Ruthless Killer (Second Update)

Zhao Ke walked out of the back kitchen, looked at the offering in his hand, and couldn't help but shake his head. This kind of thing was useless to him. If he had known the reward would be like this, he should have abandoned the mission.

You have to know that the kitchen, unlike other places, has extremely limited information that can be gathered. If Zhao Ke had a choice, he would rather choose to clean the house.

Zhao Ke casually threw the spirit money in his hand into the Post Album and turned back to the small courtyard. He saw three people huddled together in the small courtyard, whispering something.

These three people were not the previous group. They were clearly another group of Postmen who had temporarily teamed up.

Sensing Zhao Ke entering the small courtyard, three pairs of eyes immediately locked onto him. In fact, ever since Zhao Ke fell into the water and climbed onto the small boat, some Postmen had already noticed him.

When they saw Zhao Ke brazenly grilling meat at the bow of the boat, they knew that Zhao Ke was probably a newcomer who had passed the internship period.

Although they were all low-level Postmen, there were still different levels. You had to know that the tasks during the internship period were generally very simple. After passing the internship period, they would enter the normal horror space, which was much more difficult than the internship tasks.

Many people who had just become low-level Postmen would die here. The probability of death was even higher than in those more difficult tasks.

In addition to the horror space during the internship period, the tasks were simple, and the rewards were pitifully small. Most of them were just a little Post Points, not even enough to exchange for a relatively low-level special Stamp.

Such teammates, who lacked awareness and strength, were obviously not welcome anywhere.

Therefore, when Zhao Ke walked in, the gazes of the three people towards him were not exactly friendly, but they were not much better than the previous group.

"Master, why did you take so long?"

Seeing Zhao Ke return, Cui Lan sat up from the bed. She looked at the dim light outside and said in a low voice, "Annoying, the sky is already bright. Steward Bai will probably come over soon. I don't know what new trouble he'll stir up."

Zhao Ke ignored Cui Lan's grumbling on the bed. Calculating the time, he quietly stuffed a mouthful of paper ash into his mouth to conceal his aura.

At the same time, he quickly pondered in his mind. It seemed that whether it was food, water, or fire, they, as living people, were out of place here. Even their body temperature was significantly different from this place. The flaws they had were astonishingly numerous.

Zhao Ke didn't believe that simply concealing his scent could perfectly hide their identities as living people.

It was fine when facing these spirit mediums, but if they were to face ghost Oddities like that pair of flower children, they could reveal themselves with just one mistake.

But at the same time, wasn't this also their advantage? Thinking of this, Zhao Ke narrowed his eyes, turned to Cui Lan, and asked, "Cui Lan, how do you distinguish between spirit mediums and non-spirit mediums?"

Cui Lan chuckled at his words. She walked to Zhao Ke's side, entwined her arm with his, and said, "Heh heh, Master, did you forget this after hitting your head?"

As Cui Lan spoke, she lifted Zhao Ke's arm, rolled up his sleeve, and said to him, "Most of the Bai Family are spirit mediums. There are only a few who are true ghost masters. Besides, the names of our masters are written on our arms. You..."

Cui Lan's words were cut off halfway when her eyes suddenly widened. She saw that Zhao Ke's smooth and well-shaped arm was bare, with nothing on it.

Seeing this, Cui Lan was stunned for a moment, then suddenly understood something. She looked up, her eyes fixed on Zhao Ke, "You!"

"Yes, I'm not your master."

Zhao Ke, who had been sitting on the chair, raised an eyebrow and suddenly jumped up from the chair. A dagger was directly plunged into Cui Lan's forehead.

"Pfft!"

The blade pierced directly through Cui Lan's forehead. Zhao Ke twisted it forcefully, and Cui Lan's head split open like a cauliflower, creating a gaping hole the size of a bowl.

However, bizarrely, Cui Lan did not die. After a moment of stunned silence, her expression changed, and she reached out to grab Zhao Ke's throat.

Cui Lan's already distorted face had her delicate features twisted into a mess. However, unlike the paper figures he had killed before, Cui Lan's blooming head looked like a bloody mess.

They were spirit mediums. After stepping through the gates of hell and entering the Underworld, they had a semi-physical body.

However, it was only a physical body without bones, human brains, or organs. It was just a bloody lump of flesh.

"Still not dead!"

Seeing Cui Lan reaching for his throat, Zhao Ke raised an eyebrow. He grabbed the dark dagger in his hand and quickly flicked it, stabbing it through Cui Lan's throat from under her arm. He twisted the blade.

"Pfft!"

The cold blade, like a saw, tore open half of Cui Lan's neck. Her head tilted, hanging onto her chest.

Severely wounded by Zhao Ke twice, Cui Lan could no longer scream. She could only turn and run.

"You think you can escape!"

Seeing Cui Lan trying to run, a fierce look flashed across Zhao Ke's face. He lunged forward, and the dagger was directly plunged into Cui Lan's spine. He twisted it forcefully. This should have been a fatal blow or directly paralyzed her, but the blade went in without hitting bone.

Instead, Cui Lan fell to the ground. The half-split side of her face was twisted, and she couldn't make a sound. She could only wave her hands, begging Zhao Ke for mercy.

It is said that a day of husband and wife is a hundred days of kindness. Now, she only begged Zhao Ke to let her go. She knew that spirit mediums were the most unfortunate beings in this world. They were born to die. They were not tolerated in the living world and only truly came alive when they reached the Underworld.

All their lives, they only wished to meet a good master, to serve peacefully for hundreds of years, and finally cultivate into a human form, which would be considered a life well-lived.

Cui Lan had planned everything perfectly, but she never expected that her life as a spirit medium, which had just begun, would end after only one night.

"Sorry, I can't keep you!"

Despite Cui Lan's pleas, Zhao Ke did not hesitate. She knew that keeping Cui Lan would be like keeping a ticking time bomb.

Regardless of whether the other party could speak or how they promised, Zhao Ke would not believe them, because he never entrusted his life to anyone's words.

"Squelch!"

Zhao Ke swept his blade and cut off Cui Lan's head. Without her head, Cui Lan's body twitched on the ground, but she did not die just like that.

There was no blood, no internal organs. After her head was cut off, she simply lost control of her body.

Holding Cui Lan's head in his hands, Zhao Ke walked to the corner of the room, found an iron basin, and directly put her head into it. What Zhao Ke found interesting was that after putting Cui Lan's head into the iron basin, her body also stopped moving.

When he took Cui Lan's head out, her body immediately began to twitch, as if struggling to crawl out according to Cui Lan's will.

Seeing this, Zhao Ke directly put Cui Lan's head into the iron basin and then tried to transfer the iron basin into the Post Album.

The information received, however, was still that the permission was insufficient, and it couldn't be converted.

He tried it. Cui Lan's body, after seemingly losing Cui Lan's control, had become a dead object. Zhao Ke willed it, and the corpse was immediately converted into the Post Album.

Opening the Post Album to look, there was an additional Stamp depicting a paper figure, except the paper figure had no head.

"So that's how it is!"

Zhao Ke nodded, shoved the iron basin under the bed, patted the dust off his hands, and strode out of the room.

Just as Cui Lan had said, the moment Zhao Ke stepped out of the room, he saw the Bai Family's steward approaching with people, starting to assign tasks.

Zhao Ke hid in the crowd. His peripheral vision swept over, and he saw Dongzi and the other three standing in the crowd with grim expressions. It was clear they hadn't fared well in the front yard just now, and had instead been rebuffed.

"You go wash clothes, you go chop wood in the woodshed, you few are responsible for cleaning the front yard."

Upon hearing the steward assign their group to cleaning the front yard, Dongzi and the other three looked as if frost had settled on their faces, their expressions extremely unpleasant.

In contrast, the other three Postmen, who were in a group, were assigned to the woodshed. They exchanged glances, their faces showing satisfied smiles.

"And you... Huh? Why is one missing? Where's that woman?"

The steward pointed at Zhao Ke, asking about Cui Lan's whereabouts. Hearing this, Zhao Ke's face contorted, and he put on a troubled expression. "I don't know. I went to the kitchen last night, and when I came back, I didn't see her."

The steward froze, then a furious look appeared on his pale face. He didn't press further about Cui Lan, but angrily walked up to Zhao Ke and roared, "Who told you to go to the kitchen! That place isn't for you to go to."

"But... I have to go now, don't I?"

Before the steward could get angry, Zhao Ke reached out and beckoned. The token the old man had given him earlier was now in Zhao Ke's hand.

The setup and foreshadowing need to be slower, so the chapter might seem a bit drawn out. I'm going to go write the third update now.