Connected Tasks

“Weird Tale.”

At the critical moment, Zhu Yan’s voice came out hoarse, interrupting Madam’s movements.

Beneath the [Demon]’s hood was a human being—and in the eyes of these horrifying creatures, he was most likely a human filled from head to toe with [Trembling Pleasure], yet still unmutated.

In other words, he was a perfectly prepared dish.

If Madam really pulled off his hood, he would have no choice but to use [Invisibility] to escape, abandoning all the rewards within his grasp and the nearly completed [Mount Fangcun] mission.

That would be troublesome.

Madam’s slender, bluish-purple fingers stopped in midair. She moved them with interest.

“What did you say?”

“My name is Weird Tale. I’m just a small-time drifter with a low level.”

Zhu Yan took a step back, bowed deeply, and saluted her.

Madam gave a soft hum through her nose and no longer insisted on removing Zhu Yan’s hood.

Weird Tale.

She had never heard that name before. Besides, what kind of [Demon] would be called “Weird Tale”?

How strange.

She tilted her head playfully, and a lock of glossy black hair fell against her cheek.

“All right,” she said. “What do you want? And… how exactly did you catch this slippery thing? Don’t tell me you managed it through a [Demon] trade?”

Zhu Yan hurriedly stated his request.

“I don’t currently have a home,” he explained, pretending to be humble. “I don’t have a decent place to live. I’d like an apartment in the [Doppelgänger District], or perhaps the authorization to purchase one there…”

Madam seemed to have heard something hilarious. She looked at Zhu Yan and began to giggle, her voice like a song.

“That’s all?”

Those words seemed to flip some kind of switch. The horrifying creatures in the room erupted into a burst of coarse laughter.

What did “that’s all” mean?

After dealing with the [Merry Land] for so long, Zhu Yan knew that sometimes, it was impossible to gauge these horrifying creatures’ thoughts using human logic.

Especially not Madam’s. She clearly looked like the sort who could change moods at the drop of a hat.

While remaining on guard against Madam suddenly turning hostile, Zhu Yan probed, “My lady, there is indeed one more thing I’d like to ask…”

Madam opened her fan and used it to silence the laughter.

Zhu Yan continued, “I want to make joining the [Eye of the Abyss] my goal. I’d like to ask…”

This time, an even louder roar of laughter drowned him out.

The clown was laughing so hard that it threw its head back, seated atop the human dining table as though it had just heard the funniest joke in the world.

“Hahahahaha… You?”

“You want to join… hahahahaha!”

Madam fanned herself rapidly, the hard bone fan smacking the air with sharp claps.

She giggled for a while. When the laughter behind her gradually subsided, she turned her yellow, rotting eyeballs—framed by thick eyeliner—and fixed her gaze on Ji Xiting.

Zhu Yan could tell that it was a deeply malicious expression.

It resembled the way a normal person might look at an apple snail about to be tortured, or a trapped cockroach: cruel, eager, and brimming with anticipation.

“Show me what you can do, Weird Tale.”

Madam raised her voice and yanked Ji Xiting over.

“As for the reward you mentioned, we always keep our word. We can give you an apartment in the [Doppelgänger District] right away. Just go downstairs and exchange for it with my manager.”

“But as for joining the [Eye of the Abyss]…”

Madam jabbed a sharp finger into Ji Xiting’s spine.

“Kill it. Kill it with your ability, then bring us its heart.”

Ji Xiting’s face went completely rigid.

His eyelids drooped halfway. Although the corners of his mouth had relaxed, his body was taut, and thin threads of blood seeped from the stitches in his neck, staining the white collar of his attendant’s uniform red.

Zhu Yan felt that Ji Xiting might rip his own head off at any moment.

And right now… this really wasn’t a good time to demonstrate his abilities.

Madam raised a hand and touched her towering coiffure. From within her hair, she pulled out a white card.

“A Grade-D membership card. As long as you manage to do it…”

She smiled. Zhu Yan could clearly see every fine line beneath the glossy lipstick coating her lips.

“…we’ll give you this card. Hahahahahaha!”

Behind her, the horrifying creatures exchanged glances, then once again began laughing in perfect unison.

Ji Xiting’s expression sank even further. But he quickly realized something, forcibly pulled his face into a stiff smile, and followed along with a few highly unnatural chuckles.

Zhu Yan silently took another step back.

He had figured it out. These horrifying creatures simply loved watching a spectacle and were deliberately setting him an impossible challenge.

Ji Xiting was someone who could resurrect a second time after death, and who had [Lord of the Charnel Grounds] purifying the raw materials for the restaurant.

Madam had clearly given him an apparently impossible task as a way of rejecting him.

However…

From beneath his hood, Zhu Yan greedily glanced at the white card in her hand.

Since Madam had made a promise, she would have to be prepared to honor it.

The task only looked impossible.

As luck would have it, just two hours ago, the [Merry Land] had made him a “believer,” giving him complete ownership of [Tanyu Temple].

Zhu Yan had no objection to finding a way to kill Ji Xiting along the way.

He nodded deeply at Madam in response, then turned without a word and started toward the door.

“Wait.”

A voice called out to him.

It was Ji Xiting.

He strode over, his dark blue eyes fixed on Zhu Yan with murderous intent.

Then he let out a strange cry. A sharp, icy bone spike suddenly pierced through Zhu Yan’s cloak and forced its way between his internal organs.

If Zhu Yan hadn’t promptly liquefied his abdomen, that stab would have left him in dire straits.

“Get lost, you piece of trash,” Ji Xiting snarled. “Take your pathetic reward and get the hell out.”

“Don’t let me see you on my turf again!”

Damn.

A bone spike capable of piercing a Level-14 cloak!

What level did that make it?

If he handed it to Dragonfly for analysis and modification…

Not only could it become a high-grade weapon, but he might even learn more about Ji Xiting.

At that thought, Zhu Yan felt completely at ease.

He didn’t care in the slightest about Ji Xiting’s insults. He could even choose to selectively forget the man’s rudeness.

He hurriedly pretended to realize only then how much pain he was in, let out a few agonized cries, seized the high-grade weapon embedded in his body, and fled in disarray.

“Useless,” Ji Xiting said coldly.

The bone spike was nothing to him, so naturally, he had no intention of asking for it back.

His face still wore the embarrassed expression of someone who had just been humiliated. After a long bout of mental preparation, he finally composed himself, put on a smile, and continued serving tea and water.

“Madam, please… please have some tea…”

…

The lounge.

The doppelgänger and the bank manager exchanged a glance. The way they looked at Zhu Yan had changed completely.

Their eyes locked onto the gleaming bone spike, roughly half a meter long, in Zhu Yan’s hand. In unison, they drew in an admiring breath.

“Sir,” the bank manager said, bending at the waist in respect until it formed an angle of 120 degrees, “congratulations on obtaining an apartment in the [Doppelgänger District]… and this high-grade weapon!”

“We’ll upgrade your service level accordingly. May I ask what VIP tier you hold?”