Harvest

Chapter 14: Fifteen to Fourteen: Harvest

Zhao Ke gently opened the package. The moment it was opened, the 7-cent stamp on it instantly ignited, turning into a wisp of black smoke that drilled into his Post Album. At the same time, a message appeared in Zhao Ke's mind.

"Congratulations on completing the internship mission and becoming a low-level Postman."

"The basic reward of 7 Post Points for this internship mission has been credited to your Post Album. Continue to open the package to check the proceeds from this horror space."

Hearing the prompt, Zhao Ke's eyes lit up. He continued to unwrap the package. After unpacking it, a black wooden box appeared before him.

The box was purplish-black. Comparing it with his hand, it was three feet long and two feet high. The four corners were carved with four small snakes coiled around the box. Upon closer inspection, the details of each snake were incredibly lifelike, making it seem as if four venomous snakes were coiled on the box.

As for the box itself, Zhao Ke ran his hand over it. The wood was fine-grained and carried a faint fragrance, indicating it was high-quality rosewood.

Just this box alone could fetch a good price in the antique market.

Zhao Ke opened the box and peered inside. It was dark within, as if covered by a film, making it impossible to see anything.

He reached in and his hand grasped a stamp. Zhao Ke looked at it; it was a very ordinary stamp, indistinguishable from any other at first glance. However, the denomination of 3 cents was written in the upper left corner.

But this was not what Zhao Ke was focused on. What he truly cared about was that the stamp depicted a person, and this person was very familiar to Zhao Ke – it was the old woman from Xiong Er's family.

Seeing this, Zhao Ke continued to feel around. Soon, the second stamp appeared. Zhao Ke's heart tightened, and he thought, "Just as I suspected."

The second stamp was of the hunter Wang Xiaochang, whom they had killed. This stamp was worth significantly more than the old woman's, a full 5 Post Points.

He continued to feel around and found stamps of Xiong Er and Zhou Shun one after another.

Unexpectedly, the stamp of Xiong Er was not for Post Points but a special stamp. It had black and white borders, and a hidden figure in the grass. If one didn't look closely, they wouldn't even notice a bear on the stamp.

Special Stamp: Breath of Nature

Collecting this stamp will increase your running speed by 30% in forests and grassy areas.

Special Effect: Breath of Nature

Consume 1 Post Point to conceal yourself within surrounding grass for 5 minutes.

Cooldown: 30 minutes

(Note: Breath of Nature can only be activated in mountainous wilderness.)

Compared to Xiong Er's stamp, Zhou Shun's was clearly much weaker, only worth 1 cent.

Based on the Post Points, Zhao Ke pondered. Xiong Er was the main target and the most difficult to deal with, so he offered the most benefits. His mother was slightly less.

However, Wang Xiaochang offered more than Xiong Er's mother. This was interesting. After some thought, Zhao Ke made a bold guess: it was possible that Wang Xiaochang had cooperated with them.

Or, if they had encountered Wang Xiaochang earlier and cooperated with him, perhaps the difficulty of this mission would have been reduced by several levels.

Thinking back, Zhao Ke could only say they were unlucky.

As for Zhou Shun, he was no longer within the scope of his consideration.

Perhaps Zhou Shun's extended mission would have yielded more, but Zhao Ke felt a sense of unease about bringing Zhou Shun down the mountain. It was cleaner to just kill him, as he wasn't a good person anyway.

Now, the only regret was that he killed too few. He should have turned back and dealt with Xiong Da as well.

However, looking at the stamps he had obtained, Zhao Ke felt very satisfied overall. Whether it was Post Points or stamps, it felt like accumulating a pile of red envelopes during Chinese New Year and opening them one by one.

Regardless of the amount of money, it gave him a sense of surprise he hadn't experienced in a long time.

After storing these stamps in his Post Album, except for Xiong Er's Breath of Nature, the other stamps with Post Points directly turned into Post Points and were recorded in the album after being absorbed.

Looking at the upper left corner of the Post Album, a number indicating his total Post Points as 16 appeared.

"Huh? What's this..."

Zhao Ke looked back at the box. The black mist inside had dissipated at some point. He then noticed two small booklets placed inside.

One of the booklets was opened, displaying the words "Postman's Code." It introduced the essential rules for Postmen.

It also provided a brief introduction to the horror space, only three lines long.

Zhao Ke scanned it quickly and gained some understanding.

It wasn't so much a code as it was a restriction. As a Postman, one could not easily reveal their abilities in front of ordinary people unless they were silenced.

If his use of abilities caused significant disruption, he would bear great karma. As a punishment, this karma would manifest in the next horror space.

Although it didn't specify the exact nature of the karmic punishment, Zhao Ke could imagine, even with his toes, that it wouldn't be anything good.

Compared to the punishment for causing disruption with his abilities, Zhao Ke was more concerned about the horror space.

According to the booklet, the horror space was another layer of the shadow world. If their current reality was considered three-dimensional space, then the horror space belonged to four-dimensional, or even higher, dimensions.

Most of the beings within the horror space were projections from a certain period in reality; they were not real. However, most projections were indistinguishable from normal people, with only a few being distorted into different forms.

Examples included the snake woman in Zhuangyuan Tower and Xiong Er's family. The booklet did not explain the reasons for this.

This booklet gave Zhao Ke a general understanding of the horror space. He casually picked up the other booklet. Upon opening it, he found a detailed explanation of the functions of the Post Album.

This time, Zhao Ke read very carefully because the information he had previously received about the Post Album was incomplete and only served as a basic foundation. This booklet was very detailed.

After carefully reading it, Zhao Ke re-summoned his Post Album and flipped to the last page. A list of information gradually appeared on the last page.

Seeing the information on the list, Zhao Ke's expression became solemn. Just as the scar-faced man had said, Post Points could be used to exchange for anything one desired.

The items on the list were unexpected to Zhao Ke. Each strange stamp had a note indicating its function on the side.

For example, a stamp called Ghost Infant, once redeemed, could be used to cultivate by borrowing its power to suck the blood of others.

There were also some stamps that contained books, such as secret techniques of Feng Shui and true words of cultivation. Zhao Ke even saw a very peculiar stamp that, once redeemed, could allow one to invite immortals to possess their body.

The "immortals" here didn't refer to divine beings, but rather minor, low-tier deities like fox spirits or horse spirits. However, even so, it was enough to make one's jaw drop.

Of course, the price... made Zhao Ke's heart ache. Before, he felt like he was opening a red envelope, but now, seeing the prices, Zhao Ke suddenly had the illusion that he should hand over all the red envelopes.

Too expensive.

Even the slightly better stamps cost 30 Post Points to redeem, and the less desirable ones wouldn't come down without 10 Post Points.

In comparison, there were still some stamps that were very cheap to redeem. For instance, many medicinal agents that ordinary people in reality couldn't access were sold in bundles of ten.

Some rapid-acting, life-saving synthetic drugs cost no more than three or four Post Points, but Zhao Ke's eyes lit up when he saw their efficacy. After all, they were all life-saving items.

After looking for a short while, Zhao Ke ultimately couldn't bring himself to buy anything. These Post Points were all earned through his own life-or-death struggles, and he wanted to maximize his benefits.

With a wave of his hand, he put away the Post Album and stood up. His stomach rumbled. Although he had eaten not long ago in reality, in the horror space, he had rarely eaten his fill.

Especially at Zhuangyuan Tower, because he was wary, he didn't touch any of the food on the table. Thinking back now, Zhao Ke couldn't help but feel a sense of relief.

He remembered that after he regained consciousness, there were no delicacies in front of him. Instead, there were stones and insects. Who knew if he would have gotten an upset stomach if he had actually eaten them.

"A delicacy."

Zhao Ke hadn't forgotten the bear paws from Xiong Er. In the horror space, Zhao Ke hadn't touched those bear paws because the seasonings weren't complete, and he couldn't bring out the best flavor of the bear paws.

So he had endured until now. At this moment, he could no longer hold back. He took out the bear paws and looked at the bear paws, which were as large as basins, in front of him. Zhao Ke's fingers couldn't help but trace along every inch of the fur on the bear paws, already thinking of more than ten ways to cook them in his mind.

As a chef, facing such a temptation of ingredients was no different than a famished, lustful man encountering a stunning beauty.

Coupled with the fact that he was indeed starving now.

So he immediately began to prepare them.

This time, it couldn't be as simple as before. In fact, the bear paws he had prepared in the horror space before were just hastily done, aiming to fill his stomach.

The taste was indeed mediocre.

Now, in his own kitchen, the situation was vastly different.

First, he removed the fur from the chest, then carefully removed the fascia. This was a troublesome process, but for him, it was more like sculpting a work of art.

He needed to calm his mind and enjoy the process to achieve the ultimate deliciousness.

This was what his master had taught him.

It was also the creed he held as his guiding principle.

Next, deboning, removing tendons, and stuffing ingredients were almost done in one go.

"Sizzle sizzle..."

White steam rose from the hot oil. When he saw the bear paws in the pot beginning to turn golden brown, he quickly took them out. He placed a piece of honeycomb on the bear paws and then put them into the steamer together.

As time passed, a unique aroma of meat began to fill the room.

Zhao Ke watched the time and, when he determined it was almost ready, lifted the lid of the steamer.

The honeycomb that had been placed on the bear paws had already melted into a sauce, drizzling over the golden-brown crispy skin. He picked up his chopsticks and gently poked it.

"Poof!"

With a crisp sound, the outer skin gradually cracked open, revealing the tender, red meat underneath, which had been steamed to perfection.

"It's finally done!"

As the long-awaited finished product appeared, he couldn't wait. He picked up a spoon and scooped down. The bear meat below was as soft as tofu.

Zhao Ke stuffed it into his mouth in one go.

As the meat entered his mouth, Zhao Ke's eyes lit up, and he felt like he could swallow his own tongue.

Soft, tender, and fragrant – these were secondary. The most important thing was the flavor, which was rich yet not greasy, springy yet not fatty.

Holding it in his mouth felt like a kiss on the tongue.

The key was that such an ingredient was extremely rare. Even ordinary wealthy people would find it very difficult to obtain.

As for ordinary people, they would probably only see photos online in their lifetime.

They had no chance to experience it, let alone the combination of top-tier ingredients and top-tier skills. This kind of deliciousness was not something ordinary people had the opportunity to enjoy.

After a hearty meal, Zhao Ke finally made a bowl of noodles and poured the sauce over them. He ate until his belly was round before contentedly heading upstairs to the attic.

He walked up to the attic and opened the bedroom door. Strangely, there was no bed in the bedroom. Instead, a coffin was placed in front of him.

This was a trick suggested by his psychologist to help reduce his schizophrenia episodes by sleeping in a coffin.

He didn't understand the specific principle behind it, but it did work quite well.

He opened the coffin, lay down inside, but perhaps because he was too tired, he didn't bother to close the lid. He closed his eyes, and soon, faint snoring could be heard from inside the coffin.

"Tick-tock, tick-tock..."

In the dim room, the clock's hands ticked away.

"Buzz..."

At this moment, a drawer of the dressing table was gently pulled open by a slender finger. Fine knife marks could be seen on the finger.

Seeing the thin face in the mirror, he opened his mouth.

He seemed to be muttering something in a low voice, but no sound came out. He looked up at the mirror, and a sly smile suddenly appeared on his face. He casually took out a lipstick from the drawer and applied it to his lips.

Sorry for the delay. Regarding the brother who mentioned whether I could set a fixed update time... uh, I'm ashamed, I can only promise not to stop updating. 5555, this baby with no manuscript reserves is crying themselves to sleep in the toilet.