let go of the puppet strings, the NPC did things according to their original personality.
According to the story setting, Grandma Yin was only a greedy, cowardly, and very malicious mortal.
Towards the ghost officials, she was a doormat who blindly obeyed everything. Towards the villagers, she was extremely aggressive. Now that she had been stopped and was also worried about how much time was left before the Yin walking lamp burned out, she naturally agreed while trembling.
Once the Devil had found out, Grandma Yin, who was completely covered in a black robe, had already obediently put down the Yin walking lamp, put up her hands, and engaged in a body search under the ghost servants’ orders.
Coincidentally, they happened to be standing on the only bridge over the Wang Chuan river.
On the opposite side from them was the pavilion where Grandma Meng was currently distributing soup. Below was the quietly flowing Wang Chuan river. If one looked closely, they could see the souls who had committed countless evil deeds and had twisted expressions, under the river
No. 1 felt his right eyelid start to twitch again.
The last time such a promotion happened was in Las Vegas when the Magician revealed three of his disguises in front of the system at once.
The Devil instantly became suspicious and thus put down the glass cup and was just about to once again control that NPC.
A change suddenly occurred.
The warm light from the Yin walking lamp placed on the ground suddenly shook.
Someone had picked up that lamp.
Grandma Yin quickly turned her head around.
A white-haired young man was currently sitting behind him, holding that Yin walking lamp in his hand, his face full of smiles.
Grandma Yin asked with a sharp and aged voice, “Child, what are you doing…?”
Zong Jiu raised his eyebrow.
The white-haired young man watched the ghost servants hold down the NPC in front of him and curved his lips, “Child?”
Zong Jiu was too lazy to continue talking nonsense. If time got dragged on, another reversal might happen.
He directly raised his feet and kicked the person off of the bridge.
“Actually, I liked the way you called me Brother Jiu more.”
The bridge was at least about ten meters above Wang Chuan river, and the Wang Chuan river was a famous weak water without any buoyancy. Unless they used a bridge built from the power of an Immortal, as long as anyone or anything passed over the space above it, they would feel tremendous pressure and fall into the river.
After Grandma Yin, who was half hunched over, staggered backward until the edge of the bridge, she was like a kite with a broken line. She directly sank to the bottom of the river without causing even a single splash and was ripped into pieces by the thousands of squirming ghosts under the river.
An extremely evil person’s soul was a very good tonic for evil spirits.
……
[NPC acting mission has failed.]
[Venue: A-rank instance Famine Village]
[Performed NPC character: Grandma Yin, the behind-the-scenes villain, vicious and cruel.]
[Reason for failure: soul perished]
In the dark, the puppet strings that had lost the character they controlled slowly retracted, wrapping around a pair of hands that were as beautiful as a piece of art.
After a long time, The Devil touched the corner of his mouth.
His lips curved more and more like his cold and cruel golden pupils. A dark fire ignited within them.
No. 1 turned around and poured himself a cup of decanted red wine, drinking it all in one go.
The ice-cold wine flowed down his throat and into his esophagus, but it couldn’t suppress his boiling blood.
This was really… a giant surprise.
After Zong Jiu pulled out one large handful of hell banknotes after another, the atmosphere seemed to become silent for a few seconds.
The white-haired young man didn’t realize at all what kind of shocking thing he had just done. Instead, he casually asked, “Is this enough?”
The ghost official stared, stupefied. He stammered out, “This… engaging in bribes in the nether world, if caught, is very serious.”
Although that was what he said, he couldn’t help but look towards that thick stack of hell banknotes.
AD
The nether world’s currencies were in constant circulation. The easiest to obtain type of currency would be the type burnt by descendants on the Ghost Festival.
However, the denominations of the nether world currency made in the human world were always very large. Every time, they burnt folded gold and silver sycee made of paper. In order to avoid inflation in the nether world, since ancient times, a rule had been set that as long as it was nether world currency that came from the human world, there would be a deduction made before it could arrive in the hands of all ghosts.
However, a famine was raging these years. The living people couldn’t even take care of themselves. Where would they have the time and energy to burn paper money for the dead?
So, nether world currency was very precious now. Some ghosts who hadn’t lined up for reincarnation were unable to stand it anymore and would send dreams to their relatives, telling them that they must remember to burn some paper money.
The stack of money in front of the ghost official now was probably worth ten or eight times of paper money burning in the human world. Ghosts would only get this amount with that many times.
That ghost official swallowed his saliva. His Adam’s apple moved very visibly.
Being able to reach this position, who knew which generation his descendants in the mortal world were on. How could there be anyone who still remembers him and burns money for him? He could only receive the salary given to officials and live off that.
With one glance, Zong Jiu knew that it was feasible. He didn’t reveal anything with his expression, but his hand pulled out another stack of hell banknotes from the Strange Black Box, adding to the current bargaining chips one bill at a time.
Ghost official: “……”
It wasn’t that his will wasn’t firm enough; it was that the other party gave way too much!
The ghost official furtively glanced towards the left, then glanced right before he smacked his thigh, “Oh great one! Let’s talk somewhere else. Put away the money first. It would be bad if we are caught.”
Zong Jiu, hearing his words, quickly put away the money. In his mind, he made a victory sign with his hand.
Success!
No one would’ve guessed; the A-rank prop that every trainee thought was trash would have such unexpected effects. It was really not a loss for him.
The ghost official said, “For now, we’ll leave it at this. I’ll open one eye and close one eye to it. Afterward, even if those at the top start to investigate it, this money is enough… That’s right. You said that you were going to go back and settle accounts with that Grandma Yin?”
The white-haired young man turned his head, “Otherwise?”
“Don’t be in too much of a hurry. You are a living soul. If you exit the city gates like this, you definitely won’t have it good. What’s more, Grandma Yin is very strong.”
Since the ghost official had taken the money, naturally he would continue to put himself in his shoes and help him consider his situation, “How about this? Grandma Yin’s life is close to reaching its end, and she will have to experience this then anyway. If you’re willing to give a bit more, I can send a few helpers to go with you.”
Zong Jiu was elated. He didn’t expect that he could enjoy such luxurious service from bribery. Naturally, he readily agreed.
He found out that the ability to make money was really very useful. The ghost official had already decided to completely abandon following the rules. He had already broken them, so it was better to earn more.
In the end, when Zong Jiu walked out of the government building, he was leading three to four ghost servants. The other ghosts and monsters looked at the big shot whom they envied but didn’t dare to approach.
Leading all the ghosts, he ran outside the city with great fanfare and could see that figure with a rickety back and holding a lamp from far away.
The NPC Grandma Yin’s setting was an old elderly person, so she walked slowly. And, thanks to the Yin walking lamp being too eye-catching and making other ghosts not dare to get close, Grandma Yin’s position could be seen with one look.
Ofjvlcu atf utbra rfgnjcar, tf gertfv bnfg jcv lcab atf ugbeq bo utbrar kjamtlcu boo ab atf rlvf.
Ktf vfcrfis qjmxfv utbrar qfgofmais tlv Ibcu Ale’r tfjv oeii bo ktlaf tjlg. Qlat rb wjcs utbrar oibjalcu lc ogbca bo tlw, tf kjrc’a jogjlv ja jii.
Ibcu Ale mjiifv bea ab atf utbra rfgnjcar ktb kfgf obiibklcu tlw. Qjamtlcu atf oilmxfglcu iluta mbwlcu ogbw atf ogbca, j qijc revvfcis jqqfjgfv lc tlr wlcv.
“Like this. You guys first do this, and then…”
The ghost servants had gotten information from the ghost official and knew that the white-haired young man who was like an immortal was a big customer who was hard to encounter in hell. Naturally, they didn’t dare slack off. They all repeatedly reposed with yeses.
“Okay, then do as I say.”
Zong Jiu patted his hands. He watched the ghost servants go to carry out his orders and revealed a cold smile.
Sorry, he was also a petty and vengeful person who believed in a tooth for a tooth.
If they continued to repay each debt to each other, when would it end?
####
No. 1’s mood was very good right now.
After he saw the white-haired young man’s figure disappear into the back hall of the government building, he used the puppet strings to control Grandma Yin’s body to carry the Yin walking lamp and leave.
After someone entered the nether world, if they didn’t have the guide of a Yin walking lamp, wanting to go back was as hard as ascending into the skies. Additionally, he was someone who was personally sold to the nether world by the NPC Grandma Yin.
Once the instance ended or once the normal cards completed their main task, the mole who hadn’t completed his task and couldn’t find his way back to the mortal world would naturally be obliterated by the system.
The setting of the NPC Grandma Yin was the behind-the-scenes villain of the entire Famine Village.
There was not a single innocent NPC in the entire instance. Everyone was a perpetrator, and everyone was lying.
The village head was lying. Wang Shou was lying. The woman was lying. Similarly, Grandma Yin was also lying. If he had to pick out a person who didn’t lie, then it would only be the little boy from the village head’s family who didn’t know much about the world.
If the trainees wanted to find a way to survive, they would only ask one by one, then logically reason out everyone’s words and find the clues hidden within.
Truthfully speaking, there was some difficulty to this, because it was very difficult for anyone to guarantee that they wouldn’t be influenced by anyone’s words or be biased towards the first narrative.
Originally, he still wanted to play with him a bit more.
The Devil thought without much emotion.
After all… it was really rare for him to encounter such an interesting toy.
The Devil had never believed in the so-called prophecy from Gui Guzi.
Thinking about it now, there were indeed commendable parts within it.
After all, since making a trade with the system, his puppet strings weren’t able to be touched by any physical means, unless they relied on an extremely special type of prop. Until now, the trainees didn’t have it. Being able to touch them with bare hands was unheard of. It did indeed fit the “natural enemy ordained by the heavens” and the “restraining of his abilities” in the prophecy.
Except——
He remembered the words “fateful opponent” and “the only existence that could keep the Devil in check” said in the prophecy.
In the dark space, No. 1 randomly played with the other end of the strings in his hand and revealed a rather bored expression.
It was a pity that he was really too weak.
So weak that he couldn’t feel any desire.
Thinking this, the Devil let the puppet strings operate by themselves and stood up from the wingback chair.
He was acting as the NPC instructor and didn’t need to enter instances like the other trainees. In addition, the puppet strings could freely penetrate into different spatial dimensions, so his real body was actually still in the trainee dormitory and didn’t go anywhere.
No. 1’s dormitory was on the top floor of the entire trainee dormitory. Not only was it a duplex, but it also occupied an extremely large area. It even had a sky garden completely surrounded by glass on all sides.
Standing in the sky garden and looking down, he could see that the trainee dormitory was built on an isolated island. The vast sea spread into the distance, and underneath him was a cliff. The view was beautiful.
The decorations in the rooms of A-rank and above trainees could be adjusted and changed according to the trainee’s thoughts. S-rank trainees’ rooms all occupied the space of one entire floor. In short, the system had always been generous in material things and not stingy at all.
The man unbuttoned the black suit’s outer jacket, revealing the neat and tidy white shirt underneath.
He hummed a strange song and walked towards the wine cabinet with tango steps.
The lights in the room weren’t open, yet it didn’t affect the sight of the person in the room one bit.
Pulling out the bottle cap, crimson liquor flowed into a decanter. The air was full of the rich smell of wine.
The Devil held a glass decanter in his hand, playing with it. He was just about to take a look at another puppet that was fully controlled by him. However, he found that something happened in the Famine Village instance.
In the grey and gloomy nether world, Grandma Yin was suddenly stopped by a few ghost servants.
The ghost servants had deadpan expressions, “After you sent that living soul, the Life and Death record in the government building is now missing a page. We have come to search on Master Qin’s orders. Please cooperate.”
The Devil didn’t control NPCs every second and every minute.
Most of the time, unless there was an especially interesting plot point. He would always choose to let the NPC freely act according to their original personality. Adderall, acting as an NPC was harder than acting as a player. He had to strictly follow the plot. As for players, unless they got a similarly demanding identity card and thus had to strictly act according to character, they were like the trainees in the Famine Village instance where they receive a general identity and that was it.
He would only personally control them by hand when No. 1 wanted to cause trouble.
Thus, when the Devil let go of the puppet strings, the NPC did things according to their original personality.
According to the story setting, Grandma Yin was only a greedy, cowardly, and very malicious mortal.
Towards the ghost officials, she was a doormat who blindly obeyed everything. Towards the villagers, she was extremely aggressive. Now that she had been stopped and was also worried about how much time was left before the Yin walking lamp burned out, she naturally agreed while trembling.
Once the Devil had found out, Grandma Yin, who was completely covered in a black robe, had already obediently put down the Yin walking lamp, put up her hands, and engaged in a body search under the ghost servants’ orders.
Coincidentally, they happened to be standing on the only bridge over the Wang Chuan river.
On the opposite side from them was the pavilion where Grandma Meng was currently distributing soup. Below was the quietly flowing Wang Chuan river. If one looked closely, they could see the souls who had committed countless evil deeds and had twisted expressions, under the river
No. 1 felt his right eyelid start to twitch again.
The last time such a promotion happened was in Las Vegas when the Magician revealed three of his disguises in front of the system at once.
The Devil instantly became suspicious and thus put down the glass cup and was just about to once again control that NPC.
A change suddenly occurred.
The warm light from the Yin walking lamp placed on the ground suddenly shook.
Someone had picked up that lamp.
Grandma Yin quickly turned her head around.
A white-haired young man was currently sitting behind him, holding that Yin walking lamp in his hand, his face full of smiles.
Grandma Yin asked with a sharp and aged voice, “Child, what are you doing…?”
Zong Jiu raised his eyebrow.
The white-haired young man watched the ghost servants hold down the NPC in front of him and curved his lips, “Child?”
Zong Jiu was too lazy to continue talking nonsense. If time got dragged on, another reversal might happen.
He directly raised his feet and kicked the person off of the bridge.
“Actually, I liked the way you called me Brother Jiu more.”
The bridge was at least about ten meters above Wang Chuan river, and the Wang Chuan river was a famous weak water without any buoyancy. Unless they used a bridge built from the power of an Immortal, as long as anyone or anything passed over the space above it, they would feel tremendous pressure and fall into the river.
After Grandma Yin, who was half hunched over, staggered backward until the edge of the bridge, she was like a kite with a broken line. She directly sank to the bottom of the river without causing even a single splash and was ripped into pieces by the thousands of squirming ghosts under the river.
An extremely evil person’s soul was a very good tonic for evil spirits.
……
[NPC acting mission has failed.]
[Venue: A-rank instance Famine Village]
[Performed NPC character: Grandma Yin, the behind-the-scenes villain, vicious and cruel.]
[Reason for failure: soul perished]
In the dark, the puppet strings that had lost the character they controlled slowly retracted, wrapping around a pair of hands that were as beautiful as a piece of art.
After a long time, The Devil touched the corner of his mouth.
His lips curved more and more like his cold and cruel golden pupils. A dark fire ignited within them.
No. 1 turned around and poured himself a cup of decanted red wine, drinking it all in one go.
The ice-cold wine flowed down his throat and into his esophagus, but it couldn’t suppress his boiling blood.
This was really… a giant surprise.
